New York
August 19, 16:56 EDT
Tuesday and Wednesday morning rolled by with nothing of note happening. Peter went to school and spent nearly the entire afternoon on Tuesday as Spider-Man. He had stayed out longer than usual, hoping the guilt he felt over Dr. Frost's death would be eased by helping out more; it hadn't hurt.
On that front, the formal investigation into her death was still underway. According to Richard, Bruce Wayne was pushing for as thorough an investigation as possible, so they were taking their time and leaving no stones unturned, even though it looked cut and dry. He even promised to take care of all the funeral expenses and said he would honor her by donating a hospital wing in her name, and funding/continuing her research.
After school, he rushed over to Chinatown, and like always, he looked in fascination at the dragon carving before entering the dojo. He was still admittedly a little nervous that Dragon would somehow figure out his secret, but confident he could manage his strength so as not to arouse further suspicion.
Entering, he was surprised to see that there was someone else in the dojo talking to Dragon, and by the looks of it, they were good friends. Dragon had always been calm and collected, seeming like the martial arts master you see in old movies who was wise beyond his years in front of Peter, but as he talked and laughed with the other man, that image disappeared, seeming like just a regular man.
The man who laughed along with Dragon was a bald, muscular black man who stood a little taller than Peter, and just a tad bit shorter than Dragon. He wore tight brown pants with a tiger head belt buckle, an orange shirt with black tiger stripes, a dark brown leather jacket, and a necklace made from the teeth of some animal.
Peter had no idea who the man was, but he could tell he was trained. The way he stood and carried himself, the way he was positioned, giving him a view of the entire room, the way his eyes instantly darted to him when he entered the dojo, it all reminded him of Dragon. Adding that observation to the fact that he was getting along well with Dragon, he assumed the man was either an old student of Dragon or a fellow disciple of whoever Dragon trained under.
"Peter." said Dragon, his smiling and laughing demeanor changing to a more subdued, calm one. "It's good to see you."
"It's good to see you as well, Sensei." said Peter. "I'm sorry I couldn't stay last week, and for worrying you."
"As long as you're okay." he said, smiling. "This is Ben Turner. He's an old friend of mine."
"Peter Parker, nice to meet you." said Peter, extending his hand.
"Richard's told me a lot about you." said Ben with a smile that showed his pearly whites as he shook Peter's hand.
Peter's spider-sense tingled, the danger coming from the surprise punch that was thrown at him by Ben. Judging from the low intensity of the tingle, there was little to no danger if he let himself get hit, for Peter, that is. If he let the punch land without doing anything, Ben's wrist would break from the impact.
It was something about Spider-Man's powers that he had forgotten because he's been such an established hero for such a long time in the comics, and he was used to fighting normal humans, but Peter was not.
During the four days he had spent getting his strength under control, there was one mugging that he had stopped where the criminal had really gotten under his skin. Just to show him Peter was letting him off easy, he let himself get hit by the criminal and saw the man break his wrist. That's when he remembered that Spider-Man had to roll with punches thrown by people without similar strength or durability for fear of breaking their wrists.
'What to do?' thought Peter, unsure. 'No matter what I do, there's a good possibility I'll be exposed. If I dodge, they'll notice something. If I get hit and he breaks his wrist, they'll definitely notice something. If I roll with the punch, I don't think I'm a good enough actor to fool either one of them, and, again, they'll notice something.'
He agonized over which option would be best, leaning more towards the last one, hoping he could fool them when he realized something.
'There's no way Dragon would just let me get punched like this, and judging by the weak reaction from my spider-sense, I'm most likely right.' he thought, realizing that it may all just be a test.
Peter blankly stared at the fist that was barely an inch away from his face, acting as if he was caught off guard.
"I thought you'd train him better than that, Dragon." said Ben, chuckling as he retracted his fist and let go of Peter's outstretched hand. "Remember, kid, your opponents aren't going to wait for you to be ready and warmed up for a fight. You have to always be ready to go at the drop of a hat. Vigilance is key."
