Batman runs until he gets to an area where a large bridge extends over a stream and hurries beneath it. He leans Spider-Man against the underside of the bridge. His gloved hand pulls out a small injection device from his utility belt. He loads it with a clear liquid from a small capsule on his belt and brings it down to Spider-Man's neck. A needle injects the contents right into Spider-Man's bloodstream. After a few seconds, Spider-Man gasps and begins to flail around. Batman tries to hold him still, but the strength of the wall-crawler made it easy for him to knock Batman backwards. Spider-Man sits up and looks around, coughing several times. His vision is blurry for a moment. He then hears a stern voice. "Stay quiet and still. They're looking for us." "What happened to me?" Spider-Man groans, rubbing his head. "I feel like I just went twelve rounds with the Hulk." Batman shakes his head. "You inhaled Scarecrow's fear gas. I just injected you with an antidote." With a loud groan, Spider-Man sits up. "I appreciate the help, but right now this forest is crawling with bad guys and I've got to do something about that." "It's Wilson Fisk and Roman Sionis." Batman explains quietly. "That's why I'm in New York. Sionis came here to meet Fisk. They've hired several criminals from Gotham and New York to team up to kill you." Spider-Man sighs deeply. "Fisk… I should've known. That guy has had out for me for a long time. Makes sense he would hire out-of-town muscle this time." "He's done this before?" Batman asks. "Well, no, he hasn't… but another of my enemies, Norman Osborn, has. He put together six of my biggest foes and had them try to destroy me all at once. I guess Fisk stole the idea and decided to make it more exotic." Spider-Man replies as he rotates his shoulder, trying to get the feeling back in his body. "You said six? I counted four. Freeze, Scarecrow, and two others." "Electro and Hobgoblin." Spider-Man nods. "Maybe Fisk and Sionis decided four is enough – or maybe there's a couple more out there waiting. Either way, I need to get these guys off the street before someone gets hurt." Batman reaches his hand out, which catches Spider-Man off guard. He cautiously reaches out and takes Batman's hand, letting the taller hero pull him to his feet. "Does this mean we're friends now?" Spider-Man asks in his usual cheeky tone. "Don't push it." Batman replies. "There's a better chance of protecting the city if we work together." Spider-Man nods thoughtfully. "Makes sense… plus, it would make up the fact that you didn't tell me what Fisk and Sionis were planning when we first met earlier." "You talk too much." Batman replies.
Spider-Man starts to chuckle, but suddenly Batman's gloved hand clamps over his mouth and the Dark Knight makes the hand gesture for silence. Spider-Man listens and hears the familiar buzzing of Hobgoblin's glider. Something falls onto the bridge and explodes. Batman jumps to the left while Spider-Man runs to the right, each manages to get clear before the bridge collapses entirely into the stream. Flying high above them is Hobgoblin who's laughing like a fiend. Batman throws a batarang which sails straight and true through the air and embeds into the underside of the glider – a moment later and there is a crackle of electricity as the batarang gives off an EMP and fries the glider. Hobgoblin lets out a scream as he loses control and flies towards the ground. Spider-Man swings forward on a tree branch and manages to catch Hobgoblin before the glider smashes into the ground. He throws Hobgoblin down hard, landing him right on his back with full force. "That's one down!" Spider-Man calls out. "Five to go – AHHHHH!" Batman suddenly screams in pain as Electro blasts him in the back with a burst of lightning and he collapses on the shore of the stream. "Not good.", Spider-Man groans as he rushes towards Batman – but Mr. Freeze emerges from the tree line, firing several freeze blasts at him, causing Spider-Man to go on the defensive. From beside Electro, Scarecrow eagerly rushes up and drops down beside Batman, presses a hand down over his exposed mouth and lets a puff of brown smoke emit from his glove. Scarecrow laughs out madly and looks down at Batman as he coughs. "I've brewed up an extra strong batch just for you, Batman. Now tell me – what do you see?"
