Hey everyone, hope you're ready to dive further into Ryuko's story today~!
If you're enjoying this story, please feel free to leave a review, I enjoy seeing what people have to say about my stories, and some of the hate's pretty funny too, not gonna lie. I'm also sorry for not updating in a while, just haven't had the motivation to type lately
Anyway, enough wasting time, let's get into it~!
Disclaimer: I don't own any of the franchises or stories in this fanfiction
/
It was almost 3:00 A.M when Ryuko snuck back into the apartment, so she decided to get some sleep while she could, and since it was now Saturday she wouldn't have to worry about waking up for school. Once she'd gotten enough sleep, the young woman was woken up by a loud ping, a pop-up.
You have leveled up to Level 5!
You have leveled up to Level 6!
You have 10 stat points and 2 skill points to spend!
"Ugh, it even wakes me up now?.." She looked at the clock and saw that it was 9:20, meaning she'd at least managed to get around six hours of sleep, so she decided to get up and get dressed. "Hmm... Actually, I wanna see how drastic the changes can be." She then opened the menu and put all of her stat points into Dexterity.
Level 6 - 0/600
STR - 10
DEX - 15
END - 10
WIS - 5
INT - 10
CHA - 5
LUK - 5
"Yeah, that looks good, now then, time to get some breakfast and head out on my jog~" She then walked out of her room and towards the living room/kitchen area, where she found Izuna sleeping on the couch with the T.V still on. It was currently on the news channel, and she could see Vicki Vale interviewing Sarah, the woman she'd saved last night. "Ms. Brookes, can you tell us your opinion on this new Black Fox character?" "Yes I can Ms. Vale. Black Fox, wherever you are, whoever you are, keep fighting the good fight, there's always people in Gotham who support your way of thinking."
'Well damn, seems I made quite the impact last night.. Well, I suppose a little over a dozen small time mobsters and gangsters getting killed would turn heads anywhere.' Just then she heard a quiet groan from the couch as Izuna woke up, rubbing her eyes and looking around. "Mmnh?.. Oh, hey Ryuko, what time is it?" The black haired teen chuckled as her friend and ruffled her messy hair. "It's 9:20, you must've been tired."
The blonde groaned softly in response and slowly got off the couch, sleepily giving her friend a hug. "Feed me." Ryuko couldn't help but snort a bit in response as Izuna's needy child-like request, but nodded and went into the kitchen to make some food. After giving the groggy blonde a heaping helping of eggs, bacon, and toast, as well as eating her own share, she got ready for her jog. "I'll be back in a bit Izuna, be sure to tell mom where I went if she wakes up before I get home." And with that, the teen left the apartment, heading a little ways before finally stopping after a little while.
"Hmm... My past record was 10 blocks in 8 minutes at full speed, let's see if I can beat that~" After walking out of her room and saying good morning to Izuna and Takeda, Ryuko walked out of the apartment complex and hit a timer on her watch, before taking off down the sidewalk at a sprint. She could immediately tell she was much faster than before, and was enjoying it immensely. "Woohoo, hell yeah!"
When Ryuko was done with her run and hit the button to stop her watch timer, she was surprised to see that she'd obliterated her previous record, managing to snag a time of 6:32. "Holy shit, those upgrades really did work.. Hmm, Dexterity doesn't just affect speed, it affects mobility in general, right?.. Hmm, perhaps I should try teaching myself some parkour, it would help quite a bit during my little 'outings' when I need to get away quickly, or need access to somewhere quickly."
A bank alarm could then be heard nearby, causing Ryuko to narrow her eyes. "Damn, the only kinds of people who rob banks in Gotham are the kind of people who are heavily armed, and there's no Batman to help because it's day time.." After a few seconds of internal debate, she slipped into a nearby alleyway. From there, she climbed up a fire escape of a nearby two story building, and equipped her Black Fox outfit from her inventory. "Who said the fox had to spend the day sleeping anyway?"
