I was huffing like a broken steam engine. My lungs felt like someone had poured molten lead down my throat, and every time I breathed, a little puff of green smoke came out. That fight with Hal took too much out of me.
Yet the gains were entirely worth it to be honest. I was stumbling through an alleyway three blocks away from the crater. My new coat, the one I just spent a small fortune on, was basically a glorified rag now. The chains were melted into the leather, and the left sleeve was just… gone.
"Dammit," I wheezed, leaning against a dumpster that smelled like rotting fish and chemical waste. "That was my favorite coat."
[Warning: Radiation Levels Stabilizing. Absolute DNA integration at 12%.]
[Note: You look like a glow-stick that got ran over by a bus.]
"Shut up," I muttered to the blue screen. My head was spinning. The "Hunger" was gone for now, replaced by a weird, buzzing energy that made my teeth ache. I could feel the Willpower I'd stolen from Hal the 15% it was like a trapped bird flapping around inside my chest.
It wanted to do something. It wanted to build.I looked at my right hand. The Black Hand smoke was mixed with flickering green sparks now. It looked like a forest fire in a graveyard. I tried to focus, tried to think of something useful.A key? A gun? A sandwich?Pop.
A small, green-and-black construct appeared in the air. It was a crowbar. But it had a face. A jagged, grinning Joker face etched into the metal. It started giggling. A tiny, high-pitched laugh that made my skin crawl."Oh, that is just wrong,"
I said, waving my hand to make it vanish. The construct didn't disappear; it just turned into green dust and settled on my boots.I needed to get out of here. The sirens were getting louder, and in this city, sirens didn't just mean cops. They meant cleaners.
I started to move, but the air suddenly got cold. Not "winter" cold. "Grave" cold.I stopped. My Stone Skin the stuff I'd taken from the thug—hardened instantly. My skin turned grey and matte, like unpolished marble. I didn't turn around. I didn't have to.
The shadow on the wall in front of me was enough. It was huge. It had ears that looked like devil horns, but they were jagged, like they'd been hacked out of sheet metal. Absolute Batman. He didn't say anything. In the Absolute Verse, Batman doesn't do the "I'm Batman" speech. He just hits you.I felt the wind shift behind me.
I dived forward, rolling over a pile of trash bags. A massive, heavy boot slammed into the spot where my head had been a second ago. The concrete didn't just crack; it pulverized.I scrambled to my feet, my jaw unhinging as the Joker DNA felt the threat.
My silver hair was matted with blood and soot, and my purple eyes were glowing like dying stars."I didnt do it!" I shouted, which was a lie, but hey, I was panicking. "The Lantern started it! He was radioactive! I was just... cleaning!
"The Bat stood there. He was a mountain of black Kevlar and scarred leather. He didn't have a cape; he had a heavy, tattered cloak that looked like it was made from a downed bomber plane. His eyes were white slits behind a mask that looked more like a helmet.
He looked at the green burns on my neck. Then he looked at my right hand."Grimm's blood," he growled. His voice was deeper than the ocean and twice as cold. "But you have Jordan's light. What are you?"
"I'm a mistake," I said, my voice cracking. I felt the anxiety coming back—the modern-earth kid who just wanted to read manga was screaming, while the Bastard Son was baring its teeth. "Look, I'm not looking for trouble. I just want to go home and sleep for a week."
"You killed a Sector Guardian," Batman said. He took a step forward, his heavy boots clanking on the pavement. He didn't pull out a gadget. He just balled his fists. His knuckles were reinforced with depleted uranium. I knew that from the forums.
One punch from him would turn my "Absolute" head into a red mist."I didn't kill him! I just... took a bite! He flew away!"I saw his eyes narrow. He didnt believe me. Or he didnt care. To him, I was just another freak coming out of the chemical vats of Gotham. Another piece of "Filth" to be removed.He lunged.He was faster than a man that big should be.
He was a blur of black shadow. I raised my hands, the Black Hand energy and the stolen Green Light swirling together.I didn't make a crowbar this time.I made a Shield.But because it was my Will, and my Will was a mess of Joker chaos and Otaku dreams, the shield wasn't a circle.
It was a giant, glowing green-and-black Pie Tin.CLANG.Batman's fist hit the construct. The sound echoed through the alley like a church bell. The force sent me flying backward, my heels digging furrows into the asphalt.The shield shattered into a thousand giggling shards.
"A pie?" I whispered, looking at my hands. "Really? My subconscious is a comedian?"Batman didn't laugh. He didn't even blink. He just reached into his belt and pulled out a batarang that looked more like a circular saw blade.
"Wait!" I yelled, my right hand smoking. "If you kill me, Jack Grimm wins! I'm the only thing he's afraid of!"That made him pause. Just for a microsecond."Why?" he asked."Because," I said, a jagged, terrifying grin spreading across my face against my will. "I'm the only one who knows what he tastes like."Batman's eyes widened just a fraction. He didn't attack. Not yet."Talk," he commanded.