4/23/2022
Metropolis
Honestly, with how dark and red the sky looks it is almost impossible to tell the time. Luckily my nano-tech helmet has a clock telling me that it is nearly six-thirty and frankly the darker it gets, the more demons start appearing.
The monsters from the Netherrealm are summoned via demon nests that have been spread out throughout the city. They are similar to the gore nests from DOOM 2016 but instead of ripping out one part and destroying it, we have to destroy the thing itself. It operates by generating enough mystical energy in order to summon the demons via portals.
That information is explained to me and to the rest of our unit from a secure Justice League signal and the person telling us the information was Zatanna herself.
"How much further until we come up to the first nest?" Jin asked before shooting an arrow at a flying demon who tried to dive bomb us. The arrow went straight through its head, making it fall to the ground like a stone.
"We should be coming up to it now. It's in this building." Cassie said before we stopped at a ruined clothing store and saw that the nest looks like a living heart pumping nonexistent blood. The veins spread into and through the walls, floor and ceiling of the store and it looked to be as large as a van.
"Fucking gross." I said bluntly before the heart started beating faster and a large portal appeared between the heart and us. Coming from the portal was various demons and everyone opened fire as Wonder Woman lead us into battle.
Thankfully she was still traveling with us at the moment. In any case, the demons summoned were bulkier and stronger than the common foot soldiers we have been dispatching. The soldiers behind us stood firm and brought down a few demons, while I and the other enhanced fighters split up and fought other demons while trying to get closer to the heart.
I ran straight into a large demon with muscles that literally tore through its skin. However, with my enhanced strength and durability, the demon wasn't overly dangerous. I caught both its hands over my head when it tried to bring them down onto my skull. In response I stepped back before attacking with a four-hit combo of my fists and my right elbow at the end, before it staggers back and I thrust my foot forward at its knee and shatter it, making it shout in pain before I focus hit it with a jab to its throat which put him down as his windpipe shattered and he lost the ability to breath.
Other demons tried to team up against me, but I managed to move between them and avoid getting grabbed. I managed to give these demons a decent fight, which got me their attention. Unfortunately, that was a plan I came up with on the fly, so it wasn't perfect but luckily Wonder Woman picked up on what I was doing and made her way to the nest as she tore it apart with her mighty sword.
The moment the heart stopped pumping, it released some kind of energy pulse that felt uncomfortable to me, and I knew that if I had been using Void Sense, I might have thrown up…Energy from the Netherrealm doesn't agree with Void energy…Shinnok is a person I won't be fighting anytime soon.
The demons all suddenly got a lot weaker and were easily dispatched. Apparently, the heart impowers the demons beyond the norm.
"What were you thinking?" Sonya asked as she walked up to me with an angry expression on her face. "Trying to get all the demon's attention on you could have gotten you killed!"
"I know that, but they kept coming and we needed the heart to stop pumping. So, I figured that if I got their attention than the rest of you could destroy the heart and help us complete the mission faster and with less risks."
"Less risk?! Do you have a death wish?" Sonya asked me and her look of anger made me silent and lower my head before she let out a breath. "We'll finish this conversation later. For now, you follow orders that are laid out to you and don't deviate from them. Understood?"
"I understand." I told her before we reloaded our weapons and prepared for the next heart. There is a total of five spread out through the city and we need to clear them.
Later
"Are we making any headway?" Jin asked through his exhaustion after we destroyed the last heart and stood in the middle of a street that we just finished clearing of the demons.
We are low on ammo, energy and morale.
"That was the last heart, so that means that the demonic invasion will be crippled. Now we need to get rid of the big bad threats." Cassie explained. Throughout this fight we saw several heroes take out the giant demons and now we just have to find the one in charge of this attack.
"Odds are that they are going to be the Revenants." Takeda said honestly and frankly he is right.
"We can't exactly put up a good fight against them if where exhausted like this." Jacqui said before we heard the soldiers scream behind us, making us all turn around and see none other than Quan-Chi flanked by Sindel, Nightwolf, and Noob Saibot.
Fuck.
"Wonder Woman, the amazon of honor and virtue. Shinnok will enjoy having your soul in his collection." Quan-Chi said with a smile as he balled up one fist and made it glow a dark green color.
"Your fallen god will receive no victory today necromancer." Wonder Woman said before she rocketed towards Quan-Chi with her shield ready and bashed him away as she and Quan-Chi both traveled far due to Wonder Woman's flying shield bash.
