After the Batwing set them down near the GCPD headquarters, Alfred updated them on the situation inside. Spider-Man and Batman exited the jet and proceeded towards the building.
"Gentlemen, guards have been doubled at police precincts since Loeb's murder. You'll need to find a way to sneak in that won't attract attention."
"Understood, thanks," Batman replied before he ended the transmission.
Once the two heroes perched themselves on the nearby gargoyles above the rooftops, they spotted a few guards blocking the rooftop entrance.
"We're gonna have to take them down silently," Batman warned him.
"Got it, silent is my middle name," Spider-Man promises as he leaped into action.
"Not as far as I've seen," Batman scoffed as he then jumped and glided his way over.
They then began silently taking down nearby guards when no one was looking. While they were doing that, they could hear two of the guards speaking to each other.
"You believe what went down at the plaza?"
"Yeah. I heard. Ain't buyin' it though."
"What do you mean? You saw the guy they brought in."
"So wait… we give 'em space to do their little arms deal, but then some 'monster in a cape' and a 'human spider' drop 'em from a building and a Christmas tree breaks his fall? And one of his own thugs walks off with the cash. You buy that?"
"And so, what? Now we don't get paid? No, sir. I'm gettin' paid, one way or another."
"Marks's got the guy over in interrogation right now. You want to go and rough him up a bit afterward?"
While the guards were distracted by their chat, one was abruptly struck in the head by a Batarang, and the other found himself ensnared by webs against the wall. The two vigilantes descended swiftly; Batman incapacitated the floored guard with ease. With the guard unconscious, they proceeded inside without delay.
"That was quick," Spider-Man commented.
"That's just the beginning," Batman promised as they made their way inside.
Once inside, they spotted an elevator in front of them. To the left of the elevator were a set of stairs.
"So, I guess it would be too easy to use the elevator?" Spider-Man said jokingly.
Once more, Batman descended the stairs in silence, his gaze fixed on a fragile wall to his right. He retrieved the explosive gel, coated the wall evenly, and then activated the detonation sequence causing the wall to explode with a small hole in place.
"Well, this is certainly one way of using an elevator." Spider-Man thought as the two dropped down on top of the elevator.
From there they managed to eavesdrop on the guards in the elevator as it began moving down. "Hey, you hear that?"
"Yeah. Probably another water pipe bursting. Love to go take a look, but you know, my shifts over."
While the officers talked with each other, the two began a discussion of their own. "So, what's the plan?" Spider-Man whispered.
"It won't be easy. But if we're going to access the National Criminal Database and find out what happened at Lacey Towers, We need to find the server room, without being discovered." Batman tells him the plan.
Spider-Man let out a snort before saying, "Easier said than done." as the elevator came to a complete stop. "I think this is our floor."
Two then notice a ledge above them and quickly climb up. They then climb up another ledge before walking down a small walkway towards an air vent cover which is forcefully removed.
"You know, your vents are a lot bigger than mine in New York. I can actually stand up in them." Spider-Man informed him.
As they make their way through the vent, they spot Jim Gordon having some sort of meeting in what looks like a bullpen.
"I know everyone's still in shock over what happened to Commissioner Loeb, but we need to stay focused on our primary targets for tonight. So far Waylon Jones has been processed, and we're following an anonymous tip on Deathstroke's location, but we've got a ways to go before sunrise."
"There are several assassins in town tonight. From the intel we've been gathering, they are among the most dangerous criminals on record, period. After interrogating Waylon Jones, we've learned that they're all competing for a huge bounty that Black Mask has offered for the heads of the Bat and Spider."
"Where do I sign up?" One of the officers commented before chuckling.
"I thought they were made up!." Another guard commented.
"Alright cut the chatter, people. Our goal is to ensure order in this city. So our number one priority becomes bringing in the Bat and Spider BEFORE these assassins get to them. Now the closer it gets to morning, the more desperate the assassins will grow, and if they are still out there, the more damage they'll cause to the city, as they try to find or attract them. All right, dismissed."
Once their meeting was done, the two moved forward until they reached the end of the ventilation shaft where a guard was standing a few inches away.
"Yeah, well they were supposed to be guarding the crime scene, not gabbin'. No wonder the Bat and Spider got the drop on'em. Tell-'em to keep their eyes open next time." The guard said to someone over a walkie-talkie.
As soon as he hung up, Batman kicked open the vent cover and knocked the guard off his feet before uppercutting him on the floor to knock him out.
Before Spidey could make a joke, Alfred called both of them through their communicators. "Must you be so brutal Sir? These are city employees."
