[TOM HENDRICKS POV]
"Now what's the update regarding both of my attempted murder cases? I believe you should have some information by now, especially considering who's handling the first one." I said to both Leo and Jason, asking for updates from the parties of Deathstroke and Deadshot.
"Concerning your recent shooting, turns out the establishment where the terrorism attack took place belonged to Feng Chonglin, the leader of Gotham City's triad." Leo informed.
"Oh, and being I was accused as an accomplice to the terrorism which destroyed his establishment, he sort to take vengeance on me by assassination. Hmm…My life as compensation for the business he lost." I broke down.
"That's how it would seem." Leo replied, while Rachel brought me some more fruits to chow on. "But I'm afraid he might make another attempt, being that you are still alive and kicking." He added, earning himself an hateful glare from Rachel, showing she was willing to bring down this so called triad boss if he ever made another attempt on my life.
"Relax darling, I will handle it." I said as I brushed my fingers through her hair when she got an emergency alert. "Seems like your team needs you, don't worry I'll be fine." I said, trying to get rid of her so I could speak more freely with the boys. "Are you sure?" She asked, hesitant to go and was fully adamant on staying with me at the hospital, but her heroe duties called.
"Of course I am, just tell the officers at the door that am taking a nap and do not need anyone disturbing me for next hour or so." I said to her and she gave me a passionate kiss on my lips before walking out the door to do as I had just instructed, rather than just create a portal and just teleport herself over.
"Now that she's gone. Gwen, switch the camera image from I and Rachel being all chummy, to one of me taking a nap." I instructed. "Done, Master Tom." She replied.
"I'll send a message to Feng Chonglin as Ghost, telling him that Tom Hendricks is under my protection and any more attempt on my life from his end would be the end of triad business in Gotham City. Also the end of his pathetic life."
"Noted." Leo answered, seems he was a bit worried as to how we were going to handle the triad without starting some kind of war in Gotham's underbelly.
"Any update from Deathstroke?" I asked Jason who was currently munching on a banana.
"Yeah, dude left your hostage under my care and she was in a pretty bad shape. He said he had some job he needed to take care of, just assumed it had something to so with his side job as a mercenary." He replied.
"So, what info was he able to drill out of her?"
"She belongs to a small and anonymous organization known as the Sparrows." He reported. "Never heard of them." Leo chipped in.
"Of course, that's why they are an anonymous group." Jason replied. "There's no record of them or their members, and she didn't reveal any names. She's willing to die than betray her comrades." He added.
"The Sparrows, huh." I mused, stroking my chin as I thought on it. "That's admirable. Since she's of no use to us anymore, dispose of her." I instructed.
"I had a feeling that would be your reply." He muttered with a sigh. "Cremate the body after eliminating her, we don't want to leave any sort of trace or residue behind." I instructed him.
"That's way better than just burying the body in some woods somewhere, or feeding her to the fishes." Leo chipped, swiping himself a mangoe from the fruit basket.
"You guys know these fruits are for me right." I reminded. "I already lack melanin, I need my fruits." I added.
"No wonder your skin is as pale as that of a ghost." Jason blurted out, grabbing himself an orange as he walked towards me, but I couldn't ignore the irony to what he said. "Here, you need this more than me." He said as he cut the orange in two and handed it over to me.
"It was mine to begin with." I sarcastic replied as our trio continued to chatter on.
….
Later that night, I got a visit from a very much expected guest, Batman. I acted like I was ignorant of his presence and kept staring at the ceiling like I was lost in my thoughts because I was having difficulty sleeping.
"Thought you were staying out of trouble." He said with his gruffly voice, breaking the silence which was only occupied with the sounds from the machines in the hospital room. They kept reminding me of how getting my body to accept the needles and all was a real hassle, especially for someone who's very own brain is wired to protect the host from any sort of harm.
"Batman?" I asked, rubbing my eyes as I sat up. "What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be out watching over the city or something?"
"Checking on you. Do you know why anyone want you dead?" He asked, I didn't want the conversation with him to go on for long, so it was best I gave him something he'd need to look into asap.
"I don't know, maybe someone held a grudge when I got accused of being an accomplice to terrorism when I was clearly just a victim as well." I replied, it was better than just playing the ignorant kid card.
"That is possible." He responded. "What are you going to do now?" He asked, he must be wondering about my next move. But I wasn't some whimp who would pipe down after something like this.
