Author's Note: I'm surprised. Two chapters, and I've already got eighteen reviews. In fact, two more appeared as I started writing this new chapter. This may soon become my most popular story yet. But speaking of the reviews, I've noticed a third of them are arguments over the power levels of the characters. This story is fictional, and while it mostly follows the cartoon, I've already made it clear using evidence that Gohan is stronger than Superman, however only slightly in his normal state. There's no need to discuss power levels that became unimportant in DBZ after the Frieza saga anyway. Please, if you're going to review my story, comment on the quality of the story itself.
Anyway, now that the two groups have met, it's time to start planning. Thankfully, this time, the Justice League has a powerful half-saiyan to help him. However, along the way, our favorite Batman might start getting suspicious. Especially when Gohan pulls off a certain little stunt…
Also, someone commented on the dialogue I was adding in the last chapter, calling some of it clumsy and unnecessary. That person is entitled to their opinion, but since I usually consider dialogue to be my strength, I'd like to know what the rest of you think.
Chapter 3: Introductions and Curious Disguises
The six Justice League members and the young Saiyan moved swiftly and silently through the darkly lit street, crossing it just before two patrolling Thanagarians passed by. Ever since escaping into the city, the seven knew any activity less stealthy than what they were doing now would result in them getting caught. And right now, for obvious reasons, they could not afford that.
The group reached the end of the alleyway and Green Lantern took the lead, leaning out carefully into the next street. Spotting the Thanagarian guards facing the opposite direction, he whispered to the others,
"Go!"
The seven rushed into the parallel alley, and, seeing no officers on the road, were prepared to continue running into the next alley. But, sensing someone nearby, Gohan jumped in front of them and held out a hand.
"Wait!"
Motioning silently, he pointed to the building facing the alleyway, where two more officers were standing. He moved back just before they managed to notice him. As the group waited, a large tank rolled down the street, flanked by two more officers. Standing in the top of the tank was General Kragger, and, thinking he noticed some movement, he shined a light into the alley. Luckily, the group had managed to hide behind a couple of dumpsters just in time. As Kragger and his men continued down the street, the two officers on the building took flight and left the scene.
The group got out of their hiding spots, and considered moving back the way they came, but as they turned around, two shadows appeared in the small light at the end and grew larger.
"We've gotta move, people." Flash said.
Turning back, the seven ran down the now abandoned street and into the next alley, feeling as if they were starting to run in a maze. Approaching a lone door, Wonder Woman quickly crushed the handle and opened it, allowing the others to walk in. A few feet back, Green Lantern turned to Superman, holding up his still restrained hands.
"Could you give me a hand with these?"
Nodding, Superman used his heat vision to fry the locks, grimacing as he did so.
"…Still not back to full strength." He muttered, prompting Gohan to look back at him interestedly.
'His strength has been increasing this whole time we've been hiding.' He thought to himself. 'It's slowing down now, but it looks like he's going to be just about as strong as I am. That's going to be helpful.'
After a few more seconds, the locks on Green Lantern's hands popped open, and he gave a small "Much better. Thanks." to Superman, absentmindedly rubbing his sore wrists. The rest of the group went inside, while Batman said to Wonder Woman,
"Diana, cover our tracks."
Wonder Woman took the nearby dumpster and dragged it in front of the door before flying inside, narrowly avoiding several more soldiers that flew overhead. The seven of them moved further inside the building, and upon closer inspection, they found it to be an abandoned clothing store.
"That x-ray vision working yet?" Green Lantern asked Superman.
Superman looked up. "Just enough to see hawk soldiers still patrolling the skies."
"There's also a bunch more moving down one of the streets close by." Gohan added, noticing the cluster of energy signatures.
"How'd you know that?" Superman inquired.
"I could sense them." The members of the League all raised their eyebrows at that, but decided to leave it be.
"They'll have the whole city covered by now." J'onn said, his eyes glowing furiously.
Flash, ever the lighthearted one, tried to lift everyone's spirits. "Who knows? Maybe they'll get tired and go home."
