Venom Robin thought Batman would protect him this time, but Batman didn't. Instead, he reached behind himself and dragged Venom Robin out.
Even things that Dr. Banner and Dr. Octavius could figure out, Batman had naturally already anticipated.
"Robin, I brought you here today precisely for this purpose."
Dr. Banner's eyes lit up, and the mechanical tentacles behind Dr. Octavius danced impatiently in the air. He turned to set up the platform, and Professor Morbius hurried over to lend a hand.
Venom Robin watched with trepidation, pointing at Dr. Octavius as he asked Batman:
"What is he doing?"
Dr. Octavius had already put on his goggles. Hearing this, he turned his head and grinned at Venom Robin:
"Building an experimental platform."
Venom Robin shrank back. He had originally thought that Dr. Octavius—who just happened to have a few extra mechanical tentacles—was the easiest of the four scientists on South Brother Island to pick on. He hadn't expected him to become the one he feared most at this moment.
"The weather is nice tonight. Morbius, help me assemble these prisms into a condensing lens and add an adjustable knob."
Dr. Octavius said to Professor Morbius:
"We need to test how natural moonlight differs from Khonshu's moonlight regarding their effects on Robin, and whether different intensities of moonlight will affect him..."
"And artificially simulated moonlight," Dr. Banner chimed in, finding a moment to interrupt.
Dr. Octavius nodded:
"Exactly. My nuclear fusion reactor can simulate sunlight, and through conversion, it can fully simulate moonlight."
The three scientists got straight to work. Neglecting their unfinished dinners, they quickly divided the labor and busied themselves.
"Don't worry." Batman noticed Venom Robin's nervousness and placed a hand on his shoulder to reassure him.
"What do I have to be worried about?" Venom Robin curled his lip, saying one thing but meaning another.
The process of building the platform was not complex. With Dr. Octavius's four mechanical tentacles, he alone was worth three or four men.
previously, when Batman needed a proton accelerator, Dr. Octavius had built it all by himself. Building a moonlight platform now was a piece of cake for him.
Soon, after Morbius finished assembling the condensing lens, he was shooed away by Dr. Octavius. Even Dr. Banner couldn't find a way to intervene. The two stood aside, watching Dr. Octavius's four tentacles flying in unison, moving like a tireless machine.
Venom Robin hugged his knees and hid off to the side, sulking in silence for a long time.
Dr. Banner looked at Batman, quietly signaling toward Robin with his eyes, and lowered his voice:
"Robin looks pretty scared."
"This is a step he must go through," Batman said in a deep voice.
"Shall I go talk to him?" Dr. Banner asked.
Batman looked at Dr. Banner, thought for a few seconds, and slowly nodded.
Dr. Banner didn't hesitate. He walked to the dining table, picked up his unfinished dinner, went over to Venom Robin, and sat down on the ground next to him. He ate while making idle small talk with Robin.
Venom Robin: "Is it good?"
Dr. Banner: "The taste is okay. Are you sure you don't want to try some?"
"I only like chocolate."
Batman and Morbius relied on their respective super-hearing to listen for a while, but realizing they were just exchanging nutritional-less chatter, they exchanged a glance and silently shook their heads.
"Professor Morbius, I've encountered a situation."
Batman stopped paying attention to Robin and spoke to Professor Morbius.
"About what?" Professor Morbius asked, opening his mouth full of sharp fangs.
Batman took a piece of paper from his utility belt. On it was a drawing of the stone slab fragment from the Metropolitan Museum.
"This object—can you identify its origin?"
Professor Morbius took the paper, wrinkling his gray-black face as he examined it carefully for a long moment.
"Yesterday, I mentioned that after becoming a vampire, I specifically looked into the myths and legends of various countries... I suspect this stone fragment is related to those myths?"
Batman nodded slightly.
"Let me think... where did you get the information on this stone fragment?" Professor Morbius asked. "Are there any key clues?"
"From what I know so far, this stone fragment is suspected to be from the 12th century. It might be a rubbing from a knight's tombstone. Currently, the only clue on the internet related to it is a British archaeologist who passed away last century," Batman said. "It might be the family crest of the Whitman family."
"12th century, a British knight?" Like Batman, Professor Morbius immediately thought of King Arthur. "What was that British archaeologist's name?"
Batman looked at Professor Morbius with a frown:
"Ellis Whitman."
Professor Morbius kept rotating the paper, observing the shape of the stone fragment from different angles:
"Just as you surmised, this object indeed comes from the Whitman family. I've seen the Whitman family crest in an ancient book; this looks to be a part of that crest."
Batman remained impassive; these were clues he had already deduced. He was hoping to get some different answers from Professor Morbius.
Professor Morbius did not disappoint. He handed the paper back to Batman and looked down at his hands, which had already turned into claws:
"The family crest alone isn't enough of a clue, but I read about some other legends in that book."
"Such as?" Batman pressed.
"Legend has it that the pattern on the Whitman family crest originated from the residue marks left on the legendary wizard Merlin's furnace when he forged the Ebony Blade," Professor Morbius said.
This was a piece of information that Batman and Robin hadn't found despite scouring the entire internet, and it once again confirmed what Batman had said earlier: not every answer can be obtained through hacking.
"The Ebony Blade?" Batman noted this term he hadn't heard before.
Professor Morbius was pleased that the content of the books he had hurriedly skimmed through during his transformation was proving useful:
"Compared to the brilliant and dazzling Sword in the Stone in King Arthur's hand, the Ebony Blade isn't even mentioned in most legends. It was the weapon of Sir Percy, a knight at King Arthur's side."
"After Sir Percy died, the Ebony Blade was passed down, becoming the hereditary weapon of the Whitman family."
"That is all the content the book had. That book is currently in a sewer in Queens. I stole it from the New York Public Library when I turned into a vampire; no one discovered it."
Batman turned to look at Dr. Banner, who was awkwardly chatting with Venom Robin not far away. He quickly connected the series of clues he had collected so far in his mind.
Judging solely from the current clues, there was no connection between the Whitman family or the Ebony Blade and the Dark Wind Group far away in Japan, nor with Kingpin, whose whereabouts were unknown.
To solve this riddle, someone must infiltrate the Dark Wind Group to conduct a deeper investigation.
Previously, Venom Robin had wanted to go to Yokohama, Japan, but Batman had said there was someone else chosen for Japan.
Among everyone Batman was currently in contact with, only Black Cat was the most suitable.
Oscorp Tower, the abandoned shipyard, the F.E.A.S.T. Shelter, the Catholic church, Roosevelt Island, the empty building in Queens, Rykers Island Prison...
Hawkeye had spent the entire day traversing New York. While collecting clues about Batman, he personally visited those places where Batman had been sighted to investigate.
At this moment, he was sitting cross-legged on the bed of a dilapidated apartment, writing a series of collected clues on paper and using a pen to link them together.
"Batman is obviously my mission target," Hawkeye muttered to himself.
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