Answers to reviewers' questions or statements:
Galabrax: It'll be a while until the Marvel heroes find out just what Mephisto is doing with Peter and how he's getting the man to go along with it. Yes, this chapter and the next chapter Peter will be teaming up with some other heroes aside from Batman, most of which are members of the Bat family
Jestalnaker94000: Not sure, haven't read Rune King yet, maybe. As for Doom against the entire Justice League… They'd probably win but only after Dooms spends like eighty percent of the fight kicking their teeth down their throats. He's faced down entire superhero teams before on his own and come out reasonably fine, the League's never really faced a guy like Doom in that's smarter than Batman to a degree, has magical power to the point he's considered a candidate for Sorcerer Supreme which is arguably even stronger than Dr. Fate and combined with his advance tech mixed with magic, yeah they'd be limping home after that fight.
treyalexander63917: Yeah, the end of this arc and the next one will be showing Peter and Bruce starting to get along better. As for Stark trying to wipe out Mutant kind and then take over the world kind, eh I just looked at Marvel's landscape at the time and thought 'Huh, so far only Stark seems to be getting the good deal… curious'
keyblade master cole: Yeah Spidey will be helping Gotham Girl out when this is all done, she's going to need it. As for Spidey getting back at Mephisto when this is all done… oh yeah
anieljesu gonzalez: Convincing them to destroy Mephisto in the first place. Unless Mpehisto is a direct threat to someone like Lucifer, he ain't getting involved
spiderman1fan: Sending the Hulk was more of an Illuminati thing then Stark, but hey he wasn't complaining when it went down, one less obstacle to deal with as far as he was concerned. Doom, Reed and Strange's reactions will be shown in a few chapters
helpusobi1kenobi: Yep
Redrangerlegacy: Yeah Stark has somehow surpassed Magneto, Cyclops all evil, and even Doom as the biggest prick on earth. Least the latter three have some redeeming qualities and aren't that warped… most of the time
LL: What caused Bruce to freak out is related to Gotham and Gotham Girl which we'll see this chapter. Yeah Doom is aware, he's one of the few heroes at least in this story aside from the Four that Doom keeps track of, just in case.
gunman: When one looks at the Marvel Landscape before the events of House of M and follows it all the way to the end of the Civil War and Stark's team winning it does seem like someone was manipulating everything, perhaps Stark to get that desired outcome. After all, in the end he was the most powerful man on earth in terms of influence, resources and technology. Yeah Doom and Morgan have a long and complicated history which will be explored and expanded upon as things progress. No, it's just New York that's going to be attacked out of the trio, the other two cities are a surprise. We won't be returning to the Marvel universe for a while, like maybe four or five chapters as we really start to delve into why Peter is here in the first place, to find the guy Mephsito wants. Batgirl's one of the DC women Peter will be with, Gotham Girl on the other hand will be more of a protégé but I might pair her with another spider themed hero from Marvel
Watermelon: Mephisto is hoping to gain his long overdue soul and a powerful agent in Spider-man. As for how screwed Stark will be on a scale of one to ten… ten but then amped up with Bane's venom and then given Mjolnir to further enhance it.
Justafan: We'll be seeing why it is that Stark seemed to have it out for Spidey later on and it'll be surprising, sort of, hopefully. I mean I've come across this other story that deals with the aftermath of the Superior Spider-man thing and Peter being alone and hated with Stark out to get him and I'm starting to wonder if the motivations of that story's Stark are close to mine. Yeah Gotham Girl will be a hero still but she won't be joining Spider-man's harem, she might, might sleep with him once or twice but that's it.
MCRasengan: I have a plan to get rid of the tumor, it's already been teased earlier in the story. As for X-23 (Wolverine) and Black Cat being added to the harem, still deciding.
