"Strong light."
Damian said calmly, pulling out a Robin's Dart from his utility belt and handing it to Su Ming.
Since the enemy had night vision, it was clearly not brought on by Magic or tech, but determined by some special structure of its eyeballs. When you run into this kind of monster, as long as it's not blind, a sudden blast of strong light works wonders.
Su Ming caught it casually, but didn't throw it. Instead, he took two different-colored grenades from his chest.
"You're right, but to be safe, using intense noise at the same time is also necessary, in case it's using hearing or ultrasound to judge positions. Most creatures have five senses—if you only target one, it's easy to get countered."
If he threw a Flash Bomb and the enemy covered its eyes, then followed up with a Concussion Grenade to make up for it, he'd waste at least a second in between. But if he could hit two senses at the same time, the odds of being countered dropped sharply.
Damian wasn't short on money anyway—throwing one more grenade to increase the success rate of the plan was more than worth it.
"Got it." Damian replied with a blank face, staring at the monster on the ceiling.
"Grenades!" Su Ming reminded, pulling the pins and lightly tossing the two grenades into the air.
Everyone turned their heads and crouched down. Flash and blast wave swept across the room in an instant. By the time Damian shook his head and came back to his senses, he saw Su Ming already at the other end of the room, holding the monster's head in his hand and studying it carefully.
His ears were still ringing; using a Concussion Grenade in a confined space never distinguishes between friend and foe—everyone just has to eat it with raw physique.
But Deathstroke had taken out the enemy so easily that Damian still found it hard to believe.
The Deathstroke of the Main World was strong, but nowhere near this ridiculous. Judging from analysis alone, this kind of monster was a pain to deal with, yet Deathstroke killed it with a single stroke.
Then what was with all that stuff he said before? Was it just to teach them? Or did he have some other purpose?
Damian couldn't figure it out at all; his head felt like a mess.
Su Ming held the furry monster head, stood there pondering for a moment, then quickly put his hands behind his back and hid the monster's head.
"Learned it?"
"...I didn't see anything. You?" Damian turned to ask Wally. If anyone could have seen something, Wally was the most likely.
But Lightning Boy only shrugged and spread his hands.
"The only thing you didn't see was the moment I chopped off the monster's head." Su Ming stowed Godslayer away. The monster's headless corpse was still flopping on the floor behind him, like it planned to leap up and maul him, but he kicked it and sent it flying.
"Yeah, but how do we land a killing blow on a monster like that? We don't have weapons as good as yours." The tactic wasn't the issue; the gap in power was.
Su Ming walked over to him, patted his shoulder, and headed toward the wall with the mark on it. "The N Metal chains that Violent Wolf crushed, the N-Metal Arrow that Green Arrow gave Himeko, Wally's Speed Force Storm—any of those can deliver a fatal hit. You guys do have suitable weapons; you just never thought it through."
"Metal, huh... I get it. So it..."
"That's just one of them. Otherwise why call them 'It-type'? Since it's a 'type', there's no way there's only this one individual. Ready?"
"Huh???"
But before the Teen Titans could relax, Su Ming had already placed his hand on the wall. Purple light surged again, and another monster surfaced out of thin air.
This time, Su Ming had no intention of making a move at all. He simply turned around, leaned against the wall, folded his arms, and struck a watching-the-show pose.
Damian had no objections. The man had basically spoon-fed them the entire tactic; of course he wanted to test his own combat strength.
He pulled two Robin's Darts from his belt and held them in his hands. "Teen Titans, attack!"
Su Ming tilted his head slightly to avoid the flash and shockwave, then turned his gaze back to the Warband. The ping-ping-pong-pong sounds of fighting echoed in the small living room.
They were still lacking in power, and their coordination wasn't smooth enough. Even though the monster was stunned and blinded, the Teen Titans still hadn't landed a killing blow.
Su Ming instantly went full hot-blooded coach mode, standing on the sidelines yelling up a Storm.
"Billy! When you charge, can you not run in a straight line till you ram into a wall for a rebound?! You got four limbs just for decoration?!"
"And Wally, what the hell are you running around for?! Who told you to ride on the monster's head?! Aren't you afraid it'll snap its neck back and take a bite you'll regret for life?!"
"Himeko! N-Metal Arrow has insane penetration—you can aim for the skull. You're aiming at the monster's ass right now; the whole arrow shaft's going into its gut. How are you going to recover your arrows later?!"
"And you! Crush! You can curse it all you want, it doesn't understand you. Shut up and adjust your breathing!"
All in all, once they had a coach, aside from Damian and Mili, everyone else got yelled at till they questioned their life choices. Especially Wally—he kept feeling a chill between his legs and instantly became timid.
Damian's performance was only slightly better; he was just more ruthless with his strikes, and Su Ming deliberately didn't call him out.
