บท 13: Getting to Phase 1
[First person POV]
I stepped through the portal and released some nanites to scout for the people I'm looking for as I stood on the sprawling grounds of the X-Mansion looking at a beautiful building.
It was made of stone and had a timeless aesthetic, if you told me it was built in the 1800's it'd be believable and if you told me it was built 5 years ago it'd be believable, it was that kind of timeless.
I contacted Selene and had her tell me the locations of the X-Men with the powers I wanted and had my nanites form a pair of glasses over my eyes.
"Scouting and sending locations to your hud" she said. "Thanks Selene, how's everything been going in the city since I've been away"? I asked.
"Same old same old, Robo-Bat has been working as you predicted" she informed me.
"Well that's encouraging to hear, have there been any problems"? I asked, "No the unmanned suit has been working within the calculated parameters" she replied.
"Good to hear" I tell her, "I'll take the full report when I get back" I add before asking, "How's Peter been doing"?
"Peter's been doing his Spider-Man thing on the down low, keeping witnesses to a minimum. He practically lives in the lab you all but gave him, Gwen's usually there with him".
"Please tell me he's not a virgin anymore" I asked in faux exasperation.
"Lost it the day after you left, they've been using the labs overnight room as a love nest" she tattled.
"Atta boy Pete" I say out loud, "Okay can you send me a visual from the nanites for all targets to my hud, I wanna get in and go as quickly as possible" I tell her.
"First target located, they're in the kitchen" she told me. "Thanks Selene" I reply as a visual pops up on my hud.
I open a portal into the kitchen while still in the mirror dimension and make my way in.
When I step into what I assume is the teachers' lounge/ kitchen I see my target and make my way over to him.
Sitting at a table with his feet up and a beer in his hand is a short, hairy guy that's built like a f*cking tank, Wolverine, a mutant with unstoppable healing power, adamantium claws and skeleton with a take no shit attitude.
As I made my way over to him I felt myself absorb his power, my senses became… more sensitive and I felt the bones, muscles and tendons in my forearms moving as new bones grew rapidly and my muscle memory picked up some very interesting combat skills.
The feeling was nuts but it quickly subsided, what was really interesting is that everything in my body felt relaxed yet amped and ready for combat at the same time.
I quickly grew my new bone claws which unlike my spider stingers didn't have an opening; they just cut through my skin which friggin hurt. Thank god I was in the mirror dimension as there was a good bit of blood which I quickly had my nanites clean up.
I retract my new claws and watch as the wounds they left quickly closed and healed as if they were never there.
A smile graced my face as I was basically immortal now. I had no clue how long it would now take for me to die of old age but Wolverine was 120 years old and looked like he was still in his mid-20s, he'd looked like this for 100 years.
I shake my head and focus, I'm not here to screw around, I'm here to collect some powers I've wanted for a while.
"Selene do you have visual on the other targets"? I ask, "I do, sending visuals now" she replied.
I opened another portal and stepped through, on the other side was Kitty Pryde, she looked very young so I can only assume these X-Men aren't really X-Men yet.
I gain her ability of intangibility without much fuss and walk through her door to try it out; it felt like walking through static.
As I got a feel for it I focused it to the points between my knuckles and activate my intangibility while also activating my claws.
They extended out and there was no brief flash of pain this time, I focused on the feeling of using both powers at once and retracted my claws before deactivating the acute intangibility before quickly activating both at the same time again.
Physical and mental eidetic memory was a great choice, I could now pop my claws and not have to deal with any pain or discomfort and keeping it activated didn't require any effort.
Once again I retract my claws and deactivate my intangibility before making my way to my next target.
As I'm walking I notice something and ask Selene, "Hey Selene, how many people are here? This place seems empty".
"Currently there are 7 people here" she informs me. "Well that's unexpected" I reply.
"Charles Xavier has been recruiting students for his new school, it'll be opening next year" Selene reveals.
"Fair enough" I reply simply, it sounds like this is going to be more of an X-Men Evolution situation.
