Chapter 3: The Batcave And Bounty
Meanwhile...
The Batwing continues to fly away from the prison site and flies over seas with Batman still driving. Spider-Man is still seated behind him. And is still in awe of how cool this flying transport it. "You know you could have told me that you had something like this before we jumped off that rooftop." Said Spider-Man.
"Couldn't risk those cops finding out." Said Batman as he makes a perfect logic.
"Fair. So where are we going?" asked Spider-Man as he is curious of where they are going now.
"To the Batcave." Said Batman as he tells their main destination.
"The what now?" asked Spider-Man as he sees Batman making the Batwing fly a bit faster and fly towards a upcoming waterfall on the side of a cliff. Of which it had a large manor on top of the cliff. Of which Spider-Man managed to see before they enter through the waterfall.
Once they enter through the waterfall, Spider-Man can see the entire layout of the Batcave in all of its glory. "Whoa." That is all he said before the Batwing lands on the platform. Once the Batwing lands and powers down, the cockpit opens up and the two heroes land on the landing platform. And before them is Alfred, who was waiting for Batman to return. But he didn't expect a visitor to come back as well.
"Welcome back Sir. Oh... I didn't expect a visitor to come back with you sir. And may I ask who are you good sir?" Asked Alfred as he looks at Spider-Man
Spider-Man looked towards Alfred as Spider-Man knows that Alfred is talking about him. "Hey there. You can just call me Spider-Man. NYC favorite web powered super hero who is just visiting Gotham for a couple of days." Said Spider-Man as he does a couple of poses before he stopped to take a good look at Alfred. "Wait a second. I know you... you are Alfred Pennyworth. I remember seeing and reading about you in a newspaper before. You are a butler that works for... Bruce Wayne. And that would mean that..." Said Spider-Man as he looks at Batman with a shocked looked on his masked face. "Oh my gosh. You are Bruce Wayne?" Asked Spider-Man.
"I am shocked... not most would figure that out in seconds. And you would be good sir?" asked Alfred with a calm look on his face.
"Sorry, as a hero not from Gotham City, I have to keep the extra mile to make sure my identify is secured and not exposed." Said Spider-Man as he crossed his arms and a smug tone in his voice.
"He's Peter Parker." Said Batman as this makes Spidey super nervous.
"As the kid from the Daily Bugle in NYC?" Asked Alfred.
Spider-Man takes off his mask to look at Batman. "How?" Asked Peter as he wonders how Batman knows already.
"Your photos you take. It won't make sense of how you are able to get pictures of Spider-Man at impossible heights and ankles unless you planted a camera there. And the only way you could have done that if you are indeed Spider-Man himself. " Said Batman as he only glanced at him.
Peter sighs and puts his mask back on. "Dang it... should have know. I though no one would notice but yet it would seem that someone as smart as the Batman would figure it out in seconds. It is okay. And don't worry... I won't tell anyone about your secret identity to anyone. I know better then that." Said Spider-Man.
"Thanks." Said Batman.
"So now that you have brought a new friend to the Batcave and are back from Blackgate Prison, shall I warm up Christmas dinner?" asked Alfred as if he wonders if they are finally going to eat something together.
"No. It's going to be a long night Alfred. We just ran into a human-shaped crocodile... who told us Black Mask has hired assassins to kill us." Batman says as he walks over to the Batcomputer with Spider-Man following behind him. Batman then place in the card into the computer as it begins to process the info it has.
"Assassins, Sir? As in, more than one?" asked Alfred as he walks up to Batman with a curious look on his face.
"That's right." Said Batman.
"And you heard this from the mouth of a crocodile man?" asked Alfred.
The Batcomputer then display a image of Killer Croc facing against a bunch of the Blackgate guards without any trouble with Black Mask watching behind the scenes. "His name is Killer Croc. And he's already behind bars." Said Batman as the computer showed that he is captured.
"Whoah… I pity his cell mate." Said Alfred.
