Chapter Text
“Have fun on your first field trip, Pete.” Dick hugs his 5-year-old son. “You’re going to have a wonderful time.”
“I love you daddy!” Little Peter says.
Dick kisses his boy’s cheek. “I love you too.”
The man smiles as he watches his son run excitedly towards the school.
The school trip was supposed to be fun and safe. It was a journey to a small petting zoo just outside of Gotham. Peter was supposed to learn about different farm animals, even get to pet and feed them. Something the boy was excited about.
Dick thought his only worry was Peter trying to convince his uncle Damian to get a bunch of chickens, pigs, maybe another cow.
Not Professor Pyg capturing the class to “experiment on”.
Barbra immediately notified all the bats about the 911 call from the bus driver.
Nightwing didn’t slow down for nothing. He got on his bike and fled to the scene.
Unfortunately, it was too late. The children and the teacher were all injected with some kind of experimental animal serum. Including Peter.
Dick held his baby as he took his finally breaths, his skin breaking out into sores, his little body couldn’t handle the intense changes.
Peter John Greyson died in Nightwing arms.
Red Hood, meanwhile, was beating up Pyg almost to death. Batman was able to stop his raging son from killing the mad man.
All of 17 children in Peter’s kindergarten class did not live past a day from being injected with the mysterious serum. Like Peter, their bodies couldn’t handle the amount of radiation in their bloodstream.
Peter’s teacher, Mrs. Patterson, was still alive, but her body was quickly breaking down. Apparently there was high amounts of radiation causing her skin to fall off and her DNA was actually getting destroyed by the minute.
Mrs. Patterson was actually able to give a statement. Pyg wasn’t working alone. There was an accomplice, a man to be in his mid 40s to 50s was the one doing the injections. He was wearing surgical scrubs. His head and hair was covered with a medical cap. His face was mostly covered with a medical mask as well. The only viable indicator the woman could give was that the man has blue eyes.
Maria Patterson died a week later from radiation poisoning.
Pyg was put in the hospital from his injuries from Red Hood. Before he could be questioned, he was killed. Cause of death? Sodium hypochlorite poisoning. A chemical that’s used in bleach and pool chlorine. It was injected into his IV.
When Batman and the authorities looked over the hospital cameras, they saw a mysterious doctor in surgical scrubs that Mrs. Patterson had described go into the crazy’s man guarded hospital room with no problems, was in there for around 5 minutes before leaving. The mysterious doctor motive for murdering the mad swine is most likely to keep him quiet. We all know dead men can’t speak.
When the gaurds were questioned, they said they thought the mysterious man was a doctor, he had a medical badge to prove it. For some reason they couldn’t recall his name, one said he thinks the name started with a C.
They searched the mysterious doctor for months, but it was like he vanished. They’ve continued to search but it always had to be paused to deal with situations in the present. Like Joker escaping Arkham, Firefly trying to burn down the city.
The whole Wayne family continues to mourn the loss of their youngest member. The manor didn’t feel lively anymore, it felt cold and empty.
The heart and light of the family was ripped from them. There were no laughter at the dinner table, no family movie nights in the living room, no more little pitter-patters running throughout the halls.
For the last two years, everyone has been trying to distract themselves of the pain in their vigilante work.
Nightwing became more violent to criminals, no one was stopping him.
On December 23rd, Gotham’s night sky lit up with pinks, blues, and purples. It looked like a more intense version of an Aurora Borealis. The whole ordeal lasted for 12 seconds in total.
12 seconds too long.
Batman was silently panicking, something was happening in his city and he needed to know fast. He began to contact the justice league to find out what this phenomenon is.
This wasn’t the first time and it may not be the last time that Peter Parker lands in a dumpster. “Parker luck…” the boy grumbles as he climbs out the large smelly metal bin.
His whole body ached, he wasn’t wearing his spidey suit. He looked at his wrist, his watch, Karen wasn’t with him. He felt his heart ache as tears well up.
He takes a cold deep breath to force himself to not cry.
He noticed he was in a snowed up alleyway. The realization sets in and he begins to shiver.
