Note: Whew! This one took me some time to write, for several personal reasons. Anyway, I do hope you like the story so far. I do however, have some misgivings about my choices. I decided to introduce into the story a character from DC comics who did not appear in the Young Justice cartoon, or the spin-off comics. When I made the decision, it seemed to be the most appropriate, although I'm still not sure. I hope no one feels miffed about it, or the manner in which I treat said character. And yes, the first scene is inspired by HISHE.
4
Night Of The Monsters
Bruce Wayne and Clark Kent sat at a table, drinking coffee. They could have been in Paris, but they weren't. This was Gotham, and it was lovely. They weren't sitting within the roomy café; they were outside on the promenade, with a good view of the Gotham Public Library. The library, with its neo-classical design could have contrasted with the gothic nature of the city, but it fit well within the urban landscape. Its sturdy beauty was the pride of the city; the wealth of its contents was the envy of other public libraries, even those of Metropolis.
Clark Kent lowered his coffee cup onto the saucer. His hands did not yet move into his pocket to grab his recorder – Kent knew better than that. Outside of Gotham itself, Clark Kent was the reporter with the most experience dealing with playboy billionaire Bruce Wayne.
He knew that Bruce Wayne liked to socialize and know the reporter, before he answered any of his questions. But Bruce Wayne knew Clark Kent very well; however, for the sake of the performance, they pretended that this was a normal interview.
"When did Dick say he was going to pass by?" Clark asked.
"In a few minutes. He's been visiting the library in these past few days, using Ms. Kane's library card. Mostly for scientific research on Zeta-Beam technology."
"What is he after?" Clark wondered.
"That's the million dollar question. So far, from what Dick has been telling me, he seems to be harmless. He certainly hasn't caused the damage I feared he would"
Clark sat back.
"You're not sore about what happened between you two?"
"My pride was wounded, but the fault was mine."
The reporter from Metropolis nodded.
"Do you know anything else about him that you haven't told me already?"
"Not much else. Dick found a strange device within his room; something improvised out of an old glue gun that was still loaded. After its assembly, Dick found that it shot out a web. It was most likely a prototype of some sort; for the devices he has on his wrist."
"He knows chemistry, and how to make gadgets. He's not alone" Clark commented.
"Dick managed to get some strange new information out of Ms. Kane."
Clark looked at Bruce with curiosity.
"What is it?"
"This Spider-Man mentioned names that she didn't recognize, names such as Captain America and Iron-Man"
"Are those actual names?" Clark asked.
"I don't know, but it does open up the possibilities of what this Mr. Parker might actually be, and where he might be from. There is still the matter of that portal over Gotham. His first appearance coincided with its appearance"
Bruce Wayne turned his head slightly. Clark grabbed the napkin holder. Upon its polished, reflective surface, he saw Dick Grayson approaching, accompanied by a slightly younger teenager wearing a white shirt, a yellow sweater vest, and carrying several books. They were all heavy science books, works written by physicists for physicists. Most prominent were the names of Dr. Martin Stein, and Adam Strange.
Clark took out a napkin and wiped his mouth.
As soon as they were near, Bruce raised his hand in their direction. Through the corner of his eye, he could see the mysterious Mr. Parker shift slightly with caution.
"Dick, you're here early!" Bruce said to his ward, the smile on his face typical of that of a playboy billionaire philanthropist.
"Bruce! What are you doing here?" Dick said in mock surprise. The strange youth standing next to Dick kept moving his eyes from one man to the other. And at one time, he looked at Clark, though not too focally.
"What do you mean? I'm always here when I can. This is my favorite café; especially at this time, when it's peaceful and quiet. Are you going to visit Barbara?" Bruce said, while Peter Parker looked on puzzled. He gave Dick a sly look at the mention of Barbara's name.
"I was hoping to have a word" Dick said.
"Well, she's not there, I'm sorry to say" Bruce said.
"Really?" Dick looked disappointed and down.
"She ran past us. She said she needed to see her dad"
Dick put his hands on his waist out of apparent frustration.
"Well that ruins my day" Dick looked at Peter "Well, it seems that we won't be going to the library as a team"
"I have no problem with that" Peter said.
Now it seemed that Bruce and Clark noticed the youth.
"I'm sorry, I didn't notice you there. You must be Peter" Bruce stretched out his hand. Peter warily shook it. "Dick has told you about me, I'm certain"
"He has sir. He said that you raised him since he was eight."
"And it was a challenge. Peter, I'd like you to meet Clark Kent, mild mannered reporter for a metropolitan newspaper, in Metropolis. He's here to ask me questions on my latest romantic pursuits."
"And that's always a challenge. The man goes through women like a Tasmanian Devil goes through food. Hello Peter" Clark said shaking the teenager's hands. Once they let go, Peter flexed his hand.
"You're very strong Mr. Kent" Peter remarked.
"I exercise, and please, call me Clark"
"Sure thing Clark"
"After all, us four-eyes have to stick together" Clark said, pointing at his glasses. Peter looked stunned. Clark continued "I noticed the marks on your nose. It hasn't been long since you stopped wearing glasses, has it?"
Inadvertently, Peter put his fingers along his nose.
"Yeah, I didn't need them anymore" he replied.
"So you used to wear glasses. I can't wait to tell Bette" Dick said jokingly.
Peter gave Dick a sideways glance.
"Now that you're here Peter, there's something that I'd like to discuss with you" the billionaire said, cutting into the conversation. He seemed mildly serious.
"What is it sir?" Peter asked.
"Please, call me Bruce" he said "Dick has told me about your circumstances. Do you have any relatives?"
Now Peter looked a bit more crestfallen.
"I had an uncle. And I had an aunt" Peter seemed pensive.
"What about your parents?"
"I never met them"
"That's too bad" Clark said "I'm adopted myself. A day doesn't pass by without me wondering what my real parents were like"
"Well, I don't think of them so much. My aunt and uncle were enough for me" Peter replied with some sadness.
"Do you have any relatives alive at the moment?" Bruce asked.
Peter was silent.
"I have no one" he said at last.
"Well then, that's going to be a problem" Bruce said "minors aren't supposed to go around without any adult supervision or education. And you can't live off of Ms. Kane's generosity for very long"
"What do you propose I do?" Peter asked.
"Peter, I am the head financier of a scholarship to a number of Academies devoted to higher scientific education. Dick here tells me that you're a science major. This should be of interest to you. All you have to do is take a test, and you can go to whichever institute you want. I would prefer Gotham Academy myself, but there are others of equal quality, such as the ones in Metropolis or New York"
The young man looked pensively at Bruce.
"That sounds like a good idea" he said.
"Good! I'll arrange for it to happen"
"Thank you" Peter said, shaking Bruce's hand. Dick patted him on the back.
"You go on ahead. I've got no reason to be at that library anyway" Dick said.
"I'll see you later then" Peter waved, and walked towards the large neo-classical building. He disappeared behind the doors. Only then did the three men truly relax themselves.
Bruce turned to Clark.
"What did you see?"
"He's without a doubt a metahuman, despite his looks. His musculature, his skeleton and his nervous system are greatly enhanced. His bones are harder than normal, his muscles are compact, and his heart rate is amazing. No wonder you lost to him. I think he may be able to lift ten to fifteen tons, at least. And the balance with which he moves is enviable. I don't know many who can match it. Oh, and he's wearing his costume and gear underneath his clothes. He has good taste in colors."
"What about what he said. Was he lying?" Bruce asked, a serious expression on his face.
"For the most part, no. his heart jumped when he mentioned his aunt and uncle."
"Do you want me to find out more?" Dick asked
"No. you've done enough. Besides, I need you to track down the Penguin. Word on the street is that he's distributing a new drug, and that he's made an unlikely alliance with Killer Croc."
"Well then, I'll be seeing you. Clark, it was great seeing you again" Dick shook hands with the reporter and he was soon on his way.
Clark pulled out his recorder.
"Let's begin. And please make me look good" Clark said.
"Before that, tell me what it is that you want to tell me" Bruce said.
