Spiderman in DC

LOOTING DC #33. Wildcard

Jake's eyes followed the trail of gold as it surfaced. He dropped to one knee and picked it up, hands folding around its coiled length.

The Lasso of Truth.

And that raised questions.

If the Lasso was here...

"Are they here too?" he asked aloud.

Silence answered him.

Right. He was alone.

He'd gotten too comfortable talking to his Spider-Sense like it was a person, forgetting it was just instinct - animated by the Web of Life.

[SPIDER-SENSE]

"No. That would violate protocol. Only a Spider Totem can enter here. And right now, you're the only one this world has."

The voice matched his own exactly - cool, steady, just defiant enough to sound like him. That didn't creep him out anymore. He'd adjusted.

Jake stared at the Lasso.

"How is this here then?"

[SPIDER-SENSE]

"That? That's your conduit."

A beat passed. Jake waited for more.

[SPIDER-SENSE]

"It's your access key. Without it, entering or leaving the Web becomes… problematic."

"Why the Lasso? What's so special about it?"

[SPIDER-SENSE]

"Nothing. Pure chance, really. You happened to have a powerful relic right next to a battery of chaos energy. That combination forged your tether to the Web."

Jake narrowed his eyes.

"Chance?"

He smirked. "That's the part I don't believe."

The instinct didn't argue.

[SPIDER-SENSE]

"The Web is foreign to this world. To anchor itself here, it needs beta-spectrum energies like chaos. During your contact with the Lasso, it imprinted an affinity for chaos magic. That affinity gave you access. But it's not permanent. You'll need to fully harmonize with Lian's chaos energy to complete the conduit."

Jake glanced at the Lasso. Then at the portal.

Silent.

"I get it now," he said quietly. "That wasn't her talking to me earlier, was it?"

The Spider-Sense didn't answer. Not verbally.

"The web needs her chaos. The Lasso. And Damian's sacrifice… all to solidify it's existence."

[SPIDER-SENSE]

"Yes. The Web of Life does."

"And what do I get in return? A cool lair?"

[SPIDER-SENSE]

"Access. Power. Evolution. Your base of operations. Your dominion."

Jake nodded. Fair trade, all things considered. This was what he wanted after all - resources, security, a platform to grow stronger.

So why did it feel off?

Oh, right. The red flags.

First: the Web needing chaos energy to survive in this world? Sketchy.

Second: stealing the Lasso from Wonder Woman? That was asking for a divine beatdown.

What did it expect - Diana would just shake hands and forget?

And then there was the "Queen" thing. What was that even about?

Jake quieted his mind. This was a rare opportunity. One that elevated him from being just some unlucky outsider to something extraordinary. He was finally standing at the edge of a Spider Totem's full potential.

Why get in his own way?

[SPIDER-SENSE]

"You've made up your mind."

It didn't ask. It knew.

That bothered him.

"Not yet," Jake replied. "What happens if I refuse?"

[SPIDER-SENSE]

"The Web fades. You lose your connection. Including me - your ability to perceive the threads, react through them. No more Spider-Sense."

Jake went quiet.

What is Spider-Man… without his Spider-Sense?

"Fine," he said. "One more question."

A pause.

"Whose side are you really on? Mine? Or the Web's?"

[SPIDER-SENSE]

"The Totem. Always."

Jake smirked. Same energy he'd used when answering Superman.

"Alright. Let's do this."

He stepped toward the portal, the Lasso coiled in his hand.

But instinct stopped him.

[SPIDER-SENSE]

"Wait. You don't actually know how to perform a magic ritual, do you?"

Jake blinked. "I've seen movies. I've got the gist. I've got you, don't I?"

[SPIDER-SENSE]

"Yeah... not reassuring. Besides, outside the Web, I'm mute. And you've got a habit of ignoring my buzzes during actual crises - remember Batman? We still don't even know how we lost that one."

Jake winced. "Okay, fair."

[SPIDER-SENSE]

"You'll need real experts. As of now, Constantine and Zatanna are the only ones with enough background to even attempt this."

"But even they couldn't stabilize her. Their last solution was to send her to Oblivion."

Jake's stomach dropped. "That's... worse than Hell, right?"

[SPIDER-SENSE]

"Hell has exits. Oblivion doesn't. It's a one-way trip - no resurrection, no reincarnation, no echoes. Just erasure."

Jake stared at the swirling portal, unsettled. The idea of doing that to a baby - any baby - rattled him.

Especially when it wasn't hard to imagine someone making the same decision about him one day.

