Danny Phantom/Batman (mentions of the other Leaguers). This is the last for a little while, I swear. Don't kill me.

Ch.3: Reality Warping

Danny stirred from his slumber when he felt a rumble under him. His blue eyes cracked open for a moment and he breathed a sigh as he lifted his head off the pillow. He looked over his dark shoulder apprehensively but found nothing unusually shaped in the space around him. With the assessment done, Danny ignored whatever the sound had been and let his head fall back to his pillow again. Closing his eyes, he started sinking back into the depths of sleep.

However, his bed shook under him for a few seconds before settling down again. Danny, confused and only half-awake, propped himself up on one elbow and rubbed his face with his hand, mumbling a question under his breath on what was going on. He looked around the room again, though he only checked for strange things a few seconds ago. Still seeing nothing, he got up and walked to the window, wondering if something was happening outside.

Pulling the curtain back, Danny rubbed his eye and scanned the scenery outside the pane of glass. The usual scene stared back at him. Office buildings stood tall but were darkened, as if sleeping themselves. Down below, restaurants, bars, and clubs stayed open with music making the structures rattle and bar-hoppers came and went. The mall and movie theater in the distance were also still open, people wandering into the brightly lit buildings while others headed towards their cars.

Once again, there was nothing unusual with what Danny was seeing and the sixteen-year-old wondered if maybe there was just a small earthquake. It would explain the rumbling and shaking of his room.

Shaking his head, Danny wandered back to where his twin bed sat cozily in its corner. The sheets were ruffled and bunched up where Danny's waist would be. His pillow had a noticeable head-print in it and laid at an angle, where Danny had hugged it in his sleep. The large, fluffy comforter was dangling over the end, since the room was too warm to use without sweating off a couple of pounds. The clock on the nightstand beside the bed read 1:23.

Danny eagerly slipped back under his sheets and pulled them over his body, tucking them under his chin as his free arm journeyed under his pillow. He curled up for a moment before relaxing and breathing another sigh as he closed his tired, crystalline blue eyes. He ignored the next few rumbles and shakes the room gave while trying to sleep, finding them more of a nuisance than anything else.

However, when there was a loud BOOM from outside that shook the room hard enough for the clock to fall off the edge of the table. Danny worriedly sat up and looked around his room as everything vibrated. It only lasted for, maybe, a half a minute before the trembles began easing away. The quivers stopped and Danny continued to sit on his bed, looking at the disarray his things were now in. He cautiously bent down over the side of his bed and picked his clock back up, setting it warily on the table again. He ignored the crack in the plastic, splitting the numbers into two sections.

Not too long after the vicious trembles of the room had subsided, they began again and Danny vaguely wondered what the heck was up with the earthquake. He mulled in his thoughts, feeling the quivers shaking the room getting worse just as they seemed to ease away. The teen told himself many times that the building he was in was one of the strongest the country had; it survived the last bad earthquake it had. Even so, the boy's eyes found the iron, knob-less door to his left and stared at it longingly.

Suddenly, there was another BOOM and the sixteen-year-old was knocked from the bed, landing uncomfortably on the tile floor under him. Danny yelped as the nightstand crashed to the ground right beside him, almost falling on top of the boy and crushing him. Luckily, it was a few inches off, allowing the teen to scoot to the center of the room and look to the ceiling in uncertainty.

Blue eyes squinted when the iron door suddenly opened with a swoosh and armed guards stormed the room, quickly grabbing Danny and pulling him to his feet. The teen yelped again as he was rushed out of the room and into the brightly lit hallway outside, though the lights had begun flickering on and off unstably. The black-haired boy saw that his two friends, Sam and Tucker, and the other kids on the floor were also being dragged from their rooms as well.

Upon the three friends seeing each other, they instantly knew what was going on. They were all being dragged towards another simulation, despite the earth quaking around them. Dread filled them, remembering the last simulation they had been put through. Even though there was nothing in the realities they were put in that could hurt them, it was always scary as hell being put in one. It was like walking through a corn maze; you knew none of the things that jumped out at you were going to hurt you but you always screamed and jumped back from the assailant anyways.

