"Hello there, Cyborg!"
Adrian appeared without warning, his voice casual as he greeted him.
"You!"
Cyborg instinctively stepped back, fear flashing across his face.
He knew exactly how terrifying Adrian was.
Captain Atom was dead. Martian Manhunter was gone. Green Arrow had fallen. The Green Lantern Corps had been wiped out. Kalibak's invasion had failed, and the entire country had bent under Adrian's rule.
Earlier, during his battle with Superman, Adrian had nearly killed him and reduced part of Gotham City Hall to rubble.
Now, that same man stood directly in front of him.
A terrible feeling settled in Cyborg's chest.
Why was Adrian here?
Had their location already been exposed?
Was Gotham no longer safe?
Thoughts raced through Cyborg's mind, but he did not freeze.
Energy surged through his mechanical arm as he prepared to attack.
No matter the reason for Adrian's appearance, he certainly had not come here for friendly conversation.
Cyborg attacked without hesitation.
But Adrian moved faster.
His fist blurred through the air and slammed into Cyborg's jaw.
Thud!
"Ugh!"
Cyborg grunted as the force sent him flying backward.
His vision blurred instantly.
Even after taking the hit, he forced himself to stay conscious. His instincts kicked in, and he barely avoided Adrian's follow-up strike.
Landing roughly, Cyborg staggered back two steps and raised his right arm.
The sonic cannon built into it began charging.
Adrian never gave him the chance.
He closed the distance in an instant.
His right leg came down like an axe.
Cyborg barely reacted, raising his mechanical arm to block.
Instead of pressing forward, Adrian planted his foot lightly against the ground and shifted back.
Using his left leg as support, he twisted sharply at the waist.
His black cape swept through the air.
Then his right leg lashed out again.
Fast.
Precise.
Brutal.
The kick tore toward Cyborg's temple like a bolt of lightning.
A violent gust of wind hit him first.
Cyborg immediately understood something.
He could not win in close combat.
Worse, Adrian was clearly holding back.
That earlier strike could have shattered his arm completely.
His mind raced.
Facing the incoming attack, Cyborg crossed both arms in front of himself.
He planned to take the hit, create distance, then fight back.
But he underestimated Adrian's strength.
Boom!
The kick crashed into his guard like a steel hammer.
Pain shot through both arms.
The metal plating cracked.
Internal circuitry sparked and malfunctioned.
His systems flashed warning alerts instantly.
His arm mobility dropped.
Response time slowed.
Damage levels were critical.
Cyborg's expression darkened.
He had already lost control of the fight.
Now, with his body damaged, he had been forced entirely onto the defensive.
Another kick sent him rolling backward.
He planted one hand on the ground and prepared to counterattack.
Adrian was already standing in front of him.
"Hah!"
Fueled by frustration, Cyborg forced himself upright and threw a punch.
He had been humiliated repeatedly.
His anger finally erupted.
It changed nothing.
Adrian caught his leg effortlessly and shoved upward.
Cyborg immediately lost balance and crashed backward.
Still gripping him, Adrian swung him through the air.
Boom!
Cyborg's body smashed into one of the chemical plant's support pillars.
The pillar exploded apart.
Stone fragments scattered everywhere.
Cracks spread through the structure as half of the pillar collapsed onto the ground.
Cyborg lay motionless.
The impact had nearly incapacitated him.
Still, he gritted his teeth and struggled to stand.
Before he could recover, Adrian grabbed him by the throat.
Adrian stared at him through the shadow of his cape and slowly shook his head.
The meaning was obvious.
You are not strong enough.
"I thought all of you had enough sense to stay hidden," Adrian said coldly. "Instead, you came crawling back into Gotham. Did you really think I wouldn't notice?"
"You…"
Cyborg struggled to breathe.
Not far away, Black Canary had been preparing to deal with Harley Quinn.
But after watching Adrian defeat Cyborg in less than a minute, she froze.
Commissioner Gordon, Zatanna, and Nightwing, still weakened from earlier attacks, stared in disbelief from the flooded floor.
