Society's Ghosts
AN: Writing this with no idea of the reception, pretty sure it's lukewarm, but that's fine! I write to have fun, and as soon as it stops, I will.
And I don't think it ever will STOP BEING FUN!
Now to Start the Story!
Chapter 3: Villainous Bonding
(Gotham City)
It had been two weeks since the Metropolis High School Rampage, as the incident had come to be called. The perpetrator, one Enid Mettle, had been defeated by Wonder Woman while attempting to kill fellow student Elodie and was imprisoned. Unfortunately, no one expected the new villain, Tomura Shigaraki, to stage a daring breakout for the girl, leading to many inmates being released and the two villains fading into obscurity.
The Justice League was still in the process of finding and detaining all the escapees and none of the ones they'd captured so far had any leads on the whereabouts of the masterminds. It was this attack that caused Batman to tell the League to take Shigaraki's leader much more seriously than before…the one behind the crazed man has great foresight and cunning since he'd been able to evade capture, leaving no evidence of his involvement and have these unorthodox plans be executed so well. Not to mention, it can be assumed the leader is charismatic enough to coerce people to his side regardless of personality or instability, like Enid.
The teen girl turned murderous villain, didn't seem the type to be able to hide for long especially with her sudden start in villainy, but she was able to disappear. This meant that she most likely joined the mysterious benefactor of this new growing coalition of criminals and became a boon to them with her newfound abilities.
These past two weeks had been spent by the three criminals with the leader training Enid in her powers, letting her become accustomed to them and get to a level where it would be second nature. Wanting to please her boss, the young girl threw herself into training even harder than she had when she'd done it for fun. Though hesitant to go against the infirm man at first, his insistence made her come at him with all her might in their first spar.
He'd beaten her easily.
It was that experience that led Enid to believe her boss could and would succeed in the goals he'd set forth for all of them and she couldn't wait to see it come to fruition.
Tomura during these weeks had kept to himself, staying away from the recruit and his master more to stay out of the man's way than as a courtesy to the girl. The young man clad in hands stayed in his armchair and watched his master tutor the girl in her abilities, being reminded of the times when he was trained in much the same way, but he was much younger when he'd been trained.
His stance on Enid, however, was abysmal. Tomura did not hold the girl to a high standard, finding her much too emotional and easy to rile up as she would lose herself in a fight due to frustration constantly while fighting the Master. He also felt she did not have a place within their organization…she hadn't earned her place to him, but his Master's orders were absolute.
Now, the two reluctant partners found themselves outside of one of the many abandoned warehouses that littered Gotham's docks. The crime-ridden city really did have a completely different feel from Metropolis, and at night…heh, you'd be hard-pressed to turn any corner on any street and not run into some crime being committed.
The Bat had his work cut out for him, alright.
The reason the two, highly wanted, villains found themselves within the unsavory city was simple.
They had picked up a job.
Enid leaned against a shipping container, a leg up so her sole was parallel with the container, and her arms crossed over her chest. Her eyes were half-lidded in boredom, tapping her foot to pass the time as she and Shigaraki waited for the shutter covering the warehouse door to be opened.
Tomura stood silently off to the side, his hands in his pockets while he waited, and his hands littering his body as always whenever he was out. He had yet to remove the one on his face in front of Enid, feeling she had not earned the privilege to see his face.
With an overexaggerated sigh the teen girl looked to her 'senior', rolling her eyes in exasperation.
"What are we doing here, again?" she asked.
"Master got us a job, and we're doing it," Tomura answered, only moving his eye to regard her.
"Yeah, I know that, I mean, why?" she had a hand leave her chest so she could wave around the dock. "We're high-profile villains. We could be doing so much better than some low-level arms deal," Enid seemed disgusted by the idea she was doing something so far below her skills.
"Are you stupid?" Tomura asked rudely.
"Tch, how am I stupid?" Enid growled, heating up for a second before reigning herself in.
"*sigh* I'll put it easily for you," he turned to her. "We are being hunted by the Justice League now, our clout is growing but we still wouldn't stand a chance if that entire club of superpowered idiots came down on us," Tomura pointed out.
"You forget that I beat Wonder Woman," Enid bragged.
"When she had no idea of your powers, now she'd most likely be able to take you on easily, fool," he added the insult, "Taking a high-level job would be a better use of our abilities and get more money, but it would make us larger targets at the same time. Staying low-level keeps anonymity, and given our rise, when our names come up as potential hires for the job, most take us."
It made a lot of sense when the girl heard it. Keep themselves at ground level and they'd be kings while the chances of running into heroes were still there it was severely lessened than a high-profile crime that could prompt an entire league response.
But there was a burning question with that in mind.
"Then how come the boss doesn't just go on these?" she raised her eyebrow.
"I know he's…all, you know…but that didn't stop him from being able to kick our asses whenever we sparred," she remembered the training sessions with her leader he made short work of her and Tomura when they occasionally had dual sessions.
Though they wouldn't last long as he would have to return to his chair and rest after exerting himself so much.
He was in really bad shape.
She worried that he'd keel over at times, but he kept going…it was admirable that he'd dedicate himself to the cause so much.
It made her blush.
But she still believed he could pull himself together enough to handle a job…he was quick, efficient, and intelligent.
"Master's health is deteriorating," Tomura looked away, his tone deathly serious. "Training us is some of the only movement he can do without going overboard…without proper care, he most likely will die soon."
Enid shut up.
"Master has me take these jobs whenever we need supplies. He uses connections he's made over the years to gain access to a criminal network, they post requests for heists and the like. We use the money to pay for equipment to care for him and slow his condition along with food," he then looked to her.
"So, don't mess this up."
"Don't have to tell me twice. Why don't we just take off with everything ourselves then?" Enid asked.
"Master honors deals, and he expects us to do the same. Running afoul of people leads to unwanted vendettas that can deter us, we only attack if they break the deal first."
"That's fair," Enid didn't seem too happy either way.
It was then that the shutter of the warehouse finally started to open, making the teen villainess kick of the shipping container and stand next to her accomplice, waiting for their temporary 'boss' to come out.
They were met with a large man with reddish skin reminiscent of a brick, with white hair done in cornrows and a matching mustache-goatee combo. He was large and wore a well-made suit over his frame most likely tailor-made to fit him.
This was Brick, a crime boss that normally dealt in Star City and with a certain Emerald Archer impeding him. Luckily for him, he caught wind of some guns arriving in Gotham, and with a quick payment to Penguin, he'd make the money back and then some once he sold the weapons.
This was an important deal for the man, so outside of the three random goons he had helping him, he decided to get some extra protection. Again, he'd have to spend a bit more to pay the helpers, but it was pocket change…plus, realistically, the chance everyone would make it off the dock without being strung up was unlikely.
"Hot damn," the man's eyes widened slightly when he laid eyes on Shigaraki and the girl that had been plastered on the news weeks prior. "Gotta say, when I saw that you two signed up, I was wondering if it was a prank by some impersonator," Brick crossed his arms with a smirk.
