"Janet, did you know that I've lived for 104 years since I was born in 1902? I've been involved in all kinds of S.H.I.E.L.D. projects, traveled into the Quantum Realm with you, and fought monsters that will never even be recorded in history."
"I've always believed that any problem could be solved with enough knowledge. But today, for the very first time, I actually thought about calling the police."
On the ground floor of the Pym Tech building, right next to the sea of glass shards scattered from the massive skylight Venom Robin had just smashed through, Hank Pym—Ant-Man—sat on the floor, utterly defeated.
"I want to call the cops!"
"Hank." The Wasp, Janet van Dyne, sat down beside him and pulled his head over to rest on her shoulder. "The suspect wasn't human. The NYPD can't handle supernatural creatures like that."
"Then I'll ask S.H.I.E.L.D. for help!" Ant-Man said bitterly.
"We will. But before that, maybe we should see if we can get anything out of the Black Widow," the Wasp said, stroking his hair.
"Black Widow? What could she possibly know?" Ant-Man looked at the Wasp in confusion.
"The monster that showed up today..." The Wasp hesitated for a few seconds. "It might be a coincidence, but she actually did mention something like it."
"When? How come I didn't know about that?" Ant-Man sat up straight, his eyes wide.
"Hank Pym, Janet van Dyne."
"You two should be off wrapped in each other's arms making love right now, instead of ruining my sleep."
Inside the Ant Farm, the Black Widow, Natasha, looked up at the towering figures of Ant-Man and the Wasp.
The Wasp stared down at the Black Widow, who was barely larger than the tip of a needle. "Natasha, less than an hour ago, you said you and Batman had a history. He's human, not some slimy, tentacled creature, right?"
"Is that so? Maybe," Black Widow tilted her head.
"We crossed paths with him," Ant-Man said, deadly serious.
"Crossed paths with who?" Black Widow didn't understand.
"That slimy, tentacled guy you were talking about," the Wasp added, just as serious. "That was Batman, wasn't it?"
Black Widow rolled her eyes. After coming to New York, she had worked at Stark Industries for just a few days. She hadn't even been officially hired before being locked up in this prison, codenamed D-2.
She didn't even know what Batman actually looked like; everything she had said before was a complete fabrication.
But seeing how dead serious Ant-Man and the Wasp were, and that they weren't joking, Black Widow matched their intensity. "That's right. He's Batman."
"And what about the other one?" the Wasp asked.
"There's another one?" Black Widow asked, genuinely surprised.
"Yes, there was another guy operating with Batman," Ant-Man chimed in. "I couldn't get a good look at his face, only that he was wearing a black cape. Who is he?"
How should I know who he is? Black Widow scoffed inwardly, but she still answered with a straight face: "Naturally, the other guy is Garrett. They're both Hydra, so it's perfectly normal for them to be operating together, right?"
Ant-Man and the Wasp shared a look. Then, they closed up the Ant Farm and put it back underneath the giant ant assigned to guard it.
"She's still lying, but we can't tell exactly which part is the lie," the Wasp told Ant-Man.
"I'm thinking about staying up tonight to build a lie detector," Ant-Man said, frowning.
"I thought we could get some useful information out of her, but it doesn't look like that's going to work," the Wasp suggested. "Hank, I'm going to contact Nick Fury right now and have him send some agents over for backup."
Ant-Man nodded. Just as he was about to turn and head toward the lab, the Wasp stopped him. "Wait, Hank. You might be interested in this."
As she spoke, the Wasp tossed a ziplock bag containing a black substance onto the table.
This was the symbiote matter that had fallen off after the Wasp stung Venom Robin's tentacle.
It was currently squirming slowly inside the bag, as if it possessed a life of its own.
"Did this fall off Batman?" Ant-Man asked, frowning.
"Yes, it did."
Inside the Batcave at Manhattan's City Hall Station.
Batman and Venom Robin stood face-to-face, both with empty hands.
No matter what instruments or methods were used, neither of them showed any trace of Pym Particles after returning from the Pym Tech building.
"Robin," Batman said.
Venom Robin nodded, opened his mouth, and shoved his entire arm inside.
His hand rummaged around in his stomach before pulling out a transparent glass tube under Batman's watchful gaze. The tube contained a clear, colorless liquid that gave off a delicate, pearlescent texture under the lights of the Batcave.
Batman and Venom Robin had already run tests on this; a body composed of symbiote matter could isolate most visible and invisible light, as well as various forms of electromagnetic waves.
Therefore, the moment Batman found the Pym Particles in the breakroom refrigerator at the Pym Tech building, he immediately tossed the tube to Venom Robin. Robin swallowed it in one gulp, and the two split up to make their separate escapes.
"During tonight's operation, I heard you let out a roar during your confrontation with the Wasp."
Batman took the colorless Pym Particles and placed them into a notebook-sized silver cooling case. At the same time, he asked Venom Robin, "What happened?"
Venom Robin's heart skipped a beat. He knew that if Batman found out he hadn't followed the plan a hundred percent, the Dark Knight might actually make him train on Bat Island for two or three years before letting him out again.
At the thought of that, Venom Robin steeled himself and said, "A beam from her hand stung me. It hurt so much that I couldn't help but scream."
"Just that?" Batman stared at Venom Robin. "Nothing else happened?"
"That's right," Robin said.
Batman pulled his gaze away from Venom Robin, his hands clattering away on the keyboard. He opened a folder on his workstation computer labeled "Symbiote Offspring Contingency Plan" and added an entry to today's action log.
Aside from strong acids, strong bases, fire, and high-frequency noise, very few things could actually cause Venom Robin to feel "pain."
But since Venom Robin claimed it "hurt too much" today, Batman had to record it just in case something happened later.
And even though Venom Robin wasn't human—meaning standard observation methods like reading human micro-expressions wouldn't work—Batman could still tell the boy was lying.
Something had definitely gone off-script from Batman's plan, but he chose not to call him out. Instead, Batman quietly began working on a contingency plan.
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