Chapter Text
The floor seemed wonderfully solid.
It was comforting to know I had fallen
and could fall no further.
-Sylvia Plath
Waking up in a laboratory is never good news, regardless of the state of it. Peter firmly believes this is a very good way to assess the urgency of a situation.
Waking up under a building? It's bad, it sucks, not the worst thing imaginable but not a good experience overall.
Waking up in a lab? Well that is a problem, because one only ends up in a laboratory as the scientist or…
The experiment.
He doesn’t need to look around much to figure out which end of the stick he has drawn.
Fucking Dr. Strange, actually, fuck that guy. Sorry aunt May but he has definitely won the right to curse.
May, fuck, yeah no, problem for another time, can’t have a breakdown, getting out of creepy lab came first.
It was in a terrible estate if Peter was honest, broken glass everywhere and no one in sight, he couldn’t hear a single heartbeat in at least a mile radius.
Taking a deep breath Peter forced himself to stand up from the dissection table, he felt his internal injuries healing slowly and his stomach protested from hunger.
It took more effort than it should to get up, slowly he looked down just to find himself naked, and covered in webs.
Real, spider webs, not his synthetical webs.
Could his luck get any worse?
“Fuck” Peter says, and that’s all his thought process.
There are no functioning cameras, he can feel no eyes on him, his spider-sense is surprisingly silent.
“Okay, clothes, food, mental breakdown after” He decides before he trips on his own feet and almost faceplants on the floor.
With a sigh he begins to search around the lab in hopes of finding something that resembles normal clothing, he does, kinda, a blue hoodie that is definitely too big and some pants.
No underwear, because of course there isn’t.
He has to remember what Dr. Strange told him before shoving him into a portal, blablabla end of the world, blablabla family, blablabla take care Peter.
Ah yes, such a thoughtful explanation Dr. Strange, the fabric of time is breaking and the solution is to throw Spider-Man into an alternative dimension far away enough so it doesn’t break.
Safe delivery, no return policy!
Okay, maybe he’s being slightly unfair, Dr. Strange looked like he really wanted to find another solution, and it wasn’t like Peter had anyone waiting for him other than Matt and Wade who he partnered with on occasion.
Because MJ and Ned had forgotten him, and May was dead, and that spell hadn’t been enough it seemed.
He was on his way to the funeral when Dr. Strange yanked him and threw him on a portal with no explanation and only enough time to grab his suit.
His suit!
He was naked! Where was his suit!?
He was never trusting a wizard again, never.
In hopes of finding anything Peter returns to room 616, the one he has woken up on and takes the time to take a better look.
Everything is, strangely big, for a second he considers people here might just be giants. He would have almost preferred that theory over what he finds in the mirror.
“Oh god I look like a baby!” His voice sounds like a baby! What the fuck he looks ten, or maybe eleven!
Wade would never let him live this down, yeah no, Peter now realises why the clothes were way too big for him.
Deep breaths, okay, deep breaths.
Even in all the mess there is a relatively untouched cupboard, it’s small, and there is a spider drawn on it.
He opens it.
Okay, he’s never complaining about weird wizards again, Dr. Strange keeps his promises. That 's his suit! Maybe a bit too big but hey! It’s nanotech, he’s pretty sure it will adapt correctly to his size.
There are also some protein bars, and some money, Peter is beginning to think Dr. Strange really felt bad for him because wow, he had only been promised his suit and to not die upon reforming of molecules.
“Parker luck’s not so bad in this world I guess” Peter decides, then takes out a protein bar and begins to eat.
He looks like himself, sure maybe he looks like he was beaten black and blue but he still looks like himself.
Overall not too bad, he just has to figure out where he is, and how to make money until he’s old enough to get a job, or looks old enough to get a job.
Peter is not picky, he just needs a stable source of income and photography might not be it if he doesn’t have a roof over his head.
And no camera, yeah, that too.
He takes a moment to look at his hands, way too small and freezes for a second, what the FUCK is that on his wrist!?
