Anything in Italic means the character is thinking.

The track and the enemy

As the two heroes arrived on the scene of the remains of Gordon's house, Peter remembered how he left the picture of Barbara in the GCPD. He laughed internally at the fact that he managed to retrieve that during the blaze, and even more at the memories of how the officers reacted when he threw and stuck the picture on a wall.

Best reaction ever…Gotta keep focused here…

Luckily for them, the entire block was almost deserted, leaving them alone to investigate the charred remains. Peter was however skeptic about their chances of finding anything in a burned place.

"You really sure we can actually find something here? I don't think we will find much leads in ashes…"

"You would be surprised. Search for potential ripped off pieces of clothing, Jim said that they briefly fought with the kidnappers, chances are someone ended up wounded or clothing was damaged." Batman answered gravely, he was serious. Spider-man nodded and started to search around.

In truth, Bruce had very little hope they would find anything intact, but ashes stick to boots and clothes…He activated his detective vision, his eyes now faintly flashing.

Jim said they had armored clothing from head to toe, including heavy or combat boots. If we find anything here, it will be prints, from foot or tires…

They searched around, Peter sometime crawling under various burnt objects to look, but after a while he seemed lost. He was feeling guilty for the entire situation, if he had been there, Barbara would still be here. But the worst was that he left her the same way he left his uncle Ben the last time he spoke to him, selfishly. He was getting angrier and more worried by the minutes.

At some point Bruce finally found what he wanted to find thanks to his scanner: it was very faint and it was a miracle it was still there, but there were prints of heavy boots, too heavy to belong to policemen or citizens. He made a signal to Peter and the latter jumped to his side.

"We won't be able to follow the tracks, but if I'm able to really identify the boots, we can at least know where they originally got their equipment." He pressed a button on his belt and the Batmobile, very slowly, arrived behind them. He then activated the forensic scanner and climbed in the Batmobile to see the result. Spider-man quickly landed on the trunk.

He should be cautious, the car's integrated circuits are off right now, he could have been hurt…I forgot, his sixth sense would have probably warned him. I wonder how he can underestimate such an ability…

He looked at the analysis at the same time as Peter, whose worried stare could be felt through his mask. The prints were extremely faint but the computer managed to find a match. The boots were definitely designed to resist extreme temperature and trauma just by their size. Judging by the size and weight, the computer calculated their best bet would be military or fire department.

I'll take care of the other, he his more qualified for the fire department's search. He quickly gave a small handheld scanner to Peter.

"Spider-man, you will go and search the two closest fire department building for a possible match, use this to inspect the equipment thoroughly. I will take care of the military records."

"Allright, but please contact me if you find anything." With these words he leaped and swung away.

I hate doing this, but I must do this on my own. Peter can't help me much with this particular investigation, and besides, I have another one.

He drove away while calling for Lucius Fox on the car's communicator.

"Mr. Wayne, what can I do for you?"

"I'm sending you right now the analysis of foot prints I discovered, please try and find where the boots come from."

"Will do…I must warn, these prints are very degraded, how you managed to even see them is almost beyond me, it may take a while, even for our best computers."

"Do what you can." With that he hung up and drove to the apartment where he last saw the body and the two thieves who probably had the scare of their life when they woke up.

Later…

Like he predicted, the body was untouched, the petty thieves were probably too scared to touch it and they did not even call the emergency number. Now that he had all his gear he resumed his inspection, beginning with deep-tissue scanning and ballistic analyzer.

The bullets were not completely destroyed after the man died, the Joker must have been at almost point blank range, the bullets matched the weapon the Joker almost always carry, and it is not the first time he found those bullets in a body. The scan revealed the man had abnormal muscle development and skin toughness, maybe the reason why the Joker shot at such close range.

This man could have fought me with his bare hands, I would not be surprised if he could shrug off even my strongest attacks, no wonder Batgirl was so easily fought off. The only reason he did not seriously injure her was he probably did not know how to fight.

Batman then examined the weird bag that rested on his side, still attached to the suit. He opened it to reveal a couple of weird orange small bombs. Despite their size, the detective vision and the chemical scanner indicated that those things were far more powerful than simple grenades. That was what he needed: this kind of bomb is not found anywhere, and he knows only one of his enemies capable of such creations that was relying on henchmen: Hugo Strange.

I'm not fool enough to disregard any other possibilities, since Strange never had any preference for colored bombs that looks more like little pumpkins. But this is our best lead so far. With that last thought he was about to leave when he received a call from Alfred. He answered while walking out.

"What is it Alfred?"

"Sir it is urgent, the blood sample of Spider-man you had tests running on… The lab computer gave a signal and when I checked it, it would appear the black particles we found in his blood cells are stimulated by violent trauma or stress."

