CHAPTER THREE: FIRST ENCOUNTERS
Once Dom got onto the roof his symbiote covered him. In the month that he had been bonded to the symbiote they had thought about how to make his super hero costume look. They had decided on something similar to Spiderman's costume but different enough that people would not confuse the two. What they ended up with is a skintight suit of red and black.
The mask is dark almost blood red and covers Dom's face completely. They decided to leave the symbiotes normal flame shaped eyes but made them black for the extra menace that would give. The red continues until the chest section, there a large black spider starts in the middle of the chest and the legs go out, two on each side going up and around the back where the become the outline of a large red spider. The others go down, these black legs elongate and go down the legs. Dom's legs are completely black until you get to his shins, here there are red sections that cover him and form his boots. His arms are black with red tribal looking lines flowing down them to his hands. His gloves have his first and last fingers red and the thumb and two middle fingers black.
Dom still had not come up with a name for himself but he was sure that he would. Having changed into his super hero costume he took off running and hurtled himself off of the building he was on towards the next one. He kept on running from rooftop to rooftop until he came to an area where the buildings were tall enough for his liking and then he jumped off of the building he was on and started to web sling towards downtown Gotham City.
He quickly found the area that he was looking for as there were police sirens going off all over the place. This did not bother him as his symbiote explained that its species is usually very sensitive to loud sonic attacks and extreme heat. However his symbiote had discovered that it was very strong against sonic attacks, however it was weaker than normal against heat. Dom landed on a roof not far from where all of this was happening and looked about getting a feel for the situation. Suddenly there was an explosion near the front of the building that knocked many people watching were knocked down by the explosion. At the same time a smaller explosion went off, and went mostly unnoticed, at the side of the building. This explosion put a hole in the wall and it is where Killer Crock exited and started to leave with a bag of money in each hand. This smaller explosion was however noticed by Dom who saw the hulking man start to run away from all of the commotion.
'Man I this dude could give Rhino a run for his money when it comes to size?' Dom thought to himself as he leapt from building to building in pursuit of the monstrous criminal. Getting his first good look a Killer Croc, he decided that Rhino was still bigger, if not by very much. Croc was about seven and a half feet tall, he had no shirt or shoes on, and he looked like he was covered in some strange grey scales.
Once they got a few blocks away from the explosion Croc started relaxing a little. "Humph looks like I got away. Man those cops are about as useless as tits on a boar." Croc laughed to himself in a low growling voice.
"Well it looks like I'll just have to clean up after them. Then they can put you back into whatever zoo you came from." Came a strange dual voice that Croc didn't recognize, as suddenly he felt something grab his ankles and jerk them out from under him. Croc slammed face first into the asphalt street he had been standing on, cracking it with the impact, and Dom landed lightly on the ground a few feet away from the behemoth. "Ouch, that has got to hurt. I'm sure that's going to leave a mark on you pal, but don't worry, your so ugly I doubt anyone will notice it." Dom quipped as the monster in front of him slowly got to his feet.
Croc was pissed, at first he thought it was the bat that had come after him, then as he got up and looked at the guy standing a few feet from his he realized that it was some skinny shrimp with a weird spider outfit. Then this punk had the nerve to insult him. He was Killer Croc, one of the most feared villains in all of Gotham. Croc roared and launched himself at the much smaller man, intent on taking him down quickly so that he could still get away with the money.
Dom had anticipated this and reached out and grabbed Croc's wrist. Using his Aikido training, and some of his symbiote enhanced strength, easily flipped Croc over and slammed him down on the ground headfirst. Croc's mass and momentum, along with the extra strength Dom put in, left Croc imbedded in a head sized crater in the concrete sidewalk. Croc was almost knocked out by the hit he had taken, but managed to put his hands flat on the ground and pull his head out of the sidewalk.
"Wow your still up? I must say I am amazed." Dom actually was surprised that the man was still able to get up and fight after that kind of impact.
Croc decided that this guy wasn't just all mouth. The fact that the guy was able to flip Croc at all surprised him, and looking at the hole he had left in the sidewalk let him know that this guy was strong. Croc twisted his head to one side until his neck popped. "Yeah I'm still up. Being a freak like me has its advantages, like having the strength of a crocodile." With that Croc again attacked the man in front of him, however this time he did not go in blindly like before. He was more controlled in his attacks and started with a series of punches at Dom's head.