She then began to quickly make her way across the rooftops until she got to the bank, slipping inside from the roof access door just as the cops arrived. From there she quietly made her way down the stairs until she got to the door leading just inside of the reception area. "Sense." Ryuko then got a small pop-up, a little minimap, there were seven red dots in the main area, and three more by the vault, with one marked with a little asterisk next to their icon. "Ten man crew huh? Well then, time to clean up."
"WAIT!"
Ryuko had to hold back a groan as a voice screamed in her ear. "Don't attack them, look out of the glass in the door and use Observe, they're not your enemies!" This got Ryuko's attention, so she peeked through the small window and used Observe as the voice told her. 'Hostage, Hostage, Hostage... S-shit, I nearly opened fire on innocent people..' Now that she'd used Observe and taken the time to look, she noticed that they were wearing masks, their hands had been taped to the rifles they were currently holding, and there were odd collars around everyone's necks.
"Those are bomb collars, if they get too far from the detonator, or the button is pressed, the hostages being forced to pose as gunmen and the other hostages in the bank will all die." 'Who are you? How can I even hear you in my head? And why did you help?' "I'm a helper you were supposed to get to help you through the beginning of the tutorial phase, but I never got activated, so I forced my way through to you before you could make a really bad mistake. You can call me Nexus."
'Nexus, huh?.. Thank you, you just kept me from committing at least nine murders today..' Ryuko didn't say anything else mentally or audibly, she just quietly made her way out into the bank. The hostages saw her since she wasn't hiding and panicked a bit, staying away from her but not making a sound. Instead of focusing on them though, she turned and made her way to the vault, where two more hostages, without guns, were helping a man in a trench coat cut the vault open.
"Ha! With this, there's no way my uncle will be able to ignore me. Hitting a bank in broad daylight like this? Nobody would ever have the balls!" "For a good reason." The man turned around when he heard the voice behind him, only to be staring down the barrel of a gun. He reached into his coat pocket, desperately trying to grab a gun, or the detonator for the collars.
*BANG BANG BANG*
Several shots rang out throughout the bank before a body fell to the floor with a loud, lifeless thump, and Ryuko put her gun away. Once that was done, she looked at the remains of the man's face and used Observe.
Joshua Cobblepot
Level 10
Age: 24
Status: Deceased
Bio: Son of Oswald Cobblepot's stepbrother, a spoiled child who ran away from his riches to follow in his uncle's footsteps.
"What an idiot.. He had everything handed to him on a silver platter and still wanted to take from those that needed it more.." Ryuko huffed behind her mask and fished out the key to the collars and the detonator from the man's coat, handing it to one of the masked hostages once she cut the duct tape on their hands. "Unlock the collars and toss them somewhere the police will be able to see them." When the removed the masks of the two hostages with her however, she was surprised to find that two of them were teachers at the school she went to.
The one she handed the detonator and key to, a 6' 3" black man somewhere in his early 30's was her math teacher, Edward Allen, fell to his knees in relief once he freed the other hostage. "Oh thank you so much.. I-I didn't know if I'd be getting out of this alive, I was scared I'd have to leave my kids without a father..." Then he began to break down, started crying tears of relief for being saved from an untimely death.
The other hostage was a woman, 5'9" and in her mid 20's, Ryuko's chemistry teacher Amelia Caldwell. Once she was free she immediately pulled Ryuko in for a tight hug. "Thank you Black Fox, thank you so much! I-I was so worried, worried I wouldn't be able to get back to my family, my students!" The woman was one of the few teachers that truly cared for her students and was just a good person in general, she was a diamond in the rough that was Gotham.
Ryuko, seeing that the woman was about to break down, decided to hug her back. "Don't thank me, if I didn't look twice-" "NO!" The sudden shout startled Ryuko, and she looked over at Edward with shock. 'H-he's never yelled before, even at the most obnoxious kids in his class..' "Y-you saved our lives Black Fox, the people with the collars, and the other hostages, we're alive now because you did look twice and you got the right guy quick enough! You're a hero, plain and simple."
