Victor Zsasz

Wednesday 29th April 2009, 19:00.

New Jersey,

Gotham City,

East End.

Lazily, Esau looked up at the sky his hands interlocking behind his head while one leg swung backwards and forwards as it dangled over the side of the building precariously. All it would take was for Esau to move a little to the left and he would plummet to the ground below, but he didn't, content to remain still as he took one of today's rare moments to relax.

It had been a busy day what with Esau using his newfound powers to his advantage.

With his previous stamina enhanced even further by the serum, Esau no longer felt the need to rest as he had done before. This was something Esau took full advantage of, spending the entirety of the day and the last few days hunting down criminals.

One thing he had realised was that he had been incredibly stupid.

Before, he had rushed around Gotham finding and putting a stop to every crime he could find when in reality, he could have sent a greater message by focusing on East End alone. With East End's reputation, if he could reduce crime drastically, then wouldn't that send a message to the people of Gotham?

It certainly would be better than sticking to areas like Gotham Heights where the police and Batman had already made their mark.

Feeling his phone buzz, Esau pulled it out and unlocked it to read the message he got. "Victor Zsasz, Gotham Heights."Underneath it was a map with a blinking red light on it.

Knowing what that meant, Esau rose to his feet and began rushing towards the area shown on the map.

Esau would admit that he was unsure of how to feel about Deathstroke providing him with the whereabouts of a number of criminals. Each fight he had gotten into today had been deals going on between criminals belonging to big-time crime families like the Falcone and Maroni families, even a few encounters with the Hammer. There had even been a few Red Hood gang members and some survivors of the False Face Society as well that had started to read their heads again.

But this was by far the biggest fish Deathstroke had given him.

Certainly big enough for him to leave East End.

Esau knew what Deathstroke was trying to do.

He was trying to foster trust between them and it was certainly working, but Esau had already been manipulated once and he was going to make damn sure that it didn't happen a second time.

Either way, Deathstroke was providing a great deal of help.

Victor Zsasz or Mister Zsasz as he was often referred to by the Gotham news station was a well-known and feared psychopathic serial killer who had carved his flesh with marks for every kill he had committed. But before that, he had once been the owner of his own international company and amassed a large fortune. His parents died when he was twenty-five in a boating accident, which caused him to suffer from depression and started gambling (and losing) as well as drinking heavily.

Esau didn't know what happened after that, only that he started killing people. He had tried to dig deeper for more information, but there was nothing more than speculation and rumours. None of it sounded realistic or even remotely possible so Esau had decided to ignore it.

It wasn't like it would change the way Esau viewed Victor Zsasz, and that was trash that needed disposing of.

Something Esau was going to do tonight.

As he closed in on the location, Esau took note of a police car parked outside an alleyway and as he drew nearer, he could see that the walls were caked with blood.

Not to mention the police offers who stood outside the alleyway, guns pointed out in shaking hands.

Landing on the roof of the building, Esau looked down and studied the situation.

-X-

Wednesday 29th April 2009, 19:05.

New Jersey,

Gotham City,

Gotham Heights.

"C-C-Come out with your hands up!" One of the police officers ordered as his gun shook in terrified hands.

The amount of blood on the wall was making him queasy and he was scared for his life.

That's when laughing was heard and from the shadows came a half-naked man, blood coating his naked upper body and leather-clad legs, but even then, they could make out the number of scars on his body. Each looked like tallies and there were too many to count, nearly all of his torso and arms were covered in them.

As the man stepped further into the light their eyes caught the glinting of steel and looked to see him holding a basic flip knife dripping with blood.

"F-Freeze!" The police officer's partner ordered shakily as the man chuckled insanely as he continued to walk towards them, both about to open fire. However, they stopped and the police officers froze in terror when there was the sound of something landing on the bonnet of their police car.

"Hehehehe, now this is going to be fun." Victor Zsasz laughed as he took in the sight of just who had arrived.

The police officers shakily turned around and their bodies simultaneously relaxed in relief but tensed in shock at the sight of Black Hood standing there on their bonnet.

"You can leave." Black Hood said as he walked off the bonnet and calmly made his way towards them.

"H-he-"

One of them went to interject only for his partner to be more than willing and dragged his partner away.

This left Victor who stood with a knife held loosely in one hand down by his side as Black Hood walked towards him and came to a stop just in front of him.

Victor smiled madly. "I'm going to enjoy cutting you up." He said viciously followed by a cackle that would send shivers down people's spines.

Esau on the other hand just stared at him calmly and raised one hand up to show the sharp claws resting there. "I'm sure." He replied dryly before shooting forwards and with a single swipe from his right hand cut deeply into Zsasz's hand. With a cry of pain, Zsasz dropped his knife and stumbled back onto his knees cradling his bleeding hand.

