Lucky Andre wasn't feeling so lucky.
He got the nickname because of one royal fuck up back in his younger days as an enforcer for the Falcone crime family. The fuck up was so big that it even got Don Carmine's attention.
Andre's mistake exposed one of the most prominent Falcone gang safe houses to the GCPD and the Batman, and Don Falcone himself was ready to put a bullet between his eyebrows for the blunder.
The crime boss had the gun drawn and pointed it at Andre's forehead and only needed to ever so slightly twitch the muscles of his index finger to put an end to Andre's life.
However, it was at this exact moment that the infamous coalition of Gotham's masked villains decided to take out Falcone and put an end to the biggest, most successful crime syndicate the city has ever known.
Andre would never forget the day. Two-Face, The Mad Hatter, Solomon Grundy, The Joker, Catwoman, The Scarecrow, Poison Ivy, and The Penguin all gathered in one room.
They'd had enough of Carmine Falcone controlling the city and were there to enact the same fate upon the crime that he would on Andre, saving the gangster's life in the process.
Andre would never forget the Joker's demented smile as the latter shot Carmine Falcone dead and turned, nor the manic chuckle as the clown turned to him, claiming it was the gangster's lucky day.
The villains needed someone to live and tell the tale, and who better than the man Carmine Falcone was about to put down?
From that point onward, things just went Andrew's way. Despite the severe fuck up that warranted the now-dead crime boss to execute him personally, no one could deny his luck.
And gangsters of that time were nothing if not a bunch of superstitious folks, more than willing to take Andre under their wings, hoping his luck would rub off on them.
If the man could survive Don Falcone wanting him dead and coming face to face with Gotham's most notorious freaks, then who is to say his mere presence in the gang wouldn't bring success to their syndicates?
Andre then joined several gangs, all of which the Batman dismantled one after the other, and he would steer out of harm's way every time, further cementing his reputation as one lucky motherfucker.
He learned from his mistakes and never repeated such a royal fuck like the one that almost got him killed, and every time he moved to a new gang, he'd move higher and higher.
However, Andre's luck ended when a flood of international gangs began flooding Gotham, taking over Gotham, cartels, triads, and even yakuza, all of whom would not bother giving him a second glance.
That's when The Black Mask emerged to take control over Gotham and bring it back under the local rule, and Andre was one of the first thugs to rally to his banner.
However, Black Mask and his top lieutenants didn't give a damn about Andre's so-called luck. People gradually began forgetting about him, the reputation he'd been working so hard to build fading into oblivion.
Andre slowly reverted to the nameless, low-life thug he'd always been before Don Falcone attempted to execute him. Still, things weren't all bad, and even though he missed the respect he once commanded, Andre still made enough money to survive and even thrive in the city.
Racketeering, robberies, extortion, he did it all under Black Mask's and then some, keeping away from anything high profile to avoid attracting the Bat's attention.
Life went on, and Andre was satisfied with his lot in life, until one day, some punk decided to pickpocket him and steal his wallet and watch in the middle of the day.
The punk was good, Andre had to admit, but it wasn't the first time someone pickpocketed him or stole something from him, and whenever that happened, the gangster would always welcome it with open arms. The better the thief, the better.
It was one of the easiest ways to make money in Gotham, granted that you were ruthless and resourceful enough to pull it off.
Finding the thief wouldn't be difficult since he'd need to sell the watch he'd stolen, and there were only so much independent fencers willing to buy that kind of stuff without asking too many questions in Gotham.
He'd pass the word to several of his gangster buddies with a general description of the thief, and they'd take turns patrolling the areas near said fencers' shops until the pickpocket showed up.
But why would other gangsters waste their time helping Andra make money, you might ask? It's because they'd have a share, and Andre would do the same for them.
They had a mutual understanding and repeated the same song and dance countless times.
It didn't take long for the pickpocket to show up, and Andre quickly cornered him into an alley near Old Jack's pawn shop. From there, it was a simple routine.
Exaggerate the value of what was stolen, make some threats, look menacing and shoot the punk to make a point and make the target understand the consequences of disobeying.
And it all went as well as Andre expected, except for the small fact that the boy wonder happened to be there, kicked his ass, and sent him straight to Black Gate.
Andre thought that would be the end of his career as a criminal and cursed at his luck for a very long time. However, people didn't call him Lucky Andre for nothing, and he didn't have to stay long in prison, no longer than a week actually.
He didn't know how, why or who, but someone staged a mass breakout at the high-security facility, and he was one of the lucky ones to escape during the event.
Andre felt overjoyed at this turn of events, and thought his luck finally returned in full glory. It was finally old Andre's time to shine again after suffering in obscurity for so long.
He quickly made his move.
It was business as usual. Andre was meeting with a couple of old acquaintances to have a beer in one of Black Mask's fronts, a quaint bar that no one but the shadiest of people visited.
He intended to plan a score to ride the wave of chaos and crime plaguing Gotham and put his now-restored luck to good use. However, he was only halfway through when the freak broke into the bar, guns blazing.
The vigilante took one look at him and proceeded to ignore everything and everyone else, and that's when Andre knew he was well and truly fucked.
Lucky Andre wasn't feeling so lucky right now.
In fact, he couldn't help but curse his luck as he sprinted through the dark alley at full speed, one of Gotham's newest vigilante freaks hot on his trail.
Andre didn't know much about the freak currently pursuing him as if he had a grudge, but people called him the Wraith, and the gangster found why the hard way.
The freak was toying with him. He'd been chasing him for fifteen minutes now, and Andre had no doubt that the vigilante would have already caught him if he wanted to.
However, the bastard was content with chasing him around like a cat hunting a mouse, disappearing and appearing in front of Andre out of thin air, dodging everything the gangster threw at him.
Andre tried everything, from shooting the vigilante to stabbing at him and trying to punch him. But he'd casually avoid everything with the utmost disregard, only delivering the occasional slap or kick to the rear.
The worst thing was that the man said nothing as he toyed with Andre, and despite the vigilante's silence, Andre didn't need his luck to tell him the vigilante was enjoying it.
Andre didn't know what he did to warrant such actions. However, the gangster knew he had done something and that the vigilante probably had a grudge, a deep personal one he was acting on.
"Alright, freak! I don't know who you are and what you want, but do your worst!" Andre exclaimed, gritting his teeth as he stopped running, having had enough of being tormented.
"Go ahead and send me back to Black Gate. See if I fucking care!" Andre shouted, vigilantly inspecting the area. There was no sign of the so-called Wraith chasing him around for so long. But Andre, he was still there.
"Giving up already? Well, I suppose that's just who you are..."
Andre flinched as a deep, clearly altered voice came from behind him. He turned around, only to recoil again as he found the vigilante standing right behind him, staring directly into the gangster's eyes through the dark red glowing eyes on his helmet.
"But what in god's green earth makes you think I'll send you back to Black Gate...?" The vigilante spoke, the amusement in his voice audible as he conjured a gun from thin air and leveled it at Andre's forehead.
...
"Now, say goodnight..." I remarked as I pulled the trigger and watched the gangster fall to the ground, frothing at the mouth and spasming as he hit the concrete floor.
"Do your worst, he says..." I remarked with a chuckle, rolling my eyes under my helmet. I shook my head at the unconscious thug and sighed in exasperation.
