Chapter 172: Batwing and Batman's Venom Wings
"Batwing modification complete, Bruce."
On Bat Island, the Oracle AI workstation temporarily mounted in the Arkham Batmobile issued its alert. Batman had finally finished converting the British-manufactured vertical takeoff attack aircraft into a functional Batwing—though it would only be good for one mission.
During the modification work, Batman had even found time to construct a Batcycle, now stored in the Batwing's cargo bay.
"North Brother Island's issues are temporarily resolved. Silver Sable's rescue company has Alice handling coordination. Oscorp has been quiet lately..."
"After Obadiah's downfall, Tony Stark ripped out Stark Industries' internal roots and cleaned out AIAS Security along with them."
Batman mentally reviewed his ongoing plans:
"Current unresolved matters: Norman Osborn in New Mexico. The Cube prison in Wyoming, now a Hydra facility. That Level 8 SHIELD agent Garrett, still lurking within the organization. Hydra operatives embedded in the World Security Council."
None of these problems could be solved overnight. Batman would handle them one step at a time, following his carefully constructed plan.
The good news was that Doctor Octavius's fusion reactor clean energy project had succeeded. Parker Industries transforming into Parker Group was now just a matter of time.
Once sufficient capital accumulated, Batman would launch the Homecoming Protocol—establishing Parker Group as a legitimate scientific enterprise, then partnering with SHIELD to gain close access to the Tesseract for research.
He'd also use Parker Group's resources to attempt building multiversal-level instruments, trying to find a way back to Gotham.
Before implementing those plans, Batman had one pressing matter to address.
He tapped his shoulder. Venom's small head immediately squirmed out from behind his back: "Dad?"
"Robin, your symbiote form can shape-shift freely. Does that include wings?" Batman asked.
"Um, I'm not sure. I haven't tried that yet, Dad." Venom sounded uncertain.
Then it seemed to realize what Batman was suggesting. The symbiote grew excited, stretching its neck to bring its head directly in front of Batman's face, nuzzling its forehead affectionately against Batman's stubbled chin:
"Dad, maybe we could try?"
"Let's do it." Batman said.
The time was early morning, two days after T'Challa had come to reclaim the vibranium.
During the Batwing modifications, construction on Bat Island had continued without pause. The underground Batcave now had its basic framework, though the surface-level Wayne Manor—perhaps it should be called Parker Manor now—remained in the foundation stage.
Batman stood on one of those foundations, far from both the Batmobile and the completed Batwing. He spoke to Venom:
"Begin, Robin."
The eager symbiote immediately flowed across Batman's body, maintaining his general physique as in previous transformations but adding distinctive Venom characteristics to the suit's appearance and eyes.
This time the transformation didn't stop there. Batman stood motionless as the symbiote engulfed his cape, the material writhing and bubbling like boiling tar.
WHOOSH.
The cape vanished. In its place, two massive wings formed from bone-like structures and membrane tissue unfurled behind Batman, rendered in intertwined black and dark crimson.
WHUMP WHUMP.
The fleshy wings beat powerfully, attempting to lift Batman's body skyward. Venom Robin strained with all its might within Batman's form, but ultimately could only manage to suspend Batman roughly thirty feet above the ground.
Even the flight speed was painfully slow—barely reaching half of what Peter Parker's body could achieve at full sprint when Batman first arrived in this world. About ninety miles per hour.
Thirty feet of altitude. Ninety miles per hour. That was the current ceiling for Venom bonded to Batman with manifested wings.
With Batman's continuous training, Peter Parker's body now possessed fifty tons of strength paired with reaction times enabling two hundred miles per hour movement. Venom's winged form couldn't compare.
Moreover, after Batman's testing, Venom couldn't maintain this configuration for long. After just brief flight, the symbiote was exhausted, drooping like frost-wilted vegetation.
"Robin, don't push yourself."
Batman keenly sensed Robin's exhaustion within him. He immediately ceased flight testing, dropping from thirty feet to land on Bat Island's foundation.
The black symbiote material writhed and withdrew. The wings reverted to cape form, and the Arkham suit returned to normal.
"Dad, I'm so tired. I need chocolate." Venom's head emerged miserably from Batman's shoulder.
Batman's hand produced six or seven chocolate bars as if by magic: "I prepared them in advance."
Venom's mouth gaped wide, engulfing both the chocolates and Batman's hand in its massive maw—though it carefully controlled its teeth to avoid harming Batman, simultaneously licking his hand with its long tongue:
"Chocolate! When did you prepare these! Dad! You're the best dad in the whole world!"
Though Venom had been bonded to Batman constantly these past days, it had no idea when Batman had acquired the chocolate.
This puzzlement lasted less than half a second before Venom surrendered completely to the chocolate's deliciousness.
'Building upon the memory palace technique, applying specific training protocols to mental recall—it appears I've succeeded in preventing Venom from accessing my most recent memories.'
Batman observed Venom's blissful, puppy-like contentment and thought carefully.
From the moment he'd decided to accept Venom as Robin, Batman had been secretly training his memory palace. He couldn't accept having all his thoughts constantly accessible to the symbiote.
The results seemed promising.
Venom could manifest wings, but the flight altitude and speed fell far below expectations.
"Against Tony Stark's Iron Man armor, I'll need to execute Plan B."
Plan A had involved leveraging Venom's abilities. That approach had failed.
Plan B meant Batman would need to exploit Tony Stark's reactor design.
When he'd helped Tony with the miniature arc reactor several nights ago, Batman had fully analyzed its principles.
In other words, if Batman wanted, he could replicate an identical reactor.
But Batman had no intention of doing that. Understanding the miniature arc reactor's principles served only to prevent situations where Tony Stark might lose control after acquiring the armor's power.