Batman Incident (IV)

In midair, quite a few bats circled around the bud-shaped UV emitters. The machine gunners and snipers of the ground forces were creating a ring of fire, preventing the bats from flying out of the emitters’ effective range.

Spider-Man had discovered a new use for Venom. After the devilish training from Iron Man and Batman, the Symbiote had adapted very quickly to Spider-Man’s wild and imaginative combat methods.

Spider-Man first used Venom’s Slime to weave a huge web. Then, like a real spider, he leaped high from a bridge pillar and threw the net out. Each cast caught more than a dozen bats. He then tossed them into the UV emitters’ range. Before long, he had successfully scooped up over a hundred bats.

Natasha watched as more and more bats gathered around the UV emitters, but she still frowned and said, "No, that’s not enough. We need to wipe out more than a third of their active forces in one go. Otherwise, the situation ahead will still be very difficult."

Humans had already been at a disadvantage against superhuman creatures, let alone when their numbers were so great—nearly equal to humanity’s. The terrain was also unfavorable for human weapons. Heavy firepower such as missiles simply could not be used; the Brooklyn Bridge could not withstand violent explosions.

Quake, Daisy, shouted, "Hurry up! My frequency is gradually weakening. The distance is just too far. I can only maintain control for another two minutes at most!"

Without another word, Natasha put away her radio, walked straight into the armed helicopter’s cockpit, yanked the pilot up, and sat down in his seat herself. She shouted, "Everyone! Prepare to parachute out!"

Then, while controlling the helicopter, she took out her radio and said, "All members of Team Two, attention! Prepare to disengage! Pilots, follow my flight path. Gunners, keep the fire coming. We’ll force that large group on the east side over there!!"

Hawkeye Clint also shouted into his radio, "No!!! That’s too dangerous! Stark’s UV emitters are extremely powerful. You can’t get too close, or you’ll melt instantly just like those bats!!"

Natasha fully displayed her Russian combat style. She directly cut off the radio, ignored Hawkeye’s objections, and yanked the control stick down hard. The armed helicopter charged straight toward the swarm of bats.

The ordinary crew had already parachuted out, leaving only Natasha and the machine gunner behind. The pilot of Helicopter Two gritted his teeth and followed. Their helicopter’s machine gunner had already been killed. Kreet muttered a curse, then walked to the machine gun position himself and prepared to provide fire support.

The two remaining armed helicopters flew toward the huge cluster of bats in the east. The machine gun operated by Hawkeye was responsible for the main firepower, while Natasha’s helicopter provided tactical cover.

Helicopter Two also had Quake, their ultimate weapon. Although she needed to devote part of her attention to controlling the UV emitters, she could still use shockwaves to drive batch after batch of bats toward their destination.

The instant those dozens of bats entered the emitters’ range, Natasha roared into the radio, "Daisy! Do it!"

Quake gritted her teeth. Her hair whipped wildly in the wind from the helicopter rotors as she extended one hand. Hawkeye said, "Wait! We need to prepare to disengage first. Do you want to get blown to death up here?!"

"No! Someone has to maintain the fire output. Helicopter Two retreats first. I’ll follow later!"

"Natasha! Are you crazy? Why are you still flying forward?!!" Hawkeye leaned out and saw Natasha’s helicopter continuing forward, forcing back a swarm of bats trying to escape.

Daisy said, "Hurry! I can’t hold on much longer!"

"Withdraw immediately!" Natasha’s voice sounded extremely calm. Hawkeye had no idea where she got such confidence, but he could only grit his teeth, equip his grappling claw and parachute, and jump from the helicopter with Daisy. At the very instant she jumped, Daisy clenched her fist hard.

In an instant, the two UV emitters suspended in the air exploded violently, like a sun blazing to life above the Brooklyn Bridge.

The violent explosion was accompanied by expanding high-intensity ultraviolet light. In an instant, every bat within the emitters’ range turned directly to ash.

Beside the giant sun, a tiny black silhouette fell. Immediately afterward, another silhouette swung over on webbing and caught her. When Spider-Man set Natasha down atop a bridge pier on the Brooklyn Bridge, Venom said in his mind, "She’s got a great figure, doesn’t she?"

Peter’s face instantly turned red. Fortunately, he was wearing a mask. Natasha dusted herself off and turned around to inspect her results.

This tactical operation had indeed been astonishingly effective. A third of the bats that had originally circled above the Brooklyn Bridge had been caught in the explosion, and most of them had lost their ability to fight.

More importantly, vampires were also highly intelligent humanoid creatures. As long as they retained humanity, they would know fear.

Watching their companions vanish into ashes in an instant put enormous psychological pressure on them. It was already visible to the naked eye that many bats were no longer circling in the air. Instead, they transformed into human form and tried to flee through the alleys.

At this moment, one advantage of the Brooklyn Bridge area became apparent. Human forces blocked both ends of the bridge. Any bat that wanted to fly out had to endure a barrage of machine-gun rounds and Sniper Bullets. If they did not fly out and wanted to avoid being shot, they could only transform into human form, making themselves smaller and harder to hit.

But if they transformed into human form within the bridge’s confines, they would either land on the bridge deck or fall into the river. Neither was a good option.

