Chương 91: A loony
An enraged revenant is truly terrifying.
Having studied the information on various undead, I had no doubt that the monster had grown stronger after another death and a half-century of lying in a mud bath, but it had to be this strong... Looking at the thick, cracked marble slabs with the remnants of reinforcing structures that four sticks of powerful dynamite couldn't take, I once again mentally commended myself for the decision to go the diplomatic route. I doubted we'd be able to defeat this invulnerable monster even with five rounds of suppression and Abby's active help. I shuddered, for a second, imagining the interference of Rot, which would have left the forest and parts of Gotham nothing but a black, lifeless wasteland.
While I was pondering, the gray carcass in red splotches of alien blood was literally trampling its few opponents into the snow-white floor and easily breaking through the thick walls of the labyrinth, chasing owl-like mutants. Now Grundy resembled an angry Hulk, but if in the Marvel movies the green big guy mostly bludgeoned equipment and buildings, and just threw people away, sometimes providing them with numerous fractures, then here the living dead man tore his opponents apart with blows of his mighty fists, or just crushed them with his feet like cockroaches.
"Damn, it's a good thing we didn't attack it..." the blonde standing next to me said, confirming my thoughts as the zombie kicked the Claw that had lunged at him.
~Bam-flup~
With a wet sound, the top half of an owl's underside slammed into the ground not far from us. Harley and I hurried away from the corpse, waiting for the chemical reaction to start, but it didn't, even though five seconds ago Solomon had killed the other two defenders of the Court in the same way, and they had already begun to melt together with their suits, turning into unappetizing sludge.
"Could it be the commander?" I wondered, so I moved closer to the body, inspecting the equipment.
Grundy's doing just fine without our help. Besides, trying to help him could be hazardous to his health. What if he accidentally hooks it with his paw? Even my strengthened body could be seriously injured, not to mention my weaker companion.
At first glance, the black garb of the half-assassin had no distinguishing marks, but if you looked closely, you could see that our unlucky friend, unlike his comrades, favored throwing weapons: sharp senbons and the handles of numerous knives protruded from many small pockets.
"Harley pulled the mask off the corpse, which revealed Martha Norris's face.
"Hmm, she must have been a Claws trainer, like that brutally murdered boxer," I made a logical assumption. - Okay, I need your help.
It's unlikely that we'll be able to scrutinize everything here, considering how we got here (goodbye van, you served us faithfully for four days), but nobody knows about the old lady's fortress house yet. I'm sure there's a lot of interesting things to find there, so we need to make it difficult for the forensics team to get inside first. What if there's some kind of self-destruct system screwed into it? I guess you could say we're doing a good deed now, saving cops from dying.
Together with Harley, I was able to drag one of the large fragments of a marble column and crush the old woman's head. After that, we wandered around the amphitheater some more among the dead secret rulers of the city, finding many familiar faces topping the local Forbes lists, and followed the rampaging Grundy, jumping to the floor of the labyrinth next to the ruined owl fountain.
"Uh, shh, shh, shh.
Someone's concentrated panting reached my hearing.
I signaled the girl to be careful and quietly climbed up the collapsed part of the ceiling.
There was a homeless man cowering below, trying in vain to free his leg, which was jammed with debris. Could it be...
"Oh, hey, Bats. What are you doing here?" I asked, smiling my thirty-two.
I was really happy to see the missing superhero alive, because now he can once again stand guard over Gotham and be the go-to guy. And the Cat will have someone to keep him in line.
At my words, the city's protector raised his head sharply, revealing a week's worth of stubble and an eye with burst capillaries. No wonder I'd first mistaken him for a homeless man. A tattered cloak covered in white dust, a pile of rips in his clothes, a cracked mask with ears, and a killer smell of unwashed body odor... I had the feeling that Gloomy Mouse had been fighting for seven days, because he looked like shit. But that can't be right. Even I, with all the boosts from the system, could hardly spend a whole week on my feet. He'd probably just been released from some dungeon to fight like a gladiator, putting on a show for the rich bastards who'd lost their shores.
The Dark Knight scrutinized my and Harley's faces with an incredulous look.
"Jay?
"Oh, my ass. Who else could have such a unique style?" I smoothed my green hair, jumped down and jammed my cane under the rubble. - Hang on a second, I'll get you out of here.
Using the lever, I managed to lift the fallen block without much difficulty, saving the trapped hero.
"Thank you," the man said hoarsely, rubbing his injured limb. - Where did you find that monster?
"Heh, you're not gonna believe this. So I'm walking with Harley in the woods, listening to the birds singing, picking flowers...
"It's December, what flowers?" My companion struggled to get up and strode toward the rampaging Grundy, who seemed to be putting up fierce resistance, judging by the outraged roar.