paladin3030: Gordon won't be using any weird signals for Spidey to see. Peter will just stick with hacking the GCPD's coms and him just going about the city like he would back in New York, but I might have Peter tease about getting a 'spider signal' if just to bug Batman
cabrera1234: It'll be two chapters before we get to Wonder Woman and Spider-man's lemon
blumarvel0: Spidey will try to do the best he can when the time comes
superspiderfan: Not so much regret for what they did with Spider-man but more like they regret siding with Stark in the first place on anything, especially after it's revealed what he's done to the Marvel Universe, the Mutant members of the Avengers will really feel like crap after this whole thing comes to light
Disclaimer: I don't own any Marvel or DC characters seen, mentioned or used
"I'm scared…" a young girl's voice echoed through a room that was filled with over dozen men who are looked to have been either torn apart, crushed or incinerated
"Jesus… looks like one of Carnage's murder sprees in here" Peter muttered as he kneeled down next to a man who had his arms torn off and a hole through is chest the size of his head
"I'm very scared"
Batman didn't respond at first as he examined the scene with an unreadable expression before contacting the Batcave "Alfred… Me and Spider-man are looking at twenty-seven dead soldiers. It appears they were killed by someone with Superman level powers. I need you to check the city"
"I'm scared…"
"Assuming there still will be a city…" Peter said as he made his way towards Gotham Girl who was sitting on a pile of rubble in a fetal position and rocking back and forth next to a bloodied message saying, 'I Am Gotham' with the 'G' stylized after Gotham and Gotham Girl's symbols
"Gotham Girl… Claire?"
"I'm very scared…" was her only response as she buried her face in her knees
"Hey, it's okay, everything's going to be fine" Peter said as he wrapped an arm around the trembling girl "Look Claire, I need you to tell me where your brother is. Where's Gotham?"
Claire's response was to begin silently weeping. Peter sighed before glancing back at Batman "We need to get her the hell out of here"
Bruce nodded "I'll have Alfred set something up in the Batcave"
"Better include some soft pillows and a blanket" Peter said as he scooped up the still trembling girl before glancing around at the literal blood bath that was created "What the hell could have made him do this?"
"I don't know…" Batman said as he turned to leave with Spider-man right behind him "But I intend to find out…"
Peter nodded at this before he adjusted his hold on Claire before he had his suit contact Selina. He waited a moment before his roommate slash fuck buddy slash land lord answered with a coy tone
"Yes?" she purred with amusement
"Selina, we need eyes and ears in the city. Gotham just massacred over two dozen men and left his sister in a state of shock" Peter said, any trace of humor normally found in his tone long gone
"Christ…" the cat burglar said on the other line before responding "I'll check around to see if any one's seen him"
"Let me and Bat's know what you find" Peter said before she ended the call and Peter and Bruce arrived at the Batmobile and the canopy opened.
Peter carefully slid on the now unconscious Claire into the passenger seat before glancing at Bruce "I'm gonna take a look around, see if I can find him"
Bruce nodded "I'll contact the rest and let them know what's going on"
Peter nodded before he shot off into the sky "Suit, search media, key words Gotham as in the hero not the actual city"
The suit complied and began to run through the various media and social media outlets for any sightings or mention of Gotham. Meanwhile Peter began to scan the horizon for any other flying hero while also checking his suit's combat systems to make sure everything was at full power. If what he saw back there was any indication, Gotham won't be holding back in a fight and he won't be able to afford to either
"What hell would drive him to butcher those guys?" Peter mumbled to himself
"More like 'Who…" a dark voice spoke through Peter's speakers, causing him to jump in surprise
"What the hell-" Peter began only to be suddenly dragged down against his will towards a random rooftop
He tried to fire of his thrusters at full power but they suddenly hut off, leaving Peter to seemingly free fall towards the top of an apartment complex before stopping inches above the ground. He searched the rooftop for signs of who or whatever did this before he heard someone walking up behind him
Peter glanced over his shoulder and was met with the sight of Mephsito himself. His eyes narrowed in anger and annoyance "What do you want Mephisto? I don't have your damn soul yet"
"I know…" the lord of lies said with a smirk as he circled around Peter's restrained floating form "I just wanted to check in and see how you were doing and maybe even help you a little in this… tragedy"
Peter's eyes narrowed "Did you have something to do with this?"
"What me?" Mephisto pointed to himself with an innocent look before chuckling "No, wish I did but you can thank someone else for Gotham's little violent outburst"
"Who was it?" Peter asked
Mephisto shrugged "Some guy in a mask, I don't know I was too bust laughing at the men Gotham was slaughtering to notice"
Peter growled at the demonic entity before suddenly Mephisto released him from his invisible grip. Peter's armored boots made a loud metallic clanking sound as they landed on the concrete surface while Mephisto began to fish something out of his pockets
"Curious, isn't it?" the demon lord said as he pulled out a small card
"What is?" Peter questioned with a frown as he kept his eyes on the being before him at al times
"Gotham and Gotham Girl's powers… where they came from, how they got them" Mephsito went on before he handed Peter the card he found in his breast pocket "When this whole thing is over, give this place a look. I think you'll find it very interesting…"
Peter's eyes narrowed until they seem like slits as Mephsito slowly vanished from Peter's sight with a dark grin, leaving the universal displaced man alone on the rooftop. After a few moments, Peter glanced down at the card and read the name displayed on the top
Fitzgerald Incorporated
After several moments, Peter contacted Batman "What do you know about Fitzgerald Incorporated?"
