Black Out
Things were immensely tense over at one of the many labs of Foxteca, and no one could blame them. Over the several weeks, many of the labs experienced power failures, explosions happening inside the buildings, and not to mention damaged beyond repair equipment. That's why they decided to double their amount of security in this facility, just to be safe.
A truck came cruising by to the front gate before stopping at the laser-grid gate. The driver looked closed at the retinal scanner and waited for the all clear. The scanner matched his identification and the gate opened enough for to him to drive on through.
"This is Miller. Sector-1 clear." One of the security guards said from up on the catwalks of the building.
"How are those new men we sent you?" His superior said from his comm link.
"Feels like we're stepping on each other. No one's causing trouble tonight. Miller out." Miller said as he walked off.
What Miller never noticed was that his shadow did not move with him. The shadow then morphed into some kind of blob-like substance with a single large white spot used as an eye and slithered along the wall. It avoided all of the security guards by slithering close to the ground and using the shadows as camouflage.
It slithered up the inner wall and made its way to the locked door leading inside the building. It squeezed beneath the door and made it inside. The blob-like mass then made its way to a control terminal and actually went inside it through keyboard.
What followed, happened instantaneously...
Sparks erupted from within the building, followed by explosions that erupted throughout the building. Fire was everywhere, and the security guards tried to regain control as much as they can.
The lead security guard saw all this chaos happening. "Lock this place down! No one gets in or out!" He ordered. He doesn't know how this could've happened, but he was going to make sure everyone got out on one piece.
A firetruck cruiser came flying in and started hosing down the building, trying to put out the fire before it spreads. One of the firefighters inside noticed that some of the embers were falling way too close to an oil truck close to the building.
"Get that tanker off site before it blows!" The firefighter ordered using the speakers.
One of the workers heard her and did exactly as she say. He got in the driver's seat and drove his way to the outskirts of the building, so as to avoid another explosion that could have caused even more damage. When the guy drove the truck out past the gate he parked the truck, now believing that the truck was in the clear.
What he did not notice was that the same blob-like substance slithered right out of the truck, using it so it could avoid detection. Seeing that the job has been finished, it slithered off, disappearing into the shadows.
/
Nick yawned as he sat at a desk at the Gotham Gazette. It was a free desk that they allowed him to use whenever he could come in. He was currently looking through all the notes he's compiled about the incidents happening all over Foxteca.
'Its like all the equipment just combust out of nowhere.' Nick thought to himself as he tried to wrap his brain around it. 'If it was just a systems malfunction that'd be one thing, but all the equipment was in working order when all the scientists left for the night. That could mean that it was sabotaged, but how? Security has gone on record that no one was able to get inside the building and no one tripped the alarms.'
'It's almost like we're dealing with a ghost.' Nick thought with a troubled look on his face.
"Everything okay, Nick?" Ned Leeds said as he came up to freelancer.
"Hey, Ned, just thinking." Nick answered.
Ned saw his noted and nodded in understanding. "Yeah, these incidents have been happening a lot lately."
"Is there anything you can tell me about Foxteca?" Nick asked curiously.
"It's run by a guy named Luscious Fox Jr., the former vice-president of WaynePowers, until the CEO himself fired him." Ned said.
"You think they can be connected?" Nick asked as it wouldn't surprise him if that was the case.
"It wouldn't surprise me." Ned said with a troubled look on his face. "I interviewed Powers only once, and something about that guy just makes my skin crawl."
'You've got good instincts on you, Ned.' Nick thought as Ned walked off to continue his work. Nick went back to looking at his notes when his phone started ringing so he answered it. "Hello?"
"It's Wayne."
Nick sat up at attention when he realized who he was talking to. "Mr. Wayne, what's up?"
"I need you and Terry to protect a Foxteca laboratory tonight. We need to protect this one and find out whoever's causing all this mayhem."
"I was just looking into it. I think that Powers might be the one orchestrating all this destruction." Nick informed.
"I believe so to, which is why I visited him this morning. I told him to stay away from Foxteca, and he played it off that he wasn't the one responsible."
"Of course, he did. Did you find anything out to determine that he is responsible?" Nick asked.
"I knew he wouldn't willingly give up anything, but I might have found some evidence linking to what happened. I need you and Terry to protect the next lab being most likely to be targeted."
"You can count on me." Nick said as he got up from his and gathered his stuff.
