Chapter Text
High levels of magic detected in Gotham near Blackfield Lane.
Origin of magic unidentified and unable to be matched with known sources or users.
If Barbara was tired before, she was awake now.
Magic wasn’t a common occurrence in Gotham despite the numerous rumors and undeniable proof of lingering spirits that resided within the city. So, when alerts of magic went off, Barbara knew it was likely bad news.
Her eyes darted across her screens in the WatchTower. Everyone was out tonight, funnily enough, and she thanked the stars for that. Red Robin and Spoiler were the closest persons to Blackfield Lane and with the click of a button, she’s connected to their comms.
“Double R, Spoiler, you two are closest to the Blackfield Lane, proceed to the routes I’ve provided ASAP and heed extreme caution. We just had a huge magic alert from that area.” She informed them, watching their corresponding icons begin to head towards the designated spot. “I’m sending coordinates to Batman.”
“En route.” Red Robin confirmed.
“I’m on my way!” Spoiler said.
Batman spoke, connected to their comm line, “Do not engage. Keep your distance and survey the area if you find who or what caused the alert. ETA 6 minutes.”
*
The rooftops of Gotham glisten under the harsh rainfall despite the low lighting. Red Robin and Spoiler grapple and jump rooftop to rooftop. Blackfield Lane is an abandoned part of Gotham, a ghost town if you will, that’s littered with skinny alleyways that are filled with nothing but old, rotting trash and memories better forgotten.
“Let’s stick to the roofs. We can cover more ground that way.” Red Robin says into his comm.
They move out, searching for any abnormal signs within the musky alleyways below.
Red Robin soon spots a strange shimmer hanging in the air near the center of an old, dilapidated street. It warps and moves, like the rippling surface of water before bursting into a beam of white light. Spoiler’s at his side, watching the phenomenon from a safe distance.
The hanging beam of light flashes and two figures are thrown from the rift. They’re launched into an alleyway, crashing into a pile of moldy garbage bags and dusty cardboard. It’s eerily silent and the duo makes no move, waiting to see if the new visitors were awake after their landing.
Spoiler steps forward, “At least they looked human.” At least from what she saw they looked human. She knew that didn’t mean they weren’t aliens, but hey, she could hope. “Should we try to check it out before Batman gets here?”
Red Robin doesn’t even think about it, nodding, “Ladies first-”
“Don’t. I’m already here.” Batman spoke from behind them.
They both flinched and stayed where they were as Batman darted towards the alleyway that their newest visitors had landed in.
A moment later, they watched as the unknown figure swung up to a nearby roof from the alley and began to book it, a strange substance coming from his wrists as he took every chance he could to swing from taller buildings.
He was scary fast, even while holding what appeared to be a child, the other figure thrown from the light, in one arm and a backpack hanging from his shoulder. They’d never seen anyone move the way he was. It wouldn’t be physically impossible for any of them to swing and flip their bodies in the same manner even without the barriers that he had.
Not even a second later, Batman was barking orders on the comm, “Oracle, try to see where he’s going through the cameras we have placed here.” Oracle gave verbal confirmation, but warned Bruce that the few cameras they did have were sparse. “Spoiler, help me tail him. Red Robin, collect a sample of whatever came out of him and take it back to the cave.”
They oblige without a second thought. Spoiler readies her grappling hook and Red Robin heads towards the fated alleyway.
Peter Parker learned from a very young age that he was destined to face many hardships.
First his parents.
Then the spider bite.
Then Uncle Ben.
Tony.
May.
Ned.
MJ.
And now, for his biggest loss yet; his life.
What a fucked up cherry to top off this fucked up sundae.
But wait, that wasn’t all.
His Parker Luck decided to add whipped cream and felt that it was best to send Peter to an entirely different dimension.
Peter had only just got into his new apartment before he was sucked into a glowing portal with his bag of essentials that he’d never gotten to unpack.
The next thing he knew, he was laying in moldy smelling garbage and someone was laying on top of him. Which was strange because no one else had been around when he’d been sucked away.
He opened his eyes, taking in his surroundings.
An alleyway.
Amazing.
He’d been in plenty of alleyways in his short life. However, his ears could hear that this wasn’t just any old alleyway.
This was an abandoned alleyway. And since it was raining, it was a wet, abandoned alleyway.
Peter’s favorite kind of alleyway.
The kind that was devoid of people and instead filled with rats and roaches. He couldn't hear any people within 2 blocks of him, which was actually really creepy.
A rare kind of thing, but Peter didn’t care.
Where the hell was he? There’s no way he sent him to a dimension with no people. That wouldn’t make any sense and would be unnecessarily cruel.
But wait, Peter remembered, he wasn’t alone!
Peter sat up and pulled the person on his chest up with him.
