Unlocking the Biochemical Field

No one answered.

The main doors were shut tight. Inside, it was unnaturally quiet.

"Commissioner, all the cameras on the second basement level are down. The last footage they sent back... it was strange."

An officer ran over and handed him a tablet.

Gordon took it. The screen showed a blinding red glare, then dissolved into static.

"Demolition team, blow the doors open," Gordon ordered.

Several SWAT officers approached the doors with C4, moving cautiously.

Before they could plant the explosives, the heavy steel doors gave a teeth-grating groan.

They bulged outward.

The SWAT officers backed away and raised their rifles.

The doors groaned again. Someone tore through the two-inch-thick steel from the inside.

The stench of blood hit them, mingled with the smell of burning flesh.

Several younger officers bent over and retched.

A bare-chested man stepped through the opening.

His dark red hair was slicked back, and blood covered him from head to toe. He looked like a demon fresh out of hell.

The red laser sights of hundreds of guns settled on Chu Men.

"Hands up! Get on the ground!" Gordon shouted through a megaphone.

Chu Men stopped and glanced at the helicopters circling overhead.

He ignored Gordon's orders and bent his knees slightly.

The concrete beneath him caved in, forming a crater six feet across.

Spiderweb cracks spread outward.

Bang!

The air split with a sonic boom.

Chu Men became a blur and shot into the sky.

The blast of wind knocked dozens of riot police off their feet, and every police car alarm began to blare.

The shock wave drove Gordon back several steps, slamming him against a police car.

He looked up. Only a hazy red streak remained in the night sky, and it vanished into the clouds in an instant.

"What the hell was that?" a SWAT officer asked as he scrambled to his feet, horror written across his face.

Gordon did not answer. He stared at Arkham's torn-open doors, an unprecedented chill rising in his chest.

Gotham was about to change.

High above the city.

A bitter wind howled, and the temperature had fallen below freezing.

Chu Men hovered above the clouds, looking down on the city of sin.

Neon lights flickered, staining the night sky a sickly purplish red.

Gotham City.

There was no law here. Only violence and chaos.

Just the way he liked it.

The blood on his body had frozen into dark red flakes.

Chu Men closed his eyes and felt the power flowing endlessly through him.

No more watching what he said around others. No more groveling.

From now on, he was Homelander.

Anyone who got in his way would die.

His gaze pierced the clouds and fell on a broad lake outside the city.

Chu Men leaned forward and plunged.

He punched a deep hole in the water. A column of spray shot skyward, sending waves more than thirty feet high across the lake.

The water washed the blood from his body.

He opened his eyes. He could see the lakebed clearly.

A few minutes later, he surfaced.

The blood was gone, revealing pale skin and perfectly defined muscles.

Chu Men trod water and looked toward the brightly lit city. A smile tugged at his lips.

He was hungry.

He needed to find something to eat.

And pick up some clothes while he was at it.

Chu Men rose slowly from the water and set his feet on the shore.

He followed the road toward the city at an easy pace.

The night wind dried his hair, restoring its original black.

At the same time, at Arkham Asylum.

An outlandish black Batmobile pulled up outside the main entrance.

Its door swung upward, and a man in black armor and a bat-shaped cape stepped out.

Batman.

Gordon approached him, his face grim.

"You're late."

Batman said nothing. He strode through the torn-open doors.

Gotham City, East End.

It was a breeding ground for crime, territory the gangs claimed as their own.

Bare-chested, Chu Men walked down an alley full of puddles.

The streetlights flickered, and a few rats scurried beside a dumpster.

At the mouth of the alley, five thugs in leather jackets blocked his path, baseball bats in hand.

Their leader, a blond with a cigarette between his lips, looked Chu Men up and down.

"Well, look who we have here. Out selling yourself half-naked in the middle of the night?"

The blond blew a smoke ring and tapped his bat against his palm.

The other thugs laughed lewdly.

"Hand over anything valuable, then get on your knees and lick my shoes clean. I'm in a good mood today, so maybe I'll let you go."

The blond pointed his bat at Chu Men, his voice full of swagger.

Chu Men stopped and looked at the five fools in front of him.

In his previous life, he would have had to avoid street thugs like these or pay them off to keep out of trouble.

Now?

He did not even want to speak to them.

Chu Men kept walking without breaking stride.

The blond's face darkened when Chu Men ignored him.

"You're dead!"

He swung his bat hard at Chu Men's head.

It whistled through the air.

A few homeless men in the alley shut their eyes, unwilling to watch the bloody scene to come.

Crack!

The solid-wood bat struck the top of Chu Men's head with a dull thud.

Splinters flew everywhere.

The blond clutched half a bat. Both his hands were numb from the impact, and the skin between his thumbs and forefingers had split open, spilling blood.

His eyes widened as he stared at Chu Men's unmarked head.

"How is that possible...?"

Chu Men turned his head toward the blond.

He raised his right hand, pressed his index and middle fingers together, and casually flicked the blond's forehead.

Crack.

The blond's skull caved in. The tremendous pressure forced his eyes from their sockets.

His body flew more than thirty feet and slammed into the brick wall at the end of the alley.

He left a man-shaped dent in the wall, then slid to the ground and lay still.

The remaining four thugs froze.

Their weapons fell from their hands.

They stared at Chu Men, too terrified even to breathe.

"A m-monster!"

One thug screamed and turned to run.

Heat stirred around Chu Men's eyes.

Two thin red beams shot out, severing the fleeing thug's legs.

A scream tore through the night.

Chu Men walked over, bent down, and picked up a reasonably clean leather jacket. He put it on.

A little small, but better than going bare-chested.

He looked at the other three thugs.

All three dropped to their knees and began knocking their heads against the ground.

"Please! I have a family! Kids! They're waiting for me at home!"

Their foreheads struck the filthy, waterlogged pavement. Blood ran down, mixing with the muddy water.

Chu Men ignored their pleas. He lifted his foot and crushed the head of the thug who had lost his legs.

The screaming stopped.

The other three wet themselves in terror, filling the air with a foul stink.

Chu Men frowned and took a step back in disgust.

"Get lost."

As though granted a pardon, the three scrambled out of the alley.

Chu Men watched them flee. He needed someone to spread fear.

It was time Gotham's underworld welcomed its king.

[Host's do-as-you-please mindset has grown. Biochemical Field unlocked.]

The system's voice sounded again.

With a thought, Chu Men covered his body in a transparent field invisible to the naked eye.

It pushed away the puddle water beneath him. Not even dust could come near him.

Good.

When he ran into that guy who wore his underwear on the outside, he would have nothing to fear.