In a conference room on a floating satellite fortress called the Watchtower in orbit over Earth, several figures sat around a table as they studied the profile placed in front of them, while a screen on the wall had a picture of Carl Wallace that was taken by the police. His pale face was offset by the black circles around his eyes. His shaggy black hair stuck up in all directions, and his tri-color eyes stared calmly at the camera.
"The medical scan came back on Carl Wallace." Barry Allen, the Flash, said in an upbeat tone of voice.
"What were the results?" Bruce Wayne, Batman, asked in a neutral tone of voice even while he began reading the report himself. He knew the speedster would be able to finish reading the report before him and give a summary. Of course he would read the whole thing himself, but it was often useful to make use of the Flash's quickness for a quick overview.
"It turns out that he's a mix of a clone of Superboy and an Atlantean. But he had come out of the mixer wrong. He was damaged far too much to even really be aware of himself, let alone the world around him. And now all the tests are saying that his Kryptonian side is consistent with a Bizarro Kryptonian."
"I saw him in the cafeteria yesterday." Hawkman, Carter Hall, stated with a questioning tone in his voice. "He's remarkably lucid and calm for one of the Bizarro creatures we have run across before. Is there a reason for that? If we could apply that to other Bizarros, we could use it in the future to curtail the damage they do."
The Flash paused for a bit to let with a weird look on his face that basically said what came next would be odd even for their group. "Yes, there's a reason. But it doesn't seem…feasible, to replicate it. Caroline Wallace apparently injected Czarnian blood into his body (and who knows where they even got that blood), which helped Carl to heal to what he is now. The Czarnian blood overwrote the damaged portions of his DNA, so he's basically one-third Bizarro Kryptonian, one-third Atlantean, and one-third Czarnian. Apparently the human parts that he got from Superboy were written out of the picture."
"No, that doesn't quite seem a viable method to make the Bizarro Kryptonians easier to handle." Hawkman admitted.
Clark Kent chuckled a bit then in great humor, causing the others to look over at him in question at what he found funny. Superman shrugged a bit before explaining what he found amusing.
"We all know that Superboy was a clone of me and Lex Luthor, and it's something he has had a hard time accepting. He doesn't like to think that one of his 'fathers' is such a…deplorable individual as Luthor. I just find it amusing that any traces of Luthor's DNA was taken as 'damaged' by the healing of the Czarnian blood and thrown away as trash."
The rest of the group chuckled a bit at that idea. As even tempered as Clark was, it was no secret how many times Luthor had tried to run some scheme to kill him. It really spoke to his self control that he didn't simply vaporize the man's head from orbit.
"Do we know which Atlantean they got the DNA from?" Arthur Curry, otherwise known as Aquaman, asked. As the king of Atlantis, it was an important question for him to have solved. "Since he's part Atlantean, it would be important that I know who he is related to, so that I could inform them."
"No, I'm afraid we don't know." Flash said. "We don't have a lot of DNA profiles from your people from Atlantis in the database."
"Not to mention the various other groups of Atlanteans that prefer to live in isolation." Arthur agreed. "I'll talk with my advisors and see what we can do about finding out more." Arthur looked up at the picture of Carl. "He doesn't look like an Atlantean, but if he's related, we'll try to do right by him."
"Commendable." Diana Prince, Wonder Woman, stated with approval, and Arthur nodded back at her. Being raised in the warrior culture of the Amazons led to her believing greatly in the need to take responsibility for anything that would be considered their duty.
"Have you checked his mind, to see if there were any triggers implanted that could lead to him being used as a weapon?" Batman asked the Martian Manhunter, J'onn J'onnz.
"I lightly scanned him when he arrived." J'onn admitted. "Just to see if there was anything immediately dangerous. He was clean, as far as I saw; but I'm not comfortable doing any more invasive of a scan without consent."
"So is there anything that indicates we shouldn't go forward as planned and have Carl situated in Jump City with the Titans while he acclimates to his new life and goes to school?" Superman asked, looking around the conference room.
"I'm fine with that." John Stewart, one of the Green Lantern Corps, stated after thinking about it for a moment. "Even though his first lucid moments in life were violent, and he did kill those three men, there were extenuating circumstances. He had just witnessed a woman being murdered in front of him. And naturally everyone has the right to defend themselves. But it's his actions the moment he freed himself that speak most highly. He immediately went to the authorities to turn himself in and report the crime he witnessed. He didn't just go on a rampage like so many other confused new meta-humans, which indicates to me that he wants to live with society, not against it."
There were general murmurs of agreement from the rest of the group at that statement. They all knew that John Stewart's position as a Green Lantern meant that he was, among the Justice League members, one of the most dedicated to law and order, since he was basically the equivalent of a galactic police officer. And John had a good point; if Carl had been of the villainous or criminal mindset, it would be unlikely he would have gone straight to the police to report everything. And he had been very cooperative while in their custody.
"Zatanna?" Superman turned his attention to the sole magician in their midst. "I'm not expecting anything, judging that Carl Wallace was created with science and not magic, but did you get a chance to scan him?" Batman absently nodded in approval at Superman's thoroughness in checking all avenues while he continued to read the file in front of him.
Zatanna hummed in thought for a moment before answering. "I was able to scan him at the cafeteria. He has an echo of magic about him. It's not very strong, as if he was someone who had the potential to practice magic, but hadn't yet begun. The only reason I can imagine it being the case is his Atlantean blood."