The other Revenant didn't waste time and rushed at us. I quickly put up my guard when Noob Saibot charged at me with a shadow clone in front of him. No, he just split up four more times which gave me five more targets.
The fight was not fair and with his ninja skills I was put on the back foot for a while and the only reason that I'm not dead is because of my durability, strength and my suit. So, I quickly activate Void Sense and try to use it as a full 360 radar. It was risky but it's paying off because now I can tell which attacks are more important to block and where I can dodge.
Still, that doesn't make the fight easier. Even when I draw Serpentera and kill the shadow clones, I still have to deal with a powerful fighter in Noob Saibot.
"Not bad for a whelp, but you'll soon face the chill of death." Noob said in a serious and dark tone of voice as he stood across from me and got into a proper stance now, with his sickle in hand.
"Sorry but death isn't taking me anytime soon asshole." I said back before he sent a ghostly blast of energy towards me. I dodged it and with my sensing skill still active I saw him teleport and saw the black vortex appear behind me and I quickly turned around and blocked his sickle with my sword before I pushed him back and attacked with a flurry of strikes.
Noob easily blocked my attacks before countering with his own. The suit is sturdy but not sturdy enough to resist magic metal and I now have several cuts on my body, but they weren't too deep.
Noob has me on the backfoot and he decides to send a series of those ghostly balls towards me after I got some distance, but I quickly activated Backlash and charged towards him with my blade.
He blocked it with his sickle again but this time I spartan kick him with all my strength, and that makes him stagger back before I thrust my sword forward and impale the undead ninja through the chest. Unfortunately, being undead means that a chest wound would only hurt, not kill. He spawned another shadow clone and forced me to withdraw my sword and slice through the shadow clone of himself.
"Insignificant bastard. You'll pain for that." Noob said to me as he held his chest with his offhand as I deactivated my protective shield.
"It's funny that you say that while I have you on the defensive. For a ninja you're not that bright." I said taunting him before he dropped his sickle onto the ground and extends both his hands outwards before releasing an intense mass of dark energy. The battlefield is surrounded by darkness, and I was knocked back by the force of the darkness that hit me. Noob literally hit me with an AOE blast of shadow energy.
"Probably not smart to piss off an undead ninja with anger issues." I said to myself as I used the display inside my nano-tech helmet to try and find his location, but my readings are all coming up empty.
"Gah!" I let out a gagging noise and spit out blood when I was suddenly impaled through the back. Not by his sickle but by his bare hand. His hand was bloody and came out of the front of my chest, which allowed me to see that he focused his energy into ghostly claws on his fingers.
"Die." Noob said before I activated Blink and teleported away from him. I didn't get far but I got space from the ninja along with a new hole in my chest…It hurts like crazy but I'm powering through it as I activated Void Sense again.
This time I could see a faint white light in the darkness that rapidly headed in my direction. I knew it was Noob and this time I was ready. When he got close, I dropped down to the ground and tried to sweep his legs; Noob jumped above my kick and extended both his hands outwards to hit me with a blast of shadow energy. I rolled away from it on the ground before he started attacking me with his sickle. I kept backing away with my hands and feet to avoid each swipe attack until I finally managed to get up.
This fight isn't looking so winnable right now. Suddenly, the darkness vanishes and both Noob and I are blinded by a bright green light. When I opened my eyes, I saw Noob get blasted away from me, before a familiar orange skinned girl lowered herself to the ground.
She is dressed in a purple sleeveless top with elbow length purple gloves and knee-high boots, with purple bottoms that reminded me of the old underwear joke about heroes wearing underwear outside of their suits.
"Sorry for the delay. The demons put up a valiant fight." The girl said to me and frankly, Starfire is stunning in real life. She is literally an alien beauty and her green eyes with red fiery hair is stunning.
Fuck I said stunning twice.
"No problem." I told her before noticing the other fighters also had backup.
Sindel was an issue that required a lot of fighters. It was Cassie, Jacqui and Takeda fighting her while Jin and Cyborg fought Nightwolf. Thankfully both Revenants were taken out when Raven hit the seen and captured both in her darkness magic.
Raven is wearing her usual dark leotard under a blue robe while Cyborg looks like…Well a cyborg, but he is cool, so I won't say anything about it.
