Chapter Text
Prologue
Marvel Universe – 616161
Sixteen year old Miles Morales was laying on his bed, his dehydrated eyes gazing listlessly at the ceiling above him. He felt numb, defeated and sick to his stomach with guilt and shame. His mind struggled to provide him with any kind of productive thought, instead it only continued to offer the same image of his mentor and friend Peter Parker. To Miles it was simultaneously an image of Pete's heroism and his own failure, one that would haunt him forever. He hadn't felt a pain like this since his Uncle Aaron had died in his arms.
He despised himself at this moment, but he knew deep down he didn't have the luxury of self-pity. Peter was gone, Spider-Man was gone, one of them at least. It was up to Miles now as New York's only Spider-Man to continue Peter's legacy, now was not the time for him to lose focus. It was his time to be the hero Peter knew he could be.
He sat up from his bed and looked at the mask in his hands, the red and white eyes staring back at him. Wiping the mostly dried tears from his face as he stood, he pulled the mask over his face, and approached his bedroom window. Catching his reflection in the mirror, Peter's voice crept into his mind: 'with great power...'
Miles stood taller as he stared at himself in the mirror. "Comes great responsibility" he said aloud, his voice unsteady yet determined. 'I'll try and make you proud Pete.' He thought to himself as he climbed through the window of his bedroom and deftly scaled the building opposite his apartment. Stopping on the roof for a moment, he surveyed the cityscape ahead of him, it felt heavier somehow, but all that told Miles was that he had to get stronger to carry its weight. He breathed heavily, shot a web line across the street and started swinging into the city.
Several Days Earlier
Peter's eyes followed the metal stinger as it shot over him. Scorpion had stabbed his tail aggressively in Peter's direction, forcing him to lean back to dodge attack. Crash! The tail collided with a monitor on the desk behind Peter. He couldn't help but think that this office space had seen better days: broken chairs and desks were strewn about the place, computers were smashed and don't even get him started on the giant hole in the wall, complete with smashed windows.
Originally the duo had been fighting on the balcony of Fisk tower, but amidst their brawl the two had found them selves air born as they tumbled off the ledge. At that point Gargan had grabbed Spider-Man in attempt to throw him to the sidewalk but the hero managed to grapple with Scorpion and pushed off the side of Fisk Tower sending them both through the wall of the financial office opposite. And so the two adversaries found themselves having a rather intense scrap in an open office space. Fortunately the place seemed to be pretty much empty, it was the weekend after all.
"Now, come on Gargan! Is that really any way to behave in the workplace?" Peter quipped.
Trying his best to ignore the Spider's taunts, Scorpion pulled his tail back and prepared a second attack, using this opening, Peter quickly shot a web onto Scorpions helmet, blocking his vision. Before Gargan could react, Spidey tugged on the web, pulling Scorpion's head down into his clenched fist.
'Whak!' The upward motion of Spider-Man's fist, combined with the downward motion of Scorpion's face, allowed for a strong and audible strike. Gargan's helmet absorbed the brunt of the blow which cracked the eye lenses slightly.
Scorpion's head was throbbing as he stumbled backward, letting out a cry of frustration, he tried to focus back on Spider-Man and, using his tail, he shot a glob of acid in the wall-crawler's direction. The hero had anticipated this attack however, and prepared to launch himself over into a summersault in Scorpion's direction.
"Seriously? Am I going to have to get HR involved? I could swear there was something in the company contract about shooting acid at co-workers." Spidey mocked as he twisted through the air and landed backwards, feet first on the upper part of Scorpion's chest, causing him to stumble back.
With precision and haste, Spidey webbed Scorpion's tail to the ground and leapt off him again, just narrowly avoiding Scorpion's frenzied attack with his arms.
While he was in the air, Peter observed Gargan's frenetic movements and chose his opening. 'There it is' he thought to himself, as Scorpion's arms crossed each other and he quickly fired a small web bomb at Scorpion which landed right in the middle of his chest plate.
A fraction of a second passed before the small metal ball exploded, covering Scorpion's entire upper body in dense webbing. Encasing his arms and restricting his movements as if in a straitjacket.
"Gah!" was the only exclamation Scorpion managed to make before Pete shot another, simple web onto Gargan's exposed mouth, silencing him.
"Well, Scorpy. I gotta' go check on the new guy, but I expect your desk cleared by the time I get back!" Peter remarked as he jumped through the hole him and Gargan violently created when they entered the building.
Shooting a web across the street and pulling himself into an upward swing, Peter was able to make his way back to Fisk tower in a matter of seconds, pulling himself up and landing graciously on the balcony of the Kingpin's penthouse office.
