"Hmph." Hulk snorted, his voice deep and rumbling. "You'd better have a plan."
"Trust me, Hulk."
Batman remained on high alert, not relaxing for a second even though the Lizard and Hulk were trapped.
He had wanted to call him Dr. Banner, but remembering how Hulk had reacted with furious rage on the rooftop when the name "Banner" was mentioned, Batman chose to address him as "Hulk" instead.
Nearby, Dr. Connors—pinned under layers of collapsed concrete slabs and walls—let out a muffled groan, the greenish scales on his body losing their luster.
Then, as if drying out and peeling like an ordinary person's skin, the scales on his lizard feet began to curl up, weathering away. With the slightest movement, they fell off naturally, blending completely into the dust of the building.
His muscles deflated like a leaking balloon, his bones creaking with a teeth-gritting sound as his height steadily shrank.
Next came his head and hands, reverting back to human form. But when he fully transformed into his human appearance, his already amputated right arm remained empty—his limb hadn't grown back.
The regeneration serum had failed completely.
"Sigh..."
Dr. Connors let out a heavy sigh.
At that moment—creak!
A faint, subtle noise, followed by the sudden snap of rebar breaking!
When he had been in his Lizard form, the ruins had been solidly pressing down on him. Now, without that support beneath, the tons of concrete were triggering a secondary collapse, hurtling toward the completely defenseless Dr. Connors!
"Roar!"
Hulk, temporarily trapped in place by Batman's hardening foam, roared in urgency. He thrust his limbs outward with all his might.
The incredibly durable foam, which could hold the Spider-Slayer in his powered suit immobile, didn't last two seconds under Hulk's deliberate effort to break free—it shattered into pieces with a crash.
Hulk gritted his teeth, about to charge forward and use his body to block the collapsing concrete, when a figure far less bulky than his own stepped in front of him first.
Batman braced both hands upward, holding up the tons of concrete until Dr. Connors crawled out from underneath, then let go.
With another booming crash, the concrete slammed into the floor, kicking up dust that made all three of them cough involuntarily.
Hulk let out a breath of relief, his body deflating rapidly like a punctured ball, shrinking from arms thicker than an adult's thigh several times over back to the frail Dr. Banner.
Unlike Dr. Connors, who was left completely naked after reverting from his nearly four-meter-tall Lizard form, Dr. Banner at least had a tattered pair of pants.
Even so, the two of them looked utterly disheveled and pathetic.
"Do you two have somewhere to go?"
Batman asked, looking at the two scientists who between them could only muster up one pair of pants.
Dr. Banner shook his head.
Dr. Connors started to nod instinctively but ended up sighing.
"I don't know when I'll turn back into that form again... I can't go home."
"If you try to go home, I'll have to activate another plan..."
Batman didn't voice his thoughts aloud. Instead, he suggested:
"I have a safe place for you."
"No, I need to go up there. General Ross is still on the roof," Dr. Banner said, shaking his head and looking up at the battered ceiling.
General Ross had been knocked out by Batman and was still on the rooftop.
For three years, Dr. Banner had been injecting himself nonstop with suppressants just to get close to General Ross. He had no intention of following Batman's arrangements now.
"Leave it to me, Dr. Banner." Batman's voice was unusually low. "He'll pay for every evil he's committed. I swear it."
Dr. Banner eyed Batman suspiciously.
"This is our first meeting, right? How am I supposed to trust you?"
Batman didn't explain. He manually removed the armor from his outer forearm, popping out the miniature portable computer inside—only to find it was damaged.
Under Dr. Banner's increasingly doubtful gaze and Dr. Connors' worried expression, Batman remained stone-faced as he reached up and yanked off one of his sharp, pointed ears.
After some tinkering, the radio receiver integrated into his helmet finally came back online, and Batman tuned it to a news channel.
"...According to authoritative internal sources, General Ross has been responsible for at least 238 civilian deaths and over 600 injuries during his pursuit of the Hulk..."
"...The controversial 'underground level two' human experiments, which have recently caused Osborn's stock to plummet, have been proven by insider evidence to be directly linked to General Ross..."
"The underground level three massacre... He personally created the 'Hulk'... Now occupying the Osborn Group under the guise of military oversight... Intent on mass-producing monsters... A warmonger..."
The explosive information Batman had sent to Daily Bugle reporter Eddie Brock before entering the Osborn Group during the day was being broadcast one by one over the radio.
It was midnight news, so it might not catch much attention yet, but tomorrow morning's Daily Bugle—and the TV news—would fully expose all of General Ross's crimes!
"Where did you get this information?"
Dr. Banner stared at Batman in a daze. He was just a scientist; he didn't have Batman's hacking skills. He knew these things deep down but had struggled to find evidence to prove them to the media.
And yet this guy, whom he'd met only once—and fought from the moment they met—seemed to have foreseen it all, laying it out right in front of him.
Dr. Banner couldn't wrap his head around it.
"Because I'm Batman," Batman said.
The full moon hung high in the sky.
Batman used his hacking skills to fabricate identity information for Dr. Connors and Dr. Banner, even directly hacking into a hotel to input the data.
After settling them in, Batman—his armor shattered—walked steadily to an empty corner and entered the sewers.
Whew!
He let out a long breath. His previously steady steps turned into a limp, but he still moved at a relatively quick pace toward the City Hall subway station.
He had heard Harry Osborn's voice from downstairs in the Osborn Group earlier. Batman needed to change clothes before meeting him.
Fortunately, the City Hall subway station—Batman's chosen site for the Batcave—had spare clothes stored there.
"Fractures in the left 4th and 5th ribs, sharp stabbing pain when breathing. Severe bruising on the right 6th through 8th ribs."
"Anterior dislocation of the right shoulder joint, possible labral tear, unable to lift arm."
"Multiple microscopic tears in bilateral trapezius, biceps brachii, and quadriceps muscles; multiple leg muscle strains; deep fatigue and soreness throughout the body, unstable power output."
"Dull pain in the spleen and liver areas, possible delayed internal bleeding."
"..."
Though the fight had been relatively short, Batman had still sustained considerable injuries. This was due to Peter Parker's body—despite its training—lacking sufficient resistance to impacts.
Fortunately, while covered in wounds, none were fatal. His condition was poor, but he could still move.
Looking down at this battered body, Batman silently apologized to Peter Parker in his mind.
He had already tested this body's self-healing abilities; these injuries wouldn't pose too great a threat. They'd fully recover in a day or two.
Batman endured the intense pain, using his less injured left hand to skillfully perform emergency reductions and bandaging on himself. Throughout the process, he didn't make a sound—only a few beads of cold sweat appeared on his forehead.
Though Dr. Banner and Dr. Connors were temporarily stabilized, Batman still had plenty to do.
Harry at the Osborn Building, the patients at Metropolis Hospital waiting for the stabilizer, General Ross on the rooftop who needed to be dealt with;
His completely shattered armor and utterly destroyed Batmobile needed to be redesigned and rebuilt.
Arrangements for Dr. Connors, Dr. Banner, and Dr. Octavius—who was recovering post-surgery at Metropolis Hospital...
Batman never stops.
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