Clark looked at his friend.
"You always know how to read me"
"It took some time for me to figure you out, but I do know you" Bruce said.
Clark's expression became serious.
"She came to talk to me. Not as a reporter."
"I knew she would do that" Bruce said.
"I don't condone what she did, but she does seem to be truly regretful"
"She can be regretful for as long as she wants. I didn't know for sixteen years. She could have at least told me"
"People with a criminal past have a harder time dealing with the truth. Selina would be no different" Clark said "Or are you upset because you didn't figure it out for sixteen years?"
Bruce gave Clark a stern look, before drinking his cup of coffee.
Clark was about to say something when he raised his head and poised his ear.
"Is something wrong?" Bruce asked.
"Yes. I'll have to interview you some other time" Clark said, leaving the table.
Peter couldn't help but feel that the whole exchange he had between Bruce Wayne, Dick, and that strange reporter had been a bit fishy. And this wasn't his spider-sense telling him that something was wrong. This was his natural people sense. He felt like he was being scoped.
He didn't know which of the two unknown men were more unnerving; the open and smiley playboy billionaire that Dick had told him about, or the friendly journalist from the city of presumption, Metropolis.
Perhaps he was just in this world for too long. He was beginning to imagine dangers in every corner, in spite of his spider-sense. What Bruce Wayne had told him however, had made him realize even more that he might actually be stuck in this world. He was a kid living off of the generosity of a girl who was somewhat naïve. That wouldn't last, as Bruce had pointed out. And he didn't like mooching off of a friendly girl whose only crime was her overenthusiastic support of superheroes. He would perhaps start to use his camera again; Spider-Man however, was virtually unknown, and Peter felt uncomfortable thinking about following the local superheroes around and taking pictures of them behind their backs. He certainly didn't want to see Batman again; he wasn't afraid of him, but was a bit apprehensive. And then there was Aunt May. What was she going through right now? It hurt just to think about it. Taking everything into account, there was only one solution that could be seen as good. Peter had to find a way out; the best way to do that was to find out if anything like portal technology existed on this Earth.
In order to do that, he had to read plenty of work done by physicists; not the stuff seen in popular magazines such as National Geographic (which apparently existed in this Earth) or Scientific American, but dedicated papers.
So far he had met with little success. The most promising work was from a scientist of the Erdel Initiative (whatever that was), Dr. Adam Strange. His work on Zeta-Beam technology might be helpful. Peter felt that he needed help understanding this Zeta-Beam technology. It was the closest thing to the crazy technology Reed Richards produced that he had found that might take him back home. So as of late, he was studying it, intensively.
With a smile, Peter walked up to the counter and handed the librarian the books he had been holding.
"Here they are" he said joyfully, handing the librarian Bette's card along with the books.
The librarian, a nice looking lady of around fifty years of age looked at the card quizzically.
"You know Mr. Parker, you can apply for your own card" she said.
"I don't know how long I'll be here" Peter replied "I may be leaving soon"
"Going back to New York?"
"I'm hoping to. This city is great, but the Big Apple is my home"
"Bah! Gotham is better" the librarian said with a smile.
Peter turned and walked towards the shelves that he now knew very well, the ones with dedicated scientific publications, the ones you don't see on the shelves of shopping malls. There was plenty of strange material within those papers; and there was a lot on Zeta-Beams.
He picked up a few journals and went to the nearest table, sitting in a corner. Peter thumbed through the pages until he found the articles on Zeta-Beams. He already knew of some of the information; that extreme weather could affect their performance, or that two machines, one for the point of departure, and the other for destination, were needed for the Zeta-Beam to work. This was probably why Zeta-Beam technology wasn't so wide spread; that and perhaps the cost. There was however, an article by a Dr. Nareed Rostam about ways in which Zeta-Beam technology could be improved. Peter took note of Dr. Rostam.
Peter was reading the fifth journal when he finally noticed the shadow standing over him. The kid from New York turned and looked up. He didn't know what he had expected before, but what he saw certainly left him amazed.
Standing above him was the prettiest girl Peter had ever seen. She was prettier than Betty, than Liz and Sally too. He was pretty sure that she was prettier than that Watson girl his aunt always tried to foist on him (of course, for all he knew, the wicked witch of the west could look better than the Watson girl he had never seen before). The girl standing before him was tall and clearly athletic. She was about his age, with long raven black hair and bright blue eyes.
Trying to keep his jaw from dropping was, for Peter, harder than ignoring the spider-sense during one of the Hulk's rampages.
She held a big notebook tightly against her chest and bent down towards him. Peter's heart began to beat quickly. She smiled with some timidity.
"I'm really sorry to bother you, but could you please tell me where I can find books on advanced science?" she asked, her voice sounding to Peter, like an angel's harp.
After a moment, Peter said, "You're in luck miss, this is the place. The science journals are over there, and the big monographs are over there" he pointed out each one.
"Thank you! I was losing myself in this place. It's so big" she said with an embarrassed chuckle.
"The same thing happened to me when I first got here. It took me a day to find this section."
She placed her hand on his shoulder. She had a strong grip. As far as Peter was concerned, she could squeeze as hard as she liked. Instead, she spoke.
"Then I'm glad I met you. I was about to wander around as well until I gathered the courage to speak to someone."
"I wish I had that courage" Peter admitted. Talking to a girl like this took a lot of it.
"I'm sure you do" she said, releasing her hand, and walking away towards the monographs.
Peter knew that he was never going to see this girl again.
"So, are you studying to be a scientist?" he asked, hoping to spend just a few more seconds with her. A second later, he recognized that that might be a bit creepy, but it wasn't like he was going to stalk her, or steal her panties, or eat her goldfish.
"I'm not so smart, I'm afraid. I'm studying law" that didn't diminish her in Peter's eyes "but some cases require scientific knowledge. So I'm here doing my homework on a case that requires scientific knowledge."
"Is it a superhero case?" Peter asked
"It involves superheroes" the girl said. She pulled out a monograph on spontaneous mutations. Much to Peter's delight, she sat a short distance away from him and opened the publication.
She then looked up at Peter.
"Do you know anything about superheroes?"
Now this was Peter's chance to shine. He could tell her he knew everything one had to know, for he was himself, a superhero. Then, common sense struck him.
"Not much, I'm afraid to say"
"That's a shame. I thought you were when I saw that journal in your hand" she said, pointing at it.
Peter turned the cover. She must have good eyes, because the letters were normal, and not big and bold. This was, after all a periodical not available to the supermarket crowd. But it did read: THE EFFECTS OF SUPERHEROICS ON THE HUMAN BODY.
"I'm more interested in the articles about Zeta-Beam technology" Peter said.
"Is there somewhere far away you want to go?" the girl asked with a devilish smile.
If you were my girlfriend, I'd probably stay here.
"Yes" Peter said with a sigh "There is somewhere far away that I'd like to go to"
"Oh, you want to check out the green girls of Mars" she said in a playful tone.
"No" Peter couldn't help but snicker. Why would he go to Mars for girls, when there was one right here? Of course, this girl was not his. "I want to go somewhere else. Someplace that is secret"
"Oh, you boys and your secrets" the girl said with a smile.
"You have yours. We have ours" Peter replied.
And of course, the universe would have to put a stop to this pleasant banter because it took great pleasure ruining Peter's day. It did so in the form of a young man walking into the area with something that looked like an ipad.
Of course, he was using it to watch TV, despite the library's regulations. Peter scowled at the man.
"Mister, do you know that this is a library?" he said.
The guy looked away from his ipad thing.
"Get lost" he said rudely.
Suddenly, a notebook was slammed into the man's face, making a loud bang. He fell down with a thud, his nose broken. His hands went to his face as he whined and groaned. He was saying something, but the words were intelligible.
Peter looked at the girl with astonishment. She held the now bloody notebook in her hand.
"That was something!" Peter blurted out.
The girl's expression changed to one that was more appropriate, given the situation.
"I didn't think this through. We have to get out of here Peter" she said, looking about.
