Chapter Text
Peters Spidey sense went crazy when his super hearing picked up boots landing on the roof behind them.
Peter immediately looked behind him and saw from the corner of his eye that Miles quickly followed. Peter first saw his eyes, white eyes that gave him a little heart attack. They reminded him a lot of Iron-Man but that could never be the case. When the man stepped forward more Peter could see him more clearly, his helmet was fully red like some sort of motorcycle helmet but not. He wore a brown leather jacket with heavy army underneath, his right arm was raised with a gun in hand pointed at Peter and Miles. Which rude? They were just minding their own business.
"Who the fuck are you two?..."
"Woah, woah no need for the gun man. We're just minding our own business." Peter said in response.
The man got another gun out and now had two guns pointed at them. Good fucking job Parker...
"I asked you a question." The man tilted his head to the side and pointed on repeat at Peter with the gun in his left hand.
"We're just your friendly neighborhood Spider-Men..." Miles said slowly and unsure of himself. "I'm Spider-Man and that's OG Spider-Man, Would you please be so nice to not point with your guns. I mean that's because we're not the bad guys unless you're the bad guy..."
"Well it depends on who you ask whether I'm the bad guy or not. And no the guns are staying." He scoffed. "What the fuck are you doing in Gotham Spider freaks?"
"First of all it's not nice-" Peter begun but he got cut of by the man loading the gun he just grabbed. "Okay, second we're just passing through and hell this city needs some Spider-Men."
"Get the hell out of here." The man snarled.
"Not even a thank you for getting an old woman's dog back, or thank you Spider-Men for not ignoring this street race! Or I'm so thankful you caught a few brainless criminals!" Peter continued.
"I didn't ask you to."
"We're clocking out for tonight anyways." Peter held strong eye contact with the man and slowly got up on his feet. "Let's go Spider M." He signed at Miles to also go up. The man didn't shoot at them and let them get up.
Peter shot a web, not breaking eye contact. The mans body language showed that he didn't expect a web, he even lowered his guns because of it. Miles quickly followed Peter.
While they were swinging away Peter heard the man mutter to himself.
"Great fucken job Red Hood.."
oooooh... So this was this mysterious Red Hood man Peter has been hearing about all night. If people didn't ask him and Miles if they were with Batman they asked if they were with Red Hood.
Peter and Miles swung all the way back to the roof of the apartment they started their patrol on. Miles immediately went to the spot he stored his clothes at. Miles muttered a quiet "hell yeah." When he saw his clothes untouched.
"I don't think he liked us being here." Peter started.
"He should be glad we're here for the time being. I didn't see him stopping those robberies or did you?" Miles said while putting on his pants.
"True." The nanites of his suit retracted and his ESU hoodie appeared again. Peter noticed he smelled terribly and was in dire need of a good hot long shower. "Miles we need to think about where to stay next. I don't think we're going home any time soon. We don't even have a single clue where the guy that got us into this bullshit is. And I need a shower and a different set of clothes."
Miles nodded and took off his mask. "Oh I need to get out of this suit so badly. You think hotels still give rooms in the middle of the night?"
Peter looked over the edge of the roof into the street. A closed corner store, a few abandoned businesses and a closed pawnshop. He walked over to the other edge where there was another street. There were more abandoned shops on the other side but also a bar, there was a sign next to the door saying: 'Two rooms still available.'
"Miles, we could see if they're willing to give us a room over there." Peter pointed at the bar.
"It's a bar Pete."
Peter shrugged. "We could always try."
The both of them got off of the roof and walked towards the bar.
The bar wasn't very busy, there was an older man sipping on a beer sitting at the bar. There were two men sitting at one of the table's having a laugh. There was a barman a little younger than middle aged with brown hair done neatly, a full beard and a casual button up behind the bar.
"Welcome, what could I get you?" The barman asked Peter and Miles.
"Oh no, no we don't need anything. We were wondering if you had a room available for us?" Peter put on a smile.
"Oh yeah." The barman dried his hands with a tiny towel. "I think I've got something for you two, I have a room with a full bed and a sofa couch. Twenty a night."
Peter looked at Miles who nodded in agreement. "Sure that'll be fine."
