In The Web Of Gotham

The Winner Is...

The game kept going, pieces being taken left and right. It seems that all the while, Batman was entertaining whatever strategy of deduction that Peter was ready to deal out. Seems like Peter is about to tackle one of the same trains of thought that Batman used to lead to Peter's identity being unraveled. However Batman was thorough, and he operated much longer than Spider-Man possibly has. The paper trail, the possible timeline is much more vast to comb through. It took Red Robin roughly a week or two to figure out his identity. Tim was smart though, he was exceptionally intelligent.

While Batman's not knocking Peter's own intelligence, he's acknowledging that Peter is tackling this from the outside trying to look in. An explorer trying to go through the fog and getting lost in the dark. So now...can Peter Parker maneuver through the fog? Can he find his way out, can he come to the right conclusion?

"It might just be me thinking too hard, but I've been digging into Batman as an entity. Which obviously bored some holes into the story, where does Batman go when it's daytime? Where does he get his equipment? Where did Robin come from, why the need for a sidekick? How long did it take for Batman to get as skilled as he needed to be before coming to Gotham? Most of all, why join the Justice League? If the whole point is to strike fear into the criminal underbelly, then why become a public face? Why reveal that the shadowy creature of Gotham's vengeance is actually a man?" Spider-Man said, listing off a set of questions that would obviously be brought up by anyone digging into the urban legend of Gotham's Dark Knight.

Batman had to compliment Peter, he has a good starting point for his deductions. Now let's see where he goes from here. His preliminary set of questions is able to open up a large multitude of possible answers, do what will he do next?

"Why yes, those are certainly questionable things about Batman. However, what do any of those have to do with me?" Bruce asked, trying to poke at Peter's questioning line. Trying to figure out what he's getting at.

"Now obviously, even if it's a fringe theory. It's a theory nonetheless and I had to investigate the possibilities within that theory. As I thought about this theory, some things about....you stopped making sense. For example, on most nights Bruce Wayne is only reachable via phone calls, emails or messages left to and from his butler. For being as close to Gotham's nightlife as you claim to be, you're practically never seen anywhere in Gotham after the sun goes down. You also understandably vanished from public eye for years after your family's death. With the only explanation being that you had to do some soul searching to come to terms with the circumstances of your situation," Spider-Man listed off, noting some societal oddities in the billionaire playboy.

"Well I have my habits. All the elite in Gotham have their eccentrics about themselves. I just keep my participation in the nightlife a secret. Reporters can be so crass and direct about how they pursue their stories," Bruce had explained. Spider-Man had held up a finger, stopping Bruce before he could continue.

"See that makes sense. A lot of sense and that was the first reason I thought of. Although I'm trying to solve a mystery about Batman. So I can't just immediately follow the first line of thought that makes sense. I have to pursue the potential leads that don't make sense at a glance. So I started thinking weird. If I want to solve Batman, I need to think outside the box. So allow me to address the things about Batman and Bruce Wayne that don't make sense in their respective vacuums," Spider-Man supposed.

"Batman is virtually unreachable during the day, Bruce Wayne is only tangentially available at night. Batman strikes the criminal element of Gotham in the dark of night, Bruce Wayne seems detached from nighttime merriment with his fellow Gotham brass. Batman would need years of training to be as skilled as he is, and Bruce Wayne went on a soul searching yearlong journey. In isolation, these aspects simply don't make sense. However, if you see these two lists and layer them on top of each other," Spider-Man explained.