Chapter Text
“This is a bad idea, Peter.”
Karen, the AI tells him. She is composed of shape-shifting nanites that are currently being used to mimic the appearance of hearing aids, with the added benefit of being noise-canceling, which helps block his superhearing, which has grown since his entrance into this dimension, along with his super strength. Peter has also grown miniature spinnerets on his wrists and has obtained slight fangs
“The book I stole from Dr. Strange's library says that I can summon anything!”
A nine-year-old Peter Parker protests.
“The book is titled Summoning for Dummies.”
Karen replied dryly.
“I know! It's super helpful, I just want to summon a human around my age that wouldn't mind being dragged from wherever he is, who knows how to make inter-dimensional portals.”
Peter replies, repeating his earlier justification while jesticulating wildly.
“The book says you can’t summon pure humans.”
Karen replies, trying to poke holes in his plans.”
“Sure, sure, so I'll get a half-human half-something else.”
Peter replies easily.
In a flash of green light, a boy appears in the salt circle surrounded by the Latin words describing what Peter wants to summon—a part-human around his age with knowledge on interdimensional travel.
The boy, looking young, is bleeding from a stitched-together vivisection wound and has scars and still healing cuts on his wrists, ankles, and neck from restraints.
Peter freezes for a second before he starts panicking and trying to wrap the other boy in bandages while pouring disinfectant on him.
After some panicked flailing, Peter has the other boy sleeping in the spare bedroom of the abandoned fire station that Karen appropriated with funds liberated from some international criminals.
After a week of tending by Peter, Danny is whole and healthy thanks to his healing factor.
Danny, as it turns out, is half ghost, and his physical form is more dependent on his emotional state than his physical; his experiences have traumatized him and made him feel small and helpless, so now he will be a kid for the foreseeable future.
Peter explains that he has been banished from his previous dimension and wants to check in on his friends and family, as well as possibly establish interdimensional lines of communication, in case they haven't forgotten him, due to Strange's spellwork. So, he summoned someone who knows how to build portals. Apparently, when Peter was banished to this universe, he was somehow de-aged.
Danny explains that he's done with his home dimension; however, he wants to let his friends and sister know he's safe and won’t be coming back.
Danny and Peter quickly realize that they'll need a lot of resources to build their portal. Since this dimension is years behind theirs in terms of technology, they'll have to acquire the necessary tools and technology to support their project creatively.
Peter and Danny brainstorm for a bit on how two probable nine-year-olds without papers could get a few truckloads of expensive tech, materials, and tools to an abandoned firehouse in the most cursed, crime-ridden city in the world.
Tim was just taking a shortcut through a dark alley to avoid the paparazzi when he met a cute kid who looked suspiciously like a young Dick Grayson.
Tim nervously takes the kid's hand when offered a handshake. The kid, firming his grip, pulls Tim forward while lunging to bite Tim’s arm. Tim immediately starts to feel woozy and tries to hit his panic button as he falls against the alley wall.
“Don’t worry, Timmy, Karen has disabled all your electronics.”
The nine-year-old mini Dick chirps at him before he blacks out.
Tim wakes up and finds himself unable to move anything below his neck. His bindings feel strange, as if he were wrapped in silk. Opening his eyes, Tim finds that he's trapped in a giant spider’s web, cocooned as though he were a trapped fly, with only his head uncovered.
“Hi Timmy, we have kidnapped you so that we might interrogate you on the locations of specific resources that Wayne Enterprises or Starlabs have. Please indicate the location of each item on this list, along with its corresponding passwords and security. We will be keeping you for a while to have access to your biometrics, so get comfy.”
Another black-haired, blue-eyed child says, looking suspiciously like a young Bruce, similar to the Demon brat, holding out a paper with scribbles making up lists of desired information up to his face.
“Once we have everything we need, you will be released.”
The mini Dick cherps at him from above, skittering across the giant spider’s web that Tim is trapped in.
Tim learns a great deal about his captors by listening to their conversations, and what he's learning does not bring him any happiness.
“Metas, aka people with powers, have rights!”
Danny exclaims while reading off a tablet he acquired somewhere.
“No way! At home, all we have are hate groups that are everywhere, and they hunt us!”
Peter comments interestedly. Having legal rights and protections could be a life-changer.
“What about your government?”
Tim asks, directing his question to Danny nervously.
“The government made it law so everyone has to report us for vivisection, experimentation, and extermination.”
Danny explains as if it's the most normal thing in the world.
“My government just has a lot of registration acts so the public can know where mutants live and the occasional rogue group trying for genocide, not sure how much the government backs each one, they always have plausible deniability and are acting as a rogue faction or something.”
Peter muses aloud as if his travesty of a former government is normal or sane.
How are you gonna power the portal?
Danny asks Peter while drawing up portal designs.
“Mr Stark showed me how to make mini Arc reactors; a big one could power a city, so we should be fine.”
Peter claims as he puffs up his chest. Proud of the trust Mr Stark has in him.
“We are gonna need even more exotic materials for that, aren't we?”
Danny bemones at the enormity of the project.
“That's what we stole Tim for, besides Mr Stark built one in his chest cavity while being imprisoned and tortured by terrorists in a cave in a desert. How hard could it be?”
Peter claims.
Tim, trapped and cocooned in the Wall Web, doesn't know whether to laugh or cry.
It is important to note that Tim had decided within the first few hours to make zero attempts at escape and instead help his probable nephew and brother from alternate dimensions.
“Don’t worry, Timmy, we handled all that pesky tracking tech you were carrying and hacked your accounts. According to everything digital, you’re on a transatlantic ship right now.”
Peter told him cheerfully.
It's during his first night as a prisoner, while Peter and Danny are sleeping, that Damian sneaks into the basement/workshop/lab in his full Robin regalia to mock Tim for his inadequacies in getting captured by two children.
Tim, for his part, assures his family that he is fine and wants them to observe the two before ‘rescuing’ him. And find a way to ease the two interdimensional refugees into the idea of adopting them before the kidnapping, so as not to scare them off.