third person POV

The van was uncomfortably quiet for most of the ride. the armed guard doing nothing to help the situation. it wasn't till their destination was in sight, that one of the passengers sighed, "I can't believe you made me go first. what in the world are you doing here?"

The person sitting across from them replied with a heavy sigh of his own, "It's a long story. what about you? I didn't think non-powered people were held here."

"I could say the same for superheroes."

Her fellow passenger stiffened at her words before looking at her in the eye, "Let's just get to the point Cheshire, what's your angle?"

The wild-haired young woman smirked across from him. "If you must know, the regular prisons were having trouble holding me. Oh don't give me that look, did you really think I wouldn't. try to escape? Unfortunately, Arrow and little sis were there at every attempt, ready to put me back. it was kind of creepy really. Though I might not have minded it as much if it were you, Perseus."

Percy ignored the fluttering eyelashes as he took another look out the window of the prison van. He was stripped down to nothing but a pair of jeans and a t shirt, along with a less than fashionable collar around his neck. "I wouldn't be so sure about that."

"Oh my, someone's grumpy today. So, tell me: what does a young up and coming superhero like you have to do to get sent to a place like this?"

Percy shrugged, "One you know, go on a small killing spree in Bialya, dismembered one of my own teammates, stuff like that."

At this the smirk fell away from the assassins now much paler face, "You don't mean—"

"Relax." Percy waved her off, using both of his bound hands, "I was only aiming for Artemis. lucky for her Kid Flash managed to get in the way of my arm first. took both of his hands off in the process though. So really the question is: is your sister worth his hands?"

Jade jerked forward, instinctually going to strike the man in front of her, only for her chains to stop her. After a few minutes of heavy breathing she managed to ask, "why?"

Percy raised an eyebrow, "Why what?

"Cut the shit! Last time we met you were all about protecting your teammates! Now you're trying to kill then? It doesn't make sense! You're lying!"

Percy snickered before turning to the guard "This guy's seen the news. You've heard about it right?"

The shotgun toting guard met the prisoner's eyes with a snarl before taking the butt of his gun to Percy's face. Throwing his head back against the wall behind him as the apparent teen laughed hysterically, "That's for Kid you sadistic motherfucker."

Percy continued to giggle to himself, much to Jades horror, but as she watched the golden ichor dripping down his forehead from where the guard struck him, she felt a strange sense of ease creep through her. it didn't make sense, no sense at all, but as she stared into his eyes, that seemed to be doing their best to appear as manic as possible, she knew.

There was no way in hell he was telling the whole story.

The alarm blared as the prisoners were shuffled forward, before the door slammed shut behind them. next thing they knew they were stood before a rather larger dark-skinned woman who was glaring down at them like a plate of spoiled meat.

After a moment she said, "Usually I have a speech for new inmates, but this is a unique situation. Never in my days have I heard of a prisoner so bad they had to be sent here, despite a lack of meta ability." she leaned down towards jade, "That is because it does not exist. You may be top dog where you come from missy, but the only reason you are here is because the state was tired of dealing with you. I intend to have you back where you belong by the end of the month."

Despite the shocking developments in the van , Jade still had it in her to smirk at the older woman, "well I must say, of all the door greeters I've encountered you have got to be in the top ten."

Rather than laugh or scowl, the woman simply pulled out a small remote and pressed the button. In an instant, Jade was on her knees, gritting her teeth in agony as her collar sent electricity coursing through her body.

It stopped a moment after however as the woman looked down at the panting girl with indifference, before glancing at the man beside her, who despite experiencing the same level of shock, was still standing, and even snickered a bit. "Something funny Jackson?"

Percy rolled his eyes, not intimidated by the name drop, "Please lady, I've been blasted with lighting as a practical joke by a friend."

The woman narrowed her eyes, "That was simply a warning shock. If things were to escalate, the next would knock you unconscious in an instant no matter how much pain tolerance you may have. Shall we test it?"

Percy was about to give another smart-ass answer, Jade was sure of it, so she quickly stood and said, "I think he gets it! Right?" she glared at boy, who didn't seem to get her point, after a moment of glaring however he simply shrugged, before Jade looked at the woman, see?"

The woman rolled her eyes before one again narrowing them at Percy, "I always suspected one of you hero types would flip one day. That's why Belle Rev is strong enough to hold any meta, including Superman, trust me, we checked. You can keep up that happy go lucky attitude all you want, but sooner or later you will realize the situation you're in. You're not getting out of here."

Percy raised an eyebrow, "I think we both know that I will... Amanda," he took a moment to read her name tag, "either by breakout, or digging myself out of the dust when this place fades away into the sands of time. Trust me warden, compared to some other prisons I've been held in, this will be a cake walk.

After that the two were introduced to Hugo Strange, who had a rather obvious inclination towards Percy, seeing him as absolutely fascinating and offering him all the help he may need. he was answered with spit to the face.

As the two prisoners were taken to their respective wings, Amanda found herself watching Percy, as one of the guards tried to shove him forward but found himself unable to move the boy at all. a moment later however he walked forward on his own, smiling in amusement.

For the first time in probably years, Amanda felt a bit of fear creep its way into her gut.

Two days earlier

M'gann couldn't move. every inch of her wanted to, but she couldn't.

She was stood at the counter at the mountain's kitchen area, watching Tyson through the door way. he was sitting on the couch, watching Percy's court proceedings.

It was honestly quite astounding how fast everything happened. normally court cases took days, weeks, even years for the bigger cases, but with the public practically rioting, and the leagues insistence things went down pretty quickly. it's not every day an adolescent superhero is dismembered by another. kid flash had a lot of supporters, enough to surprise even him, and when they learned what happened to him, well let's just say they were eager to see justice served.

Percy was fairly convincing in his part. every time he was called to the stand he ended up raving like a lunatic, screaming how he was tired of the league, how they reminded him of the Olympians, how he would kill every one of them before he let them make him a slave, along with everyone who tried stop him.

