Spider-Man: Lost and Found (18+)

Chapter 19: Castle of Bones

Early one morning, the sun shined on Jump City, bringing the first hot day of the year. Seagulls flew overhead, soaking up at the sun, much like the citizens taking to the beach, after eagerly waiting through the cold season. Joining the festivities, on their own little island, were the younger members of the Teen Titans, eagerly rushing from the tower in bathing suits. As they rushed toward the water, they all smiled eagerly and stopped as they took in the picturesque view.

"Hello, Megan!" The martian girl said. "We should hit the beach every day!"

Tim smirked and nodded, then rested his face in his palm. "First, a moment of silence for our absent comrades."

"Wally starting school today?" Kaldur asked with an amused grin.

"Yeah, and plus Pete." Megan added.

Tim looked off in thought at that. "Wonder what's been up with him lately. He's been holed up in the crime lab for like three days now."

"Maybe he's writing fanfiction." Megan shrugged.

"I SERIOUSLY regret showing you the internet." Tim chuckled with a shake of the head.

"Well!?" Kaldur said as he backed toward the water. "What are you guys waiting for?"

After that, the Atlantian took off running across the surface of the water, using his tools to create a massive wave that he surfed along further into the water. The other Titans all cheered as they ran into the water after him.

Meanwhile, inside the tower, much like Tim had mentioned, Peter sat inside the crime lab for three days since the others made him the leader. The only time he really left was to get food, go to the bathroom, or sleep, while also taking an hour in the evenings to practice driving with Cyborg, which thankfully caught on pretty easily. However, most of these past few days had been spent in that one room, with Raven occasionally coming to keep him company, or perhaps for him to keep her company, while he continued looking over the data he had "acquired" from the Justice League and Batman.

While he and Cyborg were positive there was no way for the hack to be traced back to them, thanks to Cyborg's advanced tech in the spider bots, there was still a consistent sense of paranoia that came with making a move against Batman. In the back of his mind, he kept expecting the Bat along with Superman and Wonder Woman to come and rip off the roof of the tower for what they did. However, such a thing never came, and it never would.

However, what comfort he got from Cyborg's trusty tech, was swiftly taken away by the contents of the League's files. So much he didn't previously know about this universe was now right here for him to read. He learned anything he could on the League as well as their enemies. After reaching a dead end with Cadmus, this was his best option to narrow down who might be behind this.

This was what lead him on the third day to start looking through Batman's files. As soon as he did, he was greeted by a stark contrast between the types of villains he faced, versus the villains the rest of the league faced. The type of evil that Gotham bred seemed to be far more abstract than what the rest faced. Though, one thing was familiar to Peter in particular. They were all sick, or broken in some way, much like the villains that he had faced as Spider-Man. All of their minds broken, each with their own detailed psychological analysis from Batman. He learned the origins of many of them, however a lot of them did not strike him as people who would be behind any evil scheme targeted at the League. If anything, most of them would have been used as pawns for someone else's scheme, or hired help at best, but nothing this major.

This was until Peter came across the file for Frank Castle. For a moment, he wondered if perhaps it really was this simple. The Punisher did seem to take issue with Superheroes in general and their more merciful methods. However, another part of him thought that perhaps even this was a bit of a stretch. Even still, even a little motivation was better than none at all, so he clicked on the file.