At this moment, Hubble Fagan was also being escorted out of the interrogation room by the officers.
He quietly observed the scene.
Without showing any emotion.
As he watched Bruce step out of the school bus, he smiled.
"Looks like you didn't hear a word I said before."
Bruce, holding the driver by one arm, walked up to the officers.
"The explosives on him have been taken care of, but I think you should send them to a rehabilitation center." Bruce was certain these guys could be considered addicts—just in another form.
Hubble Fagan clearly wasn't happy about Bruce ignoring him.
He stared at Bruce coldly.
"You know something?" Only then did the Bat turn and walk up to the madman, looking him straight in the eyes. "I've met a lot of lunatics. You're just one of them—and frankly, the most unremarkable of the lot."
Hubble Fagan said nothing, only glaring at Bruce.
As if his stare alone could tear Bruce to pieces.
Unfortunately, the Bat paid no attention to his glare.
"Chief! That vagrant we detained seems to be going into withdrawal!" a prison guard burst into the hall, panicked.
"See? They'll die feeling the most unbearable pain in the world under these conditions," Hubble Fagan laughed at that moment.
Those people, in order to experience the state he described, had let down their guard against what he gave them.
That's how he was able to get the substances into their bodies.
After all, in Fagan's eyes, those people weren't even human. They were just lab rats for his experiments.
Perhaps not even worth that much.
Just a bunch of people who should've been dead long ago.
Unfortunately, the law only kept them locked up for a while before releasing them back into the world.
That wasn't right.
"See that guy over there?" Fagan looked at the driver in the officer's hands and signaled for Bruce to look too. "Kill him, and you could stop the others from suffering. You could even save them."
"It's a simple thing to do—just that—and you could save the ones you believe are innocent."
At this point, Jefferson had already placed his hand on his waist. Even though they were working with the Bat, there was still no telling if he'd actually go through with something like that.
In the next moment, the Bat did move—but not toward the driver.
He went for Hubble Fagan instead, slamming a punch into his gut.
"I'm sure there are some folks who'll be very happy to see you," Bruce whispered close to Fagan's ear.
"Prison won't be your final stop. You're headed somewhere else."
As soon as Bruce finished speaking, a figure appeared at the doorway.
S.H.I.E.L.D. had arrived.
Black Widow Monica looked around at the wreckage, slightly stunned. But that emotion quickly vanished.
After all, she was now one of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s commanders—and she'd seen far stranger and more bizarre things.
"So, this is the guy you were talking about?" Monica walked up to Bruce, glancing at the retching Hubble Fagan.
That punch from Bruce had hit this pretentious lunatic hard.
He still hadn't recovered.
All he could do was glare at Bruce with fierce, hateful eyes.
But the Bat was already done entertaining this guy.
"No need for the death glare—you'll have plenty of time for that later. Or maybe... not much time at all," Monica said, walking up to Fagan.
Cough, cough. "Don't you use law and order to punish evil?" Fagan finally managed to catch his breath a little and spoke with a mocking smile.
Bruce didn't respond, just silently turned and walked away.
Monica, however, smiled as she grabbed Fagan's chin.
"I think you're a little confused. The United States is still officially in a state of war. That hasn't changed. All applicable laws are wartime regulations, and S.H.I.E.L.D. holds interpretive authority over all criminal actions," Monica said with a smile as she released his chin. A few S.H.I.E.L.D. agents stepped forward and took custody of Hubble Fagan from the NYPD.
Seeing Fagan's state—like a dead dog—Monica suddenly called off the agents who were escorting him away.
She deliberately stepped close to Fagan and whispered into his ear:
"Oh, right. I forgot to mention—the final interpretive authority of S.H.I.E.L.D. comes from that Bat."
Those words nearly made Hubble Fagan explode with rage.
But there was nothing he could do now. His mouth had already been gagged by S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, and he was under tight control.
Bruce, at this point, had begun scouring New York for signs of the homeless.
Based on the drugs Fagan had given them, they should be showing signs of withdrawal by now.
News of Fagan's arrest had already gone public. The addicts also realized they had no more supply, so their only option was to risk it all and check the abandoned subway stations for any leftover remnants that might ease their symptoms.
Bruce was right—many had taken that desperate step.
And they all met the same end: being taken by Bruce to where they truly belonged.
When Bruce returned to the Batcave, he found the food Jessica had brought for him.
He casually opened the package, and just by looking at the familiar contents, Bruce could already guess where his assistant had gone to eat.
Red date bread—it was unmistakable.
But none of this was a real concern for Bruce.
He no longer needed to strictly manage his diet. The symbiote metal and the nanomachines in his body constantly stimulated him, keeping his body in peak condition.
And right now, he had some tinkering to do.
His gear still needed further upgrades.
Nanomachines were incredibly useful, but they couldn't solve everything.
After the Spider incident, Bruce had created his own traversal device using the collider, but it was incomplete.
Traveling between universes still required a wristband to stabilize the body.
But looking at the Spider Society, they didn't seem to need wristbands to stabilize themselves like he did.
Which meant there must be a proper way to travel across the multiverse.
Mastering that technology would give Bruce more options when dealing with certain threats.
The only issue was—it would take time.
Previously, Bruce had used the symbiote metal to consume Spider-Web's traversal wristband, not just to stop him from acting independently, but also to acquire the full blueprint of the device.
Now, he could reproduce it himself.
