All he needs is enough ability to protect himself. Being a gang leader is very dangerous. He has to be strong enough to enforce the rules of his gang and protect the interests of the gang. He also has to be strong enough to protect himself.
Being the leader of a cabal takes things to another level entirely. The danger and the responsibility will increase drastically. The current him can barely handle it.
But if he can get the ability of a certain woman with diamond skin, he is sure that the pressure of the position won't be too much. After all, diamond performs well under pressure. In fact, diamond needs pressure in order to grow.
With his goal set, he left the burning base to begin making plans. He doesn't plan to go after the lady with the diamond skin yet. He plans to begin preparation for his advancement game. After all, he only has three weeks to learn the habits, posture, shape, abilities, and power levels of his competitors.
So he will only go after her when he is done with the game. Meanwhile, news spread in the underworld that Black Mantis had died. It set off a large wave of emotions.
Manu people were glad for his death. He was a villain no one wanted to be anywhere close to. Many people would rather be raped than to meet him. They would prefer the physical raping over the mental violation anytime.
Many people wanted to thank the hero who did this. So they all got in touch with Fire Rose to thank her for her self sacrificing nature and her service to the society.
Fire Rose doesn't take calls from the public personally. She has a public relations department to take care of that. This is fortunate because the phone has been ringing continuously since yesterday, when Black Mantis died.
If she had to pick up the calls herself, she wouldn't be able to get anything done. But there are certain calls that reach her directly. She has to pick them up as soon as she can.
She stared at the caller ID on her phone and identified it to be the regional officer of the Justice League in charge of New London and the cities in her part of Western Europe. It was an important person whose call she had to pick up.
She picked up the call and said, "Justice League captain Fire Rose speaking."
"Fire Rose, the rising star. Nice job with Black Mantis. I like it when members take initiatives like you. I like it better when their risky initiatives succeed. Well done."
The person spoke so fast that it was difficult for her to understand what they were saying. They didn't wait for her to talk. They just drowned on.
"I hear that you got punished for the death of that boy. Don't let that get you down. I will rescind that punishment. Sacrifices happen on the battlefield. It doesn't mean that you should quit. Especially not when you are making a lot of progress."
"You deserve to be rewarded for your work. I believe that you should be the new director for New London. How does that sound?"
She could finally get a word in, so she blurted out as fast as possible before the speedster could cut her off. "I didn't kill him. I didn't go anywhere near Black Mantis."
The speedster laughed. "I know about the ban on League activities for a month for the death of the boy. So you really shouldn't have been anywhere near Black Mantis. But you don't have to worry about that. I will remove the punishment from our records so that it would be like you were never given."
"You can trust me on that. You also don't have to be scared of repercussions from the villains. Feel free to go on TV and announce your achievement. If anyone asks who gave you the right, tell them you have my permission. Tell them that I allowed you to do everything."
"You are a part of the Justice League. If it is war that the villains want, then they will get a war. We are not afraid of them. So raise your head proudly and do not be ashamed. We have got your back."
There was a pause in the deluge of words spamming into her at a fast speed from the phone, so she took that opportunity to explain again. "Sir Boltz, I truly didn't hit Black Mantis. I was only preparing to hit him. I didn't go on my own off-books to"
The call was cut off in the middle of her explanation. Sir Boltz had already achieved what he called for, so he lost interest in the conversation.
Besides, she was speaking too slowly. It was as if there was an obstacle in her mouth that caused her to speak a single word at a time. It was unbearable for him. He had better things to do than to hear her lie.
Fire Rose was left with the phone and a mountain of credit that she didn't work for on her lap.
Just yesterday, she had been complaining about the corruption of bureaucracy in the Justice League as she asked her subordinates to compile information about Black Mantis. Now, she doesn't know what to complain about.
She had been punished for the death of the member with Explosive Fists. Her punishment was that she couldn't perform any superhero activity for a month.
It is not a harsh punishment considering everything that they could have done to her, but she considered it a useless punishment. She had complained about it to anyone who would hear.
She can still remember what she said. She had said, "I make a mistake on a mission, and you ask me to give the villains a break for one month. Which dumbass came up with that idea?"
She also knows the punishment was meant to stifle her progress. After all, if she couldn't attack villains as a member of the Justice League, she wouldn't be able to gain achievements and publicity.