"Yeah... but something tells me that this guy would just eat his cell mate if he ever got hungry." Said Spider-Man
"I don't. Let's see what else is on the drone's hard drive." Said Batman as the computer begins to pull up a video file and displays it on the screen.
It shows Black Mask in a room with some of his mobsters and behind him are Fourteen images of known criminals and he has black folders with a file in them that has a name on it for the person to read. "Each of them gets one of these envelopes. I need them delivered – tonight!" Said Black Mask on the video as he hands it to his goon next to him.
"They're all hired killers - the best in the business. Black Mask isn't messing around." Said Batman as the Batcomputer begins to search anything about the criminals on the pictures on the wall to identify them.
The assassins' profile that appeared is a man that has a classic orange/blue colors, on a armored body. Half of Slade's helmet was covered, and the other half revealed his eye. That was because he got shot in the eye and was forced to wear an eye patch. On the back of his helmet is a bandana like tail length that has his suit colors on it. This man also has multiple packs on the top of his suit to store bullets, darts, and other things. Deathstroke.
"Slade Wilson...Deathstroke." Said Batman. The file shows a video of Deathstroke in a hallways full of armed men and pulls out his bot staff and begins to hit them and knock them off their feet "Former military, subject of a failed medical experiment." The video shows Slade finished taking the entire men down by himself.
"Failed you say?" asked Alfred.
"More like a success to me." Said Spider-Man. They then see a Black Mask mobster handed Deathstroke the file folder before leaving the room.
The next assassins' profile appeared on the computer. He wears a skin tight gold and black suit and has a jetpack and with firefly like metal wings, with the wings having a turbo engine on both wings for flight and a exhaust fan on the top of his wings. The harness for his jetpack is strapped all around his chest. With grenades attached on his chest pockets. He also has a helmet that covers up his entire head and with the yellow lens resemble a actual firefly eyes. And he always carries a big flamethrower in his hands. He also has a communicator built into the side of his helmet. Around on the back of his lower legs, he has little wings to help stabilize him when Firefly flies. He has some armored boots that have the same color scheme as his suit. Firefly.
"Garfield Lynns, a.k.a. Firefly. Burns on 90 percent of his body. Hmm… his obsession is going to be his end." Said Batman as it shows Firefly using his flamethrower to burn and destroy a helicopter out of the sky.
"How unlike anyone I know." Said Alfred.
The next profile begins to appear on the Batcomputer and it displays a few images that didn't match before it finally shows the image of a female being. She has short whitish-blonde hair, and yellowish reptilian eyes. She wears black eyeliner, which slightly obscures her features and throws her unusual eyes into sharp contrast. She has many tattoos across her upper body and arms, and wears close-fitting snake-skin clothing, as befitting her moniker. Copperhead.
"Here's a face I don't recognize… Copperhead. Strange. These reports reference a male, not a female." Said Batman.
"Come again?" Asked Spider-Man as he is confused on how the reports for Copperhead are male and not female.
The video file shows Copperhead captured and has cuffed on her wrists. And is in a integration room with a male in the room with her. "Fourteen escapes, huh? Well you won't be getting out of-" He stops when he turns around to see Copperhead gone and the cuffs are off her. "What the-?" He looked around the room to try to find her. But only if he tried to look up, he would have made it out. Copperhead pounced on the man body and puts him into a hold. And then Copperhead breaks his neck using her leg. Once the men was done, she picks up a file on the floor that was for her.
The next profile of the assassins' appeared. This man wears a type a red and blue winter jacket. Of which he has wrists guns attached around his wrists. And he has a grey mask, with the mouth piece area black, over his face, with only his left blue eye exposed and the right eye covered up by his red visor over his right eye. He has ammo clips on the right shoulder of his jacket. He has black gloves with silver metal on the knuckles and over the PIP joint area. He wears grey snow pants with knee pads and has snow boats. He has a red and yellow belt and has a pouched strapped around the right side of his waist. Deadshot
"Floyd Lawton. AKA Deadshot." Said Batman as a video file shows Deadshot holding a sniper in his hands. And is on a rooftop with a bunch of policemen just behind him.
"Freeze!" Said one of the policemen.
