Soooo, this was a long time coming. I'd like to apologize since a combination of writer's block, real life, and probable burnout on this fic affected this chapter. At this point, I'm switching to a 'when I'm able to' update schedule to avoid me declaring it dead and gone. That, and so I can work on some other ideas I have. I don't want to be a one-trick pony.

Now, Onto Reviews:

Geek-God Of Speed: Frostbite was way too talkable because of story purposes. It wouldn't be interesting if Artemis and Robin bickered between themselves for several thousand words now, would it?

ThunderBasilisk: Honestly, I had toyed with the Light doing so in the story during the 5-year time skip, but I decided against it due to their canon stance on harming family: Nuclear Option.

Xenozip: Yeah, the whole 'getting the psychology' idea is something that should have been used more in canon to make the forms more distinct, but I'm not in control of it.

Also, Chimera will get a Tamaranean transformation in the 5-year time skip.

Death Fury, Diabolos Aides, Feb. 2 Guest: Thanks for the compliments.

Dec. 10 Guest: Yes, but it's gonna happen offscreen. I'm not going to write every single thing that happens during the time skips.

Casa De Ezekial

September 22nd, 2010 07:12 PST

I wake up to the sound of my phone ringing. Grabbing it, I see that Jessica's calling me. That's odd, why's she calling me at this hour?

I pick up the phone, trying not to yawn in the process. "Yello?"

"Zeke, it's Sara!" Says the voice of Sara Cruz. The spike of adrenaline wakes me up faster than teenage stupidity at my old high school. Baker, that place was such a chaotic mess.

"Sara, is everything okay? Why are you calling me?" I bite my lips, trying to hide the sense of urgency from my voice.

"It's Jessica. She had a panic attack and we can't really do anything to help. I hope you can do something to get her out of it."

As I can recall from my life, panic attacks are the worst. I remember spiraling into one that started the night I got Casa De Ezekial. Took me a while to get out of it since I didn't have anyone to pull me out of it.

"Okay, just remain there and send me your address. I'll be there ASAP."

I hear the sound of a text coming through, and it's the location of Jessica's home. I punch in directions on the maps for it, hang up the phone call, and make some English Breakfast tea to carry with me to Jessica's place before I head out of the home, making sure to lock the doors behind me.

Cruz Residence

September 22nd, 2010 07:43 PST

I knock on the door of the Cruz residence and I see Jessica's father open the door. Before he can say a word, I begin with "Hello sir, I'm Ezekial Arakelian, Jessica's friend."

"Welcome to our home. I'm Hector Cruz."

"I'd say it's nice meeting you, but we both know that it's a lie and that we would rather meet under better circumstances."

Hector chuckles. "I like you. Honest, but not maliciously so."

Odd, the phrasing implies something. "I assume people hurt Jess by being honest about their feelings to her?"

"Unfortunately, yes." Hector doesn't elaborate on the matter, not that he needs to. With fragile mental health like Jessica's, being the wrong kind of honest can push someone over the edge.

"So, where exactly is Jessica?" I ask.

Hector motions for me to follow him, and we walk up the stairs to a hall with six doors. We stop at one, and I hesitantly open the door. Inside, I see a room that can be best described as 'spartan', 'minimalistic', and my personal favorite, 'A physical representation of the mind of a college student with no path in life planned out'.

Inside the room, I see Jessica in a fetal position with Sara hugging her. I open my thermos, and Jessica seems to snap out of the fugue she was in. I tell Hector "Can I get two cups and some privacy, please?" and he nods.

Jessica looks at me expectantly, like a puppy who doesn't know why he's in trouble. "Jessica, glad to see you with us. We were worried about you. Wanna talk about what's on your mind?"

Jessica tries to wave off my concerns. "It's nothing, really…".

"If it was 'nothing', then your sister wouldn't call me asking for my help. Besides, I made tea."

"If you insist." Jessica sighs. "I was thinking about everything, really."

"Ah, I see. You were having a panic attack caused by spiraling deep into existentialism and your place in life, the universe, and everything."

Jessica blinks. "How…"

"-did I know? Simple. You're not the only one who had panic attacks fueled by them." While they did happen to me, they weren't as bad as a panic attack, merely a spiral down my thoughts until I was interrupted.

Hector walks in with two teacups and I pour the tea into cups. "Want to talk about it? I can guarantee you that it'll help, but I understand if you don't want to."

"No, it's okay. It's just…fear that one day the Aryan Brigade will find out who I am and make me suffer before killing me." As she continues, she starts to cry. I grab her in a hug and start to comfort her. She accepts the hug in kind, sobbing in my jacket as I do so.

