Adrien stood outside of the school, looking for Kagami. Her absence was making him paranoid. Was he not specific enough? Did she get the wrong address? Was she getting kidnapped or mugged? All these awful scenarios were going through his head like a bad horror movie. That's when he felt a hand land on his shoulder, making him jump.

"Adrien, relax. It's just me."

Adrien put a hand on his chest and let out a deep breath of relief.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you."

"Nah, it's fine. I get jumpy when I get worried."

Kagami nodded. "Anyway, what's up?"

Adrien sighed. "I need your help. My friend, Alya, invited me and Marinette to go to the zoo tommorow. And well...I don't want to make this sound awkward, but..."

"You wanted to invite me as well?"

"I mean, you don't have to if you don't want to..."

Kagami was silent for a moment and Adrien assumed the worst so he took a deep breath and began to leave.

"I get it, you're probably busy with lots of other things and-"

"I'd actually like to go."

Adrien whirled back around to look at Kagami who, despite keeping her usual cool expression, had a bit of a happy look in her eyes.

"I'd always wanted to visit the zoo but mother tends to get on my case. I had hoped that, maybe, if I went with friends, she'd let me go."

"You consider me a friend already?" Adrien asked in a touched tone.

Kagami nodded. "Yes, and I would love to meet Marinette as well."

Internally, Adrien was cheering in excitement. Ever since getting to know Kagami during their fencing classes, he had hoped to introduce her to Marinette and right now was the perfect opportunity!

"Sweet! I'll let them know you're coming!"

MIRACULOUS

Later in the night, on the waterways of the Gotham District, a large figure was lurking through the river before peeking out, revealing yellow reptilian eyes. Suddenly, the figure burst out of the water and nimbly leaped across the buildings. Soon, it looked down to see two men finishing robbing a jewelry store stealthily.

"Alright Spider, we wait until the heat's off, then we move the rocks." Joey 'The Snail' said to his partner, Spider Conway.

The smaller of the two thugs then noticed a large shadow looming overhead and nervously tapped his friend on the shoulder.

"Uhhhh...speaking of 'Heat'..."

Joey noticed as well and got on guard as he took out a small pocket knife he kept on hand for emergencies.

"Is it the Bat?! No, the Spider?!"

Suddenly, the shadow leaped down with a heavy THUD, standing upright to reveal green scaly skin, razor-sharp teeth, and a long thick tail. It was also wearing blue jeans, a white tank shirt, and a black biker jacket.

"Boys..." The figure said in a male Cajun accent. "I'm a whole different breed of animal."

"Who...Who are you?" Spider nervously asked.

"Name's Croc...KILLER CROC." The giant figure said, grinning. "And you boys are gonna get the job opportunity of a lifetime."

"Like what, exactly," Joey questioned.

"What say we stick it to that fat man, Harvey Bullock? I've heard from the bayou that you got beef."

Joey and Spider looked at each other. It was true that Harvey Bullock had been responsible for busting them in the past and they obviously wanted payback on him for doing time.

"We're listening, Croc."

MIRACULOUS

The next day soon arrived and Adrien, Marinette, and Alya had gotten together with Emilie having come along, wanting to spend more time with her son. Alya's father, Otis, was acting as a personal tour guide for them due to his job as a Zookeeper.

"Where is she...?" Adrien pondered.

"Where's who, Adrien?" Marinette asked.

The girl got her answer when Adrien perked up at the sight of another girl there.

"Kagami, over here!"

The girl noticed Adrien and came over as he smiled and gestured for Marinette to meet her.

"Marinette, this is Kagami, she's in my fencing class."

"Bonjour," Kagami said as she bowed. "You must be Marinette. Nice to finally meet you."

"Oh, um, likewise," Marinette said, bowing back. "Adrien's told me about you. You're, um...very pretty."

Alya smirked as she slid over and playfully elbowed Marinette.

"Careful there, Mari. She might be your love rival."

While normally blushing and in denial, for some reason, today all Marinette did was sigh in annoyance.

"Alya, you watch way too much anime."

