ALL NOVEL Chapter 24 – A Decision to Kill
It’s a busy day today in Metropolis, just like every day. Downtown’s all crowded with vehicles of all kinds; mostly personal vehicles, and people are busy crowding the street and each workplaces they are in, trying to make a living every single day.
Clark Kent’s no exception. He’s the famous Superman the people of Metropolis have been admiring and/or despising lately. His daily activities as Superman includes saving pedestrians, stopping crimes, rescuing a stranded cat on a tree, carrying a fallen tree away from the road, and so on and so forth. But as Clark Kent, he’s but a normal human working his ass off to be able to afford food on his plate... and pay his apartment rent.
“Siiiigh... why do I feel like today’s gonna be a long day..?” Clark sighed as he walked alongside his co-worker, Lois Lane.
“C’mon Clark, it’s not ‘that’ bad... most of Daily Planet’s editors are perfectionist anyway, and Perry (White) is no exception. Just do your best, and you’ll be fine.” Lois assured Clark.
They are both walking on the sidewalk near the Daily Planet building, about to buy some quick lunch on their short break. Lois asked Clark if he could accompany her to buy some food on a food stall nearby, and they decided to have some hotdogs.
Clark and Lois stopped at a hotdog stall. They each bought their share, and ate as they walked back towards the Daily Planet building... when someone bumped into Clark.
*Bump!* “Oh! I’m sorry!” that someone is a young man, tall, handsome, and looks like he’s around eighteen to twenty years old. This young man accidentally bumped into Clark, who nearly spilled his hotdog from his hand.
“I’m so sorry for bumping into you.”
“It’s okay, friend, no harm done there.”
The young man nodded his head, and gave a bright smile before finally walked away.
Lois saw the young man, and moved closed to Clark, trying to whisper to him, “Hey Clark, I feel like that young man’s face looks familiar.”
“Yeah? Is he perhaps your friend? Or maybe a friend of your friend?” Clark jests around Lois.
“I’m serious. If I remember correctly, that young man looks like the youngest of the Wayne Brothers!”
“The youngest of the Wayne Brothers? So, Matthias Wayne?”
“Yeah! That one! I went to one of their Grand openings of the Wayne Enterprises and their industrial subsidiaries in Gotham. I still remember the faces of Bruce Wayne and Matthias Wayne when they show themselves to the public.”
Lois Lane was one of the reporters who reported the return of Bruce Wayne, and the apparent grand opening of the Wayne Enterprises, and how both Bruce and Matthias Wayne became the face of the headlines for several weeks after; with Bruce becoming the chairman of the Wayne Enterprises, and Matthias Wayne leading one of the Wayne’s foundational charity group in helping Gotham orphans and the poor.
“Are you sure you’re not mistaken? Why did someone who’s a Wayne be walking alone on the street like this?”
“Well, I don’t know. Maybe I’m mistaken.”
Both Lois and Clark did not believe that that person who bumped into Clark earlier was Matthias Wayne, and with that, they returned to the Daily Planet to resume their job.
...
‘I guess I’m kinda famous, like my brother.’ Thought Matthias. He’s looking back at the pair of Daily Planet reporters; Clark Kent and Lois Lane, to see if they notice who he is.
‘Well, it’s another task done well...’
Matthias had just bumped into Clark Kent for a reason: to plant a bug to him.
When he was about to approach Clark Kent, Matthias lowered his strength, and then spent his stats to his dexterity, stealth, and intelligence. With these combined stats boosted, Matthias stealthily planted his newly-made special bug designed for Clark Kent aka Superman.
The bug is a small bug shaped like an ant, and the same size as one, too. This ant-like bug is made using Luthor’s schematics and research knowledge, and is designed to be able to crawl into whatever clothing the target is wearing. And since it’s shaped like an ant, it will be inconspicuous. It can also be remote controlled using Matthias’ phone tablet.
With this, Matthias can now keep track of Superman’s movement with ease.
‘It will be useful should I need to avoid confronting him when I’m doing my missions.’
...
Matthias is on his way to Suicide Slum to see the warehouse he had just bought ownership. He bought the ownership not under his own name, but rather, a fake name that is his disguise when he visits the slum.
“Scraps, trashes, concrete debris... this place is a literal ruins.” A middle-age man in a brown jacket and blue jeans is currently treading around the warehouse. Obviously, it’s the disguised Matthias in his shape-shifted form.
