Meeting
Peter was running. He was running so hard, he hardly payed attention to his spider sense telling him to Slow Down and Notice Me, Dammit!
It has been three years already, since his initial escape from the Kraang. Nothing interesting happened in that span of years. Other than being chased by the Kraang, or going dumpster diving, that is. Oh, and by the way, the Kraang were alien robots now. He had punched one of the men in the face with his enhanced strength one time, forgetting to hold back. He ended up punching the guy though a wall. But when he went to make sure he hadn't committed a felony, he found half of the Kraang's face torn off, showing a robot inside. And if that wasn't bad, the stomach part of the now robot man was detachable. And it had a pink alien brain thing that climbed out while squealing in a high-pitched voice(?). Peter was so startled that he punched the brain thing back through the wall. This time, he hadn't stopped to check if it was still alive. So that had happened.
Glancing behind him, he saw the Kraangs following him persistently. He was stupid. He had gone out to get supplies for the week, and ended up walking into a patrol of the Kraang. He took out three with his webs, and tore through four more while running. But the rest followed, and he was soon outnumbered.
He felt his spider senses screaming out to him a little too late. As he quickly turned around the corner, he slammed into someone, who was pushing a shopping cart at an alarming speed. They crashed into each other, the fall accidentally uncovering the other guy’s hood.
Peter was about to run again, because if he ran, then maybe the Kraang will leave the poor guy he bulldozed over alone?
He didn’t run though. He was too stunned to do so after seeing the guy’s head.
A giant rat!?
What he thought was a man was really a rat. An adult human sized one. With a long tail. ...go figure.
“The ones that are known as the mutants have found each other. Kraang will work that which is known as together to secure the ones known as the mutants.”
He heard the aliens saying. Peter felt like crying for the sake of the English language.
But now, Peter knows the huge Rat man was being chased by Kraang too. And that they were surrounded. He should have listened to his spider senses more.
As the Kraang attacked, Peter took a glance at Rat man to see how he was fairing. He needn’t worry, apparently, as the man was some kind of Ninja Master Rat Man. He was flipping, kicking, and stabbing the Kraang left and right, using his tail as effectively as his arms. Amazed, Peter momentarily forgot that he was in a fight, and just watched. Ninja Rat was pulling moves that were probably as good as the ones that Black Widow pulled, if not better.
All of the sudden, his spider senses screamed out at him. Ducking under the arm that shot out towards him and flipping over several Kraangs, he found himself right next to the shopping cart that the Ninja Rat was pushing. Glancing at the contents, he saw sheer the number of weapons in there. Several katanas, some salad tongs (which he thinks were called sais?), a stick, nunchucks, kamas, kunai, and so many more. Even Deadpool didn't carry as much weapons on him as Mr. Ninja Rat did. Then again, Deadpool favored guns and grenades over ninja stuff (excluding the two katanas he wore on his back).
He also saw a suspicious white, cardboard box within all of the weapons. And did the lid just move? Cautiously, making sure that the Kraang were not about to jump him, he opened the lid to see what's inside.
He never expected to see four toddler sized humanoid turtles. He stared at the small creatures, who stared back at him. Peter didn’t even notice himself back handing the Kraang as one of them tried to attack from behind. The little green creatures cheered as it collapsed in a sparkling heap of metal and electricity.
His trance was broken when five more of the Kraang decided to come running at him, and consequently the baby turtles. Keeping himself between the five identical robots and the babies, Peter punched and webbed them into each other. He hadn't anticipated one of them to have a taser looking thing though.
Nor did he expect it to shoot it at him. Peter couldn't dodge with the babies right behind him.
So even as his spider senses told him to move, he stood his ground.
To be honest, the tasering was not as bad as he thought. Peter has experienced much worse from Electro. But his body's been messed up since the bite. He hadn't grown much from his nine-year-old body either. And it hurt, sure, but it was better him than the four babies. He can take it.
The pain ended just as suddenly as it came. Ninja Rat had flipped over them all, taking out the Kraang that held the taser. Peter stood up shakily, just as Mr. Ninja Rat was finishing up with the remaining two, snarling as he pounded away at them. Suddenly, he turned to face Peter and froze, looking anxiously between Peter and the cart. It was only then that Peter realized that he was standing in between Mr. Ninja Rat and his cart, which held the baby turtles.
Holy shit, was Mr. Ninja Rat actually Master Ninja Rat Dad!?
Clearing his throat, Peter decided it was time to get out of the way. And give Ninja Rat Dad access to his babies. And get them away from here as well.
“Um...hi, uh... I come in peace??”
He tried, okay? Ninja Rat Dad eyed him wearily. Coughing once more, he tried to hide his awkwardness as he dodged one of the laser beams shot their way. Seriously, why was he so bad at people stuff?
