Hey everyone, new story up after doing a bit of work on it for a while, let me know what you lot think.
Hope you enjoy!
Chapter 1: A new life
It had been several days since the dark side of Brainiac 5 had been defeated, restoring order back to the galaxy and the space time continuum, but that did not help to ease Brainy's conscience.
If he hadn't given into his ancestor's influence as easily as he did, none of this would have ever happened. None of his friends would have been hurt, planets wouldn't have been harmed and people in the galaxy wouldn't hate him for what he did, even if it was against his will.
In the time since it had all ended, Brainy had retreated to the safety of his room, locking the door, not allowing anyone to enter his room, he just wanted peace and quiet at the moment, and plenty of time to think. Now that he was human, his emotions had taken a toll on his mind and has played a critical role in his decision making for the past few days. What he planned to do would be the best for the legion and the people of the galaxy.
A knock at his door had brought him out of his concentration. He was tempted to ignore it, like he had done the past few days with anyone else that had tried to get him, but this time, he felt like it was time to talk. Another knock at the door was heard, he sighed and stood up from his seat that he was currently occupying and walked over to the door.
"Who is it?" He asked.
"Brainy, it's Violet, can I come in?" She asked. Brainy paused for a few seconds before sighing. He unlocked his door and went back to his seat, letting Shrinking Violet walk in on her own. When she did, the door slid closed behind her as she stared at the once great Coluian, now a human being battling with emotions that he had never experienced before.
"Hey," she said, slowly walking up to him.
"Hey," he replied, leaning his cheek on his fist, never breaking his concentration in his thoughts.
"Brainy, are you feeling alright? You haven't come out of your room in days," she asked, placing a hand on his shoulder in an attempt to give him some comfort.
"Don't worry Vi, I've just been thinking," he told her, hoping that she would change the subject. No such luck there.
"Querl Dox, you are not tricking me into thinking that you have been in here for days just because you were thinking. Now what is going on?" She asked, glad to see that he cringed after she used his real name, it would always make him cave and tell the truth.
"It's just, ever since all of the trouble that I caused was cleared up, I haven't been feeling the same," he explained, moving Violet's hand off his shoulder, feeling depressed at the time, something that had been occurring ever since he had turned human.
"Why's that? Is it like there is something missing and you don't know what it is?" She asked him and got a nod in return.
"I know it sounds silly, but, I just feel like there is something gone, and that, I don't belong here anymore," he told her, placing his face in his hands. Violet looked at her friend and could see the sadness that he felt.
"Why don't you feel like you belong here? Is it because you're human now?" She asked him and got no response, it looked like she hit a nerve.
"Querl," she said, using his real name and kneeling down in front of him and taking his hands in hers, forcing those sad green eyes to look at her in the face.
"Just because you are a human, doesn't mean anything. You're still the fun loving, genius that everybody knows and loves," she told him, trying to cheer him up a little bit. Brainy did manage a small smile, but that was about it, his feelings did not change much.
"Thanks for the encouragement Vi, but that doesn't change my mind," he told her, taking his hands from hers and standing up, walking over to a corner of the room and sliding a door open, revealing several large shoulder bags there.
Violet stood up and walked over to where Brainy was pulling the bags out from.
"Brainy lis-"
"Please Vi, use my real name," he asked her to do.
"Okay. Querl, listen to me for just a second. Are you sure that this is what you want to do?" She asked him, gesturing to the bags that were piled up outside the door that was opened. Querl, as he was now being called, nodded his head before closing the door.
"Yeah, I am. I don't belong here anymore," he said. Violet didn't say anything right away, so Querl picked out a change of clothes before heading to his bathroom to change into them. While he was, Violet was busying staring off into space thinking about what her friend was about to do. She may have only been in the Legion for under a year, but Querl was by far her best friend and fellow technology genius, she just couldn't image a Legion of Superheroes without the person that practically created the Legion headquarters, computo and their spaceship, it just wouldn't seem right.
After a few more minutes, Querl exited his bathroom. He was now wearing blue jeans, a white vest, a purple button up long sleeved shirt that wasn't buttoned up and sneakers to complete his outfit. Violet watched him as he packed his old clothes away in his bags, not really believing that he was actually going to leave.
"Are you sure this is what you want to do?" She asked out of the blue, gaining the attention of her friend.
"I'm sure Vi, it's something I need to do," he told her, zipping up his bags after checking that he had everything that he needed. He knew that he came to the conclusion that he was going to leave the legion and that he didn't want to have any contact with them, but Violet was someone that was special to him. Even though he refused to acknowledge it, he had a crush on her.
"Listen Vi," he started, gaining her attention before he continued speaking.
