A moment later, Bruce flipped the switch, engaging the afterburners on his aircraft.
If you thought a proper Bat-plane was only good for flying, you were severely underestimating it. The tail section retracted sharply, and propellers emerged from the sides of the wings.
Mera immediately felt the aircraft she was controlling start to fight back.
Seeing this, she simply clenched her small fist. As her power intensified, Bruce's plane was crushed and deformed by the swirling water. Even the cockpit glass in front of Bruce began to spiderweb with cracks.
"Who's trying to take me down?"
Bruce asked himself coldly, grabbing a full-face mask from beside him. He had long ago equipped the plane with submersible functionality, so it carried every survival device he needed.
After donning the full-face mask, Bruce hit a switch, and his core cockpit module ejected violently from the main body of the aircraft. The original stealth plane disassembled in the blink of an eye, shedding a compact underwater scooter.
Bruce plunged into the water and immediately struggled against the currents, trying to break free from the mysterious figure's control. But clearly, he wasn't going to manage that—invisible streams of water had encased both him and the aircraft.
To free himself from the water's grip, Bruce decided to detonate the Bat-plane's main body in a directed blast, aiming to punch through the watery barrier. As for the shockwaves traveling through the water, his Batsuit had already been engineered with countermeasures for that.
But just as he was about to press the detonation switch, Mera, hidden beneath the sea, spread her hands apart.
In an instant, a five-meter radius around Bruce was completely drained of water.
No—not drained, but pushed away. It sent Bruce, his plane, and the underwater scooter crashing heavily onto the seafloor.
BOOM!!!
Bruce slammed painfully against the wreckage of his plane, but he didn't stop moving. Gritting through the pain, he swiftly detached the fourth and seventh clasps from his belt.
He hurled them fiercely in front of and behind him. The clasps instantly transformed into fine steel wire nets, sweeping through all the air in the space around him.
Not some kind of invisible monster, then.
Bruce went on to detach the third clasp, slamming it directly onto the seafloor while pressing a control on his wrist.
Intense sonic waves blasted out from the clasp on the ground. The sound penetrated even the water, making Mera bite her lip in pain.
The space surrounding Bruce rippled. The water all around churned and surged, as if ready to drown him again at any moment.
"Reacts to sound!"
Bruce confirmed that piece of intel while pressing his wrist control again, deactivating the earplugs that shielded his hearing.
He only had two ultrasonic bombs. The last one had to be saved for a more critical moment.
With a trump card in hand, Bruce's composure steadied considerably. Now all he needed to do was draw out the mastermind hiding behind the scenes.
He bellowed into the void.
"Who are you? Since you chose to meet me, you must have a reason. Show yourself!"
"Of course, Batman."
Mera, concealed in the water, spoke softly while rubbing her ears. At the same time, her voice was carried by the water into Bruce's ears in that pocket of air.
Bruce froze. Surround sound?
No—it was a woman!
"What's your relationship with Arthur Curry?!"
He shouted, and his words made Mera pause for a moment in the water.
A beat later, Mera swam out from the distant seabed, floating in the water that enclosed the air pocket around Bruce.
Looking at the green-armored woman with flowing red hair before him, Bruce's expression sharpened. He knew she had to be one of the Atlanteans Wonder Woman had spoken of.
At the same time, Mera reached the seafloor, stepping step by step into the air bubble to stand before Bruce.
She first gave a polite nod, then explained softly.
"I am Mera, Princess of the Kingdom of Xebel. A pleasure to meet you, hero of the surface world."
"A princess?"
Bruce looked at Mera deeply, then pressed on.
"You still haven't told me your relationship with Arthur Curry, Your Highness."
"Uh, Arthur Curry… that's a name I hear often. He's the child of one of my elders—a mixed-blood descendant of Atlanteans and surface-dwellers. You know Arthur Curry?"
"I don't," Bruce answered flatly.
Mera: (-_-;)
Ignoring Mera's bewilderment, Bruce immediately continued pressing.
"I don't, but I will know him soon enough—especially after meeting you, Princess Mera. When I first heard the tales of Atlantis, I assumed land and sea had always coexisted peacefully. Right up until I was inexplicably ambushed by a princess. So now, I hope you can give me a reason, Your Highness."
"I'm sorry for the trouble I've caused you, Mr. Batman. I must meet that exalted one. But my identity cannot be paraded in public, so I had to resort to such measures. For the trouble I've brought you, I apologize. I will also compensate you for your aircraft. So, can you take me to see that exalted one?"
Hearing this, Bruce nodded in understanding.
"So it's about Heisenberg. Heh, just what I figured. When a powerful being appears, it inevitably draws even stronger enemies—just like the General Zod and Doomsday that Superman brought with him. And in Mr. Heisenberg's case, you Atlanteans are the first to come calling, aren't you?"
"Of course not, we're not ene—ene—ene—!!!"
