On the 16th day of the hero's 16th year

For one single precious held most dear

By the shade of evil with time in his hands

Choices will be made to determine who stands

The hidden hero will be proclaimed

After a fall leaves him heavily maimed

The day's weather will be fought

By winter, summer, and storms a lot

The land of choice is the original spot

Where she died and now lives reborn

In the world of the original's form

The Road to Happiness, The Long One

A/N: I was going to make this chapter an April Fools chapter, but I figured that wouldn't be fair to you guys. Happy April Fools! Please review!

Characters: Cal (Your "average" mysterious male), Mason (Cal's best and most trustworthy buddy), Kara Danvers (Kara Zor-El, AKA Supergirl), Jason (Kara's Ex), Barbara Gordon (Batgirl), Dick Grayson (Nightwing), Clark Kent (Superman), Lois Lane (Superman's wife), Batman, Bartholomew, Karen (Power-Girl) and more that aren't quite ready to be presented yet. (Lots of characters are Out of Character (OOC).)

Chapter 17: Day 6/16, Time Paused Day 2 of Training

Cal awoke to find himself blindfolded. Bartholomew's voice echoed in his ears.

"After last night's successful mix, today you get to use both instincts and your mind to operate a… MAZE!" Bartholomew said. Cal growled.

"I hate blind mazes," Cal whispered. He started forward, bumping into something that felt like a barrel. Cal fumbled his way through a section full of barrels. He bumped, slammed, and was attacked by numerous barrels. A few minutes of moving, and Cal was hopelessly lost. He stumbled around, confused and desperate. Bartholomew laughed.

"Oh yeah, I forgot to mention yesterday, but you really need to focus more if you want to pause time," Bartholomew said. "I'll admit, for a first time, you did SIGNIFICANTLY slow it down…"

"Oh, my bad! How long was it going?" Cal asked. Bartholomew laughed a deep and hearty laugh. "I mean, how much time passed?"

"About 15 minutes total, but I noticed it and stopped it last night," Bartholomew explained.

"Thanks, I wouldn't want to miss my final showdown…" Cal said. Mason laughed. "Oh hi Mason, I'd wave but I have no clue what direction you are…"

"Hey, just be glad I managed to hold back my laughter till now…" Mason pointed out. Cal scoffed.

"You want to come down here blindfolded?" Cal asked, frustrated. Cal shook his head and tried to find his way farther into the maze. He banged into a few more barrels. Cal stopped and shook his head. "Alright Bartholomew! I'm done with this! I don't think it's even worth the week of training to make my way through this…"

"You're right, it's not,' Bartholomew admitted. "But I'm still going to make you do this…"

"But why?!" Cal demanded. "This sucks and is pointless!" Cal was attacked by a few more barrels.

"Well, I'll stop if you can tell me at least 3 facts about this maze," Bartholomew said.

"Well, there are barrels, the walls are brick, and the ground is dirt, meaning we are in your creative basement room you make out to be whatever is convenient," Cal stated. "There, 3 facts!" Bartholomew tisked and shook his head.

"No, that's only 3. I said 4!" Bartholomew said. Cal growled angrily.

"You said 3!" Cal yelled.

"Nah, I heard 4," Mason said. Cal stumbled a bit, getting hit by another few barrels.

"Fine, the barrels aren't attacking me! They're moving on a path. The maze moves!" Cal said, angry.

"Ooo, good note. Sadly, I cannot let you NOT finish this maze," Bartholomew said. Cal snarled.

"Fine, I'll finish this maze!" Cal said.

"Good luck with that, I'll be upstairs when you're finished," Bartholomew said. He and Mason left. Once they were out of earshot, Mason stopped Bartholomew.

"So explain now! How is getting Cal mad enough to release his anger, which he has NEVER done before, going to help him?" Mason demanded. Bartholomew sighed.

"Look, he's NEVER released his anger. That's not good for anyone, EVER! He needs to let it out, and maybe his mind will automatically mix instinct and mind… Here's to hoping," Bartholomew said. "Hopefully that maze proves to suffice to make ALL his anger leave… If not… my bad…" He continued walking, leaving Mason in a shocked silence.

"My bad?!" Mason called out, chasing after Bartholomew.

-Break-

Cal stumbled through the maze, banging against barrels left and right. After a while, Cal was frustrated and the barrels seemed to hit him more frequently. Cal growled through his teeth and calmed himself, but in the middle of calming himself, a barrel hit him and Cal's blindfold glowed red, and burned off. Cal opened his eyes to reveal blood red irises. Cal yelled and punched a barrel, but the barrel exploded. The explosion ripped across Cal, who barely flinched. The flames set off a chain reaction, setting off all the barrels. Cal ignored the explosions and walked through them, making his way to the end of the maze. A piece of barrel lodged itself in Cal's calf, and Cal simply leaned over and pulled it out of his leg and continued walking. Blood oozed from his leg, but Cal didn't even limp. Another barrel blew up directly next to him and Cal caught the large chuck of barrel aimed directly to his heart. He threw it to the ground and made his way up the stairs at the end of the maze.

