Chapter 5

After making sure that The Ventriloquist and Gorilla Boss were arrested, Henry had continued to fight crime throughout the night.

That battle was honestly the largest one he'd been in… and he barely did anything in it. He was at risk of dying to the bullets that were flying out, and only managed to beat The Ventriloquist and his men due to the distraction that Man-Bat had caused.

If they weren't so distracted, they could have simply turned all of their weapons onto him, and he'd be dead. Or, at the very least out of commission for a while.

Even with his skin made of steel… he wouldn't have been able to survive so many bullets fired upon him.

If just one man had the balls to shoot him? He'd be dead on the streets. And that was honestly a sobering thought…

Should he still go out and fight crime? When there's the risk of being murdered with a single lucky shot from some two-bit punk?

…No, he shouldn't think of what could possibly happen. He'd be fine, as long as he's both cautious, and swift in his attacks.

If they don't have the time to take out their guns, they won't be able to shoot him.

…Maybe he should save up some money and invest in some kevlar or something though, just to be safe.

Though, that'd take a lot out of his food budget… unless he gets a good enough score from the criminals of Gotham City.

And so, Henry continued on, fighting crime.

After taking out a few muggers and violent thugs, making around $200 from stealing their wallets… he found himself in downtown.

Specifically, he found himself on a roof looking down at a decently large drug deal going on.

There were six men in suits, with weapons hidden on their persons, dealing drugs with some group of people in plain clothes.

But strangely enough… one of the suited men had blue skin. He was larger than everyone else, being around seven feet tall, and looked like he could survive a fistfight with the likes of Bane or Killer Croc.

The suit he was wearing was bright orange in color, with a white undershirt, and a similarly orange bowtie, and bright orange shoes. Henry then noticed that the blue-skinned man was also wearing a small orange top hat on top of his bald blue head.

He seemed to be the leader of this operation, as he was telling the other suited men what to do.

Henry cautiously watched for around half an hour as he wanted to know if there was going to be backup for the suited men or not, as more and more people were buying drugs from these suited men. He's also pretty damn sure that The Ten-Eyed Man also got one of those suitcases.

He didn't recognize the drug, though… certainly not at this distance.

All he could see from this distance was a bright blue glow being emitted from within the suitcases that were exchanged.

At least, until a car drove up, and five men came out, all brandishing firearms. From pistols to shotguns, and even a fucking assault rifle.

Henry couldn't really hear what was going on, other than shouting, and the gun-wielding men aiming their weapons at the suited men.

Then, the giant blue man in the orange suit calmly walked up to who seemed like the leader, and swiftly grabbed him by the head, and snapped his neck, causing him to fall to the floor dead.

There was a beat of silence, before the blue man pulled out a pistol out of his suit jacket and shot the other men with a precision that Henry honestly didn't believe the man was capable of.

It seemed that this blue-skinned man was a lot smarter than what could be assumed from his brutish exterior.

The five suited men then swiftly looted, and then disposed of their bodies, dumping them in a nearby dumpster, before one of them took their car to some other location. Meaning that they were now down a man.

With that, Henry couldn't stay still anymore, and he swiftly slid down the fire escape, absorbing the property of wrought iron, turning his body into the dark metal.

He then began to walk towards the five men, using his stainless steel bracelet to transform his hands into the material, as steel was slightly stronger than wrought iron.

The large, blue-skinned man was the first to notice him.

"Ohoho, what have we got here? Some wannabe hero?... Or an interested customer?" The blue-skinned goliath of a man asked, as he tilted his head to the side slightly.

Henry noticed the other men beside him tense up slightly, one of them even reaching for his gun.

He decided that… he was going to at least try to get some information out of this guy before their inevitable fight.

"Oh, I'm an interested customer. Saw some of that stuff you were selling, and was, well… interested. Just what is it that you're selling?" Henry asked, as he leaned up against a nearby crate.

