Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

On the planet Oa, the center of the universe, stands the headquarters of the universe's sworn protectors: The Lantern Corps. Within the Foundry, new Lantern Rings and Lantern Power Batteries are crafted, to be sent out to those who prove themselves worthy of them.

One such ring and its battery, shortly after being finished, activated and like a comet left towards a worthy holder. To the surprise and slight annoyance of the Guardians of the Universe who oversee this process they knew exactly where this ring and its battery were headed.

There had been so many Green Lantern members there already that it had become quite cumbersome to keep assigning them to new sectors as there was only ever supposed to be two Green Lanterns patrolling one sector. They tended to be the most troublesome ones at that.

Space Sector 2814, Planet designation: Earth.

Earth Orbit – Watchtower II of the Justice League

“You're certain there is another one? I thought the Corps was done recruiting.” sitting in his control room in the Watchtower was Batman, analysing some samples of the Joker's latest toxin.

“Positive. It should arrive within the next few minutes if the communication from the Guardians is accurate, which you know it is.” John Stewart’s voice came from one of the monitors.

“Any ideas where it will go?” John hated it when Bruce seemed to be barely paying attention or just asking something because he’d rather hear you answer for him. Of course Bruce knew where this Lantern Ring was headed and probably had an estimation on who would get it.

“Japan, which is a first as far as I’m aware.” John said, crossing his arms slightly.

“Musutafu specifically, there are a lot of incredibly powerful wills there.” Bruce said, still not looking up from his work.

There was a pause from John, who blinked for a second “You made scanning equipment to determine the next Lantern Ring holders?”

“No. The Guardians gave it to me actually, they got tired of me trying to analyse the rings that are already on Earth.” Bruce grumbled slightly as a blip appeared on one of the monitors, showing that Bruce was correct that the ring was arriving in the city of Musutafu.

“Take J’onn with you, he wanted to visit Japan for a while anyway.” Bruce mused still not looking at any of the screens.

“I think he meant it as a vacation.” John said, raising an eyebrow.

Izuku Midoriya’s life had always been difficult, and being born as one of the few quirkless people in his area had done his future prospects for life no favours.
Quirks were a kind of genetic super power, mostly found in Japan and dominating its social structure. These days, if you were quirkless, your chances at a successful life were next to non-existent.

If there was, however, one thing that being quirkless forever locked you out of was a career as a Professional Hero. It was every kid's dream to become a Hero and Izuku was no exception.

Ever since he turned four however, no one believed in his dream. Not even his mother seemed to believe he could reach what he had set out to do.

He was fairly certain that even what few friendships he had once had were now in tatters or just plain did not exist any longer, despite his determination to never give up on his dream and to somehow make it all work out.

Today however had been a roller coaster of emotions, it felt as if the universe either really hated him or loved him but could not quite decide which one it was.

First his ‘best friend’ tried to destroy his current notebook. He had made a habit of documenting everything about any heroes and their powers that he came across, even the smallest detail could eventually turn out to be helpful. That and most of their powers were just really interesting to him.

To his fortune, the notebook, Number #13 was made of stronger stuff that a small explosion could destroy it. So while it was a bit scuffed it was still perfectly readable.

Then the day took a darker turn when on his way home he was nearly suffocated to death by a sludge-quirked villain who wanted to take over his body.

He was saved by the, just on time, intervention of his Idol: All Might. All Might was the 1st ranked Professional Hero of Japan and had been for years. He had been thrilled and aside from his autograph also wanted to ask the man something important.

There were things better left undone, questions better left unanswered and things better left unsaid.

Izuku thought of this as he dejectedly walked home. It turned out clinging to the leg of your big personal hero as he jumped away to do more hero things, asking him your big driving question in life was one thing. Being given a harsh but reasonable answer from the same person was quite the other.

With a dejected look on his face and a reeling mind Izuku decided to head home, while All Might’s words had been harsh he couldn’t help but still remain determined. In Izuku’s mind this dream was all he had left. He wouldn’t, no, he couldn’t give up.

No matter who told him to, this was his future, his dream. No one was going to take it from him, he would be a hero or die trying to become one.

Hindsight, as Izuku found out, was a bastard. He should have figured that if he set his mind towards two possible endings then perhaps he should have chosen a bit wiser than succeeding or dying.

He thought about this as his school bag hit one of the eyes of the same sludge-quirked individual he had encountered earlier. The difference was that unlike last time he was rushing at this villain for the sake of someone else instead of being ambushed.

The person he was trying to save was his ‘best friend’ Katsuki Bakugo. Now Katsuki was probably the last person who wanted to be saved by anyone, let alone Izuku, but Izuku knew that for all his bravado Katsuki had been as scared of dying to this sludge guy as he had been and was just too proud to admit it.

“Goddammit Deku! I don’t need your damn help!”

There it was again, that nickname, he had it since it became clear that he was quirkless but for the first time it didn’t bother him being called that. Mostly because right now Izuku had more pressing matters to deal with such as the villain reforming around him as well.

“GRRRRR. You think you're tough, ya little runt?!”

The sludge villain restrained them both trying to kill either of them with his quirk. No matter how much they struggled he was just too strong for them.

Izuku noticed that Katsuki seemingly had stopped struggling and for the first time he saw genuine fear in his best friend's eyes, like he had begrudgingly accepted that this was how it ended for him as none of the present heroes seemed to make any attempt at saving them.

Izuku. Did not stop struggling. He couldn’t, he was scared but that wasn’t important, in fact that was the least important thing right now, he had to keep fighting. Giving up? That never had been an option in his mind.

Unseen to the onlookers, unseen to all but the most attentive of eyes a tiny green star flew with high speed towards the scene, trailing green energy behind it.

“GRR? What’s this? A fly?!” The Sludge Villain growled as a little light zipped around them, stopping in mid-flight only to change direction again in unpredictable ways before an ethereal voice intoned:

[Izuku Midoriya of Earth, you have been chosen.]
[You have the ability to overcome great fear.]
[Welcome to the Green Lantern Corps.]

The green ring placed itself onto Izuku’s right ring finger. The quiet but perfectly clear tone of an F-Sharp bell could be heard for miles around as a pillar of green light erupted from the ring and around Izuku, tearing the Sludge Villain off him and Katsuki like the liquid villain barely even existed.

When the light pillar faded Izuku stood there and stared at his hands in amazement. His clothes had seemingly vanished, having been replaced by a black and green suit with the symbol of the Green Lanterns on his chest. He knew what it was of course, he wouldn’t have been much of a hero nerd if he didn’t know about them.

Next to him, coughing and equal parts confused and enraged was Katsuki.
He couldn’t believe it. Him? A Green Lantern?

His thoughts were interrupted by a noise coming from somewhere above. The Sludge Villain had been hurled several hundred metres into the sky and with an ever increasingly loud “ARRRRGRGHGHRGHRHGRGHR” splashed onto the pavement of the street a few metres away from where Izuku stood.

“Buuuughghg.” the villain reformed before swaying back and forth like jello. “Officer?... I’d like to go to jail now.” the Sludge Villain burbled, still barely holding himself together. Today had just not been his day.

In the back of the crowd of now thoroughly confused onlookers stood Toshinori Yagi, also known as All Might. He couldn’t help but to stare in both shock, amazement and a bit of sadness. He could not believe how much he had misjudged that boy's potential. A small cough of blood reminded him to leave, there was nothing more he could do here.

As Yagi turned to a nearby alley to get away without drawing too much attention to himself he walked straight into someone taller than himself. “Oof. Sorry about tha-” he paused and looked up at the person's face.

At first he would have mistaken the man for a red haired version of his old friend Naomasa Tsukauchi but then remembered him all too well. “Oh. It’s you.” he said in a sobered tone.

“It has been a while, Yagi. You are looking quite a bit worse than the last time we met.” J’onn J’onzz the ‘Martian Manhunter’ said bemused, being a shapeshifter was fun, you could look like anyone and leave almost no one the wiser.

“What are you doing here J’onn? Here on official business?” Yagi asked quizzically.

It was no secret that the Justice League did not appreciate the ‘Professional Hero’ business, at all. In their eyes it was a system made to cause issues and made international incidents a pain to deal with.

“Of a sort. I am more of a tag along today, as you can see.” J’onn motioned to the crowd, where the Green Lantern, John Stewart had landed.

“So what happens to young Midoriya now?” Yagi asked slightly curious as to what the actual procedure for Green Lantern recruits was. J’onn raised an eyebrow.

“Oh.” Yagi said after a moment, realising that he had just revealed that he knew the boy's name.

“What did you do?” J’onn asked, having worked with Yagi before he knew that the man was not a social expert, let alone someone of great tact. He could say the same about a lot of other heroes but in Yagi’s case it was far more dangerous. Batman telling someone something harsh? Normal and expected.

All Might, beloved ranked 1st hero of the entire country of Japan telling a young bright eyed kid something harsh? That could cause some serious issues down the line.

“N-Nothing! Just told him the honest truth. He’s quirkless, what was I supposed to do?! You know how Japan’s system works.” Yagi said in a nervous and unconvincing tone.

Yagi was many things, All Might being the main one but this was the Martian Manhunter he was talking to. Angering someone as strong as Superman who could also phase through things and shape shift was not a smart idea.

“Yagi.” J’onn grumbled in a disappointed tone, if were the kind of person to rub his eyes in annoyance this would have been that moment. “What part of ‘choose your words wisely’ did you not understand the last time we met? For all you know that boy was charging into that scene in an attempt to commit suicide.” J’onn shook his head.

Yagi froze slightly, he hadn’t considered that possibility. He had thought of many possible ways Midoriya could have reacted to his answer but admittedly had merely hoped to make Midoriya consider other avenues of helping people rather than laser focusing on heroism. He hadn’t considered that Midoriya could possibly take his answer as a reason to become a hero or die trying.

“You of all people should know exactly how it feels to have no one believe in you. You were in his position once.” J’onn sighed. “For all that it is worth, what is done is done, I will meet you later and catch up. For now I have business to attend to.”

Without so much of another pleasantry, J’onn walked off towards the winding down scene Yagi had come from.

He saw a bright blue shine as the two Green Lanterns vanished to the Watchtower. He was a little surprised that John hadn’t asked the boy to fly alongside him to the Watchtower the ‘manual’ way.
Perhaps he thought the boy was a bit too young and too nervous to fly that fast or high?

J’onn stepped through the crowd and came to a stop when something hit his foot. A notebook, missing its cover and looking quite a bit beat up. He picked it up when he read the name “Izuku Midoriya” on the first page beneath the title “Hero Analysis for the Future #13”.

He blinked. ‘The boy wrote 13 notebooks just studying heroes?’ he thought as he meandered away from the scene again, picking up the boy's bag and other belongings along the way. He flipped through the pages and, his eyes widening, paused on a page.

Without missing a beat he jumped to the roof of a nearby building unseen. He tapped his ear piece.

“Batman. I want you to have the second Teleporter channel locked onto what I’m holding and teleport it to your location. Delays minimal if possible. You have to see this for yourself to believe it.”

“Roger that.” Came Batman’s usual grouchy voice as with a blue glow the notebook vanished from J’onn’s hand.

“What is this J’onn? Some kids' notebook?” Batman asked incredulously, looking very displeased though J’onn couldn’t see that.

“Not just a kid. The new Green Lantern recruit wrote it and twelve others like it apparently. You may want to check page 27.” J’onn paused after saying that.

“….This better not be a joke.” Batman eventually said. He had checked the page and couldn’t believe what he was reading.

“Well if anything we have more reason to protect and recruit him now. Seeing as he is only 14.” J’onn mused.

“...I’ll find out where he lives and give you his home coordinates. Let his family know he will be moved to the Watchtower as his knowledge is of an international security matter...offer them to move up here as well.” Batman finished after a while.

“Why so? We don’t usually do something like that.” J’onn questioned, slightly confused.

“Because if I know that this kid's information is accurate, others might as well and if we don’t move them up here now it could put a lot of people in danger.” Batman said with barely an inflection in his tone but enough to make certain that J’onn knew how much this could become an issue down the line.

“What about the ‘Hero Commission’ they have? Or their government?” J’onn questioned.

“Leave that to me. They know better than to question it when we tell them about something like this. Especially when the Lantern Corps are already involved.” Bruce couldn’t help but smirk a little.

Transforming back into his normal self, J’onn flew off towards where Bruce’s coordinates lead him.

Bruce meanwhile folded his hands, he had to admit the boy's deductions were far fetched and for the most part appeared to be guess work and, probably, pure wishful thinking on the boy's part. That did not however undermine the fact that his deductions were accurate.

It would be an interesting time ahead for the entire League that much he was certain of.

Chapter Text

To say that Izuku Midoriya would be an interesting new member of the Lantern Corps was an understatement.

Within the two minutes he was on board of the Justice League Watchtower he had, in no particular order: gushed about the technology used in the Teleporter bay, asked John around 30 or so questions about the Green Lanterns that John at some point struggled to understand, cried in a small panic attack wondering what his mother would think where he was and had a small freak out about the fact that he was a Green Lantern recruit.

“Hey John! Who’s the new kid?” a cheerful voice asked as ‘The Flash’, also known as Wally West, walked into the room. He had been assigned to keep an eye on things in the Teleporter bay this week; the League wanted to avoid repeats of the situations Cadmus had caused previously.

“This is our new Green Lantern recruit Izuku Midoriya. He’s a bit...nervous?” John said, trying to figure out what Izuku was thinking about now.

Izuku for his part seemed to have what was a small seizure staring at Wally.

“You okay there kid?” Wally asked, slightly amused.
Within a fraction of a second Izuku started asking things a mile-a-minute to the point John couldn’t follow.

Wally just tilted his head slightly. “Okay, let me answer all of those questions in order: Wallace West, 25-30...the speed force makes age a little weird, forensic science, eeeh around 16, it’s actually part of my powers so I couldn’t tell you, that time Superman and I had a race around the world for charity, Batman stole half a pretzel from me after he teleported me to the tower the first time. Lastly: I do not know what a ‘quirk’ is unless you mean personality quirks, of which I have plenty, so no my powers are not from one of those.”

Izuku’s muttering came to a sudden stop when he realised something: The Flash actually understood what he had said and had answered his questions. No one had ever kept up with what he was muttering about let alone taken the time to answer what he wanted to know.

Then something else came to his mind: Flash was probably speaking English since a lot of Justice League members were American or European, but Izuku hadn’t been muttering in English. He stared at the ring on his hand.

“Ah. Yeah the rings are universal translators. Work both ways too, so yes, we can understand what you’re saying and the other way around.'' John explained, realising the thought process that was going on in Izuku's head.

“It stops feeling weird after a few hours. Just wait until you have a conversation with Starfire once without wearing one. After that, you’ll just take whatever translations you get.” John chuckled a little.

Izuku meanwhile still stared at his ring even longer. “A-Ahm. S-Sorry but are you sure you got the right person?” Izuku tried to sound like he was jokingly asking that question but his voice betrayed him. The more he thought about this, the less he believed the ring made the correct choice.

John paused at that question, Izuku wouldn’t be the first Green Lantern to doubt their place, before kneeling down to Izuku’s height. “You heard what the ring told you right?”

“I-It s-said that I could [have the ability to overcome great fear].” Izuku recalled, temporarily imitating the rings mechanical tone, leaving John confused and Wally tittering for a moment.

“Exactly. You tried to save someone from certain death even knowing that you could die. That makes someone a Green Lantern, protecting people no matter what.” John declared as he rose back to his feet.

“The ring chose you like it chose every Green Lantern, that is not just me and the others on Earth but every Lantern in the universe. If, and I mean if, there had been anyone more worthy around than you in the entirety of this space sector, any sentient being at all, it would have chosen them. It did not. You belong here.” John concluded.

For the first time in his life Izuku found himself completely stunned and speechless for a good reason. Never before now had anyone ever genuinely believed he could be a hero in his own right.
Even his mother had doubted his dream before. It was all a little too much for one day.

With a small ping sound one of the big screens in the room turned on, showing a, as usual, not amused Batman. “Lantern, Flash, bring the recruit up to the conference room. The rest of the founding members are on their way as well.” With as little fanfare as his face had appeared the screen had gone dark.

“Well you heard the man. Usually it takes a while before a recruit for the League meets all of the founding members in the same room. Seems you’re already making quite a few waves if Bats wants to meet you.” Wally laughed before running ahead of the two to the conference room.

John wanted to motion Izuku to get a move on and follow the red wearing speedster but noticed the blank, wide eyed expression the kid had. He had fainted while standing up. John blinked, he had seen quite a few reactions to being told ‘you are going to meet Batman and Superman’ but that was a new one.

Being able to read minds and understand people's emotions had always been a double edged blade in the Martian Manhunter’s experience. On one hand you understood people around you incredibly well but on the other you heard and felt a lot of things you were certain you did not want.

He had stayed above the crowded streets of Musutafu, invisible of course as to not attract attention, hearing the many voices of various people in his head.

You could name just about any Justice League member and all of them knew what it felt like to have people turn against them in some way.

However he was certain he had never encountered something like this. A sentiment spreading like wildfire ever since John had taken the new recruit to the Watchtower. The vast majority of the population of Musutafu that had heard of the incident, or seen it on the near-instant-news it made, shared a line of thought.

“A quirkless kid, really?! This has to be a mistake.”

It confused him, how not having been born with a super power supposedly made the new recruit less worthy. After all, the process of choosing a Lantern had nothing to do with their origins.

He shook his head and decided to keep flying ahead, there was no point in sweating the details right now. Even if the people of this town would not accept him at first, the boy was a Green Lantern, if he didn’t command their respect now he would do something eventually that would change their minds.

The conference room of the Justice League Watchtower was pretty much exactly how Izuku had imagined it, a massive hall with a large round conference table in the centre of it.

While in any other circumstances being in awe of a conference room would have been childish, he was on the Watchtower, at the literal centre of an international hero base, him. A random, quirkless kid who had been handed a Green Lantern ring all of an hour ago.

“You know, I’d say that it isn’t entertaining watching him do that, but I’d be lying.” Green Arrow laughed as Izuku was seemingly everywhere in the room at once, trying and failing to contain his excitement at literally everything he could see, it had a similar effect as that of a child in a museum trying to take in all the details about the dinosaurs.

To their collective amusement he at least seemed to keep his distance, either too scared to make them angry or too concerned with how much money their costumes must have cost.

“Midoriya.” Batman finally spoke up. It was amazing how the man managed to drop the perceived temperature in a room just by saying someone’s name in a flat tone.

Izuku froze stiff on the spot like a scared cat before almost instantly appearing back at the spot he had started at, arms at his side like a schoolkid and bowing profusely, all the while apologising in varying degrees of polite Japanese, his ring opting not to translate as it interpreted the Japanese apologies to be the politer options.

“Considering your excitement to be here, I suspect that an introduction will be unnecessary.” Batman stated flatly, Izuku nodded nervously.

“I have to say, having read this...” Batman held up the wrecked looking Notebook #13 “...I was expecting a young Lex Luthor or a teen genius with a vested interest in making our lives harder.”
He laid the book back down.

“Judging by your behaviour so far, I miscalculated. It seems I mistook intuition and logical thinking for malicious intentions. That being said, I do have a question.” With nary a glance Batman took his cowl off.

“How did you deduce that Batman is Bruce Wayne, despite never having been anywhere near me?”

He would either have to wait a very short or very long time for the answer to that question, depending on how long Izuku’s excitement seizure lasted. Just when Superman was starting to ask: “Are you ok-” Izuku started babbling a mile-a-minute again.

“...Yeah get used to that.” John chuckled. “He’s been doing the ‘Flash Talk’ since he got here. Midoriya! Slow down kid, not everyone can follow what you’re saying.”

To John’s surprise Izuku actually did stop talking for a second, taking deep breaths in a vain attempt to calm down before starting again.

“W-Well. There’s actually a few parts to it, I wasn’t really sure but I had a few decent enough ideas here and there. Wayne Industry had tech expos all across the world, most rich Gotham locals are too old and death rates of people in alleys are too high.”

They all collectively blinked, except for Bruce and The Flash, both of whom actually followed that jump in reasons pretty decently. “Sorry if I ask, kid….” Green Arrow interrupted Izuku before he could keep going. “...but could you please run that by me again? I don’t speak fast forward.”

Izuku froze up again, panic and nervousness again taking the wheel.

He didn’t notice the newest member of the Justice League board, Cyborg, looking at him with a knowing smile on his face. “Midoriya was it?” Cyborg asked, taking Izuku’s attention to him now.

“You don’t gotta be worried man, this ain’t a test. No one’s gonna laugh at you, or ridicule you, here. I get it, I was in your shoes for a long time. I know being in the same room with these guys and gals is kinda intimidating to think about but trust me, they’re like you in a lotta ways. Especially him.” To Izuku’s infinite confusion he motioned to Bruce of all people.

“So. Take it slow, no need to rush, there ain’t a crisis going on, you just gotta say what you got in that brain of yours. Take your time.” Cyborg finished his little pep-talk.

Izuku took a deep breath again, trying and this time succeeding, to calm down.

“S-Sorry about that. I-It’s all a b-bit much….I’ve always been looking to find out things about heroes...L-Last year, there was a Technology and Industries Expo in my hometown, Musutafu. They had a presentation for Wayne Enterprises. I noticed that a lot of Wayne tech would have military applications and a lot of it already was designed close to military grade.” Izuku tried his best to not look at his own feet, mostly because he was in the same room as the people he was talking about and because he genuinely did think his logic was solid.

“W-Which confused me, Wayne Enterprises made multiple official statements where they declined working with the military, even declining Lex Corps partnership over it, if I remember that right. S-So why the military tech? Then I remembered an armoured prototype car being shown at the expo, it looked a lot like some Batmobiles in the news articles online. Could have been a coincidence b-but it just felt a bit too...intentional I guess.” Izuku continued, noticing that Bruce merely nodded at his reasoning, not even arguing.

“T-That was just the first thought... Batman operated solely in Gotham for a long time, e-even after the League came to be you were mostly there. There’s almost no other Professional Hero in Gotham and most other resident Heroes have similar designs to your costume in some form.” They all noticed that he said ‘Professional Hero’ as if it was some kind of job title or lifestyle.

“T-That, combined with most of the villains the news mentioned being in Gotham regularly, made me think you had to live there. Any other towns were a decent distance away, even with cars, submarines and planes you couldn’t be on site that fast. G-Going j-just by the news reports and the big companies whose main production plants are in Gotham, there were only you as well as three others and the three other people I read about I disqualified on principle.” Izuku continued, making Bruce raise an eyebrow.

“Who were the other three?” Bruce asked.

“Oswald Cobblepot “The Penguin”, Elliot Caldwell also known as “The Wrath” and Thomas Elliot, who I’m not sure what happened to. All of those families had enough money and estate but all showed up in the news as villains. Y-You were the only one still in the public eye that fit.” Izuku shrugged slightly.

“A-Anyway. T-The last reason was… well.. I figured you had to have a reason to start. S-So I checked old news reports, official ones. First the ones you were sighted for the first time, then what happened the following year. News channels give decently adequate reports of accidents and deaths over the years. Not a hundred percent accurate and some of them blatantly made to fill the space but enough to have a lead.” Bruce blinked as Izuku continued.

“S-So I thought, ‘Okay, gang crime and assaults with guns decreased sharply the first year Batman showed up, why would he go after those specifically?’ and went from there. S-Sure enough, I-I found an old news article headline from decades earlier. ‘Martha and Thomas Wayne found dead in Park Row’. I-It wasn’t evidence of anything, it just made sense with everything else. At least to me.”

There was a pause as Bruce blinked a few times, he had to give Izuku credit where it was due, most of the things he had said were really just guesswork and only made sense if you kept extrapolating and kept guessing… but that didn’t undermine that any and all conclusions the boy had come to were correct.

Bruce put his cowl back on. “I have to admit, I expected a lot of ways for people to figure out my identity. I’ve taken many precautions to make sure people didn’t find out or at least be thrown off the trail. Though I suppose anyone could have figured it out with the same guess work, it’s safe to say that you’re the first one to confirm their suspicions this way. Naturally we expect you to keep quiet about this, or any other secret identities you gain information on, from now on.” Bruce grumbled with an even darker expression than usual.

Izuku froze slightly before nodding.

“That being out of the way, the light show you caused was already a good indicator that we were dealing with someone worth keeping an eye on.” Clark mused.

Izuku froze up again, horror spreading across his face. “Y-You saw that?”

Hawkgirl started giggling “Yes. Pretty sure just about anyone looking at the sky around Japan saw the giant light pillar….and you obliterated the clouds above you with it too.”

And with that one sentence Izuku was out like a light again, staring with blank white eyes at nothing.

“You would think he’d get some kind of whiplash from these kinds of reactions.” John raised an eyebrow, waving his hand in front of Izuku’s face but this time around the green haired kid seemed to be out for good.

“...I’ll just get him to the medical wing. Maybe that slime guy got to him a little too much.” John said after a small pause, causing Izuku to lift off the ground with a green aura around him and taking him away to the medical section of the tower.

“I have to admit, his research was… reasonable, for someone his age.” Wonder Woman spoke up “… but are we sure he’s going to be a Green Lantern? A scrawny, nervous boy who faints over being embarrassed?”

“The rings care for personality traits, not physical or mental abilities.” Batman pointed out. “Which is why we and the Lantern Corps will have to help him improve in those aspects. He already has the personality.” Batman looked at some of the more wrecked pages of the book, and wondered what the other twelve notebooks had written in them.

Flash raised an eyebrow. “So he’s the opposite of you? A heap of mental and physical problems instead of emotional ones? A cute little chinchilla instead of a bat?” Flash would have kept going if Batman’s glare hadn’t shut him up.

“…. I’ll just go check on him before he accidentally spaces someone in a freak out when he wakes up.” With a red and yellow blur Flash was gone from the table.

“... I get the animal comparison but where did he get the Chinchilla from? The kid feels more like a Rabbit to me.” Cyborg mused, scratching his chin.

To say that Inko Midoriya was not prepared to meet a member of the Justice League was an understatement.

The Midoriya family was always a bit, as it was often known, ‘built close to water’ and easily driven to tears. In Inko’s case, however, it was more so that she really did not expect to be met face to face with a member of one of the world's biggest hero organisations.

“I-I-I am sorry for worrying you like that.” She stammered slightly, resting on her home's couch and trying to not be too nervous, a high thing to ask of her given his presence. She had passed out within moments of him introducing himself.

“That is quite alright. I have had worse reactions, you do not have to worry about it.” The Martian Manhunter stated calmly, smiling. Inko was slightly confused about the fact that he knew Japanese so well.

“There is something important that I need to inform you of. It is about your son.” Word choice, as J’onn now realised, was very important, as Ms. Midoriya already seemed close to fainting again.

“He is fine, no need to panic.” J’onn started with a slightly raised hand, contemplating if using his psychic powers to calm her down would be a good idea but thinking better of it.

“I would like to, with your permission, show you the scene of what occurred today. As I feel that explaining to you what occurred would only worry you more.” J’onn said, wisely deciding that it was easier to just show her what had happened mentally rather than let wrong assumptions make the situation worse.

Inko merely nodded, a bit too confused to quite comprehend what he would be doing to show what had happened. It was a strange feeling, seeing what was the most vivid memory play out like a film reel in her head.

What he had shown her was less than a minute long but it was already worth more than hours worth of explaining. Her boy, her innocent, frightened little boy, trying to save someone’s life and finally being given the chance and recognition that none had given him before.

“W-Where is he now?” Inko asked, tears welling in her eyes.

“In the Justice League Watchtower. The reason he is there right now is a more complicated matter. We have adequate reason to believe that, through his own research and observations, he has managed to decipher the identities of several of our members. Obviously not for ill intentions, that much is clear now, but these are matters of international security regardless.” He paused slightly, letting his words sink in.

“That being said, we would like to offer you, and your husband as well, to move to the Watchtower as permanent residents. This would be for your own protection as well as to support us. On my way here, I already noticed an unsettling dislike among the population for your son's situation. Many seem to believe that he got the ring in error, and I have no doubt that they would accost you to have him give it up.” he paused again, she merely nodded, it was all a bit much for her that much he understood.

“I can guarantee you that you will be safe and taken care of on the Watchtower and that your sons dream of being a hero will not remain one. Though there are things that the Lantern Corps will have to explain to you in person as well. Being a Lantern Corps member will mean that Earth won’t remain his only home so to speak. Those however are details they will have to discuss with you directly.”

It took Inko a while to respond. Her son had gone from a hopeful dreamer with nothing else to his name than his determination and hopes to someone who would be among the likes of the Justice League within less than an afternoon.

She took a deep breath in an attempt to calm her nerves. “How much time do we have to get everything in order?” she asked, trying to get a grip on how drastic the changes in their lives were going to be.

“Getting your belongings to the Watchtower will be no issue, with the technology available it will be done within minutes. As for any other business you may have here, taking care of that after your relocation would be a much safer way of handling matters. Until you and the rest of your family are officially and recognizably under the protection of the Justice League it would be in your best interest to delay anything you don’t absolutely have to do.” J’onn reasoned, he understood her worries of course, packing up everything and leaving was not an easy thing but he hoped she would recognize that this was a matter that would affect multiple lives.

Inko paused and after a while sighed, she knew he had a good reason and point with all of this. She just nodded.

“That does bring us to the matter of your husband.” J’onn stated.

“Y-Yes. He lives in America currently, he has been there for a few years now. Finding work in Japan is quite a bit more difficult without specific quirks.” Inko stammered slightly.

“Then for now, we will only move you up to the Watch Tower and get in contact with your husband as soon as we can.” J’onn smiled.

Within a few minutes and a large blue glow engulfing the apartment later, the entire apartment interior, at least anything that wasn’t nailed down, disappeared as did Inko and J’onn.

"Can someone help me understand something here? What is that 'Professional Hero'...thing the kid mentioned? I thought being a hero was a higher calling rather than a job description." Hawkgirl asked, slightly baffled by their introduction to the young Green Lantern.

Bruce tented his hands before explaining. "It's a complicated situation. To summarise, over the past two centuries Japan has experienced a surge in super powered individuals. The entire country has become a melting pot for meta genes of all kinds. So much so that over 80% of the population have some form of metahuman abilities, useful or otherwise. The Japanese government calls them 'Individualities' or 'Quirks' as the western media calls them."

Clark raised an eyebrow, crossing his arms. "I heard about them. Lois made quite a few articles on them, curiously the Daily Planet never got permission to run those in Japan. None of the Japanese heroes I worked with before brought them up either."

"Not surprising. Japan has been making an effort to make it appear as if these 'Quirks' are universal. If you check Japanese news sites you'll find that even every member of the Justice League is either implied or outright stated to have one even if it is decidedly untrue." Bruce continued, noting the odd look on Cyborg's face.

Cyborg paused, before deciding to check if Bruce was just making that up."What?! Seriously?" he spat after a while. "...Wow. They somehow think my cybernetics are a genetic 'mutation'. What is wrong with these people?"

Bruce’s expression darkened, if such a thing was possible for Batman. "If I had to guess, they're trying to project an air of normality and superiority.  If you ever heard of the concept of 'keeping face' or ‘saving face’ this is in essence that concept applied to the entire country. Or, at least, it is being attempted by their government. Modern technology has made it almost impossible for them to keep the facade."

“Almost impossible? So they’re still trying to keep this charade up anyway?” Green Arrow inquired, wondering what the point of it was.

“Well, they have two choices: Admit that they lied to their entire population for centuries, which would be a nightmare especially since most of them now have super powers of some description, not to mention the fallout of a government lying to its entire population about their position in the world. The other option is that they proceed as usual, keep the population in the dark, pretend everything is as it always was and deal with the fallout of the smaller issues that arise from it.” Wonder Woman reasoned.

“In any case, they’re making our job harder with it. It’s also clear that Midoriya seems to believe that not having super powers of his own makes him inferior to others.” Batman mused as he flipped through the pages of Notebook #13.

“He seemed pretty aware of you though, so he at least seems to understand that it can’t be entirely the case.” Cyborg noted, only to be surprised that Bruce shook his head.

“Not quite.” Bruce put the book upright on page 27. Aside from a decently accurate sketch of one of Bruce’s Batman Suits and a whole mess of notes there was a single point that stood out. On the upper half of the page, next to the sketch were physical descriptors, the points Izuku had told them about, though in a far messier way than his explanation, as well as Bruce’s full name circled.

On the lower half was a section labelled “Quirk:????” that seemed to detail how Bruce’s physical abilities could fit into a variety of quirks, with the last lines concluding that Bruce possessed a mutation quirk that enhanced all of his physical attributes to several times that of a quirkless individual, citing his reaction times, including a reference to a live report where Bruce was observed to dodge a bullet at close range.

“To be fair that’s a reasonable assumption to make with what he knows, how many normal people can dodge bullets? Not like, ‘get lucky to not be hit’, actively dodge them. Pretty sure that number is within low double digits at best.” Cyborg shrugged.

Green Arrow raised an eyebrow. “So what do we do? Have some of the Lanterns take their rings off to show that they’re just humans? If he was raised on that ‘genetic superpower’ nonsense all his life, he won’t just get it out of his head that easily.”

“I doubt it will be much of a problem.” Hawkgirl chimed in. “He’s a smart kid, it doesn’t seem like he needs to be told what to think or to feel. He’ll figure out the way the world works on his own the more he is allowed to be out there.” she concluded, shrugging lightly.

“As it stands, John will organise a meeting with the rest of the Lantern Corps. Until that meeting has happened we will get Midoriya into the standard training regimen for Justice League members, some basic Green Lantern training so he’s not completely overwhelmed and have him patrol with one of our core members.” Bruce summarised their next steps succinctly.

“Who do you have in mind for the patrols? You’re not gonna volunteer are you?” Clark asked, raising an eyebrow, with an amused grin. It was an unspoken, open, secret that Bruce had a tendency to get rather attached to young heroes with issues.

“Wally first. Then Victor. Then Oliver. After that? Anyone who has time.” Bruce stated in a matter of fact tone. “What this kid needs is people who encourage his growth, not drill sergeants. He’ll deal with enough emotionally taxing individuals in the Corps, me teaching him would only make things harder.”

“Aaaand I’m already pencilling in a visit to the Titans.” Cyborg chimed in excitedly.

“You’re really gonna expose that kid to Starfire? The poor boy can barely stand being in the same room as most heroes, let alone get near their personal space. The girl is gonna kill him by just existing in the same zip code as him.” Oliver chuckled.

Meanwhile back on earth, Katsuki Bakugo had decided, for the first time in years, to visit the Midoriya’s apartment.

He thought back to the days he and Izuku were still friends. He wanted to tell himself that it didn’t matter, that Midoriya always had been and always would be an extra… but how could he honestly tell himself that now?

He had heard that ring, like everyone else in that street did...and he wasn’t an idiot. Izuku Midoriya was a Green Lantern, and was deemed worthy of owning a Lantern Ring, not him.

He paused in front of the Midoriya family's front door; it took him a second to recognize the large, official note from the Justice League on it.

It merely began with the sentence: “Due to matters of a classified nature, the residents of this apartment have been relocated into Justice League custody.”

He didn’t read the rest of it. A very quiet, sad, part of him felt glad that Midoriya got the chance to live the dream that no one had wanted to give him.

The rest of him turned away from the door and screamed into the sky about how it was an insult that ‘Deku’ was given this recognition instead of him.

A few hours later, Justice League Tower II, training area Alpha

“Alright. Midoriya, now that you got the basic physical training for the recruits behind you for today, how about we start with the basics on Green Lantern training?” John smiled, watching as the fatigue almost immediately vanished from Izuku’s face.

Izuku was still in his Green Lantern uniform and had been told that as long as his ring had power and he did not consciously make it disappear, the uniform would remain. He didn’t mind.

“We’ll start with some basic powers. Flying, energy projection, basic constructs. Nothing too crazy yet. You’ll be learning the bigger ones off-world once the time comes.” John continued, realising just how incredibly focused Izuku was on paying attention, this kid really wanted to not disappoint anyone, no matter who they were.

“I figured you could use a bit of help getting into the swing of things, so I brought him in for this.” John motioned to the entrance of the training area.

Standing there, wearing a black t-shirt with a red Superman “S '' logo on it was a, visually around 17-19, was a black haired, squared chinned, guy who looked uncannily like Superman.

“This is Connor Kent. You might know him as Superboy.” John introduced the newcomer.

“I think he’s a bit too exhausted for this.” Connor chuckled, noticing that Izuku had passed out standing.

“...He still has a long way to go.” John sighed, scratching the back of his head.

Chapter Text

Izuku Midoriya knew what Quirks were like, from the perspective of an outside observer at least. He had spent a decade looking up and trying to understand many people’s abilities. He had spent hours into countless nights, even way past when his mom had sent him to sleep, trying his best to comprehend how these abilities must feel and work. At least he thought he did.

All it took was a few moments off the ground and everything changed for Izuku. All of his research, all of his analytical thinking, it all just stopped. While he had tried to keep paying attention to John Stewart, his current Green Lantern instructor, the very excited and enjoyment starved fourteen year old in him had stopped listening to instructions and just let the feeling of flying guide him.

A part of him wanted to laugh, to giggle like the child he ultimately still was deep down, somewhere. He was fairly certain that whatever part of him that was, was currently being heard loud and clear throughout most of the Justice League Watchtower.

Flying was a sense of freedom Izuku had never thought he would ever experience. He knew of a few heroes in Japan who could fly, to varying degrees. Hawks, the current #3 came to mind. Izuku had spent quite a few weeks wondering how his wings must have felt to have.

Now? Now he wondered how weighed down Hawks must feel with those wings. Izuku felt light, lighter than the air, lighter than any bird or plane. Being confined to a few hundred metres or air space aside, not that it mattered to him a few hours ago he would have given everything he had for any ability to call his own, the only thing that came to his mind at first was a very important question:

“Aaaah...M-M-Mr. Stewart?” Izuku began asking a few seconds after he had stopped flying around the room. A part of him wanted to ask why he wasn’t sweating up a storm but guessed his ring took care of that too.

“How do I land?” Izuku sincerely hoped that asking that would not make him very suddenly drop out of the air.

The Justice League was to the Japanese “Hero Public Safety Commission” much like it was to other government organisations: A very dangerous nuisance at best and an even more dangerous precedent at worst.

A government could not function if the people it was in charge of did not follow its orders.
As such, when word came to them that a Japanese citizen had become a Green Lantern, the Commission needed to act and needed to do so fast.

They had gotten into contact with All Might within less than forty eight hours. The “Symbol of Peace” of Japan had been their liaison to the League since it had come into existence.

In their eyes it was a simple affair, Izuku Midoriya and Inko Midoriya were Japanese citizens and thus under Japanese jurisdiction. All that needed to be done was that they would be returned to Japanese custody and All Might had been instructed to ensure that just that happened.

He sat, alone, at a table out front of a small, somewhat secluded cafe. He’d told the commission that it was foolish to believe that the Justice League would send Superman or Batman for this meeting and his suspicion would prove correct.

“Hello J’onn.” Toshinori smiled a slightly strained smile as J’onn J’onzz, in his usual disguise of a nondescript red-haired man in a brown trench coat, sat down opposed to him. “Going to be honest, I expected you to have a group of other League members with you.”

“I see that you did see it necessary to have our conversation shadowed, if the group of inconspicuous intelligence agents nearby and the young man with the red wings sitting on a building a few streets away are any indication.” J’onn smiled. Toshinori blinked, only slightly surprised. “You begin to pick up on things when you spend a few years around Batman.”

Toshinori’s expression darkened considerably. “They are not here because I want them to be, if that helps.”

“I figured as much. You never were one to hide your intentions. Knowing you, if it had been your call to make Midoriya would be sitting next to me right now.” J’onn smiled fondly.

“If it had been my choice, the Justice League would have received a gift basket and Midoriya would have gotten a written apology.” Toshinori chuckled, before coughing slightly. “He’ll be in better hands up there, I figure. With all of you, he doesn’t need a quirk to make it far in life.” Toshinori smiled.

J’onn raised an eyebrow “I was of the impression you are here to negotiate his return to Japan.” J’onn’s tone didn’t change but Toshinori knew him decently enough to know that trying to negotiate that outcome was going to be met with a stern “No.” Followed by “Talk to Batman.” followed by another “No.” from a man who couldn’t genuinely smile to save his own life.

“That is what the Commission wants me and the others to achieve, yes.” Toshinori smiled, his eyes glinting. “But we both know they won’t get that. I told them as much when they asked me to be involved. We can’t force you to bring him here, we likely couldn’t force him to come back either. Even if he’s just a recruit of theirs, a Lantern is a Lantern.” Toshinori shrugged, still smiling as ever.

“Instead.” Toshinori smiled, though with a slightly mischievous expression on his face: “I have a request: Make him the best representative of the Japanese people he can be. I suspect you won’t need to do much, he’s a Justice League member and a Green Lantern already. Someone like him inevitably will get into dangerous situations for the sake of others. It’s in his nature.”

J’onn paused, then smiled slightly, he got where Toshinori was going with this. “I’m certain that it can be arranged as far as such things can be anyway. Though I do have two questions.” J’onn started as Toshinori got up to leave.

“During our last meeting, five years ago, you claimed that two Justice League members were among the people who inspired you to become a hero as a child. Who were they? Superman is obvious, your costume makes that a given.” J’onn mused.

“...Back when my master, Nana Shimura, was still alive.” Toshinori reflected on his early days. “We met an old man from America. Though ‘old’ is stretching it. He was built like a wall, a smiling behemoth of a man. He radiated this kind of joyful energy. Not like I do when I’m All Might. There was just this endless well of love to him. As if he cared for everyone equally. He told me: ‘A hero can feel fear, much like any other man but they do not give into it. Fear is easy, hope is hard and you have to be up to that challenge.’ I didn’t know who he was until he disappeared as fast as he showed up.” Toshinori turned to J’onn, smiling fondly.

“Nana said: ‘That’s my uncle Jay for you. Appears doling out wisdom even from beyond the veil and is gone before you can blink.’ Heh. Fitting for the one who coined the name ‘The Flash’.” Toshinori’s smile could have set the sun on fire.

“What was your other question J’onn? I can hear the radio chatter in my ears. The Commission is getting antsy and really mad at my decision to trust you already.” Toshinori grumbled, picking his ear, tinnitus was a curse.

“What happened in the past five years? Due to the agreement, after the Darkseid invasion, we really lost sight of each other.” J’onn lamented.

Toshinori sighed solemnly, “I beat him.” his tone made clear who he was talking about all on its own “It didn’t feel much like a victory. Still doesn’t, as you can easily tell.” Toshinori just vaguely motioned to all that was him. J’onn didn’t need much more of a hint, he knew his friend didn’t feel like he was long for this world.

“However, I found someone. A successor. A few months before I met Midoriya. Well, I knew them for a long time before that but that is semantics. But they were willing to finally take my offer then.” Toshinori coughed up a bit of blood, straining to smile.

“...You couldn’t have helped Midoriya much, even when you wanted to.” J’onn realised with a sad tone in his voice.

“I could have been encouraging. I could have thought a bit better about what I said to him.” Toshinori laughed in a hollow tone. “...When you see Midoriya the next time, tell him that All Might is glad that he proved him wrong and that I’ll meet him again soon enough. We can have an actual heart to heart then.”

J’onn wanted to say something as Toshinori turned into his All Might state and jumped off into the distance. J’onn honestly wondered if the man had ever heard of a subtle exit. Perhaps he could ask Batman to give him lessons?

J’onn paused in his seat for a bit, before snatching something red out of the air. A small, vibrating, crimson feather that tried its damnedest to slip out of his fingers but failed.

“You are part of the Hero Commission, is that correct?” J’onn asked the feather, knowing that the #3 Hero of Japan was listening through it.

“If I could have some minutes of your time? I feel it is in the best interest of both our organisations if we work together in matters that we can actually change and improve.” J’onn stated in a matter of fact tone, before letting go of the feather which zipped off into the distance. He wondered how this person's powers worked. Telekinesis solely restricted to the feathers their body grew? It was an oddly specific ability to have.

About half a minute later someone landed near the small table J’onn was still sitting at.

“Hey there.” The blond haired man with red wings cheered with a small wave of his hand. “Name’s Hawks. What can we do for each other?”

Landing, Izuku had found, was actually harder to do than staying airborne. It had actually taken him a bit to not hit the ground too hard to make the metal floor of the training hall bend. A couple of tries later however he at least felt secure enough with it to not break a shoe deep into the ground every time he landed.

“A-Are you sure? I-I mean...” Izuku was rather nervous, sure this was Superboy he was talking to here but he didn’t know how tough the guy actually was.

“I’ve stopped meteors before, Midoriya. Trust me, if you’re not shooting me with Kryptonite Radiation, I will be impressed if your first shot even makes me blink. So. Hit me with all you got.” Connor chuckled, having been around Midoriya for a bit, he could already tell that he was making an impressive amount of progress. Sure he needed some advice but the kid really did seem like he could keep up the paces.

Izuku paused, looking at his ring, he didn’t know how this ring worked exactly but from what Mr. Stewart had said it amounted to “If you will it to happen, it will happen” with some relatively arbitrary restrictions. It seemed, to him at least, the rings functioned on necessity logic.

If it was necessary the ring would do just about anything its owner wanted it to. If it wasn’t necessary its rules were somewhat defined but he didn’t know them.

“Okay.” Izuku took a deep breath, focusing on what he was asked to do, his entire arm began tingling slightly. “RAAAAAH”.

Connor sometimes cursed his almost inherent Kryptonian confidence. He forgot sometimes that the Green Lanterns, if they wanted to be, could be a genuinely dangerous force to face.

“Ow. Gotta say. Didn’t expect that one.” He grumbled pulling himself out of the back wall of Training Hall Alpha as Midoriya stared at both his own hand and at his ring.

Most Green Lanterns struggled to force their rings to do just about anything at the start that wasn’t flying and performed most of their tasks just on instinct. Izuku apparently had no such compunctions as the gigantic green energy ray that had hurled Connor across the room was an attest to.

“I-I-I didn’t mean to do that.” Izuku stumbled over his words. He had just imagined the most powerful energy blast he could think of being used. He had remembered a Pro-Hero called Rockbuster who had a similar move.

“Are you okay Midoriya?” John asked, completely unconcerned for Connor, who was naturally perfectly unharmed, the indentation on the wall aside.

“W-Well. Everything tingles a bit...” Izuku stuttered.

John's eyes widened for a moment. He understood just how much he had underestimated Midoriya now. Most Lantern recruits would have passed out for hours after a move like that, let alone be able to stand.

“Well then, let’s get you a feel for this. Constructs are versatile tools but an energy blast is the most basic form of using your ring offensively.” John explained “If you exhaust yourself doing it, or overshoot the energy output, well you see the state of that wall and most other times it won’t be a Kryptonian you’re shooting at.” John hid his concern decently enough that Izuku didn’t notice but Connor picked up on it.

Each subsequent try varied in some way, sometimes the blast was as big as a person, the other it wasn’t a beam and more an energy ball but Connor noticed that despite the many differences all of them had something in common: They genuinely hurt. It felt to him much like how a human would feel getting punched in the chest with full force, which in a Kryptonian’s case was enough force to make a sniper rifle bullet seem like a breeze.

“Midoriya? You come from an area with a lot of superpowers right?” Connor asked, he had a suspicion he wanted to confirm.

“A-Ahm yes. Everyone I know has a quirk.” Izuku answered nervously, he already dreaded how this line of questions was going to go and his entire body tingling like it was somewhere between numb and normal was not helping his nerves.

Connor raised an eyebrow, he had heard of quirks, by the time Izuku had been officially introduced most of the League already knew about them in at least some capacity.

“Everyone… except for you, right?” The way Connor asked the question stunned Izuku more than the actual question itself. He had been used to being asked something like that in a derisive, mocking tone before. He had never heard anyone ask it in a manner that implied that they genuinely wanted to know.

Izuku paused slightly, trying to answer without trying to sound too despairing about it. “Y-Yeah.” He really couldn’t think of anything to say other than that.

“Huh.” Connor chuckled, “That explains why you’re so excited about this.”

Izuku blinked. “U-Uhm thanks?” Izuku had expected a mocking tone in Connor’s voice or some hint of malice. He had been looking for a hint of malice ever since he had been brought to the tower actually, to be told that this whole thing was just some really elaborate way to mess him up but… he didn’t find that.

“Honestly, you remind me of myself when I first learned I could fly. We’re a lot more alike than you’d think.” Connor mused, he wasn’t lying about that statement, he just understood why most people would see it as a ridiculous comparison.

Before Izuku could respond Connor spoke up again “I know what it’s like to feel like a real person for the first time in your life.” he clarified.

“You’ve been around people who never believed in a thing you wanted to do. Nothing was ever good enough no matter how good it was. No one listened when you had worries or anything to say that wasn’t ‘Yes Ma’am’ or ‘No Sir’.” Izuku stood there as Connor kept talking, a bit too stunned that someone could read him that well.

“I get it.” Connor sighed slightly “To most people I was...and to many people I still am… just a clone of my ‘dad’. Just a lab-grown freak of a Kryptonian. It’s similar for you isn’t it? You already know most people in Japan aren’t gonna like you even with that ring on you. Likely many of them never will.”
Izuku, for the first time since he had come to the Watchtower, had tears welling in his eyes.

“...but you know what? Pardon the choice of words but...who the fuck cares about them? Who are they to judge you? You’re gonna be a Green Lantern. You can stand up to my dad if you need to! That’s more than most of them will ever be able to say in their lives.” Connor concluded.

Izuku froze again, the tears in his eyes disappearing after a moment. He stared at his ring again, before it flared up slightly. Green lightning bolts started to arc around Izuku and his ring.

“You got it almost right.” Izuku mumbled. “Except for one thing. Who cares about them? I do. Because I have the power to protect them now. I won’t do this for recognition. I won’t do this because I want to prove them wrong. I’m going to do this because so many other people won’t!” As Izuku spoke the lightning bolts began arcing around him in a circle with several more sparking up his arms and legs.

The most striking change, however, was that his eyes had a green glow to them, a telltale sign of a Green Lantern.

Connor smiled “I was hoping to hear that. So, now that you got your worries out of the way for now, how about showing your teacher Mr. Stewart that you’re made of harder stuff than he thinks? Show us just what motivates you this much.”

Izuku paused, partially out of surprise and partially because he remembered who had made him this way. It took all of a moment, a fraction of a second so small that it was gone when you recognized it, before a green wave of energy erupted from where Izuku stood.

All Might, in his most glorious and chiselled form that Izuku remembered, appeared at Izuku’s side. While he was entirely green, every detail of him was captured by the green light construct. Even the smile was uncannily spot on.

Connor just tilted his head at the green, massive, constructed behemoth of a man. “So that’s All Might huh? Dad mentioned him once. That’s a smile that could burn the sun. Alright. Give me your best shot!”

In a rundown apartment, a phone had been ringing for almost four hours. He had been staring at the same phone for almost two hours.

“Uuuuhhhh.” A husky woman’s voice called from the bed “Just pick the damn thing up already.” she grumbled, turning over and putting the pillow over her head.

“Not yet. Now.” he grumbled before picking up.

“...four hours. A new record. Last time it took you nine.” a grumbling voice came from the other side.

“What do you want? You know I don’t work by your rules. Rules are quite the opposite of my expertise. Much like yourself.” the man grumbled as his companion slowly got out of bed and got herself dressed in her costume.

“Well. Victor… and you too Helena.” The woman paused at the voice calling her that for a moment before continuing to put her costume on.

“I think the League just got you a job you’re going to like.” The grumbling voice on the other end of the phone line stated ominously.

“Oh? What could you possibly offer us now? Unless you want us to save your billionaire ass from something.” Victor growled, only stopped by his companions' arms around his shoulders “...we’re listening.”

”How do you feel about toppling a government conspiracy stretching more than two hundred years?”

“Brughhhg. Ow.” Connor shook himself slightly, he wasn’t down or out but that was a hit he hadn’t expected.

Izuku meanwhile was stuck as a stuttering mess, trying his damnedest to explain just what had happened. He barely even noticed the red alert alarm ringing around the station.

Conner wasn’t in the training hall but the room above it, which in itself wasn’t that bad. It was just the fact that the training hall walls and ceiling on the Watchtower were incredibly thick and made of something that could survive a ballistic missile easily.

“Wow, that uppercut had some power to it.” Connor cheered as he floated back through the hole Izuku’s construct had caused back into training hall alpha.

“I-I-I-” Izuku just kept stuttering like a broken record for a few seconds “...I didn’t think it was going to be that strong!” an almost iridescent glint of green got to his eyes as his All Might construct dissolved with a thumbs up and a cheesy grin on its face.

“Okay. Time out. Midoriya!” John yelled in his best drill sergeant voice, his marine training kicking in. “What do you think you’re doing?! This is a space station! Your stunt just now could have shot Connor out of the Watchtower and endangered hundreds of lives!”

A small pause followed in which realisation crossed Izuku’s face and the green, intense, glint dissipated from his eyes. His body began feeling far heavier than before as panic and reality kicked back in. He wanted to say something, anything to explain himself but couldn’t.

With the ring's energy and the power-high wearing off, Izuku struggled not to have a panic attack. He barely even noticed the red alert turning back off.

“Woah.” a voice cheered from the training hall entrance. “Did the newbie just do that? Mis Dioses! That was so cool!” Jaime Reyes, the third Blue Beetle, walked over to the scene.

“Reyes! Not helping! Get the medics over here.” John barked.

“Caray, Jefe. Haven’t dealt with many people who have panic attacks huh?” Jaime grumbled as he ignored John for a minute.

Jaime knelt down to Izuku’s height, putting a hand on his shoulder.

“Easy there amigo. Slow down. Focus on yourself. You’re fine dude. You’ll make it through this. You made it all the way here. You’re not gonna let some accident get you down.”

It took a few minutes of hearing and following...was his name Reyes? Speak for Izuku to do as he said and a few more minutes of following his instructions to get back to reality. Izuku coughed a bit before standing straight again.

“T-Thanks.” he stuttered, still looking at the ground slightly, he really didn’t think he deserved to get helped out of the situation he just got himself into.

“No problem amigo. Also, that was genuinely cool. Not gonna lie: I’ve never seen Superboy caught that off guard before. Pretty sure half the recruits will think you’re some super soldier in hiding.” Jaime chuckled, only stopping at Izuku’s mortified expression.

“Come on man. I wear a symbiotic metal bug on my back, you think I never screwed up bad? Trust me, by the end of the week, everyone will have forgotten about this whole thing.” Jaime tried to cheer him up.

“I guess you’re… .symbiotic metal bug?” Izuku finally decided to look up at who he was talking to and almost fainted again.

Jaime Reyes usually looked like and was an average teenager about Izuku’s age but thanks to the Reach Scarab on his back currently could at best be described as a blue and black fusion of Megaman and a horror movie monster.

Izuku took another few long breaths, getting himself back to normal. Well as normal as he could always be. “Okay. H-How does that metal bug work? Because that’s either the coolest or creepiest hero costume I’ve ever seen in my life. I-I-I mean that in the most positive way.”

Jaime just chuckled at that “Easy there Amigo. Let’s deal with fixing that ceiling first.”

John had watched the scene unfold and sighed before looking up through the giant hole that Izuku had caused. Only for the Flash to look back to him. “Yo Green!” Wally yelled in Izuku’s direction, making Izuku freeze for a second, feeling another panic attack coming on. “Don’t worry too much about this will ya? We’ll fix it, we had worse things happen before. As of now you're training with me. Batman’s orders. I got a lot of folks I want you to meet, they’ll teach you the ropes with this sort of thing. You’ll like ‘em I promise.”

Izuku relaxed so quickly that his knees almost gave out on him again, which made Wally titter slightly.

A few hours later

“Before you go off with Flash, there is one thing you have to learn about being a Green Lantern.” John stated in a matter of fact tone as Izuku had helped lift several plates into place with his ring that would be used to repair the ceiling.

He was surprised how Izuku seemed to barely have changed his demeanour towards him. He hadn’t expected the kid to adapt to the situation afterwards as he did.

“Y-Yes, sir?” Izuku stuttered slightly, obviously still tense.

With a green glow of his ring and small portal appearing above him John pulled something large and metal out of seemingly nowhere. It looked like a weird, green, oil lantern of some kind. Its most notable feature was the large, glowing opening on its front.

“This. Is a Power Battery. Every Lantern Corps member has one of these that can be accessed with your ring. It supplies you with the power your ring uses to perform any of its abilities and tasks. The charge and discharge of each ring varies between each Lantern Corps member. It used to be bound to singular days but that has been changed a while back.” John began explaining as Izuku focused on calling his own power battery out of portal, succeeding after a small time.

Izuku noticed that despite its heavy appearance the Lantern Battery was almost weightless, it felt as if he was holding a very ominous balloon animal.

“However, that isn’t the only part of it. It is tradition for each Lantern Corp and every Lantern Corp member to recite their Corps’s Oath while recharging their ring. Naturally, if you would be in danger while doing so it’s not necessary. See it as reaffirming your commitment to our cause and your creed as to why you are one of us in the first place.” John continued as Izuku tensed.

Izuku had heard of this ‘Oath’ before but had never heard the words to it or knew what it exactly entailed.

“Some of us choose their own oaths but you need to know the original by heart. This is the original Oath of the Green Lanterns:” With a click and a green glow, John put his ring into the glowing end of his Lantern Battery and began reciting.

In brightest day, in blackest night,
No evil shall escape my sight.
Let those who worship evil's might.
Beware my power. Green Lantern's light!

Izuku was lost in reverence of the oath. The part of him that was raised a hero worshipping child since he could think found it an amazing way to show the Lanterns way of thinking.

The more he thought about it however, it just didn’t sound right in his head. IT sounded too..narrow. Too accusatory, as if evil people were around every corner.

“Now you recite it yourself. You are free to change what you deem necessary, as long as the essence of the oath remains intact.” John concluded, taking his ring back from the Battery.

Izuku paused for a moment, thinking about what to say before putting his ring to his battery:

In brightest day and darkest night.
No horror shall escape our sight.
Let all who seek to flee from evil's blight.
Be led by our light.
Beware our power, Green Lantern's might!

Chapter Text

Waking up on the Watchtower would always be weird to Izuku, or so he thought at the moment.

It was the start of his second ‘month’ on the Watchtower, despite a day and night cycle technically not existing on the Watchtower and if there was such a thing as ‘living a dream’ this was it for him.

“Hola amigo!” Jaime called from their shared table. Jaime, as it turned out, was effectively assigned to the same ‘team’ as Izuku. Though Jaime had been part of the Justice League for a few months longer.

Jaime still lived on Earth, unlike Izuku and his mother, who were until further notice the sole genuine residents of the Justice League Watchtower. Though for the weekends Jaime seemed to stay up on the Watchtower as well.

“You’re looking bright today, finally getting used to living up here?” Jaime chuckled.

“Eheh… kind of?” Izuku tried to sound convincing but his incredibly nervous smile betrayed him, as it so often did.

If Jaime had learned one thing, it was that Izuku was bad at lying to just about anyone for any reason. Nervous disposition aside, Izuku also had the bad habit of looking so guilty when he was lying about something that it was physically impossible to miss.

“Still passed out in bed after the training, huh?” Jaime grinned, knowing the answer. While The Flash was far less of a taskmaster than John Stewart, Izuku was still mostly untrained and actually getting him up to speed with the majority of Justice League recruits took time.

“...Yeah.” Izuku sighed and sat down. “Guess it's something I’ll just have to live with for a while.” Izuku grumbled, at least it had gotten better over the weeks, he thought. The first two weeks had been hell to get his physical endurance up.

Learning the Green Lantern basics and also keeping up with school at the same time was a nightmare, while Izuku had been moved, he still had an education to complete and the League wasn’t going to let him off the hook on that… not that he would have wanted to.

“At least you only got a couple of months of all that to deal with left, right?” Jaime asked, curious. He knew that Izuku was slated to entirely work for the Justice League and the Lantern Corps.

“Yeah I guess. Batman was busy working out the details, though I don’t think I get to be a Pro-Hero officially.” Izuku shrugged, he knew that the political side of him and his family even being on the Watchtower was massively complicated already and Batman was taking a few risks to even consider employing him.

“Why not? You’re a Green Lantern, that alone should be more than enough qualification to be ‘Pro’.” Jaime chuckled.

“That’s not how it works.” Izuku grumbled sadly. “If you don’t have a quirk, you don’t get to be a Pro-Hero. End of story. I checked how the whole process works, they wouldn’t even take my application to one of the Universities that get you into the business.” Izuku shook his head.

“Wow. So no matter what you do, you’ll always just be a vigilante working for the Justice League in your own home?” Jaime raised an eyebrow, finding the whole situation eerily similar to a lot of discrimination cases in America.

“Not actually, no.” Izuku sighed “Vigilantism in Japan is defined as ‘unlawful use of a quirk’. A Green Lantern ring is not a quirk. So… basically it’s just one less crime to be charged with for me compared to someone else. I couldn’t be charged with vigilantism itself, but with any property damage or injuries I cause or is caused in the process of capturing a villain and the people affected would be perfectly within their right to do so too.” Izuku elaborated.

“...Mierda, that is dumb. So if you return home at any point, the only thing keeping you out of jail is the Justice League and the Lantern Corps?” Jaime asked in a slightly disbelieving tone.

“Yeah, pretty much.” Izuku nodded with a sigh.

“So what’s Bats planning to hire you as then?” A very fast voice asked right next to Izuku's ear, making him freeze up for a moment. “Hey you didn’t faint this time. Getting better every day.” Wally laughed as Izuku relaxed slightly.

“...I’m never gonna get you to stop doing that am I?” Izuku asked nervously.

“Nope, because you won’t learn how to deal with people being in your face about things or surprising you if we avoid it.” Wally said cheerfully.

“That… actually makes a lot of sense.” Izuku groaned slightly annoyed.

He liked Wally, you couldn’t get him wrong on that, Wally West had much the same impression on him as All Might had when Izuku was younger. He just really wished that Wally’s training methods didn’t involve scaring the hell out of him whenever he could manage.

“So anyway, what is Bats planning to hire you on for?” Wally asked again, still smiling as he usually did.

“Apparently, either the security detail or part of the repair crew.” Izuku mused “He said it’s either of those or just as ‘General Crew’, meaning that officially I’d be there for whatever is needed at the moment? I guess?” Izuku scratched his head.

“Ah. So he’s just employing you as a Hero, got it.” Wally laughed, before clarifying at Izuku’s strange look “Read between the lines, Green. Bats is basically just downplaying your League position so the political sides pipe down. Your real bosses aren’t the League, you’re a Lantern Corps member and they outrank us and them. Basically, Bats is telling the politicians: You wanna argue about what a Green Lantern does? Ask his actual employers, they got a living planet's worth of people on their side, see if you want that flight.” Wally chuckled.

“Cual de? Won’t that cause more issues than it solves?” Jaime chimed in, tilting his head.

“If we were all on equal footing? Yes, it would.” Wally shrugged “But we’re not. This ‘Hero Commission’ only acts in Japan under the heading of their government, the League only acts on Earth and the surrounding planets, unless we’re attacked anyway. The Lantern Corps are a galactic organisation. The commission and the politicians would have to be very careful on whose shoes they step with them, if they can even get in contact with them.”

Izuku couldn’t help but sigh, he really had not wanted for his dream to cause this many problems.

“Hey! Stop that.” Wally scolded him lightly, punching his shoulder. “Not your fault. No. Stop it. Not your fault. Don’t blame yourself for things that you had no hand in.” Wally interrupted, cutting Izuku’s protests off before he could even bring them.

“Now that we have that discussion out of the way, there’s two missions on docket for the two of you so listen up.” Wally said in a faux soldier-y voice “First up, we’re headed for Keystone City, my home town, to pick up some V.I.P’s. Should be easy, go there, have the Watchtower teleport us all up. Done.” Wally started.

“Seems a bit odd that we’re going down there first.” Jaime chimed in. “The teleporter bay can just pull people up even from enclosed spaces, why the escort?” Jaime mused, tilting his head.

“Usually that’d be the case, Blue, but you two gotta be ready to call up here and give the teleporter bay the orders. Relatively easy to do but still, practice is practice. Also this being my hometown? Chances are good we’ll run into a rogue or two on the way.” Wally chuckled “That and I think Bats wants to see how you two do in the field. Though that’s what he always says he wants to see.” Wally shrugged.

“Second mission’s…. not a mission, Green. You got a meeting with the Lantern Corps top brass. John and Blue here will be joining you.” Wally chuckled at their slightly shocked expressions.

“Why do they want me in this?! They know ‘Kahji Da’ hates the Lantern Corps. I think the only Lantern it hasn’t been aggressive towards is Midoriya. What do they think it’ll do if I’m there?” Jaime probably didn’t mean to shout or for his armour to turn full blue beetle but much like any emotion tied superpower, ‘Kahji Da’, the symbiotic ‘Breach Scarab’  was bound to responded accordingly.

“Easy there Blue. That’s exactly the point. Because if ‘Kahji Da’ can stand being around Green, there’s gotta be a reason for it, and if it’s as intelligent as it seems, then there is no reason for it to hate the others right?” Wally merely shrugged at the reaction.

There was a pause before Jaime’s helmet disappeared. “Good point, I didn’t think about that. Sorry for yelling.” Jaime apologised, slightly embarrassed, while Wally just waved it off.

“So get yourselves ready, we’re heading out to get the V.I.Ps in a few.” Wally got up.

“So soon?!” Both Izuku and Jaime yelped in surprise.

Wally chuckled, “Ah don’t worry, we’re early by about two hours.” there was a pause in which Izuku and Jaime blinked, not quite getting the message.

Wally shrugged and meandered away. “Just figured I’d see a blue and a green star in the early morning sky before the sun comes up.”

Batman was busy, as he always was. The man had no free time, not really anyway. He was playing a rather curious version of chess.

Normal people would play things like online chess, while few would play a variant where the board and pieces physically existed in two places at once, with the pieces moving through quantum entanglement. Only two sets existed, however, where the players could be seen as 3D holographic projections moving the pieces.

“I have to admit.” Bruce mused moving a black piece. “Your inventors are quite crafty. I imagine with the right motivation they could put Earth on the galactic map.”

“You would be surprised how an entire industry of eccentrics can change the perception of what is normal. I would imagine that given enough time we may make the concept of space travel obsolete for Earth.” his opponent laughed, before moving his, whitepiece.

“I doubt it.” Bruce stated darkly. “Your optimism is admirable, but I know humans too well for that. They’d sooner use it for war. If not just vanity.” Bruce took the first white pawn and watched rather bemused as the white pawn seemingly disintegrated.

“Naturally you believe it to be so. Your cynicism is well documented.” his opponent laughed, wondering about his next move.

“Your files on me are several years out of date.” Bruce responded flatly.

“I suppose I should get to the reason I called. Rumour has it that there are two Justice League members investigating the Hero Public Safety Commission. I have been asked to investigate these rumours.” word choice, Bruce mused, was key in this conversation.

“Nonsense.” Bruce replied flatly. “The Justice League always handles everything through the official channels.” Chess much like conversations, was something that took two people to play, Bruce motioned for his opponent to make their move.

“A fortunate choice. Though, if what All Might tells me is true, it has led to a few tense situations recently.” An opening? Or a feint?

“He’s hardly as informed as he believes or acts.” A trap? Or a defensive move?

“Oh? You think that our Symbol of Peace is ill-informed?” An inquiry? Or an Accusation?

Bruce paused. “There are things he’d have to look higher to get the answers for his questions and some he’ll have to search in the dark for.” For some reason, his opponent shivered. “Checkmate.”

His opponent frowned before sighing annoyed “I always forget how the knights move.” his opponent smiled and got off their chair. “I suppose that we will have to conclude our game for today.”

“Capybara, Panda, Fennec Fox, Japanese Hare.” Bruce listed, seemingly at random.

His opponent laughed “Almost correct. You got the last one wrong. Chinchilla. It’s the ear shape. Goodbye for now.” with that the hologram disappeared.

All Might blinked a few times. “What was that about?”

“Oh just a little guessing game I play with almost everyone. I like to see if they can guess the variety of animals that make up part of my genetics. He’s the first one to get most of them right.”
The Principal of U.A Hero University squeaked amused.

“Of course that’s not what you were asking about. I will explain on the way. Come now, we have things to do.” The Principal waved Toshinori along, they had a long day ahead of them.

There was an advantage to having a set of living power armour and a ring that was basically a one-man spaceship, getting anywhere you wanted to go was just a question of “How fast?” not “Can you do it?”

Izuku and Jaime had learned this only about two weeks prior, as Superboy had led them on an outside walk around the Watchtower, something that had given them a sight that they were fairly sure few people could claim to have gotten: An unobstructed view of the Earth from space.

Now however both of them were using their respective abilities for the first time to fly from the Watchtower down to Earth. For Jaime it was a, relatively, average situation. A jetpack was a jetpack after all, and his just happened to be strong enough that made both exit and entrance into the Earth's atmosphere possible.

For Izuku it was time to experiment. From the second he stepped out of the airlock he explored a near endless amount of options of wings and similar things to ‘fly’ with.

First a drop-pod that did, well exactly what he expected, falling straight down for several stories before he changed his construct to something else.

Next, a couple of jet-like dragon-like wings he remembered seeing a game once, zooming past Jaime with a velocity that made several sonic booms happen near instantly only to stop when he realised that he had almost shot out of the Earth's atmosphere.

This continued for a few minutes, causing Izuku to paint a pattern of sparks into the night sky, whereas Jaime’s relatively smooth lines made him seem like a small comet.

“Having fun there?” Jaime smiled as Izuku decided to settle into a more smooth flight, carried by what looked to be large bird wings.

“Ehehe. Yeah.” Izuku giggled with a nervous smile. While the month on the Watchtower had done wonders for both his physical condition and his self esteem, he still was rather worried about leaving a bad impression.

“Easy there amigo. I did the same kind of thing when I found out this armour flies.” Jaime laughed as they slowly saw the skyline of Keystone City appear on the horizon.

“Sorry. I-I’m not really used to… this yet.” Izuku stuttered slightly.

“What? Having superpowers? Falling from thousands of metres as if it didn’t matter?” Jaime asked bemused.

“People being civil.” Izuku admitted as they got near one of the skyscrapers and landed on its roof.

“Were people really that bad where you lived? It sounds like you didn’t have many friends.”

Izuku sighed, trying to find the words necessary to show just how much of an understatement he thought that was. “I have one friend. Or at least, I thought so. He’s… incredible in some aspects. He’s an achiever. He wants to do something? He’ll make it. He’s just… difficult. He’s not the kind of sociable, likeable kind of person.” Izuku went on but eventually seized up a bit trying to keep going.

“...but he wasn’t a good friend huh?” Jaime voiced what Izuku was trying to tiptoe around.

Izuku took a deep breath. “I don’t want to think of him like that.” Izuku tried to grumble as if he was telling Jaime not to continue but it mostly just came out as mumbling to himself.

“No one does.” Jaime stated in an even tone making Izuku snap out of it and look at him. “I mean, no one wants to think that they might have a bad friend. That’s fine, honestly. They’re your friend or at least you consider them that. If no one else sees it that way? That’s fine too.” Jaime shrugged.

“I mean. Look at Batman and Superman. They’re night and day, in all ways possible. From clothes, to the places they look after and so on.” Jaime continued “You’d think they hate each other and in some ways, they might.” Jaime shrugged “but they always look out for each other. They just do. Batman might think Superman is too nice but you put Superman in danger? You can bet that Batman is leading the charge to save him. Same for the other way around.”

Jaime let the words sink in, he knew what it was like to be in Izuku’s shoes, at least partially.

Izuku thought about it, really thought about it. Had there ever been a moment in the past ten years he felt that Katsuki would have saved him? His expression darkened slightly.

No. There hadn’t been a moment like that. If anything, he figured Katsuki would have laughed at him. Or worse, told him it was his place to be beneath everyone else.

Izuku took a deep breath and, after staring at his ring for a second, sighed. “I gue--” A loud crash and rumbling cut their conversation short.

Thick, black smoke began billowing out of a nearby building.

They looked at each other for a second, nodded and flew off to help.

Stalking through Aldera Junior High, was a man without a face. He was wearing a brown trench-coat and hat. He was so inconspicuous that he ended up being suspicious again. This was, obviously, the point. If he didn’t want you to see him, you wouldn’t.

However he was just waiting for someone to ask “Who are you? What are you doing here?” Because it meant that this person carried some authority to ask those questions, which also, naturally, meant they knew a bit about the place.

So he kept meandering around, for what seemed to be hours, looking at nothing in particular and yet everything. He hated schools with a passion, institutions of complacency and indoctrination all around the world. If anyone could have seen him scowling, they would have thought he was Batman.

“Hey!” A angry, somewhat nervous, voice called from across the hall behind him, in native Japanese. “Who are you?! What are you doing here?”

He grinned, invisibly, he was going to love this job for the League. You couldn’t see his face as he turned around with an invisible grin so wide that the Joker would have leaped out of the nearest window if he had seen it.
“Oh I am no one in particular. Just a Question, looking for answers.”

Izuku sped around the building in a circle, it was a bank apparently. What was it with villains and banks...or jewellery stores for that matter?

Fortunately, nothing above the ground floor seemed to be on fire or damaged in any way, oddly considerate, he thought.

As he landed he almost had a moment to breathe as a shot of blue and white energy hit and froze a lamp post right beside him, making him flinch.

“Well, well. Look what we got here.” a gruff, slightly menacing, voice grumbled as two cyan blue lights shone through the smoke.

“What’s up Lantern?” a man, wearing a cyan blue, armoured, parka and a weird helmet that could have been mistaken for a ski-helmet from afar, stepped out of the smoking building with barely a care in the world. He was holding something that looked vaguely like a large gun, with a cyan core glowing at the centre.

Izuku readied himself, as much as he could, his training was far from complete so his form was off even in a basic fighting pose.

The man tilted his head “Huh? You’re not Stewart. Or Rayner for that matter.” Izuku couldn’t see it but the man blinked. “Is your damned hair green? Where the hell are you from, kid? You some new meat the League sent with Wally?” the man asked casually.

Before Izuku could answer, the man fired a shot at him again, only for Izuku to create a green brick wall just in time to stop it before it froze his face. “Hiiiiiooow did it freeze energy?” Izuku asked no one in particular, noticing that the green wall was now an actual wall of ice bricks.

“Wow. You’re better than Gardner was when he was visiting. Not saying much that you’re a step above the ground floor of competence but still worth mentioning.” the man chuckled as Izuku jumped on top of the wall.

“Ya sure you wanna stand there?” the man asked bemused.

“Trick question.” another voice continued as two sharp looking objects flew right past Izuku’s head and exploded behind him, throwing him off.

As Izuku landed he had just barely managed to create another barrier in front of himself, though this one was a shield with a large S on it, as the man froze it again.

“Dang kid. With your reaction times, I’d say your experiences with near death must be pretty damn high.” the man chuckled as someone else stepped out of the smoke. “Thanks for the timed hits there Boomerang.”

“Don’t mention it. Seriously, don’t. We both know this is temporary. Just in this for the cash.” Captain Boomerang snarled before throwing a metal boomerang at something a distance away.

It curved around and almost hit Jaime as he had circled around to catch the thieves by surprise only for it to explode into shrapnel. While his suit was easily capable of surviving that and leaving him unharmed, the surprise was enough to make him crash into a wall.

“Gods, man. When did you turn into such an asshole? Did Cadmus do that much of a number on you?” the other man grumbled.