Naturally talk of an insanity plea was discussed, but he simply snarled when he heard about it, and gave the most haunting response anyone had ever heard, "insane? please. I've been to Tartarus jackass, for decades! you go crazy there as a rule, and if you're lucky you come back. I may have gone in and out more than once, but no, I promise you, I'm not crazy, I'm just done. done with the gods, done with being a hero, done with all of you pathetic mortals!"

That last one was hard for the whole team to hear. they all knew how he hated that attitude in gods. it was also part of one of the biggest gambles of batman's plan: revealing his godhood. it was solidified a second later when Percy bit the inside of his cheek and spat a glob of ichor onto the wooden rail in front of him.

it was brought up later in an interview with the league. superman was the one who got to answer: "Yes we lied about him being a demigod." that caused a roar of anger from the crowd until he continued, "Look we all know that people already fear the League by themselves, some even call us gods! To say we had a genuine one under our tutelage would done nothing to help that situation. It is only title at the end of the day, he has stated, under the lasso I might add, that he doesn't have all the powers of the gods of his world and is actually closer to a demigod. I am sorry we lied to you all, and I will take responsibility, but I hope you will remember that we only had the publics peace of mind at heart

Superboy growled from his spot beside Tyson before nudging the young Cyclops "hey don't you have a stable to build or something?"

Tyson looked at him uncertainly, "w-well yes but—"

Superboy was already pulling him to his fee, "well come on then. sitting here doing nothing isn't going to help him.

Tyson looked like he wanted to argue but relented in the end, following the clone out of the mountain, much to M'gann's relief.

he had been stuck on that couch for days, watching his rother on the news. he wasn't crying. not anymore at least. batman himself had explained the situation to him, and made it clear that Percy wasn't actually in trouble, but that doesn't make it easier to see his brother get sneered and screamed at on live television.

the plan was alarming to all of them really. in order to investigate a potential jail break in belle rev, the league made use of Percy's latest incident and spun it as him going over to the bad side. Percy agreed to it right away, not giving a damn about the possible stain it would leave on his reputation. he also agreed to give his full name out to the public, as is custom with most supervillain arrests. he reasoned that he didn't actually have an identity to protect in this world, so it wasn't an issue.

"He's finally left?"

M'gann jumped ag bit before collecting herself. raven had a bad habit of sneaking up on people, though M'gann didn't know if it was intentional or not.

She sighed, "Yeah, thanks to Superboy somehow. I wish I could hav3e said something but… I just couldn't think of anything helpful.,"

Raven hummed thoughtfully, "Probably because there wasn't anything helpful to say.\ ."

The Martian eyed the sorceress in annoyance, "Thanks, that makes me feel better."

"It wasn't meant to, but if that's what you're looking for, maybe don't spend your time watching him?"

M'gann narrowed her eyes now, before fully turning to raven with her arms crossed, 'alright, if you think so, then how about we finally have that "talk" we agreed to in Bialya. we've been busy the past few days, but now seems as good a time as any don't you think?"

M'gann already had trouble reading human emotions sometimes, and raven was the hardest of them all, but the flinch she caused her was so prominent she couldn't help but feel a twinge of guilt."

Before she could apologize, raven spoke up, "Yeah… I think you're right.

The two girls soon found themselves in raven's room. Aside from having several wards preventing things like specters and eavesdropping, It was also incredibly exhausting to be in, in M'gann's opinion at least. The coloring was completely dark and drab, creepy looking talismans and crucifixes littered the shelves and walls, the only thing she liked was the elegantly dressed bedspread and wide array of books.

The entire mood was mournful, but M'gann still decided to be polite and commented, "This is… nice."

"Thanks. I assume you want to know why I'm a demon?"

Straight to the point as always. M'gann gulped a bit and asked, "I-is that what that was?"

Raven took a seat on her bed, looking away from the Martian girl as she responded, "there isn't a better word for it."

M'gann considered that for a moment, and raven's obvious uncomfortableness. "I'm actually more concerned with where you were."

Raven looked at her in surprise, "Oh… that's…. well it's basically hell. maybe not capital h hell, there are no tortured souls there, though I know that there are in hades, so maybe there are different afterlife's for different people."

M'gann too ka deep breath before saying, "it looked… almost identical to the Tartarus I saw in Percy's mind."

At this raven's eye's widened to the size of saucers.

M'gann kept going however, "That… creature, torturing you, he called you… daughter. is he—"

"My father, unfortunately." Raven stated, looking away again. "He is the great demon Trigon, destroyer of worlds. he has already killed or enslaved thousands of worlds in his dimension, and he is always reaching out to others."

M'gann's eyes widened, "So he wants…"

"Earth." Raven nodded. "Luckily or unluckily, he can't enter another dimension, without an invitation. that's how I was born. My mother fell into the wrong crowd, tried to summon the devil, and to their surprise, they got him. It opened the path enough for him to send a small part of himself through, taking human form, fooling my mother, and impregnating her. nine months after he abandoned her I came around. he needs someone like him to be his doorway, someone like me."

M'gann processed that for a moment before asking, "But you would never do it, how does he expect to get here if you won't open the way?"

"He doesn't really need my consent, just my blood. his sons, his demons, his followers, have been after me for a long time now. that's why I was always on the move. no matter where they go, they always find me."

M'gann was going to ask something else, when she realized something, "Not here though."

Raven looked at her, "This is the longest I've stuck around anywhere without being attacked. maybe it's because they fear you guys, or the Justice League, but they haven't gotten close to me in here. I still don't know why for sure … but I have a theory."

M'gann looked at her with concern, "you look like you hope you're wrong."

Raven sighed, "if I'm right then… well that's not important. that's it then. I'm a demon. my true form is what you saw in that vision, what you see here is a basic spell I use at all times, to purify my appearance, so to speak" she chuckled a bit, making M'gann a bit uneasy , "It takes constant attention and mana, enough that it weakens me in battle , but I keep doing it anyway, because I'm too scared, to ashamed to show my true form to even my enemies. isn't that pathetic?"

M'gann winced, "I can understand why you'd think that…"

Raven was silent for a. moment before gasping, "oh no… I didn't mean—"

"It's fine." M'gann took a seat next to her finally, "Holding this form is kind of the same, it takes a bit of mental concentration to hold. a good friend would tell you that you shouldn't be afraid to show your true self or something, but… well I would be a pretty big hypocrite if I said that."