"You guys really saved our asses this time." Sonya said to Cyborg.
"No problem. But we can't stop fighting yet. Shinnok is in the center of Metropolis and needs to be taken down."
"The fallen god himself. This is one hell of a mission." Jacqui said with a bit of exhaustion in her voice, while holding her gut, much like Takeda held his bloodied arm. We all took a beating from these undead fuckers.
"A mission that some of you can't complete I'm afraid. You've all gotten injured and need medical treatment." Starfire said with her normal levels of bluntness.
"Were fine." Cassie said before falling to a knee.
"No. Starfire's right. None of us are in any shape to keep fighting. We need to withdraw." Sonya said honestly and with a heavy breath.
"We can't exactly get a chopper down here to extract us though." I told her as I held my own wound. You'd think a minor healing faster would be pretty OP, but it still sucks. The wound is healing at a snail's paste, and it still hurts like a bitch.
"Leave that to me." Raven said in a almost bored tone of voice before I find myself surrounded by darkness a second time, but this time I feel as if I'm being moved through water and after a while the darkness fades away and I see that I am in a unfamiliar location.
This is a hospital, but it doesn't look like a normal one. It's an Argus hospital because of the tech and the logos on the walls. People were understandably shocked to see us just appear, but we got treated by the medical staff.
"How are you still standing? You've been impaled through the chest with injuries to your ribs and left lung." The doctor said to me, after I got out of surgery, and the reason she said it was because she caught me trying to get out of the hospital bed.
It seems like they kept me knocked out overnight and I needed to find out how the mission went.
"I'm durable. Now I need to go and speak to my commanding officer." I told her before she blocked my way out until I let out a sigh and laid back down on the bed like a good patient.
"What you need is rest. Commander Blade, Cage and Waller have given us orders to prevent you from leaving until you are fully healed. Apparently, you have a habit of defying orders and doing whatever you want."
"Yeah, that sounds about right." I replied before she turned and left me alone in my room. I should be happy to be ordered to rest, but I'm not. I didn't help complete the mission because I was injured, and it pisses me off.
But what's worse is the fact that I'm pissed off about my weakness. Noob Saibot was fully capable of killing me and he might have if Starfire didn't step in. Hell, my werewolf form might not have even been enough to stop him, since I am apparently vulnerable to Netherrealm magic.
"Noob Saibot isn't even all that powerful according to some files we had on hand, but he still would have put me in a body bag." I said to myself before I just put my head down on the pillow of this hospital bed.
"Thankfully he didn't get the chance to kill you." A familiar voice said to me as I looked to the doorway and saw Nikki walking towards me in casual clothes.
"What are you doing here Nikki? Also, where exactly am I?"
"I was allowed to come and visit you and your back in Gotham. More specifically a off-sight and off the books Argus safehouse near Gotham's outskirts. It's a place for agents to receive treatment without the risk of getting exposed or killed in a public facility." Nikki explained to me before she sat down in the chair next to my bed.
"Did I worry you?" I asked her before she looked back at me and put a hand to my head.
"Of course, you worried me. Hearing that my boyfriend got a hole in his chest that required surgery isn't something that I wouldn't worry about. If you didn't have a healing factor, the doctors said your wound would have been much worse." Nikki said and I noticed the tears in her eyes and her makeup started to run.
"I'm sorry. I overestimated myself and underestimated my enemy. It won't happen again." I told her before she leaned down and kissed me on the lips.
"Don't talk about fighting right now. Just focus on getting better." Nikki said before I noticed the backpack on her back. She took it off and opened it to show me a few books and for a long while, Nikki and I just spent the time together reading books and talking to each other.
Action is nice and all, but having moments like this isn't too bad either.
1
4/25/2022
"Finally." I said happily as the doctors cleared me. It was early in the morning when I got the news and Nikki drove me to her apartment. Thankfully she brought me some clothes, so I didn't walk out of the place but naked. My suit on the other hand is already fixed up and ready to be used, but as far as field missions go, the Titans team is off duty until further notice.
It sucks but I can't change that.
"You're really letting me stay here? Isn't that a bit fast?" I asked her in a coy tone of voice.
"It is but I trust you." Nikki replied with a smile.
"Thanks for this. I really appreciate it." I told her before pulling her in for a hug and a kiss.
"Don't mention it. Besides, now you can have a safe place to rest instead of being in the military barracks. I can't imagine that sleeping there is comfortable."