"Says here he's an expert sharpshooter." Said Batman as the next video shows him just using the gun wrists to fire one time as fired at the first one before it bounced of the others weapons to kill them all in one shot.
"How on earth?" Asked Alfred as he is shocked of what he is seeing.
"Suspected of many assassinations. Dangerous - but reckless." Said Batman.
"And I bet he might be a too dangerous to face head on." Said Spider-Man.
The next assassin to appear is Rhino as it shows him charging and ramming through a bunch of policemen and destroying down any walls in his way. "Aleksei Sytsevich AKA Rhino. Former Russian Mobster. Say's here he went undergo a experiment to increase his strength to become superhuman strength. And he wears a armor that resembles a Rhino." Said Batman.
"Trust me... I know the pain of going up against that guy. He is like a living bulldozer. Seems like he upgraded his armor the last time I faced him." Said Spider-Man as he commented about Rhino armor.
The Batcomputer then shows up the next Assassin. This mans shows up a man with a black and orange armored suit with there a large 'V' shaped pattern on the armored vest. He has grey pants an da pouch pocket strapped around his right leg and grey boots. And he wears a metal eclectic gauntlets gloves on his right and left hands. And he has some battery's strapped to his suit and has wires connecting and going all over his suit. And he has a scar on the left side that resembles a Lichtenberg figure scar mark. He has a very shot brown hair and brown eyes. Electrocutioner.
"Street tough named Lester Buchinsky. Calls himself 'Electrocutioner.'" Said Batman as it shows a image of the man punching and shocking a Black Mask goon with his electric punch and sees the man also dropping the file he was suppose to give to Electrocutioner.
"Shocking." Said Alfred.
"No kidding." Said Spider-Man
The next picture profile shows a man that is bald and has wrinkled skin. And he has blue eyes. He is wearing a winged suit, which is primarily black and light green with silver trim. And on the back of his armored suit is a single engine system that allows him to fly fast in the air. And he has a beak like mask that covers up his entire mouth. Vulture.
"Adrian Toomes AKA Vulture." Said Batman as the video file shows Vulture dive bombing at a armored vehicle and used his mechanical wings to launch out a sharp metal feather to pierced through the armored car and then enters it to grab a couple of bags of jewels and money before flying away.
"Good Toomes. Once a respected man that was a electrical engineer and inventor before he put on that costume. Today, he is now turned flying super-villain for thievery and also trying to kill me in the process. And it seems like from the picture that he has upgraded his suit. I hate it when Villains decided to upgrade their tech." Said Spider-Man.
The next profile to appear on the Batcomputer shows a man in a armored suit with only his mouth being visible. The suit itself is primarily dark green with a black underskin, with vermilion optic lenses. The Scorpion suit has three fingers on each hand, two claws on each foot, and a long extensible scorpion like tail. Scorpion.
"Mac Gargan AKA Scorpion." Said Batman as the video file showed Scorpion using his tail to slap back a group of men with guns and pouncing and stabbing a bunch of the men with his tail. And then shows him getting the file from a Black Mask goon.
"Yeah him. He was hired by someone I know to be experimented on with characteristic of actual scorpion. He is stronger than me. And because of what happened to him, it clearly made him go insane and become a villain. And that tail he has is a mechanical one that is literally attached to his body. Which helps him act more like a scorpion animal." Said Spider-Man.
The next one to appear on the Batcomputer shows a man with a unusual costume design. He has a green suit on that has a couple of yellow lightning patterns on his chest, legs and on his arms too. And has a starfish like lighting bolt mask on his face too and has blue eyes. This is Electro.
"Max Dillon AKA Electro. Former lineman for an electric company before he gets struck by lightning when he was working on one of the power poles." Said Batman as it shows a video file Electro making a large electric pulse of electricity to zap and fried a bunch of policemen all at once before zipping around before stopping before a Black Mask goon and was offered a file. He kindly grabs it and begins to take a look at it.
"Yeah... old Spark Plug here is very hard to deal with sometimes. He can literally generate electricity to fry anyone he wishes and can also fly because of this power. You can say he is a living lightning man." Said Spider-Man.
