After Lucian's victory streak at Paulie's, he took a small break. It would be good to treat himself to something once in a while, after all, and with his huge winnings that day?
Not getting himself something nice would have been such a waste.
He ended up removing his cowl, but it could easily fit in his cargo pants' pockets if he separated the leather and metal parts. Wandering around some of Gotham's relative 'safe zones,' primarily the areas around Robinson Park, Lucian went out to sample some goodies that he hadn't allowed himself the time to enjoy before.
He stopped by a pizza place to get himself a couple slices— he got himself some really meaty ones with extra cheese. Most of the food at Inigo's had a generous share of vegetables, but Lucian had always been more of a meat eater, so he used this opportunity to slake those cravings.
After that, instead of getting nutrient bars like usual, he went for Oreos and the like. He even got a cookies and cream Coke float, something that he'd always wanted to try in his first life, but never got to.
Lastly, he got himself a bag of pre-sliced potatoes for french fries. He'd bring it back to Inigo's later and stuff it in one of the freezers; it had already been made known to him that as long as it didn't cross-contaminate, anyone could keep some stuff in there if they needed.
...
Not much time later, Lucian finally had to go out and do what he actually needed to. With his cowl and navy blue jacket on, he scouted the southern region of his area for any eligible 'housing' that he could appropriate for himself.
The search was long— it was like going out to find new books, checking out every aisle and corner, and still finding nothing to take home.
It wasn't that none of them were good enough; it's just that Lucian couldn't find anything that felt "right." He kept on leaping building to building, dropping eaves on conversations, and even going out maskless to ask people that he knew had no chance of recognizing him.
Eventually though, good fortune shone through. Ending up near Finger River, Lucian entered an entire compound that seemed abandoned— it was free real estate for a basic starter hideout.
Within that compound, he spotted some light coming from a window in an apartment building.
From his point of view, the right side was completely fine; untouched, if a bit grimy. The other half of it was broken down, like a demolition crew had started to tear it down with a wrecking ball before packing up and leaving in the middle of the job.
Lucian turned down One for All and stalked closer. Eventually, he ascended the stairwell and turned One for All back on. By the time he reached the second floor, he could hear the faint droning of a radio, as well as a man yelling in frustration.
It was hard to make out what he was saying at first, but the words cleared up once Lucian was on the third floor where the room was.
It was an irritating sort of voice that the raving man had— like that one classmate, acquaintance, or coworker who had no sense of volume and could never shut up.
"Man, this week has been so fucked! First, there was you getting clipped by Batman. We had to waste fucking money bailing you out! Then, I get knocked out by god-knows-who while shaking someone down for cash!"
'I knew he sounded familiar,' thought Lucian. 'It's that guy who was coercing some kid on my first night out.'
"D'you think it could've been that new guy? The one with this creepy purple mask?" a different voice asked. This one just sounded tired.
"How the fuck am I supposed to know?? I didn't even see who did it."
"Whatever the case," a whole new voice chimed in, "we have to play it cool for a while. Things have been shaking up around the City. Ever heard of the Phantom?"
"Yeah, that new guy in Paulie's ring," said the first man. "Heard he's doping up on juice. Fuckin unfair, man... if he doesn't show up some time, I might just try my luck."
"With your twiggy skinny ass?" the second man scoffed. "Everyone there can take on at least all three of us at once. You ain't got a snowball's chance in hell at makin' it."
"Man, fuck you! Lotta people get got there easy, I just have to get lucky!"
Lucian just couldn't help but stay put in amusement. A fight between the three loons broke out eventually, and he decided to wait until it was over before making his entrance.
"Thanks for making my job a whole lot easier," he said smugly through the cowl, his voice adequately distorted by the metal parts he strategically put in place within the metal 'jaw.'
"Wha-- who in the fuck-"
Before the last man standing— the third voice —could even turn around, Lucian knocked him out with a kick.
He was really having fun with [Non-Lethal Strike] and how it bent reality to force-stop any kills. Apart from fucking with how force worked, it even held back his attacks. He could tell because whenever he used it, there was some resistance, like trying to throw a punch while underwater.
"And now, to throw y'all out..."
