R Batman Incident (VI)

Above the Brooklyn Bridge, Rhodey, clad in armor, streaked over the heads of the ground forces. Then he pinned a bat trying to launch a sneak attack to the ground and hammered it twice.

After receiving Stark’s signal from the sky, Director George raised One Hand and shouted into the comms device, "Attention, everyone! Prepare to begin suppressive fire! Force them beneath the bridge!"

Captain America Steve swung his shield, knocking back the two humanoid vampires beside him. Then he pretended to be overwhelmed, grabbed his shield, and jumped off the bridge. Naturally, the two vampires followed without a second thought.

To them, the guy with the shield was only a little stronger than an ordinary person. If that shield had not been so hard, they would have broken through Steve’s defenses long ago.

Seeing victory within their grasp, the two vampires pursued Steve relentlessly, completely failing to notice several strange-looking suits of armor charging toward the bridge piers above them.

Natasha stood atop a truck behind the firing line. Watching Stark’s self-destructing armors finish their preparations, she said, "Listen, the demolition sequence goes like this: Pier One is severely damaged, so we can leave it alone for now. The aftershock from the later explosions will destroy it anyway. We need to blow up the strongest pier first. And it has to be done in one go—we can’t give those bats under the bridge time to react…"

From the sky, Stark said, "Armors Four and Five are in position. Prepare to begin demolition. Jarvis, calculate the blast radius…"

"Blast radius confirmed. All friendly forces have withdrawn. Calculating flight trajectories… Prepare for demolition… Three… two… one…"

Stark hovered above the Brooklyn Bridge, watching several streaks of light shoot toward the underside of the bridge. The instant they struck the piers, flames erupted. The thunderous explosions battered everyone’s eardrums, blasting broken bricks hundreds of meters into the air. The entire bridge collapsed with a roar, and the rising smoke and dust obscured the whole battlefield.

Jarvis’s voice sounded through every radio. "Demolition successfully completed. The expected results have been achieved. You may proceed with the next phase of operations…"

"How many enemies were eliminated?" Stark asked.

"Based on biological scans from nearby armors, the bridge collapse caused the deaths of 132 vampires. Approximately 120 vampires remain severely injured and are currently recovering…"

Before Jarvis could finish, Natasha shouted, "Mark their locations! Send them to the night-vision goggles! Kill those heavily injured vampires immediately!"

Stark clicked his tongue in the sky. He had just seen a bat with both wings pierced through struggle and flap twice before bursting out from beneath two huge rocks pinning it down. In only a few minutes, it was already flying crookedly again.

"This Self-Healing ability is a real nightmare. I hope Connors gets there soon. At this rate, this will never end," Stark said.

Yet the situation on the battlefield was still steadily improving. With fighter squadrons coordinating with ground special forces, heavy firepower providing cover, and Stark’s armor units cutting through their ranks, the vampires’ formation had been badly shattered. The bridge explosion had wiped out most of their effective forces, leaving only a few high-level vampires stubbornly resisting.

The strategic counteroffensive began in full. The human defensive line continued advancing, machine-gun fire flashed endlessly, grenades exploded one after another, and sharp screams occasionally rose from the ground.

Blade held an assault rifle and emptied a burst into a high-level vampire’s head, blowing it apart. He took a hard drag from his cigarette, tossed the butt under his foot, and ground it out. "Looks like we won’t even need three days. We can finish them tonight…"

The moment he finished speaking, he sensed something was wrong. A red light suddenly lit up atop a building in the Brooklyn District.

Then the red light began to take on a tangible form, slowly shaping itself into the image of a bat.

Stark saw it too. Frowning, he said, "What is that? Who’s putting on a light show in the middle of a battlefield?"

Blade cursed under his breath, grabbed his radio, and shouted, "They’re performing that mysterious ritual!! Stop them, now!!!"

Before he could finish, Captain America launched into a sonic-speed sprint, followed by a tremendous leap that carried him straight onto the rooftop. But he was too late. Steve saw a massive, mysterious magic array on the roof, but there was no one there.

"How do I destroy this thing?" Steve asked.

Before he could finish speaking, screams erupted across the battlefield. Every vampire touched by the red bat’s light let out an inhuman shriek, their faces twisting grotesquely as they began transforming into bats.

The bats they transformed into this time were nothing like the original giant bats. Each had a wingspan exceeding ten meters, spikes growing from the bones of their wings, ever-lengthening fangs, and what had once been ordinary bat faces turning into hideous, terrifying monstrosities.

More importantly, the red light in their eyes grew brighter and brighter. Then they collectively lost their minds and began attacking everyone around them indiscriminately.

The high-level vampires were not spared either. However, the bat monsters they became were surrounded by thick black mist. Several police officers inhaled just a little of it and immediately clutched their throats as they collapsed.

"Quick! Put on gas masks! Hurry!" Director George shouted.

But it was already too late. The officers who had inhaled the black mist also began struggling, wings sprouting from their backs as they turned into crazed bat monsters.

The vampires’ attacks had been infectious before as well, but the transformation had been relatively slow. Once an infection was discovered, the personnel would immediately be pulled off the battlefield for treatment.

But the officers who inhaled the black mist turned into bat monsters almost instantly, without even a chance of receiving treatment. Director George’s eyes reddened as he roared in fury, "Open fire!! Attack indiscriminately!! Blow these monsters apart!!!"