"I can't" Peter said "people know me here. I can't run. Listen, I'll take the blame for this"
The girl shook her head.
"What about this meathead?" she said, pointing at the man who was on the floor, holding his nose and looking at the two in bewilderment as blood flowed down.
Peter knelt down next to the guy.
"I'm really sorry that you got your nose broken, but I think you'd better not blame this lovely girl here" he looked at the girl "or she'll break your nose again"
The girl slammed her fist against her open palm to give emphasis.
The guy nodded.
"I hope we see each other again" the girl said, before disappearing.
Peter saw the librarian walking between the bookshelves and he called her. She was shocked to see the man on the floor.
"Harvey Terrence?" she turned to Peter "What happened?"
"Well, Mr. Terrence here was listening to that" he pointed at the ipad, which was still on "And I asked him to turn it off, so he told me to get lost. Unfortunately, I threw a book at him and it broke his nose. Don't worry, the book is fine" Peter said.
The librarian then looked at Harvey Terrence.
"Didn't I tell you? You can't bring those things in here. Be thankful it was Mr. Parker here who had an issue with your rule breaking and not Ms. Gordon. You would have ended up a lot worse." She helped Terrence back on his feet and scooted him away.
She then picked up the ipad. Some droll commercial was on, and then G. Gordon Godfrey's face appeared.
"Don't miss it. I'll be in Gotham next week for a special episode of the G. Gordon Godfrey Show" he said, before disappearing.
"Good grief! Gigi is going to be here?" Peter exclaimed.
"Who?" the librarian asked.
"Ja… Godfrey" Peter said, quickly correcting himself before slipping.
"Oh, I get it" the librarian said "anyway, he's already here. This is an old promo from about a week ago"
Peter groaned.
"He's just like this guy I used to know" Peter explained.
"You met my ex-husband too? Wow, what a small world" the librarian smiled as Peter shot her a questioning look "You better get out of here Parker. I'll deal with this. Go along, shoo, shoo" she said waving her hands at Peter.
"I can come back tomorrow?" Peter asked.
"You're welcome any time" she replied.
Peter quickly made his way out of the Library. He was at the steps that lead to its door, looking around to see if the girl was there. She wasn't which was just how his luck rolled. He regretted not asking her name.
He made his way down the stairs. It was about time he returned home. And then he stopped.
Wait, did she call me Peter?
For a few moments, Peter just stood there, wondering if she had or hadn't called him by his name, and if she had, if he had given it to her. He soon decided that he was just making things up in his head. Pretty girls had that affect on some guys.
Peter managed to find an excuse to go to bed early despite Bette's protests. As soon as the door was locked and the pillows carefully placed, Spider-Man came out of the window. As he swung along the tall buildings of Gotham, he felt refreshed.
During this entire day, apart from the brief respite when he met the mystery girl (who he hoped to see again), he had been worried about his future. He had been worried about finding a way home, worried about his Aunt May, worried about finding someone to help him find a way home, worried about carrying on a life in this universe with its own pantheon of heroes, so different from the ones he was familiar with.
At night, when he was Spider-Man, the complex concerns tended to vanish, being replaced by simpler, easier concerns. He was concerned about not slamming his body against an unfamiliar wall, concerned about not being spotted, and concerned about three thugs trying to break into a shop as it was closed for the night. Spider-Man clung to the wall and studied the three thugs carefully.
There was no doubt of what they were doing. And the shop in question was a jewelry store. Not very original. Spider-Man shot a web, and he swung right on to the three men, who were all felled by the impact.
"Geez guys, it's only me. There's no need to fall down on your faces like this."
The crooks got up quickly and faced the wall-crawler; these guys were brave – or stupid. If they had known him, Spider-Man would have no doubts about their stupidity. One took out a knife.
"I can't believe you pulled out a knife. Mister, I am disappointed in you. That is the hallmark of a thug and a hoodlum" Spider-Man said, swatting the knife with his fingers, breaking the blade away from the hilt. The thug looked at the now bladeless knife in his hand aghast "You could hurt me with that. It has a sharp edge in case you didn't know it. You could actually give me a small cut, or worse, cut my outfit, and I worked hard to make it"
One burglar grabbed Spider-Man from behind. The web-slinger easily broke from his grasp by simply moving his arms. He moved his head backwards, hitting the thief on the nose and knocking him down.
"I'm not that type of guy. Give me waffles first" Spider-Man said, as the man mumbled on the ground.
The third thief pulled out a gun, his hand shaking. Spider-Man snagged it with his web and pulled it into his hand.
"Is this a Smith and Wesson? No it's not. Looks like a Magnum. I don't know guns that well. I bet it's just the best" he said as he crushed it in his hands. The thief's eyes widened. Before he could run, Spider-Man moved quickly, and knocked him out with a haymaker. The wall-crawler turned in time to see the first thug, the one with the knife, try to make an escape. All Spider-Man did was aim, and he quickly webbed up the thugs feet. The man fell down on his face.
"Don't leave now, I haven't finished yet" the arachnid said pulling the man towards him. He webbed the thieves all up and let them lie against the wall.
Spider-Man looked them over and nodded.
"You look nice" to the bewilderment of the thieves, Spider-Man took out a camera and took a picture "I haven't used this in a while now. Hope you guys don't mind it. Anyway, stay there and you'll be fine"
The first thug struggled against the web he was in. he gave up, and as Spider-Man was about to leave, he yelled out.
"Wait!"
Spider-Man approached.
"Wait for what? For you to pass out? To throw a fit? To make waffles? I don't need to wait for that. I'm not going to wait for that. I have better things to do."
"Please let me out"
"What? I can't believe you actually asked me that. No, that's stupid. Do you know how much this web costs me to make, and you want me to waste it? No way. As I said, I have better things to do" Spider-Man was about to leap into the air, when the thug yelled out again.
"The Penguin is expecting a shipment of these new drugs which he's gonna sell in his club. The deal is happening right now. Near the wharf." The thug excitedly said.
"Are there any sea leopards in this deal?" Spider-Man asked.
"No. Just Killer Croc, and whoever is selling" the thug said.
"Well, that means I'm going to have to deal with it" Spider-Man said. He shot out a web as he jumped into the air. The thug yelled at him to wait, but Spider-Man wasn't going to listen.
The thief's information was, nonetheless, good. As Spider-Man swung towards the wharf, he noticed a large number of black sedans and vans, and coming out of them men wearing trench coats or dull clothing. If criminals ever wore uniforms, trench coats would be an important element.
Another group of men were closer to the boats. They too were nondescript, and stood closer to a shipping container.
Spider-Man's attention was drawn to a short, rotund man who seemed to waddle like a duck. Within his hand, the man carried an umbrella, despite there being no cloud in the night sky. He had heard of him through newspapers. The Penguin was his name, and he owned a popular nightclub, the Iceberg Lounge. Spider-Man couldn't help but shake his head. Criminals always had to turn to crime even when they have successful legal venues. It must be genetic or something. Like a criminal retro-virus manipulating a gene that commands crooks to be stupid.
Standing next to the Penguin was a large man with green skin. Upon closer examination, it was apparent that the man's skin was covered in scales and that he had a bestial appearance.
The guy looked like he could be the Killer Croc that the thief had told him about. The web-slinger was reminded of the Lizard. If the Lizard had no tail and a more human looking face.
Now his eyes turned to the other side of the deal. Whoever was in charge was not noticeable, although there was a blond woman wearing a business suit standing close by, discreetly, but visible.
Lightly landing on a nearby crane, the wall-crawler tried to listen in on the conversation.
"It's good to see you and yours Mr. Cobblepot" the leader of the group closest to the shipping container said, advancing towards the Penguin, and extending his hand. Mr. Cobblepot looked at the hand, and didn't take it.
"Let's eschew the pleasantries. I would like to leave here as soon as possible. I don't want to see the Bat or any of his sidekicks, not with Godfrey in the Lounge tonight."