"We don't have times for pranks in our line of work do we, Mr. Brick?" Tomura said courteously.
Enid, meanwhile, looked uninterested and saw the goons staring at her lewdly.
"Guess we don't…glad to have you," Brick said.
"As long as you hold up your end of the deal we'll have no problems," Tomura answered the man.
"Get the job done and you'll get your cut."
"What are we doing, anyway, Brick-face," Enid asked rudely.
Brick seemed unamused at her jab and inclined his head behind him to the boxes of presumed weapons. "My boys are gonna be moving the goods into our vans, all I need you to do is stand watch," Brick said.
"Psht, guard duty?" Enid frowned.
"We'll get it done. Hurry," Tomura then took off to his own side of the dock, pointing Enid to the container she'd been leaning on so she could watch the criminals.
As she walked past the men, she saw one of them start to reel his hand back.
"Go ahead, it's hot to the touch, and I guarantee it'll be the last thing you smack," Enid smirked, getting the goon to stop before she leaned back on her container and watched the men work.
"I don't like this boss…these guys…the Justice League is after 'em," one of the grunts shuddered when he saw the blue-haired villain stand off to the side, scratching at his neck.
"Yeah, but the way I see it, they help us load the heat and the job goes off without a hitch, or we have a rodent problem and he'll be too busy with them to come after us," Brick smiled, hoping for the latter, it meant more money for him after all.
Within about 20-30 minutes, most of the weapons had been loaded, a few boxes remained in the warehouse and there were no signs of the Bat, at least not on the ground.
Above the criminals, a distinct shadow and white eyes could be seen watching intently. The eyes narrowed when it saw the two dangerous, superpowered criminals that had terrorized Metropolis appear in its city but found this to be a good time to take them out and get information.
Next to the shadow, a smaller form was seen, its eyes larger than its counterpart's and seemed ready to go after the criminals. A look was exchanged between the two figures and that seemed to be all that was needed before they dashed away from each other.
A slight almost imperceptible whooshing could be heard close by, making Tomura turn his head and catch flowing material disappear behind another nearby warehouse. The villain's eye narrowed, knowing what or rather who may have shown up, but knew better than to investigate on his own…that's how a lot of fools were captured.
Enid yawned, trying to stay awake during the boring mission, hoping that something would happen to free her of her boredom. A clang was heard in the distance, making her go on alert, raising her head she scanned the goons and saw them continuing to move the weapons.
One of the goons made the mistake of dropping one of the bullets that came with the guns and went after it, disappearing between two containers. A punch knocked him out before he knew what hit him and he was strung up to be retrieved by the police.
On one of the raised walkways, the silhouette ran silently toward the other criminals, though Tomura noticed this and grinned beneath his hand-mask.
With Enid, the girl saw the foolish goon chase after the bullet and had to wonder how stupid he could be to go off on his own like that. It was then that the other goon was taken by his feet with a rope of some kind that wrapped tight around them before dragging him into the shadows, screaming.
There was no doubt now that Batman had appeared.
"Load up the rest! Now!" Brick shouted.
"Finally! Action! Come on out, Bats!" Enid went after the goon that had been dragged away hoping to find the hero.
Tomura at the same time had made his way up to the walkway he'd seen the figure and his grin grew more when he came face-to-face with the Dark Knight himself.
"Well, well, first Superman, now you, I have to say I feel blessed to meet the world's greatest heroes so soon," Tomura scratched his neck.
Batman said nothing as he finally had the displeasure of meeting the murderer of so many innocents out of sheer disregard for human life rather than to further plans.
"Tomura Shigaraki."
"Oh, and you even know my name! I guess Superman is to thank for that, right? He's probably still riled up over our encounter…isn't he…that fake," Shigaraki chuckled sadistically.
"I've heard that people are beginning to wonder what he's doing lately, first Supergirl does a terrible job covering for him, and then a mass prison break happens. Shouldn't you heroes have stopped that?"
"Where's your leader?" Batman cut to the chase; he wasn't going to play this game.
"Aw, you're no fun. Superman would probably have already attacked me…you really are cool, Batman…you even found out about Master even though I've never mentioned him on a job before," Tomura genuinely praised the detective.
'Master was right, Batman could be the most dangerous of all the League,' Tomura thought seriously, his hands at his sides, 'I'd better kill him, right now!'
The villain slammed his hands onto the metal walkway and caused it to decay, making the Bat jump to the ground to avoid its lethal touch. Tomura jumped down with his hands outstretched, ready to grab the Dark Knight and end him.
While this encounter was happening, Enid was making her way through the maze of shipping containers, excited to fight another hero after getting a proper handle of her powers.
"Come on out, Batman, I know you're there!" she hollered confidently, a shadow passing over her. "This cat and mouse game may work on those dumb goons, but not on me. I can just push these things out of the way!" she demonstrated by kicking one of the containers hard enough to make it fall into the ocean.
A whizzing was heard behind her, and she reacted quickly by grabbing the signature weapon of the Bat from the air…or at least she thought it was.
"This isn't a batarang," Enid rose her eyebrow at the red and yellow weapon in her hand before it beeped and popped in her hand.
"It's a birdarang!" a young man jumped in front of the girl, believing her incapacitated.
The smoke from the small explosive faded away, crossing over Enid ominously and covering part of her face as she looked at Robin, the boy wonder, with a purple glowing eye.
"I get the brat?" Enid dusted her hand off, unaffected by the surprise attack and her face complete stone though her eyes gave a hint of annoyance.
"I don't think I'm that bad," Robin joked, not showing his concern.
"You're no Batman, but if you wanna show a girl a good time, kid, then you can consider this our first date!" Enid ran at him and stomped her leg at his position.
Robin dodged backward and flipped again when she made to kick out with her other leg.
"No thanks, I like a sweet girl."
"I'm sweet…come here and I'll kill ya quick. See? How sweet of me," Enid bantered, turning the heat up, making the kid sweat.
Back with Tomura and Batman, the Dark Knight hadn't struck yet, dodging around the villain's attempts to touch him, and deconstructing him. The costumed millionaire watched as the man would go for any and all perceived openings to grab Batman and kill him instantly which was a fine plan when it guaranteed victory.
'He's fast, better to get the drop on his opponent that way and he sticks close too as well to press his attack, make them slip up somehow so he can get an opening. His leader trained him well to be a killer with his abilities,' Batman thought with narrowed eyes. Creating some distance, Batman had seen enough of Tomura's skill to find a quick path to victory.
"Running away, hero!? After I complimented you…I feel insulted, Batman!" Tomura stretched his hand out toward Batman's chest and became shocked.
Batman started by shrouding himself in his cape, obscuring Shigaraki's vision, then once he could see the villain's hand begin to press into his cape, decaying it, he reacted by grabbing the wrist. With Tomura's wrist caught in Batman's grasp, in such a way that he couldn't touch the hero with his fingers, Shigaraki brought his other hand around to get him to let go.
