[Location: Gotham City, New Jersey, Outside the botanical gardens]
[Kairo Oyama]
Kai stepped out of the botanical garden's main entrance. He'd considered staying for a while but in the end, he needed to find his way back home.
It was already late and he knew for a fact that Gotham was far more dangerous at night. The worst part though was that it started to rain. Luckily for him, Mimi had shape-shifted into an umbrella; unluckily, it was still cold as hell because Gotham.
"S-stupid city. Stupid weather. Stupid cold. Stupid, stupid." Kai cursed under his breath. He was in some sort of downtown part of Gotham, and the environment was almost completely different from the run-down streets of Crime Alley.
There was still lots of trash of course and there were a bunch of cracks in the concrete but there were also tall buildings starting to become skyscrapers and there were tons of different stores some still open and many others closing down for the night.
Continuing to walk through the streets people passed Kairo by on the sidewalk without hesitation. Several actively avoided him crossing to the other side of the street when he got near and others who walked past him gave him odd glances. Whenever someone locked eyes with the five-year-old boy they quickly looked away in fear, apathy, or disgust.
So Kairo kept walking, oh he'd tried asking for directions, but people either brushed right past him, told him to leave them alone, or whispered a rushed apology and ran off.
"Damn it." Kairo cursed quietly before sighing, he kept moving walking past a crowd gathered by a store window. Then he noticed another, and another, and another, and soon he realised that something important was going on.
To be fair he would have noticed the first time but he was distracted while thinking about the system notification from earlier. The second through fourth times was because all of those stores were clustered together.
Making his way over, Kai watched one of the screens with curiosity. The broadcast was a news station reporting on some incident near the Bowery apparently there was a series of unexplained explosions in the shipyard.
Some reporter named Vikki Vale was approaching the scene live wall speaking about the situation and how it was progressing.
Before the broadcast could end though it was suddenly cut off before being replaced by a black skull logo. Kairo stepped back and checked the other Tv's. They two had been changed to the black skull. He looked up to the nearest big screen.
Yep, a black skull, "Ah shut am I in the middle of an event?" Kairo frowned and moved towards a larger square with several big screens. Then a voice came from seemingly nowhere.
["Ahem, good evening citizens of Gotham."]
The screen switched and so did the feeling in the air.
In the center of the screen, the skull stopped spinning and the screen switched to a video of a man in a pure white suit with a black undershirt and pristine white tie. That's not what grabs his attention though.
Instead, it's crazy as a realistic-looking black skull mask the man wears on his face.
"Yep definitely in the middle of an event. Damnit!" The little boy cursed causing the person next to him to glance over at him, widen their eyes, shrug, and look away.
'Only in Gotham.'
Kairo shook his head before locking back in on the broadcast.
Roman cracked his neck with a stretch before clearing his throat as he continued his little speech.
"I know what you're all wondering. Who is this crazy looking guy and why is he on my screen ruining my night?"
Roman grinned his pale white teeth gleaming brightly beneath the spotlight focusing on him. The rest of the room had been completely submerged in shadows just in case anyone tried to determine his location from the background.
As for tracking the stream itself, well, hiring the calculator to take care of that problem had been a rather good idea from Ms Li.
"Well boys and girls I'm here to tell you that all your endless boarding days are over. You see, most people spend their worthless lives as members of the herd. Most of you shovel the shit that the pompous rich pricks rain down upon you in exchange for the tiny little baby scraps they are willing to feed you." He grimaced, and Kai almost scoffed at his words.
'As if half the versions of Black Mask weren't born rich.'
Kai frowned and glanced around at the people around him they looked uncomfortable. Shifting their weight from foot to foot, as anxiety and tension started to fill the air.
["Some of you fall into despair. Some of you hold on to hope that if you play by the rules the universe will reward your efforts. But some of you have already seen the truth!]
"But today!" Roman's voice lifted higher and his grimace changed to a smile "That will all change for a lucky few! For you see!" He lifted his hands into the air and the screen changed to display.
["Today we have created a nifty little app called Party Animal compatible with any smart device! Its purpose is simple yet multifold. On it just put in your card I for and complete any task on the quest board. Each task pays money directly into your account. But that's not all folks! As there are plenty of types of tasks to complete. But of course you'll need to provide proof through the app."]
Kairo glances around watching as countless civilians start pulling out their phones and downloading the app. As he starts to move he can already hear police sirens going off in the distance.
