Archive of Our Own

Chapter Text

He was choking.

He inhaled and instead of air, there was water, or sludge, or something between the two, filling his mouth. It coated his throat as he hacked, trying to expel it from his lungs. His eyes opened and all he could see was green. Bright, toxic green that burned his eyes and his skin and his nose and his throat-

He slammed his eyes shut, limbs flailing to get up, get out-

There was a buzz filling his brain. It wasn’t a sound- more a vibration or a feeling or an instinct, something warning him to get. Out. NOW-

His movements were becoming slower, his air was running out and his body was spasming as his lungs failed to expel the liquid he had breathed in. The buzz in the back of his mind was only getting stronger, encompassing more of his brain power as his lungs burned. His hands finally hit something, it felt like glass. Everything was fading.

Fading into black…

Black and toxic lime green.

He was suddenly filled with anger, the green encompassing his vision as something roared in his ears-

The anger was brief and burned out before he could do anything with the emotion.

He found himself thinking how this felt familiar- the choking, the drowning, the hitting glass, the anger, the green. He couldn’t shake the feeling that it would happen again as the black finally swallowed him whole.

Peter was really starting to get tired of villains popping up out of thin air and interrupting his evenings. Well, he hadn’t really been interrupted this time as he’d already been on patrol, but that was fairly strange with these portal hopping villains.

This time he was fighting Electro near the Empire State Building, trying to divert him away from any crucial power sources. The fight had been going on for too long- 15 minutes or so. Peter was starting to get tired, but Electro had just stolen power out of whatever was closest to keep the fight going.

Peter thought it was unfair that the bad guy basically had unlimited options and stamina thanks to the city that never sleeps.

Never change, New York.

Suddenly, there was a whirring and two metal rings that shot into the sky. Peter had reacted on instinct, webbing and pulling one of the rings to himself as the other expanded and glowed a soft white-ish blue. He shot out another web to change his trajectory, but Electro slammed into him and pushed him through the glowing circle.

Peter wasn’t stupid. He hadn’t been able to figure out where the rings were going when the villains dipped through them, but he assumed it was nowhere good. Especially if one of those villains wanted him to go through one.

He landed a solid hit to the side of Electro’s head as the two separated in the air of wherever they were now. “Sorry, man,” he quipped quickly. “Don’t you know not to let people take you to a second location?”

He turned his head to look back at the ring, twisting to shoot a web back through when the ring whirred louder and then snapped closed again.

He heard Electro laugh. “See you around, Spider-Man. Enjoy your stay.” Peter watched as Max zapped himself through another portal that had opened and closed too quickly for Peter to even attempt to go through it.

Well, fuck, he thought bitterly.

And then he was falling. He turned to look at where he was going. He was quickly descending towards the top of a large city that wasn’t New York. He had to have been over 500 feet above the tops of the buildings, and these buildings had to have been about the same height as the tallest skyscrapers in New York. He was able to use his webs to slow down his descent, attaching to and looping through the taller skyscrapers in the city. Eventually, he landed softly on a tall concrete building with stone gargoyles on the corners with no idea where he was or what had just happened.

He knew that over the last 8 months, villains had been popping up and specifically targeting him. Most of the time, they’d come upon him at the most annoying moments for him- right after a large fight, or when he’d just cleaned up a gang with Team Red. (Wade and Matt always helped him out if they were still around when these villains showed up, but usually they showed up after the three of them had split ways). Or right before he’d normally start patrol, so he’d be left scrambling to get into his suit and grab his gadgets. Going after him while he was working. The fights always followed the same patterns: the villains would show up and challenge him, eventually get their asses handed to them, and then retreat through a portal that appeared to have a metal rim that glowed that same white-ish blue.

Tonight was the first time he’d actually seen one of the portals close up.

He knew frustratingly little about anything else concerning the whole situation. He assumed the villains were working together since they all used the same portals, but then why didn’t they all attack at once? Where did the portals go? He hadn’t been able to track or trace any of the villains once the portals closed, no matter how advanced the trackers he attached to them before they retreated back through the portals were. (And they had gotten pretty advanced- he’d developed one specifically for this situation that theoretically worked in space.)

