"FUCK!" I exclaimed, reaching toward Killer Croc as I unleashed two arcs of electricity from my hands. I was in so much pain I didn't even bother to make a star wars reference even with such a perfect setup.
Releasing electricity like this required me to activate every circuit in my coat to generate that much power. The problem with that is that some of the advanced insulators in the Electricutioners suit were damaged by Batman.
I couldn't create that kind of technology myself, meaning that whenever I unleashed a full-powered electric attack, some of it would leak into my body, and even if leaking electricity it wasn't strong enough to kill, it still hurt like hell.
'At least Killer Croc seems to be in even more pain...' I mused, gritting my teeth, watching as the humanoid lizard staggered backward while howling in pain and clutching his head.
Looking at this scene, Robin had a look of realization on his face as he recognized the Electrocutioner suite's technology. Luckily he knew there were more important things to worry about right now and sprung into action immediately.
Robin pushed a button on his utility button and ran toward Killer Croc, landing a forceful dropkick that forced the latter into the middle of the street. He took a step back and watched as his bike crashed into the lizard, sending him flying.
I quickly deactivated the electricity and reached for my dislocated ankle with a frown. gritting my teeth, I firmed my resolve and popped the joint back into its socket with a sickening crunch that sent floods of pain all over my body.
I have never been more grateful for my photographic reflexes and enhanced intelligence than now. Luckily, I've watched some videos and read books about these procedures just in case. I still needed to rest and give it time to recover, and it hurt like hell, but at least I can keep fighting this way.
Taking a deep breath and closing my eyes to push down the pain, I stood up with a wince under my mask, feeling my joint still aching. I ignored it and prepared to keep fighting as I watched Killer Croc stand back up as if nothing had happened.
"You will pay for this!" Croc exclaimed, letting out a growl, but quickly fell to his knees when whatever Robin had planted on his scaly back exploded, forcing him down.
Croc let another growl, his reptilian eyes alternating between Robin and me before he turned tail and jumped back into the sewers through the hole he created.
I sighed, feeling the tensity leave my body and the pain I've been ignoring flare back, but I didn't let myself relax since I still had Robin to worry about, and he probably knew I was the one who stole the Electrocutioner suit by now.
And sure enough.
"You're the one who ruined my stakeout at the restaurant, and--" Robin said, visibly frowning as he walked toward me, but I quickly cut him off with a punch to the face as soon as he was within swinging distance, sending him staggering backward.
He didn't see it coming since he probably thought I came to help him.
"The fuck do you think you're doing?!" Robin exclaimed as he got up, nursing his swollen cheek, his tone shocked and angry as he reached into his utility belt, taking out a Batarang and throwing it at me.
"That's what I should be asking you," I blankly replied as I whipped away the Batarang with my steel wire, threateningly brandishing it to the side as I looked at the boy wonder.
"That warehouse you were taking Killer Croc to is full of homeless people," I remarked, gesturing toward the warehouse, scowling under my mask.
"If I didn't stop him, he would have slaughtered the people there," I added as I clenched my teeth in frustration. I wanted nothing more than to tackle Robin to the ground and beat the living shit out of him to vent my anger, but I knew better.
Robin heard my words and froze as he turned to the warehouse.
"The fuck kind of hero are you, anyway?" I asked, intending to take my pound of flesh with words if I couldn't do it with a sound beating. "Did you want to distract Croc with the homeless people there and sneak up on him while he's tearing them new ones?" I cynically asked, making Robin cringe and look away.
I knew that wasn't his intention, but I didn't care.
"I just saved those people along with your sorry ass, and your first instinct is to start talking shit. What the fuck did you expect?" I asked, waiting for Robin to give me an answer, but none came. At least he had the decency to look guilty.
"Whatever..." I remarked, sighing and shaking my head as I turned to leave. "Don't fucking follow me," I added without bothering to look at Robin as I walked away since I'd know anyway, thanks to the pigeon drone flying overhead.
I watched Robin stand still for a couple of seconds, seemingly hesitating, but he shook his head and turned to leave eventually, causing me to sigh in relief, but I wasn't out of the mud yet.
