"Shit...!"
Batman came in swinging so fast that the Manticore barely had any time to react. It was a lariat— he would've been swimming in dreamland if he hadn't ragdolled himself into collapsing before it hit. He collapsed into a heap on the hard ground in a series of loud thuds as different parts of his body landed out of sync.
Batman was surprised as well. Avoiding an attack in such a bizarre way was new to him. Most people would have moved into the attack or out of the way, but the Manticore seemed to just fall like a house of cards.
Concern mounted for a moment, but then the Manticore rolled away and got up.
"Why aren't you using your meta-abilities?" Batman questioned.
"It's a test of skill, remember?" the Manticore got into a more serious fighting posture than the usual lazy boxing stance that he'd been using in prize fights. "It's kind of an unfair edge... and if I used it all the time, I'd turn into some muscle-headed brute."
The last statement earned a chuckle from Batman, who charged in again just as fast as earlier. This time though, he engaged his opponent in an exchange of blows. He mixed up various styles that he had mastered over the years, and the Manticore quickly found himself in an even worse position than before. He had definitely been putting up a good resistance, but knew that he had to disengage and make distance to recover. While it was true that Batman wasn't quite as strong as he was, he was still outclassed in speed, technique, and most importantly: experience.
Ultimately, the spar ended in the Manticore's loss.
What cost him that fight was a diversion, where Batman fluttered his cape in his face. He had become so laser-focused on Batman himself that any accessories were blocked out of his perception. Seeing that his opponent had entered a flustered state, Batman managed to pull him into a tight grab, tossing him to the ground and pinning him down.
"Learn anything from that?" asked Batman, and the Manticore nodded, the back of his head scraping against the ground.
"Tunnel vision is a bitch that sneaks up on you..."
Even after Batman had gotten off of him, satisfied with his answer, the Manticore stayed sprawled out like how he had Killer Moth looking earlier.
"Man, you must hold back a lot on your villains if Killer Moth was that confident with you," he whined.
"Did it really seem that way?"
The Manticore willed himself to sit up with an oof. "You mean he was holding back on me, too...?"
"In a way." Batman nodded. "He specializes mostly on escape tactics and assisting allied groups. Usually, he'd be helping criminals while hindering us or the law. Not exactly as much of a close-quarters fighter like you. To be clear about myself, I specialize in investigation and espionage. The fighting just happened to be necessary because of the sort of city we live in."
The Manticore slumped back down, finally understanding the situation.
"You did pretty well," Batman said after letting the rookie digest the information. "If you want, I could train you when nothing's going on."
"You mean it??" the Manticore almost sat up, but stopped. He still had to rest up a bit longer.
"Yeah," Batman confirmed. Turning to leave now, he said "I'll find you when we both have the time for it" over his shoulder.
...
Minutes later, Lucian finally caught his breath. He sat up and answered in the affirmative to Penny's question about receiving the remaining Test Drive quest rewards.
[ Conglomerations! You've completed Quest: Test Drive! ]
[ Your rewards are as follows: ]
[ 1,000 EXP; Cloak of Distortion [C] ]
[ EXP to next level: 316 ]
"A Cloak of Distortion, huh...?"
[ The item description states that pouring energy into it while equipped will make your image turn hazy, as well as shift around unpredictably. Depending on how you pour that energy in, the way your visuals distort should also change. ]
"Hah, sick! Put it on my jacket."
[ ... done! ]
◎ ◉ ◎
The rain had begun to pour. Within a taxi driving down the busy streets, Maxie and Tammy buzzed with excitement— well, Tammy did. Maxie was much more subdued.
"So, what else did you do??" Tams asked excitedly. She was so much like a kid with sugar rush sometimes, it kind of grated on her comparatively low-energy friend.
"Like I said, not much," Maxie began to explain, fiddling with the handles of the ecobag between her legs. "We went for food and stuff, played in the arcade... some guys tried hitting on me, actually," she mentioned, sounding decidedly unamused. Her brows even scrunched up a bit.
"What'd Lucian do about it?"
Calming down significantly, Maxie recalled the events. "He pulled me close by the shoulder warned those guys to back off... they didn't let up, though. One of them tried grabbing me and the others tried to attack him. I didn't really catch what happened after, because they were all laid out on the floor before I could even realize that a fight started at all. Security only got there after it was over."
"Damn..." Tammy was out of words, for once. But then, she added, "That's kinda hot..."
Maxie groaned. "Eugh, stop. Well, I mean, yeah it was kind of a turn-on... but it stops being that way then a guy's always looking for a fight."
