A Midsummer Night's Reality
Summer break had finally started, which meant one; more free time and two; less free time because of patrol. Peter and Ned sat in Peter's room, assembling the recently bought UCS AT-AT Lego set. It had been sheer luck that they had found some old lady selling it for way less than it was worth. The two had built almost around half of the set since that afternoon. The pieces scattered across the floor in neat piles and the directions were stacked in a pile on top of the box. The window had been propped open, letting in the humid New York air.
"How are you gonna fit this in here?" Ned asked. He was only half helping (If you could even call it helping at this point), sitting at the end of Peter’s bed with his laptop, typing away. In reality, he was running some new programs he had created for Peter's suit, a USB connected to the computer flashed as Ned ran the code. Peter paused in his work on the Lego set to glance at Ned.
"I'll find a way," he replied with a grin. "I have plenty of room." He turned his attention back to the set, snapping a few more pieces onto the chunk he was building. The two worked on their respective activities, the evening beginning to pass by until:
"You might wanna take a look at this." Ned turned his laptop around to show Peter, pointing to an alert. Peter glances over at Ned's laptop, curiosity piqued by the alert.
"What is it?" he asks, leaning in to get a better look. The screen shows a message about a series of lab break-ins across the city, specifically labs tied to Stark Industries. With closer inspection, it was something along the lines of someone going after some very specific information. They had gone after the servers which were storing information that the labs were using for their research. Peter's eyes narrowed as he continued reading.
"Do they have any leads?" he asks, already knowing the answer. When it comes to security, no one could match Stark. There had to be something else going on. A conspiracy. The idea was kind of exciting to Peter.
"Nope," Ned shrugs, "Nothing." Peter considers this for a second, wandering deep into thought. It couldn't be Vulture, in the past few months his operations had officially been shut down, though it had been a while since Vulture had been locked up. "I wonder who it could be."
"Well, there's only one way to find out." Peter stands up from the floor and stretches, making his way over to his bed where his spider suit is. He awkwardly clambered in and pulled the mask over his face.
"Dude come on, we've barely even started," Ned protests, motioning to the Lego set which he compared to Peter had barely touched. But it’s all to deaf ears as Peter meanders over to the window, and begins to crawl out. The sight of his best friend crawling on the wall is still just as cool as unsettling for Ned. "Dude-" The awkward cry of disappointment is cut off by Peter.
"I'll be back soon, just keep an eye out, guy in the chair." He salutes.
"Keep an eye out." Ned mockingly whispers as Peter leaps from the side of the apartment building, disappearing around the building and into the New York night.
~
Nothing much had happened since he had left. He had stopped by one of the labs that was broken into but nothing seemed out of the ordinary. Peter was fairly certain that whoever was breaking into these labs was looking for something in particular.
"Hey, Karen?" Peter asked. He flung out another web and kept moving, not wanting to stop yet.
"Yes, Peter?" The AI responded, in a casual tone as always.
"Do you have any information on the labs that were broken into? Anything unusual?" Peter asked as he swung through the air.
"I have some information on that, Peter. The labs were involved in research for Stark Industries, but they specifically researched the arc reactor technology. From what I've found, they were planning on making a variation of it that would help with widespread energy production."
"Huh, I didn't know anyone was still interested in that tech."
"Yes," Karen said. "Well, someone is, Peter. Should I tell you where the next lab on your list is?"
"Nah it's okay, I'll check in with Ned first," Peter said. "Just keep an eye on it, if anything important comes up let me know."
"Of course," Karen replied."
Peter slowed to a stop and perched himself above the city, finding a nice gargoyle to rest on. The noise of the city droned on below him, but he barely noticed it as he checked in with Ned. He didn't have any new information about the lab break-ins and seemed more interested in the progress he'd made on the new programs. Peter humored him for a bit, asking vague questions which led to Ned rambling about the new procedures that he had installed. Something about patching Karen into a network Ned had created during school to find more friendly neighborhood Spider-Man tasks. Something about keeping the harder tasks available for the 'big dogs'. Whatever that meant- At this point Peter considered himself one of the 'big dogs'. Peter was about to hang up, but Ned's voice stopped him.
