Jezrianna: Thank you, for the comprehensive reviews. I modified the first chapter, and the bit about the bounty hunters, was a simplification, incase not everyone has as much free time as we do.
1)The comments about the weapons are my personal distaste showing through, I've never liked the M-16. 2)The shield actually makes him glow, so it's hard to tell how much of him is covered by it. I sort of forgot about the grenade launchers. Yes, he is a bit of a show off, but he's not Superman. 3)If I'd been thinking, I'd have had him melt the barrels. As for arrogant, yes, I suppose he is, thought he came off as more so than I intended him to.
Actually, the first, and third points go together. The shields are only active when he's inside, so the men were already inside the apartment when Adam arrived. 5)As for police reports, and newspapers, the latter would only mention a special assistant, and he keeps his name out of the papers as much as possible. Those that need to know who he is, do. 6)As a sort of inside joke, remember the episode with the justice guild? Flash made the comment about a busload of nuns? Same idea. 7)As for the transporter, as fast as it would have to be moving, I doubt that the transporter could get a hold of it. The same could also be asked of Amazo in the Return. Why didn't they just beam him onto the watchtower, and confront him there?
1)The switch was because of a change in perspective. I only write Adam from the first person, because I don't know exactly what insights other characters would have. It's a long habit of message board RPing. 2)He just wanted to be formally introduced. It's another of my personality traits showing through. 3)It wasn't intended as etiquette, but he's using a different system of magic, and so the term is different. It's like boat, and ship, in effect the same term, but only one is correct. 4)I had a computer do it. I hit the power switch, and the power supply sparked, and tripped a circuit breaker. I said it exploded, but that was what I had in mind. Besides, I was reading a Star Trek book about the same time, so that might explain it. 5)I just pulled exponential out of thin air, he's only hitting with enough speed to level the city but... As for the jump in distance, I'll correct that.
---
"Do you hear that?" Supergirl asked. "It sounds like a comet." She rose and headed for the window, as Zatanna continued.
"Yes, we're that close. None of us can use the energy you're using, but we can feel the vibrations in it." Zatanna sighed. "It's not so much that it's disrupting as it is distracting."
"It is a comet!" Supergirl yelled suddenly. A second later, we found ourselves, as well as the residents of my building standing on the street in front of said building. Supergirl turned towards the incoming comet. "I wish I knew how Clark did this." She bolted upwards, racing for the comet. The sonic boom knocked all of us to our knees, as she and the comet slowed rapidly. Unfortunately, as it turned out, it was only enough to stop it from wiping out the city, in a single cataclysmic impact. I saw that, and drained the power from the shield around my apartment, and threw that energy, plus everything from the node up into a shield around the building. The comet and Supergirl plunged through the top, and the building exploded. The shield did it's job however and caused the worst of the explosion to lunge skywards. As it faded, so did the shield, and I.
---
"He's going to kill us." Flash muttered. Zatanna glared at him.
"Only if he finds out." She replied. They were of course talking about Clark Kent, aka Superman. Though it was doubtful he would actually kill them he was easily capable of making them wish he had.
"Only if I find out what?" Superman asked. Zatanna swallowed.
"That Supergirl was hurt." She replied grimacing.
"Doing?" He asked calmly. She turned around and faced him.
"Stopping a comet from wiping out the city, and everything in it, including us." She replied. He sighed.
"I told her to be careful." He muttered to himself.
"That WAS careful." Supergirl muttered, walking up behind him. She was limping, but that had little to do with her injuries. Mostly her pride was the problem. "I didn't think it was moving that fast. I was actually trying to change directions, but it was fighting me. I don't think it was a comet, either." She slowly shook her head.
"Stick me with that needle one more time, and I'll turn you into a toadstool." A voice drifted from one of the exam rooms. "I'm fine. I know, you're doing your job, but I'm really fine."
"Alright, but if you end up dead, I reserve the right to laugh at you." A nurse muttered, as she walked out, followed by Adam, who was shirtless, and carrying his jacket in one hand.
"Hello." He said again. "I think maybe we got off to a bad start." He threw his jacket back on over his shoulders. "I am Adam. I am a full battle mage. My powers are fueled by an extra-dimensional being known as Triaxx. I can directly manipulate all forms of energy except life and what flows through dead beings." He bowed.
"How old are you?" Superman asked.
"Eighteen." Adam replied calmly. "Though all totaled, I have lived for six hundred thousand, and sixty-eight years. That seems odd, but it's simple. I have the memories of all the other incarnations of myself, and know everything they know. Or knew. I also gain powers exactly like they do. That's why the magic, and then I can do this." He lifted his hands. They glowed white a moment, before he dropped them. "My magic is not part of me, but rather something learned, and this particular style, gives me a few abilities, that have nothing magical about them."
"Such as?" Supergirl asked.
"I can heal minor wounds in others. I can see through walls, lead is not a barrier, but I have to be face to face with the wall. The other one, is that I can see the future. Sort of. I don't get a day to day report, but events that are important appear. Or things that will effect many people, or me in particular. For example, yesterday, I found out I was meeting several extraordinary people. And today, the four of you are here." He grinned.
"Interesting. A potentially useful ability." Superman noted.
"Possibly dangerous." Zatanna commented.
"Can you do the lottery?" Flash asked. Three sour glares greeted the question.
"I keep trying, but it's got a mind of it's own. Which also seems to be involved in keeping me poor." Adam laughed, shaking his head. "But it has proved useful, and right. It predicted Hawkgirl. Something I truly wish it had been wrong about." He sighed.
"Well whatever you do, don't mention it to GL." Flash noted. Adam nodded.
"Excuse me, can I?" Zatanna glared at the other three. "Tell me a little more about this magical ability of yours."
"Shall we leave this rather depressing place as we talk?" He asked. Everyone agreed and they left.
---
In the middle of the crater, sitting where the apartment complex used to stand, the rubble shifted. Dust belched up from the movement, and there was a rumble. Two workers, checking stability started back up the side. There was another rumble, and a massive plasma blast raged upwards. The lid of the spacecraft punched upwards through the rubble, and an arm followed. The robot was not strictly humanoid, though it shared certain characteristics of them. Two arms, the left capped with the plasma cannon, and the right with a seven fingered hand. Two tentacles dangled from the back of the robotic monstrosity, and four crab like legs unfolded from the bottom. The deep, almost sea green color made it hard to see in certain locations.
"Threats in immediate vicinity, negligible." The computer reported, obviously not in human however. The robot started up the side of the crater created by the impact, and reached the top in short order.
"Now, this planet shall fall." Once again in the aliens own language. The plasma cannon took aim, and fired again, causing the building to the right to collapse into rubble.
---
"Communications restored." The computer reported cheerlessly.
"Flash? Can you hear me?" J'onn called through the communication.
"Loud and clear, what's up?" He asked cheerfully. He didn't seem to have noticed the black out in communications.
"Was anyone injured when the spacecraft impacted?" J'onn asked.
"Nope, we had enough forewarning to get everyone out of the building, and SG slowed the comet down. Not even Zatanna is sure exactly how, but this new guy, he contained the detonation in a force field of some kind. She says it was magic, but nothing she's ever encountered before. Saved a good chunk of the city." Flash grinned. "I don't know about Superman, but I'd be willing to sponsor this guy as a provisional member."
"It was a spacecraft, not a comet. Be careful, there was something alive in it." Manhunter warned.
"Got it, Flash out." He replied.