A/N: For those of you who don't know, this is the first of four books I plan to write in a series that involves Young Justice… I can already see your eyes bulging out, Hehe. I hope you guys like the idea, and I'm sorry for taking so long, but since I have a life and responsibilities, well, they kind of come first. If you guys want me to update faster give me some ideas for the future, and if I like them, I'll use them. Well, here's Chapter 5, I hope you like it.
Chapter 5: THE VULTURE STRIKES BACK
Sunday, September 30th
*Batcave (3:00 AM)
"Bruce, we can't keep this up. For God's sake, they just started dating each other, they should know about each other's "friends" don't you think?" Dick started saying right after he got out of the Batmobile following Batman to the Batcomputer.
"It's their secret to tell, both of them need to have the trust to share it with each other. It's obvious Peter would have found out about me and you sooner or later, I know that. He seems to have a very curious mind like someone I know who found out my identity by accident." Bruce said taking off his cowl and putting it in the small space that was on the Batcomputer.
"Yeah, he's a lot like me I get it. Yet you have to understand that when they find out each other's identities, guess who they are going to be angry at for not telling them about each other? Us." Dick said taking off his domino mask and putting it next to Batman's cowl.
"I already told you, it's their secret to tell, end of discussion. We've been over this plenty of times already tonight." Bruce said as he started to put down everything they've dealt with for the night on the daily log of crimes, as well as updating codex of the criminals that have been caught and the ones that are still at large.
"Oh really. Then what about the first time you brought Batgirl to the Batcave? Her secret identity wasn't hers to tell?!" Dick exclaimed not understanding yet again how the World's Greatest Detective's mind works.
*Flashback (9 months ago)
"So, what are we going to do now? Drop the third wheel and regroup at the hideout?" Robin said in the backseat of the Batmobile while Batgirl was in shotgun with Batman driving. Hearing what Robin said Batgirl's eyes went wide.
"He's been to the hideout? Well, you might as well go ahead and tell him your secret identity." Batgirl said a little distraught that Robin who was younger than her, had been to the hideout. Although after looking at Batman for a while waiting for a response, seeing that he didn't answer and that he didn't even turn to give her a look. The fact that he just had a deeper frown than usual made her realize the truth.
"He knows?! Of course, he does. After all, he's been your partner for so many years. When are you going to trust me? I've been with you guys for the last 3 months; shouldn't I at least get some knowledge about the both of you?" Batgirl asked dejectedly to Batman waiting for an answer not seeing the slab of rock from a wall go down. She was still waiting for an answer until she saw that they were going through a tunnel she never saw before.
"Hey, where are we?" She asked still not getting an answer from Batman, but her 'conversation' was interrupted by Robin who jumped from his seat into the space between the driver and shotgun.
"Batman, what are we doing here?" Robin asked kind of lowly, but Batgirl could still hear him.
The Batmobile finally went out the exit of the tunnel slowing down to a stop and the roof opening up having Batman, Batgirl, and Robin jump out of it. Batman not stopping to talk went on his way straight to the Batcomputer, while Batgirl was gawking at the sight before her very eyes with a Robin that was disappointed that Batgirl was brought to the Batcave.
"A cave? Really milking this whole creature of the night theme huh?" Batgirl said with a smile as she looked at the direction that Batman was walking in which were up the stairs that had a small bridge connected to those stairs, this time not waiting for a reply.
"Bruce Wayne." Batgirl said in surprise as Batman took off his cowl walking on the small bridge that led to the Batcomputer after you went up the stairs that led to the Batmobile. She kept following his face as he didn't stop walking to the Batcomputer to try to find Penguin, Killer Croc, Ragdoll, and Firefly and to also find the unstable chemical they stole.
"Knew it. Which makes you Dick Grayson." Batgirl said as she turned around and pointed at Robin who was standing behind her which made Robin look down at the ground giving an upset sigh while taking off his domino mask and looking at Batgirl with a glare.
"And you are?" Dick asked a little annoyed that his secret identity was revealed.
"Sorry, as a not quite official freelancer, I have to go the extra mile to protect my privacy." Batgirl said with a small sly smile until she heard Batma -oh, Bruce Wayne- finally speak which made her eyes widen at the three words that came out of his mouth from behind her.
"She's Barbara Gordon." Those were the three words that got Dick to have his turn of a sly smile.
"Gordon? As in the commissioner's kid?" Dick said still keeping his smile while it was Barbara's turn to take off her cowl and turn around giving Bruce her own annoyed look for having her identity revealed.
*End of Flashback
That wasn't fair to her, now was it?" Dick said totally over the fact of his secret identity being revealed now that he and Barbara are so close as friends.
"The situation called for it, we were facing four supervillains and both of you needed to build chemistry so that they could be defeated." Bruce said giving his logical explanation to how it was different from now. He finished with the codex and went onto the online news of Gotham to see if there were any updates on the villains that were at large at the moment.
"Alright, fine. Hopefully, they'll figure it out sooner rather than later." Dick said finally giving up and turned around heading for the stairs to the library yawning.
"Well Bruce, have a good night in front of the computer." Dick said sounding ready to fall on his bed and fall asleep instantaneously.
"You too, and don't forget to wake up Peter in the morning." Bruce said not turning around still looking at the updates on the news.
"Isn't that Alfred's job?" Dick asked after stopping midway up the stairs turning around to already see the glare coming from Bruce.
"Fine…" Dick said going up the stairs not liking at all having to wake up Peter later in the morning.
Morning (8:30 AM)
Dick was in front of Peter's door wondering how to wake him up correctly.
"To hell with it. It's Peter, how bad could he be in the morning?" Dick said to himself knocking on the door a little loudly, he opened the door right after knocking and was about to shout his name a little loudly, but was surprised to see him up and ready, he took a step back and Dick guessed he was about to answer the door himself.
"Oh, you're awake. Since when do you wake up early? You've always been a heavy late sleeper." Dick asked very much caught off guard that Peter really was up.