'Robin is at least reasonable... can't say the same about the other one...'
I sighed as I turned my attention to Harley Quinn, who looked like she was enjoying herself too much, and worse yet, she was staring directly at me from her spot on the roof.
'What the hell does this crazy bitch want...?'
I sighed as I walked into the nearest alley, climbing into a building's roof, splitting my attention between my steel wire and Harley Quinn to see what she would do as I swung away.
'For fuck's sake...' I internally cursed, regretting not punching Robin more than once as I saw Harley quickly get up and start following behind me like it was the most natural thing in the world.
Gritting my teeth, I quickly turned around and started swinging towards Harley. Catwoman was one thing, but I can't let Harley Fucking Quinn know where I live.
Harley noticed my change of direction and froze for a second but quickly put on a broad smile and started waving at me, and I almost let go of the wire and fell to the ground in my confusion at her reaction.
I winced under my mask as I landed on the roof in front of the crazy blonde, feeling my ankle flare in pain because of the sudden pressure.
"Heya, Gray!" the crazy blonde greeted with too much familiarity for my taste. And it took me all of one second to connect the dots and recognize her as the over-energetic bartender at Selina's club after taking a closer look.
I just sighed as I heard her words and realized how she recognized me, unable to muster the energy to get mad or even play dumb.
"Why are you following me?" I asked, getting straight to the point. I was tired and had no energy for mind games or mincing words with anyone, especially if they happened to be crazy.
Preparing my steel wire for action, I moved it to the edge of my sleeve, waiting for her reply. I had no qualms about killing Harley Quinn right here and now if I didn't like her answer, and that's what I'll do if I didn't like the sound of what she'd say next.
"No real reason; just saying hi," she replied in a cheerful tone, shrugging her shoulder. "Besides, I know yer secret, so it's only fair ya know mine too," she added, a wide grin splitting her face, and I felt the urge to roll my eyes at such ridiculous reasoning.
I don't know what I expected her answer to be, but this definitely wasn't it, not by a long shot.
"You can't seriously expect me to believe that, do you?" I asked, my eyes twitching under my mask, and Harley merely shrugged at my words with a careless expression.
"Up to you, honey," Harley replied, still smirking as she gestured to the side in dismissal like she didn't care either way.
"Let's say I believe you... but now that I know you know my secret, what's to stop me from killing to silence you?" I asked as I let the steel wire out of my sleeve, whipping at the air.
"Me being nice about it and showing ya mine after seeing yours for once, if ya know what I mean," Harley replied matter-of-factly, suggestively wiggling her eyebrows as she let out a chuckle.
"Besides, Bats is probably on his way here now..." Harley added, raising an eyebrow as she gestured towards the decimated street full of holes, thanks to Croc's rampage and the shit tone of explosives that Robin used.
"So ya would have to play nice unless ye wanna tussle with me until Natsy gets here and whops both our asses," the crazy blonde concluded with another shrug of her shoulder, putting on a smug smile.
My eyes turned to the revolver on her hip and its oversized barrel, and I sighed as I retracted my wire. I had no idea what nasty surprises were in that thing, and the way she moved from roof to roof while following me suggested she wasn't a baseline human, so I wasn't sure I could finish her before Batman or his sidekicks got here.
"Fine, but stop following me," I remarked as I turned around and swung away without bothering to say anything else, because there was nothing else to say.
"Be seeing ya!" Harley exclaimed as she watched me swing away, a smile on her face as she waved me goodbye.
'Not if I can help it...' I mused, my expression darkening, but I didn't voice my thought, too tired to quip with the crazy blonde.
...
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'Well... that was a day and a half...' I sighed, falling on my back and collapsing into the bed after a nice shower.
It took me two hours to navigate my way back since I didn't want to give anyone the chance to follow me home.
I took a long detour toward Crime Alley, where I knew there were no cameras and only stored my gear once I was sure no one was watching me and that no surveillance devices around, thanks to the pigeon drone.
God, that thing is handy to have around. Conspiracy nuts who hate on these things on the internet can fuck off for all I care.