I quickly locate the next person and make my way over. Now these powers I gain are very potent, I feel a small change take place in my brain as I can suddenly feel that a change of weather was just a thought away.
Storm was definitely a hottie and looked like she was in her early 20s, but her Mohawk was a turn off, I never liked women that shaved the side of their heads.
I left her to her devices and headed to the next person, Scott Summers. The 20 something Cyclops was in the school's gym working out and when I got his powers I was thankful that I was in the mirror dimension.
Red concussive lasers blasted out of my eyes and I quickly closed them and focused on the power and feelings I got from its use.
I opened them again and they were glowing bright red, not unlike Supermans laser eyes, except these weren't heat lasers, they were pure concussive force.
I experimented with them for a little while and got used to them fairly quickly, I summoned a mirror and watched as I forced my eyes back to normal, then made them glow again.
"Oh this is gonna be intimidating as hell" I said to myself with an evil grin. I return my eyes to normal and go towards my last 2 targets.
Jean Grey was another 20 something hottie but I could tell she'd become truly inhumanly gorgeous when the Phoenix Force chose her.
It was annoying that it wasn't just a dormant part of herself that I could copy for myself. The telepathy and telekinesis were familiar to me but felt like they barely needed any effort on my part now, I guess having them as "natural" abilities made them far easier, at least for me.
Now for my last target, I'd decided to ignore Beast as his powers are fairly useless to me.
I stepped out of the portal behind a bald man sitting in a big desk in a refined office. It was all mahogany and leather, not my style but very refined.
The mental power I absorb from Charles almost floors me; the scope of my mind expanded to a degree even I didn't think was possible.
Charles Xavier is more powerful than I could have imagined and as such it took me a while to get the new powers under control.
When I had them under control I delved into my mindscape and had a look around. During my magic training I'd made a mind scape and surrounded it with a Pradium shield or the approximation of one and covered it in protection runes.
I scanned every millimetre of my mind scape to look for any weak points that could be exploited and reinforced them before I left and came back to myself.
My mind was virtually impenetrable before which was why I was comfortable being this close to Charles, even in the mirror dimension, who bore a striking resemblance to James McAvoy.
Young Professor X was working on an expensive laptop; it looked like he was writing a thesis on mutation and mutants, a term I decided to nip in the bud.
I cloaked myself, exited the mirror dimension and made contact with his mind.
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[Third Person POV]
Charles Xavier was working on his laptop, finishing his thesis on mutation and mutants, he thought if he showed people that mutants weren't monsters but humans with an extra gene then they wouldn't be so quick to judge them when they inevitably became public knowledge.
As he finished a paragraph he was working on that described the theory behind mutation/mutants he felt a presence enter his mind to make contact.
"Hello professor, it's nice to finally meet you" a deep, smooth voice said to Charles. It shocked him but it didn't sound hostile.
"Hello whoever you are, may I ask what you're doing here"? He asked, "You can say that I'm a concerned citizen here to help prevent you from making a mistake".
"What mistake are you talking about"? The voice replied, "You use the words mutation and mutant to describe these people you "theorise" about".
"That is the correct term for what we are" Charles replied. "Yes and humans react so well to those words, they don't remind people of radiation side effects and birth defects at all" The voice said flippantly.
"You may believe in human kind but you're blind faith will hurt us far more than anything else" the voice continued.
"So what do you propose I do? Call ourselves gods"? Charles questioned in an attempt to prod into this unknown man's motives.
"Not at all, I simply think that calling powered individuals with a new gene "mutants" to be repugnant and detrimental to our cause" the voice replied simply.
"And what is our cause"? Charles further questioned, "To be able to live in peaceful coexistence with humanity. To not be hunted down or hated simply because we're different, and calling us mutants will do nothing but scare people when they encounter us".
Charles couldn't help but admit the voice had a point, humans often feared and rejected what they didn't understand and the words mutant or mutation did generally have negative connotations.
"I decided to use those words so we could embrace what we are and change the meaning of the words" Charles explained.
