Time to continue the story! So, this chapter's gonna be more relationship building and learning about what's on the thumb drive before a time skip of a few months, then we'll meet two very important Superman related characters. And after that we'll get to meet the main villains of this arc.

I'd also like to announce that I'm writing a Ben 10/Justice Leaguecrossover fanfic called Triumphant. I don't have a planned update schedule for it, so I might just upload it at a random time, but know that if I do, this and my X-Men story will still be top priority, so updates might take some time for that story. As of writing this author's note (May 30, 2020 I've finished the first two chapters) I gotta say, it is kinda weird to write two absolutely different DC stories, but I'm getting used to it, so there's that.

Now, to reply to some reviews!

AlexFalTon: Yeah, Omen's not that popular compared to the rest of the team. She appeared rather early actually and dated Dove for a short time. She died during the Graduation Day event at the same time as Donna in the Pre-52 universe and came back as a Black Lantern, but she never came back to life. During Rebirth, she was on the first iteration of the Titans with Tempest, Nightwing, Troia, Arsenal, and Flash III. My Teen Titans is based off that build, with Starfire and Apex added and more as the story continues.

And don't worry, where Roy is, Jade's sure to follow. It might be a while until she appears, but she'll be here, just hold on.

Mangahero18: As you've no doubt figured out now, Daichi isn't the arrogant type, he's a pretty serious guy who makes sure everything, name and actions, matter. But yeah, I made sure the interactions Daichi has with the others are all unique, same with the way they interact with each other, and man, I can't wait to write more of the Evolutionary. And Gizmo and Jinx are going to appear soon, reeeeal soon.

Daichi's training is deeply ingrained into him, and so, he doesn't go all out in fights, he only uses as much power as necessary, but he increases his output if he must. Just saying, we haven't seen his full power yet, not even close. Oh, yeah, Klarion's a scary ass dude, and he'll be important in the next arc. And on that last review—agreed. 100% agreed.

That's all from me up here, on with the story!

Love and Exploration

It's now been a day since the hangout ended, and as expected, we're all closer to each other, the game of twenty questions definitely helped on the first day. We'd have little competitions, and games, and quiet conversations throughout the weekend as well. Occasionally, Red Tornado would come along to check up on us. Once satisfied, he'd leave for a few hours, doing whatever an android does.

Right now, it's after school and Kory, Donna, and I are flying to Wayne Manor. As the three of us soar over a busy highway, Kory does a barrel roll. I look at her with a small smile. "You love flying."

Kory smiles. "Of course I do! It's so liberating to be in the air, the wind whipping through your hair as gravity's oppressive hold is gone," she looks down at the crowded highway with sympathy. "Poor non-fliers."

Donna chuckles and does a barrel roll as well, the two girls switching places on either side of me, Kory now on my right and Donna to my left. "You got that right. I feel bad for Dick, Wally, and Roy, they'll never know the joy of flying with your own power," she then thinks it over. "Well, not so much with Wally, what with his speed and all."

"How did he get his powers?" Kory asks.

"Oh, he blew up some chemicals trying to copy his uncle's origin. Rather stupid if you ask me, but hey, it worked, so I can't really blame him," Donna answers.

"True," Kory agrees. "And I must admit, moving at his speeds has always interested me. Daichi, you move closest to his speeds, what's it like?"

I think it over for a moment. I've never had to describe superspeed to anyone before. "It's…quiet. When we hit a certain speed, we break the sound barrier, that's what those sonic booms are, so we can't hear anything. But Clark and Barry were able to create special commlinks that allow for people with superspeed to talk with each other whilst we…speed."

"That sounds amazing," Kory whispers in awe. "A world of just everything you see, no sounds to distract you from the beauties of this world. How fast can you go?"

"Faster than light," I answer. "But not as fast or Barry, Wally, or Jay Garrick."

"Ah, yes, Jay Garrick, I wish to meet him. I wish to meet the Justice Society, actually," Kory says. "Diana believes it would be beneficial for me to train under Wildcat."

"You should. I'm planning on training under him, too," I announce. "Maybe we can go together."

"That would be great!" Kory says excitedly. "Donna?"

"I'll come along to see and maybe brush up on my skills. My Amazonian training has done more than enough to save my ass," she answers.

"It can never hurt to have multiple fighting skills," I advise. "I've lost count as to how many times I've had to switch my fighting style to win a fight."

Donna looks at me with a smirk. "Well, maybe you can show me some of your skills?"

"Of course," I reply.

Donna and Kory shake their heads in amusement as we land inside of the Batcave, Bruce sitting at the computer, the thumb drive next to his resting hand. He turns to as we enter and has a light smile on his face. "How was school?"

Donna shrugs her shoulders as her backpack hangs over one of her arms. "Same old, same old. Where's Helena? She's usually down here at this time."

"Her and Diana went to visit your mother at Themiscyra. They'll be back tomorrow," Bruce answers.

Kory nods as she heads towards the elevator. "I have much homework to do, I'd like to get it done now."

Donna lightly punches my shoulder before turning around to join Kory. "Don't forget to say bye when you leave."

I nod as the two go up to Wayne Manor. With them gone, I walk over and stand next to Bruce as he puts the thumb drive into the Batcomputer, the screen changing to a familiar log-in prompt.

In the username I enter my name, and for password I enter my old name. The second thing I do at high speed, something that causes Bruce to raise his eyebrow. The screen then changes to a rather spartan desktop, two folders on the left side.

Bruce moves the mouse over the first one, he clicks it open to reveal two documents in it. "Not a lot of data in this, is there?" He comments.

"His primary projects were all on a singular computer in The Ship, this thumb drive's only the tip of the iceberg," I answer.

He opens the first document, on it is just the list of names. "What's it say?" Bruce asks. The language on the thumb drive isn't something from Earth.

"It's a list of names," I answer. "Guardians of the Universe, Mongol, Braniac, Highfather, Darkseid, and others."

Bruce hums. "Highfather and the Guardians of the Universe with names like Mongol and Darkseid. Something's off about that. Do you know why those names specifically?"

I scratch the back of my head. "I have an idea. I think it might be a list of the people who either want me under their control or in custody," Bruce looks at me with an arched brow. "Humans are a dangerous species according to the rest of the universe, and by having an evolved human out there things are blown out of proportion."

"I see... And who's this Braniac? I've never heard of him until now," Bruce asks.

"He's one of Clark's villains," I explain. "He's a huge threat too. I can tell you more about him later."

Bruce exits the document and opens the next one. It's a picture of my wanted poster. "That is a rather large bounty," he comments. "The League's having a meeting by the week's end, about our expansion."

"Cool. What names do you have?" I ask.