["Some are bounties, others are less thrilling but still paying. But perhaps you're worried about getting caught or you lack the tools for your liberation. Perhaps you're down on your luck and you don't have a phone. There are a thousand different things that might hold you back, that might prevent you from breaking your chains,"]
He paused letting the silence build, letting the people's doubts and worries about the game build.
Kai frowned he didn't have a phone and he didn't exactly feel comfortable putting on one of the black masks displayed on the screen. Even so, he did want to get rich but committing random violence didn't exactly appeal to him.
I mean a bit of property damage was fine and all but beyond that was a bit much even if he knew he'd have to kill sometimes he wasn't a psycho just yet. He frowned looking back at the screen.
["Which is why down at the Bowery and several other places which will soon appear on screen. At these locations, there are masks, weapons, and outfits available for free. When you complete a quest cold hard cash will be available there as well folks!"]
The screen flickered to a labeled map of Gotham City easy enough for anyone to navigate.
"You want to change your life? You want to get out of the mud and leave this god-forsaken city? You want to finally take the power into your own hands? Tonight is your chance to let loose!" Then Black Mask stands as the camera readjusts to fit him again. He points behind himself to giant bold letters that read of the cash prizes.
[Assault = $100]
[Property damage = $200]
[Burglery = $300]
[Assaulting a police officer = $400]
[Arson = $500]
[Murder = $1,000]
[Murder of a police officer = $2,000]
[Murder of a Vigilante = $5,000]
Almost as soon as the prices went up and explosion went off somewhere in the distance.
["The world is dead folks! The big guys killed the planet a long time ago and yet they keep us all slaving away with the promise that it's still alive. But if any of you feel as though it's an exciting empathetic cause then I implore you! Download the app tune into the feed or watch it live on Gotham's airwaves! Tonight my friends the hunt begins!"]
Behind him, the screen changed from background to background showing the features of the app.
["Today we hunt the biggest fish in our little side of the sea. The biggest one of those rich bastards beating up your friends, your families, sending you all off to Arkham and Black Gate with his high-tech gadgets when you're having just one bad day,"]
The tension built to a climax.
["Tonight for a bounty of $50,000,000 we hunt the Batman! And that bounty goes live in three, two, one! Happy hunting citizens of Gotham!"]
"And may the odds be ever in your favor."
The Stream switches to a crew of goons inside a helicopter hovering over a burning skyscraper somewhere downtown.
[image here]
Meanwhile around Kairo one man with his phone held out to record his deeds live decided to throw a brick into a nearby store window.
Once it was over the man blinked twice and grinned.
"Holy shit it's actually real!" The man cheered a grin slowly growing on his face.
Kairo then sighed and his eyes started to glow with power as all hell began to break loose around him. People smashed windows set fires and started beating the hell out of each other almost instantly. It was random chaos in mere moments.
"This is worse than the beginning of The Last of Us," Kai murmured as he slowly started walking up into the air. Having to walk his way up reminded him of the serious need to learn how to fly with his wind magic sooner rather than later. Looking down on the people below him he made his way to the top of the nearest building and looked out on the chaos.
In only about a half hour things had descended into damn near anarchy and Kai had no doubt that plenty of villains would take the opportunity to spread the chaos and take a crack at the bat and others.
"Only in fucking Gotham would things get this bad this quickly," he said shaking his head as regular civilians became crazed criminals in mere moments. Slotting in his hawk eyes he began to scan the area when something caught his eye. Particularly it was two women running.
Now that wasn't very strange he'd seen plenty of women running this way and that. What drew his attention though, was that one of the said women was in very tight very black leather and the other was basically if the Hulk and an Amazon had a hunter-themed baby with tattoos.
[images here]
XXX
[Location: Gotham City, New Jersey, The Bowery]
[Sergei Kravinoff, Kraven the Hunter]
Countless members of his hunters offload their gear into the shipyard with the aid of Black Masks' party animals.
Kraven has been waiting for this moment for quite some time. He's heard plenty of tales of Gotham's bat and yet he was not always entirely convinced of their truth.
Seeing him now though as helicopters stream live footage of the bat from above illuminating him with their spotlights he is not disappointed.
He watches intently, studying his prey's movements and habits as he fights his way through wave after wave of the party animals. The man is one of the most proficient fighters Sergei has ever seen. Perhaps not the best though as the demon's head has hundreds if not hundreds of thousands of powerful warriors under his employ, many of whom Kraven faced himself during his days as one of the old man's apprentices.