"Well, when you're a superhero you tend to get used to waking up early to take a look for any trouble around the city in the morning." Peter explained with a sheepish smile knowing very well of his Aunt's rants about him always sleeping so late that Dick and Harry have experienced.
"Well, I was supposed to wake you up and bring you down for breakfast. You obviously got the first part done so let's go, Bruce is waiting on us at the dining room." Dick said walking off with Peter trailing behind after closing the door to the guest room.
As they walked, Dick looked at Peter's right leg and didn't see any limping. "Huh, you weren't kidding about that faster healing, were you?" Dick said looking up at Peter kind of jealous he didn't have something like that. After all, 7 years working with Batman tended to leave you with an injury here and there.
"Yeah, I know, I'm pretty lucky I have it since I started all of this a month and a half ago." Peter said remembering a couple hits that would've been pretty noticeable if he didn't have this special ability. They were already going down the stairs when Dick went to the left. The area that Alfred didn't take him through since they came from the library that was in the opposite direction.
"So, are you going to listen to Bruce? I recommend it. I can tell you that it was very easy to get into crime fighting after the training that he put me through. You shouldn't be going after Vulture. At least not yet." Dick said giving him his advice now that they could privately talk about it on their way to the dining room.
"Dick, it's Harry's dad that is in trouble. I will protect him with my life no matter what. I already lost my parents and my uncle, and you lost your parents. If I have the way of helping him from going through what we've gone through I will do it to the best of my ability." Peter said stopping outside the dining room door with Dick.
"sigh Alright, I clearly can't change your mind either. Well, let's go in." Dick told Peter as he walked in first with Peter close behind him.
"Good morning Alfred." Dick said as he passed him by to his seat that was to Bruce's left who was reading the Gotham Daily Bugle newspaper while Peter sat to Bruce's right from the head of the table.
"Morning, Master Richard. Morning, Mister Parker." Alfred replied back to Dick while Peter was finally spoken to in the room.
"Morning Alfred…" Peter said. He was pretty tense as he kept taking glances towards Bruce wanting to know what the conversation during breakfast would be.
"So, Peter, how did you sleep?" Bruce asked after putting the paper down looking at Peter.
"It was very comfortable. Kind of wish I could stay here." Peter said jokingly with a smile as Alfred came in with the food from the kitchen on a cart in three platters with lids. What he didn't see was that Bruce was actually thinking about what Peter said seriously.
'If he was able to stay here so many factors with his training would be a lot easier to deal with. Maybe it wouldn't be such a bad idea to bring him and his Aunt to stay here.' Bruce thought thoroughly and kept the matter in his head to think more on later.
"I don't know how Aunt May would feel about all this though." Peter said finishing with a chuckle but had his eyes go wide after he saw what was in front of him on the table after Alfred lifted the lids off the platters. Pancakes, hash browns, and bacon. Only to be amazed when Alfred left and came back and put on the table a jug of apple juice and another jug of orange juice. Although he did serve coffee into Bruce's cup.
No one said anything as they observed Peter's reaction, everyone had a smile seeing him so surprised at the amount of food on the table.
"Wow Pete, I didn't know you hated Aunt May's cooking that much." Dick said laughing afterward. Peter got out of his trance to respond to Dick's quip.
"Oh, don't you dare, you've tried her food and you know it is great. The only problem she has is the meatloaf." Peter said and after the last word both him and Dick shuddered in their seats remembering how they had to eat Aunt May's infamous meatloaf without showing how distasteful it was.
"Remember that time that it was so bad that Uncle Ben actually got teary-eyed." Dick said laughing at that memory with Peter. Both of them serving themselves to the grandiose amount of food while Bruce just smiled after grabbing the paper again to look at the last few pages of what has been happening around the city… until he stopped realizing what Peter said before they started laughing about his Aunt's meatloaf.
"So your Aunt's great at cooking?" Bruce asked Peter after putting the paper down. Peter stopped laughing with Dick to answer his question.
She really is, but her specialty is baking. Man, she has the best homemade recipes for pies that literally make your mouth water every time you think of them." Peter said making Dick nod to that as they all started to eat.
"She's actually making a baking recipe book that she wants to publish so that it can help with the bills. She's already working double shifts at the clinic she's at, all of this she's doing trying to take care of me really makes me worry about her." Peter said starting to get serious for a moment.
"I want to find a job to help out, but I can't find anything that isn't working at minimum wage and if I don't find something by the end of the month it's really going to get tough in October." Peter said finishing explaining the trouble he's going through with his Aunt.
'I have to talk about this idea with Alfred before I decide anything. I want to have a second view to this.' Bruce thought to himself about what Peter said, but his idea was completely different to his reply.
"I give you good luck to find it, and who knows, maybe in some way you'll get a sign of what to do." Dick said taking a bite off one of his pancakes afterward.
"Thanks, I just hope that sign comes soon." Peter said glancing at them both… He's been worried about what he found out last night and didn't know how to bring it up.
'I'm just going to say it.' Peter thought. "So, about the training…" Peter paused to take a bite off one of the pieces of bacon he had on his plate.
"What exactly is it going to include?" Peter asked Bruce feeling a little awkward having people actually know about his identity. Hell, one of them was one of his best friends who was also the Boy Wonder. It was really unbelievable as it finally hit him that he was sitting beside the Batman.
"Well, first I wanted to make an evaluation of your full capabilities to see how exactly I can get you to grow with your abilities." Bruce said but took a moment to eat some of his hash browns first.
"Although we will not start today, I want you at your peak condition. So, first things first, you will heal your leg completely before we do anything. You can go out today and whatnot, but no excessive movement, the better the leg is for tomorrow the best it will be for you." Bruce said finishing his explanation.
After Peter nodded, breakfast was just normal as he started to get even more used to the fact of who he was eating breakfast with. After they finished breakfast, Peter went back to his room to finish cleaning up and to get his phone so he could call Aunt May. Only to realize he didn't charge it last night.