Wade and Matt had had their ears to the ground, looking through their various contacts, but no one had been able to come up with anything concrete.

Honestly, the tracker thing had given him a pretty good idea of what was happening, but Peter was hoping and praying that he was wrong.

Looking at his current situation, he probably wasn’t wrong.

He spent a couple minutes acclimating his enhanced senses to the new environment. Everything had felt louder and brighter, smelled stronger. This city smelled bad. The smell of garbage was the strongest, but there was also the smell of burning gas and diesel, gunpowder, and smoke hanging heavy over the city.

His spider sense was buzzing uncomfortably at the base of his skull. He could hear gunshots and sirens echoing through the city. He didn’t need his super hearing or his sixth sense to know that this city was dangerous, much more so than where he had just come from. He looked back up to where he had fallen from, but the metal ring had not returned, and it had not fallen from the sky with him. He looked at the ring he still had clutched in his hand. He could only hope it contained answers.

The sky was beginning to lighten, the overcast black turning to a light grey.

It had been just past 1 am, maybe 1:30 at the latest when the fight with Electro had started.

Peter's eyes tracked across the lightening sky again.

He swung down from the top of the tall building, keeping an ear out as he landed on a shorter building next to it. He needed to figure out where he was. Peter had spent the last six months hopping between sketchy apartments, so he’d started to keep his phone and wallet on him even during patrols. He knew it wasn’t the smartest thing to do for a vigilante with a secret identity, but he didn’t trust leaving them at the places he’d been staying. (If he knew he was going out with Team Red, he’d stash his stuff at Wade’s apartment, but that hadn’t been the case tonight.) He’d already scraped together a life out of nothing once- he wasn’t keen to repeat the experience.

Also, his phone was a modded Stark phone, one of the last things Happy had given him before the Erasure. It had been advanced two years ago when he’d gotten it, and he’d only continued to upgrade it since then. Replacing it would be impossible if it got stolen, so he kept it on him nearly at all times.

He pulled it out and- stared at the no service bar. He sighed. Then he noticed the time.

1:39 AM, September 13th, 2024.

He once again looked back up at the lighten-ing sky.

One of the first things he’d done when all this weirdness started happening was check in with Doctor Strange. Whenever magic got involved, things got complicated. He hadn’t worked with the wizards- sorry, sorcerers- in New York very often, but he knew one of their portals when he saw one. And these were not their portals. The erasure spell was still in effect, and the good doctor hadn’t been any help with figuring anything out, stating that it wasn’t magic causing the portals.

Peter looked at the metal ring still grasped in his fist. It was a two and a half inch thick metal band the size of a large bracelet with coils that showed that it was meant to expand. He turned it over, looking for any way to activate it and found none. He groaned and leaned against the wall. His stomach growled loudly, reminding him of its existence.

First- a change of clothes. Second, find food. Then, he could get some answers.

It didn’t take long for Peter to find some clothes. There was an old thrift store that had a pile out back. After quickly scanning for cameras and finding none, he had hopped down and found a couple pairs of jeans that fit okay, two t-shirts and a hoodie his size, as well as a backpack to store the extra clothes in. He rooted through the shoes before finding an old pair of converse that were too big, but that worked out if he kept his suit on underneath. Which he planned to do for the time being since he didn’t trust underwear or socks that came out of the thrift store trash pile. He stuffed the extra clothes into the bag, and then paused when he held up the inert metal ring. His stomach growled, and he shoved it into the bag. Food first, strange metal portals later. He stuffed his suit’s gloves and mask into the hoodie pocket, and started walking towards what looked like a main road. He mentally began cataloguing the gadgets that he had with him.

Which was honestly not a lot. He had one extra strength flash bang, two concussive blast grenades, five web grenades and five taser web grenades. He could pretty easily make more web based grenades, but the gadgets that relied entirely on tech would be harder to make.

Webbing, shit. He checked his stock. He wasn’t doing too bad, he had two extra cartridges, but he had no idea what he was up against in this new city. He’d need to be careful until he figured some things out.

