Disclaimer: I own Nothing but Nathan/Nate. All rights to their original owners, blah, blah, blah...

Warning: Violence, language, and explosions. Possible death or gore, no promises.

Chapter 3 - The Fighter & The Exile (Part 1)

The Justice League and Nate managed to evade the Thanagarians and had found shelter in a clothing store after Nate got back from his snack in the bakery nearby. Still needing to let off some steam and pent-up anger, Nate transformed from Rose to Blue and went outside. As the League caught its breath, Green Lantern turned to Superman.

"That X-ray vision working again?" Green Lantern John Stewart asked, his emerald eyes looking over at Superman's recovering form.

Superman looked at the wall. "Just enough to see every Thanagarian within a two block radius on the ground, knocked out with their wings ripped off and castrated."

Flash gave a low whistle. "Remind me not to piss that kid off."

Superman turned to Diana and the Martian, J'onn J'onnz. "Did either of you get anything from that guy? Is he really here to help us?"

J'onn shook his head. "I did not enter his mind, but I sensed no ill will towards us; only mild irritation towards us, and a hate for the Thanagarians."

Green Lantern looked at the Martian with a raised eyebrow. "Why would he be annoyed at us?" he asked, genuinely confused.

Flash grinned as he pointed at himself and everyone else, gesturing his hands around. "Maybe because the guys who always save the day needed saving, right?" he said with his grin not fading.

The rest of the League rolled their eyes, while Diana shook her head. One of the many gifts given to her by the gods was the ability to read emotion. "I sensed anger, pain, grief, and despair; whatever happened to the boy was terrible, and it may have possibly broken him. If it has, it seems he hides his pain well. However, his eyes told me the unspoken truth." she spoke with a tone of sadness and empathy. She felt awful for not being able to comfort him. "It seems he's using anger as his outlet." She ended her words there, her eyes closing as she places a hand over her face, leaning against the wall to support her.

At this, Flash looked down, a little ashamed of himself for making jokes at the expense of someone in pain. Everyone else paused, lost in their own thoughts. The moment passed as the glowing blue-haired teen melted a hole in the roof, dropping in quietly to land in the middle of the group.

The small teen popped his bones as he stretched out, a small groan coming from him as his bones moved out of their tensed positions. In a growl-like voice, he finally spoke up. "That should take care of them for a while. What's next?" he asked as his glowing, glittery blue aura dissipated, leaving only his spiky sky-blue hair as a sign of his power.

J'onn spoke up from beside Wonder Woman, a hand placed on her shoulder in comfort. "The whole city will be covered by now," he said with little confidence in his tone.

"Maybe we'll get lucky and they'll all go home." Flash quipped. The others looked at him, and Nate facepalmed, sighing to himself. He shook his head in resignation of Flash's stupidity.

"Trust me," Nate said in a dark tone, "we're never that lucky."

"A little optimism can't hurt at a time like this!" Flash shot back, only to receive a glare from Nate in return.

Before Nate could form a reply or flip him off, a booming voice could be heard from outside.

"This is the Voice of the Thanagarian Occupational Authority. The Justice League have escaped and are violators of our Martial Law."

Nate's response was to say using the Deception, Soundwave's powers to project his voice.

"Fuck your martial law!" Nate spat.

The Thanagarain who made the declaration looked down to get a rock in the eye from Nate.

"I will have you arr-AHH!"

Nate cut him with a finger energy beam to his right eye.

"Shouldn't you be shitting on people's spaceships or something?" Nate quipped darkly.

Flash snickered at this only to get a glare from Diana. Nate returned to the clothing store with a pained sigh and shook his head.

"We need to move," Nate remarked bluntly. "These fuckers will come."

J'onn J'onzz had and an idea and said, "They'll be looking for the Justice League. Without our costumes, we are merely ordinary citizens."

Flash seemed apprehensive about the idea noting his secret identity and Nate being in the room. Nate could sense more of them alien birds coming and snapped.

"Oh for fuck's sake Wally, I already know your identities. Unless most of the people on the planet, I'm not daft enough to fall for Clark's glasses and wimpy demeanour." Nate snapped.

Wally was agape, Clark tried to look impassive, and Bruce was snickering.

"No time for laughing, Wayne. We need to move." Nate remarked getting the Dark Knight to glare at the teen.

Bruce demanded an answer and Nate told him to bite him as he went to get some clothes to change into. The League had changed out of their hero wear to civilian attire. Nate came out in a rather different outfit. A black leather jacket, a green hoodie, black jeans, biker boots with a white skull on each side, fingerless gloves, and a belt with skull belt buckle.

"Try hard, much?" Flash said.

Nate tied a blood red bandana around his head along with putting a white baseball cap and rolled his eyes. John could only look at his kid who was becoming a complete enigma.

"We'll meet at Wayne Manor in Gotham," Bruce remarked adjusting his ties. "It's 30 miles from here, and we'll make it if we split up."

Nate got up a one strap backpack with his old clothes and prepared to leave to the League's confusions.

"I'll meet you all in Gotham. And no, I won't explain how I know where your fancy home is. I just do." Nate said running off.

"Either we have a leak or that kid's a genius," Clark said to Bruce.

"I don't trust him," Bruce said sharply.

Diana had her arms around Bruce's left arm noting Nate was someone who needed guidance.

Nate had a feeling it was not going to be long before the Thanagarians would be after them. He was not dumb enough to risk flying, and he knew well enough he could not drive. It was then he noticed a few bikes and suddenly got an idea. Using the powers of Parasite, he sapped the four of them of their memories and skills.