The other five Leaguers merely glared at him, while Gohan rolled his eyes.
Flinching, Flash said, "Yeah I know. But a little optimism at a time like this couldn't hurt."
"This is the voice of the Thanagarian occupational authority.' A booming voice interrupted, making the seven turn their heads. Outside the store, an aircraft slowly moved down the street, shining a light on all the scared civilians.
"Your so called Justice League is in violation of our Martial Law. They are to be considered an enemy, and dealt with on sight. Any person found aiding or harboring them, will be summarily punished."
Dejected, the Flash slumped his shoulders. "Okay, so much for optimism."
"For the time being," Batman said, "We're going to have to go underground."
"How exactly do we hide if the entire planet is looking for us?" Diana questioned.
"They're looking for the Justice League." J'onn answered, fingering a coat on one of the racks. "Without our costumes, we are merely ordinary citizens." As he said this, he morphed into a middle-aged man in a trench coat and red ascot.
Batman paused at this, looking at the young boy who had released them from their prison. He was standing next to Diana, an innocent expression on his face.
Looking back at J'onn, he said. "Yes, that's all fine and good. But there's just one problem."
"What's that?" Gohan asked.
Wasting no time, Batman stalked up to the young Saiyan and leaned down close to his face.
"How do we know we can trust you?"
The rest of the League stared at Batman for a moment, before turning their attention to the boy, who was looking at the Dark Knight in shock. Realizing his implications, they glared at Gohan as well, tensing their shoulders.
"Are you being serious?"
Gohan was surprised at being put under the spotlight so suddenly, but as Batman stared at him through the blank lenses of his cowl, he couldn't help but feel a little bit miffed.
"You're questioning me, after what I just did for you? That's doesn't seem fair."
"We don't know anything about you, kid." Batman responded, not faltering at the Saiyan's angry expression. "We've never seen you before, and for someone to just appear out of nowhere with abilities such as yours, and help us escape without much effort makes it quite understandable for us to be cautious."
"He's right, kid." Flash agreed, stepping forward, "We've had people who have claimed to be on our side before. Sometimes they're telling the truth, but other times, they backstab us and get us in worse trouble."
"What reason would I have to backstab you? I don't know any of you."
"Villains don't always need a reason." Superman rumbled. "Sometimes they just become villains for the fun of it. And how do we know you're not lying to us right now?"
Gohan could feel his anger building, and was considering going Super Saiyan to make them back off, but he quickly composed himself, taking a deep breath.
"Look, what would I need to do in order to prove to you I'm on your side?"
Taking advantage of his comment, J'onn moved beside the boy.
"If you will allow it, I could read your emotions and confirm your claims for everyone here."
Gohan stared up at the tall alien, trying to decipher his expressions for any hint of malice. His face was completely blank, but when Gohan looked into his morphed light brown eyes, he saw warmth lying within, along with a wisdom that spoke of hundreds of years of experience.
Giving a small smile, Gohan sat down on a chair. "Alright. I'll do it. But can you make sure just to read my emotions? I like having my thoughts to myself."
"Don't worry." J'onn reassured, grabbing another chair and sitting down beside the boy. "Emotions often dominate the mind more than thoughts. They'll be much easier to detect and will tell us everything we need to know."
Making sure to be gentle, J'onn placed his fingers on Gohan's forehead and tried to feel around for the dominant emotions. With he was an expert in telepathy, empathy was a much more primitive form of mind-reading, and therefore much harder to control. As her searched deeper and deeper into the boy's subconscious, a few emotions made themselves apparent.
The first was the happiness one would see in a child, which John expected, seeing as the boy was clearly still one. Still, it made him smile as an image of a four-year old with long, shaggy hair laughing in his fathers' arms flickered briefly past his mind. Looking further, J'onn was impressed to find a remarkable amount of courage stored inside that happiness, and it was accompanied by an image of that same boy, a year or two older now, fighting a large man with orange hair in an effort to defend a small, bald man behind him.
