Chapter Text
(PETER'S POV)
Peter's eyes flashed open in a hurry. He looked up at the portal that now resembled a spec in the sky from where he stood, or lay to be exact, that was the same spec he just fell out. Now closing. He quickly got off the squishy garbage he'd fallen on, he had landed in a dumpster when he fell out of that giant portal that sucked him in. Before his mind even processed what happened his body reacted, he whirled around and braced to catch someone. The familiar weight of MJ fell into his arms, he put her down, made sure she was standing alright. He looked at her, scanning for any cuts or bruises. "W- You're okay right? Okay, so er- you look okay but you hit anything on your way down? I swore I hit a few pigeons-"
MJ interrupted his running train of thoughts with a grip on his forearm. "Yeah, no worries I'm fine but where's Mr. Stark? Didn't he like, uh- also get sucked in?" She sounded quite panicked, I mean who wouldn't be after being sucked through a giant portal after a data analysis gone wrong.
Peter took a brief second to process what she was saying, god he was having a massive headache. It was like his senses were trying to tell him he was in danger but literally nothing was happening. He tapped the neck of his suit for the nanotechnology to retract to the center part of his neck. He needed to breathe- yeah air usually felt nice, he knew Queens didn't have the best air for a city like New York but it wasn't ever this bad. It felt like he inhaled pure dust trying to discuss itself as air. Peter coughed immediately after that deep breath. He looked around to MJ who was still confused and panicked, he jumped and did his usual flip out of the dumpster and helped her out. Now he needed to find out where Mr. Stark was-
Oh.
Tony's suit was about a couple feet away from the dumpster, still in the creepy looking alley they were in though. Peter went down and fell to his knees. "Karen, can you tell F.R.I.D.A.Y to open the suit up? Also can you find out where we are? I'm eighty-two percent sure this isn't New York."
His voice was shakey. Was it always this shaky? It wasn't like this when he was in space or webbing his way across the city he wasn't this bad even when he was fighting Thanos with the help of Dr. Strange's magic portal things. He never really figured out what they're called. Maybe he was shakey because of the fact his head was screaming at him to get MJ and run far away from his alley or was it the city? Peter couldn't tell.
Karen's voice, familiar as ever, responded quickly. "F.R.I.D.A.Y has informed me that Mr. Stark is currently unconscious. She's opening up his suit."
The sound of mechanism opening up came from the hunk of golden and red metal almost instantly. Peter looked relieved to see his mentor's face. "Okay it isn't that bad-" MJ disagreed. And she was probably right. "Peter. He looks like he survived a fight with the Hulk." MJ's voice consisted of concern and a bit of frustration. Well this wasn't the normal day he promised that would happen and well from interning at the Stark Industries- well uh portal travel isn't exactly normal and Peter knows that... He just needs his spider-senses to stop screaming at him in his head. "That's an exaggeration. And by the way, Karen why isn't he waking up...?" Peter was worried, firstly he had no idea where he was, Mr. Stark was unconscious and worst of all MJ could be in danger with them. Could he give her Mr. Stark's suit? I mean he was unconscious- no he absolutely cannot do that, Mr. Stark would be mad when he gets up and he's pretty sure MJ doesn't exactly come with a built in manual on Mr. Stark's suits.
"I'm assuming he got hit in the head too hard. He must've hit something on the way down. Perhaps a plane.", Karen attempted to sound reassuring. She was usually kind of good at it. Peter of course wouldn't tell her that, for an A.I. She has a habit of being too smug.
"F.R.I.D.A.Y he is breathing right? Also could you check where we got spat out?" MJ asked the real important question. Peter turned from his mentor's face to his girlfriend’s instead.
"His pulse is weak. I'd recommend going to the hospital right now. As for your location, me and Karen were currently looking for a stable connection. And found one. We are in Gotham city. Interesting."
MJ raised an eyebrow at F.R.I.D.A.Y's choice of words but more so how she pronounced a certain one. 'Interesting' wasn't something you heard her say often unless she was genuinely fascinated or teasing someone. "Okay Gotham, lives up to its name. God it stinks. And its very gothic. Those are a lot of gargoyles" MJ commented as she dusted herself off, she looked up at the surrounding buildings from the alley they were in. She came to her knees next to Peter. "What's interesting F.R.I.D.A.Y?" Peter spoke, hismain concern was making sure Mr. Stark was fine.
"We appear to be somewhere else. Perhaps a different dimension. I don't see any signs of the Avengers existing here. A superhero team called the "Justice League", but for the city we're in, the main heroes of this city are nicknamed the 'bats'. And i thought the Thunderbolts were bad."
