Realizing he could no longer hide the truth, the Jackal's immediate reaction was to strike first—to seize the Batman by the throat and slam him to the ground, given they were less than three meters apart.
New York's urban legends held endless rumors about the Batman, and even the original Professor Warren had known a few.
Yet during the Battle of Manhattan, when Batman's intervention was needed most, the man had hidden away, only showing his face long after all the fighting had settled down.
Even when he did appear, he merely said a few words to expose Loki's scheme, without participating in a single combat scene.
Near the conclusion of the Battle of Manhattan, when Quake abruptly charged at Batman, it was Thor and the others who stepped in front to protect him, leaving Batman with zero opportunity to display any physical prowess.
Tracing back further, during the dinosaur invasion and Garrett's bomb plots, Batman similarly engaged in almost no direct combat.
This led far too many people to believe that Batman's combat capabilities were questionable, framing him more as a superhero who relied purely on intellect.
The Jackal shared this exact belief. His current body, cloned from Werewolf by Night, possessed a strength approaching five tons, and his short-range explosive burst was exceptionally fierce—capable of lunging dozens of meters in the blink of an eye to snatch a bird right as it unfurled its wings to fly.
Having resolved to attack, a crimson glint flashed in the Jackal's eyes. His feet stomped hard against the floor, launching him straight at Batman.
Mid-flight, his two long, fur-covered claws reached forward, aiming directly for Batman's head.
The pounce came without a shred of warning—blindingly fast, accompanied by a sudden gust of gamey wind, exactly like a wild beast lunging at its prey.
This single leap alone was enough to scare an ordinary person out of their wits, let alone raise a hand to counter.
Separated by a mere three meters, the Jackal's pounce took less than half a second—a mere blink of an eye.
However, the Jackal had gravely overestimated himself, and vastly underestimated Batman.
Just as he surged in front of Batman, preparing to tackle the expressionless man sitting in the chair and throttle his throat...
BOOM!
It was as if a heavy artillery cannon had detonated inside the laboratory out of nowhere. The massive recoil sent a violent tremor through the entire floor.
And not just the floor! The walls of Professor Warren's home, the dozens of massive culture pods lined along the walls, the experimental instruments on the desks and ground—even the Jackal himself!
Under this immense force, every single thing without exception bounced upward, producing a chaotic sequence of rattling and creaking sounds!
The Jackal could see it crystal clear: that was no heavy cannon at all. It was simply Batman standing up the instant before the claws reached him, stomping a single foot onto the floor and triggering the shockwave.
What! How is this possible?!
Alarm surged through the Jackal!
He had considered that Batman might possess decent strength—after all, forging those urban legends required a baseline of ability.
Never had he imagined, however, that a simple stomp from Batman would generate such a staggering display of power, even giving him a haunting sense of familiarity.
The last time the ground had trembled so violently was when the Hulk leaped from one end of Manhattan, heading toward the abandoned shipyard to hunt down the Red Hulk and the Leader.
The Hulk's leap had sent tremors through half of Manhattan Island as if an earthquake struck. Although Batman's display hadn't reached that grand scale, at close range, the sensation it gave the Jackal was even more overwhelming!
Unable to pull back his momentum in time, the Jackal could only watch helplessly as Batman stood up in less than a blink of an eye, raising his forearm and driving it like a battering ram straight into his chest.
BOOM! Another deafening crash echoed.
Under the impact of Batman's forearm strike, the Jackal flew backward at an even faster speed than he had charged, carving a shockwave through the air before slamming straight into the wall.
Under Batman's terrifying power, the solid concrete wall collapsed like a block of tofu, unable to offer even a momentary resistance to the Jackal's backward trajectory.
In a fraction of a second, a human-shaped hole was punched through the concrete. Unchecked, the Jackal flew more than ten meters through the air before crashing heavily onto the ground outside.
Professor Warren's home had been converted into a laboratory, which meant the area outside was a garden, not an alleyway.
Crashing into the garden, the Jackal tumbled over a dozen times, plowing a deep trench into the soft soil, leaving him covered head to toe in dirt and shredded grass.
He only came to a halt when he smashed through the garden fence, snapping the wooden stakes.
Pfft!
The Jackal spat out a mouthful of fresh blood. He felt his chest, discovering that his ribs had fractured from Batman's brutal forearm strike; only now did a tidal wave of agonizing pain wash over him.
"Why..." The Jackal gritted his teeth, staring at Batman as the dark figure stepped through the breached wall, approaching him one step at a time.
Only now did the Jackal realize how horribly mistaken he had been.
Batman didn't need anyone's protection! He was a monster of horrifying strength himself!
"Professor," Batman said, stopping before the Jackal and looking down at his mud-splattered form. "Do you know why I held back from attacking you until now?"
"Why?" the Jackal asked, following Batman's lead.
"Because I cannot peer directly into the depths of a person's heart. I needed to know your exact attitude toward Professor Warren while knowing full well that you were cloned from him," Batman said.
"It seems my attitude toward him didn't meet your approval." The Jackal coughed up a fleck of bloody phlegm, struggling to drag himself to his feet.
"You don't seem to have any intention of stopping," Batman noted in a low voice, watching as the Jackal's injuries rapidly healed, those blood-red eyes still glaring at him.
"That's right. I might not be able to beat you alone, but I prepared long ago for the day you superheroes came knocking on my door," Warren said.
A savage, ferocious aura swept out from his body as he threw his head back and let out a bloodcurdling wolf howl.
As the moonlight bathed the Jackal, he bore a striking resemblance to the mythical werewolves that transformed under a full moon.
Following his howl, the Jackal fixed his blood-red eyes on Batman:
"I've long heard that Batman loves sticking his nose into other people's business. Too bad you picked the wrong target."
Batman stood in place, silent.
Two minutes passed. The Jackal's gaze shifted past Batman, looking toward the laboratory, a trace of confusion flickering in his eyes.
"You must be wondering why the clones inside those culture pods haven't awakened to swarm me alongside you after your howl."
Batman's voice was unhurried:
"The moment I stepped into the laboratory, I hacked into your preset routines. Those clones won't be waking up."
The Jackal's heart sank:
"What about Warren, then?"
In his words, he had completely treated Miles Warren as a separate individual rather than himself.
"He is fine," Batman said. "And if you are willing to cooperate with me, you will be fine too."
The Jackal opened his mouth, but before he could utter a word, an aura far more chilling than his beastly, bloodthirsty presence erupted from Batman.
He had no doubt that if he dared to utter a single "no," Batman would tear him limb from limb on the spot.
--
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