~ A week after the raid on LexCorp

“Whoa, Matthias, are you okay, dude?”

“Yo, that’s some dark circles on your eyes. Did you not sleep at all, last night or what?”

Matthias’ classmates in the university were all staring at his face; dark circles around his eyes, droopy face and pale lips, and his messy hair shocks the whole class.

He was considered as the class’ idol; being a rich handsome young man with intelligence made him quite famous. Not only that, he’s also quite the sporty guy, as he some time ago joined a friendly game of American Football and became the top scorer, which made several scouters to try and approach him after the game to recruit him.

But now? He looks so pitiful… and sleepy.

“Yeah-yeah, I’m fine guys. Just a tad bit sleepy.” He answered, yawning like mad which made several of his classmates to yawn just by looking at him.

Robert and Annie were there too. Being Matthias’ good friends in the Uni, they started to ask questions and tried to persuade him to just go home and sleep.

“Buddy, you need to go to sleep.” Said Robert.

“Yeah, Matty, don’t force yourself and just go home. It’s bad for your health like this.” Said Annie.

Matthias tried to reassure them that he was fine, and that he wants to keep his attendance record to be 100 percent.

They both asked what he was doing last night that he looks this tired, in which he replied with a simple, “Oh, just a small personal project of mine. For the betterment of mankind, I’d say.”

For the rest of the lectures, Matthias nearly dozed off. He kept boosting his stamina to make sure he can hold on the sleepiness, but then he had an idea to full boost his luck, hoping that he would be lucky enough to get some shut eye.

His boosted luck did not disappoint him, as the current lecturer, as well as the next one were all somehow being called for a sudden meeting, and only gave the students some easy homework, and then dismissed the class.

Since there are no more classes for today, Matthias went home. Robert moaned at him because he wants him for a company to eat lunch at a pizza place, to which Annie just simply smacked him by the head all the while Matthias kept yawning.

…
And Matthias did not actually went home...

Matthias currently stood inside a warehouse in the Suicide Slum.

That's right, the same warehouse he had bought a long time ago when he first visited the Slums to find a good place for another safe-house. It took several months, but now the ware house has several facilities in it. It was wide and spacious as well, more so than his safe-house provided by Lucius Fox.

Matthias entered a certain room at the furthest corner. The room was his workshop, with several tools and tables, as well as his gears. This is the place he used to create and experiment on things that should be impossible to do in his original safe-house.

Matthias approached his large workbench. On it were several stack of papers full of the schematics and notes taken from Luthor. Accompanying them were several different objects; a pair of gloves made of steel, a transparent glasses, some devices and equipment, etc.

Matthias took one of the gloves, and inspected it. He put it on his hand, and then played around with it for a bit.

I guess tonight is a good night to try and tests my new creations.

~ ~ ~

Near the border between downtown and Southside area was a quite large empty three story building with a wide but barricaded yard. The front gate was marked with a yellow plank as “Condemned”, and it seems to have been abandoned for quite a long time.

The building seems to have once been used as a textile factory, with several chimneys protruding on the roofs. It looks so old and worn out.

And now… this building was used as something else; as a base for another kind of businesses.

“*Yawn*–goddammit, we’ve been patrolling like this for almost a week. I’m fucking sleepy and starving right now.” The sleepy one yawns and complains.

“Shhh! You dumbass! The boss might hear it!” the other one shushed him.

“What? I’m just saying, I can’t keep doing these useless patrol shit every fucking night-time!”

Two pair of syndicate henchmen were roaming around the vicinity of their hideout in pair. One kept yawning from time to time, and the other just did his job without much words spoken… except now.

“I quit my job just so I can get another night-shift shit? What bullshit…” the sleepy one groans as he massaged his temple.

“Hey, hey, calm it. I hear ya. I don’t like this either, but the boss has been extremely paranoid lately. We’ve had our main base of operation raided by the Wraith last week, and the boss don’t want this place to be the next.”

