A soft breeze swept pleasantly across the estate. It was crisp and somewhat sweet, what with the thick vegetation that surrounded the property. Pale moonlight fell gently down on the surroundings—it lined the manor and everything around it in silver. Only Lucian, Bruce, and the fountain they sat on were illuminated differently. The water shimmered bright purple as the former saturated it with his lifeforce.
"This is a personal question," Bruce opened, "so I understand if you don't want to answer." When Lucian hummed in affirmation, he proceeded. "When you go out there and fight... why? What motivates you"
"A few things," Lucian replied. "Cool factor. Justification to use my powers. I also like punching people in the face, so helping excuses that, too," he added, chuckling. "Most of all, though... I'd just feel bad if I sat there and did nothing when people needed help. God knows I've had enough of that..."
Bruce nodded along, staring down at the glowing water. His expression turned severe toward the end of Lucian's response. "Can you tell me why you feel that way?"
Rolling his neck, Lucian deliberated. "Bits and pieces... I only came to Gotham recently, but where I came from wasn't much better. Neighborhood I grew up in was worse than shit, so when we moved away from there, I guess some of my... 'motivations,' as you put it, formed subconsciously."
Again, Bruce nodded. A muted sigh left through his nose as he adjusted on the fountain's base so he could lean on his knees. "Then... why are you alone here?"
"Family's gone," Lucian replied. Idly, he waved his hands in the water—an exercise to improve his ki control by making it flow using his lifeforce. "I don't remember how it happened... I just know that I popped up here at some point, two years somehow passed, and I have superpowers."
Bruce's brows creased. His lifeforce flared as he presumably ran his mind through every possibility he could think of. "Two years, gone? Just like that?"
Lucian shrugged. "Gave up thinking about it. Again, everyone related to me is dead. Never had any 'close' friends either, so I got nowhere to go. Figured I'd just make something for myself here since it's a chance at a fresh start."
A difficult expression took over Bruce's face. For a while, he just sat in silence with Lucian. The fountain changed more as it was flooded with lifeforce. By the time Bruce spoke again, Lucian had managed to make the water 'burn' with purple fire.
"I'm gonna go back inside. If you need to restore calories and nutrients, feel free to raid the pantry."
Taking Bruce up on his offer, Lucian helped himself to a heavy meal after reabsorbing his lifeforce from the water. He made sure to clean up after himself and left the kitchen and dining room cleaner than he found it. After that, he returned to Maxie's side in their guest room and cuddled up to her.
For the rest of the night, he circulated his lifeforce with hers in the hopes of raising her own reserves, and maybe even strengthen her body.
...
The following morning, Lucian was sent home with Maxie. They were offered a ride, but decided to take the scenic route by themselves. After all, during the night, Iñigo had sent a message to all of his employees. Specifically, they were addressed to those who lived or worked in the regions affected by last night's riot outbreak:
"Everyone who works in an affected branch, stay home! It's still dangerous. While the city's being cleaned up, just focus on keeping safe and stay away from the restaurants. Don't worry about missing out on work, we'll just some other way to support you. If you live in an affected area, come to one of our branches in a safe part of the city. We'll take care of you."
With that, they came up with a simple itinerary:
First, they would visit Bailey after giving her a heads-up. Afterward, they would check in on Jodie, who was in one of the regions that had been affected by the riots. Spoiler and Orphan had fought near her residence at some point, so they had high hopes for her safety. Once those two visits were over, they'd go on with their day.
Along the walk to the construction site, Lucian decided that he should check in with Maxie, as they had yet to talk about what happened.
"So... after last night. How are you feeling?"
Maxie snickered. "You mean when I got jumped? I think you already know how that went."
"Yeah, well... there might be some unresolved emotions there. Just wanna make sure you're not holding onto anything."
She turned her gaze up, blinking as silvery light filtered in through 'cracks' in the smog. "I guess... It wasn't too bad. I mean, sure, my life was on the line, but it was more of a thrill than anything. Panic, adrenaline... getting stabbed and shot didn't hurt as bad as I thought they would." Another snicker escaped her. "Hell, I think I hurt myself worse than that guy did, whoever he was."
"And that's why you said 'not for a while' last night?" Lucian asked.
Maxie let her weight fall on his side. "Mmm... I really did like fighting bad guys. Felt like I was doing something for once. I just wanna make sure I can keep up with you first... if not completely, then just a lot better than last time."
...
Gotham's streets were somber. People were still picking up the pieces—medical personnel, whatever was left of the police, and even civilians and ruffians alike. Those who would have normally been in opposition forced themselves to ignore their differences just to have time in silence. Time to fix things.
