THE DEVIL AND THE BAT

Peter and the Devil of Hells Kitchen take a thug to the roof of the warehouse.

"Alright, so how do we do this? Good cop, Bat cop?" The man in the mask says with a smirk.

Peter looks at him, unamused by the joke.

"Ok, let's wake him up."

The man in black then punches the thug awake. When the thug wakes up, he looks at both Spider-Bat and the Devil of Hells Kitchen and sighs.

"Crap." The thug says.

"Here's how this is gonna work. My friend here is going to ask you some questions. You're going to answer them. If you're lying to him, trust that I will know. And I will be unhappy."

The man in black nods to Peter.

"Who's responsible for Cheerdrops?" Peter asks.

The thug smirks arrogantly.

"I don't know." He says.

The man in black punches the thug in the nose, breaking it on impact.

"This is what unhappy looks like. Who makes the drug?"

The thug stays silent for a moment.

"I don't know his real name but- they call him Cheer."

"Wow. Suddenly "The Devil of Hells Kitchen" doesn't seem so bad." The man in black says.

"Where is he?" Peter asks.

"Somewhere in New York."

The man in black punches the thug again.

"Hit me all you want. I'm not selling out the boss. All he's doing is giving people what they want. I don't care what you two freaks do."

Peter and the man in black stand there for a moment, then Peter grabs the thug by the leg and drags him to the edge of the roof. He then dangles him upside-down over the ledge.

"New rule. You get one chance. One. Tell us where to find Cheer, now- or I let go."

The thug starts to panic as he looks down.

"I'd tell him what he wants to know. He's not lying." The man in the mask says.

Fear starts to overwhelm the thug.

"My arm is getting tired." Peter says.

"Ok! OK! Iceberg Lounge! Cheer took over the place when the Penguin abandoned it!"

"See, was that so hard?" The man in black says.

Peter then throws the man back onto the roof and webs him up.

"So, what's the play?"

"Right now, we have the element of surprise. We go in tactically and quietly until we get to Cheer."

The man in black smirks.

"Sounds good to me. Don't suppose you have a car with you, do you?" The man in black asks.

Peter smirks.

"Try to keep up." Peter replies, jumping off the roof and web-swinging through the city.

The man in black chuckles then jumps and flips from rooftop to rooftop, following Peter. Peter notices the athleticism and flexibility the man in black is showing off, finding the movements very familiar.

Soon the two arrive at the former Iceberg Lounge, seeing multiple thugs moving Cheerdrops and a man wearing yellow face paint ordering them around.

"I'm guessing the guy with the paint job is Cheer." The man in black says.

"We gotta play this safe. We don't know how many men are in there." Peter says.

The man in black listens closely for a moment.

"There are twenty-five goons in the building. Seven below us, eight in the front, and ten in the hallway."

Peter stares at the man for a moment.

"Maybe you are the Devil." Peter says.

The man in black chuckles and pulls out two wooden escrima sticks.

"I get that a lot. You ready to do this."

Peter cracks his knuckles.

"Let's do it." Peter replies.

One by one, Spider-Bat silently takes out the eight men in the front, without any trouble. Meanwhile in the hallway, as the goons talk amongst themselves, an escrima stick is thrown at one of their heads, knocking him out. They all quickly turn around and see another goon on the ground and the man in black standing over his body.

The Devil quickly throws his other wooden escrima stick off the wall, knocking out a third goon. He then sweeps another one's legs from underneath him and kicks him in the face. He quickly grabs one of his escrima sticks off the ground as another goon throws a punch at him. The man in black hits his fist out of the air and hits him in the face. He then punches the last goon in the face, knocking him out.

Peter soon arrives and sees the damage done, impressed by his work.

"Not bad. You missed a spot." Peter says, seeing a goon slowly getting back to his feet.

Without looking, the Devil throws one of his escrima sticks, hitting the goon right in the head. The two smirk at each other then slowly move to the main room of the building.

Meanwhile, Cheer is still giving orders to the rest of the goons.

"Hurry up boys, this shipment of Cheerdrops need to be out on the streets by tonight. We have to bring joy to the people of New York."

At that moment, the lights are cut off.

"What the hell is going on?" Cheer asks.

At that moment, Peter and the man in black barge into the room and quickly take out two goons. Peter then grabs another goon by the shirt and lands multiple punches to his face and kicks another goon in the chest. A third goon rushes at him, but he quickly lands a spinning back elbow, knocking him out instantly. He then webs another goon and pulls him into a jumping hook kick by the man in black. As both of the heroes are surrounded, the two work perfectly with each other, landing in sync strikes one after another.