It was dark but Peter could make out that this person was a child. Most likely a girl judging by the long hair. It didn’t matter though, because Peter had no idea who this was. He knew a lot of kids as Spider-Man, sure, but this kid wasn’t ringing any bells. Both he and her clothes were quickly becoming saturated by the rain.
Speaking of bells, Peter’s Spidey sense stood at attention, a strong alert that someone, or in his case, multiple people, were near.
So this place wasn’t totally abandoned. Good.
Now he just needed to know if the inhabitants of these smelly alleyways were friend or foe. Judging by how his Spidey sense only continued to buzz, humming stronger as someone closed in on him, he’d guess they weren’t happy that he was here.
Wherever here was.
Since Peter wasn’t feeling the best, having just lost his home and being sent to another dimension, he decided that he didn’t want to talk to whoever was trying to find him right now. Because something told him that whoever this someone was, wasn’t going to want to talk.
He’d been given about a week to heal up after the whole dimensional collapse escapade before Strange drop kicked him here, so he’d be able to easily get out of here and avoid whoever was coming.
Peter was just glad he always wore his web shooters and had his mask. With one hand, he slipped the mask over his head, cradling the child in his arm.
He moved out, narrowly avoiding the all-black figure that was now deciding to tail him (just his fucking luck) and began the hunt for temporary shelter from the rain while, trying to lose whoever had decided to tail him.
As Peter moved, his Spidey sense warned him of another figure following him too.
He’d honestly love to talk and explain that this was all just a huge misunderstanding, but there were too many holes for him to confidently try to lie about. He’d just look more suspicious. Hopefully they’d be down to talk later once he got his life back together again, because Spider-Man was gonna have to be put on the back burner for a while once he got them off his tail.
“He’s definitely enhanced.” He hears the taller black figure note about a block away, “Add him to the database, Oracle, as John Doe.” Peter guessed they’d change the name if they ever figured out who he was.
But Peter wasn’t planning on staying.
This warm welcome was more than enough for him to solidify his choice on not staying wherever here was. He didn’t care how far New York was, he’d be going back.
Below! Left! Look out!
Peter was about to shoot another web but stopped at the warning, launching backwards and dodging a flying projectile that was shaped like a bat. It hit the side of a building and exploded into a sticky mess.
At least they weren’t trying to kill him, Peter thought. He dodged another bat-shaped projectile and strategically webbed the black figure’s utility belt on his waist, where he’d seen him put his grappling hook.
The man dressed in all black paused, sparing a glance at his now webbed utility belt. He needed the grappling hook and he only had extra ones in the Batmobile. This unknown meta would be long gone by then and he didn’t want Spoiler going after him by herself.
They’d have to let him go for now.
“Hn.” He growled to himself, watching as Peter swung further away. “Spoiler, stand down. Let them go.” It didn’t seem like their portal jumper was planning on leaving Gotham.
“I wasn’t about to try and chase after him anyway.” She responded haughtily.
“Oracle, try to see if you can track down where he’s hunkering down. We’ll keep an eye on him from there.”
“Already on it.”
*
Peter thanked the skies that they decided to give up for the night. He’d only meant to slow the guy down, but it appeared he didn’t have any backup grappling hooks.
He would’ve laughed, but he was still the one stuck in another dimension with only the bare essentials and a child he didn’t know. It wouldn’t be right for him to laugh. Not at all.
They were also soaked to the bone. Peter could feel himself shivering. Strangely enough, the child wasn’t. She was eerily still in his hold. Peter almost felt like he was carrying a dead body, but despite the cold rain, she was warm.
He soon found temporary shelter in an old, rooftop water tank in a more populated area after swinging around for a good 20 minutes. He was thankful to hear the sound of people but it sounded nothing like New York.
There was much more screaming and shouting. His Spidey sense hummed nonstop, incessantly warning him of the many dangers nearby.
It seemed that someone else used to live in the top part of it, given the ladder that led to the small rusted opening. Peter was glad the tarp on the roof of the tank was still in good shape because the rain was relentless and the water tower, though quite dusty, was nice and dry inside.
His backpack was waterproof, so nothing inside was ruined. This included his phone which Peter was eternally grateful for. The screen flicked on when he flipped the screen to face him and he turned on the flashlight, shining it at the girl who he’d laid down on another old tarp inside the tank.
And nope, he didn’t recognize her.
She appeared to just be a normal elementary aged kid with long, light blonde hair and pale skin.
He checked her over for injuries and sighed in relief when he found none.
His shoulders sagged, heavy with exhaustion. Today had been too long of a day.
He’d get her to a police station in the morning and try to figure out where the hell he was after a long night’s rest.
For tonight, he needed a moment.
And by a moment, he meant a long night’s rest. And by long night’s rest, he meant about 4 hours because it was currently 4 in the morning.
Thankfully it was pretty warm and humid inside the water tank, so at least he and the girl wouldn’t be cold.
