After Batman discovered the Vibranium isotope, it was originally intended to be the element Tony Stark used to replace the palladium and upgrade his reactor.
But just like Batman, Tony Stark spent a night going through the materials left by his father, discovered the Tesseract isotope, and used it as the reactor core.
This resulted in the Vibranium isotope Batman discovered being cast aside. For the time being, other than publishing a paper to snag a Nobel Prize in Physics, it had no other use.
At least, that was how it appeared to the three scientists on South Brother Island.
As for Batman himself, he suspected that the foundation of Wakanda's energy, medical, and other technological developments was this Vibranium isotope. He was considering using the isotope to reverse-engineer an estimate of just how advanced Wakanda's technology had become.
However, with the arrival of Khonshu, Batman proposed combining Venom with moonlight. After the scientists conducted a flurry of research and discovered the two simply wouldn't bond, Dr. Otto shifted his gaze to the Vibranium isotope.
"We can try it. I'll build an isotope model first."
Dr. Banner put his glasses back on and threw himself into work once again.
"Then I'll handle the symbiote model," Professor Morbius said.
"Leave the moonlight part to me." Dr. Otto also sat down at his workstation.
Professor Connors stood there, feeling a bit awkward. His technological expertise couldn't quite keep up with the other three scientists, who were at the absolute peak of their respective fields.
"You mentioned the part about the future, 'darkness will surge like a tide,'" Batman said, conversing with the Moon God Khonshu. "Did you foresee the future?"
"I cannot foresee the future." Khonshu maintained his state of a slowly rising full moon. "I am stating the present."
"I'm listening." Batman stared into Khonshu's hollow eye sockets.
"The present—" Khonshu emphasized, "Those who possess power are all darkness. Those who can be called heroes are but a handful."
Professor Connors, listening from the side, was completely bewildered.
Limited by his technological level, he couldn't join the others' research, nor could he participate in Batman and Khonshu's conversation. As a result, Connors actually became the idlest person in the laboratory for a moment.
But just then, Dr. Banner suddenly spoke up:
"We're still missing one thing... With the addition of the Vibranium isotope, the symbiosis between Venom and the moonlight can be preliminarily simulated."
"Professor Connors, I need your help."
Connors looked at Dr. Banner, secretly breathing a sigh of relief. Finally, he wasn't just a background character:
"What kind of help?"
"I need your regeneration serum." Dr. Banner's words gave Dr. Otto a start.
"Stop, stop, are you sure?" Dr. Otto hurriedly used his tentacles to support himself and moved between Dr. Banner and Professor Connors. "You know that research isn't finished yet, right?"
Professor Connors nodded repeatedly as well. He was willing to help, but he didn't want to do something so risky.
"I'm just calculating the formula, testing the possibility," Dr. Banner said, adjusting his glasses. "The Vibranium isotope can only provide a stabilizing effect, but it can't completely solve the problem of bonding Venom with the moonlight."
"Let me think... So you need the specific proteins in the regeneration serum to build a symbiotic, semi-organic transitional matrix between Venom's biomass and the moonlight's energy form?"
Now that this involved Connors' field of regeneration, he saw through to the reason Dr. Banner needed the serum immediately.
"Exactly." Dr. Banner gave Professor Connors a thumbs-up.
"But that won't work," Professor Connors refuted Dr. Banner's idea. "I've also participated in symbiote research. Combining them with the regeneration serum will most likely result in consequences similar to cancerous mutation."
"How is that possible?" Dr. Banner's eyes widened.
"This is the basic framework of the regeneration serum. Plug it into the model and try it, you'll see." Professor Connors went to his workstation and sent the digital framework of the serum over to Banner.
After a round of testing, Dr. Banner couldn't help scratching his head again:
"It really doesn't work... Adding the regeneration serum didn't perfect the bond between Venom and the moonlight; instead, there's a huge probability of mutation."
Morbius and Dr. Otto leaned in, looking at the sea of red on the screen symbolizing failure:
"Great, the experiment is stuck again."