The screen to the right activates, showing pictures of the candidates. "The Atom, Black Lightning, Blue Beetle, Blue Devil, Booster Gold, Captain Atom, the Elongated Man, Fire and Ice, Firestorm, Icon, The Question, and Zatara," Bruce lists off.

I whistle in appreciation. "That's one hell of an expansion."

"Indeed," Bruce hums. "Anyone we should keep an eye out for?"

My gaze lingers on Blue Beetle. Right now, Ted Kord holds the mantle. "No. All of these people are great heroes, no need to worry about betrayals."

"Good," Bruce's phone rings. "It's Barry," he answers the phone.

As he talks with the Flash I look back at the picture of the candidates. If I'm being honest, I don't know a lot about these guys regarding comics. Most of my exposure to these characters stems from the DCAU, but others like Elongated Man, Firestorm, and Black Lightning I learned the most about them through the Arrowverse.

I then look at Zatara. Unless I'm mistaken, he's only been on the Justice League in Young Justice, with Zatanna being a younger hero. But in his picture, he looks to be in his early to mid-forties, meaning Zatanna's around our age. Cool, she might join the team.

With my senses I can tell someone's coming at us. Fast.

A red blur stops right next to me. Bruce turns off his phone as Barry lowers his reinforced cowl. The speedster looks at me. "Oh, hey Daichi! How are ya?"

"I'm good, Mr. Allen-"

"Please, call me Barry."

"I'm good, Barry," I correct.

He nods and points at the pictures of the candidates. "Any of these guys stand out?"

Again, my gaze goes to Blue Beetle, something they both notice. "You said there was nothing to worry about," Bruce says.

"It's not like that," I say.

I've now hit one of the biggest dilemmas, incoming death. Everybody dies, that's an inevitability. But I also realize that there are some deaths I can try to prevent, but I feel like that'd make things FUBAR.

Example: Jason Todd. His death is a big part of his story, if I change that who knows what would happen, that's definitely not something I want to deal with. But Ted Kord's another thing. Back in the original main universe his death was a big part of his character, which leads to Jaime Reyes becoming Blue Beetle III. But in the new main universe, post-Flashpoint, he's alive, and Jaime's still Blue Beetle.

Dammit, let's do this.

With a deep sigh, I point at his picture. "Death is inevitable, and in our line of work it's more likely to happen. Most of Blue Beetle's stories end in his death, which leads to a third Blue Beetle."

Barry and Bruce share a glance. "I'll be sure to inform the League. But Daichi," Bruce says. "The deaths you see coming? Don't say anything again."

I look at him confused.

Barry puts a hand on my shoulder. "We've found that when you mess with the universe's plans, it tends to mess with you back. Hard. We don't want anything to happen to you, you know?"

I look between the two. "But the Justice League does this all the time, doesn't it?"

Barry chuckles guiltily and rubs the back of his head. Bruce looks at him with a smirk. "Yeah, we do."

"But there's a reason we have these targets on our chests," Barry says, poking his thumb on his lightning bolt symbol. He then looks at the main screen. His eyes widen in surprise as he quickly realizes what the picture is, even if it isn't in English. "Whoa, I may be mistaken, but that's a lot of money."

"It is," Bruce says. He tries to delete it, but he can't. He turns to look at me for an explanation.

"The Evolutionary's very adamant about his data being deleted without his approval. Even a simple picture needs a DNA, fingerprint, and pupil scan along with a series of passwords to delete," I answer.

"But wouldn't the data have deleted itself if I put in the password wrong the first time?" Bruce asks.

"Yeah, but he has a backup on his personal computer. Even then, he absolutely hates his data being deleted," I say. I then look at Barry. "And you can't enter any possible combination of passwords available here, some of them use alien characters that we don't have."

"Well, there goes that idea," Barry mutters. "Oh, so, what do you say, Bruce?"

"She's in Themiscyra with Diana, but I'll be sure to tell them when they come back," Bruce replies.

I look between the two, confused. Barry notices. "Oh, Iris wanted to have a playdate for the kids of the League. I'm coming around and inviting the others. I actually just invited Lois and Jon just before I came here."

"You have a kid?" I ask.

Barry nods with a proud smile. "Twins! Don Henry and Dawn Nora Allen!"

Oh, they have those names.

Bruce chuckles as he removes the thumb drive. He then gets up, the two of us following him to the elevator. "Seriously, Barry, what were you thinking with those names?"

Barry shrugs as we go up the elevator. "Hey, Iris thought it'd be cute, who am I to argue?"

"But Don and Dawn? Couldn't you have named your daughter Nora or something?" I ask.

Bruce looks at him with a smirk.

Barry sighs and slumps his shoulders. "Yeah, I see your reasoning. I mean, Don's starting to prefer Henry. Even though they're only four," as we go up, Barry looks at Bruce. "Should I change out of my suit?"

We exit the elevator to enter Bruce's office. He walks forward and checks the cameras on a tablet. "No, everyone here's aware."

The three of us head over to the kitchen where we find Alfred, Kory, Donna, and Dick sitting at the table. The girls changed into more casual clothes and Dick still in his school uniform. The acrobat is the first to notice us. "Yo!"

Barry waves as he walks forward, high-fiving Dick before grabbing an apple from the plate in the center of the table. "Hey, guys! Ooh, homework, was never a fan of it when I was in school."

"Is anyone ever a fan of this homework?" Kory wonders aloud.

"Point," Barry says.

"Sooo…what're you doing here?" Dick asks.

"Master Richard!" Alfred chides.

The Boy Wonder winces. "Sorry. Might I ask what it is you are doing here?" He asks again, this time with an overly British accent.

Barry chuckles as he points at me with this thumb. "I actually came to talk to Daichi."

I blink in surprise. "Oh, what about?"

"I got the report that Grodd came to Keystone to capture you. Do you know what about?" He asks.

The others look at me, interested as well. "Yeah, I think he was working with Klarion the Witch Boy. But Klarion only wanted to see me," I answer.

Bruce and Barry hum. "Curious," the former says. "I'll have Dr. Fate look into it, maybe he can give us some insight as to what Klarion's possible actions could be."

"Wouldn't that be hard?" I wonder. "I mean, Klarion's a Lord of Chaos, his actions don't have to mean anything in particular."

"How do you know this?" Donna asks.

"I read his file," I answer. "I read all the files we have. Didn't you guys?"

Kory shakes her head while Donna and Dick avoid looking at Bruce. I smile and shake my head before kissing Donna's cheek. "I'm gonna go home. If you need to get in contact, you know how."

Me and Dick high five and I hug Kory as the three adults nod before I speed home.

Metropolis

I arrive to find Clark sitting on the couch in the living room working on something on his laptop while Jon watches TV. "Daichi! Hey!"

