Disclaimer: Spider-man belongs to Marvel Comics. Batman belongs to DC Comics.
Warning: it may contain gore, nudity, sexual themes, and other themes that may disturb some.
Symbiotic Relationship
Chapter 3 - All pieces on the board
Batcave
After the bat-computer had finished the analysis of the meteorite that had fallen the day before, Bruce Wayne aka Batman sees the results and can't stop himself from frowning while looking at them.
"Something wrong Master Bruce?" Asks Alfred, Bruce's butler, father figure, and best friend.
"No." Says Bruce, with an annoyed tone because there was nothing wrong. "It's nothing but a piece of metal composed of titanium, lead, and aluminum. No gas, or any compound that could be harmful to people or the environment.".
"I take that you think it's too good to be true." Says the butler in his regular emotionless voice.
"That too, but I feel something is amiss even after all the tests showed there isn't and I'm just being a spoiled brat." Says the caped crusader frustrated for being wrong.
"Maybe a few hours of sleep could help you, Master Bruce. It's been 50 hours since your last rest." Says the British butler with his always polite voice looking at his long-time friend scratching his chin still looking at the meteorite.
"Maybe I should." Says Bruce scratching the bridge of his nose.
"All your regular rogues are captured, Scarecrow being the only exception. Rest. Should he appear on the radar I will warn you.".
"You are right." Says Batman with an invisible smile. "Thanks, Alfred.".
Cadmus
Amanda Waller was not happy, she never is, but today was different. Looking at the destroyed lab at Cadmus headquarters the director can't stop but frown her brow to the next level.
"I want to know how did a Russian spy get through our security now." Says Waller looking at the chief scientist Doctor Ivo.
"We don't know, director. Every person was identified before coming in, there is no way someone could've entered outside from our own people." Says Doctor Ivo nervous at being the target of the woman's angry stare.
"Bring me the recordings. No one leaves this building until I say so." Says Waller to one of the guards.
After a few minutes Waller, Ivo, and other figureheads of Cadmus are watching the footage, searching for anything that could point to the culprit. The footage showed a common day at the lab, scientists coming in and out and experimenting with chemicals or new projects, nothing seemed out of the ordinary until Waller noticed something amiss.
"Freeze the footage." She says. "Zoom in.".
With the image frozen and a specific person's face in focus, no one but Waller could understand why the person on the screen looked so important until Dr. Ivo also noticed.
"Who is this?" Asks Waller to Doctor Ivo.
"That's. That's Doctor Adrian Toomes. Our expert on electric engineering." Dr. Ivo says without understanding until something hit him. "But… Doctor Toomes had taken a license vacation two weeks ago."
"I want someone to get into contact with Dr. Toomes right now," Waller says trying to keep her anger in check but failing. "You. Secure all staff. I want to know if he is still in the building.".
After Amanda gives the soldiers their orders she and Doctor Ivo return to her office. After locking the door, she presses a button on her watch to scan the room for any bugs that could be spying on her.
Sitting down on her chair after the scan was complete Amanda takes a bottle of whisky out of her desk with two cups and serves herself and doctor Ivo, she can't take the anger out of her face and thinks a little Alcohol could help.
"Drink." Says Waller while taking one of the cups herself. "What had been stolen, Doctor Ivo?".
"Schematics for a glider based on magnetic waves that Dr. Toomes was developing." Says Ivo trying not to swallow the drink too fast, he could almost feel Toomes anger when he finds out someone stole the schematics of his project.
"And I doubt Dr. Adrian would need to steal his own project. Not when he already had it all inside his head.". Says Amanda with a bitter voice slightly shaking her glass before taking another sip. "I should've killed him a long time ago.".
"Do you know who did it, Ms. Waller?" Asks Ivo widening his eyes in surprise at the revelation.
"Dimitri Smerdyakov, also known as the Chameleon." Says Waller pulling out a file from her desk and giving it to Ivo so he could see for himself. "The best spy in the world. Ex-KGB. Ex-CIA after the fall of the Soviet Union and currently private spy working for the highest bitter, mainly industrial and military espionage.".
