A/N:
" " : Dialogue,
' ' : Thought,
"Italicized text" : Telepathy,
[ ] : System.
Discord invite link: https://discord.gg/V35WgeqBT
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June 20th, 2010
Omniscient POV
Gotham was peaceful. Against all odds, the streets of Gotham City were now peaceful. People were walking the streets without fear that someone would attack them out of nowhere. Shop owners had their shops open without fear that some mob soldier would come to trash the place they used to make a living, or come to extort them by asking for so-called protection fees. And the person responsible for this was naturally Nolan, who had grown much stronger via the 22 gacha pulls he'd done.
Gang members, mob soldiers, Triad members, mafiosi, and Intergang members had gained a new level of terror from Nolan's attacks. They'd find their fellow mobsters shooting each other, while shouting that they'd taken out one of the Night Wardens. Videos and audio of their fellow mobsters enthusiastically confessing to crimes were played on the news. Moles were exposed and promptly arrested, they had abandoned the docks that were used for their criminal exchanges, and nothing seemed to go right for them, regardless of their preparation.
In the cases that they didn't see their fellow mobsters seemingly go mad, or go against whatever oaths they had made, they would instead have their sites cleared out faster than their minds could process, but still receive life-changing or debilitating wounds.
Nolan had caused the crime rate to fall so efficiently that Batman, even with his mild distaste for Nolan's methods, had to agree that his methods were quite effective. Petty criminals now moved around with the fear that they'd get taken down the instant they tried to do any crimes. Nolan's treatment of the mobsters had essentially scared all other criminals straight.
As for Nolan himself, seeing that his day was mostly free, he had decided to dive into life-threatening training, using his clones as his opponents. This was mainly to refine his mastery with most of the martial arts that he had pulled from his memories. As he and his clones slammed their arms, hands, legs, and feet into each other, he quickly looked back on the abilities that he had gained.
…
*Flashback*
June 19th, 2010
Nolan POV
Keeping to my decision, I decided to burn some GP to do 10x gacha pulls, and I chose to do an Ability specific pull.
[Ability Card: Zenkai (Dragon Ball Z Kakarot)] – Unique:
[A genetic trait exclusive to Saiyans, which allows their power and to substantially increase after recovering from near fatal injuries. This increases their ki and all other physical attributes.]
[Ability Card: Storm Release (Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 4)] – Unique:
[A nature transformation kekkei genkai that combines Lightning and Water Release. It allows the User to create and manipulate beams of electricity that flow like water, even allowing for the creation of laser beams.]
[Ability Card: Skill – Six Powers (One Piece: Pirate Warriors)] – Rare:
[A set of superhuman martial arts that take simple combat maneuvers and advance their capabilities to superhuman levels using prodigious speed and strength. It consists of the Iron Body, Paper Arts, Shave, Moonwalk, Tempest Kick, and Finger Pistol techniques.]
[Ability Card: Parseltongue (Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets)] – Uncommon:
[A trait that allows the User to speak to serpents of all kinds. It also has the ability to influence the will of serpents.]
[Ability Card: Thermal Fluctuation Resistance (That Time I Got Reincarnated As A Slime: Isekai Chronicles)] – Rare:
[An ability that gives the User significant resistance to all forms of thermal change under a certain threshold, making their effects negligible.]
[Ability Card: Soundproof (Pokémon)] – Rare:
[A trait that makes the User immune to sound-based attacks.]
[Ability Card: Four Elements Manipulation (Marvel: Ultimate Alliance)] – Unique:
[The User gains the ability to mentally manipulate the four classical elements on an atomic level, and in a large radius. The User also gains immunity to those elements, and an element-focused form of extrasensory perception.
Weakness(es):
Due to relying on the User's mental strength, extended strenuous use of this ability will cause mental exhaustion.]
[Ability Card: Quicksilver Style (Devil May Cry 3)] – Epic:
[A time-controlling style that allows the User to move at lightning-quick speeds relative to their environment.]
[Ability Card: Skill – Magic Missile (Diablo III)] – Common:
[A low-level spell that fires a missile of pure magical energy. Thanks to its nature, the cost for the spell is negligible.]
[Ability Card: Skill – Spirit Gun (Yu Yu Hakusho Dai-Ni-Dan: Ankoku Bujutsu Kai Hen)] – Epic:
[A technique where the User concentrates Spirit Energy into their hand, then releases it through their fingertips in the form of a blast. The only limiting factor on its power is the amount of the User's Spirit Energy.]
I didn't assimilate Four Elements Manipulation and Thermal Fluctuation Resistance, because I wanted to abuse the Zenkai to boost myself as much as possible before making myself essentially immune to elemental attacks. I'm already nearly immune to physical attacks, and with Soundproof, I'm now immune to sound-based attacks. Powerful soundwaves, charming via sound, hypnotic audio, auditory hallucinations, and anything of the like are now entirely unable to affect me.
