The young hero was being bathed by multiple flashes from different cameras and he did not seem to be intimidated by the paparazzi, almost like he was accustomed to them, he kept posing and signing autographs before heading inside for the event he was there for.

Tom looked at him from a distance and noticed a fellow by his side who appeared to be a close friend of his from the way they were joking around. They kept laughing and seemed to be enjoying each other's company.

"So this is what heroes do on their days off." He muttered to himself as he walked further away from his radar, not wanting Beast Boy to come near him because he might recognize his scent.

After the auction had taken place, the gallery was officially opened and the guests walked around as they mused at the amazing pieces of art that were strategically placed within the gallery.

The event was filled with rich people, people with aristocratic personalities as they saw themselves above the rest of society. It was clear by the way they carried themselves and talked in a slow and weird manner as if they were implementing an accent to each word that escaped their mouth.

It felt like this event was more than what it seemed to be, men were shaking hands like they had just closed a deal. Trades and businesses must be taking place on a low key level.

With both hands in my pocket I strolled through the gallery, taking close examinations to each piece of art that caught my eye. "Hey buddy." An annoyingly familiar voice spoke from behind.

"Please don't be who I think it is." I muttered with fingers crossed as I turned around slowly.

'Damn it, Beast Boy.' That was the only thought that came to mind when I saw the green face having a wide smile on it while a fellow stood beside him.

"Hi." I greeted casually like there wasn't something like bad blood between us and it was our first time meeting.

"You seem to be the only person here without a plus one, or even held a conversation with anyone since you got here." He spoke while taking a closer look at me.

"My plus one could not make it today. Moreover, I find it quite comforting to be alone with my thoughts, that way I could understand the information the artist must be sending to the public through them. After All, they say an art reflects the soul of the artist." I said to the lad who was currently looking up at the other who just looked around as if surveying the area, he glanced around the gallery, staring at a few personnels in particular.

"Oh, then you are a loner then."

"A loner, why the fuck would you think that?" I tried defending myself even though I knew he was dead on target with his assumption about my personality.

"I'm a peoples person. I might be dense and clueless most times but I know my polar opposite when I see one." He said with a smirk on his face, he tried to put pressure on me so I'd admit to being a loner, which would confirm his intuition about me.

"Nah, I'm nothing like that… Maybe just a little."

"I knew it, you better get yourself a friend or you might die lonely."

"No thanks, I'm good."

"That was quick!" Exclaimed Beast Boy who somehow expected that answer from a full time loner.

The idea of getting myself a friend wasn't a bad one, but if I said yes then that kid would want to be my friend.

Friends with that hyperactive kid? No thank you, I'm good. I was never a fan of the bubbly type, not in my previous life, and definitely not in this one. There's something about them that just ticks me the wrong way. They don't know anything about personal space or things like boundaries and privacy. They intrude whenever they want to, so long as they feel like it, they'll want to drag you into whatever bullshit they have going on at that moment.

"Yeah, I'm not really a people's person." Tom replied as he was just realizing that his introverted nature was that visible to the sight of others. The green kid just met him and had already figured out the kind of person he was, but yet he was still pushing on and intruding on his alone time at the gallery.

"What do you mean you aren't a people's person, I could make you one with time. After all, I'm likable and also sure I could get rid of that gloomy aura you have all around you."

"Gloomy aura?" I asked him as my eyes crooked a little from his statement.

"How do you think I spotted you from the otherside of the gallery? It is because of your lonesome aura you have all around you, it's totally different from the rest of the people at this event." He said with a mildly creepy smile on his face while he pointed at me.

"Oh, well if you say so." There was no point arguing with him because he might be right, I don't have friends and I keep to myself a lot without bothering about anything concerning anyone.

At the moment I was trying to take his mind off getting to know me, and hoped he didn't recognize my scent.

"Hey, why is your friend looking around like that, is he a cop or something?" I asked Beast Boy who now noticed how less interested Wally was in our conversation and how much he was looking around the area like an undercover cop waiting for shit to go down or in the middle of an operation.

"Oh that's just him being a little paranoid, but he is a fun and cheerful dude once you get to know him. I've been trying to teach him how to relax every once in a while."

"That's right, guess it's time for introductions." He placed an arm on his chest as he continued. "I'm Gar, and you might know me as the popular hero 'Beast Boy.' Then he tapped Wally and drew his attention over to us." Over here is Wally and he is a really good friend of mine." Gar added.

Funny how the introduction came late after we've had a whole conversation, when normally it is the first thing people do.

"I'm Tom, it's nice to meet you in person." I responded appropriately as I noticed how upbeat Beast Boy seemed.

"Hey, how's it going?" Wally stretched out his hand and gestured for a handshake which I responded to, before extending a handshake over to the green kid who still had a wide smile on his face.

