Chapter three - Fuck! Everything's on fire!
Penguin
Everything was on fire, the heat billowed out into the street where I had little choice but to watch as the Iceberg Lounge went up in flames, black smoke filling the grin skyline of Gotham city.
It felt as though his entire life was burning before his eyes, people, customers and workers fleeing in every direction, trying to escape the heat, screaming at their burns and for their friends still trapped within.
That building was a symbol of his life's work in the streets of Gotham, from his humble beginnings a thief he had scraped and saved, working until he could finally open it.
It was his base of operations and contained all his valuable things, most of which had been destroyed by the flames.
Someone, a man came running out the flames and he raised his pistol, firing three shots into the man's chest that sent him to the floor with a scream.
Falcone, he could recognize what a member of the Falcone crime family looked like, he had the clothes and that tattoo, they had come from below, likely dug a tunnel into his basement where they had started the flames, the first sign was the heavy smoke leaking from the trapdoor.
Followed by the shouts and gunshots as they forced their way through and into his office, the smoke had been too much to bare and he'd had to leave them to the flames to deal with.
Distance sirens sounded but he knew there was no help coming, this city was corrupt to the core, the fire department was as much in the falcon's pocket as the police were.
"Yo! I came to get my money…" The voice of Reaper came from his sides trailing off as the assassin's eyes traced over the burning club.
"I ah, I could come back tomorrow for my payment." He offered, and there was no doubt about his priorities in that moment.
"The Falcones did this." Penguin said.
Reaper looked at him questioningly, as though asking why he should care in the slightest, "I'll pay you double, even triple your bounty if you take them out."
Reaper looked considering for a moment before he shrugged, "Give me names, the Falcones are dangerous but we can put their price at a million per head, but it'll cost much more if you want me to get their boss."
He grinned, Reaper had a reputation of someone who never turned down a contract, it time to test out the man who would kill anyone.
Dante
I turned to face the flames, frowning in thought, my money was in there, wasn't it? Penguin certainly wasn't carrying it, he only had his pistol, so my payment was likely still on his computer which was probably going up in flames.
I signed, slinging my rifle over my shoulder and charging into the flames, I slid a gas mask over my regular mast as I approached the building, the smoke was far more dangerous than the heat.
I activated my power, and my movements became razor precise, my spirit accelerating as my moments reached the limit of efficiency, my foot planted firmly onto the door frame as I vaulted over a fallen pillar of debris and shoved my body inside, tumbling in the air.
My hands reached out and grasped onto a silvery railing that was charred black, my think gloves hissed at contact with the hot metal as they smoked but I ignored them, using the railing to continue my momentum and push myself through the air and over to at behind which was the entrance to Penguin's office.
Penguin's office was flaming, it's wooden walls had caught fire early in the fire and the smoke made it difficult to see. I turned my hand over, revealing a red wrapped ball from seemingly nowhere, the fire extinguishing sphere I took from my inventory dropped into the room and did nothing for a moment, then there was a loud bang.
White powder filled the room, engulfing and suppressing everything, sticking to the walls where the fire had once been.
I rushed into the office, grateful for my filtered mask as I jumped the desk and inspected the computer, it was turned on and unlocked, the centre of the room seemed mostly undamaged by the flames.
I could see ominous amounts of smoke rising from beneath the desk however and knew it didn't have long, there was likely a roaring fire in that basement.
Penguin's computer had a battery backup, something that worked to my advantage as a pulled a drive from my inventory into the computer and watched it get to work, quickly and seamlessly copying all the data from the computer, before it began to rife through penguins various accounts and holdings, snatching anything of value it could find and transferring it to my own account.
There was a crashing sound at the trapdoor caved in and I could here the bellowing of flames as they gained a sudden rush of oxygen, I pulled out the hard drive and made my way out, I seamlessly flipped and slipped my way through the flames easily avoiding even a single mark as I emerged from the ruins of the Iceberg Lounge.
I saw Penguin standing there watching somewhat listlessly as the roof to his club caved in as the fire grew ever higher.
"I'll take my payment half before and half after the job is done, I'll be waiting for my money." With that I left, leaving Penguin to his wallowing in peace, it was honestly unclear if he had any money left, this could be his end.
I kept to darker rooftops and alleyways as I parkoured to another penthouse to spend the night in, as well as sort through my gains.
