"Get behind the load-bearing wall! Hold on to that case! Keep your head down!"
Batman's mechanical roar, distorted by his voice modulator, thundered through the underground office as it teetered on the verge of collapse.
Before his words had faded, his black cape snapped outward. Three miniature high-explosive Batarangs, flashing with deadly red light, shot from his hand in a cunning triangular formation!
Whoosh!
The sound of them slicing through the air was piercing.
The gray-eyed monster, its muscles swollen and eerie blue veins pulsing beneath its skin, had no concept of dodging. Like a heavy armored vehicle charging at full speed, it crashed straight into the Batarangs!
Boom!
Deafening explosions reverberated wildly through the cramped space. Blinding flames instantly swallowed the monster's upper body, and the terrifying shock wave shredded the surrounding desks and chairs into splinters.
Clutching the silver temperature-controlled case containing the Elysium serum, Dave curled up like a shrimp behind a collapsed leather sofa. Flying rubble struck his kevlar stab-resistant suit with dull thuds, jolting his chest and leaving his insides churning.
"Did that kill it?" Dave swallowed a mouthful of dust-laced saliva and poked half his head out, staring hard into the center of the flames.
A second later, the hope on his face froze, and his pupils shrank to pinpoints.
The smoke and dust gradually cleared.
The gray-eyed monster was still standing where it had been. The high explosives had blasted a bowl-sized hole through its chest, clearly exposing its white ribs and beating heart.
But the wound was nowhere near fatal!
With a hair-raising sizzling sound, the eerie blue veins beneath the monster's skin seemed to come alive. They writhed and intertwined frantically, like countless blue worms, forcibly dragging the mangled flesh back together!
Crack! Crack!
The sharp sounds of bones knitting back