Rebirth
Bruce Wayne sat on his chair in front of the batcomputer, and even though he initially showed no emotion, inside he was livid by what he was seeing. It was a simulation of the compounds inside Powers' gas destroying a living cell completely.
"It's worse than I thought. It's some form of mutagen. Powers is making nerve gas." Bruce said as he clenched the disc in his hand in anger. "He's using my company to make nerve gas."
Bruce heard something behind him and saw Nick looking at one of the display cases that held the Scarface puppet. "Don't touch that."
"I heard about the puppet Scarface, how it was used by Arnold Wesker. You know some fan sites debate whether or not he was just plain crazy, or if the puppet was actually possessed." Nick said as he looked at the puppet.
Nick stepped back when Bruce's cane smacked the case. "This isn't a free trip to a museum, so stay away from these."
"Okay, got it." Nick relented as he stepped back. "But tell him that."
Bruce heard something open and turned to see Terry opening the display case of his black and red suit. "Don't touch that, either."
"Synaptic controls, neural muscular amplification, flight capability, this thing might be old, but it's still cutting edge." Terry said as he admired the suit. "Bet it amplifies your strength ten to one."
"Plus, it's mostly all black so it's very stealthy." Nick commented.
Terry reached out to the suit, but Bruce spoke up. "I told you not to touch it."
"But aren't you going to-" Terry tried speaking.
"No!" Bruce interrupted.
"Your very own company is making nerve gas that's going to hurt, even worse, kill very good people." Nick explained.
"He's right, you've gotta do something. You're the only person I can get a hold of, considering Spider-Man doesn't really have a hotline. You're Batman." Terry pleaded.
"I was Batman." Bruce said as he handed Terry the disc. "Give this to Commissioner Barbara Gordon, tell her I sent you."
"The cops?!" Terry exclaimed. "They'll never be-"
"Do it!" Bruce said sternly.
Terry glared at the old man before grabbing the disc. "Something happened to you, and it wasn't just that you got old."
Terry stormed off up the stairs and Nick was about to follow him, but paused as he looked back at the retired vigilante legend.
"Ever since I was kid, I've always wanted to meet you. The things I've wanted to ask you would go through my mind constantly, but meeting you right here, right now, only one question goes through my mind." Nick said.
"What might that be?" Bruce asked.
"How could you stand by and let this happen?" Nick asked, not out of anger, but out of pure disbelief. "You did everything you could to help this city, and now that you have the chance to do it again you even consider-"
"That's right, I won't." Bruce interrupted. "I gave up that life."
Nick stared at him for a moment before sighing and walking off after his friend. "That's not the only thing you've given up on."
Bruce watched him go before he turned back to the suit and closed the glass door.
/
Nick and Terry made it back into town and were mostly silent throughout the walk. Terry took it the hardest, as this was mostly personal for him. What happened to his dad has got to be connected to this gas Powers is selling, and now his best chance to get answers to what really happened that night seemed to be gone.
Nick saw the look on his friends face and didn't know what to say. "Hey man, you, uh... you doing okay?"
"I don't know, man." Terry said. "Going to the cops seems like a big mistake and it's not like we can use a spider signal for the other masked vigilante in town."
Nick patted his friend on the shoulder and tried to give him a reassuring smile. "Listen, things might work out in the end. Anyway, my home is in the other direction, do you think you can get that disc to the cops real quick?"
"Sure thing." Terry said as he walked off down the street.
Nick watched him leave before he started running off back to his home. He would've gone straight to WaynePowers at that very moment, but he was low on web fluid so he needed to get home as quickly as possible to make some more.
'I knew Powers was up to no good the moment I first talk to him.' Nick thought to himself. 'Don't worry, Terry. There may not be a spider signal, but I'll still get that guy, I promise you that.'
/
Bruce sat down in the living room of his manor, watching the news. It showed the welcoming of the foreign diplomat from Kasnia arriving at the airport. Bruce narrowed his eyes in anger as he saw that the one welcoming him was none other than Derek Powers himself.
"Gotham rolled out the red carpet today for Kasnian Minister of Commerce, Vilmos Iggins. Mr. Iggins is here to take part in the World Trade Conference, and was greeted by WaynePowers CEO, Derek Powers." The news anchor said.
Bruce heard enough as he immediately turned the T.V. off, not wanting to even look at the man who is tarnishing his family's company. He got up from his seat and walked off, but stopped when he heard Ace barking outside. He opened the window and was surprised to see Ace tied up to the front gate. Taking out a baterang that he always kept in his coat, he threw it with excellent precision and managed to cut Ace loose.
He opened the front door, allowing Ace inside, who started sniffing the ground frantically. "What is it? What's the matter, boy?" Bruce asked.
