The "landlord" was a man named Arthur Pike. He wasn't a supervillain; he was just a greedy man with a private security force and a lack of conscience. In many ways, men like him were the true rot of Gotham.
I didn't go in as a ghost. I didn't go in as a shadow. I went in as a judgment.
The Penthouse Raid
Pike's estate was a fortress of glass and steel. His "security" consisted of ex-military contractors armed with high-grade tactical gear. They saw me coming on the radar—a lone heat signature flying toward the balcony at eighty miles per hour.
"Target in sight! Fire!"
They used specialized armor-piercing rounds. As I crashed through the reinforced glass of the penthouse, three rounds slammed into my chest.
Thud. Thud. Thud.
The impact was heavy, pushing the air out of my lungs, but the bullets didn't penetrate. They fell to the plush carpet, deformed and useless. I stood up, brushing the glass shards off my suit.
"Arthur Pike," I said, my voice vibrating with a dark, hollow resonance.
Pike was in the corner, clutching a panic button. "I have money! Whoever sent you, I'll double it! Triple it!"
"I don't want your money, Arthur. I want your fear."
One of the guards lunged at me with an electrified baton. I caught it with my bare hand. The 50,000 volts surged through my arm, but after the encounter with Voltage, this felt like a static shock from a carpet. I ripped the baton away and slammed it into the guard's helmet, the visor shattering instantly.
The Judgment
I didn't kill the guards. I broke them. I moved with a speed that shouldn't have been possible for a man of my build—my Agility was finally catching up to my durability. In seconds, the room was filled with the moans of men with shattered limbs and broken spirits.
I walked over to Pike and grabbed him by the lapels of his silk robe. I didn't use my full strength; I didn't want his head to pop yet. I floated off the floor, dragging him with me until we were hovering outside the broken window, 50 stories above the street.
"The people in the East End," I whispered, the wind howling around us. "You burned their homes for a check."
"Please! I'll give it back! I'll rebuild!"
"You will," I agreed. "But you'll do it from a hospital bed. And if a single brick is out of place, I won't be the one coming for you. My shadows will."
I dropped him.
He screamed for three seconds before I dove, catching him just ten feet above the pavement. The sudden stop snapped several of his ribs and his legs, but he was alive. I tossed his broken body onto the sidewalk in front of a police precinct.
I pinned a folder to his chest—the legal documents Sarah had been working on, now signed by Pike in his own blood.
[NOTIFICATION]
Reputation Change: From "Urban Legend" to "The Shadow Protector."
Public Fear: +10%
Public Hope: +2% (A rare stat in Gotham)
Gains: +1 Strength, +1 Agility, +1 Defense, +1 Spirit.
The New Equilibrium
I flew back to the rooftops, looking down at the flashing red and blue lights. I felt... different. I wasn't just a parasite feeding off the deaths of my enemies anymore. I was a force.
I opened my hand, and ten Shadow Warriors materialized around me. They looked different now—sharper, more defined, their eyes a deeper crimson.
"The East End is safe," I told them. "Now, we expand. We take the Docks back from the smugglers, but we keep the workers. We aren't just a gang. We are the new law."
[CURRENT STATUS]
Strength: 19
Agility: 19
Defense: 103
Spirit: 20
Equal Distribution in progress...
I took a deep breath of the cold, smoggy air. My next death would be a big one. I could feel it. Somewhere in the city, something ancient and powerful was stirrring, drawn to the massive spike in Spirit I was radiating