Deadpool

The relationship between these two longtime rivals was rather subtle. They were mortal enemies, yet often worked together. Catwoman could always slip out of Batman's grasp, but occasionally she would lend him a hand.

This female thief who walked the line between black and white was also Batman's inexplicable confidante.

"Cut the nonsense. I'm never handing over the disc." Catwoman tucked the disc into her bodysuit and lifted her chin. "In our line of work, honoring contracts matters most." "Then don't blame me for being rough."

"Come on, come on, don't hold back~" She deliberately fluttered her catlike eyes. "Let me make this clear: if you can snatch the disc, I'll immediately change my name to Batman's good daughter."

Batman's face darkened beneath his mask.

This old rival was as despicable as ever, actually using such a vicious tactic.

Was this what they meant by—I treated you as a comrade, but you wanted to be my daughter?

Horse Stance Punch!

"Horse Stance Punch!"

"Horse Stance Punch!"

Batman closed in like lightning and directly used standard fighting techniques.

As an ordinary man without superpowers, he had undergone harsh physical and mental training since the age of eleven. Through extreme physical conditioning, scientific dieting, and biofeedback systems, Bruce had reached the pinnacle of human physiology—his strength, agility, endurance, and neural reflexes all surpassed Olympic gold medalists. To maintain peak condition, he never touched alcohol.

He could catch arrows fired by Hawkeye with his bare hands, burst forward at speeds comparable to a hundred-meter sprinter, outlast decathletes, hold his breath underwater for five minutes and fifteen seconds, and match gymnasts in flexibility. In an ordinary world, he would have been a walking specimen of superhumanity.

Even more astonishingly, he had mastered 127 fighting styles from around the world: from Muay Thai to Brazilian jiu-jitsu, from Siberian combat techniques to Japanese sumo, from Shaolin kung fu to Jeet Kune Do, even including every known assassination technique.

"Foul! We agreed to use only military boxing!"

Smack—

A restrained straight punch struck Catwoman's cheek, leaving only a faint red mark on her porcelain-white skin. It was nowhere near enough to knock her out on the spot like that red-clad punk earlier.

Buzz, buzz—

Umbrella Corporation's extraction helicopter was circling above City Hall's rooftop, its rotors whipping up gusts of air.

Seeing that she could not defeat Batman head-on, the nimble Catwoman immediately put her escape plan into action.

"Not playing anymore. Farewell~"

"Don't even think about running!"

Batman strode forward, his iron arm wrapping around Catwoman's slender waist. With an over-the-shoulder throw, he slammed her heavily toward the ground.

"Ow..." Catwoman gasped in pain.

"Hand over the disc, and I'll spare your life."

"In your dreams!"

Suppressing the pain, she flipped herself upright and sprang toward the circling helicopter. At that distance, even Batman could not catch up to her speed.

"Batarang!"

Batman slapped the golden tactical belt at his waist. All manner of equipment gleamed coldly under the moonlight: miniature explosives, neurotoxins, a grappling gun, a respirator... Without hesitation, he hurled an electrified dart, blue arcs cutting through the night sky.

Umbrella Corporation absolutely could not be allowed to obtain those biological weapon files!

The dart struck Catwoman's back just as she leaped toward the cabin. The high-voltage current stiffened her entire body. That graceful figure was about to fall from a height of a hundred meters—

"Damn it!"

Batman leaped from the rooftop. While falling, he fired his grappling hook into the wall, then barely caught the plummeting Catwoman with his other hand. The two hung ten stories above the ground in the biting night wind as bits of concrete crumbled from the wall.

"Why did you save me?"

"Stop talking and hand it over!"

"Nope~"

"You're still talking about a thief's code at a time like this?!"

"Because..." Catwoman gave a sly smile. "The disc was never on me."

(

"What?!"

"It's simple. You saw two discs in my hands earlier, right? I switched the real and fake ones. I left the real one where it was and carried the fake one with me, then you foolishly chased after me."

