A/N:
" " : Dialogue,
' ' : Thought,
"Italicized text" : Telepathy,
[ ] : System.
Discord invite link: https://discord.gg/V35WgeqBT
———————————————————
June 20th, 2010
Omniscient POV
After hearing Nolan say that he had something urgent to table with them, Batman and Robin sat on their own chairs, facing him. "Oh, don't go giving yourselves a headache. It's something that's really only urgent to me." Nolan told them. For a few seconds, they were all silent, with the only sounds in the Batcave being the humming of electricity, the whispering winds, and the munching sounds of a cat greedily eating tuna.
"Now, I'm sure that we've all noticed that crime all around Gotham has dropped drastically, courtesy of yours truly, of course." He began. "What are the others, then? Chopped liver?" Robin asked, as he noticed that Nolan had talked as if he was the sole person responsible for Gotham's uncharacteristically low crime rate.
"Right, since I'm here to make a deal, then I might as well trust you guys with something." Nolan said, then channeled fire into his left hand, and ice magic into his right, then electricity in both, before eventually pulling off his left gauntlet, and turning his arm to diamond. "I believe I'm making sense, right?" He said, as the pair soon came to a conclusion.
"Clones." Batman said. "Exactly. Well, since it's very likely that someone out there has cloning technology, I'd prefer you to call them duplicates." Nolan said, reverting his arm and putting his gauntlet back on. "But that doesn't explain why they all felt like different people." Batman pointed out, and Nolan simply stood up and walked.
Batman eyes remained locked on all of Nolan's movements, and they soon widened as he noticed that Nolan was perfectly copying his own mannerisms while walking. The changes to Nolan's gait were subtle enough that anyone not trained enough to notice them would dismiss them entirely, which was why Robin had still not noticed them.
"If I can do something like that only after seeing you a few times, imagine what I can do when I observe someone else for a much longer time." Nolan said as he walked back to his seat. "Now, anything else?" He asked. "Your mask, take it off." Robin said, and the other two vigilantes looked at him like he wasn't serious.
"What?! He knows our identities and where we live. Taking his mask off is the least he could do." Robin said, then folded his arms, pouting. Nolan was amused by this, of course, and before Batman could speak, he pulled off the hood of his armor, showing his hair. It was a dirty blonde, with some parts of it being much darker, some parts of it being paler, and some parts just being white.
He then pulled his mask off his face, and to his surprise, Robin's eyes widened as if he recognized him. "Your face is familiar… but I can't remember where I've seen it." Robin said. As he spoke, Alfred, who had stepped out of the Batcave earlier, came back with some cups of tea for Batman and Robin. As he handed the cups to them, he caught sight of Nolan's face and his eyes widened with recognition.
"Oh, this is quite the surprise." The butler said. "You recognize him too, Alfred?" Robin asked. "Yes, Master Dick. I believe it was about eight months ago. You had chosen to watch a math competition out of boredom, and asked me to bring you, in your own words, "something to occupy your mouth with" while you watched it. When I came back with your snacks, the competition had ended, and he was third place." Alfred said, looking pointedly at Nolan.
"My name's Nolan Simmons. Nice to meet you again, Dick. Since we've established the fact that I already know your identities, any of us remaining masked up doesn't seem all that appropriate, don't you think?" Nolan said. Batman and Robin looked at each other, then nodded. Batman lifted his cowl off, and Robin gently pulled off his domino mask, fully revealing the faces of Bruce Wayne and Richard Grayson.
"There. Now that we're a little more open with each other, it's time we got to the reason I'm here." Nolan said, his tone serious. "As I mentioned earlier, Gotham's crime rate is taking a nosedive because of my actions. I've had time to think about what I'd do after basically ridding Gotham of crime, and come to a decision. I want to help more people outside Gotham." He said.
If Nolan truly rid Gotham of crime, then his source of Gacha Points would dry up, and so the best decision he could make to avoid that was to increase the range from which he could gain GP. Any lives saved would simply be a byproduct of his actions.
