This DCverse is Maddening

“Master Bruce, I do believe you need some sleep.” A wizened old voice spoke promptly to a hunched figure. The figure looked to be muscular and tall, even while hunching in his cushioned chair. Short black hair stuck out in wild directions and his blue eyes looked a bit bleary. Clenching his strong jaw he growled.

“I can’t find anything on the kid, Alfred. Just someone normal. Mother died at birth, and his Father followed 10 years later. He lived with some distant relative until they kicked him because his Grandfather left everything to him instead of them. That happened just a couple of months ago. No criminal record, no marks from his schools, no comments or anything. His relatives didn’t even have anything to say either. It’s too clean. Its like he’s a blank slate. I don’t like.”

Alfred could only look down at the disarrayed desk covered haphazardly in papers and postage notes with a slight feeling of dread.

“Master Bruce, has he done done anything in the city of any note?”

“No,” He slumped in defeat,” Besides checking himself into a homeless shelter, he goes to the park and then to the Library. On some days he helps out at a cafe. Just recently he found a dog for someone.”

“That doesn’t sound like someone who’ll cause any real trouble, Master Bruce.”

“But we both know that isn’t how it always turns out.”

That caused the older man to fall into silence. Yes, he stood by Bruce for all these years and saw many good people fall and thrive in villainy. He’s seen it all. Promising scientists becoming obsessed with protecting nature. A mayor who wanted to fix Gotham only to become one its most infamous figures. A psychiatrist falling in love and following that insanity into the sunset. This city truly was cursed in a way.

“Have you thought of talking to him?”

“I don’t want to appear before someone who hasn’t done anything wrong. It wouldn’t be right to use my identity like that. But the moment he steps out of line, I’ll be there.”

“Then Master Bruce,” Alfred voice was soon tinged in amusement,” I think it is for the best that you shower. Young Master Dick has been complaining about how awful you smell.”

**********************************************************************************

Albert blankly stared into the text of mindless and dry instructions before setting the book down and sighing. He couldn’t concentrate due to the events of yesterday, and soon the exhaustion started to creep back into his body. That woman was absolutely crazy, she gave him two hundred dollars. Him, a homeless teenager. He felt as though a hole was being burnt in his pocket the entire day, normally if you gave anyone that amount of money and if they didn’t have any bills it would be a good time. But he had thing he needed to do first. Like for instance, get a phone. So that’s what he did, bought a cheap phone with a decent camera for well under thirty dollars and a full month of service for another twenty dollars.

He was still a bit on edge while carrying around that much cash, but he didn’t have anywhere else to put it. And he sure as hell wasn’t going to hide in the shelter. He didn’t always sleep in the same room and didn’t want to risk giving someone a surprise. That would be another thing to add to the to-do list; get some form of private lodging. If he were to continue on his current track then he would need a somewhere stationary to live. Even temporarily. Maybe he should do that instead of wandering about doing nothing.

But he wanted to at least see what was left for him before he made a decision on lodging. There might be something valuable enough for him to outright buy a building and live the rest of his days in luxury. That thought could help but make him snort in grim amusement.

‘Yeah right, its more likely that pigs will fly.’

He could only sigh in defeat before standing up and putting the book away. There was no way he could concentrate on anything today, there was too much to do. He skipped going to the park today and just stay in the library for hours on in. He could already feel a headache creeping in and knew he needed some fresh air.

Walking out, the smell of smoggy air filled his lungs. He knew that eventually he would need to keep up his momentum and pick up another case but he just didn’t have it in him today. Okay maybe he would swing by on his way back. Just a look, he promised himself.

It didn’t take long for him to reach the notice board, his eyes roaming over the papers layered messily.

‘Line cook 18+, Dishwasher +18, Cashier 18+ or 16+ with guardian signature….’

The fliers went by endlessly and he came to the conclusion that today was a bust in both knowledge and a new case.

“Uhm excuse me?” A soft voice spoke meekly behind him. Turning he saw a male around his age and who edged out in height filling his heart a bit with envy. His shaggy brown hair hung low over his green eyes. Baggy clothes covered a skinnier frame that Albert’s. Seeing the flier in the teens hand, he stepped aside.

“What kind of request to do you have there?”

He couldn’t help but be curios, sure he’s seen people put requests on the board while he was stal-scouting for a lead. But this was the first time he was upclose like this. So it would be good to get actual details not mentioned on the flier.

“Its uh,” the teen shuffled and stammered,”Its stupid, my friends and I are into uh urban exploring? But we heard a rumor of some kind of haunting and wanted some sort of support. More like another person to tag along and record for us.”

‘In other words, you guys want some more bodies in case that place truly is haunted.’ Albert couldn’t help but snort internally, but then paused. Why didn’t his Psychology skill nudge him at all? So far he could come up with two possibilities; This teen before him was incredibly skilled in some sort of deception skill like Fast Talk, or his skill was starting to become more integrated into his subconscious. He would soon find out which was which.

