*thump*
*thump*
*thump*
*thump*
Mark Greyson, 18 years old and recently graduated stood in front of a boxing bag as he continually hit it. Sweat poured off his face and down his body, as he kept punching the bag, his breathing was steady as he extended each fist, over the years he had slowly perfected the technique for a simple punch. Not something to boast about but Ted always told him that if you can't throw a punch anything else you do is just 'Fancy dance shut'.
*thump*
*thump*
*THUMP*
He hit the bag a lot harder this time launching it backwards quite a bit, he caught the bag before it hit back into them and leaned his head against it taking a break "Keep throwing punches like that you might become champ, though if you break the bag your first fight will be with me" Mark heard from behind him, he turned around and rolled his eyes.
"My bad Ted, I wasn't concentrating" he said with a small chuckle, as he let go of the bag and started unwrapping his gloves. Ted Grant former champion boxer and now owner of the Wildcat Gym in the East End. He was as good a man as Mark had met, he'd seen Mark getting into trouble on the streets one day and then convinced him to take out his aggression on the bags. Even after all these years, he didn't charge him a dime, no matter how much Mark insisted he didn't take it.
"Something wrong kid? Ya know if you need something all you gotta do is ask" he said as he grasped Marks shoulder, Mark sent him an appreciative smile but shook his head.
"I'm good Ted, just looking for work can be a bit stressful ya know?" He said getting a chuckle from the older man.
"Don't I know it, the first time I tried a paper-pushing job I punched out my boss" he said with a laugh.
Mark smiled "I'll see you later Ted" he said as he headed towards the changing rooms.
"Don't forget our next lesson! You had me on the ropes last time I expect your first win next week!" He said after him before heading back towards his office. Mark chuckled at his mentor's words, he knew Ted was going easy on him, but he did think he'd been making progress on his Muay Thai, which Ted would sometimes throw into their boxing spars.
As Mark walked towards the changing room and outside the men's changing room a young blonde woman stood outside with a smirk on her face "Hey Mark, I bet you are worked up a real sweat today... you know I might even waiver the fee if you wanna spend the night together" she said with a sultry smile and a wink.
"Not today Holly, way too busy for stuff like that" Mark said abruptly causing the woman to pout. Holly Robinson was a regular at the Gym here, from what Mark had heard she used to be a prostitute but had managed to get away from that life due to some help from a friend. Apart from that he didn't know much about her though they were amicable and she enjoyed teasing him now and then offering a night of fun which often ranged from free to 50 bucks.
"That's a shame, handsome lad like you should take a break once in a while," she said with a smirk as she headed off into the girls changing room, however, she opened the door wildly and started changing before it properly closed, giving mark an eyeful of her ass.
Mark rolled his eyes at her antics but still found himself looking, though once the door closed he headed to the men's locker room. It was empty as not many people visited the gym on a Friday night, either working or too busy hanging out with friends.
Mark sat down on a bench in the locker room, the wooden bench creaked under his weight and he sighed rubbing his shoulders before he carefully lifted his vest off his body though when he took it off fully he accidentally let go of it and it fell to the floor.
*THUD*
'Shit...' he thought to himself, usually he wasn't so sloppy but he'd been out of it today. It usually took around 10 seconds for the effect to wear off when his skin came out of contact with an object.
Luckily for Mark, no one heard the loud thud of his best hitting the floor, he reached down and picked it up a lot easier than he had done so before. What Mark had done was increase the weight of his vest so it weighed about 80 pounds, he did this regularly when he trained so he could get a better workout.
Mark sat back down with his vest slung over his shoulder, he was reminiscing about when he had first discovered his powers, he'd been hanging out with a friend before they got cornered in an alley, the boy who looked to be only a few years older than them brought out a knife and held them up. Course his friend was ready to give up everything but Mark wasn't so easy, he knew how much his Mom needed money so he was reluctant to give it to some reject.