Passing page after page Doctor Ivo can't stop himself from frowning knowing his director not only met the man but worked with him. "What do you mean should've killed him, what happened?".
"Long story short, we sent him to spy on Saddam before the war on Iraq. After the job was done, we were going to level the city under the pretense there was a terrorist cell hiding there to not leave loose ends, but he found out and sold government secrets to Saddam. I guess you can guess what happened next.".
"What do we do?" Asks Ivo a little nervous after being told a secret that he was pretty sure would get him killed should he tell anyone.
"We find him and kill him. If he sold the schematics already, then we question whom he sold to so we can find him and kill him."
Says Waller putting another glass for her and professor Ivo.
Gordon Residence.
With its host asleep the symbiote leaves the body for a moment, now that she accepted the bond between them, it now needed to make sure she was at the peak of her capacity and that spine injury would be in the way, the symbiote knew it couldn't just cure her since it would raise questions, but it could make it so she could be cure by third parties, for that it would need resources, lots of them, thankfully it knew where to find.
Crawling towards the open window the symbiote makes its way out of the room but not before taking a last look at its host, she was in deep sleep and there were ten hours until she would wake again which give it a lot of time to do what it has to do.
When the symbiote reaches the window, it starts to hear an annoying and disgusting sound, when it turns around to see the source it sees a dog barking in its direction nonstop. For a moment the symbiote thinks about his plans, crawling to his objective would take time, and doing what it intended would take even more time, and the dog right there was the perfect way to do it quickly.
Still barking the dog doesn't have time to move when the symbiote jumps at him, it doesn't take long until it covers all the dog's body, like an anaconda the symbiote slowly crushes the dog's bones making a loud 'CRACK' sound at each bone broken. After dying of air loss and crushed bones the dog's body is slowly devoured by the symbiote until nothing is left. It took only three minutes for the symbiote to kill the dog and absorb it whole, after acquiring the dog's DNA the symbiote transforms itself into a perfect copy of the dog, it notices soon after the transformation is complete and changes the color of the fur to not bring attention to itself by the owners of the dog.
On the sidewalk, the symbiote now in its dog form slowly walks to where it intends to, the butcher shop a few squares away. The symbiote's intention was to consume all the meat in there so it could start the process to perfect the body of its host and make her become a being at the peak of her species, it also would need the nutrients to fix her spine, not enough to cure her completely, but enough so the medics of this world could cure her. After the medical procedure was over the symbiote would of course fix her spine ever better than they all could, it was one of the advantages of being on every molecule of the host's body and then proceeding to refine her body.
For a moment the symbiote wonders what its host would do with her life once her body was at its peak, her thoughts showed that she wanted to mate with a male and reproduce in the future, and with the symbiote attached, it could help her either reproduce on the first try or not if she wanted.
There were also the other activities the host wanted to partake in, which were going out at the night fighting against others of her species who were categorized as criminals, with the symbiote's help she could be stronger, faster, and better at everything than before and would never be permanently injured like before.
When the symbiote arrives at its destination it uses the knowledge its host gave it so this could be done easier and without drawing attention, in its dog form the symbiote uses the rear paws to stand and its mouth to open the power box of the place after crushing its padlock with its teeth, soon the whole place is cut off the energy grid and the symbiote could do what it wanted without getting caught by the security cameras.
The symbiote enters the place by the door lock and once inside it does what it came for, one by one the meat in the butcher shop is eaten and digested by it, and its nutrients are stored inside, all with the sole purpose of helping its host. It doesn't take long until the place is completely emptied by the alien goo who doesn't waste time and goes back to where it came from in the same fashion it used to come to the place. On the next day, the owner would arrive at his workplace and be angry after finding all his products stolen, but it will stop once he receives the insurance money.