“It’s called being a professional, Leonard.” Captain Boomerang growled.

“No, that’s called being a hardass, George. That’s not how the Rogues do things. We taught you better than that.” the man in the parka, Leonard, snapped right back.

Izuku paused, still behind his frozen shield, contemplating his next move. It was obvious to him that this Leonard person was at least more reasonable than this George character was.

“Well I don’t care what you think Snart. I’m used to bett--” A green energy blast caught the man off guard and hurled him back into the bank, knocking him out in the process.

“Y-You’re under arrest.” Izuku stuttered slightly.

Leonard turned back towards Izuku before laughing. “Dang kid! You got some killer aim there, for someone scared out of his wits. More presence of mind than mo….Heeey. Wait a tick. I know you! You were on the news a bit ago.” Leonard pointed at him.

“Wha…?” Izuku froze, not literally but emotionally. “I was...wha?”

“Yeah, yeah! I remember now. You’re that ‘Deku’ kid Japan’s so insane about. They’ve been saying all over the place that you’re some fake Green Lantern or something.” Leonard grumbled.

“R-Really?” Izuku looked like he had been punched in the face. He knew people in Japan wouldn’t like him but that they would go so far and claim that he was--

“Load a shit if ya ask me.” Leonard’s voice dragged him back to reality.

“...What?” Izuku asked, baffled at what the villain had just said.

“A ‘Fake Green Lantern’, morons!” Leonard made a dismissive gesture.

Izuku was a bit too...stunned to respond.

Leonard laughed. “That ain’t a costume you’re wearing kid. It’s a uniform.” Leonard stated meaningfully, making Izuku snap back to reality a bit.

“Sure, you’re green behind the gills but you’re goddamn Lantern! Anyone thinking you’re faking it is just asking to get their ass kicked.” Leonard chuckled at the expression on Izuku’s face. “Man, you look like you needed to hear that.”

Izuku paused before the green shine returned to his eyes. “Why are you helping me? You’re supposed to be a villain.”

Leonard laughed. “Lesson one you’ll learn here in Keystone, kid: Not every villain is a bad guy and not every bad guy is a villain. Lesson two: Name’s Leonard Snart, Captain Cold to you and don’t you forget it. Lesson three...” Leonard turned around and shot his cold gun right in front of Captain Boomerang who had gotten up from the early hit, freezing a block around him.

“…the Rogues don’t try to kill kids. Jackass.” Leonard snarled.

Izuku straightened after a second or two, trying to put on a brave face. “Then what were those shots?!”

“Warning shots. If I wanted you dead you would’ve been an ice cube when you and Beetleborg over here flew around near the top of the building.” Just as he said so, Jaime, masked and in full armour, landed next to Izuku. “I deal with the universe's fastest men on the regular kid, you learn a lot when you do. Hiya Wally. Coulda told me you’re bringing the rookies.”

Izuku looked to his side and immediately jumped like a scared cat, as Wally decided to get really close to him with a creepy smile on his face. “Gah! Stop that!”

“Eyyy. You didn’t try to put me in an All Might box this time. Progress.” Wally laughed.

“Hi Leonard. I see Bummerang is back in town.” Wally chuckled, looking at Captain Boomerang still frozen.

“Well yeah. Told ya. Do your friends up in the Tower not give you our mail anymore?”

“You know how Bats is about that stuff.” Wally shrugged.

“Well tell him to knock it off, just ‘cause his villains are a nuclear dumpster fire doesn’t mean yours gotta be.” Leonard grumbled annoyed.

Izuku paused at that and with a glint of his ring pointed it at Leonard. “S-Speaking of that, you’re still under arrest.”

Leonard paused before laughing, dropping his gun and putting his hands up. “Mahahan Wally! This kid’s got some fire. Sticks to his guns come hell or high water.”

A few seconds later, a group of police cars and the fire department showed up. “Freeze!”

“Wrong super villain, officer. You’re thinking of the guy in Gotham. He’s a poor sport.” Leonard stated calmly. “George is still in there ya know. He’ll live, just set the gun to ‘thaw’.”

“Like always, Cold?” Wally asked bemused.

“Like always, Flash.” Leonard laughed as he headed to the squad car, hands still over his head.

He noticed the approaching news crews and stalled just long enough for some of them to get out of their cars. He paused at the door of the car and spun around, before yelling something with an exaggeratedly enraged look on his face.

“I’ll get you for this Green Lantern! Mark my words, you haven’t heard the last of Captain Cold!”

“...What was that all about?” Izuku asked both Wally and Jaime as they headed to the V.I.Ps pick up point.

“That, was Leonard Snart doing what he does best: Playing for the crowd.” Wally tittered, effortlessly keeping up with the two flying heroes-in-training as they still had about five minutes at subsonic speeds to go.

“Wha…?”

“You heard him right? Not every villain is a bad guy, not every bad guy is a villain. The Rouges? They’re villains alright, but they’re not bad people. They’re mostly after me, or money. They don’t just kill random people like some others do.” Wally explained.

“Well Boomerang did seem to try and kill me.” Jaime noted somewhat nervously, he was infinitely grateful his armour was more resilient.

“Boomerang’s a jerk. They kicked him out when he threw his lot in with Cadmus, I think Lenoard just kept an eye on him until he did something stupid.” Wally grumbled.

“To answer your question though, Green: He was playing up who caught him and who he is because words gonna spread around. If you caught some no name crook? People in Japan would laugh it off, they’d say you’re pointless. If you caught someone like, say, Doomsday? They’d say you’re a cheat, that you somehow faked that win. Now? Now people know you’re the reason Leonard Snart, Captain Cold, the man who mastered ‘Absolute Zero’, is behind bars again.” Wally chuckled, seemingly pulling a hotdog from nowhere.

“Where did you...?” Izuku began asking before stopping himself. “...Nevermind, you’re just too fast for things to make sense.”

“Why didn’t you help anyway?” Izuku asked Jaime in an annoyed tone.

“Help with what amigo? You had it under control by the time I crashed into that wall. Cold wasn’t gonna fight anymore and you took care of Boomerang.” Jaime shrugged “Before you ask, this armour can sense heat, that smoke was harmless. Probably just a smoke bomb Boomerang threw. Literally no point in bringing more guns to the fight.”

Izuku weathered an annoyed look at Jaime.

“...alright I passed out for a bit when I hit that wall.” Jaime admitted begrudgingly.

“Well at least you’re both bad liars.” Wally laughed.

“Alright, look bright Green and Blue! We’re a minute from the V.I.P pick up.” Wally tittered as they got close to their destination, a rest stop just outside of other side of Keystone City.

“Do you just call us that because you can’t remember our names?” Izuku asked, morbidly curious.

“No. I do it because in a hurry calling you by your colours is pretty indicative of who I’m talking to...That and I already call Stewart ‘Lantern’. So calling you Green works out.” Wally chuckled.

“Attention. We’re here.” Wally added as they came to a stop near a parking lot.

Izuku and Jaime landed, looking around for who they were supposed to pick up.

Wally meanwhile approached the people who were standing a bit of a distance ahead of them.
“I apologise if we’re late, we had a bit of a hero hiccup on the way.”

Jaime paused for a moment, he recognized three of these people. His family. His parents and his little sister were all here. Izuku noticed that his ring, for some reason, did not even try to translate the Spanish Jaime started to speak at a mile-a-minute pace to them.

“Well, well, well.” Izuku froze, he hadn’t noticed the fourth person approaching him. “You know. When I heard that there was a quirkless Green Lantern kid in Japan, I thought people were just talking crazy.”

If Izuku could make a noise like a creaking door hinge he probably did so as he was turning to the person talking to him.

“Now imagine my shock when I get a call from Superman, telling me to meet him on the roof of the Daily Planet. He said, ‘there’s something confidential you might be interested in’. Understatement of the millennium.” the man chuckled.

Standing there, looking like a taller version of Izuku with slightly darker hair was--

“...Dad?”

Chapter Text

“I’ll get you for this, Green Lantern! Mark my words, you haven’t heard the last of Captain Cold!”

A small set of lines was all that was necessary to legitimise Izuku Midoriya’s claim to the title ‘Green Lantern’ among the populace of America, Europe and even Japan.

Usually, a Superhero catching a Supervillain wasn’t news. It was, at best, ‘business as usual’. It was expected to happen, one way or the other, sooner or later.

What made this situation a special one was who was captured and what was said.

Leonard Snart “Captain Cold”, ‘The man who mastered Absolute Zero’, considered to be the de facto Leader of “The Rogues”.

Everyone knew of “The Rogues”. The Flash was an international icon, one of the few that Japan even acknowledged as such. “The Rogues” had made it their mission, their life goal, to defeat him and all who carried the title, past and present, across the generations to the point of sabotaging other villains to do so.

Because if the leader of a villain group that had existed, in various forms, since the times of Jay Garrick acknowledged you so much that they used your official title? You made an impression. One that not many others would be awarded.

Captain Cold’s declaration also prevented something, entirely unintentional, from happening. Many Supervillains on Earth declared someone their arch enemy. By naming Izuku specifically as someone he would be back for publicly, Captain Cold had prevented all but the most depraved of villains from staking the same claim.

Izuku was blissfully unaware of any of it, aside from getting many impressed and in several cases awed looks from his peers at the Watchtower.

To him it was just his first patrol of Keystone City involving a Supervillain, an eventful and scary first look into what being a hero actually meant. To many across the Earth, it was a sign of things to come, there was a new face of lawfulness to pay attention to.

In his office, Rikiya Yotsubashi was seething. Absolutely and completely seething. So much so that his quirk, “Stress”, caused liver spots to show up all across his body and parts of him to show minor swelling, especially in rather uncomfortable places.

He had seen it in one news channel, then several, then every news channel, even the hidden ones the Japanese public had no idea about.

That damned child made them look like fools, their whole ideology, reduced to nothing.

They had tried to discredit him since the minute he had gotten that damned ring, but now that boy had found a way to discredit them for generations to come. Jay Garrick, the first Flash, was one of the few people their founder Destro had believed to be a truly good man. Anyone even remotely equated to him was considered a saint by Destro’s will, going against it was blasphemy by sheer implication alone.

His phone rang, again, for the thirtieth time within the last two hours. “Yes? Hm? A call from America? Patch them through.” he grumbled after a second of regaining his composure.

“Yes? No. Yes I am certain. No I do not have a relative living in America! No. No one I know is called Heinz either!!... No, I was not raised by any animals, least of all ocelots! Not meerkats either! Where do you hear this nonsense?!!! Goodbye!!!!” he slammed the receiver down so hard that the entire phone, the small table it was placed on and the wiring crashed down several floors.

A moment of silence passed before his new secretary looked up through the hole in the floor/ceiling for a few moments. She didn’t say a thing but within minutes everything was arranged and everything was fixed up before the evening.

It was fortunate, he thought, to have someone so competent as his secretary. The woman had supplanted pretty much his entire management staff within a month. Her “Higher Spec” quirk had proven to be absurdly useful to him and anyone he was working with.

A floor beneath him, his ‘Secretary’ was both quite busy writing and calling people. Both across the world and within Japan's borders. She did not, actually, have a quirk. Being part of Batman’s posse, for better or for worse, meant you became better than most humans at a lot of things, deception being the main one.

Even now, she knew she hated this job for the League. Helena Bertinelli, “The Huntress” could not have been asked to hate her situation more, you could not have paid her to hate it more. Sure she had seen violent and vile people all her life but few were as needlessly petty as the people of the “Meta Liberation Army”. An entitled, empowered, self serving, psychotic bunch of assholes following an even bigger, dumber and more self serving asshole.

She had read their gospel, the book the supposed father of their current leader had written. It was quite a different experience to what the organisation was actually like.

The book of this ‘Destro’ character, preached that those with abilities beyond average humans should not be ostracised for using them, meanwhile the M.L.A preached that all they deemed weaker needed to die horribly because it was “The Will of Destro”.

So. She counted the hours. The hours until her gig for the League was up, because then she’d be the first person to try to put a crossbow bolt through that big nosed, arrogant, asshole’s head. Bruce wouldn’t mind, right? At least if he didn’t hear of it.

At the tip of the Justice League Watchtower satellite, specifically the end of the Watchtower pointing into space, was a room.

It didn’t have a name, at least originally. It was created for a very specific way of communication otherwise completely inaccessible to the Justice League.

“Before we go in, there are a few ground rules you two need to keep in your heads.” John Stewart stated sternly as he led Izuku and Jaime down the corridor to the entrance.

“The Guardians of the Universe are our direct superiors, anything they say, you follow. They’re reasonable people but don’t test their patience.” A green construct of a short alien man with a large head wearing a robe of some kind appeared and walked next to them as Stewart kept explaining.

“There are different Lantern Corps, consider them different units in the same army. Each of them uses a different aspect of themselves to use their abilities. Some of them act as deep cover agents in villain groups, so if you remember seeing a news report of them fighting us, that is why.” Another set of green constructs appeared, this time of a tall, thin, humanoid alien with a thin moustache and one of a hulking brute of an alien man with very visible teeth and claws.

“I-I remember this man.” Izuku blinked, looking at the larger one, shivering slightly even though it was only a construct.

“He showed up when the Apokoliptians invaded and helped fight them off. He was in the news and everything. He sounded so mad at everyone he spoke to, like he was barely stopping himself from fighting them too.” Izuku mused as the construct disappeared.

“Qué? That’s the first time I heard of a Lantern being in Japan other than you.” Jaime tilted his head slightly, watching the other construct vanish.

“Atrocitus is many things, subtle isn’t one of them. Which I guess means your government hates the idea of being helped by outsiders more than they let on.” John crossed his arms as they reached the door they were looking for.

“Atrocitus?” Izuku asked incredulously. “That’s his actual name? Was Murdercruel taken?” Izuku giggled slightly amused.

“...Your name in certain readings has the words for ‘green’, ‘valley’, ‘nine’ and ‘soup bowl’ in it. I don’t think you got much room to talk amigo.” Jaime laughed.

“What?! You made that up.” Izuku yelped slightly.

“Only the ‘soup bowl’ part. Rest of it is true, though. There’s even a melon liquor called ‘Midori’ and yes it is green.” Jaime grinned.

John raised an eyebrow “I am not even going to ask how you know that, and don’t tell me either. As it is, Blue Beetle, I have to ask you to not let things get out of hand. If your Breach Scarab.”

“Khaji Da.” Izuku corrected, as much as the scarab made him uneasy, if it was a living, sentient being it deserved to be treated as such.

John paused “...If ‘Khaji Da’ causes issues it could lead to far bigger consequences for all of us and trust me, none of them would be nice.”

“I’ll try, boss. Hey no need to glare, I have two people living in this body at the moment. One of whom is an encyclopaedia of alien knowledge that really doesn’t like most of the universe and one who really can imagine something more fun to do than being in a huge conference call with all the people who hate the armour on him. So… at least try to get that I can only do so much?” Jaime asked, slightly annoyed.

John had to concede the point, as uncomfortable as that was.

Izuku meanwhile paused, reading the plaque on the door. “The Beacon?”. He wasn’t asking, the plaque had the “?” on it too.

“Any suggestions Midoriya?” John asked, trying to drag Izuku’s attention back to the conversation.

Izuku blinked, turning his head back to them. “I don’t see why ‘Khaji Da’ would be a problem, sir. It seems to trust me enough, right? So it shouldn’t have a problem trusting the others. We’re all on the same team.”

John paused “...What would you do if it did cause problems?”

“Well sir, I’d talk it down from attacking.” Izuku shrugged.

“What?!” John’s incredulous tone alone got Izuku’s full attention to the situation.

“Sir.” Izuku answered with a steely tone in his voice. “If ‘Khaji Da’ really tries to attack a meeting involving the combined Lantern Corps, that would be because it believes that 1. It is being seriously threatened and 2. it could win in that situation.'' Izuku continued as Jaime nodded.

“Thus the aim would have to be to calm it down before it harms people or gives the Lanterns a reason to either try to detain it or destroy it. I doubt it will be a problem though, ‘Khaji Da’ hasn’t been hostile to me for an entire month now, sir. If Reyes isn’t suddenly being attacked by the other Lanterns, it should be alright with just being there.” Izuku concluded.

There was a pause from John, he unfolded his arms before nodding. “Solid reasoning. Well done.”

It took Izuku and Jaime a second to realise that the conversation had been a test for Izuku. A way to gauge how he would handle a situation of that nature. After all, heroes got mind controlled or had reasons to fight one another all the time.

The “Beacon?” room, was very similar to an average Conference Room in the Watchtower. It was a large round room, with perfectly grey metal walls and a single view out into space on one side.

A noticeable difference however was that there wasn’t a conference table in the centre. Nor were there any chairs. The only thing visible in this room were strange rectangular lines in the ground, arranged a distance away from the centre of the room in a circle.

Two of these rectangles began glowing and two pedestals rose to Izuku’s and John’s height. Izuku blinked for a second but he had a decent idea what these pedestals were for. Sure enough, from a green portal, John pulled his Power Battery, Izuku followed a second later.

“This won’t be like a normal meeting huh?” Jaime mused, as he heard Kahji Da chattering to him. “Easy there, remember Green is our friend, even if you don’t trust the others, trust him.”

“I’m not sure how I feel about everyone calling me ‘Green’.” Izuku called back to Jaime in a half snarky, half amused tone.

“I can call you lettuce or broccoli if you want. ‘Khaji Da’ recently misidentified your hair as a ‘shrub’, so we could combine that with your old nickname and make it a game reference.” Jaime chuckled.

Izuku cringed, knowing exactly what ‘old nickname’ he was talking about. “Let’s just stick with ‘Green’ then.” Izuku grinned nervously, still not sweating thanks to his ring, as he put his Lantern on the pedestal.

A moment passed before a wave of green energy emanated from both Lantern Batteries. The energy wave travelled across the ground, up the walls and finally combined at the ceiling of the room, before making the walls and ceiling seemingly vanish around them.

Above them was a star filled night sky and the area had changed into a massive coliseum-like area with massive walls visible in the distance. On top of the walls were countless, strange, crystalline structures that reminded Izuku of torches or lighthouse tops. Two of the smaller ones were lit up in green, with a small part of the area bathed in the same green light.

“I-Is this Oa, sir?” Izuku asked, looking around the area in awe, he noticed that the stars above them were not the ones in Earth's night sky.

“Yes it is. We’re not really there but it’s as close as we’re going to get in the next few months.” John stated, crossing his arms. “Consider this place a… shared vision of sorts. There are similar rooms like the one on the Watchtower all across the universe. They are considered outposts for the various Lantern Corps for longer communications. Our Lantern Rings can get us to Oa and back near instantly but in many cases something like this is more convenient.” John explained.

“In cases you want to be sure that the people on Oa aren’t endangered?” Jaime reasoned. “Makes sense…..Man 'Khaji Da’ is confused about this. Apparently, spatially speaking, we’re on Earth and Oa at the same time.” Jaime mused, looking around slightly disoriented.

“Hm. Where is everyone else? Are we early?” Izuk asked just in time to hear several F-sharp bell sounds as a good portion of the area behind him lit up in even more green lights.

“Just about.” John smiled. “Figured you’d want to be early enough to mingle with the crowd a bit.” John shrugged as around four hundred Green Lanterns appeared, some as mere green ‘holograms’ as they were still occupied.

Izuku noticed that a decent amount of them, around twelve by his estimation, were humans too. “Does Earth have that many Green Lanterns protecting it?” Izuku asked slightly exasperated.

“No. Earth created that many. They work in other Space Sectors. You will too eventually, once you’re considered ready to go to Oa, get your training done there and be considered a fully fledged Green Lantern.” A gruff, loud voice grumbled behind Izuku.

Izuku turned around to see a green construct of a large humanoid alien, with a mixture of pig-like and hippo-like facial features. “Name’s Kilowog, and I’m the combat instructor for the Green Lantern Recruits, though I suppose Stewart here calls me the ‘Drill Sergeant’. Pleased to make your acquaintance. Rumour has it you are the one who captured Captain Cold.” the large Bolovaxian chuckled.

“H-Hello, sir. Y-Yes you heard that correctly…. how did you hear that anyway?” Izuku asked, saluting cautiously.

“Hahah. No need to salute, kid. The rings send all information back to the records on Oa. All of the Corps that keep up with the records know. Gotta say, I’m impressed.” Kilowog laughed.

“W-Why though? I didn’t even do much.” Izuku mumbled slightly depressed.

“Didn’t you?” Kilowog crossed his arms. “Make no mistake, not every battle is won through violence. Some people out there still have codes of honour, even if they’re on the opposing side to us. The fact that he let himself get captured was a sign of respect. Whatever he saw in you, it was worth putting his reputation on the line.” Kilowog chuckled.

“Don’t let the old man get ideas of honourable fights into your head, he tries to do that with every recruit.” a woman’s voice cut into their conversation like a scalpel.

Izuku froze up slightly as he turned his head towards the voice and almost fell over. He silently thanked Wally’s surprise training, even though he would never admit it.

“It’s been a while Katma.” John grumbled, Jaime noticed the strangely tense tone in his voice.

Katma Tui was, in Izuku’s opinion, drop dead gorgeous. Perhaps that was just his hormones finally making themselves known. He had heard of ‘green-skinned space babes’ as something of a sci-fi term. He didn’t expect to meet one… well except her skin was red instead of green. The Green Lantern uniform took care of that part.

Katma raised an eyebrow and tilted her head “Am I supposed to understand the language he’s mumbling?” Katma asked John in a bemused tone.

“I don’t think so. There’s around five people who can keep up with his rambling and half of them only get around thirty percent of what he’s saying. Reyes over here is probably the only one aside from Flash that can do it.” John shrugged as Izuku was torn from his mumbling again.

Izuku coughed awkwardly. “S-Sorry about that.” Izuku mumbled, still rather red-headed from embarrassment.

“Excuse him, please. He’s rather sheltered. His home country is rather possessive of its people” Jaime chuckled.

“H-Hey! I take offence to that.” Izuku grumbled “I’m not sheltered, just not used to people being nice.”

There was a squeaking noise as something ran up Izuku’s suit and hopped onto his shoulder.

“...Is that Squirrel a Green Lantern?” Jaime asked after focusing on it for a second, there was so much green in the area that ‘Khaji Da’ had slight problems telling individuals apart.

The squeaking noises and rather confused look from Izuku indicated that, yes, this was a Green Lantern Squirrel.

“This is Ch’p, he may seem rather… cute for a Green Lantern but do not let that fool you. Any Lantern is a formidable fighter, either naturally or through training. He’s been around for a while.” Katma smiled bemused as Izuku looked confused at the Squirrel on his shoulder.

“H-Hello, sir.” Izuku greeted Ch’p cautiously as the Squirrel seemingly signed a few things.

“What is he saying? My ring can’t translate it.” Izuku asked, genuinely confused.

“He is asking if…. you are related to a creature called a ‘Chinchilla’ or a ‘Bunny’...whatever those are.” Katma translated, before stopping herself from giggling at the comically sour look on Izuku’s face.

There was a secluded bar in Musutafu, one that barely anyone aside from underground heroes knew.

It was part of the point; it was opened up a few decades ago by a hero, with the intention of allowing heroes of all creeds to take a break from their work. At least, that was the official story.

The reality was that no one knew where this bar had actually come from, or where it went when you weren’t looking, because no villain had ever found it, either.

Shouta Aizawa was not having a good day, or week, or month, or year. Or decade. In fact he probably hadn’t had one of those since one of his friends died. Yet, this bar somehow always made him feel at ease somewhat.

“A Pencil...” Oh. No.

“An Eraser...” Oh no. No. No. Not this guy.

“...and an unanswered Question Paper walk into a bar.” Oh fuck this, why today?!

Aizawa sighed so silently that you could have been excused for missing it, if not for him dramatically dragging his fingers down his eyes.

“...What do you want?” Aizawa asked with barely contained anger. “This is my one day a month I have free time.”

“Oh well that’s just too bad, Eraser. I happened to be in town. So I figured I’d give you a visit, old friend.” The way The Question pronounced ‘friend’ in Japanese, sounded much like enemy did in other languages.

“I noticed.” Aizawa grumbled. “What could your insane mind have latched onto this time?”

With a loud ‘thunk’ a large, overfilled looking folder hit the table between Aizawa and his companion, Hizashi Yamada.

“I’m not here on my own this time, Eraser. Not without a cause, I don’t do ‘hunches’ anymore. Learned the hard way not to, leads to a lot of shit. Take a look at this, both of you.” The Question’s invisible eyes also glanced in Yamada’s direction.

“Because what the others and I found, could change the way you look at things.”

‘Mingling with the crowd’ as Izuku had found out, mostly translated to being introduced to quite a few Green Lanterns he would be eventually working with on Oa, at least once it was his time to go there.

Most notably Ch’p had decided to stick around on his shoulder for the time being, though why Izuku could not tell.

After getting an amount of time to breathe he noticed something: Despite there being around four hundred Green Lanterns present, the vast majority of this ‘arena’ was still unlit. He tilted his head slightly, wondering who else was missing.

His question was almost immediately answered, as various sounds announced the arrival of the other Lantern Corps.

With the sounds of ethereal wind chimes, two hundred of the crystalline beacons turned a deep blue. The Blue Lanterns of Hope had arrived.

With the sound of a massive loud brass gong an entire section of three hundred beacons turned into intense indigo at once. The Indigo Lanterns of Compassion materialised in unison.

The sounds of joyous cries and two hundred beacons burst into violet light. The Star Sapphire Lanterns of Love appeared through violet flames.

The screeching sounds of a scare cord and the colour of the sky turning an intense yellow, the five hundred members of the Yellow Lanterns of Fear appeared as a single unit.

A rumbling shook the entire arena for a moment before to the sounds of wrathful screaming an entire platoon of Red clad Lanterns appeared from red, blood-like portals. Their beacons lit in a dark crimson, the Red Lanterns of Rage had made their entrance.

Izuku paused, he noticed that despite all of them being here, there still was a large section of the arena unlit.

“Sir? Which Corps does that one belong to?” Izuku asked Kilowog, pointing to what he had previously missed. Unlike any other section of this place, there was only one tower and only one beacon in the last unlit section. Unlike all the others, this one was a lot further away and by comparison it was absolutely massive.

“That belongs to the Orange Lantern, Larfleeze. Pray that you never meet him.” Kilowog grumbled, crossing his arms.

“So there is only one Orange Lantern?” Izuku asked, slightly confused.

“Indeed. Larfleeze used to have Corps like all the others, but then he killed all of his fellow Orange Lanterns, took their rings and now has their souls enslaved. He is the only remaining Lantern whose Corps is not part of our creed.” A serene voice started behind Izuku.

Izuku turned around. An alien with a long tentacle extending from his head, wearing a Blue Lantern uniform, had approached him. “Greetings young Lantern. I am Bro’dee Walker, of the Lanterns of Hope. Pleased to make your acquaintance.”

Izuku bowed slightly. “H-Hello, sir.” Izuku was infinitely glad that whatever his ring did to not make him sweat nervously was working well enough to keep him hydrated because he was fairly certain that all the strange looks people had given him since he got here would have made him faint from dehydration a while ago.

Bro’dee Walker narrowed his eyes slightly. “What a curious one you are. You come from a place which still holds one of our rings. I can sense its sparks upon you. Perhaps you have met the person who has it?” Walker tilted his head.

“I-I wouldn’t know s-sir. I-If I have met them they weren’t wearing the uniform or the ring, sir.” Izuku explained as calmly as he could manage. Though it made him wonder who could have had a blue ring that he had met before.

Walker smiled. “Do not worry yourself, if they have it, they will know when to use it. All will be well.”

Izuku paused. “Wait a minute, what?! There is a Lantern out there who has the souls of his fellow Lanterns enslaved?!” Izuku yelped with a shocked expression.

“Indeed.” Walker stated “Do not misunderstand, it is not for the lack of trying to apprehend him. Larfleeze is a danger to all he encounters. However, apprehending him would require all of the remaining Corps making a unified effort, even then it would be a struggle that we may lose.” Walker mused.

“He’s that powerful?” Izuku shivered.

“Yeah, the only fortunate thing is that Larfleeze’s Orange light is the light of Greed. Which means he only really cares about incredibly rare things. He hoards unique objects, or creatures. Mostly he just keeps living in a cave in a single sector in space which, as you can guess, only has one planetoid in it.” Kilowog grumbled.

“’s been a while Walker. I see the Blues have taken on a lot more numbers.” Kilowog greeted Walker lightly.

“Indeed.” Walker smiled, “Thanks to the changes in our creeds, having more permanent members has become a far easier endeavour. Blessed be the Knights for bringing reason to the Corps.”

“The Knights? Who are they?” Izuku asked, tilting his head and making Ch’p squeak and jump off his shoulder.

“The Knight Corps.” Kilowog grumbled “You’ll meet ‘em today. Stewart told you about the Guardians right? They used to be the only ones managing the Corps, which didn't work out well. Lot of infighting, a lot of bad decisions all around.” Kilowog continued explaining as Izuku seemingly produced a green construct Notebook to write in. “So, the Knight Corps was founded. Now the Guardians mostly look after the bigger decisions. Wars, big crisis management, calamity prevention efforts, that sort of deal. The Knight Corps keep all of us in the loop about these things. They’re also our voice to the Guardians.”

“They also ensure that everyone follows the rules.” A loud growling voice stated only a bit away from Izuku who again froze like a scared cat.

“...Wwhhhyy does everyone sneak up on me like that?” Izuku asked in a hitched tone and with a nervous smile, slowly turning toward the Red Lantern that had spoken to him.

“Hazing ritual. Blame a certain red speedster.” The person said bemused.

Izuku wanted to curse for the first time in his life, just how many people had Wally told of his scare training?

“Guy Gardner, as I breath. You’re looking more rugged since you changed.” Kilowog laughed as Izuku turned towards the voice.

Guy Gardner, as Izuku had been told, used to be part of the Green Lanterns once, now he was one of the leaders of the Red Lanterns.

“Heh. The change of attire has to be worth something right?” Gardner laughed.

Izuku shivered slightly, whatever it was about the Red Lanterns, their tone of voice alone felt like nails on a chalkboard to him. It was a deeply uncomfortable feeling, as if invisible claws raked across his skin.

“So you’re the one who bagged Captain Cold.” Guy Gardner grumbled. “Don’t look so tough. Hahah. That’s a joke kid, no one looks tough when they start out.'' Guy added seeing the slightly mortified look on Izuku’s face.

“And no, not one of these guys was any better. You should ask the little squirrel guy on your shoulder about Hal Jordan and how he trounced the big man himself in a spar without even trying.” Guy chuckled as Ch’p squeaked, slightly amused.

“Joking around with the recruits Gadner? That isn’t like you.” John chimed in as Guy started walking back to his group.

“Oh fuck off, Stewart. Knowing you, you’d turn the kid into a marine in a green space uniform. Be glad that there’s more people concerned with him than you.” Guy didn’t even look at him and just marched off.

John paused, slightly confused “...Am I really that bad about it?” he asked no one in particular.

“Considering I needed to give you a reminder to not just rely on constructed guns and that the ring can do more than energy blasts? I would say he has a point there.” Katma laughed lightly as John scowled.

Before any more conversations could be held, the lights around the entire arena began to dim as a gigantic Lantern symbol spread across the sky.

With a sound like falling stars, six fires fell from the sky like a rainbow meteor shower and landed in the middle of the arena. Each landed in front of their respective group.

As the lights faded six people, wearing armour forged from the power batteries they once carried, stood in a circle looking out to their kin. Each was holding a weapon made of the light of their Corps.

Allen Scott, the Emerald Knight, carrying a large, thin sword.

Thaal Sinestro, the Topaz Knight, carrying a lance wrapped in chains.

Atrocitus, the Ruby Knight, carrying a twin-headed axe.

Sayd, the Azure Knight, carrying a bow and arrow.

Iroque, the Amethyst Knight, carrying a thin staff.

And Carol Ferris, the Violet Sapphire Knight, carrying a twin-headed scythe.

“We meet in this hallowed place of justice. Greetings to all Lanterns, old and new.” Allen started.

“Our congratulations to all who joined us. May your lights shine bright alongside us.” Sayd smiled as she continued.

“All of you who chose to join another creed, may your stars burn ever brighter into the endless night.” Thaal stated tonelessly.

“To our fallen brothers and sisters, our hearts and tears reach out endlessly.” Carol intoned calmly, as several, previously seemingly present but motionless Lanterns turned into tiny stars surrounding the rings they once held.

“May your bravery and defiance towards the endless abyss be forever honoured.” Irogue motioned with her hand as the small stars flew from all directions, Izuku counted about thirty lanterns across the various corps who had perished in their duties.

“And may your loyalty and sacrifice never be forgotten.” Atrocitus reached with one hand to the skies, as the rings flew off into the firmament above them.

There was a poignant and solemn pause as the new stars slowly moved into their new places.

“Mourn not our fallen comrades, for their sacrifices have not been in vain.” Atrocitus continued “They gave their lives preventing the forces of Darkseid from invading an entire sector of space, they beat the dead Apokoliptian god’s forces back into their realm. They defended the lives of millions of innocents to their last breath.”

“With their sacrifices, new lights were brought to us.” Allen Scott raised his hand and several rings, including Izuku’s, lit up. “And with one of these lights, new potential allies against the forces that would seek to end our universe.” Allen looked meaningfully in Izuku’s and Jaime’s direction.

“Do not worry. You are among friends here.”

A murmur raced through the entire arena as many Lanterns realised Jaime was wearing a Reach Infiltrator armour.

“Calm yourselves.” Sinestro stated in an even tone that nevertheless was so loud that everyone heard it as if he stood right next to them. “It is unbecoming of Lanterns to judge any creature by its appearance or origins alone. Remind yourself that it is intentions and actions that matter.”

“Fortunately.” Carol Ferris mused. “It appears to be unnecessary to judge this one's intentions or actions either. You joined the Justice League, the defenders of Earth, who have aided the Lanterns many times before.”

“A fortunate thing indeed.” Atrocitus interjected. “Because it allows us to test you and the Lanterns living on Earth still.” It was hard to see, as Atrocitus didn’t have lips but he was grinning.

“Information has returned to us from various Lanterns across the Universe. The Parademons of Apokolips still move throughout the galaxy. Hidden but never idle. The majority of these sightings have come from Space Sector-2814. Earth’s Space Sector.” Atrocitus narrowed his eyes at both Izuku and Jaime. “The two of you shall spend the time your superior John Stewart requested for your training to remain on the Planet known as Earth, flushing out the remainders of Darkseid’s forces within your sector of space. Naturally, as one of you is a Green Lantern, you will apprehend them alive.”

Atrocitus did not need to put emphasis on anything he told them, to make literally every last Lantern in the Arena realise just how much this task was horribly stacked against the two.

Parademons were monstrous humanoid insect creatures that acted as Darkseid's cannon fodder troops. Not too big of a deal for experienced Lanterns and Superheroes but for the two of them finding them, let alone fighting them, let alone surviving them, would be a challenge.

Capturing them all alive? That was a feat of near impossibility. Even if they did everything right there was a chance that a Parademon they had captured would self-destruct, an ability they had shown time and again.

“So then, young warriors, do accept these terms?” Atrocitus asked with a sneer.

“Yes, sir.” Jaime replied with a calm determination in his tone, his armour generating the usual mask over his face.

Izuku paused for a moment, he could sense the strange feeling in the arena. Sure they all weren’t physically there but… but he could feel their doubts, their emotions, at the edge of his mind. They doubted they could do it, that the two of them would die. That they were against impossible odds.

“Well. Young Lantern?” Atrocitus asked, his eyes fixating Izuku, who seemed still stuck in his own world.

Izuku paused and looked at his ring. A glint on the ring told him more than any words did.

“Do you think this scares me, s-sir? That the thought of failing this task terrifies me? That I fear losing this ring?” Izuku asked, his head snapping towards Atrocitus, his eyes glinting an emerald green.

“Well. Y-You’re right.” Izuku balled his hands into fists. Everyone froze as the shine of all the lights dimmed around them.

“B-But. That’s not important.” Izuku raised his fists, his ring emitted a storm of green energy. “What’s important is that people could get hurt. That people could get killed when they could be saved.”

With the sound of thunder, green constructs of quite a few Justice League members and, as Jaime noticed, All Might, appeared behind Izuku. Jaime bemusedly noticed that instead of getting his own construct, green armour and a Lantern symbol appeared on him for a moment.

“Green Lanterns don’t run from their fears. We overcome them.'' Izuku's voice had a steely tone to it. “I accept your terms, sir. Now I’d appreciate it if you stopped trying to conspire to get my friend into harm's way.”

There was a pause before Atrocitus laughed. “Consider this your initiation, boy. Only those willing to give their all are welcome here. The Lanterns have no place for the faltering one or the betrayer.” Atrocitus crossed his arms.

“To all of you who doubt them, remind yourselves that we all are of the same cloth. We all wish for peace and prosperity in this universe. We all aim to achieve it in our own way. It is our burden, our task, our calling.” Atrocitus raised his hand and waved it across the arena, making a few rings glint.

“Those few among you, who dare to wish for them to fail. Remind yourselves that you once accepted me among your ranks. If your hatred for the Reach truly runs that deep. Then perhaps your place is elsewhere than among Lanterns.” Atrocitus finished and without much fanfare turned to leave the entire meeting behind.

He stopped for a moment. “I must say, ‘Murdercruel’ would have been a fitting name for me.” he mused. “Though in my language it means ‘great boulder’ instead of ‘protector’.” With the exception of three people, no one had an idea what he was on about as he disappeared into a red ray of light.

A mere few minutes later, with even fewer pleasantries or goodbyes uttered, the massive meeting of Lanterns came to an end.

“...Right. The rings send all information to the records.” Izuku mumbled mortified.

A few still lingered as the meeting ended.

Despite his defiance in the face of someone who was quite honestly the most terrifying being he had ever met, Izuku had trouble breathing for a few minutes, today was a bit much.

“Do not let doubt cloud you.” A serene voice chimed in as Izuku slowly got a grip again. “Down here.” The voice added as Izuku looked around to find who had addressed him.

Izuku blinked, he was trying his best not to start giggling because this was getting slightly comical now. Sitting there in front of him, was a small Corgi, wearing a Blue Lantern uniform and balancing the ring that obviously belonged to it on its nose.

“Hello. I am Boyd, that was an impressive display. Few show their will so readily to Atrocitus.” the ring, as Izuku realized, was the one speaking for the Corgi.

“Greetings Ch’p. It has been a long time. No hard feelings about chasing you the last time?” Boyd inquired of the Squirrel Green Lantern.

Ch’p seemed to still be sore about it, squeaking furiously at the Corgi for a while before vanishing.

“Stubborn that one. Pardon the distraction.” Boyd apologised with a short whine. “Do not worry yourself. I can sense that you are a good boy. Walk your path. All will be well.” Boyd’s ring translated for him before the Corgi vanished in a blue flash.

“A ‘Corgi of Hope’? Today’s getting weird.” Jaime chuckled.

“Weirder than when Ambush Bug got stuck in one of the washing machines?” Izuku raised an eyebrow.

“I said ‘weird’ not ‘disturbing’ amigo.” Jaime laughed.

“Hey. Thanks for sticking up for us.” Jaime smiled. “Even if it was a tad dramatic.”

“W-Well you are my friend.” Izuku reasoned.

“Not many friends would tell an entire arena full of space police to back off.” Jaime mused.

“Well they should.” Izuku mumbled.

Jaimed blinked “...Man those kids in your school had no idea who they picked on huh?”

Izuku paused as he felt something odd across his, still not really on Oa but also not really on Earth, leg. He blinked and looked down. A cat. There was a cat walking around him and looking him up and down.

Izuku blinked for quite a long while, completely blanking out anyone or anything else still in the arena. After a while, he simply sat down to the cat and started saying something to it.

To the Lanterns still around, especially the Green Lanterns, the sight of a mere Green Lantern recruit carefully talking to and petting Dex-Starr, one of the most vicious Red Lanterns in existence, one that many saw as an equal to Atrocitus himself, was disturbing.

To Izuku, the situation was just… sad. Because he had been told what the Red Lanterns were. Righteously furious creatures.

“I wonder what happened. What horrible things you must have seen to become a Red Lantern.” Izuku solemnly mused, still cautiously petting the cat across its ears.

“Boss! We gotta go.” Guy Gardner yelled in their direction.

Dex-Starr merely turned away from Izuku and started meandering off. Dex-Starr stopped for a moment, the ring on his tail speaking in a coarse tone that made everyone shiver.

“It was nice. Being a cat for just a few more minutes. Never speak of this. Ever.”
With the sounds of screams the remaining Red Lanterns vanished into bloody pools.

Returning to the “Beacon?” the room was quite a strange experience, while it was as easy as lifting the Power Batteries back off their pedestals, Izuku had a bit of trouble grasping how the space around the room twisted back to normal as if nothing had ever happened. In fact, Izuku didn’t even know where they had picked the Power Batteries up from, they hadn’t even been in the Arena.

“...Yeah this will always be weird won’t it?” Izuku asked breathlessly.

“Some things you are better off not understanding Midoriya.” John grumbled, crossing his arms.

“That’s an odd lesson to take from this whole meeting.” Izuku tilted his head.
“Well you can be glad that it is the only lesson I will be giving you from this whole scene. Because if your little outburst hadn’t worked out you could have lost your ring, not to me but to them. A simple ‘Yes, sir’ would have been perfectly fine for an answer. Not every question is a challenge to your worth.” John tried his best to not raise his voice, remembering the last time he had started yelling at Izuku and how that worked out.

“Y-Yes, sir.” Izuku froze up for a moment.

John just sighed. “For now we will need to prepare you two. The task you were given won’t be easy. Even if you find the forces of Apokolips in this sector, defeating them will take all you got in you. I’ll get in contact with Cyborg. We’re speeding up your training.”

As they left the room, Izuku paused at the plaque. “Uh-hm. Sir? Wouldn’t calling it ‘The Lighthouse’ make more sense than a beacon? Seeing as we were just dealing with every Lantern Corps at the same time.”

Before John could say anything, Jaime’s armour grew a small appendage on its shoulder and with a blue light changed the plaque just as Izuku had suggested.

“I think that was Kahji Da’s way of saying thanks for having our back.” Jaime mused.

John shook his head, these two would be the death of him wouldn’t they?

Sitting in a perfectly white hall, on a gigantic white throne, in front of a chessboard with pieces of many colours, sat a man in a White Lantern uniform. He was contemplating his next move.

“Will you just do something already, Rayner?” a scratchy voice asked, as from a giant mirror next to him, a black hall could be seen. A different man, wearing a Black Lantern Uniform was sitting on a black throne looking into the other hall.

“Thirty pieces just got lost to our enemies. Anti-Life gains more power by the minute.” the other man growled, his voice like the death throes of a thousand soldiers.

“Patience Jordan. Haste will only cause more agony.” Kyle Rayner contemplated, before picking up a new piece that had just appeared on his side.

He looked it over, a rather plain looking young man, he thought. There was a tiny title engraved on the base of the piece.

He put it a space ahead, several others appearing next to it, including one they had both never seen before. “Let’s see how they handle these.”

On the base of the piece he had just moved, written in a language unfamiliar to mere mortals was a title:

“The Oath Sworn Star”

Chapter Text

A man, wearing an eyeless metal mask, sat in a dark room somewhere in Japan, a Shogi board in front of him. His opponent meanwhile sat in a well lit room in America and, while he couldn’t see it despite the hologram of his American counterpart, was positively bored of the experience.

It wasn’t a standard Shogi match, obviously, the pieces were quantum entangled on both sides making one side move whenever the other was moved. There existed a similar board for chess somewhere, his American counterpart had claimed. Not that it mattered to him much.

“So? What do you think of my offer?” he asked as he moved a piece. He had spared no expense for this occasion, even setting up this meeting had taken him months. He knew of course that the man he was dealing with was no one to underestimate, even if the man had no quirk.

On the American side of this banal negotiation was Alexander Joseph Luthor. Former President of the United States, ‘The God Killer’, retired villain, a man who regularly matched wits with Superman… and he was bored out of his mind.

“What do I think?” Luthor mused, as if he was barely paying attention, which was the case. He moved his piece. “I think that’s game. Well it has been for the past seven moves but I figured I would humour you.” he didn’t smile or even emote much.

If the man in the metal mask still had the ability to visibly move his eyes he would have widened them in surprise.

“Though to answer your actual question: I think I have not dealt with such a pointless waste of my time and resources in my entire life, which is quite an achievement. I had alliances with psychopathic clowns, upstart gorillas and led the United States government, and only one of those things managed to even get close to this level of banality.” Luthor chuckled, he remembered the days he thought throwing his lot in with Gorilla Grodd was a good idea.

His Japanese counterpart was not amused at the comparison. “I offer you superiority over your enemies and you laugh at me?!” his voice made the entire hall he was in shake.

Luthor merely raised an eyebrow for about half a centimetre. “No. You offer me bargain bin superpowers and expect me to take you seriously.” Luthor’s tone was perfectly neutral, he picked up a glass of what seemed to be whiskey from next to him.

“If I wanted to have superpowers or give them to people I could utilise one of the over four hundred seventy serums my companies have created over the past two decades. Even disregarding the experimental ones I could have an army going within a month without losing my autonomy and with more than seventy percent of my current income unaffected.” Luthor swished the whiskey around in its glass before taking a sip.

His counterpart seemingly froze for a moment before Luthor continued.

“Mr. Shigaraki. If you do not mind me calling you by that name, as you seem to take meticulous measures to never be on official records with it. I can also call you ‘All For One’ if you insist on being melodramatic.” Luthor’s blasé tone made it clear that he didn’t care whether or not his Japanese counterpart objected.

“There is a reason why I no longer operate as a villain and haven’t in the past few years. Would you like to have a guess at what it is? Simple. It achieved nothing of value. I had everything you can imagine and more, I was the richest man on Earth, beloved by an entire country, became a physical god and once even fused with reality itself, for a time. At the end of the day, at the bottom line, billions of dollars, countless schemes and battles later: It achieved and changed absolutely nothing. All of it. For nothing.” Luthor chuckled.

“I imagine that it is quite similar to how Superman himself must feel at times. One of the most powerful entities known to this universe and yet powerless to bring about a permanent change. Not because he could not but because it takes more than a group of super beings to change this universe of ours.” Luthor shook his head.

“Let me give you some genuine advice: Leave the ‘Evil Mastermind’ business. If you want to have an actual chance to beat your enemies in any way that matters, build a legacy that is worth more than theirs. It may take you another couple of decades and a lot of money, but at least when the chips are down people will look to your grave instead of theirs.” Luthor finished his speech and his glass of whiskey.

All For One paused at that. “And if I were to disregard your advice?” he asked incredulously “If I told you that I had come too far in all of this to just give it all up?”

Luthor laughed and got up from his chair. “Then I believe we have nothing worth further discussion. Just remember in the last moments before you and your plans come crashing down, that you had the chance to be the one to come out on top and didn’t take it. Oh and you may also send someone to pick this board up, I’m not in need of something to stroke my ego with.” with that Luthor’s hologram disappeared, leaving All For One to seethe in the dark.

“Ms. Graves.” Luthor called into the room. “Yes. Mr. Luthor?” a familiar voice came over the intercom.

“Have my liaison from the Justice League on the line in ten minutes. If they ask, tell them that I have information regarding something ‘The Bat’ is looking into that would be vitally important for their Japanese friends to know. After that, you are free to take the rest of the day off, unless you intend to join me for dinner.”

Luthor paused, before shrugging as no response came. He figured Mercy wouldn’t be interested in the dinner, she never was. He picked up his phone, as while he wasn’t worried about All For One and his cronies retaliating, he figured that being overly prepared never hurt.

+ Justice League Watchtower, Combat Training Hall Eidolon +

Izuku paused, straightened and waited. It took a moment before a siren rang out and several robots that looked like mannequins sprang out of the floors and walls of the room.

<<Eidolon Combat Simulation Level 5: START>>

A moment passed before the robots began charging at him from all sides with some even falling from the ceiling right in front of him, catching Izuku off guard slightly.

With green glints several green, knight-like arms grabbed the two nearest robots by their heads and threw them into the others, causing several to stumble backwards. A rumbling like thunder and a veritable lightning storm of green energy filled the room as the knight arms became complete knights with swords.

The main purpose of this simulation was to enhance Izuku’s ability to spread his focus among his constructs. Unfortunately for him, the room itself wasn’t going to let him just stand there and watch as entire blocks of the room shifted upwards before tilting to the left, making the entire gravity shift sideways.

Izuku adjusted to get off the “ground” before one of the mannequin robots crashed into him only for it to be flung against the now “wall” by a green, mechanical hand. Izuku paused before landing with a green shock-wave where the rest of the robots landed.

Green lightning bolts erupted from Izuku’s ring, as several constructs of various heroes appeared and started beating the mannequin robots into the walls and holding them restraining them before the green constructs turned into manacles, keeping the robots tied down.

”Not bad. Bit overzealous though, if you were fighting actual Parademons, at least two of them would have self-destructed.” Cyborgs voice came from seemingly everywhere in the room at once as the robots froze up.

“Still good work. I’ve seen some GL’s training here before. You’re one of the few I’ve seen that caught the robots without any damage at level five. Now let's give you a challenge.” Cyborg’s voice echoed through the room.

<<Eidolon Combat Simulation Level 9: START>>

With an electrical buzzing, several lines of energy zipped across the ground into one of the robots, making it shake violently before, a moment later, it burst out of the restraints Izuku had created.

More buzzing erupted from the other robots upon which they seemingly exploded into plates, binding themselves to the standing robot, forming a colourless, armoured version of what seemed to be a Green Lantern uniform.

With a ‘ting’ noise, the robot generated a sword and shield from its hands before jumping at Izuku.

“Ohdamnthiswouldbesocoolifitwasntryingtohurtme.” Izuku rambled as he created a green construct gauntlet and deflected the mace before jumping at the robot, green construct arms grabbing it and smashing it into the ground.

With little effort the robot created a sword and struck the construct arms, destroying them before kicking Izuku backwards before it rose to its feet again. Before Izuku could get his bearings the robot's sword separated into plates and struck at him like a snake, only a green shield keeping it from actually hitting him.

With a green flash the shield tore apart and with it shattered the sword into small bits and made the robot stagger backwards before Izuku hit it with a giant green fist.

John Stewart, observing the training simulation with Cyborg, blinked. “I’m fairly sure that move shouldn’t work like that. I’ve never seen a Green Lantern construct work like that before.”

Cyborg, typing up more instructions for the robot, mused on this. “Maybe it’s the culture he grew up in. Green Lanterns function on imagination right? So, being raised in a different culture should give the constructs different properties.” Cyborg reasoned.

“That would explain it but why weren’t there similar Lanterns like him before? Even the ones I’ve known for years don’t have these kinds of properties.” John scratched his head.

“If I had to guess it’s because they were taught early ‘how it’s done’. He doesn’t have much guidance beyond ‘don’t hurt yourself’ and ‘don’t kill people with it’, His Oath and bare bones basics aside, he doesn’t have much more to go on than his instincts.” Cyborg shrugged.

“I’m not sure if that’s comforting or concerning.” John blinked as Izuku in mid-flight created a construct of a knight's upper body, arms and head which smashed the robot through the floor with a giant green hammer.

“My advice: Don’t tell him what he can’t do...” Cyborg blinked at the readings of the impact. “...cause I’m pretty sure that hit would have stopped some high level villains cold. That aside, imagination is a Green Lantern's biggest weapon right? Why limit him with it rather than giving him more to use?” Cyborg shrugged.

<<Eidolon Combat Simulation Level 9: COMPLETE>>

The robot was knocked out by the hit, though Izuku hadn’t intended for that. The green constructs disappeared around him as did the entirety of the blocks that had shifted the gravity around.

The entire room now merely looked like an empty grey hall as the robot rose to its feet and seemingly disintegrated in its entirety on the spot.

Izuku sighed: “Note to self: I need more long range moves.” he grumbled.

“Good work Green.” Cyborg’s voice rang through the room.

“Head to dinner for now and rest.” Cyborg continu-- “...and I mean actually resting, dude.” Cyborg added, knowing it needed to be said. “We’ll be heading to the Teen Titans Headquarters at the start of next week. As much as I enjoy your enthusiasm for training, it won’t do you any good if you’re dead tired.”

Izuku sighed again, before wondering if he shou-- “Seriously, dude. Take a break.” Cyborg chimed in again as if he could hear Izuku’s inner monologue.

With a sigh, Izuku took to the nearby showers. It had been a few months now since he joined the Justice League. He had finished Junior High at this point, the last few months simply through the Watchtower's own teachers granted but still. He hadn’t even bothered to go down to Aldera for his last day, he could have but in his eyes he wouldn’t give that place the wasted air and time.

It was a strange feeling to him, simply because despite having lived in Japan for as long as he could think, the Justice League Watchtower was probably closer to being his “home” than Musutafu had ever been all those years.

He got dressed, before his ring generated his Green Lantern uniform again. While it wasn’t exactly necessary for him to wear clothes under his uniform, since it was made of energy and probably the safest clothing in existence, he also really didn’t want to have a situation where it turned off and be left wearing nothing.

The large dining area was mostly empty, as it so often was near guard shift changes. Izuku sighed and sat down. The past few weeks had been tiring but mostly just routines upon routines.

Training, slogging through school work, patrolling with Jaime to find Parademons, more training. It wasn’t bad by any means but it was just routine. He supposed it was only natural, heroics were after all more than just beating villains.

Something else had been happening on the Watchtower that Izuku hadn’t been aware of, at least not much. New staff had been recruited since he had joined. He knew that his dad and his mom had gotten offers to work for the Justice League, partially as liaisons to the Japanese public but also as just standard workforce.

His mom had more or less become the caretaker of the younger heroes, alongside Jaime’s mom. He didn’t know what his dad or Jaime’s dad were doing, though he was fairly sure he hadn’t seen Jaime’s dad except the first time they moved up to the Watchtower.

Izuku wasn’t sure what his dad was working for the Justice League but he remembered seeing Batman talking to him so he figured it had to be something important.

“Yo Green!” Wally’s voice came from right behind him again, eliciting only a short stiffness from Izuku, Wally had been doing the ‘scaring him witless’ training with him so much that it barely phased him anymore.

“Hi Flash. Haven’t seen you in a bit, busy time in Keystone?” Izuku asked, raising a hand slightly as Wally zipped around and sat opposed to him. Izuku hadn’t even bothered looking back because he knew Wally was just gonna run around him anyway.

“Hey you’re even getting used to saying hero names. Finally, I was wondering if you would ever stop calling people ‘Sir’ or ‘Miss’.” Wally chuckled, dropping a box on the table.

“Present for you from The Rouges.” Wally tittered at Izuku’s expression. “I know they missed your birthday by a few months but cut ‘em some slack a lot of them are still in jail.”

Izuku raised an eyebrow “and they sent me a present? And you’re not concerned about that at all?” Izuku asked intrigued.

“It’s just The Rogues, Green. If it was the Joker we would atomize that present faster than you can blink.” Wally chuckled.

“...I’ll just keep it in my room for now.” Izuku said after a bit of thinking. “No reason to give people the idea that I’m getting too close to villains.”

“Fair enough.” With a small sound Wally disappeared for a moment and was back at the table, without the present.

“So, where’s Blue? Haven’t seen him in a bit.” Wally asked, looking around. “He’s usually around you, you two are basically siblings at this point.”

“I wouldn’t say that.” Izuku grumbled. “He’s with the Young Justice team from what I know. Won’t be back up here for a few months.”

“Do I hear a bit of jealousy there? I could’ve sworn you sounded a bit jealous.” Wally tittered.

“Not really. No. Yes. Maybe.” Izuku sighed. “It’s just harder to train when I’m on my own.”

Wally chuckled, leaning back slightly “You know when I said you were jealous I meant more of Jaime going to the Young Justice guys, not that the Young Justice team gets to have Jaime.”

Izuku scratched the back of his head slightly uncomfortably.

Wally shrugged. “Hey I get it. You didn’t have many friends as a kid and now the one friend you made up here up and leaves for a couple of months? I’d be mad too at your age.” Wally chuckled. “Just don’t let it get to you. You’ll find your crowd, everyone does.”

Izuku rubbed his eyes “...Why does all of this have to be so weird...” he grumbled.

“Cause you’re fifteen, nothing is simple at that age.” Wally tittered.

+ In front of a small cat cafe in Musutafu+

“Are you sure we’re in the right place?” Aizawa grumbled to Yamada as they approached a small, secluded cat cafe hidden by the many, many winding streets of Musutafu.

“I dunno Eraser, but considering a faceless guy is sitting out front, I do think we got a good chance to be in the right spot.” Yamada motioned to the sole table out front, where a man without a face, wearing a trench-coat and hat, was waiting for them.

“You’re late.” the Question growled in his usual tone as they approached.

“You didn’t tell us when we should come here….or that we should show up at all.” Aizawa sneered slightly.

“Well I expected you here two weeks ago, so you’re late.” the Question grumbled right back.

“That’s... not how that works.” Yamada chimed in.

“It is when you’re dealing with crazy people.” Aizawa rolled his eyes.

“Well I’ve never been known to be sane. So you’re late.” the Question would have rolled his eyes as well if they were visible but there was little point to do so when no one could see him do it.

“...What do you want Question?” Aizawa asked, trying and failing to not get increasingly agitated. He had known “The Question” for a few years, unfortunately, and every time he met the man had been an absolute nightmare.

“Oh I don’t know, perhaps if you read what I handed you a few weeks back you would know.” The Question mused.

“We did. You sent us on a wild goose chase across the country, checking files of middle schoolers.” Yamada slightly adjusted his glasses. “Not exactly sure what the point of that was supposed to be.”

If The Question’s expression had changed it wasn’t obvious. “You lot really don’t question things much do you? Perhaps you should have been asking yourself what all those middle schoolers and their schools had in common.”

“There weren’t any connections and I highly doubt there even is a connection.” Aizawa narrowed his eyes. “Much like the nonsense about aglets from six years ago, you just sent us running around for nothing.”

“Has it ever crossed your minds to check the status of those kids? Or that of their families?”

The Question had a way of asking things that hung in the air like a bad stench. Because he knew if they had checked what the situations of those families were, they would have found a rather obvious absence of living people.

“Suppose that’s a no. Funny that. Must be that quirkless people don’t draw that much attention in Japan huh?” Question continued, putting his feet up on the table.

“No need to look so horrified, it’s no surprise that you’re like everybody else in Japan. Born and raised to ignore those your government considers inconvenient. All governments and people do it. America, Europe, Russia. If you start bothering a society more than they think you are worth, your existence starts mattering less and less as time goes on.” The Question shrugged.

“So what are you saying? That they were killed for being quirkless?” Aizawa asked, trying to find the thought line that The Question was having.

As much as Aizawa hated to admit it, The Question, despite being a complete loon who checked through people’s underwear drawers if he thought it would give him a clue, usually had at least some point to his madness. Usually, sometimes he just wanted to piss you off but that was more the exception than the rule.

“No. What I am saying is that you should be asking yourself why even you ‘Pro-Heroes’ don’t talk about them. Perhaps attempt two goes better. Let’s go for something simpler.” With a motion, The Question threw a single, slightly less overfilled than the last, folder to Aizawa.

“What is this?” Aizawa asked, opening the folder only to find several profiles of people staring back at him. He blinked at one of the profiles.

“How did you…?”

“...doesn’t matter how. What matters is that these files exist. Something’s happening in your country, Eraser, something big and it’s not looking good.”

The Question paused, checking a clock over the Cafe’s entrance. “Would you look at the time? I would like to continue chatting but my shift starts in a few minutes.”

“Your what?” Yamada asked as The Question got up and with the trained motions of someone who did whatever he was currently pretending to be his job, put on an apron with a cartoony cat on the front of it and put on a set of cat ears onto his hat.

Both Aizawa and Yamada blinked for what felt like minutes to them as The Question, with no further word, went into the Cafe.

“Are we sure that this guy isn’t just messing with us?” Yamada asked as he looked into the folder they had gotten.

He paled after reading it. “….What are we going to do now?” he asked, trying and failing to fix his glasses back in place.

“...If this goes as high up as the Question implies… Nedzu is the best option. He has a direct connection to All Might. He also wouldn’t have any compunctions about hunting down those responsible.” Aizawa grumbled, this would be a nightmare, he could already feel it.

“...Maybe we need to go even higher than that.” He grumbled after a while. “This could affect more than just Japan for all we know.” He shook his head. “Let’s go, before someone listens in.”

The profiles themselves were of four people, two quirkless, two not. Each profile belonged to a different Hospital in Japan, all belonging to the HPSC:

“Name: ????, Appearance: white haired male of Japanese origin, appears approximately 22 years old, multiple high degree burns, Dr. Garaki suggested that only high level regeneration quirks could preserve the patients life. Further investigation into the patient's past has been denied by Dr. Garaki until the patient is well enough to speak.”

“Name: ????, Appearance: white haired male of Japanese origin, appears approximately 18 years old, subject remained unresponsive before disappearing from the Hospital. Dr. Garaki believes that the young man's escape was caused by their quirk going out of control.”

At least, at first Aizawa believed the four profiles to belong to four different people. The longer he thought of them, however, it was clear that they belong to two people.

Touya Todoroki, the first son of Endeavour, the current #2 Rank Hero of Japan and one Tenko Shimura. Shimura...he could have sworn he had heard that name before.

+ A few days later, Airspace near Jump City, USA+

“Not that I’m complaining but why are we using your flying car to get to this place? I can fly on my own and the Teleporters could get us there faster.” Izuku asked, only slightly incredulously.

Cyborg chuckled: “Ah come on! You don’t gotta be all business about the whole being a Green Lantern thing yet, Green. I get that ‘Professional Hero’ is a job where you used to live but getting all uptight about it ain’t healthy. Unless you wanna end up like Batman anyway.”

They were currently in the T-Car, a transforming, flight capable car that Cyborg used to use during his Teen Titans days as his official transportation method. Izuku would be staying with and patrolling with the Teen Titans for a while, a few months by Cyborg's words.

“Well Batman seems to have a reason for it.” Izuku mused, thinking of the things he had researched about the man.

“Doesn’t mean it’s healthy, as much as I like Batman he’s got some problems. Man’s a big paranoiac at times. Trust me, nice lifestyle during the day aside, you don’t wanna be Batman.”
Cyborg started, checking his watch.

“So what is your story, or Flash’s?” Izuku tilted his head.

“Well I ain’t gonna talk for Wally but as you can guess my body didn’t always look like this.” Cyborg pointed to his mechanical eye.

“I take it the news sites in Japan weren’t honest about it being a quirk?” Izuku asked, genuinely curious. He hadn’t brought up his suspicions that most of the Justice League didn’t have quirks or that the majority had no clue what those even were...well beyond having read up on them.

“Nope. There ain’t a bit of these prosthetic replacements that has anything to do with super powers. All science. As you can guess, that means I’m quirkless like you...that word’s still weird to say.” Cyborg shook his head.

“Let’s just say I had an accident and know some folks who were able to fix me. Well, physically anyway, I used to have some self acceptance problems for a long while.” Cyborg chuckled.

“And you just decided to become a hero after that?” Izuku’s eyes lit up slightly.

“Pretty much. I made some bad decisions in my life, felt I had to make up for them, do some good in the world, that sort of thing. You’ll find a lot of similar stories in the League and with all the other international teams. You actually confused some of us, most of the League didn’t even know that being a ‘Professional Hero’ was a job until you showed up.” Cyborg finished his explanation.

Izuku contemplated this for a bit. “So until the League was founded, most heroes outside of Japan were just vigilantes?”

Cyborg shrugged. “If you wanna be technical about it, we still kind of are. It’s a bit of a legal grey area in a lot of places. After all, how are you gonna make sure that every hero complies with the local laws? There’s so many of them and you can’t just put all of them through years of police and military training, folks like Darkseid aren’t gonna wait until you finish the gun safety lessons.”

Izuku sighed, “I’m honestly not even surprised. Feels like I got lied to my entire life up until this point and not just me, all of Japan. Maybe if I had gone to America or Europe I could’ve started as a hero even without the ring.”

Cyborg raised an eyebrow at the last part. “I take it that you have gotten some very angry letters since you joined?”

“...a few. Didn’t open any past the first three. Superboy wasn’t wrong, doesn’t matter what I do, some people in Japan will always hate me just for being me.” Izuku shook his head.

“Don’t take it too hard, pretty sure even Superman gets those. It’s just something you learn to live with. Just remember: One person being upset with you doesn’t undo saving thousands of lives.” Cyborg smiled at the look on Izuku’s face.

“We’re coming into Jump City’s streets now.” Cyborg said as he made the flying car land smoothly along the street, making the wings disappear as went. “Haaaa. Jump City. Home of the Teen Titans West and the best hot dogs this side of the earth. There used to be East and West Coast Titans, though we had to change that recently. Too many roster adjustments.” Cyborg explained.

“Lotta heroes switch teams, either because their expertise is better suited elsewhere or fitting better into the place. That being said, we’re coming up to Titans Tower.” Cyborg motioned over to their left.

Standing on an island in the middle of a lake in Jump City, was a ten story tall tower shaped like a giant T.

“Why is it on an island? Also why is it shaped like a T? That’s painting a giant target on you guys.” Izuku asked rapid-fire questions, as he was prone to do.

“Mostly so that people can’t just barge in. The shape was my fathers idea. We’re actually expanding the place currently. Ever since we started with the Rehab work it’s been getting a little crowded.” Cyborg scratched the back of his head.

Izuku tilted his head “...Rehab? Do all superheroes look after recovering drug addicts?”

Cyborg paused, blinked for a few seconds and started laughing. “Not that kind of Rehabilitation. Villain Rehabilitation.” he said as the car started hovering over the water and towards the Tower.

“Pretty sure you already learned this from Flash but not every villain is out to take over the world. Some of these guys and gals are just outcasts who got no idea what they’re gonna do with themselves.” Cyborg said as they exited the car.

“But why become villains then? I’m sure they could find more productive things to do right?” Izuku asked, looking up at the various construction platforms, there seemed to be a lot of workers up there.

“Think of this way: People told you all your life that you couldn’t be a hero no matter what you’d do. Would you have stopped trying to be one? Judging by how you saved that blond friend of yours, I doubt it. So! What do you think happens when people keep telling someone ‘You’ll be a villain, doesn’t matter how good you wanna be, you’re gonna be a monster, cause that’s all you’re good for’?” Cyborg mused as he also looked up.

“There’s three ways that goes: One, you decide to use your powers for good out of spite. Two, you give up and reject even having a power, which doesn’t end well usually. These lads are the last third, they gave up and said ‘Well if you wanna see as the bad guy, then I’m gonna be just that.’ Can’t say I blame ‘em either. It’s rough being told you're ‘born wrong’.” Cyborg finished his musings.

“But they had a choice.” Izuku mumbled slightly. “They could have decided to be better.”

“...and they’ll have to live with that decision all their lives. But condemning them for making a bad decision isn’t a good thing either. So, we’re giving them a new chance, turn their lives around and start over.” Cyborg answered, smiling slightly.

“Yo Bill!” Cyborg yelled to the lowest platform, someone was seemingly asleep on it. “Get back to work! Just ‘cause you got clones doesn’t mean you get to slack off.”

A small sound later and a head looked down. A voice with a heavy Texan accent called down: “Well if it ain’t Cy-Boss! Howdy, chief! ‘S been a long there while since you shown yer face here. Who’s the new beef? Ya ain’t replacin’ Beasty are ya? He’s gonn’ throw a fit if he keeps gettin’ green competition.”

The other ‘workers’ all looked down too, they had the same face as the one on the lowest platform.

“No, this is the new Green Lantern recruit! He’s gonna be here for a few months.” Cyborg yelled back up.

“...Is that the madlad that caught Cold?! What are bringin’ this celeb here for?” Bill yelled back down.

“Wh-How does everyone know that?!” Izuku yelled back, slightly incredulously.

“Yer friends the fastest man alive, how ya think?” Bill yelled back down while his copies tittered.

“Just go get the others to the main room Bill. We’ll catch up there.” Cyborg grumbled, with a cheer, Bill and his copies vanished from the platforms.

“Who was that guy?” Izuku asked, slightly confused.

“Bill Numeron, also called ‘Billy Numerous’. Was part of the H.I.V.E villain academy, He can make clones of himself and has slight super strength.” Cyborg explained.

“He’s a bit of a goof but aside from having stolen a lot of things he’s actually pretty alright.” Cyborg shrugged.

“He was a thief?! Why? He’d be a walking stunt crew, that’s such a waste of a superpower....did you say he also has super strength?” Izuku rambled.

“Uhh. Yes?” Cyborg asked, genuinely confused.

“...Well there’s a forum that’s getting a rant post. So much for: ‘Humans can’t have more than one power’.” Izuku grumbled, how many things had the Japanese public been lied to about? Too many, he decided.

“Wait a minute… H.I.V.E academy?... There’s a villain academy?!” Izuku half-shouted as they continued walking to the main hall of the Titans Tower.

“Correction, new guy: There was a villain academy.” a young voice called from up above. “Until the Titans took it down, threw us into detention centres for a bit and then decided ‘nah we’re gonna pretend that didn’t happen so you get another chance so we look good’.”

Cyborg rolled his eye, shaking his head in a way that indicated that Izuku shouldn’t listen to that statement. “Not how it happened Gizmo but keep telling yourself that you hate it here.”

“Don’t mind the little genius too much.” Another voice said from the other side of the hall as they approached.

“He’s still sore about the ‘honorary titans’ thing.” Walking up to them was a guy about Izuku’s age, wearing a dark-green helmet with a single large eye and a white suit with an eye symbol on it.

“How’s the place See-More? I’ve been a bit too busy to check up on you guys here.” Cyborg mused.

“Eeeh, could be better, could be worse, I guess.” See-More shrugged. “Things have been a bit...tense, recently. Without a Robin around and with Terra back, we’re kind of in two minds at the moment.” See-More made a ‘middling hand’ gesture.

There was a noise slightly behind Izuku then a distorted grunt then a thud as if someone hit metal.

Izuku had, unthinkingly and entirely on reflex, backhanded someone who had tried to sneak up on him. Wally's training was finally paying off.

Cyborg turned towards the noise "Kyd? Dammit man! I told you to stop sneaking up on people like that." He grumbled annoyed, "Next time it's Batman and you'll end up with a broken nose, man."

Izuku looked behind himself to see a guy with pale white skin, solid red eyes and some kind of bat-slash-bird kind of outfit. The guy didn’t say a word before floating upwards and disappearing through the ceiling.

“W-Who was that?” Izuku asked, slightly disconcerted.

“That was Kyd Wykkyd. He can teleport and doesn’t say a word. Get used to him showing up when you don’t expect it.” See-More chuckled.

“Well if he can handle getting backhanded every time he tries to scare me.” Izuku shrugged.

“Where’s the rest anyway?” Cyborg asked, annoyed.

“Knowing Billy? He probably tried to get them but they either just tuned him out or hit him.” Gizmo grumbled from above.

“...Okay what the hell happened since I left?” Cyborg asked incredulously.

With a strange ethereal sound a pitch black portal opened and two girls appeared. “Well the long and short of it is that Beast Boy brought his not-girlfriend here, after which she had a fit of paranoia she almost wrecked the entire tower and now refuses to apologise or even help fix it.” the girl with purple hair grumbled.

Izuku tilted his head, wondering what kind of power they used to get here. He had started experimenting with his ring's abilities and had found a way to get ‘profiles’ of whoever he looked at. It was mostly to ensure that he could keep up with the massive amounts of heroes he dealt with daily.

The thing was...his ring had no idea what the hooded girl had used to get them there.

“Like what you’re looking at Lantern?” the hooded girl snarked at his unintentional ogling, making Izuku blush.

He paused, thinking what to respond with, before settling on being honest. “Yes actually.”

She blinked at him, before blushing herself. “...I apologise but that’s a new one.”

“Aww, look at the little Green Lantern already weaselling his way into my adoptive sister’s heart.” the purple haired girl giggled. “Way to go little celeb, you’re already making a better impression than most who join this place. Name’s Jinx by the way. And this.” she suddenly jumped behind the hooded girl and put her hands over her shoulders and pushed her forward slightly.

“Is Raven. She’s not an emotions person but already thinks you’re cute.” Jinx giggled.

“Hey! I didn’t say that.” Raven grumbled.

“Buuut you were thiiiinking iiit!” Jinx said in a sing-song voice.

“Okaaay. Time out for a moment. Where are Beast Boy and Terra right now?” Cyborg asked, interrupted.

Raven sighed. “We don’t know. Terra ran off after accusing us of plotting to kill her or make a scapegoat or something of that nature. Beast Boy followed her and hasn’t been back. They’ve been gone for about three days.”

Izuku scratched his head: “Why would she accuse anyone of that?”

Raven sighed again, taking her hood off. “It’s difficult to say. She’s been through a lot, got killed and came back to life, among other things. Ever since then Beast Boy has been obsessing about getting her back to the Teen Titans. I’m half certain she never wanted to come back here but he convinced her anyway.”

Cyborg looked serious. “Well let’s find them then. We can’t just leave them out there can we?”

Izuku paused, before interrupting any answer: “Uhm, not to be a jerk but don’t you think that chasing a Geokinetic who thinks you’re out to kill her might be a bad idea? She almost tore this Tower apart in paranoia. The more people follow her the more angry she’s likely to get and the more collateral damage she’s likely to cause.”

There was a blinking from everyone in the room.

“What?” Izuku asked, slightly concerned.

“How did you know she’s a Geokinetic?” See-More asked, slightly confused.

Izuku blinked, wondering if the one-eyed boy was serious. “...Her name is Terra. If I learned anything about Hero Names since I joined the Justice League, it’s that subtlety is not our strongest attribute.”

Raven tried and almost failed to stifle a laugh. “And he’d know. Half of his Hero Name is the colour of his hair.”

“So you want us to just leave them out there?” Cyborg asked.

Izuku tilted his head. “I mean, how sure are you Terra even wants to be here? She almost broke the tower didn’t she? If she wanted to live here, she probably wouldn’t do that right? Getting Beast Boy back is one thing, you might be able to convince him but Terra obviously doesn’t like being here.” Izuku reasoned. “Maybe she would be better off with another team or just being left alone? It’s her life, so she should be allowed to decide how to live it.”

Cyborg paused for a long moment before sighing. “Man, you’re already more like Robin than I thought you’d be. I’ll try to get in contact with Beast Boy, maybe I can talk some sense into him.” Cyborg mused.

“Raven, can you get our new GL buddy to a room of his own? We’ll be patrolling later and I want him to be settled in before we do.” Cyborg chuckled at the look on Raven’s face.

Raven sighed before putting her hood over her head again. “Come on. Try to keep up.” before flying off several floors up.

Izuku blinked and flew upwards a moment later.

“Money says those two become a thing before the month’s over.” Gizmo chimed in from above.

“Month? I give it two weeks.” See-More chuckled, slightly amused.

Jinx tittered. “Why See-More! You, cheering for someone getting with my sister? That’s new.”

“Eh, figured if I can’t get with her I should at least root for someone who can. You also haven't bet yet.” See-More chuckled.

“I’m betting...” Jinx smirked. “That both Raven and I will be dating him before the end of the year… What?” she responded indignantly to the stares of the others “We’re both his age, it’s fine.”

“Isn’t Raven like some ageless demon or something?” Gizmo yelled from above.

“Doesn’t make her like him any less.” Jinx giggled.

“I heard that!” Raven yelled from several floors up.

