Chapter 313: Batman VS Hulk
Deep within a Yokohama alley, Ronin Clinton Barton sat slumped against a wall reeking of blood and filth. His katana lay across his knees. Flies swarmed around him in buzzing clouds.
He weakly waved his hand, dispersing the insects. But those damned bugs flew away buzzing, then buzzed right back to cluster together.
"Batman, you need to be careful of someone. His name is Wilson Fisk."
Ronin Clinton Barton's voice came through Batman's encrypted channel extremely weakly, words stuttering out in fragments.
"I'm listening." Batman—currently in Manhattan facing down Hulk—frowned slightly and spoke in a low voice.
"I encountered him yesterday inside the Yami Kaze Group." Ronin said. "By now he's probably already reached New York."
A roar erupted from Batman's end, followed by a series of shattering glass and splintering wooden support beams.
Several seconds later, Ronin Clinton Barton heard a crisp CRACK. That sound he knew all too well—a dislocated joint forcibly popped back into place.
"Continue, Clinton." Batman's voice came through.
"If you encounter Wilson Fisk, don't hesitate. Run immediately. He—" Ronin Clinton coughed. "If his appearance weren't different, I'd swear Wilson was the actual Hulk."
Ronin Clinton Barton slumped in that Yokohama alley. With his cough, a pink froth of blood sprayed across his already torn samurai robe's front.
Flies immediately swarmed closer, buzzing.
---
On the street before Manhattan's Empire State Building, Batman currently lay collapsed in a shop's smashed counter display.
While conversing with Ronin Clinton Barton, Batman had just rescued Tony Stark. But moments later, Hulk had blasted him backward with a single punch from less than ten feet away.
Hulk's fist hadn't even touched Batman. It relied purely on Hulk's rage-amplified strength and increasingly powerful body to strike the air itself.
Hulk's punch functioned like an ultra-high-efficiency air compressor, forcibly compressing the air ahead into a transparent fishbowl-like arc, then detonating it explosively.
Batman had witnessed this scene once before on North Brother Island—when Hulk and Venom exchanged punches.
Except back then, Hulk's "fighting" resembled playing house with Venom more than combat. His strikes generated powerful winds that lifted Professor Morbius—standing nearby watching the spectacle—clean off his feet.
But now Hulk was angry. His punch contained no fancy flourishes—just raw massive force that sent even Batman flying backward.
Unlike the wretched-looking Ronin Hawkeye collapsed in that Yokohama alley, Batman sustained no injuries beyond a dislocated shoulder.
Getting blown away by Hulk's punch purely resulted from Batman possessing over fifty tons of strength but far too little body weight.
Rather than being "punched," he'd essentially been blown away by wind.
"Against Hulk's extreme power, unless I engage in close grappling or wear the Citybreaker armor, actual combat will continuously face situations where insufficient body weight means getting blown away."
"The Arkham suit faces obsolescence. The new suit's design requires added weight ballast and leg metal anchors..."
Batman climbed from the smashed counter, walking toward the shop exterior while continuing his conversation with Ronin Clinton Barton in Japan.
"Get to the point."
Clinton Barton impatiently waved away flies again, his voice growing weaker.
"Fine. The point is Wilson Fisk apparently underwent some surgery at the Yami Kaze Group making himself far stronger. I estimate Wilson Fisk's body weight now exceeds nine hundred pounds."
"I'm still investigating the Yami Kaze Group's trade operations. Give me a few days."
Batman could hear Ronin Clinton Barton's extreme weakness. He might have sustained extremely severe injuries after encountering Wilson Fisk—Kingpin.
"Clinton, I authorize you to terminate the mission. Return and heal properly." Batman said. "I'll continue searching for Black Widow on your behalf."
"No. Don't need that." Ronin Clinton Barton gasped several heavy breaths, using his katana to prop himself upright bit by bit. "I can feel I'm close to the target. Both the Yami Kaze Group's trade records and Wilson's transformation..."
"Anyway, they all connect to a Japanese man named Kenji Oyama."
Below the Empire State Building, Batman pressed a button inside his armor as he emerged from the street shop.
The next second, at the City Hall Batcave near Parker Tower, the pitch-black Batmobile crouching quietly inside suddenly blazed to life with headlights—like a beast awakening from slumber.
A low rumble gradually rose. The Batmobile's tires spun wildly, pivoting the vehicle in place, then racing through subway routes and sewers to emerge onto Manhattan's streets.
RUMMMMBLE!
For the first time since Batman constructed it, the Arkham Batmobile thundered unreservedly through New York's streets, smashing forward.
But before the Batmobile's arrival, Batman still needed to face the enraged Hulk alone.
"Hulk, calm down." Batman looked at Hulk clenching his fists, grinding his teeth.
While speaking, Batman didn't retreat backward like Tony Stark had. Instead, he advanced step by step toward Hulk.
As he approached, the bat-claws on both inner forearms continuously fired pitch-black webbing to either side. The web strands twisted together like steel cables.
From others' perspectives, it appeared Batman's body was continuously sprouting pitch-black elongated tentacles.
"You shouldn't be angry about the dinosaurs. That's not your fault, Hulk."
Batman stopped less than fifteen feet from Hulk. Behind him, hundreds upon thousands of tentacle-like web strands adhered to streets, walls, fire hydrants—everything providing anchor points.
"I need you returning to your previous state. If your rage needs an outlet, I'll fight you."
The muscles on Hulk's arms bulged from clenched fists. He huffed several rough breaths toward Batman, then suddenly charged forward.
Almost the instant Hulk launched his charge, thunder-like engine roars erupted from the street's far end, accompanied by a sharp piercing whistle.
The Batmobile appeared at the street's terminus. But something flew even faster than the vehicle itself—a winch and hook cable with a thirty-centimeter drill bit at the front end, connected to finger-thick steel cable behind.
Simultaneously, Batman's body launched skyward. The webbing he'd fired earlier—tentacle-like with ends perpetually connected to him—pulled taut as Batman advanced.
Batman's approach toward Hulk tightened the webbing with every step. Now as Batman went airborne, that taut webbing snapped back rapidly, yanking his body backward at speeds far exceeding Hulk's punch.
But this wasn't finished!
While flying backward, Batman fired several more web strands forward, firmly gripping walls on either side. After dodging Hulk's charge, they pulled his body back toward Hulk's direction once more!
But Hulk's attention wasn't on Batman. He suddenly twisted around, grabbing the hook cable shooting from the Batmobile.
BZZZZT—
The hook's purpose wasn't grabbing Hulk—it was delivering extreme electrical current!
"RAAAARGH!" Hulk roared, instinctively releasing the hook. Watching it retract rapidly into the winch as the Batmobile charged forward, Hulk didn't hesitate—he stomped down.
Against normal cars, one Hulk stomp would completely flatten them. But not this time.
The instant Hulk's foot was about to connect, the Batmobile suddenly split vertically down its center—as if transforming into two heavy motorcycles that passed Hulk on either side, racing toward Batman.
When Hulk turned back around, Batman hadn't mounted the Batmobile. Instead, his hands extended left and right, grabbing both split Batmobile sections and raising them upright along his outer forearms.