Aquaman nodded in agreement. "Yes, as descendents of the Magi, we too have many who are able to use various magical abilities to varying strengths."
"Is magic something that he should be tutored in?" The Flash asked. "Since I've basically been assigned as his mentor / handler, it's something I should know about in order to pass on to the Titans."
"Magic is a…complicated study. And that's putting it simply." Zatanna said as she considered the issue of whether or not it was smart to have a Bizarro Kryptonian, Czarnian, and Atlantean mix to learn magic. "There's certainly nothing demonic in his lineage that might prove troublesome down the road. I would say that he should be given an introduction overview of magic, and if he proves to have the desire to learn, only then should he be tutored. He wouldn't be allowed to stop halfway, so only if he actually shows a willingness to learn should he be allowed to."
"Expound on that, if you please." Superman asked. "I'm not quite understanding the issue you seem to be suggesting there."
"Magic is a Primordial Force of Creation." Zatanna began explaining. "What that means is that Magic can do anything. Anything you could imagine, and much you couldn't imagine, Magic can make it happen. Now, while that may be a scary or exciting thought depending on your point of view, keep in mind that not all magic users can do that 'anything' that Magic can. A lot of it depends on their individual aptitude and experience in using magic. There are other variables that come into play, for example their magical lineage, or any objects of power they may use, and etc. But Magic itself can do anything."
The rest of the League were listening attentively. It wasn't often that they dealt with magic themselves, so hearing one of the most powerful magicians on the planet lecture on it was something noteworthy.
"Now, what that means in the practical is that any dark and evil minded magicians you come across could, theoretically, have any set of fantastical spells or abilities that could blindside you. Their spells and skill may be limited to a small handful of very weird effects, or they could have a wide range of incredibly annoying abilities."
Zatanna paused to give her next words extra gravitas. "And some of the worst of the lot are those who delve into mind control, slavery, and sacrificial magic."
"And people wonder why I dislike magic." Batman muttered.
"Yes, quite." Zatanna smiled at Batman in amusement. To her, magic was a way of life; but she was quite aware of how outsiders viewed it. "The more one studies magic, the more it opens you up to the magical awareness of other magicians. Many of those who delve into the Arts find themselves quite arrogant and find it beneath themselves to pay attention to the masses of clueless magic-less humanity.
"So unless you have a mentor who puts up defenses while thoroughly teaching you how to defend yourself magically, learning only a small bit of magic will basically cause you to lose the protection that anonymity gives you from dark magicians, while still being unable to protect yourself."
"That does explain why your old man was always so protective of you." Green Arrow piped up with an amused tone of voice.
"Yes. My father was quite zealous in his duty to protect his apprentice." The slight grinding of teeth coming from Zatanna told a little of the tale of how stifling she still found her father's over-protectiveness to be, no matter how much she loved him. "For how wondrous the world of magic can be, my father also understood the other side of the coin. How very dark it can be."
Once more Zatanna looked around the table their meeting was held at, staring into each of their eyes and willing them to understand just what they were contemplating, and how serious her next statement would be.
"And that is why it would be a spectacularly bad idea to only teach this Carl Wallace a little bit of magic and allow him to abandon it halfway. By doing so, he would be opening himself up to attacks by powerful magicians. And that's not even counting the possibility that a powerful magician may be able to turn him against us by enslaving him or making him a mindless golem. And I shudder to think of what could be done with the blood or life sacrifice of someone with his potential and heritage."
Everyone spent a moment to contemplate that horrible thought. It was information that made the world seem even more complicated than normal. And since they regularly dealt with meta-humans, mutants, and aliens around the galaxy, that was truly saying something.
"Thanks for the info, Zatanna." Flash piped up, cheerfulness once more in place after a suitable time of sober contemplation. "I'll talk to Carl about it and see what he wants to do. Then we can figure out a teacher for him, if he's committed."
"But should we even offer him the choice to learn magic? As it is now, he has the protection that anonymity gives him." Batman was half playing devil's advocate in order to make sure everyone had actually thought through the alternatives. "Not to mention he's only a few days old and has plenty of other abilities from his multiple heritages that he needs to get a handle on first. I think it would be premature to introduce the idea of studying magic. Let him get settled in his new life first before even bringing up the topic with him."
"Your argument has some merit, Batman." Zatanna nodded in agreement. "He is practically a new person, so the decision shouldn't be made in haste. He definitely has time to decide. But either way, he should be temporarily warded against detection by other magic users for now. While his heritage and potential are relatively new and harder to detect, the longer he lives the stronger his resonance in the magical ether will be. Within at least ten years his magical potential will be much stronger, and it would be very hard not to notice. We could revisit the question later, and if Carl decides not to study magic, there are more permanent methods to lock up his potential so that it isn't noticeable by magicians."
"Thank you for your expertise, Zatanna, and let's go with that plan for now." Superman agreed when it looked like the entire group was on board with that plan. "Is there anything else to discuss about the young man in question at this time?"
Batman had by then finished reading the file on Carl Wallace and sat in thought over the issue of Carl Wallace. He was quite aware that Superman was watching him for his reaction on the issue; due to his more developed paranoia he sometimes spotted issues the others didn't, or that they sometimes ignored subconsciously.