Sam and Tucker tried making their guards slow so they could near Danny, who was in the back. However, the men were having none of it and dragged the teens along. They were ushered into an elevator with the other teenagers and two other guards. The two teens were relieved when Danny was also ushered on but they were taken back when the guards in the back shook their heads, silently saying it was too much. The doors began closing. The three teens fought to be together but they were held back and the doors closed.

"What's going on?!" Danny yelled, angrily lashing out at the man that tried to usher him in another direction. The men tried calming him but the teen wanted nothing to do with them, sick of being taken places and never having anything explained to him. When the ebony-haired boy continued to refuse cooperation, the man in charge stepped forward and gave Danny a sharp slap across the cheek.

That efficiently stopped the teen but made him back away from the guards with shock and a tinge of fear shining in his blue eyes, brushing his fingers against his red-tinted flesh.

"Kid, we need to go. You'll see your friends in a little bit." The man that had slapped the boy said, stepping forward to roughly grab his arm. Before he could, the building jerked to the side, sending everyone flying to the ground. The lights powered down, leaving everyone in darkness. All the armed guards and the one teen stayed close to the ground as they waited for the building to settle.

Much to their horror, the building began falling to the side.

Danny yelped as office supplies, stacks of paper, computers, and keyboards began sliding off the desks, landing all around him as he covered his head. Chairs slid by him, almost toppling over on top of him. They fell to the glass-walls that were used as windows but were quickly becoming the floor. The armed men began sliding across the tiled floor, as did Danny. Everyone grabbed onto the desks that were bolted to the floors and held on tight, waiting for the impact sure to come.

The top of the building they were in crashed into its next door neighbor. The top of the structure smashed through the walls and created a gaping hole in the side. Various levels of the other building were destroyed, revealing the disarray inside the office building. Debris fell from the toppled-over structure, crashing against the concrete walkways outside.

Danny breathed heavily as he hugged the leg on the desk, shutting his eyes to calm himself. He was fine; dangling from the side of the desk but fine, nonetheless. The glass walls were still miraculously intact under them but cracks spider-webbed across the surface. Electronics and office supplies lay haphazardly across the glass, still.

"Is everyone ok?" One of the men called. Danny recognized the voice as the guard who slapped him.

A chorus of 'yes's' rose from the other men as they continued to press against or dangle from the bolted desks. After, it grew quiet as the men began thinking of ways to get out of the mess they were in. None of them could reach the stairs, which had probably been destroyed anyways, and the elevator was immediately out of the question. The only way out was through the windows below them but no one would survive the twelve story drop that would follow.

The ebony-haired teen kept quiet as well, not knowing what to say. As he scanned the room for a potential exit, he gasped when the desk he was holding onto creaked under his hands. His entire body stiffened up and his mind drew a blank when he knew he should find something else to hang onto instead of the unstable desk.

"Kid, are you over there?!" The guard questioned worriedly from his spot.

Danny hummed a yes before calling anxiously, "Yeah, I'm here. What do I do?! The desk won't hold up for long though! What do I-"

"Calm down!" The man barked, making Danny shut his trap as he winced at another creak the desk gave. The man gently told Danny to stay as still as possible while trying to find something else to hold on to for the time being. Danny tried to find something but there was nothing in his reach that he could hold onto. He was on the very far side of the room and only a wall was behind him. The only thing to hold onto was the unstable desk.

"There's nothing over here!" Danny called, wishing he could see the older man.

"Alright, just stay calm! I'll figure out a way for you to-"

CRACK!

"Shit!"

One of the bolts crumbled abruptly, jerking the desk around. Danny gripped the leg of the desk tighter, breath hitching in his throat as he flailed for a moment before settling down. The guard's curse carried over the groans and Danny listened as the man continued, "Alright, that's it! Kid, I need you to crawl to the other side of the desk so I can grab you. Can you do that for me?"

Danny nodded, even though he knew the older male couldn't see him. To make up for it, Danny hummed his understanding loud enough for the man to hear him. After, he took a deep breath and began to slowly pull himself up so he could crawl across the side of the desk and reach the guard. However, as his head began appearing over the side, another bolt popped loudly and the desk began sliding towards the glass under it.