"It's a international pharmaceutical company that's originated out of Singapore almost three years ago that also dabbles in advance medical and bio-technology that's beyond almost every other company out there, including Wayne Enterprises and LexCorp" the caped crusader revealed "Why?"
"Because I think… I found who gave Gotham and Gotham Girl their powers" Peter said, leaving the source out of the conversation 'Heh, what am I supposed to say, the Devil gave me the possible answer to that little mystery…'
Batman was silent for a moment before he answered "Fitzgerald Incorporated recently purchased an office building in the financial district. I'm sending Batgirl and her team to help you comb through their database and see what you can find. They may be behind Gotham's sudden shift in nature or may even have an idea on what's going on with him"
"Copy that" Peter said before his suit brought up the building's location and he shot off towards it at full speed "Let's hope the guys in charge are dumb enough to have already connected their company's server to this place and have subpar fire walls"
"Agreed. I'll let you know if Gotham's found. Something tells me I'll need the muscle" Batman said
"Why not call in the League?" Peyer questioned with a quirked brow
The guy they were likely going to have to fight has shown to be above Peter's level of strength even with his armored suit. Unless Batman's holding out on him, this as cliché as it sounded to the wall crawler sounded like a job for Superman
'Or Wonder Woman… I get a feeling watching her fight is like watching Carol fight. I could just stare on for days and still be entertained… and probably aroused for some weird reason' Peter thought with a chuckle too quiet for Batman to hear
"Only if he proves too much, for now you should be enough. You did beat Doomsday after all and Gotham's nowhere near that level"
At this Peter snorted "More like I survived long enough for the real heroes to show up… and you too I guess"
"Hhh…" Batman responded before cutting the feed
Peter shook his head at this "Really need to work on his goodbyes or even a simple good luck. Seriously, It's like working with Moon Knight all over again… let's just hope old Brucie poo doesn't have an extreme case of schizophrenia"
He saw his destination coming up and slowly angled his trajectory to Fitzgerald Incorporated…
…
It was ten minutes after Peter settled own on a rooftop overlooking the building that Batgirl and her team had arrived and safe to say, they made quite an impression the moment they saw each other
"That's who Batman wants us to help with?" a woman in a dark black and purple Kevlar bi-weave suit with a long-hooded coat that had white stripes going across the shoulders and down the middle of her suit. Her legs were covered in purple pants before they ended at a pair of purple shin guards with black knee pads and straps "Some guy with a spider fetish?"
"Huntress behave"
The one to scold her teammate was a blonde woman clad in a blue top that showed a modest view of her generous bust that was mostly covered by a black jacket with a black canary bird symbol on the back with a yellow outline. She also had on a pair of black shorts that placed the woman's amazing legs on display that were covered by fishnets before ending in a pair of black combat boots
"Spider-man…" Batgirl gave the wall crawler a nod of greeting
"Batgirl, hot blonde biker chick and purple hooded lady that's already developed an attraction to me after once glance of my spectacular form" Peter quipped as he rose up from his crouching position on the ledge of the building and dropped on to the rooftop with a heavy thud
"I don't have any sort of attraction to you!" Huntress said with an annoyed look on her face "And you are from spectacular!"
"Tell that to every woman I've met that dresses in Kevlar and has black in their clothes to some degree" Peter snickered at the woman who scoffed while Black Canary extended her hand out with a grin
"Black Canary…"
Peter took her hand and gave it a frim shake "Spider-man… esquire… the third!"
Black Canary chuckled at this "Ooh a joker hmm, not enough of you in this city aside from the Robins and even then, it's stale half the time"
"Yeah well when you have Batman running around making the place more depressing with his angst coodies, anyone with a sense of humor's bound to bail out for somewhere lighter… like Metropolis… or Central City. You know places where smiling isn't because some clown gassed you" Peter said
Canary laughed at this before looking towards Batgirl "Dibs!"
"What?" the red head said with a surprised expression that was mirrored by Spider-man and Huntress, though she hid her's better with her hood "What do you mean dibs?"