I didn't kill the gangster. In fact, I didn't even put enough energy into the bullet to knock him out, but he passed out from shock and fear alone. So much for his bravado.
Coming across the guy was a stroke of luck since I was out on one of my usual patrols to beat up thugs and grind my combat skills. Black Mask's goons were still on my ass, so I made it a habit of only going after his gang whenever I got out.
Finding the guy who shot me back then was a bonus, and I just forgot about everything else when I laid eyes on the thug and started single-mindedly chasing behind him.
I won't lie. I honestly didn't know how I'd react if I ever came across the guy again after he went to prison, but I was surprisingly calm and didn't even feel the urge to kill him.
However, my pettiness didn't let me just knock him out and hand him over to the GCPD. No. That would be too easy. I decided to toy with him instead. Pretty mature, right?
I honestly didn't know if it was my training with Benjamin finally kicking in or if I never hated the guy enough to kill him in the first place, but I don't even feel like torturing him anymore.
'It's not like I could kill the sad piece of shit even if I wanted to...' I mused, bitterly smiling under my mask as I turned to the sky, staring into the pointy-eared humanoid shadow standing over a roof ledge nearby.
I raised my gun hand and waved at the shadowy figure, and his bright white eyes narrowed at me as he turned around and walked away, disappearing into the darkness.
'I could basically hear the theatrical, menacing music playing in the background...' I chuckled, shaking my head, and turning back to the unconscious thug as Batman left.
'Not even worth the effort...' I frowned as I noticed a wet patch on the thug's pants and thanked my lucky star that the riot headgear came with an air filtering system.
Activating my Personal Computer power, I sent an anonymous tip to the GCPD about the guy and sighed, turning to leave since I still had skills to grind.
...
Somewhere in Gotham
Cassandra frowned as she stared into the eyes of the redhead standing in front of her. She knew and remembered the woman and identified her as a former member of the League of Assassins.
However, she didn't know why the woman was here in Gotham and why she appeared before her.
"Hello, Cassandra. It's been a while," the serpentine redhead greeted, smiling as she regarded the young runaway with an expression that one could confuse with friendliness if they weren't familiar with her.
Cassandra didn't reply and merely stared at the woman with apparent caution, not that she verbally could reply even if she wanted, as she didn't know how to speak.
As part of her training to become the ultimate assassin, David Cain, her father, did not teach her how to speak and only communicated with her through actions. But that was neither here nor there.
"There is no need to be alarmed, Cassandra," Whisper said, maintaining a pleasant smile as she approached, causing the young runaway to step back.
"I know you need money to help those homeless people who took care of you," Whisper said, disarmingly raising her hands as she stopped walking so as not to spook Cassandra, to which the latter froze.
"I can help you," Whisper said after a second's pause to allow Cassandra the time she needed to process the situation and weigh her options. The young runaway frowned, but her expression eased up, and she seemed willing to hear what the redhead had to say, at least.
"Unfortunately, I'd just escaped Black Gate and have no money to spare, but..." Whisper said, trailing off as she observed Cassandra's expression and smiled in satisfaction at how focused she looked.
"The Penguin is organizing an underground fighting tournament in a couple of weeks..." Whisper said, her smile widening as she watched Cassandra's expression turn hopeful.
"With your capabilities, it should be a piece of cake for you to win and claim the money prize..." Whisper added as she retrieved a piece of paper and offered it to the young runaway.
"Here, everything you need to know is here," she concluded as she approached Cassandra again, and the latter didn't step back this time, taking the paper from her hand.
Taking a good look at the paper, Cassandra nodded and bowed her head before she turned to leave, and Whisper watched her do so without uttering a word, only smiling.
"Do you think this will get Lady Shiva off our backs?" Abbot said as he emerged from the shadows nearby, regarding Whisper with a hard-to-read expression.
"We'll find out eventually, but we need to lie low for now," Whisper replied, shaking her head as she stopped smiling and turned to leave in the opposite direction Cassandra took.
Abbot sighed, shaking his head as he followed her.
...
Gray's hideout
"I should be ready to go through Richard's training method now..." I remarked to no one in particular, bringing up the system's interface and looking at the accumulated notifications.
According to Richard's words, the method he came up with will give me a considerable boost in strength, and all of my three stats are currently close to reaching 100.
I didn't know for sure, but 100 would likely be a milestone for another perk and another so-called evolution. And if Richard's method made my Body Attribute shoot past that number, then I needed to have stat points to maintain my stats balance.
I still didn't forget what happened when I first raised my Mind attribute to 25, and I don't want to get caught in the same situation without some way of immediately fixing it, as in stat points.
I'd spent ten days grinding everything I could while still training with Richard and Benjamin despite mastering energy augmentation in the first seven days because I wanted to be ready.
[+5 levels to the Brawling skill]
[Brawling (level 44)]
[+4 levels to the Crime skill]
[Crime (level 40)]
[+6 levels to the Acrobatics skill]
[Acrobatics (level 24)]
[+7 levels to the Computers skill]
[Computers (level 33)]
[+4 levels to the Gun Mastery skill]
[Guns Mastery (level 20)]
[+9 levels to the Mechanics skill]
[Mehcanics (level 10)]
[+18 levels to the Mechanic class]
[Mechanic (level 23)]
[54+ stat points]
[Stat points (56)]
[+1 level to the Mad Scientist archetype]
[You have gained the power: Machine Control]
[Machine Control: the power to assemble or disassemble any and all machines, as long as the user has a preliminary understanding of their function, design, and inner components with the use of energy]
'I might have overdone the grinding...' I chuckled, shaking my head as I read through the notifications. My Mechanics skill got the most levels because it was the lowest, and I focused on it more than the rest.
The Computers skill, on the other hand, leveled up so much thanks to my Personal computer power since I was always mentally grinding it, regardless of what I was doing at the time.
'Whelp, here goes nothing...' I mused, taking a deep breath to calm myself as I took off my clothes and sat on the ground, focusing on my energy as I summoned and began moving it across my body.
'So far, so good...' I mused as I opened and closed my palm after injecting the energy directly into my muscles, feeling the added strength in my hand.
I then moved the energy to the rest of my body, injecting every muscle with it and only moving on to the next after finding no problems. I might have learned energy augmentation and was confident in my ability, but being careful never hurt.
'Now for the difficult part...' I mused, letting out the breath I'd been holding as I gritted my teeth and focused the energy on my biceps the same way Richard did.
And boy, let me tell you, it hurt just as bad as when Richard did it, making me grunt, almost losing my focus and ruining the whole thing. However, I persevered until I destroyed the entire muscle, injecting energy into my biceps as it regenerated.
[+2 points to the Body attribute]
'So Richard was right...' I grimaced, feeling the phantom pain as I moved my arm, already feeling the increase in strength.
'Now I just gotta do that to the rest of my body...' I mused, sighing as I closed my eyes to take a brief rest and quickly resumed the process.
...
"Fuck..." I couldn't help but curse with a cough that made the blood clogging my throat shoot out of my mouth and fall right back into my face, causing me to grimace.
"Great..." I remarked as I grunted and wiped the blood off my face. My voice was faint and barely audible as I lay flat on the cold, hard ground in a puddle of my own blood.
I would have said I felt like shit right now, but that would probably be an understatement. The pain of tearing my own muscles (which I could still feel even after I fully healed) was one thing, but that wasn't even the worst part.