"I nearly killed all of you.. I'm a vigilante, not a hero, and I'm not a very good one if I can't tell nine hostages from nine armed gunmen." Ryuko then grabbed the key for the collars and went around the bank, cutting off the duct tape that was on everyone and freeing the other seven hostages from their collars. When she found that one of them was a young woman eight months along with her pregnancy, she felt hollow and cold. 'Oh gods... I nearly shot her, she was the one closest to the door..'
She was once again surprised when the woman pulled her in for another hug, even tighter than the last. "T-thank you, thank you so much... I-I know your first instinct must've been that we were bad guys, b-but thank you for not attacking us.. I was so scared that my baby wouldn't make it through this, t-that man was so rough with us, like he had something to prove.." "That man was Joshua Cobblepot, Oswald Cobblepot's nephew, he was trying to prove himself by robbing a bank in broad daylight no doubt."
Sirens could be heard faintly in the distance, but slowly getting closer, so Ryuko began making her way out, only to briefly glance at the pile of rifles on the ground.
You are not a high enough level to use this weapon
'Hmph, figures..' With a small nod to the hostages, she then ran out of the bank and into the nearby alleyways, and barely a minute later the police arrived to investigate the scene. Commissioner Gordon himself was on the scene, and when he saw the rifles and explosive collars in piles he knew something odd was going on. These people looked relieved, but not just because the police arrived, there was something else at play, or someone else.
When he smelled blood he immediately began trying to locate the source, and after going to where the vault was he easily found it. "Oh jeez... What a way to go, whoever did this must've been staring him right in the eyes, they've certainly got some balls on them... Wait.." Then he looked closer, the person's face had a few holes in it and was mostly covered in blood, but he could just barely recognize the person as Joshua Cobblepot, since he'd personally had to arrest him a few times for failed robberies in the past.
He then noticed something odd on the floor, the pooled blood hadn't pooled like it would naturally, it was a specific shape. "The rough outline of a fox head... Shit, this Black Fox isn't here to play games, they came out during the day time after a busy night.." He heard the screeching of tires outside and sighed to himself as he soon heard a commotion, his officers were trying to hold back the press. "This isn't gonna be pretty, that's for sure."
/
Timeskip: 10 minutes
/
After equipping her normal clothes and putting her Black Fox outfit and weapons back in her inventory, Ryuko decided to jog home rather than run since she didn't want to look suspicious, though once she got there she could see Izuna watching the T.V, more specifically, the news. "Hello Gotham, Vicki Vale here with a shocking report. Not fifteen minutes ago a bank robbery was thwarted in broad daylight, the person who committed this crime was 24 year old Joshua Cobblepot, who was found dead at the scene."
Izuna's eyes were practically glued to the screen as she listened intently. "The man was using hostages as fake gunmen, duct taping rifles to their hands and putting explosive collars around their necks to keep them in line. Among these gunmen were a few teachers of Gotham High, as well as a woman due to give birth in only three weeks. Judging by how the body was found, police say that Joshua was likely surprised by someone, before that someone executed him on the spot by firing several rounds into his head."
Then the news cut to some footage of where Joshua's body was, it had just been moved, but the blood was still there. "Judging by the shape this pool of blood has made, this was a deliberate sign. It seems the mysterious new vigilante Black Fox isn't going to be like Batman, criminals will no longer be safe, both at night or during the day." Then it cut to an interview from Ryuko's teachers and the pregnant woman, and needless to say, they had nothing but praises to sing.
"I was worried I wouldn't be able to see my wife and kids again, scared that either that bastard would hit the detonator or the cops wouldn't see the collars and kill us, the Black Fox has my support, keep fighting the good fight." "I didn't think I'd ever get out of this alive, I prayed that I would be able to see my students again and my prayers were answered, it's like Black Fox was a savior sent by the gods!" "She was like a shadow, half of us with collars on didn't even know she walked in until she killed that man... Black Fox, if you're listening, thank you again for saving me and my baby."
"Damn, this Black Fox chick is really doing some work. Last night it was stopping rapes and muggings, now it's saving our teachers and killing the nephew of one of Gotham's highly feared criminals. Gotham's criminal underworld is probably panicking right now, she's like some sort of phantom." Ryuko chuckled a bit, though it was more out of nervousness than anything. 'Oh jeez, this is kinda worrisome... When Izuna takes an interest in something she will follow that interest until she gets to where she wants to be, she might find out Black Fox is me..'
