DC Gothic – Examinations

Starr Labs.

"So doctor what can you tell me about myself" I asked of the man in the lab coat as he reviewed the computer printouts.

I'd come to Starr Labs in order to find out more about my powers. I seemed to be getting more physically powerful and I was a little worried that somewhere along the way I'd gained the ability to make woman want to have sex with me.

Not that it was a bad thing but if I was performing some sort of mind control trick then that crossed the line between consensual sex and well you couldn't call it rape since I hadn't force of any kind but it was one to thing to take advantage of having some sort of sexual magnetism it was quite another thing to mess with free will.

"Truly fantasising" muttered the science guy.

"What's fantasising" I prompted.

As much as I was grateful for the free check up, and it had to be free since I had no health insurance, or if I did I didn't know about it, the gown they had me in exposed things I'd rather keep hidden when not in the presence pretty lady who was also undressed.

The egghead turned his chair around so that he was facing me.

"I assume that the Titans told you that you were clinically dead when you arrived".

That wasn't a question but I nodded anyway and then tried not the think about it as the whole freaked me out more than a little.

"What you might not know is that a large number of medical tests were performed upon you. It was deemed wise given how you arrived".

Swirly light show thing, as I understood it.

"When you came back to life, but before you awoke and were locked up, more tests were run. We at Starr Labs were given copies of the data and I've now finished the comparison with the test results we have so far and have a lot to tell you".

He had a 'lecture mode' look upon his face so I relaxed and settled into absorb the offered information.

"One of the first things that I noticed was that your body seemed to be more fragile than it should, but your immune system was no weaker than anybody else's and your physiology would have handled toxins just as well as any healthy person would or at least that's what the autopsy suggested".

Well humans in this world did seem to be a tough lot. People seemed to be able to survive things that should of reduced them to a fine paste. Perhaps there was a reason for this.

Wait had he just said autopsy. When the hell did that happen? Had I started to wake up with guys like cutting into me? If so I should sue somebody that was bound to have given a few psychological problems. Granted I didn't remember that part but I could be repressing.

"However even before you awoke from your death like state your body began to change in ways I can't fully explain. Since there was no biological explanation for this I could only conclude that your reality has a different set of physical laws than our own and that somehow you were being changed by exposer to our environment".

That actually made sense. I'd very quickly become tougher than I use to be. I gained muscle mass very quickly and as such I became stronger. I never became a body builder but my fitness was near human peak even before I'd gotten to fight any bad guys.

Also I'd figured out that this dimension had screwed up physics a while back. Anyone from my world would of noticed that the first time they got into a fight, then gone through a solid brick wall and been able walk away.

"But that's not the interesting part" the lab coat wearing smart guy said "your body is still adapting".

That surprised me. I didn't understand how I kept gaining new skills so quickly but I hadn't been fighting anyone recently I'd just been... Oh wait Supergirl I'd been around her I'd touched her and done other things could that brought around some sort of alteration?

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"Your brain is always changing" he explained "everyone's brain does that as were always making new memories and we can learn new things throughout our whole lives, but your brain does this much faster and well.. I guess the word better sums it up. You could learn to do nearly anything. You still need to be taught and you'd have see these skills in action but aside from that you don't have limits. It even might be possible for you vastly increase your IQ just by being around people smarter than yourself".

Wow.

"Your body also seems to work along the same lines. Its not as extreme of course"

"Yes of course. Why would be it be?"

I had no idea why and I felt silly for not knowing why.

"There are limits to how dense your muscles can become but your already as strong as a male Thangarin warrior so you needn't worry in that regard".

The folks here had tested that and I accepted the fact easily since I had actually fought the pigeons.

"Yeah but I'm not that big" I pointed out "I mean I have muscles but I don't look like I've spending twenty hours a day in a gym".

Which for some reason all male heroes did. Even the ones that didn't get much bad guy fighting seemed to be muscular to the extreme.

"That's because your body mass has increased. Your much denser that you use to be".

"But you said I'd get smarter" I joked.

The science guy didn't get it.

"You know denser as if I was getting thicker as in stupider"

A sense of humour was clearly not required to work here.

"You now weigh over twenty stone but your height and body fat match that of someone who should weight about fourteen stone".

He'd translated the measurements for me since I weighed myself in imperial not metric. Also I had to agree that I didn't look to be anywhere near twenty stone.

"So I'm denser" I summarised.

"Not nearly to the extent that would make you bulletproof or allow to be thrown through walls without injury"

In my universe that would kill you. Heck you'd have a hard time getting a armoured car to smash through a brick wall and then be able to drive away.

"Combined with your healing factor you could easily go three rounds in a boxing ring with a champion and not even have a bruise to show for it".

Now that he mentioned it I'd not been bruised since the Teen Titans had taken on Bane. I'd been shot, cut and had bones broken but no bruises or at least none that had been noticed.

