Aftermath #30

'Well... that was a day and a half...' I sighed, falling on my back and collapsing into the bed after a nice shower.

It took me two hours to navigate my way back since I didn't want to give anyone the chance to follow me home.

I took a long detour toward Crime Alley, where I knew there were no cameras and only stored my gear once I was sure no one was watching me and that no surveillance devices around, thanks to the pigeon drone.

God, that thing is handy to have around. Conspiracy nuts who hate on these things on the internet can fuck off for all I care.

In any case, I slowly made my home from there, ignoring the almost endless amount of shady happenings around Crime Alley and keeping my head down.

The brief time I spent there before quickly leaving reminded me why I've been avoiding it since I came here.

'Seriously, the rest of Gotham looks like Disney land compared to that place...' I yawned and turned to the notification in the corner of my vision, messaging the back of my neck.

'I can't believe I fought Killer Croc and survived...' I smiled, shaking my head as I remembered how genuinely pissed off the lizard looked before he turned tail and ran.

I can't tell you how many times I had nightmares about going to the toilet only for Killer Croc's head to burst out of the toilet bowl and bite a chunk out of my ass.

'And then there's Harley Quin...' I frowned as I recalled my encounter with the crazy blonde. I'd honestly take wrestling with Killer Croc over dealing with that brand of crazy.

If I had to deal with Killer Croc, I'd at least know what he wanted, which was probably to rip my ass to shreds, and I'd respond accordingly by turning around and running as fast as I could, but I had no idea what Harley Quinn wanted.

Harley Quinn was crazy and unpredictable, and I had no idea how to deal with her other than to kill her, there and then, and I couldn't do that at the time for reasons she made very obvious herself.

'Fuck it. I'll deal with the crazy bitch when the time comes...' I shrugged, dropping the subject as I turned to the notification in the corner of my vision.

[Would you like to view the new notifications? Yes/No]

I accepted and began browsing through them.

[+2 levels to the Brawling skill]

[Brawling (level 25)]

[+1 level to the Acrobat class]

[+3 stat points]

[Due to reaching a milestone in your Brawling skill, you have unlocked a new perk: (100% Muscle Usage)]

[100% Muscle Usage: you can apply 100% of the body's muscular strength, maximizing the capacity, while under normal conditions, most humans can only exert around 65% (overuse may cause exhaustion and intense hunger)]

'Huh... this feels weird...' I mused as I stretched my palm, opening and closing it while flexing my muscles. It felt like finding something I never knew was lost to me until I did, and I discovered body parts I hadn't realized existed as I tried to move every muscle in my body.

'This will take some time getting used to...' I shrugged my shoulders, moving on to the other notifications.

[+1 level to the Acrobatics skill]

[Acrobatics (level 8)]

[+1 level to the Acrobat class]

[Acrobat (level 9)]

[+3 Stat points]

[Quest complete: WHAT ARE THOSE?!]

'Nice, now I only need one more class level before I could unlock that Archetype thingy...' I nodded in satisfaction and moved on to the next set of notifications.

...

WHAT ARE THOSE?!

Killer Croc is a giant, terrifying crocodile-human hybrid with the ability to burst through brick walls and chew through steel, and he has a particular fondness for eating people.

And now, you have to kick his ass before he eats your homeless buddies!

Good luck!

Objective: defeat Killer Croc

Rewards: [random equipment]

...

[Accept rewards now? Yes/No]

I naturally accepted and waited for the randomizer.

[Randomizing equipment.... randomizing complete]

[You received: Wall Climbing Boots]

[Wall Climbing Boots: a pair of military-grade black boots that come with the ability to stick to solid surfaces, allowing the wearer to climb the flattest of walls (they come with advanced sensors to detect movement and are powered by kinetic energy)]

'Whelp, looks like I'm all set to rip off Spiderman... luckily, I don't have any uncles who'd have to die to teach me about responsibility...' I chuckled, taking the boots out of my inventory to inspect them.

They seemed like a good old pair of military boots, and no matter how hard I looked, there was nothing extraordinary about them that would suggest they'd enable me to climb walls.

'Whatever... I'm too tired to question this shit...' I yawned as I turned to my available stat points and hesitated for a second before investing 5 points into the Body and Mind attribute each, raising them both to 50.

