Chapter 4

GOTHAM CITY

September 6th 1330 EST

The following couple hours had been interesting to say the least for Jackson as he brought his new trainer/mentor up to speed about his circumstances.

To say that Ted was shocked to find Jack was from another earth would have been a disservice to his reaction in of itself. Jack had immediately told Ted where he came from after they finished shaking hands, and once it dawned on Ted that Jack wasn't messing with him he just sort of collapsed into his swivel chair.

Jack would have been lying if he said he hadn't taken the smallest bit of pleasure in surprising the great fighter before him. As Jack went to reveal the rest of his story, Ted simply sat back with a very pensive look on his face as time passed while Jack told his tale. Over time Occult had risen from the couch and had procured a couple of bottled waters for the three of them from the mini fridge beside Ted's desk. As he passed the water to Jack they shared an almost imperceptible nod.

Before having transported himself and Jack both to the alley next to Ted's gym Jack and Occult had talked at length about how much was viable to share with Ted, even though he was most probably going to remain a large part of Jackson's network Richard had his reservations. Occult had many times impressed upon Jack how important it was for the information that he was in fact from a parallel earth to remain in as small a circle as possible, though for each time he attempted to dissuade Jack from telling his old friend the truth; Jack would simply state how important transparency was for them going forward with this venture…at the very least where Ted was concerned.

Jack had stated that if he was going to receive training and lodging from the man that he wouldn't put himself in a position where he had to lie or keep secrets from Ted.

Occult had immediately berated Jack saying that he didn't know Ted and that because of that fact he didn't owe him that kind of loyalty yet, but Jack stated that it was simply the right thing to do and that to do otherwise was obscenely disrespectful to Ted and went against his own morals.

Jack remembered talking with Occult and how every time it had come to the very specific topic of talking to Ted, that Richard had almost been adamant that they not share the information of parallel earth's with him.

This direct opposition that Occult was showing, and not that he was showing it in general but to someone that he himself had said was a good friend was troubling to Jack. How good of friends could Ted and Richard actually be if he wanted to outright deny Ted access to the origin of the person that Richard had basically thrown in his lap to train.

Let it be known that Jack did not hold himself on any kind of pedestal.

Jack had done many things in life that he regretted from lying, to stealing, and even some of his own fights were on the list of things that he had come to hold disappointment in himself for. Life is difficult and sometimes choices have to be made, with that being said Jack quite clearly remembered making more than a few out of emotion and that usually led to something bad.

But Jack had grown and many of those things had been done when he was about the age he was now again, and he refused to make any of those same mistakes again if he could help it. The biggest of them being lying to anyone that was important to him. Ted was gonna be kind of important.

Jack fortunately though had widdled Richard down, and made it abundantly clear that he and Ted were the only two people he planned on sharing his true origin story with. Richard of course acquiesced with this, stating that Jack had the right of it even though it made him terribly nervous to have the information even that spread out.

Apparently Occult knew for a fact that only about a dozen or so people knew for a fact that inter-dimensional travel through the multiverse was possible and had tried to do anything about it, and only three of them had apparently had contact of any kind once they understood what they were doing.

Occult had gone on to explain that with the understanding that it was possible to travel between the Earths of the multiverse, to do so put a massive target upon not only one's back…but one's home.

That statement alone had almost set Jack into a panic attack. Three worlds could possibly now hang in the balance with his and All Might's arrival too this Earth. Though sensing his train of thought Occult had been quick to dissuade him of any frightening thoughts.

Occult in a very short; completely round about, and quite frankly insulting way had explained that the unknown force that had caused this whole mess to begin with had seemingly covered its own tracks.

That of course had led to another short conversation regarding the Endless, which ended with a very simple "Put them out of your mind. We don't need you drawing any more attention from those kinds of beings."

Jack of course understood why completely. Death. He had seen Death her and that shouldn't evoke any kinds of good feelings hard stop. The fact of it was simple, you don't go poking your nose into the business of beings that are as old as time itself.

Jack didn't even know which iteration of the DC Universe he was currently in, but talking about that group of primordial entities would most probably lead to nothing but large headaches or an unfortunate end...whichever came first.

'Well that certainly adds more issues to the mix of trying to make contingencies for future problems. Not to mention the fact of even being able to try and implement anything anyway when I can't talk to anyone about it.'