The main base of operation; their hideout by the harbor; the spot where most of Metropolis smuggling activities were held. Such place that should be rooted out by the official law enforcers kept going even stronger and tighter because of corruption from the higher ups.

But now, the place is no more, as the one so called Wraith raided the place; killing and burning the whole place down. And as day light comes, the police investigations found out about the many illegal smuggled goods and stolen military weaponries, as well as tons of drugs hidden beneath.

“Well, we can’t just keep doing this night watch thing. It’s been almost a week so I guess that freak of a Wraith won’t be hitting us at all right?” the sleepy one asked.

His companion did not answer, but he did pray inwardly that his idiotic and sleepy comrade’s wish would come true. Judging from the stories and rumors of this so called Wraith, he wouldn’t stand a chance against him. Hell, if the stories were true and he could even escape from Superman, the one who was able to fly with the speed of a bullet and have a strength to lift a whole space shuttle, what chance do him and everyone in the whole building have against him?

“Haah… I hope you’re right.”

The night falls, and the whole place seems to be pitch black. The building they are protecting has the worst lightings, as it was extremely dim and looking pretty depressing.

This depressing place was never meant to be used as a second hideout anyway, and only used as a secret meeting place, as well as a store house for when the smuggled goods were to be circulated in the city.

Just as he was sighing in his mind, he looked upwards to watch the stars—but clouds of pollutions blocked his view, and he can only see glimmers of them.

But…

What the hell are those?

The henchman saw something—or, some THINGS flying around the vicinity in the sky. It was dark so he can’t see well, but he knows that these things were flying around and surrounding the whole place.

He squints his eyes, and as he adjusts to the darkness, he can finally focus on the image…

“A drone?”

He can’t believe what he was seeing right now; there are about a dozen drones flying in around them.

It looked like the kind that was sold for public, but upon closer look, there are certain parts that seems to be heavily modified.

It looked kind-off… futuristic?

One was flying closer to him, and it looked like it was observing him and his companion.

The front(?) part had an eye that seems to move as if looking around, with gears whirring noises at it turns its eye.

“What the hell?”

The man’s confusion visible on his face. He was trying to make out what these sudden appearances of the drones.

It was then…

Something opened up from the bottom part of the drone. A short and small metallic barrel came out of it. It looked like a small turret.

“Geh…!”

The man reacted as he saw the thing. He can feel something is about to happen and so, he shook his companion’s shoulder to break him out of his stupor, and pulled out a gun from his holster.

“Hey, shoot that thing down!” he shouted, trying to aim the drone and shoot.

But he was too late, as the turret’s inner barrel began to lit up, and from it shoots a ray of hot beam towards his gun.

His weapon, being struck by the beam, explodes in his hand. The shrapnel cuts his hand, and the explosion burns it.

“Aaaargh! Ahhh, it burns!” he screamed in pain, sweat flows on his face.

His (no longer) sleepy companion shared the same fate; before he can shoot the drone down, it fires a beam of heat to the gun, practically turning it into an explosive device.

“Gaaaaaahh! Aaargh!” the same thing happened to him.

What happened was that the hot beam shot by the drone’s bottom turret melts the gun’s chamber straight to its ammo. The heat was enough to set the gunpowder to burst in flame, but since it burst in a wrong way, the bullet did not have enough firepower to shoot straight, all the while the explosion shattered the gun, throwing shrapnels to the wielder.

The two henchmen clutched their hands as they kneel down, holding down the pain.

The drone did not fire anything anymore, and just flew away.

The two henchmen saw the drone flying away, and was about to crawl and run away to treat their hands… when they heard footsteps coming towards them.

“W-Who…?”

The figure approached them two.

They try to look up to see who the figure is, focusing their eyes all the while holding back the pain.

Who is this?

They saw a tall figure of a person. He seems to wear some sort of a thick navy-blue bomber jacket, with his hands seemingly wearing metallic gloves.

The trousers he wore seems to tightly grip his legs, as they could see the solid shapes of the man’s legs’, and his shoes seems metallic like his gloves.

