A few minutes earlier, the Sinister Shocker trio had still been brimming with confidence, convinced that the three of them—clad in battle suits with combat power far exceeding that of ordinary humans—could easily defeat Batman.
Scorpion's stinger tail, his shockwave gauntlets, Vulture's aerial support—they were supposed to coordinate seamlessly.
And in truth, their teamwork was flawless; they'd deployed every tactic at their disposal.
At first, they thought Batman was a vampire and had prepared a whole array of countermeasures for that.
Later, they figured he was just a human in a suit like them, and Scorpion's stinger could pierce right through him.
But then Batman's shadow came alive, twisting into a monstrous, gaping maw, and they could no longer comprehend what was happening before their eyes.
Sinister Shocker didn't hesitate, cranking his gauntlets' shockwave setting to the maximum level five.
The last time, in that abandoned apartment building, he hadn't gotten a clean shot at Batman. This time, he wasn't holding back—even if it meant blasting his good buddy Scorpion Mac to smithereens along with him, Shocker would do it without a second thought.
His gauntlets emitted a violent buzzing, visible ripples distorting the air around them.
Shocker didn't plan to attack from a distance. One fist fired a shockwave backward, propelling his body forward in a lightning rush toward Batman, while the other fist extended ahead, smashing down with ferocious force.
He'd tested the destructive power of a level-five shockwave in that apartment building last time—it could punch through every floor slab in the entire structure from across the room.
He refused to believe Batman could withstand an attack of this magnitude. Even if the guy was a T. rex, this punch would reduce his body to pulverized chunks.
Sinister Shocker had once again underestimated the vast arsenal at Batman's disposal.
"Barbara, flashbang."
Batman's words came lightning-fast. In the blink of an eye, a flashbang dropped from his utility belt.
It all happened in an instant. Batman still had one hand blocking Scorpion Mac's dual fists, the other gripping his cape, while Venom's jaws clamped down on Scorpion Mac's stinger tail.
It looked like Batman had once again been backed into a corner, overwhelmed and out of options.
But setting aside all of Batman's technological gadgets, he was still a master martial artist, proficient in nearly every fighting style on the planet, capable of precisely controlling every limb and movement.
He lifted one foot ever so slightly, the toe of his boot striking the flashbang's trigger with pinpoint accuracy while simultaneously kicking it toward Sinister Shocker.
Vulture Toomes had no idea what this round little object Batman had kicked out was. He wasn't about to gamble with his life.
For his own safety, Vulture Toomes chose to blast through the roof and soar into the sky.
Whether to gain distance or flee entirely, the sky was the only place Vulture considered safe.
Behind Shocker's mask, his pupils dilated wildly the moment the flashbang reached him. The next second, it detonated with a thunderous bang.
Almost simultaneously with the explosion, Venom abruptly retracted into Batman's body. But by then, Batman had already released his cape, one hand clamping down on Scorpion's stinger tail like an iron vise.
It still wasn't over. Gripping Scorpion Mac's tail with one hand, Batman bent his knees slightly, leaped in place, and—carrying Scorpion Mac—crashed through the roof one after another with Vulture Toomes, emerging into midair.
Below, blinding light flooded the two-story American-style house. High-frequency noise caused Shocker to lose control of his shockwave gauntlets. As his level-five blast fired harmlessly into the air, the flashbang's intense shockwave followed in rapid succession.
Shhh.
In midair, Batman raised one arm and flicked it lightly, aiming remotely at Vulture Toomes, who had already ascended to twenty meters.
Boosted by over thirty tons of strength, the centrifugal force from Batman's subtle arm motion—combined with the bat-claw launcher improved from Peter Parker's web-shooters—sent a jet-black web strand shooting out far faster than Vulture could fly.
Snap.
Vulture Toomes didn't even reach what he thought was a safe altitude before the black web latched onto him securely.
Then, with a yank from Batman's arm, Vulture Toomes lost all ability to maintain flight and plummeted downward.
BOOM!
