Chapter 230: The Metropolitan Museum
Parker Tower comprised sixty-six floors total.
Unlike Oscorp Tower and Stark Tower, Parker Tower's sixty-fifth and sixty-sixth floors were partially integrated—beyond serving as Batman's office, they contained dedicated fitness facilities, medical areas, and rest zones.
Except for lacking a garden and the scale of a manor, this space possessed every essential manor function.
Though Batman wouldn't utilize most amenities—the private bar, private theater, for instance.
Currently, Batman stood before floor-to-ceiling windows measuring eight meters tall, hands clasped behind his back, overlooking New York.
Behind him, Parker Industries CEO Alice waited with hands folded, ready for instructions.
"This is my encrypted communications channel. Use it only when absolutely necessary."
Batman didn't linger at the windows long. After delegating Parker Industries and Alice's responsibilities, extensive tasks still demanded attention.
As he spoke, Batman handed Alice a USB drive. She accepted it with both hands, carefully securing it.
"Additionally, send complete information about all vacant floors in this building to this email address."
Batman wrote down an email sequence. Alice recorded that as well.
After organizing his thoughts, confirming nothing had been overlooked, Batman left Alice to work in the office while he traveled through multiple indirect routes, returning to the Batcave via sewers.
With Parker Tower's construction completed and operational, the simultaneously initiated Manhattan District Batcave had also finished.
The Batcave contained two levels. Level one housed servers, trophy displays, suit storage, Batmobile parking, and areas with basic medical functionality.
The concealed second level functioned as a safe house, additionally containing three backup Arkham suits and one spare Batmobile.
However, with Bat-Island construction still incomplete, the Batcave's second level temporarily served as secure containment.
The unconscious Osborn father and son plus others were positioned here, Batman monitoring their physiological data through hidden sensors.
Relocating them from level one to level two ensured Batman's next activities remained absolutely confidential.
He was summoning Gotham's butler—Alfred Pennyworth.
"I am Alfred Pennyworth. My goodness, you resemble your father remarkably."
Over forty years later, Batman still clearly recalled the butler's first return from England to Gotham—his tone and inflection when speaking those words.
When Batman deliberately searched memory for the butler's traces, he could recall anything Alfred had said at any moment, under any circumstances.
Superman Clark represented the anchor point stabilizing multiversal physical reality in Batman's original world.
Throughout Batman's life, if anyone served as his anchor as "Bruce Wayne"—his return point after dark crusades, humanity's final defense line...
That person could only be Alfred. The butler who was father, friend, confidant.
Recreating Alfred represented enormously ambitious engineering. Far beyond anything completable within this Batcave in one day. Batman was simply utilizing the workstation for fundamental code writing.
Ten full hours. From daylight through deep night. Code cascaded across Batman's screen like torrential rain without pause.
Yet even so, Alfred AI's foundational code had completed barely one ten-thousandth.
11 PM. Batman ceased coding, instead purchasing—through layered encryption via various trust funds—extensive server components for constructing Alfred AI infrastructure.
Unlike Oracle AI's server—costing tens of thousands of dollars for simple construction—
Alfred AI's server wouldn't merely provide tactical support. It required functionality during catastrophic events demanding entire Justice League coordination.
Under these parameters, Batman would personally construct complete server clusters.
Required funding represented astronomical figures—enough purchasing multiple current-scale Parker Industries corporations. One component alone: minimum thirty-six near-Earth orbit satellites.
Therefore Batman's purchased components represented only portions enabling preliminary foundational code operation.
After New Mexico's high-intensity combat, returning to New York handling extensive complications, then sustained mental exertion—
Even Batman felt faint exhaustion. He required rest before returning to contemplate Venom Robin's prolonged dormancy problem.
Batman stood, silently inspecting the Arkham suit's various functions before driving the Batmobile from the Batcave.
Night patrol and crime-fighting represented Batman's rest methodology.
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Moonlight fell like water, adding pale luminescence to New York's brilliantly lit night sky.
Like Gotham, New York contained numerous buildings decorated with gargoyles and grotesques. These ornamentations marked Gilded Age architectural aesthetics from the late 19th through early 20th centuries, concentrated primarily throughout Manhattan districts.
Notable examples included Wall Street's pterodactyl-styled gargoyles overlooking Trinity Church and the bustling Financial District.
Currently, Batman wasn't positioned at Wall Street but near Central Park in Manhattan—Fifth Avenue at 82nd Street.
Although New York didn't experience Gotham's constant rain, Batman—currently half-crouched atop a gargoyle statue beneath moonlight—radiated undiminished terrifying presence.
His cape wrapped half his body. White-lit eyes studied a group of furtive figures nearby coldly.
Five individuals total. Moving swiftly with professional precision, they scaled walls approaching a Metropolitan Museum of Art skylight.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art represented America's largest art museum, world-renowned, containing precious artifacts and artworks from Egypt, Greece, Rome, Europe, and beyond.
Batman didn't immediately apprehend these obvious professional thieves. He wanted observing their theft objectives, purposes, then combining subsequent interrogation to determine whether larger organizations operated behind them.
"I've worked here two full years preparing for this operation."
One masked figure in tactical night clothing spoke quietly to his companions.
Others nodded. After the leader executed standard tactical hand signals, two team members advanced, using specialized tools to silently open the skylight. All five climbed inside sequentially.
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