Inside the office, the takented yet lesser experienced Spider-Man, Miles Morales, was trying his best to avoid the onslaught of energy blasts that Jackson Brice AKA The Shocker was firing at him.
Peter's protégé/partner was handling himself well so far, managing to evade the blasts of shockwaves for the time being, but it was clear to Pete that Miles hadn't been able to find an opening to press the attack... yet.
It was then that Peter noticed that the armoured thug known as The Rhino had been able to remove himself from the wall he had embedded himself in earlier. The giant Russian brute was readying a charge directly towards Miles.
Pete burst through the already shattered windows and, whilst in mid-air, shot a tether onto Shockers gauntlet. Before Brice could react Peter yanked on the web forcing the shockwaves, that were still firing from Shocker's gauntlet, to collide with the ceiling above.
The Ceiling started to crack and fragments of stone fell to the ground, but Pete knew that Fisk Tower was stable enough to take the blow. Fisk also would not risk hiring criminals with such high reputations for collateral damage unless he knew his building could take the abuse. But thats only IF Fisk actually hired them or they were here for other purposes.
Peter theorised grimly that it there were the 'other purposes' and that it wasn't just Scorpion, Rhino and Shocker. There would be at least three more villains in the basement waiting for them. He had three guesses for who was in charge of this half of the Sinister Six, and all of them rhymed with 'Rock-Sock'...
Miles was slightly taken aback by Pete's sudden appearance, after he saw him and Scorpion fall off the building just moments before. But readjusted quickly.
His spider-sense communicated that Shocker was no longer a threat for the time being, however its tingling sensation hadn't stopped. Instead it's frequency shifted and warned Miles of a different threat.
Deftly jumping into a back handspring in an attempt to dodge the oncoming charge from Rhino, Miles narrowly avoided the brutes attack. While the Rhino attempted to halt his charge, Miles shot a web in the brutes face. "Nice of you to join us..." He delivered across the room to the other Spider.
"Couldn't leave you guys to have all the fun." Peter replied as he landed face to face with shocker and quickly dropped down into a crouch. Sticking his left leg out to the side he swept his body round a hundred-and-eighty degrees with a trained grace and precision, knocking Shocker's legs out from under him. Brice landed on his back and before he even had a moment to register his new position, his arms were webbed to the ground by the hero.
'Boom!' the entire building seemed to shake as a thunderous crash resounded through the room. "Whoa Spidey-Two, how hard did Rhino run into the wall?" Peter asked, mostly rhetorically as he was replacing the nearly empty web cartridges in his web shooters with full ones.
"Ummm, he didn't…" Miles replied. Miles knew this for certain as he was still in the midst of fighting the large armoured brute. Dodging and weaving out of the way of his brutish fists as he frantically swung his arms about himself, still blinded by the web stuck to his face.
Peter cringed at Miles' response as it meant it was as he feared, the collider was back online and seemingly just as unstable as last time, perhaps more so thanks to the battle damage it sustained last time.
As Peter looked up and watched the younger teen still tussling with the blinded Rhino, his spider sense gave him the slightest tickle of a warning as the room shook with another violent 'Boom!' which racketed itself throughout the building.
Last time Fisk used the collider in his basement it was to bring back his family, both Spider-Men tried to stop it. This ended with Peter being in the middle of the collider as it activated taking on the full force of the multiversal tear. Causing him to sustain major injuries and have to keep out of the brewing crisis.
Incidentally however, Peter's body combining with the tear in the fabric of the multiverse resulted in him Fisk accidentally summoning several other Spider-People to this dimension. Obviously, wanting to get home, they all teamed up with Miles and their ally Daredevil to defeat Fisk while Peter's body healed him as he remained comatose for a couple of days.
The Spiders were sent back to their own worlds pretty much mid fight as the collider grew increasingly unstable. After the Spider-Folks were gone Miles and Daredevil were left to take down Kingpin.
After the fight though, they tried to shut off the collider which caused it to explode practically destroying all the labs and research in the basement let alone the collider itself which was basically a shell of itself. Even if the Sinister Six had attmepted to repair it and get it working properly somehow, the consequences to the fabric of reality could be catastrophic.
"We need to get to the basement." Peter stated bluntly.
Miles nodded in agreement as he ducked under Rhino's arm and shot his arms forward, open palmed into the hulking man's chest, as soon as he made connection he felt an energy build throughout his body as a fountain of yellow bolt's of shock came from his hands, causing the villain to yell in anguished pain.
