Chapter Text
He knew he should be grateful right now, but as Peter walked through the apartment with a duffel bag and stuffing it with almost only the necessities-he couldn't bring himself to feel that way, even if Dr. Strange had given him the kindness of letting him pack first.
His feet led him into May's room and he tried not to look around it, he had to focus now, there was a reason he came in here.
Peter reached under May's bed and grabbed a jar of cash that she had been saving, he paused as he held it above the bag, he wasn't sure if this different universe even used this kind of currency and he couldn't help but feel like he was stealing, despite the fact May wasn't around anymore.
The hesitation was pushed down and he shoved the jar into the back and turned to leave-or at least he tried to, he stopped in his tracks as he noticed an old picture on May's nightstand. Maybe it wouldn't hurt to take this with him.
-
It was strange that Peter almost took comfort in the fact that his friends wouldn't remember him, and that they had no idea about how he was thrown into an entirely different universe.
At least they weren't worrying about him, he didn't deserve to have anyone worry about him after what had happened.
It had been almost two weeks since Peter found himself stranded in this angsty city called Gotham. He learned that everything in this universe operated relatively similar to how things did on his own, and fortunately the money was the same.
A part of Peter was concerned with how easy it was for him to buy an apartment and pay for it under the table, but the other part was relieved. He was sure that his landlord had assumed Peter was a runaway and decided that as long as Peter paid he could stay, but the apartment nearly cost half of the money he had on him, he would need a job if he was going to keep staying here.
Peter had debated about bringing his laptop or not-not knowing if it would work or be useful, luckily it was-and he was able to connect to a satellite.
As he messed with his computer a thought slowly creeped into the back of his head. He dug his suit out of the bag and began to connect it to his laptop, he pulled up the suit's permissions and its coding-it took him a minute but eventually he found what he was looking for.
He pulled his mask over his head and spoke up in a shaken voice. "Karen?", at first it was quiet and he thought he might not have fixed her properly but eventually he had gotten a response.
"Peter? Where are we? I do not recognize our location and why am I connected to a foreign satellite?"
Peter visibly relaxed as Karen's voice rang through, at least he wasn't alone anymore and he would have her to help in whatever way she could.
He gave her a quick run down on his situation, he was surprised to see that Karen took his explanation with the complete utter seriousness, as he himself would have been skeptical.
Karen however was already formulating a plan, and finding whatever information she could on the internet. "I cannot find any information on yhe Avengers in this universe, it appears as if they do not exist here, however there is another hero team that is similar, they call themselves the Justice league and consist of Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Black Canary, Red Tornado, The Flash, Green arrow, Green Lantern, Captain Marvel and more." She had explained.
"Captain Marvel? Like the one we know?" He asked hoping to find a similarity, Karen quickly corrected him. "It appears that they are different people, this Captain Marvel posses powers possibly relating to the mystic arts"
Peter deflated slightly. "Oh alright", he paused before continuing. "Are there any heroes in the city we’re in right now?" He asked.
"Yes, Gotham city, New Jersey is home to a variety of heroes, the most well known is Batman who I mentioned earlier, would you like me to tell you about the others?" She offered. Peter shook his head. "Maybe later, right now I think I'd rather focus on setting us up here instead."
"Of course Peter, fortunately the technology here is outdated, as it seems this universe is a couple years behind ours and Stark Industries does not exist giving them a disadvantage, I should be able to create a fake identity for both you and myself."
"Wait, why do you need a fake identity Karen?" Peter asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Because I am planning on registering myself as your legal guardian, you are only sixteen and aren't legally able to live on your own according to the laws of this city. Although it would make only a little difference compared to creating a fake guardian, at least I am able to answer phone calls and send messages, not to mention it is my core programming to care for you Peter." Although he could see where she was coming from Peter didn't really want another parental figure in his life.
"I was planning on just lying about my age-" he was cut off before he could finish. "Actually Peter, I was thinking that we could enroll you in school. I am aware you have already graduated early, but as this is a new universe you know very little about and school is a perfect opportunity to teach you along with making connections and friends."
Peter felt himself cringe. The last thing he needed was to get close with anyone again, not after what happened.
"I guess I see your point but, I think it's best if I uh, keep to myself a little bit you know, I don't want to draw attention or anything." He tried. There was a moment of silence before Karen spoke again. "Whatever you think is best Peter." He nodded and looked back to his computer.
"I have almost finished creating our identities, do you have a preference on what I should put as our relation or the status of your parents, your mother does not appear to exist in this universe but it appears your Father does, although he goes by Richard Grayson because he was not adopted by the Parker's here." As Karen spoke Peter immediately stiffened.
He pushed out any thought of trying to find or even learn about his father, he didn't want to get attached and he didn't want to put him in any danger, he had already lost to many parental figures that way.
Speaking of parental figures he needed to figure out who he could be to Karen. "How about you’re my legal guardian through adoption- if you can try to make it look like my parents are unknown, that would save us the trouble of making a backstory for them."
"Alright, now what do you want to do about my name? Since you had given me my first name I had thought you might wish to help me with my middle and last."
