Bat Fam
As I make my way to a safer area, I climb down and step into the street, scanning my surroundings for a place to eat. After wandering for hours, I found a homeless shelter offering free soup. I join the line, standing behind an elderly man whose odour drifts toward me, strong enough to turn my stomach—stupid heightened senses. I try to breathe slowly, keeping the smell from my nose. Eventually, I reach the front of the line; the woman behind the counter leans over to see me. I look up at her. “Hello… one bowl please…” I hope she won’t call child services… looking at all the kids on the street, they must be horrible. She hands me a bowl…
“Good luck…” She looked away from me, not paying much mind. I sit down on a bench nearby, devouring the thin soup, the pain in my mouth and hand hurting more as I try to eat. Well, that solves one problem for now. My knowledge from this body is coming in handy… I know I’m in Gotham; where is Gotham? I have no idea… I should find my way to a library…
I snuck onto the bus with a crowd of people hiding between their legs. Sitting down, I look out the window, waiting for something that looks like a library. It took a while, moving from the most broken parts of the city to a nicer, more put-together part where a large building with the words ‘Library’ so a pretty easy guess there. I get off the bus and heading to the building, the young desk attendant following me with her eyes. I sit at a computer and begin to look things up. A map of America… The main parts are the same, the cities are different. Like Gotham is placed in New Jersey, a whole city that didn’t exist last time he checked, he learned the Blip never happened… no one was dusted. No Tony, no MJ, no Ned, no Spider-man.
Well, I mean, no one remembers me… so the spell worked, I guess. This must not be the same universe… no heroes he remembers; in their place, a whole new lineup. Batman, Superman, Nightwing, Green Arrow, Wonder Woman. People he’s never heard of before. He checks each name, but only one looks familiar. Nightwing… he saw him last night, the man in blue, Dick.
A slight tingle hits my back; I turn around, the girl at the desk now approaching, her wheelchair sliding across the floor gently.
“Is your mom or dad here?” She asks, looking over his shoulder to the search, Nightwing plastered on the screen.
“Oh yes! My mom's just outside… I’m all good!” My voice was horse. I hadn’t spoken since I got here. The lady didn’t look convinced. She looked me over once more, my stomach growling. Stupid, super fast metabolism! She returns to her desk, grabs a small wrapped granola bar from a box, and brings it to me.
“Here… If you need anything, feel free to ask. I’m here every day and have a lot of extra time on my hands. I’m Barbra, by the way.” She rolls away.
I watch as she leaves, slowly opening the bar and eating it. I pack up my bag and leave. I wave goodbye to Barbra as I walk out, thanking her for her help. And taking the bus back to the ruined part of town. It was almost dark now, and I found shelter on a fire route on the side of a building. The metal was cold but away from the dangerous alleyways. Once again, I am woken up by my spider senses. There was no immediate danger, but I could feel someone coming close, fast and strong. I jump into the alley, hiding behind the dumpster, god it smells… It stops above me. Did it hear me? It continues to move going forward. The sense comes back, a new thing, a new person; this one has malice, and it's getting closer, the pain in my arms returning, like something trying to push out.
“The Tracker says it should be here…” The first voice called out.
“The boss said this one’s like a wild animal… we have to be careful, let's get rid of him and leave.” Another spoke, how many? I listen to their heartbeats, one, two, three… four?
No, that's the one from before. I heard the man falling, taking the first man out. Thud, Thud. Their hearts slow, unconscious all but one. The sound of the man grabbing something from the ground, metal-sounding. I have a tracker? Where? I don’t move; the footsteps get closer, and the senses stand on edge.
“444?” The voice asks, his voice hitting the walls of the alley, bouncing back and forth. I don’t move. “I’m not here to hurt you… I’m here to help” No, he’s not… why does he want me? The senses say he is dangerous, but no malice. He doesn’t want to hurt me… but I can’t leave. “I promise.” He gets on his knees, and the sound of his cap hits the wet floor.
“Please just leave…” I managed to say.
“You’re in danger…I can help you” He retorts, his position not changing, as if he’s taming a wild dog.
“I can’t come out…”
“Why? Are you hurt?” He asks sincerely, his voice calm, with no anger.
“No…” His spider-sense screams, this man could kill me if he chooses to. I need to run. I step out from the dumpster and run to the walls, jumping halfway and climbing the rest, running along the rooftops as fast as I can. The voice behind me was muffled, but I could hear him speaking for a moment.
“Oracle, I found him. He’s got a tracker. Sending you the location, have the other come” He’s sending more? Danger. Who is he? I didn’t look at him at all… The pain in my wrist returns, I hold my hand out while I jump a string of webbing flying from it and grabbing a building. Just like Peter 2, that's gross. He holds onto it, pulling myself into a swing, flying down the street. I can get away… I have a tracker… I have to get rid of it. How? Where is it? They’ll find me. I stop, the spider scenes dulling. It’s back… I look to my right, a boy, red and green. My senses scream. I take off in the other direction. More of them? I feel another present following me. I look back; it is a woman, purple. I run more; I feel another ahead of me… I’m surrounded. I listen to his heartbeat, the one in front, the blue man, Nightwing. I run towards him; he's a hero… that's what the internet said. He’ll protect me. I swing towards him, landing in front of him, and I stop. I look at him. His eyes meet mine.