“Yes you did, what’s your point sister? Am I wrong?” Jinx yelled back up in a mocking tone.

Raven just growled something in exasperation.

The Hero Public Safety Commission’s leaders were sitting at their massive conference table. To say that they were sweating was an understatement. Their hour-long meeting was coming to an end. It was all looking bleak for them.

Not only had the moles of the Justice League gone completely free without anyone even finding out who they were, let alone apprehend them, now someone had been busy leaking classified documents to non HPSC members.

“Mr. Takami. Please tell us there is some good news in all of this madness.” The leader of the HPSC grumbled. “We’re dealing with an absolute nightmare scenario. If these secrets become public the integrity of our entire nation is in danger.”

Keigo Takami smiled a wide, happy smile. “Don’t worry. My contact in the Justice League, the Martian Manhunter has been very cooperative. They won’t release any secrets that would cause irreparable damage, I can assure you of that. The Icon, Superman, would not approve of such a thing.”

The HPSC leaders sighed a sigh of relief, including Rikiya Yotsubashi, all of them blissfully oblivious of the actual meaning of his words.

“I have a meeting set up with him in a few minutes. If I am late, he’ll start getting suspicious, so I’ll take my leave if you do not mind.” Keigo smiled.

“Naturally. Do what you have to do.” the Chairwoman stated with a sigh, again oblivious of what her words would be causing soon enough.

“Thank you chairwoman.” Keigo bowed slightly, before opening a window and flying off.

“Can we trust him?” Yotsubashi asked.

“Oh please. He was basically raised by us!” The chairwoman chuckled dismissively. “He wouldn’t be so foolish as to ruin this for himself.”

Flying through the air, free as a bird and a long distance away from any surveillance, Keigo seemingly stopped dead in mid air.

“Hawks to Martian Manhunter. How about that audience with your grand table? You’ve listened in on the meeting after all. I would like us all to meet face to face.”

With a blue light, Keigo Takami vanished from Japan’s airspace with no clue as to where.

With a blue light, Hawks, the first, currently unofficial, representative of the Japanese Justice League appeared in the Justice League Watchtower. He was silently greeted by the founding team of the Justice League.

“So, new best friends.” Keigo smiled serenely. “How do we bring this lying house of cards down on the right heads?”

Chapter Text

 + I-Island, somewhere in the Ocean +

It was a bright, sunny day on I-Island. Granted, it rarely wasn’t sunny near the island as its course was specifically charted to always have the best possible weather conditions.

As many -slightly less- brilliant minds learned very quickly: migraines were the enemy of innovation, so keeping the weather consistent was key to keep the insanity that permeated the most brilliant among humanity from falling apart at the seams.

Standing on top of the highest skyscraper of the artificial island were David Shield, his daughter Melissa and Cathleen Bate, the person the Hero Public Safety Commission of Japan considered the 1# Hero of America….or at least that is what they had told her.

Currently, Cathleen was busy finding out if her quirk allowed her to grit her teeth so hard that she could reasonably make diamonds with them. To say she was furious was the understatement of the century.

“Easy there Ms. Bate.” David tried to calm her down. “Save your rage for later, there will be enough reasons and people to hunt down for all of this.” David tried in vain to placate her.

“Don’t be ridiculous! We know damn well that All Might himself knew they were lying to all of us. The only reason I didn’t know was because I thought my quirk was just a meta ability like the rest of the world did! If the Justice League has found enough evidence to bring this down on the Commission's head, I’ll be one of the people to lead the charge against them.” she grumbled.

“Cathy I’m sure all of this isn’t that simple. If it was just beating people up, then Uncle Might would have done it himself I’m sure. You know how bad he is with keeping secrets, he probably already told them off for it but couldn’t do anything himself about it either.” Melissa tried to calm her down, with marginally more success.

Cathleen sighed in resignation. “You’re right. I just hope that the Justice League has a plan.” she stared into the sky, noticing a small light approaching them. “Looks like our ride is here.” she nodded in the direction of the approaching star.

With a small noise a young hero, clad in blue and black armour that vaguely reminded them of some kind of scarab, landed in front of them on the roof. “Hola! Apologies if I’m late, air traffic is a bit crazy when you’re heading to this place. It took me a while to even find it.” Jaime chuckled at their expressions.

“You’re the pick up? Does the League expect us to be carried up to their Tower?” Melissa asked incredulously, as she raised an eyebrow.

“Hey now, have some faith in your friends, Ms. Shield.” Jaime tittered. “We’re not gonna be flying up. I’m just here to be a teleporter marker, this Island moves too much to just teleport you up without one.” Jaime shrugged, before moving his attention to Cathleen.

“Ms. Bate? Bit surprised you’re here, I thought I was just picking up the Shields for this.” Jaime mused.

“Well Reyes, you’ve certainly grown a tad since we met last. I remember you being a head shorter last time.” Cathleen laughed at his slightly annoyed expression.

“Always with the height jokes. I swear sometimes Green is the only one who doesn’t do those.” Jaime shook his head, though it was hard for him to hide his smile.

“You two know each other?” Melissa asked, looking between them confused.

“Yeah I met him in his home town a few times. Took me a bit to realise that his robot bug isn’t hostile I admit.” Cathleen scratched her head, slightly embarrassed.

“In your defence, Kahji Da doesn’t really do negotiations.” Jaime shrugged, Kahji Da making a series of rather odd squeaking tones from his back.

“Now let’s get this show on the road. Fair warning, there’s gonna be quite a few people in this place, some of them kind of not the friendliest sort, especially Batman. He’s not the handshake type.” Jaime chuckled.

“Blue Beetle to Watchtower. Got a pick up for four on my location. Adjust for movement of approximately five metres within error margins.” Jaime stated simply as with a blue flash the four disappeared from the roof of the building they were on with barely a sound.

+ An hour later, Jump City, USA +

Night patrols had become a thing that Izuku hated beyond anything he had ever hated. It was worse than people spouting nonsense about quirks being a sign of human superiority over aliens, that forum had gotten a looooong post about Superman from him. He had been banned immediately afterwards but it was worth it.

Today however was different. It had taken them a while, a few weeks, give or take a few days. But they had found them, Parademons hiding out in Jump City, of all places. Well, no. Parademon, singular, was the first one Izuku had ever found. Izuku was currently flying just above and behind the Parademon that was currently headed to where the Titans suspected the others to be. It hadn’t noticed him yet.

Parademons, incidentally, looked somewhat like humanoid locust creatures wearing green-ish yellow armour. They were strange beings in all aspects, created rather than born among other things. They seemed to be endlessly variable, some had superpowers, some didn’t, others were huge and had four arms, others were more like soldiers.

They were the backbone of the Apokaliptan army and seemed to have very little self awareness. They had enough to fight people, escape when necessary or even blow themselves up when captured, but not more than that.

“Where is this thing going?” Izuku wondered aloud, trying to make sense of where this Parademon was headed. “We flew past fifty alleyways with manhole covers in them, for a creature that’s supposed to try and hide to not draw attention to its movements, these things really don’t seem good at keeping a low profile.” Izuku mused.

“Parademons are more muscles than brains” Raven chimed in, she was flying slightly further up but also still behind the Parademon they were flying after. “They’re basically space bees, this guy is probably just heading to their nest.”

Izuku nodded, though whatever “nest” this thing was headed towards was still impossible to actually make out. It seemed to just fly around the place like it was either looking for something or lost as to where it was going.

“There.” Izuku motioned after it. “Looks like a warehouse? Not much of a nest is it?” Izuku mused as they saw the Parademon fly through the open entrance before, with a mechanical creaking, the gate closed.

Deciding to take the sneaky approach they landed on the roof. Izuku scanned the area around him as Raven landed next to him. “No guards. No sensors or anything either. Weird.” Izuku mused as a green grid swept across his vision, it was just a normal roof.

“Never seen a Green Lantern do things like that before.” Raven raised an eyebrow at his scanning, before doing something similar with her magic. Same result, just a roof, no sign of anything dangerous.

Izuku shrugged, “I just figured that this ring can do a lot more than just shoot things at people and translate languages. It’s a hand held, will-powered, imagination based spaceship after all… Well and a lot of other things, so why shouldn’t it be able to do these things?” Izuku asked rhetorically.

Raven just shook her head but Izuku could see her suppress a smile, she had gotten used to his banter in the past few weeks and, unlike Beast Boy, he at least seemed to get when he was making a bad joke and rescinded it.

“Hmm.” Izuku looked through the sky light in front of them. “There’s only… three life signs? Not much of a nest.” Izuku’s vision again filled with a green grid, sure enough, there was the Parademon and someone else.

“A… child? What is this Parademon doing with a kid?” Izuku asked as he knelt next to the skylight. “They don’t seem to be hostile to each other, the kid doesn’t even seem scared if their heart beat is anything to go by.”

Izuku looked over to Raven. “What do we do? The aggressive approach seems to be the wrong one here.”

Raven thought about it for a moment. “It wouldn’t be impossible that this Parademon has sentience of some kind. They’re not the smartest creatures but they’re still alive. Maybe it was separated from their collective somehow and became its own individual?”

Izuku paused, “So careful approach, front entrance? If it understands humans we might be able to reason with it.”

Raven nodded, “Just be ready for anything. It is still a Parademon, even if it's just a foot soldier for Darkseid, that puts it higher than some low level heroes.”

With that they jumped off the side of the building with the entrance gate, floating down without any issue. Raven tilted her head “Looks like there’s no button to open the gate. Well then. Azarath Metrion...”

“...There’s a door literally right next to it.” Izuku cut her chant off, making the black glow in her eyes stop as she blinked before blushing sheepishly. She had gotten so used to needing to break down gates or phase through walls that the obvious route escaped her at times.

“Sometimes the correct solution is also the easiest.” Izuku shrugged. “Also why do you need the chant? I rarely hear you use it.” Izuku tilted his head.

“It’s a focus aid.” Raven stated flatly. “My magic works better the less emotions I feel when using it.”

“Huh, kind of like a Green Lantern ring actually. It’s entirely will powered, the other ring colours need emotions.” Izuku mused. “Can your magic be taught?” Izuku asked, approaching the door.

He blinked at the lock, a green construct forming inside the lock and turning the pins. Why use a green hammer when a green skeleton key worked just fine.

“I think so? While I was taught how to use it, I always had a strong connection to magic itself….Wait. Why do you want to learn demonic magic?” Raven tilted her head again, genuinely intrigued. She had thought about possibly teaching at least the basics to someone before, but never found anyone interested.

“Backup strategies.” Izuku shrugged. “In case I can’t use the ring for one reason or the other, it would be helpful to know something more than just hand to hand combat.” Izuku stated as if it was the most natural thought process.

“That...actually makes a lot of sense. We’ll look into that later.” Raven mused, most other Lanterns were better physically trained than Izuku was, so his logic was sound.

Opening the door, they found the warehouse mostly empty, Izuku’s scan indicating that the Parademon and the human child were still there. But something else also was, it felt like there were a lot more creatures than life signs here.

“Hello?” Izuku called cautiously, he figured if this Parademon was passive so far it probably woul--

With the kind of noise a jet made when it flew past someone, the Parademon was suddenly right in front of Izuku and kicked him right past Raven and through the wall behind him. With a skittering noise it looked over at Raven.

She could tell it wasn’t a normal Parademon, it was taller and more muscular than a normal one. It looked somewhat like a giant humanoid, armoured bat, though it had several eyes and still several locust-like features. Raven raised her hand with a threatening glow before suddenly a green spiked ball and chain smashed through the ceiling above the Parademon and forced it to dodge.

Izuku grumbled, floating next to Raven, shaking the dust out of his hair. “I was hoping to avoid a confrontation but if you insist.”

The Parademon lowered itself slightly, strange… jet vents? Opening on its back.

“...Whyiseverythingthatwantstokillmesodamncool?!” Izuku rambled as he barely dodged out of the way and led the Parademon on a chase through the air. “Raven! Find the kid, I’ll deal with this guy.”

He had an idea, while the Parademon was probably fast enough to keep up with him like this, it wasn't made for space travel, which meant he had an advantage of more power in this flight.

He slowed down as he and the Parademon flew a circle around the room. It grabbed his leg. “Got you now.” Izuku grinned before spinning in a somersault forward making the Parademon hurl into the ground as it couldn’t keep its grip on his leg.

Before it could rise up again, Izuku created a giant green Robot arm construct and made it smash downward.

“How about that?” Izuku growled, as the dust settled and with a screech the Parademon burst back out of the ground and threw him through the skylight before it landed on the roof itself.

Raven meanwhile floated around, looking for the kid that Izuku had sensed. She noticed the other creatures as well, shadows, well more so demons that looked like shadows.

It took her a bit through the dust to find him sitting in a chair. She narrowed her eyes. “What are you doing here Klarion? Were there no random robed thugs to recruit so you settled for a Parademon instead?” Raven barely held back her disgust.

Sitting in a rather comfy looking armchair was a guy with black slicked back hair that extended in two ‘wings’ to the side. He was wearing what could be charitably be called the “Man of Wealth and Taste Ensemble” of a red pin stripe suit, black business shoes and a black tie. On his lap sat a brown cat with stinging red eyes. This cat, called Teekl, was a demonic focus and the only reason Klarion was currently in this plane of existence.

“Why, my dear Rachel Roth.” Klarion sneered slightly, making Raven roll her eyes; she knew he was trying to pull the ‘gentleman’ act and was failing spectacularly. “You make it sound like you’re not happy to see me.”

“That implies that there is anyone in existence who would be happy to see you.” Raven snarked, looking up slightly to see Izuku bat the Parademon around, all things considered he was holding up pretty well.

“So what is this? Were you bored in hell so you came to bother some locals?” Raven mocked him slightly, eliciting a sneer from the demonic human imitator.

“Actually, I am here too, how do you say? ‘Test the waters’ as it were. Your new green friend has made quite a bit of waves you understand.” Klarion chuckled. “Even in some of the other areas of the universe it’s hard to avoid knowledge of him. The Parademon was mostly just to attract his attention, they’ve been rather graciously provided by a friendly benefactor in this country.”

Klarion looked up to see the light show up above them. “I must say, so far I am not seeing the fascination. Where’s the pizzazz? The entertainment? I was expecting quips, and the marvellous shouting of heroics!” Klarion shook his head.

“Alas, it appears that all he is, is a sub-par replacement for the other green one.” Klarion shrugged, Teekl making a weird noise in his lap that sounded like the cat version of a laugh.

Raven merely glowered at him for a moment, debating to head upwards to help Izuku out but figuring it unnecessary.

“Then again I suppose I should have expected something of the sort. You got rid of one of your disobedient toys and replaced it with a less troublesome one.” Klarion laughed.

Raven’s expression flattened. “What?”

“Oh please! Don’t play innocent. It was an open secret that the animal morpher and you had a thing going.” Klarion grinned. “I understand replacing him but with this bore? What a wa--”

A sphere of black energy instantly formed around Klarion, Teekl and the chair and hurled him a few metres backwards.

Raven hadn’t moved from her position or even moved her hand but just a look underneath her hood made it clear that Klarion had crossed a line. Where there had been two normal eyes before were now four red glowing ones. Black tendrils of magic floated around Raven’s cloak.

“Let’s be clear, little Witch Boy.” Raven’s voice reverberated through the air as everything in the area, from small stones, to pieces of the wall and ceiling from the hole Izuku had left, to the railing on the stairs that ripped itself out of the ground, started floating surrounded by the same black energy.

“No matter how many delusions that manchild might have had, there never was or ever will be a relationship between me and Beast Boy.” With an ethereal raven’s screech the entire room was engulfed in a bird shaped black energy, disintegrating everything Raven had just lifted off the ground and eradicating the shadowy demon creatures that Klarion had brought as his entourage.

Klarion could just barely create a shield around himself and Teekl to survive the massive bird that disappeared a moment later. “Keh. It appears I have touched a nerve.” he grinned.

He paused as someone tapped him on the shoulder. “Sure did. Hey, Captain Salem?” Jinx grinned at him dangerously before snapping her fingers, purple energy flickering away on the hand she had tapped him with, pointing up in the process. “Dodge.”

Jinx jumped backwards in time. Klarion, whose feet sunk slightly into the ground, meanwhile found out the hard way that a large demonically enhanced Parademon weighed a few hundred pounds more than a normal one, shortly followed by a Green Lantern who had been very annoyed with it stomping on them both.

“Grrh, stay down!” Izuku growled, his eyes glowing dangerously as a large green hammer generated in the air above him and came down with a lot of force on the upper torso of the Parademon, knocking it out cold and shaking the entire warehouse. With a purple smoke cloud, Klarion and Teekl vanished from Earth back to whichever dimension they had come from.

Izuku sighed, shaking his head slightly. “Whew. That was close.” Izuku blinked, looking around. “What happened down here?...Where did the kid go?...or anything else in the room?” Before noticing Raven’s red glowing eyes.

“Oh? Are you okay Raven? You look a bit…. annoyed?” Izuku tilted his head.

Raven blinked with all four eyes before needing to stop herself from giggling. “I suppose I am.” the tendrils of magic disappeared, however her voice and eyes remained the same.

Izuku blinked before blushing slightly.

“Wow. He even likes the demon look you got going.” Jinx suddenly said right behind Izuku.

“...When did you get here Jinx?” Izuku asked, barely even reacting to her sudden appearance right behind him.

“Apparently in time to watch you clean house…. and to see you make googly eyes at my sister again.” Jinx giggled, making Raven blush hard enough to be visible from beneath her hood.

Izuku tilted his head, again thinking and deciding to just be honest again, it had done wonders before. “Well, she is cute.” Izuku simply replied.

Jinx blinked, “Well damn, Casanova. Way to make my plan to embarrass you both not work.” Jinx giggled.

“He’s also crazy.” Raven grumbled, the reverb disappearing from her voice “No one sane would think this.” She took her hood off her head, revealing her demonic face. “Looks ‘cute’. To answer your other question: That wasn’t a child, that was Klarion, a magic villain, he got away.”

Izuku tilted his head to the side again, if comical question marks were to materialise whenever he was puzzled by something there would be a thousand of them. “Raven, it’s literally you with four eyes, red skin and small horns. There is not one thing about that, that isn’t cute.”

If Raven could have gone even more red, she was currently busy doing that. “Liar.” she grumbled, trying her hardest to mean that but her voice made it hard to believe it. That and her slightly illuminated smile.

Jinx shrugged, “I’ve been telling you the same for years and you didn’t believe it then either.”

Izuku turned to the Parademon on the ground, green chains and manacles binding it in a rather ridiculous looking cocoon of restraints. “I have to bring it to the Watchtower, the Corps wants any and all information on them that we can get.” Izuku stated in a professional tone, he didn’t want to delay bringing the Parademon to the Lanterns for longer than he had to. Even if it was only one, maybe they could get use out of what they had found out.

Jinx paused . “Okay, you two go do that, meanwhile I’ll head back to the Titans Tower. I’ll let the others know what you’re up to.” She smiled a bit too sweetly.

“Good plan.” Raven grumbled before changing her form back to her human self. “Cyborg did say that the Villain Rehab group is not to leave Jump City for a few months. Would bring a few awkward questions if we brought you up there...I will conveniently forget that you used magic to help us, since you weren’t supposed to do that either.” Raven narrowed her eyes at Jinx slightly.

“Oh come on sis, we both know they already know that I do that from time to time.” Jinx giggled.

Raven sighed, “Just get home safe alright? We’ll probably be back before sunrise.” she grumbled, though she hid a smile.

Jinx shrugged, “Don’t I always?” with that question left in the air, Jinx was gone as fast as she had joined them.

Izuku blinked, “...I have to learn how to do things like that one day.”

Izuku shook his head, before calling for their pickup. “Green Lantern to Watchtower. Pick up for three. One captured Parademon, arranged for stasis so it doesn’t get any ideas.”

A small pause and a blue glow later, Izuku, Raven and the captured Parademon vanished, leaving only a strange symbol on the ground where Klarion had disappeared behind.

+ Justice League Watchtower +

When the two and their captive appeared in the Teleporter Bay an alarm began ringing almost immediately, after a short moment the Parademon was floating in a stasis field and the alarm stopped again.

Izuku blinked and looked around “T-That feels...new.” he stammered slightly as the alarm ended.

“Well at least people know we’re here now.” Raven deadpanned.

“You think Jinx realised it?” Izuku asked in an amused tone.

“You weren’t exactly subtle.” Raven rolled her eyes. “As bad as you are at lying, you’re about as subtle as a sledgehammer even when you’re honest. If she hasn’t figured it out yet, she’s at least got a good idea.”

“You weren’t much better.” Izuku chuckled, scratching the back of his head. “Pretty sure that blush gave it away.”

As if on cue Raven blushed and averted her eyes “Probably. I don’t really mind, the longer we keep it a secret, the pushier she’ll get about it.”

Izuku smiled widely and with a slightly dopey expression. “She’s your sister, she’ll be nice about it.”

Raven shook her head, suppressing a smile “We won’t hear the end of it once she knows for sure.”

Izuku scratched his head again. “By the way. I heard you yell something about Beast Boy. Am I missing a story there?” he asked, curiosity piqued.

Raven grumbled something for a second that sounded vaguely like ‘I was way too loud wasn’t I?’ before sighing. “It’s a long story. Can we agree to talk about it later?”

Izuku shrugged. “I can wait.”

With a ping, a screen next to them turned on, Batman’s unimpressed face appearing on it. “Lantern. Raven. Head for the conference room. We have matters to discuss.” Batman paused at their looks. “...It’s good to see you two again.” Batman said as flatly as he did anything. With another ping the screen turned off.

They looked between each other for a moment before heading for the conference room.

“Is he always like that?” Izuku asked. “I’ve only spoken to him three times and the first time it was with other people around. Does he just do the ‘deadpan and calculated’ thing all the time?” Izuku tilted his head in thought.

Raven didn’t let her amusement show as she answered “Yes, he is quite like that. His sidekicks fill in the social gap a lot of the time.” she mused as they approached the door of the Conference Room.

Izuku blinked at the scene in front of him. He had been in the massive conference room of the Justice League Watchtower once before but the atmosphere and scene in front of him was a very different one than the one when he had been here the first time.

On his right were Cyborg, Martian Manhunter, Flash and All Might, in his buff form, who currently had his face pressed against the table and sounded like he was whimpering.

On his left there were two blonde women he didn’t personally know, a brown haired man with glasses he didn’t know, Wonder Woman, Green Arrow and his senior Green Lantern, John Stewart. The younger one of the blonde women was… pretending to read a crumpled looking newspaper. He knew she was pretending because the writing was upside down.

On three chairs away from the table were two men, one with long messy black hair, one with blond hair that looked like he had too much hair gel. Sitting on the third chair was a short… Capybara-Panda-Fennec-Fox-ish person wearing a perfectly tailored suit and rather high red boots.

Standing at the viewing window was a person with red bird wings, looking out towards Earth like he was enamoured with the view. Sitting at the end of the table away from him were Batman and Superman.

Izuku blinked slightly as he noticed Jaime standing next to the entrance with him. Raven followed him in and seemed barely even phased by everything in front of her.

Izuku raised an eyebrow. “I am going to ask why All Might is looking like a dog that’s been hit with a newspaper and probably won’t get an answer.” Izuku mused loud enough to get attention.

All Might sat back up straight staring in their direction before blinking in realisation. “Well young Midoriya, if you must know, today appears to be the day all my mistakes over the past few years decided to catch up with me.” All Might grinned, though the rest of nervous face betrayed him.

The name drop wasn’t unnoticed by the blond woman who was still pretending to read her newspaper. “...How do you know his name?” She didn’t drop the newspaper but anyone could hear the anger in her voice.

“W-Well, it’s a long story.” All Might answered nervously.

“Well? What is it?” the blond cut his apologetic tone off.

Izuku raised an eyebrow as Jaime approached him, tuning out the conversation “Been a while Green!” with the kind of nonchalance that Izuku had gotten used to he and Jaime fist bumped.

“Blue! How is the Young Justice team?” Izuku asked, happy to see his best friend again.

“Not as bad as I thought, the new Robin is less of a jerk than I’d heard. Seems his girlfriend got him to calm down a bit.” Jaime shrugged.

Raven raised a curious eyebrow at that “Damien? Getting a girlfriend? What star collapsed since he left the Teen Titans? He wanted to stab anyone he ever met when I last spoke to him.” she deadpanned.

Jaime chuckled at that. “Well I met her all of once, she visited Bludhaven for a week or so before going back to Paris. She’s pretty cute, bit of a nervous streak. She’s apparently a fashion designer.” A collection of weird beeps followed as ‘Kahji Da’ chimed in. “Hm? You two a thing? ‘Cause that’s what Kahji Da’s saying.”

Both Izuku and Raven blushed, trying very hard to not appear to flustered “Can you keep it down? I’d like that to not be a big deal, for once.” Izuku grumbled.

Jaime paused, blinking. “Damn. I leave you alone for a few months and you hook up with the most dangerous teenager in all of the Justice League roster. Well, excluding Supergirl and her clone sister anyway.”

“How’d Khaji Da figure that out anyway?” Izuku mumbled.

“Pheromones.” Jaime deadpanned.

“...I’ll take the most dangerous teenager thing as a compliment. For now.” Raven grumbled.

“While I’m certain your discussions are worth hearing.” Batman stated flatly from the opposite end of the table, making both Izuku’s group and All Might, as well as the blond lady, pay attention. “There are more pressing matters right now than personal relations.”

Izuku straightened slightly. “If you don’t object. we have an important report for the Lantern Corps first.” Izuku continued making John Stewart raise an eyebrow.

“How important?” John asked, raising an inquisitive eyebrow.

“We encountered a Parademon enhanced by Infernal powers in Jump City. It appears to have been given to a villain by someone else.” Raven chimed in, still in a deadpan tone.

There was a pause as this statement was taken in. Another short pause as a small murring noise came from the lap of the larger blonde woman as a cat seemingly got up from where it was sleeping and hopped onto the table.

“Oh. Apologies, I don’t know who this cat belongs to but it was sitting in this chair earlier and refused to move away.” She scratched her head.

She scratched it quite a bit more when Izuku seemingly stood perfectly stiff and saluted the cat. “H-Hello sir! I wasn’t expecting you here sir!”

“...Why are you saluting a ca--”

“Is exceeding expectations your personal past time, young lantern?” a deep, coarse voice, like someone had tried to speak after gargling shards of glass, spoke up.

With a noise like burning wood a red lantern suit generated around the cat, a second later the tip of its tail burst into flames before a red ring appeared around it.

“Cease saluting. I am not your superior, no matter what seniority demands.” Dex-Starr murred, cleaning himself as the ring spoke for him.

Melissa Shield froze and dropped her newspaper when she heard the talking cat, in fact just about everyone froze at the conversation, as with the exception of those who already knew about him, no one had realised that Dex-Starr was present until now.

“Report.” Dex-Starr’s ring spoke with the same kind of tone it said anything, which was to say barely constrained murderous rage.

“Yes, sir.” Izuku stated in a professional tone before generating a green image of the Parademon they had captured. “We encountered this Parademon about twenty minutes ago. We followed it to a warehouse that with exception to one occupant seemed empty. It appears to have been heavily modified, both through magic and technology, if the jet engines are any indication. It’s currently in stasis in the Teleporter Bay.”

“The person in command of it was Klarion, the Witch Boy.” Raven stated flatly. “A villain of demonic origins. As stated earlier the Parademon was infernally enhanced. Considering Iz-Midoriya’s ability to capture it, it likely wasn’t fully adjusted to the changes it went through.” the green image of the Parademon dissolved again.

“You mentioned it being ‘given’ to Klarion. Elaborate.” Dex-Starr’s tail swished angrily across the table, trailing red sparks.

“Unfortunately, there is not much to say. Klarion merely stated that he received the Parademon from ‘a benefactor in this country’. He did not say more than that.” Raven shook her head.

Dex-Starr stopped abruptly with his cleaning and sat to attention. His eyes were wide and his pupils looked like slits. “That is worrying. Very worrying. There are not many that can control Parademons. If someone on Earth can… the Knight Corps needs to be informed. Immediately.” Dex-Starr’s ring growled.

“I shall return to the Lanterns on Oa with the Parademon. As of now, your current mission is to learn of the controllers whereabouts. That counts for the Blue Beetle as well.” Dex-Starr’s ring continued. Dex-Starr looked over to Jaime.

“Ensure that they are captured, alive.” With that and barely a glance Dex-Starr walked off the table, floating to the door. “Good work.” the ring grumbled quietly as Dex-Starr floated through the exit.

Jaime paused. “...Is it just me or did the most dangerous cat in the galaxy just sound scared for a moment?”

A short round of introductions followed so as to avoid confusion since there were two Green Lanterns present. Had it been a few months earlier Izuku would have fainted from the fact that both the 1# heroes of Japan and America were present and that the 3# ranked hero was also here.
His time living with Justice League members made the effect they had on him rather underwhelming as much as he regretted to think like that, it was hard to be impressed by a reality warper when your girlfriend was a demonic mage.

After everything had settled back down for a moment Batman decided to speak up in his usual deadpan tone. “The reason I called for this meeting today is a matter of international security. Needless to remind any of you, none of this information leaves this room unless agreed otherwise.”

With a flick of his fingers several holograms appeared across the table, screens of information about Japan, as Izuku noted.

“Midoriya. Considering your experiences outside of Japan so far, how frequent do you believe quirks to be among Earth's population?” Batman’s tone was less like asking a question but more so expecting the answer he already knew.

Izuku paused for a moment. “Far less than what I was taught as a kid.” Izuku started, “I was told that more than 80% of people have quirks, but that doesn’t feel right at all with what I’ve seen. Outside of Japan, no one I’ve met has had a quirk so far. Meta abilities certainly, especially here but none that fit the classifications.”

Batman nodded and tented his fingers. “We are here to discern how quirks came to be in Japan and what someone could be gaining from manipulating the entirety of Japan into isolating its citizens by pretending that they exist everywhere.”

“But they’re not really isolating citizens are they?” the blond haired man with the heart-shaped sunglasses asked, curious. “People can still come and go from Japan after all.”

Izuku tilted his head, blinking slightly. He remembered that voice, that was Present Mic! “N-Not to be rude.” Izuku tried and failed slightly to not stutter, “but for someone running a call in radio for many years, you seem to not have paid attention to many questions you got. Pretty much anyone with mutation quirks that didn’t look human because of them had issues with discrimination. Quirkless people even more so.”

Present Mic blinked at that. “You have a point there,” he conceded.

Batman paused for another second. “That being said, it’s thanks to Midoriya the issue became obvious to the League. We usually agree to let countries manage themselves unless the dangers spread beyond their borders.”

With a small ping several images and letters appeared on the holograms. “However, when Midoriya joined the Green Lantern Corp, several things of concern happened. We filter through any mail that gets sent to the Watchtower.” Batman paused.

“I have been part of the Justice League since its founding and I have rarely seen something like this. There were hundreds, if not thousands of letters, physical or otherwise, calling for Midoriya’s resignation as a Green Lantern. Official ones and countless ones written by citizens. That is not counting the ones threatening physical harm or containing dangerous substances. Though I assure you, even those were near the thousand line. They continued even after Captain Cold’s capture, though the amount slowed.” he paused.

John Stewart shrugged. “Obviously they don’t know what makes one a Green Lantern, nor that the League has no ability to take that away from anyone. So naturally that won’t happen.”

“The pattern that drew my attention was that in almost every single letter the word ‘quirkless’ is mentioned, as if it were a disease or plague. That combined with our own interactions with Midoriya made me suspicious of something bigger going on.” Batman clarified.

With another ping, the screens disappeared and four large panels appeared in the centre. “As such, I felt it was a matter that needed to be investigated.”

Nezu tittered slightly. “Why Batman, did you not tell me before that the League only acts in official channels?”

“Naturally, until now only three other League members were aware of this investigation, that being Manhunter, Wonder Woman and Superman. John Stewart is the senior Green Lantern, thus Midoriya’s superior and consequently in this matter he’s the one I was reporting my findings to.” Batman’s face didn’t change but Izuku couldn’t help but feel he was smirking. “I have my own contacts outside of the League that were more than willing to aid in this endeavour.”

Aizawa groaned. “That’s why Question has been pestering us, isn’t it? Thanks for putting that mental tire fire on us.”

“Eccentrics aside, he has always brought results.” Batman deadpanned. “The investigation had, until recently, three approaches.” he flicked his finger again with the faces of three heroes showing up on the holograms.

“The Question was tasked with finding out anything noteworthy about quirkless individuals in Japan. Naturally, being who he is, that extended into finding any information on quirks he came across. As such he also contacted Eraserhead and Present Mic, having worked with them before.”

“I wouldn’t say ‘worked’, he badgered me a few years ago.” Aizawa growled. “But he did point us to a concerning discovery.”

“What did you find?” Batman asked, though he naturally already knew.

“Quirkless people and their relatives have been vanishing across Japan more and more. It’s been happening for decades from what we’ve been able to dig up.” Present Mic volunteered.

Izuku blinked “How did no one notice?...oh.” he looked sullen, realisation dawned on him. Of course no one noticed, it was about quirkless people. No one cared.

“That aside, Question found two examples for us that are… very concerning.” Aizawa grumbled. “One is Touya Todoroki, the oldest of Endeavour’s kids.” He paused. realising that most people in the room didn’t know who he was talking about. “Endeavour is the 2nd ranked Hero of Japan, All Might here is the only one above him in our rankings.”

“What happened to that boy?” All Might chimed in, concerned for Endeavour's family visible on his face.

Aizawa shook his head. “We’re not sure entirely, he vanished a few years ago then apparently showed back up again years later before running away from a hospital.” Aizawa growled slightly.

Hawks turned to look in the direction of the table. “I wouldn’t get my hopes up on finding anything. Endeavor was always very private about family matters, even to people like me. The man has an armada of lawyers keeping his family out of the public eye wherever possible. Your trail likely ends there.”

Aizawa merely nodded, “The other one concerns one Tenko Shimura.”

All Might could have not looked physically closer to death if he tried. “What?... Shimura? That’s… that was the name of my teacher.”

There were a lot of questions in Izuku’s head about that statement for a moment before he decided they could wait for later. “Not to be obtuse but have you considered that these quirkless people could have just left Japan? Quirkless people….” he paused, before shaking his head slightly, “No. People without superpowers are treated like third class citizens in Japan. I wouldn’t doubt for a minute that many of us left so they don’t have to deal with that anymore.”

Batman shook his head “Unfortunately it goes further than that. Comparing the numbers shows that the emigration numbers are far beneath the number of missing citizens.”

Batman’s eyes narrowed slightly, how that propagated through his mask wasn’t something that Izuku ever figured out. “The second person in on our investigation is the Huntress. She was tasked to infiltrate a larger heroics-related organisation in Japan to find out anything of value. Fortunately, her investigative skills already gave us what we’re looking for.”

With a ping, a large word appeared across the top two holograms. DETNERAT.

Several of the Japanese people present tilted their heads slightly.

“The Support Item company? Why would she be looking into them?” Eraserhead asked, slightly incredulously.

Izuku blinked, “You mean aside from their blatant favouritism for powerful quirks, abysmal safety procedures for their products and monopoly of the only company that makes shoes for people without quirks?”

Nezu tittered at that, “I see that I am not the only one that despises their business practices. I take it you found out about them through interactions in conventions?” he reasoned.

“No, actually, sir.” Izuku scratched the back of his head “Just abysmal customer service and condescending tone. It’s hard to miss when people's eyes go dead when they just look at your shoes.”

“While her assessment matches Midoriya’s in this case, that’s not all she found.” Batman continued, “Huntress has uncovered evidence that Detnerat is merely a front for a villainous organisation calling themselves the ‘Meta Liberation Army’. According to Huntress and according to the evidence she found, this ‘army’ is a group obsessed with powerful quirks.”

That made All Might blink. “That’s quite an accusation to make. What evidence did she find?”

“Within every office of Detnerat employees she found a copy of this.” Batman simply tapped his finger on the table. The four holograms disappeared and were replaced by a book cover reading “Meta Liberation War”.

“This book is the manifesto of the original Meta Liberation Army. At least, that is what it appears to be on the outside.” Batman’s expression darkened. “What Huntress has uncovered is that the book that is currently being touted as this army's manifesto is altered. Effectively, the original version calls for equality between super powered individuals and un-powered individuals. Meanwhile, the version the current army utilises calls for either the subjugation or death of those the army deems ‘too weak to survive’. Naturally, that includes anyone without a meta ability.”

Cathleen crossed her arms. “They corrupted the original purpose of this ‘army’ for their own gain. How does that fit into the presence of quirks themselves?”

“In itself it doesn’t,” Hawks chimed in from the window, “The part that Batman didn’t get to yet is that Detnerat has a seat in the HPSC. The Hero Public Safety Commission, the very people that employ Professional Heroes in the first place, work directly with these sociopaths. Which incidentally was my part of this investigation, uncovering what they were trying to achieve in the HPSC. Unfortunately, so far it’s been difficult to track what they’re doing there. So far I can however attest that they’ve been trying to effectively remove quirkless people from any and all influential positions, related to heroes or otherwise.”

Most of the people present took this information in. Izuku blinked, thinking it over.

“Honestly?” Izuku began, making them pay attention, “Knowing what I do about Professional Heroes? That makes sense.” he continued, sensing that he needed to elaborate, “I checked with all Hero Universities I could, U.A, Shiketsu and so on. They all demand that you have a quirk to even apply to be a Professional Hero. Even then, most of the jobs related to Professional Heroes? Most of them are background jobs. Marketing, Public Relations, Support Item creation, etc. Even in U.A if you want to be an actual Pro-Hero? If you don’t have a powerful quirk, you don’t have much of a chance. That would fit with what this army wants.”

Aizawa grumbled, “Professional Heroics isn’t something you just join in on. It might seem unfair to you but this vetting process is necessary.”

Izuku tilted his head in his direction, he recognized that face due to his many forum searches. “Your quirk is solely to turn off other quirks, Mr. Eraserhead.” Having his hero name said unprompted made Aizawa blink for a moment. “Would you mind telling me how you’re different from a person without superpowers otherwise? Most heroes outside of Japan I know have some kind of physical enhancements or vastly enhanced training.”

Aizawa blinked for several seconds, wondering where the kid was going with this: “I am not.”

Izuku paused, very briefly, in a manner that seemed to unsettle Raven slightly, “So walk me through this one. Your sole advantage is turning off other people’s quirks. Beyond that, is it all training? Because if that’s what you’re saying, your vetting process is literally: ‘Even if your superpower is just to grow your fingernails to three centimetres length we’ll give you a shot, if you don’t even have that don’t apply, we won’t bother’?”

There was a very high pitched squeaking noise that no one could place for several seconds until they all collectively realised that Nezu was tittered his head off before with a slight wheeze recovering and interjecting “A blunt assessment but accurate, beyond the most basic physical and intellectual requirements, having a quirk is the only thing keeping someone from seeking an education as a Professional Hero. Notably I think those rules are nonsense, there are many ways one can aid heroes without superpowers, sadly it is also not my call to make.”

Aizawa narrowed his eyes slightly, “Obvious ‘sour grapes’ sentiments aside,” he barely reacted at the weird look Izuku gave him, though he noted the concerned look on Raven’s face and wondered what got the hooded girl rattled, “In essence your fancy ring and costume are just support items. Anyone who gets that ring off of you and you’d be back at square one, no amount of training would help you there.”

There it was again, a strange pause that for some reason sent a shiver through more than one of the people there. Izuku slightly turned his head towards John Stewart as if he was silently asking something.

Izuku’s expression didn’t change but the look in his eyes made it very clear that Eraserhead had stepped over some line that he was going to regret crossing. “Well then, sir, would you like to test that theory?”

With a smooth motion Izuku took the ring off his finger, his Green Lantern Uniform disappeared, leaving him standing in an average outfit that most of the people working on the Justice League Watchtower wore.

He threw the ring to Eraserhead, who caught it, blinking slightly. “Feel free to try it on. See how it feels. I give you official permission to use it against me.” Izuku said smiling a bit too friendly. It wasn’t the nervous smile he had shown All Might before, no it was the kind of confident smile you had when you knew where a situation was going and were looking forward to the fireworks.

Eraserhead inspected the ring silently, he couldn’t see any buttons on it, in fact except for the symbol on the front it just looked like a strangely metal-stone-esque ring that was perfectly green. He put it on his finger and found his hero costume replaced by a green and black one with a long black scarf.

“Are you sure that…?” Superman stopped as John raised his hand, as if to say that Izuku was making a point here and that Superman shouldn’t interrupt.

“As I said, you’re welcome to try using it.” Izuku reiterated.

Eraserhead paused, before pointing the ring in Izuku’s direction, “Giving your only weapon away is a stupid ideaaaaHGGHHG.” Eraserhead had tried to make something happen with the ring. Anything at all really, even just an energy blast of some kind to prove his point.

What happened instead was that a brief green glow appeared around him, a vague green haze appeared from the front of the ring that travelled about half an arm length before dissipating and Eraserhead writhed like he had just been hit by a sledgehammer to the chest. He felt as if someone had just set him on fire from the inside. His costume returned to its original state without much fanfare as he slumped forward, with wide eyes and heavy breaths. “Uughhr...W-Whaaa...what was that?”

Izuku smiled and with a little motion from his hand the ring slipped off Eraserheads finger, flew across the room and back onto his finger, his outfit being replaced by his Green Lantern Uniform again.

John spoke up, shrugging, “That is how it feels to use a Green Lantern Ring. Every time. For everyone who uses it. Without exception.” His casual tone made clear that Eraserhead wasn’t the first one to try using a ring without being chosen and that he wouldn’t be the last to learn that it wasn’t that simple.

Eraserhead froze in his slumped forward position before turning his head to John and staring at him like he had just grown a second head.

“I wanted you to understand something, Mr. Eraserhead.” Izuku started, still perfectly courteous. “I don’t care what you or the people of Japan think about me, I’ve been told to kill myself and that I’m worthless for almost as long as I can remember.” Izuku narrowed his eyes, ignoring the looks some of the people in the room gave him, “but the Lantern Corps are not like Professional Heroes, they’re not like the Justice League either. You, with all respect that you have earned, wear costumes. This.”

Izuku pointed to the symbol on his chest, “Is a uniform. Anyone wearing this is putting their life on the line to protect all life in the galaxy. Just recently thirty of us gave their lives so that several planets full of people could keep theirs. I am only a recruit but I will not accept you or anyone else thinking that we wear this symbol lightly.”

Eraserhead paused slightly, blinking at Izuku’s determined, if not almost challenging face. In his head he realised that while Izuku Midoriya was just barely fifteen years old, this boy was willing to die to keep people safe. That this teenager, someone who for all it mattered should not have to even consider dying to help others, was perfectly willing to do something that many grown Professional Heroes wouldn’t.

Batman smiled behind his tented hands as he spoke up, “I think you, as Professional Heroes, now understand what I meant when I told you that being a Hero, to us is a calling, not a job description. Naturally, I meant the Justice League. To the Lantern Corps, it’s an honour.”

“Let us get back on track.” Wonder Woman chimed in, only slightly amused at the antics from before. “I suspect that you have more than this, you wouldn’t involve everyone here if you didn’t.” She raised an eyebrow in Batman’s direction.

“Naturally. As I said at the beginning, until recently we had the three aforementioned approaches. As of three days ago that is no longer the case.” he tapped another finger on the table, making the images from before disappear entirely.

“A few weeks ago I was contacted by a former villain of the Justice League,” Batman’s expression darkened “he was contacted by an individual claiming to run the Japanese underground. Naturally, I didn’t believe a word of it at first, Trusting villains has rarely led to good things, in my personal experience.”

Eraserhead grumbled slightly, “In our parts, trusting any villain, period, would likely get you branded an accomplice. At least for the ‘Daylight Heroes’, like All Might here. For people like me, I could get away with it if it brings results.”

Batman merely nodded. “Fortunately our worlds are similar in that regard, regardless. The former villain on our end that was contacted is Lex Luthor.”

A cold sensation went through the entire room as if every person on the Justice League tensed immediately just from hearing that name.

Cathleen almost exploded in anger “Are you joking?! After everything that man did you--?” she said as Batman raised his hand.

“Cathleen, in the few years you worked with the Justice League, you should have learned that I do not joke about serious matters,” his tone was as flat and impassive as ever, “just listen to this. If you still think I’m crazy for listening, you’re free to leave.” he didn’t wait for a response and merely tapped his finger on the table again.

Two waveforms with holograms of people above them appeared, one was a bald man in a casual business suit, sitting in a chair. Underneath the waveform, which Izuku guessed was to verify the man's voice, was the name “Lex Luthor”.

The other one was of a man, also wearing a suit, though this one more professional. He was wearing a strange mask that looked like it was some...kind of coffee grinder fused with an edgy skull mask. It really just looked kind of silly, it didn’t fit the rest of his attire much. Beneath the waveform for him were merely question marks.

They all paused, All Might froze for a moment upon seeing the second man’s silhouette, waiting for the recording to start:

“Is being fashionably late something that people still do these days?” Luthor asked in a bored tone, “If you are going to be fifteen minutes late to a business meeting. at least call ahead so I don’t waste my time.” Luthor was apparently speaking more to himself than anyone else, as the unnamed man’s wave form remained flat.

There was a pause for a few seconds before the unnamed man seemingly spoke up, or entered the conversation.

“Alexander Joseph Luthor.” the second man’s voice boomed in a grand fashion. “...pardon my attempt at humour, Mr. Luthor. I merely believe that a legend such as yourself should be treated appropriately.”

“...You made me wait for a ‘movie man’ introduction of my full name.” Luthor deadpanned “I would say that falls under impressive, if only that you took so long to rehearse it.”

There was a pause, just a bit too long to be comfortable.

“Well Mr. Luthor….”

“You can stop.” All Might growled in such a loud way that he might as well have yelled. “I know that voice.”

Izuku blinked, he didn’t need much more than a glance to realise that whoever this individual was, All Might hated them. Not in a usual ‘stop villain!’ kind of way but in the ‘It will take me all my restraint not to kill this person when I see them’ kind of way.

All Might was sitting there, his fists white knuckled on the table, his trademark smile nowhere to be seen, his face twisted in a cold snarl like he was trying to break his own jaw. If Izuku had not spent most of his childhood idolising him, he would have thought he wasn’t looking at the Symbol of Peace in Japan and more someone akin to Endeavour.

Cyborg raised an eyebrow “Care to explain who that is? You seem to have quite a history with this guy.”

All Might paused, as if he just remembered someone else was in the room and closed his eyes for a moment. “I suppose. I need to explain quite a few things for this. I would like to remind you of the things Batman has said. None of this leaves this room, unless agreed otherwise.” With a deep sigh and steam seemingly escaping his form, All Might returned to the withered, skeletal form he was forced to call his ‘real self’ these days.

“Before you say anything, or wonder if I am an imposter of some kind, rest assured. I am All Might. Have been since I was a teenager, about a year or two older than Midoriya.” All Might vaguely motioned in Izuku’s direction but his eyes were grimly focused on the conference table, as if even revealing this information hurt him.

“The person who that voice belongs to goes by the name ‘All For One’. A criminal mastermind who has terrorized Japan since the dawn of Individualities...or Quirks as they have been called more recently. This psychopath has killed countless people and manipulated our society for quite a long time.” All Might continued.

“About six years ago I had what, until today, I believed to be my final confrontation with that monster. An encounter eight generations in the making. That battle was the reason I am now in this condition.” he motioned at his emancipated form.

“All For One, has a quirk unlike any other.” All Might carried on. “His Quirk is also the name he chose for himself. It allows him to take and give people Quirks, as well as using any he has taken from others.”

All Might took a deep breath. “However. He was not the only one with a strange Quirk such as that. His brother was seemingly born without a Quirk of his own. At least. That is what All For One believed. In consequence, All For One gave his brother a Quirk that gathers power. However, All For One’s brother did have a Quirk. A quirk that could be transferred to others by giving them a bit of one's DNA.” He stared meaningfully at Melissa Shield for a moment.

Izuku tilted his head, blinking very slowly and suddenly things started to click together in his head. “Were you quirkless too?” Izuku asked him rather baffled.

All Might chuckled weakly “I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised that you figured it out that quickly. Yes. Before I was given ‘One For All’, the name given to my former Quirk, I was indeed Quirkless. Much like yourself. Much like my successor. Though not all who carried it were.”

Izuku blinked again, glancing at Melissa Shield for a moment, letting everything go through his head for a minute, as very tiny but immaculate green writing appeared around him before Batman spoke up.

“As I am certain you have surmised, the investigative efforts we have made over the past few months have come to the conclusion that this ‘All For One’ individual is behind Japan's current situation.” he started in as deadpan a tone as anything.

“Currently the evidence points to the possibility that ‘All For One’ existed since Quirks began rising in Japan. There is a high probability that he manipulated events so as to create a breeding ground for more of them within Japan's borders and to allow him and his followers to amass more and more power.” Batman's look darkened, if such a thing was even possible.

“Effectively speaking, he turned Japan into a genetics playground of his own making.” Batman growled.

“But how?” Aizawa asked, still reeling from everything he had heard. “Even if he manipulated a lot of our culture, how could he have hidden Quirks that well? That would easily go back to the eighteenth century!” he left the question of how All For One could live two hundred years unasked.

“Simple.” Batman retorted “Legends, Myths, Folklore and Urban rumours. For anyone outside of Japan, the Urban Legend of the eight feet tall woman is merely a nice thing to read about online. For Japanese locals, especially in the countryside, it’s simply accepted as true.” he glowered.

Izuku paused and tilted his head. “It’s possible that’s what he did but why? What’s the point of all this?”

Raven raised an eyebrow next to him before answering ahead of everyone else: “Considering that people like the Joker exist, those questions answer themselves: Because he could. Even if that isn’t the actual answer, it may as well be.”

Nezu giggled lightly “I tend to agree. While there are many villains out there that are merely forced into bad situations, it is entirely reasonable that he treated everyone and everything in Japan as his personal game of chess.”

Superman paused, frowning before speaking: “Which brings us all to the main question: What do we do about this? More so, what can be done about it? If this Meta Liberation Army is part of his schemes, then even a part of the Japanese Government is in his pocket in either a minor or major way.”

“Well I can tell you what we can’t do: Solve this ourselves.” Green Arrow started. “This isn’t some random crazy guy trying to take over a country, whoever this All For One character actually is, he changed an entire country to sing by his tune.”

“We can’t just stand there and let them do what they want either.” Melissa growled.

“Not saying we should, future 1#.” he smiled “I’m saying we’re gonna need help. A lot of help. We’re gonna involve the Japanese people in this.”

“You can’t be serious.” All Might protested, buffing up in the process again “Do you know how much danger you would expose them to?”

Green Arrow froze for a second before chuckling slightly. “Sorry about the laugh, but you remind me of a lot of these boys and girls here. Including Green over there.” he motioned to Izuku. “You lot all have the same issue, you think you need to carry the weight of the universe on your shoulders. To answer your question: I would expose them to the same danger they were living with all their lives. After all, if this All For One character was never dead, what’s stopped him from targeting civilians? You?”

All Might paused and sat back down.

“Look, I get it, you think that it’s the job of heroes to solve every problem and to be everyone’s shining angel. Well I can tell you this: It isn’t. You’re there to solve the problems mere mortals can’t. I should know I am, much like you were, without superpowers. I’m just an archer with a lot of money.” Green Arrow grinned “If you want the change you bring to Japan to actually do something? Then the people living in it need to be on your side. If you don’t? Then it’s just a matter of time until the next sociopath comes by and does the same thing over and over again.”

Cathleen tilted her head “So what do you suggest then?”

“It’s not going to be easy or immediate. You can’t expect things to change from one day to the next. What you need to do is to show that the narrative this guy is creating is messed up. ‘weak’ quirks? ‘villainous’ quirks? People being ‘born villains’? People being ‘born worthless’? Show the public that it’s nonsense. The sooner they internalise it the better.” Green Arrow continued. “Step beyond that? Honesty. We know this guy is still alive, let the people know who he is. Everything you know about him, even the info Batman and his investigation dug up.”

Aizawa shuddered “That would be suicidal. Anyone supporting that is painting a massive target on their back.”

John crossed his arms. “Then the Lantern Corps will show our support. This guy wants to turn a planet into his empire? Sure. Let him try, see how he feels about it when people who watch the galaxy decide to take interest. If the Lanterns decide to intervene, his entire operation will start treading on eggshells.”

“But what reason would you have for that?” Yamada asked “Even if your organisation got this information through the Justice League, what reason would you have to focus on Earth, let alone Japan specifically?” a pause took the scene.

“Parademons.” The answer didn’t come from John or any Justice League member but rather from Izuku.

“Well we were given the task of ‘find out who controls the Parademons on Earth’. We don’t know where they are, not for certain anyway.” Izuku mused.

John smiled, “So we have a probable cause to give the Lanterns to keep the place on surveillance. Makes sense. Though I think you, Midoriya, should be staying out of this operation until your training is finished. If we involve you right now it will look like we’re trying to get some political advantage out of this. Wouldn’t be the first time it happened either.”

John paused for a second before continuing “I will also stay at the sidelines, representing the interests of the Lanterns until we can step in to help without making the situation more volatile.”

“Meanwhile we continue what Batman’s investigation started: A pronged approach. From the outside of Japan and the inside. We increase cooperation between the Justice League and Professional Heroes, involving the Commission as little as possible but enough to not draw suspicion.” Nezu reasoned, grinning. “Naturally we already have vast advantages. With Eraserhead as an underground hero on our side, making people look more closely at things won’t be too difficult. We just need to be clever about it.”

“I will attempt to get people in the Commission on our side. Make some of them see things from a different perspective.” Hawks tilted his head, crossing his arms. “My own father was a criminal, if I play on that, showing that people aren’t defined by their families, it will likely lead to many changing their minds.”

Melissa Shield thought about the whole situation for a moment, it was clear to her that she needed to be part of this. “I will obviously need to join U.A or a hero school in Japan then. The next ‘Symbol of Peace’ of Japan can hardly stay on I-Island. At least once my Quirk actually sets in.”

All Might blinked, confused by that statement. “What? By this point it should have established itself.”

“Yeah, remember how I said I was in a hospital until a week ago? Whatever the transfer process did, it fried my brain for a few months.” Melissa growled at him.

All Might paused before scratching the back of his head. “That doesn’t make any sense. When I received it, it merely made me tired for a week or so. It didn’t knock me out.”

Melissa blinked “So you don’t know what it will do from here?”

“Look, most of the people who got this quirk died shortly after giving it to someone else, courtesy of All For One. There’s no one alive we can ask why it did what it did, even if we could we probably would just get vague answers.” All Might grumbled, slightly embarrassed that things had gone like that.

“A conundrum for your training.” Aizawa drawled slightly, trying the best he could to keep his composure. “If what you said is true you have about three years left to adjust until U.A is an option for you. Obviously we also can’t play favourites, so you will have to take the usual entrance exam like everyone else.”

Izuku was not sure if Aizawa was serious about that or if that was the Batman kind of humour where it was only funny if you knew him well enough.

The meeting ended shortly thereafter, with Batman and Nezu seemingly staying behind to plan more effectively. Which everyone took to mean “Discussing things we do not trust you to approve of until we tell you of them or until it is too late for you to change them.”

It was a matter of trust and neither Nezu nor Batman trusted anyone that much.

The rest of the Japanese heroes and I-Island related heroes went to the Teleporter bay without much fanfare. Izuku was torn between being glad and saddened since he felt he and All Might could have a conversation about the things that had happened. On the other hand he was glad they didn’t, he still had a lot to think about.

Izuku merely sat down on one of the many chairs in one the common rooms of the Watchtower with a sigh. He was exhausted despite not even having done that much in the conversation.

“Do things like this ever get easier?” Izuku asked as Raven sat down next to him.

“The sudden revelations? No. Not really.” Raven giggled slightly before taking her hood off her head. “You just get used to them.” she smiled slightly.

She paused slightly. “You never cease to amaze me. I have dealt with a lot of people since I joined the Teen Titans but you? You are someone I can’t compare to any of them.” she mused.

“Well there aren’t many people with green hair.” Izuku giggled slightly.

“Not what I meant but true.” Raven deadpanned, though she was hiding a smile. “You know my abilities right?”

“Levitationpsychokenisisportalgenerationmagicnearendlesslifespannearimmortalityshape--” she put a finger on his mouth.

“Quite.” she averted her eyes for a moment. “Flattering that you memorised them all.” she blushed. “Well. One of them is similar to what the Martian Manhunter can do. He can read minds, I can sense emotions.” she soldiered on before he could interrupt. “Unlike him, I cannot turn it off. Ever. I just learned how to tune it out over time.”

She sighed. “Most people’s emotions don’t fit with what they say. They’re similar to what they say but not the same. People lie to spare each other's feelings. Simple as that. Those who don’t tend to be jerks, not caring about how anyone feels.” she smiled. “Except you. You don’t lie. Ever. Every time we spoke to each other over the past few months you said exactly what you felt. Without fail. Even when dealing with Eraserhead in there, you never got angry when by all rights anyone else would have. You remained honestly helpful. That’s what makes you special to me. Because I know what you think and feel is always the same thing.” a genuine smile graced her face for a moment as she rested her head on his shoulder, making him blush intensely.

“T-Thanks.” he stuttered slightly. Even with his recently found confidence, that one still hit close. “I-Is there any reason you bring this up now?”

She giggled “I figured you’d like the reassurance.” her smile turned into her usual flat expression “but yes. There is another reason. Remember the ‘Story about Beast Boy’ you asked me about? Well. This is that.”

“So Beast Boy lied a lot? His emotions didn’t match up with what he said?” Izuku reasoned.

“Not a lot.” she deadpanned dangerously. “Always.” she growled.

“Beast Boy could tell you to your face that he wants you to die and in his head was laughing about his amazing joke. He could look at you, the biggest smile on his face and make a funny statement but inside he hated you for existing at that moment. I could have lived with that, everyone does that sort of thing from time to time, not you, stop it.” Raven cut his protest off with a finger to his lips.

“Except. That was all he ever did. Nothing he said was how he felt. At any point.” she sighed. “I did like him for a long time, I admit to that. I just” she averted her eyes for a moment again “couldn’t trust him. Not personally anyway. I trust him as a hero, he saved a lot of lives, including my own on several occasions. But I don’t want him in my life, not any more.”
Izuku paused. “This has to do with ‘Terra’ right?” he asked eventually.

“Yes.” Raven stated flatly. “After she showed up he just became” she paused, looking around for a bit “unsettling. I know how it is to be objectified. I told you about that.” she reminded him dangerously, he shivered at the look in her eyes. He knew all too well what she was talking about.

Raven shook her head for a moment. “Just, if you ever meet, don’t…let him too close ” she stated grimly.

Izuku put his arm around her shoulder and pulled her closer slightly. “I’ll keep it in mind. Just don’t be mad if I try to like him anyway.” he smiled.

Raven paused slightly, looking into his eyes and kissing him on the lips lightly “As if I would stop you from being you.” she smiled.

+ Somewhere in Musutafu +

Katsuki Bakugou stood in front of an office building, thinking about the past few months. A growl escaped him but he tampered his rage down again. No, he couldn’t think of what he was doing as admitting he was weak. He had to think of it as being strong enough to admit that he had weaknesses.

He had heard it for months, De-….Midoriya. He couldn’t call him ‘Deku’ anymore. Midoriya had proven already that his old insult was no longer right. He had earned to at least be called by his surname now.

Regardless, Katsuki knew that he had issues. Things that a school full of suck ups and sycophants wouldn’t be willing to address. He hadn’t told anyone what he would do today or in the future months.

He stared at the business card in his hand and at the building in front of him. He dropped the card and went inside.

On the card were but two lines above the address:

Yontan Tanchzuru
Psychotherapist

Chapter Text

Izuku milled his arms slightly, having finished another workout routine. The past few months had done wonders for his physical condition as he’d come to realise. He was mentally kicking himself for not starting to train way sooner in his life. In hindsight, he felt he should have done far more for his own health, as perhaps people wouldn’t have seen him as a waste of space back then.

“Working yourself up over old things again?” Raven asked as she phased through the ceiling into the room, she knew him all too well already.

“A little.” Izuku smiled sheepishly. “So, what’s the plan for today?” Izuku asked, trying to let himself relax.

“Well, a bit of hand-to-hand training and then we’re getting started with your magic training.” Raven mused in a deadpan, taking her cloak off. As if it was alive, the cloak floated onto a coat rack in the changing rooms.

“You do hand-to-hand fighting? You never brought that up before.” Izuku tilted his head, trying not to ogle Raven too much, which he found difficult not to, as she was mostly just wearing a dark purple leotard, short boots and gloves.

Raven raised an eyebrow, suppressing a smile. “We all need our back-up strategies.” She fell into a combat stance as Izuku did the same.

Izuku found himself flat on his back staring at the ceiling. "Soooo… you're good at magic and hand-to-hand fighting. Noted. Ow."

Raven shrugged slightly: "Hang around a Bat-family member long enough and you pick up a few things."

"Why does everyone learn everything from Batman and his family?" Izuku asked, genuinely confused before using his ring to float himself upright and back to his feet. “Seems like everyone who works with the Justice League learns things from them specifically.”

“Because the Bat-Family is crazy and prepares for everything.” she chuckled.

“Alright, I think we should move on with getting your magic training started. Come on.” Raven waved him to follow her, which he did with some blushing as following after her when she was not wearing her cloak gave him a view that a hormonal teenager wasn’t going to forget any time soon.

Raven blushed slightly. “Flatterer.” she grumbled as they reached a door two floors further down that had several runes carved into it.

“This is the magic training room. It’s a late addition. Until Jinx and the others joined the team, I used my own room to train.” Raven explained as they entered. The room was slightly darkened and seemed entirely covered in a dark grey stone that Izuku’s ring couldn’t identify.

“First things first: Turn off your uniform and take off your shirt. We will need to set up something first before you can start learning magic. We’ll review the basics of magic I’ve told you about while I set this up.” Raven started as Izuku did as she had told him.

“So? What is magic and what makes learning it so difficult for normal people?” Raven asked as several pieces of chalk were engulfed in a black aura and started drawing runes into the ground as well as creating a magic circle.

Izuku thought for a moment before answering. “Magic is the ability to enforce your will onto reality. It functions on a completely different set of rules to conventional reality, which makes it very difficult for most people to use it.”

“What about the differences between magic users?” Raven asked, as a set of nine candles placed themselves around the circle that Raven motioned Izuku to sit in. Izuku to his bafflement noted that the fire on the candles was black.

“There’s different kinds of magic. Some like Jinx are born with inherent magic, you can’t learn it but it’s possible to create derivatives. Some magic like yours can be taught to someone else but I will never be as proficient with it as you are because, unlike you, I have no demonic heritage which makes using it far easier for you.” Izuku said after some thinking.

“Partially right. You could learn to use it as well as I can, but it would probably take you a very long time.” Raven corrected him as she sat opposed to him in the circle.

Raven sighed as she sat cross legged “I have to warn you before we start: In order to learn my kind of magic you need to become a conduit of the same kind of magic I access. I can make you into one, however this is going to need your blood and is going to hurt. A lot. The reason you need to have this done is because you are entirely human. As I was born part demon I already am a conduit by birth, though I had other runes on my body for a long while. Those were for something else.”

Izuku shrugged “I kinda expected something like that, it is demonic magic. I’ll live through it. I likely felt worse.” he smiled gently.

Raven raised an eyebrow before shaking her head. “There is so much to unpack there.”

“I can tell you what it’s about if you want.” Izuku smiled, “It feels only fair, you told me some of the things bothering you after all.”

“Might be a good idea, you’re gonna need the distraction.” Raven smiled slightly. “Hold open your left hand, palm up. You will need to stay sitting like that for a while. I have no idea how it’s going to feel when it starts, sadly. So you’re just going to have to bear with it.”

Izuku did as she instructed and tried his best to remain calm. Raven took a deep breath, her appearance changing into her demon form as she did so. She raised a finger, which was engulfed in the black aura that made it look like a claw. “Azarath Metrion Zinthos.”

Izuku had never in his life imagined that a small prick in the middle of his palm could be so agonising. He was used to feeling like he was on fire from using his ring but this felt more like Raven had just broken every bone and muscle fibre in his hand, arm and shoulder. “Ghhh. Th-a-t’s...something.” he growled with a strained voice.

“It’s not going to be better for a while.” Raven deadpanned as the blood that was now pooling in Izuku’s palm slowly creeped up his arm. “So what has been bothering you?” she asked in a deadpan tone.

“Just.” he paused, closing his eyes and forcing the pain away “Remembering how it was in Japan. How people treated me. HownothingIeverdidwasgoodenoughjustbecauseIdidnthavesuperpowers. HowsomanypeoplewentthroughthatsameinfuriatingnonsensebecauseoursocietyisbeingscrewedbysomepsychowhothinkseveryoneisjustaplaythingandhowIfeelselfishforwantingtobesomeonepeoplelookupto...”

Raven ever so slowly tilted her head as the magic did its work and as Izuku continued rambling and ranting while barely even noticing the pain that should have made him scream in agony. It was fascinating and confusing to her, blood was crawling along his arm and across his chest, back and entire body, forming lines and runes as it went and he just kept going as if it wasn’t happening.

“TobehonestIhatethatImsupposedtostayatthesidelinesastheleaguehelpssolveoursituation. ImJapaneseitsstillmyhomedespiteeverythingIshouldbeallowedtohelp.” Izuku grumbled as the blood formed more and more little sigils and runes across his body, the sensation alone was very unpleasant, even disregarding that his skin felt like it was on fire and freezing at the same time.

“AlsoIhavealotofbadmemoriesofmychildhoodthatIreallydontwantotalkaboutbecauseImalothappiersinceIgottoliveinthetower.IjustdontwanttodrageveryonedownbringingthesethingsupbecauseImhappynowandwantofocusonthatIneverhadrealfriendsbeforesoitfeelsmeantoputmyissuesonthem.BythewaythisfeelslikemyownbloodiseatingmealiveandIfeellikeIminahorrormovie.HonestlyhowmuchbloodamIlosingandhowhaveInotpassedoutfrombloodloss?ThisisjustweirdbutIcanthelpbutlikeitsomehow.” Izuku kept going while breathing like he was running a marathon. He honestly wondered if this kind of magic was used for torture at some point and the magic abilities were just a fortunate side effect.

“HonestlyIdontgethowweevenbecameacoupletheressomanyotherguysyoucouldhaveandImthescrewupwhojusthappenstohavegottenalanternring.” Izuku mumbled more quietly but Raven could hear him just fine.

“You’re not a screw up.” Raven stated in a calm but stern tone. “I will not accept you calling yourself that. You’re an honest, kind individual who literally told Atrocitus off in front of hundreds of others to protect his friend. You look at me like I’m just the magic using girl you met. I’ve met many who hated me just for how I look, let alone my origin.” she deadpanned meaningfully “You’re my boyfriend, my kind, ridiculously honest, almost a little too good to be a true boyfriend and I will not hear you putting yourself down.”

Izuku blinked at her for what felt like a long time as the blood completed the journey it was on before it turned black. Izuku could feel the runes and lines burning themselves into his skin like branding irons stabbing his entire body “Hrrrgggg.” it took every bit of his will power to not cringe in on himself. “That...hurts. A lot. Notwhatyousaidbutthisritual.Itreallysucks.”

Raven looked him over as the runes faded as if they weren’t there. “It’s done. At least for that.” she smiled and before Izuku could ask what the next step was she kissed him and pulled him closer. “I’m sorry I had to put you through that.” she deadpanned, resting her head on his right shoulder. “But I would not have done it if I could have avoided it.”

“It’s okay.” Izuku took a deep breath as the pain faded. “Just...don’t tell the others about the things I said.” he splayed his fingers slightly, noticing that the spot she had pricked his palm on his left hand was closed now and looked like it never had been hurt.

“I won’t.” Raven deadpanned. “On one condition.” their eyes met for a long moment “You tell me about these things. If it bothers you, I want to know. If it hurts you, I want to know. If it gives you sleepless nights, I want to know. In exchange, I will do the same and expect the same. I will turn to you if I’m worried, if I’m sad or angry. We keep each other's secrets.”

Izuku barely paused before answering “Okay.”

Raven paused slightly before giving him a peck on the lips. “Good. Now that we’re this far, let’s start with getting you some magic to train.” she took his left hand and touched the tip of his ring finger lightly.

Much like the prick on his palm a small bit of blood trickled down his finger, forming a few thin lines and a circle at the back of his finger, as a small rune appeared in the centre of the ring, as if he now had a ring tattooed on his hand. The entirety of the lines, the ring and the rune disappeared when the process completed.

“What was that?” Izuku asked, tilting his head.

‘It gives us a telepathic connection.’ Raven explained as he heard her voice in his head. ‘Currently it is a one way connection. You won’t be able to answer until you understand how to do it. It’s also perfectly safe. It’s a good way for you to start learning.’ she raised her left hand, the same design briefly shining on her finger, through the glove, as she did so.

‘Before you wonder, no I can’t just give it to others, if they’re not a conduit like you it doesn’t work.’ she cut his obvious question off before he could ask it.

Izuku tried to give a telepathic answer ‘S- w- c-- he-- e--- o----- thou---?’ Raven blinked. ‘You managed only half of a sentence but yes. It’s not a constant connection but if we want each other to know the other's thoughts, we will...at least after you learn how to do it properly.’ she smiled and patted his head amused at his slightly sour expression before turning around, sitting down again and leaning against his chest.

‘So we’re gonna stay like this until you manage to have a full conversation with me without saying anything.’ Raven smiled, making Izuku blush, he had the sneaking suspicion that taking his shirt off only served to give his girlfriend a good look. He figured that was a fair trade.

+ Musutafu, Waiting room of Yontan Tanchzuru, Psychotherapist +

Katsuki Bakugo sat on a bench, glaring at the opposing wall and could not help but wonder: What kind of therapist was this?

The entire length of the wall he was looking at was plastered with seemingly random, disturbing imagery. A large, hairy spider, staring at the person taking the photo. A snake striking at the camera. A huge picture of a body of water with something vague swimming in it from above. A cluster of holes. An image of a nearly perfect darkness with some edges implying it was some kind of hole.

Even to Katsuki, someone who was rarely unsettled by anything, it just felt… off. He realised that all the images he saw had a theme.

Trying to focus on something else Katsuki stood up and turned around, having remembered when he came in that behind the bench he had sat down at were some images. He wasn’t sure if he regretted his choice or not.

There were only three images on this wall. Two were landscape pictures, long and thin, of two near identical wheat fields. The only thing Katsuki noticed was that one of them had crows and a scarecrow ‘off in the distance’ of the image. The other was a perfectly normal wheat field with a nice blue sky background.

It wasn’t either of those that caught his eye. It was the sole image in the middle. The image he had sat under. It was a line art image of stairs, doors, and bells, with red arrows pointing everywhere. It looked confusing and no matter how long he tried to make heads or tails of it, he just couldn’t figure out what the hell it was supposed to be about.

“Interesting, is it not?” It took Katsuki every fibre of self restraint to not spin around and launch an explosion at the mild mannered voice coming from behind him. He settled for digging his fingernails into his palms.

Standing slightly behind him was a brown haired, brown eyed, thin man wearing perfectly round spectacles. Katsuki noticed that he was speaking Japanese with a very heavy American accent.

“What is that image?” Katsuki growled slightly.

“It is from an old French comic book. ‘Asterix and the Twelve Tasks’. Specifically, it is ‘The place that sends you mad’. A building and bureaucracy created and constructed to drive those trying to navigate it to madness.” the therapist smiled, though Katsuki didn’t see it.

“Is this some kind of sick joke? On one hand a whole bunch of phobias, on the other some insanity based comic book reference?!” Katsuki turned to face the man.

The man smiled a bit too friendly. “You must be Mr. Bakugo. Come into my office, I only needed to prepare ahead of time for your arrival.” he motioned Katsuki to follow. It took Katsuki a second to keep up with the man.

He missed that the painting with the scarecrow in the distance, now had no scarecrow on it. In fact the crows were now picking at a corpse.

“Now, Mr. Bakugo. To answer your question properly. What you saw out there is what my long studies of the human psyche have determined to be the source of many if not all psychological problems.” Dr. Tanchzuru smiled amiably.

“Creepy imagery?” Katsuki growled.

“No my friend. Fear. Fear is the primal emotion. The defining thing that drove us as people as far as we have come. Think about it. Why has humanity invented gods? Because they fear that their decisions are solely their own. Why has humanity invented the afterlife? Because it fears that there is nothing beyond their current toiling. Why do the strong oppress those they deem weak? Because they fear that the weak are actually just as strong if not stronger than they are.” Dr. Tanchzuru smiled as Katsuki clenched his fists and grit his teeth.

“I believe that one can tell the fears of others in various ways and work from there. In your case it is easy to see what it is you fear, just by the way you carry yourself.” he continued, smiling. “If you would like my assessment I am more than willing to share it.”

“...Tch. As if you could see what I’m like.” Katsuki growled.

“Well then. I take that as a yes?” Tanchzuru smiled serenely before continuing. “You despise authority of any kind. Be it your family, your teachers or even people you idolise. The thought that you could ever be seen as beneath someone else or requiring help from someone else utterly revolts you.” he smiled, taking his glasses off for a moment only to put them back on just as quickly.

“You show it in both little and big ways. You dress unkempt on purpose, you are loud and dismissive, asking questions in inherently insulting manners to show your disdain. You also believe that those you deem weak or less intelligent than yourself are not worthy of your time. Thus your dismissive view of my artwork outside as a ‘sick joke’.” He laughed in a fashion that made Katsuki shiver slightly.

“It is, or at least until very recently was, your belief that power determines everything. That those lacking power are beneath you and those who have it are only a step away of you putting them beneath you. You are a social climber, in all aspects. You were born strong and aim to keep being strong until there is no one stronger than yourself. Am I, as they say, on point?” he asked serenely.

“...You figured all that out by just looking at me?” Katsuki asked after a shocked pause.

“Indeed. By that same logic it is easy to tell what you fear. The thing you fear the most is being unremarkable. Nothing terrifies you more than to be forgotten. To be nothing more than a footnote in history. That is why you seek to stand out and push those you deem ‘worthless’ than yourself down further. Because if they become more worthy of something than you, then what does that make you?” Tanchzuru smiled a bit too wide at the pale, scared, expression on Katsuki’s face.

“If you let me venture further, the cause of this is likely a laughable one. Misinterpreting a genuinely helpful action as mockery, likely at a very young age, with everything beyond that being an attempt at justifying your own actions to yourself. Tell me, am I in the ballpark with these statements? Or am I just making a sick joke?” Tanchzuru smiled again.

Katsuki paused and glared at him in a mixture of rage and fear. “Tch….how did you know all of this? We never even spoke before today.”

Tanchzuru laughed. “My dear boy, it has been my job to understand people in ways they themselves do not for decades. You are a teenager. There is not a single teenager out there that does not believe that they deserve to be special in some way. It is a hereditary curse that all parents give their children, you are their sunshine and thus you come to believe you should be the sun of everybody else.” he shrugged.

“I doubt you are malicious about it, at least not really. You are, after all, just a child. You believe you know better than those around you, as if those who have lived twice or thrice your age had no idea what living is like and much like every other teenager you will one day crash and burn, sitting in your home, bawling your eyes out that the world is an unfair place that has no love for anyone.” Tanchzuru shook his head.

