Chapitre 2: Overzealous Follower
I can say Justin was my follower, my first mate if we were to follow the One-Piece logic. It was funny, seeing a forty-eight years old man following a thirteen years old boy while being very obedient it was clear who was the boss here. It has been three days since I accepted Justin as my first follower or gang member and in those three days, I have been helping him overcome his mortal coil. First, I opened his ki, which was unpleasant as he vomited filth upon filth, it was a wonder his body hadn't shut down long ago. It was an experience I vowed never to repeat, holding a grown man's hair as he puked his toxins out! Three hours later, he could barely walk due to how weak he was and our lessons started there.
I started by teaching him a body enhancement technique that I named Tyrant Body Method, an abridged and safe version of the Hercules Method. His talent was rubbish which meant I had to carry him with Absolute Teaching and in two days, he had reached the level of the Librarian, another comic. His fighting instinct was not at all on the level I wanted but his fists could level a one-story building while being fast enough to dodge a point-blank bullet so I was not complaining. Today, we were heading over to the people who had caused him so much trauma it was crippling him before, a local gang who were on the Penguin's payroll. They called themselves the Trinity because the gang was started by three men who dreamt big but failed to reach it.
What they had done was that they had given Justin a loan when we were down on his luck just to expand his business. But they hijacked the truck bringing in his supplies and then demanded they give him back their money with a sixty percent interest to boot. Suffice to say, Justin couldn't pay them and he ended up being bankrupt trying to return their money to no avail. To show him they meant business, they went and raped his wife, killing their unborn child and later her in the hospital. The guilt made him almost go insane and he slunk into Gotham's shadows for refuge. But, two years later while in a soup kitchen, a gang member spotted him, killed the others and they almost beat him to death if Batman had not swooped in and gave them brain hernias. Since then, he has been avoiding any social gathering for fear of incurring the gang's land, well, till now.
"This the place," Justin told me as he pointed to a run-down bar filled with rowdy music and people.
"Lovely," I sighed as I led the way towards it. The bar was shaggy and with its peeling paintwork, dirty windows and overgrown compound, I could tell it had seen better days. There was a bouncer at the door who stopped us from entering, giving us a once over of contempt.
"Take your crack baby back to whatever dumpster your crawled out off," he said. Well, we still looked like beggars but that was no reason for his rude comment.
"Justin, I feel hurt by his words, please take care of it," I said dramatically. Justin did not waste time; his fist was already through the man's chest by the time I was finishing my words. This was one of the reasons I wanted a gang, especially one with powerful people in it, I did not need to handle the little things and pretty soon, the harder things. All I would need was an order and someone would jump to act on it with thorough effectiveness.
"This way, sir," Justin said once he threw the corpse away from my sight, opened the door for me. I walked into the bar, holding my expectations low and I wasn't disappointed. The bar truly was the home of unruly people, case in point by all the chaos happening. The DJ was playing hard rock which was inducing all the violence I was currently witnessing. It was chaos yet they all seemed to enjoy it, savagery of the highest order. I went over to the DJ booth, leaking a little of my aura which made the people part way for us. It became bizarre seeing all these people making way for me so the music stopped as they all turned towards me before I even reached the booth, which was embarrassing for I wanted a cool entrance by smashing the entire booth with a punch. But Justin got me by simply heading over to the booth, lifting it off the ground and throwing it out through the roof. The entire bar was now pin drop quiet, the desired eff prompting me to give him a mental thumbs up.
"Sorry to disturb whatever cess pool of madness this is. My name's Jeff and I am here to take over each and every business the Trinity owned," I announced as I walked over to the bar and sat on a stool. "Now, you might be wondering what a mighty man like myself was doing targeting such a small gang as this and I will answer you; it's simply because you caught my ire. Besides, I was going to start somewhere, you all just drew the shortest straw."
A gang member walked forward armed with a .45 pistol, "Just because you have a Meta working for you doesn't mean you can walk all over us!"
I chuckled at this, "I love this. There's always one person, a person who is the lesson to the others, showing them just how fucked they are. Question is, are there more brave souls out there that feel lucky?" There was silence in the bar as I could start to smell the fear oozing out of everyone.
This was Gotham, the home to extraordinary. The villains here are so chilling the populace have grown a nose to smell when something was not right, just like in this situation. Any normal person would have dismissed my claims as baseless because guns are the greatest equalizers. But in Gotham where Batman could tank an explosion with his bullshit cape, where Killer Croc would shrug gunshots like they were just relaxing massages, they had come to realize that maybe when someone talks big, they usually have something to back them up. With me, they must all be thinking that Justin was my metahuman crony and he must be invulnerable to bullets. Seeing my confidence, the thug grew afraid and was about to back away.