The world around Bruce melts away. Central Park, the villains, and Spider-Man are gone – now he's lying in a dirty alleyway. A newspaper blows by on the wind, and as he looks up, he could see the Gotham Skyline behind him. The Monarch Theater looms in front of him. At the end of the alleyway he sees his parents. Suddenly, a shadowy figure rushes at them. Before Bruce could scream, the gunshots ring out. Bruce scrambles to his feet and runs forward, but as he does the alleyway melts away for the inside of a darkened factory. He sees a young man with black hair, a red shirt, and green pants. He's on his knees, covered in blood and sobbing from behind his domino mask. Bruce… Why did you let me die? Jason Todd sobs. Oh, don't cry, Jason. Uncle Joker is here to cheer you up with some side-splitters that are guaranteed to make you laugh. All of a sudden, a crowbar comes down and splits Jason's head open. Oops, did I say side-splitters? I meant skull-splitters. HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA! Maniacal laughter fills the factory, and Batman watches helplessly as a silhouette towers above Jason, holding the blood-soaked crowbar. All he could see is the evil grinning face of the Joker, and all he could hear is the sickening, repeating thud of the crowbar and the never-ending laughter.
"Think we'll get paid extra to fry the Bat?" Electro asks Scarecrow. "If we do, I guarantee you Sionis will double our pay." Scarecrow snickers from behind his mask. "To think I took this job to fund my studies, and now I get to watch Batman's life drain from his body. It was well worth the trip." Meanwhile on the other side of the dilapidated bridge, Spider-Man is ducking and dodging Mr. Freeze's attacks when he sees Electro and Scarecrow standing over Batman's body. He jumps, twists in mid-air, and shoots his webbing into the end of Freeze's gun. The next frozen beam is caught in the barrel and the gun bursts, encasing Mr. Freeze in ice. Spider-Man then webs a tree and swings across the stream, kicking Electro in the chest and knocks him back. Spider-Man turns around to face Scarecrow, who is already reaching for him. "Not this time!" Spider-Man says as he webs Scarecrow's mask right over his eyes. He grabs Scarecrow by the wrist and twists his arm, points it towards Electro and sprays him in the face with the fear gas. Electro scrambles backward, sparks flying from his face as he coughs and sputters. He looks up at Spider-Man as the brown smoke clears from his face and he screams at the sight before him. It seems that Spider-Man had grown several feet taller and now has grown four extra arms. All six arms and his feet are now covered in brown hair, each equipped with massive claws. His head has ripped out of his mask, revealing an ugly hairy head with eight eyes and huge fangs. With a scream of sheer horror, Electro raises his hands and blasts lightning at the monstrous Man-Spider before him, but Spider-Man acts quick and pulls Scarecrow in front of him, letting the Master of Fear take the full brunt of the electrical storm. He then pushes Scarecrow into Electro and jumps beside them, grabs both of them by the back of their heads and slams their faces together. Satisfied, he watches as they both fall unconscious. "Sorry, I just don't like you guys, so why don't you hang out with each other?" Spider-Man sprays them with webbing, twisting them about until both are cocooned in thick webbing – and then he tosses the cocoon up towards a tree, spraying several additional webs – suspending the cocoon between two branches.
Spider-Man watches in satisfaction – until he feels his spider sense tingle and turns around just as a pumpkin bomb goes off. He dodges quickly, but he gets thrown backward and smashes into the rubble of the bridge. Hobgoblin comes rushing foreword, clutching his side with one hand but holding a second bomb with the other. "Did you actually think you'd get rid of me that easily, Spider-Man?" Hobgoblin growls. "Kinda hoped so, yeah." Spider-Man groans. Hobgoblin raises his hand with the bomb and begins to laugh, but suddenly a gloved hand clamps down on his wrist and retches his arm into an unnatural position. Batman's elbow comes down hard, dislocating Hobgoblin's arm with one powerful hit and causes him to scream out in pain as he drops the bomb, sending it bouncing off into the stream. "H-How?! The gas!" Hobgoblin groans. "Nothing lasts forever." Batman says as he slams his open palm against Hobgoblin's mask, making him groan in pain. Batman then hits Hobgoblin with several rapid-paced punches to the ribs and then knocks him out with an uppercut. Batman then brings his boot down on the back of Hobgoblin's knee hard enough to snap it. Spider-Man hobbles over and shoots a web at Hobgoblin's satchel, pulls it into his hands and throws it into the stream. "Geez, you don't pull any punches, do you?" "We can't afford to pull punches." Batman replies. Spider-Man nods. "Hey… I hate to be a chorus girl for a crazy goblin, but how did you recover from the gas? That stuff seriously messed with my head when I was under it." "I inoculated myself from Scarecrow's gas earlier when we were under the bridge. He was using a special extra-strength gas so I was still affected, but I recovered faster than normal." "Nice." Spider-Man gives a thumbs up.
