Chapter 348: The Bat Plan
Venom Robin couldn't stand watching the old Bat in his Spider-Man suit acting so energetic and chatty.
On the Empire State Building rooftop, the Batmobile had fully deployed and reconfigured. It had completely lost its function as a "vehicle"—even its four wheel assemblies had been automatically detached and set aside.
In their place stood a device roughly two meters tall, extending multiple antenna arrays, continuously broadcasting radio waves invisible to the human eye—a signal detector.
But Batman wouldn't let Iron Man Tony Stark use broadband electromagnetic interference to destroy those bombs. He also wouldn't let Electro Max Dillon use the power grid to pinpoint specific bomb locations.
"What exactly is the old Bat up to?" Venom Robin shifted his gaze from the workstation screen.
He first glanced at Black Widow, isolated on the Batcave's first level with a metal mask covering her face. After confirming the woman posed no immediate threat, he settled into the seat Batman had occupied earlier.
Several sheets of paper lay on the desk surface. The computer displayed numerous open systems and files.
Batman had apparently left these deliberately unlocked before departing—not secured—as if waiting for Venom Robin to discover his plan independently.
"Step one is crystal clear. He plans to use the radio detector to locate the bombs. But if that's all, he could simply have Electro follow the electrical grid to find bomb positions."
"Does he distrust Max Dillon? Or does he suspect those bombs might contain some kind of 'electromagnetic signal receiver that detonates immediately when a pure energy being like Electro approaches'? Or purely mechanical bombs where electrical current triggers the firing pins directly?"
Venom Robin had barely begun deducing Batman's plan when he hit a wall.
He lacked understanding of various bomb types. He knew nothing about electricity or electromagnetism. Venom Robin had no idea if such signal receivers even existed.
"Think from another angle. Black Knight Garrett might have learned about Electro's existence during the dinosaur invasion. The bombs he planted need to prevent not just Batman from dismantling them, but also Electro and Iron Man."
Venom Robin felt this reasoning was sound. But he still didn't understand what Batman planned to do after using the radio signal detector to locate the bombs—how would he dismantle them one by one?
By Venom Robin's thinking, having Tony Stark deploy drones for bomb disposal seemed the only solution.
But Garrett's three-hour deadline was rapidly approaching. No matter how fast drones operated, there simply wasn't enough time.
"The old Bat must have other methods." Venom Robin examined the papers Batman had left on the desk.
Soon his attention fixed on a sheet printed with Manhattan's underground water systems, subway routes, cast iron piping, and various other seemingly unrelated infrastructure information.
Venom Robin couldn't comprehend this blueprint's purpose.
At that moment, atop the Empire State Building, Batman wearing the Spider-Man suit spoke the words "I need to report to Batman."
Venom Robin blinked, watching "Spider-Man" in the video feed pretend to make his report.
"What is he doing?" Venom Robin couldn't help scratching his head. Then he noticed a pop-up window appearing on Batman's workstation.
"Robin, I know you're watching. Press the following buttons in sequence..." Though physically atop the Empire State Building, Batman somehow knew Venom Robin's every move inside the Batcave.
Venom Robin complied, pressing the buttons in order, then crossed his arms over his chest and waited for subsequent developments.
BEEP.
The workstation emitted a soft sound. A window appeared in the screen's lower right corner. Countless lines of code cascaded down. One second later, all code converged into two letters:
"A.P."
"A.P.?" Venom Robin immediately leaned closer. These letters weren't unfamiliar to him.
During this entire period, whenever Batman had spare time, he'd been writing low-level code for the Alfred AI. A.P. was its abbreviation.
But Venom Robin remembered clearly that Alfred AI's completion progress hadn't even reached ten percent... What could an AI with incomplete foundational code accomplish?
While Venom Robin puzzled over this, new text appeared in the Alfred AI window:
"Hacked in."
"??? Hacked into what?" Venom Robin felt lost.
The next second, dozens of control console windows opened densely across the workstation screen, all beginning simultaneous operations.
"This is... every cell tower and signal tower across Manhattan?" Venom Robin squinted.
This touched on electrical engineering knowledge. Venom Robin remained completely ignorant of such topics.
But ignorance of specialized knowledge didn't prevent Venom Robin from understanding what these signal towers were doing. Batman had clearly intended for Venom Robin to learn by observation. These control console windows no longer displayed code—instead they showed various instructions.
"Hacking Manhattan's cell towers and signal towers to make them emit mutually canceling interference waves. Through Alfred AI's control, these electromagnetic waves interweave above the city, forming a massive phased array cancellation field."
Venom Robin read the control console instructions aloud, then nodded with satisfaction, feeling like he understood.
"Hacked in." Just as he basked in self-satisfaction, another Alfred AI window popped up.
"What did it hack this time?" Venom Robin looked immediately.
This time, instead of instructions and code, hundreds of video feeds appeared, each occupying its own dense window.
Venom Robin recognized them instantly—the feeds showed harbors and nearby vessels surrounding Manhattan.
In the images, all large metal ships arranged themselves in sequence, forming a wall-like metal barrier along the riverbanks.
First various underground system blueprints, then Manhattan's signal towers and cell towers, now hacking harbor ships and arranging them in formation.
"Robin, Batman thought you might not fully understand." Just as Venom Robin felt bewildered, Dr. Otto Octavius's voice transmitted through encrypted communications into the Batcave. "Let me give you a hint... does all of Manhattan look like a cage to you now?"
"A cage?" Venom Robin looked again at the underground systems blueprint. His heart lurched as he finally understood what Batman was doing.
Signal towers releasing electromagnetic waves forming a massive phased array cancellation field. Underground infrastructure constituting a natural shielding network. Ships' massive hulls along the river creating perfect grounding reflection surfaces, bouncing radio signals attempting to escape across water back into the city's interference field...
Combined with the current torrential rain, Batman intended to transform all of Manhattan into a giant "Faraday cage," destroying all bombs at speeds far exceeding what Electro Max Dillon could achieve!
Understanding what Batman was doing, Venom Robin didn't feel relieved—he grew more anxious.
Even he could imagine that Garrett's planted bombs might not only detonate via radio frequency, but could also be triggered directly by electromagnetic interference... What was Batman's countermeasure?
"Wait?"
Only now did Venom Robin realize he'd overlooked something.
All of Batman's work in the Batcave now appeared purposeful—nothing wasted. So why had he researched the full-wave projector at this particular moment?
***
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