As I ascended to the balcony and slid myself into the safe house I pondered on Penguin, this could be his end in Gotham, but he was intelligent and competent, it took at least that much for a self made man to make it in the city of Batman, he may have better luck starting anew elsewhere, the predatory atmosphere in Gotham meant he was likely going to be ripped apart by the various lions of the city before he corpse was stripped by vultures.
If he had grit, he would rise again, and it may be worth effort to make an ally of him. In the meanwhile I would have to find somewhere else to get my contracts.
Lex Luther
His knuckles cracked as he inspected the footage, watching the grim sight with clinical distaste as on the high quality screen a scene played, Batman of Gotham city stood face to face with Captain Cold, while captain cold had one of his chilling weapons pressed to the temple of a hostage, keeping Batman at bay.
There was a bang and the sound of glass breaking Captain Cold's heat burst like a watermelon within his thick helmet, a spray of brain matter and blood sprayed from the helmet's exit wound, painting the floors with the contents of his mind.
Nothingasidefrom a bullet was going through his mind, and it was damn impressive.
The shot had been taken from some distance away, over a thousand meters through a glass window and using a rifle, rather than a true sniper, it was the kind of shot legends were made from, the kind of shot that was likely echoing around the world.
The Reaper, the screen changed to show a tall marked figure, wearing a black and orange lightly armored suit and wielding a rifle, he was an emerging diamond from the pressure cooker of Gotham city.
Gotham city had always been a hotbed for extraordinary individuals, some could be formed into diamond amidst the pressure like Batman had, while others might crumble beneath it.
The Reaper was an up and coming assassin from the city, he had previously confined himself to the bounds of Gotham, and had gained a reputation of someone who would never turn down a well paid contract.
After this most recent incident, with all the rumors circulating about him accepting a contract on captain cold and was paid out the contract for this target he had decided to offer his services to all over America, leaving Gotham and beginning to take work in everyone's territories.
This was, of course, outrageous, no one wanted a world class contract killer who would never turn down a contract unless bribed to come after them, himself included, but as with most changes in the world, the rich would benefit the most.
What did the wealthy have to fear if they could pay off the man? He could already see Reaper's success written 8n the stars.
Was it worth these anonymous billionaires to find and contract someone more effective to deal with Reaper? Deadshot was in prison, and it would cost a fortune to get him out under the thumb of Amanda Waller, the other option was Deathstroke, he was an effective assassin but now rumored to be insane, it was either that or the heroes, and any relation to the hero's could see their nefarious deeds out in the open for them to be caught and put away.
Essentially it was easier and more effective for the wealthy to just pay of the Reaper to take care of their poorer rivals, a man who only worked for money was easy to control for the people had could generate the money.
He smirked, it was like a dog on a leach.
This went against his aims however, and therefore it was not going to work.
Unlike my lazy compatriots, willing to sit back, getting fat and free on the wealth and power, he preferred to work and seize every last ounce of it for himself, for this reason he didn't keep billions of dollars unused and ready to be spent, his money was in use at all time, sure there was few hundred million but that simply wasn't enough to compete in the market.
He was confident he could outbid any other individual if he had time to liquidate those assists, but there was no time.
This world class assassin, Reaper, was going to be at his door soon, and unlike Superman he didn't have a convenient crystal to disable him.
He typed a few keys as I thought, a specific page opening, it was a request for black market investors, the Iceberg Lounge had gone up in flames recently and now Penguin, it's owner was looking for funds not only to rebuild, but also expand towards new horizons.
Frowning in thought a plan began to construct in his mind, Penguin was a skilled businessman, reliable and intelligent, he had a reputation of neutrality and integrity that had taken him far in the underworld, he was a man with a lot of potential who had even outsmarted Batman on occasion.
He had been held back, and then attacked by the crime families that infested Gotham city like rats, chewing at its dying corpse, he would certainly want revenge on the Falcone's for their misdeeds.
He smirked, he would fund Penguin, Penguin, as The Reapers contractor, would keep him busy dealing with the Falcones, keeping him for some time in Gotham working over there and away from the rest of America.
During this time he could liquidate assets and bring together money to pay Reaper to deal with his rivals, while at the same time he could fund Penguin in an attempt to take over Gotham city's underworld after the Falcone's were out.
It had been more than a decade since an assassin of this quality emerged, one crazy enough to take any contract, and capable of killing any target, Deadshot had been the last but after the incident he refused any high profile targets.
The Reaper was going to shake up America, perhaps even the world, and he was going to take the opportunity to profit from the chaos.