Ace started barking again and ran off deeper into the manor. He paused and started barking at the grandfather clock, which held the secret entrance to the Batcave. Bruce had a bad feeling about this as he unlocked the entrance and headed down the stairs.
His feelings were justified when he spotted his latest suit not in its glass case.
Bruce narrowed his eyes in anger as he knew who took it.
/
Spider-Man swung from building to building with only one destination in mind. He launched a web line and swung down till he was almost touching the street, and when he came back up he let of, sending him high into the air. He landed next to a building and stuck to it, eyeing the WaynePowers building from a distance.
'Alright, I can't just walk through the front door, that would be stupid. Maybe there's a ventilation duct on the roof I can use, sneak in all super spy style.' Spider-Man thought to himself as he made another web line and was about to start swinging.
He paused before he could though, when he spotted something in the air. 'No...freaking...way.' Nick thought in shock.
/
'This suit is amazing!' Terry thought to himself in amazement.
It might have not been the smartest idea taking the suit from the old man's nose, but he had to do something or else someone was going to get hurt, or worse.
So here he was, wearing the bat-suit, gliding over the buildings while making his way to the WaynePowers building. He had a bit of trouble trying to get used to the suit, but he's a fast learner. He landed on top of a building, but lost his balance and nearly fell off. He grabbed the edge and was able to pull himself back up and perched himself safely.
"Whoa, that was a close one." Terry said with relief.
"Yeah, those first landings can be quite a doozy."
Terry nearly jumped in surprise when he turned around and saw, perched up on a pole, Spider-Man looking down at him.
"Personally, I don't have to worry about it, considering I can always stick the landing." Spider-Man quipped. He may be joking now, but inside he was worried. 'Oh, Terry, what are you doing?'
It had to be Terry underneath that suit. Only he and Terry knew about the Batcave, and by the way Bruce was angry at them from discovering it in the first place, they were probably the only ones. He didn't need the suit, so the only option on who was under it right now was Terry.
"Spider-Man?" Terry asked in surprise.
"You see anybody else wearing a spider costume?" Spider-Man joked as he landed in front of him. "So, mind telling me what's with the cosplay?"
"It's not cosplay." Terry said, narrowing his eyes.
"Then mind telling me why someone is up on a roof dressed up as the legendary Batman?" Spider-Man said, fencing ignorance. If told Terry that he knew it was him, he would quickly put together that he was Nick under this mask.
Terry had to think for a moment before coming to a decision. On his way to the cops, Powers came in out of nowhere, then he and his goons managed to take the disc from him. He may have the suit, but he's gonna need someone with more experience than him to help if he's to stand a chance.
"Listen, I know this is going to sound strange, but I need to get into that building." Terry said, pointing to the WaynePowers building. "Powers, the CEO, is creating a chemical nerve gas that could hurt a lot of people. He's meeting with the representative from Kasnia, and I'll bet he's going to sell it to him. I'm also willing to bet that they don't care who gets hurt in the process."
"Alright, I'll go and see what I can do, while you go and call the cops." Spider-Man said as he was about to launch a web line.
"No dice, I'm coming with." Terry said, halting the hero's movement by placing a hand on his wrist.
"Look, just because you're wearing that suit, doesn't mean you have the skills to go and do this sort of thing." Spider-Man said, not wanting to put his friend in danger.
"I know, it's just..." Terry paused as he thought about what to say. Steeling himself, he continued. "If you knew something bad might happen, and you had the power to change that, but didn't, what would happen."
"Bad things." Spider-Man said softly.
"Exactly, and I can't just stand by and let that happen. If there's any way that I can help then I'm going to take it." Terry said strongly.
Spider-Man looked at Terry for a moment, and couldn't help but feel sympathy for his friend. What happened to Terry's father, definitely involved something terrible with this gas, and he wants the chance to get justice for what he died for. If Nick was in his shoes, spider powers or not, he would have done the exact same thing Terry was doing.
"Alright." Spider-Man said with a sigh. He's seen Terry in action, so he knows he wasn't helpless. "If we're going to do this, than we're going to do this together." Spider-Man said as he held out his hand to his disguised friend.
Terry smiled as he shook the hero's hand. "Let's do this."
Spider-Man launched his web line and started swinging right towards their destination, while Terry activated the wings in his suit and started gliding towards it, but activated some rockets on his boots which caused him to fly right towards it instead of gliding. Terry landed on a ledge close to the top of the building, near the main window of Powers' office.
Spider-Man landed next to him and gave Terry a look that, even though he couldn't see his expression, just said 'seriously.' "Really? Rocket boots? That's just cheating."
"Next time, I'll give you a five minute head start." Terry said with a smirk.
Terry looked and saw Powers and Fixx meeting with the Kasnian representative while showing what looked like video clips. Terry placed two fingers on the window which had transceivers in them so he could hear what they were saying. He handed Spider-Man an earpiece so he could hear it as well, but the hero shook his head while pointing to his ear, meaning he could hear them just fine thanks to his enhanced senses.
