"I will be with you and bless you, for I will give all these lands to you and your descendants."
The female anchor on Gotham's evening news finished reading the sentence and paused.
"That passage comes from the Old Testament."
The screen cut to the northern Safar Republic.
Darukh City had just endured its third round of shelling that day.
A reporter stood before a house missing its outer wall, her headscarf covered in dust. Behind her, residents were boarding up the windows.
Halfway through the interview, another explosion sounded in the distance.
The camera lurched downward.
The reporter quickly steadied the camera and continued reporting on the evacuation inside the city.
"Both Safar government forces and northern armed groups claim ownership of this land. The temporary corridor opened this morning has already closed, and large numbers of civilians remain trapped in the city..."
Gunfire came from the television.
The clerk behind the counter looked up.
The gun muzzle pressed against his forehead pushed forward a little farther.
"Seriously? Stop watching the news!"
The masked robber grabbed a fistful of bills from the register and stuffed them into the bag his accomplice held.
"Open the safe underneath!"
This is a robbery! Show some respect!
The clerk's gaze shifted toward the door.
Rain was falling in Gotham.
There was no one on the street.
"What are you looking at now?"
The robber glanced back too.
Only a few cars were parked outside the storefront window, with rain streaming down the glass.
There was no dark figure on the roof, no red-and-yellow figure, and certainly no red-and-black figure. No strand of webbing suddenly stuck to his gun.
Spider-Man had been gone from Gotham for a full year.
For the first few months, criminals in the East End still habitually checked overhead before