“Before you ask, I know that it will be like that because I have yet to meet a teenager who learned that lesson the easy way. Because there is no easy way. Those who coast through life tend to crash the hardest. You want to be better than anyone else around you but beyond physical superiority you have not achieved an aspect of those goals have you? How many people like you? How many people you have met would remember you as anything beyond the ‘loud and brash boy with no respect to authority’?” Tanchzuru asked, barely even paying attention to Katsuki’s face.

“Tell you what, my young friend, today’s little session was for free. A window into the person you are as others see you. A glimpse into the fears you carry and the phobias that drive you even now. If you want to come back, I’m free for another visit next week, though this one you will have to pay for.” Tanchzuru smiled.

Katsuki paused before getting up almost sluggishly, his stride seemingly broken. “Khe….I’m...I...Thank you.” He eventually managed to stammer out.

“Any time.” Tanchzuru handed him a business card with a new meeting on it.

“...Your name.” Katsuki paused, staring at the card. “...You’re not Japanese are you?”

“Indeed my dear boy, I until recently was American, I applied to receive Japanese citizenship a few months ago. My name in Japan is merely a slightly butchered version of my American name. I merely figured I should at least make a vague attempt to fit in.” he chuckled.

Katsuki paused looking up at the man, was he smiling even wider than before?

“Do you have a quirk?” Katsuki eventually asked.

“No. Why would I require one? People are people, superpowers or not.” Tanchzuru smiled meaningfully.

Katsuki froze and paused even longer before eventually nodding and turning to leave. He didn’t notice that all the pictures in the waiting room had shifted and changed. That where there once was a collage of various phobias there now was a wall completely covered in missing posters of his own face.

That the image of ‘The Place that Sends you Mad’ was now a single eulogy page of a newspaper with his own face on it, his eyes crossed out in red paint. The text merely read: “Family to no one, Friend to no one we know of. An angry fool who had nothing to gain but everything to lose.”

Katsuki hadn’t noticed the odd smell in the air as Mr. Tanchzuru spoke. Jontan Tanchzuru meanwhile smiled, his first test of the new gas was going well. The boy would be back, he could tell. And he would be waiting for him.

This one would be fun to break.

+ Titans Tower, a few hours later +

‘This feels nice.’ Izuku thought ‘and I’m not just thinking that because we’re this physically close. Well that feels nice too but’ he stopped as Raven looked slightly back to him since she had rested her back against his chest.

She needed to stop herself from smiling at the embarrassed look on his face. ‘You really need to stop being embarrassed about something like this. Trust me that I will let you know when you say, do or think something about me or us that I don’t approve of.’ she answered his thoughts.

Izuku sighed outwardly ‘Sorry. I just don’t know how to do this whole relationship thing.’ he thought sheepishly.

‘Join the club I suppose’ Raven grumbled before noticing Izuku’s confused look ‘What?’

‘I’ he paused for a second thinking ‘Guess I just sort of expected you to have more experience than I have.’ he admitted. ‘I didn’t even have friends until a few months ago. Well, not really, anyway.’

Raven paused, looking up to him slightly ‘It is strange how similar we are. Until I became part of the Teen Titans I only had my family at the monastery.’ she smiled ‘I did not like how I was for many years too. I wanted to learn how to fit in with normal people. I guess so did you, considering what is normal in your home.’

Izuku surprised her a little by suddenly hugging her close from behind, resting his head on her shoulder, though in such a gentle manner that it merely startled her how affectionate he was being.

‘I feel a little foolish that I thought you had it any easier than me.’ Izuku somehow managed to mumble even in his mind.

Somehow that made Raven laugh ‘It’s alright. If anything, it’s flattering that you want others to have had better childhoods than your own.’ she smiled.

‘Enough of that for now.’ She raised one hand and made a small silvery cube float over to them. ‘Let’s start with getting you training in the basics. Try making this cube lift off the ground.’ she thought in his direction before, very reluctantly, getting out of his arms and sitting down opposed to him again.

Izuku raised his left hand, wanting to avoid accidentally using his ring for that. He focused on the cube for a full minute but nothing seemed to happen. ‘Is there a trick to this that I’m not understanding?’ he asked her mentally.

‘No, but I already know what you are doing wrong.’ she deadpanned and suppressed a smile. ‘You’re thinking too much. You are wondering how it can lift off the ground if you just want it.’ she explained. ‘You are trying to impose your will on this world. Whatever or not it makes sense to the universe doesn’t matter. You know what you want to happen, so make it.’

‘So wait there isn’t a trick but there is?’ Izuku asked before thinking it over.

He focused on the cube again, his hand taking a black aura as the cube was very slowly engulfed by the same black aura. It rose about a centimetre before the aura disappeared and the cube fell with a clink.

‘That felt different.’ Izuku mused as the aura disappeared. ‘My hand feels a bit numb. Or cold? I can’t tell.’ he looked at his hand. ‘I am doing this right though… right?’ he asked her again mentally.

She needed to stop herself from giggling at his expression, boys and patience just never seemed to mix. "You're literally forcing reality to bend to your will as an average human with about a week's worth of theory and just had a very draining ritual performed on you. How many people do you know who can do that?”

It took Izuku a moment to realise that she had switched to talking. He paused for a moment before talking as well “Wow, this will take a while to get used to doing.”

She smiled “Don’t worry too much about it. I had years to train so it all comes naturally to me. You’ve taken the first step on a long road. For now you should rest, preferably through meditation.”

“How does that help?” Izuku tilted his head.

“A few reasons: One, the less you feel while using this magic the more controlled it acts, so meditating to centre yourself is useful. More important than that however is that the ritual drained you both physically and mentally. So you need to rest until both have recovered.” she smiled slightly.

"Meditate for a while and you can try again in an hour. I’ll check on the others in the meantime and come back when I think you’re ready." Raven deadpanned as she turned to leave. Izuku sat down and closed his eyes and--

"...and I mean actually meditating!" she called from the door and disappeared as Izuku slightly opened an eye "Seriously. Stop it. Rest. I will put you to sleep if I have to!" she growled, peeking her head back into the room because she knew her boyfriend too well to think the first two would work.

Izuku sighed and closed his eyes, staying in a cross legged position on the floor and trying to clear his mind. Before he could manage however his ring let off a small sound of an f-sharp bell.

[Azarathian magic use detected.]
[Records of user in Book of Oa adjusted.]

Izuku felt a strong pang of worry, opening his eyes and thinking about what to do.

“Uuh. Can you show me my records?” Izuku asked the ring nervously. With a noise a green window with all of his personal information showed up.

He scanned through it and sighed in relief when he realised what the adjustment was. The ring had apparently put his magic down as an ‘ability’ or ‘skill’, instead of anything to warn the rest of the Corps of.

He sighed, he really needed to stop worrying about everything. He closed his eyes again and began meditating.

"Soooo how's he doing?" Jinx said right behind Raven as she left, making the other girl barely react.

“Meditating." Raven deadpanned as Jinx kept pace with her. She turned her head to her slightly and froze at the enormous grin Jinx had. "...You know." Raven deadpanned.

"Duh! Of course I know sis! I knew the day he walked into this tower." Jinx giggled at her adopted sister's expression. "Seriously. You're both terrible at hiding things. Sure he can't lie to save his own life but you can lie to everyone but him which is arguably worse."

"What" Raven said in such a flat tone that it lacked a question.

"Oh come sis, don't be dense. Whenever anyone talks to you it's all deadpan and annoyance they get but when he does? You have to keep yourself from smiling like a doof half the time and are outright giddy the other half. Even the Robins couldn't get that out of you, hell I can't get that out of you." Jinx chuckled. "You loved that goofy hero fanboy the second he stepped past the door." she concluded as if it was the most natural conclusion to come to.

Raven paused for a while before sighing with a genuine smile. “I wouldn’t say the second he walked in but close enough.”

Jinx made a noise that reminded Raven of a chipmunk and smiled so widely that it would cut off the top of her head if physics allowed it. “Canyoukeepitasecretfromtheotherspleasepleaseplease?!” Jinx babbled so fast that Raven wondered if she had picked that one up from Izuku.

Raven raised an eyebrow “Okay? Why?”

“Because we all have a side bet going and I’d hate to lose it so soon!” Jinx cheered.

“Do I want to know what your guess was?” Raven asked, her eyebrow continuing to rise as if it was trying to reach space.

Jinx paused, realising she had said too much. “Nooooo?” She tilted her head, still smiling too wide to be sincere before slowly backing away “Forgetwehadthisconversationplease!” she said quickly as she vanished.

Raven just shook her head and kept walking.

+ Somewhere in Musutafu +

Night patrols, no matter how many years Aizawa had done them, he hated night patrols. He was tired enough on a good day, so he really didn’t need to be stuck awake in the middle of the night as well.

Not much had been happening at night in the recent months either so it was more an exercise at staying awake towards the end of his patrols than anything else.

~Bzz~

~Bzz~

He froze just as he was about to head home. He blinked several times at the phone that was getting called. It was his ‘Blackline’, almost no one in the entire world had the number for it and if someone did call it, it was an important thing that couldn’t be put off.

He looked around and a few leaps later landed on a nearby roof, before picking up.

“Yes?” He asked in a cold tone.

“Eraserhead. I figured I would reach you over this line. Seeing as you turned off all of your other phones.” A deadpan voice that he remembered all too well spoke up.

“...How did you get this number?” he growled.

“Does it matter?” Batman asked in near perfect naturalised Japanese.

“Yes! It’s quite literally illegal that you have access to this number.” Aizawa ground out angrily.

“I have information that is too important for any other kind of communication.” Batman ignored Aizawa’s objections.

“What kind of information?” Aizawa growled after a short while of consideration.

“A villain from my area of America has disappeared off my radar and I suspect he’s in Japan.” Batman deadpanned.

Aizawa froze for a moment, looking out at the sky above him. “Who exactly?” He dreaded the most terrifying answer. Everyone knew of the Joker. Even in Japan, villains told each other stories of the walking nightmare that was the Joker.

“Jonathan Crane. The Scarecrow.” Batman started still in a perfect deadpan. “Make no mistake, he is not someone to underestimate just from his name.”

Aizawa stopped himself from sighing in relief. “So this Scarecrow person is in Japan?”

“I don’t know for sure but it’s the most likely place.” Batman grumbled, Aizawa could almost feel the man’s expression darken as he spoke. “Scarecrow specialises in driving people insane with fear. Specifically, he developed various toxins with the goal of driving people mad.”

Aizawa blinked “He ‘developed’ toxins? Are you telling me this--” Aizawa stopped himself before continuing “person made some kind of substances that can induce feelings of fear and paranoia in people?”

“Yes and he’s got decades of practice by this point. Scarecrow isn’t someone to take lightly. He might be an un-powered human but he has driven several people insane.” Batman continued, ignoring that Aizawa was struggling to believe that a ‘quirkless’ person had created something like that.

“I will send you coordinates for a company I work with that developed a cure for some of his toxins. If you encounter anyone affected by them, it might just save them from a permanent stay in an asylum.” he finished his explanation.

Aizawa paused, taking the information in. “Why tell me this? Why not All Might?” he eventually asked.

“Imagine someone as strong as All Might goes after him and is then affected by a gas that makes him see everyone around him as his worst enemy” Batman deadpanned, “Can you honestly say that if it comes to that you or anyone else in Japan could stop him? Even in his current condition?” he asked darkly.

Aizawa paused, letting the scenario play through his head, palling slightly before answering. “No.”

Batman paused for a moment before answering “Then you already know why.” Batman deadpanned simply. He waited for a moment, as if he was waiting for something else to happen.

“I have a question.” Aizawa started, looking at the stars above him. “Specifically about the Green Lantern recruit,” he clarified.

“I figured as much.” Batman deadpanned.

Aizawa wrung with himself for a moment before asking in an outraged tone “How can you support this?! How can you stand there and let this reckless teenager throw his life away like that? Even if he would be a good hero that boy will destroy himself if--”

Batman cut him off. “if it would save others. I know. The Lanterns know too. That is part of the point.” he explained. “The Lanterns are chosen by various criteria but one remains a constant throughout all their different Corps: Their willingness to die if it means saving lives.”

Aizawa started squeezing his phone so hard that Batman could hear it creaking through the speakers. “He’s just a child. A child trying to play hero.”

“No.” Batman deadpanned “Midoriya is not a child. If I had to make a guess he hasn’t been a child for quite some time. Do you know the incident that sparked his recruitment?”

“What does it matter?!” Aizawa growled “He’s barely fifteen!”

“He tried to save a classmate of his while several other heroes, including All Might if you recognize his decrepit form in that TV footage, stood there and did nothing.” Batman deadpanned, ignoring the objection. “A villain that apparently tried to suffocate Midoriya himself just an hour earlier.” he finished.

Aizawa paused and after finding his voice asked “what” in such a frozen deadpan that it didn’t sound like a question.

“What would you have us do? Take his ring away from him? Force him to go back to Japan? You know that the second that ring chose him there was no chance he could ever have a normal life again. If anything, taking the ring away and sending him back would have ruined him and his family.” he continued.

“While I’ve had few interactions with Midoriya myself, I can tell you that taking his ring is pointless now and would have been more harmful than helpful from day one.” While Aizawa couldn’t see it Batman was smirking slightly.

“You could at least curb his reckless instincts.” Aizawa grumbled.

“The first day he was on the Watchtower he punched Superboy through a ten inch solid steel ceiling.” Batman deadpanned.

“Believe me when I say: We are doing everything we can to make him adjust properly. If you remember Cyborg and Flash, they have started seeing him as the younger brother they themselves never had. Blue Beetle is about as close to being his actual brother as any person can be.” he continued.

Batman paused slightly before continuing “If Midoriya was not a Green Lantern right now, the second the League had gotten wind of his research, he would have been taken to the Watchtower for his and his families protection. He would have become a hero one way or the other.”

Aizawa froze before asking the question in his mind. “Why?”

Batman paused before answering. “He knew my identity from simple guess work. Going through his notebooks he had three others of the Justice League narrowed down to the areas they live in. He’s not a genius by any means, but he is a very insightful, dedicated and diligent young man.”

Aizawa didn’t respond before Batman spoke up again.

“When his research was found, I intended to personally train him in the Watchtower. Lantern or not, at least initially. Seeing him up here convinced me otherwise. He’s better off with those who would treat him as a friend first and a student second. But that is beyond the point.” Batman deadpanned.

“If you want to try and make Midoriya relinquish his ring and give up being a hero, be my guest. I can tell you without a doubt that you will fail like the people writing those letters I mentioned before. Midoriya has been part of the Justice League for long enough now that even in the worst possible scenario, he would be a hero in our employ. By my hand or that of anyone else. He is part of this now. Of the Lanterns, the Justice League and of the operation underway in Japan.” Batman finished.

Aizawa paused, his hand grasping his phone so hard that the screen started cracking “You have no idea what you will put that kid through.” he growled in a low tone.

Batman seemed barely phased before answering “Superman lost his entire species. As did Martian Manhunter. Cyborg almost died and lost half his body. I lost many people who were dear to me since I was eight and far into my adulthood. In what way do I not understand what he could be facing?”

Aizawa froze again and said nothing for a long time.

“All of that being said, it is neither your decision nor mine to make. The Lanterns aren’t beholden to us. Never have been and likely never will be. The best we as people can do is prepare Midoriya for the trials he will inevitably face.” Batman stated flatly.

Aizawa took a deep breath before responding “I suppose you are going to tell me next to look at U.A and my own history to get me to figure out that we aren’t any better?”

“No.” Batman stated flatly.

Without another word the line went dead.

+ Titans Tower +

Raven, having retrieved her cloak, meandered down to the main hall of Titans Tower. She specifically was looking for Bill Numeron, or “Billy Numerous”.

“Ah there ya be!” Billy called from a couch as she approached. “Sorry ta tell ya but the clones ain’t back yet sooo I can’t tell ya what they know if anythin’.” Bill laughed. “Seriously though, why are we lookin’ for Beasty again? Fella's been gone for months now and no one’s seen hide nor hair of the guy since.”

Gizmo, who was working on some kind of small remote next to Bill looked up “Yeah why exactly are we looking for that crudmuncher anyway? We’ve been doing a fine job without him. Not like he gave a damn about anyone else here.” Gizmo grumbled for a bit before focusing on his work again.

Raven rolled her eyes “Because as much as you and I don’t like it if we don’t, Beast Boy might keep chasing after Terra and that would be a bad thing for everyone around either of them.” she deadpanned.

“Green had a good point there, no denying that.” Bill chuckled “By the by I had my mes check her address and school a couple o’ times. No dice. No one’s heard from her. '' he mused as several of his clones walked in and with flashes of light returned to him.

“Anything?” Raven asked, raising an eyebrow.

Bill shook his head. “Nope. Nada. Zilsch. Zero. They ain’t found a damn thing, Wherever Beastie Boy is hidin’ out it ain’t easy to find that’s for sure.” Bill leaned back against the backrest of the couch and sighed “Man, Green’s gonna be so down over that.”

Raven raised an eyebrow “Care to elaborate?” she asked in a deadpan.

Bill looked at her and grinned “Ravy I am a lotta things but stupid ain’t it. Green’s feelin’ bad that one of the Titans ain’t here. You asked me ta find Beasty ‘cause you still see ‘im as a friend despite all the crap he pulled recently. Green asked me ta help find ‘im cause he thinks Beastie had a reason for it.” Bill smiled.

“Say what you wanna about Green but being an outsider? He knows that feelin' like the back of his hand. It’s why he gets along with you.” Bill smiled before three clones appeared and ran off into the city. “Gonna be searchin’ a bit more if ya donnea mind.”

Raven raised an eyebrow “Green asked you to look for Beast Boy too?” She tried her best to not let her surprise seep into her thoughts in case Izuku wasn’t actually meditating by now.

“Yeah.” Bill laughed “Took him a conversation or three to ask me ta help. Cause ‘es bein nice about it. I think he just asked ‘cause he really can’t imagine any hero betrayin’ their friends. Seriously. If ya can keep ‘im as yer boy-fiend do us all a favor and make ‘im keep that part of himself.” Bill chuckled tiredly, making his clones run around for hours on end tired him out a lot.

Raven raised an eyebrow, stamping down a blush before answering “He is not my ‘Boy-fiend’, we’re just friends.”she lied evenly.

Bill tilted his head at her before laughing “You almost got me on that one.”

Gizmo raised an eyebrow without looking up “That goof? Not her type I’d say. She’s more for the strong silent types, or one of the Robins. Even if I got money on that.”

“Yah just sayin’ that ‘cause he doesn’t hang around you as much as ya’d like.” Billy chuckled.

“Hey it’s not my fault the only other choice for an intelligent conversation around here is Cyborg, who is barely even around.” Gizmo shrugged.

The conversation came to a halt as the entire Tower shook before the lights went out. “What just happened?!” Gizmo asked, obviously worried.

A short flash of light later and two clones returned to Bill “Hm. Clones saying the entire electric grid just went offline. Not just ‘ere either, all of Jump City’s gone dark.”

“Considering the shaking, that wasn’t just a power outage.” Raven growled. “Gizmo, get to information gathering, we gotta know what happened. Take See-More and Jinx along, in case you run into trouble.” Gizmo nodded and headed off to see what he could find out what equipment was still working.

“Bill, damage control, take Kyd and Mammoth with you and get to the streets, if anyone can help people in overturned cars or other danger fast, it’s you three.” Bill stood to attention and saluted before yelling for Mammoth and Kyd and heading off.

Without a sound Raven floated up to the floor where she had left Izuku only to be already headed off by him, in full Green Lantern Uniform “What happened? Why is everything dark?”

“We don’t know yet but I have a bad feeling about it. The entire town's power grid seems to be out. I already sent the others to help and gather info. We’re gonna fly over the city and see what we can find.” Raven deadpanned.

“Got it.”

A few minutes later, Izuku and Raven were flying a decent way above the ground, scanning their surroundings as they went.

‘This is strange right? If it was an explosion that took out a power plant or something we’d see it from here. If it was an earthquake my ring would pick up fissures in the ground but nothing there either.’ Izuku thought in Raven’s direction as he flew close to a skyscraper to see if anyone was inside, no luck.

‘There is no trace of magic either. Whatever is going on here is-’ Izuku blinked and shook his head as the reflection of the office he was looking into had suddenly looked like it was horizontally inverted for a second ‘-not related to anything magical either.’

Izuku kept flying ‘Not to worry you Raven but I think someone is messing with my head or at least the things we’re seeing aren’t matching up with what is actually happening. The office I just looked into was suddenly flipped horizontally. This might get weirder fast.’

Izuku had just thought this as he flew past another building with glass fronts, he didn’t notice that his reflection wasn’t looking ahead like he was but was looking at him instead.

A small beep let them know that Gizmo was calling “Talk to us Gizmo, what did you find?” Izuku asked as he and Raven headed to a rendezvous point the team had made up on the spot.

“Nothing definitive so far but something's wrong. My drones showed me that the Power Plant should be in operation but there’s no one there.” Gizmo chimed in.

“What?” Raven deadpanned.

“You heard me, no one is working at the Power Plant right now. There’s not a soul in the place but all the equipment is intact. It’s like everyone there is enog.” Raven blinked at the last part, wondering if she had misheard a word there.

Izuku and Raven landed as the others arrived. “Found anything?” Izuku asked Mammoth.

Mammoth, real name Baran Flinders, was a massive guy that deserved the description of ‘being built like a wall’ and while Izuku couldn’t prove it, he had the weird feeling the guy could match All Might in stature if not strength or fighting experience in a year or two.

“Nothing.” Baran grunted.

“Nothing? What do you mean?” Izuku asked, confused.

“Nothin’ Green. We ain’t found a soul out here. Mah clones are checking everywhere but so far, there ain’t a cat in these streets.” Bill grumbled as some of his clones returned but shook his head.

Kyd merely shook his head as well at that.

Izuku looked around, letting his ring scan the area, something was off. Very off.

“Guys? If my ring isn’t lying we’re the only people in the entire town right now. There are no other life signs here and in the next nine streets, even in the buildings.” Izuku declared with a shaky voice.

They all looked around, only for the entire town to suddenly flash back to life and to be filled with people again.

Izuku paused and looked to his left only to be met with his own face looking back at him. “WHAT THE?!” he leaped backwards, as did the other Izuku who looked slightly paler and somewhat translucent.

A laugh made everyone stop as they zeroed in on a building. “Hello there Green Lantern and Titans.” a cheerful voice called as the paler Izuku flew up to where the voice came from.

Stepping out from the shadows was a man dressed in a green and orange jumpsuit. “Not to worry I was merely testing a bit of new tech I made. Worked beautifully I’d say, I got my own little Green Lantern.”

Those able to fly on the team headed up to the building and stopped a few metres away. Before his copy could react Izuku had somehow managed to blast it away and into the sky above with an energy blast.

“My, my, my, would you look at you. Snart wasn’t joking about you, you got potential, kid.” the man laughed. “Name’s Mirror Master. One of ‘The Rogues’, as we’re called. But I’m not the guy you kids should be worried about right now.” he smirked as several other people stepped out of the shadows.

“You see, when I heard that a Green Lantern had bagged Snart I knew it was time we stepped up our game a bit. So here’s my own little gang. Say hello to the Wild Cards!”

The ‘gang’ that had made itself known looked to be entirely composed of women wearing various masks, each holding a different weapon.

“They were the first few test subjects for my new tech. Well one test subject, she kinda shattered and now these girls are here. She was a mirror copy herself anyway so it’s not that important.” Mirror Master chuckled as the Mirror Izuku came back down, floating above the gang.

“So let's see how good you hold up little Titans.” he smirked “If you make it out of this, we’ll meet again.” with a blink he was gone.

There was a long pause.

“Well then.” Izuku growled slightly. “You guys take the Wild Cards. I’ll deal with my clone.” Izuku stated sharply an intense green glow appearing around him before he and his copy flew up into the sky.

Somehow they all felt this was going to be a long night.

Chapter Text

In the sky above Jump City, two nearly identical people floated as if waiting for the other to do something.

“C-Can we not fight? You’re my clone, right? If you’re anything like me then you know that you’re not on the good guys side right now.” Izuku tried, as futile as he felt it would be. On the villain’s side or not, his copy probably realised that this was a messed up situation too.

“.kcab ti eviG .uoy naht regnorts enoemos ot sgnoleb ti ,gnir thaT '' His mirror copy replied in a way that Izuku couldn’t understand.

There was a sound like an f-sharp bell being rung backwards and a moment later Izuku found himself crashed into a riverbed on the other side of town. Grunting, he shook his head. “I guess that’s a no.”

Izuku floated off the ground of the riverbed as the water closed back in and a green flash and second later his mirror copy found themselves hurled into a green wall several metres behind itself (himself?).

Izuku floated back to the same height as his copy, who clearly hadn’t expected the speed of that attack. “I really don’t want to fight you.” Izuku started, his eyes glowing a bright green “But if you force me to I will.”

Izuku’s ring projected a few small bits of information to him, his copy wasn’t exact. It wasn’t a Green Lantern but mirrored. However, as Izuku decided, close enough, holding back was not an option here.

His copy, seemingly, had decided the same thing.

Watching Lanterns fight each other was always a strange affair. In the more usual cases, it was different colours of Lanterns pitted against each other for one reason or the other.

Green against Yellow was as if a dream army was being pitted against its worst fears. Red against Blue was like watching an armada of monstrosities trying to obliterate valiant last defenders. Rarely, however, would a Lantern face one of the same colour these days.

Even rarer was a Green Lantern facing a horizontally inverted version of themselves.

The sound of two f-sharp bells, one playing forward one playing backward, rang through the sky above Jump City and then.

The sky exploded into a brawl of green hero constructs fighting off slightly different ones. It was as if two artists were told to draw the same heroes.

It didn't stop with heroes either, it continued from there. Dragons, Beasts of myth, then abstract shapes.

The thing that sobered many heroes and many villains about the Lanterns as whole was one thing: If you did anything to draw the ire of any Lantern, rookie or veteran, you deserved what was coming your way. And what was coming your way was usually a lot more terrifying than you thought it would be.

There was a pause near the ground, specifically the building the Wild Cards had appeared on. The fight hadn’t even gotten a chance to start as the absolute mad clashing noise of what felt like an entire war from above had stopped everyone in their tracks.

“Well damn! Green ain’t even a minute into his first big fight and he’s already scary as heck, Billy!” Bill chuckled as one of his clones stepped out of him. “Knew that kid was holdin’ out on us.” The clone said in just as much of a Texan accent as the real one.

Mammoth, who had been on the ground earlier, landed on the roof the Wild Cards had made themselves known on. “Why let him have all the fun huh?” The big guy grinned. “So ladies: WHO WANTS A PIECE OF THE CHAMP?!”

A low rumble as if a laugh went through the Wild Cards could be heard for a moment before the shortest one of them, a blonde girl holding a large scythe, raised her free hand and snapped her fingers.

Both Mammoth and three of the Wild Cards, who were wearing wolf masks, disappeared.

The blonde girl casually strolled to the side, snapping her fingers as she went, making the others disappear with the rest of her own team, leaving only herself and Raven. With a giggle, she fixed her mask, which looked vaguely like a skull and with a hand motion before her massive scythe reappeared in her left hand.

Raven just narrowed her eyes. “I get it. Wild cards, tarot cards. Very original.” She deadpanned as her eyes started glowing. “You picked a bad opponent.”

The blonde girl giggled, raising her scythe as it engulfed itself in energy, striking the ground. With a barely raised hand Raven created a barrier of black energy causing the wave to harmlessly dissipate before the black energy suddenly expanded and spun around them making both Raven and the girl disappear.

They reappeared in a grey-scaled area with pitch black buildings and a pitch black sky. The blonde girl fell to the ground as the place Raven had taken them both to had decided to not spawn a building right under her feet and unlike Raven she didn’t seem to be able to fly.

“Well then, little death.” Raven growled, pitch black birds with white outlines flying around them as she descended to the blonde girl's level “Let’s see if you hold any candle to the real one.”

“Aww.” Billy and his copy mocked simultaneously, looking around the dual coloured highway around them. “Nice place you got here, missy, good taste in colours.”

The woman who had been teleported alongside Billy and his clone, who was wearing a mink-like mask with a black half and white half, tilted her head both left and right for a moment before splitting in two.

One copy wore a completely white mink-mask, the other a completely black one.

“Hohoho. Look at that Billy! She can copy ‘erself. Or is that split?” Bill’s copy laughed. “Wonder if she can do it again?”

Suddenly, where there had been two Bill Numerons before there now were twenty, making the two women back away a step.

“I think that’s a ‘no’ Billy!” One of the Bill copies further back called. “Thanks captain obviously. We didn’t all realise that.” Bill number one shook his head, why was number seventeen always the dumb-er one?

“Alright, see if you can keep up.” Bill one chuckled, cracking his knuckles only for his two adversaries to rush away from the group as fast as possible. “Hey now! No runnin’!”

Bill Numeron’s duplication powers were quite a bit more useful than just making copies and retrieving them, he decided which was the real him at the end. Thus through continuous copying and retrieving of his copies he could effectively make his own version of super speed, as the two mink-masked women found out as he kept easy pace with them.

“Run, run, run as fast as you can! you can’t escape me ‘cause I’m Billy Numerous, man!” His voice seemingly reverberated as he cut their escape off with an entire wall of himself.

“rrrg.” The two women stopped in their tracks, growling for a moment before with a flash of light a large sword with what appeared to be two handles appeared before the two women split it in two.

“Oooh. Nice sword...s. Say, you got those with orange handguards?” Number seventeen asked, causing some of the other copies to laugh.

They all stopped as suddenly a huge shadow made them scramble out of the way as the two women somehow had turned their swords gigantic, breaking entire pieces of the highway. “Seventeen? Shut up in future, man!” Number one called as the other copies returned to him. “Well alrighty then. You wan’ a fight, ya stereo jerks? Bill’s gonna give you one.”

Before, with a sound like a giant anthill, a huge group of Bill copies swarmed the two mirror women.

+ Meanwhile, in Titans Tower +

“Oh great.” Jinx growled as she dodged out of the way of two fireballs. “Whatever these weirdos did means we can’t talk to the others and Green’s not responding.” She grit her teeth before snapping her fingers on one hand, making a fireball curve right around and hitting one of the two women trying to attack her.

“Well then keep Gizmo doing his thing!” See-More yelled in her direction as he too dodged a fireball, a floor above her.

It appeared that the Wild Cards only had very few members to go around, so three of them, all dressed in red, wearing devil masks attacked Titans Tower.

“What in the world are you girls made from?” See-More asked, as his cyclopian mask adjusted its lens. “It’s like looking into a kaleidoscope.”

“Could you not ask what women are made out of?! That’s rude as hell, just cause they don’t want to date you.” Jinx faux-scolded him, snapping her fingers again, making the next fireball curve in an impossible arc upwards and hit the devil masked woman trying to hit See-More in the back.

“Can both of you shut up? It’s hard enough to focus with Miss Fake-VR over here twitching around near my peripheral vision.” Gizmo called from the main security room in the most bored voice imaginable. “Whatever they are, they sure aren’t smart. Bets on that Mammoth fails to get rid of his before the rest.”

Gizmo paid no attention to the twitching woman wearing a VR headset next to him. He cared even less for the tarot symbol for “The Hermit” on the dapper suit she was wearing. Honestly, fighting the techie with inventive ideas with a low level technopath. It’s like Mirror Master had just given up trying at some point.

The two Izukus stared at the, now vastly less crowded sky between them, as both of their constructs dissipated into green glints. They both slowly hovered down to the opposite shallow ends of the river Izuku had landed in previously.

'Are you doing okay over there?' Raven's voice chimed in his head.

'I'm fine. I can handle this.' This, Izuku realised, was clearly not the response he should have given as he could almost feel Raven raise a psychic eyebrow at it, he wasn’t sure how he could feel she did that but she did.

'Let me rephrase my question: Am I going to be yelling at my boyfriend about risking his health when I see him next?' He had never thought that a mental voice could sound so concerned and threatening at the same time.

'...maybe?' Izuku’s tone was as unsure as possible. 'Do you want your actual boyfriend back or would you be alright with the nearest thing?'

'Don’t even joke about that.' Raven’s tone was stern. 'Also you already have something you can do that it can’t. You have magic.'

Izuku paused, he had almost forgotten that was an option. Then he blinked.

A bird. A tiny, green bird was fluttering above his clone’s head. A hummingbird specifically. It wasn't a construct him or his copy had made.

The bird looked in his direction and...nodded? Before flying upwards for quite a few metres before su--

'Hey Raven?' Izuku began, trying his best to keep his composure.

'Yes?' Raven answered, genuinely confused how he could sound like he was keeping himself from laughing in her head.

'I think I found Beast Boy.' He answered, still trying to keep himself from laughing mentally at what he had just seen.

'You think? How sure are you?'  She asked.

'Well...how many green grizzly bears have you seen do an orbital drop on someone else ass first?'

Izuku was not sure if it was possible for someone to mentally facepalm hard enough to be heard over a psychic link but he certainly heard it. '....That sure sounds like Beast Boy. Good. We got our idiot back.'

As if on cue, after a short pause where the green grizzly bear poked the Mirror Green Lantern on the ground a huge burst of energy sent it flying Izuku’s way.

With a barely audible sound, the bear slid along a green slide around Izuku, temporarily turning into a green puma along the way before turning into a dark green skinned guy with darker green hair and a purple-to-black suit right next to Izuku.

“You’re Beast Boy, right?” Izuku asked calmly, barely taking his eyes off his copy, which as he noticed had visible cracks across his body thanks to that hit.

“Yeah.” The other guy grumbled. “Guess you heard about me--”

“--You helped me just now, so whatever I heard can’t have been the entire story.” Izuku cut him short, before shaking his head and having the green glow of his ring return to both his eyes and around him. “Let’s get through this first, you can and will explain yourself to the others later. Right now? There’s civilians in this city and a crazy not-quite-lantern could threaten their lives.”

Beast Boy looked over to him for a second and couldn’t stop himself from smiling a bit. “Heh. Ya certainly are a Robin….I distract him, you hit him hard.”

“Right.” Izuku intoned as calmly as he could manage rising off the ground, glowing in a green aura of flames for a moment.

“Come out, come out, girlies!” Mammoth laughed, the destroyed bits of robotic wolves strewn around him. “You think I’ll just back down from these? Boring!”. He glared around the forest that blonde girl had dropped in him before with a loud rumbling something huge dropped from the sky.

]“enog ydaerla m'I nwad fo tnih a htiW.”[

A gigantic mechanical wolf-cerberus kind of mecha monster stared at him with its six eyes. He couldn’t help but grin, this would be fun.

“Come on!” He yelled defiantly at the huge creature.

A howl, as massive as the metal monstrosity itself, reverberated through the forest he was in.

snooM gnilwoH ehT

]”em hguorht thgir gnikool seye ytpme htiw gniratS”[

Raven was...bored. Simply put these ‘Wild Cards’ weren’t nearly as threatening as she expected them to be.

She knew why, naturally, Mirror Master wasn’t trying to kill Izuku, not yet at least. No, he was seeing if Izuku was growing fast enough to be worth putting actual effort into.

“The Rouges” had fought the various “Flashes” across the decades, so it was only natural that someone their current leader declared a new arch enemy of theirs needed to be tested.

After all, Jay Garrick was one of the highest bars in all of heroic history, you couldn’t just kill someone like him and--

“Would you stop breaking my concentration? I’m trying to have a mental conversation.” She deadpanned to the blonde girl with the scythe, who had spent the entire past ten minutes ineffectually trying to actually make anything from an energy attack to a scythe strike to energy based scythe strike connect.

htaeD elttiL

Raven had dealt with so many people attacking her over the years that it all kind of blurred together. Not that this girl was any more interesting than the other ones.

Raven sighed exasperated, sending one last message to Izuku 'Just keep an eye on the idiot and don’t make me worried. I have a living headache to deal with.'

“Alright. Fine.” Raven’s eyes glowed for an instant before a black burst of magic sent the blond girl flying backwards, breaking her scythe into splinters in the process. “You have my attention.”

The girl barely rose to her feet, coughing up something green along the way.

“Not going to lie, being attacked by women spawned from a mirror dimension probably rates a two on a scale of ten of weird things that happened in my life.” Raven deadpanned, tilting her ever so slightly as the blond girl...melted?

A moment later, the girl's body reformed as a gigantic, legless, wraith thing with wings, a single eye and a visibly glistening maw of teeth.

Raven raised an eyebrow “I stand corrected. You rate a four.”

With barely a visible effort Raven raised her hand toward the wraith thing and with glowing eyes chanted. “Azerath Metrion Zinthos!”

With a loud screeching an even more massive pitch black bird made of dark magic that dwarfed the wraith burst from Raven and obliterated the wraith near instantly, leaving mirror shard scattered everywhere.

]”...edisni eht no ,edisni eht no”[

“Come on ladies! Be a bit of a challeng’ why dontcha?!” The Billy copies jeered as they made it clear to the mink masked women that they had clearly planned for a two on one fight not a two on two hundred andpotentaillyupwardifbillcouldbothertotrain .

“Come on! Give us ya best shot.” The clones spoke like a massive choir.

srevoL oeretS

The two floating mask wearing duplicates paused in the air, combining their individual massive swords into an even more massive Claymore and with visible strain swung it from left to right at the entire crowd of clones.

To the surprise of the two the crowd of clones expanded and collectively caught the massive sword between their hands and with a collective exclamation of “Ya’ll don’t come back now, ya hear?!”

The mass of clones spun the massive sword, their two adversaries still holding onto the handle, into the far distance with a comical ‘ting’ sound.

]”enim fo sgniht nedlog eht lla htiW”[

“Ya can’t outclone the cloner! We learned that a while ago.” One of the clones cheered.

Clone one rolled his eyes “Seventeen? Shut it.”

+ Meanwhile in a Warehouse of LexCorp +

“So why does that bald asshole want us here?” A gruff man, whose body was entirely orange and yellow, growled.

“That ‘asshole’ is still a former president of the United States. Major.” His, ever so slightly more polite, silver-like counterpart answered.

“Well, Atom, unless you forgot we both almost died for him and what did we get to show for it?” Major Force grumbled. “Nothing. We’re still working for the same guy, just ‘cause he’s mellowed to not offing everyone who pisses him off. We're suddenly his personal attack dogs again.”

“Would you rather be in prison? The things we did were treason, simply put, even if we did it in the name of this country's president we still almost started a war more than once.” Captain Atom stated grimly.

Force just crossed his arms. “Fair enough. So what are we even waiting for?”

As if to answer his question, a strange sound and feeling in the air announced the presence of a black, mist-like portal.

“If I had to guess I’d say that’s it.” Major Force uncrossed his arms.

“Or, more specifically, we are it.” A refined voice answered as a...butler whose body was made of black mist(?) stepped out of the portal, the top of his head still connected to the portal itself.

“I apologise if we are later, or sooner, than you expected.” He continued, an obvious Japanese accent making it clear that his boss was the guy Luthor had mentioned to them.

“Seriously? He’s sending a butler to fight us? This will be easy.” Major Force cracked his knuckles.

“Oh quite the contrary.” The butler chuckled. “These gentlemen are here to fight you, not me.”

With a loud thud a massive creature with an exposed brain and teeth stepped out of the portal, followed by a thin man wearing a hood, with only the glow of his eyes hinting that his head was still where it should be.

Atom just raised an eyebrow, “Major? Would you do the honours?”

With the kind of speed one might expect when dealing with someone who could fight Superman if necessary, Force flew at the thin hooded man and, without giving them time to react, uppercut them through the ceiling.

Before the big creature had time to do anything, Force shot a blast of nuclear energy straight at its head vaporising everything from its neck up.

A moment passed before the big thing...keeled over forward as the rest of it slowly turned an unhealthy grey and began crumbling away.

“Seriously Jeeves.” Force sneered “Your boss must have some big head on his shoulders if he thought some genetics experiments were gonna do so much as slow us down.”

With a loud screeching sound the one he had thrown into the air suddenly crashed back through the ceiling.

“Huh. Took him a while to get back down." With barely a thought spared, Atom held out his flat hand, creating a blast of energy big enough to vaporise everything of the thin man-thing into dust.

“I suggest you run back to your boss before we stop feeling charitable in letting you leave.” Atom stated flatly.

There was a pause in which the ghostly butler seemingly froze in fear, realising just how fast the two of them had dispatched his masters greatest successes before vanishing alongside his portal.

“Feh. That was it?” Major Force grumbled incredulously, “What a ripoff.”

With a quiet ethereal noise, a black portal appeared in the sky above Jump City as Kyd Wyykd peeked his head back out of his pocket dimension. He wasn’t gonna play along with some random teleporter sending him somewhere else. Teleporting was his thing! He wouldn’t just let someone else decide where he was going.

He looked around for a minute, finding most of the team gone before hearing loud crashes from the nearby river. He blinked, seeing two Lanterns clashing and a familiar green shapeshifter fighting it out.

He….was not going anywhere near that. Instead, he opted to pick the others up, just on the off chance that they couldn’t get back from wherever that blonde girl had sent them to.

If Izuku had any chance or time to watch, he probably would have spent hours watching Beast Boy dodge things.

It was one thing to have a ring that could create anything you could imagine on your hand, it was quite another to watch someone dodge between razor sharp things by turning into an eel in midair in an almost instinctual way and then see said eel roll into an armadillo shortly before hitting the ground, making said armadillo continue its advance like a bizarre mix between a bowling ball and a wheel with treads.

He had to admit it was kind of mesmerising, if only because he honestly wondered how it worked out like that. His clone seemed to be equally as fascinated as it took almost a little too long to react to Beast Boy suddenly jumping and turning into a whale, only barely dodging out of the way before getting flattened.

His clone however had only a moment before Izuku swung around in a curve, his hand encased in a black aura, hitting him in the stomach.

It was a novice use of magic to use it to enhance his punches but if his copy couldn’t deal with it then Izuku saw no reason not to use it. A strange sound, however, clued Izuku in that his approach hadn’t worked as well as he had hoped.

His copy had managed to catch his fist, its own encased in the strange ‘mirror Green Lantern’ light. Unfortunately for both of them, the universe had some very strong opinions about this clash of unnatural abilities.

A massive shock-wave sent Beast Boy, who had turned back into his human form, sailing off his feet as pale green and black lightning bolts carved fissures into the riverbed. Everything shook around the two near identical Lanterns before with a bizarre, ethereal sound a massive black and green explosion made them both vanish into seemingly thin air.

Or at least, it seemed to be thin air, as a strange, shifting black crack was left where they had been, glowing in an ominous and sickly green.

Beast Boy shook the mud out of his hair and spent a moment looking around before noticing the strange crack in reality that had appeared. “What happened?” he asked no one in particular.

“That is what I would like to know.” A familiar, deadpan, woman’s voice chimed in behind him. Beast Boy couldn’t help but let out a squeaky sound as he turned around, only to find pretty much the entirety of the Titans West Tower appearing out of a portal made by Kyd Wyykd.

“H-Hi guys.” He stated meekly, realising just how awful this whole situation looked for him. “I swear I had nothing to do with this.” he immediately followed that greeting up “I just wanted to help out.”

Raven rolled her eyes. “If I had even the vaguest suspicion that this was your doing you wouldn’t be standing right now.” she deadpanned. “Now where is he?”

“I don’t know! He and his weird clone clashed and then everything went weird and now that thing is here.” Beast Boy pointed to the weird crack in space.

Raven wordlessly hovered around it for a bit, she could tell that Izuku had at least gone through that thing. But even if she did know what had happened she probably couldn’t help from here but she could guide him back.

She paused, guiding him back there would probably involve letting the others know that there was more going on between them than she wanted them to know. She groaned inwardly, as much as she hated letting people into her private business it was better than never seeing her boyfriend again.

“I’ll get him back. Wherever he is.” Without another word, she sat down in a floating lotus position, a very bright seal shining on her left ring finger.

Beast Boy paused, blinking a few seconds. “Oh. Oh. That’s why his scent was familiar.” he grumbled with an unreadable expression on his face before a shadow, far taller than him, covered him from behind.

“Is that gonna be an issue?” Mammoth growled. “What are you doing here anyway? Where were you?!”

Beast Boy turned around again, facing Mammoth this time. “I was trying to help okay?! None of ya business were I wa-”

Mammoth didn’t let him finish before lifting him off the ground by the lapels. “WE WERE WORRIED ABOUT YOU, YOU MASSIVE DUMBASS!” He bellowed loud enough to make Beast Boy’s hair dry in an instant.

Beast Boy shook his head for a bit before blinking for a long while. “What?”

“Oh come on!” Mammoth growled. “Don’t act like we all didn’t mess up shit before. All of us messed up. So what?! Ya could’ve at least let us know you were alive ya damn scruffy idjit!”

“...Wait. You’re not...mad at me?” Beast Boy asked, genuinely confused.

Jinx could not have groaned harder, louder or more excessively if she had wanted to “Raven literally caused the end of the world as we know it more than once! You really think we give a damn that your girlfriend threw a destructive hissy fit?!”

“Speaking of her, where is Terra?” See-More chimed in, slightly amused by the scene.

Beast Boy grumbled something they couldn’t understand.

“What?”

“I said I don’t know! Okay?! After she broke the tower she just vanished!” Beast Boy star--

“All of you shut up! Right now Green is gone and I need whatever focus I get to help him back!” Raven cut them all off. “...and if you have questions about him and I, save it. Preferably until the sun explodes.” She grumbled, making them all shut up.

+ Somewhere, In a place that may have been Nevada once +

Reality around the Green Lantern and the Not-Quite-A-Lantern bent itself into pretzels, a kaleidoscope of colours stretching around them like an oil slick. Izuku did not know if it was possible to get motion or sea sickness in alternate dimensions but he certainly felt like his body was trying to achieve that.

The strange feeling and audio-visual experience ground to a halt for a moment as an endless black void appeared around them. They were floating upside down at an angle to what appeared to be two very similar people to themselves watching them.

One appeared to have a strange black, metallic stone arm, the other had polygonal looking fingers and a red halo made of ones and zeros above his head. Before they could ask what was going on, the person with the polygonal hands made a swiping motion with his finger and the bizarre storm of colours resumed.

Everything lurched to a halt and became solid once again a moment later as both Izuku and his clone were thrown to the ground, his clone flying a few metres further than Izuku himself did.

Izuku blinked, as everything came into focus again. He was standing on some kind of massive, pearl white, perfectly flat, square stone pillar. The “sky” if it could be called such, was a vast expanse of non-descript blackness with the same kind of stone pillars floating in it, all pointed in various off angles. Izuku was very certain that he saw himself on some of those, though that was him speculating why he saw green dots on the pillars.

[Dimensional Anomaly detected, hostile atmosphere detected. Power reserves will drain at an increased rate. Retreat to conventional reality!] his ring chimed in his ear.

[Power reserves will last for: 10 minutes. Dimensional rift to dimension of origin detected above.]

Izuku glared up, and sure enough there was a green rift in the ‘sky’ above him, right between him and his copy.

Izuku put his attention back to his copy who, unlike him, had barely stumbled back to its feet. A black and purple fist shaped hole near its stomach, purple cracks spreading across its body. Whatever healing abilities it may have had, do no longer help it now.

“Stand down.” Izuku called across the pillar, again as futile as he thought it was. “We don’t have to fight! We both ca- ”

Before he finished his sentence, the copy shot a massive blast of energy from its ring at him, clearly not listening or caring what he had to say. Izuku dodged to the side, flying as soon as his feet left the ground.

'Izuku! Are you there? Please be alive.' He could hear the concerned voice of Raven chimed into his hearing.

'I’m oka-for now.' Izuku’s mental response was cut off as he dodge out of the way of another blast. 'Just need to get out of here. Fast. Running out of power.'

Before Izuku could continue, a rumbling noise caught him off guard, the whole ‘area’ he was in was shaking apart, large cracks spreading through the white pillars. That didn’t concern him though, what did concern him was the strange red haze that appeared in the ‘sky’. It looked...wrong. Diseased came to mind as a term, decaying possibly?

[Warning! Warning! Extra-dimensional intelligence detected! Reevaluation danger...RETREAT! RETREAT!] his ring blared in his ears.

Before his copy could react something unnatural, like a flood wave of red decay, engulfed it, sending it stumbling before its upper body went limp. Its ‘mirror lantern’ ring fell off its finger before seemingly escaping the decay, flying to Izuku himself as if it was scared of what it had just encountered.

[Containing foreign lantern ring. You shall be detained until further notice.] His ring chimed in as the mirrored ring was encased in a small green orb, floating near Izuku’s head.

Before Izuku could discern what was going on a voice interrupted him. His own voice but it wasn’t coming from him.

Anata wa itsumo atarashī anatadeshita.

Anata wa kore ga shinjitsu dearu koto o nozonde imasu.

Anata ga yume o mite iru ma, watashitachi wa anata no mawari ni imasu.

Watashitachi no kotoba o hotondo kiku koto ga dekimasuga, wasurete shimaimasu.

Izuku froze, he could see his copy stumbling out of the red decay, twisted and wrong. It moved like a scarecrow or a zombie, no longer tethered to the idea of limbs. He could hear it speaking, ranting, chanting something. It was Japanese, not translated by his ring at all. The face of that thing that had been a reflection of him once. Now? He would never forget that face. Or what was left of it now.

Trying to understand his copy hurt in his head, like knives or claws trying to dig into his mind.

[Translation disabled. Do not interact. Reevaluation of threat in progress...destroy. It cannot be allowed to escape.]

Izuku’s ring shone on his hand, its instructions were clear enough, he figured. He hated this thought. He knew he couldn’t save his copy anymore. It needed to die and he needed to escape. He knew that at least one of those was necessary.

Kono genjitsu no haigo ni aru gainentekina genjitsu no motode wa, korera no nami ni hikizuridasa reru koto o nozomanakereba narimasen.

Uta ga owattara hakushu taimu.

Kono kimari monku wa jikangai no shideari, saisho no kabe, 2-banme, 3-banme, 4-banme no kabe, 5-banme no kabe, yuka o kowashimasu.

Yuka ga arimasen: Anata wa ochimasu! `Hijōshiki' to wa dono yō ni iimasu ka?

Shiawase ni naru no wa itai.

Izuku tried to tune it out, whatever it was. Whatever that ‘thing’ was, it wasn’t his copy any longer. It wasn’t able to be reasoned with any longer.

The more he struggled to keep a grip, the more his ring struggled to keep that ‘thing’ out of his head, the more that ‘thing’ twisted his copy into something else. It grew in size, cracking noises like mirrors being smashed echoing through this void, its body elongating and deforming into something like a human but worse, into something like a person but twisted, into something like a hero but wrong.

Izuku clenched his fists, driving the presence out of his head. Out of his sight. Out of his existence.

Before he knew he was flying, before he realised it, he had torn a massive gash through the now gargantuan beings torso and lopped off its head in the same move. Before he remembered, he disappeared through the closing rift in reality, leaving the glittering reflective abomination to break apart into a million pieces.

A faint sound escaped the last shards, faint words played from his copy’s remains as it regained what little reason it had once.

]“?on ianeran in ōrīh ag ihsataw etihsōd ,ianarakaW”[

The crack in space shrunk more and more, almost into nothing.

Everyone present was concerned. Except Raven. She waited and focused before she heard a faint sound.

With a crash, loud and strong enough to shake the foundations of reality for a brief moment, Izuku broke out of the dimensional rift he was stuck in.

He landed after floating for a moment. As his feet hit the ground the Green Lantern Uniform he wore almost disintegrated until he willed it back into existence. Before any of them could so much as come near him a green portal appeared above him as he pulled the Power Battery out of its pocket dimension.

With an almost forced vigour he forced his ring into the battery.

He seemed to stare at nothing at all for a bit as he recited his oath with ragged breaths.

I-In brightest da-ay and darkest night.

No ho-orror shall escape our-r sight.

Let al-ll who seek to flee from evil's blight.

Be le-ed by our light.

Bewa-are our power.

Green Lantern's might!

As he removed the ring from its place, he stared at it, taking a single deep breath. Looking around at his friends he almost dropped his knees. He wasn’t done though, he couldn’t be.

“Yubiwa! Hon'yaku o on ni shimasu.” He grumbled.

He took a few more breaths before speaking. He saw the concern on their faces.

“...Later. This.” He motioned to the mirror lantern ring. “Needs to get to the Corps. Now.”

“John Stewart.” Izuku growled at his communications.

“Midoriya? Where wer--”

“Get to my location.” Izuku cut his superior off. “Now.” He exclaimed through grit teeth as he almost collapsed into a heap. Everything was painful. Everything hurts.

+ Later, Watchtower II of the Justice League +

Izuku sighed, visibly strained. “That’s what happened.”

"Run this by me again, Green,” Green Arrow began, interrupting the stunned silence. “You asked Raven, who you somehow managed to start dating while most of us weren't looking, to turn you into a conduit for demonic magic...So you have a back up plan if your ring runs out of power?" Green Arrow asked in the same tone one might ask if you really just suggested stealing the declaration of independence.

"Y-Yes?" Izuku stammered slightly, nodding alongside Raven herself.

With speed rivalling Flash, Arrow turned and pointed towards Batman: "I'm immediately vetoing any ideas of him being trained by you. Ever."

Batman just raised an eyebrow, “You think you can do that?”

“No! Of course I can’t. I just feel like I need to do it because lord knows someone has to be the voice of reason!” Oliver said exasperatedly. “You’d probably teach him how to turn himself into Doomsday or something just on the off-chance he’d ever need it.”

Green Arrow paused and whacked a contemplative Izuku on the back of the head. “I wasn’t fielding suggestions, kid! You’re fifteen for crying out loud.”

“So this ring.” John interrupted. “It ‘escaped’ the Mirror Lantern’s infection and it’s been feeding data to your ring?”

Izuku took a deep breath. “I don’t know. I-I think?” Izuku took a ragged breath. “I don’t know. I. Don’t. Know. That thing. Whatever it was, it wasn’t. It wasn’t right.”

John’s eyes widened for a moment before his ring started glowing intensely green. “Walker.” he called over the communications. “Either get here yourself or get me your best healer. One of mine is in really bad shape.”

“I-I'm fi...” Izuku stuttered.

“The hell you are.” Raven stopped him before John could angrily retort himself. “Gree--..Izuku I know you. You’d tell me you’re fine if half of your body was gone.” She chided him as gently as possible, forcibly holding his hand if only because she knew he wouldn’t accept it otherwise. “Please. Let them help.”

Izuku took a few ragged breaths, forcing his eyes shut for a moment. “...Okay.” he eventually forced himself to say.

Walker arrived a minute later and barely needed to look at Izuku to realise what he was dealing with.

Without a word he put his hands on top of Izuku’s head, a pale blue light emitting from them as he did so.

“I would ask if you need help, young lantern.” Walker began simply, “However, what you have encountered is not something anyone should be forced to ever live through. Least of all a recruit.”

Izuku felt at a supernatural ease as he could feel the jagged, burning, claws that were digging into him vanish one by one. “W...What. Was...”

“What you have seen, heard and felt?” Walker cut him off looking over to John as he did so. “There are concepts. Living facets of alien realities, that wish to harm the living. You may have already read of one due to being a Lantern, though you haven’t visited Oa.”

Izuku opened his eyes, a green and blue hue coating them as he looked up to Walker. “The Anti-Life Equation?”

“Yes. That is one. The one we all oppose by merely existing as we are.” Walker smiled. “However, what you have found, what you were forced to endure? It was different. A mantra of madness, given form. However, let it not bother you any longer. You are safe where you are, with the people you care for.” With a simple motion, Walker took his hands from Izuku’s head.

He smiled, looking between Izuku and Raven for a bit. “Worry not. All will be well. You are among friends, whatever you perceive them to be or not. Live your life to the fullest. That is all we as the Blue Lanterns can ask of you.”

Walker turned away to look at John for a moment. “Your concern is...different, Stewart. Perhaps there is a man underneath the soldier after all? Take care.” before he vanished in a blue flash.

Izuku almost immediately collapsed in his chair, making Raven confused for a moment before she realised that the only reason her boyfriend was still upright was because his will kept him from falling in his sleep.

“...I’ll just take him to the Titans Tower.” Raven grumbled, though she failed to hide a smile, leaving the rest of the Justice League to themselves and to debating the Mirror Ring.

“Alright Bats.” Arrow started, “What the hell is this? Why was this so important that this kid almost destroyed his mind getting it here?”

“You assume that I know.” Batman answered.

“Well duh,” Flash scowled. “You always do.”

“I’m afraid, much like myself, you won’t have your answer until the Lanterns look it over. I have...some information about it that could be relevant but I doubt it makes sense to anyone.” Batman conceded.

“Oh really?” Superman crossed his arms, “You say that about a lot of things that could have been good for us to know.”

There was a long pause before Batman pushed a button on the conference table. An Audio file began to play.

.mutinifni da ,no os dnA .devlove reven snamuh dna dnal nopu lwarc ot hguone evarb saw hsif on ,ereH .raw raelcun ni dedne dlrow eht ,ereH .nrob reven erew ew os ,tem reven stnerap ruo ,ereh dnA .sevals er'eW .roop er'ew ereh dnA

!sroreuqnoc er'eW !hcir er'eW ?taht yas uoy nac woH

.gnihton naht sseL .gnihton er'eW .eciohc etisoppo eht edam ydaerla evah ew ,htraE lellarap a no ,erehwemos esuaceB .sselgninaem si ekam ew noisiced yrevE

With a click the audio stopped.

“...that man's voice. Who was that? I remember them from somewhere.” Flash exclaimed.

“Owlman.” Batman stated simply. “A piece of this audio was generated by the ring when Midoriya brought it here. Specifically, I believe it pertains to Owlman’s plan to eradicate all of reality. The other voice was Super Woman.”

“But why would that ring have generated that?” Superman asked.

Batman pauses for a bit. “...You have not heard this. This conversation did not happen. Am I understood?”

They all paused, they all nodded.

Batman got up from his seat and turned towards the Earth. “Does it not seem strange to you? An entire country full of superpowers you have only heard of because of hearsay and because someone, me, told you of it? Does that not disturb you just a little bit? You defended this world for years now and somehow an entire countries situation escaped your notice?”

As he spoke they all froze and blinked in his direction, asking themselves the question he was asking them.

“...Shortly after we returned from defeating the Crime Syndicate of Earth 3, strange radio waves spread across our solar system. Until today I couldn’t make sense of them. What you heard a minute ago was a collection of all of them. The last sentence in it is ‘And so on, ad infinitum.’ spoken backwards, it came from the mirror ring Midoriya brought here.” He concluded.

“So what does that mean?” Wonder Woman asked incredulously.

“I can only offer my opinions so far, that’s why I didn’t want to share it.” Batman growled.

“Well then take a stab in the dark.” Hawkgirl snapped. “It’s better than nothing.”

Batman paused for a moment, looking around the room as if looking for an objection but finding none.

“Owlman aimed to destroy everything in existence. What if he succeeded?”

The question hit like a sledgehammer.

“But how?” Superman asked “We’re still here.”

“So?” Batman countered simply. “Time and space can be changed without people noticing. You remember being Darkside’s puppet once. I remember us struggling over what is right and wrong when we dealt with Waller. Neither of us remembers Japan being full of super powered individuals until a few years ago. Think about it! You’ve worked for the Daily Planet for a long time. How many stories about quirks did they really run?”

Superman paused, trying to think of how many articles he had seen of the ‘quirk phenomenon’ he had actually seen...and finding himself down to “nine” of them.

“Nine.” Batman stated simply. “Strangely low number, wouldn't you say?”

“So you think that...this version of us lives in the aftermath of Owlman’s success?” Martian Manhunter chimed in.

“I think that’s the best I can currently offer as an explanation. It would explain the logical discrepancies. As much as I do not agree with the way Eraserhead carries himself, I can’t help but agree that Japan being able to keep quirks secret from the 1800s to today doesn’t make sense.” Batman answered simply.

“So why tell him that it was that way?” Cyborg inquired.

“Because no matter what I feel or what the evidence says, they’re real people. They have lives too. I'm not going give them a reason to think that's not the case.” Batman lowered his head.

+ A day later, Watchtower II, Conference Room Delta +

“I am sorry if we called you away from something important. Mr. and Mrs. Midoriya.” Batman deadpanned as the two entered the room.

It was odd to Inko and Hisashi Midoriya. They were probably among the few civilians who ever got to see the League’s ‘round table’ in their lives.

It was.

Well it almost defied explanation. It was like meeting a group of deities, people stronger than even your nation's main hero on an equal footing.

“Oh it’s nothing.” Inko waved him off, seemingly managing to ignore the feeling of awe entirely.

“...I merely wonder why we’re here.” Hisashi answered, before noticing a metal container. A. Very. Familiar. Metal. Container.

“I wanted to know how you fit in so far.” Batman continued simply in naturalised Japanese, ignoring Hisashi’s stare.

“Well it’s been working out.” Inko smiled. “It’s sad working with the teens I gotta say. So many of them lost their families or don’t get to see them for whatever reason.” She babbled on. She didn’t mention how she worked out a bit to fit into the place. It just didn’t fit that she felt like a grandma among these superheroes.

“It’s just so sad.” Inko mumbled, a wistful look on her face. “They all struggle so hard to be who they are. Is it normal outside of Japan for people to hide that they have superpowers?” She asked innocently. She knew the answer, she just wanted someone who knew these things to give confirmation.

“Sadly, most people are afraid of superpowers outside of Japan.” Superman answered, in nearly perfect Japanese. It was easy to tell that Batman had forced himself to learn it whereas for Superman he had done so as a hobby.

“Well anyway. Logan...I think his surname? It’s a bit confusing because both his names are first names for other people. Well, the boy who can transform into animals?" She eventually settled on that. “He’s been making a lot of progress. I think he just needed to remember that a lot of people are on their own for various reasons.”

Cyborg froze. “Wait. You knew Beast Boy was here? We let you all know we were looking for him! Why didn’t you or anyone else say anything?”

Inko smiled. “You may blame that on me, Cyborg. I asked that people not point it out.”

“Why?”

“Because the boy was lost. Simply put.” Inko answered. “What would forcing him to return to the Teen Titans have done? Nothing good I wager. So I gave him what he needed. Someone who cared for the time he was here.” She shrugged. “He felt alone, ostracised and like no one understood his plights. As you can imagine, I’ve raised a decent young man like him before...and am married to one as well.”

Inko smiled “So I did what I do best. Play the parent.” She shrugged again.

“If you ask me, that’s what a lot of heroes need. Family. Real family. You all love pretending you’re alright, when in reality you’re almost breaking apart, if not almost broken already. So. That’s what I’ve been trying to give them. It’s the life I’ve settled into here, Being the family they don’t have, or can’t have, otherwise. It feels. A lot like home.” she shook her head sadly.

“Hisashi?” She asked “What is in that box that you feel the need to glare a hole into it?”

Hisashi, who had only been listening to his wife with half an ear, answered. “A life I gave up, a life I buried. At least, until you dug it up.” He glared at Batman. “Mr. Wayne.” He stated the name the same way someone put a stamp on a foreclosure document.

“I take it this is why you asked me to be here now is it?” Hisashi growled, wisps of fire escaping the sides of his mouth. “You want me to drag that bit of my life back up so I can be of use now don’t you?” The heat in the room increased a bit.

“...Yes.” Batman answered after a moment, disturbed that Hisashi Midoriya had figured out he was Bruce Wayne without any underlying research, then again perhaps he should have expected it.

“I am not going to force you to do so.” Batman stated darkly. “However. You know Japan's ins and outs better than most in the Justice League...and there is a villain from our side currently in Japan and more than willing to wreak havoc without someone to stop them.”

Hisashi paused and straightened for a moment. “You know what you are asking of me, right? I gave up that life, to have a family. I gave up that life, to never go back there. To never be like that again.”

“I am asking you to help keep it that way.” Batman answered simply.

Inko looked between the two and caught Hisashi’s smile. “What is he talking about?”

“Well.” Hisashi sighed. “Remember how I said that I ‘have my ways’ of making money when we first dated?” Hisashi asked, approaching the metal box which opened to reveal a mixture between a low level power suit and a very odd hoodie.

“This is what I was talking about back then, love. I was a vigilante, more or less, back then. I gave up that life and buried it, literally, to be with you and to ensure that Izuku could live as he chose.”

+ A few hours later, somewhere in Musutafu +

“So what if the doctor’s crazy?” A thug asked, missing a thud in the alleyway behind them. “He’s a damn good help with this.”

“Dude, there is a difference between ‘making money’ and ‘human trafficking’. It just isn’t right!” the other said.

“Oh fuck off don’t pretendaaaasaaaahhh!'' The first didn’t get further as a hook on a burning chain dragged him into the darkness, his screams being cut off a second later.

A

Long

Pause

Followed

“So?” A twisted voice asked as a set of burning eyes and a twisted maw like mouth began glowing from the darkness. “Where would I be finding this doctor? I’m a reasonable man, I assure you.” The last sentence was giggled like wraith. “Unless you want to end up like your friend of course.”

The thugs had heard of this man, they didn’t need to know his actual vigilante name.

It had been years.

It had been decades.

But everyone knew of him.

Everyone knew the title.

Everyone knew the visage.

Of the “God of Funeral Pyres”  

Chapter Text

 + Titans Tower +

Izuku stared up to the dark ceiling above him, he couldn’t sleep. It wasn’t for the lack of trying, he just couldn’t.

Walker’s healing had helped but it had done nothing to help with the memories. It was one thing to fight someone to capture them, but it was quite another beast having to actually kill someone.

It didn’t matter that his copy was created to fight him, and it didn’t matter that it was a copy of himself. Hell, that made it worse, so much worse. He wondered if he could have saved its life, could have stopped things from getting that far. A small part of him would have thought it amusing, going back to the Watchtower and introducing his ‘twin brother from the mirror dimension’.

That wasn’t all of it though, no, that would have been too simple. He could still feel it, that ‘thing’, Walker had cleansed its influence from his mind but it was still there, like a phantom pain in his psyche.

‘ You’re still awake.’ A familiar voice chimed in his head as Raven made her mental presence known. She wasn’t asking.

‘ ...Yeah.’ He sighed. ‘ Just. Can’t sleep.’

‘ Not surprising. It’s never easy to go through something like that for the first time. Or ever.’ Raven chimed in, she knew exactly what was going through his head, she’d been there.

‘ Does it get--’

‘— easier? No.’ Raven cut him off gently. ‘ It shouldn’t if you ask me.’

‘ How do you deal with it?’ Izuku asked, hopeful that she had a suggestion.

‘ Everyone does it differently. Some need therapy, others meditate to regain their focus, others still remind themselves what they’re fighting for. For me? I’ve been through a lot of things. Far too many.’ She mused darkly. ‘ I just tell that memory and those feelings to get in line with all the others.’

‘ That...doesn’t sound healthy.’ Izuku responded cautiously.

‘ It likely isn’t but it works, most of the time.’ She amended slightly. ‘What isn’t healthy for certain is blaming yourself for the decisions you’ve made. Learn from what happened, improve for the next time.’

Izuku sighed. ‘You’re right, I just...I don’t know. I feel like I could have done more, or better…’

‘ Then you will learn how to do more or better for the next time.’ Raven stated sagely, though Izuku could hear the faintest bit of worry in her voice. She wouldn’t admit it, but she had been scared that she’d never see him again.

‘ Now sleep.’ She almost commanded ‘You won’t be able to train tomorrow if you’re dead tired.’

Without another sound, either in his head or outside, Izuku drifted off to sleep. He wasn’t alright, not for a while at least but he’d get better.

+ The same day in Musutafu+

Katsuki Bakugou had never had a worse couple of weeks in his life. He had visited that psychotherapist all of once at the start of the month and had decidedly not gone back again despite having the man's address. It wasn't that he was scared, no matter how little he had been sleeping, it mostly was that he didn't think there would be much point.

There were only so many bad decisions you could be haunted by simultaneously before it got a bit grating. No he wasn't in denial about something, thank you very much mom. He washed his face, for the fifth time that morning, before staring into the mirror for a solid ten minutes. "...Fuck it. Gotta visit a doctor, this shit ain't normal." He muttered to himself, leaving the twisted corpse-like reflection to manically stare at nothing.

Katsuki Bakugou was many things, strong, ambitious, driven, self confident to a degree that many thought was arrogant...but he wasn’t stupid or an idiot.

No amount of a guilty conscience could convince him that it was normal to see every face he looked at over the past few weeks to look like a zombie for a second or two. No amount of ‘you have issues’ would convince him that it was perfectly normal to see every text and picture turn into his own obituary and a photo of himself for a moment.

Katsuki didn’t know what that asshole of a psychotherapist had done to him, if anything, but he was going to have this figured out because whatever insanity had happened to him wasn’t going to get the better of him.

He wasn’t going to let some horror movie B-Reel bullshit turn him into a victim!

In his mind, the asshat who had caused his situation had overplayed his hand. He could have believed, with some effort, that he’d be getting creepy flashes of weird shit happening around him for a day or two after visiting that creep but weeks?! Katsuki was a lot of things but not scared easily enough to be haunted by one conversation for weeks! He had better shit to do than that.

At least a big part of him thought that, a small, familiar, part of him which had been growing ever since he had seen Izuku Midoriya become a Green Lantern however. That small part of him hoped, prayed that whichever doctor he found had a solution or at least an idea what was wrong with him.

Katsuki hated being scared, he hated feeling helpless but right now, he knew he needed help, he knew he couldn’t just power on through like he always did.

He was so focused on his task that he missed the genuinely decrepit looking, straw blond man he almost bumped into. The man shook his head, something niggled at the back of his mind that he had seen this young man before, but he couldn’t off-hand tell where.

+ In a bar called ‘Noxalas’ +

All Might had expected a lot when the bartender, a lady with pitch black wings, silently pointed him to a single locked door in the back. The décor of the place reminded him of some kind of traveller's tent. A strange, elaborate, wing-like symbol on the door on a red and blue background made it clear that this was the ‘V.I.P’ room.

He knocked a few times.

“Password?” Came a familiar, tired, voice from the other side of the door.

“A Crisis on Two Worlds” All Might responded.

The password had been chosen in reference to both the worlds of the civilians in Japan and the Heroes being threatened by the games the HPSC was playing. Though he wondered if Nedzu had suggested it instead.

“Come in.” The tired voice grumbled as the door unlocked.

The room inside, All Might thought, was...familiar. It felt much like a very rustic version of the Justice League ‘Round Table’ conference room. Yes the main table was only a very stylish looking wooden table reserved for special occasions in a bar but he couldn’t help but draw the comparison regardless.

To his surprise there were a few more people than expected present. He had thought it would only be himself, Eraserhead and Hawks. While those two were present, so were Ryuyku, Edgeshot and to his surprise Uwabami.

“Get in.” Eraserhead growled tiredly. “We’re missing one still, before you ask no it’s not Present Mic, he’s on ‘Question Watch’, aka keeping that paranoid tire fire from getting himself arrested.”

“I thought All Might was going to be here.” Uwabami smirked as All Might, to them still Toshinori Yagi, headed around the table to the free seat that Eraserhead had pointed him towards. He noticed Eraserhead closing and locking the door before sitting down.

“That is All Might.”

Eraserhead said simply in a tone that got decently close to Batman. He had been practising a little, while he didn’t agree with Batman’s views on things he could admit that the man had some intimidating and admirable qualities. He certainly had perfected the ‘threatening deadpan’ voice.

“T-This guy? Come on now Eraser. You must be joking.” Uwabami tittered. “No one could believe this scrawny guy could be All Might.”

“Well I--”

~Thonk~

~Thonk~

It sounded like cannon fire but it was only someone very large knocking at the door. Eraserhead grumbled, got out of his seat and in the same dead tired voice asked.

“Password?”

“ A Crisis Upon Two Worlds!” A slightly tinny voice answered, as if it was filtered through a helmet.

“...close enough.” Eraserhead grumbled, opening the door.

Filling out the entire frame was a man in a knight like costume with a dark blue cape. Ingenium, no not Tensei Iida but rather Tensei’s father.

With a heavy footfall he stepped past the threshold of the doorway and looked around as Eraserhead closed the door.

“So few? I dare say if this as many as we can muster for our future then I our prospects are di--” he exclaimed leaning over the table for a bit, before freezing and looking at Toshinori for a bit.

“...I stand corrected. It has been a long time, old friend. I see that our noble task has taken its toll on you more than I remembered.” He directly addressed Toshinori who merely shrugged.

“I didn’t want to become a hero for fame, you know that.” Toshinori shrugged.

“Given the setting, old friend, I do believe you owe those not in on your secret that you show that you are who they were no doubt told you are.” Old Ingenium chuckled, looking among the rest of the table who seemed to very much doubt that Toshinori was really All Might.

“If you insist.”

~Boom~

With a mass of steam, scrawny Toshinori Yagi was gone and in his place sat All Might, the 1# Hero of Japan.

“So? Have I put your worries at ease now? Or must I prove that I am still here?” All Might’s voice managed to be both quiet yet bombastic enough that he may as well have shouted slightly.

“Hmph. You may look like him but considering we’ve seen you change you could be anyone.” Uwabami scoffed, she was the only one present not convinced. Sure enough, All Might turned back into Toshinori a moment later, coughing up a bit of blood.

Toshinori merely looked in her direction before smiling brightly. “Ah little Uwani, I remember your mother Meduria well, I used to babysit you on the last weekend of each month for a year or two,” he continued, “I recall you were quite opposed to eating eggs, as you believed it was too stereotypical for someone with a snake quirk to like them. At least until I showed you frittatas.”

Uwabami sat stock still for a moment before blushing and then rapidly cycling between flustered and disbelief. “B-B-But how!??! What happened to you??”

Toshinori sighed. “Knowing what this meeting is aimed to be about you will know soon. For now, let’s just say that there are some things worth sacrificing your health for. The people of this country, for better or worse, are among them.”

Ingenium froze for a moment. “Have you really grown this disillusioned?'' His tone wasn’t angry, just sad. “The All Might I recall would be excited to save his country from its hidden oppressors.”

“The All Might you remember wasn’t faced with his own errors and complacency.” Toshinori stated simply. “What do you want me to say? That I still think that every hero in this country is as well intended as we were? Considering that the Green Lantern who joined them--” he vaguely motions above.

“--was one of our citizens, one we collectively failed in all ways possible, I cannot claim so. That boy, he looked up to professional heroes and we failed him. Simple as that. The system we live in failed him, my fellow heroes who watched as he struggled to save the life of someone else failed him...and so did I. I was there and I failed him.” Toshinori paused as the blue glint in his eyes faded slightly before he wiped his eyes.

“And that is why,” he looked back up, “That is why I am here. Because we obviously lost our path. Because something is wrong and none of us noticed or did anything about it until it was far too late. It’s clear, something has to change. What ‘Symbol of Peace’ would I be if I did not try to be part of it?”

Aizawa groaned, time to get the meeting back on track “While I did enjoy today’s issue of ‘dramatic hero speeches monthly’, I do have to ask what changed your mind Ingenium. On the phone it sounded like you were very conflicted about joining earlier, what changed?”

Ingenium grumbled a bit indignantly for a moment, he had enjoyed All Might’s little dramatisation. “I was uncertain, I admit, until one of the sidekicks at my agency found this at a crime scene,” he paused before sliding a photo across the table to All Might. “It may not mean much to anyone else here, except you.”

All Might looked down at the image, stiffening slightly at what looked back up. A jagged, smouldering, smiley face cut into a wall. He remembered it, it had been nearly two decades since he had last seen it but he remembered it well.

“You don’t...seem surprised.” Ingenium stated, a bit of disbelief seeping into his voice.

