Red Hulk's power exceeded that of the Hulk in his standard state.
This strength was multifaceted, ranging from raw power to speed, and even to rationality.
Even if the Hulk were to arrive in person, Red Hulk had the confidence to battle him and trample the Hulk underfoot with sheer hard power.
Facing Batman, whose strength was inferior to the Hulk's, Red Hulk should logically have resolved the battle even faster, crushing him as easily as swatting an ant.
Especially since Venom, fearing the high temperatures, had retreated inside Batman's body and could offer no assistance, Batman simply shouldn't have posed any threat to Red Hulk.
Yet, it was precisely this Batman—who should have been slapped to death with a single palm—who was currently making Red Hulk extremely annoyed.
Fire almost spewed from Red Hulk's eyes; every breath ejected two streams of white smoke from his nose and mouth. He roared incessantly, his fists and feet frantically tearing at the various spider-webs stuck to his body.
After being lured into the pre-laid web trap, Batman still hadn't been touched once by Red Hulk. Instead, he led Red Hulk to rampage blindly amidst the spider-silk.
Consequently, Red Hulk was covered in layers upon layers of black, white, and ochre webbing, almost wrapping him up like a silkworm cocoon.
Without the Leader's mind control, Red Hulk indeed possessed rationality, but that didn't mean he could maintain that rationality under Batman's webbing.
For a full five minutes, Red Hulk didn't know how many punches he had thrown, even being forced to utilize U.S. Air Force combat techniques, yet he still failed to touch Batman a single time.
Anger caused Red Hulk to lose his reason. The webs plunged him into an even more irritable state, compounded by Batman's endless harassment.
Finally, at a certain moment—Thump!
Red Hulk's heartbeat suddenly sounded like a heavy drum. Batman followed the sound and could even faintly see the blood rushing at high speed within the vessels beneath Red Hulk's skin.
His body was as bright red as blood, and his temperature rose higher than before.
Batman felt a wave of heat wash over his face. Red Hulk was radiating heat crazily, like the artificial sun on North Brother Island. His eyes turned completely red, and the expression on his face became even more twisted.
Batman suspected that Red Hulk's skin and fat might contain some component that prevented them from becoming fuel while maintaining a certain level of activity.
Otherwise, in Red Hulk's current state, he shouldn't just be furious—his skin should be scorching and his fat roasting into oil.
"I need to continue provoking Red Hulk and be ready to initiate Plan B at any moment."
Batman raised his hand and plastered another string of webs onto the furious Red Hulk's face while cautiously maintaining his distance.
If Red Hulk showed any sign of increased strength after the temperature spike, Batman would immediately terminate the plan to enrage him and induce overheating.
After all, the so-called "overheating" was merely Batman's hypothesis; he couldn't be certain such a state existed.
"Roar—!!"
Red Hulk roared uninterruptedly. His eyes were fixed dead on Batman, grinding his steel teeth nearly to the breaking point as he charged madly at him.
This time, he ignored the webbing. Even though various types of webs crackled and stuck all over his body, he didn't stop to clear them away.
Red Hulk had clearly had enough of being toyed with by Batman. He would exert his full strength to rush in front of Batman and ruthlessly smash this hateful guy into a paste of meat with his fists.
But Batman, without Venom and without heavy armor, naturally wouldn't go head-to-head with Red Hulk.
Facing the hatred-filled charge, Batman simply shifted his footing, shot a line of webbing from his right hand, and pulled himself in another direction.
Crash...
Red Hulk pounced on empty air again. Standing where Batman had just been, he swung both fists, smashing the ground repeatedly while roaring in fury.
Since he hadn't bothered with the webs along the way, Red Hulk was now not only entangled in a sticky mess, but the ends of those webs were also connected to countless fragments of concrete of varying sizes, further restricting his movement.
"I've had enough! Enough!"
Crack!
Amidst his roaring, Red Hulk literally grit his teeth until they shattered.
He looked down at the concrete blocks dangling clankingly from his body, stuck by the webs. He grabbed one casually, raised it, and prepared to hurl it viciously at Batman.
But the instant Red Hulk raised his hand, countless webs flew from the inner side of Batman's forearm, plastering Red Hulk's face again and simultaneously binding that block of concrete to Red Hulk's palm.
In his rage, Red Hulk actually failed to throw the concrete block.
He tore the webbing off his face and was about to throw it again when he suddenly felt a splitting pain in his head.
This pain far exceeded Red Hulk's anger toward Batman, causing him to roll on the ground in agony, though he soon couldn't roll anymore due to the webs wrapped around him.
In Batman's eyes, the red color on Red Hulk's body surface faded rapidly, his body atrophied, and his black hair gradually turned gray-white.
A few breaths later, Red Hulk vanished, replaced by the unconscious human form of General Ross.
"Deduction correct. Red Hulk does indeed possess a state similar to 'overheating.'"
Batman evaluated in his mind as he looked at General Ross.
Without feeling any joy over Red Hulk's defeat, Batman quickly bound General Ross with webbing, then dragged Blonsky and the Leader over.
Along with Norman Osborn in the cage, all four Gamma monsters had been defeated by Batman using various methods.
Only then did Batman stumble slightly, taking a few steps back to lean against a broken wall and gasp for air.
The trip to New Mexico had exhausted almost all of Batman's means, aside from the Alpha Plan.
A disposable Batwing, three Bat-pods, countless web capsules, dozens of Batarangs with different functions, a Batcycle, as well as the composite spectrum device and EMP bomb, plus almost all the serums prepared for this trip.
Even the Oracle AI loaded on the disposable Batwing had vanished with the fighter's destruction.
The system on the new Batwing was not strictly an AI, but merely a system capable of basic command processing.
Counting the second Batwing, Batman had burned through over one hundred million dollars for this battle.
Fortunately, all the monsters were defeated, and the New Mexico expedition had finally come to a close. Batman was also able to bring Norman Osborn back intact.
Leaning against the broken wall, Batman looked toward the horizon, where a touch of pale white had appeared. A new day was about to arrive.
A few minutes later, the new Batwing slowly descended. Batman bound the Leader, Blonsky, General Ross, and Norman Osborn individually and tossed them into the cargo hold.
He then checked General Ross's forty-eight personal soldiers, finding that they had all perished in the aftershocks of the battle in the underground plaza; there were no survivors.
Batman delayed no longer. After destroying the Gamma instrument in the underground plaza, he climbed into the Batwing's cockpit and cut an arc through the sky, flying toward New York.
Behind the Batwing, the first rays of sunlight shone from the horizon, dyeing the black Batwing with a rim of gold.