I was curious if his face does not get cramped up from smiling too much, his level of friendliness made me wonder if he was the same kid who transformed into a gorilla and was willing to smash my head against the sidewalk some nights ago.

I guess the reason Wally had been turning around and observing the event was because it was filled with mobsters, drug lords and top class criminals who have been charged with crimes like extortion, human trafficking, drug trafficking, selling of human parts and rape cases. But they are all walking around freely and not behind bars because they have some kind of power in the corrupt justice system.

He saw them moving freely without worries from being caught by the police even after all the terrible things they had done. I recognized a few of them from the news and was sure they were tried in court but never ever did they get put in jail. The system usually ruled it off as baseless accusations after every evidence they had against them was made to disappear by cops under their payroll.

I could tell what he was thinking just by the look he had on his face as he stared at them, that hero instinct of wanting to bring them down, yet he could do nothing but watch them roam around like they owned the town. Technically they do, whoever holds the power are the ones who are able to bend the rules as they see fit.

That verse was rotten to the core, more like my previous world but a little bit too extreme. Nothing came as a surprise anymore, unlike my first few months here. If it was reported on the news that a school bus full of elementary school kids was hijacked by terrorists, and they demanded over five hundred million dollars or they would start shooting each kid one after the other, I wouldn't be surprised or fazed because it was like the norms around here.

Oh, the things DC has done to my beautiful mind. I thought to myself as I could feel a little bit of what I would call my humanity, being scraped away, slowly.

"Anything bothering you, Tom?" Gar asked, pulling me from my thoughts which I seemed to have fallen deep into.

"Nothing at all, just some random thought living rent free in my head." I shrugged it off.

"How time runs so fast, Wally, it's time for us to go." Gar pulled Wally as he checked his wrist watch.

"It was nice meeting you Tom, I hope we get to hangout some other time."

"Likewise." I replied as they took their leave.

…

[Wally West's POV]

The event was fun and all, but with Gar being the life of the party made it a little bit suffocating. The paparazzi kept taking pictures and Wally left him for a while to take a breather, it was one of the few ways heroes gain more publicity after all.

He couldn't enjoy the event because of the rotten bunch that lurked around with their shoulders held high when they should be rotting in jail serving the punishments for their crimes but there was nothing he could do.

The strange fellow Gar suddenly made friends with at the gallery seemed awfully familiar to him. His presence, even his voice sounded like he had heard it somewhere before but where, he wondered.

He thought hard on it and the only thought that came to mind was the night he encountered the vigilante, the height, the physique, and voice all matched his profile from that night. But yet again he could be wrong about that, it was night time after all and the dark could play tricks on one's mind, also he had a little concussion so he couldn't pin it as Tom.

Then again, maybe it was just his paranoid mind wanting to pick someone as the vigilante, so he'd know what the person who kicked his ass looked like, and could think of how to go forward from there.

"Gar was right, I think I should relax more and take a break from this hero work for at least a day." He contemplated.

It hasn't even been a whole year since I arrived at this verse and I've already gotten multiple personalities, first off as Tom the strange teenager who seems to have a lot going on more than he shows, my newly added 'The Architect', and my personal favorite 'Ghost' the criminal mastermind.

Just a couple of months here and I've fought a speedster and a changeling, suspected to be a vigilante after beating up some thugs, became a criminal mastermind and slowly building a name for myself within the world of criminals and will soon gain connections and build up a network, also got a website where people seek help from me legally, all while raking in a steady flow of cash.

I haven't heard from Leo in a while, I'm sure he's just laying low, maybe he's been busted in some city and thrown in a jail cell somewhere.

Nah… That sucker is like a cockroach and wouldn't get caught easily, even if he was, he's Michael fucking Scofield, he'll get out eventually.

For now, it was only through Leo that people could only get in contact with me when they needed my help with a heist. I need to get a network where I could receive offers directly and without the help of Leo. I think it's high time I start stretching my wings a little, and before long I'll fly then soar higher as I climb the ranks and gain connections within the criminal underground.

"Hey Tom." A seemingly familiar voice pulled me out of my thoughts.

"There goes my peace and quiet." I muttered to myself.

"Hey Olivia." I said as I turned to my course mate who had been trying to get a little more friendly with me since the school's field trip we went on a while back, but didn't get the opportunity because immediately after lectures I'm off the campus or either at the school's library, almost like giving the term 'Ghost' a literal meaning, ironic huh. In my class I was the true definition of a background character, except for my grades which stood out from the rest.

"All alone today, huh? I guess I'll have to hang out with you! Your college loner lifestyle ends today." The bubbly course mate of mine said as she dragged me over for our next class. Is this what I get from dissing Beast Boy? God why.

When the class was done, I walked out of the class the moment she got surrounded by friends and started small talks.

