Present Day
Earth Prime
"What do we have?" Peter asked sharply as he strode into the Watchtower meeting room. "What's the emergency?"
Around him were the greatest heroes in the world, the Justice League. Along with them were many more miscellaneous heroes, some from other teams, and some lone heroes. Most had gathered here because Dick, Peter's younger brother, had put out a Level 10 emergency notice.
Clark nodded at Peter from his seat, just like Bruce and Diana did from theirs. Most others greeted him respectfully, if not with a little bit of awe. The Spider was arguably the greatest hero in the world, after all. He was an inspiration to the vast majority of people in the room.
Dick stood forward. He was clad in his signature black and blue suit, which he used to defend Blüdhaven.
"A few hours ago, Raven was kidnapped," he reported. "She was taking a walk through Coast City, but suddenly disappeared."
"How long ago was this," Batman asked lowly.
"Approximately four hours ago," Starfire replied. She was visibly very worried for her best friend.
"And that's not all," Beast Boy continued. He nervously cleared his throat. "We also found traces of magic at the scene. When we called Dr Fate to analyse it, he told us that it bore the signature of Jonathan Postman, A.K.A Professor Perplexity."
Most of the room turned to Peter, who stood there expressionlessly, waiting for the rest of the report. Professor Perplexity (a horrible name given by the Herald) was an extremely adept sorcerer, who was famously an enemy of The Spider.
"I don't think I need to say this, but Raven being kidnapped is a critically dangerous situation," Troia cut in. "She's one of the most magically powerful people on the planet, and we need to move on this yesterday."
There was silence for a moment after that, before Peter finally spoke up. "Agreed," he said, his suit's eyes staring all of them down. "Raven needs to be found. Constantine, can you track her?"
A man in a brown trench-coat in the corner came forward. His ever present cigarette was glowing in his mouth, and he took it out to speak up.
"We are," he replied, gesturing to himself, Zatanna, and the rest of the Justice League Dark. "As soon as we have a hit, we'll let you know."
"Alright," Peter agreed, looking over at the rest of the room. "This is a potential Level 10 situation. We cannot afford any mistakes. Postman is a very slippery, intelligent man, so do not tangle with him. If you see him, call for backup. We'll be there as soon as we can."
Everyone nodded solemnly at his words. Wally West, Kid Flash, looked especially anxious at his words, his worry for his girlfriend shooting through the roof.
Peter gestured at Batman to discuss strategies and teams, before walking away towards the teleporter room. Clark followed him.
"Where're you going?" he asked his friend curiously.
"No one knows these guys better than me, Clark," Peter told him. "And one thing I know for sure is that there's no place on Earth Postman's more comfortable with than New York City. And there's no one he hates more than me."
"You're going to bait him," Clark realised.
"Like a worm to a fish," Peter confirmed. He flicked a few switches, and the teleporter turned on, glowing a white and buzzing faintly. "I'm heading into the city, alright?"
Clark rested a hand on Peter's shoulder before he left. "Take your own advice," said Clark sternly. "Don't be a hero. Call for backup if you see them."
Peter just scoffed, before walking through. Clark sighed. While he admired and adored Peter, who was probably his best friend, the younger man had a nasty habit of working alone. Even Bruce, notorious for his lone wolf behaviour, had learnt to play well with others. The multitude of Robins could attest to that. Peter, though, was different, which Clark attributed to his previous memories.
Peter had told his closest friends about that. Understandably, Clark, Diana, and Allison were horrified when hearing about his years as Spider-Man, while Bruce, Selina, Karen, and Alex were spitting mad. Alice was in tears, along with his siblings, when hearing about how he died to Doomsday (a name that Peter discovered when fighting the monster for the second time). His team and friends betraying him still had a massive impact on him, and it showed in his behaviour. He was slow to trust, something they'd seen when it took him a very long time to reveal his identity to them. He was even very reluctant to work with a younger hero, something all of them were sure that he would enjoy, given his adoration for children. Then again, with the mentees he had in the other world, maybe he'd be a little skeptical too.
XXXX
Peter zipped through the city on webs, heading straight for his building. Alongside him was Stinger, his partner. Though, more often than not, he worked with Alex and Karen, he found himself having to mentor a young girl, one he had saved years earlier.
Sophie Leyton, whom he'd saved during Maxie Zeus's first rampage in the city, had been inspired by his actions, and proudly declared herself his greatest fan. One day, when she'd been bitten by a radioactive spider, she'd sought him out and asked him to train her. Though he refused for the longest time, her constant insistence, along with Bruce's encouraging words, prompted him to grudgingly give in. She'd proven herself over the years, though, so that was one decision he didn't regret.
He headed inside his penthouse, Sophie following him hastily.
"What's the rush for, boss?" she asked curiously.
"We might be on the brink of a Crisis here, Soph," Peter replied gravely. "Be on guard."
She startled at the word Crisis. Even though she hadn't participated, most of the Justice League had scattered memories of the various Crises they'd taken part in. That was very dangerous word to be throwing around, and the fact that Peter used it gave her some indication about how grave the situation was.
Peter retracted his mask, and dialed a number on his phone. It rang a couple of times before the other side picked up.
"Hello?" came a cool, elegant voice from the other end.
"Al," Peter greeted his old friend sharply. "Do you know anything about where Raven is?"
"Pete?" he could hear the raised eyebrow from her. "You know I can't talk about this stuff with you. We had a deal!"