Barbra Gordon (Batgirl)
It had been a month since her… confrontation with the villain, Reaper, and in that month he'd gotten for more active in his work, she'd confronted him three times, and each time she'd been soundly defeated, it was humiliating, for her, a student of Batman to be defeated him close quarters combat so many times, especially considering just how easy he had made it look.
Seven 'jobs', seven shots, and seven bodies to his name in the past weeks, all of them high ranking members of the Falcone crime family- mob bosses, essentially. She had her own set of doubts about working to protect the criminals they were supposed to be putting behind bars, but Bruce had said they were heroes, and therefore supposed to protect everyone- even if they were mob bosses, criminals or mass-murderers.
Her question about whether or not she, as a 'hero', would have to protect Hitler had gone unvoiced, that kind of cheek was practically begging for an extra harsh double training session.
She was still a little irked, even as she donned her costume and made her way across the Gotham rooftops in the hopes of saving one of those criminals.
Was shereallysupposed to protect everyone? Every rapist and paedophile, every mass murderer and psychopath? The very people she devoted her life to stop?
Iftheyhad been Reaper's target, would she be expected to protect them? To take a bullet for them just as she would any innocent child caught in the crossfire?
That was clearly bullshit! Not that she would say it to Batman's face, but really, it felt absurd.
Why not just let them die? Why was it their place to intervene when the villains started killing each other rather than innocent people?
Perhaps she was being unreasonable, perhaps she should just agree with Bruce, they weren't judge, jury, or executioner, merely heroes, it wasn't their place to pass judgement, only to save people, to fight off villains and uphold the law.
She had changed a lot in the past month, before she wouldn't have doubted Batman and his teachings, he was her hero since she was young and she'd always looked up to him too much to question him, but after the incident…
Was it too…melodramaticto say she'd gotten a taste of the dark side? And she wasn't even referencing Reaper's cock when she said that, it was the way he'd saved his target, he'd been a hero then, willing or not, paid or not, he'd saved that man's life by putting down Captain Cold.
Had he not been a far more effective hero than Batman in that moment? Batman, who could only stand there and try to negotiate, while Reaper, a 'villain' had not only saved the man but also taken down the villain.
How many people had Captain Cold terrorized since Reaper had taken him down?
The answer was zero.
Meanwhile, how many people had the Joker terrorized since Batman had taken him down?
Joker had been captured for the first time eight years ago, and he'd escaped Arkham asylum 4 times, he tried to destroy all of Gotham twice and he'd killed several hundred people.
So, the answer was somewhere in the hundreds of thousands at least.
If Reaper's method had been employed for the Joker, how many people would he have terrorized after his defeat?
If one looked at it a certain way, Reaper's heroic career consisted of a single saved man, and a single villain taken down for good, did that not mean he had a higher rate of success than Batman?
So could it not be said that Reaper was a better hero than Batman?
Of course, Reaper wasn't a hero, but the one time he had been a hero he had been more successful at the job than Batman, so there was definitelysomethingto be learned from his methods, however unethical they may be.
She set aside her thoughts as she arrived in central Gotham, she could see a Battalion of black SUVs, bulletproof tinted windows made it impossible to see who was inside and their armoured doors made it clear they meant business, there were several police motorbikes escorting the cars and the police up front had their sirens blaring, forcing other cars to pull over and make way for them to pass.
This was a clear show of power, one of those cars held Mario Falcone, eldest son of Carmine 'The Roman' Falcone and heir to the Roman Empire, the crime syndicate built by Carmine and his father before him. Mario was currently making his way towards the Gotham Cathedral, a place he came to prey every week.
It was the perfect place to assassinate him, and they knew it.
She found it hard to believe Carmine Falcone would sent his son, the future of his empire, as mere bait to try and draw out Reaper, no this was something more.
What, she didn't know, but it wasn't really her job to know either.
Her eyes scanned the Gotham city skyline, taking in the many slightly gloomy looking high rise buildings as she thought.
If she were a trained assassin who was seemingly incapable of missing regardless of the distance, where would she post up to kill somebody entering the cathedral?
Her eyes landed on the answer easily, the clock tower, it stood tall a mile and a half away from the cathedral, it overlooked most of Gotham from its high point, it was locked to the public but also easily accessible to anyone who could pick a lock, and it provided enough cover to remain unseen even when someone was dressed in colours as eye catching as black and orange.
She glanced back towards the escort before she turned and began moving rapidly towards the clock tower.