"Uh, right." said Peter, looking at Dragon with a confused look.
"My apologies, Peter. When I told Ben I was training you because of Ted Grant's recommendation, he was intrigued and wanted to test your skills himself. I thought he would ask for a spar, not attempt to sucker punch you." said Dragon, looking disapprovingly at Ben.
"No faster way to test someone's skills." said Ben, unapologetic, while Dragon shook his head.
"To make up for his overzealousness, Ben will be teaching you today." said Dragon.
"He will?" "I will?" asked Peter and Ben at the same time.
"He will." said Dragon, side-eyeing Ben. "Don't worry, Peter, though Ben may be a bit more rough and tumble, his skills are nearly on par with mine."
"Nearly?"
Again, both Peter and Ben spoke at the same time, but while Peter said it with surprise, Ben said it as if Dragon was out of his mind.
"You want to go a few rounds right now? Want me to take you down in front of your student like I used to?" asked Ben, cracking his knuckles.
"The operative phrase being used to." said Dragon with a smirk. "I will admit there are some styles you are, if only slightly, better at than I am, like Taekwondo, but I have you beat overall."
"That's cause he didn't teach us that one."
"I knew it. You did both study under the same person." said Peter, smiling at the fact that he was right.
"Yes, we did." said Dragon. "How did you guess that?"
"You were so friendly with each other, talking and laughing like you've known each other for years. I thought Ben must've either been an old student of yours, or a disciple of the same master." Peter explained. "I was leaning more towards the latter since you both look to be of a similar age."
"Similar age?" said Ben, incredulously. "Me and this pasty white boy don't look anywhere near the same age."
"I think it's time you took a good, long look in the mirror, old friend." said Dragon, emphasizing the word old, causing Peter to chuckle.
"Oh, you think that's funny, huh, kid?" said Ben as he took off his jacket. "Let's start off today's lesson with a spar."
Peter glanced at Dragon, who nodded at him, so he put down his bag and took off his jacket. Having not had the time to change into his workout gear, he was going to fight in the clothes he wore to school, which consisted of jeans and a t-shirt.
"Don't just use what Dragon's taught you. I want you to fight me as if I were your enemy, so use boxing, karate, kung fu, hell, use bullshito if you want, but use it all." said Ben.
"Okay." said Peter.
"Good. Your move." said Ben.
He had trained under Dragon and sparred with him more than a few times, so Dragon knew how he fought, but Ben did not. It was a good opportunity to see where he stood against a master martial artist who did not know everything about how he fought. It would be hard to consciously hold back so much and use the strength/speed he had before the change, but he hoped it wouldn't affect his performance too much.
He got into the stance Dragon had taught him, while Ben did not take up a stance, choosing to just stand there, full of openings. At least, he looked like he was full of openings, but Peter knew better than that, having learned that lesson from Dragon the hard way. Before doing anything, Peter analyzed his opponent; he wasn't going to win, but he wanted to show Ben that though he may have caught him "off guard", he had been trained well.
Ben was a little taller than he was and muscular, verging on bulky, so Peter decided he would put focus on his speed rather than power. He had no doubt Ben could move as fast as Dragon, even with being bulkier, but Peter was no slouch either. Before his change, Peter had been praised for his litheness and trickiness by both Dragon and Grant, so that's what he would do.
"Come on, son, I don't have all day." said Ben. "Sometime's it's bet-"
Ben's words were cut short by Peter rushing in, starting the spar with a quick front kick to the body using his right leg. Ben blocked the kick by crossing his arms and grabbed Peter's foot; expecting him to do this, Peter was ready. He jumped off with his left leg, kick aimed at Ben's head. Using his right arm, Ben let go of Peter's foot and blocked the kick, grabbing the leg as he did so.