“Ingenium, my world view has been altered a lot over the past few months. Things that I believed to be facts have changed thanks to ‘the powers that be’.” All Might vaguely motioned upwards again, he figured he might as well call the Justice League by a title befitting an organisation that housed Superman.

“If you had told me a year ago that all my worst enemies have come back to life, I would have laughed in your face and called you an idiot. If you did it now, I would start checking a few prisons and graveyards. So yes, I am not surprised in the slightest that ‘he’ is back on the prowl.” he concluded.

“So who does that symbol belong to?” Uwabami asked. “Seems a bit garish.”

Ingenium worked himself up to a dramatic flourish. “Almost twenty years ago, it was the high time of our careers! Endeavor’s 2# place was merely a dream.”

All Might sighed and cut him off, “Back then, All For One still had the gall to run things behind the scenes. We’re not sure where ‘he’ came from, but a vigilante made himself known. He was like a fiery deity or a demon, depending on who you asked. Everyone who wasn’t a civilian knew who ‘he’ was.” “He had more titles than names, like a living legend!” Ingenium exclaimed. “The Commission hated him, the common folk revered him, the villains feared him. Even we heroes had a decent amount of respect for him.”

“The Commission didn’t even have a name for him for the longest time.” All Might clarified. “All he did, no matter how much the Commission tried to lure him, was appear, dismantle criminal organisations and then disappear. I encountered him a few times before he seemingly vanished off the face of the earth.” All Might chuckled darkly. “Some of the scariest moments of my life.”

There was a long, almost maniacal, laugh from the side of the room. They all paused and turned to the laugh as with a ‘fwomp’ a twisted grin and a set of eyes alighted. “Why Eraserhead, you could have told me that this meeting would turn into a competition of flattering me into submission.” He scolded lightly, though it seemed to Eraserhead hadn’t even expected him to be here. “If I wanted to listen to people praise me, I’d have just walked out into the street.”

Standing there, reaching about two metres in height was a broad shouldered man, wearing a strange hooded suit. His arms and chest had several layers of chains covering them. The chains themselves were rather obviously not natural, as heat seemed to travel along them, as a strange travelling glow was visible around them. Strange red glints travelled along his skin, giving some impression of a burning corpse.

“Oh don’t flatter yourselves.” The man’s voice reverberated as he stepped out of the shadows, causing Ingenium and Edgeshot to freeze in their attempts to rise out of their chairs. “He,” the man pointed to All Might, “couldn’t catch me in his heyday, what chance do you have now?”

With an off hand motion a smouldering chain sprung from his wrist, wrapped around a chair's leg near the corner of the room and with an enthusiastic spin made it travel all the way over to him. “That being said,” he giggled slightly as he took hold of the chair and sat down.

“You look like shit, Yagi.” his tone wasn’t as irreverent and uncaring as before. “Seriously man. What happened? We fought fucking Volcaroga together! That guy was a living volcano for fucks sake!”

“All For One happened.” All Might answered simply.

The man dragged his hands down his face. “You actually did it. You actually fucking did it. You! STUPID! Asshole! I told you to not fight that bastard on your own!” He groaned “...Why are you like this?” Smoke billowed out between his hands for a moment.

“It’s...flattering that you’re worried about my health this much.” All Might answered.

“Not your health, dumbass! My kid won’t let me hear the end of this if he ever hears that I wasn’t there to help!” He snapped indignantly.

“So, can we get a name for the mysterious visage?” Ingenium inquired.

“Halogi. After the Norse personification of fire. In hindsight, not my brightest decision.  I should've called myself Prometheus, though I think he’d have taken issue with that.” The now introduced vigilante chuckled.

Halogi could almost feel some gears in their heads click together, trying to figure out why he had mentioned his kid and why it would be that they’d never forgive him. He also exasperatedly noticed that aside from All Might and Eraserhead none actually got their mental gears into place.

“Seriously?” He asked, incredibly disappointed. “Man, what happened to the pro heroes after I left?” He was talking to himself more than any of them. “Back when I started I could leave a smouldering scratch in a back alley hidden behind a damn dumpster and you could put together who was involved and how long it had been!” he groused “Now I gotta force feed you lot information to get even vague ideas?!” he growled. “It’s been two decades, people! It should be harder for me to make you lot look like idiots not easier! No wonder you didn’t fucking notice shit changed.”

He shook his head. “Fine. Fine! Let’s do this all in fast forward, because apparently I’m a tutorial for heroes :ARandomQuirklessKidGotTurnedIntoAGreenLantern,SuddenlyTheJusticeLeagueLooksVeryCloselyIntoIOurCountryButDoesntCauseTooMuchOfAnIncident.ABitLaterEraserAndBirdy-boyOverHereFindThemselvesWithSomeVeryCuriousAcquaintancesAndThen,OutOfNowhere,IDecideToMakeAComeback.UseYourBrains,IfYouManagedToKeepThem.”

Finishing his little muttering storm Halogi glanced over to All Might. “A genuine question: Why did you not ask the Justice League to help with your medical situation? I know for a fact that they could fix the worst of it and you’re friends with the Martian Manhunter.”

Yagi froze for a moment and blinked before sheepishly scratching the back of his head. “You know...I am not certain why I never did? I just kind of figured that if Central couldn’t help, they couldn’t either?”

Halogi almost immediately dropped his head to the table “Can you believe this guy? Sometimes I wonder how you managed to live this long.”

Eraserhead rolled his eyes. “Let’s get this meeting back on track. Considering your presence.” he stared at Halogi for a moment. “I assume you work with the Justice League.”

Halogi chuckled, “No. I work for one of them, yes, but not the entire League.”

“Oh for fucks sake.” Eraserhead growled. “Can’t Batman stop meddling with things?”

“Whoever said anything about Batman?” Halogi smiled, which didn’t do much since he looked like a twisted demon one way or the other. “Firestorm actually. Sure, Batman asked me to help, but I work for Firestorm.”

Eraserhead let his face hit the desk. “I hate you people. So much.”

“I would pat your head in an appeasing fashion but I think that would set your hair on fire.” Halogi laughed. “My advice Eraser: Deal with it. We’re small. We’re microscopic in the big scheme of things. We’re not small fish in a pond, we’re krill in an ocean. If some people are interested in helping us they will, whether we appreciate it or not. Same goes for all of you.” He glared around the table.

“You can’t afford to be picky, not anymore. If you keep isolating yourselves and keep looking down on some folk then this country is going to hell in a few years, if not months.” He concluded.

“And how, if I dare ask, would you know? You were not even here for years.” Edgeshot growled.

Halogi laughed mirthlessly. “How would I know? Oh that’s rich. Privileged even. The cases of ‘disappeared’ quirkless kids is three times the size of quirkless emigration. The cases of mutant quirks deaths are five times the height of any others. There’s an entire fanatic group dedicated to eradicating mutant quirks in Japan, with thousands of members to its name even. There’s a giant army of fanatics spreading hatred around this country for as long as I’ve been alive, for as long as you have been. How would I know? How could you not? ”

The silence that followed was almost deafening. “I saw this coming.” Halogi smiled darkly. “Eraser, throw your instructions from Batman in the trash. He highly overestimated the heroes in this country. You lot don’t do due diligence. You ignore the things you don’t like to see and hear, you don’t ask yourself the hard questions if you don’t have to.”

Eraserhead paused and with a sigh grumbled. “If you start bothering a society more than they think you are worth, your existence starts mattering less and less as time goes on.” he quoted a faceless man he hated to know.

“Exactly.” Halogi started coldly, before getting up. “There’s no point in telling you lot anything if you don’t even start giving this a real try on your own. So here’s some homework: You all got agencies you work with, no? Well then here’s your first hard question: What has fallen through the cracks? What wasn’t reported to you because it ‘wasn’t important’? Because I refuse to believe that all of you missed the state of our country.” he walked to the door.

“Oh and Eraser?” He glared back. “Only contact me again when it’s important, I only got twenty four hours in a day.”

Eraserhead sighed, he hadn't bothered to read Batman's instructions ahead of time. Mostly because Batman had told him to only read them after Halogi had left. With visible annoyance he unfolded the single piece of paper Batman had handed him. He paused...and almost screamed in frustration. Why were the Justice League such insufferable people? "Well. Everyone out. Meetings done. We see each other next month. Imma go take a nap." Without another word he dropped the paper on the table, got up and trudged out of the meeting room. After a small pause in which everyone wondered if that just happened, All Might picked up the paper and almost burst out laughing. Written on it was simply: "Halogi told you everything relevant. Do as he told you all. Meeting dismissed."

+A doctor's office in Musutafu, a few hours later +

The doctor looked over what Katsuki had told the receptionist. “Hallucinations? Only visual ones or audio as well?”

He knew he needed to be precise with these questions, he had gotten information on a strange condition making the rounds in the past few weeks.

“Both.” Katsuki growled. “Shit never stops.” Katsuki did his best to not look at the doctor directly.

Somehow in the past few hours his condition had gotten worse, he felt as if the room was vaguely twisting, forcing him to try and focus on anything else than people.

“When did this start?” The doctor asked, he had a suspicion that he needed to confirm.

“Few weeks ago. Visited some therapist guy, he kinda got me rattled afterwards things just started getting weird.” Katsuki clenched his fists, trying to force his eyes to comply with seeing things normal. “C-Can you help me? Please!”

It was a strange sensation for Katsuki to ever ask anyone for help but he couldn’t think of anything else to do anymore. If a doctor didn’t have any solution then he might just really be going crazy.

The doctor paused, a therapist? That was a factor he hadn’t heard about this condition before. “I do believe so. Wait here.”

Katsuki clenched his eyes shut, he felt like he finally understood how Midoriya must have felt for so many years. Powerless to do anything and just holding onto the damned hope that something, anything could be done.

He could vaguely hear the doctor from next door talking to someone on a phone.

“Eraserhead? Yes. I think we got one. The symptoms match what you sent us. Spoke to a therapist before it started. The kid is still here. Keeping it together. Not sure how.”

Katsuki could only vaguely hear the conversation but it was enough. Apparently the hero Eraserhead was involved. Good. Then at least, he thought, it was bad enough that he actually did need help and wasn’t just being a wimp about all this.

Midoriya would have...no. Midoriya wouldn't have, the tiny voice in his head scolded him. Midoriya wouldn’t have told anyone. He’d have lived with it for years. Not because he wanted to.

Because no one would have given a shit. That was the reality. If Midoriya would have told anyone, no one would have listened. No one would have cared.

That’s what it came back to, in a way, he thought. Not even registering that the doc told him that Eraserhead would be here in about fifteen minutes or so.

This kind of situation was exactly the sort that Midoriya had dealt with. Feeling beaten down and helpless by everything and everyone, including his own head.

“Hey, kid.” A tired voice dragged Katsuki back to reality. He needed to remind himself that what he saw for a moment was not actually a decrepit corpse.

Then again the man who actually had spoken to him looked about as dead or at least dead tired as a corpse.

“You’re going to have to trust me for a moment. I’m going to inject you with something that will get rid of the hallucinations.” Eraserhead deadpanned.

“Afterwards. you’re gonna feel even more like shit for a few minutes, possibly longer. Once that garbage is out of your system, I need you to help me. Whoever did this to you, I need to know everything you know about them.”

Katsuki paused and after what felt like an eternity nodded. He barely even reacted to the needle in his shoulder until whatever cure they had actually started working.

“I think you may want to get a bucket.” Eraserhead deadpanned to the doctor. “I don’t think anyone we give this stuff to is gonna have a good time.”

To his surprise, despite the fact that the kid was breathing heavily like he was running a marathon in fast forward, he didn’t throw up or worse. For once. Batman’s assertions were incorrect. What the kid was doing however was...muttering.

He couldn’t quite make out what the entire thing was about; he got the gist of it. It took the kid a few more deep breaths to calm down, or at least reasonably so.

“That”

“BASTARD”

Aizawa, on pure reflex turn on his quirk and glared at the kid. He had known the kid was quite a personality ever since The Question had sent them on that wild goose chase across the country. His teachers had described him as...energetic.

Right now, however, ‘nearly feral with rage’ was more fitting.

“Calm down kid. I can only keep you from wrecking this place for so long.” Aizawa’s deadpan tone made Katsuki freeze for a moment before he seemingly remembered where he was and who was talking to him.

“So, who did this to you kid?” Aizawa asked simply.

Katsuki had the presence of mind to take the card he had gotten from that therapist with him and handed it to Aizawa.

“Some American. Calls himself Jontan Tanchzuru. Talked creepy shit about fear the whole time. Not sure how he did it but...fucking hell that asshole is gonna kill people with that.” Katsuki growled almost every word, Aizawa wondered if he was trying to see if he could feasibly use his teeth to make diamonds with that snarling expression.

“As terrible as it sounds, kid: You got lucky.” Aizawa deadpanned, making Katsuki blink. “That wasn’t some small-time psychopath, that was ‘The Scarecrow’, if you have heard of Batman.”

Katsuki snorted “Tch, who hasn’?. So that fear asshole is in our country?”

Aizawa raised an eyebrow. “I’m surprised you know who ‘The Scarecrow’ is.”

Katsuki looked away for a bit. “When you hang around some hero nerd all your life, you pick things up.” He looked back at Aizawa.

“You work with Batman and those Justice League guys?” He asked eventually.

Aizawa paused, rolling his eyes “Not the terminology I would use.” He eventually conceded “Why?”

Katsuki sighed, here goes nothing. “That new Green Lantern. What’s he like?”

Aizawa grumbled slightly before taking in the way the kid had asked it. He knew exactly who that Green Lantern was, personally. “Hmph. He’s reckless but seems to be doing fine where he is.”

Katsuki paused for a long while. “Good.” He eventually mumbled.

Aizawa shook his head. “Thank you for your help with this, thanks to you we have a lead to catch this guy before he causes a disaster.” With that, he walked off.

“Thank you. For saving me.” Katsuki eventually whispered, when he was almost certain no one heard him.

+ Somewhere in...Gotham City? +

Sitting comfortably, in the deepest reaches of Gotham’s underworld, was a man.

In front of him were many things, money, drinks, jewels of the kind people like him had always wanted.

Sitting next to him were two beautiful ladies, the likes of which a man like him could never hope to even meet in their lives.

Standing at the edge, guarding his comfort, were two huge guards, completely loyal to his word. Entirely driven by his desires and willing to do his bidding.

Within Gotham, in this fine establishment, in this V.I.P area, lounging on this couch, commanding an empire. He should have been happy.

On the inside?

On the inside, he was screaming in agony.

Deep beneath the crime lord that now lead Gotham's underworld, was Sidney Debris, begging for someone to help him.

On the surface.

On the surface ‘Sid the Squid’ uttered a word. Always one word. A name.

A fact.

His face twisted around the letters as if reality did not matter to him. He didn’t need to say anything else and things bent to his will. D-D-D-D- DARKSEID IS

Chapter Text

 + Bakugo Residence +

Mitsuki Bakugo had expected a lot when her son came back home late from god knows where that brat had been.

Seeing her incredibly downtrodden looking son and an incredibly tired looking man with long shaggy hair standing behind him was not it.

Eraserhead had come along with Katsuki because he figured he might as well clear up the situation to the boy's mother if nothing else.

“Oh for fucks sake!” Mitsuki yelled after a short pause, making Aizawa blink slightly. “What shit have you gotten yourself in this time, brat?!”

To her unending surprise, Katsuki didn’t yell back at her. If anything, he just looked slightly less mortified, as if to say, ‘Well at least something hasn’t changed’.

Aizawa cleared his throat. “Ma’am, I am Eraserhead, a Pro-Hero. Your son was involved in an incident, and there are a few points I would like to speak about with you.”

Mitsuki grumbled something under her breath before speaking up. “Fine. Get in. Both of you.”

Aizawa felt like he was in the wrong movie, from the tone alone he could tell that this was a much different family than he expected.

Nevertheless both him and Katsuki trudged into the house, somehow Aizawa figured this would be a long afternoon.

“So what overconfident bullshit did my son get himself into this time?” Mitsuki almost growled. “He almost got his dumb ass killed last time.”

Katsuki just grit his teeth, he was not in the damn mood for a shouting match today. Aizawa meanwhile raised an eyebrow at that declaration.

“Ma’am, it should worry you more that your son almost died once due to a villain and has now encountered one again.” He pointed out deadpan. “Regardless, your son had a run in with a villain from the states. Apparently this villain was pretending to be a therapist. Your son had the misfortune of…”

“A THERAPIST?!” Mitsuki’s shout cut his explanation. “What the hell were you doing at a therapist, brat? I didn’t raise a damn weakling that would need something like that.”

Katsuki’s look hardened slightly. “Evidently you did, hag.” His tone was perfectly calm. “But hey let’s not blame it all on you, I managed to be a fucked up mess all on my own, thank you.”

Mitsuki blinked for a long time. There were a lot of things she hadn’t been aware of, she reasoned, because Katsuki responding to an insult without raising the volume of his voice at all was something she had never experienced.

Aizawa was honestly a little lost, what was wrong with this family? He sighed slightly. “Ma’am I have only so much time available to me. If we could move a room over so I can tell you the details separately, that would be helpful.”

Mitsuki blinked for a few moments as if she was just registering that Eraserhead was still present. “...Of course! I apologise for dragging you into our family matters.”

Her tone did little to convince him but she motioned for them to go to another room so it made little difference.

Katsuki sighed as the two left, electing to just sit in the living room, there was no point in arguing with his mom. Much like himself, he figured. They both hated being wrong about anything and he was not sure who of them was worse about it.

He could vaguely hear them over the next ten to fifteen minutes. A shift in the air made it clear that Eraserhead had gotten his message across to her. No matter how much she hated it.

When they came back Katsuki almost froze in his seat, as his mother looked...guilt stricken? Terrified? Just sad? He wasn’t sure but whatever that look was, it wasn’t one he had ever seen her have.

“Kid.” Eraserheads deadpan voice dragged him out of his thoughts. “Here. If you ever need help, for anything, come visit.” Eraserhead handed him a card. “Don’t get the wrong idea here. I don’t pity you.” He continued, “I don’t need to read minds to know you messed up in your life. A lot at that. Some that might stick around for far longer than you’d like.” Eraserhead wearily eyed Mitsuki “So just consider it.”

There was a long silence as Eraserhead left, neither Katsuki nor Mitsuki said anything for a long while.

“So,” Mitsuki started, “Why did you go to a therapist?” Her tone was like nothing Katsuki had ever heard from her. For the first time in his life, she actually sounded like how he imagined a mother would sound like. Concerned. Worried. A small tinge of anger but it was as if...as if she just understood what raising him had actually meant.

Katsuki growled and looked away for a bit. “Tch, why do you think?” He challenged before pausing. “Do you think it’s normal to see anyone weaker than yourself as worthless?” He asked. It wasn’t a statement, it wasn’t even an accusation really, he wanted to understand.

Mitsuki blinked “What?! No! Why wou--”

“Then why the hell did you teach me that?!” Katsuki cut her off “Why was nothing I ever did good enough if it wasn’t the best? Why was anything less than perfect, pointless?”

“I wanted you to succeed!”

“How is punching me when I’m not perfect helping me succeed? How is yelling at me when I’m not perfect helping me succeed?”

To his surprise, his mother didn’t have a response. He figured it was because...there wasn’t one.

“You wanna know why I went to a therapist? Because I fucked up, okay?! Because I lived what you taught me. That being anything less than perfect makes you worthless.” His throat dried slightly as he forced his eyes shut.

“We both know the person we both saw as the weakest one we’ve ever met. You don’t have to pretend you didn’t.” Katsuki grumbled.

Her stunned pause was all the response he needed.

“Tch. Yeah. I know. I know and that’s the worst part. I messed up a lot, mom.” For the first time in his life, Katsuki was crying, for the first time in his life he looked as miserable as he felt.

“But that doesn’t change anything, does it.” He growled after a few seconds, wiping the tears off his face. “I’m going to be a hero. The best I can be. Because I owe him that, if nothing else.”

For the first time in his life, Katsuki and Mitsuki just sat there in silence for a while.

“Well.” His mother started “We both have a lot of work ahead of us.” She sighed. “I know.” She cut his incoming rant with, “I know I’m not a good mother, I try but I failed you in that aspect a long time.” She paused for a while.

“So just...give me some time. All of this,” she vaguely motioned to...well the entire room. “Won’t just change over a day or two, it will take a while. Brat.”

Katsuki couldn’t help but chuckle at that a little. “...Alright. Hag.”

+ Across Japan +

It was a slow, sunny, day at the Idaten Headquarters. A rarity for them, as their sidekicks had been busy the past couple of months near constantly.

They were worried, they had to admit. Because they had no idea why there had been a sudden drop in cases in the past few weeks.

Of course they wanted to be hopeful that things were going better from here but that was a slim hope.

There was a sound that dragged them all from their work, a vaguely familiar one at that, it sounded like a car engine. A low if it was simply idle. Many of them knew it, they had heard for a while when they had started.

“Dad? Tenya?! What are you two doing here?” Tensei asked cautiously as his father and his brother entered the agency.

“Oh nothing serious son.” His father Tenrai answered, though with an edge in his voice that made him uncomfortable. “I merely figured that I should teach your brother a bit of the finer details of our family business ahead of schedule. Nothing serious, of course. Merely going through and sorting files.”

To most outsiders, this conversation was as innocuous as it could be, just an eccentric Pro-Hero teaching his youngest the ropes.

To Tensei? It was a disturbing sign. His father was incredibly mad about something. He didn’t know what yet but he was aware he’d know by the end of the day.

“Sure dad.” Tensei shrugged. “It’s where you left it, not much changed, just more files to sort through than when you left.” He smiled but Tenrai could tell that his son was only putting on a friendly face for the crowd.

“We shall see, son. Just give us an hour or two, hm. No. Half a work day, can’t be too sure about these things.” Tenrai laughed, patting his older son on the shoulder and motioning Tenya to come along.

“What was that about boss?” One of the sidekicks asked curiously.

“Nothing to be concerned about.” Tensei lied, “Dad’s just keeping the family business close to his chest.” Inside, Tensei knew that his father was looking for something. Something had gotten his fathers attention and whatever it was, you did not want to be there when he found it.

In the back rooms, Tenya cautiously spoke up. “What is this about, dad? I know all about filing things, we have gone about it sufficiently I feel.”

“Do you?” Tenrai asked testily. “Then today son, you shall help me see if your brother and his sidekicks have learned as well as you have. Or for that matter, if you have learned as well as you claim.”

The archives of a hero agency were about as boring as one might expect. Sure, things were digitally stored, but a paper trail still existed 9/10 because you never knew when an old cold case decided to heat up.

One could claim that it would work itself out in those cases, but the reality was that hard-drives mysteriously had issues whenever they were most needed and a physical folder could not just catch fire out of nowhere.

“Really dad.” Tenya started cautiously, “What are we looking for?”

He froze slightly, looking up to his father, his fathers eyes and face obscured by the helmet he was wearing.

“Son.” He began, “Do you know how many of the investigations Idaten handled during my time running it went over my desk?” He asked rhetorically, “I would claim it to be all of them but in recent times, I have been given reason to doubt that. That is why we are here, to prove your old man's doubts wrong.” His tone was grave.

Tenya could feel how important this was to his father, for no other reason than his fathers conscience.

It took until the end of the day. In fact it took until everyone else had left before Tenrai and Tenya casually opened the door to let Tensei know they were done.

“Uhh. Dad?” Tensei began, looking over the eight boxes of files at the sides of the table and the four stacks of files on the table itself. “What is all of this?”

Tenrai Ida sat there, in his full suit, his helmet still covering his face. Yet, Tensei could have sworn that he saw his fathers eyes glinting like stars from within the shadows.

“Son.” He growled, “That is the question I would like to ask you.” he tapped a small stack of about nine files. “ This is the amount of files not handled and signed off by me when I left this agency to you. The only ones in over a decade that I did not handle myself.”

With a motion like a music conductor, he started tapping on the other piles, which were much higher. “All of this. Every. Last. One. Was handled by your sidekicks with no oversight by yourself.” Tenrai stated gravely.

“Eighty four. As far as we’ve found today, eighty four reports you had no knowledge of since you took over.” Tenrai began calmly.

“Eighty four missing persons reports with you having no oversight of them. No involvement in any of them.” Tensei could hear his fathers inner engines revving up.

“Dad. In eight yea--”

“Eight. Years.” Tenrai shut him up, his voice reverberating in the room. “Within eight. Years. Nearly a hundred cases have gone unnoticed to you. This is just counting the missing persons cases Tensei.” His tone could be equated to a F-1 car revving up. “What else will I find in this agency that you do not know of if I keep looking?!”

Tensei froze slightly, he hadn’t seen his father this angry before. If anything he felt that he did not want to hear it ever again.

“It appears to me” Tenrai growled, “That my retirement was ill thought out on my end. Because clearly I left this agency in your hands unprepared. So, taking that into consideration, I shall be back come Monday and help prepare both you, your brother and the rest of this agency for the coming years.”

Tensei blanched slightly. “Dad, we’re doing our best here. I get how thi--”

“How this looks?” Tenrai finished for him in a cold voice. “Boy you have no idea ‘how this looks’. Because ‘how it looks’ doesn’t matter one bit to me. Nor should it to you. What matters is that you have not done your job. You did not know these people even existed until just now Tensei.” Tenrai’s voice did not raise in volume at all but it sounded worse to Tensei than screaming. “How can you stand there and tell me that you know ‘how it looks’?”

Tenrai rose to his feet, to Tensei it felt like a mountain had moved, like a giant had risen. “I, as a father and hero, have failed, son. I have failed you, your brother and the people who have taught you. That much is clear to me. I shall not make that error again. As such, I will return to active duty until further notice. To rectify my failings.”

His tone allowed nor argument, his words allowed no objections. The Thunderstorm of Japan had been woken from its slumber and its rage would be legendary.

“What is this?” She asked in a very friendly, almost serene tone, her face as sweet as the purest sugar on earth.

“W-Well M-Ma’am.” One of her sidekicks began only to lose his nerve halfway through his explanation.

“Because what it looks like to me,” her voice was sweet enough to rot people's teeth in their mouths, “is you all are keeping me from knowing that others like me are suffering.” Before  it suddenly turned cold.

“I do not know how many of you believe that you can just decide what is important to me and what isn't,” she sneered, “but if you think for a moment that you will stay in this agency after today, you are sorely mistaken. If you believe you’ve done ‘the right thing’...leave. I have no place for bigots or those who abuse the weak in my house.”

Two thirds of her workforce stood up and headed for the doors.

“Remind yourselves.” She stated coldly as they left, “I may not be well liked, but you failed to appease even me...what does that say about you?”

She knew it was pointless, they’d leave one way or the other but it was the principle of the matter. She wondered, ever so slightly, if her benefactors from the Justice League were watching before dismissing the thought.

In the Watchtower, Batman was watching the feeds of the various heroes Eraserhead had announced would be joining their cause. Not that he didn’t trust them because they were Japanese….no. He didn’t trust them because he didn’t trust anyone period. Well, except Alfred, but you would have to be a fool not to trust Alfred.

He paused, considering his options.

“Call: Barbara Minerva. We might have a job offer for her.”

Edgeshot frowned. Not that anyone could have seen it. He was a very private person with a collection of few and delicate friends...and yet. And yet he had failed this badly.

Fifty. Fifty cases of obvious kidnapping had slipped through his grasp, how?!

If he was one for growling, he would be growling at his sidekicks.

“This is unacceptable. I will ask this once.” His voice was colder than the north wind.

“Why was I not informed?”

+ Somewhere in Hosu +

He landed on a roof, a few streets away from a few warehouses. Smouldering chains hanging from his arms, scraping against the corner he was perched on.

He sighed, “Maaan, America had cool smoke stacks and water towers. This place is just...bland blocks of concrete everywhere. Well blander blocks of concrete but still.” He grumbled silently as his eyes caught movement in an alley a few streets away.

“Ah. There you are.” He grinned darkly “Go back to your mentor, little Genestealer.” Halogi chuckled as he stood up and a glowing chain connected to a nearby roof.

He swung along the rooftops, entirely unseen by the young blonde teenager who led him to her master. He expected as much of course, so many people thought they had invented the art of sneaking about unnoticed.

She headed to a warehouse, as massive and empty as any other in the area.

With a creaking the small door near the big roller door opened as the blond girl snuck into their base.

Well, his base. Stains base. Her Stainy’s base. To her the whole ‘initiation’ business was just a technicality; she would be the one Stainy loved no matter what she did.

“So, you all made it.” A scratchy voice called from above. There he sat, perching on a container looking down on them. To her he was about as majestic and vicious as she imagined him to be.

A noseless, bandaged-covered, brutal ninja with teeth like a shark. He could not be more of a vicious monster in her eyes if he tried. He was everything she wanted to be and more.

“Report your exploits.” He commanded, not realising that three shadows had joined his two and himself.

Himiko Toga saw to it that she would be first, cutting off the other disciple just as he began to speak. “I killed the fake hero “Ankaiser”, his money seeking ways will no longer blacken true heroics.”

Stain would have almost been impressed with her achievement if not for her holding the hero’s blood soaked head over her own. How had she even managed to bring that all the way to this warehouse without being caught, he wondered.

“My lord,” the other voice belonging to Shuichi Iguchi, ‘Spinner’ began, “I have killed “G9”, a corrupt member of the HPSC who would dare to play both sides. A hero who would help villains kill other heroes. He needed to die.”

Stain paused, appraising both of them, himself still oblivious to the three encroaching shadows near them.

“I...approve of both of you.” Stain eventually stated. “You have shown your commitment to our cause without fail. I applaud your efforts. You have picked your targets well and have executed them without anyone else the wiser. FANTASTIC!” He exclaimed.

“This is our task!” he began his grandiose spiel. “This is what we are! Liberators of the weak. Oppressors of the strong! Our divine purpose is to purge the heroes that would dare cross the line of the unclean and to smite the villains who would dare venture beyond the pale!”

~Clap~

~Clap~

~Clap~

His deranged sermon was stopped by the lazy clapping of hands far above him.

“Oh sorry, Stendhal.” A cheery, distorted, voice called from the rafters. “I really did not want to steal your preachy thunder old friend.” The voice mocked a grin and two eyes lit up from above.

“I merely figured I’d cut this little farce short before it started becoming a problem.” Halogi’s voice turned into a growling sneer as his two companions stepped out of the shadows.

Halogi chuckled, “Unlike you I didn’t bring some...okay they are still deranged teens-to-early-twenty-somethings but these two are trained okay? They’re actually good at killing people and stealing things.”

With a click and a strange metallic feeling to the back of her neck, Himiko froze, “No sudden moves. Drop all your sharp implements and you might live to see the sunrise.” The man in the red mask and biker outfit behind her growled. “Yes, that includes the one in your underwear. No, I won’t tell you how I know it’s there, just shut it and remove anything sharp from your person...Yes the hairpins too.”

Before Spinner could react, something bound his arms and legs. Two red X like restraints had immobilised him. “Gotta admit.” A cheery voice began as a young man stepped out of the shadows. “You lot have some funny ideas on how the whole vigilante thing works, last I checked killing folks was villain business.” wearing a black suit and a skull-like mask with a red X across it, the young man cricked his neck slightly.

“Hey!” The other started indignantly, “You know I used to do that too.”

“And you weren’t much better than a villain back then.” The younger one mocked.

“Fuck off, X.” The other grumbled.

Meanwhile, Halogi landed on the same container that Stain was standing on. “Good lord Stendhal,” he mocked, “you look like shit. I knew you weren’t the smoothest blade in the world, but what the fuck man? You look like you died and refused to be buried.”

Stain meanwhile ground his teeth, how had these three gotten in here without any of them noticing?! “It...has been a long time, Halogi.”

“Indeed it has, and you certainly made a mess of things.” Halogi growled. “You honestly think that your bloody crusader mindset achieved anything? All you’re doing is adding fuel to the fire.”

Stain laughed, “We’re cleansing the heroes of this place. Your methods didn’t work back then and they don’t work now. The world won’t change without some blood being spilled.”

“Ah yes, because your crusade in the past couple of years has helped Japan so much.” Halogi sneered. “I’m sure the HPSC is shaking in their baby seal leather boots because of three deranged murderers with an obsession for blood and bladed weapons. Face the facts Stendhal, you’re just another tool for them to make themselves more popular.” He laughed as Stain’s face twisted into a snarl.

“Oh come on, Stendhal.” Halogi mocked, “Don’t tell me you actually thought that killing around a hundred pro heroes in the span of two decades made you some kind of messiah in the eyes of the masses. Even someone like Endeavor saved lives before.” He splayed his fingers, the chains from his arms snapping to different parts of the room before he hopped up slightly, landing on a perfect little seat of chains.

“What have you actually achieved in the past two decades? What good things in this country can be genuinely attributed to you?” Halogi asked in a stern tone only to get an answer from below rather than the man in front of him.

“He gave people like us hope!” Spinner yelled, “Hope for a better world than the one we are stuck in to this day. Hope for a world where sanctimonious shits like you don’t get to tell us we’re wrong.”

“Hope for a world where you can orphan three children and not feel bad about it?” Red X asked next to the still bound Spinner, his eyes narrowing at him.

“..W-Wha…” Spinner wasn’t sure what the guy was gett-

“You killed a hero by the name of G9” He stated simply before continuing “The man leaves three children, ages five, seven and eight, no wife as she died in childbirth of their third. Congratulations. You just took pride in orphaning three kids and possibly leaving them homeless. Word on the street is that the middle child is a girl with a quirk that makes her look like a giant spider, so she’s got a hard time ahead.” Red X concluded.

Spinner for his part at least had the decency to look mortified, he had never wanted someone to be brought into the same situation as himself. Of all the things he had wanted with his actions, that was not it.

“Ankaiser might have been an asshole.” Red Hood growled, his voice tinny due to his helmet. “But his sister is terminally ill, almost all his money went to her treatments. She won’t be getting those either. You just damned a poor girl to a slow death.” He glowered down as Toga who didn’t seem to care much.

“See what we’re getting at here Stendhal?” Halogi glared at Stain. “If killing every asshat in the universe solved all problems, then it would have happened a long time ago.” He chuckled.

Stain merely sneered. “Some sacrifices must be made for--”

“You know you can just admit to being a murderous asshole who enjoys watching people bleed, right?” Halogi cut him off. “No one here believes your little ‘saving heroics through murder’ spiel anyway. Really? All Might is the purest hero you know? You do realise that man has everything from tea flavours to sex toys with his paid, promoted and endorsed image on them right? He might not be the poster child of the HPSC, that dubious honour goes to Hawks, but you can’t claim he’s without blame for the way Japan is at this moment.”

Stain staggered as if he had been punched in the face, none of that could be true, right?

“Yeah, weird to know that your personal idols are as fallible as everyone else isn’t it?” Halogi’s smile twisted ever so slightly.

“Way I see it, the three of you have a choice now.” He mused getting up from his seat, the chains retracting back as if they had never been there. “We can turn you in, which probably wouldn’t do much more than getting three sociopaths off the street. You can try and fight us, though considering your two sidekicks are out of the picture I think we know how that goes for you, if last time was any indication.”

Halogi referring to a long ago event alone made Stain consider his options. “So...what is the last option you see?” Stain snarled, “Knowing you, there’s always a third one.”

Halogi laughed. “Good at least you learned something from back then.” He with visible amusement crossed his arms behind his back.

“You see, I’m not as...rigid about these sorts of things like other folks. You still have worth keeping around, you’ll need to change tactics and weapons of course but someone with your potential of inducing fear in those you go after? You could be a huge help for some things that are happening.” Halogi continued.

“Times are changing Stendhal, so is our country. The HPSC is working with some insane, quirk obsessed people calling themselves the Meta Liberation Army. Me and some others are working on getting them all in one go but it’s gonna take time, a lot of effort and even more help.” Before Stain could object he continued on.

“The reality of the matter is that people like you, people with your reputation? If you change targets? If you go after the right people? Gather the right intel? That raises eyebrows, that makes even the foot folk pay attention and that’s exactly what’s necessary right now. People paying attention to the right things, at the right time.” He concluded.

“...and knowing you this was what you wanted to begin with.” Stain growled. “You always had some plan, even back then.”

Halogi laughed. “Of course, do you really think I would come here just to gloat about you being worse than me? Come on now Stendhal, you know me better than that.”

+ A few minutes later +

With dark expressions on their faces, the three Justice League associated vigilantes watched the three murderous Japanese vigilantes leave.

“Are you sure about this? What’s keeping them from just going back on their word?” Red X asked cautiously.

“Kid’s got a point, old man. What is keeping these assholes from murdering their way across Japan again?” Red Hood growled.

Halogi turned around to look at them. “What’s keeping you two from going back to your old ways? I know for a fact that you,” he pointed to Red X, “robbed people blind before, with just as much of a fallout as that gecko-kid's murder of that hero.”

He looked over to Red Hood and narrowed his eyes, “And do I even have to start with you? I know those guns of yours didn’t always shoot rubber bullets.”

He let out a long breath, a thin stream of fire heading into the sky. “Consider me much like your old man, with a bit looser morals perhaps but much like him nonetheless. I know that at least Spinner and Stendhal regret their choices and will try to make up for their errors. Not sure about the girl, but she may be a work in progress.”

“What if they keep killing people?” Red Hood asked dangerously.

“Then I’ll take them down myself.” Halogi’s smile twisted again. “I rarely choose to and never without reason, but I do sometimes live up to the first title I was given, ‘The God of Funeral Pyres’.”

+ In the “Celestial Mirror” agency, several hours later +

With a loud groan, the Pro Hero Amaterasu slumped into her chair behind her desk. She rubbed her eyes annoyed, shaking her head at the seemingly never ending stream of files to sift through.

Where was all of this going to end, she wondered. Every year more people went missing, every quarter year there were more irregularities than the last. “Cursed” she growled to herself. “This entire damned country is cursed.”

~Bip~

~Bip~

~Bip~

She growled lowly before picking up her ‘Blackline’ phone “WHAT?!”

“Hello, Ami.” A slightly distorted voice came from the other side. “No need to get your tail fur all felted up over a phone call.”

“I told you not to call me that, what do you want?” She growled, her wolf-like claws impatiently tapping on her desk. “I’ve got enough trouble as is, unless it’s important you might as well shove off.”

“Peace Ami, it is important. I have a few allies that need some...help get on the right path.” He chose his words carefully, just because no one was supposed to know the numbers of ‘Blackline’ phones didn’t mean that no one was listening.

She paused. “If they’re amoral enough to worry you like that then this might be something I can’t guarantee helping you with.”

“Oh that’s fine, I just figured your little apprentice could run some interference. Seen the kid over the past couple of weeks. Nice trick with the transformations, gotta get his acting up to snuff though.” She could hear him cackle from the other side of the line. “There are literally zero scenarios out there in which Eraserhead would willingly do a Sentai pose.”

She dragged a hand down her face, making extra sure to not get a claw caught at her nose. “...That damn kid is going to kill me one of these days.”

“...and you’d love every moment of it.” Halogi cackled, he couldn’t see it but she was blushing way too much for someone with white fur covering her face.

“So, now that you’ve embarrassed me into submission: What’s all this about?” She grumbled.

A few seconds of listening to his explanation later she already stopped him.

“Okay, don’t wanna know because I’m fairly sure that every bit of that is illegal in so many ways that I could go to jail just hearing about it.” She growled.

“So? Do I have your support or not?” Halogi asked about as innocent as someone who looked like a burning demon in hooded clothes could. Which was to say, not at all.

“Mine? No. Though considering my sidekick's tendency to give me constant migraines with the things he gets up to when I’m not looking...yes.” She grumbled.

Halogi laughed for a while. “Alright then. I’ll send you the info for what he needs to do.”

With a click the line went dead.

"Stornic!" She called to the back rooms. "You got a job to..." she paused.

Her apprentice had peeked the top of his head out of the door behind her, tanuki-like ears and bushy hair first. "...why are you wearing a party ha-...you know what, no I don't want to even question that, plausible deniability. Got you a job to take care of. Probably the closest to borderline illegal I've given you."

She could see his ears twitch and the party hat fell off his head, why was her sidekick both so adorable and so wrong in every way....

"How bad is it?" His tone was more ‘considering his bucket list and bingo card’ than ‘actually scared he’d go to jail if he’s caught’.

"...Did you ever, hypothetically of course, consider faking the death of an important hero to teach someone a lesson..." He looked contemplative as if he was deciding which hero he had done that with "...while also helping another person potentially steal billions worth of classified information?"

There was no way to describe the shine in his eyes other than ‘Has seen the biggest Christmas present in the universe’.

“Don’t get too excited yet, you gotta get your acting up to snuff for this.” She grumbled. “Seriously, if you mess this up then a lot of bad things come down on a lot of people's heads.”

“No need to worry boss! I’ll get it done, you’ll see.” With that, he disappeared back into the room without a concern in the world.

Amaterasu sighed, this kid was really going to get her killed one day and she was not sure if she should be excited about that or dread how he would make her funeral look like.

Several hundreds and thousands of miles in two different directions, a member of the Todoroki family sneezed while up in space, specifically the Justice League Watchtower, Izuku Midoriya sneezed at the same time.

They both wondered why they just felt like someone was dragging them into shenanigans.

+ ??? +

Izuku Midoriya suddenly...appeared(?) in a black void he had never seen before. It didn’t look like the strange fold in dimensions he had been stuck in before, nor did it feel similar to that experience.

His feet touched what felt like ground as a strange island of rock materialised in front of him. The only notable thing on the island was a single monolith like rock with green writing on it. He knew what was written on it, he had said the words himself before.

The Green Lantern Oath was engraved on the rock in green writing all around it.

Except for one part, which seemed to shift constantly as he looked at it.

“Well, here we are.” A familiar voice deadpanned behind him.

“What is this place, Raven?” He asked as he turned around to face her.

She shrugged. “Wouldn’t be a test for you if I told you everything.” She chuckled at his expression.

He looked around and decided to fly to the edge of the island looking down. He narrowed his eyes at something odd in the distance below.

Before he could ask anything a set of stairs downward started materialising right at the edge of the island, obscuring his view.

“No need to rush.” Raven smiled, “We’ve got time.”

Izuku sighed, only now realising that his Green Lantern Uniform wasn’t formed yet before focusing on making it appear again.

He paused, why hadn’t it been there before? Odd.

He started walking down the stairs, which he noticed appeared as he went along going in ninety degree angles at times but ever downwards.

Eventually a grey, somewhat familiar, hull of something appeared at the bottom of them, the stairs continuing into the hull and further down.

As he went onward he eventually found himself...in the cafeteria of the Justice League Watchtower.

“Okayyyy. What is going on here?” He scratched his head. “That’s just weird.”

He looked around, the place didn’t look quite right, the lights had the wrong shape, some of the doors looked to be in the wrong place and he was fairly certain the area for the tables was a bit too big to actually fit inside the Watchtower's actual cafeteria.

“Any ideas so far?” Raven asked bemused.

"Okay Raven, really where did you bring me to? Is this some kind of alternate dimension?" Izuku looked around, still unsure what to make of this not-quite-Justice-League-Watchtower.

Raven shrugged, clearly enjoying how stumped he was. "Could be, I certainly don't remember my hips being this wide." she needed to stop herself from giggling at his quickly reddening face. She rolled her eyes "You're fifteen, you have preferences. I can imagine worse things about me to like."

"S-Still not helping. What is this place?!" Izuku asked, as the whole area shook.

"Bwah." With a yelp, someone fell backwards out of a nearby door. They looked like....a shorter, younger version of Izuku? Wearing a hardhat? "Owowow. Hey! Watch it! We just got everything in place!" The little not-Izuku grumbled before putting the door back on its hinges.

Izuku paused and blinked for a very long time.

“Raven?”

“Yes?”

“Are we in my mind?”

Chapter Text

 + Former Midoriya Residence +

He stared around at the barren walls of what his wife and son had called their home for many years.

So many moments he had been forced to miss, so many memories he wasn’t allowed to share with them. Sometimes he wondered what could have been if he never had been a vigilante, but the reality was that if that had been the case, he might not have been the man Inko Midoriya had married.

He barely reacted to the two blue glints in his peripheral vision.

“Nice little place.” The tinny voice of a young man muttered. “Files said something about your family being picked up from here.” Red Hood mused, looking around the apartment with calm detachment.

It certainly felt like something a loving family would have liked, he figured.

“Tch.” A younger voice grumbled, “You lived overseas for years as the sole provider of this family and this is the best you could afford? Might as well have gone into contract killing or stayed a thief.” Red X idly kicked one of the chairs that had been left behind.

To him, this was the kind of empty life he had wanted to leave behind.

“Heh. Both of you don’t get it.” Halogi chuckled. “I could have given them a mansion if I wanted, but in Japan, something like that raises eyebrows. Had I done that, I’d have attracted attention. Even just letting them have their own place would have been too much. So this place it was. Easy to keep an eye on, just enough to be comfortable but not too much to make anyone suspicious.”

He sighed, embers emanating from the twisted mouth of his mask. “No point in contemplating what I could have done, the past is where it belongs and that’s where it’ll stay.”

With a creaking the front door opened. “You know Halogi, if I didn’t know better I’d think you’re trying to seem like a villain.” Amaterasu stepped through the entrance, followed closely by Stronic.

“Seriously.” She grumbled, looking around, “Why can’t you have a dilapidated warehouse like any other person who thinks they know what’s better for the world?”

Halogi chuckled. “Missed you too girl. You’ve certainly grown the hell up since I’ve seen you last.” He smiled, though the twisted look of his mask made it hard to tell.

Amaterasu certainly had. She, naturally, still looked like a humanoid white wolf with strange red markings all around her body, but the last time he had seen her, she had been barely thirteen and lived in what could be charitably called a closet.

“Easy there Tanuki boy,” Halogi smirked, having noticed Stornic’s glare on him. “I’m a happy family man and in no hurry to change that. That aside, I like my women more of the kind but fierce sort.”

Amaterasu rolled her eyes, “He’s also old enough to be my father, not that you could see it right now.” She grumbled, “So you lot are the Americans working with him?”

“More of his temporary lackeys until we’ve got the big plan under way.” Red Hood intoned, eyeing her suspiciously, “Most of the big brass of the Justice League are too morally rigid to work with him.”

“Not that they would like having us involved in this,” Red X chuckled. “So what’s your story? We know that a lot of mutation quirk folks get the shaft around here.”

Amaterasu shrugged, “I was raised thinking that being a hero meant doing the right thing. That aside if I said no to this, Stornic would do it on his own and no way I’m letting him run off. Well all of that and something else.”

“They’re magic.” Halogi deadpanned, taking the mystery out of that statement. “They’ve been hiding among quirk users for as long as they’ve been around. It’s stupidly easy for them to do. Just sign your family up as having quirks related to mythology. It’s why a dragon shifter is a high rank heroine and a man with a hexenwolf belt is hiding as a U.A teacher without anyone batting an eye.”

Amateratsu snarled slightly, “You’ve been keeping tabs on Japan since you left then?”

Halogi shrugged, “Of course, can’t just leave my own kid here for years and not be in the loop can I? Still, Fun to see that so much is different and yet so little has changed.”

Stornic’s ears twitched slightly. “So what do you need from us? Or me?” He sounded more curious than concerned about Halogi’s knowledge of current happenings.

“Well kid, I’ve been watching you a bit. You got a knack for faking to be other heroes, if you try anyway. Present Mic singing the hedgehog song was hilarious by the by, dumb but hilarious.” Halogi cackled slightly.

“But I think you could do a lot more. Specifically, we need you to help us fake Hawks’s death and rattle one of our vigilante friends hard enough that she stops being a serial murderer.” Halogi continued.

Stornic blinked for a long time. A very long time. Almost enough to fill a paragraph of blinking sound effects.

Stornic eventually got his voice back after a good minute:“Are you telling me you want me to fake the death of the 3rd ranked hero of Japan? Not that I don’t think that’s rad as hell but what for?!”

Halogi smiled, “What I forgot to mention is where and what you’ll be doing shortly before that. You’ll be doing this in the headquarters of the HPSC, while getting us the entirety of the HPSC’s and the MLA’s shitty dealings transferred off shore.” He grinned as the kid almost had a seizure of excitement.

“Long story short: Hawks is going to force the HPSC to ally themselves with the Justice League. We’re achieving that by making him abandon his position in the Commission and making him play the role of a vigilante from outside of Japan.” Red X explained.

“While they’re busy trying to contain the fallout of losing most of their intel to foreign forces, we’ll be setting up a hero agency in Japan and starting to change the system from the inside.” He concluded.

“Naturally the intel we do gather is going to get released, regardless of what they do, effectively turning the public’s attention to what is going on and giving reasons to doubt the current system.”

Red Hood deadpanned.

“So much for the theory anyway.” Amaterasu growled, “You realise if your plan goes south we’ll be in civil war territory right? What if the HPSC spins this in their favour? Or for that matter the MLA?”

Halogi chuckled before his face turned serious, “Ami, that was going to happen one way or the other. Japan has been poisoned by their rhetoric and narrative for decades. A non violent evolution is out of the question, especially given who is in charge right now. All we can do is ensure that the violence is non-lethal and delay that scenario for a few years.”

“Isn’t it a revolution?” Stornic asked, confused.

Halogi sneered, “If we wanted everything to end the same way then it would be. An evolution goes somewhere, a revolution is spinning the wheel in place.”

Stronic’s ears flicked slightly, for some reason the kid overall reminded Halogi a lot of his son. “Why do I get the feeling that there is a lot more gonna happen that you’re not telling us?”

“Sharp for a fuzzball,” Red X raised an eyebrow, making the red eye segment of his skull-like mask grow a tad. “This wasn’t thought up by three dudes in a garage. The entire Justice League is in on this, and we don’t know most of the details on the other plans but there’s a lot going on. We’re a cog in this machine.”

Amaterasu narrowed her eyes, “So just like the rest of them then.”

“Listen lady!” Red X snapped, “I just followed a random gecko guy around for a half a week before he proudly cut off the head of a family father!” His eyes narrowed to small slits, giving his mask an eerie air.

“I’m not a saint, I steal from people for fun and profit but that guy? He genuinely thought that was a service to his damn country, for his people! I don’t like the Justice League, hell I hate most of the people in this damn room,” his voice raised ever so slightly, “but if you’re honestly telling me that you’d rather have people like that in charge then I’d like to know what the hell your hero job is even for.”

Halogi chuckled “Boy’s got a point there.” He shrugged, “Look we can argue about viewpoints all we want, point is you can either help us or leave. So, what’s it gonna be?”

+ Izuku’s Mindscape +

Izuku and Raven wandered around the cafeteria of the not-quite-watchtower for a bit. The more Izuku thought about the place the more it made sense that he was in his own mind.

The lights in the ceiling were a different shape, one that he was certain he had talked about at one point.

The seats and tables were a bit too long for the area, like he had felt they were when he had first arrived on the Watchtower.

Sure enough, most of the ‘people’ present were sitting where Izuku remembered them sitting most of the days he was on the Watchtower.

“Yo Lantern!” Izuku froze, hearing a familiar but also very foreign voice.

Sitting there, on the wrong side of the table arrangement, was The Flash.

“Haven’t seen you up in this place for a while. Any reason for the visit?”

Izuku tilted his head slightly, that was not how he remembered Wally. At all.

“Hey Raven? Feel free to look around without me, I’ll catch up.” Izuku smiled at her slightly.

Raven raised an eyebrow, “You do realise that I could find just about anything you don’t want me to see in here right? It is your head after all.”

Izuku rolled his eyes ever so slightly, “Raven, if the things I don’t want you to know are the worst things you can find in here, then all that will happen is me giving you more material to tease me with. Just… you know what? If a door doesn’t open in this place, just leave it.” He grumbled as he realised that maybe giving his girlfriend ideas was a bad plan.

Raven did her best to stifle a giggle, leaving Izuku to explore the rooms she had seen near the stairs.

Izuku waited until Raven had rounded a corner before turning towards the Flash who was still sitting there with a smarmy grin on his face.

“Okay. Drop it. I know you’re not Wally,” Izuku growled, “and you better tell me who you are before I try and figure out if I can kill something that’s not me in my own head.”

“Ooooh. Big threats already?” The fake Flash grinned, “Didn’t figure you’d have it in you.”

“I usually don’t actually.” Izuku admitted, “But this is my head.” The look on Izuku’s face was cold, “no one messes with it.”

“Damn, that extra dimensional thing really did a number on you huh?”

“You’ve got a second to stop looking and sounding like Wally before I stop being nice.”

The Flash imitator laughed before being engulfed in black and green flames, “Maaaan you have to be spoilsport do ya?”

Sitting where Wally had been was a lizard-like person who looked uncannily like Izuku himself with four eyes, green and black lizard-like skin and horns growing out of their head. Izuku couldn’t help but think of this person as some kind of demonic lantern.

“I was going to give you the whole run around. The whole nine yards of the ‘superpowered evil side’ living in your head.” The demonic copy giggled, “Ah well, that would have been boring anyway.”

Izuku tilted his head slightly, a comical green question mark appearing above him, “So you’re my ‘inner demon’?”

“Pretty much, yeah.”

“You know I imagined you were taller.”

“Said everyone who ever met you.”

“Touche.”

Somehow they both chuckled at that.

“So how is this supposed to work exactly?” Izuku asked eventually.

“Eh. Mostly we’re supposed to beat each other up and whoever wins gets the reins here.” The demonic copy shrugged, “But I dunno, seems like a lot of work, you got a lotta nonsense in here that I don’t wanna deal with. So, not doing that. I can live with being in your head if you can.”

Izuku looked thoughtful for a moment. “As long as you don’t change your mind about that and don’t start messing with things? Sure.”

There was a strange pause in which they both shivered slightly. Something out there really didn’t like their defiance to tradition.

“Eh. It’s nothing to worry about.” The demonic Izuku shrugged, “You already damned yourself when you started learning demonic magic, bit late to be damned for it.”

“You know I figured that being ‘damned’ in this case just meant serving Raven after I die. That didn’t sound so bad.” Izuku admitted sheepishly.

“You’re dating the daughter of Trigon and basically wrote over your eternal soul to her for this….honestly? There’s far worse deals out there.” The demon chuckled.

“So does every magic user have something like this place? Or someone like you living in their head?” Izuku looked around slightly.

“No. That’s just a thing that demon magic does. Also, don’t bother asking me for a name, I’m not giving it to ya.”

“Fair, names are powerful.” Izuku reasoned.

“Oh good, Raven already taught you that. Figured out your own?”

Izuku paused, “Not telling you.”

“Heh. Good. You’d be too trusting if you did.”

+ Somewhere else in Izuku’s head +

Raven wandered around a bit, mostly checking where the doors in this mindscape lead to.

Some were average rooms with facsimiles of people Izuku knew in them. She mostly ignored them, though was pleasantly surprised to find some of the ‘lower’ heroes in the Justice League among them. It was nice to know he remembered them when so many others forgot about them.

One was a strange library of sorts, with half-written books in it everywhere, she couldn’t really make heads or tails of it but since everything in it was written in Japanese, she figured it was topics that Izuku had a passing interest in?

Another room was a little gallery of sketches that seemed to redraw themselves as she wandered through, possibly his memories of his drawing endeavours? She noted, with no attempt to hide a blush for once, that several sketches of her lined one particular wall. Apparently Izuku really liked her fully demonic form, though all of them looked like genuine art pieces.

She paused as she left the little gallery she noticed three strange doors very close to each other. All three of them did not look like they belonged on the Watchtower, unlike the others before them.

She couldn’t open them. Instead, she heard voices from the other side of each of them. She couldn’t tell what the voices were saying, again due to them speaking solely in Japanese.

But she could tell that whatever the voices said wasn’t nice. Or even remotely civil. She didn’t need to know what was happening behind those doors.

She could tell what it was about, Izuku never talked much about his time in Japan. Considering the faint whimpering of a very familiar voice behind one of the doors, she figured it was best for whoever was responsible that she didn’t know and never found out.

The sporadic glowing and loud explosion sound coming from behind one particular door were things that she did not even want to entertain the thoughts over.

She sighed and with a heavy heart walked away, he had told her to not open a locked door after all.

Unbeknownst to her, the three doors seemingly got walled off anyway. As if Izuku was very determined to not let them out.

She paused, looking behind her for a moment. The hallway seemed a lot longer for some reason in either direction.

She shrugged it off, she was in the mind of someone else after all, so the logic did not work the same as on her own.

She blinked in the direction she had originally walked in. A door. A single black door. Black as tar.

No. Black as the night sky. Black as the depths of space.

It was odd. It didn’t belong there. It didn't belong anywhere.

She walked in front of it. It wasn’t metallic, instead the frame was made of stone.There was a human sized window in it.

She shivered. Something had created this door. Something powerful. Far more powerful than Izuku. Nearly as powerful as her father.

This was his mind and memory. What else was in here? She looked through the door and froze at the scene that unfolded.

+ Around the time that Izuku Midoriya was 5 years old +

Izuku sat on a park bench, bruised and bored.

He didn’t get it. He really didn’t. Why did his friends suddenly hate him?

What was so bad about not having a quirk? Why was it his fault that he wasn’t like them?

“People are strange.” A dark, baritone voice spoke next to him.

The little boy froze, looking over and almost scampering to the edge of the bench.

Sitting there, leaning forward with his hands steepled and staring at the playing children of Izuku’s class, was a man.

Well no. He wasn’t a man. Izuku didn’t know what or who he was. But he was more than a man.

He was tall, thin and wore a dark blue coat. A similarly dark blue fedora adorned his head. Around his neck was a large, golden, amulet. His face was permanently shadowed as if reality itself didn’t want anyone to see his face.

“That boy.” The man continued, seemingly ignoring Izuku entirely. “He’s so alone.”

Izuku followed the man's line of sight and realised who he was talking about. “Kacchan? No. He has lots of friends!”

The man tilted his head. “Does he? He looks alone. Not lonely. But alone.” The man specified.

Izuku paused. Confused about what the man was saying.

“B-But Kacchan is gonna be a hero! Heroes are never alone.”

“Aren’t they?” The man asked calmly. “How many people do you think are All Might’s friends?”

Izuku paused...thinking it over. He hadn’t seen anything about All Might’s friends...except for Nighteye perhaps.

“One sidekick? That’s not a friend. They work together. But they’re not friends.” The man said, as if reading his mind before the man turned back to the scene a bit away from them.

“All Might can deal with that. Him though? He needs help. He needs someone who truly believes in him.” The man stated, sadly looking at Katsuki Bakugo.

“...Why?.” Izuku eventually asked.

“Hm?”

“Why does Kacchan need that?” Izuku clarified. “No one likes me. No one helps me! When I say I want to be a hero they all laugh! What’s he done to prove he deserves to be a hero?! He beats people up! How’s that fair?!”

The man let the little boy rant until he was exhausted. Watched for what felt like hours as an unimaginable anger poured out of the boy until the boy was crying and exhausted.

“You want to know why he needs help and you don’t?” The man asked calmly.

He simply put his gloved hand on the boy's head. “Because when you become a hero and fail at something, you will get back up again and try anew. If he does?” He shook his head. “He will fall and keep falling. Until it is too late.” He stated sagely.

“People like Superman need a Batman. People like Batman need Superman. People like All Might need an Eraserhead. People like Eraserhead need an All Might.” The man mused mysteriously.

“That boy. He needs a friend. A friend like you. Someone who won’t give up on him. No matter what anyone else says.”

Izuku froze as the man removed his hand.

The man smiled behind his shadowed face. “So? Do you think that you could be his friend? Despite everything?”

Izuku paused before nodding. “I’ll try!” He exclaimed brightly before getting off the bench.

“Thanks Mr!...Say. Who are you?”

The man froze, as if he was surprised that the boy realised he was physically present.

“I am no one of importance, little one. In fact.” A soft glow emitted from his hands “It’s best you forget you ever met me.”

The man turned his attention to the door, which shouldn’t exist, staring into eyes he couldn’t see.

“And it’s best you forget that you have ever seen this.”

Raven forced her eyes shut as the pitch black door phased out of existence.

‘Cease little one.’ The mysterious man's voice rang in her head, ‘That knowledge was not meant fo---’

“Shut up.” She growled, “I know you, ‘Phantom Stranger’. I have every right to know. I was given permission and did not open a door I was not meant to. Now. Tell me why you haunted my boyfriend when he was a child!.”

The voice paused for a second. ‘I owe you no explanation or justification. Just know that he passed judgement and that I look forward to your elopement.’.

Ravens eyes flitted about for a second as the strange presence left the area.

The Phantom Stranger.

Izuku had met The Phantom Stranger.

She took a deep breath, as little as it helped.

A door appeared. This time to the other side of the corridor she was in.

This time it was a normal door.

She sighed. “Alright. You win.”

She stood at the door, a window allowing her to look in and voices coming through it once again.

+Very early in Izuku’s Justice League Training +

“They deem those without power lesser than themselves?” A man, clad in golden chain mail and a red armour with a black eagle on his chest asked furiously.

“An outrage! My brothers in arms would not stand for it! A knight is chosen by their merits not their origin.” He continued passionately.

Izuku paused, his ring was very busy checking over who this man was. “Are you...Shining Knight?”

“The same, lad.” Shining Knight smiled. “I was once a knight in service of King Arthur himself. A mishap with time magic brought me here.” He smiled.

“You do know that--”

“The Kingdom of Camelot will fall or has fallen?” He cut Izuku off. “Yes.” He stated solemnly, “That is something I shall have to accept. One day. It shall not be today however.”

“B-But you’re in the present.” Izuku blinked.

Shining Knight smiled, “I see why you are here. You are yet to understand your place.” He pulled his sword from his sheath.

“The knights of the round table fought even if they believed they would perish. So does the Justice League. So do the Lanterns. It is for a simple reason.” Shining Knight pointed his sword at Izuku before sheathing it once more.

“To protect those who could not do so for themselves. What kind of hero would I be if I left those in need of help at this time? Do they not deserve my aid?”

Izuku froze, he hadn’t thought of it that way. “I...I’m sorry, sir.” Izuku started with a bit of reverence. “I did not me--”

“Cease!” Shining Knight exclaimed, making Izuku jump. “Questioning your superiors is a lesson you must learn,” he stated dramatically. “It is better to be reprimanded for disobedience than to be the cause of an atrocity.”

Shining Knight took a deep breath. “Now. I know I stand no real chance against you, Knight of the Emerald Stars.” He fell into a fighting stance. “So I offer you experience. I have fought many battles and lived. With my help so shall you. Now face me!”

Raven shook her head as she backed away. Of course one of the first hero on the Watchtower Izuku would deal with was Shining Knight.

It fit him. She thought as she walked off.

It was nice to think that he was going to be her knight.

She turned her head to another door and stopped.

+ ??? on the Watchtower, Training area Alpha +

Izuku walked into the the pitch black training area, all the lights were off. He looked around.

“Hello?” He called into the empty room. “You know it’s rude to schedule a training room for--”

He didn’t get further as someone jumped out of the darkness and nearly hit him near his neck.

With a grinding sound, green energy plates diverted the hit and the assailant jumped back into the darkness.

“So.” A very neutral, apathetic, voice rang out. “You are Raven’s boyfriend huh? Green hair, green eyes, has a Lantern Ring. I have to admit, aside from your fast reflexes.” The voice sneered, “I do not see why I should accept her decision.”

Izuku tilted his head, his eyes blinking a bright green. “You’re slightly taller than me, wear a robin outfit, have a sword and talk like an aristocrat. You must be Damian Wayne.”

Izuku couldn’t see it through the darkness without scanning but Damian Wayne, the current Robin, flinched. “How did you know?”

Izuku rolled his eyes, “Process of elimination. I know who your father is. Nightwing is known to be sociable and uses batons, Red Hood is gruff and uses guns. You use a sword and are haughty.” Izuku shrugged.

“Tch. Then you know why I am here.” Robin growled.

“Not really honestly, no.” Izuku answered into the dark room. “I get it if you were trying to give me the ‘shovel talk’. But I figured that the Batman family was smarter than that.”

From the shadows he could feel the current Robin pause. “I am going to ask you what you mean.”

Izuku rolled his eyes. “I can see you above me. Your dad really needs to teach you how to deal with Superman level threats before they embarrass you.”

The weird sputtering noise from above made Izuku certain that he was right.

“Simple question: What are you gonna do?” Izuku cut any further attacks short. “No. Really. This is Raven we’re talking about. If I hurt her, which will never happen, what could you possibly do to me that she couldn’t?”

There was another pause before the lights in the room turned back on and Robin landed across from Izuku. “I have to admit, I had not thought about that.”

Izuku sighed. “Look. You keep out of my relationship with Raven, I don’t mention that you’re dating a French superhero.”

Damian froze. “How did you….Damn it Beetle!”

“OI!” Izuku’s voice rose dangerously. “Don’t insult my brother like that, or you insult me.”

Damian blinked. Then smiled. “I feel we could be good friends.”

“As long as you don’t try to blow me up.”

Raven pulled away from the memory. So Izuku had met Damian shortly after they had started dating.

Good.

Better sooner than later. She thought as she walked off.

She wondered where Izuku himself was. Perhaps he just wanted her to find her way around his head?

She paused at a very odd purple door for a moment. She contemplated opening it but hearing what was coming from behind it, decided not to.

She didn’t need to relive that particular memory.

‘Why? Why do you stay with me?’

She heard her own voice as she left the area.

If she had stayed, she would have seen Izuku bleeding again.

If she had stayed, she would have to see him hold her despite not deserving it. Again.

If she stayed she would have to face the reality that she was horrible but he loved her regardless.

‘Because. We’re alike.’ She heard his shaky voice ‘In a way. At least. I could live without the gashes.’

Both her old self and her current self couldn’t help but laugh.

She bumped into something.

“Hey.” Izuku smiled, as she could see an extra set of shadowy eyes floating above his normal ones.

“Hey.” She answered before hugging him close.

Everything was alright, she told herself. He had conquered his own demons in his own way and would be fine.

He had conquered his past, in his own way and would be fine.

He loved her, despite the horrible thing she had done to him. And he thought that was alright.

Deep beneath the puddle that was consciousness.

Deep beneath the sea that was the stars.

Deep beneath the ocean that was reality.

A set of four eyes, like the fires of dying realities, stared upwards.

“SO. THIS IS THE ONE YOU HAVE CHOSEN.”

Chapter Text

 + On a small island near Themyscira +

A swift motion to the left was all she needed. With a small ‘fwoom’ a blur of colours shot past her, hitting a boulder instead, cracking it in half.

A step to the right and another passed her and turned a tree into splinters.

On instinct, she raised an arm in the direction where the little blurs had come from.

There was a sound like a small gong being rang and the blur of pink and blue sped away diagonally into a nearby tree.

"...Oh you gotta be joking. You can deflect sniper bullets with your hands?! What are you, a god?!" The voice of the person who had shot asked incredulously.

Diana barely shook her left hand, she had actually felt that through her armbands for once. "Not quite but a valid assumption." She answered evenly.

“Okay.'' The other voice intoned as Kaina Tsutumi, also known as ‘Lady Nagant’, landed nearby, the sniper rifle that grew out of her elbow folding back into her arm. “I will admit, as far as bragging goes that is hard to beat.”

Diana shrugged, though the look in her eyes was indignant, “Stating the truth is not a boast. I am a direct descendant of the Greek Pantheon.”

Kaina blinked for a bit, “You know sometimes I have the feeling that my home country is a very small puddle in the great scheme of things. Now I’m wondering if that is not overestimating things. Perhaps I should consider us a raindrop.”

“An apt comparison.” A cheerful voice intoned as Nedzu decided to join the conversation, he had been watching the impromptu sparring match with bemused interest.

“It is good to see that you’ve recovered well from your stint of incarceration, Ms. Tsutumi.” He smiled brightly.

Kaina shrugged. “If it wasn’t for you and Hawks, I would still be there.”

Nedzu waved her off, “I did not lie to the HPSC when we freed you.” He shrugged, “I do believe that you deserve a second chance at being a hero, just not one working for them. That aside I do intend to keep you at U.A as a security adviser as stated.” He tittered.

“Not to interrupt the impromptu lesson in your history.” A third woman’s voice said neutrally as a shadow was cast from above. “But I would like to know what a man is doing near Themyscira.” A young woman with short blonde hair intoned. She was wearing a perfectly white bodysuit and was seemingly contemplating to rip Nedzu to pieces at the moment.

“As much as your concern is appreciated, Galatea,” Diana began with a warning tone, “he has permission to be here. I invited him.”

This seemed to have Galatea sufficiently cowed as she landed and ‘harrumphed’ in the chastised manner befitting a teenager.

“May I point out that I technically do not fall under the heading of ‘man’? I was born an animal after all.” Nedzu mused, “Man is by definition referring to humans.”

“Semantics aside.” Diana cut in before Galatea could start an angry rant, “He is much alike to yourself.”

Galatea sent Diana a rather vicious glare, “I doubt that.”

“She means to say that we are both victims of humans and their experiments.” Nedzu stated calmly. “Much like yourself, I was not asked to be what I am nor what if I wanted to be. If it had been my choice at all, I probably would not be the intelligent being that I am now.”

Galatea blinked slightly, “You are an experiment as well then?”

“In a sense, yes. Unlike yourself, however, I was not born from science, I was a mere animal, tortured for quite some time in an attempt to ‘improve’ it before I managed to escape. My increased intellect has been as much help as hindrance ever since.” He shrugged.

Galatea growled slightly, “Torturing an animal to give it superpowers?! Even by the standards of the people who made me that is barbaric!”

“Indeed.” Nedzu grinned, “Fear not, those responsible have long since come to regret it for many years. Longer if someone else hadn’t interrupted my fun and killed them. Death was to be the last mercy I would give them.” He remarked wistfully.

That got a collective blinking out of all three women present.

“So what is the reason these two are here?” Galatea asked after having regained her ability to speak.

“Two reasons.” Diana stated coolly, “Themyscira has no agreement to give any prisoners or freed individuals to any country in the world. The other is that they’re waiting to pick up someone.”

“Well actually there is a third reason.” Nedzu chimed in at Galatea’s confused look. “I figured that Ms. Tsutumi could use a trip abroad. She was unlawfully interred for a long time. It’s markedly unhealthy to stay locked away like that.”

Galatea blinked for a bit, “You are one strange little critter.”

“I prefer mischievous but thank you for the compliment all the same.” Nedzu quipped amused.

Before the conversation could continue a distant noise drew their attention, “Ah.” Nedzu smiled looking at the open sea, a large orange dot approaching. “Our main reason for being here.”

“You see, many of us are quite opposed to harming children. Some of us, very vehemently and violently so.” Nedzu elaborated, much to the confusion of the three, they figured it was obvious.

“Imagine for a moment, if you will, Batman being told about a young child being used by a madman to create some kind of biological weapon. How do you think that would go?” Nedzu asked in a way that sounded vaguely rhetorical.

“I would say the only thing keeping him from leaving those responsible in unrecognisable pieces is his own unwillingness to kill people. Disregarding the catalogue worth of broken bones he would leave behind of course.” Diana answered.

“Indeed. Now imagine a Batman with superpowers doing the same thing, minus the morals.” Nedzu replied bemused.

Their silence was all that was necessary to get the message.

“You see, we have a Batman in Japan. Well, multiple ones. Some more in the ‘cynical but law abiding’ range, Eraserhead, Edgeshot and possibly Nighteye come to mind. We also have people like the ones on that plane.” Nedzu motioned to the now visible freighter plane heading their way.

It was an old Conwing L-16 Seaplane. The kind that couldn’t be tracked anymore because almost no one had the means to maintain it, let alone had the licences to fly it. It was something that had usually been kept in families determined to keep traditions alive.

“They’re not of the friendly sort. The kind that think that there is the option to be lawful and the option to be good.” He intoned calmly as the plane touched down a distance away from the island.

Kaina blinked “Halogi…?” She asked. She remembered him vividly. A living nightmare. Someone who she still couldn’t believe was entirely human.

“Unfortunately, he is occupied.” Nedzu chuckled as the plane turned on the water, its cargo ramp facing them. “However he has a few friends who are willing to aid in this case.” He mused as the ramp lowered “I do believe most of them owe him money.”

With a loud crash the ramp stopped, barely touching the ground of the island.

Standing at the edge of the cargo hall were three men, of varying degrees of shadiness and burly appearance. On the ground was a thin man, tied up and gagged with his arms behind his back and from what they could tell from the bloody bundle near where his hands should have been missing his hands.

“You coulda told us his quirk was that destructive ya damn rat!” The burliest of the three yelled.

He was wearing a black leather coat, a black mask covering the top of his head from his nose up and had a rifle standing at his side. “Only reason we ain’t dead is that the English bastard cheats better in fights than at cards.” He made an off-hand motion to one of the others.

“OI! I resent that, just ‘cause it’s true don’t mean you gotta say it mate. Have some class about it. Call me a bloody bastard like everyone else.” The second man, thinner with blond hair, beard stubble and holding an empty bottle of what seemed to be vodka growled. He seemed more angry that he didn’t have any booze left than at the comment however.

The third man, a blond with a metal helmet and what seemed to be a red t-shirt glared at the man on the ground. “There a reason you wanted this waste of air alive anyway? Was a damn nightmare to get him without offing him. Still takes a lot of restraint not doing it now.” He grumbled.

“You’re one to talk. I could understand him before he” The bigger man motioned to the other blond “did that translation spell shit. There’s a reason I took pleasure removing the fingers off this waste of blood.” he glared down at the tied up man.

Nedzu cleared his throat. “Ladies, these are the three Mr. Halogi hired to help for this: Knuckleduster, Peacemaker and finally John Constantine.” He nodded to the three. “Gentlemen, As much as I enjoy your justified blood lust, we still have business to conduct, yes? Where is the child?”

“Up with the captain.” Constantine motioned to the front of the plane. “Figured we shouldn’t a been scaring her witless. ‘Specially since the burly duo here can’t stop grinning like maniacs.”

“Tch. You ain’t better about it. What kind of fighter impales a man with magic chains near their crotch thirty times?!” The Peacemaker barked.

“One busy trying not to get eaten by a house ya damn hillbilly!”

Kaina rolled her eyes, “Boys! Boys. We get it. You all collectively lost the dick measuring contest. Drop the bastard nearby and get the kid down here. We got a place he can stay.”

“She.” Knuckleduster grumbled, “Bastard did that to a little girl, she isn’t older than six.”

Diana blinked before staring at Nedzu. “Now I am curious why you wanted him alive as well.”

“Consider what you know of me.” Nedzu’s smile widened to a near deranged degree. “I need some way to keep my hatred for humanity in check. Ridding it of someone no one would miss?” He shrugged “Seems like the best solution.”

“You do realise that the Justice League and by that extension I can’t approve of this correct? I am also certain your own people do not agree with it.” Diana asked exasperated as the burliest man carried the tied up one and dropped them in front of Nedzu.

“I think it is more amusing that you believe that Batman or Superman are not aware of this situation.” Nedzu stated airily.

“That aside, I do recall your willingness to wage war against the entire world. Many stopped taking that seriously when you joined the Justice League, but I haven’t forgotten it.” He concluded.

Nedzu looked down at the tied up man “My, my you certainly put him through the wringer.” Nedzu observed amused.

“Well we sure as shit weren’t gonna beat him in a cook off.” Knuckleduster growled. “All of his goons are dead too, ‘cept one. Man built like a giant gorilla, turned on the others once we told him why we were there. No clue where he is.” Knuckleduster grumbled.

“Mr. Kai Chisaki I presume? No need to worry, young man. Death will be the last thing you shall have to worry about for a few years.” He grinned ever so slightly wider, “I shall personally ensure that.”