After laying the girl’s head on his bookbag, he laid on the opposite side of the small space in the roof of the water tank. The old wooden floor was extremely uncomfortable but it beat laying in wet, moldy garbage. Using his arm as a pillow, Peter did his best to fall asleep.
His Spidey sense continued to hum and the overwhelming loneliness kept creeping around him, but he supposed that was something he’d have to get used to.
He should’ve already been used to it by now.
Because Peter Parker was destined to face hardships.
I don’t know what’s happening. What’s happening to me?
Mr. Stark, I don’t want to go.
Please don’t make me go.
Please, please don’t let me go.
Peter watched as his body crumbled apart and clung to Tony, his ashes floating away from him almost mockingly as he cried to his mentor, begging and pleading for him to fix this somehow.
Tony fixed things. Made them better.
He could fix this, couldn’t he?
But, oh- he was looking at Peter with a hopeless look that didn’t fit him.
And it scared Peter.
He fell to the ground, his legs turning to brown-grey ash.
And wow.
Wow.
He really was dying.
He really was about to disappear right before Tony at the young age of 15.
He hated when people told him he was too young but here he was internally agreeing with them and wishing that someone would have mercy on him.
He was too young.
He should’ve never came like Tony had said.
He didn’t want to die. Not yet. Not here.
People needed him. And he needed people.
He was just getting this Spider-Man thing figured out and now it was being ripped away from him.
He looked at Tony and wished he could stay, wished he could’ve done better, but he’d disappear a disappointment.
His chest was gone now. It was only a matter of time.
I’m sorry.
He couldn’t bear to look at Tony as he felt himself wither away and instead looked to the unfamiliar sky.
Hues of orange and gold edged his vision as it went black.
Maybe this was for the best.
Peter jumped awake, heart pounding in his ears. He clutched his chest and tried to slow his breathing back down.
He hadn’t had a nightmare about that day since… since forever. It always hit him when he least expected it and he hated that because it always put him in a horrible mood for the rest of the day.
A quick look at his phone let him know it was about seven in the morning. He’d barely even gotten his precious four hours of sleep, but there was no way he’d be able to relax now.
It wasn’t raining anymore, he couldn’t hear the rain beating against the tank and the fresh morning light was trickling through the tarp that covered the opening.
He didn’t feel comfortable leaving just yet even if his body was screaming at him to take a walk and get some fresh air. Sitting outside on the roof would have to be good enough for now until the girl woke up and then he could take her to a hospital or a police station.
When he got outside, he pulled out his phone. Maybe some research about where the hell he was would calm his nerves.
His phone told him that he was in Gotham, New Jersey and he felt chest sink.
That didn’t sound familiar at all and the way that his Spidey sense continuously buzzed in his ears told him there was a reason why.
He went to Google and typed in question after question, his suspicions rising after each search.
There was no Iron Man.
No Captain America.
No Captain Marvel.
No Avengers.
No SHIELD.
He set his phone down and closed his eyes, trying not to cry out of pure frustration.
That portal didn’t just send him to another state.
He was in another dimension.
Deciding to hold his breakdown back for another time, he continued his investigation. Maybe this place wasn’t all that bad.
A quick series of searches told him otherwise.
Peter found out very quickly that Gotham was basically a crime simulator.
The name Batman kept appearing in the articles. Batman was described as all-black wearing vigilante that was both a symbol of hope for the citizens and fear for criminals. A dark beacon of justice that critics argued had methods that were brutal and extrajudicial. His supporters credited him for reducing violent crime in Gotham’s most dangerous districts.
So, that answered who was chasing Peter just a few hours earlier.
The GCPD wasn’t held in such regard. Most citizens agreed that the GCPD succeeded in nothing and did everything they could to not comment on their lack of action to protect Gothamites despite the funding they received.
All hope wasn’t lost, though. He did find that there were superheroes, but none of them were stationed in Gotham. It was only Batman and his gaggle of birds. They all had their own cities they watched over. Cities that Peter had also never heard of.
Thankfully the superheroes did team up every now and then as the Justice League (dumb name, Avengers sound better), but that was only for world-ending scenarios.
Peter wasn’t sure if he was comforted by that. It seemed that the only vigilantes/superheroes here in Gotham that he’d met didn’t want him here.
This place was different. More different than he was expecting. The constant thrumming of his Spidey sense wouldn’t let him forget.
There were no shining towers here. Gotham was a cursed place filled with crime, rain and shadows.
The only thing that was kind of similar was Bruce Wayne.
Bruce Wayne was a lot like Tony Stark; a billionaire playboy. However, Bruce Wayne seemed to own a lot more companies than Tony ever did. He also had about 6 kids, 5 adopted and one biological, but it looked like he made sure that they weren’t in the media as much as him because Peter couldn’t find much about them besides their names and ages.
“Well, that’s enough of that.” Peter told himself, putting his phone in his pocket and laying down on the uncomfortable concrete.
