Chapter 13: The Friendship Between Spiders and Bats
Spider-Man, rubbing his lower back, slowly stood up while leaning heavily on the fire escape wall. A small groan escaped him as he straightened. He was wearing his usual green coat and elastic sweatpants—a look more "desperate homeless man" than "masked hero."
He rubbed his forehead, trying to recall the sequence of events. A kid had stunned him with electricity, then chased him behind a New York light rail, hitting everything in their path. The final act, falling directly from the train, was the painful crescendo. If his body wasn't so durable, he'd be hospitalized.
He looked around. The surrounding environment was unfamiliar.
He raised his head and saw the kid who had nearly killed him, and the first familiar face he'd seen in this universe: the massive figure of the Bat.
"Hey! I knew you'd come looking for me!" Peter, ignoring the pain, was instantly happier. He pointed at Wayne and laughed.
"Do you two know each other?" The child, Miles, felt he had stumbled into a strange, secretive organization.
"I do not know him," Wayne answered flatly.
"We know each other!" Spider-Man countered instantly.
Two completely opposite answers spoken at the same time. Peter was clearly more agitated.
"What do you mean, 'We don't know each other'? I helped you attract all that firepower yesterday! Now you're going to turn around and say we're strangers?" Peter was offended by Wayne's dismissal. In Peter's mind, they had forged a bond on a life-or-death battlefield.
Miles looked at Peter with great interest, then tentatively glanced toward Wayne. The Bat's sheer presence, however, was enough. Miles immediately returned his gaze to his untied shoes. Wayne's intimidation factor was significantly higher than Spider-Man's.
"First, you came to me. Second, I did not force you to stay with me."
Peter couldn't believe such cold, calculated words could come from a mouth that should be 37 degrees Celsius.
"Are you saying I'm meddling? Are you saying we have nothing to do with each other? Do you know that saying something like that can shatter a fragile spider's heart?"
Wow...
Miles was shocked by the drama. He briefly looked at the Spider-Man in the grubby coat, then risked a quick glance at the Bat. Deciding against it, he stared back at his feet.
Wayne simply glanced down at Peter, then fired his grapple gun and shot into the sky. The initial simple matter had become needlessly complicated thanks to Spider-Man's dramatics. The longer he stayed, the more he'd have to explain.
"So, between you two..." Miles was utterly confused and fascinated by Peter's previous statements.
Peter, however, ignored him. His priority was the Bat. That Bat might be the only one who knew how Peter had been transported to this universe.
"Don't go! I have to ask you something!"
Seeing Spider-Man begin to climb the wall, Miles jumped down from the fire escape.
Peter turned to face the boy. His Spider-Sense was fully activated.
"You're the same as me," Peter mumbled, puzzled. According to parallel universe theory, there should be only one active Spider-Man per universe, just like his own. Yet, he had just attended a Spider-Man's funeral and now found another one.
"Quantum theory is amazing," Peter murmured to himself.
"What did you say?" Miles asked curiously, but then immediately interrupted himself. He needed answers about his current reality, and the guy who looked like a sloppier version of Spider-Man was the key.
"Why are you so much like Peter Parker?"
"Because I am Peter Parker." Peter brushed the dust off his coat. He still wanted to leave and catch the Bat, who was probably already out of range.
"Then why are you not dead? Why is your hair different? Why are you older? And your body shape... why do you have a small belly?" A torrent of questions assaulted Peter. He wasn't used to this much inquisition from children.
"I know you're calling me fat, but I don't care right now. And you need to remember, superheroes never buy their own merchandise," Peter retorted.
He turned back to the wall and began climbing slowly.
"So you're from another time and place? Like a parallel universe—similar, but not exactly the same? You're Spider-Man there, and you traveled here, but you don't know why?" Miles had pieced it together. He was unknowingly following Peter, climbing the wall with him.
"Yes! You got it!" Peter was annoyed by the persistent nagging. He stopped climbing, turning to the boy.
"I'm going to find that Bat right now to find out how I got here. He might be the only one in this universe who knows the answer."
"And you are, right now, going to make me lose track of that Bat!"
"But what if I also knew how you got here?" Miles said, his excitement rising.
Peter froze, looking back at the boy in the cheap costume with genuine doubt. "Huh?"
"I was there when our universe's Spider-Man died. I know what brought you here."
"What's your name, kid?" Peter continued climbing, but the irritation was replaced by curiosity.
"Miles Morales. Can you teach me how to be Spider-Man, like Peter said?"
"We won't talk about that until we find the Bat." They reached the rooftop.
In the distance, the faint, retreating silhouette of the Bat was barely visible.
(End of Chapter)
✨✨I will release an extra chapter for every 5 reviews !!! ✨✨
Or
For every 50 power stones 🥳🥳