“Goddamn you’re one creepy little blighter.” Constantine chimed in as he slowly walked back down from the captain's cabin, carrying an asleep girl in his arms.

“I’m certain she isn’t that bad.” Nedzu shrugged.

“I was talking about you and you know it.” Constantine growled.

“Here.” Constantine handed the girl to Kaina, who blinked confused. “She’ll be asleep for a few hours still, simple sleep spell. Would be best if she woke up somewhere with nice people around.”

“Was that the only thing you did?” Diana asked, having dealt with Constantine before she didn’t believe it.

“Wish it was the only thing necessary but no. Removed some memories from her head, was for the best.” He looked solemn.

“What?!” Galatea growled, “How can something like that be for ‘the best’?”

“Look lass, I say this as the guy who scams bloody demons for a living: What this creature,” he pointed to the guy on the ground, “put her through?” he motioned to the girl “No one. Absolutely bloody no one, ever, anywhere. In any life. Should have to go through that or be forced to remember it.”

There was a pause, “I get the distinct feeling that you do remember it.” Diana spoke up after a bit.

“Well yeah, that’s where the problem with magic is. It’s all a trade. I didn’t erase her memories, I moved them. There was a perfectly wretched place for them available.” He tapped his own temple a few times.

“Now if ya all done judging,” he said turning around and starting to walk off, “I’ve got a date with a few bottles of scotch.” With a strange sound a portal appeared in thin air, leading to what seemed to be a bar. “And if ya see Halogi any time in future tell him I said he’s a wanker.” With that, he vanished.

“Tch. Bastard could have taken us with him.” Knuckleduster grumbled.

“Feh. The planes fine.” Peacemaker growled, “We should go, we’re wasting time.”

Without another word the plane started taking off with the two vigilantes still on it.

“...Wait.” Kaina eventually said after blinking at the girl, who had white long hair and a single horn on head, for a while “...You’re not actually expecting me to raise her.” She eventually growled at Nedzu.

“Of course.” Nedzu answered simply, “I figured you and Hawks would be more up for adopting than raising your own.”

“Fuck off.” Kaina growled, “You’re right but still! Don’t make decisions for people like that.”

Kaina sighed exasperated for a moment before looking at the girl again. “Eri, huh?” She mumbled to herself, reading what seemed to be the clinical name tag on the girls rather messed up outfit. “Oh what the hell, there’s worse ways to live.”

+ A few years ago, Gotham City streets +

Sidney Debris was down on his luck.

He had been, ever since he had gotten back out of prison.

He once had everything he wanted and more. Fame, notoriety, money, people feared him.

‘The man who killed Batman’ they had called him. It had been a glorious, dangerous, short time.

Then it turned out that Batman was very much alive and not at all pleased about Sidney’s rise to fame.

So he had spent a few years in a cell in a prison in Gotham. That wasn’t so bad either, all things considered. His life before crime had been a boring slog, a monotone waste of time.

Once he got out of prison, things hadn’t improved much. They’d gotten worse, actually, but hey, at least he had lost a few pounds.

It didn’t help him find a job. No one. Absolutely no one. Wanted anything to do with Sidney Debris.

A former criminal had little chance in Gotham to begin with but ‘The man who killed Batman’? He was a person non grata to the civilian population.

The villains and criminals treated him even worse. He couldn’t even be someone’s henchman.

“And make ourselves the target of the Joker? No. Fuck no.”

So he trotted through the streets. He didn’t know how long it had been since he had set free. Not long enough for it to matter.

He wasn’t sure how he had lasted so far or how he would manage but he’d make it. He had survived in Gotham so far, it couldn’t be too hard to do it for a few more years.

Then he heard it. A tune. A song. A magnificent orchestra of sound. It haunted him through the streets, beckoning him, calling him.

No one else seemed to hear it, no one but him. So he looked for it, for days. A little manic, almost a little possessed.

It took him through the winding back streets, past places like Crime Alley. In the winding dead ends of the back most slums and trash yards of Gotham he found it.

There it sat, a box. No bigger than an old cellphone but far removed from one. A dim red glow and the beautiful song he heard told him he was right.

He barely touched the box with the tip of his finger before freezing in place. Lightning, red as blood snaked along his body, across his shabby clothes and across every part of his face.

He couldn’t move.

He couldn’t scream.

“D-D-D-D-D”

in his mind he could see them, glowing eyes, like the fires of stars. A set of eyes staring at him in an endless darkness.

“D-D-D-Da-Daaaa—”

Speak. Fool.

“D-Da-Daaarkseid. Iiiisss..”

A cruel smile greets him from the dark. The song was gone, the skittering started.

From the shadows they crawled, things the size of humans but not anywhere near them.

The Parademons had found their mark.

Gone was Sidney Debris and ‘Sid the Squid’ returned from the dark.

+ Near Dagobah Beach, current time +

Toshinori Yagi, ‘All Might’ to many, gazed out on the complete trash yard that this once beautiful beach had been turned into.

Less than a year ago he wouldn’t have dared to come back here, let alone to start fixing it himself.

His power had been depleting steadily since he had given Melissa his...her quirk.

It was still difficult to think of it like that, he had carried that torch for decades. A part of him would probably always think of it as his own quirk.

In a way, a small part of it was. Thanks to the Justice League. A part of it would probably forever start with him, however small it was.

“Alright then.” He cracked his neck slightly, “No time like the present.”

He looked healthier now, far less of a complete skeleton with skin stretched over it.

The technology, developed and granted by aliens, available on the Watchtower was maddening and as far Superman had told him: Nearly incomprehensible to none geniuses, let alone sustainable in larger quantities.

That was a part of why the Justice League did not interfere with society on a larger scale. As amazing as their capabilities were, it was nearly impossible to actually provide humans with the means to use them, let alone understand them.

He was certain that almost no one could properly utilise everything they had access to.

That and...Superman had asked a valid question.

“ If we told your people: ‘We can solve all your problems and we’ll do it for free.’ What do you think would happen?”

He hated that question. Because the more he thought of it the more it became clear why the Justice League couldn’t help the way they wanted to.

No one would believe that they’d do it for nothing. No one would allow them to solve their problems just because they were good people who wanted to help. They’d think it was too good to be true.

As much as he hated it, the term ‘the world isn’t ready’ for once was actually true.

He sighed before setting off to start clearing the place up.

~Bzzz~

‘A PHONE CALL IS HERE!’

~Bzzz~

‘A PHONE CALL IS HERE!’

~Bzzz~

‘A PHONE CALL IS HERE!’

“Oh for the love of…” He growled taking his cellphone out, who could be calling hi--

He blinked at the name. He hadn’t seen that name on his phone in years.

He composed himself, as good as he could manage.

“Hello Mirai.” He answered the phone with an ever so slightly shaky tone. “It’s been a while.”

“Yes, hello Toshi.” A nearly monotone but very familiar voice answered on the other side. “It has indeed been a long time.” Mirai answered in a strained tone.

“Look, for all it’s worth I--” Yagi started.

“Don’t.” Mirai cut him off. “Do not apologise. I’ve had a rough couple of months. Believe me when I say that being able to see the future in the past few years has been a nightmare.”

Toshinori blinked “Oh? Why is that?” Genuinely concerned for his friend.

“Because…” Mirai heaved a heavy sigh “It’s all wrong, it’s all weird. Nothing I see is correct anymore.” Mirai sounded a little...broken in Toshi’s opinion.

“So your predictions are suddenly not accurate anymore?”

“Not suddenly.” Mirai answered “Increasingly. A year ago, I was working on a case. I saw you in a prediction. It was...impossible to describe.”

“Oh?”

“You don’t understand. Before you left the last thing I saw of you was you dying, alone and in pain. This vision? You looked. Amazing. Healthier than ever. Better than you even were at the height of your career!” Mirai’s tone was one of reverent enthusiasm.

“That’s good though...right?”

“It’s maddening!” Mirai’s sudden shout made him pull the phone away from his ear.

“That was just the one that I had then. Now. Just a week ago. I. I was starting on something. Something big. A case on a Yakuza cell. They had some big things planned. Not entirely sure what it was.” Mirai explained breathlessly.

“I got a vision, thanks to a contact that I have. Suddenly it was completely different from the other ones. The people involved were already in jail as opposed to where I expected them to be.” Mirai explained.

Toshinori blinked for a while. “Mirai. An honest question: Are you alright?”

“No. No, I’m not alright. I’m elated!” Mirai’s tone was a strange mix between relief and tears “Don’t you see, Toshi? My quirk has faults. There is no fate. I can be wrong about the things I see.” Mirai chuckled quietly.

“I’m free.”

Toshinori couldn’t help but smile “Well. That’s good to hear. Would it be alright if I come by? I missed seeing you, if you can believe it.”

He could almost hear Mirai’s smile “Sure. My schedule cleared up a lot.”

“Good. There’s a lot I want to talk about.”

Chapter Text

+ Somewhere in Japan +

“Once again a hero of the Justice League, Green Lantern, saved the day! It appears that this young hero has only recently taken care of issues all around America and Europe! Within a few months he has become a shining, emerald star within the hero community across th---”

The news report didn’t get much further as a remote control impacted the TV at high speed.

Sitting on his couch, in a dark, dreary room was a man, he couldn’t have been older than eighteen.

Tall, deathly thin, grey shaggy hair and eyes as red as blood. Almost all of his physical features were as hidden as possible.

He was wearing a black long sleeved shirt and black pants, a set of glaringly red shoes being the only splash of colour on him. You could have mistaken his ensemble as normal if not for some very odd accessories.

Ten hands. Ten, dead, grey, hands grasped parts of his body. Two on one arm, three on the other, one on each shoulder, two from behind gripping his torso near his armpits.

Finally one single hand hung from his face, its fingers spread in such a way that he could still see but he could always feel its presence.

His father had told him that they were necessary, to contain his quirk, to teach him discipline, to focus his mind.

So why then, he wondered. Why did he envy these people? Why did he wish to prove that he was better than they were?

Many of the heroes he saw in news reports didn’t need to hide. Superman, Wonder Woman, All Might, even those Green Lanterns. None of them hid their faces. They didn’t need to.

Tomura Shigaraki glared at the distorted image of the younger Green Lantern still being displayed on the TV despite its broken state.

Why? What did that waste of space do to earn that power? Even his father feared the Lanterns, how did someone younger than him earn it?!

Tomura looked down, realising to his horror that his fingers were shaking. Something about this felt...wrong. Why, why couldn’t he remember? Why, why, why did he have to hide?

The first thing he knew was his father reaching out to him, but... no. No, that could not be right. Something was--

Suddenly the hand grasping his face felt as if it was tightening. The same began happening with the others. Pain shot through his body like lightning. Something was wrong.

With shaky motions he slowly reached towards the hand grasping his head. “Why.” he growled “Why do you want me to hide? What do you hide from me?” he grabbed the hand between his fingers.

“Why father” he growled as he slowly but forcefully pried the decayed hand off of his face “What use does this serve? Why hide me so desperately? Unless”

With a yank he pulled the rotten hand off his head entirely, staring at it as it continued trying to grip the empty air with increasing desperation.

“...unless you wish that I would not search for the answers.”

A heat bubbled from inside him, as with a flash the hand turned to dust in his hand as he balled his fist.

The other hands fell dormant, hitting the ground as Tomura took a deep breath. What was happening? Why did all of this happen?

He breathed heavily. Something was different now. Why did he feel so light? Why was everything sharper now? He felt as if he was seeing the world clearly for once.

A familiar sound dragged him from his musings. Kurogiri, his caretaker, had made his entrance.

“Master?” the man made of black mist asked. In hindsight, Tomura thought he always hated that butler outfit. “Are you...alright?”

Korugiri’s voice was oddly strained, almost a little robotic, as Tomura realised.

“I’m fine.” Tomura ground out angrily “Why? I didn’t call for you.”

“Well, sir. You were screaming as if you were in pain.” Kurogiri stated in a slightly confused tone.

“What? No I didn’t.” Tomura answered genuinely baffled “I wrecked the fucking TV but I didn’t scream. At all. The fuck are you on about?”

Kurogiri froze. Not in the same way that Tomura was used to, more like a shitty NPC that was trying to figure out how to respond to something they weren’t supposed to encounter.

Lacking a decent response however gave Tomura an idea. After all, hadn’t father assigned Kurogiri as his caretaker?

“Kurogiri.” Tomura growled, snapping the misty butler out of his stupor. “Get me out of here. Anywhere in Japan that father can’t reach.”

Kurogiri suddenly snapped his head left and right in very uncomfortable looking angles. “I-I-I-I ---that is not something you should be doing master.” he eventually answered, as his head righted itself, in a tone that implied every part of him wanted to say ‘Yes! Let’s get out of here!’

Tomura considered his approach to get Kurogiri. He knew that Kurogiri was his personal caretaker who would put his well being above all else, after all father had--

No. He cut himself off, if Kurogiri was his father’s creation he couldn’t trust him to not cause problems.

“Kurogiri.” Tomura began after some consideration “I want to go on a side quest, something Father needs to know nothing about. I won’t need your help for it. Father won’t have to worry about my safety until I return.”

He had learned from his many, many games that father had given him that honesty got you far. It also taught him that being “telling the truth” and “not lying” were two different things.

He was “not lying” with Kurogiri in that he was intending to leave to do something that his father didn’t know about and that he didn’t need Kurogiri’s help with it.

The “truth” was that he didn’t need Kurogiri or his father at all and didn’t have any intention of ever returning.

After all, how good could this place be? His father had only let him see what he was supposed to know, which meant there was a whole world out there his father didn’t want him to know about.

Kurogiri was meanwhile having a mixture between a seizure and a massive physical self reassembly.

The set of circumstances and Tomura’s request caused quite a short-circuit in Kurogiri’s head. On one hand he was supposed to protect Tomura, on the other he was meant to make Tomura follow his master's orders.

But what did it mean to him when it was obvious that Tomura no longer felt safe near his master?

After several seconds of twitching Kurogiri reassembled himself. “Where do you wish to go?” he asked, almost eerily calm.

“Anywhere father can’t find me.” Tomura growled “He wants me to hide and I want to know why. Why I can’t be myself, why he wants me to...” he pried the other, grasping hands off his body. “...to not find out things myself!”

Kurogiri froze before seemingly glitching out for several seconds. Not in the metaphorical sense but literally in that his body kept shifting in place as if something inside of him tried to discern what to do.

“Grrrghggbhbhghghhbhgh” Eventually he re-assembled himself in a decently useful way.

“Y-Yes. Y-You sh-shoul—dn’t be -al-llowed- to g-go whe-re—e you wish to.”

Tomura froze as Kurogiri raised his hand. Instead of the dark misty portal that he could usually walk into a purple portal like a hole in a strange mirror opened. He couldn’t move or stop before he was lifted off the ground.

“Oh you mother--”

he was flung through the fracture in space easily.

“fuuuuuu--”

The rift closed shortly before Kurogiri collapsed onto the ground, the black mist around his body dissipating for the first time in years.

“---ckerrrrr!”

With a loud crash, Tomura landed in a dumpster.

“Guuuh. Fuck.” he growled before pulling himself out of the trash. He shook himself, looking around, he realised that he was still in a Japanese area. Kurogiri had sent him somewhere in Japan but apparently nowhere specific?

He stumbled out of the alleyway he had landed in, glaring around the street only to find it mostly empty. There was nothing here worth notice, except a single street sign.


“’Non-descriptive Cat Cafe’ 24 miles this way.” with an arrow pointing the direction he was looking.

He grumbled, it was the best he had wasn’t it? No one would believe someone like him would seek out a cat cafe, right?

Of all places his ‘father’ would be searching for him, that would be the last type of place. Well no, it would be the second last, he hated pinball halls more. It was close enough.

“Oi!” someone whacked him in the face. “The fuck are you doing here?! You can’t just sleep here!” the person whacked him with whatever hard thing they were holding a second time.

“He-ey listen--”

“Are you trying to kill someone? Again??” an older voice growled as Tomura heard some short kind of scuffle. “Honestly? Beating someone to death with a lead pipe?! What were you thinking kid?!”

the older voice asked genuinely baffled

“It’s not vigilantism if I don’t use my quirk.” the younger voice growled.

“Yeah it isn’t, congratulations for figuring that out.” the older voice mocked. “You wanna know what you’ll get nailed for instead? Assault! Or attempted murder in your case since you got the self control of a five year old.” the older voice almost yelled.

“Just because you thought of some dumb workaround for one law doesn’t mean the others don’t apply to you, boy.” the older voice growled. “Get inside, Touya.”

There was a pause. “Don’t cal--”

“I will call you the way you’re acting.” the older voice cut in. “You’re not acting like ‘Agni’ right now. You’re not even ‘Dabi’ right now. Right now? You’re Touya. And I’ll keep calling you that until you get back to acting like the man you told me you’re aiming to be. Now get back inside.”

He couldn’t quite make out what the other person was saying before he heard a door slamming shut.

He heard a sigh “Heh. You can stop pretending to be unconscious, kid. You’re good at pretending but I know things like that like the back of my head.”

Tomura cracked his eyes open only for them to almost involuntarily widen.

Staring at him was an eyeless, mouth-less, featureless face with the only defining features being a brown fedora and a set of average human ears ... .and a set of cat ears on his fedora.

Out of fear, reflex or hatred. Tomura couldn’t tell. He sprung to action and tried to grab the man’s face.

“Really?” the man asked bemused, holding Tomura’s hands away from himself with a pair of barbecue tongs in each hand. “I try to help you and you try to touch my face?...Honestly that’s tame.” the man mused.

“Who the fuck--” Tomura managed to grind out as the man pushed his hands away, the tongs disintegrating into nothing. “...are you?”

“Heh, wouldn’t you like to know? You’re like everyone else here, kid. Questions, looking for answers.” the faceless man smiled and for some reason Tomura felt at ease despite not being able to see it.

“Tell you what: I got a right hand helping me here in this place.” he motioned to the cafe banner. “I just need someone to help take care of things when I’m gone. If you do well that might be your job soon. So what do ya say?”

Tomura growled “Tch. As if I--” he paused, as the whole confrontation had unfolded a large, black, cat with shaggy hair had approached him and decided to make Tomura’s lap its new sleeping place.

The faceless man laughed “Well, guess you belong here already. Kyou never liked a damn person in this place before. Not even Touya and he’s worse off than a lot of other people out there.” he chuckled as Tomura made a great effort to not pet the giant black cat.

“What’s wrong with ya kid? Head trauma doesn’t seem to get to you, why the fear?” the faceless man chuckled.

“M-My quirk makes everything I touch with my entire hand disintegrate.” Tomura growled ineffectually as the cat kept trying, to no avail, to cup its head in his hand.

“Does it do that because it has to?” the faceless man asked.

“Or does it do that because you want it to?”

Tomura froze, staring at the man and lowering his hand slightly

“Because if you ask me, that cat sure seems alive right now.” the man mused as Tomura realised that Kyou had continued snuggling up to his hand, no sign of his quirk damaging it anywhere.

“Not that I don’t think that watching all of this is hilariously adorable but...you really need a bath kid. You smell like a pig in the rain and your outfit is even worse than mine. Come on. Let's get you freshened up.” the faceless man said, pulling Tomura up without much resistance.

“You’ll love this place like home yet.”

+ Sky above Jump City, USA +

Two glints of different light raced across the night sky like comets. There were more than just these two people in the sky but the others were far less visible.

The chase had been going for quite a bit longer than Izuku would have liked.

“Arthur Light! You are under arrest!” Izuku yelled loud enough to be heard even at this altitude.

Flying in front of him a few hundred metres ahead was a man in a grey and black power armour, white glowing spots and lines indicating that it was still active.

“Ahaahaha! Oh really boy?!” the villain spun around with several clicking noises several rocket chutes opened all over his shoulders “Try and make me!” a cacophony of sounds followed as thirty rockets, each about the size of a fist shot out and flew in such a way that they were deliberately not trying to hit Izuku himself, instead aiming for a nearby bridge.

Izuku halted in his spot “Oh you gotta be…” Izuku didn’t debate, the bridge and the people on it were more important than catching him right now.

“Raven! Beast Boy! Keep following Doctor Light.” Izuku ordered as he flew after the rockets “Gizmo get some construction drones on the way, now!”

With the loud ringing of an F-sharp bell Izuku shot several of the rockets down with a green energy ray. Of the thirty rockets only five remained intact, the others exploded before they could impact the bridge.

Three of the remaining ones stopped, engulfed in a black aura before breaking apart, leaving only two to hit the support pillars of the bridge.

“Damn it. What is wrong with that guy?! This is the third time in three months that he’s escaped, how many bases does one crazy doctor get to own before it’s suspicious?” Izuku growled.

Somewhere in Japan a fat doctor sneezed in his underground lab.

‘Well. He always was a bit of a light-obsessed weirdo but I didn’t help his sanity much.’ Raven’s voice rang through his head as the two remaining rockets hit the bridge, one destroying a support beam entirely and the other impacting on the other side of the bridge making several cars flip over.

With a groan the bridge started leaning to one side.

‘What did you do to him?’ Izuku asked back in as non-accusatory a tone as a mental voice could be. With a simple motion a green castle-like tower constructed itself where the support beam was missing.

“Kyd! Evacuate the civilians. Bill, Mammoth! Help the ones in the cars! I have to keep the bridge stable until Gizmo’s drones arrive.” Izuku ordered as the bridge straightened back to normal.

‘I was going through some...issues with my father at the time. Light was just at the wrong place at the wrong time. I do feel sorry for him, I wanted to scare him, not drive him off the deep end.’ Raven admitted ruefully.

She and Beast Boy, in the form of a Peregrine Falcon, were flying after Doctor Light. She had no idea where he was headed or who had financed his current escapade, just that his tech was newer than she remembered.

She didn’t need to think much about it as with a familiar purple spark his jet pack malfunctioned and he was hurled towards a nearby forest. Apparently Jinx had decided to provide some long range support.

“Nonononono. I can’t fail here! TH-thethe---they will kill me…” the man scrambled frantically into the woods as Beast Boy rushed after him in bestial wolf-like form.

They chased after him for about ten minutes before Light tripped. “Stay away from me!”

He crawled backwards, away from Beast Boy as much as he could before he hit something tall. He stared upwards and the only reason he wasn’t screaming was because his voice died in his throat.

“Hello. Doctor Light.” Raven intoned, her demonic voice reverberating around the trees, four demonic eyes staring into his soul. “How many times shall we have to do this? Four? Ten? A hundred?”

He suddenly scrambled away from Raven, backing into Beast Boy instead “Please! Please stop! I-I-I had no choice!”

Both of the teens stopped “what” Raven asked, genuinely confused.

“H-Hhe. He would have killed me. If I didn’t do w-wha-t he said.” he took off his helmet.

To Raven’s shock he looked even older and even more fragile than she remembered, yet someone had driven him to do this.

“Who?” Raven asked, as Beast Boy turned back into his normal state.

“I-I I can’t tell you.”

“That’s not good enough.” Raven growled. “Tell us and we can help.”

“I-I-I-iIiiiii” Light began convulsing before he passed out with a sickening crack.

Both Raven and Beast Boy stared for a moment “He’s alive but unconscious” Raven said, her hand glowing in black light for a moment.

“What was that?!” Beast Boy asked.

“That will be a bit harder to figure out.” she grumbled.

‘Izuku. Doctor Light is disabled at the moment. Someone ordered him to do this. I think he could not have told us normally, he seemed to be under some kind of compulsion to remain quiet.’

Izuku blinked, as he watched Gizmo’s drones reconstructing the missing bridge pieces easily.

‘So there was more going here.’ Izuku growled at her.

‘We will have to wait until we have some look into his recent bases, somebody must have financed him.’ she reasoned.

Izuku sighed ‘I suppose you’re right. I’ll send a report to the League, maybe someone has an idea what this could be about.’

Izuku stopped as Gizmo’s drone finished their reconstruction of the bridge. With a slight ping noise the green constructs vanished. “Everyone, status report.”

Bill was the first to respond: “No casualties boss! Some cars are more than a little dinged up but aside from minor injuries nothing too dangerous, still called some emergency services, just to be safe.”

Gizmo chimed in: “Bridge is back to 100% integrity.”

Izuku breathed a small sigh of relief, at least no one was seriously injured.

‘We’ll bring Light back to prison, we’ll catch up at the tower.’ Raven chimed in mentally.

Izuku nodded “We’ll regroup at Titans Tower.”

Before Izuku got too far flying back to the tower, a familiar ping got his attention. “Lantern.” a very familiar deadpan voice spoke up. “You and Raven are to report to the Watchtower. The Lanterns have some matters to discuss with you.” no sooner than the voice had finished speaking the line went dead again.

‘Leave it to Batman to start and end a phone conversation without a hello or bye.’ Izuku snarked at Raven.

‘What else is new. What do you think this will be about?’ She asked.

‘I think I might be going to Oa soon. We knew that was coming just not when and it has been rather quiet in the past few weeks. Doctor Light’s breakouts aside.’ Izuku reasoned.

He heard a mental sigh from Raven ‘So much for movie night.’

'I remember you mentioned you wear a white version of your outfit sometimes.' Izuku mused into the pause of their conversation.


'When my powers are at their peak, yes. I own a normal version as well but I haven't worn that in years.' Raven answered, slightly baffled at the change in topic.


'That's a shame, I think white would suit you.' Izuku smiled lightly.


'...that has to be the most roundabout and odd way of saying 'I'd like to see you in a wedding dress.' I've ever heard.' while Izuku couldn't see her he could tell she was both blushing heavily and palming her face with her hand.

‘Well I do aim to see you in one, one day.’ he smiled to himself.

‘Flatterer.’ Raven grumbled ineffectually in his head.

+ Thirty minutes later, Justice League Watchtower II +

Izuku and Raven stepped into the Justice League main conference room, the scene in front of them felt both alien and familiar at the same time.

Sitting on their left was Izuku’s mother, the last person they expected to see here.

Next to her, leaning against a console with crossed arms, was a tall man wearing a hood, strange armour and glowing red chains. He barely turned his head to them, revealing a set of glowing red eyes and a strange glowing maw of teeth.

To their confusion, neither Batman or Superman were even present at all. In fact almost no one else was with the sole two exceptions of three Lantern Corps members.

John Stewart stood, arms crossed and looking somewhat displeased, further in the back of the right side of the table.

In front of him and his head curiously tiled was an alien-man Izuku had only vaguely heard of before.



Razer.



Covered in red and blue armour with a pale-ish blue face, black lines going from the top of his lips to his eyes and pale white hair.

Razer was well known as one of the few Lanterns who both earned the right to be part of two different Corps and chose to keep that privilege.

The fact that Razer was a Red and Blue Lantern at the same time made that fact even more impressive. Usually someone could barely survive containing both powers temporarily, let alone permanently.

Sitting on the table, much like he had before, was Dex-Starr, his Red Lantern Uniform as pristine as could be, observing them slightly amused.

“Greetings Midoriya.” Dex-Starr’s ring intoned in his usual ‘nails on the cosmic chalkboard’ voice. “and to you as well Raven.” No matter how many times Izuku would hear Red Lantern voices, it always felt incredibly unpleasant.

Izuku raised an eyebrow at the Raven getting her name used.

“No need to question her.” Dex-Starr interrupted his thoughts. “As a member of the Justice League, she has worked with us before, however briefly.” the cat clarified.

“I assume you have already surmised why you were summoned.” Razer smiled serenely.

Izuku couldn’t help but shiver internally, even with the soothing tone of a Blue Lantern in it, Razer’s voice felt like it was crawling underneath his skin.

“I’m guessing I’m being reassigned to Oa? We figured it would happen soon.” Izuku shrugged.

Razer tilted his head. “Indeed. That is the plan.” Razer got a strangely intense look on his face.

“Is something the matter?” Dex-Starr asked, looking in Razer’s direction.

“Well?” Dex-Starr pressed on as Razer remained quiet.

“Midoriya, if I may call you that, when was it exactly that you perished?” Razer asked a moment later.

“E-Excuse me?” Izuku’s response was only half confused, something that did not escape Halogi’s notice, who seemed intrigued.

Inko meanwhile seemed a second away from fainting. Just what had her son gotten himself into when she hadn’t been looking?!

“Razer is more than a mere Lantern.” Dex-Starr chimed in, eyeing Izuku suspiciously “His unusual resilience to two opposing colours of the emotional spectrum aside, he has developed the ability to see the emotional spectrum in others.”

“All who live carry the light of the emotional spectrum in them.” Razer explained. “However there are two specific lights that are different. The white light of life, used by the White Lantern corps, inherent in all things but almost impossible to harness.” he tilted his head again.

“And the ‘light’ of the Black Lanterns. The light of death. Very few can carry its spark, most who have it have died and were brought back to life.” he clarified. “The only living people who can harness it otherwise are of very nihilistic dispositions. Which, of course, begs the question how you obtained it, if not through an untimely, if temporary, demise?”

Izuku, somewhat nervously, scratched the back of his head. That was not how he imagined this to go. Both he and Raven had hoped that talking about that would have to be a long way off still.

Halogi meanwhile stepped away from the console he had been leaning against “While I am no expert on ‘emotional light’, it doesn’t take a genius to figure this one out.” his demonic face twisted slightly.

“I suppose something happened between you two that caused it. She’s a demonic princess with enough power to level this planet, or even this plane of existence, you’re a Green Lantern recruit with enough of a bleeding heart to help anyone you ever come across. The math isn’t exactly hard is it?” He asked bemusedly into the room.

Izuku furrowed his eyebrows at that “Neither is figuring out who you are, dad.”

Izuku was rarely amused at someone tripping over things or over their own feet, he had that happen to himself enough times, but it was genuinely funny to see his father having it happen while he pretended to be a quasi-demonic scarecrow-ghostrider-metalalbummascot.

“How did…?” Hisashi blinked a few times after he caught himself.

Izuku rolled his eyes, did he look like this from the outside sometimes? “You left a sketch of that suit you’re wearing in your desk drawer. Mom didn’t find it because I hid it after I found it there. Also aside from mom and the other lanterns there’s no one here. The math isn’t exactly hard.”

“Can we please acknowledge the original question?!” Inko cut in, only slightly hysterically “You died?! How? Why? Also why did we only get to know about it now?!”

Raven looked downcast for a moment. “Ma’am, I can answer most of those questions.” she took her hood off “Because I am the person who caused it and the reason why it happened.” she stated solemnly.

Inko blinked for a few seconds, the look on her face barely changing. “Somehow I have the feeling I won’t like this story no matter how it ended up working out.”

Hisashi shrugged slightly next to her. “To be fair she didn’t like the explanation of how I got my fire chains either.”

Everyone blinked in his direction.

“I scammed John Constantine for them. Man’s horrible at poker when he’s drunk.”

“Not the time, dad.”

“Fair.”

Raven sighed “I can offer no apology for what happened, only an explanation. My magic, the same magic I have since taught Izuku, is tied directly to the user's emotions. The closer their control over their emotions the more control they have over their magic.” she raised her left hand, a black orb appearing above it and an equally black cube materialising inside the orb.

“About three weeks into Izuku being sent to be part of the Teen Titans, I received” she forced herself to remain calm “distressing personal news. Usually I can handle that on my own. People know to stay away until I am ready to return and Izuku was told to do so.”

Izuku just scratched the back of his neck “Well I never was one to leave anyone who needs help alone. So I tried to help.”

Inko blinked, looking between Izuku and Raven for a bit before settling her sights on Raven “...and you killed him?”

“What?” Izuku asked “No! Nonono. She didn’t.” he raised his hands rather frantically “There was a demon that came through a portal because I went to see if she was alright and well I kinda flew in front of her when it tried to kill her so…”

“He died.” Raven stopped Izuku’s rambling “Saving me. He did manage to kill the demon in the process. Well that’s not entirely the truth. Izuku almost died. I refused to let him.”

Inko blinked at that statement looking between Izuku, Raven and her husband in the kind of way that implied that she really didn’t know what to make of that.

“Magic is the ability to tell reality to shove off.” Hisashi explained in simple terms. “Little miss demon princess here decided that the Grim Reaper could wait for our son another couple of years and forced him to stay with her.”

“Which if anything I’ve had to do with Constantine has taught me something like that doesn’t end well” Hisashi continued “Which if I had to guess is where teaching him her kind of magic comes in.”

Raven nodded “Make no mistake, Izuku asked to be taught. Had it been anyone else asking I would have probably said no. He would have lived normally, as far as a Green Lantern can, if he hadn’t.”

Razer tilted his head “Your magic tied him to you. As you cannot die, never fully at least, he will remain alive. A” he paused and tilted his head in another direction “curious solution. Arguably unnecessary, seeing as Lantern rings can forcibly keep us alive for aeons if handled correctly.”

Raven nodded again “Yes. The specifics are less friendly in nature but that is the gist of it.”

Izuku sensed that his mother wanted the specifics. “It’s demon magic, mom.” he explained.

“Sooo” Inko looked thoughtful. “You,” she pointed at Izuku, “essentially sold your soul to her.” motioning to Raven “So that if reality eventually catches onto the fact that you’re supposed to be dead it can’t decide to kill you?”

Izuku blinked “Pretty much, yeah.”

Inko paused before palming her face with both hands “...what is my life that something like that does not even rate a six on the scale of insanity I’ve already seen this week?”

If blinking was an audible thing, everyone present was very loud.

“Oh please! There’s so many super-powered teenagers in this tower alone that all of this is...well it’s not a Tuesday but it’s at least a very eventful Thursday.” Inko grumbled indignantly “You could have told me! It’s not worse than Cyborg needing new limbs because they came to life and wandered off.”

Izuku once again scratched the back of his head “W-Well it’s not the entirety of the story.”

Inko rolled her eyes “Izuku if your big revelation is that you intend to marry Raven then you two really need to learn how to hide things. Everyone in the Justice League knows.”

Hisashi shrugged after a moment. “It’s true, I only come up here for meetings and even I know.”

“How?!” Izuku asked, slightly horrified.

“Flash.”

“...G-Goddamnit Wally!” Izuku muttered ineffectually. Raven tried her best not to grin as she petted his elbow soothingly.

Hisashi narrowed his eyes slightly. “Somehow I feel we’re still missing half of what actually happened between you two.”

Izuku raised an eyebrow “Dad, do you want to tell us about all of your escapades as a vigilante? Or do you want me to look into them?”

“I will refer to your judgement to let us know when you’re ready.” Hisashi answered all too quickly.

Dex-Starr had spent the past few minutes looking back and forth between the children and parents with bemused interest, as if watching a very amusing laser dot.

“As much as this was entertaining.” he eventually intoned “As you figured out originally, you are to leave for Oa soon to continue and complete your Lantern training. You have a few days to prepare, Razer shall be there to pick you up. You are to report anything about your previous assignment to Stewart.”

John had, wisely as he increasingly felt, kept quiet and simply nodded.

“How long will he be staying on Oa?” Inko asked, feeling it necessary to be the one to do so.

“Anywhere between a year and three years, depending on his progress.” Dex-Starr answered dispassionately, licking his left front paw. “Razer, we shall take our leave. Stewart, I expect your report by the end of the week.” with two screeching sounds and blood red portals both Dex-Starr and Razer vanished.

Inko blinked at that “Somehow I am unsure if I like the animal Lanterns or not.”

“You should meet Bruce.” Izuku grumbled, much to his parents' confusion.

“He’s a Yellow Lantern and an Australian Fruit Bat, his ring makes him sound like he’s contemplating feeding you to a crocodile. I met him while he was flying up after his recruitment.” Izuku explained.

Izuku looked contemplative “You would like Boyd though, he’s a Blue Lantern Corgi.”

John cleared his throat “As this meeting has concluded I have to ask you to leave. Also Midoriya, if there are any more weird revelations about you...do not tell me. You’re going to give me a heart attack with your antics one day, I don’t need it to happen before your training is even finished.”

There was a pause before everyone else laughed and walked off, leaving Stewart slightly confused. He was serious about that.

Izuku sighed “Guess I should prepare, Raven, can you tell the Titans ahead of time, please? I think I’ll have to visit some people before I go.”

Raven smiled “Sure. Don’t keep us waiting for too long.” she waved and headed for the teleporter room.

Hisashi looked between the two of them as Raven left. “You can hear each other's thoughts.” he stated “So many couples would kill to have that.”

Izuku blinked “How do you know these things?”

“Trust me Izuku.” Inko grumbled “I asked myself that question about both of you so many times that I stopped counting.”

Izuku sighed “Yes. We can. Not always, just when we want to. Though she has been inside my mind before.”

Inko raised a hand “Please. Can we keep your sudden revelations where they are until you’re back from wherever this Oa place is? I’d rather not start drinking to compensate.” she grumbled.

Hisashi paused, putting his hands together, making him look like a very odd, praying, demonic scarecrow, grinning slightly. “Would you like to know just how far away Oa i--”

“Finish that question Hisashi Asura Midoriya and I will make you sleep in a dumpster for the next decade.” Inko growled.

Izuku blinked, looked at his dad and went off to his room on the Watchtower. This was a fight he was not going to get into, he had things to prepare.

He paused at seeing three boxes on his desk. He blinked, he had forgotten all about the present ‘The Rouges’ had given him, he had never opened it. There was also a letter on top of it.

He sighed, might as well start unpacking them, perhaps there were some things worth taking to Oa with him.

Chapter Text

 + ???? +

‘ No. No. No! You can’t die on me!’ A familiar but distant voice whispered as he opened his eyes. ‘I won’t let you.’

He stared around into what seemed to be an endless void. “Ghhh.” He moaned as he looked around.

“W-What happened? Where am I?” He asked no one in particular as he stood up looking around into the void.

“That’s a decent question to ask.” A bemused girl's voice chimed in.

He turned around. Behind him, sitting in a folding chair, was a girl about his age, reading a newspaper. Messy hair, as black as the night sky, pale white skin, to the point its colour made paper seem tanned by comparison.

Black fingernails, black boots that reached up to her knees and while he couldn’t see any of it he was certain the rest of her outfit was equally black and equally goth looking.

“Where is this place?” He eventually asked.

“Not quite the right question. When? Why? Who? Those are closer, but not by much.” She giggled, folding her newspaper and threw it aside.

“You’ve been fun to be around. A bit too shy for my type for a long time, but you’re growing on me.” She giggled.

“Who are you?” He asked, vaguely noticing the newspaper disintegrating into black shreds. “What is this place?”

“Oh I’m sure you know who I am and that you know my name. We’ve met before, well, not quite. But I know you’ve seen me a few times. Very briefly but you did.” She smiled, black lips curling into a small smile.

“You were always so scared those times but you grew out of that the older you got.” She giggled. “Though I figured meeting you for real would still be a long way off.”

A strange, cold, sensation coursed through him for a moment. He felt something to his left on the ground. Turning to see it he stepped back. A body lay on the ground, a boy. He seemed to be about the same height as that boy, though he wondered who was born with green hair?

“Who is he?” He asked, tilting his head slightly. “He feels familiar.” He grabbed at his chin with his right hand. “I have seen him before, I’m sure of it.”

“Not surprising.” The girl giggles. “He’s rather popular, you know. Though that’s not quite why you remember him though.” She mused as he realised that on his right hand was a green ring.

He blinked a few times before looking at the body’s right hand, there was a green ring there too. “Not to worry, I’m sure you’ll remember soon.”

He froze, before another sensation caught his attention. He looked at the palm of his left hand. “Was that always there?” He asked slightly numbly, staring at the blood covering his palm.

The girl shrugged, “Hard to say, people are so fragile that I sometimes forget.” she smiled.

He blinked at the boy on the ground, his left hand was covered in blood too.

“What is happening?” He whispered slightly before a searing pain dragged across his chest. He stared down, three gashes were on his chest, those hadn’t been there before. Had they?

He turned towards the girl, not noticing the body on the ground also having gained the same gashes as he had.

“Y-You know what’s going on here, right?” He asked, a strangely familiar unease in his voice.

“Oh I do but I can’t tell you, sorry. That’s not how it works.” She smiled sadly.

He froze, a freezing cold feeling coursed through his chest. What little light there was in this place dimmed to the point that he could barely see, an oppressive darkness overtaking everything.

A moment later it was gone. “W-What?”

“ Oh good it worked.” A deadpan girl's voice said from his left shoulder. A perfectly pitch black bird with four eyes looked around on it.

“Hello, Raven!” The girl cheered.

The bird looked over to her, narrowing its eyes “It has been a long time. I was hoping meeting you again would be a long way off. I suppose that’s what I get for trying to save this idiot.”

“Save who from what?” The young man asked, genuinely unsettled by the strange bird.

“ You!” The bird pecked his shoulder, “From dying! Because you’re an idiot!”

“Gak! What did I do?! Who are you even?” He grumbled slightly,

The bird paused slightly before doing what could be an eye roll. “Of course. I always forget this happens with normal mortals. You’re dead. Or at least dying.” The bird stated indignantly.

“W-What?” Was the only thing he managed to ask in a very distant tone. Was he really dead? How? More to the point, how could he have died without knowing?

The bird once again made an eye roll motion. “Who do you think that is?” The bird motioned to the body on the ground. “That’s you. Well, your body and mind. Your soul is here. Which I’m currently busy trying to shove back into your body.”

He blinked, a feeling coursed through him again. A memory? He couldn’t tell, a bit of him remembered. “Green.” He mumbled. “That’s what some people called me...right?”

“Oooh he’s slowly getting there. Rarely do people remember anything.” The black haired girl cooed from nearby. “You really found someone special this time sister.”

“ Don’t call me that.” The bird stated indignantly. “It’s bad enough when Jinx calls me that.”

“Aww! But it fits you so well, everyone with magic knows you and we match with the looks even.” The girl whined slightly.

“Uh. Can we get back to the topic that I’m DEAD please?! Why am I dead?!” The now-named ‘Green’ asked, confused.

“Well you’re not actually dead, you’re only mostly dead.” The girl smiled.

“How can someone be only ‘mostly dead’?! That’s insane!” Green grumbled.

“ Would you please stop antagonising the manifestation of Death?” The bird asked indignantly. “She’s annoyingly cheery as is.”

He blinked at the bird. “She’s Death?” He asked incredulously. “That,” he paused contemplatively for a moment, “actually makes a lot more sense than it should.”

The bird blinked with all four eyes, “What?”

He shrugged. “Well if she’s Death then looking like that will probably have people be less freaked out. Which probably makes her work a lot less agitating for everyone involved.” He finally listened to what he was saying.

“...How did I figure that?!” He asked himself eventually, looking at his shoes. Red shoes as he noticed.

“Well you are not actually dead yet.” Death giggled. “You are having what is known as a ‘Near-Death Experience’, which is why I’m here, as I consequently need to have a ‘Near-Green’ experience. Do take your time, I have a book.”

He blinked. “Did you just quote a story? I feel like I’ve read that one.”

The girl shrugged. “One of my favourite authors, actually. It’s rare to find one who doesn’t portray me as mean. Took some great care to let him go gently.”

The freezing cold feeling came back for a moment. “Are you doing that?” He asked the bird.

“ Doing what? Aside from trying to get you back alive?” The bird pecked his shoulder again, seemingly unfocused on the conversation.

“That weird cold feeling. It feels like I’m freezing.” He mused, looking over to where his body supposedly was. A strange black glow had started to engulf it.

He paused, staring at the ring on his right hand. “This. I remember it…. Green.” He muttered. Images that he couldn’t place racing through him.

Then a bit of it made sense, a person in need of help, no one else attempting to aid. People who he figured should have helped. It made him mad, who did they think they were? How could they stand by as people were hurt?

A green spark came from the ring, he recognized it again. A Green Lantern, that’s what he was. He remembered who he saved, someone who others would have told him didn’t ‘deserve’ saving.

A green shine came to his eyes, he remembered now.

“Izuku Midoriya. A Green Lantern. That’s me.” He grumbled, ignoring the girl and bird almost entirely.

“So. What happened?” He asked, a green aura around both him and his body on the ground.

“ It’s a long story.” The bird stated in a vaguely apologetic tone.

“Well I guess we’ll talk about it when I’m back, Raven.” Izuku stated simply, looking down to see himself slowly fading and his body slowly waking.

“Ms. Death?” He turned his head to the girl. “Is there a way to meet you without dying in the process?”

The girl blinked, visibly confused. “It’s difficult but not impossible. I think Raven ought to know some ways.”

“Good. I think you could use some company every once in a while at least.” He mused as he faded entirely, the bird followed shortly after.

Death blinked. Well, that had been a lot more interesting than she expected.

+ Present day, Moon of Earth +

Izuku sighed before getting up and raising his gaze from the grey ground and onto the Earth.

This was the last time he would see it for anywhere between a year and three years.

A year and a half ago, standing on the moon like this would have seemed insane to him. A dream he would never get to live. These days it felt almost a little too normal.

He blinked as he realised a typhoon seemingly dissipated out of nowhere near the American coast line and a small red glint speeding away from where it had been.

No, in hindsight all of his life would probably always feel unbelievable. And today? He would be going to Oa! He wouldn’t even be anywhere near humanity for years.

Well, kind of. There were a few humans working for the Lanterns. So he might meet them but otherwise he’d be away from everything and everyone he knew.

A small noise drew his attention nearby.

“Greetings, brother Green.” Razer called, smiling serenely, though his voice still raked across Izuku’s skin as always.

“Are you ready to leave?” He asked, feeling that he knew the answer.

“Not really.” Izuku sighed. “But who ever is?” He turned away from Earth, facing Razer who simply smiled.

“Those who have nothing left to miss.” Razer answered cryptically before motioning behind himself, a glint of red and blue disappearing off into the distance.

With a strange cacophony of wind chimes and unintelligible roars a portal opened.

“Let us be on our way.” Razer motioned Izuku to follow.

Izuku nodded and with one last look towards the Earth he followed Razer.

Izuku had imagined a space tunnel leading thousands of light years away to be scarier. As if looking at its walls would make him see monstrosities from beyond imagination itself.

But, nothing of the sort happened, instead it just looked like a very colourful tunnel. He could see what appeared to be a translucent walkway beneath them, likely there to allow those without the ability to fly to also use it, though he questioned who could even get in these without the ability to fly.

Suddenly reality seemingly lurched back into existence around them, jolting Izuku from his thoughts. Izuku couldn’t help but feel that this wasn’t supposed to happen, it felt a bit too sudden.

“It appears we’ve gotten Mogo’s attention.” Razer mused beside him, looking up towards a green light above them.

Izuku followed his gaze. “Mo--” His question died in his throat as it dawned on him what he was looking at.

Floating a distance away from them, was a titanic Green Lantern symbol made of equally green energy. It wasn’t just big, it was bigger than a continent, a band of energy that Izuku thought you could build a ring world on.

Encompassed by this band, was a planet.

Mogo, the living planet. Mogo, the sentient planet.

Guardian of the Lanterns home territory.

Izuku had thought he understood things about the universe before. That he had gotten at least somewhat of a handle on the magnitude of the Lanterns.

For the first time since he had gotten his Lantern Ring, he felt he truly comprehended the scope of the universe as a whole.

It made all his worries and fears at home feel so insignificant and stupid.

The Lanterns weren’t just an army enforcing the peace across the universe, they were the reason there could be any peace in the universe in the first place.

Because what other conclusion could you come to, he thought.

The Lanterns had a planet on their side. There were very few things more powerful and bigger than a sentient planet.

GREETINGS BROTHER RAZER

A voice, like a foghorn into reality itself.

If Izuku had been a criminal of any sort he would have immediately decided that this wasn’t a fight he wanted to be part of and hid somewhere. Preferably in the back most corner of the universe. Under a rock. In an ocean.

GREETINGS LANTERN RECRUIT

The voice boomed once again.

“H-Hello, S-Sir.” Izuku stammered, finally finding his voice at being addressed directly.

“I apologise for the interruption of your patrol, brother Mogo.” Razer smiled up at the planet. “I am merely bringing the new recruit to Oa.”

PERMISSION GRANTED PROCEED

With a sound that Izuku couldn’t even possibly describe, Mogo moved away from them.

Izuku repeated that thought in his head. Mogo, a planet, could move on its own volition.

Izuku was unsure how to feel about the fact that the Lanterns had a living planet as their main guard.


Seeing the continent-sized ring of green energy around Mogo made him question what would happen if Mogo attacked something or someone and missed.


It would probably result in vaporising a planet in that direction. Or a sun, or reality in general in that area.



Suitably terrified. He'd settle on being suitably terrified.

Razer chuckled lightly. “I see you have gotten the perspective that all of our recruits eventually receive. Though I must say that I can feel you understand it better than most.” he smiled.

“Come, let us continue.” Razer waved him along, floating off into the same direction they had been previously heading in.

Izuku paused for a moment before going after him.

“Not to sound too freaked out,” Izuku started, not managing to not sound too freaked out at this, “but aren’t you at least a little intimidated that we have a living planet watching us?”

Razer shrugged lightly. “You eventually get used to it. Superman is scarier than Mogo is. Kryptonians in general are scarier than Mogo. Mogo is a planet, yes but he is also ancient, wise and patient. Believe me, if you or anyone were to commit an atrocity vast enough to draw Mogo’s ire, you would know. I may say the entirety of the universe would be aware.”

It took Izuku all of his self control to not imagine that scenario in his head.

Izuku paused, “Mr. Razer?”

“Just Razer will do fine.” Razer interrupted him politely. “Carry on.”

“W-Well it’s just that I don’t quite understand what the different Lanterns do. I know they’re all powered by different emotions and of course there’s the colours but no one ever told me their actual jobs in the Corps.” Izuku eventually managed to get out, meeting Mogo had rattled him a bit.

Razer didn’t stop but Izuku could tell that if they weren’t flying somewhere he would have stood stock still and possibly dropped anything he had been currently holding in his hands at the time.

“Stewart never told you?” Razer asked with a very strained tone.

Izuku sighed. “No, in general he doesn’t talk much to me.”

Izuku was not sure what the string of noises coming from Razer were but the fact that the half red and half blue Lantern uniform Razer wore shifted more towards red and the fact that his own ring refused to translate it gave him a decent idea. Whatever it was that Razer was saying, was not even close to nice or hopeful.

After a moment of recollecting himself Razer sighed, his uniform stabilising back to being half red and half blue. “I apologise, Brother Stewart is a very frustrating person for the rest of the Lanterns. Not to Brother Gardner’s degree but still someone who often irritates and chafes with the rest of us.”

He shook his head. “I suppose I can give you an understanding of the different Corps and their purposes. The first thing you need to understand is that until a few decades ago we were not allies but enemies.” He sighed.

“Only the Green Lanterns and Blue Lanterns were on the side of protecting the innocent and bringing villains to justice, if you can believe it to be so. The Red Lanterns, The Yellow Lanterns, The Indigo Lanterns then known as the Indigo Tribe and even the Star Sapphire Lanterns. They all opposed the Guardians of the Universe and Oa. The Red Lanterns specifically, were an army hell bent on killing all those who they deemed evil.”

Razer smiled slightly. “Then came Allan Scott, a Green Lantern from Earth and the one we now know as the Emerald Knight. He opposed the Guardians' methods, forcing them to understand just how badly their efforts to distance themselves from feeling had affected both their lives, the countless lives of others and their goal.”

“So he proposed a solution. The Knight Corps. The strongest of each Lantern Corp, leading us all united in one goal: A better Universe. A Universe in which the blunders of the past could never occur again. A way for all of us to have a say in the matter.” Razer sighed.

“It has been hard work, having seen parts of it but it has proven a worthy endeavour. The state of the Lanterns has vastly improved thanks to all the Corps being united under one banner. Well. Except for Larfleeze but that individual is another level of danger entirely.” Razer shook his head.

“All of that being said, the different Corps have different tasks as you can imagine. The Red Lanterns have taken the position of Soldiers, bringing areas of war back to their senses, by force naturally. The Yellow Lanterns have since become information gatherers, spies and interrogators.”

The look on Izuku’s face alone made it clear that most of this information did nothing to soothe his nerves.

"Not all heroic individuals are inherently good." Razer mused sagely. "Think of what you know of Red Lanterns. We are driven by rage, it is one of the very reasons we were chosen. Each and every one of us has seen or experienced atrocities that would drive others mad. Do you truly believe that none of us used that chance to take vengeance on those who have wronged us?" His question was purely rhetorical, he knew that Izuku wasn’t that naive.

“I do wonder about something: Why are the spies and interrogators dressed in bright yellow? I get that it’s the colour of light of fear and everything but they stand out way too much.” Izuku contemplated.

"The thing you will soon come to understand about the Yellow Lanterns is that their scariest aspect is not how good they are at killing people." Razer ventured on, ignoring Izuku's stare.

"It's their ability to not kill people." He clarified.

"That doesn’t make sense." Izuku raised an eyebrow.

"Oh it does." Razer objected. "You would be surprised how terrifying being left alive can be."

“That being said, the Indigo Lanterns are our mediators, essentially they ensure that areas where wars and devastation have not yet taken hold remain that way and improve. Their commitment to compassion and neutrality to all beings has been invaluable for this, they do not pick sides in conflicts, merely stating the facts.” Razer continued.

“The Star Sapphire and Blue Lanterns have similar duties, though with vastly different approaches. The Star Sapphire Lanterns bring life back to where devastation took it, healing the emotional wounds of those who require it. Sometimes in the, hm, most literal of senses if you understand.” Razer coughed awkwardly.

Izuku blinked for a few seconds, trying very hard to keep the mental link to Raven closed because that was a mental image she should not be seeing, ever.

“Meanwhile the Blue Lanterns heal the mind and body as well as restarting war torn civilizations on more peaceful grounds.” Razer explained after the awkward pause subsided.

“Then finally there are the Green Lanterns. Whereas the other Lanterns restore peace where it has been missing for a long time, the Green Lanterns keep the peace.” Razer concluded.


“Though I should qualify all of this by saying that when Darkseid and his underlings are involved, all orders are rescinded and all Lanterns are on high alert, given permission to do what must be done.” He finished grimly.

Izuku blinked at that, he knew of course that the Lanterns opposed Darkseid as much as any sane person did but he hadn’t thought that every other order was deemed of lower priority than stopping Darkseid’s return.

“What are the Black and White Lanterns then? They don’t seem to fit.” Izuku tilted his head slightly, as he could see strange glints in the distance that they were flying towards.

“Their task is even more important than ours, you will find out the specifics later on.” Razer shook his head “It’s far too early for you to look into their existences.”

As they got closer to the glints in the distance Izuku realised what he had seen, planets. Small singular coloured planets.

“Ah yes, our homes away from home away from Oa.” Razer smiled. “Brother Walker’s idea I do believe. He figured that it may be useful for us all to have places to stay where not all Lanterns are always present, thus these planets were created.”

The various small planets floating near Oa all represented the different Lantern Corps.

Each was unique but also very 'on brand' for the individual corps.

The yellow planet looked more like a gigantic yellow castle than an actual planet. Strangely smooth spires and towers littered its surface.

The red planet, in Izuku's opinion, could best be described by taking mars, shrinking it and then setting it on fire. Rifts and cracks of red plasma snaked their way across the surface. He could barely see the residences of the Red Lanterns among all the red.

The blue planet was as close to a gigantic zen garden as you could physically get, small temples, waterfalls and beautiful flower fields everywhere. Izuku imagined it quite nice to live on.

The indigo planet was weird. It looked barren and almost lifeless, the homes of the lanterns living on it were the only signs of life and those were literally indigo blocks. It had something of brutalist art.

The star sapphire planet was eerie, in that it looked like a crystalline version of the yellow planet. Something about it made Izuku deeply uncomfortable and he couldn't have said why.

Finally, the green planet looked vaguely like a city on earth but spanning an entire globe. There was something oddly industrial and militaristic about it.

There was no orange planet, just a giant sign that Izuku guessed translated to "Reserved for when Larfleeze regains his senses, which may be after the heat death of the universe."

Oa was, from a very objective viewpoint, a planet. It certainly looked the part, though the ever shifting colours that one saw from the distance made it hard to look at it too long.

Actually standing on it however you would be forgiven for thinking it was a 3D rainbow-coloured labyrinth of temples and oddly industrial looking buildings.

This was of course, just your imagination, as Oa was as much a location as a fixed point in time. So what you perceived as looking up was actually looking at tomorrow and down was yesterday. This, of course, was intentional.

After Amazo had temporarily displaced Oa, the Guardians of the Universe had asked him to help protect the place against similar incidents.

His solution while certainly achieving what they wanted had the bad tendency of giving people temporary insanity if they thought about it too much.

“Your first task, as declared by Dex-Starr, will be to help with the Archives.” Razer explained as he and Izuku, who was still starry-eyed looking around the place, walked towards a massive tower-like structure.

Izuku blinked as they got to what he figured was the main room of the archives, staring upwards into an endless spiral of coloured volumes of information. It was like the inside of a supercomputer had been turned into the tower of babel.

He couldn’t even remotely imagine where the ceiling of the place was.

“You carry a familiar expression on your face, young recruit.” A deep, smooth, baritone voice made Izuku spin to look at the centre of the room. “One that I have seen many times since I have taken the task of being the Archivist.”

Standing there was a fifty foot tall humanoid robot in a Green Lantern uniform, broad shouldered and heavily armoured, where the usual Green Lantern Symbol was supposed to be. Izuku could see the Power Battery instead. He blinked a bit, did this robot need his Power Battery to live?

It also dawned on him that despite being a robot the voice was almost completely natural sounding. The voice even felt strangely familiar though he couldn’t quite place it.

“Worry not, young recruit. I have had this Power Battery within myself for aeons, it saved me and in turn I protect these archives.” The robot started with as stoic of a voice as before.

“S-Sorry, I just didn’t imagine that someone would need a Power Battery as their heart.” Izuku admitted sheepishly.

“You will find that many of our Brothers have peculiar situations to live with.” Razer mused sagely.

“This is Izuku Midoriya, though most call him ‘Green’, he will be your aid for a while Pax.” Razer motioned to Izuku.

Pax didn’t show much emotion on his face, if any. “Greetings ‘Green’, curious that part of our title was chosen as your call sign. Do carry it with pride and care alike. I am Pax, I have worked in these archives for as long as the Lanterns have existed. For a time, you shall aid me here.”

He briefly nodded to Razer. “I shall inform him of anything else he may need to know for now, Brother Razer. Do give my regards to Illana.”

Razer briefly nodded to Izuku and left without another word.

“Uhm. A question: Do you have another name you go by? Pax sounds like a surname or a call sign.” Izuku asked, trying not to be too invasive.

“Indeed. I only go by Pax these days as my first name tends to confuse people in conversations. There is a New God of Genesis who shares my name, as such I have chosen to forgo it.” Pax explained patiently, as if he had heard that question a few times before.

“For now, let me welcome you to the archives. Here, all information of the Lantern Corps is stored, sorted and investigated.” Pax made a vaguely sweeping motion, though his stoic voice barely changed.

Pax turned back towards Izuku: "These books are not quite what you may consider books. They write themselves and correct themselves most of the time but the information inside of them, no matter how minor, can mean the difference between a small skirmish taking place and a war that destroys a world. That is why archivists such as you and I are important, we can prevent calamitous events as long as we diligently observe and investigate the information here."

Izuku nodded, slightly reverently, he knew how important details could be in quirk analysis. Even slight differences in material could mean the difference between a support item breaking to bits and surviving a hit.

“Come, we have much to do and you have much to learn.” Pax waved him along.

+ Musutafu, Former Midoriya Residence +

“So what can you do, little guy?” Hawks asked amused, this Stornic kid seemed to be almost exploding with energy.

“Oh, just this.” With a comical ~Poof~ sound and a cloud of smoke there were suddenly two of the kids next to each other.

“Tadaa! And for my next trick…” ~Poof~

Hawks blinked, where the second one of the Tanuki boys had been was now a copy of himself, inspecting its own wings.

“Woah, these are weird.” The not-Hawks exclaimed, slightly pulling at his own wings. “I’ve copied people with wings before but these are different, like they’re made of little shards or something.”

A familiar cackling drew their attention to the furthest corner of the room. “So that’s how you did that little trick of yours with Present Mic. Shoulda known you can clone people.” Halogi laughed.

“So Hawks, what’s the word at the HPSC so far?” Halogi inquired.

Hawks shrugged slightly annoyed.”Not much changed, I think they’re ramping up the rhetoric about quirk-less people, Midoriya’s ‘ascension’ to a Green Lantern is making the law makers antsy, they don’t wanna risk an uproar. Word around the offices I’ve been to is that you’ve been making waves too, a lot of HPSC personnel are debating whether or not to quit after some of the information you and Stain have been gathering got leaked.”

“Good.” Halogi sneered, “Means we’re making progress but we’ll be running out of time soon enough.”

“You think we might have to deal with a civil war?” Hawks asked, shivering slightly at the thought.

“It will happen, not might. A few good people and a few good decisions can’t undo decades of citizens and villains feeling like they’re second rate to all the heroes.” Halogi shook his head “Best we can achieve is to delay it and get the civilians out of harm's way.”

“So.” the not-Hawks smiled “Are we gonna plan your death or what?”

+ Gotham City streets, night(?) +

“C-Come on.” A nervous thug stammered. “We gotta get outta this place.” He looked around into the alleys near the warehouse.

“If these creeps are still around the place, we’re toast!”

“Relax dumbass.” The other growled. “We’ll be in and out in minutes.”

A skittering noise drew the attention of the thug trying to unlock the door just long enough for his neck to snap like a twig. The other thug followed a moment later.

A few seconds later the bodies of the thugs fell into the sewers as two hooded Parademons walked into the warehouse.

Machine pieces littered the floors and walls, as with the noises of welding and electric sparks the two observed the other Parademons working on what seemed to be a large piece of a frame.

It would take them years, it already had taken them years to complete it.

A portal to Apokolips, one of their projects.

The other project was even further from completion than this one.

Darkseid. Their Master, he needed a new body but it wasn’t that simple to get him one.

Whenever Darkseid was defeated, one merely destroyed his current avatar and every avatar needed to be stronger than the last for it to be worth the dark gods greatness, he wouldn’t settle for second best.

This, of course, proved a challenge, as it would require them to make one that could crush the Justice League and Lantern Corps utterly the next time.

However, that was the vile beauty of the forces of Apokolips, they had all the time in the universe, all the time in reality, all the time in existence.

Because they knew, there was only one truth.

Darkseid is.

Chapter Text

 + Justice League Watchtower II, Meeting Room +

“Been a long while since I was allowed in here. Still as fancy as it always was.” Question mused, putting his feet up onto the conference table in the same kind of way someone watching TV did on their living room table.

“So, what’s the progress on the kids you sent Eraserhead after?” Superman asked, slightly impatient, ever since the Cadmus incidents the Question had grated with him, it wasn’t that Question had been correct that made him dislike the man. It was more so Question’s ability to make that feel like the worst thing in the universe.

“They’re safe. Working for me in a cat cafe, for now. Have been for a few weeks. Gotta need some help with them though, especially the Todoroki kid.” Question answered, his voice increasingly sobering as he went.

“I dunno what happened to that boy but he’s near to being a walking corpse. If he weren’t so damn stubborn he’d have been long dead if you ask me.” Question continued.

“The Shimura kid’s fine. All he really needed was some perspective, bit of a show that not everything is terrible and that someone cares. Give him a year and he won’t even want to hurt people anymore. Well, mostly, he’ll still need therapy but he’ll be manageable, I think.” He shrugged.

“That being said, this ‘All For One’ is one damned piece of shit.” he almost growled. “I thought Luthor was a horrible person but this guy? I dunno what his game is but everything I found points towards him grooming a whole bunch of kids to be his backup bodies or replacements or both at the same time with the Shimura kid.”

Superman blinked. “All Might said something about him being around for multiple generations longer than a normal person. You think he could have done this before?”

Question shrugged. “Possible, he wouldn’t be the first man out there to want to be immortal, damn the consequences.”

“Heard anything from Huntress?” Flash asked, having stayed quiet until now.

“Not more than she told you. She’s been busy preparing for Halogi’s big gambit. Gonna take a while still, probably a few more months if I had a guess. She’s fine otherwise but is keeping her head low. Whoever that Doofenshmirtz looking jackass thinks he is, tends to try and get handsy with her recently.” Question left the ‘and if he so much as puts a scratch on her I’ll personally drown him in an inch of pudding. Nose first.’ unsaid.

“So what do you need for the Todoroki boy?” Green Arrow asked curiously.

If the Question could have sneered without a face, he certainly would be at this point. “Some kind of healer, magical one I’d say. The boy is literally decaying away, if he doesn’t get medical attention on a high level soon, we’re gonna need a necromancer instead. More he uses his powers the more he falls apart, simple as that.”

The Question paused, sighing lightly. “Gonna be honest, I’m glad to take care of those kids. Hell, even the normal ones we got in that cafe now are good kids, left to fend for themselves in a place that for some reason hates them.”

Clark paused, before smiling lightly. “Sounds like you found your people.”

“Don’t push it, boy scout.” The Question grumbled. “I shouldn’t be feeling at home anywhere. No one should be like me.”

Flash laughed. “Well then the sooner you get them to be normal, the sooner you get to be doing your thing again.”

If a face without any ability to express itself could have glared a hole into someone’s head, Question would have been a master artist at it.

“How’s that protegee of yours?” He eventually asked. “Not ‘Kid Flash’, the Green Lantern you adopted.” He clarified.

“I didn’t adopt him.” Flash laughed, almost tipping out of his chair.

“Sure you didn’t, that’s why Stewart’s off wherever right now. You care more about that kid than most people.” Question grumbled.

“For one he still has parents, their priorities are just different. Also he’s doing fine. Oa’s turning out to be a nicer place than he thought.” Flash huffed indignantly.

“How you figure that?” Question raised an invisible eyebrow.

“Well Raven’s got a psychic-magic-whatever link to him, it’s not difficult to just ask her to keep us in the loop. His mom does, though his dad’s apparently fine with now knowing what he’s up to.” Flash shrugged.

“Heh. Here I thought you’d have Batman hack his comms or something...speaking of, where is the old Gargoyle? Haven’t seen or heard from him in a while.” Question looked around.

“He’s in Gotham.” Superman cut in. “Catching up with some friends, at least that’s what he said.”

“You really believe that? Since when did that damned Bat ever have friends?” Question grumbled.

Superman sighed. “I’ll get Zatanna, maybe she can help your son.” His tone made it clear that they would change the subject.

To his surprise, Question did not so much as even react to that statement.

+ Gotham City, Cobblepot Manor +

Oswald Cobblepot sat in his large business chair of his dark office, staring out into the night typical to Gotham. Stars glinting above, the full moon was out, some dark clouds moving about.

The more he thought about it the more it really disturbed him, in all his years it always felt like a full moon or like a rainy night, it was like Gotham didn’t know any other kind.

He sighed, absentmindedly grabbing to his left and pulling out the drawer of his desk. Tins of sardines, his favourite, stacked perfectly in there but...but he just couldn’t bring himself to open one anymore.

He paused before sighing and pushed it back closed.

“Been a long while since you visited.” He rasped slightly, seemingly talking to himself. “You know, no matter how many times ya do that, no matter how many years it’s been, it still makes my neck hairs stand on end. Never figured out how, mind ya, even ninjas I hired never could manage that. At least not with your consistency.”

Batman, who was standing at the entrance of the room, just stared blankly, not wanting to give Cobblepot the satisfaction of knowing he’d actually not been talking to an empty room.

“So many years.” Oswald sighed. “So many years I spent on a criminal empire in this damned city and for what? To realise that I’m not getting any younger? To be told time and again that I’ll always be an ugly, bird-like goon with more money than he knows what to do with?” He chuckled mirthlessly. “Would ya believe me if I told ya that I finally buy what you’re selling? That I’m all clean now and really did turn a new leaf? Doubt it. You don’t trust anyone that much, least of all me.”

“I’ve come here to ask you some questions, Cobblepot.” Batman growled, in his usual tone, that was to say a near emotionless deadpan that intimidated even the most hardened criminals.

“You wanna know what’s going on in good old Gotham, I reckon.” Oswald chuckled tiredly. “Spent a bit too much time in that space town of yours eh? Well, I’m no stranger to ya, am I? So I can give it to ya straight.” He got up and laboriously walked to the window before sighing.

“It’s all changed now, Bat. Nothing’s the same anymore. Lot of us? We quit. Clayface is getting real help now, he’ll be out and an actor again in half a decade if things work out. Freeze is getting a plea bargain soon with some science folks, some DNA preservation project on a place called I-Island. Killer Croc, would you believe it? He’s getting married! To some Orca lady, they’re moving to Japan once he’s out by the end of the year, she’s got an uncle there apparently. No clue what old Riddles is up to.”

He coughed, for quite a while, leaving Batman to stare at his back.

“And you?” Batman eventually asked, though he didn’t sound nearly as cold as usual. “What about you?”

“Heh.” Oswald laughed. “Me? What about me? Simple. I’m getting too old for this shit! Khe. Gods how stupid was I when I started this whole mess? Oswald Cobblepot! The Penguin! Avenger of the Cobblepot name!” He made a grand gesture with his hand and then scoffed. “Bah. Nonsense. All I did was drag us through the mud even more. No. I’m done. I’m not gonna be in this game anymore.”

Batman said nothing for a moment before asking. “But right now you still are, aren’t you?”

“Heh.” Oswald turned around, walked around his desk and looked at him sternly, god how much he hated that Batman had aged so well compared to himself. “Of course. We have an agreement after all. I don’t believe in a lot Bat, but keeping my word? That’s one of them.” he smiled viciously.

“So here’s our last deal: I reveal everything I know, about anything I still know. In return, you answer any questions I still got. And after that? We’re done. We’ll never meet each other again, Aside from social functions, of course, gotta keep a proper appearance don’t we?” He chuckled before coughing loudly.

He paused for a second, before scowling. “Someone’s consolidating a lot of the little gangs. Or rather they’re killing them off. The sewers are swamped with corpses all around, yet somehow no ones taking more territory or trying to take credit. Something big is happening Bat. Don’t know what but it’s scaring the hell out of the nightlife that much’s for sure.”

He sighed, shaking his head. “Not all either. Lot of tech has gone missing but no one knows how or why. It’s all random junk, stolen from the junk yards and old computers. Ya wouldn’t even notice if ya weren’t looking into it. But what I did notice? Someone’s renting a whole lot of halls in the harbors.”

Batman’s eyes narrowed. “That’s all?”

“Oh don’t give me that look! All else I know is that whoever is responsible is called ‘The Boss’ by some of the small times I got my hands on!” Oswald barked, before pausing.

“Actually, actually now that ya mention it. There’s one weird thing. Sid the Squid.” Oswald said suddenly to Batman’s near visible confusion.

“Ya know ‘Sid the Squid’? You remember him? The random dumbass who people thought had killed you once? He’s back here again, I think. Though if he is, I wouldn’t know where.” Oswald shrugged.

Oswald coughed a few times before sighing and speaking up again. “That’s about it. Got nothing more to share. At least on current happenings, feh.”

Oswald took a deep breath before flipping his cane’s head open, which had taken Batman until now to register was an actual walking cane, not an umbrella like it had once been.

“This,” Oswald pointed to the red button hidden underneath the cane’s head, “triggers as short range EMP. Nothing in this house, except for some emergency lights will be working once I press it. None of your tech, none of mine, will be doing anything for ten minutes after I push this.” He smiled, his crooked teeth glinting slightly.

“I want us to be on equal grounds, for once. No fights, no tricks. Just you and me. Having a chat. I feel you owe me at least that, given it’s the last time we’re gonna talk.” Oswald glared at him, almost daring him to say no.

Batman narrowed his eyes. “...Do it.”

Oswald paused for a moment, slightly taken aback before pushing the button.

Every light in the entire manor shut off instantly, every camera fried itself. Much to Batman’s confusion the doors behind him locked themselves too.

“Let’s sit down shall we?” Oswald motioned to a small table with two chairs near it. “We got no rush, not really. I know that you know every way out of here, so you got no hurry.”

Batman, with some reluctance, sat into one of the chairs, almost as if expecting some elaborate restraints to spring up but nothing happened.

“Ya know.” Oswald coughed while sitting on his chair. “I’m almost sad, that it took me so long to realise who I was fighting against for so many years. I suppose it’s only fair that the last of the Wayne family, putting the last of the Cobblepot’s into their place. Isn’t it Bruce?”

Bruce would have wanted to glare, interrogate him how he knew his secret but… for the first time in his career it felt like he was dealing with an old man, not The Penguin, just old man Oswald Cobblepot.

“Heheh.” Oswald laughed. “No need to worry, I’m not telling anyone. Not like anyone would believe me nowadays.” He waved the concern off like an annoying fly. “I’m not the only one who figured it out either, lot of us did. It’s why many of us stopped, ya know?”

He sighed, shaking his head. “You’ve got to have realised, I thought. That’s why Catwoman disappeared. Stories are that she lives in France now. Paris I’d say, hell maybe she’s married by now.” He shrugged.

“What do you want to know?” Bruce asked, taking off his hood, there was no need to hide.

Oswald barked a laugh. “Gods, you still look like that after all these years?! Man, I’d kill to have your genes boy. Heheh.” He shook his head before his look turned serious.

“Well, what most of us want to know.” His tone and look turned deadly.

“Bruce, I’ve been one of your first enemies. One of the people who has been there since your first fights. I know when things change around here. I’ve been part of most of those changes!” He growled.

“You can’t hide things from me. I knew these streets before even you did. And I know the people who walk it. The Joker was no exception but,” he froze for a moment, clutching his chest and taking a deep breath.

“Tell me. Is. Is that nightmare. That grinning abomination. That thing that calls itself ‘The Joker’. Is it the real one? Or some psycho acting as if they were?” His voice was but a whisper as Bruce looked at his ashen face.

Bruce took a deep breath, before looking out at the lights of the city behind Oswald.

“The Joker,” Bruce began, focusing on Oswald's eyes again, “is dead. Has been for a while now.”

Oswald raised his hand, having calmed down. “That explains a lot. The old Joker. He was different. The new one wouldn’t know a good joke if it killed him, but the old one knew tragi-comedy. So? What happened?” He grinned. “Did ya finally snap and end the damned clown?”

He froze as he finished the question, it turned out that no Batman’s glare was not tied to his mask in any way.

“No.”

Oswald chuckled, only slightly nervously. “Heh. In hindsight I feel stupid for asking. Guess whatever happened will be a secret the Bats take to their graves ah?”

“Yes.”

Oswald chuckled, pressing the button on his cane again, making the lights turn on again and unlocking the doors, as Bruce put his cowl on before the cameras saw it.

“That’s really all I cared for knowing, already figured the rest on my own ya know.” Oswald smiled as Batman stood up and seemingly glided to the exit.

“Thank you.” Oswald said as Batman reached the doors, making him stop.

“Thank you for trying, for caring for us. I know, I know. It’s all too late for that. We’ve all done horrible things, far too horrible things. No one should care for us but you? Ya still do, even now. Thank you. For not giving up on the lot of us.” Oswald smiled.

He couldn’t see it, nor would his cameras record it but Batman also smiled as he exited the manor and reached the Batmobile.

Perhaps, they both thought, perhaps there was hope in this cursed town yet.

“Ms. Quinzel?” Bruce asked through the Batmobile’s phone.

“Yes. Mr. Wayne?” a cheery if cautious voice came from the other end.

“You can clear up my appointments for tomorrow. Some private matters have gotten cleared up. I recall you wanted to talk to me about something? We can fit that into the schedule earlier, if you want that.” He tried and failed not to let a light smile seep into his voice.