Cheer sees this and starts to run away.

"He's getting away. Go after him, I got this." The man in black says as he takes out another goon.

Peter quickly chases after cheer, soon finding himself outside in a dark alley with cheer nowhere in sight. He slowly walks down the alley, keeping his eyes open for Cheer.

"It's an honor to finally meet you, Spider-Bat."

"Your drugs are hurting innocent people. You need to answer for that." Peter replies.

"I have spent my life, pursuing happiness. For myself and others. And you know what is essential to that happiness? Honesty." Cheer says.

"I don't consider hallucinations to be honesty."

"I view my hallucinations as pure honesty. Your mind revealing your absolute desires, stripped of fear and regrets."

Peter gets angry.

"You tell that to the girl who almost died from your drug."

"I'm sorry. But do you expect me to feel sad about that? To feel guilty!? That girl, who felt so low in her life that she would take my Cheerdrops would have died in a world of pure bliss. Exiting a world that has shown her nothing but cruelty."

Cheer then comes out of hiding, trying to sneak up behind Peter with a syringe.

"And you... you look so unhappy. So the question is, what would New York look like without some angry, vengeful monster hiding in it? What would Spider-Bat become, if he was happy?"

He tries to jam the syringe into Peter's neck, but the hero catches him by the wrist and squeezes until he drops the syringe. He then glares at Cheer, putting fear into him.

"Happiness can wait until I'm done stopping men like you."

He then headbutts Cheer, dropping him to the ground. The Devil of Hells Kitchen soon comes running outside.

"The goons are taken care of, and it looks like you have things handled here."

Peter nods as police sirens are heard in the distance.

Moments later, Cheer and his men are arrested as Stacy talks to Spider-Bat and the man in black.

"Cheer's real name is Silvanio Romero. He used to work at Oscorp, alongside Adrian Crane. He was right beside Crane while he was developing his fear toxin, so he was able to rewrite the formula and make Cheerdrops." Peter explains, pulling up the research he secretly did.

"Well, at least he and his drugs are off the streets now. Thanks to you tw-"

When Stacy turns around, Spider-Bat is gone but the man in black is still standing there.

"Does he do that a lot?"

Commissioner Stacy chuckles.

"All the time." Stacy says.

The next day in Hells Kitchen New York Dick Grayson, a young and blind Lawyer, wearing blue sunglasses and tie, walks into his small office where he works.

"Dick, there you are." His partner and friend, Foggy Nelson says.

"Hey Foggy. Sorry I'm late, I was just visiting Karen in the hospital."

Foggy sighs.

"How is she?"

Dick smiles.

"A lot better now."

"Good. Now, you have a visitor in your office."

Dick is confused, then is guided by Foggy to his office where Peter Parker is waiting for him.

"Mr. Grayson. Peter Parker, I was hoping we could talk."

"Mr. Parker, it's a pleasure. Could you give us a minute Foggy?"

"Sure thing, I'll just let you two talk. Hopefully about Nelson & Grayson becoming Peter Parkers personal attorneys." Foggy says with a smile.

As the two are left alone, Peter and Dick talk to each other.

"You know, I used to go to the circus all the time. The Flying Graysons were my favorite part. I heard about the accident that blinded you. But judging by those moves from last night, it didn't really slow you down much."

Dick chuckles, realizing exactly who he actually is.

"It's nice to meet the man behind the mask." Peter says, extending his hand.

Dick puts down his cane and shakes his hand.

"Likewise. So is this just a friendly visit between two vigilantes? Is there a club?" Dick asks.

Peter chuckles.

"No club, but I did bring you something." Peter says pulling out a briefcase.

He opens it up to reveal a red and dark blue suit with Devil horns and red lenses. Dick puts his hand on the suit, feeling the material.

"No offense but your current suit kinda sucks." Peter says.

Dick chuckles.

"That's fair. Thank you. But, why give me this?"

Peter thinks for a moment.

"When I started this, I made a promise to defend this city with every ounce of strength I had, every single night until it was safe for innocent people. Then I started seeing you in the papers, and I was glad that someone else made the same promise to this city. I think we should do everything to help each other when we can."

Dick smiles.

"I was thinking the same thing. If you ever need me. Dick Grayson, or The Devil of Hells Kitchen. I'm there." Dick replies.

Peter nods and leaves the room, both men gaining mutual respect for one another.