"Well, that's Hobgoblin, Scarecrow, and Electro down, and I left Mr. Freeze on the other side of the…" Peter's voice trails off as he glances across the stream and sees that Mr. Freeze is gone. There is several large chunks of ice and the broken remains of his gun, but Freeze is nowhere to be seen. "… I swear he was right there." Spider-Man sighs deeply. "Not anymore!" Mr. Freeze jumps out from behind a pair of nearby bushes, brandishing a second freeze gun. He blasts out a beam of concentrated cold that slams into Spider-Man's chest, causing the hero to groan as he falls backwards with ice and snow accumulating quickly all over his body. Batman spins around and throws a batarang that smashes into the front of his helmet, hitting it right in the middle and creating a long crack across the front. Freeze steps back and fires his gun at the Dark Knight, forcing Batman to jump for cover. Meanwhile, Spider-Man forces himself to sit up and ignore the cold. He reaches for his belt and pulls out a small capsule which he bursts in his hand and rubs it across his chest – and quickly the ice and snow begins to dissolve away. As soon as he feels warmth spreading throughout his body, Peter grabs two more heating packs and tosses them at Mr. Freeze. They slam into his legs and pop, sending the warm liquid across his knees. Freeze lets out a gasp as he feels the heat spreading through his suit and he stumbles forward, dropping his gun. Batman rushes over and slams his fist down on Freeze's back, knocking him down on the ground. He then pulls his hands behind him, before smashing his fist through Freeze's helmet and shatters it. "What is that stuff you used on him?" Batman asks. Spider-Man shrugs. "A heating pack I developed myself. It was really cold last winter and I spent most of my nights outdoors doing this kind of thing."
All of a sudden, the two heroes hear a mechanical crunching sound as something hard and metallic smashes into the ground. Spider-Man and Batman both turn to see a figure coming their way. Recognizing the figure, Spider-Man groans. It's a short, squat man with a bowl haircut and very large goggles over his face. He's wearing a green jumpsuit with yellow gloves and boots, but what makes the man really stand out is his extra arms. He has four mechanical tentacles attached to his back, using them to walk across the ground with massive strides. "One of yours?" Batman asks. "Yeah. Doc Ock. He's a genius, but completely insane. Don't underestimate those arms." Spider-Man warns. "Spider-Man, Batman! I'm surprised to see the two of you working together, but no matter. I saw everything that happened. You both sustained serious injuries. It should be a simple matter to remove you both from this world." Doctor Octopus grins as he approaches them. "Don't be so sure." Batman retorts as he glares at the evil genius. "Two against one." Spider-Man calls out. "Think again, niños." Another voice calls out as a massive mountain of a man in a black tank-top and brown camouflage pants emerges from the opposite direction. His muscles are enormous and covering his face is a black luchador mask. There's a hose attached to the back of his head that runs down to a large glove on his left hand. "Holy beefcake, Batman!" Spider-Man calls out. "Talk about juicing." "His name's Bane. He's a master strategist and incredibly strong – and he can increase his strength with a drug called venom." Batman explains in one quick breath. "Venom?" Spider-Man blinks a few times. "… Greeeeat. At least this venom isn't drooling all over the place." Batman ignores the teenage crime fighter as he narrows his eyes at Bane. "So, this was the plan all along. Send the others to work us over and tire us out, so you can step in and do the heavy lifting." "I think we both know heavy lifting is my specialty, perro." Bane smirks as he cracks his knuckles. He then glances over at Doctor Octopus. "I will squash your bug problem, you rip the wings off the Bat. Agreed?" One of Doc Ock's massive mechanical tendrils shoots at Batman, causing the hero to jump to the side as the cold steel claw rips a hole in his cape. "Agreed!" Doc Ock calls out as he charges at Batman.
