Chapter 403: A Question of Identity
T'Challa's Black Panther suit had been constructed by processing Vibranium into thread and weaving it into a full-coverage garment. Batman had not used that method when he built it. He had gone with a single-piece solid construction instead, because the objective at the time was simple: give T'Challa a functional suit to retake Wakanda, not produce something built to the standard of a reigning king.
In practical terms, that meant the suit he had made was single-use. T'Challa would need to commission a proper replacement now that he held the throne.
Batman had no intention of applying the same thinking to his own suit. Five hundred kilograms of refined Vibranium was a remarkable resource, but it was not unlimited, and using it all for a one-time construction would be wasteful by any measure. More importantly, he was not going to build a suit made entirely of Vibranium -- not when the material had a known vulnerability to specific sonic frequencies. The number of people with access to that knowledge was extremely small, but Batman had spent enough time relying on other people's ignorance as a defensive layer to know what it was worth.
The new suit would be a composite. Adamantium alloy for the load-bearing structural components. Vibranium in the areas where energy absorption and flexibility mattered most. Kevlar fiber for the sections requiring lighter coverage. Other materials layered in as the design demanded.
Compared to the day or so it had taken to produce T'Challa's single-piece suit, this build was going to take considerably longer. The fabrication equipment on Bat Island was running, the instruments were staged and calibrated, and the design was locked in his memory. But the construction itself would be precise, slow work.
While the machines ran, Batman sat back down at the drafting table and started a second set of drawings.
The Batmobile.
Without a ground vehicle, any operation requiring rapid travel at distance fell entirely on the Batwing -- and the Batwing was, in any honest accounting, a consumable. He was not going to build a combat aircraft from Vibranium. What he needed was a heavy ground vehicle with genuine firepower capacity and operational flexibility that exceeded anything the Batwing could carry.
By the time the second set of schematics was complete, the sky outside had turned from black to gray.
Batman had long since stopped expecting coffee at dawn. He put the pen down and opened an encrypted channel to North Brother Island.
"Dr. Otto."
"Batman -- I was about to contact you." Dr. Otto's voice on the other end carried the particular energy of a man who had been awake through the night by choice rather than necessity.
"You have something."
The ten-gram Vibranium sample he had sent with Robin the previous day had apparently kept Dr. Otto occupied through the entire night.
"I do. I haven't slept." There was no complaint in it -- it was closer to a statement of satisfaction. "I spent the night analyzing the 0.3 grams of Antarctic Vibranium alongside the sample you sent, and I can confirm it conclusively: Wakandan Vibranium can be converted to Antarctic Vibranium under the right conditions."
Batman stood and began his morning training, continuing the conversation while he worked.
"What conditions?"
"Energy. Substantial energy input." Dr. Otto actually laughed at this. "Which happens to be exactly the one resource we have in abundance."
The artificial sun. Dr. Otto's reactor had been running in the corner of the North Brother Island laboratory since before most of their current operations had even begun. It had powered a portion of Parker Industries' early growth alongside the memory fiber revenue, and after more than a month of continuous operation, the energy output had shown no measurable degradation. Power was not a constraint Batman had ever seriously worried about.
"Good." Batman kept his voice short and direct. "I'll be there in two hours. We begin working on the Adamantium synthesis."
Dr. Otto did not ask why they needed to convert Wakandan Vibranium into Antarctic Vibranium before processing it into Adamantium. That question had been settled before the Wakanda operation -- Batman wanted Adamantium for the Batmobile. Dr. Otto understood his role in that plan and was content with it.
"One problem," Dr. Otto added. "We don't have enough Wakandan Vibranium on hand for the full synthesis."
"I'll handle the supply question."
Dr. Otto did not ask how. That also fell outside his area of concern.
Two hours later, training complete, Batman arrived on North Brother Island.
"The documentation?"
"Here." Dr. Otto handed over a stack of papers -- half handwritten in his characteristic dense notation, half printed from his analysis systems. Dr. Connors, back in his human form, and Dr. Banner were both present and visible in the background.