"Well, one of our boys managed to make this miracle drug, which gives you super strength, durability, enhanced speed, and regeneration. But it does make your skin blue, as you can see. I got my physique from the drug" The man said with a large grin, "Oh. Name's Reggie by the way, nice to meetcha"

And with that, he grabbed Henry's hand, crushing it with his sheer strength and shook it vigorously, which also managed to pull him away from the crate.

"Ironhide. As you can tell, with the whole…" Henry said through gritted teeth as he tried to ignore the pain, of what felt like a fucking hydraulic press crushing his hand, as he gestured towards his wrought iron body with his free arm, "Well you can tell"

Reggie seemingly noticed his pain, and let go of his hand, before rubbing the back of his head sheepishly.

"Sorry 'bout that. Still getting used to this. So, Ironhide, huh? Makes sense with the 'iron body' thing. Never heard of you before, though" Reggie said, as he loomed over Henry.

"Yeah, I'm relatively new. Haven't really done much, been laying low with The Bat around" Henry lied, "Not really looking forward to fighting him to be honest"

"Ha! Yeah, I get what you mean… Batman gave me this scar, ya see?" Reggie said as he rolled up his suit's sleeve, revealing a large scar that ran down the length of his arm, "Was a few years back… I was an enforcer for a small-time gang, and felt invincible. So, when I ran into Batman… I tried to take him out with a baseball bat, for the irony of it all, and he threw a batarang at me… slashed through the length of my arm, and made me drop the bat… I passed out and woke up in the hospital. Apparently, Wayne Enterprises paid for my recovery for some reason. Lucky for me, I'd have been fucked since I didn't have any insurance"

"Oh shit, damn. Looks like that hurt like a bitch" Henry said, as he looked at the scar, Reggie nodding in agreement, "So… just a question, but what is this thing called? Just idle curiosity"

"Ah, it's called BB24. Might be an acronym or something, I don't rightfully know. My job's just to sell this stuff, and be big and tough and just scare off anyone trying to fuck with our boys. You know how it is" Reggie said offhandedly, "So you wanna buy some? A single vial costs $100"

With that, he rummaged through his pocket, and pulled out a… bright blue glowing vial that seemed to crackle with some sort of energy. A small label with the acronym "BB24" on it.

"$100?... Fucking hell, you guys are selling a super soldier serum on a budget, heh" Henry laughed slightly, causing Reggie to grin, "Yeah, sure just let me get my wallet out"

With that, Henry pretended to grab his wallet, making sure that they were off guard, before he swiftly punched Reggie, striking him in the jaw, his steel hand causing blood and teeth to fly out.

"AH! SON OF A BITCH!" Reggie shouted, as the vial flew out of his large hands, and broke on the ground, glowing blue liquid splashing everywhere.

His men were quick to grab their guns, but a raised arm from Reggie stopped that.

"No. No guns… it'd be unsporting. So, we're gonna do this like men. Mano-a-mano. You beat me? We leave. But if I beat you? I'm gonna bash your fuckin' skull in" Reggie said, a look of pure rage on his face, as he took off his suit jacket which contained his gun, revealing a simple white shirt, and the large scar on his left arm, as Henry then noticed that… his teeth had regenerated at a rapid rate.

Henry was fine with this, it just meant that he wouldn't have to hold back.

So, he transformed his hands into a pair of medieval mace heads.

"Oh! You can shapeshift too? This'll be fun!" Reggie shouted, as he ran towards Henry, his muscles tensing in anticipation.

"Yeah… honestly, I'm just happy that I don't have to hold back" Henry said with a slight smile, as he smashed his left mace-hand into the side of Reggie's face with all of his strength, sending the blue goliath flying to the right, his face caved in with blood and viscera flying everywhere.

Reggie quickly got back up, his head regenerating swiftly, as he cracked his neck.

"OH YEAH! THERE'S THAT RUSH!!! LET'S DO THIS IRONHIDE!!!" Reggie shouted, as he swiftly ran at Henry, faster than he thought the man could go.