A funny fact about tearing your body inside out as I did is that it causes a shit ton of bleeding. Internal bleeding with nowhere to go that started seeping from everywhere at once shortly after it was over.
And I did mean it when I said everywhere, from every single pore on my skin, nose, mouth, ears, eyes, and yes, there too. I'd tell you all about it, but believe me when I say you don't want to know.
That shit isn't for the faint of heart.
I turned my head to the side and violently coughed, letting out the blood pooling in my mouth, almost choking me. I took a deep breath, raised my head, and tried to get up, but I couldn't conjure the strength to do it.
'Fuck it...' I mused with a sigh of resignation as I relaxed my body and let my head fall back to the ground. 'Now let's see if this shit was worth it...' I spat the last drops of blood in my mouth and brought up the system's interface.
[+51 points to the Body attribute]
[Due to merging your energy into every muscle of your body, you have unlocked the perk: Energy Conductor]
[Energy Conductor: your body is perfectly compatible with all types of energies, enabling you to channel and convert energy with 100% efficiency and even absorb a portion of any foreign form of energy affecting your body]
'Definitely looks worth it...' I mused as I read through the first two notifications. The 51 points alone were a massive gain, since I'd need to grind for at least ten days to get that much.
The Energy Conductor perk was the icing on top of the cake, and it made the shit I just went through worth it. I've been struggling with energy reserve, but now it should last me much longer.
The other part about absorbing energy sounds just as impressive, but I'll need to test its limits before I can pass judgment.
[Due to reaching a milestone in your Body attribute, you have unlocked the perk: Enhanced Durability]
[Enhanced Durability: your physical durability, the ability to withstand damage, is extremely high, allowing you to take numerous blows of internal or external assaults before succumbing to the effects. (The user can withstand bullets, grenades, and low to medium explosives)]
'That's another good one...' I nodded my head in satisfaction at the new perk. I might have my bulletproof trench coat, but it had its limits, and I might have to take it off to avoid some attacks like what happened in the shipyard.
Now I can take it off and rest assured that my throat won't be slit by some werewolf or some shit because I didn't want acid fucking up my coat.
'Whelp.. time to put those points to good use...' I mused as I turned to my character screen and started with investing 15 points into my Mind Attribute.
[Due to reaching a milestone in your Mind attribute, you have unlocked the perk: Empathy]
[Empathy: the power to fully interpret the emotions, moods, and temperament of other sentient beings, allowing you to understand their intentions within a specific range, depending on how high your Mind attribute is. (Empathy may not work on those with no emotions or exceptional self-control)]
'This should help me get the upper hand in negotiations or even simple conversation...' I mused, feeling conflicted about my new perk. The idea of infringing on other people's minds didn't sound appealing, even if it was merely to understand their emotions and interpret their intentions.
I'd honestly be pissed if I knew someone tried that shit on me.
Still, it was a convenient power to have, and though I might not like it, it's definitely better to have it just in case instead of needing it and not having it if the need arose.
'Moving on...' I sighed as I dropped the subject and dumped 15 points into my Spirit Attribute.
[Due to reaching a milestone in your Spirit attribute, you have unlocked the perk: Energy Manifestation]
[Energy Manifestation: the power to channel and manifest your energy through your body parts into the outside world in different forms as a means of attack. (the range, strength, precision, and everything in between rely on the user's energy reserve and proficiency)]
'First Spiderman, and now it looks like I'll be ripping off Goku next...' I couldn't help but chuckle at the thought as I read through the perk, wincing as my jaw started aching.
Still, it'll probably take a lot of work before I can get anywhere with energy attacks, and I don't really have times to put into it. But It's definitely something I'd be sinking a lot of time into in the future.
My chunibyo and inner Dragon Ball fanboy demand it!
'My fucking OCD though...' I sighed as I looked at my stats, frowning at the uneven numbers.
...
Name: Grayson Whitlock
Race: Human
Gender: Male
Age: 17
Archetype: (The Mad Scientist level 3)
Class: [Thief (level MAX)] [Fighter (level MAX)] [Acrobat (Level MAX)] [Programmer (Level MAX) [Gunman (level MAX)] [Mechanic (level 23)]
...
Stats:
Body: 138
Mind: 100
Spirit: 100
Stat Points: 26
...
Skills:
[Brawling (level 44)]
[Crime (level 40)]
[Acrobatics (level 24)]
[Computers (level 33)]
[Gun Mastery (level 20)]
[Mechanics (10)]
...
Perks:
[Dormant Metahuman]
[Silent Step]
[Eidetic Kinesthesia]
[Superhuman Stamina]
[Perfect Recall]
[Accelerated Healing]
[Energy Detector]
[Augmented Reality Vision: the ability to see through the world as an augmented reality: a live, direct or indirect, view of the world that includes digital elements such as information boxes regarding places (this perk requires the Personal Computer power to fully function)]
(Author's note: this is the perk Gray got when he level Computers past 25. I forgot to add it to the chapter, so here it is)
[Energy Conductor]
[Enhanced Durability]
[Empathy]
[Energy Manifestation]
...
Archetype powers:
[Network Crash]
[Code Manipulation]
[Personal Computer]
[Machinery Scan]
...
'Well, at least my unbalanced stats aren't killing me the same way it did back then...' I shook my head, unable to do anything other than moving my head as I tried to get up and failed again.
'Not that it would make much difference... man, I'm spent...' I mused, bitterly chuckling as I relaxed my body, gazing at the ceiling. 'I need to test the new perks and get used to my newly acquired strength, but first...' I closed my eyes, the exhaustion catching up to me as my conscience began slipping away.
'A nap is in order...'
...
Gotham City Park
"Was it really wise to let the kid go through with that?" Benjamin blankly asked as he regarded his friend and brother in all but blood, Richard, with a hard-to-read expression.
"I don't know what the kid's been through or his circumstances, but he's troubled, and self-mutilation hardly seems like a healthy option to gain strength," he added, sighing as he turned away from Richard, a complicated expression on his face.
"O-sensei might have created the technique, but he only told us about it because he knew it would be impossible for us..." Benjamin added, sighing as he shook the nostalgia out of his expression.
"You know as well as I do how O-sensei felt about it, Richard," Benjamin said, looking straight into Richard's eyes, clearly demanding an explanation from the latter.
"But he did teach it to us, Ben. Our teacher was not one to do things for no reason," Richard replied with a sigh, clearly not intent on elaborating as he shook his head, causing Benjamin to frown in thought.
"I don't want Gray relying on such a method to gain strength, the same way our teacher didn't want it for us..." Richard added, his tone frustrated and expression helpless.
"Gray is vastly different from the two of us, old friend. You were troubled by your anger, and my lack purpose of troubled me..." Richard explained, having another sigh.
"But, Gray, on the other hand... He has all of that and then some. Growing stronger is the only thing keeping him together at this point..." Richard concluded while scratching his head.
"I just hope you know what you're doing, Richard," Benjamin said with a grunt as he turned around and walked away, leaving Richard alone to gaze at the stars.
"Me too, old friend. Me too," Richard said as he rubbed his forehead, lingering for a moment before he too turned to leave.
...
"Not bad..." I remarked, my eyes alternating between the toppled brick wall before me and my balled fist. I didn't feel pain or get my arm mangled like the first time I tried something like this.