Batman, one hand on Scorpion Mac and the other on Vulture Toomes, crashed back through the breached roof into the house. At that exact moment, the flashbang's blinding light, high-frequency noise, and violent shockwave all vanished.
Sinister Shocker lay sprawled on the floor in a pitiful heap, having taken the flashbang at point-blank range and temporarily stripped of any ability to resist.
"Robin," Batman said in a low, gravelly voice, "strip them of all their gear."
Clatter clatter clatter…
Venom erupted from Batman's body once more, sprouting countless black tendrils that, in the blink of an eye, removed Shocker's shock gauntlets, Vulture's green flight suit, and Mac's scorpion battle armor.
"Mission accomplished smoothly, Dad!"
Smack!
Batman's palm struck like lightning across the backs of their heads, knocking all three unconscious.
September in New York had cooled down, carrying a faint chill, especially when the night wind blew against the skin.
But when that chilly night breeze came from four hundred meters up, at the top of the Empire State Building, with yourself bound in webs and hanging upside down, that chill turned into something far more urgent—a desperate need to pee.
Scorpion Mac and Sinister Shocker opened their eyes, realized their predicament, and couldn't help screaming in terror, instinctively struggling.
Almost the instant they thrashed, their bodies entered free fall. Wind howled past their ears, whipping so fiercely they could barely keep their eyes open. A few drops of urine flew through the air alongside them.
"S-s-save meeeee…!"
Sinister Shocker roared with all his might, but his voice was completely swallowed by the wind. It was only then that he noticed his iron-gray kinetic absorption suit had been stripped away, along with the shock gauntlets on his hands.
Scorpion Mac, plummeting from the heights beside him, was in the same boat—his scorpion battle armor gone, leaving him in nothing but a pair of underwear.
"F-f-f… fuck!"
Scorpion Mac's mouth was forced open by the rushing wind. After desperately spitting out a curse, he shut his eyes in despair, awaiting death.
Four hundred meters wasn't much for the Earth; under gravity, it would take just ten seconds to hit the ground.
Sinister Shocker's mind went blank, his bladder gave out, his pupils nearly dilated to nothing. A highlight reel of his life already flashed before his eyes.
Just as he and Scorpion Mac were less than twenty meters from the ground, Shocker suddenly felt a tightening around his body. Black web strands descended from above, snaring them.
After a powerful elastic rebound, they were yanked at breakneck speed by Batman, hauled back from over twenty meters up to the top of the Empire State Building.
"What was the purpose of the prison break?" Batman's low voice echoed in their ears.
"R-revenge," Shocker stammered, still reeling from the ups and downs of the past few seconds.
Free-falling four hundred meters, then being yanked back up—the back-and-forth impacts left his whole body aching like he'd vomit blood, his brain pounding with sharp pain and dizziness.
Faced with Batman's question, Shocker answered almost on reflex.
"Revenge against whom?"
"Batman…"
"Any other objectives?"
"No."
Smack!
Batman knocked Shocker out cold. His voice, ghostly, whispered into Scorpion Mac's ear:
"After your escape, what task did Kingpin give you?"
Every prisoner in Ryker's Island had broken out—every single one except Kingpin.
Sure, that was partly because Batman had shattered Kingpin's bones, but Batman didn't buy that it was the whole story.
"He said, he said… I can't tell you."
Like Shocker, Scorpion Mac's body was on the verge of passing out from the intense yanking, but he still instinctively tried to cover for Kingpin.
"This is the top of the Empire State Building. Workers only come to maintain the antenna tower twice a year. The next maintenance is four months away."
Batman's voice held no inflection, stating facts calmly:
"Talk, and I'll hand you over to the police. Otherwise, I'll tie you to the antenna tower and hope you can hold out for four months."
With that, Batman fired a black web strand. Scorpion Mac's courage shattered instantly. He was almost fully lucid now and, between saving his life and betraying Kingpin, decisively chose the former:
"Kingpin said—he learned about some Japanese guy through Bullseye Lester. He told me to find him!"
"Name?"
"Kenji Oyama."
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