Data Collectors
Superman thought himself ready for this. He already had a taste of what this strange man could do, could see some of his capabilities already, and knew that that blast of energy needed to be watched for.
At the same time, he needed to make sure that this fight would cause as little damage to Metropolis as possible...though that might be a lost hope already. All of his fights tended to end in rampant property damage.
That was why he floated upwards, causing the odd man to follow him with his gaze, the strange head tilting back. At this angle, any long range attacks would go harmlessly into the sky.
And the Man of Steel was not wrong. The strange man raised his left hand up, balled into a fist which glowed with yellow-colored energy, and fired off another blast. Prepared this time, Superman dodged to a side, never taking his eyes off the man. The glowing fist followed him and fired off a second shot, which was again avoided.
Deciding not to give this man a third one, Superman lunged forward, clenching his hand into a fist which he swung. Having never taken his eyes off him, the strange man leaned back slightly, reducing the power behind the punch though the force behind the blow still pushed the man. Immediately, Superman recognized the feel of metal against his skin.
That had been the true goal of that punch. He had faced many enemies, some wearing protection and others not. Sometime the Kryptonian could tell by sight alone, others with a more in depth look thanks to X-ray vision, but other times, he wanted complete confirmation. The upper body was at the very least protected. This meant that he could put more force behind his hits.
All of these calculations and deductions occurred within the span of a couple seconds, and by the time he had reach his conclusion, Superman was throwing his second punch and landing it against the chest region. The intention was to dent or warp the metal as a way to demoralize this man.
Much to Superman's surprise, the metal protection did not yield to his strength. It must be made of a harder material, more enduring than what he typically encountered. His surprise, however, left him open if only for a second, but that was all that was needed. The strange man was taking his approach to fighting and was throwing his own punch.
Superman felt his head snap to a side. There had been quite some force behind that hit, meaning there was a lot of strength. Tack on another ability the Man of Steel needed to deal with.
Tensing his arm, the dark-haired guardian of Metropolis swung his fist into an uppercut, landing a hit not into a chin but the blank face that had showed no sign of emotion whatsoever. Now there was something on it, a grimace as eyes squinted shut and lips curled back. Superman pressed his advantage, throwing another punch and landing the hit, snapping the man's head to a side.
Completing a three-hit combo, Superman landed a third hit which threw the strange man back several feet. The man came to a stop, hovering in the air for a second before regaining his composure.
"You possessed augmented strength," the man commented, floating in the air with his back ramrod strength. "No artificial means detected. Conclusion: it is natural."
"What, were you testing me?" Superman demanded. While it hadn't been the first time, the man flat out stating it was.
"I exist only to collect data," the man stated. "No matter what form it takes, I will achieve my primary function."
Another blast of energy was fired, and again Superman dodged. That had been way too predictable. Then a second shot was fired and with a faster time than the Metropolian guardian had anticipated. Though made of energy, it felt like a strong punch, one that his tough body gave way to.
The third shot struck him in the chest, and the fourth twisted his torso to a side. He was feeling them now, really feeling. Through cracked open eyes, he could see the strange man was holding both of his hands up and was firing blasts of energy from both of them. Naturally, that's when the fifth blast hit him, and Superman began to fall, unable to concentrate enough to keep himself up in the air.
However, this was intentional, the blasts stopped momentarily, probably because his fall was being recorded as data. It did give him enough time to gain control and resume flight, adding some momentum to it as he rushed at the man with dubious motives.
It was a bit surprising to see the man lower his arms, but the reason became apparent when Superman found his charge was stopped by some invisible barrier—a force field. He bounced off of it like a ball off a brick wall, then was comboed with another blast of energy. This time his fall wasn't planned and ended when he landed on top of a roof.
Okay, he hadn't expected that…
As Superman picked himself up, it was only by his hearing that he detected the energy blast coming his way. The way the attack hissed and sizzled the air was distinctive, and one that he now had enough time to pick up on.
Rolling out of the way, the Man of Steel winced as the blast detonated on the roof, sending dust and sheetrock every which way. And now the damage to the city was beginning, something he had wanted to avoid. Nothing for it.
Bracing his arms, Superman gave a mighty push, throwing himself up into the air as another blast detonated where he had once laid. He spun, twisting his body to evade the next shot fired, then flew forward several feet before veering downwards. Pulling up and turning his body about, the Kryptonian made another rush, increasing speed so that he zoomed through the air and reached his opponent before another blast was fired.
