Batman Incident (VII)

Stark put his lightweight armor back on and stood shoulder to shoulder with Steve on the ground. Captain America held his shield and stared at the enormous monster before them. He swallowed and said, "Don’t tell me he was the one who attacked Stark Tower last time…"

Stark looked at the massive shadow ahead of them and swallowed as well. "I think… probably, maybe…"

He hesitated for a moment, then shouted, "Connors! Are you Connors?! Can you understand us now?!"

"Of course. You don’t need to shout so loudly. I’m not deaf." The giant Lizardman said, "I improved the lizard serum using cryogenic technology, extracting and modifying the parts that caused humans to turn into lizards. It gives me a larger body and greater strength. Most importantly, it lets me keep my sanity."

Stark rubbed his neck, sore from constantly looking up. "That improvement is really dramatic!"

Stark was right. Dr. Connors’s Lizardman form was now over ten meters tall, like a building. Aside from lizard scales covering his body, sharp spikes protruded from his joints, and his spine was lined with razor-sharp bone spurs. His huge vertical pupils looked cruel and cold-blooded.

"Wait, if you came here, what about the experiment?" Stark asked.

"I left it to Peter. I trust him." After Connors finished speaking, he sprinted and leaped onto the tallest piece of wreckage left after the Brooklyn Bridge collapsed. Then he swung his tail viciously, sending several bats flying.

Connors had indeed handed the remaining research over to Peter, but Peter was clearly not doing too well. He said, "Wait! Doctor! You have to wear a lab coat before entering the laboratory… Hey! Don’t touch that test tube! You can’t pour directly from the test tube…"

Schiller ignored him completely. He picked up a test tube and held it in front of his eyes, giving it a shake. Peter hurried over, put on gloves, and carefully took the test tube from him. "Doctor! This violates laboratory regulations! We have to…"

"Fine. If I could avoid violating laboratory regulations, I wouldn’t have waited until Connors left to come in."

"But…"

"Connors is gone. Stop thinking about those serums. Let’s make something more interesting."

As he spoke, Peter saw Schiller pull out a stack of blueprints from somewhere. Peter took the blueprint Schiller handed him, glanced at it, and said, "What is this? A small-scale cryogenic generator? Isn’t this the cryogenic technology from before?"

"That’s right. I had someone design a small-range cryogenic device capable of freezing every target within its range."

"So it’s a weapon? What’s it for?"

Schiller sat down and tapped the tabletop, signaling Peter to sit as well. He said, "The biggest problem now is simply that ordinary people can’t deal with these monsters. If everyone had a way to effectively counter vampires, what do you think would happen?"

"Those vampires would be doomed." Peter answered without hesitation. "How many people are there in the Brooklyn District? Even excluding vulnerable groups and only counting those who work out and know how to fight, there have to be at least tens of thousands. Those bats only number a few thousand at most…"

Then Peter spoke as though he had suddenly realized something. "Right! This really is a good idea!"

"If we use ordinary guns, vampires’ Self-Healing ability is simply too strong. Even if we put several holes through their wings, it won’t matter. We need a weapon that can make them stop all activity immediately, giving ordinary people a chance to fight back," Schiller explained.

Peter continued along Schiller’s line of thought. "Freezing can do that. Once a shot hits and a bat is frozen into an ice block, it won’t be able to hurt anyone. And since it isn’t actually injured, it won’t trigger any Self-Healing ability. It just can’t move…"

Peter imagined the scene. Any able-bodied person only needed to throw a cryogenic generator at a bat diving toward them. As long as the throw was not too far off, they could basically disable a bat’s mobility.

There was another advantage. The bats vampires turned into were extremely large, often with wingspans of several meters. That had originally made them more dangerous to anyone fighting them, because a larger body meant greater strength. Ordinary bullets would leave them completely healed within seconds, while even silver bullets could only slightly disrupt their movements. In the gap between shots, the bats would pounce and knock people down.

But with a freezing device capable of immediately restraining them, their large size became a weakness. The bigger they were, the easier they were to hit. Once hit, whether a wing or another body part was frozen, they would definitely fall from the air at once and lose their ability to move.

Peter said, "The idea is good, but putting it into practice may be difficult." Looking at the blueprint, he continued, "This thing costs too much to make. It can’t be widely distributed."

Schiller spread his hands. "That’s your problem. I’m just an ordinary psychologist."

Peter stroked his chin. He could see that this equipment could drastically change the situation, but to him, it also looked like a rich man’s toy. A single unit cost hundreds of thousands of dollars and was disposable. Large-scale deployment would be nothing but burning money. Even if one could freeze several bats, it would still be a huge loss.

"Did Mr. Stark design this? Makes sense. He could afford to use it like this, but if we want to distribute the device widely at such a high cost, Director Nick will go crazy."

Peter propped his head up with one hand and studied the blueprint intently. At that moment, Venom spoke in his mind. "I have an idea."

Peter asked doubtfully, "You can understand mechanical blueprints?"

"Of course I can."

"Then what do you want to do?"

"Miniaturize it, make it individual-use, make it practical for regular use. We can…"

Peter sensed the brainwaves Venom transmitted to him. "Of course, it would be great if we could achieve those things, but compact weapons have many problems too…"

Peter continued, "To lower the cost, the ammunition it uses must be stored in liquid form. That’s the most suitable storage method for cryogenic technology."

