The Big Thugs

The whole gloomy vibe of Gotham didn't exactly float my boat. It's like a permanent no-good zone.

Whenever something remotely positive went down, it was always a smoke screen for some messed-up crime or shady event lurking behind the scenes.

But hey, does it even matter? I'm just here on the grind, doing my job. I ain't a resident or anything. Let Batman and his crew handle the mess while I focus on stacking that paper.

And stack it I will, as I peeped at the name card in my hand.

The card had a certain name on it; Oswald Chesterfield Cobblepot, or the Penguin, as he's widely known in Batman stories. This man's been a hotshot villain in every storyline, being an annoyance to Batman every chance that he got.

He ain't your run-of-the-mill supervillain with flashy powers, though. Nah, he's more of a slick businessman and master manipulator, using his wealth to run organized crime.

"A fraction of what I pulled off back in the day."

But hey, it's still something, right?

To reach that level of power and notoriety in a place like Gotham without any special abilities, he has my respect. 

But I wasn't here to simply pay him my respect, I had gotten an offer and I came here to redeem it.

And from the location that I got, it's called the Iceberg Lounge.

It a pretty fancy nightclub, with a few guards keeping watch at the front of the gate, letting me enter once they saw the name card. 

And color me impressed, as the moment I entered I was greeted by the beauty of the place.

The restaurant and lounge were pretty cool with two stories and a whopping 12,800 square feet. They had this awesome pool right in the middle where pet seals and penguins could swim around. And get this, there was even an iceberg-like sculpture floating in the pool. Plus, they had a dance floor that looked like a ship and the whole place was decked out with polar-themed decorations. Oh, and to top it off, there was this fancy tuxedo jazz band jamming out on the sculpture.

Additionally, the Penguin had his own swanky private dining area upstairs near the bar. From there, he could keep an eye on everything. Pretty fancy, huh?

But it was not the main focus today.

Today, I was here for work.

Walking towards Penguin's dining area, escorted by a few pretty ladies who were most definitely ordered by the crime lord, I stood before the massive glass door.

The girls didn't walk inside with me, and instead asked me to go there alone.

Which might be quite suspicious for some, but to me I knew it was just Penguin unwilling to gather an unnecessary crowd.

I pushed open the massive blue-tinted glass door with almost no effort, impressing me considering such doors often take quite the effort to open- especially when they are not automated. 

But it was Penguin, he definitely didn't want to go through the hassle of having to use strength.

However, the surprises didn't end there.

"Gahaha! Looks like we finally have our last participant here."

Laughter, a kind of guttural, raw laughter, echoed through the room, instantly capturing my attention. I turned my gaze and my eyes landed on a sight that could only be described as monstrous. 

There he was, seated on a double-sized couch, a figure so imposing and colossal that he seemed to dwarf everyone else around him.

I mean, seriously, this guy was on a whole other level of huge. Even in a seated position, he towered over everyone like a force of nature. And let me tell you, this room wasn't lacking in the monster department either.

But this particular individual? He took the cake. Standing at least eight feet tall, he was a sight that would haunt any child's dreams. Every inch of him exuded a feral energy that made your skin crawl.

His skin, scaly and rough, seemed to be pulled straight out of a reptile's nightmare. It had this eerie greenish-gray hue, resembling a twisted, mutated crocodile. Those scales covered his entire body, giving him an aura of pure intimidation and monstrosity. And the sheer size of his muscles? No amount of humanly possible workouts, heck even steroids couldn't account for that level of sheer power.

But it didn't stop there. His jaw, enlarged and menacing, was filled with rows of sharp, crocodile-like teeth, like something out of a horror flick. And his nails? They were like lethal weapons, capable of tearing through anything unlucky enough to be in their path.

Yeah, this guy, this thing, was none other than the infamous Killer Croc. The name fit him perfectly, because when you laid eyes on him, you knew you were in the presence of a true creature of nightmares.

Seeing my surprised look, another man laughed. And while he didn't look as imposing as the Killer Croc, I knew very well that he wasn't your average villain.

"I was just as intimidated when I first laid my eyes on Croc."

He wore a grayish-silver full face mask with a red eyepiece on his left eye. And if my assumption about his identity is correct, that is not a regular eyepiece but a cybernetic eyepiece designed especially to assist him with his aim.

Yes, the man was most definitely Deadshot, the guy with the craziest sniper skills out there.

And we weren't done here, there were two more characters that we had to talk about.