Working with gravity, Peter swung his body backwards and pulled his legs, trying to do a variation of a huracanrana on Ben, but was unable to as Ben let go of his legs. Legs free, Peter swung his body, doing a flip in mid-air, landing on the ground in the negativa position from capoeira, and then quickly did a feint right leg sweep into a roundhouse kick with his left leg to Ben's head.
"You're like a monkey." said Ben as he took a step back to dodge the roundhouse kick.
'Spider monkey, maybe.' amusedly thought Peter as he used the momentum from the missed roundhouse to get to his feet, and thanks to the tingle of his spider-sense, he knew an attack was incoming.
Ben threw a side kick, which Peter blocked by crossing his arms. Of course, he remembered to roll with the kick so as not to harm Ben and took a few steps back at the moment of impact to further sell it. Ben immediately followed up with a flying knee that Peter side-stepped before taking another step back as Ben continued his assault with a roundhouse kick.
Seeing an opportunity, Peter immediately closed the distance and began throwing punches, dodged by Ben's bobbing and weaving. Peter purposefully began showing some signs of fatigue and overextended on a punch. Ben took the opening and hooked Peter's right arm with his left, but Peter immediately followed up with a head butt that Ben stopped with his forearm.
His spider-sense had been tingling since Ben had gone on the offensive, but he could still feel a spike of sorts when an attack was coming, and he felt a spike that told him Ben was going to do an inside-leg trip. Peter could go on for hours, but he felt it was a good time to end it, certain he had made an impression.
As he had felt, Ben tripped him, and he fell back, landing on the mat. Ben immediately had his knee on his chest and stopped his elbow before it hit Peter's temple.
"Not bad, kid. Not bad at all." Ben said, and though he looked very calm, Peter could see he was sweating a little and trying to control his breathing, which made him happy.
"Thanks. Not bad yourself." Peter said, smiling while breathing hard to sell the charade.
"Haha! Not bad, he says." Ben said, getting off of Peter and helping him to his feet. "If this were a real fight, you'd've been on the floor before you threw that first kick."
'If only he knew.' thought Peter. "Any critiques?"
"Yeah, but first, answer me this. Why are you training?" Ben asked, catching Peter off guard.
"What do you mean?"
"I mean, you're good. Better than any robber, goon, or gangbanger that may try anything. So, why train?" asked Ben.
"I like it. I like martial arts, and I want to see how far I can go. Not for competition or sport, but just for me. I want to see how far I can climb." explained Peter, looking at Dragon and then back at Ben. "I still have a long way to go, and I don't plan on giving up soon."
His answer was partly true. He did enjoy martial arts far more than he thought he would, and had realized it partially stemmed from the fact that he was too fragile to do anything like it in his past life. The part left unsaid, however, was that he began learning martial arts because he wanted to be a vigilante, and now that he was one, he wanted to be prepared for anything he might face in the future.
"Good enough for me." said Ben, clapping. "Now, critiques."
"Get ready for a long one." Dragon said as he took a seat.
Boy, was he right.
Ben's critiques went on so long, the session was over by the time he was finished, though Peter didn't mind since he found it helpful. He thanked Ben for the critiques and spar, saying goodbye to him and Dragon before leaving.
Once he was alone, he ducked into an alley and quickly changed into his outfit before swinging around the city. On his way home, he would stop any crime he saw and help any way he could, which included helping a few old ladies with their groceries and rescuing a cat from a tree.
He was swinging up 1st Avenue when his spider-senses tingled, not from an attack but from something else. He went in the direction it came from, and after a few blocks, he saw a lot of emergency service vehicles with their sirens on surrounding a building he knew to be the morgue. There was also a crowd of curious onlookers outside the police barricade.
'Whatever triggered my spider-sense came from there, but what is it?' he thought as he landed on a street light near the crowd before hanging upside down with his web, lowering himself next to a citizen. "What's going on?"
"What the fuck?!" shouted the surprised man before a look of recognition appeared on his face. "You're Spider-Man!"
"That's me."
