THE HORRORS OF THE LABYRINTH

A week goes by... a week without Peter Parker... a week without Spider-Bat.

Commissioner Stacy is on the roof of the NYPD precinct, shining the Spider-Bat signal while smoking a cigarette. Harvey comes up from behind him, lighting up a cigar.

"He'll be dead soon, you know."

Stacy looks back at him in concern.

"Siggy. The Spider-Bat signal. You've been running him hot all week. You're going to blow his bulb." Bullock explains.

"Leave it on, Harvey."

Harvey sighs.

"I hate to say it, Commissioner, but it's been eight days. The bat isn't coming. Leaving the light on for him-"

"It's not just for him, Bullock... It's for the scum who think New York's a damn playground now. It's for the people who knows him, the man underneath that mask. The man missing right now. Hell, it's for the whole city... So like I said...The light stays on." Stacy says, staring up at the sky.

Bullock doesn't say anything, and just waits on the roof with George.

Meanwhile, Harry(wearing a mask on the burnt part of his face) is at the mayor's office with a table full of research on the court of owls.

"Where are you?" He asks, glaring at the photo of a Talon.

At that moment, Lincoln walks into the room.

"I can't get a hold of Peter. His butler says he wasn't at home." Lincoln says.

Harry gets frustrated.

"Damn! Where could he be? You think they got to him?" Harry asks.

Lincoln stays silent for a moment

"I don't know..." He says.

Harry gets even more angry, throwing everything off of his desk.

"He could be dead right now, and we wouldn't even know! He's my best friend, I'm supposed to protect him.... None of this would have happened if you weren't so damn weak, Osborne." Harry says.

Lincoln stares at Harry in shock and worry. Harry soon snaps out of it, horrified by what just happened.

"I'm sorry, I... I don't know what's... I'm just sorry." Harry says.

Lincoln sighs, putting his hand on Harry's shoulder.

"Why don't you get some sleep. I'm sure Peter's fine." He says, trying to reassure Harry.

At the Batcave, Ben searches for Peter's suit transmission, finding no signal. He takes a deep breath, visibly worried about Peter's well being.

"Where are you, master Parker?"

Felicia feeds her cat in her apartment, looking out of the window and seeing the Spider-Bat signal. She tries to deny it, but she is worried about Peter.

"Where are you, Spider?"

Meanwhile in the Labyrinth, Peter crawls across the walls in the shadows. Starving. Thirsty. Exhausted.

"They want me to come out of the dark... but I won't. I won't. I'll stay here. Where it's safe... safe from them... from the owls." Peter thinks to himself.

He then walks over to a giant white owl water fountain. He drops to his knees, frustrated at the sight of it.

"Here... again. Always here. At the source."

Peter stares at the water, wanting to take a sip.

"Shouldn't drink... probably drugged. But I have to... so thirsty."

Peter gives in and drinks from the fountain.

"It feels like every part of me is crying out. Screaming. Just a little sip."

Peter can't stop himself from drinking.

"No, No. Not too much... drink too much and..."

Peter starts to hear something and stops.

"Shhhh. Stay still, Peter. They hear everything. And the way they watch. The eyes..."

Peter's retreats to the shadows of the Labyrinth.

"Hurry... you have to get out of here... away from the light... into the dark... have to find the dark." Peter continues to think to himself.

At that moment, while Peter is walking, a big flash of light appears infront of him. He soon finds himself in a room with a camera and many pictures of other people all over the wall.

"How... how could I be here again?"

But Peter soon realizes that the court is telling him a story, using each room. Over and over again. He then figures out that each person pictured were killed by the court in the very maze he's trapped in right now.

"Hundreds of people. Over hundreds of years. Hunted down. Chasing them... watching." Peter thinks.

He is then shocked to see a picture of a man with the last name Parker and gets angry.

"No... I won't listen to you!"

He then punches the camera, destroying it.

"I'm not listening!"

He quickly runs out of the room, trying to find somewhere to regroup and figure out a plan.

"Keep your head straight, Parker. Focus... get back in the dark... the dark... where it's safe."

When Peter turns the corner, he is shocked to see the court of owls standing across from him. The hero charges right at them, without hesitation.

"I found you! I've got you!"

He swings wildly at the owls, pushed over the edge by the maze. He soon snaps out of it realizes that the owls weren't actually there, and that he's in another bright room. Peter drops to the ground, visibly and mentally exhausted. After a few deep breaths, Peter slowly stands to his feet.

"Got to keep moving... Can't give in." Peter thinks to himself.

He then walks back into the shadows.

"Sooner or later... I'll find you. Wherever you are... you can't hide from me. Hide in the dark. Because I live here." Peter thinks.

Hours pass, and Peter walks into another room with multiple names written on a wall and a replica of New York City. He then walks into another room full of coffins and a Talon symbol on the wall.

"What are you trying to tell me now?" Peter thinks.

He looks at the coffins and sees pictures of children on them. Peter then looks down and sees one of them are opened. After staring at it for a moment, Peter walks away, not wanting to listen to whatever the court is trying to tell him.

He leaves the room, almost immediately walking into another room with a giant owl statue. Peter gets angry and punches the head off of the statue, leaving the room.

After wandering through the labyrinth for another couple of hours, he walks into another room with another bright white flash. When Peter's vision clears, he is stunned by the sight of the camera and the wall of pictures yet again.

"No....Stop....Stop!" Peter yells, punching the camera again and running out of the room.

As he runs through the dark, he soon sees two people standing at the light ahead of him. As he gets closer, he starts to recognize the two people, shocked by when he fully sees them.

"It... Can't be." He says.

