4.10

Time: Afternoon

Location: A club run by a mediocre villain.

"I'm sensing some hostility." Fish Mooney remarked.

"You do realise this is a kidnapping, yes?" I asked.

"Hmm. I didn't mean it that way, more of an introduction into the big leagues." She replied.

I couldn't help it. I laughed. The ego of this woman, the temerity… this was all so… moronic.

"Okay. I'm done." I announced, finally over my laughter. "I came here for my own amusement, not to stroke your ego. So either pull out those guns and use them, or get the hell out of my way."

"It doesn't work that way..." She began, before I turned and floated toward the door. She then pulled out a gun and aimed it my way. "…and no one disrespects me in my own place of business!"

I turned, with a look of contempt. "Has this corrupt city rotted your brain? Do you think because you can buy the law, you can do as you like to anyone?"

"I'm goddamn Fish Mooney! I do as I want and what I want is for you to die!" She screamed in response.

Woah… that is some serious disconnect with reality. There is driven and then there is literally insane.

"I don't care even if you called yourself the queen of Vlatava, I've had it with this crap. So why don't you show me why you matter as more than a slight detour." I responded cheerfully. "Because bitch, I don't particularly care to even remember your name."

The crack of her pistol was not the threat she intended. Since there was a barrier sealing the barrel. The gun misfired instead, blowing apart in her hands. The side of her face ran with blood as I clapped.

"Such a threatening display of self mutilation from poor maintenance." I commented. "Why, I almost feel… pity for you."

She glared at the larger of her thugs and he nodded, reaching behind the bar and throwing her a pump action shotgun.

"Almost." I added as she aimed it at me. Waving my fingers I began to conduct, eyes closed as she emptied the magazine on me. Perhaps before Black Adam I would have needed a barrier, now I scarcely needed to strain to curve the pellets. All that training might not have effected my magnetic powers much beyond a modest jump in range and power, the real gain was in gravity manipulation.

The pellets swirled in a cloud as I leeched off momentum, before merging like traffic into a single line and coming to a stop in the air. I threw them lightly back in a spray.

"So… have we settled whom is playing on the bigger stage yet? I'm bored." I asked. "Jumped up thugs are just a nuisance."

"This isn't over! I'll get you for this!" She growled from cover behind a table.

"Whatever. I won't remember you in five minutes." I retorted.

"No one will remember your name when I'm done with you!" She howled.

"Bye, bye random criminal A." I mocked as I floated outside.

Apparently the sounds of gunfire are a sign to clear the streets in Gotham. It was quiet outside the bar. Eerily so.

I caught Batman's nerve signal land overhead. A tiny needle flew down. Non-magnetic metal, silver as the tip. I caught it in my gravity flux and altered the needle to seal the groove by interacting with the atomic structure. Then allowed it to land in my neck, before collapsing on the pavement.

"You're over acting." Batman commented.

"You're fucking with me, I thought I'd return the favour." I retorted, picking myself up and dusting myself off.

"That needle had a significant dose of tranquillisers. How did you neutralise them?" He finally asked.

"Annealed part of the needle to prevent passage of the drug." I shrugged. "So I take this to mean war? Because I feel I've been quite patient with your foibles."

"Do you mean to hold my identity hostage?" He growled.

"What? No. Why would I want to do that?" I asked, off balance.

"I will not compromise my company because you think you know who I am!" He explained, drawing out an obvious sonic based weapon from his utility belt. Great… I lost my silence rock in the past. Too bad for Bruce, my barriers actually can be baffled for silence now. As Condiment King found out.

"You're only proving that you're prone to impulsively flying off the handle, you know? But blackmail? Really? Never intended it to be taken like that. You do realise I know the identities of half a dozen or more crime fighters just like you? I'm not going to spread their personal information any more than I will yours. I just collect information from my senses as a matter of course. Do you control what you hear and see? My sense has a range of hundreds of metres and is always on." I shrug. "Now will you stop trying to beat me into submission and just take me at face value already? I promise I'll do as you say, as long as it isn't unreasonable."

He closed his eyes for a moment. "Very well. I will give you one chance. Come with me."

I levitated and followed him, matching speeds as he used his grappling hook. We landed some distance away.

"Now you will explain in full." He ordered.

