Chapter 986: Batman Frowns, Realizing Things Aren

Tony had just donned the Iron Man armor and was flying above Gotham City.

Gotham City was already deep in night.

"...... JARVIS! Have you located Batman?"

"Locked on! Mr. I'll now guide you automatically."

JARVIS's calm voice sounded as he hacked into Gotham's surveillance feeds to deduce Batman's current location.

Clark stood beside him, opened his mouth, then only let out a bitter laugh.

Yet in his heart, Clark had made his decision: if Tony really clashed with Batman, he would intervene at once.

...... Gotham's night sky remained as densely overcast as ever.

Batman Bruce Wayne stood straight-backed atop the Cortland Building, his black cloak shrouding his voice as he gazed down at the city lit up below.

Beneath his mask lay a pair of cold eyes.

As if scanning this city teeming with filth.

Mr. Wayne was a playboy by day, a giant bat by night, hunting criminals.

Though hailed as Gotham's guardian, he was still flesh and blood, needing rest.

Today he wanted to finish dispatching criminals early and return to his warm bed in Room 607.

Batman took one step forward—then froze, his brow tightly furrowed; for no reason, he suddenly felt a premonition of doom.

To ordinary people, premonitions were just premonitions, unworthy of notice.

But Batman was different; having faced countless dangers, he trusted his instincts absolutely.

"...... Has something happened again in Gotham?"

"No! Nothing's happened in Gotham.

But you might run into a little trouble!"

A low voice suddenly sounded.

Batman's pupils shrank sharply; he spun around—and saw behind him a deep-red Iron Man armor, hovering silently in midair.

"Who are you?"

Batman's expression remained unchanged, but beneath his cloak, his muscular frame tensed.

He already suspected: another new supervillain had come to Gotham, seeking fame by taking on Batman alone. Batman, having faced countless foes, was unimpressed.

After all, Arkham still held a roster of supervillains.

"I'm Iron Man, Tony Stark."

Tony snorted; his Iron Man armor instantly liquefied, retracting into the nanotech array in his chest.

This display of high-tech prowess made Batman's expression turn grave.

Yet Batman was also pondering Tony's claim of being "Iron Man," wondering: could this man not be a supervillain, but a fellow champion of justice? "Nice to meet you! How about a little gift?" Tony suddenly grinned, launched a live stream—and beneath Batman, a magical array from Kamar-Taj materialized. Batman dropped straight down with a whoosh.

Above Batman, another magical array appeared.

Batman kept falling between the two spatial arrays: dropping from the upper one, landing in the lower one, repeating endlessly.

Clark appeared beside Tony.

Watching this, he wore a wry smile.

Yet he knew Tony's actions were mostly mischief.

Realizing this, he relaxed and did not intervene.

After a brief shock, Batman understood his situation.

He began to save himself—whipping out a swift motion, as he fell, he spread like a bat, breaking free of the magical array's pull.

"You bastard!"

Batman's face was icy; like a giant bat, he shot through the night sky with blinding speed, whooshing straight to Tony's front.

Before he could unleash his signature combat skills, layers of spatial barriers appeared before Tony.

Batman crashed into them with a clang.

"You believe human strength can solve everything? Then go ahead—use your human-limited strength and smash through this barrier."

Tony sneered.

Clark: "......"

Clark mused that after this, Batman might truly start building a space-resistant Bat-suit—or an Iron Man-counter armor.

Batman and Iron Man were essentially the same: both loved building counter-armors.

Batman liked building suits to fight Superman; Tony liked building suits to fight the Hulk.

Well—Clark, unaware that Tony had already begun building a Superman-counter armor, still didn't fully understand Tony.

"...... Who exactly are you?"

Batman stepped back swiftly; though he'd been knocked around by the barrier, Master Wayne was no ordinary man—human limit! Dark Knight! His physical condition was top-tier.

Not even ten or twenty impacts would stop him—he could still punch hundreds of armed thugs into the dirt with his bare hands.

"I already said it! Bruce Wayne."

Tony sighed. "I'm Tony. That's my real name."

"......"

Hearing his real name exposed, Batman instantly sensed danger—but his face remained as calm as still water.

"Bruce Wayne? I know him—the playboy, the heir to Wayne Enterprises."

"Do you think I'm the same person as him?"

"It's not about whether you're the same person—it's about this armor, and the Batmobile. What kind of place in Gotham could afford to build such high-tech gear?"

Frankly, Tony found it unbelievable.

He seriously doubted the intelligence of Gotham City's citizens.

If you suspect Batman is a powerless dark hero, look at the suit he's wearing.

Could an ordinary person possibly develop this? Just consider the R&D funding, then apply process of elimination.

Identifying Master Wei En's identity isn't hard, is it? Seeing Batman and still wanting to argue, Tony didn't bother answering—he slapped his hand again. "Stop standing here in the cold wind! Let's go straight to your Batcave and talk."

"I didn't travel all this way just to… chat nonsense with you."

Another magic array appeared beneath Batman's feet, and he dropped down with a swift whoosh.

He could fly, but Kamar-Taj's magic arrays were too unpredictable—they always caught people off guard.

Tony slashed through the air before him, drawing a magic array, then stepped directly inside.

Clark let out a long sigh and followed him in, though inside he still felt a flicker of relief.

Fortunately, the two hadn't actually fought to the death.

Although a minor conflict had arisen, he could easily explain these… conflicts off as pranks! It wasn't a big deal.