"Y-yeah, it's kinda surprising how someone can move in so quickly after so little time, though perhaps she's just getting lucky on where she is at the right time?" Izuna gave Ryuko an odd look, before suddenly getting up off of the couch and pulling her towards Ryuko's bedroom. "We need to have a talk Ryuko." Ryuko almost winced at the serious tone Izuna used as she was dragged to her room, and once Izuna shut the door, she gave Ryuko a pointed look. "I know you're Black Fox."
Ryuko's blood ran ice cold when she heard that, but she tried not to show a physical reaction. "W-what? Izuna, that's a really bold claim to ma-" "I saw you as you were heading out last night, I'm not a fool Ryuko." Ryuko's facade crumbled almost instantly after she heard this. "...You saw me?.." "Yes, and I know that you never intended me to find out, because I'd beat the shit out of you if you ever got hurt. Come on, you, me, and your mom all live in this small apartment together, it was inevitable and you know it."
The black haired teen released a defeated sigh and sat down on her bed. "I didn't even last 24 hours before someone found out, jeez... I'm guessing you're gonna tell me to stop?" "No." Ryuko's head shot up instantly, now staring wide eyed at her best friend. "Of course I'm not gonna make you stop, in fact I encourage what you're doing, but.. How? How did you get a ballistic vest? And how are you suddenly able to take out a dozen armed men in the night and then pick out disguised hostages without a single civilian casualty?"
Ryuko was silent, she wasn't sure what to do. On one hand, she could lie, and likely get caught doing so immediately, but on the other, she could tell Izuna about her abilities that were straight out of The Gamer, and she wouldn't believe her. However, her solution popped up in front of her, literally.
Would you like to invite Izuna Machiro to your party?
Y/N
"Well well, isn't that convenient?" She pressed the Y button without hesitation, and Izuna's eyes widened. "Y-you're kidding me.. You have the abilities of The Gamer? No wonder you came up with the insane idea of becoming a vigilante that kills people." "Ha ha, very funny Izuna, just accept the damn invite silly." The blonde chuckled softly and nodded, and then took a peek at Ryuko's level compared to hers. "Hmm, I'm level 4 and you're level 6, I'm guessing mine is the average level for a person?"
"Um.. I think so, though being level 6 doesn't make me much better, but I did start at level 1. Maybe my stats are higher than a normal person because I'm able to put the stat points into things while everyone else can't?" Izuna gave her a blank look and crossed her arms. "Or maybe you're just more resilient than most, you did jump off a four story building into a pile of garbage bags, with a gunshot wound to the knee, and then you kept running."
"Hey, that hurt like a bitch, I was doing my best not to scream the entire run to that cop car. Speaking of cars, I should get to work on mine, that dirt track race on the outskirts of Gotham will be going down in a week and my parts came in a few days ago, I've gotta get everything sorted and make sure it'll stay on and work properly." Izuna smiled softly at her friend and chuckled, she knew Ryuko loved working on her car or she wouldn't have brought it up from the junker that it was before to the beauty it was now.
"How in the hell are you gonna take a classic muscle car and make it able to drive around off-road?" Ryuko smirked and began heading for the garage. "That's something for me to know, and you to find out~ And no peeking, the car's gonna be under a tarp until race day." "Phooey, you know me too well." It was nice to see that Izuna was finally coming out of the shell she'd gained since her change in gender, at school she was too nervous to even make physical contact with someone who wasn't Ryuko, but at home she was able to relax.
You told the truth about being Black Fox when confronted by Izuna!
+1000 relations with Izuna Machiro
+2 Skill Points
Izuna then hit the button to leave the party and gave Ryuko a small wave before she headed to her room, likely to play some games, but Ryuko was interested in multiple things and didn't pay too much attention. She opened up her menu and then the sub category labelled Relationships.
Izuna Machiro
? - 70,000/75,000
Next rank will be ?