"It's the ultimate in germ warfare. A viral mutagen so quick acting and completely invasive, no living cell can resist it. It all began with experiments on plants." Powers said over Terry's transceiver as he showed a clip of the nerve gas in a glass chamber completely turning a potted plant to dust.
"Impressive, but we're looking to destroy more than our enemies' crops, Mr. Powers." Iggins said as he wanted to see better results.
"Keep watching. This was our first experiment with livestock." Powers said as he showed the clip of gas being used on a baby cow.
The two vigilantes may not have been able to see what was happening on the clip, but given the stunned silence from Iggins, they probably didn't want to know. Powers just smirked at the stunned silence however.
"I trust the film rests any lingering doubts, Mr. Iggins. As you can see, the results are the same even with animals." Powers said.
"And humans? You've tested it on them to?" Iggins asked curiously.
"The laws here aren't as liberal on those sort of things as they are in your country, but we did have... a little accident." Powers said as he pulled out some photos and started showing him various pictures. "One of my workers, terrible thing, there was gas leak in his lab. This is what he looked like the next day...two hours later...an hour after that."
Powers showed him photo after photo and each one seemed to horrify Iggins even more. "There is no cure?" Iggins asked.
"Extreme heat or radiation, but when it reaches this stage there really isn't an option." Powers said as he showed the last photo, which really caused Iggins to recoil in fear. "Dust to dust." Powers said without a hint of remorse.
'One of his own workers died because of his gas, and he doesn't even bat an eyelash? This guy really is the lowest of the low.' Nick thought to himself in anger, which Terry seemed to share as he glared at the group of people.
"Consider what a real dose of this gas could do to those six armored divisions your neighbors keep on your border. Gone, within a matter of hours." Powers said as he had Fixx burn the photos and tossed the ash in front of Iggins.
Iggins soon got over his shock and smiled cruelly and got up. "Delivery, it's in progress?"
"My men are loading the canisters as we speak. They leave tonight, via a hover transport." Powers informed. "My assistant, Mr. Fixx will personally supervise the shipment."
"Excellent." Iggins said as he shook hands with the CEO. "Goodbye Mr. Powers, I will see you again soon, I hope."
"Yes, soon." Powers said joyfully, but when Iggins left he had anything but joy on his face. "Mr. Fixx, any word on the kid?"
"Not yet, but they're looking." Fixx answered.
"I don't need to remind you how important this deal is to WaynePowers. It's going to open up the entire Eastern Block for us, so I don't need it spoiled by some snot-nosed punk." Powers said in anger.
"I took care of his old man, didn't I?" Fixx said without remorse.
Nick was shocked when he heard that. He already figured out that the Jokerz weren't the ones that killed Warren McGinnis in the first place, but he did not expect that it was that guy who did it. Looking back on it, it all makes sense. Warren found out about the gas and Powers sent his lackey to make sure he wouldn't start talking.
He looked towards Terry and saw him clenching his fist in utter anger. He could understand how he's feeling, and now his friend has an even bigger reason to see this through till the end.
"Little early for Halloween."
Both vigilantes looked behind them and saw Powers' armed guards aiming their guns at them, waiting for them to make a move.
"But just in time for Fall." Terry said as he fell down the ledge and glided across the air, with Spider-Man following right behind.
The guards tried shooting the both of them, but Terry and Spider-Man managed to maneuver put of the way and enter the building through an opening doorway.
"Hit the alarms!" The armed guard exclaimed over the radio.
/
Alarms blared all throughout the building as workers, both guards and scientists, scrambled throughout the building trying to figure out what was going on. Powers and Fixx were sitting on a rover that was taking them to the hover transports and grew concerned when they heard the alarms going off.
"It's Powers, what's going on?" Powers demanded, answering a call from his phone.
"Spider-Man just entered the building, along with Batman." A guard said over the comms.
"Batman?" Powers said in surprise and confusion.
"Or some guy dressed like him. My men are canvassing the building, if they're still in here, we'll find them."
Powers hung and gave a skeptical look to Mr. Fixx. "Spider-Man I can understand, but Batman?"
/
Spider-Man and Terry his inside a storage and hid behind some crates to avoid the guards running by.
"Okay, I think we're in the clear now." Spider-Man said.
Terry nodded in agreement. "Looks like it. Now we just need to-"
"McGinnis, can you hear me?"
Terry looked around in surprise as he thought he heard a voice. "Who's there?" Terry whispered in surprise
"Hey man, you okay?" Spider-Man asked.
"It's Wayne."
'Mr. Wayne?' Terry thought, trying really hard not to say that name out loud as he didn't want Spider-Man to know about the old man as the previous Batman. "Where are you?"