In any case, I slowly made my home from there, ignoring the almost endless amount of shady happenings around Crime Alley and keeping my head down.
The brief time I spent there before quickly leaving reminded me why I've been avoiding it since I came here.
'Seriously, the rest of Gotham looks like Disney land compared to that place...' I yawned and turned to the notification in the corner of my vision, messaging the back of my neck.
'I can't believe I fought Killer Croc and survived...' I smiled, shaking my head as I remembered how genuinely pissed off the lizard looked before he turned tail and ran.
I can't tell you how many times I had nightmares about going to the toilet only for Killer Croc's head to burst out of the toilet bowl and bite a chunk out of my ass.
'And then there's Harley Quin...' I frowned as I recalled my encounter with the crazy blonde. I'd honestly take wrestling with Killer Croc over dealing with that brand of crazy.
If I had to deal with Killer Croc, I'd at least know what he wanted, which was probably to rip my ass to shreds, and I'd respond accordingly by turning around and running as fast as I could, but I had no idea what Harley Quinn wanted.
Harley Quinn was crazy and unpredictable, and I had no idea how to deal with her other than to kill her, there and then, and I couldn't do that at the time for reasons she made very obvious herself.
'Fuck it. I'll deal with the crazy bitch when the time comes...' I shrugged, dropping the subject as I turned to the notification in the corner of my vision.
[Would you like to view the new notifications? Yes/No]
I accepted and began browsing through them.
[+2 levels to the Brawling skill]
[Brawling (level 25)]
[+1 level to the Acrobat class]
[+3 stat points]
[Due to reaching a milestone in your Brawling skill, you have unlocked a new perk: (100% Muscle Usage)]
[100% Muscle Usage: you can apply 100% of the body's muscular strength, maximizing the capacity, while under normal conditions, most humans can only exert around 65% (overuse may cause exhaustion and intense hunger)]
'Huh... this feels weird...' I mused as I stretched my palm, opening and closing it while flexing my muscles. It felt like finding something I never knew was lost to me until I did, and I discovered body parts I hadn't realized existed as I tried to move every muscle in my body.
'This will take some time getting used to...' I shrugged my shoulders, moving on to the other notifications.
[+1 level to the Acrobatics skill]
[Acrobatics (level 8)]
[+1 level to the Acrobat class]
[Acrobat (level 9)]
[+3 Stat points]
[Quest complete: WHAT ARE THOSE?!]
'Nice, now I only need one more class level before I could unlock that Archetype thingy...' I nodded in satisfaction and moved on to the next set of notifications.
...
WHAT ARE THOSE?!
Killer Croc is a giant, terrifying crocodile-human hybrid with the ability to burst through brick walls and chew through steel, and he has a particular fondness for eating people.
And now, you have to kick his ass before he eats your homeless buddies!
Good luck!
Objective: defeat Killer Croc
Rewards: [random equipment]
...
[Accept rewards now? Yes/No]
I naturally accepted and waited for the randomizer.
[Randomizing equipment.... randomizing complete]
[You received: Wall Climbing Boots]
[Wall Climbing Boots: a pair of military-grade black boots that come with the ability to stick to solid surfaces, allowing the wearer to climb the flattest of walls (they come with advanced sensors to detect movement and are powered by kinetic energy)]
'Whelp, looks like I'm all set to rip off Spiderman... luckily, I don't have any uncles who'd have to die to teach me about responsibility...' I chuckled, taking the boots out of my inventory to inspect them.
They seemed like a good old pair of military boots, and no matter how hard I looked, there was nothing extraordinary about them that would suggest they'd enable me to climb walls.
'Whatever... I'm too tired to question this shit...' I yawned as I turned to my available stat points and hesitated for a second before investing 5 points into the Body and Mind attribute each, raising them both to 50.
[Due to reaching a milestone in your Mind attribute, your brain has evolved, and you have unlocked a new perk: (Perfect Recall)]
[Perfect Recall: sometimes confused with genius-level intellect and known as photographic memory, it is the ability to recall anything and everything you have ever been allowed to remember over the course of your life]
I sighed as I looked through the Perfect Recall perk, now knowing how to feel about it. It would be a great advantage, and it would help me gain technical knowledge, but it could be a double-edged sword at the same time.
