The Darkness of Metropolis

Metropolis · Late Night

Two figures moved through the darkness of the night. Several thugs lay writhing in pain as they fell. Jero released his clenched fist and looked at the figure beside him, Dick.

"It might be better if you handle the interrogation."

"Alright, leave it to me."

At this moment, Dick had changed into a black, tight-fitting combat suit. The form-fitting uniform accentuated his athletic physique, and he wore a utility belt around his waist with no other embellishments.

Dick took out a grapple gun from his utility belt, aimed at the top of a building, walked up to one of the thugs, lifted him, and then used the grapple gun to ascend to the rooftop with the thug in tow.

Seeing this, Jero also flew up. His armor, codenamed US-03S and bearing the name "Saiwen," couldn't fly, but fortunately, Jero himself had the ability to fly.

On the rooftop of the building, Dick delivered a powerful punch to the thug's abdomen. He then spoke in a calm but intimidating tone to the thug who had enticed underage kids into illegal activities.

"Where did you get your supply?"

"I don't know!" The thug replied defiantly, but he would soon find out the consequences of being stubborn when facing Dick and Jero.

Seeing this, Dick lifted the thug and approached the edge of the building, making him gaze down at the pitch-black ground below.

"All I need to do is loosen my grip, and you'll be nothing but a pile of bones! Now, talk or not?"

They were hundreds of meters above the ground, and any misstep would lead to the thug's gruesome fall. However, the thug knew these superheroes were not killers, so he became audacious.

"You won't dare to kill me! You bunch of cowards!"

Hearing the thug's words, Dick glanced back at Jero and said, "Speed it up."

"I got it," Jero replied.

"What do you mean, speed it up?"

The thug was puzzled, but the next moment, Dick threw him off the high-rise building, allowing him to experience bungee jumping without a cord, something an ordinary person could only do once in a lifetime.

"Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah!"

The thug screamed as he plummeted through the air, unable to bear looking at the ground, he tightly shut his eyes.

Buzz

An invisible force spread out, catching the thug and bringing him back to the rooftop.

Looking at the thug, who had curled up and lost his bravado, Jero approached him and tapped him lightly with the hilt of his blade, then asked, "Cooperate with us, or experience another round of bungee jumping. You have three seconds! Hurry!"

"I'll talk!" The thug, snot running down his nose, clung to the leg of Jero's armor. "I'll tell you everything I know."

"We got our supplies from..."

The thug spilled all the information he knew. After he finished, Jero knocked him unconscious with the hilt of his blade.

"The Skull Gang again. They seem to love selling things that ruin people's lives," Jero said with disdain.

"The Skull Gang? I'm surprised that a gang can survive in Metropolis. From the sound of it, this gang must be quite large," Dick remarked, taken aback.

Jero gave Dick a glance and then explained, "About two and a half years ago, it was almost impossible for any gangs to last more than three days in Metropolis. It was until Wayne Enterprises and LexCorp started collaborating to build an entirely new underground system, including subways, drainage, power, and networking. It did provide convenience to Metropolis citizens, but this underground system... contains lead, rendering Superman's X-ray vision ineffective."

"...," Dick was at a loss for words as he listened to Jero's explanation. Meanwhile, Jero continued.

"Under the influence of Wayne Enterprises and LexCorp, this project is almost halfway complete. Some unscrupulous gangs have taken advantage of this project. They hide in those dark tunnels and engage in activities that should never see the light of day."

Jero finished his story calmly and looked at Dick, saying, "What are your plans now? The guy we caught tonight is the biggest fish."

"Leave it to me."

After hearing Jero's story, Dick felt a twinge of guilt. After all, this well-intentioned project with unintended consequences had some involvement from his 'adoptive father'. "I'll help you gather evidence against those guys, and then we'll break every bone in their bodies."

"Then I'll leave the task of obtaining evidence against the Skull Gang to you?" Jero looked at Dick and asked.

"Judging by your tone, you don't plan on coming along, do you?" Dick looked at Jero with a troubled expression. He continued, "You shouldn't follow us and risk blowing our cover. Your infiltration skills are practically non-existent. You barely lasted twelve seconds relying on your armor's camouflage. Once your optical camouflage is compromised, you resort to using your knives and throwing stars to silence them. As for your throwing stars... well, there's still room for improvement. In any case, leave this to me, OK? You go back and rest for now, and continue training in that place tomorrow. Don't be late."

Seeing Dick's insistence, Jero couldn't refuse. He nodded in agreement and then rode his motorcycle, Wuyingdam, back to his rented warehouse, where he rested for the night.

Next Day · Early Morning

Jero got up early, packed his bag, and left for school. Upon arriving at school, he went to his first class and took out his Nokia phone, casually browsing the news.

"Strange Flying Object Spotted Outside Coastal City," "Shocking! Gotham Has a Vigilante This Violent!" "LexCorp Stock Soars in Recent Days"

Jero scrolled through the news articles one by one. At that moment, Lena happened to be sitting next to him, so Jero quickly put his phone away, avoiding any interaction with the Luthor girl.

It was supposed to be a normal day, but the last class of the day assigned an unusual homework assignment.

"Today's assignment is to submit a report documenting an activity you engaged in this week. It can't be a part-time job at a convenience store or similar. The deadline is next week, and this assignment holds the highest weight in your final grade for this semester."

Listening to the teacher's assignment, Jero immediately thought of his older brother. Since that was the case, he decided to assist his older brother, and perhaps even earn some pocket money in the process.

After the teacher left, Jero exited the classroom, packed his things, took out his Nokia phone, and made a call to his contact, "Clark Kent."

"Hey, Big Brother?"

"Is there something you need from me?" On the other end of the phone, Superman, Clark Kent, was sorting through some documents.

"It's like this..." Jero recounted the situation.

"Alright, I understand. There's a press conference at 4:30 this afternoon. You can come with me."

(End of this chapter)

_________________________________________________________________

For advanced chapters and support visit : www.p@treon.com/NelsonN742 {replace @ with a}