In New York, on Bat Island, not far from Rikers Island.
The Lizard and the others weren't here; only Venom-Robin and Batman sat on the foundation of the Parker Estate.
"On this trip to Wakanda, we acquired a total of five hundred kilograms of refined vibranium, a bracelet made of ten Kimoyo beads, a friendship pact between Batman and Black Panther, and an axe."
Venom-Robin sat on the wing of the Batwing like a little miser, counting their spoils from the trip on his fingers one by one.
In reality, most of these things had nothing to do with him; the only item Robin could actually use was the axe from the Executioner.
It could clash with symbiotic matter hundreds of times without breaking, and it was durable enough to withstand the tens of tons of force exerted by both the Executioner and Robin. The blade was razor-sharp, and while its design was simple, its sheer size was massive.
All of this made the double-bladed axe a prized possession that Robin couldn't bear to put down, so much so that he almost forgot another matter he cared about.
Fortunately, as he watched the solitary Batwing on Bat Island get caught by the elevator platform and slowly lower into the underground Batcave, Venom-Robin finally remembered:
"Hey, old Bat, five hundred kilograms of vibranium should be enough for us to build a Batmobile made entirely out of pure vibranium, right?"
The previous Arkham Batmobile had been converted into a signal detector by Batman to deal with the Black Knight, Garrett, and the backup Rogue Mech kept in the Batwing had been left behind in Wakanda.
At this point, whenever Batman went out, he either had to fly his plane or resort to running on his own two feet just like Venom-Robin.
Robin didn't believe for a second that Batman would be content with that.
"Vibranium is not a rational material for building a Batmobile, Robin." Batman shook his head.
Robin's eyes lit up. "You're not planning to use all of it to make your own Batsuit, are you?"
"I will use a portion of it. The rest will be stored in the Batcave, waiting to be used when needed," Batman said.
Using all five hundred kilograms of vibranium just to make a Batsuit? Batman wouldn't be that extravagant.
After all, before their trip to Wakanda, less than four kilograms of vibranium was enough to craft a Panther Habit for T'Challa.
Batman's suit wouldn't be as skin-tight and thin as the Black Panther's, but he wouldn't use this single material from the inside out either.
Batman hadn't forgotten that vibranium possessed a glaring weakness: it would lose its stability when exposed to specific sonic frequencies.
Even though very few people in the world knew this secret, Batman wouldn't take any chances.
Due to the time difference and including the round-trip travel, two days had already passed in New York by the time Batman and Robin returned from Wakanda.
Fortunately, no chaos had broken out in New York this time.
"Robin, go to South Brother Island and find Dr. Otto. Ask him about the progress on the Antarctic Vibranium," Batman ordered.
"Alright," Robin nodded. Sheathing the double-bladed axe on his back, he leapt away in a few bounds toward South Brother Island.
Once Robin left, Batman immediately headed into the underground Batcave and began tinkering with a series of chemical materials he had prepared before leaving for Wakanda.
A full half-hour later, Robin returned from South Brother Island. Glancing around and seeing that Batman wasn't above ground, he immediately dove into the underground Batcave as well.
At the moment, Batman was buried in work, messing with a sequence of reagents that Venom-Robin couldn't make heads or tails of. Hearing Robin's footsteps, he asked without turning around:
"What took you so long?"
Venom-Robin chuckled.
"Played with Hulk for a bit."
Heading to South Brother Island with the massive double-bladed axe on his back, he had originally intended to show off a bit in front of the Hulk and the Lizard.
And just as Robin expected, the moment Dr. Banner saw the axe, his attention was completely arrested. Then, the Hulk took over for Dr. Banner, eagerly reaching out to grab the weapon.
Hulk thought Robin had brought the weapon specifically for him.
The two of them fooled around for a while. It wasn't until Dr. Otto came over, propped up by his remaining two mechanical tentacles (the other two had been snapped off while playing with Hulk and the Lizard), and did a lot of persuading that Hulk finally gave up on trying to snatch the axe from Robin.
"And the Antarctic Vibranium?" Batman still didn't pause his work.
"Oh, Dr. Otto managed to secretly get some remnants of the Antarctic Vibranium from Silver Sable... it weighs about 0.3 grams," Robin quickly got down to business. "But what can we even do with such a tiny amount? We already have five hundred kilograms of Wakandan vibranium."
"Vibranium alone isn't enough. I need to mix Antarctic Vibranium with special metals to create Adamantium. That is the ideal material for building the Batmobile," Batman explained.
Venom-Robin scratched his head. He used to scratch the back of his head, but ever since the massive double-bladed axe was strapped there, blocking his reach, he could only scratch the top of his head.
"So we're going to build a Batmobile with 0.3 grams of Antarctic Vibranium? Who's going to drive it?"
After saying this, Robin looked around on the ground, found an ant in the corner, and pinched it up. "This guy?"
Batman pointed to the tabletop nearby, where a piece of Wakandan vibranium weighing less than ten grams, which he had prepared beforehand, was resting.
"Take this to Dr. Otto. Have him test whether Wakandan vibranium possesses the conditions necessary to be converted into Antarctic Vibranium."
Venom-Robin took the vibranium and turned to leave. Just as he was about to step out of the Batcave, Batman spoke again:
"This time, stay by Dr. Otto's side and learn from him. It will be beneficial for you."
Venom-Robin readily agreed, though whether he actually studied once he reached South Brother Island wasn't something the old Bat could control.
Two hours after Venom-Robin left, Batman finally stopped his work.
Some of the test tubes and reagents were spent and useless, while others had even shattered into pieces.
But Batman didn't care. The item he truly wanted had already been completed—a vial of red liquid substance: Pym Particles.
Before heading to Wakanda, Batman had already thoroughly researched Pym Particles.
The only difficulty in synthesizing Pym Particles lay in the utterly precise formula and its complex composition. Even Batman had to try dozens of times and simulate it hundreds of times in his mind before successfully replicating it perfectly.
Stowing the vial of Pym Particles away—still keeping it as one of his trump cards against the Hulk—Batman finally made his way to the Batcave's intelligence center.
During the two days he was away from New York, no disasters had struck the city, but that didn't mean nothing had happened at all.
For instance, the four individuals at the Baxter Building: Reed Richards and his companions.
"Tony," Batman connected to an encrypted channel with Iron Man. "Have you paid a visit to Reed yet?"
Tony Stark's side seemed occupied with something unknown, as it took several minutes before he responded:
"Which Reed?"
"...Oh, you mean the 'Fantastic Four'?"
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