[A/N]: Hi, hello! I'm back! Le ~Mr. Blorp~ ･ﾟ✧
I have finished drafting a good portion of DC:SR Vol. 2. My posts will come out consistently every week now, for four-ish months, maybe five. It could be six depending on how I end up pacing the chapters. After that is another month-long break to draft the rest of Vol. 2, maybe straight to Vol. 3 if I end up covering enough story to warrant for it.
Now, I must mention: by the time Lucian finishes his story within this universe, I'll rewrite the entire thing. A reboot of sorts. The flaws of the first volume are too plain for me to see now, so I feel obligated to deliver a better story in the future—not just for everyone reading, but for myself as well.
I want to keep the foreword short, so I'll end it here. Thanks for coming back to read DC:SR. Here's Volume 2, Chapter 1: Downtime.
—=—=—=—=—=—=—=—
Lucian panted, hot steam bursting out of his mouth with every breath. Sweat dripped down his body, especially so at his temples, as he glared upward with deep focus. He slowly lowered his homemade barbell with as much control as he could manage, onto the rack that he built out of broken pillars and bent rebar.
"That's twenty-four," he remarked, finally able to breathe freely. "Three times... seventy-two all in all. Several hundred kilograms of weight. Fuck, I feel good."
He lifted himself off his stone bench with Blackwhip's help. As he'd pushed himself as far as he could, he felt somewhat lightheaded. Soon enough though, he was right back to normal.
"And with [Moderate Regeneration], I won't even feel sore in the morning..."
That night, after metamorphosing into a changeling, Lucian went to test out his new body right away. He started off easy with various dumbbell curls, eventually moving on to working out every muscle group he could, bit by bit. His strength and endurance alone were monstrous, but the fact that he could do a full-body workout every single night and not have to worry about major backlash... it made him feel ecstatic.
Feeling Penny radiate smugness from deep within his soul, he shook his head and rolled his eyes, an easy smile coming upon his lips. He wiped himself down with a rag and put on the shirt he'd removed before working out, then returned to his unit.
It didn't feel quite right without Maxie there. The thought briefly crossed his mind to get on comms with her, but it would have been bad to distract her without practical reason. He held himself back and went to focus on what he promised to do for her instead: developing magic to help with Tammy's condition.
The first step towards that was mastering electromancy, or at the very least, specialize its development with repairing the human mind as its focus.
He was about to pull up an electric lamp to start drafting spells with his basic Magician class knowledge, but an idea crossed his mind. Out of sheer intrigue on whether he could do it or not, he summoned a tendril from his shoulder and had it dangle over his table. Then, deforming the tip so it would resemble a flower, he channeled lifeforce through it to form a small ki sphere.
It was tougher than doing it with his hands, but purple light did swirl in the tendril flower. The light coalesced into a perfectly smooth ball with a brilliant glow at its core. The majority of the sphere was in a thick fluid state, flowing laminarly around itself, so it would dissipate harmlessly on contact instead of exploding like the typical solid ki blast. Still, that was only the first step of Lucian's idea.
'Please work please work please work please work—'
Repeating the plea in his head like it would bend reality to his wishes, he began suppressing One for All from within his body. Steadily, his improvised ki lamp lost its color. It faded and faded until it was a pure, stark white. Perfect for desk work.
'I'm a fuckin' genius.'
[ I honestly expected you to take longer to figure it out. ]
'Necessity breeds innovation or something like that. I could use this like a lure, too... heheh angler fish. Don't have to hold back with ki as the Phantom Knight anymore, too.'
Returning to the present, he set out some paper, a pencil, and an eraser. He plotted out geometric shapes and lines like he was working on the blueprints for some odd circuit. Afterward, he replicated the patterns with lead wire on a stone slab, and kept editing and reiterating until he got the results he wanted.
...
Lucian spent a few hours hunched over his table, drafting and testing non-stop. He'd reduced a concerning amount of pencils into little stubs, and he went through a stack of printing paper with them. The resulting pile of abused sheets ended up several inches thick—a centimeter or two when tamped completely flat. By that point, he managed to come up with a serviceable prototype.
