Chapter 2: "Bat in the Sky, Spider in the Dark"

The next day in Gotham, Gordon turned on the bat symbol. It's light shined onto the dark and stormy sky, once that symbol was shone in the sky, criminals everywhere hid from the terrifying Batman. Batman appear on Gordon's rooftop and said, "What's the situation?" Gordon took a moment to form his answer, he then said, "There's been a mass break out in Arkham, many of the escapees are some of Gotham's worst. Including the clown…"

"How'd this happen?" Asked Batman with a hint of frustration in his tone.

"Were not sure, some of my men think it was that Kraven we met the other night that broke them out." Answered Gordon.

"I'll investigate, keep a lookout for any escapees still on the move." Said Batman. With the final utterance of his last word, Batman disappear back into the dark night.

Batman arrived in Arkham Asylum, he could see a huge chunk of the walls in the cell area had been blown open. The front gate was dented in, suggesting that it had be kicked open or even driven into to force its opening. It would take considerable force to open the Arkham Gate with nothing but raw physical power, few people could have done that. However, there is little evidence to pronounce that a car at high speeds pushed this gate open, there were no glass fragments or any type of metal that fits the description of any automobile. No, this was done with nothing but raw force… Interesting.

Batman moved up to the cell area that had been blown open, many of the Arkham inmates cursed at back as he walked by while some cowered in fear. Either way, Batman arrived at the cell block, the ground was covered in fragments of stone and cinder. The bars of the cells seemed untouched with the back wall of the cell had a huge gaping hole in it. There was no place for the demolitioner to stand or hang onto while placing the explosive. It is possible the wall could have been blown open with a rocket propelled grenade but the likelihood that the inhabitants of the cell would remain safe would be unlikely. Also, on one of the shattered block of stone, an adhesive residue can be found. This implies an explosive was stuck to the wall before the explosion, the only question is who did it and why? No explosive casings were found, however there were bits and pieces of pumpkin everywhere, very strange...

"This may be what he meant by gathering a hunting party? Hmmm or maybe this is a distraction. It's possible, Kraven is a fairly intelligent hunter, using a sort of lure would not be below him." Said Batman internally while questions quickly flooded his mind. "There's only one person out there, who may be able to find Kraven. However, he doesn't live in Gotham…"

Batman walked out of Arkham and called in the Batwing. Upon it's arrival, Batman jumped in and began to fly to New York City.

Peter, on his feet ripped out his restraints and shot a web at the Joker's gun. Peter ripped the gun out of the Joker's hand and took it in his own. Peter pointed it at the Joker's head and said, "You monster! You killed my aunt, you killed her!"

"Oh come on Pete, learn to relax a bit. Like your aunty here! Hahaha!" Replied the Joker.

Peter's eyes were red, his teeth gritted together tightly, he was filled with rage! Before Peter could pull the trigger, he heard the sound of a jet fly above him. The jet was painted all black and was clearly in the shape of a Bat. "Look everybody, Bats is here!" Said the Joker, cackling with laughter after he said it. Batman leapt from the Batwing and stood in front of Peter and said, "What's wrong Joker, cutting off mob dealers just isn't exciting enough, you've resorted to picking on kids?"

"You've got it all wrong Bats, I didn't come here for him… I came here for you!" Said the Joker with a grin a mile wide. As the Joker finished speaking, they seemingly disappeared from thin air, like some sort of magic. Batman helped Peter off the ground and said, "Are you alright Mr. Parker?"

"They killed her, they killed my Aunt May!" Said Peter, tears streaming down his face.

"I'll find them Peter, don't worry they will pay. Stay here and I'll take care of it." Answered Batman.

"Wait, I'm coming with you…" Said Peter.

"No Peter, it's too dangerous! You'll be killed!" Said Batman.

Peter thought for a moment and then he said, "Fine. I...I'll wait. You better bring them in uh… whatever your name is?"

"I'm Batman."

"Right, come back soon!" Replied Spider-man.

"Take care Peter." Said Batman.

Peter grabbed his backpack and ran down the street. As soon as he was out of Batman's line of sight, he ran into an alley way and changed into his favorite alter ego, Spider-man. Spider-man climbed to the roof of a nearby building and began swinging down the street back to Batman. Once Spider-man had arrived, he said, "Uh excuse me, I heard about your bat problem."

"Funny… What are you doing here Spider-man?"

"Well I heard about a carnival going on down here, sounded like fun!" Said Spider-man.

"No carnival, but there was a significant amount of Arkham escapees here moments ago. You wouldn't know anything about that would you Spider-man?"

"Nope, but I can offer my expert investigatory skills to help out if you'd like?"

Batman ignored his last comment and began investigating the scene. He searched the area where they disappeared. He noticed using a scanner that there was a series of a mechanisms and machinery. There seemed to be five different "trap door" type contraptions, the release system has a wire connected to it leading to a building across the street. "Someone else was involved with this…" Said Batman aloud. Batman and Spiderman walked over the building across the street and walked inside. The building appeared to abandoned, destroyed furniture and ragged carpets and cloths covered the room. Dust and cobwebs filled the room, a few spiders stopped spinning their webs upon seeing Spider-man enter the room. Batman looked around the room with his white eyes examined the room and quickly moved to the next. A staircase leading to the next floor could be found in the center of the next room. A few crates and boxes were in this room, nothing of real interest. Batman and Spiderman climbed the flight and arrived at a far different room. This room had one window at the end of it, slightly cracked open, next to this window was a series of strange contraptions and objects laid out on a table. A few of which was a deck of cards, the next was a portable projection device was several different instruments coming off of it.

After some more in depth investigation, some of the dust on the window sill had been swiped away, as if someone was leaning on the sill for some reason. Inside the projector was a slide that resembles the concrete street and asphalt road. "It seems that whoever did this, shined the projector on the five of them, to make them more difficult to see in the darkness of the night and then he triggered the trap doors to make it seem like they've disappeared. The question is, who would do something like this? Riddler possibly." Said Batman.

"Well, it could be Mysterio. He does like to show everybody his magic tricks." Said Spider-man with a shrug.

"Or it could be both of them together, remember there is no triggering mechanism here one of them could of been in charge of the projector while the other…" Batman turned and saw Spider-man wearing a monocle, wearing a fedora and holding a pipe in his hand. "Excellent deduction my dear Watson!" Said Spider-man chuckling after he spoke. Batman scowled back at him. He didn't yet understand his new companion, but it didn't matter he need to focus on the task at hand. He needed to find these criminals and convicts soon, before they do something horrifying...