"Oh, hey, Clark. Where's Lois? Wasn't she just here?" I ask.

"She's at The Planet," Clark answers. "Which leads me to my next point, she wants you to meet her there."

I arch a brow and head to my room, I put my backpack on my bed. "What for?" I ask at a normal volume.

"She didn't tell me," Clark replies.

I walk over to the door, rubbing Jon's head on the way. "All right, see you guys in a bit I guess."

I walk outside in the early October air of Metropolis, the leaves beginning to change color and falling slowly in the wind. I smile as I put in my earbuds, listening to my music. The Fall's easily my favorite of the four seasons. The beautiful visuals of the leaves falling through the air, the crunch of leaves as you step on them, the cool, autumn air. Helps that the translation of Aki is autumn. I think the rough translation of my name would be the Great Autumn Mountain. Pretty cool if I say so myself.

I stop at a crosswalk as cars go by. I smile and look around. In the few months I've been here I've never actually taken the time to really appreciate my new home. Buildings that are white and gold in the business district, clean air, and all-around nice people.

After crossing the street, I look over to see the statue of Clark in his Superman suit with an arm raised, an eagle resting on it. The sun stays high in the sky above it. Yeah, Daichi, you chose the perfect place to end your date.

"Yo! Daichi!"

I look across the street to find Lois standing in front of the Daily Planet, waving me over. I walk over and take out my earbuds, hugging Lois as she pulls me into one. "How was school?" She asks as we enter the building.

I shrug as Lois shows her ID to the receptionist, the two of us then enter an elevator and head to the top floor. "Same old, same old. Kind of wish I went to a school that was more challenging, though."

Lois snorts. "That's a first, a teenager wanting a more challenging school."

I laugh at that. "Yeah, it is. But look at who I am," I look at my hand and clench it into a fist. "While I am the peak of human evolution that doesn't mean I'm the strongest there is. I need to test myself. Both mentally and physically."

Lois nods as we go past the halfway point. "I see what you mean. I fought tooth and nail to be the top reporter here at the Planet, and I won't lie, definitely more fun than being at the top," I find myself partially agreeing with her. Fighting to get stronger is fun, but I don't know what it'd be like if I hit the top. She looks up at me. "Have you taken any AP classes?"

"They only let sophomores take three," I answer. "And those are still easy. I've been wondering: why am I going to Happy Harbor and not a school here in Metropolis?"

"Happy Harbor doesn't see a lot of meta activity, so we decided that'd be the best place to send you kids. Helps that the counselor, Snapper Carr, is an associate of the Justice League," Lois answer.

I look forward in surprise. "I have a meeting with him on Friday. Donna and the others made sure I'd go to it."

How the hell did I forget about Snapper Carr? Well, he isn't the biggest of characters, but still, Young Justice was one of my favorite shows, and he appeared a few times. He was even in the comic!

Lois nods as the elevator doors open, the two of us walk into the top floor of the Daily Planet, reserved for its top reporters. "Make sure you go to it, alright?" She then looks around the office with a smile. "Well, welcome to the Daily Planet, Daichi!"

Looking around I see people bustling about, trying their best to get a certain story written first. I can also see private offices along the walls. Thanks to my super hearing I was able to hear them shouting when I was down at the lobby, still doesn't help now that I'm in the middle of it all.

Lois notices and looks at me with a concerned face. "Are you okay?"

I nod as I dull my hearing a little. "Yeah, just still getting used to the sound of people shouting over each other is all."

"If it gets to be too much tell me, all right?" Lois asks.

I nod and give her a smile. "Thanks, but I think I'll be fine," I then look around. "So, why am I here exactly?"

"You need a job."

I look at Lois confused. "...What?"

She puts an arm around my shoulder and leads me through the office, greeting people as she walks by. "Daichi, all you do is go to school, fight crime, and stay home, you need to do more."

"Well, that's not true! I train also, and I…hang out with my friends! Who also…fight crime…" I counter. I slump my shoulders as Lois looks at me with an arched brow. "Yeah, I really don't do a lot."

The two of us enter an office, half of the shouting seems to come from this room alone. I look up to see Perry White shouting at a group of reporters and one Jimmy Olsen. "JIMMY! WHAT THE HELL'RE THESE PICTURES!?" He waves blurry pictures of me flying with Superman in the air. "I KNOW YOU KID; I KNOW YOU CAN TAKE BETTER PICTURES! SO EXPLAIN THIS!"

Jimmy stutters a bit. "W-w-well you see, Apex moves fast, like, really stupid fast. It's hard to get pictures of him in action."

Lois and I share a glance. Maybe I should slow down, just for his sake though.

Perry stares him down before slowly letting out a heavy breath. "Do your best, kid, I know you'll get a pic at some point. You're one of the best damn photographers on the entire eastern seaboard!"

Jimmy looks back up with a determined smile. "Got it, boss!"

Perry then turns to the other photographers but then stops once he notices us, a giant smile comes over his face. "LOIS!" He marches over and brings her into a hug before turning to me. "So, this is the kid? What's your name? What can you do? How do you know her and Kent? And why should I hire you?"

"Uh…" That was pretty fast, actually, even for me.

Lois walks over and puts her hands on my shoulders. "Perry White, this is Daichi Akiyama, Daichi, this is Perry," he and I shake hands. "Daichi's staying with me and Clark. His parents died in an accident not too long ago."

Perry looks at me with a somber look before nodding. "Sorry to hear that. But you still haven't told me what you can do!"

"I-"

Someone from outside pokes his head into the office. "Uh, boss? The internet kinda died."

"KINDA!? KINDA!? IT'S EITHER DEAD OR IT AIN'T! WHICH ONE IS IT!?" Perry demands.

Man, he shouts a lot, doesn't he? Can't be good for his cholesterol.

Jimmy pulls up his phone. "Yeah, it's dead all right. See? I'm on data now."

Perry groans and runs a hand down his face. "And our internet guy's on paternity leave, dammit."

I look around before slowly raising my hand. "Uh, I can do it," everyone then looks at me. Shouldn't have said anything.

"What was that?" Perry asks.

"I can do it," I say, louder this time. "Just lead me to the servers or whatever and I could fix the problem easily."

Perry looks at Lois. She has a proud smile on her face. "Trust him, Daichi's a smart kid."

Perry studies me before nodding and turning to Jimmy. "Lead the kid to the server room."

Jimmy nods and heads towards the door. "Come on, man! Today marks the beginning of the Adventures of Jimmy and Daichi!"

I look at Lois, she gives me a smile and a thumbs up before pushing me to follow Jimmy. Eh, may as well.

