I see, so you have had somewhat of a rough childhood?
Rough? That's really funny doc. You have just made my day. Rough is what you call a father walking out on you. Rough is something you would call your mother being an alcoholic. And depending on your definition of rough, child abuse could be one of them. You could call them a car crash, or even a train wreck. My childhood would be the Titanic. Doesn't help that I have spent most of my life in the most dangerous and crime ridden city on the planet.
I see…would you mind continuing for me, James? Maybe how this supposed 'crime ridden' city has taken such a big role in your life?
Please, call me Logan.
"Gotham. The pinnacle of industrial accomplishment and community improvement; lead by the upperclassmen of the city who are committed to making the great city a better place, including CEO of Wayne Enterprises, Bruce Wayne. The slums of Gotham are being cleaned up by the more fortunate, and clinics for the homeless are being made. Volunteers' help out the high class citizens take to the street to spread the word. The Future of Tomorrow, starts today!"
The video on the train cuts off immediately after the message to show a bird's eye view of the next stop. I take a deep breath and slump in my chair of the seat I am in. The warm spring wind breathes life into my short black chopped hair. They brush over my skin like pure silk as I stare out into the open fields. The conductor over the intercom said we should be arriving at the destination in a couple of minutes, yet I see no urban areas in sight. I recall the events of the past few weeks, starting those of the bar fight. From there I had made my way south like I do almost every year.
For a couple of days though, I could smell the men from the bar following me, eventually they laid off after I hit the border to America. Like every time, someone questions if a kid should be traveling on a train by themselves to which I give them my fake I.D. On the card it tells my age is 18, and I tell them I am going to see my parents for Spring Break. Sometimes it takes some convincing that I am actually 18 which is most often answering some historical trivia occasionally some scientific and mathematic based questions. It isn't hard for me to answer them, probably since I have lived during those events of historical trivia or scientific/mathematics based questions.
Every year it's the same routine, go north then back down south. Winter is usually when the visions get harder and harder to control, when I go north they ease up. Visions of the past haunting me, picking at my scalp with a scalpel. Usually it's just random, incoherent memories. Then as they become more and more frequent, they become more detailed and based on a real timeline. Eventually I learned how my…..gift works.
Sneaking into Star Labs under an alias, I had a highly well-known and scientist, Malkarov his name was, run tests on my blood; I was working as his assistant. He was astonished and commended me on acquiring such samples."Incredible!" He told me."Do you know what we could do with this?" He asked me to which I shook my head. He smiled."With this we could cure virtually every illness known to man! Cancer, Alzheimer's, Diabetes, Brain tumors! Even our own lifespans can be lengthened with just one dose!" He told me enthusiastically. I nodded, hoping to calm him down."So how does it work doc?" I asked him curiously. His eyes lit up as he walked over to his desk and pulled up a hologram of the Sample,my DNA, and a regular human DNA."The cells of this blood are in a constant state of mitosis, spitting, dividing! Its repairing itself. It building itself up." Malkarov told me as he took a piece of my DNA and implanted it within a normal humans. Suddenly it was a if the piece was rewriting the entire structure itself, essentially curing it of any disorders of any kind.
"So what does this mean? In English this time." I asked him once more. At first I thought my question would aggravate the genius scientist but all he did was laugh and turn towards me."Don't you get it? This sample of blood, this DNA, is capable of cellular regrowth the likes of which the world has never seen. Superman, Wonder Woman, Deathstroke and others all left in the dust when compared to this miracle." He turns to his desk."With this, we can change the world! We will become rich!" Malkarov says, wicked smile stretching across his face."We just need more." He tells me turning to his desk. In a quick burst of motion he turned towards me and outstretched his arm. A thundering clap followed by a pop seared through the air before I felt a sharp pain in my side. I was rocketed across the room, slamming through multiple high tech equipment before my back is met by a wall. I gasp as I hit the ground, grunting as I spit up blood. That hurt. The ears were ringing as if someone had shotten a gun inches away from my ears. I rolled over to my side as I saw him approach me."Sonic Compressor." Malkarov says with a smirk."Impressive, is it not?"
