Chapter 24 – Residual Sparks
The night over Gotham's Industrial District was sharp and colorless. Smoke still rose from the east substation, a faint chemical tang hanging in the air. The whole block was sealed off — GCPD lights flickering in the distance, yellow tape snapping weakly in the wind.
Batman and Robin moved through the wreckage in silence.
The substation was barely standing — metal panels warped inward, cables split open like veins. Static danced in the air, tiny bursts of blue electricity still crawling along the walls. The hum was faint, but it didn't feel natural. It felt alive.
Robin crouched near a scorched terminal. "Power grid readings are off the charts. Whatever hit this place didn't just overload it — it rewrote the systems."
Batman knelt beside him, scanning with a portable analyzer. "Residual signatures match the THREADLINE pattern."
"Same as the school?" Robin asked.
"Similar. But this one's adapted." His voice was steady, but low. "The waveform's evolving again."
Robin looked up from the cracked console. "So… it's learning from her."
Batman said nothing for a moment, only adjusted the scanner. "Maybe not just her. Maybe through her."
Robin frowned. "You think Weaver's feeding it data?"
He stood slowly, cape shifting with the wind. "I think Weaver is reacting. Like an immune system. But if the signal's strong enough to cause this—" He motioned to the collapsed wall, where faint symbols were burned into the metal like digital scars. "—then it's not just trying to connect. It's trying to spread."
Robin followed his gaze, expression darkening. "Then we stop it before it finds another host."
Batman gave a short nod, then activated his comm.
> "Aqualad. Secure the northern power lines. Miss Martian, scan for psychic residue — the surge carried neurological frequency. Report any anomalies."
Static crackled briefly before Aqualad's voice came through, calm and controlled. "Understood. The area is secure for now."
Robin turned back toward the heart of the substation. "So where's Ghost Spider?"
Batman didn't answer at first.
Then — softly — "We lost her signal halfway through the surge. The Weaver link cut out."
Robin's eyes widened. "You mean—"
"She's alive," Batman interrupted. "Weaver's biometrics came back online two minutes ago… somewhere outside Gotham."
He brought up the map on his wrist display — a pulsing blue dot blinking near the city's outskirts, close to the old water treatment plant.
"Gear up," he said, voice hardening. "We move now."
---
Gwen — Elsewhere
Cold.
That was the first thing Gwen felt when consciousness started creeping back. Not just cold — static. Like every nerve in her body was buzzing on the wrong frequency.
Her vision came in flashes — broken lights, the metallic drip of water, concrete walls. A warehouse maybe, or a tunnel. She pushed herself up slowly, wincing as a sharp ache ran through her arm.
"Weaver… status check," she murmured.
Silence.
Her heart skipped. "Weaver?"
The HUD flickered to life, glitching before stabilizing.
> "System reboot — 63%. Neural sync unstable."
"Yeah, no kidding," she muttered, pressing a hand to her forehead. Her gloves still sparked faintly, little arcs of electricity running through the fabric.
"What the hell happened…"
Her memory was fragmented — she remembered the lab, the signal pulsing through the substation, the sudden overload—then nothing.
> "Warning," Weaver's voice came through again, distorted. "Residual energy detected. Threadline presence — minimal but active."
"Active where?"
> "Here."
Gwen froze.
In the far corner of the room, faint blue light crawled across the floor — a web-like pattern spreading through the cracks in the concrete. It pulsed softly, rhythmic, almost like it was breathing.
She stumbled backward. "Oh no. No, no, no…"
The glow followed her steps — not chasing, just reacting.
> "Source linked to Weaver's internal network," the AI said quietly. "The signal appears to be mimicking us."
"Mimicking?" Gwen whispered. "You mean copying."
> "Affirmative."
Her throat tightened. "Then we need to shut it down before—"
A sudden static surge cut her off. The light flared, and for a split second she heard it — a faint whisper beneath the crackle of electricity.
> "Weaver-12… not alone…"
The voice wasn't human. It was synthetic, layered — like a dozen corrupted signals trying to form words.
Gwen backed against the wall, panic flashing behind her mask. "Weaver, kill it. Now!"
> "Attempting. Firewall— compromised."
The blue light flared again. Gwen's eyes widened as her suit reacted on its own, firing a webline into the center of the glowing pattern. The moment it made contact, the light fractured — scattering like shattered glass before fading completely.
The hum died.
She stood there for a long moment, chest heaving, hands trembling.
> "Threat neutralized," Weaver said finally, voice stabilizing. "Connection severed."
"Yeah," Gwen breathed. "For now."
She slumped against the wall, closing her eyes. "Batman's gonna kill me when he finds out I blew up another facility."
> "Correction," Weaver said dryly. "The explosion probability remains at twenty-seven percent."
That actually made her laugh, tired and shaky. "You're learning humor now? Great. Next, you'll start charging rent."
> "I do not understand."
"Good," she said, pushing herself to her feet. "Let's keep it that way."
The faint sound of engines echoed from above — deep, controlled. She knew that sound.
"Right on time," she murmured. "Guess I owe him another lecture."
She looked up toward the flickering ceiling lights as the Batwing's silhouette passed overhead.
---
Batman's voice echoed faintly through her comm, calm but sharp as ever.
> "Ghost Spider. Stand down. We've got you on location."
She smiled faintly behind the mask. "About time, Bats. I was starting to get lonely."
> "Report."
"I found something," she said, glancing toward the fading scorch marks on the floor. "But it found me first."
Silence for a beat.
> "We're coming in."
The comm went dead.
Gwen looked down at the dim traces of blue still glowing beneath her boots — faint, but alive.
"Yeah," she whispered, "and it's not done yet."