Exactly to plan.
In a blur of precise movements, both Tomura's hands were tied behind his back, and he was strung up with no way to grab the rope and free himself. The villain struggled to get his fingers to touch the rope but couldn't do it.
Brick, seeing that his hired security was having trouble with the hero, and the girl was nowhere to be seen, decided to cut his losses and ditch. Running to his remaining henchman, Brick hurried him with the last box of weapons.
"Hurry it up, get in the van, and drive! Drive now!" Brick hopped into the passenger side with his goon driving.
The van peeled out and rushed away from the dock, Batman noticed and started to give chase since Shigaraki had nowhere to go. He'd be back before the GCPD would take him in just to make sure everyone present understood the danger the villain posed.
Shigaraki, still hanging there, eye narrowed when he saw the coward of a crime boss drive off without him and Enid. He struggled harder to escape his bindings, finding no way to free himself and was forced to alert his 'teammate' lest they lose their money.
"Enid! Brick's escaping without us! He's trying to get out of paying!" Shigaraki yelled.
While Tomura and Batman had been fighting, Enid was pressing the attack on the young bird-themed hero. She followed him, keeping the boy on the defensive during their bout.
The girl would leap from spot to spot as Robin evaded her kicks. Robin jumped up to a shipping container, narrowly missing a super-heated leg that melted the ground when her foot met it. Looking to him, she jumped after him, using the same leg to aim at the hero who flipped over her.
Enid, seeing this easily jumped as well, melting the corner of the container, and reached a hand out for the boy. Robin kicked the offending limb from his person, making him fall to the ground and roll to prevent serious injury from the fall.
"What's the matter, hero? Having trouble with one girl," Enid taunted, kicking a fireball at the surprised boy, raising his cape to block it. "Guess being trained by the Bat ain't all it's cracked up to be, is it?" the impact from the fireball pushed Robin against a container behind him.
A foot was pushed against the boy's neck, choking him, as Enid held him off the ground.
"I'd rather the Bat, but you'll do. How many people have you saved, kid?" Enid asked with a smirk. "Bet you always dreamed of helping people…you'll be thanking me for killing you here before you grow up and realize how stupid that is!" Enid growled.
Robin raised his hand, a birdarang clutched in it, and he threw it at the girl, missing when she moved her head to the side.
"Heh, that the best you got? Thought heroes were supposed to fight to the last breath…Batman wasted his time with you, kid," Enid grinned evilly.
"Nah, when Batman trains you, you never miss," Robin chuckled when his projectile struck his target, a water tower, that once pierced let a stream of water fall onto the girl and causing steam to rise from her body.
"Agh!" Enid backed off, feeling her strength leave her but not as badly as the first time it had happened. She rose her head and saw the kid, fleeing behind the container.
Thinking he was trying to turn tail and run after humiliating her, Enid's eyes glowed purple, evaporating the water that remained on her person and melted her way through the container. At the end of the dock, with nowhere to go, Robin stood and watched the supremely hot, in more than one way, girl stalk toward him.
"Trying to skip out without giving your date a kiss goodnight? What, embarrassed?" Enid dashed forward and wrapped the boy in a bear hug, a sinister smile on her face.
"It's ok, I'm embarrassed too," she evilly whispered in his ear, the area becoming hotter, and the boy started to sweat. "I know how hard it is to be around someone you like. You get butterflies in your stomach…"
The air was becoming unbearably hot.
"…Your palms get sweaty…"
Robin was having a hard time staying conscious as the heat increased and felt the beginning of burns.
"…And your blood starts to boil in your veins!" Enid leaned forward at the last part, fully intending to kill the boy hero who couldn't manage any resistance at this point.
"Enid! Brick's escaping without us! He's trying to get out of paying!"
Tomura's voice called, making the girl turn away to regard his it.
"What's he doing over there?" Enid grumbled. "I'll have to cut this short, kid. How do you like your steaks, I'll be sure to flash cook-!" Enid's morbid topic was cut short when the young boy headbutted her when she turned back his way, the flash of pain made her release the kid who fell into the water.
"That little shit!" Enid held her face, wanting to go after him, but knew she couldn't. "Tch, he was passing out anyway, no way he can stay awake. He'll drown," Enid turned away and went to retrieve her partner.
Shigaraki was finding it harder to hear the revving engine of Brick's getaway van, meaning he was getting farther. They couldn't fail this job, if they did, Master would have to go without supplies for who knows how long before another job popped up and with Batman knowing they were here he'd be paying more attention. The villain felt a slight pain in his shoulder, a holdover from his battle with Steel and Supergirl, it would occasionally act up.
The pain gave him an idea, an unpleasant idea, but one that would free him.
Taking a deep breath and setting himself up for pain, Tomura tensed his slightly injured arm and gave a harsh jerk in his dangling position, dislocating his shoulder. He grunted in pain, the sickening pop letting him know he succeeded and used the added, forced flexibility to maneuver himself and grab the Batman's rope. The binding decayed and let the man fall to the ground, avoiding landing on his shoulder. Staying on his knees, he saw Batman turn back to him and see that he'd freed himself, readying to tie him back up.
"What are you doing over here!?" Enid ran out and stood next to Tomura, seeing his arm hanging limply. "Are you alright?"
"Fine…forget about me…we need to get Brick," Tomura's teeth were grit to work through the pain.
"You aren't going anywhere," Batman got a batarang out.
"You need to relax a little more, Bats, take a load off. I know your kid likes to take breaks," Enid smirked seeing the stoic hero's eyes widen slightly.
"Where is he," his response gave nothing away, but they could tell he cared.
"Last I saw him, he was taking a nice, relaxing midnight swim," Enid taunted.
"That was a while ago, though…and I didn't see him come up. Might be a bit too lax on him," Enid shrugged.
Batman was unamused at her sarcasm.
"What's it going to be, Bats? Stop us? Or save your sidekick?" Enid jumped over the hero and Tomura dashed past him with surprising speed even with his arm hanging.
Batman growled…and chose to get Robin. His ward always came first, but he wouldn't let those two get away. After tonight, he'd have the GCPD watching all the ways out of Gotham to ensure the villains wouldn't be escaping.
Inside the crime boss's van, he was laughing loudly. He got all he wanted from this job, weapons, and he saved money thanks to those two goons getting captured along with his 'security'.
"I told you everything would go well!" Brick cackled in the passenger seat; his driver focused on the road but couldn't help but feel safer the further they got from the dock.
Above them, Tomura was running alongside the van, a strained look on his face thanks to his arm, eye narrowed. Enid gave chase from behind, keeping up with the vehicle with her superhuman abilities, a frown on her face.
"We're home free. These puppies are gonna net me some nice coin!" Brick smirked.
A thud on the roof of the van ended the celebration.
"It's the Bat!" the driver panicked.