Of course, he had to make some improvements of his own.The blueprint of the traversal wristband was laid out before Bruce, and he carefully examined the wristband that appeared to be packed with advanced technology.
It didn't take long for Bruce to realize that this device wasn't purely technological in nature.
The energy source and traversal mechanism—those, Bruce could replicate.
The only real challenge was the positioning system.
The traversal wristband that Spider-Silk possessed used the Web Weaver's web nodes to determine the universe's location.
Bruce took a deep breath. He had his own solution to this issue.
Every universe had its own frequency. Otherwise, foreign beings wouldn't be rejected by other universes.
The traversal wristband, to some extent, adjusted the traveler's body frequency to match the target universe, ensuring bodily stability.
Just like when Peter Parker from Earth-616 came here—when he passed through the teleportation device, his body's frequency was already altered, allowing him to survive in this universe.
Now, Bruce had just enough technology to roughly replicate the effect.
But when it came to stability, there were no guarantees.
He now needed technology that was at least a hundred years ahead of the current era.
Fortunately, there was a place in this world that had exactly that.
The Metropolis.
Without Reed Richards' insane expansion plans, the current Metropolis had become quite stable. The Sons of Tomorrow lived their lives peacefully within its vast confines.
They had no intention of doing anything beyond.
However, they also nearly always refused entry to outsiders.
When Bruce piloted the Batwing to arrive here, several Sons of Tomorrow were already waiting for the Bat's arrival.
"The Metropolis is not accepting visitors right now."
Bruce simply leaped out of the Batwing, using his cape to glide down gently in front of them.
He looked up at the Sons of Tomorrow.
"Trust me—I'm an invited guest."
As soon as Bruce spoke, the AI of the Metropolis authorized his entry.
He was, in fact, invited.
Before arriving, Bruce had already submitted his request to the city's central AI—along with the plans for what he intended to build.
It was precisely what he wanted to build that convinced the Metropolis to let him in.
Because it was a direction the city had once abandoned—but now, Bruce's arrival might prove it was the right path all along.
They just hadn't pursued it.
"Our apologies," the Sons of Tomorrow bowed slightly and stepped aside to allow Bruce into the city.
As a world far ahead of its time, Bruce had only just set foot inside before a levitating platform arrived for him to board.
This platform would take Bruce to his final destination——and ensure this Bat didn't wander into other areas of the city causing trouble.
The moment Bruce stepped onto the floating platform, he received a communication from Jessica.
"Hey Boss, you're not running away from someone, are you? You even took the Batwing with you?" Jessica's tone was clearly teasing.
Bruce didn't reply. He knew Jessica well enough to expect her to explain everything next anyway.
Hearing nothing but silence on the other end, Jessica sighed and spun a full 180 degrees in Bruce's chair inside the Batcave, clearly bored.
This was the only time she could comfortably sit in his chair—when he wasn't around.
"By the way, a little visitor seems to have crossed mountains and rivers to come find you," she said, her eyes drifting to a white silhouette nearby, curiously observing the Batcave.
Bruce frowned.
He didn't think anyone would be seeking him out at a time like this.
But from Jessica's tone, it sounded like she knew whoever it was.
"I can't step away right now," Bruce said, then hung up the call.
"As expected—cold-hearted man," Jessica shrugged and turned her attention to the figure sitting atop the Batmobile, curiously examining the Batcave.
"When the boss gets back, things are going to get interesting."
Meanwhile, Bruce had arrived at the Metropolis' central AI hub.
The city had prepared everything he needed. It quietly observed Bruce's silhouette.
"We once ran simulations. The multiverse does exist, but the barriers between universes are extremely difficult to overcome. And there's no way to determine exactly what kind of universe one might end up in."
"The traversal wristband you sent us is truly an eye-opener. But certain components, like the positioning system—we may not be able to solve those."
The Metropolis was being completely honest.
Ever since Bruce had sent over the blueprint and construction principles, they had begun attempting to manufacture it.
They had even assigned personnel to run experiments. And to be fair, Bruce's design worked perfectly.
But they lacked the most crucial part—the means to break through the barriers between universes.
And the positioning system.
Technically, the problem could be solved with human lives. But nowadays, every member of the Sons of Tomorrow was a precious resource.
They couldn't be wasted recklessly.
And since they had already established peace treaties with the outside world, they couldn't test on outsiders either.
All they could do was wait for Bruce to come and demonstrate it himself.
Bruce nodded. He was well aware of all this.
Energy was also somewhat of a challenge for him—but he did possess it.
As long as it could be utilized, traversing the multiverse wouldn't be a problem.
With the tools in front of him, Bruce began his adjustments.
While Bruce worked, something dramatic was unfolding outside—
Iron Man had been attacked.
And he had been attacked by a S.H.I.E.L.D. satellite.
If word got out, it would be enough to make all of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s enemies laugh themselves sick.
Of course, it couldn't be ruled out that someone from those groups was responsible for this incident.
"Looks like our war with certain people isn't over yet," Monica said, now back at the Triskelion. She knew very well that, as a member of the Ultimate Team—especially one now wearing the Patriot Armor—Tony Stark would never have done anything to provoke a threat response from a S.H.I.E.L.D. satellite.
This only meant one thing—there were still deep moles hidden within S.H.I.E.L.D.
Feeling a bit better now. I'll work on getting back on track starting tomorrow!
(End of Chapter)
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