Deep in the night on South Brother Island, Professor Connors and Dr. Banner worked tirelessly on the development of the Gamma antidote.
Ten meters away from them, four mechanical tentacles clawed at the air, constructing a proton accelerator under Dr. Otto's manipulation.
Next to the unfinished accelerator, Batman was operating a series of complex experimental devices, conducting tests on the piece of Vibranium gifted by T'Challa.
"I thought Vibranium was just a legend, but I didn't expect to see the real thing today."
Behind him, the mechanical tentacles worked vigorously. Dr. Otto's expression was quite relaxed; he even had the leisure to exchange a few words with Batman.
"A metal that theoretically absorbs kinetic energy perfectly... if it weren't right here in front of my eyes, I wouldn't believe it was real either."
The experiment did not occupy all of Batman's attention; in fact, he was multitasking.
While conducting in-depth research on the kinetic absorption properties of Vibranium, he was conversing with Dr. Otto, all the while contemplating the matter of the Alfred AI in his mind.
As Dr. Otto assembled the proton accelerator, he was in a rather pleasant mood, which made him more talkative than usual:
"But you and I both know that is merely theory. There is no such thing as 'perfect' in this world, even if..."
"Even if Vibranium possesses almost extreme vibration absorption capabilities and a perfect periodic atomic arrangement," Batman continued Dr. Otto's train of thought, "sufficiently strong force will be conducted through the Vibranium, while weaker shocks are completely absorbed by it.
"Energy is conserved. Even the weakest energy does not vanish into thin air. So, when a weaker shock hits the Vibranium, where does the energy it absorbs go?"
With the dream of clean energy—controllable nuclear fusion—already realized, and working alongside top scientists like Banner and Connors, it was hard for Dr. Otto to be in a bad mood.
Finishing the assembly of the proton accelerator, Dr. Otto retracted his mechanical tentacles and slowly walked over to Batman, who was in the middle of the experiment:
"You already had a hypothesis, didn't you? Otherwise, there would be no reason to ask me to help you build a proton accelerator that seemingly has no use here."
Batman nodded slightly and placed the Vibranium under a sonic cannon.
This sonic cannon was the same model as the one on the Batmobile; it was a spare part Batman had manufactured in advance.
However, because the sonic cannon possessed frequency adjustment functions for various situations, it was now being used to divide the Vibranium.
Under the frequency adjustment of the sonic cannon, the molecular gaps of the palm-sized Vibranium widened, and Batman sliced off 0.5 grams of weight.
He then divided this 0.5 grams of Vibranium into one hundred equal portions. He took fifty portions and subjected them to proton bombardment using the proton accelerator for varying durations.
The other fifty portions were taken by Dr. Otto and placed inside a vacuum vessel that isolated all radiation.
Four hours later.
With nothing else to do for the moment but unable to sleep, Dr. Otto ran over to the artificial sun to record data.
Dr. Banner's brows were locked tight; he seemed to have fallen into a difficult problem.
Professor Connors, holding a colorless, transparent test tube, came to Batman's side and spoke:
"Batman, this is the first batch of the antidote. It is for The Leader."
Batman nodded silently, signaling Professor Connors to set the test tube aside.
"How were the results of the experiment?" Professor Connors asked.
"The mass of the different samples increased by 0.00004%," Batman said. "The proton count is the same, but there is one extra neutron."
"Regardless of the strength of the kinetic energy, after Vibranium absorbs it, it stores it to form its own isotope, holding it until the accumulated energy reaches a certain level before releasing it."
Professor Connors was a biology expert and a professor in the field of reptiles; he was a bit confused by the string of jargon Batman had just rattled off:
"Please speak English."
"I have discovered a Vibranium isotope," Batman said. "What needs to be done next is to isolate it."
"What is the significance of doing this..." Professor Connors asked cautiously.
Batman glanced at Professor Connors:
"Saving lives."
This simple phrase was more useful than thousands of sentences of explanation. Professor Connors immediately understood.
It wasn't until the sky lit up once again that the three scientists, along with Batman, finally stopped their respective work.
"This is Norman Osborn's antidote," Dr. Banner said, holding a bottle of light green reagent. "But like the dose for The Leader, I cannot guarantee it is one hundred percent effective. You had best prepare for the worst."
Batman took the reagent and packed it into a small briefcase along with the other transparent reagent.
He had long anticipated the possibility that the antidote created by Dr. Banner might be useless; after all, Dr. Banner couldn't even cure himself.
To completely solve the problem of the four Gamma monsters, Batman believed that editing at the genetic level might be more effective.
And that required the cooperation of Professor Miles Warren. Among the scientists Batman knew, only Warren, currently lying in a hospital bed, was involved in the field of genetics.
Even Dr. Banner had only dabbled superficially in genetic science.
Coincidentally, Professor Connors mentioned Professor Warren at this moment: "Batman, is Warren okay?"
South Brother Island was not cut off from the world. The three scientists could receive information from the outside every day, and the events at the Oscorp Tower had not been hidden from Professor Connors.
"He is out of critical danger," Batman said. "I will find the true culprit. Trust me."
As a close friend of Professor Warren, the fact that Professor Connors could remain composed after learning of Warren's severe injuries was in itself a testament to his trust in Batman.
—Half the reason for this was that Professor Connors knew explicitly that Batman was Peter Parker.
"I know." Professor Connors nodded. "My regeneration reagent is still under research. I hope to realize it as soon as possible and restore Professor Warren to full health."
Batman didn't respond. He turned his head to see Dr. Otto and Dr. Banner staring blankly at a diamond-shaped object in a vacuum vessel next to the particle accelerator.
"This is?" Dr. Banner adjusted his glasses, carefully examining the rhombus-shaped object.
"A Vibranium isotope. A completely new, unknown element." Seeing Batman remain silent, Dr. Otto introduced it.
"You created a new element, Batman." Even though he wasn't the one who did it, Dr. Banner rubbed his hands together in excitement. "This is enough to go down in history."
Batman shook his head slightly. He didn't have much interest in going down in history. He picked up the briefcase and the Vibranium isotope and left South Brother Island.
Meanwhile, inside a villa on Black's Beach, San Diego, California.
Tony Stark used a tissue to wipe the oil and ash from his face and head. With a hint of excitement, he stepped over a particle accelerator and used tweezers to pick up a triangular object emitting a cold blue glow.
"Congratulations, Sir," the JARVIS AI said. "You have created a new element."
"An isotope of the Tesseract. I hope it can replace it."
There wasn't much excitement on Tony Stark's face. The new element had been created, but whether it could be accepted by the reactor and revamp the energy core was still a question.
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