Batman/Spider-Man: Secret Weapon [DEFENDERS OF EARTH BOOK III]

Venomous Subject

As they walked down the steel corridor, it was then when Spider-Man properly noticed the difference in weight between Batman's armour and his own. Whereas Spidey walked with little to not sound to his footsteps, Batman was creating more noise than the squad of troops running at them from around the corner. The squad of 5 turned the corner and got into position. Batman nodded to Peter. Parker put both of his palms in front of his head so that the bullets wouldn't cause any impact damage to his head- Batman, however, merely activated the built-in mouth guard, bullets bouncing off of it. He continued walking towards them, undisturbed by the gunfire raining upon him. The gunmen realised last second that what they were doing wasn't working- but Batman had already struck. He hit two of the gunmen's heads against the wall, kicking another into the opposite wall. The final two turned to run, but Spidey fired webs at them and pulled them both into his fists.
"Where do they hire these bozos?" Peter shook his head. Batman turned to him.
"The lab is just ahead- hopefully there we'll find something that'll tell us what we'll find deeper in the base." He replied, beginning to walk again. "Heading to where the subject is head-on is too dangerous- I won't make that mistake again."
"Right. What do you think is down there?" Peter asked.
"Something more powerful and dangerous than Kasady by far- to keep it this far out, it must be." He finished, as they approached the double doors leading to the main lab. He kicked the doors down, scientists dropping what they were doing and screaming. They tried to run to the other set of double doors at the other end of the room, but Spider-Man webbed them closed. They backed into the wall in shock.
"Please... don't hurt us..." One of them said. The duo walked over to them.
"We won't hurt you- unless you lie to us." Bruce snarled. Under his mask, Peter raised an eyebrow.
"We won't... we wouldn't..." The scientist stuttered in fear. "Anything, please."
"We want to know what you've been working on." Spidey said, walking to Batman's shoulder. "The big project?"
"Wh-which one?" He answered. Batman and Spider-Man looked at each other.
"What?" Batman said. The scientist looked to his colleagues nervously.
"We-we weren't just working on one thing. We had side projects, in case the main one didn't work."
"Kasady." Bruce muttered.
"He was one of them, yes..."
"What's the main MAIN one, though?" Parker asked. The scientist opened his mouth to answer, but screamed as a bullet shot through his skull. The nine other scientists around him also got shot from behind. The duo turned around quickly, ready to fight their assailant. Opposing them was a large man in a black leather jacket, with two gunmen either side of him. These gunmen seemed different to the others the two had encountered before- their armour was in red, with masks with red lenses. They had smaller machine guns, and had them pointed directly at the two. The man was wearing a black luchador mask, as well as large steel-toed boots. Batman was surprised he hadn't realised who it was soon enough.
"Bat..." The large man snarled. Spidey glanced at Wayne.
"Friend of yours?" He asked.
"Bane..." Batman replied, clenching his fists at his sides. "One of the most dangerous people I've ever fought. Be careful."
Bane laughed. "Flattery. It won't save you, however. Even in those suits, you two will still break."
All of a sudden, he charged forwards. Batman rolled to the side, and Spider-Man jumped over him. The soldiers began firing their guns at Parker, who held his hands in front of his head. He expected the bullets to just bounce off- but the didn't. Each bullet hurt as they impacted, and he learned soon enough that his armour wasn't strong enough for these bullets. Time for a change of strategy, he thought. He fired his web, but the soldier on the left hit him with the butt of his gun. He rolled backwards and the soldier shot him in the chest with his pistol, Spidey falling onto his back. The other soldier aimed his machine gun at his head, but Peter launched himself back up and kicked him full force in the head. The soldier went sprawling across the floor into a desk.
The second fired at him, but Parker ducked, spun and uppercutted him, and he crashed through another desk. Peter shook off the pain, but something at the back of his head began... tingling, almost. He readied himself- he knew what this was.
He back-flipped, just as Batman went flying into the wall. Bane was steadily walking towards them, a green liquid pumping through wires on his armour. His veins- the ones visible- had also turned into a lime green. Batman got onto one knee, and Spidey helped him up to his feet. Bane smashed his fist into his palm.