Though the kid wasn't playing around and thrusting his knife, his friend pushed him out of the way and ended up getting stabbed. That's when he lost it and saw red and he grabbed the guy's shirt and pushed him against the wall, and then he threw a punch at him that ended up breaking his nose. At the time Mark didn't realise that at 13 he didn't have the strength nor technique to pull something off like that on a 17-year-old, though at the time he was too worried about his friend who was on the ground bleeding out. Still, she did end up surviving.
Later on, it was small things such as a pencil or pen becoming heavier or something becoming light. Eventually, he concluded he could change the weight of an object as long as he was touching it, though he couldn't organic matter apart from himself, which confused him slightly but he didn't give it much thought.
Mark stood up before going to his locker, he took off his shorts and changed into a pair of blue jeans before throwing on a long-sleeved black t-shirt, he put his gym clothes into his backpack and headed out to the Gym. He opened the doors and walked onto the Gotham streets 'What a shit hole' he thinks to himself as he started walking down the streets, old buildings made up the most of east end a lot of the buildings were condemned and taken in the homeless population, lots of buildings were covered with graffiti and women posted themselves up on the street corners turning tricks.
Mark hated Gotham but ever since his Dad had disappeared they had to move from where they lived in Metropolis as they couldn't afford the rent without his Dads income, Gotham was the closest and cheapest alternative as his Moms parents weren't alive anymore and he didn't even know if his Dad had any family they could've turned to.
He walked into a fast food joint, not any fancy chain like they had in the upper west side, here it was cheap and just as fast, though you lived a much shorter life as the grease often soaked through the paper bags "How's it going Mark? Same as usual" the owner said as he stood behind the counter putting another batch of French fries into the fryer.
"About as good as it gets in Gotham Hank" he said drawing a laugh from the older man. Mark draw his wallet out of his pocket and looked inside only to sigh 'Only 20 dollars left' he thought to himself, he'd been taking various Manual Labour jobs around Gotham but they paid a pittance and after rent, utilities and food he found himself.
'Just gotta make sure this job goes well' he thought to himself as he pulled out 10 dollars and handed it to the man before grabbing the half a dozen burgers and heading back out onto the streets. Walking a bit further down he turns into an alley, he looks to check if the coast is clear then he opens up a sewer grate by making it nearly weightless and easily lifts it. He then makes himself lighter and drops down into the sewer.
Mark groans as he lands in a dirty brown puddle 'I guess it's what happens when you travel in a sewer' he thought to himself with a sigh as he continued through the tunnel walking on the side to avoid the water running in the middle, he didn't need to bring a flashlight as lamps had been strung up periodically, eventually he came to a large opening in the sewers and what was there would shock the average citizen. The whole area was filled with tents, and there were also lots of fires that had been lit in oil drums, it housed some of Gotham's homeless population, winters in Gotham were usually harsh and if you didn't prepare you might find yourself freezing to death.
One of the homeless men looks up to see Mark coming in, he was a large black man with a potbelly and a receding hairline "If it isn't my boy Mark, now you don't even need to tell me what you have in your back, I can smell the grease from here" he said causing Mark to chuckle.
"You doing okay Mike? It's been getting pretty cold these days" Mark said as he took his backpack off and sat in front of the fire with the guys there, he handed out four of the large greasy burgers to the guys there before putting the rest back in his bag.
"You know how it is Mark, we survivin' as hard as it is" Mike said back as he took a bite out of the burger groaning in pleasure. Mark nodded, truth be told he'd been having trouble keeping his place warm, the gas companies loved putting the squeeze on everyone every winter 'Damn Bastards' he thought to himself.
"Is Waylon around?" Mark asked and Mike nodded though he seemed a little more solemn.
"Mark you sure you wanna get involved in this kind of stuff? You're young you can be anything you want" Mike said to him.
Mark chuckled humourlessly "Come on Mike, if that were true then none of you would be living down here" Mark replied as he stood up and headed towards the junction that Waylon usually slept in. He couldn't help but once again chuckle at Mikes words as he saw a couple of kids running around the homeless camp, this wasn't the sort of life that they should be living but from what he heard about the orphanages perhaps this was better.