Peter took out his wallet. After the clothes, the hotel room and the food from yesterday they had around $250 left. Peter handed the man a $50 bill and the man gave him a thirty dollar bill back.
"Here you go dude." The barman handed him a key with a wine bottle as a keychain. "Room 2 when you go upstairs you'll immediately see it. I'm Raymond if there is anything I or my colleague Elijah will be right here downstairs."
"Thank you." Peter nodded and him and Miles went upstairs. The bar was in the same old style as the hotel they stayed in the night before.
When Peter opened the door the room was pretty okay. For twenty dollars a night they got a little black leather couch that fit two, one of those thick old tv's Peter remembered they had one like that when he just came to live with uncle Ben and aunt May. There were three windows with dark curtains all still opened. There was a really tiny kitchen on the other side of the room, there was a refrigerator a little larger than a mini fridge. There was a newer looking microwave on the counter and an electric kettle. In the middle of the room there was a full bed pushed with the headboard against the wall. A larger closet was pushed against the wall at the foot end of the bed, but you could still pass to the other side very easily. There was one other door Miles had already opened. There was a bathroom, an okay shower, a sink and a toilet. There were three towels on top of the sink and two of those little shampoo bottles you'd get at a hotel.
Peter went to the couch, the barman downstairs said it was a sofa bed. The under side of the couch you could pull out and it became a bed, he removed the big seating pillows. He pulled open the big closet thinking the bedding must be stored in there and he was right about that.
"I'm showering first Pete give me an hour." Miles smiled at Peter before shutting the bathroom door closed.
"Oh fuck no you're not taking an hour!" Peter yelled at him playfully.
He pulled out the bedding from the closet and started to make the bed. There were two extra blankets he threw one on his bed and another one on the full bed for Miles. Miles was singing under the shower, it sounded pretty okay not great but who was Peter to judge it's not like he could do better himself.
Peter pulled the phone from his pocket. He and Miles always got the newest Stark tech phone, present from Happy. Their phones including cell service worked even in outer space, how? He actually never asked. What he should tell the people making and designing these phones is that they should invent some way to call to and from other universes. Peter still hadn't figured out how his number even worked in another universe. His phone was dead and he had no charger, bummer.
Peter manually turned on the tv and plopped down on the sofa bed. The news was on, the lady was talking about a villain called scarecrow. There was a picture of this Scarecrow next to the lady speaking. Peter got his name he really did look like a Scarecrow but not like a the wizard of Oz scarecrow more like a Creepypasta version of him with a gas mask. This Scarecrow man did an attack a few days ago with something called fear toxin.
"Scarecrow made his attack with fear toxin in Gotham City's Financial District three days ago. Many people we're hospitalized but are all out of critical conditions. Batman and Red Robin tried to catch him three days ago, however they failed to do so. Tonight Scarecrow hit again, If you're in the area of Robinson Park and Bristol you're advised to keep all doors and windows shut and not leave your house."
Fear toxin....
"Hey Karen? What's fear toxin?"
"Goodnight Peter, Fear Toxin used and created by Scarecrow is an anxiogenic drug. The inhalation or injection of the toxin induces intense and irrational fear. It can cause the infected to go temporarily or permanently insane or even result in death in the worst cases."
"Thanks Karen."
"On a lighter notice.." The news lady continued. Peter got distracted by some commotion on the streets. Peter walked over and looked out of one of the windows. He saw a group of around eight men walking and fooling around. They were all dressed in the same way, they reminded Peter of Scarecrow. They wore the same kinds of hoods Scarecrow wore. The same brown color pallet and they had crowbars and Molotov cocktails, when they threw one at a car and it went up in flames Peter was ready to go back out there again. Instead the same man from the roof, Red Hood appeared.
Peter was fascinated by the mans fighting skills. He used a lot of brutality and used his guns too. In the matter of seconds all of the Scarecrow look-a-likes were on the floor except for one. Red hood used the Molotov cocktail the Scarecrow look-a-like held in his hand and hit it over his head, the look-a-like fell to the ground dramatically with a stream of blood coming from his head.
Peter was standing really close to the window and he noticed that when Red Hood was looking around and locked eyes with peter. Peter quickly closed the curtains.
