Hello everyone and WELCOME BACK AYE, to the hero verse for the brand new arc I could have gotten this chapter out sooner for reasons I'll explain later but for now.
Today's song is Hell's Bells by AC/DC on the album Back in Black.
Insert funny meme gif here:
Now LET'S ROCK!
[Location: Gotham City, New Jersey,
[Kairo Oyama]
Gotham City had been the only home I've known during my second life. But more than that its culture its lifestyle and every single method of being seemed to sink into me like oil into cloth changing me like paint on a canvas.
So there I was standing in Selina's apartment, standing face to face with the Dark Knight himself.
Except he wasn't exactly interested in me.
"Selina we need to talk."
Stepping forward the massive man 'gosh he has to be like 6 and a half feet' loomed over Catwoman. Meanwhile Holy had instinctively backed away stepping over to the side loosely tugging at my wrist to drag me with her. A half-step toward her less out of fear and more out of shocked awe at the man before me.
To be fair you'd probably have your jaw on the floor too if you met your favorite superhero as well.
"Batman so nice to see you but really you should have knocked," Selina said stepping closer to the Dark Knight.
"Who is he?" Batman turned his head to look directly at me. My heart damn near leaped directly out of my chest, not with fear but with awe and excitement because his voice sounded almost exactly like Kevin Conroy RIP.
"He's… my future son," Selina said crossing her arms. At first she'd been hesitant to speak but then she'd regained her confidence and spoken far more firmly. She stepped closer her posture changing from a firmer stance to a lithe seductive figure no doubt in an attempt to distract the dark knight.
"Future son?" his brow lifted as she grew closer, leaning in, and eventually pressed herself against his massive muscular form.
"Come on B let's talk one-on-one, hmm?"
The dark knight stood perfectly still for a moment the kind of uneasy stillness that spoke of absolute muscle control. Then, with a stiff nod, the two started walking away, though his massive cape made Batman look more like he was gliding.
Seeing them turn in knew what had to be done in that moment and snapped out of my gaze. Summoning an empty diary I'd stolen from a store for later use and one of my multi-color pens, I stumbled after them.
"Wait!" I called out and the two turned back to me Selina shooting me a look of visible confusion.
"C-could I get your autograph?" I said staring up at Batman with as much childish awe and reverence as I could muster. This was only the beginning of my master plan to collect signatures from as many cool heroes as possible. Sure some people get one or two but a guy like me who was definitely going to be involved with the super side of the world was more than likely not going to have the opportunity to get a lot of them.
Batman stared down at me with his pearly white lenses. His expression didn't change or shift for a few moments before slowly bending down taking the pen and empty diary flipping through to the first page and quickly signing the notebook.
Then without a word he turned away from me.
[image here]
A grin wider and brighter than any I'd ever made before and maybe it was my mothers dna or something but I instinctively bowed and called after him.
"Thank you!" I said, glancing back up from my bow, the caped crusader nodded at me then turned away and followed after Selina who sauntered into her room.
[New Achievement! Meet Your Heroes!]
[Congratulations! You have met your favorite superhero and gotten his autograph like the cringy fanboy you are! Reward: Random Silver Gacha Ticket! (x1)]
My eyebrows twitched at that, but I don't care what the system thinks, that was awesome. Turning around I faced Holly and asked her to show me where I'd be sleeping. Soon after I was sleeping in the same bed as her since they didn't have a mattress or anything like that, I offered to take the couch but that didn't sit right with her and so I ended up sleeping in her room.
Instead of just falling asleep however, I decided to end the good night with a celebratory ticket pull. So as I lay down amidst her red blankets and perfumed pillows I pulled out a bronze ticket I'd gotten for beating up some of those goons and tore it quickly.
The rainbow wheel appeared in the darkness and spun for a few seconds before revealing my latest reward.
[Rule of Cool]
|Uncommon Trait|
[ You have the Rule of Cool, physics bends around you slightly to allow you to do things the "cool" way while ignoring the fact that it shouldn't work, Style AND Substance baby. Grab a bullet out of the air and send it back, walk with your back to an explosion without feeling anything, do tricks in the middle of a fight without incurring any disadvantages, etc. Doing things the cool way just comes naturally to you. (Does not affect your stats or level of skills.) ]
I smiled, it wasn't anything all too special but it was still pretty cool. Chuckling at the pun I wished Holly goodnight and started to try and sleep in earnest.