He was walking down a street when he noticed a newspaper stand. He wasn’t sure why it struck him as odd- it was a bit antiquated but not unheard of he guessed. He weighed the idea of spending some of his limited cash and potentially running into a currency issue. He wasn’t too worried about the currency, he didn’t recognise the accent specifically, but it was still distinctly American. He determined that the information would be worth it, in the end. He’d know at least some things so he wouldn’t sound like a complete fool if people asked basic questions.

The man behind the stand was nice. He had immediately called out Peter’s accent, asking if he was from New York. Peter had sheepishly said yes, saying he was in town visiting family. Apparently he was in New Jersey. Which, first off, Jersey? Ew. But secondly, and more importantly, he did not recognise this city. And if he was truly in Jersey, he should have at least known about a city that was less than 3 hours away. The pit in his stomach grew as his theory started to sound more and more like fact instead of theory. He thanked the man after paying and walked away before flicking open the paper and scanning the front page.

Gotham Gazette
June 3rd, 2012

Mass Arkham Break Out- Can the Bats Put the Rogue Gallery back where they belong?

There was an article that Peter started scanning before he paused.

His eyes rose back to the top of the page.

June 3rd, 2012.

The world faded away. All he could see was the date.

Time travel?

No, couldn’t be. This place was less than 3 hours from New York. Even as a kid, he would have known that an entire city had suddenly ceased to exist.

His breathing was coming quicker.

Peter was more than positive now that the portals led to an alternate universe. But were they also capable of time travel? He was in a city he’d never heard of before 12 years in the past.

His heart rate was elevated. He could hear the blood pumping in his ears.

He knew this wasn’t his fault- the erasure spell had done its job and was still intact. He knew that these portals were not created by magic, the clearly mechanical metal ring burning through his newly gained backpack. Peter knew that he had nothing to do with the ring's creation.

Knowing that didn’t stop the panic from seeping in.

His breathing was erratic, it felt like a weight was pressing down on his lungs.

His phone flashed back into his mind, the date and time glowing up at him.

Someone was making multi dimensional portals without a particle accelerator.

He wasn’t sure how long he had just been standing there staring at the newspaper drowning in his panic when someone waved a hand in front of his face.

“Hey, earth to kid, you okay?”

Peter jumped and looked up into a man’s face. He looked to be in his early twenties with black hair that was long on the top and faded on the sides. There was a tuft of white in the front of his hair, and his pale green eyes were piercing as the man searched Peter’s face. Even in the throes of a panic attack, Peter blushed at the attractive man’s attention.

“W- what?” Peter stammered, his heart still hammering in his chest.

The man cocked an eyebrow. “Are you okay?” He glanced down at the paper in Peter’s hands.

Peter sucked in a deep breath and slowly blew it out, attempting to get his breathing back under control. “Y- yeah. Yeah, I’m all good. Just-“ he paused, not sure how to proceed.

“You nervous about the breakout?” The man motioned again to the paper. He was wearing a sleeveless red hoodie with a leather jacket laid over one of his arms. His grey jeans were haphazardly tucked into the tops of some combat boots and there was a motorcycle helmet tucked under the arm that didn’t have the jacket.

“Yeah.” Peter answered without thinking. Right. Most people don’t buy a paper to look at the date and have a panic attack after learning that they've somehow been transported 12 years into the past in a different universe. “Just.. worried about people’s safety.”

The man nods. “Well, just wanted to check. You were just standing there for several minutes.”

Peter winced. “Yeah, I was reading the article and lost track of time.”

“You from New York?”

The abrupt topic change threw Peter off. “Uh, yeah. Born and raised there.” At that moment his stomach decided to rumble again.

The man cocked an eyebrow with an unfairly attractive smirk when he heard it. “When was the last time you ate?”

“Uhh… Dinner yesterday?”

The man looked him over, probably taking in the disheveled and ill fitting clothes. “You want a free meal?”

Peter wanted to nod, but he stopped himself. “Where’s the meal coming from?” he asked skeptically.

The man's eyes twinkled, an unidentifiable look passing briefly over his stupidly attractive face, which Peter was noticing more now that the panic was fully receding. “I volunteer at a kitchen that’s close by,” the man replied. “The food’s warm and no one asks any questions.”