The two of us walk through the group of reporters panicking about the lack of access to the internet. Once Jimmy and I enter the elevator I turn to him. "You guys must be serious about this."

He puts his ID on a special part of the elevator's console before turning to me. "Oh, yeah. I mean, look at the world we live in! Aliens, demigoddess, space cops, Atlanteans, metahumans, and more! Being a reporter's pretty demanding, especially if you cover stuff like that. I mean, Lois was already a well-known reporter, but with Superman's appearance her popularity's skyrocketed, so has Clark's. Speaking of, sorry about your parents."

I look down, my previous life comes to mind. My parents then weren't exactly the best, my Mom was…let's just stick with the "not the best" label, while my Dad was just there physically, not so much emotionally, nothing much to it. Then there's Lois and Clark, they've done more for me in the few months I've known them then my previous parents did in the nineteen years I knew them.

I look up at Jimmy with a grateful smile. "Thanks, really. They, uh, they were friends with my parents. After the accident they were more than willing to take me in. It's been a great few months, actually."

"I bet," Jimmy replies. "Lois can be tough, but she really does care for the people close to her. And Clark, what else can I say? Dude's awesome. You're a lucky guy, Dai."

"Yeah, I really am," I whisper as the elevator doors open.

The sound of heartbeats immediately catches my attention, the smell of gunpowder does as well. Mm, it isn't just the computers acting up. I should take these guys down fast. Doesn't help that one's waiting just to my left outside of the elevator.

Jimmy walks out and is hit in the head by the butt of a gun, he then falls over. The criminal then looks inside the elevator, but I vibrate in a way that makes me invisible to the naked eye. "Clear," the criminal says into a walkie-talkie.

He then drags Jimmy away. I walk out of the elevator before the doors close and follow him to a secluded area. I then reach out to the criminal's mind and knock him out with telepathy, I stop vibrating to slowly lower him down. I then change into my suit and wake Jimmy up with a slap to his face.

"Oh, man…" He moans. He blinks to clear his vision, and once he notices me in my suit his eyes widen in surprise. "A-"

I quickly put my hand over his mouth and nod at the criminal. He nods, which lets me take my hand off his mouth. "There are three more of them down here, I'm gonna take them down, get out of here."

His eyes widen in fear. "Wait!" He whisper-shouts. "There was someone else with me, a kid. His name's Daichi! Have you seen him?"

I nod. "Yeah, after you got knocked out, he went to the other end of the room, he's safe."

It's amazing what vibrating your face at just the right frequency and vibrating your vocal cords can do. If someone were to see me as Daichi and Apex side-by-side they wouldn't be able to notice we're the same guy. That and I carry myself differently as Apex than Daichi. Clark's disguise is actually surprisingly effective. Doesn't mean I'll wear glasses though.

I turn around to deal with the other criminals but the sound of Jimmy getting his camera-ready catches my attention. I turn around to stare at him. "My boss wants me to take some pictures of you in action. What better time than now, you know?"

"Just don't get in harm's way, got it?" I order.

Jimmy nods with an excited smile. "Got it."

The walkie-talkie on the knocked-out crook squawks. "Yo, Lance, where the hell are you? We almost got the data."

Jimmy and I look at each other. Hm, so they're here for data, but why?

The two of us carefully walk through the server room, slowly getting closer to the other three. "Kai, go check on him," I hear from the walkie-talkie. I turn to Jimmy and shush him as I hear footsteps—Kai's—coming towards us.

I get ready to ambush him by jumping up on top of the servers, Jimmy gets his camera ready. Once Kai nears, I reach down, a hand over his mouth and pull him up, I can hear Jimmy's camera snap a picture. I then wrap an arm around Kai's neck and slowly choke him unconscious.

I notice Jimmy's concerned look. "He'll wake up in like an hour. Come on, there are two more to deal with, maybe you can get better pictures."

The two of us reach the end of the server room, here we see one of the criminals typing furiously on the computer as another watches his back. I lean to Jimmy. "Watch this," using my telekinesis, I pull the one watching his friend's back to me. The criminal shouts in fear, drawing the other one's attention. Once the guy I'm pulling gets close I punch him in the face, the back of his head slamming into the floor.

"THE HELL ARE YOU DOING HERE!?" The last guy shouts as he sprays bullets at me.

I just crouch low and catch the bullets, I then turn to Jimmy and give a quick smile before dashing forward and shoulder slamming into the last guy. Before he can crash into the computer, I grab him by the shirt and swing him over my shoulders, slamming him into the ground.

"Uh, is it safe?" Jimmy and I look over to see me, wearing my normal clothes, peek out of some servers. Thanks to super speed I'm capable of being seen in two places at once. A really useful skill. Although, both versions of me flicker every now and again. Though a normal person wouldn't notice it unless they were looking for it.

"One more picture?" I ask as Apex. "I have somewhere important to be."

Jimmy nods enthusiastically as I stand behind the last crook. I have a smile and a thumb up as Jimmy snaps the picture. "Thank you so much!"

I nod. "Of course," I then stop appearing in two places at once, fully becoming Daichi Akiyama.

"Whoa, that was Apex?" I ask in awe.

Jimmy bounces around on his feet. "I know, right? Oh, Perry's gonna love these photos!"

Speaking of, I can hear the elevator coming down. The ding then catches Jimmy's attention. We turn around to see Lois, Perry, and another employee coming down. "THE HELL'S taking…so…long…"

Perry trails off as the three of them notice the knocked-out criminals.

Lois hurries over and pulls me into a hug. She then backs up, her hands still on my shoulders and looks me over. "Are you okay? What happened? They didn't hurt you, did they?"

Seriously, if she didn't want to be a reporter, she could totally be an actress.

"Yeah, we're fine," I answer.

Lois smiles and pulls me into another hug. "Good. What did happen though?"

Jimmy excitedly stands next to us. "Oh nothing. Just Apex was here! And that's not all, I got pictures!"

He then goes over, his camera printing physical copies as he does, and waves them in Perry's face. Perry takes the photos and looks them over slowly; he then looks at Jimmy and pulls him into a bearhug. "I knew you had it in you, my boy!"

"That's great and all, boss, but the servers are still down," the employee points out.

"Oh, right!" I hurry over to the computer and do my thing. I then look to the right and find a weird device on the side; I pull it out and observe it. It's green and purple. Of course, two villains come to mind: Joker and Lex Luthor. Thing is, I see no reason for Joker to operate here, but Lex on the other hand, this totally has his fingerprints all over it.

Not literally, I mean, just that technological crimes are more up his alley. His Crime Alley. Wait, no, not that one. I'll just stop.

I put it in my pocket and continue with repairing the servers. One button push later and it's working fine. I turn around with a light smile on my face. "There, it's fixed."

