Chapter 44: The Chad Bat

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"Fools who don't respect the past are likely to repeat it."

-NICO ROBIN, (ONE PIECE)

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<(Alfred POV)>

I wonder what Master Bruce is doing in that cave of his? It had been about twelve hours since he had entered the cave after giving strict instructions not to disturb him no matter what. He didn't even have his lunch yet. Even after I went to check up on him to make sure that he wasn't doing something foolish again, Miss. Cortana didn't open the door for me, so I had to return back.

*Sigh* It's almost like Master Bruce trusts her with his errands more than me. I swear sometimes I feel like she is after my own job... However, it's good that she is so loyal and meticulous in what she does for Bruce. Maybe, she can inherit my position one day. After all, I can't be with Master Bruce forever, can I?

"What do you think Ace? Do you think I am getting old?" I looked at the dog sitting with lonesome eyes staring at the door.

"*Woof* Baka" A cute-sounding girl's voice came from the collar on his neck a split second after his bark making the dog growl with annoyance.

"I guess Bruce still hasn't perfected that collar has he? Well, he did say he would do it after he succeeds with the experiment that he is currently working on. But I wonder why hasn't he removed it or just turned it off. Also, why is the collar's sound stuck in that particular voice?" I muttered more to myself than Ace as I looked at the irritated dog.

"*Grrr* Kusoyarou" He tried to growl once more in a deeper voice but immediately shut up after the collar again tried to translate his voice.

"Yeah sorry, I would have tried to help you Ace but I don't know how that collar works and I am not going to take chances with anything that Master Bruce has designed without consulting him first. After all, the last time didn't go well for either me or Master Bruce after I tried to fix that broken helmet of his to decrease his workload." I said as I completed dusting the roof and climbed down the walls after deactivating the anti-gravity option on my watch.

This suit Master Bruce made me is pretty useful. This combined with that age-reducing and muscle-strengthening medicine he gave me is the only reason I still feel somewhat useful to him. But this suit specifically has made my life a lot easier. From servicing my weapons, cleaning the mansion and so much more, it's really useful.

Besides just a few tingly sensations here and there, there is almost no drawback..., well except for the fact that every time someone smokes in front of me, my hand carries a lighter to their mouth on its own. But personally, I like it, makes me seem like a more proper butler to people. So I never turned the lighter function off even after Master Bruce taught me how to.

"Now on to the next room..." *Buzz**Buzz* Suddenly the advanced radio transmitter hidden on my belt buckle began to buzz. The only people who have this thing are the security staff of the estate, so it must be something related to their work.

"What is it?" I asked seriously through the transmitter.

"Someone left a strange package in front of the gate, Mr. Alfred but none of the CCTV recordings are showing us who left it or when. We used the bomb detection equipment and determined it was safe enough to open. There is also no radiation, poison, or any harmful bacteria or viruses on it. We determined that it was safe enough. So, do you want to take it to Mr. Wayne in this sealed condition or do you want us to open it first?" The voice from the other side of the radio asked.

"... Don't open it. It might be something important for Master Bruce. Hold on to it for a few minutes, I'll come down there and collect it in a while." I finished as I put down the transmitter.

'I hope you didn't try to order uranium or some other radioactive, rare, or illegal material through one of your company contacts again Master Bruce. The last time you did that, someone almost launched a nationwide investigation into that.' I sighed once again as I began to walk out of the room with Ace in tow.

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<(Bruce Wayne POV)>

"OHH MY GOD. My muscles feel like they are on fire. Goddamn it. SHIT. I think I had my entire life's worth of muscle spasms in a single day." I huffed in pain as I exited from the pod.

The nerve-based pain relieving gas, the pain tolerance I had developed through my martial arts, or even my chi and meditation techniques were not able to properly neutralize the soul-wrenching, blood-boiling pain that this self-performed enhancement experiment gave me.

"Cortana, remind me to increase the intensity and dosage of the neuropathic pain-relieving gas if I ever decide to give this to Alfred or the girls. I don't think they would be able to tolerate as much pain as me." I said with some amount of pride in my voice as I wrapped my wet and now heavily muscular and well-defined body with a towel offered by one of Cortana's tentacles.

I hope people don't get suspicious of someone like me who is in his mid-teens but still has the body of a professional athlete. Hell, if this trait goes on then by the time I am in my mid-twenties, I'll be DC's Yujiro Hanma, which is kind of cool but still creepy.

