A.N.
Yay!. We're back. Nothing much to say. Hope you like it.
Cheers!
---
It's been months since the Safehouse event. It took a few days for Toji to heal and a lot longer for the Justice League to finally make up their mind about what to do. Kara tried annoying Kal into telling her what was going on but her goody-two-shoes cousin was tight lipped about the whole situation.
During that whole time, Toji wasn't allowed to leave the base so Kara and the Young Justice crew kept him company. It was a bit awkward at first, especially with Connor, Kara's nephew (yep, because, technically, he's the son of Kal and Lex Luthor, or that's how cloning works on Krypton anyways), glaring at Toji whenever he sees him being with Kara. Eventually, they found a common ground which involved punching each other a lot. Connor said it was training so the girl just left it at that and moved on.
Finally, after two weeks, all the core members of the Justice League went to Mount Justice which wasn't that surprising since everyone knew who they came for. Batman ordered Toji to join the Justice League. Kara could still remember everyone's face when the man declined and said "it's all trouble and no pay". The heroine gave a chuckle for which everyone in the room glared at her. The Superman then went to phase two which involved threatening Toji with jail time for which the mercenary responded with a "try me". The whole room was tense.
Eventually, Batman gave everyone a solution. "You're a mercenary. Then work for the Justice League. Either that or be chased by us for the rest of your life". They had to hash out a few things out, mainly with Batman setting rules that the mercenary had to follow. Toji agreed to becoming a Hero for Hire.
Toji was sent of various mission, not just by the League but by anyone who was willing to pay. His latest contract came from a rich couple who wanted him to "deliver justice" to a metahuman who had attacked their daughter and her friends. The merc agreed and even gave them a discount on the account that he's a "Hero" now.
Which brings Kara to the present. She lays on her stomach as she stares at her phone, waiting for the damn thing to finally ring. Toji said he'll contact her when he's done with his latest contract. He should have been done by now, Kara thinks to herself. She thinks about calling him but decides not to, in the off chance that he might be hiding somewhere and he's phone isn't on mute.
The girl huffs. "You're boyfriend didn't contact you yet?" asks a girl from behind her.
"Nope", Kara answers with a pout. "And he's not my boyfriend. We're just... a thing".
The other girl, Barbara, snickers. "Honestly, I thought you'd be more proactive than that. I remember when you two were starting out, you were literally dragging him everywhere".
"Yeah, well, he asked me to take it slow or whatever. Now I'm stuck here waiting for him to give me a call. Or a text. Or anything. I'm supposed to be the one playing hard-to-get".
"Kara, you do know he's still a killer, right?", asks Barbara seriously.
"He hasn't killed anyone ever since he joined us, Babs".
"All his targets literally 'disappear'. What the hell do you think happens to them, Kara?", the other girl says in frustration.
Kara bites her lip. She knows exactly what happens to them. But that's a secret between her and Toji.
Barbara continues to talk. "All I'm saying is be careful. I don't know why Bruce lets him run around doing whatever he wants. But make no mistake, Toji is dangerous". Before Kara can say anything, her friend walks away. The girl looks at her phone one more time before taking one long breath and sighing.
---
Toji quietly stands in the shadows as he watches his target, Derek, a large metahuman with enhanced strength. He'd already found his target a few days ago but after figuring out that his latest crime wasn't just a random act of violence, the merc decided to wait and let things play out. Toji observes as the target happily talking to a man in a suit.
"I just saw your work on the news", says the man in the suit. "You're sick, man. You need help".
"Hey, isn't that why you hired me. I'm good of taking care of people", replies Derek. They both laugh at that. The man in the suit hands Derek a case full of money.
"So, what now?", asks the target.
"I've made my point. Now if that stupid couple still doesn't give me what I need, we'll just have to go visit them ourselves. I'll even let you have second dibs on the wife", says the other man with twisted grin.
Toji already bored of listening, steps out of the shadows. One of the guards see him and points his gun. "Hey, you little-".
Before he could finish talking, Toji leaps to him and grabs his wrists, snapping it with nothing but a grip. The man screams as he falls to the floor. Chaos erupts inside the warehouse. Everyone turns towards them and shoots. Toji stays put and, instead, lifts the downed man and uses him as a meat-shield while he slowly walks to his next victim.
A part of him regrets getting his own strength back. Back when he first came here, he could barely take down three skilled fighters without using his cursed tools. But now, people would break with a simple touch. Fighting ordinary humans became too boring. At least back then, there was the thrill of the fight. The only thing keeping things interesting now was the Batman's rules.
He throws the corpse at another guard before turning to another one, kicking him and breaking his leg. Toji leaps from one person to another, breaking bones but ensuring that each of his victims are still breathing.
The man in the suit watches in fear before tumbling to the ground. "What the-".
"I got this", says Derek, cracking his knuckles with a grin.
Toji stands in the middle of the room surrounded by thugs, all broken and groaning in pain. The merc raises his hand and gestures for the large man to attack.
Derek starts running towards him. He throws a punch with his right hand but Toji easily dodges to the side. The merc tries to break the arm but Derek quickly pulls it back and swings with his left. The merc catches the fist but he is pushed a few steps back. Instead of breaking the arm, Toji strikes his target in the nerves, making the large man scream as pulls back his arm.
Toji throws a flurry of strikes, hitting Derek in nerves which caused him extreme pain. The large man falls to the ground, paralyzed and screaming. "I gotta say. You're pretty hard to break", says the merc nonchalantly.
He then hears a ragged breath and turns, finding the man in the suit trying to scramble away from him. "The job was to make the people responsible pay", Toji says with a shrug. He reaches for the man's neck and lifts him to a choke. As he was about to break the man's neck, a mark began to glow on Toji's hand. He sighs and throws the man in the suit next to Derek. Toji reaches into the spirit's mouth and pulls out a small clay teapot with an intricate design.
"Wait. Whatever they paid you, I can do double", said the man while gasping for air.
"Shut up. I need to concentrate", responds the merc. He then puts the teapot on the floor as he puts his hands together in a prayer.
"What are you doing?" asks the man in the suit as he and Derek watches Toji mumbling to himself. Suddenly, the lid on the teapot shoots open and both men watch in horror as a long decrepit hand starts to reach out. The merc continues his chanting while a decaying corpse begins to climb out of the teapot's small whole.
The man in the suit tries to run away but falls when he realizes that the decrepit hand already has his leg in a tight grip. He and Derek screams, kicking and punching the thing that's holding on to them. As they neared the teapot, both Derek and the man in the suit screamed in agony as the two of them were slowly squeezed into the teapot's tiny opening. The sound of their bones cracking mixed with their screams and Toji's chanting.
Toji watches with apathetic eyes as both men look at him, begging him to help them. Another crunch echoes through the warehouse as their waists break before squeezing into the tiny hole. The two men's screams begin to quiet down as their lungs get crushed and eventually their heads. With the last of them disappearing into the teapot, the lid falls back and lands perfectly to cover the tiny opening.
Toji picks up the artifact and looks at the decorations, seeing the man in the suit and Derek added to the sea of suffering souls painted on the teapot's side. You should blame Batman for setting up those damn rules. Death would have been a better fate, he thinks to himself before putting the teapot back inside his cursed spirit's mouth.