He went back to the dining room to ask Alfred if he brought his bag upstairs from the Batcave. With Alfred telling him that he brought it up to the library that's the first place Peter went and took his bag with everything inside and took it to the room that was given to him.
Closing the door after walking in he walked to the nightstand that had his phone on it and took out his charger from his bag, and plugged it up and connected his phone to it turning it on.
He went back into his bag to take out the suit and saw that the right leg was already patched up and looked good as new. 'Thank you, Alfred.' Peter thought as he laid it out on the bed.
He went back to his phone and went to his contact list and to call his Aunt, but before he pressed the phone image to call her he saw that he had some messages. Dragging his thumb from the top of the phone down, he saw on the notifications menu that they were from Harry and Barbara.
2 hours ago, From Harry: Yo Pete, I need to talk to you. Something major happened to my dad today and since it's all over the news, I'm pretty sure you know what I'm talking about.
"More than you know." Peter aid talking to himself before going back to read the last half of Harry's message.
Can we meet up tomorrow at the Silver Spoon at 2? Ask Dick for me too, you know how much my dad hates me talking to one of his biggest rival's son.
Peter replied back.
Totally man, we'll meet you there
He texted to him, now he was looking over Barbara's text.
27 minutes ago, From Barbara: Hey Pete, I didn't like how everything ended up yesterday at CC Jitters. Think we could meet up at the park tomorrow to have that walk that we planned? You pick the time, I'll be there.
Peter was pretty surprised at Barbara actually wanting to fix what happened on Friday so fast, but he happily replied his answer.
I'm all for it. I'll meet you at the northern entrance. How does 5 sound?
He was about to put go back to all his Aunt, but he got a reply from one of his text already. It was Barbara.
Just now, From Barbara:
Perfect, meet you there. :)
'Wow, she must have thought that I left for some odd reason. She has probably been waiting for my reply ever since she texted me.' Peter thought.
"I feel so much better about myself right now." He said to himself jokingly with a smile. He about went back to his contact list only to see his Aunt was already calling him.
"Wow, this day is going all my way today, I really hope my Parker luck doesn't come back to bite me later." Peter said pressing the accept call button on his phone and putting it to his ear.
"Good morning, Aunt May, how'd you sleep?" Peter said already sounding kind of worried.
"Oh Peter, it's my job to worry about you. I slept completely fine, I'm more worried about how you slept over at Wayne Manor." Aunt May said. Happy to hear Peter after not seeing him at all last night.
"I was actually about to call you, and I've got to say they have the most comfortable beds in the world. Man, when I woke up it took all my willpower to get out of it." Peter said making his Aunt May chuckle.
"By how hard it is to get you out of your own bed in the morning by me I'm not surprised at all." Aunt May said playing with him herself.
"Hey! That's so not true, you know I've been getting used to it lately. You know this always happens when school starts again." Peter said thinking to himself right after. 'As well as having to fight crime because of a radioactive spider that bit me and being tired as I am when I get home.' Oh, how Peter wished he could tell her everything, but it was for her own good.
"Well, I'm happy to hear. At what time should I expect you back?" Aunt May asked him getting ready to hang up to let Peter to his 'plans with Dick and their project'.
"I'll be back home at 7 for dinner. After Dick and I finish that project we're going to head out to the Silver Spoon to meet up with Harry. He wanted to talk to us about what happened with his dad." Peter told her leaving the time out of the details and not including the make-up date he had planned with Barbara. He didn't want to keep this call longer than he needed it to be. Sadly, with this double life of his, it was getting really easy to lie to his Aunt. It was something he truly hated but understood that it was a sacrifice that was necessary.
"Ok, I'll prepare dinner for that time then. I'll be waiting for you no later than 7:10 so don't be late." She said in her serious tone really hating this new trait of his of always being late for things he had to do.
"I won't be late, I promise. You have a good day Aunt May, see you then." Peter said which Aunt May just replied with "You too." She hanged up and Peter put his phone back on the nightstand and went back to his bag to take his clothes out of it to put them on right after putting his suit under it like the routine he always had.
"I don't know if Beaky might attack today, I better be ready if I see him." Peter said to himself.
After putting on the pants, shirt, and boots of the suit, putting in his web shooters to where they belonged on their attachment spot on the wrists, he put on his favorite long-sleeved grey undershirt on. Afterwards, putting on his long khakis pants to put his grey undershirt under to not let any possible view of his suit. He then put on his cobalt blue shirt, afterward putting his mask in his right pocket and his gloves in his right pocket. He put on his black New Balance shoes he got for his birthday after putting socks over his spandex boots.
"Alright, now to tell Dick about the meet up with Harry." Peter said heading down leaving his phone to charge a couple more hours before they left for the Silver Spoon, after all, Alfred was going to be driving them there, so there was no hurry.
*Silver Spoon (1:55 PM)
Dick and Peter arrived at the Silver Spoon getting out of the black Audi A7 and were surprised to find Harry already there at their special table outside the café that somehow was always free when they were there. It was like it was specially reserved for them every time they got to it. Peter nodded to Dick who turned back with the door open to talk to Alfred.
"I'll text you when to come pick me up." He told him which Alfred just nodded to and left right after Dick closed the door.
Both Dick and Peter walked to Harry and sat down around him with Peter to his right and Dick to his left.
"Hey Hare, wow, you're clearly stressed about this. What time did you get here anyway?" Peter said making sure to count every glass of milkshake that Harry had already drunk which was 5.
"I've been here since around 1:30, I couldn't wait any later to get here, and since I knew it was going to take a while for you guys to get here I just got a couple of shakes to try and cool off. It didn't work." Harry said after receiving his 6th milkshake a couple seconds after he finished explaining proving his point even further.
This made Peter and Dick give a glance at each other that Harry didn't notice since he was still worried about his dad.
"So, what exactly happened to your dad?" Dick asked. Even though he and Peter already knew they had to pull the act as well as to see if Harry knew anything that they didn't know.