"After what just happened, I found myself thinking a lot lately and have to come to the decision to help the people of Gotham City, no the world, in what little ways I can." I said with confidence laced in my tone and in my glare.
"I see, that's a good one kid. But Gotham isn't a place for playing the good Samaritan, you would eventually get targeted again."
"I know, after my accident which was the cause of my amnesia, I felt like I was given a second chance at life. I would like to use it in helping people in what little ways I can, rather than just shutting the world out and staying a loner forever. If I die because of this step I'm about taking, then at least this time I die doing what I felt was right." There it was, pulling up the good guy card on him like a reversed Uno.
"I'm sure your parents would be proud." He said with an extremely subtle hint of sentimentality, if only he knew the hardened criminal he had been searching for all these while, was just seating right in front of him.
"I think they will." I replied as my lips slowly spread into a sad smile, revealing the loneliness I felt from losing my loved ones all at once, something he could relate to.
"Jason's staying with you right? Are you aware of his late night activities?" I didn't know if he asked that as a trick question or not but it was best I admitted to it, the innocent kid act wouldn't match the steps I was going to take in the next couple of weeks.
"Of course am aware, he's protecting the city in the only way he knows how to. And I'm going to do the same, without the vigilante part." I replied.
"He might seem messed up in some ways, but he's a good kid. Take care of him." He said while remaining in the darkest corner of the room.
"It's not like I have a choice or anything, he's the only friend I have in this city." I said with an exasperated tone. "I should probably make more friends." I said as I seemed to muse on the thought.
"Mind the company you keep kid." He said before disappearing out my window, without any sort of goodbye. Just exiting the conversation midway, that really sucked.
…
[The Sparrows hideout]
"Ehnn!!!" Arthur remarked. "That bastard was almost done-in by some bullet? What a lame way to die if you asked me, especially since we are yet to confirm what really happened to Stella.
"How about I go find out myself?" Fangs suggested, rolling a silver coin through his fingers. "You mean, go ask him yourself then kill him if he has nothing." Charlotte said, exuding an air of sexiness as she flipped back her hair, which was black in color with a reddish tinge.
"We were offered the job to kill him anyway and it's been too long. If Stella is dead then so be it, blame it on her own weakness." Jamie said, running his hand through his gold colored hair as he held on a serious look in his eyes. "Fangs you're up, go and hunt down our little prey, kill him in the most painful way you can as revenge for your sweetheart." He added before getting up to exit the room like his mood was suddenly spoilt.
While Fangs lips spread into a wide grin, finally given the opportunity he's even itching for.
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That morning I laid reclined in bed with Jason by my side as he sipped on a cup of coffee, while I had some oranges.
"Nothing like a hot cup of coffee to kick start your day." Jase taunted as he deeply inhaled the delicious aroma of the coffee, then took a big sip from it.
The doctor had me lay off coffee for a while, at least until I was back at full health and not under certain medications, but Jase found it amusing to taunt me with it since caffeine was one of my favorite pick me up.
"Do that again and you might just have another meeting with death, just this time there won't be some miraculous Lazarus pit juju to bring you back." I replied with a stern expression on me, not wanting to give Jase the pleasure of taunting me any further.
"I was just playing dude, it's not every time you end up in an hospital bed which gives me the opportunity to mess with you a bit. Come on, you don't have to be so cold about it." Jase defended.
"I know, but do not joke with my caffeine." I replied as I grabbed the remote and switched on the TV in my hospital room. "You remind me of Batman in some way, you guys really can't take a joke when it comes to little things you care about."
"Of course I can, I joke around all the time. Just not with my caffeine, you were making me sound like some addict or something."
"When you put it that way, it's hard for me to think otherwise." Jase replied while a nurse walked into the hospital room. "Time for your daily check up Mr. Hendricks." She said with a smile on her face.
My good looks and unique feature had made me quite popular among the female nurses at the hospital, so much so that they get excited for my daily check up.
"Kindly excuse us sir." She politely said to Jase who just gulped down the last bit of coffee in his mug. " Sure, but one question." He replied, earning himself a raised eye brow, wondering what the fuck Jason might be curious of that he'd ask my nurse..
"Sure, what is it?"
"While you guys have him on medication, I hope you have some drugs that could cure his actual illness." He vaguely said, earning himself a confused look from the nurse who was about replacing the drip placed on me.
"And what might that be?" She nervously asked, unsure of where Jase was getting at.
"What I mean is, my buddy over here is suffering from a serious case known as 'Nut job' and I hope he gets cured or reformed during his time here." He clarified, using his fingers to do air quotes around the word nut job.