The magical command string, when powered, would first form a line made with his energy, which could conduct electricity. The spell would then form an insulating sphere around its origin point, with an opening that led right to the conductive line. Lastly, energy would be concentrated within the sphere and converted into electricity, which would shoot through the conductive line to strike at a target.
In conjunction, those factors produced a nigh-instantaneous miniature lightning bolt, though it obviously didn't have the same power as the actual thing in nature. As far as the process went, Lucian's biggest hurdles were timing and consistency.
Setting up the conductive line was easy—he only needed to treat it like he was plotting a straight line in a graph, and then give it some thickness. Boom. Conductive line. He built that part of the circuit first, then created the electric feed separately before combining them into a single spell.
On the topic of the electric feed, Lucian had a rough time of that. He ended up zapping himself because the spell traveled through the stone slab, into him, and then out and into the floor. The mishap made him jump every time it happened. Of course, dumbass that he was, he even did it on purpose a few times just because he thought it was fun.
Luckily for him, he did foresee the potential issue of accidentally feeding his spell with too much energy. He had already implemented a soft cap that would only break if he intentionally planned to exceed it. Thus, whenever he got zapped, he couldn't feed it any more energy and place himself into a feedback loop of zapping himself and powering the circuit.
After having enough of shocking himself like a certain internet yelly-funny-man, he attached the feed spell to the line spell and hoped for the best. He ended up shocking himself again, only with weaker output. The on-contact conduction wasn't completely nullified because only a portion of the electricity feed ended up going through the line.
That was when he came up with the insulation spell and stuffed it between the line and feed spells, which wondrously worked on his first try.
Then... timing and consistency. Since he hadn't yet come up with time markers at that point, he had to manually activate the three parts of the combined spell, individually, if he didn't want them to activate all at once. Reason being that, if he did, the three component spells would interfere with each other and just blow up into an electric blast. He couldn't have that.
Thus, the spell ended up having five parts in total:
Step 1: Form a conductive line. The range was limited by how much energy he fed into that part of the spell. Greater distance = greater energy demands. Creating this first also gave some tactile feedback, which helped with aiming.
Step 2: Separate intake for the next spell from the previous one, and automatically manage intake parameters based on the caster's intent. Negligible delay.
Step 3: Form an insulating sphere to protect the caster from the final spell component.
Lucian noted that one might think step 1 to be unnecessary with the insulation in place. Sadly, without the conductive line, the electricity would only scatter outward and thus be weakened. No accuracy + very little power = wasted energy and effort.
Step 4: A copy of step 2.
Step 5: Convert the caster's input energy into electrical energy. That part of the spell was the least predictable without the rest of the components to guide it.
To finalize his process, Lucian compacted the spell into a small, round slab that could fit in his hand.
Mentally checked out after what was essentially a full day's work due to his accelerated mind, he flopped onto his couch to take a break. He was happy though, having managed to successfully create his very own spell in one night. He named it Shock Bolt.
All he would need to do next was repeatedly cast that spell through his stone tablet until the sensations of it being cast were fully engraved in his body and mind. At some point, he would be able to reliably reproduce the effects on his own. As it was a 'simple' spell, it shouldn't take longer than a day to do so...
৹ ◎ ◉ ◎ ৹
A caped shadow landed noiselessly upon a balcony's rusted railing. Down at ground level, bricks were pockmarked, and windows had been shattered open. Substandard wooden doors had small holes punched through, and the damp, water-glossed concrete was scattered with garbage and stained with blood.
Six bodies laid in awkward positions, motionless. They were riddled with bullet holes, and the guns in their hands indicated that they weren't mere victims. Each one of them wore the colors of a gang local to that area, but that place they died in wasn't part of their territory.
"Another shootout," said the shadow—Red Robin.
"Go in closer," Oracle instructed through his earpiece. "This is fishy. These two factions have been on good terms recently."
He did swoop down, along the way saying, "These people are unpredictable. It could be innocuous."
"Now you're just being contrarian..." Oracle's deadpan expression was palpable through the audio.