As for the free daily pull, I used it on a Character Card pull, and got something… nice.
[Character Card: The Cat (Stray)] – Common:
[A stray tabby cat that had been separated from his family. He is a bit more intelligent than most cats, but is a regular cat nonetheless.]
This was the very first Character that I summoned. I remembered playing as the little guy, and I wouldn't want him to go through the pain he did ever again. But as I summoned him, I got a message that shocked me, and at the same time, made sense.
[All summoned characters are brought from a timeline where they died, most times, near the end of their game. If they canonically died in their games, they are summoned at the point of death, and restored to their prime state.]
That gave me even more reason to care for this kitty, as I remembered that the main ways for Ginger to die were being killed by Sentinels or Zurks, and I'd be damned if I didn't help him forget that pain. Yes, I'm calling him the name that players of the time gave him.
He appeared in a quick flash of white light, and I could immediately feel his panic. I used my telepathy to slowly but surely, calm him down. "Pain! Pain. Pain… gone?" His thoughts came to me over the telepathic connection I'd made between us. He then looked at me. "Friend?" He asked as he meowed at me. "Yes, little one. I'm a friend." I told him as I stroked his head gently. He quickly relaxed and started purring.
Since I just had a new first, I decided to have another, then pulled out the Thermal Fluctuation Resistance Card, and used it on him. I had my reasons for this, the main one being that I didn't want him to be hurt, and the other being that I technically had a better option in the Four Elements Manipulation Card, which judging from the game it came from, was the ability possessed by Crystal of the Inhuman Royal Family. And the Storm Release Card was just solidifying my suspicion that I'm just fated with electricity/lightning powers.
I went out to take care of whatever injustice was taking place on Gotham's streets as per usual, and learned a few things. One, my body's newly developed chakra pathways needed a lot of work. Two, I could actually use Lightning and Water chakra natures on their own, without really affecting their power. And as for the third and most important thing I learned that night; I had very quickly become a pretty big fish in a small pond.
As things stood, even without me assimilating the Four Elements Manipulation Card, there was virtually no one that could beat me in Gotham. Batman, for all his paranoia and contingencies, realistically wouldn't be able to do anything to actually defeat me, and the same goes for Robin. No villain could properly impair me, overpower me, or take control of me, as I'd essentially become too strong for anyone here, and immune to powers like that, unless of course, magic is brought into the picture.
As for how I'd noticed this for sure, it had only taken a single clone to take down 10 hideouts, deals, and 'production houses' in less than 15 minutes. It was like Gotham had gotten a more violent Flash that could also multiply himself. Hell, by the time Batman and the GCPD officers got to most of those sites, my clones had already gone on to take down at least 5 others. By the time that night ended, I had reduced hundreds of criminals to cripples, and I still wasn't done.
*Flashback End*
…
Omniscient POV
Earlier this morning, Nolan used his next 10x gacha pull on Item Cards, most of which he put into his inventory.
[Item Card: Amp (inFamous 2)] – Uncommon:
[A two-pronged melee weapon built for a Conduit with Electrokinesis to channel their powers through. It releases a thousand volts in each strike, allowing it to concuss and shock enemies at the same time.]
[Item Card: Frying Pan (Conker's Bad Fur Day)] – Common:
[A frying pan that looks like any other, with the small difference of being just a bit stronger and more durable than most other frying pans.]
[Item Card: Queen's Rapier (Dead Cells)] – Rare:
[A sword that has the ability to leave slashes in reality that launch a second attack on its path.]
[Item Card: Diamond Block (Minecraft)] – Rare:
[A 1*1*1m cube made of pure diamond.]
[Item Card: Gold Orb (Devil May Cry 5)] – Epic:
[A magical golden stone that resurrects its holder upon death, restoring them to their peak state.]
[Item Card: Odette (Bayonetta)] – Rare:
[A pair of demonic ice skates that hold the soul of Odette, a demon witch that sold her soul for eternal youth, transforming into a swan. Odette, said to have prided herself on her ice magic abilities, lends these skates the ability to summon the cold.]
[Item Card: Incendiary Grenade (Palworld)] – Uncommon:
[A grenade that detonates a few seconds after being thrown, setting the surrounding area on fire.]
[Item Card: Zangetsuto (Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night)] - Unique
[A katana that possesses the ability to attack and damage creatures that exist in illusory dimensions, or dimensions layered over reality.]
[Item Card: Doom Slayer Figurine (DOOM Eternal)] - Common
[A small figurine depicting the Doom Slayer in his upgraded Praetor Suit.]