"They're as corrupt as they come, and they're in our way," Batman responded.
"I wish you'd think twice about that approach, sir. You never know when you might need their help. At any rate, your objective is the GCPD Server room. I've marked it on your map."
"He has a point." Spider-Man agreed as they made their way through the halls. "Even I have a friend in NYPD. She helps me get information that would be classified. It even helps my career with the cops knowing that I'm working with someone on the inside. They just don't know who exactly since giving away information like that could cost her job."
Batman seemed to have heard what he said but did not take anything into account as he continued on. Then the two headed into the door to the next room. They spotted three SWAT officers watching a monitor of other officers beating on two helpless prisoners. As they cheered on the scene, Spider-Man took out the new device Batman got at the Batcave.
"You thinking what I'm thinking?"
Batman gave a nod and pulled out his concussion detonator, hurling it toward one guard as Spider-Man launched his at another. Following the detonations, the guards were left reeling, swinging blindly at nothing. Seizing the moment, the heroes dispatched them with a single, decisive strike each. After neutralizing the threat, Spider-Man attempted to open a door close by, only to find it secured. Resorting to his scans, he detected several people standing guard on the opposite side.
"Okay, I could break this door down, but..." Spider-Man explained to Batman who also saw them.
Batman swiftly surveyed the room for an escape route and noticed a vent cover overhead. With a swift motion, he deployed his Batclaw, latching onto the vent and yanking it open. He ascended swiftly, Spider-Man following closely behind. They emerged on the other side, perched above the GCPD SWAT-Conference Room, where several armed guards stood watch, with Branden leading the briefing.
"We won't stand a chance against that many armed men." Batman quietly said to Spider-Man. "I'll use the Deathstroke claw I stole to make a grapple line to walk on."
"You can do that, Me? I think I'll take the old-fashioned way." Spider-Man said before jumping up to the ceiling and began crawling to the other side.
While Batman was moving across the line he made from the Remote Claw. He began to listen in on the conversation below him.
"Alright, listen up. While you jokers were playing clean-up crew at Blackgate, I was making us some money. I worked out a deal with our pal Black Mask. If any of us can kill the Bat and Spider before the assassins get to him, we get the bounty, all fifty million dollars of it. For those of you who ain't too good with the math that means we all retire early."
"Nice!" Commented one officer.
"That's what I'm talking about." Exclaimed another.
"Let's take him down then!" Shouted another guard.
"Yeah, what are we waiting for?" Another guard agreed.
"Enough. We only get one night to get this done. So whatever they put you on tonight, I want you to blow it off. Finding and killing the Bat is your number one priority. That clear?"
"Yes sir."
"You got it!"
"Sir, yes sir."
"Questions? Shout 'em out."
"How are we gonna keep this from Gordon and the rest of the force?"
"Well for starters, you're gonna keep your damn trap shut. Anyone else?"
"Sir, what about the assassins? Will they see us as competition?"
"Look. Y'all put your lives at risk when you signed up for SWAT. Now you want to make big money, you're going to have to accept bigger risk. That's how it works. Anyone who wants out can hand me their badge. Didn't think so. We good to go?"
"Wait Branden, how do we know Black Mask will keep his end of the deal if we do kill the Bat and Spider."
"He's good for the cash, trust me. And I know where he's stashing it."
"If you know where he's got the cash, why don't we go get it?"
"'Cause the last thing we need is a war with Black Mask and his men. Come on guys, let's do this."
"Yeah!" Spider-Man cheered as he lowered himself down on a web. He saw the terror on the faces of the officers. "I love the enthusiasm, guys!"
"It's him!" They cried and aimed their guns.
"Hey, have you guys been introduced to my new best friend?" Spider-Man asked, pointing to the ceiling.
Once Batman dropped down into the room, he dropped a smoke bomb with him and took down several armed men. As he did so, Spider-Man webbing a guard down to the ground by a coffee machine. Then Batman shot out a grapple around one Spider-Man didn't notice approaching from behind.
He yanked on the grapple and threw several of them into one another. Spider-Man leaped and webbed two men before throwing them into the air and smacking them into the last few people and managed to tie them up with his webbing, leaving them dangling in a net made of webbing like a bear trap.
"We're not friends," Batman informed Spider-Man, walking off.
"We're best friends," Spider-Man whispered with a grin under the mask as he ran after Batman.
Batman turned to the door and saw that it was locked with a control panel. He took out his Cryptographic Sequencer and hacked the panel to unlock it while Spider-Man caught up.
Once they walked through, they spotted two guards with their backs to them having a discussion while another was banging on a coffee machine and another was walking around.
