Tags: Male MC, Has Powers, Not Harem, Anti-hero, May Have Extreme Violence, Profanity

I want to make this clear that this is an AU version of the DC Universe. My knowledge is mainly based on random Superman/Batman/Justice League/Young Justice/Teen Titans cartoons, Wikipedia, and other books. Characters won't sound like they are in canon.

I listed this story under Young Justice to increase exposure, but it's technically not a Young Justice story even though it may contain some of the elements.

The MC is an original inhabitant of the universe, not a reincarnator or transmigrator. He does not have knowledge of things that we would know, such as various secret identities or storylines.

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Chapter 1

I still remember the worst day of my life like it was yesterday.

Of course, it was yesterday. So that helps.

It was a normal day like any other. It progressed the same as any other day. I was at school. I'm in my senior year at Gotham City High School.

My family was well off compared to the rest of the town, but we weren't rich enough to go to Gotham Academy. I mean, technically, my parents could have gotten me in. It's just that it would have cost a hefty sum.

Gotham Academy had a better educational program, but it was also filled with snobs. I didn't want to deal with being bullied just because my family didn't have as much money as other families. People in high school were the worst.

Thankfully, I didn't have to deal with any of that, and was able to go to public school. I felt even luckier that I was able to make some good friends while l was here.

My friend, Cody, came over and sat next to me at lunch. "What's up bro?"

"Nothing much." I responded. "Just trying to finish the rest of my chemistry homework before class starts next period."

"You were up watching anime again, weren't you?" Cody shook his head at me. "It's not even that good!"

"What?" I exclaimed. "Just because you can't appreciate the story doesn't mean I can't!"

"Bro-Naruto, One Piece, Bleach and Hunter X Hunter aren't masterpieces."

"As long as I like them, it's all good, no?" I casually dismissed the conversation we've had many times. It wasn't worth it. "Hey, can I copy your Spanish homework?"

He just sighed and pulled it out. "I don't know how you'd pass that class without me."

I nodded sagely. "I probably wouldn't. I hate learning spanish. Once we go to college, I don't have to take it anymore. Thank god. Hopefully, the AP Credit can get me out of stuff like that."

He just shook his head. "If you have time, do you want to play some video games tonight? A little Rainbow Siege or Monster Hunter?"

"Nah, I got a lot of stuff to do, and you know my parents."

Cody rolled his eyes. "Your parents are way too overprotective. No video games on school nights? That's insane man!"

"It is what it is, bro." I shrugged in defeat. "It's pointless to talk about it. Their house means their rules. I can't wait to go to college!"

"We're gonna live it up at Metropolis University!"

"Hell yeah!" We high fived.

It was at that point that I saw Jenny Whitiker walk into the cafeteria. She was one of the hottest girls on campus. Wow...Just wow. I zoned out staring at her until Cody shook me a moment later.

"Forget about it Krishna." Cody shook his head. "She's out of your league. She's out of everyone's league here. Even the captains of the football and basketball teams haven't gotten a date with her. I hear she dates college guys only."

"Let me dream, alright?" God, he's so irritating.

It was at that point that our friend Katie joined the mix. "What's up?"

"Whitiker." Cody rolled his eyes.

"Oh, Krishna is drooling over Jenny again?" Katie asked nonchalantly. "You gotta let it go. It's never going to happen. Look at her, and look at...well...you."

"Rude!" I know I wasn't the bestest looking of people…okay fine. Scratch that. I was a 4 out of 10. Overweight, pale, short, weak, and slightly greasy from the lack of exercise and fresh air. I was a nerd, and my parent's expected me to get straight A's, something I've never managed to do. Still A's and B's are pretty good, in my opinion.

I sighed. "Whatever. Even if she liked me by some sort of miracle, my parents wouldn't let it happen."

"Your parents are insane." Katie nodded in agreement. "Remember when I came over and they had a freakout because you were friends with girls?"

I sighed again. "Parents, am I right?"

"Dude, that's only your parents…" You're supposed to back me up Cody, not crush me!

The day went on peacefully at least at school. I wasn't harassed even once by a drug dealer on the way home.

I should have been more suspicious at that time. The day was going too well.

When I got home, there wasn't anyone home yet. That was normal though, since my parents had to work hard to pay the bills and stuff. They were saving for my college years. They should be coming soon, so I just ate a snack and started to do my homework. If I did it fast enough, I could watch some anime at night before I went to sleep.

Eventually, my parents came home.

Usha Khanna, Female, Age 44, My Mother, Computer Programmer, Indian immigrant

Sagar Khanna, Male, Age 45, My Father, Computer Engineer, India immigrant

I was lucky to be born to parents like mine, even though they were really strict. Honestly, I'm just really lucky to have parents. I could've been an orphan like Harry Potter.

Before Gotham, we used to live in Bludhaven. Before that was National City, Star City, Central City, Metropolis, Coast City, Jump City, and Happy Harbor. There were also a couple of other random cities, but these were the highlights.