There were some things that he thought were strange in this clone's actions and story. Most especially in the way that he calmly made his way to the police station after such a traumatic awakening. There was something a little fishy about it, but he couldn't put his finger on it beyond being incredulous that the clone acted so calm headed, reasonable, and responsible mere minutes after he engaged in a life and death battle, and only moments after being healed and waking up for the first time.
It spoke of having more experience possible than a simple download of social knowledge than a freshly made clone should have. Was there something more inimical there? Or was it something as simple as his Czarnian lineage's love of battle balancing his Kryptonian heritage's more intellectual inclination?
And yet…as Green Lantern had said, Carl's attitude seemed to not be of a criminal inclination.
So with no actual reason not to go with the plan of sending Carl Wallace to the Titans, Batman minutely nodded his head in approval, which Superman saw and understood it as agreement with the others. He would have Nightwing keep an eye on him, just to be sure that the clone wasn't up to something. At the very least he would then be in a place for them to continue gathering information on him.
"Okay, that seems to be settled." Superman declared. "Carl Wallace will spend time with the Titans, where they will help him get used to life in Jump City. Next order of business is a complaint that we don't have enough hot water available at certain times of the day. Apparently when too many people take a shower at the same time, the heater is having a hard time keeping up..."
After a big breakfast the next morning, Carl turned to the Flash, who seemed to be assigned to be his case worker of sorts, and asked, "So how are we going to be testing my abilities?"
Sitting at the table across from Carl, Flash was still eating his insanely huge meal. Apparently being a speedster required tons of calories. Even with his weird super heritage going on, Carl was unable to keep up.
"We have several rooms set up that can simulate all kinds of environments and training scenarios. It can re-create just about any scenario you program into it. I've scheduled time this morning to go over a series of tests on your abilities."
"So, you have a holodeck? That's pretty cool." Carl grinned, impressed that they had such advanced technology here on the Watchtower.
"Huh, never heard it called that before. Batman just called it the Training Room, and it stuck." Flash took a big drink of his coffee. "Carl, would you mind if some of the Titans came up to watch your abilities test? If you're going to be spending time with them, it would be good for them to know what you can do in case of any emergency or villain attack."
"Sure, I don't mind. It makes sense, really, for us all to get acquainted and understand each other." Carl frowned a bit in thought. "So, what am I expected to do, since I'm assuming I'm going to be joining these Titans? Like, what kinds of missions do they do? How do they spend their time and their downtime? Will the missions cut into my schooling and whatnot?"
"Hmm. Well, since they are a group made up of teenagers just entering their twenties, we don't send them on dangerous missions if we can help it. They mostly stay in Jump City to protect it from any villains the police can't handle." Flash thoughtfully answered. "So, most of what you do would be at the direction of the team leader, Nightwing."
"How does the pay work? Is it like an hourly consult for when we actually go out and do something? Or is it more like being on retainer for the city?" Carl asked.
"Uh, what? Pay?" Flash looked so flabbergasted at the question that he had to really reach for the idea of just what Carl was asking about.
"Yeah. I mean, I thought it would be obvious. Enhanced individuals can do things that normal people can't. But we still gotta eat and have a place to live and have a life. Kind of hard to be superheroing when you've got bills to pay." Carl thought it was pretty obvious.
"Uh, no. It's more a volunteer thing. We have these powers given to us, and we need to use them responsibly to help society. It's the only moral thing to do, really. There will be a stipend for your food and clothes though."
Carl's eyes narrowed a bit as he took in that reasoning. He opened his mouth to debate the sense in those arguments, or ask more questions, but a second later he shut his mouth with a thoughtful look on his face. He decided that he would spend more time learning how this world's society worked and thought, and how the superhero brigade fit into it before he really started to question it.
He was still really new and didn't want to start spouting off about something he hadn't even researched yet. So he would learn and come up with his own answers. He still really didn't like that it sounded as if he would be expected to give of his time to fight bad guys for free, making him a big target for any retaliatory attacks, just because he was morally guilted into it.
It was one thing to volunteer his time for disaster relief efforts, but going to pick fights with criminals without getting paid for the "privilege"? It wasn't like police, fire fighters, doctors, etc were doing those jobs for free, no matter how respectable for society they were. And being lectured into believing that he was basically a servant of society because he had some extra powers? It sounded really sketchy to him.
So he would have to research and figure out just what was going on here. Maybe Flash's throw-away line was about being morally responsible for how he used his powers. And maybe he wasn't getting paid because he was basically underage, so it fell under child labor laws.
And the Justice League hadn't been bad to him at all, so Carl would give them the benefit of the doubt until he could figure out what was what. And more time spent "under the radar" by not heavily questioning the things a clone shouldn't really know would give him time to observe things.
Flash looked up and saw a group of people enter the cafeteria. "Looks like the Titans are here. Let me introduce you. Titans, over here." Flash called them over, even though they were already on their way to the table the two were sitting at, since the group has obviously spotted the red suit of the Flash.
"Titans, this is Carl Wallace, the young man that will stay with you for a time. I hope you can make him welcome. Carl, the team leader here is-"
"Nightwing." The man in question interrupted Flash. Nightwing was a slim man with black hair that stood 5 feet 10 inches and was dressed in a suit of black with dark blue highlights. He had a wide belt at his waist with two collapsed batons at his hips, and gave off the impression of intense competence and a drive to be the best. "Nice to meet you, Carl Wallace."