I didn't need to activate 100% of my muscles to do it either. Considering my enhanced durability, my hand will probably remain intact, but I could definitely do without the pain.
Don't get me wrong, after tearing apart my every muscle, which took more than an hour. There was little that could make me flinch at this point, and that isn't exactly a good thing.
Getting used to pain wasn't something I wanted for myself. It existed for a good reason to warn us that something was wrong, so we could learn and not repeat the same action that caused the pain.
It works because you are not used to it, and even though it's meaningless to me since my body can heal from almost every wound, my mind was a different matter.
I didn't want to be some psychotic badass who could casually cut off his own arm with a poker face like it was nothing. I just wanted to stay the way I am, human. And no regular human I knew could keep a straight face when in pain.
Some humans could do that, but those people are either royally traumatized, brain fucked, or something along those lines, and such people don't count as regular.
'Whatever...' I shrugged as I extended my finger to a brick I placed some distance away and channeled my energy into it, causing it to glow. I frowned as I increased the power, causing the glow to intensify.
The energy in my finger finally reached a critical point and shot out of it as a thin, golden beam that flew at the brick, creating a hole as it went through.
However, the beam dissipated halfway through, leaving a neatly gouged, circular tunnel at the center of the brick that didn't go all the way.
'I'll need to work on it in the future...' I mused as I picked the brick and inspected the hole in its center, nodding at how easy it was to channel my energy and how little the attack drained from my reserve.
However, I wasn't really familiar with how much energy I needed to channel and how to precisely shape it, causing the beam to dissipate before piercing through the brick.
'Now, to test the so-called energy absorbent effect from the Energy Conductor perk...' I took out my sentry gun from my inventory and placed it on the ground, taking a step back.
The perk description said all forms of energy. That should include kinetic energy generated from blunt force, and since I haven't tested the limits of my Enhanced Durability, it would be hitting two birds with one stone.
I took a deep breath as I took off my trench coat and shirt, standing in front of the sentry gun as I brought it online, setting it on single sot mode and bracing myself.
The gun barrel came out of the sentry gun box and quickly aimed at my right shoulder. I might be able to shrug bullets, but I still didn't feel like shooting myself while aiming at any vital organs.
I took another deep breath, clenching my muscles for no particular reason, and had sentry gun fire the first shot. The bullet hit me before I could even blink and harmlessly bounced off my shoulder, but I didn't give it any attention.
I closed my eyes and frowned in concentration as I focused on my energy and noticed a slight increase in my reserve that quickly dissipated after a second.
'So it includes kinetic energy...' I nodded, smiling as I picked up the bullet and saw its deformed, folded appearance. Kinetic-energy-absorbing is already a bona fide super power, and if I combine it with my enhanced durability, it will let me punch above my weight class.
My durability would let me tank punches from people way more powerful than me, and the stronger they were, the more energy I'd absorb, and the more I could send back their way, unless they can one-shot me, of course.
There are other forms of energy I'd need to test out, like electricity, but it'll have to wait since I don't really feel like electrocuting myself so soon after that shit.
'Whelp... now I only need to see what Empathy is all about before I call it a day and get back to my hideout...'
...
East End
'Augmented Reality Vision sure is convenient...' I mused as I walked the streets of Gotham, looking around and seeing information pop up in my vision about anything and everything.
It was like one of those futuristic sci-fi video games where you'd activate some mod, and your perspective would change with windows popping up on top of people or buildings with general information.
It was like an advanced face matching system that worked by accessing the internet through my personal computer perk and relayed the information in the form of floating windows directly in my vision.
In other words, without the personal computer perk and access to Gotham's public records and private government networks (which I already hacked into), the augmented reality perk would be useless.
It will save me a lot of effort if I want to know something about someone or someplace since I won't need to do it myself and look at the information windows above them. It also allowed me to hack anything within my sight, making it a convenient perk.
'Now time to get to work...' I deactivated the augmented reality vision and activated empathy, frowning as countless colors that emanated from the surrounding people in the street assaulted my eyes.
There were countless colors, probably every single one, and their respective shades. However, the most common was the color purple, and instinctively I knew it represented powerlessness, negativity, and apathy.
'Hah... should have seen that one coming...' I shook my head, sighing as I deactivated the perk with a wince. I expected it to some degree, but to see it with my own eyes was still overwhelming and disappointing.
Knowing everyone around you feels like shit and seeing a manifestation of their negative emotions with your own eyes couldn't be more different from each other.
'Not to self; don't use empathy in public...' I shrugged my shoulders as I retrieved my phone to check the time. I could do it with my personal computer power, but I prefer to keep some of my habits like this one and not rely on my perks and abilities for everything.
Was maintaining such habits a desperate effort to cling to my rapidly dissipating humanity? Most likely, yes. But I didn't care since it gave me peace of mind.
Repeating these human habits, as insignificant as they were, reminded me of who I am and where I came from, and it helped me cling to my sense of self and sanity, among other things.
'It's still early... and I have some time to kill...' I paused and stopped walking for a second to think and look around me, immediately realizing that I wasn't far from my old apartment.
'Might as well visit Mark and then take some food to the warehouse for the homeless guys...' I shrugged and resumed walking, having already made up my mind.
I noticed several people pointing at the sky and murmuring and looked up to see what the fuss was about and saw a light signal in the sky, causing me to frown at its shape.
When you hear about a light signal in Gotham, you typically think of Batman. However, this one wasn't bat-shaped, but it projected the figure of a cat in the sky instead.
'Cat signal...?' I mused, chuckling in amusement as I shook my head and promptly resumed walking. Curious as I might be, it was none of my business, now was it?
...
East End
On a random rooftop
"This ain't gon' work Tommy; that gal is a thief, not a vigilante like Batman," said a tall, well-built African American man wearing blue pants and a light green jacket.
The other man on the rooftop, Tommy Monaghan, an equally tall and well-built Caucasian man wearing sunshades and a military jacket, grunted in frustration at the man's words.
"Trust me, Natt, she'll show up. An' it's not like we have much choice, do we now?" Tommy replied, scratching his head as he looked at the dead cat resting on the projector, creating an improvised cat signal in the sky.
"I clearly saw her in that demon's mind; she's our only lead," Tommy added, shaking his head as he tried to sound confident, but even he had doubts.
"Man, whatever. This whole situation is bullshit if you ask me..." Natt replied, seemingly prepared to keep complaining. However, the unexpected, sudden arrival of Catwoman made him stop.
"You boys got my curiosity, and you have a minute to keep it," Catwoman said, smiling as she landed on the rooftop in front of Natt and Tommy, still holding her whip as she seemed ready to react.
"I saw you inside the head of a literal demon from hell," Tommy hastily replied as soon as Catwoman stopped speaking, causing the latter to raise an eyebrow as she titled her head, clearly curious.
...
"So basically... a gunslinging demon from hell came to Gotham and tried to recruit you as an agent for his masters?" Selina asked, her tone half-amused, half bewildered as she looked at Tommy, and he nodded.
"You refused. The demon tried to kill you, so you killed it first...?" Selina went on, still baffled as she narrowed her eyes and got another nod for her effort.
"Days later, the demon returned, stronger than before, and tried to kill you and your friend here, but you couldn't defeat it this time," she remarked, gesturing to the side with her eyes alternating between Natt and Tommy, and they both nodded at the same time.
