Chapter 70: Cat-Signal #70

"Not bad..." I remarked, my eyes alternating between the toppled brick wall before me and my balled fist. I didn't feel pain or get my arm mangled like the first time I tried something like this.

I didn't need to activate 100% of my muscles to do it either. Considering my enhanced durability, my hand will probably remain intact, but I could definitely do without the pain.

Don't get me wrong, after tearing apart my every muscle, which took more than an hour. There was little that could make me flinch at this point, and that isn't exactly a good thing.

Getting used to pain wasn't something I wanted for myself. It existed for a good reason to warn us that something was wrong, so we could learn and not repeat the same action that caused the pain.

It works because you are not used to it, and even though it's meaningless to me since my body can heal from almost every wound, my mind was a different matter.

I didn't want to be some psychotic badass who could casually cut off his own arm with a poker face like it was nothing. I just wanted to stay the way I am, human. And no regular human I knew could keep a straight face when in pain.

Some humans could do that, but those people are either royally traumatized, brain fucked, or something along those lines, and such people don't count as regular.

'Whatever...' I shrugged as I extended my finger to a brick I placed some distance away and channeled my energy into it, causing it to glow. I frowned as I increased the power, causing the glow to intensify.

The energy in my finger finally reached a critical point and shot out of it as a thin, golden beam that flew at the brick, creating a hole as it went through.

However, the beam dissipated halfway through, leaving a neatly gouged, circular tunnel at the center of the brick that didn't go all the way.

'I'll need to work on it in the future...' I mused as I picked the brick and inspected the hole in its center, nodding at how easy it was to channel my energy and how little the attack drained from my reserve.

However, I wasn't really familiar with how much energy I needed to channel and how to precisely shape it, causing the beam to dissipate before piercing through the brick.

'Now, to test the so-called energy absorbent effect from the Energy Conductor perk...' I took out my sentry gun from my inventory and placed it on the ground, taking a step back.

The perk description said all forms of energy. That should include kinetic energy generated from blunt force, and since I haven't tested the limits of my Enhanced Durability, it would be hitting two birds with one stone.

I took a deep breath as I took off my trench coat and shirt, standing in front of the sentry gun as I brought it online, setting it on single sot mode and bracing myself.

The gun barrel came out of the sentry gun box and quickly aimed at my right shoulder. I might be able to shrug bullets, but I still didn't feel like shooting myself while aiming at any vital organs.

I took another deep breath, clenching my muscles for no particular reason, and had sentry gun fire the first shot. The bullet hit me before I could even blink and harmlessly bounced off my shoulder, but I didn't give it any attention.

I closed my eyes and frowned in concentration as I focused on my energy and noticed a slight increase in my reserve that quickly dissipated after a second.

'So it includes kinetic energy...' I nodded, smiling as I picked up the bullet and saw its deformed, folded appearance. Kinetic-energy-absorbing is already a bona fide superpower, and if I combine it with my enhanced durability, it will let me punch above my weight class.

My durability would let me tank punches from people way more powerful than me, and the stronger they were, the more energy I'd absorb, and the more I could send back their way, unless they can one-shot me, of course.

There are other forms of energy I'd need to test out, like electricity, but it'll have to wait since I don't really feel like electrocuting myself so soon after that shit.

'Whelp... now I only need to see what Empathy is all about before I call it a day and get back to my hideout...'

...

East End

'Augmented Reality Vision sure is convenient...' I mused as I walked the streets of Gotham, looking around and seeing information pop up in my vision about anything and everything.

It was like one of those futuristic sci-fi video games where you'd activate some mod, and your perspective would change with windows popping up on top of people or buildings with general information.

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It was like an advanced face matching system that worked by accessing the internet through my personal computer perk and relayed the information in the form of floating windows directly in my vision.

In other words, without the personal computer perk and access to Gotham's public records and private government networks (which I already hacked into), the augmented reality perk would be useless.

It will save me a lot of effort if I want to know something about someone or someplace since I won't need to do it myself and look at the information windows above them. It also allowed me to hack anything within my sight, making it a convenient perk.

'Now time to get to work...' I deactivated the augmented reality vision and activated empathy, frowning as countless colors that emanated from the surrounding people in the street assaulted my eyes.

There were countless colors, probably every single one, and their respective shades. However, the most common was the color purple, and instinctively I knew it represented powerlessness, negativity, and apathy.

'Hah... should have seen that one coming...' I shook my head, sighing as I deactivated the perk with a wince. I expected it to some degree, but to see it with my own eyes was still overwhelming and disappointing.

Knowing everyone around you feels like shit and seeing a manifestation of their negative emotions with your own eyes couldn't be more different from each other.

'Not to self; don't use empathy in public...' I shrugged my shoulders as I retrieved my phone to check the time. I could do it with my personal computer power, but I prefer to keep some of my habits like this one and not rely on my perks and abilities for everything.

Was maintaining such habits a desperate effort to cling to my rapidly dissipating humanity? Most likely, yes. But I didn't care since it gave me peace of mind.

Repeating these human habits, as insignificant as they were, reminded me of who I am and where I came from, and it helped me cling to my sense of self and sanity, among other things.

'It's still early... and I have some time to kill...' I paused and stopped walking for a second to think and look around me, immediately realizing that I wasn't far from my old apartment.

'Might as well visit Mark and then take some food to the warehouse for the homeless guys...' I shrugged and resumed walking, having already made up my mind.

I noticed several people pointing at the sky and murmuring and looked up to see what the fuss was about and saw a light signal in the sky, causing me to frown at its shape.

When you hear about a light signal in Gotham, you typically think of Batman. However, this one wasn't bat-shaped, but it projected the figure of a cat in the sky instead.

'Cat signal...?' I mused, chuckling in amusement as I shook my head and promptly resumed walking. Curious as I might be, it was none of my business, now was it?

...

East End

On a random rooftop

"This ain't gon' work Tommy; that gal is a thief, not a vigilante like Batman," said a tall, well-built African American man wearing blue pants and a light green jacket.

The other man on the rooftop, Tommy Monaghan, an equally tall and well-built Caucasian man wearing sunshades and a military jacket, grunted in frustration at the man's words.

"Trust me, Natt, she'll show up. An' it's not like we have much choice, do we now?" Tommy replied, scratching his head as he looked at the dead cat resting on the projector, creating an improvised cat signal in the sky.

"I clearly saw her in that demon's mind; she's our only lead," Tommy added, shaking his head as he tried to sound confident, but even he had doubts.

"Man, whatever. This whole situation is bullshit if you ask me..." Natt replied, seemingly prepared to keep complaining. However, the unexpected, sudden arrival of Catwoman made him stop.

"You boys got my curiosity, and you have a minute to keep it," Catwoman said, smiling as she landed on the rooftop in front of Natt and Tommy, still holding her whip as she seemed ready to react.

"I saw you inside the head of a literal demon from hell," Tommy hastily replied as soon as Catwoman stopped speaking, causing the latter to raise an eyebrow as she titled her head, clearly curious.

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