"Well, you see, the guy that is calling himself Vulture is a scientist that has- had been working at O.S.C.O.R.P. for about 37 years. To give you the accurate picture, he started working there when my dad was 5. All of his life he had been trying to figure out high tech flight and he always failed. My father had another scientist work on this project behind the guy's back. BTW, the guy's name is Adrian Toomes, anyways, apparently, he figured out what my dad did and went all the way to my dad's office and yelled at him for stealing his work." Harry explained going into full detail about their conversation.
*Flashback
Harry was in his dad's waiting room to his office ironically waiting for him since he said he wanted to have a mid-afternoon snack with him at the Silver Spoon. Apparently, he liked that place as much as Harry did as well as Peter and Dick. Only for an old man that was bald and looked like he was fragile because of how skinny he was to open the doors to his dad's office with complete rage ignoring the secretary telling him not to go in there.
"OSBORN!" The old man shouted as he left the doors open letting Harry peek inside to see why the man was so angry at his father.
"You have a lot of explaining and apologizing to do!" The old man shouted and pointed at Norman with the complete disregard of the fact that he was in the middle of a phone call.
"Please hold for a moment I apparently have an employee that has to explain himself for barging into the middle of this meeting… Yes, sorry for such an inconvenience." Norman said putting the call on hold and glaring at the old man.
"I'm sorry, but I and O.S.C.O.R.P. have nothing in need to explaining or anything to apologize for." Norman said in complete disgust for the man barging into his office.
"Nothing to – uh, Osborn, YOU STOLE MY WORK!" The old man shouted completely having Harry's attention now.
"That's dangerous talk Mr. Toomes. Dangerous and unsupportable." Norman said getting up from his chair and with the million dollar smile you see most rich people wear. When out of nowhere when he got close to the old man, he put his hand on his shoulder and spoke to him menacingly.
Harry turned around to see the security that he guessed the secretary called. Although he turned around as soon as he heard his dad speak again.
"Listen, you old Buzzard, you've been at this for decades, without one success to your name. If you never accomplished anything as a young man, who'd believe you created tech flight as an old one?" Norman said having Harry completely surprised at seeing this side of his father. After all, he knew he was the CEO of a big company, but he didn't know he had to deal with things like just like it was any other Tuesday. He did notice the clenched jaw and glare of the old man at his father who saw the security and called them in with a wave of his hand.
"Boys, show Mr. Toomes the door. Oh, and be sure to take everything personal that is in his office out for him." Norman said and was about to go back to his chair for the business call he was in the middle of until he saw Harry peeking through the open doors.
"I WILL HAVE REVENGE OSBORN, YOU BETTER KEEP AN EYE IN THE SKY, BECAUSE I WILL COME FOR YOU WHEN YOU LEAST EXPECT IT!" The old man shouted and that was the last thing Harry heard from him as the elevator doors closed. 'Man… He may be old, but he has some strong lungs." Was Harry's thought.
"Harry this call looks like it's going to take longer than I thought, I'll see you at home. Tell Bernard I'll call him when I'm ready to go home." Norman told Harry as he turned around to go to his seat.
"Yeah, sure dad." Harry said disappointed that another chance at spending time with his dad wasn't going to happen.
*End of Flashback
"Wow, so do you think your dad really stole his work?" Dick asked Harry wanting to get as much knowledge as possible from this.
"I don't think he stole his work, I think he just gave that project to someone else so that they could finish it." Harry explained his thoughts about the moment he witnessed.
"Well, for your dad's sake, I really hope you're right." Peter said. Although in his mind, as well as Dick's, they were pretty sure that what Osborn did was true. Not just because he's the leading rival of Wayne Enterprises, but because by what little they've known of him it sounds like something he wouldn't bat an eye overdoing. After all, by how Harry made it sound, he did it completely legal. It still felt wrong that he did that to the man, now Peter felt kind of guilty for treating him so poorly… But
"Even if what Toomes said is true, he doesn't have the right to attack your father like that. Even less ask for an apology in that way." Peter said finishing his thoughts out loud, and by Dick's nod his thoughts as well.
"Yeah well, thanks for hearing me out guys. I had all of this inside me and I didn't know who to talk to. And please keep this to yourselves. I don't need to be on my dad's bad side. Not when he's just starting to open up to me after mom's death." Harry told them having a hopeful gleam in his eye of finally being able to possibly get close to his father.
"We promise." Both Peter and Dick said at the same time lifting their hands in a silly way. This made the three of them laugh pretty loudly.
"Well, you two going to order? It's on me. Thanks for being here for me guys." Harry told them in a very grateful attitude.
"Well, I'm ordering and paying with my money, you already have to deal with 7 of those." Peter said since during Harry's explanation he had another one be brought to him.
"I know we're rich, but $35 worth of milkshakes is a little too much man." Dick said making the three of them laugh again.
They spent the next hour just talking about anything else they have found interesting since it's been awhile that they've actually done something like this to catch up on everything.
When everybody was done Peter had 2 milkshakes for logical money reasons. Dick had 4, and Harry had a total count of 10… He was still pretty stressed about what happened with his dad and still feels worried about him possibly being attacked today too.
"Alright, so that's $10.69 cents from me, $21.38 from Dick, and…" Peter just couldn't hold in his laughter at seeing the amount of money Harry would have to pay for 10 milkshakes.
"Come on, just give it to me." Harry said grinning himself about his own stupidity. Peter finally stopped laughing and was able to speak.
"Dude… you have to pay $53.44 for 10 milkshakes." After hearing the total, including the sales tax of New Jersey, Dick and Peter were the only ones laughing while Harry was groaning but still had a grin. After all, he still thought it was funny.
"Alright, alright, enough. Let's pay up then." Harry said. Afterwards, they all took out the money necessary to pay for their respective milkshakes.
"Alright, what time is it?" Peter said taking his phone out of his back pocket. He already had the incident of showing a bit of his mask when he tried to take his phone out of his pocket. He wasn't going to let that happen again.