"And you saw images of me and something about a burglary inside the demon's head?" Selina concluded, her tone and expression turning neutral, and much to no one's surprise, the duo nodded again.
"We didn't have any other clues, so we contacted you..." Tommy said, scratching his head as he realized how nonsensical his story sounded after hearing it from Catwoman.
"I suppose stranger things have happened," Catwoman said with a chuckle, shaking her head at Tommy's awkward expression.
"So... do you know anything about the demon...?" Natt asked from the side, frowning as he tried to get to the point. Natt was a retired soldier and was currently a hitman.
Dealing with demons and such wasn't within his area of expertise, so he was understandably impatient and eager to get this demonic mess over and done with as soon as possible.
"Afraid not, but someone anonymously hired me to steal an antique rifle from Gotham's museum of antiquities recently," Catwoman replied, shaking her head with a frown.
"The client called it the Ace of Winchesters, but I have no idea what a demon would do with it," Selina concluded with a shrug.
"I know someone who can help us with that," Tommy said, nodding as he got the ledge wall he was leaning on, ready to leave. "Thank you for your help," he concluded with a nod as he turned to leave, only to stop walking as Catwoman got in his way.
"Not so fast, I'm a bit curious, and you know what they say about cats and curiosity."
...
East End
"Hey, Mark," I greeted as I approached the listless-looking security guard, holding back a frown at his haggard appearance as he stared into his phone's screen in a daze.
Mark was always cheerful, alert to his surroundings, and quick to notice anyone approaching him, often being the one to greet others first. But that slowly changed over the days.
He slowly began looking less cheerful and alert, and I'd often find him staring intently into his cell phone while ignoring everything else until I greeted him first.
Even then, he'd raise his head, smile, and return the greeting with some enthusiasm, but I've never seen him so listless and exhausted.
"Oh, Gray... It's been a while. Didn't think I'd see you so soon after you moved," Mark greeted back as he slowly raised his head from the cell phone and regarded me with a clearly forced, tired smile that made me frown.
"I was around and thought I'd come by and see how you're doing," I replied, putting on a pleasant smile and forgoing my frown as I gestured to the side with my right.
"You look like you have something weighing you down. Are you okay?" I asked after a second when I saw him nod without mustering a verbal reply.
"You know how it is, just hit a rough patch..." Mark replied with a bitter smile, shaking his head, and his tone made it clear that he didn't want to talk about it.
I hesitated for a second before heaving a mental sigh and activating empathy, and I immediately got a mixture of helplessness, exhaustion, despair, and depression emanating from the security guard.
'That can't be good...' I mused, keeping my expression neutral as I activated my augmented reality vision and personal computer power to see if I could figure something out.
"Do you wanna talk about it?" I asked, maintaining my neutral expression as I leaned on the gate and began browsing whatever information I could find about Mark.
"It's nothing you should worry yourself with, just your everyday stuff, but thanks for asking, bud," Mark replied with a shake of his head, his smile turning a bit genuine and less forced.
'Well, shit...' I internally cursed as I figured out what was troubling the security guard. Like any other regular person, Mark's trouble was the financial kind.
His daughter was sick with heart disease (which their insurance didn't cover), and the medical bills were eating away at their finances, leaving them behind on their mortgage payments.
I didn't hesitate before calculating how much Mark needed before anonymously depositing 75k into his bank account, which was a bit more than that.
75k might sound like a lot, but I can make that much in less than a month by simply sitting on my ass and doing nothing because of the passive income from the flappy bird rip-off, not to mention other software I'd published and the money I keep blundering from Black Mask.
In other words, it was an insignificant amount of money for the current me, but it will change Mark's life for the better, an obvious choice if you ask me.
Though I didn't plan on going around spending all of my money to make random strangers happy, improving the lives of people I knew wasn't something I could easily see myself doing, especially if it was always this easy.
I wanted to console Mark and tell him it would be okay, but my phone started ringing, causing me to swallow my words as I retrieved my cell phone to see who was calling.
"Just a minute," I said, smiling at Mark as I raised my index finger after seeing the caller's ID, to which he nodded, and I walked a bit further to answer the phone.
"What do you need, Selina?" I asked as I answered the call to get her straight to the point. My relationship with the brunette wasn't bad, but it wasn't good enough for her to call me for anything other than business.
The cat signal I saw earlier in the sky (as stupid as it sounded and looked) only made me more convinced Selina was calling to ask for something.
"No, you don't strike me as the type to call just to say hi," I said with a snort of derision as I heard Selina's reply, shaking my head.
"What kind of job?" I asked after a second, raising an eyebrow. "You're serious?" I asked with another snort after listening to Selina's ridiculous explanation about the so-called job.
"Why would I want to involve myself in that kind of shit?" I questioned, after pausing for several more seconds as Selina's explanation turned more and more outrageous with every word she spoke.
"I guess I could hear you out... sure," I said, sighing as I shrugged my shoulders. "Noonan's bar? Sure, I'll be there," I concluded as I ended the call and walked back to Mark.
"I have some urgent business I need to attend to, Mark. But I'm sure you'll pull through whatever it is you're going through," I remarked, smiling as I nodded at the security guard and earned a weak smile for my effort.
"Take care now," I concluded as I turned to leave, waving Mark goodbye, and he merely nodded and turned back to his cellphone.
...
Gotham City airport
Jason Blood was not having a good time.
As one of the world-leading experts on demonology, being an immortal who walked the earth since the sixth century with the power to call on a literal demon prince from hell, one would think he had it all.
But one would be sorely mistaken.
The demon prince Jason could call upon, Etrigan, was the son of hell's archduke Belial and the half-brother of the most famous wizard known to humankind, Merlin, who was a half-human, half-demon hybrid.
And it was that same Merlin who casually broke into Jason's cruck house centuries ago and bound his half-brother, Etrigan, to Jason's soul, bounding them together as unwilling body mates/jailer and jailed for eternity.
From there, it was a constant struggle between Jason and his soul's unwanted guest, Etrigan, as the two continuously schemed against one another, vying for control over Jason's body.
But millennia and a half with the rhyming demon prince was a long time, and he reluctantly and slowly accepted his fate as Etrigan's jailer for the remainder of eternity.
Etrigan's presence in Jason's soul was old news, and it hardly bothered him at this point, even if he would gladly do anything to rid himself of the demon should the chance present itself.
It was the recent turns of events that troubled him instead. He had temporarily lost his magic powers because of a magical experiment gone awry several days ago.
And to add insult to injury, he received word that a demon from hell, the Mawzir, had manifested itself into Gotham, where he lived. And Etrigan was conveniently unavailable in the meantime, leaving Jason unable to defend himself.
And to make things even worse, a person to whom Jason owed a whooping sum of two million dollars he reneged on long ago, called, asking for a favor.
So the immortal demonologist gathered his belongings and made for the airport, intending to leave Gotham and wait for his magic to return and the heat to die out before coming back.
However, things took another turn for the worst as he exited the taxi, only to be kidnapped by two men, one of which was the same man who contacted Jason earlier.
...
Gotham Downtown
The Cauldron
'This should be the place...' I mused, standing in front of a shabby-looking bar at the corner with NOONAN'S SLEAZY BAR written in a faded black color above its entrance.
'Sounds like a charming place...' I grinned under my helmet, shaking my head as I walked to the entrance, already hearing murmuring from the interior as I reached the door and opened it.