"Likewise." Carl stood and shook Nightwing's hand when it was offered. He was amused to see that his 14 year old self was the same height as Nightwing.
"My code name is Starfire." The cheerful voice of the orange skinned girl with auburn colored hair that went down to her calves introduced herself next. Looking up at the 6 foot 4 inch woman that was dressed in purple thigh high boots, a skirt that revealed quite a bit of leg, and a long sleeved top that revealed her belly, Carl immediately noticed her cheerful bright green eyes and big smile. "I am glad that you will be joining us, friend Carl."
"Thank you for the warm welcome, Starfire." Carl held out his hand to shake, but was abruptly pulled into a hug by the very tall girl. "A very warm welcome." Carl muttered, a bit embarrassed, causing several members of the group to snort in amusement. The biggest impression he got from Starfire was warmth. She seemed to radiate warmth and friendship.
"Yeah, you'll get used to Starfire being so friendly before long." A smooth bass voice rumbled from the 6 foot 6 inch tall man standing a bit to the side. His body was mostly made of metal, the only skin showing was the dark brown of the right side of his face and his nose and mouth. The left side of his face was covered, or rather replaced by metal; and his left eye was replaced by a glowing cybernetic replacement. "The name's Cyborg. Good to meet you, Carl."
Carl reached out and shook the metal hand that was extended to him. "Good to meet you Cyborg." Carl was wondering how the transition from flesh to metal was done without causing problems like infection and septic wounds. He could only assume it was super advanced technology that made it possible. He got a sense that there was a bit of bitterness inside of Cyborg for some reason, but that he was doing his best to keep on keeping on.
"Hey there, Carl. Has anyone ever told you that you look like a panda with that coloring? The name is Beast Boy! Good to meet you!"
Carl chuckled as Beast Boy, the green boy that stood at 5 feet 8 inches was being chastised by a blonde girl next to him for being rude. He got the sense that Beast Boy used humor as a means to deflect awkwardness and cheer up his group.
"Yeah, it is a weird coloring for Earth." Carl agreed. "But I can't imagine your green shading is all that common either. Nice to meet you Beast Boy."
"Well, it's because I'm just that awesome that I'm entirely unique!" Beast Boy bragged, causing a few of his teammates to just roll their eyes and let it go. Apparently they were used to it after long being associated with him.
"Yup, if you've got it, flaunt it." Carl agreed, causing Beast Boy to gape at him in shock, since no one ever, ever seemed to agree with his bragging. "And from what I've seen already of your group, you've got it." Carl then wagged his eyebrows suggestively up and down while grinning in an overly goofy manner at them.
"Oh, dear Azarath, there are two of them." Muttered a deadpan voice from the girl that was almost completely covered by a voluminous dark purple and black cloak. Carl could only barely make out her blue eyes and her mouth under her hood that cast a shadow on her face. "I'm Raven. I hope you learn some restraint, unlike the green idiot here."
Carl nodded at Raven, smiling in amusement at her deadpan delivery. He suddenly had the idea that it would either be a very amusing thing to see Raven and Wednesday Addams meet. Either that or it would be particularly horrifying. 'But then again, why couldn't it be both horrifying and amusing?'
"Good to meet you, Raven." Carl greeted the 5 foot 11 inch tall woman. "I'll try my best to live down to your expectations." Her tired sigh was a bit amusing to him, but he decided that he would scale back his jokes and antics for the sake of her headache.
"And I'm Terra. Nice to meet you, Carl." The very short 5 foot 1 inch blond girl who had berated Beast Boy earlier finished of the round of introductions to the Titans. From the way that she had interacted with Beast Boy, Carl was getting the impression that the two of them were an item. It would be interesting to see if that was really the case, or if they were simply dancing around each other.
"It's a pleasure to meet you. And thanks for agreeing to house me until I can get settled." Carl looked at the group who seemed nothing but welcoming. "So, did you all get a copy of my file to read? Or were they saving that for the meet and greet?"
"Yes, your file was forwarded to us." Nightwing stated, taking charge as the leader and spokesman. "So we are aware of your origins as a clone, that you are only two days old with a download of general civilian knowledge about society, and that due to the origins of your genetics, you have some enhanced abilities.
"Your beginnings was steeped in violence, due to the murder of Caroline Wallace, who you likely see as a surrogate mother, and you defended yourself with deadly effect against the director and two guards of the illegal cloning lab. But then you immediately went to the police, showing that you seem to have a decently logical and civic minded attitude. I'll be interested in seeing just what you can do, Carl."
"Cool. Glad we're all on the same track, then." Carl nodded. "Though a simple 'yes' would have sufficed."
Carl wasn't entirely sure what to think of Nightwing's need to recite his background. On the one hand, he was somewhat irritated that the man would just blurt it out where anyone could hear on their first meeting. But on the other hand, he didn't know what was normal behavior for someone trained by Batman, nor what was normal behavior among the Justice League and affiliated groups while on the Watchtower.
Carl figured he would just have to give them the benefit of the doubt for now. He didn't feel it was the time or place to vocalize his irritation and hash out why it irritated him, or if he was just being a bit too sensitive about the matter. At the very least he would wait until he had better relations with the group before getting into it.