"You shouldn't be worried" the man said, and it felt like he was smirking as he said this "According to our intel, Batman is quite occupied with the last remaining members of Jokers gang, and with those juvenile vigilantes that keep appearing. What was one of them called? Warpath? I saw that guy on the news. He completely shredded a bus into ribbons while stopping a mugger. That was funny."
"Mr. Morris, you do not know the Bat as well as I do, so let's hurry."
The men next to the container began to extract several crates. One of them was placed in front of the Penguin. The man called Killer Croc ripped open the crate with his bare hand. Penguin looked at its interior. He pulled out a transparent canister with a glowing green goo in it.
"I'm curious Mr. Morris, what does your employer call this substance?" the Penguin asked as he looked closely at the canister.
"Metaplex"
"Metaplex?" the Penguin said, his disbelief palpable "How very clever of him. Of course he was subdued. He tends to make his name more obvious"
"It's a placeholder name, until a better one can be chosen" Morris replied.
"And does this stuff really work?"
"On some it will. On others, it won't, but that won't matter, I think" Morris said.
"Well, I'll see to it that it's distributed throughout the city. We can't lag behind Star City after all. That city's superhero thinks he's Errol Flynn" the Penguin said with a chuckle "Okay boys, start hauling these crates."
The Penguin's goons began to move towards the shipping container. And that was when Spider-Man made his move. He had no idea what that green goo was, but the manner in which the Penguin and Morris spoke implied nothing good.
He leapt from his perch on the crane, and landed right between the Penguin's men, and Morris' men. The Penguin's men stopped their advance, while Morris and his people looked at the wall-crawler in surprise.
"Who is that?" Morris asked his façade of coolness broken.
"I'm your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man. I was hoping you guys would know" Spider-Man said, looking this way and that.
"He's one of those costumed kids that have been littering this city. Ox, get rid of the dolt" and as soon as the Penguin said that, a large man walked out of the crowd behind the Penguin.
"Ox huh? You wouldn't know a cowboy and Fancy Dan would you?" Spider-Man asked as the big guy lunged at him. The web-slinger stepped aside and picked him up with one hand, easily lifting him over his head. "I guess not"
Spider-Man tossed the man aside and cocooned him in a bouncy web with one movement of his arm.
"He's going to have to take a rest. What about you guys? Are you up for a game of hard ball?" Spider-Man said, again, looking this way and that.
The Penguin gritted his teeth.
"You clearly have the strength of twenty men" the criminal said "but I have with me more than just twenty men. Boys get him!"
And with that, the Penguin's men, armed with sticks, knives, crowbars and tire-irons charged all at once at the red and blue teenage superhero. The web-slinger however, did not move. He stood still as the men ganged up on him.
Suddenly, all of the criminals that had ganged up on Spider-Man were hurled about as if caught in a whirlwind.
"I don't really have the strength of twenty men. I have the proportionate strength of a spider, and you can't even begin to imagine how strong that is" Spider-Man said, smiling beneath his mask.
The Penguin turned to the big green guy by his side.
"Croc! Get rid of that pest" he said.
Killer Croc smiled. He sprinted towards Spider-Man, who quickly stepped away.
"You're Killer Croc right? Why are you called Killer Croc?" Spider-Man asked. Croc tried to jab him, but the web-slinger ducked "I mean, crocodiles aren't the only reptiles out there. You could have called yourself the lizard" again, Killer Croc tried to grab him, and Spider-Man somersaulted over him. Croc tried to give Spider-Man a backhand blow, but the arachnid jumped over his head "but that's not what you really are either. I've read about you; they say you're an atavus, a callback to our primitive reptilian ancestors. There's a problem with this" and again, Croc charged as the Penguin looked on in frustration. Spider-Man stepped to the side.
"It's now known" Spider-man said, continuing "that the creatures from which mammals descend can't really be considered reptiles, you know, like lizards and snakes, and of course, crocs" Killer Croc tried to give Spider-Man a backfist, but he missed.
Spider-Man jumped over Killer Croc and landed behind him.
"They're called Synapsids you know. Dimetrodon was one of them. That would be a nice name. Or Gorgonops. That would be a great name. You could say 'I am the Gorgonops' as you charge your foes." Killer Croc swiped his arm at Spider-Man. Again, Spider-Man ducked.
In one quick movement, Spider-Man punched Croc in the face. He wasn't Dr. Connors, so there was little holding back. Killer Croc fell down on his back, senseless.
"Why do I even bother? You're too stupid to figure it out anyway" Spider-Man said to the fallen form. And then his spider-sense had him moving quickly. From both sides, he was being shot at. He saw that the blond woman's arms were split open, revealing gun barrels from which lead was being spewed out at an amazing speed. On the other side he saw the Penguin, aiming his umbrella at him. It too, apparently, was a gun.
Everyone had to be a gun nut.
Spider-Man leapt upwards. He swung his arm, and the woman was hit by a web that hurled her some distance backwards. He landed right in front of the Penguin. He grabbed the umbrella, and crushed it with his hand. He then bent it as if it were paper.
"You know, you don't really have to call yourself Penguin" Spider-Man lifted the Penguin up, tossed him in the air, and webbed him, leaving him dangling from a nearby crane. "You should think about calling yourself, 'the Puffin'. The name just oozes terror."
Spider-Man turned to face Morris, the blond woman with robotic machine gun arm and his people. However, the web-slinger noticed a glowing green figure emerging from the ground behind them, phasing like a ghost, as it would seem.
He touched each and every one of them, and they fell down, his touch being apparently electric. Morris was the last to go down, turning just in time to see his attacker push his palm against his face.
The wall-crawler looked at the strange figure. He couldn't quite read him very well. His spider-sense was scratching at him, but in a way that seemed to indicate that this new guy wasn't an immediate threat.
He was no older than thirteen. He was dressed in a costume similar to a Halloween ghost costume. His head however was exposed, perhaps because of the spiked up hair that moved around independently. He didn't seem to be wearing a mask; rather he had strange green markings on his face that seemed to hide his features equally well. The kid would, nonetheless, be careful around cameras.
The boy waved.
"High" he said, and he couldn't have sounded dorkier "I'm sorry to cut in, but I was flying around and I saw you fighting these guys. I thought that I could help you out here. I mean, you were amazing."
"Its part of who I am" Spider-Man replied "Have you been here for a while or are you new? I'm sorry if I don't know who you are, but, I'm kind of out of the loop here."
The boy held up his hands.
"No sweat dude! I'm actually new. In fact, I'm not from Gotham – I'm from Star City. I came here from over there because of the meeting" the boy said.
"What meeting is that? I don't think its Halloween yet" Spider-Man inquired.
The green boy looked at him as if he had been living in a cave.
"Don't you know?" the boy asked.
"I know a few things; I just don't know what you're talking about" Spider-Man admitted.
"It was all over twitter and facebook! Anyway, a group of superpowered teens have organized a meeting here in Gotham, so that we can form a group like the one the Justice League has, but better" the boy said with enthusiasm.
Spider-Man couldn't help but feel queasy about this.
"Are any of you guys experienced in this sort of thing? It's tougher than it looks."
"I've been in a few scuffles" the boy revealed "but I think the others are much more experienced. There's Hot Stuff from Portland, and Behemoth from Seattle – those guys know what they are doing. I've seen their videos"
Spider-Man didn't know how to respond to this.
"We better restrain these guys" Spider-Man said.
"Oh yeah, sure. Do you have any rope?"
Spider-Man pointed at his wrists, "I have my webs"
The wall-crawler than began to quickly web the thugs that hadn't been webbed before, during the course of the fight. Killer Croc, who was still knocked out, recieved an extra dose of webbing. As he was webbing up the perps, he noticed something amiss.
The blond woman was missing. He looked around. There was no sign of her; his spider-sense certainly wasn't tingling, so she wasn't nearby.
"Hey, green guy!" Spider-Man called out.
The green boy, who was looking at his feet, suddenly stood straight, as if his father had just called his attention.
"My name is Green Ghost Boy" the kid said. Spider-Man blinked. That was about the corniest name he had heard so far. Paste-pot-Pete was worse, but that was on a completely different level. Besides he was one of Johnny's enemies; what would you expect?
