Chapter 201: Activate Venom Protocol
The Leader's worldview and philosophical foundations encountered their personal 9/11.
He couldn't comprehend why penetrating Batman's consciousness—attempting mental domination while extracting memories—had failed. Equally incomprehensible: why even within the mental realm, Batman's self-perception remained "Batman."
BOOM!
Thunder erupted as Red Hulk and Batman collided with devastating force.
The entire underground plaza shook violently. Floor sections fractured in massive chunks. Rebar-reinforced concrete ceiling rained dust and debris continuously.
Gamma creature corpses—some dead, others still struggling to regenerate injuries—scattered like rootless debris under the tremendous impact, hurling in all directions before splattering wetly against plaza walls.
Beyond the detonations, shockwaves, and seismic tremors, scorching heat waves rolled outward, instantly transforming the underground plaza into a furnace.
Within that inferno, not-yet-dried gamma creature blood evaporated rapidly. Putrid stench saturated the air.
General Ross's forty-eight surviving soldiers remained huddled in their corner.
No escape route existed. They could only endure Batman versus Red Hulk's cascading environmental effects.
Amid the stench, soldiers fought nausea—then quickly lost olfactory sensation entirely.
Red Hulk's surface temperature continuously incinerated surrounding atmosphere. Heat waves propagating outward seared soldiers' eyes and nasal passages with excruciating pain.
Within that agony, some fortunate individuals were struck by debris or corpses lifted by Red Hulk's movements—dying instantly.
Others could only use fallen comrades' bodies as shields, desperately crawling toward Norman Osborn's containment chamber.
But they never reached proximity. The instant they moved, The Leader unleashed psychic assault, compelling them to converge on Batman instead.
"Don't interfere." The Leader commanded curtly.
He recognized his Batman identity hypothesis was completely wrong. The opponent wasn't Bruce Banner. Possibly not even SHIELD affiliated.
This realization made circumstances increasingly interesting. Truth resembled brilliant illumination penetrating The Leader's supposedly comprehensive strategic sanctum.
But rather than panic, unprecedented intellectual exhilaration flooded through him.
Regardless of Batman's victory or defeat against Red Hulk, The Leader intended immediate departure. He couldn't risk injury.
Not that injury was impossible. The Leader's physiology wasn't weak—possessed even limited regenerative capabilities.
The Leader simply couldn't tolerate time wasted recovering in hospital beds. Therefore he'd withdraw preemptively.
"Batman, you're too cautious. Had you directly smashed the containment chamber extracting Norman Osborn immediately, you'd currently be halfway back to New York."
Observing Batman's combat against Red Hulk—deliberately avoiding proximity to Norman's chamber—The Leader smirked knowingly.
He'd recognized early that Batman feared Norman's unknown status inside containment, unwilling to prematurely breach the chamber. Hence The Leader's consistently relaxed demeanor.
Statement concluded, The Leader retreated gradually, placing one foot on specific floor section before twisting forcefully.
The underground plaza's fractured floor began collapsing. This time not from Batman versus Red Hulk combat but subsiding into a perfectly circular formation.
Metallic clanging resonated continuously as a silver-gray apparatus—resembling a miniature vertical space shuttle—slowly ascended.
Total height under sixteen feet. Since the underground plaza's ceiling measured eleven feet, half the apparatus remained concealed within the circular aperture.
WHIR!
A sequential barrage of batarangs streaked toward the craft.
But Red Hulk's strength, speed, and surface temperature vastly exceeded the Hulk's capabilities. Batman's opportunistic projectiles were casually intercepted by The Leader's extended hand.
CLATTER.
The Leader opened his palm. Captured batarangs clattered to the floor.
"Excessive caution sometimes creates unnecessary complications. Wouldn't you agree, Batman?"
The Leader spoke while observing Batman. He recognized Batman was fully occupied battling Red Hulk—completely unable to multitask.
Beyond preventing The Leader's departure, Batman's Siege Engine armor had already been scorched red by Red Hulk's heat. Self-preservation proved challenging enough.
Without countermeasures, Batman would fall beneath Red Hulk's fists imminently.
"You probably can't manage alone. I'll assist." The Leader shook his head, kicking a concrete fragment directly toward Norman Osborn's containment chamber.