"Commendable but foolish, don't use those words Charles. Don't condemn innocent people to misplaced hate over the word used to describe people like us", the voice said in a sombre tone.
"Then what would you have me call people like us that doesn't inspire fear or distrust"? Charles asked in sad voice.
"Call us Metahumans, all one word. It lets people know we a more than human, but that we are still a part of the human race", the voice answered.
"Metahuman" Charles said, the word reverberated in Charles's mind. It was simple, catchy and it sounded like something people with powers and mutations would realistically be called.
"And you really think people will be more accepting using that word"? Charles asked once again.
"Words are powerful things Charles, they can bring people together and they can rip them apart. Give people a word that will bring us together, that links human to metahuman" the voice said.
Charles was convinced and as he was about to say so he felt the other presence in his mind start to fade away, but not before it left some final parting words.
"You've made the right decision Charles, thank you" it said, and then it was gone.
Charles smiled to himself, it wasn't every day he came into contact with people with powers similar to his, and it was a peaceful exchange of words.
With renewed vigour Charles started editing his thesis on Metahumans and the Metahuman gene while wondering if he could find his mysterious friend with cerebro.
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[First Person POV - Lex]
I made my way back through the mansion towards Jean Grey; I had some preventative measures to take in case she ever becomes the Phoenix.
Walking into the library Jean was currently reading in I silently made my way into her mind, it wasn't easy as I had to make sure she had no clue that I was doing anything.
I finally got in and stared to look for the emotional centre of her mind scape which unsurprisingly was a gigantic library.
I found the "Emotion Section" in her mind library and proceeded to slowly and carefully give her emotional control that would make a Vulcan proud.
She wouldn't be suppressing anything anymore as doing that led to the Dark Phoenix rising. Charles heart was in the right place when he made the blocks but the guy was seriously underqualified in the field of mental health.
Anyone with a modicum of mental health experience knows that suppressing emotions and feeling leads to very damaging things, and drug and alcohol addiction was the least of everyone's problems when it came to Jean suppressing things.
Now she wouldn't be a cold and logical being like a Vulcan she just had damn near perfect control of herself and her emotions.
There would be no overwhelming moment where she just lost it and the phoenix took over, hopefully now when the Phoenix and Jean become one she will be the one in control, or it'll at least be a symbiotic relationship.
I find the part of her mind where the blocks to her true power reside and tamper with them in such a way that they will dissipate over good period of time and allow jean to slowly get used to her increasing power.
Finally I give her my intrinsic knowledge of how to deal with power and control it as well as how to protect her mind, this Jean Grey will be a force for good and a ridiculously powerful one at that.
With my changes made and knowledge imparted I leave her mind the same way I entered and observed her for a while.
She looks like a weight has been taken off her shoulders, literally her shoulders relaxed as I watched her and a smile appeared on her face.
It felt good to help a genuinely good person, she had a dry personality and a quick wit from what I observed in her mind and maybe now she'd be able to be herself a bit more around people.
With my good deed for the day done I enter the mirror dimension and open a portal back to my Lair in New York.
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[First Person POV]
It was good to be home after so many months away, nothing had really changed in the lair except there was a full Batman suit standing in the large glass trophy case.
I went to the main computer and read through the detailed report Selene had made for me about the unmanned place holder I had Selene make using our pradium nanites.
Selene would control the suit and go out on patrol in the city using the same tactics I had utilised while in the suit. It certainly helped cement my cover as definitely not being the Batman.
I made my way into the training room and proceeded to train all of my new abilities in the art of combat.
The use of telepathy in combat would have to be trained on the fly as it doesn't work on hard light constructs.
Running through flight combat was a new experience in itself, a complete three-dimensional space to fight in where gravity has no hold or barring on movement took time to get used to.
Thank the big man upstairs my brother had introduced me to anime, cartoons and comics in my past life. Using those memories and pop culture from this world I devised a rigorous training program to maximize my fighting capabilities in flight.
It took a while but I eventually got to a level where I was comfortable with my fighting capabilities in the air and changed the training program to a relaxation program.
