Fame Hogger

The recent failure of the Young Justice and Green Arrow was not a well known event.

Arrow and Batman had to spend quite a fortune to prevent the media from blowing the event to unbelievable proportions. And while Batman wanted no part in it, a promise he made to Arrow made him get involved to hide their failure.

Despite his reluctance, a promise was a promise.

"One guy? You all lost to one guy?" Flash was beyond amused hearing the story, "Deadshot, Killer Croc, Bane and Slade. I can understand if it was them you had trouble against, but you lost to a new kid?"

Most of members felt the same. 

It was not because the person might have been weaker than the listed villains, but it was because they had never heard of him before. This meant that there was a very high chance he was a guy who had recently gotten his powers.

And in such cases, no matter how strong their abilities are, they always make mistakes which as veterans, someone like Green Arrow must have noticed.

"This is the issue," Green Arrow frowned, "He did not feel like a new player in town. He felt experienced, or at least he had a great grasp on his ability."

"And he managed to specially use Green Arrow as an escape as he knew Arrow was the leader," Nightwing said, "It is more than likely that he has some experience with such interactions."

"Which brings us to the next issue," Batman added, drawing everyone's attention.

"Which is?" Wonder Woman asked, displeased at their failure.

"I do have his profile," Batman said, surprising everyone.

"How?" Superman asked in shock, "Despite your connections, it should not have been easy for you to gather information in such a short period?"

"That would have been the case if he used some moniker, kept his identity hidden and went around in masks," Batman was amused himself, "But he didn't. Everything about him is open, from his name, face to his public documents."

"Pardon?" Martian Manhunter said, "That is very unlikely for any villain. Even ones like Joker have most of their documents hidden, and those that are open are because we are unable to pinpoint his location even with them."

"This guy doesn't have secrets, or so he wants to show." Batman frowned, curious as to why the person wasn't bothered by having his face in the open.

"That just means we have to decide carefully how we are supposed to look into him, especially when it is clear that he wants us to look at him," Cyborg asked, contemplating why someone would expose their identity so easily.

"What is his name?" Black Canary asked, immediately noticing the hatred in Green Arrow's eyes.

"Jasper…" He gritted his teeth, "Jasper Hughes."

…

…

"Acchooo!"

It's not even that cold, did I catch a cold?

"You okay?" Ivy asked, seemingly worried about me.

"Yeah, just some dust," I assured her.

Thanks to Zatanna and a little Harley, I was able to explain to Ivy that I was just too busy to be able to pick her calls.

Not really, but I just wasn't much of a talker and it was quite foreign to me to take responsibility.

Especially with women.

It was one of the reasons I never had a long time partner in the past.

If I am being honest, I hooked up with her because she was quite pretty and exotic. If that makes sense?

Long time connection, I wasn't sure about that.

"I apologize for being so aggressive without being aware of your situation," She said with a genuine look of embarrassment, "And I heard you took on a big mission that Penguin offered?"

I smiled at that, "That's probably why I am here as well."

She seemed confused, but it was going to make sense to her in a minute.

"Attention, attention everyone."

As the person in question drew everyone's attention with a ring of his wine glass, "I hope you are having a great time this fine evening."

"What's with Penguin?" Ivy asked, but I just kept a smile without answering.

"As you all must have heard, my recent endeavor of obtaining the shares owned by Falcone and Galavan's have been a great success."

Yep.

That documents that he stole had everything he needed in order to destroy the collaboration made between Falcone and Galavan, two giant families whose combined wealth could easily place them in the richest of Gotham's ranks.

And they were, till I got those documents.

"As of now, eighty percent of the businesses that they owned are now under the Penguin and Cobblepot corporations!" Penguin announced, making everyone gasp in shock.

Yeah, I understand why he was able to pay me three million, fucker made billions from those documents.

"And that success is all thanks to a certain few people!" He grinned, appearing as ugly as ever, "The man that never misses a single shot, DEADSHOT!"

Deadshot raised his glass at the introduction.

