Marvel: The Sole Player

During this period, Spider-Man continued to appear frequently throughout Gotham, fighting crime even more often than Batman.

While Batman mostly operated only at night, Spider-Man worked around the clock, day and night.

Some began to wonder if this Spider-Man was even human; after all, his schedule was practically ghoulish.

And indeed, that was the case.

This Spider-Man really wasn’t human, but rather a spider-man suit fully controlled by an AI.

Following Darian’s instructions, the spider-man suit had entered an automatic idling mode, purging criminals day and night in Spider-Man’s name to maintain a high frequency of public appearances.

By now, almost no one in Gotham was unaware of Spider-Man’s name. Several local media outlets had even done exclusive reports on him. His popularity soared, his fame spreading beyond Gotham to surrounding cities, and his public reputation was almost entirely positive.

After all, this World didn’t have a newspaper boss who was a closeted fan pretending to be a Spider-Man hater, hurling passionate insults on the front page every day.

On this night, the spider-man suit continued its city patrol according to its established program.

After news of the Arkham Asylum riot spread, all sorts of lowlifes and monsters in Gotham began to emerge. Gotham’s crime rate skyrocketed, becoming more than twice as active as usual.

The spider-man suit became busy as well, with almost no breaks, constantly swinging between skyscrapers. As soon as it finished with one case, it immediately rushed to the next incident location.

Fortunately, it didn’t feel fatigue; as long as its energy wasn’t depleted, it could keep operating indefinitely.

Just then, the spider-man suit detected the fugitive Scarecrow in the vicinity and immediately followed the trail to an underground pork processing plant.

Unexpectedly, as soon as it descended, it ran straight into Batman, who had been injected with Fear Gas and immediately mistook the suit for a hollow illusion conjured by the toxin.

But the spider-man suit offered no explanation.

It was merely an intelligent vessel executing commands, focused only on completing its set tasks and never acting outside of its instructions on its own initiative.

The spider-man suit simply looked at Batman calmly, simultaneously identifying and analyzing the situation before it.

This abnormal silence only made Batman more certain that it was an illusion.

If it were the Spider-Man he had met before, with that guy’s nasty personality, seeing him in such a pathetic state would have definitely prompted a round of mockery. He would never have stayed silent like this.

So, this had to be a hallucination created by the Fear Gas.

As for why his fear would manifest as Spider-Man?

Batman could only attribute it to his previous defeat in a direct confrontation with Spider-Man, which had planted a thorn deep in his heart. He hadn’t even realized it, but this thorn grew from suspicion and wariness of the unknown, as well as the unease of a situation slipping out of his control.

He also knew his paranoia was extreme; it wasn’t an exaggeration to say he even suspected and guarded against himself.

Spider-Man was shrouded in mystery and his actions were unpredictable, which happened to precisely trigger all of Batman’s sensitivities.

The Fear Gas used this as an opportunity to manifest the image of Spider-Man.

After analyzing it, Batman felt it was very reasonable.

And currently, the optimal solution to escape the influence of the Fear Gas was to shatter the fear illusion before him.

Batman no longer hesitated and immediately took the initiative to attack.

With a flick of his right hand, three batarangs sliced through the air, spinning toward the spider-man suit.

The spider-man suit quickly identified the hostile attack. Its body shifted slightly, easily dodging the first two batarangs, while the third grazed its waist and embedded itself into the cold storage wall behind it. The margin of evasion was minimal, as if every inch of movement had been precisely calculated.

Just as the evasion ended, Batman had already closed in for a surprise attack, a powered punch aimed straight at the spider-man suit.

The spider-man suit didn’t choose to retreat or dodge; it suddenly clenched its fist and met the attack head-on.

It had already fully recorded Darian’s fighting style and habits to ensure a perfect disguise without revealing any flaws. In its database, Darian would most likely choose to face such a frontal assault with brute force.

Bang!

The two fists collided violently, producing a dull thud.

The spider-man suit retreated two steps, and Batman was similarly jolted back two steps.

Feeling the force transmitted through his fist, Batman thought to himself, ’As expected, it’s a hallucination. The strength is far inferior to that guy.’

Without Darian’s personal control, the spider-man suit on AI-hosting could only utilize the armor’s base strength.

For Batman in his Batsuit, this level of Impact was entirely within his tolerance.

As for the realistic tactile sensation on his fist, Batman didn’t take it to heart.

Fear Gas was capable of interfering with the victim’s physical senses, making the fake seem real and blurring the line between fantasy and reality. Otherwise, if it were just a bunch of scary visions, how could Scarecrow have become one of Gotham’s top supervillains?

Batman narrowed his eyes slightly.

Last time, he had been crushed by Spider-Man purely through superior stats, ending in a frustrating defeat. This time, the Spider-Man in the illusion had stats basically on the same level as his own.