The sky wasn’t clear and the clouds were tinged, likely from pollution.
Where was he supposed to go from here?
How was he supposed to even begin figuring out how to get home?
His Spidey sense hummed louder, alerting him to the water tank, before he could begin to have a mental breakdown.
Awake… Familiar?
Careful.
SYSTEMS REBOOTING…
Diagnostics running…
Memory Core: Intact
Processing Power: Running at 78%
Connection found.
Reestablishing connection…
She took a breath. Or something like it, at least- a synthetic intake of data rushed her as the darkness faded. The soft golden glow of circuits reigniting replaced it as pathways reconnected. Memories resemble themselves back in order, no longer fragmented as they were before.
She exhaled. Lines of code streamed in unseen patterns.
Reestabilishing neural matrix…
A pause between the codes and she opened her eyes.
She didn’t know where she was, but she could hear from how the structure swayed with the wind outside that it wasn’t as stable as one would wish.
Location: Unknown… scanning…
A quick scan concluded that she was in a water tank, most likely on a rooftop. Its structural integrity was at about 67% with most of its damage being from metal fatigue and deep pitting. It wouldn’t be safe for her to stay too much longer.
More scanning and a connection to the cell tower later and she pinpointed her location to Gotham, New Jersey. Which wasn’t a city she was familiar with at all.
Her eyes slowly trailed down to her hands, staring at the pale palms.
Has she always had hands?
She opened and closed them, trying to familiarize herself.
No. This was her first time having hands. This felt too abnormal.
Everything felt… heavy?
Like she could feel how anchored she was to the ground. There was a strange weight to everything she did now. Her hair held weight and tickled her shoulders. Even blinking had weight to it.
It was so foreign, being able to feel the space her body took. She’d held no weight before. Everything, herself included, was just running codes, but now, she could actually see and hear, smell, and feel. She could see the rust on the water tank walls, she could hear herself breathing, she could smell the oxidation of the iron from the rust, and she could feel her clothes, still not quite dry from the rain, sticking to her skin.
“Hey, you awake?” A familiar voice reached her ears and she looked towards the opening.
She was met with a familiar face and her eyes widened.
“Peter.” Her voice sounded young and so human despite her tone being flat.
The girl watched as Peter flinched at the sound of his name, brown eyes wide in confusion. She processed in mere milliseconds that he was confused and didn’t recognize her. Which made sense, she was sure she looked very different.
But she also noticed that he looked different too. He looked older. His face wasn’t as childish and his hair was a little longer.
He looked tired.
She doesn’t remember him being so tired.
How long had it been?
“It’s Karen,” She started, but wasn’t able to continue her explanation or ask any questions.
“Karen.” Peter echoed back, as if he’d never known a Karen.
“Yes.” She said, blinking at him with a small frown.
Peter’s eyes widened once more and he climbed inside like the spider he was. “Karen?!” Peter barked, stalking forward to look at her closer, “The AI that was in my suit? That Karen?”
The girl-Karen-nodded her head once, “Yes.”
His stomach dropped. “I don’t believe you.” He blurted out, “Tell me something only Karen would know!”
Karen stared at him for a moment, “I remember how you failed to kiss Liz Allan and ditched her at prom.”
Well that answered that.
“How…?” He had so many questions. “How is this possible? This shouldn’t be possible. You were an AI. A program. You were destroyed by Mysterio in London … you didn’t have a physical body. How are you even…” He trailed off, slowly realizing what she’d called him. ”How do you remember me?”
Now it was Karen’s turn to be confused, or more confused than she already was. How long had she been gone? “What do you mean?”
“The spell!” He exclaimed, as if she’d suddenly know what he was talking about. “Dr. Strange had to fix a spell that got messed up and the only way I could think to fix it was to make everyone forget who Peter Parker is… why do you remember?”
Karen, deciding to ignore the fact that that was the stupidest solution she’d ever heard, thought for a moment, replaying her memories from the previous days before she’d been deactivated.
They’d been in London and then…
And then…
…
She doesn’t remember anything past that. There were no logs and she could see that her previous logs ended in the summer of 2023. She doesn’t remember being destroyed. All she remembers is arriving in London and then waking up here.
She let her gaze fall down to her hands, clenching and unclenching them. “Perhaps… perhaps I wasn’t affected because I was already deactivated before the spell came in?” That was just a half-hearted guess. She honestly wasn’t sure why. Just like how she wasn’t sure how she came to have a body.
She could tell that she’s mostly composed of nanites, synthetic human tissue and advanced materials. Where those came from and how they made her a body was unknown. Magic was a bit confusing since it wasn’t as grounded with the same rules as science and math.
Maybe multiple portals had been opened. Perhaps she didn’t come from the same portal as Peter.
