On North Brother Island, Doctor Otto had successfully achieved stable nuclear fusion energy. The next step required Batman—in his identity as Peter Parker—to collaborate with Doctor Otto so that this new, pollution-free, and nearly limitless energy source could be applied across every sector.
Unlike Tony Stark's arc reactor, Tony's device was more like a super-battery; its energy was far from infinite.
Back in that cave in the Middle East, Tony Stark had calculated that the output of his first-generation miniature arc reactor could only power the Mark I armor for fifteen minutes.
Of course, that was also because the Mark I wasted ninety-nine percent of the energy due to its abysmal conversion efficiency.
After returning from the Middle East, Tony continuously upgraded both the miniature arc reactor and the Iron Man suits—increasing peak power output, balancing sustained output, and further optimizing energy conversion rates.
Yet at its core, his arc reactor remained a super-battery.
Moreover, the miniature arc reactor had one fatal flaw: if widely deployed, its extreme portability made it highly likely to be weaponized.
The massive arc reactor beneath Stark Tower served more as a proof-of-concept and a publicity stunt, meant to showcase the company's technological prowess and future direction; it was never intended for large-scale practical use.
Doctor Otto's artificial sun, however, had no such concerns. It could not be converted into a nuclear weapon.
Inside the tokamak, it was so extraordinarily stable that it posed no destructive risk. Should the containment field ever fail, this miniature sun would simply extinguish itself within thirty minutes.
That was precisely why Batman had never stopped Otto from pursuing his dream—and had even provided funding and the island facility to help him achieve it.
According to the conservative safety calculations made by the four scientists involved (Batman included) after the experiment succeeded, the energy produced by this single artificial sun would be more than enough to power the entire city of New York.
At this point, it was no longer a matter for "Batman." It was something "Peter Parker" needed to handle.
Parker Industries would operate this artificial sun from a commercial perspective, converting its thermoelectric output or using it to drive steam turbines, then delivering that electricity to homes across the city.
Doctor Otto was destined to get no sleep tonight. Neither was Batman.
Since crossing over into this world, Batman had never truly rested. At most, back before he had his own Batmobile, he would briefly relax his mind while riding taxis between different parts of New York.
The rest of the time, Batman kept himself functional by hypnotically resting one hemisphere of his brain while the other stayed active.
The Arkham suit was equipped with electrical muscle stimulators to relieve fatigue, and the Oracle AI constantly monitored his physical condition. A custom diet designed specifically for Batman ensured his body remained at peak performance.
After all, this body did not originally belong to him. It was Peter Parker's—the "little tiger" Aunt May always fussed over.
If Batman ever found a way back to Gotham, he refused to leave Peter Parker with a broken, ruined shell. He could never face Aunt May if he did.
Late at night.
After patrolling Manhattan and Brooklyn—using the act of crushing street crime as his version of a short break—Batman returned to Rikers Island.
During the day, a convoy had delivered the shipping containers holding the Batwing prototype.
Batman now stood before eight massive containers. After a brief moment of thought, he spoke:
"Robin."
Venom had been hiding inside Batman's body. At the call, it immediately poked its head out from behind Batman's shoulder.
"Daddy?"
"I need your help," Batman said.
Venom's eyes practically sparkled. Without a second's hesitation, symbiote biomass writhed across Batman's body, covering him completely.
These past few days, Batman had been occupied with other matters and hadn't spent much time with the symbiote he had only recently taken in as Robin.
He knew all too well that prolonged neglect could drive an immature mind toward self-doubt and rebellion.
So even though Batman could have moved all eight containers to North Brother Island—now Bat Island—by himself in batches, he deliberately called Venom out.
He wanted Venom to stay in the mindset of "Batman needs me," not "I have to prove myself so Batman will need me."
"Daddy, what do we do?"
Venom was clearly thrilled. These past few days, it had done nothing but watch the children's shows Batman specially queued up for it or cling silently to his body with no chance to act.
Even earlier, while they were taking down criminals, Venom had wanted to jump in, but since Batman hadn't given the order, it had obediently stayed put.
Now, finally hearing Batman call on it, Venom could barely contain its excitement to show what it could do.
"Use your tendrils to bind all eight containers together. Then we'll carry them to Bat Island together," Batman instructed.
Got it!
The moon hung high in the night sky. Beneath its light, thirty-two thick, sinuous black tendrils suddenly burst from Batman's body.
Batman had twice fought incomprehensible eldritch gods.
Once when he was hurled back to 19th-century Gotham. Once when a mirror city rose beneath Gotham, created by an outer god that fed on the trauma of Arkham's founder.
Now, with thirty-two massive, writhing black tendrils extending from his body, Batman looked exactly like one of those eldritch horrors he had once opposed—terrifying and blasphemous beneath the moonlight.
But in Venom's eyes, it was completely different. To the symbiote, they simply looked awesome.
"Daddy, we got even stronger again!"
Venom could feel that the Batman it was bonded to right now was noticeably more powerful than he had been just a short while ago. In its eyes, its invincible Daddy seemed to grow stronger every single day.
Thirty-two tendrils worked in groups of four, seizing the eight enormous containers and lifting them into the air, stacking them together.
"Robin, hold them overhead. Can you manage it?" Batman asked.
"Of course!"
Venom did exactly that, hoisting all eight containers high above Batman's head.
Even bonded with Venom, Batman's silhouette never changed—he didn't balloon into a three-meter-tall monster the way Eddie Brock did.
This made Batman appear absurdly small beneath the towering stack of containers.
Yet this tiny, ant-like figure effortlessly lifted all eight containers. His knees bent deeply, and then—with the containers on his shoulders—he leapt into the sky.
BOOM!
The ground on Rikers Island shook violently. Batman unleashed every ounce of the eighty-ton strength he currently possessed in his Venom-bonded state, propelling himself upward with the containers in tow.
Carrying eight containers on his back, Batman's cape was useless for gliding; even fully spread, it was far too small to catch the air.
But Batman had Venom Robin.
As his body reached the apex of the jump and began falling back toward the earth, symbiote biomass surged outward, wrapping the containers like a web.
Then Venom's body ballooned outward in mid-air, unfurling into an enormous bat-shaped parachute that billowed and drifted gracefully toward Bat Island.
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