As a bird soaring through the darkness, knowing how to expertly conceal oneself is a necessary skill. It's not just about relying on the stealthy footsteps of a feline; it's also about knowing how to evade cameras, shadowing targets like a ghost to delve into the most dangerous and secretive places.
"No way, I ain't bringing you along!" Tony and Baia exclaimed simultaneously.
"I'll give your sneaking skills a score," Baia crossed her arms. "Wanna know what the top score is?"
"Never thought Wayne's kid was a stalker. What else you got, debugging telescopes?" Tony scoffed.
... If anyone at home doesn't have a penchant for spying, it's me! Baia lamented in her mind. There's no way to actually prove my innocence to Bruce and the others, so I'll just sulk silently.
In front of them shimmered a blue projection screen with flashing location markers. Friday synchronized and transmitted detailed coordinates upon activation.
S.T.A.R. Labs, 43rd floor underground.
"No matter what, you ain't getting that armor back on your own, you clear on that?" Baia said.
Tony stared at her for a moment.
"And STARLAB ain't some evil villain hideout," she reassured. "Even if we get caught, it won't be a big deal. Superman trusts them, so at most, we'll just end up back at Metropolis PD."
The system started learning from her: "Hey, bro, I'm back in the joint!"
"Fine, let's plan this out," Tony relented. "First, we figure out a way to get into the lab."
"May I help you?" The towering floodlights outside the tall building scanned back and forth as armed security guards watched the bearded man closely. He simply shrugged, "I'm Dr. Ethan. Haven't you seen me before?"
"Indeed. Can you please show some identification?"
"Hmm, let me think. Where did I put it?" Tony patted his pants, then checked his breast pocket, pulling out a card. "Ah, here it is."
[Spirit Pass]: Grants access to anywhere you can imagine.
The guard took the card, comparing the image on it with the man in front of him. He relented, "Dr. Ethan, you may proceed. Have a pleasant evening."
Tony walked in, trailed by a gust of wind and shadow. He casually put his hands in his pockets, waving without looking back, "Quite pleasant indeed."
Friday said, "My backup is in sleep mode now, can't stay active for too long or there's a risk of detection. But when Boss and Miss Baia sneak in, I can temporarily shut down all cameras, though not for long."
The moment Tony stepped through the lab doors, the watch quietly resting on the table lit up. Part of the surveillance room's feed flickered imperceptibly, then returned to normal. The looping footage replaced the live feeds.
He casually grabbed a white lab coat from a desk on the first floor, putting it on. With a badge, he should be able to use the elevator.
"Security patrols the left hallway, elevator area's clear," Baia whispered.
No Bat-communicator, just Stark earpieces. And since the vest was tightly clutched by Baia, he couldn't wear the Robin uniform. Luckily, they wouldn't need it for this stealth operation.
To avoid security, Tony ducked into the elevator area, only to bump into a researcher.
The man looked puzzled, "Uh, hi, who are you?"
"I'm Ethan, Applied Physics and Materials Engineering." Tony quickly responded, flashing his ID. "I've been sent to check out that armor, you know, the golden-red one. Thought it looked pretty cool."
Then he glared into the empty corner. This is what you call safe?
Baia, feeling wronged, muttered, "What's unsafe about a mere staff member?"
"But I'm the project head for the combat armor!" the man protested, bewildered. "I really—"
Before he could react or call for help, a figure leaped out of the shadows and struck him. With a mask covering her face, Baia held a knife to the head researcher's throat against the wall, her normally light voice now menacingly low, "Where is it?"
"Don't get excited! Don't get excited—" The researcher barely managed to utter a letter louder, and the knife began gesturing towards his throat, forcing him to struggle while whispering in fear.
The big guy tried to struggle, but Baia had trouble keeping him down. Luckily, Stark lent her a hand.
Baia scowled, "Come clean, or you'll regret it."
"On B2, left turn, Lab B2. That's where it is." The manager spilled all the information like beans in a bamboo tube. After all, this place had been invaded multiple times before, and those who survived were those who were open-minded. "There's iris verification there. You'll never get in!"
"I beg to differ," Baia put away her knife and pulled out a magic wand with a pink star on top. "Watch this."
[Pink Fairy Wand of the Black Ops]: Used to erase recent memories of the target.
The manager found himself in the descending elevator, heading to the 43rd floor. Strange, wasn't he just leaving work to go home?
"Dr. Ellis, are you okay?" the man with brown eyes beside him asked. He wore the standard STARLab uniform and exuded a kind of arrogance, but he didn't seem too familiar.
"Who are you?" Manager Ellis frowned.