Arriving at its host home the symbiote transforms itself into a spider and crawls the wall of the house and enters through the same window it used to leave. Once inside the room it looks at its host's naked form in the bed, the host liked the feeling of the symbiote in the skin for it helped her to keep her body warm at the temperature she wanted and felt better than any pajama or blanket she ever used. It doesn't take long for the symbiote to crawl over its host body and cover every inch and attach to every molecule again as if it had never left.
Once attached to its host again the symbiote starts the process of the partial healing of the spine and as a thank you for the patience and the little drop of regret for the pain it might cause, the symbiote would keep the host's body completely warm and give her nice dreams while the medical procedure takes place, and on the morrow, the host would thank it for the help and for giving her life back.
After Barbara woke up, she stretched her arms towards the ceiling and gave a long and comfortable yawn, she couldn't remember the last time she slept and awoke so well and content.
She looks at the red blanket she had used and smiles at it.
"You are officially the best cloth I ever had." She says with a sweet tone.
As if it was a hug the symbiote curls up on Barbara's torso and covers her naked breasts before doing so with her entire body, and transforming itself into her casual clothes.
"Thank you…" Barbara stops speaking and scratches her chin. "Can you also be my underwear while being my casual or just one at a time?"
As an answer to the former Batgirl, the symbiote also forms a bra and pantie for her making her skin crawl a little with the sensation still strange to her body.
"I didn't give you a name, did I?".
Feeling a 'no' inside her head Barbara thinks about what should she name her new friend… and wardrobe.
"Sorry cutie, it was a joke." She says smiling after feeling a little tingle in her brain. "How about Lovecraft?! You know, since you came from that comet that hit Wayne manor and he was a writer of cosmic horror.".
She feels another 'no' in her brain but she thought the name fit the symbiote pretty well considering their meeting was definitely something out of a horror novel.
"Ok, what do you want to be called?" Barbara asks trying to look at her forehead as if it was the only way to see the symbiote eye to eye. "Yeah, but taking the name of your host might get messy.".
After the symbiote tells Barbara how its species get their names, she starts to think again about how to name it, having two Barbaras would be too much for her father, although Dick or Peter would probably like it.
"Ok, how about Red? …I know, unoriginal, but I can't think of a name that will please the both of us". Barbara says with a wry smile feeling the symbiote in its head reluctantly agreeing with the name she chose for the time being. "Red it is… and stop grunting.".
Arriving at the kitchen Barbara sees her father drinking his coffee and reading the newspaper, the police commissioner can't stop himself from smiling seeing his daughter so disposed in the morning.
"You seem well today." Says Jim while taking a sip of his coffee. "Had a nice sleep?".
"You can say that." Replies Barbara buttering a toasted bread for her breakfast. "What about you?".
"Well, thanks to Batman every maniac is either in Arkham or Blackgate, the only one missing is Scarecrow. Once he is arrested, then I will sleep better, or at least with fewer worries.".
"Good to know," Barbara says after taking a bite of her bread. "And here I thought my hands were full with the chemistry test next week.".
"As a father, I wished the chemistry tests were your only problems in your entire life. But even I can see the little girl I raised is growing.".
"Come now dad, I will always be that silly girl that makes ugly drawings of you and ask for you to sing until I sleep.".
"I know sweetheart, I know.".
After finishing their breakfast Jim and Barbara both go together to the car. Today was the monthly check-up on Barbara's condition and her father was always with her for the exams.
In the car, there is only silence, not much to talk really. Barbara and her father had a agitate life, to put it mildly, her brother was on Arkham and her mother left them, and even though their relationship was good and they had much to talk about, it was hard to find a subject that would hold a long conversation between the two.
When the Joker shot Barbara, her father was kidnapped by him and suffered from stress for weeks and both didn't leave each other side, and even now when things are starting to get better there was still tension and fear like this was just the calm before the storm, and the storm that was coming would be a big one.
"So…" Her father says while the traffic light is on red and they stop. "How is your friend Peter?".
"He's doing good." Says Barbara with a small smile. "He keeps up with his studies and is very smart.".
"I like him. He looks like a good kid although a little soft.".