"That I already knew."

"Yes, but it seems that every time the particles are stimulated, they seem to slightly detach themselves from the original blood cells. I am not an expert in this area, I may be wrong, but you should take a look at it, I'm sending the data to the Batmobile now."

"Thanks Alfred." Bruce cut off the communication and then hurried to the car to look at the data while driving.

The particles are not just separating from the cells, they are becoming independent again. If what Peter said is true, this creature may have left more than just leftovers. I was wrong to think this would not go any further, I must find a way to destroy those particles from his body. After we save Barbara.

With that scary thought he called the Batwing and a few minutes later the car and him were in the air, flying to Wayne Towers, hoping Lucius had found something.

With Peter…

The first fire station was a dead end, nothing but nice firemen who thanked him and clean equipment all over the storage room. When he arrived at the second, he heard talking and laughing inside, as if a group of people were joking together. He entered through a window and stuck to the ceiling. He quickly and to his relief found that it was just eight firemen talking to each other. He lowered himself behind one of them, hanging upside-down. All of them jumped at the surprise but quickly calmed down.

"Sorry for the reaction hero, we are just not used to people sneaking up on us like that…I mean from the ceiling…" A fireman said while smiling.

"Heh, can't really blame you, I know spiders tend to be unloved when indoors." Peter said which made everyone in the room laugh a little before Spider-man got down and landed on his feet.

"So what are you here for? Did we do something?"

"No no…but I am on a possible lead for a kidnapping and the fire stations are my first stop. Don't worry, I ain't accusing any of you, I just need to know some stuff."

The firemen looked at each other for a second then one of them approached him.

"I am the Chief here, you helped us last time, and it is only fair that we help you."

"I did not expect reward for what I do. But thanks. Did your gear got cleaned lately?"

"Not really, with the last fire we were busy and there is just us left here for the night…Why?"

"I would like to check every piece of gear you recently used." The Chief looked at him weirdly but shrugged.

"Very well, the equipment is all in the back."

Peter followed him but suddenly realized a few things. First: Even if they are not many, fireman gear is always maintained. Second: last time he saw this station, or any station, during a night swing, there was dozens of firemen, not just eight. Third: He was not THAT funny.

Weird, but I can't say anything with just that…let's just focus on the task here.

When they arrived, he saw that the "back" was a storage room with gear covering every wall. This might take a while…

"Thanks Chief, I'll take it from here." The Chief answered with simply a nod before leaving.

Peter looked at every boot he found but never saw ashes on them. It was natural, he was in the fire, not them. In his searching he touched a wall behind a uniform and it seemed different from the rest of the surfaces. He looked around and then, using only one finger, pushed and the "wall" fell.

It's like painted cardboard…what the hell?

He saw a bag inside, it did not make sense to him.

Okay, that's weird…Spider-sense!

He jumped to the ceiling just in time to evade an axe, held by the "Chief".

"I figured you were not clear…Who are you guys?" Peter asked as he lightly pressed on his wrist to record this.

"We thought you would be too stupid to find them, but since you are a tad smarter than expected, we'll just have to kill…"He did not finish his sentence as he was pulled up with a web, ending up hanging from Spidey's hand that held him by his collar.

He is gonna spit it out…

He jumped down, still holding the man in the air, and whispered.

"You're going to call your men here, choose your words carefully." He asked before jumping up and pressing on his arm. The man was slightly shaking.

"Guys, come here!" As he said that, the other seven "firemen" entered the storage room and were surprised to see their leader tensed.

"You allright boss?"

"No" Peter said as he jumped down, now in his black attire.

The seven of them jumped on him and he just sidestepped and knocked them out easily one by one, he picked the leader again.

"Who are you thugs? Don't make me repeat myself."

"We are paid by Penguin, our only order was to give some gear and delay the arrival of the other firemen! Please I've talked…"

At these words, Peter quickly moved his hand from his collar to his throat, and started squeezing, making the man cough.

"You feel this? This is but a fraction of what the commissioner and his daughter felt when their house burned. I should…" He then realized he was overdoing it and let the man fall to the ground.

"Batman will be a puppy compared to me if you don't tell me everything." He asked in the darkest voice he could muster, which was not that dark, but still had the desired effect.

"We gave the fire-proof boots to the guys so they could not be traced back and we were supposed to get rid of them afterwards…"

"That did not work out for you huh?"

"…And we called in the other firemen elsewhere while the guys were doing their job, I swear I did not know the details I was getting paid that's all! I don't even know where they are or who they are I swear!"

"So corrupted, all for money you won't benefit from anyway. You're so stupid you bought my act. You're not even worth my time." He threw him with the rest of his knocked out men and webbed them all together before grabbing the bag and leaving. But not before calling the police with the "address".