With a punch, he decked the strange man once, then twice, then pulled back farther than usual to throw one more, dealing a strike that sent the man flying back at high speeds to crash into the side of the LexCorp building. It wasn't too surprising that the wall behind the man didn't cave in, what with the lead lining it also reinforced the structure. However, Superman wouldn't lose too much sleep; Luthor could definitely afford the damages.
Pulling himself out of the wall, the strange man stared him down with the same blank look. No damage could be seen either, something to peeve the dark-haired man, but not enough to make him drop his guard either.
"This continued resistance is accomplishing nothing. If you will not stand down, I will terminate your life," the strange man stated.
"You're not the first one to threaten me with death," Superman replied. Tensing his body, the Man of Steel readied himself for another round. "If you think you can, show me what you've got."
There wasn't any noticeable damage to Central City. Upon arrival, J'onn, Green Lantern, and Flash had searched for the landing site of the fallen object. There was no such impact zone, which left the three Leaguers searching the surrounding area.
The first thing J'onn had done was perform a mind sweep of the city. Perhaps someone in the city could provide information of a strange occurrence, or knew of the fallen object. Unfortunately, nothing seemed to have disturbed the inhabitants.
It was Green Lantern's ring that ended up giving them their first clue. "I got signs of infrastructure failure downtown," the dark-skinned man informed the other two Leaguers. "Computers are going down and firewalls are being breached."
"So?" Flash responded indifferently. "Computers crash all of the time."
"One or two, yeah, but all of them?" John Stewart challenged.
"Huh, good point. I'll go check it out."
Flash dashed away, wind pulling at J'onn's cape. "I believe it would be best if we went as well," the Martian suggested.
"Yeah. There's no telling what kind of trouble Speedy will get into," John Stewart agreed. His green aura enveloping, he then took to the air, J'onn keeping pace with him as they flew in the direction Flash had ran off to.
Moments later, they received a hailing over their comm links. "Uhh, guys? You might want to come look at this," Flash said.
"We're in route," Green Lantern responded before picking up his speed. The two men flew until they found Flash. The red-clad hero was standing on top of a building and was staring at the base of a large satellite dish.
Immediately, J'onn saw what was captivating his friend. At the base of the dish was a strange-looking man. He wore some sort of purple bodysuit and there appeared to be some form of grey armor. He had an elongated head and he seemed to be focused on the satellite, sparks bursting in front of it.
"Any idea what this is?" Flash asked as Green Lantern and J'onn landed next to him.
"No idea," Green Lantern said before glancing to the Martian. "J'onn?"
"I do not know either, but I can remedy that." Orange eyes brightening as he began to probe with his mind, he was surprised to discover he could not read this man's mind. It was almost as if there were no mind, at least none that he could assess. Normally this was because of another telepath with their mental defenses up, but in this case he wasn't even sensing that.
"I...cannot read his mind," the Martian said with astonishment.
This got his friends' attention. "Say what?" Flash exclaimed. "Is he a telepath, or something?"
"No, I don't believe so."
"Then we do it the old-fashioned way," John Stewart said as he raised his ring hand. "We ask."
A beam of green light fired from his ring then. It passed right by the strange man before it suddenly formed a wall between him and the satellite dish, which consequently stopped the sparks.
The man stared at the green wall before he turned his head to the Leaguers, revealing a severe face with an odd pattern of circles on his forehead. There were three circles that formed a triangle, lines connected the bottom circle to the two higher circles. "You are interfering with my work," he said in a monotone voice. "Cease and desist."
"That's our words," Green Lantern retorted. "Tell us who you are and what you are doing."
"That is none of your concern." The man then raised an arm, pointing a fist towards them. Then a beam of yellow energy fired.
"Whoa!" John Stewart exclaimed as he darted to one side, dodging the beam. Scowling, he then wrapped his wall around the attacker, forming a large orb around him. "I'm taking you in, punk."
The man looked at the green enclosure around him. "You must be one of the fabled Green Lanterns." It turned its body to fully face the dark-skinned man, though his kept is raised fist up. Moving his other hand, he began tapping his fingers on a gauntlet that was wrapped around his wrist. "A simple calculation adjustment will suffice."
Then he fired another, much larger beam. Much to the surprise of the three Leaguers, it shattered the green construct with ease. John Stewart wasn't able to dodge this one as he took the full brunt of the blast, crying out as he was carried away through the air.