Karen, sarcastic as ever, responded instead of F.R.I.D.A.Y. The other A.I. must be busy with researching these heroes or something, also what kind of nickname is. But this was bad. No Avengers? Where are they even? And what is up with this city's beef with the sun...? Peter got to his feet and picked up his backup which was still in the dumpster and returned to where Mr. Stark was laying. "Alright I'll keep my hands on these." He slowly picks up the glasses hidden in some compartment in the Iron Man suit, and proceeds to put them on. MJ glances up at him and rolls her eyes a grin of amusement flashes on her face despite the situation.
"Seriously?"
"He'd want me to have it!"
"Yeah. Sure."
Peter scoffed at the sarcasm but when he glanced to look at Mr. Stark's unmoving body felt a little guilt, he was seriously taking an unconscious man's glasses. Well he couldn't leave the E.D.I.T.H glasses kept on Mr. Stark in this state, it could get stolen, they are pretty good looking glasses.
F.R.I.D.A.Y's voice came into Peter's suit all of sudden. Her Irish accent is already taking the logical route for this situation and for Tony's wellbeing.
"I suggest we take boss to a hospital. I already located one that's avaliable to our access. Gotham General Hospital. The preferable one would definitely be Wayne Hospital but I am unable to access Iron man's account at the moment."
"Hold up. We can't just take him to a hospital if this is actually a different dimension. And plus they'd have questions about the arc reactor.", MJ spoke with her usual bluntness in voice, her reasoning was correct as well as was F.R.I.D.A.Y's . If they were truly in a different universe like the A.Is suggested that would change things. They will have to do their research on this place and confirm if indeed they truly are in a different dimension. God thinking about it plus Peter's spider senses were giving him a massive headache.
They couldn't just waltz into a hospital in a dimension where they just landed.
"Alright. We need to get supplies then. I'll go look for a library MJ could you uh try and get medical equipment?" Peter was absolutely against stealing but he couldn't just let Mr. Stark die, they'd repay the shops and clinics later once they get some cash but as F.R.I.D.A.Y said Mr. Stark was weak and they need to keep him alive. He needs his Dad alive.
MJ seemed to think about it for a moment, before sighing through her nostrils. "Fine, I'll get the equipment. You find some books that can guide us through this later. We need a base right now."
Karen's voice seemed to activate instantly hearing the requirement. "Gotham City seems to have many abandoned warehouses and buildings. We can check a few out right now and find one which has the most suitable environment. Peter, can you carry Mr. Stark?"
Peter picked Tony up, even though the man was way taller than him Peter still had his trusty spider strength. And now the search began....
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(TIM'S POV)
Tim had taken up Duke's morning patrol since the kid had his finals going on and Bruce and basically everyone insisted on actually studying for it instead of flying around the city at the Crack of dawn. Red Robin was perched on top of a gargoyle watching the city. It seemed a bit less chaotic in the morning than it was at night. It's mainly why the night is so thrilling and actually exciting compared to the morning where the actually employed Gothamites with real jobs would skedaddle off to work. Tim sighed looking at one the street, one woman was walking her dog while in the back there was a fight Tim had broken up about fifteen minutes earlier. So this street seemed decent, time to head to the next part of the patrol route-
Oh.
My.
God.
Tim wasn't sure if all the energy drinks he's consumed over the years finally caught up to his brain or something but he was pretty sure that in the sky about fifty feet ahead a portal, freaking portal opened up and three beings fell out. Tim began grappling his way over, it took him about 29 minutes considering it was above Crime Alley, of course it was and he was patrolling Robbinsville.
By the time Tim reached the Alley it was empty. Asides from the usual needles, crumbling walls, and dumpsters and boxes. If Tim was correct the portal opened up maybe around 50 or maybe 56 feet above that dumpster and if Tim could get Barbara to pull up the Alley footage!-
Oh right.
One of his family members was supposed to install new cameras in the alley a week ago. That member was Jason Todd, the lazy bastard didn't even do it! I mean come on man. First he yells at everyone to stay out of his territory and when he's supposed to change the cameras of his territory, he doesn't even do it! Now Tim can't even get the usual video evidence he could've easily obtained by now.
Damn it, and fuck you Jason.
Okay now Tim needed a new plan. He could easily follow the camera route exiting Crime Alley but he'd have to convince Barbara, plus he has no back up evidence to prove there was in fact a giant ass portal above Crime Alley, plus on her day off out of all days.
Then an idea hit him in the head. What if he scanned for abnormalities in the radio frequency, that could work if his eyes weren't deceiving him about the portal... alright he just needs a positive amount of evidence and Barbara would surely help him out. I mean she wouldn't ignore a case this good. So he began working, with the help of the bat-computer Tim located the energy spike above Crime Alley and it lasted about 3 minutes before it returned back to its original normalcy. Awesome!
Now he just had to go tell Babs about it and it'll surely get her invested, it'd be better than her boring day off-
Oh Right...
He couldn't just interrupt her day-off like that. She earned it, she needed it and most importantly she needed a break from Oracle. He'd bother her about this next week- err- what if something happened in those seven days? Or this portal lets some sort of invisible attack on Gotham? And he'd have known about it and didn't prevent it...
