Sorcerer in DC

I leaped into the building before my attacker recovered. It was Tim, and he was ready for me when I stepped into the apartment, gun pointed.

"How the hell did you do that?"

"Do what?" I asked, eyeing him up and down. His hands were shaking. I took a step forward, and he took one back.

"Don't move a muscle, you little shit," he said. "You and that bitch have cost me enough."

"Where is she?" I demanded, and he grinned.

"Oh, she's tucked away nice and tight, doped out of her mind, just the way she likes it," he said, some confidence slipping into his voice.

"The bitch held out longer than I expected. Smashed her phone when I demanded she call you, refused to give up your new cell number. I would've gone harder if I didn't have a Russian buyer lined up to acquire her. Why any asshole would pay five grand for a whore is beyond me, but hey, money is money." He laughed, then licked his lips. "Now that you're here though, I might just keep her around, take another run at this town from the other side. I hear Black Mask has a real hard on for you."

"So, she's in the apartment with you then," I said in a monotone voice that physically unsettled Tom. I pulled out the Brass knuckles I'd taken to store in my front pocket and slipped them on. "I'll enjoy beating the answer out of you."

"You do see the gun I'm holding, right?" he asked as I stalked towards him.

"If you could've risked killing me, you would've pulled the trigger instead of using a hammer. And even if you could, you can't stop me."

He fired the gun, blasting the vase beside me, and I pressed on with Inverse active, unflinching. I charged him when I was close enough, and he frantically fired at me.

All five bullets bounced off my skin as I decked him in the face hard with Reinforcement and a brass knuckle. It sent him crashing into a cabinet to the side, his jaw dislocated, and his teeth went flying. I dragged him and flipped him over my shoulder, slamming him to the ground.

He let out a strangled gasp, but his finger never left the trigger of his gun. He fired into my open palm, blasting a hole through when Inverse was down.

My cry of pain was drowned out by my adrenaline and sheer anger. I ripped the gun from his hand, flinging it across the room, and his knee dug into my side, startling me, but Reinforcement kept me steady and focused enough to wail on him. He tried maneuvering and blocking my blows, but reaching level 2 in Cursed Energy Reinforcement meant I was 50% stronger when enhanced.

The blows only stopped when he was a wheezing, sputtering mess, and still, I wasn't satisfied. I stopped, for Sasha's sake, though.

Time was running out. Somebody must've heard us by now, and I still needed to find Sasha. And as much as I wanted to punish Tom, this was hardly the time. I produced a knife and pressed it against his dick.

"Talk or I'll cut it off."

He spat out blood and groaned, and I pushed.

"You can't—"

"Can't I? I don't have the time to cut the answers out of you and get her to safety. But I'll kill you and move the fuck on if I have to."

"And they say your mother was the crazy one."

I pushed harder, shearing through the fabric and nicking his thigh.

"Fuck. Alright. Alright. She's in the bathroom."

I vanished the knife and punched him hard in the groin. It took the wind straight out of him as I slowly eased away. Despite nursing a groin injury, Tim pounced the first opportunity he got. He snatched my wounded hand, pressing hard, squeezing it, and shoving me away as he scrambled for the gun.

He didn't reach it before I took a Cursed Energy reinforced bat to his back, swatting him into the ground. Cursed Energy took to objects surprisingly well. I even had a theory that it somehow improved their integrity. My knuckle duster had never felt so solid.

Tim let out a wet gurgle as he scraped and turned, hands stretched out, wheezing for what I assumed was mercy, but I was fresh out.

I went for his jaw his time around, whacking him so hard his eyes rolled to the back of his head. Then, I stuffed his mouth and swung at his kneecap with full force with cursed Reinforcement.

"That's for my mom."

His kneecap snapped like a twig, and I moved to the other, swinging again with grim satisfaction.

"And that's for Sasha."

His screams were muffled through the rags, which somehow pissed me off even more. I came close to saying fuck it and going to town on his head. He would've fucking deserved it. But killing the son of a bitch would've been the best thing for him, not me.

It would put me on Batman's radar if the massacre Szasz enacted hadn't already.

No, there were better uses for him.

Sasha was barely lucid when I found her, and I wrapped her up in a tight hug and draped my jacket on her when I plucked her out of the tub and cut the ropes. Her eyes were red from crying, and her face was all swollen, but I held myself back from doing something I'd regret.

"Eddie…" she muttered as I set her down in the living room and placed a call to Marj after bandaging my wounded arm with cloth.

Sasha could not travel, so getting her out through the fire escape was out of the question. Besides, I couldn't carry Tim with me.

I called Marj, who was happy to help. She was more surprised that I'd gotten myself pinched or worse. I had her call in a tip to my motel location. It should have some of my clothes, a few groceries, and most of my training gear—nothing that couldn't be replaced.

It also guaranteed that Marj didn't get in trouble trying to save me.

After a tense minute of waiting by the door with the gun pointed, I spied a car pull up in front of the apartment, and five men wearing masks milled out of the building.

The tip worked.

