10 advance chapters on P@treon.com/Saintbarbido.
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(Angel's P.O.V)
"Who the fuck are you?"
A black dude with dreadlocks asked in a heavily accented voice.
He and two others that I immediately recognized as Kid Flash and Speedy, or as he will be known in the future, Red Arrow, stood in the middle of the crowd of fighters.
As you can imagine, I had used my metaknowledge of DC to find out the identities of every important person, hero or villain, I could remember. And Wally West was part of that.
Speedy on the other hand, was important due to something else.
In a year, he will be captured by Luthor and used by Cadmus to create a Clone, that will be implanted with his memories and become a mole for the Light.
This is pure speculation at this point though. My presence and the death of Savage might have changed a few things down the line.
Now the question here is, what are they doing on the ship?
Kid Flash for all his speed is not a martial artist.
And despite being trained by Green Arrow, I doubt Speedy is that much better.
He specializes on using a cross-bow and arrow. And the only rule in place for the Tournament explicitly restricted weapons.
Are they on an infiltritation mission? More than likely. And if so, who sent them? Batman? The Justice League? And are they alone? Less likely.
Gah. This is already turning into a headache. Two sidekicks present, means that the heroes are no doubt in the know about the Lazarus Tournament.
Which also means I should expect an interruption of some kind.
I could always expose them, but...no, let's wait and see.
Still, I can't deny this tournament will be exciting.
"Hey, I asked you a question."
My attention was pulled back to the black guy, who was now looming over me.
Now, him, I didn't know.
And at first look, he seemed strong. But so did everyone else on the deck. All of whom were staring my way.
"Did I interrupt something?"
Instead of answering, I posited.
"Yes, you did."
He replied, cracking his knuckles.
"And I don't like sharing the spotlight."
"Is that so?"
I mused, stepping around him, with the intent to leave.
"Then please do proceed."
It doesn't benefit me getting into a fight with a nobody. I had an image to protect.
A rough hand landed on my shoulder. I looked up and found him sneering down at me, a challenge in his eyes.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you. You might lose the hand."
A familiar voice stated from my back, causing me to turn around.
"Ravager."
I smirked at the girl seated on the railing.
"I knew I would find you here. How's your Dad?"
"Still nursing his bruised ego."
She replied.
"Jumps at every shadow. You really did a number on him."
I couldn't help the snort that escaped me.
"Well he did try to kill me. 3 times actually. You can't blame me for trying to return the favor. Too bad I couldn't finish the job."
All he got was an injured eye. Lucky bastard.
Ravager tilted her head,
"You really haven't changed at all."
"Hey! Don't ignore me!"
The guy yelled, tightening the grip on my shoulder.
I sighed. There were half a dozen ways I could do this. Turn his hand to ash, freeze and shatter it to bits, vibrate it till the skin and flesh falls off the bone.
But instead, I swerved, tugged him my way, swept out his leg from under him and executed a perfect Judo throw, smashing his face on the floor.
He groaned, falling to his back.
Immediately a Shadow was in between us, a Sword pointed at me.
"No fighting before the Tournament."
The Shadow stated.
"Understood."
I backed down. Behind the Shadow, the guy was already on his feet, wiping blood from his lips as he glared my way. Heavy breaths escaped him, akin to an angry bull.
"But you should probably tell that to him."
I pointed at the Shadow's back. However, before he could fully turn, a heel smashed onto the side of his head, lifting him off his feet and throwing him to the side.
"I'm not done yet!"
The huge guy roared, lowering his leg and falling into a stance. One I recognized as Brazilian Jiu jitsu.
A favorite of mine.
"Fine then."
I placed one hand behind my back, much to his chagrin as whispers arose from the crowd.
"Humor me."
With another roar, he jumped my way, cartwheeling with a kick already flying for my face.
(General P.O.V)
Loud cheers filled the deck.
Off to the side, Wally and Speedy were joined by Robin, who stepped on Wally's foot and knocked an elbow onto Speedy's ribs.
"You two idiots are in so much troub- eh?"
Surprisingly, they didn't react to him, all their focus was on the fight taking place on the center of the deck.
Though calling it a fight was a bit of a stretch. This seemed more like an adult playing with a child.
"I'll break you!"
One of the fighters yelled in apparent frustration, striking out with devastating blows that actually made the air thrum.
His fist and punches reminded Robin of his sparring sessions with Batman. Not the speed behind them but the power and ferocity.
