Batman stood next to Superman, waiting outside the surgery room. They were obviously still getting looks and many people were taking pictures.
After the shocking achievement of creating a prosthetic eye within one hour, Peter explained the process of the required surgery to implant the eye to Doctor Thompson, who was more than happy and thrilled to be the first doctor in the world to do a fully functioning prosthetic eye surgery.
"So, did you inform the Team?" Superman asked to pass the time, trying to forget his anxiety of something going wrong in the surgery.
"Martain Manhunter should have informed them they're getting a new member," Batman replied. "However, only Miss Martian and Superboy should be in the Cave when we arrive," he added as he looked at the clock in the wall.
The Man of Steel hid the wince at the mention of his clone. He still had issues with speaking about and to 'Superboy', and he still didn't exactly know how handle his situation.
Thankfully, for him at least, Superman didn't need to think further on the subject as the doors to the surgery room opened up and Doctor Thompson came out in a surgical gown.
"How is he?" Batman asked as soon as the doctor came close to them.
"He's alright. The operation went without any problems," the Doctor said before looking over his shoulder in amazement. "It's truly incredible. I still struggle to understand some of his instructions yet the eye worked perfectly. I still recommend him staying over after an operation like that. According to his instructions, the eye will need at least a day to synchronise with his brain and the signal pattern of his nerves."
"We'll talk to him and inform him that he'll be staying here for the night. Tomorrow, we will send someone to pick him up," Batman agreed with the doctor knowing that something as serious as an eye surgery should take its time to recover. He raised his hand and offered a handshake of gratitude. "Thank you for your work. The League will cover any expenses the surgery cost."
The doctor accepted the handshake with a smile. "Thank you, and please don't think much on this. This was honestly a great chance to be the first doctor in the world to replace an eye with an actually working prosthetic."
With that, the two heroes entered the room that Peter was moved in and found him laying on a bed with new bandages across his right eye. "I would say thank you for staying to see me, but I doubt that you were here out of concern for my well-being."
"Of course we're happy that the operation was a success," Superman replied. He was, in fact, happy that the operation went without difficulty. He knew that Batman felt the same despite not showing it.
"Touching," Peter rolled his eye, or attempted to before wincing. "The aftereffects of the surgery will take some time to heal," he sighed before looking at the heroes again. "Now, why did you come to visit me prior my operation? I doubt you knew of my completion of my prosthetic eye."
The Man of Steel looked at Batman who returned it with his own look. Obviously, Peter was not interested in small talk. "We decided to have you stay as part of a team that is currently being created and prepared by the league for covert operations."
That managed to draw a look of surprise from Peter. "You want me to... join a superhero team?"
"This team was made up of young partners of League members who wished for independence an proving themselves. Their actions lead to the formation of this team. You would not be an actual and full time member. You will simply stay with them until we create an identity for you and find you better living arrangements," Batman explained.
Peter looked at the ceiling and simply stared quietly for a few moments. Batman wasn't expecting any quick answer, so he was surprised when Peter looked at him again. "Will I be able to study the technology of this world and the Off terrestrial technology you people have?"
"You will be allowed to work as the team's scientist, but the amount of technology you have access to will be limited because the team has only been just formed," Batman replied.
"In other words, you don't trust me enough to share your more important technology to me?" Peter guessed and silence from Batman and an awkward look from Superman was the only confirmation he needed. "It's alright. Honestly, I would be quite disappointed in you should you reveal such information to an unknown element like myself," he explained with a shrug. To Peter, being trusted for no reason is worse than being untrusted for logical reasons.
"It's nothing personal and it's not that we don't believe you," Superman attempted to show they were not treating Peter this way for no reason. "It's just that we don't have any means to send you back home yet."
"I hardly believe there's anyone there that wants to see me," Peter sighed with a shake of his head.
"You'll be picked up tomorrow by a member of the League and taken to the Team's HQ. The doctor said that spending the night here is the better option for your recovery," Batman explained.
