Spider-Man: Nobody Home (18+)

Chapter 26: Spare Change?

Peter walked through the tunnel that connected the airport to the plane he was getting off of. He looked out the window and caught a glimpse of Gotham's skyscrapers towering over the airport, contrasting with the grey, overcast sky. As he continued into the airport, he looked around at all the people that passed by. He could only could a few times he had ever even BEEN to an airport before. And one of those times was simply for crime fighting.

Suddenly, as he stepped out onto the street, he heard his phone ring in his pocket.

He quickly pulled it out and noted that since leaving Jump City he had received six missed calls from Dick. Three from Roy. Twelve from Starfire. And one from Cyborg.

But none from Raven.

He could feel a lump in his throat as he recalled their fight. The cruel things he said to her, knowing her insecurities, yet saying them anyway. It was as if the words had a mind of their own.

He had been feeling like that a lot lately.

He looked at his phone again at the new text message he had received.

It was from Dick.

'Pete. Where are you?!' the message read. 'Raven seems VERY upset, but she won't say why. Call us back, please. We're getting worried.'

'Worried.' Peter scoffed to himself in his head. 'Yeah right. Probably just calling to complain about how much of a jerk I am some more.' he stuffed the phone back in his pocket, 'THAT we all need.' he continued down the side walk, before slipping into the closest alleyway. 'Lets go pay a visit to our local billionaire, shall we?'

In an instant, his suit crawled out from underneath his clothes and covered his entire body until he was in his black suit once more. In a single bound, he leapt upwards, before swinging off across the city. The amber lights of the city cast shadows far darker than the bright and colorful neon of Jump City. The gothic aesthetic was much different from what he was used to on a day to day basis.

As he swung toward the north end of the city, his spider senses tingled and directed his attention to the streets below. He stopped mid swing and stuck to the side of the nearest building and looked down at the scene below.

Standing on an old, worn down basketball court, stood a gang of thugs dressed from head to toe in clown themed attire, face paint and all. In front of them stood two boys, huddled together against the fence in terror as the clowns stood over them.

"I thought we told you this place was our territory." One of the biggest ones said.

"We're sorry!" One of the boys replied.

"We just wanted to play basketball, please!" The other boy pleaded.

"We won't come back again, we swear!" The other one added.

"Too late, boys!" The clown laughed. "You already GOT your warning, but don't worry... Mister J said to make sure we take our time with it... So you're coming with US."

Suddenly the boys discarded basketball flew at the goons, bouncing off the head of the one talking. The man looked over his shoulder and turned around to see where it came from.

"Huh?" He said to himself as he looked around, but didn't see another person in sight.

"Is it the Bat?" One of the goons whispered to him.

"I don't know." The group leader replied. "Show yourself!"

Suddenly they all tensed up at the sound of the ball bouncing rhythmically behind them, where the two boys still lied. They all turned around and gasped at the sight of the person responsible.