I exhaled as they drove off, finally letting myself take in the apartment. Tom had been living out of this place for a while. There were wrappers of half-eaten takeout, water bottles, and clothes spread out to form a makeshift bed roll. His go-bag was the pillow. In it, he had nearly a kilo of cocaine, five thousand in cash, which I pocketed, a concerning amount of body spray, and his personal phone, which he'd been dumb enough to keep unlocked. All of his contacts were in here.

Marj sent a cabbie friend of hers to pick us up, and I left Tom gagged in the bathroom, tied up in the same style he left Sasha after I cleared the room of all evidence of my presence, including the bullets that bounced off me and the ones stuck in the wall. I also got rid of the bone, teeth, muscle, and blood I could find, though I suspected a team of forensic analysts could piece together what happened here easily enough.

When we got to Sasha's building, Marj was waiting for us. She helped her into bed and gave me a grateful nod as I left.

"Maybe you're not half bad, kid."

She had no idea. I pulled out Tim's phone and opened the voice recorder as I perched myself near the backdoor of an empty office building. When I was certain I was alone, I called up the Iceberg lounge on my way to a motel near Lowes.

"Iceberg Lounge, Clara speaking?"

"Tell your boss I have his rat, and I'm willing to give up his location for the right price."

"Get off the phone before I really call the boss," Clara warned.

"Why don't you do just that. I'm sure Penguin would appreciate having Tim and his Cocaine back."

"Shit. You're actually serious," she said. "You have him. How?"

"Gratuitous amount of violence and cunning," I said. "So, are you going to call the boss or not?

She sighed. "It's your funeral."

There was a stretch of silence before someone spoke, and Penguin's voice was exactly as I remembered it from his real estate ads. Nasally, condescending and self-satisfied.

"You're that kid Black Mask it tearing the narrows apart looking for, aren't you?"

"How did you guess?"

"Don't insult me boy, it's my job to know things," he said. "Clara said you have something for me."

"I want to strike a deal; I have Tom tucked away somewhere safe along with a key of your cocaine. In exchange for both, I want you and the rest of your people to leave me in peace."

He laughed. "You certainly aren't shy. Explains why Mask is so interested, but you still have a thing or two to learn about leverage, kid."

"I think I have plenty," I said. "Tom was conducting business with the Russians behind your back. Did you know that? He also planned to jump ship to Mask's crew with inside knowledge of how your business worked."

Penguin snorted. "Of course, I knew about the Russian connection, and Black Mask can have him. If you think I haven't reworked my entire system since that snake betrayed me, then you're not as bright as I thought you were."

"In the three days that you learned of his betrayal. Doubtful."

There was a stretch of silence before he spoke, and I breathed a little easier.

"Not bad at all," he said. "But I want something else."

"I'm not going to pay you for protection if that's what you're asking."

He laughed.

"Meet with me at the Iceberg Lounge tomorrow at 9 pm," he said, and I blinked in surprise. I'd expected a lot of things. Threats? A prompt dismissal, but not this?

He was obviously trying to recruit me, but I was curious about his reasoning.

"Why?" I asked.

"You made Mask bleed. That hasn't happened since the Batman hauled him away all those years ago," he said. "He wants you dead, and I want him out of the way. Sounds like we can help each other."

"I don't work for free," I said offhandedly, unsure where I was going with this. Was I really trying to be hired by a Crime Lord?

Penguin laughed. "Nobody in this town does. And now the address?"

I gave him the directions to Tom, and he laughed once again.

The phone cut and I stopped the recorder and sat in the alley for a long while, slowly coming to terms with what I'd agreed to.

It wasn't the smartest idea to get tangled with a gang boss, but the Penguin had everything I needed to pull off the takedown.

Money, influence, and the means to actually protect the people I care about—Artemis, Sasha, and Candice. But could I trust him?

Fuck no. I trusted Batman more with this takedown. He might be inefficient, but at least he'd get Black Mask off the streets.

It was the rehabilitating slash, no-killing thing I had a problem with. I spared Tom to save my soul, but I had no problem bloodying it to kill that asshole Sionas.

The police were naturally a worse choice than Batman. Even if I could trust Gordon, the police chief, word would get back to Penguin and Sionas as soon as the file landed on the DA's table.

Sad as it was to say, Penguin was my best chance of dismantling Black Mask's empire the way I saw fit.

What happened to me after Sionas was on the ground was another entirely different matter. I had a feeling all the Blackmail tapes and pictures in the world wouldn't protect me, but it paid to be cautious.

I just might have to kill two Crime Lords instead of one. I'm going to need to be a hell of a lot stronger.

I took one last look at my status before I dragged myself to the nearest motel near Lowes'. It was firmly in his district, as was Artemis's home.

Name: Julius Spencer

Race: Meta-Human--Sorcerer

Class: Sorcerer Level 3 (3rd Grade)

Techniques: Inverse Lv 1

Health: 340/340

CE: 180/270

SP: 340/340

STR: 23 AGI: 26

PER: 41 VIT: 34

END: 34 CP: 27

Free points: 4

Techniques:

Inverse Lv 2

Skills:

Cursed Energy Reinforcement Lv 2

Stealth Lv 2

Martial Arts Lv 2

Cursed Inventory Lv 1

Meta Ability:

Enhanced Regeneration.