"Oh, joy. Spending the day in bed without any productive benefits whatsoever. Every man's dream," sarcasm dripped heavily from Peter's voice to the point it actually drew a smile from Superman. "I would ask you for who is picking me up, but I believe I will know from their costume that sticks out like a sore thumb if they are anything like you."
Superman chuckled. "Get well soon," he said before turning to leave with Batman.
"At least tell me about this 'Team' I'll be on," Peter requested, hoping for something that will keep his mind entertained for the time being.
Batman stopped for a second and looked over his shoulder. "I will send you files for you to read through on general information about the team. It will be with the 'person with the costume that sticks out like a sore thumb' that will pick you up tomorrow," with that, he left.
"Hilarious," Peter attempted to roll his eye... only to wince again.
Time Skip: Tomorrow.
The next day, Peter was given a new set of clothes. A plain white shirt and old jeans. "I should ask Batman for something better," he groaned looking over himself as he came out of the doctor's office after his last checkup. "Then again, Superman seems more prone to offering more decent clothes," he remembered that the Man with an S on his chest was more friendly than the Man with pointy ears.
Walking outside of the hospital, Peter didn't need to look around to see his pick up. A dark skinned man in a green and black uniform with what appeared to be a mark of a lantern on his chest and a glowing ring in one of his hands.
"Are you Peter?" The Man asked, having already seen a picture of the boy.
"Yes, and you are...?" Peter trailed off to let the man introduced himself.
"I'm Green Lantern. I'll be taking you to the Team's HQ," the man introduced himself and held a file to Peter. "Here's some information on your team and who you will be staying with. It's just the general basics. Any more info you'll have to ask your teammates yourself."
"Thank you," Peter said as he took the file.
Green Lantern then raised his hand and his ring lit up before Peter was covered in a green, transparent bubble that was connected to the ring and flew over the ground. Green Lantern levitated off the ground and began flying through the air with the bubble following close by.
"Incredible," Peter gasped in awe as he looked around at the bubble. "How is this possible? It's connected to the Ring so it's most likely the source of the construct but I don't see any buttons or anything that looks like a control unit."
"The Ring works on concentration," Green Lantern answered automatically, having used to explaining his powers by now.
"So, you will it, and the ring creates it?" Peter looked even more impressed. "That's potentially the most powerful piece of technology I have ever seen. There is no way whoever is smart enough to create technology like that would allow just anyone to have it. I assume it is only given to a selective few?"
This time, it was Green Lantern who was impressed. "That's right. Only those chosen to be part of the Green Lantern Corp are allowed to have one," the fact Peter came to that conclusion in such a short amount of time was a testament to his intelligence.
"So, your name is more of your rank than a fancy nickname? Interesting," Peter commented studying the ring for one more moment before opening the file that was given to him. "Well, might as well learn about this 'team'."
Green Lantern moved them through the air while Peter read through the file. There was barely any information beyond his teammates' names alongside who their partner is and some very minor information on their origin. He was quite fascinated with the fact some of them didn't register as 'human'.
After the bubble around him vanished and his feet touched the ground. Peter finished the file quickly and looked around, only to raise an eyebrow at seeing they were in what appeared to be an abandoned junkyard.
He looked at Green Lantern who walked towards one of the larger piles and, to Peter's surprise, it opened up to reveal a tube like chamber with a circle core at the back. The chamber had a camera scanner that emitted light at Green Lantern.
"Recognised: Green Lantern, 1-4," A speaker spoke up. Peter walked behind Green Lantern and was also scanned by the light. "Recognised: Guest, D-0-1."
When the speaker stopped, the core of the chamber came to life and the two were covered in light. When the light died down, the two found themselves in a similar tube, only facing the other way, and out of the tube was no longer an abandoned junkyard.
"Amazing! Was that teleportation technology?" Peter completely ignore what was outside the tube and focused completely on the tube itself. "Does it instantly transport matter? Or does it deconstruct molecules and reconstruct them somewhere else after transporting them?"
Green Lantern was caught off guard by how the young man disregard everything but the machine. He was used to seeing people caught off guard by the technology, but not to this extent. "Zeta Tubes use Zeta Beams which work in a manner similar to wormholes," he said to humour the young man.