"Hey, Waylon you awake!" Mark shouted as he sat himself down on the ledge of the wall that overlooked the water running into different tunnels. He heard a deep rumbling as a large shadow appeared in the water, the water was disturbed as it started to move around as if a miniature storm was brewing.
A small head popped out of the water, it had green scales and large sharp teeth like a crocodile, however, the small head was dwarfed by the large body as Waylon stood up in the water before climbing onto the ledge and taking a seat next to Mark.
Mark wasn't phased by the massive humanoid crocodile that had just climbed out of the water. And why would he be, he and Waylon go way back to when Mark helped Waylon out of a pretty nasty situation, while most people who saw Waylon who was bloody and injured would turn away, most of the time screaming, Mark, he helped Waylon get to the sewer and made sure to bring him some food and medicine, even got his hands dirty and dug the bullets out of his skin.
Mark doesn't say anything as Waylon sits beside him, he just goes into his bag before handing him a large burger before taking his one out. Waylon takes the burger from him and easily eats it in two bites before Mark even finished his first.
He looks up to the large man "The job still good?" Mark asks to which Waylon nods.
"Sure you want to do this?" Waylon says in a rough gurgling voice that rumbled from his chest. Sometimes he found it difficult to speak through his maw so he'd shorten his sentences.
Mark nodded "If I don't wanna be out on my ass next week I need quick cash" he replied.
"Triads wanted to hire me, told them unavailable, said another super could guard them" Waylon said to him then he went into details explaining what the job was. The Triads were moving a bunch of product into Gotham Harbour tonight and they needed a super to guard the people moving it Incase any undesirables showed up. It wasn't very high profile so Mark didn't think Batman would show but he wouldn't discount one of his little sidekicks.
Mark stood up and put his hand on the still-sitting Waylons shoulder "Thanks Waylon I owe you one" he said with a smile, Waylon just nodded though he did wish that his only friend could've avoided a life like this, as the road usually ended up leading them to a dead end or worse off a cliff.
———————————————————-
The sun had set over Gotham, and what that meant for those who just tried to live their lives is that you had to get inside and lock your doors. If the day wasn't safe for people then night was a death wish for people who couldn't protect themselves or didn't have people backing them up.
On a building just outside the Gotham docks a girl stood, she had a dark black costume on with yellow gloves, boots and a utility belt, her cowl covered her face but left her ginger locks. Barbara Gordon better known to the criminals of Gotham as Batgirl was looking through her binoculars as she watched people moving various boxes and crates, unloading them from a ship. Bruce had given her the responsibility of investigating the triads to her, it was a big step up from normal street crime so she didn't want to mess up. The Triads were also relatively new to Gotham and did not have much of a power base, though she suspected that would change when they got this delivery.
"Has to be at least a couple million in drugs and narcotics there" she whispered to herself, that amount of cash would be enough to expand their operations by quite a bit. It was a perfect time as well as Black Mask and the Penguin had been at each other's throats for a while, so none would spare the manpower to squash the Triads expansion.
Having seen enough Barbara puts down her binoculars before jumping off the building and grappling to another one. There seemed to be a lot fewer guards than she was expecting, especially for the amount of product that they seemed to be moving. However, she cast that thought aside as she snuck into the harbour, sticking to the shadows as she did.
Her heartbeat was slow and her breathing was steady as she approached a guard from behind, every step she took was muffled by the boots she wore and the guard did not sense anything was wrong until he was struck on the head from behind knocking him out completely. She catches his body and leans him against a cargo container that was in the shadows, but not before tying him up so he couldn't get away.
Her nervousness about her task seemed to dissipate as she easily subdued the guards one after the other, however as she got to the last one she didn't realise that a person had been watching her from above and an alarm sounds.