"I'm Spider-Man. Anyway, you said you can fly?" he asked.
"Oh yes" the boy said readily "I flew all the way here from Star city"
"That's good. I need you to do a quick fly by around here; see if there are any ladies with guns for arms running about. Can you do that?" Spider-Man asked.
The boy's face lit up.
"You bet I can do that" and he ascended towards the sky. He left a green trail, and Spider-Man followed it as Green Ghost Boy circled the area. In a few seconds, the boy came back down, shaking his head.
"I don't see her" he said. That wasn't surprising; if his spider-sense wasn't picking her up, than she wasn't here.
Spider-Man now focused his attention on the crates, more specifically, on the one that had already been opened by Killer Croc. He looked in and found several transparent canisters of glowing green goo. He took out one and looked at it.
Green Ghost Boy's eyes widened with recognition. The web-slinger noticed.
"You know what this is?" he asked.
The boy didn't answer at first. He just scratched his arm for a while. Spider-Man's brain buzzed, but it wasn't serious. Finally, Green Ghost Boy opened his mouth.
"That's Metaplex" he said, softly and bashfully, as a child that had to admit he had broken the cookie jar.
"I know that much. I heard them calling it that. But what does it do? Does it make you feel happy? Does it make you fall in love? Or is it just addictive trash?" Spider-Man asked.
"It gives normal people superpowers" Green Ghost Boy said.
Spider-Man looked at the can.
"I guess people would buy this for a lot of money. Are they selling this in Star city?" Spider-Man asked, remembering the conversation between Morris and the Penguin.
"Yeah. I've seen a few" Green Ghost Boy said.
"Well, we better turn this over to the cops" Spider-Man turned his back and he called the police, telling them about the Penguin and a mysterious green goo. When he returned to check on the Green Ghost Boy, he saw the kid leaning over the open crate and looking at it.
"I know that the canisters are pretty to look at, but that stuff's dangerous" Spider-Man said. The boy was startled and nearly phased into the ground. He calmed down and was standing on terra firma.
"You're right, this stuff is dangerous" he said "So, are you going to the meeting?" the boy said, almost as if he was trying to change the subject.
Spider-Man thought about the meeting. He might as well check it out.
"Show me the way" he said.
Spider-Man wasn't surprised to find that the meeting place was in a bad part of town, in a building that was so dilapidated that it had to have been abandoned. The cracks along the walls were large and the windows were mostly gone; the lonely man sitting on the stairs who looked old was mumbling at no one. Spider-Man and Green Ghost Boy entered the part of the building that in better days had been a garage. They entered freely, as one enters a public library. As soon as they were there, they saw themselves surrounded by a collection of freaks and weirdoes. Some seemed to be normal kids on steroids, others were in what looked like poor imitation Iron-Man armors, and he couldn't figure out what the other costumed kids had going for them.
The web-slinger had no idea what that made him. Suddenly, a very large and muscular teenager stepped in front of Spider-Man and Green Ghost Boy. He was dressed like a barbarian, and had a lion's head serving as his mask.
Before Spider-Man could answer, Green Ghost Boy made the introductions.
"Hi! I'm Green Ghost Boy, and this is Spider-Man" he said with enthusiasm.
"I've never heard of you. What have you done? Do you have any videos?"
"I have absolutely no videos" Spider-Man replied "I used to have photos, but those were lost on my way here"
"He beat up Killer Croc!" Green Ghost Boy enthusiastically said "he knocked him out with one punch!"
The big teenager looked at Spider-Man. He then let out a chuckle.
"Big deal. I could knock that guy out with my finger" he boasted, raising his finger, which, incidentally, had a curious smell to it.
Spider-Man raised his hands in mock defeat.
"Please, we should calm down. We're all fighting on the same side aren't we? Besides, it's pretty obvious that this big guy here can easily defeat me. By the way, what's your name?"
"I'm Chimeric"
"I can see that you truly are" Spider-Man said. He extended his hand "It's an honor to meet you"
The big teenager looked at Spider-Man's hand. He smiled wickedly and he closed his own around it. His hands were bigger than Spider-Man's; the web-slinger's hands practically disappeared.
He tried squeezing tight around Spider-Man's hand, hoping to make him cry out in pain. But Spider-Man's hand remained rigid, like stone. And then, Spider-Man squeezed his hand. Chimeric soon began to feel the pain.
It didn't take long for the big teenager to wail out, and then scream, in pain. Everyone there stopped to look. Spider-Man then released the big teenager's hand.
"You have quite a grip there. I almost thought that I'd lose my hand" Spider-Man said to the teenager, who was bent down, clutching his hand in pain. Chimeric looked up at him in anger and fear.
"Who are you?" asked a youth in a getup that would have made the Disco Dazzler shaking her head. It was like someone had taken a disco dancer's white outfit, and painted flames on it.
Before Spider-Man could answer, someone else did.
"His name is Spider-Man, and he's been around for a few days"
The voice belonged to a woman. Spider-Man turned to see who spoke, and he saw emerging from the shadows a tall, athletic woman with raven black hair and intense blue eyes. She wore a domino mask that extended over her face, making it appear as if she were wearing batwings over her eyes. Her costume covered her entire body; it was mostly black, but there was a white cross on her chest that extended to her belt, which was very similar to Batman's belt. Her cape, gauntlets, belt, boots and knee pads were dark purple. She seemed to have a gun hanging in a holster over her right hip.
She walked towards Spider-Man, and looked him in the eye.
"Hi. I call myself the Huntress. I've read everything about you" she said.
"I'm shocked. I didn't know anyone cared" Spider-Man replied. He was also puzzled. So far, he hadn't read anything about himself on the newspapers. There were a few references, but they were vague.
Now the guy with the flames on the disco suit approached.
"Well, we saw that this Spider-guy is pretty strong. What can you do?" he asked the Huntress.
Slowly, she turned away from Spider-Man, and looked at the disco guy. The expression on her face was fierce.
"I can kick your ass for starters" she said.
The disco guy laughed.
"I don't think so" he said.
A small baton appeared in Huntress' hand. It suddenly extended itself into a staff, with which Huntress whacked the disco guy across the face. He fell down on the ground, his mouth glowing. He looked up at Huntress, and flames could be seen coming out of his mouth.
Spider-Man's spider-sense began acting up.
Then, there was a yell. An even larger man than Chimeric emerged, with green tubes running into his bare arms. He had on his head an old Great Helm while he wore dark leather biker clothes.
"Stop with that nonsense right now Hot Shot! We have better things to do!" he yelled. The disco guy got up and he glared at Huntress. He then walked towards the large vigilante.
"That's Behemoth" Huntress whispered into Spider-Man's ear "and those tubes have venom in them"
"He's a big guy. I don't think he needs poison" Spider-Man replied
"Venom is a drug that gives whoever consumes it increased strength. It also gives you madness. It's what Bane uses" she explained.
That name didn't register to Spider-Man as it did to Green Ghost Boy who made a strange face. To Spider-Man, Bane was just a name in the papers. He did notice that quite a few more kids in the garage had green tubes in their arms, and were unnaturally buffed up. Spider-Man took another look at Chimeric. Hidden within the teenager's costume were a few green tubes.
Behemoth hopped on top of the abandoned rusted carcass of what used to be a car, standing above everyone else. Although his spider-sense wasn't alerting him to any immediate danger, he still got chills from the imagery.
"His real name is William Ghent. Until a few weeks ago, he was a scrawny seventeen year old wearing glasses who happened to be a science major" Huntress said.
Spider-Man grimaced beneath his mask.
"You don't say? I may know a guy who was like that" he said, looking at Behemoth as he began his big speech.
"My good friends and my equals" Behemoth said with grandiloquence "We are all gathered here because we all have a few things in common. We want to change the world for the better, and we have the power to do so. The superheroes we have now certainly don't do anything. Superman and the Flash, for all their powers still let dangerous slime on the loose to hurt innocent people whenever they want. They're junior sidekicks are no better. They're indoctrinated little slaves that dress up just like their masters. But we can do something that they can't. We can stop evil at its root."