"Then we treat him like any other scumbag. If we can't find dirt, we make our own."
"I'm listenin'."
"What if Captain Gordon allowed all the perps in the holding cells to go free?"
"You mean… we set them loose?"
"Little prison riot, right here in GCPD. Makes him look like he doesn't have control, right?"
"I like it. How do we make it happen?"
"Lemme think a minute."
A few seconds pass before the other officer asks, "You figure something out?"
"I'm still thinkin', calm down."
He recounted how Batman used his Remote Claw to target a fire extinguisher, pulling it to create a smokescreen that blinded the nearby officers. Meanwhile, Spider-Man swiftly incapacitated two guards with his webbing, pulling them to the ground. Batman then sprang into action, taking down the remaining guards with precision, rendering them unconscious.
Two heroes soon found themselves walking into the SWAT-Interrogation Room where a familiar face was sitting in a chair while an officer was leaning back on the glass in front of the heroes.
"So what does this 'disruptor' of yours do?."
"Little bit of this… A little bit of that. Mostly though, it does a whole lot of none-of-your-damn business." Loose Lips responded.
"You wanna play it like that? Alright. Maybe I'll have the guys over at Evidence Lockup take a look. They can get kinda rough, though. Hope it's not fragile."
"Yeez, there are a lot of corrupt cops in this city," Spider-Man had to agree with Batman. "And I thought Fisk's reign was bad."
"Welcome to Gotham," Batman stated.
"You wanna play hardball buddy? How's about I tell my cousin at the Gazette about the payments you boys' been extortion' from Penguin and the like?"
"Scum like you's got a cousin at the Gazette? 'Spect me to believe that?"
"Don't see ya callin' evidence lockup, now, do I? You cops are all the same. You ain't getting nothing' outta me."
"Like I said, I got all night."
"You and me both, pal."
Batman shattered the glass, seized the officer, yanked him into the room, and delivered a powerful punch to his face, instantly knocking him unconscious.
"Not you two again!" Loose Lips exclaimed.
With nowhere to run, Batman quickly grabbed Loose Lips by the throat and lifted him off the ground.
"Talk. Or you won't be walking anywhere. Ever." Batman growled.
"He sounds serious," Spider-Man said as he jumped onto the table, crossing his legs in a sitting position. "Yet again, I've never heard him not serious."
"No way! You gotta answer for droppin' me off that rooftop, buddy."
"No. You have to answer to me. How does this 'disruptor' work?"
"Ask one of the pigs. They got it in evidence lock-up."
"How bout we take a little walk up to the roof?" Batman dared him.
"You know, that sounds like a great idea! I hear you can see the whole city from there." Spider-Man added as he crawled over. "And with all this snow...it is a little slippery."
"Okay! Okay! You win. It… It jams weapons, and overrides electronic locks, alright? Now… you gonna let me go!"
"How'd that work out for you last time?" Batman said before knocking him out and throwing him to the floor.
"Okay, a little rough with that, don't ya think?" Spider-Man asked as Batman left. "Yeah, what am I thinking? Of course, he doesn't think that's too rough. I'm surprised if half of these guys don't wake up with brain damage."
Exiting the room, they found themselves back where the guards had been on watch. From their vantage point above the doorway, they observed the SWAT team continuing to assault the prisoners.
"Hey. We got rights!" A prisoner shouted as he was being punched.
"Who told you that? Huh? Your buddy, Flame?" The officer responded.
"He will wipe this city clean of your filth!"
"Yeah? If he's gonna wipe things clean, he should start with you!"
"Hahahaha. Good one." Another officer encouraged.
Having reached their limit, the two heroes sprang into action against the officers. Spider-Man leaped into the air and executed a web kick, propelling one officer into another.
Another officer tried to throw a propane tank at him but Spider-Man used his webs to throw it back at him while saying, "I think you dropped something!"
Batman, on the other hand, was attacking an officer with a flurry of punches on a heavily armored SWAT officer while two other guards would try to land a hit on him but would be countered every time. He finished the officer with an uppercut and turned his attention to an incoming officer.
Batman punched him across the face, turned him around, and threw him over his body by the officer's neck, effectively knocking him out.
Once there was only one guard left, Spider-Man uppercut him into the air and slammed his body down to the ground with a web shot, and he didn't get back up. Over the PA system, it seemed that the two hero's presence was known as the woman talking warned everyone of 'intruders' in the building.
So much for going unnoticed. Spider-Man thought as he approached one of the prisoners. "You guys should get yourselves to a nearby shelter."
"You kiddin'? That's where they round us up! You don't get it. The Flame gets it, but you… you don't get it, man!"