The teen screamed, drowning out the guards' panicked yells, as he slid along with the large contraption, letting go off the desk and bracing himself for impact. Both the teen and the desk slammed against the cracked window at the same time, shattering it completely. Shards of glass, office supplies, papers, electronics, the desk, and one teen began free-falling. Danny continued to scream as he whipped around, heading for the hard concrete at high speeds. The teen's pupils constricted when they saw the hard ground before his eyelids shut over his eyes quickly. He hugged himself, waiting for the terrible impact to come.

Danny collided with a wall of water.

At the hard impact, despite the destination being liquid, Danny became dizzy and stayed submerged in the water for a few seconds before he tried to take a breath. The water that entered his nose and mouth woke him up quickly, making his blue eyes snap open. He saw glass shards and office utensils raining down around him and falling to the bottom of the pit he had landed in, which was around twelve feet deep.

Shielding his head with his arms, Danny kicked towards the surface and broke the water. He coughed up the water he inhaled before he put his arms down, as the debris had stopped falling. He looked around and saw he was where he was supposed to have landed, except a pool of water had taken the place of the concrete. His powers, the ability to twist reality to his will, had come in handy when he was in danger, once again.

Above him, the building Danny had been living in for the past year and a half was smashed into two pieces. One half continued to stand straight into the air while the half Danny had fallen out of continued to lean against the building behind the teen. There were flames on the top level of the intact part and the teen wasn't too surprised to see other parts of Metropolis on fire. In the air, Superman and other members of the Justice League were fighting a dragon the size of two buses stacked on top of each other. The dragon's mouth was clamped shut by a golden lasso. Wonder Woman was holding on to the rope tightly as she was dragged behind the dragon as it flipped and spun in the air, trying to knock her off to free himself from the rope.

"DANNY!"

The blue-eyed boy turned his head to see his two friends rushing towards him as the rest of the teens were ushered into a stairwell that led to an underground bunker. A few guards were chasing after them but they were determined to get to their friend and make sure he was alright after free-falling twelve stories.

Danny pulled himself out of the water and stood up, just as Sam and Tucker reached him and tackled him in a hug. The three smiled and breathed sighs of relief before they abruptly screamed as a broken piece of the building above them crashed into the ground near them, efficiently stopping the guards from reaching the teens. The trio, scared out of their wits and survival instincts taking over, began racing in the opposite direction. They sped through the parking lot, jumping over obstacles and ducking past others. The three continued running, even as they left their home's perimeter and began passing office buildings, restaurants, and small shops.

Sam, Danny, and Tucker ran a good five blocks before slowing and letting ideas rush through their heads. As they began jogging through an apartment complex parking lot, Danny's blue eyes scanned over the cars and noticed most of them were completely untouched. An idea struck Danny as the booms and crashes continued behind them.

"Guys!" Danny yelled as he slowed, efficiently getting his friends to do the same. They looked at him apprehensively, panting and breathing hard. The ebony-haired boy gestured to the cars around them. "Let's drive out of here! Tuck, you know how to hotwire a car, right?"

Tucker nodded and the three ran to the nearest car. The cocoa-skinned boy took to the driver's door and tried the handle, only for it to be locked. Tucker only shrugged and pressed his fingers to the lock in the side. Behind him, Sam and Danny were carefully watching the skies for any dragons and/or superheroes. They waited for Tucker to open the door but the turquoise-eyed teen was doing anything but pressing two fingers to the lock.

Sam casted a look over her shoulder and mumbled, "Tuck, any day now would be much appreciated."

"Trying. Powers aren't responding." Tucker mumbled quietly back, as if the volume in his voice would make a difference. He sighed irritably, trying his hardest to get his powers to work but they refused to respond to his mental commands. The cocoa-skinned boy growled irritably and very nearly slammed his head into the side of the truck to ease his oncoming headache.

"Tuck…" Danny mumbled, grabbing his head friend by the shoulder as Sam's face paled to his side. Tucker looked over his shoulder and saw the dragon, still dragging Wonder Woman behind it, flying in their general direction. Superman's red laser-beams shot from his eyes, burning the dragon's back. The amber-colored beast threw his head back before flipping again, sending Wonder Woman crashing into a building. The lasso wrapped around its muzzle loosened and the creature began shaking it off.

