Chapter 15
Peter has been practicing the backbend kick over on the balance beam for an entire week. It didn’t help that Dick and Alfred would lower the beam any time he managed to get it raised. He learned the move over a month ago and could do it on the floor just fine but Peter knows he can do it on the beam. He just couldn’t give up.
“Maybe we should get you a helmet. Why didn’t I buy a helmet for you before!?” Dick groaned, pulling Peter off the bar before he could even start.
“I’m fine! Diiick let me do it!” Peter clawed his way out of Dick’s grasp before hopping on the beam. It was laid flat on the ground now so there was no way to fall off of it. He ignored Dick’s muttering as he walked to the center before turning on his heels.
He just had to trust himself.
He just has to remember where the bar is.
It’s right below him. He’s standing on it now. This should be easy. Peter took in a slow breath, picturing the move in his head before he raised his arms. He ignored his brother’s voice as he stretched back, falling into the bridge. His hand grabbed onto the polished beam just as he kicked upwards. Following the momentum around as both legs sailed overhead.
His right foot skimmed the beam, dropping his balance completely as Peter instinctively rolled off the beam.
“You did it! Are you hurt? How’s your leg?” Dick caught his shoulders before prodding his ankle. Peter fell back onto the mat with a groan as his brother checked both ankles. Could he fire his brother? He wanted a new teacher now.
“I’m gonna try again.” Peter pushed away from Dick before moving onto the beam again. He was so close this time.
Back in the center of the bar, Peter turned and stretched. This time he tried slowing the turn so he could feel for the bar before landing fully. His arms strained to hold him as he toed the air before feeling the bar. Hands plucked Peter off the bar before depositing him beside it. Dick chuckled at his glare.
“You can’t slow down on the kick over, Pete. Just trust yourself and follow through. Practice on-”
“I’m good!” Peter cut in before he could be denied bar access. He hopped back onto the beam before returning to the center.
Just follow through. Peter raised his arms again, taking a moment to breathe. He fell back, grabbing onto the beam before leading with his right foot over. Follow through. Peter’s foot landed off the beam but he continued with his left before straightening out. He bowed as Dick clapped and whistled beside him. “Good job, Pete!”
He didn’t end on the beam but it was better. His foot landed next to it so he just had to shift his foot to the right a little more. Peter ran back to the beam, ready to try again.
–
There was a new kid at breakfast the next day, sitting in Tim’s chair. Peter passed him to climb into his own seat across from Damian. He should have expected new siblings now that his dad was back.
“Who’re you?”
“Um, I’m Duke… you’re Peter, right?” The new kid asked as he fiddled with his fork.
“Mhm. Just don’t die too, okay?” Peter took a pancake from the stack that Alfred placed in the center as he hummed the AC/DC song Jason and Mr. Stark loved. He ignored Steph and Dick’s quiet snickering. “Pass the maple syrup, please.”
“Right… Am I… gonna die?” The new kid asked him after handing over the little container, looking between all the gathered people.
“Probably. Everyone here does.” Peter bit into his pancake as his mom came by to kiss his head before rushing out. Dick choked on his breakfast while his dad sighed from beside him.
“Don’t worry, Duke. We watch out for each other.” His dad offered, drinking his coffee behind his newspaper.
Peter eyed the front page as it announced some copycat Joker. His dad shook the newspaper before folding it so Peter couldn’t read any more than that. Returning to his pancakes he ignored Dick teasing Duke.
Maybe he could have Damian train Duke and then Duke can train him? He seems easy enough to scare into giving lessons.
–
Duke fully moved into the Manor three weeks later.
Peter was a little surprised he hadn’t come earlier but something happened that left Duke without a place to stay. No one would tell him anything more than that. He hoped Duke wasn’t an orphan. Damian joined him at the top of the stairs as they watched the others move in boxes.
“He’s nervous.” Peter offered.
“Thomas is a coward though I believe he may be useful.” Damian hummed before leaving for his room. Peter watched him go until he disappeared. Damian acknowledged him as useful… Peter considered his newest brother again as Duke carried another box into the foyer.