'Shit!' She thinks to herself before she roundhouse kicks the guard in front of her, the momentum making his head bash off the side of another container knocking him out, she has to push herself out of the way quickly launching into a roll as she hears gunshots hitting concrete and metal. She rolls onto her knees before pushing herself forward while turning midair and throwing a Batarang at the guard up top, it hits him straight in the forehead and he falls like a puppet with his strings cut.
She twists herself once again landing on her hands and then does a handstand to her feet. She can see that the workers have now armed themselves though they didn't have any guns like the guards did, just metal poles and some had pocket knives.
Barbara smirked as she cracked her knuckles "Ready when you are" she said confidently, most of the workers looked nervous, they were there to move the shipments not fight a hero. But they knew what fate would befall them should they get on the wrong side of the Triads.
The first man charged Barbara with a metal pipe and he swung it diagonally hoping to bash her head in and end it quickly, though this was simply wishful thinking as Barbara ducked under the swing punching him in the stomach which sent him clenching his stomach in pain, she then transitioned into a high kick as his face was directly in line with her foot. It had all taken less than five seconds and the first man was already down.
They all hesitated, waiting for who would be the next one to charge, however, they were not given a chance to pick as Barbara charged them jumping up and hitting a man's face with her knee before grabbing a batarang and throwing it towards another man's head, it also managed to bounce off and hit someone else in the face. Barbara dodged another swing and kicked the perpetrator's knees nearly breaking them as he fell in pain.
She then grabbed a man's wrist who had attempted to stab her before getting him in a hold and flipping him. She looked to the rest who stood there completely still, the fear in the air was palpable, they all had to fight otherwise they'd be killed, but even when they fought they'd end up in jail, it was a loss/loss for them.
Barbara noticed that there was a person among them who wore a balaclava, he looked equally as scared as the rest, though she couldn't help but wonder why the rest of them didn't cover their faces. Said man charges at Barbara with a scream, the look of fear on his face was almost comical as she watched him charge her with nothing but his fist.
She almost chuckled as he held his right hand up telegraphing that he was going for a wide swing, however at the last second she saw his face change and lose all the fear and nervousness that she saw before.
Barbara's eyes widened as she realised she'd been tricked, and as she looks down she sees his left fist connect with her stomach launching her back a bit and knocking the wind out of her a bit. She'd been too arrogant, and let her guard down 'Stupid!' She chastised herself as she got back to her feet.
Mark looked across and saw Batgirl getting back up, he had hoped that the punch might knock her out as he had made his fists a bit heavier but no such luck. It didn't surprise him as heroes like her must take a beating quite often, but he could at least hope. However, Mark knew that even though she wasn't the Big Man himself she was still dangerous and so before she could get up fully he charged at her once again.
He was a bit faster as he made himself a bit lighter but not enough that he'd push himself off the ground. He launches a forward kick at her which she deflects with her forearm, she then spins around aiming to sweep his feet from underneath him but he jumps up into the air easily before he makes himself heavier. Batgirl only has a second to roll out of the way before he impacts the ground making a loud sound but not quite cracking the ground.
The throws a batarang at him that he manages to slap out of the air before it hits him, She charges him and they engage in close quarters. Mark throws multiple jabs that Batgirl avoids easily and then she throws a punch of her own that manages to catch the side of his face, he rolls with the punch and grabs her wrist before pulling them both together and head-butting her. They are both pretty dazed from that hit but Mark manages to recover first before grabbing Batgirl into a clinch and popping her in the face multiple times with his knee.
Batgirl spreads her feet under her making herself fall into a split, she then rolls back before tucking her knees together and throwing Mark over her and into a bunch of Barrels. She gets up and touches her face hissing with pain, whoever this guy was had managed to get some good hits on her. She took out a baton she had on her belt before whipping it to the side and extending it, she usually didn't use this but she wanted to end the fight quickly and get the police here.
