Chapter 135 The Big Bat Event (17) (Patreon)
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Everyone behind the front line saw the figure that appeared small under the overwhelming tide of bats, shoot two spider webs that stuck to the two adjacent buildings.
There was no one left in those two buildings, as they were already on the brink of collapse from the previous night's battle. This time, Spider-Man's two spider webs were black and had a large net at the top, directly sticking to most of the building's surface area.
Immediately after, Spider-Man exerted his strength on both arms, pulling them inward. The two buildings emitted a grating sound as they began to tilt.
Amidst the shock of everyone present, the two huge buildings collapsed with a loud roar, creating a cloud of dust and debris. The first wave of bats charging towards the front line didn't anticipate this, and were instantly buried under the rubble of the high-rise buildings.
Everyone present was stunned.
Those were two buildings several tens of meters tall!
On the battlefield, Peter had mostly played the role of an agile support, always the first to rush in response to any emergencies. He repaired defenses, escorted wounded soldiers, and provided assistance as needed.
This was the first time everyone realized just how powerful Spider-Man truly was. Stark's faceplate opened, and he stared directly at Peter, noticing that he showed no signs of fatigue.
When the buildings collapsed, Peter quickly dodged, then grabbed a nearby truck and threw it at the remaining enemies. The tires of the massive truck were as small as pebbles in his hands.
Stark swallowed and Steve said, "Can your Mech armor go all out?"
Stark hesitated for a moment and said, "It's possible, but it can't generate that kind of force without finding a support point. It's not scientifically possible..."
"His upper limit should be higher than this," Steve crossed his arms and watched Spider-Man slaughtering enemies in the center of the battlefield.
As a fellow recipient of physical mutation, Steve understood this well and said, "Peter's powers are far from fully developed. His upper limit must be terrifyingly high."
Stark frowned anxiously and said, "I'm starting to feel the pressure now. If what you're saying is true, then his spider-sense might really have precognitive effects."
"I'm talking about the future," Steve looked at Stark and said, "At least for now, Peter is still in the adaptation phase. The powers brought to him by this mutation are far from reaching their peak, even his spider-sense."
"To be honest, I find it suspicious. Peter told me before that his spider-sense rarely forms a specific image, especially for such a long duration, from you popping out of the Mech armor, falling, and hitting the ground. It's too detailed."
"Does the spider-sense even have different camera angles? First filming you in what kind of environment, then filming you popping out of the Mech armor and falling, and finally filming the result of hitting the ground. Even if it's a premonition, it's not that clear and explicit, right?"
"When you put it that way, I also feel like something's not right," said Stark without a doubt. "Peter never mentioned before that he has the ability to see the future, especially with such clarity and accuracy."
"Perhaps he will be able to do it in the future," Steve concluded, "but currently, based on his Spider-Sense abilities, it shouldn't be so clear and precise."
"Regardless, I still need to be prepared because if this is true, things will become very tricky."
Spider-Man blocked the first wave of the most intense attacks, providing a breathing opportunity for the defense line behind him.
When the second wave of bats attacked, they also became smarter and no longer swooped down from the sky in a rush. Instead, some of them transformed into human form and coordinated with ground attacks, weakening the humans' air firepower.
After a day of preparation, the human firepower greatly increased. With the efforts of Pierce and Nick, all participating defense forces received sufficient heavy firepower supplements, and this is where the advantage of human weapons comes in.
Most of the human heavy weapons can cause high temperature and explosions, which is precisely what the vampires fear the most. Moreover, apart from the specific targets that need to be hit accurately, the splash damage is also high.
At some of the more important defense locations, barrels that can be detonated by snipers were set up. When necessary, the explosions and flames from these barrels can disrupt the bats' attack rhythm.
At the beginning, the entire defense rhythm was very good, with various weapons alternating coverage and defense lines pushing forward layer by layer. In no time, they even counterattacked to the entrance of the Brooklyn Bridge.
However, soon many problems began to emerge. For example, humans underestimated the fearless and aggressive nature of this group of bats, or perhaps these bats were being controlled by something and turned into crazy cannon fodder.
Just as Hawkeye had blown up an oil drum, injuring one bat and setting another on fire, the flaming bat did not retreat but charged into the nearest machine gun base. Despite the machine gunners' preparedness, one person was set on fire by the flames. If it weren't for his comrades' timely extinguishing, he might have died. However, the burn injuries made him unable to continue fighting and he was quickly taken away by a hexagonal nut robot.
This group of crazy bats were willing to sacrifice themselves and continue to attack, even if it meant causing more harm to themselves than to the enemy.
Hawkeye put down his bow and cursed under his breath, then said to Natasha on the walkie-talkie, "What the hell is going on? These bats are even crazier than last night!"
"They are likely being controlled by some kind of power from the rumored Bat God," Natasha's tone was as calm as ever. "But Nick told me that there may be a turning point soon."
As the battle became more intense, the humans' advantage gradually disappeared, and the two sides were deadlocked like meat grinders.
Stark had just repelled an attack from a crazy bat with a shot, when the Steel Mech armor took off and several shots drove back the bats about to attack the stronghold. At this moment, J.A.R.V.I.S's voice came, "Stark Tower Laboratory is calling, the caller is Dr. Connors."
"Connect the call," Stark said, floating in mid-air.
Dr. Connors' voice came through the headphones. He spoke quickly and calmly: "Listen, first of all, regardless of the principle, I have developed a Medicine that, if released properly, can instantly render all bats on the battlefield combat ineffective."
"Just tell me what to do," Stark said bluntly.
