Spider-Man: Edge of Arkham
Chapter 3: Trust
I don't own Batman or Spider-Man. They're owned by their respective companies.
As both the Bat and Spider made their way to the Ferry Terminal the Dark Knight ejected from his seat to the roof. In a swing Spider-Man landed close to him and wandered his gaze, his lenses squinting.
"Where's the Nightwing guy?" Spider-Man asked rhetorically as on cue a young man wearing a domino mask and a full black bodysuit with a blue bird emblazoned on his chest jumped out of his hiding spot.
"Still lurking around on rooftops." Nightwing commented as he led his gaze to the Patriotic Spider. "So the rumors are true you got a new partner. Love the suit, man. Although a little too vibrant don't you think?" Nightwing quipped before extending his hand towards the New Yorker.
The Web Head chuckled a bit and shook his hand. "A certain friend gave me a Black and red one, but I only packed the red and blue on the way here." He replied as he remembered how tiresome it was to track down every stakeout from Felicia to get to her lair. Only to find a simple suit there.
"North Refrigeration. Tell me what you know.", Batman interrupted their chat.
Nightwing was able to tell Batman about how Penguin was using freezer trucks to smuggle weapons out of Blüdhaven, but then states he doesn't know where the weapons would be transported to. Batman states that Penguin was likely the only lead they had on Barbara. As the two former partners talked, Spider-Man crouched down and tilted his head to the side as he spotted some a group of henchmen that worked for the Penguin guy, due to the penguin bracer they carried. Two of them had guns and one was a big burly guy, definitely the muscle, he could sense a pattern between this and what he dealt back in New York. His lenses squinted as he then saw a truck parked next to where they were, a freezer truck at that.
Still crouching the Arachnid marks the truck on the H.U.D. of his mask. "So what's the deal with this Penguin guy? Is his name just for show or is it literal?" Spider-Man asked as he cracked his knuckles in anticipation.
Nightwing let out a snicker at the web head's question before replying. "His actual name is Oswald Cobblepot, Napoleon Complex and beak-like nose, it didn't help his case either when he also used to be dressing in suits and fur coats." He explained to the Wall Crawler.
"So I'd assume calling him beaky gets him to throw a tantrum." Spider-Man quipped and that got Nightwing to laugh wholeheartedly.
The first Robin looked back at Batman as he said. "I like this guy." He said with his thumb pointed at him before looking back at the Wall Crawler. "And yes, it does."
Nightwing reached for his pocket as he took out a familiar device that he saw before at Wayne Tower. Spider-Man looked at the device and remembered that Lucius Fox talked to Batman about it. He recalled that it was still being developed, but it looked ready for a field test. He remembered the times he made his gadgets and how he tested them immediately after being made. Most of the time they didn't work properly. Although to the credit of Lucius the recreated web formula was extremely good.
"We'll handle things from here, you're needed back in Blüdhaven." The Caped Crusader stated to the former Boy Wonder. With a shrug, Nightwing bid his farewell to Batman and then to Spider-Man as he jumped away from the scene.
With his hands on his sides, The Sensational Spider-Man tilts his head. "He's cool." He then turned to Bruce before asking him. "Why aren't you two working together anymore?"
Batman ignored the question and utilized the disruptor to jam the rifles, one shot would simply jam the mechanisms of the weapon while a second shot would make it explode, he then moved the target to the weapon's crates, this would create an electric current on the crate's handle so that if an attempt to open it was done the person would receive a shock that would knock them out.
Once the shots were finished the disruptor would need time to recharge but even then it was enough, the friendly neighbor could tell this was the best strategy to take as he noticed Bruce only jammed the firearms periodically while rigging others, this would lead to a natural confusion rather than getting them to suspect Batman did something which would make them get to the crate.
With a sign of confirmation, costumed vigilantes jumped down as they took down two unsuspecting henchmen, easy take out. His first opponent was a big burly guy, strong but slow yet fast enough that if you weren't careful you could be thrown into next Friday… So he shot webs pellets at the man's feet, locking him in place, as he then jumped up to him and gave him a right hook to the face, the man fell with a thud. He then shot two web lines into the back of another man that hid behind a wall and pulled him down to the ground before immobilizing him with a hand grenade, once up he shot a few nets of webbing on the big man. His spider sense went off as he dodged a thrown fire extinguisher from the side.