Should he call the firemen or did Red Hood do that himself? Peter and Miles did always call the help services themselves.
Miles came out of the shower not wearing his suit anymore just the sweatpants and hoodie. "What happened outside?" He asked.
"A few bad guys, Red Hood handled them." Peter closed the other two curtains as well. The Iron-Spider suit was stored in nanites in a little box it always made for itself when Peter was not wearing it. He should find a way to charge the suit, he forgot to ask Karen how full the suit was. He remembered it was fully charged when he left on patrol two days prior. He also thought about webs, he and Miles needed new webs they were running out. These are worries for after his well deserved shower.
"Do we have hot water?" Peter asked.
Miles shook his flat hand left to right a few times. "Meh, it's not ice cold but not warm either."
"Honestly even if it was ice cold I'd still take it." Peter hurried to the bathroom before he closed the door he poked his head through. "Big bed is yours Miles." Before Miles could possibly protest Peter shut the door.
Peter looked in the mirror above the sink and turned the sink on, the water coming out of it was ice cold he took some of the water in his hand and splashed his face. It was a tiny welcome back to reality Parker moment. He sighed deeply and took his hoodie off. He forgot what kind of shirt he wore under it, it was a shirt he got from Gwen at her bands last gig. The Mary Jane's, he made a mental note to after he washed it to give it to Miles. He knew he must miss Gwen a ton. For now he threw the black band T-shirt on the ground, kind of nasty he realized but he won't put it on after his shower anyways.
He looked at himself in the mirror he could see just from the middle of his torso. He looked at his top surgery scars, he had gotten top surgery very early when he was sixteen. Even though it had been three years he still stared at them very proudly. He sneaked a quick bicep pose in the mirror but when he got a whiff of his own smell he quickly got fully undressed and hopped under the shower.
When he got out of the shower he made another mental note to get toothbrushes and toothpaste and underwear as well as more clothes.
When on patrol this night he missed Ned and comms all together, another mental note to try and fix their comms. Further more he added to the list to look into the weird guy that brought them here, was he from here? Was he practiced in what he was doing, dimension hopping? What were his intentions? And where the fuck was he?
He found Miles snoring on the sofa bed with the tv still on, Peter cursed under his breath but at the same time did secretly want the bed already. He manually turned the TV off.
He dove into the bed and fell asleep much quicker than the night before.
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"Wake up sleepyhead!" Miles threw a pillow at him and Peter who had no clue what was going on still caught it with his super reflexes.
Miles was grinning at him. "I have hot water or cold water for breakfast, or we need to go to the store before we eat breakfast."
Peter groaned and rolled to his other side. "Five more minutes."
Peter and Ned went to a store together, when going downstairs they passed another barman. This must've been Elijah, He looked friendly he wore the same casual button up as Raymond wore last night. He had dark hair up in a bun and glasses, when they left he was cleaning the bar.
Peter and Miles walked a bit to a bigger grocery store. Clothes, Underwear, food and dental hygiene, Peter kept repeating in his mind. The store they entered had a little second hand clothes section, perfect. They went there first.
There were unsorted piles of clothes, a sign above just said: '1$ a piece.' Double perfect. Miles picked out a basic gray shirt, a red shirt with a little W logo on the left side. He also got a black zip up, a pair of cargo shorts and another pair of sweats now instead of a gray color a black color. He was so happy when he found a pair of not very used Nike shoes in his size in the pile.
Peter was digging a little longer. He got a pair of sweatpants also black, he already wore a pair of black jeans when he got here so he picked a pair of blue jeans from the pile. Towards the end of the pile he found two shirts and just choose those, one blue shirt with a weird S logo big on the front and a basic beige shirt.
"We need this." Miles pointed at some weird looking cereals.
I squinted my eyes. "You know what we do." I rolled the shopping card I was riding more towards Miles so he could easily throw it in. They got some bread, fruits, cheap off-brand Nutella and more snacks. They passed the hygiene aisle and both picked out a toothbrush, Peter grabbed a blue one and Miles grabbed a pink one. They grabbed some new underwear and socks. Peter smelled a few body washes and when Miles also agreed on the scent he dropped it in the card. Miles and him both picked out a different shampoo and conditioner.