Oh, that's right. He thought about it for a minute before biting the inside of his cheek, "How about Karen May Parker?" He tried. "I think it's a very nice name Peter" she complimented. He waited until she finished completing what she could of their identities. "Peter?" She asked.
"Yeah Karen?" "I was going over options for our financial problem." Peter perked up "Oh, Yeah don't worry I'll try to find a job soon and-" once again Karen interrupted him. "I do not believe that is our best course of action Peter." She said firmly. "Okay, well, what do you think we should do then?"
"If you were to get a job, you would have to balance it with your responsibilities of both schooling and vigilantism, and I'm worried that could affect your health in the long run, also Peter the money received from your job with your hours would most likely only cover rent, and that isn't enough as currently you need almost everything and it could cost us a lot to enroll you in school, I have already located one that is very similar to your previous one and their science program should provide you with the needed ingredients for you web fluid."
Karen had explained most of this in a matter of fact tone and Peter couldn't help but wonder what the alternative was. "I mean, you're right but what other options do we have, you're not suggesting stealing or anything right?"
"Not exactly, but as I mentioned before the technology in this universe is outdated. I was considering the possibility of selling some of Tony's designs to a major corporation, we could do it under my name if that makes you more comfortable Peter, and I am programmed to use any of Tony's resources to assist you, even his designs."
Peter did not like this plan, it all felt so wrong. He knew it was a good idea though, because he couldn't be Spider-man without it, he needed the time to be able to go out, he needed a considerable amount of food for his fast metabolism and he needed to go to that school so he could make web fluid.
The thing that sealed the deal was the fact that Mr. Stark 'practically' consented to this, although this eased his guilt slightly, he hated taking advantage of someone who isn't here anymore but he didn't have a choice. "Okay Karen, but do you think we can start on that tomorrow, I think I need to take a break after everything that happened."
"Of course Peter, I am sure you are still mourning the loss of your old life-do you want to talk about it?" Peter shook his head. "No I'm alright, but um do you think you can tell me about the other vigilantes in Gotham now" he asked despite not really caring, of anything he just wanted a distraction.
"Yes I can, Batman has been seen working with a variety of different partners the most notable is Robin he or they are..." Peter sighed as he laid back onto the floor of his bare apartment and listened to Karen, he felt like he was going to cry but he didn't, he needed to focus right now, he knew Aunt May would want him to move on and make a new life for himself, so that's what he was going to do.
-
The next morning Karen had tried to contact a corporation known as Lex Corp, and had sent a preview of some of Stark's old designs, it was only some machinery designs and blueprints for now as he didn't want to make to much of an impact, but they were definitely much better than whatever they were currently using.
Originally they were going to donate the designs to Wayne Enterprises but they had found out that the company makes considerable donations to the Justice League, and for the time being they were trying to avoid them as it could be bad if the League looked at them too closely.
Peter had assumed that it would have taken weeks to hear back from them, instead it took a half hour. Soon Karen had sent them three separate designs and immediately after around $600,000, appeared in her bank account, each design costing about $200,000 each.
He didn't exactly know what he was expecting, but it definitely wasn't that much in fact he wasn't even sure if the company would take them up on their offer considering it was on the more sketchy side of things.
A weight was lifted off his shoulders as money no longer seemed to be an issue, but a apart of him felt as if everything was moving to quickly, he still hadn't settled in yet, was still hung up what had happened with Doctor Strange-He let out a shaky breath digging the rest of his suit out of the duffle bag.
He needed to get his mind off everything, and the only way he knew how to do that was to become spider man.
-
Later in the day Barbara had noticed some strange things happening, cameras were being cut in specific areas that criminals were reportedly being turned in by a vigilante, the problem was she knew for sure it wasn't any of hers, so was there a new player in the field?
She reported to Bruce earlier, and he had told everyone to keep an eye out, they were too busy to go after him directly right now, as they had other priorities especially with another Arkham breakout.
Her thinking was interrupted as her phone went off, it was just her father who was confirming dinner plans. She had half the mind to cancel but she knew that she shouldn’t, as her Father was important to.
And that’s how she found herself at a small diner she used to go to a lot as a child, with her father in front of her, sipping coffee and going about his day.
Babs took a drink of her soda as a thought crept into her head. “Hey Dad, weird question but, do you know if there’s any new vigilante’s that have shown up?“
To her surprise her Father nodded, “Yeah actually, I met a new one this evening he called himself Spider-man although it wasn’t very fitting, since he seemed like a kid”
There was a brief silence as he continued, “Everyone is pretty sure he’s another one of Batman’s sidekicks or something similar, he seems trained and his suit is well advanced, definitely not something he made in his room if you know what I mean.”
Barbara hummed, she knew that he definitely wasn’t related to Batman, so now she had to find an explanation for his training and his tech. “Did he seem like he was from around here?” She questioned.
Jim shook his head. “No, he had an accent, I’d say he’s from New York or something, Kid was polite though and a lot friendlier than most of the vigilantes we have here.”
Barbara didn’t question him after that, instead they waited for the waitress to return with their food and continued to talk about more mundane things.
Although her curiosity had peaked, she was curious to learn more about this Spider-man, she hoped he would be a friend instead of a new problem they’d have to handle.