"It's not. Now I'd love to stay with you some more but we both know that I've got to get out and find more Charms and Runes." I told her before she let out a sigh.
"I know, but can't we just have a bit more time off the clock together?" Nikki asked while giving me a big hug.
"Of course."
Later
The moon started rising when I stepped out and got dressed in my suit and made my way across the rooftops and avoided being seen. According to the radar on his helmet and his living heart, Andrew was able to locate some nearby charms.
"Andrew have you ever thought about coming up with an alias for yourself when you're in the field? Like Void Cowboy or something." Nikki said through Bluetooth communication.
"I guess I'm thinking about it now, but I'm honestly more focused on finding these charms." Andrew said before he came up to some well-known gang territory. More specifically he was standing on top of a warehouse that was used as a storage unit for one of Gotham's big gangs.
"The charms should be inside but be careful Andrew. I'm picking up other heat signatures inside the warehouse."
"Can you tell me the numbers?"
"Six in total…Wait there is only fix now and one of them is heading towards you." Nikki said to me before I heard footsteps behind me, making me turn around to see Joker of the Phantom Thieves standing behind the unlocked door that led to the roof and into the building, depending on which way you are entering and leaving.
"Well, this is a surprise. I didn't think the Phantom Thieves wouldn't target this place." I told them through my distorted voice. This helmet is the best thing ever.
I know I talk about it a lot, but I just love it.
"And I didn't think I'd run into a rookie vigilante tonight, but it seems that surprises are all around us today." Joker said back to me.
"I don't know why you're here Joker but there are items of great importance to me in this warehouse and I need to grab them. So, if you don't mind." I said before his hand reached out towards me and chains emerged from his palm and trapped me in place.
"Sorry. But were the only ones looting this place tonight." Joker said to me before tightening the chains around me before I use Blink.
"I'm not that easy to get rid of kid." I told him bluntly as I appeared behind him and when he turned around to backstep and get distance I closed it with a leaping kick to his chest that sent him down onto the ground. "You could have done this the easy way, but you choose the hard way."
"Get away from him!" Another voice said as I turned around and barely avoided getting hit with a yellow bolt of lightning from Skull.
"It's one thing after another." I said to myself in annoyance before I used Blink to enter the warehouse. This is risky with the Phantom Thieves being on high alert now, but I can't leave without these charms. So, I stay low and behind a few crates, but a powerful blow strikes me from behind and sends me crashing through a few boxes before I stand up with a new pain in my back as I saw Queen standing across from me along with Panther, Fox and Beauty Thief.
"Interesting. An alien lifeform has come down to earth. I believe he would make for a wonderful work of art." Fox said whimsically.
"You guys are making this a lot harder than it needs to be. I'm just here looking for something." I told them before Panther stepped forwards.
"You're not getting your hands on anything here asshole." Panther said before she created a whip of flames that lashed out at me.
I evaded but Beauty Thief applied the pressure with some kind of psionic attack that disrupted my balance as well as dish out some kind of concussive force attack that hit me square on into another wooden crate.
Luckily enough this was the crate that I had been looking for. Laying my chest are four Charms and one Rune, which I quickly store away with Pocket before I stand up and still feel the living heart beating.
You've gained 4 Charms and 1 Rune!
More runes? Or maybe there is a shrine here. Before I could think about anything else, I saw Queen in the air above me. She has a punch ready and is falling towards me. I use Blink to get out of the way of her landing, which put a sizeable hole in the ground, but I was knocked off guard with some kind of energy blast. I hit the floor face down before sitting up again and saw Fox with a notebook in hand and a paintbrush, and floating next to him is a literal floating eye that fired a yellow beam of energy at me.
"What the fuck?" I asked out loud before evading the blast that hit the ground between my legs. Beauty Thief hits me from behind with a psionic attack before I suddenly become trapped by black chains that radiate blue flames.
The flames came from Joker who took the stairs down onto the ground floor of the warehouse along with Skull and soon enough the Phantom Thieves surround me. The problem is that now I can't use Blink for some reason.
"Andrew I am picking up high amounts of light energy. It's nullifying your Ether energy, preventing you from using your abilities. What happened?" Nikki asked me, but I am in no possible position to respond to her.
"What should we do with him Joker?" Panther asked as Joker walked up to me.
"That depends." Joker replied. "What were you here for?"
