Chapter 126: Venom Robin
"Want chocolate!"
Inside the containment unit, the pitch-black symbiote rippled upward. A small head nearly identical to Venom's original form raised itself, calling out to Batman.
Batman had just ended his call with Silver Sable.
In two hours, Sable would lead her rescue team on the journey to the Middle East, having coordinated three helicopters through her connections for searching and extracting Tony Stark.
Only now could Batman finally stop monitoring Tony Stark and devote his full attention to dealing with Anti-Venom.
Batman looked at the symbiote. Rather than simply satisfying its craving for chocolate, he held a piece in front of it and spoke in a low rumble.
"Stay quiet. Three hours from now, I'll give you chocolate."
Batman set a timer in front of the symbiote.
Inside the containment unit, the black symbiote's eyes drooped downward. It seemed somewhat sullen and unhappy, but still stared at the timer in silent waiting.
It could now understand most word meanings and was capable of thinking and speaking—its consciousness comparable to a two or three-year-old human child.
More specifically, the current symbiote resembled a puppy capable of following Batman's simple commands, like "stay quiet."
Only its appearance looked pitiful—the corners of its mouth and eyes that should have been raised were drooping downward.
Batman watched it without speaking. Then he turned off the timer, picked up the containment unit, and placed it on the workstation in front of a screen.
He changed the channel to a children's program.
"Watch?"
The symbiote made a surprised sound. Its drooping eyes lifted again as it watched with rapt attention the footage that would seem childishly simple to any adult.
"The current Venom... no, right now it's purely a symbiote. After repeated confirmation by myself and Dr. Banner, it has completely lost all memories of being Venom. It's a new life growing from the symbiotic material Venom left behind."
"It's very innocent, easily satisfied, very obedient."
"Just like my Robin."
Batman watched the pitch-black symbiote in its containment, his thoughts wandering briefly before snapping back to focus. He turned to survey City Hall station.
This past week, Batman hadn't only been busy researching the symbiote and tracking Tony Stark.
He'd simultaneously been accomplishing another equally important task.
Batman had used various trust funds to completely purchase all the land surrounding City Hall station.
Not far from the station, a sixty-six-story skyscraper had been purchased by Alice, CEO—Chief Executive Officer—of Parker Industries, and undergone a series of construction modifications.
City Hall station's construction was concealed within the skyscraper renovations, managed by the Oracle AI under the pretext of upgrading the underground water system.
Except for lacking a massive computer array and cooling systems, City Hall station had now become Batman's first true Batcave in New York.
"Barbara." Batman addressed his Batcave with instructions. "Begin assembly of the Arkham Batmobile immediately."
The muscle car converted Batmobile had been destroyed at Oscorp Tower. All components for the new Batmobile had now arrived.
This time, no trip to Parker Industries was necessary for assembly—the Batcave possessed sufficient space and equipment for the work.
"Acknowledged, Bruce." The Oracle AI responded.
Inside the Batcave, mechanical arms activated. Components assembled methodically in systematic order.
A 60mm cannon capable of penetrating 820mm steel armor. A Vulcan machine gun loaded with armor-piercing rounds, incendiary rounds, freeze rounds, and standard ammunition.
A salvo missile system capable of firing tracking missiles, guided rockets, high-explosive warheads, and other high-powered munitions.
A riot suppression gun using rubber bullets, smoke grenades, tear gas, gel rounds and other non-lethal ammunition for crowd control purposes.
A sonic cannon capable of emitting high-frequency and subsonic waves, adjustable to bat beacon frequencies for summoning swarms.
A flamethrower mounted alongside the sonic weapons...
Batman might not use all these weapons when confronting enemies. But he wouldn't allow himself to be without them.
Beyond essential weapon systems, the Batmobile featured the world's most powerful V12 engine, personally modified and tuned by Batman.
The massive 1.6-meter composite fiber tires could switch between terrain, sand, and urban modes, enabling Batman to operate across entire cities.
The entire vehicle used titanium alloy armor with partial carbon fiber construction—bulletproof, explosion-proof, EMP-resistant. When necessary, the vehicle could seal completely and switch to submersible mode.
Beyond standard and submersible modes, the Batmobile offered three combat configurations: tank mode, pursuit mode, and motorcycle mode—the latter reserved for use only when the Batmobile sustained critical damage.
Additionally: drones, winches, electromagnetic ejection seats, neural control interface, onboard medical kit, solar charging, boost jump, self-destruct, electromagnetic shielding, stealth mode, air filtration...
Except for being unable to fly and lacking submarine-level underwater range, this Batmobile—built using nearly half of Parker Industries' capital—was essentially omnipotent.
If Batman hadn't witnessed Tony Stark constructing armor in surveillance footage from that Middle Eastern cave, this vehicle would have been loaded into a cargo plane Batman purchased and airdropped for Tony's rescue after assembly completion.
But that approach would have relegated this expensive Batmobile to single-use status, impossible to recover back to the Batcave for continued operation.
Now that Tony Stark was executing self-rescue inside the cave, Batman naturally avoided the trip to the Middle East himself.
From nothing to something. From zero to whole.
The Batmobile assembled piece by piece from its skeleton. Clear or heavy metallic collision sounds rang continuously. Three hours later—
As the Oracle AI withdrew the mechanical arms one by one, a semi-new Arkham Batmobile—worth countless times more than the previous version—stood ready.
This Batmobile was larger than the one Batman had previously driven, with thicker armor, greater height, and a driving compartment that included one slightly smaller seat.
It sat silently in the Batcave without sound or movement, like a slumbering beast.
Batman stood silently before the Batmobile, placing one hand on its cold armor plating.
Whether suits or Batmobiles, Batman deliberately designed them to match his equipment from Gotham.
Not because he couldn't design new styles. Batman wanted them to remind him constantly—never forget returning to Gotham.
"Dad, I finished watching."
As the Oracle AI ceased operations, the quiet Batcave became pin-drop silent. But one voice made Batman's heart suddenly skip.
He whirled around sharply. On the workstation, inside the containment unit, the symbiote raised its head toward him, waiting for the promised chocolate reward.
Batman's footsteps were impossibly heavy. He strode rapidly to the workstation and stared intently at the black symbiote in its container, his voice low and strained.
"What did you just say?"
Inside the containment, the symbiote shrank back in fear. But driven by craving for chocolate, it still spoke quietly:
"It said on there—people who focus on caring for you and teaching you everything aren't just teachers. Besides teachers, only fathers do that."
"I think you must be the father they talked about... Dad, I waited very obediently for three hours. You promised to give me chocolate."
It extended a tendril from its symbiotic mass to point at the screen where Batman had played the children's program—currently presenting educational content about families.
CLICK.
Batman shut off the screen. He stared at the symbiote in its containment for a long moment. Finally, under its expectant gaze, he withdrew a piece of chocolate and passed it through the specially designed feeding port.
"Thank you, Dad!" The symbiote cheered and swallowed the chocolate in one gulp. Then it looked at Batman and asked, "The program also said every child has their own name... What's my name?"
Batman's hand remained inside the containment. He touched the symbiote's head. It raised its eyes in contentment.
"You are Venom."
"But here with me, you have another name... Robin."
Venom rubbed its head against Batman's palm, apparently overjoyed at receiving a name.
"Yay! I'm Robin!"
***
15+advance chapters at patreon.com/Eatinpieces