Lastly, he seems to be wearing some sort of transparent glasses on his face, with holographic screen coming out by the front of his eyes.

He looked down on the two crouching henchmen, and the latter can only stare back while clutching their broken hands.

“Hmmm… the ray seems to be perfectly calibrated for disarmament. But I think I should decrease the powers a little bit.” The figure spoke nonchalantly.

The two henchmen confusedly stared, and the figure simply walked away after a minute of looking at their pitiful state.

No… he did not walk away, but rather…
*Psssshh!* *Fwooooosh!!*
He flew away!

What the heck!

The sole of his feet and the palm of his were lit up in blueish light as he flew.

He flew upwards, and then launched himself towards the building. The swarms of the drones also followed suit behind him.

The two henchmen left behind went agape. The only thing inside their jumbled minds was that this person is not an ordinary person.

Is it Superman?

…

Matthias flew towards the building.

As he was on his way in the sky towards his target, he can feel his posture breaking as he tried to maintain his flight.

“Whoa! That was close… I need to recalibrate the shoes thrusters.”

He looked down to find a place to land, and he saw the front door of the building was guarded by several henchmen.

The henchmen were looking up, directly at him. There’s confusion in their eyes as they see Matthias flying in the sky.

What the hell?! Is it Superman?

They can’t believe what they are seeing, and were in a daze as to try and make out who or what is approaching them.

Matthias saw the henchmen grouping up together, standing still watching him.

Smirk…
He smirked as he got the perfect opportunity to try out on something he’s been looking forward to experiment.

And with that
*FWOOOSH!*
Matthias flew downwards. His hand emits a blueish glow, and Matthias made a pose as if trying to punch a hole into the surface of Earth (You can’t just punch a hole into the surface of Earth).

“… the fuck!”

“Shit! Scatter!”

“Oh shit!”

With all the screams from the panicking henchmen, Matthias smashed the ground beneath him.
*WHAM!!!*
He landed in a ground pound pose; with one fist on the ground, and his other hand above him.

“Uaaack!”

“Aaaaah!”

The henchmen were all screaming as the got thrown away from a strong wave force. Most of them fell hitting the walls, plant pots, or just simply the cold hard cement floor beneath them, with only one guy who managed to roll without getting injured much.

The area Matthias just smashed became clouded with dust, covering his figure until he’s only a silhouette in the middle.

“D-Dammit!”

The henchmen, disoriented and demoralized, tried to stand up to retaliate to this unknown assailant.

Matthias broke his pose, and then observed the scattered henchmen.

“Let’s try this one.”

Matthias aimed his palm towards one of the henchmen. There’s a small ‘hole’ in the middle of his palm, and from that hole came a wave blast.

“Guargh!”

The blast threw him towards the nearest wall, causing a large crack to appear on its surface.

The others saw their comrade getting blasted into a wall, so hard the wall visibly cracked.

“W-Who the fuck are you!”

“Fuck are you doing asking him stupid questions, just shoot him!”

As soon as someone shouts the command to shoot, everyone took out their guns and aimed at Matthias.

Barrage of bullets started to fly towards him. Small caliber to the medium ones were fired, flying in hot towards Matthias.

Matthias, however, chose not to retaliate, and just simply stood there to receive the barrage of bullets raining in on him.

Let’s see how good the new armor can protect me. He thought as he braced.

Several *Clinks* and *Clangs* of bullets hitting his jacket can be heard, and the bullets ricocheted. The henchmen clearly heard the noises and the trails of their bullets bounce off him.

“What the…? Is he bulletproof?”

The bullets did not seem to harm Matthias… but his blue bomber jacket was actually torn off from the rain of bullets.

From inside the torn jacket, they can see another layer of clothing—or rather, armor.

“The hell is he wearing? Some kind of armor?”

“Stop asking useless questions and just shoot his exposed head!”

And they did; several more rounds were shot towards Matthias’s face.

He grimaced as he covered his head with his arms.
But…

“Ow!”
One bullet hits his face, right at his cheek.