"However, for me to do that, I'll need a bit of help, so that I'm seen as legit. First off, my suit. I could make a new one, but that'll be much later, unless I get some support and resources, which you, Mr. I-fund-the-Justice-League, can help me with." Nolan told Bruce. "And with one of the founding members of the Justice League endorsing me when I eventually go out there, it'll help me with my image out there." He added.
"It will also put you under scrutiny, more than you'd have without my endorsement." Bruce said, and Nolan shrugged. "I'd get scrutiny anyway. Getting your endorsement just makes it so that the government will try to keep a closer eye on me. It isn't something I can't work with." Nolan replied, and for a moment, Bruce felt that the teen in front of him was in over his head. Then he remembered that Dick was the same when he started out as Robin, and he was much younger, far less trained or capable than Nolan has proven himself to be.
"I see. But what's your plan for when crime resurges in your absence?" Bruce asked, wanting to test Nolan's ability to plan for the future. "That's the thing, Bruce. I won't be absent. Or rather, the Night Wardens won't be absent, even if I leave Gotham." Nolan replied, and Bruce raised an eyebrow, showing an expression that asked him to elaborate.
"You see, my duplicates can exist freely, even when they're extremely far away from me, and killing any of them would require a nuke at minimum. So, even if I left, Gotham would still be safe." Nolan said, sounding cocky, almost. "And I say that with full knowledge of the capabilities of all the supervillains in Gotham." He said, doubling down on his claims.
Of course, only he knew the true extent of his, and therefore, his clones' powers. Despite having the Zenkai ability for only a little more than 24 hours, Nolan had already used it multiple times, increasing his power multiple times over, with him estimating that he had become at least 15 times stronger than he was on the 18th. So, even his claim of a nuke possibly killing one of his clones was a conservative estimation of his clones' survivability.
"I see. Alright, then. When you eventually chose to move your actions out of Gotham, I'll endorse you." Bruce said, standing up. "As for your suit–" He began. "Oh, I only need materials for that. I'll do the actual work for making the suit myself." Nolan interrupted. "Not that I don't trust you to make a good suit for me, I just trust stuff I make myself the most." He said, making sure to not hint at the Video Game Gacha System.
Bruce nodded, understanding that despite the time that they had spent technically fighting crime together, their relationship wasn't close enough for Nolan to trust either of them with something as intimate as his supersuit. And it wasn't without reason that Nolan didn't trust him, after all, in the first days of their meeting, Bruce had put a tracker on Nolan. So, after their agreement, Nolan would begin living in the Batcave, but stay away from the Wayne Manor, as he didn't want his face showing up on the news beside Gotham's favorite billionaire and his adopted son.
He also used his daily gacha pull on a Standard Card draw, pulling out a Background Creation Card.
[Standard Card: Background Creation] – Rare:
[Allows the User to create a fitting background for a summoned Character.]
He looked at Ginger as he got the Card, then let out an amused laugh as he stored it in his inventory.
…
June 23rd, 2010
It had been three days since Nolan made his deal with Bruce, and Gotham and her people were taking a much needed and deserved breath of relief.
Johnny Sabatino had been arrested yesterday morning, and most of the people that served as soldiers, lieutenants, or enforcers for the Sabatino Crime Family were in police custody. But that alone wouldn't have been enough to have such an impact on Gotham, as Intergang had all of its activity in Gotham halted, and their presence eliminated.
Nolan had spread the intense crackdown he had carried out on Intergang and the Sabatino family to other parts of Gotham's Organized Crime, targeting the Maroni and Beretti Crime families first. Much like he had done with the Sabatino family, he targeted their finances, draining their offshore accounts into one he had created under an alias, then reducing their soldiers' morale and cornering them, leaving them with no options to escape.
Right now, he was on a roof eating a sundae and checking his inventory, as his clones took apart the Falcone Crime Family on the ground. He had done the 10x pull he planned for the 21st, and the results were still on his mind. He had decided to use the 10x pull on Standard Cards, just to try out his luck.
