In DC with a Monster Tamer Class: Capsule Ball Companions!20.00%

Boomerang bubble ball?

Gotham city

Near the slums

A back alleyway...

Behind a dumpster, a rattling is heard but it's not the usual city rats that can grow as big as small cats rummaging for food, but what stirred about is the wounded and battered body of a boy in his late teens...

--------

Waking up In an alleyway my head was buzzing, & my body aches something serious!

I hold on to the dumpster flank handle beside me & pull myself to my feet disregarding my now slimy hands.

Still, unsteady I stumbled but recover, I place my back against the alleyway building's wall for support & close my eyes which spun in double vision!

I exhale deeply, & after some time I stopped seeing double, & my mind was no longer In confusion as I felt this body finished the mysterious self-healing!

My name is Vincent Jackson Price, at least in this world I'm known as Vincent J. Price, oddly enough just like in my previous world!

Same name, two different worlds!-?

Strange right, to be reincarnated after death into the younger body of someone of the same name, but That person is way more fit & all-around better looking than the old you is a little...

Anyway, he, well, I guess it's I, just had a spat with my local gang-connected bully; whose mob took things too far, & end up killing my predecessor then scrambling away from the scene like roaches when the kitchen light is switched on!

What was this all about?

The same thing 99% of a normal heterosexual man's problems come from; if it's not about the money, it's about a girl!

What!

No way surprising right?-!

The popular jock boy (bully) likes the popular cheerleader girl, a match made in high school heaven right?

But the popular girl allegedly has crushed hard on the reclusive, money-poor student, who was both a bookworm & a slacker at the same time, me!

Maybe my duality spiked her interest I guess?

Anyhow, I don't know how this chick's preferences became a public record, that spread throughout the school but nobody asked my opinion before they started shipping us together!

Despite her beautiful looks & rumored favor towards me, I felt like I was playing shield hero for her somehow, & I didn't like it!

Gossipy rumors lead to questions and anxieties by the admiring idlers & flower protectors in the shadows; which lead to a few conflicts with the love Lorne bully who was the biggest name devotee!

The thing is I hadn't even talked to this girl much before & now I'm fighting students & delinquents for her hand like I'm fucking Scott Pilgrim or something!

I (he) planned to confront her & clear these rumors & misunderstandings; as I had no interest in her romantically;

but the plans can't always keep up with the changes as they say.

Now things had rapidly taken a turn for the worst in this high school saga; because there is always an overzealous, moody, short-tempered, & prone to violence guy you find in any crew, of every story!

For example, like in those heist flicks, you just want to rob the bank, get in and get out!

Simple and clean right?

But one feral Guy on the team can't follow directions, & has a sudden outburst of anger at the bank teller who gave inadequate service a few days before the heist that upset him or something, so it swerves from a heist into a vengeful power trip!

So now He's on the bank countertop screaming, & opening gunfire with no regard for life!

Leaving his partners shocked, scratching their heads & thinking that wasn't part of the plan, was it?

Well, a sharp Butterfly knife to my predecessor's midsection was obviously also not part of their plans; by the now pale-faces & open mouths they had!

A small-eyed overzealous, moody, short-tempered, cowardly & prone to violence guy made unauthorized actions & made things way worse; by going from high school squabbling to gang fight murder!

Needless to say, they collectively freaked out & drove my bleeding-out body to the nearest dark alleyway instead of the hospital, tossed me (him) out, cleaned the scene & fled fast!

He was left for dead & he did die...

Now I'm here reviewing things.

Revenge?

No questions, that's happening!

but I will wait, I have to endure for now.

The timing is not right, & retaliation will seem too coincidental & will be traced back to me.

I know who they are, even the wild street delinquent who stabbed him!

I take off my bloody shirt, & just wear my jacket; while placing the grimy shirt in my bookbag to destroy later.

I Leave the alleyway stealthily to the home in my memories.

...

I arrived at home later that night & decided to skip school the next morning.

But that same day I skipped, that afternoon I was met with a few visitors.

It seems I made an unexplained absence at school, & it made a few people's hearts drop, perhaps thinking I'm stiff in that alleyway & they panicked!

Secrets always get out when too many people have been involved, especially teens with low-stress thresholds & active imaginations!

That night I'm sure many "a tell-tell heart" scenes played out in many homes; before someone feeling guilty snitched first, trying to make a deal with prosecutors or something!

My slum apartment door opens to two people; Detectives, an older white man & a younger Latin American woman.

They were looking at me, assessing my condition after claims I was murdered but stood looking just fine!-?

But I was gazing at their badge that said Gotham City Police Department (GCPD) in a surreal moment.

Detectives John Hartigan & Renee Montoya is how they introduced themselves.

They both took out a notepad.

They asked questions, & I told a 'version' of the truth.

