“You find anything out?” Gwen asked Barbara when they were finally able to meet up again on top of a random highrise.

Being caught in ground zero of an explosion meant that she had spent hours first getting checked over by first responders, then getting some scans done at a hospital to make sure there were no internal injuries, and then getting questioned by the police to see if she noticed anything strange beforehand. Sabah and her mother also wanted to thank her as well, which was nice but a bit awkward since she hadn’t actually done that much.

And THEN she had to deal with a circling Renee Montoya because once again Gwen had been very dangerously involved with Gotham’s criminal element in under a month. It was possible Gwen could have sent the older woman away earlier, especially because Montoya probably had plenty of work investigating she needed to do herself, but as one of the very few adult influences still in her life she was just happy the detective cared.

So it was only much later that Gwen was able to dig out the communicator and set up a place to meet her friend.

“A few things.” Barbara replied. “For one, Blue Springs Jewelers wasn’t the only place hit. Four other places were robbed the same way within an hour of each other. Each one had one item stolen even though there were plenty of other things at each site worth a lot of money to the right people. The only clues the police were able to find immediately were some cards left at the scene.

She pulled out her phone and swiped through a few pictures. Each one was of a simple piece of cardstock with one word on it except for the last one.

Who

Could

It

Be

?

Gwen raised an eyebrow and handed the phone back. “Isn’t that a little obvious? The question mark is his symbol.”

Barbara nodded. “It is, but the Riddler has never been known for being humble. He wants everyone to know he was the one to pull the robberies.”

“So what’s the riddle then?”

She shrugged. “I think we need to figure that out ourselves. So far all I’ve got is each card corresponds to the place that was stolen from. In order, World of Antiques, Carol’s Diamonds, Indigo Trading, and Blue Springs Jewelers all had a card left behind.”

“And the question mark?”

“An armored truck that was hit seconds after it received the item, but hadn’t made it off the property.”

“So it blurs the line of who exactly was robbed. Cute, I guess.” Gwen scowled.

“Legally not really, but close enough.” Barbara agreed.

“So who’s doing what?”

“Nightwing is keeping an eye on things in case this is a distraction, Robin is helping the police look for more clues and I’ve got a few trawlers going through the dark web looking for any signs of the items being sold.”

Gwen was a little jealous the other girl had the space and the setup to do such a thing. Sure she technically had the funds to rent her own space and set up a connection. But people did monitor the web for those types of programs and attempted to backtrack them, on both sides of the law, because they wanted to know who was collecting that data and for what. And Gwen didn’t exactly have the connections Batman did to hide that from everyone.

Such was life though. She would just have to settle for superpowers and leave the techno-wizardry to the Batfamily for now.

…and putting it that way made her feel much better about herself and a touch less jealous.

“So just wait and see?”

“For now.” Barbara sighed and pulled her cowl back on. “Maybe we’ll find another clue soon but this isn’t the only thing going on.”

As if summoned by that comment, the police scanner suddenly crackled to life. “Attention all units, attention all units. Robbery in progress at Gotham National Bank…”

Gwen perked up, pulling on her own mask. “That isn’t far from here.”

“Nope.” Bar-Batgirl was already moving towards the edge of the building. “Race you there?”

The race wasn’t even close.

-o-

“Dammit where are Eric and JP?” Sean cursed as he and Vinny ran down some back alleys. The robbery had been a snap, but the cops managed to block off their getaway car so the four of them made a break for it on foot.

The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

“They split off. Said they’d meet us at the safehouse.” Vinny panted. Sean didn’t blame him. Carrying all their gear along with the cash was heavier than he thought it would be.

“Fuck, fine. Assholes better not be late.”

The two of them ran nonstop for nearly ten minutes before they felt safe enough to slow down. No way was any cop going to be able to follow them through the maze of Gotham’s streets on foot and they didn’t see any patrol cars on the roads. They still kept their guard up though. Horror stories of the Bat Brigade appearing out of the shadows made sure no one relaxed until the money was split and hidden away.