"Fair, fair," Tammy relented. "But is he like that, though?"
Maxie's eyes shifted over to the side as she considered something. "The total opposite, actually... there was trouble at the restaurant a few times, and the one to deescalate was always him if not our boss. This is the first time he's been pushed to put hands on anyone."
"Ohhh? Maybe you like the knight-in-shining armor type?" Tammy teased. "I always knew you were supposed to be a princess~"
"Eugh, stop—"
Maxie playfully pushed Tammy away, and when the latter eventually relented, her phone suddenly rang.
The drizzle had grown stronger by this point, pouring over the cab's windows and heavily obscuring the outside world. Maxie looked down at the phone in her lap and saw that Bailey had sent her a text message.
'Don't come home tonight. Sleep over at Tammy's or something,' it said.
Worry bubbling up inside her, Maxie typed out a reply. 'Why? What happened?'
'Connor. Got into a fight with mom about her digging into his peddling stash. Apartment's on fire, but the firefighters are there now. I'm in an ambulance with mom, and Connor got arrested. Already got a hold of Brodes, he said he's staying at one of his sources' place.'
Maxie thinned her lips, brows furrowing. She didn't really care in particular, but those two were still her parents. She felt like she ought to feel bad, but just... couldn't.
"What's up?" Tammy finally asked after her friend just stared down at her phone with a frustrated look for a good minute.
Maxie sighed. "We lost everything..." her answer came flatly.
Not sure what to say in the moment, all Tammy could offer her friend was an awkward but heartfelt hug. "It's going to be okay..."
"... yeah..."
◎ ◉ ◎
Lucian rushed to a scene. He was just cruising along Gotham's rooftops— he'd informed the people at Paulie's ring that he wouldn't be fighting that night because of personal business.
Now that he was out on patrol, his Justice Sense started screaming at him once he got to a particular part of the city. Looking down from a rooftop perch, he saw that one of the apartments in a building was on fire. His Justice Sense activated for both that— a fire that was started on purpose —and a murder attempt.
He leapt down and crashed to the ground, unharmed by his own velocity. The landing created a loud bang and a rush of wind, which pulled the attention of the crowd that had gathered to watch the blaze.
Drawing closer, the Manticore saw that the fire lit up its immediate surroundings while simultaneously plunging everything else in an almost impenetrable darkness. Even from where the crowd stood, around a dozen meters away, he could still feel the heat and pressure waves.
"What happened here?" the Manticore asked someone in the crowd. It was a bulky lady with wild hair that flared out every which way down to her mid-back. Rather than from the gym, her size seemed to have come from rigorous and repetitive labor— she just had that sheer sense of mass to her.
"That's our apartment on fire," she explained. "My parents got into a fight... my mom's still in there."
The Manticore wasted no time. He leapt straight up to the third floor, creating another resounding bang and a gust of wind. The people around him were startled by the action, but he didn't care about that.
His aim was the apartment with the open door and broken windows, flames licking out of them. He landed on the railings along the edges of the walkway, causing the metal to creak and bend from the sudden transfer of force. The heat and pressure were even stronger at such close proximity, but he pushed forward. One for All's energy leakage seemed to be protecting him; it pushed against the heat and pressure to a noticeable degree, preventing the licking flames from actually making contact. To his surprise, even his breathing wasn't hampered much.
Once he had gotten into the apartment, spotted two people right away even through the thick smoke. There was one woman— skinny, frail, and slumped back by the doorway. The flames barely reached her, as most of what burned was either far away, or the ceiling itself. She had multiple stab wounds in her abdomen, and was ghastly pale. Nothing short of a miracle would be needed to save her.
On the other side of the apartment was a man that could have been assumed to be her husband. He had scratches all over his arms and face, his right hand was bloody and charred, and he held a lighter in his left.
The implications were clear.
The Manticore didn't have time to linger. He dashed to the other side of the room, staying as low as he could so as to avoid damaging his clothes. He grabbed the unconscious man and slung him across the apartment like a ragdoll. His unconscious body was made to slide out the door, then crashed harshly against the railing outside. As for the woman, the Manticore scooped her up into arms and exited carefully.
'I got the Tiger Climbing Gear right on time,' he mused. He didn't have to worry about jostling her around while exiting the building. Carefully, he climbed down the outer wall as fast as he could.
"Wha- mom...!"
