AN: Just in case it isn't clear, I don't own Batman or Batman Beyond. Alex's father was a police officer and is mentioned in the first chapter. For those of you waiting for Batman to show up, he will eventually, but this is mainly about Alex Bishop, Spider-Man :AN

Alex waited in the shadows near the train stop, confident the jokers would show. He did not know if it would only be the four of them or if at night there would be more. It was too late to turn back now. After all the effort he put into finding something to hide his face he couldn't just back out now. Even though no one had seen him or if they had they would not recognize him, he would not let himself live it down.

His face was painted white, his lips and eyes painted black with old costume makeup he had found. His black hair had grown down to hang in front of his eyes and instead of carefully slicking it back as he usually did it was a wild tangle atop his head. He wore two layers of clothes, the bottom being a skin tight uniform that he had worn a year ago when he played field hockey. It was crimson red and even though it was thin it had protective weaves sewn into the important areas and covered from his shoulders to his feet, it also would not leave any prints. Considering red, no matter how crimson it appeared was not the best for hiding in shadows Alex wore a pair of loose black cargo pants that had seen better days and a black mesh shirt to mute the color. The top gave the appearance of red webs spreading across his chest and arms and the holes in the old cargos allowed a glimpse of red as he moved. In the end he looked more like a Goth than a masked man but it served the purpose of hiding his identity.

He was about to call it a night when he saw them coming. There were twelve in total now and he knew he did not stand a chance. He leaned against the wall and moved back, he could feel the wall behind him but he willed himself deeper into the shadows and he began to move. Before he could realize what he was doing he found himself slowly climbing up the wall. As his mind began to understand the situation he was spotted.

"Well, look at that, boys and girls, we have some company." A joker dressed like a normal street thug but with a red nose said.

"Looks like a piñata." A female joker standing next to the first said then she tossed a bottle.

Alex reached out and a strand of web shot from his writ and caught the bottle. He and the group of jokers looked at it astonished as it hung in the air for a moment before crashing back down onto the female jokers head. As the bottle connected with the top of her head the world began to move again. Alex could feel the tingles from earlier and they told him to move. Springing off the wall and landing in the midst of the crowd of clowns he moved on instinct.

He bobbed and weaved, dodging fists and chains. He moved when and where his instincts told him to, sending the clowns into a chaos. Instead of hitting him, they hit each other or nothing at all. As the thrashed and tried to hit him Alex tumbled, flipped, and spun out of danger. Finally as his the tingles stopped he realized that he was the only one still standing. All around him in a tangled mess the jokers were groaning from injuries they gave themselves.

"Now that you are all paying attention." He said in a growl picking up the clown who had spotted him. "This is my place, this is my territory, if you or any of your pals come through here again I'll deal with them. This was just a taste of what I can do, next time I'm not playing."

He tossed the clown back to the ground and walked back to the shadowy alley he was hiding out in before. He slid up the side of a building to a small ledge that was pitch black and watched as they scuttled off. As he watched the tingles came back, they weren't as intense, just a warning. Slowly he turned and looked around the ledge he stood on, it was dark and hard to see, which was why he had picked it, but now he wasn't sure if he was alone.

"Interesting." A gruff voice said about three inches from his face.

He jumped back and watched as Batman materialized in front of him. Alex took a step back but didn't run.

"How so?" He kept the slight growl in his voice to hide his age.

"How did you know I was here?" The Dark Knight asked.

"Why were you watching me?" He countered.

"I was following those clowns and ran into you, I like to know who is running around my city." Batman didn't move and neither did Alex. "Do you have a name? Usually I can't get costumed creeps to stop spilling their sob stories."

"Spider-Man," Alex said without thinking. It made sense though, the webs sticking to the wall, and by pure coincidence his shirt. "I'm not here to cause trouble."

"You take down a gang of jokers and expect me to believe that you are just out for a stroll?"

"No," Alex shook his head. "I'm just your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man."

"And them?"

"They weren't so friendly. I know, the makeup and the clothes don't exactly make me look like one of the good guys but not everybody has a cool suit and a legacy like you. These guys have been around my neighborhood for a while now and I got tired of having to see them harass people. If I fought them normal, they would find me, but if I fight them like this then they don't know who I am."

"You're preaching to the choir, kid. I don't wear this mask because it's comfortable." Batman disappeared again. "I'm keeping my eye on you."

He waited for the tingles to subside before moving. He turned back to the scene below and saw that there wasn't a clown in sight. Now as he was finally able to rest for a moment he began to replay the night in his head. He climbed up a wall twice without anything there, these tingles were guarding him from danger, and needless to say he was much stronger and nimbler than he ever had been. The only thing that had change was the splice, but that didn't make sense. If he had spider DNA with his DNA a splice would have him with six arms and looking like something out of a horror movie. This definitely called from some research.

Alex rounded the neighborhood twice before slowly circling his block and finally slipping into the roof entrance to his building. Even if someone was following him, which there were no tingles telling him and if someone was following him they would only know what building and not which floor or which apartment. He snuck through the service stairway to his floor, the tingles directing him out of the paths of cameras and the patrolling security guard.

He safely made it back to the apartment and snuck into his room. Quickly he stripped off the outfit and hopped into the shower to wash off the face paint. True to the labels on cases the paint was waterproof and only came off after three scrubbings of soap. Originally the paint came with a solution that would mix with water and make for easy removal. Unfortunately it was lost somewhere in the stack of yet to be unpacked boxes still in his room.

He settled down once out of the shower. He walked to the living room and found that his mother was not even home yet and all the stealth had been for naught. It was well past his curfew and he needed to go to sleep but he just kept replaying the night. Not only did he climb on walls, shoot webs, and have some sort of danger sense but he also took down a gang of Jokers with little work and met Batman.

This definitely was going to be an interesting year.