Chapter 30: The Price of Knowledge
The vault erupted in chaos. Automated turrets descended from the ceiling, their barrels glowing with charged energy. Reinforced security drones activated, their cold mechanical eyes locking onto the intruders.
Batman moved first, a smoke pellet bursting against the ground, cloaking them in darkness. "Nightwing, take the east side. Ethan, you're with me. We end this quickly."
Ethan barely had time to nod before a turret fired, forcing him to roll behind a server bank. His fusion ability flared to life as he grabbed a fallen guard's shock baton, pressing it against the reinforced steel floor. Blue energy arced between them as the molecules twisted and reshaped, transforming the baton into a modified pulse gauntlet.
"Let's see how well these tin cans handle a little fusion magic," he muttered before launching himself at the nearest drone.
The gauntlet hummed as he drove it into the machine's chest, sending a pulse of electromagnetic energy through its frame. The drone convulsed before collapsing in a heap of sparking metal.
Nightwing flipped over another, twin escrima sticks cracking against its sensors, before he spun and kicked it into a nearby turret's line of fire. "We've got about sixty seconds before Lex sends the big guns. Oracle, any way to disable these from the inside?"
"Negative," Oracle's voice came through the comms. "Luthor's got the system on a closed loop. You're going to have to fight your way out."
Ethan scowled. "Of course we do."
Batman took down two more drones with precise explosive batarangs before moving toward the vault's central console. "Then we make sure this isn't for nothing. Keep them off me while I extract the rest of the data."
Ethan turned just as another turret swiveled toward him. Thinking fast, he fused his pulse gauntlet with a chunk of metal debris, the two melding into a makeshift energy shield just as the turret fired. The blast deflected harmlessly, giving him just enough time to charge forward and take it down with a heavy punch.
"Five more incoming," Nightwing warned, dodging a barrage of gunfire. "And I'm pretty sure that's an armored mech in the back."
Ethan groaned. "Luthor really doesn't do things halfway, huh?"
A deep mechanical voice echoed through the vault. "Intruders identified. Engaging countermeasures."
A massive mechanized suit stepped into view, its LexCorp insignia gleaming under the flickering emergency lights. It was twice the size of a normal human, with reinforced plating and a shoulder-mounted plasma cannon.
Batman barely glanced up. "New plan. We leave. Now."
Ethan grinned. "Oh, and here I was just getting started."
**To be continued…**