They almost forgot the milk but Miles luckily remembered it before they checked out and quickly grabbed a gallon.
"That'll be $50,08 please." The cashier said with a wide smile on her face.
"Here you go ma'am." Peter handed her one of his hundred dollar bills and gave the cashier a friendly smile back. Miles was already packing their groceries and clothes in bags.
"Would you like the receipt?" The cashier asked when she gave him his change.
Peter shook his head no. "No thank you, have a nice day." Peter smiled.
"Have a nice day too boys." The cashier responded. We left with a little goodbye wave to the her.
While walking back to the bar Peter kept feeling a faint Spidey sense that was telling him they were being followed. Peter looked back and around them on repeat, but nothing. He shrugged it off.
When they arrived at the bar Elijah was not really doing anything. "Hey you must be Elijah right, I'm Peter and that's Miles. We're in room two together."
"Oh hello, nice to meet you two." Elijah held out his hand, he spoke with an accent Peter recognized immediately this man was from Queens as well. Peter shook his hand and after him Miles did the same.
"Are you from Queens?" Miles got ahead of Peter.
Elijah smiled and nodded. "You're too, it's nice hearing something familiar." Elijah pointed at Peter for a second. "Not a lot of New Yorkers here in Gotham City. And you're from Brooklyn?" He asked Miles.
Miles nodded as well.
"What are two young New Yorkers like yourselves doing here in Gotham of all places?" Elijah asked honestly.
"Just passing through, we're not planning on staying here long. But we are planning on staying here for a few more days." Miles and Peter had discussed this was the best option on staying until they found a way back home again.
"That's absolutely perfect, we also have weekly or monthly payments. A week for $110 and a month for $400."
Peter and Miles had $220 left. Peter thought really deeply and decided to go for a week. They had a week to figure out how to get back home...
"We'll do a week." Peter got out his wallet and handed him the money.
"Well Peter and Miles from New York, if there's anything me or Raymond will be right here." He smiled and Peter and Miles waved at him as they went upstairs. Miles who was holding the groceries put them away in the little kitchen immediately.
"I saw a laundromat on our way here, after we eat something I'll take the clothes right to it."
"I'll join you, there is nothing else to do anyways." Miles said and stretched his arms like he just woke up.
"That's alright. If you dare we can also wash your suit."
Miles nodded in response. "How will you do it Pete, with your suit. You have your Iron-Spider suit and not your normal suit, this one will need to be charged. And we're almost out of webs, I mean I could figure something out."
"That's something I haven't figured out yet about charging my suit. But I did think about our webs. They've got schools in Gotham we can break into, maybe just go as civilians and see if we can just enter and get to the science labs. If that doesn't work we just have to break in. We don't have any money left for web materials."
Miles shrugged. "We'll try."
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In the laundromat they stuffed the first wash they did with Miles' spider suit obviously when no one was looking, not that it was pretty busy they we're the only ones apart from a middle aged woman and an employee around their age. They put in the rest of the darker clothes and they turned it on. One wash costed $0.25, Peter was really not used to everything being so cheap. He wondered if it was this cheap in the rest of the city as well, he also wondered if money had the same value as in his own universe. Maybe twenty-five cents was normal or expensive here.
When the washing machine was done they quickly changed into warm clean clothes so that the clothes they were wearing now.
When they were done at the laundromat they went back to the apartment and dropped the clothes off, Peter decided to put them neatly inside the big closet. He made the right side for Miles' clothes and the left side for himself.
"Karen, where is the Gotham University?"
"Good afternoon Peter, Gotham University is in Gotham Heights. Normally I would advice you to take the bridge to Bristol and pass through Robinson Park but due to the recent safety warnings I'd advice you to pass through Otisburg and West End, you'll have to take a bridge to Gotham Heights there."
"Well Miles, I guess it's time for a little road trip, or a little walking trip." Peter smiled at him.
"Well time for a new area, I don't think we've walked over a bridge yet. I think it's the bridge we saw close to the police building."
Peter grabbed two apples and threw one at Miles who obviously caught it. "Before we leave though. I was wearing a shirt when we arrived maybe you'd like to wear it." Peter opened the closet back up and grabbed the shirt from Gwen's band The Mary Jane's. He unfolded it and held it up high before his face. Peter didn't hear anything for a minute and immediately thought Miles found it lame. He lowered the shirt and was met with Miles' face, he was tearing up and slowly reached for the shirt.