The ebony-haired male's blue eyes met Tucker's turquoise ones. The cocoa-skinned male turned back around, trying more than ever to get his powers to respond. Much to his intense relief, his fingers finally melded together and flatted until his appendages looked like a metal key. The fleshy key slipped into the lock, adjusted its form, and unlocked the door.

When he felt the almost indistinguishable click inside, Tucker yanked the door open and allowed Sam to hop into the extended cab in the back before he went to work hotwiring the car. He did it much quicker than he did the lock, as his powers were now responding to his calls. Tucker grinned when the car roared to life and then eagerly hopped into the passenger seat, allowing Danny to get into the driver's seat and slam the door behind them. Tucker asked, "You remember anything from your short time in driver's-ed?"

"Red means stop; green means go. That's about it." Danny replied as he stomped on the gas, pulling out of the parking spot and driving as quickly as he dared towards the exit, pulling onto the deserted main drag. Everyone winced when there was another explosion behind them, rather close. Danny didn't dare look behind him as he sped down the road, hopefully putting distance between the destruction and the car they were driving.

Danny, a few miles down the road and still not happy with how far they had gotten, pulled off the road when he saw the exit. He sped down the ramp and continued speeding down the road. No other cars were in sight; it was the dead of night, not the most opportune time to drive, and the ones that did drive during the night avoided Metropolis because of the fight that had quickly gone national once the rest of the Justice League had joined Superman. It allowed for a few rule-breaking moments.

The ebony-haired teen finally allowed the car to slow when they couldn't hear anymore crashes and explosions. The night sky in Metropolis had been blazing red with the amount of fires around town but now it was black spotted with millions of white lights. The moon hung quietly in the sky, lighting up the earth to the best of its abilities. The truck the teen's had hijacked continued to be the only one traveling the long stretch of road.

"Alright, we're clear." Sam said, watching as the last of red painted sky fell from their view. Turning to the front, she leaned between her friends' seats and looked back and forth at them. "What do we do now?"

Danny pulled off the road and stopped in the break-down lane, letting the car idle while he turned to face his two friends in his seat. Tucker did the same, getting himself comfortable. Sam just watched and waited for them, having no ideas herself about what they were supposed to do now.

The Institute for Unstable Metas had been their 'home' for almost as long as they had had their powers. It was run by a group of scientists that wanted to help the ever-growing population of super-humans by teaching them how to use their superpowers. However, no one but older, more experienced metas, such as the people in the Justice League, knew how to really control the various abilities.

This led the scientists to have to study the various people who were brought to their care. They never overstepped any boundaries and had never harmed any of the subjects. However, they did keep the ones with more violent powers mostly isolated, like the three teens, to avoid any potential accidents if their powers were unleashed without the wielder's consent. After all, it was accidents caused by their powers that led them to be placed within the institute to begin with.

Danny had accidently brought his science experiment into a sentient being that had nearly destroyed his entire school had it not been for the teen turning the monster back into a pile of goop. Tucker had been brainstorming invention ideas with his friend and nearly stabbed the other boy when his hand had unconsciously merged into a tool they would've needed to build their contraption. Sam, whose powers consisted of the ability to control plant life, had almost accidently had her annoying, older cousin strangled when she grew irritated with the girl.

Needless to say, they were all traumatized by the incidents that had transpired and, during the few times they had been allowed to hang out with each other, had bonded rather quickly from said events. They became like family within a few visits, as they weren't allowed to see their parents and siblings (if they had them) until they 'graduated' from the institute. As far as they knew, no one that had been admitted to the institute had graduated yet.

"We should probably head back to the institute…or what's left of it." Tucker suggested, grimacing at the flashback that ran through his head of the dragon slamming into the building and practically chopping it in half. The top half of the building had fallen right into the insurance building across the street. For a few agonizing minutes, nothing else happened. Then one of the glass windows had shattered and down came Danny, screaming and flailing. Luckily, a pit of water had been summoned into existence under him before he could land on the concrete. Sam and Tucker had slipped away in the fray, worried about their friend.

