But things still went beyond Greed's expectations. Matt was cut down the moment they met, and because he had not managed to draw things out, not many Chips came in either. But that was not the worst news. From the speed with which Matt hit the ground and hovered near death, Greed could tell that Arkham Batman must have received an enormous boost.
Greed also cursed Doctor Manhattan inwardly. Strengthening Batman's appearance and physique was not enough—he had to give him an even stronger set of skills too?
As for Arkham Batman, the secret to how he had taken Matt down so quickly was really just two words—sneak attack.
More precisely, he had waited for his prey to walk into the trap. Arkham Batman knew Matt could use X-ray vision on him, and that he would definitely come to save Superman, so he set a trap.
He brought Superman to the chair with the green marker. It was an electrified chair, one that seemed capable of shocking someone to death. After tying Superman to it, he stayed there for a while, pretended he still had something to do, and then made as if to leave through the front door.
Sure enough, Matt slipped in quietly through the back door. And in the instant he went to operate the chair and save him, Arkham Batman returned, knocking Matt down with one punch.
The windup for his punch was very short. After he knocked Matt to the floor, he followed up with a little damage from a Batarang, then threw another punch right after. Strangely, those two punches put Matt straight into a near-death state this time. It looked as though Superman's base stats must have been enhanced, which was why he had survived three punches.
Once Matt went down, Arkham Batman