"Haha that he is. But at least he isn't like those jocks who think their lives are forfeit and they will get a career on Gotham Rogue's football team once their school life is over.".
"Do you know what he plans for the future?".
"He wants to have a Ph.D. and be a chemistry doctor. He dreams of working in places like Wayne Enterprises or Oscorp.".
"What about you?".
"I… haven't thought too much about my future." Says Barbara looking through the window feeling a little warm coming from the symbiote. "I wanted to follow in your footsteps before… you now.".
"Yeah. I know.".
The silence comes back and as if destiny wanted to play a part in it, the light turns green, and Jim steps on the pedal making the car move closer to their destination.
Inside the clinic, Barbara and Jim are greeted by the doctor in charge, Michael Morbius, and both shake hands with the pale and slender-looking man.
"Mr. Gordon. Ms. Barbara. It's a pleasure having you back." Says the doctor with a polite voice shaking hands with his patient.
"Good to see you again doctor Morbius. You look good." Says Barbara with a genuine smile of sympathy.
Michael Morbius has a blood sickness, it's not lethal but the doctor always needs a cane to walk, and can't overexercise himself. Even with the sickness, he didn't stop in the pursuit of becoming a doctor, nothing could stop him from keep on his studies and helping others who have health problems like him, people like Barbara, and that's why she liked the good doctor.
"Thank you, Ms. Barbara, I'm also feeling good today. What about you?"
"Just like you. Guess some days are better than others." Barbara says with a small chuckle.
"Hehe indeed." Says the doctor looking at her and also chuckling.
They follow the doctor to the procedure room where Barbara would make a magnet resonance to see how her body has been in the past month. The procedure was done only once, in the day Barbara was shot and the doctor wasn't Morbius so another exam was needed.
After taking all her clothes off and putting on the patient's scrubs Barbara lay down just waiting for the exam to proceed. The symbiote is reluctant in leaving its host but due to the nature of the procedure, it concedes afraid of what it could do to its biology.
Outside the room, Dr. Morbius and Gordon watch the screen while the medical procedure starts.
"So. Dr. Morbius. Do you believe my daughter could walk again?" Asks Jim trying not to get too hopeful. "Last visit had got me a little overwhelmed.".
"It's comprehensible." Says the doctor looking at the images of Barbara's body on the screen. "While I do believe she could walk again it's not so simple. An injury like the one your daughter has never is.".
"Can you explain to this old man who understands nothing of medicine?" Says Gordon with a little sarcasm trying to relax since he doesn't know what the doctor might say.
"Well Mr. Gordon to put it in a simple and crude way, we could put a cybernetic implant on her spine so it can grow accustomed back to the position it once was." Says Morbius with a serious face so Barbara's father understands how serious the procedure could be. "Once it's done, we would them proceed with a surgery which would link back her nervous system to her spine, and then she would have to go throughout a therapy and learn how to walk again.".
Gordon doesn't say anything, he just stops and thinks about what the doctor just said. What he heard was just the abridged version of what would really happen should his daughter's spine be fixed, so the long version would probably sound worse.
After the procedure is complete Gordon notices the shocked expression on the face of Doctor Morbius and fears what may come out of his mouth.
"This is not possible." Says the Doctor trying not to let saliva come out of his open mouth. "Mr. Gordon has your daughter been doing anything abnormal in the last days?".
"…No.". Says Gordon with fear and a trembling voice. "Is there a problem Doctor.".
"Yes. I mean no. I mean. Look for yourself." Says the doctor showing the resonance results to the police commissioner.
Looking at the image Gordon tries to look without success what Dr. Morbius wanted him to see.
"I'm sorry doctor, but what exactly I'm looking at?". Asks Gordon almost tasting the sweat from his mustache falling into his mouth.
"This Mr. Gordon is the spine links of your daughter. While the spine is still damaged by the shot her links are completely fine. The 'problem' is that they are fully healed, and unless and miracle happened, I'm sure this isn't normal".
Hearing the implications Jim Gordon finally understood the Doctor Morbius meant.
