[Author's note. Going to slow down updates now. Probably switch to updating 10 chapters once a week instead. The full story is up on ScribbleHub already if you want to read ahead with more grammatical errors. I also have a Patreon. https://www.patreon.com/c/deadlystories/posts]
"That cloak looks good on you," Stephanie said as she wore her Spoiler outfit. I smiled. "Yep, this is what I spent yesterday making." She looked at me in confusion. "You made that? Like tailored it?" I laughed again. "No. I added the plastic layer of enchants to it." I pulled the cloak to the side and showed her. "It does a bunch of things, but the main one is levitation magic. It was expensive though… There's a sheet of plastic worth ten thousand dollars floating over the Atlantic Ocean right now."
She laughed, thinking it was a joke, but my dead stare in the direction the plastic flew off let her know I wasn't lying. She asked. "So, where are we going on our date?" I opened a portal to the entrance of Titan's Tower. She froze, and I had to grab her hand before she finally followed through.
I clicked the buzzer, and I'm connected to the vision of Nightwing on the other side. Cool, this will make things easier. "Is Tim in?" A whooshing sound of a weapon passing by his head as he responded. "Yeah, he's here. What is this about?" They really shouldn't have a visible camera in their room. "We'll be right up."
I made a portal into the room he was in. Normally, you wouldn't be able to connect a video or picture with a location, but you could if it were an accurate depiction of the room nearby. It also increased the mana cost tremendously, but it was only like five floors up. We entered as I felt the dip in my mana from not using the teleportation magic correctly.
The two people fighting were none other than Nightwing and Robin. Both stopped mid-fight to look at us. I looked Tim dead in his eyes before saying. "Alright. You and Spoiler have a lot to talk about. I'll be heading out to bring back pizza." Without another word, I flee the scene. I port out and almost drop from lack of mana. I order the pizza and wait for it to cook and recharge my mana before porting back in.
No one is in the training room. I head to the door, but it's an automatic thing that opens when someone with either a communicator or some other piece of tech gets close. I called out. "Any help with the door?" For a brief moment, I think I might need to port down to the bottom before the door opens. I follow the hallway to an elevator and go up to where they were.
Surprisingly, there weren't many people around. The Titans tower should have like twenty to thirty residents, but I only see five. It must be that Nightwing's team is the only one in the tower right now; the other four teams must be out on missions. More likely, Nightwing's team got stuck in case help was needed by the other teams out.
I feel really silly ordering five pizzas now. "Hey, you get that sorted out?" I ask the two sitting next to each other, watching another team fight an army of robots. Looks like a H.I.V.E. base they're taking down. I recognize Jason Todd, Robin, and Wonder Girl. The Atlantean and a metahuman? I couldn't tell who he was; he just looked like a normal kid to me without his costume.
"Pepperoni here, meat lovers, extra cheese, vegetarian, and vegan pizza from top to bottom," I said as I put the pizzas down. They're young kids, and as expected, one goes for the vegetarian while the other goes for the vegan. I pop the pepperoni and sit down next to Stephanie.
I should have grabbed plates, I thought as I caught hot cheese dripping off the pizza, almost ruining my new cloak. I changed my hair to the normal blonde color last night, so the room wasn't full of black haired boys. I asked again. "So Robin explained himself? We good, Steph?"
She took a bite out of her pizza. "Yeah, we're good. Thank you for this. I needed closure." I finished the pizza and told Tim. "No one cares that you're gay. This isn't the eighties anymore. You should have told Steph two years ago when you got that crush on the pink-haired boy you thought was a girl at first."
"All the way back then?" Stephanie asked, and I could only laugh as I remembered she was mad at him because she also thought he was a girl and was jealous. It might have even been before that, as it was the first time in the new comics that showed him as anything more than straight. I'm glad they didn't go the bisexual route with him this time.
This might have seemed like an odd place to bring someone on a date, but it made sense in my mind. It would let her know for sure that I was telling the truth and close a potential rift between the two of them for as long as Tim hid that fact from Steph. I mime looking at a watch, saying. "Alright, folks, best to mosey on out of here. We still have dinner to head to."
I open another portal back to about a block away from the restaurant. This is the fancier place you needed a reservation to get into. At least you did if you didn't tip the staff a thousand dollars to misplace someone else for that night. We made it a few steps before her phone started pinging her.
"Again!? Can we go on a date without something happening?"