"Come at me, I dare you!" He bellowed. Spidey looked over at a Batman who nodded in return. Spidey then jumped over Bane, and Batman threw a Batarang at his face. He dodged it, allowing it to hit the wall. Batman swung a punch, which Bane caught, and he slung him across the room. Behind him, Spider-Man ripped a metal pipe from the wall, threw it in the air and caught it with his webs. He started spinning, and after a few spins let go of the webs. The pole was flung through the air at an unbelievable rate- straight at Bane's head. Bane, walking calmly up to Batman, who was back on his feet and in a fighting stance, caught the pole. He smashed it against his knee, turning it into a 'V' shape and discarded it.
Peter flipped over a desk and went for Bane's knees with his right foot. Bane caught his foot, and held his arm up to defend himself from Batman's punch. Spidey shot a web at him, covering half of his face. He threw Peter behind him, and dodged just in time to avoid Batman's boot coming straight for his head. Batman then quickly followed with an elbow jab to the face, which landed. He then swung another punch, but realised he overextended too late as Bane grabbed his arm and ripped off the armour on the top of his arm below the shoulder. He went for a fist in that area, but his arm had stopped in mid air. Spider-Man had grabbed onto his arm with two webs, and was pulling backwards as hard as he could. Bane grabbed the web with his free hand and pulled towards him, sending him crashing forwards. Bane grabbed a nearby desk and threw it in their direction, but the duo rolled to the side, behind another desk.
"How are we going to beat this guy?" Peter asked. "Cut those tubes of green liquid on his back?"
"Venom." Batman corrected. "And no. That could send him into a fit of anger- not what we want."
"Then what?"
"He can predict every move we make before we make it- we need to do something unpredictable." He said as he pressed a few buttons on his belt.
"What are you doing?"
"Bane's venom enhances him to the point where his muscle becomes armour- very strong armour. He can survive some surprising things- but he doesn't know I know that."
"So...?"
Batman sighed. "So, get him over to my arm piece on the floor over there, and without him noticing. Bringing it over to him will make him realise." He explained. "Also, press the button on that row of shelves, it'll put the blast shields on them."
Peter, still confused, deciding not to ask any more questions, nodded, and crawled across the floor to avoid detection. Batman jumped up and rolled over the desk, and Bane turned to him.
"Formulated a plan, have you? The venom will counteract anything you can throw at me- but you're too stubborn to accept defeat." He remarked.
"Not stubborn, no." Batman retorted.
"Persistent, then."
"You could say that." And a fist came towards him. He held his right arm out in a defensive position, the impact driving him backwards quite a few feet and sending a small ache into his arm. Bane charged forwards, driving a kick with his spiked boots towards his face. Batman dodged to the side, but the luchador grabbed his ankle and threw him across the room and into a cupboard- exactly where he wanted him.
Bane walked towards him and a faster pace now, laughing behind his mask. "Persistent, yet foolish. Strong will does not win a battle, murciélago." He said.
"No- but a good strategy does." Batman responded. From the ceiling Spidey swung down, kicking Bane a few feet to the left.
"GET BEHIND A DESK, NOW!" Batman ordered. Peter backflipped behind a desk, and Batman pressed a button on his belt. A huge explosion rocked the room, blowing the tables into the walls and loose chemicals spilling everywhere. Bane himself flew forwards, hitting into the wall, groaning.
As soon as the smoke cleared, Batman walked up to the brute, Spidey cautiously following behind him. Bane was trying to get up- but the explosion had both weakened him and blown his venom tubes.
"No... match for... me..." He muttered, shaking his head. Batman simply struck him across the face and he fell down, completely motionless.
"So... you have a self destruct button for your armour on your belt?" Parker remarked. Batman turned to him.
"I do." He answered. Spidey nodded his head at this. He then looked back at him.
"Do you have one for my armour too?" Batman didn't reply to this. Peter widened his eyes behind the mask. "Christ. Don't take this personally, but I don't exactly trust other people with devices which could blow my clothes up with me wearing them, whenever said person accidentally trips. And this technology isn't even your companies, how did you get a self destruct button for it?"
"It wasn't easy." He simply said, turning around and kicking the double doors down.
"I didn't imagine it was." Peter replied. "Wait, where are we going?"
"We're going to see what else LexCorp have in store for us, at least in this area."
"Better just be seeing..."
"We'll avoid any contact until we've dealt with the main threat." Batman reassured. "We need to know exactly what they've got down there."
"Sounds good." Peter remarked, and the two began walking down the hallway. "Hey, about the self destruct button, can I...?"
"No, you can't have it."