With a heavy sigh M'gann flopped down on Raven's bed, staring at the ceiling, "it's not all racism I fear either. All beings have a deep primal disposition to be wary of creatures bigger, stronger, and above all: different. the most open minded individual on earth would still be on edge around me, and I couldn't blame them."

raven nodded for a moment before saying, "but people can get over that with time. humans tamed wolves, lions, even elephants. once they get used to you there is potential for acceptance." M'gann closed her eyes, "then it's the getting used to it part that's the problem."

"…yeah."

the two girls were silent for. several moments after that, deep I thought both of them. it was a few minutes before raven finally said, "after seeing it once, I've been playing around with the image inn my head, and I'm pretty much used to it already."

M'gann looked at her in surprised, "what?"

raven looked away, unable to maintain eye contact, "I'm just saying… I've set up this room so no one can possibly see us while we are in here, x ray vison or otherwise. if you ever want to… relax a bit. you're welcome to come here."

M'gann felt her heart beat heavily in her chest, "R-really? I'm a bit distracting though, do you mean when you're out of the room or—"

"No, whenever you want." Raven looked at her seriously.

M'gann was about to tackle her friend in a hug of gratitude, but held back, partly because she knew Raven wouldn't like it, and mostly because of her next question, "Will you as well? I would be completely fine with it! I'm just making sure I'm not cutting in to your… relaxing."

Raven stiffened a bit, "I… don't relax in that form."

M'gann raised her eyebrows, "what? why?"

Raven stood up suddenly, looking as if she might yell, before she clenched her jaw and crossed her arms, regaining control, "My true form is… evil and demonic. I shouldn't be comfortable in that skin."

M'gann stared at her friend for a few moments before closing her eyes and shifting, back into her white Martian form.

To her credit, Raven didn't even flinch, only eyeing the change curiously. when she was fully transformed, M'gann spoke telepathically, "People back on mars have been telling me something similar about this form for years Raven. Sure I acquiesced, I was ashamed for it but I did. However, my mother always told me that no matter how I hide it, this is me. it was when I was born and will be when I die. she didn't ask me to stop hiding, but she said that so many times it made me grind my teeth just hearing it, but I know what she meant. There's nothing we can do to change this, not permanently, so it will be easier to just accept it and move on from there."

Raven eyed her cautiously, "so I should just suck it up and accept it?"

M'gann waved her arms embarrassedly, which was quite a sight n her true form, "I don't mean it like that. honestly, I'm not sure if I've truly accomplished that myself. but I would always revert back to this form when I was alone or with family. I won't force you to do it if you're not comfortable but… just know that I won't judge you if you do. okay?"

Raven nodded silently, before walking over to her book shelve.

"What are you doing?" M'gann asked.

Raven responded by holding up a book, or more accurately a tome, with the staff of Hermes symbol. for a moment M'gann wondered why she was researching Greek mythology from a book, when they had two experts on hand, when she remembered one was going to prison, and the other wasn't exactly in talking condition right now.

Also, she remembered where she often saw that image: hospitals.

Present day, central city.

A TV clicked off as Barry's mother huffed at it, "Well it's about damn time!"

Wally rolled his eyes at his mother, long since fed up with her outbursts. "I was watching that mom."

Mary West sighed as she walked over to her son's bedside, sitting down an stroking his hair lovingly, "I know son, and I'm sorry, but I don't think it's a good idea for you to be thinking about that horrible man while you're still… recovering."

Wally grimaced. Right now he knew he was a pretty sorry sight. He had been restrained to his bed for days, by just about everyone who had a say, his arms wrapped up tightly while they "healed". He had told Barry and his parents several times that his friend had healed his arms magically, but the very word made their eyebrows rise automatically. This was a family of science, and they were going to treat his as such. which meant at least a few weeks of bed rest.

And it was killing him.

Seriously, he thought at least Barry would understand that, but his uncle in law was just as insurant as everyone else that he stay in bed and recover. Like somehow that will magically make his hands grow back?

Speaking of which, he had several visits from Zatara. the elderly magician had concluded that he only way for his hands to be return was from a much more powerful being, or a sacrifice. Wally didn't know anyone that could will hands into existence, and Zatara expressly told him that the sacrifice was not something worth messing with. That was fine with him. it was sounding a little too much like black magic or something, and he didn't think his mother Would approve.

He did actually care about her opinion on some things. But definitely not this. "if I lay in this bed one more day I really think I might explode mom."

She waved him off, "Oh hush, you're always going on about wanting to sleep in more, well now you can. You should be thanking me for not getting you started on make-up homework yet."

That made him wince. School, how was he going to explain this? He already pushes it enough with letting his hair free while in uniform. if he shows up to class with no hands even weeks after kid flash lost his, someone was bound to make the connection.

His mom seemed to realize what he was thinking and simply smile an stroked his hair a bit, }"don't worry dear, Barry has the whole league working on it. you'll be—you'll be able to go to school wi. someday."

A knock at the front door drew both their attention, and a smile to his moms face, "Oh! See now I don't know why you're complaining so much! not every guy can say they have a beautiful young lady waiting on him."

Wally grimaced at this, and what was to come. No doubt that was Artemis to come visit him. again.

This is how he knew something was wrong with him. By all means he he'd finally gotten the girl of his dreams, yet whenever she visited, and especially whenever she made any… flirtatious gestures, instead of feeling giddy or happy, he only felt… some ugly twain of emotion, deep in his chest. he wasn't sure what it was, but he was sure it was not supposed to be there.

Artemis cautiously peaked her head through his bedroom door, something that would send him into a panic under normal circumstances. usually his room was an absolute wreck, partly from speedster wind, partly from general laziness, but his mom was kind enough to take care of the mess, and having no hands, he was unable to mess it up again.

So he simply forced a smile as she entered, "Hey."

She smiled back, that same smile that sent the feeling wild within, "Hey Handsome… how are you doing?"

He looked around with a shrug, "Not much, just sitting here…. oh you said how, well… about as well as a guy who has been stuck in his bed for three days can be."