"4:45! Damn, we've been for a long time. Guys, I've got to go. I- I uh…" Peter was about to say why until he saw the knowing looks of Harry and Dick. He expected it from Dick, but how did Harry know about it?
"You texted him about it, didn't you?" Peter asked Dick knowingly who just nodded without losing the sly smile from his face.
"sigh Of course you did. Well then, you already know where I'm headed. I'll see you guys tomorrow at school." Peter said about to get up and head to the park that was about a 10-minute walk from the Silver Spoon. He was lucky as hell that the café was so close to the park.
"Ok man, don't stay out too late, alright?" Harry said mockingly.
"Ha, ha, ha. You're hilarious." Peter replied sarcastically finally getting up from his seat and doing the handshake all three of them came up with. First with Harry, then Dick. It was simple really, they locked their thumbs together, snapped their fingers, having the sound coming off each other's back of the hand, and then pulling their hand back locking fingers except for their thumb and pointer finger which they did the sign like it was a gun. They came up with it when they were in high school they thought it was cool then, and now it was just something that stuck.
"Take care guys, see ya tomorrow." Peter said waving goodbye as both Harry and Dick did as well. They were going to stay for a couple of minutes to talk some more. Mostly about what Peter was going to be doing with Barbara.
Peter knew this thanks to his increased hearing and all he could do was shake his head in embarrassment, because if he turned around and said something Harry would be asking how the hell he heard what they were talking about.
He took out his phone to look at the time again and saw that it said 4:55.
"Oh man! I'm gonna end up being late after all." Peter said as he started running as fast as humanly possible. After all, he wouldn't want to run as fast as spidery possible.
*Gotham City Central Park (5:05 PM)
Barbara was waiting for Peter. She checked her phone for the 26th time worried that he ditched her.
'Come on Barbara it's Peter Parker, he's always late. Just be patient… Just be patient." She started thinking the same line over and over again until she felt a tap on her shoulder and she started to smile happy to know he finally got there.
'See what happens when you're patient Barbara Gordon.' She thought to herself as she turned around. As soon as her last name was said in her mind her smile disappeared and turned into a frown when she saw who really was behind her.
The one and only Eugene "Flash" Thompson.
"What do you want Flash? I'm waiting on someone right now." Barbara said pretty annoyed that of all times she was going to have to deal with him right now.
"Well, I have been thinking about you lately, and I have been feeling really bad about the way I've been treating Parker… So, you can stop playing with me about you actually going out with him and come back with me. Come on, we can go watch a movie or something." Flash said, and at first Barbara was kind of relieved to see a new Flash coming to fruition, only for it to be destroyed completely by the last comment he made about Peter.
"Excuse me?!" Barbara said with her tone coming out like they were daggers.
"Oh, come on babe, you don't have to act dumb with me. I know you've been doing this from the start." Flash said about to put his arm around her shoulders. Only for his arm to be whacked away by Barbara's backhand.
"Don't you dare! How dare you think of me as to stoop that low? Me acting dumb? You're the one that is dumb if you think I even wanted to go out with you in the first place. Did you think that just because I was tutoring you that I liked you?" Barbara asked him completely pissed off at Flash for coming off on her like this. When Flash just nodded like he was innocent in all this it got Barbara even more furious. She was about to punch the daylights out of Flash who reacted too late as he didn't think of Barbara as someone who would punch people.
Only for the first to be caught by Peter who came out of nowhere.
"I'm so sorry that I'm so late. I lost track of time with Harry and Dick." Peter said as he opened up her fist and held her hand intertwining his fingers with hers. This calmed Barbara down as she hugged Peter for stopping her from acting on her anger.
Since her head was turned in the opposite direction that Flash was in, Peter signaled with his head for Flash to go. Luckily, Flash's simple mind understood and started to jog away, he stopped suddenly and mouthed a 'thank you' to Peter who just rolled his eyes after Flash turned around and kept going until he was out of sight.
"Oh Peter, thank God you got here right on time. Can you believe that this troglodyte-? Huh? Where is he?" Barbara asked looking around.
"I believe he thought smart for once and left before he had to face a teenage girl's wrath." Peter said mockingly. Which got a playful punch to his arm. Reacting exaggeratingly, he shouted.
"OW! He was more than smart. He was a genius for leaving." He said rubbing his arm feigning how hurt he was. This drew a big grin and a shake of the head from Barbara.
"You think so?" Barbara asked with a sly look at Peter.
"Probably, if anything I bet Einstein would have just stood there wondering, vhat iz going on?" Peter said imitating a German accent at the end. Drawing a good laugh from Barbara.
Peter hugged Barbara again a little bit more loosely now to try to get the rest of her anger and stress built up by Flash to go away.
"Thank you, Pete, you stopped me from doing something stupid." She said, this time pulling from the hug and giving him a nice tender kiss on the cheek. At this Peter's eyes widened at feeling her lips on his cheek for the first time.
"I- I mean, it's tota-." Peter was a stuttering monster until he pulled back from Barbara all the way and he cleared his throat and shook his head around to clear his mind from any other thoughts.
"It's totally fine, after all, I've already messed him up enough, don't you think?" He said talking about the fight in the hallway they had a little bit more than a month ago.
"Yeah, you did." Barbara said wondering about that moment.
"How exactly were able to do all that? If you knew how to do it all along, why didn't you ever do it before?" Barbara asked him curious to how he so easily beat up Flash, compared to the time he beat him up at lunch for trying to help another kid who was being bullied.
"Well, you see, I've grown up with my Uncle teaching me how to fight since, after all, he was in the Army Military Police. He taught me to only do it when completely necessary since this isn't a war zone and nobody is looking for me to be killed. Ever since Flash has kept beating me up since middle school I let him because I just didn't care, but I guess when he brought you into it I lost my patience and the first thought in my mind was 'I have to make him eat his words'." Peter explained, and he didn't really lie, his Uncle did teach him how to fight. He just didn't have the speed, the agility, and the reflexes back then as he did now.