Especially when a missed kick left a dent on the ground.
"I wouldn't want to be hit by that guy."
Speedy commented.
"I'm too fast for him. If he was up against me, I'd put him down in 2 seconds flat."
Wally boasted.
"But that other guy though...he's something else."
"Yeah."
Speedy nodded.
And Robin had to agree with the two. The person the huge fighter was trading blows with, was on a different level altogether.
He had one hand behind his back, and used the other to effortlessly block and parry away the huge fighter's blows.
He was springy on his feet and moved with undeniable grace. An amused smile colored his admittedly handsome features. But the eyes were distant and bored.
Robin almost instantly recognized him. Angel Savage. The reason for this whole mission in the first place.
"Stop moving and fight me!"
The bigger fighter demanded, and as if a switch had been flipped on his opponent, he went on the offensive.
What happened next was unexpected but not totally surprising.
The boy's eyes seemed to gain life.
"Ok. Here I come."
With a few short moves, he had sprinted into the bigger guy's personal space and smashed an elbow onto the center of his chest.
The big guy puked out watery bits of food, his body folding around the hit, eyes wide with agony and disbelief.
But Angel was not finished, he flipped himself over his opponent, grabbing his long hair in the process before lifting him up by it, and slammed him on the hard floor once more, this time face first.
"That's enough."
A calm voice spoke, the crowd of fighters making way for a tall woman with Asian features and a red coat.
"Lady Shiva."
Robin muttered under his breath.
"Who's that?"
Wally questioned, scratching his head in ignorance.
"Shh. We'll talk later."
Robin shushed him, ignoring Kid's grumblings as he focused on the interaction happening before them.
(Angel's P.O.V)
Just before I could finish what my opponent had started, I was interrupted.
Turning to the source of the interruption, I was met with one of the greatest martial masters in the whole world.
Lady fucking Shiva.
This was our first meeting ever, but her reputation was something that had put her on my radar. People like her would be invaluable if I got them working for me.
"I'll ask you to step away from your fellow candidate, Mr. Savage."
She said, black eyes meeting my own in a battle of wills.
One I was willing to concede. For now at least.
Silently, I backed away from him. Not quite satisfied with cutting the fight short, but also understanding she wasn't some regular Shadow that I could ignore.
She passed by me and stopped before the groaning mess that was my opponent.
I hadn't even used a lot of strength and he was already so worn out. Maybe I was wrong. Maybe these guys won't offer a challenge.
Then again, I'm not really here to fight. Even when I do win the tournament, I doubt the League of Assassins has anything they can offer me that I can't get myself. Maybe their strength and numbers but I don't think that's in the cards.
"No fighting before the tournament."
Shiva said in a cold voice audible across the entire deck.
She unsheathed a majestic Chinese Saber while staring down at my opponent.
"As the initiator of the conflict, I find you guilty."
Wait. Is she...
"And hence, a punishment is required."
She continued, pressing the tip of the saber on the big guy's neck. A trail of sweat fell down his cheek as he gulped.
"Wait..."
The big guy tried to say but was interrupted as shock appeared on his face.
Slowly Shiva had started pushing the tip into his neck.
At first the guy tried to defend himself by knocking the blade away but with a quick move, Shiva had hooked his hand in between her shins and broken it at the elbow.
With a cry, the guy fell backwards, pressing himself onto the floor while grabbing the sword with his unbroken hand.
It was all for naught. Despite being larger than her, Shiva was just stronger.
"Death."
Shiva declared, meticulously pushing in the sword until it was lodged into his neck.
Blood spread across the floor, more escaping his mouth as he choked on it.
And with a final wheeze, his hand flopped to the ground. He was dead.
The whole deck became deathly silent.
A sigh escaped me.
"I wanted to finish what we started when we got to the Island. But now he's dead. Too bad."
I started walking away, aware of the attention on me.
On my path out of the deck, I passed by the Sidekicks who looked horrified and disgusted by Shiva's actions. They had also been joined by a black haired kid. Robin, no doubt.
I guess that answers one of my questions. If Robin was here, then Batman was involved. And if Batman was involved...well then, there was a high chance it was because of me.
Kid Flash glared my way but I ignored him. Besides, I could guess the reason for his grudge with me. No doubt due to what I did to his mentor, The Flash.
Once again, I found myself evaluating my earlier concerns. This Tournament was surely going to be exciting.
But right then, I just wanted to find my room and get some sleep. I needed to be a hundred percent for what came next.