"I'm Ethan," Stark raised an eyebrow casually, handing over his ID. "Perhaps you need some rest, sir. Weren't you going to take me to Lab B2 to see that armor? I'm new to the neighboring project team."
"Oh...? Really?" Ellis looked at the ID card in confusion, finding everything in order, and the various information provided by the other party matched up. He handed back the ID card dubiously, "Then let's go have a look."
The underground part of STARLab was far more complicated than Tony had imagined. The winding corridors and rooms made him realize encountering Manager Ellis was fortunate; without him, they might never find the exact location of the armor.
It took several minutes to reach the 43rd floor underground. Tony calculated in his mind, realizing that the heights of some floors were not standard. What exactly were they researching here?
"Iris verification passed." With a mechanical female voice, the metal door of Lab B2 opened. One-third of the golden-red armor was already dismantled on the cold white lab table, and Tony sucked in a breath of air at the sight.
Ellis turned around, "What's wrong?"
"Nothing, it's just stunning," Tony replied nonchalantly.
"This poor thing underwent some idiotic modifications recently," Ellis explained. "We suspect it might be some kind of alien tech, considering what we have here. The power system of this armor, as you can see, is that blue triangular energy core. The principles behind its operation are temporarily beyond our understanding—"
Tony gently touched the cold shell of Mark 43, "It's okay, I understand enough."
Ellis froze, before he could ask anything, he felt a numbness spreading through his body, and darkness enveloped him.
He lost consciousness.
"You shocked him to death?"
"I didn't, don't make wild accusations," Baia put away the stun gun. "This thing just puts him out for a few hours, that's all."
The Bat folks might scorn these little gadgets, but Baia didn't dare to challenge whether her knife was precise enough. After all, hitting the brainstem with an unskilled hand could really kill someone.
"Your dad's Batman," Tony said.
"What?"
"Your dad's Batman, don't ask me how I know."
"You're mistaken, it's just a stun gun for wolves."
"Don't worry," Tony mused, "just a gut feeling, I'm not gonna do anything."
Baia thought about what happened at Christmas and began to blabber, "Actually, my dad's not Batman, you should know, he's the richest and most handsome guy in all of Gotham..."
"Geez, spare me," Tony interrupted.
"Anyway, Bruce and Batman, they, uh, hit it off right away. Everyone knows Batman's funded by Bruce—"
"Ugh, a horror love story."
Baia pointed to the armor parts on the lab table, "Enough about that. How do you plan to get this thing out? You sure you can put it back together quickly? This ain't Lego."
Stark tossed the wrench in his hand, "That's right, it ain't Lego, but I'm a genius."
Giving Bruce a roll of Kevlar fabric and some armor pieces, he's unlikely to sew up a Batman suit. The weaving of Bat gear relies on Lucius, while the patching and mending tasks are left to Alfred.
Tony's work mode is slightly different. He prefers to tackle most of the challenges alone in the garage, preferably with no one touching his Mark series with even a finger.
So his work speed is even faster than Baia expected.
"Done." Baia was sitting on the table, examining an alien laser gun displayed in a showcase. Turning around, she saw the scattered armor pieces now worn by Tony, the faceplate down, and the white eye lights shining. Although Baia knew the full-metal battle armor was very heavy, there was no clumsiness after Tony assembled it. It looked agile and powerful, with the golden-red color scheme shining brightly under the lab lights, making it look futuristic and stunning.
"You look so cool! Can it fly?" Baia asked.
"Well, for now... temporarily... no," Tony replied.
"Okay, then onto plan B."
By this time, the security system had detected something wrong with the surveillance video, and alarm bells were ringing on the relevant floors, with security personnel quickly gathering. Friday blacked out as many screens as possible before being blocked, and the control room exploded with dazzling sparks, with some cameras hanging limply.
In at most three minutes, the backup line would start up, not enough time for Baia to leave, but enough.
Baia slipped into the white lab coat Tony had just used, a bit too long for her, with the hem almost dragging on the ground, but no one would see anyway.
With the Red Robin tactical view activated, Baia gracefully dodged the armed personnel bustling through the corridors, humming a tune as she headed for the main door on the first floor of STARLab.
In her hand, she carried a silver briefcase.
"For storing some animals," Tony said.
Baia confirmed, "For storing some animals."
Carrying a box of golden-red shells, Baia made sure she had gone far enough before revealing herself and releasing Tony.
Then, she felt herself lighten, her feet leaving the ground, as someone lifted her up.
Baia exclaimed in surprise and slowly turned around.
"...Hey, Dad."