Batman Incident (10)

"All right, now let’s go over our objective again." Peter crouched on the rooftop of a building, with Pikachu perched on his shoulder, his ears blown wildly about by the wind sweeping across the roof.

"After preliminary reconnaissance, we’ve confirmed that the bats’ commander should be somewhere underground in this block."

"It’s daytime now. They must be hiding in some room and won’t dare come out. We need to work with that Vampire Hunter called Daywalker and, ideally, take out their command post in one stroke."

Peter kept his eyes fixed on the street below the building. There was a bar there, seemingly closed during the day, but there was more to it than met the eye.

This was a contact point for a group of high-ranking vampires. After the invasion began, it had been chosen as the vampire commander’s base.

"In a moment, Daywalker will make some noise at the front entrance to draw their attention. I’ll rush in and take out the leader, while you find the right moment to use your ultimate move…"

"Don’t worry." Pikachu patted his chest and said, "The energy stored in my body is already enough for one Thunderbolt. But I’ll only get one chance. You have to use your positioning to force them to gather together so we can maximize the damage."

Peter shot a strand of web onto the wall of the building across the street and said as he swung down, "Watch me."

At that moment, a car in front of the bar suddenly exploded. Fragments of wreckage smashed through the bar’s windows. The commotion was considerable, and within two minutes, several figures rushed out of the bar.

But they did not dare show themselves in the street. Instead, they pressed themselves against the bar’s outer wall and hid in the building’s shadow. Blade crouched behind a truck not far down the street, observing the situation as he muttered, "These rats are still as cowardly as ever, terrified of catching even a little sunlight."

With that, he carried a Submachine Gun straight out and unleashed a burst of fire at them. Several vampires were thrown into a panic by the sudden attack and hurried back into the bar, but they quickly recovered. With a teleport, they appeared in the shadows behind Blade.

Blade was all too familiar with their tricks, since he was half-vampire himself. He swung the machete in his other hand and slashed one vampire across the arm.

This vampire apparently was not a New York native and had never expected Blade’s fighting style. After being struck, he screamed and transformed into a bat, trying to fly away.

But that was exactly what Blade wanted. He swung his machete, tossed aside the machine gun, and swiftly drew a rather unusual pistol from his waist. A blue ice spike shot from the muzzle and struck one of the bat’s wings, instantly freezing the entire bat into a huge block of ice.

Seeing this, the other vampires hurried over to support him, completely failing to notice that two figures had already sneaked in through the bar’s back door.

Spider-Man had originally intended to smash through a window, but at Detective Pikachu’s suggestion, he chose to pick the lock instead. Without making nearly any noise, he and Pikachu appeared on the bar’s ground floor.

However, this floor was only a cover. Their real location was on the second basement level. Peter bent over and glanced down the stairs. "I just counted. There were usually five vampires patrolling here. Four of them went out just now, and the last one should be guarding the entrance to the second floor underground. We need to find a way to deal with him."

"Use the freeze gun." Pikachu jumped from Peter’s shoulder to the floor and took the freeze gun hanging from Peter’s waist. He said, "I’m small. If I move along their blind spots, he won’t notice me. I’ll go over and shoot him, freezing him. Before the ice block he’s trapped in hits the ground, you have to catch him. Don’t let it make any noise."

Spider-Man gave him an OK sign. Carrying the freeze gun, which was somewhat large for him, Pikachu slowly made his way down along the corner of the staircase.

Just as they had planned, the vampire guarding the doorway had fought all night and was now in bat form, hanging upside down from a beam as he rested.

Pikachu walked right up to him without being noticed. Feeling rather bored, Pikachu raised the gun and fired. As it turned out, Peter did not need to do anything at all. The freeze gun froze the bat directly onto the beam, so it did not fall and made no sound.

Peter crept downstairs. Crouching outside the door, he peered through the window in it and saw two figures inside. He had just been about to enter when he heard a fierce argument erupt from the room.

"You actually believed that nonsense from those humans? Why can’t you understand that it’s all lies they made up to divide us?"

