G•H•O•S•T

“Hrn.”  Batman wishes he had more positive experiences with the multiverse.  However, he had none.  In the times when the Justice League encountered alternative versions of themselves, said counterparts were almost always evil.  Not to mention the Dark Multiverse, and all of the horrors stemming from it.

Batman doesn’t say anything in regards to Gwen intruding.  Whether or not that silence will constitute as approval or disapproval is up to her.  “No.  I don’t.”  Partially because Batman already has all of the money he needs, and partially because he’s still considered a vigilante by city government and as such, a criminal.

   Not... much of a talker, this guy. Must be the ‘silent but deadly’ kind of vigilante. Which is weird, because bats are anything but silent. Very squeaky. ... She’s half tempted to ask if he uses echolocation. Does he scream at his enemies in the darkness of the night?

That could be a little more annoying than the quips Spiders all love so much. Maybe.

“It’s a long story.  I’ll talk about it later.” That was a lie.  Peni had no real intention to talk about it now or ever.  There are some wounds which just sting too much.  Some wounds which just aren’t supposed to be opened again.

The loss of her father ended up being one of those wounds.

“You know what?  You’d think that being chased by a giant mech suit and on occasion, a man dressed up like the devil would frighten them, but it doesn’t really have that desired effect, for some reason.” And that’s despite Daredevil doing a pretty good job at making himself a terrifying hero.  Some people must be really brave to fight the both of them.

   “You don’t have to. I’m just a universe away if you do ever wanna talk about anything, though." Maybe Gwen oughta consider venting about stuff, or just... outright signing up for therapy. Some of her trauma might be a little much for trained psychiatrists, though.

Batman tends to have that reaction on people.  With the exception of a few who were able to tell right away that it’s Bruce Wayne under the cowl, they all felt menaced in some way by Batman.  And they should.  Batman was created to be fearsome.

That, and being 6′2′’ and looking like a buff Dracula helps. He’s glad that Gwen caught onto the deeper meaning.  No need to alert the Justice League of this then (although he’s certain that whoever’s on monitor duty is aware of the incursion)

“Let’s just say that my experiences with the multiverse have been less than pleasant in the past.  Right now, I have no reason to believe this will be one of those.”  Nothing about this screams ‘Dark Multiverse’ to Batman. And that’s a good thing.

“Yes.  Gotham has a certain… charm to it.  It’s not for everyone though.”

   “Oh, believe me, I’ve had my fair share of nightmares in the multiverse. But I’ve also met a lot of people like me. Specifically in the spider-aesthetic sense.” It was weird... there so many powered Peter Parkers out there, but remarkably less powered Gwens. Multiverse seems to be biased.

  “UH, BLOW STUFF UP EVEN WORSE? Cut through solid steel to rob a bank? Probably also disintegrate people. I’ve stopped a few people selling ‘em, I’d rather live my life WITHOUT knowing what disintegrating feels like.” 

    Anxious feeling grows the LONGER it takes them to sort out the problem– if push comes to shove, they could always find the emptiest area possible and HOPE, but…not a risk they have to take just yet. 

   “Right– yeah, okay. I guess I’ll…LOOK UP different types of bombs? This has got to be modeled after something, no way they just made it up on the spot…I hope-”

   “I think it boils down to ‘people that leave bombs around aren’t smart enough to make them safe’. Just easier to rig up something that’s gonna explode, and...” Gwen’s lenses widen suddenly, and she slowly looks down at the bomb in her lap.

“... I... think if this thing works as badly as it looks like it does... this timer might not be accurate.” Which means every second they waste could potentially be their last. Scary. “Might just be easier to web the hell out of this thing and... find somewhere nice and empty to let it go off. Like a field, or an old warehouse, or... something.”

    PETER LEANS OVER TO GET A BETTER LOOK at the explosive, brows furrowing and lips pressing together as he examines it himself– definitely at least made illegally, almost reminds him of the VULTURE’S weapons that he and his crew had been selling. Stopping one person hadn’t put an end to the web of illegal weaponry; whoever set this one could have gotten it from someone using similar tech. 

     “Still looks pretty ADVANCED? You think this is like the groups of people selling alien weapons? ‘Cause that would just make it more unstable.” Wince as he remembers the elevator situation, before continuing to scroll through an endless list of unhelpful tutorials. “NO– no, that’s– that’ll just make it explode QUICKER! Bad idea, and I know ‘cause I’ve had a lot of bad ideas. Maybe– we don’t need the exact BRAND, but the general type of bomb? I mean the wiring has to be at least similar to its counterparts.” 

   “People sell alien weapons here? What would an alien bomb even do? They... disintegrate people in movies, right? Can’t imagine how awful disintegrating would be.” Maybe it’d be instant? Hopefully it... wouldn’t come to that, though.

So no pulling the wires, possible alien weaponry, no branding, and... so many lights and wires. An unnecessary amount of both, really. Probably designed specifically to confuse people, to be fair.