"Well, let's head on down to the Training Room." Flash jumped back in to get the group moving.
The group of eight moved on down the halls toward the Training Room. Carl kept quiet and walked next to Flash while watching the dynamics of the group of Titans as they bickered and joked amongst themselves.
Carl could tell that the group had vastly different personalities which sometimes clashed with each other. And yet, despite that, they were quite close knit and trusted each other. Some of Beast Boy's jokes and antics were quite funny, and he was liberal with his shape-shift abilities. Sometimes appearing as a bird on people's shoulders, sometimes scampering around as a bunny or other creatures.
"So, how are we going to measure my abilities?" Carl asked once they entered the control room of the Training Room. Looking around, he saw that there was room for maybe a dozen people to stand around and observe; the room centered on a computer keyboard interface at waist height along the wall, while the wall in front of it was taken by an enormous flat screen style monitor. To the right was a set of double doors that would slide away from each other to give entrance to the actual Training Room itself.
"And actually, what are even my powers supposed to be, based on who they cloned me from?" Carl asked. "Aside from being fast and strong, and having some really good senses, I'm clueless."
Flash coughed into his hand, what sounded suspiciously like "all the powers", before he smiled awkwardly. "Yeah, I guess we should go over that now."
"Yah think? Man doesn't even know his own background." Cyborg spouted off.
"I know, right?" Beast Boy once more morphed into a cute green bunny rabbit, but was still able to talk in English. Which was an odd thing, but whatever. "What would the guy do, what would he think, if he suddenly and shockingly found out that he was descended from the beast known as the White Terror of Caerbannog?"
Everyone but Carl stared blankly at Beast Boy, not getting the joke.
'Did Beast Boy really just reference the white rabbit from that Monty Python movie?' Carl thought in amusement, while no one else seemed to think the joke was amusing, or even get what the joke was, Carl chuckled a bit.
"Well, I seem to be unnaturally white here, Beast Boy, so it seems to be a possibility." Carl said with a shrug, which got the bunny to shiver in terror and hide behind Terra.
"Don't bite my throat out!" Beast Boy yelped while hiding and occasionally peeking out from behind his girlfriend's legs.
"No one is going to be biting anyone's throat out." Nightwing stated firmly. "And this White Terror that you seem so frightened of has nothing to do with Carl. And why are you even in the shape of a bunny?"
Beast Boy shifted back to his regular form and wrapped his arms around Terra, as if to comfort himself, while he glared suspiciously at Carl. "And how did you know the Beast of Caerbannog was white? Huh, Carl? Answer me that!"
Carl looked around to see if everyone else was as confused as him, and was only slightly comforted to see they were. "Well, I just assumed that it was because you called it the White Terror." Carl stated as if he was stating the most obvious thing. "So, what's the big deal anyway? Weren't you just joking about it?"
"Humph, whatever. Not important." Beast Boy pouted and accepted Terra hugging him in comfort, even though she was just as confused as everyone else why he had freaked out so much.
Everyone was turning away when Carl heard Beast Boy mutter under his breath, "I wouldn't have been so freaked out if I remembered that it was dead, and not likely to return."
Carl didn't think even Terra heard Beast Boy's mutter. He only did because of his super hearing, but that mutter set off a train of thoughts. Wasn't Beast Boy's powers the ability to shift into any animal that had ever existed on the planet? Wasn't that how he was able to shift into dinosaurs?
So, the fact that Beast Boy knew about the Rabbit of Caerbannog from that movie, while no one else did, highly implied that the movie Monty Python and the Holy Grail didn't exist in this world. But while the movie didn't exist, it was likely that the terrifying white rabbit that flew around biting off heads had existed at some point in this world.
He shivered in dread at the thought. 'Right. This is a reality of Magic, Superheroes, and Aliens. But also Magic, Supervillains, Demons, and who knows what else.' Carl reminded himself.
Thankfully Nightwing kept him from dwelling too much on those thoughts and jumped into his briefing. While he was doing that, most of the rest of the Titans drifted over to the computers and began talking about tests and simulations for him to take to test his powers. Only the Flash and Starfire kept close and listened in on Nightwing's presentation.
"I'll give you a quick rundown of the races that make up your DNA and what powers have been observed in them. Then we'll run tests to see where your current limits are."
"First off, there's Bizarro Kryptonian, which is a bit different from regular Kryptonian, but with much the same powers. First off is superhuman strength. The Bizarro Kryptonians that we've seen have been able to lift several hundred tons."
Carl's brain skipped a beat at that information. He knew the character that he created based off that one story was powerful. But hearing that he might be able to lift that much just slapped him upside the head in the hyper-awareness of his new reality. This was his new life now. And it was very, very different from his past.
"He has also exhibited Superhuman Speed, on the order of keeping up with the Flash." Nightwing continued. "His body is nearly invulnerable to damage, and he had been observed to go weeks without sustenance or sunlight."
"Why would sunlight be important?" Carl asked, if only to play up the clueless clone and see what they had to say about the matter.
Nightwing considered him for a moment before answering. "Regular Kryptonians require regular yellow sunlight in order to be charged up and able to use these powers. The Bizarros that we've observed seem to have no such requirement."
"Huh. Okay, then." Carl nodded, and was secretly amused to see some of the group's unbelieving expressions at just how easily he accepted the information and didn't seem to care about the implication.