"You're supposed to hold the canister, not throw it, how are you gonna take care of this burn now?" The Arachnid said as he tripped the guy before quickly throwing a hook to his cheek, knocking him out instantly.
With a single elbow strike Batman dropped the last man down before he scanned the truck with his detective vision. There was a variety of firearms and explosives within the vehicle. 'I can use the Disruptor's Tracker ammo to tag the vehicle and follow it across Gotham', Batman thought as he tagged the truck with his disruptor before he shared the signal with Parker. "Can you track it?" A nod of confirmation was all that was needed.
He walked up to the truck and knocked on the backdoor. One Penguin thug opened it and as soon as he saw both heroes he alerted the driver and immediately drove away.
Spider-Man walked up next to him as his lenses squinted in a U fashion, showing his disappointment. "On one hand this level of incompetence makes things easier but on the other it makes me question how do people like this even lasted so long." He and the Dark Knight then took to the rooftops as they began following them.
Spidey cartwheels in the air as he shoots another web line on a building. "We need to stay close to the truck or else the signal might get weak and we could end up losing them." Spider-Man explained, but he got the impression that Bruce already knew that.
As they followed the truck they saw it enter the North Refrigeration building. Both landed near the building out of sight. Batman activated his detective vision and saw a few armed thugs and some sentry guns placed.
He then turned to Spider-Man before explaining. "I'll create a diversion by attacking the men at the entrance, this should allow for an opening for you to come from above and take the sentry turrets down, make sure to not be seen by their radar, your suit will not protect you from a round."
Spider-Man whispered. "Alright. Shouldn't be hard to do, since well...I can stick to the ceiling." Spidey remarked offhandedly with a hand gesture.
They went ahead with their plan as they set it in motion. Once Peter took position on a tightrope he shot a grenade web at an unsuspecting thug, which formed a web cocoon around him. "Sleep tight", Peter quipped quietly.
He then shot some impact webs at two of Penguin's thugs and before they could scream for help, the Wall Crawler webbed their mouths shut.
"Shh. You'll wake the kids", He quipped as he was ready to take out the last thug, but his pointy eared partner beat him to it. "We should keep tally points on who can take out the most thugs. What do you say?" He nudged at the Dark Knight hoping to get a reaction from him.
"Let's head inside and deal with Penguin." The Dark Knight said as he went up to the Wall Crawler. "That was 6."
Both head in through a door hatch on the floor, Spider-Man opened it and entered first, then it was Batman's turn. Upon entering they saw the weapons cache. In the room they saw it was full of thugs, weapons, and large piles of money. In the center of the room under a neon sign that said, "Iceberg Lounge" was a short man in a tux and a monocle on his left eye. He was counting the money.
"So that's the Penguin? Man, this guy really lives up to the name." Peter commented, now he just needed to see if what Nightwing said was true. "That's one pointy nose."
The Dark Knight walked to the side and entered through a vent that slid down to some crates. Spider-Man followed behind and both ended right behind Penguin prepared to strike. Batman without warning jumped out and immediately Penguin pinned down as he raised his arm in preparation for a hard blow.
"The Arkham Knight. Barbara Gordon. Tell me where they are!" The Dark Knight's tone had gone from the usual cautiousness to one of aggression, it was quite intimidating.
"So that's who he had? The Commissioner's little girl?" Cobblepot answered.
One very courageous, scratch that, one very idiotic goon dashed straight at the Caped Crusader with the intention of hitting him. That would be the case indeed.
"Now, now, kids let mom and dad talk for a minute." Spider-Man announced as he jumped out of the crate before yanking the goon from the ground with a web line, the now flying goon hit another big guy full force.
With the interruption out of the way, The Detective resumed the interrogation process with a rough shake to the short man, considering how the gloves were designed, Penguin felt an uncomfortable feeling become more painful by the second. Although that meant another errand boy tried to sneak a punch to Batman's temple, only for The Bat to easily catch his hand and shove him back with a twisted knuckle.
