Late at night, in an undisclosed location at sea, a massive aircraft carrier floated silently on the water.
The circular bald eagle emblem on its deck identified it as belonging to the Homeland Strategic Defense, Counterattack and Logistics Support Bureau.
"Clint Barton, there's something I need you to do for me."
Inside the carrier's command center, Director Nick Fury, his temples streaked with gray, spoke to his senior agent.
Clint Barton, code-named Hawkeye, the one Director Nick Fury had addressed, was dressed in a dark purple sleeveless combat suit. He leaned against the wall with his arms crossed, looking bored.
Upon hearing Director Fury's order, Hawkeye looked up at him and said three words:
"Time, location, target?"
"Tomorrow, you'll head to Dharavi in Mumbai, India—the second-largest slum in the world. The Hulk is very likely active there, and I need you to apprehend him."
"Try not to cause too much of a stir. We need to find the Hulk before General Ross does. Natasha will accompany you on this mission."
Director Fury said this with his hands clasped behind his back.
Hawkeye Clint nodded, still leaning against the wall without moving.
"What about today?"
"Today, I need you to thoroughly inspect the network security system Tony Stark set up for me, to make sure no viruses have been implanted," Director Fury said.
"I'm good at archery; someone else can handle this kind of thing." Hawkeye still had no intention of moving. "I was just asking casually, and you actually assigned it to me?"
Hawkeye Clint Barton, a senior agent of S.H.I.E.L.D., excelled in archery, swordsmanship, staff fighting, and hundreds of other combat techniques. He was also a hacker, and few security firewalls could stop him.
"Homeland Strategic Defense, Counterattack and Logistics Support Bureau... Damn it! I have to say that long string of words every time. From now on, we'll use Agent Phil's abbreviation: 'S.H.I.E.L.D.'"
Director Fury cursed impatiently midway through, then continued:
"S.H.I.E.L.D.'s cybersecurity department has already thoroughly checked the firewall and found no issues."
"But I don't trust that playboy Tony to behave himself, so I need you to check it again."
Hearing Director Fury say this, Hawkeye Clint finally nodded and headed toward the cybersecurity department. A dozen minutes later, he returned to the command center.
"Tony hid a small virus in the system. It was buried deep, but I still found it."
"What kind of virus?" Nick Fury asked, as if he'd anticipated this.
"A prank virus that installs a Pac-Man game on every computer," Hawkeye Clint said.
Director Nick Fury shook his head and said nothing more. He sat down in the command center chair and began pondering why Spider-Man had completely vanished after his single appearance in Central Park.
Unfortunately, Spencer, the last person to have contact with Spider-Man, had committed suicide at midnight the day after his arrest, leaving no further clues to pursue.
If Spider-Man hadn't disappeared, Nick Fury had already planned for S.H.I.E.L.D. agents to make contact with him.
But now, New York only had the elusive, seemingly superhuman Batman, and Agent Phil's attempt to establish contact had also failed.
Shaking his head again, Nick Fury stopped thinking about it and leaned back in his chair, intending to rest for a moment.
At the same time, Parker Industries had been cleared out, and inside a warehouse publicly declared to be full of discarded items, Batman was seamlessly hacking into S.H.I.E.L.D.
The Batmobile, suit, and other items were all hidden in the abandoned City Hall subway station, with not a single Bat element inside the warehouse.
Even if this warehouse were opened or trespassed by unauthorized personnel, there would be no clues pointing to Batman himself; it would only make people think this was the private base of a science and engineering guy, Peter Parker.
Batman was currently wearing a plaid shirt, also disguised as Peter Parker.
"Barbara, stay vigilant. Report any disturbances in the surveillance to me immediately."
Batman said to the Oracle AI.
"No problem, Bruce," Oracle replied, quickly taking over the surveillance network that Batman had personally installed, which covered every corner of Parker Industries.
Ensuring there were no others in Parker Industries besides the necessary security personnel, Batman used his hacking skills to infiltrate S.H.I.E.L.D.'s internal system.
He believed his skills would allow him to slip past everyone's notice, hacking into S.H.I.E.L.D. without leaving a trace or being detected—and indeed, that was the case.
No alarms, no countermeasures, no tracking—he appeared silently within S.H.I.E.L.D. like a ghost.
"The headquarters is a flying aerospace carrier, with half of the members, including the director, on board."
"Its predecessor can be traced back to the Brotherhood of the Shield in ancient Egypt. It was founded during World War II to fight against Germany, originally named the Strategic Scientific Reserve, changed to the Strategic Hazard Intervention and Espionage Logistics Directorate in 1991, and is now the Homeland Strategic Defense, Counterattack and Logistics Support Bureau."
"It is subordinate to the International Security Council, which Tony Stark once revealed to me was jointly established by multiple countries."
These were all semi-public information, and Batman quickly skimmed past them after a brief glance, searching for what he truly cared about among S.H.I.E.L.D.'s dense confidential files.
Soon, three plans most likely related to returning to Gotham were found by Batman and recorded on paper.
They were Project Goliath, Project Pegasus, and Project Sword.
"Project Goliath, jointly led by Hank Pym and Howard Stark. Due to a divergence in research direction, Howard withdrew from the project and even faded out of S.H.I.E.L.D."
"So, even though his father was a founder of S.H.I.E.L.D., Tony Stark doesn't know much about the organization."
Batman analyzed these three plans one by one, his astonishing memory allowing him to clearly recall the scientist's portrait hanging on the wall when he first arrived in this world and observed the environment in Dr. Otto's laboratory.
Among them was Dr. Hank Pym.
"He developed a substance called 'Pym Particles,' which can enlarge or shrink matter. Hank Pym possesses the absolute technology to create these particles and once wore suits with his wife Janet, calling themselves 'Ant-Man and Wasp.'"
"They relied on shrinking their bodies to reach the Quantum Realm, and their bodies seemed to undergo changes, maintaining a youthful state from World War II until now."
Batman had already turned off the computer, sketching his plan on paper with a pen.
"Similar to the abilities of 'Atom,' the project is named Goliath, which does not rule out Dr. Pym, 'Ant-Man,' having the ability to grow larger."
"The Quantum Realm might hold a way to return to Gotham. A Google search shows Pym owns 'Pym Technologies.' I can try to collaborate with him after Parker Industries develops."
"But just in case, I need a way to restrain Ant-Man after he shrinks or grows, and I need to prevent Ant-Man from appearing all over the world by riding electrons, like Atom."
"Barbara, establish 'Project David.'"
In the Bible, the giant Goliath was defeated by a shepherd boy named David.
Batman did not directly view Dr. Pym as a threat, but he had seen too many "superheroes" fall into depravity after suffering some blow, so Batman needed to have a contingency plan in advance.