But while it was nice to have someone explain this to me I got the feeling that this was only part of the story. Having a dense body and super healing did not make an immortal.

"What about the dying?" I asked next.

"Getting them to test that had been a battle. They were doctors so they had to follow their oath of not doing harm so in the end I'd electrocuted myself.

Which had pissed a few people off and made the room I'd been now smelt really bad but they'd got over it.

"You've never actually died" answered the science guy.

Okay that surprised me.

"When something 'kills' you what happens is you go into a short lived coma of some sort. I suspect but can't be certain that this something you do unknowingly in order to protect your sanity".

It was hard to understand that part. If I was awake while I healed some of the wounds I'd gotten then the pain alone could of driven me mad.

"Your heart keeps beating but only a beats once or twice in a minute. You don't breathe during this time but that's the least odd things that happens. I've seen cells of your body replicate and an amazing rate and they fix things they shouldn't be able to. In theory you could regrow a limb in a matter of hours, but let's not test that".

I agreed with that idea. If he was wrong I didn't want to have to get a robot arm one cyborg in the Titans was enough.

"I do however have to warn you that decapitation may if not kill you then at least send you into a permanent coma. It might be possible to reattach your head and that the cells of your body would reconnect everything but again I wouldn't want to test this as the only other option would be to connect your head to a life support machine and some sort of artificial voice box".

He made it sound as if I could end up being this universes version of the Face of Bo from Doctor Who.

That wasn't very appealing.

"Another thing I can tell you is that its not mystical. Its purely a biological reaction as far as we can tell. Its no my area but we do have ways of detecting those sort of things".

"Any idea what's triggering these changes?" I inquired " or if they will ever stop?".

The egg head took of his glasses and rubbed his eyes.

"Without more date I can't say for certain" he admitted "its obviously connected to whatever force it was that started these adaptations so it may stop if your biology settles down and it does seem to have limits, but if your asking me if you can gain more powers then the answer is. Maybe".

That wasn't very scientific even for a comic book world.

"It could all be under the control of your subconscious or there could be an outside source I simply don't know".

"So I'm immortal" I said with a sigh "I'm going to be a teenager for ever".

"Unlikely" assured the professor "you are ageing for now but your... well I can't explain it very well in layman's terms but if your willing to take my word for it I can tell you that your going to stop ageing soon".

I saw no reason to think he was lying. I could guess the proper answer would having something to do with the fact that I hadn't ended puberty yet.

Now came the hard question.

"I am psychic or am I maybe emitting mind control pheromones. Something that would make me more attractive to women, that sort of thing?".

That got me an odd look but the science dude did his best to answer.

"I can't answer the psychic parts its not a very well studied phenomenon, well not officially in any case. You'd have to talk to someone with experience in that field".

J'onn might be able to help me. He was in the Watchtower I could call him from the Gothbike.

"I can tell you that I doubt it as people with ESP talents are wired different that you are. You might be able to mimic such powers but again I find that doubtful as while your brain can form new pathways very quickly it doesn't really look as if it could grow new parts. Its more efficient and adaptable but no larger or really that different in shape than say my own.

He was dumbing it all down for me as much he could and still it was all confusing. Still I got the message, it was unlikely that I was seducing anyone with mind powers.

"As for the pheromones, that's far more likely as they can influence people but yours can't control a person if that's what got you worried. We'd know since we have systems here that filter pheromones and yours register as stronger than human but its nothing I haven't seem before".

Oh... that was good.

And besides why would human pheromones effect an alien superbabe? No there had to be another reason for my odd sex life.

Maybe one of the gods had blessed, or cursed me. My immortality might not be supernatural might explain it but if that was the reason then I was in the wrong place to get answers.

I needed to get to the Watchtower.

"No offence Doc but I think I should get a second opinion".

"I agree" said the professional smart person "also I'd like you to come back for psychological testing at some point. I'm sure the psychology departments of any university would love to examine a person from another world"

Somehow I didn't think that was such a good idea.

The Watchtower

It seemed as if this would be a day of tests. The moment I'd been teleported on board I'd been put in another gown that exposed things I didn't want shown and then I'd been examined, prodded, made to lift weights, to run on a treadmill and then scanned with alien tech.

However they weren't able to tell anything the nice folks at Starr Labs hadn't been able to already explain, only the last doctor had used smaller words and everyone at that lab spoke in English.

Plus I hadn't eaten in over a day which was making me grumpy.

Finally the mind reading alien came to see me and best of all he brought Dr Fate with him.

Which naturally got me fanboying like the geek I really was.

"Calm down my young friend" requested the magic man "we don't have much time to examine you".

"Sorry its just your Dr Fate its like meeting Wonder Woman...

"She's not here" said the alien before I even asked.

…. or the Flash"

"He's not here either" I was told

Then we finally got on the real tests.