"I'm not telling you a damn thing. I tried being peaceful, but you all decided to attack me."
"Yeah right. I bet your just another super powered asshole like KG-Beast or Bane." Skull said with his hot-headed temper.
"If that was the case, I wouldn't have tried running away from all of you and instead I would have tried to kill you." I told them back.
"He does have a point. He was only trying to get away during the fight." Beauty Thief said to the group.
"He hurt Joker! He's an asshole!" Skull shouted again.
"Those who fail to listen to reason, and logic are the prideful and idiotic." I said back to the Skull wearing teen, which pissed him off and he was literally crackling with electricity.
"What did you just say?!"
"Oh, your death too." I said back before Joker put a hand on his friend.
"Relax Skull, he's just trying to rile you up." Joker said calmly. "I admit I might have been a bit rash to jump to conclusions and actions, but in Gotham you can't be too careful. I'll let you go this once but if we fight again, I'll take you down." Joker said before he released the chains holding me and as soon as he did, I Blinked away from the scene.
Nikki's Apartment
"That could have ended badly." I told Nikki as I sat on her bed after I stripped out of my suit and told her what happened.
"You ran into the Phantom Thieves again. They might be after the Charms or Runes." Nikki told me as she sat next to me in just her underwear.
"Maybe, but there is something else at that warehouse. The living heart told me that something else was there and I think it might have been a shrine. But I can't go back there yet." I told her before she grabbed my head and let me rest it on her lap.
"Don't worry about it for now. You almost ended up in the hospital again, so just take a short rest at least." Nikki said and despite my best efforts I don't think I could possibly say no to her.
"Sure. A short break." I told her before we went to bed, and I focused on trying to avoid the caped scene for a while.
5/1/2022
Gotham/Argus Labs
"Ok. After working on modifications to the stun gun we developed, we managed to develop some new technology for your arsenal. With the new boss's approval that is." Futaba explained as I was seating in the lab formerly known as S.T.A.R Labs.
"Great. Can I see it?" I asked her as she nodded her head and led the way to the weapons department, where I saw an all-too-familiar weapon resting on the table.
"We call it the GLOO Cannon. It fires containment foam at enemies and immobilizes them for a decent amount of time before the foam loses its stability and shatters from the exposed air. The ammunition is experimental of course and this weapon will be deployed to special task forces, for containing dangerous criminals, but overall, I'd say that this will work well for you." Futaba explained before I held the small cannon and looked it over a bit.
"Its perfect Futaba." I told her honestly, which made her blush a bit before she cleared her throat.
"Let's go over your next piece of equipment." Futaba said, regaining her composure before she showed me what looked like a mechanical orange sized device. "This is a Gravity Impulse grenade that we managed to create, using your donated blood and DNA as a base for how to properly utilize Ether energy. This device will explode with outward force, sending targets away a great distance, as if they are floating through space. The effects last for several seconds and will serve as a great way to knock your enemies off guard."
"Awesome." I told her before I picked it up and somehow, I can feel the Ether/Void energy within it as I pocket it and three other Gravity Impulse grenades into my Pocket space.
"I'm glad you like it, and there is one more piece of equipment that we have, and this one will upgrade your suit." Futaba said before she showed me a large thing that looked like a futuristic microchip. It was roughly the size of my thumb if I'm being honest.
"What's that?" I asked her as she smiled with pride.
"This is experiment 22-AZ Siphon. When it's installed in your suit, it will be able to gather ambient components in the air and convert the air components like oxygen and hydrogen and stuff into Ether energy. It's extremely experimental and proves that we can generate artificial Ether energy, but we don't know how it stands up to the real deal. The idea is to refill your energy reserves, but it might not due much since its artificial and not true Ether energy." Futaba explained in a serious voice, and I can tell that she worked really hard on this.
"I think it will do just fine. Nikki already started developing chemical drinks for me to refill my Ether energy, so having an increased Ether regeneration rate will be awesome." I told her and gave her permission to upgrade my suit.
I had to wait a while but with Nikki, Futaba and a few other scientists, my suit got upgraded and when I put it on, I didn't really feel any change for a moment. However, after about two minutes, I felt the difference. I felt energy slowly being poured into my body and it felt…Weird…Not bad but not good either.
Like I was drinking artificial water. It tastes different even if it still hydrates you. I explain the feeling to everyone, and they say the chip upgrade is a success despite the mild discomfort I feel.