The next profile to appear on the Batcomputer is someone Spider-Man is familiar with. He has some yellow leather outfit that has black lines to form it into a diamond like pattern. He has some black leather padding on his thighs and some leather brown boots and with having a bit of metal on it. And then has a high tech helmet that has has a yellow and brown pattern on it with its lens are of a yellow color. Brown metal pads on his shoulders. And then has some high tech metal gauntlets that allows him to send out powerful shock waves. This is Shocker.
"Herman Schultz AKA Shocker" Said Batman as he says the person name.
"Yeah I know this one. Herman is a nutcase sometimes. But his gauntlets he has is no joke. You see the gauntlets he has on his arms? Well... they aren't for show. His gauntlets can unleash a concentrated blast of compressed air that vibrates at an intense frequency. In other words, he can send out vibration waves at us or to launch himself into the air to escape." Said Spider-Man as the Batcomputer shows a image of Shocker using his gauntlets in action to knocked back a punch of policemen into the wall.
The next one to appear on The Batcomputer is a man with brown hair, a green striped shirt, brown pants, and black shoes. What most shocking is the fact that this man hands are literally turning into sand based weapons. Sandman
"William Baker A.K.A Flint Marco A.K.A Sandman. His body can become sand and form objects in his hands out of sand." Said Batman as the Batcomputer shows a video file showing Sandman turning his entire body into a sand tornado to blow away a bunch of Policemen and then used a sand hammer to knock one hard into a building once he reformed back to his normal form.
"Yeah. This guy is a literally walking beach. It just takes hours or days to just get the sand out of my outfit. He got his powers after being exposed to radiation that gave him his sand based powers." Said Spider-Man.
The next profile to appeared is a female Assassin. She has dark brown hair in a bob with light skin and a black jacket with a collar neck and goes down to her elbows and underneath it is a red and black buttoned and tied robe with a red belt below that and around her waist and she has dark long gloves that start at her elbows and dark long pants that go down to her shoes and under and lastly she has High-Calves for boots. Shiva.
"Shiva." Batman says as the video shows Shiva just walking down a alley before getting ambushed by a bunch of thugs surrounded all around her. "Her skill is unmatched." Batman continues. It shows the girl kicking the first and second thugs before she easily ducks and kicks another one before using the one with a gun to shoot down one of his pals and then take down the rest before snapping the last thug head neck to kill him. She then sees a Black Mask goon walking up to her nervously. The Black Mask goon slowly hands her the folder before backing away so he won't be killed next. Shiva then opens up the folder and to pull out and see a file about the Batman and Spider-Man profile with the bounty on the bottom. On the envelope file it reads: 'One Night To Kill The Bat and Spider. Payment For This Hit Is $50,000,000'.
The next man to be shown on the Batcomputer is a video file that plays a man jumping of a shipping container. A man with a huge height that makes him intimidating and taller than Batman and heavily muscled. He wears a black and white luchador mask, a thick padded leather jacket and leather pants with boots. Bane.
The man is shown to have landed on one of Black Mask goons. "Bane. Here - in Gotham?" asked Batman as he sees Bane now fighting against two of Black Mask Enforcers in a single combat. And show him overpowering them in the end and then grabbing their necks to snap them and kill them. And Bane then sees a Black Mask goon walking up to him to hands him the file of which he just takes anyway. "Why would he be taking money as a hired killer?" Asked Batman.
"That is indeed the question." Said Spider-Man as he is curious as well.
The Batcomputer then begins to repair a damaged video file that was detected. Once it was fully recovered and repaired, it begins to play a video file of the Warden Joseph being dragged into a room by Black Mask goons. "Is that Warden Joseph?" asked Alfred as they see the goons forcing the Warden to his knees before Black Mask.
"Mmm-hmm. Must be how Black Mask got inside Blackgate Prison. He uses torture for intimidation - and entertainment." Said Batman as it shows Black Mask having his left hand getting a lit cigarette from his goons and then gets on his knees close to the Warden and is about to put it into one of his eyes before the video ends.
