A Real Gotham Welcome
It turned out Peter didn’t have much time to find out who Talia was. By the time he could even pick up on the name his spider sense was already acting up.
Up. Watching. Above. Spying?
He could feel someone’s gaze even through the bag. He probably shouldn’t have moved, given the ladies didn’t seem to know he was awake, but curiosity took over. Lifting his head in the direction of the feeling he squinted, trying to see through the tiny gaps in the not-quite-burlap. Any normal person would be insane for even attempting it, but with his heightened sense he was able to see…
A shadow. A lot of shadows actually. Was he in some sort of cave? Alright so even his super-senses weren’t gonna let him see through the bag over his head. It was worth a try though, and whoever had been watching him seemed to have noticed as his spider sense felt them creeping away until they were gone.
A problem for another day then, seeing as while he was distracted trying to figure out who was spying, the women seemed to have noticed he was awake.
—————
“Oracle, I need to talk to B.”
“His line’s a little busy right now, but if you’d like you can leave a message.”
“Not the time, Oracle, it’s about the League of Assassins.”
“What about them?”
“They’ve got a kid.”
That got her attention, and with the usual moment of silence and then static, Tim was patched through.
“What’s the problem Red Robin?” There were muted sounds of violence over the comm, but Bruce knew how to handle himself, so Tim jumped right into it.
“You know how you asked me to check in on the league? After we caught wind of Talia and her spat with the old man? Well I’ve got something, and it’s big.”
A moment’s hesitation over the line, a few sounds of struggle and then one decidedly painful thump later: “Go on.”
“They’ve got a base of sorts in a cave just outside the city limits. Seems Talia took her most trusted and split.”
“You said you had something big?”
Tim rolled his eyes, of course that wasn’t enough for the old man, though it wouldn’t have been all that surprising had someone else told Tim the same thing.
“They’ve got a-“ His voice hung on that word, for some reason it wouldn’t come out right, and he had to bite back a sigh of worry. “They’ve got a kid, B.”
And then it all came rushing out, like someone had hit the pressure relief valve and now there was no stopping the flow. He knew firsthand how bad some of Gotham’s villains could mess a kid up. Some nights he still woke up in a fit of coughing that sounded almost like laughs…
“They’ve got a kid down there, tied to a chair with a bag over his head. I can’t tell what the deal with him is, hostage or punishment or what. If it’s an internal affair between Talia and Ra’s or… but he… he saw me Bruce. I was hardly in the room for a second, didn’t even have time to overhear any of their conversation when he looked up at me. Right at me.”
“I thought you said he had a bag over his head?”
“He did, and he still saw me. Whoever he is, he's got eyes on the back of his head or something. I-“ once more his voice caught. “B, I hate to say it but I think we may have another Damian on our hands.”
—————
Peter regretted moving his head the second he had done it, but now it was too late. No problem! He was just going to have to use his charm to get out of this one.
The light was blinding the moment they took the bag off his head. His senses were going haywire, and it took every inch of self control he had to not immediately break the ropes tying him and flee. But no, now was not the time for that, he was still recovering, and he didn’t want to try his luck. In the meantime, as the light slowly dimmed to a normal amount, he took in his surroundings.
He was right about it being a cave, though the whole thing was more of a crevice, a long open gash of rock. Wet and dripping and strangely green. Far above him stalactites hung threateningly, every now and then a drop of water would fall and splash against the uneven stone floor. Speaking of, the floor was made of large carved stones with strange plant matter growing in the cracks, like a path had once been here and the cave simply grew up around it. At the far end of the room the crevice narrowed down into a small tunnel, and past that was another small room, though that would be impossible for anyone with normal vision to see. The small room seemed to hold computer monitors lined up against one wall, but he couldn’t see much else from this angle.
In front of him were the two ladies he had heard talking, one holding the bag she had just pulled off him as the other held a sword to his throat. Without even thinking Peter spoke.
“Oh my god! Are you two honest to gods ninjas?!”
This seemed to get some begrudging amount of respect from the two who were, in fact, ninjas. Or at least wearing ninja-like outfits. For what little flattery he had accomplished it didn’t make the one holding the sword ease up at all. While the other threw the bag over her shoulder and began to speak. It came out as a sharp, angry, hiss of a voice, nothing like what they had sounded like before.
“Who are you? What business do you have in Gotham?”
Well that was just plain confusing, whoever it was that brought him here left him with his mask on, yet now they ask who he is? Best to answer the latter part of the question and switch the topic while he can.
“I’m not entirely sure what this Gotham place is? So uh, no business hopefully, I’m kind of needed in New York still. The city that is.”
The lady asking the questions raised an eyebrow to the one holding the sword, and it was quickly becoming clear that the one with the sword was in charge here. So a ninja and a ninja apprentice. A little less cool but still something new at least.
Watching. Lady. Hello?
His spider sense whispered to him, it didn’t sound nervous (not that it sounded anything, but it was easier to treat it as its own person giving him warnings rather than the psychological conversation that comes with treating it as his subconscious) but it didn’t sound happy either, whoever was watching wasn’t a friend, but they were at least less likely to hurt him then these two.
Another look around and he spotted a silhouette at the far end of the cave, standing in the darkness of the hallway and watching him. It seemed to be another woman, though anything beyond that wasn’t in focus enough to discern.
“Are we meant to believe you have no knowledge of where you are? Of who we are? We have done you a favor this day, bandaged your wounds. And you would dishonor your saviors with falsehoods?”
The one with the sword was speaking this time, and it was already clear that she had much better interrogation skills than her apprentice, though that certainly wasn’t going to make things easier for him.
