Worlds Away

“I’ve heard that if you stare hard enough at it it’ll disintegrate,” Jason teased. “What’s wrong, Pete?”

Peter sighed, handing the slip of paper to Jason. 

“Photography Job Shadow Opportunity,” Jason read aloud. “I don’t get it, what’s the big deal?”

“It’s something I want to do.”

“Okay?”

“Jason, it’s a field trip.”

Jason squinted. 

“Jason, those don’t go well for me. Ever.”

“You can’t think of a single field trip that has gone well for you?”

“Nope.” 

“Even before the bite?”

“Nope.”

“What about kindergarten? That’s still what it’s called in your universe, right?”

“Yeah, it is. That year we went to a children’s museum. I slipped and twisted my ankle.”

“That’s not that bad. I mean, it sucks that it happened to you, but that can’t be enough for you to hate field trips this much. What about first grade?”

“That year we went to a dairy farm. I was tripped and shoved into a pile of cow manure. Second grade, went to the aquarium. One of the other kids managed to enrage the bamboo shark and it took it out on me. Third grade, went to a pumpkin patch. Another classmate found the only rotten one in the whole patch and shoved it down my shirt. Fourth grade, went to a botanical garden and was shoved in the decorative pond. Fifth grade, we went to the fire station. Instead of going down the firepole like everyone else, I tripped and didn’t manage to catch it. Sixth grade was when New York was fucking invaded by aliens just as we were on our way to the natural history museum. Do I need to go on?”

Jason blinked a couple of times, opening and closing his mouth. Finally, he settled on, “Jesus, kid.”

Peter sighed. “I know. This is what I call ‘Parker Luck.’ But Tim wants me to go and I want me to go.”

“So go anyway. Fuck your bad luck.”

“That rhymed,” Peter mumbled. 

Jason rolled his eyes. “Come on, kid. You can’t let bad things rule your life, and besides, you told me yourself that your spidey sense makes it hard for bullies to do things, so that removes the vast majority of the examples you gave, right?”

Peter only cringed more at that. “Yeah, and since then field trips have only gotten worse!”

“But you want to go.”

“But I want to go,” Peter repeated. 

“So go and have a good time. If anything bad happens, Tim will be there with you and as soon as I get the text I’ll head to Metropolis and do what I can to help.”

Peter smiled at Jason gratefully. “Thanks, Jay.”

“No problem, kid.”

Peter sucked in a breath as they got off the school bus. Today he and Tim were shadowing Jimmy Olsen, a guy that looked a lot like Peter’s coworker at the Iceberg. Peter made a mental note to ask if they were related. Tim squeezed Peter’s hand, helping Peter breathe just a little better than before. This was fine, this was just fine, something would go wrong, but it wouldn’t be supervillain bad, right?

They shuffled into the big building with the giant globe on top single file. Tim waved cheerily at Clark Kent, one of the top reporters for the company, and a Pulitzer Prize winner to boot! And somehow Tim knew him? Must be a rich person thing, Peter rationalized. Since Clark’s a reporter, maybe he had given Tim an interview before? Or maybe Clark had interviewed Bruce? There was the possibility that Tim knew Mr. Kent through super stuff, but Peter wasn’t so sure. 

Whatever the case, Peter snapped out of his head and realized the teacher had been talking, likely that whole time. The pairs of students were walking over to their respective job shadows for the day, and Tim was lightly tugging Peter towards Jimmy. Jimmy was essentially Archie, but a bit cooler in Peter’s opinion, despite the bow tie and sweater combo. Jimmy explained that they were going to be tagging along with Lois Lane-Kent’s group, who were apparently going to be reporting on a press conference that the Jules Verne Extra-Terrestrial Museum was hosting, regarding the opening of a new exhibit. 

Okay, that didn’t sound too bad to Peter. It was just a museum, surely no supervillains would target that, right?  

Peter and Tim followed Jimmy to his car, where they sat in the backseat (Peter really didn’t want to be alone right about now). They made their way through Metropolis, Peter distracting himself as best he could through taking in as much of Metropolis as he could in a car ride. They made it to their destination with no problem, and Peter relaxed a little. Surely his spidey sense going off was just because he was anxious? It did that sometimes when there was no threat, so it was just Peter feeling apprehensive, that’s all. 

They met up with Lois and her shadows (Kate and Rick) and the six of them made their way towards the front, where they got a good view of the podium. Jimmy immediately started walking Tim and Peter through the different settings he was using due to the pleasant weather conditions, and how he was going to get the best shots he could. The two teens copied the actions on their own cameras; Peter shoved down his anxiety and listened intently, determined to get what he wanted out of this trip. He was focused (as best he could with his spidey sense screaming at him in the background) on getting the best shots he could, watching as Tim and Jimmy did the same in his peripherals.