"You’re the one who’s stubborn beyond reason! Don’t you know what’s spreading among them now? They say our blood contains something that can grant humans immortality. Do you know how dangerous that is?" a female voice came from the room.

"So what? Do these weak humans think they can hunt the great vampire race? What could they possibly use to do that? These fragile ants were meant to be food for superior lifeforms!"

"Deacon, your Pride truly astonishes me. Those weak creatures you keep talking about fought your elite troops on the bridge for an entire day and night!"

"Why are you still unwilling to admit it? This hasn’t been a few thousand years ago for a long time. Do you think humans are still monkeys fighting one another with clubs and stones?"

"They haven’t changed at all!" Deacon’s voice was filled with contempt. "The only difference is that their clubs and stones have become guns and cannons. This race is inherently flawed. They only know how to fight among themselves and have no idea what unity means. Their weapons will only be thrown at their own people’s heads!"

"Over the years, I’ve bought off many human politicians. Those people have no bottom line, not even loyalty to their own species. As long as they stand with us, we can destabilize the human situation. If we hold out until tonight, the entire Brooklyn District will be ours."

"This is the most populous district in all of New York. That means my subordinates and I will have endless food, and our power will reach its peak."

"Stop dreaming." The female voice said coldly, "Can’t you see it yet? Humanity has already decided to unite. Do you know why?"

"They say we carry factors that can extend their lifespans. Humans are a short-lived species. To live longer, they’ll stop at nothing! You have no idea how serious this is!"

The female voice seemed to lose her patience. "I represent the Elder Faction, and this is my final warning. If your madness brings destruction upon our entire species, then you will become our enemy as well."

"You weaklings without a shred of ambition!" Deacon said angrily. "We could have conquered this world! Made all humans our slaves! Why do you insist on merely occupying some corner and hiding yourselves away?"

"We do want to control human society, but so we can enjoy it better. Only they can create such a prosperous society. We only need to manipulate it from the shadows."

"And you, you idiot with nothing but war in your head! You’re about to ruin our plans! Do you have any idea how severely that ridiculous prophecy of yours has disrupted the elders’ next move?"

"We originally intended to unite during the next election and influence the outcome. To that end, we’ve won over many people, including professors from several East Coast universities, as well as many medical workers led by doctors from Presbyterian Hospital and financial professionals from Wall Street!"

"This force may not let us decide who becomes president, but it can at least control a state legislature!"

"That will be our stronghold. Elder Sebastian has already placed considerable influence in Hell’s Kitchen in the Brooklyn District. We will control human society from both the top and the bottom, but your idiotic plan exposed too many people too early! Whether you win or lose now, the Elder Council will not let you off!"

"What infiltration plan? That’s just an excuse for you to indulge yourselves." Deacon’s voice grew angrier and angrier. "Hundreds of years ago, our race was so glorious!"

"We could seize humans in the streets without restraint! We could dine wherever we pleased!"

"But ever since you worthless appeasers negotiated with humans, we’ve been forced to hide ourselves away. Some of the cowards among you even accepted that stale refrigerated blood. I refuse to endure it any longer!"

"The final battle is tonight. I will win! You have no idea how powerful the Bat God is!"

"I think you’ve truly gone mad. That mythology has scrambled your brain. Do you really believe some Bat God will come help you?"

"Heh." Deacon sneered. "If I didn’t have absolute confidence, how do you think I would dare launch this war despite the opposition of so many within our race?"

The certainty in his voice made the female vampire hesitate as well. She said, "I advise you not to entertain any delusions. Earth is not a place where just anyone dares to run wild. You have lived nowhere near as long as the elders. They once warned me to remain wary of all foreign faiths…"

"Their cowardly words will be carved on their tombstones," Deacon said at last.

"Are you really certain the Bat God’s power will descend?"

"Not only that, the Bat God will send down his most capable guardian to come here and help me personally, at the moment when the moonlight is strongest tonight. And those foolish humans do not know that the Bat God Guardian’s descent requires no ritual. Their tight defenses are completely useless!"

