It was a lovely morning. Oh, the beautiful sunshine decorated by birds singing on the trees. Oh, what a perfect day to go out for a walk...well, some people do it and some don't. It's just normal to see so many kinds of people walking on the streets.

As for our friend, Aldi, he was reading the newspaper on the couch. A batik-motif headband is set on his head. His friend and adopted older brother, Dietrich, walked down the ladder shirtless. Wearing only a pair of shorts and sandals, he was carrying a blue t-shirt when he noticed Aldi reading the newspaper in slight disgust.

"And how are we today?" he greeted his friend, as he walked closer to him. He wore his t-shirt as he stood behind Aldi's couch, seemingly reading the headline at the same time. "What have we here? 'The Justice League save the day'?"

Aldi sighed. "I'm not surprised. How lucky is the United States, for they have crazy powered 'heroes' to save the day."

His friend showed him a smile and sat next to him. "Hey," he pat on his shoulders. "Nobody said what we do will be easy from the start."

"I know, I know. Just..." Aldi put the newspaper on the coffee table in front of him. Then he turned the television on. "Just because our country, Indonesia, isn't threatened by some crazy alien cult wanting to take over the world doesn't mean we don't have shenanigans to deal with."

It was news program on TV. The reporter described what appeared to be the aftermath of a terrorist attack. The buildings around the place she was reporting from were not damaged as much, but there was one particular building that suffers from heavy explosion damage. One might easily notice it from the smokes and debris befalling its ground. There were also blood stains all over the building's place. We are safe to assume that the building is a house, since it appears to be a two-story tall house among a row of houses in a suburb setting.

"The terrorist group, CRISIS, claimed responsibility for this attack. They have also claimed hostage of three innocent bystanders, by which they demanded a direct meeting with the mayor for their freedom. They requested no money, only a meeting by the mayor," before the reporter finished her sentence, Aldi turned the television off.

He stood up and stretched his arms. "What a classic terrorist shenanigan. The mayor may be that carefree but doesn't mean his head is dysfunctional. You're in?"

"You sure they're held in the same old place?" Dietrich asked.

"Where else? Those crooks aren't going anywhere in town. Wonder why they purposely make our jobs easier than we thought."

oWo

There were three people, one man, one woman, and one boy, gagged and tied on wooden chairs, surrounded by three masked armed men in a dark, wide, dusty room. There were no lights whatsoever, and despite the weather outside, the sunlight didn't even seem to notice the building they were in. The only lighting available was from a flickering ceiling lamp, which is barely reliable for a constant source of light.

Two of the men walked past their hostages. One whispered, "Reported this to the boss?"

"Sure. He'll be here any moment now."

He noticed the tip of a black pole on his right shoulder. Turns out someone was standing behind him.

"Be glad I'm punctual, punks," Aldi said with a smile as he tipped his black pole and poked it to the armed man's neck.

The man turned around, hoping to grab the pole. What grabbing he got was Aldi's hands on his wrist. As he threw the man away in ease, his friend lifted his firearm and aimed toward him.

He fired his gun, aimed straight toward Aldi's head. A muscular young man with black t-shirt and jeans appeared out of nowhere. He stood front of Aldi, seemingly body blocking the bullets. The bullets deflected themselves as they touched the chest part.

Aldi stood astonished, but this remains short as the terrorist immediately threw a green glowing stone toward who protected him. Turns out the young man in black t-shirt fell down weak upon contact with the stone. When Aldi noticed the terrorist drawing a knife made of green glowing material, he knew he was up to nothing good.

The terrorist ran, raising the knife with its tip facing down toward the young man in black t-shirt. Aldi was swift enough to raise his black pole and point its tip toward his neck, stopping his advance.

"Who would you prefer dealing with? Me, or..." Aldi revealed the tip of a blade from the tip of the black pole, closing it toward the terrorist's neck. His batik-motif headband fell to the ground, revealing short, black hair. His eyes opened wide, and his mouth smiled a wide, menacing grin. It is as if he's a serial killer that found his next target and is eager about what he'll do. "Me?"

oWo

Aldi watched as the police brought away handcuffed two armed masked men. The three hostages walked past him, but their heads look down to the floor, ignoring their saviour. Dietrich walked anther masked men, with purple glows on his wrist. As he handed the crook over to the police, he stopped.

"Oh, apologies, officer. I forgot a tiny little detail," he focused his eyes on the purple glows and chanted, "Lip, D'Staarth!"