Dom dodged these attack easily and continued to let Croc start to wind down. Once he started to slow down with his punches, Dom decided to go on the offensive, He used his Muay Thai training and launched punches, kicks, elbows, and knees at what he believed were some of Croc's sensitive spots. Dom decided to use some more of his symbiote enhanced strength and really put something into his hits. Croc was unable to dodge these lightning quick attacks his opponent was hitting him with and the amount of power behind them amazed the mutated criminal. He had never had anyone except Superman hit him this hard before. With one last flurry of blows Dom quickly hit Croc in the knee with a solid kick that broke his leg, a vicious punch to the midsection that cracked several of Croc's ribs, and finally a jumping roundhouse kick to the face that broke Croc's jaw and knocked him out cold.
The fight between Dom and Killer Croc did not go unnoticed. Standing on the edge of a building Batman and his sidekick Robin watched as Croc came running away from the bank he had robbed. They were just about to confront him when suddenly Croc's legs were pulled out from under him and a man in a red and black spider themed costume jumped down lightly from the roof of a nearby building. They heard the interplay between the two men, both of them noting the strange dual voice the new man was using. Then they watched as the newcomer completely overpowered Killer Croc, definitely not an easy thing to do.
Dom was just looking down at his handy work when suddenly his partner spoke up in his mind. 'Dom we are not alone, we are being watched by Batman and another person I do not know from the roof of the building across the street.' Dom immediately looked up to see Batman and a young man in his teens come rappelling down the side of the building using some kind of grappling devices.
Batman looked over Dom's handiwork with Killer Croc and was able to admit that he was impressed. Batman was well versed in martial arts and recognized the man's use of Aikido and Muay Thai to quickly take down the monstrous criminal. Batman looked over at the man in the strange costume. He was about six feet tall, muscular but lean. He definitely did not look like the kind of man that could easily take down Killer Croc, but Batman had seen it for himself. "Not bad, I've never seen anyone but Superman take down Croc that easily. So who are you?" Batman asked the masked man in front of him as he quickly pulled a pair of heavy-duty bat cuffs out of his utility belt and put them on Croc.
Dom wasn't sure what to make of this situation. Two days ago Batman had chased him thinking that he was a criminal and now here he was complementing him on taking out this criminal. 'Dom Batman does not recognize us. Remember we were wearing my natural form when we went through the rift that brought us here. Now how should we introduce ourselves to Batman?' The symbiote reminded his partner silently.
"You can call me Aracnid. Would you like some help in getting him to the police, or maybe we should take him to animal control instead." Dom said jokingly to Batman. Batman did not laugh at his joke, however the young man with him had a very broad grin on his face.
"No we have it under control. Robin prep the jet, well winch him up and take him straight to Arkham. I don't want Croc to have time to escape once he wakes up. We'll let Commissioner Gordon know where were taking him." With that the young man standing next to Batman pulled a small remote out of his belt and pressed a button on it. A few moments later a large black aircraft appeared from nowhere in the sky and a long metal cable came winding down towards Batman. He immediately went to work tying up Croc with the cable, once he was done he nodded towards Dom and pulled a grapple gun out of his belt and shot it up towards the jet. Batman quickly went up after the hook and disappeared, leaving Robin, Dom, and a hog-tied Killer Croc alone.
"Don't let him get to you, Batman is very serious about the job. He doesn't like it when people make jokes about it. I'm Robin; we watched your whole fight with Croc. You've got some sweet moves, its just like Batman said, no one has ever taken Croc down that quickly except Superman." Robin said as Croc suddenly started lifting off of the ground as the Jets winch system pulled him up. "Well I guess that's my queue to head on up. It was good meeting you, hopefully we run into you more often." With that Robin also pulled out a grapple gun and followed Batman up into the jet.
'So Batman doesn't like it when people joke, well I guess he's just going to have to get used to it when he is around me, isn't that right AC?' Dom silently thought towards his alien partner.
'AC?' The symbiote asked his human host.