A beautiful beach backed by a lush tropical rainforest and crystal clear blue ocean appears before me, I could feel the sun on my face and the cool ocean breeze in my hair as a smile graced my face.
I had my pradium nanite suit change into a pair of comfy boardshorts and took to the air. My increased mental capacity from Xavier and telekinesis from Jean Grey made flight come naturally to me.
I took a moment to look over the artificial paradise and then I just enjoyed the sensation of weightlessness and freedom.
It was a dream of many people in my old world to be able to fly unassisted and here I was, floating over a serene and beautiful ocean.
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[Time Skip – 2008]
[First Person POV]
"Tony Stark has gone missing after his military caravan was ambushed in an undisclosed location in Afghanistan. It's believed he has been taken hostage but there's been no word yet, we'll stand by and keep you posted for updates".
I watched the news reporter on tv give her report on the now missing Tony Stark. "Finally" I say out loud in my lair, "How's the narcissist doing Selene"? I ask my faithful A.I.
"He's fine, Ho Yinsen performed surgery to save his life, I had some nanites enter Starks blood stream in order to help his recovery and prevent infection" she replied.
"Good work, thanks Selene" I tell her, "It's what I do boss man" she replies.
The past few years had gone by uneventfully; The Batman was more of a myth than ever; just how I planned to keep it.
After that security camera footage I let leak there had been no other footage available, just victims I'd allowed to live because their crimes weren't severe enough for a more permanent solution. Telepathy came in handy to sort out the redeemable from the filth.
Peter has been doing his Spider-Man thing in the open more and more and Selene was constantly scrubbing his image off the internet, as soon as Tony says those 4 words (I am Iron Man) on TV I'll have Selene stop.
Mary Jane, Felicia and I had parted ways after they decided they wanted to go to college on the other side of the country and I had to keep up my act of an aspiring professional fighter and stock trader (it helped cover how I made so much money).
I had gone 20 – 0 in the amateurs and so far I'm 6 – 0 professionally and would be making my UFC debut later this month.
Videos of my fights had been going viral, 26 fights, 26 ko's, not one direct hit taken. I'd let glancing blows pseudo connect so there wouldn't be any marks anyway, can't have people know about my healing ability.
I'd use magic in my UFC fights to fake bruises and such so people won't cotton on to my abilities, it'd be annoying work but my secret identities had to be kept just that, secret… It also made things more fun, a challenge if you will.
Other than that nothing much has been going on, my parents were happy and travelling together when they weren't in their picturesque estate in Virginia. I'd had Selene make some hidden moves to boost their security while at home and abroad.
Things would start picking up from here on out and I couldn't wait, these next few months couldn't go any quicker.
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[Time Skip – 2 Months]
[Third Person POV]
On a TV stage 2 men sat in casual suits across a professional looking table from one another having a spirited debate on an up and coming fighter that had taken the UFC by storm.
"Tim, he's had 3 fights in 2 months, has 3 knockouts to add to his growing list of knockouts and oh yeah, he's been hit a grand total of 2 times, not to mention he's only 18"! A man with dark brown skin argued.
"I know J.P. and I agree that it's very impressive, but he's moving too fast for his own good. How long do you think he can keep it up before he runs himself into the ground and reality hits him, quite literally, in the face"!? The caucasian man named Tim replied.
J.P. and Tim were the hosts of a sports and fight talk show called The Fighter and The Kidd. J.P. "The Don" Donick or J.P. as he liked to be called was an ex-WBC light-heavyweight champion and his co-host Tim Kidd was an ex-NFL quarterback with 2 super bowl rings.
"How long can he keep this up"? J.P. asked, "Listen to these stats Tim; 3 fights, 3 first round knock outs with a total of 1 minute and 40 seconds of cage time".
"He's been hit twice and they were glancing blows, at best! So how long can he keep this up? As long as he damn well pleases"! J.P. concluded passionately.