"Oh, by the way, I was going through some old files connected to one of those labs, and I found an encrypted file. It looks like it could be important, but I couldn’t crack it."
"You could try sending it to Karen, she’s pretty good at that stuff.”
"Good idea," Ned replied. "I'll send it over." The conversation ended, and Peter gave a mental thank you to Ned. With that out of the way, he turned his attention back to the city, looking for something else to do. The night was still young, after all.
The night was cold, stinging the two through their suits as they stood atop a building. Watching. Waiting, for the Condiment King to show up. Oracle had given them some info, along the lines of: ‘He's gonna rob that location, stop him.' But that was nothing new, this was Gotham.
"Why did we have to take this mission," Steph grumbled, waving her hands around in exasperation.
"Because you owed Damian one?" Tim said. He rubbed his hands together trying to keep the warmth from escaping. The nights were getting colder as the season shifted to winter.
"I guess." Steph sighed and took a seat on the edge of the building. Time passed slowly as the Gotham residents passed by below, scurrying around to wherever they had to be. Tim scans the alleys, watching for any movement, and then;
"There." He points to an alleyway directly across from where the two had perched themselves. "What's he doing?" Tim asked. Steph peered down the same puzzled expression across her face as Tim.
"This is what I mean, the small Gotham villains are even weirder than the big-time ones," Steph said. The Condiment King was scurrying around, tossing pieces from a garbage bin. And then a bright light flashed just out of view and he disappeared.
"The hell-?" Steph muttered.
"We should check that out," Tim said. He jumped off the building and landed on a nearby billboard, taking a running leap and then sliding down an adjacent street light.
"SHOW OFF" Steph shouts after him. They take their time to approach the alleyway, weary of whatever or whoever could still be hiding within. They make their way to the alleyway, cautiously entering. It's dark and quiet, save for the sound of dripping water from a pipe overhead. Ahead of them, there's a large garbage bin and a couple of dumpsters. The alleyway is littered with various trash and garbage. But the Condiment King is nowhere to be found. A faint light is visible from around a corner, harsh blue illuminating the end of the alley."Something's not right," Tim whispers to Steph. "Let's be careful." They creep slowly forward, rounding the corner. The light is coming from a portal the size of a doorway. The portal is a bright blue, looking as if it's ripped right through the fabric of reality. Light particles flowed out of it and the sight on the other side is blurred.
"Did the Condiment King make this?" Steph asked aloud. Tim paused for a moment, considering the question. "Dunno, but I can't think of anyone with this kind of ability."
"Hey Oracle," Steph patched herself back into the comm link. "We found this portal and Condiment King is gone." She kept talking and turned her back from the portal, walking back towards the alley entrance."Copy that, Spoiler," Oracle replied. "Keep an eye on the portal and see if he comes back. I'll look into this." There was a pause. "Oh, and be careful." Sirens could be heard in the distance, briefly deafening Oracle's warning. Tim and Steph exchanged glances.
"I'll stay and look around for a bit," Tim said. Steph nodded and began walking back the way they came. "I'll look around by the entrance, see if there's any leads," she called back before disappearing around the corner. Tim stared at the portal, the blue light called to him, urging him to get closer. As Tim hesitates, the portal suddenly pulses with light, and he's blinded. His vision goes spotty and he feels a force pushing, not pulling him towards the portal.
"Ah, crap-" His boots scrape against the concrete, unable to find traction. "Steph?" His voice cracks as he calls out. The portal glows brighter, more suffocating, pulling Tim further and further in, the world becoming a blur as he's pulled into the vortex. A searing pain fills his body, a faint call of his name echoes through his mind and then everything goes black.
-
A knock on the door pulls Ned away from his laptop. The opens and May is there, an apron tied around her waist.
"Hey boys, dinners ready if you want.."
"Ned, where's Peter?"
"Out." Ned shrugs and points out the open window.
"Just tell him dinner is ready." May sighs and shuts the door. "Teenagers."