"Did you say anime?!" Kagami's eyes perked up ever so quickly before she just as quickly he then composed herself. "Well...I would be happy to talk about it."

Marinette and Alya were shocked that Kagami had asked that while Adrien couldn't help but chuckle bashfully, having learned about Kagami's secret enjoyment of anime during their fencing classes.

MIRACULOUS

"Hope Mari and Adrian don't mind we tackled this one." Spider-Man noted.

"They deserve a break." Batman mused, a sad smile on his face.

Both he and Spider-Man already had failures to their names; Uncle Ben, the Joker's first few victims…but their younger partners? Not so much. And Mr. Freeze and Electro were mighty big first failures. So today, while Mari, Adrian and the others lived like teens should, they were investigating a very strange case, even for them:

Looking for arguably their biggest critic aside from Jameson; Detective Harvey Bullock.

"…Do we really have to help him?" Spidey asked.

"I don't like him either, but all of this seems rather sudden, even for someone as surly as him." Batman sighed as he examined what he was looking for; a toothpick.

An hour ago, a Witness had been brought in to testify, only for their car to be blown up. Harvey Bullock, arguably the heroes' biggest critic on the force, was overseeing the pickup and vanished. The case in question? To confirm or deny that years ago, Rupert Thorne had approached Bullock with some hefty bribes.

"So, the cowboy cop is a stool?" Spider-man suggested.

"Don't let a grudge make you become what Jameson says you are." The detective reminded his partner.

"HE ALMOST SHOT ME UP THE…!" The webhead started, before Commissioner Gordon interrupted.

"Look, Harvey Bullock is hard to work with, even harder to LIKE. But he's a good cop, he's clean."

"Maybe there was something we missed?" Spider-Man suggested. "I mean, call it a hunch since my Spider-Sense doesn't really do a whole lot of detective work..."

Batman said nothing as he turned and left, Spidey nodding to Gordon as he quickly followed after his partner.

"For once my friend, I hope your instincts are wrong..." The Commissioner sighed.

MIRACULOUS

"Thanks for taking us here, Mr. Cesaire. You have the coolest job." Adrien smiled.

Alya chuckled. "Yeah, dad. You really do."

"Oh, anytime, kids. And thank you." Otis smiled. "I love it here. I love animals and animal lovers."

"Kinda wish Bruce and Peter could have come with us," Marinette admitted. "But they were busy with things."

"Well, you know how Bruce gets." Alya shrugged. "And Peter still has his gig at the Daily Bugle."

"Bruce?" Kagami inquired, her attention raised. "You wouldn't per chance be referring to Bruce Wayne, would you?"

The other teens all nodded and were delightfully surprirsed when Kagami smiled.

"It's been so long…" She mused before recalling she was in public. "My mother and Martha Wayne were good friends; Bruce and I used to have play dates while they perfomed tea ceremonies together."

She mood then sullied.

"We moved to Japan shortly after the Waynes were murdered: Mother claimed she wanted to return to own roots…. but I believe she had too many memories attached to Martha-san to stay here."

Kagami kept her sharing to a minimum; no one needed to know the horrid way her mother and Martha first met…even if many a good thing came from it. She then spied Adrian and Marinette smiling:

"The Waynes were close friends of ours too." Marinette smiled sadly. "Apparently, we're the ONLY bakery Dr. Wayne ever ate from."

Kagami was intrigued by this.

"And my folks always brought me to Wayne Manor with them; Bruce is like a big brother to me." Adrian added.

That did not surprise Kagami in the slightest; even as a little boy, Bruce had always had a heart of gold and a willingness to help others.

She then realized that, when talking to and hearing about all this from these two? The memories didn't hurt so much.

"Ooh! Lions!"

Adrien zoomed over to the lion exhibit like an excited kid half his age, making Emilie giggle.

"I've never seen him this excited. Thank you so much, Otis."

Otis nodded. "It's high time the kid got a chance to be a kid."

Kagami heard this and looked down at her feet, getting Marinette's attention.

"Everything okay?"

