Base of operations II

Someone entered the office.

But the gate was still closed and locked, with the best security there was.

Bruce used the ceiling handles placed to pull himself up and reach the hidden part of the small office of Wayne Enterprises.

While one may find this to be excessive paranoia, it is the only thing that kept Batman steps ahead of anyone and everyone.

One may say Bruce is severely handicapped in this world, with disadvantageous situations left and right.

Whether the surveillance included more advanced technology or the competent police force being a hindrance in the nightly activities, they were good signs, representing that anarchy was not something the people tolerated in this world.

Unlike Gotham where many learned men had come to the conclusion that the sole answer to the crime and corruption in the city was to destroy itself.

Still, while one may find the intervention of spy agencies such as S.H.I.E.L.D., SSR, F.B.I., and many more to be a headache for the Bat, for Bruce it was only a matter of preparation.

He just needed to adapt to the variables in this world, which was now his world for an indefinite amount of time.

Another matter was that of money. While Bruce had made his fortunes in the early internet era, things were not as easy for him here. For Batman to be active with his full potential, he needed effective telecommunications technology, arms and armor resources, and able subordinates.

Alfred had been a competent friend and butler for him, helping when help was needed. While it was not used lamenting out of hand, he still needed a second mind to support him.

The invisible support of a second mind was not a necessity, but an asset that was of great use to Batman, and these little advantages when comes together, were the reasons he was mostly ahead of his foes.

'Cash is flowing in with the initial investments of the digital subsidiary of Wayne Enterprises, while I have some low to mid-weapon tech for my upgrades.'

Bruce pulled back his cape to observe the specifics of the crate labeled Stark Industries. There were armor accessories, small-time missiles, guns, and such, but the main course was the latest product from them, the Jericho.'

While he need not have guns, as he had not encountered anyone deserving death, the Jericho was a work of art, incorporating the latest aiming, computing, and power source technology in one.

In the universe Batman was from, Constantine once indulged himself in some travel stories of his, which while someone would shrug off as lies and show-offs, could bear fruit in situations no one could have predicted, hence while shrugging off as not paying attention, Batman had always given his sense to any of his, or anybody's stories, no matter how unbelievable.

As the information was theirs to give, but to label them useful or useless was in the hands of the listener.

Where John told stories that in most of the universes, Batman held one rule dear to himself, the rule of not killing.

This was not surprising to Bruce Wayne of DC Universe 19004, as he could see their reasoning of the whole who gets to judge and all that, but this rule had more demerits to it for him to follow.

So he formulated an effective rule of his, where he would never kill, with the exception of extremely irredeemable criminals.

The Law was something that had failed the people and him time after time in his City, and for the development of humans to go on, he had to pick up the role of the judge, the jury, and the executioner, but in extreme conditions only, conditions that very few fulfilled in his list.

Bruce fired up his PC, the small one unbefitting his stature, but effective as it had not failed him till now.

It was the sole informant he had placed on the internet, lacking by most agencies in the country, but one that was competent for the short run until he as enough funds and time to make amends and upgrades.

There were no alerts of any cyber-attacks, identity investigations, or news, worthy of his immediate attention, so he changed into his formal after a hot shower, continuing his double life as business-minded Bruce Wayne, to check his expenses and invest the profit he had earned in the last 2 months from Wayne Net, the sole and broad subsidiary of Wayne Enterprises as of yet which focused on matters related but not limited to the Internet, including the maintenance of his social media app Instagram and the game he had launched.

There was the task of employing many positions in his company, from secretarial jobs to positions demanding high specialization in information technologies.

The Net worth increase in the name of Bruce Waye was from one million dollars (including the 900,000 dollar shop land where the new Wayne Enterprises stand today) to 1.7 million dollars.

If things went as they were going, Bruce planned his company to go public around July 2009, where the evaluation of Wayne Enterprises would be along the figures of five to five point two (5-5.2) million dollars, a manageable benchmark after which assistance for managing would be required.

The hand of the clock aimed at the number two when an alert sounded on Wayne's mobile, his personal one.

Bruce looked at the contents where the alert outsourced a CNN live, with a flashing announcement from Stark Industries.

Bruce gave a self-nod to himself as he pocketed his mobile back into where he brought it outside from, returning to his seat of power in the Wayne investment, the new subsidiary for which he had plans, later but now the second official part of the Wayne Enterprises.

'This changes things, Chaos is a ladder, and this marks for me to apply my plans more effectively and early than the initial estimate.'

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-News Flash- Tony Stark is back! The billionaire industrialist was found missing 3 months ago when a video was posted from the terrorist organization Ten Rings, claiming to have their hand in the same. -News Flash-

On CNBC, the Mad money watered down the meaning of the Stark CEO coming back to fold,

"Stark International: I've got one recommendation. Ready? BUYYY!!!! The Stark Industries, evaluated at the huge 394 billion dollars saw a rise of 24, yes 24 POINTS on Wednesday, a day before Christmas and as things are looking, it is bound to rise today after the press conference held by the famous Anthony Stark!"

"Stark Industries left behind Exxon to be the largest company in the world yesterday!!!"

"In two hours, CNBC would be present at the emergency conference from the prince that was promised, none other than Tony Stark, stay tuned to not miss anything on the matter."

Bruce switched off the TV to continue his workout, as he intended to wait for the official statement before investing his coin in anyone in the market.

[Originally Tony's net worth is 10 billion, evaluating Stark Industries to be around 18-25 billion which is pretty accurate because when the new worth was being written, 10 billion was the world's richest. I have diluted the value to make Tony's net worth around 120-140 billion, pretty accurate from the norm for 2008 where the largest Us one was Exxon, 392bil, to give you a rough estimate]

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"Why is there an announcement of the press conference when I asked Tony Stark to debrief about the circumstances first?"

"Sir we were not able to make a contact with Anthony Stark, he was taken by Colonel Rhodes, without protocols being fulfilled on his part, our reports mention friendship between the two."

"Pull out Coulson from the Archibald operation, send him for Stark conference hall top priority, he will see things to be done."

"Yes Sir."

"Status report on the Jatropa project?" Nick asked the chief engineer of the 7th Shield division to come forward.

"Sir, the construct would be able to dive and airborne by early 2010, while the change in headquarters would take a month at the earliest."

"Status report me about it every week and inform any anomalies that arise around it."

"Yes Sir."