Nightwing caught himself just before going into a lecture about that information and what its implications meant for Carl. There would be time for that later.
"He has also exhibited the ability for self sustained flight." Nightwing continued, ignoring Carl exclamation of "Cool!"
"They have exhibited enhanced sight and hearing, and finally, he has used Arctic Vision eye beams, and Flame Breath." Nightwing concluded. "Any questions?"
"Yeah, how is all that different from a regular Kryptonian's powers?"
"Regular Kryptonians have the strength, speed, flight, senses, and near invulnerability. But they have a heat vision beam and arctic breath, the opposite of the Bizarros."
Carl just nodded and gave them an "Okay, then." Which prompted Nightwing to continue on.
"The second DNA donor was an Atlantean. They have an amphibious nature, able to breathe underwater. They have exhibited a superhuman durability that makes it possible for them to endure and thrive in the high pressure environment of the ocean. Their Superhuman Strength allows them to lift nearly 100 tons. They have Superhuman Speed, Agility, and Stamina that is markedly higher than regular humans. And they have enhanced hearing, vision, and sense of smell. Any questions?"
"Yeah, how do Atlanteans breathe underwater? Is it a set of gills? Because I haven't found any gills on me. So does that mean I won't be able to breathe underwater?" Carl asked in curiosity.
"Yes, Atlanteans usually have a set of gills on their necks. We don't know why you don't have that yourself, so you probably won't be able to breathe underwater." Nightwing stated.
"Don't worry, friend Carl." Starfire interrupted, having noticed Carl's bummed expression. "I have noticed that Kryptonians can hold their breath near indefinitely. So if you wish to go explore the underwater kingdom that is part of your heritage, you can probably do so by holding your breath."
"Hey, thanks Starfire!" Carl was feeling pretty good again after her encouragement. He had read books in his past life about people that had gills and lived in the ocean. Granted it was on another world, but it had sounded so cool and magical, that he was excited for it, only to be disappointed that he didn't have gills himself. But he had temporarily forgotten that Kryptonians and Bizarros didn't need to breathe as long as their power batteries were full and could fly around in space without space suits. Which made his new power set that much more awesome.
"So I'm Bizarro Kryptonian and Atlantean. What do we do now?" Carl asked.
"Actually, there's one more." Nightwing stated.
"Whoa, I've got three parents? How strange." Carl chuckled.
"You know how your first thoughts were of being...fractured? And not being able to really comprehend anything around you?" At Carl's nod of confirmation, Nightwing continued on. "Well, apparently you were really damaged. And Caroline Wallace injected Czarnian blood into you. There's only one Czarnian left in the galaxy, so far as we know. But how they could have gotten Lobo or any other Czarnian blood, is a mystery."
"Okay, Czarnian. What kind of abilities do they have? I'm assuming healing of some kind, since that was what fixed me."
Nightwing nodded seriously. "Yes. The Czarnian race, especially Lobo, had a truly unparalleled healing ability. They could shed a drop of blood and that drop of blood would regenerate into a complete copy of the original in a matter of minutes. While you don't have the ability to essentially create clones, it appears that you do have the healing regeneration that if all that was left of you was a drop of blood, you would regenerate."
"Whoa, that's…something alright." Carl said in a stunned tone of voice while mentally making plans to go stash drops of his blood in very out of the way places so that if his body ever was completely destroyed, one of his drops of blood would regenerate him.
"Aside from that, they have Superhuman Strength, Stamina, and Durability." Nightwing finished off his spiel. "Lobo has even been known to go toe to toe in a fist fight with Superman. So, now that you know about your origins and likely what abilities you have, are you ready to begin the tests?"
"Sure, it's why we came here today." Carl agreed readily.
"The first test will be to see just how strong you are right now." Cyborg interjected from where he was at the computer terminal. "Inside the Training Room, you'll find rows of barbells. Due to how the room can manipulate gravity and space inside, we've made all the barbells the same size but different weight. There won't be any indication of just how heavy they are, so that way we try to bypass any mental hang-ups you might have about utilizing your full strength."
With words of encouragement from the group, Carl entered the room and looked over the rows of barbells. They looked like those really old style barbells that had the circular weights attached to them.
"Start from the leftmost one, Carl." Nightwing's voice over some intercom sounded out, so Carl waved and moved over to the indicated barbell.
Squatting down, Carl placed his hands on the bar and tried for just a dead lift at first, and was surprised when it felt like the barbell weighed almost nothing. Without further effort, he lifted the barbell into a press over his head.
"Well, that was easy." Carl muttered as he carefully set the barbell down. He then moved to the next one without any prompting and continued down the line, lifting each as he went. He really had no idea just how much the barbells actually weighed, but he could tell that they were gradually getting heavier. They still felt pretty okay to him when he got to the end. "That last one felt like I could maybe lift twice that weight, Nightwing."
"Okay, come back in and we'll reset the weights to see where you finally end up."
Carl followed the directions and stepped through the double doors back into the control room. No one told him just how much weight he was lifting yet, and he was fine with that. He mostly just stood next to the group as they continued chatting with each other.
It was a strange situation for him. On the one hand he felt like the group wanted to include him, but they had no idea what to talk about with him, really. And he was still only a few days old in this world. He couldn't talk to them about his old one, and he really didn't know much about this new one. Carl decided that he would pick up some hobbies alongside his schoolwork to talk to them about, and ask them about their hobbies after all this testing was over.