Only changed the stabbing part to an 'attempted' stabbing; as the wound was gone, & I couldn't provide evidence to nail those bastards, even if I wanted to!

I bull shit saying it was red vegetable juice onto my shirt, a drinking habit I got from my parental guardian grandfather, ( which was true) I point to the breakfast table which happens to have a pitcher of it on it.

The two detectives nod & I continue.

I say to them I had a vending machine can of it in my jacket pocket;

-in the commotion, I fell over from the 'attempted' stabbing & spilled on myself the liquid to scare them away, since they had me outnumbered!

"Wait, how did you get the vegetable juices and stuff on you without them seeing"? Asked Hartigan not believing that I could think of all this on the fly & be so seamless.

"Well, I guess I'll show you."

They watch as he pullouts a deck of cards from his back pocket & fans them open in front of the two detectives:

"Pick a card!" I said with my eyes closed, & head turned to the side.

They both gazed at each other, then Montoya shrugs & picks a card from the deck.

"Show your card to your partner & sign it with your initials afterwards" I instructed her.

She does so.

"...& now place it back anywhere in the deck."

She does & I began shuffling.

While shuffling I make Smalltalk with the officers:

"Do you have the exact time, I want to see how long this takes me, I'm a little rusty."

"Sure." he goes to check the time but.

"Where is my watch?-!" He asked confused.

"Oh, your watch is missing? That's a shame." I say flipping through the cards if as I'm still searching for the right card, but it now shines with a gold glint that comes from my wrists!

Montoya noticed the watch on Vincent's wrist with surprised eyes and an open mouth!

Laughing at her partner, she starts clapping & giggling at her skeptical partner getting got!

Reaching into his pocket, Vincent then pulled out an item & asked:

"Oh, these look kinda important? You shouldn't drop these!" Holding a bottle of heart pills in his hand & tossed them back to Hartigan who was stone-faced with a wry smile.

"Sigh, Montoya sorry, I can't seem to find your card?" In frustration, Vincent then throws the deck of cards in the air!

After the cards all finish falling to the floor, he says in a thinking pose:

"Ah, but maybe Check behind your badge?"

Puzzled she still does as he asked.

As she does so, she finds in her shirt pocket is her autographed card!

Wow!

"You seem kind of young how do you know this stuff? Asked Hartigan.

With a melancholy expression I said:

"My grandfather was in show business, well as a stage magician at first, then magician stunt coordinator for decades, helping some named grates pull off grand illusions, & I, his grandson, of course, have picked up somethings."

"I see, Did your grandfather have any Keystone tricks I might have known?" Asked Hartigan.

"Notorious ones, not really famous ones."

"Like what?" asked Montoya intrigued

"Well, He could do this same trick I just did & Pull a rabbit out of an empty hat at the same time!

"How's that work? Seems kind of plain." said Hartigan.

Smiling I say:

"He pulled a rabbit out of a hat & your card out the rabbit's ass!

"That's so gross kid." Says Montoya with a raised eyebrow.

"Haha," old guy Hartigan's stone face cracked a laugh.

I just shrugged saying:

"Never what you do, but how it's done!"

"Well said!" Said Hartigan.

"Okay, anyway we get it, your quick with your hands & blindsided them with tricks, right?" Montoya said.

I nodded back.

...

They believed me more after my performance, & as it was dark & normal teens don't know the difference between bloodstains from juice in the dark and in their frantic state, it's all more plausible.

I was given two thumbs up by them for being smart & able to be fast thinking on my feet.

I just shrugged back to them humbly.

They conveyed warnings to all involved in the shuffle, closed the case, passing it off as children fighting.

However, they started looking seriously for the one wild guy school dropout who 'tried' to stab me!

I'm not giving any solid evidence to them, so no one specific can go down for this assault right now.

Whether or not they get charged later is unlikely with Gotham's city's stellar performance of the district attorney department.

Either way, revenge was still mine to take.

However, what puzzled me a lot right now, or almost even more than being transported to a D.C. universe is this strange toy-like gotcha capsule ball that I found on my person when I got home & changed.

I thought it was something stuck to me from the alleyway dumpster bin, so I tossed it in the trash with my bloody white shirt, that I had drowned in Bleached to remove my undamaged DNA.

But when sitting down to get the remote I see the same gotcha bubble ball next to the remote, as clean & pristine as I first saw it!

I think, needless to say, when I saw this, It freaked me the fuck out; as I jumped from the chair in shock!

Slowly I approach it, then placed it in a garbage bag that had my bloody shirt in it, I tie it tight & ran to the trash opening for the building incinerator!

I dropped the bag down!

I wipe my nervous sweat, return to get a drink from the refrigerator, but when I close the door, on the counter behind the door was that same damn weird ball!

No matter what I do, this thing keeps coming back!-?