"It doesn't matter," I shrugged it off, continuing my free retelling. - I saw a beautiful maiden crying by the river. Naturally, I couldn't help but wonder why she was crying. Turns out her house was threatened by a dead man who had come back to life. I, as a superhero, immediately offered my help, only the dead man was not so simple. In fact, he was also a victim of circumstance and just wanted to destroy his killer. So I had to give him a little help.
"You sicced a Revenant on one of the members of the Court of Owls?" Bats clarified, having managed to pick out the most important part of the story.
"Uh, sort of.
Damn, does that count as murder or not?
"I see," he said briefly, and looked at my companion. Phew, so it doesn't count. - Is that what happened?
"Yes, only Abby was a man at first, but Mr. J's charms were able to break the evil spell and restore her to her true form," Sailor answered, snuggling closer into my arm.
Heh, and the blond cutie clearly enjoyed my free retelling.
"I see, I shouldn't have asked," Mouse waved the remnants of his cloak and went on his way.
"Raaaaah, Winslawn!!! Bastards!" Grundy yelled in the distance, and we had to speed up.
Soon our friendly company, walking through the broken walls of the labyrinth, reached a room with many glass flasks rising from the floor, the top of which was imitated with a coffin for some reason. Most of the flasks were empty, but some had naked human bodies floating in them, awakened by the Claw scurrying around the room.
Heh, here comes the boss of the location. The owl assassin stood out from his comrades with a more powerful physique, as well as gilded armor elements. With the help of a control panel built into the flask, he pumped out a light-green liquid before our eyes, brought one of his friends to his senses with a couple of slaps and shoved his suit into his hands and sent him to the next room, where a heated battle against the Revenant was raging. Hmm, maybe these aren't really people. The creature looked like a zombie: cadaverous skin tone, flabby wrinkled skin, sparse gray hair, and it was dumb as a cork when it came at Grundy with its ass practically bare.
"I'll deal with him," the hero said sternly.
Harley and I looked at each other perplexed.
"We don't mind, somehow. Here, it'll come in handy," I handed the Dark Knight a few batarangs. - Don't die there, or Alfred will be upset.
With a hum, Grim Mouse tucked his weapon behind his belt and glided toward his opponent.
"Sunshine, you wouldn't happen to have any popcorn, would you?
"No, Mr. J," my faithful companion shook her head frustratedly. - Just a couple of protein bars.
"That'll do. I put my arm around the girl's waist and used the harpoon to climb up the wall with her, where I had a good view of the future battlefield. I'm sure Grundy can handle the Claws himself if they don't get any more reinforcements. When else would I get a chance to watch the Bats fight from the front row?
Harley and I had the best seats, allowing us to watch the dark silhouette of Gloomy Mouse silently glide between the life support units, getting closer and closer to the main Claw, who had already started to awaken another "zombie". When the target was a few meters away, the superhero's movements became incredibly fluid, blurring slightly in perception. I suspect that in low light with peripheral vision in this stealth mode, he would not be noticed at all.
Now it's clear to me how he manages to sneak up on people and quickly disappear into an empty room. Really, I have a suspicion that normal Homo Sapiens Sapiens should definitely not be able to do that. So much for being one hundred percent human, as most comics claim.
When he was clearly behind the back of his unsuspecting opponent, Bats shortened the distance with a swift jerk and, deftly pushing himself off the floor, kicked both feet into the owl assassin's lower back, sending him into a short flight.
~Skrak~
The pod squeaked indignantly as a heavy carcass flew into it.
Surprisingly, after such a "greeting" Claw managed to not only manage to regroup, but also jump up after a hard landing, taking a fighting stance.
- Surrender, your organization is destroyed," Bats said, radiating an aura of pathos and gloom. Honestly, I don't know how the hell he managed it, given his less than presentable appearance.
"I won't even think about it," the ninja began to slowly circle his enemy, pulling a sai from the sheath on his hip. - Those rich bastards only pretended that I was one of them. I don't care about their demise!
"Then why don't you just run away?" Bruce asked the logical question.
"I...I," Claw froze for a moment. - Aah! Get out of my head!" He lunged at the superhero with a fierce scream, trying to put a couple of unintended holes in him.
Hmm, it looks like Hugo shared his brainwashing techniques with the secret organization, but probably not the full version. Maybe that's why he was killed, not for the millions of dollars he wasted?
While I was pondering the vicissitudes of fate, Bats deftly dodged the first two lunges and kicked the striker's leg straight into his jug, showing a fine stretch.
"Oh," Harley sitting next to me wrinkled her nose a little.
The assassin flew away, but quickly got up, becoming several times more careful and cautious. The right half of the Dark Knight's mask fell to the marble floor, taking a powerful uppercut.
I watched the fight with all my eyes, pretending to admire the skill of the fighters and memorizing techniques. Bats used something like aikido, and his opponent used a strange style with a lot of jumps and acrobatics. The fighters resembled a mongoose and a snake, but, unlike in real life, the snake was gradually gaining the upper hand.
"Look out!" shouted my faithful assistant, warning the hero.