Jimmy pulls out his phone and smile. "He's right, I'm on wi-fi now."

Lois smiles and kisses the side of my forehead. "Nice one!"

"Thanks," I reply as we look at Perry.

"Four days a week, five hours, fourteen bucks per hour. You start next week. What do you say?" Perry lists off.

"Uh, yeah!" We shake hands. "Thank you, sir!"

"Welcome to the Planet, Daisuke!"

"It's Daichi."

"Whatever. Back to work people!" Perry turns around, Jimmy and the employee following him.

Lois and I follow a distance away, so they can't hear our conversation. "Do you know why they were here?" She whispers.

I pull out the device. "Looks like they were doing something for Luthor. But why target this place?"

Lois takes it and puts it in her purse. "Probably wants to see if we have any ties to Superman. We do get a lot of exclusive interviews, after all."

"Makes sense. We should tell Dad," I wince. "I mean, Clark."

Lois smiles and ruffles my hair. "We will. Son," the elevator then goes up.

As the four of them talk I feel a smile grow on my face. "Son." I like the sound of that.

Friday

"Finally, goddamn," Garth groans as we walk towards our lockers. "For some reason today felt so damn long."

Kory nods. "I understand. During my training with the Warlords of Okaara some days felt far longer than others."

"The Warlords of Okaara? Who are those guys?" Garth asks.

"They're a species of warriors," Kory answers.

"They train not only in combat, but in the philosophy of violence and self-worth," I add. "I trained with them for a bit."

"Really? When?" Kory asks.

"About five years ago. I was around ten, or eleven, I think," I answer. "We never really kept track of my age when I was with The Evolutionary," the Amazonian Princess and Atlantean Prince look at me in confusion when I mention my previous…guardian.

"When we get to the Tower, you should go to the med bay," Donna suggests as she holds my hand. "We have a device that can scan your precise age at the Tower. Who knows, we may even find out your birthday in Earth terms."

"That'd be cool," I reply as I lean next to Donna's locker. "I've got my meeting with Mr. Carr soon, see you later today?"

Donna looks at me with a smirk. "Of course you will," she then kisses my cheek. "See you later."

I give her a smile before walking towards the counselor's office, patting Garth's back on the way. I reach the door and knock. "Come in!" A voice says.

I open the door and find a man with shoulder length brown hair, a brown soul patch, and brown eyes sitting behind a desk. He gets up to reveal a black button up shirt and gray slacks. "Ah, you must be Daichi! I'll admit, I've been pretty excited for this meeting."

We shake hands before sitting down. He then presses some buttons I hear a weird noise and notice the windows tint black before becoming normal. "That lets us talk without having to worry about eavesdroppers," Mr. Carr explains as he snaps his fingers. "I'd guess you're Apex, right?"

I nod in response. "Yeah, I am. You work with the Justice League, right, Mr. Carr?"

He lets out a little laugh. "I do. But please, call me Snapper. So, what do you think about it? Being a superhero, I mean."

I lean back in the seat and rest my hand on my chin, humming for a moment. "Not what I expected, not really. I mean, when I was in space, I wasn't training to be a superhero, I was training to be the best. I've killed to survive, I-I don't know if the League would be happy about hearing that."

Snapper waves it off. "When Hal was in the air force, he shot down enemy pilots. When John Stewart was a sniper for the marines, he'd take down targets. Hawkman and Hawkgirl were soldiers for the Thanagarian army. Wonder Woman fought in both World Wars... What I mean to say is, as long as you don't kill again, the Justice League's more than willing to look it over."

Then there's Captain Atom, he hasn't joined yet, but he's a military man as well, so I won't be the only one who's killed in the past. Doesn't really help though.

Snapper seems to sense my apprehension. "I can only guess how hard it is to live with something like that in your past. My advice would be to talk to those League members, maybe they can give you some insight. You can also talk to the other Teen Titans. They're your friends, they'll listen, and they'll understand."

"Yeah, yeah they will," I smile. "It's fun though, fighting supervillains with kids my age. If I'm being honest, the fight against the Fearsome Five was great, it really let us get a feel for each other's skills. I've actually come up with some tactics to help us fight in future battles."

"Really? Like what? If I might ask," Snapper wonders as he snaps his fingers again before resting his head on his folded hands.

"There's one I call eagle-eye, Kory flies in the air as she carries Roy around," his name brings a sour feeling to me that I quickly ignore. "Of all of us, Kory's flight skills are unparalleled, and with Roy's eyes they'd be perfect overwatch."

"You've got that right. One time I had the very tip of my guitar poking out of my bag once and Roy was able to identify its exact model. Kid's scarily perceptive," Snapper comments. "But we're not here to talk about him, we're here to talk about you," he then leans forward and looks me in the eyes. "Many of your teachers have commented about your intelligence, how you've quickly risen to the top of your class and whatnot. But they also talk about your lack of, well, standing out."

"What do you mean?" I ask.

"You never answer questions unless the teacher calls on you, you go out of your way to avoid standing out in anyway, and you only talk to a select few students," Snapper lists off. "Well, that last one I can understand, most of the kids you talk to are the only ones to really understand you, but you should try making more friends, participating in extracurriculars. Anything catch your interest?"

I shake my head. "Nothing catches my interest. Besides, I'm meant to be the best, my body wants me to find a challenge. Nothing really does that here in school. No offense."

Snapper laughs as he snaps his fingers again. "No, I see your point. How about sports? Football's starting up pretty soon."

"Not really my thing," I reply. Another sport then comes to mind. Soccer. In my previous life I played it for a school year, I wasn't the best, but I enjoyed it, maybe it'll be different now? "How about soccer?"

Snapper nods and does his signature action. "It won't be for some time, but I can see what I can do," his phone then vibrates. Once he looks at it, he tsks before giving me an apologetic look. "Sorry, I have another meeting to get to, it's really important. We'll talk more later!" He says as he leads me to the door.

We shake hands before we exit his office, he goes one way and I head towards my locker. After grabbing my stuff, I head outside to find Garth and Lilith waiting outside. Lilith waves me over. "Dai! Question."

"Lil, answer," I reply as we start walking from the school.

"Where're you taking Donna for your date?" She asks.

"We're gonna go watch a movie, then eat at a nice restaurant nearby, and then have a walk at Centennial Park when the sunsets," I reply.

Lilith nods before I feel her presence in my mind. She deftly moves past my defenses and causes me to hold my head in pain. "If you hurt her…well, you know what I'm gonna say next."

I nod frantically. "Trust me, I won't," I groan in pain. "Can you get out of my head?"