“Welcome, everyone!” The man said. “My name is Renn Helm, the director of this fine museum. We are proud to announce the opening of our new exhibit, The Martians, Fact and Fiction! We have gathe—”

Mr. Helm was interrupted by something rocketing down to Earth from the sky, creating a sizable crater. Luckily no one had been in its radius, but that was about where the luck stopped. A man slowly climbed out, and was apparently a face that Tim, Lois, and Jimmy all knew, if their gasps were anything to go by. “KAL-EL!” the man roared.

“Zod,” Jimmy whispered. Had Peter not had super-hearing, he was positive the word (name?) would have been lost amongst the sea of screaming people all rushing to get away. Apparently Peter wasn’t the only one to hear Jimmy, as the mysterious man’s head snapped in their direction. Peter’s spidey sense was going fucking ballistic, and Peter was shaking pretty badly. Tim clutched his hand like a lifeline, likely more for Peter’s sake than his own, which Peter greatly appreciated regardless.

“You! I know you two!” The man snarled. His features twisted into a sick grin, as his eyes landed on Peter, Tim, and their classmates. “And you have children with you, excellent!”

The six people could do nothing but flail as the man was there one second, and the next were carrying three people in each hand by the collars of their shirts. Peter prayed to whoever the fuck might be listening that his shirt wasn’t made of super cheap material. The man flew the six up to a nearby skyscraper where he zoomed away and returned in a flash with a big piece of rebar that he used to tie them to the spire. 

“You,” the man sneered at Jimmy. “Contact Kal-El or die.”

Jimmy somehow pulled off looking terrified and annoyed as he fiddled with his watch. Peter winced painfully at the high pitched noise the watch sent out, immediately trying to act unbothered when no one else reacted to the sound. “Don’t go anywhere,” the guy sneered before blasting off above them. 

“Who’s that?” Peter whispered.

“General Zod,” Tim replied gravely. “A Kryptonian that has a bone to pick with Superman.”

Peter stared at Tim with a ‘what the actual fuck’ face, swallowing. “Great. Just what we needed. I am so excited to graduate.”

“So you never have to go on another field trip again?”

“Exactly!” Peter hissed. “I fucking hate field trips.”

Tim sighed. “This was inevitable to you, huh?”

Peter groaned and rested his head on Tim’s shoulder as best he could. 

“No one’s hurt or anything, right?” Tim asked the group. No one was, so all they could do was wait. For exactly one second, as Superman seemingly popped into existence in front of them. Super speed, right. 

“Who did this to you?” Superman asked, starting to loosen up the rebar twist that was holding them up there.

“Zod,” Lois snarled. Peter couldn’t see her face, but he had to assume she looked infuriated and completely fucking done from the tone of her voice. Peter could relate.

The blood drained from Superman’s face just as something zipped back down from above and slammed into him. “DIE, SON OF JOR-EL!” the man bellowed as the two Kryptonians plummeted towards the ground. 

“Okay,” Tim whispered. “I managed to let Conner and Kara know, so hopefully the big man will have backup very soon.”

Peter knew who Conner was, so he could only presume that Kara might also be a super? Maybe she was Supergirl? Peter didn’t know, but Tim sounded confident so hopefully they could help. Sure enough, a man that looked Tim and Peter’s age with the Superman logo on his chest and a sick ass leather jacket started taking people down two at a time, Rick and Kate being the first ones to go. Peter pondered this. Did Superboy know that he would be safer? Surely they knew that Tim would be okay, but did he know about Peter?

All thoughts of Superboy’s knowledge or lack thereof about Peter left his mind as just as Superboy loosened Peter’s restraints. Just as Peter started to slip free (fighting his powers and instincts that were screaming at him to stay fucking stuck, dammit !), Superboy was tackled mid-air with an ‘oof!’ Peter had to be normal, he had to be a normal human being right now otherwise the incredibly intelligent investigative journalists would put two and two together, so down he slipped, clinging to the piece of rebar to try and stay in place. Peter Parker was panicking, to put it pleasantly. Tim squeaked a little, trying to help Peter stay in place, since Peter had to let himself slip . Just as Peter was losing his footing, he was swept from the air, only to realize that whoever had done so was holding him by the neck. 

A chill ran down Peter’s spine as he stared at the city below him. Metropolis was pretty, wasn’t it? Not as pretty as Gotham, in all its gothic glory, but it was still pretty. At least Peter was going to die after getting to see this view. 

