Chapter 292: Smart Enough Opponents
Before dawn even broke the next day, rumors had already spread to everyone who knew Batman, had heard of Batman, or felt either fear or fascination toward him.
By nightfall on the third day, the rumors had fully fermented. From Facebook—which had just launched its app in September—to the mainstream MySpace, "Batman" dominated every social media platform's trending topics.
Anyone with a criminal record lived in constant fear. Nobody knew when Batman might drop from the sky and torture them beyond recognition.
Most ordinary people felt a mix of curiosity and dread. Plenty of young people had even made Batman their idol, spinning wild stories about "Batman doing it all for a woman."
Another group believed Batman was some mythological figure come to life—naturally, these were Twilight readers. People like Captain George Stacy's daughter, Gwen Stacy.
But Garrett didn't belong to any of these groups. He had a completely different take on Batman's actions.
"Approximately five-foot-five. Good figure. White female."
"A woman matching that description, worth Batman spending nearly an entire night interrogating hundreds of New York's street thugs and gang members. I can think of only one person who fits."
Inside a Hell's Kitchen nightclub, Garrett leaned back against the bar with both elbows propped behind him, watching the crowd sway to the music on the dance floor.
The disco ball flashed and dimmed, bathing Garrett's face in alternating shades of green and red.
He watched two strangers—couldn't have known each other more than three minutes—wrap their arms around each other on the floor. A smile crept across his face as he reached a conclusion:
"Like me, Batman's hunting for Black Widow."
"Either he's SHIELD, or he's Hydra. No other options."
"That might actually be good news for me."
Unlike Tony Stark, whose father Howard Stark was one of SHIELD's founding members—giving Tony natural ties to the organization even if he wasn't officially part of it—Garrett had avoided approaching Tony's super-bodyguard "Iron Man" precisely because he suspected Iron Man might be a SHIELD operative secretly protecting Stark.
Based on public footage, Iron Man could fly, possessed significant firepower, and wore seemingly indestructible metal armor. Garrett wasn't confident he could handle him.
"My equipment arrives in New York tomorrow. Perfect timing to test myself against Iron Man first. Then I'll meet this mysterious Batman."
Garrett straightened from the bar, smile still in place, and joined the dance floor.
---
"By my calculations, someone will try to contact you within three days at most. Two days have already passed."
On Hoffman Island—now Bat Island—Venom Robin asked casually while training with Batman:
"Old Bat, if—I mean if—SHIELD or Hydra tries to find you, are you ready?"
"Focus on your training, Robin." Batman said.
Venom Robin carried a massive weight block specially manufactured at Parker Industries' heavy industrial plant. He did push-ups while talking:
"Dad, you said I need to learn everything I can from you. This is something I don't understand."
The weight block massed fifty tons. Despite being solid lead, it took up less than five cubic meters.
That weight would flatten any normal person into a pancake. On Venom Robin's back, it looked easy.
Under this resistance training, Venom Robin's strength grew constantly. He'd long since surpassed Batman.
But even so, raw strength alone still couldn't let Venom Robin defeat Batman.
"SHIELD's manageable. Sure, the World Security Council behind them has Hydra infiltrators, but on the surface they're still an official security organization. They won't use extreme measures to get your attention."
"But what about Hydra? Batman, what if Hydra uses violent methods—like killing dozens or hundreds of people to force you out? What would you do?"
Venom Robin pressed. He'd been thinking about this question for a while without finding an answer.
"Robin, you need to stay focused during training. That's how you improve quickly." Batman kept his expression cold, arms crossed over his chest.
"I'm training my body and my brain simultaneously." Venom Robin shot back.
Batman shook his head:
"I'm talking about two nights ago, when you were working with me. I said it was training and practical application."
Venom Robin paused:
"Huh?"
Batman explained:
"If you'd been paying attention, you would've noticed I left traces with some of those criminals. Not many, but enough for truly professional people to find me."
"Uh." Venom Robin was speechless.
He tried hard to remember for a solid five or six minutes, but couldn't recall Batman leaving any clues:
"But we spent less than ten seconds with each criminal. Interrogations took maybe ten minutes tops. I don't remember you leaving anything behind."
"That's because your detective skills don't even come close to matching those SHIELD agents yet." Batman's voice remained low.
Venom Robin wanted to spit in disgust, but lacking salivary glands, he just stuck out his scarlet tongue:
"But that only works if the Hydra and SHIELD agents are smart enough... What if they send idiots?"
"Remember Abomination?" Batman asked.
"Sure. Blonsky's sleeping soundly down in the Batcave's second level." Venom Robin said.
"Is he smart?" Batman continued.
"He's dumb as rocks..." Venom Robin caught on halfway through. "If they're stupid enough, they're basically announcing themselves to us?"
"You're smart, Robin." Batman said.
"I don't think that was actually a compliment, Old Bat."
"Correct."
---
Baxter Building.
"Batman?"
"I'm curious what kind of creature he is, sure. But unless his existence or technology can directly solve our interstellar navigation problems, actively researching an uncontrollable variable has terrible cost-benefit ratio."
Reed Richards spoke to Ben Grimm, who'd just brought up Batman.
"Reed, the New York government isn't asking you to research him. They want tools to attract and capture him." Ben sipped his coffee casually. "Your head's full of cosmic rays and rocket fuel. Maybe treat this like a break."
"Look, Ben." Reed didn't even turn his head, eyes locked on his experimental data. "You know my primary research direction is interstellar travel. How could I spare time for Batman?"
"Then I'll figure out what to tell the government... Oh, got it." Ben said.
"What?" Reed asked absently.
"Dump it on Johnny."
As they talked, the little girl entered Reed's lab carrying a small device.
"Lunella, what's that?" Ben immediately abandoned Reed and turned to the girl.
"Dr. Cho said my previous invention was already obsolete. So I gave it a small upgrade." Lunella said.
"Really? What kind of upgrade specifically?" Ben had nothing better to do, so he asked while drinking his coffee. "I remember it identified faces and vehicles before. Now what? Can it identify the gasoline in a car's tank?"
"No. I want to use it to find Batman." The little girl Lunella said.
***
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