"Garrett is planning a bombing. His goal is to lure me out."
Batman glanced toward Venom Robin while looking at Black Widow, who stood before him. She wore a featureless metal mask—no openings for eyes, mouth, or nose; it was a cold, solid plate of iron.
Venom Robin knew that look all too well. It meant: "Guard the Batcave. I'm heading out."
His face fell, and he was just about to voice his protest when he saw Batman pull something out from behind him.
It wasn't chocolate to coax him into behaving. Instead, it was a transparent glass vessel containing a mass of writhing, pulsing, viscous matter.
"Uh—?"
The first syllable died in Venom Robin's throat. The substance in Batman's hand was unmistakably his own offspring—the one born in a fit of agonizing pain after he had been stung by the Wasp the previous night at the Pym Technologies Building.
Meeting Batman's gaze, which was as cold as iron, Venom Robin couldn't help but feel a surge of guilt. He instinctively turned his head away.
He could already imagine the lecture—the anger and the questioning—asking why he had gone and produced an offspring, an act completely outside of Batman's tactical parameters.
Clack. Clack.
Batman stepped toward Venom Robin, ignoring Black Widow, whom he had brought to the Batcave blindfolded.
Venom Robin twiddled his fingers like a cartoon character, trying to project "contrition" in hopes of dodging the coming storm.
Clack. Clack.
Batman's footsteps stopped right beside him.
Venom Robin shuddered.
"You have exactly one chance to lie," Batman said, looking down at the guilty Venom Robin.
Dad really does love me! Venom Robin rejoiced internally.
"I promise!" he blurted out.
Batman resumed his stride, passing Venom Robin and heading toward the far wall of the Batcave.
Venom Robin quickly spun around to see what Batman was doing.
He watched as Batman approached the wall and transferred the symbiote matter from the Pym Technologies vessel into a specialized container within the Cave.
"The old bat doesn't even trust other people's glassware..." Venom Robin grumbled in his head.
Hardly had he finished the thought when he saw Batman go a step further. Batman retrieved the "Venom Vivarium"—a containment unit equipped with acid defenses, pheromone shielding, sonics, and flamethrowers—and transferred the symbiote matter once more into the high-security tank.
Only then did Batman stop, placing the vivarium alongside a previous sample: the white, "Anti-Venom" symbiote matter.
However, the sample left by Anti-Venom had long since lost its vitality, lying limp and motionless in its container. In contrast, the new sample was exceptionally active, occasionally leaping against the walls of the vivarium.
Just as Venom Robin was about to speak, Black Widow—who had been standing there awkwardly, masked and blinded—spoke up:
"Batman? Where have you taken me?"
"You don't need to know," Batman said, his voice a low growl.
"Who was that speaking to you just now? How long has it been since we spoke on the rooftop?" Black Widow asked.
"You don't need to know," Batman repeated.
Underneath the metal mask, Black Widow's brow furrowed. She realized that even though Batman had brought her to what appeared to be his inner sanctum, he still maintained an immense level of suspicion toward her.
This wouldn't do. Black Widow's objective was to earn Batman's absolute trust to complete the S.H.I.E.L.D. mission she had identified.
Changing her tactic, she stopped asking questions. She crossed her arms, subtly shifting her posture to emphasize her figure.
"I'm hungry."
Silence.
"Hey! I said I'm hungry! Give me some food!" she raised her voice.
Still, no one acknowledged her.
"Damn it," she cursed under her breath, reaching up toward the mask on her face.
Even if she could just pry it open a crack, she might be able to learn something about her surroundings.
As her fingers brushed the mask, she felt the chill of the metal once more. She hooked her nails into the gap between the mask and her skin, slowly prying it away.
Slivers of light bled through the opening. Seeing that no one was stopping her—as if Batman and the other mysterious individual had vanished—she grew bolder.
Steeling herself, she pulled the metal mask completely off her face.
Everything was shrouded in a thick, murky fog. Grey-brown vapors swirled up from the floor, coiling into the shapes of screaming skulls as they rose into the air.
Black Widow immediately covered her mouth and nose to keep from breathing in the mist.
She moved cautiously through the fog, fumbling her way toward the only source of light visible a short distance ahead.
The light wasn't far. After only a few steps, she found herself right in front of it.
It was a shadowless surgical lamp, and she realized she was lying on a cold operating table.
The faces surrounding her were hauntingly familiar—faces she could never forget no matter how much time passed. They were the doctors from the Red Room, the ones who had performed her sterilization surgery during her training.
Terror instantly seized her brain. Her chest heaved with panicked breaths, though this time there was no element of seduction involved.
She watched helplessly as the cold scalpel sliced through the skin of her abdomen, watched as those godforsaken doctors reached their hands inside her.
The pain forced a blood-curdling scream from her throat. In her blurred vision, she saw the doctors' faces morph into giant, bat-like shadows with pointed ears and glowing red eyes.
As her consciousness began to slip and she teetered on the edge of fainting, she heard someone calling her name.
"Natalia! Natalia!"
The voice was gruff and nasally. Black Widow squinted through the haze to see a middle-aged man rushing through the fog. He was bearded, slightly balding, and a bit stout.
It was Alexei, the "father" from her fake family back in Ohio.
The name he was shouting, "Natalia," was her true name—Natasha Romanoff.
Lying on the surgical table, she summoned every ounce of strength she had left to reach out for Alexei's hand.
But the moment she touched him, she recoiled in absolute horror. At the instant of contact, her father's face also transformed—his eyes glowed red, and his mouth pulled back to reveal a maw full of jagged, bat-like fangs.
Then came her sister Yelena, Hawkeye—Clint Barton—Phil Coulson, Director Nick Fury...
Every face she had ever known eventually twisted into a horrific bat-monster.
Just as she reached the breaking point, she felt a sudden coldness on her face. The metal mask was slammed back into place. Her head snapped back, and she collapsed to the floor, unconscious.
"What did she see just now?" Venom Robin asked blankly, watching Black Widow's previous display of aimless, panicked thrashing.
"The thing she fears most," Batman replied.
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