Chapter 17: Experiment Evidence

"Another dead end."

Batman muttered under his breath, standing in the Batcave with his eyes glued to the massive digital map displayed on the screen.

Red trails and markings lit up as he traced potential leads, his mind racing to piece all the evidence he collected together.

Suddenly, his comm crackled to life.

"Batman," Superman said, his voice steady, "I've found something that you might want to see"

"What is it?"

"There's a facility underneath the mall that was destroyed,"

Batman straightened. "I'm on my way." Adding a question, "what does it look like?"

And superman explained every little detail he can see.

The Batmobile came to a screeching halt outside the mall's cordoned-off perimeter.

Civilians and police alike stared as the Dark Knight emerged from his batmobile, his cape billowing behind him.

The civilians gasp and so are the police, afterall, batman rarely do any day job and mostly do night job.

And he might be from a distant city, but batman was still a well known hero.

Inside, Superman stood waiting near the hidden tunnel entrance.

"Batman"

The two descended into the secret passage, their footsteps echoing against the metal walls.

Batman's sharp eyes scanned every detail as they moved, already forming theories.

Upon reaching the underground facility, Batman activated his wrist scanner, cataloging the environment.

He moved methodically, checking every room, his cowl's HUD recording everything.

"Experiments," Batman said flatly, gesturing to a set of exotic materials, shattered vials and storage of dangerous chemical "This wasn't a storage site. Someone was running tests here."

Superman nodded. "I checked every room.. And " pausing for a moment, he gulped and nervously continued "tge lowest floor was... "

Batman followed superman to the lowest floor, two mangled corpses and bloodied, strapped on a bed.

Surgical tools are tainted with dried blood.

Some of their organs left unused organs preserved in jars.

By the looks of it, it's probably been almost a day since these people died.

"They've gone too far enough"

Superman could not believe that this happened right in his city.

The very city the was under his protection.

He couldn't help but blame himself for the suffering of these two poor souls.

Batman stepped toward a computer terminal, his fingers flying over the keys.

He attempted to recover the files, but the screen filled with static and corruption errors.

Then a surviving record of the expirement played, a record with a file name of Drug Testing #112

It showed a live footage of another man besides the two corpse there.

He was injected of something and suddenly started convulsing, his mouth foaming.

The video ends with static, the record was cut and the next tape after was.

"Deleted," Batman muttered.

He turned back to the equipment, scanning labels and markings. "But these tools tell a story. Genetic experiments, chemical engineering. Whoever was operating here wasn't a small-time player."

Superman crossed his arms. "What about the aircraft? I brought it to the port"

"Wait.. " batman took shot of every corner that he can use to track whoever did this.

"Lead the way"

Before they leave, batman called the FBI on the scene.

Also collected some physical evidence to examine on his place.

At the port, the aircraft loomed over them, sleek and black.

It didn't take more than 2 minute to drive here from the mall, his gadgets scanning the materials inside.

Superman followed closely, watching Batman work.

The heavy protected metal crates inside were marked with strange symbols and untraceable serial numbers.

Batman examined one of the items, his brow furrowing.

"High-grade alloys, synthetic polymers… advanced tech," Batman said, running a hand over a cylindrical object.

This isn't ordinary equipment. Someone was building something. Maybe a weapon. Including the experimemt from the mall, if these two happen to be connected which batman strongly hopes not.

Then maybe its beyond just a weapon they are making.

Superman stepped closer. "Can you trace it?"

Batman shook his head. "No identifiers. Whoever built this is careful."

Even his sattelites could not track where the thing came from.

He scanned the interiors and was shown to have a built in light reflectors to mask it from the environment.

So how did superman saw it?

He moved to the cockpit, scanning the controls and systems. "No logs, no flight paths. They scrubbed everything."

"I don't think this was just random criminal activity"

"That much is evident superman"

No sane man is going to say that this is some simple crime syndicate.

"And they're using a lot of resources to keep it hidden"

He stepped back, looking at the aircraft one more time.

His mind drifted to the month's other anomalies.

The Neon Triad Gang had been unusually quiet—a group not known for restraint.

Batman's lips thinned. "It could be them."

Superman raised an eyebrow. "Who?"

They've been quiet. Too quiet, And quiet means planning. If it them... No.. There's still too much to trace back. I can't make any speculations now.

I need to be sure.

"Uhmm.. Batman?"

"Oh.. Suoerman, i appreciate what you did today.. I'll be heading now"

A/n: Somehow i want to make a powerpuff girls x rimuru crossover.... What a weird idea