Some thugs in the front tried to grab some guns from the weapons crate, but the Wall Crawler stopped them in their tracks by webbing their feet and hands to the crate.
His spider sense went off as he got hit by a pipe from one of Penguin's thugs. 'You really know when to quit on me, don't you?' The Wall Crawler berated his own instincts as his head felt lighter, and worse, his lenses were unfocused; it'd take a while for them to adjust.
Bruce saw the disoriented Spider-Man, the other henchmen noticed as well and moved their way to attack him, without time to spare Batman tightened his hold on the short man as he threw him onto the upcoming men, Penguin groaned in pain as he attempted to get up.
Weakly the crime boss staggered. "Scarecrow is going to break you and your new sidekick too." Penguin declared as he stumbled his way to the exit.
A big man grabbed Spider-Man by the collar and prepared to punch him, only for a baseball to hit his temple, the man was out immediately as his hold on Spider-Man was released. Peter's mask finally adjusted properly as he took in who arrived. Nightwing came in as he twirled his sticks around his fingers.
"Don't go fading on me yet. We were just starting to become good pals." Nightwing said as he helped the Wall Crawler up.
"One more minute and you would have missed the party." Spidey said as he got into a stance. The three grouped up as they readied themselves.
Batman was the first one to move, his target were two men who attempted to pin him but a double lariat knocked the wind out of them. All three looked at their surroundings and saw that there were still 8 henchmen getting ready to fight.
"Well, this is a small party…" Spider-Man commented before he shot a web line at a thug and swung him towards Nightwing whom the latter performed a roundhouse kick to the face and knocked him out.
Nightwing used his escrima sticks to stun some of the thugs and hit them repeatedly with his weapon. He then threw the thug towards Batman who did an elbow takedown. Spider-Man shot a cross web at two of the Penguin's henchmen and pulled them together which caused them to butt heads.
Batman prepared to take down the last thug, but Spider-Man performed a web line kick and knocked him out cold.
He turned to the Dark Knight and out of nowhere told the Spider. "That was 10." Spider-Man for a minute was confused for a moment until he remembered about the competition from earlier. He then realized that Bruce was still keeping the score.
Before walking inside the vault that contained the many weapons and explosives the Caped Crusader turned to the original Boy Wonder and asked, "What kept you?"
Hearing those words Peter was a bit confused as to why Batman would phrase his question that way. He almost made it sound like-
'So that's why he was so calm, sneaky. Pretty sneaky'
The Dark Knight went into the vault, took out some kind of gadget that sprayed gel. He drew his bat symbol on one of the crates. After doing that he stepped out of the vault and started to push the door shut; closing it tight. After closing it he looked at Spider-Man and told him, "Stand back".
He took out the spraying device again and pressed a button and it triggered a contained explosion from inside the vault.
After the explosion went off Bruce gestured to Peter that they needed to go. Before he left the Web Slinger bid his farewell to Nightwing and then swung up to the ceiling exit. As both were under the door they came in from Peter felt his spider sense warning him of upcoming danger.
As they got out they saw a small barricade in front of the exit and a familiar red light from the sentry guns being aimed at them. Both heroes went up to the railing and saw Penguin's thugs and the sentry guns fire a barrage of bullets at nothing.
"I think someone's expecting us", Peter whispered. He then took out his web grenade and strategized to Bruce, "I'm going to web them up with this. On my signal we take em out quickly and disarm the sentry guns"
The Dark Knight took out his gauntlet and started pressing some buttons on it, which confused the Wall Crawler. Before he could ask what the Caped Crusader was doing he saw the thugs being knocked out by some invisible force and then saw the sentry guns explode randomly.
He stepped down and his lenses gave him a close up of what took out the thugs, when he saw that it was the Batmobile he turned to Bruce and said, "You're good."
Batman contacted Alfred, "Alfred what do you have on Simon Stagg?" The butler immediately pulled up the information and replied, "CEO of STAGG Enterprises… A company that specializes in advanced medical research and development."
Hearing this information Spider-Man wondered, 'What does Scarecrow want with Mr. Stagg?'