"Thank you Peter." He said not believing what he was seeing. He took the shirt from him and immediately replaced the basic shirt he was wearing underneath his new zip up. He dried his tears and put the zip up back on. "Well university here we come." He smiled the most he had since landing in this universe.
Miles was right when he said he thought it was the bridge close to the police building. A big green traffic sign that said 'Gotham Heights' in white letters and arrows hung high before you entered the bridge. Peter was walking on the side towards the water, he looked down and the water was so nasty, he couldn't believe Miles and him took a bath in this water when they arrived. When they passed the bridge the entire area was different, it was way more clean, people didn't act as suspicious and weren't as on guard as the people back in the Bowery.
He really realized they entered a wealthier area. The street signs really helped him and it just pointed them in the way of the university.
The university was breathtaking, it was in the same cool gothic style as the rest of the city but at the same time it reminded Peter a bit of German architecture. The campus was very busy and Peter was sure they'd blend in perfectly especially with a lot of confidence.
"Well here we go." Peter mumbled to himself.
When they entered he was relieved they didn't need a student card. The inside of the university was way emptier than the outside was, Peter looked at the huge clock they had at the entrance. Half past two, makes sense most people are probably in their classes. Peter just hoped the lab was free, if they even had a lab.
Peter took a gamble and went up the stairs, at Empire State University were Miles and Peter went to the lab was upstairs too. They were walking in a pretty empty hallway, two boys were what looked like having a little argument. He recognized one of them faintly but he forgot where from. He was a white boy, and he looked a little pissed his black hair was done in a messy side part, he wore a Gotham City University hoodie matched with neat pants. The other boy was a tall African-American his hair was cool and he had two shaven lines on either side he wore a long sleeve shirt with another logo Peter didn't recognize.
The boys noticed Miles and Peter coming their way and straight away stopped with their argument. The boy Peter did not recognize waved at them. Peter was quite confused why he would.
"Hey, you guys look pretty lost. You know where you're going?" He asked when they came closer.
"Honestly we need to find the lab but I have no idea where that is." Miles confessed. Peter nudged Miles with his elbow in his side.
"Did you guys just transfer here or something?" The other boy asked in a less enthusiastic tone in comparison to the other guy.
"Yup, from eh, New York." Miles answered again.
"I hear that, the lab is a little further to the right you'll know it when you see it." The boy continued.
"I'm Duke." The happier guy put his hand out in front of Peter, Peter shook it. And Duke's hand shifted to Miles.
"I'm Peter and that's Miles." Peter tried to get away more quickly. Duke begun more conversation, Miles was more interested in socializing than Peter was at this moment, he just really wanted to make new webs and get over with it so he could focus on charging his suit.
"Pete you can go to the lab, I'll hang with these new cool guys until you come back." Miles noticed it.
Peter shoot a thankful look at Miles and speed walked away.
The lab was where the boy who didn't introduce himself said it was. Peter opened the door and just hoped it was empty.
Peter was happy when he saw that there was just one girl, a white girl with long blonde hair done in a ponytail. She wore a long lab coat and some safety glasses.
When he entered the lab there were big rows full of lab coats and buckets of safety glasses under the coats. Peter grabbed a coat in his size and a pair of safety glasses.
He felt that the girl that sat on one of the desks followed his every move which made Peter pretty uncomfortable.
The ingredients Peter needed to make his web weren't stored in the normal cabinets, Peter remembered that from back in High School when he also stole school chemistry supplies to make his webs. The ingredients were in the teachers office and he hoped they were now too. He walked a bit further into the lab, it was huge at least twice the size than the lab they had in Empire State. He couldn't see the girl that was staring at him so in his logic the girl couldn't see him either. He quietly opened the door of the teachers office, he looked around for a bit and.... bingo.
It took Peter a bit to find all of the ingredients but eventually he gathered everything. He even was as lucky as to find a few empty CO2 cans, he could make more web fluid now.
He sat in a bit of a hidden spot and went to work on his and Miles' web fluid.