Eiffel

Back in Gotham City, Old Butler was astonished to find that after a trip to Washington, D.C., both his master and the alien guest—whom he had originally thought was merely a sweet young boy, only to discover that his true form was that of a great demon king—looked rather unhappy. They each wore sour expressions as they returned to their own rooms. They were currently staying at a Wayne Family hotel, which had a presidential suite built especially for the Wayne Family heir.

"Uh..." Old Butler opened his mouth in vain. "I just wanted to ask if anyone would like some afternoon tea or something... All right."

The wise old man gave a self-deprecating shrug.

"Click." Aeo poked his head out.

"Old Alfred, could you bring me a nice, fragrant eggplant pie with meat sauce and cheese? Thanks."

Old Butler smiled.

"Of course, young master. I'll tell the kitchen to prepare it right away..."

Aeo flashed Old Butler a big smile, then closed the door.

The Smart Terminal, which had been hiding in Aeo's clothes the whole time, flew out. "Master..."

"Shh." Aeo hushed it softly. His X-ray vision kicked in, and he spotted no fewer than ten surveillance devices in the spacious, luxurious room.

He went over to a pinhole camera and said to the S.H.I.E.L.D. agent monitoring him, "That's enough. If there's a next time, don't blame me for ending our cooperation!"

"Bzzzt~" Watching the feed cut out, Melinda and Hill exchanged glances.

Black Widow went further, saying, "I told you this wouldn't work on him. Besides his superhuman strength, he can see through any disguise. Trying to monitor him is as good as reaching the heavens! Actually, no—reaching the heavens isn't a big deal for us anymore. It's as good as landing on Mars!"

"But that's no reason to leave him alone!" Melinda probably had the strongest objection to the boy of anyone in S.H.I.E.L.D. And it was understandable. No one could easily accept spending ten years on something only for it to end with 'we're all friends.' Besides, the two sides weren't even friends now... "Natasha, don't forget you're a member of S.H.I.E.L.D."

Before Black Widow could fire back, Hill spoke first. "The two sides are only cooperating for mutual benefit, temporarily. Giving up surveillance entirely is impossible, but perhaps we can try another approach." She gave the Russian beauty a reassuring look.

"What?" The King of Spies, who had been sitting nearby with a grim expression, finally spoke.

"We can start by monitoring Bruce." Hill turned, her gaze sharp. "For some reason, this alien visitor seems particularly fond of Gotham City's golden boy. He's more willing to accept supervision from this Batman than to compromise with us. He seems to be extremely wary of us..."

Nick Fury's one eye flashed. He suddenly asked, "Is it possible that his Smart Terminal has infiltrated our system? That it learned things it shouldn't know?"

Hill, Melinda, and Black Widow all changed expressions.

"Director, surely that's not possible..."

"If it is, then we need to keep an even tighter watch on this guest who's exceeded all our expectations..."

"It's possible..."

Even Phil, who had been watching and analyzing without saying a word, couldn't help speaking up. "But keeping Wayne under surveillance won't be easy, either." He glanced at his colleagues.

"Ever since we clashed with Entity X at his home last time, he's been even more wary of us than willing to cooperate..."

"Given that, do we really want to keep destroying our relationship with him?" Agent Phil's words sounded less like a question and more like an objection.

Nick Fury gave an awkward cough. "I was too hasty last time. I underestimated Entity X's power..."

"But regardless." The head of the spies glared fiercely at his subordinates. "Leaving him unchecked is completely out of the question. We have to find his weakness, so that if we ever clash with Entity X, we won't be left completely helpless!"

"So find his weakness. Now!"

"...Yes, sir!"

...,...

Meanwhile, after cutting off S.H.I.E.L.D.'s surveillance, Aeo held up the pinhole camera he'd pulled out and thought for a moment, then reopened the door and went out.

He knocked on Batman's door.

"Hey, Bruce, it's me, Zod."

A moment later, Bruce came to open the door. "What is it... What's that?"

Aeo raised the pinhole camera in his hand. "You know. S.H.I.E.L.D."

Bruce's expression changed, too. He pulled out a device and started scanning his bedroom, beeping all the while.

"Damn it. I knew it. No matter what kind of power you're dealing with, there needs to be some kind of balance. Otherwise, things get out of control..." he cursed under his breath.

He found four or five surveillance devices in his bedroom, too.

"That's enough!" What angered Bruce wasn't that S.H.I.E.L.D. was monitoring Aeo. He was angry that S.H.I.E.L.D. had once again acted as if he didn't exist, skipping right over him and treating his home as a 'battleground.' For once, he let them have it.

"I agreed to cooperate with you, not to work for you! Listen, if I catch you monitoring me again, don't blame me for tearing up our agreement! S.H.I.E.L.D. isn't the only superorganization in this world. If you piss me off, I'll destroy you completely!"

"Bzzzt~"

Leaving aside Hill, Melinda, and the others' speechless reactions back at S.H.I.E.L.D., even the headstrong boy couldn't help expressing his surprise, though he knew Bruce had a more direct temper. "Wow, I've never seen you get that angry before, Bruce."

He smiled. "Looks like you're pretty furious about someone monitoring your personal freedom, too..."

Bruce glared at him. "Enough. Don't think I don't know what you're up to. All you're trying to tell me is that S.H.I.E.L.D. can't be trusted, and that I shouldn't tell them all my secrets..."

"But," Batman narrowed his eyes, "from one perspective, they haven't actually done anything wrong. You really do need some supervision and safeguards!"

Aeo wasn't annoyed. He just smiled as if he'd expected that. "I understand."

He winked slyly. "That's why I'm planning to make a deal with you, isn't it?"

"What?" Bruce was slightly taken aback. He hadn't expected the boy's words to take such a sharp turn. "What kind of deal? Between you and me? Or..."

"With you, and with Wayne Enterprises!"

Bruce fell silent.

...,...

A week later, Bruce and Aeo arrived at a top-secret base somewhere in Gotham City.

Looking at the huge collection of Earth's supercomputers, servers, electrical cabinets, and the like around them, Aeo smiled. "Great. Now Eiffel can finally show what it's truly capable of!"

"Eiffel!"

"Yes, Master." The personal terminal that had accompanied the Son of Krypton as he wandered through space for more than a decade unleashed its power. Countless black threads plugged into the vast computing array. They were its disguise, and its computational core.

A moment later, the underground room's servers all seemed to come alive.

"Beep beep beep. Low-level civilization electronic network detected. Mainframe synchronization in progress..." said an electronic voice.

"Weapons-link channel detected..."

"Planetary-orbit satellite control detected..."

"Communications network detected..."

Bruce's expression changed drastically.

.