The next morning when I woke up the bat was gone I knew I'd also probably have to debug the apartment and probably have to worry about nano machines in the food or water but honestly, I was just too tired for that.
So as I got up, washed in the shower, and put back on my clothes from the previous night because I didn't bring any with the rest of them, I turned to ash when the orphanage burned down.
Sleepily stepping out into the living room which was also connected to a kitchen with a table and a granite-top island I started to raid the fridge. Holly was still asleep and I had no idea the bat was going to be here in the morning, considering that I didn't hear anything in the middle of the night though I wasn't sure.
So I got the milk unlike your deadbeat father, and dodged at least three cats one of which was Mimi, and floated up to reach the cabinets to grab a bowl and some cereal.
So there they found me, sitting at the kitchen table munching down on Cocoa Puffs, not my first choice but I've eaten worse things.
CRUNCH CRUNCH CRUNCH!
Chewing away happily I started thinking about what I should do today. On the one hand, the city was probably on fire. On the other hand, Black Mask was definitely looking for us considering the fact that we just dealt a major blow to his pockets. Then on the metaphorical third hand, I needed new clothes and other stuff, plus getting officially adopted by Selina was also something that needed to be done.
So as I got lost in my thoughts eating my cereal and watching Mimi stumble and tumble around with the other cats in the apartment an idea came.
"We should get a bigger place," I whispered finishing my bowl and drinking the chocolate goodness. Then as I set the bowl back down, Selina's door opened and she walked back in with a slight jolt in he step that came from one of only two things and I hadn't heard anything last night.
'Speaking of last night,' I pulled out the silver ticket I'd earned last night and tore it. The wheel quickly appeared and spun away before stopping on my latest role.
[Nature's Embrace]
|Elite Trait|
[Well, you can officially call Mother Nature mommy so that's nice. Nature itself favors you, trees bend down branches to offer you fresh and healthy fruits, animals and nature-aligned beings favor you and are more affectionate towards you, you know how to maneuver around a forest, and wild animals will help you. You also recover energy faster the closer you are to nature.]
'Nice very nice,' I nodded, the trait would pair well with Bloom and Poison Factory. 'Seems I've been getting a lot of good traits lately I wonder if that's a sign of something.'
My attention then turned to Selina as she greeted me back, she seemed weirdly refreshed so early in the morning.
"Good morning little man," She said cheerily, stepping over to the cabinet ruffling my hair along the way. As I put the system screen away I could smell the scent of wine on her breath. She wore an oversized T-shirt long enough for me to just barely catch a hint of black short shorts that would have sent the old life version of me into a spiral of things that I'd rather not mention.
'Curse you, child body!' I seriously need to find a way to grow up faster or at least get something to make up for that.
'Yep she's already tipsy and it's only… actually what time is it?' I frowned, not having a phone was really starting to be a headache.
"Morning Selina, so what's the plan for today?" I said taking the bowl and using air walk to reach the sink more easily and drop my bowl then with a slight twist of magic I turned on the water and started washing.
Could I have done that by normal means? Yes, I'm easily tall enough to reach the sink being rather tall for my age thanks to the pretty up trait. It also had the side effect of making me incredibly attractive, even before I had it I was good-looking in that way you know someone would be very attractive later in life. Being half Japanese half whatever had given me genetics that were amazing but Pretty Up had turned that into me being a mini Adonis with white hair.
As for the magic, well I just had the idea and wanted to test it. More than that, it had confirmed the fact that I had a talent for magic. I'd only studied the Grimoire of the Aeromancer for a few hours and I'd been able to come up with my own spells with ease. I'd taken to magic casting like a fish to water and I wasn't sure why. My leading theory however is that it had something to do with my ancestry trait. Whoever my special ancestor was, I'm fairly certain they had something to do with the magical side of the world which I'm fairly sure was going to be a headache and a half.