“Heya Duke!” Peter poked his head into Duke’s new room, grinning when he startled the guy. His newest brother was easy to scare and Peter plans to use this for as long as possible.
“Hey... Did you want something?” Duke moved a box onto the desk by his window. Peter could see books and picture frames in the box closest to him.
“Nope.” Entering his room, Peter climbed onto the ready made bed. Alfred must have remade it, the sheets were a soft yellow compared to the regular red they usually were. Duke eyed him before turning back to his box.
Peter watched him unpack, placing books onto the shelves and clothes in the closet. He didn’t have any actual order to put things away, just whatever was in reach went first. Dick and his dad dropped in more boxes, neither making a comment on Peter’s presence.
He never really saw the others move in. Steph doesn’t even live here, she just never goes home. Cass didn’t have anything and Alfred refused to bring Peter along to shop for things since the incident before. Tim had things but Peter didn’t like him at the time and Tim didn’t let Peter near Damian when he first moved in. So, he took advantage of this new opportunity.
Peter found a book on riddles in one box, the pages were worn and written in. He couldn’t read the short hand writing so Peter dropped it back in the box before fishing out more puzzle books. He had a lot of them with others on investigation and crime.
“Um, Peter. I need that box.” Duke cleared his throat as Peter pulled away.
“Okay, sorry!” Peter rushed out to leave him to finish up.
He made his way towards Damian’s room. It was close to their dad’s and close to Peter’s. He ducked after opening the door before a batarang flew overhead. Peter grinned, closing the door behind him as he ran for Damian’s bed.
“That was not an invitation.” Damian scowled, fingering another batarang.
“You missed, that wasn’t a no.” They both knew Damian would have hit Peter if he wanted to and Damian hasn’t been so violent for weeks now. At least not with Peter. “How long before dad gives him the talk?”
“He may have warned him already. I doubt Father is willing to wait until you are given another lesson to intervene.” Damian dropped the batarang in favor of his pencil.
Peter scooted closer, peering over his arm to see the drawing. Damian had sketched the garden with the decapitated elephant hedge. “Wow.” The details on the hedge made it look more like a picture, individual branches peeking out from the once clean slice.
“Leave, Kyle.”
“Poo. Fine. Imma scare Duke again!” Peter hopped off the bed before rushing out. He’ll grab Cass first so they can scare him together.
–
Duke is so terrified of disappointing Bruce that Peter hasn’t been able to get any lessons from him. Peter tried for a week before giving up, though Duke still tries to avoid him. He learned from Dick that Duke is a meta, with powers.
“Duuuuuke!” Peter ran up the stairs as he yelled. Duke has powers and never mentioned it! “Duuuke!
Damian gave him a look but Peter raced past him towards the bedroom of his new target. The door was closed but Peter threw it open, he was yelling loud enough he probably didn’t have to knock anyway.
Duke was sitting on his bed with textbooks and homework surrounding him. He just barely moved a big physics textbook out of the way as Peter leaped onto the bed.
“You have powers!” Peter sat on his knees, bouncing excitedly. He figured out Mr. Kent is Superman but he’s basically a flying Captain America combined with Luke Cage. Duke apparently has light powers. He never knew anyone with light powers. “Can ya show me?”
“W-what? Show… you?” Duke never knew what to do with Peter. It works in his favor since Peter can scare him a lot more until he gets used to him.
“Yeah! Can I see?” Peter grinned, hoping he’d show him. Dick can talk a lot and Peter was gone at the first mention of meta. He hasn’t seen any powers in action since Before and now he could see powers in use that aren’t being used against him.
Duke sighed, putting his homework aside before moving off the bed, a small nervous smile made its way on his face. Peter watched him close the curtains after flicking the lights on. “So the neighbors don’t see.” He explained.
Peter considered telling him they didn’t have neighbors. Tim’s dad was alive but he was placed in some care facility. He only saw Tim’s dad once since the accident but Peter remembered the vacant eyes. Since then, no one lived in Drake Manor so no one could see Duke use his powers.