Shortly afterwards, Carl was back in with another set of barbells and continued lifting. They got progressively heavier until the third to last one he could only budge but not lift.
"Looks like that's my limit, guys." Carl called out, already heading for the control room while wiping sweat off his brow. Despite how much he had just worked at lifting the barbells, he was already feeling energy flooding back into his limbs, refreshing him. 'Must be either my regeneration ability or whatever powers me.' Carl speculated inside his mind.
"Good job there Carl." Nightwing complimented him. "It looks like your maximum weight right now is 178 tons. We can only speculate right now, but judging by how a few other Kryptonians have demonstrated, it's likely that your strength will continue to increase for some time. Where you'll max out, though, is completely unknown."
Carl let out a low whistle to indicate his surprise. "I knew that I had a lot of strength based on how I broke out of the test tube and tore apart those guys, but damn. That's unexpected."
"It's likely that your mental expectations from being 'programmed' as a normal human civilian limited how much of your strength you exerted." Raven intoned from her shadowy hood. "We've seen the same thing with other people as they got used to their powers."
"Hmm, good to know." Carl stated. "So, my mentality and expectations guide how much force I use?"
"You might end up breaking some cups and bowls and squishing some utensils, friend Carl." Starfire cheerfully stated with a big smile. "I myself went through something of the same process when I first gained my powers. And it took ever so long before I could once more hug people. But you'll get there soon!"
"Yeah, I had some issues getting used to my metal appendages, but once you get used to it, it'll seem quite natural." Cyborg added on, and Carl felt like for Cyborg he was talking about more than just getting used to greater strength. It certainly couldn't be easy to go from fully human to part robot.
"Thanks guys, I appreciate the advice and encouragement." Carl smiled genuinely at this small group of Titans and the Flash who had taken to sitting in the back and just watching them interact. "So, what's next?"
"Now, we test your speed and maneuverability!" Beast Boy proclaimed far too cheerfully. It made Carl think he was plotting something. "We've programmed a race for you to run on a track. You'll have some opponents that will try to get in your way and stall you, so you'll have to be light on your feet."
"Sure, sounds fun." Carl shook his head and when they told him the program was ready, headed into the room. But he noticed that just before he entered the Training Room, the group of Titans and Flash were grabbing what looked like remote controls. Were they going to be controlling his "opponents"?
The moment Carl stepped into the Training Room, his mouth dropped open in shock. He was on an asphalt racetrack at the starting line. There was a huge checkered banner over the starting line, and floating in the air, sitting in a white cloud that had a smiling face, and holding a stoplight on a pole, was Lakitu. Lakitu was the flying koopa that starts the races in Mario Kart.
Looking around, he saw seven other racers sitting in their go karts appearing on the track in two lines. It was official, the Titans and Flash were having him race in a real life mock-up of Mario Kart.
Carl's shocked looked morphed into one of amused glee. 'This is so AWESOME!' He laughed inside.
"So, you guys are controlling the racers, and I've got to run the laps, right?" Carl asked.
"Yeah, man. This is Beast Boy's idea, and I ran with it. Took a while to program this masterpiece." Cyborg's proud voice came over the intercom. "The race is from a video game we play regularly. The racer's speed will adjust to how fast you run so that the race stays competitive. And since some of us aren't quite up to reacting at the super speeds that some others might run at, there's also a time dilation field going into effect that adjusts with the speed you run at so that we won't be hopelessly outclassed if you turn out to be too fast for us. Everything will match up so that we can have a fun race while testing your limits."
"Sounds great!" Carl laughed. "Let's get started."
Lakitu floated forward over the start of the race and the red lights began lighting up along with a beeping sound. Once the green light and beep hit for the race start, four of the go karts shot forward at great velocity. Two of them spun out, and got off to a slow start. And one of them started accelerating normally.
Carl laughed and began running, trying to let go of his knowledge of how fast he could run, his assumptions that he couldn't outrace go karts. Because with his new abilities he knew he could, but he didn't have that knowledge stamped into his very bones and subconscious.
At first he was pretty far back from the herd of racers. But the more Carl ran, the more he began believing he could go very fast, and he sped up, closing the gaps with the racers.
Then he went around a corner and saw the floating multi-colored cubes with question marks on them stretched across the race track. Some of them were missing, but they reappeared as Carl was approaching. With a shrug he squinted his eyes and braced for impact and ran right through one.
Laughing a bit in relief that he didn't feel anything, he noticed a floating banana peel right in front of him. He grabbed it and was amused as it grew larger in his hands. Keeping an eye out while he was still running, Carl looked for a good place to deploy it so that someone would run into it.
A few moments later, he found a nice blind curve, and using the angle the karts in front of him took, tossed it where he thought they would hit it next go around.
Carl finished the first lap in last place, but he was right behind the next to last place, and he wasn't even breathing hard. He had occasionally seen a green or red shell being fired off, and narrowly escaped stepping on someone else's banana peel at one point. But this running at high speed thing was getting easier as he quickly figured out that he wasn't even at his limit, and learned how to appropriately run at such a fast speed, since it was a bit different with momentum and cornering and whatnot than he was used to as a normal human.