"The hell? Well that's not helpful, it's high, but it's not telling me what the current or next rank will be... I guess I'll just have to wait and see, damn Gamer ability, leaving out specific things.." She sighed and opened up her skills menu afterwards, and noticed that there was an odd skill tree that seemed to poke out amongst the others now. "Empathy? Hunter? These are skill trees too? ok, this ability can be really unhelpful at times, but this is interesting.." She then opened both skill trees, and immediately knew what she wanted to spend her skill points on.
Hunter Skill Tree
Hunter's Gaze - Upon using Observe, you can see more information along with an enemy's weak points to deal an extra 20% damage. This skill uses no energy.
Empathy Tree
Psychological Awareness - You can now see the emotional intent of anyone you sense within 20 feet of you. Anger, Lust, Greed, Pride, and Depression will be seen in different colors for you to determine who is trustworthy and who is not. Additional upgrades will allow you to sense one's emotions rather than see them. This skill uses no energy
"Hell yeah I want those skills, those'll be useful in the future for sure!" She instantly hit the button to buy both skills and felt a small wave of energy flow through her body as the skills implanted themselves in her. "That feels weird, never gonna get used to that.. Ok, back to working on my car, don't worry baby, mama's gonna give you a makeover~"
/
Later that night
/
After working on her car for most of the day, Ryuko took a nap for a few hours and then woke up and put on her outfit, this time with Izuna wishing her luck and telling her to come home safe. It was honestly nice having someone know about her secret identity and supporting her, and it gave her more courage than she would've had all alone. She'd already taken out a few rapists and mobsters tonight, almost approaching half of the body count she'd gotten the night before in only a fraction of the time.
"Damn, it's like just her support is giving me strength... Heh, if this was an anime I'd be staring at my hands in shock wondering if this was the 'power of friendship' or something." She chuckled softly behind her mask, before hearing some glass breaking like it was falling from a high height. "Hmm... Last I checked there was a museum in this area... I've already stopped a bank robbery, may as well add a museum heist to the list."
She began heading in the direction of the museum, but she could already see that she was too late by the time she'd gotten there, from her spot on the ground she could see what seemed to be the silhouette of a woman and a small animal jumping across rooftops. 'Catwoman? I didn't think I'd see any of Gotham's bigger players until later, I guess I should count my lucky stars it's her since she's not a psycho killer..' She was about to leave, but as she began turning away she heard a startled yowl and a loud gasp, followed by a woman's terrified scream. "ISIS!"
She quickly turned back and saw the animal, which could now be identified as a small black cat, had slipped on one of her landings and was rapidly falling towards the ground. Without a second thought she put her extra Dexterity to good use and sprinted over, diving and managing to catch the cat in mid air before she had to hold it close to her chest and rolled into the side of a dumpster upon landing, groaning softly in mild pain. "Ow.."
Ryuko would hear the rapid tapping of footsteps on the ground moving in her direction. "Isis?! Isis!" A small meow came from Ryuko's lap, causing the teen to look down and see a scared cat clinging to her. "Y-you're ok! T-thank you miss, you saved my cat, I don't know what I'd do without her.." It was surprising to see the famed Catwoman falling to her knees in front of her out of sheer relief, and from what she could see of the woman's exposed skin she was nearly as white as a sheet from the scare.
"You're welcome, I couldn't just let a cute animal fall to their death like that. Black Fox, pleasure to meet you.." She rubbed the back of her head out of discomfort as it throbbed in pain. "You're the one from last night and the bank from earlier, aren't you? The new vigilante that's going around putting an end to some of Gotham's more violent residents... Should I be worried?" "That depends, are you a rapist or just a complete asshole that kills for the fun of it?"
Catwoman blinked a few times in surprise, before allowing a small smile to spread across her face as she moved a little closer and petted her cat, who was still in Ryuko's lap. "I see, so that's your game, is it? Targeting the people who don't wanna change or have committed horrid crimes?" Ryuko nodded softly and allowed herself to scratch behind Isis's ears a few times, earning her a quiet purr from the feline. "Yes, the people that deserve to be put down, the people that Batman won't kill that are poisoning Gotham's streets."
