Batman patted Benjamin Reilly on the shoulder.
Back in Gotham, Batman had also gone through a period of lost uncertainty—releasing his violence with his fists at night, while lingering in the lap of luxury by day.
Sometimes even spending his nights in that luxury, too.
Back then, Batman had felt equally lonely. He refused to let himself pause for a single moment; otherwise, that sense of solitary panic would swallow him whole.
Yet it took Batman less than three days to break free from that plight.
Seeing Benjamin Reilly stuck in this state now, Batman didn't pull him aside for a long heart-to-heart. Instead, he handed him a task directly:
"Ben, I need your help. For the coming period, aside from your studies, I want you to make a trip to Brooklyn every night."
Benjamin Reilly agreed right off the bat before asking why.
"That area belongs to the old district, where the population distribution is far more chaotic. I need you to keep it safe," Batman said.
"If you give me a clear objective, I might be able to execute it even better?" Benjamin Reilly pursued after a moment of thought.
"A clear objective?" Batman pondered briefly as well. "The gangs there have been clashing frequently as of late; you need to stop them. Additionally, there is an abandoned building called the X-Mansion that needs investigating."
"Also, during several of my previous criminal arrests, I happened to hear people mention a name: 'Cletus Kasady.' He's a serial killer, but I haven't been able to find even a shred of a clue about him—those criminals only knew his name."
Now equipped with concrete mission targets, Benjamin Reilly finally nodded:
"Leave all of this to me."
Batman patted his shoulder once more in encouragement:
"You won't be completing these tasks alone. Robin will be working with you."
The best remedies for loneliness were twofold: first, keeping a person busy; second, finding them a partner.
Robin happened to be a fine choice. To avoid Alfred and keep the old butler from nagging him, the kid spent every day either gorging himself at a chocolate factory or wandering around aimlessly.
Although Venom Robin's training during this period had increased slightly compared to before, his combat training was nearly complete on one hand, while his practical combat experience was somewhat lacking on the other.
Since Venom Robin's initial appearance, he had virtually never had an opportunity to execute a mission completely on his own.
The time he secretly harvested Kingpin's body tissue and brought it back for Dr. Otto to analyze the Adamantium didn't count.
Dispatching Venom Robin and Benjamin Reilly to act together would serve as a form of training for both of them.
"Robin is coming with me, too?"
Sure enough, the moment Benjamin Reilly heard Robin's name, his eyes lit up instantly.
"Mm." Batman let out a grunt from his nose, turning around at the same time.
"Right, Batman." Seeing Batman make a move to leave, Benjamin hurriedly said, "I've had an idea recently—I want to add some features to my Spider-Suit."
Batman turned his head, his brow furrowing slightly:
"Specifically?"
The suit he had provided to Benjamin Reilly was merely an ordinary one woven from memory fibers and Vibranium—possessing decent protective capabilities and the ability to absorb bullet impacts, but devoid of things like artificial intelligence.
"Mainly the web-shooters," Benjamin Reilly said. "To be honest, I'm not entirely used to the pair of web-shooters you prepared for me. I plan to make a series of modifications to them."
Batman assumed a contemplative stance.
"Um, nothing involving high power or lethal weaponry," Benjamin explained hastily, terrified Batman might misunderstand. "In fact, I want to add some features related to stingers."
This time, Batman turned his body around completely, facing Benjamin Reilly head-on:
"It seems you've gained a degree of mastery over the abilities this body possesses during this time?"
Benjamin nodded:
"Quite a good mastery. Sometimes, when I'm clinging to a high wall, I even have brief moments where I genuinely think of myself as a giant spider equipped with stingers."
"One day, you will become a true Spider-Man—rather than temporarily borrowing the title and this suit," Batman said.
With those words spoken, Batman's silhouette gradually dissolved into the shadows and vanished.
Benjamin Reilly stood in place. After mulling over the words Batman had just said a few times, he slung his backpack over his shoulders and walked toward the school as well.
On the rooftop terrace at the peak of the Empire State Building.
Batman stood alone at the edge of the terrace, looking down at the brightly lit, bustling metropolis below as he let out a sigh.
After seeing Benjamin Reilly, Batman realized another one of his plans had failed.
According to Batman's initial line of thinking, he had attempted to clone his own body to see if he could transfer out that conjectured power of the Spider-Totem.
Regrettably, it hadn't worked. Benjamin Reilly had successfully gained that power suspected to originate from the Spider-Totem, yet the power within Batman's own body had not vanished.
They had achieved coexistence—rather than one gaining power while the other lost it.
The origin of this idea of Batman's was simple: he had previously heard Black Panther T'Challa mention that only one Black Panther in Wakanda would receive power from the Panther Goddess.
Back then, Batman assumed that perhaps totem power could only be inherited by one person at a time, but now it was clearly evident that this was not the case.
"To truly understand what the Spider-Totem is, I may need to capture the Enchantress first before I can interrogate her for answers. Since she has a method to target the Panther Totem, she must also possess intelligence regarding totems in general."
"Perhaps that guy calling himself the Ancient One holds knowledge on this as well."
Batman stood at the edge of the terrace thinking for a few minutes, looking up as dark clouds in the sky gradually obscured the moon.
Instead of continuing to go down a dead-end train of thought, he let his body fall slowly, plunging straight toward the base of the Empire State Building.
Mid-air, Batman unfurled his cape, riding the howling wind as he glided in the direction of Stark Tower.
By the time Batman arrived on the top floor of Stark Tower and met Tony, the man was sitting upright on the sofa, holding a glass of liquor in his hand and taking small, deliberate sips.
Tony's gaze was fixed straight ahead, where a massive holographic screen displayed footage that appeared to be related to war.
Batman noticed that these frames were surveillance footage from three or four months ago.
Seeing Batman's arrival, Tony raised his hand and tapped the air, pausing the recording on the holographic screen before turning his head to look at Batman.
Tony didn't speak, which was out of character for him.
Batman didn't speak immediately either, first using the Gargoyle Suit's life-sign scanning function to give Tony a thorough scan.
Seeing that the man was fine, Batman finally turned his eyes toward the holographic projection.
Displayed on it was a frame of a Jericho missile from the Stark Corporation landing in a civilian area—unexploded, a dud.
--
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