Artemis sighed as she sat down on the bed beside him, "You're restless."

"Winner winner."

"Hey it's not so bad, you have TV right?"

"That I can't control."

"W-well—"

"And every other channel is covering Percy's imprisonment."

Artemis looked down at his floor, "I'm sorry."

That was that feeling again, alike a vice grip on his gut, "I told you to quit it with that. it' was no one's fault, least of all yours."

"Still… you-"

"Saved my teammates life," Wally cut her off, "it's kind of what teammates do"

she looked at him blankly, "You didn't know we were team mates at the time."

"... the power of friendship?"

She raised an eyebrow at that, "friendship huh? is that what you want to call it?" his eyes widened as she began to lean closer.

In a moment of panic he instinctively tried to push her away by the shoulder. it probably would have worked to.

If he had hands.

Unfortunately he seemed to forget that he in fact, did not, so when his hand did not reach her shoulder like he expected, he lost balance and his stump kept going forward , right into Artemis' breast.

The silence following was ten kinds of uncomfortable. Artemis found herself uncertain whether to be, flattered, offended, or grossed out. she really hoped it didn't end on the third one.

Wall on the other hand felt the feeling in him grow larger and larger by the moment. Alongside came a healthy dose of embarrassment and frustration. his first time touching a girl there and it was with his stump? And on accident?

Artemis finally opened her mouth to say something, but whether it would have been positive or negative, we'll never know as, Wally beat her to the e punch as he recoiled his arm violently, "C-could you just back off!"

Artemis'' eyes widened, unable to comprehend where the shouting had come from, "excuse me?"

"I'm tired of this! it's bad enough that I'm cooped up here!"

At this Artemis regained her bearings , and her eyes narrowed. she straightened up, and away from the boy before her, who had his arms crossed like a pouty child "That's precisely why I thought I'd keep you company. I didn't realize it was such a bother to you!"

Wally's face scrunched up in irritation, but didn't say anything, refusing to meet here gaze.

With a start Artemis realized he was giving her the silent treatment, for no reason!. she huffed and stood up, "Fine, if you don't want me here I'll leave. "

And then she did, walking right out his door. His parents asked her what was wrong on the way out, to which she answered honestly that she didn't know.

All the while wally felt the feeling growing larger , and larger, and larger, along with a heavy

belle rev

Percy growled as he was thrown into his new cell, but did nothing. he wasn't actually mad at the guar … much. although after a century in the worst prison ever, he was more than aware of the brutality of prison guards where it's not warranted. he would say he didn't blame them if he hadn't been on the business end of it himself.

With an aggravated sigh, he turned to look at his new cell mate. he was met with a toothy grin, framed by a scaly complexion, a deep gravelly voice spoke "Hello hero."

Percy simply raised an eyebrow. He had heard of Killer Croc before. He was one of batman's regulars. the hulking reptile was at least 7 feet tall, causing him to tower over the new inmate, even as he was sitting down. his skin was covered in green scales, apparently strong enough to stop bullets. His face was vaguely humanlike, but shifted and angled differently due to his crocodile nature. most prominent was his lack of a nose, using two slits instead .

Percy simply nodded up at him, "Hey. I take it you're bottom bunk?"

The criminal's eyes widened for a moment, before letting out a low hiss, like his animal counterpart, "Who's to say I don't want the top?"

Percy rolled his eyes. "Well I just figured, since you're sitting on the bottom right now, and you probably weigh enough to collapse it on top of me if you get up there. though you might like that huh?"

Instead of agreeing, croc stood up and towered over the god, "You calling me fat little man? I've eaten people for less!"

Again Percy rolled his eyes, "Geeze, sensitive much? and you and I both know that's not true."

Croc was taken a back, "What?"

"The whole cannibal thing? total rumor. Kind of like… I don't know… alligators in the sewer? Wait, that's not a good example."

Croc glowered at his cell mate "I have eaten hundreds of—"

"I've read your file." Percy interrupted, before walking around the stunned man and crawling up the bed, "The cannibal thing was a rumor that you let spread because you liked the fear you instill in people. the worst you've done is let your pet crocodiles eat people."

"I don't have pet crocodiles!"

"Percy poked his head over the edge. "exactly."

If crocs face could turn red, it would be right now. "you little pest!"

"Name calling? come on I thought you of all people would know better."

It looked like he was going to say something back , but instead croc just grumbled and sat back down on his bunk, "I could rip you to pieces you know…"

"Not with that collar you won't. though that is strange. isn't your power genetic? how does it turn it off?"

He cell mate growled, "if I knew that do you think I would still l be here? it works on all powers, regardless of where they come from."

Percy hummed thoughtfully as he fingered his own collar. It was inscribed with Hundreds s of Runes that were supposed to keep his godly power contained, or at least, more so than it was already was.

"Why are you even here anyway? Last I heard you took down Clayface with that little team of yours."

Percy's eyes widened now, "How do you know about the team?"

Croc snorted, "Cause I saw you idiot. Clay and I were on the same job when you showed up. I guess Bats sent you all after him while he took care of me. So, what happened? Piss off the wrong politician? Don't tell me you just up and went to the dark side."

Percy laughed, "Dark side? you guys actually call it that? Well at least you're self-aware. I don't know if I'd call it the darks side, more like my side. And Also I sliced my teammates hands off."

He heard the lumbering man choke beneath him, "Why!?"

"He was annoying?"

There was a moment of silence then, until a strange noise, reminiscent of a tire being slashed repeatedly came from below. with a start Percy realized it was laughter.

"I like you kid!" croc exclaimed, "Tell me, what are your planning when you get out of here?"

Percy smiled, but didn't push, not yet, "Whatever I want. and don't call me kid, I'm 158."

"Yeah well you look like a kid. I'd offer you a place in my crew, but I doubt you'd agree to being bossed around."

Percy laughed, "Yeah and it's not like your crew is the first choice of every sociopath in Gotham."

cue the hissing again, before croc restrained himself, "I was thinking about a temporary partnership, seeing how it worked out. with your water power, and my muscle we could probably do a lot of damage, but if you're going to be a dick about t…"

Percy hummed at that, "interesting… I 'll consider it Waylon."