Richard had firmly put to bed any real chance Jack hoped for when it came to sharing specific's about possible dangers of this or any universe.

"Any plans you hope to implement you cannot share with me, simply based on the grounds that if I am ever taken captive or if I was to die and someone was to raid my memories they would eventually uncover all of it. Very soon after we have established you with Ted I will be using a spell upon myself to modify what I know of you directly, I will still be an ally and will always be at your disposal but I cannot risk any of the more mystical entities that I come into contact with gaining even the basis of your origin…it would leave far too much to chance."

Bringing himself back to the present, Jack looked up to see Ted nursing the water that he had as he seemed to be slowly digesting everything that he had been told about his future charge and what he was hoping to do.

Ted briefly stood from his swivel chair to peek through the blinds out at the gym for the first time since Jack had begun his tale.

The large man was rubbing his chin while raking his opposite hand through his short hair, it seemed that the whole thing had left him a bit shell-shocked.

After sitting back down Ted looked right at Jack again with his penetrating eyes, looking just a little wearier than he had moments earlier.

And of course why wouldn't he... wouldn't you after all that?

"…sigh… I gotta tell ya this whole thing has got my head twisted up. Make no mistake what I said earlier stand's, imma train you up. But man... if isn't all just a little overwhelming. Essentially I'm just a simple business owner at this point, have been that and just about only that for years now. Not to mention the more mystical stuff usually only came about when I was around the rest of the JSA, and even then it was nothing like…this. I'm sorry for what happened to you Jack I really am…I need you to know that. While Rich is looking for a way home for you if there is one you are obviously welcome to stay with me as long as you need."

The offer was made kindly with a lot of sincerity and made Jack's chest tighten, it made him feel good to know that these two men had his back, the fact that they did at all made them bigger heroes than he already knew they were.

What was that line again...

'A hero can be anyone even a man doing something as simple and reassuring as putting a coat around a young boys shoulder's to let him know the world hadn't ended.'

Sue him if you wanted but Jack found the thought apropos.

"I'm not ragging on either of you when I say this but dammit Rich, next time you plan on not visiting with a few years in between the last visit you better at least bring a bottle of bourbon as a thank you. Well…anyway like my daddy use to say no time like the present, I'll get my coat the rest of my staff should be here by now. I'm gonna dismiss Helena for the rest of the day and we'll take that trip and get you set up kid." Ted said, as he stood and grabbed a black leather coat off the rack next to the door as he started to make his way out of the office with Occult close to him talking softly about the next destination they would visit.

The three of them stepped out onto the gym floor, and began to make their way toward the front of the building. The gym had about 40 or so patrons in it now and if Jack had to take a stab he'd say the building was at about a quarter of its capacity now, he looked up to notice that they were almost out the door and could see Ted had his hand on Helena's shoulder as he was telling her that she was good to go for the day.

The girl gave a small nod and turned to walk towards the back to head for the locker rooms. In passing he caught a glimpse of her face and that had been all he'd needed, she was definitely like the one from the JLU universe.

The eyes are the windows to the soul it was said, and Helena's spoke of pain, deep seated and terrible pain. Jack knew how that felt, quoting a favorite line in his own mind it came unbidden 'Pain is an old Friend.'

Jack had to release a small shudder as they exited the gym. He had glimpsed her face and she hadn't even looked at him at all. Her thousand yard stare was impressive as all get out, and if he was right at all there was only two different things she could be looking at.

Her deceased family, or Steven Mandragora

He hated himself for the need to ask but it was there and he needed to know. He needed to know, because this would tell him if he was in the JLU verse or something close to it, and that would give him a bit of a leg up on possible future threats. He couldn't necessarily tell Ted but he could confide in Occult and plot out something to at the very least mitigate any possible future damage regardless of what Richard has said before.

As they walked more towards the center of downtown while wondering where they were headed Jack asked his new mentor.

"Out of curiosity who's the girl Ted, a niece or just some girl that works for you? You looked like she means a lot to you."

He got a quick glance back, but then Ted turned back round to keep walking though Jack swore he had seen a smirk on Ted's face.