Oh please, don’t let it be a bone sticking out, please-
Is not a bone, oh crap it looks like-
“Oh yeah- could be worse, Peter two had organic webs, this is normal, this is fine”
He checks himself over just in case there are more changes, he finds them.
His canines are too sharp, they didn’t use to be this sharp, his hearing has improved and he has just realised the labs lights are not on.
Okay, which spiders does he know that are nocturnal? Wolf spiders, yeah, Net-casting spiders, reasonable situation, not impossible.
Peter is ten, maybe eleven, he can deal with this and he has his suit! And underwear!
Thank you Dr. Strange, Peter recites in his brain as he pulls out the way too big jacket, a pair of pants and a shirt.
The shoes don’t fit him, yeah neither do the clothes but with some of his webs he manages to half-fix the problem.
It’s not much but is more than he expected, and his suit has Karen! He fixed her not long ago, he should be fine.
Now he just needs to get out of here without CPS getting called, life is good.
Getting out of the creepy abandoned lab was harder than it should be, the green goo covering the walls was hard to dodge, the broken glass on the floor was way sharper than it should be and every room except the one he had woken up in was unmarked.
On his way he had managed to snatch a half broken bag, several broken electronics, from really old looking computers to weird broken pieces from unidentified machines.
Peter wasn’t picky, anything he believed he could reuse he put on the bag, he even thought about taking a scalpel before realising it was covered in dried blood.
So no scalpel for Peter.
Finally he reached the exit, the surface, the cold air hit his nose at the same time that the smell of chemicals and smoke did.
“Could be worse” Peter told himself as he scrunched his nose “We could be in New Jersey”
The closest city definitely felt like New Jersey by the smell but he remained positive, of all the places to land when thrown through a dimensional portal New Jersey couldn’t be that likely anyway.
With nothing more to do he walked towards the road and began to make his way to the city.
The road was not silent but there also weren’t many cars around, if anything the road felt unused.
The soft rumble of a motorbike pulled him out of his thoughts, it was a nice bike honestly, really nice. The biker was wearing a flashy red helmet that reminded him of Wade for a second, Peter nodded at the good taste.
Okay, no time to think of cool bikes, time to keep walking and look like a normal guy, he didn’t know what this world thought of mutants, or mutates.
Maybe he should have just put on the suit and ran to the city, consequences be dammed.
Not too far away from him the bike had stopped, the biker, a surprisingly big guy, was looking in his direction.
Oh no, was he about to get kidnapped?
Man, it hadn’t even been a day.
“Hey kiddo” The guy began to use the same voice Spider-Man used with victims, dammit “What are you doing here?”
Peter looked at the guy, his spider-sense surprisingly welcoming of his presence and shrugged. His spider-sense could be wrong, he had seen it with Beck, but it hadn’t been wrong with Norman, he just… had to concentrate.
“Going for a walk” He said, with the confidence he’s only seen drunk people have.
The guy, even with the red helmet, managed to convey he thought that was utter shit.
Hey! What was he going to say? Sorry, a wizard dropped me in a random place to save the fabric of time. Don’t worry, I used to be seventeen, almost eighteen in fact! Not a random kid walking on a road, alone, at night.
Yeah, no, that was not going to work.
“Do you need me to call someone? Your parents?” The guy continued and Peter almost felt bad for him.
“I mean, you could try if you have a Ouija board”
Peter really needed to learn how to shut his mouth…
He tried to blink innocently at the guy, using the same face he gave people when he wanted something, it sometimes worked with Tony, never with aunt May though.
“...” The red helmet guy stared at him and sighed before cursing under his breath. If Peter had been a normal child he wouldn’t have heard anything, unfortunately for red helmet guy Peter was anything but normal “Do you have somewhere to go?”
Peter gave him a smile, then pointed at the city.
“I got lost when I went for a walk” He says casually “If you could take me to the city that would be great”
Red helmet guy didn’t say anything for a while but Peter could smell his disbelief, well, not Peter’s problem if he wasn’t believed.
“You want to go to Gotham?” He asked, Pater was happy to realise he was right, red helmet guy thought Peter was bullshiting his way through.