As they walked off to find somewhere to go, Spider-Man was confused by what they said. "The Flame?"
While chatting, Batman spotted that the door in front was locked. Looking around for another way, he saw some wooden planks blocking a window. Quickly, he put some explosive gel on the planks and detonated it, clearing the way. He then moved fast from the office into the next room, with Spider-Man right on his heels.
"You know, you really break the rules a lot more than me," Spider-Man said as he followed. "I mean, I've never done stuff like this when I need to get into NYPD, I sneak around. Yet again, I don't really need to carry giant armor around."
"Do you ever stop talking?" Batman asked with a mental sigh.
"Hey, my girlfriend says it's one of my best qualities." Spider-Man defends.
"You with a girl, that's something I wouldn't have figured," Batman stated as he found himself in a locker room, but it seemed they were not alone as they listened in on someone talking to someone else over a walkie-talkie.
"Wait, was that a joke?" Spider-Man asks.
"Are you listening to me, I don't care what's going on out there, I gotta deal with this problem. If I don't give this bastard what he wants, he'll send the tape to the press. What the hell am I supposed to do?"
A few seconds of silence pass before the officer responds, "That's the best you got? How am I gonna whack'em if I don't know who he is!? The guy's a mystery. Complete friggin' enigma. Yeah, great advice. Thanks."
Once he hung up, Batman wrapped his arm around his neck before falling back and slamming his head into the ground. Once the officer was dealt with, Batman moved over to the vent cover on the wall and quickly ripped it off. The two crawled through and suddenly dropped down. Once they began crawling through another air duct, they could hear Captain Gordon arguing with his daughter, Barbra.
"They're out there catching the criminals that you let walk free!"
"Those two are the worst kinds of criminals. The kind who thinks their actions are justified, who acts completely outside the system."
"The system is broken!" Barbra shouted before leaving.
"Barbra! Wait." Gordon said as he followed her out of the room.
Spider-Man had to agree with her in his head while Batman quietly opened the vent cover and slid it off to the left. Once they were able to stand up, they propelled themselves onto the higher platform and climbed the ladder. Once at the top, they found themselves back in the Bullpen room. They quickly realized that the room was filled with armed guards.
Over the loudspeaker, they could hear Branden talking to them. "50 million bucks is riding on this. So I don't wanna hear any excuses. Bag the Bat and Spider and let's get paid!"
The duo quickly split up and perched themselves on the vantage points above the officers. Spider-Man was the first to make a move. He quickly and silently jumped down behind a guard who was patrolling across a walkway and wrapped him up in webs before stringing him up from the ceiling. He left enough room he could breathe but couldn't shout out.
Batman perched himself above a guard before dropping down, grabbed the guard, held him by his neck, and dropped with a rope tied around his leg. This created a lot of noise as the other officers quickly moved to the vantage point their fellow guard was strung up from.
As the officers searched the area, one unfortunate guard found himself above a floor grate that was hiding a certain wall-crawler. Once he was in the right position, Spider-Man jumped out and yelled "SURPRISE!" as he wrapped his legs around the officer's neck and flipped him onto his head. Spider-Man could hear the officers quickly moving toward him and retreated back to the vantage point.
While another officer was walking by an office cubicle, he didn't see Batman on the other side of it as he reached through the glass and grabbed the officer before grabbing his head and smashing it into the wall.
While perched on the railing of the walkway, Spider-Man pulled a guard up with his webs, pulled his body forward so his head would hit the railing, and strung him up. Before leaving, he whispered, "Good night." before retreating to the shadows.
While Batman was silently taking down a guard who had unintentionally isolated himself, Spider-Man saw that another guard was approaching the area where Batman was and quickly web-zipped down to him and planted his foot on his skull, slamming him to the floor.
Once the last guard realized he was alone, he began to panic and slowly moved around the room, shaking all over. Batman landed right in front of him which caused the guard to scream. Before he could shoot the vigilante, Spider-Man shot a web at the officer's gun, ripped it out of his hands while yelling out "Yoink!", swung it around, and threw it back at his face.
Once they were finished, Batman moved toward the double doors that were locked with a control panel and began hacking it. While Batman was opening the door, Spider-Man couldn't help but feel amused as the same woman on the PA system didn't believe the description she got of the two intruders.
As they walked into the next room, the duo spotted two officers standing next to each other, overlooking the firing range where Branden and his men were practicing their aim.
"Shouldn't you be searching your quadrant?" One of them said.
"Eh. I'll leave that for the boys in SWAT." The other responded.
"Why's that?"