"I know that you don't want me to leave, but this is just something I have to do. With all that I have done, I need a new life, I hope you can understand that," he said as he started to pick up his bags. When he had one over his shoulder, a hand grabbed on to his as he went to grab a second bag.
"I understand Querl," Violet said, turning his head so that he would face her.
"But please, if you ever need some help, or someone to listen to you, please contact me," she said as she let some tears fall down her cheeks. She tried to rub them away, but they continued to fall. Her eyes went wide when she felt herself being pulled into a hug, and knowing who it was, she latched on and cried into his shoulder, unable to hold back her emotions.
After a few more minutes, she and Querl released each other from the holds so they could look at the other in the face. Violet wiped away a few stray tears before looking at the face of the being that had stolen her heart. He had a soft smile on his face, showing he wasn't bothered at all by her actions.
"I really must be going now," Querl said and Violet nodded her head, watching as Querl gather the rest of his bags and walking to the door with her following close behind. The halls of Legion Headquarters were empty as every Legionnaire was outside celebrating the ending of the war with Imperiex and inducting Superman X into the Legion. Querl walked quickly down the hallways with Violet trailing behind him as she tried to catch up with him, determined to spend at least a few more minutes with him until he leaves.
They arrived at the docking area where the ship would be kept a few minutes later. Querl walked through the area and right past the ship to an area that was covered in old tarps. Violet was wondering what it was, but her questions were answered when Querl removed the largest tarp, making Violet's eyes widen.
Underneath the tarp was a motorbike, a futuristic looking one that looked like it had some very special modifications. The style of it reminded her of something a biker from a gang would use, and the colours of it were a mixture of black and crimson red.
She snapped out of her thoughts were Querl began strapping his bags down to the back of the bike, making sure that they wouldn't fly off on the ride.
"Where are you going?" Violet asked out of the blue.
"Somewhere that I've visited a lot in the past, so I'll be familiar with the surroundings and the people there," he explained, getting a helmet out and placing it on his head before hopping on his bike, starting it up as well. Violet just watched the scene in front of her unfold, just being happy to spend these last few minutes with Querl.
"Querl, wait," Violet said over the noise of the engine. Querl turned to look at her.
"Good luck," she said, gaining a smile of appreciation from the new human, something that he was still getting used to.
"Thank you Vi," he said before sliding down the guard over his eyes. He revved up his bike and took off in the opening of the docking area.
Violet wondered where Querl was going to go, but then her eyes widened at what she saw. Coming out of his bike were four mechanical wings, two on each side, making them look like an 'X'. After the wings came up, he pulled back on his back and was starting to do a wheelie, and his turbo boosters at the back of his bike activated, shooting him off into the sky and flying over the city.
Violet watched as he flew over the city for a few more seconds before a portal opened up in front of him, she guessed it was a time portal. And then he was gone, gone to live a new life and to try and heal from all of the events that had transpired.
After a few more minutes, some of the other legionnaires had arrived in the docking area after hearing the loud noise, only they didn't know that it was Querl's bike.
"Violet, what happened here?" Cosmic boy asked, since he was practically the leader of the legion.
"Relax guys, nothing bad happened," she said as she turned to face them
"Are you sure? Something must have happened for such a loud noise," Saturn Girl asked. Before Violet could answer, Bouncing Boy and Camellian Boy rushed into the docking area.
"Guys, guys, he's gone!" Bouncing Boy yelled as he changed back from a ball to human.
"Whoa, whoa, slow down bouncy, who is gone?" Superman asked.
"Brainy is gone, that's who!" Cam yelled, getting shocked looks from the legion members in the docking area.
All of the legion members stared at the two in pure shock, but then they turned their attention to Violet, holding a questioning look in their gaze. They had the feeling that had a good reason to explain what happened with the loud noise that they heard.
"Violet, was the noise we heard Brainy leaving headquarters?" Superman asked her. Violet was hesitant at first, but after a short while, she decided to answer the question.
"Yeah it was. He took off on some sort of a bike and went through a portal to somewhere," she explained.
"What? Why would he do that?" Bouncing Boy asked, feeling confused with the situation just as much as everyone else besides Violet.
"Come on guys, just think about for a second. After everything that has happened recently, he felt like he didn't belong here anymore. He said he wanted to start a new life, can you just let do what he wishes," she explained to them, but not all of them seemed happy with this new information.
"This is a disgrace, he can't just take of like that without telling us," Cosmic Boy fumed, pacing a little bit in the hanger.
"Oh come on Cosmic Boy, you're over reacting," Triplet Girl said to him.