"BG, how many guys do we run across in this business that are funny, smart enough to pull one over Batman of all people, several times in fact and dresses in black and has a giant ass spider light in his chest and makes it work?!" the blonde bombshell said as she folded her arms across her bust
"I also took on Doomsday and blew half his face off" Peter added in
"See…" Black Canary said with a gesture towards Spider-man "Perfect boyfriend or fuck buddy material! So I'm calling dibs now because with our luck he'll either end up dead or taken in the next few weeks and I'm sure as hell not passing this opportunity up"
"But what about you and-" Huntress began only for Canary to interrupt
"We're taking a break" she said flatly
"Oh… sorry" the purple clad woman said
"It's not that bad, just distance and our lively hood is hell" Canary said with a shrug before glancing down at the Fitzgerald building "So what's the deal with this place? Batman was pretty vague on it's importance… like usual"
"They're the ones that made Gotham and Gotham Girl and well…" Peter trailed off, not knowing how to explain the next part when Batgirl finished for him
"You think they had something to do with Gotham's massacre of those soldiers, Batman's already filled me and the other's in" the red head said as she pulled a pair of high tech lenses from her pouch and used them to scan the building
"Oh, well I guess that saves me having to explain how a nice kid like him went all Sentry on them" Peter said with a sigh
"Sentry?" Huntress asked with a quizzical expression "What or who's Sentry?"
"Imagine someone with Superman's power if not greater with a very loose if not absent morale code and mental instability that has you seriously question why he isn't locked up because of how fragile his psyche is" Peter deadpanned
Canary whistled at this "Damn… sounds like a nightmare just waiting to happen"
"And that's before the Void comes out to play" Peter muttered the last part out as he came to stand next to Batgirl "I scanned the place for any security on the outside and aside from a few high-tech cameras and some motion sensors at certain points, only five guards patrolling the perimeter"
"Odd… Fitzgerald Incorporated has some of the best security out there. You would think it'd be pretty high considering this is Gotham after all" Batgirl said with a frown as she scanned the building's structure further before she raised a hand to her cowl "Oracle… I'm going to need some info on the building Fitzgerald Incorporated bought not too long ago"
Peter faintly heard a man's voice respond before he glanced at Canary "So, what can you do aside from making fishnets look badass in this day and age?"
"Kick ass while wearing badass fishnets" Black Canary smirked before glancing down at the building "Also… I have a wonderful singing voice!"
"Hmm hope to hear it" Peter grinned
"You just might" Canary said with a sly look as she took in Peter's form closer up, while he was covered in armor she could already tell the man was pretty well built
"Oh god, just get a room already" Huntress said with an eye roll as she loaded up her crossbow
"I was planning to use my room… hope you don't mind the noise" Canary winked at Huntress who responded with giving her the bird "Aww don't be like that, I'm willing to let you in on the action too!"
"Alright ladies, let's move!" Batgirl said as she leaped off the rooftop to the Wynn building followed quickly by the Birds and a slightly annoyed Peter
"And man! It's alright ladies, and man let's move!"
Ten minutes later and a few close calls with the security, both automated and non-automated, the Birds and Spider-man had finally reached the executive office and Batgirl was already downloading the information from the terminal while Peter, Huntress and Canary examined the office and some of the surrounding rooms for anything else that could be useful
"Have to say, I'd really like to know the company they had decorate this place. Seriously this place looks like it's for a king!" Huntress said as she admired the interior of the offices she passed
"Eh, could do with less green and black that they have draped all over the place" Canary said as she passed a few religious paintings that she had to admit looked pretty damn good and something that Oliver would probably have in his home… if he ever went hardcore religious or something like that "Man, these guys seem to have a serious thing for Judeo Christian art"
"Well Fitzgerald's motto is 'We may not be God, but we can still try to help'" Batgirl said as she saw that roughly forty percent of the database has been downloaded
Peter hummed at this as he wandered though some of the halls, his suit and senses on full alert for any other occupants on the floor. He made it to the end of the hall and was just about to turn back and regroup with the birds when he heard a odd noise that set him on edge
It was very faint laughing…
Peter narrowed his eyes as he began to follow the faint chuckles against his better judgement. After several moments of making his way down a dark hallway, Peter came to a stop at a door that the chuckling was coming from, only for it to stop the moment Peter placed his hand on the door and pushed it open to see-
"What the hell?" Peter said as he was met with what appeared to be a sort of inflatable clown with the words happy birthday written on a banner above it
But what really put him off was the clown's appearance. It was short, just barely coming up to his lower chest. It was a little on the large size and looked almost as grotesque as Deadpool does without his suit on, and that guy looks like something out of a freakin horror movie. But the thing that really garnered Peter's interest was the odd blue 'M' shaped mark on it's face