“I promise you, I have no idea what’s going on! I appreciate the…” he made a show of looking down at the sword at his neck before continuing, “hospitality… but that won’t suddenly put the answers into my head!” It was a bit more sass than he had intended, but they were holding him hostage, so we’ll call this one even.
“You speak lies!”
“He speaks the truth.”
The voice was gentle, yet powerful. The second it was said the ninja and apprentice in front of him turned to face the speaker, the woman now walking in from the hallway. The sword was sheathed and both knelt before the lady. She had brown hair cut just above her shoulders, and olive-colored skin, perhaps just a shade darker. Lithe, she walked with grace. She wore a black leather top that was somewhere between a vest and jacket. It had long sleeves but was cut to show her midriff, and zipped up the front to give as wide or shallow a neckline as she preferred. Her pants were black leather too, and long enough to tuck neatly into her sturdy boots. She was beautiful, and, Peter noted, seemed to be in charge of this whole operation.
“I guess you’re Talia then?”
She raised one eyebrow at Peter, as the ninja and apprentice kneeling before her suddenly seemed scandalized.
“With us for such a short time and yet you’ve already learned my name? Interesting.”
She said it with a hint of curiosity in her voice.
“However, it can only mean that you two have failed me. Leave us, now.”
The ninja and her apprentice both looked back at him angrily, before standing and heading down the hallway Talia had come from. Once she could be sure they were far enough away not to hear them, Talia spoke again.
“You have your father’s detective skills it would seem.”
“You know Tony?!”
It came out before he could stop it. Yes Tony wasn’t technically his father (yet, he hoped) but if there was anyone that this lady could mistake as such, it was him. His bio father had died when he was hardly old enough to remember him, as did his mother, and uncle Ben had died shortly after he was bitten by that spider. Right now it was just him and Aunt May (That thought brought with a pang of pain in his head, though he couldn’t recall why). And Tony, Tony was always there for him, and in the rare times he wasn’t, Happy was.
Though this question seemed to throw Talia off, as she suddenly stopped her slow pace back and forth in front of him.
“Tony? Curious. You are quite the puzzle, little spider, are you not?”
For some reason it really got under his skin when she called him that. Little spider, like he was something to be crushed under a shoe. She hadn’t meant it that way, but it still nagged at him.
“I had thought perhaps you were the newest son of a friend of mine, but if not then perhaps our time was wasted bringing you back to health. At the very least, you’ve become a significant source of information. Tell me, are you Ra’s’ newest experiment, spider?”
“I don’t know who the hell you’re talking about!”
“Yes, I should expect such an answer, even if you were. Either you are telling the truth, or you were trained. Either way, I have only left you in costume,” she made a small smug sound as she gestured to the disparate remains of his suit, mocking it. “Out of respect for that friend, seeing as you’re not his, perhaps it is time I know who you are.~”
There was a hint of poison in her voice, danger hiding in her otherwise calm demeanor as she leaned forward to look him in the eye, hands reaching to peel away what was left of the mask.
Now!
Peter had hoped to get more information out of her, but now was his best chance to escape, as he suddenly whipped his head forward into hers, knocking her away with a resounding ‘thud’ as he yanked his arms free. The rope tying him down gave way in no time, and soon he was sprinting towards the hallway. His lungs were burning, his sides were pleading him to stop, but by god his legs were working and he was going to use them.
“Stop him!”
He heard Talia shout from behind him as she got up, and in response to her there came a flood of ninja from the hallway in front of him. Uh oh. New plan then. Quick as he could he turned 180 degrees, running back into the crevice of a room he had been held in. Right before he ran head first into Talia he jumped. The walls were slippery and wet, and his body was quickly giving in once again, but despite it all he managed to stick. Scurrying up the wall as fast as he could he prayed his spider sense had not been lying to him earlier. The shadow that had been watching him, whoever it was, had not left through the hallway. Which means he should find somewhere along these walls -there!- a crack in the rock! It was a bit of a tight squeeze, and for a moment it pressed against his chest dreadfully, but after a few minutes it began to widen out, opening up into more of a tunnel, then out into the open air.
He was in a forest, which wasn’t particularly helpful, but it gave him something to swing on and swing he did! Or tried to at least, but the first time he tried he heard the worrying ‘click’ of an empty web shooter. Right, running then. Gotta love more running. Bolting down the hill he seemed to have popped out on, he checked over his shoulder. Seeing no one behind him, he latched onto the nearest tree and started climbing.
Not only did it satisfy his spider instincts to be somewhere high and dry, but it let him see lights not that far off, and a city with them. Gotham presumably. Or maybe the county was Gotham and the city was named something else? Maybe the state was Gotham? No, he was pretty sure he knew all 50 states, and none of them were Gotham. Pretty sure. More importantly, it was a lot closer to home turf than the forest was.
A fun fact about spiders, there are some that can glide! Using thin strands of web they catch the wind, and glide away. What Peter was doing now was not in fact gliding, and while he always preferred swinging, sometimes the needs must. Gathering together his strength he leapt from the top of the tree, aiming for one a bit closer to the city, when he landed there, he leapt again, keeping the momentum going as he leapt from tree to tree in a distinctly monkey-like (and distinctly un-spider-like) way. Whether it fit his brand or not however, it worked, and within twenty minutes he made one last jump onto a fairly high rooftop at the edge of the city.
He was tired, and in tremendous pain, and felt like he had no dignity left after that monkey business, but he was safe. About as safe as he was gonna get at least. Most important of all, he was alive. And for that, he was thankful.