Red Robin smirked to himself, crouching close to one of the corpses to investigate further. He felt eyes on his back as he did so, but didn't worry. People should know better than to strike at a bat or a bird, even if they worked hard to keep their existence in the realm of plausible deniability.
The body he approached had fallen face-up. Removing the colored bandanna, which concealed the lower half of its face, made his brows quirk up. "... he's not part of that gang," he stated.
"See? Fishy."
"Then let's go fishing," he responded, standing back upright. While writing a note, he went and said, "Search every camera's databank within my vicinity. There's gotta be something."
"On it," Oracle affirmed, and Red Robin tore off the note and went to a window.
The white eyes of his domino mask glowed ominously as he peered in, freaking out the thugs inside. They raised their guns, but he just proffered a small sheet of paper with his hand. Trepidatious, one of the thugs lowered his gun and took the note. Quickly reading it over, his expression shifted.
"Shit..." he exclaimed. "Tell the boss," he whispered to his friends, handing the note over. "Call everyone you know. Tell 'em it was a setup. Someone wants us at each other's throats..."
By the time that thug looked back towards the window to thank the little birdie for the secret, it was gone.
"Well, shit... rumors was true."
...
Tim was on a rooftop now, surveying the area from a bird's eye view while waiting for Oracle to update him. Soon enough, she came through.
"I got something. Follow the alley to your right, there's a trail you can follow. I found something at the end of it."
He set up a grapple line and swung down, using his momentum to effectively run along the walls and slow his descent. The rest of the way was made on foot, and he moved with such efficient clarity that he seemed to float like smoke through, over, and under obstacles.
At his destination was another dead body, dressed similarly to the six others that he'd just seen. That corpse had fallen backwards, exposing its face. Both eyes had been shot out, and along the ground were two bullets. They were .44 Magnum rounds, made of an atypical alloy that would hurt even with Red Robin's specialty body armor.
"These look familiar to you, Oracle?" asked Tim, crouching down and staring at the projectiles.
"... shit. I know what this is. I'll look through some records just to confirm..."
Seconds later, Tim's contact lenses blinked with light. Files were projected into his vision—the Trigger Twins, Tom and Tad. Some time ago, they'd betrayed their former boss, Copperhead. They assassinated her with the help of one other villain in her employ at the time. Their motives were unknown until... well, just now.
"And we have tabs on every mob boss in the city except one," Tim mused aloud. "This is Black Mask's doing."
"He's trying to turn the city on itself. I'll contact the others and tell them to divert their priorities. Thanks for being so prompt when I asked."
"Don't mention it. We owe it to our city."
৹ ◎ ◉ ◎ ৹
Lucian swung Stinger down, embedding the blade into the rough, sandy gravel underfoot. Brushing sweat off his temple using a towel, he checked swordplay practice off his to-do-list. With that, spellcraft, and physical conditioning done, all that was left for him to do was train his ki techniques.
While getting a big, hefty drink of water, his phone rang. Maxie had just texted him, asking if he was still awake. When he responded in the affirmative, she followed up to ask if he was busy. He had been planning to get more training in, but he wanted to spend time with her more. He replied that he wasn't, and she asked that he come visit the Robinson Batcave.
He quickly wiped down and freshened up, then locked up the apartment before taking off.
...
Flight was much easier than ever before. Besides Lucian's physique having improved in a general sense after becoming a changeling, he could even modify his body to create better anchor points for Blackwhip. Maneuvering his Weave-Wings was almost second nature now, and with One for All boosting his power, he felt like he could take on a storm and win.
Reducing himself to a shadowy blip, Lucian dropped to a spot near one of the Robinson Batcave's entrances and slid in all stealthy-like. The girls were all by the Bat-Computer, resting, but Maxie looked the most visibly exhausted. Her aura was also the smallest by far.
Curiously, Cassandra's lifeforce carried streams of green intermingled with her white, which was... odd. It was definitely the color of Lazarus, as he'd seen with Jason, but hers was much less saturated.
'So she's died before...?'