Catwoman smiled smugly, delighted that she had managed to toy with Batman.

As an international thief, this kind of little trick was child's play to her.

After all, Batman had no way of knowing whether the one on her was real or fake.

"...You really are a clever little thing."

"I'll take that as a compliment."

"If I'm not mistaken, Umbrella's people have already taken the real one."

Batman rubbed his temples and looked up at the sky.

A helicopter was circling away with a man in black aboard.

"This time, I won."

"Idiot! You've caused a huge disaster!"

"It's just a disc, isn't it?"

"My investigation found that Umbrella has been researching immortality technology, but it failed—the people infected by the virus turn into walking corpses, like zombies in the movies."

"That isn't funny."

"I'm not joking. They were originally only one final technical hurdle away, and now the most crucial biological data has been stolen."

"Uh..."

Catwoman wore an embarrassed expression.

She had assumed it was merely ordinary information. Who would have thought she would accidentally cause such a colossal disaster?

"You should know Umbrella's first test site, right?"

"If I remember correctly... Raccoon City?"

"Good. Let's go."

"Hey, I'm not going! Umbrella has a huge number of mercenaries."

"You caused this mess yourself, and you want someone else to clean it up?"

"Fine, fine. Where are we going? Raccoon City?"

"No, we're going to... the League of Heroes!"

"So that's why you came to the League of Heroes?"

Li Chen returned to the chairman's office carrying two cups of coffee. He sat down on the sofa and studied Batman across from him.

He had not expected Umbrella to be researching bioweapon technology in the Marvel Universe as well. He wondered whether it was a butterfly effect caused by the League of Heroes.

Still, it was not a major problem. Biological weapons had limited combat power; their infectivity was simply more troublesome.

This hero from Gotham had truly surprised Li Chen.

Even though the League of Heroes was famous, there were still a handful of unconventional heroes who refused to join an alliance.

Li Chen had long grown accustomed to that. Other than a small number of exceptionally powerful lone wolves, local heroes were free to act as they pleased as long as they did not interfere with the League's operations. "Would you like some coffee?"

"Thank you."

Batman accepted the steaming cup of coffee, scanned it with an internal detector first, then took a small sip.

A rich aroma blossomed across his lips and tongue. Every cell in his body seemed to ignite like sparks, and surging vitality roared through him.

"Mm—"

The muscles beneath his nanotech suit suddenly bulged, and his energized cells instantly raised his physical abilities by thirty percent. "What kind is this? It resembles no known variety."

"Active Coffee, a fantasy ingredient from another world." Li Chen swirled the coffee pot. "Don't worry. Aside from the fifteen-minute physical boost, it has no side effects."

Even Gotham's richest man, who had sampled the world's finest coffees, had never experienced such a surreal creation—not only could it overturn one's understanding of taste, it could even catalyze physical evolution.

"Can it be sold? Price is no issue."

"The League doesn't lack funds." Li Chen glanced at the financial data flickering across his watch. "After all, we control twenty percent of America's tax revenue."

Wayne Enterprises' assets were merely a drop in the ocean before the League.

"However..." Li Chen suddenly pushed over a gilded canister. "If you are willing to wear the League's uniform, then we can provide it without limit."

"Join... the League?"

Batman's pupils narrowed slightly beneath his bat mask. Memories poured down like Gotham rain—

That night when he returned from watching Zorro with his parents, the gunshots in the alley, the scattering pearl necklace.

To sever the cycle of crime, Bruce Wayne had traveled across all seven continents: tempering his will atop the snowy Himalayas, honing his combat skills in underground arenas, and finally using Wayne Enterprises' technology to arm himself, becoming Gotham's legend of the night.

By day, Bruce Wayne was the useless playboy everyone knew; when night fell, he became the dark guardian who struck fear into criminals—Batman.