"Look guys, there's nothing that we can do at the moment. It's Brainy's decision and we can't change anything," Superman said, effectively stopping the discussion before it turned into an argument.
Although he felt upset with how Querl just decided to up and disappear, he was one of the first friends that he made in the legion and had been his best friend for years, but he respected his decision in what he wanted to do, even if he had to lose his best friend.
With Querl, he had just exited the time portal that he had created and stopped his bike on a country lane, not that far away from a city that he knew all too well. The reason he had chosen this place was because it was familiar to him and that he had been here numerous times before, Domino city, Japan. He gave a small smile before and started off down the lane that he was on and headed towards the city.
Hopefully he would be able to make a new life for himself here in this time, trying to forget about his more recent past would be difficult for him, but he was determined to give it a try. As he entered into the city, he took quick glances around him to look at how the town has changed. It hadn't that much, but it was still looked like it did when he last came to this town.
When he saw a local coffee shop that he used to go to, he pulled over and parked his bike, getting a few odd looks from people because of his green skin, but there were some people at the shop that seemed to give a small smile at seeing him again, even a few employees at the shop.
When he parked his bike and took off his helmet, he walked inside the shop and went straight up to the counter to order something, good thing he came prepared with plenty of money this time.
"Morning sir, can I-"someone said from behind the counter before pausing in mid sentence, obviously taken back at who was at the counter. Querl looked at him for a quick second before giving the man a small smile.
"Hey Darrell," he said to the man, who quickly snapped out of his daze and plastered a large smile on his face.
"Querl, man, it's great to see ya, where've you been?" The man said as he gave Querl a firm handshake. Darrell was a fairly sized man at just over six foot tall, dark skin, blue eyes and a small afro for his hair. He and Querl had been friends ever since he had started visiting this town, and was always there when he was being ganged up on.
"I've been dealing with a few things, not much free time. What about you?" Querl asked, striking up a conversation. Darrell gave a small laugh before answering.
"Not much man, still single, got myself a job here and entering my second year of working here."
"That's really good for ya," Querl said.
"Yeah, you're right there. Anyway, anything you want?" Darrell asked, getting back to work.
"Uh, yeah, I'll have an espresso with a brownie sundae please," Querl asked as he took a few notes out from his wallet as Darrell added up his bill.
"Alright man, that'll be $5.37," Darrell said as Querl handed over the money. Darrell handed him his change and went to preparing Querl's order. Querl himself was waiting by the till for his order to come through, but when he picked up on some people that were talking about him, he listened in with his sensitive hearing.
"Man, looks like the circus lost one of its acts," one guy said, getting two of his friends to laugh, but the three women that they were with were less than impressed.
"You guys are idiots, don't you know who that is?" One of the girls asked, while the men just looked at her without a care in the world.
"Uh, yeah, he's a walking freak show," the second man said, making all three of them laugh.
"Very funny, that's Querl Dox. You know, the smartest guy in Domino next to Seto Kaiba and one of the best duellists in the world," the third woman said, followed by the second.
"If you guys are actually going to insult the guy, he'll come over and you won't know what happened to you." The men didn't seem to take it seriously and challenged what the girls said, with all three of them standing up and walked over to where Querl was standing, surrounding him in an attempt to intimidate him.
"Hey man, when the tickets on sale," the leader said, smirking at Querl while his friends laughed a little.
"If you mean the tickets people pay to see you get punched in your mouth for your stupidity, about 10 minutes," he replied, with the men looking offended with what he said, but some other people in the shop that heard him laughed.
"Watch what you say there little man," the leader said shoving Querl a little. Little did they know, Querl knew much about the three men and their activities.
"I would calm down if I were Frederick, Conan, and Boris. You wouldn't want more crimes on your police files would you?" He asked with a smirk on his face.
Said men looked angered at how Querl was standing up to them and were about to attack, if Darrell hadn't walked out with Querl's order and spotting what was going on.
"Alright you three, you know the rules, no rough housing of any sort or you're kicked out, so it's your choice," he said, placing Querl's drink and sundae on the counter, staring down the men, who eventually walked back to their table, with the women that they were with laughing at them.
"They're still getting into trouble I see," Querl commented as he picked up his order.
"Pretty much, but hey, it's their lives they're screwing up, not ours. Enjoy man," Darrell told him before going back to work, and Querl going to sit down to eat and drink. It was good to be back in Domino, with some familiar faces around him, but there was going to be difficulties for him in the future, and the first stop would be finding a place to stay and a job.
There it is, let me know what you lot think.
And Querl's bike, if anyone has watched the tv show storm hawks, the bike is similar to that, but the model is more like something you would see now a days.
Anyway, by for now.