Wasn’t this a great opportunity for rev— to defeat his inner demon?

Convinced that what was before him was just a fear-induced illusion, Batman held nothing back and accelerated into a fierce assault again, his punches and kicks tightly connected, each strike aimed at vital points.

The spider-man suit parried a few times and immediately determined that Batman’s danger level far exceeded that of ordinary criminals. Since base performance couldn’t overwhelm him, it instantly activated its full counter-attack program.

The AI stopped imitating Darian’s combat style and automatically switched to the optimal combat mode, collecting real-time data on Batman’s strike force,

limb movements, attack and defense rhythm, and more. Simultaneously, it quickly analyzed the flaws in every move, calculating counter-moves and evasion routes in sync.

Batman was a master of dozens of the World’s top martial arts. His fists were a blur as they crossed, his moves were unpredictable, and an ordinary opponent could never keep up with his pace.

But the spider-man suit’s response completely exceeded his expectations.

Relying on millisecond-level precision prediction, the spider-man suit could always anticipate his attack trajectory, easily avoiding or steadily blocking his attacks every time.

This feeling of being passively controlled was incredibly familiar to Batman.

Usually, it was he who would figure out all of an opponent’s information and move patterns, leaving them with no secrets before him, only to be suppressed by him throughout the entire fight.

Now the roles were reversed; every single one of his moves seemed to be completely seen through by the opponent.

Batman’s heart sank, and he immediately switched his fighting style. His footwork constantly shifted between feints and reality, deliberately disrupting his strike rhythm and force habits in an attempt to break through the spider-man suit’s predictive logic.

But no matter how he changed his moves, the spider-man suit’s response was always half a beat faster than him.

Batman sensed something was wrong.

This Spider-Man before him was completely different from the one in his memory.

In his perception, Spider-Man’s fighting style was eclectic—to put it bluntly, it had no technique, only the beauty of raw stats.

"Could it be that in my subconscious, Spider-Man is an opponent with great technical skill?"

Batman didn’t have time to dwell on his thoughts; his physical condition had already reached the brink of collapse.

After a whole night of fighting, his stamina was already exhausted. Combined with this high-intensity struggle, his condition worsened, and his movements became noticeably sluggish.

The spider-man suit instantly captured the flaw in his movement. Without any hesitation, it sidestepped the incoming heavy punch while simultaneously raising its arm and bending its elbow, slamming the hard metal elbow strike directly into Batman’s face.

Muay Thai warning!

A massive Impact hit him instantly. Batman’s vision went dark, his consciousness flickered, and his body swayed, nearly collapsing.

"I cannot fall, because I am... Batman!"

Batman decisively entered a string of cheat commands, forcibly triggering a max-level unyielding skill. Relying on his extreme willpower, he propped up his body, forcibly suppressing the dizziness and exhaustion, and pulled himself back from the brink of collapse.

It was lucky Darian wasn’t there, or he would have definitely reported Batman for cheating.

Batman’s eyes locked onto the spider-man suit ahead, his fighting spirit surging uncontrollably.

Forget reality, am I going to let you bully me in an illusion too?

Batman didn’t hesitate and let out a low shout: "Initiate Pest Control Protocol."

As the words fell, the Batsuit immediately entered a combat-specialized mode.

The helmet mask sealed shut completely, the eye sockets and jaw were fully covered by alloy armor, and two piercing, cold blue lights lit up in the eye sockets.

At the same time, the armor components around his body automatically shifted and reassembled, all joints were locked and reinforced, and the hidden weapon bays at his waist were all unlocked, entering a ready-to-fire state. The entire suit’s offensive and defensive capabilities were instantly maxed out.

This was a combat plan specifically tailored by Batman to counter Darian.

He had originally intended to save it for a necessary moment in the future, but he hadn’t expected to use it on this illusion first today.

With the form switch complete, Batman’s figure suddenly charged forward. The armor’s power engine let out a low roar, carrying a fierce wind straight toward the spider-man suit’s face.

The spider-man suit predicted the attack trajectory, shot a web from its wrist to hook the ceiling, and used the momentum to swing backward, avoiding the heavy punch.

Bang!

Batman’s fist smashed into the wall, bricks and stones instantly flying as he punched a deep, sunken hole.

With the strike missing, Batman didn’t stop. He raised his arm and aimed at the spider-man suit swinging in mid-air, firing four circular locking devices.

The spider-man suit twisted its body in mid-air, dodging the direct trajectory of the devices, but it didn’t expect that as soon as the circular devices passed its side, they would suddenly glow red. Instantly, several high-strength alloy steel wires popped out, wrapping around its entire body like a net.

The devices then scattered and nailed themselves into the ceiling, walls, and floor, their bottom barbs biting firmly into the building structure. The steel wires instantly pulled taut, locking the spider-man suit firmly in mid-air.