"…what did you call me?"

Percy blinked, "Waylon jones, isn't that your name?"

Percy grew defensive as crocs ugly mg appeared next to him, the man now standing beside the bed, h,, but the look in his eyes stopped him from doing anything, "no one's called me that for years…"

Percy nodded in understanding. "they just go straight to killer croc?"

"or freak or whatever they can come up with."

"I read how you grew up. it wasn't the same, but I can kind of relate. I got thrown out of like seven schools because of an unfortunate mixture of dyslexia and ADHD, and even among my own kind I was treated like an abomination."

Waylon raised a scaly brow, "Your kind? Demigods?"

Percy smirked before putting his thumb in his mouth and biting lightly. he pulled it out and showed the ichor running down it, "I've been upgraded. don't worry though, I'm not into the whole worship thing."

Waylon gawked at him, "Out of all the villains I've met, the actual god is the one who doesn't want to be worshiped? That is just rich…"

Percy chuckled at him trying hard not tow wince at his new label, "Villain is a strong word, and childish too. I'm not out to rule humanity or any smaller section of it. I just want what I want, when I want it, and I don't want to be disturbed when I get it."

slowly, a small smile crept on to Waylon's face, before he brared loudly. "I think I like that! " he went to sit back down as he continue , "truth be told, I don't really want to go back to my crew, or anywhere in Gotham really, but I've kind of dug the whole too deep you know?"

Percy did know, "Whenever you're in too deep, you just need a friend to help pull you out."

"….yeah. I guess you're right."

Some people might have had trouble sleeping over an enormous crocodile man, but Percy was pretty okay with it. he certainly hadn't expected to have such a serious conversation with his cell mate, but he decided to take it as a win.

Now however he was faced with the thing he feared most about the prison filled with psychopathic villains: Sleeping. the collar around his neck, while not actually restricting all of his powers, as he wasn't sure that was even possible, still monitored his vitals. if he never slept while he was her, people would notice, and might become suspicious.

He had no choice this time. he would have to. with a heavy sigh he laid on his back and closed his eyes, hoping enough time had passed that he could dream a peaceful sleep.

Fire.

Pain.

Screaming.

"Wake up!"

Percy bolted upright, his fist already striking out at the noise, only to hit something annoyingly hard he looked to his right to see Waylon standing with a glare and a hand on his jaw. "Shit kid, you hit hard. that's what I get for trying to wake you out of a nightmare huh?"

Percy took a moment to breath before saying, "Sorry… did I wake you?"

The thought seemed to amuse the villain, "I'm a heavy sleeper, but you definitely pissed off some other guys with how loud you were screaming. What the hell happened to you to make you scream shit like that?"

"Shit like what?"

"Kill me', 'Give me my arms back', and my personal favorite. "not the spleen'. WHY would you say that?"

Percy shivered, "They used to use my organs to suffocate me with."

That made his razor filled jaw drop, "Shit… who is they?"

Percy hopped down from his bunk, landing on his feet with ease, "Just a couple angry immortals. Don't look into it. So when are we out of here?"

Instead of answering, Waylon simply held up a finger, right as the guards called out, "breakfast time, freaks!"

They allowed themselves to be cuffed and sh8ffled off to the cafeteria. the morning meal was meatloaf for some reason. Percy was quick to get a tray and take a seat. he spotted Waylon, sitting at his own table alone. he had to stifle a chuckle at how much like children these villains were, when a foot was thrust in front of him, causing him to fall forwards, spilling his meal everywhere.

The room erupted into laughter as he calmly stood up, looking at the mess he had made on his shirt as well as the floor. with a shrug, he pulled it off.

The laughter quickly died after that. whispers took their place. Percy could only make out so much. Most of them were "holy shit" or something along those lines, though there were few mentions of someone called Zsasz

He looked next to him, where the foot would have had to come from. there, staring up at him with an incredibly pitiful face, was a scrawny brown haired man, with a look in his eye that simply said "I fucked up didn't I?"

Percy smirked, "stand up."

The man gulped, "I'd rather not."

Rolling his eyes, Percy grabbed the man by the shirt and lifted him up in the air with one hand. at this the whispers turned into excited murmurs and a few cheers. Apparently, this guy wasn't very popular.

As raised a fist however, someone called out , "Hey hero!" maybe he did have friends? " that's our punching bag!" Guess not.

Percy turned to see a large man flanked by an even larger creature he recognized as the one he fought at Santa Prisca: Mammoth. "and you are?"

"Icicle Sr. but you can call me boss. I'm the capo around here."

"T-thank you sir!" the man in his hand sputtered out.

The burly man growled, "Can it Riddler! This isn't about you!"

Percy sighed loudly, "Fine, I'll only break him a little bit. happy?"

Sr.. narrowed his eyes, "I said put him down."

"No you didn't."

That got a few snickers around the room, all silenced by a sneer on their faces, "it was implied brat. since you're so keen on disobeying, I'll go ahead and show you what happens when you do. boys."

At the word he soon found himself surrounded, a few familiar faces were Mammoth, the hook guy that was with Cheshire, the magician guy from the tower mission, and Waylon, much to his disappointment.

Or it was, until the lizard man flew past him and hit Sr. sending him flying, and reminding Percy that while they were all depowered, they still had muscle mass. Waylon then gave him a toothy grin, "I was getting real tired of that guy."

Percy couldn't answer, as everyone else was already attacking him. thinking fast, he leapt on the head of the first idiot to dive towards him using him as a spring board to leap at mammoth. he then let gravity do the rest, bringing his elbow down non the unprepared monsters head. without its enhanced durability, it crumbled like tissue paper.

Percy turned to the others, ready to take care of the rest, but to his slight disappointment, they were all on the floor, writhing in agony from their shock collars

His was on as well, though e wince again forced himself to ignore the agony it broth with it, much to the dismay of the guard holding the remote on the balcony above them.

With a sigh he turned around and started to walk away. stopping when the guard shouted, "w-what the hell are you doing?"

Percy looked up at him, "getting a new tray."