At this same time the older Spider-Man had sent a web line either side of the Rhino and was rocketing himself towards Alexei at the speed of a train. His feet connected with the brute's face.
Rhino felt as if he had been shot by human sized bullet and staggered backwards. While trying to maintain his balance, Alexei felt two more blows strike him. One to the back of each leg as the younger Spider-Man channelled even more of his so called 'Venom Blast' into the back of the crook's knees, causing another cy of pain and making the Rhino lose all strength in his legs as he fell backwards.
Miles jumped out of the way of the lumbering mass slowly falling towards him and saw the criminal looking thoroughly tired and pissed off on the floor. Which Alexei was, but before he could get back up and squash the bugs, he felt himself becoming covered in a strong yet sticky substance as both the Spider-Men layered web after web on the villain.
When the two heroes felt that the goliath was sufficiently encased, they ran to the elevator doors. It was an elevator shaft that ran directly from the penthouse office and the basement.
'Boom!' cracks started to run along the walls and parts of the ceiling started to crumble and fall to floor. Peter was certain that if it weren't for their near perfect balance and their adhesive abilities they'd definitely be stumbling around on the floor trying to stay upright. He pushed the thought aside, as the he and Miles opened the elevator doors with their strength. The elevator was already called to the basement it seemed, and after a glance at the other, both heroes jumped down the shaft.
As the two descended the shaft, Peter was thinking to himself, the older hero only feeling more dread about the situation the more its intricacies danced around his mind. For one, Fisk was definitely in prison, Daredevil, or more specifically Matt Murdock had made sure of that. Even if he had escaped, Captain Yuri Watanabe would've let them know as soon as she heard.
Sure he could of hired the Sinister Six from prison. Fisk is nothing if not resourceful, unfortunately for the heroes of New York. Wherever Fisk is he always be at the top of the criminal food chain, so Peter figured Fisk was already starting an empire from behind bars.
But even if he had tried to get the collider working from inside prison for whatever reason, as far as Pete could tell no one on Fisk's regular staff, would be smart enough to have even attempted to rebuild the collider in the time he'd been gone. Even the scientists behind the collider's creation in the first place couldn't get it working again this quick, none of them, except one…
This had Otto Octavius' metallic claw-prints all over it. He would relish the opportunity to reactivate his creation and he would also definitely use it as an excuse to reassemble his Sinister Six. Knowing that the Spider-Men, who had been pestering him for too long, would come awinging along to stop it.
The question that had really been plaguing Peter, however, was this; did the Kingpin hire Otto, or was he working on his own schemes? And if it was the latter, what were they?
Before the older Spider-Man could think worry any more about the question, the two heroes landed on top of the elevator at the bottom of the shaft. Miles ripped the grate off the top of the elevator below them and the two jumped in, ready to open the doors and face whatever was behind them.
"So here we are... Trying to stop a bunch of Supervillains with a super-collider from toying with the multiverse and threatening all of reality… again." Miles said, with just a hint of irony in his tone. Adding "Man, does this gig ever get any less weird?"
The older Spider-Man just shrugged, "Not really, you just kind of get used to it." He replied nonchalantly as he pressed the button to open the doors to the elevator. They stood there for a beat before: 'Ding'. The elevator doors casually slid open and Peter looked to the younger hero and quickly added "At least it never gets boring."
Although Peter was wearing a mask, Miles could swear he could see the outline of a grin under the fabric. He couldn't help but feel the need to smile back before the two of them entered into the basement to face whatever was waiting them.
As Miles watched the older Spdier-Man swing into the office over looking the collider, he called out, "Try not to nearly die this time!" as he began swinging after him.
When the day was over, Miles would regret making that joke...
Several Minutes Later
Mac Gargan, AKA the Scorpion, had finally managed to free himself from the webbing keeping him stuck to the ground. Normally they would be too strong for him to just rip off, but thankfully his tail was free enough that with a few well placed drops of acid and some controlled blasts of energy he was able to free himself.
After exiting the office building and climbing the outside of Fisk Tower, he finally found himself at the balcony outside the penthouse.
He looked in to see the Shocker, or as he was also known to the criminal underground, Montana, struggling against the same sticky material that had incapacitated Gargan just a few moments ago.
Shocker had already freed one of his guantlets and was using softer concentrated bursts of energy to loosen his other. He didn't want to be too forceful as he could shatter his arm if he wasn't careful.
It was at that moment a blast of acid hit the floor near him, causing him to start. The acid ate away at the webbing and Brice tore his arm away off the floor. Now fully freed he got himself up off the floor and dusted himself off as he watched the acid spot grow larger and deeper to the point where he could see into the floor below in the tower.
