(First of all, I would like to thank everyone who has left a review and/or followed my story. I deeply appreciate the feedback. Thanks again.)

Spider-Bat: New Way Home

Chapter Five: Born to be Wild

It was 8:30 AM when Thomas Wayne received a call from the United States Coast Guard letting him know that his private plane had crashed into the Ocean. They also told him they couldn't find any survivors. Even before the phone call, Thomas already had a bad feeling that something terrible must've happened because he had never received a status update from his pilot. He then had to break the terrible news to Martha.

Meanwhile-

"DAMMIT!" Norman Osborn exclaimed, tossing over his entire work desk, also having heard about the plane crash. "Now my research is that much further behind!"

"We still have options." Otto Octavius said to Norman, trying to calm him down. "Banner still has a sample of the original alien compound, plus we will be able to do tests on your son as soon as he's born."

"Tests on my son!?" Norman retorted. "I don't give A DAMN about the boy! I'm more interested in the study of the amniotic sac! We both know that is where the true discovery takes place! Besides… We have already completed studies on Carl Brock's son, Eddie. And there were no signs of any advanced life-form to be found. However… The fluid that protected Eddie, while he was still in the womb, was the first discovery that a new alien symbiote could be born. AND EVOLVE! Carl's wife was merely injected with only a small amount of the alien's DNA, and you saw what we discovered, could you imagine what we would have discovered after knowing Mary had absorbed the entire symbiote. The possibilities were endless!"

Octavius was shocked by Norman's lack of interest in his soon to be born son. "How much of the alien DNA did you give your wife?"

"Slightly more than Carl's wife." Norman answered. "Hopefully, with any luck, we will get at least the same result we got after Eddie was born."

Just then, an announcement was made over the intercom from Norman's secretary. "Your wife is on line one," she informed him.

"Tell her to call back later. I'm very busy right now."

"She says it's important." The secretary replied back. "She said she is in labor."

Norman was shocked by that announcement. "This can't be. She isn't even seven months along yet."

He tried thinking back to when Eddie was born. He remembered him being born about a month early. Now his wife was two months early. Then a revelation hit him. "It's evolving!" he declared.

"What do you mean?" Otto asked.

"During each stage of a new symbiote being born, it evolves quicker, making the birthing process that much quicker as well."

Then another revelation entered his mind. "How long ago did Mary absorb the new symbiote?"

"About six months or so, I guess." Otto replied. "You don't think Mary could have already had the baby, do you?"

Norman could only smile at the possibilities.

"Did Carl say whether or not she had a baby with her when they boarded the plane?" Otto asked.

"When Carl last radioed to me from the cockpit he said only Richard and Mary had boarded. He assumed she was still pregnant at that time."

"Do you think the Waynes know anything?"

"Carl seemed to think the Waynes were unaware of what was going on. He also said they told him they had only recently gone to the Waynes to seek help because they were out of resources. And Carl was always pretty good about knowing if someone was telling the truth or not."

"Should I get a hold of Mr. Fiers, and possibly let him look into it?" Otto asked.

"No. If Thomas Wayne knew anything I'm sure he would've gone to the police by now. Besides, we don't need the government sniffing around here any more than they already have been. We'll just let it go for now and see if anything pops up later."

Norman then picked up his phone, which was on the floor due to him tossing over his desk, and spoke to his wife on line one. "Darling, I just heard the exciting news. I am heading your way right now. Please stay put. I will be bringing a doctor with me."

"Please hurry. I don't think little Harry is going to wait much longer," his wife urged. "I have Elsa, one of the cleaning ladies here with me right now."

Due to the morning traffic, it took Norman and Otto more than a half hour to get to his house. When Norman walked in he could hear commotion going on in the living room. He quickly rushed off in that direction. Upon entering he could see that his wife was already holding the brand new baby in her arms, the baby still having a bit of the black residue dripping off of him. He then quickly rushed over to her side. She held baby Harry closer to him, thinking Norman had rushed over to her side because he wanted to see his new child. Instead, Norman forced his wife's legs open and immediately tried reaching in for her placenta. But he couldn't feel one.

"Where is it!?" Norman frantically asked, scanning the room for any sign of it. "Where is the placenta!?"

Norman's wife was scared to answer at first. "A… After… After the baby was born… I felt something else moving around inside of me… I thought I was having twins… But… But…"

"But what?" Norman retorted frustratingly, wanting her to spit it out finally.

"But, when Elsa tried pulling it out, it tried attaching itself to her… And it wasn't human… It was a black tarry substance… And it was stretching all around… acting erratic… As if it was trying to break free of something."

"Yes! Where is it now!?" Norman demanded to know.

Both Elsa and Norman's wife were scared to say anything because they knew Norman wouldn't like the answer.

Norman became even more frustrated. "WHERE IN THE HELL IS IT!?" he barked.

His wife and Elsa flinched from his crazy outburst. The outburst even caused the baby to start crying. Finally she pointed in a certain direction of the room. "There."

"Where?" Norman turned to look in the direction she was pointing.

"Elsa didn't know what else to do… So… So she threw it into the fireplace."

Norman's face became enraged. "WHAT!?" He rushed over to the fireplace and put his hand in the blazing fire, thinking he was somehow going to retrieve the symbiote. But it was to no avail. The symbiote was gone, perished in the flames.

Later that evening...