"Hey, no need to turn around now, you're all going to die anyway. You see, the main reason why I targeted you is because my man here was a de~ep bone to chew with your gang. I'm nothing if not a good boss so I promised him he could rain fire and brimstones at all of you," I said as Justin started to crack his fingers with anticipation. I saw how they were all unnerved even more while they tried to place his face, which was impossible. Justin had tuned from a 5'6 tall man to a roided 7'4 hulk whose clothes seem to be bursting at their seams! His aura immediately went from quiet to predator making everyone shudder in terror.
"Please, don't kill the civilians, I don't want the Penguin getting more angsty with us, we'll meet him soon after all," I said and turned to the bartender whose face had turned pale from fight. "Club soda, please." The screaming started as soon as I said that and the bartender looked ready to die from a heart attack seeing Justin at work.
"Oi!" I called out, snapping my fingers to his face to get his attention, which worked. "Club soda, please."
"Y…" he tried to say but his body lost all its strength just as I heard the wet squelch of a body being torn apart behind me and he fainted. I sighed in disappointment, jumping over the counter and started going over the drinks catalogue. I couldn't help a deprecating scoff to escape as I aw the liquor being sold here, the cheap stuff to keep the patrons not nearly drunk and thus having more. Or maybe the gang wasn't doing so good, I don't care. This will be my place soon so their financial situation does not matter. Finally, I found the soda selections in a fridge at the corner and then started anther round of sorting everything. I couldn't decide over a Fanta, Pepsi or a red bull. It took about a minute for me finally pick a Fanta, opening the can and letting the not so healthy drink pour down my throat.
"Ahh, that was refreshing," I sighed, wiping my lips then turned to the bar just in time to see Justin using his hands to cut the final gang member in half. He was breathing hard slightly which was understandable, this was his first fight. I had taught him to reign his emotions but sometimes it was hard when you are facing someone you deeply loathe to the core.
"Feeling better?" I asked him as I sat back on my stool.
"Yes, sir, much better," Justin gave me a weak smile, he was dealing with his emotions at the moment.
"Right, pull yourself up and dump all the bodies to the basement then use you ki like taught you to dispose of them," I told him.
Justin nodded a little blankly and got to work. Despite knowing he could lift a truck above his head, he just picked two bodies at a time showing me his normal habits were still prevalent. I had decided not to program them out of him and opt the better option, letting him condition himself off them. Like he didn't need to eat, at least for half a millennium but he always gulped down his food like he was starving, or that he always had many jackets on even though he could maintain his body heat even in the North Pole for an indefinite amount of time. These are habits he had conditioned himself to have due to being on the streets and soon he will realize that he is a god among men and new habits will be ingrained into himself.
Two hours in and Justin had cleaned the entire bar, it had become spotless. Now, we were waiting for the main prey to walk in, enjoying our drinks in silence, Justin needed it. Three hours in, probably after calling too much and not receiving an answer, the three bosses finally came to the bar looking for their men. They were surprised to see it empty except us which prompted them to be wary.
"You three are right on time. I was just about to consider whether to turn this place into a convenience store or a burger place. What do you think?" I ask them, making them give me a once over at the ridiculousness of the question. "C'mon, nor answer is the wrong answer."
"Where are our men?" one of them questioned. Honestly, I could have learnt their names but what was the point? They were just mobs that would be forgotten by readers soon enough.
"I'm starting to lean on the idea of a burger place. Lots of customers, will take a long time for the authority to realize some of the customers get a little more than just burgers," I said while looking at the building in contemplation. "What do you think, Justin.?"
"With just the two of us, a convenience store will be better," he answered, his eyes never leaving the three men that ordered the death of his family.
"Nah, a burger place is much better. Besides, who said it will just be the two of us, more will join us and we will be kings of Gotham soon enough," I told my first mate while envisioning my gang running the entirety of Gotham under my iron rule. It was a beautiful dream, if I didn't know how stubborn Batman was. If there is one thing, I was sure off as an avid DC fan was that Batman had xianxia MC level plot armor.
Sighing as my dream seemed to just remain a dream, I turned to the three," As for the three of you, thanks for handing over all of Trinity assets to us. I will be sure to convince Penguin they are in safe hands," I said with a dismissive wave. Immediately after, Justin pounced on them hungrily.
État de l’alimentation hebdomadaire
-- Classement
Power Stone 
-- Power
stone