Brick was about to punch through the roof to get the hero off when he saw a crack form in the roof that spread, making it flake away and reveal the darkened face of Tomura. Even with only one eye showing thanks to the hand on his face, his visage was terrifying as shadows cast an ominous shroud across it.
The villain's red eye looked to the two and reached his working hand into the vehicle, but not towards Brick. Instead, the man's palm went for the driver, creepily and swiftly placing his hand over the poor man's face.
The muffled scream was the last thing the man did before he died, leaving the van to swerve without a driver.
"Shit!" Brick grabbed the wheel, keeping the van on track. "Are you crazy!?"
"No, I'm furious, Brick," Tomura looked down at the man. "We had a deal, and you were about to back out on your side of the bargain."
"You two were caught!" Brick noticed that the van was slowing and moved to take the driver's seat.
"Sit down!" a grip on the large man's shoulder stopped him.
"I don't think I need to tell you what's going to happen if you don't speed the van up, or if I decide to place my hand on it either. Do I Brick?" Tomura chuckled, holding all the power in this situation.
If the villain attacked Shigaraki, he'd either die or lose his van and get caught; or if he let the van slow, he'd still be caught or forced to leave behind his payday.
Enid made her appearance at that time, jumping through the back of the van after heating her body to melt through the back doors, and leaving a hole shaped like her in her wake.
"Or we could always melt these little toys of yours, if you want," Enid held up one of the guns and making it go red to prove her point but not enough to destroy the weapon.
"Stop!" Brick reached back, but Tomura's hand held him.
"Then are you going to pay? Or will we have to kill you? I can promise that no matter how hard your skin is…it will decay," Shigaraki said.
Brick didn't have much of a choice.
"Fine!"
"Glad we're in agreement," Tomura released the man's shoulder and let him hop into the driver's seat and step on the gas.
Enid dropped the gun back into the crate and sat in the passenger's seat, kicking her feet up on the dashboard, leaning back in her chair with her arms behind her head.
"Don't worry, Brick-y, we'll still only take our cut, so you're still making out on this deal since you know…" she chuckled at the thought of the captured goons and the dead one Brick was sitting on the ashes of.
Tomura, still on the roof of the van, kept a lookout for Batman in case he reared his head again tonight.
"Get inside," Enid looked up through the hole.
"Hmph," Tomura hopped in and sat on a crate.
While not the most graceful of jobs, it was done, and they'd be getting paid.
Batman, suit wet, had Robin laying in the back of the Batmobile. He had some burns, but he'd be fine with rest. Frowning, Batman got to wondering what the two new villains were doing helping Brick with a gun laundering job…it didn't fit their M.O that had been established…unless this 'Master' was already breaking his own rules.
Those two didn't see that he was using them for his own ends.
"Alfred," Batman contacted his faithful butler and former guardian.
"Yes, sir," the polite reply of Alfred came from the videophone.
"Robin's been hurt, burns, I need you to dress his wounds…and keep him in bed when he wakes up," Batman said.
"You know that he won't listen."
"Make him listen…we have Tomura Shigaraki and Enid Mettle in Gotham," Batman revealed.
"Oh dear, that ghastly man and poor girl, here? They aren't spouting that hero nonsense, are they?" Alfred asked.
"No…they were assisting with gun-running," Batman answered.
"My word, that doesn't seem to fit those two. What with their abilities and such, what good would guns do?"
"That's what I want to find out…I'm contacting the GCPD. I'll have them lock down the city, those two have a way of disappearing and I don't want them to slip away again."
"Very good, sir, see you at the Cave," Alfred bowed.
The rest of the drive was quiet.
Batman had a bad feeling about this…one that would prove to not be unfounded.
(Hours Later)
The tired villains walked the streets of Gotham, tired from their ordeal, but with a handful of cash, it was lessened somewhat. Tomura's shoulder was still dislocated, and Enid's hands were in her pockets…their walk silent.
Arriving at an ATM, Tomura stood in front of it with Enid leaning beside it, her eyebrow raised.
"An ATM? Won't that make it easy to track us?" Enid asked.
"Just wait…" Tomura took a card that looked like an ordinary Credit Card before placing it into the ATM.
The machine's screen suddenly went dark, and a familiar voice for the two of them came from the device.
"Ah, Tomura and Enid…it is nice to hear from you," Master's voice came from the ATM.
Hearing his voice made Enid stand straight on the off chance he could somehow view them through the device.
"Hello, Master."
"Hey, Boss."
Tomura gave her a side glance at the disrespect.
"I trust that the job has gone well," the Master said in a curious tone.
"There were…hitches…" Enid answered.
"Hitches…like."
"Batman appeared," Tomura said simply.
"Oh, really? And how did that go? Are you both alright?" Master asked, concerned.
"He took care of me in seconds, Master. Even compared to Superman…Batman is completely different," Tomura answered truthfully.
"Yes…he is a fascinating one. No powers to speak of and so he relies on his keen intellect. Superman is a brute at the end of the day, thinking is something he rarely has to do," Master said with a hint of praise for the Dark Knight. "Is that all?"
"Handsy here dislocated his shoulder," Enid revealed with a smirk, looking Tomura in the eye when he glared at her.
"I was strung up…I had no way of freeing myself without doing it…but if someone had been there to assist, I wouldn't have had to," Tomura growled, his eye narrowed.
"I was taking care of bird-boy," Enid answered with a dismissive hand wave.
"You couldn't handle a kid?" Tomura snarked, a scoff leaving his mouth.
"All he did was dodge, I had him dead to rights!" Enid leaned down to the slightly shorter man, poking him in the chest, "He only got away because someone got caught and distracted me!"
Tomura's hand twitched.
"Now, now," Master spoke up before the argument could escalate, "There's no need to fight amongst ourselves, we're all on the same side. Tomura, Enid," his calm voice quieted the two, "We learn more from our failures than we do from our successes. The both of you have more room to grow after such an experience…why Batman himself has no doubt felt the sting of defeat more than once in his life. The more you fight each other the longer and longer your bouts will become, as you think far ahead and get used to the thought process of your enemy. You will think of counters and counters to their counters," the Master educated his students.
"But we must never turn on each other. An argument every once in a while is healthy for competition and voicing grievances when a companion may be acting outside of themselves, but we should never blame our actions or inactions on each other. We must prop the others up and cover for our weaknesses."
"We must keep our solidarity."
The two younger villains disengaged with each other, calming themselves as they were lightly reprimanded by their leader.
"Sorry, Master," Tomura looked down.
"Yeah…sorry, Boss," Enid scratched the back of her head and looked away with an embarrassed blush.
"Think nothing of it," he chuckled glad to see them understand. "Now then, before getting back to business, let us assist Tomura. His shoulder needs to be reset," Master, though he could not be seen, seemed to be taking amusement in the situation.
Tomura grumbled, not liking where this was going.
"As I am not there, Enid, you will have to be the one to take care of this."
The girl smiled and seemed to be very enthusiastic, making grabbing hands at the unamused villain.
"I can just leave it for now, Master," Tomura tried to weasel out of this.