"Nah we're not related at all, but let me make it clear now don't ya go makin eyes at her kid. Helena's had a rough go, she's a sweet kid once she warms up to ya. She lives at the shelter down the block from the gym, been coming in for the past year or so now. Her Daddy was a big time scumbag if I'm being honest…but he was her father. Some mook who worked for 'em got tired of being his bitch boy I guess, she don't talk about it much and I sure as hell ain't about to press. She's got a nice little bank roll and think's she paying me to train her, real thing about it is I can't in good conscience take her money so I've been holding it in a shoe box and come her birthday I'll buy her something with it. She's a good kid."

Jack could hear it in Ted's inflection, he cared about Helena deeply. He probably figured out who she was right from the jump if she didn't offer it up herself, so that made Jack reluctant to ask any more on it. He didn't wanna seem like a busy body...and the answer alone had told him all he needed.

Jack quickly dropped that line of questioning and thought, and double timed it over to the two men as where they were headed turned out was not to far at all.

Six blocks and two right turns away from the gym and they were standing outside of an apartment complex. The red brick building looked a little worn but obviously not so bad that it wasn't still in use.

Richard quickly ushered Ted and Jack both up the stoop and through the thick glass pane double doors. The brown hard wood floor inside was weathered and creaked viciously, almost as if it would break from the company of three standing on it as they began to walk down the hall they had found themselves in. The walls were of a similar color to the red brick of the building, the hallway having only doors with numbers on it until you reached halfway through it to an elevator with an exit door at the opposite end of the hallway.

The group entered said elevator and Richard pressed the number 6 on the listing for the 14 floor building. As the elevator rose Ted and Jack continued as they had since leaving the gym, talking about Jack's knowledge of his home and how it differed from this one besides the fact that supers were running around. Jack made it quite clear that he was not a student of history and gave some vague answers about events that had happened back on his earth and was ashamed to admit that he didn't really remember a lot about past presidents, dates of important events, or etc. What he did remember though seemed to line up right so fate was on his side with that one at the very least.

Thankfully Ted just chuckled as they talked while the elevator took its very slow ride up as he explained that Jack's lack of memory in regards to that was fine, as all it did was leave room for them to help him remember things about this earth so that if it ever came up in conversation with anyone he wouldn't come off as foolish or illiterate. Ted again tried to press about Jack going to school but was summarily shot down.

'No way in hell am I sitting through school again, no sir.'

The elevator ride other than that had been slow and if Jack was being honest he was thankful for the distraction of the conversation because the elevator had no music, would shudder every few seconds, and if he was being Frank about it the thing smelled like a dumpster.

The ding of the elevator couldn't have come sooner, and the three walked following Richards lead out to the left down the hall towards the very end where the brown doors were farther apart signaling bigger flats until they reached the very end of the hall.

Richard turned and knocked on the only door in the hall that seemed to have a glass pane on it, though it was completely glossed out showing that it was a privacy window and on the glass itself rested the two simple words "Private Investigator".

Jack for a second found it funny and swore he would keel over on the spot if he saw Jessica Jones in this room. It also left him slightly confused as what they came for didn't seem like something they'd come here for...but he'd hold his reservations.

They only had to wait for a moment before a speaker box above the door that Jack had completely missed crackled to life.

"Yeah…"

Richard took his hat off and had an interesting smirk on his face as he proceeded to call out to the clearly feminine occupant of the apartment, if the voice from the speaker was anything to go on.

"Hello Miss Coburn…I know it's been some time but I imagine you remember me." Richard called out as he looked intently into the privacy glass.

'Can he see in their or what…magic man, unbelievable.'

Jack hoped that one day real magic like he'd seen Richard do would make more sense, but he wasn't gonna hold his breathe over it.

There was a string a silence and then a loud buzz went off signaling that the door in front of them clearly had some security measures.

Richard opened the door and ushered Ted and Jack in, giving Jack his first look at the person he figured Occult was bringing him to for help, immediately Jack had to take great control of himself so as not to gape at who was in front of him.

Though not Jessica Jones the person in front of him was still giving him flashbacks, and at the same time caused him to have to question how the multiverse well and truly worked.