-Break-

"Well, he's coming up the stairs and he's kinda pissed. Let loose whatever you got in you… He won't hold his punches so you CANNOT hold back yours!" Bartholomew warned. Mason stood up, fear in his eyes, and went to hide behind the door. Just as Mason got behind the door, the door burst open, and a bloody, and angry, Cal walked in.

"You know, I'm sick of this pointless 'training'!" Cal yelled. Bartholomew winced at Cal's volume. "I'm done with this, I'm leaving." Bartholomew grabbed Cal's shoulder.

"You aren't going anywhere!" Bartholomew said. Cal snarled, throwing Bartholomew off him.

"And why would that be?" Cal asked. Bartholomew laughed.

"Because if you go back on our deal I go back on my part. I'll kidnap Kara and she'll never be found, not by you or anyone. Don't worry, she'll live her lifespan, but, you know, alone and depressed," Bartholomew said. Cal bristled. He spun and smashed his fist into Bartholomew's face. Bartholomew flew back, slamming into the wall. Mason jumped from behind, materializing an ax and burying it into Cal's shoulder. Cal didn't even flinch as he ripped Mason off him and threw him into Bartholomew, who had just managed to stand up. Cal easily removed the ax from his shoulder. Cal appeared next to Bartholomew, picking him up by the neck. He squeezed his neck, cutting off both blood and oxygen to Bartholomew's head. Bartholomew's vision was fading to black when Mason managed to scramble to his feet. Mason quickly picked up the ax and changed it to a gun. Mason unloaded the gun into Cal's chest, avoiding Bartholomew as best he could, and Cal looked at him. He dropped Bartholomew and turned to Mason. The bullets didn't even cause Cal to stagger slightly and Cal swiftly punched Mason into the wall, making it dent. Bartholomew stood up and materialized a rocket launcher, he immediately fired it at Cal, who smirked and caught the rocket, it exploding in his hands. Cal continued toward Bartholomew, his eyes still glowing red. Mason coughed loudly and Cal looked at him sharply. Bartholomew took his chance sprung up on Cal's back and began choking Cal. Cal tensed his neck muscles, keeping his blood flowing to his head and oxygen to his lungs. Cal elbowed Bartholomew in the ribs and Bartholomew went down, still hurting from his previous injuries. Cal turned to Bartholomew, Mason jumping on his back and firing a single shot through Cal's head, temple to temple. Cal didn't even hesitate as he grabbed Mason's gun arm and threw Mason over his shoulder into Bartholomew. Cal picked up Bartholomew by the throat again.

"If you touch her I will kill you. I don't know how or even if that's possible, but I will rip you apart if you do," Cal threatened. His irises flickered to gold for a split second, returning to red. He dropped Bartholomew and turned to the wall. He yelled and punched the wall, creating a decent sized hole in it. Cal's eyes returned to their normal hazel and he collapsed.

-11 Day Break-

Cal awoke to find literally every part of his body hurting like hell. Cal struggled to his feet and Mason knelt down to help him. He helped Cal to his feet, guiding him to a sofa.

"Try not to bleed too much on that sofa, it's nice," Bartholomew said, icing his neck. Mason weakly laughed, but it died out after he noticed that no one else was picking up the amusement. Cal groaned and tried to rub his temples, finding that they had holes in them. Cal coughed blood.

"Ok, I remember bits and pieces, but what in the world happened?" Cal asked. Mason looked at Bartholomew who nodded towards him.

"Well, Bartholomew had this idea that if you got rid of all your pent up anger, which you have never let out, that you would be significantly less likely to blow up during a fight in the real world and get someone hurt…" Mason explained.

"And your anger is a sociopathic rage, you didn't even hesitate in beating the crap of us… US, Callum, your friends! If you couldn't even hesitate at the sight of your best friends…" Bartholomew paused. "…who knows who will be hurt if you let your anger out in the real world…" Cal sighed. "Well, you seem to ignore pain, but you don't heal during it, so it's kinda a neutral version of your power." Now that Cal's head had healed, Cal rubbed his temples.

"So your entire plan was based around you getting me mad?" Cal asked. "What was the point of that again, assuming there was something else other than draining my life's supply of anger?" Bartholomew shrugged.