"Nonsense, no doubt it is painful. Enid, first you'll want to take a firm grip of Tomura's arm and his shoulder," the Master instructed the girl.
She did so, getting a grunt from her partner in crime, both out of annoyance and slight pain.
"Now comes the painful part…you will have to take Tomura's arm and, for lack of a better word… 'jam' it back into the socket. Once you've done it correctly there should be a-"
He was interrupted by a popping noise and a grunt from his first student.
"Give me a warning!" Tomura pulled his arm away.
"Your warning was the pop," Enid didn't look sorry in the slightest.
"There we are, while not the ideal way to deal with such an injury, it is fine for those in our situation. Now, back to business. Given that you've been able to reach an ATM, the 'hitches' did not prevent you from completing the job, I take it," the Master said to them.
"No, they didn't, but Brick certainly tried," Enid answered.
"He did?"
"Coward tried to ditch us while we were dealing with the Bat and the Bird and skip out on paying. But we chased him down and got the cash away…I doubt that Brick will be looking our names up for another job after this though," Enid chuckled.
"Very well, we don't need to do business with a fool like that. A man is only as good as his word, one who cannot follow through on a deal is worthless."
"In our line of work, it's hard to find anyone who would, though, Boss," Enid pointed out.
"Ha, ha, yes, I suppose that is true, but that's something I will need to worry about as we proceed. Tomura, if you would, deposit the money, please," the Master said with a hollow chuckle.
Placing the money into the ATM, the funds were transferred over a secure channel and into Tomura's Master's account. As he sat within their hideout, the mysterious man watched the money electronically transfer and upon completion spoke to his students.
"There we are the transaction has been completed."
"We'll be home soon, then, Master," Tomura made to leave with the girl.
"Wait a moment, you two, I have something to give you," as he said that some bills came out of the ATM waiting for them to take.
"Master…what is this?" Tomura took the money, knowing what this was but hoping the man wasn't going to do this again.
"Some leisure money for you and Enid to spend. The both of you have been working very hard, training and preparing, and even taking on these unsavory jobs for me thanks to my condition. I think it is only fair that you enjoy yourselves with a portion. When I found Mr. Brick's job, I made sure it would be enough funds to pay for necessities and something extra for the two of you," Master's smile could be felt through the screen.
"We can't accept this…"
"You can and will, the two of you are young, unlike me. You deserve to enjoy the youth you've got left; I am not long for the world, you shouldn't devote your every waking moment to me," Master said with acceptance, but it did not assuage Tomura.
"Heh, besides, now that Batman knows of your presence within the city, there is little doubt that he would block all exits from Gotham. Lying in wait within is better than leaving immediately since he would expect the two of you to leave quickly. Simply enjoy a day or two on your own and then make your escape, but do not cause a scene. If you find yourselves in trouble, make your escape," he gave a solid explanation for them to enjoy themselves, within reason of course.
"But-"
"We got it, Boss, count on us," Enid swiped the money from Tomura and agreed.
"Very good, I will see you in a few days," the transmission cut out after that.
The two villains then looked at each other, wondering what they'd do for their impromptu vacation.
Enid had an idea, though.
(The next day)
Enid, wearing a set of extra clothes that now made sense why the Boss had insisted she bring them, which consisted of a blue shirt and skinny jeans, stood next to Tomura.
His disguise, once again, was a nondescript black hoodie that obscured his face and hair from view without getting up close to him, and his hands in his hoodie's front pocket, again cradling something.
In front of them was the Gotham Mall, a stream of citizens laughing and talking as they went in and out of the building.
"Why are we here?" Tomura was annoyed.
"What? You're gonna disobey the Boss's orders?" Enid teased. "I'm shocked."
"I'd never…I just don't understand why we have to be here."
"Boss said we should enjoy ourselves. And what better way, than buying stuff that we want, huh? I could use some new clothes," Enid answered with a smirk, wanting more clothing.
"We don't need clothes."
"Pfft, shows you're a guy."
"I know why you want to buy new clothes, anyway," Tomura shot back without missing a beat and making her go silent as they made their way inside.
Enid looked to her teammate and rolled her eyes with a sigh.
"You could try being a little more inconspicuous. You look like you're going to shoot up the place," Enid told the young man.
"How many people do you know with blue hair? I'll be easy to find without this," Tomura countered.
"I'm the only one with purple hair here and everyone's fine with it," Enid pointed out.
"You aren't as well-known as I am."
Enid rolled her eyes and noticed him messing around in his pocket, "Did you have to bring that? That doesn't help you look normal either…they might think you're fondling yourself," Enid looked grossed out.
"If I don't have one of them with me…there's no telling what I'd do," Tomura's eyes shrunk, implying that a massacre would have taken place.
"Sheesh, fine…it's gonna bite us in the asses later," Enid said.
The two made it into the mall proper, managing to stand out in the crowd of people but not in a way that would be dangerous to them. The girl of the group had already started mapping out the shops she wanted to stop at, finding this to be a fresh experience as with her old life being invited to go shopping was something she hadn't been accustomed to.
Tomura just followed at a sedate pace, watching the people.
"Ok, I'm sure you don't want to be dragged around by me all day, so here's your cut," she handed him a stack of bills that he took with indifference. "We can meet up back here. See ya later," Enid gave a wave behind her and left the unstable villain behind at a bench in the middle of the mall.
Instead of going anywhere, Tomura simply put the money into his pocket and sat down. He leaned back on the bench, his face blacked out by his hood's shadow, and his red eyes watching the passing people, blinking slowly as he did so.
After a few hours of people-watching, Enid made her way back over to the sitting man, raising an eyebrow when she saw that he had no bags compared to her many. Seeing that he didn't notice her, Enid sat next to him to take a break and looked to see him simply staring at the regular people.
"You didn't buy anything?" Enid asked.
"Are you done?" Tomura asked, he still didn't look at her.
"*sigh* Pretty much, we're leaving tonight, right?" Enid asked.
"Yes, Master wanted us to take a break but there was no limit to it. I don't want to tempt fate by remaining here and giving Batman a chance to find us."
"You think he can? Superman didn't and couldn't," Enid's eyes were half-lidded in content.
"Superman is an overconfident idiot…just because of how strong he is…he doesn't use his brain. Batman is different…we've seen what he can do now…even Master can't help but respect him for being powerless yet still doing his job," Tomura answered her.
"I guess," Enid didn't want to give the Dark Knight too much credit, "But seriously, you sat here the whole time?"
"I don't need to buy anything. This isn't the first time Master has given money to me…but I never use it to buy anything. I always use the money he gives to buy more supplies for him or groceries," Tomura still didn't look in her direction.
"Kind of sad, isn't it? I know you care about him, but I'm pretty sure that he would want you to enjoy yourself. That's why he wants us to buy things we like…once things start moving forward for us, these vacations are probably going to stop completely. It's like he said, we're young, he wants to take care of the business 24/7 so we don't have to."
