Chapter Text
It all happened so fast. One second, Peter Parker was standing on an alien planet (not feeling so good), the next, he was standing in a dark alleyway. Before he could process exactly what was happening, a voice called out from above him.
“Hey! No supers in- wait, you’re not a super, sorry. Actually, I haven’t seen you before. Are you new here?”
“Uh, where exactly is here?” Peter asked, looking around for the source of the voice.
A kid about his age jumped down from the roof above him onto a fire escape a few feet off the ground. He was wearing a red and green suit with a black and yellow cape and his eyes were covered by a domino mask. Peter figured he must be some kind of street-level superhero vigilante.
“Most people know when they’re in Gotham but okay, where did you come from?” the boy questioned.
“Well I mean, yesterday I was at school in Queens but about 15 seconds ago I was on another planet with Iron Man, a wizard, and a bunch of space superheroes fighting a big purple alien who wants to kill half the universe, and now I’m…here,” he paused, “Sorry, I know that sounds insane,”
“Honestly, I really wish I was surprised by that, but that just sounds like an every other day occurrence, who’s Iron Man though?” the kid asked.
Peter cocked his head.
“You don’t know who Iron Man is?”
The kid shrugged, “Did you say you were from Queens? Like in New York?”
“Yeah,” Peter said, still wondering how this kid had never heard of Iron Man.
“Sorry to tell you, but you’re in New Jersey,”
“New Jersey?!” Peter took off his mask. It was getting kind of hot and hard to breathe and he was pretty sure this kid had no idea who he was. Sure enough, the kid didn’t react in any way to his identity.
“Hey, I have a place you can stay if you need it while you figure out a way to get back,” the kid offered, gracefully slipping down from the fire escape.
“Thank would be awesome, thank you, I’m Peter by the way,” Peter said, holding out his hand.
“Robin,” the boy said, shaking it. Now that he was on the ground, Peter noticed the black and gold emblem of the letter “R” on his suit.
“Is that, like, your made-up name?” Peter asked, “Because in that case I’m Spider-Man,”
Robin laughed.
“Yeah it’s my made-up name. Did you just say Spider-Man? Why’s that? I mean, other than the suit,”
“I’ll show you,” Peter said as they began walking out of the alley, “Which way are we going?”
“A few blocks that way then cross the bridge, I’ll show you the way from there,” Robin said, gesturing left from where they were standing on the sidewalk, “Wanna race?”
“Oh you’re on,” Peter said, putting his mask back on. He fired his web-shooter at a nearby building and launched himself forward in a practiced movement. Left, right, left, right, left, right. He looked back, expecting to see Robin far behind, but to his surprise, the boy was right next to him, bounding from rooftop to rooftop, firing a grappling hook and swinging as if he had his own web-shooters.
They made it to the bridge and across fairly quickly.
“We can just walk from here,” Robin said as they landed, “So, you…shoot webs from your wrists?”
“Well, I can also stick to walls and I’m pretty strong too, oh! And I have this kind of spidey sense thing, I can tell if there’s danger nearby,” Peter replied.
“So you’re a meta,” Robin remarked.
“What’s a meta?” Peter asked.
“You don’t know what a- nevermind, a meta is pretty much just a person with superpowers,”
“Yeah, I guess I am a meta,” Peter said, “It’s weird, I’ve never heard that term before,”
“Ah well, maybe it’s just a Gotham-Metropolis thing,” Robin responded, “Oh, we’re here,”
They rounded a corner to see a huge manor, with a driveway leading up to a courtyard before the two tall front doors.
“Hey, I’m back,” Robin said to an earpiece Peter only just realized he was wearing, “Yeah, I’m coming in the front door, I brought a guest…yes, we can trust him, I promise...I know, I’ll talk to him…it’ll be fine…alright I’ll see you in a minute,”
He turned back to Peter who was looking at the manor in awe.
“You live here?” Peter remarked.
“Yup, me and my family,” Robin said, “Come on, let’s go meet them,”
Peter took off his mask again as they walked in the front door. Robin did as well, revealing his tired-looking blue eyes. The entryway was as extravagant as the rest of the house complete with a crystal chandelier hanging above the door.
Across the entryway was a staircase where a voice called from the top: “Timmyyy, you’re troublllle,”
“Timmy?” Peter looked to Robin with a grin.
“Tim is fine,” Robin said, then to whoever was at the top of the stairs, “Shut up Jason, is Dick back yet?”
A young man in his early 20s strolled down the stairs. He wore a brown leather jacket over an armored bodysuit with an emblem on his chest of a red bat. There was a streak of white in the front of his otherwise black hair.
“No, but you better hope he gets back before Bruce does,” Jason said, “Bringing home a stranger? Revealing your identity to said stranger? Coming in the front door? tsk tsk,”
Tim turned back to Peter.
“Yeah, so Bruce Wayne is Batman, my brother Jason here is the Red Hood, my other brother, Dick, who better be home soon, is Nightwing, there’s a few more of us, I’ll introduce you later,”
“Cool cool cool, just a few questions, who’s Bruce Wayne/Batman, and everyone else you mentioned?” Peter asked. Tim and Jason exchanged confused looks.
“Do you live under a rock or something?” Jason remarked.
“No, I live in New York,” Peter replied.
“Even if you’re not in Gotham you should have at least heard of Batman,” Tim stated, still confused.
“Here,” Jason said, “We’ll list some famous heroes and you give us a yes or a no if you know of them,”
Alright, sure,” Peter agreed.
“Wonder Woman,”
“Nope,”
“Superman,”
“Nope”
“The Flash,”
“Nope,”
“Green Lantern,”
“Nope,”
“Aquaman,”
“Nope,”
Tim and Jason exchanged now concerned looks.
“Are you guys making these up?” Peter asked, “They sound pretty fake,”
“Ok Peter,” Tim said, “You name all the superheroes you know and we’ll tell you if we’ve heard of them,”
“Uh, ok, Captain America,”
“Nope,” Jason and Tim said at the same time.
“The Hulk,”
“Nope,”
“Thor,”
“Nope,”
“Black Widow,”
“Nope,”
“Hawkeye,”
“Nope,”
“Ok, now you guys are really messing with me,” Peter said.
“Are you sure?” Jason said, “Yours sounded way more made up,”
“We need to focus,” Tim said, “Let’s go down to the cave and wait for Bruce and Dick to get back, we can discuss it with them”
“You have a cave?” Peter marveled.
“Oh yeah,” Jason said, “You’re gonna love it,”
Tim led them down a hall to a large grandfather clock. He turned the hands to 10:48 then stepped back. There was a clicking noise then the clock slid aside, revealing a secret stone passageway. Walking down the small hall, they emerged in an enormous cave. Right on cue, a colony of bats flew over Peter’s head, screeching as they went.
“Welcome,” Tim said, “To the Batcave,”