Canon Fodder

CHAPTER 428 REPERCUSSIONS

I shot the Rift out of my body. The power cracked open space in front of me and a meadow was revealed through the small opening in space. I smiled at it. The meadow was a good 60 feet away from me. Only a few weeks with the power and it was already better than old me ever trained it to. The best he could do was about 20 feet. 

The trick was always figuring out the power. The little nuances of it. Where Nen was my lifeforce or soul, Haki was my Spiritual power, the Rift was just something special about my body. Like having an extra finger. A power that ripped open space around me. Able to skip steps, I assumed that I was maybe folding the space of the three dimensions. Stepping into the portal was really stepping 60 feet away. But that was the space distortion of my power, which didn’t explain my sub-space. 

An extra hidden dimension where I stored items it was much easier to open than a Rift. Stacked with some gold and jewels I had hidden away, as well as a golden lasso and a few other items I wasn’t sure what to do with, I was excited about my time in DC World. Though the place was at it’s infancy like Marvel world was, there were possibilities. Too bad I didn’t know the DC heroes and villains as well as Marvel though. 

I had never been one for the DC comics. Back when I was a kid you were usually a fan of DC or Marvel. Only the rich kids could afford both, so you picked one. You typically found your favorite characters and stuck to them. So I didn’t know all the tips and tricks for the DC world. Like where Wonder Woman was, or Atlantis, or most anything not in the recent DC movies. Instead of being preemptive about it, I let the canon flow and followed along with it. 

“Why don’t you step through?” Willow asked. She had a cup of water in her hand as she sat on a boulder. We were outside of Wayne Manor, on the property. After I destroyed more than a few walls, Alfred demanded we train outside. Though it was cold, I didn’t mind. I liked the fall weather. 

“How’s the water divination?” I asked. 

She lifted up the glass to show that the water was almost black with all the impurities her Nen was bringing to the surface. Of course she was a Conjurer. Able to make objects with her aura I was pretty sure that it was one of the better Nen abilities. I had awoken the skill in her two weeks ago, and she was getting pretty good. 

I stood up, appreciating the strength of her Nen. Pointing a finger up, she charged nen into her eyes, using Gyo. “7,” she said, seeing the figure in the air I made with my own Nen. The same method that Biscuit had used with Gon and Killua, it was a good way to teach.

“Good,” I said. “You’re ready.”

“What now?” She asked with a smile as she jumped off the boulder. 

“No, you’re done,” I said. “You know the basics of everything now. It’s time for you to go on your own.” She frowned, confused as she looked up at me. 

“What about all your other skills? The flying and stuff?”

“I told you, I don’t know how to teach that,” I said as I laughed. “It’s just Nen.”

“B-but I still don’t have an attack,” she said.

“You need to come up with that on your own,” I said yet again. “You know that. Don’t act like I haven’t seen you making those shadow whips.” She blushed, looking down to the ground. She really was talented. Though it took time to move past her own hesitation with fighting. Now that she was not thinking so much she was a lot faster. Going from one move to another she had turned practicing in the ring into useful real world skills that would be hard for anyone to face. There wouldn’t be any more thugs that would be able to beat her. 

Despite what I assumed, she hadn’t had much practice as The Haunt. Mainly sticking to petty criminals, the night I met her was her first attempt at approaching the ever-growing Joker lackeys. Though I had been harsh on her, the near death experience was enough of a wakeup call to show the reclusive billionaire she wasn’t quite ready. I didn’t plan on completely abandoning her of course. A short while where she went out into the real world would do her good. I’d check on her in a few days. Spar her, and continue to push her. 

She frowned though, her Haki scared and sad. “Willow, come on,” I said. “You’ve done awesome over the last month. I bet you will go out there and-” I stopped as she jumped up to kiss me. I let it happen. 

To be honest, I wasn’t surprised. She had had the urge a few times in the last couple of weeks. Her Haki telling me what she was thinking, it was kind of obvious by that point. A sudden spike in lust, her looking at my lips, it only happened in moments when Alfred wasn’t watching. For some reason I had been a little hesitant to start. Memories of old me felt like she was young, but real me knew she was older than the girls I typically ended up with. 