Peter took a step towards the clown and saw that the laugh was coming from a small recorder next to it. He then pulled back and gave the clown a odd look under his helm
"You are the ugliest clown I've ever seen…" Peter said before Batgirl contacted him
"Got the data, where are you?" she asked with curiosity
"I was checking something out, turns out to be some bad joke is all" Peter said as he left the room and began to make his way to the Birds and get the hell out of this place "But it did give me an idea for B-man's birthday…"
Had Peter stayed a few more seconds in that room, he would have noticed the 'eyes' on the clown seemingly narrow at for the briefest moments followed his movement before resuming their original position… followed soon by a low dark chuckle
"Hehehehe…"
…
"So anything useful on there?" Peter asked as the group gathered on a rooftop a few blocks away from Fitzgerald Incorporated
"Yeah, a few things but nothing really concrete" Batgirl said with a frown as she scanned the info she downloaded "By you are right in that they are connected to Gotham and Gotham Girl. I'm seeing multiple emails from Fitzgerald's corporate headquarters back in Singapore asking how Subject One and Two are handling their powers and 'playing hero'. They even went as far as to mention the two by name on a few occasions"
"Anything else? Like who gave them their powers, how they did it or something?" Peter pressed
"No, just that this office monitor Gotham and Gotham Girl and report back weekly and if things get out of hand they said they'd… send 'The Five' to deal with them" Batgirl said
"The Five?" Peter said with a quizzical expression before glancing towards Huntress and Black Canary "That mean anything to you? Some sort of hit team or strike group?"
"Not that I know of… but I can ask around and see if some old contacts know anything about Fitzgerald Incorporated using something called the 'The Five'" Huntress said with a shrug
"So now what?" Canary asked as she looked towards Batgirl who was asking Oracle to keep digging for anything she may have missed… before sighing in exasperation as Oracle began to go on about her being too good to miss anything
The red head glanced at her friend "For now, we just try to find Gotham and stop him from killing anymore people"
Peter nodded at this "I've already got Catwoman on the case, she's going to ask around to see if anyone might have seen him and my suit's scanning all social media in the city for any mention of him"
"How'd you get Catwoman to help?" Huntress asked with surprise
"She's my… roommate?" Peter said the last part with a slight crack in his voice
The three women stared at him for a moment before Canary smirked "Your sleeping with her, aren't you?"
Peter's lack of response caused Canary to chuckle "Can't blame ya, girl's got a body that even I'm envious of!"
"Yes well, we can discuss Spider-man's love life later, for now we have a rogue super powered guy running around Gotham and no idea where he is" Batgirl said before glancing at Huntress "Huntress, we're check out the east side, Canary, Spider-man, you got the west"
"Sweet!" Canary said as she draped an arm around Peter's shoulders and grinned "Don't worry BG, we'll let you and Bat's know when we find him"
"Why's she with Spider-man?" Huntress asked as she followed Batgirl to the edge of the roof
"You really want to hear her complain how unfair it is that you or I got paired with him instead?" Batgirl asked dryly
"…True" Huntress said with a snort as she followed the younger girl off the rooftop
…
It was over and hour later and approaching mid-night that Peter and Black Canary came to a stop near Wayne Enterprises after checking the docks and when they finally got an update from Batman on Gotham, sadly it was far from good
"Spider-man, I found Gotham" the caped crusader said in a rushed tone "A man by the name of Psycho Pirate manipulated Gotham and Gotham Girl's emotions and drove Gotham crazy with rage and caused Gotham Girl to start to experience extreme fear"
Peter quirked a brow in surprise at this "How did you-"
"I'll explain later but right now Gotham is on his way to destroy the city. I'm tracking him now and I need you to intercept!" Batman nearly shouted in urgency before ending the call and sending the wall crawler the information he'll need to find Gotham
"I just know this isn't going to end well… for anybody" Peter said before looking towards Canary "Sorry BC, but this is where you clock out and I clock in!"
He then shot off into the sky, drowning out Canary's surprised yelp as the sudden rocket like take off caused her to stumble back in surprise. Peter made it to several hundred feet above the many rooftops and shot off towards the city proper where Gotham was located right smack dab in the middle of the city
"Of course he'd go to the most highly populated area in the city" Peter said with a tired sigh as he set his suit's combat systems on high and increased his speed, breaking the sound barrier as he approached the back of Gotham's form who was bust preparing to blast the numerous people and buildings in the city square
Gotham had only just turned his head to see what the rocket like sound approaching him was before he was met with both of Peter's armored fist planting themselves right smack dab in the middle of his face, sending the powerful man flying into a large stare case that was under a large jumbotron that reminded the one in Times Square New York
"I swear, this city is copying Manhattan at this point" Peter said as he stared at the emerging and very enraged form of Gotham "Hey kid, fancy seeing you here at this time, hey I know this is going to sound a little crazy, or normal given this city's track record but I was wondering if you could stop and give up trying to be this city's resident super villain of the week maybe?"