"I have to say, your making fast stride in getting more power." Nikki told me after I deactivated the nano helmet and sat down in a chair near me.
"Of course, I am. If I learned anything recently it's that I need every trick at my disposal in order to survive."
"I suppose you did learn that lesson, but it still doesn't mean I'm not going to be worried about you Andrew." Nikki said to me with a kind and honest smile.
"I know, but if it makes you feel better, I'm about to do some upgrading, so I can at least be a bit more prepared for anymore fights." I told her bluntly before I summoned up my power screen.
-X-
You have 4 Charms and 1 Rune Available!
New Power Available!
Concussive Blast-Rank 1: You can harness Ether/Void energy into a concussive ball of force to attack your enemies with a powerful blast of dark force.
You have 3 Charms and 1 Rune
Endurance is now Rank 3
Endurance-Rank 3: You have the Endurance of a lesser superhuman and as a result you have gained much more stamina and can resist even more damage than a normal human can! [This power is now maxed out!]
You have 0 Charms and 1 Rune!
I stopped enhancing my powers and took in a heavy breath for longer than even an Olympic athlete can and when I release my breath, I can just feel the difference in my body. Thankfully I'm not overly built and muscular like Broly from DBZ or the Hulk, so there is that. But my muscles are a lot tougher now and feel so much stronger.
Hell, I feel like I can run a few hundred miles right now and this feeling is amazing.
"Wow." Nikki said as she feels my arm through my suit. "It feels like I'm holding onto a rock."
"Thanks, but the sad news is that this is the limit to my Endurance so this is as buff as I'm possibly going to get." I told her as she smiled.
"I don't mind. But that does raise the question about how important shrines are. If you maxed out all your available powers, then that means that the shrines will be what makes you a true legend." Nikki explained and I nodded in agreement.
"Yeah. The shrines will be what make me into a real threat. Just one shrine turned me into a werewolf, so I can't help but imagine what another shrine will do to me." I told her honestly.
"We'll just have to wait and see. Now hurry back to the base. Commander Blade wants to speak with you." Nikki told me before I got dressed in civilian clothes and made my way back to the Argus base where Sonya greets me and walks, we me as we talk.
"I never got the chance to speak with you like this, so I'll just be blunt. Having you on the team has proven to be a challenge. Your reckless and you have a habit of just doing whatever you want without caring about the dangers or repercussions." Sonya said to me, and I can see where she is coming from.
"Sorry. After the Metropolis mission I can understand why you'd be mad at me. My mistakes could have gotten people killed if things didn't go right."
"You've could have gotten killed!" Sonya said sharply. "Everyone who joins up and defends our home, knows about the risks we take. But you go beyond that and put yourself in situations that can and will eventually get you killed. I can't keep you on the team if you aren't able to stop yourself from putting others at risk."
"I understand." I told her after I was silent for a while. Sonya simply dismissed me and let me know that my place on the team was in question and the bosses were talking about it now.
I did my own thing in Metropolis and not just with one heart, but with all of them. I guess I brought this onto myself. At least Quan-Chi and his thugs are locked up and Shinnok found himself sent back to the Netherrealm.
"Yo Andrew!" A familiar voice said to me as I looked to the side and saw Cassie Cage coming up to me. She looked nice and healed up too.
"Hey Cass. Did you hear I might get kicked off the squad?"
"Yeah, and I don't blame them. You seriously could have gotten us killed dude. Even Jin doesn't pull the crap you pull on us." Cassie said back with her arms crossed.
"I guess I managed to piss off everyone I work with. I know what I did was wrong and I'm seriously sorry." I told her as she had a skeptical look on her face.
"If you really mean it, then don't apologize to me. Apologize to the rest of the team." Cassie told me and I did just that. Takeda, Jacqui, Jin, Johnny, Jax and even Stryker who wasn't sent on the mission. I apologized to everyone, and I had mixed reactions.
Johnny and Jax were the ones who were the most pissed off at my actions. Johnny barely talked to me and Jax…Well he punched me in the face.
Thank God I maxed out Endurance before I got here, but my question is why I went off book the way I did. At the time I felt like I could handle all the issues in the field for some reason and the beast inside me didn't even stir. So, why the hell did I act like an adrenaline junkie?