Speaking of…

“So how much do you think we snagged?”

Vinny thought it over. “We got slowed down checking for dye packs so, I dunno, maybe around thirty kay each?”

That was it? Fuck. That would barely cover his debts, but maybe he could double up by checking out a casino or two. He’d made some decent money at them before and that one dealer said he could come back anytime…

The two bank robbers quickly made their way to an abandoned apartment building and pushed through a door, ignoring the ‘condemned’ notice pasted on the front. They were just here to meet up, split the cash, and slip out into the city once they changed clothes. Anything left behind would either be scavenged by some homeless bum or buried when the building got demolished…if that ever happened.

Fifteen minutes later though, the two of them were starting to get nervous.

“Where the fuck are they?!” Sean raged as he paced back and forth.

Vinny was nervously looking out the window every few seconds but tried sounding calm. “They probably took a longer route back. They should be here any–”

There was a slight sound of creaking wood down the hall that instantly shut Vinny up.

The two listened in and could’ve sworn they heard footsteps. After a quick look and a nod from both of them, they slid into hiding spots and pulled their handguns out of their jackets.

Both of them held their breath as the door was silently pushed open and two dark figures stepped inside. Sean’s heart almost leapt out of his throat when he recognised the two. He nearly exploded out of his hiding spot shouting, “Fucking finally! What took you so long?!”

Eric jumped like someone had punched him and whirled to face Sean. “Goddamned asshole! What are you doing hiding like the fucking Batman? Shite!”

“You two nearly gave me a heart attack.” JP added.

“And it’s not like we hit up a club on the way back. We needed to make sure nobody was following us.”

Sean shoved his gun back into its holster. “Whatever, lets hurry the fuck up and split the cash and get out of here. Place gives me the creeps.”

JP scoffed. “What worried Batman is going to come for your ass?”

“Dude, don’t jinx us.” Vinny whined.

“Yeah, yeah. Let’s get this over with.”

It turned out Vinny was wrong about his guess, much to Sean’s pleasure. Each one of them would be walking out of here with forty thousand each. Not too much more, but enough that he wouldn’t be worried about loan sharks poking around him for not making payments. He could even hit up a casino without needing to make a score for a bit before lining up another job. Just for fun.

They were all just cleaning up the stacks and making sure nothing that could be tied to them was left behind when there was a loud thump out in the hallway.

All four of the robbers froze. The building was condemned, sure, but that didn’t mean people didn’t still come through. Homeless, addicts, teens trying to prove themselves they could handle. Cops or even worse Batman? They didn’t want to think about it.

“You guys hear that?” Eric whispered.

“Yeah, think we all did.” JP said back. “Someone check the street, make sure no cops are camped outside.”

Vinny edged towards the window and leaned outside a bit. “I don’t see noth– What the fuck! Mpfh!”

The other three could only watch as something grabbed Vinny and pulled him out the window. Guns were pulled and they all sprinted to see what got their friend, only to see nothing outside. No cops, no capes, no Vinny. Not even on the ground below. It was like he was just swallowed into the shadows.

“Dude…” Eric started. Sean wasn’t having it.

“No.”

“Dude…!”

“No!”

“Fuckers, Vinny just got vanished! I am not staying here!” JP bolted to their stuff. Sean grabbed him before he could run out the door.

“Calm down dumbass. Vinny just got ganked like some B-movie horror victim. We are NOT going to run out like idiots and get picked off one by one. Grab the rest of the shit. We’re getting out of here.”

“What about Vinny?” Eric asked.

“If we find him? Great. If not…well, I think the Batman got him.”

“Fuck.”

Yeah, fuck was about right. Still Sean wasn’t going to let two potential meatshields run off and leave him to face whatever the fuck that was by himself. So he grabbed the cash and his gun and motioned for the others to hurry the fuck up.