"Wait, this isn't the only method for regeneration." Professor Connors pushed up his glasses at this moment, light almost glimmering in his eyes. "Batman gave me something."
"What thing?" Dr. Otto and the others asked curiously.
Professor Connors walked quickly to a petri dish and picked the whole thing up. Inside was a piece of trembling gel.
"A week ago, Batman gave me this regeneration gel."
This regeneration gel was one of the gifts T'Challa had presented to Batman. Batman had later given it to Professor Connors. After being set aside for a while, it was now being brought out again.
"This thing is useless to us," Professor Connors said. Everyone present was a monster with self-healing abilities, so they naturally didn't need regeneration gel to heal themselves. "But I've conducted detailed research on it."
"It shares certain commonalities with the Vibranium isotope. If we use it as the cornerstone, and the Vibranium isotope as the framework..."
The eyes of the other three scientists lit up: "We can try that."
Having said that, they quickly threw themselves back to their respective workstations, working frantically. This time, even Professor Connors joined in.
Because he only had a left arm, Connors looked even busier and more overwhelmed than the other three.
Finally, another hour passed before the four scientists on South Brother Island successively stopped their simulations and calculations, turning their gazes toward Batman:
"Shall we begin?"
Batman nodded.
Dr. Otto picked up the phone, preparing to contact the neurosurgeon Dr. Strange in Metropolis via a private channel.
It was Dr. Strange who had performed the procedure to extract Venom from Batman's body last time.
"If it's a simple surgery, I can do it too." Professor Morbius stepped forward. "I used to be a doctor as well. As long as Batman trusts me, I can definitely extract Venom."
Batman silently gazed at Morbius, then after a long moment, nodded solemnly: "I trust you."
Moonlight, Venom, Vibranium isotope, regeneration gel.
Four completely unrelated things were being combined together.
One minute, two minutes.
Under the watchful eyes of four scientists, a deity, and Batman, the Venom symbiote slowly began to wriggle, successively wrapping around the Vibranium isotope and the regeneration gel.
Under the illumination of the moonlight, a hideous, hollowed-out humanoid figure formed from countless strands of sticky, web-like symbiote slowly stood up, its sharp fangs and long scarlet tongue flickering in and out of view.
Its form was extremely unstable, hovering between reorganization and collapse at any moment, desperately trying to reach out and touch Batman.
Clearly, Venom still wanted to return to Batman's body, to be that Robin who could act spoiled and beg for chocolate at any time.
"You grant it a soul; I cast its form. This child bears your discipline and my law, and shall serve as a bridge between the two realms."
The Moon God Khonshu did not immediately establish the pact with Venom, but instead looked at Batman and spoke slowly.
Batman looked at Venom. No matter how unwilling Venom was, Batman had to cut it loose, allowing Robin to become an independent existence, rather than a symbiote that could only rely on Batman.
"I taught you to harness the darkness so that you could protect the light. Now, you have found your own light." Batman looked at Venom, who was trying to return to his side like a puppy, and spoke in a deep voice.
Khonshu said no more, slowly speaking to Venom to seal the pact:
"You take the Bat's shadow as your soul; I cast moonlight as your form. Shadow eclipses light to reveal itself; light relies on shadow to exist. The pact is eternal. You are my 'Eclipse' walking upon the earth."
"You are the 'Eclipse Knight'."
Under the pact, the Venom symbiote's body shrank rapidly and solidified, turning into the figure of a young boy about 1.4 meters tall.
His body was composed of the pitch-black symbiote, wearing a battle suit made of wrapped mummy linens, and draped in a hooded cloak.
His eyes extended diagonally upward just like Venom's used to, eerie and sharp. On his forehead was a pitch-black crescent moon symbol, but on his chest was a sharp Batman emblem.
He knelt on one knee, and as his body finished forming, he slowly stood up. His gaze shifted from the falcon skull of the Moon God Khonshu to Batman.
His mouth slowly grinned open, revealing a mouthful of hideous fangs. The clear voice of a young boy revealed a trace of mean-spiritedness:
"Fuck Batman."