He then turned and looked down at where Riddler was screaming in pain, and punted his face, sending teeth flying and knocking his jaw loos.

Later

"I heard Riddler is gonna need surgery for his face." Waylon commented. he was currently laying on his bunk below Percy, the two had been silent for a while.

"I had to send a message." Percy explained, 'tow actually. one: I'm not a good guy anymore, and two: don't mess with my food.

Cue the hissing laughter, "I hear ya. no one likes Riddler anyways. don't even know what he's doing here. he seems more like the Arkham type if you ask me."

Percy shrugged, "apparently he was "too smart" to be kept there. didn't seem all that smart to me…"

"We did upset Sr. though…"

"Oh he'll be fine. he'll probably respect me more for it." Percy commented, almost to himself.

Waylon scoffed, "How do you figure?"

"strength respects strength. I spent a century in the toughest prison out there Waylon I , I know what I', talking about."

"…is that where you got those—"

"Yeah."

Waylon hissed

"I agree."

A few more moments went by before Waylon said, "Words been going around, something big is going to happen in a few weeks. something the hero types won't like."

"I'm going to go out on a limb here and guess that I will like it?"

"As long as s you're willing to make nice with Sr."

Percy sneered, "I changed my mind, I won't like it."'

Two days later

Superboy was not having a good day.

Granted he doesn't usually have a good day, I his opinion, but his opinion of a good day might just be unobtainable at this point.

it was an alright day at first. he'd been working on keeping Tyson busy, and not thinking about Percy, while also attending high school with M'gann for some goddamn reason, during which he had impulsively taken a name that he immediately regretted, though to his relief, no one had commented yet. They had mainly worked on the pegasus stables together, in preparation for the incoming mares that batman managed to round up. today however, tyson was finally going back on patrol in Manhattan .

Everyone in the cave had told him that he didn't have to. and that I might be better that he didn't, but his response, about how he couldn't stop thinking of all the things he'd saved people from before, and all the things likely still happening now, managed to shut everyone up instantly.

Superboy asked to come along to take sure he was okay. with everything Percy did, he was afraid people might not take Tyson's presence very well.

He was right.

They were shouted at, cursed at, had stuff thrown at them, and even took a few bullet , but Tyson ignored all of it. he used his new scarlet wingspan to reach all the victims as fast as possible, took care of them, then left as the victim cursed his name. Superboy found himself yelling back at them a few times, but it never helped anything.

They kept at it till nightfall, and were about to zeta tube back to the cave, when Superboy saw something that made him pause.

A bright flash of green light entered het atmosphere, slicing through the air straight towards the ground, before it landed somewhere in central park.

"That seems bad." Tyson commented beside him. The two were perched atop a fairly tall building in a na attempt to escape the angry new Yorkers.

Superboy sighed tiredly ,"yeah it does. come one let's go check it out."

Tyson nodded and spread his wings, the act once again enthralling Superboy. the wings were created so when they weren't being used, the tips that extend past his arms collapse into his forearm, while the feathers that hung below his arms curl upwards, wrapping tightly against his arms, until it looked like he was simply wearing strange red armored sleeves that ended at his shoulder blades , where they met on his back and chest in a manner reminiscent of a sideways hourglass shape. he still wore his brown jumpsuit underneath, which worked surpassingly well with the red.

He spread his wings and took off, while Superboy leaped after him. Tyson had offered to carry him on more than one occasion, Superboy had declined, saying that would be good agility training for him to try and keep up on foot. of course he really just couldn't accept riding on his friends aback, which was the only way Tyson would be able to carry him with his arms being used for flying, aside from his legs, which was somehow worse.

The two made their way towards the crash site, as fast as possible, with Tyson pulling ahead as Superboy leaped is way through central ark. he'd been working on using angles and parts of the landscape to maximize his speed and efficiency, so he was quick to catch up with Tyson when he reached the sit. what he found was… pretty unexpected.

Along with a large crater that took out a few tree , there were several trees knocked over all over the place and a few sidewalk completely destroyed in what looked like a superpowered rampage. Tyson was currently trying to calm down the culprit, which took the appearance of a young, but very mature looking girl, with orange skin, long red hair and strange purple and silver armor. most notably however, was that along with a vicious snarl, she also sported a pair of strange looking handcuffs, which somehow managed to keep her confined, despite hr. obvious enhanced strength.

Tyson nodded to him, "I'm trying to keep her contained, so far she just seems scared, but when I try to calm her down she just shouts in some weird language! I think I might be scaring her…."

As if on cue the girl screamed out in some unintelligible langue before smashing her cuffs against a tree next to he , sending it flying in every direction. that worried Superboy. not the tree exploding part, but he par where she couldn't understand her. the genomorphs had downloaded every language known to man into his brain before he awoke. the obvious answer was there, but he really didn't want to deal with first contact with an alien species today.

Another frustrated scream from the girl told him he had no choice, so he told Tyson, "I'll get her attention, while you go around and restrain her."

Tyson nodded and shot into the air with a single flap, disappearing into the clouds while Superboy headed towards the girl.

He decided to try the most direct route first, "hey ! could you calm down and look at me for a second?"

The girl, surprisingly, stopped thrashing about and looked at him with a glare. he sighed in relief and slowly began to approach, his hands raised in surrender "I don't know what your deal is, but we don't have to be enemies. I can help you out of those and we can figure this out , without destroying anything else. okay?"

She only looked confused, no doubt as clueless in English as he was in her language. he decided to risk taking a few more steps forward. she didn't like it.

She charged forward, raising her confined arms and striking him across the face. having seen what that did to the trees he expected to be send flying, but was pleasantly surprised when he was only knocked back a few steps, with only a slight sting to his face. it seems she wasn't quite up to his strength level.

While he was taking a moment to celebrate however, she had gritted her teeth and charged once more , this time leaping at him so she landed with her legs on his shoulders, causing him to yelp in surprise. he had no time to think about their precarious position however, as she arched backwards and used her whole body to flip his forward, slamming him on his back. this time he felt a bit more than a sting.

Before he could pull himself up however, she climbed on top of him and leveled her fists at his face, speaking a few words in an obvious warning tone, but still unintelligible.

with an aggravated scoff eh said, "I don't know what you're saying!"