"What?" She asked, a bit confused and flustered.
"Don't mind my friend here, he's a bit unstable upstairs. We've tried many ways to help him but it seems it keeps getting worse." I sympathetically said, slowly shaking my head in pity as I did so.
"Oh…" Her only response, unsure of what to make of that or how to reply.
Jase just stood up, walked towards the door, took one last look at me while squinting his eyes, before walking out the room without uttering a single word.
The nurse just exhaled in relief before proceeding. "Does it still hurt that much?" She asked while peeling off the previous bandage placed upon the bullet wound on my chest. "Not as much, considering how much you guys have me pumped full of painkillers." I replied, getting a small chuckle in return.
"We only administer moderate and appropriate amount of painkillers, you could stop with the exaggeration." She replied, redressing the wound with fresher bandages.
While she did so, I looked upon the TV screen and saw the update I've been waiting for since the night I had Jase pass on those jaw dropping and incriminating info to Vicki Vale.
Top citizens of Gotham City and crime lords whom the police had found it difficult to bring down all these years were all going to jail and stripped of all assets as solid evidence regarding their illegal dealings and corruptions had come to light.
A few top citizens who were regarded as some of the few pillars of Gotham City like the Wayne's are, were all getting their names and reputations dragged through the muds.
A smirk suddenly appeared across my lips as I saw the headline which made me let out a little laughter, the people seemed to be a bit too dramatic in my opinion. The information I released against a few who opposed my rising as Ghost and those who might become a pain in the ass late on the future, was merely a fraction of what really goes on beneath and is enclosed from the public eyes.
…
The elegant looking Fang and the seductive Charlotte from the anonymous group known as the Sparrow's, both visited a shopping mall so Charlotte could get a few things for herself.
"Remind me again why we needed to come shopping so early in the morning." Fang requested with a lazy tone, reclined in a chair he pushed off two legs and had both his legs crossed on a table.
"Because we are going to hunting, you know I always go shopping for a new dress before hunting my prey and sending them off to wherever dead people go." She said with a bit of struggle in her voice, as she tested on a fiery red skin tight dress.
"I know but why? It's a drag." Fang replied while he had a silver coin twirling mid air right above his index finger. "It's stupid and a waste of time if you ask me." He added.
"Your opinion doesn't matter anyway." She replied, stepping out the changing room. "How do I look in this dress?" She asked.
"Thought you said my opinion didn't matter." He replied.
"Shut up and answer me."
He let out a lazy groan before answering. "There's literally a mirror in there, and you're standing next to another mirror. I don't get why you need my opinion on you look good or not when you can decide that for yourself." Fang replied as he glanced at her from head to toe.
"You really are as dense as the silvers you bend." She said with an air of sarcasm. "I already know how good the dress looks on me, am not blind. I was just asking to get a guy's opinion, and you're my boyfriend for crying out loud."
"You look dashing in anything, especially red dresses." He complimented as he dropped his legs then got on his feet.
"I could go on this job alone and kill the idiot with the rabbit hair." He said, referring to Tom's white hair.
"I know you are more than capable, but we need to make it seem like some sort of accident and not a direct assassination. That's how we operate, kill the prey like it was some horrible stroke of bad luck." She calmly replied, checking herself put on the mirror as Fang got close to her and grabbed her by the waist from behind.
"He's at an hospital right now, I could head over there, slip in a bit of liquid silver into his veins and he would be dead before anyone knows it." He said, pressing his lips against her cheek as he landed a kiss on it.
"The risk of getting seen by someone or anything suspicious turning up is too great because it might sway them from the idea of it being an accident." She replied, reaching for his face as she turned around to face him and wrapped her arms above his shoulders.
"Why do we care about Jamie's little rules, we could kill him in broad day light and they'd never be able to find us. So why stay this discreet?" He questioned.
"Jamie is our boss and the strongest of all of us, he's not our boss for his strength but because of his capabilities. We listen to him and obey because he always makes the right call."
"Up until recently when his call led to Stella going missing, probably dead for all we know."
"I know, no one could have known going after the target would lead to such dilemma. He some of our guys are looking into it and trying to find out what really happened to her." Charlotte said before reaching for Fang's lips and placing a kiss on it, of which he reciprocated.
She pulled back and looked him in the eye with their arms still wrapped around each other. "Let's get this done as quickly as we possibly can, valentine is right around the corner and I want nothing bothering us." She said as they continued to make out.
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