Books and… books
Peter startled awake from a loud bang.
He peered over the edge and saw that it was just someone closing the dumpster.
He sighed and drug his hands down his face, wiping off some of the dirt stuck to it. He needed to find some way to contact Mr. Stark. He would explain what had happened and they might be able to find a way to send Peter home.
He nodded, confirming the idea in his mind.
Peter hid his suit behind the air conditioner unit and climbed down, landing on the sidewalk below.
The sky was covered in grey clouds, and the temperature seemed to be dropping with every minute, despite it nearing noon.
He watched as litter flew across the streets, just like New York.
As Peter walked around he finally found somewhere that would have internet.
The public library
He walked up the stairs, shivering from the gusts of wind that easily passed through his thin jacket.
Peter grabbed the door handle and opened it, feeling the warmth from the heater inside immediately.
”Good morning!” A woman from behind the desk greeted.
She had longish orange hair and wore a pair of glasses.
”Hi,” Petere greeted back. “I was just looking for a phone to use.”
She looked at him, pursing her mouth to the side.
”I’m so sorry, but we don’t have any public phones. We do have computers though if it’s all the same.”
Peter sighed but agreed. He could just email someone.
”Great, I’ll show you where they are.”
The lady rolled herself out from the desk using her wheelchair and led Peter to a section full of computers.
One other person sat at a desk, looking to be playing a game, Tetris maybe.
”Well here they are. Just yell if you need anything, I’ll be right here,” she smiled.
”Thank you..” Peter trailed.
”Barbara. And you welcome..”
”Peter.”
”Nice to meet you Peter,” she said.
Peter sat down and watched as Barbara rolled away, leaving him to himself.
Peter stretched his fingers as a reflex and typed in “Mail” in the search engine. He had to install it himself, bypassing a few walls. Once it was done, Peter signed in and typed in Tony’s email, hoping that he would respond soon.
‘To Mr. Stark,
Hey Mr. Stark! You don’t know me yet, so this might be confusing. But, I got sent back in time from 2017, and would appreciate if you could help me figure out house to get back.
Thanks!
- Peter’
Straughf to the point. Peter hoped that it wouldn’t be taken as a joke and thrown in the junk section.
Of course though, he could always travel to New York and find the Avengers base himself. But to do that, Peter would first need to find out where he was.
Peter searched “Where does Batman live?”
He found a city name, Gotham. As if this place wasn’t creepy enough.
He then searched, “Where is Gotham?”
He found that its in the bottom half of New Jersey, thankfully not a too long bus ride.
Peter decided that he would wait 3 days for Mr. Stark to respond. If not, he would get some money and ride up to New York and talk to him himself.
Peter logged out of his account and deleted the app. It wouldn’t take too long to do it all again tomorrow.
Peter stood up and walked towards the exit when a man came barreling into him.
He felt sticky hot liquid spill on his clothes.
”Oh man! I’m so sorry!” The guy apologized.
”Nah, it’s okay,” Peter replied, flinging off excess coffee onto the ground.
”Dick! You have to be more careful,” Barbara said as she came over, grabbing some coffee cups off of the ground.
”Sorry,” the guy, appearently called Dick, said. “I just was excited to tell you something.”
Peter stifled a laugh and took the hand that Dick offered him. Peter was yanked to his feet and picked up the coffee carrier on the ground.
”Sorry about your clothes though. I think the library has some in the list and found if you wanna wear clothes that aren’t coffee stained,” the guy apologized again.
Peter replied, “I wouldn’t want to take someone else’s clothes though.”
”Please,” Barbara laughed. “Those things have been there for months, if someone wanted them, they would have gotten them.”
He took her up on the offer and followed her back to a room with coats, shirts, pants, boots, hats, gloves, basically anything that could be left behind was.
”How does one leave a pair of shoes,” Dick questioned.
”You’d be surprised,” Barbara replied.
Peter picked out some things and took some extras since he didn’t get gloves, a hat, or decent shoes at the CVS store.
He changed then came back out, thanking them again.
”No problem,” Barbara grinned.
”Yeah, it was my fault anyway. Have a good day,” Dick dismissed.
Peter walked out of the library and searched for a place to eat. He was already starving from not having eaten dinner, and he could go for a pizza right now.
He stumbled across a humble pizza joint on the poorer side of the city that was called “Crime Alley”.
”Very charming,” he muttered.
Peter entered the pizza place called “Markov’s pizza”. It was empty despite the cashier.
”Welcome!” An older gentlemen greeted.
”Hey, could I get a pepparoni and sausage pizza please? And a water,” He asked.
”Sure, the total is 20$ even.”
Peter gawked at the price. He thankfully had a 20 on him, but no more.
He handed him the money and the guy told him it would be a 10-15 minute wait.
Peter sat down and passed the time by reading all the different posters on the wall.
After the time had passed, Peter’s food was done. He took it but stopped the guy before he could leave.
”Are you hiring?” Peter asked. “I need a short term job.”
“You can work weekdays?” The man asked.
”Yep, and nights.”
The man scoffed, “Don’t you have school?”
”Early graduate,” Peter lied.
”Huh, well, you’re hired.”
Peter was confused, “No interview?”
”You think I can afford interviews? As long as you get the job done I don’t care about your past. Rarely anyone applies as is.”
Peter nodded in agreement.
”So when do I start?”
”Tomorrow at 11am.”
Peter ate his pizza in the dining area and walked out, heading back to the roof he slept last night.
The job was just so he could get enough money to afford the bus fare, and so he could afford food and drinks.
Once peter made it back, he rested against the safety wall. His wound had been aching all day, but at least he could heal fast.
Peter all of a sudden felt his vision shift. He saw bright colors as his body literally glitched.
Peter breathed in harshly as his body and heart rate calmed down. This must be a side effect from going back in time. No wonder Mr. Stark never let Peter experiment with makeing a Time Machine.