"Oracle."
Batman pressed a hand to the earpiece hidden beneath his cowl.
"I've hacked into Miracle Tower's computer and blocked the execution of Project Ten," Batgirl Barbara reported from the Batcave, typing rapidly on her keyboard.
At the top of Miracle Tower, the launch platform for the third wave of missiles ground to a halt.
Dr. Hugo turned to face the man before him.
"It seems I underestimated you—and Hardy," Dr. Hugo said, calmly putting his glasses back on as he looked at Batman.
"Do you really think he's still Hardy? You should know his life over the past twenty-plus years. He's nothing like the obsessive doctor he once was," Batman replied.
"Maybe it was the treatment plan I devised for him back at Arkham that worked? In any case, it doesn't matter anymore. Looks like I've lost. But fortunately, you're here. As long as I can eliminate you, the next time someone tries to destroy Gotham, there'll be no one left to stop them."
A smile appeared on Dr. Hugo's face.
"Activate Project Eleven. Password—Wayne!"
Batman's pupils contracted. He lunged forward, grabbing Dr. Hugo with his right arm, while the blade on his left arm pointed ahead. With a powerful elbow strike, he shattered the window, his cape unfurling as he leapt out.
"Boom!"
The top of Miracle Tower exploded with a thunderous roar.
Not far away in the sky, Hardy, noticing that no third wave of missiles was coming and seeing the explosion atop the tower, immediately flew toward Miracle Tower.
Naturally, he spotted Batman gliding away under the cover of night, carrying Dr. Hugo, and gave chase.
Batman locked the struggling Dr. Hugo with a special joint technique using his left hand, while his right hand controlled the gliding cape. Suddenly, he felt the surrounding airflow violently disturbed, his cape losing balance as if tossed into a washing machine, spinning downward in circles.
"Bruce! The Puppeteer is after you!" Barbara's voice shouted over the comms.
"I know, Oracle! Initiate contingency file 1263!" Batman quickly pressed a spot on his shoulder where the cape connected.
"Activating jet-powered pressure stabilization system."
A chemical reaction inside the cape's special materials rapidly produced gas, inflating the cape and dispersing it outward to stabilize the air pressure through diffusion.
Even if it could only stabilize things for a short while before being disrupted again, that was enough.
Meanwhile, in the Batcave, Batgirl opened contingency file 1263 on the computer.
Anti-Puppeteer Protocol—activated!
"Bang!"
The grappling gun fired, hooking onto a nearby skyscraper. The line automatically retracted, swinging Batman and Dr. Hugo toward the distance. They crashed through a building's glass and tumbled inside.
"Beep—"
Batman activated the pulse signal jammer in his suit, disabling the White Samurai's infrared imaging, fire control, and other functions.
Hardy followed close behind, charging in.
"Batman, you know you're not my target. Hand over that self-righteous fool in your grasp, and I won't bother with you…"
"Troublesome."
Relying on his ability to manipulate air currents, Hardy spread his voice throughout every corner of the building, while also attempting to sense the reflection of sound waves along the airflow, trying to pinpoint Batman's location with a sonar-like method.
This application had only just been developed, and Hardy was still not very skilled at it.
It required an extremely powerful brain for calculation and analysis—fortunately, as a puppeteer, this was exactly what he excelled at.
"Found him!"
Hardy immediately looked in a certain direction.
"Ahem, you don't have to go to such lengths. I've already lost. You can just hand me over,"
Dr. Hugo, dangling like a dead dog in Batman's grasp, coughed as he spoke.
Batman said nothing. He, too, used sonar, infrared vision, and other gadgets to determine Hardy's position, darting swiftly through the building, trying to buy time.
However, he was heading toward the roof.
After being frightened, the people inside the building screamed and rushed downstairs, desperate to get out.
This made things easier for Hardy.
"Aha, there's no one ahead."
The White Samurai clenched his fist, activated his pneumatic device, and punched a huge hole in the wall.
No need to take a detour now.
A punch to the left, a punch to the right—he barreled through unimpeded, chasing Batman all the way to the balcony.
At that moment, a Batplane hovered steadily, parallel to the balcony and a little over two meters above the ground.
Who knows what kind of black technology allowed it to fly like a helicopter using turbine engines.
At this moment, Batman was escorting Dr. Hugo onto the Batplane.
"You don't really think your plane will fare any better than those helicopters just now, do you?"
A whirlwind surged. Amid swirling dust in the dark night, the tall figure of the White Samurai looked especially imposing.
If not for Batman's pulse disruptor frying his internal electronics, the White Samurai's glowing V-shaped blue eyes would have looked particularly striking in this scene.
"No, I never intended to use this thing against you."
Batman glanced at Dr. Hugo, now securely restrained and dumped below the cockpit, and spoke in a low voice.
Inside the Batplane, the mechanical whirring abruptly stopped. Batman had donned a new suit of armor.
Heavy black metal, exuding a unique sense of solidity.
"Master, I must remind you: although the promethium battery has much greater capacity than the nano-battery, it's far less stable. We haven't tested whether this will cause a reaction between the promethium battery and the promethium alloy in the suit."
In the Batcave, Alfred, holding a cup of coffee, stood behind Barbara and spoke as he watched the screen.
"We don't have time for more tests, Alfred."
Batman pressed a button, letting himself drop freely, landing right in front of Hardy.
Anti-Puppeteer Armor!
After multiple rounds of modification and reconstruction, this suit was equipped with airflow stabilizers similar to those previously installed in the Batcape, and was extremely heavy to prevent excessive interference from air currents.
The exterior was coated with a layer of promethium, granting it exceptional defense and immunity to magic and most energy attacks. Internally, it was fitted with motorized drives, making it an almost perfect exoskeleton.
"Boom!"
A black and a white metal fist collided, sending out a shockwave.
The Anti-Puppeteer Armor didn't budge, but the White Samurai was forced back several steps.
It wasn't that the White Samurai was weaker—the armor was simply too heavy.