Chapter 12: Silver Sable and Black Cat
If he went all out, Batman could throw all fifty security personnel within seconds.
But he wouldn't do that. Batman relied on these days of training to firmly control the force of every punch and kick, keeping it at roughly his former level as Batman.
Even so, the security personnel were still no match for Batman. One after another, they were thrown and knocked unconscious using various combat techniques.
Until Silver Sable looked at Batman with interest, appearing eager to try:
"Who are you? You can take down seven or eight of my people barehanded? Interested in sparring with me?"
"No interest." Batman coldly spat out two words, jumping outside the laboratory's security door. He raised his hand, shot webbing, and left without looking back.
Silver Sable stood in place. The multifunctional belt at her waist tightly bound her slender waist, making her figure even more striking.
"Holding back everywhere. Doesn't seem like a bad person... Did he learn about Oscorp's human experiments through some channel and specifically came to collect evidence?"
She didn't stop Batman, letting him leave. She turned back, continuing to photograph those test subjects with her phone for evidence.
Once daylight came, Silver Sable would deliver all these photos to the NYPD.
"Biotech facility..."
Batman left the underground Level 2 laboratory. He didn't leave Oscorp Tower. Instead, he climbed the exterior wall upward, using webbing and wall-crawling ability to reach the twentieth floor.
According to Peter's journal entries, he'd been on the twenty-first floor when bitten by the artificially cultivated, genetically mutated spider.
"Biotech companies inevitably give each organism a unique identification number. I only need to find information about that specific spider, see when it went missing."
"As long as it matches Peter's journal content, it proves the ability's source was genetic mutation, not experimental acquisition."
Whether genetic mutation or experiment, from Batman's perspective he didn't want either.
But if forced to choose, Batman would rather it came from genetic mutation than human experiments costing dozens of lives.
One hour, two hours...
Batman searched continuously for three full hours, from the twentieth floor all the way to the thirtieth, still finding no news about that spider.
Night was ending. The horizon showed pale light. Batman, seemingly tireless, continued toward the thirty-first floor.
"Nothing, still nothing..."
Batman tossed aside another stack of materials about genetically mutated spiders, his brows furrowed.
Continuing this search would likely prove futile. He needed another method.
Just as Batman planned to go to the thirty-second floor, the building directory beside the stairwell made Batman's eyes brighten.
Floors one through ten were publicly accessible areas. Ten through twenty were various laboratories. Twenty and above were core biotech areas, all the way to fifty-three.
From that floor to the sixtieth were the private domain of Oscorp's founder and chairman, Norman Osborn.
Norman's chairman office was at the very top—the sixtieth floor—occupying over half that floor's area.
"That genetically mutated spider's disappearance would inevitably be reported upward by base-level employees or research personnel. I only need to search Norman's office or the office of the executive responsible for genetically mutated spiders."
Understanding this, Batman stopped wasting time, climbing the tower's exterior wall upward.
Click.
Top floor, sixtieth level. Batman looked around, confirming no one was present before lightly dropping from a ventilation shaft.
But before he could act, his movement froze.
Besides him, another person existed here—someone he never expected: Black Cat.
This woman with snow-white long hair wearing a bodysuit was kneeling on one knee before a cabinet in Norman's office, constantly searching for something.
The form-fitting black leather outfit exposed her waist-to-hip ratio unmistakably, round as a ripe peach.
Due to angle issues and lacking the Batsuit's "detective mode," Batman hadn't discovered she was here before landing.
'Peter's spider-sense can rapidly analyze microscopic environmental information elements for danger warnings, but provides no help for presences without hostility.'
Batman silently noted this. He watched Black Cat rummaging through everything, seemingly also planning to find something in Norman's office like himself.
"You look quite busy."
Batman waited a moment. When Black Cat started sticking her rear up searching the cabinet's bottom layer, he spoke.
A voice suddenly emerging in the dead of night startled Black Cat, making her bounce up from the floor like a thief caught red-handed... which was indeed the case.
"Who are you?" Black Cat assumed an attacking stance with hands like claws.
"Who are you?" Batman stood motionless in shadow.
"I'm Kingpin, New York's underground emperor. I suggest you leave immediately!" Black Cat used the most menacing tone possible.
"..." Batman looked at this cooperation partner he'd previously thought decent, momentarily unsure what to say.
Perhaps because he stood in shadow, or Batman's low speaking voice reminded Black Cat of something, she slowly relaxed her guard while looking at him, surprised and delighted:
"Batman?"
"What are you doing here?"
Seeing Black Cat had recognized him, Batman finally stepped from shadow, letting Black Cat fully relax her guard.
"Kingpin hired Squid-Man to kill you. Did you know that? Also, I always thought you were some kind of monster. Turns out you're just human like me?"
Black Cat looked at Batman, entirely shrouded in black tactical clothing with even his face completely covered, like a ninja.
"Not the same." Batman shook his head slightly. "What are you doing here?"
His soul came from another world, a place completely different from here.
"I heard Kingpin is one of Oscorp's shareholders. Wanted to see if I could find related information." Black Cat resumed rummaging. "I don't want to see Kingpin's gang growing stronger. What about you?"
"I'm searching for materials related to Oscorp's biotech." Batman said.
"Biotech? Genetic modification and such? I remember there's one right there." Black Cat casually pointed at materials she'd carelessly discarded on the floor nearby.
Batman quickly stepped forward and picked up the materials. They recorded exactly what he'd been searching for—the spider that gave Peter his abilities.
The dates recorded for this spider's disappearance and when its corpse was found were precisely the day Peter visited Oscorp.
Without reason, Batman breathed a heavy sigh of relief. But immediately after, his nerves tensed again.
Kingpin had invested in a major multinational enterprise like Oscorp. This meant the New York crime boss held massive capital... and a gang possessing massive capital was an extremely terrifying thing.
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