*Stephanie's point of view*
We rushed to Wayne Manor. Bruce found Joker since he had been hiding the night he put Alfred into a coma. It appears that the man who blew up the Kingpin's building was none other than Joker. We made our way back on Cass's motorcycle. I could smell a different smell in her hair.
It was still a feminine smell, but it definitely wasn't the coconut shampoo we use. It smelled nice. My mind couldn't wrap around sleeping with a man you just met. She seemed happy though… Actually, she seemed much happier than before and even more confident.
We pulled around back and ditched our helmets. As I was about to open the door, I was stopped. "Wait. Ambush. Joker's men inside." Now that she mentioned it, I didn't see the bodyguards on the outside. Think, Steph, you should have noticed that! She sniffed the air before saying. "Joker gas. Holding Alfred hostage. No Bruce. No Joker. They caught Jason. Go in. Draw their attention. I'll get Alfred."
I wait for Cass to run around the building and climb in through a window higher up. Giving her plenty of time, I thought of what I could do to draw more attention. I entered the building and walked towards the entrance. As I get to just below the double staircases going up to the second floor, I hear a familiar voice calling out to me.
"Stop right there, Blondie. You're right below the splash zone if you don't listen." I looked up and saw Alfred's medical bed tilted so he might fall two stories if someone were to push it any further. I couldn't help but cry as I saw one of my father figures put in danger. I growled at Harley before spouting. "You'll pay for this, you clown bitch!"
She gave me a sad pout before saying. "Aww, ain't that cute, Blondie. Only Mr. J can call me pet names like that. Now stay where you're at or you'll have to play catch the comatose British butler."
Two men in clown masks came around the corner and headed towards me with a rope and a chair. A shout from a henchman, followed by Alfred being pulled from the ledge, let me know my distraction worked. All their attention was drawn to me. That still meant I had to fight two large men by myself. I pull out my collapsible bo staff and quickly dispatch them.
I look up and see Alfred's daughter holding off one guard. Jason throwing punches with two clowns and Cass… Absolutely demolishing six all around her, plus Harley and her two hyenas. She jumps up into the air with lights appearing underneath her, jumping off them like platforms up to twenty feet, while being shot at, and jumps down, folding one of the guys. She moved effortlessly into assaulting the next.
It shocks me so much I forget we're supposed to be fighting over a hostage. Harley looks as confused as I am as Cass closes the distance. Harley tries to speak. "You! OOF!" She's kicked in the stomach and collapses. She walked over to Alfred and picked up the entire bed before taking it back towards the room he was being kept in. Jason was the first to break the silence. "What the fuck!?"
Cass responded. "Fucked a guy. Gave me powers." Julia blurted out. "Where the fucks the guy at?"
..............................….
I woke up and began working again. Nick called an all-hands meeting, so I needed to figure out where the SHIELD HQ was. I made six of the larger bullet stopper charms to show off my progress.
I find my way to the building and head to where the meeting is taking place. I smile as I finally get to meet him. It takes some effort not to want to run over and ask for his signature. I look at Clint before saying. "Hey, catch." I tossed a bullet stopper at him and waited for him to stop fumbling it and catch it. As he did, I pulled out my pistol and shot him in the leg.
God, I'm glad that worked. It would have been really embarrassing if I had just shot Hawkeye because I didn't make the correct rune. Both Hawkeye and Natasha draw their weapons and point them at me. I sigh exaggeratedly before cutting my finger and showing that my blood is red. "Can I get a blood show from the rest of you, please. Also, hello Captain America. It's nice to meet you, big fan."
I walk over and shake his hand. About four guys bust in and point their guns at me. "God, if I knew you guys were going to exaggerate your reactions, I'd have shot myself in the head. But then I'd have lived because I have another five bullet stopper charms on me."
They continue to hold their guns on me, and I start to get frustrated. "Can you tell the dipshit mooks to leave? The big boys are talking." Everyone kept pointing their guns at me. What overreactions.
"Fine. I'm sorry, everyone! Sorry, I wanted to show the potential of magic right away. Now, can we please go back to normal? Also, I pulled a gun out and fired it before you guys did anything. Be more proactive when someone pulls out a gun, you dipshits almost let me die the first time we met from the same shit."
I sigh as they keep their guns trained on me and whisper. " God, this is why the Justice League is beating you cowardly fucks. Nick Fury keeps a secret base in the savage lands. He has an-." Fury cut me off. "Alright, that's enough, Mr. Storm. What the hell did you think would happen if you fired a gun in a government-run building? Think before you do something."
