THE AMAZING SPIDER-BAT

THE ORPHAN

One night, a teenage girl with black hair runs through the streets of New York from something or someone hiding in the shadows. She then bumps into a homeless man and falls to the ground. The homeless man looks down at the girl and extends his hand to help her up.

"You ok, kid?"

At that moment, a blade goes right through the homeless man's throat, horrifying the young girl. The homeless man's body falls, revealing a woman standing there with a bloody sword.

"Are you done?" The woman asks.

The teenage girl quickly gets back to her feet and runs away as fast as possible. At that moment, a group of League Of Shadow assassins appear next to the woman.

"Go after her. I want her back alive. I don't care how bloody she is." She says.

The Assassins then quickly go after the teenage girl. Meanwhile, in the Batcave Peter spars with Tim while Andrea and Jill watches. The young hero throws multiple punches and kicks that Peter easily dodges with a smirk. Tim then jumps into the air and throws a kick, but Peter catches his foot and flips him to the ground.

"Damn." Jill says.

"Ouch." Andrea adds.

"You're faster and stronger than before, but movements are obvious and predictable." Peter says.

Tim slowly stands up, clutching his back.

"Be less predictable, got it." Tim says.

At that moment Ben comes down with news from Commissioner Stacy.

"Excuse me, sir, apologies for interrupting but Commissioner Stacy has just put up the Spider-Bat signal."

Peter quickly walks over starts to change into his Spider-Bat suit while Tim sighs.

"When can I suit up and go with you?" Tim asks.

"You're still not ready. You need more training." Peter replies.

As he finishes getting on his suit, he looks over and sees the disappointed look on Tim's face and let's out a sigh.

"Look, you're still getting used to your powers and you don't have that much experience fighting. You're not ready yet, but you will be. And once you are, you'll be right beside me." Peter says.

Tim smiles.

"Ok."

The two then share a fist bump.

"Work on your movements until I get back." Peter says.

He then walks over and shares a kiss with Andrea.

"Love you." Peter says.

Andrea smiles.

"Love you too. Be safe."

He then looks over at Jill.

"Oracle online?"

"When am I not." Jill replies.

He then puts his hand on Bens shoulder.

"See ya, Ben."

"Do becareful, sir."

Peter then web swings out of the cave. Meanwhile Commissioner Stacy, detective Bullock and detective Montoya are at the crime scene.

"What do we got?" Commissioner Stacy asks.

"Blade through the throat. White male, late forties, and judging by his clothes he was homeless." Montoya says.

"The blade entered through the back of the neck. Poor guy didn't even see it coming."

At that moment, Harvey jumps when he sees Spider-Bat waiting in the shadows.

"Jesus. Do you really have to do that every time?" Bullock asks.

Peter slowly walks towards the body, examining the body closely.

"Do we know who the vic is?" Peter asks.

"No not yet. We're running his prints now but from what we can tell, he's just a regular homeless man." Commissioner Stacy says.

Peter looks at the open wound, noticing something familiar about it.

"This wasn't done by a regular blade. The victim was stabbed by a sword used by the League Of Shadows." Peter says.

"The League Of Shadows?" Montoya asks.

"A group of Assassins that's been around decades." Commissioner Stacy says.

"I thought they were just a myth." Bullock says.

"So was the Court of Owls." Spider-Bat replies.

Bullock thinks to himself for a moment.

"Good point." He says.

"I'll have my best people look into this. I know you can handle yourself out there but just watch your-"

Before Commissioner Stacy can finish his sentence, Spider-Bat is already gone, causing Stacy to smile.

"The guy really doesn't like saying "bye" does he?" Montoya says.

Peter swings through the City, looking for any signs of the League Of Shadows. He then stops on a rooftop and sees a girl with a deep slash on her arm.

"Looks like someone else had a run in with the Shadows." Peter says.

"But what does a homeless guy and a teenage girl have to do with assassins?" Oracle asks through Peter's earpiece.

Peter looks closely at the teenage girl, soon recognizing her.

"Cassandra?" Peter says.

The others at the Batcave all look at each other in confusion.

"Who's Cassandra?" Tim asks.

Before Peter can explain, Cassandra hits a dead end as a League of Shadows Ninja catches up to her. The Assassin swings his sword at her neck but Cassandra dodges, kicks him in the gut then knees him in the face. Two more assassins show up but gets taken out by a double kicks by Cassandra.

"I don't know who this Cassandra is, but she is quite the talented fighter." Ben says.

"Yeah. One of the best hand to hand fighters in the world." Peter says.

At that moment, while Cassandra back is turned another Assassin appears in an attempt to attack her from behind. Peter quickly springs into action, web swinging down and kicking the Assassin. Cassandra quickly turns around and prepares to fight Peter but Peter raises his hands to stop her. He then takes off his mask to reveal himself.

"It's me. It's Peter." He says.

Cassandra sees Peter's face and tears immediately start to fall down her face as she runs over and hugs the hero. Peter smiles, hugging her back but he then hears swords moving in the darkness. He quickly pulls his mask back over his face and the two get back to back to fight. Peter uses his body language to tell Cassandra to follow his lead. The group of Assassins then charge at Peter and Cassandra. Cassandra takes Peter's hand as he swings her around while she lands a roundhouse kick, laying out three of the Assassins. Peter then drives his knee into the chest of one Assassin and lands a right hook to another. Cassandra grabs a nearby metal pipe to defend against the Assassins swords, blocking their attacks and hitting them across the face with the pipe. She then takes down another Assassin, takes his sword and prepares to kill him with it. After Peter takes down an assassin of his own, he sees what Cassandra is about to do.

"Cassandra! Wait!" Peter yells, raising his hand towards her.

Cassandra sees Peter and stops herself from killing the Assassin but gets slashed across the stomach by another.

"No!" Peter screams.

He then runs over, tackling the Assassin to the ground and starts punching him over and over again. After he finishes beating on the Assassin, he makes his way to Cassandra who stares at him for a moment before passing out. Peter then picks up Cassandra and starts to leave.

"Tell Ben to get the first aid kit ready, I'm bringing home a guest who needs medical attention fast." Peter says.