Spider-Man did not like at all where this speech was headed. He would have probably agreed not to long ago, but too much had passed since then.
"Are you suggesting we be proactive? I certainly hope not because that would be incredibly stupid" Spider-Man said, speaking up.
"It would be stupid not to be proactive." Behemoth said "Are you saying we should allow a mugger to hurt an old lady?"
"Of course not, but I don't think that's what you mean. I'm pretty sure you mean to attack people just for looking at you in a funny way. That's stupid. You can't attack people for not committing any crimes, even if they're thinking about it" Spider-Man said. He looked around. Everyone was looking at him. He continued, "I learned a lesson, some time ago, that with great power must come great responsibility. That is especially true for those who have powers beyond mortal men. If we become proactive, as you suggest, it won't take long for us to become the new monsters. What are you? Some puny kid who never had any friends and who got beefed up and decided to have is vengeance on the world? Well, I can tell you, it won't end well."
Spider-Man's body tensed and hardened. His spider-sense was beginning to alert him that he was in a nasty situation.
"It was an okay speech" Huntress said, holding her staff in her hand.
"Okay? I was just warming up" Spider-Man replied.
"Will someone get rid of these dorks?" Behemoth said in a childish tone.
One of the buffed up venom freaks tried to punch Spider-Man in the face. The wall-crawler easily ducked and returned with a powerful jab that left his opponent on the floor. An armored fellow tried to attack as well. Huntress pulled out her gun, which quickly revealed itself to be a crossbow. She pulled the trigger, and a bolt hit the armored goon in the middle of the chest plate. The bolt didn't bounce off. It stuck on the metal and it soon flashed with blue light. The armored wannabee fell down on his face, unable to lift a finger.
Spider-Man raised an eyebrow at the sight of a crossbow, but exotic weaponry wasn't the most bizarre thing he had seen so far.
Other buffed up maniacs tried to attack them. Huntress demonstrated great skill in martial arts, kicking and punching with precise strikes, slicing venom tubes wherever they existed. Spider-Man was impressed, even as he lifted an 800 hundred pound gorilla of a man above his head and hurled him at his attackers. His spider-sense and his agility kept him from receiving any blows, while giving even stronger ones to his attackers. Green Ghost Boy did his best, phasing into the floor and coming up to shock the enraged teens with his touch, or flying up and dropping things on to their heads.
But the attacking teenage pretenders weren't only made up of venom addicts. There were few that had superpowers themselves. One seemed to be surrounded by an aura of electricity. He shot out a bolt with his bare hand at Spider-Man. The web-slinger barely dodged it, feeling the electricity in his skin. Spider-Man leapt on to the ceiling. He quickly crawled towards him.
"You look electric. Would you be called Electro, by chance? Because for me, it would be great if you were called Electro. I always know how to handle a guy called Electro" Spider-Man lunged at the electric teen, and before his feet reached the ground, he punched him, knocking him out.
By now, the number of the attacking teens had been drastically reduced. They were all on the floor, many having tubes torn or armors broken, dented or disabled. Spider-Man took note that Behemoth, Chimeric, and several others were not amongst the fallen. They weren't present either. The only ones there, aside from Huntress, Green Ghost Boy, and himself, was the guy called Hot Shot and two other youths pumped up on venom who stood by his side.
So far, Hot Shot hadn't done much of anything. He had stayed away from the fight, hugging the wall of the garage as if accosted by a torrent of lava. But now he stood in front of Spider-Man and his companions, his mouth ablaze.
"I… I'm going to burn you all!" he said and he let out a jet of incredibly hot fire from his mouth. Huntress was quick. She positioned her staff and a shield of transparent material came out of the end of it, protecting them from the blaze.
"I know a guy like this" Spider-Man said.
"Shouldn't that be my line?" Huntress asked in a playful tone.
Spider-Man recalled Johnny's track record with girls.
"No it shouldn't be your line, ever" he flatly said.
Slowly, the trio moved forward. Spider-Man was going to jump over the blaze and punch Hot Shot in the face when the blaze suddenly stopped.
With amazement, Spider-Man saw Hot Shot and his two bodyguards on the floor. Standing over them were a couple that struck Spider-Man as being odd. A red haired girl dressed as Batman, and a young man dressed in black with a domino mask and a blue bird on his chest. Spider-Man knew that these youths didn't belong to the group of pumped up teenagers that he had been fighting with; he tried to remember what he had read. The girl could be Batgirl. He didn't know who the man was.
Spider-Man turned to look at Huntress.
"Nightwing and Batgirl" she said, more to herself than to Spider-Man. The wall-crawler recognized the name. Not only because Bette talked of him a lot, but because his name appeared on the news. He was Batman's former sidekick apparently. He hoped that Nightwing was more reasonable than his mentor; otherwise, he would regret it in the worse manner possible.
"In the flesh" Nightwing said with a smile.
Spider-Man's spider-sense kept the wall-crawler from speaking to the young vigilante. He was forced to look upwards. The building it seemed was on fire. It didn't seem that he had the equipment to stop the blaze.
"We better get out of here" Nightwing said, picking up Hot Shot.
"That's a good idea" Spider-Man said. He quickly grabbed the two bodyguards. They all rushed out through the main exit and into the street.
Spider-Man felt the cool air and liked it. He let go of the bodyguards and webbed them up. He then rushed inside to grab the others. In a matter of seconds, Spider-Man, Nightwing and Huntress had removed every one of the wannabee superheroes from the garage.
"Well, that's everyone!" Spider-man said.
It was as if he had been tempting fate. As he said that, a scream was heard from one of the open windows above the garage.
"I thought this place was abandoned!" Spider-Man exclaimed.
"In a sense it is. But buildings like these serve as shelters for drug addicts, a few of the more petty dealers, and the homeless" Nightwing said, matter-of-factly. "We have to get those people out. The firefighters won't get here in time"
"I can do this easily" Spider-Man said. He turned to Green Ghost Boy and said, "Let's go and get those people out"
The boy just stood there. Spider-Man didn't know if the boy was afraid or not. He just stood there, expressionless.
"Do we really have to?" he asked "They're all drug addicts and dealers"
Spider-Man really wished he hadn't heard that.
"Even so, we still have to save them. We're the only two here who have any superpowers; we're the best for this job. We have the power to help. That's what being a superhero is all about, not about getting into fights, but helping those who can't help themselves. And what about the homeless people inside? What did they do besides live in misery? Tell me Green; before you got your powers, what superhero did you admire the most?" Spider-Man asked the boy with the green glow.
Green Ghost Boy looked at Spider-Man sheepishly.
"Superman" he said. Spider-Man was stunned; he expected to hear the name of Captain America, but then he remembered where he was.
"Would Superman let those people die?" Spider-Man asked
"No" Green Ghost Boy said.
"Let's go then" Spider-Man said. He leapt into the first window, and saw a skinny woman holding a child. They were startled, but before they could say anything, he grabbed them and leapt out of the building.
And thus the rescue proceeded. With the aid of Nightwing, Batgirl and Huntress, Spider-Man and Green Ghost Boy entered each apartment and extracted whoever they found. Most of the people were happy to be rescued, although one drug dealer pulled a gun on Spider-Man. Of course the wall-crawler dealt with him rather quickly, and hauled him out of the building, now engulfed in flames.
Spider-Man released the dealer once they were on the sidewalk. The horns of the fire trucks could now be heard approaching. Green Ghost Boy came flying out one building, holding a malnourished child in his arms. Only then did Peter notice that his glow was fainter.
The green boy landed on the street, and he let the child go. He was breathing heavily. Spider-Man began to regret telling him to act if this was what it would do to him. A superhero helped others, that was true, but that didn't meant that other superheroes were expendable.
"Are you alright?" the web-slinger asked with concern.