As I walked down the hall, my jeans pocket buzzed a little due to a notification from my phone. I reached into my pocket to get the phone and saw a notification which I hoped would add a little spice to my day, the one news most students wish to hear on a regular basis.

Classes for the rest of the day had been canceled.*

"Canceled, huh? Now my afternoon is wide open." I said with a smirk on my face as I put the phone back into my pocket then kept moving.

"No work today either, what to do…" I was slowly drifting into my thoughts as I searched my head on possibilities on how to make the afternoon worth my while.

"Hey Tom, wait up!" That voice again, I wondered how she found me, I thought she was chatting with her friends and might have plans with them.

"Can't get any quiet once she horns in on it." I muttered, trying to ignore the incoming extrovert.

She caught up to me and halted my advancement as she stood in front of me.

"Hey Liv, don't you have plans for the afternoon?" I asked, hoping for a response that'll bring some alone time to me.

"As it turns out, I'm suddenly free this afternoon too." She said as she scratched the back of her head. "Given half the chance, I know you'll do the old loner thing. And two has got to be way more fun than one." She added.

"I'm not sure about that. Besides, I've told you several times that I find quiet time alone more relaxing." I started walking and she tagged along. I don't understand her sudden interest in my business lately, other students try to stay away and not meddle with me but not her.

"Here we go again, being a loner is no fun." She said with a tone which sounded like she was talking from experience.

"Stop calling me that."

"But it's true, okay, name one friend you have on campus." She stood with both hands folded as she expected a pitiful answer.

"The librarian." I said with a straight face and without flinching.

She paused for a while as she took a closer look at me. "You're kidding right?"

"Nope, I'm not." Still with a straight face.

She burst into laughter then teased me for a while before we continued our movement.

Of course I want a friend my age who I could hold a conversation with, but the kids here are all trapped in that ideology of youth being a fun roller-coaster ride where they could do anything all in the name of fun, all they want to have is fun and they can't see a bigger picture past that.

I don't blame them though, this verse is a fucked up verse and no one knows when a clash between some hero and a villain could cause a disaster which might lead to their eminent demise.

Gar could be pushy but he was cool in his own way, and I wouldn't mind hanging out with him some time. Wally was a little bit uptight but I could tell he'll be fun too, the way they view life is a completely different perspective from the normies at my school, maybe because as heroes they have seen the world for how it truly is.

"So, where are we going? Bowling?" She asked.

"No."

"Why are you being cold today?" She asked because normally I'd indulge in a conversation with her and act a little bit more friendlier than that.

"I'm not being cold, it's just my mood today and also I have a lot on my mind right now." I replied to her.

"I was planning to go see a movie, wanna tag along?" I asked Liv who seemed to have made progress with breaking through the walls I had put up.

"That'll be great." She responded with a smile on her face.

We got to the cinema and stood in the common area, wondering which movie to watch. I noticed Liv looking around the area before turning to me.

"Wait, were you going to see a movie all by yourself today?"

"Huh, that's right." I looked at the movies being played at the theater that day as I considered my options.

"A solo movie." She said as she took another look at me. She continued. "Just who are you anyway?"

"Just a guy in search of the ultimate thrill and trying to understand the logic behind this fucked up world along with all its craziness as I do so." I replied.

"I bet you do everything alone." She gave me a side eye as if she was suspicious of my activities.

"Yep, but I have a feeling that my life is about to take a turn where people would keep barging in and invading my comfort."

"Well your life would be more lively if that were to happen. I understand you lost your family but that doesn't mean you should wallow in your shell without wanting to associate with the outside world."

Now I saw where she got her ideology about me from, she must have heard about the accident which took my parents and younger brother from this world. I'm not sad about that at all, afterall I have no memories of them.

We selected a movie we both thought would be indulging and worth our while, I got us tickets and proceeded to the theater.

The movie was two hours long and it was beyond what I expected. One thing about the crime movies of this verse was that they were more captivating and more intense, I think it's because it was kind of what went on around them on a daily basis.

I accompanied Liv to the bus stop after the movie and we said our goodbyes before heading our separate ways.

I was heading home so I took the subway. The subway station in Central City was top notch when it came to infrastructural developments, they built nothing but the best, but it still couldn't be compared to Metropolis which seemed too good to be true, and Gotham wouldn't be on that list because the villains over there keep on destroying the buildings each time they were rebuilt. Sometimes I wonder how the mayor of that town keeps up with the headaches and constant bills, maybe through the support and generous donations of the rich folks over there.

I took the train and was hoping to get home as quickly as I could, then relax with some cold juice while binge watching TV till my lazy ass fall asleep.

But for some reason which I don't know, things do not go as I intend or hope for them to. We were all in the train when some men pulled out guns and held the entire train hostage while still in the subway, at a short distance near the station.

'You've got to be shitting me! Seriously?'