Which he was right of course, but Peter had gone too far with his lie, this was his life now. Dumb kid goes for a walk, gets lost, more at nine.
“Yes” He didn’t know where the fuck Gotham was “If its not much of a problem sir?” He added because he was raised with manners thank you very much.
“Alright, hop in, I’m pretty sure I’ve got an extra helmet somewhere” The guy kept cursing under his breath, Peter was reminded of Wade again, if more edgy.
The guy did have an extra helmet, it was also red, it was a bit too big but beggars couldn’t be choosers.
“So, you take lots of people on your bike?” Peter asked as the guy drove at a much slower pace than before.
“My brothers” Red helmet guy huffed “They’re as- annoying, all of them, take them sometimes out to eat”
Peter nodded, red helmet guy was a good brother, and good with kids.
“Cool, cool”
Peter looked around as they approached the city, the closer they got the louder his spider-sense became.
So, he now knew why the man was looking at him weirdly, Gotham was dangerous, that much was obvious.
“Kid, where do I drop you off?”
The question took Peter a second to understand, so, yeah, he didn’t know the city, he couldn’t say a random street.
“If it’s not a problem could you drop me in the library? I know how to get home from there” He uses his most polite tone and he can hear the guy groan before changing directions.
Yeah, if he gets kidnaped he can always do the classic hit and run.
Peter is lucky, Parker luck doesn’t seem to be a thing in this world because red helmet guy stops in front of the doors of a building that has ‘Gotham Public Library’ written on top.
“Thank you sir!” Peter says as he jumps down, takes off the helmet and offers it back.
“No problem kid, just don’t wander off without an adult”
Peter nods before he sprints in the first alley he can find, then and only then does he relax.
Gotham is filled with cameras, he realises, and there are people watching. It’s a bit creepy, the city feels alive and he doesn’t want to unpack all of that.
At least he knows where the library is, tomorrow he could go in and use the computers, figure out all about the city before he decides what to do.
He secures his bag properly before he jumps up, climbing with ease on top of the closest building, then he begins to jump around.
People don’t usually look up but there are cameras everywhere and Peter doesn’t feel like revealing his abilities to whoever is behind them, instead he locates a relatively comfortable building, hidden from plain sight and rests his head next to a gargoyle, under a small roof in case it rains.
He pulls out the jacket and for the first time he’s glad he’s smaller than he should be, he can cover himself completely with it.
He’s always run cold but this is a bit extreme even for him, Peter groans in frustration, great, wonderful even.
He’s too tired to care, he lets himself feel all the emotions he’s been surprising at once. He didn’t even get to attend May’s funeral.
Sleep comes to him at last and for a second Peter swears he sees shadows moving around the rooftops, he’s too tired to care.
Peter wakes up to the sound of cars on the road. It's early in the morning, in the distance he can see two men fighting over what looks like a broken car.
If he expands his senses he can see several small crimes happening in the streets.
What the fuck was this place?
He might have to find a way to contact Matt just to tell him he’s right, that hell exists, it’s in New Jersey; he’s not sure about heaven though.
Because yes, now with a clear mind he’s pretty sure all he’s getting is the Jersey accent, Peter wonders if there is a way to send Dr. Strange a letter to ask for a refund.
With a groan he gets up, dodges some more cameras and jumps down back to the normal civilian place of transport, the ground.
He exits the alley and walks back in view of the cameras like nothing was wrong, he hopes whoever is watching the cameras doesn't question why a homeless kid is sleeping in a particularly terribly smelling alley.
Peter hums softly as he makes way to the library, eating another protein bar, his previous anger towards Dr. Strange forgotten.
The library is bigger than Peter remembered from last night, which says a lot because the place is huge.
A woman sits at the front desk, clearly having just clocked in, Peter can hear her clicking furiously in her computer just like Ned did when he was sleep deprived.
“Hello miss” Peter says, making the woman flinch in surprise “Could I use the computers or do I need a library card for that?”