The woman standing in front of him was around 5'9-5'10, with dirty blonde hair, light skin, and she was dressed rather casually. Her hair was hanging loose down to her shoulders and barely hung past her eyebrows in the front. She had mild make-up on with a small amount of blush, dark eyeliner, and dark red lipstick. Her brown eyes were keenly looking at the tree of them and were only a slight shade lighter than his own eyes.

The woman's outfit consisted of tight black jeans, a black undershirt, a deep red cardigan, and black combat boots on her feet.

This lady was from the movie he liked watching when he was younger The Replacement Killer's.

All things considered she would be considered fairly attractive if not for the scowl that was set on her face as she stared at Richard after taking in Jack and Ted.

"No…no…no, whatever you want I don't care. You've got a lot of nerve coming here trench coat after that fiasco you dragged me into."

'People really like getting on him for that coat don't they...'

"Meg my dear I don't know how many times I must apologize, I swear to you that I had no idea that the Cult of Kobra was involved in that shipping yard. Had I known I would never have involved you, and I think you know that? I'm also not here on my own behalf either, my young friend here is in need of a full work-up for an identity." Occult said as he raised a hand trying to placate the woman who had since crossed her arms underneath her modest bust.

The woman stared at Richard for what felt like a good minute before shifting her focus to Jack himself, she then took three gliding steps forward until she was looking him right in the eye. Her right hand came up slowly as she then proceeded to grab Jack by the chin jerkily, and rotate his face so she could get a better look at his features.

'Geeze lady paws off what the heck.' Jack thought irritably as she let go of his chin to then turn and walk to go around her large desk, giving him a chance to look around the room they were in.

The walls were a dull gray and there was very little decoration upon the walls minus a couple of hanging certificates behind the desk Meg now sat at. There were two wooden chairs sitting directly in front of the desk and a large brown leather couch against the left wall; the desk itself had a large set up of new looking equipment ranging from a large computer tower, two monitors, a large camera facing outward, and upon the large desk itself sat a keyboard and a scattered amount of miscellaneous papers and slots for folders and such. There were a couple of filing cabinets against the walls and on the right wall there was a doorway that had beads hanging to conceal the next room.

Meg glanced up with a scrutinizing gaze as she waved her right hand bidding the three of them to sit while she reached over and picked up what looked to be a coffee cup, before she took a sip and addressed her visitors.

"Okay business is always good for me, but you better have the funds for it Richard you stiff me and I promise i will make a problem for you. A full identity pack takes time and I'll have to source out to some of my contacts to process it so there aren't any questions." Meg said glancing at Occult.

"I would never dream of 'stiffing you' Meg." the man said with a genial smile on his face.

She looked wholly convinced and then set her eyes back on Jack.

"All right kid I'd ask your story but I'm gonna bet I really don't wanna know so here's how this works I'll take your picture, some fingerprints, and then it's gonna take about a month… two at max for me to get you your social card, Birth certificate, pretty much all the basic's. So please... for the love of all that is holy do not…and I can't stress this enough do not get into any kind of trouble that would need you to have I.D. Now how old are you, where were you born, and any and all information on family if you have any will definitely be needed." She stated as she started to click on her computer presumably to start up any programs she needed to start the whole process.

The visit then took its turn and it became all business.

Jack regaled Meg with his basic information so that they could provide him with his identity papers, and then Meg spoke of the cost and Jack's eyebrows shot to his hairline. The entire venture would wind up costing $65,000 dollars, so that it could cover some bribes to get placement of certain papers and the final touches on everything else including a passport which Jack swore he would never need but was told by Ted to just sit back and let them do what they had too.

Upon having to go into his family history they hit a brief block because he had to tell Meg he had no idea who his family was, which although a lie it was necessary. He got a more than skeptical look at that but brushed it off as soon as she glanced back at Richard again, apparently the one instance they had mentioned had been enough to make her very suspicious about the work she would be doing for them.

'Though to be fair if the one time I had met somebody and I wound up dealing with the Cult of Kobra, I'd be put off too.' Jack thought as he sat trying not to fidget waiting for things to progress.

Meg sat typing away and then when she seemed done with basic set up she instructed Jack to straighten up for a photo, she then came around with what he assumed was all the necessary tools and started taking his fingerprints.

As this was going on Jack could hear Occult and Ted talking about his training schedule, Ted talking about payment of some kind, and then finally where Jack pulled a double take his education.

'Oh hell no full stop.'