We move a lot because my parents work as consultants in computer programming and hardware. If I get to live in the same place for two years, I'd be very lucky. That's why I feel blessed about having some good friends, especially in a place like Gotham City.

Currently, they work together at one of the Wayne Enterprises branches in town–Wayne Technologies, I believe. It's honestly hard to remember it all after some point.

"Hey mom, what's up?" My mom looked guilty, and I knew exactly what they were going to say.

"Hey Krishna...we aren't here for long. We have to go back to work." My mom told me gently. "Don't worry. We picked up dinner for all of us already."

I sighed. "When will you be back?"

My dad looked guilty now too. "Probably not until after you go to school in the morning."

"What the heck do they even need the both of you for?" My parents had to go in whenever they were called, which was occurring more and more frequently. There was a limit to everything. This job was getting ridiculous.

"Someone tried to hack the servers again." My mother rubbed her eyes tiredly. "I need to find a way to identify and block the hackers."

"And I was hired to make them more secure and upgrade their hardware." My dad explained. "We got a job to do. That's why we get paid the big bucks and get to live this kind of life."

"Yeah, yeah, I know." I've heard that one before. Lots of times.

Always the same excuse.

"It's alright." My mother attempted to console me. "After this job is up, your dad and I will take a long break. We'll go on vacation! Where do you want to go? Disneyworld?"

"Seriously?" This is going to be great! It's been a long time. "Not Disneyworld this time. I'm too old for that. Let's do…something tropical?"

"That's a great idea! And less tiring…" My dad said dryly. "It'll be nice to bask in the sun."

"I like it!" My mother went on the computer happily. "Let's do the Bahamas. It's affordable, and pretty nice. Let's plan for your summer vacation, okay?"

"That means no summer jobs this year." My dad pointed at me. "Try to have fun before college!"

"Oh no! I'll be going on vacation instead of working this summer! What will I ever do?" I rolled my eyes.

"Ah! There's that wonderful teenage wit we've missed so much." My dad rolled his eyes back at me.

"Why are you making it sound like I went out and applied for those jobs myself?"

"Errr…" My dad clearly had no response to that.

"Let's eat!" My mom interrupted. "We have to get back to work."

I enjoyed the brief, but pleasant dinner with my parents. I'm really happy that they chose to take some time off. I'm going to be leaving home for college soon, and I wanted to be able to spend some time with my parents before I left.

Speaking of leaving, my parents weren't home so it's time to fly the coop!

I called up Cody. "Hey, my parents are out for tonight. You want to do something?"

"Hell yeah! This is what I'm talking about!" Cody cheered into the phone. "I'll invite Katie and the others too! Let's meet up in the park! Let's do this!"

"Wait!" I interrupted him. "The park when it's getting dark in Gotham? That sounds like a bad idea…"

"Relax!" He laughed. "We're going in a group. People don't attack groups in open areas like the park. Too many witnesses."

"Unless someone like the Joker comes out." Sometimes I had to put the fear of God into Cody. He doesn't really think through things sometimes.

"...Dude, that's not even funny. Don't jinx it." I could hear the fear in his voice.

"Fine!" I sighed. "I'm sorry!"

"Alright, new plan." He mulled for a second. "How about Bakes and Shakes? We can all meet up for some milkshakes or something. It's close by and nothing is going to happen at a place like that."

I mulled it over for a moment. "Alright. That's doable for us all."

"Sweet! Meet you there!" Cody hung up.

I could tell he was excited about getting the gang together. Ever since high school was going to be ending, everyone was feeling the impending separation. While it was true that we would be going our own separate paths, it was also clear that it would be without everyone we knew and loved.

It was going to be new and scary.

I wished that graduation day would never come.

That's why, whenever there was an opportunity to hang out, we would try to make it happen. We would try to enjoy everyone's company as much as possible before we all drift apart due to the next stage in life.

Who knew if we would ever meet again?

So I cleaned up a bit, changed my clothes, and went out to the Bakes and Shakes down the street to hang out with friends. When I arrived, everyone was already there.

Cody pointed at me. "Why'd it take you so long to get here?"

"What did you guys all do, run here?" I rolled my eyes. "I had a couple of things to do. What did you guys all get?"

"Milkshakes." Katie waved her shake at me and joined me in line. "Heard your parents are out again. You alright?"

"Yeah. I mean it sucks that they won't be home tonight, but it's nice that I got some time to spend with you guys. You know how hard it is for me to escape."

"Yeah, well." She shrugged. "What do you plan on majoring in at college?"

"Probably pre-med." I wasn't sure about what I wanted to do, and my parent's dream seemed like a good starting point. "I think I'd like to be a doctor. I don't know. What about you?"

"Hey, are we discussing our futures?" Cody interrupted us. "Let's do it! I plan on going to Metropolis with my boy here and majoring in computer programming."

"I plan on going to Art School in Gotham." One of my friends, Tanya, called out.

"Engineering for me!" Another one of our friends, Samantha, yelled out. "I want to build some cool bridges!"

"I plan on becoming a teacher." The last guy, Jose, calmly stated his dream.

