Chapter 22 – Shadows of the Signal
The Gotham night felt heavier than usual.
Police lights painted the streets outside Gotham Academy in sharp reds and blues. Students and teachers stood behind barricades, whispering rumors — gas leak, electrical failure, freak accident.
None of them knew the truth.
From a rooftop across the street, Gwen crouched in her Ghost Spider suit, hood up, mask cracked faintly where the last fight had scorched it. She watched the scene below — the flashing lights, the officers moving in and out, and the small, dark figure walking straight through the chaos.
Batman.
She sighed. "Of course he's here."
> Weaver: "Signal suppression field active. Threadline trace minimal."
Gwen: "Good. Last thing I need is another signal trying to 'merge' with me tonight."
She stayed low, but she already knew there was no point hiding for long.
When Batman wanted to find you, he did.
And right on cue — his voice came through her comm.
> "You should've called this in."
Her head tilted slightly. "How do you always— actually, never mind."
> "You disobeyed direct orders. Again."
"Yeah, well, the guy kind of tried to turn into a walking data virus, so I improvised."
There was a pause — that heavy kind that meant he wasn't angry, just disappointed.
It was worse.
> "Stay where you are," he said. "Team's on the way."
She sighed, muting her comm. "Can't wait for that conversation."
---
Mount Justice Strike Team Arrival
Fifteen minutes later, the air shimmered above the school courtyard — a Zeta-Tube portal opening. Robin, Aqualad, and Miss Martian stepped through, their uniforms catching the cold light from the police floodlamps. Superboy followed seconds later.
Batman met them halfway, his tone clipped and businesslike.
"Containment sweep. Miss Martian, mental scan perimeter. Aqualad, assist GCPD. Robin, pull the building's last ten minutes of security feed."
Superboy nodded toward the scorched classroom window. "And Ghost Spider?"
Batman didn't answer immediately — just looked toward the shadows where she was watching.
"She'll come down when she's ready."
Gwen dropped from the rooftop, landing silently behind the line of tape. Her mask reformed enough to cover the crack. She looked tired but stood her ground.
"Hey, team," she said dryly. "Sorry I missed the group text about showing up in full costume at my school."
Robin gave her a sideways grin. "Guess we just like the view from the crime scene."
Superboy, as always, went straight to the point. "What happened?"
Gwen folded her arms. "Teacher turned into a signal puppet. Weaver says he was connected to something called Threadline — same tech we've been tracking since the Mount Justice breach."
Robin frowned. "And you engaged alone?"
"I didn't have much of a choice," she shot back. "He was gonna fry half the school's power grid — or worse."
Batman stepped closer, lowering his voice. "And the fragment you found?"
Gwen hesitated. "Secured."
"On you?"
"Maybe."
His expression didn't change. "Hand it over."
After a long pause, she reached into her jacket and pulled out the shard — the same metallic piece from the lab, faintly glowing through a containment wrap. Batman took it carefully, placing it inside a reinforced case on his belt.
> "We'll analyze it in the Cave," he said. "You're going to tell me exactly how you found it."
---
Private Interrogation
Minutes later, in one of the academy's old storage rooms now cleared by the team, Batman and Gwen stood alone. The others waited outside.
The walls still smelled of smoke and ozone. Gwen leaned against a desk, arms crossed.
"You think I'm hiding something," she said flatly.
"I think you don't tell me everything," Batman replied. "That's a problem when the threat adapts to you."
She exhaled sharply. "Look, I didn't ask for any of this. The Weaver system — it's not just gear, it's… alive. It reacts to me, and now this Threadline thing is reacting because of me. That's all I know."
> "And you didn't report this earlier because?"
"I was still figuring out if it was even real! You ever had an AI in your head that occasionally quotes sarcasm statistics?"
Silence. Batman's stare didn't waver.
Then he said quietly, "You're scared it's changing you."
She didn't answer. That was enough of an answer.
He looked at her for another moment before saying, "Fear's normal. Recklessness isn't. You're part of this team now, Gwen. Act like it."
Her shoulders tensed. "Copy that, sir."
Before either could say more, Miss Martian's voice came through the comm.
> "Batman, I found something. The teacher's memories — they weren't his. Someone was feeding him data directly through the signal."
Batman's jaw tightened. "Source?"
> "Unknown. But it's recent — within the last forty-eight hours."
Gwen's stomach dropped. "So whoever did this… they're still out there."
Batman turned toward the door. "No. They're watching."
---
Aftermath – The Team Briefing
Outside, the others gathered around the containment case. Robin projected the visual data — the same fractal spider-like pattern, pulsing faintly across the hologram.
Aqualad studied it, frowning. "It is… evolving."
Superboy crossed his arms. "You think it's targeting her?"
Batman answered before Gwen could. "It already did."
Everyone went silent.
Gwen looked away, jaw tight. "If it's after me, then maybe I should—"
"No," Batman interrupted. "You stay on the team. You train harder. Whatever this network wants, we stop it before it finishes adapting."
Robin nodded. "I'll run a localized trace around Gotham Academy. If it repeats, we'll catch it."
Gwen hesitated, then muttered, "Yeah… because being a superhero-slash-high school student is working out great so far."
Robin smirked. "Welcome to the club."
---
Final Scene – The Watching Signal
Later, back in the Batcave, the containment shard sat sealed inside a reinforced glass chamber. The system scanned it, data streaming across holographic monitors.
Alfred walked in quietly. "Another long night, sir?"
Batman didn't look away from the readings. "It's adapting faster than I expected."
"Should I be concerned?"
"Not yet."
The lights flickered — just once — as the shard's glow pulsed faintly, the fractal symbol twisting, reshaping into something new.
For a split second, it looked like an eye.