Glancing at the group of backups Kraang that was approaching, Peter decided it was really time to run.
“I have a safe place nearby. Come with me?”
He was really relieved when Ninja Rat Dad nodded at him. He didn't know why, but his spider sense was telling him to stay with them. Shooting webs towards the Kraang that was in the way, Peter started running. He heard Ninja Rat Dad following him, as well as the muffled squeals of joy from the baby turtles, who seemed to think this was some kind of roller coaster ride.
Crossing a shallow river and losing the Kraang, he led Ninja Rat Dad to the old water storage tower. Moving quietly, they hid the shopping cart in a discreet location, covering it up with a small blanket that Peter webbed to the wall. Ninja Rat Dad took some of his weapons, a back pack, and the box of baby turtles, and followed him into his home for the past three years. Peter really hoped that this wasn't some kind of elaborate trap set up by the Kraang to capture him. Because if so, they were succeeding.
Peter placed what little supplies he had gathered that day on the floor, and sat down next to it. As Ninja Rat Dad came in, he lit the small lamp, and webbed the door shut. He regretted shooting his webs immediately, as Ninja Dad tensed up, pushing the lid of the box shut so the babies wouldn't come out.
"Sorry Mr. Ninja Rat Dad." He said lamely, watching the giant rat raise one of his eyebrows. As Spider Man, his words were one of his greatest weapons. He would rile enemies up or detract them using his amazing sense of humor.
But right now, he was trying to start a conversation.
With a master ninja rat. ...And he was miserably failing at it. Why does his mouth always fail him in these situations?
"Um. Okay. Hello."
Miserably failing. To the extreme.
Rat Dad seemed to study him a while. "...Hello."
"Oh, yes. Hello. Um. Who are you??" Peter cringed. He was so bad at this. What had happened to the friendly neighborhood Spider Man's famous mouth? Out traveling, apparently. "...my name is Peter Parker, by the way."
He didn't expect Rat Dad to start chuckling at him. Rat Dad sat down, coming closer to eye level with him, and set down the box with the turtles in it.
"My name is... or was... Yoshi...Hamato Yoshi."
There was definitely a story there. Peter looked into the kind, brown eyes of the other man. Guarded, yes, but kind eyes. His name sounded Japanese? That meant Hamato was his last name, right? But he introduced himself as Yoshi first?
"Okay, Mr. Yoshi?" When the Rat didn't seem offended, he continued. "Uhh, would you like some food?"
Peter offered some of the Pizza that he had found before. It was cold and hard, but it was food all the same. He didn't expect one of the turtles to come hurtling at him, latching itself onto the piece of pizza before either of them moved. Peter stared at the little turtle hanging on the pizza, munching away with just his mouth. Looking closely, Peter could even see small freckles on the little one.
Peter chuckled as three more pairs of little hands patted him on the knee. Seeing three more pairs of expectant eyes, Peter cooed a little, unable to resist it.
"Aww, you guys want some too?" He looked up at Mr. Yoshi, silently asking for permission to give his babies some food. After receiving a slight nod, Peter got out three more pieces of the pizza that he was planning on saving for the week. "Here you go. Do you like it?"
He was rewarded with a burp from the one with the freckles, while the others squeaked with joy, and started eating their own piece. Silently, he took out the last two pieces of the pizza in his bag, and offered one of them to the exasperated rat. When he hesitated, Peter offered him the other piece in an effort to prove that it was not poisoned or anything. Still hesitantly, Mr. Yoshi took it.
After eating their dinner, Peter smiled as the little turtles began to play around with some of the non-sticky webbing that he was experimenting with. Still watching the turtles, Mr. Yoshi opened his mouth quietly.
"During the fight with the men" He started. Peter looked up, as Mr. Yoshi continued. "You stood between my turtles and the shot that the men fired. You knew what would hit you, yet you did not dodge. Why?"
Peter looked back at the little turtles, who were trying to climb over each other to get to the webs. He took a deep breath, wandering how to go about explaining this.
"Someone once told me" He said slowly. "that with great power comes great responsibility. I was able to stop the men from hurting the babies. I could survive the amount of electricity the guy shot at us. They would not have been able to. My body is larger than these four combined. It was better me than them. I had the power to protect these four turtles when you were being held up by the others. It was my responsibility to do so."
Mr. Yoshi hummed, and finally faced him.
"The person who told you that was very wise. And for your actions, I thank you for saving my sons."
He bowed, stunning Peter. Apparently, he didn't sound like a complete fool. Thank you, Uncle Ben
"Please, don't do that. There's no need to bow.”
Peter cleared his throat and searched for a change in topic. Babies were a safe topic, right??
“The...babies...were they yours?”
“No, they were my pet turtles. My human daughter died...”
...well then. Babies were not a safe topic.