[SPIDER-SENSE]

"It was still the only logical choice."

Jake scowled. "Yeah? How?"

[SPIDER-SENSE]

"The chaos inside Lian is ancient and constantly clashing with proto-immortal energy."

Jake blinked. "???"

He didn't get it when Zatanna said it, and he didn't get it now.

[SPIDER-SENSE]

"Imagine a never-ending war where neither side can die. Only grow stronger with each clash. That's what's happening inside her."

"It was only a matter of time before containment became impossible - followed by the world falling apart, in a reenactment of a thousands year-old battle."

"But that didn't happen," Jake argued. Then paused.

"…Right?"

He hadn't been back to the real world since the "apparition".

[SPIDER-SENSE]

"Only because the Web intervened - after running the threads and calculating the probability of a global collapse."

Jake snorted. "That still sounds far-fetched."

[SPIDER-SENSE]

"Not when you consider all the powerful entities who would take an interest in the chaos."

Jake raised a brow. "All of whom have a history of getting their asses kicked by the good guys, I assume."

[SPIDER-SENSE]

"Not this time. Your existence is a wildcard."

Jake blinked. "Me?"

He pointed at himself. "How?! Why?!"

[SPIDER-SENSE]

"Simple: which side would you take?"

Jake opened his mouth to say the good guys, but the words didn't come.

His mind... hesitated. That alone said too much.

[SPIDER-SENSE]

"Exactly. But that's not the point."

"By intervening, the Web took an enormous risk - exposing itself to forces that might exploit its power."

Jake frown faded into an understanding expression. "Bad guys obviously."

[SPIDER-SENSE]

"Or worse. Sending it to Oblivion."

His expression descended into worried understanding. "And that's the good guys cue."

"I really am in the middle of this."

[SPIDER-SENSE]

"Don't panic. As long as you complete the ritual, it'll go unnoticed. The intervening will be seen as nothing more than a ripple in the threads."

Jake narrowed his eyes. "You keep saying 'complete the ritual' like there's a timer."

A pause.

[SPIDER-SENSE]

"Sixty days."

Jake went still.

"…Seriously?"

Something didn't sit right. That sounded… too generous. Even for his ADHD.

Unless-

[SPIDER-SENSE]

"And you'll need a Crimson Moon to pull it off."

Jake flinched.

"You mean the mystical blood-moon thing that only happens once a century - and already happened for this century?"

[SPIDER-SENSE]

"Precisely."

And just like that, sixty days wasn't enough.

"How in the dark arts am I supposed to pull that off?!" Jake reeled.

[SPIDER-SENSE]

"We throw everything we've got at it."

That reckless optimism lit up his adrenaline junkie circuits.

"You're right," he grinned, cracking his knuckles as schemes crisscrossed through his head. "So much to do. So much to loot."

"This is gonna be awesome."

And with that, he dove through the portal - a wildcard with a thousand plans and zero brakes.

🕸️🕷️🕷️🕷️🕷️🕷️🕷️🕸️

Ts... Ts...

Tkst-Chhaa!

The wet lighter sputtered, then caught. A small flame trembled in the breeze.

He pulled out a pack of fags and plucked the middle one - always the safest bet. The ends were usually laced first. He warmed it slowly over the weak flame, letting the waves settle - both in his head, and, quite literally, around him.

He'd almost been desperate enough to trade the Ace in his sleeve for Hell's safety net.

Hell - as far as eternal damnation went - was better than decaying. Better than rotting away in body and soul.

But the Ace stayed tucked up his sleeve, untouched. Still waiting. Waiting for the day Death cornered him proper - no exits, no tricks, just a kiss on the lips. She was a beauty, Death. But he'd rather burn in Hell. That, at least, he could escape.

He lit the fag, placed it on his lips, and inhaled the quiet.

Time to think.

How in the bloody hell was he still alive?

He, and everyone else, for that matter - but that wasn't the point.

He didn't need eyes in the back of his head to feel it: they were all staring. All wondering the same thing.

Either he'd lied about the girl being a walking magical nuclear event...

Or-

Or what?

It made no sense. This should have been the end. The minute he failed to lock her in the deepest subbasement of the Oblivion Bar, everything should've turned to dust.

Constantine was a lot of things - a bastard, mostly - but not wrong. Never wrong.

Always a few inches from the truth...

But never wrong.

So unless that kid had pulled off a miracle of biblical proportions...

Everything should've already crumbled to hell.

Hey-ya🙋‍♂️

Streak? Day 1/10

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