Kagami tensed for a second, then recalled everything that had just happened, which made her think:…Would it be so bad to confide in this girl, who Adrian clearly adored and who shared her mourning of Martha Wayne, the aunt in all but blood she had idolized?

"…I…I'm not used to being so relaxed." Kagami admitted. "My family is rather…old and noble, which places pressure on me. Admittedly, I handle most of that without fail. But seeing Adrian and all or you enjoying all of this makes me pause and ask; what about what I want? I know I must honor my family, but…"

Marinette surprised Kagami with a gentle hug and shoulder tap, calming her down.

"Just for now?" The adorable fashionista suggested. "Just enjoy yourself."

'…And now I see why Adrian adores her so.' Kagami mused, wiping away a grateful tear.

As this was going on, Alya noticed the bag that Emilie was carrying.

"….Tell me you didn't buy out the gift shop."

"Of course not. Just a few stuffed animals…and souvenir hats….and figurines…and t-shirts….and postcards…" She realized everyone was staring at her now. "I just want to indulge Adrien today, okay?"

Otis just shook his head and patted her on the back.

"You're something else, Emilie, and Adrien is one lucky boy."

Suddenly, Marinette got a phone call from Sabrina, much to her confusion as she answered.

"Hello, Sabrina? Everything okay? It's not like you to call my cell." She listened and then her eyes widened. "WHAT?! Detective Bullock has been arrested?!"

MIRACULOUS

Having heard of Bullock's sudden arrest, Batman and Spider-Man had moved to where he's being held, only to find that he was missing from his hold cell...in which they found a tunnel leading right to the sewers.

"Don't tell me we got to go down there…" Spidey begged. Batman was already down. With a groan, he joined his best friend. "Ugh, you never see the Avengers in the sewers...or the X-Men for that matter!"

"Wait, hold it right there, Peter."

Spidey stopped and turned to see Batman taking out a small flashlight from his belt and shining it on something odd; a jade-colored scale.

"A scale?"

"Yes, and it looks like it belongs to a crocodile..." Batman then activated his Detective Vision. "But the genetic structure is HUMAN."

"So, what, we're dealing with some kind of Mutant?" Spider-Man asked.

"Only one way to find out. I've calibrated the cowl to track the source of this scale and anything related to its structure." Batman said as he looked at the ground. "Footprints...let's follow them."

The two heroes made their way through the sewers, following the footprints before coming across a large open area. It was there they saw Bullock tied up and hung upside-down...over a pit of hungry crocodiles.

"Sheesh, someone has it out for Bullock. Bad enough he gets arrested, I don't think they were springing for a death penalty via crocodiles."

Bullock then stirred and saw the two vigilantes. He grumbled. Great. Just great…At least Ladybug and Chat weren't here; he'd never live with himself if those two kids got hurt.

Sadly, the detective's grumbles caught the attention of his guards.

"Hey, what are you two doing here?!" Joey called out as he charged in with his knife.

Batman didn't even bother turning around, swinging his fist and punching the burly man in the face hard enough to knock him out with one blow. Spider Conway came in and gasped at seeing his partner taken down, turning to flee only for Spider-Man to web up his legs and string him up from the roof.

"So...what do you guys have with Bullock?"

"I-It's not us! It's HIM!" Spider panicked as he pointed behind the two heroes.

"Who's him?"

Batman got his answer when a large fist backhanded him into the nearby wall. Spider-Man's Spider-Sense blared to life as he jumped out of the way of an incoming ground slam.

"My daddy always said that if you want something done right...best to do it yourself."

As Batman picked himself up, he and Spider-Man got a good look at their adversary as he grinned down at them.

"So, you're the Bat and the Spider I've been hearing about from Gotham, Paris, and all the way to Broadway." The crocodile man said. "Well, pretty soon folks are gonna talk about how Killer Croc stopped you boys good!"

"Actually, I think folks are gonna go crazy when I pitch a new design idea to a friend; Killer Croc Handbag!"

Spidey lunged at Croc but despite his size, the beastly man was swifter than he looked and dodged and/or parried his strikes. Batman moved in to throw a few blows of his own, only to get the same result. Instead, the Dark Knight used his cape to make a feint and then punched Croc straight in the sternum, making him stumble back slightly.