I looked up at him, my body shaking from the force of the sonic blast. My muscles ached from where I was hit by the blast."W-why are you doing this?" I asked him, trying to buy a little time before I find a way to get my revenge. Malkarov rolled his eyes."Oh don't play dumb with me. You know as well as I do that the blood sample is from you. What I don't get is how you thought you could outsmart me, boy." He says, grabbing my hair and using it to slam my head into the wall multiple times."You thought you could outsmart me? The greatest mind of our generation? Who the hell did you think you were fooling!" He continues to bash my head, now pulling my body to a desk to which he tosses my body into."You are too stupid to be an assistant to such a fine establishment like this! At least with your blood you can make yourself useful!" He tells me as his hand moves to a switch on the side of his cannon. Suddenly the thunderclap returns before a sonic wave blasts into my body once more. My body slams into the desk behind me, its foundations caving in as I spiral and bounce off the ground into other desks; to which all are destroyed too. My body is in pain I have never felt before. Even a point blank gunshot from a double barrel shotgun hadn't done this much damage. I cough as blood splatters onto the ground beneath me. I take deep, heaving breaths as I try to push myself up to stand. As I do I hit with another sonic blast, sending me into another wall. I groan wasn't right. I should be healing and kicking this guys ass right now. Yet it was the other way around, I was getting my ass handed to me on a silver platter.
"I am sure you are wondering why your healing has suddenly stopped working." Malkarov says to me smiling as I try to crawl away from him, a look of desperation spread across my face."Funny thing sonic waves. Lethal, not only to the common man, but also those a little more extraordinary." He states, kicking me in my rib cage."Specifically, it reaks havoc on those with special healing factors as yourself. While no, it cannot stop the healing process, but it can slow it down." He tells me. Damn. He had this whole thing figured out. I look around for anything to use or to call anyone to help me. Not a chance. By now, as late as it is, everyone has gone home. We are the only ones here. I cough and flip to my back as he readies the cannon. He smirks."Are you ready to admit your own defeat?" He asks me. I answer by spitting in his face."Does that answer your question?" I say with a bloody smile.
The switch that he had moved before made a sudden jerk forward before landing on a setting."Oh you are going to wish you took the other option." The Mad scientist tells me, unleashing heavy fire upon my entire body. I screamed as my eardrums burst at the constant stream of searing sound. My body jerks fiercely as my mind goes blank and my body becomes numb. I dont have access to my healing. I have to think my way out of this. I turn my head, the force from the blast caving the floor slowly cave in beneath me. I see a piece of shrapnel on the on the ground beside me as I am forced deeper into the ground. I grit my teeth. I slowly reach towards the piece of metal, to which angers the person above me."You dare plot against me!?" He exclaims before turning the cannon to the highest setting.
The pressure from the increase was hard to describe. At this point I couldn't move, let alone think. I am going to die. I told myself as I felt my consciousness slipping away, closing my eyes. Then, suddenly the blast ceased and a gust of wind rolls over my skin. I open my eyes slowly to see the scarlet speedster himself in an all out brawl. My vision was going in and out as I struggled to regain consciousness. Every attempt to move had been futile as his muscles groaned in agony, forced to watch as The Flash duked it out with Sinister Sonic. Did he just give his former boss a villain name? Wow.
Things weren't going very well, when Flash got tripped up by a sonic blast under him, causing him to flip and slam into a desk. My eyes grew wide as I watched Malkarov move towards him, setting it to the highest setting once more."You shouldn't have come Flash. Now I have to kill two freaks. Such a hassle."
I heard him screamed to the top of lungs, I could tell the sonic vibrations were shredding into his eardrums just as much as my own. He must've been way tougher than I, since he forced himself up and sped towards Malkarov.
He unleashed a powerful onslaught of punches in under a second, I could tell he was trying like hell to end this quickly and efficiently. You wouldn't expect it, but this deranged nerd was better at taking punches than he looked. As I saw crimson blood rush from his ears, I could his suffering outweighed my own.
Exerting the last of his strength, he managed to destroy the cannon. From what I could make of it, his hand sliced through it at a blinding speed. As the pounding finally faded, the young hero fell to the ground. I prayed he had a healing factor and felt immensely grateful for my own.
