Spider-Bat: New Way Home
Chapter 13: Smells Like Teen Spirit
Peter wasn't as devastated as Bruce seemed to be after Henri Ducard decided to up and leave Gotham. In fact, his reaction was quite the opposite. Peter wasn't into martial arts like Bruce. He was too laid back for all that, and he thought Henri's disciplinary teachings were far too extreme for him, though Bruce seemed to easily tolerate his barking commands. Sometimes Peter would have a witty comeback for some of Henri's demands, causing Henri to become very frustrated, forcing Peter to do bare-knuckled push-ups or one-arm pull-ups; and the crazy thing was, Peter could actually do them. Henri always thought Peter had amazing strength for a nine year old boy. Despite his stern disciplinary mindset, Henri still found Peter's childish mannerisms to be amusing; like watching Peter swing around on the rope; or performing flying drop-kicks, pretending as if he were the Scarlet Shadow coming to save the day. But… Henri also knew that those childish behaviors could get him eaten up in a place like Gotham City, and his discipline towards Peter was only an attempt to prepare him for those possibilities.
After Bruce had joined the Grayson's flying trapeze act, Peter became very interested in studying science. He was especially intrigued by Bruce Banner's black hole equations and also Reed Richards' space exploration programs, going as far as having Thomas buy him a nice telescope for his birthday so that he could watch the Discovery 13 as it entered the black hole. He had even won first place in the State's Science Fair for his model which recreated Banner's worm-hole findings. Of course, he wasn't able to create neutron explosions or Gamma-radiation for that matter, but he was able to use highly polarized magnets to recreate the effect of how quickly a black hole could suck an object inside of it. He used a baseball as an example by placing it near the magnets, the baseball would then shoot through the hole at nearly 300 miles per hour, and that was without using any electricity to enhance the power of the magnets. Using electro-magnets would have been far too dangerous.
Other than science, Peter was pretty much a recluse. He mostly stayed in his room creating small gadgets and reading comic books. One of his favorite inventions was a toy spider which could actually climb up the walls. He figured out a way to use the power of magnets to send power into enhanced suction cups, which would then allow the spider to crawl up and down the walls with ease, all while not using any electricity. Sometimes he would forget that they were fake because they would continue crawling around his room as if they were real; every-now-and-again setting off the security alarm at home.
Peter didn't have a ton of friends, mostly associating with other nerds at the science conventions. He would get a visit from Rachel Dawes every-now-and-then. They would mostly hang out in his room, checking out new tech developments on the internet. Other times they might walk around the courtyard pretending to be The Scarlet Shadow, jumping off of benches and hurtling smaller bushes.
Peter also used to get a visit from Thomas Elliot every-now-and-then as well, but after Thomas's mother and father were in a terrible car accident, killing his father and leaving his mother in critical condition, Thomas didn't come around too much anymore. Sometimes he would only come over just to talk to Bruce for a few minutes and then leave again. Something about him had changed. Peter mostly thought Thomas felt guilty because he never had many good things to say about his parents, claiming his father was a drunk and his mother never defended him when his father became abusive. Thankfully, his mother did pull through over time. Peter would see Thomas smile after that, but he always felt it was a disingenuous smile, and although it seemed to fool others, Peter always had a sense for those things.
Bruce Wayne, now fourteen years old, and Peter, now thirteen, were winding down towards the last couple weeks of their Freshman year in high school. They were both excellent students, though their paths had gone in completely different directions from each other. Bruce was hanging out more and more with Flash Thompson and his prep squad, and Peter had dove even deeper into the sciences. In fact, Peter's teachers believed he should go straight into college instead of completing three more years of high school. As much as Peter loved science, he wasn't in that much of a hurry to grow up quite yet, so he planned on remaining where he was at.
They also had completely different friends as well. Bruce tried to stay in touch with Rachel Dawes, but she seemed to be more interested in finding out what Peter had going on. She claimed to love science, even though she swore she would be the District Attorney some day and clean up Gotham. She believed vigilantes like the Scarlet Shadow were only touching the surface of taking criminals off the streets, and to truly rid the streets of the Falcones, the Maronis, and the Thornes, it would have to be done from the inside of the justice system, through law and order.
Bruce had actually joined his drama class during his Freshman year. He would take on any rolls he could get. He also went against Harry Osborn's advice and joined the same acting school where Mary Jane Watson attended. At first, Mary Jane wasn't too thrilled about Bruce showing up in her class, mostly because she was still a little salty about what had transpired at the mall, but after a little bit of time had passed, she was eventually willing to come around.
The location of the acting studio would have been over an hour drive from Gotham to New York, but because Wayne Manor was on the far north side of the city, the drive would only take Alfred about forty minutes to get there. The class would last for an hour, but Bruce would stay after and talk to Mary Jane for as long as Alfred was willing to allow. It was always at a time when Alfred needed to get back home so that he could prepare supper, and he didn't like getting kept waiting.
