Chapter 243: Designation D-2, Ant Farm!
"You're saying... this thing might be left from King Arthur's era?" Venom Robin's eyes widened.
Batman nodded slightly. Online leads regarding the stone tablet had reached dead ends. But the object's era and origins themselves represented leads.
12th century. Knight.
These two words individually appeared unremarkable. Once combined, virtually everyone possessing basic medieval history knowledge would inevitably connect them to King Arthur.
In Batman's original world, figures from Arthur's era remaining active included Etrigan, Morgan le Fay, the Phantom Stranger—numerous magic-oriented superheroes or villains.
In this current world, when Batman had previously searched for magic and extraordinary power existence, he'd specifically targeted medieval legends.
Like Gotham, this world's medieval legends similarly contained abundant magical rumors—Morgan le Fay and her son Mordred, for instance.
But Batman had found zero evidence of those magical powers existing within either SHIELD or CIA databases—as though legends genuinely remained merely legends.
Batman hadn't abandoned searching. He constantly remembered his ultimate objective in this world: returning to Gotham.
Achieving this goal meant establishing Parker Group, continuously investigating Tesseract information. Similarly seeking extraordinary powers remained within his protocols.
Moon God Khonshu qualified as one. Batman would employ comprehensive methods at appropriate moments determining whether Khonshu possessed capability returning him to Gotham.
But currently Batman lacked his own rocket launch facility. Even if he could infiltrate SHIELD or even substitute his own satellites for NASA spacecraft payloads through sleight-of-hand—
Actually implementing moon destruction, maintaining tidal gravitational forces through sufficiently massive artificial satellites, wasn't simple.
Before possessing genuine means implementing this protocol, Batman wouldn't exhibit any behaviors alerting Khonshu to danger.
Batman also hadn't placed all extraordinary power hopes solely on Khonshu. That Metropolitan Museum stone tablet fragment similarly provided faint hope for Gotham return.
"Dad, can't find it."
Just as Batman contemplated medieval stone tablet-related problems, Venom Robin spoke dejectedly:
"Trade data contains absolutely zero information regarding employers hiring Yami Kaze Group stealing tablets."
The little guy looked completely unhappy, rubbing fists together as though desperately wanting to fly directly to Japan, personally interrogating Yami Kaze Group's Dark Wind Lord.
He glanced surreptitiously at Batman, noting Batman remained expressionless—showing zero dissatisfaction regarding his failure.
While internally relieved, he couldn't help feeling slightly discouraged about repeatedly requesting multiple chocolates yet accomplishing nothing.
Chocolate had already entered his stomach. Vomiting it out was obviously impossible. Venom Robin simply adopted righteous attitude:
"Old Bat, I'll go demolish them. Won't everything resolve itself? Why bother investigating leads with zero clues?"
"Finding nothing is normal, Robin." Batman noticed fleeting dimness crossing Venom Robin's features, plus the embarrassment behind righteous attitude. "Conventional trade data represents surface waters. What you're seeking exists in underwater currents beneath..."
Batman demonstrated hands-on for Venom Robin, starting from Yami Kaze Group's abnormal art insurance claim, then to subsidiary small freight company equity changes, then to Yami Kaze Group's chairman—the Dark Wind Lord himself.
Possessing Batman's technology, possessing talent for worst-case scenario planning—but Venom Robin didn't completely possess Batman's detective thinking.
"Hidden employers and Yami Kaze Group obviously couldn't sign blatant 'Employ Yami Kaze stealing tablets' contracts. What we must do is analyze comprehensive Yami Kaze trade records, extracting subtle traces."
Under Batman's hands-on guidance, Venom Robin re-examined portions he'd previously considered lacking leads. One vague lead gradually clarified.
"Not bad, Dad." Venom Robin didn't spare praise—identical to when he'd formerly been pure Venom attached within Batman's body.
"No. Actually viewing these leads individually reveals limited useful information." Batman guided Venom Robin's vision with his hand. "We already knew that thief crew were tools. Now we've simply further confirmed someone employing Yami Kaze Group."
"Then what's next?" Venom stared with bewildered eyes. "Should I go to Japan? I'm confident demolishing Yami Kaze Group in one night."
"We're detectives first, assassins and knights second." Batman shook his head slightly. "Theoretically, I have another candidate for visiting Japan."
"Who?" Venom Robin immediately grew alert, pressing.
"A woman. Possibly a man."
---
"Welcome to Ant Farm, Natasha."
Black-and-red suited Ant-Man Hank Pym pinched Natasha between two fingers, dropping her into a laptop-sized house seemingly constructed from toy building blocks.
For normal human-sized Ant-Man and Wasp, this genuinely represented a small house.
But for Natasha—body shrunk to merely fingernail size—this was equivalent to an enormous, insurmountable, impregnable mansion.
"This, this is... Designation D-2?"
Natasha looked upward at Ant-Man and Wasp—towering like gods from her perspective. Her voice trembled with disbelief.
"No need using designations here." Wasp Janet giggled. "But correct—this is SHIELD's internal Designation D-2, Big House Prison (Ant Farm)."
One of SHIELD's highest secrets. One of the world's safest locations. D-2 Ant Farm!
"You've already partnered with SHIELD?" Natasha frowned, asking. "SHIELD always claimed you'd refused contact since World War II... That's false?"
Several ants crawled from the Big House Prison, approaching Natasha, using head antennae signaling she should obediently follow.
Watching ants escort Natasha into prison cells, Ant-Man Hank Pym smiled:
"Obviously false. What else?"
"If you could access SHIELD's core protocols, you'd know since Howard Stark departed SHIELD, I've continuously led 'Project Goliath.'"
Only after Natasha was completely confined within cells did Ant-Man and Wasp jointly proceed toward the laboratory, leaving Designation D-2 Ant Farm blatantly positioned at Pym Technologies Tower's conspicuous location.