Eventually, she stops crying and we drink the since cooled tea. Jessica turns to me and asks, "God, why did you make some cold tea?"

I look at her blankly. "I didn't. The tea cooled down while we were talking." Note to self: get some way to reheat tea while they are in their cups.

Jessica blushes and moves her head away. "Ah. Right."

We remain like that for a while, until Jessica's phone rings. The sheer shock on her face raises some concern from me, to which Jessica replies "College."

"Ah. I wouldn't really know what it's like, to go to campus to learn. I take online classes." Not that I had many plans to go to in-person classes had my college's campus reopened.

"Don't you work for the government?" Jessica questions. I can sense the unknown question: Shouldn't your hours accommodate for this?

"The hours of the job aren't concrete because they sometimes call all hands on deck, you know?"

Jessica looks at me, before nodding. "I do, actually. Speaking of which, I better get going. Professor Boardman is surprisingly strict about his students being on time."

I chuckle. "I wouldn't know. I was known for having near-perfect attendance back in high school."

"Oh, tell me later. Right now, I have to change and head to college."

"I'll head out. Bye." I wave my arm and I walk outside of the room.

"Bye." I head downstairs and I say my goodbyes to Jessica's family. Hmm, now what to do?

I check my calendar and I see that in about four hours, Dick and Artemis are going to be dismissed from their first day of school and will head to the cave once they finish with first-day preparations.

Trolling them sounds like my cup of tea (pun not intended). But first, I need to put stuff away. I'm not gonna take anything more than my phone and wallet to Gotham City.

Gotham City Zeta Tube

September 22nd, 2010 19:42 EDT

I stand by the Gotham City Zeta Tube. Looking around, I see Artemis walk up to the tube. Flashing a smile, I ask her "So, how was your day?"

Artemis shrugs. "Eh, it was fine. Gotham Academy's just full of stuck-up trust fund brats who don't know how the unfortunate in Gotham suffer."

It's at this point Robin chimes in. "Hey, I'm pretty sure your classmates are fine people."

Artemis gasps, and I chuckle before asking him "Speaking from experience?"

"Yep!" He notably doesn't speak about how he knows about high society, much to Artemis' confusion, which she covers up with stereotypical tsundereness.

"As much as this standoff is amusing, let's head to The Cave so you two can complain about your first day to everyone else and compare experiences." With that said, I walk into the Zeta Tube after punching in the codes for three Cave beamings.

Mount Justice

September 22nd, 2010 19:49 EDT

I walk into the cave and I immediately see a fireball being lobbed at me. I dodge, do a flip, and dial in Oceania.

"Alright, I'll give you one warning: Leave. NOW." I gurgle out. The sound of fireballs soaring through the air fills the mission room, nearly masking the sounds of the Zeta Tube. "If you insist. Just don't come crying when we wreck you."

"Get down!" Robin yells at Artemis, who dodges. Robin then throws two discs at the smoke, only for said discs to be destroyed by an explosion. I whip up an ice barrier, which buys us a precious few seconds to breathe before the fire melts it.

"Who are we fighting?!" Artemis screams. I see two humanoid figures come out from the smoke, their footsteps clanging on the ground.

"A pyrokinetic, obviously. Must have some form of backup and technical aid, and had previously ambushed everyone else present, given their position of power over us." Suddenly, I sense a flow of water coming from the exit. "Correction, a hydrokinetic and a pyrokinetic with technical aid and likely backup. Speaking of which, avoid the exit."

I'll have to see if I can get the Justice League to allow security upgrades now that I have something more concrete than common sense and hypotheticals. Sure, Joker once broke in here, but that was with a key and yet, no retinal scans were added later. They merely abandoned the Cave and set up both the Hall of Justice and the Watchtower. What were they thinking?

Before I could vent more, a flood of water comes in, and I shape a water bubble that I catch Robin and Artemis in. We all flee the other way, narrowly avoiding fireballs and what I hope is a stream of fire.

We walk into the gym and I create a large glacier of ice to block the doors. I check the Omnitrix comms, Robin checks the normal comms, and Artemis presumably checks the telepathic comms. My best guess is they're all down since any intruders worth half a damn would do so.

Running into the showers, I freeze the pipes before our assailants can use them.

"Robin to Batcave: Override RG-4. Cave calling Justice League- HOJ/Watchtower. B01-Priority Red." As Robin makes the call, both Robin and Artemis turn on the showers to the max, while I start work on ending the- holy shit, is that a fire tornado?! That's so awesome!

