"Sarah! Oh God, are you alright?!" Jessica had taken her daughter out for a trip to the park to celebrate her birthday. She had only taken her eyes off the girl for a minute to grab them lunch but when she return Sarah was nowhere to found. The woman almost had a heart attack when she saw her darling was walking along the narrow side rails of the Bow Bridge that passed through the lake in Central Park.
Her legs collapsed beneath her when a strong gush of wind sent her child falling off the ledge.
Jessica in her distress didn't notice a figure who was sleeping on a bench nearby who sprung into action at the screams. His dirty green hoodie and torn blue jeans seemed to ripple before tendrils of black enveloped his form. Soon the man was left in a form fitting black and white suit with a golden spider and stripes along his biceps and ribs. The outfit was finished by a scarlet scarf that seemed to have white tooths placed sproadically within the folds.
With a flick of his wrist a large mass of black webbings grew beneath the bridge and formed a net to catch the little girl before she could take an unplanned dip into the icy waters below. Back flipping off the bridge himself, he quickly scooped the little girl up into his arms as the webbing stretched beneath his sudden weight before using it as a trampoline and within moments the pair were back safely on the ground.
"I'm sorry mummy." The girl said when she saw her mother crying while holding her, patting the woman's head.
Just as the man was about to walk away he was stopped by a deserate hand grapping his wrist. "Thank you. You... You saved my daughter. Thank you so much. Please, is there anyway I could repay you?"
"Nah, don't worry about it, just make sure you keep an closer eye on her in the future, m'kay?"
"I will," Jessica promised, a moment of carelessness almost costed her her daughter. "Sarah, come thank the nice man."
"Thanks for helping me, mister. Are you a superhero? What's your name? Have you met the Justice League? Could you tell Wonderwoman I said hi and her hair's really pretty?" She rattled off questions like a machine gun in the way only curious children with no sense of boundaries could.
"Well, I wouldn't say "super", but I do try my best. I'm just Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-man. You can all me Arach-Knight, and I'm sorry to say I haven't had the pleasure to meet the Justice League yet, but I'll be sure to tell Woderwoman you if I ever meet her. Anyways, I gotta go now kiddo, stay safe and listen to your mom for me, k?"
"Okay!! Thanks again, mister Ara-nite!"
He smiled as the girl gave him a tight hug before running off towards her mom, the pair walking hand in hand. Being a hero was a hard and demanding job, but he thought it was worthwhile. Just as he was about to run off and disappear a voice called out to him. An older man with salt and pepper hair was enthusiastically waving him over with a large grin.
"Hey, I saw what you did there. You're the new hero that's been popping up around town, right? Look, I know it isn't much, but... Would you like something to eat? Just as, ya know, a gesture of appreciation from me and the folks who live here. Anything you want, on the house."
He walked away with an extra large chilli cheese dog with a small mountain of french fries and fried onion bits on top. Tom was a good man and an even better cook. He made a mental note to stop by again, if only in his civilian identity.
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If there was one thing in life Bai hated more than time travel and cheap bullshit that Americans dared call chinese food, it was irony.
Probably because his life seemed to be full of them. It seems even traveling to another multiverse didn't save him from the curse.
"I can't believe I'm carrying around 2 trillion dollars of equipment and knickknacks but I'm slumming it out and sleeping on the streets." It's been aproximately two months since he found himself in DC, but fortunately this wasn't his first rodeo with Isekai nor cross dimensional adventures. Most of his time has been spent recovering from his fight and trying to figure out what the heck happened- and more importantly how to get back home.
A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.
Bai made a mental note to start carrying around some gold with him when he gets back home. Adamantium was valuable, and Vibranium may go for 10,000 $ a gram, but he could hardly stroll down the street and sell those for a quick buck, and also he really didn't want those to get into the wrong hands. Shuri almost fucking skinned him alive last time someone stole some from his apartment. He'd rather get into some father-son bonding time with Carnage inside a buring apartment building again than face her wrath.