"There's a radio receiver in your cowl. Now listen to me, McGinnis, I want that suit back, and I want it now."
"Uh, dude?" Spider-Man said as he pointed to the entrance as more armed guards came into the room looking for them.
"Oh great, now's not really a good time." Terry said, with that last part to Wayne. Both teens retreated to find a batter hiding spot. They hid behind a stack of crates, but Spider-Man shot a web to the ceiling and pulled himself up for a better vantage point.
"That suit is not yours. You had no right!"
"Someone had to do something, and it sure wasn't going to be you. Besides, I got backup with Spider-Man with me." Terry retorted.
"I don't care, I'm warning you."
More armed guards came in and had their weapons primed and ready. Terry hid behind the crates, but failed to see an armed guard coming in frk the other direction, and spot his shadow.
"He's over there!" The guard exclaimed as he was about to make his way over to him.
He didn't get his chance when Spider-Man came swinging in and delivered a kick to the guard, sending him crashing into the wall. The other two guards came in and tried to shoot the spider-hero, but Terry came tackling them at high speeds thanks to his rocket boots. He caused the two guards to crash into a large crate, which caused it to fall on top of them. Terry flew up on top of a small mechanical crane and smirked.
"This suit works better than I thought." Terry said.
"This is your last chance; I suggest you take it."
"Can't." Terry said as he avoided getting shot from the guards as they got up. "Having too much fun."
"Fun, huh?"
Meanwhile, Spider-Man dodged a punch from the guard he was fighting and uppercut him, sending him flying. He looked back and saw Terry gliding down and knocked down the two guards he was fighting, then landing next to the web-swinger. A door opened and three more guards came running in, one aiding the two that Terry was fighting, and two aiding the one that Spider-Man was fighting.
"Six on two, huh? Hopefully backup's coming." Batman said with a smirk.
"Yeah, these guys are gonna need it." Spider-Man said, smirking as well underneath his mask.
The three guards facing Spider-Man charged in and the hero avoided each of their punches and attacks with ease, thanks to his athleticism. A guard tried punching him again, but Spider-Man shot a web glob in his face, blinding him, and then ducking under the punch, followed up with a kick to the back. The two other guards tried blindsiding him, but the hero raised both his fists without even looking and punched both of them.
Back with Terry, he hasn't started fighting the guards he was facing yet, but was ready to go. Before he could even make a move though, the suit started sparking and he felt paralyzed.
"Hey, I can't move! What'd you do?" Terry exclaimed as he knew that the old man was the only one capable of doing this.
"It's a failsafe device. Paralyzes the suit, in case the wrong person gets into it."
"But you can't." Terry pleaded.
"I just did."
Terry looked at the guard as he prepared to punch him. "Hey...hey!" Terry said, in a desperate plea attempt, but it was for nothing as the guard punched him in the face.
The other guards were confused on where all his fight went, but they weren't going to look a gift horse in the mouth. They all started to gang up on him and punch him down into ground. They then started to kick him, and Terry couldn't do anything to stop them.
Spider-Man saw that his friend was in trouble and tried to make his way towards them. "Hang on!"
Spider-Man didn't get far as his spider sense flared for a moment. He leapt back to avoid getting hit by a few shots from another guard with his laser rifle. The guard continued to try and shoot the web head, but Spider-Man launched a web line at gun and yanked it out of his hand. He twirled it around and flung it back at the guard, hitting him right in the head. With him down, the spider hero went to help his friend before it was too late.
Terry continued grunting in pain as the guards continued to beat him down while he laid on the ground. One of the guards picked up his gun on the floor and walked up.
"Out of the way." The guard ordered as they all stepped back. He prepped his gun and was about ready to shoot him.
"Wayne...they're gonna kill me." Terry muttered, hoping the elder hero would have a change of heart.
Before the guard could shoot him, Spider-Man launched a webline and yanked the gun out of his hands. The four guards turned their attention towards Spider-Man as they reached behind their backs and pulled out electric batons and charged at him.
Spider-Man maneuvered out of the way from each of their strikes and delivered a punch to one of them. Another guard thrusted the baton towards the hero's stomach, but Spider-Man maneuvered out of the way, which caused the guard to shock one of his comrades, who was directly behind Spider-Man. Spider-Man then leapt up in the air and delivered a spin kick, knocking both guards back.
The moment Spider-Man landed back on the ground, his spider sense flared immediately as the fourth guard came in and was about to swing his own electric baton at the hero. Spider-Man leapt into the air and did a midair twirl to land on the guard's side.
'That looked...familiar...' Terry thought to himself as he felt like he's seen those moves before. His eyes widen when he saw the guards he was fighting getting back up. "Wayne, listen, Spider-Man needs help. If you really were Batman, then you would never be so callous as to just sit back and let someone die. Not when you have the chance to stop it." Terry said strongly, but didn't receive an answer right away...