Halfway through her sentence, brilliant sparks of electricity erupted beneath Mera's feet—the metal net Bruce had thrown earlier. The violent current instantly paralyzed her entire body.
Right after, Bruce pulled the second clasp from his belt and casually tossed it beside Mera.
Weng weng weng!!!
Invisible sonic waves blasted out, hammering into Mera's ears. She lost the ability to think for a brief moment.
At the same time, Bruce hurriedly reattached the underwater scooter components to the aircraft, then dove straight back into his plane.
BOOM!!!
Countless torrents of water flooded back into the empty space, battering Bruce's plane left and right.
He struggled to control the aircraft, orienting it toward Mera, who was being swept by the currents.
Mera had just shaken off the electric shock and the sonic bombardment. She was about to take control of the water and restrain Bruce when, through the cockpit glass, Bruce looked at her and gave a faint smile.
"You want to see Heisenberg? Fine. But please, take a nap first. Until I know exactly why you want to see him, I have to at least eliminate the possibility that you might attack him. I will not allow any accident that might send him into a rage to appear before him!"
As his words fell, Bruce flicked the control stick with his index finger, switching the plane's ammunition.
In the next instant, over twenty sonic rounds slammed into Mera, knocking the self-assured princess's eyes right back into her head.
Then, before Mera could regain consciousness, Bruce piloted the plane in close and grabbed her with the mechanical claw.
Moments later, the plane carried Mera upward, breaking through the surface and soaring toward Metropolis.
Mera snapped awake from her stupor in just twelve seconds. But this time, she discovered she was already hundreds of meters in the air.
After assessing her situation, she wrenched viciously at the metal claw.
Bruce noticed the motion and frowned.
"I really hope the constitution of Atlanteans isn't all like this princess's, because that would be absolutely absurd."
As he spoke, he adjusted the plane's gun barrel and hammered Mera on the head with another sonic round.
Without water to conduct it, the sonic round was far less effective. Mera shook off the dizziness in mere moments and thrust out her right hand. The residual moisture inside the cockpit suddenly condensed. Even the faint sweat on Bruce's back and forehead gathered under her control.
An instant later, Bruce hastily swiveled the gun barrel and fired two genuine grenades into the air. He then pressed the barrel loaded with live rounds directly against Mera's forehead.
Meanwhile, the water blade Mera had shaped slid through the gaps in Bruce's armor, pressing hard against his neck.
At that point, the two of them were completely deadlocked. Only the plane remained, flying on its preset course toward Heisenberg's ship.
...
Meanwhile, aboard the ship, Heisenberg glanced quizzically to his left.
Noticing his gaze, Clark asked quietly, "What's wrong?"
As he spoke, Clark looked in the direction Heisenberg was staring and immediately furrowed his brow.
"Is that Bruce...?"
"Clearly, he's run into a small bit of trouble."
Heisenberg sighed leisurely and patted Clark on the shoulder.
"Go pick him up."
"And the woman? Send her straight to pri—"
"Stop."
Heisenberg cut off Clark's words, patting his shoulder again.
"Don't go throwing people into prison at the drop of a hat. Bring them both over. That woman is likely from Atlantis."
"Alright, one moment."
As soon as the words left his mouth, Clark shot forward, streaking straight toward the battlefield between Bruce and Mera.
...
On the plane, feeling the cold, sharp sensation at his neck, Bruce gritted his teeth.
"Princess Mera, if your arrival is indeed well-intentioned, then our fight should end here. Don't you agree?"
"I think you damned bastard ambushed me, knocked me out, and tried to drag me off to some unknown—"
"Wait, Your Highness Mera, weren't you the one who ambushed me first? Besides, the place I'm taking you happens to be exactly where you can meet the person you want to see. It's just that, before delivering you to him, I needed to make you realize that humans are not beings you can toy with at your whim!"
Bruce's words made Mera's brow furrow tightly. She immediately roared in indignation.
"I've never looked down on humans! I simply don't approve of a weakling like you stepping into the halls of gods! Don't think I can't see what you really are—you're just an ordinary, powerless mortal!"
"And yet this very mortal caught you, Your Highness. So you need to respect mortals."
"I—!!!"
Mera's fury practically burst from her eyes. But after a few seconds of such rage, she ultimately withdrew the water blade.
As she released her control over the moisture, Mera stubbornly added, "I can kill you. Your shells can't kill me. But I can forgive your actions, since everything started with my offense!"
As her words fell, Bruce gave a small nod, then a shake of his head.
"Is that so? Yet my plane is loaded with twenty-seven types of ammunition. How do you know the next one won't be able to kill you, Atlantean?"
"I—"
Mera's words caught in her throat. She turned her head away in exasperation, ignoring Bruce in the cockpit entirely.
The sea breeze blew her hair across her cheeks, drawing the eye along those strands to her face. The contours of that lovely face were incomparably fine, but the expression on it was foul. Truly foul.
/-\
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