Iron Man accelerated at full speed, grabbed a bat monster, and dove downward. Then he fired a blast directly into the bat’s head. Yet rather than stop struggling, the monster only grew more and more frenzied.

"They’re being controlled by something!" Stark said. "Damn it! Even headshots aren’t fatal?"

Blade’s voice came through the radio. "That is the power of immortality. Burn them with fire! Reduce them completely to ashes! That’s the only way to kill them! Hurry! Prepare flamethrowers!"

But no one had anticipated this shift in the situation. No combat unit had equipped unconventional weapons like flamethrowers.

The mutated bats’ combat capabilities had increased enormously. Blowing off their heads or piercing their hearts could not kill them. They had grown larger, become stronger, and turned utterly insane. They knew no fear and only attacked.

In an instant, the battle turned against them again. Humanity was forced back step by step. Even Stark was left scrambling beneath the siege of those crazed bat monsters.

Finally, after being slammed by another bat, Stark said angrily, "Jarvis! Connect me to my lab in Stark Tower!"

A familiar voice answered from the other end of the line. Schiller said, "I’m assisting Connors with research. What is it?"

"Help me manually disable the highest-level security protocol," Stark said in a low voice.

"Are you sure? Didn’t you say you would only do that when the battle reached a desperate point?"

"It already is desperate." Stark watched as more and more humans were transformed into bat monsters. The swarms of monsters almost blocked out all the moonlight. "Hurry! This is no time to worry about costs!"

Holding the phone, Schiller walked to a hatch in the laboratory. He entered a string of passwords Stark had given him. Beyond the hatch was nothing but a lever. Schiller first pressed his hand against the screen, waited for two beeps, then pulled the lever down in one sharp motion.

Immediately afterward, a beacon-like light began rotating atop Stark Tower. A weapons bay on the top floor opened, and dozens of armors carrying heavy weapons flew out.

More importantly, two enormous steel monstrosities stepped out as well. One resembled the one Obadiah had once piloted, while the other was somewhat similar to General Johnson’s tentacled steel monster, though clearly different—it had obviously been modified.

The two massive steel monsters stepped out, leaped from the roof of Stark Tower to another rooftop, and then rushed toward the battlefield at top speed.

With the addition of the two giant armors, the brutal battle eased somewhat.

These steel monsters were large enough to handle both the ground and the air. They could seize a bat and rip it to pieces, and the steel monster once piloted by Obadiah came equipped with a flamethrower, allowing it to execute quite a few crazed bats.

Yet just as the situation began to improve, even more vampires joined the battle. It seemed their commander had deliberately chosen this moment. The instant those vampires charged onto the battlefield, they were bathed in the red light and transformed into even more crazed bats.

Now even Iron Man and his armor units had no choice but to retreat temporarily and avoid their edge. Connors received a call from Stark, who said, "Connors, when is your support coming? We can barely hold on over here!"

Peter was holding a test tube. "Doctor, I think we’re almost there. This serum should be able to temporarily disable the vampires’ Self-Healing ability."

"That’s right, but the condition is that we have to inflict effective damage on them before that effect wears off. In other words, we have to retake our positions first."

Peter looked up at Connors and saw him take out an injection. "Wait! Doctor… What is that? That can’t be…"

On the battlefield, Stark dove down and tore apart a bat’s wing. Blood splattered across his armor, and he cursed, "Damn it! That’s disgusting!"

Before he could finish, the bat’s wing actually began growing back.

Steve was nearly buried beneath a pile of bats. Bracing himself with difficulty behind his shield, he struck one bat and sent it flying far away, but before long, it flew back.

Hawkeye hid behind a piece of bridge wreckage, drawing and firing arrows at rapid speed. His arm was beginning to tremble. Beside him, Quake hammered the ground with her hands, blasting away bats attempting sneak attacks, while Natasha used binoculars from the rear to provide tactical support.

"Iron Man! Fall back! They—"

Before Natasha could finish shouting, Stark was tackled by a larger bat. Its fangs sank into the left arm of his armor, sparks bursting out as Stark roared, "Activate the electric shock!"

A powerful current erupted, paralyzing the bat. Stark broke free, but before his armor could take flight, the bat came after him again.

The airflow generated by its wings made Stark’s armor unstable. Just as he was about to be knocked down again, Steve swung his shield into one of the bat’s wings. The bat tilted sideways, and Stark seized the chance to climb higher. "Thanks!"

"Behind you!" Steve shouted.

Stark had barely turned his head when a violent gust swept toward him. Clearly, a bat had been lying in ambush nearby for some time. Stark tried to evade, but it was too late. The bat was too close. "Initiate the disengagement procedure! Then self-destruct the armor!"

"If you disengage now, the altitude is too high. Your life will be in danger," Jarvis said.

Stark caught sight of Steve on the ground from the corner of his eye. "Initiate disengagement! Immediately!"

A figure was ejected from the armor. Then the armor erupted with intense electric light before exploding. Both bats were blasted away, and one was burned directly into charcoal.

Steve leaped up, caught Stark, and set him down on the ground. Before Stark could say anything else, both of them felt a huge shadow fall over their heads.

They turned around, and Stark cursed, "Holy shit, what is that?!"

Behind them, a gigantic green monster more than ten meters tall stomped the bat that had escaped into a pulp. The mountain-sized lizard monster bent down, its enormous vertical pupils fixed on Stark. Flicking its tongue, it said, "Your support has arrived."