I manage to freeze the fire tornado, absentmindedly making a note to copy the move when I get Pyroclasm, my Pyronite sample. That move can scare the absolute shit out of everyone.

"Comm is down, blocked. And the water isn't flowing!" Thank you, Robin.

"Relax, I froze the pipes. Now, let me make the call." With that, I active the Omnitrix comms and set it to the 'Absolutely fucking urgent, answer it immediately if you can cover your secret identity' security level. Not the actual name, of course, but it's more fun to name it that than 'Communication Security Level 9'.

I activate the comms. "Chimera to all points, the Cave has been breached by a pyrokinetic and a hydrokinetic working together, origins unknown. Other members of The Team are unresponsive, but I believe they are incapacitated. Need immediate backup, but quality is preferred over quantity." And now we wait.

The beep beep beep of the Omnitrix rings, indicating a time out. Damn it. Suddenly, I hear the sound of calls coming through.

"This is Batman. I have prior engagements in my civilian identity that I cannot put off. However, I will be there ASAP."

"Superman here. I'll be able to reach you within the next hour."

And on and on it went. For whatever reason, we'll be on our own for a while, though one call is notable.

"This is Red Tornado. I am currently making my way from Providence to the Cave, as the Zeta Tubes were nonfunctional."

"Red Tornado, could you repeat the last bit you said?" I ask, worried that I misheard.

"All Zeta Tubes are nonfunctional." Shit, I didn't. No wonder why The Team went down easy.

"Odd, Robin, Artemis, and I were able to use the Zeta Tubes, which adds to my theory that our intruders have technical prowess."

"Understood." With that, we end our comms. "Robin," I ordered, "Blow up the wall leading to the hallway. We need to get out of here ASAP."

Robin does so, and we head to the kitchen. "We need to get lost."

I try to see where we can go, and Artemis points out the somewhat obvious: "The air vent!" She yells, pointing to the vent above the oven.

I blink. "Isn't it a little to-No wait, Batman designed the cave. He has secret passageways everywhere."

Artemis and I then open the vent. I climb inside, thankful for the extensive exercise regimen I went through earlier while Artemis turns around and asks Robin "What are you-"

I hear a vague response of something involving blueprints before Artemis and Robin climb up. I hear some beeps, a "Go left" and the sound of fire crackling. A "Too close" followed by "First right. There's a vent cover in front of you."

I break the cover and the three of us drop down into the maintenance area. Robin pulls up the map and tells us to go down.

Suddenly, the pyrokinetic appears, and we jump down next to what I hope is a steam detector, beeping red. "That's not good."

"No shit." I snark.

We run like hell, managing to narrowly avoid the fire blasts. Robin checks his map again, and I look around with Artemis.

"I know that the access tunnel is here somewhere." Robin mutters.

Artemis and I pull up a vent cover, and Artemis asks "This one?"

We jump down, and Robin gets out a birdarang, pulls open a cover, and disables all internal sensors, smugly noting that the enemy can't track us now. Artemis angrily asks who's the enemy, and Robin pulls up security camera footage.

Looking at it, we see our four teammates in their uniforms talk around a motorcycle that Kid Flash is repairing. A comment about Artemis's loyalties from Aqualad causes Artemis to glare as if she despises the idea of being a villain. Which, knowing her, she does, given how villainy ruined her family.

Suddenly, an explosion occurs, taking down the camera. "Robin, can you pull up other angles?"

Wordlessly, Robin does so, and we see silent ambushes done by water and fire. Despite Superboy's full Kryptonian package and telekinesis, he seems to be downed. Most likely by drowning. He's most likely incapacitated right through a combination of threats of more drowning and M'gann's life.

"That's it. All four are dead." Both Artemis and I look horrified at Robin. "The cameras! I me-meant the cameras! I'm sure the others are okay. Just give me a sec to find the fastest route to the hangar."

"Yeah, they're fine. They've all got superpowers. They can handle anything." Artemis snarks.

"Baker, who pissed in your Honey Bunches of Oats?" I rhetorically ask Artemis as we continue crawling through the vents.

Eventually, we reach the library and jump down. "There's a secret passageway behind one of these bookcases." Robin notes.

As we go down to ground level, Artemis asks "Seriously, cliche much?"

"You should see the Batcave."

"I have," I note. "Not really impressive when it comes to uniqueness."

"How did you visit the Batcave?" Artemis asks.

"Batman knocked me out on my first day and kidnapped me to interrogate me about everything about me." I respond in a hurried whisper.

