Chapter Text
Seeing black on a mission was never good. Seeing black on a mission while still actively being conscious is worse
Seeing black while conscious, on a night so busy even Signal is out… that was worse.
Or so Red Robin thought.
He was just fighting some weirdos, they were trying to rob a woman in the streets. It wasn't even a fight, the men saw Red robin and ran pretty quickly.
But then, while getting near those men, everything went black, RR doesn't remember being hit in the head, nor does he feel any pain.
But FUCK why is he spinning so fast?
His hand—which he's glad he finds himself being able to move goes to his head, he does not feel any blood, but maybe it's just the gloves.
“Oracle? Are you there? Do you know what's happening?”
Tim asked, he had a thousand more questions in his head but chose to only ask the most important ones. After waiting for a few seconds and not hearing anything, he suspects he’s either gone deaf — which he hasn’t; he can hear his own voice — or, more likely, Babs can’t answer.
He's also now realizing, besides his own now rather quick breathing, there are no noises.
Nor could he smell anything—which was arguably rare for Gotham.
How did that happen? Now that he thinks about it…what did Gotham smell like? How could he forget that? He's lived there all his life!
Wait– did those low lives get away? If yes, then Fuuuuuck. Another lecture from B huh..
But that doesn't seem to be the biggest problem at hand.
As if he's been counting right—which he probably isn't, he's focusing on not throwing up—he's been falling for five minutes, maybe?
That can’t be right—no, it’s definitely not right.
Because that would be unimaginable heights.
Ones he's never seen before. Nor would he survive them.
He'd be around 200 mph!
That's not survivable.
Nope.
Not in the slightest.
000
You know, Peter had an actually decent day, he's not been yelled at by a customer, had not gotten into any trouble, not had a breakdown (a big win in his eyes) and his shift was almost done, which was awesome! In some sense, he would be able to work on his spider suit again. It had gotten torn yesterday and he wasn't yet able to repair it.
But that also means he'll have to lay off patrol for a few hours.
Which wasn't great honestly, he'd just have to hurry to fix the suit.
He'd also be able to eat! As he never really has nearly enough money to buy something in his break (not that he couldn't take something they sell, but he'd feel guilty about that—ok he's just not yet desperate enough.)
His metabolism had slowly adjusted to having maybe two meals a day, it wasn't happy though—he could feel it on his side, the slash wasn't deep but still hasn't fully healed. Another reason to be excited for food!
But just as the clock hit 7:57pm he heard a loud *Thud!* outside of the café, which– fair its New York. But it still sounded painful! At least if it was a person, which by the heartbeat, it was!
He made a mental note to check up on the person once he's able to get out, that's when he realized that would probably take another 15 minutes
So once the clock hit 8pm he clocked out, not bothering to change—he'll just take his apron with him, they don't care about that anyways.
Once he went out he didn't see anyone, it's just been three minutes damn it!
He looked around to see any sign of an injured person, or any trace that there had been one here a few moments ago.
Once that doesn't work Peter goes back to one of his best senses, his hearing.
The heartbeat of the person had been erratic, but it's not hard to find people whose heart beat fast—they're in Queens! If they're not stressed their high.
But once he really started to listen he heard a familiar heartbeat in an alley almost a block down! How fast did they run?
While Peter started sprinting towards the alley he started listening to other things around the heartbeat, he picked onto a whisper, from a boy around maybe his age? And it seemed to come from the same place as the heartbeat.
He could not make everything out, who's Oracle? Batman? What's that supposed to be? Another copy of Mr. Tony?
Since his-... Since Peter became a nobody, people have often tried “playing hero's” (as the news called it) . It's not that he's bitter about it, it's always good to have new ones around!
Worse is it that he just recently got off of the official list, yes! 5 Years of being spiderman is enough to be accepted by the news.
Tho that isn't important to him.
Peter slowed down when he went near the alley he heard the heartbeat, making his steps louder so he announced himself to the boy—no need to scare him.
Once he rounded the corner into the alley Peter's eyes started to search. And it didn't take long for him to find who he was searching for—as the boy was quick to pull out a throwing kni—wait. Is that a BAT?