Peter glances at the sky to see a beautiful shades of blues and pinks. Like a bright watercolor painting. Hearing rumbles of what sounded like thunder in the distance. Before the teen could fully enjoy the light show it was gone.
Peter begins to hear a chorus of panic voices coming from every direction.
“What the hell was that!?”
“Was that a bomb!?”
“Is the world ending!?”
“What happened!?”
“The sky was pink!”
“It was purple!”
“It was blue!”
“The sky is always blue you dumb fuck!”
“Stop fucking yelling!”
Peter can help but feel bad. The sky exploding in cool tone colors may be his fault. He pulls his hood up and walks out into the street.
He wasn’t in New York. The architect is gothic, Peter knows no city in the in his state that looks like this.
Where did Dr. Strange sent me…?
“I don’t think just erasing your existence will be enough.” He remembers Dr. Strange say. “I might need to send you somewhere else.”
“Like where?” He remembers himself asking.
“Another universe. One where there isn’t a Peter Parker that exists.”
Peter walks in the cold streets of this strange new world he’s in. His spidey senses were buzzing, he could hear sirens going off all around him. This place was littered with crime.
The teen sniffles. The sun was rising an a new day as the sky gradually turns it natural state of blue.
He stops as he reads a sign.
GOTHAM CITY LIBRARY with an arrow pointing to the direction the building must be.
A library! What a perfect place to go. It’s free, should have some heating, and he could research this Gotham that he’s in.
With a new found purpose, he heads toward the library.
Stepping inside the warm library felt phenomenal after walking through the frigid winter of Gotham.
The smell of old books makes Peter’s senses relax. The carpeted floors dampens the echo of sounds.
He sees a bunch of children’s Christmas books and holiday themed novels on display at the entrance of the lobby.
Oh…
That’s right…
Tomorrow is Christmas Eve…
Peter takes another deep breath to force himself to not shed tears.
He needs to be brave. He’s Spider-Man. He can figure out where he is and how to navigate this new world.
Let’s go Spider-Man.
Aunt May wouldn’t want you to cry.
The teen steps in front of the Library’s counter, there’s a young blonde girl, probably the same age as him, at the counter. She looked tired. He glances at her name tag.
VOLUNTEER: Stephanie Brown
“Um, excuse me?” He coughs out.
The young woman looks up and her eyes immediately widen. “What happened to you?” She asks.
“Huh?”
“Your face is busted up.”
“Oh!” Peter remembers the battle at the Statue of Liberty before he got here. The cold must be slowly down his healing factor. “I got jumped.”
“You were jumped?” The girl, Stephanie asks.
He nods. “I was out last night and got jumped. They took everything I had.”
“Dude, this is Gotham. This is why we have a curfew.” The girl explained.
Gotham? Curfew?
“I’m new here and I got kicked out.” He lies smoothly.
“Your parents kicked you out in a new unknown city?” The girl looked angry for him. “Why did you guys move to Gotham of all places.”
“Oh no! My parents are dead.” He says quickly like that would make it any better. “I got relocated here after my aunt died. My uh, foster parents kicked me out.” In his mind, it was better to have faceless abusive guardians then making aunt May a neglectful parent, she was far from that.
“They figured out I’m… bi… and they kicked me out.” Peter lies again.
“Damn, I didn’t mean for you to tell me your life story.” She says. “Here, I can get you some clothes that we have from donations and you can wash up in the bathroom.”
“Oh no, you should save those for someone who needs them more.”
“Dude, you are the one that needs it more.”
In that moment, Peter felt silly. “Oh.”
The girl Stephanie grabs some clothes from a white box behind the counter that had “LOST AND FOUND” written in black sharpie. She hands the new dusty clothes to Peter.
“What if the person that left these comes back and-“ Peter tries to protest, but the girl doesn’t even let him finish the question.
“Bro, these clothes have been here for months, probably years, no one is coming to get them back.” Stephanie says. “The bathroom is by the non-fiction section to the right. If you want, give me your dirty clothes and I can have my supervisor was them. You can pick them up tomorrow.”
“Now wait a second-“
“Nope! No excuses! Get washed up.”
The girl waves Peter off towards the direction of the bathrooms. Once inside, he sees why the volunteer looked so worried. As he looks in the mirror he sees that his lip is busted, a slight black eye, and a cut on the forehead. It wasn’t too bad but the old blood that had previously bled out made him look worse.