However, as he sensed that emotion, it was accompanied by another. And this one caused J'onn to frown slightly. Amidst that courage was unbridled rage and an almost animal-like fury, which warped its way into an image of the boy brutally attacking a bulky purple alien with horns on its head, jabbing it painfully in the stomach and blasting with repeated energy strikes.
J'onn found himself to be a little disturbed at that image, but he tried his best to ignore it and focused on finding emotions directed at him and the rest of the League. To his relief, he found nothing that could be used against them. All he saw was mild interest and concern directed at them, and determination to help them fight the invasion. Satisfied, J'onn prepared to leave the boy's mind, but before he could, he sensed something else. Something much more prominent and potent than any of the others. He tried to probe it carefully with his mind, when all of a sudden, his mind was bombarded with a multitude of horrifying images.
The boy waking up to find out his father had been murdered, watching his father's friends get destroyed right in front of him, losing his mentor because he was too scared, watching his best friend get killed and his other friend get impaled because he was too weak, getting brutally beaten by the orange-haired man and the purple alien from before…standing alone, thinking himself a failure…
But among that, one image rose to stand above the rest…
And it was of the boy, not much younger than he was now, screaming to the heavens with golden hair and eyes the brightest turquoise.
"Augh!" J'onn choked out, releasing his hold on Gohan's mind and falling backwards. The Flash immediately zipped over and caught him before he hit the ground.
"J'onn, are you alright?!"
Rubbing his head wearily, J'onn looked back up at the kid, who was gazing back at him with concern, although his eyes were a little unfocused, suggesting he was a little dizzy from the mind-probing.
"Yes, Flash. I'm alright."
He was lying. Never before had he seen such pain reflected in one so young. With all the events he had been through, it was a wonder he hadn't lost his mind already. Losing his friends and family was not something J'onn was unfamiliar with, but he had been an adult at the time, and therefore could handle it better. J'onn only hoped the boy would be able to retain some of his childlike innocence, because he guessed that if this boy were to be pushed too far, combined with the power he had presented earlier, the results would be catastrophic. For that reason, he felt it was too risky for the others to know right now how damaged the boy was. He felt even the boy wasn't completely aware of his pain yet.
But what he wasn't counting on, was a certain detective who noticed the grimace on his face and the worry in his eyes.
'He's hiding something.' Batman realized. 'I've never seen him this shaken up from a mind-probing before. There's no time to interrogate now, but I intend to get to the bottom of this.'
Sensing J'onn's distress, Diana grabbed Gohan by the collar and lifted him up to her face.
"What did you do to him?!" She demanded, shaking the boy fiercely. Gohan, for his part, was still a little disoriented, so he did little to fight back.
"No, Diana!" J'onn said, "It's alright. The boy has done nothing wrong."
Calming down, Diana put Gohan back on the ground and gave a silent apology.
"I'm just a little overwhelmed at the moment. While it was hard to sift through all of his emotions, I did not detect any ill will towards us. If anything, he was determined to help us."
"It's true." Gohan said, finally getting out of his daze. "When I learned about what had happened, I knew I had to help. My father always taught me to protect the innocent, and to put other people's need before your own."
Batman's eyes softened at those words, thinking of his own father. "Your father seems like a great man."
"Yeah." Gohan agreed, giving a childish smile. "He can be silly, but he taught me everything I know. He's the main reason I'm as powerful as I am."
"Wait," Flash interrupted, "What do you mean by that? Did your dad train you or something?"
"Yep." Gohan responded simply.
"But, don't you think you're a little too young for that? You can't be more than twelve."
"Uh…I'm actually ten."
At this, every one of the Leaguers' eyes except for J'onn's widened. They had gotten saved by a TEN YEAR-OLD? Never had they heard of someone with that kind of power at that age. Noticing all of their reactions, Gohan muttered quietly,
"Well, I'm almost eleven…"
"Someone's been taking his vitamins." Flash mumbled to Superman, who fought back a chuckle.
"Where's your father now?" Batman asked.
At this, Gohan's smile faded, and for a brief moment, Batman could see an underlying trace of fear and sadness in those obsidian eyes, reflecting a maturity far beyond his years.