The purple glow turned into steel handcuff. Pretending as if this kind of things is a normal encounter, the police seemed cool with it. They bailed the crooks into barred van, and after a few short greetings, they left. The hostages left in a black limousine seemingly arranged by the government for them, since they it has red number plate.

Aldi walked away from a seemingly abandoned house located far from the city centre. He was carrying the green glowing stone that weakened the young man in black t-shirt. "No one's freaking out with magic in the 21st century, now do we?"

Dietrich put on a smile. He wrapped both arms on the chest. "I guess after what we've been through for the past years, it's only natural that people grow accustomed to what they thought is fictitious. Especially when they see it almost everyday on the medias."

"But some random young guy that can deflect bullets but fell down for this trick, you think it's arcane work?"

He gave the stone to Dietrich. He rubbed the stone from all sides, slowly and thoroughly. His confused face was all Aldi took as an answer, but he knew his friend is ready to say something more.

"Barely," he replied. "I've never seen anything like this. Any leads?"

"It's Kryptonite,"

A young man's voice came from within the house. As the duo turned around, they noticed the man in black t-shirt had recovered. He walked toward them, limping occasionally, still looking sort of weakened.

"Kryptonites make me weak. I have super strength but that," he pointed to what Aldi was carrying, "is my weakness, along with magic. Everyone knows this."

"I suppose the mental hospital rendered me more ancient than ever since," Aldi chuckled, "You have my gratitude, um..."

"Superboy," he proudly confessed his name, as he pointed the red 'S' sign in a diamond outline on his t-shirt's chest part. "I am with the Justice League."

Aldi's head struck. He remembered reading the very same phrase on the newspaper that morning, but had he expected a run-in with one of them, he would have reacted more casually. "Pause. You are a superhero? As in the flying people that shows up in the news every morning?"

He nodded. "Yes, that's what they call me. I'm here to save the-hey!"

His exclamation stopped as Aldi pointed his black pole toward his neck. This the, he held the kryptonite with his other hand, seemingly ready to throw the stone to the rather surprised Superboy.

"Save the day? Oh, for god's sake cut me off some slack. State your purpose!" Aldi gripped the pole tighter. "Do you seek me for the crimes I have committed against humanity? If so, I will have the honour of death from your hands, just make it quick."

"Wait, what's this? No, I'm not going to hurt you! I've saved you, man! What made you think I'm-"

"Both of you, calm down!" Dietrich raised both of his arms. "Don't make me do this."

"You...you orthodox racists! Just because we live in some other part of the earth and that we're not Caucasians doesn't mean you can just leave us rotting to die by some terrorist bombardments! You think you can judge Indonesians just because we're mostly Muslims? Funny," Aldi grieved, "even we are also victims of their lollygagging. We're in desperate help almost every second of our live, so much that the police and military even bestowed this matter to a pair of priest and psychopath!" He cried, lowering himself to the knees, putting his pole to the ground and throwing the green stone away. "I-oh, for goodness's sake, I apologise. It wasn't what I wanted to say, but...you're, you just seem to abandon us here, catering more about the troubles in the States. How can I not hold a grudge against you? Were you here actively, they..." He cried.

"A grudge against us?" Superboy was even more surprised. "Did we ever do something bad to you?"

"No, not really," Dietrich lowered both of his hands. "Or rather, not directly."

oWo

"Oh my god..."

Dietrich sat on the dining room chair, with a cup of hot chocolate milk on the table. Aldi was upstairs, in the bathroom. He had been telling Superboy all he knew about Aldi, to a certain point the latter nodded down in grief.

"I'm sorry. I have no idea what you guys have been through."

It was raining outside, despite not heavy rain. It seems like the weather had been following Dietrich's story to the point it went gloomy, and that it wanted to support the mood.

"Don't worry," he sipped the chocolate milk. "The very second he found his best friends gunned down on the field, at the hands of the terrorist attackers, I can assure you he went crazier than a serial killer. In only a matter of hours, Lembang Terrorist Attack ended with heavy casualties on the terrorists' side. All 400 of them, dead by Aldi's hands alone."

Superboy didn't reply. He paid serious attention, resting his back to the wall.

"In a manner of speaking, he saved this town. But what he couldn't save are his friends and his own self. He succumbed to mental illnesses ever since. Two years in the mental hospital and he ended up what he is now, a person with two personalities living in a body."

"Two personalities?" Superboy wanted to clarify.