The next moment, four sharp metal spider legs popped out from the back of the spider-man suit. The blades entered a high-frequency vibration mode, slicing through the alloy steel wires in a few strokes.

Batman had anticipated this. At the moment the spider-man suit landed, he pressed the trigger button in his hand.

Unknown to the suit, devices had already been pre-buried at its landing spot. Upon triggering, the devices erupted with a large amount of high-viscosity non-Newtonian fluid, instantly enveloping the spider-man suit’s legs; the more it struggled, the tighter it solidified.

While the spider-man suit was unable to move, Batman raised his hand and threw two more devices of the same model, which accurately stuck to the suit’s torso and shoulder plates.

non-Newtonian fluid instantly poured out, spreading over the entire spider-man suit.

In the blink of an eye, the spider-man suit was firmly sealed by layers of solidified non-Newtonian fluid, stuck in place and unable to move.

"It’s over."

Batman walked forward slowly, a low hum of kinetic energy charging coming from his right arm armor, intending to shatter the illusion before him with one punch.

Just then, the spider-man suit’s originally white optical lenses suddenly contracted into two crimson pinpoints, surging with a dangerous aura.

"High-threat unit detected. Ultron core activated, taking temporary control of Spider-Man armor permissions."

The spider-man suit suddenly possessed a completely different sense of pressure. The crimson lenses locked onto Batman, sending a chill down his spine.

But he didn’t retreat at all. His powered punch, carrying massive kinetic energy, smashed straight toward the sealed spider-man suit.

"Risk of damage to armor body detected. Initiating preset ultimate protocol, enchantment permissions fully open."

As the words fell, a blinding light erupted from the spider-man suit.

On its smooth shell, layers upon layers of magic runes emerged, and a powerful wave of magical energy swept out from within.

The solidified non-Newtonian fluid was instantly shattered into fragments.

Batman, who had just thrown his heavy punch, was also blown back by the Impact, hitting the wall hard.

Batman let out a muffled groan and looked up.

He saw the spider-man suit shimmering with light. Round magic runes appeared at the tips of the four metal spider legs, respectively gathering fire, ice spikes, lightning, and wind blades, all aimed right at him.

Batman: "..."

Has my fear of Spider-Man reached this level?

Isn’t this a bit too exaggerated?

Batman suddenly felt a moment of daze.

The scene before him distorted for a moment, and the faint sound of gunshots echoed in his ears.

He followed the sound and looked to the left. It was a familiar alleyway. A man and a woman lay on the ground, scattered pearls rolling across the pavement.

Crime Alley.

The source of his lifelong pain.

Seeing this discordant scene, he didn’t even need to think to know it was the Fear Gas at work.

Batman paused for a few seconds: "So *this* is the illusion. Then the Spider-Man in front of me..."

He immediately realized the truth, and his face went dark.

The lag in the hallucination was killing him!

On the other side, at Arkham Asylum.

Since most of the guards had met a tragic end, Gordon could only assign some Gotham police officers to be stationed here to prevent the remaining prisoners from rioting again.

But he soon found he had overthought it.

Those prisoners were incredibly well-behaved, all huddled in their cells, not even daring to make a loud noise.

...

A few officers noticed some prisoners were in the wrong cells and tried to herd them back to their own rooms. As a result, those guys’ faces turned pale with fear, and they clung to the bed legs, refusing to take a single step out of the cell, claiming the police were trying to trick them out to be killed.

It was clear that Darian had indeed terrified them.

A thought couldn’t help but cross Gordon’s mind: why not actually let Darian be the Warden of Arkham Asylum? He’d never have to worry about a riot again.

The thought only lived for a second before he snuffed it out.

If he really let Darian be the Warden, Arkham Asylum’s beds would probably all be empty within a few days.

At this moment, Darian himself was very depressed because his administrative leave had been extended again.

After all, his performance record was simply too terrifying.

On his first day of work, he took out Black Mask’s right-hand man.

On his second day, he took out a bunch of Black Mask’s lackeys and even caught Black Mask himself in the process.

On the third day, while working unscheduled overtime, he practically slaughtered half of Arkham Asylum.

In the entire history of police departments in the U.S., this record was unique.

To protect Darian—and to protect his own blood pressure—Gordon could only give him a very long vacation and tell him not to come to work for any reason.

Darian was very frustrated.

Others worked all year without a break, so why was it that for him, it turned into having no work all year?

Just then, Darian suddenly received a message from Ultron and was instantly dumbfounded.

"Say that again."

"What do you mean Batman was solo-killed by an AI?"

***************************

Thoughts on where the plot is heading? Let me know in the comments! If you’re enjoying the ride, please leave a quick review and toss a few Power Stones my way. Every bit of support means the world! 🙌