'There it is again.' Batman thought, 'Just like J'onn, this kid is hiding something important from the rest of us. Whatever it is, it has something to do with his father.'
"Look, it doesn't matter how old I am." Gohan said, purposely ignoring Batman's question and standing up. "All that matters is that I'm here to help you guys, whether you want it or not. So do you trust me?"
The six Leaguers looked at each other, a silent conversation going on between them, before finally making a decision, and turning back to the boy.
"We trust you." Superman said.
"No need to worry, kid." Green Lantern added, putting a hand on his shoulder. "Given the situation, we'll take all the help we can get."
Gohan looked up at John and gave a small smile, appreciating the support.
"In the meantime, kid." Batman spoke, "I believe introductions are in order." Reaching up, he removed the cowl on his face to reveal a handsome man with rich black hair and sparkling blue eyes. "In the League I'm known as Batman, but in everyday life, I go by Bruce Wayne."
Both Flash and Green Lantern's eyes instantly widened in surprise. They had not expected Batman to even reveal his identity, let alone be Bruce Wayne, wealthy billionaire and notorious womanizer.
"Uh, Bats." Flash said, raising his hands in caution. "Are you so sure you want to tell this kid who we are? I mean, I trust him enough, but I'm not sure I'm ready to…"
"Wally," Bruce interjected, making the Flash wince at the sound of his real name. "This is not the time. Like J'onn said, we have to blend in with the populace in order to have any chance of sneaking past the Thanagarian army. Whether you like it or not, the mask comes off. NOW."
Flash stood there for a second, turning to look at the remaining members who were all gazing back at him expectantly. Realizing he was the only one left wearing a mask, he huffed and pulled it backwards to reveal a youthful face with shocking red hair.
"Flash is my superhero name." Wally said to Gohan, "But my real name is Wally West."
Diana was next. "Diana of Themyscira, Wonder Woman."
"John Stewart, Green Lantern."
"J'onn J'onzz, though some on this planet have taken to calling me the Martin Manhunter."
And finally, Superman walked up to Gohan and held out a hand in greeting, a friendly smile on his face.
"Clark Kent, Superman."
Gohan looked at the proffered hand for only a second, before grinning himself and taking it in a firm handshake, one that Superman noted had a lot of strength behind it.
"I don't go by any superhero name." The Saiyan said, "My name is Gohan, and I hope that I'll be able to prove myself essential in helping you guys."
"For the sake of the entire planet," Superman agreed, "We hope so too."
Suddenly, a suit jacket hit Clark in the face, surprising him.
"Change." Bruce ordered, walking past, "Now."
A few minutes later, the seven were all dressed in much less obvious clothing, standing in the edge of the alleyway beside the store and looking out into the street. Gohan, knowing the Thanagarian army would easily notice his spiky hair, had covered it with a baseball cap, and had traded his armor for a plain black t-shirt and blue jeans.
"We need to split up." John said. "They'll be looking for seven of us. We can split up into two groups of two and one group of three."
"A rendezvous point?" J'onn asked.
"We're about thirty miles from Gotham city." Bruce muttered. "We can regroup at my house there. Gohan, you resemble me and Diana the most, so it would be best for you to come with us and act like we're a family."
"Okay. That makes sense." Gohan agreed.
"Now everyone, remember. Try and keep a low profile."
Quietly, Bruce, Diana, and Gohan walked out of the alleyway to the right, while Superman and J'onn began crossing the street, leaving Wally and John to exit to the left.
"Thirty miles through hawk-infested territory." Wally huffed, rolling his eyes. "No problem."
The three groups went their separate ways, while the nearby Thanagarians were none the wiser.
Meanwhile, back on the Thanagarian mothership, Hro Talak was on the video feed with Paran Dul, the main lieutenant in charge of constructing the supposed force shield on Earth, while Shayera worked nearby.
"The construction proceeds as scheduled." Dul announced. "We have added humans to the workforce."
"Are they of any use?" Talak questioned, raising an eyebrow.
