"Officer! Officer! Over here! There are two hostages in this basement. Sir, ma'am, don't be afraid, we're here to rescue you!"
Standing at the entrance of the dark basement, Spider-Man shouted to the two silhouetted figures inside. His spider-sense did not sound any alarms, indicating that the two people inside might indeed be innocent victims kidnapped by the Joker.
At his call, Gordon led the police into the basement and rescued a couple. Spider-Man watched as the hostages were taken to the ambulance, with Gordon patting his shoulder beside him.
"Hello, Chief. Seems we meet again."
"So, now I can call you Robin, right?"
"Definitely not, I am Spider-Man. Well, as you like, but I wanted to ask what's the deal with this criminal called the Joker. Is he the mob boss in this city?"
"He is the most dangerous criminal in this city, Batman's arch-enemy." Gordon sighed. He was about to light a cigarette, but after glancing back at Spider-Man, he put his lighter back in his pocket and continued, "Only Batman can handle the evil Joker."
Spider-Man blinked his spider-eyes, his body language indicating that he did not agree with this statement. At that moment, a shadow dropped from the sky above the theater - Batman had returned.
"Spider-Man, come with me, I have something to tell you."
Having said this, Batman turned and left, assuming that Spider-Man would follow. However, Spider-Man stayed put, staring at Gordon. He scratched his head and said to Gordon, "Chief, do you have a list of the super criminals of this city? I think I should get to know them better."
"You should find Batman for that." Gordon thumped Spider-Man's shoulder, "Good job this time, kid, see you next time."
After Gordon had left, Spider-Man seemed a little puzzled. He turned around to find that Batman was still waiting for him, and he said in surprise, "I thought you had left first."
"Follow me."
Batman didn't say much, just gestured for Spider-Man to follow him. Filled with questions, Spider-Man could only follow Batman back to the Batcave. As soon as he entered, Spider-Man removed his mask and asked bewilderedly, "What the hell is going on? Why do I feel that all of you are acting weird? What is it that you can't say directly?"
Batman seemed a little hesitant, but finally said, "Didn't your spider-sense warn you of danger when you got close to the Joker?"
Spider-Man scratched his mess of hair and said after some thought, "No, I didn't sense any significant danger."
"Didn't you feel any pain from a needle?"
Spider-Man shook his head again, and Batman had to take him back to the exam room for a thorough scan. They finally found a tiny needle hole in an inconspicuous spot on the upper right arm.
Spider-Man strained his neck to look at his arm, then started to dig at the muscle with his finger. Batman pulled his hand away and guided his arm into the machine.
"Please, I deserve to know what happened to me. You're acting like I've been diagnosed with a terminal illness."
"...It's not that different from a terminal illness." Batman's movements faltered for a moment as he examined the wound on Spider-Man's arm. He glanced at Spider-Man's expression as if considering how to explain without alarming him.
"The Joker injected you with a unique substance. You can think of it as the dark source of this city. It could possibly erode your spirit and beckon you to embrace the dark side of humanity."
Batman had truly laboured to string together so many words, but it seemed Spider-Man completely failed to understand, and instantly voiced his confusion.
"I don't get it. You're saying he turned the source of a city's darkness into a drug and injected it into me... but what's the point?"
"He's trying to corrupt you to get you to fight against me."
"But I won't fight you."
"If you're influenced by the drug, you might..."
"I won't fight you." Spider-Man repeated his words, staring directly at Batman and said, "I can see, the officers and the police chief of Gotham Police Department they all trust you. This shows that you must have protected this city and done great things. Heroes shouldn't be fighting each other."
Batman was silent for a while before he said, "I'm afraid nothing in this city will live up to your idealistic expectations."
"But this is not just an expectation. No matter the time, place, or how difficult the situation is, I would never raise my fist against my friends. That would be unjust," Spider-Man asserted.
"The reason why Joker is the most dangerous criminal in this city is because he understands everyone's weaknesses."
Batman's tone became somewhat softer yet somber, as if he was telling a story that was less dark.
"He knows he can't influence my will, so he uses other means to achieve his goals. This isn't the first time he's planned to destroy the Batman Family or intended to hurt the Robins."
Spider-Man's mood also seemed to droop. From Batman's tone, he could tell there must have been a sad story behind it, so he asked, "Did he hurt your children?"
"More than once."
"But you don't need to worry about them as much as you worry about me, Spider Man is stronger than you imagine, he has endured numerous near world-ending disasters."
"Heroes are more likely to fall by their own hands."
Spider Man heard a sense of shared sorrow in Batman's words, as if they hid countless tragic stories behind them.