The acting class was practicing for a big play. They were going to get the chance to perform Zorro at The Monarch Theatre. And because of Bruce's acrobatic abilities, he was going to play the main role of Zorro himself. And Mary Jane was to be the leading lady, Lolita Pulido- Zorro's love interest. He couldn't wait to get home and tell his parents about the event.
However, when Bruce got home that day, he overheard a conversation his parents were having with Peter. Peter had gotten an invite to a science exhibit at Oscorp for young achievers in the tri-state area, which was being held by Norman Osborn. Peter desperately wanted to go because it had always been his dream to check out the advanced telescope Norman had at the top of his 110 story tall building. If Reed Richards thought he could see far out of his 35 story building windows, imagine what he could see from the top of Oscorp. The telescope had capabilities of seeing the star clusters that make up the Milky Way Galaxy. Peter hadn't had the opportunity to ever see that far into outer space before.
At first, Thomas and Martha didn't think it was a good idea for him to go, especially with what they knew about Norman Osborn. They had never told Peter about what had happened to his actual parents. He was only told that they died in a plane crash very early on in his life. Peter was adamant about wanting to go. Usually he would never complain that much, but he truly didn't understand why they were keeping him from it. Finally, Thomas suggested that he and Martha should attend alongside him, so that they could secretly make sure nothing bad could happen.
Bruce then walked in with his news about the Zorro play that was finally scheduled. Unfortunately, the play would take place at the same time the science exhibit was taking place, and Bruce's parents had just promised Peter they would already be attending his event. That didn't make Bruce very happy at all.
"Why do you guys always baby him so much!? You never do what I want to do! I would rather have Alfred take me anyway!" Bruce exclaimed, marching off in a huff towards his room.
Thomas looked at Martha. "I'll go talk to him," he said, walking off in Bruce's direction.
At first, when Thomas entered Bruce's room, Bruce didn't want to talk about it, keeping his head turned away as his father spoke. Thomas tried explaining to Bruce about why they needed to go, though he didn't want to tell him the entire reason, just that they thought Norman wasn't a good person. Thomas had even offered to let Martha go to the play while he went with Peter, but in his frustration, Bruce was adamant about only wanting Alfred to take him, saying… "Alfred is the one who does everything for me already. Might as well let him do this too!" Thomas tried promising Bruce that he would make more time for him, but Bruce didn't want to hear any of it.
Bruce was still in a funk the next morning, and he didn't want to talk to anyone as he got ready for school… especially Peter. He pretty much stayed quiet the entire ride as Alfred took them to school.
However, not long after Alfred had dropped them off and drove away, Bruce decided to ditch school that day. He then had a taxi pick him up and drive him to Midtown High School in New York. He even promised the driver a healthy tip of a hundred dollars to take him.
After getting there, Bruce knew Mary Jane's first period drama class was working on building props for the school play near the back of the stage area, which was located close to the gymnasium, so that's where he snuck in.
Mary Jane was painting a canvas when she heard someone trying to get her attention.
"Psst!" Bruce whispered from behind the stage curtain, waving his hand for her to come over to him.
Mary Jane looked around the stage to make sure nobody was watching as she slowly approached him.
"Bruce. What are you doing here?" she quietly asked.
"I came here to see you. I needed someone to talk to and I know you are a good listener."
"Couldn't it have waited until we saw each other at our acting class tonight? Why aren't you in school?"
"I ditched school today."
"Ditched?" Mary Jane repeated a bit loudly, accidentally getting the attention of the teacher.
Mary Jane acted as if she was only adjusting the curtains, until the teacher finally turned and looked away.
When Mary Jane turned to look back at Bruce, he was suddenly no longer there.
"Bruce?" she whispered, looking behind a couple stage props in the corner behind the curtain.
She looked all around, but he was nowhere to be found.
"Bruce? Where did you go?" she continued looking.
She was startled, when suddenly-
"I'm here." Bruce called out from above her.
When she looked up, she spotted Bruce hanging upside-down on the rope which controlled the curtain.
"What are you doing up there?"
Bruce held out his hands. "Take my hands," he instructed.
"What?" she blushed.
"C'mon, just take my hands. I want to show you a trick I learned at the circus."
Mary Jane was hesitant at first, looking back to see what the teacher was doing. When she noticed that nobody was paying her any attention, she finally reached up and grabbed a hold of his hands.
Before he pulled her up, he stopped to ask, "How much do you weigh?"
"About one-hundred, and eight," she replied.
Bruce then quickly pulled her up, allowing her feet to stand on a large knot tied into the rope. The weight differential suddenly caused one of the curtains to start moving.
"Hold on," Bruce instructed, quickly jumping from one rope and onto another one nearby, allowing the weight differential to stop the moving curtain's momentum.
The two of them were just hanging there, about ten feet high.
"Hehe." Mary Jane giggled, never having swung around on stage curtains before.
"You weigh a little more than one-hundred, and eight," Bruce quipped.