Duke sat back on the bed before closing his eyes. Peter watched as the light moved, his smile growing. The light shifted, dancing with the shadows before shrinking. The room dimmed into pitch black as all the light was sucked out.
“Wooah. That’s so cool!” Peter patted Duke’s arm so he could open his eyes. Little stars of light came to life on the ceiling, circles morphing into stars in a slow pattern that followed Duke’s breathing. Peter gaped at the ceiling, watching the twinkling lights as Duke followed his line of sight to the same stars.
–
Peter waited by Nate’s side for their ride. Nate was a new friend that reminded Peter a little too much of Ned. The boy was just as nerdy, excited to talk about Star Wars and aliens with Peter. They spent most of their time in class discussing the movies they’ve seen. It was bittersweet to find someone that clicked almost as quickly as Ned and him have and Peter hoped this friendship could last just as long.
They met when their class was left in the library and both boys found the books on engineering. Nate confessed that he wanted to work at Wayne Enterprises with his dad some day and Peter had immediately promised to help him get the job. He had a one way ticket to his dad’s company, after all. Since then, the two spent as much time as they could together in school.
Peter hadn’t told his dad about his newest friend just yet. Damian already found out and tried to ‘talk’ to him. It was only Peter’s intervention that he saved Nate from an uncomfortable conversation with the ex-assassin. Not to mention Tim had sent over an entire thesis on Nate and his family’s life and history that Peter trashed immediately.
Now they waited to go home, Nate waiting for his dad and Peter waited for Alfred. Alfred always came to pick him up and he was always early. Damian was usually picked up first before they came for him, it shouldn’t take this long. By now, most of the kids were gone and their teacher aid was talking to some parents by the steps. Nate’s dad usually picked him up late so Peter never really talks to him this long.
“Peter!” A man dressed up in a suit came through the gate with a woman behind him. Neither of them were his family or familiar to him.
“Who’re you?” Peter glanced at Nate who ran off to his dad, he spotted their car by the pick up lane. He sighed when he was left alone with the strangers. Peter eyed the pair warily, he definitely didn’t know them.
“I’m Patrick and this is Sabrina, we work with your daddy.” He crouched down to talk to Peter, smiling at him the entire time.
Taking a step back, Peter eyed the woman with him. He could see the outline of a gun by her hip and he bet the guy had one too. Was he being kidnapped? “No you don’t.”
“Course I do, now come on. He’s waiting for you.” The guy stood up, holding out his hand for Peter.
He was being kidnapped. Dick warned him about it but he was never allowed anywhere alone so there was never a chance. Except for that one time… but Cass saved him so it was okay. The teacher’s aid was still occupied, no one expected a kidnapping to happen in the open like this. He could scream and she would come running but they have guns and might hurt her or the other kids waiting outside.
He couldn’t see Alfred’s car, either.
“Fine. But I talk a lot so you can’t shut me up, okay?” Peter huffed. If he was going to be kidnapped, he'd be an annoying kidnappee. At least he was the only target. Patrick only laughed before leading him away. ‘Sabrina’ followed behind them, probably ready to chase after him if he ran.
He can’t be grounded for getting kidnapped, right?
Peter was pushed into the back of a van without a carseat. He dropped to sit on the ground as the woman got behind the wheel. The guy pulled his gun from the back of his pants, showing it to Peter.
“You know what this is, kid?”
“A gun.”
“Good. So you know what’ll happen if you mouth off, yeah?” Patrick leaned back in his seat, clearly ending the conversation.
“If you kill me my dad won’t pay you.” Peter rolled his eyes at their intimidation trick. His dad was Batman and he was a vigilante himself Before. They’re not scary. Honestly this situation was just interesting. Peter Parker was never kidnapped, he wasn’t worth it. Peter Wayne-Kyle on the other hand…
“True, we’ll just have to make sure you don’t bleed out then.”
Peter slumped against the van, crossing his arms in front of himself. Hopefully Alfred already told his dad about this. He was supposed to call Tim today and he didn’t want to miss their call.
