I ducked, dodging Richard's kick, and lashed with a straight punch at his torso. He pushed my hand down and used it as leverage to perform a somersault behind me.

I quickly turned around with a high kick, my above-human speed allowing me to act before Richard could attack, but he still blocked it with his wrist before it hit his neck.

I put more force into my leg, trying to overpower Richard using my superior strength to stagger him or trip to the side. He frowned, taking a step back before I could do that as he let go of my leg, making it hit the ground with a loud thud.

I used the centrifuge force to spin and lash out with a kick from my other leg, and he dodged by jumping back this time. He quickly moved towards me not a second later, sending an open palm towards my shoulder.

I quickly regained my posture and put up my guard to block the hit, but he changed the trajectory of his fist last second, palming me on my forehead before I could react.

"Seriously..." I sighed, my shoulders slumping as I regarded my teacher with an exasperated, fed-up look. "Just how much stronger do I need to be to hit you once?" I asked, rubbing the back of my neck with a tired look.

It never failed to amaze me how Richard could keep up with me despite being physically weaker and slower than me by merely predicting my moves and reacting proactively.

I've reached a point where Richard can't beat me in our spars thanks to my durability and superhuman stamina, but I still couldn't land a single hit on him.

I'm under no illusion that Richard won't slaughter me in a real fight since I've seen him train with weapons before, weapons with pointy ends, the stabby kind that I can't tank like punches and kicks.

"It's not about strength but skill and experience," Richard casually replied, shrugging his shoulders. "They will come with time and practice," he added, dismissively waving to the side as he gave me a once over, looking me up and down.

"And at the rate you're improving, you'll land a hit sooner or later," He explained matter-of-factly, nodding his head. "I'm already noticing an improvement in your fighting ability since the last time we spoke about why you weren't improving so quickly anymore..." he added, giving me a questioning look, to which I smiled sheepishly.

"It looks like you're proactively looking for fights outside of my training, which is good..." Richard remarked, smiling at me as he regarded me with narrowed eyes.

"But it also means that your wounds are better and more experience now, and it's time we step up the training," Richard concluded, crossing his arms, making me sigh as I turned to my character screen.

...

Name: Grayson Whitlock

Race: Human

Gender: Male

Age: 17

Class: [Thief (level 10 MAX)] [Fighter (level MAX)] [Acrobat (Level 7)]

...

Stats:

Body: 45

Mind: 45

Spirit: Locked

Stat Points: 35

...

Skills:

[Brawling (level 23)]

[Crime (level 25)]

[Acrobatics (level 7)]

...

It had been a week since I went on my little swinging adventure with the steel wire, and I might have developed a taste for it since I kept doing it every day for an hour.

I enjoyed it too much not to do it, and I also stopped to fight off the occasional mugger and rapist I stumbled on while swinging my way across the streets.

Again, I wasn't trying to be a hero or anything like that, but the little help I provided didn't take much effort and helped me get experience in actual fights since I sometimes had to fight a group of people instead of one person.

I also made it my duty to empty my victi— the thugs' pockets, so it wasn't entirely selfless.

"Does it?" I asked, sheepishly smiling as I scratched my head. "My shoulder muscles are still kind of sore...?" I added, awkwardly clearing my throat at my excuse.

My wounds had already healed, but that didn't stop me from trying to postpone and avoid Richard's so-called practical lessons since my great teacher had no sense of escalation.

The man kept escalating things, from three thugs on the street, to a meeting between Black Mask's gang and the Intergang, which left me wondering and dreading what he'd make me do next.

"You're not fooling anyone, kid," Richard said, rolling his eyes in annoyance as he gave me an exasperated look. "Here..." he added, taking a small piece of paper from his pocket and giving it to me.

"This is your next target..." he added as I looked at the paper, noticing the address there. It was in Gotham's docks, probably a warehouse or something like that.

"I won't be there to bail you out this time, so scope out the place and clear it at your own discretion," Richard explained with a meaningful look on his face.

"You can go about however you like, as long you don't use guns and avoid killing unless necessary," my teacher remarked in a stern tone that brokered no agreement. "Kill if you have to, but I don't want a bloodbath," he concluded.

"Is there a reason you're not tagging along this time?" I asked, raising an eyebrow. Richard's tone made it very clear that I'll have to clear the address he gave me whether or not I liked it, so there was no point arguing about it.

"I have business to attend to outside Gotham," Richard carelessly replied, shrugging his shoulders. "I'll be out of town for at least ten days..." he added, gesturing to the side with an open palm.

"I expect you to have finished the task by the time I'm back, so you better get to work as soon as possible," he remarked as he looked up. "It's already getting late, so that's it for today," he added as he turned back to me after noticing the darkening sky.

"I'll find you when I come back, so don't bother checking at the park," he concluded, ending the conversation as he shooed me away, and I obliged with a shrug of my shoulders.

"Sure, then I'll see you when you come back," I replied, without bothering to question how he'll find me. He never asked me where I live, but I'm sure he'll manage.

It's one of those things you learn to not question in this world, like how people suddenly disappear when you look away from them for a mere second.

If I had a dollar every time someone pulled that shit on me... maybe I won't be rich, and I'd only have a handful, but it's still weird and rude that people keep doing it, ok?

In any case, I can't say I wasn't curious about what kind of business he had to attend to, but if he's willing to share, he would have told me already, so I didn't bother and just left after saying goodbye.

...

Gotham City's sewers

"You're damn persistent," Robin exclaimed through gritted teeth, running through waste-filled sewers for his life as Killer Croc burst through a wall behind him, sending bricks and debris flying everywhere.

He retrieved several a handful of explosive pellets from his utility belt and threw them at the humanoid lizard chasing after him. Killer crocs merely crossed his arms in front of his face and shrugged them off as he continued the chase.

"You brought this on yourself, kid," Killer Croc exclaimed, his voice distorted as he gnashed his teeth in anger. "I ain't going back to that Arkham Zoo, and I ain't about to let you go and get the Bat either," he added, increasing his speed as he began running on all fours.

The ambush Robin had spent days and a ton of effort setting up had failed, and it wasn't because he couldn't get Killer Croc to step into the trapped area, nor was it a poorly made trap either.

He'd spent more than a week preparing and clearing the area of anything that could compromise his plans while tracking Killer Croc, and he made sure to double-check everything before heading out to lore the humanoid lizard.

He did just that, but imagine his surprise when he returned to the ambush area with the humanoid lizard on his tail, only to find everything he'd set up gone.

Someone had sabotaged his ambush while he was away, leaving him unable to shake away the bloodthirsty lizard chasing after him, not to mention capturing him.

"Damn it!" Robin cursed as he looked behind his shoulder, seeing Killer Croc closing the distance between them with every passing second. His eyes darted around, scanning the area and formulating a plan.

The Boy Wonder's eyes lit up as he saw a metal ladder to the surface and acted quickly, throwing smoke pellets into the ground. He fired several Batarangs at Killer Croc to distract him and made for the ladder under the smoke's cover.

...

'Well... this can't be good, can it...?' I slowly blinked as I watched the sewer cover fly up in front of me and immediately ran for cover, storing the sandwiches bag in my hand into my inventory.

My suspicions were quickly confirmed by Robin, in his infamous bright green speedo, climbing out of the sewer while, followed by a humanoid lizard bursting out of the ground like a stripper through a birthday cake.

'Ah... poop...'

 

---

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