'Yeah I thought it would be easier than calling you pal all the time. Now you have a name, I've had my first chance to take down a criminal, and we met what is apparently the biggest hero in all of Gotham. All in all a very eventful night, don't you agree?' Dom asked his newly named partner as he got back up to the tops of the buildings and started to web sling back towards Mary's apartment.
'I agree, a most eventful evening. I also like the name that you have given me.' AC informed his host as they reached the lower end of town where Mary made her home.
Dom landed lightly on the ground in the alley next to Gabi's building and changed back into the same clothes he had been wearing when he left. He then went inside and headed for Gabi's floor. He knocked on the door and a few minutes later she answered the door in a black tank top and a pair of green pajama pants and let him in. "Hey how was the bar? You weren't gone very long." Gabi asked as she let him in.
Dom shrugged. "It was ok, I just went in and had a drink while they played the news about that Killer Croc guy robbing the bank. Well I'm pretty tired so I think I'm going to take a shower and then crash out. Wake me in the morning when its time to go to work ok?" Dom asked his new roommate.
"Oh sure no problem. Well I'm going back to bed, good night." With that Gabi walked off towards her bedroom and Dom walked into the bathroom to shower. After his hot shower Dom walked into the living room and fell onto the couch asleep. AC took up his usual duty of keeping watch all night for Dom.
The next morning Gabi awaked Dom about an hour before they had to be at work. Dom got up and worked at the Diner with Gabi for the day. This routine continued for the next few days until it was payday. Dom got his first check from the Diner and decided he needed to start looking for an apartment here in Gotham. Looking through the papers and on the Internet found several very nice apartments within his price range. When he asked Gabi why the apartments all seemed to be so inexpensive she replied. "Well it's because of all the crime in Gotham. Most realtors know that if they try to highball the prices of houses and apartments then no one will want to live there."
"Well I guess that makes sense, and its lucky for me in any case. I'm going to go meet one of the realtors right now, do you want to come with me?" He asked the black haired girl.
"Sure sounds like it could be fun." She replied and got dressed in some Goth clothes, a dark red t-shirt, black shorts, and knee high black platform boots. She also put on some black lipstick but no other makeup. Once Gabi was dressed she walked with Dom towards his appointment with the realtor.
The realtor had found a fairly nice apartment in a different area of Gotham for Dom to look at. The apartment was fully furnished as the last person to live there had died suddenly and had no family. Looking inside the apartment Dom immediately liked how big the windows were and how high up the apartment was, it would be perfect for web slinging. The neighborhood was not bad either, and surprisingly it was not outside of Dom's price range. Dom immediately put down a deposit for the apartment, promising the Realtor that he would have the rest of the money when he got paid the following week. Once Dom got done speaking with the Realtor he got in touch with the power and water companies to get all of the utilities turned on in his name.
Once he got all of this taken care of he and Gabi both went to work at the Diner. Dom started working lots of overtime at the Diner to pay for his new apartment. Once Dom got moved into his new apartment he started going out more and more as Aracnid. He mostly just caught some low level criminals and handed them over to the police. He hadn't run into any more super villains since his encounter with Killer Croc. The more time he spent in Gotham the more he started to learn who the big name players were in town. He had heard of several more super villains the he might have to fight at some point and time.
One night Dom was out as Aracnid doing his now normal patrolling when he came across a woman who was being chased by a group of thugs. He could only guess what they were going to do to her so Dom decided to intervene. He landed on a street lamp and waited for the woman to run past his position into an alley, he then dropped down right in the path of the group of thug chasing her.
"Guys hasn't anyone ever taught you that when a woman says no it means no?" He asked the group of about ten street toughs. They were carrying various weapons, lead pipes, chains, and a few knives. Dom didn't see any of them carrying guns so he did not have to worry about that.