I had wondered why she even wanted to kiss me, but I really was reverse aging day by day. After over a month in the world, my 43 year old face was like that of me before I went into the slammer. Much closer to her age. My Viltrumite form could live for hundreds of years, and must have automatically been taking me to my peak age in this body. Or the nen. I still didn’t understand how that affected age. Either way I was happy to not look so old. 

When I didn’t reciprocate the kiss Willow’s fear spiked so I grabbed her lower back and kissed her in return. Moaning in my mouth she wrapped her legs around me and held herself up as the kiss became more heated. 

I had honestly considered denying her. Mainly because I wanted Powergirl, but the blonde was always busy saving the world. Either hesitant of my past or fearful of what could happen, or maybe Superman was cockblocking me and I didn’t know it. Since our date Kara had kept her distance. I could have hemmed and hawed, denied Willow and left her to someone else. But I was stuck in these worlds. Why wouldn’t I want a hot rich girl? A completely different person than Bruce Wayne. I had seen her give her all, and I knew she had a lot of passion. 

Though I didn’t know where this would go, I continued the kiss. She moaned in my mouth, her legs wrapping tighter around my waist, my hands went to her perfect ass. Kneading her cheeks, I didn’t use any Sparks. It might have gotten too powerful lately so I didn’t want to risk doing something I didn’t mean to. 

We stayed like that for a long time until the kiss ended naturally. Resting her head on my chest she stayed latched onto me for a time, just breathing in my scent. Instead of just standing there I moved to sit on the boulder she had been sitting on. Rubbing her back she relaxed into me as her legs let me go. A wave of tiredness rolling over her, she about fell asleep like that. I felt like it was time to ask her something I had been wondering as of late. 

“Why did you never bring up my past?” I asked, waking her up. 

“What?” She mumbled from my chest. 

“You knew my name. Who I was. Why didn’t you bring up my past as Rift, once?” I asked. 

“You put in your time,” she mumbled. “Never hurt or killed anyone. I didn’t think it was worth bringing up.” She slowly looked up at me. Big eyes blinking as she stared up at me. I smiled wide, planting a kiss on her lips. She smiled brightly then snuggled back up to my chest. 

We stayed like that for a time. A surprise and welcome end to our training. “Do you really have to go?” She mumbled. 

“I do,” I said, I could feel the fear in her Haki. “You need real world experience if you’re serious about this Haunt thing, Casper.”

“I am serious,” she said, more resolve in her voice and Haki. “I just…” 

“I’m not leaving the city,” I assured her. “I’m on parole, remember? No, I just think you should start patrolling again. Digging into the stuff you put on hold a month ago. I’ll stop by after you get in a few fights. Help you refine your techniques.”

“Really?” She asked, pulling back, a wide smile on her lips. 

“Really,” I said. “You’re my student-” That was the wrong thing to say after making out with her. “Er…what are you?”

“I’m…” She struggled for a word. “I don’t know.”

“Good, glad that’s clear,” I said. “Willow, this city is bad. But I think you’re ready to handle it now. I don’t have the exact calling you have, but I try to help those I can. I’d love to continue training…and spending time with you.” She smiled again, biting her lip as she nodded. 

“I’d like that,” she admitted. Kissing my lips again. She pulled back, smiling more than I had seen in the past month. 

“And if you finish up patrolling early, you can just stop by my place,” I said, pinching her rump. 

“Or, you can just stay here,” she said. “It’s such a big place.” 

“It is,” I agreed. “I got lost trying to find the bathroom again.” 

“Yeah, I know, Alfred keeps saying he catches you peeing outside.”

“He told you that?” I laughed, she nodded. “Bastard. And you still wanted to kiss me?”

“Well I mean, I didn’t want to,” she said.

“Oh you didn’t, why-” I stopped talking as a tornado siren went off. We looked confused at one another and she got off of me. This wasn’t exactly hurricane season, so neither of us was sure what was going on. The siren continued and we ran back to the manor, confused by why it was going off. Alfred was in the kitchen watching a small television as we came in. 