"Good. I'll call McGinnis right away."
With that said, Bruce hanged up and Nick managed to get all his stuff together. He swiftly made his way to the exit, but not before Ned saw him leave. "Hey Nick, where's the fire?"
"Possible lead. Tell Mr. Fireheart that he might expect an article by the end of the week." Nick said as he hopped on the elevator.
"That kid's always busy." Ned said with a chuckle as he got back to work.
/
At another Foxteca facility, all seemed quiet this night with the lab being locked up tightly this night. Extra security was put on the ground floor in case of another attempt at a sabotage, but it seemed at first it wouldn't be necessary.
That all changed when the same blob-like creature dripped down from the air vents and landed on the ground. It rose up to give it a more feminine-like build, before it slithered throughout the lab and stood near a computer terminal.
The chaos soon commenced when it slithered inside the terminal and caused it to explode as this creature began her reign of destruction. She started lashing out at power conduits and destroying ever terminal left and right until this lab was nothing more than a pike of rubble.
Meanwhile...
Terry and Nick were in their costumes as they glided/swung to the location of the Foxteca facility Wayne told them to stake out.
Nick saw the troubled look in his pal's eyes and wanted to know what was wrong. "You alright, Terry?"
"No, no I'm not alright." Terry answered with grumble. "It's Dana, I had to bail on her again."
"She did not take it well, I take it?" Nick asked with a wince.
"I don't know how you ever did it these past couple of months, man." Terry said with a sigh.
"Welcome to the life of a residential superhero, my friend." Nick quipped. "Where schedules are whacked, you're constantly late for school, as well as dates with your girlfriend."
"How would you know about that last part?" Terry asked with a smirk. "You've never really had a girlfriend."
"Hey, that's a low blow right there, man!" Nick exclaimed.
"Would two please stop with the gossip and focus." Wayne said over the comms.
"Wayne, is there any time of day I get to have a social life?" Terry asked.
"Not in this business." Wayne answered.
"You get a real kick out of this, don't you?" Terry groaned. "Maybe it should be you up here instead of me."
"Just because keeping a social life tough, doesn't mean it isn't doable." Nick said.
"Besides, I'm doing my part." Wayne said.
"What are you working on exactly, Mr. Wayne?" Nick asked curiously.
"I did some digging after I saw a report on Powers' desk. It seems that he and Foxteca are up for the same job. The government wants a new lunar station and only one of them gets to build it."
"So, Powers is crippling the competition with sabotage." Terry said as he and Nick landed on the roof of a building across the Foxteca facility.
"And until we can stop them, you two are Foxteca's guardian angels. Now tell me what you see."
Nick looked closely and his enhanced vision managed to see inside the laboratory and see all the sparks going on inside.
"Definitely something weird. It's like someone wanted to play with fireworks indoors." Nick said as he then got serious and turn to his friend. "Time to go to work."
"Right, were moving in." Terry said, just as serious, as they both dived down and crashed through the window of the labratory.
Looking around they saw the destruction was pretty extensive with fires everywhere and the majority of the lab completely demolished.
"Damn, if Powers really is behind this then he's not pulling any punches." Spider-Man said as he looked around.
"Whoever did this might still be here." Batman noted.
"Right, so be on guard." Spider-Man said in agreement as they walked off to investigate. What neither of them noticed was that same blob-like creature crawling on the ceiling.
The two heroes walked further into the lab and tried searching for clues on whoever did this. Batman knelt down as he inspected some of the debris, noticing a black ink sticking to it. Spider-Man went on to inspect the destroyed computer terminals, but all the while he still couldn't shake this bad feeling he was getting.
'I almost feel like we're being watched...' Spider-Man thought to himself.
Slowly, but surely, the blob-like creature was slowly creeping up behind the two of them.
"McGinnis, Styles, get out of there!"
"In a sec, we're looking." Terry said impatiently.
"I said get out, NOW!"
"Why?" Batman asked, not noticing the black substance behind him creeping closer.
Spider-Man whirled around just in time as he launched a webline. "Batman, look out!"
The webline attached to Batman's chest, allowing Spider-Man to yank the bat-themed hero out of the way before the blob creature could lash out at him. Both heroes gasped in shock as the creature stood strong before extending her arm tendrils and grasped them on their chests.
She then proceeded to slam the both of them on the walls, and dragging them across the terminals on them, creating even more destruction. She slammed Batman into a wall before letting him go, and she threw Spider-Man into the other wall.
