Spider-Man Reincarnated in the DC Multiverse

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/-\

Peter didn't remember the sedative kicking in.

One moment, he was cornered in a Metro Authority tunnel three armored guards, each wearing the crest of GCPD's Meta Response Division, shouting for him to stand down. The next, his limbs were lead, his mask was half-off, and the world spun sideways in a flickering haze of concrete, steel, and radio static.

Then: black.

Now: white.

Blinding white.

He blinked against the fluorescent glare above. Cold. Clinical. The scent of bleach soaked the air.

Not a hospital.

No. He knew this kind of sterility. He'd been here before in another life, in another place. Oscorp's labs. S.H.I.E.L.D. quarantine stations. Places where being "different" meant being dissected.

He tried to sit up. His wrists didn't move.

Cuffs. Reinforced. Magnetic.

He shifted slightly, and the collar around his neck delivered a jolt not pain, but pressure. Enough to remind him that his powers were muted. Contained.

A voice crackled from a speaker above.

"Subject A-315. Responsive. Begin Level One observation."

Peter narrowed his eyes. The walls were soundproof. The observation window was one-way mirrored. There was a vent system above him, too small for escape. Cameras in every corner.

This wasn't a GCPD holding cell.

This was Arkham Asylum.

The door slid open six hours later.

Two guards flanked a woman in a lab coat. Blonde. Cold eyes. Clipboard in hand. Dr. Emilie Rath.

"Good morning, Mr. Parker. Or do you prefer Spider-Man?"

Peter sighed. "I prefer 'not strapped to a chair,' but I guess we don't always get what we want."

Rath made a mark on her page. "You were found trespassing in a secured LexCorp testing site, resisting detainment. No official registry. No Earth ID. Preliminary scans indicated meta-variant genome. Not recognized by any of the sanctioned Justice Accords."

Peter shifted against the cuffs. "I was investigating a threat. Lex is building a surveillance weapon using multiversal code. You want to poke around in someone's head, try his."

Dr. Rath didn't look up. "We don't concern ourselves with hypotheticals. Only actions."

Peter smirked. "That's rich. Coming from the people who locked up a guy for existing."

Rath turned sharply. "You arrived here without clearance, without history, and with abilities that defy natural laws. Until we can assess your stability, you'll remain under institutional observation."

"So you stuck me in Gotham's favorite haunted house? That seems healthy."

She didn't respond.

The door sealed behind her.

Arkham didn't feel like a hospital.

It felt like a wound.

The hallways whispered when no one spoke. Peter's cell was flanked by two other occupants one who giggled softly to herself for hours, and another who never made a sound, but whose shadow moved just wrong on the wall.

Meals came through a slot. No metal utensils. Lights dimmed at midnight. No clocks.

Time bled sideways.

When sleep came, it came heavy and dreamless. When it didn't, Peter sat and stared at the ceiling, wondering how far down the rabbit hole he'd fallen.

Was this what they thought of him?

A threat?

Not even two weeks in this universe, and he was already locked in its darkest basement.

On Day Three, the door hissed open.

Not for an exam.

For a visitor.

Peter blinked. "You've got to be kidding me."

Batman.

In full gear. Standing in the threshold like a myth wrapped in Kevlar. Behind him, the guards stood awkwardly uncertain whether they were escorting or being supervised.

Batman stepped in. The door sealed behind him.

Peter raised an eyebrow. "Took you long enough. What, did the Batmobile get a flat?"

Batman didn't flinch. "You weren't supposed to be here."

Peter sat forward. "You mean in Arkham or this universe?"

Batman's jaw tightened. "Lex fast-tracked your classification. Pushed it through the World Security Council before I could intervene."

Peter scoffed. "Let me guess: meta-threat, unverified entity, subject to indefinite containment."

"Exactly."

"And you let them?"

Batman stepped closer. "I'm working on a counter-motion. But I need time."

Peter shook his head. "Time? You're Batman. Break me out."

Batman's voice dropped. "You think I haven't done that before? Arkham is a lockbox wrapped in a reputation. The second I move, the second I don't play by their rules, Lex paints you as a villain and me as your accomplice."

Peter looked away.

Batman added, more quietly, "I need you to stay calm. You're not here forever."

Peter chuckled bitterly. "Tell that to the guy next door. Pretty sure his shadow is plotting a prison break without him."

"I'm serious."

"So am I."

They stared at each other.

Then Batman dropped something onto the cot a capsule barely larger than a coin.

Peter frowned. "What is it?"

"A neural dampener override. For the collar. In case things go south."

Peter stared at it. Then looked up.

"You're not the guy I expected to believe in me."

Batman turned away. "I don't. Not yet."

The door sealed behind him.

Night came.

With it, the whispers returned. The woman in the left cell began humming. On the right, something scratched the walls in a rhythm Peter couldn't decipher.

Then the alarms blared.

All red. All at once.

Arkham's systems locked down. Screams echoed from the lower levels. The lights dimmed.

Peter heard footsteps. Not guards.

Bare feet.

Slapping against tile.

Then he saw her.

White skin. Black lips. Lab coat too big. Eyes like cracked glass.

"Hiya," Harley Quinn said sweetly. "You new?"

Peter blinked. "How did you never mind. What's going on?"

She twirled a keycard. "Someone opened the wrong door. Joker got out. Now we're all gonna play tag."

Peter stood. "You need to get out of here."

Harley tilted her head. "Aww, sweet. But I like it here. Chaos is kinda my cardio."

She skipped away.

Peter hesitated.

Then reached under his cot.

He pressed the capsule Batman had left. The collar fizzled. Released.

Power surged back into his limbs.

Finally.

He webbed the ceiling, yanked himself up, and shot through the vent.

Screams filled the lower wings. Patients were out. Some ran. Others hunted.

Peter dropped into the second floor as two orderlies fled past him, one bleeding.

He turned left and came face to face with Victor Zsasz.

"New cuts," the killer whispered. "New stories."

Peter webbed him to the wall without a word.

He moved quickly after that. Neutralized three more escapees. Sealed off two wings. Avoided whatever was in Ward Nine something that snarled but never showed its face.

He finally reached the roof.

And there, amid the swirling red lights and circling drones, Batman was waiting.

Peter landed beside him. "You knew this would happen."

Batman didn't look at him. "Arkham always breaks. It's not a question of if only when."

Peter exhaled. "So what now?"

Batman handed him a disk. "Footage of what happened. Proof you helped. It'll buy you time. Maybe change the narrative."

Peter looked at it.

Then at the city beyond.

"Lex won't stop."

"No," Batman agreed. "But neither will we."

They vanished into the shadows.

And below, Arkham screamed.

/-\

If you wish to read more or simply support me than check out my Patreon at

" https://www.patreon.com/Its_Zack/ "

You can Get Access to 3 More Chapters OR 7 More Chapters if you want.