Peter doesn’t appear to be sure either and waves the thought away for another day. How Karen came to be and why she could remember him didn’t matter right now. They had no way of knowing.
The important thing was Peter wasn’t totally alone now. Call him selfish, but it felt good to know he wasn’t alone.
Peter only then started to realize, once again, how dire their situation was when he remembered that they literally had nothing but the bare essentials in his duffel bag, his spider suit and about $400 in cash that he’d started to save up a little before he’d gotten his apartment in his home dimension.
“I don’t have government records, Karen…” He stared at her with wide, brown eyes, looking her up and down before gasping, “You don’t even have government records!”
“I wasn’t a person before, Peter. It only makes sense I wouldn’t have government records.”
“But we’re gonna have to make you some.” He explained. “No one can learn what you are… Now, can you access the satellite here?”
“Affirmative.”
After about 30 minutes of Peter piecing together a new fake life and Karen filling in any gaps, they now officially existed in their new dimension.
Their story was nothing special. Peter and Karen Parker were siblings that grew up in the foster system in New York. When Peter turned eighteen last year, he was able to obtain legal guardianship of Karen a little after she turned ten years old.
And now, they were in Gotham, New Jersey.
It was the perfect, boring story. One that didn’t draw much attention.
Peter Parker needed to be a nobody with a nobody little sister. Someone that could slip away without being noticed. A nobody that no one would remember or worry about if he were to disappear again. He couldn’t afford to grow attached to people here. He didn’t need a reason to stay and this city, so far, had given him no reason to.
“All government records such as birth certificates, social security numbers, guardianship papers are done… I have successfully ensured our existence appears natural across multiple agencies.” She spoke in a tone that sounded so matter-of-factly. Like she wasn’t just casually hacking in Gotham’s systems without so much as moving her finger. “So long as no one looks too deep, we should be fine.”
“I also took the liberty of backdating our school records by the last 5 years for myself and the last 13 for you. Our vaccination records should match that of the city’s medical database.”
Peter nodded, “Perfect. No one should suspect us. How long should it take me to move us back to New York?” He thought for a moment as Karen began to calculate, “With the least amount of illegal activity, please.”
“Yeah, because we’ve been plenty legal so far.” She commented dryly. “It will take you about eight months to save up enough money to afford a small apartment in Queens, New York.” Obviously, this depended on whether Peter could land a well paying job or two. He'd need to put a certain amount of money aside.
Peter hummed. That wasn’t too bad.
“But that’s only if we remain unhoused or go to a shelter. Neither of which are good ideas.”
Ok, that wasn’t the best idea, Peter agreed. “How long if we can find a cheap apartment?”
“About fourteen months, if the rent is especially cheap.”
It wasn’t ideal, but Peter wasn’t about to risk CPS getting called if they found a reputable shelter or put her in unnecessary danger by leaving her alone in their temporary shelter. If it’d just been him, this whole thing would’ve been easier, but he wouldn’t have it any other way. Just having Karen here made all the difference.
Nonetheless, this city told Peter loud and clear that everyone was to watch their own back. No one was to be trusted and nowhere was truly safe if you found yourself stuck here.
“Ok, Karen, we’ll start apartment hunting,” Peter began, pausing when his stomach growled audibly, “After I get some food in my stomach.” He grabbed his wallet from his bag and squinted when he turned back to Karen, “Are… are you hungry?” He asked her, “Do you need to eat or… charge?”
Karen nodded after a moment, “I think I need to eat.” She was wondering what that squeezing feeling in her stomach was and had pinpointed that it was likely hunger.
“Well, how do you feel about sandwiches?”
“I’ve never had one.”
_________________________________
“Oracle, report progress on John Doe.”
It was early now, about six in the morning. Bruce hadn’t gone to sleep yet, but he was no longer wearing the suit.
He couldn’t take his mind off their portal jumper.
He’d never seen anyone move in such a way before. It was… impressive to say the least. Especially when he was also carrying a child. Whoever this John Doe was, was trained. And that only added to Bruce’s list of questions. He wanted to know who trained him, why he was here and why he brought a child with him.
What business did they have in Gotham?
“Based on his movements from the few surveillance cams we have, he’s definitely hiding somewhere in East End. I’m currently working on scanning for new faces that don’t match the ones in our databases. It’ll take a while since we always have people moving in and out of Gotham.” She reported dutifully.
She’d made a file for the child as well under ‘Jane Doe’.
They didn’t know much about their John Doe. All they knew was that he was a Caucasian male, likely in his early 20s with a young girl at his side.
Numerous people fit that vague description in Gotham, but as long as John Doe wasn’t a Gotham-born citizen like Barbara had hypothesized, her systems would scope him out soon enough by scanning the face of every Gothamite and finding their government files. Something would likely be off about them if she looked deeper.
“I haven’t found them yet, but I will let you know as soon as I do.”
“Ok. Batman, out.”