The bar's interior was as shabby as its exterior and was empty save for Selina in her Catwoman costume and three unfamiliar faces I didn't recognize.
The three strangers were men, two of which looked very seedy and thuggish in casual streetwear mixed with military jackets, and the third was a refined man who looked to be in his mid-thirties, rocking short brown hair with a white patch in the middle.
Everyone stopped talking when I walked in, and I noticed the seedy-looking duo subtly reaching for their sides, where they probably had their weapons.
I ignored the two shady men and nodded at Selina as I walked toward her while keeping the two men in my line of sight.
"Relax, boys. He's the guy I've been telling you about," Selina said, grinning as she turned to the two men reaching for their weapons. They relaxed, but their hands remained close to their sides.
"He's here to help, aren't you, Mr. Wraith?" Selina added, her grin widening and turning to tease as she regarded me with one of the most obnoxious expressions I've ever seen despite the mask covering half of her face.
"Don't. Call me that," I blankly replied, frowning at the name under my mask, regretting my actions of spooking so many thugs every time I went on patrol, prompting them to give me such an edgy-sounding name.
"As for why I'm here... it depends on what you need me for and how much you're willing to pay," I added, shrugging and turning to the two thuggish men who needed the help to according to Selina's words.
"Well, I'm sure Tommy and Natt here will be more than happy to explain the situation to you..." Selina said while gesturing at the two men, and they shared a look before spending the next ten minutes explaining the situation in great detail.
...
"So... let me get this straight..." I remarked, surveying the bar and alternating my gaze between Selina and the three men present, and my expression couldn't be weirder. Luckily, I was wearing my riot gear, and no one could see it.
"There's a bunch of gun demons in hell, the Arkannone, and they are after you, a street-level killer for hire..." I remarked as I turned to Tommy Monaghan, who was the said demons' target.
"... Because they want to recruit you as their agent after you destroyed an entire crime family...?" I blankly added, holding back a chuckle at the ridiculousness of the situation. Gun demons? As in gunslinging demonic creatures from hell?
Like, what the fuck? Why the fuck? How the fuck? So many fucking questions!
"More or less..." Tommy replied, frowning, and my empathy picked up some discomfort and annoyance when I called him a street-level killer for hire.
"And the Arkannone sent a supposedly unkillable demon, the Mawzir, after you?" I asked, making a mental note of his discomfort at what I called him.
'Was it the killer for hire part or street level part that bothered him more...?'
"It's the second time the demon came after me. I killed it the first time, but it came back stronger than before," Tommy replied, nodding his head and hiding his discomfort.
"We couldn't beat it when it came back the second time, but I managed to glimpse into its mind..." Tommy added, gesturing towards the dark-skinned man who was standing beside him.
"I saw Catwoman's image in the demon's head and caught something about a burglary..." Tommy concluded as he turned to Catwoman, and she smiled as she took over the explanation.
"Someone had anonymously hired me to steal an antique rifle recently, the Ace of Winchester's, from Gotham's Museum of Antiquities," Catwoman explained as she took a photo of the stolen rifle showing it to me.
"Right, so you went for Jason Blood, the world's leading expert on demonology... pleasure, by the way," I said as I turned to the refined-looking man, and he nodded and smiled at me.
"And you two somehow kidnapped him from the airport...?" I added, and my tone was genuinely confused as I alternated my gaze between the supposed ancient sorcerer and the two seedy-looking thugs, much to the former's amusement.
Tommy Monaghan and Natt The Hat (a stupid name, by the way) didn't seem so amused as they frowned, clearly bemused by my constant disregard. Not that I cared, mind you.
I wasn't interested in making friends with the two thugs and had no problems making that as apparent as possible. One of them (Tommy, since the demon was after him) probably had a comic series in his name, and the current events are a part of it.
That's why I didn't want to make friends with them because he'd likely be dealing with demons and hell regularly, and I wanted no part of that, no more than the part I was about to play, anyway.
Jason Blood was even worse since he had a literal prince of hell bound to his soul and had been dealing with magic and demonic bullshitry for centuries.
He didn't tell me as much himself, but I knew about him from reading the comics.
As for why I was being disrespectful to the two thugs and respectful to Jason Blood, despite both parties having a connection to demons and hell?
It's because the latter was actually capable and very knowledgeable, and it wouldn't hurt to play nice and make a connection with him now in case I needed his help later. In other words, it was all strictly business.
"I was having a bad day," Jason Blood remarked as if that would explain why two common thugs could kidnap him, and I didn't bother to question it, merely shrugging my shoulders.
"In any case, the Ace of Winchesters is one of the few weapons capable of permanently killing demons..." Jason added, gesturing to the side. "It was created by an occultist who was part of the texas rangers from halo-steel and hades-gems, bound in the ivory of saints," he added, and again I didn't bother to question the logic behind his words.
"The demon, the Mawzir, hired Catwoman to steal it so it wouldn't fall in Tommy Monaghan's hands..." he added, sighing in annoyance as he leaned into his chair.
"The demon most likely sent the rifle to hell already, and I mean that in a literal sense," the demonologist explained, shaking his head. "Normally, I'd have Etrigan retrieve the rifle, but he's currently preoccupied and isn't responding to my calls," he concluded with a helpless sigh.
"I suppose weirder things have happened in this world," I remarked with a scoff, shrugging my shoulders, and Selina immediately sent me a grin that said, I know, right?
"So... what do you need of me?" I asked after a second's pause seeing no one else had anything to add to the story. "I'll tell you right now if anyone asks me to go to hell, they better be ready to go there themselves, figuratively," I added, firmly shaking my head as I turned to the two killers for hire.
"Then it's a good thing no one needs to go to hell, figuratively or otherwise," Jason replied with a chuckle, carelessly shrugging his shoulders.
"Etrigan will take care of the Arkannone and retrieve the Ace of Winchesters once he concludes his business in hell," he added, lightly spreading his arms apart as he turned to Tommy Monaghan.
"The Mawzir is currently in Gotham, and it took over a crime organization recently," Tommy Monaghan explained after nodding at Jason and turning to me.
"We need to hold back the demon and its henchmen until Etrigan is free to take care of things in hell," Tommy calmly added, causing me to frown under my mask as I turned back to Jason Blood.
Etrigan might be unavailable, but Jason Blood was a centuries old magic user, and should be more than powerful enough to take care of a stray demon and a bunch of thugs, or buy enough time, at least, if the demon is really unkillable.
"As I've said, bad day. I'm currently unable to conjure any magic," Jason remarked, shrugging his shoulders, and I sighed as I went quiet and began debating the pros and cons.
I didn't hesitate for long, though.
"250k and the rifle," I calmly remarked, stating my price as I turned to Tommy Monaghan and frowned as I felt a tendril reaching toward my brain from his direction.
'Is he...?' My frown turned into a scowl as I realized what he was trying to do and promptly snapped, thanking my lucky stars that my brain seems to have evolved a mental defense mechanism along the way.
I didn't know about it before and didn't risk testing it for obvious reasons, but it made sense as my Mind attribute represented and improved all aspects of my brain, including its defenses.
"Motherfucker!" I exclaimed, speeding towards the killer for hire as I gripped his head and bashed it against the bar. "Try that again; and the demon will be the last of your worries!" I added as I took out Ebony and put it to his head.
