Chapter 123: Venom's Baby Loves Chocolate
"You don't look like a vampire. More like an ordinary person wearing a costume."
Dr. Strange had never witnessed Batman's inhuman feats. Now alone with Batman in the operating room, Strange studied the figure about to undergo bone marrow extraction with open curiosity.
Batman said nothing. He simply removed the rear armor plating of his Arkham suit, exposing his back to the air, then lay face-down on the operating table.
Strange examined the spine beneath the suit—completely normal in appearance. This reinforced his belief that "Batman is just an ordinary person."
He'd come expecting to operate on a legendary vampire. Discovering Batman was merely human, Strange's enthusiasm deflated considerably.
Preparing the puncture needle. Sterilizing. Finding the position. Inserting the needle...
"I'm alone here. Before we begin, I need to warn you—without assistance, this procedure carries certain risks. If you tell me the purpose of extracting bone marrow, perhaps I can minimize those risks."
Strange addressed Batman directly.
Even lying prone on the operating table, Batman remained fully suited in his Arkham armor. He fell silent for two seconds before speaking.
"There's a trace of black extraterrestrial material hidden in my bone marrow. That's my primary target."
The moment Batman finished speaking, Strange felt the entire situation screamed "absurd."
He could barely comprehend someone so committed to their role they'd wear a costume during surgery. But he couldn't fathom how alleged alien material had gotten into this man's bone marrow.
"You're certain you don't need anesthesia?" Strange confirmed one final time. After verifying Batman hadn't changed his mind, he picked up the puncture needle.
As the rigid needle slowly penetrated Batman's spine, Strange watched carefully for any reaction.
If the patient showed any adverse response, Strange would halt the procedure immediately.
But Batman's body remained motionless. Even as the puncture needle entered his vertebra, he showed no reaction whatsoever.
Strange wore his surgical mask. Now his mind focused completely on the operation, extracting bone marrow bit by bit with meticulous care.
Gradually, within the syringe connected to the puncture needle, a trace of black material began appearing. It rippled within the tube like a parasite.
The surgery proceeded exceptionally smoothly. Twenty minutes later, Strange removed his mask and studied the living, pitch-black substance with intense curiosity.
Now that surgery had concluded, Strange's assessment of Batman had shifted. Even if Batman wore a costume, whoever existed beneath it was definitely no ordinary person.
Without anesthesia, the pain from bone marrow puncture was absolutely unbearable for most people. Yet Batman hadn't made a single sound from start to finish—as though physical pain didn't register at all.
But judging from the cold sweat beading on his back, Batman clearly felt pain. He'd simply endured it through astonishing willpower.
"What is this thing?"
Watching Batman reattach the Arkham suit's armor plating and take the syringe containing the black material from Strange's hand, the doctor couldn't help asking.
"This is the extraterrestrial material I mentioned." Batman's voice remained flat. "Thank you for your help tonight. I'll remember this."
"Though you're nothing like the vampire from urban legends, I get the feeling being remembered by you isn't necessarily a good thing." Strange removed his gloves and lab coat as he spoke.
The words had barely left his mouth when Strange heard a rushing wind. Batman had vanished with the tube of black material.
---
The three scientists on North Brother Island stayed awake all night. Otto checked the clock repeatedly, waiting for Batman to return after surgery.
CREAK—
The laboratory door pushed open again. Batman's figure entered with the same steady footsteps as always.
"Batman, how do you plan to handle this thing?" Otto asked.
"I need to cultivate and study it." Batman stated. Before Banner could raise objections, he added, "There's another, far more powerful extraterrestrial organism in the Adirondack Mountains. I've found a method to deal with it, but first I must thoroughly research this sample."
"The three of us should be able to help with that," Banner offered.
"Looks like our primary research goal is determining its composition... Does this count as some kind of organism?" Connors asked.
"Yes." Batman's voice rumbled low. "Your work begins tomorrow. Tonight's remaining hours, I'll conduct the research myself."
