MORE REVIEWS!!!!!! = MORE CHAPS!!!!!!!!!!!
Chapter 107: Batman is a Complete Madman
Last night, two incidents occurred in Queens.
The Catholic church beneath the Kosciuszko Bridge was vandalized. According to police trace evidence, an unknown creature, possibly some kind of beast, traveled from the church to the FEAST homeless shelter, where it brutally murdered multiple residents.
Batman departed from the City Hall subway station, driving toward Parker Industries as the car radio described the events from two nights ago.
Philanthropist Martin Li's body was discovered, but the medical examiner found no external wounds. Instead, his brain showed severe internal damage.
The second incident also occurred at the FEAST shelter...
As the radio droned on, Batman drove with an expressionless face. Venom remained silent inside his body, not daring to suddenly detach and disappear into the crowded New York streets.
Batman's car currently contained at least twenty high-intensity flashbangs, modified from standard concussion grenades.
The blinding light itself didn't worry Venom, but the accompanying high-frequency noise would be unbearable.
Venom didn't dare gamble on whether Batman would immediately detonate the flashbangs the moment it left his body. Based on the memories it had glimpsed, memories that confirmed Batman was no different from a lunatic, Venom suspected he would absolutely do it.
After collecting the rush-order materials from Parker Industries and returning to the City Hall station, Batman immediately began assembling and modifying them.
Batman spent half the morning constructing what now sat before him: a square metal box composed primarily of lead, sound-dampening materials, high-frequency noise emitters, a temperature regulation system, and specialized glass panels.
Tubes connected the box's interior to external containers, capable of spraying concentrated acid, flames, or liquid ammonia into the chamber at any moment.
To prevent Venom from quietly escaping, flame jets and high-frequency emitters were positioned around the exterior of the metal box, creating a comprehensive containment system.
All six faces of the box featured transparent panels, allowing Batman to observe the interior at all times.
The moment this custom-built prison was complete, Batman pointed at it. "Get in."
"No, I don't want to go in there! You'll experiment on me!" Venom shrieked in terror from within Batman's body.
Having read portions of Batman's memories, Venom knew exactly what would happen once it entered this custom prison. It would become meat on a cutting board, ready for Batman to dissect at will.
"You can enter voluntarily, or I can use other methods." Batman's voice dropped to an ominous low. In his eyes, Venom wasn't a tool that could grant him tremendous power. It was a monster that had brutally killed nine FEAST shelter residents the moment it arrived in this world. Until Batman understood everything about Venom, he had to maintain maximum vigilance.
"Other methods... what methods?" Venom asked cautiously.
Without a word, Batman inserted two high-frequency noise emitters into his left and right ears, then moved his hand toward the activation button without hesitation.
"Stop! Stop! I'm begging you! Don't do this!"
Venom screamed and leaped from Batman's body, landing on the workbench in the City Hall station.
Just as it considered whether escape might be possible, the sound of objects hitting the floor rang out.
More than ten flashbangs fell from Batman's hands, scattering across the ground. Batman's eyes locked onto Venom with unwavering focus. If the creature made one suspicious move, he would detonate them all instantly.
The black, viscous symbiote mass practically bounced in fear. Venom decided not to test this lunatic any further and scrambled into the prison Batman had built for it, tumbling over itself in its haste.
"Maybe I should adopt Batman's terminology. This isn't a prison, it's an ecosystem habitat prepared just for me," Venom muttered, trying to comfort itself.
The habitat measured only eighty cubic centimeters. As Venom squeezed inside, Batman's hands moved with lightning speed, slamming the door shut with a decisive click.
The symbiote mass writhed within the containment box. Separated from Batman's body, it was nothing more than a small puddle, no larger than a fist.
From within the pool of black organic matter, Venom raised what could be called a head and stared at Batman.
While inside Batman's body, Batman had continuously suppressed it with overwhelming willpower, preventing Venom from controlling his body for transformation or delving deep into his memories to trigger buried emotions.
His mental focus had been absolute. From two nights ago until this very moment, he hadn't relaxed for even half a second.
Having bonded with Eddie Brock, Venom understood that the human species simply couldn't maintain this level of concentration. They were fragile creatures who needed food, needed to breathe, needed sleep...
But from the moment Batman was possessed, he had done none of these things except breathe.
Venom raised its head, resembling a cobra rearing up to strike, and watched Batman intently.
It wanted to see whether, after leaving Batman's body, this man would finally take a deep breath and relax, or simply collapse from exhaustion.
But Batman remained expressionless. After sealing Venom in the habitat, he didn't spare it another glance, simply returning to the computer workstation to continue his tasks.
"Damn it, I should have realized... this maniac can't be judged by normal human standards!"
Venom slumped down dejectedly, lying motionless at the bottom of the habitat like a dead fish, muttering about "bad luck" and "I'm completely screwed."
Batman ignored Venom. If he didn't have another urgent matter demanding immediate attention, he would have already begun comprehensive research on the symbiote.
After mentally cataloging all the necessary information, Batman stared at Venom for several seconds until the creature shrank back nervously, then finally departed.