The spider-themed hero managed to stick the landing on the wall with his hands and feet. He then springboard right towards her and was about to deliver a kick, but she simply twisted her body out of the way and slapped a tendril right in his face, causing him to crash into the wall. Before either hero could get back up, the blob-woman slithered right back into the vent and disappeared.
"What the heck was that?!" Batman exclaimed in disbelief.
"I don't know." Spider-Man groaned as he stood back up. "But it can sure pack a punch."
/
The two heroes managed to get back to the Batcave, where Bruce was still doing his research on what they were facing. Nick definitely felt better, but this encounter wasn't anything he was used to, but Terry was less than pleased as he had a bit of an ticked off appearance, as one can tell from the look in his eyes as he took off his mask.
"What did you send me into, it was like some kind of blob! You should've warned me!" Terry exclaimed at the elder Batman as he looked at the Batcomputer.
"He kind of did, but you didn't listen." Nick said with a smirk.
"If you want to survive, you have to learn to think on your feet." Bruce said as he then glanced at Nick, who took his mask off as well. "Something you can do to a degree, from what I saw."
"Yeah, I get this feeling in the back of my head that I call my spider-sense. It alerts me to danger that I can't see, giving me an opportunity to get out if the way." Nick explained.
"Quite an ability, though it could still use improvement." Bruce criticized.
"Yeah, I still hit a few times, but it comes with the job, I'm sure you're aware." Nick said sheepishly, which Bruce couldn't help but give a small smirk at.
"Look, you two may be used to freaks and monsters, but I'm a little new at this." Terry said as he looked at all the glass cases of some of Bruce's past cases. "I don't even know what half this stuff is."
"This is history, Terry." Nick said as he looked at a glass case with the costume of the Grey Ghost. "I remember staying up all night reading about this stuff. To see it all right here in front of me is mind blowing."
"This stuff is way before your time, so please don't touch anything." Bruce said before he finished his analysis. "Here, her name's Inque." Bruce said as the to heroes looked at the screen and it showed her name, but there was no photo ID. "She's a corporate saboteur. Interpol's been after her for years and it looks like Powers is her new employer."
"What is she?" Terry asked.
"The result of a mutagenic experiment. The details are unknown, but it does say that she was part of a set." Bruce said.
"You mean that she wasn't the only one that got experimented on?" Nick asked in surprise.
"It's still unclear. While Inque made a name of herself cashing in on corporations' downfalls, the second subject went MIA." Bruce explained.
"So how do we stop her?" Terry asked.
"That's where thinking on your feet come in." Bruce said with a smirk.
/
"This is freaking awesome!" Spider-Man exclaimed.
It was the next night and the spider-themed hero was sitting in the backseat of the new and improved Batmobile Terry was driving. This one was completely different from the one Bruce used back in the day, as it was more like a car-shaped jet. Terry was just as excited about driving this thing as he held the controls.
"This does raise a question though." Spider-Man said curiously. "You can practically fly with your wings and rocket boots"
"Because it is unbearably cool!" Batman said with excitement.
"Remember, easy gestures." Bruce said over the comms. "Let the suit do all the work."
Terry placed his hands on one of the levers, causing a red grid pattern to spread on his arm. The Batmobile did a twirl midair and flew off with greater speed.
"Woohoo!" Both heroes cheered like little kids.
"Mind not doing that again." Bruce said.
"Sorry." Batman said sheepishly.
"You scratch it, no allowance." Bruce said.
"Wait, we're getting an allowance?" Spider-Man asked.
/
Over at a pier, where another Foxteca facility was at, Inque was already at work as she put her next sabotage plan into action.
She slithered flat onto the ground until she went completely under a crane at the edge of the pier. She then used her ink body to implode the screws off the crane, causing it to topple over the edge of the pier and crash right into one of the large boats. A few seconds after the crane crashed on the boat, an explosion occurred.
/
"I just picked up a radio call. Fox's shipping unit, Pier 18." Bruce informed.
"We're on it." Batman said as he flew the Batmobile towards that location.
"Inque does not waste time, doesn't she?" Spider-Man said.
The Batmobile flew in at top speeds until they finally managed to make it to the pier, but they then spotted something that made their eyes widen in alarm. A hover lift was speeding right towards a large tank of oil all by itself, and it was not stopping.