When Lucian scanned one of the streets along the way, he caught a dozen or so bodies still out there. He could easily imagine how many more there were some time before. How many more were elsewhere.
As he passed by those scenes with Maxie, her grip tightened around his hand. He squeezed in turn, and then she spoke. "After this... I think I'll stay by Tammy's side. You okay with that?"
"You're worried about her," he replied. "Of course you can."
The more they walked, the more of the aftermath was revealed to them. Besides those cleaning things up, there were also people out to scavenge. More than that, some of them broke out in brawls over their pickings, or taking advantage of the situation to destroy and ransack places that had been temporarily abandoned.
Agreeing that they couldn't turn a blind eye, Lucian geared up and Maxie put her mask back on. She had decided to stay away from routine vigilantism for a while, but she never intended to do nothing when something happened right in front of her.
...
[ Notice! ]
[ Personal tally of low-threat individuals apprehended: 16. ]
[ EXP per takedown: 40. ]
[ Total EXP earned: 640. ]
[ Your level has risen by 1. ]
[ Current level: 23. ]
[ One for All bonus: Power, Vitality, and Agility attributes all increase by 1. ]
[ Behavioral bonus: Power, Intellect, and Mentality all increase by 1. ]
[ Free Attribute Points: 5. ]
[ Allocated 1 level to the Basic Class: Therianthrope. ]
[ Acquired Ability: [Minimal Zoomorphosis] ]
[ Brief Ability description: Able to take on limited animal traits such as scaled skin, clawed digits, and specialized sensory organs. ]
[ Notice! ]
[ Generating 'Curse Infection' in host's body... ]
[ Successful. ]
[ Therianthrope Basic Species Class has been integrated. ]
[ EXP to next level: 4,995. ]
– ৹ – ৹৹◎৹৹ – ৹ –
Host: Lucian Albrecht
Titles: Vengeful Guardian
Matrix: Quirk User: One for All
Level: 23
Classes
[Brawler - 5]
[Acrobat - 5]
[Criminal - 5]
[Monk - 1]
[Magician - 1]
[Changeling - 5]
[Therianthrope - 1]
-[Attributes]-
Power: 62 [172]
Vitality: 72 [200]
Agility: 62 [172]
Intellect: 37
Mentality: 37
Spirit: 37
Luck: 1
Free Attribute Points: 0
– ৹ – ৹৹◎৹৹ – ৹ –
...
The visit to Bailey's was very short. They only needed to provide concrete assurances, and their siblings would be assuaged from checking in every few minutes. Brodie ended up staying with her as well; his own job, unfortunately, had to let him go. They were too badly damaged by the riots that there was no recovering.
When they left, Lucian called for a favor. It was bold—borderline shameless—but he knew for a fact how Bruce would respond. He'd never want to let anyone down once trouble was brought directly to his attention. After a quick call and being patched through several channels, Brodie would find another job in a way that felt natural.
On the walk to visit Jodie to make sure she was fine, Maxie sighed.
Lucian caught her dim aura and asked, "What's wrong?"
"Nothing..." She shook her head. "Well, I say 'nothing,' but I'm sure you can guess."
He looked up to the sky, puffing out wispy white smoke. "Yeah... though with the levels of bullshit that happened, it's only fair."
"... yeah." Maxie stared down at the ground. Her guilt melted away to the absurdity of the bigger picture.
...
Once again, they were at Jodie's. The state of her street wasn't as sorry as most others. Though the surroundings had been damaged and evidence of fighting had yet to be completely erased, it was a more hopeful picture than they expected. With a healthy amount of trepidation, they went to the familiar musty apartment building and entered hand-in-hand.
The entrance seemed smaller than before. The air felt still. It was warm in a way that suggested stagnant pressure.
By the entrance was the usual guard, standing grim and alert even when covered in red-stained bandages. He tensed when the pair entered, but quickly relaxed, seeing familiar faces. Lucian gave him a solemn nod, which he returned with a wince.
Stopping at Jodie's door on her floor, Lucian and Maxie took a synchronized breath before knocking. Following one tense minute, the door cracked open. Jodie's familiar menacing eye peeked through, almost seeming to glow with its redness. When she recognized who had just disturbed her, that one eye widened before the door shut.
"Oh, you fucking brats!" Went her muffled voice. When the door unlocked and swung open, Jodie grabbed them like how a starved lobster would grip its prey and drew them in for a hug. "I thought you'd gotten yourselves killed by that thing!"
She eagerly let them in, all but shoving them down into the chairs in her living room.
"Details," she demanded once she had seated herself as well. "I need to make sure you're not about to get yourselves killed any time soon."
Lucian winced, and so did Maxie. "You're not gonna like what I'm about to tell you," he said slowly, and a steady glare was all it took to get him to continue.
