Bab 8: 8. Observers
Dick watches the two with interest. He doesn't need any superpowers to see that their target is already very uncomfortable. Kara, on the other hand, is enjoying herself. Dick chuckles.
'Are you seeing this?' he asks on the comms.
'Yep', answers Barbara from the other side. 'It's so bad that I just wanna walk up there and rescue him'. He hears Barbara laughing.
'Honestly, if I didn't know who he was, I'd assume he was just another anti-social Gothamite', she continues.
'Yeah, well, he's not. I still owe him for shooting me in the shoulder', Dick says. 'How are things on your end?'
'Well, I just got the report from Zatanna', says the girl. 'Says here that the bullets themselves didn't hold any magic. Most likely, it was the gun. Also says here that the kind of curse placed on it can only be made one of two ways. One, they either use magic to harvest so much negative energy from a place and trap it in the weapon. Or two, the weapon has to be used doing so much atrocities that the negative energy slowly accumulates and turns into a curse.
Dick ponders her words carefully. 'Considering it's a World War 2 Nazi handgun, I'd assume it would be the latter. Does that explain why getting hit was so excruciating?'.
'Most likely. Says here that the curse makes it so that whoever gets shot feel the pain of every person that's ever been killed by the gun in their final moments'.
'Isn't that a bit too dramatic?' Dick says.
'That's magic for you. It also says here that the continued use of such items would slowly corrupt the user until the curse eventually takes over the user's body'.
'You think the gun is mind controlling him?' asks Dick.
'Doesn't look like it. But if he keeps using it, it'll only be a matter of time before it does. Although, we should probably figure out a way for Zatanna to check on him just in case. If he's a just another victim here, we could figure out a way to help him'.
Dick agrees. 'Alright, I have to go. Keep me updated'. The man then stands up, following the pair as they walk the streets. The man enjoys himself as he watches Kara slowly talking the guy's ears off.
He watches as Toji, the Meta Killer, tries to get away only for Kara to suddenly cling to him, making the man even more agitated. I should have brought some popcorn, he thinks to himself.
Suddenly, Dick notices someone else following the pair. 'Babs, would you mind checking someone out for me?' He takes a photo of the person and sends it to the bat computer.
'That's Mercy, Luthor's assistant', she answers. 'This could be a trap. Do we tell Kara?'
Dick narrows his eyes. He slowly moves towards her and decides to tail her instead. 'No. Let's wait things out. I think they're here to observe the Meta Killer as well'.
'Alright. I'll tell Bruce just in case. Be ready for a fight'. Barbara cuts the connection letting Dick focus on their guest.
---
Toji sits there while Kara continues to talk as she show him all her favorite books. He's noticed someone watching him for a while now. He slowly scans the library but his stalker hides themselves pretty well.
Then his focus goes back to the girl as she nudges him. 'Hmm?', he says.
'You're not listening, are you?' she pouts.
The man just stares at her.
'I said is your family here with you?'
'No', he answers.
'Oh, are they in Gotham?'
Toji pauses. 'No. They're gone'. He finds it strange how he had a hard time answering that. His son is still alive, after all. But would he ever meet the boy again. Can he even return to his true world? This is all too much of a hassle, he thinks.
'So what do you do in Gotham?', asks the girl again.
'Freelance', he says. 'I just do what people ask me to do'.
'That's pretty cool. Do you like it?'
'Sometimes I help get to help people who just need a break. Often times, I just deal with other people's problems'.
'That's good. At least, you're helping people', Kara says with a smile.
'Sometimes'. Toji takes a deep breath and stands up. 'I have to go'.
'Wait. Really? Can't you stay for some ice-cream?' she asks.
'No. I'll be seeing you soon'. Toji walks away before the girl starts getting clingy again.
He leaves the library and heads to the roof of a nearby building. The man takes off his civilian clothing, along with his little disguise and puts on his mercenary uniform; a black tight shirt and his cursed spirit. He leans on a corner wall and lays low, waiting for his stalker to eventually show themselves.
Toji readies himself as he hears the footsteps getting closer and closer. Then, he heard them stop. He leaps out of his position and grabs the person by the collar, throwing em on the ground. 'You!' he exclaims.
Luthor's lackey, Mercy, he remembers her being called, kicks him in the chest before flipping into a stand.
'What are you-'
Before he could finish talking, Mercy's hand whirred and turns into a strange gun. Toji manages to dodge as the weapon fires and hits the wall next to him. Toji doesn't bother with a weapon, instead grabbing the woman by the arm and breaking her little toy with his knee.
Mercy screams as she tries to pull herself from his grip. The man raises his leg, and kicks the artificial arm, snapping it off completely. He then grabs the woman by the neck and raises him above the floor.
'You're just a monkey', he says. He was about to snap her neck when he hears a gruff voice coming from behind.
'She is'. Toji turns and sees the man in a black suit, two slim horn poking over his head. He's seen the figure on TV and in newspapers dozen's times but none of them did him justice. The hero of Gotham exudes dread in a way even Toji isn't able to explain.
He throws the woman at his feet. 'Is she one of yours as well?' asks Toji.
'No', says the Batman.
'Are you here to fight?' asks the mercenary.
'No'.
'Then I have no business here'. Toji picks up Mercy's broken prosthetic and feeds it to the cursed spirit. He then jumps of the building and enters a manhole leading to the sewers.
---
'Was it a good idea to just let him go?', asks Nightwing as he injects Mercy with some sedative.
'He isn't the real threat here', he says before looking at the unconscious woman.
Status Power Mingguan
-- Peringkat
Power 
-- Power
stone