Gotham Arc #2.
Jake barely got out of the way, his brain short-circuiting somewhere between Harley's words and her swing.
Deadly puns included. He should definitely not underestimate her.
Metal buckled, the truck groaning as it collapsed in on itself.
She lifted the mallet and flipped it, her face contorting. She had wrecked her truck. It made her fume. The guilt didn't last, but the expression remained.
"Those reflexes won't save you from getting squashed like a bug," Harley said, propelling the mallet for a combo attack.
Jake didn't bother responding with words. He dodged the first thrust, then fired two quick web shots at her.
Thwip-thwip.
Hop. Step.
Harley jumped back and cartwheeled to the left, leaving the webs to splatter uselessly on the tarmac.
"Don't tell me you're an actual bug," she said, side-eyeing the sticky webs.
"You talk too much," Jake tried nabbing her with a web-line.
Flip.
She dodged with a strained, yet surprisingly elegant handstand.
"Freak," Harley gnarled. "I'll give a show if that's what ya' want."
Jake caught himself impressed at how she twirled around the inverted mallet's shaft like a cobra. Up to the tip, she then flung it to rise with her in the air, subtly applying direction to its gathered momentum.
RAAAMMMM!!!
While the delicate balance with which she manipulated the mallet was mesmerizing, Jake's sharp senses kept him aware of the danger involved.
He swung out of the way just before the mallet splintered and cratered the ground he'd been standing on, and yanked himself behind her before she could settle from her attack.
"That was impressive," he whispered behind her. "But you--"
The wind turned monstrous.
He didn't have the time for a full assessment, but half a glance to where the mallet had been a second ago was enough to make him wonder.
How the heck she had managed to switch up the attack so quickly?
He latched onto the side of the nearest building before the worst could be confirmed. Harley's mallet missed him by a hair strand -- Spidersense confirmed.
"Don't think you have the time to be flirtin' honey," Harley's grin stretched impossibly.
"I've never seen that before," Jake mumbled in shock, heart beating rapidly in his chest from the adrenaline. "Not in any comic or film."
"A spider huh," Harley wondered aloud. "Never seen you around before. What's your deal?"
Jake breathed, shaking off the adrenaline. He eyed the mallet. It was the only explanation he had for the move she had just pulled.
"Deal? Pffft. Can't a guy have hobbies nowadays?" Jake replied. "Just sign the mallet and hand it over."
Harley's eye twitched. She didn't like him threatening to separate her from her prized possession. She had made so many memories with her mallet -- and she intended to keep going.
Furious, she charged, her mallet thirsty for blood. The murderous intent stunk like a rotten corpse. Jake swung out of the way, web guided by a nearby lamp post. Harley's mallet planted onto the side of the office building, shattering glass and fracturing the floor.
"Aaarghhhh!" Jake heard Harley screaming.
"Missed me," he mocked.
Bzz!
He tilted his head. From the corner of his eye, he spotted the incoming danger. A swarm of purple and pink balls were approaching him fast.
"Hahahaha..."
Harley wasn't screaming out of frustration, she was laughing, pleased by her orchestration.
She had thrown explosives his way, perfectly anticipating his dodge.
Jake panicked -- only for a moment. Dodge? Possible. But what if--?
He had an idea in the moment.
He fired a wide sheet of webbing that ballooned like a catcher's mitt.
Thap-thap!
The bombs stuck into the web and stuck on the sticky surface, wriggling against the strands.
"Thanks for the gift," Jake yanked the net's support line hand.
The whole thing snapped like a slingshot, flinging Harley's own explosions right back at her.
Her laugh stopped, smugness morphing into dread instantly.
Shit-shit!
She jumped over a parked car beside her and leapt out of the way with as much force as she could muster
Poo-pow!
The bombs went off, the explosive force flinging the car into the air. It flipped and rotated towards an airborne Harley, knocking her off a planned cartwheel land.
She let go of the mallet and fell face first, biting her lips alongside a series of injuries caused by the splintered ground. The car rolled off her back, adding pressure to injury.
Jake yanked himself and crouch-landed before her. With no time to waste, he grabbed the mallet, bringing it to his hands with a web. It was lighter than he had anticipated, but still heavier than normal.
"Ow, ngy ngeg'," Harley groaned in a pain striking attempt to stand up. Her spine felt stiff and on the verge of breaking. She barely made any movement.
"Give.. that back!" She hissed, words struggling to come out of her injured mouth.
"I would put ice on that if I were you," Jake quipped.
"I will kill you... Fuckin' bug!" Harley threatened, her words broken but the intent crystal clear.
Jake paused. She wasn't just going to let him take the mallet just like that was she? Sounded like a problem.
Web her up for the cops? She'll find a way to escape.
End her now? His hands came forward instinctively, aiming at her head. Web her face and suffocate her?
Reason slipped into his thoughts. Their fight hadn't exactly been discreet and her death would cause a ripple through Gotham. The aftermath would be cops, Batman and Gotham rogues like Joker and Ivy hunting him down. And Jake simply didn't have the time for that.
It wasn't the wisest choice; he concluded, lowering his arms.
Dealing with Harley required a smart approach.
He looked down at her and smirked.
"I'll see you next time, Harley Quinn."
Thwip.
Jake swung to Gotham's tops, disappearing into the night.