"Maybe I'm losing it." I said to myself after I walked out of the Argus base and started walking the streets of Gotham. Suddenly, the world around me changed and I wondered if the Outsider wanted to talk again, but to my surprise I found myself standing in a dark alley in Gotham.
"We need to talk." The voice of Raven said to me as I saw her in front of me in dark clothing that suits her gothic appearance.
"You could have just asked to speak with me you know. You didn't have to straight up abduct me." I told her as she ignored my statement.
"How are you connected to the Outsider?" Raven asked me and it took me a second to realize what she just asked.
"What?"
"I said how are you connected to the Outsider? I can feel the Void energy pulsing inside of your body anytime my magic interacts with you. Its…Unnerving."
"Well, I'm just a person he chooses to give powers too. He finds it entertaining and that all I really know about him." I told her and for a moment she seemed unsatisfied with my answer.
"That's it?"
"That's it. What did you think I would say?" I asked her as she narrowed her eyes at me.
"I thought you were like me, but you're barely close enough to make that comparison. Your powers are unnerving, but they are still relatively weak in the grand scheme of things." Raven said bluntly.
"Like you?" I asked her and pretended not to know what her deal was.
"I'm the daughter of an interdimensional demonic titan that is capable of destroying everything in the universe. So, when I sensed your unique soul, I assumed you were like me and were the son of the Outsider."
"I suppose I can't blame you for that line of thinking, but I'm not the Outsiders kid. If anything, I'd say I'm closer to being one of his champions. It's a weird situation but I'm making the best of it. But now I've got to ask. What brings you to Gotham?" I asked her and her face didn't move an inch.
"The Titans team is being altered apparently. Other super powered people like me are being sent to a secret location to operate at and word is that you might be one of the people being transferred." Raven said bluntly before flying up into the air and just left me alone.
"Fuck. That's not good at all. I could adjust fine, but I'd have no way of knowing if the place I visit has any Runes, Charms or Shrines I could use. And I'd be taken away from Nikki, which seriously sucks." I said to myself before I decided to walk around a bit more before I headed back over to Nikki's place.
For the rest of the day, I just spent as much time with Nikki as I possibly could. It was nice and relaxing but in the back of my mind, all I could think about was the possibility of being taken away from her and that didn't sit right with me at all.
5/3/2022
Argus Building
I was called into the building early in the morning. My phone woke up Nikki and I told her that I shouldn't be long. So, I got dressed and headed to the base, where I was placed into a meeting room along with the rest of the Titans team and the room was full of officers and other people in charge.
Sonya was leading the conversation as she went over the previous mission as well as information regarding the change in the Titans team and how things will be moving forward.
"I won't mince words here. After a long conversation, it has been decided that the best way for the Titans team to move forward is for Andrew Watson to be traversed to the Titans secondary team in a secure location near Metropolis." Sonya said and I felt my stomach drop at that. "Following him with be the S.T.A.R labs scientists Nikki Wong and Futaba Sakura. As well as Cassie Cage. This arrangement will be permanent until further notice."
There were some shocked faces all around and I sure as hell didn't expect Cassie to come with me, or Nikki for that matter.
"The Titans team will now be one of two teams operating under the same name and objectives. We will still operate as we have been, but these changes will take some time to get used to. These changes will be put into effect by next week. That will be all." Sonya said as she concluded the meeting, and everyone was dismissed.
"I can understand why I'm being removed, but why are you leaving?" I asked Cassie after walking with her a bit.
"My mother was leading the squad, but the Titans team itself was under my control. My ability to lead has been put into question and now they are shipping me out. I guess they don't think I'm leadership material."
"That's bull. You're a great leader. If anything, I want to apologize again because it's probably my fault that you are put in this situation in the first place." I told her honestly and she just took out her phone and started typing on it.
"Don't worry about it. This isn't my first-time walking on eggshells with the bigwigs. The issue is that you're specifically on their hit list. They weren't a fan of yours before, but now they are going to make sure that you color inside the lines for a while." Cassie explained to me and now I feel like I'm being set up to fail somehow.
Cassie was right about me not making many friends upstairs and now I feel like they have a microscope on me that is just waiting for a chance to burn me with light that is focused through it. Like I'm an ant and they're the child experimenting with science.
END
A/N: Okay another chapter of Void Walker has been completed and things are changing. I'm not going to spoil what is happening but let's just say that its going to be crazy. Anyway, remember to fav, follow and review because it motivates me.