"Spider-man… you should have stayed away" Gotham growled with red eyes
"I'm told that a lot" Peter said as he felt his spider-sense tingle before leaping out of the way of two high speed beams of scarlet energy.
He landed in a roll before breaking out into a sprint as Gotham's heat vision followed Peter closely, slowly closing the distance. Peter saw this and took aim at Gotham before firing off a Repulseor beam into his face, causing the nan to shout in pain before Peter blitzed towards him and tackled the more powerful man to the ground
"GET OFF!" Gotham shouted as he pried Peter off him and threw him into a nearby abandoned taxi
KRSSSSH!
Peter held back a slight groan as he saw Gotham fly towards him with his fist raised "Holy-"
He just narrowly ducked under the punch before sending his own armored fist into Gotham's core at full power, knocking the wind out of him and sending him stumbling back a few feet before Peter blasted him away with his chest arc reactor at full power
"Sorry kid, but I kind of want to keep my head on" Peter said as Gotham dug his feet into the ground and braced himself against the beam of energy before he began to slowly approach Peter, with visible difficulty before being completely pushed back
Gotham crashed into the side of a building on the opposite end of the square before he flew out of the wreckage at high speeds and was just about to grab Peter who was ready to blast the man in return again when Batman suddenly appeared and delivered a powerful kick into the man's face.
The action caused Batman to growl in pain as he felt several of his bones in his leg and foot crack while Gotham simply grunted at the high impact that sent him spilling away from Spider-man and the dark Knight. Peter winced at the impact Gotham made before glancing at Batman who was favoring his other leg more than the one he used to kick Gotham with
"You alright?" the webslinger gestured to the man's leg
"I'm fine, focus on helping me stop Gotham" Batman said with narrowed eyes directed at Gotham glaring at the two of them
Gotham spat out a small amount of blood before standing up right and began to smirk darkly at them "You really think you two can beat me?"
"Uhh honestly?" Spider-man said before he glanced at Batman before returning his gaze to Gotham "Yeah, kinda. I mean no offense but uh I've brought down guys that could level planets and well you don't strike me as a 'world breaker'…"
Gotham hissed at this and for a brief moment his eyes turned green briefly before resuming their burning red color "I'll rip you both in half"
"Gotham…" Batman stepped forward slightly with his hands up "Please, we need to talk"
"NO!" Gotham roared as he shot off a blast of his heat vision towards the two "I'm done talking, I'm done trying to help a city that all it ever does is take and take and take until there's nothing left!"
Spider-man rolled out of the way of the twin beams of death and shot a barrage of web bullets made from his electric current carrying web fluid and watched as the projectile began to hit and electrocute Gotham who merely grunted in rage as he began to tear and burn the webs off
It was then batman threw several Batarangs that imbedded themselves in Gotham's torso before beeping and setting off a powerful explosion that caused him to stagger back more out of surprise than the actual force of the explosion
Spider-man glanced at his temporary teammate "You uh got something bigger in that belt of yours, cause this suit only has so much power in it"
Batman ignored Spider-man as he stood up "Gotham, stop and listen. I understand, you got hit hard and now your hurt. But just because your hurt doesn't mean you get to hurt my city. Final warning, stand down or I'll put you down"
All the while Batman was speaking he was slowly pulling his grappling hook from his belt, causing Gotham to scoff as blood began to pour from his eyes "A rope, you're going to stop me with a flimsy rope? YOU! A simple man in a mask?!"
"No…" Batman said as he fired off the hook "But I am going to crash a plane into you!"
"…What?" Gotham said as he watched both Batman and Spider-man shoot away from him before he heard the roar of a jet engine closing in and looked up just in time to see the Batplane slam into his form, creating a massive explosion that shook the entire block and shattered hundreds of windows
"Damn… this place is starting to look like the Hulk just barged through here on a bad day… come to think of it, it'd still look like this on a good day!" Peter said as he scanned the dust cloud for any signs of movement and saw through thermal imagery Gotham pulling himself out of the wreckage "Uh-oh… Baaaat's he's up and he don't look to happy that you just crashed a twenty-million-dollar aircraft into him going at Mach five!"
