The restaurant's front door swung open mightily, and the bells hanging from the doorframe chimed in a wild sway.
"Luce! Hahah!"
From the front entrance's direction came Mr. Suarez' voice, calling out to the first person he saw, who also just so happened to be his favorite employee.
Lucian whirled around upon hearing the familiar voice, and there he saw him: Inigo Suarez in all his bald-headed stocky glory. He confidently strode into the restaurant with a huge grin like owned the place.
Because he did.
"Boss! You're back."
"Sooner than I expected." Inigo sighed in relief when he entered the restaurant, happy to finally be back in the familiar atmosphere. "I honestly thought that trip would have gone much longer, but it looks like good fortune was on my side."
"What was it about, anyway?" Lucian asked while waiting for one of his coworkers to finish stacking delivery items into his bag.
"Can't tell you, 'migo." Inigo shook his head, then winked. "It's a trade secret."
After that, he took off his coat and went into the kitchen, eager to return to the actual work that he kept the restaurant running for.
"Daddy's back, bay-bee!"
Lucian chuckled to himself, hearing everyone's celebratory cheering from inside the kitchen as everyone welcomed their boss' return. With his deliveries packed up, Lucian bade the counter girl goodbye before taking off with the goods.
...
"Ah, thank you for always delivering to us so fast, Luce," said Jodie. As has been mentioned before, she was one of those who frequently employed the restaurant's delivery service even before Luce replaced the last guy, who had to leave for personal reasons.
Jodie had been ordering from the restaurant pretty much every day since they opened four years back, so Inigo made sure to mark her number to keep all deliveries to her home on the house. Everyone was even instructed to put her orders at the very top of the pile first to make sure that her food made it to her as quickly as possible.
"Well, you've stuck with the restaurant for so long..." Lucian handed over both the still-steaming hot meal and exact change for Jodie's payment. "It's the least we could do."
"If you need any favors, Luce, I'll lend a hand as long as it's within my old lady powers," Jodie half-joked. Then, she gently grabbed Lucian's hand, looking him in the eye. "And before you turn down the offer - I insist."
Just then, Lucian remembered something. One crucial fact about Jodie that could help him out greatly.
"Well... in that case, there actually is this one thing..."
"Oh? Alright, then. What can I do for you?"
"You used to run a tailoring service, right?"
◎ ◉ ◎
"Whooooooo!"
Blink, and you'll miss it.
That was how fast Lucian had been traveling. To anyone within earshot, they would've only heard a short "oo--!" which would quickly fade in and out as he entered and left their hearing range within the span of a few seconds.
On top of that, he could even breathe and speak easier now. His cowl had been finished. Much to his surprise, actually. Jodie was a deceptively fast worker.
Now, as for how the cowl was created...
After Lucian completed his first round of deliveries for the day, he went and asked for an hour-long break, which Inigo granted happily and without question.
"You're a really hard worker, kid. I was actually starting to get worried about how you're treating yourself, so it'd be better for my peace of mind if you took more breaks," was Inigo's reasoning.
With that, Lucian actually ended up with twice as much time.
He spent those two free hours running around Gotham, searching for suitable materials to form the metal part of his cowl.
Once he managed to gather enough steel sheets that were still decently free from rust, Lucian employed One for All's 50% boost to bring his physical attributes up from 27 to 40 each. With his physical attributes receiving a passive bonus, which was calculated after the Quirk's buffs, they all sat comfortably at 44.
Lucian easily carved up and shaped the metal sheets to his liking, shaving off any jagged edges and smoothing them out in the process. This was done with the help of I-beams that he'd picked up from some rubble - Lucian used them like those paper cutting boards with the hinged blades, and used his little feets to keep the metal sheets steady.
Once the sheets had been shaped, he then clamped them together using strategic folding and matching, and punched little holes through certain parts for later with the help of a concrete nail.
This segmented steel part was based off of the metal thingy that Deku had around his neck since the Beta version of his costume, but altered to look like it was a protruding lower jaw. It really helped that Deku started using it like Lucian had intended do during the former's 'vigilante arc' during the latter part of My Hero Academia's story.
Instead of a beak-like middle part though, Lucian's had two 'fangs' that stuck out both at the top and bottom.
Though the metal part didn't provide much in the way of protection and lacked meaningful durability, it was completely fine for now, since Lucian really only wanted it for aesthetics and to protect his identity, regardless of his legal non-presence.
Before his break ended, Lucian returned and stuffed the finished metal part into his backpack. He decided to bring it along for his second batch of deliveries to hand over to Jodie on his way back. When he did, he also gave her his sketches and instructions for the cloth part of the cowl - ones that he'd been working on since day one. Stationery was cheap, so he just went and did it, and boy was he glad for that.
Despite her advanced age, Jodie still retained the skill and efficiency that she'd developed from decades of work. If anything, her age might have even given her a buff.
She was a little intrigued when Lucian gave her his designs and asked what it was for. When he said that it was for Halloween and that he was going out as a character from a Japanese animated show, Jodie just smiled and didn't ask any more questions. Unfortunately, MHA didn't exist in this world.
Well, time seemed to be quite a ways back... Horikoshi Kohei— if he existed in this world —probably just hasn't gotten around to even conceptualizing the manga yet.
Marvel comics, Dragon Ball, as well as the Big Three of anime did exist, so Lucian was hopeful.