"Hmm well I'm not sure though I do have an idea of two," Selina said interrupting my stray train of thought. Stepping past me again this time with a bowl of cereal in hand, setting a purple curtain aside and looking out the window to see Gotham still burning. Pulling out her phone she checked the black mask app and bit her lip in contemplation.
"What is it?" I asked as I go I shed my cleaning clothes and placed the dishes in a nearby empty rack.
"It appears we have bounties on our heads," She said narrowing her eyes at the screen in her hand.
"Really how much?" I said with mild excitement after all I'm a One Piece fan. So I needed a suitable starting bounty.
"Mine is $100,000," She said with a mild purr of amusement.
"And mine?" I asked eagerly waiting for her answer.
"$50k"
"WHAT! Why is mine only half of yours? I have literal superpowers and you're just a regular woman in a cat suit!" I was upset, 50k on my head was disrespect.
"A very recognizable cat suit," She said smiling as she put down her bowl of cereal and picked up one of her cats before sitting on a cat-themed couch and placing it in her lap.
"It's all about the branding darling," She said with a smirk. She started caressing the black cat behind the ears as it began to purr louder. Then after a few moments of silence, Holly opened her door and stepped out into the living room.
"Yawn, good morning, what's with all the shouting?" She yawned walking over and giving Selina a quick hug. The cat burglar kissed her forehead and let her go.
"We have bounties on our heads," I said as melodramatically as possible but I think I still let out my mild disappointment.
"WHAT? How much?" She shouted any semblance of sleepiness disappearing without a trace.
"Mine is $100,000 and the little man's is $50,000," Selina said politely moving the cat off her lap before standing up and walking over to a nearby coffee maker turning it on she began to brew a pot while we continued to talk.
"What about me?" Holly asked.
"$10,000," Selina said casually taking out the pot and pouring two cups. As she handed one to her roommate the pale blonde's expression of dawning horror almost made me laugh but what I thought of next was what really set me off.
"Ha, mine's bigger," I said before cackling at my own joke.
"Ugh, boys," Holly groaned rolling her eyes in the meantime and taking one of the warm cups from Selina's hands.
"Selina are you sure about keeping this one?" Holly asked with a pout.
"Considering the little man made us millions last night, yep I'm sure hun," The crazy cat lady chuckled slightly before turning to return to the couch and watch the morning news covering the ongoing riots and which villains had been doing whatever.
"Hey, so what's the plan then? You never explained," I asked again joining her on the purple couch, Mimi quickly kept to my lap circled, and parked her slightly larger body down. She'd somehow managed to catch a mouse last night and presented it to me as if she were a real cat. I had her eat it because flesh is flesh and the more the better for her.
"Well first we're going to need a few trustworthy friends," She said staring at the TV, it was covering some events at Gotham Central Park and the Wayne Botanical Gardens. Then GNN switched to start covering other topics like the upcoming Justice League press conference on Gotham, another battle being handled by the Guardians of the Globe, and the newest developments by leading geneticists in understanding superhumans.
"We're also going to need a new place because if you haven't noticed this apartment isn't exactly as secure as our caped friend so well displayed last night. How did that go for you by the way? What did he want to talk about?" I asked as the GNN news anchor rambled on about the delay in voting for the new mayor and other such mundane topics. The only parts that caught my attention were a few random mentions of famous comic book names like Vicky Vale and Bruce Wayne. Also apparently Tony Stark was either in or had left the city during all the chaos but I was much more interested in Selina's answer to my questions.
"It went VERY well, we had a nice chat about some things I saw at the socks last night, VERY informative," She purred and that was all the answer that I needed.
'Ah, so it was both. Bruce was quite the sneaky one indeed.'
.
.
.
[ Gotham City, Wayne Gotham Central Park, ]
[ Kairo Oyama ]
"Well it seems I've come full circle, well, half circle," I said gazing at the edge of the park. The last time I was here black mask started riots all over the city. Riots that were still going by the way, but luckily for us I could help us fly right over them with anti-gravity, a few wind blasts, and a questionable amount of navigation skills from a mildly tipsy Selina and a slightly still-sleepy Holly.
