Adrian stared at the man standing opposite him, his gaze sharp and calculating. The moment he saw him, all the information he had gathered before surfaced in his mind.
Victor Stone.
Adrian had sent people to track him down days ago, but the search had turned up nothing. He had not expected him to appear here, much less stand on Batman's side.
Without hesitation, Adrian attacked.
A burst of Heat Vision shot from his eyes.
Zap!
The beam struck Victor instantly, sending him flying backward.
Bang!
The mechanical plating near Victor's left chest was heavily damaged, sparks flashing wildly as the impact tore into him. Pain surged through his system, but the defiance in his eyes only intensified. Ignoring the damage, he forced himself back to his feet and raised his right hand.
A sonic cannon extended from his arm.
This weapon had helped him take down powerful enemies before. It was the reason he had the confidence to stand here now.
After the accident at the Red Room Laboratory, Victor had hidden away in a friend's house, cut off from the world. He had not known how much everything had changed until he finally returned to the football field where he once thrived.
That was where he met Batman.
Back then, he had been lost, unable to accept what he had become. No longer a rising football star, no longer even fully human. Just something in between.
Batman had not offered him wealth or technology, but he gave him something more important. Direction.
That was why Victor stood here now.
Even if the man before him felt like a god.
Damn it... I'm not weak anymore!
Even if I'm not a quarterback, I can still take you down!
With a roar, Victor fired the sonic cannon.
But before the attack could land, Adrian moved.
In an instant, he appeared right in front of him.
Victor's eyes widened.
Adrian grabbed him by the throat and hurled him backward.
Thud!
Victor's body slammed hard against the ground. His cannon discharged wildly, sending white noise waves shooting into the sky.
Boom!
The invisible shockwaves rippled through the air, distorting everything in their path.
Victor staggered, forced back half a step by the recoil. Pain coursed through him as his systems struggled to stabilize.
"Shit!"
Adrian walked toward him calmly, his expression cold as he looked down at the injured cyborg.
"Are you Cyborg?"
Victor pushed himself up, meeting Adrian's gaze without backing down.
"I am."
"My target is Batman," Adrian said flatly. "Hand him over, or I keep fighting."
Victor clenched his jaw.
"Then we keep fighting."
Adrian shook his head slightly.
"What a waste."
Victor frowned. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"It means," Adrian replied, his voice steady, "someone useful like you is about to die with him."
Before Victor could react, Adrian struck.
His fist shot forward, aimed directly at Victor's head.
Victor raised his arm to block.
It didn't matter.
The punch tore straight through his mechanical arm.
Metal shattered.
Adrian grabbed the broken limb and ripped it off completely.
Victor screamed as sparks erupted, wires snapping and falling to the ground in a shower of debris.
Before he could recover, Adrian's eyes glowed again.
A second blast of Heat Vision pierced through Victor's chest.
Boom!
The force sent him crashing through a nearby wall, his body slamming deep into the structure behind it.
Warning signals flooded his mind.
Critical damage.
Systems failing.
Victor struggled to move, his thoughts racing.
This guy… he's insane.
His body, built of advanced alloy, had barely slowed Adrian down. If anything, it had been meaningless.
Calm down.
He forced himself to think.
Back when he played football, he never relied on brute strength alone. Strategy was what made him dangerous.
Think. Adapt. Survive.
Even as he accessed the internet through his internal systems, searching for anything that could help, Adrian appeared again.
Too fast.
Before Victor could react, Adrian grabbed him and lifted him off the ground.
"I know there's something inside you," Adrian said, his eyes narrowing. "I won't kill you. Not yet."
Victor's breathing became uneven, tension creeping into his voice.
"You won't make me surrender."
Adrian said nothing.
Victor clenched his fists.
If he stayed here, he would die.
There was only one option left.
A power he barely understood.
The Boom Tube.
He had triggered it once before by accident, opening a passage to somewhere far beyond. A tunnel that connected distant points in space.
Unstable. Dangerous.
But right now, it was his only chance.
With a roar, Victor pushed past his limits.
Energy erupted from his body.
A blinding white light burst outward, far surpassing anything he had produced before. The sheer force of it sent shockwaves rippling in every direction.
Even Adrian was forced to step back.
So this is the Mother Box…
Adrian narrowed his eyes, watching carefully.
A portal tore open behind Victor.
Without hesitation, Victor grabbed Batman's barely conscious body and leapt into the Boom Tube.
Boom!
The portal snapped shut.
A violent surge of energy exploded outward, collapsing the entire first floor of the building. Concrete and steel disintegrated into fragments, then into dust, vanishing under the force.
When the dust settled, Adrian stood at the edge of the destruction, his expression unreadable.
He knew what that was.
A Boom Tube. A teleportation pathway created through Mother Box technology.
Victor had one embedded inside him.
Adrian slowly clenched his fists.
"A Mother Box…"
Interest flickered in his eyes.
That kind of power was not something he could ignore.
As for Batman…
Adrian exhaled quietly.
He was as good as dead anyway.
Meanwhile, far from the battlefield, at Wayne Manor, a different operation was underway.
Government forces had surrounded the estate.
Dozens of armed officers moved in, sweeping through the property under strict orders to apprehend Bruce Wayne and his butler, Alfred Pennyworth.
None of them knew Bruce Wayne was Batman.
To them, this was just another high-profile raid.
The manor was silent.
Too silent.
The night air hung heavy as the officers entered, their footsteps echoing through the vast halls. Not even the sound of insects could be heard outside.
They searched room after room.
Nothing.
No staff. No хозя.
It was as if the place had been abandoned.
The captain stepped into the living room, his eyes narrowing as he noticed a cup of tea on the table.
Still warm.
"They haven't gone far," he said firmly. "Search the surrounding area immediately."
"Yes, sir!"
The officers spread out quickly, combing through every inch of the estate.
It wasn't long before one of them made a discovery.
A hidden entrance.
A secret passage leading underground.