In The Web Of Gotham

The Man And The Spider

We return to the apartment, Harley giving a genuine smile to Peter. Who looks utterly confused as Harley claimed her conclusion.

"Petey, you ever heard of survivor's guilt?" Harley asked, causing Peter to take a moment to consider the question.

"Yeah, I've had to console a person or two who came into the station suffering from it, why?" Peter asked.

"You suffered Survivor's guilt at such a young age, I think it cause a break in your mind. I think you made a personality for yourself that's able to take that pain. And when that side of you saw more of what might have caused that pain, it aimed that anger towards the caretaker," Harley explained.

"Wouldn't I have known-"

"Anomic Covert Dissociative identity Disorder. It's a variant of Dissociative identity Disorder. The personalities are there, but they don't have much form. They usually lack a sense of self, and the switches aren't obvious to someone who isn't looking for them. The telltale symptoms still exist, though. Loss of awareness, gaps in memory. Lack of personal continuity. Like those moments where you go somewhere else and suddenly come back with someone being savaged by violence. Right? Flickering memories of what you did?" Harley interrupted, laying out what Peter has been experiencing for most of his life.

"But that's still happening now, even though by now I should be able to control it. Right? Or at least, know that I have it," Peter asked, sitting up from the couch.

"That's the tricky part. That identity didn't have a name until recently. Anyone else would have just chalked it up to a child blacking out amidst a fit of trauma induced rage. Although the fact that it's still happening now, as you're fighting crime means something new. Not only does your other self have a name, but they have a proper trigger. It's Spider-Man, and your mask is part of the trigger," Harley explained further.

Peter had to take a moment and consider what the doctor was implying. Then it clicked for him.

"Putting on the mask...and thinking I'm about to die. Those are the triggers. At first, it would have just been thinking I was about to die, but then when I got the mask. When I made Spider-Man, that got added to it," Peter deduced.

"No one's ever a professional superhero on their first try. You trip and stumble, take the errant punch to the head. Maybe a bullet or two to the chest. Spider-Man though, since you were worried about it during the first few times, and you thought you were going to die. He never even gave them a chance to fire the first shot. Or take the first punch. He just dealt with them," Harley said, continuing the tracks that Peter had his train of thought on.

"I got better at it though, better at being Spider-Man. The equipment got better, I was getting better. So I didn't....slip into Spider-Man that much after a few weeks. Maybe once these weird robberies started happening, I slipped into it once or twice. Otherwise, I was fine, I was me. Until...Murdock," Peter realized, looking at the footage of...well Matt Murdock thoroughly laying waste to himself through his own suit's cameras.

"Matt can fight like a man who just got possessed by the devil. He may not look it, but the goons in the Bowery leave Matt alone. Because he can do that to them, without ever seeing them," Harley explained. Then when Peter started seeing his body fight back, in hindsight the change was so obvious that even he could see it. He also saw how in the subsequent crimes that Spider-Man went to fight, he exhibited a level of strength that Peter didn't even know he had. Peter knew he was strong, but he didn't think he could crush a gun with his bare hands like it was a tin can. Or stop a car just by putting his arms out and digging his feet in. If that was Peter driving his body, he would have just smacked the gun out of the robber's hand. He would have had to use webs to hold the car in place.

"Those men....are they alive?" Peter asked, unnerved by the sheer brutality and swiftness that his other side was dispatching the criminals with.

"Bats is still talking with Gordon on that one. What he knows is that you did a number on them, from what the dispatch says you did your abandoned payphone trick. Oh, and it took him saying your actual name for you to come out of it," Harley said.

"How....how do I control it? How do I get rid of it?" Peter asked. Harley got dead serious suddenly, giving Peter a chilling glower that shook him a little bit.

"You can't get rid of it, Peter. It's something you created because you couldn't bear what happened to you. Because you felt guilty about what happened because somewhere deep down, you think that spider has something to do with it," Harley said.

"Then...what do I do? How do I....how do I stop Spider-Man from potentially...going overboard?" Peter said, asking the same question but rephrasing the goal. Harley had to think on that for a little bit before she thought of something.

"Your main trigger is feeling like you're about to die, so...what if you try and convince yourself that you aren't?" Harley asked. Peter was so confused at that one statement alone.

"This is Gotham City, during a period of underground turmoil as the underworld starts going topsy turvy. It feels so unstable and dangerous right now...how do I not feel like I'm about to die?" Peter asked. Harley had to think about what to tell him....then she thought of what used to do. To try and bury her fears, to survive the day to the day with the Joker....an irony given the man she used to associate with.

"You could tell jokes. You could crack wise," Harley suggested.

"Like, make fun of the situation?" Peter asked.

"Well yeah, it'll be a way to put yourself at ease. Nobody would be having fun in a situation where they're about to die. So you can convince yourself that you're fine," Harley explained.

"I mean....I do like making little jokes with the fellas at the station...so I might be able to take the comedy act on the swing," Peter said with a shrug. He went to his bed and pulled the Spider-Man suit out of the blankets. Harley promptly grabbed the suit and yanked it away.

"Uh uh. If you're going to do this and you're going to be joking now. New suit, not this...this Spider-Bat gimmicky stuff. This was Batman telling you to do it, you're on even ground now with him. You can do it your way now. So start doing it your way," Harley demanded. Throwing the suit onto the trash can.

"I think I can still salvage some of that tech into Selina's equipment. The mask alone could do some wonders for her goggles. It'll give her a little more abilities to try and see through defenses. It'll show her electricity lines and how much power is being diverted through a place. Good way to reveal secrets," Peter said, flipping the mask inside out and revealing the circuitry and the wiring. He looks back at his old suit, the vibrant red and blue costume with glowing accents. The only issue with that one is that he's associated that suit with the inadvertently unleashing of his feral side now that he knows it exists. He needs something new...but something familiar.

"I might need to ask Batman about some things....but I think I can make something out of this nice bit of gear. And try to do the puns to ease myself and keep my other side on the leash," Peter confirmed.

"Until you figure out what Spider-Man will look like, stick to being Peter Parker. Maybe just keep the web shooters under your coat in case of emergencies if you really need them. I think right now, you need to ground yourself before you start flying high again," Harley instructs.

"Right...for now, Spider-Man no more. Focus on Peter Parker," Peter confirms as the phone rings. Peter answers it, has a brief conversation with the caller and then hangs up.

"That was the Commissioner...they just got a call from Peña Duro. A breakout just happened ...and Bane escaped. He apparently took someone else with him too, which scares me," Peter said.

"Who? Who could Bane possibly find that's worth his time to break out?" Harley asked in shock and concern.

"A Santa Priscan gangbanger by the name of Mac Gargan,"