Chapter 37
We ran towards the alerted area she received. At least two supers were fighting, and I'm glad I didn't change our clothes into the fancy restaurant ones yet. After running four blocks, we see it. The Spider family is fighting against some of their enemies and even more. Kingpin, Joker, Batman, and Blockbuster are all also fighting. They made Blockbuster the twin brother of Kingpin in the comics.
The green goblin flew above as he had a hostage tied under his goblin glider. As Spiderman swung after him in our direction, he cut the rope. The hostage dropped in front of us. I ran towards her, and Spider-Man whipped out, stopping her from splatting on the floor. A crack loud enough for us to hear a block away came from the hostage. No, Gwen was Ghost-Spider in this universe. Who just had their neck snapped?
"Aunt May!" Spider-Man called out. No. I refuse this shit. Why? Why kill off Aunt May just to give Spider-Man even more grief? I didn't like it when they did it in the movies, and I didn't like it when it happened right in front of me. I didn't have the time to cast a levitate spell before she hit the ground. No! Think! A neck snap isn't immediate death. I push back Peter Parker and put a hand on Aunt May to diagnose her. Dead, brain dead in minutes. It would take twenty pounds to maybe be able to save her. The chances of my passing out from the strain were much more likely, and I only had ten pounds of biomass to use. I screamed out loud. "I REFUSE!"
I pulled at the knife on my belt and sawed at my own arm. Thumping to the ground, I absorbed it into my biomass storage and began to heal her. Even in the first five pounds, I feel my mental strength wane. No! I REFUSE! I feel her bones shift back into position, and with a crack, I almost fall unconscious. NO! If I fall asleep now, she's still dead! I force her heart to start pumping again. Heavy. My eyelids are so, so heavy.
I'm about to pass out before I remember what I was doing. NO! I need to restart her brain. With a jolt, her lungs start breathing again, and she shudders awake. I hold her down and tell her. "Don't move. Your neck was broken, and it still needs to be set so it'll heal properly." I looked in her face. She was old, but she looked more like Aunt May from the movies than the comics.
She was still a beautiful woman, maybe with crows' feet and slowly graying hair, but she still had another ten years to live. As I stared at her face, blood dripped onto it. Ah fuck I think I gave myself a hemorrhage pushing my power. A few more drops of blood struck her face as I managed to roll to the side.
Peter stood by us with his eyes wide. I just made a miracle happen. I just brought someone back from death. I was crying tears of blood, the strain of overusing my powers too much for my body to handle right now. He didn't speak, he didn't move. I had to remember what was happening before I shut off my arm, which was pouring blood like a faucet. I called out to Peter. "Go. Your people need you, Pete-Spiderman. I'll watch her."
I pulled out my pistol as I remained sitting. It shook violently in my hands. I didn't know where Stephanie went, and I doubted anyone would head in this direction. "Hey. Are you okay?" A voice came from behind me, as I hadn't been looking in that direction. It caught me off guard. I swayed before saying. "Yeah, I'm great. Ahh, but she isn't. Her neck is broken and needs an ambulance."
"Hey, look at me. I'm an EMT. We'll have her ready and going soon, but you look out of it, too. You sure you don't need to go with us?" I look at her now and, yes, she is an EMT. The ambulance doors were being opened by another EMT, who was a large man who quickly pulled out a gurney and neck brace, already knowing exactly what was wrong with her. Did I not notice him when I spoke with her?
"Yeah. I think I need to go to the hospital too." Somehow, they didn't notice the gun or knife I had, and as I stood up, I almost collapsed again. "Hey. Easy now, stay down until we get your friend, then we'll come get you. Are you fully coherent? What's today's date?"
No… Something seemed wrong with this. It was too soon and convenient. "What kind of dumb question is that?" I stalled for time trying to levitate the girl EMT, and I can't; she doesn't exist. I try to levitate areas around me until an area ten feet away from me pings. I turned and fired, the gun was ripped from my hand as the invisible man slowly became visible.
He asked. "W-why?" That really confused me. "Why what? Why did I assume you weren't real? Why did I know where you were? Why did I shoot in your direction? Why am I rambling as I'm crawling towards you? Well, those all have a good reason." I didn't answer him as I pulled off his helmet and stabbed him in the throat.
Information flooded into me about special effects and hypnotism. Also, a little information on chemistry and robotics entered my mind as well. That meant this man was definitely the real Mysterio. Once again, the feeling of a sliver of something else entered me.