Even before Venom's arrival, Batman had already prepared the City Hall station thoroughly.
Beyond the necessary barricades blocking routes homeless people might use to enter, Batman had completed the installation of training equipment, a parking area for the Batmobile, and electrical systems.
Security cameras were naturally included, monitored and managed by the Oracle AI that had been transferred from the Parker Industries warehouse to this location.
Wearing a thin black windbreaker, smoothing down the hair flattened by his cowl, Batman drove straight for Stark Tower.
On the ground floor of Stark Tower, Tony's bodyguard and driver, Happy Hogan, sat on his usual bench, dozing as always.
Unlike Batman's previous visit, this time Happy's face wasn't covered by a book on emotional management or something similar.
Batman didn't disturb Happy, simply taking the elevator to the top floor.
"Peter!"
Tony Stark seemed perpetually attached to a glass of alcohol. Seeing Batman emerge from the elevator, he remained lounging on the sofa, lazily raising his drink in greeting.
"I haven't noticed any orders for gun oil from my military manufacturing divisions. Turns out using gun oil as lubricant isn't a particularly effective cost-saving measure after all."
Tony Stark was still annoyed that Batman had refused his previous offer to invest in Stark Industries' latest cluster missile development. Now he took the opportunity to needle the younger man.
"If you're here for gun oil again, I'm afraid there's nothing here you'd find acceptable."
"I'm not here for gun oil this time, Mr. Stark." Batman faithfully maintained his current identity as Peter, speaking in a voice that was genuinely young but attempting to sound mature.
"Oh? Then you're here about the cluster missile investment I mentioned last time? By the way, I should tell you, I've named this missile the Jericho."
Stark gave Batman a penetrating look, then tilted his head back to drain his glass.
"Please don't tell me you're actually taking our previous technical service agreement seriously and plan to show up every few days for technical consultations."
"The AI technical services ended long ago, Peter."
During Batman's second meeting with Tony Stark, both parties had reached an agreement regarding that half-finished AI model. Batman would provide the model to Tony Stark, and in return, Stark would hire Batman's shell company as a technical consultant, paying one hundred million dollars in consulting fees.
Batman sat down on the sofa opposite Tony Stark, his face displaying an unreadable smile.
"Tony Stark, I'm here specifically because of your Jericho missile."
Meanwhile, in the interrogation room at the Queens Police Department.
"Name?"
"Eddie Brock."
"Occupation?"
"Unemployed."
"Describe everything you saw at the FEAST shelter two nights ago, and explain why you were in the back garden, covered in fresh blood but completely uninjured."
"I... I don't remember."
Officer Bullock, conducting the interrogation, looked at Eddie Brock with growing impatience.
"Mr. Brock, if you refuse to cooperate, we'll have to keep you in the holding cell until you're cleared of suspicion."
Eddie Brock's appearance was disheveled. His entire body was covered in dirt from the garden, with several grass stems tangled in his hair. His eyes stared blankly at the officer.
"I don't remember anything."
Officer Bullock's eyebrows nearly formed a single furious line. Just then, the Queens precinct captain approached, and Bullock immediately stood up.
"Captain Edwards, this Mr. Brock refuses to cooperate. He hasn't given us a single useful piece of information."
"The killer who murdered the FEAST residents is still at large, but we need to give the public some answers."
Officer Bullock's subtext couldn't have been clearer. He wanted to use Eddie Brock, this person who couldn't answer any questions and happened to be at the crime scene, as a convenient scapegoat.
Captain Edwards shot him a sharp look.
"If you say anything like that to me again, you can start drafting your resignation letter, Mr. Bullock."
"We don't falsely accuse innocent people, and we don't let guilty parties escape."
Bullock straightened with respect, but immediately followed up with concern.
"But the media and public reaction has been extremely intense. There's still a crowd of reporters blocking the entrance. We can't just keep stalling..."
Captain Edwards' expression grew contemplative. After several seconds of thought, he said, "Tell those reporters we suspect Batman is the killer. We're currently gathering evidence."
Officer Bullock's brain took a moment to process this. By the time he understood, Captain Edwards had already walked away.
"That's not much different from my suggestion. We're still finding someone to take the fall temporarily," Bullock muttered to himself.
No, wait. There was a difference. Eddie Brock was a living, breathing human being. But Batman wasn't human at all. He was supposedly some kind of vampire or something.
Bullock glanced at Eddie Brock sitting obediently in the interrogation room chair. Rather than continue the fruitless questioning, he found a colleague and requested that a psychiatric evaluator replace him for the interrogation.
After finishing his immediate tasks, Bullock heard a commotion at the precinct entrance. He quickly pressed against the window, craning his neck to look outside.
"Yes, we suspect Batman committed the FEAST shelter murders, but we're still gathering evidence," Captain Edwards was announcing loudly to the reporters crowding the precinct entrance.
"I swear on the President's name, that we will catch the killer and ensure he faces appropriate punishment!"
Officer Bullock pulled his head back inside, snorting quietly through his nose.
"The President? The Captain hates the current President more than anyone."
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