"Holy crap!" Flash exclaimed, his body twisted around to watch Green Lantern fly away. Then he spun back around to look at their opponent. "That wasn't nice, jerk!"
Then he took off running, rapidly closing the distance between him and the mystery man. Before the man could react, Flash threw a punch, slamming it right into his face. To J'onn astonishment, Flash suddenly stopped running, appearing in place in front of the man as he cried out, grabbing onto his hand as if he injured it. The man before him hadn't even flinched from the blow. "Super speed, though no corresponding enhancement in strength," the man spoke blandly. "You do not interest me."
Then the man crossed an arm over his chest before he swung it outward, nailing Flash with a backhand blow that sent him flying backwards through the air. J'onn watched his friend sail across the rooftop until he crashed onto the gravel, ensuring he wouldn't go pass the roof's ledge.
Returning his attention to the man, J'onn frowned. This person was full of unexpected surprises. He didn't seem phased by Green Lantern's power ring nor Flash's speed. His comment about Flash's lack of super strength was telling, however. If it was power he wanted, then he would get it.
Taking into flight, J'onn rushed the unknown man, throwing his own punch. The man took the blow to the face and immediately flinched from the force he was hit with, stumbling back a step. Much to J'onn surprise, his fist hurt. No wonder Flash had reacted as he had. However, he was not one to allow physical ailments to stun him. Throwing another punch, he knocked the man back even more.
Recovering, the man regained his balance as he regarded the Martian. "I have no knowledge of what you are," he said once again in that monotoned voice. "Tell me, what are you?"
"I believe we asked who you were first," J'onn replied with a hint of impetuousness in his tone.
Amazingly enough, the man seemed to agree with him. "I believe you are right. I am called Brainiac; now explain what you are."
For some reason, J'onn did not like the way this Brainiac was asking him about himself. "I do not believe I will," he responded curtly.
"Then I will have to extricate that information from you." Once again, Brainiac raised his fist up and fired a yellow blast. Eyes widening, J'onn immediately dodged to a side, avoiding the beam as it flew right by him. Leaping forward, he swung an arm up, his forearm colliding with Brainiac's and knocking it to one side. With his other hand, he threw another punch, one that slammed into the side of the man's head and forced him to stumble.
And then he recovered practically instantly. Before J'onn could react, Brainiac was throwing his own punch, ramming it right into the Martian's face. The power behind the hit caught him off guard, causing him to stumble backwards as he cried out.
With the same fist, Brainiac held it extended before him. An energy blast fired then, blasting into J'onn face. This time the green-skinned man was sent sailing through the air, coming to land on his back on the roof, skidding across it until he came to a stop. Wincing from what felt like burnt flesh, J'onn squeezed his eyes shut as he weathered the pain, slowly opening them.
And Brainiac was standing in the same place, arm raised as a yellow orb of energy glowed around his hand. "This is your last opportunity to cooperate," he informed the Martian. "I would hate to miss the chance to study you."
Before J'onn could respond, a red blur suddenly rushed in. Running right into Brainiac, the man was suddenly yanked off the ground by his arm, spinning around until he was just a purple blur around the spinning red one.
Then the blurring stopped as Flash appeared in sight, his arms extended out in front of him and Brainiac flying through the air. It took a moment for J'onn to realize that Flash had run in, grabbed Brainiac by his arm and spun him around rapidly before throwing him away. Eyes watching the strange man, he ended up disappearing over the edge of the building.
Flash was then at his side. "You okay, J'onn?" he asked.
"I am alright," the Martian responded. "Though why did you throw Brianiac off the building?"
"That guy took a couple of punches from you, J'onny boy. I'm certain a fall from this height won't kill him."
"You are most correct."
Both Leaguers whipped their heads around. Hovering in midair was Brainiac, flames from rockets emerging from his feet. "Oh great, he can fly too," Flash complained.
Once again, Brainiac took aim with his arm, his hand glowing with energy. The moment he fired, Flash grabbed onto J'onn and the world around them blurred. Carrying J'onn, flash ran to the other side of the building then over the ledge. The world turned ninety degrees as he ran then down the side of the building.
However, the moment they reached the street, an energy beam collided with the pavement, erupting in an explosion. Unable to avoid it, the force of the explosion hit the two Leaguers, causing them to both cry out as they were thrown in two different directions.