"This is a world ending scenario, Allison," Peter hissed back. "If Raven's power is used wrong, or, Presence forbid, the gem on her forehead is broken, the planet would crack like an egg! Do you understand what's at stake here?! Now, if you want to keep living, tell me everything you know about Raven's or Postman's location RIGHT NOW!"
There was silence on the other end, before a thick voice replied. "Meet me in my office in half an hour." With that, the line cut.
"Peter?" his girlfriend's voice came from the entrance. He turned to see both Karen and Sophie staring at him with wide eyes. "Are you alright?"
Peter sighed stressfully. His bad feelings had only increased in the last couple of weeks, and something kept prickling at his senses, telling him something big was coming. He had a fear that this would be the cause. He knew that he'd perhaps gone a little overboard in dealing with his friend, but right now, he had bigger concerns. The planet could not afford Trigon getting loose again.
"I'm fine," he dismissed, before striding to the door, his Spider-Suit melting off him into his skin, leaving nothing but a formal black and white suit. "I'll be back later."
XXXX
"What the hell's going on, Allison?" Peter asked as soon as he stepped in the door. Alex followed him, looking sternly at Allison like she was on trial. Her secretary knew them, so she didn't bother with announcing their presence. "Talk to us."
Allison sat stiffly on her chair, looking over at him as he collapsed on the seat in front of her desk. She could see the dark circles under his eyes, and the bloodshot redness in his irises. She felt worry for her best friend, for despite their differences, they were still as close as ever. They'd reached a deal, where she didn't interfere with their operations as Superheroes, while they let her do as she liked, to a certain extent, at least.
Allison looked at them coldly for a few moments, before she sighed, the weight on her shoulders being apparent now.
"It's not looking good," she admitted, looking over at them. "The Society are convinced that they need more power."
The Shadow Society were a group of metahumans, most from the Particle Accelerator explosion, who schemed to control the world from the shadows. They were lead by the mysterious 'Shadow King', an extremely powerful telepath, who was actually wheelchair bound billionaire Martin Lieber. Allison had been invited to join the Society, and after they told her of their goals, she quickly agreed. It was an open secret between the three friends that she was member of an organisation that frequently tried to kill The Spider, but she never told either side anything about the others.
"And where do they plan to get that power?" Alex asked, his eyebrow rising.
"They want to weaken the heroes," Allison explained. "They think that if the Justice League, and all of its affiliates, are pushed down in public standing, then they can swoop in and gather power in the aftermath. To do that, they need a threat big enough to threaten the Justice League, and the world, along with causing an immense amount of damage."
"Trigon," Peter groaned, looking he'd aged twenty years at the thought of having to fight the dimensional conqueror.
"No," Allison denied, surprising both the men. "They know that Trigon would be uncontrollable, and could possibly destroy the planet even despite the Justice League's efforts. That wouldn't be good for business. So they're using a Cadmus experiment they found a long time ago; a daughter of Raven. Someone who can control the powers of Trigon, but not to the extent of Trigon himself. Someone like Raven, but more ... malleable."
"And where does Postman come in?" Alex questioned her. "He's not a member of the Shadow Society, last I checked."
"No, he's not." Allison sighed in exhaustion. "The Axis somehow found out about the Society's plans. They got to Raven before we could. The Society is frantically looking for her right now. That's all I know."
The Axis were the evil counterparts of the Avengers on this world. They were a collection of Peter's most dangerous villains, who'd assembled to take down the arachnid hero. Among their ranks was billionaire Edward Morgan, lightning empowered metahuman Maxie Zeus, and Thoraxia, an evil female counterpart of himself with similar powers. Leading them was Commando, who was a former soldier who took part in biological experiments to serve his country, only to discover that they abandoned him when he needed help, and wiped his name from history. Cooper Barge was disgruntled, and attempted to attack his commanding officer, General Sam Lane, when he was visiting New York. However, after a long fight, he was stopped by Peter, leading him to swear revenge against the vigilante.
The first time the Axis assembled to take him down, he almost died. He only survived because of Sophie's first appearance as Stinger, who distracted them long enough for him to escape. He made sure to prepare extensively for the next confrontation, and all of his subsequent wins or losses were by the skin of his teeth.
"So, what are we looking at?" Alex asked, his head swivelling between Peter and Allison. "War between the two largest super-villain groups in the city?"
"Looks like," Peter confirmed grimly. He shot off his chair and rushed to the door. "We need to go," he told Alex, who followed him as fast as he could.
Peter hesitated at the exit, before turning back to his friend.
"And ... I'm sorry, for snapping earlier," he said, making her look at him blankly for a bit, before eventually smiling.
"It's alright, Peter," she told him gently. "We're all pretty nervous right now. Make sure you take care of yourself, yeah?"
"Right back at you," he replied, winking at her mischievously, just like when they were young. She just laughed softly and turned back to her work. Peter softly closed the door, and strode out of the building, preparing for a war in his city.
Hey guys!
Hope you liked the chapter!
This is an adaptation of Avengers vs X-men in DC, with Peter unfortunately caught in the middle. That's gonna be the arc in this story for a little bit, while the 616 guys are working on the transporter and the Sinister War. I'm gonna go back and forth between the two worlds while this happens, so hope you're okay with that.
This is the full fledged reversal of all the 616 heroes in DC given form. I want to hear your thoughts about it, so tell me what you think in the comments, okay?
Next Chapter: The Three Proteges
- BuddyBoy27