"Yo, you saved my cousin from a mugger, man!" said the man.
"Oh, yeah? Small world. Next, you'll tell me we took the same ballet class together."
"Ballet class?"
"Forget it. What's going on over there?" he asked, pointing at the morgue.
"Some bullshit, same as always. You want me to ask for you? Least I can do for saving my cousin." said the man.
Peter was about to respond when he noticed one of the uniformed police officers, an Asian woman, standing next to a male plain-clothes officer, pointed at him. The man looked at him, then looked around before pointing at an alley with no one near it and walking toward it.
"So?" asked the man.
"Uh, no thanks. I'm good. See you around, and tell your cousin not to listen to music when walking alone at night." said Peter, going back up the street light before swinging his way over to the alley.
He didn't go straight in, instead choosing to land on the roof and check it out first. The only thing he saw was the plain-clothes officer smoking a cigarette, so he dropped down, startling the officer.
"Jesus." said the man. "Nearly gave me a heart attack."
"I thought all the NYPD hated me." said Peter, curious.
"Pshh. Not all of us." he said. "Some of us like the work you're doing."
"Thanks." said Peter, thankful he had a mask on as he felt his cheeks redden. "So, you wanted to talk, Officer ...?"
"Detective Jim Daniels." said Jim, handing Peter a card. "I'm guessing you came to check out what the commotion's all about?"
"Yeah."
"Well, I'll tell you, it's a hell of a thing." he said, taking a drag. "Not the kind of thing we're used to seeing in our city. Too rich for our blood."
"What do you mean?"
"It's best if I just show you." he said as he took out his cellphone, clicking some stuff before handing it over to Peter.
On the screen was a picture of a man wearing a lab coat on the floor, his body a withered blue husk.
"What happened?" asked Peter.
"There's more than one photo." said Jim.
Swiping to the next photo, Peter saw another withered blue husk, but female, and there were another four more after that. The final picture was different than the others; it showed no withered body, but two police officers with their guns drawn, completely encased in ice.
Seeing the pictures of the officers frozen in ice, things quickly clicked into place.
'Dr. Frost.' he realized. 'The way she died felt like such a comic book origin story, and now two days later, a person with ice powers appears in the morgue where her body was being held. Either one hell of a coincidence or-'
"You okay?" asked Jim, snapping him out of it.
"Yeah." said Peter, handing the phone back. "So, you meant powers when you said not the kind of thing we see in our city."
"Yeah." said Jim, taking another drag. "Powers."
"And you came to me because ..."
"The way you swing around the city like a blur, doing all those flips, you definitely have powers."
"Maybe I'm just a trapeze artist."
"Right. Regular Flying Grayson." said Jim. "Anyway, whatever/whoever is responsible for those bodies is clearly beyond our capabilities, but since the NYPD's official stance on vigilantism is considering it illegal, they can't ask you to intervene. And their pride won't allow them to ask for help from ... outsiders."
"The Justice League?"
"Yup. I, however, am not too proud, especially when it concerns the lives of others. Though if someone catches us talking, I'm going to pull out my gun and try to arrest you."
"What about that uniformed officer who pointed me out to you?"
"Wong's a good cop. Understands that you're doing some good, so she tolerates you." explained Jim. "So, you in?"
"Yeah, I'm in."
"Good." he said, putting out his cigarette. "Hope you catch them before they can cause any more damage."
"I'll try."
"All I can ask for." said Jim, reaching for a handshake that Peter reciprocated. "Best of luck to you, Spider-Man."
The detective left the alley, leaving Peter alone.
'What did that accident do to you, Dr. Frost?'
~~~
AN
Also, just because someone brought it up and reminded me, there will be no Marvel characters whatsoever, only DC. No Marvel villains/heroes crossing universes into DC, no inexplicable twists of fate that birthed MJ or Black Cat or any other female LI of Peter's in the comics. That's just a pet peeve of mine, so if you were expecting something like that, sorry to disappoint.