章 98: Jason Blood

Getting his ass kicked was not an unfamiliar experience in Esau's life.

It was an integral part of his journey, from when he lost his parents to this very moment.

From his entry into the Underground Fighting Rings against experienced, older and more physically able opponents Esau was forced to fight against. Only resolved when his next-door neighbour, Wilfred and the many Youtube videos he watched, taught him how to fight and protect himself. Then much of his career as Black Hood, only overcoming that when the numerous lessons learned from his many defeats began to take shape with aid from the serum.

To the time he was training under Deathstroke, the man though classing their spars as such, were always fights for his life as the man beat him with an inch of his life every time in the early months. Each time, Esau would have been dead many times over if it wasn't for the serum saving his life and even then, it was a near miss each and every time.

Yet once again, Esau found himself on the receiving end of an ass-kicking.

His opponent; a copy of himself.

Only one that was faster and stronger than him by a large margin.

Every blow he could see coming, but was impossible to react to in any meaningful span of time.

Every strike possessed such force that any defence was rendered meaningless.

All of the skills that could be used to give him a fighting chance, were being used against him.

Esau was being shut down, wholly and completely.

Grunting as the fist broke through his guard, drilling into his cheek, Esau felt his jaw break as he was flung through the air. His back slammed into the ground and he bounced and skidded to a stop, blood pooling in his mouth as he looked to the sky. Yet like always, as life had taught him to do better than anything, it was how to get back to his feet again and that was precisely what he did.

The Kitsune frowned, as it did every time it saw Esau get back to his feet. "Why do you keep fighting?" It wondered, unable to grasp why despite not being able to land a blow, despite being so clearly outmatched, Esau did not surrender. The Kitsune could not grasp that simple fact, it was not holding back, it was unleashing everything within its vast repertoire and yet, Esau kept getting back up. He refused to stay down no matter how hard he was knocked down, the fire in his eyes burning brighter than ever before.

"Because that's all I know how to do." Esau answered.

In his hands materialised his staff, Esau already rushing forwards, the Kitsune meeting his charge much quicker, though he expected this. It had been like this since the beginning of the fight and Esau was starting to get the hang of things as he suddenly planted his foot firmly, bringing his momentum to a stop as he swung his staff around in one hand.

It was fast, whistling with speed and power that would have killed a man.

But his doppelgänger was no ordinary man.

It was perfect placement, striking directly on the neck and yet, it was the staff that broke in two, the doppelgänger continuing to close the distance between them till it was directly on top of him. Its hand was raised, claws ready to come down, the other hand coming up to pierce his stomach, a pincer strike that was impossible to dodge.

This was something that had immediately stood out to Esau as the fight dragged on.

Unlike himself, the Kitsune rarely used fists unless it was to smash through a solid defence he had raised, preferring instead to strike with claws in a similar vein as Talon had taught him. Yet these strikes possessed more strength and speed behind them, cutting deeper and dealing more damage as they tore through muscle and chipped away at bone.

Though it possessed the same skills as him, his doppelgänger preferred to use a similar yet seemingly different style to himself, more in line with his old Black Hood way of fighting prior to being trained by Deathstroke. However, it appeared to be more refined while also appearing to be much more wild, on account of the animalistic instincts that Esau knew to be connected to the powers. The Kistune simultaneously used the claws to wittle down its opponents like Talon, but also used them as a finisher like how Esau was fond of doing.

A mix of the two that made it extremely difficult to fight against.

But one that was also as familiar to him as it was alien.

A unique combination that slowly began to change as the fight dragged on, every time he got to his feet, Esau adapting his attack and defence accordingly. He was taking full advantage of the Kitsune's unwillingness to kill him, forcing it to reveal more of its skills with every engagements, fitting the pieces of the puzzle together slowly but surely.

Esau was not like Batgirl and Robin who could so with just a few short exchanges, that was not who he was or how he had been trained. Instead, for him it was a long, painstaking process, one that many would not be able to endure, yet he was uniquely stubborn enough to endure it all.

As a result, having seen this already before, Esau was able to respond appropriately.

He shifted his body to one side, both clawed hands coming around and cutting through his skin, deep, but not nearly deep enough to cause anything major. Esau then burst forwards at the same time, smashing his shoulder into the Kitsune's jaw, forcing it to take a fraction of a step back before recovering.

That was of no concern to him though, Esau spinning around the back and wrapping both arms around its waist and lift him off the ground, slamming him down in a german supplex. He quickly disengaged though, knowing better than to take this to a battle on the ground, the Kitsune's animalistic nature suited especially to this style of fighting, giving it an advantage he could not hope to match at the time being.

But as he rolled to his feet, dashing backwards to put some further distance between them, a knife was held loosely in his hand, another appearing in his other shortly after, blood dripping from the former. "You still resist." The Kitsune murmured, looking up to reveal a deep cut upon its side that was rapidly healing, flesh stitching itstel back together as it rose to its feet.

"I thought you would have expected this." Esau retorted. "You have, after all, supposedly being watching me all this time. Shouldn't you know better than anyone else that I don't ever quit, even when I should?"

"True." It nodded its head, the doppelgänger looking displeased yet proud of that fact. "But such tenacity will not help you in this fight."