"Truly a master of his craft!" Penguin praised, "He did not waste a single bullet in this mission!"

I don't know about that, but I believe it was just him hyping us up.

"You were part of that mission?" Ivy whispered, making me nod and causing her to be surprised.

"The man whose strength is capable of destroying buildings with ease!" Penguin pointed towards the left corner as the spotlight fell over the reptilian villain, "THE KILLER CROC!"

Croc grinned but didn't bother with the fame, he wanted the money and he got the money. Beyond that he didn't care.

And the other one was the same.

"On the same playing field, the man whose specialty doesn't just lie in his strength but his strategies as well!" Penguin gave a full turn as he pointed to the masked buff man, "BANE!"

"Penguin seems happy," Ivy mumbled.

It even surprised me with how ecstatic Penguin was.

But then again, not everyday are you able to get rid of your competitors and make multiple billion dollar profit in just a few moments.

Bane, similar to Deadshot, raised his glass upon getting the attention, but beyond that he didn't care much.

"But the next person shouldn't come as a surprise to any of you," He announced, "A master of his craft, a skilled assassin and a man that never fails his mission!"

The crowd already knew who to look at.

"DEATHSTROKE!"

Unlike the rest who were sitting and enjoying their drinks, Slade stood leaning on a wall keeping an eye on the scene.

And as the spotlight fell on him, he merely gave Penguin a nod.

"Without these four the mission would have not been successful," He said, but the crowd didn't seem surprised as he obviously hired four of the most famous Gotham villains.

But his next statement did.

"But the next person was the biggest reason for the success of this mission," He grinned, "Not my words but of the former four."

This got almost everyone curious as to who could outperform four of those monsters that were previously mentioned.

"While this might come as a surprise to many, he is only a recent addition to Gotham but had achieved things that even the veterans aren't able to achieve,"

He definitely knew how to hook the audience.

"Despite his young age, he already made a name for himself by subduing Scarecrow even before his untimely demise," He grinned, "Most would say he was responsible for Scarwcrow's death,"

Adding spice, I see.

But he wasn't wrong.

"He took down one of the most hated and heinous villains even by the standards of Gotham, Victor Zsasz!"

This enticed a lot of gasps from the public.

Understandable after all, no one liked Zsasz.

"And in this mission, he took down Nightwing and Green Arrow without an effort and subdued the entirety of Young Justice, the hero group consisting entirely of the skilled sidekicks of the Justice League!"

Now, this made everyone explode in cheers and amusement.

After all, every villain rejoiced in the failure of a hero.

And here we are talking about multiple ones, not just one.

Ivy asked in surprise, "You defeated Green Arrow and Nightwing?"

I chuckled, "I guess I did."

"He is someone who is not worried about having his identity out in the public, he walks around without a mask or without a fake persona!" Penguin's statement started a lot of murmuring as barely anyone could believe that a guy went against the League without protecting his identity.

"It is none other than the newest addition to Gotham, a man possessing countless skills!" He finally introduced me, "JASPER HUGHES!"

As the spotlight fell on me, I stood up and lifted my glass, "I must say. I loved the introduction, Oswald."

Penguin grinned, "I forgot to add that he is one of the only few men allowed to refer to me by that name."

But there was curiosity in his eyes, "If you do not mind answering, why do you not use a nickname, Jasper?"

I raised an eyebrow and with the cockiest of the tone, I answered, "Why should I hide my name? It's not like anyone can do shit to me by knowing my name."

This made the crowd erupt in murmuring, some laughing, some amused and some cursing at me for being cocky.

"Hahaha! I love that confidence about you, Jasper!" Penguin bursted out in laughter, "I truly love it!"

"I aim to please," I gave a gentlemanly bow.

Why was I doing this? Why was I being a cocky ass?

Because I wanted the popularity, be it good or bad.

Why did I need the popularity?

That's for some other time.

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[[A/N: Read 25+ chapters ahead on: Pat reon.com/Greedyfrog]]