Please don’t need a card, please don’t need a-
“Oh hello, didn’t hear you come in” The woman sounds impressed, it makes Peter wonder if she’s trained in some way “You would need a card but there is always the option of limited time usage as a guest”
Peter nods, he’s absolutely taking the second option, if he needs more time he’ll just hack the computer.
“I’ll use them as a guest” He checks the name tag on the librarian and adds his most polite smile “Thank you for the help Miss Barbara”
Barbara watches him with a curious look, there is something weird about her but Peter thinks he might be paranoid. This is not his world, things might be different, he needs to learn as much as he can and create a fake identity.
And a fake guardian or something, man life sucks when you look like a child.
“No problem” Barbara says, her smile kind but concern fills her eyes.
Peter doesn’t know why, he’s slept for a while, his injuries should be mostly healed.
Under normal circumstances like good alimentation and less internal injuries.
Maybe he should have checked himself in a mirror and not just forgotten he was hurt.
Oh shit that was why red helmet guy sounded so worried! He owes the guy an apology honestly.
Before he can overthink his choices Peter takes a seat as hidden from the cameras and from Barbara as he can be, then takes some nanobots and connects them to the very old looking computer.
Man he misses Stark Tech, he hasn’t seen old relics like these computers in a while, he did not miss them.
He probably looks suspicious as hell pulling something that looks like a suit and placing it on top of the computer but whatever, the cameras wont catch it’s his suit and Peter can always go back to New York and never think of New Jersey again.
The nanobots begin to connect to the computer, taking in connection through the ethernet after. He didn’t even need to hack to get internet connection, just hitchhack on the net.
The nanobots left begin to cling to him, creating an earpiece so he can hear Karen.
“Hello Peter, system has been connected to an available net connexion, systems active, working on getting a more stable network for future reference”
Karen’s mechanical voice fills him with relief, it’s a part of home he’s been able to bring.
“Hello Karen” Peter chokes on a sob, god he’s acting like a little kid “Can you help me erase my traces as I use this computer?”
“Of course, leave it to me Peter” Karen’s reply comes instantly and Peter doesn’t even worry as the computer shows a new user, Karen, he takes the mouse and clicks on the first search engine he can find.
He looks for Tony first, just in case, when he finds nothing he sighs and searches Gotham.
The results are… a lot.
Crime capital is a scary thing to call a place, and the weird rich billionaire that keeps appearing is weird as fuck.
And dumb, really dumb, a himbo, what the fuck is this place?
“Karen, get me as much relevant information of this world as you can” Peter whispers as he stares in a mix of concern and awe at the billionaire half naked dancing seconds before the windows to the gala he’s at breaks and a villain gets in “I have way too many questions”
Karen works fast, faster than Peter could, soon Peter has at his hands a compilation of the most absurd things he’s ever heard.
So, he was always right to think New Jersey sucked, it's just that this New Jersey sucks more than the one he knows.
The crime rate is absurdly high, he’s not even sure how the city is in one piece. Karen has shown him information about the vigilantes in the city, a weird cryptic legend of a guy that goes by Batman who has way too many same named sidekicks.
It’s genuinely concerning how weird the Gotham vigilantes are, the first Robin who everyone thinks is Nightwing? Another vigilante from Blüdhaven? A smaller Gotham that no longer exists?
And then Red Robin who was the third Robin? Also, who names themselves after a restaurant chain?
Also the second Robin fucking died?
There is also a vigilante named Black Bat or Orphan, what the fuck is up with these names?, yet there is almost no information about her other than her figurine in a fast food chain?
And the fourth Robin is suspected of starting a gang war?
He has way too many questions and the list just goes on, like, it’s absurdly long just for Gotham.
And the vigilantes have been seen working with a crime lord once in a while, you know, because Gotham needed to keep surprising him.
Well, it's not like Peter can judge, he teams up with Wade often enough to reconsider his life choices.
He takes a deep breath and looks over other heroes, he’s not surprised to find aliens in the list.
Yeah, honestly, having several weird flying aliens saving a city named Metropolis who gets attacked by gods every Tuesday is a reasonable thing that can absolutely happen.
Peter almost misses when the worst thing he had to worry about was an alien invasion and the universe population getting halved.