"Ain't you heard? Branden made a deal with Black Mask. They're tryin' to kill the Bat and collect the bounty."
"You got to be kidding me. Gordon knows about this?"
"Probably. But what's he gonna do? What can he do? Hell, he's lucky if Branden and those guys ever listen to him."
"This department is so screwed! Hey, how do we get in on the bounty?"
Before another word could be spoken, Batman grabbed both of their heads and crashed them into each other, knocking both of them out.
"You don't have to look far," Spider-Man said to them.
As they walked into the next room, they saw that the door ahead of them was also locked with a control panel. However, when Batman went to hack it, his Cryptographic Sequencer began bugging out.
"What happened?" Spider-Man asked, wondering what caused the device to shut down.
"They're using a security protocol I'm not familiar with and the windows are reinforced glass. Hmm. The disruptor in the evidence locker might do the trick."
Spider-Man raised a brow under his mask and eyed through the room. "Or..."
Spider-Man then walked up to the door and immediately yanked it off, breaking the lock in the process showing his strength. Batman didn't seem pleased or displeased by this action. It was hard for Spider-Man to get a reading on him.
They quickly made their way into the GCPD investigations entrance and worked on opening the door. Once it was unlocked they walked in to find the teenager from earlier on her computer. Once she noticed them, she sprung up to her feet with a gasp.
"Easy… we need access to the National Criminal Database," Batman said, trying to calm her down.
"It's right here." She responded while pointing at the machine.
"Spend a lot of time here?" Spider-Man asked as they stood away, letting Batman work.
"You have no idea." She said as Batman pulled out some sort of device and plugged it into the machine. "Cool Pwnbox - you're bypassing the network's security. But you'll need to physically bridge the intranet to the external telecom wires if you want to uplink remotely."
"Smart kid," Spider-Man said.
"This kind of knowledge could get a young girl into a lot of trouble," Batman said while pulling the Pwnbox out of the machine.
They began to walk away before they were interrupted. "They run under the building."
"What?" Spider-Man asked as he and Batman both turned back to the girl.
"The telecom wires. You can access them through the sewers." As they turned to leave again, they were once more interrupted. "Wait… Why do you guys do what you do?"
"Because I made a promise," Batman replied. Barbra then turned her head to look at Spider-Man, silently asking for his answer.
"Because with great power comes-" Suddenly a smoke grenade was thrown into the room.
"Get out of here," Batman said as she started coughing. She quickly ran toward the entrance where armed guards were waiting.
"HOLD YOUR FIRE!" Shouted one of them.
"You idiots. It's me! What are you thinking?"
"Who were you talking to in there?"
"Voice chat on my laptop, you idiots! What decade do you people live in? Jeez."
While Barbra was distracting the guards, the duo found an air vent for them to escape the room. While they moved through the vent, They updated Alfred on their situation.
"Alfred. we're on our way out, but before I can access the server remotely, I need to hack into the telecom wires under the GCPD." Batman caught him up.
"You should be able to access them from the sewers on your map, which run below the building. I'll peg the closest entrance on both of your maps." He replied before hanging up.
After exiting the vent, they found themselves at the Shooting Range from earlier. Only this time, there were fewer officers, and were talking to Branden over their walkie-talkies.
"Remember, shoot to kill, and when Gordon asks, the Bat and Spider shot first," Branden said.
"Sir, they say that neither of them carry a gun."
"Of course they have guns! And if they ain't got one, then you know what to do. It's not like you haven't done it before"
"Sir. Yes sir!"
The duo were hiding behind a stack of boxes as they saw the approaching attackers. Spider-Man got an idea as he grabbed the device on Batman's belt, causing the Dark Knight to flinch and get him to see Spider-Man adding some device to it.
"Here," Spider-Man said as he handed it back. "Your own personal disruptor. I'd make it look more fancier than a two-dollar squirt gun if I had more time. Sorry, it doesn't come in black."
"If it gets the job done..." Batman said.
Once Batman fired a charge at one of the officer's guns, Spider-Man quickly sprung into action by rolling out of cover and shooting a web line at the other officer's gun. He yanked it out of his hands before swinging it back at his head while shouting out.
"Heads up!" Spider-Man cried, webbing another cop and throwing him into the wall.
Once all the guards were rendered unconscious, the two left the room and moved back to the Bullpen where an elevator was waiting for them. Once they entered and pushed the elevator button to go up, the doors they had just come from were forcefully kicked open by Branden and two other guards.
"There they are!" Branden shouted before opening fire. The two acted quickly and pressed themselves against the walls on both sides of the elevator. Thankfully, the door of the elevator shut before they could do anything else.
