Chapter 357
At the top of the Empire State Building, the first words out of Batman's mouth after Black Widow removed her metal mask shut down the double agent completely.
"SHIELD's plan was to use Ant-Man's ant farm to solidify your identity as Hydra. If I were Hydra, I would have joined forces with Garrett to break you out. If I weren't, Ant-Man would release you at the appropriate time to plant you at my side."
Black Widow's pupils dilated. She struggled to conceal the shock and confusion roiling through her mind, stealing a glance at Hawkeye Clint Barton—only to catch him looking back at her with identical bewilderment.
Neither agent spoke aloud, but they communicated the same thought simultaneously: How does Batman know?
Batman excelled at unraveling opponents' schemes and conspiracies from the smallest clues. He was equally skilled at laying elaborate traps that ensnared his targets—even Darkseid had fallen into Batman's carefully constructed snares.
But Batman didn't deploy such tactics against everyone. His direct exposure of Black Widow's mission was still part of a larger plan, though certainly not a trap.
"Ronin..." Batman turned his attention to Hawkeye Clint Barton. "Or rather, now that you've reclaimed the Hawkeye identity—SHIELD's original assignment was for you and Black Widow to work together and arrest me."
Batman's voice remained level. "But now, you'll both accept a mission from me instead."
"Wait, wait." Hawkeye raised his hand with a furrowed brow, cutting Batman off.
He'd just returned from Japan, just finished collecting the latest intelligence. Hawkeye hadn't even begun to process what was happening.
Black Widow had deduced her own mission from various clues, but Hawkeye had been dispatched to Japan by Batman immediately upon arriving in New York. He knew nothing about SHIELD's supposed plan.
"You're saying my assignment from designation D-2 to New York was to arrest you?" Hawkeye asked.
Batman nodded.
"According to SHIELD's plan, I should have been in New York, tracked you down through various leads, and then become your enemy?" Hawkeye pressed.
Batman nodded again, the motion subtle.
"So by the looks of it, both Natasha's and my missions have completely failed... and you want to turn us against SHIELD?" Hawkeye asked his third question.
As he spoke, Hawkeye's stance remained unchanged, but his center of gravity had already begun shifting. He could leap backward at any moment to create distance from Batman.
Black Widow flexed her fingers, preparing for combat.
"No," Batman said.
With his extensive battlefield experience, Batman could instantly read the sudden tension radiating from both Hawkeye and Black Widow.
Hawkeye had shed his tattered ronin garb. He now wore his purple sleeveless combat suit, his compound bow—currently folded into two short batons—and quiver strapped to his back, the katana Batman had forged for him hanging at his waist.
Watching Hawkeye's right hand drift toward his back with calculated casualness, Batman's voice remained steady: "Natasha, you tell Clint. It was your Director Fury who ordered you to lock Clint in the Raft."
Hawkeye's sharp gaze snapped to Black Widow with the speed and precision of one of his arrows. But in this instant, the blade of his attention wasn't aimed at Black Widow—it targeted SHIELD Director Nick Fury directly.
"Natasha, is that true?"
Black Widow made a small sound of confirmation. "It is."
"What the hell is that old fox Fury playing at?" Hawkeye clenched his fists, asking the same question Black Widow had posed days earlier.
"That's not all," Batman continued. "Nick Fury wants to deal with me because he considers me a threat beyond his control. He should have deployed more agents, even operatives like Ant-Man and Wasp. But he didn't."
Batman peeled back SHIELD's layers methodically. "Have you considered why?"
"We have. Director Fury's plan was... if you weren't Hydra, you'd inevitably clash with Garrett. That's when Clint and I would move to capture both of you simultaneously," Black Widow said.
"Obviously, that plan failed completely. Garrett's dead. His body's lying in a morgue beneath Manhattan's medical examiner's office," Hawkeye said. "I just saw it myself. It's definitely him."
"Fury may have other contingency plans, but those don't matter to me. What matters is this..." Batman's gaze settled on Hawkeye with intensity as he produced the list Garrett had given Tony before dying.
"Hydra inside SHIELD." Black Widow understood immediately upon seeing the document.
"This is only partial," Batman said.
The list contained only some SHIELD agents and technical personnel. No government-affiliated members appeared.
Batman hadn't forgotten that the World Security Council still concealed at least one Hydra operative.
"You don't expect us to root out these Hydra agents, do you?" Hawkeye's frown deepened. "This isn't your concern."
"All criminal activity falls within my jurisdiction," Batman said without expression. "Hydra is the largest criminal organization I'm currently aware of. I won't ignore them."
"I want you to return to SHIELD. But don't immediately expose these Hydra operatives. Use them as leads to identify more members. Then we sweep them all at once."
"This mission cannot reach Nick Fury. I've always suspected he's the deepest-embedded Hydra agent of all."
Hawkeye and Black Widow exchanged glances. Compared to Batman, they were far more inclined to trust SHIELD Director Nick Fury.
But right now, they had no reason to doubt Batman. Meanwhile, Nick Fury's various actions and plans had consistently been shrouded in misdirection. They genuinely needed to return to SHIELD and investigate this matter thoroughly.
"We'll do it," Hawkeye said, meeting Batman's eyes. "But I don't want us to become enemies when the truth comes out."
Black Widow said nothing, simply giving Batman one long, searching look before jumping from the Empire State Building rooftop alongside Hawkeye.
Within minutes, they'd vanished completely into Manhattan's nightscape.
After confirming their departure—and that they weren't following him—Batman spread his cape and leaped downward as well. The crescent-moon silhouette of the Batwing dove from the clouds, catching Batman mid-fall and carrying him toward the abandoned shipyard.
The abandoned shipyard sat equally shrouded in darkness.
Someone had been waiting there for some time. When the Batwing hovered overhead, the figure looked up, watching Batman descend in freefall with a metal container in tow.
THUD.
With no measures to slow his descent, Batman and the metal container crashed hard into the shipyard floor.
"This is for you." Batman pressed his hand against the container and shoved it violently toward the waiting figure.
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