"I don't care what's wrong with this world." Spider Man began to breathe angrily, staring at Batman, he said, "The only one who can decide whether I'm good or bad is me, not the world, not any drug concocted by a criminal. I will prove this!"
"But you'd better not leave the Batcave for a while." Batman felt he had demonstrated enough patience, explaining to this fledgling how dangerous this city was.
"On the contrary." Spider Man backed away a few steps, pulled his arm away from Batman's grip, then said, "If I back down now, I'd be giving the dangerous criminals exactly what they want, so I can't stay here - I need to take the fight to them, to show them that their schemes won't affect me."
Batman stood in silence, watching him. He felt as resolute as a dark mountain standing in the same spot. Spider Man saw in him the shadow of both a hero and a father.
"I'm sorry, Batman. I know you might be worried about me being drugged and doing something evil, but I can't just sit around while there are supervillains running rampant in the city. I have to defeat them."
"I don't think it's a good idea to be so reckless."
"Can you give me the information on these supervillains?"
Batman silently looked at Spider Man. He could see from Spider Man's eyes that if he didn't give him the information, Spider Man would investigate on his own until he found what he wanted.
Another stubborn one, Batman thought. He had considered renaming the Batman Family to the Stubborn Family several times. Every single person around him seemed to excel at being at odds with him.
"Go to the archives." With a sweep of his cloak, Batman led Spider Man to the archive room, as if he'd planned it all along.
Here, Batman had collected information on all the supervillains of Gotham. Of course, this was all basic information; Batman's analyses and plans to deal with each supervillain were not included.
Once he was in the archives, Spider Man finally quieted down. But the grief and anger in his chest didn't fade. His unique Spider-sense allowed him to see countless dark hands on Batman, trying to pull the superhero into hell, and this made him angry.
This anger drove his concentration. For the next several hours, he carefully read all the information on Gotham's supervillains found in the Batman Archive Room, committing about eighty percent of it to memory.
All the while, Batman observed Spider Man's actions from the side. His plan was to keep Spider Man preoccupied as long as possible before activating the countermeasures in the Batcave. Once the dark potion the Joker had injected into Spider Man took effect, he could instantly subdue Spider Man, then study what exactly had happened to him and find the antidote using the residue in the syringe.
The supervillain information in the Batman Archive Room was very detailed. It covered nearly every movement of every supervillain. If a normal person was reading it, this pile of information would take several sleepless months to comprehend.
However, Spider Man finished all the data almost with the speed of quantum reading, claiming to remember most of it. Although Batman was skeptical, he was more concerned about Spider Man's condition.
"Have you noticed any changes in your body?" Batman asked.
Spider Man, who was just returning the last file to the shelf, paused for a moment. He looked down at himself, rubbed his eyes and said, "Change? Does feeling that my eyes are a bit dry count?"
"The eyedrops are in the drawer to your left."
"Thank you."
After applying the eyedrops, Spider Man blinked hard and shook his head, saying, "Whoa, I'm feeling so much better. What brand are these eyedrops? Can I take some when I leave? This could help me through my final exams."
Batman continued staring at Spider Man, his face reading "Are you sure you haven't noticed anything unusual about yourself?"
Spider Man shook his head innocently, "I don't feel uncomfortable. Maybe he just pricked my skin with the needle, but the poison didn't get in? Or maybe my spider mutation makes me immune to the poison inside?"
Batman narrowed his eyes, not agreeing with this, but Spider Man just shrugged, "I won't waste time worrying about this. The friendly neighborhood Spider Man is about to come to Gotham City!"
With that, he turned and walked away. Batman didn't stop him. Only after Spider Man was out of sight did he activate the tracking device on Spider Man's uniform and moved to his surveillance room to closely monitor Spider Man's every move.
He had to be sure that Spider Man was investigated as soon as he fell ill. This way he could immediately control Spider Man and prevent him from doing anything damaging with his super strength.
Unsurprisingly, the surveillance screen showed that Spider Man's first stop was Penguin Man's Iceberg Restaurant.
According to the information provided by Spider Man, Penguin Man was indeed infamous. Or perhaps young heroes like Spider Man naturally despised supervillains with a mob background, which was just what Batman wanted.
If the dark aspect of the Dark Source was to explode, and Spider Man had super strength, then if he went crazy in the Iceberg Restaurant, it would reduce the disruption of order in Gotham city and could also suppress Penguin Man's arrogance.
Batman's eyes remained glued to the surveillance screen. Not much later, the entrance to the Iceberg Restaurant appeared in Spider Man's view.