As he was swinging with the bag, he pressed on the side of his mask to know where Bruce was. He was at Wayne Towers.

He'll have a big surprise when I'll show this…

Back with Batman…

Bruce was with Lucius, who had succeeded in finding a match for the boot mark.

"Judging by the material, it would seem the boots that were used were firemen gear, I would not be surprised to find them in the bottom of the Gotham River by now, mind you…"

"That means we are back to square one on the kidnappers, but not necessarily on the mastermind. What do you think of this Mr. Fox?" Bruce asked as he showed him one of the small orange bombs. He looked at it for a second.

"An original design I must say, I don't think one of your opponents used this model yet am I right? This could be the work of Riddler…"

"I don't think so, he's would not let anyone else than him defeat me, I found this on the body of a henchman, killed by the Joker."

"Then that leave Mr. Strange and Freeze."

"I don't think Freeze is behind this, he is not the kidnapping and blackmail type." He declared before they heard a mocking voice behind them.

"Never fear, Spider-man is here with a gift!"

Batman and Lucius turned around to see Spidey, still in black, holding a big bag on his shoulder. Fox approached him and looked at him suspiciously.

"How did you get in without us knowing it?"

"Vents, spiders can crawl on any surface remember? There is a giant opening on the roof." He mockingly said. Bruce frowned a little but said nothing as he dropped the bag on a table in the room.

"I found those hidden in a fake wall inside the storage room of a fire station, full of fake firemen whom were accomplices in the kidnapping. You were right to send me there, oh and listen to this." He played the recording while getting the equipment out of the bag. "I figured they would get rid of it, but they were too lazy to do it themselves so they gave them to those idiots in the hope they do it. Did not work well." He said while chuckling.

"I'm impressed Spider-man, you would probably make a good detective." Lucius declared.

"Nah, just pure luck and stupid criminals, anyone could have done that." He paused for a second then talked more seriously. "Where is Penguin now? The guy squirmed but he did not know that."

"Thanks to your discovery, we finally know who the mastermind is, even if I'm surprised it is Cobblepot." Lucius said. "I am surprised he could make something like that." He lifted the bomb and Peter snatched it from his hand.

"A pumpkin bomb…Where did you find this?"

Batman knew he had no choice now but to tell him since Peter seemed to know more.

"I found it on the body of the man in green you and Batgirl fought, he was killed by the Joker."

"Do you think some of your enemies could have teamed up?"

"Unlikely, at least on the long term…"

"But if someone more powerful would gather them, would they do it?"

"Maybe out of fear, but not the Joker, he would probably just take advantage of the situation to cause more destruction. Where did you see that?"

Peter hesitated for a few seconds but answered.

"The pumpkin bombs are the main weapons of the Green Goblin."

Bruce made wide eyes for a second, it would seem that Peter was not sent here by chance. But if he was as dangerous as he said, the city is in great danger. He saw Spider-man looking outside through one of the big windows and pressing on his suit to revert back to red and blue. Lucius smiled a little.

"It would seem you use this little feature as an intimidation method more than a practical one Spider-man." Peter turned his head to look at him.

"Yeah, and it seems to work so far, the criminals are afraid of the dark in this city."

"Speaking of this feature, I am warning you that it may stop working at some point if you use it too much, the material was not made for prolonged use…"

"Aww…I was starting to have fun with this gimmick. Why the warning?"

"What happens if you are blending in the darkness and you suddenly revert back? You are not particularly discreet in red and blue…" Batman said quickly before Lucius could answer. Peter scratched the back of his head.

"Guess you're right, is there a solution?"

"I would need the suit back for some time so I can test and study it further." Fox said.

"Allright, just let me make another suit first…"

"You'll make yourself another one in the cave, we have to go back there anyway." Bruce interrupted before nodding to Lucius and walking away silently.

"I guess Batman there will send you the suit, is there anything else?"

"I wanted to talk to you since I heard from him that you are brilliant."

"Huh, well I'll come see you when we get her back. Thanks for the warning." With these words he ran after Batman.

In the Batcave…

Bruce was on the computer while Spider-man was using the equipment to make himself a new suit so he could send the upgraded back to Lucius. As he was narrowing the possible locations for the kidnappers he was also realizing many things.

I remember when we first met he fainted after the beam fell on him, but my guess is that it was the body reacting from the first stimulation of those particles combined with the injury. He is too durable to fall unconscious so easily. I am still skeptic about his recent behavior, he seems even cockier than before, if that's possible….

After several minutes Bruce heard the sound of Peter's web-shooters and saw the familiar red and blue hero land beside him.

"I think I'm going to miss the other one a little, it was nice to have new gadgets. So, where are we with their location? The night is almost over."