Batman saw this as well with his cowl's systems before he switched on his com "Alfred… make the call"
Alfred's response was understandably taken back "Sir, but we've never… in Gotham sir? Are you certain?"
Batman sighed heavily at this as he watched Spider-man fly towards Gotham and deliver a powerful punch to the man that caused his head to whip to the side before Gotham caught the next punch and began to slam the armored man into the ground around him before Gotham chucked him into the wreckage of the Batplane
"Yes Alfred… I'm certain!" Bruce argued as he watched Gotham stumble briefly, his eyes glowing green for a brief moment before he let out a tired sigh and glanced right up towards the caped crusader
"I… I just wanted to save Gotham" the man said tiredly
"I know…" Batman said as he tensed at the glowing eyes directed at him again
"But it's just… you can't" Gotham said as his eyes began to glow brighter and his voice grew darker "You just can't!"
"I know" Batman said as he kept Gotham's gaze on him
"Goodbye Batman" Gotham said as he prepared to incinerate the caped crusader
"Goodbye Gotham" Batman said in an even tone
It was then a red and blue blur slammed into Gotham just as he fired off his optic blasts at the bat themed vigilante, throwing his aim off course. Batman watched the beams approach him before a large green shield suddenly formed between him and it
"Hhh… you took your time" Batman said as the rest of the members of the Justice League assembled before Gotham, who was being held by Superman
"Hello Gotham" the man of steel said in an even tone "My name is Superman, and this is the Justice League. We're Batman's friends and we'd greatly appreciate it if you would just surrender"
It was then Peter tore himself out of the burning wreck of the Batplane "Ah don't go asking him that, now his newly found supervillain ego will compel him to keep fighting"
"He's right… it does" Gotham growled as he slammed his fist into Superman's face, creating a small shockwave that sent the hero of Metropolis stumbling back in pain and forced the rest of the League to attack
As Batman watched this he contacted the Batcave where Duke was watching over Gotham Girl "Mister Thomas, earlier me and Spider-man noticed that Gotham's powers, how strong he is, how fast. They aren't fixed. It varies, he adjusts to what he's fighting. The minimum of what he needs, I need to know how he does it and why he does it!"
He then launched himself off the rooftop he was on to join the fray "I need you to get Gotham Girl to tell us. And I need it done now!"
Gotham quickly blitzed towards Cyborg and rammed his fist into and through the cybernetic man's torso before he turned around and grabbed Aquaman by the face and slammed him down into the ground and was just about to reach for his trident to use against the others when Spider-man leaped on to his shoulders and blasted his repulseors at full power into the man's ears
"AAAGH!" Gotham shouted before he grabbed both of Peter's wrists and yanked him off his back and slammed him on to Aquaman, causing both men to scream in pain
It was then that Batman heard Gotham Girl's voice thought the commlink "W-We bought them. Strength, invulnerability, ultra-vision… we bought them"
Before Gotham could deal with either of the two, the Green Lanterns attacked, blasting him with a combination of green energy beams of will power or in Simon's case a small collection of rocket launchers and flame throwers that Gotham blasted away before leaping at the pair and sending a powerful punch into the shield Jessica constructed only for it to shatter under Gotham's blow and send her flying back into a pile of rubble and forcing Simon to back off before being hit by Gotham's heat vision
"But what we-we bought weren't powers for life. It w-was life for powers"
Flash raced up behind him, intent on delivering a punch going at Mach three before Gotham suddenly turned and clothes lined the speedster, knocking the wind out of him and would have torn his torso off had he not vibrated though most of the force at the very last second
'GAH, it's like fighting Supergirl all over again!' the speedster thought as he was picked up by Gotham and chucked into both the Green Lanterns
"We can use our life… years of our normal life, to p-produce hours of being super. It was enough for t-two years. T-Two years to save this city. And then we'd… we'd die"
Spider-man tried to stand up only for Gotham to grab him by the shoulder and lift him into the air and prepared to ram his fist through his glowing spider symbol when Wonder Woman threw her lasso around Gotham's neck and prepared to yank the man away from Peter when he suddenly grabbed the line and used it to instead swing the surprised Amazon into Batman who was too slow and injured to dodged the incoming form of his teammate
But Gotham didn't let up from there as he sent a powerful blast of his heat vison into Diana's form, causing her to scream out in pain as she was sent flying into a partially destroy car and caused it to explode from the impact of her collision.
