87 Firefly #87

Floating above the abandoned, shabby theatre with his jet back, Firefly couldn't help but feel conflicted at the sight of so many people racing to get into one cramped area.

Under different circumstances, he'd torch the place once everyone was inside, get a good chuckle out of their screams, and move on with his life, business as usual.

However, the pyromaniac had found himself in need of money after regaining his freedom and escaping imprisonment for the umpteenth time this year to fix his damaged suit.

"They'll be fair game once I get Black Mask out of there..." Firefly muttered under his breath with a grin that quickly turned into a frown when he saw someone sneaking around on a nearby rooftop.

"Fucking pussies..." the pyromaniac remarked, shaking his head as he scoffed and turned away, reminded of several contract killers waiting for their chances like opportunistic cowards.

There they were, lurking in the shadows around the theatre, watching as the little thugs and goons were an inch away from tearing each other's throats to get into the building first.

Firefly was by no means an idiot. He understood the logic behind their wait-and-see attitude, but the target was only one man, one regular old human, slightly more capable than most.

With the number of thugs present, it wasn't a matter of if they'll succeed, but when and who would claim the prize, even if Firefly and the other infamous criminals just stood there and watched.

Either way, it was a good thing for the pyromaniac since he'll be able to get to the bounty target with no real competition. He'd merely have to wait until the small-time thugs exhausted the target and forced him to reveal his cards before making a move.

"Wraith, was it? I wonder how your flesh will smell when I burn you to death..." Firefly muttered, letting out a slight cackle as he landed on the ground and walked towards the theatre when he saw someone get inside already.

The thugs all opened the way for him, and he didn't pay them any attention as he strode forward as if their response to his presence was the most natural thing in the world.

Despite being a bit late, the pyromaniac was still among the first to enter the building, and he went straight for the theatre hall. It was dark and empty, with no sign of anyone present other than the thugs who'd gotten there first.

"Now, let's what you got in store..." Firefly said to no one in particular as he leaned on the wall next to the theatre hall's entrance, watching as more and more people showed up, filling the place.

The thugs then scrutinized every inch of the building and continued doing so for several minutes but found no trace of Black Mask or Wraith himself in the area.

'Maybe he wasn't so stupid after all...' Firefly mused to himself, feeling an equal measure of both being impressed and disappointed. He was disappointed because he won't be able to claim his prize and impressed by what he assumed was an elaborate scheme to distract everyone.

It was a brilliant plan. Wraith had gathered every thug and assassin after him in one place, and now he was free to take Black Mask to the authorities or do whatever he planned without hindrance.

There were also two other possibilities. The first was that Wraith had rigged the place with explosives, and he was probably nearby with a trigger, ready to blow everyone to kingdom come.

"Nah... vigilantes like him wouldn't have the guts..." Firefly muttered with a chuckle, shaking his head with a scoff at the ridiculous idea.

The second possibility was an ambush, and the heroes were on their way to capture everyone and throw them into Black Gate, Arkham, or whatever the American judicial system decided would be the best place for them to spend a brief vacation behind bars.

However, the only man capable of something like this, Batman, was currently fighting off some alien invasion or another with the justice league on the other side of the earth since no one had seen him in Gotham for a while now.

And Batman's sidekicks, the only heroes allowed to operate in the city by the caped crusader himself, were already burnt out after several days of non-stop fighting to clean the streets.

"Too bad... but since I'm already here..." Firefly faintly said as he put a hand on his flame thrower, his eyes turning to the gathered thugs inside the theatre hall.

A maniacal grin split his face under the mask, and he slowly reached from his jet back with his other hand to activate it and start burning everything that moved and didn't.

However, he stopped as a loud click reverberated across the theatre hall. Firefly turned to investigate the noise and saw a spotlight shining over the center of the stage.

All thugs copied the pyromaniac's actions and turned to the stage, which remained empty, causing them to murmur among each other, only to go quiet, their eyes widening as a person wearing a gas mask helmet materialized in the middle of the spotlight.

"It seems I've kept you all waiting..." the person who'd just materialized, Wraith leisurely said, putting his hands behind his back as he walked to the edge of the stage.

"A word of warning first... I don't want to shed blood today, but with your numbers..." Wraith said, suddenly stopping as one of the thugs took a gun and shot him in the head, causing his head to jerk back.

"Things might get out of hand..." the vigilante added as loud heavy metal music began playing in the background (Author's note: insert doom music). There was no small amount of amusement in his voice as he adjusted his head, letting the distorted bullet fall to the ground.

More thugs reached for their weapons as the music intensified. However, they all began collapsing one after the other before they could even aim, some bleeding, some clutching their heads, while Wraith merely stood there with the same leisure posture.

Firefly watched this scene and froze, finally realizing that he might have bitten more than he could chew as the over hundred thugs in the theatre hall began falling by the dozen with each passing second.

Confused, he looked around, trying to figure out what was causing the thugs to fall, and spotted a strange, ugly-looking cubic contraption in the corner of the theatre hall, one of many, the fire lover correctly presumed.

The contraption had something akin to a gun barrel sticking out of it, rapidly moving as it fired with no muzzle flashes and barely a sound as the music covered most of it.

The pyromaniac began weighing his options and concluded that his best option was to retreat, but he froze as he noticed the vigilante was staring directly at him.

And it was at this moment that Garfield Lynn, also known as Firefly, the pyromaniac psychopath who'd been terrorizing Gotham for years, knew there was no escape.

He could only fight his way out or wait for the vigilante to get bored with the staring contest and do something about him, which didn't seem very appealing to the pyromaniac, so he decided on the former option.

"Fuck with the Firefly, and you BURN!" Firefly exclaimed as he took to the air and charged at the stage, having already decided to fight it out instead of sitting on his ass and watching the thugs fall like dominos.

Hearing the pyromaniac's words, Wraith, who was still intently watching him, didn't react and maintained his leisure posture as the Firefly flew towards him while hurling flames in all directions.

Firefly didn't care about the vigilante's unfazed appearance and lack of reaction, as he wasn't looking for one. He wasn't on one of his usual jet back joyrides to have fun at the expense of Gotham's unsuspecting citizens.

He was now fighting for his freedom, possibly his life.

"Burn, bitch!" Firefly shouted as he approached the edge of the stage, aiming his flamethrower at Wraith after setting to max output, resulting in a wave of flames that could eat the entirety of the stand.

However, before the flames could reach the vigilante, Firefly felt several impacts on his back and immediately lost balance as several bullets tore through his suit's wings, causing him to crash to the ground.

And to make things worst, one bullet even managed to pierce his jet back, causing the special fuel inside to leak out onto his back and immediately catch flame.

...

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