"Your cape is so cool. I considered adding one when I was designing my battlesuit, but spiders don't have wings, so I didn't know what style to choose. Plus, I've heard that if you have a cape, sobody could grab it during a fight. Has anyone ever yanked your cape?"
Batman stood silent on the opposite building, the great detective sowhat dumbfounded, as he gazed at Spider Man.
It was the first ti he had t soone who volunteered all their information so readily without the need for him to question, probe, or deduce.
It was also the first ti he had encountered soone capable of non-stop talking for over ten minutes after a strenuous five-hour chase.
Spider Man sprang up from his spot, leapt a full four ters, swooshed onto the building where Batman stood, darted behind him, stared intently at his cape and remarked,
"What sort of material is this cape made of? It's incredible. I must research this with Mr. Stark when I return and develop a specifically designed adhesive for this material."
Catching a crucial word in his conversation, Batman surreptitiously scrutinized the figure before him, listened carefully to his voice, and then asked,
"Peter Parker?"
"Uh..."
Spider Man froze as if soone had suddenly choked him, his spider eyes, displayed on his mask, went wide.
Batman silently cursed his recent lancholy for affecting his judgnt. He should've realized sooner that this was a younger version of Peter Parker.
When Batman had the opportunity to peer into Stark's mind, he had seen Peter Parker, but the Peter Parker in Shiller's universe seed more of a scholar – never seen wearing the Spider Man suit during Batman's visit. To him, Parker was a gifted youth researcher.
This Peter Parker seed younger and his personality sowhat different from the one Batman had co to know. If it weren't for his similar skeletal structure and voice, Batman wouldn't have made the connection.
"How did you get here?"
It was a question, though Batman already had a hypothesis - who else could it be, but The Flash?
"Uh well, I noticed an event for a cosmic travel group on my APP. I had just started sumr vacation, so thought I'd check it out. But when I arrived at the designated location, there was no such group, just ."
"I saw a large hole ahead with a sign that read, 'Cosmic Travel this way.' So, I jumped in. As soon as I landed, a golden-glowing stranger transported to this city and dropped from more than two ters high."
Growing increasingly vexed, Spider Man snorted and raged, "That rat! At that ti, there were no walls around so I couldn't swing with my spider silk. I took a hard fall; it hadn't hurt that much in a long ti."
"You are Batman, right? Are you the superhero of this city? Can you help return ho? I still have howork to do."
"And, earlier the chief of police said he'd never heard of New York City. Does this universe not have a New York City, or even a New York State? What is the place which New York should have been called? What's the na of this city? Why do you operate in this city as Batman, why are you called Batman? Were you bitten by a bat? Or, did you eat a bat?"
"This is Gotham." Batman turned around, flicked his cape and said, "If you want to know more, co with ."
"Fine, Mr. Mysterious. This is kinda cool. When I first arrived, I climbed the tallest building for a view. This place seems about as big as New York City. There must be a lot of superheroes here, right? Do you have a group? Have you fought any formidable enemies?"
"Well, we've battled an incredibly powerful enemy nad Thanos. He'd gathered many powerful gemstones from throughout the cosmos. How powerful, you ask? If you fit them on a glove and snap your fingers, half of all lives in the cosmos would be obliterated."
"That Thanos indeed got his glove and snapped his fingers. Half the cosmos died. But, in the final second before my death, I was thrown into another cosmos - narrowly escaping death. Later Mr. Stark located . Help from our allies in the other cosmos managed to restore order to our cosmos, and the deceased half was revived."
"Sounds incredible, right? But I find it just as astonishing. I haven't even passed high school and I've already experienced the apocalypse. It's a pity that I can't tell my classmates any of it, as it'd scare them off. They don't even know that I'm Spider Man, which is for the best. They might tell my parents. If my aunt and uncle found out I was Spider Man, they'd kill !"
Within the few minutes it took for Batman to lead Spider Man less than 200 ters, Spider Man's constant chatter had allowed Batman to almost involuntarily gather an imnse amount of information about him. By the ti they arrived on top of Wayne building, Batman felt he could trace Spider Man's lineage back by 18 generations.
In the end, standing on the edge of Wayne building's rooftop, Batman had completely forgotten what he was originally going to tell Spider Man.
He had probably intended to share the city's dark history or recount the tragic fate of its superheroes, but had now completely lost the will, stuck in the endless chatter of Spider Man.
"Can you stop for a mont? Spider Man?"
"Stop what, walking? Have we reached our destination already? Oh, wait, we're actually on the tallest building already. I was here earlier admiring the city's view. It's about as bustling as New York City, but there's a hint of chaos, especially the traffic. Look down there, looks like another traffic jam...."
"Can you shut up for a mont?"
"Why? You don't like talking? Or do you find annoying? But I think it's appropriate. I an, co on! I've just arrived at a new universe, discovered a large city about as big as New York City. Can't I be a little amazed? I..."
"Shut up!"
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