He began to wash his face till the sink water ran clear. Once his face is cleaned, he changes his clothes.
The close that Stephanie gave him are warm and a tad big. They smell of dust, a lot better than his old clothes smelling like garbage and blood.
When Peter returns to the desk he found a black book-bag waiting for him.
“Here’s a Gotham welcome gift. It has some essentials, like a gas mask, some snacks, some bottles of water, extra clothes I could find, pamphlets for all the trusted shelters here, and one of those travel hygiene kits.” The girl explains with a smile.
Peter felt overwhelmed. “A-A gas mask!?”
“Yeah you’re in for one hell of a an adventure in Gotham. We have villains that like to gas the city and shit.”
“The city getting practical gassed is a common occurrence?!”
“Yep.”
“Is anything being done about that!?”
“The Bats try the best.”
Peter felt confused. “Bats? Like the animal!?”
The blonde began to laugh hysterically. The poor boy stood there confused as the volunteer is crying tears of laughter.
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry. The look on your face was priceless. No, Batman and his team.” The girl wipes her eyes.
“You have a hero named Batman!?”
“Yeah, here.” Stephanie writes down something on a yellow sticky note. “This is the password that gives you limited access to the computers. We’re supposed to only give guest two hours on the computers, but you’re gonna need more time than that for your research on Gotham. I would be more than happy to tell you everything but I need to do volunteer stuff.”
“Thank you.” Peter takes to sticky note. “Um, can I get a library card? Hold on, wait, I technically don’t have an address or phone number…”
“Nah, that’s fine. I can just put the library’s address and phone number. You can change it when you get settled.” Stephanie starts typing information into the computer.
“Would your supervisor be okay with that?”
“Pfft, yeah, she’ll be fine with it. Can I get a name?”
“Peter.”
Suddenly, the girls whole demeanor changes. Her fingers pause at the keyboard. She glances up at him. “Peter?” She repeats, she sounded so… mournful.
“P-Peter Parker.” He says feeling something twist in his stomach. “I-Is something wrong?”
“No no no, sorry. Nothing is wrong it’s just… I had a nephew named Peter. He died like two years ago. I just haven’t heard anyone with that name since he’s been gone.” She explains woefully.
“I’m sorry.”
“It’s not your fault. That’s your name. I shouldn’t have reacted like that.” She starts typing on the keyboard. “Parker, right?”
“Y-Yes!”
The blonde gets to back to typing. “Alright, you’re good to go! It should be ready in a day or so.”
Peter thanks the girl as she grabs his dirty clothes from his arms and shoves them in a plastic shopping bag.
“I recommend coming back tomorrow so you can pick up your clothes and your library card.” She smiles at him.
“Thanks again, Miss brown.”
“It’s adorable you’re being polite but please call me Steph. My mom is Mrs. Brown.”
Peter laughs all the way to the computers. The young man logs into the computer and begins his research.
“Tim…” Kon mumbles out softly over the phone.
“Please,” Tim pleads out. “Just humor me. The last time something like this happened in Gotham, Jason came back from the dead. I just need to know if it’s that again, but with Peter.”
In an instant, Kon is right by his best friend’s side.
The smaller man put his phone down. They both stood at the grave of Peter John Grayson that is located on the Wayne estate property.
Dick originally wanted to cremate his son, so he could have his little boy everywhere he goes. If the body is burned, it may release volatile radioactive materials and may contaminate equipment and be harmful to the crematorium workers.
You need a metal casket with a water resistant seal that also needed to be put in a concrete-lined burial vault to prevent rain and ground water from getting inside the casket and leaking out radioactive materials that can pollute the soil.
Dick couldn’t stand the idea of peter being put into the ground of a cemetery that the boy was never familiar with. Even if the man visits his son everyday, it still felt like he was abandoning them.
That’s when Bruce proposed the idea of just having Peter’s resting place on their estate’s property. With the right permits and money you can have a home burial on your own property in the state of New Jersey.
No one argued how morbid of an idea that was.
