Did you get the wrong guy…?
In the comics, whenever Silk—Cindy Moon—met Spider-Man, both would be overwhelmed by their instincts.
But the problem was: this was Gotham, not Marvel's New York, and Connor wasn't Spider-Man—he just had Spider Sense.
Now, not only had Cindy Moon shown up, she even treated him to an upside-down kiss.
Aside from the initial shock, Connor wasn't exactly losing control. Meanwhile, Cindy had her eyes closed, breathing heavily.
Connor's sharp eyes caught it—the red, black, and white battle suit of Silk clearly showed… certain swelling.
He struggled a bit but quickly realized that the silk threads Cindy had fired from her fingertips were incredibly tough. There was no way he could break free with his current strength.
"Can't resist? Then better enjoy it…"
Connor sighed inwardly, letting Silk's hands roam freely.
—
"If this world really is a Marvel–DC fusion, I'll have to plan accordingly…"
"Most Gotham villains rely on cunning and physical prowess. True superhumans like Poison Ivy, Killer Croc, or Bane are rare."
"It's relatively safe here for now—a perfect starting zone to build my power base."
"The real problem? I already have Harley Quinn. Now Cindy Moon literally drops into my lap—what am I supposed to do with her…?"
On the rooftop of a Gotham skyscraper, Connor lay on a makeshift hammock spun from webbing. Cindy Moon curled up against him like a delicate bird.
But just as quickly as she had come, Cindy suddenly jumped up.
One hand sprayed more webs to cover her stunning figure; the other gathered her discarded battle suit. Without looking back, she launched herself into the shadows between buildings and vanished.
"W-what? Hit and run?"
Connor didn't even have time to react before she disappeared.
By the time he finished dressing, his Spider Sense—dormant when Cindy was near—kicked back in, just in time to sense Harley Quinn climbing up the stairwell.
"You didn't catch that mystery person?" Harley asked, glancing curiously at the hammock behind him.
"Nope," Connor replied smoothly. Technically true—he hadn't caught her; he was the one caught.
"No worries." Harley twirled a baseball bat she had somehow acquired, slicing the air with a swoosh. "I got some intel on Joker instead…"
The Joker's moving already?
Connor perked up. He thought Joker would lay low for a while after escaping Arkham—but nope, chaos was already brewing.
"You know what he's planning?"
Instead of answering, Harley handed him a newspaper.
The front page headline screamed:
"Mass Escape from Arkham Asylum!"
Listed underneath were the likes of Joker, Riddler, Bane, Scarecrow, Penguin, Killer Croc, Poison Ivy...
This wasn't in the comics.
Connor frowned—not because Gotham would become chaotic (Batman would handle that), but because…
With so many villains loose, how was he supposed to keep up with all the gossip?!
"What's the Joker's plan exactly?" Connor pressed.
Harley pulled a walkie-talkie from the back of her shorts and pressed the button.
A staticky voice emerged:
"...No big deal, Captain. Just a dumb photographer trying to snag a headline..."
"Handcuff him and take him downtown. This isn't a joke."
After a short exchange, laughter burst out over the comms:
"Looks like you're all wasting your breath, hee hee hee... HAHAHAHA! Gordon... Hahahaha! Help me HAHAHAHA!"
Connor's first thought: Who laughs like that while calling for help?
His second thought: if Harley said this was Joker-related, then the answer was clear.
—Laughing gas!
Piecing it together, Connor and Harley quickly got directions from the intel and sprinted across rooftops toward the scene.
—
Williams Medical Center.
The building had already been rocked by explosions; walls blown apart, bullet casings and bodies scattered everywhere.
"The guards died from the blast shockwave," one survivor explained, trembling before Batman.
"Before the rest could react, he flooded the place with machine gun fire..."
"From what we gathered, the culprit is this Joker."
"He kicked down the door to the ICU, threw in a pile of loaded weapons as 'gifts' to recruit new fans."
Batman listened grimly—his half-masked face still managing to convey growing severity.
"Oh, and... Batman, you should see this."
Commissioner Gordon led him to a different part of the building, where a bloody mop leaned against a wall. Words had been scrawled in blood:
"One for one, death draws near. The fallen city shall descend with me into hell."
Above the gruesome poem, someone had neatly scrawled in marker:
"—Done by Joker."
Complete with an arrow pointing to the blood writing.
The neat, orderly handwriting was wildly different from the bloody scrawl.
"Who wrote this?" Batman demanded.
"No idea," Gordon shrugged. "Maybe a prank?"
Batman said nothing. Whether prankster or Joker's accomplice, he'd find them.
"And it's not just Arkham escapees anymore. We need to round up the Williams Medical Center fugitives too..."
Before Gordon could finish, Batman was already gone.
The rest of the night—and almost until dawn—Batman raced across Gotham. By sunrise, he'd recaptured only six of the new fugitives.
—
Inside Wayne Tower, Alfred carefully held Bruce Wayne's discarded clothes.
"Could you at least sleep a little, Master Wayne?"
"Not today, Alfred. Too much to do," Bruce said, heading for the elevator.
"As expected. Though, may I suggest a ten-minute nap before tonight's ordeal... Oh, and by the way—someone sent an anonymous email regarding your rival, the Joker."
Bruce paused.
"The email contained only two words: Laughing gas and Reservoir."
—
With his Spider Sense, Connor had easily avoided being seen. After Joker's bloody poem, he'd cheekily added the little footnote—then used an anonymous address Harley set up to email Batman.
He definitely wanted the Joker gossip, but he had no intention of getting too involved.
He didn't want Batman following the clues straight to him.
With just "laughing gas" and "reservoir", Bruce Wayne—sharp as he was—would surely figure it out.
Let Batman deal with Joker.
Connor had other matters.
—After being tied up by Silk Cindy Moon during the day, now at night, he found himself tied up again… by Harley Quinn.
"Let me guess... you two used this position too?"