Meanwhile, Bane turns toward Spider-Man and charges. Spider-Man jumps up, flips above Bane, and comes down behind him. He aims a kick at Bane's side and slams his foot into the enormous man, but much to Spidey's surprise Bane shows little reaction. "You are strong." Bane sneers. He spins around and brings his fist down on Spider-Man's shoulder that sends him crumbling to the ground. "But I am stronger." Spider-Man rolls across the ground to avoid being stomped on and gets back on his feet by doing a quip-up. He then fires webshots at Bane, tying his arms together but the massive man easily rips through the super strong webbing. Spidey ducks down, dodging a punch and pops up beside Bane. He hits Bane in the face with a left hook, knocking him back. Spider-Man then gives out a furious flurry of fists on Bane. The larger man stumbles back as Spider-Man crosses his arms and chuckles. "You want to reconsider who's stronger?" A deep, throaty laugh escapes Bane's masked mouth. His right hand moves down to the device strapped around his left wrist and presses a button. Suddenly, the hose connecting the device to the back of his head begins to pulsate as something pumps directly into Bane's bloodstream. In a matter of seconds, the already massive muscles of the luchadore double in size. His arms become inhumanly large with his veins protruding against his tan skin. The mask around his face strains to stay on with how much bigger the man has gotten and he lets loose a roar that sounded like it came from a Tyrannosaurus Rex. "… Me and my big mouth." Spidey groans. Bane turns towards a large tree. He grips the trunk with both hands and lets out a loud grunt. The sound of wood snapping fills Central Park as he uproots the tree with relative ease. With a loud yell, Bane swings the tree like a baseball bat, trying to smash Spider-Man. The hero jumps and manages to keep from getting crushed, but he gets hit in the chest and gets knocked back several feet. Spidey groans, clutching his chest and tries to catch his breath. Pain radiates through his entire body and beneath his mask he clenches his eyes shut, trying to work up the strength to stand.
Nearby, Batman lets out a sharp yell of pain. Doc Ock's metal tentacles have wrapped around him, one binding his hands and another held his feet together. The Dark Knight is suspended above the mad scientist's head with each of the robotic arms pulling him in a different direction. "Go ahead. Struggle. There is no chance of escape from my clutches, Dark Knight.", Doc Ock sneers. Batman struggles to move his fingers from one glove to the back of the other. On the knuckle of each glove is a small bump beneath the black. Batman's finger barely stretches far enough to press the bump and suddenly, there are electrical sparks on his gloves from both the knuckles and the tips of his fingers. He strains to move his hand and grabs hold of the mechanical tendril wrapped around his waist – and in an instant it sends a powerful surge of electricity through Doc Ock's robotic appendages all the way to where they are connected to his back. Ock screams out in sudden pain as he glows with electricity and he releases Batman as he falls backward onto the ground.
Batman slams against the grassy ground with a loud thud and he groans in pain. His arms and legs feel like jelly, but he knows he can't sit still. He leans up, his hands still sparking with electrical power. Suddenly, Spider-Man comes crashing into him from the side and they both go tumbling to the ground. Bane is standing several yards away, clenching his fists as he glares over at the two heroes. "I will crush you both beneath my boots! Parents will forever tell their children the story of Bane, the Man who Broke the Bat and Squashed the Spider!" Sitting up, Spider-Man watches as Bane starts charging towards him. Batman also notices it and quickly shuts off his shock gloves. The two lock eyes for just a moment before each jump in a different direction. Batman jumps to the left and throws a batarang which flies straight for the tube that runs from Bane's wrist to his head. The corner of the razor-sharp shuriken slices through the rubber tube and a thick, green liquid sprays out from both sides. At the same time, Spider-Man jumps to the right and aims both his hands at the massive brute's legs, shooting several globs of webbing at Bane's ankles, knees, and legs. The thick webbing accumulates in seconds, wrapping the massive man's legs and causing him to fall face first onto the ground. Suddenly, a sickening tingling spreads up and down Peter's spine and he barely had enough time to grab Batman and jump to the side as two large mechanical tentacles stab into the ground where the two heroes previously stood.