“Surrender, Kal-El,” Zod commanded. “Or the child’s skull will have a hole in it.”

Superman was hovering in front of them as Peter’s legs dangled over the pretty city that Peter had only gotten to see a glimpse of. Which was a shame, really. Peter would have loved to have seen more of it, and was this really the thing to be thinking about at the moment? Yes, yes it was, because it was better than thinking about his inevitable demise at the hands of a super-powered General. “You have to the count of ten thribos,” Zod rumbled. “Think quickly, Son of Jor-El.”

“Okay, what do you want me to do?” Superman acquiesced, raising his hands. 

“Accept your fate.” Peter could feel the heat beginning to build in Zod’s eyes, and thinking quickly ( I’m going to die anyway), thrust his elbow up, hitting Zod’s chin and making the lasers shoot up instead of directly at Superman’s head. Startled, Zod let go of Peter, who began to fall. Desperately, Peter signed ‘I love you’ at Tim and plummeted to the city. Honestly, this was a better death than nothing, if Peter was being honest. Sure, it wasn’t going out as Spider-Man, but he’d stopped Superman from being killed, so that was pretty cool. 

In a surprising stroke of luck, Peter was caught by an unfamiliar blonde woman in an outfit very similar to Superman. She smiled pleasantly at him. “Hello. I have no idea how that actually managed to affect Zod at all, but I greatly appreciate it. I’m sure Superman does too.”

She flew him to the ground and gently set him down, before breaking the sound barrier as she soared back up to where Tim, Lois, and Jimmy were. Peter watched anxiously as Superman and Superboy fought General Zod, his eyes darting between Supergirl’s ongoing rescue and the fight. Jimmy was brought down next, immediately checking over Peter to see if he was okay. Peter was, physically, and was just desperate to make sure his boyfriend was okay. He was, and soon he was back on the ground. As soon as Tim’s feet touched the sidewalk, Tim turned and smacked Peter upside the head. “You moron! You could have fucking died!”

“Ow!” Peter frowned at Tim, rubbing the affected spot. “Well, it was either keep him from frying Superman’s head and die, or just die. I think I made the right choice!”

Tim hugged Peter closely. “I know,” he sighed. “You scared the shit out of me though.”

“Don’t worry,” Peter reassured. “It scared the shit out of me too.”

They shared a nervous giggle and watched as Lois was brought to the ground before Supergirl rose back up to help. Lois turned to Peter, eyeing him suspiciously. She grabbed Peter’s arm and pulled him close to her. “No normal human could do what you did,” she muttered. 

Peter blanched and swallowed, his eyes flicking away and back again. He opened and closed his mouth a couple of times, trying to come up with any excuse as to why he could do that. Seeing this, Lois let go and laughed a little, shaking her head. “Good to know you aren’t a threat, kid. But be careful, Zod isn’t one to forget easily, and neither am I.”

With that, she strode over to a group of people that looked like they were in SWAT uniforms, except their uniforms read ‘DEO.’ Whatever that meant. The DEO agents swarmed the teens, checking them over and making sure they were okay. Peter had some serious bruising around his neck, but was otherwise fine, physically. As for mentally? Well, he’d just have to file this day away with the rest of his near-death experiences. He really had to look into therapy…

Peter sat on the end of the paramedics truck with Tim, a shock blanket over both their shoulders. Reporters were being held off by some tired paramedics, only to be immediately cowed by Lois giving them the stink eye, snarling, “My story, got it?”

Somehow this dispersed the group of reporters, which Peter and Tim watched with amusement and awe. Soon, the three Kryptonians landed, requesting to speak with the six ex-hostages. “We were able to send him back to the Phantom Zone,” Superman reported. “Hopefully we won’t hear from him again for a while. Now, head back to your class. I’m certain your peers and teachers want to make sure you’re okay.”

The four GA attendees started to walk away, only for Peter to be stopped when a hand lightly grabbed his wrist. He turned to see Superman staring at him intently. “I don’t know how you did it, son,” the Kryptonian murmured, “but thank you.”

Peter shrugged, unsuccessfully trying to play it off. “Of course, sir. I mean, I’d rather go out trying to help Superman than just… going out, ya know?”

Superman’s smile was soft and fatherly. “While I appreciate what you did, please try to stay out of harm's way in the future.”

Peter nodded (if only Superman knew...) and left to join his classmates, his hand finding the familiar warmth of Tim’s. “Honestly,” Peter admitted, “you were right. This field trip could have gone a whole lot worse.”

Tim face-palmed as Peter cackled, and they got on the bus. At least they’d managed to get some good photos.