A faint energy hum announced Utopian's arrival in the Watchtower's main hall. The orbital station had become a massive construction site, a high-tech hive of activity filled with the sounds of tools and stabilizing force fields.
"Hey, everyone!" he called out, his voice naturally carrying through the vast space.
Around him, the activity was frenetic. Worker drones buzzed, securing new wall panels, engineers in exo-suits supervised the installation of glowing energy conduits, and blue-tinted holograms displayed expansion plans for living quarters and the med-bay. At the center of this organized chaos, a dark, motionless figure directed operations with a mere glance. Batman.
Utopian approached, nimbly sidestepping a drone carrying an alloy beam.
"Coming along," Utopian commented, observing the work with an impressed eye.
Batman barely turned his head, his white lenses briefly settling on him. "The Watchtower must adapt. Our roster is growing. So are the threats. Optimization is necessary."
"Actually, that's what I wanted to talk to you about," Utopian continued. "I have an idea for a new facility. A specialized training room."
This piqued Batman's interest. He gestured, and a hologram detailing the current training facilities materialized between them.
"Elaborate," he said simply.
"Right now, the rooms are designed for most members," Utopian explained. "But for people like Superman, Wonder Woman, or myself... we constantly have to hold back. We can't truly push our limits without risking bending the steel or cracking the shields."
He pointed a finger towards an empty area on the blueprints.
"I want to invest in creating a room with variable gravity and modifiable density. A chamber where gravity could be multiplied by a hundred, a thousandfold, to provide real resistance during training. Where the walls would be made of a memory-shape alloy, capable of withstanding and absorbing high-velocity impacts. A place where we could truly train, without limits."
He looked Batman straight in the eye, the project being important to him.
"I'll fund the entire project. Materials, technology, labor. I see it as an investment for everyone's security. A stronger Superman, a better-prepared Utopian... that's a stronger line of defense for Earth. What do you say?"
Batman's silence was long, his mind analyzing every aspect of the proposal: the cost, the security, the strategic utility.
"Technical specifications will need approval from Mister Terrific and myself," he stated finally. "No security flaws. No backdoors."
A wide grin spread across Utopian's face. That was a "yes."
"You'll have the detailed schematics on your terminal by tomorrow." He looked around the construction site again, already picturing this new room at the heart of the station. "It's time the Watchtower had a place where its most powerful defenders can really cut loose."