Spider-Bat: New Way Home
Chapter 16: All Things Must Pass
Everyone lowered their heads as the funeral director began to read aloud The Lord's Prayer.
"Our Father, Who art in heaven hallowed be Thy name, Thy kingdom come; They will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For the kingdom, the power and the glory are yours, now and forever… Amen."
"Amen," all the other funeral attendees repeated in unison.
Bruce, Peter, and Alfred sat in silence, paying their respects to Thomas and Martha Wayne, the gruesome murder scene still running through their heads.
Bruce still felt responsible for their deaths because he believed the burglars wouldn't have been able to get inside the house if he hadn't left the hallway window unlocked in the first place; and maybe if they would have tried getting in from a different way, they might have been scared away by the blaring alarm. He didn't know that the burglars were there for a completely different reason; that being the orders of Norman Osborn; and Alfred hadn't given him or Peter his thoughts about why they might've been there either.
Alfred wasn't sure of what would happen to Bruce and Peter. Thomas and Martha had made mention that, should something terrible ever happen to them, Alfred should become the legal guardian and continue the upkeep at the Wayne Estate, but Alfred wasn't quite sure of what they might have stated in their will. It wouldn't be until after the funeral service was over that he would find out.
Lucius Fox sat in the back row during the funeral session. He was the CEO and President of Wayne Enterprises, put in place by Thomas Wayne himself in order to keep the business thriving. He was also put in that position because Thomas and Martha absolutely trusted him just as much as they trusted Alfred.
He watched as the crying eyes wept. Thomas and Martha were highly respected members of Gotham City, often giving to charities and holding public events for the downtrodden. Officer James Gordon, Captain Nathaniel Barnes, and Commissioner Gillian Loeb of the GCPD were on hand, as well as Mayor Aubrey James and some other city officials, to express their condolences as they walked past Alfred and the boys, who stood next to the two open-caskets. As soon as most of the funeral goers made their peace, Lucius finally made his way towards the three of them.
"I am so sorry for your loss," he said in a mournful tone. "Thomas and Martha were not only business partners, they were also very close friends of mine. They will be missed dearly."
"Thank you," Alfred replied in his own somber voice.
Lucius then leaned over to whisper something into Alfred's ear. "I need to talk to you about some important stuff after the funeral proceedings. It's about the boys and the future affairs of the Wayne Estate and their businesses."
Alfred nodded, acknowledging that he would talk to him afterwards.
Moments later, Lucius helped carry one of the caskets to the hearse. And soon after that, the motorcade of mourners made their way to the cemetery where the burial ceremony would take place. And of course the rain was coming down as hard as it ever did. The burial plots even had to be covered by a canopy in order to keep the water from filling up the six foot holes. What made it worse was the fact that the wind gusts were blowing up to 35 miles per hour, causing the rain to blow sideways, and there was a terrible lightning storm on the horizon. The group could hear the rolling thunder as the darkened clouds were moving in rather quickly.
"LEAD US NOT INTO TEMPTATION
KEEP US FROM THE SNARE OF THE WICKED ONE
LEAD US NOT INTO TEMPTATION
DELIVER US FROM EVIL FOR YOUR NAME'S SAKE
SATAN'S LIKE A ROARING LION SEEKING WHOM HE MAY DEVOUR"
Just as the funeral director said those words, a howling gust of wind nearly blew the canopy away, causing everyone to take hold of their loose belongings.
Despite the rain blowing sideways, the funeral director took a strong hold of his book and tried to continue reciting the hymn.
"LORD LET YOUR SPIRIT BE A HEDGE ABOUT US
PROTECT US WITH YOUR SUPERNATURAL POWER
LEAD US NOT INTO TEMPTATION
KEEP US FROM THE SNARE OF THE WICKED ONE
LEAD US NOT INTO TEMPTA-"
Just then, before the funeral director could read another word-
WHOOSH! Another large gust of wind, this one even bigger than the last, came along and blew the canopy away. Everyone watched as it sailed off into the air like a kite until finally getting stuck in a tree.
And then-
CRACKLE! Lightning hit the tree where the canopy got stuck; and despite the heavy downpour, the canopy was set ablaze like a match-stick.
RUMBLE! A loud clap of thunder rolled through the area, causing everyone to scatter in different directions, seeking cover from the storm.
Some ran under the awning of large mausoleums, some ducked behind the larger grave stones, and others tried making a mad dash towards their cars. Alfred, Lucius, and Officer Gordon were a part of the group that got under the awning of the large mausoleums. Alfred thought the boys were right behind them, however, they were not. They had stayed behind, near the caskets, because they were afraid the caskets could get blown over and damaged. Alfred and Gordon were about to go back out after them, until they saw Captain Barnes and Commissioner Loeb making their way towards them.
Suddenly, someone yelled out, "What is that!?" as they pointed up towards the sky.
Others covered their faces from the sideways-rain and looked up to see what they were talking about. When they did, they spotted something swooping in and out of the dark clouds.
"Is it a bird?" One person asked.
"Is it a plane?" Another asked.