And don’t make him start with the villains, well, called rogues here, whatever, why are there so many!?
“Dude, why?” Peter asks no one in particular as he questions his sanity, and Dr. Strange's, sanity for sending him here “Karen, do a background check for Peter Parker in this world, if there are no matches we can begin creating me an ID”
There are no results for Peter Parker, which is good, May and Ben don’t exist here either, so he creates them.
He can’t quite manage to mark May as deceased, he doesn’t, he needs a guardian, he’s a kid currently, he can’t let himself be snatched by CPS.
Not when Batman has a no-meta, enhanced basically, rule. Which honestly feels hypocritical because the daytime vigilante is a meta.
“I have created a digital footprint for you already Peter” Karen chimes in “Do you want to check your new identity?”
“Yeah”
It’s simple, it looks real, only someone really looking into it would figure out it’s fake. His background is not completely fake, at age six his parents died in a plane crash, his aunt and uncle took him in.
His uncle died not long after, and now Peter and his aunt have moved to Gotham, search for cheap rent.
Easy story, he can make this work.
“Peter, you’re lacking proper nutrition” Karen says, her mechanical voice seems to hold some concern “I have taken the liberty to pull out several scholarship programs”
Peter bites his inner cheek, school, he hadn’t even thought about that.
Well, the Wayne scholarship comes with free food, he’s not losing anything for trying and he can outperform some fourteen year olds.
“Karen, change my age in my ID to fourteen” He decides, he can absolutely pull this off.
“On it”
He spends the remaining time studying the exam format, relearning history and brushing over english literature.
History is going to be the bane of his existence it seems, learning about the crazy things this world's heroes did is giving Peter an aneurism.
Man he’s actually going to miss Steve Rogers terrible detention speech video, he can’t believe he’s not even lying about that.
He feels his senses turn on and he retracts Karen into the suit, keeping only the earpiece on himself.
“Studying before classes start?” Barbara asks as she looks over the material on his table.
“Uh, trying to get a scholarship” Peter admits, he feels his cheeks turn slightly red “Is the library closing for lunch break?”
Barbara looks at him, her smile is kind, she also does a double take on him and Peter really regrets not having waited for all his injuries to heal before coming.
Because they had definitely healed by now, and Batman has a no meta rule.
Just his luck.
“We are, but if you’re coming back later anyway you can join me” Barbara’s tone is kind, it reminds Peter of May in a way “Do you have anything to eat?”
Peter pulls out a protein bar and nods, Barbara frowns and something tells Peter she’s not thrilled by this information.
“Well, you’re in luck” Barbara says with a smile “I’ve got some extra leftovers we can share”
And honestly, Peter doesn’t care if they’re poisoned, his spider-sense will warn him if that's the case and even if it doesn’t he wont die.
And leftovers sound heavenly right now.
“If it's not a problem Miss Barbara”
Barbara smiles, Peter gives her a shy smile back.
“Of course not, come, follow me, you can give your brain a rest for a bit”
Peter follows her into a small department in the library, as Miss Barbara heats up the food in the microwave he realises this is how people get kidnapped.
“So, you never gave me your name?” Barbara asks as Peter sits at the table.
“Oh! I’m Peter”
Something tingles in the back of his head but once Barbara puts a plate of food in front of him he stops thinking about it.
Damn these leftovers are good.
“Nice to meet you Peter” Barbara says as he engulfs his food “Are you new to Gotham?”
Peter nods, taking another bite of the fettuccine Alfredo.
“Yeah, moved in with my aunt” He’s a terrible liar but his voice has no right on breaking at that very moment, Barbara is too polite to point it out “But Gotham is crazy”
“Crazy indeed” Barbara chuckles, she moves her wheelchair towards to pick up the fork that it’s about to fall before Peter can.
Uh, the librarian was fast, and had good reflexes.
Were there… any redhead rogues? Oh yeah, poison Ivy but she was retired?
His luck couldn’t be so bad that he meets a rouge first thing in Gotham right? No wait, second thing, red helmet guy was first and he seemed reasonably normal if you ignored the smell of gunpowder.
