"Who is Kenji Oyama?"
After sending all three Vulture members to the Queens precinct, Batman spent the rest of the night turning the entire city of New York into his hunting ground with the Batmobile, recapturing the criminals who had escaped from Ryker's Island Prison during the day—one by one.
The captures and interrogations happened simultaneously, and Batman gathered some information he hadn't known before.
For example, even with more than half the bones in his body broken, Kingpin had still become the king of Ryker's Prison, subduing nearly every criminal locked up with him.
For example, the reason those criminals had managed to escape so smoothly—besides the Vulture, Toomes, directing from the sky—was that Kingpin's internal command had played a crucial part.
For example, after escaping, the criminals had split with extreme speed into nearly twenty teams and scattered to every corner of New York.
For example, the mission Kingpin had given them required them to search for a Japanese man named Kenji Oyama after breaking out.
In the Batcave beneath Manhattan, Batman accessed S.H.I.E.L.D.'s system to search for the name, but there was no record of this person in S.H.I.E.L.D.'s internal files.
The CIA, Immigration… no U.S. government database had ever contained any information on this individual.
Batman didn't fixate on the issue. Instead, he created a project in the Oracle AI system titled "King," storing all of Kingpin's data along with the name Kenji Oyama.
The sun rose slowly. A new day had begun.
Last night, the Batman who had struck terror into every criminal who escaped Ryker's Island and left the NYPD scrambling removed his Arkham suit.
This time, he didn't don a dark formal suit. Batman changed into a dark gray lightweight trench coat and arrived at Ryker's Island as Peter Parker.
The prison on the island had been broken into just yesterday. Now the place was packed with squad cars, and lines of shackled criminals were being marched back inside.
These were the very criminals he had arrested last night as Batman.
But Batman had no intention of doing anything more to Ryker's Prison today. His destination was South Brother Island.
Ever since Dr. Otto, Professor Connors, and Dr. Banner had been sent to South Brother Island, he had always interacted with them as Batman.
As the nominal owner of the island and the financial backer of the three scientists' research, the identity of Peter Parker needed to appear there as well.
On the mild, temperate Black's Beach coast of San Diego, California, inside a seaside villa perched atop a cliff.
Aside from Tony Stark's birthplace on Long Island, New York, and the Stark Industries tower in the heart of Manhattan, Tony Stark had spent nearly half his time since returning from the Middle East holed up in this 1,021-square-meter villa.
On the ground floor, inside a garage filled with luxury cars, the second-generation miniaturized arc reactor in Tony Stark's chest glowed with a cold white light.
Everything Tony had told Obadiah earlier was true. The first-generation miniaturized arc reactor he had built in that cave under primitive conditions did indeed need an upgrade.
And he had done exactly what he said: deeply bind the permissions of the massive arc reactor at the base of Stark Tower with the reactor in his chest.
For now, Obadiah had only smelled the bait; he hadn't fully bitten. Tony Stark hadn't given Obadiah any further guidance.
He was currently testing the new suit he was building, named the Mark II Iron Man armor.
"Thirty-seventh test, configuration 2.0. JARVIS, record the data. Dummy, stand by with the extinguisher.
"Take it slow—start with one percent thrust."
Metal plates covered Tony Stark's arms and legs, circuits and thin conduits exposed.
Compared to the crude suit he had built in that Middle Eastern cave, the components on Tony Stark now were far more precise and refined.
As Tony counted down, the thrusters under his feet immediately spat flames, pushing his body upward. He wobbled unsteadily as he hovered in the air.
Ten seconds later, Tony's body dropped from the air, and he immediately began another test:
"This time, two point five percent thrust."
This time, Tony rose higher than before, and his form was more stable.
But the moment a grin split his face, his balance shattered. Propelled by the foot thrusters, he drifted unsteadily toward a limited-edition sports car parked nearby.
Tony fought to control his trajectory in the air, drifting over the roofs of several cars before arriving at a table covered in blueprints.
"Not bad, but this isn't where I wanted to be…"
Joy and helplessness mingled on his face, but this time he didn't rush to land. Instead, he flew in circles around the garage for several minutes until he gradually mastered the key to controlling flight.
Thud!
Tony returned to the spot where he had first lifted off, landing with a heavy thud. He took several deep breaths:
"Yes. I can fly."
"JARVIS, send the recorded data to the workshop computer…
…and coordinate assembly of the Mark II's external armor, internal circuitry, and shock-absorption systems."
"Also, design a synchronized deployment system for the Mark II."
JARVIS's voice echoed through the garage:
"No problem, sir. Estimated completion time: seven hours."
Tony nodded and waved repeatedly at the robotic arm he called "Dummy":
"I'm not on fire. Stop looking at me like you're ready to douse me any second."
Dummy lowered its arm and turned away as instructed.
On South Brother Island, Batman's arrival as Peter Parker was met with enthusiastic welcomes from Professor Connors and Dr. Otto.
After confirming that this young man was indeed the Peter Parker who had provided cover for his identity and a venue for his research, Dr. Banner shyly extended a hand for a handshake.
"Peter, while Batman isn't here, I have to ask—what's your relationship with him? Employer? Partners?"
Dr. Otto poured Batman a cup of coffee:
"This is a blend the three of us developed in our spare time. It tastes far better than anything on the market. Try it."
Batman was too cold. Even Professor Connors, who knew the man beneath the mask was Peter Parker, would never offer Batman coffee.
But Peter Parker had no such issue.
Even setting aside Peter's familiar relationship with Dr. Otto and Professor Connors, the simple fact that he had funded their carefree life and research on the island had already earned the acceptance of all three scientists, including Dr. Banner.
"Relationship? I guess you could call it a partnership?" Batman said, playing Peter Parker with a slightly uncertain tone.
He could tell from Dr. Otto's tone that the scientist was probing whether Peter Parker was actually Batman. That was precisely why Batman had come to the island as Peter Parker this time—to resolve the issue.
Unless absolutely necessary, Batman had no intention of revealing his identity to Dr. Otto.
Dr. Otto nodded. Just as he was about to say something, Dr. Banner suddenly spoke up:
"It's time."
Professor Connors nodded and said to Dr. Otto and the seemingly puzzled Peter Parker:
"I need to continue working with Dr. Banner on emotional control. You two chat."
"Emotional control?" Batman asked, pretending not to understand.
"Yes. You know I can transform into a giant lizard," Professor Connors said, playing along with Batman's act. "Although my transformation isn't tied to emotions, Dr. Banner's experience has shown that learning to control emotions greatly helps maintain rationality after transforming."
Batman nodded. Immediately afterward, Dr. Otto grabbed his hand and pulled him to a spot near the lab door.
Batman shot Dr. Otto a puzzled look, then heard the scientist say:
"Peter, I need to discuss something with you."
"Working in the same lab as them—one can turn into the Hulk, the other into a lizard… Honestly, I'm terrified an accident will happen one day."
"I want to reactivate my mechanical tentacles for self-defense, but I also know the mistakes I made when the tentacles went out of control… So, Peter, can you help me brainstorm a solution?"
Every time Batman visited the lab on South Brother Island, whenever Dr. Banner or Professor Connors risked transforming into monsters, Dr. Otto would react quickly and retreat a considerable distance.
Batman knew this was bound to become a problem eventually—and that was the real reason he had come to South Brother Island as Peter Parker.
--