"Fourteen Assassins after you two heads. What are you going to do?" Asked Alfred.
"Don't know. Maybe start with the drone?" Asked Spider-Man as he makes a suggestion.
"I'm going to fund out who was operating this drone - and make them tell me what they know. Then me and Spider-Man are going to find Black Mask - and put an end to this." Said Batman as the Batcomputer pulls up a image of Black Mask and the images of the hired assassins beside it before the Batcomputer stops displaying that image.
"Sir I may be stating the obvious here, but you do realize that since you, Spider-Man and I are the only are the only people who know the Batman's true identity, those assassins will all fall their mandate if you'd just spend the evening here." Said Alfred as he tries to make Batman see logic in this.
"Not going to work Alfred." Said Spider-Man.
"They'll put innocents in danger to attract my attention. I can't take that risk." Said Batman.
"And you think it's a better idea to just put yourself in their crosshairs?" Asked Alfred.
The Batcomputer begins to display the image of the drone. "There's only one person in Gotham who can get his hands on something like this. The Penguin. He's been tracking Black Mask." Said Batman as the Batcomputer showed a map of Gotham City and a location marked in a area called Jezebel Plaza" According to the drone's GPS, it's next waypoint was a rendezvous with Penguin's men at Jezebel Plaza. We will make them talk."
"You sure this is wise, Sir?" asked Alfred.
"I know what I'm doing." Said Batman as he faced towards Alfred.
"Well in case you change your mind, and want to train tonight Instead I'll keep your training facility active." Said Alfred.
"Training facility? Sounds interesting. I wouldn't mind of doing a little practicing. May I ask where it is?" Asked Spider-Man
Alfred points to a large area on the other side of the cave. Where there is some training dummies and a device to start up practice simulations. "Its right down there sir." Said Alfred.
"Sweet. You don't mind if I use that area for a while?" Asked Spider-Man.
"GO ahead. Might give you some pointers for the upcoming fights." Said Batman.
"Awesome." Said Spider-Man as he jumps and web swings to the area. Once he landed, he pressed onto the console and begins to active the training facility. And then he sees the training dummies getting into position. And some of the training dummies will have weapons in their hands to hit Spider-Man. Spider-Man gets ready in his fighting stance and then begins to practice some punches and high kicks on the training dummies. And then thanks to his Spider-Sense to dodge some of the training dummies attacks with so easy and also leaning backwards in a cool fashion to avoid being hit and then uppercuts one of the dummies.
As Batman watches Spider-Man practice on the training dummies on the training area below, he will feel Alfred taping his shoulder. He looks back to look at him. "A question, sir, If I may? How did Waylon Jones come to be the way he is?" He asked Batman.
"Atavism from the looks of it. An unfortunate genetic mutation." Said Batman as he explains it to Afred.
"Do you think the condition causes physical pain? Might that explain his rage?" Asked Alfred
"It goes deeper then that. Imagine growing up looking like he did. Children are cruel, Alfred." Said Batman
"So are adults, sir. All part of the 'human condition,' I suppose. We've a tendency to fear - often outright despise - that which is different. Ahh. But you already knew that." Said Alfred as he told this to Batman. "If I may ask sir, what do you think of our new friend?"
"If you mean Peter Parker, I believe he is a kid with a whole world of responsibilities placed on his shoulders." Said Batman.
"And what do you mean by that sir?" asked Alfred.
"It is because we have something in common that affect us from our childhood. We both lost someone we cared in our life's. From the reports and documents, it revealed that he was placed into his relatives, May Parker, Ben Parker after his parents disappeared and died when he was just a child. And also when he lost his uncle a few years." Said Batman as he gives a short version of Peter background to him.
"Ah, I see. So you think because you lost your parents when you were a child and how he lost his parents and his uncle... you believe you and him have something in common?" Asked Alfred.
"Indeed Alfred." Said Batman.
"Then may I make a small request sir? Maybe you should give our new friend here a slightly improvement to his outfit to aid you for the upcoming fights with the Assassins." Said Alfred.