The gang looked shocked to see anyone get in their way. They didn't recognize this costumed character in front of them but they weren't about to let him get in the way of their fun. The two closest thugs both attacked the man at the same time, thinking that they would be able to deal with him quickly. Dom almost casually caught both lead pipes the men swung at him and jerked his hands upward and behind him lifting both men off of the ground and sending them sprawling behind him on the ground. After this Dom kicked out at the man in front of him and followed this up with a punch to the face of another thug that tried to hit him with a baseball bat. Then thanks to AC's 360-degree vision he saw the first two men trying to sneak up on him with their pipes raised. Dom jumped and did a spinning kick that hit both men squarely and knocked them out. Seeing the display that Dom had put on, he remaining members of the gang decided that it would be a good idea to leave. They all took off and didn't even bother to pick up any of their comrades. Dom decided that there were too many of them to go after by himself so he simply rounded up the ones around him and tied them to the light post he had been fighting under. He used the weapons they had to tie all of them up around the light. He would call the police later to have them pick up the thugs.
As soon as he got the gang members tied up he went into the alley to check on the woman they had been chasing. "Miss can you hear me? Their all gone, they wont try to hurt you anymore." Dom said towards the inside of the alley.
The woman slowly came out of the alley. Dom was shocked by her appearance, she was incredibly beautiful with bright red hair, and slightly green tinted skin that Dom found incredibly appealing. She was wearing a long coat but Dom could see she had on green boots and what looked like some sort of green top on underneath her coat. "Well this is certainly a change for me. I'm usually the one being captured not the one being rescued." She laughed. "And just who might you be? I haven't seen you around Gotham before." She asked the costumed man while running an appraising eye over him. She liked what she saw, he looked strong but not brutishly so, and the skintight costume he wore left little to the imagination. Ivy had to consciously stop herself from licking her lips looking at him.
It took Dom a few moments to figure out how to speak again looking at the beauty in front of him. "Oh you can call me Aracnid. I'm not surprised you haven't seen me; I am still new in town and haven't done anything big as of yet. Are you ok miss? Those men didn't hurt you did they?" Dom asked the woman concerned for her welfare.
This man intrigued Ivy. He obviously didn't know who she was or else he would be trying to capture her already, and he had saved her from that rabble of thugs, normally she would have killed them all for trying anything with her but she didn't have any of her usual equipment with her. While she did have increased strength she had known that she wouldn't be able to handle all of them by herself, so she had been forced to run. Now she looked at this strange man in his spider styled costume and was actually glad she had run.
"Yes I am fine, thank you for asking. These pigs did not harm me." She said walking over to one of the men he had tied up. She looked over the man and noticed that his hands were tied with a bent up lead pipe. She looked quizzically over at Aracnid and revised her opinion slightly. This man was far stronger than his frame suggested.
"That's good, I am glad you aren't hurt. Do you need help getting home? I know Gotham can be a dangerous place. I would certainly not object to taking you to your home so that you won't run afoul of any more of these kinds of thugs." Dom offered the red headed beauty in front of him.
Ivy was stunned, not only did this man save her, and now he offered to take her home as well? She immediately dismissed that this was some kind of elaborate ruse to find out where she had her current lair. The man in front of her seemed very genuine in his offer to her, although his strange dual voice made that difficult to determine. 'Hmm I wonder how he does that strange voice?' Ivy silently mused to herself. 'I can't let him take me all the way to my lair. Harley is waiting for me to get there. Oh damn I forgot about Harley. What the hell am I thinking, I'm standing here in the middle of the street flirting with some, some MAN when I have Harley waiting for me when I get home. What the hell is wrong with me, I'm Poison Ivy, I don't flirt with men. Not to mention the fact that he is a hero, even if he is new to Gotham he will figure out who I am before much longer. There's no way I can let him find my Lair.' Ivy scolded herself silently
"No thank you, I will be fine on my own getting home. I do not live very far from here and my roommate is waiting for me to get back." Ivy told the costumed man in front of her. Without another word she started to walk towards her Lair, unconsciously putting a little more sway into her hips than normal, glancing back over her shoulder at the man behind her.
Dom stood there for a full minute staring after the goddess that had just walked past him before he regained his senses enough to use his web to pull himself up onto the roof of a nearby building. He then let his symbiote mask pull back off of his head and pulled out his new cell phone and called the police to tell them about the thugs that he had tied up. He then let his mask re cover his face and he continued his patrol hoping that nothing happened to the woman he had rescued.
END CHAPTER THREE