‘It seems I will need some help cleaning this up.’ Thought Matthias, as he finally came out from the warehouse to take a breather.
This warehouse is located in an obscure alley in Suicide Slum with only one entrance, making it extremely valuable for Matthias to use as his other hidden base. But before he can fully transform this trash heap into a place he can use, he needs some help to clean up the area.
“No use just staying here and doing nothing. Perhaps I can hire some local help to help me clean up.”
Matthias was thinking of making use of this opportunity to give some job, though temporary, to the locals of the Southside area.
Matthias sat down on the front entrance of the warehouse, and pulled out his phone tablet to watch the live feed of the drones he dispatched here a few days ago. Matthias slowly undid his shape-shifting ability, and then enhanced his senses and intelligence to focus on observing the images the drones sent to his tablet.
The view is quite depressing, since most, if not all, corners of the Suicide Slum are just filled with misery and crime.
“The surrounding area of Suicide Slum is depriving and dangerous... perhaps I can use my persona to clean up this place.”
As he was thinking of that, the drones found something disturbing; a group of gangsters are harassing some children playing basketball on a field a block from his position. The gangsters were carrying weapons like handguns and blades.
The gangsters were threatening those children, swinging their blades and aiming the guns on them... until...
*BANG!*, a gunshot is heard...
“Fuck!” Matthias quickly moved. He took off his disguise, equipped his ‘Wraith’ gears, and took out his grappler. He shoots upwards, and then his shadowy figure disappears as he zooms away.
...
*BANG!*, one of the gang members shot at one of the children by the chest, killing him instantly.
“HOLY SHIET! This one kicks ass!” Shouted the shooter as he inspected his gun.
“This retard just fucking tested the gun on a live target...” The other gang members muttered.
Screams are echoing in the vicinity, as the rest of the children witnessed one of their friend getting shot and killed by the gangsters.
Another of the gangsters took out his UZI submachinegun tucked in his jeans, and then aimed at the children, “See this? Your gun’s a pea-shooter, worth less than mine!”
The gangster was about to unload a mag of his ammo reserve, when another of the gangsters slapped him in the head, “You fucking moron! If you use that thing, the entire neighborhood will hear that shit!”
The other gangsters nodded, and they holstered their firearms, and took out their blades and blunt metals, and then started their fun in making these children as their playthings.
Blood splattered all over the sports field. The gangsters are having fun beating and cutting the children; some were laughing quite crazily.
“Mwahaahahahhh! This is so fucking fun!”
The gangsters kept torturing the children, for several minutes, until...
... *PSHH!* *SWHOOP*
“Huh?” One of the gangsters heard a wind cutting noise, and felt his leg being grabbed by something metallic. And then he felt himself getting pulled away... “Ugh!” *Thud*.
The other gangsters saw the scene of one of their men being pulled away by an invisible force, and then they stopped doing what they are doing.
They kept glancing at one of their men disappearing, and then they saw someone coming out of the shadow where their friend was pulled into.
It was... a person? A man in black long coat, and black faceless mask... And he has a black sword in his left hand. His figure exudes a shadowy aura; like a black smoke coming out of his body. His faceless mask was looking at them like--like a hunter looking at his prey. It feels like staring at a grim reaper...
“Wh-Who the fuck!”
The gangsters were terrified to this newcomer. They began taking out their holstered firearms, and then starts aiming at this shadowy figure.
“HEY! WHO THE FUCK ARE YOU!” The gansters were screaming at this shadow person.
The shadow man did not answer, and instead, turned his head left and right, looking around him... no, he’s looking at the bloodied children around him.
The shadow man then looked back at the gangsters.
“OI! If you don’t answer, we will--” the gangsters were about to threaten this shadow man, but...
--*SWOOSH!!*, the shadow man zoomed into one of the gangsters... and grabbed his head with his right hand.
“Ack! Rrrgh! G--get the fuck away...” the gangster whose head was gripped tight by this shadow man tried to struggle away to escape the hard grip, but for some reason, he can’t escape the hard grip, and is instead being lifted up.
The others were watching the scene in horror as this shadow man lifted a fully grown man by the head using only one of his hands.
The shadow man spoke, in his disturbingly low, growly, and most intimidating voice the gangsters will ever hear in their lifetime, and he said,