By the end of his explanation, Jodie was leaned back in her armchair, pinching the bridge of her nose. "Well, at least she's staying away from your kind of self-endangering bullshit," she drawled out. "I imagine your vigilante friends are all gonna be busy for some time."
Maxie hummed yes. "It's... well, I am staying away from vigilantism for a while. It's just kind of a bummer that I'm gonna miss out on training."
Rubbing her chin, Jodie side-eyed the empty air. After a settling breath, she made a proposal. "Your friend's family... the Watsons, you said. Would they be keen on having an extra visitor?"
Blinking, Maxie replied, "I'm sure Joseph won't mind. It does get pretty lonely there, and with Tammy in a coma..."
Solemn, Jodie nodded. "I may be old, but I'm sure I can still teach you a thing or two myself. If not that, I can at least keep you from getting rusty. Be a good getaway from this shithole, too..."
As Maxie stared on in disbelief, Lucian stared Jodie in the eye. When their gazes met, almost on instinct, they both started exerting their presences on one another. To his surprise, she actually triggered his [Danger Sense] like he was in active combat.
"She's legit," he said to Max. "Sixth sense guarantee."
Jodie scoffed, then laughed. "And here I thought you were gonna tell her to say no..."
"Just had to make sure," said Lucian, waving her off. He then turned to Maxie. "So... you wanna go with her?"
"It would be nice, yeah," said Maxie. "I'd just say it's self-defense and stuff. Joseph would accept it pretty easy."
"Then that's that." Jodie stood up, somehow invigorated for the first time since Lucian first met her. "And you. Boy. Leave your girl to me." When he fixed her with a stunned expression, she elaborated. "I'm gonna keep her company for the entire day. You don't have anything else to do, right?"
Lucian nodded.
"Then get out there and try to help fix the city," she insisted. "The faster you can deal with whoever's behind the shit that's been happening lately, the sooner your girl can run around with you at night. Now, go be a hero or something. I'll get her to her friend's place myself."
Having essentially been kicked out of Jodie's apartment, Lucian sighed. At least he managed to leave the Shock Bolt disk with Max before he had to leave.
Penny chuckled in the back of his head. [ Man, what a tiger lady. ]
'You can say that again... she's kinda like my greataunt.'
[ Oh, yeah... now that I check that part of your memories, they really are alike. Do you think Jodie used to be in the force? ]
'If not that, she either served in the military or worked in the underworld.'
Lucian climbed the stairs as he spoke with Penny. When they ended at the top floor, he went to the end of the hallway opened the window. Before climbing out though, he put on his Manticore loadout. Standing on the dark-stained shingles, he grew himself to well over seven feet in height and nearly doubled his mass. As he couldn't sprout his tail yet with his current getup, he settled for a Blackwhip tail with Stinger grasped at the tip.
'Now, where's Duke? Looked like he really wanted to talk last night, so I'll help him along to break the ice.'
৹ ◎ ◉ ◎ ৹
Machinery hissed. Steam filled the air. No longer did light flash around, blinking in and out so rapidly that anyone would become dizzy. Now free from his final operation, Roman grabbed the bars on the sides of Strange's operating table to get himself upright.
The skin on his back thrummed with residual heat, bones droning with echoes of the micro-vibrations they'd experienced. His muscles, stinging with discomfort, were forced to obey their reprogrammed structure—they were now made to wrap around the implants in his back, anchoring to them. His new spine, all machinery spliced into flesh, gleamed with blue light along the parts exposed to open air.
"Congratulations, Black Mask," Dr. Hugo Strange drawled with a sneer. "Your operation is successful. Besides Donovan's power, you now also have my improved version of his augments... and I've even enhanced you with Lucian Albrecht's blood at your request."
Roman squeezed his fists, feeling the new strength that coursed through his body. "I didn't expect you to put respect on that name. Why him, of all people?"
Hugo chuckled, cleaning up and putting his tools away to be sterilized. "Oh, it's just nostalgia," he said coolly. "His fight with the reptile reminded me of older days, watching the Bat fight for justice."
"Hm..." Roman disregarded the sentimentality. "Resume your work. I'll take some time to recover in the meantime... rebuild our forces as well and adjust to these new factors. I didn't expect the newcomers to affect our plans to this extent."
Hugo's grin gained a vicious quality. In the dark of his laboratory, whatever light there was glinted against his glasses, completely shrouding his eyes. "Bane won't be happy that the timetable's been delayed..."
"He knows better," Roman drawled as he shrugged on his jacket and made his way to the exit. "He'll adapt. If he couldn't, then he would have never come here in the first place."
