Defeating the Squid wasn't Batman's goal. His true aim was to confront the mastermind behind him—Kingpin—and to uncover the truth about Oscorp's human experimentation on the Squid.
"I… ugh, you're Batman, right? All these carefully laid traps just to ask me that? Come closer, and I'll tell you everything…"
The Squid's internal organs tensed, ready to unleash a blast of ink the moment Batman showed himself.
At the same time, he was stalling. The intense electric shock from earlier had nearly paralyzed his body, and he needed time to recover enough strength to break free from the webbing binding him.
Footsteps echoed behind the Squid, followed by a faint hiss.
Before he could process it, one of his tentacles was seized in a firm grip.
His tentacles had been grabbed by more than one woman before, so the Squid knew exactly what a human hand should feel like.
But now, he began to doubt whether this so-called "Batman" was even human. The hand gripping his tentacle felt… like the claw of some reptile.
In the next instant, an immense force surged through that hand, hurling the Squid through the air.
A flicker of joy sparked in the Squid's mind. He twisted his body rapidly mid-air, hoping to shake off the webbing completely and make a break for it the moment he landed.
"This guy's definitely not human. Probably some kind of experiment from Oscorp, like me—maybe turned into a lizard or something…"
The Squid's mind raced as his eight tentacles frantically worked to clear the webbing from his body.
But despair soon set in. Even as he soared through the air, more high-friction webbing shot out from all directions, sticking to him and binding him further.
And that wasn't the worst of it. The ground where he was about to land was littered with jagged concrete, its exposed rebar protruding menacingly, ready to impale him.
The Squid wasn't afraid of webbing—he could eventually wriggle free with time. But if those steel bars pierced his body, even if he survived, he'd be in for a world of pain.
"Demon! You're a demon!"
The Squid's voice cracked into a scream, but Batman remained unmoved. Just as the Squid was mere inches from the rebar, his eyes squeezed shut in anticipation of death, Batman fired a strand of webbing, halting his fall.
"Talk," Batman said, his voice low and gravelly, as he tore off the webbing he'd wrapped around his hand to grip the Squid.
The Squid seemed utterly broken, his eyes staring blankly at the ground, froth spilling from his mouth.
Batman: "…"
He had employed intimidation tactics to extract the information he needed, but he hadn't expected to terrify the Squid into this state.
He hadn't even had the chance to use his other interrogation methods.
"Batman… Batman…"
The Squid muttered unconsciously, unresponsive no matter how Batman prodded him.
This was unfamiliar territory for Batman. Back in Gotham, the city's supervillains wouldn't crack without enduring a full gauntlet of brutal interrogation techniques. Even if they caved in the moment, they'd be back to their arrogant ways soon after.
Of course, that was partly due to Gotham's hopelessly corrupt police system, rotten from top to bottom, and the lack of a death penalty.
New York was different. The death penalty existed here, and most of the city's police force leaned toward order and justice, though they were often overwhelmed by the sheer number of criminal gangs.
One police chief, known for his integrity and fairness, had caught Batman's attention: George Stacy.
George Stacy had recently been promoted from captain to Manhattan's police commissioner, and this was his busiest period yet.
Even at eleven o'clock at night, George Stacy was still buried in case files, working tirelessly.
Rubbing his tired eyes, he was about to call it a day when a loud thud came from outside his window, as if something heavy had crashed to the ground below.
He rushed to the window and peered out, catching only a fleeting glimpse of a dark figure vanishing between distant buildings.
On the ground below, a massive squid-like figure was bound tightly in black webbing.
George Stacy hurried downstairs, gun in hand, cautiously approaching the muttering figure repeating "Batman, Batman." Beneath the Squid was a piece of paper.
The paper listed a series of crimes, each one enough to warrant the death penalty.
Stacy's eyes flicked between the paper and the Squid before he pulled out his phone and made a call.
"Notify the major crimes unit. We're working overtime tonight."
Though the charges and evidence on the paper were ironclad, Stacy, as commissioner, still had to verify them. Procedure had to be followed.
From the shadows of a high rooftop, Batman watched as Commissioner Stacy and his team loaded the Squid into an iron cage. Satisfied, he turned and left.
He had too much to do.
First, he needed to clear out the gel bombs and webbing he'd set up in the sewers and the abandoned shipyard but hadn't used. Then, Batman dug up the cache of firearms he'd buried in the ground.
The previous night, the "Stark Industries" logo on the crates had meant nothing to him. But after infiltrating the CIA today, though he hadn't fully accessed the information on the "Cosmic Cube," he'd memorized a few key terms.
One of them was "Howard Stark."
Click-clack…
Deep in the abandoned shipyard, in a makeshift command center, Batman's fingers flew across a keyboard. Webpages popped up, each one detailing information about "Howard Stark."
"Howard Stark, American inventor, scientist, engineer, and industrialist. Founder and CEO of Stark Industries…"
"Only son, Tony Stark, current CEO and chairman of Stark Industries, the world's richest man…"
As always, Batman erased all traces of his internet activity before shutting down the computer. Without pause, he left the shipyard, heading for Manhattan's Upper East Side.
He was going to pay Tony Stark a visit to see if he could glean any information about the "Cosmic Cube."
But Batman's current destination wasn't Stark Industries. Instead, he was headed to the opposite end of the spectrum: Oscorp, the company owned by Harry Osborn's father, which had funded Dr. Otto Octavius's nuclear fusion experiments.
Having failed to extract more details about Oscorp's human experiments from the CIA or the Squid, Batman decided to investigate in person.
"Human experiments, serums, super soldiers…"
Muttering these words to himself, Batman infiltrated Oscorp's headquarters.
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