83: Penguin.

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(General P.O.V)

Deadman gasped awake.

Then he blinked.

He was back in the darkness. Back in...

"Am I dead?"

He looked at his hands.

The darkness around him begun distorting and a voice spoke from within it. A familiar voice.

"Take heed my champion, for you are drifting farther than my influence can pull you..."

She told him.

Drifting...?

Then Deadman felt her presence waning and immediately woke up in the real world. But it was burning. And glowing orange. And was all around him.

Wait...was he in a volcano?

"Focus..."

Her voice came again.

Oh yeah, the goddess said he was drifting further. So maybe he wasn't in a Volcano. That didn't matter, what mattered was getting out of where he was.

So he used the goddess's waning presence as a guide, beginning to move towards her. The orange around him gave way to a molten red, as he left the core of the planet.

He'd tried to remember and now everything was clear. That bastard killed Constantine and nearly killed him too.

Who let's someone phase through the earth into the Core of the planet?

Possessing Harley was a mistake. He should have gone straight to Zatara in the first place.

Deadman knew the Silver haired man was too strong for him so he wasn't going to just attack.

But with the League...

"Take heed, champion. Bring him to me. Bring me the Silver haired man."

The goddess said and Deadman wondered whether it was too late to fly back into the lava.

(Davian's P.O.V)

"So how are you going to do this?"

Chase enquired as flew down towards the entrance of the Lounge.

I landed in between the 2 bouncers, scaring the people in the line-up and causing them to scatter.

"Like that."

I smiled as the bouncers rounded up on me, pulling out guns.

I flash stepped to the closest one in a burst of speed, landing my elbow into his chest and pushing him away, his feet clipped on the metal frame of the stairway and he flipped on his head.

The second one tried to shoot the gun but found he was holding a crumpled piece of metal, his palm crushed within it as well.

He blinked as the pain registered, then begun to open his mouth to scream when I flicked his forehead. His eyes rolled to the back of his head.

I turned to leave.

"How brutal. You do know he could be a regular bouncer and not one of his henchmen right?"

Chase asked, stopping me cold.

It was a possibility. And even if it wasn't, my grudge was with the villains themselves not the goons.

Assaulting a mook who stood at the entrance of a criminal's legit business maybe to feed his daughter was not how I wanted this whole thing to go down.

"Fuck."

I walked back and knelt next to the downed man. I held onto my sheath as my other hand glowed green above his hand, healing him.

The streets were rapidly cleared, though there were a few stragglers taking pictures and videos.

There was also the sound of rushed footsteps barely audible under the heavy music from the inside.

Numerous slightly strong humans entered my Reiryoku zone.

"I need a way to be able to tell them apart. I don't want to hurt a civilian by mistake."

I said, mostly speaking to myself as the flesh on the bouncer's hand knitted.

I couldn't read minds but maybe I could read their souls?

"It could be one of the areas you cover while training. Out of anything, I think it will be the easiest."

"You're already familiar with distinguishing people based on how much Reiryoku they have inside."

Chase went into his lecture mode.

The doors to the entrance burst through as Penguin's men burst through. All of them in black and white suits carrying tommy guns. Scratch that, Tommy guns that glowed.

Now that's interesting.

"Hands up freak!"

The leading man, said. The weapon in his hands glowing with a red canister as he pointed it at me.

"Thanks to the boss we now have a way to deal with you powered folks. Make any moves and I reduce ya to ash."

Even the bravest of stragglers that had been hanging around disappeared when they saw me get surrounded.

"Where's your boss? I need to talk to him."

I told them.

Just then, a highly modified Ferrari that had its top shaped like a top hat, burst out of the parking lot and down the street.

"Fire!"

The leading man gave the order and red energy bolts of thermal energy left the barrels of their weapons from all around me.

A green shield habitually formed, barely blocking the bolts. I frowned, thickening the shield before bringing my Spirit pressure bearing down on them.

The men face planted to the floor instantly, the guns falling off their hands. What were those guns?

"He had his men distract us while he escaped. Did he know I was coming?"

I asked myself, flash stepping after him.

"Still, I can't curse my good luck. I was prepared to comb through every room. Him running away like that is perfect!"

I cleared the distance between us in a second, stopping in the middle of a street a few blocks away, just as Penguin rounded up the corner.

The street was not jam packed with traffic. The melting snow on the edges and the sign at the entrance to the street indicated it as dangerous due to black ice.

Penguin either didn't give a shit or knew something I didn't, because the car roared down the road at crazy speeds.

The light from the headlights completely occupied my vision. There was a spike of fear through Reiryoku as the driver finally spotted me.

I wonder what sort of figure I cut. A lone man in a leather jacket, a red mask, sliver hair and holding a sword.

"Die!!"

Penguin's voice managed to reach me as he stepped on the gas, pushing the fast car even faster.

