Batman had overheard a portion of the conversation between Garrett and Chief George in the office.
The bombs had already been planted across Manhattan by the team that arrived on the S.H.I.E.L.D. transport.
S.H.I.E.L.D. was currently hamstrung by the World Security Council—which itself was infested with Hydra—and the arrogance of the U.S. government bureaucracy. As a result, they hadn't even begun the recovery process for the dinosaur remains and the primitive humans.
In contrast, the efficiency of this group, whom Batman strongly suspected were Hydra, was staggering. However, Batman didn't intend to personally defuse the bombs one by one.
He could dismantle one, but Hydra could install several more in the time it took him to do so.
Batman had a plan of his own.
Now that he had lost the various abilities of Spider-Man, Batman could only rely on his greatest asset: his mind.
Fortunately, even during the period when he possessed those powers, Batman had never neglected his training.
"First, since the bombs are already set, I doubt Garrett will have Hydra agents guarding them. That would expose their locations. Garrett will have them blend back into Manhattan immediately after deployment."
"Second, the sheer quantity of bombs supports my first point."
"Third, it is known that the weapon Garrett uses is a scepter capable of firing lasers. Based on my previous observations, it is a weapon forged through technological means—just as I concluded that the Pegasus he rides is a product of genetic engineering."
"Since the bombs are unguarded and Garrett needs to use them to coerce me into appearing, they cannot be time bombs. They must be remote-detonated."
"Garrett cannot be certain where I will appear, otherwise he would have hunted me down already. There is a 95% probability that the bombs are triggered via radio signal."
"To confirm this theory, I need to perform a frequency scan of the entirety of Manhattan."
The moment the Spider-suit was completed, the plan in Batman's mind fully crystallized. He placed the suit into a briefcase and climbed back into the Batmobile, heading toward the Batcave.
Static...
At that same moment, the giant screens in Manhattan's Times Square flickered from advertisements to snow, followed by a burst of white noise.
Then the static vanished, and the masked "Black Knight," Garrett, appeared on the screen.
"Good morning, Manhattan!" Garrett spoke, his voice low and distorted. "Changing the channel wouldn't be a good idea. I guarantee the following program will be ten thousand times more exciting than your boring reality shows and commercials."
"I want to thank this heavy rain. It has driven everyone in this city into buildings and shopping malls, which will allow my bombs to cause much more... effective casualties."
The image of Garrett rambling on television didn't just appear in Times Square, where pedestrians were few and far between due to the downpour; it appeared on nearly every television in Manhattan.
Schools, hospitals, malls, office buildings, small shops...
At first, no one paid much attention. But when the word "bomb" escaped Garrett's lips, screams and the sound of panicked footsteps immediately erupted off-screen.
"Quiet. Listen to me until I'm finished. You wouldn't want to accidentally wander into a blast radius while running around in a panic, would you?"
Garrett seemed to see the chaos unfolding behind the screens, and his voice took on a mocking tone:
"What I want to say is—Batman, I know you're watching."
"Within three hours—that is, by one o'clock this afternoon—I need you to show up at Times Square. It would be best if you came empty-handed."
As he spoke, Garrett held up a remote control, displaying it clearly to the camera.
"If the time is up and you haven't arrived, I will press this button and invite the people of Manhattan to watch a fireworks display."
"Of course, you could try to find the bombs and defuse them. But believe me, the number of bombs is far beyond your imagination, and you only have three hours."
"When the time is up, any remaining bombs will still go boom."
Inside the Batcave, Batman held the briefcase containing the Spider-suit and watched the workstation screen. Garrett's speech was playing there as well.
It wasn't that Garrett had hacked the Batcave's signal; rather, Venom Robin had hacked into the Manhattan television stations and was intercepting the live broadcast signal directly.
Seeing Batman return, Venom Robin frowned and looked at him.
"Does he think talking like that makes him look cool?"
The corner of Batman's mouth twitched upward slightly.
"Perhaps."
He reached out and switched off the channel Venom Robin was watching.
Just as Robin thought Batman would start making grand, overt preparations for Garrett's bomb threat, Batman instead sat down in his chair and resumed a task that had been delayed for several days: researching the Omni-Wave Projector.
"Researching the Omni-Wave Projector?" Venom Robin scratched his head. "Old Bat, you should be getting stressed right now and preparing for Garrett's plan, not sitting here like nothing's happening."
Batman glanced at Venom Robin. With a flick of his wrist, several pieces of chocolate appeared between his fingertips, which he then tossed into Venom Robin's mouth to shut him up.
"Delicious... wait, giving me chocolate doesn't change the facts. Garrett is going to blow the bombs in three hours. How do you plan to deal with it?" Venom Robin smacked his lips. "Or do you already have a plan?"
Batman gave Venom Robin a thin smile, one that made Robin's heart skip a beat with uncertainty.
"I do."
Batman had indeed formulated a plan. Specifically, after Garrett appeared on the screen and gave that speech, the plan had reached its final form.
Step One: Modify the Arkham Batmobile into a massive radio signal detector.
Step Two: Transport the Batmobile to the top of the 400-meter-tall Empire State Building, using the tallest structure in Manhattan as a central hub to scan the city's entire radio spectrum.
Step Three: Hack into nearly every television signal tower in Manhattan and cross-reference them with the Batmobile's signal detector, using triangulation to pinpoint the location of every single bomb.
Step Four, Step Five...
Batman played international chess, as well as Chinese chess and Go. He believed these games helped train his ability to think three steps ahead.
However, even before taking his first step, Batman had already seen hundreds of steps into the future.
He rarely played against others; more often than not, he simulated a match against himself within his own mind.
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