"I don't want to wear this."
"One ton of chocolate."
Dig. Venom Robin dug at ears he didn't even have, suspecting he had heard wrong.
"How much?! One ton? Just for wearing a mask, Dad will give me a ton of chocolate?"
Batman's gaze was stern, showing not a trace of humor:
"Correct."
Venom Robin, terrified that Batman would change his mind, shouted:
"I'll wear it!"
As soon as he finished speaking, he hurriedly snatched a human-face mask from Batman's hand and pulled it onto his head in a few quick motions.
The synthetic skin mask had been hand-crafted by Batman himself. Aside from the mouth, other organs like the eyes and nostrils were merely sculpted shapes; no actual holes had been cut.
Venom Robin had no nose and no ears, and his eyes were the massive, eerie white patches of a symbiote.
Batman had put a considerable amount of thought into designing and creating this human-face mask for Venom Robin, particularly to solve the problem of Venom's inability to make human eyes look lively, which would otherwise make him easily identifiable as a fake.
Now, as the human-face mask fitted perfectly against Venom Robin's head bit by bit, leaving not a single stray wrinkle, what appeared before Batman's eyes was the image of a delicate, handsome little boy with red lips, white teeth, blue eyes, and dark brown hair.
The white battle suit made of white shrouds—the Moon Knight suit—also transformed, turning into a small white western-style suit worn on Venom Robin's body.
"Alright, are we starting the mission?" Venom Robin looked at Batman with a face full of anticipation.
But Batman frowned, looking at the giant, pitch-black bat symbol that remained on the chest of the suit even after Venom Robin had transformed the shroud-cloak into formal wear.
"Get rid of that."
"I won't." Venom rolled the eyes of the human mask Batman had just given him.
"One ton of chocolate," Batman repeated his old trick.
"I won't," Venom Robin still refused. "You haven't even cashed in on the first ton you promised me for wearing the mask."
"Two tons."
"T-Two tons?"
"Three tons."
"I-I-I'll do it right now!"
Regardless of whether Batman could actually fulfill the promise, Venom Robin had no intention of letting go of what was, to him, a tremendously huge temptation.
With a ripple of the white shroud, the fierce and sharp bat symbol vanished, leaving Venom Robin's pure white suit with no other colors.
"It's fine now, right?" Venom Robin said, looking at Batman. Seeing the other give an imperceptible nod, he shouted, "Let's go!"
The destination wasn't anything new, and this wasn't a crime-fighting mission. It was simply a trip to take Venom Robin to North Brother Island—also known as Bat Island—for training.
But for Venom Robin, everything in the outside world felt incredibly novel.
Even simply sitting in the Batmobile, perched in the small passenger seat and watching the sewer scenery outside the window, made him inexplicably happy.
When Batman engaged the Batmobile's submersible mode and rushed from the sewers into the East River, Venom couldn't hold back as he watched the dim underwater scenery outside the window:
"Old Ba... Dad, can I go out?"
Batman's expression remained unchanged:
"You may."
He wasn't spoiling Robin right now; he was simply verifying some of his own deductions.
As early as their time on South Brother Island, Batman had determined from his research on the symbiote that Venom did not need oxygen and was capable of underwater combat.
But until now, Batman had never encountered an opponent that required underwater combat. Instead, there were plenty who could fly in the sky...
For ground combat, he had the four scientists on North Brother Island.
For aerial combat, he had Iron Man, Electro, and Vulture Toomes, who was still undergoing rehabilitation in Rikers Island Prison.
Only for the underwater environment did Batman consistently lack a helper.
Batman was accustomed to preparing for trouble before it happened, but aside from Batman himself piloting the submersible Batmobile, the only teammate capable of underwater combat was the Lizard, and even then, barely, and only for short periods.
The appearance of Venom Robin made up for Batman's shortfall in underwater combat power.
Watching Venom Robin swimming back and forth in the waters of the East River, circling the Batmobile like a large black fish, Batman's jaw moved almost imperceptibly, but his face quickly returned to its expressionless state.
Splash!
The Batmobile leapt out of the East River, and Venom Robin followed close behind, jumping out of the water. He crouched on top of the Batmobile, reached out, and knocked on the roof:
"Come out, play with me."
Batman emerged at the sound, observing Venom Robin's physical and mental state.
The synthetic skin mask hadn't suffered any damage from the river water rushing against it all the way. Because the mask fit tightly against Venom Robin's head, Venom's expressions were vividly reflected on the mask as well.
At this moment, Venom Robin looked quite happy. Even though he had no nose, he opened his mouth wide to gulp down a deep mouthful of air, mimicking the action of breathing fresh air. After brewing it inside his body for a moment, he sprayed it out from his behind:
"Pfft~"
Batman glanced at Venom Robin, then turned his head away.
"Robin, next, I am going to put you through a series of tests and training exercises to ensure that you can become a qualified Robin. So that even if, sooner or later, the day comes when you leave me, you can still be a qualified 'Moon Knight'."
"Pah! You're training me just to kick me out one day?" Venom Robin ripped off the human-face mask and threw it at Batman. "Keep dreaming!"
Smack!
Batman raised his hand to catch the mask Venom Robin had thrown. He walked over to Venom Robin, who was stomping his feet in anger, and put it back on him.
"Robin, do you want to lose to the Robins who came before you?" Batman asked in a low voice. "Lose to Grayson, Jason, Tim, and Damian? Lose to Stephanie? Or even lose to Jarro?"
Batman's large hand pressed down on Venom Robin's shoulder as he looked down at the symbiote, whose facial features were now all crooked because he had desperately resisted having the mask put back on.
"How could I possibly lose to them?" Venom Robin extended his long tongue to flip the mask up, balancing the entire human-face mask on top of his head as if his pitch-black noggin had gained a flesh-colored hat.
Batman put the mask back on him properly again, over and over, with infinite patience:
"Then prove it to me. What I hope to see is a Robin who, after a period of training, is fully capable of standing on his own, not a brat who refuses to admit defeat with his mouth but remains nothing more than Batman's sidekick."
"What's wrong with following Dad around..." Venom Robin muttered, but he stopped struggling, allowing Batman to fit the mask on him properly.
"Whatever your reason is, Old Bat, let's start training!"
"Black Widow has been locked in Designation D-2?"
Unknown waters, the Helicarrier.
S.H.I.E.L.D. Director Nick Fury looked at the message sent by Hank Pym via encrypted comms. His remaining eye and his mouth curved into an arc simultaneously:
"Contact Agent 19. Have her tell that big bird his vacation is over. Execute 'Operation Owl' immediately."
Agent Hill stood to the side, staring at Nick Fury:
"Operation Owl?"
"Hawkeye never said exactly what kind of hawk he is." Nick Fury spread his hands. "It is the law of nature for owls to catch rats."
"But Batman isn't a rat, and didn't you need Natasha to investigate Stark?" Agent Hill focused her gaze on the Director's eyepatch. "What is the purpose of locking her in Designation D-2?"
"Agent Hill," Nick Fury said with a smile, "if you become the Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. and take responsibility for the safety of the entire world, I can lay this all out for you."
"But for now, you have to listen to me. Contact Agent 19, Barbara Morse."
Support me & read more advance & fast update chapter on my pa-treon:
pat reon .c-om/windkaze