"If that thing hits that tank, it's going to light up the entire pier like a bonfire!" Spider-Man exclaimed in alarm.
"I'm on it!" Terry said as he pressed a button, causing the Batmobile to shoot a missile at the hover lift and destroy it.
The two heroes spotted Inque trying to get away at the edge of the pier and running off. Batman flew the Batmobile right over Inque as she tried to run away, before pulling on a lever, which opened a latch beneath the two hero and allowed them to drop down.
Batman tackled Inque from above, causing her black liquid form to splatter all over the floor. She pulled herself back together as she lashed out her tendrils at him and hardening them to act like clubs. Spider-Man leapt in at that moment as he launched a couple web globs, pinning her club tendrils to the ground, though that didn't last as she just flattened them and pulled them free.
Batman fired a couple of small baterangs at Inque, but she just flattened her body when they hit her and sent them back like she was made of rubber. Spider-Man managed flip out of the way from the incoming projectiles, but one of them managed to slice Batman on his side. Inque charged right at them, but Batman dived down to pick up a manhole cover and used it to block her, but she managed to slip her head right through in of the tiny holes.
"You two aren't really fast learners." Inque mocked.
"I don't know, we're pretty smart." Spider-Man quipped as he came right in and helped Batman pin her to the ground with the manhole cover.
It wasn't a victory, however, as her entire body slipped right beneath the manhole before she erupted from below, pushing them back. She grasped her entire upper half onto the metal disc, swung it at the heroes, and hitting them.
Inque took this opportunity to try and get away as she took off in a stream of ink, with the heroes right behind her. Inque hopped right off the edge until she landed next to a reservoir of water on one side with an edge leading to the ocean on the other.
Spider-Man and Batman jumped down and landed right in front of her before. Both heroes noted that she was looking around frantically and she kept her gaze briefly at the ocean and the reservoir. That's when it finally hit the both of them.
"You don't like the water, do you?" Batman noted.
"Makes sense. What better way to wipe out an ink stain than water." Spider-Man said with a smirk beneath his mask.
To test their theory, Batman kicked some of the water from the reservoir at Inque, who yelped in fear as she maneuvered her body out of the way. She then dived down and used her liquid body to sink into the cracks of where they were standing. Then they started to feel the ground beginning to shake.
"I think we just made her angry." Spider-Man said nervously.
All of a sudden, the ground began to implode with Inque enlarge bing her body and creating an uproar of debris and rubble. The two heroes tried to get away with Spider-Man launching a webline and swinging away to safety, but Batman wasn't so lucky as he ended tripping up over the edge and falling to the ocean below.
Spider-Man saw his friend in trouble and dived down off his webline and fired a second strand, latching onto Batman's chest. Spider-Man latched onto the wall and held on to the webline to make sure his friend was safe, before both of them looked up and saw Inque running away.
"Great, she got away." Batman groaned in annoyance.
"Welcome to the life of the superhero, buddy." Spider-Man joked. "Most of the time, the bad guys get away after the first encounter."
/
It was currently the next morning, and Powers was not in a good mood. Despite all the damage Inque has done to Foxteca, they were still giving him trouble on securing the contract to construct the lunar station.
Currently, Powers was sitting in his sky-limo on a video call with his assistant giving him the latest report on the latest sabotage attempt.
"Unfortunately, last night's damage was minimal. They're still meeting their schedule." Powers assistant informed.
"Splendid." Powers said with a grumble before hanging up.
He didn't sit alone long as Inque dripped inside his limo and morphed into her human form on the seat in front of him. Her human form consisted of her having light blue skin, dark blue and black hair with some of it flowing over her shoulder, and wearing a full black and blue bodysuit that was reminiscent of ink blots. By the look on her face, she was not happy, same as him.
"We need to talk." Inque firmly stated.
"This better be good." Powers said simply. "What happened?"
"Two people have been interfering. This is the second time." Inque informed.
"Who?" Powers asked.
"I know that one of them is this Spider-Man person I've been hearing about, but the other one I didn't recognize. He wore a costume as well, black and red." Inque informed as she looked out the window, not seeing Powers reaction.
Powers was already angry when he heard the part about Spider-Man interfering, but hearing that last part made his blood boil. Green cracks started to form on his face as parts of his skin started to peel off to reveal a glowing green layer.
"Batman." Powers growled out in silent anger.
"The Batman?" Inque asked in surprise.
