Multiverse: Deathstroke

Chapter 21: Ch.20 Security Dinosaur

Su Ming didn't need Cindy to answer; he already knew.

Because right in front of him, the enormous mechanical dinosaur started to move slowly. A massive shadow loomed over him.

The dinosaur had activated when Barbara connected to the mainframe. Bryce hadn't relied solely on network firewalls—after all, if an enemy could penetrate the Batcave and start hacking, no firewall could offer complete protection.

Instead, she opted for a physical firewall. After all, if a mechanical dinosaur broke all the intruders' bones, who would still be able to hack the system?

"Cindy~~~ You'll definitely want to see this."

"What now? Men are so much trouble," Cindy muttered, casually turning around—only to be startled. "What the hell, Su, what did you do?"

"I didn't do anything! You should ask yourself what you forgot to do. This is one of the Batcave's security measures."

Su Ming dodged the dinosaur's massive jaws with a quick roll. Though it didn't have the sharp teeth of a killer machine, getting crushed between two giant metal plates would still leave him severely injured.

"What is this? Batman's toys are supposed to be bats, not dinosaurs," Cindy said, puzzled. The last time she'd been here, she'd assumed it was just a decoration.

"Clearly, Bryce must've debated for a long time whether to become Batman or Dinosaurman," Su Ming joked. He hooked his foot around a nearby railing, executing a full-body backbend to avoid the dinosaur's tail swipe.

The tail passed within inches of his face, and he could hear the air whistle as it moved. It hit a steel fence, tearing through it and sending shards spinning through the air.

Even though Su Ming's body and armor were top-notch, he couldn't withstand too many hits from such blunt force. Internal organs would be severely damaged. His healing abilities worked best with open wounds, so avoiding hits was the logical choice.

Thankfully, the dinosaur wasn't fast, and its large size came with its own weaknesses.

"Can you handle this?" Cindy asked, unable to help at the moment. The dinosaur seemed focused entirely on Su Ming, chasing him around the cave while smashing tables, chairs, and jars in its path. Su Ming led it toward the tunnel they had come through.

"I should be fine." Su Ming ducked between the dinosaur's legs and fired a test shot at its underbelly, but aside from a flurry of sparks, there was no visible effect. "Just protect Barbara and the computer system!"

Cindy nodded, pulling out her staff. If any debris came flying their way, she'd knock it out of the air.

Meanwhile, Vika's eyes lit up. She thought the scene of Deathstroke fighting a mechanical dinosaur would make a great story. She immediately directed Pete to start filming Su Ming in action.

The dinosaur rampaged around the cave, but because Su Ming wanted to avoid damaging the Batcave or the computer system, he couldn't use C4 or EMP devices, which frustrated him.

Batgirl's plan was clear: she wanted to force intruders to destroy both the Batcave and the dinosaur to safeguard her data.

Vika continued shouting suggestions from the sidelines, yelling things like, "Poke its eyes! Kick its jaw! Grab its tail!" Su Ming pretended not to hear. By now, he had a decent grasp of the dinosaur's attack patterns.

"A machine this big needs a lot of power, but it's clear this isn't steam-powered or fueled by an internal combustion engine, and it's definitely not a magic construct."

"So, it's either battery-powered or nuclear-powered. But nuclear seems far-fetched—even for Bryce, who didn't put nuclear power in the Batmobile. So, that leaves some kind of advanced battery as the most likely answer."

"If it's battery-powered and capable of identifying enemies and acting independently, it must have its own onboard processor and operating system. That means it's hollow, like a medieval knight—its tough exterior doesn't necessarily make it resistant to blunt force."

"So far, it's used three types of attacks: stomping, biting, and tail swiping. It has no ranged capabilities or energy-based weapons. Let's try this..."

After formulating his plan, Su Ming sprang into action, all of this thinking having taken place in just fractions of a second.

He sprinted forward, the wind rushing past his ears. As the dinosaur snapped at him with its jaws, he slid beneath it, right between its legs, then jumped onto its tail.

Timing his movements perfectly with the dinosaur's tail swaying, he let go at just the right moment, using the momentum to launch himself onto its head like a giant springboard. The impact jarred him, but his combat instincts kept him focused.

The dinosaur had sensors all over its body, and even though its "eyes" couldn't see Su Ming, it could sense him through pressure readings, knowing someone was on top of it.

This was where Su Ming's strategy came into play. Bryce had designed this mechanical dinosaur to resemble a T-Rex, and its tiny forelimbs couldn't reach its head. With two out of its three attack methods rendered useless, the dinosaur only had one option left:

Its massive tail shot up into the air, swinging down toward Su Ming with full force.

This was precisely what Su Ming had been counting on. He swiftly rolled to the side, grabbing onto the edge of the dinosaur's eye socket, hanging there as the tail came crashing down.

The dinosaur's metal tail slammed into its own head.

Duang!

The sound echoed through the cave. It was so loud Su Ming almost let go to cover his ears. It was like a giant gong had gone off right next to him, making his vision blur for a moment. But his battle instincts quickly kicked back in.

Two massive metal plates clashing wouldn't be enough to stop the beast, but the force had cracked the dark green exterior on its head. Beneath the skin, a long stretch of metal had bent inward, like a trench in a field.

Su Ming lured the dinosaur into hitting itself several more times, all in the same spot. After all, a program is just a program. Once you figure out its logic, you can exploit it over and over again.

After several more deafening collisions, a small crack appeared in the dinosaur's head.

Su Ming had been waiting for this moment. Drawing his katana, he plunged it into the crack and twisted it around, causing sparks to fly as the metal insides ground against each other.

Sparks exploded from the crack, like fireworks spraying out of the opening. They bounced off his mask, leaving black streaks across the yellow parts.

The more sophisticated a machine is, the more likely it is to collapse from a single broken cog. That was true in the steam age, and even more so in the information age.

Su Ming didn't need to destroy the CPU or hard drive. Severing a few circuits would be enough, just like pulling out some wires from a computer. Messing around inside the machine would definitely cause problems.

Still, the dinosaur didn't stop immediately after his attack. To be safe, Su Ming pulled out his shotgun and emptied every shell into the crack.

Finally, the dinosaur stopped moving and began to collapse.

Su Ming stood up, perched on its head, and calmly jumped to the ground as it fell.

A cloud of dust billowed up, then slowly settled, revealing the shiny silver armor of the mechanical dinosaur under Su Ming's feet.

He bent down, yanked his shotgun out of the crack, and slowly began reloading it, as if he had just swatted a fly—not worth mentioning at all.

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