Lilith obliges and walks ahead with a smile. Garth looks at me worriedly. "Sorry about that. But as you know, Lilith and Donna are best friends, hell, Donna threatened to castrate me when she found out about me and Lilith."

"Ouch," I reply as I shake my head. "I'm gonna go home, get ready. See you later."

Garth and I fist bump. "See you later, bro."

As the couple walk away, I use my sense to see if anyone's nearby, and would you look at that? No one. Honestly surprised at how many empty places we come across. I then quickly rise into the air and head home, a smile on my face the whole way through.

Metropolis

I arrive home and quickly run into my room. Okay, so Donna should be here in about two hours. Or sooner. Time zones can really mess with planning a date, can't they? Can't focus on that, I have a date to go on!

As I look for clothes to wear, I hear a heartbeat waiting in the doorway. "So, you got everything you need?"

I turn around to see a smirking Clark.

I let out a shaky breath before looking at the pitch-black jeans, red dress shirt, and aviator jacket. Does that work together? Is it too much for a first date? Maybe too little? I shake my head and turn to Clark. "Almost, I just need the flowers."

Clark nods before standing next to me and looking at my clothes, he nods again. "There's a flower shop that's about a ten-minute walk from here," he then hums and looks at my hair. "You'll need to do something about this."

I run my hand through my shoulder length hair. "What? Slick it back?"

Clark nods. "Probably," he then hums and walks around me, studying me intensely. He then nods in approval before leaning on the drawers. "You excited?"

"Very," I admit. "I just hope I don't screw this up. I've never really gone on a date before. Well, there was that one time in my previous life, but I messed that up royally," I then begin to panic. "You don't think I'll do the same with Donna, do you?"

Clark laughs lightly before putting his hands on my shoulders. "You'll be fine, son," he says with a smile.

Right, ever since I got the job Lois decided to mention the time I accidentally called Clark "Dad". I've then found them having some private conversations in Kryptonese every now and again as well, but they'd stop once I come in the room. But that's honestly something I never saw coming, Lois knowing Kryptonese, wonder if they'll teach me. After all, the Evolutionary never taught to imprint it into my head.

And would you look at who's in the room, it's Lois Lane-Kent. She stands on my other side and looks at the clothes. She scrutinizes them before nodding with a hum. "I think you'll attract a lot of attention with these clothes. Donna should be careful! Then again, she is a beautiful girl, maybe you should watch out."

Clark shakes his head. "Don't listen to her, you've got eyes for her, she's got eyes for you, no one else matters."

"Smallville's right. Remember, Dai, be a gentleman, show her a good time, and be sure to use protection," Lois winks at that last one.

I blush furiously as I try to come up with a response, but nothing comes out.

Clark groans and facepalms. "Should've seen that one coming," his communicator goes off. "This is Superman."

"The meeting's starting in thirty minutes. Get ready," Bruce responds before ending the call.

Clark turns to Lois. "Meeting at the Watchtower in thirty, you know how Bruce can get."

She nods and pulls him into a quick kiss. "I know. Have fun in your treehouse, Clark. I've gotta make sure this kid here has a good first date."

Clark smiles before speeding out and coming back in his Superman suit. He then turns to me and puts a hand on my shoulder. "You've got this," he then activates his comm. "This is Superman, ready to teleport," he's then taken to the Watchtower.

Lois grabs me by my shoulders and leads me out of the room to the bathroom. She then reaches in a drawer and grabs some things to cut hair with, and some hair gel. "Uh, you sure those will work on me? My hair's kinda…" To demonstrate, I pull out a strand of hair, straighten it, and throw it at the wall, half of it sticks out.

Lois sighs. "Well, now we need to paint over that. Trust me, Clark had these made specifically to deal with hair like his, which leads to a question I've been wondering about for a while: how is your hair invincible?"

"I, uh, don't know, actually," I answer as Lois gets ready to cut my hair. "Never really questioned it, you know?"

"Hm, I see your point. So, how are we doing this?" Lois wonders. "Wait, I have an idea."

"I don't get to input any ide- oh, you're already cutting. Okay," I sit down, my hands patting my thighs as Lois mumbles to herself while getting on with the haircut. "How do you know how to cut hair, by the way?"

"When my sister Lucy needed haircuts, I'd be the one to do it when we couldn't get to a salon," Lois answers.

I hum in response before the two of us become silent again.

After this I need to buy the flowers, blue hyacinths in particular, and then take a shower and get ready. I should also get my homework done, I'll do that before I get the flowers, won't be too hard.

"How does she make you feel?" Lois suddenly asks. At my confused face she elaborates. "Donna, I mean. What kind of emotions go through you when you think about her?"

"I…" Fear, uncertainty, euphoria, and joy. Those are some of the emotions I feel when I think about her, and then they're amplified when I'm with her. Oh, man, I'm not in love already, am I?

Lois chuckles as she uses the scissors, whoa, she's almost done. That was fast.

"Yeah, that sounds about right. I was the same with Clark. I didn't know how to explain it, but I just knew something special was gonna come out of our relationship," she smiles fondly. "And would you look at that, two awesome boys to care for, an amazing home, and a super husband. I'd say I won."

"I'd say so," then what she said kicks in. "Wait, "two awesome boys"?"

"Yes sir, two awesome boys," she affirms. "All right, you're done! What do you think?"

I stand up and look at my reflection to see my hair's now much shorter, it leads into a nice faux hawk, the lone strand of hair staying just above my right eye. I smile and turn to Lois. "I like it," I then use my telekinesis and get rid of all the hair in the bathroom. "Now I just gotta finish my homework and get the flowers."

I take a little time on my homework. If I finish it superfast, I'd just begin to feel the time weighing down on me. After that's done, I head to the flower store, get the hyacinths, and come back. Okay, looks like she'll be here in about an hour, ample time for me to talk a long, calming shower.

While in the shower, I begin to freak out. What if I say too much? What if I say too little? What if I'm too boring? I mean, I'm not the most excitable guy, then again, with the way I grew up it'd be pretty hard for me to have a personality like Wally's. Oh man, what if Donna gets too bored of me and decides this was a mistake? Crap, crap, crap!

There's a knock on the bathroom door. "Daichi! You okay? It's nearly been an hour since you hoped in."

AN HOUR!?

I quickly turn off the shower, dry off, and put on my tank top and briefs. I open the door partially and stick my head out, making eye contact with an amused Lois. "I-is Donna here?"

"She's in the living room," Lois answers, my heartrate skyrockets. "She looks great, don't wanna keep her waiting, do you?"

I speed over to my room and quickly put on my clothes, I then go back to the bathroom and use a miniscule amount of hair gel to fix my hair. I brush my teeth and get cleaned up before heading over to the living room. And holy crap, Donna doesn't look great, she looks wonderful.