The hallucinogenic gas he pumped into the air made me more susceptible to his 3D illusions. I needed to look over his items and see if I could use any of them later. I opened a portal and pushed his body through, dropping him off in the park near the burnt tree.
My mental faculties came back at the end of that encounter, or I'd have been in big trouble as he snuck up on me. Honestly, if he had a gun, I'd have been done for. Ehh, some people just get way too into their own gimmicks.
Chapter 38
"Sorry about that. I was sort of out of it after healing you. Sorry, I couldn't do more. I almost blacked out from the mental strain just getting you back to life." Aunt May was extra polite. "Ah, don't even mention it. You want me to keep you killing that guy a secret? I'm looking straight up at the sky. I assume you did something with his body."
"Yeah, dumped it into the park nearby for now so I can go back and loot him. You keeping it a secret is probably for the best. Pete gets a little weirded out around dead people." She smiled at me and asked. "Oh, you know Peter then?" I kind of scratched the back of my head. "Well, I'm one of the 100, so I've read about him a bunch. Your husband's dying is normally a huge thing in his story, and normally, another person dying also messed him up for a while."
She was silent as Batman and Spoiler came running over. He looked at my arm, and I just noticed. "Dangit! I got blood all over my new cape. Hey, Batman, can you call the hospital for an injured person? I kind of forgot until now to do that." He threw his batarang at me. "OW! Motherfucker! Really? There are easier ways to see if I'm fake. You couldn't have Stephanie ask me a question? Dick…"
So that meant he did fight Mysterio. "Mysterio ran away." I try to point with my missing hand. "Well, this is going to be annoying. I meant it that way. I don't think you can catch him, though. How'd the rest of that turn out?"
"We have one injured and one dead on their side. Spiderman managed to stop the injured one from dying, but Joker turned sides and shot the Scorpion, who was injured and taken out very early in the fight."
Well, I was kind of glad to be honest. That was one of Spider-Man's lamer villains. I think this version also stole the suit and was a petty crook up until that point. I wouldn't have gotten much, if anything, from siphoning him. A real ambulance siren went off as I now remembered another thing that seemed weird about the whole fake ambulance.
Spiderman showed up just as they did and helped load his Aunt into the back. He looked at me again, and I handed him my card before they left. I asked Stephanie. "Hey, can I get A HAND making my way back home?"
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Third Person Point of View
Stephanie's insides were churning as she helped free civilians from falling wreckage. "He just cut off his hand." She whispered to herself, having a hard time not vomiting. This might be the first time she was glad that there was an emergency to deal with, so she could unpack this later.
Her emotions shifted, and she stood still just thinking as Batman landed in front of her. "Robin! What's wrong?" He reaches for her and shakes her out of her emotional turmoil. One word spoken. "Danny. He ran up to a dead woman and chopped his hand off. It-it doesn't make any sense!"
We finish fighting and head over to where she said the body was. It didn't make sense to Batman. His detective eye noticed several oddities, like a decent-sized pool of blood with no body near the two. The man looked unarmed, but with the tenseness of someone ready to attack at a moment's notice. He also noticed the missing hand was healed over, and the previously dead woman was alive and talking.
No, this man was dangerous. He kept killing villains at an abnormal rate compared to other heroes, and especially compared to the 100. Almost any who fought against heroes or villains somehow lost, even if it was a surprise attack. To kill three in such a short time, he tied the death of Sandman to him, which was something that couldn't be ignored.
He gave Batman and Stephanie a goofy grin as he asked. "Hey, can I get A HAND making my way back home?" I almost chuckle at his morose humor, but just shake my head instead. I needed to at the very least learn more about him. What exactly were his powers?
Stephanie left with Dan, and they made their way home. About halfway there, Danny passed out from built-up fatigue and blood loss.
Chapter 39
I woke up in my room and heard the sounds of dishes clattering in the main room. I checked both bathrooms, and they were locked. The system in place is that you share two bathrooms with two separate families. Each had to walk through the bathroom and lock the door every time they used it, but it was better than only having access to one.
Well. Even still, I had to pee, and both were occupied. Holding it in, I check to see what Stephanie is doing. A set of flapjacks lay on a plate, and I got an idea. "Any chance I can go get Cass and maybe use one of your bathrooms before I come back over?" She flipped the pancake she was cooking before saying. "Sure. She's probably eavesdropping, so she should unlock the door before you get there.
