Defeating Squid Man had never been Batman's real objective.
From the moment he laid the first strand of black spider silk in the abandoned shipyard, Batman had already decided Squid Man's fate. The mutant was not the core of the problem—he was merely a symptom.
The disease was Kingpin.
And behind Kingpin, something far more dangerous was taking shape.
Human experimentation.
Osborn's name hovered over everything like a shadow.
Bound tightly in layers of spider silk and still trembling from the residual electric current, Squid Man struggled to lift his head. His breathing was erratic, mucus dripping from his skin and pooling on the cracked concrete below.
"I… ugh…" he gasped, forcing out a laugh that sounded more like choking. "You're Batman, right?"
His bulbous eyes rolled toward the darkness.
"All this… traps, bombs, webs… just to ask questions?" Squid Man wheezed. "Come closer. I'll tell you everything."
Inside his body, something tightened.
His internal organs contracted instinctively, preparing the ink sac hidden beneath his throat. The moment Batman revealed himself, Squid Man planned to spray ink at point-blank range—blind him, confuse him, and run.
At the same time, Squid Man was buying time.
The electric shock had nearly shut his nervous system down, but he could feel sensation slowly returning. Given just a few more seconds, he could tear through the spider silk and escape.
Footsteps echoed softly behind him.
A faint hiss followed.
Squid Man froze.
Before he could react, one of his tentacles was seized.
The grip was wrong.
Squid Man had felt human hands before—warm, soft, uneven.
This was none of that.
The thing gripping him felt cold, firm, inhuman.
Like a claw.
For a brief, horrifying moment, Squid Man genuinely believed his suspicions were correct.
Batman isn't human.
He's another experiment… another monster.
The next second, an overwhelming force surged through the tentacle, and Squid Man was violently hurled through the air.
His heart leapt—not in fear, but in sudden joy.
I'm free!
Twisting midair, Squid Man flexed all eight tentacles at once, tearing loose strands of spider silk. Mucus poured from his skin, helping him slide free.
This confirms it, he thought wildly. Batman was experimented on too. Osborn must've created something like a lizard… something worse than me.
His tentacles whipped, clearing the last of the webbing.
Then despair crashed down on him.
Even as he flew, more black spider silk shot out from every direction, snapping tight around his body like iron chains. The silk was stronger than before, biting into his flesh and locking his limbs together.
Below him, the ground rushed closer.
A jagged slab of broken concrete lay directly beneath his trajectory.
From it, rusted steel rebar jutted upward like spears, sharp and merciless, aimed straight at his chest.
Spider silk alone didn't frighten Squid Man.
Given time, he could escape it.
But those rebars—
If they pierced him, even if he survived, he would be crippled.
"Devil!" Squid Man screamed, his voice cracking. "You're a Devil!"
Batman did not answer.
Only when Squid Man was less than a dozen centimeters from impalement—when his eyes squeezed shut and his body locked in anticipation of death—did Batman act.
A single strand of spider silk fired out.
It snapped tight.
Squid Man stopped midair.
"Speak."
Batman's voice was calm. Flat. Absolute.
He landed silently, tearing away the webbing wrapped around his own hand. The spider silk had been layered thickly over his glove to act as a friction barrier, allowing him to grip Squid Man without slipping.
Squid Man stared blankly at the ground.
Foam dribbled from the corner of his mouth.
Batman paused.
"…?"
He adjusted his grip, watching carefully.
Squid Man's pupils were dilated. His breathing was shallow. His entire body trembled uncontrollably.
The mutant had broken.
Not physically.
Mentally.
"Batman… Batman…" Squid Man muttered, over and over, like a child trapped in a nightmare.
No matter how Batman repositioned him, no matter how he spoke, there were no answers.
Only broken murmurs.
Batman stepped back.
This… was unexpected.
In Gotham, even the most deranged criminals rarely collapsed without resistance. They lied, bargained, screamed, mocked—anything but surrender so completely.
Of course, Gotham was different.
Its police system was rotten. Corruption ran from street patrols to the highest offices. There was no death penalty. Criminals always believed they would survive.
New York was not Gotham.
Here, the law still had teeth.
And fear—real fear—still worked.
Batman exhaled slowly.
His interrogation had succeeded too well.
Without further delay, he wrapped Squid Man securely and moved.
---
At eleven o'clock at night, the lights were still on in the Manhattan Police headquarters.
Director George Stacy sat at his desk, rubbing his tired eyes as he flipped through yet another stack of case files. Since his promotion, sleep had become a luxury.
Gang violence was rising.
New faces were appearing.
Things were changing.
Just as he reached for his coat—
Bang!
Something heavy crashed down outside his window.
George Stacy jolted upright and rushed forward, pulling the window open.
Far below, a massive shadow lay sprawled on the pavement.
And in the distance, between rooftops, a dark figure vanished into the night.
George grabbed his firearm and hurried downstairs, moving cautiously.
What he found made his blood run cold.
A giant Squid, bound completely in black spider silk.
The creature muttered incoherently, repeating a single word.
"Batman… Batman…"
George noticed a piece of paper beneath the creature's body.
He picked it up.
His eyes widened as he read.
Murder.
Illegal experimentation.
Contract killing.
Every charge listed was clear. Detailed. Supported by evidence.
Enough to warrant the death penalty.
George looked from the paper to the creature, then back again.
After a moment, he pulled out his phone.
"Notify Major Crimes," he said firmly. "They're working overtime tonight."
Procedure still mattered.
Even with evidence this damning, confirmation was required.
But George Stacy understood one thing clearly—
Someone out there was doing what the system couldn't.
From the shadows.
---
Batman watched from a nearby rooftop as Squid Man was sealed inside an iron transport cage and driven away.
Then he turned.
There was no time to linger.
He returned to the abandoned shipyard, carefully dismantling unused Gel Bombs and removing every strand of spider silk he had placed.
No trace left behind.
Afterward, he dug up the firearms he had buried the previous night.
Only now did the markings on the crates truly register.
Stark Industries.
Batman's eyes narrowed.
Earlier, the name would have meant nothing.
Now, after accessing CIA archives—even briefly—certain keywords echoed in his mind.
One of them was Howard Stark.
Back in the temporary operations center, Batman's fingers flew across the keyboard.
Search results filled the screen.
"Howard Stark. American inventor, engineer, and industrialist. Founder of Stark Industries."
"Son: Tony Stark. Current CEO and Chairman. Wealthiest individual in the world."
Batman shut the computer down, wiping all traces clean.
Tony Stark.
And somewhere behind him—
The Tesseract.
Batman left the shipyard and headed north.
But not toward Stark Industries.
Instead, he moved in the opposite direction.
Toward another towering giant of industry.
Osborn Group.
The company owned by Harry Osborn's father.
The same corporation funding Dr. Otto's nuclear fusion research.
The same corporation tied—directly or indirectly—to Squid Man's transformation.
Batman's jaw tightened.
The CIA files had been incomplete.
Squid Man had broken.
That left only one option.
Go to the source.
"Human experiments," Batman murmured as he approached the Osborn headquarters. "Serums. Super soldiers…"
The glass façade of the building reflected the city lights like a mirror.
And somewhere inside—
The truth was waiting.