The drive was long and Peter realized quickly that the lack of seats in the back was more than just a vehicle model. ‘Sabrina’s turns were sharp, throwing Peter around in the back before he managed to hold onto a strip of the seatbelt. He definitely had a few bruises from that.
When they finally arrived at their destination, Peter was led inside. He was blocked by Sabrina at his back and Patrick leading the way. He didn’t know what they expected but he was not running away until he knew where he was. Besides, if he did run, they would probably just shoot him and he’d never hear the end of it if that happened.
The abandoned building loomed over them, boarded up windows and graffiti was everywhere. They took him inside to the basement where there was only one window and it was too small for his dad to slip through. Peter was pushed into a chair, tied to it with rope before two other men came out with equipment and a lamp.
Well at least they weren’t planning to leave the child in the dark. Peter could appreciate the slight consideration despite knowing the lights were more for them than him.
He was left in the chair as they set everything up, so he chose to look around the room. The basement was small for a building that was definitely more than 3 stories tall. The place was abandoned for a long time, there was nothing down here that wasn’t nailed to the floor or already broken to pieces. The window looked out to the alley but a garbage bag blocked half of the view. He could spot some suspicious stains against one wall and dried pools just below it. Peter chose to ignore that little fact, focusing on the kidnappers instead.
Peter couldn’t tell if the others had guns but he was sure they at least had something for a weapon on them. This also wasn’t their first time, they were too confident when they came for him and had the equipment for ransoms, too. He hoped that they weren’t too good to stump his dad. He really didn’t want to be stuck here for long.
“Bruce Wayne, we have your son. If you want to see him again you will wire $30 million to the account in the title. We will give you three days or you will never see him again.” Patrick stepped in front of the camera directed at Peter, he didn’t even wear a mask. Confident or stupid… He leaned towards the latter just a bit.
The man stepped away, taking the camera from thug #2. His dad has three days?? Were they planning to keep him here for that long? Maybe Tim will come home if he misses the call…
“Send this to Fred, he’ll edit it before it’s sent.” Patrick ordered the same thug before leaving the room. Sabrina leaned back on the wall just below the window, picking at her green nails.
“They match your eyes.” Peter spoke before he could think on it. Sabrina looked up at that, scoffing.
“You’re not winning any points kid. This is just business.”
“I know but I can still be nice. My mom says it doesn’t pay to be nice but you don’t need money to be happy. I added that part though.” Ironic, since his mom is also rich and steals from other rich people.
“Mhm. You ever starved, kid? Didn’t have any food and shit? Money’s more important than that bullcrap.” Sabrina scoffed, turning her attention to her phone.
He had, though. He starved Before. He knew what it was like to live in a shoebox apartment and to count pennies. He just… forgot. He forgot about that time Before. It was so easy to forget because he is so far away from all that. He has both parents now and they have money. He has siblings and a family larger than he ever expected to have. He can eat whenever he’s hungry and Alfred will make him anything he asks. He isn’t alone anymore and it’s nice.
Peter isn’t alone. Peter isn’t Atlas, caring New York on his shoulders because he has a dad who does it. Batman guards Gotham, protecting the city and watching over Peter. Some day Peter will join him and save the little guy while his family stops the Rogues from doing worse things. Until then… until then he can’t forget.
He can’t allow himself to forget the Before because that’s who he is. He might not be Peter Parker anymore but Peter Wayne-Kyle will be a hero too.
He forgot about starving and about being alone in a large city. He forgot about using couch money to buy a bag of chips as his enhanced metabolism called for more and more food that Aunt May could bring in. He forgot what it was like to have so little money to live in a city as big as New York and Gotham…
“I’m sorry.” Peter whispered, looking down at the rope trapping him to the chair.
He can’t forget. These people just want money, even if their actions were wrong. Desperation breeds criminals. Thrown too far down the ladder and they will fight with what they can to crawl back up. Peter Parker knew what that was like once.
“S’okay kid. Not your fault who your daddy is.” Sabrina sighed, flipping through her phone before coming over. “Here.” She balanced her phone on his knees, a cartoon show started playing from it.
Peter looked up to thank her but she left, the door swinging shut with a bang.