৹ ◎ ◉ ◎ ৹
Lucian soared through the air, high enough that buildings appeared to be no more than miniature replicas underneath him. He would roar occasionally as he tore through the skies, literally broadcasting his existence to the world below. Exerting himself and pulling much higher than he'd ever flown before, he filled his eyes with ki and focused.
There in the distance, a bright pillar of lifeforce gleamed. Black and gold—Signal.
Wrapping his wings around his body, Lucian let himself freefall until he was level with Gotham's tallest buildings. The wind 'exploded' around him when he spread his wings out again, gliding towards Signal with threatening velocity. Even from some distance away, Lucian could see him gaining on a group of vehicles.
"Need an assist?" he asked through his earpiece.
Signal took a second to respond. He was surprised, no doubt, seeing as his aura flared out of rhythm. "That would be great, yeah. I'm chasing some thrill-seekers that broke out of Blackgate when it was attacked—circle around a few blocks and ambush them."
"On it, bub."
Surging One for All to his current safe limit, Lucian compounded it with his improved ki circulation. With his capabilities further enhanced as a changeling, his body literally whistled through the air while fire and lightning trailed just behind. His eyes caught glimpses of people gawking at the sight of him—no doubt their first time witnessing the Manticore exhibit such power.
While concentrating, he could feel Signal's lifeforce even behind buildings. Using that information as a foundation, he employed his improved senses and mental processing speed to plan a route for the ambush.
When he came up on the turn that he wanted to take, he used [Inertia Cancel] followed by a large, unstable ki blast. He was sent hurtling through the air by his own 'attack,' pulling off a perfect and instantaneous ninety-degree turn.
The joyriders had no time to react when he burst into their street. They had just turned and suddenly, they couldn't see anything. Waves upon waves of this black substance had beset their vehicle. The onslaught offered only the briefest of glimpses to the outside world through tiny, ephemeral gaps, which flickered in and out like fragile candlelight.
Then, they rose.
Something in the darkness had lifted their vehicle, slowly arresting their momentum. There was a swerve as they slid steadily, and nobody knew what to do. They were also too afraid to shoot out of the windows—what if the darkness swept into their car like water?
Indeed, that was what would have happened if they shot at the glass. This was proven when something struck at the driver-side window. The black mass seeped in, filling the vehicle and forcing the joyriders to resist. It felt neither cold nor hot, neither gentle nor harsh. There was only weight as the darkness sapped their energy, and it only receded once their limbs felt like useless lumps of stone.
Outside, pedestrians looked on in morbid fascination even as the police tried to herd them away. None of them presently mattered to Lucian. So long as he kept Mask of Fear active, nobody should be bold enough to get too close. It even worked on the police, who warily kept their distance from him. Being a seven-foot-tall mass of hunched-over muscle also helped.
From above, Signal descended. He landed softly, boots briefly sliding across the ground to ease himself into a jog. Lucian couldn't help but grin at the way Duke's lifeforce flickered—he was nervous.
"They're all tuckered out," he announced, voice rumbling.
Those words prompted Signal to look in through the windows as the police stood by. Indeed, the joyriders who had so energetically dodged law enforcement were suddenly out cold, snoring peacefully in their seats.
"They're all asleep," he confirmed, and the atmosphere grew lighter.
The crowd began dispersing, though many still lingered, and the police officers on the scene began their work to detain the criminals. Watching them, Lucian noted the state that some of them were in.
"You're hurt," he pointed out.
Those who were indeed injured flinched. They all turned to him, faces pale. He extended a hand to the one nearest to him. To the officer's credit, he mustered up his courage pretty quickly and accepted it.
The moment the cop's fingers touched his gauntlet, Lucian let his stolen vitality snake out and seep into bare skin. Revitalized, the officer's injuries visibly faded, and his complexion also improved.
That scene made the other officers warm up somewhat, encouraging the others to approach. Lucian healed them all, and once that was over with, Signal tapped his arm to indicate that they should go.
They both bade the people goodbye and rose into the air. Signal ascended using his suit's flight feature. Lucian used Blackwhip to raise himself a good distance before taking off on wings.
...
[ Notice! ]
[ Apprehended low-threat individuals: 4. ]
[ EXP per takedown: 40. ]
[ Total EXP earned: 160. ]
[ EXP to next level: 4,835. ]
—=—=—=—=—=—=—=—
[A/N]: Y'all, I keep dreamin' 'bout sum bullshit about going back to school. And I'm a restless sleeper, so my sleep's usually divided into three or four two-hour mini-sleeps, and almost all of 'em be school dreams.
What the fuck?
Help
[ Also if you enjoy what I put out, you can support me through Ko-fi! ]
[ https:// ko-fi.com/ mr_blorp ]