...
Tommy grunted in pain as I pushed his head against the bar, the barrel of my gun scraping against his head, and I could see his friend, Natt, reaching for the gun tucked in his side.
I didn't move and kicked Natt since he was close, sending him flying towards the wall as I drew Ivory from my inventory and leveled it at him before he could gather his wits.
"What's going on?" Selina blankly asked as she quickly put a hand on my shoulder as she tried to mediate the situation, and I had to consciously put effort into not sending her flying with a kick, agitated as I was.
"Son of a bitch tried to read my mind," I remarked with a scowl, increasing the pressure on Tommy's head and pushing harder against the table, to which Selina frowned.
"Are you sure?" Selina asked, her frown visible even under her half-face mask as she removed her hand from my shoulder, her eyes alternating between Tommy and his friend.
"Sure enough to blow his fucking head off," I replied with a scoff, seriously deliberating whether I should just put the man down and get it over with immediately.
"Explain yourself. You said you only managed to glimpse into the demon's mind because of a freak accident!" Selina remarked, her tone growing a degree colder as she turned to Tommy and her expression turned visibly darker.
Tommy had claimed he only managed to "glimpse" into the Mawzir's mind because of some magic bullshitry since he killed the demon before the Arkannone resurrected and sent it back to earth, connecting the hitman and the Mawzir somehow.
Selina would understandably fume at learning the bastard could read minds as she probably wouldn't even touch him with a ten-foot pole to protect her secret identity had she known about it beforehand.
"Okay! Okay! Just 'cause I read minds don't mean I got to go around telling people!" Tommy exclaimed through gritted teeth, speaking in a matter-of-fact tone, causing me to increase the pressure on his head.
"For a guy who's got a gun to his head, you're acting pretty cheeky," I remarked, emphasizing my point by pushing the barrel of my gun hard enough to draw blood from the back of his head.
"I didn't peek into Catwoman's mind and only tried it with you cause I need to know if you're worth how much money you're asking," Tommy explained, resting his hands against the bar as he stopped resisting my grip as a sign of surrender.
"He isn't lying," Jason said as he stood up from his chair and walked towards me, and I frowned but didn't reply, a clear sign of my displeasure that the demonologist seemed to have caught.
"Hey, I'm just saying. I owe Monaghan two million dollars, so you'd be doing me a favor if you put a bullet in his head since I won't need to pay," Jason added, shrugging his shoulders and raising his arms to emphasize his lack of desire to interfere.
I remained silent as I thought about the consequences of killing the hitman and what I'd stand to lose and gain if I killed him now or spared his life.
Realistically, there would be no consequences since Selina had blood on her ledger, and Jason Blood had bucket-fulls, so they had no moral high ground to stand on and question my decision should I decide to kill him.
On the other hand, if I killed Monaghan, I'd waste a valuable opportunity to fight a demon, and no, I didn't suddenly turn into a battle maniac. I could do without the thrill of the battle and that kind of shit. What I'd be missing, however, is the learning opportunity.
As long as I'm in this world, it's only a matter of time before I'd have to fight a demon or something along those lines, especially if I pick up the occultist archetype later.
Tommy Monaghan was a small fry in the grand scheme of things, and the demon after him couldn't be that strong, or he wouldn't survive since that's how comics work.
In the end, it would all depend on Etrigan taking out the Arkannone and bringing back the antique rifle to earth, and I had no doubts he'll make it since he's a demon prince, and not many can stand in his way in hell.
And starting with such a low-class demon is the perfect way for me to get familiar with such creatures, not to mention I might waste the chance to get my hands on the Ace of Winchesters.
"Look, I can already see you're worth your asking price, so how about this?" Tommy remarked, snapping me out of my line of thought as I turned to him.
"Instead of the 250 you asked, how about I give you 350, and we put this thing behind us?" He asked, and I quickly decided to spare him for now, but I couldn't make it easy for the bastard.
I said nothing as I cocked my gun's hammer and increased the pressure on his head, and he seemed to have gotten the hint.
"500, that's all I have," Tommy exclaimed through gritted teeth, and that was all I needed to hear as I let go of the hitman and took a step back to let him breathe.
"There won't be a second time," I said, my expression easing up under my mask as I saw Monaghan wipe the blood off his head while Natt got off the floor, shooting me a cautious look as he did.
"Pay's upfront, by the way," I remarked as I took a slip of paper with my bank account number and slammed it at the table to get the hitman's attention.
"What, right now?" Tommy asked, raising an eyebrow, and I didn't reply, my silence the only reply he got to answer. He sighed and picked up the paper while retrieving his phone.
I kept my eye on the hitman and his friend until I knew he'd wired the money to my account for sure and turned to Selina, who had an amused smirk on her face.
"That's the second time you slipped," I said, not in the mood to tolerate Selina's smug expression. "Would you have blamed me again if he glimpsed your secret identity?" I added with a scoff, emphasizing the word "glimpse" while resisting the urge to fist-pump as Selina's smirk promptly disappeared.
"In any case, does the demon have any weaknesses we can abuse?" I asked as I turned to Jason Blood, dropping my schadenfreude and moving on to more important subjects.
"When people speak of fighting demons, abuse isn't a word that comes very often," Jason Blood said, raising an eyebrow as he lightly chuckled, clearly amused by my choice of words.
"But to answer your question, yes, there are many. Theology, iron, and hellfire, to name a few," Jason replied as he raised one finger with each weakness he gave.
"Hellfire is out of the question unless you have a vial of it tucked away somewhere in that trench coat of yours," the demonologist remarked, lowering one finger, and leaving two remaining.
"Iron only works on low-class demons, and although the Mawzir is no archduke of hell, it is no grunt either," he added, shaking his head and lowering another finger, leaving only one.
"That leaves us with theology, which is self-explanatory; we find a church and wait for the demon to come," he explained with a shrug as he relaxed his fingers and waved his hand to the side.
"Though the demon might be able to enter, all the same, the holy ground would considerably weaken it," Jason concluded with a careless shrug as he alternated his gaze between us, looking for signs of approval or disapproval.
"Even if it's weakened, that thing is pretty powerful, and we have to worry about the criminal organization it took over," Tommy said, frowning as he interjected with a shake of his head.
"I'll take care of the demon if it shows up. The rest of you only need to keep the goons off my back while I deal with it," I said with a shrug, speaking in a confident tone that would have been impossible for me a month ago.
Here I am talking about fighting a demon like it was the most casual thing in the world when I'd been terrified by a mere Firefly when I first came to this godforsaken city. Then again, I might be just getting cocky, but I guess I'll find out sooner rather than later.
Upon hearing my words, Selina's smirk returned, and she looked like she had something to say, but I quickly cut her off with a raised hand as I turned to the bar's entrance.
"Someone is approaching the bar, female, dark skin and hair, armed, possibly a cop..." I remarked as I saw the person approaching the bar through my pigeon drone, noticing the police standard gun straps on her torso.
"Acquaintance of yours?" I asked as I drew Ebony and Ivory from my inventory and prepared for a fight, to which Monaghan quickly nodded, but I didn't put my weapons away.
"Either way, we got a fight on our hands. There's a bunch of people tailing her," I added with a shrug, and everyone's eyes widened as the two hitmen quickly reached for their guns, and Selina brandished her whip.
