The Commissioner wasn't too happy to hand over a sample of the toxin to Spider-man. But that didn't bother Peter. The man didn't know him. He couldn't trust him implicitly after two meetings. At the very least, Spider-Man wasn't an unknown. Both times he was sent by someone else. Two people Batman worked with closely. Peter knew that if it weren't for that the Commissioner would have sent him packing.
When he arrived at the top of the WE building, Lucas Fox was waiting for him. The man not only took the sample from him but ushered him inside. Peter wasn't sure what to make of the request so he went with it. They took an elevator that Lucious said was for Bruce Wayne's private use. Then added that there was no chance for the WE personnel to see him. Peter wasn't sure if that was convenient or suspicious of Mr. Wayne.
On the one hand, he could come and go without being interrupted, which was necessary for a busy CEO. On the other, he could slip in and out without being seen. He would only need that option if he were doing some underhanded things. But Peter was going to give Mr. Wayne the benefit of the doubt. He was using his facility to protect the city of Gotham from an insane madman.
"It shouldn't take more than an hour," Lucious said as they made their way to the correct floor.
Peter hadn't said a word. Not that he didn't want to. It was simply because Mr. Fox hadn't stopped talking.
"I'm not sure if you can be of any help. But I need you to take the antidote to the GCPD once the first batch is ready. Unless you have somewhere else you need to be." Lucius looked over at Spider-Man with a raised eyebrow, as if challenging him to refuse.
Peter looked over at the man and shrugged. "I don't have any previous engagements at the moment." Lucious nodded. But Peter inwardly cringed. I don't have any previous engagements at the moment? Why did I say that? I sounded like a douche. Way to put your best foot forward, Parker.
"This is the lab," Lucious said as he entered the space followed by Peter who quickly flipped to a wall and crawled around the ceiling to get a better look at everything that was in the room. "Feel free to look around. But don't touch anything."
"Got it, chief!" Peter said from above Lucious who flinched and looked up. He shook his head and muttered something about gimmicks and costumes. Peter whistled. "Wayne put in a pretty penny into this place, didn't he? Do the shareholders know that he's using their money to save the city?"
"Yes. WE works closely with the GCPD and the Mayor whenever threats from high-risk patients of Arkham arise."
"High-risk patients? That's an extremely generous description of the criminally insane." Peter jumped down to stand next to Lucious who already had his hands full with a microscope and the formula. "I mean, I get it. They have mental disorders but they still need to be held accountable for their actions."
"Hmm," Lucious said and backed away from the microscope. He quickly typed a message and sent it. For who or what, Peter didn't know.
Peter walked up to the microscope to take a look and grabbed a notepad that was nearby. He scribbled a few equations as he looked over the compound structure. "Who did you send the compound structure to?"
Lucious looked over at Spider-Man and smiled. "Star Labs."
"And they can synthesize an antidote in an hour?" The formula the Scarecrow came up with shouldn't even be possible. But Peter was aware that where there was a will there was a way. Plus having the fear toxin on hand made it easier to create an antidote. Peter looked over his equation and was surprised to see that it would work.
"Yes," Lucious said with a secret smile. "Some of the smartest people in the world work there. Not to mention, at the moment, they have a quick turnaround time."
"Maybe this will help?" Peter said handing over the equation he managed to come up with that would help synthesize the antidote.
Lucious looked at the paper and raised an eyebrow. He scanned it and sent it to Barry Allen at Star Labs. Peter made a mental note to look up who that person was. If he was as smart as Lucious made him out to be...
"Perhaps you'll be more helpful than I originally thought," Lucious said and turned to look at Spider-Man. "Follow me." They walked towards a table that was set up to begin the solution process. "Show me what you can do."
"On it, chief!" Spider-man said and looked over at the monitor that Lucious had turned on. A new message was blinking on the screen. Lucious opened it up to show a new compound that Peter knew had to be the antidote. Below was a note thanking Lucious for the equation that made their work that much easier.
"How?"
"As I said before, they have a quick turnaround time," Lucious said with a smile that held many secrets. "The hour was for me to turn the structural formula," he pointed at the monitor, "into a viable antidote. Let's see if you can do it any faster."
"Challenge accepted," Peter said and started to gather everything he needed.
Peter grabbed a notepad and began to break down the steps he would need to take. He mumbled aloud as he compared what he was writing to what Barry Allen had sent. He nodded to himself and asked Lucious for a list of compounds available for use. if he had everything he needed, the process would be a lot faster. Especially since Barry Allen had included solubility test results in his reply.
"I could use an extra pair of hands," Peter said as he slipped on some goggles over his mask.
"I'm happy to help," Lucious said with a smile.
They were a flurry of movement, Spider-man used his webs to reach for test tubes and solubles off the shelves that were further than a hand's reach away. Lucious flinched the first time he heard the thwip of the webs. After that, he chuckled to himself as if he was telling himself a joke.
At fifty minutes, the first three vials of the antidote were ready. Preparing more would take longer but at the very least, they had something for the Commissioner that he could pass along to the hospital if the need arose. Lucious kept one vial and wrapped up the other two for Spider-man to take to the GCPD.
