Chapter Text
~🕸️~
Spider-Man fell through the rift, reality rearranging itself into a dark and gritty area which didn’t resemble New York at all since he had last seen it. As he continued to fall through the sky, he looked around for the nearest building and shot a web at it. He swung in a full circle, launching himself to the top of said building to gather his thoughts.
”Matt? Moonie? Bruce?!” He shouted, getting no response from the silent streets down below. “Well damn.. guess it’s time for me to investigate this place myself.” Spider-Man then felt around behind him to check if his backpack were there or not. Once he realized it wasn’t there, he groaned in annoyance. “Of course.. the one time I actually need it, it’s gone.”
Moving on, he scoped out the city, which was oddly quiet. Well, for a city as gloomy as this, at least. Spider-Man then swung further through the city, trying to find something— anything which indicates that this is the same universe as his own. He kept swinging, and an hour passed by.
As he found nothing, and knowing that his web fluid was more limited as of now, Spider-Man chose to stop. Sitting on the ledge of a short apartment complex in defeat.
”So. They really are all gone, huh? I guess it’s just us left. The rest are all out there somewhere. At least I know I’m not alone…”
He shed a single tear, wiping it off with the fabric of his mask.
-
After an hour or two of simply sitting there, Spider-Man heard footsteps, definitely boots but were almost fully silent, behind him. Yet, his Spider-Senses had not alerted him of any threatening presence. He stood up and looked behind him, spotting a purple-dressed figure, long blonde hair leaking out of her hood as she approached him, arm extended to touch his shoulder, but not quite making contact.
”Hey, I don’t mean to intrude, but… are you good? You’ve been moping ever since I got here.” She said, lowering her gloved arm and awkwardly scratching the back of her head.
”I’m fine. Just… thinking about some old friends.” Spider-Man answered, sitting back down.
”Huh. And who exactly do these old friends happen to be?” She continues, sitting a comfortable distance away from him.
”Iron Man, Wolverine, Johnny…” He listed, lifting his head and looking towards her puzzled expression. “Right. You probably don’t know them. Sorry, for all the confusion, that is.” He said, tilting his head far upwards and looking into the sky above.
”Well…” She began, leaning forwards and resting her head atop the palms of her hands. “Those guys you mentioned definitely wouldn’t want to see you like this. Alone, sad, nothing better to do.” She stood up, lending Spider-Man her hand. “I know I’m not the best at comforting people, but I know a few people who are. I’m Spoiler, you?”
Spider-Man paused, looking up at Spoiler with a puzzled expression beneath his mask. He then grinned slightly, taking her hand as she helped him stand properly. “I’m Spider-Man, but you can call me Peter.” He finished, initiating a handshake between the two of them.
Spoiler tilted her head slightly sideways before pointing at herself with her free hand. ”Oh, we’re doing secret identities too? Then I’m Stephanie. Call me Steph. So… it’s nice to meet you Peter-Pete-Something!” She said, accepting the handshake as Peter let out a soft chuckle which was held back. “Also, I’m gonna wanna introduce you to those people I told you about earlier. Follow me?”
Peter nodded, lifting his wrists to check his Web-Shooters. He noticed that there wasn’t much web fluid left as he anticipated, but he could probably make do with the amount he had. “I guess I should’ve asked, but… where exactly are we going?”
”Wayne Manor!”
”Where?”
”Wayne Manor, Y’know, home of Bruce Wayne. AKA: richest guy I know.. wait, do you seriously not know him?”
”Uh- yeah. I guess I didn’t mention the part of me being from a different universe, huh?”
”DIFFERENT UNIVERSE?!”
The two vigilantes stood in silence for a long moment, before Spoiler broke it.
”Sorry, I just think it’s cool, Spidey-Pete. Can I call you that? I’ll call you that. But yeah, that’s really awesome!”
”I-uh-thanks-what?”
”It’s not normally that we get people visiting us from other universes! And usually, they’re evil. So I guess you could understand my excitement, huh?”
”Kinda… anyways, can we get going? I think we’re gonna have to run, ‘cause I, uh… don’t have any form of transportation. So I just wanna get somewhere soon.”
Steph squinted her eyes and rubbed her chin skeptically, before smirking widely and agreeing. “It wouldn’t hurt to take a walk with a friend once in a while.” She said, heading towards the fire escape, quickly rushing to the bottom of it. Once she got there, she found Peter already waiting.
”You’re fast. How’d you do it? Jump down? Teleport? Use superspeed to run down the wall?”
”Not quite… I just ran down it. Normally, ‘cause I’m a spider-person, Y’know.”
”Right. I almost forgot your hero name. But that doesn’t matter right now, does it? Let’s get to walking, Spidey!”
The duo of vigilantes then began their nightly stroll, with Stephanie leading the way to Wayne Manor and Peter trailing closely behind, they will find a way for Peter to reunite with his lost comerades.
-
~🦇~
”Nightwing. Report.” Batman commanded through their comm line. He waited for a few seconds before he heard the voice of Dick Grayson through his earpiece.
”Sorry, Bruce! I’m not in Gotham right now, actually, I’ve been getting some news of a new guy in Blüdhaven. So I went over to investigate.” Dick then paused, his tone becoming more serious than usually. “From what I’ve seen, they’ve been calling him… what’s it again?” Dick’s emotions were clear even through the comm lines, he knew that the appearance of this new character could either be of great help, or a terrible disturbance.
Then, Dick finally recalled what the news had said.
”Right. Some news reports say that criminals were found beaten and bruised, talking about a man they called…”
”…The Devil.”