"They have no technical expertise to speak of. But they can carry and lift as well as any animal. We should complete the project by the target date."
"Be aware that the Justice League has escaped, and that they seem to have recruited a boy with the same powers as Superman. Stand ready for an attack."
"Let them come." Dul said, not at all concernced. "It would only be suicide."
"Keep me informed of your progress. And Paran, let nothing delay you." Talak's scowl deepened at his own words.
"By your command." And with that, the video feed ended.
Shayera, having listened to the entire conversation, walked up to Talak, an anxious look on her face.
"Humans working as slaves?" She questioned.
"Unfortunate, but necessary." Talak dismissed. "We are on an unforgiving schedule. And if we're going to finish the Hyperspace Bypass in time…"
"Bypass?" Shayera interrupted, growing increasingly concerned. "I thought we were building a force shield."
"That was merely the cover story."
Shayera stared disbelievingly, her mouth in the beginnings of a frown. "…So when were you going to tell me your real plans? Or didn't you think you could trust me?"
The two regarded each other for a few seconds, neither one breaking eye contact, before Talak relented.
"Come." He said, directing her into another room, where he proceed to turn on a monitor that displayed a diagram of planets and stars. As Shayera watched, a line went through each of the planets, connecting them in a chain.
"For decades," Talak narrated, "the Gordanian home world has been protected behind an impregnable defensive line. But this chain of Hyperspace bypasses, will allow our armadas to jump behind their defenses, and make a direct assault on the heart of their empire. Earth is the last link in that chain. Once the chain is completed, we can attack and wipe out the Gordanian threat forever."
"But if we open a hole in Hyperspace, it will destroy this entire planet." Shayera realized in shock.
"Sadly, yes." Talak admitted, not looking too sorry about it. "For Thanagar to live, Earth must die."
Shayera's mouth opened, a horrorstricken look on her face. Slowly, she turned away from Talak and began walking back to her private headquarters.
'Is saving the planet of my people really worth all of these humans' lives?' She thought. 'Thanagar may be my home, but the people of Earth have taken me in and practically accepted me as one of their own, at least until recently. And the Justice League, they were some of the best friends I ever had, especially John.'
Smiling sadly, she looked out the window into the starry night.
'I don't know what to do.' She confessed. 'But for the sake of this planet, I sure hope the Justice League does. And this new kid, I hope he's as powerful as they say he is. The League's going to need the help.'
"They were here." Lieutenant Kragger determined, looking at the tags on the floor of the clothing store. Just moments ago, he had gotten word from one of the soldiers that they had found evidence to the whereabouts of the Justice League. The abandoned cuffs and broken door handle had been enough, but these tags just sealed it. He instantly spoke into his communicator.
"The Justice League is trying to pass themselves off as civilians. Search door to door, question everyone. Do not let them slip away."
Meanwhile, a few blocks away, Bruce, Diana, and Gohan were casually walking down the street, looking no less suspicious than the rest of the humans. They came up to a nearby electronics store, where a Thanagarian officer was broadcast speaking calmly to the viewers.
"We are here to serve the people of Earth." He said. "We serve the people, by making certain that you do is in your best interest. What is in your best interest, is to do as we say. Only by obeying us, can we serve you."
The three tried hard not to show their anger at the statement as they passed the store, but it became hard as they neared a man and woman being hounded by two hawk soldiers.
"Your, identification." The one soldier spoke in a monotone voice, snatching the woman's purse.
"Hey, leave her alone!" The man said, trying to intervene, but he was quickly shoved to the ground.
Scowling, Diana made to move forward, but was stopped by Bruce grabbing on to her arm.
"Diana, no."
She glared back at Bruce. "You would stand here and do nothing?"
"We can't risk a confrontation here."
"He's right." Gohan added, tugging his cap further over his hair. "We wouldn't have many ways to conceal ourselves if we were caught."
However, it seemed the three heroes weren't the ones in need of concealing.
