[A/N: Next chapter will be a look into Harley and Ivy's journies]
Once again a cutscene played before Selina's eyes.
An image of the city on fire with the label 'Day 1' appeared, with a line dashing across beneath it, showing a passing of time.
"While sliding into unconsciousness, I could somehow...I don't know...hear the voices of the dying. Thousands crushed by falling buildings or burned alive with fires," The voice of her current body spoke, narrating.
"Trish lost her sister, almost lost me. Zeke was always there, somehow sure that I'd wake up while outside the city fell apart, a plague struck, followed by rioting, theft, rapes, civilization committing suicide. In a bullshit attempt to contain the biological threat, the federal government locked down all access in and out of the city. We were stuck a cage with the pyschopaths. The cops are all but gone from the streets, either dead or too chickenshit cowards to stand against the gangs that control. Outside things were bad, but inside," the cutscene stopped above her current unconciouss body's face.
"But inside, inside me, something was beginning. Scary as hell at first," it showed her body shielding their face from the sparks that emitted from their hands as they laid on a hospital bed. "You gotta understand, there was no one to talk to, no experts to consult, but with time I'm learning to control it, master it, I just hope its not too late."
The cutscene showed her body going through training as they learned how to control and use their powers with the final comic-like slide of the cutscene showing him standing atop a ledge as the city around them is burning.
Suddenly she found herself transitioned to the top of a rooftop where Zeke and her...'avatar?' Made a little home for themselves, eke nearby laying on a couch reading something.
"I thought you were gonna watch TV," Her avatar spoke.
"Ah, batteries dead again, eh...you mind putting on a freakshow?" He momentarily hesitated to say.
"Sure...glad its good for something."
"Probably need to charge them all, TV's a hog," he suggested before going back to reading.
It was strange how easy Zeke set up the batteries when it came to finding them, because all three were scattered across the rooftop with flashing red pannels.
At first she had no idea how to use the powers, but strangely enough, she felt the voice in her mind help her, giving her instinctual suggestions on how to use her newfound powers.
It was a very strange feeling, she couldn't put it into words.
It was like controlling an invisible limb that spanend her avatar's whole body, but that didn't even begin to explain what it felt like.
With a flash, electricity flowed out of her avatar's arms and began arcing around them as if it it was a coil.
Raising her avatar's hand, she pointed in the direction of the battery that was directly behind her and right next to Zeke.
Pulling the energy down her arm, a litteral bolt of electricity was launched from her palm and right into the fence behind the battery due to putting too much power into the bolt.
Arcs of electricity bounced on the chain-link fence causing a weird spider-web like effect.
"Watch where your aiming man!" Zeke shouted, seeing the electricity washing over the fence until it dissipated.
"Sorry," she told Zeke, finally speaking herself instead of letting her Avatar speaking.
Taking more care to her aim and how much force she puts into the bolts, she began zapping the battery until it showed it was fully charged then proceeded to charge the other two batteries as well.
"Whoo! That's what I'm talking about!" Zeke shouted.
"Who-hoo! Nice job man, boob tube's working!"
"Weird, feels like I got more power," Her avatar spoke.
"Yeah? Try fryin' those dummies over there. With all the nut-balls runnin' around, it'd be nice to see how much juice you're packin'," Zeke suggested, pointing at the mannequins he had for some reason.
Listening to his suggestions, Selina felt she might as well give it a try, it would be nice to get a clue on just how powerful these powers made her.
Throwing just a single bolt of electricity with little effort caused a ball of energy around the size of a tennis ball to hit the mannequin, leaving behind a small scorch mark.
Not satisfied, she put in more power with the next one, causing a energy ball the size of a baseball to be sent flying at the mannequin, causing arcs of energy to ripple along the mannequin and leaving a much larger scorch mark.
"Yeah! Lay into it man, fry those suckers!" Zeke commented on the side.
Selina then threw multiple bolts at the target in a quick succession.
"Yeah! Whooo-Hooo!" Zeke hollered.
Suddenly a large cargo plane flew not far above, causing both of them to jump due to how low the plane was flying, even almost hitting the building.
"Whoo, you see that? Flyin' so low, thought it was going to crash into us!" Zeke asked before suddenly interrupting whatever she was going to say.
"Hey, it's the TV jacker. I love this guy!" Zeke laughed before sitting up.
Suddenly the screen of the box TV switched from static to a room where a blurry man stood in front of a wall with a strange image.
"Just got word that the feds dropped some relief packages into Archer Square. The liars at the corporate media tell us that we're gonna get our fair share? That more is comin'? Yeah, that's easy for them to say. They're not the ones living in this hellhole, and the truth is that we've been abandoned, and no one's coming to save us. So head over to Archer Square and get that food before the Reapers show up. Voice of Survival out."