Malkarov wailed in anger as the cannon was destroyed and quickly moved to grab another weapon, but I don't let him. Yes, the cannon slowed my healing, but it only slowed it. Thanks to the Flash's distraction, it gave me the time necessary to slowly gather enough strength to heal the most critical of injuries. I grabbed the shard of stone that was beside me and hurled it as hard as I could. I guess I threw it harder than I had originally thought because it sliced through the mad scientists body like a bullet, leaving a gaping hole in his side. He cries out as he falls to the ground, crying out in pain as I lift my body up to move over to him, but redirect my attention to Flash.
I quickly jog over to him and give him a little shake."Come on. Get up." I told the unconscious hero, attempting to pull him upward. I was a couple inches shorter than him so it wasn't such an easy task."Come on. We need to get out of here before that maniac decides to pull something else!" I yelled at him. Ugh, why does it have to be me?
You know that feeling you get when you feel someone or something is behind you? You know that buzzing behind your head that says "Watch out you idiot!"? Well. Mine was on overload. I only barely managed to throw the scarlet speedster's body to the side and leap to the side in time enough to dodge a highly explosive piece of machinery. The machine soars across the room and crashed into a large computer to which it explodes with a vengeance. The blast radius is a lot larger than I thought it would have been, before we even hit the ground the shock from the blast shot our bodies in different directions.
I slammed into objects and bounced off of the floor until all of a sudden, nothing. The pain always comes a little late when you are impaled. Next thing I know there is a large piece of shrapnel through my body. I gasp as something behind me twists it further and pushes it down into my body. I scream in pain as Malkarov lifts my body off the ground and tosses me into the ceiling, caving a whole in it before I come back to the ground. He laughs hysterically as he kicks me around."How...are you alive?" I ask him, coughing up some blood. I look up to him.
He is wearing this weird suit in the colors of green and purple, its skin tight against him and isn't doing him any favors at revealing his rather lacking body. Yet he kicked me with force beyond what was possible for anyone human, and trust me I know what it feels like to be kicked. I cough as my ribs are crushed and he isn't stopping to give my slowed healing factor a chance to kick in once more."You really underestimate my intelligence! How do you think I would die when I have all this state of the art technology just laying around? Not to mention your healing blood! This suit was taken from one of Luthor's labs, but I worked my own wonders with it." As he winds up for another kick, I reach out and grab his leg, using all my strength to toss him as hard as I could, aiming to get him off balance. I must have put more force than I had thought in it once again as he flew as if he had been punched by a Kryptonian. He slammed through a large computer screen and through the glass doors leading outward to the facility.
It seemed like the effects of the sonic cannon were beginning to wear off as the whole in my chest began to pull itself together, quite literally. I could feel my ribs reform into their proper place and the tissue pull itself tighter to repair my body as I confront the lunatic in hand to hand combat. I am pretty good when it comes to fighting, probably because I have had a long time to learn how to. I manage to dodge a high speed attack from Malkarov, bending backwards Matrix style before taking his arm; twisting his arm to slam him face first into the ground in a scorpion position. He rolls on the ground and lifts his palm, shooting a beam of plasma to my chest. Thats when I realize: thats all he can do. I easily dodge the beam by spinning on the ball of my left foot, and slam my right heel into his face.
As he staggers backward, I let out a howling war cry before running to slam my shoulder into his stomach. I use my strength to lift him off of his feet as I run him through multiple objects and machinery. I continue the attack by launching him into the wall parallel to the inner lab, with such force that the wall caved as he made contact with it. Just as he fell through the wall I made my last assault, closing the distance between us, shoving my shoulder into his chest with as much force that I can muster which causes him to fly and skid across the lobby of the great institution of science and mathematics.