Turning in his seat drawing a light smack at the back of his dome which he decidedly ignored from Meg he cut the two men off.

"Right there is where I'm gonna interject. I can not stress this enough I am not going through school again…hard full stop; do not pass go, do not collect two hundred dollars. I've been through that once already and quite frankly am only concerned about two things; getting back where I need to be, and the job that's it." Jack stated while pointing at the two men.

"Look kid I understand the reluctance. The point of if all being have you thought about what happens if that avenue is out the window? Have you thought about what you'll do with yourself then, because I gotta tell ya you working at the gym for the rest of forever is fine? But I gotta say I figured you'd want more than that out of a life." Ted stated as he and Occult peered at Jack.

Once again reality had seemingly slapped Jack across the face. While all this was going on the three men missed the look of intrigue pass over Meg's face, but Jack wouldn't have mentioned it anyway considering what he was feeling right now.

Once again Jack had to fight to not get angry, or sad for that matter recalling just what his life had now become.

Awesome super powers and nerding out over who he had met so far today aside, the question started to rattle in his head again.

'What if I can't go back home?'

The thought was annoying and unbelievably depressing. He had so much to live for in either this life or his previous one, but it's safe to say that anybody coming from Jack's situation would say they need to go back to their old life regardless if doing so lost his new found power and broke his promise.

Jack could only think of his family that been left behind, and all that that meant. He'd never see his son grow into the man he believed he could be, he wouldn't get to snuggle with the dog again, and he would never hear his wife say "I Love you" again.

Jack had to fight hard against the tears he could already feel building as he took a low shuddering breathe. He could see the looks the two men were giving him, and the frustration he took from that alone was enough to keep him from getting overly emotional.

'I'm not gonna let this break me. There has to be a way back, and I'll be damned if I don't find it.' Jack thought as he tightened his hands into fists and put what he felt was his bravest and most resolute face on.

"It's a big world. I'll find what I need somehow, and I've got Richard in my corner so that's one avenue I'm not worried about looking down. While that's going on I'm gonna do what I know I can in the meantime. If I need to worry about school at some point I'll get my GED, but right now the thing I'm worried about most is my new addition. Everything else I'll take as it comes." Jack said as he gave Ted a pointed look while Meg was walking around back to sit in her desk chair.

The woman took a brief look at them clearly confused by the pattern of speech but then quickly moved along.

"Okay well this has all been very riveting, and while I appreciate the pay day this brings I've got other things to handle. Come back in a month I should have everything ready, and until then don't worry about payment…just in case I can't get the hospital or birth records set. If that happens it'll take longer but we'll make it happen." Meg said as she gesticulated towards the door obviously dismissing the group from her office.

With a brief set of thanks' given the three left and made the trek back to Ted's gym to sort out the rest of the day.

After getting back to the gym Richard politely said short goodbyes to Ted and Jack, promising that he wouldn't be gone for more than a week at the most.

"I'm going to put things into motion to get the equipment that we talked about, meanwhile you should stay focused on your side of these preparations. Remember to stay vigilant, don't push yourself too hard, and above all know that Ted and I are here for you my young friend." Occult said as he shook Jack's hand and turned to leave the gym.

After saying goodbye to Richard Jack and Ted went upstairs so that Ted could show Jack where he would be staying for the foreseeable future.

"It's not much but its home. I lean more towards the practical for my life style, and I better not hear any complaints all right?" Ted said as he and Jack entered the apartment.

Jack looked around to see the brick walls, the slightly polished wooden floor, and same space as the gym below. The major difference being that this was obviously a place of living though there was still some equipment scattered about even here, most obviously for personal use.

The floor has a kitchenette with a granite looking floor, the living room taking up about half of the 200 by 300 foot setting of the open floor of the apartment. Jack could see four separate doors two on the left side of the room across from the back of a black leather couch and love-seat combo the other two on right. The coffee table in front of the couches was in the set of a ying yang, and in front of that was what looked to be a 52 inch flat-screen t.v on a black stand. On the far right wall was a desk with what looked to be a decent computer set up.