By the look on her face that was the wrong answer. her fist the began to glow green with energy, as Superboy felt his stomach drop at what that meant.

Of course she has energy blasts.

In a panic, he pushed her off of him with a little more force than necessary, sending her flying back, through several trees to boot before she landed in a small pond half a mile away. Superboy winced at the sight, and paled slightly when she rose out of the water, pure murder in her eyes."

He cursed under his breath before meeting her oncoming charge, while shouting, "I got her attention, any time you're ready t!"

He held his hand up to block the energy blasts he sent his way. he may be durable but those still stung like a mother. he pressed on however, unwilling to lose her attention.

Right before they collided however, a brown and red blur fell behind her, and before she could react, wrapped her up in a pair of inhumanly strong arms.

The girl fought and kicked against Tyson, shooting green blasts in every direction as she did so, but could not break the cyclops grip. Superboy this time to walk up to be. which made her widen her eyes in… fear. Also, he now noticed that her eyes were green even the whites were slightly tinted with the color.

He tried coming off as peaceful again as he approached though it was hard with her constant barrage of energy blasts "it's okay— damnit will you stop already! Tyson get ready to switch positions if I can't break it!"

Tyson nodded, tough didn't look pleased with the idea and vey weary of the violent redhead in his arms. Superboy managed to get close enough to grab her arms, despite her warning shouts, and with a yell of frustration pulled them apart with all his might

To his sincere relief, his strength was enough, and it broke the cuffs apart, shattering them as well, which left the girl's armored hands free. she stopped moving at that, probably too shocked, which gave Superboy a moment to bend down and catch his breath, wincing as he noticed that her attacks had practically burned his shirt away, exposing his skin covered in slight burn marks.

"There." he sighed out, before looking up, "was that so ha—" he was cut off as he felt something soft pressed against his lips. his eyes widened as he recognized the closed ones inches form his. the girl was kissing him! why was she kissing him? more importantly, why hadn't he stopped her yet.

With a strangled noise of uncertainty, he pushed the girl off her, ready to question her motive , when she noticed her look of bewilderment.

Then she opened her mouth and said

"Que the hölle!?" she explained, before holding g her head n apparent agony.

Superboy stared at her in confusion. he had counted three languages there, Spanish, English and German. how had she learned those words instantaneously?

After a few moments, the girl righted herself, with a new look of confidence, before speaking again, "that's better. now," she turned to the stunned duo, staring at her in confusion, and Tyson looking between the two with even more confusion, "if you value you're lives, you will leave. me. alone." ]

With that she looked up and floated off the ground, causing Superboy's' eye to twitch as she flew away. she could fly too apparently. that was find. he was cool.

He looked at Tyson and stated wearily, "follow her? I'm going to get M'gann and the others, maybe they'll have an easier time with her.

Tyson nodded, taking off after the girl while Superboy made his way to the nearest zeta tube, while turning on his communicator, "Superboy to cave! come in."

A few moments passed, before a voice responded, "Superboy? is this thing working?"

The fact that it was Kara who answered did nothing to help his mood. sure he had nothing against her at this point. she had proven herself a true friend, and has even told him a few stories of krypton, but he was still reminded every time he interreacted with her what a true Kryptonian could do.

"Kara, gather the others in the cave and get to Manhattan asap. we have an extraterrestrial visitor and she doesn't seem happy."

"She? She isn't…"

"She's not Kryptonian," he stifled a growl, "but she is dangerous. she's not actively attacking anyone anymore, but we don't know her intentions and she doesn't seem to want to talk to us, I'll meet you at the manhattan tube, just get here soon.

"Okay! This is great, I'll get chance to try out my new costume."

Superboy rolled h9is eyes at that and hung up, before focusing on his leaping,

He sped up his progress by jumping too and propelling himself off the sides of buildings, like highly destructive ping ball.

He reached the tube, which was disgusted as an abandoned van in an ale y for some reason, just as it activated. a moment later he was greeted by M'gann, raven and… Kara.

"What are you wearing!" he exclaimed in bewilderment.

The girl was wearing blue boots and elbow high gloves, the same blue as superman's costume, along with a red belt and cape with golden clasps at the center of het bel and on her left shoulder. that wasn't what he was worried about however.

Covering her torso, barely, was a white leotard. it was skin tight and showed off her legs and her sizable bust, through a fucking boob window on the center of her chest."

Kara seemed taken aback by his question, while M'gann nervously spoke for her, "Kara told us it was a fashion trend on krypton for girls her age… though I agree it is a bit alarming."

"it's gloating is what it is…" raven murmured, mostly to herself, but Superboy's super hearing picked it up anyway.

Apparently Kara was ignoring it, as she nodded her head, "yeah, and it's also symbolic! I can't' bring myself to take superman's symbol with how he acted, but I don't want to take a another symbol aside from our family crest, so I settled n leaving it blank."

He took a deep becalming breath, but it didn't work, "so you couldn't just leave a blank piece of fabric there?"

Kara frowned, putting a hand on her hip, "no. what's it to you anyways? I know Clark isn't going to like it, but I didn't think you would be a stick in the mud about it too."

Superboy's face probably looked like a stroke victims at the moment, with all the twitching and looks of inner pain, before he growled out, "I don't care. look let's just get back to the real problem here and find Tyson and the girl."

Raven blinked before pointing skyward, "are we sure they're the problem at the moment?"

Everyone looked put to see what she was talking about, and stiffened at the sight of green, small, bulbous looking crafts soaring down from orbit."

"Are they invading?" M'gann asked in alarm.

Kara narrowed her eyes, "I really doubt it, I don't see a mother ship in orbit, so those three are the only ones."

"maybe they want to make peaceful contact with earth?" raven suggested, then froze when everyone looked at her in disbelief, "What? I can be optimistic too!"

"M'gann, can you link us up with Tyson?" Superboy asked.

The Martian nodded and closed her eyes for a moment, before nodding.

Superboy reached out to the cyclops. Tyson! Tyson can you hear me?

J—Superboy? Are you seeing the spaceships too?