I slowly walk towards him, a look of hatred in my eye. I watch as he groans and tried to move away from me."Stay back! Monster! Murderer!" He screamed at me. I smirk as I continue towards him, with a devilish and serious glare."You have no right to call me a monster. You just attempted murder. Once this gets out, your career is over. I'll make sure of it." I told him to which he attempts to send a barrage of light beams towards me, which I all dodge. I reach out and grab each of his arms, swinging him into the front desk to which makes hard contact with his spine as he flips over it. "You won't win. You can boast about how stupid I am all you want, but I will always be superior. I will win in the end." I told him."For someone so smart you are incredibly stupid. You know why you are losing bub? All you rely on technology. Back in my day we didn't have all these fancy gizmo's. We only had these. Thats what we did." He lifts up his hands before striking the scientist in the jaw."I am the best." I told the scientist cracking my knuckles, and readying the knockout blow.
As my fist comes down Malkarov flashes a grin, raising him hand up. He catches my fist and seconds later a horrible ringing fills my ears. I screamed as I stumbled backward, holding my ears."Don't you know boy? Technology and cunning wins in the end." I scream and my voice is distorted in the more powerful sonic waves flowing towards me. Although, not as powerful as the Sonic Cannon he carried which physically moved me, this one merely destroyed my eardrums and rattled my brain. I slowly fall to my knees, bleeding from my nose; mouth; and ears at the same time. My agony can be heard around the entire laboratory as he turns up the intensity his other hand, combining with the previous sonic barrage. Its pushing down on my body like an elephant sat on me and wouldn't get up,forcing me into the ground."DIE!" He cried out, although his threat was distorted in the world of pain.
Blood is gushing everywhere now and pain is rattling throughout my body. Is this what it's like to die? I think to myself. I force myself to look up at the mad man in front of me, waves of sound disorienting the air around him so he looks like an amalgamation of his former-self.I grit my teeth, feeling my knees buckle and rattle as I bring myself back up into a standing position. I am constantly bombarded with the waves of powerful sound forcing me to lean forward as I take my first step towards him. Through the distorted image of his face I see his eyes widen."What are you doing? How are yo-that's impossible! I am taking away your healing!" He yells as he attempts to put more power in the blasts. They force me so my feet skid backward as I move a couple of feet, but that doesn't stop me from taking several steps. He yells and spits insults at me as he tried to enhance the suits power.
A loud beeping sound comes from the suit, a flashing red light accompanying it."Maximum output comes with critical risk possible." The suit tells the scientist to which he scowls."Override advising system! Maximum output deploy!" He says as he thrusts his hands forward to which an immense burst of air pressure follows. I am blasted backward, my feet sinking into the ground beneath me as I struggle to hold my ground. It feels as if the skin is being ripped off of me as I push my body forward, head first, pulling the rest of my body with me. I am losing this struggle, I can feel it every fiber of my body. As I push through he only increases. After all I am only human. How much can my body take? That's when it hits me. That suit is at its maximum just as I am.
Once again I push forward, screaming as I do so. The skin is literally being ripped off of my face as I inch forward to Malkarov. He screams at his system to increase power output, but it cannot. He howls to override the system and just as he does so a spark occurs and his right arm catches on fire. He cries in agony as his left arm scrambles to put out the right's fire. I use this as my advantage and close the distance between us before he can react. My claws split the skin between my knuckles before splitting the skin of Malkarov's wrists. I yell and run before spinning him to the wall by his wrists, one on top of the other and over his head. I knee him in the balls before pulling my left set of claws of to move them underneath his throat."What-no this can't-" He mumbles once he realizes the situation he is in for.
"Beg for mercy!" I command him as I force my claws deeper into his blood vessels. He wails as he looks me dead in the eye."Please. Please spare me. I can give you anything you want? Is it money? Do you want money? I can get it for you! Just please don't kill me!" He says as tears cascade down his cheeks."Thats enough." I hear from behind me.
The Flash is standing behind me, looking with worried eyes. He knows what I am ready to do and how much I want to do it."Put him down son. Its not worth it." He says, all high and mighty above his moral pedestal before me. I growl as the blood from his wrists flow around my claws and drips on my hand."And who are you to decide the if it's worth it or not? If I remember I had to carry your ass to safety. Fastest man alive, My ass."