Peter took a second to take in the man’s posture. He seemed to be telling the truth, body language open and relaxed. And even though the man was absolutely built, his spidey sense was quiet. Peter eventually nodded. “I’d appreciate that.”

“Alright then, follow me. Name’s Jason, by the way,” Jason said as he started walking.

Peter jumped after him, running a bit to catch up. “I'm Peter.”

Jason smiled over his shoulder at him. “Nice to meet you, Peter.”

Jason watched the kid closely as he took him to the kitchen he had been on his way to when he spotted him. He looked to be around 16 or 17, brown curls streaked with sweat and dirt, brown eyes shadowed by bags under them, almost appearing like bruises on his skin. His cheekbones were sharp in a way that meant he hadn’t been eating enough, but the clothes were too baggy for him to tell if the rest of his body held the same bony qualities. Jason was also guessing there were injuries hidden under his long sleeved hoodie by the way Peter was moving as they walked towards the kitchen.

They walked in silence, Peter seeming to have noticed Jason’s examination and was tucking into himself. He shrugged, motioning for Peter to keep following. After a couple minutes, they approached the Wayne Foundation Kitchen, which was already getting busy with the breakfast crowd. “This is one of the better kitchens, they give big portions if you ask and the food is pretty decent,” Jason said as he walked through the doors.

Peter nodded. “Thanks, I appreciate it.”

“No problem,” He smirked. “Just ask for me if you need anything, yeah? I’ll be in the back doing dishes or something.” After getting confirmation from Peter, he headed into the back of the kitchen, where he was immediately put to work.

He finished up making the biscuits and gravy, producing another two racks of biscuits as the front crew worked through the line. He hopped on some of the dishes, bringing food and drinks to the front when it was needed. He smiled and asked how some people he recognised were doing when he was around the front. He knew his presence kept the neutral ground of the kitchen intact. No one knew he was Red Hood, but most people in Park Row knew not to mess with him. He had the build of a boxer, and unlike his philanthropist father and siblings, Jason had no problem knocking heads around out of his suit.

After a couple hours, the crowd was dying down. Heather, the person who ran the kitchen came over and made him take a break. “I can see that you haven’t slept, take some food. If you want to help with clean up after that, fine, but at least think about going home and getting some shut eye.”

He acquiesced, moving to grab the plate from her hands and heading towards the tables that filled the space. He scanned the people that were lingering around and pulled up short when he noticed Peter in the corner. He was a bit surprised to see the kid still hanging around, but then noticed that he was back to staring at the paper again.

He walked over, making sure to make noise as he did so. Peter’s head still jerked up with surprise as Jason approached. “Hey,” he said by way of greeting. “You mind if I sit with you?” Jason asked, continuing to make his way over. Peter shrugged as Jason sat down. “So, how long you been in Gotham?”

“Uh- I just got in last night.” Peter said, looking down at the paper again.

“What brings you to our fine city?” Jason asked.

“Family trouble,” Peter answered quietly. He was still looking down at the paper, like he wasn’t fully present in the conversation.

Jason hummed in acknowledgement as he shoveled some food into his face. Pretty typical for Gotham really. Could have been a lot worse if he’d been in Park Row at the time. “-ou go- a flace -oo ftay?” Jason asked around the food in his mouth.

That grabbed the kid’s attention. Peter looked up with a raised eyebrow. “Did your parents teach you any manners?”

Jason chuckled after he swallowed. “My dad certainly tried, but I’m a crime alley kid through and through. You didn’t answer my question.”

Peter smirked at him. “That was a question?”

Jason rolled his eyes. “You got a place to stay, brat?”

Peter flushed red, but the smirk remained in place. “Yeah, I got a place.”

Jason smirked back as he studied Peter’s posture, amused at his embarrassment. He figured the kid was lying, the deflection attempts and his hushed voice giving him away. He ate another bite of food while he considered how to handle this. He didn’t want to scare the kid away, but there were some subtle ways he could help.