Before he could reply, a ball bounced over and rolled into his leg. A small child, a boy, ran over to retrieve the toy he'd lost his grip on.
"Sorry, mist-" the boy froze.
The red glow of Tomura's eyes bore down on the child, frightening him as he became one of the few to see what the villain looked like beneath his hood. Whatever was underneath scared the child speechless as they stared at each other, the air growing cold.
"Here, beat it, kid," Enid deescalated the situation, handing the boy the ball back and watching him run off like his life depended on it. "On edge much? No need to bite the brat's head off," Enid rested her arms on her knees, leaning forward.
"I don't like anything," Tomura answered, looking back over the people.
"I hate everyone…and everything…" he said distantly. "It all just rubs me the wrong way…"
"What them?" she looked at the smiling people.
"Look at them…smiling, laughing, like nothing's wrong…like someone, anyone couldn't just snap right here, right now, and kill them, like me. While they're all here enjoying themselves, someone, somewhere is suffering, but they don't care because they don't have to," Tomura sneered.
"Because heroes exist."
"Why should they better themselves or try to be good people when they have heroes that can do it for them…they'll ignore everyday atrocities because a hero should be the one to take care of it, but the ones that aren't saved…they are forgotten and swept under the rug," Tomura's eyes shook as he watched the people.
"That's hero society," Enid answered.
"It's wrong…the first thing I remember is Master's hand reaching out to me," Tomura's hate gave way to nostalgia, "I was…under a bridge…I had passed so many people, but not one of them reached out to help me, a child, except for Master. He took me in and raised me…he's practically my father, and he taught me how broken the world is. All these people are stagnant because heroes don't allow them to grow…to the point that a child, lost and alone, passing them by is met with nothing but a glance and assurance that a hero would help. That's what Master and I want to accomplish, a world where heroes are shown to be what they are…not gods…humans that can, will, and have failed. I exist because of them, Master exists because of them…you too," Tomura opened up to the girl.
Enid took a second, surprised that her reluctant partner felt the need to get that off his chest…and trust her with it. No doubt the only other person that knew this was the Boss…so this was a big deal…a large amount of trust put onto her shoulders.
"Almost kind of seems heroic, doesn't it?" Enid looked to the people now as Tomura finally looked at her.
"Huh?"
"Heh, I mean, you're trying to make the world a better place. Making these idiots see that those costumed morons aren't perfect, it's helping them…in a way…you and the Boss could have just been heroes yourselves and done things differently from the Justice League," Enid pointed out with a new perspective.
"I have no interest in saving them…neither does Master, we just want them to wake up and see that their idols are fallible, just like them. I have no problem killing them if it accomplishes our mission…I don't care if they live or die," Tomura answered truthfully.
"That's less heroic," Enid chuckled, "You want them to change for the better, but you'd kill them, if necessary, heh, what a weird ideology," Enid put her hand to her forehead.
"And what about you?" Tomura asked, getting her attention, "Don't you still want to kill…whatever her name is?" Tomura asked.
"Who, Elodie?" Enid sat back up, "I'll be honest…the first couple of days after everything that happened…I couldn't stop thinking about killing her," Enid's hair shadowed her eyes, thinking about the popular girl, her eyes glowing and the temperature rising slightly.
And just as soon as it started it stopped, Enid then leaned back on the bench and slung her arm over the back of it.
"But after training with the Boss…and seeing what he wanted to do for us…I realized this was a lot bigger. Elodie is just a symptom of the disease…I used to think I wanted to be a hero, but really, I just wanted to do the bullying for once. I was just like them…" Enid pointed to the people, "…I thought heroes were the greatest, I idolized Wonder Woman…I thought that everyone was important to a hero, no one got left behind. But now I know better…all they care about are the regular people, people that fit the mold, and I wasn't. All the people that ignored me, getting bullied and no one would help, not even my so-called 'friend'," Enid had an insincere smile on her face.
"Then, as soon as I got the chance to get back at them…she swoops in! Where was she when I needed her?" Enid shook angrily, clenching her fist behind the bench. "That's when I knew that there was no place for me, a square peg trying to fit in a circle, the only people that would care were other outcasts. We all just go right under the rug thanks to this place."
She crossed a leg, leaning on the backrest as she and Tomura got into a comfortable silence…gaining a new respect and understanding of the person they thought they knew already.
"We're quite the pair, huh?" Enid said suddenly.
"Hm?"
"We aren't so different," she looked at him from her periphery, "Two people and when we needed heroes most, they didn't come, and now…we're aiming to tear them down," Enid took glee at the idea.
Tomura was silent, turning back to stare forward, "…I suppose we are…"
"Ah, ok, enough with that," Enid stretched then stuck a hand out to him, "If you aren't gonna use the money, then I'll do it…I have something else I want to buy," Enid gave Tomura a quick once-over.
Rolling his eyes, he saw no reason not to give the girl the cash. As he went to retrieve the money, a hand went into his face and pushed him from the bench. Three boys with confident, overconfident, smirks on their faces surrounded Enid as she sat on the bench unimpressed.
"Hey, babe, why don't you ditch the loser and hang out with us?" the leader sat in Tomura's previous position.
She rose her eyebrow, looking at the three, they were typical horny teens, only interested in her improved body and nothing else. She chuckled, knowing that this could end very poorly given her partner's temper…not to mention her own.
"You couldn't handle me even if I wanted to, and if you can't handle me then you definitely can't handle my friend here," Enid laughed.
"Tch, this wimp? Babe, I could rock your world," the leader wrapped a hand around her shoulder.
"I doubt that…I like men. Not boys that are being led around by their second head," Enid brushed his hand off, frowning, "Now, why don't you run off and find a pair of couch cushions before you make me angry," Enid started to heat up.
"You think you're hot stuff!?" one of the others growled at the bitch.
"I know I am," Enid smirked.
"Why you, dirty bit-"
"Move."
Tomura had gotten up and placed his hand, except for his middle finger on the lead teen's shoulder. When the nuisance turned his head to give the loser a piece of his mind he clammed up and began to sweat. Beneath a pool of darkness, he could see a red pupil staring at him and strands of hair flowing from the hood, giving the teen a feeling of dread…and death. Not dwelling on it for long, the teen was pulled aside by the villain, falling to the floor where he'd shoved Tomura.
"Learn how to take 'no' as an answer, fool," Tomura stood with his back to the leader with the lackeys helping the schmuck up.
"You two are messing with the wrong guys!" the follower shook his fist.
"Tch, let's go!" the leader tried to save face by leaving, wanting to get back at the two of them, but not now.
They'd wait for the chance.
"Aw, what a gentleman," Enid teased Tomura as they walked away from the teens. "Do I take it you're warming up to me?"
"No…I was just following what Master said. We can't cause trouble," Tomura responded.
"You're one to talk, I thought we'd be fighting our way out of here after you made three piles of dust," Enid shrugged.
"Is that any different than what you would have done if they didn't leave?"