He strode next to Scorpion, the one he assumed was responsible for his liberation from the webbing "Ya' have my thanks pardner," he said in a deep southern drawl "but next time warn a fella 'fore you shoot acid at him. Damn near took my arm off..."
Scorpion mostly ignored the comment, Brice was one of the few people, other than Vulture, he actually tolerated working with when teaming up against the Spider, or in recent months… Spiders.
He was a professional after all and carried himself with a competent head on his shoulders. He knew when to cut his losses and mostly focused on their goal, well as best as you could with the wall-crawlers constantly driving everyone up the… well, the wall…
Brice wasn't a brainless troglodyte either, like the Sandman or the Rhino. But he also wasn't too smart to have a colossal ego either, like Doctor Octopus. And he also wasn't an impulsive brat like Electro could prove to be.
Scorpion nodded his head in reply to Brice, he knew the other man didn't actually need a response, he was merely stating his frustration.
Gargan used his tail to point over to the writhing mass of webbing on the ground across from them, it's muffled yells of rage filling the air "That the Rhino?" Gargan asked, his voice blunt and uncaring.
Brice simply nodded. And the two criminals approached the angry cocoon of webbing to help get him out. 'BOOOOM!' another thunderous explosion of noise rang through the building shaking the skyscraper vigorously as the two mercenaries were thrown about the room and the entire room seemed to grow brighter and brighter until all that could be seen was the whitest of all white and every thing grew impossibly still and impossibly silent.
Chapter 1
DC Universe – Specification Unknown
Colours finally started to find their ways back into Peter's view as noise slowly crept back into his ears. Unfortunately with the return of his senses, an ache settled itself into every single one of his muscles and a pounding headache decided to take up residence in his brain.
"Ow…" Peter said aloud, as if vocalising his discomfort would somehow alleviate the pain. It did not.
As he opened his eyes he saw dark clouds above him. Sitting up, he found himself on what appeared to be a rooftop, 'Ugh, where am I?' He thought to himself as he pushed himself up onto his feet.
It was night, which meant he was out for a while as it was day just five minutes ago, but that was least of his worries. It was freezing cold and he could see thin flakes of snow falling around him, the ground too wet for them to actually settle. This was slightly off putting, it was Spring when the day began...
What bothered Peter most though was the skyline, he didn't recognise it at all, suggesting maybe he was in a new country. But he knew he was probably further away than that, after all the super collider he was literally just trying to stop was designed to travel through the multiverse.
He sighed and rubbed the ridge of his nose with his fore finger and thumber through his mask, 'I'm in another universe aren't I? Damn Parker luck.' He thought to himself.
He jumped to the ledge to get a better view of the skyline and see if he could spot any familiarities, maybe he was lucky, maybe he just got transported to another city or somewhere in Europe or Asia or something, most of the signs and building names he could spot though were written in English however.
'Okay! Let's not give up right way? Maybe this is still my earth... Maybe I'm in England! They speak English there… And its cold...' it was then he spotted a hot dog vendor with a sign saying 'Regular Hot Dogs $2, Chilli Dogs $3'.
He slapped his face into his palm and pinched the bridge of his nose again. "Okay..." he said aloud this time, hoping it would somehow rectify his increasingly dire situation. "Maybe this is Australia... They use dollars I think, right?"
As soon as he said that he heard the screeching of tires and the honking of a car horn, his attention snapped to the street where he saw a car waiting for an elderly woman to cross the road. "Get out of the road, you dumb old broad!" came a voice not too dissimilar to a New Yorker's yet slightly different, but no doubts unmistakably American, "Maybe the driver is a tourist…" he said before turning his head slightly left and seeing hanging below him on the very building he was standing on, the American flag...
"Okay, maybe I Am still in my universe... Maybe I've just been sent to a different city, maybe this Chicago, or something." He then thought about the season change, 'And it's the future? The past? Maybe I was shot a few months forward to Winter? Or a back to last Christmas?'
The longer he thought about it though, the more Peter came to terms with the idea the super collider probably sent him to another universe. It was, after all, designed for that express purpose, to traverse the multiverse. "Shit!" Peter spoke aloud to himself. He didn't care much for swearing, but he didn't care at this moment, he'd just confirmed his worse fears. He was in another universe.
The nineteen-year-old hero stood up on the ledge and started pacing back and forth, Peter's memory had gone slightly hazy after he had been shanghaied into what he could only assume was another dimension. He could remember spots of the moments just before his arrival but they all seemed locked from him, as if they were hidden in a maze.
