An unremarkable office building on the outside, where the entire twentieth floor belonged to Silver Sable's security company.
Almost the instant Batman's broad cape blocked out the light from outside and his figure flashed into Silver Sable's office, the female CEO of the security company reacted reflexively, jumping up from her chair and kicking out with one foot.
Smack.
Batman casually blocked Silver Sable's kick with one hand, the force that could easily knock over an ordinary burly man not even making his body budge an inch.
"Silver Sable." Batman's voice remained low and deep. "I'm here to fulfill my promise."
"I've been waiting for this moment for days." Silver Sable lowered her extended foot. "You promised me you'd provide technical and financial support. Got any high-tech weapons? Bring them out already."
Batman stood by the window like a statue, blocking most of the light coming in from outside. His voice was low and deep:
"It's not weapons. Relying on weapons won't turn your company into Silver Sable International; it'll only make it an armed force that's feared by militaries around the world, subjected to relentless pressure and attacks."
Silver Sable was still wearing that white skintight combat suit. She didn't understand what else her subordinates—these former private mercenaries turned security personnel—could do besides running a security company.
Batman didn't need to explain much, and he didn't beat around the bush:
"I can provide the funds and technical blueprints to turn you into Silver Sable International. Fifty million in funds has already been transferred to your company account."
"How do you know my company account..." Silver Sable asked halfway, then felt like the question was somewhat redundant.
Batman naturally ignored the issue and continued:
"On the technical side, I don't handle production, but I have a trusted, independent third-party technology supplier. The technology comes from me, and it's already in production. But development isn't complete yet; that technology still has enormous upgrade potential."
"More importantly, they're the only team that can understand and realize my technical blueprints."
"My technology will be provided to you through them."
"That technology can transform Silver Sable Security toward becoming Silver Sable International, with rescue as its primary focus."
"Silver Sable International with rescue as its main business..." Silver Sable immediately perked up with interest, curiously inquiring. "The people who can get technology from you must not be ordinary, right? Who are they? Where are they? How do I contact them?"
No one wanted to live a life on the knife's edge forever, and Silver Sable was no exception. It was just that her subordinates were former mercenaries, making a transition extremely difficult.
But rescue was different; any type of rescue mission was already part of their former mercenary operations.
With the funds and technical support provided by Batman, Silver Sable could completely and quickly transform the company.
Batman's exposed chin showed no trace of the deception he was about to unleash:
"Brooklyn Industrial District. Go find an emerging factory called Parker Industries."
"Parker Industries?"
Silver Sable frowned; she'd never heard of this company's name.
Turning back to her computer, Silver Sable's fingers flew across the keyboard, quickly pulling up information on Parker Industries' chairman, Peter Parker:
"A brilliant top student, ranking at the top of his class in school, a poor kid from Queens... Uh, no offense, but this is your partner?"
Batman nodded slightly, his voice so low and deep that it was impossible to connect it to the young face beneath the mask:
"His identity is airtight. An innocent college student with no complicated power networks behind him. No one would link him to me."
"His technical talent is genuine and can be fully utilized by me."
"He's naive enough; he truly believes I'm sponsoring him to establish Parker Industries. He sees me as a mysterious mentor, a silent partner. He doesn't know my full intentions, and he doesn't need to."
Silver Sable drew in a sharp breath. She'd just tried to joke with Batman earlier, but now it seemed Batman was completely an ice-cold creature without a shred of humanity.
"That poor kid probably has no idea what kind of guy he's working with..." Silver Sable silently prayed for Peter Parker in her heart.
"You can do business with Parker Industries, you can drive that boy to produce the equipment you need, but you must keep your distance from him. Don't try to recruit him, don't delve into his life, and especially don't ask him anything about me."
Batman's voice grew even colder, his eyes staring at Silver Sable like a bloodthirsty beast:
"If you disturb my tool and ruin this perfect disguise... then what you'll lose won't just be the technology and funds."
"You'll find that Silver Sable International will go bankrupt faster and more thoroughly than Parker Industries."
For the first time, Silver Sable felt the threat from Batman viscerally, even more terrifying than a few days ago in the Osborn Group when this guy punched Kingpin flying with one blow.
Paranoid, controlling the big picture, treating others as pawns on a chessboard; powerful, cold-blooded, unscrupulous... That was Silver Sable's full impression of Batman at that moment.
Silver Sable still didn't notice when Batman left; she only felt the light in the office suddenly brighten. When she looked up, the spot by the window had already lost Batman's figure.
"And extremely rude!" Silver Sable gritted her teeth and added another label to her impression of Batman in her mind.
"In Silver Sable's eyes right now, Peter Parker and I are completely distinct: one is the cold-blooded, ruthless Batman, the other is the talented but exploited Peter Parker."
"The information about Peter Parker that Silver Sable can find online is all the information I've deliberately left on the network."
"She'll naturally assume that Peter relied on selling technology to Stark Industries for his first round of funding, only to be targeted and used by Batman afterward."
"For a long time in the future, my identity won't show any abnormalities to Silver Sable."
These thoughts flashed by in an instant as Batman's body plummeted rapidly from high altitude, heading straight for a manhole cover.
When he was still dozens of meters from the manhole cover, Batman fired a strand of white spider silk designed for daytime use, sticking to the cover and yanking it up sharply. The cover flipped in the air, and after Batman dropped inside, it settled back into place.
Because Batman's speed was too fast, the people around only heard the clatter of the manhole cover falling, without noticing Batman's presence at all.
Changing into a thin trench coat, he drove straight to Parker Industries as the young entrepreneur Peter Parker, taking away the dozens of military gun oils promised by Tony Stark.
As the sky gradually darkened and the subway stopped running, no one knew that the once-abandoned City Hall subway station was now brightly lit.
Nearly a hundred gun oil samples from the black market, ordinary military stores, and Stark's arms factory were displayed on the workbench.
Displayed alongside them was a gas chromatography-mass spectrometer that Batman had bought and modified, as well as a small air sampling bottle hidden in the Bat-Belt under his thin trench coat.
This was one of the tools frequently prepared in the Bat-Belt.
The instrument began working, breaking down the chemical composition of each gun oil into unique electronic spectra and comparing them to the air sample Batman had collected in front of Norman's isolation ward.
"Barbara, has the audio file been decoded?"
Batman set the gas chromatography-mass spectrometer aside to work on its own while asking the Oracle AI.
"Decoding complete, Bruce."
"Play it."
After a brief burst of static, a deliberately lowered voice, parsed and amplified by the Oracle AI, rang out:
"Norman Osborn, General Ross is willing to give you another chance. This time, without any reservations, you'll have a stage to fully unleash your talents."
"A brief failure is not unforgivable. Cut off one head, and two more shall take its place."
"Hail Hydra!"
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