Chapter 80: Plan W, Self-Destruct Mode
"HULK!"
The instant Batman hauled up the Lizard Professor who'd been digging downward through floors, the Hulk—who'd fallen from the rooftop alongside him—roared furiously.
His foot suddenly stomped the ground, making the fifty-eighth floor's floor collapse while causing the area where Batman stood to tilt upward.
Batman's body immediately lost balance, then was sent flying by the Hulk's immediately following palm strike.
Crack.
Batman's suit emitted a soft sound. The armor assembled from dismantled Spider-Slayer parts fractured in several places. Batman's body flew backward again, heavily crashing into the fifty-eighth floor's wall.
'The Hulk maintains a trace of rationality amid fury. He's not treating me as the opponent but making the mutated Professor Connors the primary target.'
Under one palm strike, Batman rapidly made his assessment.
Simultaneously, the Lizard Professor—hauled up by Batman—had already steadied himself. His nearly four-meter-tall frame almost touched the ceiling.
His tail covered with green scales swept across office desks and chairs. These mostly wooden items immediately shattered into pieces everywhere.
"Hulk—"
Hiss.
The Hulk roared again, but this time his voice caught in his throat.
Arms forcefully prying himself from the wall, Batman fired a strand of pitch-black webbing, sealing the Hulk's roaring mouth.
The Hulk held a breath in his belly. Furious, he reached to tear off the webbing stuck to his face.
But by now the Lizard Professor—body hunched slightly against the ceiling—suddenly turned. His thick tail lashed against the Hulk.
BOOM! The Hulk's body also flew backward like Batman moments ago, only with greater force, penetrating four or five walls before stopping.
"Thanks, little bat."
The Lizard Professor's golden vertical pupils looked toward Batman nearby. His protruding mouth slowly opened, revealing a mouthful of sharp fangs as he spoke.
His tail swayed slowly. A pair of front claws extended, inserting into the floor to pry up a large section, head downward as he crawled below.
But once again he didn't succeed.
THUD! THUD! THUD!
The Hulk's feet stomped the ground fiercely. Three steps crossed the dozen-plus meters he'd been sent flying, charging back. He grabbed the Lizard Professor's tail and slowly pulled backward.
But as the Lizard Professor's body was slowly hauled up, he merely twisted his head to glance at Banner, then clawed backward.
The massive lizard tail was personally severed by the Lizard Professor. Afterward, he twisted his body—which looked extremely uncoordinated without the tail—drilling downward again.
The Hulk held the severed but still forcefully writhing lizard tail, suddenly retreating several steps. Just as he prepared to pursue the Lizard Professor—
"Bruce, 'Anti-Hulk Protocol' ready."
At that moment, Prophet AI's voice suddenly sounded from within Batman's suit.
The gamma radiation device on Oscorp's eleventh floor—previously misleadingly presented by General Ross as core experimental equipment—Batman had chosen to hack using the Prophet AI aboard the Batmobile, overwriting its program.
The program's content was the "Anti-Hulk Protocol"
On the empty eleventh floor of Oscorp, the gamma radiation equipment automatically activated. Under the overwritten program's control, the device no longer output pure gamma radiation but was adjusted to a composite spectrum.
"The Anti-Hulk Protocol can buy me less than ten seconds. I need to use ten seconds to handle the giant lizard, Professor Connors mutated into."
Under the composite spectrum's effect, the Hulk's movements grew slower and slower, finally stopping. A trace of confusion appeared on his furious face.
This composite spectrum was adjusted by Batman based on his understanding of gamma radiation, capable of producing a sedative effect on the Hulk at specific frequencies for a short time.
Neural sedation alone wasn't enough. Batman raised his hand, a strand of webbing tearing down the ventilation duct overhead.
At various positions in Oscorp Tower's ventilation ducts, batarangs Batman had embedded in advance still emitted sedative gas, slowly flowing along the ventilation system.
Now as Batman tore down the ventilation duct, the combination made the fury on the Hulk's face gradually disappear.
But if dealing with the Hulk were this simple, General Ross wouldn't have made capturing the Hulk his lifelong objective.
This effect could only last ten seconds. Though somewhat urgent, for Batman it was sufficient.
Previously blocking the Lizard Professor from drilling to lower floors was to prevent him from interfering with the gamma radiation device's activation. But now, with the "Anti-Hulk Protocol" formally implemented, Batman no longer blocked the Lizard Professor.
He even hoped the Lizard Professor would get as close to downward as possible, ideally drilling to the eleventh floor's location.
Time was tight. Batman couldn't spare attention for the temporarily sedated Hulk. Webbing pulled, sending his body charging toward Oscorp Tower's exterior wall face, using brute force to shatter the wall.
Then webbing pulled, making Batman's body plummet downward at the tower's edge faster than the Lizard Professor.
"Barbara, execute Plan W3!"
In rapidly falling air, Batman spoke to Prophet AI.
"Plan W executing immediately. Bruce, catch it," Prophet AI immediately replied.
At this time, soldiers inside Oscorp Tower were almost all blocked on the tenth floor, unable to ascend. The Batmobile rampaged here, crashing various experimental equipment and cabinets and tables into chaos.
Combined with occasional tremendous sounds from Oscorp Tower's upper floors and the unconscious General Ross still not issuing orders, these soldiers somewhat harbored thoughts of "simply wearing down Batman (vehicle) on the tenth floor."
But as Batman executed Plan W, the Batmobile no longer continued entangling with soldiers. Instead, four micro-missiles rose from the hood.
These missiles were likewise confiscated from the Green Goblin's equipment in Osborn Manor's vault, transformed by Batman into demolition bombs.
Four missiles flew out successively, blasting a hole in Oscorp Tower's wall face.
The Batmobile opened full throttle, roaring through.
At this instant, on Oscorp Tower's exterior wall—the tenth floor had the Batmobile, while Batman's figure was still falling from thirty-floor height.
The Batmobile couldn't catch Batman. His plan fundamentally wasn't having the vehicle catch him.
The Batmobile's roof rapidly opened. On the empty seat lay several Dewar flasks—containers for storing liquid nitrogen.
The seat's electromagnetic catapult function instantly activated.
With a faint hum, the electromagnetic catapult function—originally for combining with the suit—hurled those Dewar flasks high.
Simultaneously, Batman—body still rapidly plummeting under webbing's pull—raised his hand, a strand of webbing steadily catching the Dewar flasks.
Plan W: Using massive quantities of liquid nitrogen analyzed and prepared in advance to deal with the Lizard Professor!
WHOOSH!
Airborne, Batman—relying on prior understanding of Oscorp Tower's structure—precisely found a window in his descent path, then webbing pulled him crashing through.
"Self-destruct device activated." Simultaneously, Prophet AI aboard the Batmobile said.
The Batmobile accelerating outward couldn't return inside the building. The Batmobile—having used grappling cables upon entering Oscorp—began free fall, crashing to the ground with a crash.
BOOM!
Flames shot skyward. Batman's first Batmobile after arriving in this world completely exploded, shattered to pieces.