Chapter 39
Alex was stunned. Copper Tiger!
How could such a powerhouse become Jack's subordinate!
Copper Tiger was not his real name. His real name should be Benjamin Ben Turner. Copper Tiger is one of the strongest martial artists in the DC world, and one of the earliest members of the Suicide Squad. He is the senior brother of Richard Dragon and Lady Shiva. Although he has no superpowers, his powerful combat skills still place him among the strongest mercenaries and assassins.
How strong is he? Let me put it simply: In the DC world, there are several top martial artists. One of them is the famous Batman, and Copper Tiger has defeated Batman several times with his bare hands. That alone is enough to show how powerful he is.
Copper Tiger can be considered one of the representatives of the strongest humans on Earth. However, he is not very famous in DC comics, far less well-known than Batman.
But the question is, how did Copper Tiger become Jack's subordinate!
Could it be that, in order to repay the life-saving grace, he casually helped Jack rule the Lower District?
This guy Jack…
Alex no longer knew how to describe this guy. A top martial artist in the world was under his command. No wonder he easily took down the Blood Angels gang and could even help him rule the Lower District.
Alex did not speak to Copper Tiger, nor did he have the typical transmigrator's desire to meet powerful local figures. Except for wanting to see what the members of the Justice League looked like, he had no particular interest in befriending other heroes or villains. He was the type who would think "Oh… you're that very powerful person from my memory," but in actual action, he wouldn't care and had no desire to make contact.
As long as they didn't interfere with him, Alex would let things happen naturally.
His previous human-limit physique was not inferior to Copper Tiger's. It was only that his combat experience was not as rich as Copper Tiger's, who had gone through mountains of corpses and seas of blood. But now Alex had surpassed his former self. He was far more flexible and powerful than before — to an incalculable degree. Copper Tiger would not be his match, so Alex had even less desire to get to know him.
In DC comics, Copper Tiger is basically portrayed as a loyal, generous, bold, open-minded, and steady character. Facing Jack's life-saving grace, Alex roughly understood Copper Tiger's thoughts. He could only sigh in his heart that Jack's luck was truly too good. He had actually saved the heavily injured Copper Tiger and unexpectedly taken him as a subordinate. For a period of time, Jack would have no problems at all under Copper Tiger's protection.
Knowing that Jack's safety was guaranteed, Alex gave a few brief instructions, telling Jack to pay attention to the situation in the Lower District. He said he would take action soon and asked Jack to prepare to receive the territories of the other two gangs so he could completely rule the Lower District. After that, he hung up the phone.
One day later, Alex officially took action.
He sorted out the prepared superhero suit and put it on piece by piece.
It was a set of black combat uniform made from Kevlar material and titanium metal. The uniform was bulletproof, explosion-proof, impact-resistant, stab-resistant, and fireproof and insulating. It fitted close to the body like a shirt and did not affect his mobility. The gloves and boots were also black and specially reinforced to protect Alex's fists and feet from recoil damage during attacks.
After putting on the full black uniform, Alex stood straight in front of the mirror. He looked clean and sharp, with a cold and resolute aura naturally radiating from him.
He took off the black-framed glasses, revealing his full face. Suddenly, his temperament changed dramatically. His black pupils were deep, the teardrop mole at the corner of his eye was visible, and his lips carried a faint, casual smile that made people feel a mix of coldness and gentleness.
But in reality, he was cold by nature — ruthless and icy. His deep black pupils hid an emotionless chill.
He put the black glasses back into the display cabinet, then picked up the black trench coat from the nearby table. He slid his right arm in first, adjusted the angle slightly, then inserted his left arm. Using both hands, he straightened the front of the coat to make it fit better against his body. Next, he reached behind his head with his right hand, pulled out the hidden hood inside the coat, and pulled it over his head. Instantly, he gave off an even colder and more mysterious feeling.
Many of Alex's equipment were actually inspired by Batman's gear. Because previously, he and Batman were the same — both possessing the limits of human physical strength. According to Alex's plan, since Batman's equipment was already a mature concept, he directly incorporated many elements from it and modified them roughly to suit his own use as a superhero.
For example, the black trench coat was made from a special memory fiber combined with Kevlar. It could flutter like any normal fabric clothing. But when the fibers were charged with electricity, it would rapidly harden, become fireproof and insulating, and had many inner layers where he could store flat items such as throwing knives, coins, and other small concealed weapons. When the hem of the black trench coat was spread out, the back could be charged to harden and form a glider wing, which was effective for escaping from high places.
This was originally similar to Batman's cape style. Later, Alex felt that a cape was too much like the romance of comic book heroes and had too many limitations in actual combat. Although it could be rolled up, it clearly wasn't suitable for him. So he changed it into a black trench coat and added much thicker lining, giving it many more functions.
Moreover, in recent days while training his magnetic-field telekinesis, Alex discovered that he didn't need technological charging — he could achieve hardening with his magnetic-field telekinesis alone. So he removed the electric-hardening glider function.
After putting on the black trench coat, Alex casually selected some throwing knives, daggers, coins, small plastic explosives, smoke bombs, and other items and placed them into the inner lining of his coat. He also inserted a small cutter, breathing assistance device, simple grappling hook rope, and other items into his black belt. As long as they didn't affect his movement or combat, these small parts weren't heavy, so Alex didn't mind preparing them fully to avoid any unexpected accidents.
He also removed many other small items because some functions could now be accomplished with his magnetic-field telekinesis, so there was no need to carry too much. For example, the gloves originally had built-in electromagnetic force that could create extremely strong adsorption to help him climb and move on walls more easily. But after gaining the magnetic-field telekinesis ability, Alex found he didn't need the gloves' function — he could create countless tiny hooks with his magnetic-field telekinesis to stick to surfaces. So he modified the gloves into lighter black armored gloves that were more convenient for combat.
In the past few days, he had modified many of his small items again. Originally very similar to Batman's equipment, many were no longer needed because of his magnetic-field telekinesis ability. Instead, they developed their own personal characteristics.
Finally, after putting on the full superhero suit, Alex used his fingers to button up the front of the trench coat one by one from bottom to top.
After buttoning it, as the hem of the black trench coat fluttered, he walked straight to the display cabinet where the mask was stored.
There lay a full-coverage mask with no facial features, smooth like half an egg, reflecting a silvery light. The mask only had two horizontal slits for the pupils, giving it an inexplicably cold and terrifying appearance.
Alex took out the mask and pressed it onto his face with his right hand, adjusting it properly.
In an instant, dressed in the full black uniform and trench coat, with the hood brim covering his eye area and revealing most of the smooth silver mask, he looked like the Grim Reaper in the darkness — chilling and terrifying.
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