“Alright kid,” he spoke in between bites. Peter made a weird strangled noise from the back of his throat, but Jason wasn’t deterred. “I won’t push you, but you’re obviously new around here. If you’re here with no one else at this time in the morning, I’m guessing you’re without parents or a guardian.” Peter narrowed his eyes at that. Jason held up his hands as he continued, “Chill, I’m not calling CPS or anything. I’ve been there. Crime alley kid. You can get away with a lot around here, but it’s not particularly safe. We call Park Row ‘Crime Alley’ for a reason. Keep your head down and mind your business.”

Peter nodded, his brown eyes clearly becoming more intense as he listened to Jason. “Okay,” he responded.

The kid was smart at least. “Good. You staying here for a bit?” Peter considered and then gave another nod. “Kitchen here is open for breakfast and dinner, opens at 6 AM and 5 PM respectively. That way you’ll have two square meals, at least. You got a phone?”

Peter nodded, then hesitated. “I- I need to charge it.”

“You should be able to do that at the library. I have a friend who works there who can help you out. I can take you there if you want, I needed to stop by and talk to her anyways,” Jason said almost as an afterthought as he finished up his food, beginning to move to stand when he noticed Peter tracking him warily. “What, I got gravy on my face or something?”

“Why are you helping me?”

Jason took Peter in again. The kid had a story, most likely a traumatised one based on the guard he consistently kept up. “Because you look like you’ve had shit luck before you ended up in the clutches of Gotham, which definitely isn’t going to make your luck any better. This city will chew you up and spit you out if someone didn’t at least give you the lay of the land.” Peter’s gaze remained skeptical. “Call it a favour if you have to.”

Peter nods. “Okay. I would appreciate a trip to the library.”

“Cool. You good to go now?” Jason stands, grabbing his dishes and waiting for Peter to reply.

Peter stands with his dishes and shrugs. “I’ve got nothing better to do”

Jason smiles, trying to put him at ease. “Alright then, follow me.”

Peter liked Jason. His spider sense was a low thrum in his mind, as it had been since he hit the street in this city. He knew from the man’s build that he was dangerous, but he didn’t seem like he would hurt Peter. He was grateful that Jason had offered to take him to the library. Peter had been trying to work out how to ask for directions to a library without sounding completely pathetic when Jason had brought it up.

A library meant computers. Most likely out of date computers compared to Peter’s knowledge of tech, but still computers with free internet access. He could figure out a lot of things, namely the differences between this dimension and his own- and he could probably jailbreak his phone onto the network. He had attempted to get on the network after he had finished his food, but the frequencies seemed to be slightly different here. Different enough that he would need an existing internet connection to get back online. He had also started a mental list of files he’d need to do… really anything in this world. The list was very similar to the documents he’d needed to find or forge in the aftermath of the battle at the Statue of Liberty. He tried not to think about that as he followed Jason towards the nearest subway system.

Jason had given him a look as he hopped the turnstile, and Peter had shrugged back. He was a New Yorker, what did you want from him? The travel had been pleasant, if not depressing as Jason gave him a rundown on Gotham’s eccentricities. A ten minute subway ride and five minute walk later, they were standing in front of another concrete building with gargoyles on the corners. It had the words “Gotham Public Library” etched into the stone on the front of the building that was clearly inspired by Grecian architecture. Jason had already started up the steps as Peter had paused to take in the building. He hurried after the man, who had turned back to look at him. “Not what you were expecting?” Jason asks, smirk on his face.

Peter shook his head. “Seems par for the course, saw a decent amount of the city coming in last night. The gargoyles keep getting me though.”

Jason chuckles as he opens the door for the two of them. “What, Gotham architecture not been in the New York news lately?”

Peter smiles back at him. “Nah- and the whole gothic vibe feels a little on the nose, ya know?”

They both laughed as they walked into what felt like a standard public library. It seemed to be funded well despite the general dilapidated vibe of the rest of the city. There was a woman with glasses and long red hair behind the front desk. She was waving at Jason, and calling him over. Peter took a deep breath and followed him. He had never been the best liar, but he had been getting over it in the last two years.

He totally got this.

“Hey, Babs. Meet my new friend, Peter.” Jason was saying, tilting his body so that she could get a good look at him.

“Hi there, Peter,” she said as she reached out to shake his hand. As she leaned forwards, Peter noticed a pair of handles sticking out from the chair she was sitting in. He took a better look and found she was in a wheelchair. “My name’s Barbara, but you can call me Babs.”