[ The possibilities are endless in alternate universes. It would also help to read more about the universes you choose for your next life, so go do that when you return to the Academy. ]
Everyone perked up as he approached, Max more than anyone else. He shifted to his Phantom Knight loadout while she got up to meet him halfway. She let herself fall onto him, and he caught her—then she pulled down his jacket's zipper, pulled up her mask, and buried her face in his chest.
"Mmmngh... I missed you," she mumbled, nuzzling into Lucian's shirt.
In response, he rubbed her back with one hand and fluffed her hair with the other. "That much?"
"Mhm..."
As Maxie's head was lowered, he lifted his chin up and rested it on her crown. She rubbed up against him as she did so, and all felt right in the world.
"Booooooo! Get a room!" Spoiler teased from the sidelines. This earned her an elbowing from Orphan, who laughed along at her own partner's antics. Then, recollection shimmered in Spoiler's eyes. "Oh! Oh! Don't forget our deal!" She added.
Maxie, having been reminded of an agreement she'd had with Spoiler, stopped nuzzling into Lucian's chest and pulled her mask back on. "So, uh... Spoiler and I made a deal..."
"Go on," he replied, sounding like a dad who already knew that his kid had done something—just not exactly what it was.
"So I kept losing in spars," she started with deliberate slowness, as if guilty of something truly reprehensible. "—and she kinda said she'd let me win a few times if I got you to take her flying at some point..."
The pause that followed was very much pregnant. It gave birth in the form of Lucian snorting humorously, followed by him saying, "What, that's it?" He went and floofed up her hair all the way, making her squeak and bat at his hands. "Not a problem," he continued. "Hell, I could take her flying right now if you want."
Though she moaned in frustration while fixing her hair back in place, Maxie calmed herself down with a sigh and shrugged. "I could use a longer break for my brain... Spoiler?"
"I'm down," Steph replied. She jogged over and made uppies at Lucian, who reequipped his Manticore loadout. "How long can I go?" she then asked.
Maxie was finally done fixing her hair. "Just be back in an hour. I still need to get some sleep for work."
"An hour. Gotcha." Spoiler went on to clamor up Lucian's back, shouting, "Giddy up, cat-boy! To the skies!"
...
Lucian had a feeling that his lit-up flights would soon become a common sight in Gotham's night sky. Though he resolved to take it easy seeing as he had a passenger for the first time, Spoiler egged him on over and over into speeding up. She used phrases like "What, too pussy?" and "Scaredy-cat, scaredy cat!"
Resigning himself to his fate, he stopped holding back and absolutely booked it through the air. Previously, he'd only been hanging onto Spoiler using a Blackwhip harness that dangled underneath his body. As he sped up, he drew her closer and supported her body more, ensuring that she wouldn't fall no matter what.
Spoiler, for her part, was absolutely delighted. She whooped and yelled with every swoop and barrel roll, likening the experience to her first time ever at a carnival ride. Due to her 'occupation' as a vigilante, such things had totally lost their thrill on her, even if they still had their charms. Flying with a metahuman, though?
It was something else.
Eventually, seeing as Lucian was still mortal, he was bound to run out of steam even though his endurance was functionally inexhaustible. He slowed his flight and eased into a cruising glide, letting Spoiler sit on his back once he was stable.
Staring out over Gotham, which looked like an ocean of tiny glittering jewels from up above, Spoiler couldn't help but feel melancholy.. "I wish I could get this sort of view more often..."
"Doesn't have to be a one-time thing," said Lucian. "Just ask Wraith and I could take you flying again."
Spoiler hummed, shaking her head. "Nah. Wouldn't wanna impose. Besides, this'll feel a lot less special if I got to do it too often."
Lucian didn't reply. He just let the moment stretch, absently listening to the wind whisper past his ears. Still though, he couldn't help but notice the change in Spoiler's pulse. An irregularity. Forming a tiny eye stalk on the back of his head, he peeked at her aura through ki vision. It was unstable as well.
"You alright up there?" he asked abruptly.
A sharp exhale, like that amused little huff that people sometimes did. "Yeah, just... I don't know. I wasn't really thinking anything."