'Come on think, Peter. Think! I was fighting... Electro, I think? Miles was going against Vulture... and Doc Ock was desperately trying to stabilise the collider. Then what?' He tried to focus harder but all he ended up doing was giving himself a headache, 'Ugh, I think I have dimensional motion sickness...' He thought, as his mind started to feel crushed by the weight of his own incomplete memories.
Still pacing the roof, the sound of yelling grabbed his attention. Jumping over to other ledge he slowly got into a crouch as he looked down into the alley beside the building Peter was on.
From this position, he observed as five men in sweat pants and pullover hoodies with their hoods up, approached a younger looking boy in similar clothing with his hood down. Three of the five were visibly armed with one holding a baseball bat, another brandishing a crowbar and a third with what seemed to be a simple iron bar. The other two however were the ones inching closer to the younger man in what Peter assumed was an intimidation tactic.
The costumed hero, still crouched on the ledge, continued to watch the scene play out.
He didn't know how things operated in this city, or even where this city was, he decided to continue watching and to step in when things got too far.
He felt conflicted about standing back and just eavesdropping, especially since he could tell this interaction wasn't friendly. But, nevertheless he needed all the information he could get and this opportunity was basically dropped onto him, he wasn't going to waste it by acting too early.
'Just hang in there a bit longer, kid...' He thought as he looked at the terrified face of the young man being targeted. The kid looked no older than Miles, perhaps a bit younger.
The decidedly fifteen, maybe sixteen year old, boy was mixed race and dark skinned. His hair was short and curly, but, most noticeably to Peter, he looked malnourished. The kid looked as if he hadn't even heard the words 'cooked meal' in a very long time.
"Listen, kid. We don't want to hurt ya..." Said one of the unarmed goons. "We just want what you owe us... Black Mask doesn't take kindly to late payments." He added as he advanced even further to the younger man.
'Black Mask? I guess that must be the boss of these cliché rent-a-thugs' Peter mused to himself. Desperately trying to piece everything together, all the information continued to point to one, inconvenient and irritating, conclusion. This wasn't his world. So he needed to work backwards, piece things together based on what he already knows from back 'home'.
'Maybe Fisk has a different gimmick here? I mean this New York is pretty much unrecognisable, so Kingpin wearing a black mask and going by a different name isn't too far out of the realms of possibility… If this even is New York. Or if Fisk even exists here… I'm overthinking, stop jumping to conclusions Peter. Just focus on what you see; assumptions are just going to confuse you.'
By this point the younger man had backed himself fully into the wall, and was urging himself to somehow back even further away. Hoping the wall would swallow him to put even more distance between him and the men in front of him.
He looked about himself worriedly as he tried to reply: "H-Hey guys, listen… I'm gonna pay Mask I swear, I- I just haven't been able to scrape it all together yet. I'll have it by the end of the month! I- I swear…" His face was moist with sweat as every muscle in his body tightened with terror.
"Listen Eddy, you're half a month late with ya payment already. Now you know what happens with folks who are late with their pay…" The leader said, not without a hint of sympathy. "Black Mask can't just have people disrespecting him like that, especially for such a small amount of money."
The main thug eyed Eddy up and down, "So here's the deal, we're gonna have to put the hurt on ya a bit." He casually remarked. "Nothing too major, a couple of bruises here, some cuts there, maybe a broken arm or something."
Eddy, although terrified felt strangely comforted by the candid attitude the thug had. "T-That's all?" He replied, his voice thick with fear.
The leader smiled, "Yeah, that's all we're gonna do to ya. I swear." He said with a grin sickeningly wide.
"Your sister on the other hand…" Spoke the other unarmed thug. He was a big brute of a man, pale, with a wide face that was scarred and misshapen, as if the man had been dropped face first as a baby everyday for a week.
Eddy snapped his head to the larger man, a mixture of disgust, hatred and fear in his eyes. The bigger thug just shrugged. "Well we gotta get some form of 'payment' tonight" He replied. He was wearing an ugly and evil smile that simply screamed bad intentions.
'God! The crooks here are just as morally reprehensible as the guys back home…' Pete thought. He had hoped maybe these guys would have some kind of decency, but he was an idiot to ever think that hired goons of this nature could be anything but disgusting creatures of pure greed and corruption.
Eddy looked back to the leader of the group with pleading eyes… "Please no. Leave her out of this I can get to the money, I swear!"
The leader raised is arms in mock surrender, "I'm sorry, Eddy. It's what we gotta do. My hands are tied."