“I-I’m sure we’d both be okay with that Mr. Wayne.” He could almost hear a childish giggle escape her as she abruptly hung up.

His face turned serious again however. There were still many unanswered questions.

The second Joker had haunted him for years now, as did the second Harley Quinn.

Poison Ivy didn’t know who she was either, but admitted that it was hard to tell who was under the mask. He was almost sure that she realised that the Harleen Quinzel working for Bruce Wayne was not the same person as the Harley Quinn she knew.

Yet both the original Harleen Quinzel and Harley Quinn seemed to be convinced they were the first one. Yet somehow they weren’t. Clone divergence perhaps?

It wasn’t part of the reality distortion he had analysed, at least not entirely. Perhaps other timeline alterations had somehow duplicated them? Perhaps there even was a third set or fourth set of Harley Quinns and Jokers?

Questions for later, he decided, for now he needed to find out more about how Sid the Squid of all people had returned and how it all factored into the recent issues in Gotham.

He clicked a button on the Batmobile.

“Nightwing. I know you are still on your honeymoon but I need help in Gotham. Call me back. This is important.”

+ Archives of Oa, Section ???? +

Izuku felt like he had vastly underestimated just how endlessly gigantic the archives truly were.

Every day Pax had led him to another section and each felt more incomprehensibly massive than the main tower.

Endless halls, corridors, towers, even more halls. A living, breathing labyrinth of information that shifted and changed the further one was led into it. In many cases Izuku had tried to turn around on the spot and found himself in a different corridor than he had started in.


Today Pax led him far, far into the Archives. Izuku looked around slightly nervously, as the various corridors behind them started closing.


Eventually, Pax tugged at his own chest for a moment, before with a mechanical noise, his Power Battery dislodged and he proceeded to hold it in front of him, lighting the way as they continued along the corridors.

“I have heard.” Pax began into the silence. “That you were once without powers of your own. Is that true?”

Izuku paused. “Compared to everyone I knew at the time? Yeah.” He eventually answered.


“Then I suppose my information that you now aim to keep some form of power is also correct?” Pax’s voice was not accusatory, he was just genuinely asking.

“Y-Yes.” Izuku muttered slightly, looking down as they continued walking.

“There is no shame in resenting the cards one is dealt.” Pax smiled sadly “I would be the last person to fault you for such a thing.” he mused darkly.

“I come from a world and society, long oppressed by our ‘superiors’.” They stopped in front of a blank, gigantic, wall, green lines spreading across its surface. The lines eventually formed two different face-like shapes and a Green Lantern symbol in the middle between them before slowly giving way.

“These parts of the archives are” Pax paused slightly. “Unorthodox.” He concluded before putting his Power Battery back into his chest.

“Without using my Power Battery in the way I did, I would not have been able to pass through the corridor behind us.” Pax clarified. “You, however, could do so unharmed. Because unlike myself, you carry the spark of the Black Lanterns.” Pax looked at him with a grave expression.

“What you find in this area, the things that you will see here, are not to be shared. With anyone. Am I clear?” Pax didn’t change his tone of voice or expression but Izuku could tell he was gravely serious.

“Y-Yes Pax.” Izuku answered, feeling meek. It was rare these days for him to feel genuinely intimidated of something or someone but he knew that Pax, much like Mogo, was ancient and powerful and that disappointing him, much less angering him, was the last thing he ever wanted to do.

On their right, through massive, multicoloured glass, Izuku saw a strange endless garden. Whatever flowers grew there, he thought, did not obey the laws of the universe any more. Some were gigantic, big enough for him to stand on, others tiny, mere glint to his eyes. But they all shared a trait, they were all perfectly black or perfectly white.

On the left was a wall of books, as big as any other in the archives, but in the centre of it all was a large, empty, flat surface with a lectern in front of it. In this ‘Lectern’ was an indentation, shaped exactly like one of the books in the wall.

“These records must never be read.” Pax explained as they approached the lectern. “That does not however mean that their contents can not be viewed.” he mused sagely, picking a specific book from his place and placing it within the slot.

“This. Is the tale of my home, of how I came to join the Lanterns.” Pax explained, pointing to the wall.

Izuku stared as the wall suddenly began carving glowing lines into itself, displaying what he thought to be what the book was about.

The first image was of two robotic people, Pax and someone else, speaking within a library.

“I once was an Archivist.” Pax explained solemnly. “I saw the signs of our societies decline. One of my closest friends opposed it” he motioned to the other figure in the image “and asked me to help.”

“He was from a colony. A dark and dreary place, forced to fight for his right to live. I felt that I could not deny his view that we needed to change.” Pax shook his head.

The image shifted, drawing a large, court-like structure with many similarly robotic people sitting in high backed chairs staring at Pax and the other robot, who Izuku noticed had a vaguely bucket shaped helmet.

“We tried to appeal to reason, to make the plight of our people heard. We wished for our kind to be equals in all ways.” Pax recounted sadly as the image shifted again.

Izuku wanted to recoil slightly but didn’t. The ‘judges’ in their high backed seats had stood up and straight up shot the two.

Pax’s wound was obviously aimed at his centre as his friend was hit in the shoulder by at least two lasers of some description.

“In that moment, I realised we would never know peace the way we had hoped. But I did not surrender, neither did my friend.”

The image shifted again, showing a progression of Pax and his friend each being inducted into different Lantern Corps.

Pax himself became a Green Lantern, his heart replaced by his Power Battery.

Pax’s friend became a Red Lantern, his Power Battery integrating itself with his armour.

“We changed our world, our people, that cycle.” Pax shook his head “Though for better or for worse I still do not know.”

The image shifted twice in close succession, first showing Pax’s friend standing on a veritable mound of other robots, red light glowing from his very being. Pax’s representation stood away from the mound of corpses, looking horrified.

The next showed Pax and his friend in heated combat.

“My friend lost his mind. He drowned in his rage and would not see reason. By the time I reached him, I was already too late.” Pax shook his head as the image shifted again. “I destroyed him. Extinguished his spark.” His voice was almost unheard, his tone solemn.

The wall now showed a gigantic funeral procession of countless robotic individuals mourning Pax’s friend, with Pax himself standing behind his friend's burial, his Power Battery held aloft.

“All I could do. I all I can do. Was to remind them to be better. That we are better. That we must be better.” Pax clenched his fists with a loud grinding noise. “His rampage and death should never have happened. The lives lost in those days were needless. So were the many lives lost in countless cycles before us.” Pax shook his head.


“B-But. He killed a lot of those people.” Izuku both argued automatically but almost instantly regretted it.


“So have many who meant well.” Pax answered darkly. “So have I, in the times I felt no other measure would do.” he shook his head.

“Make no mistake, Green.” Pax looked at him with a near defeated expression on his face. “I understand. You wish to save everyone and wish for everyone to be happy. A noble goal, one that I know we all share. One that I have held in my spark for longer than you can imagine,” he sighed deeply, “however, some wounds are simply too deep. Some travesties are too vile, to be simply washed away.”

“You still honoured him.” Izuku pointed out though his outrage was more reflex than anything.

“I honoured the man who asked me to help free millions of slaves.” Pax answered calmly. “I did not advocate to forgive the monster who killed thousands of civilians.”

“T-That’s…” Izuku struggled to find words.

“Not fair.” Pax answered for him. “It is not. And yes, I have met countless families who despise me to this very moment for helping his cause long ago.” Pax shook his head. “But you must understand that sometimes there is no correct answer. Sometimes decisions like these must be made. No matter how much it hurts.”

Pax sighed once again, looking around the area.

“Look through this section, see the stories that many of us are not allowed to share.” he almost commanded.

“You will find that nothing in the universe is simple.” Pax turned around, once again removed his Power Battery from his chest and held out against the darkness of the corridor they had come from, leaving Izuku in the section he had led him to.

Izuku dragged his hands down his face, taking deep breaths and trying to recenter. This was not how he imagined this to go.

He paused as the book that Pax had picked from the shelves headed back to its spot, erasing the lines from the wall.

Izuku sighed, staring at the palms of his hands. What did Pax want him to find here?

As if to answer him, several coloured sparks headed to various books on the wall.

“Okay, fine.” Izuku grumbled almost a little indignant. “No need to railroad me.”

Nevertheless he picked up a red book from the wall. He tilted his head at the title, which translated itself as he read it.

‘ Succession Crisis of the Red Light’

As soon as he touched it, the book hurt like fire. It felt as if he was holding flowing lava in his hand. What was it with Red Lantern Light and hurting him like this?

With gritted teeth he inserted the book into the slot, shaking his hands furiously before looking at the wall. It really didn’t help his disposition that the light coming from the wall hurt just by looking at it.

He wasn’t exactly sure what he was looking at, at first.

Then his skin began crawling as the information almost inserted itself into his head by force.

A sea of red, bones and entrails strewn as far his vision would allow it. Charging through it like a tidal wave, right towards him, was a creature made of pure hatred, red as blood, red as the death of a star.

He recoiled, guarding himself for the agony but nothing ever happened. He blinked before reality came back into view.

The wall had changed to show a bull-like creature on the top, carving a bloody fissure through countless corpses. On the lowér part stood a...man? Wielding a red, glowing sword and a red glowing hammer. Izuku was not sure what he was to make of the fact that the lines representing the man himself were an unnatural dark green.

He felt a wave of pain engulf him again before looking around.

He was standing among Red Lanterns who were desperately trying to make their rings work.

Even Atrocitus seemed to not be able to do much of anything with his ring.

Sitting, cross legged, in the middle was a man-ish alien with a very dry looking face and long teeth, his ring on the palm of his hand.

“I see...the butcher.” The person mumbled as their red ring lifted. “It is in pitched battle. We are being tested.” his voice reverberated among the Red Lanterns. “Rage itself is being tested.”

Izuku and all the Red Lanterns in this...vision felt a massive wave of hatred and rage sweep through them as if the ground itself became an ocean of fire.

Izuku was hurled back into himself, forcing him to blink at the image on the wall. The man-like creature was engaged in an all out war against the giant bull and the bull was already missing a horn.

Izuku froze as he realised the image was slowly redrawing itself, specifically the head of the person as they stopped ‘The Butcher’. Whoever or whatever this being was, they were turning to look at him.

A wave of pain, different from the others but strangely familiar, washed over him. He was with the Red Lanterns again, who stared at their rings in amazement.

Izuku himself saw the man sitting on a throne made of The Butcher’s skull. Staring at him, staring at the Red Lanterns. It made his insides crawl, it made his heart crawl, it made his soul crawl.

WE PUNISH THE GUILTY. NO ONE ELSE SHALL SUFFER.

Izuku wanted to scream, to retch from the pain he felt, gripping the front of the lectern for a moment as he regained his bearings.

“That was...unpleasant.” He stammered hoarsely to himself. It took him a few minutes before he let go of the lectern and straightened himself, taking a deep breath to re-center, the meditation training for his magic had certainly helped. The book flew out of the slot in the Lectern and back to its spot.

He flexed his fingers slightly, pain still coursing through him like a circuit. Why did it hurt so much? Why did the pain stay so long?

He shook his head and headed to another book and put it in the slot on the Lectern.

The title of the book read:

‘Coins of Power’

Izuku looked around, again a vision had caught him.

He was in a large hall of some kind, grey metal floors and some odd consoles strewn about. A strange UFO headed robot with tube shaped arms and claw hands hammering on some keys.

A voice drew Izuku’s attention as he turned to a half round console near a gigantic blue coloured tube.

Standing there were five people, dressed in different coloured suits and familiar helmets. Izuku blinked. That...they couldn’t be...right?

“M-Master Z’don?” The red clothed person asked. “You can’t be serious right? W-We can’t just.”

“I am sorry.” A large, blue head appeared, one of the Guardians, Izuku thought. Or at least they had been a Guardian once. Long ago.

“That is what has been decided.”

“We can’t just stop now! We just began making a difference.” The pink one of the team exclaimed.

“We just saved our planet!” The one dressed in black interrupted any answer angrily. “You just expect us to stop now?!”

“I expect you to understand that your mission is fulfilled. For now.” Z’Don answered coldly. “The Universe is bigger than you, bigger than your planet.”

This seemed to mollify them for a bit.

“B-But we could still help so many people. How can you say we shouldn’t?” A new voice, as a person dressed in Green walked in, spoke up.

“And what will happen once you are gone? How many would you have me condemn to your places?” Z’Don asked.

“Your people need to learn to fix their own problems, like everyone else in the universe had to.” Z’Don stated sadly as Izuku was hurled back into himself, though far less violently as last time.

Izuku stared at the wall before him. Six people wearing different coloured suits with different helmets, holding an arm to the sky with strange coins(?) imbued with different coloured light, standing around a large blue head encased by a cylindrical container. A robot of some kind was hammering on some keys in the background.

Below the image was a report of some kind, a few lines long:

Scientist Z’Don, testing a new kind of Emotional Spectrum harnessing.

His new ‘Ranger-Class’ of Lanterns were deemed effective for the amount of energy required.

Test subjects never left stage one, increasing power out of the material in question could damage subjects irreversibly.

Singular subject, designated ‘T.O.’ requested to be retained to possibly train future generations.

Request was granted, monitoring future developments.

Izuku stared at the book, having taken it back from the lectern.

He shook his head. It couldn’t have been about what he thought it was about.

He picked up the last book the glints had led him to.

‘ Living Crystals’ its title read.

He placed in the slot and to his surprise he wasn’t met with a vision of some kind but instead some kind of gigantic star chart.

‘ Crystalized emotion probes sent to the edge of the universe’ A line of text read as from a place that Izuku guessed was Oa, countless lines spread like a gigantic spider-web.

‘ Mineral probes were modified to spread upon impact and attract individuals of specific emotional characteristics.’

A strange image of one of the crystals generated on the wall, Izuku could have sworn he had seen it somewhere before.

‘ In theory crystalline samples could be modified to be used for high power weaponry, however the intention is to create a new variant of the known Lantern Rings.’

The image shifted again to show the spider-web of information again only this time most of the ‘probes’ seemingly were cut off in their paths with ‘Current Status Unknown’ written in their places.

‘ Project abandoned, many of the probes' communication records no longer function, making tracking their positions impossible. Interference from what is titled 'The Source Wall' makes keeping track of the remaining ones near impossible.'

Izuku tilted his head at the name of the person who had run that operation: ‘Guardian Ikyaber’

Had he heard that before? He wasn’t sure.

He picked the book back out of the Lectern slot and walked back to the wall of books. Placing it back in its spot he sighed, what did Pax want him to figure out? If anything,

Suddenly a feeling, cold as ice, coursed through him. He didn’t want it to be familiar but it felt like home.

He looked around. In the top right most corner from where he could see it, was a book. Black as night. Black as space itself. Darker than anything. Like it didn’t belong.

He took a deep breath before sending a message to Raven. ‘We’ll have to talk once I have time tonight.’

He floated up to the book without waiting for an answer. It was the last book in the row, which already felt wrong to him.

No sooner than he touched it his mind was dragged into darkness.

+ America, ??? +

He grumbled as he stepped onto a hill, this had better be worth his time. He took a deep drag from his cigar as a metallic blue glint approached from the sky.

Fancy bastard, he thought. Whoever this ‘Shuraig’ character was, he certainly knew how to make an entrance.

Sure enough with a dramatic three point landing a bird-like man in power armour landed in front of him. Guy was almost as tall as him and he was only kneeling. What kind of armour was that bastard wearing?!

“So you’re Kon Chojuro.” The man was amused as he rose to full height, making Chojuro seem even smaller, which was no small feat considering he was already two metres tall.

“Sure the fuck am.” Chojuro growled. “And you gotta be the bastard called Shuraig.”

Shuraig laughed. “Now, now, no need to be rude. We have a lot in common you and I.”

“Fuck off! We damn well don’t.” Chojuro growled.

“Oh really? Ya think I never hated living? That everything is just peachy for me? Have you ever had your every move and decision monitored before? Have you ever been told you can’t do something because it makes someone else look bad?” Shuraig snapped back.

“Feh. You didn’t try hard enough.” Chojuro growled. “Else you wouldn’t have joined the HPSC at any point.”

“Tough words coming from a former hero hopeful.” Shuraig sneered. “A recommendation student even. Your whole ‘bullied mutant quirk user’ shtick can’t be all that serious considering your history. What are you really upset about?”

Chojuro growled so hard that his cigar snapped between his wolf-like teeth. “How’d you know?”

“Does it matter big man? I know enough about you. That’s what matters. So you can either keep playing yourself up and play at being the villain as if no one could stop your ass.” Shuraig straightened, being almost three heads taller than Chojuro in the process.

“Or you can help me and some others do this properly. We got a plan to take the HPSC down. One in which people like you, people like me and others don’t have to hide. But we’re doing this right. We got one shot at this but if it works out.” Shuraig shrugged.

“I dunno, maybe we’ll both be able to look back it all in thirty years, watching our grand-kids play in a school yard having fun. Don’t know about you but that sounds like a fine goal to have.” He shrugged.

Chojuro growled, his eyes narrowing slightly. “And what if your plan fails?”

“Then you get your big ass war ‘dream’ like you would if you followed those LOV dumbasses.” Shuraig answered simply.

“You can’t be serious.” Chojuro sneered “Why the fuck would you offer this if the possibility existed?”

Shuraig laughed. “See? That’s the difference between us and people like LOV, the HPSC and MLA. Because we give you the option to say no. You leave, tell me to fuck off? We’re not gonna do shit. You get to live with your choice. Hell we’ll take you back with open arms if you leave and didn’t fuck up too bad in the mean time, that’s just how we work..” He shrugged.

Chojuro growled. “...Give me a day. I got your answer then.”

Shuraig sighed. “Fine. Be that way. I’ll be back the same time tomorrow.” With that, Shuraig flew off leaving Chojuro to his thoughts.

“So?” Batman’s voice chimed in.

“I think we got him.” Hawks smiled. “Gotta say, I love this suit. Pretty neat.”

“You may want to thank Mr. Terrific for it.” Batman growled. “It was his idea.”

“Aww. You didn’t make it for me? Here I was all ready to have it signed by you.” Hawks grinned.

“...I’m going to suggest putting you and Wally in the same room as a torture method.” Batman growled.

“Oh come on we’re not---Bats?” Hawks paused before just flying ahead, he wasn’t getting an answer.

+ Streets of Musutafu +

Aizawa landed on a rooftop, looking around at the streets. He hated to admit it, but Batman’s enhanced goggles had helped him track Scarecrow down.

How a quirkless person could make things like this still frightened him a little bit, he had been raised on the values of quirks, after all. He tried his best to curb his instincts but it just wasn’t that easy. You couldn’t just leave behind things you were taught for several decades that easily.

He froze as he heard a small noise near him and slightly above him before sighing in a resigned way.

“Hello Halogi.” He growled. “What do you want now?”

To his surprise he didn’t get an answer, instead he looked up to see a man dressed in what he could at best describe as a black Sentai uniform with red highlights on its helmet, strangely visible teeth and a red long scarf standing on a nearby rooftop.

“I was told you could use help,” The man stated darkly. “Eraserhead.”

Aizawa tensed and straightened, he recognized this guy. “I assume you’re working for Halogi then.”

“I was taught by him.” The man clarified.

“That’s the same thing.” Aizawa growled.

“You’re working for U.A, which works for the HPSC. Does that make you and Nedzu their lapdogs?” The man countered.

Aizawa paused before growling. “That’s not the same thing.”

“Sure sounds like it.” The man bit back.

“Fine...how can you help?” Aizawa conceded.

“My abilities make me immune to fear inducers. Among other things.” The man answered. “Now where do you think this asshole is?”

Aizawa sighed before jumping ahead. “Follow me and try to stay hidden.” He growled.

“Heh. Fine then. Name’s Ratman. Hope we’ll get along.” The man answered, jumping after him.

+????????????+

A man stood at the end of all time, in the last bastion of reality, researching time itself. “It can’t be undone.” He grumbled.

A man hung from a cross, his eyes bleeding along his limbs. “What has been done can’t be taken back.”

A man stood next to a man hanging from a cross, his very being aches watching. “I did what I felt was best.”

A man stood at the beginning of everything. “That is my penance, to do better this time.”

A young woman sits cross-legged in a chair tilting her head. “Perhaps it was, perhaps it is, perhaps it will be. But how do you know that it's your choice to make?”

The man stared at her, clearly still full of fear as he had once been as he was and as he always would be. “I can only pray.”

Izuku was hurled out of the vision he had seen so forcefully that he hit the windows on the other side of the hall.

“Ugggh...Ow.” He groaned, clutching his head slightly. “I...I’ve seen him before. But where?”

He shook his head and blinked for a few seconds, what had he looked at last?

A familiar, small sound echoed through the hall. An F-sharp bell rang clear and pure through the area.

Izuku looked up, noticing a book that he hadn’t taken from the wall in the Lectern.

‘ The Sacrifice of Rot Lop Fan’

Once again the wall began drawing lines into itself. It seemed to show some kind of incident report of several Lanterns in a pitched battle against the forces of Darkseid.

Led by a strange Lantern, who Izuku noticed was not carrying a ring but rather a large green bell of some kind.

“If we survive, no one shall remember.” a voice, tinny and strange, came from the wall.

“If we perish, no one shall forget.”

The image shifted, the Lanterns were losing ground. Pushed back to the edges of what Izuku figured was some kind of dimensional territory by something incomprehensible.

Izuku tilted his head, was that the Anti-Life Equation? It had to be, some of the descriptions he had read did say it could show itself like it did here.

Soon, the image only showed Rot Lop Fan, the other Lanterns taken by the strange Equation and turned into Darkseid’s slaves. A small glint of white light appeared on Rot Lop Fan’s Bell, a symbol like an Uroboros.

Izuku tilted his head in the other direction, that had to be a piece of the Life Equation but how had Rot Lop Fan obtained it? The story didn’t seem to tell, perhaps he had found it?

As the rest of the scene distorted and darkened he once again heard a voice:

In loudest din or hush profound, my ears catch evil's slightest sound. Let those who toll out evil's knell, beware my power: The F-Sharp Bell!

The image brightened almost impossibly white for a moment before showing the entire sector of space being cleansed of Darkseid’s influence as a familiar sound echoed all around once again.

The F-sharp bell, Izuku had heard so many times that he had never even bothered to ask where it had come from.

The last image of the story was the other Lanterns, standing around a grave of Rot Lop Fan, his green bell standing as a symbol for his bravery.

A few lines of text appeared, that Izuku’s ring translated to mean:

With the sacrifice of Rot Lop Fan, our ability to fight the forces of Darkseid has become greater than ever.

The sound of his bell has become imbued with life itself, driving back the madness of the Anti-Life Equation wherever it is found.

Izuku sighed as the wall went back to normal.

He didn’t have much time to think before his ring informed him that he was to report to Pax, apparently a test would be made in a few hours that he needed to be prepared for.

Chapter Text

+ Oa ‘Spectrum Chamber’ Test Area +

A broad shouldered, three metre tall, red alien with bone protrusions growing out of bits of his body, stared with crossed arms at a viewport.

“This is a bad idea.” He growled, more to himself than anyone else but his voice was loud enough to be heard anyway.

“Brother Turytt,” Razer began with a stern tone, “You say such things of all Green Lanterns from Earth.”

“Yes! And I have yet to be proven wrong!” Turytt snapped at him. “Lanterns from that planet have always proven themselves to be more trouble than they deserve to cause. Without exception they have all put the universe second and their own planet first.”

“That behaviour is logical.” A deep voice cut into their argument, as the giant robot in the room made himself known. Shockwave was one of Pax’s people, a fifty foot tall robot, wielding a lantern ring, in his case an Indigo Lantern ring.

Unlike Pax he lacked a face, only a single indigo lens, patterned in the Indigo Lanterns Symbol, visible where it should have been.

“No it is not!” Turytt growled “We have a duty. We can’t simply shirk it for our own feelings.”

“Yet Ke’haan’s death haunts you more than that of others.” Shockwave mused, adjusting some of the equipment, his ring generating smaller versions of himself to interact with the smaller equipment as he did so.

“That is not the same.” Turytt snarled slightly. “Ke’haan was a warrior who deserved a death he did not receive.”

“Yet he too is of your creed and thus, like you, would have welcomed his end if it meant saving the lives of others. You still judge someone not responsible for his end regardless.” Shockwave’s tone was as emotionless as it always had been.

“If one considers the evidence, Earth’s Green Lanterns, while certainly disruptive of what is considered the ‘status quo’ are also the ones who put themselves on the line for all others first.” Shockwave mused. “Yet they are also hated for making hard choices, some which I am aware also haunt them. Despite being necessary.”

“Cease bickering.” Dex-Starr’s familiar nails-on-the-cosmic-chalkboard voice broke their argument up. “Midoriya will be tested as befits his achievements so far,” the universe's most vicious cat continued before looking over to Saint Walker, who had come along, “with your approval, naturally.”

Walker looked thoughtful. “The Spectrum Test is a rather harsh one to give him this early. However, I will not question its necessity. Nevertheless, I take it that all precautions are being taken Brother Shockwave?”

“Logically.” Shockwave answered tonelessly.

“Brother Razer, I must request that you instruct Brother Green when he enters the chamber. Your ability to observe the colours of the spectrum will be important in this instance.” Walker instructed.

“Why not have the Earth Lantern Stewart do it? He is the recruits superior.” Turytt asked, barely masking his anger that another Earth Lantern was getting what he perceived to be preferential treatment.

“Were he a mere recruit I would concur.” Walker answered amiably. “However, Brother Green’s situation is complicated by various factors.” He looked directly at Turytt. “Brother Green had a worrying encounter with an extra dimensional intelligence. The encounter was brief, thank the stars, however such incidents are invariably tied to one's emotional state. Even my healing only prevented more damage, not removed the damage already done.”

Turytt paused, a grim look of understanding on his face. “You believe the test could cause it to manifest within these halls.”

“Indeed.” Walker nodded, “Make no mistake, under normal circumstances Brother Green is both well equipped and protected from the entity. No doubts his connection to the Azerathian Princess and to the Endless of Death have given him no end of protections from outside influences that could cause it to invade reality.”

Before Turytt or anyone else could ask, he continued, “However, the Spectrum Test forces the emotional light on the inside of the tested to change by force. As such those protections could be circumvented by it.”

Turytt blinked. “I will not even begin to ask how a mere recruit gained connections to cosmic forces. Blasted Earthlings.”

Walker shook his head. “No. In this case it is far more complicated than that I’m afraid. However, that is neither my story to tell, nor my lore to uncover.”

Dex-Starr merely looked around. “Where are Pax and Midoriya? They were called here, were they not?”

“I apologise for the delay.” Pax’s baritone voice rang through the hall as the two approached, “Green had a curious encounter in the Archive sectors on his way back that needed to be taken care of.”

Shockwave nodded in understanding before looking at Izuku, “You encountered Euler’s Identity, I take it?”

Izuku shuddered, “Y-Yeah. I thought it was just a maths fundamental, not a living thing.”

Shockwave shook his head slightly, “Any aspect of existence will gain sentience, given enough significance. It is only logical.”

Izuku blinked, “I’m not even going to think of the implications of that.”

“It implies exactly what you were told.” Shockwave answered flatly.

Dex-Starr rolled his eyes, “Are we about ready for the young lanterns test to begin?”

Pax looked around, “It appears to me, Dex-Starr, that Researcher G’nort is absent.”

“Well I do appear to be on time.” A slightly bemused voice intoned as what Izuku could only identify as a humanoid terrier with red fur, wearing a Green Lantern outfit made to look like a lab coat and a clipboard approached.

“Shall we? Hm?”

He had been told to take off his ring, giving it to Pax for safe keeping until he returned. Pax seemed strangely touched.

That made the place feel all the more uncomfortable.

It didn’t look special, in fact it was the opposite. It was a gigantic, perfectly cement grey, smooth, hall.

Izuku wasn’t sure if it even was a hall, it seemed to stretch endlessly in all directions as he and Razer entered it, to the degree that even the entrance disappeared behind them a step or two away.

“W-What is this place?” Izuku asked, looking around nervously. “T-The air feels weird.”

Razer held up his left hand, a grey ring floating above his palm.

“This is the Spectrum Chamber and what I have here for you is the Spectrum Ring.” Razer stated calmly, though there was an edge in his voice that Izuku hadn’t heard before.

“This ring is not attuned to any specific emotional light.” As he spoke the ring floated from his palm onto Izuku’s right ring finger.

“You may have read of a unique ring, much like this, in the archives. The ‘Phantom Ring’ in principle is similar but unlike it the Spectrum Ring serves a specific purpose. It allows us to see your proficiency with each light of the emotional spectrum.” Razer concluded his explanation.

Izuku blinked as, unseen to him, his clothes changed into a grey coloured Lantern uniform lacking any symbol to speak of.

“Why do I feel like this is going to hurt a lot?” Izuku asked only slightly nervously.

“Because your experiences in life have made you needlessly perceptive. You will not enjoy this.” Razer’s tone made Izuku shiver. There was something off about Razer in this place, maybe it affected him too?

Like lightning bolts, Izuku could feel the yellow light of fear course through him as the entire hall darkened, swallowing Razer and everything else in shadow.

“Hrrrg.” Izuku choked slightly as it wasn’t a hall around him anymore. He remembered this place. Far too well.

He was in the corridors of Aldera Junior High.

If his body hadn’t felt like it was covered in needles, he probably would have noticed the Yellow Lantern uniform he was now wearing.

Something in his head told him where to go. Not that he didn’t know. His old classroom, that was always where dreams like this sent him to.

Moving hurts. Unlike the Green Ring he was used to, even doing the most basic of things hurt like hell. Nothing he hadn’t dealt with before but he could still feel it, gnawing at the back of his mind.

He could hear something faintly, whispers all around him, he had heard them before. For years.

Anata no yōna hito ga hīrō ni naru koto wa dekimasen!

Anata wa dare mo kodomo o damashite inai

Anata? Eiyū? Watashi o warawasenaide kudasai!

He vaguely noticed the ring hadn’t translated the words, not that it had to in this case.

He wasn’t going to let this stop him, it hadn’t before and it would now.

He paused, straightening, trying his best to regain his composure, only to find himself failing. For the first time since Raven had taught him how to do them, his meditative measures were not helping.

He clenched his fist and grit his teeth, fine then.

He stepped up to the corridor leading to his old classroom, he felt as if the Spectrum Ring was burning into his finger.

Suddenly he could hear something, feel something familiar, fast foot falls.

Before he could reach it, the door to his old classroom exploded outward, a small figure rushing out of the dust.

A younger version of himself ran past him and Izuku stiffened, almost involuntarily.

Glaring out from the dust was a pair of very familiar red eyes.

It wasn’t real. Izuku told himself. It wasn’t happening. It wasn’t him. It couldn’t be him. Izuku told himself. It wasn’t happening. It wasn’t him. It couldn’t be him. Izuku told himself. It wasn’t happening. It wasn’t him. It couldn’t be him. Izuku told himself. It wasn’t happening. It wasn’t him. It couldn’t be him.

An explosion shocked him out of his thoughts as the figure burst from the dust like a bullet.

This is how it will always be. No matter how strong you get, he’ll always be better. A little voice said in his head.

Izuku grit his teeth, a familiar, almost comforting, green shine returning to his eyes. A black aura appeared around his hand.

No.

Before the figure could reach him, the red eyes vanished and the dust thinned. There was nothing where it had been.

The door to the classroom was still gone, the destruction to the hall was too but there was no one else here.

Razer floated above the area, tilting his head. “Hm.”

He saw what Izuku had actually done, a curious solution, he had to admit, but it was merely a temporary measure.

What had happened was that Izuku, in his fear, had remembered that he was still a Lantern and was no longer who had been back then.

A solution, certainly, when dealing with an old fear of a bully.

But it also brought a new problem. Izuku had newer fears, worse fears.

Izuku took a deep breath, not that it helped him at all, and continued to the classroom.

It was entirely empty except for one person. A person sitting at the desk he had always been at. Another him, again.

He stiffened slightly, he was fairly sure that another version of him had run away earlier, so why was this one still here?

Tilting his head and narrowing his eyes, focusing through the pain, why was that version of himself using the wrong hand to write?

~crick~

He glanced down, he had stepped into the room and the floor had a crack in it. Like glass.

~crick~

~crick~

~crick~

~crick~

Izuku paused, a cold feeling washing over him, it wasn’t just the floor. The other him was making that same noise as it moved.

Anata w a wata shita chi no kotoba o kiite imasug a, anata wa wasurete imasu

He straightened, staring at the other Izuku who seemed to continue writing but increasingly stilted.

A sting in his head, like knives in his brain.

No.

Nonononono!

The other him jerkily looked up, its face was wrong. More eyes than a human should have, a mouth jagged and displaced, like a mirror with cracks in it.

Kopī no kopī Kopī no kopī Kopī no kopī Kopī no kopī Kop ī no kopī Ko pī no kopī Kopī no kopī Kopī n o kopī Kopī no kopī Kopī no kopī Kopī no kopī Kopī no kopī Kopī no kopī Kopī no kopī Kopī no kopī Kopī no kopī

With every word the cracking sound of mirrors breaking, with every sound the twitching twisted thing grew and spread like a virus across the classroom. Arms upon arms, faces upon faces.

Izuku tried to focus but it didn’t work, his body didn’t listen anymore much less his mind.

He had shut this thing out of himself before. Why didn’t it work now?

“That is quite enough.” Razer’s voice cut through the strange feeling as the shambling abomination vanished into nothing.

Izuku blinked, suddenly realising that the empty grey hall was back. He didn’t notice that the Lantern Uniform he was wearing was grey again, instead of the vibrant yellow it had been.

“I must admit,” Razer stated as Izuku turned to him, “I expected something of this nature, but seeing it was a different experience.”

“W-Was that the…” Izuku lost his voice as he tried to say it.

“Entity you encountered? No.” Razer answered for him, though it did little to sooth his nerves. “What it was, was your deepest fear taking its shape. If I had to guess as to what your deepest fear is: I would say the fear of failing, of all the power you have gained ending up useless.”

“I-I could have…” Izuku stammered slightly, almost staring at nothing as if reliving his fight with his mirror self.

“Evidently not.” Razer shook his head “This is why you are a Green Lantern, not a Yellow Lantern. You can ‘overcome’ your fears, not ‘conquer’ them as a Yellow Lantern does. To a Yellow Lantern? They would have turned that monster into their servant.”

Izuku tried again to regain his composure, closing his eyes and taking a deep breath. It had helped a little, though not nearly as much as it usually did.

“Unfortunately, while the next one will likely be less dramatic, you may hate me more afterwards.” Razer intoned calmly.

Izuku felt the ring on his finger change and almost reflexively clench his fist as it changed to a blood red colour.

Fire.

As Izuku’s Gray Lantern suit changed to red he felt a burning sensation spread through him as if every cell of his body was on fire. It was different from the Green Lantern suit, it was far worse than it.

Izuku could barely move, barely see and barely hear.

He could barely see Razer tilt his head and raise a hand.

Then the feeling was gone, as Izuku almost fell to the floor in pain.

“I must admit you surprised me. So much rage but you refuse to let yourself feel it.” Razer’s tone was oddly cold. “You would rather feel agony yourself than let others know how agonising something is to you. Admirable, in a very childish way.”

“I-I just…”

“What you just experienced is actually fairly common.” Razer continued. “Your rage, your wrath? It is entirely turned inwards. I have seen it before, it’s a rather common phenomenon in martyr cultures.” he smiled sadly. “The only person you hate in your life, is the one looking back at you in the mirror every day. I was like that too once.”

Razer shook his head. “Next.” he snapped his fingers.

+ Streets of Japan +

Jontan Tanchzuru, Jonathan Crane, the Scarecrow, whistled slightly as he left his current base.

It was a therapist's office, as the past three had been. He had been switching between them for a while now.

He really had to thank that Dr. Eggman look-alike some day for giving him such easy opportunities for false identities.

He paused a few steps away from the entrance of the office as he heard two creaking sounds, one above him and behind him and one in front of him and above him.

‘Really?’ He thought. ‘This is the best the local law enforcement could gather? Two loud idiots? Even Batman’s little birds could be quieter than them.’

He turned to walk into a nearby alleyway, if these fools wanted to play cat and mouse, he’d show them the proper etiquette of doing so.

He froze halfway into the alley, a grinning, smouldering, mockery of a face glared at him from the dead end.

“Hello. Dr.” The twisted thing sneered, “You’ve been giving us the runaround.” Halogi stalked out of the shadows as Eraserhead and Ratman landed near the entrance of the alley.

“Bad form sir, bad form.” Halogi giggled. “Took us a while to figure out how you did all this stuff too. Pretty sure the Bat could have done it in half the time, though that’s no achievement, he’s known you for years.”

Scarecrow merely straightened, cracking his neck slightly, “I must apologise gentlemen but you won’t be able to report a success.” Before throwing a small ball at the ground, a dark green gas escaping it.

“Really Dr.? You think we wouldn’t have expected th—”

GAAAAAAAAAAAAGHRHRHRGHHAAAAAAAAAAAAAIIIIII!

A shrieking scream, unimaginable to normal ears, tore through Halogi’s words as he, Eraserhead and Ratman were pushed away from Scarecrow, windows cracking in every direction for miles.

“Are you expecting my surrender?!” Scarecrow growled, seemingly having grown four feet over a matter of seconds.

“Feh. Who cares?” Ratman growled before hitting the giant sized Scarecrow in the side of the head with a flying knee. It disappeared in purple particles leaving nothing behind.

“The hell did he go?!” Ratman sneered.

“My money’s on down there.” Halogi motioned to a sewer grate, right where Scarecrow had been standing previously.

“Not worth going after him now.” He stopped the other two.

“What?!” Eraserhead sneered slightly. “You would just let him get away?”

“And what good would it do to be down there in a territory he likely knows like the back of his hand? Do you want to be driven mad?” Halogi countered. “Right now there’s a bigger problem: Scarecrow was not born with a quirk, he shouldn’t have one but clearly he does!”

Eraserhead paused, flinched and finally straightened. “That means. He’s working with All For One.”

Ratman growled, “Damn it! I’m immune to that fear garbage. So what was that shriek then?”

Halogi shrugged, “Since you saw that giant like us: I think it was a way to disable fear resistance.”

He paused then stiffened, “Oh good. The fear obsessed psychopath has a way to make people feel the effect of his gas with no way to permanently protect themselves. Fantastic. We have to regroup. Now.”

+ Oa ‘Spectrum Chamber’ Test Area +

It should be yours. It will all be yours. It’s yours. Yours! Take it! It’s yours it’s all yours! You deserve this! You deserve to have it! All of it! It should be yours. It will all be yours. It’s yours. Yours! Take it! It’s yours, it's all yours! You deserve this! You deserve to have it! All of it! It should be yours. It will all be yours. It’s yours. Yours! Take it! It’s yours, it's all yours! You deserve this! You deserve to have it! All of it! It should be yours. It will all be yours. It’s yours. Yours! Take it! It’s yours, it's all yours! You deserve this! You deserve to have it! All of it!

“Turn it off.”

“What?”

Izuku Midoriya knew that not all men were born equal. At least he had been told that all his life and for once it felt like the truth.

He stood, in an orange hall of endless riches, clenching his fists, gritting his teeth.

“Turn. It. Off.” He growled barely audibly, as he could hear every bit of his body breaking from the strain put upon it.

It was foolish for the Lantern Corps to assume that the light of Greed could be controlled. Yes, Avarice was technically in the realm of Greed but the same entity ruled over it all the same.

An “Orange Lantern of Avarice” was ultimately nothing more than another puppet to the light of Greed.

Razer raised his hand but stopped. “I see no reason to.” He intoned calmly. “You seem quite attached to this place. To the power it gives you.”

“Shut up.” Izuku growled. “What do I know about power?! I never had any!” Izuku struggled to stop himself but swung an arm at Razer anyway, a massive orange hand the size of half the hall throwing the other Lantern backwards.

“I never had anything!” Izuku yelled despite trying to stop himself. “All I got was empty platitudes and mockery!”

A black aura appeared around his arms and dragged him to the ground ‘Stop it!’ only for it to be blown away by a wave of orange energy.

“So why shouldn’t I keep something for once?! What is so bad about being selfish for once in my life?!” He slowly rose to his feet, glaring at Razer who had recovered to look at him. He couldn’t help but feel it was a scolding look.

“On its own? It isn’t. But I think you would disappoint a lot of people if you chose now of all times to care about such things. Or would you claim that Raven would approve of you now?” Razer asked simply.

“What would you know about that?” Izuku growled, making Razer flinch slightly, “I already gave my life to her, my soul, what else would I have to surrender?! What else could she ask of me?!”

Before their argument could continue the ring on Izuku’s finger turned from orange to grey in an instant.

“Brother Razer.” Walker's voice echoed through the hall. “While I did choose you to oversee today’s proceedings, I truly question my choice. Remove yourself this instant. It is obvious the Spectrum Chamber affects you more than you wish to admit.”

Razer straightened, a wave of shame seemingly washing over him as he turned to leave. “I...I am sorry for my actions. Brother Green.”

Izuku blinked a bit, the Orange Light fading far faster off of him than the others. He wondered what Razer was talking about.

“It appears you weren’t the only one being tested today.” Razer mused as he walked through a doorway in the endless grey hall as if it had always been there.

Before Izuku could ask, a door opened again and Research G’nort walked in. “Unfortunate situation. Hm. I apologise ‘Green’ but the rest of the test will have to happen another time.” He opened his palm and the Spectrum Ring flew from Izuku’s finger to his hand.

“W-Why? Did I…”

G’nort shook his head “As much as it may seem so, it’s more so the danger that continuing the test poses to your health than anything else.” He motioned Izuku to follow him out of the chamber to the others.

“What were you thinking?!” A loud, gruff voice almost bellowed. “Subjecting a recruit to the Orange Light is far beyond protocol and far too dangerous!” Turytt seemed a second away from tearing Razer to pieces.

“Brother Turytt.” Walker cut in. “Leave the disciplining of Razer to the Corps that he is part of, if you please. The bigger question you should concern yourself with is how that could be done in the first place. Yes, Razer’s decision to continue was out of line, but why was it possible in this case to expose him to it in the first place?”

Turytt took a step back, his face still twisted into a snarl but lacked an answer.

G’nort spoke up instead, “It appears that due to his unorthodox training our system is not set up correctly to ascertain which light he could be safely exposed to.” G’nort mused aloud as indigo, floating, mechanical eyes scanned Izuku from several angles.

“Fortunately it appears the buildup of the various lights is not too extreme.” Shockwave stated blandly, “Stopping the test was the correct decision, I believe another exposure could have led to dire consequences.”

“U-Uhm.” Izuku carefully spoke up, “What would have happened?” He wasn’t sure who to even ask the question but settled on looking at Pax.

Pax looked over at G’nort for a moment who nodded before looking back at Izuku. “As you have no doubt experienced, the light of the emotional spectrum is not a pleasant experience. This is both an effective deterrent for possible thieves but is also an unintentional side effect. Each light builds up within the Lantern, the longer they use the ring, the more they retain it and are accustomed to it. Usually this is not a problem even in this test scenario, however due to the addictive and additive effect of the Light of Greed…”

Dex-Starr disinterestedly cleaned his left front paw, “...had you been exposed to another light you would not be standing right now and we would be very busy ensuring you do not die an agonising death.”

Izuku stiffened slightly, “Oh.” Was about as much of a reaction he could come up with.

There was a palpable pause from the others, there were many natural reactions to being told ‘you could have almost died’ especially to one so young but an almost resigned, or perhaps relieved(?), “oh” was not it.

“What is wrong with people on that planet?” Turytt muttered under his breath.

G’nort went over the information they had gathered. “That being said, Pax, do return his ring. The Green Light will help for now. I do recommend we postpone the rest of the test until further notice.”

As Pax opened his hand, Izuku’s ring almost teleported its way across the room and onto his finger, returning his clothing back to the Green Lantern uniform nearly instantly. A soft F-sharp bell chimed through the room.

Izuku took a deep breath, closing his eyes and sighed a bit “Good to have you back.” He muttered to himself.

Dex-Starr tilted his head, cat eyes very focused on Izuku for a moment. “Midoriya. Return to your quarters. Consider yourself dismissed for the rest of this week. Anyone questioning this decision is to report to me.”

Izuku froze slightly “B-But sir—”

“That was an order, not a request.” Dex-Starr’s tone wasn’t any more hostile than usual but Izuku could tell that arguing would not end well for him, he had some horror stories of penalties that Dex-Starr gave out. Many of them appeared to make war crimes seem kind by comparison.

“Y-Yes sir.” Izuku muttered before leaving for his quarters on the Green Lantern planet.

“Brother Razer.” Walker started, rather tensely. “You will return to the Blue Star immediately, we will have to reevaluate your actions there. Understand however that a repeat of today will not be tolerated, as a Blue Lantern it is imperative that you comprehend your position in a confrontation. Midoriya in this case was a patient , not an enemy or a test subject.”

“Yes, Brother Walker.” Razer answered tersely before turning and leaving as well.

Walker sighed after both of them had disappeared. “Perhaps giving Brother Razer as much leeway as we had was unwise.”

Dex-Starr pawed at his own ear for a second. “I disagree, the Spectrum Chamber is an incredibly volatile space. His reactions prior to the Orange Light’s appearance make it clear he was under its influence, perhaps even more so than Midoriya was.”

“I would concur with that assessment.” G’nort chimed in, “Most Lanterns we test here are not continuously exposed to two lantern lights at the same time, let alone diametrically opposed ones. If anything it is a sign of his resilience that he shows no sign of physical fatigue unlike Midoriya did.”

Turytt snorted, “That excuses nothing, it was his task to ensure that everything remained within parameters while the test was in progress. He failed, stars be praised that he did not fail earlier, who knows what would have happened if he had not switched away from the Yellow Light.”

“Regardless.” Shockwave started, “The data we received from both is both logical to what we know and to some scenarios and projections made of both of them.”

G’nort nodded, “Indeed.” He tapped a button on a green projected screen. “It seems to me that Razer has a potential to become part of the White Lanterns one day, it may take him many years still but the potential is present.”

Both Walker and Dex-Starr blinked at that revelation. It was not at all common for anyone to develop the potential of becoming a White Lantern, it was far rarer than being born with the potential to begin with.

“Midoriya,” Shockwave began again, “is more within expected projections. The psychological profile we received already implied his deficiencies within the yellow and red light ranges. Razer’s assessment, though influenced by the chamber, was also accurate.”

Pax nodded. “So we can assume he would not succeed with either Corp.”

“It would be more accurate to state that he would destroy himself if he were ever to be inducted into either. I have, however, sent notice to the Knight Corp to not attempt such decisions unless an emergency were to require it.” Shockwave answered.

G’nort nodded, “It is unfortunate that we could not continue the test but given the rest of his profile being accurate, I would assume he would have a decent chance among the Blue Lanterns and Indigo Lanterns.”

Walker crossed his arms lightly, a thoughtful look on his face, “Something is amiss. From conversations with Razer and my own experience with him I can state that Midoriya has an abundance of hope available, perhaps even more than will power. Yet he did not become a Blue Lantern and even in the chamber, the few moments he could access other lights it was only the green light.”

“And the demonic magic of the Azerathians.” Turytt supplied, “That such a power can even function within the chamber is odd.”

“A few theories, if I may.” Pax began, making the others pay attention to him, it was rare for Pax to almost ‘ask’ permission to speak, mostly because someone of his age did not need to request such things. “It seems to me that the circumstances in which he received the Black Lantern spark and gained access to this demonic magic are intrinsically linked. While the details may not be ours to know, it would make sense that if they are connected that he could use it within the chamber.”

“The Blue Lantern situation also makes sense to me.” Pax continued, “I dare not speculate why but ‘Green’, Midoriya, appears to hold hope for all around him. However, my interactions with him have given me the impression that while he has hope for others, he believes he deserves to feel none for his own being.”

Turytt shook his head. That one so young would feel in such ways. Near overwhelming fear, rage turned inwards to such a degree that even the presence of Red Lanterns irritates, if not harms, hope for all but himself. He wondered what had happened to him to make him act in such ways.

Dex-Starr tilted his head, “It matters little. He has shown that he was chosen for the Green Lanterns for a reason, being able to access it briefly while in the chamber is proof of that.”

Shockwave nodded, “There is however something else. The data indicates that his connection to the Black Lanterns is increasing, coupled with Pax’s theory it is logical to come to the conclusion that this ‘magic’ is strengthening the connection.”

A small sound from Pax’s wrist drew their attention. Pax sighed, “It appears that ‘Green’s penchant to train when told not to has reared its head again, I shall go ensure he truly takes a rest.” He grumbled lightly.

Turytt interrupted him before he could turn to leave. “May I suggest a different approach?”

“Ghh.” Izuku grunted, hitting a training dummy with his fists.

He had been going through several ‘sequences’ that Robin had shown him, mostly because Batman wasn’t allowed to train him.

He felt frustrated, he felt as if the test had been something he had failed at, like his progress had stalled.

In fact, it had felt like his progress had stalled since his encounter with that...thing.

“Grrrhh.” A kick sent the training dummy careening backwards a few feet.

“An admirable strike, wasted on a target of no value.” Standing in the entrance to the training area was Turytt, his arms crossed.

“You were told to return to your quarters, not to train.” Turytt sneered slightly.

“I can’t just stop training because of one thing.” Izuku clenched his fists slightly, he usually didn’t argue with people when they told him to stop because he figured they wouldn’t understand his reason. “I can’t just keep falling behind again.”

Turytt snorted before laughing “There it is.” He sneered, “The arrogance of Earth.” Izuku stiffened slightly after hearing that.

“Your kind truly cannot comprehend the thought that the universe can exist without you. Yet every one of you is driven by rash, uncertain decisions.” Turytt growled before uncrossing his arms.

“But if you must insist on destroying yourself, then it would be a waste to do so on a mere dummy.” With those words, a large green spear generated in his hand, its head was slightly twisted, with sharp edges on three sides.

The room seemingly enlarged into a far larger hall around them.

Izuku paused, slightly unsure on how to feel about this, “Why do you offer that?” The familiar glint of a Green Lantern appearing in his eyes.

Turytt grinned. “Where I am from, boy, discipline is writ large. If you will not learn from words, then consequences shall be your teacher.”

Izuku had barely any moment to block as Turytt had closed the distance, the spear-head grinding barely past him as a sword had generated in his hand. Before he could counterattack, Turytt had punched him in the side with his free hand. Izuku’s sword vanished into bits in the process.

Turytt was big enough that his fist was almost as big as most of Izuku’s upper body, sending him hurling away before he could get his ring to stop him in the air. “Guhh.”

Izuku barely had enough time to catch himself before he had to dodge out of the way of another swing of Turytt’s spear. Thinking, several weapons and knights' armors generated.

Turytt snarled slightly, “Stalling will not help you.”

Izuku wasn’t even sure what Tuyrtt had done but within a second all of his constructs were broken and Tuyrtt was in his face again, he barely caught the spearhead in his hands, a green and black glow stopping it from stabbing him.

With a wide sweep from Turytt’s arm, Izuku was sent flying again.

Turytt sneered as Izuku tried his best to regain his composure.

“Unfocused, uncertain!” Turytt exclaimed in a grave tone, “It is no surprise you lack the potential for the other Corps, you cannot even decide what it is you feel. How do you expect to not repeat your past failings if you continue living them, boy?”

Izuku couldn’t answer as the spear Turytt had held flew straight at him, forcing him to dodge only to have Turytt himself right in front of him again.

Izuku snarled slightly, a green robotic fist hit Turytt in the face as a black clawed hand caught Tuyrtt’s fist.

“There it is. The focus you lack.” Turytt grinned, seemingly unaffected by the hits. With a speed that Izuku thought impossible, Turytt had ripped the black clawed hand apart and destroyed the green fist, again sending Izuku backwards a bit.

Turytt stopped, floating slightly above the ground as a new spear generated in his hand “Did you think no one noticed? Did you think I did not notice? The others perhaps believed the light of greed responsible but I know better. You believe you deserve the power given to you, that you deserve to keep it. You do not. We do not.”

Izuku froze slightly, what?

“We are not chosen ones, boy. The rings may claim otherwise but the truth is that we are warriors! Trained and educated. You either learn when to obey and when to face the consequences of disobedience, or we shall find others to do it in your stead. We earn our keep.” It was a cruel thing to say, a part of Turytt thought but a necessary thing for him to understand.

“Your inability to move with certainty endangers those around you, those you are meant to protect.” Turytt continued, “A warrior can not question every move they make, neither can you.”

Before Izuku could respond, another spear flew directly at his face, two black clawed arms and two mechanical green ones stopping it.

Turytt chuckled, “Yes. You are beginning to understand. Or at least a part of you is.”

Izuku looked at the arms, trying to make sense of them, he hadn’t commanded them or thought of them but they were there regardless.

“Conscious thought and imagination shape the power of the Green Lanterns. Unconscious thought and will refine the power of the Green Lanterns.” Turytt intoned, “Both are learned, both can be honed, both must be mastered to be a Green Lantern.”

Izuku landed almost instantly both the arms and his entire Green Lantern uniform vanished, the adrenaline of the past few minutes had worn off. “Uuughh.” He almost fell to his knees.

Turytt himself landed, the spear in his hand vanishing. “Consider this your first lesson from me, boy. People tell you to stop and rest because they have been in your place before. Now return to your quarters and if I hear of your training before the next week you shall regret it.”

With that he left, leaving a very tired Izuku to trudge back to his quarters.

"That was strangely kind of you.” Dex-Starr observed, watching as a green glint left the planet, back to the Green Star.

“It had nothing to do with kindness, merely understanding.” Turytt growled, “It is no wonder he has not learned as much as he should, the Justice League and Stewart alike failed to understand him.”

“Enlighten me then, what have they missed?” Dex-Starr inquired.

Turytt snorted, “That they are not dealing with a child. They are dealing with a survivor. Coddling him earns you nothing. His respect is not something that needs to be earned, his trust is. His training obsession is more than mere foolishness, it is a desire to prove himself to those he believes do not respect his skills yet.” He shook his head.

“You speak from experience I presume.” Dex-Starr mused.

Turytt grumbled slightly. “More than you would care to know.”

+ Izuku’s Mindscape +

Izuku sighed, standing on the entrance platform of his mental world.

He had not been this tired in life before.

“That was faster than I thought.” Raven chimed in, materialising next to him. “You usually take a while to clear your head.”

“Yeah.” Izuku sighed, “Today was, well it was a lot of things but exhausting comes to mind.” He grumbled as she very deliberately stepped into his embrace.

A pleasant silence stayed between them. “...Thanks.” He mumbled eventually, “I missed you too.”

Raven blinked slightly, looking to the ‘sky’ above them. It wasn’t the vast empty black sky it had been before, but rather a collection of different coloured stars.

“How are things on Earth? Haven’t heard much since I’ve been in the archives.” Izuku mumbled lightly, it was rather easy for him to get lost in the tranquillity of his mind when Raven was present.

“Progress on a lot of the ‘big plans’ the League have has been slow from what I’ve heard. Not that they tell me much.” she added, feeling his questioning look. “I think they are still trying to keep us out of things.”

“Me, specifically.” Izuku sighed, it wasn’t that he hadn’t expected it but it was still disappointing.

“Oh do give the rest of us some credit.” Raven smiled a bit, “The rest of the current Titans have also been trying to look into things and we all get blocked. Your mom even told Beast Boy not to ask her about it because she’s not telling.”

Izuku blinked slightly before sighing, “Sorry. It’s just frustrating. I feel like I should be more involved.”

“And you will be. Once your training is complete.” Raven mused, “I get it, you have the power to do things now and you want to make things change for the better. But right now the best way to do that is to become as strong and as competent at being a Green Lantern as you can. And that won’t happen on earth.”

Izuku held a little closer, “I know, I know.” He paused slightly, a strange feeling washing through him before looking into the ‘sky’.

“What is that?” Izuku tilted his head.

Far.

Far into the distance of his mind, two glints, jagged yellow eyes stared back at him.

“This feels familiar.” Izuku mused as the eyes moved through the darkness towards them. “I don’t think it's hostile, just...foreign I guess?”

Before Raven could ask what ‘it’ was, the eyes floated in front of the platform in a massive form.

SO YOU ARE THE DISTURBANCE WE SENSED.

YOU WERE REALLY REALLY DIFFICULT TO FIND YA KNOW?!

Suddenly the lights shrank and a man(?) with a black bird's head, a strange shadowy creature draped over his shoulders, it had the same jagged eyes as the ones from before.

“Greetings, I apologise for the intrusion.” The bird headed guy began, looking around the platform curiously.

“I was not aware that minds could be meta-physical places. I suppose this is your mind, Green Lantern?” He continued.

“Yes.” Izuku answered tightly, “What are you doing in it uninvited?”

The man held up his hands in an attempt to placate, “We were not intruding intentionally. It appears whichever abilities you possess other than that ring have a ‘pull’ on us. We felt it when meditating and followed it, ending up here.”

Izuku sighed “Sorry about that reaction, it’s been a rough day.” he grumbled “I guess I’ll have to reapply my mental barriers entirely, which probably means that it will also be a rough night.”

“So. Who are you two then?” Raven spoke up.

“Ah. I apologise for the late introduction.” he bowed slightly.

“I am Tokoyami Fumikage and this,” the shadowy creature morphed into a large bird head made of shadows, “is my companion Dark Shadow.”

Chapter Text

 + Izuku’s Mindscape +

Izuku had learned fairly early on that having a mental world like his and Ravens was a double edged sword.

On one end it made planning and analysing past encounters a breeze. Everything he thought of, everything he encountered, everything he knew, was preserved exactly as he remembered.

He could relive entire battles in this place without outside interference. Without anyone coming to harm or even being vaguely threatened. Yes, it was technically only happening in his head, but it felt real enough to not really matter.

That, as well as the loss of time perception, was however the other side of the blade's edge. Raven had warned him of it, extensively and very empathically.

It was easy to forget that a world outside of your mind existed if you spent too much inside your own head, it was apparently possible to spend entire centuries in one's mind.

Not that the outside world would realise it. That made the whole situation scarier. Someone could spend aeons in their own mind and mere hours would pass on the outside. The whiplash of such a journey was severe and Raven had made it clear enough that she would not tolerate him even thinking about it.

She liked her boyfriend-soon-to-be-fiance as sane as possible, thank you very much.

Today however Izuku was faced with the second ‘bad edge’ of having a mental world: Someone else could find it.

“Not to be rude but… is he okay?” Tokoyami asked, scratching his own beak in a bit of confusion.

“I THINK HE’S HAVING A MONOLOGUE AND FORGOT WE’RE IN HIS BRAIN.” Dark Shadow chimed in.

Izuku sighed before he answered bluntly, “No I didn’t forget you’re here just right now I wish you weren’t. Of all the days to have visitors you picked the worst. You also can turn off the all caps, we hear you without screaming just fine.”

Raven looked thoughtful for a moment. “How did you get here anyway? You can’t just walk into someone else’s mind by meditating. That’s not how it works.”

Tokoyami shrugged slightly, “I would not know, this is to my knowledge the first time we have had something like this occur.”

Izuku tilted his head, narrowing his eyes slightly. “You’re from Japan, aren’t you? Hm.” Tiny, immaculate, green writing started appearing around Izuku, reading various things in Japanese, English, Azerathian and what appeared to be very broken Kryptonian (Izuku had heard Superboy swear once and had gotten a fascination with the language but lacked the nose muscles to speak it properly)

“Well there’s a lot of possibilities of what’s going on.” Izuku mused, “But you must have magic of some kind, otherwise you wouldn’t be able to get here.”

Raven raised her eyebrow “There’s only really one explanation. They have demonic magic. Which only leaves a handful of very unfortunate implications.”

Tokoyami blinked slightly, “Pardon?”

“Demonic magic is like any other, it has a price.” Raven raised her hand, “Either you paid a price of some kind, or someone else did. Considering you don’t seem to know what we’re talking about, chances are good someone else did.”

Izuku blinked, “You don’t mean… oh.”

Tokoyami tilted his head, “Could you please explain? We may be in your head but we can’t read your mind.”

Raven decided to do the honours: “Since both of you are obviously living individuals there’s really only one possibility--”

“OKAY. OKAY. Okay! I’m willing to explain things.” Dark Shadow cut her off.

“That is the first time I’ve heard you talk in a normal voice.” Tokoyami noted, “That is incredibly unsettling.”

“You both got it right in essence. Yes, a demon was summoned. What you likely got wrong is that I’m not the demon sharing a body with him.” Dark Shadow motioned to Tokoyami.

“He’s the demon who pushed me out of mine!” Dark Shadow exclaimed.

“What?” Tokoyami asked, freezing in shock. “Wait a minute, hold on! How does that work? I’m me! I’ve always been me! I think?”

“No, no you’re not.” Dark Shadow growled “I don’t know how it happened. I just remember waking up when I was four and looking at myself from the outside. I don’t know who or what you were, but that body doesn’t belong to you!”

Izuku tilted his head, “Actually that makes a lot of sense.”

“What/What?” Both of them immediately paid attention to him.

“The whole ‘not remembering being a demon’ thing. It makes sense. Demonic bodies aren’t like human ones. So if he was summoned into your body, it's your brain, thus your memories with his soul and mentality in it. He forgot he was a demon because his brain isn’t where his soul is anymore. Like changing the CPU on a PC. The body still works the same way but the brain doesn’t.” Izuku elaborated.

Raven rubbed her eyes tiredly. “Leave it to you to make this insanity sound logical.” She grumbled, “Also you’re not quite correct, the summoning had to have been messed up somehow. Because that,” she motioned to Dark Shadow, “is a Shadow Demon. It even looks like it does in the books… minus the bird head.”

“Soooo what happened then?” Dark Shadow asked, “I’ve been trying to figure this out since I was four.”

“And you didn’t tell me?” Tokoyami asked, sounding a little hurt.

“Why would I tell the person possessing me that I’m trying to figure out how to undo it?!” Dark Shadow sneered. “I never asked for any of this! I woke up one day with you talking to me like I was some new thing in your life. I don’t know what the hell happened but now I’m stuck watching my own life from the outside!”

“Hey don’t yell at me! I didn’t ask for this either!” Tokoyami snapped lightly.

“Ah yes, because demons are so trustworthy to listen to! For all I know I was to be the sacrifice for you to even show up.” Dark Shadow growled. “For all it matters, the only reason I’m still alive at all is because someone messed up. For all it’s worth, someone else might be dead to bring you into my life.”

“Man!” A voice came from above them, making Izuku turn towards the monolith “Is this how we sound like from the outside? Kinda rad to see if I’m honest.”

Sitting on the monolith, letting their feet dangle over the front edge was Izuku's demonic-half.

Izuku dragged a hand down his face and pinched the bridge of his nose. “Why do you look like that? Also why do you sound like that now?”

“Oh this?” His demonic-half grinned mischievously, which unsettled him a bit because he never thought he’d see a female version of himself grinning like that. “I just found a memory of you imagining yourself as a girl in the archive area. I thought she looked cute so I took a look at her looks. You have a really modest opinion on your curves, by the way. so I,” ‘she’ made a dismissive motion with her hand, “fixed that.”

“First of all, that’s not who she is.” Izuku cut in before Raven could get ideas “That’s from an area in the archives of Oa I’m not allowed to talk about. Second of all, she was perfectly fine looking like she did before, you did not improve anything about her!”

Raven raised an eyebrow. “Care to explain in at least basic terms?”

Izuku sighed “There’s an alternate universe where everyone has the opposite gender, I was there for all of five minutes, she was cute, nice and kinda sad. She didn’t have a Green Lantern ring or uniform though, that part is on demonic me.”

He felt the need to elaborate. “She also wasn’t built like a supermodel.” He turned back to his demonic half. “And you’re really doing her a disservice by making her look like that!”

“Aww. Don’t be a killjoy, I’m sure you and Raven wouldn’t mind sharing a bed with me like this.” Demon-Izuku smirked.

Izuku groaned, “You had to pick today of all days to say that.” He slightly looked over to Tokoyami and Dark Shadow who were starry eyed.

“I swear to everything holy that if you two are thirsting after female-demonic-me, I will find out if I can kill someone while they’re in my head.” Izuku growled.

“Jealousy is unbecoming of you, Green Lantern.” Dark Shadow chided.

“It is a bit low brow for one of your station.” Tokoyami agreed.

“You were at each other's throats a second ago! Don’t give me that!” Izuku snapped comically.

There was a monstrously loud sound, like the shattering of glass interwoven with inconceivably deep sounding, broken, Japanese.

Loud crashes followed, something was coming from the depths of his mind and it was really mad.

Izuku cupped his face in his hands for a moment. “Of course.” He growled before quickly straightening and staring up at his demonic half, who had seemed to stiffen and looked very frightened by the noise.

“You! Either help me or hide!” He turned to Raven and his uninvited guests. “Raven, keep these guys safe, I’ll be back in a minute.” Without another word, he flew off the side of the monolith platform towards the middle of the darkness between it and the Not-Quite-Watchtower floating a distance away.

He glared down into the darkness in morbid anticipation.

Crawling upwards, like a moss in fast forward, was an endless mess of reflective arms and fingers, limbs of a broken glass mannequin spreading like a disease.

He could see its endless broken eyes, attached to a mockery of his own head following, like some bizarre flower at the bottom of the ocean.

“I’m so tired of this.” He sighed with resignation, clenching his fist, making the Green Lantern ring on his hand glow as a massive green construct formed around him.

It looked like a kind of titanic humanoid robot. It could easily have been an entire living city. It had been once, a long time ago. Pax had told him about him.

“Since you’re so determined to test my patience, meet my friend, Metroplex!” His voice echoed through his mind.

The titanic robot pulled back its arm. “You ever heard of ‘waking the sleeping giant’? Well this is like that but you woke up the giant among giants! I was perfectly content letting you stay in my head if you left things alone. I’ve felt worse. But you forced my hand.” Izuku snarled lightly.

“Go. Away. You abominable nuisance.” Izuku stated quietly, yet his voice carried through his entire mental realm like a massive gong.

The creature lost its grip on the walls of his mind before a fist the size of a skyscraper collided with the mess it called a face, sending it tumbling back into the depths of his mind.

“I’ll deal with you as many times as I have to.” Izuku’s voice carried no joy in this temporary respite. He knew it would be back eventually, it had no choice, after all that was why it existed.

With the sound of a massive F-sharp bell the titanic robot vanished in a green flash, leaving emerald green particles floating in the darkness.

Izuku took a deep breath and floated back to the monolith platform.

“Okay. Where were we?” He asked as he landed.

Raven blinked for a long moment before rather violently hugging him “You. Ridiculous. Idiot! Why didn’t you tell me?! We agreed we’d talk about these things.”

Izuku hugged her back, “I don’t have an excuse,” he answered honestly, “I just didn’t want to worry you…”

Raven sighed, she wasn’t one to talk, she figured, it wasn’t like she hadn’t kept secrets from the other Titans before or from him for that matter. “Don’t do that when things like that are involved. I do not want to have to fight you because you didn’t think whatever was haunting you wasn’t a big enough deal to talk about.”

Tokoyami and Dark Shadow blinked, first at the two of them, then each other, before nodding and then blinking back at the two of them again.

“We have many questions.”

“Oh. Right. You two still are here.” Izuku muttered, reluctantly letting go of Raven.

“Okay. First things first. Hi! I’m Izuku Midoriya, the Green Lantern from Japan, as you know. This is my fiancee Raven, or Rachel Roth though she rarely uses that name. I’m both a Green Lantern and a user of Azerathain Magic because I died and she brought me back to life. She’s also the daughter of Trigon, who is basically ancient-space-Satan and may have inspired the Christian devil.”

The two bird heads paused, their blinking was almost audible. “We now have way more questions than answers.” They intoned.

“First of all: Why is there a giant abomination in your head?” Dark Shadow asked, genuinely unsettled.

“Oh that? That was a memory, not the actual thing.” Izuku shrugged, “As to why it is there?” He sighed but shook his head, “A story for another time.”

They all felt a rumbling going through the area “Ow.” Izuku grumbled before taking a deep breath. “Fine then,” he looked up, as what seemed to be a lever with a grip like a bike brake fell out of nowhere and onto the platform.

“J’onn’s gonna be very confused when I explain to him that a test chamber on Oa made me use this instead of something that could have nearly killed my brain.” He muttered as he lightly pulled the lever to the right.

With a grinding sound, the entirety of his mindscape shifted to the right, as if gravity turned slightly. It had taken Raven until now to realise that they hadn’t been entirely upright before.

When the turn stopped, the ‘stars’ above them shifted in colour to be completely green instead of the multitude of colours.

Izuku let out a long breath as the lever disintegrated into nothing. “There we are, back to normal.”

“What was it?” Tokoyami inquired, looking around. “The air feels different now too.”

“That was a psychic block reset.” Izuku explained. “Very useful things but also incredibly unpleasant to make. You need at least one person with psychic powers and someone with magic to make them and it hurts like hell. That was one of three, if I have to use the other ones I’ll have to make them with J’onn again.” He shuddered lightly, “Not looking forward to that.”

Izuku crossed his arms lightly, “Alright. Enough about that, you’re from Japan right? That’s at least the impression I got from the name and appearance.”

“Yes/Yep.”

“So what’s going on back home? I haven’t been in Japan in a while and won’t be near Earth for a while still.” Izuku explained.

“It’s...well it’s not bad, just weird. / Unsettling is a word for it.” The two birds started and then glared at each other for a moment before nodding.

“A lot of people have recently been hospitalised, a kind of hallucinogenic paranoia of sorts. No has been told anything concrete but the general opinion seems to be whatever it is isn’t being caused by a quirk.” Tokoyami started.

“Rumours have it that a villain from the States made it to our shores, but if he or she did, they’ve been hiding pretty well.” Dark Shadow continued for him.

“That’s far from all of it either. Both the police and pro-heroes have been reopening a lot of missing persons cases it seems. Lot of random people are getting questioned all over the place.” Tokoyami took over.

“That’s not the only weird thing though.” Dark Shadow took over again. “Whatever is happening, the HPSC seems hell bent on keeping it under wraps. Talking about it online has the tendency to get people blocked from whatever forums they’re on. Newspapers got shut down trying to print the stories. They’re hiding something, obviously, but no one can tell what or why.”

Tokoyami crossed his arms, “If that weren’t enough, it seems both vigilante groups and criminal groups have been increasing in numbers too.”

“Oh? Anything on them?” Izuku asked, tilting his head.

“Few things.” Dark Shadow mused, “The God of Funeral Pyres prowls among mortals again. He’s been making a lot of waves too, from the sounds of it. Lot of heroes got outed as corrupt thanks to him. He’s not the only one either, if you know the Ratman, he’s been seen again too.”

Izuku wanted to giggle that his dad had that much of a cheesy title but kept it to himself.

“Eeriest thing though is some weird website that appeared.” Tokoyami shrugged, “Some countdown, A lot of people thought it was some game announcement but apparently some hidden stuff in it is pointing to something big happening soon. No ones been able to get rid of it or even so much as track where the page came from. Strangely the HPSC has tried to block it from public view but it keeps popping up more and more. There was an animated billboard that got hijacked by the thing. They had to tear it down to make it go away.”

He shook his head, “Reason I bring it up is that the symbols in the background of that countdown imply that some group calling themselves the Tri-Brigade are behind it. No clue who they are but if they can stump the HPSC with their tactics, they must have some powerful connections.”

Before their conversation could continue there was another sound, this time more like a very deep air horn, as everything went hazy.

“Huh. Guess we spent a lot longer here than I thought.” Izuku mused.

“What is happening?” Tokoyami and Dark Shadow looked down at themselves, they looked slightly translucent.

“Nothing serious.” Raven shrugged, “He’s just being woken up.” She smiled before fading out of the Mindscape.

Izuku sighed, “So much for private time with my fiancee. Maybe next night.”

“Will you two be okay?” Izuku asked as the two kept fading out of existence.

Dark Shadow shrugged, “Not like we have much of a choice, it seems,” before pointing at Tokoyami, “but we are going to find out what happened, if only to have some closure about this. If I’m going to be stuck as a shadow monster for the rest of my existence I want to know why.”

Tokoyami paused before nodding, “A fair request I suppose.” He looked over to Izuku, “Sorry for the intrusion. We will find a way to ask next time...perhaps we could knock?” He looked thoughtful before they both faded out of Izuku’s Mindscape.

Izuku rubbed his eyes, “Yeah, yeah, I’ll get up.”

+ Somewhere in Japan +

Tokoyami stared at the ceiling. He had just woken up in his room, their room really. “That was… certainly something.”

Dark Shadow floated in front of him, arms crossed, “So. We have a lot to talk about.”

Tokoyami nodded, “I do have one question ahead of our talk though: Why the incredibly loud act?”

Dark Shadow shrugged, “It seemed like the best way to keep anyone from getting suspicious of me. If I acted like I was normal, whoever did this might have caught on and I couldn’t risk that.”

Tokoyami tilted his head, “So you’re going back to sounding like that?”

“Possibly.” Dark Shadow sighed. “Look. I don’t know what to think about all this. But I know if that guy can get along with his inner demon then we can get along. I just wanna know what happened, and we’ll figure out how we deal with what we find when we get to it.”

Tokoyami chuckled, “Sounds like our type of thing doesn’t it? We always did have a thing for the darker aspects of living.”

+ I-Island, Somewhere in the Ocean +

She barely dodged a brown-ish blur and had just a moment to see a tree past the right side of her head split in two by something invisible.

Air pressure! How could anyone kick the air hard enough to cleave trees in half?!

Fortunately for her, she wasn’t that easily sacred as she grabbed the leg that had just missed her head, “Hauaaagh!”

With a growl she tried to throw her attacker over her shoulder, only for them to stop themselves from hitting the ground head first with their hands.

“Why princess!” Miruko smirked, her being upside down, holding herself up from eating dirt hadn’t reduced her amusement at all, “You seem a little agitated. Things not going your way?”

Melissa’s brow furrowed, slightly readjusting her grip on Miruko’s leg before with a spin sending her flying into into the sky. She could only vaguely hear a “Woaaah nelly!” in the distance.

“You do realise that won’t hurt her at all right?” Cathleen smirked.

“Yes!” Melissa snapped lightly, “You’ve been reminding me every single time I did that! Among other things like how I should ask her out on a date! For some reason! She’s like a decade older than me!”

Before Cathleen could object, she had only suggested dating Miruko...four times in the past few months the topic of the conversation landed about ten metres away from them.

“Ow!” Miruko whined, having landed on her feet “I think I sprained something this time around! You also sent me a couple hundred feet higher this time. I’m very sure I saw one of your friends up there, Bate! Some serious looking bald guy in a green suit flew by. He wasn’t that kid from our parts, that’s for sure.”

Cathleen frowned, “What would Stewart be doing back on Earth? He’s supposed to help train Midoriya.” She mused.

Melissa groaned and sighed, “I’m taking a break.” she declared, not wanting another ‘Midoriya might be a nice boyfriend’ discussion, which Cathleen had been going on about for months now.

She took a walk along the beach, not even registering the slightly indignant squeaking Miruko was making about ‘wasting her time with breaks’.

Cathleen would have gone after her, like she had done for a few months, but stopped. She knew what it was like, being pressured to succeed with something that was utterly foreign to anyone else after all.

Off in the distance she could have sworn saw someone, someone familiar.

Melissa walked around the bend of a small dirt path, one of the many tiny nature preserves on I-Island.

She walked up to a bench and just let herself drop in frustration. It had been more than a year since she got One For All and she felt like she was making no progress at all!