Mark got up from between the barrels, this was a lot more troublesome than he thought it would be, he didn't even want to imagine what it would be like fighting Batman 'I guess I have to go all out' he thought to himself as he grabbed a barrel next to him. He waited for Batgirl to start charging at him and when she got close enough he surprised her by spinning around and launching the large barrel at her, by the time it had reached her most of its weight had returned and it managed to stop her dead and launch her backwards with the barrel. Batgirl spluttered as it felt like she'd been hit by a train, she landed on the ground roughly with the large barrel on top of her, she managed to push it off herself and reached around for her baton but found it had been knocked far away, her ribs felt as if they'd been fractured and struggled to catch her breath.
"Batgirl to cave... I think I'm in trouble" she whispered as she got up again, though she was wholly unprepared for the man's knee to connect with the side of her head. She threw a sloppy punch which he easily caught.
Mark put a lot of weight into his dominant hand, and with the hand that grasped her left hand, he lifted her before giving her a vicious uppercut that managed to knock her out.
Mark breathed a sigh of relief as he saw her body fall limp to the floor 'If she hadn't underestimated me this would've taken a bit longer' he thought to himself, she probably wasn't expecting him to throw a barrel like he did. Mark then turned to the other men who stood and watched their fight.
"Get back to work! And tell your boss I want the damn hazard pay he promised!" He shouted at them, and they immediately stop gawking and went back to moving cargo.
He then looked back down at the fallen hero and sighed "What the hell am I going to do with you" he said to himself, he knew he could just leave her here as they would most likely kill her or worse since she was a woman. At the end of the day, she was just trying to do the right thing so Mark couldn't condemn her just for that. He waited until they'd gotten the trucks loaded and driven them off before he picked her up, he swiped the keys from one of the unconscious guards as well as the cash from his wallet before heading out, the harbour was empty this time of night so it was very quiet when he pressed the button that unlocked the car he heard the noise immediately and headed towards the car. It was a pretty shit car but he wouldn't be using it for very long, he placed her in the passenger's seat before taking the sat next to her and starting the car.
Mark couldn't help but chuckle humourlessly "The first day on the job and I'm already fighting heroes, maybe tomorrow Superman will want to go a few rounds," he said to himself as he drive through the streets of Gotham. He drove to an abandoned building in the East End, there were plenty of them to choose from so he chose one that had no one in it, wouldn't be good to have people stumbling over Batgirl. He carried Batgirl over his shoulder into the building before placing her on an abandoned sofa.
Still believing her to be unconscious he decides to get changed out of his criminal attire, taking off his mask as well and putting it all in his bag before he puts it on, he waits for a minute taking out his phone and checking his bank balance, '+$10,000' he saw in his recent transactions, they'd originally promised half of that but he guessed that fighting off a hero had warranted a large bonus.
He opens up a window before climbing out of it and then pushes himself off the ground floating up into the air, by making his weight hit zero he can sort of fly, though it is technically floating, he grabs the top of the building before pushing himself off of it and across to the next one.
In the building Batgirl finally sits up, she'd expected the man to take her somewhere where he'd assault her, she was waiting for it and when he was naked she'd kick his balls into his stomach. However, she didn't expect to know the person who had just beaten the crap out of her.
Batgirl traces a part of her stomach, a place with an old wound as she reminisces about one of her best friends "Mark..." she whispers to herself as her eyes start to tear up.
(AN: So this is the start of my new fic, yeah I know I already have a lot going on and no I'm not abandoning any of them, but what can I say when I get an idea for a fic I get excited and want to do it. I read up a lot on DC and came to the conclusion that I'll base it off of my own universe, which will just be a mismatch of different things from the comics and the animated series. For Kryptonians I'll be using the Superman from the animated series (Justice League War) and for Viltrumites I'll be going with the show as well. The reason being that their stats are pretty similar, though I'm sure Kryptonians are still stronger. Which brings me to my next point, Mark is a Meta human, which is why his powers have come in late, since Viltrumite DNA overrides foreign DNA, however in this Fic it won't be able to)
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