After chatting briefly with Doctor Strange, Batman could tell that much like Jack Monroe and Daredevil, the doctor was suffering from deep psychological trauma caused by the Battle of Manhattan.
Batman did not ignore Doctor Strange simply because he had an arrogant and conceited personality or because he wasn't a superhero; instead, he patiently remained by his side for several hours.
However, no matter how skilled Batman was at counseling others, it was impossible to cure Doctor Strange's despair over losing his hands in just a few short hours.
Jack Monroe had Captain America to accompany him, and Daredevil had managed to convince himself. Doctor Strange, on the other hand, had no one to lean on and was utterly incapable of rationalizing his loss.
Batman's solution was to assign him a psychiatrist—for no other reason than to ensure Strange would not lose the will to live.
Given that the man was covered in injuries and pinned to his hospital bed by various external braces, unable to even fully close his mouth, Batman was not particularly worried that he would attempt suicide.
"I believe that besides you, there must be other brilliant doctors in the world capable of curing your injuries," Batman said as he turned to leave Doctor Strange's hospital room.
Arrogant as Strange was, Batman sensed that he did not want too many people to witness his pathetic state. Spending a few hours in the room with him was already the limit of what Batman could do without pushing him further away.
"Peter," Doctor Strange called out just as Batman was about to step out the door.
Batman turned back and looked at him.
"Is what was shown on there real?" Doctor Strange asked.
Batman followed his gaze to the television mounted high up in the room, which was broadcasting footage captured up close by Eddie Brock a week ago.
In the video, thunderclouds rolled overhead as Thor, the God of Thunder, descended from the heavens with earth-shattering power, slamming over a dozen Frost Giants deep into the ground.
"It's real," Batman replied.
"Do gods really exist in this world? Does magic exist too?" Doctor Strange asked again.
The broadcast on television was playing in a loop, and Strange had also heard Batman's response to Loki's interrogation—specifically, the line about "reverse-engineering the magic formation."
"Perhaps," Batman offered a slight smile to Strange. "Though until I witness magic and gods with my own eyes, I will remain objective toward things that transcend conventional logic."
Doctor Strange said nothing more, his eyes flickering with uncertain thoughts.
After finishing his sentence, Batman walked out of the ward. He stood by the doorway for a short while before taking his leave.
The next day, on South Brother Island.
With the assistance of Parker Industries, the reconstruction work on South Brother Island remained entirely undetected by the outside world. It was still a relatively secret haven where several scientists could work in peace.
The previous night, Batman had not worked in the Batcave until dawn; instead, he had visited Aunt May's place.
After enjoying a dinner prepared by Aunt May, he rested for half the night in the room she had long prepared for him. It was not until five o'clock this morning that Batman took his leave.
This was one of the very few moments since his arrival in this world where Batman had taken genuine rest. He needed real sleep to adjust his body to peak condition to handle the events that were about to unfold.
At this moment on South Brother Island, Batman was huddled with Dr. Banner and the others in front of a large piece of experimental equipment, analyzing data.
This data consisted of the Tesseract files originally stolen by Black Widow from the Hydra base in the Adirondack Mountains—information Batman had tracked all the way to The Cube prison, where he intercepted and tampered with it.
Previously, without the Tesseract in hand, studying this data served little purpose for Batman. But things were different now.
The Tesseract had fallen into Batman's hands. Even though he hadn't had time to attend to it over the past week due to converting the Frost Giants into Frost Armor, the existing data could finally be brought out.
"I suggest destroying this data. We shouldn't research any further into it," Dr. Banner said, shaking his head repeatedly as he looked at the Tesseract data, while simultaneously watching Batman's reaction.
"That's right. Look at these files—without exception, they're all research conducted by Hydra and S.H.I.E.L.D. aimed at weaponization," Dr. Otto agreed with Dr. Banner's view.
Professor Connors and Morbius remained silent, but their eyes were fixed on Batman, waiting to see what his attitude would be.
"I agree with destroying this data," Batman said with an expressionless face. "Furthermore, did you notice the weapons used by Hydra a week ago?"
Dr. Banner and the others recalled the scene. They remembered that the firearms used by Hydra all had silver casings, peculiar designs, and fired energy beams—completely different from conventional weapons that relied on gunpowder to propel bullets.
"I suspect Hydra has already preliminarily mastered some energy weapon technology. Under no circumstances can the existing data be leaked out again," Batman added, seeing the scientists lost in thought.
"At least the Tesseract is currently in your hands. No matter how advanced Hydra's technology might be, they can't proceed without the Tesseract's support," Dr. Banner said.
"Destroy the data. Following Hydra's defeat, the Adirondack base has been seized and cleared out by the military, and the surviving Hydra agents are all locked away in the Raft. They won't be able to stir up trouble anytime soon," Batman stated.
At this point, Dr. Banner hesitated for a moment instead:
"Batman, a long time ago when I first came to South Brother Island, I said that if I discovered you engaging in any human enhancement research similar to General Ross or Hydra, I would consider you an enemy."
Batman nodded, not denying Dr. Banner's words.
"However, the Tesseract isn't human. And besides the Super Soldier Serum—which is an absolute non-negotiable research project for me—maybe the energy weapon portion of the data could be retained?" Dr. Banner said thoughtfully.
"Are you worried that if we face powerful opponents like the Frost Giants in the future, we won't have strong enough weapons to deal with them and will be forced to passively rely on Thor, the God of Thunder?" Batman pointed out Dr. Banner's concern with sharp precision.
"Precisely," Dr. Banner grunted in agreement.
"Don't worry," Batman said, gesturing toward Professor Connors, who was standing quietly beside them. "We have the Hulk... and we have the Lizard."
"Connors?" Dr. Banner cast a doubtful glance at Professor Connors, who had a mechanical prosthetic attached to his missing arm. "Are you sure?"
Batman didn't say a word, while Professor Connors grinned, letting out a chuckle:
"Banner, why do you think I never showed myself during the Battle of Manhattan?"
"You're not the only top-tier powerhouse here."
"Heh," Dr. Banner responded noncommittally. Only he knew just how powerful the Incredible Hulk truly was.
His failure to one-shot a Frost Giant a week ago was by no means because the Hulk was weak; rather, he hadn't dared to let his rage escalate endlessly at that time.
He worried that if the Hulk went completely out of control, no one would ever be able to stop him again.
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