Back at the GCPD, Commissioner Gordon was waiting on the rooftop. He'd received a call from Lucious that he was sending Spider-Man back with the antidote. He pulled out a cigarette and lit it up. He let out a breath with a sigh. Having an antidote was great and all but he was looking at another long night. If Batman couldn't find the Joker or the rest of the Scarecrow's stash, there was no telling how many more long days and nights he had to look forward to. As he was about to take another drag of his cigarette, it was pulled out of his grasp.
"Holy hell!" The Commissioner spun around to see his cigarette dangling from a web. Then he looked at the wall-crawler who was waving at him. He was crouched on the wall. "What are you trying to do, give me a heart attack?"
"If you were worried about that, you wouldn't be smoking those death sticks," Spider-man said with a sarcastic edge to his voice. "Look alive!" He tossed the vial at the Commissioner who fumbled with them for a beat before he had a firm hand around them. "Nice catch!" The Commissioner gave him a sour look. "See you around, Commissioner!"
Gordon put a hand to his chest and shook his head. He didn't quite like the way Batman appeared out of the shadows, but it was better than the trickster Spider-man. "I'm getting too old for this."
Spider-man decided to call it a night after he stopped a robbery in progress and a mugging. it was late and he had an early start the next day. Plus there wasn't much help he could give to vigilantes that specialized in investigation. He was a scientist and a photographer. He may have dabbled in snooping around but a Sherlock Holmes he was not. This little Spider had a bed calling out his name. He headed to his apartment but mid-swing his spider-sense went off.
Peter missed his opportunity to shoot his next web line. He flipped in the air and landed on a rooftop. He peeked over the edge and looked around. He wasn't sure what had set off his spider-sense. It was a full-blown alarm that extended past his head into the nerve endings. His fingertips tingled. Or were they shaking? Peter looked at his hand. What is this feeling?
From the corner of his eye, he saw a delivery truck coast by. His spider-sense flared once more. Peter followed the truck on foot over the rooftops. He pulled out his phone and called the Red Hood. He had no idea what he was dealing with and with the way his body was reacting, he didn't want to take any chances. This wasn't his home. These were not the villains he was used to dealing with. And the laws of physics and chemistry seemed to be a little different here too. He wasn't sure how that affected his powers but he had made a mental note to contact Barry Allen to find out more about the properties of this dimension. For now, though, his focus was on the truck that stopped at an intersection. At a green light. Odd.
"Spidey, what is it?"
"I have a situation," Peter responded.
"Define situation."
"I'm following a delivery truck. And something seems off." Peter climbed down the building he was in to get a closer look.
His body was telling him to go in the opposite direction. The tingling sensation he felt before intensified into tremors.
There was sinister laughter that was permeating the air around him. It bounced off the walls making it seem as if it was coming from everywhere at once. There wasn't anyone in the vicinity. It was as if every living thing was reacting to the laugh and was hiding not even daring to breathe. And maybe that was what his body was reacting to.
"Okay, where are you?"
Peter looked at the street signs. "Central Heights. Main Street and 4th. Oh, god."
"Talk to me."
"Red Hood, you better hurry. There is blood spilling from the back of the truck. And in the driver seat sits the Joker. His hands are drenched in blood."
"Spidey, are you okay? You sound off."
Peter knew that his voice had sounded choked. He looked at his hand. It shook. "I'm...scared?"
"Okay, hang back. I'm five minutes out."
But then Peter heard a baby cry. The fear he felt wasn't his own. It was Gotham's fear. There was nothing that would stop him from saving a child.
"No," Peter said with conviction. "I'm going in."
He hung up on the Red Hood before he heard a reply. Without having to think about what he was doing, he flung himself to the top of the truck that had started to move again when the light turned red. He punched a hole in the roof with his fist and then tore an opening with his hands.
The baby cried harder. What Peter saw made his blood boil. He tempered his rage to pick up the baby. He shushed him and told him everything was going to be okay. He quickly made a sling to put the baby in. Once the baby was nice and snug, he turned to look at the Joker.
Peter ignored the Joker's taunts about the mother and instead webbed his mouth. He webbed his hands onto the steering wheel and the Joker's body to the seat before he jumped out through the hole he came in through. He then webbed the bottom of the chassis. He had a good hold of the front and rear drive axles.
Peter held his ground, sticky feet keeping him in place, as the car was forced to a stop. Then he yanked and the entire drive train was pulled free from the truck's body.
The noise that it made as he tore the truck apart drove Gothamites out of hiding. They had borne witness to how Spider-Man stopped the Joker. They saw how strong he truly was.
Peter could hear hushed murmurs and saw people on their phones. He had always been very careful not to show his true strength in this dimension he'd been thrust into. But what the Joker had done was beyond cruel, it was pure evil. And it had been his fault. He had let the Joker getaway. He was not getting away this time.
Peter pulled out his phone right after he shot a web to get out of the street. He needed to get the baby to the hospital. The baby was no longer crying but was still breathing.
"I'm on my way to the hospital," Peter said before the Red Hood could say anything. "I have a baby. The mother is still in the back of the delivery truck. She was mutilated by the Joker. He is secure and ready for pick-up. The webbing I used to tie him up with will dissolve in an hour. And if you don't arrive within the next two minutes to cut the webbing off of the Joker's face, he will suffocate to death."
"Good." The line went dead.
Peter was not going to try to analyze that response. Instead, he looked down at the baby and caressed the baby's small head.
"I am so sorry about the way you were brought into this world."