“Hi, I’m Peter,” he said in reply, then stopped. “Uh, I mean, you already knew that, um..” He ducked his head as he shook her hand. She laughed and Jason had a small smirk on his face. Peter felt his face burn a bit and guessed his ears were probably red.

“That a New York accent? What brings you out to Gotham?” Babs asked, looking between the two boys.

“Uh- I. Honestly, I got a little lost.. And I might be stuck here for a while?” Peter said hesitantly. He felt like he could trust Jason, and Jason had already guessed that he was here alone. Ever since the pair had entered the building, Jason’s body language had been much more relaxed than it had been since Peter had met the man on the street. Jason implicitly trusted this woman, so Peter decided to tell the truth. Not the whole truth obviously, but the truth.

Babs had a concerned look for a moment, glancing at Jason before shifting to look back to Peter. “Okay, I’m sorry to hear that. Do you have a place to stay?” Peter nodded, not wanting his voice to betray the fact that he was lying. “Alright, that’s good at least. What do you need from me then?”

“Uh,” Peter said, scratching the back of his head. The sweat and bits of dirt were starting to irritate his skin. He needed to shower soon. “Can I use a computer and charge my phone? I have a charger and everything, I just need a bit of time…” He trailed off, hoping he didn’t sound desperate.

“Of course! Here’s a guest login to get you started. We can see about signing you up for a library card later or another day, alright? Computers are over on the left.” Babs finished writing something on a piece of scrap paper and handed it to Peter with a smile.

Peter smiled back and gave a small thanks before heading over to the computers. The computers were out of date, even for what he remembered from 2012 technology. Of course, this was a public library and may not have the best funding, but the nature of the monitors and large cases for the PCs themselves had late 2000’s vibes to him. He wondered if this world had Stark Industries or an equivalent, and what the ramifications would be on technological advancement if they didn’t.

He took a deep breath as he sat down, moving the mouse to wake the computer up. He took a look around the library, noting there were only two or three other patrons, and Jason had turned to talk to Babs and had her full attention. He pulled out his phone and slipped it onto the desk, hoping no one noticed that it was most definitely more advanced than any other phone in this city based on what he could see from the computers in front of him. He got to work, quickly logging in with the guest login. It was a matter of moments before he was on the library’s website creating a card and account for “Jane Doe.”

After thoroughly wiping the browser and the computer’s memory of the guest login, he signed back in using Jane Doe’s new library account. With the dummy account he was able to get his phone onto a plan with an internet company that had decent reviews on their website. He was lucky he had an advanced Stark Industries phone, a generic phone wouldn’t have been able to adapt to the different frequencies this earth used. His phone now connected to the network, he sighed, locking it and putting it away. He didn’t actually have a charger for it, and while it wouldn’t be specifically difficult to build one, he would need the parts for it.

He was going to need to be careful with the limited cash he had on him. He could go dumpster diving for parts at some point.

That was something future Peter could figure out. His phone had the internet now, he could hack another phone from this earth onto a phone plan easily from the Stark phone. He quickly resolved to only use the phone when absolutely necessary until he could make a charger.

With that out of the way, Peter buckled down and got to researching this dimension he had found himself in.

The world faded away. All he could see was the date.

Time travel?

No, couldn’t be. This place was less than 3 hours from New York. Even as a kid, he would have known that an entire city had suddenly ceased to exist.

Peter was more than positive now that the portals led to an alternate universe. But were they also capable of time travel? He was in a city he’d never heard of before 12 years in the past.

He knew this wasn’t his fault- the erasure had done it’s job and was still in tact. He knew that these portals were not created by magic, the clearly mechanical metal ring burning through his newly gained backpack. Peter knew that he had nothing to do with the rings creation.

Knowing that didn’t stop the panic from seeping in.

Or: Peter Parker finds himself stuck in another dimension in a city he's never heard of after being pushed through a portal while fighting Electro. The villain is one of many portal hopping villains that have been after him for the last 8 months. Once the villains continue to come after him in this new dimension, he must work with a local crime lord and vigilante to figure out how to go home.