Selina didn't think the situation was that bad, especially with living in Gotham for most of her life, little did she know, she would find that in this city, where everyone had to fight for food to survive like it was a slum? Human compassion was a rarity.
"Told you they'd drop food," her avatar spoke, confident.
"Man, you must be outta your mind. You think any of those pencil-necks gives a crap about us? This is a PR stunt," Zeke scoffed.
"That isn't going to stop you from pigging out, though, is it?" Her avatar joked.
"Hell no it ain't. Zeke's gotta eat!" Zeke laughed, hugging his stomach to show it off.
Feeling a bit disgusted, her Avatar spoke again, "You take the stairs. I'm using the express elevator."
"Man, you get to have all the fun," Zeke stated, sounding...depressed?
Taking a deep breath, she walked over to the ledge of the roof, and stared down, seeing the building to be at least six floors tall.
"What are you waiting for? Do it!"
Clenching her teeth, she jumped, hoping her avatar's body was strong enough.
[Congratulations! You have earned the achievement, 'The First Step' and have earned 5 credits!]
Ignoring the comment, she clenched her teeth harder as her legs touched the ground and a thud echoed across the area.
Surprisingly, she felt only a bit of pain.
"That's what I'm talking about!" Her avatar spoke.
Did her powers make her stronger too?
She hadn't felt tired, hungry, or thirsty, did the powers improve those as well?
Bursting out of a door, Zeke looked disappointed, was he expecting to beat her down the stairs?
"Whoo, that was one hell of a jump, man. Wish I could do something like that, runnin' down all those stairs, that sucks donkey balls," Zeke told me with a bit of heavy breathing.
"Hey Cole, before we head over to Archer, I need to go pick up a new six-shooter," Zeke quickly mentioned.
"Sigh, Here we go..." Her avatar said with a sigh.
"Nah, that was bad-ass. The second you touched it, the electricity in your hands cooks off the gun powder and the whole thing goes KA-BAM!" He laughed, "The look on your face was priceless!"
"Damn near blew my hand off," My avatar scoffed, annoyed.
'So I can't use guns?' Selina wondered.
"Which is why you won't be touching the new one. Traded this guy one of my home-made batteries for it," Zeke stated with a smile.
"The ones that explode when you use 'em?" Her avatar asked.
"Hell, he doesn't know that. C'mon, told me he was going to leave the gun in a parking lot a few blocks from here," He laughed.
Selina couldnt help but have a small smirk towards the cunning of her avatar's friend.
Walking down the street, Zeke asked, "Hey Cole, you know what I miss? Pizza. A big, sloppy slice drippin' with grease and pepperoni. And payday. Havin' a big, fat wad of bills in your pocket!"
"I'd settle for some hot water," My avatar replied.
"Hey, remember that time we were comin' home from Duffy's and I had to take a leak? And that bike cop was yelling at me to put up my hands?" He chuckled.
"You pissed all over him," My avatar smirked, and stated with a small chuckle.
"He told me to put up my hands! While he's fumblin' around, I jump back in and we take off." He laughed, "Awesome!"
"Yeah, awesome. Until we run into a wall of cops," My avatar, Cole, replied with a scoff and a smirk.
"Like I said, awesome!" He laughed, "Bummer we won't be able to do anything like that again."
"Not unless some genius invents a car that doesn't explode when I sit in it."
We then reached the parking lot which was in an alley between two buildings.
There were about a dozen cars parked around.
"Ah c'mon... he told me he was going to leave it under a car. I figured there'd be only one. We'll never find it," He said annoyed.
"Stand back. I got an idea," Cole told Zeke, causing Zeke to back up.
Not understanding what Cole wanted her to do, she suddenly got an idea, and raising both of her arms and letting the electricity flow onto her arms, she threw her arms out and a shockwave flew out from her in a circle sending a car in front of me flying.
"Hellacious! Hell, I didn't know you could do somethin' like that."
"Me neither... there was this surge..." Cole stated before she began to feel lightheaded and exhausted.
"Hey man, you don't look so hot, you okay?" Zeke asked, raising his arms up to catch her as if she was suddenly going to collapse.
"Drained all of a sudden... hang on a sec..." Cole told Zeke.
Feeling an idea for what Cole meant, she began walking over to a electric box attached to a nearby building.
Raising her arms, she felt a sudden tug on the wall, and when she pulled, arcs of electricity flowed into her from the pannel.
"Did you see that?" Cole asked, turning around.
"Man, you're a walking battery! Must have to recharge whenever you fire off a bunch of juice!" Zeke stated.
"I can feel the electricity surging through me, almost like I'm being healed by it," Cole stated with surprise.
Zeke laughed, "This rocks so hard! C'mon, let's haul tail over to Archer Square 'fore someone takes all the brewskis!"