[Item Card: Movie Poster (The Legend Of Korra)] – Banal:
[Poster for the smash hit "The Adventures of Nuktuk, Hero of the South," the mover that made Bolin into a star.]
Not long after he drew the cards, he delved into training with five of his clones, but instead of doing any of his training within city limits, he decided to put his newest powers to use, and began training on top of the surface of the Gotham River. His familiarity with controlling lifeforce in the form of Nen leaked into his chakra, ki, and spirit energy control, allowing him to very quickly learn to control them to an adept level. Of course, using his clones also helped accelerate that learning.
Another thing that he noticed, much to his shock and delight, was that the Zenkai also affected his chakra, ethernano, spirit energy and Nen. Thanks to the fact that they were all connected to lifeforce, the Zenkai also increased them substantially. Since he was training without putting up any defenses, allowing himself to be torn into by his clones' energy beams and the energy guns he had taken from Intergang, he was able to regenerate from near fatal wounds extremely quickly and drastically increase his power.
While he trained on the river, a clone sat at the shore with Ginger on his lap, the tabby purring as the clone gently stroked and massaged him, and the last two clones were out in the city taking care of crime. Of course, with their vastly increased capabilities, the reduced number brought no challenge to the clones, as they moved through the city, leaving only momentary blurs as evidence of their movement.
While the people of Gotham were content to simply live in this peace, understanding that it could very well disappear as abruptly as it had come, one of them, Gotham's favorite son, Bruce Wayne, the Batman, couldn't simply leave things be.
Ever since the night that he and Robin met Nocturne, he had begun building a profile of him on the Batcomputer. He noted that Nocturne seemed to have some personal vendetta against Gotham's crime families, as they received the worst treatment amongst the hundreds of criminals that he took down. While Batman felt that Nocturne might be a bit extreme at times, he also noticed that he still acted as a hero, prioritizing the safety of the innocent.
But if that were enough to dissuade him from studying Nocturne or preparing for the possibility of him turning evil, then he wouldn't be Batman. That was until the appearance of the Night Wardens. For the first few days of his operation, Batman thought that Nocturne was simply a single metahuman that wanted to help his fellow Gothamites, until eight others began showing up with him, each with their own powers.
Initially, he had assumed that Nocturne possessed some sort of duplication ability, but soon dropped that theory, as he noticed that despite their similar bodies and skillsets, their individual mannerisms, voices, and approaches to fighting were different. He had no idea that Nocturne had specifically instructed his clones to act this way so as to make people think that they were truly different people.
Batman had met each of them, but noticed that they all answered to Nocturne, and came to the conclusion that alias was more a title than a name. So, he created files on each of them under the Nocturne name. He knew next to nothing about their actual personalities, so predicting the way they would act was next to impossible, but if there was anyone that could possibly learn to do just that, it would have to be none other than the Batman himself.
…
The smog-filled skies of Gotham eventually darkened as night fell, and all of Gotham's Organized Crime scene felt despair once more. They had initially compared Nocturne's attacks to the first few years Batman's crusade, but now they understood that they had severely underestimated Nocturne.
Extortion rackets, what few arms or drug deals that were taking place, money laundering operations, brothels where physical and sexual abuse were the norm, illegal fighting rings where they exploited and killed people who were mostly desperate for money, woman, child, sex, and drug trafficking, smuggling exotic pets, and even loan shark operations. It didn't matter what sort of criminal enterprise that they partook in or sponsored; they were all attacked by the Night Wardens.
While all the groups that made up Gotham's Organized Crime were going through their greatest tribulations in the form of the Night Wardens' attacks, none of them were suffering as much as the Sabatino family and Intergang were.
Normally, all of the heads of the Crime Families had offshore accounts where they kept their funds out of reach of any domestic law enforcement, Johhny Sabatino included. But right now, all of the offshore accounts that he had created had been emptied out. Not frozen, but outright drained of all funds. Upon finding this out, he went into hysterics, demanding to know who had done this.
Without money to fund the Sabatino Crime Family's activities, the soldiers felt that there was little need for loyalty. Johnny would have tried using the funds he had domestically, but his bank accounts had been frozen, and most of the physical cash he had had been seized. The simultaneous digital and physical attacks had caused the power and reach of the Sabatino family to dwindle to the point that Nolan could leave them as they are, and they'd crumble, before soon fading away.
On Intergang's side, Nolan's clone that was focused on attacking them had essentially crippled them, so despite their plans to have Gotham become another one of their weapons trafficking hubs, they were left unable to be active in Gotham. It didn't matter how much they armed themselves, if the person they fought could take them down before they had the chance to make a single attack.
