"I've hunted vampires by the hundreds, maybe the thousands, but you're a first even for me. I'm starting to wonder if you're even a vampire at all."
Blade's gaze pierced through his sunglasses, locked onto Batman.
"Take off the mask and let me see what you really are. Or, we can verify it after I've stuck a blade in you."
Taking off the mask would expose his identity as Peter Parker. Furthermore, if Blade's weapon drew blood, his cells would likewise reveal his secret. Batman could agree to neither.
The rain fell in a heavy deluge. Batman stood silently facing Blade, enduring the waves of sharp pain coursing through his body as the raindrops pelted his combat suit.
"No weapons, no claws—just a pair of strange-looking wings," Blade said, shaking his head. "But I won't be holding back."
As he spoke, Blade abruptly threw back his heavy leather duster, revealing a set of pitch-black tactical armor beneath. Modified handguns hung at his waist, and teakwood daggers were strapped to his calves.
In the same motion of flinging his coat, a throwing blade slightly larger than a palm whistled toward Batman from a lethal, unorthodox angle.
Clang!
The moment Blade's projectile was released, Batman flicked his wrist, launching a Batarang. The two weapons collided with pinpoint precision amidst the curtain of rain, clattering to the ground.
"Last chance. Take off the mask and prove you aren't a vampire," Blade said, frowning at the two discarded projectiles on the ground.
Batman's response was his usual, unwavering silence.
Blade sighed, slowly shaking his head. He reached behind him and gripped the hilt of the long sword on his back.
Shing!
Sword in hand, Blade gave it a casual flourish, cutting through the wall of rain before him. Then, he lunged toward Batman.
Batman gritted his teeth, suppressing the myriad of discomforts wracking his body. With a slight flex of his arm muscles, the serrated blades on the gauntlets of his Vulcan Suit snapped out with a mechanical click.
In just a few minutes, the torrential rain had already washed the ground of the abandoned shipyard into a series of muddy, shallow craters.
Batman took a step forward, splashing muddy water from a puddle. A split second later, the two clashed in close-quarters combat.
"All of Peter's abilities are gone, but I anticipated this long ago."
Batman activated the Vulcan Suit's auxiliary power system. This was a feature he had never abandoned, even when he possessed Peter Parker's various powers.
He had realized that the supervillains of this world generally possessed greater strength; even the initial Squid-Man could easily flip a small car. Furthermore, since his arrival in this world, Batman had never ceased his rigorous training.
Whether it was reaction time, muscle memory, strength, or speed—even his senses of smell and hearing—Batman had long since ensured he would be a capable warrior even without Peter's powers.
Batman knew his current condition was poor, and since his opponent was armed with firearms, he had to keep the fight close. He couldn't afford to let any distance open up.
Blade, meanwhile, was worried Batman would try to escape. He similarly didn't dare let the distance grow. This time, he had only found his target by trailing the Batmobile as it tore through the streets; if Batman escaped now, he would be even harder to find next time.
Both men had their reasons for staying locked in combat.
Whenever one tried to pull away, the other would pursue relentlessly, clinging to them like a shadow.
Fists, blades, serrated edges, knees, foreheads... in such tight quarters, every part of the body became a weapon used to subdue the opponent.
"Another hallucination!" Batman swung a punch, but in the darkness, Blade's blurred face suddenly transformed into the visage of Power Girl, Kara Zor-L. He instinctively retreated without a second thought.
Bang!
The moment Batman stepped back, Blade drew a handgun from his waist with one hand and squeezed the trigger.
The bullet struck Batman's Vulcan Suit and immediately ricocheted. It tore through Blade's leather duster before striking his own body armor.
Protected by his suit, Batman suffered no substantial injury, but the pain from the impact's kinetic force was far worse than the raindrops hitting his armor. Batman let out a low groan.
He watched as the hallucination of Power Girl shifted into the likeness of Shazam, Billy Batson. Taking a deep breath, he proactively lunged back into the fray.
In the dead of night, the blade was sharp and fierce. Droplets of rain exploded into mist wherever Batman and Blade made contact.
Within that mist, two dark figures constantly broke apart only to charge at each other again.
One was the Dark Knight from Gotham; the other was the vampire hunter who had returned from Japan.
In the blink of an eye, they had clashed and separated several times. Every contact sent sparks flying, only for them to vanish instantly into the rain.
Both were experts in their respective fields. However, Batman's physical condition was deteriorating. Even if his willpower could suppress the pain and hallucinations, physiological symptoms like tinnitus were unavoidable.
Blade was also struggling to gain much of an advantage. Almost his entire arsenal was specifically designed to counter vampires. Whether Batman was truly a vampire or not, neither the sword, the throwing blades, nor the bullets could immediately penetrate the protection of the full-body Vulcan Suit.
Given this stalemate, Batman had a wider array of tactical maneuvers, whereas Blade fought with a style that welcomed trading blows. After a dozen seconds of fighting, both realized that neither would be able to overcome the other in the short term.
This was going to be a battle of attrition—a pure contest of martial prowess.
On the rooftop of the Pym Technologies building.
The rain poured down, soaking Hank Pym to the bone. Janet van Dyne, the Wasp, didn't have time to worry about that right now.
The skylight shattered by Batman had become the sole channel for rain to flood the interior of the building. Janet was searching for something suitable to enlarge with Pym Particles to plug the leak.
Finally, her eyes landed on a tray in the cafeteria. With the tray in one hand and Pym Particles in the other, she flew toward the skylight.
Just as she was about to call out to Hank to come back inside, he wiped the rain from his face and walked toward the opening where she was working.
"I've figured out the problem. Ants alone can't help us achieve anything. Against an opponent like Batman, the effectiveness of ants is practically zero," Hank Pym said, looking at Janet as she held the tray.
Janet rolled her eyes. "Can this wait until I've dealt with the leak?"
Hank nodded. He jumped down into the skylight, shrinking rapidly mid-air to land on the back of a flying ant. After landing safely, he returned to his normal size and headed toward a long-unused laboratory.
A few minutes later, Janet, having enlarged the tray to cover the roof leak, walked in carrying two towels.
She handed one to Hank and used the other to wipe the rain from her own face.
"Hank, what were you trying to say?"
"Simple ants cannot protect us. I need a robot with a certain level of intelligence to assist us," Pym said. "I'm naming it 'Ultron.'"
--
Support me & read more advance & fast update chapter on my pa-treon:
pat reon .c-om/windkaze