[Standard Card: +50 Unassigned Stat Points] – Rare:
[Points that the User can apply to their attributes in the Status window.]
[Standard Card: +5 Unassigned Stat Points] – Common:
[Points that the User can apply to their attributes in the Status window.]
[Standard Card: World Travel Ticket (3 months)] – Rare:
[Allows the User to travel to any world of their choice, where they will remain for 3 months of that world's time. Worlds available are not limited to video games.
Notice: Time spent in worlds travelled to runs at a 10:1 dilation, relative to the User's home world.]
[Standard Card: Background Creation] – Rare:
[Allows the User to create a fitting background for a summoned Character.]
[Standard Card: Guaranteed Rare Card] – Rare:
[When used, your next Card Pull will be guaranteed Rare, with no chance for a greater or lesser rated Card.]
[Standard Card: Random Mission Ticket] – Legendary:
[When used, will give the User a random mission between ratings F-SSS.]
[Standard Card: +3 Charisma] – Common:
[Increases the User's Charisma stat by 3.]
[Standard Card: Ability Boost(1 week)] – Rare:
[Use to temporarily boost any ability held by the User.]
[Standard Card: 200 System XP] – Uncommon:
[Use to level up the system.]
[Standard Card: System Function Level-up] - Epic
[Increases one of the system's unlocked functions levels by one.]
When he finished with the 10x pull, he immediately used the stat point Cards to increase his Luck stat, causing it to shoot up to 62 points. His Charisma stat had increased even before this, thanks to some of the Character Cards he had assimilated, and so, instead of the Card increasing it to 8, it had instead increased to 12, making him have a much stronger presence, and quite literally making his body inhumanly attractive.
When he used those cards, he decided to do something he hadn't done in a long time – check his status window, and he couldn't help but smile after seeing how much he'd changed from when he had newly arrived on this Earth.
[Status]
[Name: Nolan Anthony Simmons
Age: 15(29)
Strength: 583
Perception: 653
Endurance: 629
Charisma: 12
Intelligence: 18
Agility: 569
Luck: 62
GP: 1,439
Although his Intelligence and Charisma stats were lagging behind, they were no less impressive, as he was now technically more intelligent than the Batman. For most people that know of the Batman's intellectual capabilities, this would seem like Nolan overestimating himself, but it was anything but.
The main reason for Batman's intellectual prowess is the vast pool of knowledge and skills he had amassed over the years of training he had gone through even before adopting the mantle, on top of his intelligence. It's more accurate to say that Batman is using his intelligence to its fullest potential, and Nolan is still building up his own pool of knowledge.
Of course, Nolan still used his daily gacha pulls over these three days, getting one Ability Card, one Character Card, and one Item Card.
[Ability Card: Bloodcurdle (My Hero One's Justice)] - Uncommon
[The User gains the ability to temporarily paralyze an opponent by ingesting their blood. This Quirk also gives the user an extraordinarily long tongue tainted with numerous small papillae.
Weakness(es):
• The time that the paralysis lasts is heavily dependent on the opponent's blood type, with it lasting the longest on type B blood, and decreasing in type AB, then A, with O having the shortest time.]
[Character Card: Lionel Starkweather (Manhunt)] – Common
[A highly successful film director that moved to Carcer City, where he would develop an unhealthy obsession with extreme violence. He created Starkweather Quality Productions, which he used to distribute snuff and pornographic films, and used the profits generated from that to buy a private army of mercenaries and gain control of Carcer City's Police Department, which gave him full control of the city's vast criminal underworld.]
[Item Card: Chocolate Chipped Cream Sundae Supreme (Sonic Unleashed)] – Common:
[A delectable ice cream sundae that is made by the Ice Cream Vendor in the town of Apotos. It has been touted as the world's tastiest ice cream.]
