Chapter 17: Solomon Grundy

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(General P.O.V)

Artemis Crock. That was her name. Mature for her age. Circumstances had forced that maturity upon her shoulders. That and her parents. One of them being a former supervillain, the other being very much still in the game. She also had a sister that had followed on her father's footsteps.

Fortunately, Artemis still had her mother and she was determined to break the chain. Artemis was going to be a hero. For that to happen though, she had to pay off some debts. Get into the hero business with a clean slate. Start over without any skeletons hiding in her closet. Not more than she already had at least.

Paying off the favor she owed Santos meant fighting in his underground fights. Artemis' training was enough for her to dominate the scene but the opponent standing before her was different. She could immediately tell it. This wasn't going to be an easy fight.

Artemis drowned out the noise as she watched the guy. Strong but with a physique that emphasized speed and endurance. She wouldn't outlast him. That meant, putting him down quickly. She ran forward and started the fight with a jab.

A jab that turned out to be a feint as her leg  shot off to hit his thigh, a strike that would compromise his movements. Her opponent brought his knee up and blocked Artemis' leg with the side of his shin. 

Artemis rebounded and transitioned to a round kick aimed at her opponent's head. The guy's foot lashed out quicker than Artemis could react to and buried itself right onto her gut. Artemis clenched her jaw and moved with the blow, flipping backwards to bleed out the momentum. 

She tried to bring her breathing back under control and sprang forward once more. This time she came up from the side with a left hook, trying to reduce the chances of a direct hit on her body by her fast footwork. Punches, jabs and swift kicks were exchanged in a crazy flurry of blows. The crowd cheered in ecstasy as the fight raged on.

Artemis fighting spirit was awakened by then and a smile appeared on her face. She saw the same look on her opponent's face and knew he was also enjoying it. It felt like she was sparring with Jade again. The smile slipped off her face when in a particular movement she overextended and her opponent let loose two very fast blows that sent her reeling. 

The kick that followed the unexpected blows sent her to Dreamland. 

(Aden's P.O.V)

Shit! I got lost in the fight and forgot to regulate my strength and speed! The crowd was going ballistic as I ran forward to see if Artemis was ok. The ref called the match in my favor after the countdown got to 10. I slapped her lightly and she groaned on the ground, trying to get up. 

"Hey, you okay?" 

She shook her head and got up gingerly. 

"Let go of me." 

The words were curt and I had no choice but to comply. I followed her swaying hips as she left the ring and shook my head to get rid of the distracting thoughts.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you, your new champion, Aang!" 

The crowd started cheering me on with the name I had picked. I know, I have no originality. Bite me. 

Having bet 500 bucks on myself. I went home with 5 grand due to the earlier fights. It wasn't a lot when you're working under someone like Batman who was a frigging billionaire but it felt nice. Something about hard earned money being fulfilling and all that. The real prize I had gotten out of all of this, was the experience and getting to meet Artemis.

The Kobra-venom had increased my strength by a substantial amount. Although not as big an increment as the time I took Blockbuster, it had been enough to throw my control off balance a little. That wasn't a problem anymore. 

I left the building and went through an alley where I had stashed a hood on a dumpster that I took out and wore. Then I walked down the street towards the nearest Zeta Tube that was 4 blocks away in an old tailor shop. 

My footsteps were silent on the sidewalk. I came across a few people on the way that steered clear from me, showing just how cautious Gothamites were. During my walk, I noticed a figure following after me from the rooftops of the buildings I was walking under. 

'Could it be Robin or Batman?' I wondered before getting rid of that notion. They had no idea I was even in Gotham, or that I had left the cave. The only other person who would be interested in me would be Artemis. She was probably curious about me. I had beaten her easily despite the fact that she had been trained by Sportsmaster himself. And that guy was a badass.

I continued walking silently, curious about whether she would actually confront me or not. I crossed the street to the next one and rounded on the corner of a building. This part of the street was a bit more populated. There was a strip club, Chinese restaurant and even a Starbucks on it. It's like after leaving crime alley behind, I found myself in another world.

Artemis followed me closely just as I got closer to the shop with the Zeta Tube. Then something unexpected happened.

The manhole cover on the road exploded in a shower of concrete and metal. The screech of tires was heard as the cars driving on the street bumped into each other. Pandemonium exploded and people started running away while a figure rose up from the sewers. 7 feet tall, grayish skin, patches of similar grey hair, ripped clothes and a body as huge as the incredible hulk. 

