Chapter 2: A Completely Unfamiliar World
"The fastest method is to find this world's Bruce Wayne, assuming he exists here."
"Knowing myself as I do, he would never believe that Peter's body contains another Bruce Wayne's consciousness. So my best option is to knock him out directly, imprison him, and keep him contained until I can develop a method to return to my original world."
Batman turned his attention to what appeared to be Peter's cobbled-together, self-assembled computer, its case replaced by a shoebox.
It looked like junk, but fortunately it ran smoothly enough. Batman quickly opened a browser and searched a series of keywords.
As his fingers danced across the keyboard, Batman's expression grew increasingly serious. Finally, he simply stood and walked to the window, watching the traffic flowing through the streets below.
This world had no Gotham, no Metropolis, no Central City. Similarly, there was no billionaire Bruce Wayne. This wasn't a parallel universe. This was a completely unfamiliar world.
There was no Kryptonian who arrived by spaceship in a Kansas farm field, no demigoddess princess from Themyscira. Instead, there was some guy in red and blue spandex calling himself Spider-Man.
"Starting from zero. The timeline to get back has been stretched indefinitely. But this won't stop me. Because ...I'm Batman."
"I need money, a base of operations, equipment, gear, and complete mastery of this body."
Batman clenched his fist hard. He clearly remembered the sudden chill that appeared in Dr. Octavius's lab earlier today, just before the alarm sounded.
He wouldn't tolerate any ability within himself that wasn't under his control. Since coming to this world required building from nothing, he needed to formulate a comprehensive plan and bring everything under his command.
As he tightened his fist, Batman discovered something else: this body possessed tremendous strength, far exceeding the human limits he'd once achieved.
Though nowhere near the power level of his Hellbat armor, he conservatively estimated around twenty tons of force.
This strength didn't make Batman grateful for lucking into a powerful body. Instead, it made him deeply anxious.
Precognitive danger sense, strength far beyond normal humans, mysteriously transmigrating into this body, the whereabouts of Peter's soul... none of these things were under Batman's control.
Taking a deep breath, Batman immediately began searching Peter's rented apartment.
Online information about Peter showed only an ordinary college student. Batman needed to find more information about Peter from his apartment.
Soon, a red and blue costume covered in web patterns, two wrist-mounted devices, a journal, and several canisters of chemical compounds were laid out on Peter's somewhat messy computer desk.
The costume looked identical to the Spider-Man suit he'd seen on the computer. Those two small devices were the tools Spider-Man used to shoot webbing.
The journal was chaotic. The first few pages appeared to have been used as scratch paper by Peter Parker, covered in chemical formulas.
Batman carefully examined them and discovered these were the formulas for the web fluid used in the web shooters. Those canisters of chemicals were semi-finished products, needing only to be mixed in certain proportions to create the final solution.
The following pages contained Peter's hand-drawn sketches, showing the Spider-Man costume design.
All evidence pointed to one conclusion: Peter Parker was Spider-Man.
Night fell. Batman had no intention of sleeping. He quickly located an abandoned shipyard not far away on the map, changed into a set of Peter's black clothes, and left the apartment.
"I need to fully understand this body's speed, strength, reflexes, and senses. But for now, all I can test are strength and speed."
The abandoned shipyard looked somewhat eerie in the darkness. When wind blew through, creaking sounds echoed everywhere.
Exposed pipes leaking foul water and piles of industrial waste made this a place even beggars wouldn't frequent.
Batman's luck held. He found a rusted gantry crane here, with over a dozen counterweight blocks scattered on the ground nearby.
Through testing, his strength under normal conditions reached twenty-five tons. In terms of speed, with superhuman strength augmentation, he could sprint at 190 kilometers per hour.
Batman also discovered that regardless of obstacles or terrain complexity, his reaction speed handled everything with ease.
Possessing this series of physical capabilities, Batman couldn't help glancing at the two web shooters he'd brought along.
Recalling the videos of Peter swinging through the air with various flamboyant moves, Batman's mouth twitched. After a moment's hesitation, he strapped the web shooters onto his hands.
Two minutes later, looking thoroughly uncomfortable, Batman removed the web shooters. Even though he'd once used a similar grappling gun, he couldn't adapt to Peter's overly ostentatious web-swinging style.
"If I use special force application techniques, both strength and speed could improve another level."
Batman silently recorded all data about this body in his mind while formulating a complete training regimen.
He wouldn't abandon training just because Peter's body was so powerful. In his mind, this strength didn't belong to him at all.
Muscle memory, conditioned reflexes, combat techniques, Batman needed to retrain every single aspect.
Over the next three days, aside from the necessary one or two hours of sleep, Batman spent his days navigating New York's streets and alleys to learn everything about this world. At night, wearing black clothes, he continuously trained his body at the abandoned shipyard.
Using his identity as an Empire State University student, Batman secretly analyzed his blood composition using the school's laboratory equipment and conducted tests on every aspect of this body, including healing ability and sensory acuity.
From the traces Peter left behind, Batman had thoroughly investigated the source of all this body's abilities: a genetically mutated spider.
Even that invisible, intangible danger sense, Batman found in Peter's notes that it had been named "spider-sense."
"From a scientific perspective, this ability represents the brain's extraordinarily rapid, subconscious-level processing of micro-environmental changes, ultimately projected into consciousness as a warning signal."
"In that case, I can conduct targeted training."
In the deepest section of the abandoned shipyard, Batman had cleared out a warehouse. A large map of New York City hung on the wall.
More than fifty colored pins of various hues were stuck into the map. Around the map's perimeter were character files clipped from different newspapers or handwritten notes.
These represented currently active major gang organizations in New York. Batman stood before the map with arms crossed, as if he'd designated all of New York as his hunting ground.
"Experiments and building instruments capable of precisely locating my original world will require massive funding and space. I need to build from nothing, establish a commercial empire in New York comparable to Wayne Enterprises to provide sufficient support."
"Dr. Octavius's fusion energy presents a good business opportunity. But I need startup capital to enter the game."
"My first fortune starts with these gangs."