"I'll be the judge of that." Esau was undettered though, once more rushing the Kitsune who like always, met him head on. "And I've started to get used to your speed!" Once more, the engagement was short as it had always been yet this time, like before it was Esau that came out victorious, slowly shifting the tide of the fight in his favour.

Blood splashed through the air as Esau pressed his attack, knives spinning in his hands as he stepped in close, thrusting them into flesh that resisted heavily. Yet he put all his strength in to every blow, amplifying the striking force with speed and momentum that allowed him to pierce the skin of the superhumanely durable foe. Each slash sent the Kitsune stumbling back, eyes cut horizontally leaving it blind as it could nothing except give up ground with every swing and stab.

However, it was not enough.

In that instant, everything went still, Esau freezing in place as his eyes widened, knives pierced directly into the body of the Kitsune, before blood burst from his lips. His grip on their handles became loose, hands dropping limply by his side as his legs gave out from beneath him, but Esau did not fall, he could not.

A single hand held him up.

One pierced directly through his heart.

"I told you," it said, a single bloody eye gazing out upon him, "such tenacity will not help you in this fight. Not when you do not understand how to truly utilise these powers as you should. Until you can do that, you will never be able to match me, let alone defeat me."

-X-

Friday 27th August 2010, 12:00.

Rhode Island,

Happy Harbour,

Mount Justice.

Sighing tiredly, Esau tightened the towel around his waist as he stepped out into the steamy bathroom, running both hands through his hair to get it out of his eyes. Getting to the sink, he wiped off the steam with one hand, the bathroom filter already clearing the room rapidly, Esau running one hand over his jawline, feeling the small hairs beginning to grow forming a thin layer of stubble.

Opening the cupboard, Esau pulled out some shaving cream and a razor before beginning to shave down the stubble.

It didn't take long, no more than a minute or two, but it was long enough to think over what had happened in the previous week.

After he had fallen unconscious, according to Barbara, Wally had been his usual self and further dug them into a hole. Quite literally when the floor had crumbled underneath their feet leaving them plummeting to a vat of lava. Luckily, he had been saved by Barbara, M'gann later correctly answering the question, saving their lives in the process.

From there, after a brief but apparently enjoyable argument between Barbara and Wally, Kaldur had taken charge with them entering through what was apparently a pocket dimension within the Tower. According to Superboy, it was he that carried the unconscious Esau throughout the snowy pocket dimension before they came across a floating cane, Wally and Artemis grabbing hold of it at the same time and it flew off, dragging them away with it.

It all accumulated in a fight between known criminal and magic phony, Abra Kadabra and the Lord of Chaos, Klarion the Witch Boy. With the latter disappearing to apparently fight Wally and Doctor Fate on the roof of the Tower. Wally had been unusually tight-lipped about what had happened after the fight had ended, only saying that after a quick chat with Kent in the Helmet, he was brought down to where everyone else.

All the while, he had been blissfully unconscious, unaware of all this happening around him.

Or more importantly, fighting for his life within his own mind.

Placing the razor on the sink, Esau turned the tap on, cupping some water in his hands and washed off the remnants of the shaving cream from his face. "Esau! You in here?" Shaking his head, turning his mind away from what had happened with the Kitsune, he exited the bathroom.

"Yeah, just give me a minute." He replied, pulling on a pair of boxers, shorts and a simple plain T-shirt.

Entering out he saw Barbara stood in the doorway waiting.

"What'd you need?"

"Batman's looking for you." She said and Esau sighed, not looking forward to what would probably be an interrogation on what happened in the Tower of Fate. A lot of people were concerned about the Tower's unusual reaction to his presence and many questions had been asked, Esau unable to give the answers they wanted.

But in the process, more than a few had figured out that something unconnected to the Tower had happened in that timeframe.

"Alright, where is he?"

"Conference room." Nodding his head, Esau made to leave but Barbara stopped him, moving in front of him. "Are you okay?" She asked worriedly.

Esau smiled at her concern. "I'm fine, it was just the Tower acting defensively, nothing to worry about." Despite his words, Barbara didn't look convinced but released a sigh and let him go. She didn't know why, but Barbara knew that what happened was not simply the Tower of Fate acting defensively. After all, the moment they revealed their true intent to aid the Tower and Kent Nelson, it had been incredibly helpful besides the incident with the cane.

Even then, that seemed to work in the favour of the Tower more than them.

Yet Esau had not awoken from his unconsciousness.

In fact, the way in which he had grimaced, it seemed like he was still fighting against something mentally.

However, she didn't push it, right now she was just glad he seemed to be okay.

-X-

Friday 27th August 2010, 12:05.

Rhode Island,

Happy Harbour,

Mount Justice.

"You wanted to see me?" Esau questioned as he entered the conference room to find Kaldur stood engaged in conversation with a slightly middle-aged man with red hair possessing a few streaks of white showing that the man was getting on in his years. Batman meanwhile was sat quietly on the over end of the conference table, simply studying the interaction carefully.

"Yes." Batman indicated to the man who had stopped his conversation with Kaldur to study Esau more closely, eventually nodding to himself as if confirming what he was looking for. "This is-"

"I can introduce myself, Bruce." The man interjected pleasantly, moving forwards and presenting one hand to Esau. "It's a pleasure to finally meet you, Esau Jacobson, I am Jason Blood."