Chapter Text
My name is Timothy Jackson Drake-Wayne Parker. In contrast to what many people think, I’m not Spider-Man.
Not in my day-to-day life.
I was bitten by a radioactive spider when I was 12, while chasing Batman and Robin during a case at a radioactive laboratory.
I've been keeping my powers in secret (especially considering that Gotham isn't a place for metahumans or mutants).
I became Robin seven months after the second Robin’s death; I knocked on Batman’s door and blackmailed him into training me and letting me help with patrols, but you probably already know that part. What you don’t know is that, two months later, I joined, as Miguel puts it, an “elite force dedicated to the security of the multiverse.”
Cool, right?
I became the first and only Spider-Man who didn’t fight in his own universe, only in another worlds. I discovered what a “canon event” was one month after joining the Spider-Society; my parents’ death made a lot more sense, along with the death of the former police commissioner and, four years later, Bruce’s death (even though he was lost in time).
Because of that, the job isn’t as cool as it was in the beginning.
With great power comes great responsibility, huh?
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Tim Drake’s routine wasn’t anything special. He wakes up at 8 a.m., takes care of a few things at WE, has lunch, keeps working until 4 p.m., goes to Spider-Man Headquarters, returns at 11 p.m., and goes out on patrol.
Right now, he’s on step 5.
The base was huge; no matter which way you looked, there was a Spider-Man. That was one of the things Tim loved most, there, you were just one of them; there was no exclusivity, just a feeling of belonging. No one would judge you for being who you are.
One of the best parts of being a Spider-Man.
Apparently, there was another anomaly on the loose. This time, the victim was Earth 50101, where Pavitr Prabhakar lived. The plan was supposed to be simple: Tim, Pavitr, and Gwen would capture the anomaly and bring it back to the base.
Until Miles Morales showed up.
This guy was really into Gwen.
And the one who was really into Miles was this “Mancha” (what a ridiculous name!).
“Hi, Gwen!” Pavitr says, hanging from the top of a building next to her.
“Who’s the new guy?” Tim says, raising an eyebrow.
“Hi, Pav and Tim. This is Miles, and… he wasn’t invited,” Gwen says, huffing.
“He wasn’t invited? And he came anyway?” Tim gives a laugh.
“The new guy must be really head over heels,” Pavitr laughs, watching the two of them protest.
“And I’m not a new guy!”
The conversation was interrupted by a hole (seriously?) heading straight for the four of them. We can say that this “Spot” guy has a lot of potential as a villain, but Miles didn’t need to keep telling him otherwise, the guy got pissed off.
“What is it with these villains and colliders?” Miles says, trying to reach the Blot with his web. The chase had led them to Alchemax—yet another setting with a collider (duh!).
“Does he know about Hobie?” Pavitr turns to Gwen.
“What do I need to know about Hobie?”
Tim snorts, “Oh, I can tell he doesn’t know.”
Further ahead, the Spot continues to blast through several holes until it finally reaches the collider room, opening a barrier that, according to one of the scientists, only stays open “until the collider sequence ends.”
Tim looks around, trying to figure out a way for them to get into the room. Kicking and punching wasn’t working. The barrier was made of energy; an electrical discharge would probably help.
“MILES! USE YOUR HANDS. ABSORB IT AND THEN SEND THE ELECTRICITY BACK AT THE BARRIER!” Tim yells at Miles. When he turns around, Miles’s fingertips are already glowing against the barrier.
It wasn’t enough.
A loud sound of guitar strings and drum beats in the background catches the attention of all the Spiders present. Before anyone can say a word, the sound waves from the electric guitar shatter the barrier instantly.
“Hobie!”, “Hobie.”, “HOBIE, MY BRO!” Gwen, Tim, and Pavitr greet him.
“Is that the guy from 1610?” Hobie says, hugging Pav from the side and giving him a light punch on the shoulder.
After that, time flies by. They manage to stop the Alchemax building before it kills hundreds of people. Tim hears LYLA on his communicator announcing that a canonical event was about to happen—which wasn’t a good sign, since none of them had told Miles about disrupting canonical events.
And that led them to this moment.
Tim, Hobie, Gwen, and Miles were walking toward Miguel’s office. Miles looked like he was seeing the coolest thing of his entire life. The boy couldn’t stop commenting on everything he saw ahead of him.
“How is this just the reception area?” he says, sounding a little indignant.
“Welcome to the Spider Society,” Gwen says with a laugh.
“I bet this is useless,” Hobie says after ripping something off the wall.
“Maybe it was useful before you ripped it off,” Tim mutters, walking ahead of everyone with his hands in the pockets of his bermuda shorts.
“It’s propaganda, man. To distract you from the truth."
“And what’s that over there?” Miles asks curiously.
“No idea. That’s what they want.”
That statement made more sense to Miles when Miguel finally speaks up and explains what canonical events are. Tim watched from the corner of the room as the discussion unfolded alongside Hobie.
“He’s not going to accept this at all, is he?” Tim crosses his arms.
“If he did, that would be crazy,” Hobie replies in a low voice.
“I’m not going to be a part of this,” the shorter one says, looking away.
“Me neither.”
The crowd stirs, enveloped in a red bubble. Before Tim even opens his mouth, Hobie gestures to Miles:
‘Clap your hands.’
An explosion is heard in the center, and several spiders scurry toward the exit that has just opened in the wall.
“Let’s get out of here?” Hobie suggests, leaning toward him, already opening a portal to his world.
“Don’t have to tell me twice.”
It’s not every day you hear that your father is going to die. Honestly, if Tim had been given advance warning of his parents’ deaths—even though they weren’t exactly the most present figures in his life—he would certainly have tried to prevent it.
The problem was that Miles was already an anomaly, and no one would risk disrupting yet another canonical event.