Chapter 3

"Ah, my reputation precedes me," Wesker replied with a smile. He spoke with a calm, cultured accent, kind of like a snooty upper-class New England-er.

"You must be the legendary Batman," he asked, looking at the dark knight himself. "And you are...Nightwing, correct? Yes, I recall hearing about you while I was in Bludhaven."

"Yeah, I traced you here after you trashed the Umbrella offices in my town," Nightwing replied with a growl. "What did you want there, or here?"

"Oh, well, Umbrella's got their nasty little secrets," Wesker said with a shrug. "And they have competitors in the field of bio-weapons research. You could say I'm doing some...industrial espionage for my new employers."

"It looks more like a military campaign," Batman replied. "You've left a trail of corpses in your path."

"Oh, yes, well," Wesker responded with a smirk. "Collateral damage is accepted and actually encouraged by my employers. We're no friends of Umbrella, after all. But, now my task is done." Wesker patted a pocket. "I have the samples I was looking for in Bludhaven, so I have no reason to be here. However, I would be an idiot to assume you were going to kindly step out of my way, right?"

"You bet," Nightwing responded, raising his escrima sticks. Both he and Batman slid into combat stances, Batman's hands dropping to his utility belt.

"I expected nothing less," Wesker responded with a smile, the red glow of his eyes shining around his shades. "I always wondered how I'd fare against the legendary Batman himself."

Wesker then shot forward unexpectedly. A batarang whipped out at him, and Wesker was barely able to duck under it. He rose up in a spinning kick aimed for Batman's face, but the dark knight leaned back and away. The kick fell short, and Batman countered with a vicious right hook, which smashed Wesker in the face to little effect.

Nightwing came in, his escrima sticks striking in rapid succession. Wesker blocked a few hits, but a series of strikes got through, knocking Wesker's head around a bit, one hit taking his sunglasses off.

As Nightwing struck, Batman spun around, planting a roundhouse kick into Wesker's surprised face, causing him to take a couple of steps back. A pair of escrima sticks smacked into Wesker's side as a second batarang whipped out at him. He was able to deflect the weapon from Batman, only to take another hit across the head from Nightwing.

Wesker spun away, dropping into a crouch, hands up in a guard, a smirk on his face. His eyes, no longer covered by the sunglasses, were revealed to have glowing red irises, with retinas slit like a cat's eyes.

"It seems I underestimated the both of you," he said. One hand rose up, the fingers gesturing for Batman and Nightwing to come on.

Batman saw Wesker's taunt, but paid no attention to it. Villains often taunted him, but it never worked. Attacking in anger could only lead to defeat in most cases. It was even more true when fighting a metahuman skilled in martial arts.

"Nightwing! Go forward, I'll back you up." Batman whispered into his headset. "Your youth and speed will be more of an advantage. Be careful." Nightwing nodded, and charged forward. This man would go down. Nightwing would make sure of it. He had fought worse foes and mutants. Strength could be countered by technique, using it against the aggressor. Aikido had taught him that.

Wesker expected the young black and blue suited hero to attack directly, but Nightwing stopped in front of him instead of charging in blindly. Batman stood some distance behind, face emotionless, not giving any hint of what he planned. Nightwing's face showed the same thing. His eyes were not one of tender teenage years. It showed experience. Way too much experience for someone of such a young age. Wesker readied his stance, as they circled each other.

"HIAA!" Nightwing cried, as he closed the distance in a second and jumped for a Tae Kwan Do 360 kick. Wesker was ready for it this time and ducked, the kick sweeping the air inches about his head. Clenching his fist, Wesker raised it in a strong uppercut towards Nightwing as the boy landed. His fist connected, knocking the youth off his feet. Nightwing fell, and gritted his teeth in pain as the office floor connected with his face.

Batman was not doing nothing while his prodigy fought. Flicking his wrist, Batman launched two batarangs at Wesker in quick succession. Wesker dodged one, but the other hit him in the shoulder, causing a small tear in his flesh. Wesker brought his hand to his wound, before flexing his arms and sneering at Batman.

"Is that the best you can do, Batman?" Wesker scoffed.

