The giant zombie seemed to sense the attack and charged out of the black mist, following the direction of the arrows.
Thea glanced over and saw her arrows lying on the ground. Great, very impressive; they hadn't even scratched the thing! Without a second thought, she decided to run.
But she had underestimated the zombie's sheer strength. With its incredible strength, its speed was astonishing too. It didn't slow down around corners, barreling through with its massive frame. It wouldn't take more than a few seconds to catch up to her.
Realizing the confined environment was working against her, Thea directed her decoy clone to run in the opposite direction, buying herself some time.
Sure enough, the zombie hesitated, its sluggish mind struggling to decide which target to pursue.
Thea knew she couldn't keep racing it through the tunnels. She needed to get back to the surface and take to the sky. Assessing her surroundings, she drew a fire arrow and aimed it at a nearby natural gas pipeline.
After a moment's hesitation, deeming it too risky to rely on just that, she tossed a cloud of black mist onto the zombie's path and summoned a new clone. Handing the clone a pistol and pointing it at the pipeline, Thea's real self darted away to a safe distance.
What followed was the scene Felicity witnessed: a massive tremor shook the entire Arkham area. The pipeline's location erupted into a crater twenty meters deep and thirty meters wide.
Thea successfully escaped into the sky, and the giant zombie, Grundy, emerged into everyone's view right behind her.
Whoosh, whoosh. Thea fired a freeze arrow and a fire arrow in quick succession. The results were negligible. This thing wasn't just impervious to blades and bullets; it was resistant to fire and ice too. Add in its immense strength, and aside from not being able to fly, it seemed to have no weaknesses.
Thea didn't dare fly too high or too fast. Her goal was to lure it out of the city. Whether she could get Swamp Thing to help or rally the other heroes for a group assault, she'd have more room to maneuver outside.
She also radioed Bruce, updating him on the situation. Both he and Commissioner Gordon fully supported her plan to draw the monster out of the city, though they were skeptical that such a powerful creature had been lurking in Gotham.
Fortunately, Bruce's vast experience kept him calm. He instructed Thea to stay safe and assured her they'd be there soon.
Thea wasn't holding her breath for his "soon." Bane wasn't an easy opponent. Bruce's victory was likely, but taking him down instantly? That was a pipe dream.
Relying on herself was better than relying on others. Afraid Grundy might turn back and attack those who couldn't fly, Thea had to periodically slow down, get closer, and fire a few arrows to keep its attention. Though they didn't pierce its defenses, it was better than doing nothing.
Through constant probing, Thea began to suspect this creature wasn't as formidable as the legends suggested, or at least, it was far less intelligent. The Grundy she'd heard of was a zombie with some level of cunning. This one showed no signs of intellect, easily provoked by her crude taunts and led on a chase across the city.
One flying in the sky, one running on the ground, they quickly left the city limits and arrived at the southern swamps—the very place that had altered Thea's destiny just days before.
She circled the area twice, but there was no sign of Swamp Thing. Either he was gone, or he didn't think he could take this thing on. The swamp remained silent, like a desolate wasteland. With no other choice, Thea kept circling Gotham's outskirts.
To the east lay the ocean. Thea tried luring Grundy that way for ten minutes, but he wasn't foolish enough to wade too far into the water. After a few steps, he turned back from the sea.
Left with no alternative, she pulled him westward, simultaneously calling out for her allies' support.
The first to arrive were the armed helicopters from A.R.G.U.S. They couldn't engage freely within the city, but out here in the open, they unleashed their arsenal.
Eight anti-tank missiles struck Grundy with precision. When the smoke cleared, the zombie stood unscathed, roaring furiously at the helicopter, nearly causing the ARGUS pilot to faint from fear.
See? Now you're scared! I've been kitting this big guy for a marathon! You think it's easy? Thea couldn't just stand by and watch her allies fall. She fired another volley of freeze and fire arrows, redirecting Grundy's attention back to her.
Meanwhile, Bruce, hearing the distant sounds of battle, grew increasingly anxious. Bane, however, had learned his lesson this time. He avoided using Venom, relying solely on his considerable fighting skills to simply entangle Batman, trying to keep him pinned down.
There was a skill gap between them, but it wasn't enormous. Last time, Bane's sudden surge of Venom-fueled strength caught Batman off guard, leading to the back-breaking incident. Consequently, Bruce was fighting very conservatively this time, prioritizing defense over offense.
Bane, perhaps wary after the previous Venom-induced frenzy, hesitated to exert his full strength. Besides, the Court of Owls' mission was simply to delay Batman; there was no need for him to risk his life over it.
Bruce could guess some of Bane's intentions. With a quick thought, he tossed a smoke pellet.
"Hm?" Bane reacted swiftly, assuming his opponent was about to flee. He couldn't let that happen. Drawing on his from his old pit-fighting days, he lunged for Batman's waist with a takedown.
"You fell for it." Bruce's smoke was a feint. He'd anticipated Bane's charge. His left hand shot forward, grabbing Bane's breathing mask. With a powerful twist of his wrist, he ripped it off.
"Aaargh!" The excruciating pain drove Bane staggering out of the smoke. His mask wasn't just strapped on; it was surgically fused to his facial nerves. Tearing it off damaged his nervous system, sending his mind into a fog.
Seeing Bane's face covered in blood, his eyes glazed over, and much of the skin around his mouth torn, Bruce knew he had won. He lunged forward and delivered a barrage of heavy blows.
Using his custom cable, he bound his old foe and urgently contacted Thea to check on her situation.
Thea's position was far from ideal, though not dire yet. After all, Grundy couldn't fly, and her hoverboard had virtually limitless power. Responding to Bruce, she quipped, "Take your time figuring this out. This thing's immune to everything. You might want to hold off on the photo ops."
She and the ARGUS helicopter were coordinating decently, tag-teaming Grundy from the south side of the city to the west, now heading north.
Over the comms, she could only report that she could hold out for now and urged them to figure out a solution quickly.
Once Bruce confirmed her location, he didn't bother checking on his other allies. He boarded his Batwing, which he'd recovered days earlier during Bane's downtime, thanks to its tracking systems.
The supersonic Batwing reached the battlefield in no time. Seeing Solomon Grundy for the first time gave even Bruce a jolt. This didn't look like a lab creation; it seemed almost natural. How had something like this been hiding near Gotham?
He trusted Thea's claims of its invulnerability but wanted to test it himself for data and assess it firsthand. He unleashed a dense barrage of gunfire from the Batwing's cannons.