Clink.
Bi-Beast possessed the largest build and held the forwardmost position; as a matter of course, the Antarctic Vibranium bomb struck him first, giving off a crisp, metallic chime.
The bomb burst open, sending silver Antarctic Vibranium splashing outward in all directions. A portion landed on Bi-Beast's body, while the rest scattered across the alloy floor of the engine room.
Silently and without a trace, bowl-sized scars pitted Bi-Beast's surface. At its deepest point, the internal circuitry of his body was visible right through his outer shell.
"Bi-Beast is an android?" Batman glimpsed the wiring inside Bi-Beast and immediately spoke to Alfred, "Alfie, hack him."
Alfred responded and initiated a breach, only to halt merely a few seconds later:
"Master Wayne, the mechanical components and circuits inside Bi-Beast serve strictly as his physical structure, controlled directly by those two heads. He forms an internal closed loop; conventional methods cannot hack him.
"I need time," Alfred said.
Batman fell silent, turning his gaze toward Ironclad, who was hit by a second Antarctic Vibranium bomb a moment later.
"What about unconventional methods?" Batman asked.
Although this member of the U-Foes went by the name Ironclad, his body was not merely an outer shell; his flesh, bones, and internal organs had all been converted entirely into metal.
The moment the Antarctic Vibranium bomb—capable of liquefying other metals—exploded, Ironclad let out an agonizing scream. As the metal constituting his body broke down, he suffered excruciating pain no different from a normal human's.
Mid-shriek, Ironclad's body, which had been trembling on the spot in a forward-charging stance, collapsed with a heavy thud.
"Another one down," Batman noted silently in his mind.
The final recipient of an Antarctic Vibranium bomb was Absorbing Man. His reaction speed was extraordinarily fast—or rather, he was naturally cautious, retreating at high speed the instant the bomb left Batman's hand.
Watching Bi-Beast's structure crumble and Ironclad's surface liquefy under the properties of the Antarctic Vibranium bombs, dripping down onto the deck drip, drip, drip, Absorbing Man pulled back his neck. His body had already retreated behind X-Ray and Vector in the rear.
Glaning out of the corner of his eye, he reached out without hesitation and slapped a hand onto Vector's shoulder.
Vector's body was similarly covered in scars of various sizes wrapped in bandages; what Absorbing Man touched was precisely the bandages on Vector's body.
Starting from Absorbing Man's palm, white bandages rapidly replaced the original iron-gray tone of his skin. Just before the Antarctic Vibranium bomb reached him, his entire body completed the transformation.
He had morphed into the likeness of an Egyptian mummy, wrapped entirely in bandages from head to toe, albeit considerably fuller than a dried-up corpse.
"Capable of converting his body into whatever material he touches?" Batman realized the guy's ability upon observing Absorbing Man's transformation.
Just as he prepared to press the advantage and launch an attack against the rest during this window of reduced enemy numbers, suddenly!
A violent gale swept through the engine room, so fierce that it lifted Madman—whose weight exceeded Batman's by more than threefold—straight off the ground before slamming him back down heavily against the floor.
And this was merely the residual force of the gust; the true target of this sudden gale was Batman himself.
"Batman! Curse you! You killed Ironclad!" Vapor's shrill scream echoed through the howling wind.
Clearly, this sudden gale was her doing.
The wind was not merely air; it was laced with toxic fumes. A single glance told Batman that at least dozens of lethal gases capable of killing a person in seconds were mixed within.
They included, but were not limited to, nerve gas and chemical agents.
Vapor had originally been tasked with restricting Batman's movements from the air, but with her fellow U-Foes member Ironclad down, she flew into an indiscriminate rage on the spot.
The toxic gases were no longer invisible as before, but materialized into fierce, predatory beasts—green scorpions, black tigers, dark cyan serpents...
These toxic beasts opened their maws, snapping viciously toward Batman's body.
If the gas couldn't infiltrate Batman's Gargoyle Suit, then it would manifest physical forms to tear and bite at him!