Hitting the asphalt, J'onn bounced off of it several times before he went into a roll, and finally stopped. Unfortunately, he wasn't able to lay there and recover as a car horn blared. Jerking his head, he saw an oncoming car bearing down on him.
Though he was in no real risk, he could not say the same about the driver. Immediately, J'onn liquefied his body and stretched it out as far as he could, forming a large, green puddle on the road. The car ran over him, the tires rolling over his skin and then it was gone. Reforming, J'onn took that moment to form himself in a standing position.
"Fascinating." Tilting his head up, he saw Brainiac descending to street level. "You have the ability to alter the density of your mass seemingly at will. I must know how you do this."
"I am inclined not to assist you," J'onn replied as he turned to fully face this man. "It is evident to me that you are hostile."
"To the contrary, I am only defending myself. It was you and your companions that interfered with my work."
"And what work is that?"
Brainiac stared at him before replying, "I am in the midst of accumulating the universe's greatest source of knowledge. I wish to study and examine everything, from the various planets, suns, societies, and peoples that exist, or have ever existed."
That sounded rather grand, but J'onn could not help but see a flaw in this claim. "So why are you damaging a satellite?"
"How else are you able to study something? It order to learn, one must dissemble the unknown to its most basic parts."
Suddenly, J'onn felt a chill run down his spine. He had a growing suspicion that from the way this man wanted to study him was by taking him apart much like that satellite. "Then I highly suggest you find another way," he informed the man.
"There are no other sufficient ways. I have studied hundreds of methods and have come to the conclusion this is the most efficient and effective method of study."
Suddenly, a green construct in the form of a battering ram slammed into the side of Brainiac. The force of the hit sent the man flying through the air until he crashed into the side of the building. "Back off, creep," John Stewart demanded as he flew into sight, his green construct dissipating.
Leaning up against the building, Brainiac lingered there for a moment before he straightened his posture and turned to face the two Leaguers. Oddly, there were some cracks on the side of his face, something that did not look natural at all. That caused both J'onn and John Stewart to frown. "Are you seeing what I'm seeing?" the dark-skinned man asked.
"I believe I am," the Martian responded.
"Hold off for a moment. I want to try something."
Flying towards Brainiac, Green Lantern held his ring hand at the fore. The man simply raised his hand up again, clearly intending on firing another energy blast.
The moment he did, Green Lantern dodged to a side, avoiding the beam. That was when he formed a construct, a sharp-looking blade emerging right out of his ring. With a swing of his arm, he struck the side of Brainiac's forearm, the green blade biting into the appendage and slicing right through it.
Brainiac's hand went flying off, wires and gears appearing out of the man's stump. A robot. This Brainiac person was a robot.
"A robot," Green Lantern echoed the green-skinned man's thoughts. "I should have known."
"Yes, you should have," Brainiac agreed right before he threw his other fist, this one ramming right into John Stewart's abdomen. Caught off guard, John Stewart gasped as the air in his lungs was forced out, leaving him dazed and breathless.
Steeling his facial features, J'onn felt this fight had gone on long enough. It was clear that this robot was not going to give them any further information than it already had. His eyes brightening with white light, the Martian did not hold back as he fired his Martian Vision.
The white beam burned through the air until he collided with Brainiac's head. The blast ripped the robot's head clean off its shoulders, leaving it headless. For several moments, it just stood there, toppling over into a heap on the ground.
Standing hunched over was Green Lantern as he caught his breath. "Damn...that thing...hits hard," he gasped.
"Breathe easy," J'onn told him as he strode up to him.
Flash suddenly appeared not to them. "What is that thing made of?" he asked, rubbing a hand against the side of his head. "It's nothing from here that I know of."
"More importantly, there might be more of these things," Green Lantern pointed out as he straightened out his posture. "Remember we detected multiple objects falling to Earth. The others might not know."
"And they'll hold back like we did when we first ran into it," Flash surmised. Moving his hand to his ear, he then said, "I'll call the others."
Before he could so much as activate his comm link, a sharp, piercing sound rang in all three Leaguers' ears, causing them all to cry out from pain.
"I do not believe I will allow you to do that." To their surprise, that voice came from the headless body of Brainiac. A beeping sound started up, beeping at even intervals. "I have taken the liberty of jamming your radio frequencies. I will not allow you to interfere with my task any more than you already have."
"Great, then that means we have to go warn the others in person," Green Lantern growled.
"Where are the others again?" Flash asked. "Are they in their hometowns?"
