Batman and Iron Man Tony Stark exchanged a glance, Tony's gaze carrying a hint of bewilderment:
"Who is Strange?"
He had no recollection of this world-renowned neurosurgeon, though he did have a vague familiarity with another doctor from Metropolis, Helen Cho.
However, in the wake of the Battle of Manhattan, Dr. Helen Cho had resigned from her position at the Metropolis General Hospital and transitioned over to Batman's Parker Group.
Her work was no longer focused on medicine, but rather on nanobiotechnology.
Tony Stark was aware of this largely because Dr. Helen Cho had published a paper on nanomaterials not too long ago.
"He used to be my doctor," Batman explained briefly.
"I'm guessing it's not that simple?" Tony asked.
"Mm. After his hands were ruined, he could no longer retain his status as a proud neurosurgeon... Right around the time of his accident, the Battle of Manhattan showed him the possibility of repairing his hands through magic," Batman said.
"A potential superhero?" Iron Man Tony Stark asked.
"Something like that."
Tony Stark held zero interest in Dr. Strange. Seeing Batman stand up as if preparing to depart, Tony had no intention of accompanying Batman to check out the situation firsthand:
"Let me know if you run into any danger."
With that, Tony Stark turned and strode directly toward the exit of the Batcave.
After Tony Stark departed, Batman and Alfred exchanged a glance, the expressions on both their faces turning solemn to an unprecedented degree.
"Alfred, Strange's situation might be our very first candidate to validate Project Insight," Batman said.
"Indeed," Alfred replied.
Although those Helicarriers involved in Project Insight had all been destroyed, and the sole remaining one had fallen into the hands of the Green Goblin, Norman Osborn, within the New York government, the Helicarriers were not the entirety of Project Insight.
Dr. Arnim Zola—who had been thoroughly eradicated by Alfred, a former member of Hydra and subsequently among the first batch of recruits for Operation Paperclip—remained the true core of "Project Insight."
Utilizing an algorithm developed by Dr. Zola, the system analyzed the daily habits and life trajectories of individuals across the globe to predict whether a given subject would pose a threat to Hydra in the future.
In fact, the system went even further: this algorithm could also calculate whether a specific individual could be harnessed by Hydra down the road, utilizing that metric to determine whether they should be eliminated or preserved once the Helicarriers took to the skies.
This entire algorithmic framework was something Batman had played around with decades ago; the Brother Eye system had previously featured a similarly comparable function.
The cascading series of crises that erupted after Brother Eye went rogue had long since confirmed to Batman not only that he had no need for such a device, but that the moment such a contraption manifested, it had to be dismantled as swiftly as possible.
And Batman had acted accordingly: the core algorithm of Project Insight was destroyed the moment Alfred took down Dr. Arnim Zola.
By that point, however, the Helicarriers had already progressively lifted off into the air, the algorithm had already been executed, and a portion of the target roster had already surfaced within Zola's algorithm.
Batman had withheld this information from everyone, keeping it entirely hidden even from Venom Robin.
Only Alfred and Batman maintained a tacit understanding, never speaking of the matter aloud while quietly logging the profiles of those individuals who had already populated that target list.
Dr. Stephen Strange happened to be one of the individuals featured on that very list.
"If the roster generated by that algorithm holds true, we're going to have plenty of work cut out for us moving forward," Alfred said.
"No matter how much work there is, it has to be done," Batman said. "Is the Batmobile finished?"
Alfred gave a regretful shake of his head:
"My apologies, Master Wayne. The engineering workload for the Batmobile is even greater than that of your Shadow Batwing. It will require at least another two weeks to reach full completion."
Batman nodded without pressing Alfred further, simply leaping straight into the pre-booted Shadow Batwing.
Today in New York carried a biting chill, a thick blanket of clouds pressing low over the sky as though threatening to collapse onto the ground at any moment.
The Batwing's twin wings gave a stroke, plunging straight into the dense cloud cover.
A few minutes later, the town of Greenwich.
The Batwing hovered high in the upper atmosphere, and Batman dropped out from the open cabin hatch in a freefall, slamming down with a heavy thud onto the outskirts of Greenwich.
Though designated a town, its population density was remarkably high, functioning essentially like a minor city tethered to the edge of New York.
Batman didn't bother changing into civilian attire; clad in his Gargoyle Suit, he glided soundlessly among the low-slung cluster of buildings like a colossal ghost.
"According to the tracker's feed, Dr. Strange lost his signal the moment he entered this town," Alfred reported. "I just checked—the total number of cameras within the entire town that we can tap into amounts to fewer than twenty."
"Relying on technological means to hunt someone down here will be difficult, but Alfred, remember who you're talking to," Batman said.
Alfred offered a light chuckle:
"I'm well aware, so go ahead and work your detective magic, Master Wayne."
Greenwich was an open-layout town, accessible via entrances from all directions.
Yet based on Batman's assessment, Strange had in all probability entered the town from the eastern gate.
The town was exceptionally clean, with virtually no footprints visible along the road surface; however, the moment the Gargoyle Suit initiated its scan, a myriad of footprints of varying sizes instantly illuminated the ground.
Viewed purely on their own, this chaotic mess of tracks offered zero clues.
Fortunately, during the period Dr. Strange spent hospitalized at Parker Hospital, Batman had long since logged virtually all of the doctor's physiological data into his database.
At that time, Batman hadn't yet journeyed to the S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier to halt Project Insight; collecting such data was simply a matter of habit for him.
And now, that very habit was paying off.
Utilizing a range of metrics including Dr. Strange's height, stride length, walking posture, and foot dimensions, Batman rapidly sifted through the hundreds of overlapping footprints to isolate the exact trail he needed.
"Alfred, highlight Strange's footprints and track his movements," Batman instructed.
Alfred acknowledged the command, and the visual feed displayed inside Batman's Gargoyle Suit shifted instantly as brightly illuminated footprints stretched from the town's entrance all the way into the distance.
Drawing upon a vast reservoir of data encompassing the town's population count, street foot traffic, and footprint density, Alfred even annotated precisely how long Dr. Strange had lingered at various locations and how long ago those footprints had been left behind.
For the old butler, executing such a task was entirely effortless.
And so, a few minutes later, directly across a relatively quiet street, Batman stood atop a rooftop and laid eyes on Dr. Strange—whose clothing was somewhat tattered, with disheveled hair and a thoroughly disheveled, bedraggled appearance.
Strange was pressed against the doorway of a building along the street, hammering his fists heavily against it with rapid, loud thuds.
--
Support me & read more advance & fast update chapter on my pa-treon:
pat reon .c-om/windkaze
(Just remove the hyphen - and space, to access Pa-treon normally.)