The three scientists didn't argue. Their bodies were ordinary human—staying awake until three or four in the morning had them nearly unable to keep their eyes open.
As Banner and the others bid Batman goodnight and returned from the lab area to the residential quarters, Batman remained in the laboratory, using every available instrument to study the trace of symbiotic material Venom had left behind.
After subjecting it to various chemical stimuli, physical contact, light sources, sound tests, and more, Batman drew the following conclusions:
"It doesn't speak. No reaction to external stimuli. Appears to retain no trace of Venom's consciousness—only the instincts of a symbiote."
Batman watched the Venom symbiote he'd transferred into a glass petri dish, recording each observation methodically.
He conducted two tasks simultaneously—analyzing the symbiote's specific molecular composition while searching for methods to help it grow.
Time passed. A new day arrived. When Otto and the others woke, they found Batman still working in the laboratory.
The three scientists exchanged glances. Without wasting words, they immediately joined Batman in researching the symbiote.
With three scientists assisting, Batman's progress accelerated dramatically. He'd already discovered how to make this trace of symbiotic material grow.
Batman constructed a new containment unit to prevent Anti-Venom from detecting the symbiote's presence again.
After triple-confirming the current symbiote couldn't bond with Banner or the others, Batman made a trip to City Hall station, changed clothes, and terminated Peter's apartment lease.
Facing landlady's daughter Ursula's reluctant farewell, Batman responded with a Peter Parker smile, then purchased an entire case of chocolate from a corner store and brought it back to North Brother Island.
Watching Batman tear open chocolate wrappers and feed the pieces one by one to the symbiote in the glass dish, Otto shook his head, unable to help commenting.
"This is... unprecedented."
"Choc...olate." Inside the containment unit, Venom had vaguely taken shape, mimicking Otto's words.
"Chocolate contains a substance called phenylethylamine. That's primarily what attracts its interest." Batman explained.
The entire case of chocolate was rapidly digested—half consumed by the rippling symbiote. Its volume grew swiftly.
Over the following week, Batman spent days on North Brother Island with the three scientists studying the symbiote. Venom slowly learned to speak, achieving basic communication capability.
At least now it would actively request chocolate from Batman rather than passively waiting to be fed like initially.
At night, Batman brought the containment unit back to City Hall station, using the Oracle AI and SHIELD satellites to search inch by inch for Tony Stark's possible location.
Simultaneously, Batman traced the video email Obadiah had received, following the chain of network nodes to locate the original transmission address.
One week later, Batman stood in City Hall station, watching surveillance footage of Tony Stark on his workstation computer screen.
The Ten Rings had no internet access in the cave—surveillance operated on a local area network only.
But Tony Stark had apparently manipulated the Ten Rings' LAN through the cameras, using satellites to transmit a series of irregular signals outward.
These signals held no inherent meaning. Even if Ten Rings members discovered them, they'd dismiss them as some kind of glitch.
The signal recipient was none other than Batman's alternate identity—Parker Industries, owned by Peter Parker.
"Tony Stark didn't contact his own Stark Industries or the military. He chose to contact me instead..."
Batman understood the significance after brief consideration.
"Tony probably knows his company has problems. He needs to contact someone trustworthy who'd search for him after his disappearance—someone with strong networking skills capable of receiving signals."
"Peter Parker undoubtedly meets those requirements, even though Tony and I previously had a disagreement."
Using email address tracking, Tony Stark's transmitted signals, and the Oracle AI's analysis, Batman finally achieved one-way observation of Tony Stark's situation.
Tony Stark currently sat on a rock, continuously flexing his leg joints while occasionally glancing at the surveillance camera—apparently waiting for someone to discover his location.
His legs were covered with metal armor plating. This wasn't the Jericho missile at all—it was part of some massive shell.
Almost the same instant Batman viewed the surveillance footage, Ten Rings members also noticed Tony Stark's suspicious activity on their monitors.
CRASH!
A stream of armed Ten Rings fighters burst into the cave, weapons trained on Tony and Yinsen.
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