The fight was over. Rubble littered the basement, rebar lay exposed, and dust choked the air.
Bruce drew his gaze back. The mutant had been frozen into an ice sculpture by liquid nitrogen, cold vapor spilling off its body. He turned toward the space behind the load-bearing wall.
Dave huddled beside the battered sofa, both arms locked tightly around the Silver Temperature-Controlled Case.
His right lower leg bent at an unnatural angle. Pain scrunched his features together, yet he still wore a goofy grin.
Interestingly, this proud knight had shown a rookie a rare sign of approval.
"Time to work." Bruce wasted no words.
He strode over to the ice sculpture and pulled a Specialized Blood Collection Tube from his Utility Belt. The alloy needle pierced the mutant's not-yet-frozen carotid artery, drawing a tube of dark blue blood.
Then he bent down and searched the unconscious man's suit pockets, retrieved a phone, and connected it to his microcomputer. Code cascaded down the screen.
The military-grade firewall quickly crumbled before Wayne Enterprises' decoding algorithm. The progress bar raced ahead, and the data transfer finished.
Sirens wailed from a distant neighborhood. The GCPD was responding.
Bruce grabbed Dave by the back of his collar with one hand and picked up the Incubator with the other. His boots crushed broken glass as the two slipped into the night.
The Batmobile's engine roared.
The atmosphere inside was oppressive. Dave's lower leg had swollen purple, and piercing pain shot through his shin.
He clutched the case and turned toward the driver's seat.
"Mentor, I completed the mission!" Dave kept gasping in pain, but he hadn't forgotten the reward Bruce had promised.
"Can we put my custom armor on the schedule now? It needs a cape, preferably bulletproof. Can I have it in red? Black's too