"But converting liquid energy into solid bullets and firing them requires a certain amount of launch time. Those bats are very fast. That kind of delayed firing could mean the user gets attacked before the bullet is even launched."

"But this weapon can’t use solid bullets. That conversion process is necessary."

"Have you considered that the attack method doesn’t necessarily have to involve firing bullets?" Schiller said. "What about close-range spray?"

Peter froze for a moment. "That makes sense. If long-range attacks require preparation time, then we can add a close-range method to the weapon. Spray requires far less preparation time than solid bullets, and it can provide sustained output. It’s very suitable for close combat…"

Then Peter seemed like an entirely different person again. He stared at the blueprint with intense focus and said, "We can design two attack modes for this gun. One is delayed fire that launches ice spikes, and the other is close-range freezing spray. That would basically solve the problem of switching between long and short range."

Peter stood from his chair with the blueprint in hand and said, "We can consider both types of equipment. First, a freezing gun with two attack modes. Second, a large-area freezing device that can be thrown like a grenade. Ordinary personnel can be equipped only with freezing guns, while elite personnel at the center of the battlefield can carry some large-area freezing devices."

Schiller sat in his chair and applauded him. "You’re about to become the savior of this war, Peter."

"Fine, I’ll start by trying to make one. Jarvis, are you there?"

"Production Unit No. 2 is ready, Mr. Peter."

Peter rubbed his hands together and said excitedly, "This is the first time I’ve really made a weapon. I barely remembered the things Mr. Stark taught me before, but now they’re appearing in my mind again, and they’re so clear."

"That means you’re a genius," Schiller said. "By the way, what are you planning to call this set of weapons?"

"Hmm…" Peter hesitated. "Even though I refined the concept, I don’t think I was the one who originally came up with the idea. What were you planning to call it, Doctor?"

"How about Blizzard?"

"Blizzard? That does suit the large-area freezing device."

"Then that’s what we’ll call it. Go on. I’ll be waiting for your Blizzard Alpha test version."

After Peter left, Schiller connected a call to Nick. "Things are mostly ready on my end. How are things over there?"

"That group of moderates has been lobbying the congressmen nonstop. They even took it all the way to the Security Council, but Pierce has held off the pressure. I can only buy another two days at most. You’d better hurry."

After hanging up, Stark, wearing his armored suit, soon hurried into the laboratory. The moment he entered, he saw Schiller writing and drawing at the lab bench. Stark asked anxiously, "What the hell is going on? Did those congressmen really get persuaded by the vampires?"

He opened his faceplate and continued, "Director George told me someone had already contacted him and told him not to use large-scale firepower coverage anymore. Damn it, those bats are completely insane, and they’re telling us not to fight back?"

"How is the battlefield situation now?" Schiller asked.

"Not too optimistic." Stark gulped down a huge glass of water, then slammed the cup onto the table. It was obvious he was in a bad mood. "Lizard Doctor has been a huge help. He tore apart quite a few bats and held off most of the pressure on the main front. And Captain America too. I have to admit, Steve is damn good in a fight…"

"The two of us work well together and can absorb most of the firepower on the flanks. The S.H.I.E.L.D. agents are holding the other flank. They can still endure for now, but this can’t go on."

"Dawn is coming," Schiller said. "Hold out through one last wave of attacks. Once the sun rises, their offensive should weaken."

"But that Vampire Hunter called Blade told me that under the influence of the ritual, these mad bats can even withstand weak sunlight."

"That doesn’t mean their mobility won’t weaken. Once daytime comes, at least half the vampires will choose to hide away."

"Fine. Looks like what we need to deal with during the day won’t be on the battlefield. What the hell has Nick Fury been doing? How did he let those vampires gain the advantage in public opinion?"

Without looking up from his writing, Schiller said, "You need to understand that they have extremely close ties to human society. Quite a few scholars, professors, and prominent figures are among them. This time, the stance we took was too hard-line. Many of them have joined together, trying to influence our decisions from within."

Stark sighed. "A lot of police officers have been injured, and there have been even more civilian casualties. Thankfully, the decisive battle is near the bridge rather than in a residential area. Otherwise, I don’t even want to imagine how terrible the losses would be. Those monsters should go to Hell!"

"Your battle is temporarily over, but another war is waiting for you."

"What do you mean?"

"This full-scale vampire attack has indeed been troublesome. Some of them believed that vague prophecy and came to New York looking to cause trouble."

"We resolved this problem, but what if another prophecy comes next time? This time it’s New York. Next time, Los Angeles? Or San Francisco? This time, we lost a bridge and suffered hundreds or thousands of casualties. What about next time? Which bridge will be lost then? Which tower?"

"I know that perfectly well." Stark tapped the table with his metal-covered gauntlet. "The Security Council and Congress do nothing. If another disaster happens next time, we’ll have to rush in again, then stand there helplessly watching the casualty numbers rise. I don’t want that to happen more than anyone."

"So we need to solve the problem at its root."

Stark narrowed his eyes. He had seen Schiller sitting there and writing something the entire time. "Aren’t you a little too calm? Why does this sudden invasion seem like it didn’t surprise you at all?"

"Good question, but it isn’t important." Schiller organized the papers in his hands, laid them neatly on the table, and handed them to Stark.

Stark gave him a suspicious look and awkwardly accepted the documents. When he saw the title on the first page, he read it aloud involuntarily. "Analysis Report on the Medicinal Value of Vampires… Medicinal value????"