"Well, thank you for making him eat his words. Although, after how you described it now I wish you didn't stop so I could have made him eat his words." Barbara said as she started chuckling and made Peter laugh as well.
"Yeah, I bet. Well, shall we?" Peter said, bowing down a little and having his arms pointing to the concrete walkway that led to the inside of the park. Shaking her head once again and sighing she nodded as they started walking side by side.
"You know, the way you held my hand back there…" Barbara said as she grabbed Peter's hand and this time she intertwined her fingers between his.
"I really liked it." She said with a smile. This made Peter start to blush and feeling the heat on his cheeks he turned away. This only made Barbara chuckle to herself. She really liked how she could easily mess with Peter. It was something that she really liked about him.
"Well, I'm happy you do." Peter said turning back to look at her eyes after feeling the heat from his cheeks go away.
"So, how was the mall with your friends?" Peter asked her not in a bad way, but in a mature caring way. After all, the one that said an excuse to leave first was him.
"Oh, yeah, sorry about that, it wasn't really true. It just kind of hurt you left so early to go help Aunt May with her new shelf. I was waiting for that Friday for two weeks since we made the plans. I kind of made up the excuse. I'm sorry." Barbara said feeling completely guilty for lying to him. This only brought a feeling of 10 times more guilt from Peter's part.
'How many times I'm I going to end up making her feel like that when Spider-Man is called for action?" Peter asked himself looking down with a frown.
"I kind of felt you would feel that way…" Barbara said frowning herself about to pull her hand away from his only for him to squeeze her hand and for her to look up at him.
"You're completely wrong. It's not that I'm mad at you, I'm mad at myself." Peter told her which surprised her.
"I shouldn't have left you like that, and you deserve an apology from me for making you feel like you had to say an excuse like that as well." Peter clarified to her which brought a smile from her and she bumped into him playfully after she squeezed his hand as well.
"You're forgiven." She said with a grin showing again. Making Peter feel like maybe he would be able to deal with it.
"Actually, I'm going to tell you the truth." Peter said out of nowhere. Which hearing that his excuse was also a lie completely surprised her.
"You know how it appeared in the news that Harry's dad was the man being carried by that Vulture guy we saw cross by CC Jitters?" Peter asked her and she nodded until her eyes widened and she realized what he actually did.
"You chased after him, didn't you?" Barbara asked. More like stated after seeing Peter nod himself.
"I actually saw that it was Norman Osborn who was being carried away, and I tried to follow them to see if I could help in some way." Peter told her and explained to her why he really left CC Jitters, only leaving the major big detail that he didn't want to share with her just yet. He didn't want her to be in danger, just like what would happen if Aunt May found out as well.
"Were you able to?" Barbara asked him curiosity easily seen in her eyes.
"Well, when you're chasing someone on foot that is flying a lot faster you tend to easily lose them. I was able to follow some rubble that apparently fell from some buildings and I saw Spider-Man bring down Harry's dad on top of a police officer as they took him inside. The Vulture escaped afterward." Peter explained to her as they kept walking through the park.
"Oh wow. I guess I can't really be sad that you left. But, why didn't you just tell me?" Barbara asked him.
"Well, at the speed that guy was flying at, I said the first that came into mind and heard the last thing you said before I ran off." Peter explained sheepishly rubbing the back of his neck like all Parker males normally did when they were caught in embarrassment.
"Well, now you know, all you have to do next time is tell me the truth." Barbara told him. Then she remembered that her father wanted her back by 7.
"Well, we've pretty much been walking around for 30 minutes. Can you walk me to the bus stop? My dad wanted me home by 7." Barbara explained to him which he simply nodded yes to.
"I actually wanted some advice on something." Peter said as they started to walk towards the exit of the park that had the right bus stop for her.
"Really? From me? On what?" Barbara asked looking at him with confusion.
"Well, you're one of the very few that know about the money trouble that my Aunt and I have. She has started taking double shifts at the clinic and is going to try to publish a baking recipe book. I want to get a good paying job so that she can at least not have to take those double shifts, but I don't know what to do." Peter explained to Barbara squeezing her hand as she squeezed it back to give some comfort.
"Well, I don't know what to tell you, Pete. I'm not experienced enough to tell you what to do. After all, I'm the same age as you." She told him as they started to get near the bus stop. They walked silently as they both sat down waiting for the bus that was actually on its way already.
"Aunt May really needs my help. I don't know what to do at all for her." Peter said desperately covering his face with his hands as the bus stopped in front of them. They both stood up and Peter walked her the few feet that were left for her to go on the bus.
"Oh Peter, don't angst. It will come to you." Barbara said as she waved goodbye and went into the bus as he waved back. As soon as the bus left he looked up at the sky and drew a big breath in.
"WELL, I'M WAITING!" Peter shouted with his arms spread out and his eyes closed still looking up at the sky. When out of nowhere a newspaper hit his body and arms. He opened his eyes in surprise and grabbed a hold of it and looked at the source and the front page.
GOTHAM DAILY BUGLE
THE SPIDER STRIKES BACK
Spider-Man has finally come into the day after a month and a half of terrorizing people in the night. No one has been able to get a clear picture or look of him, and I am sorry to say this, folks, but Spider-Man is a fraud. He is a danger and menace to society and I truly ask of the police force to stop him and bring him to justice!
By: J. Jonah Jameson
'No one has been able to get a clear picture or look of him huh?' Peter thought to himself only focusing on that line.
"You got to admit. That girl knows her stuff." Peter said to himself as he started thinking about going into the Gotham Daily Bugle to talk to the head honcho and tell him his big idea that will hopefully get him hired.
*Osborn Penthouse (8:30 PM)
"That really was some great food from Aunt May. One of her best yet. I hope she keeps cooking like this and forgets meatloaf is a vocabulary word." Peter said to himself as he was at the edge of the rooftop of the building that held the Osborn Penthouse on the top floor.
