A few ideas have been bothering me, so I've started writing this thing.

A very important continuity note, especially since this is a crossover: I do not necessarily support either the Marvel or DC extended universes. There is no specific pre-established continuity either Spidey or Bats are going to be fitting 100% into, as I pick and choose my elements – for example, Superman does not exist in this universe, nor do Etrigan or Mephisto, nor Thor or Dark Phoenix. Rule of thumb: If it seems more at home in God Of War, or in general is a fight that would reasonably be happening among gods and not men, it's probably not in my own unofficial, picky-choosy world.

Apologies to any I may offend by cutting their favourite supernatural, High Fantasy or uber-powered characters or elements.

Take this as my disclaimer: With my blatant disregard for the established extended continuities of Marvel and DC, I prove that I own nothing.

Living in New York, the city can feel like the whole world. It's not that I'd never thought about Gotham. It's big, it's one of those, you know, great centers of history and enterprise and all that stuff. But with the way my life has been, the place is so far off my radar, it feels like it's in another universe.

And with the stuff that goes on there, well, that doesn't help. I've had problems with some real cards before, but they take it way too far. I can't even absorb it. Somehow, to me, it all seems like something out of a newspaper comic. It's too far fetched, and too distant. Then again, with my experience with newspapers...

"PARKER! Are you even paying attention?"

Jonah P. Jameson was about an inch from my face. For the past ten minutes, at his request, I'd been sitting in on a meeting. This actually meant that I sat around a table with a dozen other people and pretended to be totally invested while he barked orders and ideas around.

I guess I wasn't doing a great job of the 'totally invested' impression.

"Sorry, sir. Can you repeat -"

"Can I repeat myself, Parker? I sure hope so, 'cause that's all I do around here! I want pictures of this Batman!"

I couldn't help but stare.

"Batman? Isn't he in -"

"New York, Parker, wake up! I got a very good rumour the Batman's in New York, but nobody's got proof yet. You seem to get buddy-buddy with all the costumed freaks, this should be easy."

I sat up straight.

"But why is he -"

"That's not your job to figure out. Get out there. Get me a good one. See if you can get him with Spider-Man. Better yet, see if you can get him robbing widows."

I have a theory that if Jonah P. Jameson doesn't cut people off, his eyes pop right out of his head. That'd explain why they always look so close, but they never quite get there.

I could tell he didn't want me hanging around, and it didn't take his waving me towards the door while hissing "scat" repeatedly to tell me that. But I was grateful to go, getting lost in my head already. What was the Batman doing in New York?

From what I'd read – and I'll admit it wasn't much – he was kind of glued to Gotham, along with all that other craziness. It wasn't a traveling act. Maybe this was because Batman caused it, or because of something in Gotham's water. Maybe he just went where nutso supervillains gathered, and that place just happened to be Gotham.

But I was pretty sure that no matter what, his coming here couldn't be good news. Of course, it could just have been a rumour. It wouldn't be the first time Jameson got a fake story.

In fact, the more I thought about it, the more I was sure; surely I would have caught some sign of his arrival, last night, or the night before. I would've heard something about it from one of the criminals, if nobody else – they were supposed to be afraid of him. But last night I'd dealt with two petty thieves, an intoxicated blonde trying to break into a Walgreens (I know, I thought they were supposed to be open twenty-four hours too!) and a gang situation, and none of them were acting any different than usual.

And I knew in at least one respect Batman was like me. He didn't do a whole lot of crimefighting during the day. So there was no way he'd got here, say, in the morning and news had already spread.

So when I got home, I didn't think about it. I did my homework. English class is easy but crucial to my life as a part-time superhero; it teaches me the skill of acting like old information is new. Seriously, I'd read The Chosen like in fifth grade. But with that out of the way, I was feeling good. Aunt May was out of the house shopping for a few hours, and I'd just got Radioland Murders on the cheap the other day. Yeesh, good thing Aunt May would never think of tossing out the VCR. I called up Mary Jane.

"Yello?"

"Hey, MJ, 's Peter! You wanna watch a movie over here? I got fridge-pizza."

"Sounds great, but I can't. I'm grounded."

"Again?"

"Yeah, sorry. I'll see you at school."

I knew her too well to hang up. She was speaking too loudly and with too much enunciation. Sure enough, she whispered:

"Gimme ten minutes till my Dad leaves, I'll be right over."

I grinned, and hung up the phone. Before shutting off my computer, I checked my email. Bad idea.

I had a new message from Ben Urich. He works at the Bugle, and, unfortunately for me, he always knows what he's talking about. I swear not a word crosses his lips unless he has a good reason to believe it's true.

Since you couldn't stay, here's a tip: They say the Batman was spotted near the Chrysler building. Hoping this will help,
Urich.

The first thing to cross my mind was how thoughtful it was of him to sign off as 'Urich'. I knew he usually addressed inter-office letters with his full name; I'd been a gopher delivering enough of them. I guess somehow he'd caught on that I wasn't comfortable calling him Ben.

The second thought I had:

Shit.

Please give me feedback! I really enjoy writing from Peter's POV. I'm not sure if the whole fic will be like this, or if I may occasionally switch to Batman's, or even the POV of other characters.