'That version of Batman was operating without full enhancement,' Bruce reminded himself.
'That version didn't know Bane was coming. That version didn't have nine years of preparation and a system that guarantees progress and a genius level intellect running analysis around the clock.'
'I'm not him. I have every advantage he didn't.'
But advantages only mattered if he used them properly. And right now, his new suit was two weeks from combat ready, his enhancement protocol was only two stages complete out of four, and Bane was already standing in a Gotham warehouse pumping Venom into his own bloodstream.
"NEXUS, accelerate suit fabrication. I don't care what it costs or how many people we need to bring in on manufacturing under cover stories. I want combat capability within five days, not two weeks."
"Understood. This will require compromises on final finish quality but core protective functions can be prioritized.
"Do it." Bruce pulled up his Status Panel one final time before turning back to the fabrication bay.
*[PHYSIQUE: 100/100 (NATURAL CEILING)]*
*[ENHANCEMENT LAYER: STAGE 1 - 2 OF 4 COMPLETE]*
*[MIND: 90/100]*
*[SPIRIT: 81/100]*
Two more sessions remained. Neural optimization and cellular regeneration, both still ahead of him, both still going to hurt in ways he'd need to endure alone in that chair with only NEXUS watching his vitals.
But he had time for exactly one more session before Bane forced his hand. Maybe two if he was careful about spacing them.
Bruce looked at the half finished suit on the workbench, at the nanofiber samples and the adaptive plating prototypes scattered across the fabrication table, and felt something settle into place inside him. Not fear exactly. Something closer to recognition.
This was the fight he'd been building toward without knowing it. Not Deadshot, who had ultimately been a test, a warning, a lesson about the gap between preparation and readiness.
Bane was the real thing. A villain who existed in this world for reasons that had nothing to do with cosmic timelines or metahuman origin events, built entirely from Gotham's own darkness, strong enough that peak human alone would not be enough to stand against him.
'Good thing I'm not planning on staying peak human for long,' Bruce thought.
He picked up a length of the nanofiber weave and began working, his enhanced hands moving with steady precision despite the ache still lingering in his bones from the last treatment.
Somewhere in Gotham's southern docks, a man built from prison and poison and pure engineered hatred was preparing for something. Bruce didn't know what yet. He didn't know if Bane was here to build an army, to challenge Gotham's criminal hierarchy for territory, or simply to test the drug that had made him what he was.
But he intended to find out before Bane found him first.
"NEXUS, keep eyes on that warehouse around the clock. I want to know the moment anything changes."
"Continuous surveillance active. I will alert you immediately."
Bruce set down the nanofiber weave and looked toward the cave's exit, toward the tunnel that led up into Wayne Manor and the ordinary life of Bruce Wayne, high school senior, waiting for him just a few hundred feet above.
Five days. Two more enhancement sessions if he was lucky. A suit that existed in pieces on a workbench.
And somewhere out there in the dark, something that Gotham had built entirely on its own, without needing the rest of the universe's permission to exist.
Batman was coming for it anyway.
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