Chapter 193: Batman VS Abomination
The "Siege Engine Protocol" designed for the Hulk wasn't a simple matter of administering sedatives or deploying control devices. That approach was far too idealistic.
In reality, the complete Siege Engine Protocol attacked on both psychological and physical fronts simultaneously, employing over thirty distinct methodologies—including Batman leveraging Doctor Banner's former girlfriend Betty Ross for psychic-level manipulation.
Batman wouldn't simply use Betty as a hostage to threaten the Hulk. He wouldn't harm her at all. Instead, he'd employ a different approach striking directly at the heart.
But applying anti-Hulk protocols against Abomination rendered that particular tactic useless. Blonsky probably didn't even know who Betty Ross was.
"Stop dodging!"
Abomination's fist grazed past Batman, cratering the floor. His expression—initially resembling a cat toying with prey—gradually twisted with frustration.
One punch. Abomination was confident a single solid connection would snap Batman's body clean in half. But across seven or eight seconds, he'd thrown over fifty strikes without landing once.
The distance between them held constant around three meters. If Abomination's arms were slightly longer, his attack radius marginally greater, he could reach Batman.
But those three meters formed an unbridgeable chasm. Regardless of Abomination's efforts, he couldn't touch his opponent.
The more he swung, the angrier he became. The cat-and-mouse game had reversed identities. Batman had become the cat. Abomination was the mouse being continuously toyed with.
Batman had no time to waste on Abomination. No interest in prolonging the encounter.
His reason for maintaining close-range engagement was positioning Abomination precisely where Batman's advance reconnaissance had identified optimal terrain for sequential containment protocols.
As for maintaining exactly three meters distance—
CRASH!
The facility ceiling directly overhead erupted with tremendous impact. The elliptical bat-pod plummeted from above, striking Abomination's skull with devastating force.
Abomination's cranium collided with the metal bat-pod with a resounding CLANG. Falling from nearly thirty thousand feet through accelerated descent, the pod not only punctured the facility roof but drove Abomination face-first into the floor.
Before entering the gamma bomb research facility, Batman had instructed Oracle AI to lock the bat-pod's drop coordinates three meters ahead of his position.
Beyond utilizing the pod's internal equipment for the Siege Engine Protocol, the nearly one-ton device itself constituted an offensive component.
As Abomination's brain rattled from the impact—just as he began rising—another system activated silently.
Outside the facility, aboard the Batcycle, Batman's pre-fabricated composite waveform device engaged. Specific frequencies blanketed the facility's entire surface level indiscriminately, momentarily freezing Abomination in place.
The descending bat-pod split vertically into three sections, separating outward with Abomination as the central focal point. Each segment deployed high-density alloy stakes into the floor, forming an equilateral triangle configuration.
Simultaneously, Batman finally struck.
The previously scattered batarangs activated. High-frequency sonic waves saturated the facility's interior space. Gel explosives rapidly expanded and hardened, additionally immobilizing Abomination.
Batman himself flashed to Abomination's side. Behind him, Venom's tendrils gripped the diamond-tipped sedative and gamma inhibitor syringes, plunging both into Abomination's hide.
Batman's sequential containment continued. His approach served not merely to create injection opportunities for Venom. He was executing parallel operations.
"Barbara, deploy bat-pod two."
As he spoke—
THWACK!
Batman slapped a micro-mine directly onto Abomination's forehead.
BOOM!
The micro-mine detonated under Batman's precisely controlled three-ton strike, snapping Abomination's head sideways.
Batman stomped on Abomination's torso, launching backward—but his hand fired webbing, yanking his retreating form back toward his target. This time the landing point was Abomination's back. Another micro-mine slapped down.
Amid continuous explosions, the bat-pod components worked with mechanical efficiency.
The three separated sections' uppermost elements were infrasonic emitters, rapidly cycling through different frequencies to locate Abomination's internal organ resonance patterns.
Under organ resonance effects, even as Batman's micro-mines hammered Abomination's skull into disorientation, his mutation-enhanced body couldn't suppress involuntary nausea and vertigo.
Simultaneously, the bat-pod sections sprayed massive quantities of rapid-hardening gel specifically targeting Abomination's lower body.
Exploiting the momentary action delay caused by cranial and visceral distress, gel rapidly accumulated and solidified, locking his legs immovably in place.
The pod's remaining structures automatically unfolded and transformed, assembling into massive industrial clamp mechanisms. With tremendous hydraulic pressure, the clamps slammed shut, vice-gripping Abomination's upper body and arms. Combined with the lower-body gel restraints, they achieved total immobilization.
Before Abomination could react, Batman shoved another micro-mine into his face for continued detonation.
While executing these actions, Batman simultaneously used both hands and Peter Parker's enhanced senses to map Abomination's precise anatomical structure.
Then Batman began circulating, striking from multiple angles with over fifty tons of force, hammering different sections of Abomination's body with precise punches.
At first glance, Abomination appeared to sustain no critical injuries from Batman's strikes.
But killing Abomination with bare fists wasn't Batman's objective.
The hydraulic clamps concealed dozens of injection needles internally. The instant they locked position, they pumped sedatives and inhibitors sufficient to stop multiple blue whales' hearts directly into Abomination's neck, shoulders, and wrists.
Batman's punches merely accelerated blood flow throughout Abomination's circulatory system, rapidly distributing the chemical agents across his entire physiology.
What seemed prolonged occurred in mere moments. From bat-pod aerial deployment through multi-layered containment protocols to complete neutralization—total elapsed time: five seconds.
Within the equilateral triangle zone formed by bat-pod components, Abomination's surface scales had fractured extensively. His massively developed musculature underwent varying degrees of atrophy.
Several breaths later, the towering Abomination reverted under inhibitor influence to human dimensions, revealing Emil Blonsky's features once more.
Only then did Batman exhale deeply, moving to the bat-pod's side and manually pressing a button.
Five or six additional needles deployed from the pod. This time not sedatives or inhibitors but neurotoxins, plunging Blonsky into profound unconsciousness.
From Abomination's initial charge to complete neutralization—total combat duration: thirty-six seconds.
But when Batman surveyed his surroundings, the entire facility had transformed dramatically. The floor contained virtually no level surfaces. Every visible wall had collapsed. Countless electrical cables and various pipes had ruptured, periodically sparking.
The metal cage that had imprisoned Gargoyle had absorbed several strikes during Abomination's relentless pursuit. It no longer resembled a cage whatsoever—more like a massive ball of scrap metal.
Even the thick steel plate covering the underground facility entrance showed severe deformation, its center crushed into a deep crater.
Batman didn't linger. After several deep breaths, he immediately approached the steel plate, kicking the heavy barrier away with one strike.
Rather than rashly leaping inside, Batman looked up at the massive hole punctured through the facility ceiling.
During the Abomination engagement, the second deployed bat-pod had crashed through the facility roof with another thunderous impact, plummeting directly into the underground passage entrance.
Only now did Batman follow, dropping into the pitch-black passage.