“What’s going on?” Willow asked. 

“It’s Superman. He’s fighting some other super powered person in Metropolis,” Alfred said as he pointed at the television. I looked on the screen and it was as I predicted. The man we pulled out of the Phantom Zone was punching Superman. “The news is saying everyone within a few hundred miles needs to take shelter.” 

“Fuck,” I said. Pulling my Hero Costume out of my Status screen. I threw on the hoodie in a rush. 

“Weston?” Willow asked, concerned as I walked out the door. 

“I have to go,” I said.

“What are you doing?” She asked, exasperated. 

“You have your battles; I have mine,” I said as I jumped up. “I gotta go help Superman.” I flew straight West toward Metropolis. Fear gripping my heart, I hoped I could do what I had been planning since I swiped all that kryptonite. Pushing my flight to the max the air roared in my ears. Coating my body in Nen, the air pressure bothered my eyes less as I pushed forward. 

Going through my plan in my head I couldn’t jump right into the killing. This had to be done delicately so Superman didn’t hate me. Back in the Man of Steel movie, Superman was forced to kill Zod. I wasn’t sure what set the General off this time, or even if this was Zod, but I had a feeling I was right. Canon hardly strayed. 

It wasn’t long until I saw Metropolis ahead. The city not cast under the dark shadow like Gotham, it was bright and new. Then a red laser eye blast cut through a skyscraper. “Holy fuck!” I yelled speeding up somehow. I watched in rapt attention, hoping I saw that wrong. But no, ever so slowly the top 20 stories of the skyscraper tilted and fell over. 

“Fucking inside job,” I said, my heart pumping hard. “Focus Weston, not the time for a 9/11 joke,” I mumbled. The two combatants were already moving to somewhere new. Superman in his red and blue suit, Zod was in a pure black one. Yelling like a madman, I could hear from miles away by the mere power in his lungs. 

“Fuck, this is going to be harder than I thought,” I said. “Why can’t he be like Goku and go somewhere unpopulated?” A million ideas running through my mind I watched them fight. Another skyscraper was hit. The side cratering in, all the glass shattered and fell to the earth below. Pain, fear, and anguish radiated from Metropolis in waves as the fight continued. 

“Fucking fuck, fuckity fuck fuck,” I said. The fight going on in front of me, this was exactly what I shouldn’t be a part of. I was strong, but not strong enough to deal with…

”Fuck you,” I said to myself, my face turning steely. “I’m a fucking Viltrumite. Who knows what the hell I can do? I sure as hell don’t.” My heart rate slowing I watched as Zod blasted another red eye beam. I had been fighting weaklings for weeks now. It was time to fight someone stronger than me. To push past my limits.

I reviewed my powers. I had Nen, which was second nature at this point, Berserker Mode which hadn’t been too helpful because I didn’t let myself get angry too often. I’d have to forego that. The skill could make me a maximum of four times stronger, I would need that. My Fusion was sometimes helpful in battle but I mainly practiced with that by adding and subtracting to my body to try to figure out how to combine with my other twin. Timeflow would be helpful to dodge, so I would have to save that. Rift could be useful. My cracks in space were a lot quicker now. And of course my important skill. 

“Summon Tabi,” I said. The cat materialized out of the air and draped herself on my shoulder. “Were you watching the news in the kitchen?” I asked. 

“Yes,” she said. “It woke me up from my nap.” I had of course let her hang out at the Wayne manor, and she lived up the luxury of the place as Alfred and Willow doted on the cat. “How strong is this guy?”

“We are going against the one in black. Stronger than you at full strength,” I said. “You remember Anissa in Invincible?” 

“The woman who raped you?”

“It was mostly consensual,” I said with a smile. Feeling better already with her by my side. “At least as strong as her.”

“I will stay with you. Lead the way,” she said. No longer joking, I nodded. Closing my eyes I made Nen coat my body. My physique bulking up, it was as good of armor as I would get. My Haki was strong as well. Spiritual Energy ready at a moment’s notice I flew straight for the two men fighting. 

My heart beginning to pump like a hammer in my chest. I felt a smile on my lips form as I flew toward certain death.