As the battle raged on, all the light green liquid drained out of the damaged capsule, and the zombie lying in it regained consciousness. Naturally, he didn't miss the opportunity to help his comrade by sneak attacking.
Gotham's defender spun around sharply and, catching the hand that had reached out to him in his grasp, snapped it in one motion like a dry branch. There was a cry of pain, but it was quickly silenced as Bats snapped his attacker's head back in an elusive motion.
"Uh," I hovered, trying to process what had happened, and Harley dropped a half-eaten candy bar from my hands.
A second's pause was enough for Claw to attack the faltering superhero again.
"He was a little more than a few feet away from the floor, but he could see the billionaire's focused face on the floor. It finally crumbled to the floor, revealing a view of the billionaire's focused face.
"Bruce Wayne?!" Claw exclaimed in surprise.
"I couldn't take it anymore and practically flew off the wall, running up to my opponents, who were frozen opposite each other. - Are you serious? You could see half of his face during the whole fight, but you realized that Bruce Wayne was in front of you only now?!
Honestly, I don't care that the Bats just finished a man off. This stuff is just beyond me. I mean, why do I care so much about the disguise? It feels like you can really just put a small mask on your face, covering only your eyes, or just wear glasses like Sunny Boy does, and then no one will recognize you. It's like some kind of conceptual law of the local universe.
Unfortunately, I didn't have time to find out the answer to my question, because suddenly a shabby anthropomorphic owl swooped past our merry company.
"Sto-o-o-o-o-o-o-o!" Grundy, blackened with the black blood of the assassins, burst into the room.
He looked, frankly, pretty fucked up. His gray, seemingly impenetrable skin was bubbling from liters of black acid, exposing muscle and, in some places, bone; there was a short blade sticking out of his left eye, and many open wounds oozing dark green slimy slime all over his body.
"Kill him!" The mutant roared, and without a second's hesitation, Claw lunged at the Revenant head-on.
Well, that's brainwashing for sure.
The chief assassin, though more powerful than his fellows, was unqualified to face the furious undead alone: he came and went, only as a broken puppet.
With a single tug, Solomon caught up to the fleeing mutant and clutched it in his mighty paws.
"I got you, you bastard!" He roared triumphantly, and in one bite he chewed off his victim's head, clutching his arm tightly at the same time, grinding the brittle bones like a multi-ton press.
"Freedom... Finally... - not fully believing what had happened, Grundy slowly sank to his knees, and then collapsed to the floor like a hamstring, letting out a gasp.
"Yeah, in that shabby owl, I could hardly recognize Alexander Winslow with all my might... Harley?
The girl twirled her head perplexedly around.
"Don't you think something's wrong?
I paid attention to the frozen Bats, to the absence of extraneous sounds, and to the surroundings, which seemed to have faded, losing all colors. But no, there was one bright spot: a light haze was rising from the body of the revenant, slowly forming a human silhouette. Soon a man with rough facial features stood over the corpse, hardly recognizable as the five-meter-long carcass that had been smashing the thick marble walls a few minutes ago. Solomon Grundy, or rather Cyrus Gold, looked around perplexed, paying particular attention to his translucent palms.
Suddenly, an attractive girl wearing a Goth costume and an Ankh symbol on her cheek appeared beside him.
"Come, you've suffered too long," she turned to the spirit, gently touching his shoulder.
The man looked at her and nodded tiredly, then turned into a small ball of light that disappeared in a swift stroke somewhere in the distance.
"Um, Mr. J, are you seeing what I'm seeing?" my beloved clarified.
"Uh-huh...
"Maybe we should pay our respects. You know, like, Death. All that stuff.
"I don't think she's interested.
"You're right," Eternal said.
I didn't even realize how she moved. One moment she was next to the corpse, the next she was standing a step away from us. There were no flashes, no shaking of the air, just one, and that was it.
"Uh, uh... Huh. Hi. If anything, we're in no hurry to get to the afterlife," I tried to shield Harley, but I couldn't make a move, even though I didn't feel anything holding me back.
"I know," she smiled sweetly. - I just wanted to look at my favorite little sister's champions and offer some advice.
Ha-ha-ha-ha, are we gonna get any new poses? Damn, nerves make me think of all kinds of crazy things.
"She laughed in a way I wouldn't expect from Death," and you two are funny, even thinking alike. No, you're doing a great job with the poses," her face suddenly turned serious, making me nervous. - My advice is simple: don't try to bite off more than you can chew. It's better to eat the pie in small pieces.
What? What's pie got to do with it?
"Okay, maybe later you'll understand. Thank you for helping the boy find peace. He's really been suffering for too long.
One, and the girl simply disappeared, just as she had appeared. The background noise immediately hit my ears, time sped up and bright colors returned to the world, though there weren't many of them in this labyrinth.
"Ahem," Mouse collapsed to his knees, holding his bloody side.
"Oh shit, Bats, don't die!" I rushed to the hero, deciding to think about Eternal's words later.
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