She wears black pumps, light blue skinny jeans, and a dark blue blouse with an ornate silver necklace around her neck, she wears a black leather jacket over it all. She has on ruby red lipstick and some eyeshadow that makes her ocean blue eyes seemingly shine. She has a dazzling smile on her face once she notices me.

"Daichi!" She brings me into a hug and kisses my cheek. "You look handsome!" She then ruffles my hair. "Mm, and you got a haircut just for me? You shouldn't have!"

"Oh, no problem, really. And, uh, you too," I flinch at my stupidity. "I mean, you look beautiful! Not handsome! Sorry."

Donna just smiles before noticing the flowers in my hands. "Hera, you got me hyacinths?" She gasps. I hand the flowers to her, enjoying the smile on her face. "Thank you. These are my favorites! How'd you know?"

"Diana told me," I answer. "You, uh, ready to go?"

"Hold it!" We look to see Lois holding Jon in one arm and a camera in the other. "Picture."

"I don't-"

"Come on, Dai," Donna interrupts. "It's our first date. We've gotta have something to remember it by, right?"

I smile before I wrap my arms around her waist and rest my head atop hers, the two of us smile as Lois aims the camera at us. "And three, two, one!" The camera flashes and Lois has a large smile. "I'll get these printed for you guys. Have fun!"

Donna quickly puts the flowers in a nearby vase. "I didn't bring a car, and as much as I love hyacinths, I'd rather not carry them around."

The two of us then exit the house and head over to the movie theatre.

I really hope I don't mess this up.

I don't think I messed it up. If Donna's laughter is any indication.

"I can't believe you threw Lobo into space elephant dung and lived!" She breaks out into another fit of laughter.

The movie was one of those forgettable action-comedy flicks that's great in the moment, nothing much to it. Now we're at the restaurant and our waiter just went to the kitchen to tell the cooks our order.

Right now, we're sitting in a balcony area that's rather expensive to get to, but when your close to two of the Daily Planet's top reporters, money isn't as hard to come by. That and Donna has a ton of money, both from being a princess and living with Bruce Wayne.

I chuckle and rub the back of my head, it's gonna take some time to get used to the haircut. "Yeah, I think the only reason he didn't kill me was because the Evolutionary was willing to give him new, top of the line weapons."

"From what little I've seen of him, I'm a hundred percent sure that'd be enough to pay him over," Donna says. She then rests her head in her hands. "Who is the Evolutionary? I've heard of him a few times from Bruce, Diana, and Dick, but all I know is that he's tied to you."

Our waiter comes back with our food and drinks. Once he leaves, I continue the conversation. "He's my…creator."

"That's it? Nothing more?" Donna asks as she eats her food.

"That's it. The fifteen years I spent up in space weren't the greatest. Yes, I was trained to be the best, but it was intense. I'd fight people magnitudes stronger than me at the time just to test my abilities, I'd have my energy drained just before getting thrown into a tundra or desert with almost nothing to help me survive, and I'd even have my healing factor pushed to its limits," I look down at my hands on the table. "That last one was the worst."

Donna puts her hands over mine, I look up to see a concerned look on her face. "I'm sorry for brining that up."

I shake my head and give her a smile. "It's nothing, really. Besides, if it weren't for him, I wouldn't have met you guys. I wouldn't be here, with you."

"No, you wouldn't," Donna agrees with a smile. She then nods. "Okay! From here on out I'll test you! But in the right way—if it becomes too much, you'll tell me, okay?"

I tilt my head and look at Donna confused. "How?"

"I'll test your fighting skills, your mental fortitude, and your powers. But in a more humane way. But not only that, I'll test your skills with people, don't think I'm not aware of your tactics to stay hidden," she answers. "I'll help you, and you'll help me."

"But don't you already do that?" I ask.

She nods. "Yeah, I do, but this time it'll be different," she puts her hand over mine again. "This time I'll be your girlfriend."

I smile and flip my hand over so she can hold it. "Yeah, you will," I then think back to the sleepover. "Hey, back at the sleepover you wanted to talk about something. What was it?"

Her smile's replaced with a concerned frown. "Last Friday I noticed Roy seemed a little, I don't know, angry. He stayed angry during the weekend. It was all aimed at you, why?"

Okay, she wants to talk about that, I think I can do it. "I think it's because of us," at Donna's confused face I continue. "He has a crush on you. A massive one. And he's had it for some time, he's most likely angry with me 'cause I just came in and asked you out successfully after knowing you for a little over a month."

Donna's quiet for a moment as dessert is put down in front of us. "Oh," she finally whispers.

I sigh deeply before running my other hand through my hair. Gonna take some time to get used to that. "Sorry, I shouldn't have brought that up, now I just ruined the atmosphere."

Donna shakes her head. "No, no you didn't. I should've seen it is all. He hasn't caused problems for you, has he?"

"Nope, things are just tense between us is all. I hope he'll be professional on missions," I answer.

"As do I," she then smiles and digs into her dessert. "That's enough of that! We have a date, and I'm here to enjoy it!"

I smile and begin to eat my dessert as well. "So am I."

Sometime later, Donna and I find ourselves at Centennial Park, walking hand-in-hand as the leaves fall, the wind blows through, and the sunset adds to the romantic feel. It's great, really.

Donna's smile never leaves her face as she spins around, still holding my hand. "It's amazing, really, seeing the love for the heroes," Donna laughs as we see the Superman statue in the distance. "Washington DC has a statue for my sister, there's talks of building a Batman statue in Gotham."

"Is he okay with that?" I ask.

Donna looks at me with a knowing smirk. "Of course not. As I was saying, there's the statue of the Lantern in Coast City, Manhunter and Aquaman have statues in Middleton and Amnesty Bay respectively, and Flash even has a museum. Definitely more than any other superhero."

"He deserves it," I reply. "You hear they're gonna expand the League?"

Donna nods. "When you live with two of the founders, particularly two thirds of the Trinity, you know a lot about the Justice League's plans. Don't two of the recruits have protégés?"

"Yeah, Clark told me Zatara's daughter and the Atom's protégé are gonna join," I answer. "I wonder what they're like," of course I know, just gotta play the part, you know.

"I hear the Atom's student is a girl, I like that, can never have enough sisters on the team," Donna says as we walk past two people reading Daily Planet newspapers on a bench.

I hum. "I'll need to think of some tactics to implement them in. And some new ones as well…" I continue to mumble my plans, not at all noticing Donna's smiling face as she looks at me.

"Daichi!" That catches my attention. She shakes her head in amusement. "Even on a date you can't not be tactical. I'm gonna have my work cut out for me."