I scratched my stomach. "Nah, I'm good. To be honest, I really don't give a fuck you pussies were scared of a gun, I just didn't think you'd overreact that badly. Also, I fired the gun, then you guys all swarmed me. It's like you want people to die or something. So what's up, why'd you need me to stop experimenting?" Steve gave me a curious look again. "So this guy can use magic, then? I guess I missed out on a lot more than I thought I did on that trip to Russia to look for Bucky."
He sat down, and as he did so, so did everyone else. The tension from when I fired the gun had been released by him. He goes over a mission debriefing about his trip to Russia. I couldn't care less. I'm completely checked out of the conversation, not paying attention when Nick yells at me.
"Oh, I'm sorry, Mr. shoot a fucking gun in an enclosed room. Are we boring you? Got my tinnitus acting up with that shit." He pulled at his pack of cigars. "Fury, please. There's a lady here." Captain America chimed in. Both Nick and Natasha laughed as he lit his cigar. He took a few puffs before saying.
"Now. Since we have someone who would clearly be anywhere else but here, let's discuss why we're all here."
He handed me the files I asked for, and I scanned through them. Oh shit. "I gotta go right now. Peace!" I stopped before coming back. "Oh! By the way, if you waste my time with this dogshit again, I really might shoot someone without the bullet stopper." Firing the rest of my bullets into the air as everyone flinches from the sound, I leave after pissing everyone off.
Chapter 27
I sprinted out of the building. When we talked about who to hire, I had him put feelers out for several women I had an interest in, and one had just shown up. She was seen near the collapsed building. So was the man she was with. Where would she go? It's been a day, and they could be anywhere.
There it is. The last known location was the Lex Luthor luxury hotel. I'm sweating as I reach the door and don't notice anything. Fuck, I can't let them leave, but I need to find her. Where would the cameras be? I look around and head into a maintenance area. Kicking the door in, I scared the shit out of a security guard who was eating his food.
I lie and say I'm from the FBI. After getting him to go through the previous hours of footage, I see them. Heading to the top floor presidential suite, I scan the key card, then slowly and quietly as possible open the door. I hear the sounds of sex coming from one of the rooms. I'm furious as I open the door and rush at him. I see red as I stab the Purple Man in the throat with my knife over and over again.
My rage abates as I look at the bloody mess of a person left on the bed. Tears flowed from my eyes as I looked at the woman drenched in blood underneath him. She isn't Jessica Jones. Jessica was standing naked, watching from the side of the bed. Jessica snapped out of her mind control as he died and looked on in horror at the scene in front of her. I step off the bed before vomiting. I wipe the blood off my hand and hold it out for Jessica to shake. "Sorry about that, one of my girlfriends. Never mind, it doesn't matter... My name is Danny Storm. It's nice to meet you, Jessica."
This was the second time she fell under the control of the Purple Man in this timeline. The first time she was freed was after losing contact with him when he sent her to die fighting the Justice League. Ahh, I had cards made for this, and I think the sooner I leave, the better. "Here's my card. Sorry about this mess, I just thought… Well, that doesn't matter. Can you take care of the girl? I think she's having a mental break."
I hand her one of my cards before leaving and calling in a SHIELD cleanup crew for him. Now the bad part… I hate mind control, absolutely hate it, and I had planned to purposely avoid siphoning any person who had mind control powers. Well, I just lost control of myself and stabbed a mind controller to death while touching him. I knew I could influence people now, and it was only a matter of time before I started using it.
At least that would be the normal case. I plan to never even start using this power. I get another call and see it's Fury. After picking up, I'm immediately yelled at. "What the fuck! The first thing you do when you get that information is run off and kill someone. What the hell is wrong with you?"
"He was a mind-controlling rapist." For a brief moment, we sat still. I completely stopped walking as I was so overwhelmed by how disgusting Killgrave was. "Alright then. Come by tomorrow." I was just too frustrated and done with the situation. "Boil down what you want me to do to three sentences, man, I'm too fucking busy to bother with this shit anymore."
"Fine, Mr. Storm, we need you to vet two other magic-based supers for the Avengers Initiative. Their names are Daredevil and White Tiger." I responded. "Daredevil is a blind lawyer named Matthew Murdock who wouldn't want anything to do with SHIELD, and Ava Ayala has joined SHIELD in other universes, so just send a guy over to talk to her, probably super easy to get her to join."
I was frustrated by how much time I was wasting with SHIELD. As much as I'd love not to deal with them, I still need the money. They're also working ironically as a shield protecting me from being picked up by other organizations. I'm fairly surprised I haven't been attacked by HYDRA yet, but they're mostly cowards as well. I don't have any family they could hold hostage, so they'd have to attack me, and I'd wipe the floor with any four of their best agents.