Superboy sighed, Yeah. I don't suppose you have an idea of what they want.

Well it might be noting, but they are flying directly towards me and Kori.

Superboy flinch, "They are? Wait a minute who's Kori?"

The alien girl. She's actually really nice when she's not trying to kill you hold on… ugh, Apparently, they're called Gordonians and they're trying to put her into slavery she was just trying to escape when she came here.

Superboy shared a collective sneer with the girls before replying, try to stay on the move, but don't hesitate to make contact if they endanger civilian. we'll head towards you

Got it.

Shortly after their conversation, Superboy and the girl were soaring rapidly toward Tyson, with Superboy held up with M'gann's telekinesis. Superboy used is moment of rest to keep tabs on Tyson, and things weren't going very smoothly.

It seemed the goredanians were excellent trackers, as they had quickly made contact with Tyson and Kori, chasing them all over the Manhattan skyline. Apparently, they took the form of winged reptile like humanoids, that while fast, were not fast enough to keep up with Tyson, so the girls had no trouble.

Kara swooped in and grabbed Kori, ignoring the girls protests and energy blasts, as all attacks simply bounced off the Kryptonian, while M'gann grabbed Tyson and brought him along, as he still wasn't as fast as them with his wings. together the group retreated to a safe distance from the Gordonian , or at least are enough away that they'd have enough time to talk before they caught up again.

The group was led by raven to a small restaurant, puzzling everyone with tits name: puzzles, on the other side of the island. the sign had been flipped to closed, no doubt like most restaurants who had seen the aliens, but when the woman in the back spotted who was at her door, she didn't/t hesitate to rush to the door and usher them inside.

"Thank you Caroline!" Tyson exclaimed, "I promise we'll be gone soon! but we need somewhere to lie low for a bit.

Caroline, the owner of puzzles, was a tall, black haired, frankly beautiful woman, in a cute little blue waitress' uniform, with a puzzle piece shaped nametag. she looked about as terrified as anyone else would be in her position, but she seemed to be valiantly holding it back as she greeted the heroes, "I-it's alright Tyson… can I get you all anything?"

She was met with a polite collective refusal, along with a muffled scram of annoyance from Kori, who was still struggling in Kara's grip. Caroline didn't seem to be bothered by that though and simply nodded in understanding, before heading to the bank, saying she would give them all some privacy.

After she was gone, M'gann looked at Tyson curiously, "she knows your name?"

The cyclops rubbed the back of his head nervously, "this is… well it's Percy and my favorite restaurant. we've gotten pretty familiar with the owner. " he ended by pointing to a picture on the wall , that showed Caroline staining in between Tyson and Perseus.

The girls had many questions about that, but raven interrupted her thoughts with, "I think we should get back on track. Kori, if that is your name, she's going to let you go now, but if you try to run away again, we will catch you. understand?"

Kori looked like she didn't want to understand, but nodded anyways.

Kara tentatively released the orange skinned alien, who quickly stepped away and brushed herself of , muttering angrily to herself in the strange language she was speaking before, before looking at her kidnappers angrily, "what is it that you want?"

Superboy snorted, "that's what we want to know! you crash on our planet, start wrecking everything in sight, and expect no one to ask questions about it?"

the girl looked like she had a biting remark ready to shoot back at I , but faltered at the last second and managed to look embarrassed, "I suppose I have been a bit rude. forgive me, I have had a rough few weeks."

she then stood up straighter, with a n air of confidence that impressed even Tyson, who had met gods. "allow me to properly introduce myself. I am koriand'r, former princess of Tamaran. I have no ill will towards your planet, it was simply the closest planet with proper sustenance when I escaped the gordonian fleet."

"Gordonians," M'gann spoke up, "do you mean those lizard guys that were after you?"

Koriand'r nodded with abusable sneer, "indeed. their people and mine have been at war for centuries, and recently, they have claimed victory. because of this, I was made into a… well you would call it a slave. I was being transported to their highest bidder for me, a tyrant who would no doubt have used me for… the most demeaning tasks."

She didn't have to get any clearer for everyone to get the message. but Kori wasn't finished, "I won't stand for it. I am free now, and I will not allow myself to be recaptured. if my world is ever to be freed, I must live on. I realize that this puts your planet in their sights however. therefore, after I have had time to recharge my power, I will make my way to a new planet, where I will form a resistance force to retake Tamera. that lady offered food, is it still open?"

Tyson said he would go check, but Kara stopped him, "wait a second, you said that earth is at risk? how? will they invade?"

Kori almost looked amused at the thought "they do not have the manpower for that. if anything they will use their weaponry to disintegrate the planet if you do not deliver me to them. fear not though, I will be gone before it comes to that.

They were silent for am moment, before Tyson asked, "but what if they use that on another planet? we can't just let them do that right? that's like the worst kind of bullying ever?"

raven nodded, "while I don't know about your wording, I agree that it wouldn't be wise to just let something like that go. we need to make sure that they leave and don't come back.

Kori looked that them in growing excitement, "you mean you will fight by my side?"

"sure beats fighting you ourselves." Superboy remarked.

koriand'r squealed happily standing up and pulling everyone towards her against their will, "oh joy! I am most fortunate to have met such kind people such as you. from now on I shall treat you all as friends... unfortunately I do not know your manes."

There was a moment of hesitation on that, what with secret identities and all, in everyone except Tyson, "hi I'm Tyson!" he waved happily

Kori waved back, a bit hesitantly however, "friend-Tyson, I am very grateful to have such a powerful creature as you on my side. though I hope you don't mind me asking, is it not inconvenient operating with only one ocular organ? in terms of depth perception it seems inefficient."

Tyson chuckled nervously, "uh, it never really gives me issues. I'm a cyclops so it kind of just works for me."

Kori nodded in understanding, though she really didn't understand at all, before turning to the others, "and you all?"

"I'm raven." Raven said simply.

"Kara zor-el," Kara greeted

"M'gann M'orzz, M'gann greeted

Kori nodded happily before finally tuning to Superboy, "and you?"

Superboy looked at the others uncertainly before sighing and saying, "Jackson Kent.