“What’s does the pay look like?” He would keep an open mind in this situation, it might be fun if nothing more.

“W-well, we can offer twenty bucks from each of us and maybe more if we can get some good footage.”

Albert weighed the pros/cons and came to the conclusion that this would be easy money, especially with his high Photography skill. If he didn’t really need to use his head, it’ll be a good way to relieve stress.

“Do you have a video camera?”

“No,” he shook his head,” W-we don’t need anything that fancy, just use a phone. I think it’ll look better that way to. Some of the best horror movies are spookier if they’re from a crappy camera.”

‘So a horror movie enthusiast? Let’s hope this actually be like one.’

“Tell you what, I’ll take the job.”

“Really?!” the teen exclaimed.

“Yeah, it’ll be fun.”

“Do you have a phone number? I can text you the time and place after I get the got ahead from my friends.”

“Yeah but we should introduce ourselves if we’re going to be working together. My name is Albert.”

Flushing in embarrassment, the teen stammered in turn.

“So-sorry, my n-name is Steven. But my friends call me Steve.”

“Nice to meet you Steve and it’ll be fun to work with you guys.”

They shook hands and exchanged phone numbers before going about their day. Steven with a pip in his step and Albert with a sullen expression on his face.

‘Didn’t I promise myself only to look? Can’t even keep promises to myself.’

He quickly noticed that even after ten minutes of walking, that there was still no sign of his system generating a case or notification. Nothing. Maybe he would have to wait until Steven got the go ahead to contact him. Humans are fickle beings, they could decide that wherever they were going was to scary and not go. Or maybe they would find someone else to rope in as their cameraman.

But now he needed to have a plan. Not just for whatever they had planned but also what to do if the job required him to go at night. It would mean he would have find his own lodging for the night, and he didn’t think the shelter would let him in after hours. No knew that would be the case. This would also be a good opportunity to look for personal housing. He would need the space eventually.

With his thoughts made up, he made his way down the street aimlessly.

**********************************************************************************

Albert’s breathe was labored as he slung the deceptively heavy garbage bag off his back. The sound of it hitting the bottom of the dumpster filled his body with relief. He’s done runs like these a couple of times over these last three days and they haven’t gotten any less strenuous.

His mind began wonder over the happenings over the couple of days, after he got Steven’s number he’s just gotten into a bit of a routine again. Wake up, go to the park, next the library and finally Coffee Stains. Sure the days might’ve been a bit boring, but he could help but feel proud of progress.

‘Status’

[Albert Nelson

HP: 20/20

MP: 9/9

SAN: 44/45

LCK: 45/45

IP: 1

Skills:

- Appraise: 25%

- Art/Craft (Photography): 55%

- Disguise: 20%

- Fire Arms (Handgun): 60%

- Library Use: 60%

- Listen: 30%

- Navigate: 12%

- Occult: 35%

- Psychology: 50%

- Spot Hidden: 60%

- Stealth: 40%

Talents:

- Resourceful

- Lucky

Cthulhu Mythos: 0%]

He finally stuck to his guns and spent two IP over the course of three days causing his Navigate skill to absolutely soar through the Novice tier and settle in the Neophyte tier. He was both shocked and a bit disappointed at his growth. Sure he might’ve progressed by 11% but that was with the assistance of the systems supernatural learning speed. He had high hopes that he could just speed through the tiers until it reached the Amateur tier at least. But no dice. It seems that progress would be slow and might take years to reach respectable levels.

“You did good kid.” A kind gravely voice brought him out of his thoughts. Looking up, he saw a smirking old man in that same apron.

“Are sure there aren’t bodies in those bag?”

He grumbled.

“If I tell you, I gotta put you in one of them.”

Jeremiah chortled. Albert assumed he was joking….probably…..hopefully.

“Come on in, I’ll make you a cup.”

Following behind the man, he sat at the nearest table and looked around. The cafe looked exactly as did almost a week ago with not a customer in sight.

“Do you even have any customers?”

He asked.

“You should see it in the morning, there’s this lass that comes every once and awhile. Spends hours sitting in corning chugging down coffee and reading up a storm. She’s a cute thing, quiet to. Don’t have any problems with her. Unlike some ungrateful youth.”

The old man couldn’t help but snark back good naturally.

The two had gotten close since their first meeting, with the old man good nature jabs and delicious coffee it wasn’t hard for Albert to come out of his shell.

“What does she look like?”

He nonchalantly hedged.

“She’s way out of your league boy,” Jeremiah snorted,” Also no, I think she has too much on her plate to worry about some teenager lusting after her.”

“Have it your way.”
He shrugged, this is what Albert liked about the old man. He showed an ability to read people and how to act around them. He has never seen anyone besides Jeremiah in the cafe and he knew that was purposeful. That damned insightful old man.