With Alexander Pierce still as one of the heads of SHIELD and HYDRA and not being attacked, they probably think I don't know that much about them. I really, really don't give a shit about all those secret organizations. There's probably more than one watching me right now, and I instinctively raise my middle finger up as I leave the building to throw them off.
..............................….
"Do you think he knows about us?" The skittish man in a black suit hastily put away the scope pointed at the entrance of the building they had just entered. "He probably just expects to already be under surveillance. Calm down and call it in." The much calmer man behind him watched as he was being tested to see if he was suited for the black suits.
"This is agent twenty-seven. Eyes on the target, he knows he's under surveillance. Requesting what to do next." The man who watched pulled out his gun and waited for him to finish talking. As he turned around and noticed the gun pointed at him. "W-what I do wrong?"
The man clicked back the trigger before saying. "You didn't code your language. Anyone listening would know what you were talking about." The man pleaded. "Wait! I donated a million to join the li-." BAM! The disintegrator gun went off, evaporating any existence of the person. The next day, it would come out that a stockbroker had gone missing with over twenty million of investors' money.
Chapter 28
I stay in bed and catch up on sleep. After hearing a knock on the door, I'm greeted by the items I ordered on Waymazon. Yay! Did I really spend two thousand dollars on mostly garbage I can't use? Yes, I did. Three pounds of meteoric iron was worth every penny as the waves of cosmic energy/force leaked off it. I can make my staff!
I start with my wizard's robes. This involves putting a bunch of patches on them with gems inside. Each gem was full of energy and could be pulled off to help with a spell. Having carved the spells on them would activate the moment I ripped the patch off. I also enchanted a sword with a sharp enchantment. I could technically double up by using the weapon, then using the spell again myself. It could probably cut concrete like butter at that point.
I work on the design and leave an extra two slots for more plates when I get access to more meteoric iron. The iron makes three plates, which I cut grooves out for and fit into the end of the staff. It gives the staff a bulky look, but also a magical look to it. Three plates that anyone with a single circle can use.
Over the course of fucking Batgirl I finished the second circle, going for a larger one than I gave Cassandra, and expanded my mana veins to four more chakra points. I only needed to connect to the eight in my limbs and four in my head now. I was going for larger mana veins and flooding the chakra points so they'd be easier to activate.
I knew Cassandra wouldn't really mind the smaller circles and weaker mana veins, as she only cared for her physical strength. I could have gone and just fixed her core, and she'd have been happy, but I'd rather not half ass it on any of the girls I fuck.
I coat the staff in a dark lacquer before gluing the metal plates in place. In a hundred years, they might fall out, but it'll work for now. Forming a circle with my first magical spell, I open a portal into Nick Fury's room. He looks at me as I let a loud fart go. "This is what I'm working on, you jackass, stop bothering me for every little thing. Send Nat over to get fucked so I can finish her first circle and get me more meteoric iron to make more staffs."
My teleportation circle wasn't a danger. To be perfectly honest, the sling rings that they use at Kamartaj are extremely old, and they have lost the ability to make new ones. More likely, they stole those rings from the Asgardians and never figured out how to make them. Once again, I head to the drug den park and test out my offensive spell.
Casting a fireball at the tree, it explodes in shrapnel, and I immediately flee the scene. Look up the cost of someone chopping a tree down in New York to see why that's a bad idea to get caught. I don't have the fifteen thousand dollars to waste on being caught exploding a tree. I speak the name of the spell for the last one.
"Etativel!" Whoa fuck this is hard to control. I use my telekinesis to straighten out my path and slowly start to pull myself further. I head home and fly over Cassandra and Stephanie as they are coming into their part of the house. I decide to scare the shit out of them and land behind them. Cassandra, already hearing me, paid me no attention as I landed behind them. Stephanie was not pleased by the sudden person falling down behind her.
"Jeez! Give a girl a heads up before you drop by, you almost gave me a heart attack. Alright, come inside."
We head inside, and I look through their fridge real quick. It stops the small talk from both girls. "Food aggression I picked up in the military. You learn it when you're not sure when your next meal will be. I just like to know what's available when I enter a new house."
"Understandable," Cass speaks like she knew what I was talking about. Honestly, I was used to the weird looks. I knew I had some mental problems from the war, but I hid them far better than most of the people who came back. Grabbing an apple, I crunch into it. "So what's up. You guys see that Batman fight? Can't believe the Joker got a 100 to work for him."
"That's what we want to talk to you about. I want to know how much you know about our world and about us. Can you give us any information on that guy from the 100?"