"Hey, birdheads!" A teenager in a building above the scene shouted. "Go back to where you came from! Get off our planet!" As he said this, he and his friend chucked a few rocks at the soldiers, which balanced harmlessly off their armor. Still, it prompted the one soldier to shoot his laser at them. Just missing the teenagers, the laser did break of a chunk of the building, which began falling towards the man and woman.
Having had enough, Diana rushed forward and grabbed the two, flying them off to a safe spot. The soldiers stared at the display dumbly for a few seconds, which gave Bruce just enough time to knock out one of the guards with a flying side kick, while Gohan appeared out of nowhere next to the other and incapacitated him with a swift chop to the neck. The three stood in place for a second, and…
"Over there, it's the Justice League!" Another soldier shouted out, coming from out of the adjacent alleyway with his partner in tow, their lasers firing at the discovered heroes. The three had no choice but to begin running.
"So much for blending in!" Bruce said, narrowly dodging the beams. Rounding the corner of the street, Bruce and Gohan continued running, while Diana grabbed a lamppost and easily ripped it off the ground. As the two soldiers reached the corner, Diana appeared in their view and swung the lamp like a baseball bat, smashing the hawk-men into the side of the building and effectively putting them out of commission. But they were not alone, and soon enough more lasers were shot at Diana's feet.
Bruce, having run back, grabbed Diana's arm and jerked her out of sight, and the three continued down the sidewalk. They realized that they were quickly running out of options. If they didn't find a secure place to hide now, they would be forced to fight, and would unavoidably draw the attention of the entire Thanagarian army.
However, fate was smiling at them that night, as they reached a nearby restaurant, and a short man in a turban ran out to greet them.
Motioning with his hand, the man said urgently, "In here!"
The three stopped beside the man, looking at each other nervously, then looking behind them where they knew the hawk-people would be soon.
"Please, hurry!"
Nodding, they all ran inside the restaurant, and the man closed the door just before the Thanagarians rounded the corner. Once inside, the man began leading the heroes to a table on the far end.
"We can't stay here." Bruce reasoned. "If they find you helping us…"
Shaking his head, the man brought them to the empty seats. "Sit here."
He motioned to his wife, who hastily wrapped a blue cloth around Diana's forehead and tied it together.
"Wait!" Diana whispered to Gohan, "Your hat! It's too identifiable!"
Blanching, Gohan ripped off the hat and hid it under the table, but as he did, he also realized, "But without my hat, they'll see my hair and recognize me from before!"
"Well you have to do something with it!" Bruce growled. "Find a way to disguise it, and fast!"
Gohan frantically went over his options. 'Oh man, with the hat they'll notice me, without it they'll notice me. There's got to be another...wait, I know!'
Looking back at the door, he noticed the Thanagarian soldiers landing outside of the door, and knew he had very little time left.
'Ok Gohan, concentrate. This shouldn't be too hard at this point. Don't make a scene. Just relax and let it happen naturally.'
Taking a deep breath, Gohan raised his power as quickly as he could so that his aura wouldn't flash around him, and before he knew it, his hair had faded from raven black to bright golden-yellow. Looking up, he fingered a lock and smiled. He had done it.
He was a Super Sayian once again.
Bruce and Diana stared open-mouthed at what they had just seen, and were seriously considering bombarding him with questions right now, but they were stopped when one of the hawk soldiers opened the door to the restaurant and began looking inside. Reacting fast, Diana pulled Bruce's face in for a tender kiss.
The man in the turban composed himself and walked up to the hawk soldiers, his face one of mild interest.
The soldier said to him, "We're looking for a dark-haired man and woman, as well as a dark-haired boy in a low-brimmed hat."
"If perhaps, you could be more specific." The turbaned man responded, gesturing around him, where the soldier was a bit annoyed to see that nearly everyone in the restaurant had dark hair, and not one person had a hat on.
"Has anyone entered here recently?"
"…No."
"What about those three?" The soldier asked, pointing at Bruce, Diana, and Gohan.
"Ah, the lovebirds." The man replied, as Bruce and Diana continued to kiss each other. "Been there with their son for hours."
Deciding to play along with the act, Gohan put on a fake, whiny voice and cried, "C'mon mom! C'mon dad! We've been here all day! I wanna go home!"