"What difference does it make?!" Powers exclaimed.
Inque finally looked towards at Powers and gasped as his face started peeling. "What's happening to you?!" Inque said in shock.
"I have a condition; I'd trust you'll be discreet." Powers said as he pulled out a mirror. "I'm putting you on another assignment. Find both Batman and Spider-Man, then kill them."
"They have an accomplice. I overheard them talking to someone on a radio." Inque informed.
"Then kill all three of them. I'll pay you whatever you want." Powers promised as he ripped off a piece of his face-skin.
"No wonder I like working for you." Inque said with a smirk.
"Now I suggest you leave. It's not healthy to be around me when I'm shedding." Powers said as more skin flaked off his hand.
Inque took that as her que to leave as she changed back into her ink form, leapt out of the flying limo and latched onto to a flagpole before slithering back down.
/
Batman and Spider-Man had just flown in to another Foxteca facility, but the damage had already been done. The place was on fire with small explosions happening here and there.
"Bad news, we're too late." Batman said as the two heroes exited out of the Batmobile.
"Inque already beat us too it, and it looks like she already took off." Spider-Man noted.
What neither of them noticed was that Inque hadn't left yet and she was watching them. She hid herself in the black lipstick part of a billboard with a woman on it and watched their every move.
"They're here." Inque said over a radio transmitter.
"Excellent. I'll see you when you're done, at which time I should be back to my old self." Powers said on the other end.
Inque kept her eyes on the heroes as she slowly made her way to the Batmobile and slithered inside the exhaust port. The two heroes continued to investigate the damage, but stopped when they heard the fire department sirens in the distance and coming closer.
"No sign of her." Spider-Man said over the comms.
"There's nothing you can do. Come home." Bruce said.
The toe of them nodded and made their way back to the Batmobile. Batman hopped inside, but Spider-Man paused as his spider sense began to flare up. The hero looked around, trying to figure out where his senses was warning him, but he couldn't find anything.
"What's the hold up?" Batman said from the car. "There's nothing left for us."
"Sorry, just making sure." Spider-Man said slowly as he hopped into the car. The moment he sat down, his spider sense flared up even more. 'Whats going on? I'm not seeing anything...yet I can't help but feel something wrong.'
The Batmobile soon flew into a tunnel that led into the Bat Cave, and all the while, Spider-Man couldn't stop the flare up of his spider sense.
Batman noted something as they were coming up to the cave. "Car's feeling a bit sluggish tonight."
"Park and I'll run a diagnostic." Bruce said.
"Gotcha." Batman said as he looked over at his friend. "You're pretty quiet, and you're almost never quiet."
"Sorry man, I just can't shake this feeling that something's wrong." Spider-Man said as the Batmobile made it into the cave and parked on the landing pad.
As it landed Bruce ran the diagnostics on the Batmobile, but noticed an anomaly near the rear end of it. "It's too heavy." Bruce noted.
As the two heroes walked away from the car, Inque slipped out of the exhaust port and stood back up. Spider-Man's spider sense tingled again, but this time when he turned back, he did see Inque standing there preparing to attack.
"Look out!" Spider-Man exclaimed as he pushed Batman out of the way as Inque smacked him with a hardened tendril.
Batman got back up, but Inque latched one of her tendrils to his head and started slamming him into the cave walls and ceiling. Inque then wrapped her liquid tendril around Batman's body and hoisted him up in the air, before elongating her head towards the heroes.
"Once you're out of the way, your spider friend is next." Inque said sinisterly. "Now open wide."
Inque began to squeeze Batman, causing him to scream in pain when he felt something crack. Inque then plunged her body into Batman's mouth and slithered her liquid form into his lungs, attempting to drown him.
Spider-Man got back up and saw his friend in trouble, so he launched a webline on the ceiling and swung forward. "I got ya, buddy!" Spider-Man exclaimed.
On the downward swing, Spider-Man kicked Inque in the elongated midsection, toppling her balance to cause her to plop to the ground and drop Batman. Inque reformed her liquid body and lashed out the spider hero with her tendrils, but Spider-Man did a couple flips to dodge them.
"So, Inque, let me ask you something." Spider-Man said as he dodged a few more strikes. He launched a webline to the ceiling and stuck to it, but kept on dodging as she morphed her tendrils into sharp lances. "You can't go into water, right?" Spider-Man dropped to the floor and launched a webline to a rock debris and swung it at her, causing her to move her body to the side and dodge it.