...until the suit sparked and he was able to move again.
"Yes!" Terry cheered as he fired a baterang from his wrist, knocking a baton from one of the guards' hands. He got back up and charged on delivering a spin kick to two of the guards.
"Glad to see you back in the fight." Spider-Man said as he punched the third guard, sending flying and crashing into the wall.
"Yeah, had a bit of a misstep." Terry said as he punched the last guard away.
It seemed like they were in the clear, but then more guards started pouring into the room with their guns ready.
"How many of these guys are there?" Spider-Man said as they both leapt on top of the conveyer belt being held up, and Terry pushed a crate off it, knocking some of the guards down. Both of them leapt away and ran across the top of a large stack of crates before hiding behind them.
"McGinnis, I gave you a break so you could save your friend. Now bring that suit back."
"Love to, but we got these guards all over us." Terry said as he spotted a few guards searching for them behind another stack of crates.
"Who are you taking to?" Spider-Man asked, though he can already guess he knew, but he had to feign ignorance, or else risking his own identity.
"It's complicated. I'll tell you later." Terry said quickly.
"There's a broom closet on the north wall. Can you get to it?"
"A broom closet?" Terry asked incredulously, as if it was a bad joke.
"Do it!"
Terry looked to where the north wall was and did manage to see the broom closet. He tapped Spider-Man on the soldier and gestured for him to follow. They both jumped from their hiding place and ran into the closet, but they managed to hear the guards heading in their direction.
"Well...there are worst places to hide." Spider-Man said in optimism.
"Yeah, well now we're sitting ducks." Terry said before speaking to the earpiece in the suit. "I hope your happy."
"The far wall. You two need to put your hand against it and pressed hard."
Terry was confused by that, but he didn't really have much of a choice. "Follow my lead." Terry said to Spider-Man, who nodded.
They both pressed their hands on the wall and pushed as hard as they could. It turned out to be not that difficult to push due to Spider-Man's enhanced strength. The started to rotate and they found themselves in a completely different area on the other side of the wall.
Not a moment too soon, as the guards blew the door to the closet off its hinges and stormed inside, but found no sign of the heroes.
/
Spider-Man and Terry both breathed a sigh of relief as they realized that they were in the clear, at least for now, anyway. All the while, Terry continued to give Spider-Man a critical look before turning him around so that they were looting each other in the eye.
"Listen, I need you to be straight with me, and don't even think about lying." Terry said firmly.
"What are you talking about?" Spider-Man asked in surprise.
"Nick...is that you?" Terry asked firmly.
"Huh?" Spider-Man asked, trying to think of a way out of this.
"Don't lie." Terry said even more firm.
Spider-Man didn't say anything at first, before giving a brief sigh in defeat and nodding his head. "Yeah...it's me."
Terry nodded and let to of his shoulder. "I kind of figured."
"How'd you know?" Spider-Man as he thought he didn't give anything away.
"You used the same moves to avoid getting hit by those weapons that you used against Mr. Wayne." Terry answered.
"Wow...good eye." Spider-Man complimented on that keen observation. "So...what now?"
"What do you mean?" Terry asked.
"I mean is this the part where you scold me and tell me what I'm doing is too dangerous?" Spider-Man asked. Terry just raised his eyebrow and pointed to the bat suit he was wearing. "Yeah, that's a good point. If that's the case then I should. BE asking what were you thinking stealing from that suit from Mr. Wayne, who I can only assume is the one you've been talking to."
"Someone had to do something, and I didn't know you were Spider-Man at the time, so I thought I could try to help." Terry reasoned.
"Well...I guess I can't fault you on that one." Spider-Man said with a chuckle. "I guess we can't really fault one another for put choices, as we'd both be hypocrites."
"I guess so." Terry said with a smile, seeing as how they're still cool. He then turned his attention to the wall they exited from. "That secret passageway was pretty cool."
"I built the place, remember?"
'Right, almost forgot about him.' Terry thought before speaking up. "Then you'd know where they'd be loading a hover transport, wouldn't you, Mr. Wayne?" Spider-Man stepped back, knowing that he should Terry handle this.
"Forget it, you're coming back here."
"Powers is shipping the virus put tonight! It's got to be stopped!" Terry argued.
"I'll call the police. Let them handle it. You and Styles need to get out of there and let this go."
"We can do this." Terry said firmly.
"I'll shut down the suit again, and this time...it'll be for good."
"I read up on you, Mr. Wayne. I know how you lost your folks." Terry said solemnly. Not hearing a response, Twrry continued to speak. "The man who murdered my dad is on that transport. This is my one chance to nail him."
Spider-Man didn't say anything, but he could hear the conviction in Terry's voice. He understood why he was doing this from the beginning, but now he had an even greater reason on why he had to do this. This was not only about stopping Powers, but also to finally get some closure for what happened to his dad.
