Stare

Flying out from among the countless writhing tentacles once again, the bat wings of Batman's fighter tore through the air with ferocious speed, slicing past their monstrous target. The roaring engines of the Batwing emitted a low hum as its sleek form darted through the night sky like a black blade, momentarily catching the moonlight before diving into the shadows again.

Inside the cockpit, the fighter's sophisticated intelligent locking assist system activated, seamlessly locking onto several vital points on Laitos' massive and grotesque body. Laitos was a nightmare of a creature, with tentacles like tree trunks flailing wildly in the air, threatening to engulf the Batwing with their sheer size. Yet, despite the chaotic scene unfolding around him, Batman's honed instincts, coupled with his superior reaction speed, identified the brief but critical opening in Laitos' defense. It was a flaw so minuscule that an ordinary pilot would have missed it entirely—but not Batman. His years of martial training and mastery of combat tactics allowed him to see combat as an art form, and Laitos' massive body was just another canvas.

At that moment, time itself seemed to slow down. The frantic motions of the waving tentacles, the billowing smoke, the debris flung into the air—it all appeared to freeze in a still frame, creating a surreal sense of calm amid the chaos. The Batwing's heads-up display illuminated before Batman, capturing every detail of the slowing battle in exquisite clarity. The tentacles moved in molasses-like slow motion, while the debris, hanging in mid-air, sparkled against the backdrop of fire and smoke like embers frozen in time.

It was the exact sensation of "bullet time," a phenomenon Batman had experienced many times before in simulations, but this felt different. This was real, and the strange feeling it evoked tugged at the corners of Batman's mind.

For Charlie, who was piloting remotely through the game interface, the sensation was even more profound. He watched through the Batwing's virtual cameras as everything on the screen slowed down, just like in one of those Quick Time Event (QTE) moments from a game. His fingers tightened on the controls, waiting for the inevitable button prompt that would signal his next move. The QTE was designed to immerse the player in the game, giving them a brief window of heightened reflexes and reaction time to perform a crucial action. But this wasn't just a game anymore. The game, a cheat that could affect reality itself, was manipulating time and space. Was it truly slowing down time, or was Batman's heightened reflexes shared with Charlie as the player?

Charlie's thoughts raced, but there was no time to dwell on them now. The boss fight was reaching its climax.

The button prompt flashed on the screen, and without hesitation, Charlie reacted. His mouse darted across the screen, precisely aiming the targeting reticle, while his fingers danced across the keyboard, triggering the missile launch. The Batwing's weapon systems roared to life.

Two specialized missiles shot out from beneath the fighter, their fiery trails painting streaks of red across the darkened sky. Batman had chosen his attack well—this wasn't just about brute force. He applied the same principles of martial arts, reading Laitos' movements as if they were combat moves and finding openings in the monster's erratic patterns. His sharp mind, along with the advanced tactical systems of the Batwing, enabled him to execute strikes with deadly accuracy.

When Laitos first noticed the human's assault, it barely flinched. This wasn't the first time it had encountered these pesky flying machines. The fighter jets of the Ninth Special Service Division had also attacked it with missiles, and Laitos had shrugged off their feeble attacks as if swatting at flies. However, within moments of the Batwing's missiles hitting, Laitos sensed something terribly wrong.

The two missiles detonated with an explosive force that exceeded anything Laitos had encountered before. The blast waves tore through the air like a tidal wave, rippling outward with massive energy. High-temperature flames spread across Laitos' thick, armored skin, forcing the creature to instinctively shield its vulnerable areas. But these flames were not ordinary. They shimmered with an eerie, plasma-like blue light, both beautiful and deadly. This light danced across Laitos' skin, eating away at the protective Tis shield it had formed.

The ancient monster recoiled in horror as its body, which it once believed to be impervious to any human weapon, was now being torn apart by this strange and unnatural energy. Laitos' one large eye widened in shock as it felt the integrity of its physical form faltering. Beneath the shredded layers of its shield, Laitos' grotesque inner organs—an intricate web of twisted vines and pulsating flesh—were laid bare, exposed to the open air like a gory mosaic of living tissue.

Laitos' body began to rapidly regenerate, its natural healing process kicking into overdrive to mend the damage. Yet, this time the pain was real—more real than anything it had felt in centuries. The realization sent waves of fear coursing through the creature.

"I must kill him," Laitos thought, its mind racing with a primal instinct of survival.

With newfound rage, Laitos' colossal body began to shift and morph. Its thick, writhing arms fused together into one enormous mass, expanding rapidly like molten lava swelling out of a volcano. In mere moments, Laitos had formed a massive net of flesh, spreading across the sky like a suffocating blanket of darkness. This enormous claw-like appendage reached out, determined to engulf the Batwing in one final strike. The night sky seemed to vanish beneath the sheer size of Laitos' outstretched form, casting everything below it in impenetrable shadow.

The Batwing's engines roared as Batman initiated its advanced acceleration system, pushing the craft to its absolute limits. Yet, even with its unearthly speed, it wasn't enough. The net of darkness closed in, smothering the Batwing like a predator trapping its prey. For a moment, everything went silent. The fighter had been caught, swallowed whole by the massive, writhing mass of flesh. It was now entombed in Laitos' dark, lightless void.

Laitos' eye glowed with satisfaction. Finally, it had caught the human. All it had to do now was crush this insignificant insect into dust.

But before Laitos could savor its victory, the Batwing pierced through the darkness, breaking free of the suffocating prison. It shot back into the night sky like a black arrow, tearing through Laitos' body as though it had turned into a phantom, untouchable and ethereal.

Laitos' eye widened in disbelief. How had the Batwing escaped? It had felt the machine trapped within its grasp. But now it was as if the fighter had become a ghost, able to pass through solid matter.

This was the Allen system at work, granting the Batwing the short-term ability to vibrate its molecules and phase through objects—an ability stolen from the Flash himself. Although the process consumed an enormous amount of energy and could only be used for brief moments, it was enough to escape Laitos' death grip.

As Laitos tried to process the impossible, three more missiles streaked toward it. Two of them were Apocalypse missiles, borrowed from the alien technology of Cyborg. They slammed into Laitos' body, causing massive explosions that tore through its already damaged form, leaving gaping holes where its organs were exposed. The third missile, however, was different—a freezing bomb. Upon detonation, the warhead released a cloud of ice crystals that enveloped Laitos' entire body in a layer of frost.

Laitos screamed in rage as its temperature spiked, desperately trying to melt the ice that encased its body. But during this brief period, its regenerative powers were significantly weakened.

"Target's temperature rising sharply. Two seconds until the ice shatters," Friday's voice rang out inside the cockpit. "Self-healing power has decreased significantly."

"Perfect," Charlie said, his voice steady.

This was exactly the plan. Though the freezing bomb wouldn't kill Laitos, it forced the creature to expend an immense amount of energy to break free, weakening its defenses and making it more vulnerable to attack.

With Laitos now severely weakened, Batman and Charlie prepared for the final blow. The Batwing hovered in the air, engines thrumming as its most powerful weapon system began to charge.

A black barrel extended from beneath the Batwing, locking onto Laitos from afar. Energy began to build within the weapon, so intense that the fighter itself seemed to glow red-hot. The very space around the Batwing distorted from the overwhelming heat, rippling like molten lava.

This was no ordinary weapon—it was Superman's heat vision, replicated and installed on the Batwing. It was so powerful that the Batwing itself could only withstand a single shot before it risked disintegrating.

Charlie smirked as the energy built to its peak.

He called it—

—The usual stare.