Growling, Croc lunged and threw a punch, Batman meeting it with his own. However, as their fists connected, Croc's strength proved superior as Batman was sent flying back, only to be caught by Spider-Man.

"Man, and they say never to smile at a crocodile."

"What can I say, it ain't easy growing up with looks like mine," Croc smirked. "Course Daddy always told me; if you can't get people to like ya...make 'em FEAR ya."

"Your dad sounds….Intense." Spider-Man noted.

"He was…." Croc smirked, his teeth glinting before pointing to Bullock. "Now, I gotta ask; why save him? I may be new in town., but everyone knows he hates you. Why not look the other way?"

The reptilian's words made the two freeze.

"Hey, hey! Leave em outta this, Jones!" Bullock snapped.

"IT'S CROC!" The supervillain snapped, foaming at the mouth. "WAYLON JONES DIED THE MOMENT YOU KILLED HER!"

Spying his goons, stirring the animalistic man roared:

"YOU THREE! LOWER HIM!"

His trio of goons moved to obey, but a batrang knocked them out. Croc growled but then composed himself as the gators moved to surround the dynamic duo.

"Who did you…?" Spider-Man started.

"Croc, I did everything I could!" Bullock called out. "Busted that prick's nose, jaw AND arm!"

"NOT GOOD ENOUGH!" Croc roared, leaping upwards before Spider-man met and threw a punch that was caught. The two then fell to the ground in a stalemate, their strength equal to each other as Batman reached into his utility belt and sprayed the gators to sleep.

"I'd like to avoid getting close and personal." He spoke aloud before making his way to Bullock. "What happened?"

"Yeah, tell 'em, Bullock!" Croc demanded, throwing Spider-Man aside, the wallcrawler correcting his flight and ending on a wall. "Tell them how you killed the one person who made my life bearable!"

"…Who?" Spider-Man and Batman asked together.

"….Baby Doll." Bullock sighed. "She and Croc were part of the same freakshow for years; Croc ended up there after his aunt sold him to the ringmaster."

"MARY!" Croc roared as he stomped forward, pure rage clear as he walked over and tossed aside the gators in his rage. "Her name was Mary Louise Dahl!"

He calmed down for a second, clearly in memory.

"She was born with both dwarfism and Systemic Hypoplasia. She never 'aged' past seven years old….She was my only friend." Croc muttered, happy memories filling her.

"And the ringmaster in charge of that freakshow was in league with the Big Men." Bullock added. "Snuck and sold drugs and arms for them. I caught him in the act on a day off and he caused a stampede of the animals…."

"…And Mary was killed in the chaos." Spider-Man guessed, getting a nod.

"The punk tried to run off with the profits and she tried to stop him. He shot and stomped her to death." Bullock growled.

"And where was the law all the while? Putting down the dumb beasts instead of chasing the actual crook!" Croc growled. "Sure, that bastard didn't even last a week in jail…but Bullock here? No reprimand, no suspension for ignoring what he should've…and he ARRESTED ME! FOR ONLY DOING WHAT ANY GOOD PERSON WOULD'VE DONE!"

"You were attacking folks in a frenzy!" Bullock snapped back. "For crying out loud, before I took you down, you were about to kill an innocent fam…!"

"THERE ARE NO INNOCENTS!" Croc snapped, his roar shaking the sewer. "They just haven't had the chance to jeer or mock yet!"

The supervillain then composed himself and looked to the two heroes.

"Now. You two can walk away and let me do what I should've done..or join him."

"I can't look the other way. Not ever again." Spider-Man vowed.

"No one. Gets ignored." Batman following, mirroring his partner as they entered a fighting stance. "Let's end this."

Croc smiled.

"Was hoping you'd say that."

And he leapt towards them, bloodthirst clear. The two heroes dodged and weaved, their costumes becoming rags under Croc's claws and jaws. As the fight went on, Croc became more animalistic and started ignoring the punches and kicks, and one point used a gator as a shield and then bat.

