With These Hands

"I feel like I just downed a whole tank of coffee. Power is exploding in my body." Vincent said, still looking over his form in marvel. "Is this how you feel all the time?"

With an amused roll of his eyes, Liam nodded. "More or less."

The wordings in Vincent's description had him appraising himself, finding small but important changes. His race which was once labeled 'Serpentkin' had changed. 

+++++

-[William Anderson]

-[Lifeforce Serpent Sire. A powerful race possessing immense vitality and durability who can survive even the toughest circumstances. A being whose very blood is flooded with vitality, both literally and figuratively, becoming a panacea to any who dare to taste. The Lifeforce Serpent's fangs secret a potent hallucinogenic venom. His recent evolution had the unexpected result of awakening his metagene, granting him some psychic abilities. Those sired by his blood possess a subconscious sense of loyalty.]

+++++

The last sentence was also quite important. As much as he was all for empowering Vincent, it also gave him an idea. When initiating the merge, he envisioned for the connection between him and those he created with his blood to act as a sirebond. 

He could feel it. 

Vincent was the first he'd turned but he wasn't going to be the last. He didn't need any in his future sireline acting out or getting funny ideas with their newfound power.

Though, Vincent would be freer than any who were further sired seeing as how he couldn't bring himself to make use of the bond on him. 

"Alright that's enough groping yourself for now." Liam said, causing Vincent to halt his flexing in front of the mirror.

"Jealous?" The new serpentkin asked, gaining a flat stare from Liam. 

"Flex your muscles all you want but I'm still much stronger." He said, a taunting smirk lighting up his face. 

"Prove it."

Xx-Xx-Xx

After a few rounds of arm wrestling which he dominated, Liam hung around a bit before heading out. 

He briefly stopped at the public library to borrow a few books on the more advanced levels of chemistry that were available. He wouldn't fool himself into believing that he knew everything there was to know but he could further improve his already incredible knowledge. 

Now back home, he couldn't help but sigh. Somewhere at the back of his mind he realized that there would be a massive reaction to Valerie's cured status but he thought, hoped, that it would be manageable. 

Once again, he was reminded that this was Gotham, more importantly, this was the DC universe. Where almost every corporation had their hands in some dirty business and wouldn't hesitate to use their wealth and connections to get what they wanted. 

As much as he wished, he couldn't go around compelling every single one of them to keep their hands off. 

'Vincent's address wasn't included in the news that spread which meant that either someone leaked it or someone took their time to find it.' There was no shortage of hackers in DC but there was also a simpler answer. 

Police reports include every available information about a case. In this case, that would be their home address in order to possibly follow it up.

'Somebody within the police must have leaked it.' He toyed around with the idea of staking out the police station to find corrupt cops with his Appraisal ability. 

As interesting as that sounded, over sixty percent of Gotham's police force was on somebody's payroll. It was just a matter of who. 

The best he could think of would be to give them something else to chase after. Something equally valuable or possibly more valuable. 

That gave him an idea that just might do it. 

His first order of business, making an important phone call. He couldn't work on an empty stomach. 

-[Oswald Cobblepot]-

Oswald was a man of many faces and businesses. He had his hand dipped in as many pots as he could reach. That was how he built his fortune after all. 

Nothing went on in Gotham that he didn't know about. His city. 

There was a new street drug rolling around and gaining hype by the name; Euphoria. He'd had some of his men acquire some of it and he had to admit that it was high quality stuff. 

He didn't use it himself. Don't eat your market, it was a recipe for disaster. He had his subordinates for that. 

Euphoria had been picking up some recognition as one of the best recreational drugs by those who took it. He didn't miss the fact that it seemed addictive as some people kept on buying or trying to buy even when they had no more money.

He saw potential in it. 

Its ability to hold its users hostage in its addiction was a soft power that he could very much utilize. His Iceberg Lounge may have been a front for him to run his business but that didn't mean its services were subpar. 

He'd recently gotten word that Euphoria was being sold from Kevin's club downtown. The man owed him a lot of money, it was time to collect his due. 