"You're serious about this," I point out as Donna walks along a small barrier between the stone path and the grass of the park.

"Of course I am. No matter how much you try to downplay it, I can see you're lost and uncomfortable around people you don't know, I want to help you get over it. Being your girlfriend just gives me more ideas is all," she adds with a smirk.

"Oh? What kind of ideas?" I wonder as she hops down next to me.

"Romantic ones," she answers, causing me to blush. "I'll admit, I'm not the best at romance either, there've only been two boys before you, and they didn't last very long, but I know you and I can go places."

I feel a smile on my face, but then I look at Donna curiously. "Who were they?"

She looks at me with an arched brow before it becomes a sheepish smile. "I'll be honest, the first guy? I don't really remember his name. We talked a lot, and the only time we hung out was when his friends were also there, never went on one-on-one dates, but he was the first guy I talked to in a "romantic" sense, so there's that."

"And the second?"

Donna's silent for a moment. She avoids eye contact and looks around the park, the two of us stop at the foot of the Superman statue. She looks up at it, sighs, before grabbing both of my hands and looking me in the eyes.

"He was something else. We were close a year ago, before he moved. He was a few years older than me as well, I think he's in college now, actually," Donna finally answers.

"What's his name?" I ask. "If he was "something else" you have to remember it, right?"

She nods. "Terry Long."

Oh.

It's weird. Yeah, Roy's more dangerous then Terry, but Roy wasn't the one to marry Donna way back when in the comics, Terry Long was. I don't know why, but I feel…threatened, I guess?

Donna catches my attention by putting a hand on my chest, I look to see a light smile on her face. "Are you jealous?"

"No!" I said that way too fast. "Just curious is all."

Donna's obviously not convinced. "Uh-huh."

I press my lips into a thin line and look down. "If he didn't move away, where would the two of you be?"

Donna looks down and muses over the question. "He might've been my first boyfriend," I feel my heart skip a beat. "But if I had still met you, I probably would've broken things off with him."

"What do you mean?" I ask, looking at her.

Donna looks back at me, her ocean blue eyes connecting with my vibrant orange eyes. "With Terry I felt feelings that I couldn't properly describe, but if I had to describe them, then I'd say he made me feel great, happy," her other hand comes around the back of my head, grabbing my hair. "But you multiply those feelings by, like, a hundred thousand times. I don't know what it is exactly, but I'd like to explore these feelings with you."

I bring my arms around her waist, pulling her in. Out of the corner of my eye, I notice the flame at the foot of the Superman statue, the gust of wind that whips Donna's wavy hair around in a way that makes her even more enticing, and the sunset behind the statue, turning the sky into a beautiful shade of pink, red, and purple.

Donna and I bring our faces just inches apart. "What do you say?" I can feel her breath on my skin, and thanks to my superhuman senses it makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand up and brings goosebumps along my arms. "Let's explore this new world together?"

"Yeah, let's do it," I reply before we bring our lips together.

Nothing else matters right now, just me and Donna, and I'm totally fine with that.

We would continue to kiss but the two people on the bench forces us to break apart, don't wanna bring too much attention to ourselves by kissing far longer than humanly possible, you know?

Donna smiles widely before leaning forward, using me as a support. "Definitely prefer kissing guys over girls."

I arch a brow.

"Dai, I grew up on an island of women, you should've seen this coming," she smirks.

I let out a laugh before pulling her into a quick kiss. "Yeah, guess I should've," I rest my forehead on hers and the two of us close our eyes, enjoying the moment. "So, how was the date?"

I feel Donna smile. "Solid eleven out of ten. Would definitely do it again."

I open my eyes and look at Donna in a new light. We aren't just friends anymore, or people that are dating, I guess now we're officially lovers. It feels great.

Donna chuckles and boops my nose again. "There's that smile again. It suits you," she then backs up, one of her hands still holding mine. "Let's get you home, yeah? I promised Helena I'd help her prank Dick, and it's getting pretty late in Gotham."

I let out a laugh and follow Donna out of the park. We then walk past the two people reading newspapers, and Donna suddenly stops and looks at them with an annoyed frown.

"Donna?" I ask.

"I can't believe you two," she mutters. She then stands in front of the two and forces the newspapers out of their hands. "Are you serious!?"

"Whoa!" I quickly stand between her and them. "Sorry about my girlfriend, she's not normally…" I get a better look at the two. "Seriously?"

The taller one shrugs as he slowly stands up. "Oh dear, it seems we've been had," Alfred dryly says.

The smaller one smiles widely. "Daichi! Donna! How's your date?" Dick asks.

I just give him a blank stare before turning to Alfred. "Why?" I ask.

"Before the meeting, Bruce wanted us to keep an eye on your date," Dick answers quickly, Donna's Lasso of Truth around his wrist. "Donna!"

She just ignores his cry and wraps her Lasso up. "Does Diana know about this?"

Dick pales considerably. "Uh, no."

"And who's watching Helena?" Donna asks.

"K-Kory. Alfred, hel- what the!?"

The three of us look to see Alfred now at the other side of the park, getting inside of the black car he and Dick are using.

"He's fast for his age," I comment. "You should hurry. Half of me wants to hold Donna back, the other half wants to let her tear you apart. Guess which half's winning."

Dick takes my advice and bolts after Alfred, nearly ramming into the car as he reaches his goal.

Donna sighs before giving me an apologetic smile. "Sorry about that. Bruce can be…overprotective."

I smile and stand close to Donna before wrapping an arm around her waist. "It's okay, did nothing to ruin today."

Donna smiles before resting her head on my shoulder.

The two of us then leave the park and head back to the apartment complex, happy with today.

The moon's high in the sky as I fly back home, a smile on my face, and some faint lipstick on my lips from yet another kiss between me and Donna. I let out a chuckle before barrel rolling through the clouds, the light of the moon adding to my mood.

"HELL YEAH!" I whoop as I quickly fly in a loop, a trail of orange energy creating a circle.

Today is a great day for Daichi Akiyama.

And that's the end of the chapter, and the official start to Daichi's and Donna's relationship!

It's funny, the last chapter was supposed to jump ahead to December of 2010 to introduce the main villains, but I wrote so much that I decided it'd be this chapter, then that didn't happen, sorry about that. Next chapter will open at that time and introduce Zatanna and Bumblebee to the story, 'cause it's pretty damn obvious who Atom's protégé is.

It's gonna be interesting writing Zatanna, mainly 'cause in my other story Triumphant, which is a Justice League/ Ben 10 crossover, she's the main love interest. It'll be interesting to write, nonetheless.

Well, that's all from me. If you have any questions or want to leave a constructive review you know where to leave 'em! Remember to stay awesome and see you next time you beautiful people!