Artemis blinks. "Uhhhh…."

"It was the weirdest day of my life, what can I say? I was happy that I had some form of room and board."

We hear a sudden noise, and we immediately arm ourselves before hiding behind a bookcase. Metallic footsteps ring across the library.

"Artemis. Robin. Chimera." We hear a robotic voice ring. I load up the Omnitrix and I lock in Aegis, my Vuldarian sample; Artemis readies her bow, and Robin grabs some birdarangs from his utility belt. Given the math we did in our heads, it's not Red Tornado by any metric save for a precognitive one.

We wait for a bit and the rogue android walks past us before turning around. It sees us and lifts its hands in the air, which summons all the water in the pipes to it. Damnit, and I already locked in Aegis. Ah, well.

I push the core down, and I feel my biology become more fluid, more flexible. My physiology becomes like putty in my hands- no, wait, poor example - more like a set of nearly infinite reconfigurable organic nanotech. On the outside, the iris of my eyes disappear, making my eyes solid green, and various markings made of blue, red, and yellow appear on my skin.

With the transformation complete, I immediately form gills and fly up to Red Lake. He tries drowning me but fails because a hydrokinetic against a water breather usually results in the waterbreather's victory. Suddenly, the other android appears and blasts fire at me. I quickly counter it by making my skin and organs fireproof while also setting up a filter for smoke inhalation.

"What are they?!" I hear Artemis' question.

"Best guess: Red Tornado's siblings that he's unaware of. Worst guess: Failed clones of Red Tornado who want to kill him out of jealousy over his perfection." I snark back. So sue me, I snark under stress, it's one habit I picked up to hide how scared I am, the other being the boasts I make.

I then harden my skin just in time to shatter the arm of the hydrokinetic android. "You guys go on ahead, I'll join up once I wreck the two."

"But-" Robin begins before I shut him down.

"No buts! You're in more danger than me, so you need to get the hell out of the room ASAP! I have some superpowers, and I can survive anything! Now GO!"

I hear an electronic whir, and I assume that the two made it out of the library. Thank Baker.

Now then, what to do with these two? I know for a fact that while I have a time limit on my powers, they don't. I can't fight harder, but I can fight smarter, but how can I do that?

Alright, let's go from the top. What do I know about my opponents? First, they're- I take the fireball aimed for me without flinching- a pyrokinetic and a hydrokinetic. The pyrokinetic seems to be limited by the fire she generates, while the hydrokinetic is limited by the water around him. Second, they used tactics, which means they possess some form of artificial intelligence or are remote controlled, but I'm leaning towards the former because of point three: They have similar designs to Red Tornado, which means that: a) They must be Red Tornado's predecessors, which means b) they're most likely Morrow's work and c) they must have some vulnerability to electromagnetic pulses.

Damn, now how am I going to get an EMP at this time of day, in this part of the country?! Suddenly, it hits me. God, I'm such an idiot at times.

I facepalm, much to the confusion of the androids. How did I forget that I practiced making an EMP with Shockhenge?

I slam the Omnitrix core, and I switch to Shockhenge and make an electric field. The androids step back, frightened of what I can do. Good. Up next is an electromagnetic pulse. Here goes nothing.

I immediately start consolidating a good chunk of Shockhenge's electricity into an orb, letting it build up for two minutes before I release it. The effect is instantaneous: The androids shut down, stuck in the motion of attacking, the waterfalls, and the fire vanishes in thin air. I look at the two and I can't help but make a parting dig. "I told you that you'll regret coming here. We're not so nice to intruders."

I hit the Omnitrix core and detransform, not wanting to waste necessary charge on something that's already over. Besides, it takes about two minutes, maybe more, maybe less (I have a horrible sense of time tracking) for a full recharge when detransforming before the time is up.

I wait for a bit, looking at the androids to see if they've only been playing possum. Eventually, I see the rest of the Team come into the library. "So, I saw the footage, but it got cut off shortly after you four were unconscious. What happened after that?"

"When we woke up, Connor and I were trapped in chunks of metal while M'gann and Kaldur were in a cage of fire. We were pretty much stuck there since escaping caused the fire cage to flare for a bit." Wally responds. Ah, a clever idea. Using hostages as a substitute for kryptonite. "So, any word from Red?"

"Last we all checked, he was flying in from Providence, given the fact that the Zeta Tubes were likely compromised because he was unable to access them while we were able to." I then look around and realize something's off. "Hey, where's M'gann?"

