Swallowing The Spider

[After Transition]

I stare blankly at Batman for a moment not knowing what I'm supposed to do and where we are supposed to go from here and it's not helped by the fact that Batman himself is just staring at me with a stoic face and narrowed eyes so I can't actually read anything from him and I'm beginning to get more and more worried as we just stay in position and stare at each other as I'm beginning to wonder just how much Batman knows and what he suspects as just the fact that he knows I've lied and I have a healing factor/regeneration could beg the question of what else I've lied about or intentionally withheld and you can bet the Batman has already been coming up with conclusions and suspicions as he is the worlds greatest detective, hell I bet he actually returned quite a while ago while me and Alfred were having our various chess matches and he's searched and found everything he possibly can about me and that the alarm that sounded out wasn't an alarm that the Batman had returned but an alarm to tell Alfred that he wants to converse with me now that I'm ready (all purely suspicion on my part but I can't bite the nagging feeling that I'm right, either way he's probably found out everything he possibly could about me) but before I can start working myself too much about what he knows Batman gestures out with a hand towards me which takes me by surprise.

"Take a seat. Now." He demands and I'm once again reminded that the Batman isn't a man that likes to mess around or waste time as he's in the big leagues and serious at what he does unlike the Fantastic Four who I was formerly friends with who welcomed me in with open arms and nary a suspicion to which I took great advantage of but it's clear that the Batman isn't going to allow something like that to happen on his watch, I am then momentarily befuddled by what he means by take a seat because as far as I can see there is only one seat on the platform we are on and Batman is currently in it but then I notice that there is actually a seat directly behind me that was definitely not there when I walked onto the platform and I also notice that Alfred is nowhere to be seen and he must've already left to let us get down to business and so I gently lower myself into the seat which appeared out of nowhere (most likely silently put in place by Alfred before he left, either that or it came out of the floor itself and positioned itself perfectly behind me) and settle into it and try to get comfortable in it since I feel like we are in for a long conversation and I'm currently sat straight across from Batman with only a meter in distance between us so it could easily get very dangerous for me as well so I make sure to keep my eyes peeled for anything.

We once more just stare at each other for a few seconds with me nervously fidgeting in place under the Batman's narrowed eyes and him watching me like a hawk as if to try and catch me out or something but I don't show anything except what I actually feel which is nervousness and I think anyone would be nervous if they were getting one on one time with the Batman as well as being kept under constant watch and having every one of my actions observed by the Batman under a magnifying glass which could anytime have the sun put through it and melt me into slag like a little toy army man, I don't know if Batman has found what he was looking for or anything but he seems to make a decision and so he strangely and quite shockingly relaxes his body which looks very out of place and he bunches his back over before clasping and interlocking his hands together while resting his forearms on his knees and even trough it looks like he's relaxing compared to his previous sitting posture I can tell he's observing everything just as much as he did before and the only reason he's taken such a position is to reassure me and make it seem like he doesn't in any way whatsoever want to harm and and that I can trust him which just makes me more on edge on the inside though I show a slight reduce in my nerves to him to show that his tactics are somewhat working. "Nick, I know that you're not telling me the entire truth about the orphanage and your involvement with it. I have no doubt that the information you have given us is mostly if vaguely the truth probably adapted by yourself to leave things out but I'm afraid that I need all the facts to help me in my investigation and to make sure that the rest of the operation is taken down, we already know that you have a healing factor/extreme regeneration which was presumably why you changed the story and gave us a different version of events but that is no longer necessary, you can tell the truth now."

I guess Batman decided to go the good cop route though I'm a little bit confused as to why since he could've just been his regular self and still gotten the exact same answers out of me which begs the question, why the hell is he being so nice about this? "From what I know about you you're a pretty thorough guy and so I have no doubt that during the last two weeks where I was otherwise preoccupied you would have shut down the operation at the orphanage entirely, I just don't see a way that you could've gone two weeks without doing anything about the situation at the orphanage and since I know you are a pretty thorough guy it's a good bet that the situation is already dealt with so why are you questioning me and bringing up old wounds when it doesn't even really matter? Also, why are you being so nice about it? From what I've heard about the Batman you would usually break some bones and dangle guys off of rooftops to get the information you want so why are you going such a different way about this with me and why exactly are we in your secret base for this conversation, I'm quite confused about the entire thing really." I speak aloud my thought because I was very much expecting that Batman wouldn't be happy with the answers I would give him and would think I was holding something back so he would take to fighting me and breaking some bones to get the answers he wanted as he knew I'd be right as rain afterwards because of my healing ability plus I would have thought he'd done so as well to see my power in action and garner more about me and the limits of my ability but it seems like I was mistaken, he seems to e playing nice for some reason and I just don't know why which puts me even more on edge than if he was just being his usual Batman self and demanding answers and interrogating me for them if I wasn't being very forthcoming.

"I break the arms and legs of criminals, I hold criminals off of the tops of rooftops by their legs when I want information out of them and as far as I am aware you are not a criminal and are actually a civilian so I have no reason to treat you in such a manner and while you may have contemplated the murder of that orphanage matron and that drug dealer in the end you didn't go through with it and in fact you brought it to my and the polices attention and even came clean about the fact they you contemplated it so as far as I am concerned you are an innocent man and so I have no reason to treat you the same way I treat criminals. As for the orphanage operation you are correct that I have already resolved it but I still do need that information because I need to know your powers, whether they are harmful to you or others, if you are in control of them and I need to ascertain whether you are a threat to anyone which means I have to get a grasp on your mindset and your mental health and stability which will start with you and me talking about your powers, how you acquired them in case anyone else might have the same abilities and also whether or not you may endanger anyone else or be in danger yourself sue to your abilities." Batman speaks out quite frankly and I can't quite disagree with anything he has said so far and I guess I just figured he would have already found out about all the crimes and illegal things I've done in this universe (or rather my past self) and for some reason I had the i rational thought that he would also know about my crimes back in the marvel world but I guess that's impossible and I've just been seeing the man as much more than that in my head because he's the goddamn Batman but I have to remember that while he is probably one of the most intelligent people in the universe he is not omniscient or omnipotent so I should stop freaking out and start to think logically.

"I understand that and am more than willing to cooperate, but why does that include bringing me into your secret base of operations. Surely you could've taken me somewhere else to do this and you didn't need to potentially open up your sacred place of operations to a potential leak, so why am I here?" I question him genuinely because I did not under any circ.u.mstances see myself coming here and walking among these hallowed pathways especially not being willingly allowed in and even treated to a meal, this is just so far away from the knowledge of Batman I do have left in my mind that it's disconcerting and worrying that he's being so different from expectations.

Batman leans forward and clasps his hands together interlocking his fingers just under his chin and then with the same blank white eyes and stoic face he states something that shocks me, he does it with such a casual nonchalance that I don't even register what he's said until after he's finished. "The reason your in the Batcave is because we also have other things to discuss as well and I'd rather not have such conversations in an unprotected locations, first of all you know that Barbara Gordon is Batgirl. Not only that but you know something else as well.. My true identity..."

<AN> I now have a Pa treon up and running and when a chapter is ready it will go up on Pa treon first so please take a look. Some support from you guys would be appreciated and motivate me.

Currently 34+ Chapters.

(pa treon.com/GutsyRipper)

A special thank you to my patrons Stormrall, Turtle, Matthew Laird, Sage Honos, Derrick Porter, Manuel Arauio, Darth Bane, napier Crawford, Marcus Lane, Omar Amurrio, Arun and Shakran Saleh. Thank you for the support.