Chapter 43 : Sewers

[Author note : As most of you know, but it bears repeating : There's more chapters and stories on my Patréon page if you're interested. Go to their website and look for Cathbel.

Now... Onto the next chapter !]

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Using the night vision function incorporated in his domino mask, Robin roamed the sewers in search of the elusive humanoid insect that terrorized the locals. According to the witness interviewed by the press, which after the boy conducted his own interrogation, was revealed to be the sister of the Meta in question, Robin found out that the man-sized insect was actually a Celine Patterson, 15 years old.

Not unlike him, Celine had something life-changing happen to her, completely out of her control. While for her, it was something that physically and fundamentally changed, Robin, AKA Richard Grayson, had to watch his parents die during their show… While he, like everyone else, thought it was just a tragic accident, when he returned to the scene one night, he found clues that, in fact, it might have been premeditated murder…

Robin shook his head as he started to travel down this particular, depressing and dark memory lane. The point was, in some way, he identified himself with the girl. She had no control over her situation, and Robin was hoping to help her like the Batman had helped him when he was at his worst.

So here he was, trudging through sewer water, all to find her, talk to her… And at this particular point in time, he was starting to think that this wasn't such a bright idea. Beyond the fact that the sewer smelled terrible, Celine's state of mind was unknown at this time. All her sister Claudia knew wasn't much. Only that she suddenly turned one night and disappeared for reasons unknown. Not only didn't he know what was going through her mind, right now, he also didn't possess any information as to her capabilities.

He knew her meta-gene turned her insect-like, but which kind ? Insects had vastly different capabilities be it, as larvae, or adults. Some went through some kind of chrysalis phase while others just shed their exoskeletons. Some had the strength to carry something 6 times their weight, while other could jump a few hundred times their own size. And that wasn't even mentioning the fact that a lot of people couldn't tell the difference between an insect and an arachnid or any other kind of arthropod… For all he knew, she was more scorpion-like and possess a strong venom. Another question : were her capabilities proportionate to her size and weight ?

So much information he should have found out way before going all gung-ho in the sewer trying to save someone that might not even want, or appreciate a helping hand !

As Robin was wondering about his current choices in life, his attention was suddenly drawn by a loud noise in the distance, followed by swearing. Was a maintenance worker down here ? Right now ? He really didn't want to have the death of an innocent bystander on his conscience… Since he didn't know if Celine was safe to be around, maybe he should go and warn the guy.

Following Batman's training almost unconsciously, Robin moved silently, close to the wall, where there was less water. Soon, he saw the person and… well it was no maintenance worker. Judging from his poorly fitted and cheap-looking protections, the hypodermic rifle and the balaclava, it was safe to say the man was here for the same reason he was. Only Robin thought they worked on opposite side of the law…

Although technically, I guess me being a criminal and all, does puts me on the same side of the law… Dick thought.

When Robin was a couple of paces from the man, he quipped :

« Hey, man ! Finding any game down here ? »

And then, he went on the offensive. Despite his appearance, the grunt reacted surprisingly well… He avoided the high kick and used the butt of his gun to push Robin back.

« You know… If I hadn't called out, you'd be unconscious by now. And I only did because I felt bad about knocking a fake cop out before… »

« Need any help, brother ? » An unknown voice suddenly came from behind Robin.

He looked back, his gaze narrowed. He was the one to sneak up on people ! The new arrival was obviously of the same crew… Same general outer wear, same weapon. He even called him brother. Were they really related or was that just how they called each other in this crew ? Not that he needed to know that in order to take them down… Robin threw a batarang toward his first opponent and just as it was about to land, the man suddenly disappeared. Feeling a sense of danger, Robin ducked down, and started running erratically all over the small corridor. Taking a glance behind, he saw the two brothers, side by side, aiming sidearms at him… The lethal kind !

Instantly, he shelved two informations into his brain. One, the rifle might contain non-lethal ammo, but it seemed they weren't destined for anyone beside Celine. Two, these two probably had some kind of meta-power. Dick assumed it was probably teleportation… If it was super-speed, there would have been a shift in the air, like a burst of wind. Moreover, he would have used the opportunity to attack him. At least, that what he would have done.