I finished the apple quickly before tossing the core towards their garbage and correcting it mid-flight with telekinesis so it went in. "Explaining everything I know about the Marvel and DC worlds would take days. Explaining everything that happened in the combined universe would take hours, same goes for the alternate universes involving Batman."
I do talk about what I saw during the fight. "The guy from the 100 looks pretty basic. Big dumb brute probably put his points into strength and endurance. At least bulletproof, maybe could survive an RPG or other small explosion. I'd assume he has one or two unseen powers as well."
She noticed something. "You seem more capable than he, even though you both should have only been given five points to spend." I pulled out my wallet and handed her my license. The obese man with a large scar on his face looked nothing like me. "I sacrificed my own stats to focus on growth. If we were to have a fist fight, I bet Lurch would beat me, but I can just not fight him, or trick him, or open a portal up and drop him in the ocean."
Stephanie just looked at me, confused. "Yeah, but how did you go from that to this?" She said that with the sound of disgust, while gesturing with her hand when she spoke.
Chapter 29
I was going to look for the obvious bugs in their house, but decided against it and just used a spell. "Elffab! Alright, now anyone listening in with listening devices shouldn't be able to hear us. We'll sound like any adults talking in Charlie Brown to them now. I'm showing you a tremendous level of trust by telling you my main powers. The two main powers I got that made this all possible, that is."
She sat down and leaned forward while Cassandra shuffled through the cabinets and made herself a bowl of cereal. "My main power and the one I planned on using from the beginning is self-biomatter control. It lets me make changes to my body, so I put all my stats as low as they could possibly go and then fixed them with that single power. The other big power I got was the growth power. It lets me select the lowest level of a power, and it'll eventually grow into the strongest version, perhaps even past that in the future."
She thought about what I said before asking. "So what about the magic. What about the s-sex power?" I just smile at her since that is essentially what the power is. "That would be magical affinity and knowledge for the magic and dual cultivation for the sex power. I'm effectively the foremost expert on anything magical because it gave me magical knowledge from across the universe, not just Earth. The sex power is just that, it strengthens me and anyone I have sex with."
She taps the table with her fingers before saying. "Cass… When Cass and I first met you, she said you were sad for me. Can I… Would my knowing mess up the timeline?" I take in a deep breath as I'm about to go deep into her backstory. "If I'm being honest, you are fairly new to the Batfamily in my timeline. Most comic writers don't know what to do with you."
I will try to explain it better. "Alright, so, everyone in the Batfamily has something they're as good if not better than Batman at. For Dick, it's his acrobatic skills, Jason is a fighter at heart, and Tim gets his detective side. Barbara is the best with computers, and Cassandra is even more compassionate than him, risking her life to save enemies. For all intents and purposes, you're boiled down to female Robin."
I sigh, hating what I'm about to say. "You're known for wanting to prove yourself so much to Batman that you start a gang war and fake your death after almost dying to Black Mask. Your on-and-off relationship with Tim is going to be off for a really long time since he left. I mean, it's not really my place to out him, but Tim is gay."
She had a contemplative look on her face until I said the last line. She stuttered. "W-w-w-what!? No way! Nu-uh, you're full of shit! There's no way Tim is gay!" Cassandra chimed in with a mouthful of cereal. "Affirmative. He likes boys." Stephanie turned towards Cass in an instant before yelling. "You knew! Who else does!?"
She paused and thought about it. "Everyone but you." She stomped around the house, pulling at her hair. "Dammit, that explains so much! We've only… Why did he lead me on for so long?" She sat down with a sad look on her face, and I put my hand on her leg. "Because he didn't want to hurt you. When you started dating the first time you were both like thirteen, he probably didn't know what he liked back then."
She just sat there before leaning back in the chair. "God, I've never smoked before, but I feel like I need a cigarette. Do you?" She looked at me. "Yeah, I keep them on me for other people, but you don't really need one." She looked at me questioningly before I gave her an answer.
"I keep beer in my fridge but don't drink, cigarettes on me but I don't smoke, and a bottle of Jack in my glove compartment when I own a car. Another thing I picked up in the army, when enough people die near you, asking for a final cigarette or beer, you keep them close by."
She gave me a solemn look before looking square in the eye. "Fine. You've worn me down. I'll go out with you. BUT! I'm not cheap. I want at least three dates before you get anything and at least one date a week after." That's a lot. I don't want to make any promises I can't keep. "Alright, unless one of us is extremely busy. I'm fairly lazy, but the Batfamily doesn't really take breaks. You learn magic, and everyone is going to be begging you for help."