'I guess that's all I'm going to get from these guys, better step in before they hurt the kid.' Peter thought resolutely and as soon as the leader finished his sentence with his arms above his head, the hero had his opening.
A resounding 'Thwip' rang through the air as the main thugs arms were suddenly stuck together and encased in a sticky, white, web-like substance. The thug looked back to Eddy with shock and confusion as Eddy looked back with astonishment and bewilderment. The two made eye contact before a voice cried out from deeper in the alley.
"I'd say they're more webbed than tied..." Said the mysterious voice, and the entire group swung their heads to see a the outline of a man crouching on the building at the end of the back alley.
"I thought ya said the Bat was gonna be busy with one of his nutcases from the loony bin tonight?" Came the snivelly voice of the goon carrying the crowbar.
"That's not the Bat, dipshit! He ain't got the ears." Said the bigger goon, fear undercoating his voice, while still mostly sounding both stupid and piggish.
"He don't make jokes either..." Said the main thug, while trying to wrestle his arms free. He grunted and stared at the silhouette atop the building, looking and sounding pissed off and confused. "Who the hell are you supposed to be?"
Spider-Man had been taking in all the details of the exchange, 'Who the hell is the Bat, Is that this versions Peter Parker, or is there another Spider-Person here? But, if there was why didn't any of them know of me? Ugh! I HATE the multiverse! Such a headache.' He monologued to himself as he dropped from the ledge, performing a forward somersault before deftly landing with near silence in the alley below. The building had only been three storeys, an insignificant height for someone with Pete's abilities.
A couple of the armed goons seemed impressed with the display but the snivelly crowbar guy, the leader, and the big guy all kept their composure and fixed their gazes at Spidey with hate and confusion on their faces.
"Me? Oh you know I was just in the neighbourhood... Here to see my good buddy Eddy!" He said turning his gaze to the kid and pointing with finger guns at him. He wanted to see if he was alright, and maybe also encourage the goons to back off. Eddy just seemed as frightened as before but now with hints of confusion and shock painted on his face. "Hi, Eddy! How've you been, pal? Sorry I'm late… Traffic. You know how it is.."
The leader of the thugs, his arms still webbed closed, looked to Eddy, rage reddening his face, his eyes screaming with hate. "You know this punk, Eddy?!" He all but shouted.
"N-No. I-I Swear. I've never seen him before in my life" Eddy squeaked out, his heart racing.
Spider-Man put his hand to his chest, as if he'd been stabbed in the heart. "Eddy! How could you? After everything we've been through?" His voice thick with mock hurt.
"Whatever! Just take this guy out quick while I get this shit off my hands." The leader said, still struggling with his arms.
At his command the three armed goons approached Peter, he crouched down into his signature three point half crouch, laying one hand on the floor as his other hand was stretched in the air behind him. 'This guy has know idea what he's doing.' The snivelly crowbar guy thought to himself.
The other two goons hesitated for a second, they'd never seen someone pull a pose like this before a fight. Which meant one of two things: Either, this guy was just making it up as he went along and had no idea what he was doing. Or, he was toying with them. Right now something within them was yelling at them that it was the latter, and that they should just run.
The crowbar guy went to strike first, charging at the costumed intruder with his weapon raised, ready to swing. Before he could even get close however, the costumed stranger had pounced, like a coiled viper straight at him.
He landed in a handstand on the crowbar goons shoulders and handsprung forward off the goon, which sent him tumbling downwards and forward, straight into a row of garbage cans. He fell to the floor grabbing at his head, as his skull left a sizeable dent in the metal bins.
The leader, who was focused on trying to free his arms at the time, looked up at the sound of the scuffle, only to see a pair of feet coming straight at his head. The hero had launched himself off the crowbar goon straight towards the leader. "Oh, fuuu-" The lead thug managed to mutter before Spider-Man's feet connected with his chest, knocking the wind out of him.
Before the goon fell as a result of the impact though, Spidey pushed off him with his legs, sending him flying backwards into the bigger thug, who was just about to pull a pistol out of the back of his pants.
The two crashed into each other, however, the bigger goon was strong enough to keep them somewhat upright. But it meant he was delayed in getting his gun out, as he grabbed the leader and helped him to find his balance.
The hero was now standing tall, looking at Eddy, "Eddy, my man! Why the hell didn't you tell me this party was spandex optional? I wouldn't have worn my best red and blues." He said, as Eddy just looked back at the man, dumbfounded.
The two more hesitant goons, armed with a baseball bat and an iron bar, looked to each other nervously before looking back to their spandex clad assailant. He wasn't looking at them, he let his guard down, they thought. The two started to rush at him.