"Now Harry told us that his dad would come home around 8:30 tonight. That seems like the total nonsense of time for an amateur revenge plotter to strike. So, now I just have to wait for Harry's dad to get here and if Beaky pops up, I will just have to clip his wings." Peter kept talking to himself until he noticed Norman's limo pulling up.
He jumped off the rooftop and shot a web after going down a third of the building to land right in the middle of it where the name of the building was to hide from Vulture if he indeed popped up. Being in range he heard the passenger door opening and going to the back of the limo to open the door.
"Is it clear?" Norman asked his bodyguard who looked around and nodded. He was about to step out when he heard the same shout when Toomes opened his office doors.
"OSBORN!" Toomes shouted as he started to swoop down. Norman put his leg back in and the bodyguard closed the door. Norman turned to the driver/bodyguard and yelled at him through the window panel of the limo.
"GO! GO!" Norman shouted making the driver burn rubber as he put the pedal to the floor.
"YOU WON'T ESCAPE ME AGAIN!" Vulture shouted as he started to trail behind the limo.
"My thought exactly." Spider-Man said to himself as he left his hiding spot trailing far enough for Vulture not to hear him or see him, but close enough no to lose him.
Following close behind him, he decided to make himself known.
"Trick or Treat!" He said as he swung low and let go of the web late aiming a double kick at the chest plate of the Vulture's armor. He hit and sent Vulture flying upwards until he redirected himself to follow behind the limo. Spider-Man landed on a wall close to the ground. He saw that the Vulture was going to try to follow the limo from higher above to avoid Spider-Man as he swung.
'He's smart.' Spider-Man thought as he jumped and shot a web at the top of the building pulling it from his end which sent him up into the air.
"I mean you are celebrating Halloween in September, right? Or am I not one to talk?" Spider-Man said finishing his quip a little late so Vulture could hear him. Spider-Man shot a web at the feet of the Vulture and Vulture ended up dragging him through the air.
"Agh!" Vulture let out a shout after feeling Spider-Man pull on the web, although he kept going forward.
Vulture stayed quiet focusing only on Osborn's limousine. He did try to shake Spider-Man off though as he went low on rooftops trying to hit him against something.
Spider-Man had to end up jumping over an air conditioner and over a very pointy top of a building with his legs doing a split in the air to avoid any damage.
Not being able to anything in the air the Vulture saw the opportunity for that moment and did a hard left turn at the last second slamming Spider-Man against one of the 10 towers in Gotham that had gargoyles on it. Brucey wasn't on this one though. Peter thought all of this after he regained his senses and went after Vulture again.
*With Norman
"I think we lost him." Norman said as he looked through the back window of the limo only to hear a tear from the ceiling.
Vulture tore through the ceiling with his metal talons and then put his right wing through the ceiling and then used his enhanced strength thanks to the suit to pull the roof off.
"YOU! WILL! APOLOGIZE!" Vulture shouted ready to slam his metal wing into Norman's chest. He swung and Norman ducked.
"I WON'T!" Norman shouted back.
Out of nowhere, the right door was torn off by a web and Spider-Man swung in and sat down in one of the seats that were to Norman's right and put his left leg on top of his right knee as well as putting his arms over the sides of the seats.
"Man, this is a sweet ride…" Spider-Man says than looks at Vulture through the torn ceiling and looks at Norman to ask a question.
"Does sunroof come standard?" That was his question as he jumped off, webbed Vulture's chest plate pulled from his end, and kicked him in the face.
Not wanting to fall to the ground from a kind of high, but still low height, Spider-Man grabs on to Vulture's right arm and hanged on using his adhesive powers.
"Why do you protect such a thief like Osborn?!" The Vulture shouted at Spider-Man and instead of waiting for a reply, he swung his left arm with his wing at Spider-Man who let go of Vulture's arm and leaned back to dodge. It was a successful move, but Spider-Man's suit suffered three cuts from the wing on the chest, high, and lower abdomen. Which brought Spider-Man's wrath.
"Uncool! Do you know how much these Spider-Suits cost?!" he shouted shooting a web at the building to his left pulling himself up, afterward pulling himself forwards using a bridge to gain momentum and he web swung after Vulture.
'There's one thing for sure, I can't let Harry lose his dad the same way I lost Uncle Ben.' Spider-Man thought to himself as he web-swung with all his strength and landed on the back of the Vulture.
"Surf's up! Woohoo!" Spider-Man shouted planting his feet on the Vulture's back and pumping his fists up as the Vulture tried to get him off his back by flying upside-down only for it to not work at all since Spider-Man also had his adhesive powers on his feet. Norman saw a big opportunity to succeed in running away from Vulture.
"There! The parking garage! Go! Go!" Norman shouted to the driver who drifted into the building rising the anger of Vulture as he lost his target once more.
"NO!" Vulture shouted as he went up into the air in the last second before he hit the wall of the parking garage with Spider-Man still on his back at a horizontal angle.
"Uh Oh. Time to go, look at the time!" Spider-Man shouted as he jumped off the Vulture and went shot a web hoping to lead the Vulture away from the parking garage.
"This is all your fault!" Vulture shouted following after Spider-Man.
They went around a building and Spider-Man saw the destination he was looking for. Using the next web line, he swung himself up into the air surprising the Vulture as Spider-Man landed on his back once again, only this time, using his strength, Spider-Man pulled on Vulture's wings using a web line that he shot at each wing pulling and easing up on each one with each respective hand.
"This is a crash course video 101, what to do after you hit a wall." Spider-Man said and that made Vulture's eyes widen as he saw what building he was actually leading him to.
Wayne Enterprises. Their walls were known to have one of the strongest alloys in the world. Strong enough to hurt a certain someone's wings, as well as not suffer any damage. Not letting Vulture evade the wall, Spider-man turned at the last second destroying Vulture's right wing against the wall.
"My wing! You fool! Now I can't steer!" He shouted at Spider-Man as he hopelessly flapped his right arm to be able to move forward and steer.