"... me neither. Removing yourself from the rest of the world kinda does that to you."
Another stretch of silence. Spoiler broke it this time, bringing up what she'd been nervous about since it resurfaced in her mind. "So... Manticore... about us knowing both your and Wraith's identities..."
Lucian shifted course, setting his path on a broad curve. "What about it?"
"We talked about it recently," Spoiler began to explain. "The whole family. Batman brought it up first over dinner. He thinks you two deserve to know who we are. Everyone mostly agreed."
"What about you?" he asked.
"I'm all for it. I was actually the first to second the suggestion," she answered, then descended into a ramble. "It also kinda helps that I feel guilty over the whole thing...?" She shook her head, sighing. "Orphan says we should just tell you already, and Nightwing likes having you around. He backed me up, actually, and everyone agreed with our lead."
Lucian took a moment to think. "Hm. That does sound good," he said. "What about Wraith? I guess Orphan's giving her the talk right now."
"Yeah," Spoiler replied. "We talked about how we'd go about it earlier, told Wraith that we needed to have a little talk with you two. Things happened, and now we're here."
"Well, I'm in," said Lucian. "Wanna head back now? Hasn't been an hour yet, but that must've been exhausting for you."
Spoiler rolled her neck, just realizing that her body had indeed been spent by that point. "Yeah. I think that'd be for the best. Let's go."
...
The return trip was wordless. Luce and Steph returned to Max and Cass, and briefly discussed the situation. With everyone agreeing to convene somewhere that would be disclosed the following night, both couples retired to their separate homes.
৹ ◎ ◉ ◎ ৹
Black Mask stood before a table in his study, a map of Gotham sprawled over it. He stroked his charred-black chin with a look of intense concentration in his eye as he regarded the assembly. Black pucks marked the locations under his control. Yellow represented his enemies, with little symbols engraved into them for clarity. Other adversaries had their own colors, and his lieutenants' black pucks had their own symbols engraved as well.
He took one black puck that lacked a symbol and shifted it to a seemingly random spot in the streets. That location actually stood over a massive junction in Gotham's sewage network, and a large, dark green disc rested next to where he placed the black puck.
Humming to himself in satisfaction, he was about to set more pucks onto the map—then he was interrupted by knocking on his study's door. He tempered his irritation and responded calmly. "Come in."
Two men entered. Western-styled hats shadowed their faces with the brims. Black bandannas covered the lower halves of their faces, leaving only their eyes to glint in the light. Black Mask felt nothing from the intensity in their stares.
"Job's done," said one of the cowboy-looking men. The other continued. "Someone went and tried to run, but we shot 'im down. Nothings gonna get out, not unless someone in the know finds the scene."
"Then something did get out," Black Mask sighed. "Is it really too much to ask for a worse performance from the two of you?"
Both of the twins shook their heads with perfect synchronicity. "Can't do that. We got a reputation to uphold," they chorused.
Sighing, Black Mask gave up trying to convince them "Fine. Your new assignment will be elsewhere in the city where you won't have to... underperform. Until then, get lost. I'm in the middle of making plans."
Without another word, the twins left Black Mask alone in his study, the door clicking shut behind them.
"Dime a dozen, their kind," he mumbled to himself. "All hung up on their presentation... Now, where was I...? Right. I think someone on that list should do for this job. I just need to commission Crane for some of his toxin..."
—=—=—=—=—=—=—=—
[A/N]: And that's Downtime!
Yes, StephCass is a thing here. No, that doesn't mean they're off the 'to-fuck' list. As a matter of fact, you could guess where I plan to go with them just from this chapter alone.
Lastly, here's a reference point for Maxine's current prowess so nobody's lost on where she stands:
Power Output: Unusually High
Durability: Above Average
Stamina and Endurance: Unusually High
Skill: Above Average, Actively Improving
Intellect: About Average
Instincts and Intuition: Unusually High
Willpower: Variable
---
Anyway, thank y'all for coming back to read Symbol's Rising. Every bit of support means a lot—positive comments, power stones, all that fun stuff.
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Toodles~
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[Just remove the unnecessary spaces~]