Okay new plan. He'll inform Babs about it tomorrow, she deserves that day off and nothing's happened. Yet.
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(BARBARA'S POV, occurs 4 hours after Tim's POV)
Barbara had actually not reached to check in on the city as Oracle today. She's not the gloating type but this was something she was quite proud of, considering the fact she never usually can get the thoughts of something happening while she's away. God the guilt would eat her alive if something like that happened. It has happened before and it took her so much time and effort to stop blaming herself for things she couldn't prevent even though she absolutely could've and if she had just logged off ten minutes later-
Her thread of thoughts was thankfully snipped by the sound of footsteps entering the library. She quickly changed her expression from whatever panic attack she was about to have and into something more welcoming. "Hello. You're a new face to this place. Would you like a card?" The usual introduction she'd say whenever she spotted someone new at the library.
A young boy stood in front of her, he wore a blue hoodie and jeans, a simple outfit, but he looked oddly familiar... She couldn't put her finger on it but she's seen those specific chocolaty curls somewhere before. What'd ya know, small city, she's probably seen him around Gotham once or twice, but seriously he has a very familiar looking jaw- okay now she's just being crazy. "Just wait for the response like a normal person Barbara.." she mentally told herself before finally looking the kid in the eyes, he was probably fifteen or sixteen judging by the baby fat around his face.
The kid finally spoke after what felt like an hour. "Yeah sure.. do you allow the usage of the computers with one or do i have to apply somewhere else for that?" "Yep, that's definitely a child." Barbara thought once more before opening her drawer to remove a page from the stack of forms. "Here you go. Hey, have we met before? I swear I've seen your face around here." She deliberately asked a question like that, it was an easy way to see if this was clayface or some shape-shifter or not. Or just someone being suspicious in general but it's fun to imagine the work she loved to do while on her day-off.
"No? I mean like me and my da- no- I meant guardian just moved here. Also I had to leave the address empty. Sorry 'bout that. We're currently uh- crashing on a friend's couch until we get our own place." Even the kid thought that was a stupid cover story, judging the look on his face. Barbara could conclude this was infact a child. Abused? Maybe, usually abused kids are stuttering when it comes to personal stuff. She'll think about it later. "Yeah sure it's fine. Next time you come by if you've got an address just tell me I'll change your card up." She quickly typed the information into her computer.
Name: Peter Parker.
Age: 15
Phone Number: (xxx) xxx-xxxx
E-mail: [email protected]
In moments she printed him a card. She handed him the card, he thanked her and left...
Alright Barbara knows she's supposed to be on her day-off but that kid could be abused or something, she had to check. She swiftly logged onto Oracle and did a search for Peter Parker...
Nothing?
There was no evidence of a Peter Parker even existing other than a few somewhere else in America but none were teenaged nor fifteen. She looked up the e-mail for any information she could gather from that.
Nothing...
Okay this kid just lied on his form and to her face, now she had to investigate-
No. She can do it tomorrow, today she's gotta relax. The kid's body language indicates that he's fine and she can look into the information on his home life tomorrow. Right now she needed to just keep a watchful eye for him out on the cameras throughout Gotham.
She'd inform Jason to keep an eye on Peter later. Make sure he actually had a home and stuff. Kids like this are Jason's speciality… according to him at least.
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It's been about twenty minutes and the kid is still in the Medicine and Health section. Was that concerning? Yes. But she'd take a deep search into the kid's history tomorrow, she had to at least make sure to keep promises to herself and fulfill them. But she was still hung up on the fact that she definitely knew those curls and that jaw from somewhere... a TV show perhaps? Nah she hasn't watched anything since that new series she started with the Batgirls about a month ago. They haven't really gotten the time to watch the next episode. It could just be the fact Barbara has helped a lot of kids during her time as Batgirl, Oracle and as her civilian self as well. Maybe it's just Deja vú, it's been awhile since she had been on the streets helping the homeless kids.
Barbara made a mental note to go out with Jason later to help the alley kids out the next time they were gonna meet up. She'd have to restock on blankets, water bottles, and lots of other stuff but she never really minded spending money on that, it isn't like Bruce is hiding his vault of money from his batgirls and Robins. But her concern was growing when Peter was reading what looked like a book titled, "Unconscious People; And How To Nurse Them Back To Health."
Barbara was so close to breaking her self promise until Peter came up to check the book out. "Can I check this one out? My friend's aunt is in the hospital. I wanna understand what she's going through. I think this would help. What do you think?"
Barbara blinked, either this kid somehow read her thoughts of concern and was a really good liar or that this was just her being paranoid over nothing. "Yeah it can help you have an understanding of what she's going through but talking to her is way better. Trust me on that part. Good luck to you and your friend." She gave him an attempt at a warm smile and checked his book out for him. Peter smiled widely before leaving the building.
It's time I do my homework on you Peter….