Miss Barbara is nice, Peter decides, maybe-rogue or not, she also tells him how to get to Gotham Academy and gives him tips on how to pass the exam.
Her ex’s siblings are finishing high school there, one of them is actually returning after having dropped out at some point too but was allowed to just do his last year? Because he was some kind of genius?
Honestly Barbara’s ex’s life was weird, he had caught at least five sibling names and it kept going.
“How many siblings does your ex even have?” Peter asks, feeling completely lost, Barbara just laughs.
“Well, that depends how you count”
Yeah, he’s decided Gotham is crazy and he’s only been here for less than a day.
“Actually, I don’t think I want to know”
That just makes Barbara laugh louder, Peter finishes his food and even gets some yogurt as dessert, it’s homemade too!
He gets back to studying while Barbara talks with someone on her computer, he doesn’t think she should be playing videogames in her job but is not like there is someone else other than Peter here so it's none of his business.
Karen has finished charging up so he puts the books back at their places and waves goodbye to Barbara, he still has three days for the entrance exam at Gotham Academy, so he’s gonna have to wing it until then.
He can keep sleeping on rooftops but his back is going to feel like he got a building dropped on him, again.
Homeless shelter it is, he just has to figure out which ones are not sketchy but wont call CPS.
“Karen, search homeless shelters in the area”
He ends up in Crime Alley, Peter is beginning to think Gothamites just love pointing out the obvious, the shelter is sponsored by the crime lord that works with the vigilantes, or shoots at them on occasion.
Food is included, Peter doesn’t know how to feel about this but hey! The crime lord at least has morals?
He gets to shower, which is nice, he also gets to check that his wounds are completely healed. He looks like a normal ten year old, sure maybe a bit small for his age but he was always a bit small.
He began to grow at eleven after the bite, he has his powers, he should be fine.
The shelter is nice, some older kids are helping a mother and a son settle in, others have joined the staff at the kitchen to help cook.
Is surprisingly well organised and Peter wonders why a crime lord would spend so much time fixing his territory.
Its not perfect, there is a drunk man passed out in one of the beds and some of the kids flinch at every noise, but it's something.
“Hey, you new kid?” A man, one of the staff calls him, Peter turns around and gets the smell of gunpowder back on his nose.
“Oh! It 's you!” Peter greets him with a smile “Thank you for taking me to the library”
The man looks at him in surprise, Peter feels like he’s done something wrong but sure the man remembers him?
“Ah, yeah” The man shifts his weight from one leg to another awkwardly “I do remember you saying you had a home to return to?”
Peter gathers his nicest smile as he looks at him.
“Oh, I lied” Peter watches as the man's eyes widen in shock, it's a bit funny honestly “I was not going to tell you I had no one, what if you tried to kidnap me?”
The man looks like he’s going to say something before he sighs.
“Fair enough” He lowers himself to Peter’s level as he continues “But this is Gotham kid, some will kidnap you regardless if you have a home or not, don’t get into strangers vehicles again, okay?”
The guy is a bit sweet, even with his old scars and being built like a brick wall his concern is real. He reminds Peter of the old men that would yell ‘those darn kids!’ and yet be the first to make sure they were okay.
“Wasn’t planning on” He says, is not a complete lie, he will probably swing around from now on.
“So, what brings you here kid?” He asks as he passes him a toiletry bag, Peter is beginning to admire the crime lord.
Food, shelter and toothpaste? What is this heaven?
“Oh, ya know the usual, a primal hate for CPS” Peter says as he inspects his new toothbrush and toothpaste, is not mint!
“I’ll have to agree on that” The man grumbles “I’m Jay, you?”
“Peter”
Jay stares at him in curiosity, Peter doesn’t know what he’s trying to find so he just stares back.
“Well Peter, want to come help in the kitchen?” Jay asks after a minute, Peter jumps at the opportunity.
It’s nice, Jay knows how to cook, the other kids join him and some older ones joke around with Jay.
Peter goes to sleep with a small smile on his face, maybe Gotham is not so bad.