"I know the stats, and as I said before that's all very impressive, especially for an 18 year old. I'll even give you this; his 3 opponents were cold blooded killers in the cage, but eventually he's gonna get caught, everyone does. You know that better than anyone"! Tim replied passionately.
"You're right I do and trust me when I say this Tim, "No Mercy" Mercer is just getting started, believe that"! J.P. replied with just as much passion.
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[Time Skip – 1 Month]
[First person POV - Lex]
"The truth is… I am Iron Man" Tony Stark said staring out from the replay on the TV I was watching. "Jesus Christ, FINALLY! I thought this day would never come"! I yell in relieved exasperation.
"Yes, yes, life is so difficult. Having to wait a few months while enjoying fame, fortune and being touted as "the next big thing" in the world of fighting must be sooo difficult" Selene replied with heavy sarcasm.
As I was about to reply she kept going, "Oh and then there's your Batman activities, planning for future power boosts and helping Peter sell his inventions. Should I go on"? She asked.
"Okay okay I get it! I'm being an impatient ass" I reply in exasperation, "Keep an eye on Harlem, tell me when there are reports of 2 giant monsters destroying everything, and when you do keep Peter as far away as possible if need be" I relay to her and begin my wait for my next power up.
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[Time Skip - 5 weeks]
[First Person POV – Lex]
"Lex there are reports of a giant grey monster attacking the military in Harlem" Selene tells me as I was working out in the training room.
"Sweet" I reply as my training clothes change into my Batman suit and I make my way to the elevator/ sky exit from my lair.
I activate stealth mode and fly towards Harlem like a rocket, tonight I increase my strength and durability to incredible levels.
As I enter Harlem it looks like a war zone, wanton destruction and bodies were everywhere. You really don't see this kind of collateral in the movies.
I felt my anger towards Abomination rise as I look at a man cradling his injured wife in his arms. I have Selene break off a handful of nanites from my suit to look for injured people, locate and heal any internal life threatening injuries they may have.
As I was making my way to where the fight was taking place I hear a clap of thunder followed by what sounded like grenades exploding, sounds like Hulk was beating Abominations ass, badly.
As I arrived on a nearby rooftop I see the Hulk standing over Abomination roar in victory, I jump down near the Hulk and the downed Abomination and stay in the shadow of a nearby building.
The feeling of overwhelming strength fills me, my muscles feel so strong it's like I could lift a mountain, which is probably within my abilities now.
There's no Hulk-like anger like I was preparing for but I comprehended that if my adrenaline ramps up my strength will as well. It explains why when the Hulk's stressed or angry he gets stronger, his adrenaline is the key.
I quickly take stock of the situation and decide it's time to do my Batman thing, Abomination will not live through tonight and there won't be anything left of him for Ross to experiment on.
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[Third Person POV]
Hulk looked down at Betty as she made her way over to him, before she could say anything there was a gasp of surprise from more than one person.
She looked to her right and emerging from the shadows was what many people thought to be little more than a myth or a hoax, it was the Batman.
She saw him look around at the destruction around them, then he looked at the Hulk and 3 metal blades seemed to grow out of his right hand.
No one was talking, the Dark Knight of New York was standing there in the flesh and he appeared to be staring a hole through the Hulk.
Hulk looked back at him and appeared to be readying himself for another fight when a helicopter spotlight landed on him.
Hulk blocked the light from his eyes and looked down at Betty, she could tell he didn't want to fight anymore, they stared into each other's eyes for a moment before he suddenly turned and jumped away, making a fast escape.
Betty felt like this would be the last time her and Bruce would ever truly be together and she felt her heart crack as hot tears ran down her cheeks.
Suddenly her father General Thaddeus "Thunderbolt" Ross was by her side, checking to see if she was ok. She placated him and said she was fine, after everything he'd done to Bruce she truly wanted nothing to do with him anymore.
She extricated herself from his arms as she saw the Batman move toward Blonskys downed form. Everyone saw him move but no one tried to stop him, except one dumb soldier who tried to play tough guy.
"Stop right there! Put your hands behind your head and get down on the ground"! He yelled while standing in front of the Batman with his rifle aimed at his chest.