I walked through the adjacent kitchen and cut across to their room. Opening the door, Cass practically throws herself at me as I do so, kissing me hard and biting my lower lip hard enough to draw blood. She licks the blood and says. "Go pee. We'll continue when you're done." Using the bathroom with a missing hand is weird.
I was confused as I came out of the bathroom, and she gave me a bear hug. "Got full story from Steph. Figured out. What will your third date be?" I smile and hug her back before whispering in her ear. "If you figured it out, then you should give me a reward tonight?" She put my feet on the ground before jumping up and wrapping her legs around me. I spun her around and carried her through the kitchen with her still attached, kissing me.
I set her down near the door. I think she's still too shy to show that type of affection in front of anyone else. We head inside and eat, then I get to work, just walking the streets and asking anyone if they'd like to lose some weight. After four hours of some extremely rude people followed by thankful people, I saved up one hundred spare pounds of biomass. I would rather not have to sacrifice my hand again.
I could restore my hand, but the amount of biomass needed was extreme. It was about twice as much as I'd collected that day. I made a Newton's cradle, and while the balls were clacking, it would apply a white noise baffle to the surrounding area. I can't keep leaving my house every time I bring a girl over.
Fuck… Fury is definitely going to want one of these… I should probably sell them as well since it's fairly easy to make. Not only would it block anyone eavesdropping close by, it would stop someone from listening through a bug. I was tired from constantly draining fat from people. I slept knowing I would be woken up that night.
As expected, I left the light on, and a woman approached me that night. It was Nat, uh oh. "I got another girl coming tonight." She looked at my hand, confused. "What the hell happened?" I smirked and played it off. "I didn't lose it in a fight. It was the cost of being a good person. I can regrow it, but it's too expensive for now."
Cass opens the door cautiously and peeks in. Nat and Cass look at each other for a few seconds. "Uhh. I was just leaving." Nat said as she started to put her jacket back on she had taken off. "We need a system for this. I'll put a car freshener in the window if someone is staying over, unless…" I look between the two. "You two want to both sleep with me?"
Cass looks at Nat before saying. "...No…" I could only laugh. "Cool, cool, cool, alright." Nat walks up to me and places a kiss on my lips. "Alright, Dan. We'll pick this up later." As she left, I started the newton's cradle, activating the babble field, and grabbed the lube. "No need." I set it back down on the stand. She starts taking off her clothes while talking. "I don't like her."
I took off my underwear as she finished stripping and asked. "Why?" She climbed on me, pressing her naked body against mine and humming contentedly. "Stinks like bodies." I kiss her, and as I roll her over to make love to her, I remember. Oh shit, I forgot about Mysterio's body. Welp… That's gone.
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Third Person Point of View
Natasha wasn't sure he had anything to do with the body they found in the park. Danny seemed too indifferent about the death, but the bullet. That bullet came from an especially big handgun. He was either a serial killer or a veteran of war, but the one line everyone picked up on in their first meeting made them think he was young in his past life as well.
"I guess bullying a kid is something Captain America wouldn't agree with, so that's why he's not here." Most people don't view themselves as a kid, especially when they're angry. He was either a very good actor who caught on that we were trying to build a psychological profile on him, or he was in fact between sixteen and twenty four like they had guessed.
He moved like a veteran, though. Unconsciously checking angles when he entered rooms, sitting in chairs facing the door, palming weapons when meeting people, including me. There were a few other ways she could determine he had seen real combat. The relationship he had with director Fury was another way they could tell he could keep people off tilt.
She was happy with her new magical abilities, but hadn't had much time to read through the book Danny had given her. The logomancy he explained was interesting, but my low number of circles severely limited what she could pull off. Using shields as platforms was another method described in the book, but Natasha could only conjure one at a time. She started to think about her future.
Natasha often had daydreams of raising children. It was one thing she truly wished for and was devastated when her womb was taken from her. She unconsciously placed her hand on her stomach. Those thoughts had slowly started including Danny as the father raising the child. A soft smile popped on her face as she got back to dismantling the corpse.
Chapter 40
I woke up and went to roll off the bed, but couldn't catch myself because I was still missing an arm. You don't realize how often you go to do something only to remember. "Oh yeah, I don't have both arms." Cass had left at some point, and I made myself a buttered cheese toast sandwich for breakfast.