"She's resting," Connor replied. "The fire cage gave her some problems, and it'll take her time to recover. She'll be fine by tomorrow, though."

I sigh. "Thank Baker for small miracles. Now, can somebody help me carry these two to the mission room? I think I need to have a peek inside them, to see how they tick and whatnot."

Wally blinks. "Didn't you fry the whole cave with an EMP?"

"Some experiments with Upgrade reveal that Upgrade can repair machines affected by EMPs." Comes in handy, obviously.

"Ah, great, because you fried our phones," Wally complains.

"I'll fix your phones once we head to the mission room and fix everything there. Best to kill two birds with one stone and whatnot."

"Yeah, yeah," Wally grumbles.

We walk to the mission room and I turn into Upgrade. As the familiar feeling of my cells being turned into technorganic nanites passes through me, I do a scan of the technology of the cave. It's fried but can recover given time. Compare that to the cell phones, which need a complete replacement of their circuitry, which I am more than capable of doing.

A few minutes to accelerate the repairs later and I start more thorough scans on the two androids. "Alright, let's see what we have here." Just in case, I pull up scans of Red Tornado to see if there are similarities.

A comparison of the three reveals a pattern: A gradual advancement of the same technology and programming. Curious. And it's League knowledge that Red Tornado was made to infiltrate the Justice Society, only flipping due to overriding his own safeguards.

These two were predecessors most likely, given the relative advancement of technology between 'Red Torpedo', 'Red Inferno', and Red Tornado. Literal cutting edge technology in robots capable of revolutionizing the entire robotics industry regardless if it was on this Earth or my original Earth, and it's wasted on this. Just what the fuck goes on in some people's heads?

Note to self: Push for cheaper therapy rates and widespread universal basic income. Those two should lower super-villainy rates and come to think of it, normal crime as well.

"Alright," I pop my head out of the mission room computers "These are Red Tornado's older siblings, so to speak."

"I was not aware I had any relations." Red Tornado says as he walks in waaaay too late.

"We all have something hidden from ourselves. But that's not the point," I respond, "The point is: where the hell were you?"

"Monitor duty on the Watchtower. I assume everyone's safe and sound?" Red Tornado seems to ignore my anger entirely.

Connor responds. "As much as we can get in this situation."

"I see. Do you mind if I do an inspection of my siblings?" Red Tornado asks.

"As if you needed my permission. Go ahead, you know how you tick more than I do." I hit the Omnitrix core, ready to rejoin the organics after I had finished repairing the phones. Red Tornado walks up to his siblings, touches them, and starts siphoning the air out of the area. While everybody struggles to move, I try to hit the Omnitrix, only to pass out before doing so.

Sometime later, I open my eyes and I see the League stand around me.

"What happened here?" I hear Superman ask, and I groan. I literally sent them a message over Omnitrix Communication Security Level 9. How did they forget?

"What happened?! The Reds happened! Tornado and his- wait, where are they?" Artemis questions.

"Gone." Somehow, I just know it. "And knowing Tornado, they're hidden from the League's sensor systems. They could be anywhere."

"Agreed. Which is why the League will handle the situation." Batman growls.

"Fine. On another related note, I would like to- once again- open discussions on renovations to Mount Justice's security systems." I grumble, not expecting much from this.

"And I will have to shoot them down once more. The renovations require an overhaul of the Mountain's systems, which require Green Lanterns to prevent the mountain's collapse, which would tip off our enemies to the revived usage of the cave." I hate this song and dance. Every single time I try to file security renovations to the cave, I get the same exact answer and any attempts to get around the problem result in failure.

"Fine. I hate that we still can't upgrade our security, even when we have actual examples as to why it's necessary, but we can't have everything we want in this world. Now, does anyone have any other concerns?"

"I do," M'gann says weakly.

"You have the floor," I gesture.

M'gann sighs. "I have spent a long time thinking about things, and the attack just cemented things in my mind."

I feel a fist clench my heart and alarm bells ring in my ears. "M'gann, what are you saying?" This is not gonna be good, I can feel it in my bones.

M'gann takes a deep breath. "...I'm thinking of turning into a Burning Martian." And that was the moment you could feel the room just stop. While most of the Leaguers are confused, the Team and the Leaguers in the know are

"...I'm assuming that the attack just hammered in doubts that you already had?" I speak up since nobody else is willing to.

"YES. It was so frustrating to be taken down by a fire cage when I could lift things with my mind!"

Connor speaks up. "M'gann, don't you want to be comfortable in your own body?" I feel the room grow several degrees colder. Did M'gann never tell Connor about her White Martian heritage?

