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Michael didn't even need Cindy's answer; the evidence was right in front of him. The massive mechanical dinosaur in the Batcave was slowly coming to life, its shadow growing larger as it loomed over him.
As soon as Barbara connected to the Batcave's mainframe, she must have triggered the security system. Bruce—well, Brie—hadn't relied solely on firewalls to protect her secrets. No, she had opted for a more "physical" defense system. After all, once an intruder got past the firewalls, the next best defense was something that could break every bone in their body: a massive, rampaging mechanical dinosaur.
"Cindy, you're gonna want to see this," Michael called out.
"What now?" Cindy turned her head, clearly annoyed, only to freeze when she saw the gigantic dinosaur. "What the hell, Michael? What did you do?"
"I didn't do anything! You should be asking yourself what you didn't do," Michael retorted, quickly rolling out of the dinosaur's way as its massive jaws snapped where he had just stood. The teeth weren't sharp, but the sheer force between those two metal plates could easily crush bone.
"What is this thing? Wasn't the Bat's thing supposed to be, you know, bats?" Cindy muttered, clearly confused as the dinosaur continued its slow, methodical movements.
"Seems like she had a bit of an identity crisis—couldn't decide between Batwoman or Dinowoman," Michael quipped, deftly dodging the dinosaur's sweeping tail. He hooked his foot on a nearby railing and flipped backward, narrowly avoiding the massive metal appendage. The tail smashed into the steel bars, ripping them apart like tissue paper and sending debris flying across the cave.
Michael knew his enhanced body could take some hits, but he wasn't keen on testing it against the full force of this behemoth's blunt force. Self-healing was great for open wounds, but internal damage from such impacts? Best to avoid it altogether.
Luckily, the dinosaur wasn't particularly fast, and its size made it somewhat clumsy.
"Can you handle this?" Cindy asked, her eyes flicking between the carnage and Michael.
"I think so," Michael called back, darting between the dinosaur's legs. He fired a shot at its underbelly, but the bullet merely sparked against the thick metal plates. "You just keep Barbara and the computers safe."
Cindy nodded, readying her staff. If any debris came their way, she could knock it aside before it caused any damage. Meanwhile, Vicki's eyes lit up with excitement. She nudged Pete and commanded him to film the epic showdown, already imagining the headlines: "Deathstroke vs. Mechanical Dinosaur!"
The mechanical dinosaur rampaged through the Batcave, destroying tables, chairs, and equipment. Michael gritted his teeth. He couldn't use any explosives or EMPs to take it down—those might damage the Batcave's mainframe, or worse, cause the entire cave to collapse.
"Take out its eyes! Go for its chin! Grab its tail!" Vicki called out unhelpfully, offering her "expert" advice as Pete frantically tried to keep the camera steady. Michael ignored her completely, focusing instead on analyzing the dinosaur's behavior.
"This thing needs a lot of energy to move," Michael mused to himself, sidestepping another bite from the beast. "It's definitely not steam-powered or magic-based, so it's running on some sort of battery or fuel source."
The fact that it could identify targets and act autonomously meant it had a processor onboard. Its massive size and heavy-duty nature suggested it was hollow inside, much like a medieval suit of armor. And just like armor, its outside might be tough, but that didn't mean it was invulnerable to internal damage.
"So far, its attacks are limited to stomping, biting, and tail-whipping—no ranged attacks, no energy blasts. If I can mess with its internals, I might be able to short-circuit it."
Michael quickly formulated a plan in his mind, calculating the timing and positioning he'd need.
Within a split second, he sprinted towards the dinosaur. As its jaws came down, he slid underneath its belly, emerging on the other side and leaping onto its tail. Timing it perfectly, he let the dinosaur's tail swing him up, launching himself onto its head.
The impact jarred Michael slightly, but he held on. He knew the dinosaur had pressure sensors all over its body—if its "eyes" couldn't see him, it would still be able to feel his presence. However, there was one area the dinosaur couldn't protect: its own head.
With its short arms, the dinosaur couldn't reach its own skull. Michael counted on that.
The beast tried to shake him off by raising its tail and bringing it down toward its head—exactly as he had hoped.
Michael swung his body off the side of the dinosaur's head, hanging from one of its eye sockets just as the tail smashed into its own cranium.
"DUUAAAANG!"
The deafening sound echoed through the cave like a giant bell being struck. Michael's ears rang, but his reflexes kicked in, keeping him sharp. The dinosaur's own tail had dealt a critical blow, denting its head and causing parts of the metal exterior to bend.
"I knew it," Michael muttered. "It's vulnerable to blunt force damage."
He baited the dinosaur into hitting itself again and again, each time targeting the same spot. With each strike, the metal creaked and groaned, forming a deeper and wider crack along the top of its head.
Finally, after several self-inflicted blows, the dinosaur's head armor split open, revealing a small gap.
Without hesitation, Michael drew his katana and jammed it into the opening, slicing through wires and internal components. Sparks flew as the mechanical innards fizzled and popped, leaving burn marks on his yellow-and-black mask.
The dinosaur began to falter, its movements growing sluggish as its systems failed. Michael pulled out his shotgun, shoved the barrel into the crack, and emptied the remaining shells inside.
The beast let out a final, metallic groan before collapsing, falling to the ground in a heap of metal.
Michael stood on top of the fallen dinosaur, exhaling slowly. Dust and smoke settled around him as he knelt to retrieve his shotgun, wiping it clean before reloading it, as though he had simply squashed a bothersome insect.
"Well," he said, his voice calm and measured, "that was one less security system to worry about."
He turned to find Vicki grinning ear to ear, practically vibrating with excitement.
"That... was... AMAZING!" she squealed. "The footage is perfect!"
Michael glanced at the camera, shook his head with a smirk, and began to walk back toward the others, leaving the fallen mechanical dinosaur in the dust.