Batman was no god untouched by mortal concerns. Even now, with Peter Parker's superhuman physique and strength at his disposal, he still saw himself deep down as a "human."
He could understand Dr. Otto's worries. Every time Otto subtly retreated, Batman noticed it.
Without his mechanical tentacles, Dr. Otto was just a slightly overweight middle-aged man. Sharing South Brother Island with him were Professor Connors, who could transform into a four-meter-tall lizard, and Dr. Banner, who could become the Hulk.
Working long-term with these two scientists who might turn into monsters at any moment kept Dr. Otto's nerves in a constant state of high alert. The psychological pressure weighed on him relentlessly.
Even now, face-to-face, Batman could clearly see the shame on Dr. Otto's face.
That shame stemmed from the time when the tentacles had controlled him and harmed innocents. After choosing to remove them, he was now asking to have tentacles again.
Dr. Otto kept his head down. Though he was much older than Peter Parker, in this moment the middle-aged man seemed like a student who'd done something wrong, too afraid to meet his gaze.
He felt Peter Parker's stare burning into him. He could almost picture the contempt and mockery in Peter's eyes.
But Dr. Otto had no other choice. He wanted to make up for his past mistakes with his scientific contributions. Continuing to work with Professor Connors and Dr. Banner had pushed his psychological pressure to the breaking point.
Only three seconds had passed since Dr. Otto proposed reinstalling mechanical tentacles on himself, yet it felt like an eternity to him.
Just as Dr. Otto grew so awkward he didn't know what to do with his hands and feet, his heart pounding, Peter Parker unexpectedly placed a hand on his shoulder.
"Dr. Otto, I'm glad you were willing to bring this up." Batman spoke in Peter Parker's youthful but steady voice.
This meant Dr. Otto had been completely honest about his situation instead of secretly reinstalling the tentacles and slipping back onto the wrong path.
Whoosh!
Dr. Otto jerked his head up, staring at Batman with one hand on his shoulder.
Batman didn't say anything more to Dr. Otto. Instead, he walked over to Connors and Banner, who were sitting cross-legged on the ground taking deep breaths, and sat down cross-legged beside them.
Dr. Otto didn't know what Batman was doing, but he followed and sat with the three of them.
"Professor Connors, Dr. Banner." Batman looked at the two scientists. "Batman has mentioned some things about this place to me."
They didn't have super hearing, and they'd been focused on emotional regulation exercises earlier, so they hadn't overheard the conversation between Batman and Dr. Otto.
Now Banner and Connors both turned their eyes to Batman. Getting straight to the point, he openly explained Dr. Otto's situation:
"During the time the three of you have been working together on South Brother Island, Dr. Otto has unconsciously made dozens of defensive retreat movements—all of them when he was in close proximity to the two of you."
"This isn't his weakness, nor is it your fault. It's a human instinctual response under sustained and rational survival pressure. I'd be the same."
Batman normalized Dr. Otto's fear, stripped away his sense of shame, and brought himself down to the same level as Dr. Otto.
—The "human" level.
Batman was trying to lift the burden of shame from Dr. Otto's shoulders.
Professor Connors and Dr. Banner said nothing. They too had noticed every intentional or unintentional retreat Dr. Otto made.
But they were the source of the problem, so up to now neither Professor Connors nor Dr. Banner had discussed it with Dr. Otto.
Professor Connors desperately wanted to fully control the monster inside him, and part of that urgency came from Dr. Otto's constant defensive movements.
Dr. Banner gave a wry smile. His human form had always been gentle, but once people learned about the beast Hulk inside him, almost no one could maintain a normal relationship with him.
The fact that Dr. Otto had held on this long was already remarkable.
"What should we do?" Professor Connors asked in a low, muffled voice.
"I'll contact Batman and have him design a suit of armor for Dr. Otto, so the doctor at least has some self-defense capability in case of an accident," Batman said.
Batman didn't directly agree to give Dr. Otto mechanical tentacles again. He was still testing Dr. Otto's attitude.
If Dr. Otto rejected this proposal and insisted on the tentacles… then Batman would need to reassess Dr. Otto's mental state.
But Dr. Otto didn't push to have the tentacles reinstalled. Instead, upon hearing about a suit of armor being made for him, the overweight middle-aged man let out a sigh of relief.
He really just wanted a sense of security, so he wouldn't have to conduct research in constant fear.
"Phew… Thank you, Peter." A smile appeared on Dr. Otto's face. He'd been an ordinary man working with two monster scientists for so long, staying on edge the whole time. "By the way, I have some good news for you."
Batman looked at Dr. Otto.
The doctor had regained some of his usual confidence. Batman could clearly sense he was much more relaxed now, even though the promised suit wasn't on him yet:
"Professor Connors and I are nearing the end of our prosthetic limb research. By combining mechanical parts with his biological cells, we can make robotic arms read signals from the nervous system, giving the disabled control over their bodies again."
Batman nodded. That counted as good news.
Parker Industries' recent surge in orders had started to slow down. After buying an entire building in Manhattan and Batman building the Arkham suit and Arkham Batmobile, Parker Industries actually didn't have much capital left.
Even with a low-profit, high-volume strategy, Dr. Otto and Professor Connors' prosthetic research could expand Parker Industries' business across the global market.
Batman's long-delayed Batwing design and assembly could finally move onto the schedule.
Seeing that Batman seemed to think this was the good news he meant, Dr. Otto couldn't help chuckling and continuing:
"This doesn't really count as good news. With a world-class biologist like Connors helping, it was practically a sure thing. The real good news is…"
At this point, Dr. Otto exchanged a glance with Dr. Banner and said:
"Dr. Banner and I have been working together on the nuclear fusion clean energy equations and discovered a calculation error that had been overlooked this whole time. Once we correct it, nuclear fusion energy will become a complete reality."
"Peter, my dream is about to come true."
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