Aside from the incident with General Ross, this was the first time that the bugs and micro-trackers Batman installed had been discovered and destroyed on the very same day.
Batman's first reaction was that there was a problem with Helen Cho. He once again recalled the Korean doctor's resume from childhood to adulthood, as well as the personal information of all her family and friends, but still found no issues.
Either Helen Cho was hiding extremely deep—so deep that even Batman couldn't find her flaws—or there was another possibility:
Someone else came to Metropolis General Hospital after Batman, visited Helen Cho, and subsequently discovered and destroyed the listening device and micro-tracker Batman had placed.
Regardless of which possibility it was, Batman should have quickly gone to Metropolis General Hospital to investigate.
But Batman didn't, because that would directly expose him as the one who planted the bug. If the opponent was smart enough, they could even launch an extremely in-depth investigation into the identity of Peter Parker...
If the opponent possessed detective abilities comparable to Batman's, they could even determine that Peter Parker was Batman through a series of seemingly unrelated clues!
This sort of thing was what Batman was best at. In the previous world, even Superman—Clark Kent—who possessed super-intelligence, couldn't do it... Of course, this had to do with the fact that Superman rarely specifically utilized his super-intelligence.
In this world, Batman never generated any negative emotions like arrogance or conceit just because of the wisdom and experience he brought from Gotham.
Every unknown opponent would be treated seriously by Batman, and this time was no exception.
"I can't go directly to Metropolis General Hospital, but I have another means."
Batman muttered to himself, then slammed on the gas, driving the Batmobile speeding toward the Batcave.
Seven or eight minutes later, inside the Batcave, Batman had already changed into a brand-new suit, standing with his hands at his sides in front of several huge screens.
His suit was not a new model; it was still the Arkham suit, merely a replacement for the previous one which needed changing due to battle wear and tear.
There were thirty more Arkham suits of the same style inside the Batcave, stored in boxes of different sizes in different locations, kept separate from the few sets in the suit display area.
At this moment, the screens in the Batcave displayed all the surveillance feeds from Metropolis General Hospital.
When necessary, Batman would take full control of the hospital's surveillance; clearly, this was such a moment.
The surveillance showed looped footage from the time Batman was at Metropolis General Hospital to the time the bug and tracker on Helen Cho failed after he left.
It was just that Batman's figure was missing from the footage; he had long since modified and overwritten all images involving him.
But likewise, Batman did not find the figure of the guy who might have discovered and destroyed the listening device in the surveillance either.
"Besides me, there is another person who also modified the surveillance footage of Metropolis General Hospital. That person is not Dr. Cho."
Helen Cho's movement trajectory matched the surveillance footage. After saying goodbye to Batman in the hallway, she went to drink a cup of coffee, then chatted for a few sentences with the family member of a patient in the hospital.
From beginning to end, she almost never took out her phone or contacted any information terminal; she did not possess the conditions to modify the surveillance footage.
Likewise, from beginning to end, she showed no sign of having discovered the listening device and tracker on her person.
"Is it that Hydra agent who stole the Tesseract data in the Adirondack Mountains?"
Batman rubbed his chin, thinking of that mysterious fellow—the only one he had yet to make direct contact with.
Once, Batman thought that person was Hydra, but now it seemed more like a double agent planted in Hydra by S.H.I.E.L.D.... provided that Batman's previous deduction about the Adirondack Mountains base having become Hydra territory was true.
It was daytime now, not suitable for Batman to act rashly.
He turned off the useless Metropolis surveillance feed and returned to the workbench to continue his unfinished work: writing the underlying code for the Alfred AI.
Near Metropolis General Hospital, in the innermost corner of a McDonald's.
"Eddie Brock, do you want to become the Daily Bugle's ace reporter again?"
"No. Get lost."
Wearing a peaked cap, plain glasses on the bridge of his nose, and a denim jacket, Hawkeye—Clint Barton—clenched his fist, but after thinking about it, he relaxed it. He reached into his pocket, pulled out a wad of cash, counted out three bills, placed them on the table, and pushed them over.
"Thirty dollars, for an hour of your time," Hawkeye said.
"Half an hour," Eddie Brock said, swallowing a large bite of his burger.
"Half an hour, then," Hawkeye said indifferently. "I want to hear about Oscorp from you."
Hearing this, Eddie Brock finally shifted his gaze from the tray in front of him and looked Hawkeye—Clint Barton—up and down:
"Do you know why I'm here?"
Hawkeye nodded slightly, signaling him to continue.
"A week ago, Warren Miles from Oscorp was sent here by Iron Man. I was there at the time."
Eddie Brock ate as he spoke:
"A month ago, General Ross occupied Oscorp. I wasn't on the scene, but I had exclusive news—the stuff I later exposed but was suppressed by the government."
"What stuff?" Hawkeye asked.
Eddie Brock briefly recounted the dirt on General Ross that Batman had sent him, then continued:
"Then guess what I got? I lost my job, lost my reputation, got kicked out by my landlord, and nearly lost my life while locked up in the police station..."
"Now I only have a camera, taking photos of people cheating to earn money, I..."
Hawkeye immediately interrupted Eddie Brock: "Stop, stop. Why were you in the police station?"
"Because of the F.E.A.S.T. shelter matter," Eddie said.
Hawkeye vaguely sensed that this small-time reporter held many clues he hadn't yet collected:
"Tell me what happened there."
The incident at the F.E.A.S.T. research center was classified as a homicide by the police. Hawkeye hadn't paid too much attention to it while gathering intelligence over the past two days, but clearly, there was more to the story.
"Have you ever seen an alien organism?" Eddie Brock asked back.
Hawkeye thought carefully and said seriously:
"I have."
"You, like billions of other people in this world, haven't seen an alien organism," Eddie Brock said, continuing on his own, "But I have. It's called Venom."
Hawkeye nodded, encouraging Eddie to continue.
Eddie Brock's breathing grew heavy, and his face twisted slightly:
"But later it was snatched away by Batman. I was sent to the police station, got sniped at, and then another alien organism called Anti-Venom appeared... and then that was snatched away by Batman too."
"Do you want to find Batman?" Hawkeye asked.
"Of course!" Eddie Brock made no attempt to hide his hatred. "Find Batman, take back Venom, and then I'll find that anonymous source who provided me with the dirt on General Ross—the guy who made me lose everything!"
"Like you, I also want to find Batman." Hawkeye smiled. "So, I want you to repeat everything you just mentioned. Don't miss a single detail."
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