Ricky sat in a lotus position on the floor. The female assassin was walking up with the vials. "Drink these and your delirium test will begin. Just try to stay sane." Her words while disconcerting told him the kind of thing he should be expecting.
"Okay then." He picked up the first vial that contained purple liquid and downed it. "Blagh!" He stuck out his tongue. "It tastes like… sour grapes mixed with milk?"
The assassin chuckled, "keep drinking. You have two more vials to drink."
Ricky picked up a cloudy green vial and drank the contents. He coughed again after drinking it. This time the contents of the vial tasted like asparagus mixed with pasta water. Then he grabbed the third vial which was black with liquid. When he drank it his eyes began burning, "oh god! What is that?" As he blinked away his disgust he looked to the female assassin but she was gone.
In fact the entire room was gone. He was now sitting in darkness. He looked around and all he saw was darkness. This must be whatever the delirium test is. Or at least the start of the test.
Instead of standing he stayed seated and took deep breaths to calm his mind as he began panicking. After a few seconds he began hearing something. Then when he opened his eyes a new view arrived in front of him.
He was back in his old world. He was sitting in the apartment he grew up in. Or rather he was curled in the corner of the room. Blocking out the sound of his father beating his step mother. He stopped for a moment and listened before breathing calmly. He focused on his own heartbeat letting it calm him. Then the background sound was gone.
When he opened his eyes again he was in another place. It was unfamiliar to him for a moment before he remembered. This was the apartment he grew up in, in this world. In the world of Ricardo Bell.
His father was a Russian Mobster who ran weapons for various parties until he died. He was running weapons long before Batman appeared. In fact when Batman appeared, Ricardo was graduating high school. The same year his father died, rumor was Penguin blamed him for losing a weapons shipment from Batman and had him taken care of.
While on the outside his father was your typical mobster. At home and around his mom and Ricardo he was a giant softie. He often spent time teaching Ricardo the few foreign languages he had learned. As well as encouraged him to pursue academic pursuits.
Then there was his mother. She was a former lieutenant for the Santa Prisca Cartal. But when the cartel was taken apart in Gotham, she did the equivalent of retire from crime. She used to be an assassin for the cartel. She became a housewife after meeting and getting knocked up by his father.
She taught him human anatomy. As well as social psychology and even the various ways to kill a person. She also taught him a lot about seduction and sex. After his father died she fell into a depression and then… disappeared. When he graduated high school he came home to their apartment to find her just gone. He still did not know where she went to this day.
As this flood of knowledge came back to him he recognized this particular memory as a happy one. It was one of his birthdays where everything had gone perfectly. Their apartment may have been rundown but to him it was home.
He almost began hyperventilating. But then he began taking deep breaths. Measuring against his heart beat again. This time it was almost like he underwent a form of clarity. It was like he was pulled out of the water. He blinked again and he was back in the black space.
Then he blinked again and he could feel the scenery change. He was now inside of a metal box. His own body moving against his will. He watched as a screen appeared in front of him.
[Operating human host.]
It was like the system he had been using was now controlling him. It was a thought and an idea that had been eating away at him. Slowly building into a fear. It was also starting to make him fear using the system to grow his abilities. It is why he had saved up so many points and raffle tickets.
He took a few breaths and felt his body move against his own will. But then he closed his eyes again and began matching his breathing to his heartbeat again. After a few seconds he could hear another noise like an engine. He opened his eyes to see a mirror in front of him. Parts of his body had begun to be replaced by machines.
He shook off the unease that was filling his heart and instead focused on a singular noise in the cacophony of noises now that he could not hear his own heartbeat. He matched his breathing to it. Then a moment later the world changed again and he was inside of his gym again.
The female assassin sitting across from him. She was staring intently at him. "Well that sucked." He spoke clearly and she made a confused expression. "But is that it? Is it over?"
"It… usually takes a few hours. But you just completed it in an hour." She then sighed and stood up. "Okay… let's see what changed. Let's fight again."
Ricky nodded as he glanced at the messages that appeared.
[Memory Synchronization between soul and body completed. Adding Linguist(Competent), Anatomy(Advanced), Assassination Techniques(Advanced), Meditation(Advanced).]
He was also starting to plan for beyond just the immediate future. Especially since there was a very good chance that Red Hood would go back to being a vigilante. So what would he do after that?
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