"How's that?" Holly asked as the three of us stepped floated not too far outside the building. I began to explain how I got here the last time and as the tale continued I felt something strange. A weird pulse went through both the air and the ground that felt faintly similar to a bloom but all around me. Suddenly the trees began to bend towards us as a fresh breeze began blowing. For a moment I thought that the person we came to visit was already aware of us, which in all fairness she most likely would be now, but then I remembered the trait I rolled earlier this morning.
Holly and Selina stopped in their tracks as I began to witness what I decided needed to be an epic entrance. Setting the bother of them down first I began to let the present breeze swell slightly a quick cast of a wind spell that I'd learned this morning after studying my grimoire for an hour. Then the cloudy sky began to part as a perfect day of sunshine touched down eliminating me like a spotlight.
'Note to self invent a spell that makes solid clouds like the Flying Nimbus. '
Then dozens of various birds led by Mimi in dove form began to circle me in a majestic halo as I slowly began to descend from the heavens above. Countless squirrels, cats, and other small field animals began to rush out and surround my party in another circle on the ground and began to greet me with a chorus of what sounded like animal cheers.
A few cats also came up to Selina as well caressing her legs with their bodies and playfully approaching her. It seemed she really did have an affinity for the small creatures bordering on the supernatural.
It was as if I was some celebrity and they were my fans. A few stray dogs came out to make a circle around my friends and me like security guards as I began to make my way forward into the gardens.
Switching on Bloom my eyes lit up green and pulsed with light as I could feel and hear all the plants around us greeting me from the smallest grass to the tallest Oak tree. Many of them bent forward offering me fruits and vegetables and several flowers bloomed around my feet and their petals followed me like sunflowers tracking our local star.
"Holy shit kid what the hell did you just do?" Holly asked making sure to keep pace so the animals didn't get too close.
"Nothing really, it appears I'm a bit of a celebrity in the plant community though," I answered reaching out a hand to accept a paw paw fruit from a nearby tree branch. Spraying it with a quick water spell I waved goodbye to the tree and granted it and all the other plants in the radius around us a quick morning dew's worth of water with a quick cast of a lesser storm cloud spell.
From what I'd grasped from the book. The main essence of a good Aeromancer and a good spell is having a good imagination. Luckily for me I have creativity in spades, the second thing however is an innate talent for magic. When it comes to magic talent will top study every single time. I think that's probably why people like Wanda or Dr Strange can beat ancient and powerful foes who've been studying magic far longer than they've been alive.
I've also started to wonder where exactly my magic is coming from and what type of magic it is. In Marvel, Dr Strange draws his magical energy from different dimensions while Wanda uses some sort of reality-manipulating chaos magic. I can feel a strange sense of something connecting all the plants around me, a weird sort of energy field that seemed to seethe with life and movement.
Part of me thinks this might be the green or some other cosmic force related to plants that I'm tapping into but I'm not so sure. There were so many questions to be answered and so many long-term plans to be made and goals yet to be achieved. Still, my first goal had gone off smoothly so far.
I'd acquired wealth and a small amount of personal power. Even Bruce's impromptu visit to my new home hadn't sabotaged that anyway. Plus he couldn't have found our cut of the money in my inventory anyway. From what I knew King Shark wouldn't be escaping any time soon and I couldn't imagine anyone in Gotham right now actually being able to claim the bounty on my head.
Still, as my mind pondered all these things I finally circled back around to answering Holly's question and it was clear from her gaze that Selina wanted an answer as well.
"They started calling me… the Son of Nature."
[ Chapter image ]
XXX
Lol that roll is going to come in clutch for real.
Hey guys I'm back in college now and frankly I have no idea what that's going to do to my upload schedule but for what it's worth as of right now I have no plans to cancel this fic. My laptop is broken though and that's already causing me so many problems in my first week back.
Also, I have unfortunately lost track of how many tickets Kai has right now as he's mostly saving them for later so I do need to figure that out.
Also if it wasn't clear the hero verse will always be the main world of this story and any other worlds visited will be temporary.
And what do you guys think of doing a space arc at some point? Frankly, I think it would be very fun and I genuinely want to do it.
A: Yes
B: No
C: Other idea (explain in paragraph comments)
Lastly, I've been thinking of something like Ki starting his own crew/team of people. Less a criminal gang and one piece style crew or superhero team. Who do you guys think would be some good team members?