This may not have been the wisest decision but she was prepared to make it anyway, the wise decision was to call Batman, he was already in hiding within the cathedral, where he thought Reaper would likely be in waiting, she had already shown her incapability of beating him on her own,fourdamn times at that.
But she wasn't going to let that stop her from trying, and there was always the chance she was wrong and Reaper really was waiting inside the Cathedral, Bruce was right when he'd said it was a hard shot to make, there would probably be a fifteen second window before Mario would be safely inside and out of any sniper's sights.
But she also thought Bruce underestimated Reaper, he wasn't there to see him effortlessly put out a street light without even looking from a hundred meters away using a pistol, that was definitely supernatural.
An skilled and trained assassin, paired with a supernatural ability to aim his weapon could make a 'hard' shot look easy, and if she didn't do something Mario Falcone was likely to go the exact same way as Captain Cold.
She ignored the voice in her head that asked if that was a particularly bad outcome as she silently scaled the clock tower, she was careful to be completely silent, she could have taken the stairs but the old rickety thing would be a dead giveaway and she needed to catch him by surprise.
It was abundantly clear that she didn't stand a chance at close combat against him, she'd fought him three times since their first encounter and he'd put her own the ground all three times easily, it was almost insulting, the level of disregard he treated her with as left her on the ground and out of breath.
He didn't even hurt her, treating it more like a sparring session than anything, one where she'd attempt to at least touch him as he evaded her strikes by a hair's margin, before taking the opportunity to slap her butt or tear at her suit until she was too tired to continue, and then he just left her.
He didn't even seem interested in fucking her, he'd had the opportunity, but he just left her with a few infuriating comments and the name 'Batslut' on his lips.
She mentally shook herself from her distracting thoughts as she reached the top of the clock tower, the tall, square based building had four faces, two of which were blank while two others held the faces of a clock.
The clocks faced north and south, and it was the east wall she had climbed as she reached a specific part of the walls, she pushed on a group of bricks and they slid silently into the clock tower and along the floor to the right, leaving a gap just big enough for her to squeeze through before she replaced the loose bricks.
The Gotham clock tower was old, it had stood for more than century and while it had been maintained (badly) it had not been upgraded with 'modern technology'.
This meant that alongside the fact there were no lightbulbs and the closest thing to them were the unlit flame torches that rested in some of the brackets, the actual clock was run by cogs, rather than any electrical timer.
The wheels of teeth that slotted together in complex ways to form a clock mechanism was laid out before her in grand fashion, giant black cogs rotated slowly, slightly smaller silver ones rotated even slower to form a complex system then eventually let to the hands of the clock ticking every minute or so, it was a testament so some unknown man's genius that it was still functional all these years later.
She crept forward in the dark space, keeping her eyes peeled and her body low as she moved to the side of the tower that overlooked the cathedral in the distance.
Sure enough, he was there. She spotted him lying prone, deathly still, his face lightly pressed the sniper rifle laid out before him, he was looking down the scope towards the cathedral with absolute focus.
Her heart leapt at the sight but she forced herself to stay quiet, there he was, The Reaper.
Was it accurate to say she hated him? Maybe, there was certainly a lot of dislike, he was a money chasing villain after all, but beneath all the resentment what was left?
Embarrassment, mostly. How could she not be embarrassed? She had been schooled on his cock for hours on end, he'd fuck her, submitted her, taken her in every which way, played with her body to his hearts content, taking his fill before kicking her out his fancy apartment- honey and without any underwear beneath her skirt.
He'd embarrassed her, humiliated her, and she resented him all the more for it.
She raised her weapon, preparing to knock him out and finally settling the score when he spoke.
"You realize I could kill you before you ever swing that stick of yours, right?" He didn't even look up to address her as continued in a teasing voice,
"It seems strange you'd come to stop me knowing that you can't, did you really just come here to play?" He let out a bark of laughter as he added.
"Don't worry, Batslut, Daddy's working just now, I'll get to you once I'm done."
Ignoring his teasing she asked instead, "How did you hear me? I was being completely silent."
This was the exact same way she'd been caught the first time, no noise yet he sensed her all the same, stealth was a primary weapon for both her and Batman, and yet he'd torn it apart with his back turned as though he had eyes on the back of his head.
He scoffed, "I can't have heard you if you were being completely silent, that would be impossible."
Ok, maybe that was a stupidly phrased question.
"How did you detect me, Reaper?" She asked, taking a few steps closer until she stood just a step behind him, slightly to his side.