The three stepped out into the hall and made a point of checking each room they passed -especially the ceilings!- but they saw nothing. Nothing until JP looked behind them and saw a flash of white dip into one of the rooms.

“What the fuck was that?!” He shouted, getting the other two’s attention.

“What was what?” Sean snapped.

“Some white thing. In the shadows!”

White…was not Batman’s colors. It wasn’t any of the other Bat Family’s either. Something else was in here with them.

“Right, we’re going right for the exit. No stops, no distractio– where the fuck is Eric?” The other man had just vanished.

“Oh fuck, oh fuck, oh fuck…” And JP was freaking out.

Sean was just about to ditch him and make a break for it when a soft *thwip* rang out and something white and stringy swallowed JP’s head and started dragging him off. Sean nearly fumbled his gun trying to bring it up to snap off a few shots but it didn’t stop whatever was dragging JP off from pulling him around a corner.

Figuring he was either fucked by whatever was in here anyway, Sean ran after JP hoping to get a better shot at whatever was hunting them or at least get JP back. But when he turned the corner there was nothing there.

“Who…Who’s there?!” He screamed, more out of hysterical frustration than anything.

”I am Vengeance...” A growling female voice rang out from seemingly all around him.

Sean snapped off a few random shots hoping to hit the thing in here with him.

”I am the Night…” A different voice said from the shadows. Sean whirled and squeezed the trigger but the gun clicked empty. He pulled the empty clip and practically threw it away in his haste to swap to a spare.

Before he could ram it home, there was a soft thump behind him.

I…AM…” Sean managed to twist around just in time to see the face of the thing that was going to end him. The blank white face except for two large blood rimmed eyes. No mouth or nose. At least no mouth until a huge fanged maw split its face from ear to ear. ”GhOSt SpIdEr!”

Sean’s legs gave out and his eyes rolled into the back of his head as he passed out.

-o-

“Okay, I need to ask. Gwen, what the fuck?” Barbara finally demanded once they handed the robbers off to the police. She had agreed to the stealth takedown because it seemed like the best way to make sure no one got hurt, but she had not been expecting to see Gwen sprout a smile that looked like it would be right at home on Killer Croc’s face.

“Yeah, sorry. My suit’s probably getting hangry. I’m normally better about keeping it from going all toothy.” Gwen -Ghost Spider- said sheepishly, rubbing the back of her head.

“I’m sorry, your SUIT is getting hangry?!”

“Yep, didn’t I explain this? I felt like I explained this.”

Barbara took a deep breath. “When would you have explained this?!”

She was barely holding back her shock, it wasn’t helping Gwen was looking at her like SHE was the crazy one here.

“You know, in the cave where you took me after I almost died? The one where you drugged me into unmasking to you all?”

Barbara sighed. “We drugged you so you weren’t feeling the ten holes in your chest not to unmask you. And you were high most of that time! Then you kinda stormed out because you were pissed at us. With reason!” She added when Gwen glared at her. “But we never got back to talking about what the suit is.”

Ghost Spider took a deep breath of her own and started explaining. “Okay, so Klyntar 101. They are a symbiotic alien race that bond with a host and empower them. I’m 99 percent sure mine is a lesser lab grown version because they are supposed to have their own personality alongside the host’s but mine doesn’t. But one thing all Klyntars need is a steady diet of phenethylamine. If I don’t get enough it makes the suit, and me I guess, a bit more aggressive and moody. So hangry.”

“Phenethylamine…why does that sound familiar?”

“It’s the happy feel-good chemical found in chocolate.”

“Wait…are you saying your powers force you to eat chocolate?” Barbara blinked.

Gwen seemed smug. “Yes, and they even make sure the calories don’t affect my figure unless I want it to.”

“...I think I hate you a little.”

“Ah yes, the other thing my powers rely on. The envious tears of my haters.”