Boring Fights #110

"hmm?" I hummed, frowning in confusion as Cassandra walked into the arena after the announcer called her name. She was up against a regular old thug with average martial arts.

Based on how the matches went so far, I thought The Penguin would put powerful opponents against each other while giving the average joes a chance to show off against their kind.

It was how the matches were so far since the start, with the only exception being Killer Croc's first match since he was the only guy with powers or superior martial arts mastery to fight a regular person.

I honestly thought she'd go up against that Zero guy or me. So I was understandably confused when I saw her walk into the ring and finish off her opponent before I even finished my line of thought.

Either way, I didn't get to keep ruminating as a henchman walked into the VIP spectating area, promptly making his way toward me with a blank expression.

"Your match will soon begin. Please allow me to guide you to your waiting room," the henchman said as he stood beside my chair while gesturing towards the room's exit.

"Looks like I'm up. I'll head home after the fight, so don't wait for me..." I remarked, trailing off as I turned to Benjamin and Richard, and they merely nodded. I took that as my cue and got up.

"Lead the way," I said as I turned the henchman, and he nodded as he began walking towards the exit at an even pace with me following behind him.

We both remained silent as we walked through the hallways, making several turns towards the waiting room until I spotted someone coming from the opposite direction.

'Cassandra Cain...' I immediately recognized the girl. She still had the hoodie covering her face and hiding her expressions, but my empathy and the girl's body language told me she was giddy for some reason.

I could almost picture the beaming smile under her hood as she walked past me with spring in her step, holding close to her chest a bulging backpack filled with whatever.

'Good for you...' I mused, smiling under my helmet. Honestly, if anyone deserved to be happy in DC comics, it has to be Cassandra Cain because of how much shit she went through.

Her backstory was one of the most tragic, even for a hero, so I wanted my interactions with Cassandra to be as brief as possible. Heck, I'd avoid any contact with her if I could.

She'll get her happy ending eventually, and any interference or influence on my part may rob her of the happiness she rightly deserved, granted that might have happened already because of the Lady Shiva situation.

It's why I intend to keep a close eye on Cassandra and give her a push in the right direction if she doesn't end up running into the Bat Family by herself.

"We're here, sir," the henchman said as he stopped before my waiting room's door after we walked for another minute. "A match is currently ensuing in the arena, so feel free to rest or prepare until it is over," the henchman concluded as he opened the door, nodded at me, and turned to leave.

Walking into the room, I closed the door and turned to the monitor hanging on the wall to see who was fighting. I immediately lost interest when I saw two regular guys beating the shit out of each other.

It's really curious how much having power and experiencing high-level martial arts altered my perspective on many things. I loved watching violence as much as the next guy in my past life.

I was a fan of UFC for a couple of years. I even took kickboxing lessons and used to sit at the edge of my seats screaming like a fan girl over these kinds of fights before coming to this world.

Yet here I am, finding the mere idea of watching these fights appalling, not to mention enjoying them. But I suppose that everything the thugs throw at each other has been done to me by Richard at least a dozen times in the name of sparring might have something to do with my lack of interest.

Whatever, I guess.

I retrieved my phone and began fiddling with it to pass the time, paying no attention to the match on the screen, and I heard a knock on the door before I knew it.

I looked at the monitor and saw people carrying the loser with stretchers before walking to the door, opening it, and asking my guide to lead the way.

He obliged, nodding as he obliged, and I followed behind him to the arena where I met my opponent, who was no one special, just a thug enforcer under The Triads.

The man had above-average martial arts, but it didn't help him much since I ended the fight in seconds using nothing but pure technique, showing none of my strength.

'I'll work on the forge until it gets dark...' I mused as I left the arena without waiting for the countdown since I made sure to beat my opponent senseless before leaving.

I'm not about to make a fool of myself by walking out on a still-conscious opponent. Thank you very much.

Now, I just needed to pass some time until the last match for today, so I could sneak into the Iceberg Lounge and see what in god's green earth is The Penguin plotting.

...

Gray's hideout

"Almost done..." I remarked to no one in particular as I took a break to look at my handy work, the now-almost-finished forge.

The biggest reason that the forge was taking me so long to complete was that I didn't have the proper tools to shape metals since I had to do everything the ancient-fashioned way.

Ironically, I'd be able to build another forge in only a couple of hours once I finish the one I'm working on currently. I would have saved a lot of time by buying ready materials and assembling them, but I wanted to do it on my own, all the way from scratch.

I nodded in satisfaction at what I saw and was about to resume working, but a loud ding resounding in my head made me stop, dropping my hammer as I walked to the couch.

'Looks like that's the last fight for today...' I mused as I took out my laptop and put the match footage on fast forward, intently watching the fights, which was less boring now that it was going so fast.

It was the same old stuff, regular guys, regular fights, or some supervillain beating up some poor schmuck, except for the last match, which had Kite Man fighting Zero.

It was interesting to watch, even though it was one-sided for the most part. Kite Man put up a good fight at the start of the match as he glided around and used altitude to his advantage.

It all went downhill for the green villain once Zero managed to latch on to him after a couple of minutes of passively defending hits as Kite man kept diving towards him, attacking and soaring back up.

Once he managed to get his hands on Kite Man, Zero didn't let go until they crash-landed, to which he straddled the green villains and started wailing on him till he was out cold.

'Doesn't look like he has any superpowers, but that's some high-level martial arts...' I frowned as I paused the fight and watched it again to observe Zero's movements more closely.

Zero's movement speed was consistent throughout the fight, meaning he gave it his all and fought at 100%. It's that, or he had godly control over his muscles to hold back and maintain a consistent performance without any fluctuations in strength and speed.

Either way, I need to keep an eye on him.

'With that out of the way...' I mused, nodding as I took out my phone to see the time, noticing that it was already the Iceberg Lounge's closing time.

The club usually stays open 24/7, but they had to close down during the tournament to prepare for the next day's fights, or so The Penguins goons said. But it probably has something to do with the kidnapped contestants.

I got off the couch, equipped my gear, and promptly walked to my hideout's exit.

'Time to get to work...'

...

"You know the kid's going to sneak into the club, right?" Benjamin asked, grinning and turning to his old friend and fellow student as they walked side by side, heading towards Gotham City's Park.

"I know," Richard replied, sighing as he gave Benjamin an exasperated look. "Gray is his own man... he still has a long way to go, but he can take care of himself..." he added, shaking his head.

"Though I don't want him to be involved with those vicious government people... but I can't stop him either..."