If it wasn't already obvious, the sundae that Nolan was eating was the Chocolate Chipped Cream Sundae Supreme. As for the other Cards, he stored the Bloodcurdle Card in his inventory, and recycled the Lionel Starkweather Card, gaining a measly 3GP.
He had played the Manhunt games, and had seen just how evil and unscrupulous of a human that Lionel was, so he decided that he would eliminate any possibility of such a man being released onto the world.
Eventually, the GCPD arrived, just as his clone took down and restrained the last man. Once the police arrived, he vacated the area, letting them take in the Falcones, while his clone watched over them. As for Nolan, he was looking for a secluded area, and after looking around the city for a few seconds, he eventually came upon what he saw as the most secluded part of Gotham.
Several miles outside of Gotham, in the Slaughter Swamp State Park, Nolan took out the Random Mission Ticket and used it. A wheel manifested, showing the mission ratings and began spinning, and after 10 seconds, the wheel stopped, landing on S.
[Mission Received!]
[Goal: Repel Apokolips.
Reward: 5,000GP, Mythical Card Pull.
Note: When undertaking missions outside the User's home universe, time is forcibly halted until the User returns.]
[Go Now]/[Postpone]
After reading through the window, he tapped Go Now, and a blinding light erupted from the window, momentarily obscuring his vision. As the light was blasted into his eyes, he felt a strange, yet familiar sensation wash over the environment. He realized that this was the time in the universe being stopped, which he wouldn't have noticed if he didn't possess the Quicksilver Style.
But before he could continue thinking about the feeling of time halting, the sensation very quickly vanished, and the sounds of the insects and critters that lived in Slaughter Swamp returned. He blinked away the flashes in his eyes and reoriented himself, then headed out of the Swamp, so that he could ascertain what Earth he had ended up on.
As he headed into what he assumed to be Gotham City, he soon found three helicopters flying towards a cloud of dust and smoke, and decided to head to their destination as quickly and quietly as possible. The words he heard and the sight he saw when he reached the three helicopters' destination helped him understand just where he was.
"This is Gotham P.D. Put your hands in the air. Put your hands in the air." A policeman said from within the lead helicopter to a pair of costumed men, who he recognized as Batman and Green Lantern.
"So it's Justice League War, huh? I can work with that." He said, then extended his psychic reach into the minds of the people in the helicopters, making them see an illusion of Batman and Green Lantern fleeing the scene. "Damn it. Go after them." The policeman said over the radio, heading away from the pair of heroes.
Batman and Green Lantern looked at each other with confusion, but looked behind them, as the Parademon that they were trying to subdue stood up and let out a blast of flames from its mouth. "Move!" Batman shouted as he dived at Green Lantern, tackling him out of the way of the flames.
As the obstacles were out of the way, the Parademon ran off the edge of the roof they were on, sprouted metallic wings from its back, and began taking off, only to suddenly be punched back onto the roof. Nolan calmly stepped onto the roof, dressed as Nocturne, with sparks of electricity arcing around his hands. The Parademon uncontrollably spasmed on the roof, and Batman and Green Lantern looked at the newcomer with suspicion and intrigue.
"C'mon, let's get out of here. Those guys are only gonna be occupied for the next five minutes." Nolan said as he wrapped the Parademon's mouth shut with his grapnel's cable. "And who're you supposed to be?" Green Lantern asked. "The name's Nocturne, Lantern. If what I think is about to happen really is happening, you better keep Oa on speed-dial" Nolan responded, surprising him.
"Let's get to somewhere out of sight. I'm sure none of us want the PD on our tails again." Nolan said, as he lifted the Parademon, while still electrocuting it, then jumped off the roof. Using Moon Walk, he stepped on the air and propelled himself forward, while Green Lantern flew after him, and Batman used his grapnel to follow them. As Nolan led them to a secluded area, he thought about the actual difficulty of the mission, and decided that he no longer had the luxury of restricting his abilities.
Chapter End.
…
Don't have a clear schedule, but if I have a chapter, I will always post on Fridays, so check those days.
Word Count: 3,091
Thanks for reading!