Trying to show off, Bruce attempted to jump onto a rope that was much further away than the other ropes. Unfortunately, he did not make it, causing him to fall onto one of the styrofoam props, smashing it into pieces.
Mary Jane giggled again, peeking around the curtain to see if they had caught the teacher's attention again. Luckily, the teacher wasn't near the stage at the time, though a couple students were looking in their direction.
She quickly made her way down the rope and helped to brush off some of the styrofoam bits that were stuck to Bruce's clothing.
"You are crazy. What has gotten into you today?" Mary Jane asked.
"Ditch school with me today." Bruce responded. "Just tell the nurse you are feeling sick."
"I can't. I don't want to get in trouble."
"C'mon. I really need to talk to you," Bruce pleaded.
"No. And I suggest you should go back to school as well. You don't want to get expelled."
"They won't expel me. I'm "The Flying Prince of Gotham," remember?"
Mary Jane smiled, rolling her eyes and shaking her head at the same time. "You don't worry about anything, do you, Bruce?"
"Pffft." Bruce chortled, amused by her comment, eventually giving her a smirk, as if to say, "You may be right."
Mary Jane took another peek through the curtains. That's when she saw the teacher heading in her direction. "The teacher's coming!" she warned Bruce, but when she turned to make sure he heard her, he was already gone.
The first thing Mary Jane did was look up to see if Bruce was hanging upside-down on the rope again, but he wasn't. She then gazed all around, but she still didn't see him anywhere.
"What are you doing back here?" The teacher questioned her.
"Oh… I… I lost one of my earrings… I was just trying to find it."
The teacher simply glared at her, suspecting Mary Jane wasn't telling the truth. "I thought I heard you talking to someone back here." The teacher said, looking around to see if anyone else was back there with her.
After not seeing anyone else, though skeptical, "Okay. Hurry up and find the earring," the teacher instructed. "We need to get these props done before the end of the week."
"Yes ma'am." Mary Jane replied, taking one last look around before heading back to the main stage area.
Since Bruce had to pass back through the Gymnasium to leave the school, he first decided to look for Flash Thompson. He knew Flash had Gym class at that time, and that he was most likely up in the weight room. Most of the time, freshmen weren't allowed in the weight room because they were considered too young, but Flash was two years older than most ninth graders, after being held back twice.
After Bruce found Flash, it wasn't very hard for him to convince Flash to ditch school. Flash was a little hesitant at first, worrying about getting expelled again, but he finally said, "Screw it! I'm sixteen. I could drop out if I wanted to."
"What are we going to do?" Flash asked as they exited the school.
"Just follow me. We are going to go create a little art." Bruce replied mischievously, revealing a couple cans of spray paint in his duffle bag.
The two of them made their way back to Gotham. Bruce paid the taxi driver a generous tip once again. He asked the taxi driver to drop them off about a block away from Wayne Enterprises. He then had Flash follow him around to the backside of his father's business.
"What are we doing here?" Flash asked, looking straight up at the endless skyscraper.
Bruce took out the two cans of spray paint and tossed one of them to Flash. "I told you already. We're going to make some art," he replied, vigorously shaking his can.
Bruce then proceeded to spell something out on the wall.
"THE WAYNES ARE FAKE!" he sprayed.
Flash stood dumbfounded. "The Waynes are fake… Why did you spray that on there?"
"Because we are. We live fake lives. My parents even prefer their fake wannabe son over me."
"What are you talking about?"
"I'm talking about my brother, Peter. He's adopted. They do anything he asks them to do… A charity case if you ask me!"
Flash wasn't sure how to respond. He wasn't much of a therapist.
"Are you going to paint something, or are you just going to stand there?" Bruce piped up.
Flash immediately started shaking the can. He then proceeded to paint a picture of a hand with its middle finger sticking up. Then he wrote, "FUK U BICH" underneath it, causing Bruce to laugh about the spelling.
Little did they know, a police officer was nearby. When the officer spotted what they were doing, he yelled out from the street for them to hold it right there.
"Shit!" Bruce exclaimed. "Run!"
The two of them dashed off in the opposite direction of the police officer. The officer tried to give chase, but the boys were much too quick, managing to zigzag through the alleys until they were able to find a safe place to hide for a second.
As they sat waiting for the coast to clear, Bruce asked Flash for a favor.
"Next Friday, everyone is going to be out of my house. My mother and father will be attending some stupid science fair with Peter, and Alfred and I will be at the Monarch Theatre. I want you to break into my house, go into Peter's room, and steal his first place prize winning model he made for the science fair. You are welcome to trash his room after that if you want."
"Wow, bro. You must really be pissed," Flash responded. "How will I get into the house? Don't you guys have top-notch security?"
"We do. But I can leave one of the windows open in the hallway closest to Peter's room. Even if a security alarm went off, you would have plenty of time to get out of there because my house is so far away from everything."
"Fine. I'll do it. But I can't afford to get caught. If I do, I'll be in Juvie until I'm eighteen."
"I can't wait to see the look on my brother's face when I get home that night." Bruce chuckled.