The first one had a similar build to Deadshot, albeit with more muscles that were visible even with the full body suit that he was wearing. The costume consisted mostly of orange and black, especially his mask whose one part was black and the other orange.

This man was Deathstroke, the iconic mask was unmistakable. He was one of the villains that I respect, not because of his ideals but because of his skills.

And finally, we had a man who was infamous for breaking Batman's back.

He was physically imposing, not as big as croc but definitely big with bulging muscles. He wore a mask composed mostly of black and white, with pipes running from the back of the mask to his arms that had a few small canisters through which the pipes went.

If I remember correctly, those pipes supply a venom which is the source of his power.

But it was honestly quite a sight to see four famous personalities gathered under one roof and this makes me wonder what exactly Penguin has planned.

"I have never seen you before," Bane asked in his deep, gravelly voice, "You are not from Gotham, are you?"

"I am not," I answered, taking my place on the empty couch, "I recently got here and was scouted by Penguin because he was impressed by my abilities"

This drew the attention of everyone, especially Croc, "Gahaha! You seem sound confident about your abilities for someone of your size."

"I get that often," I smiled, "But when I have to fight, even people of your stature fall."

This caused a full belly laugh from him. In a way, I was checking how much it takes to anger him. It was dangerous, but I could dodge him if needed.

Surprisingly, he took no offense which was contrary to what I expected.

Much different from his Arkham version.

"Confidence is good young man, but in this field even a little bit of overconfidence can get you killed." The one to say this was Slade, who sat in the same position since the time I arrived.

"Or maybe he is special," This time, it was Deadshot, "Maybe he is one of those."

The room felt silent as they all stared at me.

"Are you a metahuman?" Bane asked, "People that awakened power either during their birth or later on in their life from genetic mutations or exposure to extraordinary circumstances, or scientific experimentation."

He wasn't technically wrong.

I nodded, making Croc grin.

"Not all metahumans are lucky that they obtain great powers. Some get powers that are useless, can ruin their own lives or even destroy their appearance."

He was referring to himself with that last bit.

"But I now understand where you get your confidence from or why Penguin possibly scouted you."

And that statement was agreed by all five villains.

Yeah, five as he just arrived.

"Even among meta humans, he is quite special." 

The final addition said, who was none other than the owner of this lounge.

"Penguin," Slade mumbled, "You definitely wasted a lot of my time by not arriving on time."

The crime lord laughed, "That I apologize for Deathstroke, I will make sure to pay you for your time." He then looked at me, "As for the young man over here, he is quite special. Special in a way that even I do not know the truth about his abilities."

But Bane was still curious, "Just being powerful isn't the reason you gather people, penguin. What's the other reason?"

Penguin grinned, "Of course, but he has already proven himself."

"How?" Croc asked, "I have never seen or heard of him before today."

Penguin laughed, "Oh you may not have seen him before but you have definitely heard of him."

"After all, he is the one that got rid of Zsasz and Scarecrow."

And with that news, everyone fell silent.

…

…

[[The Quiver, Starling City]]

"Can you do it, Oliver?"

Within the massive, highly militarized floor of one of the most famous hero bases; The Arrowcave or often called the Quiver stood Oliver Queen, one of the prominent members of the Justice League that went by the name of the Green Arrow.

And talking to him was none other than the Gotham's protector, Batman.

Fixing his bike, Oliver hummed, "I can do that since you helped with Merlyn. But I hope you know that if Bane, Deathstroke and Croc are joining, I might not be enough for this."

"I will have the Young Justice aid you but I hope you can guide them in it. They still lack experience but since they do have their abilities, they can be quite helpful against the opponent."

"You know that I had quite a difficult time in instructing Speedy," Arrow sighed, "But I will try, since these kids do have the experience of working under other heroes. It shouldn't be that difficult to instruct them."

"Just make sure that they don't get their hands on those papers," Batman said strictly, "Otherwise, Penguin will have a reach that far exceeds the authorities."

Saying this, Batman immediately hung up, making Oliver sigh.

"He never listens now does he?" Shaking his head, he mumbled, "But with the help of the kids… nothing should go wrong, right?"

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[[A/N: Read 25+ Chapters Ahead: Pat reon.com/Greedyfrog

Deathstroke and Slade are the same person. Slade was the name used by animators as censorship did not allow Deathstroke name to be used as it had the word Death in it. Thus, Slade was used as it is more child friendly.

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