Day Three
“A ‘Peter,’ huh? And you said he was on top of the old fire station near that radioactive site?”
“Yep. He had a pretty thick New York accent, so I’m probably going to check on him every now and then. Make sure Gotham hasn’t taken her latest victim. He’s just a kid…”
“Do you think he’s staying in that building?”
“The radioactive one? Nah, I’m sure he saw the sign out front. If not, then it’s not just Gotham killing him that he’ll have to worry about. Any word from Jason, O?”
“Not that I’ve heard. You might want to check with Damian, though. Apparently he’s gotten quite attached.”
“Oh my god, that’s great! Do you think Jason would be willing to come back?”
“I don’t know. I wouldn’t push it, obviously, but… I just don’t know. Anything else you want to report?”
“Not really.”
“Alright. Get some sleep, Dick.”
“You too, Babs. Goodnight.”
Peter mentally pumped a fist. Hell yeah! One less thing to do. He peered at the nice library card, all laminated and fancy. Sure, he couldn’t give an address, but he had his old phone number, and that was apparently information enough for Miss Barbara. Dude, seriously, he hadn’t talked to a single mean redhead yet. Sure, he’d only been here for a few days, but hey! He had to focus on the little positive things, otherwise… Well, he would try to focus on the positive. Save grieving for falling asleep.
Now, he had a couple of books to keep him company. Which meant it was time to do some laundry. Luckily, there was one a few miles from here, and not priced too badly according to Miss Barbara. So, off he went.
He passed an alleyway and the mental blaring went off. Peter bent backwards, just barely avoiding a stray bullet. Whipping his head to the left, Peter saw a dark-skinned man in a heavily armored yellow and black suit dodging out of the way. Peter ducked into the alley behind a dumpster, carefully peeking out at the gun-wielding trio shooting at the vigilante and him. One of them stepped forward just enough, and there! Peter swept his leg out, catching the guy’s ankles and sending him to the ground. Peter snatched the gun away from him and threw it in the dumpster, perhaps using a bit too much force, as the gun dented the side.
Peter ducked out again and leapt forward, tackling one guy and disarming him. Peter froze when he felt the cold steel press into his temple. “One move, and the guy gets it, you hear me?”
Peter slowly, so slowly, lifted his arm just within reach of the gun aimed at him and then snatched it away. Peter stood up and kicked the guy in the stomach. The goon flew into the brick wall, smacking his head and slumping to the ground, unconscious. Hopefully. Yep, definitely unconscious. He still had a pulse and everything!
“Hey, thanks, man!” A gloved hand helped Peter to his feet.
“No problem. Signal, right?”
“Yep, that’s me. You doing okay? Most people would be pretty freaked out after having a gun to their head.”
Peter blinked. “Most people aren’t Gothamites.”
Signal laughed, a pleasant sound that reminded him of a friend back home. “Fair enough, man. What’s your name?”
“...Peter.” Ah, fuck it. The library already had his last name, what was a vigilante knowing it? “Peter Parker.”
“Ooh, alliteration, nice! Can I make sure you get where you’re going okay?”
Peter considered this. “Yeah, sure. You sure it won’t take much of your time out of patrol?”
“Dude, this is part of patrol. It’s no trouble, I swear.”
“Okay. I’m just headed to the laundromat. My new uniform smells a little fishy.”
“Huh. Where you working?”
“The Iceberg. I think it’s from the same guy that owns the Iceberg Lounge?”
The corner of Signal’s mouth quirked downwards. “Hmm. You sure that’s the best place to work?”
Peter laughed. “Nope! But I don’t exactly have a ton of options, ya know?”
“Yeah, I get that. So you’re not from Gotham, are you?”
“Hey, I’m new, but I’m acclimating pretty well, don’t you think?”
“Sure, man. If you call acclimating not flinching at a gun to your head.”
“Is it bad if I’m used to it?”
“A little, but this is Gotham…”
“You said it.”
“So, uh, you enrolled in school yet?”
“Not quite. I’ve still got time, though, so I’m not super worried about it.”
“Fair enough. How old are you?”
Peter narrowed his eyes. “Why you asking?”
“Just curious, that’s all.”
“Right. Well, looks like I’m here, it was lovely talking to you. I’ll see you around, yeah?”
“Yeah, man. See ya.”
With that, Signal grappled off into the distance. Shit, two vigilantes in two days. That couldn’t be super good. Hopefully he hadn’t attracted too much attention to himself, except for the fact that he admitted to working at a criminal operation. Peter was sure it was fine. Two could still be a coincidence. Now, if he ran into a third one, that would be bad. He would just have to be more careful.
“Hey, Nightwing.”
“What’s up, Signal?”
“You remember that ‘Peter’ that you mentioned?”
“Yeah, we have more information on him. He signed up for a library card today— Peter Parker!”
“I just ran into him. Dude is definitely a meta. He managed to disarm three guys in under five minutes and acted like it was normal. You think he might be an off-worlder?”
“I mean, O did say he didn’t provide an address…”
“Plus, you know that new restaurant Penguin opened up?”
“The Iceberg, right? Guy’s not very creative with his naming conventions…”
“That’s the one. Guess who just got a job there?”
“Shit.”
“Yep. He seemed friendly enough, and he immediately helped me with those guys. You think we could rope him into being an informant?”
“I don’t know… I don’t want to put the kid in any more danger than he is.”
“Think about it, ‘wing. If he has an in with us, we get information, and he can get out when that place goes south.”
“I’ll see if Hood can find him tonight. I found Peter in his territory, so he can decide whether to approach or not.”
“Hood’s back?”
“Yep! I’m heading back to Bludhaven tonight. It was nice hanging with you guys!”
Duke snorted. “If by ‘hang,’ you mean ‘show us all up at gymnastics,’ then yeah I’ll bet it was nice ‘hanging’ with us. I’ll see you around, ‘wing.”
“You too, Signal. Nightwing out.”