Sam snorted at the idea, shaking her head. "As of right now, there's nothing to go back to. That dragon-thing split the building in two. And how are we supposed to know when it's ok to go back? They could still be fighting right now."

"The JL should have everything covered by morning." Tucker said, waving his female friend off casually. Both eyes turned to Danny to see his reaction as they waited for his reply.

The ebony-haired boy shrugged with a nonchalant look. "I was thinking we could go visit our families."

Both of the boy's friends perked at the suggestion before they thought it over. Despite living in different cities, they might actually have time to do such a thing with the institute destroyed and having other teenagers to watch; teens with powers that were harder to control than theirs. Keeping them calm while the executives worked on moving them to a safe location was going to take a lot of hands with none to spare. The trio wouldn't be sought after for a long time.

"Let's do it." Sam said, a smile blossoming on her face. Danny and Tucker mirrored her look before they all fixed themselves in their seats. They pulled on their seatbelts for the first time and buckled them in before Danny began driving the car down the highway. The three friends fell into an easy silence as they looked out the window and Tucker found a station on the radio for them to listen to.

As they settled down and daydreamed about seeing their families, the adrenaline that had been coursing through their veins began to subside. Eyes drooped and their tiredness came back, having left when the armed guards stormed each of their rooms. Sam nodded off first in the back of the truck, head resting on her seatbelt. Tucker feel asleep next, curled up in his seat as Selena Gomez's new song came over the radio.

In the driver's seat, Danny forced his eyes open as he continued to steer the car down the deserted road. He figured he should probably pull off the highway and rest for a little bit but part of him really wanted to be able to reach the next exit. He turned the soft music up, hoping the beats would be able to wake him up a little so he could continue with his and his friend's journey.

The teen continued to keep himself barely awake for the next half-hour. His eyes continued to drift close before he forced them open again, fighting sleep with all his might. However, the truck kept its pace as it rolled down the highway, taking the scarce turns with ease, despite its driver's obvious need for rest.

As the teen's eyes began drooping again, his head began falling towards his chest. A mixture of his chin hitting his chin and bright headlights reflecting off his mirrors made his head come up again and his opens open to spot a family of raccoons crossing the road twenty feet in front of him.

Danny let out a scream as he jerked the wheel to the side, dodging the raccoons and driving right off the side of the road. His friends were startled awake as the truck flew down a hill with Danny attempting to stop them with the brake. Everyone continued to scream as they saw a tree in their headlights, right in the middle of their path.

Just as they were about to hit the tree, the light from the headlights disappeared and their vision was blocked by a mass of green. Everyone shrieked again as something sharp dug into their chests, wrapping around the rest of their bodies. They were thrown forward, as if they hit something, but the sharp edges of whatever was holding them down kept them pinned, digging into their clothes and skin painfully.

After that, everything settled down and the teens were left hanging in whatever it was that they were stuck in.

Not being able to help himself, Tucker asked, "What… The fuck. Just happened?!"

Sam attempted to move but only felt sharp pricks in her body. She huffed, blowing some of her black hair from her face. She felt along the foreign object crossing over chest. It was a smooth, thick, hard, and there were sharp points jutting out all over the smooth surface. The girl sighed. "I think Danny turned the truck into a giant thorn bush. So instead of broken bones, we get gashes. I'm so thrilled."

Danny felt his cheeks heating up in embarrassment and squirmed in his spot. He stopped when he felt the thorns dig deeper with his movements. "Sorry…"

"It's ok, dude. Out of all of us, I still think the time Sam accidently attacked us with her plants instead of the enemies in that one simulation we did has been the most epic fail." Tucker reassured. Their failures at controlling their powers always made them nervous and it was a very touchy subject. "Now, speaking of plants… Sam, get us out of here!"

Feeling uncomfortable, Sam shifted again and winced at some of the thorns. "Shut up! I'm working on it! This is a lot harder than it looks!"

"The same could be said for any of our powers!"

"Guys, fighting about this isn't going to get us anywhere! Tuck, let's shut up and let Sam concentrate! I really wanna get out of here; it's uncomfortable!" Danny snapped, making his cocoa-skinned friend fall quiet. The two boys continued to stay quiet while their female friend closed her eyes in the back, concentrating as hard as she could. The two boys became confused when they heard a car engine and lights began shining through the cracks in the thorn bush. They didn't say anything aloud but they wondered who else had been driving around at this time of night.