"Man, we help lock up the criminals that they're supposed to be catching and this is the thanks we get?" Spider-Man complained.
"You'll get used to it," Batman responded.
"No, I am more than used to it," Spider-Man said. "I just thought I was over those days. It's like reliving High School."
Batman didn't show it, but he actually smirked at that joke. Seems the Dark Knight is getting soft around the Spider-Man. Once the elevator came to a complete stop, the doors opened to reveal Captain Gordon standing there. He pulled out his gun but it was rendered useless when Spider-Man shot a web over the barrel before he even noticed. Batman knocked the gun out of his hand before twisting his arm behind his back and making him go down on one knee.
"We don't want to hurt you. But you need to stay out of our way." Batman said.
"Never," Gordon replied
"Look buddy, we're here to help. We're on your side." Spider-Man said as Batman let go of his arm.
"My side? My side works within the law. My side doesn't leave suspects with broken bones and missing teeth. We've earned Gotham's respect." He said while getting in Spider-Man's face.
"What fantasy are you living in where that's true?" Spider-Man snapped back. "Dude, if you haven't noticed, we can do things you can't. I think we can..." His talk was interrupted by footsteps coming up the stairs.
Branden and his men locked their sights on the vigilantes, ready to shoot. "Gordon! Clear the line of fire!" Branden yelled.
"Hold your fire! If they move, take them down!" He shouted while getting in between the guards and the heroes. "You two have nowhere to run."
"Do you honestly believe that?" Spider-Man laughed as he looked at Batman. "I love the ignorance of your cops. Probably why crime is so rampant."
"More than half of them are corrupt," Batman informed him.
"Fair," Spider-Man said.
"Move Gordon. I'm taking them down."
Unfortunately for him, Batman had other plans. He threw down a smoke bomb and quickly moved Gordon out of the line of fire. However, this resulted in him getting shot in the shoulder. Luckily his armor was able to prevent the bullet from causing too much damage. Spider-Man made quick work of the other guard. He shot a few webs at him until he was close enough to the wall behind him before webbing him to it. After Batman knocked out the other guard, the only one left standing was Branden.
Batman quickly used his Batclaw on the last guard by pulling him over to him and knocking him off his feet before slamming his fist into his chest, resulting in him smacking hard against the floor.
Before he could do anything, Spider-Man shot a web string at his chest and pulled Branden towards him. "Here you go," Spider-Man said as he stepped out of the way, causing Branden to move towards Batman, who knocked him down with a clothesline. He tried to quickly get up by getting on his hands and knees, but Spider-Man ran toward him and punched him in the face. That seemed to do the trick because Branden didn't try to get back up. "Well, that was exciting. Are you ok?"
"I'm fine." That was the only response he got.
As they left, Spider-Man couldn't help but say to himself, "Man... What a day."
Once the duo stepped out of the building, Alfred contacted them to update their current objective. "Gentlemen, I've highlighted a nearby manhole on your map. Those sewer tunnels lead directly under the GCPD."
"Good work Alfred," Batman replied.
"Oh and sir, Sir, do try to keep out of the uh… muck down there. Remember who has to clean your suit."
The two heroes spotted two guards in front of them on the helicopter pad. Batman snuck up behind them and slammed their heads together, effectively knocking them out.
Suddenly, they heard a familiar voice speaking through their communicators. "Hello? …Hello? Batman? Spider-Man? It's Barbara. Sorry for, uh, hacking into your comms, but I need a favor. Some evidence crates have gone missing. Army-grade stuff and no one here's doing anything about it. So I'm sending you two their GPS location information. Use your weapon disruptor on any crates you find. It'll fry their circuits and render the stuff useless." She said before hanging up.
"She hacked our comms?" Spider-Man asked in shock. "Well, your comms. I don't really do comms."
"I gotta upgrade the security." Batman scoffed.
As they approached the manhole from above, they noticed that the area had been surrounded by SWAT. As they drew closer, they could hear them talking to each other. Spider-Man crawled his way around the building while Batman perched himself above the building.
"Don't get me wrong. I'm in on this thing with everyone else. But how does he plan to beat those assassins at their own game? I mean they're some of the best killers in the world."
"You know Branden. I don't think he's planning anything. Just doing the first thing that pops into his head."
"Yeah well, that ain't gonna work this time."
"It worked for him in the past…"
"Yeah, I guess it has!"
To avoid another fight, Batman found an alternative route to the manhole via an alleyway that he dropped down into. Spider-Man slowly descended from a web and dropped down gently beside his new friend.