Jumping and turning during a lull in the brother's shooting, Robin shot two more batarangs. The projectiles flew through the air, rotating as they went. One managed to barely avoid it while the other… He disappeared, only to reappear right next to his brother. Actually, that was inaccurate, but what Robin saw was so weird, wrong and gross that he wasn't sure he wanted to think about it any more.

Robin was right, the man was teleporting. However, what he didn't account for was the way the ability worked. Teleportation, the way it is defined as a concept by scientist, but mostly by science fiction, was to basically, scan someone down to a cellular or atomic level, before disintegrating him and recreating that someone in another place. A physical application of Cut and Paste from a computer program… These guys were probably applying this principle, but they couldn't paste just anywhere. Only where similar code was already existing. In this case, a genetic match in the form of a brother.

And the way it was portrayed to the outside world was… disturbing to say the least. For a short moment, it's as if someone comes out of another's body, with skin stretching in all the wrong places… It's quick, but it's also very gross !

Robin took cover by diving in a different branch of the sewer. When he did, and considered his options, he sighed. This teleportation wasn't too troublesome, since it was pretty limited. As long as they were together, they couldn't really make the much out of it. The problem was, they knew that too… Which was why they spread out to attack him. He needed to either surprise them, or force one to teleport before taking them both out…

« Let's do that, then… » Robin muttered under his breath.

* * * * *

Aaron Sicklehand was what one would call a muggleborn. A wizard coming from a family of muggle, with no apparent or known wizard ancestry. And also, as the term might have pointed out, he came from a small island nation of Europe, one where bigotry and blood supremacy had and still have to this day, a great influence on Wizarding society.

He was born a decade and a half ago now and lived most of his life as a blissfully unaware muggle. When he turned 11 however, things changed with the arrival of one, if not the most, peculiar teacher his family had ever seen. A transfiguration professor, as well as the deputy headmistress by the name of Minerva McGonagall. What truly set her apart and made her look like a strange person to the muggle family was her attire : an old fashioned robe with a pointed hat. Compared to witches and wizards Aaron had the fortune (or misfortune) to encounter in the future, her outfit was actually pretty tamed. In addition, her austere and severe expression identified her as a no-nonsense woman, one they couldn't easily tell no to, when she came to their house.

She explained everything about the Wizarding world, about Hogwarts and the fact that Aaron, being born with magic, was registered to attend there. At first, Aaron was excited. Like most kids his age, he was delighted at the prospect of learning magic. Unlike the dull muggle world, the magical world was new, shiny and fantastical ! How wrong that had been !

When he started his new school, Aaron didn't have to wait long to discover how rotten the magical world truly was… In fact, before he even set foot off the Hogwarts Express, he had already figured out that racism was rampant over there, too. Worse, it wasn't particularly frowned upon, judging from how the kids behaved as if it was natural…

The purebloods, especially the rich or the ones with a long history to their names, were especially so, blabbering speeches Aaron would expect to come out of a certain muggle politician from World War II… Funny how things he thought would be different, weren't. Magic didn't make humans any more civilized he'd thought…

It was quite hard for him, as a muggleborn (or as the racists would call him, a mudblood) to make a place for himself in this school. Still, he managed to make a couple of friends in his house of Hufflepuff…

A few years passed, Aaron discovered another flaw of this society : the muggleborns prospect in the professional area weren't very good. Purebloods owned most of the businesses. Not only that, they also greased the government so much that they tended to agree to whatever they wanted. Do you see a problem here ? If purebloods didn't like something, say like muggleborns, then the government didn't like them either… And this tended to make their lives pretty difficult.

If they couldn't find a job, it wasn't so bad… However, Aaron read quite a few article of this famous pureblood suing and winning against this no-name muggleborn for pretty shitty reasons… And the newspaper made even that sound like it was for the best !

To say that Aaron was disgusted was an understatement… And then, tragedy struck !