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Jason Todd knows the crime alley like the back of his hands. Like, quite literally and not in a manner of “This is my home ground”, but also like, exactly in a manner of “This is my home ground”? If that even makes sense. But no, he isn’t a teenager that goes around his village and says that, yeah. He is more like an obsessive father that is in his 40s with his own abandonment issues that knows every single thing about his child to the point it gets motherfucking creepy, like um. Like father like son (Jason punches a random wall next to him, nothing is no father like son he doesn’t have a father youmotherfuckingbitch.).
Anyways, back to the point, he knows every events first, he knows the somewhat abandoned looking and dusty (bloody) streets, all of it’s cracks and turns, what buildings are in what state, like more than the all- knowing Oracle herself (which is a very important thing to Jason because it means you-know-who is not at least frequenting on his streets, and yes he has issues, thankyouverymuch-) - which means that he would’ve never missed nothing like a bright blue, weirdly space - chipping portal that’s not that big but enough to push through at least a person- appearing and disappearing shortly after, starting to increase by the days actually- by any means, although it didn’t do anything harmful yet.
Still, that doesn't mean that he's not looking out for it. Jason might be insane (at least in a I'm back from the dead way if not other) , but he's nowhere near stupid (Okay, he's not the brightEST among the vigilantes, but that doesn't mean he doesn't know better than to ignore a blue portal). He had been spending a little excessive, meticulous hours into the investigation of the matter though he hadn't exactly been able to understand why or how this is happening, he's not really the science guy though he does know a little about engineering and he is even less of a magic guy - but he is a watcher, even though people doesn't assume him to be one despite the fact that he is a bat(NO IM NOT FUCK YOU), and a pretty good one that he would've been sure to know if the portal actually does something.
Which is why he is caught off guard when some weirdo in red and blue (wth, does he even know what stealth means?) swings on a weird,.... silver like.... transparent substance that looks even slimmer than a wire (are those webs? Which, EW.EWWW.) quite literally. Like, no joke, he actually swings like on skyscrapers with that thing, he's definitely got a death wish.
At first, Jason thought it was some dumb meta which thinks Batman's (EW) no meta policy is fake and is out fame hunting, or a tech geek superman wannabe. That is, until he realizes that the figure is not just swinging but tracking something, and, and somehow in over two places at once(what? is there more than one guy? But the figure looks... identical, not that it does much with the mask and all but anyway) almost restlessly since the first sighting that happened half a day before this- his (illegal) hidden cameras catching the guy actually landing with the portals forming and sometimes even being there before the portal appears, which weirdly emitted blue smoke whenever the figure approached it.
And when has the portals start to form?
....Like, a month before this guy was even seen. Which is also like, recent. Which also means, he had been here for at least a month, which also means, fuck Jason does know when something is going wrong.
And something is going very wrong.
--- - —
Peter Parker has a death wish. Yes, hello hello New York, it is I, the Amazing Spider-man™, the guy who is the public menace for years and years, the guy who is your friendly neighborhood, the same guy who deals with aliens and super villains, has a reputation for talking too much, failed to save Gwen Stacy (or OMFG YOU KILLED HER), yaddi yadda yadda, has a death wish. Because there is no fucking way he has gotten himself into this mess VOLUNTARILY if he doesn't have one.
But he did. Which means he does have one.
Peter feels a little bit of a shift in his body, like not in a way that he consciously does, but like the space itself actually is messing with him like he is a polygon. A weirdly bright, like not too bright like the fucking sun but agaahhhhh why did I set my phone in full brightness it's 2am and I just woke up aghhhhh my eyesss light that he never actually sees but knows in a mental level that is blue. It's the tesseract. In different words, the space stone. Which, Peter had, um. kinda broke? ... haha. ha.
To his defense, though, Peter wasn't TRYING to break it, no. It was more like trying to save the galaxy by not letting the psychopathic get their hands on it attempt. I mean, is it even meant to break this easily? All he did was try to grab the cube that was attached to a golden staff in the hands of an Asgardian prince to the engage request that came from Shield. Well maybe not that was all. He did, did kinda try to use a (improvised, as usual Spider-man gimmicks are) magnetic force field that was supposed to force open a portal that would send the prince back to where he was - which Loki tried to suppress, resulting a raft that disfigured the stone - which? weirdly? I mean? he absolutely didn't know why it happened? made the parts and shards explode onto Peter, (EWWWWW), digging into his flesh, his organs, he can't exactly pinpoint where but owowowwhatthefuckithurtssobaditsdigginginsideowowowow.
Since then, Peter had been trying to gain consciousness, and he doesn't sound like it, but he is quite desperate. Spider-man™ uses his Spider-wits™ to distract his enemies, anger them even, let people not be scared of the "I can juggle cars" "I can throw buildings" red and blue spandex(which honestly works too well that he doesn't get to gain the respect title either), and to calm himself down when he is terrified. In this case, yes, it is VERY much being used for the last reasons. He needs to think through the white hot constant pain and flash of images (That isn't probably New York but Peter cannot rely on his senses right now so it's safe to say he has no idea) that come at a random level, sometimes overwhelming and sometimes the opposite. He feels like a mouse is dragging him somewhere, making him disappear and appear and appear but not exist and everything. Focusing makes him able to see something more frequently and he finally has felt a sense of the weight of his existence a little longer, but he isn't seeing nothing very familiar( the images of not New York is not changing ohmygod.), and Peter feels the need of an anchor, something that can glue him onto earth (or whatever this place is).
Bad news is, his consciousness, at least the most that he scraped and piled with the stability of a sandcastle (without water), wasn’t enough to glue him into one piece. Focusing on the flashing images which he gathers from existing every few seconds(or minutes, or hours, or days) somewhat seems to make a connection between him and the mortal realm (or something like that), and it sorta helps him gather himself, but it’s simply not enough. He needs someone, he thinks, somebody to help him navigate, someone with a connection with him(wait. Does this mean that he’s somewhere that nobody has any sort of connection with him? Wtf is that supposed to mean? Is he even in Queens? Earth? The same galaxy? Dimensions?(are multidimensional theories actually real? If it is, thank you I’ll be writing this and get my novel prize in a whiz)).
Then Peter thinks he hears a loud bang, the red hot sizzle of metal after a gunshot that only the enhanced senses like Peter’s could ever hear, followed with a trigger clicking back up to the place it was originated from. The white pain (or blue pain, haha, yes he feels like dying so he definitely needs to make one more joke thankyouSpider-wit™.) exasperates into a red, searing, bloody and gooey reality rather than the soul burning effect he had for some time (he’s not sure.). Peter snaps his eyes back open once he realizes that he actually managed a wince, a little wannabe scream that was gritted down escaping him, heavy on his feet, maybe VERY heavy though, marking his existence, finally. He then realizes he’s got a fancy new hole in his abdomen. Yeah, a handshake would’ve done it, bring him into reality. Or you could just do THAT(wtfno, just give me a handshake.).
“@&:#! me.” Peter manages to mutter mainly due to the fact that his pain didn’t get intense but just replaced which meant he could deal with it.
“Not cool. I didn’t need the extra ventilation.” Ah, the Spider-wit™ at its finest form. This only means one thing : Peter’s Spidey sense is catching up late or is already there and he can’t feel it cause he’s mental a little bit right now, in other words, RUN.