Once they were standing next to it, they opened it up and jumped down into the sewers. What they didn't realize was there was someone on a nearby rooftop looking down on them with a zoom lens on their mask that had a hood up looking down on them. Once down there, they made their way through the tunnels. However, they noticed explosives around them as they were moving.
"This doesn't sound good," Spider-Man said out loud.
"Hmm, who could have put these here?" Batman questioned before they heard a noise ahead of them.
"I think we're about to find out," Spider-Man said as they reached the end of the tunnel.
Below them was a platform that had Black Mask's men watching another thug perform martial arts moves in the air. Once he was done, a few of the men started clapping. This was weird to them, thinking nobody would want to be down in the sewers on Christmas Eve.
"Strange. These are Black Mask's men. Not the kind of guys I'd expect to find running around in the sewers." Batman commented.
"Could be worse. At least he sent an expert martial artist to protect us down here." One of the thugs commented.
"Protect us from what? The rats?" Another thug joked.
"No. The Bat and Spider you idiot."
"The Bat and Spider. Those two have better things to do tonight than hang out in the sewers."
"I hope you're right but just in case, I'm glad we've got ol' Kung Fu on our side."
"Whatever makes you feel better, I'm just worried about how I'm gonna get this smell outta my clothes."
"Boss is makin' some big moves tonight." Another thug said to a different thug.
"Yeah, we gonna remind people why Black Mask is the name to be feared in Gotham City."
"You sound like an insurance commercial."
"What, you ain't with us? 'Cause you know, you're either with us or-"
"Hey, I'm buying the boss a hundred percent. I just don't see how all the crap he's got us doin' tonight is gonna put money in our pockets."
"I'm sure he's got his reasons. And I ain't about to ask what they are."
"Me neither."
The two heroes decided that now was the best time to show themselves. Batman glide-kicked the nearest thug while Spider-Man webbed-zipped over to another and kicked him in the chest. One of the martial artists decided to test his luck with Batman by trying to strike him. However, Batman countered every move he threw before headbutting him to the ground. Another thug tried to hit him but it was countered as BAtman broke his arm.
The other thugs weren't doing so well either with Spider-Man as he knocked out one thug with a spinning heel kick and uppercutted another. The second martial artist thug tried to surprise him with a flying kick but was easily reversed as Spider-Man sidestepped him before grabbing his extended leg and tossing him into a nearby wall.
"Well, so much for your protection," Spider-Man said before knocking out the last thug with a jab to the gut followed by an uppercut that sent him up in the air a little and ending it with a kick to the chest before he could hit the ground.
He looked over and saw Batman finishing up half of the thugs by breaking the poor man's leg.
They looked down on the ground and someone had painted GCPD 500M with an arrow pointing toward a tunnel that was blocked off by wooden boards. Just as Batman went to apply explosive gel watching as the wall exploded.
They quickly maneuvered through the place, taking down any of Black Mask's men that stood in their way. Batman uses his grapple and Spider-Man swings around on quick webbing. They soon found themselves near the room where the GCPD telecom wires ran through, but as they moved closer they could hear voices up ahead. They found themselves standing on a ledge of the end of the sewer pipeline where Black Mask's men were setting up bombs on a platform below them.
"We're under the GCPD. Why are Black Mask's men planting explosives here? The cops have always been on his payroll." Batman said to himself before gliding down and kicking one of the thugs into a wall with Spider-Man close behind him.
After all the criminals were laid out, Batman activated the lift to go up. They heard voices above them, obviously more of Black Mask's men seemed to be waiting for the guys that were now on the floor to finish planting the bombs.
"They're comin' up!"
"They're done already?"
"Must be."
"Alright, let's get ready to set the timers. And wake up Tiny."
To their surprise, however, the only people awake on the lift were Spider-Man and Batman.
"Hey, fellas. We're here to tell you the 15 reasons why it is suspicious to be planting bombs in sewers on Christmas. Number one:" Spider-Man began before a thug tried to rush him before knocking him out cold with a swift punch to the face. "Any questions?"
The adversaries rushed in, confident of their impending victory. Batman found himself encircled by two ninja thugs, while Spider-Man squared off against a sizable opponent and another thug. A martial artist aimed a kick at Batman's midsection, but Batman caught him, hoisted him into the air, and delivered a powerful kick to his back, propelling him toward Spider-Man. Spider-Man, anticipating the incoming assailant, executed a spinning heel kick just as he approached, slamming him into a wall and rendering him unconscious.