"I'm fine" Green Ghost Boy said with a smile, despite appearing to be weaker than before "I feel fine. So this is what it's like to be a hero"
"Sometimes it's good" Spider-Man agreed. He then noticed Batgirl and Nightwing talking to Hot Shot. The other teenagers were sitting on the ground, their hands bound behind their backs. Huntress was nearby. She soon rushed towards Spider-Man.
"What's happening?" he asked her.
"Behemoth and a few of his pals are heading for the Iceberg Lounge. They're going to attack G. Gordon Godfrey"
Beneath his lenses, Spider-Man's eyes widened. He got the same feeling he always had whenever he had to help out J. Jonah Jameson. He leapt up into the air and shot out a web. He could hear Huntress calling out for him, but he ignored her. Time was short.
Spider-Man had only been in Gotham for just a few days, but in those few days, he had learned some of the city's most notorious locations. One of which was the Iceberg Lounge, owned by the bird he had beaten earlier this night.
It didn't take Spider-Man much time to find the way there. He then felt a slight buzzing in the back of his head. He turned and saw Green Ghost Boy flying behind him. His glow was getting weaker.
"I hope you don't mind me joining you" the kid said.
"I should mind it. You look like you need a rest" Spider-Man remarked.
"I can do this" Green Ghost Boy said "Please."
"Fine, but don't get into the thick of it. That's my job"
Commissioner James Gordon shifted in his seat. Anyone who cared could see that he was uneasy. His unease was caused by several things, the first being that he was sitting within the Iceberg Lounge which was property of the notorious Penguin (who was strangely absent). The second cause for his unease was the fact that he was sitting inches away from G. Gordon Godfrey, a man for whom he had little respect. He spoke in colorful metaphors in order to convince idiots into thinking that those who had saved their lives constant times and at their own expense were their enemies.
Previously, Godfrey had been hostile to aliens only. As of recently, his hostility had been focused on all superheroes, even those who had no powers, like Batman. Because of this, Commissioner Gordon felt that he had to be here to defend those who had helped the world countless times. Sometimes, Gordon wondered if Godfrey was in league with something evil. Of course, that was foolish. Idiots would always exist.
Ever the observant police officer, Gordon looked around. The Iceberg Lounge had been prepared for this; it now looked more like a television studio then a night club. There were still tables about, but those were closer to the stage, where he was. Towards the back there were the normal theater seats, where most of the people were seated. The best places seemed to be on the balconies, where the wealthiest people sat. Cameras were strategically placed everywhere to capture every nuance.
Security was heavy; in addition to the police – who were there because of Gordon – the place was being guarded by private guards. Gordon wondered who had hired them – Godfrey, or the Penguin.
He looked at Godfrey's smirk.
"Commissioner Gordon, it's an honor to have you here. You are a man of integrity. But please tell me, why does a man of such staunch values as yourself gladly allies himself with a masked vigilante who works beyond the law?"
Gordon looked at Godfrey gravely. He knew that the man would start with this. At least Godfrey didn't disappoint.
"Although he wears a mask and is not employed by the city of Gotham, Batman has helped this city and the Gotham Police Department countless times. And he has, if you recall, helped the world during the last crisis involving the Reach. I can't ignore or condemn him for doing something good." Gordon replied. He hoped that the mention of the Reach would at least shake Godfrey – who had supported them in the beginning. Unfortunately, Gordon couldn't deny that Godfrey had later denounced them.
"Oh yes, he did help defeat the Reach, I do admit, your friend Batman, but I wonder, for what reason. I remember this man who I knew, as a lad, who would help people out not out of the goodness of his heart, but because he loved the gifts and attention that people gave him. I can't help but see Batman and all of his other masked friends in this light. Why else would he wear a mask but for to drape himself in a romantic aura?" Godfrey said with a smirk.
Gordon frowned. The man was projecting his own defects on to others. He was about to point this out when it happened.
There was an explosion and several muscle-bound men entered the Iceberg Lounge from the main entrance. Gordon was out of his chain in an instant. The attackers were all wearing masks of several sorts and personal armor; one wore a knight's Great Helm while another wore what seemed to be a lion's head. All in all, it seemed that they were twenty to twenty-five in number. Gordon thought that this was some joke on Godfrey's part.
He looked at the pundit, and realized that he was just as surprised as Gordon himself was. Godfrey was on his feet and Gordon noticed a rectangular block in his pocket. The corner was sticking out, and it was blue with a red on its edge. Godfrey's hand was close to it.
The attackers immediately engaged with the police detail and the private security guards. Buffed up as they were, the mysterious attackers had an edge. Both the police and the private security fired live rounds on them, but the armor protected them from the more serious wounds. Whatever bullets entered their limbs were ignored. Gordon noticed that all of the attackers had green tubes attached to their arms and legs.
The one with the lion's head for a mask lunged towards Godfrey. Commissioner Gordon was quick; he grabbed the chair he had been sitting on and he swung it at the large thug. It stunned the man and forced him back, but it didn't knock him down.
Shaking his head, the thug turned his ire from Godfrey to Gordon. He roared and knocked the chair out of the commissioner's hands with a swift and brutal backhand. With another backhand, he knocked Gordon down to the ground.
The blow was violent; Gordon saw the provisional stars as he opened his eyes and looked at the big guy towering over him. He could hear the gunshots and the screams. He wondered what was happening to the audience and if his men had evacuated them properly as the big thug raised his hands over him, ready to crush his skull. And then he saw the thug's hand enveloped in what looked like a web.
From high above, he saw a slight figure, clad in a spider-themed costume that was blue and red swinging towards the big thug, and then ramming him in the face with both of his feet.
"Why don't you try picking on someone my size for a change Chimeric?" the unknown figure said. Chimeric was on the floor, but he got up quickly and charged. The unknown hero looked small in comparison, but when the two clashed, it was clear who the stronger one was.
The man called Chimeric was felled with two hard punches. The mysterious hero then leapt towards the other thugs. His movements were quick and powerful; his arms moved with a blurring speed and everyone they touched fell down with a loud thud.
Gordon then noticed that the hero wasn't alone. There was also a girl there – a girl with long black hair and a long cape that reminded him for some reason of Batman. Her punches lacked the other's power, but they were skillful and hard nonetheless. Gordon noticed a third figure; this was a boy in his early teens who glowed faintly. He seemed to be the less capable of the trio; trying his best to avoid his large opponent's blows, while seemingly trying to touch him. Gordon saw a punch phase right through the boy. Once the large thug removed his fist in amazement, the boy just touched him, rendering him unconscious.
The boy however, was not safe, as another thug struck him from behind, smashing him into a wall. The boy was in pain and as the thug advanced towards him, reached into his costume, taking out a suspicious looking transparent canister with a green substance within. He placed one end of the canister on his arm, and Gordon saw the green substance disappear into the boy's arm. The boy's glow immediately intensified; as the thug picked him up, the boy swatted him away with the back of his hand.
For some reason, the boy seemed amazed.
"Sir, are you alright?"
Gordon turned and saw that it was the red and blue mystery man who had spoken to him.
"I'm fine. Who are you and what's going on?" Gordon asked.
"Juvenile monsters that's who they are" Godfrey said "Juvenile delinquents who probably made this mess in the first place…"
Godfrey was suddenly silenced when the spider-themed mystery man raised his hand and a web shot out of his wrist. The web covered Godfrey's mouth, shutting him up. Godfrey's face reddened in anger as he mumbled and tried to pull the web away from his mouth.
"You sound better already Gigi" the mystery man said. And then he turned to look at the glowing green boy. He then turned his head towards the canister on the floor. He looked at the boy again.
"Green Ghost Boy, are you alright?"
The boy shook his head. He looked not at all well. He elevated, hovering over everyone and phased out of the building.
Spider-Man rushed out of the building, passed the cops, the security guards and the reporters asking questions. He was soon racing across the city after Green Ghost Boy. Huntress followed him close by, riding on her bike.
"What's happening?" she asked.
"Something's wrong with Green Ghost Boy" Spider-Man said. And that was all that he could say. How could he tell the girl that his spider-sense went nuts and pointed Green Ghost Boy as the source of the greatest danger? Did she even know about the canister of Metaplex?
