Chapter 302: Next Target—Ant-Man
"Lizard Professor's currently displayed strength estimated between eighty and ninety tons."
Batman rode on the Lizard Professor's back. Though he wasn't directly enduring the Lizard Professor's trampling charges...
The specific combat performance and reactive forces transmitted from the ground through the Lizard Professor's body allowed the Arkham suit to calculate the data.
"Before coming to Baxter Building, I instructed the Hulk to restrain his strength—avoid destroying too much of the building's structural integrity."
Batman's concern was obvious. If Hulk fully unleashed his power—strength with an upper limit even Batman didn't know—would it collapse the entire building?
The Lizard Professor's current combat performance rivaled Hulk's. But Batman still judged that the Hulk's strength far exceeded the eighty-ton threshold.
"Biological strength is typically limited by the organism's muscles, bones, blood vessels, and other structural tolerances. 'Strength' itself results from coordinated exertion across multiple bodily systems."
"When I arrived at North Brother Island, the Lizard Professor was in conflict with Hulk. I noticed that claws capable of easily slicing through Baxter Building's walls couldn't leave a mark on Hulk's skin."
"Based on that performance, Hulk's strength likely exceeds five hundred tons. Possibly far more."
"Whether from General Ross's records when he captured Hulk, or my conversations with Dr. Banner—both indicate that Hulk's strength increases proportionally with his rage."
"Increased strength also causes Hulk's physical durability to skyrocket. My current arsenal might not even be able to penetrate his defenses."
Batman sat astride the Lizard Professor, allowing him to smash and tear apart the dinosaurs beneath the primitives' control. Batman only intervened once—stopping the Lizard Professor from biting off a primitive's head.
His eyes collected every possible trace Lunella might have left behind. His ears filtered desperately through the surrounding battle cries, screams, and bestial roars.
Simultaneously, Batman's mind raced through scenarios. If Hulk lost control at some point in the future, how should he respond?
"The previous 'Citybreaker Protocol' targeting Hulk needs complete redesign. That plan can restrain creatures like Gamma Goblin and Abomination, but Hulk could probably tear it apart with his bare hands."
"I need not only a drug capable of forcibly reverting Hulk back to Dr. Banner, but also combat capability sufficient to withstand a rampaging Hulk."
"After rescuing Lunella, perhaps I can attempt infiltrating Pym Technologies. SHIELD's 'Goliath Project' resources there—Pym Particles—might prove useful."
As Batman settled on his next objective, the Lizard Professor had finished overturning every primitive and dinosaur that had surrounded them.
Massive, bloody dinosaur corpses piled around the yellow-green vortex. The thick stench of blood tinged the Lizard Professor's golden reptilian pupils with crimson.
"I've caught the little girl's scent, Batman." The Lizard Professor's voice rasped like nails on glass. "It's coming from the same direction as that irritating sound."
Batman nodded. While thinking, he'd also been desperately gathering clues. Nearly simultaneously with the Lizard Professor, he determined:
"Left side. Approximately three miles from here."
No footprints from Lunella marked the ground. Batman and the primitives shared no common language.
Batman relied on his sense of smell to analyze traces of the modern girl's scent lingering in the air—things like soap residue.
The Lizard Professor's method was more sophisticated. He detected various information-carrying chemical compounds humans released when stressed.
Similar to animal pheromones.
"Hold on." The Lizard Professor growled. The instant Batman leaned forward and gripped his dorsal fins, he launched forward like a missile.
At the Lizard Professor's full speed, the three-mile distance took less than a minute.
Unlike the vegetation-choked area around the yellow-green vortex, this location was a clearing adjacent to a massive boulder.
Batman immediately spotted the girl named Lunella. Her clothes had been drenched in what appeared to be dinosaur blood, staining them crimson red. She was currently sheltered beneath a dinosaur's body.
A massive dinosaur measuring nearly fifty feet long. Also the only Tyrannosaurus Rex Batman had seen from Baxter Building to here.
Except this T-Rex lay sprawled on the ground motionless. Close to death.
Surrounding Lunella and the T-Rex, roaring flames formed a circular prison. Scarlet tongues of fire nearly licked their bodies.
No—Batman could see clearly. Due to the T-Rex's enormous size, flames had already reached it first, burning its olive-green skin to a glowing red—like a demon dragged from Hell itself.
Around the fire ring, charred and bleached bones littered the ground. Obviously a previous batch of primitives had been thrown into the flames and burned to ash... or cooked meat.
Unlike Batman, the Lizard Professor's first glance wasn't toward Lunella, but toward the primitives surrounding the blazing fire.
More precisely, toward the dinosaur horde behind the primitives. Toward a super-monster whose size far exceeded any carnivorous dinosaur from Earth's ancient past.
A dinosaur over sixty-five feet long. Its hind legs supported its standing body. Its head towered over twenty-five feet above the ground.
Its shape resembled the T-Rex burning inside the fire ring. But its keratinized skin wasn't olive green—it was earth yellow.
Twin horns spiraled upward and forward from its skull. From those horns, infrasonic waves poured forth continuously—the noise that so irritated the Lizard Professor.
Batman and the Lizard Professor's arrival drew the attention of every primitive and dinosaur outside the fire ring. Even the dying red T-Rex inside the flames glanced their way.
The horned giant T-Rex's gaze carried the authority of a king. It seemed to possess genuine intelligence.
It appeared to be using infrasonic waves to suppress the T-Rex burning red in the fire ring, while simultaneously using those same waves to command other dinosaurs to surround Batman and the Lizard Professor.
"Can you communicate with it?" Batman asked quietly.
"No." The Lizard Professor's golden slits locked onto the giant T-Rex. "And its existence is suppressing my abilities. I can't control the other dinosaurs."
Batman nodded slightly. The Lizard Professor had demonstrated pheromone-based control over reptiles when subduing Norman Osborn on Hoffman Island.
But today, facing swarms of dinosaurs, the Lizard Professor had still chosen violent breakthrough rather than controlling them.
The giant horned T-Rex's presence clearly explained why.
Batman dismounted from the Lizard Professor's back, landing with a solid THUMP on the ground.
"I'll rescue Lunella. You handle the big one." Batman's voice was low and commanding.
The Lizard Professor turned to look at Batman. His savage reptilian head nodded slowly. Then both split left and right, charging simultaneously toward the fire ring and the giant T-Rex.