The woman that the Manticore had talked to earlier hurried over, falling to her knees on the ground beside him and her mother. As for her mother herself... the Manticore hadn't noticed earlier, but her hair was all burnt up. One side of her face and patches of skin all over had blistered significantly from the heat, and the combined smells...
Lucian's vision spun, and he wanted to hurl. A strange, hot, prickly sensation creeped along his back, most prominently along the nape of his neck. It wasn't from the fire— this was his body's reaction to the sight before him. Staying disoriented wouldn't do, though. Hearing Penny calling out to him, the Manticore forced himself to settle.
"I need a shirt!" he yelled after calming down. Nobody responded for a moment, but it looked like the daughter's mind processed the order faster than the rest— she had taken off her own and handed it to him.
The Manticore tied up the wound and told the victim's daughter to maintain pressure. He could hear the lady breathing, as faint and labored as it was, and her heart was still beating as well. Why did looking at her hurt him so terribly bad?
"One of you," he yelled to the bystanders, "call an ambulance and the cops!"
Right then, he leapt right back up into the building, coming out moments later with a man slung over his shoulder. His landing wasn't exactly careless, but he wasn't careful either.
...
Barely a minute later, the cops were on the scene, accompanied by a speeding ambulance. The city always had at least a few of both roaming around openly, so they were always quick to respond whenever emergency calls like this were made.
"First, that incident with Killer Moth. Now, this..." the Manticore grumbled to himself, watching the first responders carry their respective charges to their vehicles. "It's almost like fate was waiting for me to get strong enough..."
"Hey...!" a familiar voice called to him. It was the same woman from earlier— the stabbing victim's daughter. "Come around tomorrow night, I wanna talk to you!"
The Manticore gave her a thumbs-up just as the ambulance doors shut, and the vehicle sped off into the distance. He waited a bit longer for the firefighters to arrive, and luckily, it barely took them a minute to get there. Once they started dealing with the blaze, he leapt back up to the rooftops to resume patrol.
...
Lucian sped through Gotham all over. Though he was using One for All and traveling at breakneck speeds, he still wasn't going all out. For how much strain his body could handle, this was at most a leisurely jog. Still, he needed to take his mind off that image. It was still more than a little haunting; he'd seen burn victims before, but that was only ever through a screen. Seeing it in person, accompanied by all the smells and the feeling of their body in his arms... To say the least, it unsettled him.
[ You okay? ]
"Yeah, just... I've never seen anything like that before, even in my past life..."
Lucian didn't know why, but saying that felt... wrong. Just then, a sort of pressure wrapped around his upper body. The sensation was remarkably like a torso and arms. "Thanks, Penny..."
[ Mhm... I'll always be here to help, Luce... no matter what, how, or why. ]
[ ... ]
[ D'you wanna see your new stuff? You got rewarded quite a bit for what you did. ]
"... Sure. Show me."
[ Saved two lives from dying in a fire: 200 EXP ]
[ Performed first aid, raising someone's chances of surviving: 100 EXP ]
[ Directly contributed to an arrest: 100 EXP ]
[ Total EXP awarded: 400 ]
[ Congratulations! Your level has risen to 12. ]
[ EXP to next level: 1,616 ]
Lucian was curious as to why he was awarded EXP for an arrest, as it had never happened before. Penny pointed out that it did happen earlier that day, during the Killer Moth incident where he incapacitated six armed robbers.
She then elaborated that it had to do with time and distance. Lucian usually just hurried to leave right after taking down some unlucky up-to-no-good schmucks, so he never got any EXP for helping bring them in.
This time though, the perp had been arrested minutes after he brought him out of the burning building, resulting in the EXP reward. Just as well, the armed robbery crew from earlier gave him extra EXP because the respondents got to them so quickly.
Having leveled up another time, Lucian's info screen looked like this:
– ৹ – ৹৹◎৹৹ – ৹ –
Host: Lucian Albrecht
Matrix: Quirk User: One for All
Level: 12
Classes: [Brawler - Level 3] ; [Acrobat - Level 5] ; [Criminal - Level 4]
-[ Attributes ]-
Power: 35 [65]
Vitality: 35 [65]
Agility: 35 [65]
Intellect: 24
Mentality: 24
Spirit: 24
Luck: 0
Free Attribute Points: 0
New class ability unlocked!
Criminal:
[4] Eye for Trouble: Ever saw something or someone and thought, "Yep, staying away from that one" or "Damn, I want in"? This is that, but elevated. With your eyes and ears, you can easily find any traps, ambushes, or any other sort of setup.
– ৹ – ৹৹◎৹৹ – ৹ –