[A/N: Next chapter will be a look into Harley and Ivy's journies]
Once again a cutscene played before Selina's eyes.
An image of the city on fire with the label 'Day 1' appeared, with a line dashing across beneath it, showing a passing of time.
"While sliding into unconsciousness, I could somehow...I don't know...hear the voices of the dying. Thousands crushed by falling buildings or burned alive with fires," The voice of her current body spoke, narrating.
"Trish lost her sister, almost lost me. Zeke was always there, somehow sure that I'd wake up while outside the city fell apart, a plague struck, followed by rioting, theft, rapes, civilization committing suicide. In a bullshit attempt to contain the biological threat, the federal government locked down all access in and out of the city. We were stuck a cage with the pyschopaths. The cops are all but gone from the streets, either dead or too chickenshit cowards to stand against the gangs that control. Outside things were bad, but inside," the cutscene stopped above her current unconciouss body's face.
"But inside, inside me, something was beginning. Scary as hell at first," it showed her body shielding their face from the sparks that emitted from their hands as they laid on a hospital bed. "You gotta understand, there was no one to talk to, no experts to consult, but with time I'm learning to control it, master it, I just hope its not too late."
The cutscene showed her body going through training as they learned how to control and use their powers with the final comic-like slide of the cutscene showing him standing atop a ledge as the city around them is burning.
Suddenly she found herself transitioned to the top of a rooftop where Zeke and her...'avatar?' Made a little home for themselves, eke nearby laying on a couch reading something.
"I thought you were gonna watch TV," Her avatar spoke.
"Ah, batteries dead again, eh...you mind putting on a freakshow?" He momentarily hesitated to say.
"Sure...glad its good for something."
"Probably need to charge them all, TV's a hog," he suggested before going back to reading.
It was strange how easy Zeke set up the batteries when it came to finding them, because all three were scattered across the rooftop with flashing red pannels.
At first she had no idea how to use the powers, but strangely enough, she felt the voice in her mind help her, giving her instinctual suggestions on how to use her newfound powers.
It was a very strange feeling, she couldn't put it into words.
It was like controlling an invisible limb that spanend her avatar's whole body, but that didn't even begin to explain what it felt like.
With a flash, electricity flowed out of her avatar's arms and began arcing around them as if it it was a coil.
Raising her avatar's hand, she pointed in the direction of the battery that was directly behind her and right next to Zeke.
Pulling the energy down her arm, a litteral bolt of electricity was launched from her palm and right into the fence behind the battery due to putting too much power into the bolt.
Arcs of electricity bounced on the chain-link fence causing a weird spider-web like effect.
"Watch where your aiming man!" Zeke shouted, seeing the electricity washing over the fence until it dissipated.
"Sorry," she told Zeke, finally speaking herself instead of letting her Avatar speaking.
Taking more care to her aim and how much force she puts into the bolts, she began zapping the battery until it showed it was fully charged then proceeded to charge the other two batteries as well.
"Whoo! That's what I'm talking about!" Zeke shouted.
"Who-hoo! Nice job man, boob tube's working!"
"Weird, feels like I got more power," Her avatar spoke.
"Yeah? Try fryin' those dummies over there. With all the nut-balls runnin' around, it'd be nice to see how much juice you're packin'," Zeke suggested, pointing at the mannequins he had for some reason.
Listening to his suggestions, Selina felt she might as well give it a try, it would be nice to get a clue on just how powerful these powers made her.
Throwing just a single bolt of electricity with little effort caused a ball of energy around the size of a tennis ball to hit the mannequin, leaving behind a small scorch mark.
Not satisfied, she put in more power with the next one, causing a energy ball the size of a baseball to be sent flying at the mannequin, causing arcs of energy to ripple along the mannequin and leaving a much larger scorch mark.
"Yeah! Lay into it man, fry those suckers!" Zeke commented on the side.
Selina then threw multiple bolts at the target in a quick succession.
"Yeah! Whooo-Hooo!" Zeke hollered.
Suddenly a large cargo plane flew not far above, causing both of them to jump due to how low the plane was flying, even almost hitting the building.
"Whoo, you see that? Flyin' so low, thought it was going to crash into us!" Zeke asked before suddenly interrupting whatever she was going to say.
"Hey, it's the TV jacker. I love this guy!" Zeke laughed before sitting up.
Suddenly the screen of the box TV switched from static to a room where a blurry man stood in front of a wall with a strange image.
"Just got word that the feds dropped some relief packages into Archer Square. The liars at the corporate media tell us that we're gonna get our fair share? That more is comin'? Yeah, that's easy for them to say. They're not the ones living in this hellhole, and the truth is that we've been abandoned, and no one's coming to save us. So head over to Archer Square and get that food before the Reapers show up. Voice of Survival out."