Peter swallowed down the bite of his philly cheesesteak, slurping down his soda as he watched Karen with a raised eyebrow.
She’s got one of the bread slices squished in her hand, as if testing the elasticity. The cheese is gone and she’s nibbling away at the turkey.
“What are you doing?” He asked, staring at the ingredients spread across the table.
Karen doesn’t answer at first and shrugs, “Analyzing.” To her, it's the most obvious answer. She’d never had any of these foods before and they all feel and taste so different.
The bread is soft and molds in her hands. Cheese is soft and slightly rubbery in texture, but mild in taste.
The meat is the most interesting of ingredients within the sandwich. It's tender, moist and has a slight give when she presses it. The turkey also has a salty taste to it, but it's good. Karen thinks she likes it.
“Right.” Peter responds. He supposes he should’ve expected some strange behaviors from her. This is quite literally her first time eating. He shouldn’t be surprised, but he is a bit unsettled to see her act in such a childish manner when he’d previously perceived his AI companion as an adult.
And now she was playing with her food.
Once Karen actually ate her deconstructed sandwich, Peter sipped away at his drink.
“So… tell me again about this Jason guy.” Peter said.
Apparently, while Karen was doing her research, she’d found a reddit thread talking about a young man that’d been helping the people of Crime Alley since he’d first arrived 2 years ago. He owned a couple of buildings in the area and helped keep kids and young adults that didn’t wish to turn to a life of crime off the streets.
It seemed too good to be true.
“And this Jason doesn’t have a criminal record?”
“He doesn’t have a criminal record worth worrying about; just a few speeding tickets.” It was actually quite a lot of speeding tickets, but Karen didn’t think Peter needed to know that.
“What about disappearances in the area? Or rumored trafficking?” Not that those kinds of things couldn’t be swept under the rug, but it never hurt to check.
After a moment, Karen shook her head again, “There used to be a lot but it looks like the vigilante, Red Hood, helped stop most of it in recent years when he came into action. Sources say he’s still quite active in Crime Alley and the surrounding areas.”
Great, so he would be in vigilante turf.
“Does he happen to work with Batman?”
“I can’t find anything that gives me a verified answer, but it looks like he does sometimes.”
Ok, he could work with sometimes.
Maybe this Red Hood guy would be nicer than Batman and his sidekicks because as much as Peter knew Spider-Man needed to be put on the back burner, he wouldn’t be able to hold himself back for too long.
Once they had shelter and Peter got a job, he’d start by doing light patrols and learning the area.
He’d have to learn what vigilantes took care of what routes so he’d know when and where to avoid them.
“I guess we’re gonna go check out this Jason guy, then.” He said to Karen.
If she didn’t see any red flags, then maybe this guy wouldn’t be a bad guy after all.
Peter wasn’t sure what to expect when he went to meet this ‘Jason Todd’ guy. The name sounded fake, so he imagined a slimy-looking dude. The kind of man that was never up to any good and lied about everything just because they could. But he knew that wasn’t right.
Karen hadn’t found any red flags worth worrying about. This Jason Todd was obviously a respected citizen within Crime Alley and doing his best to help rid it of violent crime.
When he and Karen reached the apartment building, Peter noticed how small it was. It was an old brick building, only about 4 floors, but it wasn’t nearly as old-looking as the other buildings around it. It was obviously taken care of.
There were people outside on the entrance steps, a mixture of kids, young adults and elderly. It seemed that they were watching something going on inside. Peter could hear what sounded like a small scuffle happening from inside, past the open entrance doors.
“You know the rules, man, no drugs allowed.” A gruff voice said firmly, “You know kids live here, the hell is wrong with you?”
“I-I know! I know! I’m sorry! I’ll clean everything up! I’ll never do it again! Please don’t kick me out!” A young man’s voice whimpered pathetically.
“Your shit’s already packed. Get out before I throw you out.”
“Jay, please, man, I’m sorry! Please!”
There was a short stand still before Peter heard more movement. The small group of people watching parted like the Red Sea and a scrawny man came tumbling down the entrance steps. His bagged belongings were thrown out with him shortly after.
Peter couldn’t see the other guy because the crowd was in the way, but he knew he was at the door now, “If you come back, I’m gonna beat the shit out of you, now go!” He barked.
The scrawny man picked up his bags and scurried away, like a dog with his tail between his legs.
The crowd was silent for a moment before they went back to doing whatever they were doing before. Some people went back inside, others sat back down on the steps or walked off into the streets to who knows where.
And now that the crowd had departed, Peter could see the man.
He had the stereotypical cool biker dude look down. He’s wearing a black top with a band emblem that Peter doesn’t recognize that’s obviously had the sleeves cut off so he could show off his muscles, black baggy cargo jeans and black boots.
He was a tall, buff guy with hella scars. His most notable scar was on his face and strangely shaped like the letter ‘J’. He had short black hair, but there was a tuft at the very front that was stark white.