The outer half of the room away from the comfy area had a heavy bag, a treadmill, gymnastic rings, a speed bag, and a rack with free weights going all the way up to 90 walked Jack over to the far left side and opened the door revealing a room with a brown dresser with full vanity mirror, a full sized bed with a black headboard, a medium sized brown desk with drawers with its own black swivel chair, and a small night stand with a single bulb lamp on it.

"This'll be your room. I'll take you shopping tomorrow for anything you think you need for supplies. Richard gave me a bankroll for ya, and then after that I'll be paying ya for working in the gym so everything should kind of even out. For now I've got a stash of merch clothing from the gym you can use to knock around in inside the drawers in your room, plus obviously what little you have. Those two doors are the laundry room and the bathroom which has all the basics you'll need." Ted said to the Jack's surprise and consternation.

Jack immediately went to say that neither of the men had needed to do that but then cut himself off.

'Ya know I should probably just shut my mouth and except that they are helping me like this because if they didn't I'd be SOL.'

Jack looked back up quickly from that thought and heard the rest of what Ted was saying.

"While were up here lets establish the ground rules okay. I know you're an adult in a kid's body but since I'm looking after ya I expect you in here by no later than 11 pm unless you let me know something's going on, and that really doesn't even start until you're doing patrols so lets say till then try to be in by 10 at the latest when I'm cool with you going out. I know it should go without saying but you are to absolutely bring no girls up here..."

"That's not gonna be a thing."

The twitching eyebrow he saw on Ted's face was enough to tell him how he felt about being interrupted.

"Just shut up and listen Jr. Look I get it, you just lost everything… and you wanna go home I get that. But if and that's a big If we find out you can't go back I don't want you thinking that you can just free for all it here, that's not to say that I don't want you to try and move on if that's what happens. I know it's probably the farthest thing from your mind but it had to be said. Obviously I live here but your gonna help me keep an eye on what we have since we're now both eating here, so if you think we need something let me know. Your training should be the highest priority... that being said are you sure you won't go to school…"

Everything that Ted brought up was valid, and Jack had no problem doing everything to help make Ted's life easier chores, whatever, so long as he could get stronger.

Even if it meant feeling like an idiot for now being at the bottom of the totem pole again. After digesting and easily accepting those rules he quickly remembered the first and last thing the man had said.

"I'm not worried; getting my GED is fine I have to get in fighting shape and figure out what my limits are and then go beyond them. I've gotta be honest I'd rather not even think about home or anything like it except how to get back. I'm not gonna say I'd never move on…but I'd rather not talk about that right now so let's just move on."

The conversation so far had been alright but Jack had to say that the last bit was leaving him again decidedly depressed.

'I gotta keep it together here or I'm not gonna be able to do any of this.' Jack thought as he waited for Ted to continue.

Jack's feelings must have been apparent because another look of pity passed over Ted's face before he started again.

"Alright, Alright. I'm gonna be candid with you here Jack I really don't know how to do this. I've never been in charge of anybody but myself outside of training someone so that makes this a new experience for me, but I'll be damned if I mess it up so I really need you to follow my instructions. I know I'm not your Dad or anything like that… but this is an important responsibility and I take that responsibility very seriously." Ted said as the two walked over to the living area to sit on the couches' facing each other.

"Gotham is a shit hole of a city. Plain and simple. There's no if's and's or but's about it, this place almost has a life of its own and it will put you in the ground if you let it. It might be home but the fact is I know what this place is like and it's a hard place and makes an even harder people. For the next two months I don't want you leaving the gym without me I wanna make sure I can help you get a basic layout of this part of the city, and we're gonna make an exercise out of it."

Ted then went ahead and started to explain to Jack his plan for helping Jack adjust to city life here in Gotham and to test Jack's situational awareness skills.

Ted made it very clear that he was concerned that Jack would be taken by someone, or mugged considering the city especially on this side of it was full of degenerates and criminals. Ted made it abundantly clear that just because he had Meta powers did not mean that he could just go toe to toe with some of the nut jobs that ran around the city, or even just the ones with guns.

Jack knew better than to judge a book by its cover and had no delusions that this place or any other for that matter was as safe as it seemed; especially Gotham. So Jack did the only sensible thing and probed carefully with his questions about who Wildcat knew of that operated on the wrong side of the law here in Gotham without giving away that he knew many of the names already, and if Jack was being honest it was just as bad as he figured it'd be.