With Ironclad down, Vapor unleashed an attack she had never used in any prior battle.
Nor was she alone; the other two members of the U-Foes, X-Ray and Vector, erupted violently as well. Thick energy beams hummed as they swept across the room, completely unconcerned with the survival of anyone else present.
Vector's telekinetic force was no longer confined to manipulating the engine room's floor and walls to hinder Batman's movements.
He floated into the air, his bandages fluttering, staring down at Batman with blood-red eyes. His hands contorted into exaggerated claws, targeting Batman from afar.
In a single instant, Batman sensed that apart from the Vibranium and Adamantium, the other structural components inside the Gargoyle Suit were beginning to emit faint tearing sounds.
Even the bones inside Batman's body creaked, his whole frame beginning to swell under the pressure.
No matter how formidable the Vibranium foundation of the Gargoyle Suit was, it could not block the direct manipulation of telekinetic force; Vector clearly intended to tear Batman apart from the inside out!
X-Ray unleashed another searing beam from his body, striking Batman square in the chest.
Pfft!
This blow hit far harder than any of his previous injuries. Batman spat out a massive mouthful of fresh blood once more as his body was thrown backward, slamming heavily into the engine room wall before dropping onto the floor with a dull thud.
Before Batman could push himself up, Bi-Beast brought a heavy foot crashing down onto him. Multiple crisp cracks sounded as internal bones broke.
Excruciating agony surged through Batman's neural system, causing his vision to blur.
The only saving grace was that X-Ray's blast had knocked Batman out of Vector's telekinetic hold, sparing him from being torn to shreds from within.
"Give up your resistance, Batman," Amora the Enchantress spoke from afar.
"Die and pay for my brother's life! Next, it won't just be you—I'm taking Iron Man's life too." Missing a leg, Madman limped over to Batman, raising his fist high into the air.
BOOM!
His fist came crashing down, but the moment it grazed Batman's body, Madman was sent flying through the air.
Venom Robin broke out of the Wrecking Crew's encirclement like a madman, his face contorted in fury as he tackled Madman into the engine room's alloy wall.
Dropping his axe, Venom Robin clenched his fists, raining punch after punch onto Madman's face until it was reduced to a bloody blur.
Just as Venom Robin turned back to rush to Batman's side, Bi-Beast and Absorbing Man—who had reverted to his iron-gray form—flanked him from left and right, blocking his path.
Vector and X-Ray's attacks struck Batman once more, blasting his prone body across the floor repeatedly, like wind-blown fallen leaves.
It was only after several minutes, seeing that Batman seemed to have lost all ability to fight back, that the Enchantress waved her hand to deploy a barrier of green energy, blocking X-Ray and Vector's onslaught. She looked down at Batman and said:
"It's over, Batman."
Drip, drip.
Blood flowed from the corner of Batman's mouth, dripping onto the floor.
The section shielding his mouth and nose had long since fallen away, exposing the lower half of his face to the air. His teeth were clenched tight, his deep, raspy voice sounding as if it bubbled up from the abyssal depths:
"Do you know how many times I've heard those words?"
"Rest in peace, Batman!""You can't escape, Batman!"
"Your time has come, Batman!"
With more than half the bones in his body broken and severe internal hemorrhaging, Batman actually managed to push against the floor with his arms, slowly forcing himself up. Even as fractured bones stabbed into his muscle tissue, he gritted his teeth and endured, his voice growing deeper:
"Every single night, time and time again, for all these years."
"This is where it ends, Batman!"
One of Batman's hands could no longer form a tight fist, yet he pressed his fingers against the deck to force it closed, raising both fists in front of his chest.
Even as his body endured the unrelenting telekinetic assault from Vector, Batman stood up slowly, facing the distant Enchantress and the remaining undefeated enemies.
"On every single damn night... and yet I am still here!"
Simultaneously, a red fracture line suddenly split open along the wall behind Batman. Tracing out the outline of a doorway, the section was ripped clean off by a heavy grip from the outside.
The Reflection Batwing was finally in position.
--
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