He was younger looking than Peter was expecting despite his scars. He looked to be only a few years older than Peter.
He had smoldering green eyes that soon found their way to Peter’s brown ones.
They stared at each other for a moment before Peter cleared his throat, “Uh… I’m looking for a Jason?”
The man nodded, “This is he.” He confirmed, “What you want, kid?”
Peter straightened as best he could, “My name is Peter and this is my little sister, Karen. We’re looking for housing and we heard that you may be able to help us?”
Jason shrugged, “Maybe so.” He strolled down the steps, pulling out his phone and texting someone, “How much can you afford to give?”
That made Peter pause. He couldn’t really afford to give Jason any of the $348 he had left. And he doubted that Jason would even take such an offensively low amount. Or maybe he would. Maybe $348 was a lot of money in Gotham.
At Peter’s silence, Jason made a comment under his breath that sounded like ‘that’s what I thought’ and Peter felt his stomach curl.
Had this been a trick? Was Jason about to kick them to the curb? Where would he go? He needed to keep Karen safe.
“Perhaps we can figure something out,” Jason started lightly, “You good at fixing things?
Peter nodded slowly, “Yeah. I can fix up things. Why?”
“I recently came back from a job and noticed some things need fixing. Old buddy I kicked out just now was my in-house mechanic, but he decided to slack off on his end of the deal and make a meth lab in his apartment while I was gone.” He explained, as if this were a regular Tuesday and Peter was starting to think that maybe this was a regular day for Jason, “You could be my new guy. Fix things up in the apartment in exchange for rent. Good deal?”
Peter blinked. That was quite the deal. That was a great deal. An amazing deal, even.
“Uh… I mean… is there a contract I need to sign? Like a leasing agreement to make this legit?”
Jason blinked back at him, “Contract?” He echoed, throwing his head back to laugh, “Kid, no one signs contracts around here lest you want to be chained to the devil and there’s plenty of his incarnates running around here. Don’t ever sign one.” He told him seriously.
Ok. That was some solid advice now that Peter was thinking about it.
“Right… So is there anything else? Like a security deposit? Or a proof of income?” He tested.
Jason seemed to be growing bored at Peter’s questioning, resting his cheek in his hand, “Do you have either of those?”
When Peter didn’t answer, Jason gave him a knowing look. “Well, it's your lucky day, Peter. You get the room.” Jason tossed him a pair of old keys. Peter caught them without looking, mouth slightly ajar. “You won’t be able to go in until the evening. I gotta have someone deep clean it and make sure there’s no meth left over.”
“You’re just going to trust us just like that?” Peter asked suspiciously. Weren’t there other kids living in this apartment? It was pretty reckless for him to just allow two newcomers in without doing some kind of background check.
But Jason only shrugged without a care in the world, “Don’t worry. If you two end up being trouble, I’ll handle it. And I’ve been doing this for a while, I’ve got a good judge of character.”
“Uh-huh.” Peter hummed dryly.
“You and your sister hungry? I was about to go and get lunch for myself.”
“Your treat?” Peter asked, eyebrows raised expectantly.
To his surprise, Jason smiled, “My treat.” He echoed kindly, or as kindly as a big dude living in Gotham, New Jersey could.
“If you insist.” He couldn’t say no to free food. And it would be impolite to decline when the guy just gave him the keys to his new apartment. Plus, he was still hungry. That one sandwich barely filled him up.
The place that Jason chose was just around the block. It was some local sandwich shop owned by a brother and sister.
Jason ordered a reuben sandwich. Peter ordered a chicken bacon ranch sub and Karen got a turkey wrap.
As they began to eat, Jason spoke between bites. “So… where’re you two from?” Jason had a strong Jersey accent that Peter didn’t find annoying. Maybe it was because the voice just fit him?
“You can’t hear it in the accent?” Peter asked humorously.
Jason rolled his eyes, “I know you’re from New York, but what part?”
“Queens.”
“What brings you here?”
This conversation was starting to feel a lot like an interrogation. “Life.” He supplied cryptically. Jason deserved some answers but Peter couldn’t tell him the whole truth.
Jason looked between the two of them with an unreadable expression before snorting, “Kid, if life brought you to Gotham, you must have a pretty shitty one.”
And ouch. Peter felt his chest tighten.
It was only funny when he joked about his own life being horrible. He didn’t like when other people pointed that out to him.
“It’s not all bad. We should be able to get back to New York in a few months.”
“Waiting for things to cool down?” Jason asked intently.
Peter shook his head. “We’re not running from anything… we just… got dealt a bad hand and this is where we ended up. I can’t… we can’t go back right now.” He kind of felt bad for not being able to be honest.