Selina didn't think the situation was that bad, especially with living in Gotham for most of her life, little did she know, she would find that in this city, where everyone had to fight for food to survive like it was a slum? Human compassion was a rarity.
"Told you they'd drop food," her avatar spoke, confident.
"Man, you must be outta your mind. You think any of those pencil-necks gives a crap about us? This is a PR stunt," Zeke scoffed.
"That isn't going to stop you from pigging out, though, is it?" Her avatar joked.
"Hell no it ain't. Zeke's gotta eat!" Zeke laughed, hugging his stomach to show it off.
Feeling a bit disgusted, her Avatar spoke again, "You take the stairs. I'm using the express elevator."
"Man, you get to have all the fun," Zeke stated, sounding...depressed?
Taking a deep breath, she walked over to the ledge of the roof, and stared down, seeing the building to be at least six floors tall.
"What are you waiting for? Do it!"
Clenching her teeth, she jumped, hoping her avatar's body was strong enough.
[Congratulations! You have earned the achievement, 'The First Step' and have earned 5 credits!]
Ignoring the comment, she clenched her teeth harder as her legs touched the ground and a thud echoed across the area.
Surprisingly, she felt only a bit of pain.
"That's what I'm talking about!" Her avatar spoke.
Did her powers make her stronger too?
She hadn't felt tired, hungry, or thirsty, did the powers improve those as well?
Bursting out of a door, Zeke looked disappointed, was he expecting to beat her down the stairs?
"Whoo, that was one hell of a jump, man. Wish I could do something like that, runnin' down all those stairs, that sucks donkey balls," Zeke told me with a bit of heavy breathing.
"Hey Cole, before we head over to Archer, I need to go pick up a new six-shooter," Zeke quickly mentioned.
"Sigh, Here we go..." Her avatar said with a sigh.
"Nah, that was bad-ass. The second you touched it, the electricity in your hands cooks off the gun powder and the whole thing goes KA-BAM!" He laughed, "The look on your face was priceless!"
"Damn near blew my hand off," My avatar scoffed, annoyed.
'So I can't use guns?' Selina wondered.
"Which is why you won't be touching the new one. Traded this guy one of my home-made batteries for it," Zeke stated with a smile.
"The ones that explode when you use 'em?" Her avatar asked.
"Hell, he doesn't know that. C'mon, told me he was going to leave the gun in a parking lot a few blocks from here," He laughed.
Selina couldnt help but have a small smirk towards the cunning of her avatar's friend.
Walking down the street, Zeke asked, "Hey Cole, you know what I miss? Pizza. A big, sloppy slice drippin' with grease and pepperoni. And payday. Havin' a big, fat wad of bills in your pocket!"
"I'd settle for some hot water," My avatar replied.
"Hey, remember that time we were comin' home from Duffy's and I had to take a leak? And that bike cop was yelling at me to put up my hands?" He chuckled.
"You pissed all over him," My avatar smirked, and stated with a small chuckle.
"He told me to put up my hands! While he's fumblin' around, I jump back in and we take off." He laughed, "Awesome!"
"Yeah, awesome. Until we run into a wall of cops," My avatar, Cole, replied with a scoff and a smirk.
"Like I said, awesome!" He laughed, "Bummer we won't be able to do anything like that again."
"Not unless some genius invents a car that doesn't explode when I sit in it."
We then reached the parking lot which was in an alley between two buildings.
There were about a dozen cars parked around.
"Ah c'mon... he told me he was going to leave it under a car. I figured there'd be only one. We'll never find it," He said annoyed.
"Stand back. I got an idea," Cole told Zeke, causing Zeke to back up.
Not understanding what Cole wanted her to do, she suddenly got an idea, and raising both of her arms and letting the electricity flow onto her arms, she threw her arms out and a shockwave flew out from her in a circle sending a car in front of me flying.
"Hellacious! Hell, I didn't know you could do somethin' like that."
"Me neither... there was this surge..." Cole stated before she began to feel lightheaded and exhausted.
"Hey man, you don't look so hot, you okay?" Zeke asked, raising his arms up to catch her as if she was suddenly going to collapse.
"Drained all of a sudden... hang on a sec..." Cole told Zeke.
Feeling an idea for what Cole meant, she began walking over to a electric box attached to a nearby building.
Raising her arms, she felt a sudden tug on the wall, and when she pulled, arcs of electricity flowed into her from the pannel.
"Did you see that?" Cole asked, turning around.
"Man, you're a walking battery! Must have to recharge whenever you fire off a bunch of juice!" Zeke stated.
"I can feel the electricity surging through me, almost like I'm being healed by it," Cole stated with surprise.
Zeke laughed, "This rocks so hard! C'mon, let's haul tail over to Archer Square 'fore someone takes all the brewskis!"