Eventually, he pinned both of them down and was about to chomp off Batman's head when…

BANG!

Croc winced under the a bullet and released the two heroes before he growled at the sight of Bullock, now free and having cuffed the henchmen.

"I just want all the scum buckets and dirt bags in this town to know they better lay low, 'cause Bullock's back and ready to kick butt!"

Enraged, Croc raced towards Bullock, who narrowly dodged as let the crocodile-man hit a support beam. Undeterred, he raced to the detective, only for the two heroes to push him back and re-start the fight, Bullock's shots distracting Croc long enough for them to land hits that he felt.

Soon, Croc was staggering, but still enraged. He then spied the support beam and smirked evilly.

"I may not get you three, but I can swim!"

He then destroyed the remaining support beams, cackling madly as he did so and the sewer began to collapse.

"GOT EM, MARY!" Croc roared, uncaring of the debris raining around him. "I GOT EM ALL!"

Even as he was knocked out by a block, he never stopped laughing and crying: Hell of a way to go out for him; taking two superheroes and Bullock with him after the fight of his life, even damaging Spidey and Bats' mask?

He'd die happy.

At least…he might've had, had he been facing other heroes.

"CROC!" Batman called out.

"I'll get Bullock out of here!" Spider-Man said as he carried the detective, plus Joey and Spider Conway, out of the sewers before gently placing him down.

"I don't get it...you and Bats stuck out your necks for me. Why'd you do that?"

"Because even if you have an attitude that would make Ol' JJJ envious, you're a good cop," Spider-Man explained. "And we knew something was fishy with all those crimes being committed under your name. We just didn't think it was actually a crocodile."

Bullock scoffed. "You and your jokes..."

"Sides, you gave us backup."

"Only so that we'd wrap this up quickly." Bullock claimed as suddenly, Killer Croc's body peeked out from the sewer hole...only to reveal him unconscious as Batman hauled him out.

"I should apologize, Bullock. I thought you were guilty too...and I was wrong." The Dark Knight said. "We may have different ways of enforcing the law...but we both believe in it."

The detective could believe that as least.

"Eh, go on you two." Bullock shrugged. "I'll take it from here."

"You know, even if we didn't bag this croc, a friend of ours would have made sure you were cleared of all charges," Spider-Man said. "Let's just say he's a VERY good lawyer."

Bullock nodded as Batman and Spider-Man took off, moving to detain Croc, Spider, and Joey as the rest of the cops came in, the detective preparing to tell them what really happened.

"Not a bad piece of work, those fellas..."

MIRACULOUS

After Killer Croc's defeat (and dropping off their costumes to Alfred to repair), Bruce and Peter decided to allow themselves a break. They decided to go to the zoo, partly to research just HOW croc Waylon Jones had been.

"B-Bruce?"

The teen billionaire tensed and spied a familiar face hanging out with his little brother and sister figures. He smiled; after and intense fight, he needed a welcome surprise.

"Ohayo, Kagami." Bruce bowed, not at all surprised when she hugged him and happy to return it.

The other teens enjoying the sight, Peter waiting patiently for his introduction.

Knightmare Lord A/N:

We've got Fire, Water, Earth, and Air/Electricity down! The Elemental Mini-Saga is complete!

As you can see, Killer Croc is based on his portrayal in The Batman, with the Cajun accent, more calculating and clever attitude, and the charming personality. Of course, we took his vendetta against Bullock from the original Batman: The Animated Series.

On top of that, Kagami has officially become a part of the gang. So glad to finally introduce her!

Mortrax A/N:

Croc's backstory and connection with Baby Doll was inspired by the Youtube web-series and novel 'Gotham 1990', give it a watch/read when you can! We also burrowed some of Ron Pearlman's more villainous roles for Croc.

Glad to have had a Bullock chapter; rough as he may be he is the poster boy of a Maverick cop when done right, which is a trope I enjoy.

And finally, while only hinted here, yes, we took inspiration from 'The Batman' movie for Martha Wayne's backstory. Will that come back? We'll have to wait and see!