"One ego wants to solve things without bloody conflicts, while one other just want to shed and squeeze the blood out of the body. I'm surprised that the two had achieved such mutual understanding that they are in control of each other, though," Dietrich sipped another take of the chocolate milk. "That, and he's deprived of many qualities of a normal man: common sense, sexual affection, romantic interests...even now he desperately wants to die. One time I remember the president himself visiting him, and that he granted a pardon from the nation for what he has done, and that he desperately begged him to instead give him a death sentence. Basically, he's a unique human while is also, in a terminal sense, a psychopath."

"Now I understand. If only the Justice League were as aware, we might have saved his friend, ended the attack, and none of this should have happened. For that, I'm sorry, but I'm sure mere apologies won't be enough," Superboy grieved. "So how did you guys meet?"

"Don't worry. Perhaps it's all for the best. Anyway, long story short," Dietrich smiled at Superboy, "my familly were murdered and someone framed me to prison twenty years ago. The country I was born exiled me here the day I was freed. When I got news that someone among CRISIS in Indonesia knew something about it, I went there in a melee spring. Turns out Aldi was also there trying to convince people to leave terrorist ranks, while also gathering some information about their next attack plan. We both failed, but at least we were safe."

Superboy walked to the kitchen. He took a glass of cold water and drank it all up. "Sounds like you both got involved in many things related to terrorism," he put the glass on the counter.

"It does sound so. My family had always been a line of great priests. We have a sacred family art that is used mainly to heal. Turns out that it's magic, and that I'm in direct descendant with some sage bloodline, I could cast a few spells or two. When Aldi found out that the former leader of CRISIS, which was also his martial arts teacher, orchestrated the murder twenty years past and attempted to gain the same power as my family bloodline by performing some nasty ritual, we went vigilante and put them down. We've been through a lot, and now I'm proud to say that Aldi's family accepted me as one of their own."

"Magic doesn't surprise me. Back then at home, we deal with some villains that plays with them, too."

"Glad to hear that," Dietrich noticed that his cup had been empty. "So, what was it about you were looking for us again?"

"Oh, right," Superboy walked to Dietrich. "The Justice League wants to extend a helping hand to a duo of heroes that never tires of saving the day. We've noticed how you spoil terrorist plans and expose them in public, preventing disaster before it could ever happen. Not only that, we also noticed how you fight for the people, saving numerous hostages from terrorists, while also at the same time putting them in chairs with the government to discuss matters. Some public policies are made because of your efforts, and that's incredible, even to our standards. Mostly, we just punch them and put them in jails, but you do something even more."

"It's not a big deal. It was Aldi's head who does all the thinking and planning, while my magic makes things easier. While both have limitations, we try to fill in where possible," Dietrich tap his fingers on the table. "He wants to make sure that such shenanigans, or so he calls it, never happen again by actually rooting out the root of the problem. That includes talking the mayor about it if the problem comes from unfair government policies. He used his notoriety to gain his audience for the first time, and the rest was history."

"That is why we want to help. I here represent the Justice League extends a helping hand of friendship. We want to study your methods, while at the same time providing valuable aid to your cause. What do you say?"

Dietrich turned his head to Aldi, who seemed to have been watching their conversation for quite a time. He was sitting on the couch, his back facing both Superboy and Dietrich, and he was looking down.

"Your call," Dietrich called.

Aldi sighed. His head lifted, now seeing a reflection of Dietrich and Superboy through the turned off television screen.

"As the saying goes, better late than never. Though, before I can agree, I want to ask you a small favour," he stood up. He was holding a folded paper when he walked to Superboy and gave it to him. "Give this to whoever gave you such an exquisite mission. Have him read its contents. Tell him everything you know about us, and more importantly, that among the 400 terrorist attackers I..." he paused, "killed, some of them were brainwashed innocent civilians. In addition, I killed Mahsyuri Gunadi, the man responsible for Detrich's family murder, and is also my former martial arts teacher and former CRISIS leader, by some unspeakable acts I did to his spine. I also killed Setiawan Soenadio, my former martial arts teacher that turned terrorist, and left his split body drenched in his own blood. I want them to do a full consideration of their helping hand, since I'm also a murderer in a sense. A criminal on the loose, in your standards. Someone who, at the right timing, will turn crazier than a serial killer, while at most other times will condemn the very act of murder."

"I understand. What should I do after giving this letter to Superman and the others?" Superboy asked.

"Your actions are always on the morning newspaper. I'll see the picture of my letter on the front page of the tomorrow's issue. Come here again the day after tomorrow. Dip the paper in blue ink if the Justice League still insists on helping me, and I'll welcome you here in open arms. Dip the paper in red ink if the Justice League later decides the otherwise, and the next time you come here, I'll be in handcuffs and solitary confinement with no fighting back."