"Give me a reason," Tony Stark said, looking at Reed Richards.
Unless Reed Richards could provide a reason compelling enough to convince him, Tony would never hand over the Omni-Wave Projector before Batman returned, no matter how persuasively Reed spoke.
"My mother passed away when I was seven," Reed said. "I was raised by my father, but he disappeared when I was nineteen."
Tony Stark curled his lip slightly; this particular sob story wasn't going to move him.
Unable to see Tony's expression through the metal faceplate, Reed continued on his own:
"My father, Nathaniel Richards, was a genius scientist. He designed a time-travel machine intended to reach the future, hoping to see what lay ahead for him."
"Then he vanished completely. A year later, the government declared him dead. But to this day, I have never seen his body. There is no concrete evidence—it's as if he never existed in this world at all."
"So, what? You're telling me you're a charity case? And that's supposed to make me comfortable handing the Omni-Wave Projector over to you?" Tony Stark asked.
"No," Reed replied. "I don't believe my father is dead. I believe he traveled to an unknown time or world, and perhaps he is waiting for me to save him."
"So, despite your immense mastery of multiple scientific fields, your primary research remains interstellar flight?" Tony asked.
Reed Richards nodded.
"To be precise, my research focuses on space-time travel and dimensional planes. But currently, we can't even achieve basic interstellar flight, and there's still too much we don't understand about cosmic radiation... so my current work remains focused on space."
"But now, Tony, a device capable of creating a gateway to other worlds is sitting right in front of me. I have never been this close to finding my father... I'm imploring you to give me this chance."
As Reed spoke, his eyes were locked onto the Omni-Wave Projector, as if it might sprout wings and fly away the moment he looked elsewhere.
Tony Stark watched Reed in silence.
In the past, this reasoning wouldn't have moved him. The word "father" had always felt distant; Tony had rarely felt anything resembling "paternal love" from his own.
But now, the reactor in his chest was built based on the notes his father had left behind—data compiled sixty years ago while studying the Tesseract.
Though he had the Vibranium isotope discovered by Batman as a safety net, he couldn't ignore the help his father's clues about the Tesseract isotope had provided.
Tony Stark chose to compromise.
"Fine."
Overjoyed, Reed Richards stepped over the dinosaur carcasses on the ground and stood before the Omni-Wave Projector.
"I don't know the principles behind this projector, nor do I know if it can reopen a vortex to another world a second time."
"I need to perform a data analysis and build a virtual model..."
Reed Richards began his work, muttering to himself.
In the Primal World, Batman finally solved a mystery that had been bothering him for some time.
The superhuman ability Dr. Helen Cho had encountered was the young girl, Lunella, herself.
It was precisely because something like telepathy—which theoretically only existed in science fiction—had appeared in reality that Dr. Helen Cho had made the bold guess that Professor Warren's injuries were "caused by a vampire."
"You want to save that Tyrannosaurus Rex?" Batman understood the subtext of Lunella's words the moment she finished speaking.
Lunella nodded. She looked toward the T-Rex, whose body was glowing red from the heat inside the ring of fire. The dinosaur was looking back at her.
"Yes. If it weren't for him, I would have been burned alive by the fires those primitive men started, or choked to death by the smoke."
"But I'm just a little girl. I don't have the power to save him."
"And you, Batman—you're also my savior. I can't ask you to take another risk just for my sake."
At this, a look of distress crossed Lunella's face.
She was very intelligent, so she knew she was putting her benefactor, Batman, in opposition to her other benefactor—the T-Rex.
"Lunella, look at me." Without much hesitation, Batman spoke to her. "I understand how you feel. If I were saved by a beast, I would also choose to save it when it fell into danger."
"It's dangerous," Lunella whispered. "I feel like I'm guilt-tripping you, Batman."
"It protected you. That's enough," Batman said. "Remember what I said earlier?"
Lunella looked up at Batman's chin.
"What?"
"I am strong," Batman said.
In reality, even if Lunella hadn't spoken up, Batman had intended to bring back a living dinosaur to study why a creature from a primal world possessed telepathic abilities.
Now that Lunella had asked for help, Batman decided he no longer needed to tell the Lizard to show mercy to the other giant T-Rex; he would go alone to rescue the red-scorched Tyrannosaur.
Shing!
Holding Lunella with one arm, Batman's other hand swept toward his utility belt, pulling out a canister of hardening gel.
This substance could be used as an explosive, but it was equally effective at extinguishing fires. Batman had used it once before at the Gamma Base in New Mexico.
With a flick of his wrist, Batman hurled the hardening gel. Before it even hit the ground, his hand reached for the utility belt again.
This time, he pulled out four Batarangs.
Batman carried a wide variety of Batarangs—from standard ones to those with built-in scanners for long-range analysis, to those that released irritant gases, sedatives, or hypnotics.
The Batarangs currently gripped between his fingers were hollow, filled with compressed cryogenic gel. They were quite effective against fires fueled simply by large amounts of wood.
However, "quite effective" didn't mean total suppression. It was unrealistic to expect a single canister of hardening gel and four Batarangs to completely extinguish a fire ring burning two to three meters high.
But Batman didn't need the fire completely out. He only needed the intensity to decrease enough for him to charge back into the flames while holding Lunella and lift the red T-Rex out with one hand.
"Don't be afraid, big guy," Lunella whispered to the red T-Rex from the safety of Batman's cape. "Batman is here to save you."
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