"Cool, I know how to ride, knife, use chains, and shoot," Nate said looking down at the unconscious bikers. "Might as well rob them."

He emptied their wallets, took their knives, metal fighting chains, and even got a Barretta pistol with a few clips. Getting on the black motorcycle, Nate starts it up and gets a devious idea. Using his memory powers once again, he thought of Ghost Rider. Nate caused the bike to wreathed in flame, and for the entire bike to take on a completely new appearance. The tires became flaming rings. And the front of the bike instead of having one headlight was some sort of strange shield on the front with two headlights instead.

"Oh hell yes," Nate said as the bike's pegs adjusted to his size. "Let's ride!"

He revved his hellish bike and sped down the street leaving a trail of flames. Meanwhile, at the train station, Wally and John were trying to board a train. John was worried about being discovered considering he has a public identity. Before Clark and J'onn could make a distraction, Nate came up on the platform on his flaming motorcycle and ran over the alien before riding away. The Thanagarian was too busy screaming that he was on fire to notice John and Wally slip on the train.

"Kid's nuts, but he's effective," John remarked.

Wally shook his head concerned for him. As for Nate, he sped down the highway on the route for Gotham. Riding the bike across the road, he felt free and more alive than ever.

"If I'm going to live here, I'll have to crave a new name for myself. Hmm...new...Neo? Maybe Nathan Neo." Nate said to himself. "Eh? Might as well."

He arrived at Gotham City and took in the sights of the place. Of course, Nathan stuck out like a sore thumb considering he was riding a motorcycle with fire for wheels. Nathan decided that before getting to Wayne Manor, he would get a bite to eat. Stopping at a random diner, he parked the bike which was still on fire and went inside. He sat on one of the stools in front of the main counter and took up a menu. A waitress came up and Nate placed an order for a cheeseburger, and he was quickly meet with one. Before he could even take a place, the door was kicked open by a group of well-dressed shirtless thugs led by one of Batman's lesser foes, Calendar Girl. She wore her usual mask with an outfit that consisted of a black long sleeved dress with tights.

"All right, nobody mo-" Calendar Girl said before only for Nate to tell her to shut up.

"I'm trying to eat. If you want to bitch about how your body's not perfect despite it being so, then do it somewhere else." Nate said before taking a bite out of his cheeseburger.

One of the thugs shot the cheeseburger right out of Nate's hands and the shot sandwich hit the ground. Nate walked up the thug who shot the sandwich and used a Kiai to send the thug hurdling into a wall. Nate looked up at Calendar Girl and charged an energy blast in his hand.

"Listen well. You pissed me off and, while I am tempted to kill you, I feel you have a better use for me. So you work for me. If I need you for something, you'll do it no matter what. Got that?" Nate said glaring at Calendar Girl.

Calendar Girl shook her head to say yes, not wanting to die, and Nate got a paper with her number and address. Nate left quickly soon after Calendar Girl decided not to rob the diner. Back on the street, Nate grinned like a wolf as he now had someone under his heel. He would arrive at Wayne Manor to find Alfred completely impassive to the rough teen.

"I did not know they allow youths into the Justice League," Alfred remarked.

"I'm not a member. They're too "white" for me when I'm more "grey". I'm merely aiding." Nate said getting off the bike as it vanished into dying flames. "Got any snacks?"

Thus, Nate and Alfred were walking out the steps to the Batcave with Nate devouring a tray of chocolate chip cookies. Bruce, J'onn, Diana, Clark, and Wally all turned to them came down.

"You're late," Bruce said sternly.

"I stopped for food, and one your lousy rogues tried to rob the diner that I was in. But I handled it, and no, they're not dead. I won't kill your precious rogues because I'd be taking your toys." Nate said with heavy sarcasm. "So, fill me in."

"Well, we were discussing on what the true intentions behind the device the Thanagarians are planning," Clark remarked.

"I think I can help, but I need a rock," Nate said confusing everyone. "Trust me on this."

Wally handed him a stone, and Nate pitched it airborne.

CRACK! Shayera came out of hiding revealing a black eye courtesy of the rock thrown at superhuman speeds. Nate was laughing like a hyena and John was really started to wonder if the kid was mentally ill.

"What was that for?" Clark asked.

"She's going to reveal the plans to the Thanagarians most likely. I knew she was here because I could smell her sweat and desperation." Nate said coolly.

"Then why did you hit me with a rock?" Shayera asked annoyed with him already.

"Because your people are assholes using Earth as their footstool for their fucking war. They seem to think that great device is worth killing innocent life, and you sat there and let it happen." Nate said heatedly.

"I believed that they were acting in Earth's best interests," Shayera remarked.

"Yeah, look where that's gotten you," Nate muttered as Shayera hastily explained about the generator.

Nate remembered that there was a tracker as Hawkgirl left giving John his power ring. Nate decided to slip out the Batcave saying he had to use the bathroom which he actually did. When he came out after washing his hands, he noticed a large hole in the wall which a green and silver ship was occupying. "You have to be fucking kidding me..." he muttered.

"I gotta say... The brakes need work." a voice spoke from the ship as the ship's door opened with a hiss, revealing an odd couple; a boy with a red hoodie, jeans and black running shoes with medium-length blue hair on his head, and a blonde with pigtails wearing a black T-shirt, jeans and high-heeled boots. "Misa, we got to buy upgrades," the blue-haired boy said solemnly. "We're lucky that the airbags kicked in! I'm not even sure my insurance covers this," he said as he motioned his hands to the dented and cracked ship.