"Heh, depended on if they tried to cop a feel, then I might've scorched them," Enid didn't deny.
"It isn't hard to tell who you're interested in," Tomura looked at her from the corner of his eye.
"I mean, it isn't like I'm hiding it," Enid smirked.
"You should give up. Master isn't like that."
"Don't give me that. I'm 18…if he wants to, I wouldn't stop him; and if I wasn't, I don't think we're in a position to appeal to the law," Enid licked her lips at the thought.
Tomura turned away, "That isn't what I meant."
"And what did you mean?"
"It isn't my place to say," Tomura moved on from the topic, "Are we done, or are you still going shopping?" Tomura asked, handing her the money again.
"Fine," she let the conversation drop and took the wad of bills, "I've got one more thing to get and we can get out of here," she walked off, leaving the young man behind to buy her last item.
Within a few minutes, the two were on their way out of the mall. Enid carried her multiple bags and Tomura walked slightly behind at a sedate pace.
"Ah, well, so long Gotham," Enid sighed, "For a shit city, the shopping wasn't too bad…the least you could do is offer to hold my bags," she waved them at him.
"They're yours, carry them."
"Guess that gentleman comment was a bit premature, but this isn't mine," Enid gave a bag to Tomura.
"What is this?"
"I picked it up for you, better than your onesie…we're in this together," Enid blushed a tad and looked at the floor.
"…Thanks," the words sounded odd coming from his mouth…he never thanked anybody other than his Master…it was nice.
"You're still carrying it."
"How does that make sense!?" Enid caught the bag when he tossed it back.
"I didn't buy it."
"It's called a kind gesture, maybe you should try it out. We're gonna get more members, ya know, being nice is something you might want to try," Enid stomped her foot.
"I didn't want our first new member," Tomura…made a joke?
"Was that a joke?"
"What are you talking about?" he feigned ignorance, "Let's just go…before something happens…" Tomura turned to leave, getting ahead of the girl who was smiling at him knowingly.
Unknown to the two, a certain redhead was quickly making her way to the mall, her phone up next to her head. Her hurried state did little to deter her as she bobbed and weaved around the ocean of people, speaking to her friend on the device with divided attention.
"That isn't hard at all, Kara…didn't you have similar stuff on Argo?" the redhead laughed at her friend's groan.
"On Argo, it's way more advanced…how the hell am I supposed to dumb myself down for Earth math?" Kara Kent laid on her bed, slowly working through a worksheet her teacher had given her.
This was pretty normal, but she'd been doing a lot of patrolling around Metropolis lately with Clark. Time had gotten away from her and now her homework had piled up to the last minute…if Kal found out that she let this happen she'd never hear the end of it.
This is why she was hoping Barbara would be able to help her out, but instead…all she got was teasing.
"Ya know, I could do without the brilliance bragging, Barb. How about a little help?" Kara turned over on her bed.
"I'm not bragging, much. And I can't really help right now, Kara, I'm running into the mall to grab this hard drive that I've been waiting on. It's gonna-!"
*Thud*
Barbara was so caught up in the technology that as she turned a corner, she bumped into someone. Falling forward, the man she bumped into staying on his feet, she heard something fall to the floor along with her phone. Hurriedly, Barbara sat up and grabbed her phone from the floor, not looking at the man she'd bumped into or his companion as she focused on retrieving what she'd made him drop.
"I'm so sorry!" she reached down, "I wasn't watching where I was going, let me…get…that…"
When she'd finally laid eyes on what fell, the object that met her eyes was a disembodied, gray hand with a yellow box at the base. Her eyes widened as she knew who owned this object thanks to her mentor. Craning her head up, she met the eyes of Tomura Shigaraki and Enid Mettle. Before Barbara could make a move, Tomura slung an arm around her shoulders, his head next to her ear as he whispered.
"Don't scream," his fingers wrapped around her neck, leaving his middle finger from the equation.
"See? I told you bringing that thing was gonna bite us in the ass," Enid grumbled, standing in front of them and watching to see if anyone noticed the incident.
"It's fine…it was something no one could have expected, after all," Tomura gingerly picked up the hand and placed it into his hoodie pocket once again, "It was an honest mistake, she even apologized, and I'm sure she understands her situation."
He looked to her; yellow teeth shone through the dark shadow of his hoodie.
"If you try anything funny, then I'll kill you here and now…along with all these good people," Tomura threatened.
Barbara sweat, she couldn't believe that of all places to run into some of the most dangerous villains around right now, it had to be the mall she was going to. Not only that, judging from the bags, they'd been here long enough to shop! And no one had noticed anything.
"Hello? Barb?" Kara's voice came from her phone, getting the two criminals to notice.
"Answer her…tell her you have to go," his grip tightened for good measure, "If you tip her off, you're dead."
Calmly, and with no sudden movements, Barbara lifted her phone to her ear and spoke to her fellow heroine.
"Sorry, Kara, I dropped my phone. I've gotta go…I ran into some old friends, we're going to go catch up," her tone was measured.
"Oh, ok, well call me back," Kara answered.
"I will, bye," Barbara hung up and her phone was then swiped.
"Can't let you keep this, princess," Enid melted the device, making it spark in her hand.
"Let's all just calm down. Just pretend we're a couple of friends leaving the mall…and we can find somewhere private to deal with you," Tomura started to walk, Enid next to Barbara to cut off any chance of escape.
'I need to find an opening…and get a tracker on them, this could be the League's biggest chance. I can't mess it up,' she said, trying to formulate a plan of action.
Behind them, they were being followed.
"This should be far enough," Tomura led them into a dark alley.
"Are you gonna let me go now?" Barbara asked with a frown.
"Funny, I don't think we ever said we'd let you go," Enid leaned against a wall.
"You were cooperative, miss, and making someone go missing wouldn't exactly be helpful to us," Tomura scratched his next.
"Buuuut, leaving you alive paints a target on our back just as well," Enid pointed out.
It was an uncomfortable feeling listening to two villains talking about killing her so casually, and to be frank, were just making excuses to kill her to cover for themselves. She could most likely escape, but there was no way that they wouldn't question how skilled she was. If she dumbed down her prowess, she could paint the picture of someone with basic self-defense skills, but then she wouldn't get her chance to slip a tracker onto Shigaraki.
"Sorry, you were just in the wrong place at the wrong time," Enid threw her hands up but was clearly insincere.
"It isn't anything personal, we just can't take the risk," Tomura was about to end the girl-
"Hey!" a familiar, annoying voice shouted from the mouth of the alley.
Tomura with trained reflexes caught a glass bottle in his hand without turning around. The interruption angering him, the disguised villain turned his head to see the three idiotic teens from before only…'armed' with metal bats, no doubt hoping to exact revenge for being humiliated by him and Enid.
"These guys can't take a hint," Enid smiled with a hand on her hip.
"They're idiots…they don't learn…now we have to get rid of them, too," Tomura scratched his neck harder. The bottle in his hand had already turned to dust, but the fools seemed to ignore that red flag such was their anger.