Batman had apparently been active since 2000 and in that time since his debut and subsequent beginning of his war on crime The Joker, Mr. Freeze, Poison Ivy, The Scarecrow, Penguin, Bane, and many others had already become headlines across the Gotham Times as threats to the city.

Knowing that on top of them that Gotham's infrastructure was probably already teeming with corrupt cops and politicians, it seemed like the Dark Knight could use all the help he could get; though Jack knew for a fact that his first run in with Batman would probably be very unpleasant at best and bad at its worst.

Batman in the comics had a clear cut line for how things operated in his city and it was simple; no other heroes were actually welcome.

Sure there had been plenty of times that Batman had teamed up with other's to deal with a crisis albeit begrudgingly but the Dark Knight had made it quite clear across many forms of media that Jack enjoyed, that much like the criminals he dealt with on a daily basis other heroes in his city were also considered Persona non Grata in Gotham.

This Thought alone left Jack really hoping to avoid what he knew was going to be the eventual run in with Gotham's current protector.

The other thought currently dominating his mind was the front headline on the newspaper sitting on Ted's coffee table.

'Salvatore "Sal" Valestra acquitted of all charges in triple homicide. Great, on top of all the super villains there are also the normal scum buckets to deal with…wonderful.' Jack thought as he glanced at the paper though he didn't feel like picking it up.

The thought that people like Sal Valestra, Rupert Thorne, and of course Roman Sionis 'were' in the case of Sal and could be in case of the other possibilities left Jack thoroughly annoyed. All those people whether they existed or not right now was inconsequential, all of them being big time underworld criminals and holding a ridiculous amount of influence due to racketeering, extortion, and all the other kinds of crime that made scum like them powerful.

'If any of these guys set even a toe out of line the first thing I'm gonna do when I'm ready is take them down, rip em' out root and stem like the weeds they are. 'Jack thought as he idly listened to Ted talking about what he knew of the criminal underworld.

Did that sound just a bit overconfident and like quite a bit more than Jack should try...maybe.

But Jack was resolved to make a difference, and he could be stubborn so sue him.

Surprisingly for a man that claimed to be so far removed from the hero game Ted actually knew quite a bit, as far as Jack was concerned.

One piece of information that Ted gave Jack as he got up and went to the kitchen to rummage through what was there to put together a dinner for them, was that District Attorney Harvey Dent was attempting to get a leg up on the organized crime of Gotham City right now.

'Hopefully he can hold out long enough to not have acid dumped on his face and then I can try to make myself available to keep that from happening at all, one less villain the city will have to deal with that way. Not to mention the guy deserves a normal life.' Jack thought as Ted started to make them a spaghetti dinner.

The rest of the afternoon into the evening was spent between the two men getting to know each other over basics, with Jack sharing a good majority of his previous life with Ted. When asked what prompted him to give so much information Jack gave Ted a very simple reply.

"It's like you said you are technically responsible for me now. Please don't think I'm not grateful for that because I am immensely so; I don't know if I'll ever be able to repay you but I'm damn sure gonna try." Jack said as he and Ted sat down to eat there dinner later that night.

Wildcat had waved Jack off telling him that as much as he wanted to deny it he felt it was his personal responsibility to help anybody jumping into "The Life" as he called it.

He went on to tell Jack that couldn't have sent him off anywhere else with a clean conscience, as he said he knew for a fact that Richard was always too busy and quite frankly mixed up in stuff that was way too weird for any hero let alone a newbie.

Jack had wanted to feel indignant about that statement but simply kept his mouth shut. He figured it would be better off not to get arrogant, and once again found himself needing to take a breath and remind himself that he was better than that and to not let his emotions get away with him.

'Man hormones are so annoying, how did I go through this the first time again?' Jack thought to himself as he helped Ted clean up the dishes from their dinner lamenting over the fact that he was now a teenager once again.

He offered to split the cooking with Ted if he would like considering that was what he had done for a good majority of his adult hood for his job with the guard, to which his mentor readily agreed saying he hated how tedious it was.

After the cleanup Ted told him he was gonna go down and check on things with the gym and get ready for close up. He let Jack know that tomorrow wouldn't be a super early day and that Jack could take it kind of easy in the morning if he wanted, he figured he would need the rest from how jarring things had been.

