Chapter 11: Renovations and Investigations (Part 2)
[Clock - 05:12 | 05:12 AM]
[Calendar - 13/01/2003]
[Location - Foundation Station - Old Gotham, Gotham City, New Jersey]
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Atlas groaned.
Stretching his sore muscles and casting [Prestidigitation] once more to make sure he was completely and utterly clean after going through the sewers of Gotham- after what he experienced, he has been feeling rather dirty. Waylon stopped for a moment, and Atlas was confused as to why, and that was when he remembered something: "Oh, right! Welcome to Foundation Station, Mr King Croc sir, this will be one of the entrance points to Croc Kingdom and a small community place that the homeless can gather." To Atlas, who was the one responsible for the changes in this place, the place wasn't that different from before- to Waylon, who was seeing the final result with only memories of how it looked before this whole renovation thing? It was a stark difference! Like two sides of those "before" and "after" photos you see on the internet. First thing you would notice as you entered the station, is that compared to the way in, the inside was way cleaner- there was no mold, no dust, no dirt, and no debris or pieces of concrete on the ground! In fact, the entire ceiling was also completely repaired almost as if it was never even damaged in the first place.
There were, previously, only three and a half quarters of pillars to sustain the weight of the world above, but under Atlas' meticulous and constant care- and his magic too, of course -there were now four whole pillars with two extra ones in a circular pattern around the abandoned subway station. Now, these pillars supported the weight of the ceiling, and the ceiling itself was also perfectly repaired and there was no a single sign of it being damaged anymore. These two aspects are already very significant changes, but the addition of two smooth gray stone pillars on the south and north side of the station? That is something weird but also incredible. These two 45 to 50 feet tall pillars of 20 feet thick stone touched both the ceiling and the ground and seemed like it was part of them, blending with them in a weird way.
Mistaking Waylon's silence for his disappointment with the lack of clear improvement on the whole place, Atlas tried to justify it: "Well, sorry for the lack of improvement, I've been kinda busy trying to figure out how to get you out of the nut house." Although he didn't mean to sound bitter, he was a little disappointed he couldn't do more to the place- I mean, all the did was clean it up ad repair the ceiling! He just had to cast [Levitate] on himself, and when the spell was going to end he would just land on one of the many wooden platforms that he had stuck to the walls and the six pillars. He used these platforms to rest and wait, and also to actually work on the pillars! He made those two from the excessive leftovers from repairing the other three pillars... He learned how to use [Move Earth] to excavate rocks and earth off of the ground with Baytor's help, then use the cantrip [Transmute Earth] to change the loose earth into a solid block of smooth stone, and with these blocks of stone he was able to repair the pillars with [Mending] and was able to make two new pillars by stacking them up one another and using [Mending] to fuse them together, the spell [Repair] also helped a lot where [Mending] could not work its magic. He did find out that this place led into one of Gotham's many, many natural caves that could be a good place to start a settlement. "I was thinking of maybe getting some greenery down here, but the lack of sunlight would make it really hard to properly upkeep them, but then I remembered I can make magical items that glow with the same properties as the light of the sun, and then I had an entire plan for a greenhouse and, well, I got really carried away with planning..."
Waylon kept quiet still- Is this real? His claws dragged softly against the wall, Atlas still on his arms as he held him. His claws scrapped off a pit of paper from an old poster- not the same one with the Flying Graysons, but one that was too old to distinguish whatever was once written on it.
"-and then I had already planned an entire wall made of magically reinforced glass to be the, like, seeing portion of the beautiful fucking submarine ship." Atlas nodded to himself- why has nobody had the idea of making a cruise ship that is also a submarine before? It would get a lot of cash. "Well, that's the idea for tourist trapping, but we still need to have the kingdom, the rules, the people, the infrastructure, the mandatory crocodile pets that every household should have at least one because Sobek would be really happy and maybe might help us out with the whole kingdom stuff- would be great to have a god on our side -Also, I have some drawings of a few building ideas I had for the entertainment district-"
"[Waylon Jones (Tired, Amused): Atlas, calm down, you've been talking for the last 15 minutes non-stop.]" Chuckling a little, Waylon settled Atlas down in one of the lower wooden platforms by the pillars, it was about 5 feet off of the ground and he could still look down on Atlas as he sat on it: "[Waylon Jones (Tired, Understanding): I know you're... excited about this whole kingdom thing, but I think we should take this slow... Don't wanna trigger the powers of Gotham while the kingdom is not even strong enough to defend itself, right? So, let me start my part while I go into hiding for a little while. I'll send in "subjects" that I find that are willing to join the cause in its early stages, so you can have something to work with.]"
"Oh, right. Hiding." Atlas nodded- Waylon just escaped from Arkham Asylum, so of course he needs to go into hiding! "Well, hopefully the Bat is occupied with not only the tracker being on someone else now, but also dealing with the Joker shit I gave him to investigate."