Once Isis had camled down enough to let go of the young vigilante, Catwoman picked her up and held her in her arms while continuing to pet her. "Well I'm glad to see little old me isn't on your hit list, you can be quite the brutal woman from what I've seen." Ryuko then used Observe on Catwoman, gaining a bit of a blank look under her mask.
Catwoman
Level 40
STR - 25
DEX - 65
END - 45
WIS - 25
INT - 30
CHA - 45
LUK - 50
"Something tells me I'd have quite the difficult time killing you anyway.. We should both leave before the police show up to that museum you just broke into." Catwoman actually seemed a little bashful when Ryuko brought up the robbery. "Yes, we should, though I think I'll keep a hold on my darling Isis for the rest of the trip home.. Hopefully we'll be seeing each other again in the future Black Fox, until next time~" With that, the cat burglar ran off into the darkness, soon bounding across rooftops once again, and Ryuko faded into the shadows of Gotham's alleyways.
/
Not even five minutes after the encounter, Catwoman had to stop jumping and stood up straight, narrowing her eyes as someone stood in front of her. "Selina, your fur seems a little ruffled tonight." She huffed softly and made a shooing motion with her hand. "Go play with some other bad boys and girls Bruce, tonight isn't the best of nights." A cowled figure then became illuminated by the moon as it slipped out from behind the clouds, Gotham's Dark Knight.
"You know I can't do that, you broke into another museum." "The score wasn't even there, my intel was a day off and it's already been moved somewhere else, I don't have anything." The man narrowed his eyes under his cowl, before crossing his arms. It wasn't a show of disbelief, but rather that he was trying to think of something. "But you wouldn't seem this upset if that was the only thing that happened."
"I..." Catwoman sighed and shook her head, petting the cat she was holding in her arms. "Isis slipped as she jumped with me and nearly fell five stories to her death." "Nearly?" "Yes, nearly. Gotham's newest mask just so happened to be in the area and managed to catch her, smashing the back of her head off of a dumpster for her trouble." In an instant Batman's expression of stone shifted to one of surprise. "Black Fox was nearby? Did you see where she went?"
Selina was taken aback by the shift in demeanor. "What do you care? She's killing criminals, that's less trash for you to mop up." Her answer came instantly, and Selina wasn't surprised to hear what it was either. "She's a killer Selina, she came out of nowhere and has killed almost two dozen people in 24 hours." "Correction, she's killed almost two dozen criminals in the last 24 hours. She's killing people who are scum Bruce."
"They still could have changed-" "Changed? Bruce, these men are mobsters who you have personally beaten up more than once, or rapists who have indulged themselves multiple times, they're scum, the kind of people that give even me nightmares. She's saved more than a dozen people since she popped up last night, including Gotham's most popular veteran." Catwoman took a step forward as irritation flashed in her eyes briefly. "If she keeps going, at her pace she could make a serious dent in Gotham's crime rates within a year, something you've barely managed to do in several."
The caped crusader sighed softly and shook his head. "Go home Selina, I have work to do." "Gladly." Both of them then leapt off of the rooftop going different directions, one heading to the museum to look for leads on his latest target, and the other towards her home to relax, thinking of how Gotham may soon be a slightly safer place. 'I should definitely lay low for a bit before trying again, and perhaps I'll gain the attention of my new friend once again..'
/
A few miles away Ryuko was sitting on a roof overlooking some of Gotham's low income areas. "Sad looking streets covered in graffiti and locked doors as far as the eye can see, many of these people don't even trust their neighbors.. Things are going to change around here." She then stood op and turned her head towards the panicked yelling of yet another person who was being mugged, popping her knuckles and taking out her pistol and knife. "If I sit around waiting for the criminals to move first, then I'll never get stronger quickly enough to do any meaningful help."
A low growl escaped her throat as she began running towards the yelling, getting ready to chalk up another kill for the night "Soon, soon it'll be time for me to make the first moves, and the criminals won't know what hit them."