“Here ya go,” he placed a steam up in front of him before sitting down at the same table,” I’ve been trying something different and since your here might as well get your opinion.”

“You mean make me into a guinea pig?”

Taking a sip, the bitter taste was real wake up call and filled his body with a surge of energy. With a shiver up his spine, he tried his hardest not to spit out the drink. Coughing and spluttering he placed the cup down.

“What was that?!”

“It was a new drink I’m testing out,” Jeremiah held his hands up,” I like black coffee, the bitter taste gets me up in the morning. But even so, I still remember how I reacted when I first tried it and the suffering it inspired. So to bring that back, I made this.”

Albert could only look at the madman before him with an aghast expression on his face. He actually had the audacity to look proud of his achievement, as if he didn’t just commit affront against mankind as a whole. Nobody drinks black coffee because they like the taste. For a sense of superiority over their fellow man’s weaker resolve, sure. But never for the taste.

Suddenly his eyes bulged, the sound of rushing blood entered his ears, and the rapid thump of heart reverberated through his chest. His body felt alight with so much energy, he felt like he was going to explode. Like he could spend the next couple of hours doing extraneous exercise without even scratching the surface of this bottomless pool of energy.

“Whoa!” Jeremiah put his hands forwards as he saw the look in Albert’s eye,” Calm down, your just over caffeinated. That headache is going to suck, here drink this.”

He practically threw a large water bottle to the jittering youth, whose hand whipped out like a viper and snatched it out of the air. In a flash, half of the bottle was empty and he showed no signs of stopping anytime soon. This repeated itself until eventually he had four large empty water bottles and a sloshing feeling in his stomach. He could do some much with this, he’s always had issues with his mind wandering even during conversations with himself. He would go off on a random internal tangents that he would forgot about what his original thought were. Sometimes they wandered off into the memories of his past life, which seemed short in comparison to his time in the Void. Just the thoughts of that inky black ‘place’ sent shivered up his spine, the endless nothing, the static silence, the lack of temperature, no breeze. It was like he was cut off from all of his senses. Maybe this wasn’t real? All of this could just be his mind on its last bits of fuel.

“Kid?!” a concerned voice shook him out of his spiraling thoughts,” Are you okay? You’re looking a bit pale.”

Shaking his head to send the dark experience to the back of his mind, Albert held tightly onto the table. After taking a few seconds to collect himself, he gave Jeremiah a reassuring smile.

“Stay here,” the old man stood up,” I’ll be back with some more water, you look like you need it.”

Nodding in thanks, he pulled up his SAN meter to see the damage he inadvertently inflicted onto himself.

[SAN:42/45]

He could only groan inwardly, he wasn’t even in a dangerous situation but he had already lost some Sanity. He guessed he would have to lock those memories up tight if he didn’t want them to damage him further. Looking at the cooling cup of doom, he had a sudden thought.

‘Maybe it could be useful? If I only used it in extreme cases, I could definitely use that kind of boost.’

“Here take this and drink slowly.”

Gratefully taking the bottled water, Albert occasionally took sips from it. Soon silence filled the air as the two were grappling with the event.

“Do you know of a cheap place for me to stay for the night?”

He couldn’t help blurt out, anything to break the silence.

“Yeah,” the old man leaned back in his seat,” I have an old friend who runs a motel around here, last I heard he charges like 10 dollars a night.”

“Could you point it out? It would be good to have some options.”

“Sure no problem.”

It didn’t take long for Jeremiah to point out the location and Albert didn’t wait on ceremony. The old man could tell how shaken up he was and didn’t pry and for that he was grateful. Before he fully stood up, he had to ask.

“Any chance you could give me a thermos full of that? I can pay for it.”

The man’s incredulous look caused him to shift side to side slightly, before he sighed in defeat and filled a small thermos with the accursed liquid.

“Be careful with it, and don’t worry about paying for it. Its not even on the menu yet.”

Taking the thermos gratefully, he exited the warm coffee shop onto the chilly streets of Gotham. After a few steps, he felt something off with the thermos. Looking down he saw a couple sheets of green paper wrapped around its shape. He could only sigh at the kindness of that old man. Well he wouldn’t say no to money, his finances couldn’t be considered stable.

Just as he was putting the money away, he felt a soft buzzing inside of his pocket. Fishing his phone out of his pocket, he picked up the call.

“Hello Steve.”

“Y-yes hello Albert, my friends and I are going tonight around 7. You can meet us out front at….”

“Got it, I’ll be there. Anything I should I know?”

“…… Please don’t be offended by my friend, s-she’s really a nice person but she can be a bit stand-offish to new people.”

“Understood, I’ll try to be civil.”

“Thank you, W-we’ll see you there. Good bye.”

“No problem, good bye.”