"How this will affect her treating doctor.". Asks Gordon nervous.
"Well, I'd say that it actually will make it easier, after the surgery she would just need some lessons on how to make use of her legs again." Says Morbius calmly, but completely focused on the pictures of Barbara's spine. "I have no idea how this happened Mr. Gordon, but something like this is not natural, when it comes to medicine, with your permission and your daughter's I want to take some blood samples to see what could've caused this, it may save many lives in the future.
Gordon doesn't think twice and nods his head in response, a chance to cure hundreds of lives by giving just a drop of blood was a small price to pay, and he knew Barbara would also accept.
Unkown location
Inside a black limo, Dimitri Smerdyakov finishes his business with his employer, Wilson Fisk, the Kingpin, who wanted to expand to Gotham after taking over the entire organized crime of New York.
The spy delivers a black suitcase to the man in the white suit who does the same, on Chameleon's suitcase were schematics for a glider which he stole from a Cadmus' facility, on Kingpin's ten million dollars already cleaned and without risk of the IRS finding out.
"You've done well Chameleon." Says Fisk looking at the schematics after opening the suitcase which had the password 000 on the right lock and 123 on the left lock. "I take it there will be no problems in the future?".
"I would like to say yes, Mr. Fisk." Says the spy counting the money just for formalities, he knew men like Fisk were strictly professionals who wouldn't risk their professionalism being tainted by broking a contract. "But in our line of work, there are always problems in every corner.".
"True to that.".
"What I can guarantee is that no one will track these schematics to me and you, and as long as what you do with them can't be traced back to you, those on Cadmus will not be able to do anything.".
"Excellent." Says Fisk closing the suitcase and looking at the spy with a smile. "I might have another job for you in the future Mr. Smerdyakov, I hope this is the beginning of a fruitful business relationship.".
"Me too Mr. Fisk." Says the Chameleon smiling back at his employer and shaking hands with him.
The Russian spy looks at his wrist and turns back to his current employer.
"Looks like I have another contract. Have a good day Mr. Fisk.".
After a few minutes before the Chameleon had left him alone, Wilson Fisk grabs his phone from the pocket in his suit and presses the automatic dial.
"Yes, boss?!" Says a voice with a strong Russian accent.
"Hammerhead everything is ready, have Spencer in the lab, I want him on this job.".
"Sure thing boss, anything else?".
"Yes, tell Tombstone to come to Gotham, I already know the perfect subject." Says Fisk with a malicious smile. "Tell him to go after Garfield Lynns, he is perfect for this project.".
"What do you want to call this project boss?" Asks Hammerhead really curious about what his boss had to say.
"Firefly.".
Gotham Park - Two weeks later
Peter and Barbara are side by side taking a walk in the park, it wasn't a date, much to the dislike of both of them, but they both were happy to be taking a walk with each other.
"That's great news, Barbara." Says Peter smiling at Barbara and feeling happy for her.
"I know Peter, you've been saying that for the last ten minutes," Barbara responds with a mocking grin, but not feeling any ill will towards her friend.
"Sorry, I think I'm a little overwhelmed." He says scratching the back of his neck.
"And you're not even the one who will be able to walk again.".
"Ha. Ha. Well Ms. Gordon, what will be the first thing you'll do once you start to walk again?" Asks Peter looking at her. 'God she is so beautiful.'.
"Well, I know I won't be sleeping, as a matter of fact, I'm gonna stay up all night for a walk," Barbara says with a cocky attitude, she was starving to start her life as Batgirl again.
"Isn't it a little too dangerous to take a stroll at night?" Asks Peter worried for her safe being.
'Gosh how I wanted to hug him, he is so cute' Thinks Barbara after seeing the face of her friend. "Oh don't you worry Mr. Parker, this girl here knows how to take care of herself.".
They both stop in front of an ice cream car and buy one each, Peter chooses the chocolate flavor while Barbara strawberry, after buying their ice cream both go towards a bench to eat and resume their talk.
"What about you Peter?" Asks Barbara while taking a bite of her ice cream.