Doc Ock is back on his feet and lets out a loud yell as he stabs all four of his robotic appendages at the two. Batman dodges to the side while Spider-Man swings into a tree. "You've always been too persistent, Otto!" Spider-Man yells out as he fires web fluid onto Doc Ock's goggles, coating them with webbing completely. The scientist yells out in anger as he uses his regular hands to try to tear away the webbing. Batman throws a batarang which embeds into the ground at Doc Ock's feet. On both sides, a blue light goes on and off real fast. "What does that one do?" Spider-Man asks. "You'll see." Batman smirks. All of a sudden, Spider-Man hears a bunch of chirping and chattering. He looks up and he couldn't believe his eyes. A vast legion of bats comes down from the night sky and swarm Doctor Octopus, biting and scratching him. "Geez, someone is going to need to get rabies shots after this." Spider-Man says. Ock, now screaming in terror, tries swiping them away but the bats' onslaught is too much. He ends up running face first into a tree. As the swarm of bats fly away, Spider-Man webs up Doc Ock's body, pinning him to the ground. He then webs up each of Ock's mechanical arms separately. Doc Ock comes to and sees a shadow being cast over him. He looks up to see Batman glaring down at him with his piercing white eyes, his fists are clenched and his cape is blowing in the wind. "What are you?" Ock whimpers in pain and fear. Suddenly, there is the loud roar of thunder and a flash of lightning. "I am vengeance. I am the night. I am… BATMAN!" Batman bellows before knocking out Doc Ock with one punch. "And don't you forget it, Otto!" Spider-Man adds.
"Well, I think it's finally over." Spidey calls out with relief. Yet as even as the words left his mouth, his spider sense starts to go crazy. He's too tired and injured to dodge the danger this time, as a pair of massive hands grab him – one wrapped around his neck and the other grabbed his leg. Bane hoists Spider-Man up above his head. "I WILL BREAK YOU!" The whirling sound of a batarang cuts through the air – and a second later Bane's left hand gets cut, causing him to cry out and drop Spider-Man as he flinches away from the pain. Bane clutches his bloody hand against his chest as Spider-Man jumps up and delivers a kick to his face. Bane staggers back and drops to one knee. He then looks up, only to get punched in the face simultaneously by the fists of both Spider-Man and Batman, and gets knocked out. Not soon after, the dark clouds part and it becomes bright and sunny again. Spider-Man turns to Batman. "Thanks. I had a bad feeling about that." "You have no idea." Batman shakes his head. "Excelsior!" Batman and Spider-Man look to see two old men who have been watching the entire battle from safe enough distance away. "Way to go, crime-fighters. Once again, good has triumphed over the forces of evil." One of them says. "Keep up the good work, heroes.", the other one says. "Uh… Thank you for the kind words, gentlemen." Spider-Man says while trying to sound more mature and stoic. "C'mon Stan, we got to get going. Don't want to be late for the movie, old chum." "Right behind you, Adam." The two men then go on their way. "They look familiar to you?" Spider-Man asks Batman. "Maybe one of them." Batman shrugs. Spider-Man then webs up Bane's unconscious body. "Well, I think we're done here. Gosh, every muscle in my body feels like jello." Spider-Man groans. Batman crosses his arms. "We're not done yet. We still have two to go…"
*For those of you didn't catch that, those two old men are supposed to be Stan Lee and Adam West. May they rest in peace.