Seriously? A bat-shaped knife?—anyways.
Was quick to pull out a throw knife, ready to throw it at Peter.
Peter put up his hands, taking a few seconds to look at the boy in front of him, he's sorta masking his face. Is that a super suit? It seems heavy, not good for York's villains (you've gotta be agile for ‘em)
The stranger in front of Tim didn’t move, just stood there with his hands up, apron still on.
Tim blinked. The world stopped tilting sideways for half a second, long enough to see that the guy in front of him wasn’t one of the robbers—he could've guessed that before tho.
He seems to just be a civilian.
Tim had maybe, sorta perhaps panicked when he just pull on fell onto a sidewalk and might have run off, before he realized that he does NOT know where he is and went into an alley to look onto his GPS that's been built into his suit (his arm to be exact) but it did not seem to work.
Just then he heard footsteps approaching!
He thought maybe it is whoever brought him here, pulling out his last batarang, ready to throw it–
Until he saw a barista just standing there. The guy looked a little older than Tim, did he run after Tim from the café he landed at? He didn't look like he could be responsible for this, he definitely looked like a civilian.
Did he run after Tim?
Tim was just about to ask the man what was going on—but he seemed to be too late as the man in front of him said something first.
“Dude you good? You're the one who fell in front of the bakery?”
Tim scoffed internally, did the man not see the literal blood dripping from his head? The fall hurt man!
“So what if I was?” Tim asked, slowly pulling the blade lower, he didn't wanna seem threatening to a random guy, also Alfred wouldn't approve if news got out that a Gotham vigilante pulled a batarang at some random civilian.
Before the man in front of Tim could answer he heard something in his earpiece
“Red Ro—..yo—..ther—..-im?–”
… . Was– WAS THAT DICK?!
Fuck. if he's also here he needs to find him!
He didn't hear what the barista said, and honestly didn't care either.
Red Robin just got out this Grambling hook and started swinging, maybe on higher ground the internet would be better and he'd be actually able to hear what his brother said.
Peter just stared once the boy in front of him took out a GRAPPLING HOOK.
And started swinging somewhere, that's dangerous!
And property damage???
Also! With that head wound he'd pass out!
He needs to—oh. He can't. His suit is at home. And torn.
… .
Peter is currently clumping up the fire ladder from a building inside the alley they were just in—careful to not be obvious
As he doesn't have his web shooters he takes off the apron once on the roof—promising himself he won't forget it there.
Peter takes off after the kid, careful not to lose sight—or rather, sound—of him. The grappling hook makes a distinct whir-thunk, echoing between rooftops like a weird metallic heartbeat. so it's easy to follow.
Why did the kid run? Why does he have a grappling hook?
Peter has too many questions, but he needs to focus on the problem at hand—this wannabe hero (you'll make it big kid! Just like he did! Peter truly believes that!) Who is injured, probably a minor, and from what it looks like completely panicked and disoriented—is in his city now! At a time when too many villains like Rhino or [add more villains later] or actively out!
That is not good, not in the slightest even.
He’s fast, Peter’ll give him that. Faster than any random kid should be, especially one who just face-planted from the sky.
he runs over another rooftop, sneakers skidding on wet concrete, eyes scanning for a flash of red or black. The city hums below, neon signs flickering off puddles, and Peter can’t help but feel the tiniest bit nostalgic—chasing someone across rooftops again. No mask. No webs. Just instinct and adrenaline.
“C’mon, kid,” he mutters to himself, “if you’re gonna parkour through Queens, at least leave a note or something.”
A glint of red up ahead—there. Peter picks up speed.
The guy’s movements are getting sloppier now, the adrenaline’s running out, and the head wound’s catching up. Peter’s gut twists. He’s gonna pass out soon.
000
Tim’s head wound throbs as he swings through the city. He doesn’t fully understand where he is—just that he needs to get higher. So he can hear Dick again.
The air smells so clean—if the sky being blue and not rainy wasn't clue enough, he's definitely NOT in Gotham.