He mixed his swinging patterns, backtracked and looped around buildings randomly until he made it to a rusty old motel he was staying at, sure he had covered his tracks properly.
He checked in as Jacob Cross and settled in his room.
"T. Finder, register totem," Jake instructed, holding the mallet before him.
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[Totem collected!]
Category: Uncommon
Reward: +48h to your Time Bank
Redeem totem to receive reward? (Y/N)
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"You mean I can choose to keep a totem instead?" Jake mused.
He weighed the mallet. It wasn't his style, but reverse-engineering Harley's process of enhancing its capabilities with chemicals could prove worthwhile. Nevertheless, that curiosity wasn't enough to tip the scales.
He manually navigated the interface until the Progress Tab was brought to focus.
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[Progress Tab]
Completion: 0.0%
Totems redeemed: 0
Time Bank: 00:08:43
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On his arrival to this world, he had been given a headstart of 72 hours to master his abilities and collect his first totem. With barely 9 hours remaining, his choice was obvious.
"Redeem totem," he didn't spare another thought on the matter. The mallet glowed intensely in his hands, shaft to head, and then shattered into a gazillion specks of red and blue light that got absorbed into his body.
Once the process was complete, the Progress Tab updated.
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[Progress Tab]
Completion: 1.0%
Totems redeemed: 1
Time Bank: 00:56:42
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Was that it?
Another notification appeared.
🕷️
[Totem redeemed!]
Select one Bonus Reward:
1. Bundle of Cash - a little something to keep you going during this time crunch.
2. Totem Icon - for your navigation needs and a chance to collect your next totem faster.
3. Mystery Reward
🕸️
Jake stared at the rewards motionless, already making eliminations mentally.
Having concentrated the [Bundle of Cash] he'd been given as part of the headstart to paying the motel, Jake was currently broke. He barely had any money for food but still believed he could survive a while longer without another cash injection.
The second reward was the most sane to select in his current circumstances. A Totem Icon was like a compass for the navigator. Totems were all over the world for Jake to collect. Without a clear focus on which one he was trying to locate, the navigator would lead him astray. Choosing this was wise because it saved time.
But Jake had other ideas. He believed he could find the next token without the help of a Totem Icon, easily justifying his desire to pick the third option, for the satisfaction of his own curiosity. What would he get from it?
"I choose the [Mystery Reward]," Jake said with certainty.
The object tab snapped to focus, revealing a slowly blinking question-mark icon card. It held Jake in suspense for a bit, then flipped to reveal the prize.
Jake smirked.
"Can't beat my luck," he said as he watched the reward assemble itself in realtime. When the process finished, he lifted the product and held it out in front of him, admiring its colors and patterns.
[Classic Spiderman suit obtained!]
Awesome, he thought, changing.
Adorned in the suit, Jake walked to the closet mirror and revelled at the reflection. It fit him just right. The red and blue colors tasted like nostalgia, the centralized spider embed on his chest reinforcing his identity.
He was...
"The Spider," Jake said firmly, squaring his shoulders.
While sleek, the suit was made of a simple, light fabric like any normal wear. It could damage and tear easily. Jake understood that it was mostly for representation at the start. Once he'd bought enough time in the system, he would work on his own custom design.
Next, Jake addressed his current dilemma. What was his next token?
He summoned the navigator.
The red thread flicked about the webbed interface, shifting directions at random intervals. It wasn't pointing toward a particular totem.
Jake sighed. Without a totem icon, the navigator was essentially useless. He had to go with his gut on this one.
He grabbed himself a glass of water, a pen, scraps of paper, and faced the wall across from his bed. Plotting time.
The first totem had been an iconic, distinctive DC item tied to a popular character. Was it safe to assume that all other totems were like that?
So, something connected to the Joker, Batman, Two Face, etc -- even the likes of Superman and Green Lantern when looking at the broader gallery.
If that was the case, then which item in their possession was a totem?
Jake zoned out -- drawing and scribbling on the pieces of paper, webbing them to the wall, and linking relations with a thin strand of web. Done, he stepped back and observed the creation.
His face fell. His drawings of objects (or rather scribbles) were either uninspired or resembled a kindergarten's by intentional design. His handwriting was feeble and slanted. And he'd used very thick webbing on some pieces, almost suffocating them.
It was the ugliest board he'd ever seen that he was relieved knowing the webs would dissolve in a matter of hours. Still, it was useful.
Having mapped out all the characters in Gotham he could remember, Jake had managed to narrow down his next target to either The Riddler or The Penguin.
Just who between the two depended on the intel Jake would gather from the streets. But that would have to wait till morning.
Grabbing a bag of chips, Jake crashed on the bed with the TV on. It didn't take him long to find a local news channel reporting on his encounter with Harley Quinn. The spotlight was on the jester, however, with anchors discussing how she had managed to cause chaos and escape the cops twice in the same night.
Police's credibility in question, GCPD's Commissioner Gordon had this to say:
"Crime rate has gone down since we took down the Joker. Harley Quinn is just a puppet begging to be reunited with her master. And we will do so in no time."
"That level of provocation wouldn't work on me," Jake said, honest with himself. How would Harley Quinn react?
Jake turned off the TV. Tired, he closed his eyes and drifted to sleep, snoring in no time.
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