If they landed on the bridge, they would immediately be baptized by a hail of bullets. If they landed in the river, vampires had little mobility in water and were practically living targets.

Aside from a few high-level vampires skilled in magic, most ordinary vampires could only flee blindly beneath the bridge.

Just as Natasha was preparing to issue the next combat plan, a violent tearing sound cut through the air. She looked up and saw several dark shapes rapidly approaching from the distant sky. Natasha said, "The fighter formation is entering the battlefield!"

Armed helicopters could be used in combat, but they were ultimately no match for professional fighter jets. Twelve fighters shrieked across the horizon, and in almost a single pass, they shot down more than a dozen large bats.

Low-altitude combat was not a fighter jet’s specialty, but fighter pilots possessed aerial combat skills far superior to those bats that could only fly around wildly.

They formed teams of three and carried out swift tactical maneuvers, often spinning the bats around in circles. With the airborne bats distracted, they no longer had time to dive at the ground. The ground situation immediately eased tremendously.

The ground forces mainly had to deal with humanoid high-level vampires. They could use all sorts of magic. For instance, claws that suddenly emerged from black mist nearly struck even Spider-Man several times. Once ordinary people were ambushed, their chances of survival were extremely slim.

As a result, the ground forces were taking casualties far too quickly, while the replacement personnel needed time to reorganize their firepower.

On the bridge deck, Steve raised his shield. The sound of claws scraping across metal made everyone’s scalp prickle. Steve said, "This won’t work! Spider-Man, are you there? We need to find a way. We can’t let them use magic so freely. It’s too harmful to ordinary people!"

Spider-Man’s voice came through the earpiece. "Destroy the bridge."

"What did you say?" Steve said incredulously. "Spider-Man? Hey? Are you okay?"

"I said we need to destroy the bridge so they have nowhere to stand."

Peter’s voice was extremely calm, even somewhat low. It did not sound much like him, but Steve was drawn in by that voice. Instead of immediately objecting, he listened as Peter continued.

"I just observed that when they’re in bat form and circling in the air, they can’t use that claw magic. They have to transform into human form to use magic."

"And when they transform into human form, they need somewhere to stand."

"The bridge deck is too open right now. They can use magic without restraint. But once the bridge is destroyed, leaving no flat deck behind—only uneven wreckage—humans can use the debris as cover."

"Not only can we avoid magical ambushes, but the special operations teams have already entered the battlefield. This is their specialty."

Steve opened his mouth and took a deep breath. He said, "Peter, I never expected… are you really Peter?"

Steve’s surprise was understandable. In his previous conversations with Peter, he had noticed that because Peter was young and inexperienced, some of the tactical plans he came up with tended to be rather small-scale.

That was normal. After all, one could not expect a high school student who had seen nothing beyond street brawls to come up with any grand plans. But this time, Steve was truly stunned. The moment Peter spoke, he proposed an exceptionally bold plan.

Peter’s voice remained calm. His mind was now filled with every possible outcome of this tactic. He said, "This is the only chance. The bats in the air are distracted by the fighter formation and won’t interfere with us. And the explosion from the UV emitters just now has already destroyed half of the bridge pier to the southeast."

"We only need to destroy the bridge pier to the southwest as well. Then the entire bridge will begin collapsing from the south. I estimate that around half of the bridge will completely collapse, giving the special operations teams enormous room to operate."

Steve stood behind a truck and involuntarily continued, "That’s right. The explosion just now drove many bats beneath the bridge. Once it collapses, it can crush a lot of them to death."

He stood at the edge of the bridge and looked down. Beneath it were glowing red eyes everywhere, an extremely unsettling sight. Steve said, "Don’t they like hiding under the bridge deck? Then we’ll lure more bats down there. The instant the bridge collapses, even if they aren’t crushed to death, they’ll have to fly out together and take bullets."

After making the battle plan, Steve and Peter began coordinating their actions. They got some explosives from Police Department Director George. After a brief discussion with George, Director George said that the ground police forces would cooperate with the operation at any time.

With that promise, Spider-Man contacted Natasha again. Natasha also strongly approved of their rather bold plan. She said, "Those fussy old legislators only think about the cost of repairing the bridge. Why don’t they consider that every bullet being fired right now is silver? The cost of this brief barrage is enough to build two bridges."

"Besides, your plan is too conservative." The female agent from the Soviet Union spoke with great conviction. "The bigger the yield, the greater the effect! Your efficiency at hauling explosives by hand is far too low!"

"Listen, I just contacted Stark. The reason he hasn’t arrived yet is that he’s adjusting his armor. In a moment, around five remotely controlled suits of armor will join the battlefield. I’ll take two of them."

"You only need to load them with enough explosives, then launch them directly into a suicide charge. That won’t just blow down the bridge—the violent explosion will also harvest a wave of bats that fail to escape in time."

Steve and Peter both swallowed. Steve said, "Actually, we were only planning to collapse half the bridge, so that we could…"

"Can you Americans be a little fucking braver?!" the female agent roared. "If the Soviet Union had commanders like you, those German bastards would have stormed into Moscow long ago!!!"

"Listen to me! Prepare immediately!! Completely destroy the Brooklyn Bridge!!!"