It was already about 8:30 at night so Jack Bid Ted a good one and went to what would now be his room. Jack grabbed a pair of the light workout gear that was in the drawer in the room for him, and then went to the bathroom to find an extra toothbrush in a box and towels already in there. He cleaned himself up and then headed back to his room and shut the door and turned down the bed and climbed in to go to sleep.

Jack had a rough time falling asleep at first, only being able to dwell on thoughts of his family and how much he missed them. He kept circling back to the thought that he wouldn't be able to get home but would then quickly push down the sadness that would bring, though he'd be lying if he said that he didn't have tears well in his eyes.

He couldn't say how long it took but eventually he slipped into unconsciousness, thinking of how much he loved his family and just trying to hold onto the memory of their voices as they said how much they loved him.

Waking up again had him quickly having to re-evaluate all that had happened but it didn't take long, so after getting out of bed he went and took a shower to fully wake and then found himself in the kitchen setting up the coffee maker seeing that the digital clock said it was 0630 after he had finished his morning routine.

Needing a distraction and now fully awake after smelling the brewing coffee Jack did the best to what he hoped would become his familiar schedule and walked over to the workout area and started out on the treadmill.

Jack did sprint intervals for about 26 minutes from 2.5 miles an hour for a minute and then taking it up to 7.8 miles an hour for a minute. He hadn't even broken a sweat and was actually quite proud of the fact, so he then disengaged from the treadmill telling himself that he would do a second set while using One for All to get a base on what he figured he could run when pushing it.

Jack then started in on his typical body-weight routine and was about a quarter of the way through his third set of his sets when Ted emerged from his room dressed in a white wife beater, black sweat pants, and black trainers.

Jack gave Ted a mild wave and received a nod in return as his mentor went to pour himself a cup of coffee and apparently figured Jack would want one because he poured two cups and then brought a tray over to the coffee table and gestured for Jack to join him.

Jack had been in the middle of his squats but stopped and made his way over and sat down after an awkward moment before Ted had gestured to the couch so Jack could flop down.

"Don't worry about being sweaty and sitting down, just make sure you wipe it down with a sanitary wipe before we leave okay?" Ted said as they both made their cups the way they liked them and then proceeded to plot out the rest of their day.

Ted went on to talk about going further into the city to let Jack shop and he was only half interested because he found he'd rather just stay here today and work out, when he expressed that Ted made it clear that he wanted to pick up some things too and therefore they'd be killing two birds with one stone.

Jack got cleaned up again after they finished their coffee and then the two proceeded to head downstairs and get ready to head out to the store.

As they were leaving and Ted was briefing one of his employees though is when Jack came to the realization that this was gonna be an interesting day.

Jack and Ted were immediately greeted by Helena outside the front desk who was wearing a small black leather Jacket, what looked to be a dark purple shirt of some kind underneath, black jeans, and jet black top high top sneakers.

"You ready to go old timer I got some stuff I needed to do, I wanna move this along." Came her way of greeting as she gave Jack a brief wave but then started at Ted with her hands on her hips.

"Just waitin on my plus one kid don't get your panties in a wad." Ted said to what appeared Helena's consternation at being made to wait and Jack's confusion.

'Plus one?' Jack thought, before he saw the double doors open.

"Teddy Bear…it's been awhile."

Jack saw her and he knew who she was even off a first glance, he had just been really hoping that he wasn't gonna meet anybody else that he knew of for a while.

'Selina Kyle...'

And Scene! I'm back again baby! Not gonna lie guys I don't really know how I felt about this chapter. I really hope ya'll can hold on with me here, I know that there hasn't really been any action yet. I hope to remedy that next chapter though maybe not in the way you will think it will go. I have to say thank you for the faves and follows guys. I'm really happy to have the spark again and will keep pushing forward as much as I can. I hope everybody is safe and healthy during these crazy times. The last thing I wanna cover is saying farewell To Chadwick Boseman. I know you'll see alot of these and all I'll say is I know he can rest now. I didn't know he was sick at all, I had heard he did a live stream but I didn't see it so I never even knew he looked sickly to begin with. May the King find his rest now. Stay safe, please leave a comment, pass on your recommendations and stay tuned ya'll I'll have the next one out as soon as I can. Later!