Chapter 315: Adamantium Skeleton
Hulk's appearance made Garrett decide on a different approach—use his infrasound-emitting sonic weapon to slightly enrage Hulk, then personally subdue him.
This would both elevate his SHIELD agent clearance level to access more classified intelligence, and earn NYPD acceptance.
Two birds with one stone. Garrett could practically envision himself controlling SHIELD with one hand and NYPD with the other—leaving Batman with zero ability to resist.
Except his plan to enrage Hulk became useless after Batman's arrival.
Nathan Garrett discovered his infrasound emitter had malfunctioned.
Without any jolts or damage—Garrett hadn't even touched it after activation—the sonic emitter had inexplicably broken down.
Garrett couldn't even identify what had failed.
With the infrasound emitter broken, he couldn't keep Hulk constantly irritated and angry. So when Garrett watched Batman pacify Hulk with just a chocolate bar, fury made him grind his teeth.
"Ah well, can't be too greedy. Better stick with the original plan." Garrett casually switched off the infrasound emitter.
He gazed toward the Adirondacks. He wanted desperately to pursue Hulk, but Manhattan still had dinosaurs to handle. And Batman had suddenly departed.
If Garrett also rode his winged horse after dinosaurs, the remaining "Iron Man" with barely any fighting capacity would struggle eliminating every creature.
Should civilians die in dinosaur jaws, Garrett's plan would suffer a severe blow.
After weighing pros and cons, Garrett gripped his staff, pulled his winged horse's reins, and leaped from Empire State Building toward the remaining dinosaurs.
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"After leaving Baxter Building, Hulk's rage remained within controllable parameters—until arriving below Empire State Building, where he suddenly became impossible for Tony Stark to communicate with."
Batman swung through the air, rapidly approaching Baxter Building while reviewing recent intelligence.
"This condition persisted even after I appeared before Hulk. Until the Batmobile's arrival."
The Batmobile couldn't pacify Hulk. Nor could Batman successfully calm him during rage using just chocolate.
What truly brought Hulk back from fury was the Batmobile's sonic weapon.
Before Batman had even constructed his first Batmobile, he'd already recognized that sonic weapons would have significant applications in this world.
Therefore Batman built weaponry capable of automatically adjusting frequencies, targeting high-frequency ultrasound and low-frequency infrasound specifically.
Precisely because the Batmobile-mounted sonic weapon functioned—rapidly receiving external infrasound and adjusting frequencies to match—two infrasound waves could cancel each other out.
Only then could Batman avoid actually fighting Hulk.
As for that chocolate? Just Batman respectfully giving Hulk a graceful exit.
"The infrasound frequency affecting Hulk differs from that giant horned T-Rex's horn emissions."
"Tony Stark was similarly affected by infrasound."
"Mysterious Black Knight, where exactly do you come from? SHIELD or Hydra?"
Batman asked quietly, his voice lost to wind.
Whoever this person was, by choosing to appear in sunlight rather than hiding in shadows like Batman—Batman had already grasped his psychology.
Therefore, despite Manhattan still having a few dinosaurs unresolved, Batman immediately turned away, rapidly departing toward Baxter Building—where he'd heard Kingpin's voice.
His opponent would work hard eliminating remaining dinosaurs, even striving desperately to avoid harming any civilians.
The distance from Empire State Building to Baxter Building wasn't far. Batman soon swung on webbing to arrive.
"Clinton Barton told me Kingpin's estimated weight exceeds nine hundred pounds. But over a month ago, Kingpin weighed at most four hundred fifty pounds."
"Exactly doubled."
Batman had once punched Kingpin across Oscorp Tower. He possessed clear knowledge of this Hell's Kitchen gang lord's weight.
Now after just one month, Kingpin had not only healed those Batman-shattered bones and stood back up—his weight had literally doubled.
Batman suspected his transformation connected to Kenji Oyama in Yokohama, Japan. Possibly even that unknown entity trading with the Yami Kaze Group.
While en route, Batman had determined from sound direction that both Kingpin and Reed's voices came from Baxter Building's rooftop.
But rather than immediately rushing to the roof seeking Kingpin, he came to Reed's laboratory first.
Everything here remained unchanged from Batman's departure. Dinosaur corpses everywhere. Shattered floor panels. Equipment Reed had moved.
Except for Rescue One armor—forcibly torn open from outside, now lying twisted on the floor.
"Kingpin's body can accomplish this now?" Batman crouched down, studying the obvious hand-crushed marks on Rescue One.
Judging from the mark patterns, this could only be Kingpin's work.
"Clinton, I need you reporting what happened after encountering Kingpin at the Yami Kaze Group." Batman connected to Ronin Clinton Barton.
Clinton Barton's voice came several seconds late.
"I fought him. More accurately—he beat me one-sidedly."
"If I'd escaped any slower, I'd probably be scattered body parts in some dumpster now."
Batman stood, walking step by step toward Baxter Building's rooftop terrace.
"The katana I gave you—still with you?"
Clinton looked down at the blade in his arms, laughing bitterly.
"Yes. Without this sword I'd be dead already."
"The handle's interior contains rapid biological tissue regeneration gel." Batman said. "Extract it and pour it on your wounds."
Clinton Barton complied. Looking at the jelly-like substance from the handle, he poured it unhesitatingly onto his injuries.
"I haven't found the trade records you wanted yet. But I discovered something else interesting about the Yami Kaze Group. They found metal extremely similar to vibranium in Antarctica. Fused it with other metals, creating a substance called adamantium alloy."
"Kingpin's skeleton is now adamantium."
As Ronin Clinton Barton finished speaking, Batman had reached Baxter Building's rooftop terrace. He saw "Kingpin" Wilson Fisk with his arm around Reed Richards's shoulder.
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