By the end of the race, Carl had managed to get in front of Raven and Starfire, who weren't very good gamers, so they said. Beast Boy claimed that Flash only won because he was able to use the speed force to give him even more reaction time than anyone else. Carl just laughed and enjoyed it, while Beast Boy, Cyborg, Nightwing, and Terra demanded rematches. They were apparently very competitive with their games.
They spent another couple hours racing each other and having fun, and Carl was getting better and better at his running ability and speed. By the end of the scheduled training time, Carl had even accidentally learned to fly when he was knocked off the Rainbow Road by a shell and instead of falling, he swooped back up to the road and continued racing. He ended up winning that race by cheating and flying the rest of the race so no one could hit him or slow him down.
The competitive gamers didn't accept his victory, called it cheating, even if Starfire said that they should give it to him as a celebration for figuring out how to fly. Eh, Carl chalked it up as a win no matter what anyone said.
"Okay, that's the end of the time I scheduled for training." The Flash said while Carl and Starfire were still cheering his victory, which caught everyone's attention. "And it's lunchtime. I've got to split, got some places I need to be. But it looks like you'll fit in fine with the Titans, Carl. And remember, you can always schedule some more time with the Training Room."
"Thanks, Flash, see you around." Carl responded before looking over at Nightwing. "So, what's the plan?"
"First, we'll eat lunch here in the cafeteria, since their food is pretty good. Then, you join us at the Titan Tower in Jump City. You get settled in your room and order any clothes or things you need, and your review classes and testing starts in on Monday."
"Sounds good." Carl agreed.
Once they finished eating, they were teleported down to just outside the Titans Tower where Carl got a good look at his new home for the foreseeable future. It was really something else. The tower was located on a small island just off the coast of Jump City. And the tower was literally in the shape of a blocky capital T, all smooth metal and glass.
Carl had no idea how that worked out with the supports and whatnot needed to keep the arms of the T up and stable. Oh, well, not really important.
"Welcome to your new home, friend Carl." Starfire said at that moment when Carl was entranced by staring at the looming tower.
He glanced over and saw the group of Titans smiling at him. The six of them were very different people, personality wise. But they all seemed to click together. And now he was being offered a place with them. Carl felt suspiciously warm inside at the offer of a home and oddball family of sorts.
"Thank you." Carl didn't really have anything pithy to say to the group. He just smiled and went with the flow as they introduced the island and gave him a tour of the Tower.
Once Carl had settled into his new room, which had its own bathroom attached, he went to the main lounge where the Titans said they hung out together when they wanted, played video games, or generally socialized with each other.
The room was pretty nice, there were couches and chairs scattered around what looked like a living room, with an enormous TV screen on one of the walls, and game consoles in some cabinets beneath it. On one side there was an open kitchen and dining area, with an island that had nearly a dozen burners, both electric and gas. From what Carl could see there was an industrial walk in fridge and freezer.
"Nice setup." Carl observed, noticing that the group had changed out of their hero-ing outfits. He joined them in sitting on one of the chairs as they all lounged comfortably together.
"Thanks, we worked hard at making a space we could all enjoy." Nightwing said, one arm casually draped over Starfire as she was half lying against him while sprawled on the couch. Carl noticed he wasn't wearing his domino mask anymore. "So now that we've all agreed you're to join us, we wanted to introduce our real names. I'm Richard Grayson. I was a protégé of Batman, and was the original Robin. Out of costume you can call me Ric."
"And I'm Koriand'r." Starfire, dressed in yoga pants and a loose shirt, stated from where she was cuddled up next to Ric. "I was a princess of the planet Tamaran, but things happened and now I'm here."
'Well, that was informative.' Carl thought while nodding at her.
"The name's Victor Stone." Cyborg stated. While his cybernetic limbs were still visible, he was now wearing basketball shorts and a football jersey. Carl speculated that it was to help him feel more human in his off time. Victor didn't say anything else about his origin, so Carl just nodded at him with a faint smile while the introductions continued.
"I'm Garfield Logan, but you can call me Gar." Beast Boy said. He was relaxing on a couch with Terra cuddled up next to him, confirming for Carl the suspicion that the two were dating. "As a kid I had a rare illness called Sakutia, but my parents saved me with an experimental serum that had the side effect of turning me green and able to change into any animal, so it was a pretty awesome way to heal me." Carl could tell that Gar was very proud of his parents, tinged with sadness that probably meant they were no longer with him.
"I'm Tara Markov." Terra stated with a grin on her face. "I know it's not the best code name, seeing as how my name is almost the same, but since I have Geokinesis and can control earth and rock, I figured why not. It's not quite as pretentious as naming myself Gaia." Everyone got a chuckle out of Tara's very good point.
"My name is Rachel Roth." Raven stated in her deadpan voice. She had changed out of her tights and voluminous cloak, but was drowning in a large purple sweater with a hoodie over her head to shadow her face.
Carl waited a beat, but Rachel didn't have anything else to say. The group then split up and went about their normal afternoon routines. Victor, Gar, and Tara started playing some games, breaking for their own dinner at one point. Rachel was reading some book while chilling in her corner. Koriand'r went to make some of her native food for Carl to try, which he actually enjoyed the taste of, despite the odd look of it. Ric was on his computer, Carl assumed doing searches on crime statistics or something, since he was Batman's protégé.
It was a very enjoyable afternoon.
At least until they heard a series of large explosions coming from Jump City across the Bay.