Then right in front of everyone's eyes the Batman moved, he moved so fast it was hard to keep track of him.
There was a clean metallic sound and the soldier was holding half a rifle in each hand as 2 middle pieces fell to the ground.
The nameless soldier looked down at his destroyed weapon then back up into the imposing and downright terrifying face shield of the Batman and into his glowing blue-white eyes.
The soldier dropped the broken weapon and put his hands up in surrender as he stepped aside, it looked like he had some brain power after all.
Everyone watched with baited breath, wondering what he would do as he continued to make his way towards the Abomination lying unconscious nearby.
General Ross grit his teeth as he watched the armoured monster make its way towards the actual monster he'd helped create.
Then before everyone's eyes Batman jumped on top of Abominations massive form and stood on his chest before he spoke in a deep baritone that seemed as cold as the arctic.
"Emil Blonsky, you have failed this city".
Those 5 last words filled everyone around with dread, and then they saw why. The claws on his right hand retracted and a 2 foot double edged blade formed from under his wrist and with one quick, decisive swipe Abominations head left his shoulders.
Screams and gasps escaped many people as other watched on in awe as the monster that just took Hulk to his limit was decapitated in one blow.
The Batman then jumped off the swiftly cooling corpse, retracted the wrist blade and threw what appeared to be a sphere of some kind onto the body and before everyone's eyes there was a flash of blinding light and the body and head of abomination disappeared.
There was a foot deep spherical crater left behind and everyone once again was shocked beyond belief. Even in death destroying that body should've taken inhuman effort considering that rockets, bullets and grenades didn't even scratch him before.
Thaddeus Ross was livid, he figured even with Blonsky dead he'd be able to have his people study the corpse, but it appeared the batman had other ideas.
Ross couldn't contain himself anymore and confronted the near mythical vigilante. "You just murdered an incapacitated prisoner in cold blood in front of all these witnesses; tell me why I shouldn't have all my men shoot you right now".
Then once again before anyone could react Batman was in front of Ross with his right hand around his throat holding him off the ground like he weighed nothing.
All soldiers in the area trained their weapons on the vigilante but none fired, too worried about hitting their C.O.
"You created that Abomination and caused the deaths of over 30 innocent people, give me one reason why I shouldn't break your neck" the Batman said in cold barely restrained anger loud enough for everyone, including a nearby reporter and cameraman to hear.
"If…you… kill me… you'll… be hunted… for the rest… of your life" Ross choked out while grabbing onto Batman's armoured wrist.
At that point Batman pulled Ross close to him, and in a tone that would make the devil quake in fear he said, "If you ever come back to this city again, you won't be leaving it alive. It doesn't matter if you have an army or an abomination, I will find you, and I will kill you".
He then dropped Ross like a sack of potatoes and threw another smaller sphere on the ground which exploded into a giant smoke cloud.
The nearby soldiers immediately ran to the smoke but no one was there, just General Ross still on the ground coughing and trying to get his breath back.
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[First Person POV - Lex]
I was camouflaged and standing back on the same rooftop I had been on before watching the fallout from my actions.
Reporters were being held back by military while shouting questions to General Ross about my accusations that he'd been the one that created "Abomination".
There were some very difficult days ahead for military P.R. in regards to this. It was a widely known rumor that the Batman liked to leave evidence of people's crimes behind, so me making that accusation held weight.
I watched emergency services start doing their jobs before I decided it was time to leave, Selene had informed me that she'd found all survivors in need of help and prevented their internal injuries from killing them.
They'd still need to visit the hospital in most cases but they'd live, that was the main thing.
I was about to make my way back to the lair when Selene informed me that someone was watching the area, most likely looking for me.
I made my way over to the rooftop they were observing from and standing there in a leather trench coat straight from The Matrix was Nick Fury.
I silently made my way behind him and had Selene scan the area for video and audio recording devices and man were there a lot.
It seemed like anywhere in a 3 block radius with a view of this roof were being used to spy on the meeting Nick no doubt was waiting for.