Peter saw this and shot a we line at the back of Gotham's head and pulled the distracted fallen hero towards him before Peter activated his suits chest reactor and diverted all power into the blast like he did with Doomsday not too long ago
Gotham howled in pain as he was blasted by the intense energy and began to scar his skin before he suddenly reached down and grabbed Peter's armored chest and yanked it off, cutting off the beam and kicking the shocked wall crawler away and into the slowly rising form of Batman
"GAHH!" Bruce shouted in pain as he felt Spider-man's armored bulk collide with is less than durable form
"…Ugh… sorry" Peter mumbled out as he pushed himself up before his arms gave out and he collapse back on the ground "God I wish we had a Hulk right about now…"
Batman had no idea what a Hulk was, but given how far south this fight was going, he couldn't help but wish for one too
"And… And… the best-the worst part is, we can ch-choose. We can be ordinary for a few decades. S-Superman for a f-few years…"
It was than Batman saw Superman, the last man standing, trading full powered blows with Gotham that he was easily returning if not greater before he blocked a punch from the man of steel and sent a powerful left hook into the Kryptonian's face, breaking his nose and knocking the man to the ground with a savage roar of rage
"…Or a god for a few hours"
It was then Batman watched Gotham turn towards him with his eyes now glowing a combination or red and green and began to slowly approach him and Spider-man who was still trying to stand and failing.
"So you… you see Batman, c-can't win. B-Batman's just a man. In a mask. My brother is m-more… He won't stop until he's done what he needs to do" Gotham Girl said in a low terrified tone
Batman spat out a glob of blood before he began to push himself to his feet, groaning in pain as he felt one of his leg's bone finally give
"Fine. Fine do it then. Kill Gotham" Batman spat out as he finally made it to his feet "But this city- it's just brick and concrete. It didn't free the Pirate or hurt those soldiers. And it damn well didn't kill your parents…"
Gotham continued to approach Batman with a dark growl as the veins on his face began to glow a sickly green color and his eyes turned from red to green as well
Batman frowned at this "The Pirate was here because I couldn't stop the chaos that bleeds this city. You hurt those soldiers because I told you to fly to them. And your parents… they were murdered because I couldn't save them"
"Bat's the hell you doing? If it's pissing him off, leave that to me, I'm a certified professional" Spider-man groaned in pain before he was blasted back by a side glance from Gotham's eye beams as he steady approached Batman "…That also means I get hit more…
Batman continued to back away from the approaching superhuman while fighting to remain consciences "If you want to kill Gotham… for being weak, for being afraid… for failing again and again and again"
At this he stopped moving and let out a tired sigh "I am Gotham… kill me"
Gotham had finally came to a stop before Batman, his glowing eyes practically oozing energy at this point as his whole body began to shake "…G-Goodbye Batman"
Batman held the younger man's gaze for a moment before he made out something flying right towards them at high speeds
"…Goodbye Gotham"
The superpowered being reared his fist back and sent it forward only for Gotham Girl to suddenly appear and spear him away from the still vigilante.
"NO!" the blonde yelled as she kept her grip on her brother while she began to race up into the sky, struggling to hold him and keep him from breaking out of her grip
"Mister Thomas?" Bruce asked as he watched the super powered sibling begin to fight each other in a brutal confrontation over the area
"…Gotham Girl Batman…" the man said in a low voice "She's… she's brave. She's nothing but brave"
Gotham Girl ducked under a barrage of her brother's now green heat vision and slammed both her fists into his chest, causing him to spit out a combination of blood and that mysterious green energy before she head butted the man, gritting her teeth in pain as she felt her skull crack from the impact
"Henry please stop, your killing yourself. If you keep doing this you'll die!" Clair screamed as she blocked a powerful punch from her brother who looked to have lost all semblance of understand what was going on, it was almost like he's become a rabid animal "Henry please I don't want to-"
It was then Gotham grabbed her by the throat and drew her in close with a dark hiss "I'll save this city Clair… I'll save this world… even if I have to burn it to the ground first!"
At this Gotham Girl closed her eyes in sorrow as she grabbed his hand and crushed it with all of her strength before slamming her fist into his face, knocking him back before spearheading right into him, and rocketed towards the ground at full speed, ignoring the feeling of her brother's blows beating into her back and sides, ignoring the sound of his heart beating too fast, his breathing becoming ragged and short
She ignored how her felt her brother losing strength as she slammed him into the ground with a yell, upheaving the entire block and causing the nearby buildings to shake from the tremor of the impact…
…
And done
Next chapter, the aftermath