"Do you know anything about Metaplex?" he asked Huntress.
"I know a bit. It's supposed to be this new drug that gives some kids superpowers" Huntress was silent for a moment "Do you mean that Green Ghost Boy is taking that stuff?"
"I saw a canister of it back in the lounge. He must have got it in the wharf where we met. I hope he's okay"
Spider-Man however, was stopped in his tracks when he saw Green Ghost Boy. They had followed him into a park, where they found him. His body was glowing brighter than it had before. What was disturbing were the changes occurring to his body. Green Ghost Boy's body was stretching out. His hands and legs were swelling, and his face was extending forwards. His eyes began to bulge out, and his hair, which had been moving about of its own accord, now began to look like tendrils that ended in spheres.
Soon, the boy began to grow, ripping apart his clothes and losing his human appearance. In a matter of seconds he was over forty feet tall and thirty feet long; his body was similar to that of a Gorgonopsid while his head was similar to that of a slow Loris. The tendrils on his head formed a strange form of mane that moved about like reeds in the wind – the spheres on the ends seemed truly hard and unbreakable.
The creature Green Ghost Boy had become opened its mouth and wailed. It was the most horrible sound Spider-Man had ever heard in his life. It stomped its paws and tail on the ground, shaking it. Spider-Man barely stayed on his feet while Huntress nearly fell down.
"How do we stop that thing?" Huntress asked.
"That's Green Ghost Boy" Spider-Man corrected, remembering Dr. Connors "And there has to be a way to help him"
The creature suddenly moved, and it walked away from the park, and into the city.
"We can't let him hurt anyone!" Huntress said.
"I won't" Spider-Man said, leaping as high as he could. He landed on the creature's side. Soon afterwards, a grappling hook dug into the creature's flesh, not far from the web-slinger. Spider-Man didn't think that Green Ghost Boy would feel anything like that.
Huntress soon appeared, pulled in by a motor within her crossbow that was attached to the grappling hook.
"You sure know how to show a girl a good time" she said
"Really, that tired old phrase? I expected better from you" Spider-Man said
"It's still a classic. You don't disrespect the classics" Huntress replied. She pulled out a sharp looking instrument and plunged it into the creature's flesh. The creature didn't even register it as a scratch.
"You would've been better served with a wiffle bat, or a pillow" Spider-Man remarked.
Huntress gave the web-slinger a sideways glance.
"Don't be a dummy. I need a tissue sample" she said, taking out what Spider-Man had thought was knife, now revealed to be some sort of syringe.
"That's a good idea. But you're going to need a really good computer to analyze that, diagnose it, and create a cure" Spider-Man said.
"I know where that computer is. It might actually be the best computer in the world. It's where I read about you. I need you to keep this guy away from people. He looks hungry"
Before Spider-Man had a chance to ask, Huntress had pressed a button on her wrist, and then dropped down. She made a perfect landing on her motorcycle, which only now he noticed matched her outfit perfectly. Spidey watched as she turned and sped away.
Now Spider-Man turned his attention to the creature. He quickly climbed onto his back, and ran towards the creature's head, shoving aside the tendrils that seemed imbued with their own life, like the tendrils on a Portuguese man-of-war fish.
The creature shook its head, aware of Spider-Man's presence, and seeing him as some sort of nuisance, as some sort of fly. Which Spider-Man thought was kind of funny. From both wrists, Spider-Man shot out two strong web lines, attaching them to the sides of the creature's head. Spider-Man hoped that he could control the creature in this manner, and perhaps steer it away from people.
Spider-Man soon had the opportunity to do so. The creature was out of the park and walking along a street. People looked on in horror and ran away as soon as they saw the thing. The creature spotted the people as well, and it sped up, trying to catch them with an open mouth. As soon as he saw this, Spider-Man stomped on the creature's head as hard as he could and he pulled the thing's head away from any nearby people before they could be swallowed up.
The creature growled and entered a wide roundabout. The place was packed with people, be they pedestrians or drivers in their cars. With its jaw, the creature grabbed an SUV with a family inside. Before it could munch down hard, Spider-Man once again stomped on its head and tugged on the webbing.
"Oh come on Green Ghost Boy! You can't put strange people into your mouth! It's disgusting!" Spider-Man yelled, stomping on the creature's head "Of course, you're not Green Ghost Boy anymore, now are you? What should I call you?" and Spider-Man stomped again, but the creature was stubborn "Well, you're still a theriodont, despite everything, so I'll call you that. Let go of those people you filthy theriodont!" and Spider-Man pounded once again on the monster's head.
The Theriodont, with a wine, let go of the car and now shook its head vigorously. Spider-Man held on, thanks to his adhesiveness and to his grip on the webs attached to the Theriodont's head.
Spider-Man heard the sound of rotors; he looked to both sides, and saw that police helicopters were flying by the creature. They seemed to be ready to fire at it. With as much strength as he could muster, Spider-Man tugged the webs, hoping that the creature would leave the city. He got more than he bargained for, as the Theriodont began to hover in the sky, and then fly a short distance above the city.
Now, Spider-Man hoped that the thing that used to be a boy would fly up and out into space. But that wasn't the end of the web-slinger's woes. The tendrils that made up the Theriodont's mane, which terminated in heavy and hard spheres, began to move and shudder violently. Spider-Man's spider-sense alerted the wall-crawler to the immediate danger; however, all he could do was steel his body against the coming assault.
It was hard; he received some of the hardest blow in his life. The tendrils hit him hard on the skull, on the jaw, on his back, hard enough to force tears out of his eyes. But Spider-Man held on.
A tendril hit his arm. He ignored the pain, but he couldn't ignore his spider-sense. He looked forward, and saw that the Theriodont was about to crash into a building. Spider-Man yanked hard, even as the tendrils struck. The Theriodont was forced upwards and away from the building, barely missing it by a few inches. The Theriodont now flew higher, and thankfully, away from the city.
The tendrils continued their assault, but Spider-Man countered.
"WILL YOU STOP DOING THAT? I'M TRYING TO HELP YOU KID!" Spider-Man yelled out as he smashed his foot over and over again into the Theriodont's skull. But the Theriodont kept on battering him with its tendrils.
They were soon above a nearby marshland. The Theriodont began to fly in circles in dizzying speeds, trying hard to get Spider-Man off of its head. The wall-crawler held on, trying his best to steer and stomp as he was pummeled by the tendrils.
Finally, in a sudden move, the Theriodont dove into the swamp below. The crash was violent; the Theriodont buried itself in water and mud, while Spider-Man was hurled and crashed into several trees, before he finally stopped.
Slowly, Spider-Man got on his feet. His whole body ached from the beatings it had received. The Theriodont rose up from the bog and looked at Spider-Man. It let out a roar and then, charged.
Spider-Man prepared to leap, although he didn't know if he had the strength to move out of the way in time. And then, something shot through the air and hit the Theriodont on its nose.
The creature slowed down, and then stopped. A crossbow bolt was sticking out of its face.
The Theriodont soon lost its glow. The flesh turned hard and gray, like rock, and then, it began to crumble.
Spider-Man looked in the direction where the bolt had come from. There, standing on a nearby elevation, stood Huntress, and next to her stood Batman, Nightwing and Batgirl. It was Batman who held the crossbow in his hand.
Stumbling across the marsh, Spider-Man walked towards the remains of the Theriodont. There, amidst the crumbling bits, lay the human remains of the Green Ghost Boy. He was still breathing, and apparently well.
I was wrong. This Batman isn't as incompetent as I thought.
Spider-Man felt his legs weaken and for the first time in a long time, he felt he was losing his balance. He began to fall, but he was caught by Huntress who was somehow there; his face fell upon her bosom.
"Mom told me this would happen" she said in exasperation.
Lex Luthor sat and watched what was happening in Gotham with some interest. As soon as he had seen enough, he turned off the television and grabbed his phone. Someone immediately picked up.
"Keep working on the MR-16. The results are interesting" he hung up and he walked up to the window. He looked at Metropolis the city that was his, and he felt content.