Terry still didn't receive a response so he placed his hands on the railing and waited for the paralysis to happen. He then looked towards his friend and gave him a bit of a pleading look. "Nick, please finish this. Powers can't launch that transport."
Spider-Man and placed a hand on his friend's shoulder. "I promise, I'll stop him. And your dad will get the justice he deserves."
"He won't be going alone. The hover pads are in the northeast sector."
Terry smiled as he heard Wayne give him the go ahead. Terry true did back to his friend and nodded his head, indicating that he was okay to go. Spider-Man smiled underneath his mask as they both jumped over the railing and made their way across the room to their destination.
"Wish us luck." Terry said, as they both made their to their destination.
/
Bruce turned around in his chair, away from the screen, with a solemn look on his face. He never thought he would be a part of this life again, in any shape or form, but those two...they were willing to put their lives on the line for the greater good. Sure, Bruce was furious that Terry stole the suit from him...
...but if he was honestly speaking, he would have done the exact same thing if their roles were reversed.
"Good luck, you two." Bruce said softly.
/
Terry and Spider-Man soon made it to the hover pad loading facility. They haven't launched yet, but it looks like they were just starting to finish up as they loaded more canisters. There appeared to be more guards as they patrolled the areas, most likely keeping an eye out for them.
Terry magnetized his boots so he was hanging upside down and Spider-Man stuck to the wall. They managed to see Powers down below speaking over the phone and he did not look happy. Terry handed Spider-Man a spare earpiece so that way he could hear what's being said over the transceivers on Terry's fingers.
"You said they wouldn't be a problem!" Powers said angrily over the phone. "Well deal with it!" Powers then hanged up before Fixx came walking up to him.
"Almost done loading, sir." Fixx informed.
"The sooner the better." Powers said in a troubled tone. "They haven't found our trespassers yet, and I don't want them interfering."
"Hey look, there they are!" Are guard on the catwalk exclaimed as he and few others spotted them.
"Uh oh." Spider-Man said as he leapt onto the catwalk. "I'll go high, you go low."
"Got it." Terry said as he demagnetized his boots.
The guards on the catwalk were about to shoot at Spider-Man, but the hero launched a webline and did a swing kick on the guard up front, sending him crashing into the guards behind him. One of them tried to get up and tried shooting him again, but Spider-Man used his webs to yank the guard towards him and kneed him in the face.
Terry deployed the wings under his arms and he flew straight towards Powers. A squad of guards came up and tried shooting at him, but Terry flew around and avoided each shot. He then came in from the side and tackled all of the guards down, knocking them out. With their oppositions taken care of, both heroes came down and stood in front of Powers and Fixx.
"Sorry, but airlines are closed now, so we'll have to cancel your flight." Spider-Man joked. "But I'm sure you can reschedule...in about twenty five to fifty years."
"Meaning your out of business, starting now." Terry said firmly before turning his attention to his father's murderer. "And as for you, Fixx, I'm taking you in for the murder of-"
"Look out!" Spider-Man exclaimed as he pushed Terry out of the way.
Good thing he did as they were able to avoid a mechanical arm-clamp being attached to a forklift vehicle, used by another one of Powers' guards. They mechanical arm came at them, but they both jumped out of the way again.
Fixx pulled out his gun and was about to shoot them, but Powers took the gun from his hand. "Get that hovercraft in the air!" Powers ordered, to which Fixx nodded and made his way inside the hovercraft.
The mechanical arm attacked them again, but this time, instead of avoiding, Spider-Man raised his hands and grabbed the clamp and started pushing it back. Spider-Man grunted due to the effort in pushing it back, but his super strength was able to continue pushing the mechanical arm back.
The guard operating the mechanical arm growled in anger as he continued to pressure on the machine, but it didn't seem to deter the hero. He failed to notice Terry coming in from the side and yanked him out from the operating seat, and then knocking him put with a punch. This stopped the machine so Spider-Man could let go.
They didn't have time to take breath as Powers started shooting at them, so they his behind the machine. They peered around the corner and saw that the cargo doors on the hovercraft closed as it lifted off. Right now, the heroes needed to take Powers down quickly to stop it. Terry brought out a baterang and threw it at Powers, but the corrupt businessman shot it down.
"Like shooting skeets." Powers said with a smirk. Spider-Man leapt from his hiding spot and tried swinging towards him, bit Powers expertly shot at the webline, causing Spider-Man to fall down and crash.
"Okay, you're a pretty good sharpshooter." Spider-Man said as he got back up.
"I hit my marks in more than just the stock market." Powers said as he was about to shoot at him again.
