91 Lil Soot #91

Gotham

East End

"Hey, Mark..." I greeted, smiling and waving my hand as I approached the security guard who stood at the apartment complex entrance as usual, and he quickly returned the gesture.

I activated my empathy, and instead of the purple color, I saw when I met him before my encounter with the Hitman and the Mawzir, Mark was radiating a mixture of blue and green auras.

He didn't look absentminded and restless either, so my little donation must have accomplished its intended purpose, which was a relief. Mark was an okay guy, and he deserved some peace of mind.

"Looks like you're in a good mood today. Something nice happened lately?" I probingly asked as I leaned on the wall next to the building's gate, smiling.

"Kind of...?" Mark replied with a sheepish smile as he scratched his head, seeming not too sure of himself. "I was having a big problem for a while now, and it just magically disappeared," he added, shaking his head with a beaming smile.

"Well, you know what they say... good things happen to good people," I said with a shrug as I pushed myself off the wall. "I was in the area and thought I'd drop by and see how you were doing," I added, waving my hand to the side.

"You were kinda out of it when I last came. Glad to see you're doing better now," I concluded as I walked away while waving my hand back at the security guard.

"Thanks for dropping by, Gray. You're a good person," Mark said with a smile of his own as he waved me back, and I froze at his words for a second but quickly resumed walking.

"Someone's gotta be in this city, am I right?" I replied with a laugh, shrugging off the compliment as I walked away, unconsciously hastening my steps.

...

'A good person, huh...?' I mused, bitterly smiling with a sigh as I scratched my head in a dark alley a decent distance away from the apartment complex.

'Can I really be called a good person...?' I wondered as images of the people I'd left to die back when Firefly was going berserk. The dead mercenary in my inventory also came to mind.

'Whatever...' I shook my head, letting out another, and brought up my inventory interface to take out my motorcycle to go on a drive and clear my head.

However, I heard some noise from the alley's dumpster, prompting me to stop what I was doing and approach and check it out. Walking to the side of it, I raised an eyebrow at what I saw.

It was a tiny, thin, and incredibly malnourished-looking black kitten powerlessly lying on top of a trash bag, trying to claw its way into it to get to the leftovers within.

Memories of waking up in this world to a similar situation flashed in my mind.

"Bad day, huh? I was in the same spot some time ago..." I remarked, bitterly smiling as I kneeled down and reached an open palm to the tiny kitten.

It immediately hissed and tried to bite at my hand, prompting me to withdraw my hand quickly. I wouldn't have felt anything, but the kitten would have broken its teeth on my hard skin if I didn't remove it.

"And a biter too..." I said, my smile turning genuine as I chuckled and shook my head. I activated my empathy and was immediately assaulted by a yellow and black aura radiating from the kitten; fear.

'Let's try this...' I kept my smile as I began pushing my emotions with empathy into the kitten and offered my hand to it again. It was another application of the perk, but I've never tried it before as I wanted to keep the fact I can sense people's emotions to myself.

The kitten looked surprised by the feeling for a second before it sniffed at my hand and meowed softly.

"There you go..." I said as I scratched the kitten under its chin, and it just sat there and let me do it without showing any reaction, negative or positive.

"You wanna come with me? I'll take care of you...?" I said as I removed my hand from its chin, and it just looked at me with its baby blue eyes. I took its silence as approval.

"I guess I'll call you Soot. How does that sound, Lil Soot?" I said with a chuckle as I picked up the kitten by its nape, stuffed it in my jacket, and got up.

'Now... where is the closest vet...?'

...

Gray's hideout

"Here we are," I said as I opened my jacket zipper and let Soot out, putting him on the ground. "It's not much, but make yourself at home," I added as I watched the little kitten slowly start moving to explore the place.

I'd already taken him to the vet, and luckily he wasn't suffering from anything life-threatening. He was just severely malnourished, so the doctor let us leave after giving him a few shots and recommending specific cat food.

I smiled while I observed Soot carefully sniffing around the hideout as he explored his new home and walked to the living area to set up his bowl and fill it with food.

"I'll see you tomorrow, little guy," I remarked, lazily stretching as I made my way to my bedroom, feeling like I'd finally be able to get some sleep now.

And sure enough, I felt sleep take over me as soon as my head hit the pillow.

...

My nose scrunched up as I woke up, smelling something foul and feeling a weight on my face. I felt at my head and found something fluffy resting on top of it.

I picked the fluffy, black object and brought it in front of my face as I sat on the edge of my bed. "Jesus, you need a bath, my guy..." I remarked, smiling as Soot began scratching my hand in protest, demanding I let him go at once.

I obliged, yawning as I put on my clothes and went to the bathroom to wash my face after letting the feisty kitten down on the ground and watching zoom away.

"That bath is gonna have to wait, though," I said, messaging the back of my neck as I took out my phone to see the time. "I still have to meet Richard and tell him how things went..." I added to no one in particular as I took a snack from my inventory and headed out.

"You be good now," I concluded, giving the kitten, zooming away around the hideout, one last look before I left, and it didn't even spare me so much as a glance, causing me to chuckle.

"Cats..."

...

Gotham City Park

"There's no need to worry, Richard," Benjamin said with a sigh, messaging his forehead in exasperation. "If the kid can take care of over 100 thugs on his own, he wouldn't fave any problems in the penguin's tournament," he added with a shake of his head.

"I'm not worried about the tournament, Ben," Richard replied while scratching his head. "Those people are in Gotham, and they've already taken Harley Quinn and that British mercenary girl," he added, his tone concerned.

"You know how they work, Richard. They only go after people with criminal records," Benjamin said with a dismissive wave of his hand as he shrugged.

"They'd never go after someone with a clean record like the kid," Benjamin concluded in a matter-of-fact tone, dismissing Richard's worries as if they were meaningless.

"I hope you're right, old friend," Richard said after some thought, heavily sighing as he raised his hands in surrender at his friend's logic as the latter nodded.

"I am right. And look, the kid is here, so keep quiet. He doesn't need to know about them," Benjamin said, putting on a smile as he and Richard turned to the approaching Gray.

"Teacher, Ben," Gray greeted, slightly nodding his head as he stood in front of the two martial artists, and the two nodded at him and returned the gesture.

Gray then began narrating the brief battle in the theatre, and Benjamin and Richard intently listened to him speak without saying a word until he was done.

"I'd say you missed a good opportunity to test your skills, but I understand your reasoning," Richard said, evaluating Gray's performance after hearing what the latter had to say.

"However, what you've created is not something simple, and many people might want to get their hands on it," Richard meaningfully said, cautioning his student.

"You should prepare to deal with such people when they eventually come..." Richard concluded, and Benjamin nodded with a word of agreement.

"In any case, Lady Shiva has contacted me. She had already decided where and when you will be fighting her daughter..."

...

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