M'gann suddenly shifts into her White Martian form. Ridges grow from her now chalk-white body, her abdomen narrows, and she develops pale pinkish wings like that you see from a flying squirrel underneath her now narrow arms, her lips are just gone, revealing her teeth and gums, and her eyes are pupil less red dots. "I never felt comfortable in my own body! I ran away from home because I wanted to have friends that weren't my little brother! And despite having 26 siblings, I only ever felt close to my only White sibling, the little brother I mentioned earlier!"

Baker. I knew some of this stuff, but hearing her reveal it all out now… I think the one-two punch of Biyala and the cave intrusion just caused a few cracks to appear a bit early. Fuck me. What other changes did I cause to this timeline by complete accident because I can't recall the original one?

Looking around, I see that the outburst affected everyone pretty badly. Black Canary's tense, probably spiraling down a rabbit hole of trying to help, Major Atom's just straight-up pretending that everything's fine, both Aquaman and Batman are glaring, Flash's jaw drops, and Green Arrow's eyes widen.

"M'gann…" Connor speaks up, "Why didn't you say so earlier?"

"Because, Connor," And here M'gann shifts into her Miss Martian form, "I never really felt like I could trust you or anyone else here. Hell, I only started to trust Zeke when he accepted me shortly despite the fact that I read his mind shortly after I met him."

Everyone, save for the lovebirds, starts to look at me. "What, you wanted me to get angry for not knowing about human cultural norms? I got angry at her for finding out about my big secret, which she apologized for shortly after."

"Just what the hell is your big secret?" I hear Wally mutter. I obviously do not reply, instead giving a cryptic smirk.

M'gann and Connor continue either staring passionately into each other's eyes or arguing telepathically. I'm not sure which is going on and I'd rather not interrupt what would become an important part of their lives.

Eventually, M'gann blinks, announces "I'm going to my room." and sulks away to her room in the cave.

"Well, that just happened." Somebody- I'm not sure who- muttered underneath their breath.

"Y'know what?" I rhetorically ask everyone. "I'm gonna check on her to see if she's okay. You guys can continue on without me."

I walk down the hallways and I head to the dormitories- which remind me, I need to check to see if I need to replace anything. Come to think of it, I think I should move my Chimera action figure collection here as well. Much safer here, on account that supervillain attacks are less likely to occur. Homeowners' insurance alone is a mess in a supervillain populated city like Coast.

I knock on M'gann's door, and I hear a telepathic GO AWAY! Thank god it didn't go through my eardrums. I continue knocking on the door, outright saying "I won't stop knocking until you open the door and let me in."

Eventually, the door opens and M'gann stares at me. "What do you want?"

"To continue acting like the big brother figure you always wanted in your life. Which I can't do if you shut out everyone out of spite, somewhat like what I did back home." Now, why did I feel like I made a movie reference without realizing it?

M'gann sighs. "Come on in. And close the door."

I do so, and I begin with my questioning. "I'm assuming that you secretly debated turning yourself into a Burning Martian shortly after Biayla?"

M'gann narrows her eyes. "Yeah, where are you going with this?"

"You'll see. And when you were debating it, you fully supported the idea when you got caught in the fire cage? Am I right or am I right?"

M'gann frowns. "You're right."

"So why should we convert you into a Burning Martian now when it's clear that you aren't of sound mind when you decided it?"

M'gann's face droops for a bit, before regaining what can be (no pun intended) described as fire. It seems that she's either stubborn in the idea or the combination of her trauma, body dysmorphia, and love for Connor is making her refuse other options than 'Turn me into a Burning Martian to keep Connor safe'.

M'gann speaks up. "Because I don't want to be crippled in life or death situations because of something so common."

I nod. "I get it."

A slightly frustrated "I don't think you do." is all I get as a response.

"Really, I do. I don't use CheMystery frequently because Berzeliusans are reliant on wind for delivery, and one wrong wind current is enough to ruin my day; Construct breaks upon sufficient application of force, Greenhouse is vulnerable to plant pesticides, Starsenal is crippled by his own metabolism, et cetera, et cetera. Trying to get around those weaknesses is a pain, y'know?"

At least, not without making an Evolutionary Simulator, which I refuse to do due to a combination of not wanting to risk tampering with the Omnitrix (I still remember Ben's many mishaps with doing so) and a general distaste for the Ultimate forms. They're cool-looking, but playing God isn't something I need to add to my résumé.