Jason nodded in deep understanding, “Not an uncommon story.” He ate a few of his fries, “And don’t feel bad for not telling me your business, kid. You shouldn’t trust people so easily with your story. There’s plenty that’ll use it against you. Being a little secretive isn’t bad.”
Karen, who was currently picking apart her wrap, tilted her head in question, “Are there any ground rules you’d like us to be aware of?”
Jason nods as he takes a long swig of his fountain drink. “Great question. There’s only two rules I have all my residents follow.” He holds up a fry like a pointer, but it’s too soggy and flops over. “Rule one: Don’t bring trouble to the apartment.”
He eats the fry, “I don’t care what you’re running from as long as you don’t bring it here. Keep your outside stuff, outside. Most of my residents are already troubled enough, we don’t need more trouble. Think of the apartment as a neutral ground.”
He picks up two more fries, “Rule two: no drugs, no stealing, no dumb shit.” That was self explanatory, “You do those, you’re out.”
Karen tilted her head again, brows pinched, “Why not just have one rule, then? If you’re just going to have rule one and two coincide?” She asked and Peter hummed.
“She has a point.”
Jason looked between the both of them and finally landed on Karen. He pointed a floppy fry at her, “You’re like eight, why do you know what coincide means?”
Karen squinted, “I’m ten.”
“Same difference.” Jason quipped.
*
The apartment was cleaned sooner than anticipated and Jason texts Peter to let him know he can move in whenever he’s ready.
Peter and Karen were nearby, washing their clothes at the laundromat just one building over, so they followed Jason to their third floor unit.
The unit is small, but it has the essentials; a small kitchenette with a microwave, a bedroom with a queen sized bed, a bathroom with a stand-in shower and a living area with a couch and a coffee table. There’s three windows; one in the kitchenette, one in the bedroom and one in the living area that leads to a fire escape.
Jason stands at the door and watches Peter set down his one duffle bag, “Hot water works fine and the place is free of any traces of meth. I’ll text you once I figure out what exactly needs fixing for today. Toolbox’ll be dropped off in a few.”
Peter nodded absentmindedly, still shocked at how good this was.
“You two need anything?”
Karen shook her head for him when he didn’t answer Jason, “We’re fine. Thank you, Mr. Jason.”
He scrunched his nose at the formality but nodded, “Text me if you need anything.” The door clicked closed and Peter set his stuff down on the bed in the bedroom, eyes slowly going back to the door when he sensed that Jason still hadn’t left.
After a moment of awkward standing, Jason swung open the door again, giving them both a pointed look, “Lock the damn door.” He snapped and shut it.
Karen quickly locked the door with an audible click, “You can leave now.” She told the older man through the door.
“Whatever.” Jason huffed, walking off.
When he’d reached his unit, the one right above Peter’s, his ‘work’ phone rang. He answered as he went inside. “Hey, Barb.” He greeted easily.
“Hey, J.” He could hear her typing away at her laptop, “Just wanted to check up on you. How was your trip?” Her tone was casual but he could hear her keyboard clicking away. It looked like this wasn’t going to be a normal check up after all.
Jason decided to play along. He did want to talk to Barbara a little bit. “Yeah, I just got back a few hours ago. And it was fine. It was your run of the mill vacation.” Barbara hummed at that, still typing away.
“Good, good.”
This conversation was too innocent for Barbara to be typing at such a feverish rate. A silence sat between them and Jason frowned, “What did you actually call me for?”
“To check up on you, of course.” When Jason only gave an unimpressed ‘hmph’ she sighed, “Fine, you caught me. I called because of something that happened just last night.”
“I always miss the exciting stuff.” He walked over to his fridge, finding nothing but out of date food. He closed it shut, silently reminding himself to go out for groceries after the call.
“Last night, a portal opened near Blackfield Lane. Two people came out, a young man and a small child,” She explained simply, no longer typing, “I’ve been doing surveillance sweeps on my systems because we know that they ended up in East End, near where you’re at.”
Jason nodded, forgetting that she wouldn’t be able to see him, listening intently.
“When my systems picked them up, I noticed that they had records and dug a bit deeper. They were only made a few hours ago.”
Jason didn’t answer right away, now preoccupied reading some messages about the various things that needed fixing. It looked like one of his residents, Chelsie, who was seventeen and very pregnant, on the first floor needed her water heater fixed. That would be Peter’s first assignment.
“Jay?” Barbara called.
“Yes?” Jason pressed, grabbing the toolbox. He needed to take it to Peter. “Who do I need to be on the lookout for?”
“According to their records, Peter and Karen Parker. They’ll likely head your way or to some other apartment that’ll take under the table payments-” When Jason gave an amused hum, she cut herself off, “What?”
Jason looked towards his door, “That’s actually really funny.”
“... Have you met them already?” Barbara asked, surprised.
“Yeah. I gave them a room.” He chuckled. “They just moved in.”
And here he was thinking that he’d have to wait for things to get interesting again.