Nightwing lifted his body off the ground with his hands, and swung his legs for a quick capoeira sweep. Unaware of the youth, Wesker saw the ground rush up to meet him. Doing a back flip, Nightwing was on his feet in an instant. Wesker was not far behind, rising to a fighting stance. But not for long, as Wesker found he was unable to move his limbs. Batman had released his grappling hook, which had wrapped tightly around Wesker. Nightwing wasted no time, as he picked up his sticks and started pounding Wesker in various places, almost like a dance. Batman was pulling on the grappling hook, tightening the tension of the cord.

"I've had ENOUGH of this NONSENSE!" Wesker shouted, as his muscles bulged. The cords started to snap one after the other under the great strain. Not even feeling the attacks of Nightwing, Wesker ripped free of the cords that bound him. Nightwing lift his hand and swung it in a right hook, but Wesker caught it his left hand. Raising his hand, Wesker threw Nightwing a powerful right hook, knocking Nightwing into a wall twenty feet away. The youth crashed hard into the wall, causing a dent in it before sliding to the ground.

"I've had enough playing. The two of you will rue the day you met up with Albert Wesker." Wesker said, his red eyes glowing eerily.

Immediately after his threat, Wesker charged, covering the distance between himself and Batman in a flash. He spun around in a circle-kick, only to have Batman duck back and away, barely evading the attack. The caped crusader came right in behind the kick, pummeling Wesker with a series of hooks, and uppercut, and a roundhouse kick that caused the not-quite human to fall back.

Batman came in with another kick, but Wesker caught it and sent his left leg low and across, sweeping Batman off his feet.

By that time, Nightwing had recovered from the hit, and charged in at their red-eyed opponent. Wesker responded tot he charge with a swift punch, but Nightwing was expecting the attack and replied with an Aikido counter, catching Wesker's punching hand and spinning around, flipping his foe over and down. Wesker was able to land on his feet, however, and tore free of Nightwing's grasp.

Wesker took two quick steps away from the original Boy Wonder, towards a wall. Nightwing pursued, drawing his escrima sticks as Wesker seemingly boxed himself in against the wall.

But then Wesker leaped up at the wall and kicked off it, spinning around into a flying midair kick aimed for Nightwing's face. He managed to get the escrima sticks up into a block, and the weapons absorbed the brunt of the hit. Still, Nightwing was hurled back by Wesker's strength, slamming into the floor about ten feet away.

"This is getting repetitive," he commented as he got back up.

In the meantime, Batman had snapped out a pair of bolas, the weighted cords wrapping around Wesker's lower legs and tripping the metahuman. He growled and flexed his legs, the corded, superhuman muscles snapping the bolas. He rose to his feet, only to take another kick from Batman in the face.

Wesker spun around with the force of the hit, and added that to his reply, a spinning roundhouse punch that slammed the dark knight in the chest. He flew back, slamming into Nightwing as was finishing standing up.

"I must admit," Wesker stated as both Batman and Nightwing rose. "You are as stubborn as you are stupid."

Batman's reply came in the form of whipping batarangs as Nightwing charged, escrima sticks raised.

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Deep down in the Umbrella Branch Office's subbasement, in a laboratory that Wesker had bypassed in his rampage, a computer activated. There were several beeps and a bloop, followed by a screen lighting up.

Security Protocol AA-17 activated. Detecting missing samples from Lab 3. Detecting intruders on multiple floors. Initiating emergency security response. Activating Tyrant units. Tyrant units moving to recover lost samples and eliminate intruders.

Three twelve-foot tall tubes lit up, each containing something that had once been human. Now their skin was a pale white, their left hands replaced with brutal claws. their lips had been cut away, revealing a permanent smile of white teeth. Their muscles were corded and built, artificially enhanced by Umbrella's scientists. A pulsing, reddish tumor, the heart of each of the super soldiers, began beating.

They were Tyrants, Umbrella's finest work, the ultimate biological killing machines. Each Tyrant's eyes opened, and they knew their orders.

The glass tubes holding the nine-foot tall weapons of death did not open, so they proceeded to break free. Their fists and clawed arms smashed the tubes, and they stepped out. Immediately, their unnatural senses detected the intruders and the lost samples. Like giant, emotionless machines, the three Tyrants set about their business.