Gotham was never a place for sunshine and rainbows.  The city’s problems have problems, and the architecture of Gotham makes it look more like a Gothic nightmare than a place someone would willingly live.

And yet, plenty of people make the choice to live here.

But tonight was one of those rare nights, in which the city sleeps.  True, there would always be some level of crime in Gotham, but tonight was mundane.  No breakouts at Arkham or Blackgate, no contract killers coming to collect.  Just muggings and the like.  Mostly normal.

Were it not for the fact that somebody was being described at all of these scenes.  A flash of black and white, with purple accents.  And this mystery person seemed to move quicker than the criminals could react, dodging all of their strikes and bullets.  And the physical description matched the woman on the roof.

“Not what I meant when I asked if you’re not from around here.”  He brings back the previous implication.

   Shifting her weight a little on the wall, Gwen leans forward, resting her arms on her knees. Now that she’s actually focusing, her senses are... about the same. No immediate threat from the shadow cloaked bat(?) guy, but... that could change pretty quickly.

Right now though, he’s just... standing there... menacingly. Asking a question that, despite normally being a fairly simple question, clearly has a deeper meaning.

“I... take it you know about alternate dimensions, then? I’m not here to do any kind of interdimensional crime, if that’s the worry. Just... needed some time away from home.” She’s, of course, not going into all that, because... it’s. it’s a lot. A Lot.

“You can say that again.  I can count on one hand the number of days off I’ve had since I was nine.”   And that number was a crisp four.  She had been doing this for a while, and it shows.  Despite the bulk of the machine (and there is a lot of bulk) it navigates the skyline like it’s an extension of the city.

And the nameless goons in the future always had some kind of trick up their sleeve.  Cybernetics were the new guns, only without the option of disarming.

And the AI were always the worst to fight.  Hard as hell to track, and harder than hell to put down for good.

“Yeah, I’ve been told that’s weird.  We don’t even have a Wilson Fisk in this universe, or at least in the way that most universes know Wilson Fisk.  And punching their toys to bits is a problem if said toys are infused into them.”

   “... Since you were nine?” Is that... normal? Gwen knew she started young, but nine? This is why superheroes are never like, okay. The magic spider god needed to start picking people with fully developed brains, honestly.

All this trauma this early on is not healthy.

“You notice it when you first bond, the hunger that never seems satisfied?” She remembered eating an entire pizza herself in once sitting, and still wanting seconds, it was only after she realized the creature bonded to her was craving more than just junkfood.

She didn’t know the specifics herself, Flash had just told her stories of how the original Venom had attempted to feed on actual people, in fact, one of Venom’s other hosts supposedly did go cannibal. It wasn’t eating people though, it was going for the brains, or some chemical in the brain. Flash just finished up the explanation by tossing Andi a snickers and telling her that it would satisfy the brain craving…

Not like she needed an excuse to eat chocolate.

“It was something my mentor told me, but he’s more of a jock than a scientist.” She crossed her arms, tossing the candy-wrapper into the dumpster. “Maybe yours is different because its from a different dimension?”

   “I mean... I did have cravings, sure, but that was just for... foods. Dad thought I was pregnant, gave me the talk and everything. Think he forgot that I... literally can’t get pregnant.” The whole ‘Gwenom’ thing was out in the open by then, so it had been easy enough to explain that to him... after he’d finished his talk. Gwen hadn’t been able to get a word in.

“I’m hoping that’s the case, though. If I start getting the munchies for brains, I’m going dimension hopping for symbiote removal services.” Her suit, of course, assures her that it’s not going to want brains any time soon. It has a very refined palate. Of kale chips and steamed vegetables.

Very fancy foods.

@spidcrhaunt​ (sc)

Batman has long since accepted that the world he has come to live in is a strange one, to say the least.

He stands alongside men from the stars and women from myths long before his time.  His compatriots in the never ending battle are emerald sentinels and scarlet speedsters.  One of the foes he faces alongside these heroes is a god of evil.

A foe far stranger than a homicidal clown or the mob.  

And this isn’t even getting into when people cross over from their own world into this one.  Things of this nature have happened so regularly that Batman seldom finds it in himself to be surprised anymore.  Case in point: this woman in white, crawling up walls and shooting webs.

“I take it you’re not from here, are you?”

   If Gwen ever needs inspiration for an angst grunge album, she’s definitely gonna visit whatever this place is, cause... wow this place is depressing. It’s like the city equivalent of her goth phase, minus the awful music.

For now.

Plenty of goons to deal with though, so at least she’s been busy. Pretty standard stuff, muggings, hostage situations, robberies. City’s a tad too small for these all happening at once to be... normal, though. Pretty normal by New York standards, though.

That might have been it for the night though, because she’s been swinging around for a while, and not found anything. Swinging toward a building, she lands on the wall, taking a minute to breathe, and- immediately jumping out of her skin at the weird bat guy she’d somehow failed to sense.