Once Lucian had finished scattering his three victims all across the surrounding area, he went on to appropriate that particular apartment room for his own purposes. As a courtesy for taking their hideout from them, he elected not to call the cops on 'em this time around. He did take their stuff, though...
[ EXP report. ]
[ Takedowns: 3 - EXP awarded: 150 ]
[ Items taken: 5 - EXP awarded: 250 ]
[ Money acquired: $11 - EXP awarded: 11 ]
[ Hideout acquisition bonus: 100 EXP ]
[ Total EXP acquired: 511 ]
[ Wow... They weren't kidding when they said they were broke. ]
[ EXP to next level: 773 ]
"Nice..."
After making sure that nobody else was lurking in his soon-to-be territory, Lucian took a moment to admire what would eventually become his home for the foreseeable future.
The apartment was pretty small, but it was in relatively great shape. The primary living space was spacious enough that he could stand side by side with a clone of himself, arms outstretched, and they wouldn't even make contact with each other or the walls.
The bedroom was about half as large, and the bathroom was decent. It had a tub and toilet, as well as a sink, but there was no water when Lucian tried any of the faucets.
Still, it was a great space to live in. He even figured he could really turn it into a cozy little hangout spot once he had finished cleaning up.
Speaking of cleaning up, there was trash scattered all over, and the smell of cigarettes and alcohol clung to the air itself. As unideal as that was, it was something that Lucian could fix over time.
"At least they were thoughtful enough to furnish the place before I got here, heheh..."
Lucian plopped down onto one of the cushioned armchairs and made himself comfortable. It was a bit dusty and had more than its fair share of holes, but it wasn't anything he hadn't experienced before. If anything, it somewhat reminded him of home— from his first life.
"I could just convert the room next door into my workshop," he mumbled. "I can carve out the wall with some improvised hand tools in a few levels..."
Lucian just lounged around for a good while, tuning the radio to a station that played music he actually liked... which wasn't really anything. At least, none that had good service where he was.
Instead, the program came in handy. It could play music in his head since it wouldn't be an 'exploit,' so Lucian had it play some tracks from Cyberpunk 2077, starting with 'Who's Ready for Tomorrow.'
With the tunes situation settled, he looked around at the apartment to see what he might be able to do at the moment.
Off in the corner sat a dusty bouncy ball. Lucian picked it up and quickly hopped over to the river to wash it, then returned soon to bounce it off a wall over and over.
He ramped up the speed over time, mindful not to use so much force that the ball broke. He ended up making two to three throws every second and never missed the ball once. He had to strain his eyes and mind to keep up with the speed, but it was more than manageable. The mental strain was mostly comparable to getting the timing right on a particularly difficult rhytm game level.
"Having base 27 Agi and 18 Mentality is amazing..."
Eventually, Lucian had to stop faffing around. He rearranged the furniture for now and worked on tidying up the place. The little apartment looked so much nicer now without the litter cluttering up the floor, and he had a nice little corner with two armchairs, a couch, and a coffee table covered in graffiti.
"I'll need to bring in real cleaning supplies tomorrow... My first target next time should be the windows, then the floor."
[ Invest in a better door, too. Maybe some metal bars that you can bring up and down for the windows. ]
"Yeah, probably should do that..."
Lucian most certainly had more than enough money for the more basic stuff by this point. He just needed to get them, and he could get most the basic stuff covered in one night.
"For now, let's make sure nobody can reach this place before going out on patrol again..."
Lucian spent the better part of one hour shifting around rubble and small debris to make sure that his little apartment was only accessible by a secret footpath.
He also went back to the three loons and left notes in their pockets, each containing a short introduction and a doodle of his cowl. The notes also said something about never returning to that place ever again.
...
[ Nightly Progress Report: ]
[ Criminals taken down: 2 – EXP awarded: 100 ]
[ Money earned: $200 – EXP awarded: 200]
[ Items stolen: 1 - EXP awarded: 50. ]
[ Total EXP awarded: 350 ]
[ EXP to next level: 423 ]
...
Lucian didn't end up doing much on his patrol. It was a bit of a quiet night, so he decided to turn in by that point and return to Inigo's.