Terry knew he had to think of something and his eyes landed on one of the canisters with the nerve gas. He grabbed the canister and threw it at Powers with all his might, with the businessman seeing it coming and pointing his gun at it due to reflexes. Spider-Man could instantly tell what was gonna happen and he leapt out of the way with all his might
Powers fired at the canister...and it all went downhill for him. The canister explodes from the laser shot, not only knocking Powers to the ground, but also unleashing the gas within.
"No..." Powers muttered when he opened his eyes and saw that the gas completely surrounded him...and he was breathing it in. "NOOOOOOOO!"
Terry glared at Powers, the back of his taking in a trace amount of joy at the irony. He ceased his thought when he saw the hover craft taking off into the air.
"Spider-Man, we need to move!" Terry exclaimed as he deployed his wings and activated his rocket boots, giving chase to the hovercraft.
"I'm on it!" Spider-Man replied as he ran up the wall and leapt into the air. He fired a webline that just made it and caught the wing of the hovercraft, lifting him off as well.
Back on the landing platform, the gas continued to spread throughout the area and Powers coughed profusely from it. He collapsed onto the ground and noticed the black splotches on his hand, indicating the effects were already taking over. Powers noticed a couple of workers, but they ran away to not get caught in the gas.
"Help me...HELP ME!" Powers called out to deaf ears.
/
Terry and Spider-Man climbed along the wings of the hovercraft as it flew over the ocean, with Terry using the claws on his suit and Spider-Man using his natural sticking powers. They struggled to hang on, but they eventually jumped to the top hatch and pride it open. Two guards were there and were about to fire, but Spider-Man shot two weblines and yanked them, then tossing them into the water below.
They both jumped inside and could see how much canisters were being transported. There was enough nerve gas in here to poison an entire country, which they supposed was the entire idea. They saw the pilot seat and wasted no time in jumping towards it and turning it around to face Fixx.
However, much to their surprise, no one was sitting in the pilot seat.
"He set it to autopilot." Terry said with a growl as he saw the flashing autopilot switch.
"When where is-" Spider-Man tried to speak, but stopped when his spider sense flared up. He turned, but was too late as Fixx came in out of nowhere and punched him back with electrified knuckle gauntlets on his fists.
Terry tried to get put f the way, but Fixx punched him a couple of times, sending crashing into the railing. Terry got up and glared at Fixx with his lip bleeding, but before Fixx could hit him again, Spider-Man came in and delivered a kick to the guy's chest, pushing him back a bit. Spider-Man helped Terry to his feet as they both stared hard at their enemy.
"You both are pretty strong." Fixx said with a smirk as his gauntlets surged with electricity. He then turned his sights on Terry. "Especially you, for a clown dressing up like Batman."
Terry knew that this wasn't exactly where he thought his life would take him, but putting on the suit, doing some good, he knew that it was something he had to do. He wasn't going to be that punk highschool kid anymore...he was going to be something more.
"I...am...Batman!" Terry, now fully accepting the mantle, declared strongly.
Not wanting to speak anymore, Fixx charged at them and tried to deliver an electrified punch, which both heroes dodged. Batman punched Fixx a couple of times, with Spider-Man delivering his own punches followed up by a cartwheel kick to his chin. Fixx staggered back before his eyes focused on the heroes...
...who both charged in at the same time and delivered a double punch to the face.
POW!
Fixx was sent flying back at the controls where his electrified gauntlets stuck to it, causing a surge of electricity to course through his body.
"AAAAAAAHHHHHH!" Fixx exclaimed as he got shocked. The controls started to go haywire as the hovercraft started to take a nosedive right towards the ocean.
"We gotta get out of here!" Spider-Man exclaimed as he and Batman leapt towards the hatch and realized they were pretty far from the city. "I can't swing out of here!"
"Hang on!" Batman exclaimed as he grabbed on to the spider hero and flew off towards the city. They made it safely towards the nearest rooftop and watched as the hovercraft crashed into the water, sinking deep beneath the depths. They remained silent for a moment before Batman spoke up. "You think he survived?"
"If he did...we'll be there." Spider-Man said, which got Batman to smile. "Now, I think we deserve a long sleep after the night we've had."
"You read my mind." Batman said as he took off into the sky and Spider-Man swung off into the distance. Both of them couldn't wait to get back home.
/
Nick lightly snored as he laid face first into his bed. After the excitement that happened last night, the moment he came home he went straight to bed and face-planted on his pillows.
His Grandpa Joe came in and tapped him on the shoulder. "Nick, time to get up." All he got was groan before Nick snored again. Joe then proceeded to grab his pillow and yanked right breath his face, which finally got his grandson up.
"Huh? What?" Nick said as he was startled awake.
"Get up, son. You've got a couple of visitors here to see you." Joe said before getting out of his room so he could change.
Nick soon got dressed and made his way down the stairs and into the kitchen to see who it was, and was surprised to see Terry waiting for him.
