Author's notes

Another update for ya! In case you guys haven't figured it out, I'm trying to work on a weekly schedule, so you can expect updates each and every Saturday night. I also want to throw out that the assassin character from last chapter-Johnny- will once again be appearing in this chapter, but he's not very important and is more (failed) comic relief then anything. Johnny is actually a character from the Metal Gear Solid games, where he is once again comic relief. I couldn't resist throwing him in here, but again, he's not important in the slightest, so don't let that alienate you. So if you haven't played MGS you might miss a few things here and there, but I'm sure you'll get along fine.

I'm honestly not a fan of the way I've portrayed Batman thus far. He is simultaneously a pussy and often pushed out of the way in favor of giving Spider-Man the spotlight. Unfortunately with the way this fic is going, that won't be resolved for another 2-3 chapters, but I tried to make him a bit more badass in this one. Hope you enjoy!

(On a side note, I dislike the way I portrayed Spider-Man was well... I'm simply not a very funny person, so his wise-cracks do give me trouble. If anyone has any ideas on something funny he can say towards Ra's, or Talia, or Batman, or just anyone, feel free to drop it in a review and I'll be sure to use it if the time comes.

"Ooooohhh..."

Thin flashes of white slowly brake through the overbearing blackness.

"Hey, buddy, wake up!"

"Wha-" His eyes lazily droop open, blinking rapidly at the sudden invasion of harsh light. Someone is standing over him. A person.

"Wha- what-Meryl?" He mutters.

"Sorry bud, but Meryl isn't here." Spider-Man hoists the assassin up to his feet, draping his arm around himself to support him. "I doubt she was anywhere besides your imagination to begin with, but-"

"OOOOOHHHHHGGGG!" The assassin falls limp, clutching his stomach and collapsing to the ground.

"Hey! What's wrong! The neurotoxin is gone I know I got rid of it!" Spider-Man yells.

"I-I-"

"Speak!" Spider-Man drops to his knees, frantically searching through his head for the answer to why this was happening. What did Ra's do? Peter KNEW he cured the virus-or stabilized it at least. It took some doing, but after testing the assassins blood, Peter was able to analyze and isolate the virus, and then with a little bit of chemical ingenuity, develop an agent capable of forcing the virus into a comatose state. He could probably rid it from the man's body completely with time, but he needed to be fast if he wanted to save him.

He was SURE the virus was completely inactive, so what was wrong with him?

"Uurrgghh, my stomach,"

"Oh no no NO!" Spider-Man yells. "What's wrong!"

"I-I need-"

"You need what!"

BRWOOOP

"... A bathroom." The ninja relaxes, panting heavily.

"... Eww." Is all Spider-Man can mutter. But just as quick as it left, the tension comes back, with the assassin moaning and groaning some more.

"I really need to get to a bathroom!" He grunts.

"Uhh... yeah, sure man... I'll give you a hand..." Spider-Man awkwardly picks the man up and brings him to a bathroom stuck inside the lab.


"You gonna be ok?" The wall crawler calls through the door.

"Yeah... yeah I'm, BRWOOP... fine..." Was his reply.

Peter rubs the back of his neck in thought. Should he really just leave this guy here? Well, what else was there to do? Knock him out? Why do that?

"Because he's the enemy." A voice says in Peter's head. He glances back towards the door, listening at the various grunts and other strange sounds emerging from it.

"He doesn't seem like to much of a threat to me..." he mutters. With that and a shrug, he walks away, off to his next 'challenge.'


Ra's reclines in his chair, hands folded in thought. So Spider-Man wasn't just all flair? No, the boy certainly had a brain under those muscles after all. Good. We'll see how he deals with his next challenge...


Click!

That's the sound of the cell door unlocking, and sliding open. Bruce smirks. Who needs Oracle? He was perfectly capable of hacking all by himse-

BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!

... That would be the alarm.

Wonderful.

"There he is!" Bruce looks to his left, and spots a horde of incoming assassins.

So much for stealth.

"HYA!" The lead assassins chucks a fist full of throwing stars, each aimed at Bruce's head.

"Sloppy aim..." He falls back, ducking under the razor sharp, serrated blades. It was at times like this, when Bruce needed a batarang the most, he seemed to have none.

He sighs, and straightens up just in time to see the lead assassin make a lunge with his sword.

"Guess we'll have to do this the old fashioned way," He sidesteps the rushed attack, sucker punching the man across the room. He ducks just as another sword is driven towards his head, and kicks out the assailants leg.

A bit brutal, but Bruce was in no mood.

Leaping back from the two demolished ninjas, Bruce faces the rest of the horde. He eyes them, unwavering, signature scowl in place, and gets in his fighting stance. They all flinch.

"You've all seen my face." He begins. "So I'm afraid it's necessary for me to beat amnesia into each and every one of you."

That was the final straw. Half the would-be assassins make a run for it, with the other half trembling beyond the ability to move their feet. He'd deal with them later, first he was going after the runners.

"Cowards." He mutters.


Humming to himself, Spider-Man turns another corner, and finds,

Another endless hallway. Yay!

He was getting sick of wandering around. He had to find Ra's and he had to now.

Rearing back his fist, Spider-Man faces the wall, and putting all his strength forward, punches right through the barrier.

"Well, that was... surprising." He wasn't really expecting that to actually work.

Pete brings his arm back through the gaping hole, inspecting his hand and, to his surprise, finds not a single mark.

"Ok, that was WAY to easy." Hands on his hips, Spider-Man peers through the opening, and finds, believe it or not, a garden.

Could this really lead outside? It looked like it, but then again, he was way underground.

Wasn't he?

Spider-Man didn't even know, he just assumed he was, but maybe this hole held the truth?

Gripping the two ends of the hole with each hand, Spider-Man pulls it apart-again shocked by how easy it was. Was he really this strong? Or was Ra's just playing a trick on him?

Well, judging by his spider-sense, it's the latter.

This was a bad idea.

Peter looks to his left at the vast hallway before him, then to his right, revealing the same. Then straight ahead, at the garden. Choices choices...

The answer is soon clear. It may be dangerous, but this garden may lead him somewhere. God knows these endless halls aren't doing it. With that thought in mind, Spider-Man boldly steps through the threshold.

"Reckless boy." Ra's shakes his head at the camera, and hits a button. A red light on the monitor blinks, and Spider-Man's already booming spider-sense instantly kicks into high gear.