"Born on a Monday."

My eyes widened. Solomon fucking Grundy. The zombie looked around and then roared. The air carried with it a rotten smell that made me almost gag. A woman disoriented from her vehicle crashing onto another screamed out in fright upon seeing Grundy. Grundy rounded up on her. 

"Grundy hates loud woman!"

The giant shambled forward intent on crushing her and I enhanced my voice while flying forward. 

"Pick on someone your own size you walking Halloween freak show!" 

Excusing the irony, Grundy turned to stare at me angrily just as my fist landed on his face, lifting him up and sending him flying away. 

"Everyone get out of here!" 

I shouted and ran towards the woman from before. 

The seatbelt was cliche' enough, stuck. I grabbed the door handle and pulled it. The whole thing tore off and I threw it like a frisbee towards the loud stomps I heard coming my way. A few arrows hit the door on its way to it's intended target and the thing exploded once it made contact with Grundy, throwing him back. 

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I pulled the woman out of the car and handed her over to another civilian who was escaping. The smoke hiding Grundy's position retracted upon another roar by the undead. 

"Christened on a Tuesday!"

A few arrows shot through the air and dug themselves on the ground around Grundy's position. The arrows started beeping and then exploded. Grundy crashed onto the wall of the Starbucks building and I flew forward as he got up.

An uppercut sent him sliding up the building, with me following right under him. Grundy shook his head and snarled at me. He brought his hands to the side and then clapped his palms together. The blast of wind sent him flying up even faster while I negated the gale produced from shattering any glass around and hurting people.

I caught a glimpse of a fast moving figure heading across the rooftops as I increased my speed and plowed right on to Grundy's chest going even higher and higher.

"Married on Wednesday. Little Man die!"

The shout reverberated through his chest and his hand came down in a devastating strike. 

I twisted around him and grabbed hold of the offending limb and spinned him several times. Then I aimed for a vehicle recycling site and threw him down. Grundy's body fell uncontrollably and smashed onto the site, sending pieces of wrecked cars flying away from the crater he created with his body. 

The only way to take down Grundy was to kill him. He wasn't like other villains who would escape when they found themselves on the losing end, and was also a stamina beast on top of that, making him even more dangerous to fight because he didn't get tired.

I floated in mid air and concentrated on the crater. With a hand motion, a tornado with Grundy's body floating inside it appeared. I then closed my eyes and made the wind sharp. Grundy roared in helplessness as his body was sliced apart by millions of wind blades. His remains were scattered around the recycling site and I breathed out a sigh of relief at managing to end the fight without any loss of life.

I couldn't stay in Gotham for too long though. I didn't want to answer Batman's questions on why I was in his city. But before that, I looked at a certain direction and shot off into the night sky. 

A figure was crouched on a rooftop as I fast approached the building. The figure pulled on her bow in fright and let loose arrows at me. A tornado appeared around me and the arrows were pushed aside.

"I am not here to fight you."

I held up my hands. 

"This is Gotham. Seems like everybody is trying to fight somebody."

I chuckled at her snark.

"True but I'm not from Gotham. I was just here for sightseeing and to run some other errands."

The hands on the bow lowered but the wariness and distrust remained.

"What do you want?"

Instead of answering, my eyes roamed down her figure as I studied her. She had changed into her iconic suit.

"You dirty minded pig..."

"Whoa! Whoa! I wasn't staring at you like that. It's just that... you're a hero right?"

Artemis huffed.

"Yeah so?"

"Your PR sucks." I continued speaking, killing off her wave of protest. "I like your outfit though and I saw what you did to Grundy with those arrows, you're really good."

Artemis blushed red.

"I'm on a team of young heroes too. Maybe we might see each other again. Hanging out in these circles guarantees that much."

Suspicion appeared on her face.

"Team of young heroes?"

I spared a look at my watch.

"Yeah. Shit, I gotta go. Look, please don't tell anyone you saw me."

Saying that, I turned and flew off quickly. Why? Due to my mow superior senses, I caught a glimpse of the dark knight himself headed in our direction. I held out no hope that he wouldn't interrogate Artemis about me. 

The good thing is that at least he didn't catch me himself in his city.

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