When he finally makes it to the light, Peter sees his parents, much older than when he last saw them.

"Mom?... Dad?" Peter says.

Richard and Mary are surprised.

"Peter? My God." Richard says.

"Is it really him, Richard? Is it?" Mary asks.

Peter smiles.

"It's me, yes! But how... how?" Peter asks.

"We've been down here so long Peter. Waiting. It is you, right Peter?" Richard asks.

Peter hugs his parents, with tears in his eyes.

"It's me. I found you... I found you." Peter says.

"Oh Peter, missed you so MMMMUUUUUUUCCCCCHHHHH." Peter's mom says, confusing Peter.

When the hero looks at his parents, he's horrified by the sight of them slowly crumbling away.

"No! Please... Please don't leave me... not again!" Peter says.

As his parents fully crumble away, two owls come out from their remains and start to maul him.

Peter then wakes up infront of the water fountain. One single tear falls down his face.

"Not real. Not real. Not... real." He says, slowly getting up.

He soon looks down at the ground, at the floor tiles and starts to laugh. He then rips off a floor tile, making an opening and laughing even louder.

"I beat you! YOU HEAR ME! I BEAT YOU!" Peter yells out.

He drops down the dark opening, soon landing in a dark space. At that moment, another flash of light blinds Peter again and he sees the camera yet again, horrified by the fact that he's in the same room again.

"No. No, it can't be."

He runs over to the wall full of pictures and sees his picture added to the wall of victims.

"No...No...No!" Peter says.

As his body starts to tremble, and his mental state starts to unravel, a Talon comes up from behind him holding a knife. Peter's Spider-Senses goes off, but he's too distracted to listen to it. The Hero is then stabbed through the his side.

"Spider-Bat. The court of owls has sentenced you to die." The Talon says.

The knife is pulled out of his side and Peter drops down to his knees.

"But you should die knowing that your body will not be returned to the surface. Because the court has decided to keep your bones down here. To be displayed in the Labyrinth. Forever- a monument to a valiant enemy."

Peter tries to stand back up, but doesn't have any strength left, falling to the ground.

"No one in history has ever been honored by the court. Do you wish to speak to this honor, before your death."

Peter crawls across the ground.

"You... moved the camera." Peter says, continuing to crawl.

The Talon then hits Peter across the face with the camera.

"No final address then. So all that's left to do is decide the manner of your death."

The Talon grabs Peter by the head.

"My court! My court, he is prepared!" The Talon yells.

He then lifts Peter's broken body up in the air.

" I PRESENT TO YOU, THE SPIDER-BAT! How do you wish him to die!?"

Peter looks around, seeing multiple people with owl masks watching from above.

"Beat him to death." One of them says.

"My pleasure, my lady." The Talon says, throwing Peter into the wall.

He then picks up the hero and starts beating on him, raining down strikes on him.

"More! More! MORE!" The owls yell.

"As you wish, my court!" Talon says, kicking Peter through the wall.

Peter is barely conscious on the ground. No strength left. Blood filling the wrong places. Every bone in his body telling him to let go.

"Let it end. The pain... The fight. Become a ghost, a face behind the glass. A face..."

As the Talon walks towards the broken hero, Peter looks over and sees the picture of the man with the last name Parker again.

"His face... So scared. Begging... calling out for someone. Someone to help him... to help him stop... them... Enough." Peter thinks to himself.

He grits his teeth, punches the ground and forces himself back to his feet, ready to keep fighting.

"Enough!" Peter yells.

The Talon slow claps for him.

"Well, well. Still some fight in you." Talon says.

Peter doesn't reply for a moment, charging at the Talon. The Assassin throws a punch at him, but the hero catches it.

"I am so...Damn sick...OF OWLS!" Peter says, punching him across the face, cracking one of his goggles.

The Talon gets angry and swings his knife at Peter, who blocks the knife strike and snaps his arm.

"You dare-" Talon says.

"Oh, I do."

The Talon snaps his arm in place. Peter then grabs him and lands a headbutt, then tackles him into the room with the model of New York City.

"You see this? The city at your feet? It's not the real New York. It's an arts and crafts project!"

Talon lands a punch to Peter's face, then stabs him in the shoulder and tackles him to the ground.

"But wait, I'm not done." Peter says.

Talon pulls out the knife out of Peter's shoulder.

"Quiet!" Talon yells.

"You Talon-"

"I said quiet!"

Talon prepares to stab Peter again.

"I see what you are. You're nothing..."

Peter then kicks the Talon off of him.

"...But a hired thug!"

Peter starts to land multiple punches and kicks, not holding back for the first time since he was bitten by the spider.

"You're a pawn. You're not special! No matter what they've told you! No matter what you tell yourself! And now... what you really are... is finished."

He then lands a hard hit, knocking out the Talon and looks up at the people with Owl masks.

"That goes for all of you. You hear me!? Whoever you are. You can't hide from me. I know this city, down to its foundation. For example, I know that this place- the taste of the water in the fountain, the minerals- We're near the river. And I know the base of your ugly fountain... it's white marble. Not construction marble like the rest of this place."

Peter pulls out a piece of the marble and takes a knife from one of the Talon.

"Which makes it softer. More vulnerable to say... explosions."

Peter creates a spark and blows a hole in the floor. Peter slowly gets to his feet, severely injured.

"I'll be back for you. All of you!" Peter says, jumping down the hole, and into the water below.

After that, an elderly Owl comes out from the shadows.

"Well, that was thrilling. What a wonderful gladiator, the Spider-Bat."

She then looks at the coffins.

"Wake them up. Wake them all up." She orders.