[Due to reaching a milestone in your Mind attribute, your brain has evolved, and you have unlocked a new perk: (Perfect Recall)]

[Perfect Recall: sometimes confused with genius-level intellect and known as photographic memory, it is the ability to recall anything and everything you have ever been allowed to remember over the course of your life]

I sighed as I looked through the Perfect Recall perk, now knowing how to feel about it. It would be a great advantage, and it would help me gain technical knowledge, but it could be a double-edged sword at the same time.

I've already seen a shit ton of fucked up shit, and I'll likely see even more, and the idea that I'll never be able to forget about such things was not reassuring to say the least.

'Guess I'll have to soldier through it... luckily the other one didn't come with a downside...' I bitterly mused as I turned to the other perk, finding some consolation there.

[Due to reaching a milestone in your Body attribute, your physique has evolved, and you have unlocked a new perk: (Accelerated Healing)]

[Accelerated Healing: is the ability to recover from bodily injuries or disease at a superhuman rate. It differs from Regeneration because although you can recover from tissue damage and even regenerate entire cells, it cannot repair separated limbs or torn cells]

I fought the urge to get off my bed and do a fist pump on account of my exhaustion as I read through the Accelerated Healing perk, already feeling the pain in my ankle joint fade away.

With my Superhuman Stamina, I had no issue training for hours and only needed to rest for several minutes before resuming. But I always had a problem with accumulated injuries.

My healing speed was beyond the human average already, but it still took my body one week or more to recover from bullet wounds, and Accelerated healing solved that problem for good.

I smiled as I turned to my character screen to give it one look before I slept.

Age: 17

Class: [Thief (level 10 MAX)] [Fighter (level MAX)] [Acrobat (Level 9)]

...

Stats:

Body: 50

Mind: 50

Spirit: Locked

Stat Points: 31

.....

Skills:

[Brawling (level 25)] [Crime (level 25)] [Acrobatics (level 8)]

....

Perks:

[Dormant Metahuman] [Silent Step] [Eidetic Kinesthesia] [Superhuman Stamina] [Perfect Recall] [Accelerated Healing]

...

'Nice... with this, I should be able to clear out that warehouse no problem...' I mused as I shifted in my bed to make myself comfortable, relaxing my body.

'I'll have to hold off on increasing my stats until my skills catch up... I don't want to develop a habit of relying on brute strength...' I concluded, closing my eyes as the bent-up exhaustion from the busy day finally caught up with me.

...

The Batcave

"You're back..." Batman calmly remarked as he watched Jason Todd Lying on a cot bare-chested with Alfred tending to the numerous cuts and bruises covering the boy wonder's body.

"Astute as always, master Bruce..." Alfred calmly remarked in a refined tone as he turned to the caped crusader, raising an eyebrow as he shot his master a warning look, which was as effective as tits on a bull.

"What happened?" Batman asked as he approached his ward, unmindful of his butler's warning gaze, causing the latter to sigh and resume stitching up Jason's wounds.

"I fucked up— ouch!" Jason remarked, stopping mid-sentence to glare at the butler.

"Language please, master Jason," Alfred blankly remarked, stopping his work for a second to give the young Robin a bemused look before resuming.

"I— cough, messed up," Jason replied, clearing his throat at the stern look the butler sent him before continuing. "I spent an entire week setting up a trap for Killer Croc in the sewers, but someone sabotaged my work..." he added, awkwardly scratching his head.

"I couldn't fight Croc head-on, not in the sewers, so I lured him to the street..." the young Robin explained the incident in great detail as Batman listened with rapt attention.

...

"I... I almost led Killer Croc into a warehouse full of homeless people..." Jason said as he turned away from his mentor with a guilty expression, unable to meet the latter's gaze.

"It's a good thing that person stopped you when he did then..." Batman blankly remarked. Jason detected no emotion in his tone, no anger, no disappointment, nothing, causing him to grit his teeth in frustration.

"Let this be a lesson to you," Batman added, putting a hand on Jason's shoulder, causing him to pause, giving his mentor a confused look. "Be better next time," the caped crusader concluded and turned to leave, leaving a bewildered Jason gazing at his shrinking back.

"It's master Bruce's way of burying the hatchet," Alfred remarked, bitterly smiling as he watched Jason's confused expression. "It might not seem like it, but he is very proud of you..." he added, shaking his head.

"Master Bruce only has a unique way of showing it..."

...

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