Robin's skills were one thing—but his grit, Thea had to admit, was remarkable.
She watched as he staggered back into their ranks, bruised and bloodied, his suit slashed open in two places, dark stains seeping through.
For him to be that battered and still refuse to call for help—well, that took a certain kind of stubborn bravery.
"My comms got smashed... thank God you showed up when you did."
The moment Robin opened his mouth, Thea realized her sympathy had been misplaced—but since those Talons were indeed formidable, she didn't tease him.
Instead, she ordered him to fall back and "hold the rear," which in truth just meant go take a breather, kid.
"Thea, heads up—lots of heat signatures in the side rooms, and… trace radiation readings."
Felicity's urgent voice crackled through the comms before Thea could even finish ordering a retreat.
An ambush was no surprise—but radiation? That made her pause.
Before she could think it through, the gymnasium's steel side door was kicked off its hinges, and a group of massive men burst through.
Their numbers were unclear, but the one in front tore the entire iron door free as if it were cardboard, and the others poured in behind him.
Ah—so these were the "enhanced humans" Gordon had mentioned.
Tearing a door like that required monstrous strength—not quite at Bane's "measured in tons" level, but still enough to qualify as superhuman.
Most of them still wore civilian clothes, but their faces told another story.
Some had blood trickling from the corners of their eyes.
Others' veins bulged darkly under their skin, pulsing grotesquely.
A few even had small horns sprouting from their foreheads.
Their twisted, inhuman features could only mean one thing—
Arkham's bio-experiments.
And judging from their numbers, the scientists had been busy. Three days—and they'd already mass-produced this many? Impressive… and terrifying.
To confirm her suspicion, Thea plucked an arrow from her quiver and took aim at the horned brute leading the charge—two meters tall, built like a rhino.
Thunk!
The arrow struck dead center in his chest, and what spilled out wasn't red—it was purple.
The hit staggered him two steps, but then he roared, ripped the arrow free, and kept coming.
"Impressive," Thea muttered.
Still bleeding meant still killable.
She steadied her breath, drew again, and loosed five arrows in quick succession—graceful and precise, like a reborn Kikyo or a living Sylvanas.
On the fourth shot, her arrow pierced his left eye.
The fifth—straight through his throat.
The rhino-man collapsed with a strangled bellow and didn't get back up.
"Not so tough after all," Thea said with a faint smirk.
These creatures looked intimidating, but all they had was brute strength, speed, and durability.
Like the Angel of Death before them, what they really needed enhanced… was their brains.
If you can't even dodge an arrow, you're not a threat—you're target practice.
Still, just because she could handle them easily didn't mean everyone else could.
Even with the officers working in perfect coordination, it took heavy fire to bring down just three of the enhanced men—and more were flooding in through the side door.
"Commissioner Gordon—order the retreat. I'll cover you."
Thea drew a web arrow from her special quiver and fired toward the open doorway—then, not trusting one to be enough, shot another for good measure.
Thick, silvery webbing spread rapidly across the side wall, sealing it like a cocoon.
The enhanced men, brains evidently optional, didn't stop to think.
They shoved, pushed, and piled against the sticky barrier like trapped cattle.
The first few were caught instantly, their bodies tangled in the web. The ones behind kept pushing harder—using their own allies as leverage.
From the outside, it looked absurd: a heaving wall of flesh under a white web that bulged, sank, and bulged again in waves.
Even Thea wasn't sure how long it would hold.
Those webs were designed for normal humans—who knew how they'd fare against these mutants?
"Time to go!" she shouted.
Firefly—Bridget Pike—appeared at her side, her gaze fixed not on the web, but on how well it might burn.
That glint in her eyes… yeah, she was definitely considering it.
"You handle the rear. I'll cover you." Thea murmured, keeping her voice low.
Then, over comms, she added, "When you see the fire, throw your smoke grenades. Batman-brand ones. Let's test how they react to open flame."
Firefly didn't even wait for the signal.
Once most of their people had fallen back, she ignited her flamethrower and unleashed hell.
Her flames weren't ordinary—they were chemical, oil-based, burning so hot that they roared through the air before even touching the ground.
The pressure tank on her back hissed as she swept the nozzle, washing the corridor in searing fire.
"Damn, that's strong," Thea thought.
She made a mental note: best way to deal with Firefly—shoot her fuel tank from a distance.
Close combat? Not a chance.
Or maybe invest in some fire-retardant lining for her armor? She'd have to test how hot those flames really were someday.
Barbara and the others saw the blaze erupt and immediately hurled their smoke grenades, covering the retreat in a thick, chemical haze.
When Thea caught the acrid tang in the air, she knew the fire and smoke were reacting—creating something new and nasty.
She grabbed Firefly, who was gleefully torching everything in sight.
"Time to go, pyromaniac."
They had barely taken a few steps when an icy chill swept over them.
The temperature plummeted, the distorted heat-haze freezing into deadly stillness.
"Mr. Freeze!" they both exclaimed at once.
The two women backed away cautiously.
Thea nocked a special arrow—titanium alloy tipped, coated with Teflon carbide, the same material Queen Industries used for high-speed machining tools.
It was her custom "armor-piercing arrow."
Firefly focused, keeping up a defensive wall of flame as she retreated.
"Let's move," Catwoman called as she and Barbara rejoined them.
Now it was truly an all-female lineup—Thea, Barbara, Catwoman, and Firefly.
Their one male teammate, Robin, was already off the field.
Relying on Firefly's fiery barrage to keep the enemy at bay, the four women withdrew, step by step, out of Arkham Asylum.