He remembers those days quite well. At the time the Demon's head was still searching for a proper heir having deemed Dusan unworthy as an albino.
Perhaps it was an old way of thinking to consider his own son cursed over what he could not control. However, immortals tend to be strange and act in strange ways and Kraven had simply accepted that.
Those days as an acolyte of the demon's head were some of the greatest days of his life though. Hunting the greatest enemies of the immortal demon and competing with other members of his class as honest rivals.
But this Batman, he reminded Kraven of one of his fellow acolytes. Way back in the Tibetan mountains in one of the old demon's hidden cities Kraven had undergone training at the hands of O-sensei. At the beginning, each of the members of their class had their identities kept completely anonymous.
Then after passing one of the most grueling trials of his life he'd been allowed to choose a new identity leaving his old one behind and purging himself of his old weakness.
He'd chosen the mask of the lion and had even built his new persona around that identity. Yes, it was true, the lion represented his true self and Sergei Nikolaevich Kravinoff had been changed into the lion, the predator.
He wasn't the only highly skilled member of his class. There was the Tiger, the Knight, the Bird, the Dragon, the Cat, the Ghost, but most of all there was one who he just wouldn't quit.
He'd sworn one day that he would hunt them all. Every single one would one day be devoured by the Beast.
But despite his tremendous strength and preternatural skill and even his superhuman abilities. He could never defeat the man in the Bat. The man in the bat mask did not lose no matter how hard he tried.
Oh, he'd put up a good fight. They'd gone blow for blow plenty of times but no matter how hard he tried or how long he strategized the lion could never beat the bat. Sure he had occasionally lost to a few others but very few could consistently beat him in martial arts.
But that was the lion though. Now he is no longer the Beast the Predator a hunter of the demon. He'd spent his days as his lord's greatest hunter.
Now he was Kraven the hunter, and watching this Batman, he knew. He knew it was him. He may have changed his costume and gained more bulk than he once did but it was him.
He too, it seems, has undergone a further transformation into the Batman he is today. This time though Kraven is fully prepared to defeat his foe and he's not alone either. Instead of doing it by himself he's brought a rather large portion of his forces here with him.
Lifting the tablet in his hand higher Kraven studies how he moves. It's almost poetic or perhaps more accurately rhythmic. Like a perfectly contained explosion inside a room. Each and every single movement is meant to both instill fear in his opponents and to be as effective as possible.
Sergei huffs in amusement as he watches Batman choke-slam another criminal into the pavement with one hand finally finishing them all off. Then he looks up to the camera and fires off a smoke bomb disappearing from sight.
Lifting the tablet in his hand, Kraven narrows his eyes hoping to perhaps notice a detail that'll help lead him to the bat's new location but that doesn't matter for now so long as he makes his approach in due time.
Soon enough one of his hunters walks onto the deck from behind him and takes a moment to gather his courage before speaking aloud.
"Kraven sir, all weapons and vehicles are ready to be deployed and we are mobilising to set up bases in the chosen areas."
"Good," Sergei says switching the app to another stream hoping to see if one of his competitors has located Batman or one of the other bounties. Out of the corner of his eye, Kraven notices the reflection of his hunter tense before stepping forward to speak once more.
"One more thing sir."
"What is it?" He almost growls in annoyance at the man's clear fear of him. Not that it's unexpected most animals are scared of superior predators. What truly annoys him is how openly the man wears that fear.
"Lady Anastasia has made the request to approach a separate prey that has caught her eye. Mr Alexi has also requested to be allowed to depart further into the city. He's spotted a new vigilante with a growing bounty he would like to test himself against entering Gotham on the back of a motorcycle."
Kraven buffs then nods a yes in response. Perhaps this particular hunter is braver than he seems he didn't stutter after all.
Kraven turns to face the man and the hunter has to crane his head up just to look Kraven in the eye.
"Very well. My children are free to hunt as they please so long as they return before Slade and his apprentice make their approach. I'll be damned if I lose more prey to him. Prepare a Hunter VTOL I'll be heading into the city now, and bring me my spear,"
"Yes sir!"
[Chapter image]
XXX
Side note: Fuck my job because who the fuck decides making someone work from 5:30 pm to 11:30 pm and then setting a company meeting at 8:00 am to 9:00 am followed by another shift of 5:30 to 11:30 pm on that very same fucking day was a good idea. The fucking gall I sweat I don't get paid enough for this shit.
Gotta drive so no images for a little while.