The Superman 2025 movie reignited my inspiration, so I'm putting the Kiba (Naruto) story on hiatus before I burn out completely. Hope you enjoy this new chapter instead.
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Many investors continued pouring money into Arkham Enterprise, while only a handful withdrew. Izuku watched them with a closed-eyed smile calm, knowing.
The tension in the room was palpable, especially for the man who had doubled down on his investments. One by one, the dissenting investors left the meeting, their exits marked by uneasy silence.
Izuku made a mental note to keep an eye on them; among their ranks, he suspected, was the one who had hired hackers, assassins, and worse.
When the meeting finally ended, Izuku collapsed onto his couch, draping an arm over his eyes. Dealing with stubborn, self-important people was exhausting, people who acted as if they knew everything.
"Elena, can you get m—"
"Here."
Before he could finish, Elena was already handing him a large water bottle. Prepared, as always.
Izuku cracked it open and drank deeply then paused. The taste was off. Subtle, but wrong.
Elena wasn't the type to tamper with his drink.
Shrugging, he downed the rest of the poisoned water anyway. As Elena turned to leave, he called after her.
"Who gave you this bottle?"
"One of the employees," she answered.
"Bring me to them."
Elena hesitated. "...Sure."
She led him to a nervous-looking man, his face already pale with dread. The surrounding employees held their breath, expecting a firing or worse.
But Izuku only studied him for a moment before shaking his head.
"Hmm. Not him."
With that, he turned and walked back to his office, leaving behind a room full of bewildered stares and quiet sighs of relief.
— — — —
"Did something bad happen to my son?" Hisashi asked, his voice tight with worry as the eight bodyguards escorted him toward the airport.
"Someone is targeting him," the lead bodyguard replied.
Hisashi's eyes narrowed. "Then why are you protecting me instead of him?"
The bodyguards exchanged uneasy glances before the first one spoke again. "Your son doesn't need our protection, he's the one who trained us. The reason he's sending you back to Japan is to keep you out of the corporate war."
Hisashi's chest tightened at the thought of Izuku in danger. "Then… tell him to be careful," he murmured, his voice thick with concern.
The lead bodyguard gave a firm nod. "We will."
. . . .
As Izuku headed back home, he approached his bike only to freeze. Something was off.
'Hmm, what is this?'
His eyes dropped to the ground beneath the bike. A faint *blink* of red light flashed.
His body moved before his mind could process it. He sprinted, just as the explosion tore through the air. The shockwave hurled him forward, heat searing his back.
Gasping, he rolled onto his knees, dirt grinding into his palms. Behind him, his bike was now twisted scrap metal, flames licking at the wreckage.
Then he saw it, a red dot dancing on his chest.
'Sniper.'
Izuku dove behind a stone wall as a bullet whizzed past, close enough to graze his hair. His heart hammered against his ribs.
'Looks like I can't escape him.'
With no other options, he bolted back toward the company building.
Inside, the staff gasped as he stumbled through the door, clothes torn, skin smeared with ash and dirt. The receptionist's eyes widened. "Sir! Are you okay?"
"I'm fine," Izuku muttered, brushing debris from his sleeve. "Someone rigged my bike with a bomb."
A stunned silence fell over the room.
"Order me some food," he said, already walking toward the stairs. "And keep this quiet. No police, no heroes."
As he climbed to his room, his thoughts raced. 'I need upgrades. Bullets and bombs shouldn't be this much of a threat.'
Elena shot up from her chair the moment he entered. "Did you forget some—?" Her words died as she took in his disheveled state. "What happened?"
"Someone tried to kill me." He shrugged, but Elena wasn't fooled.
"Fine? You're hurt!" She reached for her phone. "We're calling the hero—"
"Don't." His voice sharpened. "If they get involved, the assassin vanishes only to try again later. And next time, bystanders might die instead of me."
Before she could argue, he disappeared into his room.
Elena exhaled sharply, sinking back into her seat. Her fingers flew across her keyboard, pulling up a tracking program. 'Whoever you are, you won't get another shot.'
Meanwhile, Izuku booted up his computer, scrolling through encrypted files, each one a potential lifeline.
Venom. Cryogenics. Pyrogenics. Arkham Knight Armor.
His jaw tightened. 'Contingencies. I need them now.'
He clicked open the Venom research. Strength. Speed. Survival.
Whatever was coming, he'd be ready.
The first thing he needed to do was retrieve the formula he had been working on. He headed down to the lab, his personal lab and began finalizing the formula.
It took him about an hour to complete the concoction, a vibrant green liquid that he carefully loaded into a specialized auto-injector.
"Let's hope I won't need to use this," Izuku muttered.
This was only Version One of the formula, and the potential side effects were… extreme, to say the least.
. . . .
10 PM
Izuku was still buried in his research, working alone late into the night. To speed things up, he had connected to Oracle to help analyze the data.
"Is the assassin nearby?" Izuku asked, his voice tense.
Oracle: [Affirmative. Subject has successfully evaded detection despite extensive surveillance. Current concealment efficiency: 89.7%. Probability of proximity: high.]
"Prepare the suit. Just in case the assassin enters the company," Izuku said as he stood up from his seat.
Oracle: [Understood. Suit deployment protocol initiated. ]
Izuku walked toward the wall and stopped in front of it.
Oracle: [Standing by for activation...]
Red lasers scanned his body, and then the wall slid open, revealing another version of the Batsuit.
This one was less armored than his usual suit. Instead of full titanium plating, it only had a titanium coating, lighter but still effective. It would be enough for an emergency.
[Image Here]
Izuku cracked his neck, his expression serious as he studied the suit.
— — — — —
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