Back to the cowl, though; Lucian had expected it to take a while, but Jodie called the restaurant only later during the day. It was close to closing hours, and she told Lucian to come by after his last batch of deliveries to see the finished cowl.
When he came to collect, the purple cloth part, whose eye holes were made to look like scowling dark sockets, was securely attached to the metal jaw. She'd even reinforced the insides of the cowl with some leather she had lying around to help with the shape, and used some old belts to use as straps so the facial covering would stay secure around Lucian's head.
It wasn't her intention since she wasn't aware at the time that Lucian would use it for fighting, but now it won't come off easily even in the middle of a brawl.
"This is amazing," Lucian gasped, awed by Jodie's work.
"Oh, don't mention it, Luce. I'm just happy I could help."
...
[ Notice. A new quest has been decided for you. ]
– ৹ – ৹৹◎৹৹ – ৹ –
[[ Quest: Birth of a Vigilante]]
Description: You are well on your way to becoming a bona-fide named vigilante. Apart from building a reputation, you need to build yourself an iconic suit!
Time Limit: none
Objectives:
[1] Construct an iconic costume for your exploits in vigilantism.
Rewards:
[1] EXP ranging from 100 to one full level's worth depending on hidden criteria. Bonus rewards may be given.
– ৹ – ৹৹◎৹৹ – ৹ –
The quest appeared the moment Lucian received his cowl, so he was eager to complete most of it as soon as he could.
A strategy developed in his mind: wait to fully complete the drip only after he reached level 13 to speedrun hitting level 14. Even if it didn't bump him a full level, he knew it would at least give him a substantial boost. After that, he would take down his first supervillain and reach level 15 in a flash!
Just thinking about the possibilities, Lucian went through his options.
'Can't be any of the brainier ones, so definitely avoiding Riddler, Mr. Freeze, things like that... I don't have resistance to Poison Ivy's mind control shit on top of her plant control, so avoiding her like the damn plague. I do already have Zsasz on my list, so I should be fine for a while... I don't think the Calendar has any powers, either... wasn't Condiment Man a villain here, too? Damn, I might actually be spoiled for choice.'
Setting all of that aside for now, Lucian felt obligated to see if he could fight at that same underground ring as before. Luckily for him, the area was as lively as the first time he visited. Up on the same rooftop as before, he left his cowl and leather jacket in a corner, but kept his black hoodie on. The building had no rooftop access and was the tallest one in the immediate area, so Lucian wasn't too worried about people "looting" his stuff.
Once secure, he put his blank cardboard mask back on and leapt down in the same getup he had the previous night.
...
Gomez and Matchstick turned around when they heard a loud thump behind them, the latter perking up with excitement.
"Hey! The Phantom's back!"
"'Phantom...?'" Lucian's muffled voice sounded puzzled, because he didn't remember calling himself that.
"It's what the people's been callin' ya!" Matchstick explained, crossing his arms and leaning back against a grimy wall. "Lotta them thought you looked like the Phantom of the Opera, which... I don't really see, but it kinda stuck!"
"... that just makes me sound painfully edgy."
Lucian drooped, only to droop even further internally when Matchstick commented, "I mean, you do look painfully edgy..."
"You here to fight again?" Gomez asked, and Lucian jumped on the opportunity to change the topic.
Reaching for his wallet, he asked, "Yeah. Do I just pay like last time?"
Gomez nodded and pointed a thumb over to Rita, the receptionist, on the other side of the crowd. Lucian waved at them as he left to get 'registered' for another fight.
...
"I knew you'd be back," said Rita, flashing Lucian a tired smile. She explained that he only really needed to pay $50 to get in.
He already knew that since Gomez explained it to him last night, but Rita must have not been told.
Regardless, that was how much Lucian gave her this time.
After the cash was handed over, Rita couldn't help but ask, "So... why the mask?"
"Oh, this..." Lucian reached up for the bottom of his mask. "I just don't wanna show my face."
"Afraid of being recognized?"
"You could say that," Lucian answered. "I'm more concerned about being recognized outside of the ring, and not inside it."
"I get it," said Rita. "You probably don't wanna involve your people in this thing. Which I understand, and I get the need for safety, but you know the best way to protect them?"
Lucian could already feel the impending lecture, so he just answered definitively. "Staying out of the ring, I know," he groaned out. "But don't worry about me. Once I get up on my own feet, I won't have to worry about them anymore."
"Aren't you a teenager?" Rita asked incredulously. "You shouldn't be doing things like this. Even if you do have a metagene like you said."
Not wanting to deal with any more of Rita's attempts at dissuading him from fighting, Lucian half-turned. He also grudged the fact that he got mistaken for being younger than he actually was. Was it his voice...?
"Well, nothing you can really do about it now, is there?" he said before turning around fully to leave for the back area. He just really couldn't form a good argument against Rita, so he decided to feed into the edgelord image instead to spare himself the headache.
While walking away, he could still overhear Rita saying "I just hope you really know what you're doing..."
...
"And now, we witness the return of our rising star! The mysterious, ever-elusive Phantom of the Arena!!"
Lucian grimaced hard, straining his facial muscles as much as he could upon hearing the cheesiest introduction for him that he'd ever heard. He knew that the announcer girl had to be fucking with him, seeing her smug, self-satisfied smirk from up on the elevated stage that she stood on.
'Really considering leaving the ring for good now,' Lucian thought.
"Sorry, my guy," he mumbled behind the mask to his opponent. Not that the guy hear him. "I'm gonna have to take my frustration out on you..."