"I believe they are," J'onn said. Faintly, he was listening to that beeping sound, noticing the intervals between beeps was shrinking. "That would place them in Gateway, Metropolis, and Midway."
"Gateway is the furthest from here. I'll go help Wondy," Flash volunteered.
"Good idea," Green Lantern agreed. "How about you—?"
By this point, J'onn noticed the beeping intervals had decreased until there was a steady stream of beeps. That could only mean one thing. "Everyone! Move!" he interrupted his friend. Not needing any further warning, the three Leaguers took off, Flash running while Green Lantern and J'onn taking to the air.
A moment later and Brainiac's body exploded. The blast wasn't as big as the Martian suspected, though the smoke cloud that covered the area was thick. Considering the explosion was right next to a building, J'onn eyed the structure noticing it was not so much as swaying. Using his telepathy, he searched the building, finding that there were indeed people on the other side of the wall from the explosion. From their thoughts, he discovered only startlement. There was no sign of destruction inside the building, but the people inside had clearly heard the blast.
So, the explosion was meant to only destroy the robot's body. While that was a stroke of luck, that did not mean it was the same with the other potential robots. "We need to get going—now," J'onn told Green Lantern. "The others may be in great danger."
It had been fortunate that Diana had been in Gateway when it had come under attack. While her use of modern day electronics was casual, the disruptions to them had gained her attention and then required her intervention.
The sight of a man in silver and purple had been a dead giveaway that he had to be the one responsible. Diana had never seen him before and the fact that he was accessing a panel with long cable-like protrusions from his fingers on top of the city's broadcasting hub made him as prime a suspect as any.
Wonder Woman had given her ultimatum. The man had responded in an odd yet bland voice that told her with no uncertain terms that he was not going to stop. It was the best confession she would get, so she slipped out the Lasso of Truth to deal with him.
With movements so gracefully mastered, she threw the glowing rope over and onto the man, one pull tightening the loop around him and the second pull yanking him away from the panel. The native of Themyscira frowned as she noticed how those protrusions stretched out from that hand and remained attached to the panel.
"What is the meaning of this?" blue-green skinned man demanded, turning only his head to face her.
"I demand to know what you are doing," Wonder Woman stated, tightening her grip on the lasso and placing her will and thirst for knowledge onto it.
The man only responded with, "What I am doing does not concern you. Leave me to my data acquisition unless you wish to face retaliatory measures."
The Lasso would compel any to answer with only the truth, yet the enchanted rope continued to glow and the man showed no discomfort whatsoever. Even as she increased the intensity of the Lasso's compelling nature, no further answers were forthcoming. How this could be stumped the dark-haired heroine, but epiphany came to the rescue in a timely manner.
The Lasso could compel truth from those who were living, ergo, this man was not living. The way those protrusions continued to extend from his hands and attach to the panel were much like cables, or cords. Include the tone of voice he used that was much too flat for any human, and that could only mean this man had to be an automaton.
Gripping the glowing rope, Wonder Woman gave a mighty heave, turning and pulling the lasso over her shoulder. This forced the automaton to come flying towards her, and she stopped its flight with a high kick into the stomach region. A tremor reverberated up her leg, and she winced at the shock, but did not let up.
Looping the lasso around an elbow, it freed one hand that she used to uppercut the man-like robot, leaving an opening for her to land a spin-kick into his side, knocking it to a side. Still, those long protrusions remained but not for long. With one hand still wrapped with her lasso, she gripped the long cables tightly, then reached out to a further point along them and grabbed hold there. Bringing her hands as close together as she could, Wonder Woman pressed her feet down, grinding her heels into sheetrock, twisted her torso as far as she could make it, and applied as much force as she could until the cords were torn out of the panel. Sparks and electrical flares sputtered from the disconnected ends, a sign of success.
"AAH" the Amazonian warrior cried out as something burning slammed into her.
A fist that was covered in a yellow glow of energy remained aimed at her. "Your interference will not be tolerated," the automaton stated, getting back onto its feet.
Grimacing, Wonder Woman got back onto her feet in a swift maneuver, the fingers of her right hand twitching. Of all the days to forget her sword; her hand was desperate to grip the pommel but could only be frustrated by that knowledge. Then she clenched it into a fist.
Deep down, Diana was a warrior, and the lack of a weapon would not deter her from fighting for what was right. Besides, she had the lasso, and that could be used in a number of ways. On top of that, her martial prowess was not to be underestimated, even by herself.
