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Chapter 100: Infiltrating SHIELD
"Child, you're back."
When Aunt May opened the door and saw Batman standing there holding flowers, her eyes immediately crinkled with joy.
"You must be starving. Dinner's almost ready."
Aunt May accepted the flowers, breathing their scent deeply before placing them like treasures in the home's most prominent position.
"Aunt May, let me help you."
Batman started toward the kitchen with Aunt May but was immediately pushed back out.
"Could you fix that hallway light? It always flickers during rainy weather. Peter keeps saying he'll fix it but always forgets because he's busy."
Aunt May pointed to the hallway's center light.
Without hesitation, Batman agreed.
Before Aunt May, he didn't need to deliberately maintain various facades. He could treat this elderly woman who called him "child" with his most genuine self.
Only in Aunt May's home could Batman—who'd been working non-stop since arriving, never sleeping even once properly—feel somewhat at peace.
A broken light took Batman less than three minutes to fix.
Click.
The dim hallway suddenly brightened. Aunt May stood leaning against the wall, spatula in hand, watching Batman repair the bulb in two or three moves, smiling gently:
"This light is wonderful. See? Darkness isn't so impenetrable after all, is it?"
Aunt May refused to move. Her reason: this Forest Hills house held too many memories. She couldn't bear leaving them.
"Not until the landlord refuses renting to me will I consider moving elsewhere."
"This contains everything from decades of life with your Uncle Ben."
"Over ten years ago, right here, Peter's father entrusted him to me. I wiped his nose, taught him to brush teeth, do homework, wash underwear... watched him grow from a little kid into an adult."
"He's my child. Now you are too."
"I need you. This home needs you. You have value here—you're not extra trouble."
That's what Aunt May said.
This time Batman didn't flee in shame. He sat at the dining table listening to Aunt May's chatter late into the night.
Batman pretended to leave, actually hiding in shadows until watching Aunt May return to her bedroom under the bright hallway light, the entire house falling into darkness before silently departing.
Abandoned City Hall Station. After carrying the imprisoned Schulman to Queens as second bait to lure Mr. Negative, Batman returned.
Last night's trio had relocated to the Queens police station this morning. From listening devices, Batman heard that after a terrifying night—excluding the snoring guy—they'd chosen to surrender.
Having theft records, their surrender earned fifteen days detention.
"Barbara. Pause other work. First purchase all Forest Hills community land plus surrounding neighborhoods entirely," Batman told the Oracle AI.
Since Aunt May refused moving, Batman planned an alternative protection method—buying the entire community, managing it through trusts with comprehensive security, environmental, and infrastructure upgrades.
These expenses weren't trivial, but Batman considered this the most worthwhile expenditure since arriving.
"Throne. Scepter. Crown..."
Through monetary offensive, even late at night, Batman successfully purchased all of Forest Hills through his methods.
Other surrounding neighborhoods required time. Batman didn't press urgently, instead focusing on the three shell companies Kingpin had mentioned this morning at Rikers Prison.
Through these shell companies' historical fund flows, Batman rapidly located the Cayman Islands trust fund Kingpin mentioned.
Nested trust layers were tactics Batman mastered extremely well. Cayman Islands trusts appeared nearly transparent to Batman's eyes.
After three hours of continuous searching, Batman finally traced trust fund records to a confidential client receiving Kingpin's funds—"Ares Security."
Ares Security: an internationally unknown private military company with astonishingly large fund flows.
Batman stroked his stubbled chin.
"Barbara, retrieve all cross-border logistics and customs records related to Ares Security."
"Data volume is substantial, Bruce. This may require time," the Oracle AI said.
"How long?" Batman asked.
"Possibly two days."
"Too long..." Batman frowned. "Try associating keywords SHIELD and 'military.'"
Reviewing Stark Industries' arms orders revealed only these two channels.
Batman persistently pursued these leads precisely to find the true source of Stark weapons reaching markets—and thereby locate Norman Osborn, taken by General Ross.
With prerequisite conditions, the Oracle AI's search accelerated significantly. Minutes later it announced:
"Bruce, among Ares Security's various records, information containing SHIELD follows:"
"Ares Security appeared multiple times as secondary contractor for certain SHIELD overseas operations, handling local security and logistical support."
"No records found associating 'military' or related vocabulary."
SHIELD?
Batman didn't rest, immediately hacking into SHIELD's system—practically his backyard by now.
Through Kingpin's leads, Batman no longer needed weapon serial numbers. He directly queried SHIELD's internal records involving Ares Security weapons.
"Retrieved records indicate these weapons were normally consumed or used in training."
Leads seemed increasingly clear. But when Batman attempted querying more detailed requisition records and handler information, the trail abruptly ended.
Leads broke again—this time at SHIELD. But Batman wasn't without direction.
SHIELD, as a multinational international organization, couldn't possibly have simply unified internal systems. Like virtually all research companies and military organizations, it divided into internal LANs and external internet.
Batman could freely hack only external internet. Though accessing secrets ordinary people couldn't know, more core materials remained inaccessible.
For instance, Batman obtained Tesseract information but knew nothing about detailed Tesseract parameters and data.
Also, alien lifeforms SHIELD Director Nick Fury had contacted that Batman once queried—likewise no detailed information available.
These resided in internal LANs—core secrets within core secrets, without any digital interfaces for remote access.
"Since digital routes are blocked, I must choose the most primitive yet effective method: physical infiltration."
Batman stood, gaze penetrating City Hall Station toward New York's Adirondack Mountains direction.
Hidden in those extending mountain ranges lay one of SHIELD's three major projects—"Project Pegasus"—storing the Tesseract, possibly also hiding information Batman needed.
Batman needed physical infiltration—personally entering this SHIELD base to acquire more information. But not now.
Before infiltrating, Batman needed to meet Tony Stark as Peter, attempting to temporarily halt Stark arms sales, preventing more weapons reaching markets before Batman traced the source.
New York's night sky showed no stars—all hidden behind car exhaust, industrial smoke, and dust.
But at this moment, one star brightened, falling toward the Catholic church near Queens' Kosciuszko Bridge.
A fist-sized meteor attracting nobody's attention.
Inside the Catholic church, Eddie Brock sat on a pew, head bowed in repentance. After Martin Li took him away, he'd stayed several days at FEAST Center.
Martin Li hadn't helped Eddie as promised—at least not from Eddie's perspective.
The hatred in his heart hadn't diminished whatsoever. Instead, it swelled with time, doubling every second.
Without finding release opportunities soon, Eddie Brock suspected complete collapse approached.
So tonight he came to this Catholic church, hoping for some relief.
***
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