Batman frowned but showed him what the computer found while explaining.

"While you were sewing over there I used the Batwing remotely and the computer to search the city for possible locations the Penguin could be hiding in. And there is two possible places: His Iceberg Lounge night club and the construction site I discovered after following Penguin's trail from the warehouse you left him. Said construction site has indeed been bought by Oswald Cobblepot to build another night club…"

"Why would the guy need another night club? And why in the world is he even capable of buying a damn building on a whim without every authority inspecting it?!" Peter almost yelled in anger. Bruce looked at him with a brow raised and continued.

"The Iceberg Lounge is a legal night club, but it is just a front as it also serves for illegal bargains and other activities, I am monitoring this place from time to time while disguised and lately he is absent from his main club."

"Don't tell me, you suspect he is hiding in his night club to-be?"

"Indeed, may I ask what is wrong with you? You seem a little angrier than before."

"Of course I'm angry: I've been launched in the most corrupted place I've ever seen with little information, I fought a giant monster that almost killed Barbara twice, I've learned that the symbiote left traces of him, and to top it all I've been rejected and tossed aside by the first person since Gwen that I've…" He only then realized what he just said and stopped talking and turned his head away.

Bruce looked at him and realized what memories he just brought back in Peter's mind. He also understood why he was so angry when they met before the fire: Barbara probably rejected him moments ago.

I can understand his behavior, but I still can't completely assume that the creature is not involved.

"Talking about this won't solve anything, we must focus on getting her back." Bruce said while Peter lightly nodded and looked back at the screen.

"The sun is rising, I'll eat something then Peter Parker will pay a visit to the night club." Peter said, his tone less angry than before.

"Be cautious Peter, this place is dangerous despite the appearance, don't forget it is the main base of operation of one of the biggest crime lord in Gotham."

"I'll find something, Don't forget that since I work for Bruce Wayne, I have an asset that will get me inside easily: Money. And if I find nothing I'll go to the site." He said while chuckling a little. He then proceeded to leave the Batcave. Leaving Batman in front of the computer.

At least he is motivated, though I pity the thugs that will get in his way. He is on Penguin's trail, Bruce Wayne will have to pay a visit to the GCPD and to Wayne Towers for info. Batman will have to wait the night to get out. He thought.

As he removed his suit, he wondered about every single way this could go wrong, still worried about Peter's condition.

Elsewhere…

Barbara was laying on the ground, blindfolded and tied in the dark room she was in since the last day. She could barely move. She tried to struggle out, but she could not fight without revealing her identity. After hours of struggling against her binds she gave up on trying to break them. At this point she just hoped Batman or Spider-man would come and save her. She could not stop thinking about the last time she spoke to him, about his reaction, about her lie.

Suddenly she heard a door opening and footsteps approaching. She instinctively sit up and flexed her leg, ready to kick at the slightest opportunity. The footsteps stopped and she only heard a sinister laugh.

"You are quite impressive you know that? You still resist, despite your situation. But I will comfort you: Someone is coming to save you. Whether he will succeed or not is still not clear. But I don't care about where we are, he made the mistake of caring for someone again. You are lucky the other idiots are merely thieves." He then laughed again, harder.

Barbara flinched a little at the voice, the sheer evil in it was unreal. It reminded her of the Joker's but with a little more brain behind it.

"Who are you?" she asked while still being on her guard.

"Well, since you will know it pretty soon anyway…" With these words he brutally removed her blindfold.

The man was wearing a green suit of armor, it reminded her of Batman's titanium-plated suit a little. The armor was seemingly a one-piece except for the mask, which was even worse than the rest. The helmet looked like a nightmarish version of a goblin with yellow eyes and an opening over the mouth area that actually looked like a mouth with small pointy teeth.

"I am the Green Goblin, and your precious Spider-man will come to save you. I don't care about the stupid ransom these imbeciles want using you. You will die in his arms, knowing he is the only one responsible for your death. And when he is broken, I will kill him. Happy thinking." With these last words he left the room and closed the door, not even caring about the blindfold.

Barbara looked around, finding out that she was in a small storage room with only one steel door as a way out. For a second she almost lost hope but then she remembered the gift from Spider-man. She tried to get the small spider out of her pocket but without her hand it was impossible.

I must reach him somehow, it cannot end like this. This madman does not know who I am. Come on Barbara there must be a way…

She suddenly had an idea, it was risky but worth a shot. She very slowly rolled on the floor, and suddenly heard a barely audible beeping sound.

YES! Please Peter see it…For both our sake.


So this is the 12th chapter everyone. Thanks for the reviews it always help. Don't hesitate to leave one.

Sorry for the slow updates. Hope you enjoyed. See you in the next chapter!