"Surprised?" Adrian asked. "Gotham belongs to me now. My people are everywhere. Nobody enters this city without me knowing."
He lifted Cyborg and slammed him into the ground.
Boom!
The concrete shattered instantly.
Fragments burst upward as the ground cracked beneath them.
"I heard enough before arriving," Adrian said. "Batman is alive."
His grip tightened.
"Where is he?"
Cyborg's systems were already failing.
Alarms blared inside his damaged body.
Even so, he refused to answer.
He only glared back.
"Still not talking?"
Adrian sounded mildly disappointed.
"You saved Batman once before. I thought I'd give you a chance to make up for that mistake."
His expression turned colder.
"But you're more stubborn than I expected."
Adrian grabbed Cyborg's right arm.
Crunch!
Metal tore apart.
With almost no effort, Adrian ripped the mechanical arm clean off.
Sparks burst violently.
Exposed wires hung loose.
"AHHH!"
The pain hit immediately.
Though mechanical, the arm remained connected to Cyborg's nervous system.
The agony was real.
Without pause, Adrian grabbed Cyborg by the head and slammed him into the ground again.
Boom!
The floor trembled.
After finishing with Cyborg, Adrian turned his attention toward Black Canary and Harley Quinn.
Black Canary instinctively stiffened.
The pressure radiating from Adrian made it hard to move.
Seeing him tear Cyborg's arm off with his bare hands only made the fear worse.
Her pulse pounded.
"Hey, Homelander!"
Harley Quinn lay sprawled across the ground, grinning despite everything.
"I thought of a fun little riddle. Wanna hear it?"
She did not wait for an answer.
"Tell me, what's freezing cold, burns like fire, and eats you alive if you drink it?"
Adrian continued walking toward her without expression.
Harley pouted.
"Tough crowd."
She shrugged.
"The answer's acid. Get it?"
Her smile faded slightly.
"I was trying to help, you know. Batman's location and all that."
She pointed lazily toward the factory interior.
"Mr. J once tied me above acid. If I dropped, poof, gone."
Her voice turned quieter.
"That's your clue."
Adrian ignored the rambling.
His gaze shifted toward the deeper sections of the chemical plant.
His x-ray vision scanned everything inside.
Then he found what he wanted.
Batman.
The next second, Adrian vanished.
A powerful gust of wind exploded outward as his speed distorted the air.
Silence followed.
The people left behind exchanged uneasy glances.
Black Canary clenched her fists.
Frustration burned through her.
Oliver was dead.
The man responsible had stood right in front of her.
And she had done nothing.
She hated how powerless she felt.
But this was not the time to dwell on it.
Shaking off the thought, she rushed toward Cyborg.
"Are you alright?"
"Hah..."
Cyborg's mechanical eye dimmed.
"Not really," he muttered. "Major systems are damaged. I'll need a reboot."
Black Canary looked toward Gordon, Nightwing, and Zatanna, all still recovering.
"Batman is inside!" Gordon said urgently. "You have to stop Adrian before he gets to him."
Guilt weighed heavily on his voice.
He had betrayed Batman to save Barbara.
Now, all he could think about was making things right.
Black Canary glanced toward the factory interior.
Then her eyes dropped to Cyborg's severed arm.
Without hesitation, she picked it up.
"I'm borrowing this."
Cyborg stared blankly.
"…Seriously?"
Using the arm as an improvised weapon, Black Canary rushed deeper into the chemical plant.
Soon, she heard laughter.
Loud.
Unhinged.
The Joker.
Inside, Joker crashed violently onto the dirt-covered floor.
He coughed, body twitching from the impact.
Yet he still laughed.
"Hahahahaha!"
Adrian stood over him.
Another punch crashed into Joker's body.
Joker clutched his stomach, struggling to dodge.
He was far too slow.
No human alive could move faster than Adrian.
Still, Joker refused to stop talking.
"You're pathetic!" he spat between ragged breaths. "The world's biggest joke, that's what you are!"
Adrian sneered.
Without another word, he stepped forward.
His fist shot downward like lightning, aimed directly at Joker's face.
===
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