"Intriguing. Imagine if you can make these smaller or portable," Peter rubbed his chin as ideas cooked in his head.
"Let's get going," Green Lantern said causing Peter to break out of his chain of thoughts and turn around.
Walking outside of the tube, Peter found himself standing an what appeared to be a hollowed cave with some technological renovations. There were lights and a large platform with a tube like device hanging on top of it pointing to the ground.
On the platform was four people. One of them was Batman, the second one was a robotic humanoid with a red body and a yellow arrow painted on their head and empty lines for eyes and a mouth. They were also wearing a blue cape over their shoulders. The third one was a boy younger than Peter by a few years only. He had black short hair and was wearing a black shirt with plain jeans. On his chest was a familiar 'S' symbol. The third person was a green girl with red hair that reached just past her shoulders, a white shirt that was covered in a red 'X' belt, and a blue skirt with matching gloves and a cape.
"Welcome to Mount Justice, Peter," Batman greeted, though he sounded as if he was simply getting the formalities out of the way. "This is Red Tornado, the supervisor of the Team. These two are Superboy and Miss Martian."
"It's nice to meet you!" Miss Martian levitated off the ground and flew towards Peter. "I'm M'gann M'orzz, or Miss Martian."
"Peter Martin, pleasure," the young scientist offered a handshake and looked over Miss Martian, studying her appearance and any notable differences between her and humans.
"Oh, an Earth handshake?" Miss Martian slowly accepted the gesture and shook the offered hand. "Earth customs are interested."
"I assume you're Superboy? I'm Peter Martin," Peter offered another handshake, but this time to Superboy.
The young man seemed caught off guard, as if he wasn't expecting a handshake to be offered to him. "Ah... Yeah," he mumbled, hesitantly accepting the handshake.
"Greetings," Red Tornado spoke in a robotic male voice. "I will be supervising the Team. Should you need anything, you only need to inform me. However, as you are an unofficial member yet, you will not have access to any League confidential information."
Peter disregard what the hero said and simply looked him up and down. "Are you... an actually sentient AI?"
"Indeed, I am," Red Tornado answered automatically.
"Fascinating," Peter kept looking over the android for a few more moments before looking at where his eyes should be. "Thank you for accepting me. All I'll need is a laboratory, and I don't truly have any interest in looking up any of the League's information beyond the ones about technology and Batman already explained I'll be getting a limited amount of that until they trust me further."
"There is a lab within the facility. Though it is mostly empty of tools and equipment. You will need to request a list of what it needs and I will provide what I can," Red Tornado explained.
"The other members of the team are currently busy with other things," Batman cut in as he turned around. "They've already been informed. You will meet them soon enough," with that, he and Green Lantern walked towards the Zeta Tube and vanished in a flash of light.
"I am definitely going to study those things," Peter commented as the light from the Zeta Tube died out. He then turned to the ones left in the mountain. "Now, you said there was a laboratory here?"
"Shouldn't you see the infirmary first?" Superboy said as he looked at the bandages on Peter's face. "You look like you got hurt bad."
"Oh, thank you for reminding me," Peter smiled and reached behind his head to untie the bandages. "It should be synchronised with my nerv pattern by now."
Peter took off the bandages, causing both Superboy and Miss Martian to look shocked with the later covering her mouth to hold back a gasp. The young man's right eye was now a black prosthetic with the iris glowing blue and a camera lens for a pupil.
Raising his finger, Peter moved it around and trailed it with his eyes, testing the reaction and visual response of his new eye. He can see clearly with it, and it had no problem matching his remaining eye in movement.
"Hmm... I'll have to conduct a more thorough test later, but it seems to be functioning properly for now," Smiling in satisfaction, Peter turned to Red Tornado again. "Now, please show me to this laboratory... And provide me with new clothes, if you can. These are very uncomfortable and have no style whatsoever."
(A/N: Thank you for reading this.
Second chapter. I'm honestly surprised I didn't drop this.
Hope you like my story. Please share your thoughts on it with me.)