"What about me?" Aks Peter doing the same as his friend.
"Wanna join me for a jog?".
"I'm not much of an athlete Barbara." He says laughing at himself. "That gym equipment you gave me?! let's just say I do slow progress when it comes to exercises.".
"Too bad, you'll miss the chance to see me in legging shorts, and to see my legs and thighs," Barbara says with a grin that turns to a large smile when Peter's face gets more pinky than her ice cream.
"Are… are you trying to convince me through seduction?" Asks Peter nervous moving his head to the side.
"Is it working?".
"…Yes".
Barbara's laughs are really loud when she hears Peter's answer, but it's cut off once they hear a loud noise not too far from where they are. Pushing Barbara's chair so they could reach their destination quicker Peter stops running when they finally find the source of the noise.
It was a man in a strange orange suit with a jetpack on his back that resemble wings, he was wearing a helmet that looks like a moth and carrying what appears to be a flamethrower.
"I AM THE FIREFLY." Says the now identified Firefly. "AND IF THERE IS ANYONE WHO DARES TO CHALLENGE ME I WILL BE WAITING.".
After what appeared to be a speech Firefly shoots his flamethrower on what appeared to be an armored car and the bulletproof doors melt like butter, the men inside are less lucky, as the melted metal of the ceiling of the car falls on them and they scream in pain while Peter and Barbara can do nothing but watch in horror.
'Please calm down, I won't get closer.'. Thinks Barbara in response to her garment friend who was trembling and making her fear it would leave her since she was wearing only it at the moment. 'I guess you are not fond of fire right?!'.
Receiving a yes on her head Barbara looks a Peter and pulls the sleeve of his shirt. Peter looks at her somehow managing to get his attention dragged away from Firefly and sees the worry on his friend's face.
"I think we should get out of here." Says Barbara 'trembling' of fear.
"Yes, you are right".
Peter grabs Barbara's wheelchair and pushes it for her, he takes a final look at Firefly and only sees him flying away carrying what appeared to be money bags in both hands, it doesn't take long for him to disappear into the sky.
"That was dangerous," Peter says cleaning a sweat on his forehead that didn't exist. "What do you think of this Barbara?".
"He is just another supervillain wannabe," Barbara says confidently with a hand holding her chin. "That speech was clearly a challenge, he wants Batman to come and face him.".
"Hum, I guess Firefly wants to challenge Batman, in the hopes that if he wins he would gain respect or fear of the other criminals.".
"That's a good guess. But I think there's more to it.".
'This was a field test, Batman only comes out at night, he clearly did this to test his equipment and evaluate its capabilities for when he fights Bruce, and my instincts are telling me there's even more to this.
Before she could think any more Barbara and Peter go away from the place, after what just happened it could be a good idea to call it a day and go home.
After a few minutes, they both arrived at the Gordon residence, when Barbara notices the lights were off she assumed her father was still working, she looks at Peter and smiles at him.
"Today was nice Peter," Barbara says with a soft voice. "Although I'm pretty sure the supervillain wasn't on the plan.".
"Yeah, I was planning for Green Lantern or Flash to pop up." Peter quips while faking a scratch on the back of his head. "I guess beggars can't be choosers."
"Indeed.".
Feeling bold Barbara asks Peter to come close, when their faces are a small distance from each other Barbara quickly grabs Peter and gives him a small peck on his left cheek and smiles when their eyes meet each other, it doesn't take long to make his head become a tomato, and his voice to get only bumblings and mumblings sounds out of it.
"Good night, Peter," Barbara says giving him a sweet smile and going to her door without sparing even a look at her friend who couldn't do anything but look at her stiff as a statue.
'It always work'. Thinks Barbara feeling like a predator after catching its prey after closing her door.
Author's Note: Okay new chapter, this one was quicker, hope you like it, next chapter Batman vs Firefly, Barbara is cured, and Peter meets a new friend.
Sorry for the dog, I kind off based the Symbiote actions on John Carpenter's The Thing.
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