"I came to this city to offer you that business plan. That is all. I'm on holiday, I had some stress issues that are mostly resolved. I'm sure you understand the pressures of public scrutiny. Aside from visiting a few like-minded people, like Superman and the Flash in Central City I also made a similar offer to LexCorp for a personal communication device… I would warn you that anything Lex Luthor sells will have more wire taps than the FBI under Edgar Hoover. But he knows his business, which is why I went to him. He can understand the long term idea for a mobile phone for the average person." I explained. "I got sidetracked after a violent encounter with a malevolent Superman-like individual called Black Adam. I also have plans I was going to give to other companies for a cloning device which could be used for organ transplants and several medical devices."

"Hmm. So this is the secret project LexCorp is producing?" He asked, rhetorically. "This does match the timeline of your recorded sightings."

"Yes. Now, is there anything else I can explain? Bear in mind, the details concerning The Brain's demise are a National Secret and I was sworn to secrecy. By a general, no less." I explained.

"Your proposed policy, as mentioned in several newspapers concerning the legal regulation of vigilantes. It strikes me as a highly aggressive response to criminals. Aren't you concerned about escalation?" He queried.

"I'm more concerned about the system getting bogged down and unable to handle high power, high profile villains. I want them to be removed permanently before they can destroy cities, steal nuclear weapons or attempt to blot out the sun." I shrug. "Hypothetically."

"I have noticed an upswing in abnormal criminals." He mused.

"Tip of the iceberg. I have it on good authority Magic is returning to the world, which means demons, magic enhanced beings and Chaos. If you doubt this, be aware that quite a lot of the Justice Society of World War Two were magically empowered, Wonder Woman and Dr Fate being particularly good examples." I shrug. "Besides stage magicians the only real magic practitioners I know of are either my friend Archivist who works with the French Military or the rogue John Constantine. I'd warn against ever getting in contact with him casually, since he is primarily a demonologist who has a nasty habit of leaving destruction and death in his wake. Apparently his bloodline is cursed. But he means well and he is a true expert, even if he isn't a spectacularly powerful one. His records are nasty, but they aren't quite accurate when you account for the magic screwing up his life."

"Your powers are… mystical in nature?" Batman asked.

"No. Psychic. A variation of telekinesis, primarily." He looked slightly wary. So I added. "I'm not a telepath… at least not yet. It is something I wish to explore, but teachers are rare. Psychic powers are perhaps some of the rarest of meta-abilities on Earth. I am in the midst of exploring my personal ability with magic. It is one of the fundamental forces of life. The soul itself is made of magic and determines one's capacity, but as I mentioned earlier rare bloodlines exist with significant boosts to ability in certain fields. Most people have little ability, but demons in particular will come when anyone calls. For a weak or inexperienced summoner this usually means death and allows the demon freedom to do as it likes among humans."

"There is a certain obsession with demon magic in your statements." He commented.

"Ugh. They're one of the major supernatural threats, so I want awareness of them to spread. The big names are bad news and they have in the past attempted to invade us." I nodded. "I've fought vampires too. Hypnotic eye powers and shape-shifting combined with near immortality and regeneration."

"Personally I have encountered an assassin cult following an 'immortal' named Ras Al Ghul." He offered.

"I've heard of shadow organisations and I wouldn't be so quick to discount the ability to cheat death or live for an extended period. I have encountered a man named Vandal Savage. He is the original immortal. He's a Cro-Magnon man that has been alive since the stone age. He's got some excessive delusions of grandeur and wishes to conquer the world. Like he tried to do as Attila the Hun and Genghis Khan among other guises."

"I will verify these pieces of information. Are you certain this is correct?" He asked.

"Yes, just don't summon demons in your spare time, that only ends one way." I responded hurriedly.

"Caution is a guarantee. I will first seek verbal verification from survivors, experts and associated evidence." He replied.

"Careful with magic objects too. Curses and magic items can really cause trouble. Know what you have and exactly what it does before you use it." As I said this I remembered my ring… classic do as I say not as I do behaviour.

Noticing a concerning phenomena I glanced around.

"What is wrong?" Batman asked.

"The atmospheric charge is increasing." I replied. "Lightning is coming."

"On a clear night? What is going on?" He asked concerned.

Echoing a voice cried out over a powerful sound system: "I am mighty Zeus! Taste my thunderbolts Gotham!"

"Well that's going to be trouble." I commented.

"Agreed." Batman replied, annoyed.