I sigh. I think M'gann's just not letting the idea go. "Look, how about this? After you discuss this with your uncle and he agrees with it, I'll make sure that you'll become a Burning Martian, no questions asked. It won't be immediate, but I'll see what I can do. Capiche?"

"Capiche?" M'gann parrots.

I resist the urge to groan. "It means 'Do you understand?'"

M'gann nods. "I do."

"Thank Baker." I mutter under my breath. Speaking out loud, I tell M'gann "I'm gonna head out now. Call me if you need anything."

"Will do." And with that awkward goodbye, I leave. I hate not having anything better to say than that. God, there are times when I just crash and burn regarding social situations no matter what I do.

I then head to my room to check for water damage. Thankfully, I have nothing to worry about regarding electronics, but I do need to check for water damage on furniture. The life of a superhero isn't always glamorous.

I open the door, and I see that my room has some bursting pipes and a huge pile of water. A close look reveals that the mattress is water damaged, and probably has been for a couple of hours. I get out my phone and make a checklist of things to do in my room. Once that's done, I decide to head back to the mission room.

While the room's still quiet, mostly from M'gann's revelations, I see that Hal and John have replaced Batman and Aquaman, most likely for repairs. "So, how're things?" I ask.

"Pretty rough," Robin answers. "Connor's not handling things very well. Artemis and Kid are probably realizing their feelings for each other, Kaldur's wondering how he failed as a leader-"

"Which is ridiculous, he's just worrying because he thinks that the problems of everyone under his command are his problems as well. M'gann never told you all about her being a White Martian out of social anxiety."

"Speaking of which," Wally opens his mouth "Aren't we gonna ignore that M'gann's been lying to us the whole time?"

"Hey! What the fuck makes you think you have the right to know everything?!" Artemis yells.

"Look, I'm just saying that-"

"Because someone lied to you out of justified concerns that you'll reject them bases on past experiences they had that it's okay to treat them harshly? That's what you sound like, Wally."

Wally stiffens, thinking to himself. After a while, he puts his head down and mutters "Yeah, you're right."

"Anyways," Robin forcefully changes the topic "Bats is getting us a new member before having the League handle the Red Tornado investigation." I raise my eyebrow. How did he get Cass Cain already? The raid must've gone either better than I expected (only mooks were present), worse than I expected (Shiva or Cain was there), or never happened at all (Cass ran away already).

Still, that raises some issues regarding Cass's family. Here's hoping that's being dealt with as soon as possible. I don't want an army of ninjas invading Gotham

Noticing that Robin's looking around for some reaction, I respond with a tense "We're getting a new member? Do we know anything about him or her?" I, of course, know a few things, but I'd rather hear it from somebody else. After all, this universe plays it fast and loose with preconceptions, so who knows what's going on here. Just take a look at Jessica Cruz and Zatanna Zatara.

"Right. The new girl, Cassandra Wu-San. Daughter of David Cain, missing, presumed deceased; and you guessed it, Lady Shiva. She was trained from a young age to be a killer, enduring scars and having her vocal cords cut out. Lady Shiva was an intense teacher, making sure that all Cassandra knew was martial arts. It wasn't until the Justice League's raid on her compound that she was freed, and latched onto Batman as he was the first person who she felt gave her affection."

I blink at the revelations before scowling. How on Earth is Shiva such a bad mother that David is the better of the two? He taught her to kill under the guise of him teaching her how to play a game, at least made sure she would be able to speak when exposed to speech therapy, and 'only' shot her. I swear to every deity out there, next time I see Shiva, I'm going to end her.

…Huh, having kids must have changed me more than I thought.

"You okay there, Zeke?" I hear Connor ask. I blink. Huh, must have spaced out more than I thought.

I decided to respond honestly. "I am currently contemplating the murder of Lady Shiva. My parental instincts are screaming at making her suffer, while my general human instincts are demanding her death." What goes unmentioned is that the parental instincts are winning.

"What happened?"

"I learned about our newest teammate from Robin. She's Shiva's daughter." Connor just looks confused while Artemis's eyes widened like dinner plates. Robin points to Artemis and says "That was my reaction when I found out."

"Didn't know she had a daughter," I hear Artemis mutter.

"That sounds kinda bad." I glare at Wally, the dick. "Thaaaat… came out wrong. I meant to say that Shiva doesn't seem like the person to care for her kid."

"Frankly, she's abusive to ridiculous levels, and likely could get a life sentence based on the child abuse charges alone. What she did to her kid is a level of cruelty not many abusive parents can match." Save for those from outer space, but Darkseid will always be unmatched at everything he tries his hand at. I shudder just thinking about the JLU episode 'The Ties That Bind', now that I realize that dealing with Darkseid's 'child care' facilities is a likely possibility.