"Whatever attack you place on this city will not be tolerated either," she retorted, taking up a defensive stance.
"Whatever effects that occur here are incidental and nonlife threatening," the man responded.
"Tell that to the hospital that required constant power to operate." The massive infirmaries where the sick congregated held a soft spot for her, especially the one dedicated to children. Many a time she had paid a visit, in her current regalia, to lift the spirits of those within. What this man considered harmless posed too great a risk to everyone in those centers of health.
"Some risks must be taken in services of a grander purpose. Sometimes harm is unavoidable. There is no logical reason to limit one's self if the end is justified by its mean." There was no change in the man's voice, only infuriating calm and detached reason.
"What grander purposes allows harm to children?" Wonder Woman demanded. "No, do not answer. I don't care. I will not allow you to continue what you are doing."
That brought about the narrowing of the man's eyes. "If you insist on interfering, then I shall terminate your continued existence. You will not stop me from fulfilling my objective."
It was plain to see that no amount of talking or reasoning was going to change this man's mind. For her next response, the dark-haired Amazon charged forth, swinging a fist forward. To her satisfaction, she struck a blow to the man's face, which felt more satisfying than she had anticipated. Seizing the moment, she threw a second punch and landed the blow to his head. The man snapped to a side, his face scrunched up into a grimace.
Wonder Woman attempted a third strike, but then the man recovered and caught her fist, a surprisingly large hand wrapping around hers. "Your primitive attacks will accomplish nothing."
However, the heroine was not remaining still; already swinging her lower body about so that she could raise a leg up high enough to slice it through the air, landing the kick she intended to make. She was slightly disappointed when the man made no grunt, but the way her leg had managed to reach up to his shoulder gave her an idea.
Leaning back as much as she could, the Amazonian warrior, slipped her other leg upwards and managed to bring both of her thighs together, wrapping them around the man's head. Relying more on her Gods' blessed strength, Wonder Woman threw herself back as far as she could and managed to bring her legs forward. This had the effect of pulling the man off his feet, his head propelled forward until it slammed into the floor.
Propping her body up with one arm, Wonder Woman made to get back onto her feet, but was restricted by the fact that the man's hand had not released hers. Then the fingers that latched onto her began to stretch, forming those cables she had seen earlier. However, instead of going for the panel, they wrapped around her instead. Around and up her arm, over her shoulder, slithering about her torso, they continued to stretch.
Yes, she tried to struggle, but found herself unable to stop what was happening.
"Your methods are as primitive as your reasoning," the man stated as he pulled his head out of the floor. "Since you will not obey ultimatums, I will try a different approach."
All the while, Wonder Woman grunted as the cable-like fingers began to wrap around her throat.
The perpetrator stood in a rather inconvenient place.
There was a storage unit on the roof, built into the very base of the building's antenna. The man in the steel armor and purple jumpsuit was positioned within sight of this unit, though his attention was on a panel.
For Bruce, that meant he had no access to his armor and weapons—at least, those specific ones. Luckily he had another unit he had access to, its location best left unsaid. Seated on top of an A/C unit, Batman observed the reason his building was having its firewall breached and the software hacked.
Incredibly enough, there was no equipment on his man, if he was indeed one. Its hand was jammed into the panel, though the hand looked more like a series of cables and wires. Was he a cyborg like Victor Stone? An android? There were a limited number of possibilities.
However, his chief objective was to get this thing out of his servers. There was only a couple reasons for this breach and that was mostly corporate espionage. Like hell he would allow his company's work and research to be stolen right out from under him.
Pulling at a bat-shaped shuriken, he sent it flying at the suspect, aiming for the hand that was attached to the panel. Much to his surprise, the projectile ricocheted off the cables rather than severing them, a sharp ping ringing out from the collision.
However, this caused the person to turn their elongated, blue head to look in his direction. He didn't look perturbed by his presence. "Do not interfere," he warned the vigilante. "I have much work to do and your presence will only delay the inevitable."
Inevitable? Right. If this guy was a cyborg, no doubt he had a hard exterior. The connecting cables was proof of that. Pulling out another shuriken, Batman pressed his thumb onto the base, holding it until a red light flickered from the projectile. Throwing it, this time he aimed for the man's body, the shuriken arching through the air and then closing right in on the suspect's stomach.
