Chapter 162: The Necessity of the Batplane
Obadiah piloted his massive silver-gray armor, clashing violently with Tony Stark's red-and-gold suit.
Iron Monger's enormous bulk moved like a mobile fortress. Every strike carried enough force to demolish steel and concrete. Each step left deep craters in the ground as the armor continuously attacked Tony Stark's Mark III.
Micro-rockets, missiles, machine gun rounds poured forth in a frenzy. Obadiah's Iron Monger matched exactly what Batman had predicted—Obadiah and Professor Yuri Petrovich had piled on materials based on the Mark I prototype.
Aside from large-scale weapons requiring separate launchers, even a sniper rifle had been mounted on Iron Monger's back.
Not to mention Gatling guns—Iron Monger carried three of them, distributed across his left and right hands plus left shoulder. Ammunition belts extended from inside the armor, splitting into three feeds for the three guns.
Iron Monger's right shoulder carried no gun. Instead, rows of micro-missiles lined that position, currently launching in rotation toward Tony Stark.
Since Tony Stark couldn't possibly stand still letting Obadiah shoot at him, he moved with considerable fluidity through the air and across the ground, dodging bullets while frequently counterattacking.
Perhaps Tony Stark had sensed Batman hiding in the shadows observing. His every movement seemed designed to show off his suit's functions and firepower.
WHOOSH!
Tony Stark in his Mark III swept past near Batman's hiding position. Iron Monger's machine gun fire followed immediately.
Facing the machine gun barrage, Batman remained perfectly motionless in the darkness.
Every bullet missed him by inches.
With Peter Parker's dynamic vision and reaction capabilities combined with Batman's experience, the instant bullets left the barrel Batman could determine whether they'd hit him.
During that sweep, after confirming no bullets would strike him, Batman hadn't moved at all—even when the closest round grazed past his ear.
"Batman's not hiding there?"
Tony Stark frowned at the bullet-swept area before darting toward another location while counterattacking Obadiah from the air, returning fire with several micro-missiles.
'Tony's trying to warn me not to act rashly by displaying the armor's firepower.'
:He knows I'm on scene but doesn't know my exact position.'
In the darkness, Batman silently watched Tony Stark's flight trajectory:
'Tony's armor resembles Blue Beetle... no, he's more like Lex Luthor. Except Luthor's suit uses electricity while Tony's relies on the chest reactor.'
'From his combat patterns, his weapons have adjustable power settings plus energy attacks. Charge time correlates directly with power.'
'The emitted beams have strong impact force and high temperature characteristics, but currently show no penetration capability—can't punch through Obadiah's armor.'
'The chest also contains an impact beam emitter...'
Tony Stark's intention had been intimidating Batman through displays of power, but he didn't realize Batman was silently recording every detail about his armor.
'Flight speed unknown. Flight ceiling unknown...'
The moment that thought formed, Tony Stark's Mark III had already ascended skyward.
Iron Monger slowly rose after him. The two flew one after another toward high altitude.
Their battlefield shifted from the ground factory to the heavens.
"Barbara, record the data." Batman looked up at their gradually shrinking forms, addressing Oracle AI.
WEEEE-OOOO!
Mere seconds after they ascended, urgent sirens wailed.
Even experienced New York police faced two people climbing higher into the night sky completely helpless.
The officers could only cordon off the factory area, preventing curious crowds from entering while waiting for the aerial combatants to descend.
"Altitude exceeded one thousand meters."
Batman watched Obadiah's form shrink to a tiny speck.
"With Peter Parker's body, plus the Batmobile and Venom Robin's help, my operational range extends to maximum five hundred meters altitude."
"Beyond five hundred meters falls outside my combat zone."
"The Batplane must be completed as soon as possible."
Batman silently calculated Tony Stark and Obadiah's ascent speed, feeling anxiety about something beyond his control.
He had to complete his Batplane quickly.
Fortunately, geological surveys of Hoffman Island had finished. Construction modifications had already begun. Batman had purchased that island—though New York government records still called it Hoffman Island.
In Batman's mind, the island had been officially renamed Bat Island.
While the island's aircraft elevator platform was being constructed, the prototype aircraft for modification into the Batplane was in transit.
"The first combat aircraft will be used to travel to New Mexico for the mission to rescue Norman Osborn."
"Afterward I need to continue investigating vibranium. If I can learn its true source and origin, I might build a vibranium Batplane."
"As for Tony—"
Batman looked at the night sky. The two who'd flown up had nearly merged with the darkness, becoming two more stars among many.
They'd climbed nearly five thousand meters—beyond Peter Parker's naked eye limits in darkness.
But Peter Parker's limits weren't Batman's limits. Through the Arkham armor and bonding with Venom, through those white eyes blazing to life again, Batman once more clearly saw Tony five thousand meters away.
Tony was now engaging Iron Monger in aerial combat, flying while continuously exchanging blows.
"Tony's armor carries no close-combat weapon systems..." Batman continued analyzing instinctively.
He believed Tony Stark was decent at his core, even capable of becoming Peter's friend.
But Batman couldn't guarantee what Tony Stark wearing armor might become—even though Tony had just threatened him as Batman to "stay away from Peter."
Batman worried Tony Stark might be like his early self—experiencing vengeful euphoria after first donning armor and operating outside the law.
Batman had needed years to adjust himself. He had to prevent Tony from falling into that trap.
Simultaneously, he had to ensure Tony wouldn't become addicted to possessing power far exceeding ordinary humans after wearing armor, potentially going astray.
Batman had encountered this countless times. Beyond super-villains, super-heroes frequently lost control after becoming intoxicated with power.