"We will share this world with Him!"

Peter broke out in a cold sweat outside the door. Holding Pikachu, he ran upstairs and quickly withdrew from the bar. Blade had already made short work of the vampires surrounding him. Seeing Peter run out, he said, "What happened? You took care of them that quickly?"

Peter looked Blade in the eyes. "What else do you know about the Bat God?"

"What is it?" Blade saw that Peter did not look well and asked.

"I just overheard the vampire leaders talking underground. One of them, the man leading this war, mentioned that the Bat God’s power would descend tonight when the moonlight was at its strongest."

Peter’s tone was extremely certain. Blade frowned. "That’s impossible. This prophecy and this so-called Bat God should have been fabricated by them."

Seeing Peter’s doubtful gaze, Blade said firmly, "You should know that I’m half-vampire too. The difference between me and them is that my mother was transformed by a vampire. But while growing up, I was involved with their race internally as well. The Bat God was only a belief that began spreading in the last few centuries."

"That started with a negotiation in K’un-Lun several hundred years ago."

Then Peter learned about the race’s unknown past from Blade.

Several hundred years ago, vampires fought a war with humans. But unlike this time, the humans who clashed with the vampires were superhuman humans, and the battlefield was on the eastern continent. Some fighting broke out in Europe as well, while the entire Americas alone remained untouched. That was why people here knew little about that war.

There was no need to dwell on the process. The radical vampires of that era were nearly wiped out by the superhuman humans. In the end, the immortal Count Dracula stepped forward and negotiated peace with humanity, with the talks held in K’un-Lun.

From then on, vampires continued to follow their policy of living in seclusion. In Asia and Europe, there were dedicated investigative organizations ensuring that vampires hidden within human society would not cause too much damage to society as a whole.

But ambitious people existed everywhere and emerged in every age. The newly born vampires were deeply dissatisfied with such humiliating terms, and Deacon was one of their leading figures.

Simply put, he had never been beaten badly enough, so he thought he was invincible.

Blade told Peter, "Belief in the Bat God appeared alongside the gradual growth of these newly born radical vampires. This faith was essentially fabricated to support their ideas of invasion. Before that, there had never been any such claim."

"If such a god truly existed, he could not possibly have appeared only a few hundred years ago and possessed such great power. Besides, I heard from some old Vampire Hunters that mysterious forces have always guarded Earth. Not just any creature dares call itself a god here."

In the end, Blade concluded, "I think they may have been deceived by some powerful superhuman creature. It may have called itself a god and shown them a few miracles. They foolishly agreed to summon it here. That’s extremely dangerous. They’re courting death."

"The question now is whether this god will really descend." Peter’s expression was grave. "Those mad bats will definitely launch their final assault once night falls. If some powerful creature descends then too, humanity will have no chance of stopping them. The losses will be devastating."

"Humanity has the determination to stop these monsters regardless of the cost, but what we need to do is minimize those losses as much as possible." Peter’s tone was firm. He continued, "I think we need to keep investigating."

"I plan to kill Deacon. As long as Deacon is dead, no one will preside over that summoning ritual, and the guy calling himself a god naturally won’t be able to descend," Blade said.

Spider-Man slipped back into that sharply focused tactical mindset. He stopped Blade and said, "No. Deacon isn’t the only radical. Leaving aside whether we can kill this vampire completely, even if we do kill him, his subordinates will do the same thing. According to you, there are quite a lot of them. We can’t kill them all before night arrives."

"From what I heard, that woman might be a representative of the moderates. I heard them mention a plan to secretly control humanity. What’s that about?"

"That’s normal." Blade curled his lip. "Vampires have never been creatures willing to live beneath others. They only chose to hide temporarily because they got beaten badly a few centuries ago and changed their method of invasion."

"Is the conflict between the radicals and moderates severe?"

"Of course. Just as you heard, the moderates planned to accumulate strength and gradually control human society from the shadows. But the chaos caused by the radicals again and again keeps ruining their plans. Humanity’s vigilance is growing stronger, endlessly slowing their progress toward their goal."