I've already seen a shit ton of fucked up shit, and I'll likely see even more, and the idea that I'll never be able to forget about such things was not reassuring to say the least.
'Guess I'll have to soldier through it... luckily the other one didn't come with a downside...' I bitterly mused as I turned to the other perk, finding some consolation there.
[Due to reaching a milestone in your Body attribute, your physique has evolved, and you have unlocked a new perk: (Accelerated Healing)]
[Accelerated Healing: is the ability to recover from bodily injuries or disease at a superhuman rate. It differs from Regeneration because although you can recover from tissue damage and even regenerate entire cells, it cannot repair separated limbs or torn cells]
I fought the urge to get off my bed and do a fist pump on account of my exhaustion as I read through the Accelerated Healing perk, already feeling the pain in my ankle joint fade away.
With my Superhuman Stamina, I had no issue training for hours and only needed to rest for several minutes before resuming. But I always had a problem with accumulated injuries.
My healing speed was beyond the human average already, but it still took my body one week or more to recover from bullet wounds, and Accelerated healing solved that problem for good.
I smiled as I turned to my character screen to give it one look before I slept.
Age: 17
Class: [Thief (level 10 MAX)] [Fighter (level MAX)] [Acrobat (Level 9)]
...
Stats:
Body: 50
Mind: 50
Spirit: Locked
Stat Points: 31
.....
Skills:
[Brawling (level 25)] [Crime (level 25)] [Acrobatics (level 8)]
....
Perks:
[Dormant Metahuman] [Silent Step] [Eidetic Kinesthesia] [Superhuman Stamina] [Perfect Recall] [Accelerated Healing]
...
'Nice... with this, I should be able to clear out that warehouse no problem...' I mused as I shifted in my bed to make myself comfortable, relaxing my body.
'I'll have to hold off on increasing my stats until my skills catch up... I don't want to develop a habit of relying on brute strength...' I concluded, closing my eyes as the bent-up exhaustion from the busy day finally caught up with me.
...
The Batcave
"You're back..." Batman calmly remarked as he watched Jason Todd Lying on a cot bare-chested with Alfred tending to the numerous cuts and bruises covering the boy wonder's body.
"Astute as always, master Bruce..." Alfred calmly remarked in a refined tone as he turned to the caped crusader, raising an eyebrow as he shot his master a warning look, which was as effective as tits on a bull.
"What happened?" Batman asked as he approached his ward, unmindful of his butler's warning gaze, causing the latter to sigh and resume stitching up Jason's wounds.
"I fucked up— ouch!" Jason remarked, stopping mid-sentence to glare at the butler.
"Language please, master Jason," Alfred blankly remarked, stopping his work for a second to give the young Robin a bemused look before resuming.
"I— cough, messed up," Jason replied, clearing his throat at the stern look the butler sent him before continuing. "I spent an entire week setting up a trap for Killer Croc in the sewers, but someone sabotaged my work..." he added, awkwardly scratching his head.
"I couldn't fight Croc head-on, not in the sewers, so I lured him to the street..." the young Robin explained the incident in great detail as Batman listened with rapt attention.
...
"I... I almost led Killer Croc into a warehouse full of homeless people..." Jason said as he turned away from his mentor with a guilty expression, unable to meet the latter's gaze.
"It's a good thing that person stopped you when he did then..." Batman blankly remarked. Jason detected no emotion in his tone, no anger, no disappointment, nothing, causing him to grit his teeth in frustration.
"Let this be a lesson to you," Batman added, putting a hand on Jason's shoulder, causing him to pause, giving his mentor a confused look. "Be better next time," the caped crusader concluded and turned to leave, leaving a bewildered Jason gazing at his shrinking back.
"It's master Bruce's way of burying the hatchet," Alfred remarked, bitterly smiling as he watched Jason's confused expression. "It might not seem like it, but he is very proud of you..." he added, shaking his head.
"Master Bruce only has a unique way of showing it..."
...
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