Bat & Spider

- OMG, you're... you're the Batman!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

- And you are..?

- I'm the Spiderman, the neighborhood's friend, but you can call me just Spidey. It's a pleasure to finally find an urban legend out, sir. 

- Pleasure's all mine, new friend, call me Bruce.

- So, no secret identity thing? I speak a bit too much, but...

- I'm all ears.

- You seem like a guy who had losses. Listen, I lost someone too, more than one. Uncle Ben was murdered by some punk I killed by mistake right after thinking it was all on him and it wasn't. I took much longer to find the real killer of my Uncle, then I forgave him instead. My aunt died too. They meant everything to me. I never met my parents, but they assumed this to perfection. And I lost my MJ too, I lost Gwen, I lost Harry, Ned. I heard once from a guy that you have to find someone whose friendship is worth the price of losing this one. And I did that, repeatedly and I loved them all. Even though I was able to save the whole universe as an Avenger I didn't manage to save any of them.

- So we know what it feels like, the rage, the feeling of powerlessness.

- That's deep, I am just a kid from Queens. You got kids, man?

- You say you are just a kid. If that adds some clarity to it, I am just a kid too. I paralyzed my natural aging the day my parents were taken from me in front of me as an eight-years-old kid. Since then, I've been trying to save other kids from their own childhoods by adopting them. I have four sons. Everytime I look up to the oldest one it's the only time of my day I think I ever did something righteous. That's Grayson, you remind me of him. The second one is was much of a rebel because of my past raising's flaws, and on my anniversary he gave me the best present I could ever be gifted by, a fixed broken watch of my late father, despite our differences, still he managed to do it for me, and he knew how much it meant. That's Jason. The third one is

- What a family, dude. Go ahead.

- The third one is Timothy, he is one of the greatest genius in the terms of strategy and fulfilling the mission I've ever met. He took this last part from me. And the last one, my biological son, he is my inner mirror and everything I denied to be during child times.

- What a wonder! Okay, you're father of four, but who's yours. What about your old man? 

- I'd say he is nothing but my Batman. From Butler to The Batman's Batman. "To serve is a supreme art." He always says.

- My old man used to tell me: with great power comes great responsability. 

- I forgot to say I haven't met my parents' murderer. But if I do one day, I guess I wouldn't dare to even hurt  him. As I always say to myself: when you look into the abyss the abyss looks back through you, the abyss, the place where you don't care, where all hope dies, If i do that,  If I allow myself to go down into that place, I'll never come back, which in your case you did. You just proved me wrong, Spiderman. You proved me there's always a way back from what I  fight against and fear so much to turn like one day: my enemies. You don't have a big family, and the closest you ever go to it, you lost it, but still, you made a collection of friends, friends that wanted you nearby and by their very own sides. You were loved, you loved. Which I didn't. Whilst you chose to overcome your traumas and have a life I've hidden myself and played hide-and-seek from the Wayne Manor to the Batcave and I closed myself to any chance of love. You chose to live, I chose to survive . I lost control over it many times, but my old man was always there, and when I built a family piece by piece, adoption by adoption, orphan by orphan, He said he was so proud of the father I've become. I had a friend, yes. That was Superman, but we went so far by diverging opinions , that in behalf of our friendship I had to beat him. And I did. We were supposed to be best friends, which was why I had to stop him at any costs from turning a dictator and losing a friend. He had this light just like you. You are the whole day Spiderman and I am the night. Even thought night is even darker right before the sunshine, I never wait for it. My lifetime is an eternal mourning because of how I let it affect my journey, my crusade against the crime. But I survived.

- I wish you were my mentor, Bruce.

- I wish you were my apprentice, Peter.

- Wait, how do you know my name, anyway? What's your power anyway?

- I never give up. Listen, that's how you can call me anytime, just call me on the batphone and know that you're welcome in Wayne Manor for us to get to know each other without masks. Let's share some of our Rogues Gallery' stories there.

Sebastian Mircea T. Júnior