Chapter 294: Wrong Process, Right Conclusion
Code-named D-2, the "Ant Farm," also known as Big House Prison.
This was one of SHIELD's highest-level secrets—like the Cube, it held extremely dangerous prisoners.
Black Widow sat in her cell, watching the occasional massive ant patrol past. A flash of helplessness crossed her face.
In any other prison, she could use language, hypnosis, seduction—any number of methods to engineer an escape. At minimum, she could access information from the outside world.
But in the Ant Farm, the guards were ants wearing specialized equipment. Seduction and similar tactics were completely useless.
She'd considered targeting Ant-Man Hank Pym directly, or figuring out who else was imprisoned here.
But there was a reason the Ant Farm had its alternate name "Big House"—the cells here were built almost entirely from basic building blocks. Beyond essential lighting, there were practically no electronic devices.
This killed Black Widow's idea of secretly building a radio transmitter to send distress signals.
"That old fox Nick Fury!" Black Widow watched a giant ant pass by, its antennae probing the air. "What the hell is he playing at?"
She could imagine that from the day Ant-Man and Wasp captured her and locked her in the Ant Farm, Nick Fury had already spread word through SHIELD that "Black Widow is Hydra."
She even knew Fury was doing this to flush out snakes—to completely eliminate Hydra operatives embedded deep within SHIELD.
"But who could've known that Ant-Man and Wasp—supposedly cut off from SHIELD years ago—were secretly working for them all along? Even the mysterious D-2 is under their control?"
Now Black Widow could only pray that Fury's plan had no gaps, that no one besides SHIELD and Hydra knew she was in New York.
Otherwise, with multiple factions converging on the city, the muddy waters would only get muddier.
---
On Bat Island, Venom Robin continued his physical training.
And during that training, Batman was also developing Venom Robin's thinking and mental capacity.
"Old Bat, you only gave yourself fifteen days to find Black Widow. But from what I know, you and Hawkeye together don't even know where she is, right?"
The development method was simple—Venom Robin asked questions he didn't understand, and Batman provided answers:
"Finding one agent skilled at hiding herself among billions of people worldwide—especially one we strongly suspect is a double agent—is fifteen days enough?"
"Time is sufficient." Batman said. "Black Widow is in New York."
Batman spoke in declarative terms, as if stating fact rather than speculation.
"Why are you so sure?" Venom Robin asked.
"Because Hawkeye came from the Cube to New York. Therefore Black Widow must also be here." Batman said. "Even though I suspect Hawkeye's target is me, not Black Widow."
"So how did you reach this conclusion?" Venom Robin asked.
"Because among all the cities in the world, only New York has Batman, Hawkeye, Iron Man, plus Ant-Man and Wasp—whom we've never encountered." Batman said.
"Wait, don't explain yet. Let me think." Venom Robin rapidly worked his brain. "If Black Widow is Hydra, then she'd definitely try to proactively contact you and Iron Man. So she must be in New York?"
"If she's a SHIELD agent... then she wouldn't be separated from her partner Hawkeye at all. So Hawkeye being sent to New York was precisely to reunite with Black Widow?"
Batman watched Venom Robin in silence for several seconds. He'd thought Robin might discover the problem from Ant-Man and Wasp's angle, but hadn't expected Robin's reasoning process to go so wildly off track:
"Wrong process. Right conclusion."
"Huh?" Venom Robin struggled to resist scratching his head.
Batman sighed quietly. He knew if he didn't explain clearly, Robin would stay confused:
"A month ago, Tony Stark returned from the Middle East and announced he was shutting down his weapons division."
"Days later, he built a suit of armor and called himself 'Iron Man.'"
"Also a month ago, SHIELD Director Nick Fury secretly visited Tony's house, asking about high-end weapons supply issues."
"That same night, I infiltrated a Manhattan safe house and met Nick Fury right after he'd left Tony Stark's place."
"SHIELD's high-end weapons were previously all supplied by Stark Industries. After losing that supply chain, I investigated every company Fury might contact next. I narrowed it down to five with sufficient capability."
"Among those companies, Pym Technologies—owned by Ant-Man and Wasp—was most likely to become Fury's next target."
"I suspect Ant-Man and Wasp have maintained contact with SHIELD all along, rather than being disconnected for years as my earlier research indicated."
"Combined with Hawkeye inexplicably being sent to New York, plus everything that's happened in New York these past two months—I'm ninety percent certain Black Widow is in New York."
"More specifically, she's inside Pym Technologies Tower right now."
After explaining his reasoning, Batman looked at Venom Robin, hoping he'd spot the holes in this logic so Batman could guide him further.
Like how Pym Technologies wasn't like Stark Industries—it had no external commercial operations, didn't even own weapons factories.
Like how Hawkeye being imprisoned in the Cube six weeks ago—hard to say whether Fury was involved in that plan, specifically to let Black Widow fully infiltrate Hydra.
Like how Hawkeye was now released while Black Widow had vanished—the more reasonable speculation would be that Black Widow had completely embedded within Hydra, about to coordinate with Hawkeye from inside and outside to take down Hydra.
Unfortunately, though Venom Robin was smart, his brain couldn't keep pace with Batman's. He couldn't maintain both high-intensity physical training and extreme mental activity simultaneously.
Batman could do this after decades of daily conditioning. Venom Robin had only existed for two months. Batman just shook his head internally without voicing his thoughts, not wanting to discourage him.
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BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP!
The moment Lunella and Ben Grimm returned to Baxter Building, alarm systems throughout the entire structure erupted.
Soft white lights rapidly switched to red warning lights. Heavy steel barriers rose over the building's exterior glass walls. Fingerprint-locked weapons sprang from nearly every wall and corridor throughout the building.
Simultaneously, as Baxter Building entered alert status, the warning signal shot out to NYPD, the Department of Defense, the Air Force, the World Security Council, SHIELD, the White House, the Pentagon—
In less than five seconds, virtually every organization capable of rapidly deploying military force received the distress signal from Baxter Building.
"Lunella, I think we're in trouble." Ben Grimm sucked in a cold breath. He knew Baxter Building had just entered maximum defense mode.
Reed Richards—a genius scientist not yet thirty years old—was considered so valuable that his personal safety was second in priority only to the President.
Lunella said nothing. She clutched the circular object with spokes to her chest, then rapidly removed several components from her Batman-hunting device. She stared unblinking at the device's radar.
Several seconds later, Lunella looked up at Ben Grimm:
"The building hasn't been breached. My device detects no one inside except Reed, Susan, you, and me."
"Then this alarm..." Ben frowned. He and Lunella both looked at the mysterious circular spoke-covered object. "It's related to this thing?"
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