Stopping their kiss, Bruce and Diana smiled at each other, with Bruce fake-admonishing, "Consider this a punishment for what you did to your hair without our permission." The two adults began kissing again.
Smiling, the turbaned man said to the Thanagarian, "The boy you described did not have golden hair, is that correct?"
"Yes it is."
"Then I see no reason to pursue any further in this establishment."
Grunting, the hawk-man said to his comrades, "Let's move on," and they all left.
Seeing them leave, Diana finally broke away from the kiss and gave Bruce an embarrassed, "Sorry."
"Don't be." Bruce said, flashing his trademark playboy smirk.
The turbaned man walked back to the trio and brought them out of their seats. "Follow me." He said, taking them to the back door. Once there, Diana removed her bandana and laid it to side, leaving the building with a renewed determination. Gohan followed, opting to stay Super Saiyan for the time being, seeing as he no longer had his baseball cap, and Bruce came out last, giving one last thankful nod to the turbaned man before closing the door behind him.
"Alright." Bruce said, catching Diana's and Gohan's attention. "We've still got a long way to go before we get to my house. But if we can at least make it out of this city, I can contact my butler, Alfred, and he can drive us there."
"Sounds like a plan." Diana approved, continuing to lead the way. Gohan began to follow, but was stopped when Bruce grabbed his arm.
"What's the matter?" Gohan asked, staring into Bruce's bright blue eyes, which were narrowed dangerously.
"Just because the rest of the League and I trust you now," Bruce growled, leaning in close, "That doesn't mean I'm not suspicious of what you can do. Especially with that little stunt you just pulled back there, I have more reason to be concerned as to whether or not you pose a threat to us."
Bruce wasn't exactly sure what Gohan had done back in the restaurant, but he knew it had to be more than simple shape-shifting abilities. Knowing J'onn, he knew that shape-shifting did not require that much effort to accomplish, and even when he tried to reason that Gohan could just be inexperienced with his powers, he remembered how effortlessly Gohan had destroyed the prison ship.
That, coupled with how Gohan reacted to the mention of his father, gave Bruce reason to believe he could either become a great asset, or a very real danger.
Gohan merely stared back at Bruce. "Believe me." He said, "I'm not going to become a threat to you. I'm here to help you."
Bruce let go of his arm. "Okay, I do believe you for now. But I hope you understand that once we figure out exactly what the Thanagarians are up to, you'll probably be in for a fight unlike anything you've ever experienced."
Smiling sadly, Gohan said, "Somehow, I seriously doubt that."
Bruce could only stare as Gohan left to find Diana, before reminding himself of what they had to do and following behind. Clearly, the boy was not unfamiliar to the pains of battle, and once again, Bruce could sense an odd development within him, reflecting a man before his time.
'Kind of like I was, when I lost my parents.' Bruce thought, putting a hand to his chin. 'Hmmm…curiouser and curiouser.'
Author's Note: And that's chapter 3! Whew, this one was much harder than the first two, but I think it paid off. Already twenty-seven reviews as I'm posting this, so thanks to all that have responded. I tried to make it plausible that Gohan would have some issues, after all, he was forced into his first battle at age five, and has seen more people die than most people in general, let alone his own age. He isn't going to become completely angsty and out of character, but I'm going to try and develop his character in a way that probably should have been explored more in this show.
Anyway, J'onn has sensed a lot of his troubles now, Batman is getting suspicious, and even Diana has noticed a few things about our young Saiyan. It's not going to be easy for Gohan to hide everything he experienced, let alone his full powers. For the next few chapters, I will focus less on his troubles and more on the Thanagarian invasion and how it plays differently with Gohan in the mix. After that, I have plans for interactions between our main characters, which I'm still working on in my mind, but I hope play out well. Time to start working on chapter 4!
And yes, I did end on an Alice in Wonderland quote. Why? Because I felt like it.
Update: Sorry for the update, which may have made some of you believe chapter 4 was out already. I'm not that quick. Just had a typo that was really bugging me.