The moment it collided, the shuriken exploded. A thick cloud of smoke enveloped the man, hiding him from sight. Watching intently, Batman waited for the smoke to dissipate.
The moment it did, he saw the man standing in the same position, not the least bit affected. "This is your last warning," he told him, not even looking in his direction. "If you do not cease your actions, I will have to terminate you."
Batman narrowed his eyes. His explosive shuriken hadn't worked. That was a first. This son of a bitch was sturdier than he had thought. Unfortunately, every second it remained connected to the mainframe was allowing it that continued access and that was becoming more and more unacceptable.
So if he couldn't dislodge the perp…
Pulling out another explosive shuriken and activating it, he threw it not at the robot man, but the panel itself. It struck the panel as one end embedded itself into the metal frame. A moment later and it exploded, a rush of sparks washing over the robot in turn.
There, with the panel destroyed, there was no way this guy had further access.
Standing eerily still, the man didn't so much as budge as smoke poured into his face. Then he turned to face the still crouching vigilante. "That was an ill-advised course of action," he spoke. "You did not heed my warning and now to ensure the completion of my objective, I am forced to terminate your existence."
Then the man raised a hand up, a first formed. His blue skin then glowed a bright yellow just before he fired a beam of energy at the dark-clad man. Immediately, Batman dove off the A/C unit, the beam ripping through the metal frame, causing an explosion to ring out. Landing on his feet, Batman caught sight of his foe moving his fist to take aim again. Taking off into a run, he raced for the base of the antenna, even as the man fired blast after blast after him. The beams hit the roof a step or two behind the running vigilante, stopping the moment he passed out of sight, though a blast clipped a corner of the base.
Jumping at the last moment, Batman grabbed onto the top of the base with his hands, his feet slapping down on the cement wall. Hauling himself up onto the base, the moment he was on his feet, he was digging into his belt. This time, he pulled out what appeared to be two grey globs, a timer face stuck into them. These were C4 explosives, primed and ready for use. Quickly, he turned the timer faces to one side, which caused numbers to begin flashing on the timer. He stopped when the number ten was visible on both.
Creeping forward then, he moved to the edge of the antenna base, finding his opponent walking next to it, moving to round the corner. Readying himself, Batman then dove off the antenna base, going head first as he extended his hands out in front of him. He stuck the C4 explosives onto the robot's back, arms bending to better absorb the collision between the two. Then he pushed off the man, going into a flip over his head and landing in front of him in a crouched position.
Batman then pivoted on one foot, sticking a leg. As he spun, he swung his foot in a wide arc until it collided with his foe's legs. Though an explosive did not work, his kick hit the side of the man's knee, causing it to buckle. It was nice to see that whatever this thing was, it had the same structural weaknesses as a human being.
The robot actually gave out a cry of surprise as it toppled over backwards, landing on his back. Immediately, Batman then darted around the corner of the antenna base, taking cover behind it. In a few more seconds, the ten second timers would hit zero and—
That was when a powerful explosion rang out, sending a cloud of black smoke and red fire high into the air. The building shook beneath the vigilante's feet, causing him to brace himself against the wall behind him. Smoke rushed around the corner, reaching out in all directions.
Batman stayed where he was for several moments. Once he was sure the explosion had caused the roof to cave in, he began to edge himself to the corner of the antenna base. Looking around it, he only saw a dark cloud of smoke rising, flashes of fire still burning. No doubt the area was singed black from the flames, but it wasn't anything that couldn't—
Suddenly a fist burst out of the smoke, slamming right into Batman's face. The force of the blow was incredible! Pain exploded throughout the vigilante's face as he was sent flying backwards through the air, blood and spit erupting from his mouth.
The dark-clad man landed back on the roof, skidding across it on his back for several feet until he came to a stop. Wincing, Batman looked over a shoulder, repressing a shudder as he realize just how close he was to the roof's edge. He was within a foot of it, nearly falling off of the building.
Turning his head back to the smoke, he saw the robot emerge into sight, looking no worse for wear. "Your attempts at survival are meaningless," he informed him. "Accept your death willingly."
Like hell he would. Bearing his teeth, before the robot tried to shoot another energy beam at him, Batman rolled away from him, going over the edge of the roof and allowing gravity to drop him to the street far, far below.
FlackAttack: Yep, that's the quest. As for your concern for Batman, I think this chapter just answered that. These are some space-age robots, nothing like you would see from LexCorp or anything. So yeah, they can take a hit and dish out some pain.