He does need to stop after a while, while not yet on the highest building in sight, he feels like he might pass out. As his head wound is not happy with him. Luckily, B makes him keep gauze in the suit.
He wraps it tight over the wound—layer after layer—hoping it’ll hold long enough not to bleed through. Once he's done he takes off one of his gloves, lightly touching the gauze where his wounds would be for a few seconds to be sure he doesn't bleed through.
Once he's sure he won't bleed through for now he looks back at his GPS, even going as far as opening it up to look at the cables if anything broke, and upon further inspection—everything is fried.
Everything.
So yeah, it seems like he'll be giving up on that for now. While B has him keep a lot of stuff on his suit, he doesn't have a spare microcontroller or batteries on him. Ever. And will not be starting now.
He goes back to his earpiece. As it did seem to work.
"Oracle? Can you hear me? “
No answer.
"Nightwing? B? Robin? Is anyone here? “
Still no answer.
“ fuck. “
The word gets dragged through the wind, which feels different here—cleaner, colder. He can hear people talking below, a rhythm to their accents that isn’t Gotham’s. Wherever this is, it’s alive in a way Gotham never was…
Ok. No time to panic Tim. First; figure out where you are, then get water—food can come later. But hopefully he won't be gone long enough to need to worry about food. After that get the fuck back to Gotham and figure out who is responsible for this.
He decides it's best for now to sit here until his wounds stops bleeding as much, after which he'll go get some water so he'll stop feeling dizzy
Just after thinking this he hears a noise—has someone been following him? That can't be, because he was so fast. Was is a villain? He's really not able to fight right now.
He looks around the roof, looking for somewhere to hide—luckily he sees there is a door which seems to be rather old (he didn't even notice he went into a poorer neighborhood? How far did he swing? Is this place like crime alley?)
He stands up slowly. Going towards the door, it's quite easy to pick (he barely had to pick it, it basically just opened) and goes inside, closing the door just as he hears the other person land on the roof, he slides down the door, being as quiet as he possibly can in the moment.
Peter could hear the poor guy go into the building, he could hear how fast his heart was beating and how he was controlling his breath.
Looking around the roof he finds some almost empty gauze laying near the edge of the roof—it seemed that guy patched himself up at last.
And as much as it pains Peter to do, the guy clearly does not want Peter's help, and Peter could probably find him again this night during patrol if he tried, and his hunger is kicking his ass.
So Peter makes a decision. He goes down the fire ladder from that building, leaving the boy alone, so as to not further alarm him in any way.
Now he's walking back home, sadly the new hero lead him far away from his small apartment.
Sigh
seems like he'll need to push off his patrol even more huh?
He looks at his phone for the time.
8:17
SIGH
it'll take an hour to get home and at least half an hour to patch his suit, he sure hopes that hero is a good one, once he's adjusted he might actually will be—just needs to stop grappling hooks, as it really fucked up the houses to boy hooked onto.
This is such a mess
He hopes his patrol will be more comfortable tonight.
…
Around an hour later Peter is finally home, not having had the motivation to run as he's already hungry, he goes and puts a frozen pizza into the oven, getting out his sewing kit and the spiderman suit he hides under the floorboards (you'd think he'd have better hiding spots after Mr. Stark found the one in his ceiling. )
He brings the suit into the living room, starting to sew while waiting for his pizza to be ready, luckily the slash is only 4 inches long so it doesn't take too long.
Once he's done with it he starts eating his (slightly burned) pizza, now you don't expect him to do either of those tasks without him watching something on his phone now do you? He watched some old Tony Stark interviews. It might sound silly, but it helps him come to terms with Mr. Stark's death.
He doesn't even need to cry anymore! There's just this empty pit in his stomach when thinking about him now..
After the pizza’s gone he puts on his suit, checking the newly sewn part to make sure it's not too bad—which luckily it doesn't seem too bad! Seems like he's finally good enough at sewing huh.
Anyways. After checking the sewing job he goes to his window, making sure no one is looking before jumping out of it, and starting to swing through the city—his main mission tonight?
Find that boy again.