Chapter 426: Each Their Own Mission
Batman hadn't been certain the intelligence would arrive. He was operating on inference.
The Ryker's Island scene had left nothing -- no forced entry, no structural damage, no surveillance captures. But the total absence of evidence was itself information. Whatever had taken the prisoners out had done it without a fight, which meant either the extraction team was strong enough to subdue everyone instantaneously, or at least one of the prisoners had gone voluntarily.
He hadn't forgotten Adrian Toomes. The man had spent his entire criminal career in pursuit of a single dream that had nothing to do with crime. The Shocker and his crew had nearly pulled him sideways into something darker, and Batman had redirected him before that happened. Toomes was sitting in Ryker's waiting for his sentence to run its course specifically because he believed there was a better path to the dream on the other side.
He shouldn't have left. The scene at Ryker's showed he had -- no signs of struggle, no attempt to resist. Two possibilities: the extraction team was powerful enough that resistance was pointless, or Toomes had seen the opportunity and taken it deliberately, planning to transmit intelligence back from wherever they were going.
The second option was the one Batman was betting on. If nothing arrived within a reasonable window, he would change approach -- the Justice League couldn't stay on Bat Island indefinitely while Manhattan was under active assault. But he would give the window time first.
The first light of dawn appeared at the edge of the sky. The moon was beginning to fade at the horizon. And the radio receiver -- calibrated for signals too faint for any standard equipment to register -- caught something.
Extremely weak. Bounced off the lunar surface. The degradation in the signal was significant but recoverable.
Batman decoded it and read it.
He allowed himself one quiet exhale.
His concern, across everything happening tonight, had been less about HYDRA and more about Adrian Toomes. The man had been making real progress. The thought of that progress being undone -- by circumstance, by bad actors, by whatever was waiting in Latveria -- had been sitting alongside every other calculation he'd been running since the breakout.
It was gone now. The intelligence was real and Toomes was operational.
"Justice League." Batman's voice in the comms was the same register it always was. "Move out."
Professor Connors reached up and tore the lab coat from his shoulders in a single motion. The transformation was immediate -- bones reorganizing with a sequence of audible cracks, the musculature expanding and reshaping, the human silhouette replaced by something considerably larger. The Lizard Professor rolled his shoulders and showed his teeth.
Venom Robin, Morbius, and Dr. Otto were still exchanging looks and beginning sentences when the Lizard Professor's claw came down on Otto's shoulder, lifted him off the ground, and deposited him onto the Lizard Professor's back in one clean motion. Otto locked his tentacles around the Lizard Professor's torso without complaint.
Robin didn't need a ride. He didn't fear water. Morbius could fly. The only person who needed physical transport across the East River was Dr. Otto, and the problem had already solved itself.
The Hulk opened his mouth and started moving.
Batman stepped into his path.
"Hulk. Wait."
The Hulk's expression went through several stages rapidly, none of them happy. "Hulk doesn't want to wait."
"You're not needed yet. You're my trump card. I hold trump cards until the moment they decide the outcome."
The Hulk stood very still for one second. In that second, the Lizard Professor and his passengers cleared the Batcave entrance, hit the water, and were already crossing.
The Hulk sat down on the ground next to Batman, rested both enormous fists on his knees, and stared up at him with the expression of someone demonstrating compliance while experiencing significant feelings about it.
Batman put a hand briefly on his arm, then opened the comms channel to the full group.
"Operate on my direction." He ran through the assignments, keeping each one brief.
"Robin." He checked the display -- the abandoned shipyard's east side, three blocks out, a figure in black armor barely holding a defensive line. "Three blocks east of the abandoned shipyard. Dane Garrett is in trouble."
"He's weak. I'll handle it." The response was immediate, and Robin was already in motion before it finished -- no formal acknowledgment, no waiting. Several seconds later, Dr. Otto was watching a small silhouette disappear into the distance and having the distinct impression of watching an axe with legs running at considerable speed.
"Lizard Professor." Batman pulled up the sewer grid. "Manhattan's storm drain system. Use your pheromone network on whatever reptiles are in range. I need eyes on three targets: Red Hulk, Madame Hydra, and Green Goblin. Simultaneously, monitor ground vibration across the grid and report any anomalies. I may redirect you at any time."
The Lizard Professor had already dropped Dr. Otto, delivered to the meeting point. His golden eyes narrowed. He drew air through his nostrils slowly, processing the chemical signals coming up through the ground, and then dropped into the nearest sewer access without another word. The response came up from below: "Received."
"Dr. Otto." Batman pulled the building schematics for the block across from Stark Tower. "A portion of the HYDRA soldiers who entered Manhattan moved directly toward Stark Tower but didn't enter the building. They stopped at the building across the street and held position."
"Madame Hydra's command post," Otto said.
"Possibly. Your mission is not to locate it solo. Rendezvous with Wolverine, Black Widow, and Daredevil first. Then approach the suspected position together."
Otto glanced back at the four tentacles extending behind him -- purple-black alloy, functional, but not exactly inconspicuous. "You're confident they won't engage me on sight?"
"Wolverine will recognize you as non-hostile. Trust my read."
"I do." Otto lowered his protective goggles. Two tentacles began alternating in a forward-propulsion pattern, lifting him off the ground and driving him through the air at speed. The remaining two extended in a rearward guard configuration.
"Morbius." The last assignment.
Professor Morbius had been watching the others receive their orders with increasing alertness. He straightened when his name was called. "Yes."
"Your mission is unusual. As of right now, your external identity is Batman."
Morbius processed this. "I had already prepared a codename for myself," he said carefully. "Doctor Dusk."
"Good," Batman said. "Doctor Dusk. I need you to function as a decoy to draw out the Red Hulk and Green Goblin. Can you do this?"
"Yes. Tell me the specifics."
Batman gave him the route. Starting point was Fifth Avenue. A sequence of appearances and withdrawals, each timed to maximize HYDRA soldier observation without creating a fixed position. The Red Hulk and Green Goblin were somewhere in the city and had personal objectives. A visible "Batman" operating publicly would give them a target.
"Regardless of who you encounter," Batman said, "you only need to say one thing."
"I am Batman."
"That is your mission."