Through all of this, Nolan himself had gone somewhere else, away from his clones. On the outskirts of Gotham, he walked down a slope that led into a cavern, all the while, keeping Ginger on his head. Of course, he was dressed in his Nightingale Armor.
He zipped quickly through the cavern, his senses allowing him to move through the darkness with ease. His feet hardly touched the ground, and the few times they did, they left no prints behind, effectively masking his movements through the cavern. Using the Ripple, he magnetized Ginger onto his head, allowing the tabby to remain on his head without being blown off.
As he went deeper into the cavern, he finally came across the point where the path turned from rock to metal. He paid no attention to the scores of bats that were on the cavern's ceiling, and moved further in. He took in the scene in the cave, the Batcave, and let out a silent, amazed breath.
Sure, he had technically been in multiple versions of the Batcave, thanks to the Immersion Capsule, but actually being in one in body, mind, and soul had a different feeling to it. Seeing the multiple trophies and bat-themed vehicles for real was its own experience. But while Nolan felt a sense of wonder towards the Batcave, he didn't allow that wonder to make him forget his reason for coming here.
He soon made his way to the Batcave's main platform, and rather than meet the Caped Crusader furiously tapping away at the Batcomputer's keyboard, he instead met a balding old man dressed in a three-piece suit; a black jacket, a maroon vest, and a white long-sleeved shirt with a black tie, cleaning up the place. This was, of course, Alfred Pennyworth, the butler to Bruce Wayne, and the heart of what would later become known as the Bat-family.
"Hello, Alfred." He greeted and surprised the elderly man. "Don't worry, I'm only here to have a talk with Bruce. He should be heading back now. I just wanted to get here a bit early." He told Alfred, putting his hands out to show that he meant no harm. "I see. So, should I also let him know that his guest is glowing, or is that too much to say over the phone?" Alfred asked, pointing out Nolan's Ripple aura.
"Oh, this? It's just to make sure this little guy doesn't fall off." Nolan replied, then normalized his breathing, and gently pulled Ginger off his head, the tabby still purring. "I see. Then, I shall let him know that you are here." Alfred said, then walked away. As he left, Nolan created a seat with ice, and sat there, waiting for Batman and Robin to return.
…
*15 minutes prior*
Batman, Robin, and one of the Night Wardens had just finished taking down another Intergang hideout, with the Night Warden doing most of the heavy lifting. This one had ice powers, and used them to great effect, immobilizing and repeatedly impeding the gang members' attacks. Of course, when the Night Warden did get his hands on them, the altercation would end with them becoming quadriplegic, every single time.
Batman didn't like this, and neither did the cops, but they had begun to understand that this was simply how the Night Wardens treated criminals like them. They didn't harm innocent people, and when it came to those committing comparatively petty crimes, they were a lot more merciful.
Once the trio of vigilantes were sure that the cops had the situation under control, they left, firing their grapnels away, but to Batman and Robin's surprise, the Night Warden went in the same direction as them. "Hey, Batman. It's best you get back to your cave. You've got some visitors." The Night Warden told them. Batman's eyes narrowed with suspicion.
"You can distrust me, or be late to save your butler. Your choice." The Night Warden said, then used his grapnel to change directions, leaving the pair to their thoughts. In the time since they had come in contact with the black-clad vigilantes, Batman and Robin had not once been led astray by their words, which made them feel that the Night Warden had told them the truth.
"We're going back to the cave." Batman told Robin after contemplating the Night Warden's words for a half a minute. The pair then quickly headed to the parked Batmobile, then rushed back to the Batcave. Batman sped through Gotham's streets, before soon reaching the outskirts of the city and heading into a cavern, the same one that Nolan had entered mere minutes before.
The Batmobile's engine roared, as Batman pushed down the gas pedal, the words of the Night Warden replaying over and over in his head. Although he and Alfred weren't the closest they could be, the English butler was the closest thing to a parent that he had, ever since his father and mother were gunned down in Crime Alley, and he definitely didn't want any harm to come to him.
He eventually reached the platform where he'd normally park the Batmobile and stopped. Without waiting for the platform to ascend, he and Robin got out of the car, then fired their grapnels to the top and reeled themselves upward. As they landed, they immediately went into fighting stances, but rather than see a bloody scene, or even hear any sounds of torture, they instead saw Alfred giving a Night Warden tea, and an orange tabby a bowl of tuna.
"Master Bruce, Master Dick. It would seem that your guest is more cordial than I'd expected." Alfred said, greeting the pair. Nolan turned to them and gave a friendly wave. "Hey, guys. Pardon the intrusion. I just needed to talk with you… urgently." He said, and the pair felt a foreboding air begin to build up, as they wondered just what could make someone who had treated all of Gotham's criminal world as playthings have such a sense of urgency.
Chapter End.
Word Count: 3,735
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