Crash!
The moment Black Cat finished speaking, her silent henchmen drew their pistols in unison, aiming at the burly men led by Joseph.
At the same instant they pulled their weapons, Batman's figure descended slowly from the gantry crane above.
He couldn't swing through the air with the same twisting, web-slinging flair as Peter Parker. It wasn't a matter of skill—he simply found it too ostentatious and awkward for his style.
But before he'd acquired his grappling gun, the web-shooter had served as a highly effective substitute for most purposes. Using it now, Batman had slipped undetected into the vicinity of the two rival gangs.
"You misunderstand, Ms. Black Cat," Joseph said, facing seven or eight guns pointed at him, yet appearing unruffled. "Look, we came empty-handed, no weapons. Doesn't that prove my sincerity?"
He spread his hands, letting Black Cat see clearly that he held no gun.
"Your sincerity is impressive, I'll give you that," Black Cat replied, her tone sharp. "But you went from calling me 'Miss Black Cat' to 'Ms. Black Cat' in a heartbeat. I'm not pleased. Care to let me take a shot to cheer me up?"
Her sweet smile vanished in an instant as she flicked off the safety and prepared to pull the trigger.
"I'll use your name to piss off every underground power in New York, Kingpin," Black Cat whispered to herself, her voice so low only she could hear. "This is the first step of my revenge."
A gust of wind swept through, and a foul, rancid stench filled the air. Black Cat's men began looking around, confused, unable to pinpoint the source of the strange odor.
Joseph's crew clearly noticed the stench too, but unlike Black Cat's bewilderment, Joseph seemed confident, almost smug.
"Little Black Cat, trying to play 'black eats black' like in the movies?" he said. "Good thing I hired a special judge for tonight's deal… Squid Man!"
As his words echoed, the ground nearby erupted. A geyser of sewage sprayed out, as if an underground pipe had burst, dousing Joseph's face with filth.
"Oh, come on!" Joseph shouted, exasperated.
Black Cat took a deep breath, watching as a squid-like tentacle emerged from the sewage-soaked earth.
One tentacle after another broke through the soil. Soon, a greenish, human-sized squid creature clawed its way out, rising upright on two of its tentacles. Four tentacles mimicked arms and legs, while the remaining four writhed menacingly behind it. The terrifying humanoid squid stood before them all.
Bang!
Black Cat fired a shot, but the bullet glanced off Squid Man's slick body, causing no real damage, only halting his advance momentarily.
"Fire in unison! Aim for its eyes!" she ordered.
No one responded. Across from her, Joseph's men wore expressions of creeping terror.
Black Cat knew her crew wasn't faring much better, their faces likely pale at the sight of this creature beyond human comprehension. She turned her head to repeat the command.
A chill ran down her spine, her hairs standing on end.
Her men were gone. Just seconds ago, they'd been silent, disciplined, guns trained on Joseph. Now, they'd vanished without a trace.
The abandoned shipyard, dark as an abyss, had swallowed them whole.
"No, something's wrong," Black Cat thought. "Squid Man was hired by Joseph, but his men looked terrified… What are they afraid of?"
Recalling the mix of confusion and fear on the faces of Joseph's crew, she realized things were spiraling beyond her expectations.
Before she could think further, a dark shadow loomed closer, rushing toward her. At the last second, Black Cat fired several shots in rapid succession.
No sound of impact. Wasting no more bullets, she whipped her gun toward Joseph and fired.
She knew escape was impossible, but if she was going down, she'd take someone with her.
Joseph, the rising star of New York's underworld, was notorious for his brutal methods—often smashing his enemies' skulls with a hammer. Whether out of disgust for this sadistic killer or her desire to provoke Kingpin's network, Black Cat felt no hesitation pulling the trigger.
Joseph didn't either. The bullet struck his forehead with precision, and he collapsed cleanly, no time for hesitation or fear.
A headshot. As Black Cat scanned for the invisible, elusive shadow, a tremendous force struck her wrist. Her gun clattered to the ground. The shadow ensnared her, lifting her into the air. Her deep-V leather outfit strained, her curves flattened under the pressure.
In her panic, she tried to grab the shadow, but her arms were pinned tight. Desperate, she wrapped her long, toned legs around the figure carrying her skyward.
Hiss!
A faint sound cut through the air. Black Cat found herself bound and suspended midair, her briefcase full of cash snatched away. The shadow was gone.
Joseph lay on the ground, felled by the bullet. His men erupted into chaos. One knelt beside him, checking his pulse, then shouted, "The boss is still breathing! He can be saved!"
Several of his men hoisted Joseph and fled, leaving behind the crates of guns they'd intended to buy.
Squid Man, hired by Joseph to double-cross and eliminate Black Cat's crew, stood frozen. The situation had shifted too quickly for him to process.
He had, however, clearly seen Black Cat's men vanish one by one. Now, as he glanced around, the shipyard's massive industrial equipment loomed like shadows, as if something even more terrifying than him might leap out at any moment.
As a monster in the eyes of ordinary people, Squid Man didn't fear other creatures. But this unknown presence unnerved him.
Especially when he tried to move and found his legs bound by invisible chains.
True to his name, Squid Man shared nearly every trait of a squid, including a slippery body. With effort, he wrenched his legs free, his slick form slipping from the unseen restraint.
Joseph had hired him as muscle, but with the man himself now clinging to life, Squid Man saw no reason to stick around.
Fleeing was the obvious choice.
"I'm heading back to the sewers…" he muttered, then froze. "No, something's coming at me!"
As he moved toward a sewage pipe, a shadow dove toward him from above. Instinct took over. Squid Man arched his neck, exposing his siphon—the organ squids use to jet ink.
Splat!
A cloud of thick, black ink sprayed out. Without looking back, Squid Man bolted, racing out of the shipyard as if his life depended on it.
"What the hell was that?"
A couple on the street, mid-workout and filming themselves with their phones, gaped at Squid Man, shouting in disbelief.
He spared them a glance before charging toward a nearby manhole cover, yanking it open, and diving inside, leaving the stunned couple behind.
"Did you… did you get that on camera?" the woman stammered, turning to her boyfriend.
"I got it," he replied, dazed. "But who's gonna believe we saw a human squid?"
"Idiot! Sell the footage to the Daily Bugle! We could make a fortune!"
The couple pulled up their pants and ran off, cheering, oblivious to the shadows in the shipyard where Batman watched the manhole cover Squid Man had disappeared into.
He chose not to pursue. The webbing from his web-shooter had only briefly restrained Squid Man, whose slippery body had easily broken free.
Batman needed to prepare for a proper confrontation. But first, he had to deal with the gang members he'd webbed up and left dangling around the abandoned shipyard.