However, instead of crying and begging like the other criminals that had done so today when Esau had used the same move on them. Victor just laughed madly and looked at Esau with a wild look in his eyes, but just as Victor rose to his feet in order to attack Esau, he didn't even have time to rise to his feet before Esau's roundhouse kick smashed into his face. The force behind it sent Mister Zsasz headfirst into the wall where he bounced straight back off, a noticeable imprint left behind.

Reaching out, Esau wrapped his hand around Victor's neck and lifted the man off the ground and then quickly slammed him back into the ground with enough force to crack the ground.

Rising to his feet, Esau brushed off some of the dirt that had gotten onto his suit and instead of dirtying himself anymore, just pulled out his gun. "You know, if this was a few days ago, I'd reckon you'd beat me," Esau said as he aimed it at Victor's still-smiling face. "But now the gaps are just too big."

Then he fired and a lone gunshot sounded throughout the area.

Sighing, Esau holstered his gun and spun on his heel, pausing slightly as he looked at the dead bodies of Victor's latest victims.

His fists clenched tightly as he took in their states and he felt his anger grow. 'Even with this power, I'm still not strong enough.'Esau thought before shaking his head. 'Then I'll just have to become stronger.'

-X-

Wednesday 29th April, 19:30.

New Jersey,

Gotham City,

East End.

Pushing open his door, Esau chucked his backpack holding his Black Hood outfit onto the sofa and headed directly to the kitchen counter where he switched on the kettle. Pulling out a cup and a tea bag, Esau leaned his back against the counter, arms crossed over his chest and eyes closed in thought.

Right now, Esau knew that he needed to get stronger.

With Batman and Robin out of commission, that just left Gotham in the hands of him, Barbara and the police. Now as much as he trusted Jim, Esau wasn't stupid to believe that all the police in Gotham weren't corrupt. Esau knew for a fact that while the police had, since Batman's arrival begun to change and become less corrupt, it was still a work in progress.

There was still plenty that took paychecks from criminals to look the other way.

One good thing was that the number of police who actively aided criminals had all but diminished.

Though there were still a few, most just got paid to look the over way now.

Either way, Esau knew that he could trust Jim to protect the city, but he was limited by the law.

Barbara despite being a vigilante was limited by the law, by choice.

As a result, there were things both would be unwilling to do in order to save the city and that wasn't even taking into account the fact that Batgirl hadn't been seen since the Court of Owls incident.

Esau had no idea where she was.

'Partly my own fault.' Esau conceded seeing as though he had completely ignored and avoided Barbara.

Even when she tried to reach out to him after the Court of Owls had been dealt with, Esau ignored her.

However, that didn't change the fact that as far as things were going right now, the only people that were protecting Gotham were him and the police. Esau had honestly underestimated how difficult that could be, maybe he had taken on a bit more than he should have, but while not physically exhausted, mentally he was.

His respect for Batman was growing with every day it seems. 'Though I still don't like him.' No, although he may respect Batman for his strength of will and skill as a fighter, he doubted he would ever like the man.

Even with his new strength gifted to him by Deathstroke and with said man's information, Esau was finding himself struggling. The fights weren't overly difficult, thanks to his mind being able to process information at a far faster pace, Esau could quite easily keep pace even when facing twenty thugs at the same time.

With his strength and speed, this only made it easier.

However, the sheer amount of information he was processing was giving him a headache and it was exhausting.

Though from what he had heard, Batman was seen last night and from what Esau could guess, was probably hunting down the Joker. Seen as though all but one cache of a Fearless Toxin was accounted for, with that missing cache being stolen by the Clown Prince of Crime himself.

'What's that?' Esau questioned as he tensed up, his voice picking up the sound of movement outside his door. For the most part, this wouldn't be that strange considering most would be returning home from the pub or heading out to work at this time. It was why Esau tended to avoid coming home at this time as it made avoiding getting caught easier. However, due to his mental exhaustion, Esau had to call it quits earlier.

That was one of the reasons why Esau had gotten changed out in a nearby alley before coming inside.

Late at night most people still out in this part of town would be too high or too drunk – or both – to actually take notice of him entering his apartment.

At this time, however, well Esau wouldn't take that risk.

But he was getting off track, the thing that was making him cautious about the movement outside was the number of footsteps outside and they were in close formation. Heavy footsteps, lightly and quickly moved across the floor as if trying not to make too much noise.

That's when his sense of sound was taken over by the sound of a kettle boiling, but he still heard the following sound clearly outside his door.

*Click*