145 Worry #145

The Riddler whistled, twirling his staff like he owned the place as he strode into a dark alley in Old Gotham. "Come out, come out, wherever you are," he said, grinning as he stopped twirling the pole and planted it in the ground, generating a loud bang.

A man dressed as a security guard walked out of the shadow and nodded at the Riddler in greeting. He was the same man who'd showed Enchantress around the secret laboratory.

"Basil, ol' chap, what news do you have for me?" The Riddler asked as he watched the man's features slowly deform as he turned into a tall clump of humanoid clay.

"That crazy woman, Enchantress, came to the lab..." The humanoid clump of clay, better known as Clayface, said after twitching for several seconds to get used to his original form.

"She brought a red stone to the scientists. They're up to something," he added, the mud that was his face wiggling for another second before settling and taking its final shape.

"Overplaying your part again, eh?" The Riddler curiously asked, tilting his head as he noticed the Clayface's struggle to maintain his original form, which only happened when he took another shape for a prolonged period of time.

"No matter," The Riddler said after only receiving a dry grunt as a response. "What kind of stone? What could they be up to?" he asked, getting straight to the point.

"I couldn't tell. Enchantress was tight-lipped. It's either that or she knew nothing," Clayface replied as he finally seemed to adjust to his original form after some struggle.

"But, whatever they're doing, they need her help to accomplish it," he concluded, going quiet as he waited for The Riddler to process the situation, which didn't take long.

"Up to some magic jiggery-pokery, eh? That can't be good," The Riddler said, rubbing his chin in thought. "Well, whatever it may be, you need to figure it out before it happens," he added with a careless shrug.

"Worst case scenario, just off the eggheads if you can't figure out what they're doing," The Riddler nonchalantly went on as if the lives of said scientists were worth nothing.

"You're the boss," Clayface said in an equally casual tone, clearly on the same mind as The Riddler. "Now, if you'll excuse me..." he added, slowly changing into the form of the security guard.

"I've got a show to put on," he concluded, grinning as he turned away, leaving a chuckling Riddler alone in the dark alley.

"A show, eh...? You have no idea..." The Riddler muttered after waiting for Clayface to leave, his grin growing even more pronounced and demented than usual as he walked away.

...

Gotham

Tricorner Island

Inside the home of a local businessman

Batman had a blank expression as he finished diffusing the bomb attached to the homeowner's torso. He frowned as the man shakingly reached into his inner pocket and retrieved a card, offering it to him.

Batman kept an even expression as he read through the card and calmly left, quietly disappearing while the man was distracted for a second without waiting for him to say thank you.

The caped crusader moved towards a nearby park where Robin was waiting for him. "The Riddler's doing," he blankly said, adding nothing else as he didn't need to.

"Same on my end," Robin replied as he retrieved a card similar to the one Batman had. "What do you want me to do?" he asked after giving the card to his mentor.

"Follow your lead. Don't engage Riddler if you encounter him. Call me," Batman immediately replied without hesitation, much to the Boy Wonder's astonishment.

"Are you sure...?" Robin hesitantly asked, clearly in disbelief. His mentor would usually instruct him to go home when whatever they were working on involved one of the more dangerous villains like The Riddler.

"It's not like The Riddler to give more than one clue," Batman replied as he looked down at the two cards in his hand. "Something is off, and we need to know what, as soon as possible. You are ready," he concluded, offering Robin's card back.

The Boy Wonder went still for a second, but he quickly gathered his bearing and took the card from his mentor's hand, barely holding back a smile.

"I won't let you down," Robin hurriedly said after clearing his throat to calm himself and get rid of the smile threatening to split his lips at second.

"I know you won't," Batman replied as he left.

...

Gray's hideout

"There should be a limit to being fucking cautious..." I muttered to no one in particular, scratching my head in frustration as I went over the information I'd gathered on The Religion over what Abbot provided.

It was not much, to say the least. The bastards were so cautious it wasn't even funny. Not long had gone since my meeting with the werewolf, but I was getting impatient nonetheless.

I was not rash by nature, but the lack of results, the low prospect of getting what I needed quickly, the pressure from Waller's case, and my anger issues were getting the better of me.

Between managing public opinion, making sure Deadshot and the others don't get disappeared, watching out for The Religion, and constantly watching my back, I barely had any time to catch my breath, and the tiniest setbacks felt like insurmountable mountains.

I had so much to do in so little time that I couldn't help getting the urge to punch something or someone, which brought me to my upcoming meeting with Martian Manhunter.

Honestly, I was still hesitant between letting him inside my mind or living with the risk of doing something very dumb that could send me into a crash course with everything I've worked so hard to build toppling over my head.

I smiled, albeit bitterly, as one carefree kitten climbed into my lab and curled into a ball. "Well, at least one of us seems to be having a good time," I muttered, rolling my eyes as I patted Little Soot's back, causing him to purr.

'There's no use worrying or brooding over it, I suppose...' I mused to myself and decided to check up on the system to get my mind off things since I should have long since maxed my current class.

[+1 level to the Brawling skill]

[Brawling (50)]

[Due to reaching a milestone in your Brawling skill, you have unlocked the perk; Body Language Analysis]

[Body Language Analysis: the ability to intuitively read anothers' body language and expression, allowing the user to anticipate their actions and respond accordingly]

"Oh...?" I intoned as I read through the new perk's description, immediately recognizing it as Cassandra Cain's unique ability and the reason she was such an astounding martial artist.

It was an incredible perk that would bring my hand-to-hand combat to another level, but I honestly couldn't get excited about it. If things go how I want them to, I won't need to get into another brawl for the rest of my life.

Still, I knew that was an optimistic line of thought, so the addition of the perk was a welcome one since I knew better than to assume everything would go as planned by now.

[+5 levels to the Crime skill]

[Crime (49)]

[+2 levels to the Acrobatics skill]

[Acrobatics (32)]

[+5 levels to the Computers skill]

[Computers (50)]

[Due to reaching a milestone in your Computers skill, you have unlocked the perk; World Wide Access]

[World Wide Access: all of the user's Computer related perks and powers and considerably enhanced in terms of range (the ability to process such a scale of data is reliant on the user's Mind score)]

'Well... that's another great perk I have no use for right now...' I sighed again as I read through the new perk. It will no doubt come in handy when I'm done with Gotham and ready to branch out to the rest of the world, but my current range was more than enough as it is for now.

[+4 levels to the Mechanics skill]

[Mechanics (49)]

[+2 levels to the Art skill]

[Art (5)]

[+8 levels to the knowledge skill]

[Knowledg (9)]

[+5 levels to the Language skill]

[Language (6)]

[+1 level to the Linguist class]

[Linguist (level MAX)]

[+3 stat points]

[+16 accumulated class levels]

[You have reached the maximum capacity for your current rank. Would you like to choose a new one now?]

'Whatever...' I mused as I chose the Chemist without much thought since I had no more regular classes to select. I didn't have the time to invest into the available Archetype ones either, so the choice didn't matter.

'I'll check the rest later...' I mused as the exhaustion finally caught up to me, and I started feeling sleepy. Looking down at the cat lying on my lab, I could only smile as I leaned into the couch and closed my eyes.