"Yeah, but you're still staying airborne. How does that work exactly?" Spider-Man asked out loud putting a hand to his chin thinking hard as he was now sitting on the Vulture's back with one leg over each side.
"Oh, now Vulchie, your hump is humming." Spider-Man said referring to the big hump that was at the back of the Vulture's back as he slammed his fist through it destroying the power source and wiring inside.
"You idiot! You've doomed us both!" Vulture shouted as they started to fall towards the ground.
"You've so not been paying attention." Spider-Man said tightening his legs around Vulture's sides so he wouldn't slip as he started web-swinging with the Vulture down for the count between his legs.
"Yee-haw!" Spider-Man shouted like he was riding a horse.
He swung lower and lower to the ground slowly to not risk anything from happening. When he was 5 feet from the ground, he saw a lamppost. He did a backflip in mid-air using the momentum to let go of Vulture sending him flying towards it. When he finished the flip, he sent eight different globs of web that had him webbed up and stuck the lamppost upside-down.
"Well, I hope you enjoy your night and many others to come at the Gotham City Prison. Please, tell Dennis Carradine I said hi, and that if he ever decides to pull off a prison break, that I won't be so nice next time." Spider-Man said menacingly which actually scared Vulture since he never heard that side of Spider-Man in these recent days he's had to face him.
"Alright, now, for the business card." Spider-Man said as he pulled up his shirt to get one of his many business cards that were in his own "utility belt". He only had it with the Spider-Signal and the business cards. But he'd figure out other uses for it at some point.
After taking out the business card he put it right in the center of Vulture's chest. So that the police wouldn't miss it.
"Well, Vulchie, this was fun and all, but I've gotta get going to see if I have to deal with any other early Halloween villains like you. Have fun." Spider-man said and waved mockingly and web-swung away on his way home.
"Finally, this time I'm going to be on time." Spider-Man said to himself as he headed home… Until he heard an alarm that was coming from two blocks away.
"sigh I should just stop saying stuff like that." Spider-Man thought to himself as he went to the direction of the alarm.
*Two Blocks Away
An orange Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat skidded off from the supermarket that had its alarm ringing. Four guys were inside the car as it increased speed significantly.
"Must be around $5,000 in here. Score!" The guy in the passenger seat said as he looked inside the paper bag where they had the clerk put the money. He put his fist through the space between the two front seats, in which the two in the back responded each one giving him a fist bump in return.
"Yeah, and Spider-Man is too busy dealing with that Vulture guy right now to be worrying about us." The driver said after drifting to the left. The guy behind the passenger seat leaned forward as he saw how the guy in front of him was counting the money.
"Ta-da! Say my name and I will magically appear." Spider-Man said with his head popping out upside-down from nowhere at the window of the front.
He put his hands on the hood and twirled his body as he put his feet at the edge of the hood and his hands close to the window as he looked inside to look at them in a better position.
"Ok, you should fasten your seatbelt." Spider-Man said the guy in the passenger seat. He then looked at the driver menacingly as his lenses decreased in size increasing the feeling of menacing emanating from him.
"And you should pull over." Spider-Man said and the man driving actually felt scared and was ready to accept defeat.
"Right, Alright, ok, yeah." The guy driving said in a dismayed tone getting ready to pull over. Only for the guy in the passenger seat to think otherwise as he took out his gun.
"Hell no! Keep driving!" The guy shouted as he pulled himself up the already open window of his door taking out a gun ready to shoot at Spider-Man from point-blank range.
At that moment, they passed by a cop car that was hidden in an alley. With the cop in the driver's seat reading the newspaper and his partner laying back taking a nap with his arms behind his head. The squealing of the car got their attention as the partner turned on the lights and siren with the one driving already chasing after the car.
Before the guy could actually shoot Spider-Man. He raised himself on his right hand sending a kick with his right leg at the guy's chest and while he was disoriented he then kicked the guy's hand sending the gun out of his hand. He spun around on his hand to land in the same position he was before.
Spider-Man's eyes went wide when he saw what the driver was about to pull. He jumped off the hood as soon as the hood opened up by the driver who pulled the lever inside that raised the hood. Ending up in the air and behind the car, Spider-Man turned around, shot two webs, one from each hand at the hood. When they hit the hood, he pulled on it in a harsh manner taking off the hood form its hinges and it ended up coming straight to him.
Doing a front flip still in the air he put his feet on the hood using his adhesive powers, afterward shooting another web at the back of the car.
"Time to ride another wave! YEAH!" Spider-Man shouted as he evaded other cars using the hood like it was a wakeboard. When the car drifted to go into an alley he jumped off the ground with the hood still on his feet and dragged it on the brick wall of the building he ended up jumping to and at that moment let go of the hood as it went right next to a trash can in the alley. Still in the air from jumping off the hood he saw the ramp that the car was heading towards, the car ended up flying in the air.
The cops were still trailing a good distance behind and they turned into the alley and kept going trying to keep the car in their line of sight… Only to realize the car was hanging by various strands of webs that were holding it up in the air in the middle of the alley right above them.
The cop driving slammed on the brakes halting to a stop and they both got out of the car. Both looking annoyed at how troublesome it was going to be to get the car and the four people down from that spot.
At that moment, the cop's partner saw a business card that ended up getting loose from one of the webs as it fell on the ground. He went over and picked it up seeing the now known logo of Spider-Man on that side, he flipped it to see that there was cursive writing on it and a signature. Courtesy of your friendly neighborhood, Spider-Man.
'Now I know what Stacy was talking about.' The cop thought not believing his luck at the paperwork he was going to have to work on himself tomorrow to explain all of this.
Spider-Man was on another rooftop, seeing that everything was taken care of he leaped off the rooftop and headed home for to get ready for tomorrow at school. He just hoped he wouldn't have to deal with people like Vulture anytime soon… Boy was he wrong.
Next Chapter: Rogues Gallery