"Yeah, so what?"Inque said indignantly as she morphed her arm into and club and tried to strike at him, but he moved out of way.
"So that means you probably can't take a bath or shower." Spider-Man joked as he dodged another of her strikes. "Which probably means you stink to high heaven. I mean, you already look like you haven't taken a shower, so imagine the smell!"
Inque growled in anger as she lashed out wildly with extra bladed tendrils from her back. "SHUT UP!" All of a sudden, a large spray of water came in from behind her, and managed to destabilize her body, causing her to scream in pain. "AAHH!"
Spider-Man looked to see Bruce with a fire hose while wearing the Grey Ghost hat and goggles to hide his identity from Inque. Spider-Man nodded in thanks before looking towards Batman, who was on his hands and knees groaning in pain.
"I got ya, buddy!" Spider-Man exclaimed as he got behind him and performed the Heimlich maneuver, causing Batman to vomit up the black liquid in his body. "That is just plain gross." Spider-Man said with a cringe.
"How do you think I feel?" Batman said with a groan before glancing at Bruce. "What kept you?"
"Sudden case of shyness." Bruce said simply.
The pieces of Inque reformed back into her body as she created a bladed wing with one arm and latched onto the ceiling with her other arm. Bruce tried to spray her again, but Inque fired sharp blades at them, and while the heroes did dodge the incoming projectiles, one of the shards cut the hose, stopping the flow of water.
"This isn't good." Batman said worriedly.
Inque landed back on the ground and was making her way to the exit, which was an extremely bad scenario. If she got out of the cave, then she'll know the location of where the cave is. Bruce however was already on it as he was at the computer and pressed a few buttons, causing the blast doors to close shut before she could leave.
"Nice!" Spider-Man cheered.
"Pays to be prepared." Bruce said, causing the heroes to smirk.
Inque looked back at them, and though she wasn't using her human face, they could tell she was smirking. "Someone's got a secret." Inque teased before trying to slip right through the cracks of the door.
"She's getting through!" Batman exclaimed with worry. Bruce wasn't worried though, as he pressed a button on the computer, causing electricity to course through the door. Inque screamed in pain as she was pushed back and splattered across the floor with her liquid body spasming, which Batman smirked at. "Man, you are prepared."
"That was a bit of a shock for her." Spider-Man joked, which caused the former and current bat hero to look at him with a deadpanned expression. "What, that was funny!"
Inque soon extended her body and tried digging her way right through the cave ceiling.
"She won't get out that way either. There's a layer of solid steel." Bruce informed, but then the cave started to shake as rubble sarted to fall to the ground.
"I think she has something else in mind." Batman said with worry.
More rubble fell down and started to crash into a few of the trophy cases, and even toppled over a pedestal with a strange looking gun. Spider-Man launched a webline and swung away while Batman picked Bruce up and used his rocket boots to fly away. A piece of the rubble hit Batman though, causing them to fall right next to the giant penny.
Inque dropped down behind the giant penny and pushed it over in order to crush Batman and Bruce. Spider-Man jumped in front of them and held out his arms, managing to catch the penny before it could flatten them. The arachnid hero groaned as he felt like his muscles were straining as he's never lifted something this heavy before, but he still held it back.
"Hey...Inque...want some...change!" Spider-Man exclaimed as he pushed the giant penny in her direction instead, causing her to step back in fear before it flattened her.
She was still alive as she slithered her liquid body on top of the penny and stalked towards them. Batman pulled put a blue baterang and stabbed it into the giant penny. This caused electricity to surge around the metal and shocked Inque, causing her to scream in pain and launch her across the cave.
"Now that was a shock." Batman said as he smirked at Spider-Man.
"Hey, that's my joke!" Spider-Man whined.
Inque got back up, and though her face was nothing more than a large white dot, they could just tell that she was seething mad. She morphed arm into a bladed whip and started destroying most of the trophy cases, memorabilia, and costumed mannequins.
Bruce looked to the side and saw the strange looking gun on the floor. "The gun! Use it!" Bruce exclaimed.
"What?" Batman said in confusion.
"Trust me!" Bruce said strongly.
Batman didn't have time to second guess as Inque charged rug at them, so the hero dived towards the gun and pointed it at her as she leapt at them. Batman fired the gun and it shot out a beam of ice-cold energy at her, causing her entire body to freeze solid and coated in ice. When she impacted the ground, her entire body shattered to pieces.