Nodding along, Waylon sighed before he looked at Atlas in the eye, saying: "[Waylon Jones (Worried): Listen, kid- No. Listen, Atlas, I'm gonna be away for who knows how long... I'll get you some supplies before I leave, you keep working on this place for a while... Give me two days and I'll send in the first people, I think I know a few folks who would like s place to call home.]"
"Okay Waylon- This time, try to not get caught by the bat, or I'll just have to melt down the asylum so there will be nowhere to take you to." Shrugging, Atlas looked up at the ceiling for a moment: "...Hey, what do you think about me carving the entire night sky on the ceiling?"
"[Waylon Jones (Exasperated): Bye Atlas... Have fun.]"
He didn't wait for Atlas to answer him- he had to leave. Each moment here was a moment the bat could be following a trail they didn't even know they left behind! And Waylon will not let the bat drag Atlas into their whole beef.
He has already dragged Dick into it.
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[Clock - 01:30 | 01:30 AM]
[Calendar - 13/01/2003]
[Location - Gotham City, New Jersey]
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POV Change
Dick Grayson - Robin
Talking about Dick-
"...I'm still mad at you." Glaring at the man beside him in the bat shaped black car, Dick narrowed his eyes in his best imitation of the very same man that was driving the stupid bat shaped car. Batman simply looked forward, both hands in the steering wheel like a fucking responsible driver that Dick hated for that specific moment. They blasted through the dark and empty streets of Gotham, the darkness hiding them partially as the rushed through like a blur in the night- this was one of the many reasons Batman acted at night, not only were the streets lacking the usual traffic of people, but the darkness of the night also helped hide them from the eyes of others. As a bonus, villains also seemed to act more around night time, and that was just the beginning! There other things that only a night in Gotham could get you, and one of those things was a visit from the bat. "...Can I at least read the file of who escaped this time? Like, there weren't many people in Akrham, and we got Szass back only yesterday, there's no way he could've escaped so quickly-" Dick stopped as he looked at the tablet in his hand, he had been using it to bring up the one that Batman marked as an escapee, and he saw the man he wanted to talk to.
[Waylon Jones - Killer Croc: Code Red 3-B, Escape from Arkham Asylum]
"...what." Is this serious!? His talk with him had been so much delayed by Batman (he was still angry that Bruce couldn't trust him to stay alone with Waylon- he treated him like he was a monster that would eat him in a single bite -and although he was slightly scared of Waylon, he was confident he could stay in a room with him alone for 5 minutes without getting eaten alive!) that the guy had escaped, again! "Motherfuc-"
"Language." The same deadpan voice that Bruce always used to talk to him caught his attention. He lifted his head to see the street lights rushing by around them as a bridge got closer. They've been driving for 15 minutes now, and Batman has been driving like a bat out of hell to get to their destination: Arkham Asylum. "We're almost there." There were normally five bridges to Arkham Island, but due to security reasons they were heavily monitored by the guards of Arkham. Batman took the route that would take them the least amount of time, so they had left the Bat Cave and took the Robert Kane Memorial Bridge and went through Crest Hill, Crime Alley, Otisburg, took a left to get to The Narrows and took the bridge that connected The Narrows to Arkham Island. Getting through security wasn't a problem- I mean, they have gone to Arkham Asylum many times before, so what is one more time? And who in their right mind would stop the bat from going where he wants to? Nobody, that is.
Driving towards the tower-like asylum in the distance, both Robin and Batman frowned when they saw the smoke rising. Arkham was not ablaze from what they could discern in this distance, but something surely was set ablaze.
It took them less than a minute to get to their destination, and upon reaching it they were greeted by a surprising sight. Guards, rushing in to quench a pool of flames, but they only had a single fire extinguishers, and the flames seemed to resist the foam of the fire extinguisher. "They seem to have it handled." Robin said- although he didn't mean it in a sarcastic way, it still carried sarcastic undertones that made of the guards who heard him frown. "But that's weird... The flames are almost completely covered, they should be out."
Batman recognized this... He had seen such a flame that could be easily extinguished. It was a demonstration and a training session at the same time, but Batman has fought against someome who could summon flames to their control. Flames that couldn't be extinguished by normal means and could burn for as long as energy is available to them or as long as the caster supplies them with magic- Magic, huh? It's been a while since he last saw some of it. If magic is involved, then things start to get a little more complicated because then Croc would have a magical friend that is willing to get him out of trouble, which is not something Batman likes.
"...footsteps." He easily found a more clues. Footsteps that could only lead towards the D'iangelo Sewage Treatment Plant- His eyes widened as soon as he realized that. Gotham was in serious danger if the water supply for entire city was at risk.
In a blur of black, Batman was gone. And in a blur of color, Robin followed.
Sadly (or thankfully) for them, they'd only find a suitcase with purple letters that read [Don't Open - Made by The Joker, for Batman. Signed: Me], that once he touched it, it faded into sparkling purple glitter that made him frown- magic.
He hated dealing with magic users.