"Yikes." Wally shudders at the possibility.

"Onto less depressing topics, did you know that today was Artemis's-" 'and Robin's, goes unsaid "-first day of school?"

Artemis freezes like a deer in headlights while Wally grins, looking at Artemis. "Oh? Tell me more."

"I do not want to tell you more." Artemis retorts.

"Awwww." Wally groans.

"Why are you groaning? She doesn't want to tell you more because she doesn't want to reveal her secret identity yet."

Wally frowns. "I know. That's why I'm groaning. She could share funny stories about her classmates and we can laugh at them like idiots."

Artemis takes on a thoughtful expression before going "When you put it that way…"

I smirk as Artemis begins to describe her day: Apparently, she ran into Dick in civvies without realizing it at all and was surprised when he took a selfie of the both of them, confused as to why he said 'We'll laugh about this later.'

Other than that, a typical first day at a new fancy school: Trying to find the classes, having to deal with new teachers and classmates, insulting the ones who make classist insults from the more snobbish pricks, eating high-quality food, the works.

Honestly, it makes me feel mixed. On the one hand, I'm jealous that I never got to go to a fancy academy like Gotham, but on the other hand, said academy has high standards that I feel like I wouldn't be able to fulfill. Real mixed bag.

Repairs on the cave continue until we're eventually told that the repairs are complete. Seeing that there's nothing else to do, I decided to head home.

I walk to the Zeta Tube and I punch in the code for the Coast City Zeta Tube. Perhaps talking to Jessica about today may help?

Coast City Zeta Tube

September 22nd, 2010 18:36 PDT

Seeing that nobody is around the Zeta Tube (as usual. I swear, I think that the Zeta Tubes all have some form of magical cloaking.), I head to my usual changing spot and change into my civilian wear.

I then grab my phone, open my messages, and check to see nothing out of the ordinary, just some spam.

I delete them and I open up the conversation with Jessica.

Me: Hey, mind if I come over to your home? Had a nasty day at work and I need to destress for a bit.

Jessica: Sure, but as long as you can help me with my homework.

Me: I'll do my best. Not sure if I'll be helpful, but I'll try. Give me a while, and I'll be there.

Jessica: Kay.

I walk to Casa de Ezekial, grab my laptop, and lock the door before I head to Jessica's home.

I knock on Jessica's door, and I see her open it. "Are your parents not home right now?"

"No, they're at work right now. Sara's at soccer practice as well, so we'll be fine for a few hours."

"Okay…." I have no idea what to think. There must be something going on with me because getting the trust of the League in a few months is one thing, but getting the trust of the parents of a traumatized teen within two months is another.

Jessica must've seen the look on my face, because she asks me "What's wrong, Zeke?"

"Nothing. It's just," I wave my arms "I seem to get people's trust very easily, and I'm not sure why."

Jessica frowns. "I think it's because you're a good man at heart, Zeke."

"Can't be just that. I think I might have some form of enhanced charisma." And I did some meta-gene tests (which I, of course, invented with the help of Brainstorm), which showed that I am still a baseline human from an alternate universe. No sudden mutations in that regard.

"Look, is it really that important?"

I think about it for a bit. "Not enough to worry about it all day."

"See, there's your answer!"

"Yeah, there's that. So, want to hear about my day?"

Jessica rolls her eyes. "Of course. That's why you're here, after all."

I then tell Jessica a sanitized version of events, and then we start working on our homework.

?

September 22nd, 2010 ?

"Well, that didn't go as planned." Brom Stikk decides.

"On the contrary, Brom, things went perfectly. Sure, Red Torpedo and Red Inferno were hit with an electromagnetic pulse, but they were still able to identify Red Tornado's current location. Even better, they were able to get Tornado to ditch the League and their sidekicks to hunt me down." T.O Morrow explains

"How do you know all that, Professor?"

"Simple. I installed GPS and media recording technologies in the systems of Red Torpedo and Red Inferno in the event that they're captured. Since they're free, I can tell that our mission of the success"

"That's brilliant of you, professor." Brom compliments.

"But not as brilliant as our Magnum Opus, Red Volcano."

"Of course. But why don't we unleash Red Volcano now? Its geokinetic systems are ready now."

"Simple. With the memories of Red Volcano's predecessors, we can create an unstoppable beast that neither the Justice League nor the Justice Society can stop. They will have to accept the march of progress or die trying to prevent it. And that's even if they can find him."