"It looks like a hawk!... Or a VULTURE!"
When Alfred spotted what everyone was gawking at, he instantly thought Bruce and Peter could be in danger, so he looked back towards the two caskets, but when he did, Peter, Bruce, Captain Barnes, and Commissioner Loeb were nowhere to be found. He then put both arms over his eyes and ran back out into the storm to try and find them.
Just when he did-
KRAAAACKLE! Another lightning bolt came down, this time hitting the ground about twenty feet away from where Alfred was, the force of the blast propelling him backwards, causing him to land hard on his back. Lucius and Gordon ran out to help him try and make it back under the awning.
At first, Alfred was quite dazed by the hit, seeing dark spots in his eyes from the bright explosion. "Peter?... Bruce?" he mumbled, still trying to gather himself.
Gordon looked out to see if he could spot the boys anywhere. When he couldn't, he decided to go out looking for them himself. "Stay with Alfred," he instructed Lucius as he dashed out into the downpour.
Commissioner Loeb and Captain Barnes had led Peter and Bruce to one of their police cars, which was parked farther away from any of the other cars in the procession line.
Bruce and Peter thought the two men were just trying to get them to safety… That was until Peter's head started buzzing. It was at that moment when Peter noticed a man, who was wearing a gray suit, sitting in the front seat of the police car.
"That's the man who killed Mom and Dad!" he announced. "RUN, BRUCE!" he warned, elbowing Captain Barnes in his ribs, and pulling Bruce away from Commissioner Loeb at the same time.
The two boys took off running through the cemetery.
Captain Barnes quickly regained his composure and gave chase.
"Speedy little bastards, aren't you?" he said aloud, realizing he wasn't gaining on them.
He then pulled out his gun, taking aim at Peter's back.
Peter's head started buzzing again. "Look out! Duck behind that tree!" he instructed Bruce.
BANG! Captain Barnes fired his gun. Luckily, Peter managed to duck out of the way just in time, the bullet whizzing past his head.
Bruce did manage to duck behind the tree, but Peter was still exposed. Captain Barnes had him in his sights and was about to fire his gun again, when suddenly-
ZAP! What seemed to be a lightning bolt struck Captain Barnes directly in his back, causing him to fall over dead, the blast leaving a smoldering hole in his body. However, it wasn't a lightning bolt that hit him. It was a gunshot which was fired from a weapon up above.
"YOU FOOL! You can't shoot the boy! The boss wants him alive!" the Vulture declared, swooping down in a nose dive towards the tree that Peter and Bruce was hiding behind.
Peter barely managed to evade the Vulture's grasp as the giant bird flew past.
Bruce could tell it was going to turn back around to try and make another pass at Peter, so he decided to quickly climb the tree in hopes of tackling the creature from above.
Sure enough, the Vulture did exactly what Bruce thought it would do by performing a complete one-eighty and heading for Peter.
Peter saw the giant bird-man coming back around, so he tried positioning himself as low to the ground as he could, covering his head with his arms.
Bruce stood on a branch, nearly thirty-five feet up in the tree, waiting for the Vulture to swoop by, hoping he could time the jump just right. Unfortunately, Bruce wasn't ready for the rate of speed it was flying, so he decided not to attempt the jump.
Luckily, because Peter had crouched down so low, the Vulture wasn't quite able to get his talons on him during this pass. But Peter knew it would surely try again.
Bruce quickly repositioned himself. He now knew exactly when to time his jump. However, when the time came, Bruce seized up, remembering how bad it hurt when he fell into the well, causing him to stall.
The Vulture swooped down once again, this time managing to take grasp of Peter's shoulders, lifting him up off the ground and into the air.
"No!" Bruce exclaimed, almost ashamed of himself for not trying to stop the Vulture when he had a chance; just like when he chose not to go back to the manor and lock the hallway window.
Just then, Bruce's courage grew ten times stronger than ever. He quickly zeroed in on how far away the Vulture was. It was about thirty feet, and it wasn't flying nearly as fast because of the additional weight of trying to carry Peter.
"RAAAAAAAAH!" Bruce yelled out his battle cry as he leapt from out of the tree. No human could possibly jump as far as Bruce would have to jump in order to make it to them, but he was going to try anyway.
As soon as he jumped, he instantly knew they were too far away, and there was no way he was going to make it. But suddenly, some sort of miracle began to happen when Bruce's arms began forming themselves into black bat wings, allowing him to glide through the air further than he should have been able to, also allowing him to land directly on top of the Vulture's back, the extra weight causing the three of them to come crashing down to the ground.
All three of them began to roll from the momentum. As soon as they all came to a stop, Bruce and Peter both realized that the giant vulture was just a man in a mechanical suit. Peter also noticed something very familiar; a purple substance he had only seen once before while he and his parents attended the science exhibition at Oscorp. "Vibranium," he thought to himself.
Because the man was wearing a mechanical suit, he was the least delirious from hitting the ground, allowing him to be the first one to bounce back up to his feet.