Spider-Man's efforts to overpower the larger thug with a flurry of stomach punches only elicited laughter and a powerful kick that knocked him backward. When the thug lunged forward, Spider-Man nimbly rolled aside, dodging the attack. The thug's own momentum caused him to crash into an ally, taking him out of the fight. As the thug turned his fury towards Spider-Man, he was suddenly thrown off balance by an invisible force. It was Batman, who had just taken down another foe, using his cape to confuse the attacker. Joining forces, Batman and Spider-Man delivered a relentless assault. The battle concluded with Batman's forceful dropkick and Spider-Man's swift uppercut, sending the thug sprawling to the ground.
As soon as they were done, Alfred contacted them. "The telecom wires you're looking for run right through the chamber you two are in." He stated before hanging up.
The two walked over to the monitors and Batman placed his pwnbox into one of the machines on the desk in front of them and began hacking.
"Alfred. Confirm we now have access to the National Criminal Database." Batman said.
"Connection confirmed. You can now perform DNA analysis. I'm also sending over the police file for the Lacey Towers case." He said as a holographic screen showing a photo of a man in a white suit appeared above Batman's gauntlet
"This photo is from the day of the murder. It's a perfect match. The DNA tells more of the story…" The screen changes to show the DNA from the crime scene. "But here's something the police overlooked. Roman Sionis owns the Gotham Merchant's Bank…" The screen changes again, this time showing a newspaper article of Roman and the Bank. "And he installed biometric security only he could access."
"That sounds like a motive," Spider-Man said in the background, poking around the area.
"Alfred, I have enough information to solve the Lacey towers case. Here's what happened."
"Ooooh, story time!" Spider-Man commented.
"By now, Gotham P.D. thinks Roman Sionis is dead, the casualty of a turf war. Murdered by The Penguin. But I know better. Someone spooked Sionis' girlfriend. So, he sent her to his safe house which…"
"Let me guess, it was anything but safe." Spider-Man interrupted. "That's always the case. So, Sionis showed up later, ready for trouble… And found it, right?
Batman nodded. "Or so it seemed. Roman's always been paranoid. It's probably why he's lasted this long. He'd sent in a decoy giving himself the element of surprise… but it wasn't enough. There was a fight. Sionis lost. The killer didn't hesitate to shoot the decoy, but he wanted Roman alive, to access the cash stored at the Gotham Merchants Bank."
"So with Sionis under control, all that was left was to tie up loose ends." Spider-Man continued, putting the pieces together himself. "Burn the apartment and any trace of evidence."
"Correct, But it wasn't the fire that killed Sionis' girlfriend…" Realization suddenly spread across their faces. "What kind of monster forces a man to kill the ones he loves..?" He then remembered the evidence and the whispers around. "The Joker. He's the shadow we've been chasing. Now we know where we're going. Gotham Merchant's Bank." Batman finished.
"Alfred. See if you can find any information on someone named 'The Joker'."
"Searching now, sir. Humh… There doesn't seem to be anything coming up. What do you know about him?"
"Not much. But he's taken Black Mask hostage." Baman guessed.
"Hostage? So Sionis isn't dead?"
"I don't think so. From what I can tell, he's worth more to the Joker alive. The Joker wants to use him to break into the Gotham Merchants Bank. We're on our way there now."
"At once sir."
As they left the room, Spider-Man had a lingering thought on his mind. "So if the crime took place weeks ago, who was that at Blackgate?"
"I don't know, but I intend to find out. C'mon, we should hurry." He answered as the two ran down the sewer tunnels before climbing up a ladder at the end of one of the tunnels. The two were in for a bit of a surprise, for when they exited the manhole, and were shocked when they saw that dead cops surrounded them. The ones that they managed to avoid the last time around were dead, and the doorway was broken open.
"What the hell?" Spider-Man asks.
"Who could have done this?" Batman asked, seeing that they were killed with what appeared to be a sword.
"Deathstroke was caught, right?" Spider-Man asks.
As Spider-Man's heightened senses suddenly alerted him to imminent danger, he swiftly leaped out of harm's way, inadvertently shoving Batman and narrowly avoiding an arrow that struck the ground at the spot they had just vacated. As they looked up, they spotted a shadowy figure peering down from an opening above with a crossbow in his hand and what appeared to be a sword and shield on his back.
The mysterious assailant, clad in a sleek and tactical body suit, menacingly brandished an electrified blade and sported a helmet resembling a stylized skull. Complementing the helmet, a gray hood added an air of mystery to the figure's overall appearance. The predominantly darker color scheme of their costume heightened their menacing presence as they ominously leaped down, revealing themselves to be Taskmaster.
"Taskmaster." Spider-Man snarled.