His philosophy of justice resembled Navy Admiral Akainu's in some ways, both carrying a certain extreme tendency. Yet compared to Akainu's ruthlessly exterminating style, Batman was better at judging circumstances and understood that gray figures like Catwoman could also be won over as allies.

If Akainu joined the League of Heroes, that stubborn admiral would surely spend every day hunting monsters to practice "Absolute Justice," forming a stark contrast with Kizaru's perfunctory laziness.

"Individual ability has limits. Teamwork can often create miracles."

"A team... I accept."

After a brief hesitation, Batman accepted the invitation. He recalled that if he had had a partner assisting him during this operation, Catwoman's switcheroo would not have succeeded.

"But I have a condition."

"Go ahead."

"Unless it is a major incident, I need to remain stationed in Gotham."

"Agreed."

Li Chen readily accepted. Similar to Watchdog Man, this Dark Knight had a particular obsession with protecting his territory. Had this crisis not affected the entire world, he would never have left Gotham to visit the New York headquarters.

Batman's tactical intelligence was among the best in the world, no less impressive than Iron Man's. He had assessed the situation clearly: if he acted alone, Umbrella Corporation would have every chance to relocate its biotechnology.

"I have no further objections."

"Catch."

The Member Bracelet Li Chen tossed slid across the coffee table. This iconic piece of equipment automatically adjusted to the wearer's wrist size, and its functional data instantly entered Batman's consciousness.

"An extraordinary technological creation..." The bracelet tapped lightly against his wrist armor with a crisp sound. "Perhaps it truly can make up for the limits of my mortal flesh." Through the Energy Point exchange system, this ordinary hero who relied on physical training finally saw the possibility of breaking through his physiological limits.

(

Through the Member Bracelet, Batman saw the possibility of surpassing himself.

Just as he was studying the bracelet's functions, the automated robot beside him suddenly sounded an alert.

"Beep beep—"

"Visitor request: Iron Man Tony Stark, Spider-Man Peter Parker, and an unidentified individual request entry."

"Approve?"

Once visitor access was granted, Tony Stark strode in wearing the latest Mark 10 Armor.

This armor had upgraded defensive systems and optimized its armor modules and mask structure, making it vastly superior to every previous model. Its abdomen carried dual anti-gravity devices, while its foot thrusters had been reinforced, pushing its flight speed past three times the speed of sound—enough to rival Quicksilver in the Marvel Universe, though its maneuverability was still slightly inferior.

"Your armor iteration speed is pretty fast," Li Chen remarked.

"It's slow," Tony said, lifting his faceplate and shaking his head. "Child Emperor at the African branch has already developed the 'Vibranium Dreadnought Giant.' That thing has Dragon-level combat power." At present, the Mark 10 Armor only allowed Tony to reach the upper ranks of Demon Level (B). Even with Vibranium mixed in, there was still a gap between it and Child Emperor's full-Vibranium mech.

"And you are?" Batman asked coldly.

"New York. Iron Man."

When their gazes met, Li Chen sharply sensed the smell of gunpowder. Both were technological billionaires and the intellectual pillars of their teams, and an opposing aura immediately spread between them.

"Never heard of you. Wrapped up like some nocturnal thief," Tony mocked.

"Putting on canned armor made you lose track of your place?" Batman retorted.

"Your mouth is more impressive than your actual strength."

"Likewise."

Seeing the conflict about to escalate, Li Chen interrupted, "Tony, why are you here?"

"Peter wants to recommend a friend to join the League."

"A friend?" Spider-Man poked his head out from behind them. "Chairman, he's awesome!"

"Where is he?"

"Hey, buddy, show yourself and let the chairman take a look." Peter Parker, dressed in his Spider-Man suit, gestured toward the person behind him.

A red-and-black figure swayed in through the doorway. The suit's details differed slightly from Spider-Man's, but Li Chen immediately recognized this unexpected visitor—Deadpool!