"Hmm, I'll tell you what you want to know, but you have to ask properly first, you remember what you're supposed to call me, right,Batslut." He was definitely smirking right now.
She discreetly rubbed her thighs together, trying to scratch theitchas the memories of that day resurfaced in her mind, not that they'd been far from the surface in the first place.
He hadn't turned to her, hadn't looked at her, he hadn't even stopped peering down his scope, still trained on the cathedral, but she could see the pistol discreetly help in his hand, he was fully prepared to put a bullet in her if she made a wrong move, and with his speed she could be dead before she even processed his movement.
She smirked, leaning down slowly, sensually, to whisper the word, "Master." into his ear.
"Yes? Batslut." She ignored his derogatory names as she asked in a pleading voice.
"Can you, please, pleaaaase, tellyourlittle Batslut exactly how you detected her sneaking up on you?" She could see a slight shiver travel up his body at her breathy tone.
She found him quite easy to understand, he enjoyed degrading her, but helovedit when she degraded herself for him.
It was the difference between him showing her her place and her showing him that sheknewher place.
"Mylittle Batslut? Do you really just want me to fuck you? Because I could certainly spare a few hours if you keep talking like that."
She frowned, ignoring how enticing that offer sounded as she said, "What I want,Master, is for you to answer my questions."
He seemed to derive amusment from her clipped tone as he said, "You were right, you were completely silent and I couldn't hear you, but I can smell you."
"You cansmell me?!"He immediately burst into laughter at her affronted and frankly offended tone, she didn'tstink!
"Relax bitch, it's fine, you smell nice." He waved the hand holding his pistol absentmindedly over his shoulder as his attention was taken by the swarm of black SUVs escorted by police that just came into view, she gave it 3 minutes before they were in front of the cathedral.
"What do you mean, 'I smell nice'? Can you smell me from across the room?" She asked, mostly in an attempt to distract him rather than because her smell was of particular concern to her, because it wasn't, she promised.
"All people have a scent, yours is just better than most." He answered distractedly.
"…what do I smell like?" She was curious.
She heard him take a deep breath through his nose before he answered, "Like a bitch in heat, now be quiet, Daddy's gotta focus."
Now that was just rude.
"Can you not kill him, please?" She asked softly.
There was no reply until she added, "Master?"
"Why?"
"Um." Why did she not want him to kill his target again? Mario Falcone, heir to the Falcone crime empire, he had more than a dozen unsolved murder cases surrounding him, he was a ruthless mob boss and loan shark, hell, he probably killed puppies in his free time or something.
"Because… Batman said so?" Was that really the best her considerable intelligence could come up with?
There was amusement in his voice as he said, "You better not be cheating on me."
They weren't even in a relationship!
"Seriously, I'll get into trouble if I letanotherman die on my watch, it's supposed to be my job to stop that from happening." Her voice became more serious as Falcone approached the cathedral.
"Eight million dollars." He said, his voice getting a little colder, "That's how much I'll be paid to kill this man, if I was even the slightest bit careful with my money it would be enough to set me for life, I could be rich until the day I died."
He turned to look her in the eye as he said, "You getting in trouble means far less to me than that."
He turned his back on her, focusing on his target, his fingers twitching from where it rested above the trigger.
It was a difficult point to argue with, but what did she have to offer that could possibly compare to that much money? It was an insane amount to think about, the kind of money that would likely see her closest friends turn on her for a chance to take.
"I'll give youanythingif you don't." She didn't explicitly offer something, but the implication was there.
"First of all, that's just a blatant lie, you'd at most give me your body for a single night before calling it even. Second of all, fucking you isn't worth eight million dollars, I could hire a thousand sluts just as pretty as you for me to play with all night with that money."
He turned to her then, his gloved hand leaving his gun to run his fingers through her soft, dark hair before he suddenly gripped, pulling her hair and forcing her to look up as she let out a quiet whimper at the rough treatment.
He spoke slowly, darkly, bringing his masked face so close to hers she could feel his hot breath.
"Third of all, you've forgotten something, youbelongto me, you might not believe it, but your body is mine, I could fuck you right now if I wanted and all you would do is submissively take it like the slut you are because the truth is- I've already ruined you, your soul is still left up there on that rooftop from when Ifuckedit out of you." He seemed to revel in the power he had over her.
"You said it yourself didn't you?Mylittle Batslut. You know your place." She could tell he was grinning through his mask as he released her.