Much to their intense relief, the thorny vines wrapped around them began to carefully recede, leaving the three teens to fall onto the grassy ground that had been hidden under all the thorns. The vines created a dome around them with no exit before Sam made a small opening in the side, allowing them to crawl while their superficial cuts bled slowly. To their joy, the thorns hadn't done much to harm them.

As they stopped outside the opening, they looked up in the direction of the light shining down at them and their eyes widened when they saw the Dark Knight of Gotham standing halfway down the hill, his massive car waiting at the crest of the hill. He had a curious expression on his face as he looked the teens over before scanning over the massive thorn-dome that Sam had created. Batman said absolutely nothing, which unnerved the teens to no end.

After waiting for, what felt like, an eternity, Batman asked, "You ready to go back now?"

It didn't take a genius to figure out what he meant by the question. The trio didn't know how the institute got the hero to run after them but they guessed it didn't matter now. He found them, which was all that mattered.

Besides, it was for the best. After all, Danny's powers were accidently triggered for the second time in the past couple of hours. Granted, they had been helpful both times (sort of) but they were still acting up without his consent. Who knew what would set them off next or if Sam's or Tucker's were suddenly triggered as well? Yes, going back to the institute was the best thing they could do.

Even so, they couldn't stop the feeling of disappointment that overcame them.

Nodding, the three got up from the ground and dusted themselves off under the Dark Knight's scrutinizing gaze. The trio trekked up the hill and, as they drew closer, Batman turned, easily retracing his steps back to the Batmobile. He jumped in, easily falling into the driver's seat and silently waiting for the teens to follow him in, seeing as their ride was now a giant dome made out of a thorn bush.

Sam, Danny, and Tucker looked at each other as they neared the stunning, black vehicle sitting on the side of the road. They hesitated before getting in and buckling themselves in. They were startled when the top closed over them and were given a first-aid kit to clean up their cuts. Afterwards, Batman stomped on the gas, making the teens jerk back in their seats at the quick speed. They quickly turned around and began the drive back towards Metropolis.

The teens couldn't see the Dark Knight's face but they had a feeling he was smirking in his seat.

Looking into one of his mirrors, Batman looked over the beat-up teens again. They had adjusted to the speed faster than he thought they would have but their reactions were more violent than he had predicted; something he found very amusing. However, he didn't let the thoughts linger as he remembered their disappointed faces as they learned of his chasing them. While living in an institute probably wasn't the greatest thing ever for a few teenagers, the Dark Knight had a feeling their disappointment laid in something deeper than that.

So, of course, he decided to investigate.

Batman pulled up to a hotel down the street from the destroyed institute and looked in his mirror. The teens were all leaning on each other, blissfully asleep. In all honesty, he half-expected most of the staff and all the other unstable metas that were now hanging out in the large complex to be asleep as well. After all, it wasn't every night people were evacuated from their temporary residence and moved to a different location because of a dragon that had appeared from a cave just miles from the city.

It amazed Batman how quickly the directors of the institute convinced the manager of the hotel to let them rent the entire building until they found a more suitable location for their activities. Then again, when money spoke, people tended to listen.

The Dark Knight woke the trio up quickly, allowing them to exit the vehicle and before he ushered them towards the building. As soon as they inside, the three teens were swept away by some of the guards and one of the doctors. The trio barely got to say a goodbye before they were gone. Batman was quickly thanked by one of the scientists that had made the institute possible in the first place before the man began walking off. However, the Dark Knight quickly called him back and requested to have some time to speak with him. After getting a puzzled look, the scientist led the Caped Crusader to another room.

Once the door was shut behind them, Batman got right down to business and questioned, "How are things run here?"

The scientist, a blonde-haired man named Dr. Evans, looked startled by the question and completely taken back. He muttered 'uh' for the longest time before shaking his head to clear the sudden fog, responding with a confused, "Excuse me?"

"How are things run here?" Batman repeated impatiently, though he didn't show it outwardly.