Peter saw Eddy's eyes go wide as he was about to warn him of the coming attack, but the hero's sixth sense already warned him.
Without even looking away from the kid, and in inhuman speed, Spidey moved his right arm across his body so it was under his left armpit facing the two armed goons who were approaching him from his left.
He shot out a web line straight to the iron bar in one of the goons hand, grabbed the line, and with a simple flick of his wrist, he snatched the iron bar from the thug and sent it right into the side of the head of the baseball bat wielding goon, knocking him out cold.
Seemingly unfazed, the red and blue coloured man continued his longwinded and somewhat unfunny, yet endearing, joke "I mean seriously, I feel so over dressed... Next time you invite a guy out just let him know the dress code beforehand, kay?"
The goon, who was previously armed with an iron bar, was looking at the unconscious form of his friend and back up to their strange attacker. His hand was still under his armpit but was more relaxed now and it seemed as if he just was casually chatting with Eddy. Not sure whether to press the attack again or not, the goon just stood there in stunned confusion.
"And another thing, this mask really brings out my allergies I mean I- ah- ah- AH" Peter continued, he decided he enjoyed this bit he was doing, even if it was very stupid.
It was refreshing fighting criminals who had no idea who he was, they always underestimated him and it was very satisfying seeing their shocked expressions.
While he was talking, he was using the interface in his mask lenses to change his right web shooter mode, to complete the dumb joke he was setting up. "AH- CHOO!" Peter yelled as he shot an impact web from his right hand directly at the still stunned and conflicted goon.
The goon's front was immediately encased in webbing, and he felt as though he had been punched in the chest by a truck as he was sent flying backwards into the wall behind him, and was stuck there, suspended a foot off the ground.
While all this was happening, the big goon was also now trying to rip the webbing off the leader's arms, to no avail. "Who the hell is this guy?" He asked.
"Who cares? Just get this crap off me and shoot him!" The leader replied, frustration behind every word. His chest still aching from the blow he received, "Ugh! Just leave this shit for now! Just shoot em both, we'll bring the kid's sister to Mask and he can decide what to do about 'payment'. Maybe he can find a buyer or something... Ship her offf to siberia..."
As the leader muttered about the potential human trafficking laws Black Mask could break, the big guy let go of his arms and pulled his gun out his pants.
He watched as his ally was thrown into a wall by, and covered in, the same stuff as the leader's arms. He also saw his other ally, who was wielding a crowbar before he was thrown into some trash cans, was now getting to his feet, although he was stumbling and still gripping his head. The big guy pointed his pistol at the red and blue figure in front of him.
Spider-Man obviously sensed the gun being pointed directly at him, not to mention the fact he was facing the big goon, even if his attention was still mostly on Eddy. With his right arm now resting on his hip, he used his left to fire another web line.
Before the big goon even had time to think about pulling the trigger the gun was snatched from his hand by the line, and he watched, stunned, as the costumed man deftly caught the gun in his left hand, crushed it casually and tossed it behind him.
The crumpled pistol arced in the air as the crowbar goon was still stumbling about dizzily. It landed square on his head with an audible "Thunk!" And he dropped to floor unconscious.
"God, does nobody have manners these days?" Spidey asked the dumbfounded Eddy, he turned his attention to the two remaining thugs, the leader and the big guy, "I mean I'm trying to have a conversation with my buddy here, do you mind?"
At this point both the big goon and the leader were thinking of cutting their losses and just running away, but they knew Black Mask wouldn't let them get far if they failed their job. Before they could think any more on it though the leader's legs were webbed together, with a line between him and the hero.
Spider-Man pulled on the web line as he leapt several feet off the ground, yanking the leader off his feet. His head narrowly avoiding the ground, as the hero pulled him into the air and attached the other end of the line onto the bottom of the fire escape above. Spider-Man then crawled along the bottom and, in a swift and graceful motion, swung himself onto the railing of the first balcony of fire escape.
The leader dangled upside down a few feet off the ground, thrashing about and yelling a slew of colourful insults at the hero. Suddenly his mouth was webbed shut and the rest of his upper (or lower, considering he was upside down) body was covered in white webbing.
The big guy stared at his fellow criminal, dangling upside down, still thrashing violently. Muffled, yet angry, noises coming from his webbed face. Unsure how to proceed, his gaze moved up the line and onto the hero crouching on the railing of the fire escape above.
Spider-Man simply waved back to the goon, enjoying the confused and scared expression on his face. He then shot a line to the thug's chest and, similarly to the leader, yanked him off the ground.
