Just as Venom Robin had suspected, Batman naturally had other plans running in tandem.
The original plan was for Batman to wear the Spider-Suit and unseat the Black Knight, Nathan Garrett, but following Tony Stark's proactive strike, Batman made a few appropriate adjustments to his own strategy.
The All-Wave Projector transported every bomb discovered by the signal detector—which had been modified from the Batmobile—into that primitive world.
The plan had gone perfectly smooth, but beneath the Spider-Suit, Batman's expression grew increasingly grim.
Super strength, Spider-Sense, heightened reflexes—all the abilities that had previously belonged to Peter Parker were back.
Without a moment's hesitation, the second Batman realized his powers had returned, he pressed a concealed button. Under the button's command, the Batwing, parked on Bat Island, soared into the sky.
A few minutes later, the Batwing swept over the Empire State Building. A massive metal pod plummeted from the cabin, whistling through the wind as it landed upright and with pinpoint accuracy on the building's rooftop terrace.
With a sharp hiss from the braking pneumatic chambers, a large amount of compressed air vented out. The metal pod, which used compressed air as a locking mechanism, suddenly sprang its doors open.
A brand-new Arkham Suit stood inside the pod, the hollows of the mouth and eyes appearing as bottomless voids of black.
The next second, mechanical devices within the pod activated, disassembling the Arkham Suit into seven or eight distinct components, arranging them so Batman could step into the suit and don it instantly.
Looking at the Arkham Suit within the pod, Batman reached for his chest, grabbed the spider emblem, and tore it away with a forceful pull, ripping the entire Spider-Suit off in one motion.
Tossing the instantly discarded Spider-Suit into the metal pod, Batman swiftly changed into his own Arkham Suit.
One second, two seconds...
The metal pod closed once more and was snatched back into the sky by the Batwing's grappling hook as it passed by again.
Batman stood perfectly still, silently counting the seconds in his head.
But after a full minute had passed, Batman's brow was furrowed into a tight knot. The various Spider-Man abilities within his body had still not disappeared.
Previously, when he had lost his power, Batman would occasionally let the corners of his mouth turn up in a smile. Even when faced with Garrett's bomb threats, he had been confident and relaxed enough to arrange his plans while playing the part of the chatty, lively Spider-Man.
But with the return of his powers, the corners of Batman's mouth hadn't lifted once.
"There are eight possible scenarios for the disappearance and return of these powers. I need to..."
As Batman pondered, a roar echoed from the distant sky. A streak of fire flew rapidly toward the Empire State Building—it was Tony Stark in the Mark VI armor.
"Peter, I knew you'd be here." When Tony landed on the terrace and saw a pitch-black, humorless Batman instead of the talkative, rambling Spider-Man, he subconsciously felt a sense of relief.
He would much rather face a cold, hard, stone-like Batman than a Spider-Man who talked enough to make his head swell two sizes.
"Call me Batman." Batman looked at Tony expressionlessly, his gaze lingering for several seconds on the black wooden box Tony was carrying.
Tony: "..."
"Report progress," Batman added.
Tony: "..."
He suddenly didn't want to see this cold-faced guy anymore.
"Garrett is dead," Tony Stark said after a few seconds of hesitation, breaking the news to Batman.
"Cause of death?"
"The armor's shock absorption was poor. he was killed by the impact of our battle," Tony said.
Batman remained silent for a few seconds, seemingly processing the information, before asking:
"What were his final words?"
Tony Stark handed the black wooden box to Batman.
"That's exactly what I wanted to talk to you about. Before he died, Garrett revealed the real reason he'd been trying to find you: he suspected you were a member of the Whitman family, and he wanted you to take this Ebony Blade to restore the Whitman family's glory."
"Clearly, I am not," Batman said, shaking his head.
On his first day after crossing over, he had thoroughly researched Peter Parker's background.
Peter's father, Richard Parker, and his mother, Mary Parker, were both CIA agents who had died in a plane crash while on a mission. Tracing the Parker family back three generations revealed no connection to any "Ancient Families."
"Even if you aren't, the sword is yours now," Tony said. "Garrett said that if you weren't the one, he hoped you could find his nephew, Dane Whitman, and hand the Ebony Blade over to him."
Batman did not refuse. He slowly opened the lid of the wooden box.
Tony Stark immediately leaped back a step, putting distance between himself and Batman.
"Wait, Garrett said this sword is cursed. It needs a fragment from the Metropolitan Museum to break it... Jarvis, fill him in."
"A specific fragment within the Metropolitan Museum is a piece of the forge used by the wizard Merlin in the twelfth century when he forged the Ebony Blade for the Whitman family's Black Knight. Garrett believed it could lift the curse on the blade," the Jarvis AI added.
"So you'd better not open it lightly, otherwise..."
Before Tony Stark could finish his sentence, he saw Batman flip his palm over. A palm-sized, pitch-black stone fragment appeared in his hand.
The fragment bore patterns that were strikingly similar to the engravings on Garrett's armor.
"Where did you get that?" Tony asked, staring at the fragment. "After the attempted theft at the Metropolitan Museum a while back, I remember the news saying not a single item was missing? Did you make a fake?"
"The one in the museum is the fake, Tony," Batman said.
Tony Stark shook his head, signaling he had nothing left to say. He watched as Batman opened the wooden box, revealing the Ebony Blade within. Its surface had a faint, shifting luster, as if it were breathing.
"The curse..." Tony tried to warn Batman again.
"It is precisely because you mentioned a curse that I need to open it immediately to confirm if it will have an effect on me," Batman said.
Tony Stark nodded in understanding and snapped his metal faceplate shut, keeping himself in a combat-ready state.
Five minutes later, seeing that Batman remained unchanged, Tony finally felt safe enough to approach.
"It seems as long as you don't pick it up, it's fine."
"Perhaps," Batman said. He then reached his hand into the wooden box.
Tony didn't jump back this time, because what Batman picked up wasn't the Ebony Blade, but a piece of paper stored inside the box.
The paper contained a long list of names. Tony didn't bother reading them one by one and spoke directly to the AI:
"Jarvis, scan the names on there and see if there's anyone I know."
"None, Boss," Jarvis replied.
"This is an internal S.H.I.E.L.D. roster." Batman, on the other hand, recognized several names on it—names he had seen before when he hacked into S.H.I.E.L.D. and infiltrated the Adirondack Mountains base.
"...Are you sure that's a S.H.I.E.L.D. list and not a HYDRA list?" Tony reminded him. "Garrett said before he died that these were his associates."
"HYDRA moles hiding inside S.H.I.E.L.D., Tony," Batman said.
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