"Stop him!"
Scorpion Mike roared, slamming his foot on the accelerator. The pickup truck surged out of the underground parking lot with a thunderous growl.
This should have been an imposing sight, but compared to the Batmobile far down the street—its roar echoing like distant thunder—it was like a toddler standing at the feet of Mike Tyson, utterly outmatched.
"What the hell is that? Some new police vehicle? Or that vampire's ride?"
Scorpion Mike watched as the Batmobile closed in on him. A chill ran down his spine as he recalled the widespread legends about the vampire.
Fortunately, Kingpin's gang members were scattered all over the streets of Hell's Kitchen. They were driving their vehicles to block the police pursuit and help Walker escape.
Even though it wasn't a police car chasing them, these gang members still positioned their vehicles across the road, completely sealing off the path between the Batmobile and Scorpion Mike's pickup.
"Unless that thing can fly, there's no way it gets past all these cars."
Scorpion Mike let out a sigh of relief, cranking the steering wheel to veer the pickup in the opposite direction from the Batmobile.
He glanced in the rearview mirror and saw the Batmobile's silhouette growing smaller. It seemed genuinely blocked, with only its hazy crimson headlights visible, like the bloodthirsty eyes of a vampire locked onto its prey.
Just as Scorpion Mike thought he'd completely stopped the Batmobile, the crimson headlights in the rearview mirror suddenly shot skyward.
"...Am I seeing things? Why does it look like that thing's flying?"
Scorpion Mike frowned and stuck his head out the window to look back. What he saw defied belief.
Two steel cables fired from the front of the Batmobile, embedding firmly halfway up the buildings on either side of the street. Then, it leaped!
Using its own momentum and the pull of the grappling hooks, the several-ton Batmobile soared high into the air.
The two grappling hooks retracted swiftly, propelling the Batmobile forward a short distance through the sky... Then, another grappling hook shot diagonally downward from the airborne Batmobile, anchoring itself into the street pavement. It retracted at blinding speed, yanking the Batmobile into a rapid swoop and glide.
In the blink of an eye, the Batmobile cleared the horde of blocking vehicles. With a booming engine roar, its crimson headlights began closing in on Scorpion Mike's pickup once more.
"What the hell is that?!"
Seeing the Batmobile reappear in the rearview mirror after nearly vanishing, Scorpion Mike's mind went blank.
He'd sooner believe it was an airplane than a car.
"No, I need to think of something... I can't outrun it. I've got to find a way to lose it!"
Scorpion Mike shot a glance at Walker, whom he'd tossed into the truck bed. For a split second, he even considered ditching Walker to save his own skin.
But he didn't. Instead, he floored the accelerator, pushing the pickup to its max speed as he headed south toward West Fortieth Street in Hell's Kitchen.
The streets of Hell's Kitchen were straight and flat, offering no room to shake a pursuer, and the pickup's speed was no match for the Batmobile's.
Judging by the Batmobile's recent jump, simply blocking the street might stop the police, but it wouldn't slow that thing down at all.
Only West Fortieth Street—the nearest spot with a relatively complex overpass system—gave Scorpion Mike a shot at using his road knowledge to leave the Batmobile in the dust!
(The overpass near West Fortieth Street)
"Everyone, converge on West Fortieth Street! There's a car with crimson headlights and a giant bat emblem on the front chasing me! Shoot out its tires!"
Scorpion Mike snatched the walkie-talkie and barked into it, then barreled through the streets without a care, smashing the rearview mirrors off a row of parked cars and setting off their alarms in a chaotic symphony.
At the same time, inside the Batmobile, Scorpion Mike's voice came through crystal clear on the walkie-talkie. Batman, with the listening system engaged, pressed down on the accelerator, his face impassive.
Boom! Boom!
As Scorpion Mike issued orders to Kingpin's underlings, trucks, sedans, and vans all rushed toward West Fortieth Street. At the same time, click! The sound of bullets being chambered rang out inside each vehicle.
Screech!
Scorpion Mike hit the brakes hard and yanked the steering wheel, swinging the pickup from the Hell's Kitchen streets onto the West Fortieth Street overpass.
Behind him, a van was the first to swerve into position, but its driver must have been a rookie—the whole thing flipped over, blocking the overpass entrance.
More vehicles piled in behind the van, haphazardly clogging the road for over fifty meters.
"I'll be damned if you can fly now!"
Scorpion Mike exhaled heavily, ignoring Walker's battered and swollen face beside him, and slapped Walker hard on the shoulder:
"Hang in there, I've lost that guy!"
"Hmph."
Walker lay motionless in the seat. Daredevil had pummeled him relentlessly to extract details about Kingpin, leaving his entire body throbbing with pain.
But Walker's lips stayed sealed; he hadn't spilled a single bit of info on Kingpin.
Boom!
Scorpion Mike laughed triumphantly, preparing to drive the pickup down from the overpass and toward the underground tunnel on West Thirty-ninth Street.
Once through the tunnel, Scorpion Mike would have shaken the Batmobile for good.
With that thought, he checked the rearview mirror again, and sure enough, there was no sign of the Batmobile.
"Something's off..."
Scorpion Mike gripped the steering wheel tighter, sensing he'd overlooked something.
It seemed like after he'd ordered his men to converge on West Fortieth Street, the Batmobile hadn't shown up at all?
Given the insane engine roar and the way it had plowed through obstacles when he first spotted it, Scorpion Mike didn't buy that the thing was all bark and no bite.
He must have missed something.
Just as Scorpion Mike drove toward the West Thirty-ninth Street underground tunnel, mulling over what had gone wrong...
Ding!
Cruising on an overpass nearly ten meters above ground, Scorpion Mike watched as a massive grappling hook—trailing a steel cable—emerged from below the roadside ahead.
Creak, creak!
The unmistakable sound of the steel cable retracting filled the air, and under Scorpion Mike's horrified gaze, the front of the vehicle—with its sharp plow and massive bat symbol—slowly rose from the side of the overpass.
Even though the crimson headlights weren't aimed straight at Scorpion Mike, he felt like he was being stared down.
"Drive!"
Scorpion Mike was still frozen in shock when Walker, beside him, slammed a fist into the steering wheel and yelled.
Beep!
The horn blared from Walker's punch, jolting Scorpion Mike back to reality. He stomped on the accelerator, swerving around the Batmobile and fleeing in a panic.
Behind them, inside the Batmobile, Batman switched off the radio eavesdropper and pressed a button.
Boom!
At the rear of the Batmobile, the jet propulsion devices—salvaged from Green Goblin's and Spider-Slayer's gliders—ignited with a roar. The entire Batmobile lurched forward explosively, closing in relentlessly on the pickup.
"Barbara, take over the driving."
Batman said, removing his hands from the steering wheel and hitting another button.
In the next instant, the Batmobile's roof slid open, the electromagnetic ejection system in the seat fired, and a dark figure arced through the air. Batman landed heavily on the roof of the pickup.
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