"Hey man." Nick greeted.
"Hey." Terry greeted back. "You got time for a walk?"
"Sure, I'm not doing anything today." Nick said as he kind of knew what his friend wanted to talk to him about. He turned to his grandpa who was making himself a cup of coffee. "I'm going out real quick, Grandpa Joe."
"Take care, Nick." Joe said.
Nick and Terry started walking out the house and walked in silence down the sidewalk. They walked in silence for a bit before Terry spoke up.
"So I gotta ask, how did you become Spider-Man?" Terry asked curiously.
"Believe it or not, it was because of that spider bite on that field trip to WaynePowers. After I got bit, I developed strength and adhesive powers to stick to walls." Nick explained.
"Seriously? From just one spider bite?" Terry asked in surprise.
"I know it sounds cliché, but it's true." Nick said before his look turned a little serious. "So, what is this about? I know you wanted to talk about more than just how I got my spider powers."
"Yeah, I did." Terry said before pointing in the distance. "So did he."
Nick looked to see where his friend was pointing at and was able to see Bruce Wayne standing next to his car, much to Nick's surprise.
"Mr. Wayne? What are you doing here?" Nick asked.
"I've come to personally say good work to you, Styles." Bruce said as he shook Nick's hands. "I also came here to personally offer you an opportunity."
"What kind of opportunity?" Nick asked.
"I just came back from Terry's home and offered him a position under my employ." Bruce said.
"Wait...you mean..." Nick said slowly as he turned to Terry who smiled.
"He's letting me keep the suit." Terry said as he knew what his friend was thinking.
"I'm letting him use the suit to do good work, the kind of work that you've been doing lately...the kind of work that tried so hard to achieve in my life." Bruce said looking at both of them. "Alone, you two can do some good work, but together, I think the two of you can bring about great change in this city."
"That...does make sense." Nick said as he smiled along with Terry. "And we both don't need to hide our identities from each other."
"And it would be nice to have someone watching my back out there." Terry said, as he knew that was technically the amateur when it came to this sort of thing.
"But I'm telling you now, you both still need a lot of training and discipline." Bruce said in a light firm tone. "You've been doing good so far, but if you both want to continue this, then I'm prepared to teach you everything I know, so that way you can be prepared."
Being trained by one of the greatest heroes of our time...how can I say 'no' to that?" Nick joked with a smirk on his face.
Bruce couldn't help but smirk as well, finding this boys attitude somewhat refreshing. It almost reminded him of Dick when he was starting out. "Very good, Mr. Styles. I'd like to welcome you both to my world." Bruce said as he offered Nick a handshake, to which the young hero instantly took.
Nick let go of his hand and instantly turned to his friend as they both shook hands as well.
Today marked not just the beginning of the return of Batman, but also the greatest crime fighting duo this city has ever seen.
And they were prepared for everything.
/
Inside a dark room, Doctor Otto Octavius wore a hazmat suit and used his mechanical tentacles to work a couple of machines while walking up to Powers, who was lying on a table. Radiation lights wore being shined right on top of him, giving him treatment to cure him of the effects of the nerve gas.
Otto stood next to Powers, who opened his eyes to look at him. "Well, Mr. Powers, the g-good news is t-that it appears the radiation has successfully e-eradicated the virus." Otto said, but still had a slight nervous look.
Powers seemed to notice it. "What's the bad news?"
"W-Well, Mr. Powers, t-the mutagenetic effects of the gas can be c-corrupted by its environment-" Otto didn't get a chance to continue as Powers grabbed him by his suit.
"Bottom line it, Octavius!" Powers said dangerously.
Otto started to sweat, and it wasn't due to the radiation. He turned to another doctor on site. "Kill the radiation."
The doctor nodded and turned the radiation lights off. Instead of the room being in total darkness, there was a faint green glow coming from the room.
That glow came directly from Powers.
Powers got up from the bed and made his way to a mirror, and finally got a good look at himself. His entire body was glowing green, and worse of all, his entire skeleton was able to be seen inside his body.
Instead of being appalled by this transformation, Powers felt a surge of...elation.
"Hehehehehe... Hahahahahaha... HAHAHAHAHAHA!"
/
"Hey everybody! Here it is, the next chapter!
So now Terry and Nick have officially become partners in helping to protect the people of Gotham. Nick isn't going to make the same lie of being under Bruce Wayne's employ like Terry is, considering he already has an alibi in being a freelance reporter.
Nick is still somewhat green despite already facing off against villains, so he would definitely jump at the chance to be trained under one of the greatest heroes ever, someone he also admired. Now that we are officially starting the Batman Beyond storyline you can bet there will be some awesome times ahead.
Well, that's all I have to say for now, but if you have any questions about this story, please feel free to let me know, and I'll try to answer them
Until next chapter everyone! Stay healthy, and stay safe!