Chapter 10

What Terry said to Alfred was the truth. He really did want to practice using the suit.

He wanted to practice using the suit but he also wanted to test out his new skills.

What better way to test out his skills than trying to pick fights? So, he decided to try his hand on being a vigilante. It was the only thing he could think of that won't make him a villain while doing so.

Midnight. He opened his window and sneaked out of their house already wearing the suit. With his arms, he vaulted up to the roof by grabbing the ledge above his window. Then he jumped forward on the ledge of the roof with his arms behind him. While in the air, he spread out his arms and that activated the wings which was embedded at the back of the suit.

The mechanism of the wings can be unlocked by putting both his forearms behind his back and they attach to the arms. They slide out when the user spreads his arms.

Terry was gliding downwards before the rockets from his soles shot out, propelling him upwards.

He excitedly smiled behind the mask.

"Just thirty minutes." He promised himself.

Terry wanted to know if he accomplished something for the past two months. He won't be able to properly measure his strength with those three monsters in the batcave. He wants to know how much different he is from his past self.

He chose a building to land on. Wayne Enterpises is the tallest building in Gotham but it was in the middle of a posh area. The finance district. So, he landed on a building tall enough to oversee gotham but not too far from the action. In the middle of The Cauldron.

Terry stood on the ledge of the building. He then zoomed in on a familiar alleyway that he usually finds criminal activity in. Somewhere he always used to pass by but he didn't take a second look.

"Like clockwork." He said as he confirmed his targets for the night. Five men armed with knives closing in on a woman holding her bag closely.

He flew towards them and landed softly on the emergency staircase. He observed them first.

"Give us the money and we won't hurt you." The man who seemed to be the leader said.

He frowned upon these thugs. When he was in the mutants, there were clear rules upholded by the leader. Only use violence when necessary. Never prey on the weak.

They never mugged people. They always targeted people that were considered big shots and rumored be in a criminal syndicate. Violence was just a tool they use to make a point not to mess with them or in case of an encounter with another gang. But still, they were no heroes. They knew what they were doing was far from good. That's why Terry just turns a blind eye to these things no matter how much he dislikes seeing it.

But not tonight.

He looked at the five unfortunate men.

Terry jumped and landed in between the muggers and the woman.

Everyone was startled at his sudden appearance.

The thugs were surprised but they soon smiled as they realized they still have the advantage of numbers.

The man in front that seemed to be their leader laughed.

"Who the hell are you supposed to be?"

"Leave or I will force you to leave." Terry replied.

"This joker. We'll cut you into piece-"

Before he could finish his sentence, Terry kicked him and he slammed against the wall. He didn't get knocked out. Terry held back. He won't be able to measure his progress properly if it was over immediately.

"All five of you, come at me. I don't have time to play with you all night." Terry said to provoke them.

Like he said he wanted, they all came at him. If the previous him fought them like this, he would be able to defeat them but not without fatal injuries.

He dodged a slash. And then another. And another. He thought to himself. 'Slow'

The defensive property of his suit is enough to stop their knives piercing his skin but he didn't want to rely on his suit.

Terry caught one of them, disarmed him, and manipulated his body to turn around making him a shield. Then he kicked him towards the others. The thug fell onto two of his companions and made them fall on the ground.

Terry picked up the knife and threw it on the ground near them. "Let's do this again." He calmly said.

They quickly picked themselves up and started attacking Terry again.

Terry, this time, disarmed them all and hit them a little bit harder but still not enough to knock them out. All five of them were on the ground clutching the parts of their body that Terry hit.

Terry picked up all of their knives and tried to give them back seemingly not satisfied still. The criminals made a scared look as if to say "What kind of torture is this?"

They decided to run away leaving their weapons.

Terry heaved out a sigh at the sight of them then spun his heel to face the woman.

"You okay, miss?...." She wasn't behind him. He saw the lady was already climbing a fence to go to the other side of the alley and escape this mysterious scary person.

"You're not even going to say thanks?" Terry grumbled.

He shrugged then flew away. He landed on a building not far from there and decided to rest there for a while before going back home.

He removed his mask and looked at his hands. He smiled and clenched them into fists. He was proud of his new strength that he worked hard on. He knows that he shouldn't be content with just this level but he figured motivating himself in this way isn't so bad too.

He closed his eyes. He felt the tiredness of his body. He stood up before he continues to fall asleep on a random building with his suit on. He walked toward the ledge facing the direction of his home but a woman's scream stopped him.

"HELP!"

It was from an alleyway next to the building he was on. But he already did what he came for and that was to check his progress. He forced himself to continue moving towards the ledge because he's not a hero. He's not someone like Bruce Wayne that felt the need to rid this city of crime.

The time he spent training in the batcave and hearing all kinds of stories about Bruce Wayne made him respect the kind of man he was and what he decided to do with his life. A man that died to sacrifice himself for the people closest to him. But that was Bruce Wayne not Terrence McGinnis.

The only similarity between them was the death of a parent. But unlike Bruce, he was a former criminal. He felt like he has no right to continue doing this and be a hypocrite.

And so, he stood on the ledge and jumped. He flew up facing the direction of his home where his mother and little brother was sleeping.

But the next words that he heard stopped him from flying away.

"Come on~, Dana. Don't play hard to get~"

He immediately flew back on top of the building to check if it was who he thought it was.

He peeked at the bottom of the building where the noise came from.

Dana Tan. It really was her.

"Let's have fun~"

Two men were harassing her.

Having nowhere to go, she tried punching one of them to back off.

"Hey! That hurt!" The man shouted at her and grabbed her arm.

Terry moved quick. He glided down towards his target. When he was close enough, he retracted his wings and let the man under him receive his weight being pulled by gravity.

"!! Who the fuck ar-"

Terry didn't let the other man that was behind him continue. He had done a spinning hook kick. His leg not only hit the man but also pulled him towards the ground violently.

Unlike earlier, his intent was just to scare the muggers off. This time, he intended to really hurt them.

When it was over, his mind cleared up. He realized Dana was behind him. He can't exactly introduce himself as Terry in this situation. She must be scared of him right now just like that lady earlier.

He peeked behind him. Her eyes showed fear. She's never looked at him that way as Terry. Something about that made him want to run. But when he was about to...

"Th-thanks" said Dana.

"...a-" Terry was about to use his real voice. He quickly searched for the voice changer function in his mask.

"Aren't you scared?" Terry asked in a different voice.

"No. I was just... surprised." Dana nervously said. She was a little bit scared but didn't want to offend her savior. She was being nice.

"Do you need help going home?" He asked with his back still facing her. He didn't want to to face her directly. He didn't know why.

"No. My place is just another block from here."

"Okay." Terry immediately flew away because he couldn't take it anymore.

"Wait!" Dana tried to chase him but he was already high up and the force of the wind as he accelerated blocked his ears from hearing her.

"...who are you?" Dana muttered what she wanted to ask.