“Huh?”

The henchmen are quite confused. One of the bullets hits this man’s face, but there’s no wound nor blood was spilled. Even the person who just got hit himself did not seem to feel much, except a bit of pain as if being pinched.

Matthias dropped his hands down, and stared at the henchmen still aiming their weapons at him.

“Hey, no hitting face! Play fair!” Matthias said, as he aimed his palm towards one of the henchman.

His palm shots a blast of wave, hitting one of them with enough force he got thrown towards another of his comrade.

“Guagh!”

Matthias then brushed his cheek to see if there’s any wound.

No wound. I guess my boosted bullet proof ability works well. I don’t know why I haven’t tested this skill of mine yet for a long time. He thought in his mind.
Truthfully, he did not actually dared to try and test being shot without any sorts of protection. This time however, he was already prepared all sorts of different precautions should his bullet-proof ability can’t protect him.

This will be a good asset if I could upgrade it more.

For that, Matthias will have the drones record his fights against the henchmen, and then modified the video before he could sneakily circulate them on the world wide web.

Let’s just finish this.

And with that mindset, Matthias tapped the side of his visor; right by his right ear.

The dozens of drones that were standing by while surrounding the place in the skies moved. They started to swarm the place, and with their heat ray turrets, started to attack the henchmen in the vicinity.

“What the fuck are these flying shits!”

“Just shoot them down!”

The henchmen were all trying to aim and shoot, but the drones were quicker at their aim, and accurately firing heat rays to their guns.

“Graaaagh! My hand!”

“Ooogh!”

“Argh! It burns!”

Screams of pain as each and every firearm they have was melted and exploded in their hands.

Matthias did not stand idle for long, and he started to pick each and every of these henchmen one by one.

He dashed to hit the one henchmen who nearly managed to aim and fire, body slamming him with enough force he went off several dozen feet.
He went for another one by punching him in the abdomen, which made him grunt in pain as he vomits his diner.
He quickly turned to another one by shooting a wave blast from his palm, throwing him towards the nearest wall causing another visible crack to appear.
He went for the last henchman who managed to throw his gun away from him before it exploded by giving him a sucker punch. The metal fist he gave should be enough to shatter the poor man’s cheekbone.

“Alright, time to deal with the big boss.”

Matthias flew towards the highest floor of the building; if the information from his drones were correct, then the leader of this hideout should be somewhere in an office on this floor.

Matthias broke a window and landed inside.

“W-What the hell…?!”

There are of course several henchmen defending the area.

Let’s make this fast.
Without messing much, Matthias aimed both of his palm towards his enemies.

“““Graaaaagh!”””
The screams filled the dimly lit building, as Matthias’ wave blast was enough to push away around four people at once.

‘These new wave blasts are now my favorite.’

Matthias approached a door leading towards an office… and kicked it.

“Eeeek!” a man inside yelped. He was accompanied with two others, but they seem to be just as frightened and confused as him.

Matthias took the chance, and flew towards one of them.

“Uack!” one of them grunts as Matthias grabbed him. He then threw this one to the other one, slamming them hard on to each other.

This leaves the one behind the desk left alone.

“Who, who are you?! What the fuck do you think you are doing?! Do you even know who we are!” the man spoke while stuttering a bit. Fear visibly plastered on his face.

“Relax, friend, I’m not here to hurt you. We’re just gonna have a nice chat, you and I.” said Matthias.
He did not mask his voice, but it still sounded extremely intimidating to him; having someone spoke to him in a nonchalant way as the noises of screams, explosions, furniture breaking, and so on are in the background

“Y-Y-You can’t make me talk!” said the hideout leader while stuttering, seemingly trying to show his last act of defiance.

Matthias smiled, and he took out a device on him. It was something like the shock device used by Batman when he faced Matthias as the Wraith, as well as the one he used to temporarily disable Luthor’s prototype war-suit.

And so, with this device in his hand, Matthias approached his prey.

“Let’s how much pain you can endure before you spill everything out…”