Well… Peter watched the cartoon for a minute. Some bratty kid was throwing a tantrum after his sister was receiving more attention than him. He wasn’t sure if that was pointed at him but he chose to ignore it. He had to learn to share even before Tim showed up. Now he doesn’t even know what he owns between all of their stuff. His clothes were probably the only thing he could definitively say were his, no one else could really steal his clothes since he’s the youngest in his family.
He wiggled his arms, pulling at them from where they were trapped behind the chair. If he could free himself, he could call his dad. He just has to get out of this. Peter kept tugging against the rope, carefully raising his toes to keep the phone from falling off at his shuffling. He could feel the rope loosen just enough. He couldn’t get his arms out but he pulled them around to rest awkwardly by his chest.
After some more maneuvering, Peter managed to stick his hand out from the bottom of the rope. Bouncing his legs shook the phone closer to him so his finger could snag onto it. Hopefully no one would hear him.
Peter managed to plug in his dad’s phone number. He just barely managed to reach the speaker button as the call was picked up.
“Who is this?” His dad growled. It wasn’t his Batman voice but just as threatening. Peter glanced at the door, no shadows moved from under it.
“Dad?” Peter whispered. They might not be guarding the door closely but he couldn’t risk them overhearing him.
“Peter? Chum, are you okay? Are you hurt?” His voice softened considerably, concern and worry coating his words.
“I’m okay. Sabrina gave me her phone but I was only supposed to watch cartoons. Are you coming to get me?”
“I’ll be waiting for you, Peter. I can’t get you just yet. I’m sure Signal is out looking already.” His dad assured. He couldn’t say anything else after Peter saw shadows move beneath the door. He hung up and deleted the evidence before going back to the cartoon; though not without changing the show. The kid was annoying so he found another Spongebob episode instead.
Signal… So Duke will come. Maybe he’ll get to see his powers in action then! Peter hummed, focusing on the episode as someone came in.
“You moved.” Sabrina observed, snatching her phone back. Peter only pouted when he lost it. Spongebob was just about to drive with Ms. Puff! Those were always the best scenes. “Really? You didn’t even try calling the police?”
“I wanted to watch Spongebob.” Peter shrugged when she dropped her phone back to him. Since his parents never made a show about how ahead he is in school, the general public don’t expect him to be a genius. Obviously he wouldn’t call for help if he’s kept entertained.
“You’re something else, kid.” Sabrina raised an eyebrow incredulously.
“Dad says I’ll turn him gray early.” Sabrina left after that though he could hear her laughing from the hall. Out of all kidnappings from Before, this was a 10/10 would do it again. He got to watch cartoons and he was left alone. Peter always assumed rich kids were kept under watch when they were kidnapped. What was more important than watching to make sure he didn’t try and escape?
Maybe calling them professional was too much credit.
Peter got through two more episodes before Signal appeared. He didn’t notice anything at first, the single light bulb above him flickered but hardly enough to raise any questions. He looked up when Peter caught the sound of a scuffle. A fight outside his door and someone shouting farther down. Gunshots rang out for a few minutes before going silent.
He watched the door as the theme song for episode 3 started up. Peter grinned as the pirate sang just as the door was kicked open.
Robin landed gracefully back on his feet, staring at Peter as he softly sang with the song. He grinned at his brother’s arrival. He’ll make it home in time for his call with Tim!
“I thought Signal was coming?” Peter flexed his finger, pausing the episode as said vigilante entered behind Robin.
“Are you okay Peter? You weren’t hurt, right?” Duke rushed over to untie the rope. Robin took the phone from Peter before he could do anything more on it. “Were you watching Spongebob?”
“Sabrina let me. You didn’t hurt her too much, right? She was nice.” Peter hopped out of the chair as he rubbed his wrist. It burned after Peter pulled too much to move his arms earlier.
Robin left them, taking the phone with him. Peter eyed his newest brother, his suit was yellow and white. A stark contrast to most of the vigilantes in Gotham, barring Robin’s. It looked good on him, something bright as the sun and hopeful.
Gotham needed sunlight.