The impact on Batman was minimal. From the few scattered words Tony Stark had let slip, he'd long ago figured out that the man had already made up his mind; he just hadn't worked up the nerve to pull the trigger.
Whether Tony ultimately decided to completely separate the Iron Man identity from his playboy persona—like Batman himself had once done—or had some other plan in mind, Batman had contingency plans ready for every possibility.
His visit to Stark Industries today was only to make sure that, during the time he'd been away, Tony Stark wouldn't suddenly do anything outside the expected parameters.
Compared to a friend's psychological problems and the still-unresolved issue of another friend's father—Norman Osborn—remaining missing with his safety unconfirmed, the latter clearly needed to be dealt with faster.
Osborn Tower. Batman's arrival didn't attract anyone's attention.
The building had already been rebuilt and put back into service. Not a single trace remained of the destruction once wrought here by the Hulk and the Lizard.
Since Batman was currently maintaining the identity of Peter Parker, he naturally took the elevator straight to the twentieth floor and stepped into what used to be Professor Curt Connors's laboratory.
Now the lab belonged to Professor Miles Warren.
The moment Batman stepped out of the elevator, before he'd taken more than a few steps, he saw that the laboratory had been expanded several times over. Dozens upon dozens of glass incubation tanks lined the space, each containing various biological organs suspended in fluid.
Professor Miles Warren was seated, reading a book. The instant he spotted Batman, he stood up and hurried over with a wide smile.
Warren's current position as Oscorp's new chief scientist was owed, in part, to Batman himself. It had been Batman's way of thanking the professor for his concern toward Connors and for smoothly helping him file the patent for the memory fibers without any obstacles.
Warren was perfectly aware of that fact. With only his own scientific credentials, he might have been able to join Oscorp, but he never would have started at the very top of the scientific ladder.
"Peter! Long time no see. Harry told me you've been swamped with Parker Industries stuff, Professor Miles Warren said warmly, throwing an arm around Batman's shoulders.
Long time no see, Professor Warren, Batman replied with an easy smile. Glancing at the organs floating in the tanks, he asked, "Professor, is this the direction your research has taken?"
Yes. Genetics and cloning, Miles Warren answered. My focus is different from Connors's, but our ultimate goals are largely the same.
Batman let an appropriate amount of curiosity show on his face.
Miles Warren explained:
Curt wanted to use his regeneration technology to rid the world of physical disability, right?
I want to use my techniques to save people whose organs have been damaged. Say a patient has lung cancer—I want to take their own cells and clone a perfectly healthy lung to replace the one that's been eaten away by cancer.
Sounds incredible, Batman said. No wonder you and Professor Connors became friends.
Kindred spirits, wouldn't you say? Warren laughed.
Batman nodded.
Come on, let me give you the tour. Though I should warn you—some of the sights might be a little hard on the stomach, Warren said.
If I see something I can't handle, am I allowed to run screaming? Batman shot back, playing along.
Of course…
Still joking with each other, the two men walked past tank after tank.
Besides the many human organs cloned from human cells, a considerable number of tanks held animal organs.
The most numerous were pig organs—pig tissue and even skin were already widely used in medicine.
Next came organs from all kinds of creatures, from jackals, tigers, and leopards to reptiles.
It's worth noting that every organ in this lab had been cloned from animal cells acquired through fully legal channels; nothing here crossed into illegal territory.
Keeping perfectly in character as Peter Parker, Batman voiced the question that had been on his mind:
Professor, why clone animal organs that could never be used in human patients? Why bother making them at all?
Far from being annoyed, Miles Warren's eyes lit up—he seemed genuinely delighted that "Peter" had asked.
An excellent question, Peter. Most sponsors only see the immediately transplantable hearts or livers. A lot of people can't understand why anyone would want to clone a bird's syrinx or an electric eel's electrogenic organ.
He stopped walking and fixed Batman with an intense gaze.
Maybe the answer lies in the animals themselves? Just like how humans studied birds to create streamlined airplane wings, we don't study birds only for the sake of birds. There's always a greater goal.
Miles Warren clapped his hands together, practically beaming.
Exactly! Cloning alone doesn't solve every problem. Don't forget I'm a geneticist too. Look at this.
Warren pulled Batman over to a palm-sized tank containing the incomplete cloned head of a bat.
I cloned a bat's vocal cords and inner ears… well, naturally they had to be attached to the skull.
This definitely isn't meant to be transplanted into a human. What I want is to understand how it can produce and withstand ultrasonic waves of that intensity—at the genetic level.
That knowledge might teach us how to repair human cochleae permanently damaged by noise pollution, or even develop entirely new, non-invasive internal imaging technology…
Like most academics when they hit their passion topic, Miles Warren became unstoppable.
He dragged Batman over to a deep-sea fish's photophore next and launched into another long, equally enthusiastic lecture.
Batman kept an expression of rapt interest on his face the entire time, as though he truly found it fascinating.
Only after a full half hour did he finally take his leave of Professor Miles Warren. He rode the elevator from the twentieth-floor lab up to the top floor, to Harry Osborn's office.
Harry was in the middle of a conversation with the black-haired, slightly curly-headed, perpetually melancholy-looking Professor Morbius—who merely nodded in greeting when Batman arrived.
Harry Osborn, on the other hand, spread his arms wide and pulled Batman into a fierce hug.
Peter!
Unlike Tony Stark, Harry Osborn—one of the very few people Batman considered a true friend—had always been openly affectionate. Now he enthusiastically pounded Batman's chest a few times.
Tell me your workout routine, man—this chest is like concrete!
Batman instantly went on high alert.
Peter Parker's body possessed muscle density far beyond a normal human's; even Sabretooth had once kicked him once and felt like he'd booted a steel wall.
Back in Gotham, after his parents died, almost no one had ever hugged him, so Batman had unconsciously ignored the issue.
But now he had to consciously relearn how to control this body's musculature—so that when Harry or Aunt May hugged him, they felt a normal, relaxed human being instead of a frame that, even when "at rest," was still coiled with power.
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