The last of them were on his person, I had Selene hack into the feed of all of them and which unfortunately were being routed to an apartment nearby.
I let a few nanites attach themselves to Fury, then had Selene black out all recording and communication devices we'd found before de-cloaking myself in the rooftops shadow.
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[Third Person POV]
Nick Fury watched everything taking place from a rooftop and waited, if his theory was correct the Batman would find him soon enough.
"What are you doing here Fury"? A deep voice asked from behind him. It unnerved Fury that someone besides Black Widow was able to sneak up on him, and even then it took her quite a bit of effort.
Nick turned around and saw two blue-white points of light staring at him from the shadows, which unnerved him even more.
His training kicked in quickly and he gained control of himself, not that you could tell. Fury had mastered controlling himself and his facial expressions so as not to betray his thoughts or feelings to anyone else.
"You're a hard man to find" he replied as he watched the enigmatic vigilante seem to form out of the shadows, which he noted as "master of stealth and deception".
He didn't receive a response, just two cold eyes staring straight through him. "I want to talk to you about The Avengers initiative" Fury decided to continue.
"Pass, being the attack dog of a corrupt government agency with unlimited power isn't my idea of justice" the Batman responded coldly and without hesitation.
"That's a bit unfair, yes I will admit we have jurisdiction everywhere the world security council does but we still answer to people, there are checks and balances for everything" Fury argued.
"You answer to politicians, politicians that are just bought and paid for shills that push the highest bidders' agenda" the bat replied.
"That's awfully pessimistic", Fury couldn't help but comment, "And you're not naïve, so stop pretending you're here for any other purpose than your own", the bat cut to the quick.
"So I suppose there's nothing I can do to change your mind then"? Fury asked, "No, and if you even think about threatening me I can promise you won't like the consequences" the Batman warned.
"Believe me after what I just saw I wouldn't be that stupid, but just because you don't want to work together doesn't mean we have to be enemies" Fury said extending an olive branch.
"You're right on that one, I'm not nor will I ever be a team player, not even if the world is ending" the bat said, surprising Fury.
"But, if things ever get dire I know someone that can help. He likes to be left alone but if things get bad enough he's prepared to help", Batman continued.
"And what is this mysterious helpers name"? Fury asked sceptically, "He never gave me one, I just called him Superman" the bat answered.
"Superman huh, catchy name, does he live up to it"? Nick further questioned, "Yes" was the short reply he received.
A banging sound behind him caught his attention for a second, making him quickly look back for potential threats before seeing it was just a cat that had knocked over a metal bar that was leaning against a wall.
He turned back and the batman was gone, "Show off" Fury said out load to no one in particular. Suddenly his ear piece went off, "Sir? Sir?! Come in"! A panicked voiced called out.
"I'm here, what's going on"? Fury replied, "Sir all communication and surveillance went down, it's only just come back online" his overwatch informed him.
"So we recorded nothing of the conversation I just had"? Fury asked, "No sir, someone hacked our system and blacked it out" he got in reply.
"Motherfucker" Fury said in annoyance, "I'm sorry sir" his overwatch apologized. "Not you genius, our resident vigilante. It appears he's even more adept than we predicted, I'm on my way back to base, have everything packed up before I get back, Fury out" Nick said.
Fury made his way over to the edge of the building and rested his hands on the waist high edge and looked over the emergency crews working down below.
"Who are you"? He questioned his memory of the Batman out loud, "And who or what the hell is Superman"? He'd been left with more questions than answers.
He consoled himself that at least one question was answered, the Batman wasn't an enemy. He may be an extremely anti-social, possible sociopath, hell bent on waging his war on criminals, but he wasn't an enemy.
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A big thank you for all the well wishers, you guys are the best.
I hope you all like the new chapter, my back is f*cking killing me so I couldn't really spend much time proof reading or editing. Let me know in paragraph comments any mistakes I might've made if you feel inclined to do so.
As always thanks for reading and I'll see you next week.
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