"I told Nick before that I have a better way to solve the problem at its root. Now, I have succeeded, with only one last step remaining."
"In general, I used the lizard serum I extracted - the serum that can turn me into a lizard monster - to make an infectious mutation serum to infect those bats."
"Once the bats are infected, they will begin to turn into lizards. Unlike humans, bats cannot become Lizard Men. They will only turn into lizards, such as growing thick scales all over their bodies, growing tails and legs, and losing their ability to fly."
"I changed some of the ingredients to make this mutation even more uncontrollable, so they may grow a tail on their chest, or even be crushed to death by thick scales."
"This mutation is completely uncontrollable. Therefore, once infected, the mutated bats will almost completely lose their combat ability."
"But won't it infect humans?" Stark asked.
"Of course not. Otherwise, what did I bring so many bats here to study for? This is a targeted infectious serum that is completely ineffective on humans. I have already tested it."
"Well, what else do you need?"
"In order to completely eliminate the fighting capability of all bats in one go, I need a spray emitter with sufficient power, preferably capable of spraying the mutation serum in an instant, covering the entire battlefield and infecting all bats. The speed has to be fast, to prevent them from using any magical means to counteract it."
Stark pondered for a moment and looked at the increasingly dire situation on the ground of the battlefield. "Alright, let's do it. I remember I have an ultraviolet emitter, can that be used?"
"I've looked at the design plans of all your emitters, and based on my estimation, its power is not enough. Light and gas are different. Gas requires tremendous propulsive force to quickly envelop the entire battlefield."
"Then we need to modify it quickly. I've already granted you access to all the laboratory permissions."
"Yinsen and I have come up with a version, we just need to do some final debugging. It will be ready to deploy in half an hour. What you need to consider now is where to set it up and how to trigger it."
Conner spoke rapidly, "Theoretically, the spray range will be a spherical shape with a diameter of about 300 meters. In order to maximize the utilization of this range, the emitter must be set up not on the ground, but in a high-rise building within the closest range of the conflict zone. Once you've selected a location, we'll immediately transport the emitter there."
Stark said, "In fact, there's only one high-rise building within the entire range."
He looked up and saw the Brooklyn Heights building located on the east side of the Brooklyn Bridge.
As if sensing something, Stark remained silent on the other end of the communication. Conner asked, "What's wrong?"
After a while, Stark's voice came through: "No... nothing. There is only one building that meets the conditions you mentioned. Once the device is ready, transport it to the rooftop of the Brooklyn Heights Tower. J.A.R.V.I.S. has already sent the precise location. I'll be waiting there for you."
Conners heard an indescribable emotion in his voice, but he didn't have time to continue chatting and hung up the phone quickly.
On the other end, Peter swung over to Stark with his spider web and asked, "The situation on the front line is not good. Where is the turning point that Natasha mentioned? Do you know, Mr. Stark?"
"Forget about that," Stark's voice came through the Mech armor with a hint of electric distortion. He continued, "Tell Steve to lead a small team and clean up all the vampires near the Heights Tower. I'm going up there."
"The Heights Tower?" Peter looked back and saw that it was the tallest high-rise building nearby. He said, "No! Wait! You can't go there!! Have you forgotten about your...?"
"I haven't forgotten, Peter. I remember very clearly, but I have to go." Iron Man in Mech armor flew straight over there. Peter chased after him, yelling, "No!!! You know you'll die if you do that! Oh my God..."
Peter took out his walkie-talkie and said to Steve, "Stop Stark! He's gone crazy! He's going up to the Heights Tower!"
"Protect Stark, Peter," Steve's voice came through the walkie-talkie. Apparently, he also received Conners' communication. He said, "Sometimes, even if you know there won't be a good result, you still have to do it."
Peter was almost going crazy. Having seen that scene with his own eyes, he could not accept such an occurrence. He said to Stark, "You don't have to go up there. I can handle it alone. What can't I handle? I..."
"The activation of the device takes time, and the infection also takes time to take effect." Stark's voice was very calm as he said, "One person cannot defend against vampires' attack while also activating the device. Evacuation also requires someone to provide support. One person cannot do it all."
"Well, we can think of other ways, we don't have to..."
"Peter, I've already said..." Stark stopped, his face mask rising up. Peter saw Stark's face and saw no panic or fear on it. He looked even calmer than usual.
"If I were afraid of death, I would be hiding in Stark Tower's layers of protection right now instead of being here in the battlefield."
"I know better than anyone that if I am destined to die, no advanced Mech armor can protect me. I have not gained any sense of security from this Mech armor. I face death every moment."
In the dark night sky, Peter hung on the wall of a building, looking at Stark floating in front of him.
Stark's hair under his face mask fluttered in the wind, and his eyes seemed to absorb all the light around him, reminding Peter of the sunrise he and Stark saw together for the first time.
"Even without the prophecy you made, I worry every minute and every second on the battlefield."
"I will continuously develop all kinds of Mech armor, advanced Mech armor, and even more advanced Mech armor because of my fear of death."
"What I haven't told you is that on that night in the Afghan cave, there was not only pain, but also endless fear. No one is not afraid of death."
Peter heard Stark's voice mixed with pain, as if recalling things he didn't want to remember.
"At that time, I knew I was going to die soon, and no one could tell me whether I could survive or not..."
"It's just like today, I know I'm going to die soon..."
Stark closed his eyes, and his voice began to tremble, gradually dissipating in the cold night wind of Brooklyn.
"Maybe I was insane. I knew it was a dead end ahead, but there was a voice constantly urging me to do it, and I had to do it..."
"I can only do it this way too."
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