The buzzing of his phone got his attention as well as the email that popped it. It was probably the report of the inventory of one of his weapon caches. 

Actually taking a moment to pull up the email, he was surprised to find that he was wrong. 

'Mr Cobblepot, I hope this reaches you in a fine mood. You're a busy man so I'll get to the point. As much control you have over Gotham, you can't control everything. There's only so much you can do when Joker or Scarecrow bumble into the frame.' 

To his amusement and annoyance at the truth in the words, the letter went on to talk about how the Joker's irrationality and unpredictability had been a pain even for Gotham's underworld. 

He was just about to close the email when he got to a particular line that snatched his attention. 

'I'm reaching out to offer a solution. Joker's laughing gas, Scarecrow's fear toxin, the main instruments of their mayhem. In exactly five days there will be an auction where I will offer this up to the highest bidder.'

It then went on to describe this 'solution' and Oswald couldn't help but salivate. Three pills, each of which would make whoever ingested it immune to Joker's and Scarecrows toxins for a full twenty four hours. 

He wanted it. 

It wouldn't suddenly make him invincible but it would give him assurance that he wouldn't fall mad to laughter or fear at the hands of those two.

He didn't actively plot against them but it was better to have a contingency when surrounded by the bastards. 

Better safe than sorry after all.

-[Liam]-

He'd made a new one, different from the overpowered pills of immunity. This new medicine would immediately cleanse and detoxify those who ingested it of poisons and dangerous substances. 

The pills of immunity could do that and more but they were much too valuable to offer up for auction, it being the cure to cancer and all. 

At least for the moment. 

He'd sent the email to the richest of Gotham which included Cobblepot, Falcone, Stagg and pretty much every person he thought could afford it. He'd even sent one to Luthor all the way in Metropolis. 

The Light wouldn't waste any chance to grab whatever asset they saw and he had no doubts that they had their eyes on Valerie the moment her cured status became public. 

As for how he got their email addresses? Simple, the internet. Each of them had it on their public and legal fronts. 

He toyed with the idea of sending Bruce an email as well for a moment before shrugging and tapping send. 

He wasn't much of a planner or strategist but he'd manage for now. Tucking the phone into his pocket, he looked up to see Artemis walking up to him, popcorn in hand.

"Ah I see you have our snacks." He commented with a smile.

"And I see you finally managed to pull your face out of your phone after leaving a poor defenseless girl to fend for herself on the line." She snarked, handing him his own share of the snacks.

He shook his head. "Please, you're anything but poor and defenseless. In fact, I think I saw the guy at the counter looking afraid of you."

She rolled her eyes as they shuffled into the theater. 

"Color me surprised. I took you for someone who'd be into superhero movies." She said. 

"Not as much as you think. Since Superman and the other heroes popped up, superhero movies have been overdone. Most of them are really just a rehash of something else. You see one then you've seen them all." He explained tossing some popcorn in his mouth. 

"True." She simply said as they found comfortable seats. "Slow down or you'll finish it before the movie even starts." She said with a small giggle. 

He paused in the middle of his attempt to grab more before shrugging and leaning into his seat.

Like he said, superhero movies were overdone. More so for him who was now living in a world with superheroes, which is why they'd picked comedy for the genre of the movie. 

Can't go wrong with some laughter. 

"You're doing that thing again." Artemis said from beside him. 

He turned to see her looking at him in amusement. "What thing?"

"That thing where you space out and get lost in thought. What's the matter, nervous?" She teased, her tone lowering a way that sent a slight shiver down his spine. 

"No actually. I'm quite confident." He returned with a smirk. 

"How confident?" She shot back, her tone lowering further with a hint of…something. 

Before either could go further, someone cleared their throat from right beside them. Eyes tightened in annoyance, Artemis' gaze snapped to a man who interrupted. 

"Is this seat taken?" He asked obliviously. 

"Yes." She ground out in irritation. Thankfully the man was not too oblivious, now realizing that he'd apparently done something wrong before quickly shuffling away. 

Unfortunately the mood was already gone but their annoyance was short-lived as the movie started playing. 

**********

A/N: Sorry for the delay. I've been busy with…life, basically.