It worked out wonderfully. The family was able to have a beautiful funeral for Peter. A small service was held, no need to be worried about the reporters or the paparazzi crashing the funeral. Sadly do to the radiation the boy’s body possessed they had to have a closed casket for safety.
The family is able to visit Peter whenever they want no matter the time or day.
It was common to find Dick at his son’s grave, talking to him, singing to him, and sometimes he even at his food with him.
Alfred took pride in making sure the young master’s resting place was always perfectly pristine. The old man came out daily to clean the granite stone spotless. You will never see on speck of dirt on the tablet, not even a scratch! He made sure no weeds grew in that spot and hand clipped the grass because the boy hated loud noises.
During the warmer seasons, Alfred planted an array of picturesque flowers, all brightly colored to match the boy’s personality in life.
During the snowy months it was still the same care. Alfred would clear the snow off the grave, make sure it was even. Decorations were a substitute for flowers. The butler likes to make a small snow-man, more like a snow-Peter. The little snow-child is adorned with the boy’s old hat and scarf. He even puts glasses to represent the ones he use to wear in life.
Kon crouches down in front of the grave. The kryptonian would have been able to hear the boys cries all the way from Kansas. He would have been able to hear him beg and shout to be let out. For Tim, he needed to be thorough.
Because Tim needs thorough.
Kon can hear the snowflakes gently landing on the snow. He can hear Duke snoring as he slept inside the manor. He can hear the hum of electricity running through the mansion. He could hear the faint heart beats of ants as they hibernated.
What he couldn’t hear is a boy crying out for his dad. No scratching or movement in the casket where a child rests.
Kon turns his head toward Tim, looking at him somberly as he shook his head.
That was all it took for the Robin to collapse to his knees.
The Superboy quickly catches his friend.
“I want him back!” Tim began to sob. “I want my nephew back!”
Tim would do anything to hold Peter again, to do science experiments with him again, to take apart household appliances and run away from an angry butler.
He thought the universe was righting a wrong. Bringing back a little boy who didn’t deserve to have his life gruesomely taken away.
Tim has nightmare of that day. Of his older brother hold his nephew in his arms. Watching Peter take his last breaths as his skin peels off his flesh.
“I know, I know.” Kon holds him firmly. All he could do right now is to be there for him and continue to be there as long as his teammate needed him.
It’s been roughly 4 hours of research.
Boy, this City had issues. Peter manly focused his research on Gotham’s villains and heroes. Learning what he should be weary of.
He also to this time to make himself some fake documents. He has Ned’s previous lessons on hacking to thank for. He made himself a birth certificate, a very convincing fake social security number, made face documents for his parents, uncle Ben, and Aunt May.
Peter’s on the fence about going to school or just getting his GED. Hell, he could probably make a fake documents to go straight to college, he wasn’t sure if his moral compass could handle all that lying.
“What is this bag of clothes for?” Peter heard a familiar voice question.
“Oh, that’s for the kid at the computers. He was apparently mugged before coming here. He’s been recently kicked out and homeless. I offered for us to wash his clothes.” He hears Steph say.
“I can wash them then.” The familiar female voice says.
The voice made Peter click out of everything, logging off the computer, and began to walk towards the voice.
“He’s actually new to Gotham. I made him a little welcome bag and everything.” Stephanie sounded proud. “I put in an order to have a Library card made for him.”
“I’d like you to look into the foster care system. The kid was kicked out by his foster family or being Bi.” Stephanie adds in a hush voice that Peter wasn’t supposed to obviously hear but did do to his advance hearing.
“What’s his name?” The familiar voice asks.
“Peter…” The blond answer woefully. “Peter Parker.”
“Oh shit…” the voice sighs out as if she heard the most heartbreaking noise of her life. “He really has to have that name?”
When Peter gets the courage to walk up to the front desk, he sees a woman who has the same face as his Aunt May, she looked at Steph as she spoke. Her hair was more red than brown. Her eyes looked green instead of the dark honey color. She is wearing her glasses.
“M-May?” He chokes out weakly.
The red head looks up. “What was that-? Honey, are you okay!?”
Tears instant stream down his face.
“Peter,” Steph calls out in concern. “What’s wrong?”
So much for not crying today…