"Uh, I'm not quite sure what you mean." Evans mumbled uncertainly, looking the Dark Knight up and down curiously. He resisted tilting his head to the side to further convey his confusion on why the hero wanted to know such things.

Allowing his features to express his irritation, Batman leveled a mild glare at the scientist. Evans fidgeted under his gaze but the Dark Knight was apathetic. Rephrasing his question to something much more precise, Batman asked, "How are the metas helped here? After all, this is a place where they're supposed to be able to learn to control their powers."

Evans sighed. "I'm sorry to say but we keep the admitted mostly in isolation. With how their powers tend to flare up when experiencing strong emotions, we try to minimize the damage by keeping them away from any stressful or upsetting environments. We do allow the admitted to interact once a week so they may socialize but, other than that, they really only see the doctors that study their powers so we may understand them and find a way to help them control them."

"Anything else?"

"Uh, we also put them in simulations sometimes. They're harmless; they take place while the subject is asleep. It just transports their subconscious into a made-up reality where they must survive by using their powers. We do this because almost all the subjects' powers refuse to surface when the wielder calls them. In this way, we give the subjects a little scare to bring their powers to the surface so we may try to solve this puzzle." Evans explained, sighing irritably at the thought and not noticing how the Dark Knight looked like he wanted to smack the blonde man.

"You want to know why their powers act the way they do?" Batman questioned with a hint of irritation lacing his voice. The blonde man looked at him, seemingly curious. "No one can seem to control their powers because they're scared of them; something you doctors instilled in them. They should be confident when using their powers and their ability to control them. Keeping them in isolation doesn't help either. They should be allowed to interact with each other. If they fight with each other, they fight. If they get stressed, they get stressed. Keeping them shielded from every day emotions is not going to help them control their powers. If you're worried about an incident, you should've thought about that before bringing them to a huge city. It would've been smart to take them to a place away from society but not completely disconnected. You wouldn't have had to worry.

"They should also be allowed and even encouraged to experiment with their powers as well. They're the ones wielding the powers; they're the only ones who can truly understand their abilities. When they experiment and try new things, they find their limits and gain experience. That, in turn, helps them maintain control. Studying what they can do will help absolutely no one." Batman finished, still giving the doctor one of his glares.

Evans, though, was not all that enthusiastic about the Dark Knight's bashing of his and his coworkers' idea of helping people. "And how would you know if these things would actually help anybody?"

"Because I've seen the strongest and most controlled superhumans go through the same thing. Would you like to ask them yourself?" Batman retorted quickly, his irritated glare growing dark as he gazed at the man.

The Dark Knight's response quieted Evans for the longest time before he shook his head. Knowing he had gotten his point across, the Dark Knight turned on his heel and began leaving the room. "I hope to see changes in the future, Doctor. Have a good day."

Well that was fun! As I said before, this will be the last JL chapter we will see for awhile now (though we might visit other DC characters such as Red Hood and the Outlaws.) The reason it ended up staring Batman was because this chapter is loosely based off a dream I had the other night. It was actually way darker than this (and I don't think this chap is all that dark anyways). The institute were bad people; they were trying to kill the main guy in my dream; the main guy actually hijacked one of the guards' truck as they were driving and killed the bad guys... Yeah, it was a mess and it restarted three times. I got to see the beginning of the dream (i.e. the main guy falling from the toppled over building) three times. It was great and it had a Maze Runner feel to the entire dream. XD

Anyways, this chapter will be revisited in the future sometime, as will the first chapter. We will get to see more of the reality warping in the future. :D As for when the next chapter will be out, I dun know since I'm moving this weekend and it'll be my birthday. Great timing, right? I am, once again, getting jipped. (Repeat offenders, do you remember what happened last year? XD)

Also, this is unedited. Just keep that in mind if you found any of my notorious typos. I'm so good at those. XD

Thanks to these people for favoriting/following: DaniellePines, GodOfHeroes22, popcornbubbles77, Azorawing, yazmin 97, Cats are my World, Nytwyng.

Guest Reviews:

John: I've either never heard of those, seen their episodes, or haven't watched them since I was four. I cannot do any of those without some serious failure.