I gave her a big smile before asking. "So you want to do one of those dates tonight?"
Chapter 30
I went and got a couple of suits and stole some clothes to wear around the house. A couple of big comfy sweaters and such for the girls. I changed my hair to a silky smooth black and shaved. I could just force the hairs on my face out, but it's relaxing to prepare this way. I prepare the best I can before heading outside and walking around the building to their door.
I'm greeted by an amazing sight. She's wearing a light blue dress I'd expect someone to wear to prom. The same color as her eyes, holy fuck, I think my heart just skipped a beat. I probably have the biggest grin on my face looking at her. I loaded her into a "borrowed" car and headed towards one of the fanciest restaurants you can get into without a reservation.
I could have gone fancier, but that would have taken threats and bribes. Maybe for the next date. We eat, and I learn more about her past with Tim. I know she's still not over him completely, but elucidating how they only had sex three times and she pushed for it every single time. She talked to everyone, and every single person knew he was gay, including Julia, who had only met him a handful of times.
Stephanie grumpily told me that Julia wanted to sleep with me when she found out I could give her powers. I thought she was a lesbian because the only person she was attracted to was Kate Kane… Maybe she's bisexual? Well, it's best we don't make it a permanent thing, and I'd rather not flaunt it in Stephanie's face. I smile and say.
"Let's not talk about other people when we're on this date. I only care about you right now." The tables are too big to grab her hands without looking silly, so I just keep smiling while making eye contact as she flusteredly eats her spaghetti."
We finish the meal and I pay the bill… 427$. I try my best not to groan at the price. I walk with her towards the theater as two police officers are looking at the Mercedes I "borrowed," and Steph side-eyes me and doesn't want to ask what that was about. I put my hand on her shoulder and pulled her in. We walk with her leaning into my chest. It was just about nighttime, and we had twenty minutes before the movie started.
A loud thump appeared behind us. Years of being in the army have made me flinch and turn towards the sound. As I turn to look, I put myself between the noise and Stephanie. I recognize him with a glance. It's the 100 who teamed up with Joker. The brute.
He creepily smiles. "Well, well, well. If it isn't the little bat and her boyfriend Robin." I laugh as he thinks I'm Tim Drake. He got so much wrong with his observation. She's not Batgirl right now either.
"Brag su rof elttab!" A whirlwind of smoke surrounds us as my patchy wizard's robe is suddenly on me instead of the suit. In one hand, I hold my staff while the other contains the gun. Stephanie was garbed in her spoiler outfit with her collapsible bo staff in her hands. She lets out a gasp. "Whoa, neat trick. You're going to have to teach me how to do that."
"Of course, my love. Let's take down the clown lover first." He grits his teeth before saying. "Oh, so you're one of us then. I'll have to put you down like a dog so you can't fuck the world up any more than you have." I laugh before saying. "You're teaming up with Joker, who isn't even in the comics right now. He's probably working with the light since they haven't been introduced in the story yet."
The sudden shock on his face as he decides to stop talking tells me everything I needed to know. That summoning magic took a huge portion of my stored mana. Pulling clothes is fairly easy, but I didn't know where Spoiler's set was, so it increased the cost. Also, pulling magical items like my robes and staff was a bit more expensive. I tore at a patch on my chest before flinging the ruby in his direction.
At about the halfway point, it turned into a fire arrow before piercing his body. He shrugs it off, barely showing any damage. Fuck, mid superhuman endurance puts him at as tanky as the big guys like Rhino. I backpedal as Stephanie flings a half dozen batarangs at him, which bounce off. I yell out beforehand, "Firing!" before I pump a few rounds into him. He once again shrugs them off. I don't even think they pierced his body.
Fucking tanky fucker. "Etativel!" It's an expensive spell, costing more for a minute of flight than teleporting someone would cost. Jumping backwards, I pull out my knife. He clumsily rushes at me with his hands out, trying to grapple, just as I fly out of his range. As he looks up, my vial of sand hits him in the face, breaking and flowing into his eyes.
He yells out in pain, "Wwrrawhh!" as I stop my levitation spell and drop back down towards him. My knife pierces into his eye about an inch before he backhands me away. Doing so broke my hand and cracked my ribs. Stephanie pelted him with more batarangs as I slide the sand out of the pierced and blind eye, forcing the rest into the eye he still has sight in.
"We need to run! We can't hurt him!" I yell at Steph before casting again. "Rekcart!" A bolt of light ineffectively slammed into his chest. "Ya, nothing I'm doing is affecting him!"
We ran away while he was still blinded. I could hear him rage and strike nearby cars as we fled.