Henry had forgotten about the fact that he had enhanced speed. So, in his shock, Henry did not react in time; and his chest caved in due to the large meaty fist crushing him into the ground.

"Ghrk!" Henry felt the wind get knocked out of him, as he heard his ribs crack, and something that could only be described as a screech. Fuck that was going to be a pain in the morning, as he wheezed on the ground.

"So… you're a bit of a glass cannon, able to dish out a lot of damage. But unable to take much? I'm fine with that" Reggie said as he walked up to Henry, "Get back up! I'm not having the first worthy opponent I've had in years dying to a single punch! Get up!"

With that, Reggie then forcefully pulled Henry up onto his feet. Henry swayed slightly, but a few breaths brought him back 'into the game', so to speak.

"Good. There's that fighting spirit! You know what? You get a free hit. Come on, hit me. I won't do nothing" Reggie said, as he lifted his chin, practically begging to get uppercutted.

So, Henry kicked him in the balls.

With all of the strength that he had, he utterly demolished Reggie's testicles with a swift but powerful kick.

"GUH! FUCK!" Reggie shouted, as he fell to his knees cupping his crotch in pain, long after they regenerated, "What the fuck man!? Who does that sort of shit in a fight!?"

'So, it seems that he can still feel pain even after it's been completely regenerated… I can't beat or exhaust him physically. So I'll just have to do it mentally' Henry thought to himself, as he walked up to the still in pain Reggie.

"I do!" Henry said, unafraid of using dirty tricks, before swiftly kicking Reggie square in the face while he was down, before transforming his hands into medieval morning stars before going to town on Reggie's head.

He was unable to do anything as his head was continuously destroyed and reformed, destroyed and reformed, destroyed and reformed. His regeneration being the only thing keeping him alive during Henry's attack, even as he screamed in pain.

This went on for what felt like hours, as out of the corner of his eye, Henry noticed that one of Reggie's men was vomiting his dinner up in a dumpster.

After a few more hits, Henry decided to show mercy on Reggie and finally let up on the assault.

Reggie kneeled there, panting in exhaustion, as he looked Henry in the eye.

"Is that… is that all you got? I can… do this all- ugh" Reggie said exhaustively as he made to stand up… only to collapse to the ground unconscious.

Henry then looked toward Reggie's men, only to see that they had already fled in fear at their boss' defeat. Though, they seemed competent enough to have also taken the crates with them… and the money they made.

Damn it. He was going to use that money.

But, not one to cut his losses, Henry quickly rifled through the unconscious Reggie's pockets, including his suit jacket's, and found his wallet, and a few vials of BB24.

Opening it, he saw a picture of Reggie… without the blue skin, and a little girl in a park. The both of them looked happy.

…

Henry put the wallet back into Reggie's pocket, as he pocketed the vials of BB24, before calling the GCPD about an unconscious supervillain, and leaving the scene of the crime.

He was walking home, when something grabbed him from out of fucking nowhere, and he suddenly found himself in the air.

Looking up at what grabbed him, he just knew that this night wasn't over.

"SCREEEEEE!!!!" Man-Bat screeched, as he kept a tight grip on Henry's shoulders.

…At least, he wasn't going to get ripped limb from limb, due to his metallic body.

'Fuck, hopefully the BB24 vials don't fall out of my pocket' Henry thought, right before one fell out… and shattered on a random rooftop

Fucking Gotham. Always has to have the last laugh.

_______

So, here's our first original antagonist. Reggie Barkley.

Just want to say… I had a completely different plot planned for this fucking chapter. The drug bust was going to be a small thing, then I had the idea for Reggie, and I just fucking rolled with it. The Man-Bat stuff at the end? That was supposed to be near the start of this chapter.

And honestly? I love Reggie. Mostly because of what he represents for the story, both as the first original antagonist, and… well, the start of something else that I won't currently say.

Also, just so everyone knows BB24 is an original thing. But it's not going to be the focus of the first arc… that'll be something else. This is more of an overarching plot, with the way I've planned it.