Bruce Banner had just gotten home and entered his small, one bedroom apartment, located only minutes away from a military base in New Mexico where he worked. He had just sat his keys on the end table, when suddenly-

"Doctor Banner?" A man's voice spoke from off in a dark corner of the room.

Bruce was completely startled. "Who is it? Who is there?" He asked, holding up his laptop as if it would be used to defend himself.

"Don't worry. I'm not going to hurt you."

"What do you want?"

"I need your help." The mystery man replied, slowly moving away from the shadowy corner until he was in plain view of Bruce. "My name is Richard Parker. There is something wrong with me and I think you are the only one who might be able to help."

Over the next several minutes Richard explained what had transpired over the last six months. He told him about the break-in at Oscorp, and how he was bitten by the symbiote bat, and how his wife somehow absorbed the baby symbiote, which in turn allowed her the ability to become pregnant. He also told him about how they went on the run for months until Norman's hitman finally discovered their whereabouts. However, he didn't tell Bruce about baby Peter. He then told him about how Carl Brock betrayed them during their escape in the airplane, and how the plane crashed. Finally, he told him about how he somehow transformed into a giant bat, managing to escape before the plane hit the ocean.

This was a lot for Bruce to take in, especially since Richard looked completely normal, and looked nothing like a giant bat, though most of his clothes were in tatters.

"So, you are telling me that you and your wife broke into Norman's lab, tried to steal the alien compound, were bitten by a menacing bat, and now you can transform into a giant bat yourself?"

"That is correct." Richard replied.

"And you said the 'symbiote' bat that attacked you somehow grew three times its size after eating some green pellets called super-food, which is part of Norman's secret plans to try and recreate the super-serum... The same super-soldier-serum which caused Captain America's transformation?"

"That is also correct."

"I'm not sure I can help you. Though I do know a very good psychiatrist who might be able to help."

Richard could tell Bruce wasn't going to listen to him. He then walked closer to Bruce, causing Bruce to take a step back, still brandishing his laptop as a weapon.

Richard then started moving erratically, wiggling in all directions, trying to get himself to transform.

"What are you doing?" Banner blurted, completely baffled by Richard's sudden behavior.

"I want to prove to you that I can transform into a bat." Richard replied, still twitching and shaking.

Finally, Richard gave up trying. "I don't get it. I know what happened. I know I became A BAT!" he declared. "How else would you explain the way I escaped from the plane crash?"

"Look, I have no clue what you are talking about." Bruce replied. "Who knows, maybe you were hallucinating this whole time. Now please, don't take another step forward, or I'll..."

"That's it!" Richard exclaimed. "Maybe I only transformed because it was my last and only option of survival!" He declared. "Hit me!" He demanded.

"What?"

"Hit me!" Richard repeated. "Hit me with your laptop!" He stuck his head out a little further.

Bruce was taken aback by Richard's request. "I'm not going to hit you with my laptop," he retorted, sitting his laptop down on the table. "It has a lot of important files saved on it. Now... on the other hand," he paused, grabbing hold of a lamp which was placed on the end table, "I DON'T MIND HITTING YOU WITH THIS!" He swung away.

CRACK! Bruce managed to smash the lamp directly over Richard's head, causing Richard to fall to the floor unconscious.

"Alright then." Bruce celebrated. "Ask and you shall receive."

He then started walking over towards his telephone, preparing to call the authorities, when suddenly-

"SCREECH!" Richard emerged from off the ground looking like a giant bat creature.

"Holy shit!" Bruce exclaimed, dropping the phone out of his hand.

The giant bat creature slowly moved closer toward Bruce.

Bruce put his hands up. "Calm down… Calm down. I believe you now."

At first Richard couldn't control his own behavior, knocking several things off of shelves and countertops, the creature clearly frustrated from the blow to the back of his head. However, before he could do too much more damage to the apartment, the creature finally calmed down and slowly started transforming back into Richard, also causing Richard to fall down to his knees.

"This is astonishing!" Bruce declared. "You really can transform into a bat…man, or man…bat, I suppose."

"Can you help me?" Richard pleaded.

"I'm not sure how I can help. I'm just a nuclear physicist."

"But you've studied the alien compound, correct?"

"Yes." Bruce replied. "But I've never had anything like this happen in one of my labs. You said Norman was testing the alien compound on lab animals, and that he was using the super-food to enhance their growth. I've merely done small tests to see how it responds to gamma radiation, but not much else. Though, I am interested in learning more about this super-food."

Richard let out a sigh. "What can I do now? I have no one else to turn to."

Bruce began flipping through his notes. "There is a guy I know who might be able to help you. He studies bats for a living. However, he can be a hard man to find. I believe he might be working out of a lab in Wuhan, China at the moment. His name is Dr. Kirk Langstrom."

Meanwhile, back at Wayne Manor...

Thomas had gone into the secret bunker below the study. After hearing about the plane crash, he wanted to study the, larva-like, amniotic sac a little bit more, hoping it would give him some clarity as to what was going on. But upon entering, he discovered the amniotic sac was no longer there. However, gazing towards the wall, he noticed a trail of the black tarry substance ending at an air-vent near the ceiling. Thomas wasn't sure of what to make of this discovery. He hadn't the slightest clue as to where it might be now. Unbeknownst to Thomas, there was a cave just beyond the walls of the hidden bunker, and that was now where the hungry baby symbiote was searching for a host.