CRASH!
The glass chamber shattered instantly. Pale green fluid gushed outward rapidly, pooling across surrounding floor before evaporating under Red Hulk's thermal influence into steam clouds.
"See? I wasn't deceiving you, correct? You could have simply broken the container immediately, extracting Norman Osborn without complications."
The Leader laughed heartily before finally leaping into the craft's cockpit without further delay.
At that instant, Batman finally issued his command:
"Barbara, deploy bat-pod three. Now!"
WHOOSH!
Ten thousand feet overhead, the previously unused third bat-pod dropped earthward. Gravity plus integrated thrusters accelerated velocity exponentially, hurtling toward the gamma facility.
"Oh? You possess additional contingencies? So cautious—finally deploying your ultimate measure?" The Leader observed Batman with surprise, lips curving upward slowly. "Excellent. I have one also."
Within Norman Osborn's shattered containment chamber, as pale green fluid rapidly drained, Norman's eyes suddenly snapped open.
Norman wore no Green Goblin armor. But within moments, his musculature swelled grotesquely. Skeletal structures punctured skin. Throat emitted guttural roars.
Even Harry Osborn personally present couldn't have recognized this monstrosity as his father.
Current Norman: massively hypertrophied physiology, elongated skull with upward-jutting pointed cranium, downward-hooked nose, hands and feet transformed into razor talons. Green scales covered his entire body surface.
"Behold my masterpiece—Gamma Goblin." The Leader's lips twisted smugly, presenting Batman with his creation.
But Batman couldn't spare attention. Red Hulk's torrential assault barely allowed breathing room. The Siege Engine armor disintegrated in massive chunks. Batman could only desperately hold position awaiting bat-pod three's landing.
CRASH!
The bat-pod finally punctured the gamma facility roof, plummeting down the elevator shaft into the underground plaza.
Simultaneously, Batman's body ejected from the devastated Siege Engine armor, lunging toward bat-pod three.
"That's your final contingency, correct?" The Leader sneered coldly, transmitting psychic command to Gamma Goblin's consciousness.
Thus during Batman's airborne trajectory—lasting under one second—the unopened bat-pod suddenly detonated into scattered debris.
Previous instant: Norman remained in his shattered glass chamber. Next instant: he'd vanished from that position, appearing faster than Batman beside the freshly-landed bat-pod. Within moments, countless strikes forcibly shredded the pod completely!
The Leader hadn't merely controlled Red Hulk attacking Batman. He'd simultaneously controlled Gamma Goblin destroying Batman's final contingency!
Airborne, Batman urgently fired webbing, arresting his momentum. But now trapped between Red Hulk and Gamma Goblin with The Leader observing from the sidelines.
Facing apparent checkmate, Batman's lips curved upward almost imperceptibly:
"Who said that was my final contingency?"
He'd mapped The Leader's complete strategy—including Norman Osborn's potential mutation.
Batman prepared contingency protocols for every individual bone fracture. How could he lack contingencies for bat-pod failure?
Since The Leader had exhausted all cards, Batman's turn had arrived.
As The Leader's heartbeat stuttered momentarily, Batman's body—still wearing basic Arkham suit—began transforming.
Massive quantities of pitch-black symbiote material rippled across Batman's armor surface. The sharp bat emblem transformed into an enormous, ferocious white bat symbol. Eyes extended upward unnaturally, becoming inhuman orbs.
Emergency protocol activated: Venom suit deployment.
Simultaneously, the second object plummeting from altitude crashed into the gamma facility with thunderous impact—the disposable Batwing itself.
Its fuel tanks were nearly depleted. It had completed delivering bat-pod three—though that pod proved useless.
But emergency protocol two required this single-use Batwing's participation, despite being destroyed beyond recognition during atmospheric descent.
As the Batwing crashed groundward, its Oracle AI—seconds from permanent offline status—received Batman's final command:
"Deploy Batwing Two."
Emergency protocol three: During transit to New Mexico, Batman had begun acquiring sequential heavy industrial facilities, remotely controlled via Oracle AI remaining at the Batcave, conducting assembly operations.
Currently, thousands of miles distant in New York, following Batman's directive, a brand-new Batwing—design vastly divergent from any aircraft in this world—launched skyward.