Crash!
The Lizard's eyes shut tight as he passed out. The reptiles, gathered by the pheromones he released, seemed to suddenly wake up and scattered in all directions in a chaotic mess.
Batman looked up; he even saw a snake that had grown limbs. As The Lizard fell unconscious, those limbs quickly retracted.
One could imagine that if he had been a step later, that snake would have completely transformed into a lizard-like creature, then grown in size and stood upright to become a Lizard-man.
But unfortunately for them, Batman didn't give these reptiles the chance. After knocking The Lizard out with a single injection, he grabbed the webbing and dragged The Lizard toward the shore of Bat Island.
Unlike usual, even in his comatose state, The Lizard didn't revert to Connors. Instead, he maintained his dinosaur-like lizard appearance.
Just like that, step by step, Batman dragged The Lizard—who was over five meters long from head to tail—through the woods to the banks of the East River.
North and South Brother Islands were close to each other, less than two hundred meters apart.
Batman silently calculated the parabolic trajectory, then bent down, lifted The Lizard entirely over his head, and leaned his body back slightly.
"Hulk, catch."
Batman whispered, then suddenly exerted his full strength, throwing The Lizard toward South Brother Island!
He hadn't thrown Norman Osborn this way before because he couldn't guarantee it wouldn't provoke him into turning back into the Green Goblin.
But facing The Lizard, Batman had no such concerns. With strength amounting to fifty tons, he forcibly hurled The Lizard across the distance of over two hundred meters.
On the shore of South Brother Island, Hulk sat cross-legged on the ground, staring angrily at Norman Osborn.
Norman Osborn hung his head, looking at ants on the ground, not daring to look up at Hulk or make any extra movements, even though his legs had gone numb from sitting.
He didn't understand why this big green guy kept such an angry look on his face, nor did he dare to speak. He could only obediently sit there accompanying Hulk.
Just as Norman Osborn's legs were tingling from sitting too long, Hulk suddenly pushed off the ground with one hand and stood up, gritting his teeth as he looked toward North Brother Island.
Norman Osborn quickly took the chance to stretch his legs, looking up at Hulk's broad back muscles.
But soon, Norman Osborn's gaze went past Hulk to the sky.
He saw a giant beast curled into a ball, flying toward them in a parabola.
Before Norman Osborn could react to what it was, Hulk had already spread his feet to brace himself against the earth and opened his arms.
Hulk saw clearly what was flying over: it was that one-armed big lizard he had never really liked.
Although the big lizard no longer had its previous massive size of four meters tall and seven meters long, Hulk's excellent eyesight still allowed him to see it clearly.
The two-hundred-meter distance was covered in the blink of an eye. Hulk caught The Lizard—thrown by Batman—solidly with his arms, then tossed him onto the ground and kicked him:
"Hey!"
Batman's speed returning to South Brother Island wasn't much slower than The Lizard's flight. Just as the Incredible Hulk was preparing to kick The Lizard a bit harder, Batman landed beside Hulk with a thud.
Without any extra explanation, Batman went to Norman Osborn, patted him on the shoulder, and then delivered a chop to the back of Norman's head.
Thud.
Norman Osborn collapsed to the ground in response.
"Hulk, thanks."
Batman then looked up at Hulk, who was fortunately only using his foot to kick The Lizard.
Without a word, Hulk extended a palm the size of Batman's head, palm facing up.
Expressionless, Batman reached into his utility belt, took out a piece of chocolate, and placed it in Hulk's palm.
But Hulk shook his head, swiped his hand, and threw that piece of chocolate who knows how far, then looked at Batman again.
Batman fell silent for two seconds. He extended his empty hand, and then, like a magic trick, made a piece of chocolate appear at his fingertips, placing it into Hulk's palm.
This time Hulk seemed extremely satisfied. He tossed the chocolate into his mouth and proudly flexed his developed pectoral muscles.
"Don't tell Robin," Batman said in a low voice. "Next, I need Dr. Banner's help, Hulk."
The Incredible Hulk grunted twice. His bones cracked and popped as his green skin gradually turned white.
A few breaths later, the Hulk, representing power, was replaced by Dr. Banner, representing wisdom.
However, the first thing Dr. Banner did after recovering wasn't to look at The Lizard, but to look down at his purple pants.
When he saw the pants were worn intact on his body without any discomfort, he smiled satisfactorily at Batman, then quickly walked over to squat beside The Lizard:
"He is transforming into a new species."
Dr. Banner wasn't a specialist in biology, but he still recognized the changes in The Lizard at a glance.
"Correct. A new species capable of using pheromones to evolve other reptiles," Batman added.
"Have you read Journey to the Center of the Earth?" Dr. Banner asked an irrelevant question.
Batman shook his head. He hadn't heard of this book in his original world.
"A subterranean world full of prehistoric creatures. Of course, that's a sci-fi novel from over a decade ago."
"I suspect if you threw Connors into an environment like that subterranean world, after a while, he might even develop a new Lizard-man civilization," Dr. Banner said cheerfully.
"You don't seem worried about Connors' condition," Batman said.
"Nothing to worry about, I know how to fix it." Dr. Banner stood up and smiled somewhat shyly. "Hulk's blood can produce effects similar to The Lizard's, so when it comes to this sort of thing, I actually have quite a bit of experience handling it."
Garrett had been collecting clues about Batman on Rikers Island last night.
Tonight, however, he had come to the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Like SHIELD agent Hawkeye, Garrett had learned of a series of locations where Batman had appeared in New York through intelligence gathering.
The most recent one was even just last night.
However, the Met, especially the Roman Court within it, had suffered successive infiltrations over the past few days. First it was theft, and by last night, it had evolved into explosions and combat.
Although they didn't know who the guy fighting Batman was, the Met wasn't a detective agency; they simply increased security to the maximum.
The entire Roman Court was brightly lit, as bright as day.
Under these circumstances, Garrett had absolutely no room to infiltrate.
He could only pass by the Great Hall from a distance, and after confirming he couldn't enter the Roman Court, he quietly left.
It was Garrett's first time in New York, but inside the Metropolitan Museum, it was as if he had returned to his own home. No matter how the guards with their increased security patrolled, Garrett could always find a hiding spot and slip past them.
It seemed as if the entire layout of the Met had long been etched into his brain.
"It looks like I can't look for Batman for the time being. He left no clues at the places he appeared before, and almost everyone who has witnessed Batman is either in the police station or prison..."
"Should I actively commit a crime to attract Batman's appearance, or should I go visit Iron Man, or perhaps Ant-Man and the Wasp first?"
After leaving the Met, Garrett ducked into an alley along the street, climbed a wall into an unoccupied apartment, lay down on the bed, and pondered.
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