Barbara, not wanting the teens to get into trouble with the criminals and seeing a chance to free herself without necessarily coming across as a superhero, acted. The girl took advantage of the distraction, stomping on Tomura's foot and elbowing him in his stomach, a simple yet effective defensive move for those in her situation.
"Hm?" Tomura stumbled back from the blow, never noticing the device that had been slipped onto him when the young girl had attacked him.
'Now I just need to save these three and get out of here!' Barbara rubbed her neck as she ran.
"Run! Don't attack them!"
"Huh? Who are you?" one of them said in confusion.
"Ha, you let her go," Enid giggled.
"Never expected her to pull something like that…" Shigaraki grinned.
"You don't recognize them?!" Barbara asked incredulously as the teens kept staring down their targets.
"What's there to recognize, their faces are about to get smashed in anyway!" the leader charged wanting to get the first hit on Tomura.
"*sigh* Get ready," Tomura took the hand out of his pocket and placed it onto his face.
"Heh, vacation's over," Enid chuckled mirthlessly, eyes glowing.
"Take the other two, and the girl," Tomura caught the bat aimed at him, decaying it and the teen's hands.
"Ahhh!" he screamed in pain only for it to be muffled when Tomura placed his hand over his face.
"You should have listened when I said take 'no' for an answer," Shigaraki chuckled watching the fear on the kid's face as he died, a grin stretching his face.
"What!?" the two others trembled; afraid they'd be next.
"What's the matter, boys…" Enid landed in front of them, "I thought you wanted to fight? Getting cold feet? I can help with that," a hand was shoved through one of their chests soon after.
The other, driven by fear, swung his weapon at Enid but she easily caught it not budging as he struggled to pull it out of her hand. Slowly, he felt the bat heat up, moving to let go, he was stopped by Enid's other hand gripping his wrists.
"Don't let go yet. What good's a game of chicken if you quit?" the bat turned red-hot, burning the kid's skin more and more.
'These guys are serious…even Joker doesn't play around this much!' Barbara sweat.
The Clown Prince was more of the body count type with death being a means to an end for his 'jokes'. Not that he didn't enjoy doing it, but he'd normally get it over with relatively quickly.
"Your turn, princess," Enid turned to Barbara, leaving the boy to pass out from the pain, Tomura was behind her destroying the bodies.
"Did you hear that?" a voice said from around the corner.
"Help!" Barbara shouted, she was not above this, the more people, the more pressured they'd feel. She ran to the alley entrance calling for any of the bystanders to come and save her or contact the GCPD.
"You really love to cause us problems, don't you?" Enid ignited her foot.
"No! We need to leave…" Tomura could hear the people coming…and it would only be a matter of time before authorities or Batman arrived.
"But what about-"
"Forget her, we can't be caught…you're very lucky…I'm going to remember you," Tomura promised the girl creepily receding into the shadows with Enid just as the first civilians started to arrive.
The crisis was averted…but three people had lost their lives.
(Hours later)
Gotham was practically on lockdown after the incident, Commissioner Jim Gordon was on a warpath as soon as the call had come in and he'd found out his daughter was caught up in it. The man wouldn't let the two criminals get away with this…not only had they laid hands on his little girl, but three teens had been murdered right under his nose!
Bad enough the high-profile villains had infiltrated Gotham without his knowledge, but it was a spit in the face that they'd been walking around in broad daylight, in a mall, no less.
Batman had been called with the Bat-Signal as the sun went down. The Commissioner wanted to get the vigilante's help with hunting them down, and to him, his good friend/partner seemed just as if not more eager to find them.
That was good.
"I'm already working a lead, Jim, I should have a location shortly," Batman's words put the father at ease.
"I want in when you take 'em down," Jim stepped forward, resolute.
"No," the Dark Knight denied and kept going before his friend could argue, "Not only are you too close to this, Jim…but it will be outside your jurisdiction."
"Outside my- What's that mean?" Jim rubbed his chin.
"They aren't here anymore. It wouldn't make sense to have skulked around in disguise just to stick around once you've been found out…Gotham isn't their base," Batman revealed.
"You think Metropolis?"
"It has the highest likelihood. Every incident except for this one took place in Metropolis, even taking into account their sporadic activity, it's highly likely they reside there," Batman reasoned.
"Damn, then take 'em down for me…they touched my little girl, Batman," Jim clenched his fist.
"Don't worry, Jim…they won't know what hit them."
As Batman left, he thought back to his conversation with Barbara.
"I managed to slip a tracer on Shigaraki when I escaped."
"That was reckless. He could have killed you with a touch," Batman reprimanded her.
"Come on, Bruce, look what they've been doing!" Barbara stood up to her mentor, pointing to Robin. "I've seen them, I know how dangerous they are. They actually were discussing whether to kill me, and I'm pretty sure they were 'talking' about it as a courtesy. I think they might be worse than Joker…they just kill, no reason, no spectacle. I understand why you said they were dangerous now," Barbara gave Bruce the tracker.
"You have to stop them."
Batman was driving the Batmobile, looking to the videophone to see a zoomed-out map and a blinking dot. Seeing the direction that the dot was moving, he made his decision, contacting the Justice League.
"This is Batman, I'm requesting a full League response. I have a possible location of Tomura Shigaraki, Enid Mettler, and possibly…the mastermind of their group."
(Unknown Location)
"Welcome back, you-" Master stopped…noticing something…and grinning but remained silent about it all within the span of a second, "-two."
"Sorry, Master, we caused a commotion," Tomura sighed.
"If you didn't bring the hand…" Enid whispered, only making him feel worse.
"Unexpected things happen all the time in the world, you weren't the ones to cause the problem. Forget it and move on," Master placated them, "It is late, we should all get some rest now…we have much to work on," Master said cryptically and knowingly.
"You got it, Boss. Hey, don't forget that, especially since I had to carry it," Enid pointed to the lone bag that held her gift to her partner.
"Hmph," Tomura took it and placed it next to his armchair, planning to sleep in it while Enid would lie on a couch.
With his students settled, the Master moved to his chair, sighing once he'd sat down. He slowly allowed himself to doze off, choosing not to use any 'assistance' this time.
He needed his mind to be sharp for what was to come.
AN: I'm thinking my lack of forethought to this story is beginning to show since this is happening so soon, but…eh flying by the seat of my pants is an odd-yet-fun sensation compared to the meticulous planning I have for Silvers and ACU, so as long as it makes sense for the plot, I'll keep going with whatever I've got popping in my mind palace.
The next chapter will have the new members appear *wink-wink*
On a side note, deltarune can't be a full game fast enough. I love it!...and I have been constantly blasting Big Shot since beating Spamton, that sad, loveable, little meme generator/lord. I legit feel so bad for him compared to Jevil, Spamton seemed to regret what brought him to his current situation and just wanted to escape…man, Toby is a really good storyteller.
See you next time!