I had a lot to do again today. Our final date was planned, and I needed far more biomatter to feel comfortable with it. I spent pretty much all my time that day sucking fat out of people to prepare. Practically putting myself to sleep with how mentally exhausting it was. I had gotten up to about 270 pounds of biomatter. That still seemed low.
Just repairing vessels, moving her spine back into the right place, and jolting her back to life cost me so much, and I think I sort of cheated with indomitable will, reducing the price by making it more mentally exhausting. Aunt May still had a long road to recovery ahead.
She was alive, though. I'd cut off both my legs as well if it meant she wouldn't die. At the end of the day, I brought someone back from the dead. I was tired, though, and decided to take a quick nap before my date. Everything went perfectly, not forgetting to set the alarm clock. No wacky, zany romcom where we stop talking to each other over a misunderstanding.
She was still getting ready when I knocked on her door. She wore a different dress every single date, while I used the same suit. I had more, but I wanted her to remember this suit specifically in the future as the one that we went on our dates in. As I waited, I checked my messages and scrolled through Lextok. It was mostly thirst traps, but it had the occasional bit of comedy mixed in.
Cass watched over my shoulder at a cat jumping into a bathtub before trying hard to get out, but getting stuck. Her sudden laugh made me stop and look at her before noticing Steph out of the corner of my eye. A sleek purple dress with her hair tied up. Golden earrings and a pearl necklace drew attention to her face.
She hadn't really done her makeup before, and I was shocked at her beauty. She was cute without any effort, but I could appreciate the work that went into making her truly beautiful. I had to control myself, slowing my heart rate and stopping my erection as I stood up. I walked over to her and offered her my arm, which she gently grasped.
I opened a portal to an alleyway and cast a deodorant spell to not ruin her experience. It was right around the corner when she saw the canal and guessed where we were. "We're in Paris!" She gasped at the sudden ambiance. It was a different time zone, allowing us to get into a very good restaurant because it was later than when most would eat. Also, I tipped another thousand to make sure.
Dinner was fine, as authentic as the food was, the only thing that really stood out to me was the bread. Stephanie seemed to have loved it, though. We talked about everything that happened recently, and she spoke about how she felt she missed her childhood because of who her father was.
She sighed contentedly as we finished our meal and went on a gondola ride. Just as she thought it was over, I portaled her to the end of our night. She looked around, noticing immediately where we were. As she eyed me suspiciously, I chuckled. "I got permission." We went into the mansion of Bruce Wayne.
As we walked to a room, she stopped as she recognized where we were going. I moved forward and opened the door, letting her see Alfred surrounded by the other members of the bat family. Tears welled in her eyes as I told her what I wanted to do. Placing a hand on him, I could tell what was causing him to be comatose.
He had a brain bleed from Joker beating him that didn't heal correctly. It would take fifty biomass to heal fully, but… I think I can get it to where he is awake with less than that. I had rapidly improved my biomass control, so my upper limit of twenty, two days ago, was in my range without struggling.
As I healed the torn tissue, I could see more electrical brain waves than before. Just as I was about to start pushing past my limit, his eyes fluttered. The old man tried to sit up, but Bruce ran to him before he could. As he started to explain, I left and stood outside the room. It wasn't my place to see that touching family reunion.
Loud bawling from Stephanie as she ruined her makeup from seeing him awake. Alfred was as much a father figure to her as Bruce was, maybe even more. I let them settle down before walking back in and telling them I still needed to do more work for him to be fully healed. It wouldn't be long before he was even better than he was before as I sped up his metabolism. It would help him put the weight back on from being hooked up to machines.
The cartons of food were pumped directly into his stomach through tubes. He had several machines and a catheter. It brought back memories from my original world, but I squashed them down. Steph kissed me as I was distracted, and even with tear-streaked mascara, she was still hot. Maybe even more now. I smirked and said. "I thought you weren't going to do anything until after our third date."
She looked at me sheepishly. "Well, after our second date, I regretted putting that stupid rule in place because I wanted to jump you after you rescued that old woman." I just smiled at her as something finally clicked in my head. "Hey, where's Damian?"
Steph looked at me, confused, before asking. "Who's Damian?" I gulp as I think of anyone who would have mentioned him in the 100, but he might have slipped through the cracks. We go back inside, and I get a hold of Bruce. "Uhh. I can't believe I didn't notice this earlier, but you have a son."