"I can't read your mind" informed the alien "you have a powerful shield but I can sense your feelings so its not a total block. I suspect that you are immune to direct telepathic influence".

The man from Mars then paused before saying.

"Since you are not currently singing my favourite Elton John number I can confirm that you are immune to telepathic control".

Fate chuckled and then started chanting something that made me glow a golden colour. It was warm and somehow made of order. Not that I knew how I knew that I just seemed to know.

"Starr labs was correct your immortality is not magical but may still be mystical in nature".

That was totally confusing so I asked for clarification.

"You're immortality is biological however it was given to you by a god. Its a variation on the curse of immortality. Something transferred the power of another into your body".

Fate did another spell and seemed to study me before he said.

The spell's signature is still there but the spell is not the source of the power. I can sense that its an old power, but not much else"

So I did get Savage's immortality after all.

"You're soul has been marked. I would guess by the same god that brought you here. Its somewhat like the marks the Old Ones can give their subjects when they 'bless' them but its not as chaotic. The being behind this does have some humanity, its twisted but not evil. Its not order magic for sure but I don't think its harmful".

Everyone stopped talking until Fate broke the silence.

"Anything to add Jo'nn?"

The alien nodded and made his eyes glow. Which was spooky.

"I can't be certain but for now I would support the notion that Gothic here won't be developing mental powers. He can't broadcast or receive anything telepathic but his emotions can be effect for reasons I don't understand. That should extend to direct attacks on the mind as well but no indirect ones like telekinesis or emphatic control".

Clearly J'onn didn't like me but I didn't like him either. He was so bossy something and now he was acting as if I wasn't even in the room.

"Magical its different. No special defence but some skill. Not something I could work with but he does seem to be connected to a greater power. This being could influence the strands of fate but again not to a level that worries. I don't think that it will effect anyone's free will".

Okay so Fate was talking about me as if I was here either, but he at least had the excuse of never having spoken to me before. I was a total stranger to him.

"Could you remove the connection between Gothic and this other being".

"Easily given time to prepare the spell and a controlled setting" replied Fate "but the result would be a soulless man".

"Yeah lets no do that. Soulless me would be a nightmare".

No fictional source ever had being soulless as a good thing. Add in my powers and I could end up being Arkham's most wanted.

"Agreed" replied Fate "also I should warn you that while you do have a small amount of magical power if you were try anything but the most simple of spells then this god like creature would know and could either power the spell or change it".

That didn't sound good either.

"That said I doubt any being would go to the trouble of throwing you into this reality and to make you immortal if it meant you harm. Still try to understand that it might care for you it would be as you might care for a personal possession or a small pet. It my grow tired of you or become annoyed if you try to make us of that power".

I found it odd that he didn't tell not use to magic, just that it could go badly for me if I did to much. Then again I did at least at least look a teenager so he mostly likely thought if he just tried outright forbid me from using magic then that would only increase the temptation not lessen it.

Smart guy.

"So I'm not psychic, but I am magical even if my immortality isn't" I said trying to get things straight.

"Simply put, yes".

"Do I have any magic powers?" I asked "could I be making people like me with magic or be making myself more attractive to woman".

Fate chuckled again.

"It is possible that your blessing could make you more desirable, there are love based deities that can bestow such things, but that could only enhance natural attraction. True you can fabricate lust or obsession but real affection can not be made with magic. Perhaps you could make someone think they love you with telepathic mind but since our friend from Mars says you can't broadcast you're messing with free will if that's your concern. This can easily be tested as any artificial would fade quickly once you go from a person's presence".

Well that was reassuring. At worst I was enhancing attraction which would explain why women wanted me but he made it sound as I was just speeding up what could of happened naturally.

"Good to know" I told the two heroes "I'm going back on my road trip. I still have a lot to see".

"I'm afraid that's no longer possible" informed the man from Mars "you're needed back in Jump City. Most of the Titans will be joining the League once the Watchtower is fully operational but Robin wants to reform his team, and he needs your help".

"Of course he does" I muttered to myself "he won't join the League as long as Bats is here".

Why couldn't any of the Robins just be happy to stay in their mentor's shadow?

"I recruited the League's magical members" educated Fate as we both headed for the teleporter "Oddly enough Raven has decided to stay with the Titans but she only made up her mind once she was informed that you were returning to Jump City".

I had originally planned to but only to say goodbye before joining the League. The Titans should of disbanded because Robin was suppose to join the JLU as well but he seemed to have changed his mind. Maybe Tim wanted to shed the Robin persona before moving on, he had mentioned it to me last year but back then it had seemed to be an idle thought.

As for Raven, well I was going to have to talk to her at some point. Maybe I could could get a present

"Looks like I'll be at kiddy table for a little while longer" I grumbled.

"Good luck my young friend" said Fate as I stepped on the teleporter pad "I will pay you a visit when I have to time I might be able to aid Raven in your magical training".

She was going to train me?

Oh this would not end well.