Dr. Otto and Professor Morbius seemed long accustomed to the frequent comparisons and bickering between the two.
In the past, it was only the Incredible Hulk and Professor Lizard who looked down on each other, constantly thinking about picking a fight. Now, things had progressed to the point where even their respective human alter egos were gradually developing a competitive rivalry.
Dr. Otto shrugged and spread his hands, making a helpless face at Batman.
"You two keep arguing. Batman, I need to leave the island for a trip."
Professor Morbius's ears perked up instantly. He didn't say anything, but his eyes quietly darted over to fixate on Batman.
Previously, all of them had been more or less monsters in identity, unable to leave this island as they pleased. But now that the Justice League had been established, would Batman still restrict their freedom?
Morbius wanted to see how Batman would answer Dr. Otto.
"Going to Parker Hospital?" Batman asked in return.
Dr. Otto nodded. "Precisely. Dr. Strange is lying there right now. He's helped both you and me in the past, and I'm on reasonably good terms with him in private. I can't just not go see him."
"You can go, but you must wear your suit," Batman said, somewhat unexpectedly.
Dr. Otto failed to react for a moment. "Huh?"
"Wear your body suit, excluding the mechanical tentacles," Batman clarified. "This is for your safety."
Dr. Otto was blinded by his own perspective, so Professor Morbius stepped in to clear things up for him: "Our true identities were exposed a week ago. If some lunatic tries to stick a knife in you along the way, at least the suit can protect you."
"Is that right, Batman?"
After speaking, Professor Morbius looked toward Batman. He was still concerned about their group leaving the island.
"That's correct. Dr. Otto is the only one here who needs to put on a suit when leaving South Brother Island. Everyone else—including Professor Morbius—has physical resilience far exceeding that of ordinary people, so there's no need to worry about such things," Batman said.
"I can leave the island too?" Professor Morbius caught the implied meaning behind his words.
"Yes. From now on, this island is no longer a place to confine you. It exists solely as the secret laboratory of the Justice League," Batman said.
Batman's words were not a sudden whim.
After the Battle of Manhattan, Professor Morbius had already overcome his dependence on human blood, as synthetic blood plasma was now sufficient to meet his needs. Dr. Banner's mental state and level of cooperation had also passed Batman's tests, as had Dr. Otto's. Professor Connors had even fought side by side with Batman multiple times, making his level of trust the highest among the scientists.
Batman would no longer forcefully keep them on South Brother Island.
"Compared to that, I'm more concerned about whether my room is still kept for me," Dr. Banner remarked, having no interest in leaving the island.
"Your rooms here will remain intact. On the neighboring Bat Island, Peter has also set aside rooms for each of us," Batman said. "Though that will be after his manor is fully built."
"Speaking of which, I wonder what that kid Peter has been busy with lately. I haven't seen him in quite a long time," Dr. Otto said meaningfully.
"I just saw him yesterday at Parker Hospital," Batman lied smoothly. "He's busy managing the charity and insurance markets for the Parker Group."
Apart from Professor Connors—who knew explicitly that Batman was Peter Parker and shot him an ambiguous glance—none of the other scientists pressed the issue any further.
Reconstruction work following the Battle of Manhattan was in full swing.
Not just Times Square, but Fifth Avenue, Broadway, the Empire State Building, the Baxter Building, the area below Stark Tower, and the vast expanse of the abandoned shipyard had all suffered considerable damage to their buildings during the battle.
Although it sounded somewhat harsh, the Parker Group was taking advantage of its early-established charitable foundation and insurance company to step into the post-disaster reconstruction efforts.
During this period, discussion surrounding the Parker Group's memory fiber had decreased significantly, replaced instead by its subsidiaries, Parker Charity and Parker Insurance.
Precisely because of these two subsidiaries, Manhattan's reconstruction went remarkably smoothly. With Norman Osborn's assistance, they even established a partnership with the Manhattan government.
As for these business matters, Batman was only responsible for the most crucial decisions, delegating the specific details and workload to CEO Iris. The former young girl did not let down Batman's expectations, pushing all the projects forward in an orderly manner.
This included the chip company that they had begun acquiring and investing R&D into even before the Battle of Manhattan.
However, acquiring and researching chips was merely a cover. Batman's true objective was to purchase a series of chip manufacturing and development instruments to place inside the Batcave, allowing him to personally begin developing the core of the Alfred AI.
This was also why Batman had deliberately returned to Aunt May's house the previous night to get a solid, peaceful sleep. The difficulty of the task he was about to start far exceeded his previous work on writing Alfred's base code.
"I'll go change my clothes and head to Parker Hospital," Dr. Otto nodded to Batman, then returned to his room to put on an overcoat.
His figure was somewhat portly, but beneath the overcoat—which draped over the suit underneath—he didn't look fat at all. Instead, he appeared exceptionally imposing and stalwart.
Dr. Otto seemed thoroughly pleased with his everyday attire, even topping it off by placing a top hat squarely on his head.
"Wait, I almost forgot something," Dr. Otto said, turning right back around just as he was about to leave the lab, having suddenly recalled something. "Batman, Dr. Banner, Professor Connors... I might need you all to help me figure out what went wrong."
Batman's heart stirred. In an instant, he thought back to Dr. Otto's performance during the fight a week ago—that was definitely not something an untrained person relying purely on instinct to control mechanical tentacles could pull off.
Batman had placed that matter fairly low on his priority list, so he hadn't approached Dr. Otto to discuss it yet. He hadn't expected Dr. Otto to bring it up on his own initiative.
"What's wrong?" Dr. Banner and Professor Connors both looked over.
"Madame Hydra in all probability possesses a mind-controlling ability similar to the Enchantress Batman mentioned. When I first met her, I was bewitched, but even I don't know how I managed to regain my sanity."
Dr. Otto sat back down beside Batman and the others, his eyebrows knitted in a frown as he spoke:
"Furthermore, during the battle, my command over the tentacles completely exceeded my own imagination. How should I even put it..."
He recalled the moment for a long while but surprisingly couldn't find the words to describe his state at that time. He simply turned to look at Professor Lizard:
"Connors, try attacking me."
Professor Connors grinned, letting out a silent laugh: "Are you sure?"
"..." Dr. Otto choked on his words, turning his head toward Professor Morbius instead. "Professor, you do it."
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