When Batman informed Alfred that he was headed to the airships to find more leads regarding Barbara Gordon. Alfred later informs both our heroes that the Threat Analysis indicates that Founder's Island is covered by the militia's long range radar and missile launchers.
"In other words we need to be sneaky and not get caught", Peter deduced as he gave a heavy sigh. "It wouldn't be a reconnaissance mission if it was easy"
Alfred gave a small chuckle at the Web Head's comment, but later composed himself. Bruce then requested schematics for the airships. Before hanging up Alfred wished both of our heroes good luck.
Spider-Man analyzed the distance between North Refrigeration hideout and Founder's Island. "That's a pretty far distance and I don't think swinging will be enough", he explained.
The Web Head turned to Batman and asked him, "Do you trust me?" Bruce was taken aback by this sudden question, but he gave Peter a quick nod that confirmed the former's question.
The Caped Crusader looked at the spider curiously, knowing that the Wall Crawler had a plan in mind. Peter stretched out his arms and shot two web lines in opposite directions. He then joined them in the middle to tie em up. He turned to Batman and gestured to him to step in front of the web line.
As Batman did so he saw the Web Head pull back on the web line. He immediately realized what he planned on doing.
"Welcome to Air-Spidey please remember to keep your arms and legs inside the vehicle at all times, and make sure your phones are in airplane mode!" Spider-Man quipped as he pulled back on the web line that was holding Batman. When he reached his limit he told the Dark Knight, "See you on the other side" he then let go of the web line and saw that Bat be launched through the air like a slingshot.
He then got on the web line and launched himself in the same direction. When he got to the other side he saw the Dark Knight land on top a statue that bore a striking resemblance to the Statue of Liberty.
As Spider-Man landed on top of the same statue he saw Batman a bit wobbly and went to help him. The former commented, "You going to be okay?" The Dark Knight simply shrugged it off and told the spider, "We need to keep moving" He then continued to glide to Founder's Island.
Both managed to reach their destination and Batman analyzed the militia watchtower and noticed the many sentry guns that were set up. He then activated his detective vision and saw that the guns were being controlled by a computer located at the center of the tower. He then looked over and saw that a militia soldier had a device that could track his signal every time he used Detective Mode.
"Looks like we'll have to take out the guy with the tracker first. We can't have him give away your position", Spider-Man said as he used his H.U.D to analyze how many militia soldiers there were.
"Looks like we have nothing to worry about. There's only 5 soldiers.", Spider-Man explained to the Dark Knight.
He jumped down and started to crawl to the other tower. An oblivious militia soldier was walking by and out of nowhere Spider-Man shot a web line at the man's feet and yanked him to the side of the tower. Before the soldier could call for help the Wall Crawler webbed his mouth shut.
"Nobody likes a tattletale", Peter whispered to the webbed soldier before he crawled up and perched himself on top of a support beam.
He saw two soldiers meet up together and used the opportunity to take them both out quickly. His spider sense then alerted him of two militia soldiers that were about to shoot him, but out of nowhere the Dark Knight took them both out quickly.
"Thanks for the save. I owe you one", Spider-Man said gratefully.
Batman went to the terminal and took out the same device he used back at the weapon's vault. He sprayed the inside of the terminal and then pushed the button causing it to explode. Then the many sentries blew up afterwards.
"Nice job, partner", Spider-Man said as he raised his right hand for a high five.
Batman then contacted Alfred about the schematics on the airships. Alfred informed them about the hatch entrance located on top of the airship.
Peter with his hand still up assured the butler, "Don't worry Al, we'll find our way in"
Alfred chuckled at his new nickname and replied, "I have no doubt Master Spider-Man"
Batman then contacted Lucius Fox about a Remote Hacking device and Lucius assured the Dark Knight that it was ready for pickup at Wayne Plaza. Bruce then hung up and grappled to the rendezvous point.
"I'll get that high five", Spider-Man muttered before following The Caped Crusader to the rendezvous point.
R.I.P. Kevin Conroy you were our childhood and your legacy will be honored.
Please let me know what you thought of this new chapter.