"In my defense, even I can't handle heroics by myself all the time. That's the League is for AND I haven't dealt with sonic weaponry for a while." The hero seemed nostalgic for a moment, remembering some of his early years. I listened to him and grunted, turning back to the bawling scientist. He was losing a lot of blood now and was hanging on to dear life."Please...spare me." He requested. I replied by moving my claws closer to his throat."Why? Why should I? You tried to kill me and I won, why should I spare you? What happened to survival of the fittest?"
"Absolutely nothing can justify what he did, but killing him literally makes you no better. Be the better man kid." I could tell he was doing his best to talk me out of it, he seemed prepared to stop me if words wouldn't.
I turn back to Malkarov, his face turning white at the loss of so much blood. I grit my teeth. I want to kill him, just as I have many before him with less reason. Yet I slowly begin to retract my claws back into the ripped skin between my knuckles. Malkarov falls to the ground, still crying his eyes out. I, on the other hand, back away for a moment as I stumble to regain my composure on what had happened. I let a man who tried to end my life go free. Nothing I had done previously had lead me up to this. Nothing I will ever do will compare. I nearly fall to my knee's before finding the strength to stand. I hear police sirens in the background in my pounding ear drums as they rush into the building. Everything seems like a blur to me, everyone moving at lightspeed.
I see Flash talking to some of the policemen as I feel someone lower a blanket over my shoulders. I grit my teeth once more as I watch them carry Malkarov's body into an ambulance, throwing off the blanket and grabbing a hoodie that had been laying in the gift shop. I stuff my hands into the pockets of the jacket, lowering my head.
"Nice work kid, mind explaining why he was attacking you exactly?" He rested his hand on my shoulder, seeming proud of me. I keep my back turned towards the Scarlet Speedster, hesitating to answer."No, I don't. He was just some crazy dude with a sonic gun." I lie to the hero.
"Why were you in the labs in the first place? I don't get the vibe you were interning there."
I hesitate once more. I had my cover story, which was being an assistant to the mad scientist, it was great and all but it didn't really work before. If I told him the truth about my ability that is supposedly the greatest ever seen to man's eye, who's to say he won't report me to the Justice League? Would they try and force me into experiments like Malkarov? Or would they try and make me a hero? Neither of which seemed appealing."I was his assistant." I told him, lying once more.
He didn't seem convinced. "Well there had to be some reason he suddenly turned on his assistant. Kid, come on. What are you hiding?" His concern seemed to grow.
"I told you already I don't know." I told him lying once more. I had to admit it was admiring how much this guy cares about people, even someone like me. I dont have the luxury of that though. I sigh and turn towards, him slightly and look him in the eye, seeing the concern in them. I take a deep breath before I speak."In the lab, there is a vial on a desk with blood in it. Examine it. With your resources you should be able to figure out why he turned on me." I told him as I began to move forward, once again lowering my head."Every Man has his secrets bub, it just so happens mine are a lot more dangerous than others."
In a split second, he followed my instructions and returned with a vile. "Welp, I have a feeling I'll end up looking for you kid, try and stay safe got it?"
I smirk as I make my way off the site, raising my hand up to show a thumbs up."Its inevitable, of course I am going to get in trouble."
After all,people like us can only stay safe for so long.
I am jolted out of my vision by the sound of the train coming to a screeching halt and the numerous bodies around me, eagerly waiting to get off of the train. I rub my temples and begin to stand, stuffing my hands into my long jacket pockets. I move through the crowd of people, staring at the doors and trying to shake the memory of the event at Star Labs. That was nearly 7 years ago you have to forget about it, I tell myself as the doors open and the crowd behind me pushes forward.
Because Today is a new day
Hey guys! I hope you enjoyed this chapter of The Bat, The Robin, and The Wolverine, and I am sorry that it took this long for me to write it. As said before, I am still in school so it is a little hard for me to find the time to write it. Thanks those who have taken the time to read and review it, I personally appreciate the support. Also, special shout out to KryptonianKid for helping me out with this one, being my editor of sorts, I really appreciate his help as well; and I look forward to returning the favor with his new and upcoming series. From now on, I will try and keep the entries to this story consistent and keep it from getting ridiculously spaced out between entries. As always thanks for reading,I hope to see your reviews, and stay tuned for the next installment in The Bat, The Robin, and The Wolverine.