This time though, he also used the goon's own weight to pull himself off the railing and planted his feet into the airborne thug's chest with considerable force. Kicking the big guy back down to the ground, knocking the wind out of him. He landed on the ground with a "Thud" and his back and chest ached with a pain he hadn't felt in years.
Spider-Man, still airborne after kicking himself off the big guy, performed a graceful backwards somersault before landing over the now prone goon. His legs were parted as his feet landed on the ground on either side of the big guy, who was on his back.
The thug looked up with fear at the towering, red and blue clad hero. He was surprisingly skinny considering how hard he hit, the goon pondered, as the hero started to crouch over him before grabbing by the collar of his shirt.
Spider-Man was debating interrogating the thug, before deciding against it. 'What would I ask him, vague questions about his boss? About the city? anything this guy tells me isn't going to be worth the time. Besides I'm not here to pick a fight the sooner I get home the better.' He thought, besides he knew that he'd be on this 'Black Mask' character's radar soon enough after taking down his goons.
He just hoped he was home before that happened, he didn't want to be causing too much trouble here, wherever here was. Instead he looked back to the goon who was already wincing in preparation for a punch. 'Well, I shouldn't keep the guy waiting…' He thought before delivering a quick and decisive punch to the goon's face. Knocking him unconscious.
Peter dropped the goon and looked back over to Eddy, he was still just standing there staring back at Spider-Man, his mouth agape.
A beat passed before the kid broke the silence: "Holy shit, dude! That was awesome! How the hell did you do that? You were like a ninja or something, who the hell are you? Are you working for Batman? Are you the new Robin or something? How did you crush that gun with your hand? What was that gooey stuff you tied those guys up with?" Eddy blurted out with excitement and wonder.
Pete was taken slightly aback from the outburst, clearly the kid was sill in shock.
Not wanting to reveal too much information, Peter elected to only answer one of Eddy's questions: "Um… I do a lot of jazzercize, it's good for the muscles. Are you okay?"
Eddy, slightly confused by the stranger's response, looked around his incapacitated agitators. "Err, Yeah. I'm good. Thanks. But, again, who are you?" He asked.
"I'm just you're friendly neigh-" Pete paused. His initial reply was mostly reflex at this point, although he hadn't used the exact phrase in a while (after just over five years of 'Spider-Manning' eventually people stopped asking who he was). Nevertheless it was his go-to response.
But this wasn't his neighborhood, he actually wasn't sure what neighborhood he was even in, or how long he'd actually be here. So he cleared his throat and tried again…
"I'm nobody really… Just passing through." He stated. 'I hope I am at least' He then thought. Ideally he didn't want to be here any longer than necessary, but he didn't even know where, or how, he would begin trying to get home.
"Nobody? Dude, you just took out like…" Eddy paused to count the thugs, "Five guys like it was nothing."
"Ha, trust me. I defeat a Five Guys every other week!" Peter quipped as he patted his stomach.
The kid blinked, he clearly didn't get the joke. Peter thought it was because he was in shock. In reality it was because Five Guys didn't exist in this world, so Eddy had no point of reference.
Instead he simply looked Peter up and down, studying his costume. It was different than what he'd heard the 'Bat-Family' wore.
It was tight, form fitting and covered his whole body. It was coloured deep blue and red with a black spider symbol on the chest.
"You sure you're not one of Batman's? But, what's with the spider?" Eddy seemed to get more serious, and looked at the figure with a more sceptical gaze. "Seriously, who are you?"
'There's that name. Again. Who the hell is Batman? I need to figure this all out, fast.' Peter sighed.
He helped this kid because he had to, he couldn't let him get hurt, or worse. He could just swing away from this whole situation, but figured that would only cause more confusion for the kid. "If you really want a name… You can call me Spider-Man, but as I said I'm just passing through."
Before the kid could ask more questions, Peter leapt back onto the wall of the building he came from. "Try to stay out of trouble kid, and go home. It's a school night!" He quickly said as he ran up the building onto the roof. He actually had no idea if it was a school night or not, but he felt an urge to drop one last quip before he left.
Eddy watched as Spider-Man defied gravity and ran up the wall with ease. He was silenced by his confusion and shock, and he saw as the masked man stopped for a second on the roof of the building before leaping once more further away into the Gotham skyline that lie beyond the alley.
'It's Saturday…' He momentarily thought, before he was snatched back into reality by the muffled screams of the upside down thug hanging next to him.
Eddy, sneered at the thug before exiting the alley and running home. He had a lot to tell his sister when he got back.