The Vulture then pulled his laser weapon from out of a side holster and pointed it down at Bruce. "The boss doesn't want this one!" he declared.
Bruce could only cover his eyes.
Before the Vulture could fire-
BANG-BANG-BANG! Gordon saw what was going on and got three shots off, causing bullets to ricochet off of the Vulture's metal armor, though one of them did manage to pierce through the suit and into his ribs.
"ARRRGH!" The Vulture cried out in pain. He then looked back to see where the shots were being fired from.
ZAP! He fired his laser rifle at Gordon, who had positioned himself behind a medium-sized gravestone, the gravestone exploding in half from the blast.
With his cover decimated, Gordon took off running towards another gravestone, tucking and rolling just in time before another blast came his way.
The Vulture was hurt, and he knew he had to abort the mission; the mission being to kidnap Peter and bring him back to Norman Osborn. He turned and gave one last look at the boys. "You two are lucky… This time!" he declared, ascending into the air, quickly flying away.
As soon as the Vulture was out of sight, Gordon made his way over towards the boys.
Peter looked over towards the police car, where he had seen the man in the gray suit sitting in the front seat, but now the man was no longer there. He also spotted Commissioner Loeb kneeling down by Captain Barnes, pretending to check his vitals, despite knowing he was already dead.
"Are you boys okay!?" Gordon asked as he made it to them.
Peter immediately pointed his finger at Commissioner Loeb. "He, and the dead guy on the ground, were trying to kidnap us! I saw the man who killed our parents sitting in the front seat of that police car!"
Gordon quickly turned his head to look in Commissioner Loeb's direction, not knowing whether or not he might be a threat, but the Commissioner didn't seem threatening at the time. Though, Gordon did wonder why the Commissioner wouldn't have fired his gun at the giant birdman when it was attacking the boys.
Gordon made his way closer to the Commissioner. "Are you alright?" he asked. "What happened here?"
Commissioner Loeb did his damnedest to play dumb. "I don't know! I thought Captain Barnes and I were trying to get the boys to safety, but then the boys ran off and Captain Barnes started shooting at them! I don't know why he did that. And then… from out of nowhere... this bird-creature shot the Captain dead with some laser cannon, and then it too decided to go after the boys."
"Why didn't you shoot at the giant bird-creature?" Gordon inquired.
"Are you kidding me!? The rain was coming down hard… And that… Thing, was firing a weapon which could blast a hole in my chest! At that point, I knew the best thing I could do was try and take cover!"
"What about the man in the gray suit, who was sitting in the front seat?" Gordon continued to interrogate.
"What man in a gray suit?" the Commissioner retorted, "I didn't see anyone like that, and I've been right here the whole time."
Gordon looked back at Peter. "Are you sure you saw someone?"
Peter knew what he saw, and he also knew Commissioner Loeb was lying, but when he looked over towards the Commissioner, he could sense that the Commissioner might act irrationally if he accused him of anything, therefore Peter acted as if he might have only been seeing things in his head due to the recent tragic events. Him saying that allowed the Commissioner to relax a bit more, and Peter could also sense there was no more danger.
Alfred and Lucius had also made it over to where Peter and Bruce were at.
Bruce could instantly tell Alfred was a bit shaken up. "Are you okay, Alfred?" he asked, concerned.
"I will be just fine, Master Bruce," he replied, still grimacing a little bit from the pain. "Are you boys okay as well?" he asked in return.
"Yes. Officer Gordon saved us right after Bruce miraculously tackled the man in the flying mechanical suit." Peter replied.
Commissioner Loeb looked down at Captain Barnes' dead body. "It's not Officer Gordon anymore… It's Captain Gordon, now." he said, promoting Gordon on the spot. He didn't really want Gordon to be the new Captain, but he figured it was the best way to keep an eye on him, just in case Gordon started to act suspicious of him.
Finally, after all the rain, and the excitement had settled down, the boys were able to bury their parents.
Lucius Fox also finally had a chance to talk to Alfred about Thomas and Martha's last will and testament.
"Thomas and Martha hadn't written anything in their will since Bruce was born, which was over fourteen years ago." Lucius stated. "At that time, they instructed that Bruce would become the sole beneficiary of their properties and their businesses. However, they did add that, if something were to happen to them before he was eighteen, all accounts would be put into a trust-fund until he was of age to claim them, and I would be entrusted to run said businesses. They also added that, in case something happened to them before Bruce was eighteen, you- Alfred Pennyworth, would care for the Wayne Estate, and be the legal guardian of Bruce."
Alfred was confused. "What about Peter?"
"Like I said, they hadn't updated their will since Bruce was born," Lucius reminded him. "Plus, there is no official birth certificate for Peter. It would appear that Thomas and Martha may have forged some documents when adopting him," he added.
"What will happen to him now?" Alfred asked.
"Well… Since nobody knows who his next of kin might be, he will probably become property of the state and live in foster care until he is eighteen."
Alfred was silent for a moment, until finally, he stated, "I think I know who his next of kin might be."
"Who?"
"Their names are Ben and May Parker... Peter's aunt and uncle."