The heroes and former hero took a deep breath of relief knowing that it was finally over.
"Freeze gun. Silly, but effective." Nick said with a chuckle.
Terry took a look at the gun before looking at Bruce. "That's it, you're showing me everything." Terry said which Bruce couldn't help but smile at.
/
It was the following morning at the police department, and Barbara Gordon was busy on her laptop in her office. It was one of the things she could do to keep herself busy, and to take her mind off from the issues with Spider-Man. Hearing reports about him kept reminding her of days she tried to forget. Though, she can't say the kid wasn't doing a pretty good job out there.
Although, there was another rumor she's been hearing that has greatly troubled her.
Just then her office phone started to ring and she answered. "This is Gordon."
"Hello Barbara."
Barbara instantly recognized that voice and should have expected this call sooner or later. "I've figured I'd hear from you." Barbara said with her eyes slightly narrowed. "Word is you wrangled a new errand boy."
"I never wrangled anyone. Every one of you came to me." Bruce said simply.
"Maybe once you should talk someone out of it." Barbara stated.
"Would it have worked with you?" Bruce asked, which caused Barbara to smile as she couldn't fault him for that. "I don't suppose you'd want to meet him."
"You know I can't." Barbara said.
"Because he's leaving you a 'get acquainted gift' right now." Bruce said and Barbara could tell he was smirking on the other end.
Barbara was confused by what he meant until she thought she heard something out her window. She pulled back the curtain and was surprised to see a bat-shaped drone drone just hovering in place. There was a net attached to it that was made out webs and inside the net was multiple ice blocks with pieces of Inque, with her one eye looking right at her.
"I'd keep it on ice." Bruce said before hanging up.
Barbara looked in the distance and noticed the Batmobile flying away, plus she managed to see Spider-Man swinging after it. She spotted something sticking to the side of her window and noticed another one of Spider-Man's cue cards on a web. She took the card and read its contents.
'Courtesy of Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man and Dark Knight Batman.'
Barbara looked to the direction where the two heroes went, and she can't help but gain a troubled look on her face. Bad enough one person was making the same mistakes, but now Bruce has brought someone new into the fold.
"I hope those two are ready, cause things aren't gonna get any easier for them." Barbara muttered to herself before getting back to work.
/
Powers silently snarled in anger as he looked at his personal computer reading an article from the Gotham Gazette. The main picture of the article was a shadow of the Batmobile in the sky with Spider-Man swinging in the distance. The article read 'The Return of Batman?'
Things got even worse for him this morning when he received a call from the government that Foxteca would be the one to receive the contract to build a lunar station. Now there was nothing Powers could do, since Inque was reported frozen and placed into custody.
Powers was taken out of his thoughts when the phone on his desk started to ring. He pressed a button to put it on speaker before talking. "This is Powers."
"I heard that you're having a bad day." A voice said and Powers knew that it belonged to his long time 'business associate.' "Are the rumors true that the supposed Batman has returned to Gotham?"
"It's not the Batman, if that's what you're thinking, but I can personally confirm that the rumors are true." Powers said.
"Then it looks like we're going to have to speed things up with our next project." The voice said.
"Do you have a candidate in mind for our little experiment?" Powers asked.
"Alex O'Hirn. He's one of my top lieutenants, and he has talked about how he's been wanting payback on our little spider problem." The voice said.
"So long as he doesn't mind swatting a bat, we'll give him all the power he needs." Powers said with an evil smirk on his face. Sure, he may have lost the battle who the two heroes, but soon enough the war will be his.
/
Hey everybody, so this is the next chapter of this story.
I've got to say, this chapter was pretty tough to write, mostly because Inque moves and fights in such a unique way, that I wasn't sure how to write it, so I hope I did an okay job at that.
So, this chapter introduces a great Batman Beyond villain, as well as teased another Spider-Man villain for the next chapter. I hoped you liked this chapter as I was really wanting to get this one out as quickly as possible. Next chapter is an original chapter and I am really looking forward to it.
Now, after I post this chapter, I'm going to post a brand new story that's a bit of an experiment I've been wracking my brain. If it's received well, I keep working on it, but if it doesn't catch on, I'll take it off and focus on the stories I currently have at the moment.
That's all I have to say for, so stay healthy and stay safe my friends, and I'll see you all next time.