“Hey, little guy.” He gets on one knee and reaches my level. Noting that I’m not running.
“Your Nightwing?” I ask him, my senses dulling; he’s strong but has no intent. He must be safe. Please be safe.
“Yes… I’m here to help you.” I look behind me, the presence getting stronger. I look at him, fear on my face. He speaks into his suit. “Stop… don’t get closer.” The approach stops. He stays where he is not moving. “You’ve had some bad people chasing you, haven’t you?” I nod. He smiles a little. “Well, don’t worry. I won’t let them have you. We’ll protect you.” I don’t move. He holds his hand out for me. I don’t take it. “What’s your name?”
What's my name? I’m not Peter Parker anymore… This boy didn’t know his name… only S-444. What should I say?
“I’m not sure.” Good answer Peter, play confused child.
“Would you like to come with me? I’ve got good food.”
“Can you take my Tracker out?” I ask, looking him up and down. He seems taken aback.
“I can…”
“Now?”
“No.” He answers fast.
I think back to this boy's memories, the pain he felt starving in the allies. The men he ran from with fear in his heart. The pain as he starved to death in the middle of an alley, people walking past. This boy deserves joy. The fear I still feel from his memories alone, as if I lived his memories.The fear of the men and the people in white coats. It’s pushed into my mind like a bad dream. The pain for his friends who he watched die, it feels real. He feels like a scared child.
My spider sense makes the figures behind me known. They are getting closer. I rush forward into Nightwings arms, holding him.
“They’re coming…” I whisper, the fear creeping into my brain. He holds me tightly.
“It’s okay… these people won’t hurt you, I promise.” I nod into his chest but don’t move. The hug feels nice, this boy never got any real hugs. “Can I pick you up? I’ll carry you?” I nod again, letting him pick me up, my body tense. The other figures arrive, getting closer, I hold his neck tighter.
“How’d you catch him?” The red and green one asked, almost annoyed he had not been the one to catch me.
“He let me…” Nightwing answers. ‘B, we need to get his tracker removed before we take him to the cave”
“You’re right. Let's take him to the hospital and see if Doctor Thompkins can do it…” the man called B, the first man I met, said back. Nightwing carries me down where a large black vertical sat.
“This is our car… it’s called the Batmobile! Pretty cool, huh?” I lift my head from his shoulder, look at the car, and nod. We get in the back, and the man, B, sits in the front. Batmobile… B… Batman. This is Batman; I ran from Batman. I mentally facepalm. “Everything okay, little man?”
“I’m sorry I ran, Batman, sir…” I say without thinking. Batman looked in the mirror, a little shocked at me for addressing him. “I thought you were after me…” I look down.
Nightwing answered, “It’s okay, little man… Bats here has thick skin”
“I didn’t know it was Batman before,” I say.
“But you knew me?” Nightwing asked a little smug he got recognized.
“I saw you before… you beat up those men with the painful stuff…” I say, now looking back at Nighwing. “You seemed so sad…”
The two men make eye contact.
“You were there?”
“Yeah… In the rafters.”
“You must be one heck of a climber, " the blue man said. I nodded wildly. I’m glad you're safe now, little man…” We arrived at the hospital. A woman met us at the door. I held onto Nightwing tighter. We walked into the building, and a woman took me to a room. Dr. Thompkins used a tool to scan my body, which beeped when it reached my leg.
“Can I grab your leg? I need to check where it is.” She asks calmly. I look to Nightwing before nodding. She grabs my leg, feeling the location of the beeps. “I can’t feel it… it’s probably really small.” She pulls away, looking to Batman. “I’ll have to put him to sleep to take it out.”
“No,” I answer.
“Little guy, we got to remove that tracker so the bad guys can’t find you. She so good she’ll be so fast.” Nightwing talks to me, his voice kind.
“She’s not putting me to sleep. I have to be awake…” I look away from him.
“It will hurt a lot! She’s got to get in there and find it.” He tries to convince me.
“I’ll be fine.” I don’t trust it. He looks to the doctor; she looks skeptical, looking at Batman, who just shrugs his shoulders. Nightwing finally broke the silence.
“How about we start, and if you feel like you can’t take the pain, we’ll put you to sleep. But if you can’t stay one hundred percent still, we will have to put you to sleep… Okay?” I nod, accepting the terms.
Next thing I knew, I was lying on a bed in a clean room, Nightwing holding my hand. The doctor is still looking a little nervous about cutting into a very awake child but prepares her tools anyway.
“Are you sure, little man?” Nightwing asked once more.
“Yeah…” I answered, and the doctor cleaned the site.
She starts, the knife meeting my skin and making a small incision. I don’t move. I hardly feel the pain. My spidey senses a low hum as she puts her tools into me, searching for the object. It only took a moment; she pulled the tracker out and placed it into a metal tub. She sews the incision and bandages it. I don’t even flinch the whole procedure. I could tell this made Nightwing sad, knowing what must have happened for me to gain this pain tolerance at such a young age.
“Done…” She said, “It’s only a small incision, but your body is really small, so it might hurt for a while.” She looks to Nightwing. “You should carry him. He could walk, but I don’t want him to tear the stitches.”
“Sounds good doc, thanks again”