"Welcome back Bruce. I'll put the assignment on my list. Also, should I begin the bloodwork? I think doing some practical and scientific tests will be better even though we already know what changes have been undertaken in your body through the simulations." Cortana advised me, not showing much care at my ramble about the pain.

"Fine, you already got my new blood sample from the machine, right? Run the tests. Till then, I'll try to work out and see how much I have developed without my chi and breathing technique." I said as I went to my physical testing equipment that I had set up at a corner of the Batcave.

It was a single advanced machine that could measure most of my essential physical properties. A big Hulk-sized machine that would cover most of my body parts and study each and every part of it including muscle movements, nerve interactions, tissue thickness, and even blood circulation to determine its biological capabilities.

"Let's start the tests by running first," I said as I began to run wearing the armor-like machine. I wasn't even running on the ground as the machine made sure to keep me stationary in the air like a treadmill.

"After a ten-second gradual acceleration, you can attain about 70 miles or 112 kilometers per hour approximate running speed," Cortana said after about five minutes of constantly running.

"Satisfactory since I won't be racing with a speedster or a Kryptonian any time soon. Now, what about my lifting strength." I said as I stopped running in the air and felt something pressing on my muscles particularly a weight on my fingers and hands from all around.

The machine could exert force up to a thousand tons, so measuring my current lifting strength won't be a problem for it.

"About 60 tons. Quite good considering you tried to focus the capability of the serum more on resistance, endurance, healing, and stamina than strength and speed." She recited the readings.

"Yeah. I could easily increase those by actively using breathing techniques, chi, advanced armors, or future serums/steroids but having poison or chemicals in my system is more dangerous for me. So I wanted to increase my passive attributes more for now."

It was true since my chi alone can give me a 2 to 3 times increase in my stats depending on how much I concentrate just like the breathing technique can dish out a 1.5 to 2 times stat increase.

"On that front, it's good news because you are now immune to all diseases known officially by mankind. Even the most harmful chemicals or narcotics won't affect you much unless someone has complete details about the serum or your current biology. Bioweapons like mustard gas will barely put you to sleep if injected into your system directly in sufficient doses instead of instantly killing you. Also, congratulations. You now have one of the thickest skin among humans. Bullets from lightweight pistols and revolvers won't even penetrate your skin, much less injure you.

As for your healing ability, damaged skin takes about one to five minutes to regrow. Small muscle damage will take about a few hours while severe muscle damage or critical broken bones will take about a day. Loss of non-vital organs or limbs may be fatal depending on the injury but if not, then most organs or limbs can grow back within a span of a few months if treated right. In case of fatal damage to the nervous system or major loss of any vital organs, you may face temporary death or should I call it death-like naturally induced hibernation. As long as your brain is not completely destroyed, you may recover in a year due to the presence of the traits of the Enhanced Soldier Serum of Deathstroke and the OZ formula in your serum." She finished.

"So sort of a rough pseudo immortality?" I asked, not believing I had already achieved such an amazing feat already.

"More like you are really hard to kill. You will still age but extremely slowly. Your life expectancy might be a couple of hundred to a thousand years." Cortana stated as her hologram began to look me up and down.

"That's not too bad I guess. But it seems I still have to work harder to try to achieve actual immortality." I murmured to myself as I looked at my chiseled, now 5 feet 8 inches body that can still be considered a swimmer's physique in the bat-shaped mirror.

'My obsession with sticking to the theme would only be truly completed if my back muscles had the shape of a bat like Yujiro Hanma's demon face one day.' I thought sarcastically. But seriously man, look at those goddamn abs and veins. The muscles in my legs are so detailed that they look like mini wings. Even my jawline and face look more charming and defined now.

"Hey Cortana, don't you feel like I am a goddamn art of steroid-filled nature that will even put Greek And Norse Gods to shame." I narcissistically said as I posed in front of the mirror.

"I have never seen a god, so I can't compare but I guess if I were a human I would say something like, You are fluttering my maiden heart. Kawai." She acted like an anime girl.

"..."

I don't think I can tolerate two anime girls in the same house. Maybe I should repair Ace's collar and give him a male voice to bring back some masculinity in this house. I think I even have the perfect male voice in my mind for that, although I am not sure how masculine it is.

"Bruce, Alfred is here with a package in his hand. He says it's important. You might want to meet him." Cortana broke me out of my thoughts.

"Oh yeah, sure. Let him enter. I am excited to see what he thinks after witnessing my new form. I hope he doesn't get a heart attack after seeing my new build." I laugh while knowing that there might be a small chance it may happen in reality.

Oh well, I always have the med-bay.

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