I smiled, twirling Chesha Neko and then moved.

Like greased lightning, my feet barely touched the ground as I flipped over the car.

I touched down on the ground a split second later, my hand reaching out and grabbing the very edge of the trunk. Fingers tore through the metal as I planted my feet and refused to budge.

The car stopped immediately, smoke rising from the burning tires as it struggled to escape my hold. There was a crash as something burst through its windshield due to the sudden stop.

After the recent small upgrade in power, I had felt myself brimming with more energy than before.

Now, seeing how much physical enhancement reinforcement could give me, I realized I had underestimated myself. There was some effort involved but past me couldn't do this.

I didn't even strain as I threw the vehicle to the side, causing it to flip a few times on the road before smacking on a streetlight and smashing the light, casting is in darkness.

There was a gasp intermixed with heavy breaths full of fear as Penguin crawled away from me.

"You're not the bats! Who are you?! Stay the fuck away from me! You ear me! I ain't saying nothing!"

I took a second to study him. He was short with a rotund belly, a monocle and gripped in his hands almost desperately was a black umbrella.

Sirens sounded from afar as I walked towards him, stabbing Chesha Neko through the fabric of his tail coat, stopping him in place.

Penguin gritted his teeth, pointing the umbrella at me and pulled the trigger. There was a loud crack as a bullet sailed over my shoulder.

I had leaned away from the telegraphed attack quite easily. Even my reaction speed was seeing a significant boost from reinforcement.

I snatched the Umbrella away from him, inspecting it.

"Nice."

I think I was going to keep it.

"What do you want? Revenge? Did I kill someone you cared about because boo hoo, I don't remember everyone I've put on the fucking ground."

He smiled nastily, his sharp long nose making his appearance even more menacing. And ugly.

I turned the Umbrella towards him, poking at his belly.

Penguin gulped.

"Now let's not be hasty...I...I have mone..."

"I don't want your fucking money. The only thing I want from you, is information."

I finally spoke up, making him blink in surprise.

To my surprise, Penguin's demeanor changed as he visibly relaxed.

"Information huh? Usually I conduct my business in a more... comfortable environment. This is less than ideal. However I can make an..."

I pulled the trigger and a bullet tore through his stomach, ripping through organs and causing blood to well on his white shirt.

Penguin's horrified screams sounded out.

"You talk too much."

I told him, hand glowing green as I healed his wound completely. The only thing he was left with was the memory of it.

The way that he had looked at me drastically changed. Now to him I was a monster. His face was sweaty and his breathing laboured.

"You're... you're mad..."

He ground out.

I raised an eyebrow and sent another bullet through his body, this time I destroyed his left kneecap. He screamed in agony trying to get away.

The sirens were drawing closer as I finished healing him.

"Shut the fuck and listen." I ground out, not even trying hard enough to intimidate him but succeeding.

"I need to know where I can find a man called Benjamin Turner aka..."

"Bronze Tiger."

Penguin concluded, making me smile. So he did know.

"That's a good bird."

I complimented, patting his head.

"Now where can I find him?"

Penguin started breathing faster, eyes darting around as he looked for some form of salvation.

"I...I don't know. He's not someone..."

Another bullet ripped through a different part of his body. By now there was so much blood underneath him that it was covering the ground.

"Jesus fuck! You're crazier than that asshole Bats! Who the fuck are you???!!"

He screamed out in a panic.

"Tut Tut, you gotta gimme something Penguin. If you don't, the next bullet is going straight through your groin." I leaned in, almost throwing up at the disgusting smell of fish around him.

"And that part, I won't heal."

My threat made him tense up even more.

"Fine. Fine. I can't...I can't get you Tiger but I know someone who can."

"Oh really?"

I perked up.

It wasn't what I wanted but it was better than anything.

"Yeah. He's called the Calculator. He can get you any and all information you want. For a price."

He explained.

"And how do I contact this Calculator?"

I questioned.

Penguin smiled.

"I can organize a meeting. Not in person, but I can get you in contact with him."

How shrewd. He knows that after telling me what I want to know, he won't be of much use to me.

I got up, sheathing my Zanpakuto just as the first of the cop cars, rounded up on our street.

No doubt, the residents occupying the buildings around us had reported in the gunshots.

"Thank you very much."

I smiled at Penguin.

"You're welcome. Now...should I begin setting up the meeting or..."

He responded, his voice quivering slightly.

"No. That won't be necessary."

I replied, the headlights from the cop car hitting my back and enlarging my shadow, casting Penguin in its shade.

The Supervillain seemed to know what was coming as I raised the Umbrella towards him.

"Wait...let's talk about this. I can pay..."

Bang!

The bullet sailed through the air. His head rocked back as the projectile tore through his forehead. His body slumped back to the ground, lying on a pool of his own blood.