"Chocolate!"
Inside the ecological tank, the pitch-black symbiote writhed as it climbed upward. A small head, nearly identical to Venom's, popped up and shouted at Batman.
By now, Batman had already hung up the phone with Silver Sable.
In two hours, Silver Sable would lead her rescue team on the journey to the Middle East, using her connections to coordinate three helicopters for the search and pickup of Tony Stark.
Only at this point could Batman finally stop focusing on Tony Stark and turn all his attention to dealing with Anti-Venom.
Batman looked at the symbiote. Instead of immediately indulging its craving for chocolate, he dangled a piece in front of it and spoke in a low, gravelly voice:
"Stay quiet, and in three hours, I'll give you the chocolate."
With that, Batman placed a timer in front of the symbiote.
Inside the tank, the black symbiote's eye corners drooped, as if it were sulking, but it still stared at the timer and waited silently.
It could now understand the meaning of most words, think, and speak. Its mind was comparable to that of a human child, aged two or three.
More specifically, the symbiote now resembled a puppy, capable of following simple instructions from Batman, like "stay quiet."
It just looked pitiful, its corners of the mouth and eyes—which should have been raised—now drooping.
Batman said nothing as he watched it. Instead, he removed the timer and placed the ecological tank on the workbench in front of a screen.
This time, it wasn't for studying the symbiote. He opened the TV interface and switched to a children's channel.
"Huh?"
The symbiote let out a surprised sound. Its drooping eye corners lifted again as it focused intently on the childish scenes on the children's channel, which would seem utterly juvenile to an adult.
"The current Venom... no, now it's just a pure symbiote. After repeated confirmations from me and Dr. Banner, it has completely lost all memories of its time as Venom. It's a new life grown from the remnants of Venom's symbiote matter."
"It's very simple, easily satisfied, and obedient."
"Just like my Jarro."
Batman watched the black symbiote in the tank. His thoughts drifted for a moment before he pulled them back, turning his gaze to City Hall Subway Station.
Over the past week, Batman hadn't just been busy with symbiote research and tracking Tony Stark.
He had also been working on another equally important task:
Using various trust funds, Batman had completely purchased all the land around City Hall Subway Station.
Not far from the station, a sixty-six-story skyscraper had been acquired by Alice, the CEO of Parker Industries, and underwent a series of construction modifications.
The work on City Hall Subway Station was concealed within the skyscraper's renovations, overseen by the Oracle AI. The public explanation was that they were upgrading the underground water system.
Aside from lacking a supercomputer and cooling system, City Hall Subway Station had now fully become Batman's first true Batcave in New York.
"Barbara," Batman issued the command to his Batcave, "begin assembling the Arkham Batmobile immediately."
The muscle car–modified Batmobile had been destroyed in the collapse of Oscorp Tower. All the parts for the new Batmobile had now arrived.
There was no need to go to Parker Industries for assembly this time—the Batcave had enough space and equipment to handle the job.
"Roger that, Bruce."
The Oracle AI responded.
Inside the Batcave, robotic arms began to move. Parts were methodically assembled and joined.
A 60mm cannon capable of penetrating 820mm of steel armor; a Gatling gun loaded with armor-piercing, incendiary, cryogenic, and standard rounds; a missile volley system that could fire tracking missiles, guided rockets, high-explosive rounds, and other high-power ordnance; a riot control gun for non-lethal crowd suppression using rubber bullets, smoke grenades, tear gas, and gel rounds; a sonic cannon that could emit high-frequency or infrasound waves, adjustable to Batman's bat-signal frequency to summon bats; and a flamethrower mounted alongside the sonic weapons...
Batman might not use all these weapons against enemies, but he wouldn't allow himself to be without them.
Beyond the essential weapon systems, the Batmobile was powered by the world's most powerful V12 engine, personally tuned and modified by Batman.
The 1.6-meter-tall composite fiber tires could switch between snow, sand, and urban modes, enabling Batman to fight across cities.
The entire vehicle was armored with titanium alloy and partial carbon fiber—bulletproof, explosion-proof, EMP-resistant. When necessary, it could fully seal and switch to submarine mode.
In addition to standard and submarine modes, the Batmobile had three combat modes: tank mode, climbing mode, and motorcycle mode—the latter activated only if the Batmobile was damaged.
It also featured drones, winches, electromagnetic ejection seats, remote control, onboard medical kits, solar charging, hydraulic jumps, self-destruct, electromagnetic shielding, silent mode, air filtration...
Aside from being unable to fly or travel long distances underwater like a submarine, this Batmobile—built with nearly half of Parker Industries' funds—was practically omnipotent.
If Batman hadn't hacked into the cave's surveillance in the Middle East and seen Tony Stark building his own armor, this vehicle would have been assembled, loaded onto a transport plane purchased by Batman, and airdropped to rescue Tony.
But that would have turned this exorbitantly expensive Batmobile into a one-time tool, impossible to recover and reuse in the Batcave afterward.
Now, with Tony Stark handling his own rescue from the cave, Batman naturally saved himself the trip to the Middle East.
From nothing to everything, from zero to complete.
The Batmobile was assembled piece by piece, starting with the frame. Crisp or heavy metallic clangs echoed continuously. Three hours later...
As the Oracle AI withdrew the robotic arms, a brand-new Arkham Batmobile—infinitely more expensive than the previous one—stood ready.
This Batmobile was larger, more heavily armored, and taller than any Batman had driven before. The cockpit also included a slightly smaller reserved seat.
It sat silently in the Batcave, like a sleeping beast.
Batman stood wordlessly in front of the Batmobile, resting one hand on its cold armor.
Whether it was the suit or the Batmobile, Batman had deliberately designed them to match what he'd had in Gotham.
It wasn't that he couldn't create new designs—he wanted these to remind him, constantly, never to forget returning to Gotham.
"Dad, I'm done watching."
As the Oracle AI ceased operations, the Batcave fell so quiet you could hear a pin drop. But a small voice made Batman's heart lurch.
He whipped around and saw the symbiote in the ecological tank on the workbench, its head raised, looking at him and waiting for the promised chocolate reward.
Thud, thud, thud...
Batman's footsteps were heavy as he strode to the workbench and stared hard at the black symbiote inside the tank. His voice was low and strained:
"What did you just say?!"
Inside the tank, the symbiote shrank back in fear, but driven by its craving for chocolate, it spoke in a small voice:
"It said on there that the person who takes care of you, teaches you everything—besides a teacher or a grandpa—only a father would do that."
"I think you must be what they call a father... Dad, I waited obediently for three hours. You promised me chocolate."
As it spoke, it extended a finger from its symbiote matter and pointed at the screen where Batman had played the children's channel. The program was currently teaching about family.
Smack!
Batman turned off the screen. He stared at the symbiote in the tank for a long moment, hesitating, before finally taking out a piece of chocolate and passing it through the specially designed channel in the ecological tank.
"Thank you, Dad!" The symbiote cheered, swallowing the chocolate in one gulp. Then it looked up at Batman and asked, "The show also said every child has their own name... What's my name?"
Batman's hand remained in the tank. He gently touched the symbiote's head, and it raised its eye corners in enjoyment.
"You are Venom."
"But here with me, you have another name... Robin."
Venom nuzzled its head against Batman's palm, seemingly overjoyed to have a name:
"Yay! I'm Robin!"
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