"That was the main one, but I was also hoping that your mind and instincts would automatically meld…" Bartholomew said. He shrugged. "I guess –"

"—we'll find out," Mason finished. He glanced at Cal. Cal raised his eyebrows and shrugged.

"I guess we'll find out…" Cal said. He glanced at the timer. "How long was I out? We have slightly over a day left…" Bartholomew rubbed the back of his neck.

"Yeah, well, you took about a day to get past that maze and then spent the last… 11 some days knocked out. Well, Mason and I had to drug you till we were sure you were done with your… rant…" Bartholomew explained. Cal shot him a look.

"You kept me unconscious through drugs?" Cal asked. "You do realize that neither of you are nurses or doctors so… I could have never woken up!" Mason shrugged.

"Eh, you'd wake up eventually," Mason said. Cal shook his head and shrugged. He got to his feet, attempting to wipe off the now dried blood.

"So what's next?" Cal asked. Bartholomew took a drink of his soda.

"Both of you meet me in the backyard…" Bartholomew said. He disappeared. Cal turned to Mason.

"So about that… special project?" Cal asked, subtly. Mason shrugged.

"Well, I had a lot of time on my hands since you were out, but it's all set except the… special part," Mason explained. Cal nodded.

"So once I figure out how to make the 'special part' you can finish it?" Cal asked. Mason nodded. "Grrreat… I guess I need to figure out how to make it…" They made their way to the backyard, where Bartholomew had set up mats.

"Let me guess," Mason guessed, "MEDITATION?" Bartholomew nodded. Cal and Mason huffed and sighed. "Ugghhh…"

"Before you ask why, I want you to not meditate, but to figure out problems. By the end of today, I want you to know either all the facts of how the Egyptian Pyramids were made or who Jack the Ripper was, or, you know, anything better you come up with," Bartholomew explained. Cal sighed. Mason looked up eagerly.

"So I DON'T have to do this?" Mason asked.

"Yes, you still have to do this," Bartholomew said. Mason sighed heavily.

"Fine," Mason grumbled. He sat down on a mat and crossed his legs. Cal sat on another mat. Bartholomew sat in-between. Cal closed his eyes and thought for a moment about what he wanted to find out. He didn't need to think deep as he knew exactly what he wanted to know. He wanted to know who his father was. Cal blanked his mind, white being the only thing he saw, then focused. He thought about the pocket watch he got. He focused on where it came from, and who gave it to him. He focused more and saw an island, one particular island in a chain. The island was very lush and green, but had a severe sense of dread. He saw a small army, surrounding 2 men. He saw an orange and black mask on both men, and both wielded dual swords. He saw the 2 men clash swords, one barely escaping the army and the other joining it. He saw a crashed airplane, and the man make his way inside. The man took off his mask, but his face was still blurry. Cal attempted to focus more, but the face refused to become clearer. He saw a storm approach, and the man nearly froze to death. He saw a raft, with 3 bodies. He saw that 2 bodies were dead and the last one was alive, barely. He saw the man in the airplane, studying maps, contemplating deeply. By now, Cal knew this man was his father. He saw his father circle a few points on the map, but Cal couldn't make out the map's details. He saw the lone survivor of the raft get shot with an arrow by another man, definitely Asian, who then took him to his cave. He saw the survivor be caught by the small army, saved by the man, and meet up with his father. His father attempted to teach the survivor how to fight, but the survivor was worse at fighting than a blind chicken. His father made a plan to overtake a supply plane, and they fought their way onto the plane, but the survivor's conscience causing the him to go back and try to save the man, who was captured. His father refused at first, but his conscience got the better of him. Cal caught the survivor's name, Oliver Queen, which he immediately recognized as the Green Arrow. 'The Green Arrow knew, or rather knows, my father…' Cal thought. His father fought the man he saw from the beginning, easily taking him out. Cal felt a sense of pride in his father being able to easily beat the man, as for the killing him… Cal didn't feel too proud of that, but he understood that in this place, at this time, it was kill or be killed. Cal didn't like that situation, but he understood it. He saw his father and Oliver proceed to save the man and his daughter, but the man died in the process. He saw the trio plan and execute a plan to take out the small army, even stopping a rocket, ultimately preventing a WWIII. He focused on his father's face again, intensely focusing. Cal saw a brief flash of his father's face, but he was ripped out of focus by a white hot pain.