"Lady Luck does seem quite a love-hate relationship with you."
"Heh, more like cursed... Waitaminute, you don't think Felicia actually cursed me for real that time I forgot her birthday, do you?"
Black Cat gave him the silent treatment for a week. In his defense, it was kinda hard to remember the time and date when you were having concussions repeated via constant villain attacks. Some jackass thought it would be a swell idea to break into The Raft and free all the supervillains there. Fucking Osborn. The one day the Avengers were outta town meeting some alien space princess, and he was stuck on Earth playing cops and robbers with the mentally ill or stupid.
"...I was just joking, but that makes a terrifying amount of sense."
Bai let out a sign before focusing back on the task at hand, repairing his Spider Suit. Sitting in an abandoned subway tunnel, the Asian American boy sat while holding what seemed to be a black dome shell on his legs with eight segmented legs with golden trimmings sprawled across his legs.
The one down side of making equipment out of excotic super metals and other materials is... It was a fucking nightmare and a half to fix or replace anything, especially with how eveerything was intregated to work off each other's features.
The Vibranium mesh wasn't only to protect him from harm, but also to power the suit and its many toys, with the Uru enchantments working as a conduct for the energies and gave him considerable resistance to magic along with other bonuses. Adamantium and carbonadium for those pesky invulernable regenerators. Bai had been in Marvel for a bit over a decade, he's seen some shit and was involved in a whole lot more. Which was why when he woke up after Jean and the Phoenix resurrected him after Thanos shoved a fist between his ribs... Well let's just say he knew he had to step up his game.
He called in every favor he had, contacted some of the best minds within 6 different universes, and gathered every goddamn thing he could get his grubby hands on- Which was apparently alot for someone with his connections. T'challa, Doom, Dr. Strange, Reeds, Gwen, Bruce, Illyana, Sue, Hank, and Mr. Armory himself- Tony Stark.
He was pretty sure the only reason why only his suit was in pieces and not him was because Odin and Mephisto's enchantments were some reality breaking hax.
Taking a deep breath, Bai focused his attention inward and reached deep inside, searching for the wellspring of power sleeping just underneath his skin. Within moments he found it and grabbed ahold, pushing and kneading the energy to suit his needs. A golden glow from his hands lit up the surroundings as his Chi raced to the surface.
He may not be Iron Fist but he didn't need to be for his purposes. He fed the stream of energy directly into the core of the shell and watched as some of the cracks slowly meld and the suit patched itself up. The smile that was on his face quickly died as sparks shot out of the suit and burnt his hand.
His eyes furrowed harshly as he brought the area closer to his face to get a better look. His level of runes was far above his level, but he didn't need to be an expert to notice how some of them were burnt out and see the micro fractures that ran through them.
"Damnit, I guess hoping to use the Hunter to get home was a long shot after all."
"We will be fine, we will get out of this, we always have."
"Yeah... Yeah, you're right. This isn't the worse situation we've been in, hell not even the top 20! There's no zombies out to eat our faces, nor Celestials dropping moons on our heads. Thanks, Vee."
"If you want to thank me you should get your mopey butt out of this depressing place and go get me some chocolate."
He gave a laugh at the demands before heading off to do as he was told. A wave of his arm and Tendrils shot out before scooping up everything and absorbing them into the darkness before returning seamlessly into his grey jacket. He had a couple bucks to spare for treats after he found someone's missing dog. There was also a nice little bakery down the street that tended to throw out their old bagels and other baked goods, he was sure the old lady wouldn't mind if he asked her to give them to him instead.
You'd be surprised at how much food people actually wasted while others starved.
"I wonder if Star Labs has anything on cross dimensional travel...?"
Worse comes to worst, he'll contact the Justice League or something. As he walked out the entrance a black mass grew from his feet before crawling up the walls and blocked the entrance, he stepped away from it with a loud snap. The two inch thick piece of exoskeleton was stronger than steel and would ensure nobody wandered into his temporary home while he was gone.