As for Giant Spirit Mili, there wasn't much to say. Support Magic was basically useless here; she couldn't even buff properly. Better find a professional Mage to teach her later.
"Fast break! Fast break! Pick up the tempo, watch your footwork!" Su Ming cupped his hands into a makeshift megaphone, shouting and clapping, the very image of a Champion head coach.
When they gained a bit of advantage, he'd nod in satisfaction. When they were in danger, he'd start cursing them out, looking more fired up than the players on the field.
"You're very happy."
Suddenly, a grim voice came from behind him, like thunder cracking out of a dead-silent night; that emotionless, voice-changed tone had always sounded exactly like that.
Su Ming wasn't surprised. Diana was carrying a Justice League locator, after all. Even if the world was this wrecked now, who knew how that little gadget was still managing to work.
But as long as Batman wanted to investigate why Diana had shown up in Gotham, he was definitely going to come.
The Justice League members had an agreement: unless Batman lost the ability to protect Gotham, no one else was allowed to interfere with Gotham's business.
Barry could go help out in Seaside City, Metropolis, and so on, but Gotham was the one place he couldn't touch—this was Batman's city.
If you wanted to debut as a hero here, you either became a Bat or a bird. There were no other options.
That was also why, last time, when Su Ming disguised himself as Batman and worked the Riddler over with a whole set of tricks, Batman hadn't bothered to clarify anything—because it was "Batman" who did it. There was nothing to explain.
This time, Su Ming was only here to smack down some monsters; he hadn't laid a hand on Batman's beloved "figurines," and he hadn't crossed Batman's bottom line either.
"I was wondering how long you could keep watching from the shadows. Lost your patience already?" Su Ming watched the fierce fight on the field and answered Batman in a flat tone.
"They shouldn't be here."
Batman emerged from the darkness and stood silently beside Su Ming. The darkness sculpted him into a solid block of shadow; you couldn't even feel his breathing.
The Mask on Su Ming's face flowed away and faded. He turned his head to glance at Batman, his expression hovering between a smile and not: "I thought Damian was one of the Bat Clan, free to operate in Gotham."
"..." Batman didn't answer. He just started walking toward the monsters.
Su Ming reached out and pressed a hand on his shoulder. Batman paused slightly, and the tension in the air spiked.
"Let go."
"It's just the kids having a bit of fun."
"This isn't a game."
"But someone's already come looking to play games with you."
As he spoke, Su Ming walked up beside Batman and took out something the size of a basketball from behind his back, holding it up in front of Batman with both hands like he was presenting a birthday peach.
Even Batman couldn't help the sudden contraction of his pupils.
It was a massive head, covered in long, dark fur matted wet with blood. The bulging green eyeballs were locked on him in a dead stare.
But none of that was the important part. The crucial thing was that this monster's jackal-like sharp face was twisted into an extremely exaggerated expression.
An expression that shouldn't exist on a monster's face—a smile.
............
"He left?" Damian walked over to Su Ming with no expression on his face, one arm clutched to his chest.
Su Ming squatted down to look him over, then pulled some bandages from his pack and wrapped Da Mi's wound. It was, of course, Deathstroke's "Battlefield First Aid" technique—that is, blindly wrapping up any place that was bleeding until it stopped.
"He shouldn't have left."
Damian looked toward the doorway, but there was only the damp night breeze and a sheet of darkness beyond it. He flexed his arm a little.
"Maybe he shouldn't have come."
"Gotham is his, but now he has no choice but to leave."
"Yeah? Then can you explain to me…" Damian jerked his head in a signal, and Himeko kicked something round and bulky toward them. "What this is?"
It was another monster's head. Even severed from its body, the feral, hideous face still wore a huge grin, lips torn up to the ears at an unnatural angle.
Another smile.
Su Ming touched the Jester Badge on his chest; the bloodstains on it were still that vivid red. He looked around at the kids' eyes—every one of them was staring at him, trying to figure it out.
"That enemy Green Arrow had you chasing through the sewers for guerrilla fights? He's started reaching out again."
Deathstroke's brief explanation was enough to make all of them understand what was going on. Himeko immediately turned back to dig through the monster's gut for arrows, while Crush lowered her head to stare at her iron chain.
They remembered the might of Barbatos all too clearly—that power which had yanked at an entire Cosmos made everyone feel how tiny they really were.
The Dark God had been defeated, but the monster they'd assumed was merely one of his underlings was still alive—and, by the look of it, doing just fine.
Damian drew in a long breath and slowly let it out. He crouched down and lifted the oversized head in both hands; thick, stinking blood oozed between his fingers and dripped to the floor.
"He's like this?"
"Pretty close. Both monsters—only, he's another kind of Batman."
Su Ming lit a cigarette and answered Damian's question through the swirling smoke. The ember pulsed red, on and off, and no one spoke to break the heavy silence.