Cal yelled and fell on his side. His mind felt like it was burning itself from the inside out. Cal's irises became a pure white, and the pain overwhelmed him. Bartholomew and Mason quickly made their way to Cal's side, where they tried to figure out Cal's problem. Cal's mind was almost numb with pain, and he tried to mutter words of explanation, but Bartholomew hushed him. Cal went into an epileptic fit, otherwise known as a seizure, and his body convulsed painfully. Cal's voice was cut off, and he saw in his mind flashes of things he wasn't supposed to see. With each rapidly passing image, Cal's body became more and more painful. He managed to process a few of the images: 7 bodies of light in the darkness, the interdimensional pathways, someone who looked exactly like Cal in a Western setting, someone who looked like Cal in a dystopian future, a wolf in winter, and the image of Deathstroke, fully armored and equipped. Cal's body finally went limp and the pain numbed itself away. Cal's eyes returned to normal, and Cal breathed a sigh of relief. He tried to move, but his body wasn't ready to move for a while. He tried to understand what the images he saw meant, but his mind and body were too tired. His eyes closed and he fell asleep. Bartholomew and Mason stood.

"Well, I guess he saw something he wasn't supposed to…" Bartholomew deduced. Mason looked at him.

"How would you possibly know that?" Mason asked. Bartholomew shrugged and looked at him.

"I did exactly what he did at one point. I saw something I apparently wasn't supposed to and I was told my irises went white, and I remember a LOT of pain…" Bartholomew explained. "He must have been looking into something he REALLY shouldn't have… But what?" Mason shrugged.

"If I know Cal, and I do, if he was just told that he could meditate in order to find out facts that no one else could find, then he's probably tried to either figure out how he got his powers or, more important to Cal, find out who his father is, or maybe, WAS…" Mason explained. Bartholomew stroked his beard thoughtfully.

"Hm, I haven't even found out how I got my powers, not even a slight glimpse, so we'll have to assume that Cal tried to figure out who his father was and for some reason wasn't supposed to…" Bartholomew deduced. "Maybe his father… No… Couldn't be… …who?" Bartholomew thought aloud. He quickly ran off, leaving Mason standing over Cal's body. Mason knelt down next to Cal. He tried to wake Cal up, shaking him. Cal murmured and struggled to keep his eyes open.

"Hey, you ok?" Mason asked.

"What the hell happened?" Cal asked. "I remember flashes, and a TON of pain…"

"Well, your irises went pure white and you were in pain, you had a seizure and then you went unconscious…" Mason explained. "Bartholomew thinks it's because you saw something you shouldn't have… What… what did you see?"

"I saw… my dad… I saw that he was on an island and…" Cal proceeded to tell everything he had seen, including the flashes of images. Mason nodded.

"So… Green Arrow knows your dad… How are you supposed to find out who he is without being… obvious?" Mason asked. Cal shrugged.

"Walter is going to have to play nice I guess…" Cal suggested. "Not like we have many options here…" Mason nodded and shrugged. Bartholomew came back into the yard.

"So, I think you've been through enough for about 2 weeks. Go home, enjoy life. If you're mind hasn't melded yet… Then it'll probably never meld. On that note, goodbye and have fun," Bartholomew said. They said their goodbyes and Mason packed up the armor. They left, Bartholomew unpausing time for Cal, and walked through the pathway, but Cal stopped short, peering into another dimension.

"Mason… That's… ME!" Cal said. Mason turned and looked in. It was a dystopian future, with zombies and humans. Just like the flash Cal had seen not too long ago.

"Is that the…?" Mason asked. Cal nodded, surprised. In the doorway, you could see Cal's doppelganger. Cal's doppelganger was in a closet, with Kara's doppelganger. Cal's doppelganger hugged Kara's close, and through the closet door, the obvious sight of zombies flooded the classroom. Cal's held Kara's close and Kara's was in tears, crying in fear. Mason and Cal stood, transfixed by the heart-tugging scene before them. Cal's tried to hold the door closed and keep Kara's calm and quiet, but Kara's was fighting herself to stay quiet. Cal took a step towards the dimension, but Mason grabbed his arm.

"You can't," Mason said. "They can take care of themselves… They HAVE to…" Cal ripped his eyes away and turned towards Mason.

"Look, they need help and that's my, OUR, job!" Cal protested. Mason shook his head. Cal made a note of the name of the dimension: 'Salvos', which Cal knew was Latin for 'survival'. Cal shuddered at the possibilities of the meaning hidden behind that name. Mason instead saw the name of the dimension: 'Amicitia', which he knew was Latin for 'friendship'.

"Look, normally I would be all over us helping them, but we don't know about the effects of doppelgangers seeing each other… We could destroy their minds… or worse, rip a hole in time and space…" Mason explained. Cal nodded in understanding, but his eyes still showed concern for the doppelgangers. Mason pushed Cal forward and they entered into their room, in their dimension. Mason put the box of Kara's armor in their secret room and they went into their real room. Mason made a move to turn on Netflix, but Cal's phone rang. Cal looked at the name: Kara.