"And I plan on going into law enforcement." Katie finished off. "I can't believe we're all going to be doing different things."

"Who cares?" Cody replied carelessly. "We'll all be friends even after college. It's not like we'll never hang out in the future."

Katie sighed. "It's too bad that you plan on going to Metropolis University. It would have been nice if you joined the rest of us at Gotham University."

"No thanks."

Katie was surprised by my tone. "Why not?"

"How do you not know this?" Cody asked.

Katie looked at all of our friends that were giving her funny looks. "Anyone care to fill me in?"

I sighed. I didn't want to talk about this again. "I'm…tired of Gotham." I gestured around us. "I want to live in a place where going out at night isn't a death sentence. A place where I won't be harassed by drug dealers and thieves every day. A place where there aren't supervillains running around getting away with murder because they are insane. I…don't have any plans to return to Gotham after college."

"I was born here. I want to be here." Katie looked firmly into my eyes. "I want to work to make things better for our home. If people don't do something, nothing is ever going to change."

"Maybe you have reasons, but I sure as hell don't. I wasn't born here" I don't need to take this 'holier-than-thou' bullshit. "I've lived in a lot of places, and this is one of the worst."

"So what?" Katie asked angrily. "Is that it? You're just going to walk away from Gotham? You're going to walk away from us?"

"Woah Katie!" Cody got between us. "Relax!"

"We'll always be friends, but I don't want to ever come back here–definitely never live here." I responded quietly. "I just want to have a quiet and good life. I shouldn't have to be afraid to go out at night. It shouldn't be too much to ask."

No one had a response to that. Gotham really was one of the worst places to live.

Even so, many of my friends still loved Gotham. They were born in this city. It was their home.

Unfortunately, that didn't make it my home. I've lived in some many places, Gotham just felt like another stop, not my destination.

I wanted a good place to make some roots. I was tired of my parents dragging me across the country. I just wanted some stability.

Stable and Gotham didn't belong in the same sentence.

I wish I had never said anything. All I did was make it more real for everyone that we were splitting up.

I had an idea to dispel the atmosphere. "How about we head over back to my place and we chill there for a while? Maybe watch a movie?"

"Nah. I can't. It's late." Cody explained. "It's fine if I stay out a little, but if we hang out at your house, none of us will get home before the denizens of the night all come crawling out."

The others agreed, so we all said our goodbyes and went back home.

Honestly, I felt like we were mice, scurrying back to our hidey holes, hoping that it would protect us from the predators outside.

God, I hated it when my parents were gone for the night. It was the worst. It made me paranoid. What if something happened to my parents tonight? What if someone tries to break in? What if I don't hear them coming?

God, it was moments like this that I wished I wasn't an only child.

So I did what I always did when my parents were out for the night to help relieve some of the anxiety.

I took my parent's gun, and put it under my pillow.

A while back, my parents got more and more concerned about safety. We were moving to all of these crazy ass neighborhoods with criminals or supervillains running amuck.

My parents were afraid. To them, it started to feel like just living an ordinary life was getting more and more dangerous. That's when that event happened.

One of my parents' friends was shot up at our local Hindu temple. Apparently, some criminals like to rob Indian people there, since they are more likely to have cash on them to donate to the temple. Plus, according to them, apparently anyone who has the time to go to the temple is probably rich.

What a fucking joke. Clearly that was a lie. It's not like everyone who was Christian or Jewish and went to church were all rich.

They were just racist bastards that were targeting and preying on our community.

It was the last straw. The way my parents put it, "If you aren't safe going to a religious place, where is it safe? It could have been any of us."

So my parents put us all through firearm training. It was a strange and novel experience for me. We learned basic gun use, care, and safety.

None of my family friends had ever really done anything like that. Indian families don't tend to own guns due to their roots of non-violence and various other laws from when they used to live in India.

When people found out, they were shocked. I was also disappointed to find that many family friends distanced themselves from our family. It was the first time that I realized that normal people could be bad in their own ways.

My family quickly learned to keep that knowledge to ourselves.

Anyways, my parents bought a few guns, legally of course, and made sure they were in key points around our home. In addition, my parents were also packing heat at all times, especially at night.

Thankfully, we never had to use them.

Statistically speaking, ordinary people are unlikely to experience a supervillain attack or lethal criminal activity. Even so, it still made me anxious when my parents weren't around at night, especially here in Gotham.

I still remember that one time I was so scared that I tried to set up the house like in Home Alone. Of course I was a lot younger back then, like 10 years old. My parents were so mad when they found their fine china broken in front of the doors and windows…and that was the least of it.

The worst part was that none of my booby traps worked. My parents easily noticed all of them. Guess I'm no Kevin McCallister.

Anyways, because of my paranoia, I came up with a simple way to feel safer at night.

I'd casually barricade the doors, and my parents would call me on my cell before they came home so I could move everything out of the way.

Why am I mentioning all of this?

It's because when I woke up to the sound of breaking windows, I was truly shocked.

Fuck my life.

Turns out, it's not paranoia if your fears come true.

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