"We already knew Antarctic Vibranium liquefies surrounding metals on contact. After you sent the sample yesterday, I attempted to replicate that liquefaction effect on Wakandan Vibranium using the Darkwind Group materials I retained from the trade records analysis." Dr. Otto spoke quickly, not wasting words. "It worked. Even Wakandan Vibranium can be liquefied under the right conditions. I ran the process through the full night with Connors and Banner assisting."
Dr. Connors and Dr. Banner, hearing themselves mentioned, both looked up and gave brief nods of acknowledgment.
"This is the converted sample." Dr. Otto produced a test tube. Inside it, a piece of solid metal barely larger than a fingernail. "And these are my calculations on the molecular composition. I've checked them multiple times -- there is no deviation from the baseline Antarctic Vibranium structure. The conversion is complete and the product is chemically identical."
Batman moved through the documentation quickly, absorbing it, then looked up.
Dr. Otto had been running on two mechanical tentacles since the Hulk and the Lizard Professor had broken the other two during their sparring sessions. He had simply removed the damaged pair rather than leaving broken hardware mounted on his back. The asymmetry was noticeable but clearly of no concern to him.
"Based on the Darkwind Group trade records," Dr. Otto continued, "I can establish with reasonable confidence that Adamantium synthesis requires gold-titanium alloy, Antarctic Vibranium, iron, and small quantities of several other metals. The specific ratios are unknown -- those wouldn't appear in a commercial trade record. The formula itself was never written down anywhere Hawkeye could find."
Venom Robin, who had been standing to one side holding his greataxe and listening with more attention than he usually gave academic conversations, offered a contribution.
"Kingpin has Adamantium in his skeleton. We could just pull his--"
Batman looked at him.
"Robin's suggestion isn't entirely without merit," Dr. Otto said quickly, providing cover. "We wouldn't need the entire skeleton. A hair sample, a nail clipping -- any small biological material recovered from Fisk's person should allow us to work backward to the alloy composition from the trace deposits."
"A bone fragment would obviously give us more to work with," Dr. Otto added, after a brief pause.
"I'll consider it. There's also a Plan B for the Adamantium formula." Batman shifted the conversation. "I mentioned before that an unidentified figure in dark clothing with a circular black shield has been making contact with several of New York's established heroes. Daredevil, Silver Sable. Possibly Luke Cage and Jessica Jones. I've been working on the assumption that this is a S.H.I.E.L.D. operative -- specifically Taskmaster, based on the combat profile and the S.H.I.E.L.D. connection."
He paused.
"But that's a working hypothesis, not a confirmed identification. If the figure isn't Taskmaster -- if it turns out to be someone else carrying that shield -- then the shield itself may provide us with the complete Adamantium formula."
Dr. Banner had been leaning against Dr. Otto's workbench with his arms folded. He straightened slightly and adjusted his glasses.
"You mean Captain America."
"The history is documented. Steve Rogers's shield was created accidentally during World War Two when Dr. MacLaine attempted to reproduce Vibranium using alternative metal alloys. The result was a unique material that has never been replicated. Most public records describe it as a pure Vibranium shield, but the actual composition is different." Batman kept his tone neutral. "If that shield is in active use by someone operating in New York right now, it's a potential analytical resource."
"I don't think that figure is Captain America," Dr. Banner said.
"Why not?"
"Because Captain America is a symbol before he's a person. If he genuinely survived from the Second World War to the present day, the rational move for the U.S. government would be to bring him out publicly -- package him as a living legend, put him on a platform. Not send him out in dark clothes to conduct ambush interviews with street-level heroes." Dr. Banner kept his tone conversational. "A man like that, used that way, would represent an extraordinary propaganda opportunity. No administration would waste it."
"Unless something -- or someone -- made it impossible for him to be used that way," Batman said. "Government pressure. Institutional factors he couldn't control. A reason to stay hidden regardless of what the government wanted."
Dr. Banner spread his hands, conceding the point without abandoning the argument. Neither man pressed it further.
The question remained open.
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