Whelp, here we fucking go again.
...
Opening the door to Noonan's bar, Deborah Tiegel's expression couldn't be any weirder as the several guns pointed at her face was the first thing she saw upon entering the building.
Meeting Gotham city's latest vigilante, a man who had caused the GCPD's various precincts holding cells to be over capacity on more than one occasion in such a seedy bar, was already plenty weird.
Meeting the said vigilante and the city's most renowned thief, both in costume and in the company of a notorious killer for hire, didn't make the situation any less weird.
"Tommy? What's going on here?" Deborah asked, unphased by the two masked people's seeming readiness for violence as she turned to the hitman, giving him a confused look.
"That thing from the asylum is back," Monaghan replied with a frown as he turned to Catwoman and Wraith, awkwardly clearing his throat with an urging expression, and they shared a look before lowering their weapons.
"Now's not the time for explanations. The thing's goons are already here and heavily armed to boot," Wraith said as he walked past the former detective, taking cover next to the bar's door.
"We need to move. I know a place where we can take shelter for the meantime," Jason Blood urgently remarked as he got off his seat and beckoned for everyone to follow him.
"St. Joseph's cemetery. If we fortify the church there, we should be able to buy enough time for Etrigan to finish his business," Blood added as everyone moved towards him except for Wraith, who remained at the door.
"The holy ground should work to weaken the demon as well should it decide to make a personal appearance," the demonologist concluded as he turned to Wraith, giving him a confused look.
"You guys go ahead. I'll take care of the goons here and follow. It won't take long," Wraith replied with a shrug, and Jason nodded as he went for the bar's back exit.
"I'll get their attention. Wait for the first gunshot and make a run for it as fast as you can," Wraith concluded as he watched them leave, raising his guns and leaning on the wall, sounding all too calm.
Deborah gave the vigilante one last look as Monaghan took her hand and guided her towards the back exit, and she couldn't help but wonder how she got involved in this mess.
...
Deborah Tiegel was one of the few honest cops in Gotham, despite the constant struggle against the city's dark underbelly and her very own corrupt colleagues in the 52 precinct.
She soldiered through everything the god-forsaken city put her through to maintain her integrity and eventually rose to the rank of detective, though her rise was not uneventful.
During her years-long career as a law enforcement officer in the corrupt city of Gotham, she witnessed almost all the horrors and atrocities men were willing to inflict on their fellows for the pettiest and most unreasonable of reasons.
As if dealing with psychopaths on a daily basis wasn't enough, Deborah even had to deal with demons, wicked, twisted beings from hell whose cruelty and depravity would make even Victor Zsasz pale in comparison.
Deborah would never forget that night when she and several police officers answered a call to investigate an assault on the Arkham Asylum.
They arrived at the scene, and the horrid screams and pleas for help from inside the asylum caused her colleagues to freeze.
In the end, Deborah and Deborah alone mustered the courage to go inside and investigate all on her own.
Luckily for her, however, she encountered none other than Gotham's masked protector, who was there to investigate the incident halfway through.
The two detectives then made their way through the asylum, finding not but carnage and bloodshed at every corner, turn, and hallway until they happened upon a fierce fight in the asylum's center.
They saw one man fighting a many-armed, pale, thin demon, holding one gun in every one of its malformed, bony hands, as the two battled in a fierce display of gunmanship and ferociousness.
However, the demon had the overwhelming advantage, and the man was clearly close to his limits. The two detectives quickly joined the fray and managed to destroy the creature.
However, the man was a killer for hire, and as such, it was their duty to apprehend him. The man, Thomas Monaghan, insisted he was one of the good guys, despite his career choice, but that didn't deter Deborah or Batman.
The hitman eventually escaped, and she'd almost forgotten about him if not for recent events that saw the honest Deborah framed and suspended without pay for a mistake that wasn't her own due to the death of one corrupt cop in a bust gone south.
Furious, Deborah was about to storm into Burns' (her captain and the man responsible for her unjust suspension) office to quit when she overheard a shady deal between the captain and a government agent.
They intended to cover up for the dead corrupt cop by blaming Thomas Monaghan, the same hitman who was fighting the demon in the asylum, for the crooked officer's murder.
While having no love for the hitman, he was now the lesser of two evils. Deborah orchestrated his escape from the police and took him back to her apartment that she shared with her mother and grandfather.
The charismatic hitman charmed her mother, but Deborah was not so easily impressed. Nevertheless, she put her dislike for him aside to develop a plan to expose the corrupt officials.
Their plan eventually succeeded, and Deborah let Monaghan go on his way. After all, she wasn't technically a cop. Monaghan saw the tiniest chinks in her armor and gave her his phone number. Just in case.
When the review of her suspension came up, Deborah played ball. But with a board of corrupt cops, she was promptly fired.
With no one to confide in, she drowned her sorrows with Monaghan. In a drunken state, she revealed her attraction to him. His conscience getting the better of him, Monaghan turned down her inebriated advances and saw her in her bed before leaving.
The next day when she realized how she had lost control, Deborah went to talk with Tommy at Noonan's Bar. However, her timing couldn't be any worse.
...
"Deborah Tiegel, huh?" I muttered, grinning under my mask as I watched Selina and the others leave while looking up the former detective's file out of curiosity.
However, my curiosity quickly turned into something else as I formulated a plan to mess with Monaghan. Suffice to say, a mere 250k increase in my pay wouldn't be enough to compensate for trying to intrude into my mind, and now I finally had a way to even things out.
But enough of that; I had a bunch of goons to take care of, after all.
I thought of something clever to say, but nothing came to mind, so I merely shrugged and walked out of the bar, and the goons outside immediately opened fire.
"It's that damned Wraith. Quick, open fire before the bastard disappears or some shit!" One of the first goons to start shooting exclaimed, and I could do nothing but bitterly smile under my mask at the edgy moniker as I began sprinting.
There were too many bullets to dodge, but I started moving nonetheless and avoided the overwhelming majority of the projectiles, a few hitting me and bouncing off my trench coat.
"It's not working! The bullets are just bouncing off the freak!" Another one exclaimed, wildly gesturing as he was the first to land a shot on me, and I quickly returned the favor with an energy projectile to his forehead.
I somersaulted into the bar's wall, using my boots to stick them as I began putting my guns, steel wire, and acrobatics skills to good use, jumping from one building to the other while firing.
For every shot I took, a thug fell, and the tens of goons began to panic as their numbers thinned, and they began landing fewer and fewer shots on me as I confused them with my edgy spiderman impression until they were unable to land a single bullet.
However, they held their ground nonetheless, seemingly more afraid of the demon than me. I took that personally and activated my phantom belt, intending to put the fear of God in the thugs despite knowing my actions would only make my new nickname stick harder.
"Fuck! He really disappeared! What bastard was it that said he would?!" one of the goons who strategically placed himself on a rooftop opposite the bar exclaimed while hurriedly looking around.
"You'll have plenty of time to figure it out in Black Gate," I said with a chuckle as I deactivated my invisibility right behind the goon, and he flinched and quickly turned around.
I caught his head and headbutted him in the face, caving his nose with a sickening crunch of bones, only to disappear again and move on to the next goon.
In the end, it only took me about 20 minutes to finish the gathered thugs, and I quickly left the area after giving the GCPD an anonymous tip about the crowd of unconscious thugs I left behind.
...
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