"Are you sure Alfred?" Asked Batman.
"I am sure Sir." Said Alfred.
Batman sighs a bit but he understands where his friend is coming from. He looks back to see Spider-Man is still training against the training dummies. "Spider-Man. Finish what you are doing and come up here." Said Batman as he calls out to him.
"Huh?" Asked Spider-Man as this caused him to be distracted long enough to be hit in the head by one of the dummies weapons. It didn't hurt too much but it did give him a slight headache. He kicks the dummy away and walks off the training facility and turns it off. He then jumps and lands before Batman.
"You dropped your guard." Said Batman as he talks how Spider-Man left himself wide open to get hit like that.
"Hey. It technically your fault for calling me out of the blue like that. So what do you want?" Asked Spider-Man as he rubs the back of his head.
"Follow me. I am going to improve your mask a bit to have some of my tech so you can have Detective Vision." Said Batman as he walks towards a nearby room near the Batcomputer. Where this area has a workbench and has a crime-board on the wall to the left.
"Really? Okay then." Said Spider-Man as he takes off his mask and follows him into the room. Once he does, Spider-Man will toss his mask to Batman, who easily catches it without even looking.
Batman gently placed turned Spider-Mask inside out and has the lens and the frame work of the mask exposed. And then pulls out some tools and then some small tech on the workbench. And then begins to slowly placed and modified the lens and the mask with some of Wayne Tech. And slowly used a blowtorch to weld the tech onto the lens to make sure it is a part of the lens frames before turning it off.
"Here, your mask is improved. And place this in your ear. It will help communicating with each other from a distance." Said Batman as he tossed the mask back and a small comms piece to Peter, who catches it with both hands. Peter slowly first the comms piece into his right ear. And then placed his mask and make sure it is not inside out anymore and placed it back over his head.
"Great. Thanks. Now how do I activate the tech in the mask?" Asked Spider-Man as the tech in the lens to turns on Detective Vision for a second before he turns it off. "Okay... that is so cool."
"Now with that done... you ready to go?" asked Batman as he begins to head to the Batwing.
"Right behind you." Said Spider-Man as he follows him.
As they head to the Batwing, they walk past Alfred, who is about to say something to the two heroes. "Sir - make your travels easier, I went ahead and set up some auto-nav points at different areas of the city. One of my present destination should take you right to Jezebel Plaza." Said Alfred as Batman looks at his gauntlet to pull a hologram map of Gotham that shows a drop point in the Bowery district of North Gotham. Batman presses a few buttons on his gauntlet to set the destination to the Batwing and powers it up.
The Batwing engines slowly begin to become online as its thrusters activate and it begins to hover and lowers it scooter like chair. Batman and Spider-Man slowly approached it and grabs onto it as it lifts them and placed into the cock pit of the Batwing with Batman still driving it. He begins to steer the Batwing to face the waterfall and then takes off and flies out of the Batcave. And will head towards Gotham City to begin their mission to find the Penguin and get information about Black Mask and possibly his whereabouts.
Note:
When Batman told Alfred Spider-Man identity so causally was a Easter Egg to the The Batman 2004 TV show of when Batman told Robin Batgirl identity. Spider-Man getting the comms in his costume and the lens being modified to have the Detective Vision feature so that Spider-Man can see what Batman sees when he does a crime scene. And I had Batman know Spider-Man identity is because Batman is not one to be fooled or tricked so easily. Plus he is the World Greatest Detective, he can figure out Spider-Man identity in seconds the moment he heard about him. Also, about the reason why I had Batman explain how Spider-Man are similar. That is because there is a lot similar to Batman and Spider-Man point of origins that affected to become the Super Hero's they are. They both lost someone important that cares for them. I thought it would be a great to explain how their friendship could grow to become a strong bond to face their foes together.
Thank you for reading this chapter. Leave a comment for suggestions for this story or if I need to fix anything in this chapter. Upcoming, the hunt for The Penguin begins!
Next Chapter: Find the Penguin