Warren the Jackal's physique was cloned from Jack Russell, the Werewolf by Night among the Avengers.
Initially, Warren the Jackal had been quite satisfied with this body, but the moment he arrived on South Brother Island, he learned just how terribly mistaken he was; his two-ton tier of strength was practically no different from a baby's here.
Today, however, Warren the Jackal had taken the initiative to make a move, trading blows back and forth evenly with Kraven the Hunter.
Kraven the Hunter talked a terrifyingly big game, capable of flashing a smile even when surrounded by this pack of terrifying freaks.
In reality, though, Kraven the Hunter's physical strength sat at around two tons, putting him in the exact same tier as Warren the Jackal.
As a hunter, Kraven's personal might wasn't particularly overwhelming, and the targets he hunted tended to be far stronger than he was.
Venom, Gwen, Benjamin.
Kraven the Hunter had only observed Spider-Man Benjamin Reilly and Venom Robin, and he was acutely aware that the strength of these two fellows definitively exceeded his own.
Yet he had still made comprehensive preparations to hunt down both of them.
Gwen's appearance had slightly disrupted his plan, which was why he had originally intended to make a temporary tactical retreat before Venom Robin spotted him, returning only after doing some further prep work.
Even after being discovered, Kraven the Hunter retained a degree of confidence in himself, believing that with his hunter's experience and methods, he could take all of them down—at the cost of some effort, at most.
Until now, watching the Incredible Hulk, Professor Lizard, and the rest appear in succession, Kraven the Hunter knew he had no wings to fly away on.
With the roles of hunter and hunted inverted, Kraven found the prospect entirely acceptable; on the contrary, he rather relished his current state.
So many monsters! Such overwhelming power!
To be taken this seriously and to die in a setting like this belonged, in Kraven the Hunter's eyes, as a supreme honor.
And so, he forced down the terror clawing at his chest, refusing to tremble and drop to his knees to beg for mercy; instead, he parted his lips and grinned.
When Warren the Jackal lunged forward, Kraven the Hunter overcame layer after layer of crushing pressure, gripped his spear tightly, and engaged him in a life-or-death struggle.
Drawing upon his rich combat experience, he even managed to force Warren the Jackal back step by step for a brief moment.
Yet that was the absolute limit, because merely dozens of exchanges later, Warren the Jackal completely abandoned defense, every single blow aimed relentlessly at Kraven's eyes, throat, heart, and other vital spots.
Seeing that Warren the Jackal was about to take Kraven the Hunter down, Batman—who had already set down Gwen and Reilly from his arms—spoke up:
"Stop."
Warren the Jackal was lost in a bloodlust and hadn't heard Batman's voice at all, until Dr. Otto reached out with a mechanical tentacle and coiled it tightly around him to yank him away.
Watching his opponent get hauled off, Kraven the Hunter drew a heavy, ragged breath. The wounds torn open across his flesh by those claws were bleeding continuously.
"Who's next?" Kraven scanned the circle with a smile still lingering on his face.
Seeing that no one bothered to acknowledge him, Kraven swept his gaze across the group and finally pinned it on Batman.
Batman's gaze was like ice, staring coldly down at Kraven the Hunter.
Had any of the three kids—Gwen, Reilly, or Robin—suffered even the slightest injury tonight, Batman would have stepped in personally without a second's hesitation, beating Kraven until not a single unbroken bone remained in his entire body.
Yet now, none of the three little ones had come to harm; only the symbiote matter on Venom Robin had suffered some corrosion from the sulfuric acid, leaving no lasting damage.
Batman had previously attempted a series of tests on Robin's symbiote matter, knowing that this counted at most as a superficial scrape.
"Hm? You don't intend to kill me?" Seeing that Batman merely stared at him in silence, Kraven spat out a glob of bloody phlegm and spoke. "If you don't kill me today, I will regard you as the ultimate prey I must hunt for the rest of my life, until the day I defeat you with my own hands."
Batman watched Kraven, discerning whether his words rang true.
"If you worry about someone constantly惦记着 [keeping tabs on] the head on your shoulders down the road, you should put me down right now," Kraven said.
"Alfred," Batman called out.
"Kraven the Hunter, legal name Sergei Kravinoff, originally of Russian noble descent, zero criminal record..." Alfred's voice echoed out.
"Robin," Batman looked toward Venom Robin. "Deliver him to Ravencroft."
Ravencroft was the name of a psychiatric research institute located in the northern suburbs of New York, the very place from which the Green Goblin, Norman Osborn, had been hauled off to New Mexico by General Ross's men.
"Understood," Robin gave a heavy nod.
"Wait, what kind of place is Ravencroft?" Kraven shouted.
"A psychiatric hospital," Robin explained, raising a hand to launch a flurry of pitch-black tentacles that bound the fellow up tight and hoisted him in his grip.
He was still maintaining his three-meter-tall Venom form; hauling a Kraven who stood under two meters tall was no issue at all, sparing them from any awkward mismatch of small horse pulling a heavy carriage.
"A psychiatric hospital? I'm not crazy." Realizing Batman wasn't going to execute him, the tension in Kraven's mind snapped, and a wave of soreness instantly flooded his entire body, though he still bared his teeth and bellowed.
"Go inside and cool your head for a bit. You treat anyone you lay eyes on as prey; your mental state isn't exactly what a normal person's should be," Dr. Otto shook his head and remarked.
The Hulk let out a heavy huff through his nostrils, deemed the whole affair intensely boring, and turned to leave.
Taking two steps, the Hulk twitched his nose and looked up overhead. Seeing that Warren the Jackal was still crouching atop a nearby low-rise building, he simply launched himself into a leap upward into the air.
Mid-flight, the Hulk swept out a massive hand, grabbed Warren the Jackal, and slung him across his back.
With a few bounds, the Incredible Hulk vanished far into the distance amidst the night.
Dr. Otto glanced toward Professor Lizard, offered a dry chuckle, and took the initiative to climb right onto Professor Lizard's back, securing himself from falling by using two mechanical tentacles to grip the dorsal spikes along the professor's spine.
Professor Lizard's eyes twitched—clearly intending to roll them, but lacking the physiological capability to do so given his current cold-blooded reptilian anatomy.
And so he turned his head to glare at the highly self-conscious lizard-rider on his back, dropped his torso down onto all fours, and vanished within a few breaths as well.
Iron Man Tony Stark cast a single glance at Batman, and seeing the latter give him a subtle nod, he quickly took his leave.
Only the three little ones, Batman, and Kraven the Hunter remained at the scene.
"I heard Cletus Kasady's breathing. He's right beneath this building," Batman pointed toward the spot where Venom Robin had fallen into the sulfuric acid trap earlier.
Spider-Man Benjamin Reilly hurriedly swung on a strand of webbing to plunge inside the interior of the building, emerging a few minutes later dragging a disheveled, panicked-looking white man in his forties.
Gwen stood off to the side, looking somewhat baffled:
"You figured out the person hiding below was Cletus just from the sound of his breathing?"
"He has pneumonia," Batman explained.
"Robin, deliver Cletus to the Manhattan Police Department. Reilly, take Kraven to the northern suburb psychiatric hospital," Batman instructed. "Once you're done, both of you report back to the Batcave."
With that, Batman turned and walked away. Gwen stood frozen in place, watching Robin and Spider-Man Benjamin exchange hostages, completely at a loss for what to do.
She stared blankly at Batman's retreating back, only to see the figure draped in that wide, heavy cape halt abruptly after a few paces, turning his head back to look at her:
"Keep up."
"Ah?" "Oh!" Gwen snapped out of her daze and hurried in frantic pursuit.
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