The Batsuit Batman currently wore had almost no additional equipment beyond the radio transceiver and receiver built into the pointed ears.
This wasn't because Batman was being arrogant, thinking he didn't need extra help from his suit upon arriving at the Gamma Bomb research facility.
On the contrary, Batman was exceptionally cautious. In the basic suit, he was the perfect scout—he could silently map out the environment first, confirm Norman Osborn's location and the distribution of the guards, and identify the true nature of the threat.
After all, neither the thermal imaging from the Bat-Drones nor the personnel reconnaissance from the spider-bots had detected any monsters. Batman had already suspected that the "monsters" here, before transforming, were in a human-like state similar to Dr. Banner.
The abilities displayed by the Hulk after Dr. Banner transformed were tied solely to overwhelming physical strength, but Batman was not naive enough to assume every mutation inside the Gamma facility was of the same brute-force type.
Only by knowing whether the enemy was a physical powerhouse like the Hulk, an energy-projecting type with some radiation abilities like Swamp Thing, or something else entirely could Batman have the Batwing airdrop the most targeted specialized armor and equipment—rather than a jack-of-all-trades general-purpose suit that excelled at nothing.
This was the same philosophy behind the Fenrir battlesuit he had once built. Though the armor itself was powerful enough to take on many foes, its true purpose had been to counter the Justice League; every function had been designed with that singular goal in mind.
On the surface of the Gamma Bomb facility, the moment Batman noticed that—aside from Emil Blonsky—none of General Ross's personal soldiers were present, he had already anticipated the heavy defenses waiting underground.
Thus, the instant the fight with Abomination ended, Batman immediately ordered the Oracle AI to deploy the second Bat-Pod.
This time, the pod no longer carried devices meant to control Gamma monsters. Instead, it housed modular, ultra-heavy armor plating.
As per the plan, the battlesuit was officially named the Battering Ram Armor.
Its internal circuitry was nearly nonexistent—just like the suit Batman currently wore. It didn't even have its own power system. The entire thing relied completely on the raw physical strength of Peter Parker's body to operate.
Peter Parker's body possessed more than enough strength, but its durability left something to be desired. During the battle at Oscorp Tower, repeatedly slamming into load-bearing pillars and walls with his own flesh had still managed to injure this body.
Though those injuries were negligible for a physique like this, Batman had still custom-built this set of armor specifically to shore up its defensive shortcomings.
Rat-tat-tat-tat-tat!
Countless bullets poured toward Batman without pause. The well-trained soldiers split into two squads—one firing until their magazines ran dry, then falling back while the second team seamlessly stepped forward to take their place.
On the front of the Bat-Pod, mechanical arms rapidly attached the thick, heavy armor plates to Batman's existing suit.
The moment the heavy battlesuit finished locking into place, Batman's entire operational plan shifted—from stealth infiltration to all-out assault.
BOOM!
With a single backhanded slap, Batman sent the now-empty second Bat-Pod tumbling away.
No longer shielded by the pod, bullets slammed directly into the armored figure before them.
Yet as the seconds ticked by, the machine-gun fire gradually slowed… until not a single soldier was still shooting.
General Ross's forty-nine elite personal troops stared in horror at the man who had just swatted the Bat-Pod aside and stepped back into view.
…Or rather, it was no longer accurate to call him Batman.
What now stood before them was a heavy mech over two meters tall, every inch of its body encased in thick, seamless armor plating.
The soldiers could see that the shoulder pauldrons alone were as thick as two fingers pressed together. The chest plating was absurdly massive—bullets striking it couldn't even make the figure flinch.
THUD. THUD. THUD.
Each of Batman's footsteps rang out like the toll of a war drum. The soldiers had stopped firing, but Batman was only just getting started.
Tap-tap…
One soldier nervously squeezed off another burst. The round struck Batman square in the chest, ricocheted, and buried itself in the shooter's own left thigh. The man screamed and collapsed.
Batman glanced at him once, then—now completely unconcerned with small-arms fire—strode straight toward the glass tank where Norman Osborn was submerged.
For every step forward Batman took, the soldiers who were supposed to be surrounding him took one step back. By the time he walked through their ranks, the entire unit had unconsciously parted like the Red Sea.
At a glance, it no longer looked like they were besieging Batman. It looked like they were clearing a path in terrified awe.
Batman paid the soldiers no further attention. Even if someone tried to attack from behind, he had nothing to fear.
Thanks to Spider-Sense, even in this ponderous heavy armor he retained a degree of agility; he would not be reduced to a mere stationary target.
His gaze locked onto a spot several dozen meters away—the location of Norman Osborn.
Unlike the other glass pods, Norman Osborn's transparent tank sat dead center in the underground plaza, right next to a massive experimental apparatus.
Inside the tank, Norman Osborn's eyes were tightly shut—something that differed from what Batman had anticipated before entering the facility.
In Batman's original plan, he had assumed General Ross relied far more on Norman Osborn's scientific genius for whatever scheme was afoot, not… keeping him submerged in an unknown liquid like a lab specimen.
Seeing General Ross standing off to the side, and the figure of Leader with his back turned, Batman's brow furrowed slightly beneath the thick metal visor.
From the moment Batman had yanked the armor out of the Bat-Pod, through the hail of bullets that proved utterly ineffective, right up to the instant he began marching toward Ross and Leader—Leader had never once turned around. He remained completely focused on his work.
In that single moment, Batman deduced three critical pieces of intelligence.
First: Though Leader possessed the same oversized cranium as Gargoyle, Gargoyle trended toward raw physical power, whereas Leader's enhancements clearly leaned heavily into intellect.
That much was obvious from the fact that Norman Osborn was submerged in a tank rather than being allowed to conduct research.
With an intellect-enhanced Leader present, Ross no longer needed Norman Osborn's brain. What he needed was the body of the Green Goblin.
Second: Faced with Batman's intrusion and the complete failure of small-arms fire, Leader—a scientist—still kept his back turned, utterly absorbed in his task.
There were only two explanations: staggering stupidity, or absolute confidence. And General Ross showed no sign of displeasure or issuing any orders to the contrary.
Combined with the earlier conversation between Gargoyle and Abomination, Batman strongly suspected Leader had already seized practical control of the facility's core experiments. Ross had gone from partner to little more than a bodyguard or onlooker.
Batman had once fought alongside the Justice League against a criminal named Monster Thompson, whose massively developed brain had granted him an array of powers including telepathy and illusion-casting. (Previous book, Chapter 62 - Superman & the Justice League Season 1: Immortal Legends arc)
With that precedent in mind, Batman silently issued another command to the Batwing cruising at ten thousand meters altitude:
"Prepare Bat-Pod Three for immediate drop."
Third: Something was definitely wrong with General Ross.
Batman had shattered both of the man's legs. Yet there he stood, perfectly upright.
Less than a month had passed since the Oscorp incident. Conventional medicine could not possibly heal such severe injuries that quickly—let alone restore full mobility.
Given that this was a Gamma research facility, and considering Ross's own insatiable hunger for power, Batman had grave suspicions that the general had undergone aggressive Gamma-based treatment—or even partial superhuman augmentation.
Any procedure radical enough to achieve that in so little time would carry enormous risk. The fact that Ross had willingly accepted it proved his thirst for power had surpassed mere weapons—he was actively turning himself into a living weapon.
These thoughts flashed through Batman's mind in an instant. His stride never faltered.
Beast of pure strength or monster with extraordinary abilities—it didn't matter what stood in his path.
No matter what, Batman would take Norman Osborn home.
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