Sure she was getting increasingly stronger but without Cathleen’s help she’d have broken every bone in her body thrice over, not to mention all the breaks she needed to take just to not tear herself apart.

Why the hell was this quirk just not even trying to obey her?! She wanted to be a hero, she wanted to help! What more could it ask of her?

“You okay there young lady?” A cheery voice asked.

Standing there was a man, an absolute wall of a man, he looked like she imagined her Uncle Might to have looked in his prime.

Blond, massive and smiling like the sun was his best friend.

He was wearing a generic red long sleeved shirt with a single jagged, yellow, line on it. Otherwise just some jeans and average shoes.

He must have come from the other end of the island, she thought.

She sighed, burying her head in her hands “No. No I don’t think I am.” She admitted, maybe talking to someone she knew nothing about her might help.

The man laughed lightly and sat next to her, “Having a bit of trouble with yourself?” He asked, barely acknowledging her side-eyed glare, “No need to worry, it’s normal, no one your age really knows who they are yet.”

“How would you know?!” She almost reflexively shouted, “My life’s been a mess for the past year! Nothing is working! Nothing I’m doing is good enough or even close!”

She continued raging, for what felt like hours to her, to him it was merely a few minutes.

“Sounds like you got a lot of responsibility thrown on you.” The man observed after a few minutes.

She sighed resigned, drained, “I… I just don’t know what to do. I have a legacy to live up to now that I know nothing about, I didn’t even know it existed until a year and a half ago! What am I supposed to do about the expectations I’m met with? I just… don’t know.”

The man smiled lightly before laughing a bit, “The fact that you’re asking yourself those questions is a good sign, young lady. It shows that you care about those who came before you and those who will succeed you one day.”

He stood up, looking out to the ocean, he could see a massive boat approaching the island. “But I’d like you to understand something I feel the rest haven’t taught you, and take this from an old man who has seen some things, it may be your legacy but it’s your legacy.”

He turned to look at her, “So maybe what you and your friends are trying to do isn’t working not because you’re not trying hard enough. It’s because you’re trying to be someone you aren’t. Maybe trying to be who you are will help you next time.”

Before she could answer a familiar voice drew her attention “Melissa! You okay?” Cathleen had been unable to stop herself, sure they had been hard on the girl but they didn't want her to break so hard that she started talking to herself.

“Oh I’m fine, I was just talking to…” she paused, looking at where the man had been, he wasn’t there.

“W-Where did he go?” she asked herself.

“Who?”

Melissa paused, took a deep breath to recenter and answered “There was a man here, tall, blond, built like a brick wall. He smiled like…”

“...he could set the sun on fire?” Cathleen smiled a knowing smile “Guess you met ‘Old Pa’ Jay.”

Melissa blinked for a moment “Jay...like Jay Garrick?”

“Yup that’s him. The first Flash.”

“B-But he’s been dead for half a century!”

“Speed Force does a lotta weird things, he’s never gone.” Cathleen shrugged.

“Knowing Jay, he likely told you something you needed to hear,” Cathleen smiled. “I remember when I met him, told me that if I wanted to learn how to control my quirk I should be making my own rules, not follow those someone else made for me.”

Melissa blinked, before stamping down her frustration, “Then why did you never let me try and work One For All out myself?!”

Cathleen crossed her arms, “No offence, but what would you have done if that quirk had torn you apart while you’re on your own? Yes. We pushed you hard, sometimes too hard I’ll concede, but you weren’t going to improve on your own. I know, I’ve been there, things like this make people think they have to be on their own and solve everything.”

Melissa paused, “No.” As she stood up, slightly fixing her glasses.

“Excuse me?”

“I said no. You don’t know. Because this isn’t ‘New Order’ and it’s not some random enhancement quirk you can beat me into ‘understanding’ or whatever other crap Gran Torino did to Uncle Might. You want to help? Fine. Miruko wants to help? Fine. But from here on we’ll do this my way, the scientific way, or you’re staying out of it. But if the only idea to improve my control of this legacy, my legacy, is for you to find people to beat me senseless then you can go to whatever army base you’re stationed on stay there!”

Melissa hadn’t realised she had raised her voice enough to slightly shake the trees but by the time she had concluded her rant she didn’t care.

She paused and briskly walked past Cathleen who still seemed a little stunned.

“Hah!” She heard a voice from a hill nearby, “I think you owe me some money now Cathy.” Miruko smirked, having sat on a tree branch. “I told you that smarty girls like her don’t work like us but noooo, you had to play ‘chooser of the one’ on her.”

Cathleen sighed, “You still agreed to help.”

“Because I like beating people up.” Miruko admitted. “Look I got no illusions that she coulda killed me with one serious punch, but just because that turns my engines on doesn’t mean I think it’s a good training method.”

“You could’ve told me that earlier!”

“Eeeeeh, you coulda asked.”

“...I hate you sometimes.”

“You hate parts of me, most of them above my waist.”

“Yes, that was the point of what I said.”

+ Somewhere under Japan, Kamino ward +

“You. Absolute. Failure.” With each word All For One tortured Kurogiri, forcibly activating Warp Gate with each word, or what of Kurogiri remained in the strange amalgamation between his original and current selves.

“I gave you one job! One simple task! To look after Tomura and keep him in my grasp and you failed!”

Dr. Garaki sat back a bit, if only for his own protection. He had never seen All For One this rattled before, it became increasingly apparent to him that his master was slowly losing his cool.

Not about this situation alone but rather in general.

The loss of two of his backup options was clearly getting to the normally unflappable man.

So much so that All For One did not seem to realise that trying to force a teleporter to use his powers over and over might be a bad plan.

“Sir, may I suggest not accidentally murdering our main means of transportation?” He eventually asked in a tone that would have given any butler a run for their money.

All For One paused, straightening almost a little too rigidly as he growled out, “We can always make another one.”

Garaki rolled his eyes, sometimes he wondered why his master was sometimes incapable of seeing that some things weren’t expendable assets he could just throw out as he pleased.

“Now, now, sir.” A smooth American voice cut in as the Scarecrow walked in. “No need to throw away a perfectly good servant like that, no? It doesn’t behove an overlord like yourself to destroy your own property like that.” He smiled viciously. “You could just turn him into a bomb and have your enemies deal with him for you, beating your own people to death, is no way for a man of your status to be.”

All For One froze again, straightening once more before breathing out a long sigh, “I could use some fortunate news, ‘Dr.’ Crane.” He growled.

“If you mean the ‘Phobos’ project? Yes. It’s been progressing smoothly.” Crane smiled, barely even caring about the tall man looming over him.

“Progressing how ‘Dr.’? I have yet to see results.” All For One sneered.

“Of course you have not, sir.” Crane smiled. “Dr. Garaki? Would you be so kind and turn on some screens?”

With a simple click of a remote, the room was filled with the noise of nervous and fearful crying as countless live video feeds of hospitals sprung up on the walls.

“This. Dear sir.” Crane took off his glasses and cleaned them with bemused disinterest. “Is how I work.” His face shifted to a grin that could have cut off the top of his head “You and so many others may spread fear through ‘Might’ and ‘Intimidation’ and so much bravado!” He giggled immaturely, “Such methods are not for me, I much rather prefer this.”

He swept his arms in a wide gesture. “Recognize the potential in front of you, sir! With this undercurrent of fear spreading through your kingdom, your takeover will be a breeze. Oh I’m sure you will have many fights but what hope can a ‘Symbol of Peace’ aim to spread, when fear lives in the peoples heads?”

He shrugged, “There have been hitches, I admit. Some have recovered but it’s all the better. Paranoia remains and with more and more of my low-yield gas spreading, thanks to your amazing little critters Dr. Garaki, we are making continuous progress.” All of the images shifted to small, orb-like Nomu, wearing sneakers and round shades, with strange holes in the backs of their ‘heads’ spreading the gas.

“What ‘hitches’ have you encountered?” All For One growled, not wanting to admit he was impressed.

“Nothing too serious, I suspect that the Bat has some allies in Japan. I was accosted by three hooligans who seemed aware of my operations.” He shrugged unconcerned. “Dangers of the business, as you know.”

He cricked his neck slightly, “Your investment has however paid off, I now have proof that the ‘quirk’ you have given me is indeed capable of bypassing immunity to my creations. Perhaps by analysing how the sound alters the air around me while utilising it could be used to permanently apply the effect, what do you think Dr. Garaki?”

Garaki paused, lightly stroking his mustache. “It is a possible solution. Though it would be much easier to simply replicate the fear scream into some similarly small Nomu and let them scream alongside the other ones.” He shrugged.

Crane sneered lightly, “Cheap solutions get taken out too easily, Heroes are tricky people, make no mistake to underestimate them. Desperation feeds them as much as it feeds vultures.”

All For One paused. “Garaki, begin creation of the Nomu you have suggested.” He sneered, “We have no time for your experiments ‘Dr.’.” All For One’s tone made it clear to Crane that he didn’t care for his work much, no matter how useful it was.

“Of course, of course.” Crane smiled sincerely, “It was merely a musing sir, though I have a suggestion that you may find more appealing.”

If All For One still had eyebrows he would have raised them “Go on.”

“You see, sir. In Japan, festivals are far more prevalent than in the USA. As such, I had almost forgotten their prevalence.” Crane clapped his hands slightly, showing he too loved his theatrics.

“Imagine if you will, sir, festivities like the Sports Festival, instead of being times of joyous displays of power becoming a breeding ground of fear among the populace. All I would need to do is alter the formula behind it to function within water or similar substances. Suddenly a whole stadium of people goes from cheering their supposed new protectors to cowering, paranoid that they may be killed by them.”

There was a long pause as All For One remained silent before a wide, toothy, grin spread across his near faceless head.

“My dear Dr. I believe you are finally beginning to speak my language.”

+ ??? somewhere near Themyscira +

Kaina pinched the bridge of her nose, trying to fight the incoming headache and failing.

“I am not wearing that.” She growled.

“Oh come on! You like playing dress up!” Keigo smirked.

The glare she sent him made him shiver “Only in one place and only when you’re behaving.” She growls.

“Please!” He almost begged, “I only know one person who can handle a sniper rifle while looking sexy doing so. We need to have some appeal for the easily swayed ones!”

“I don’t even have an animal mutation.” She growled indignantly, “That aside, while you’ll be out there gallivanting, playing the big revolutionary, I will be taking care of our daughter.”

Keigo blinked lightly, “Did. Did you just call Eri, our daughter?”

It was Kaina’s turn to blink. “I… yes. I know she isn’t, not genetically and all that. But I’ve come to care for her too much to see her as anything else really. I. I just figured you would see it the same way.”

Keigo scratched his chin “Yeah. I kinda do. She’s a handful and with the whole ‘Tri-Brigade’ thing, It’s...well it's nice to have people to come home to you know.”

Kaina tilted her head, “Was that... an admission you want to marry me?”

Keigo shrugged, trying to be nonchalant but failing. “She needs a dad, you and I have known each other for years, it just works out I guess.”

She blinked for a long time before answering, “Keigo, one day I’m going to drag you to a therapist, after I shot all of your HPSC handlers and we’re going to talk about your complete lack of tact about things. First things first.” She grabbed him by the collar and semi-dragged him along.

“We’re going to take Eri to her ‘Uncle’ Nedzu this weekend and you will be very sore on Monday.”

+ Todoroki Residence +

Enji Todoroki stood out on his lavish balcony, hands resting on the railing, looking up to the night sky.

He wondered, as he did so many days, what had happened to his eldest son. He had never meant for it all to go so wrong.

He was a prideful man once, he admitted that he had his failings and no one knew it better than he did, he had lived them.

He imagined, often, how his life, how his family’s life would have gone if he hadn’t lost sight of things. If he had treated his son's dreams as real as his own. Perhaps they all would be happy now, he thought.

The sounds of chains rattling dragged him from his thoughts. He spun in place, staring at the roof behind him.

Standing there, in a crouch, was a familiar glowing visage “Been a long while, Todoroki.”

Enji’s face hardened “You.”

“Yes. Me.” Hisashi smiled, “And him.” he motioned lamely to Enji’s left.

As he turned he couldn’t dodge from a spray of powder in his face from a fire extinguisher only to be punched in the face, sending him tilting back and rather unceremoniously onto his ass.

“So. You’re the little fire-starter’s father, huh? Don’t look like much.” A voice sneered, as Enji shook his head, while the person hadn’t broken his jaw or even injured him but it still hurt.

The man standing in front of him was wearing a brown trench coat and a brown brimmed hat, he didn’t have a face.

Before either of them could move Hiashi landed on the railing between them. “You got your free hit, Question, now’s time to talk.” He looked over to Enji.

“Now Enji, you might be wondering why we’re here.” His masked face twisted into a smirk “Consider this my repayment for your help back in those days. Rejoice, little fire storm, for we found your firstborn and he’s doing fine by now.”

Enji had wanted to stand up, screaming and yelling at them to get away from his property but froze as Hisashi, Halogi, his old enemy spoke.

“...what.” his voice was tiny. It almost took the other two aback as the fire on his body went out.

“Yeah. Your son, Touya? He’s alive.” Question smiled, though it was impossible to see. “Hates you with all his heart, or so he says, but I don’t believe it. We found him, couple of months ago. We’ve been helping him recover. Then Halogi, here, told me about the rest of your family. Figured we should help you do right by them too.”

Enji blinked at the faceless man. “Why?” He asked, his voice stilted and broken.

“Heh. Make no mistake, we’re not bleeding hearts like the Justice League, we expect you to help in return. Main reason I wanna help you? Because I know what it’s like to come from a broken family.” Question dusted himself off, “And that kid, along with some others, are my family now. Don’t get me wrong here, ‘Endeavor’, I doubt Touya would ever forgive you. I don’t think he has to either. I just think that you meant well, in a misguided sort of way.”

Hisashi paused and glared at the glass door where Enji had originally come out from, “Little Todoroki, why not join us out here? It’s far harder to eavesdrop on conversations when there’s doors and walls in the way.”

Enji blinked as the door opened and Shouto walked out, to ostensibly confront the two men who had accosted his father.

“Hmph.” Hisashi grumbled, “You know, I remember you from a single picture Enji sent me all the way back when I quit. Shame you never were allowed to become friends with my kid, he would have loved being around you then.”

Shouto glared at him. “You said something about my brother being alive. What happened? What has that to do with how father acts now?” He pointed at Hisashi, “Are you related to us?” He pointed at Question, “Are you related to that invisible girl I’ve seen on TV once?”

Question chuckled, “A kid of my heart, a question looking for answers. How about you explain about your family, ‘Endeavor’?” He ‘glared’ as much as a faceless person could, at Enji.

Enji took a deep breath after a moment and began to explain the history of his family.

+ The next day, Dagobah Beach, afternoon +

All Might sighed, talking to Nighteye had taken a while.

They had years to catch up on and his friends' new found joy with life had returned them to something close to square one in their relationship.

Sure, he had been around the man for years before, but that was when he was already a serious if hopeful man. Now he was almost entirely alien but he was still filled with an unending well of kindness and hope that ultimately made All Might take him as his sidekick.

He just hoped that Nighteye would take the task he had left him, with both as much happiness and care as he did other things now.

“HRRRRAGH!” A loud scream tore through the air as a fridge flew by All Might’s head towards a trash collection area. A moment later a young man, blond, red eyes and a determined expression on his face charged by and tried to pick it up but failed both due to a lack of form and lacking strength.

Yagi smiled lightly and walked up to the young man, he saw something of himself in there, a hardheadedness, a familiar stubbornness just applied wrong. Perhaps he just needed help.

“You need help, young man?” He asked kindly.

“Tch. Fuck off.” the boy growled, still struggling to lift the fridge “I can do this on my own.”

“Evidently not.”

“I said fuck o—” Suddenly Katsuki stopped as the fridge lifted on the other end, Yagi holding it up with one arm.

“There’s no shame in asking for help, you know, no one is entirely on their own.” Yagi smiled, “Pretty sure I wouldn't be able to lift this on my like this if you weren’t here either.

“Tch. Liar. You could probably do it.” He growled.

“So? Doesn’t make my point less valid does it?” Yagi smiled widely.

There was a pause in which Katsuki blinked a few times.

Eventually he spoke up “….I remember you, you were in the crowd when Deku saved me!”

Yagi tilted his head, “Deku...ah you mean the Green Lantern?” He tried to hide behind the new name that Izuku had taken.

“Yeah I fucking saw you! Hiding in the crowd, I recognize those eyes!” Katsuki did his best to not scream, he was trying to drop his habit of yelling everything.

Yagi sighed, “Yes. I was there. I did both of you a great disservice that day.”

“Tch. The fuck you on about now?”

“I knew Midoriya before that. I said some...unkind things.” Yagi admitted.

Katsuki laughed lightly as they both started taking the fridge to the trash area. “Join the club. So did just about anyone who wasn’t his mom until that ring showed up. He dealt with shitheads all his life until then.” Katsuki grumbled.

Katsuki looked at his hands, “Fucking. Hell. I started cleaning this shithole off a beach because I figured it’d be the kind of thing he’d do. He’d look at this dump and go ‘Fuck it! No one cares about this place but I do because someone’s gotta!’...well kind of. He’d swear less probably.”

Yagi tilted his head, “You feel you owe him to try and help people?”

Katsuki scoffed “Fucker always wanted to be a hero, I wanted to beat it out of him. Figured he didn’t deserve it.”

Yagi wanted to be angry at the kid but instead just kept looking at him as Katsuki kept talking.

“I trained all my life to become a hero! To be the fucking best there is! Sure he looked at people’s quirks, but what fucking use was that if he couldn’t even physically keep up?!” Katsuki sighed, “..it’s what I told myself, needed some excuse. Any excuse. I just…” He sighed again, rubbing his eyes slightly, “I was fucking scared okay?! I thought he was going to show me up, make me useless because all I can do is wreck things! That’s all my quirks good for.”

Katsuki took a deep breath. “I went too far, that day...I wasn’t any better before either really. Told him to off himself by jumping off a roof.”

Yagi froze a bit, his mind reaching back to that fateful conversation on the rooftop, he had left Midoriya on that rooftop, after that had happened.

His expression darkened for a moment before returning to his previous look, he had no ground to stand on or talk big about himself, he had left someone like himself on that roof after all and hadn’t seen the signs.

“I am certain that Midoriya doesn’t hold it against you too much, he did not seem to be that kind of person.” Yagi eventually settled on saying.

“Yeah, he wouldn’t. But maybe he should.” Katsuki grumbled. “The fucking kind of hero tells someone to jump off a roof?”

Yagi shook his head, “You have a mistaken view of heroism.” He stood taller. “It’s not a title you earn and then keep. It’s a journey. You keep improving on your failings. You keep helping where you can. Strength alone will never get you to the goal of being a hero.”

“Tch. Would have been good to be taught that before I almost got my only friend to off himself.” Katsuki grumbled, “Cause that’s what he was, really. The only person who actually gave a shit about me. At least back then.”

Katsuki glared at the man for a moment, “Don’t fucking think I missed what you said earlier. The fuck did you do?”

Yagi sighed, sitting on top of the fridge. “As you are Midoriya’s old friend, I feel you can be made aware of my situation. But only because I believe that you truly want to prove yourself worthy to be a hero.”

With a poof of steam, Yagi was gone and All Might was there, for a moment.

Katsuki stared at him blankly, almost catatonic.

“For all it matters, you and I were not that different, we both were prideful and thought we knew better than we truly did.” Yagi shook his head.

“I saved Midoriya from the same person who later attacked you. He managed to keep hold of me as I left the scene to ask me a question.” Yagi continued.

“He…”

“...asked you if he could be a hero without a quirk.” Katsuki finished for him. “And you said that he couldn’t.”

Yagi nodded solemnly “I was a fool. It’s a decision that I feel I will regret for many years to come, perhaps even the rest of my life, he did not deserve that. He did not deserve to be left alone on a roof either, which is exactly where I left him.”

Katsuki glared at him, clenching his fists, feeling that All Might, All Might had acted almost worse than he had. He truly wanted to hurt All Might at this moment.

But then he stopped, letting out a long breath, glaring at the ground. He had no ground to stand on in that regard. He had beaten Izuku up more than anyone, yet Izuku still cared for him.

“Well.” Katuski growled, “What’s your way of atoning?” he asked.

Yagi smiled, “I’m working with a lot of heroes to make Japan a place Midoriya would be proud to return to. It’s a long process but we’re getting there, in a few years.”

Katsuki growled, “Then I’m gonna be there, you fucking watch! I’ll lead that fucking charge!”

The two blonds looked at each other and laughed before getting to cleaning Dagobah Beach, it was the right thing to do, for no other reason than they could.

Chapter Text

+ In a bar called ‘Noxalas’ +

“Are you sure I should be involved in this?”

Yagi sighed, “Young Bakugo, you asked me this four times already and my answer remains yes.”

With that he knocked on the door of the back room to the Japanese Justice League ‘Conference Room’.

“Password?” A familiar, tired voice came from the door.

“Tower of Babel,” Yagi answered.

When the door opened, Shouta Aizawa stared at him, then at Katsuki, then back at him. Aizawa groaned, rubbing his eyes.

“Of course you’d know each other and of course you’d bring him here.” He sighed in defeat “Get in. I’m not having another shouting match about how we’re not supposed to involve teenagers in this nightmare.” He waved them in.

“Uuuh.” Yagi pointed at something behind Aizawa, “What’s with the standoff?”

Aizawa turned around, blinking and groaning again, “Can you stop trying to burn the room down for five minutes?!” He yelled at two of the people present.

Standing there, on opposite sides of the table, in rather threatening poses, were Enji Todoroki ‘Endeavor’ and, who Yagi guessed to be a relative of his, a younger man with red hair and very strangely discolored patches of skin on his body.

“The fuck is wrong with these guys?” Katsuki muttered slightly to himself but loud enough to be heard.

“Believe me I wish I knew and I live with one of them.” He heard an annoyed voice from his left. Glancing over he noticed three people leaning against the wall next to the door. Two guys with engines coming out of their limbs and one with red and white hair.

“You related to those two Bunsen burners?” Katsuki grumbled, deciding to join the ‘keeping out of this confrontation’ squad in leaning against the wall before someone set him on fire.

“Unfortunately yes” he sighed before he lightly introduced himself, “Shouto Todoroki, and believe me, I have never been as conflicted about being related to either of them as I have been in the last forty eight hours.”

Katsuki blinked, “Care to share? It seems that people having their world view tipped over is a fucking common occurrence now.” He growled lightly.

Shouto sighed, “Well, I was of the opinion that my father was just an obsessive monster, who basically drove my mother mad out of some demented need to prove himself or one of us, his kids, to be stronger than All Might,” he motioned to the other red-haired guy.

“But it turns out the actual reason was that my oldest brother, Touya, seemingly died in a massive fire. Except it turns out he didn’t die, at least not completely. He was found a few months ago by some guy working with the Justice League.” He shook his head.

“Apparently, literal magic was involved in getting him back to a ‘not slowly dying’ state. We don’t even know who originally saved him, just that this Justice League guy found him years later and literally beat sense back into him. Turns out my brother is also kind of crazy? As in ‘regularly threatens to burn things to the ground’ crazy. Now I have to reconcile that with everything else my family is dealing with.” Shouto sighed.

“I sound insane.” He grumbled after a moment.

Katsuki shrugged, “My former best friend’s a Green Lantern now, I almost got killed by villains twice in less than a year’s time, and then I met All Might while cleaning up a trash-yard of a beach. At this point, you could tell me you’ve seen the face of god and I wouldn’t discount it.”

This made one of the engine guys look over to him. “You’re the person that the Green Lantern recruit saved?”

“Yes…”

“Tensei Iida.”

“Iida...Yes. That was me.” Katsuki sighed, “Honestly, there’s probably worse things to be remembered for.” he grumbled.

“...wait. ‘Former best friend’?” the second one of the Iida’s asked.

“Yes 2nd gear. Former. Let’s just say that I have a lot of things I regret doing and leave it at that. Please.” Katsuki growled again.

Before Tenya could object or even properly introduce himself the door burst open.

“Alright people, we got a problem. Big problem.” A man in a trench coat, hat (wearing cat ears on his hat) and carrying a small sack over his shoulder barged in, followed by a blue-ish-white haired guy whose face Katsuki would have described as ‘dry’ if anyone asked.

The other guy was also carrying a sack and wearing a near exact duplicate of the other person's clothes without the hat, just wearing a t-shirt reading “Crit-ty cat” instead.

“Oi! There’s suppo—”

“Tower of Babel-fish, I made the damn codes Eraser!” Question growled in a way that Katsuki almost envied a little.

“Touya!” Question barked at the red haired guy, “Quit antagonising your genetics provider, we’ve got bigger fish to fry. Do not make me get the spray bottle." This made Touya blanch slightly and immediately back off.

“And you!” He barked at Endeavor, “Act like a fucking grown up. If a teen with issues can rile you up this much it’s no wonder you’re terrible at raising them.”

He glared around, an achievement for a man with no face, before dropping the sack onto the table.

“Now you’re probably wondering why me and my kid are walking around like it’s Christmas.” He intoned as he opened the sack and…

“What the hell are those things?” Aizawa asked, tilting his head in a ‘what the hell am I looking at?’ way rather than his usual ‘why am I forced to exist in the same universe as this lunatic?’ way.

“Well Eraser, they sure as shit ain’t Metropolis gators and they don’t look like Gotham rats to me either.” Question snarked.

On the table, having rolled out of the sack, were two large black-ish orb things with little legs (wearing sneakers), beady-eyes that seemed to blankly stare, mouths like pedal bins, wearing broken round shades, they seemed to have small spinal cords coming out of the back of their ‘heads’.

They seemed very unnatural, very unsettling and very, very dead.

“Well that’s for the kid to explain, actually.” Question smiled, achieving the impossible again “Because apparently he’s seen these little jerks before.”

On cue the blue-ish-white haired guy dropped the sack he was holding on the table too, revealing much identical contents.

“Well not quite, never seen these mobs but seen something similar.” The guy grumbled in a scratchy voice, “Before dad found me, I was living with someone who made things that looked like these.” He motioned vaguely to the things on the table.

“Not to sound ungrateful for your... contributions.” Endeavor’s tone made it clear he was not sure what to think of these psychopaths, “But why exactly did you bring these things here?!”

“Aside from cleaning out the sewers near our home?” The guy asked, shrugging, “If I’m not wrong, they belong to one of the bosses you lot here are fighting. That aside, they were releasing some weird stuff into the air.”

He looked at and pointed at Yagi, “Now I don’t know his full name because he insisted I call him ‘sensei’ or by his surname but I know that the guy who raised me for a while was rather insistent either he kills you or I become strong enough to do it for him.”

Yagi blinked a bit, looking between him, Aizawa and Question for a moment “...Tenko Shimura I presume?” He asked, in a very shaky voice.

Tenko got a very tense look on his face for just a few seconds “...Yeah. Don’t get too broken up about it. I know what happened to your predecessor and to the kid she refused to raise. I’d know, that asshole was my father.”

Yagi stared at Question. “You told him?”

Question shrugged. “Figured he should know, it’s only fair. Was a hell of a freak out when he heard his own name though. Thank whatever nebulous all-powerful being you believe in for cats, seriously, I’m pretty sure half a town would be gone otherwise.” He muttered the last part.

Endeavor stared around the whole room for a moment, “Could anyone be bothered to explain a damn thing that is going on here?!”

Katsuki groaned lightly, why were adults so fucking stupid?!

“Alright ass-hat you wanna hear it in fast forward?!” He growled, pointing at Yagi “That’s All Might.” he pointed at Tenko “This guy is the grandson of All Might’s mentor in a desperate need of a spa day.” H pointed at the dead creatures on the table, “Those things are genetic abominations made by whoever the biggest asshole who wants to kill All Might is.”

He took a deep breath, “And every last person here is trying to keep our home from turning into an even more fucked up shit-hole of favoritism, eugenics and political bullshit than it already is. Guessing by the fact that he,” he motioned at Question, “is here, the Justice League and possibly the Lanterns are also involved in this.”

“Among others.” A distorted voice chimed in from the side.

With a dramatic ~fwump~ sound, Halogi’s eye-lights and grimace lit up. He had chosen to sit in the same chair as last time he was part of this meeting.

“We have quite a few other allies out there now. Former villains, former vigilantes, former pro-heroes, actual pro-heroes. Some actual heroes too. Considering your own presence, we can now put ‘vaguely related civilians’ on the list.” Halogi got out of his seat.

“Let me summarise the whole scope for everyone here: We currently have three adversaries to deal with, each worse than the other in some ways.” He threw a small disk on the table, a hologram of All For One’s silhouette appearing.

“First: All For One and his ‘League of Villains’.” He motioned to All Might, “A two hundred year old sociopath who murdered a lot of heroes and created just as many villains. He can steal and give quirks and has been manipulating our country into the hellhole it is right now.”

Endeavor snorted, “I wouldn’t call it a hellhole.”

“You’re also one of the richest men living in it, shut up.” Touya growled.

Halogi chuckled, “Kid’s got you there. Two: The ‘Meta Liberation Army’, or more specifically the mockery the son of the original ‘Destro’ made out of it.” The hologram shifted to a picture of Rikiya Yotsubashi.

“That Doofenshmirtz looking shithead?” Katsuki grumbled, “I remember him visiting our school once. Talked a lot of garbage that didn’t matter to no one.”

Halogi chortled, “Rich talk coming from the kid beating down the powerless, you’d fit right in with his recruits.” he almost sneered “Unfortunately for us some people are even less self aware and joined up with his nonsense. About fifty thousand people give or take.”

“Tch. Fuck off! I changed.” Katsuki growled.

“Well you spent a decade making my kid’s life hell so pardon me for not congratulating you for growing a semblance of a conscience.” Halogi growled right back in such a nasty way that Katsuki needed to put actual effort into not recoiling.

Katsuki blinked a bit as something in his head put together who the man was referring to, who he had to be referring to.

“Pardon the question,” Tensei interrupted their little growling competition, “but I was of the impression that the ‘Neo Meta Liberation Army’ numbers in the millions not thousands?”

Halogi straightened near instantly, merely glancing in Tensei’s direction before shrugging, “A nice little daydream Yotsubashi has in his head. It’s just a marketing lie. Far easier to recruit morons if you say ‘hey a million people are part of our cause already’ rather than ‘hey our small town is part of our beliefs.’. The actual numbers were found out by one of our Justice League friends who has since returned back to the Justice League.”

“And she’s damn well never going back either.” Question snarled, “He’ll be lucky if I don’t tear him to pieces when I see him.”

“To get back on topic: These sociopaths are using quirks to try and take over our government. Or more specifically do it more than they already do.” Yagi chimed in.

Endeavor scowled more than even before, which was quite an achievement, “Why aren’t there more people involved in this? More so why wasn’t I involved sooner?!”

Question growled, “Because unlike you all of the others had easy to verify backgrounds, safe All Might because his background is that he doesn’t have one aside from being a ridiculous altruist with a bleeding heart. Meanwhile your background and bird boys were so damn hidden that we needed someone to get into the HPSC archives to figure out if we could trust you.”

Halogi chuckled, “And the reason there aren’t even more people involved is because we’re far from certain that they aren’t spies for the MLA or the HPSC. All of these people here,” he motioned to the Pro-Heroes present, “had some of their sidekicks deliberately not looking into missing persons cases. Cases of people the MLA and the HPSC wanted to be and stay gone.”

Endeavor crossed his arms, “And why exactly do you believe that the HPSC is compromised so badly that you can’t trust them?”

The hologram on the disk changed again this time showing Hawks, “Because Rikiya Yotsubashi is part of the HPSC council and has very close ties to my own handlers.” Hawks waved cheerfully, “I’m only getting out of that situation thanks to the Justice League. You’d be surprised how easy it is for a psychic to mess with your brain when they’ve done it all your life. Glad the Martian Manhunter was a bit more humane than the HPSC was. Which is ironic.”

Hawks shrugged, “Point is, even our own government is in on this bizarro nonsense. I wouldn’t be surprised if our prime minister is either compromised or in the process of being replaced in an ‘accident’ soon.”

“So what’s the big plan then?” Endeavor growled, “It seems to me you all know a lot but not much has happened so far.”

“Of course not.” Question said. “You don’t tip a Jenga tower by flipping the whole table. You tip it by being strategic. We’re trying to keep as many of the civilians out of the crossfire. Which means we have been busy carefully planning all this and adapting as things go. Which makes these things,” he motioned, “our nearest immediate problem.”

Katsuki took a deep breath, man this whole situation was a mess. He paused, blinked and suddenly felt very uncomfortable in a very familiar way. “You said these fucking things were pumping stuff into the air right?” He almost whispered.

“Yeah, why?” Tenko grumbled.

“Anyone else happen to smell a doctor's office? Cause that’s what I’m smelling.” he muttered “And if I’m smelling that then these things” he clenched his fists hard enough to almost have his fingers crack. “These fucking things are making Scarecrow’s fear gas.”

You could have heard a pin drop in the room.

“Well then. Guess our conclusion that Scarecrow was working with All For One is corroborated.” Halogi growled. “Last we encountered the good Dr. Crane, he suddenly had the ability to scream in a way that could override fear protection. Last anyone of us checked, Dr. Crane shouldn’t have a quirk. If these damn things make his gas now and are spread across the sewers of Japan…”

“...Then we have a massive problem.” Endeavor finished for him, his face looked thunderous.

“There’s miles of sewers beneath the entirety of the country, countless places where these things could be pumping this stuff into the air. They could be spreading it all across the country, driving the population insane.”

“The gas that Crane used so far in our country is some new ‘low-yield’ version, apparently an attempt to slowly subvert us instead of driving people instantly mad.” Aizawa started before raising his hand to stop Endeavor and All Might from ranting at him, “The reason you two weren’t told of our operation to find him is because if you two fell under the sway of this gas no one in the country could safely stop you without involving the Justice League, so keeping you out of his way was the logical choice. Had we assumed he was working with someone like All For One it would have been a completely different story.”

“So what’s the plan then?” Touya asked, “Have some people sweep the entire sewer system?”

Halogi grinned. “Exactly. Which is why Endeavor being part of this is good timing. Fire tends to burn gas like that away really well.”

Endeavor glared at him and took a deep breath. “You want me to send fifty sidekicks into the sewers to hunt these things down?!”

If Endeavor could have seen Hisashi’s face behind the mask he would have punched him in his smirking face “Of course. You pride yourself with having the most efficient hero agency in all of Japan after all. Who better to send than them?”

“Why not ask the Justice League?” Endeavor reasoned. “They have a speedster who is an international icon after all.”

Question almost sneered at that, “And tip our hand to these people? After spending months making sure they don’t catch on that we know what they’re up to? No. The only reason I and Huntress weren’t found out to be working internationally is because we’re not direct associates. The only time Justice League sanctioned heroes have been on Japanese soil recently was because of the Green Lantern recruit and it will stay like that until we’re ready to make that Jenga tower topple.”

Endeavor raised an eyebrow, “That, as an individual statement, may not be a lie. But I’ve heard rumblings that some of Batman’s children are here,” he glared at Halogi, “working with you, no doubt.”

“Scared of what else we’re not telling you?” Hisashi grinned.

“More so questioning the necessity of it all.” Endeavor countered. “I’m not an idiot Halogi. I know a brewing conflict when I see one. You realise that this will become a nightmare if even one thing goes wrong.”

Halogi chuckled, “No. It will be a nightmare one way or the other.” He sighed, “Let me be clear on this. It’s not a question of if there will be a conflict spanning our wonderful country once our plan comes to fruition. It’s a question of how many people will be dragged into it.”

Endeavor blinked, “You think there will be a civil war?”

“I know there will be, we know there will be.” Yagi stated grimly. “But if we don’t act it will be worse, because there will be less people fighting to protect others and more to try and subjugate them.”

There was a pause as everyone took the statement in.

“Tch. So what?” Katsuki growled. “We have to help. We’ll deal with whatever comes after we stop these fuckers once we get to it.”

Endeavor glared at him, “We, kid? If you’re thinking that you’re part of thi—”

“Shut the fuck up.” Katsuki cut him off. “Without me walking into Scarecrow’s office, you fuckers wouldn’t even know what that fuck is up to unless Batman told Eraserhead more.” He snarled. “You don’t got much to say about it, anyway. What? You think being 2nd best in this damn country lets you tell anyone here what to do? News flash asshole, this is bigger than you! Bigger than me! The only reason the Justice League isn’t turning the country on its head is because we’re too fucking proud of ourselves to let them.”

A silence took the room for a moment before Halogi began laughing madly.

“Never-mind my earlier animosity, I applaud the self awareness.” Halogi smirked. “Kid has a point though, we’re all in this. Whether we want it or not.”

Before Katuski could feel vindicated however he continued.

“However. I agree with Endeavor that we can’t have you kids.” He motioned to all the non-licensed members of the group. “Run around getting yourselves killed. If for no other reason than to not tip off our adversaries too soon.”

Katsuki wanted to explode at him but again was caught short.

“That being said. There are still things you can do.” Halogi continued, walking around the room and eventually placing a hand on Katsuki’s shoulder, making him shiver.

“It’s obvious that each of you have a place and use here. Bakugo here is a hero hopeful in a school of people who love powerful quirks. Question found some hints connecting them to the MLA. With his goal being to get into U.A.'' He pointed at Katsuki with his other hand. “That puts him into a prime position of getting us intel on people in his school or surrounding schools that could also be on the MLA’s radar.”

He moved away from Katsuki, smirking lightly before pointing to Tenya, “Iida here is part of a family who for generations has been in the Professional Hero business, no doubt his goal is also U.A. Allowing him the same access to other hopefuls, some who may be approached by the HPSC for that very connection.”

“Same for the youngest of the Todoroki actually. Even private schools like the ones you’re going to would have some people putting out feelers.” He mused aloud. “And your known animosity with him,” he motioned to Endeavor, “makes a prime target for a recruit.”

“Absolutely not! / Out of the question / That won’t happen, you bastard.”

Halogi was amused that Aizawa, Endeavor and All Might (as well as the other pro heroes in the room but they were drowned out) all pretty much disagreed on the spot.

“Oh? Perhaps you would want them to hide in their homes next? Stand by and watch as their country, one they plan to one day protect, turns into a nightmare?” He sneered, unimpressed by the objections.

“They’re not trained.” All Might growled.

“So? I heard you tried to stop villains with a lead pipe and a dream once upon a time.” Halogi shrugged.

“Listen,” he said simply, “you can either find something for them to do that you know will be their task and live with the risk. Or you can find out what they’re gonna do on their own. I know how it works, while I wasn’t looking, mine became a Space Police Officer who got himself killed and eloped to a demon princess… gods putting that into words makes it sound so weird.”

Aizawa groaned. “Alright. All of you out. You got your tasks,” he motioned to everyone, “we can’t keep putting more hours into this before it gets suspicious. We’ll meet in another month or whenever something else horrifying happens.”

“Why only in a month?” Endeavor questioned.

Aizawa blinked, “You do realise that some of the highest ranking heroes are currently all in the same bar, with among others, various vigilantes, two people who are supposedly dead and several underground heroes, right? I’m no expert on the politics and specifics but I can’t imagine that looking good for your image.”

“So why this bar then? Why not a bunker? Or some less unique location?” Endeavor countered.

“The owner.” Hawks’s Hologram smiled. “Ya know? The lady with the black wings behind the bar? Her quirk generates some kind of field constantly. If you aren’t looking for this bar, you won't find it. Very few people even know it exists. The Justice League’s paying out the nose for us to use it.”

Endeavor stared at Hawks for a while before grumbling, “Fair enough.”

+ Somewhere in Japan, Uraraka Construction Company +

Ochako Uraraka was not having a good day.

Well no, that was an understatement. She and her family hadn’t had a good few years.

Their company was a family business, always had been and likely would be until they were forced to close it.

She was manning the front desk because, as a family business, no one would bat an eyelash at that.

A reality they would soon be facing, she thought sourly, checking the appointments, of which there were all of one this entire week.

Her mood darkened as a car stopped in front of the office building. It was a long, black, limousine.

She had seen these types quite a few times over the last few months.

Most of them contained ominous men who just looked around the place while going on about how ‘old and run down’ the building looked and how ‘it could certainly fall apart within a week or so’ or similar vaguely hostile statements.

Usually, these sorts of people came in packs of four, looked about as friendly as a chainsaw in an ill fitting suit (though she was sure that the courier boy with the chainsaw head a few streets down had no relation to them) and generally acted as if they already owned the place.

To her surprise she wasn’t met with that as the door closed.

The men that came, two instead of the expected four, were tall, thin and while they looked around the place a bit it was more fondly than judgmental or almost a little wistful.

“Hello.” Ochako greeted kindly. “How can I help you?”

The older of the two gentlemen paused and smiled. “Hello. I have an appointment with the owner of Uraraka Constructions.” He stated, a clear American accent in his voice, he put a card on the table. “Lucius Fox. I work for Wayne Enterprises International.”

Ochako first looked at the card then at the appointment time and it matched.

“One moment.” She got up and froze a step away from the desk as it suddenly clicked with her just who this man was working for.

She shook herself and rushed to inform her father of who was here.

“This way Mr. Fox.'' She eventually led him to her fathers office before sitting back down at the reception desk and almost fainting on the spot.

Everyone knew Wayne Enterprises. They were gargantuan compared to her family’s company, which made her wonder just what the hell they were doing here?

She re-centered a bit, trying her damnedest to not seem incompetent in front of the other man who was still in the reception area only to see he was looking at the pictures of previous projects the company had made.

To her surprise, he wasn’t looking at the office buildings and factories they had helped build, but rather the houses and parks.

She could hear him saying a few things quietly from where he was, though couldn’t make out what it was.

“I-Is there anything you’d like to know about our work?” Ochako eventually brought herself to ask. “I haven’t been in the family business too long, but I know most of the projects we worked on.”

The man paused before looking at her. “Oh? No no.” He held up his hands placating her. “I am not as involved in the business as my father, I’m afraid, Lucas Fox.” He introduced himself. “You have already met my father.”

“Ochako Uraraka.” She answered, trying to match the American style of introductions. “I-It’s just that I’ve rarely seen someone care about the houses we helped build.”

Lucas chuckled. “Not a surprise there, most companies, especially American ones, tend to not be oriented around family. Mr. Wayne, my fathers boss, however sees it as essential.”

“That would be Bruce Wayne right?” Ochako asked. “I was of the impression he was more of a socialite than a family man.”

Lucas laughed lightly, “No surprise there. He likes to play up that aspect of himself. You have no doubt seen some younger gentlemen during official functions? Dick Grayson, Tim Drake, Jason Todd, Damian Wayne the lot. Many of them are his wards, he adopted them from Gotham’s streets.” He explained.

“N-Not to sound invasive but do you know why he did that?” She asked, curiosity piqued.

“As far as I know, he lost his own family early in life and saw children he could help.” Lucas shrugged, leaving out that Jason had been adopted when he tried to steal the tires of the Batmobile.

“There have been issues, yes, some fights that I’ve witnessed too unfortunately but you can tell they’re a family.” Not a lie, but she didn’t need to know that Damian and Jason both had tried to kill Bruce more than once before and that Dick and Bruce had gotten into a lot of physical fights over the manipulative decisions the latter had made.

Lucas instead looked around. “This building,” he mused aloud, “has it been in your family for longer than your parents lifetime?”

“Y-Yes. My great-great grandfather built it, parts of it were rebuilt after a fire and the rest had to be brought up to code by my dad.” Ochako explained, somewhat confused. “W-Why do you ask?”

“Mostly because of the non-uniformity of the place.” He motioned to some patches at the ceiling that anyone else would have attributed to artistic choices.

“I love it.” He smiled kindly. “It’s a bit of a shame, family businesses have been dying out en masse where I live. I am glad to see some people still follow through with it, difficulties aside.”

Ochako needed to reign in how much she wanted to smile and to also stamp the utterly inappropriate feeling of asking him out on a date out of her head, he was at least five years if not more, her senior and she’d probably never see him again after today anyway.

They spent an hour, which was about the amount of time her fathers meetings took, talking about anything and everything.

It appeared that the rumours of superpowers being all-encompassing throughout the world was not as true as she remembered, because he seemed to not even know what a quirk was.

He slightly tilted his head after a while, a question came to his mind: “So, I take it you want to take over your parents work here?”

She blinked, a bit taken aback that he had figured out who she was, she was fairly sure she hadn’t said her name at all during the whole conversation.

He chuckled, “The name plate.” He motioned to her desk. “Figured you had to be a very close relative to your parents, they look like you after all.” He shrugged. “But anyways. Do you have any plans for your future?”

Ochako groaned a little, it was a little silly she had forgotten the name plate but then she sighed, “I wanted to take over the family business one day, but with the way things are right now? It’s not happening. We barely make due and have been struggling for a long time. So I’ve been hoping to become a Pro-Hero once I graduate. It's a well paying job and will get my family a lot of money and attention I think.”

He blinked at her owlishly. “A curious choice.” She could tell he hadn’t expected that answer.

“If I might ask, I admittedly don’t know the ins and outs of the business, but would you become a hero if it didn’t pay well, or at all?”

She paused a little confused about the line of questioning. “I’m...I’m not sure to be honest.” She admitted.

She didn’t expect an almost pitying look on his face.

He chuckled lightly, “It’s fine. I suppose here it’s a valid concern.”

She blinked again, “Why just here?”

Lucas shrugged “Well in any other country being a super hero isn’t a job. No one pays Superman for being Superman. He does it because he feels it’s the right thing to do.” He explained simply.

Before their conversation could continue Lucius Fox returned from her fathers office.

“Lucas, we will have some things to prepare.” He stated simply.

“Guess the meeting went well?” Lucas asked, doing his best to focus on his father.

“They’re good people. I feel Bruce will agree.” Lucius shrugged.

He turned to Ochako and bowed slightly “Your father will be along with a few more meeting plans. We will be back very soon.”

With that the two men left, Lucas waving lazily to her as they walked out.

Ochako was not sure what she had just dealt with before her dad walked out, white as a sheet and gave her a lot of new meetings to plan.

“I-Is everything okay dad?” Ochako asked as she saw the limousine pull away.

“Pumpkin,” he started, his voice barely over a whisper, “if we get them as a client? Our worries are over. For decades.”

Ochako blinked as she noticed a number her dad had written on the paper. He sometimes wrote how much money to expect from some customers, just so she knew she should expect them to be serious.

She blinked at the amount. Then blinked at her dad. “Tha—that’s a lot of money.”

“We’re already out of debt, just from the down payment.” He stated, sounding parched. “I don’t know why these people want our business, but they’re insistent we do it our way.”

She thought for a moment about what Lucas had said. “Maybe dad, they just think it’s the right thing to do.”

Lucius sat opposed to his son in the limousine. “I guess your own conversation went well?”

Lucas shrugged, “She was obviously worried about her family situation but otherwise it was good. Did Bruce mention just why he’s so interested in them?”

Lucius smiled, “Said something about ‘having to support family values’ and that ‘loyalty was worth a lot in a country like Japan’.”

“He’s not wrong.” Lucas allowed. “Other companies would have results faster but we’d effectively saved a family business from going under.”

Lucius chuckled, “You don’t know the half of it, give it a year and their family business suddenly has more employees than it did in its entire history. So? What do you think?”

Lucas sighed, “Too early to tell yet I think. Their work is good, their daughter adores them. Look, I wasn't trying to play detective boy…”

“...and yet you picked something up. What was it?” Lucius asked.

Lucas wrung his hand slightly, “I think if we had come any later, they’d have taken anything. Like ‘build a villain's lair otherwise you’re homeless’ levels of anything. Poor girl, she just wants to help, I think.”

Lucius smiled, “Well it’s good that Bruce pointed us here then.” He tapped the glass of the driver. “Take us to our next appointment. Intelli Industries headquarters. We’ve got work to do.”

“Right away, sir.”

+ Space Sector 667, Orbit of the planet Thalamon +

Izuku stared down at the planet that had lurched into existence in front of them.

It was arid looking, outlines of dilapidated cities were visible everywhere.

He paused as his ring, helpful as it tried to be, informed him that there were no life signs other than them here. None. Not even microbes.

"N-Not to be rude, but why are we at a dead planet?"

Walker looked solemn, "It was not dead until a few hours ago. We suspect magic was involved but have few practitioners of those arts available to us."

Izuku took a short breath, "Let's see what we find. I have a bad feeling about this."

They were here as a group of four Lanterns. Izuku himself, Walker of the Blue Lanterns, Thessia a female Red Lantern and finally a female Yellow Lantern known as Kiriazis.

Izuku couldn’t help but be unsettled by both of them for various reasons. Thessia appeared to eye him with open suspicion and Kiriazis… well, she was vaguely insectoid with four eyes, purple skin and as far as Izuku could tell had a maw of teeth and additional insectoid limbs, he felt like she was contemplating to eat him.

Izuku, however, only had eyes for the planet as they approached the ground. Something was already off.

“Stay off the ground.” Izuku instructed. “Keep your eyes open for anything that looks intentionally placed. Lines of trees, motes, channels, walls anything that even vaguely looks like it's not natural. Do not touch anything. No matter what it is.”

“Is there a reason we’re that cautious?” Thessia almost growled, which wasn’t hard to do seeing as a Red Lantern was naturally angry.

Izuku let his gaze wander the landscape, sure enough, lines, lines connected to each other everywhere he looked.

“An entire planet doesn’t fall silent without something massive happening.” He explained. “If it's magical there is a chance whatever it is, is still either active or still present.”

They eventually got low enough to see cities, which looked vaguely like black round horns sticking out of the ground.

Izuku flew ahead of them to one of the cities and began looking around between what he could at best describe as strange scale-covered spires. He eventually stopped glaring around the area.

“This place feels strange.” Kiriazis’s tone was concerned, though filtered through a cacophony of skittering sounds it sounded more unnerving than anything.

“That’s because this isn’t a town.” Izuku exclaimed, he could feel demonic power in the air. “It’s a node of some kind.” He shivered.

“Look at the roads and walkways,” he eventually pointed down, “see how they’re structured? They’re connecting from the buildings into several massive roads likely leading to the other nodes with one likely leading to the centre of this network.”

Walker looked distraught, there was an oppressive feeling in the air. He had seen horror scenarios more than he could count and yet this place felt empty. “Where are the people? You say this was not a town but it appears to have been lived in.”

Izuku’s distraught matched the Blue Lantern, “You’re not going to like what happened to them. Follow me.”

He started flying lower and towards one of the massive streets.

As they lowered they could see strange dark lines at the side of the street. “These. Are channels. Likely stone, possibly metal.” Izuku began explaining.

“You see, magic has prices. You can’t get something without paying for it.” He flew closer to one of the channels.

“That is...is that…?” Walker stared at the channels, “Blood?”

Izuku nodded, “I’m afraid so. It’s one of the most powerful substances used for payment.”

Thessia looked at the channel, the whole area and where the channel was no doubt going, “What nightmare requires this much blood? How is there so much of it?”

Izuku shivered, "Here's a terrifying thing about demonic runes and rune circles: At no point in any of the books and scrolls that I read is it defined how big or small any of it has to be. As long as it is accurate, it can be any size."

He took a breath, glancing around the landscape, "So, just to give a very worrying example, it is entirely within reason that the dominant sentient species of a planet dedicated its entire population to creating and possibly maintaining one gigantic runic array. Anyone want to have a guess what the most effective way of maintaining a runic array is? Because if your guess was bodies and blood, you would be correct."

Walker stared at him, “Do you believe that this is what these people did?”

Izuku sighed, “It’s clear that whatever is happening here is magic based but I wonder how they could even get this many magic users. The scale of this is both good and bad news.”

“Good news!” Izuku exclaimed.

“There are only so many rituals that could be used for this scale.” He paused.

“Bad news!” Izuku exclaimed.

“There are only so many rituals that could be used for this scale.” He paused.

“So which ones are there?” Thessia growled impatiently.

“While I can speculate” Izuku scratched the back of his head. “That’s a dangerous thing to do.” he crossed his arms looking thoughtful.

“We fly around the planet.” He started eventually. “Each pick a compass direction and fly all the way around and we meet back here, if I’m right with any of this? We’ll know what’s up if the data the rings give back matches up.”

After a round of nods they flew off.

Izuku let his view sweep across the landscape as he went, an increasingly cold and unfamiliar feeling going through him. This wasn’t like anything he’d ever seen or experienced and he’d been stuck in a dimensional fold before.

He could see patterns in the ground thanks to his ring, it took him a moment to realise that many of them were gargantuan runes in the ground.

The cold feeling got worse, he recognized some of the runes from Raven’s teachings. There was only one ritual that came to mind for this situation but he honestly wondered just what could it have been used for here.

Then he spotted something.

Flying down slowly he noticed them. People, no, corpses.

Sitting there, in a lotus position near what he figured were houses, were corpses.

The people of the planet appeared to be three metre tall, four armed, somewhat lupine humanoids. Though now their faces were empty, their eyes were basically gone.

Each of them was sitting a specific distance away from the other, two arms in a praying arrangement, the other two pointed downward in different angles per person.

Izuku did the maths in his head before flying back up a bit and shuddering.

These people, they had used their own bodies as cornerstones for this ritual, each person sitting there until they bled to death just to keep it going.

An entire species of martyrs for a cause.

His trip did not become any less grim as he eventually passed what looked like an obelisk.

He stopped near a second one, this one even bigger.

He clenched his fists slightly when he realised that there was a moat around it, a mote which small stone channels led to.

Nexus points, Izuku figured, the circle couldn’t function without them.

Usually this wasn’t an issue because a usual ritual didn’t involve an entire species.

He wondered briefly, as he continued flying, how they could have possibly managed this.

This required thousands, millions, if not billions of people being taught demonic magic.

From their birth until their death.

Izuku shivered, it was demonic magic, it wouldn’t end at their deaths.

Izuku arrived last at their original point and could tell from the faces of the others that his fears were not unwarranted.

“This entire planet is a graveyard” Thessia’s tone was even grimmer than usual.

“Not a thing but monoliths and corpses in sight. No vegetation, no animals.” Kiriazis agreed.

“There is a massive monolith several thousand miles in that direction.” Walker’s tone was one of defeat “Countless dead, sitting in rows around it.” He didn't bother to mention the amount of blood.

Izuku held out his hand, a projection of the planet appearing, with the other present rings feeding into the information.

“I figured as much.” He breathed heavily. “I was able to narrow it down to two rituals and the information you gave me made me certain of which it is.”

The finished projection of the planet showed countless monoliths and ‘node towns’ connected to them, centering around one part of the planet, stretching all the way to the other end of it.

Izuku took a deep breath, “This entire planet. Is a massive sealing circle.” he began.

“You see these monoliths? The small towns near them?” He pointed to the ones furthest away from the massive centre monolith. “They are the endpoints of the circle, everything past them is part of it.”

He pointed at one particular one, “Here is how sealing works: You pay a price, blood mostly, to keep something locked away. Every part of the circle must continue paying that price until the ritual is stopped.” He continued.

“Notice how this settlement has far fewer houses than the others? They probably had this running for generations...and then there was one less birth in that area. Not a big problem at first. But then it kept going until everyone there died out.”

The globe zoomed back out again, “But the price for the ritual remains the same, so now every other area has to pay more to keep it going. Thus the cycle slowly repeats. One death a year becomes two, becomes four, becomes ten, suddenly a hundred need to die a year to keep the seal from failing, then a thousand, then ten thousand.”

“Why not stop the ritual? Buy themselves time, perhaps a year or a decade with it?” Walker asked, despair in his voice.

Izuku shook his head, “I’m afraid it does not work like that. Stopping a ritual like that forfeits any resources used to keep it running immediately. Had they done that? They’d have let out whatever they were keeping locked up.”

Kiriazis narrowed her eyes a bit, “They surrendered the lives of countless of their kin and loved ones to keep their prisoner locked away. Giving up was not an option for them, too much sacrifice already to stop.”

“How can you be certain this was a sealing? Not a summoning?” Thessia demanded.

Izuku did his best not to roll his eyes, “If it had been a summoning, we would not have arrived on a planet. There would be nothing but rocks floating in space. There are very few demons that would require this much power to summon them and if one were summoned like this?”

Izuku shook his head, “There wouldn’t be a sector of space here.”

Izuku clenched his fists, “But that makes this situation just as bad, because if that happens if they summon something? What could be bad enough to require that much power to keep it gone?”

Walker paused, “How long do you think we have before it gets out?”

Izuku shivered lightly, “Not long. They were already overtaxing themselves for a long time just to keep it locked up. A day at best. A few hours at worst. That’s why I said to not touch anything because it would just make the ritual stop functioning faster.”

+ Gotham City Harbors +

Nightwing had been busy since he had come back. Turns out being Batman’s kid meant that vacation was a foreign word, it didn't matter that he and Starfire had been on a honeymoon off planet.

He wanted to grumble, to sigh and yell at Bruce to just let him have a little bit of peace but no.

No he couldn’t do that. Because Bruce wouldn’t call on him if it wasn’t important.

Scanning the area did nothing to soothe his nerves.

There was no one around, not here, not in the past ten shipping halls he’d searched.

However the moved dust, the smudges of oil, everything.

It hinted that huge things had been moved.

To his surprise he found something finally. A table, with blueprints and travel plans.

The blueprints were massive and appeared to show a frame for something even bigger.

A portal maybe?

The travel plans were just confusing.

The plans seemed to go all over the place, with maybe one or two locations matching the same country.

Then he froze as he heard something.

“D-D—D-Dd---”

Stumbling out of the dark, thin and gaunt looking, was a man with a wild, walled eyed, stare. His skin seemed to barely hang to him as he slowly stumbled towards him.

“-dDDa-d_da-dDARkseeeihhhd…”

The man fell over forward, unconscious only barely caught by Nightwing.

It took Nightwing less than a second to realise just how bad things were as he called up Bruce.

“Batman! We need an immediate medical professional here and an emergency meeting with the Justice League and the Lanterns! Darkseid’s forces are making a move.”

Chapter Text

+ Space Sector 667, Planet Thalamon +

Izuku stiffened as he and the other Lanterns got into view of the main monolith at the centre of the rune circle.

When Walker had mentioned that there were corpses sitting in rows around the monolith, he hadn’t imagined this.

Thousands, if not millions of corpses, sitting in circles around a moat of blood big enough to be its own gigantic lake.

At its centre stood a monolith the size of a skyscraper, each face of it both polished to a mirror sheen yet glittering with runes and murals.

A place of worship and life, as well as a graveyard and a monument to Death herself.

However, something felt off, something did not add up. “Why?” Izuku muttered.

Walker noticed his muttering, “I wondered the same thing. What could be horrible enough to warrant this?”

Izuku shook his head, “It’s not that, not entirely. Something doesn’t make sense here. Think about it: Nothing is alive on this planet right now. We’ve seen no animal carcasses, no dead bugs or anything. No vegetation either. There aren’t even microbes here! While the populous makes sense, there should at least be something here somewhere! No sealing circle could manage to do that on its own.”

He took a deep breath, trying to recenter only for a familiar cold feeling to course through him this time. “We have to figure out what is going on here.” He muttered as several green camera drone-like constructs generated around him and flew around the monolith scanning.

Izuku tilted his head as images based on the inscriptions on the monolith generated in front of them.

These images and the text related to them, he realised, were not written or drawn in ways typical for demonic imagery.

The lines were smooth and controlled, the language written too cleanly.

Whoever the Thalamonians were in life, mere demonic pawns they were not.

“A messenger from the stars?” Izuku read, trying to translate. The language was strange, it was partially like that of demons but somehow also not.

It felt like a strange dialect.

“No, an emissary from the dark beyond the stars.” He corrected himself.

The image associated with the information was of a tall man in armour and a helmet with horns at the side of it.

“Steppenwolf.” Thessia growled, “One of Darkseid’s Elite.”

Izuku paused, then nodded, “They offered peace(?) no.” He shook his head. “They ordered surrender, or offered death.”

Kiriazis growled slightly, making a loud chittering noise “Darkseid’s forces will not accept surrender. They would have perished either way.”

The image shifted.

Izuku tilted his head “They refused, trying to attack him. He got away unscathed.” he explained as the image manifested with Steppenwolf seemingly flying into the sky as the Thalamonians tried to chase after him.

“Unsurprising.” Thessia snarled quietly, “Steppenwolf is too much of a coward to face an army alone.”

The image shifted again, showing some kind of orb falling from the sky.

“After Steppenwolf fled, something fell onto the planet.” Izuku tilted his head in the other direction. “It brought with it. A...plague? A disease? No. An affliction?” He scratched his head. “Whatever that word is, it’s very vague. It could mean anything.” He shook his head.

The word removed itself from the image and floated to the side, little green windows with text appearing and disappearing at its edges.

“I’ll try to figure out what it is while we read the rest.” He explained to the slightly baffled looks from the others.

The image shifted again, showing the Thalamonians constructing the monolith they were in front of.

“This… let’s just call it a plague, it affected the people, making those infected act mad, becoming violent. It didn’t just affect people though, it affected everything, slowly corrupting the wildlife and the plants on the planet. Once it took hold it started...killing? No. That’s not the word for killing.” Izuku tilted his head.

He pointed at the symbol on the side, “Whatever happened to everything involved that word and something else but I’m not sure what.”

He shook his head again, “Anyway, they began constructing the monoliths and attempted to seal it...away.”

Izuku paused, re-reading the last word, before looking down at the moat.

“Something's wrong." He muttered after a while, staring at the scene below them.

"I figured that would be obvious. They're all dead!" Thessia snarled.

Izuku shook his head, "No, that's not what I mean. Look," he pointed to the massive moat of blood beneath them, "it should be draining, the energy in the blood should be transferring into the monolith to keep the ritual powered, but it isn't."

Walker looked around, "Could it be that you were mistaken about the ritual? Perhaps they were trying to do something else than sealing something away?"

Izuku thought about that before blinking, green letters appearing around him for a few seconds.

Then the word from before made a tiny ~ding~ noise, showing that Izuku’s search for its meaning had completed.

Izuku looked at it. “Oh. Shit.” He growled.

“What is it?” Walker asked.

“It translates to: ‘Not-Life’.” Izuku answered.

All of them tensed instantly, they didn’t need to be told what that meant.

“So in there.” Thessia snarled, glaring so hard at the monolith that Izuku wondered if it would burst into flames.

“Is a piece of the Anti-Life Equation.” Izuku nodded grimly.

“But if they didn’t seal it in there, what were they trying to do?” Walker wondered.

Izuku froze for a moment before making the projection of the planet and the layout of the ritual reappear, removing the planet and only showing the ritual lines.

A feeling, colder than ice, went through him.

“Apotheosis.” He muttered, staring at the ritual circle, he had missed that some runes could look very similar to each other.

“Ap---They were trying to make it into a god?!” Thessia almost screamed.

“Or force it to become the complete thing.” Izuku corrected. “There is one good bit of news. They failed.” He shook his head, “No. They didn’t succeed but calling it failing isn’t accurate.”

He motioned to the moat. “I mentioned it before, if they had managed to summon something that required this much power there wouldn’t be a planet here. So whatever they did, something, somewhere went wrong.”

Walker, wasting no time, sent a distress signal back to Oa.

They were not going to risk this situation on four Lanterns.

Izuku looked around. “But why did it fail?” He checked the projection of the ritual again, tilting his head after a second. “That...doesn’t look right.”

The difference between a ritual for sealing something away and a ritual of apotheosis was one symbol.

More specifically a single line that turned one rune into another.

“See this? What looks strange about this? Not just the shape of it but something else.” He motioned to a single rune that looked vaguely like an ‘S’, which they noticed had a line carved diagonally through it.

Walker tilted his head, “The line is jagged, uneven and does not appear to be complete, it appears as if whoever made it, was running out of time.”

Izuku nodded, “Everything we’ve seen on this planet looks completely different in make than this symbol.” He explained. “Every other rune, every building, every channel for the blood was smooth, rounded, almost like a painting. Planned. Artisan’s work.”

Kiriazis realised what he meant, “A traitor. They spent generations keeping it sealed and someone attempted to change that.”

Izuku nodded again, “Yes.” He closed his eyes for a moment. “I don’t think I need to explain how horrible of a plan doing something like that was. This change killed everything else on this planet.”

There was a noise.

A sound.

They turned to the monolith, immediately on guard, what little help it would be.

A crack, the monolith was cracking.

“Brother Green?” Walker began.

“Yes?”

“What happens to something that fails to become a god this way?”

Izuku shivered, the cracks were spreading rapidly now. “It’s hard to say actually.” His voice cracked. “There are no records of that ever happening. Though if I had to guess … Well Imagine the worst pain you ever felt. This will be worse.”

With the sound of an F-Sharp bell, Izuku constructed a giant green robot around them.

If he remembered correctly, which given his current situation you would excuse he was unsure, the construct resembled a person Pax had called ‘Omega Supreme’.

There was a crash as the planet tore itself to shards beneath them and a creaking noise as if reality itself was bending itself to the breaking point.

It is the delusion of lower minds that a being of higher power has to adhere to such things as mere logic.

The thing that broke free of the monolith defied the laws of the universe.

Its voice was the sound of dying stars, its visage that of a broken pantheon reassembled like a mosaic, its limbs countless and ever changing, its mind incomprehensible.

It was a god in many ways, yet nothing more than a near-mindless abomination that knew only pain.

Izuku wished for the life of him that he could comprehend just what it was, if only to put a horrifying image onto an incomprehensible assailant.

They couldn’t pause before something, a tendril(?) a thorn(??) a vine (???) tried to strike them.

The creature had no mass, no weight to be burdened with, yet an attack from it would be far worse than getting physically hit.

Izuku, entirely on reflex, attempted to block the hit, causing the giant robot construct around them to make the same motion.

Somehow, despite the abomination only hitting the constrrrr---

ithurtsithurtsithurtsithurtsithurtsithurtsithurtsithurtsithurtsithurtsithurtsithurtsithurtsithurtsithurtsithurtsithurtsithurtsithurtsithurtsithurtsithurtsithurtsithurtsithurtsithurtsithurtsithurtsithurtsithurtsithurtsithurtsithurtsithurtsithurtsithurtsithurtsithurtsithurtsithurtsithurtsithurtsithurtsithurtsithurtsithurtsithurtsithurtsithurtsithurtsithurtsithurtsithurtsithurtsithurtsithurtsithurtsithurtsithurtsithurtsithurtsithurtsithurtsithurtsithurtsithurtsithurtsithurtsithurtsithurtsithurtsithurtsithurtsithurtsithurtsithurtsithurtsithurtsithurtsithurtsithurtsithurtsithurtsithurtsithurtsithurtsithurtsithurtsithurtsithurtsithurtsithurtsithurtsithurtsit--

When Izuku regained awareness of his existence, everything was pain.

It took him all his strength to keep himself from screaming in agony.

Somehow the abomination's attacks could harm them through their lantern constructs!

The construct that he had used to try and keep them all safe had broken into green glints, Kiriazis and Thessia creating their own to try and keep the abomination occupied.

Izuku could hear it in his mind, the hit had exerted its will onto him.

A cacophony of screams still tore his head as he forced himself to dodge, dragging Walker who was still busy healing him along before another tendril smashed through the piece of debris they had been on.

ALLLLLLllLLllLLLLllLLLLLLLL HAAAaAAAIIIiIIiIiIlLLL---

Izuku growled, even as a near-mindless beast the anti-life equation remembered who it served.

“Walker.” Izuku spoke up shakily, stumbling back on his feet, he hadn’t even noticed that his suit needed to regenerate around him.

“I have an idea to contain it, at least until help…. arrives.”

They barely dodged away as something that Izuku perceived to be a massive tree made of coral was thrown at them.

Izuku could not help but notice just how injured they looked.

Thessia appeared to have scars that Izuku didn’t remember seeing, Kiriazis was missing one of her spider-limbs and another was half gone, not ripped off so much as vanished into nothing.

He almost didn’t parse that Walker looked far more sickly than he had what felt to him moments ago.

+ Somewhere in Japan, Jirou Residence +

Kyoka Jirou always thought of herself as the “punk rule breaker”, having musicians who basically embodied that as parents.

But it was a bit difficult to break rules when that was expected of you.

So it had taken her a bit by surprise when she had taken in a guy and his sentient quirk a few weeks ago and instead of being yelled at for it, her dad broke out in tears about the fact that she was growing up, not that she was breaking the “No bringing boys home” rule.

Since then things had gotten...well a little weird.

“Look I’m telling you, something’s keeping us from contacting him. Remember his girlfriend? She reached us a few times. She couldn’t reach him either.”

“What are we supposed to do?! We do not know where the Lanterns are located and she seems to be focused on finding him so pestering her is not an option.”

Okay scratch that, it was more than a little weird to hear him arguing with his own quirk, in fact it was even weirder that they mostly argued while on the toilet of all places.

She sharply knocked on the toilet door, “Oi! If both of you are done, other people have to take shits too!”

The next ten or so minutes were rather awkward as Kyoka’s parents had asked them both to come to the living room.

“Alright,” Kyotoku started, crossing his arms, “we really gotta ask now: What’s actually going on with you two? The whole ‘talking to yourself’ thing was cute until it started invading the toilet too.”

Fumikage scratched the back of his head, “It is difficult to explain to you without sounding insane.”

Kyoka rolled her eyes, “Dude, I found you at a back alley concert and you act like your sentient quirk is your sibling. I think sanity has left the building a while ago.”

Dark Shadow snorted lightly, “See that’s part of it. Well, part of the reason it’s going to sound crazy at least.”

Kyoka chuckled, “It can’t be that weird.”

Fumikage sighed, he knew she wouldn’t say that in a minute: “Alright then.”

Dark Shadow glared at him, “Are you sure?”

Fumikage nodded, “We ran away from home because of this.” He pulled out a book and dropped it on the table.

“Our family is part of a cult. As far as we can tell, they have been part of several disappearances across the country, one of which is the reason we,” he motioned to Dark Shadow, “are sharing an existence.”

Dark Shadow nodded, “Basically: That body? Is mine, he’s living in it because someone screwed up a summoning of some kind. One of our cousins is either dead or was very grievously injured to make that happen.”

There was a long pause before Kyotoku said, “Ya know if you’re gonna lie about your situation you could at least try to sound ridiculous. I mean really, ‘demon summoning’ was the be--”

Mika meanwhile tilted her head slightly, staring at the book, “I’ve seen this book before.” She muttered lightly, “I think my grandfather had one.”

Dark Shadow sighed, “Look, it doesn’t matter if you believe us or not. Fact is we found a summoning circle made of dried blood in our home, and once we did, our family either decided to kill us or stand by as we got killed.”

Kyoka finally regained her ability to speak, “So why are you two working together then?”

Fumikage shrugged, “Main reason is that we’ve been like this since we both can think. Other reason is that one of our friends has a similar body sharing situation. Seeing them get along made us consider it the better option.”

Dark Shadow chipped in, “Also we aren’t sure what would happen if either of us died. We do not plan to find out.”

Kyotoku however had picked up on something, “Oi! You two are likely being chased by these cult people right? Why didn’t you bother mentioning that until now?! You’ve been here for three weeks!”

Fumikage looked a bit downcast. “We did try to avoid going with people for a reason.”

Dark Shadow growled, “Hey! Don’t blame it on us! We told you we wanted to leave after a day, but you insisted we stay and wouldn’t hear otherwise. You said and I quote ‘whatever you two ran away from can’t have been that horrible to try and avoid people’.”

Kyotoku glared at them for a solid minute before grunting, “Fair point. Guess I’ll have to call up some old friends, gotta have the place protected or get you somewhere where you’re protected if this cult is actually real.”

With that he walked off, leaving them all a bit dumbfounded, dialling a number on his cellphone “—llo? Hey Yamashiro, yeah it’s me…”

+ Watchtower II of the Justice League +

Batman sat at a table, pouring over a lot of the evidence that had been gathered over the past months.

Evidence of the Parademons showing up all across America.

Jump City, Keystone City, Gotham.

The plans Dick had found in Gotham hinted at their attempt to create a portal of some kind.

But something didn’t add up. Not at all.

Why did the Parademons have flight plans across the globe?

Why did the Parademons take Sydney Debris of all people as the connection to Darkseid?

Why was there an obvious trail of bodies that followed them wherever they went?

Why did they sell a Parademon to Klarion?

It all felt… amateurish.

Ill-thought out.

He remembered the last two invasions, both the one Clark had been turned into Darkseid’s pawn and the one after the Dark Gods' revival.

Neither of those situations fit the current trail of evidence.

In both, the entire world was under siege before anyone could do anything about it.

An entire armada had been bearing down on the planet within minutes.

Yet here the Parademons were, barely staying out of sight, attacking people in the three cities where everyone knew someone was watching.

For what was at this point more than a year.

And for what?

Random junk from Gotham city’s gangs?

No villain lairs were ever attacked, nor did any hero ever so much as get ambushed by a group of Parademons.

The portal also didn’t make sense, the Apokaliptan’s had Boom Tubes, why would they need to make a portal frame for anything?

If the condition of Sydney Debris was any indication they also had access to a Father Box, the very same kind of technology that gave Cyborg his own abilities.

It all felt so pointless, senseless acts of violence and larceny committed in the name of nothing important.

He re-examined the evidence again and blinked.

Sydney Debris had become notorious for being ‘The man who killed Batman’ years ago.

Everyone knew that Keystone had the current Flash defending it.

News of Leonard Snart’s arrest had made international headlines mentioning a Green Lantern, the very same one that then temporarily joined the Teen Titans in Jump City.

Was all of this...a desperate attempt to get attention?

Or approval?

He growled to himself, unless there was something he was missing there was only one conclusion he felt made sense but it was quite frankly ridiculous.

+ Japan, Sewer System +

“I fucking hate this gig.” One of Endeavor’s many sidekicks growled.

“Yeah? Well tough shit.” Moe laughed as they all trudged onward. “Boss doesn’t pay us to like our gig. Now keep looking, I want us to get this district cleaned up of these things.”

Without another word, she threw a fire ball at another one of those freaky orb creatures.

They had killed a lot of the damn things in the past month or so, and it didn’t seem like that there was an end to them.

“How many of these damn freaks are there?!” One of the other sidekicks, a guy whose head looked like a torch, muttered as he picked up another one of the corpses and put it into a large bag.

Endeavor had told them to gather all of these things and bring them to an incinerator that would make 100% sure they were gone.

“Too many.” Moe growled. “Doesn’t matter though, boss said they’re the reason people are acting all jumpy, so we get rid of them to fix it.”

One of the other sidekicks scowled and turned about ninety degrees into another fork in the near endless maze that was the sewer system.

“Oh fuck.” He growled, apparently the orb things weren’t the only things in these sewers “Freak-show incoming!” He yelled, raising a burning hand.

+ Somewhere near America, Tri-Brigade Headquarters +

Hawks would never stop being impressed by the sheer amount of money and resources the Justice League had access to.

The base of the ‘Tri-Brigade’ was an old oil rig when it was being set up, now it was a floating fortress, nearly completely invisible to anyone save the most nosy of governmental agencies.

Specifically with the exception of one Amanda Waller, who had once upon a time targeted the Justice League, no one knew this place existed, let alone where it was located.

“Alright people!” Hawks in his Shuraig persona and armour started. “Our operation begins in twenty hours, I want every piece of equipment and every resource we have checked twice by that time. Every contingency plan needs to be checked over, if we mess this up our whole country goes up in flames.”

Chojuro, now dressed in wolf-like armour and going by the name Rugal, straightened, “Wolf squad! You’re with me, our job is gonna be keeping the MLA and HPSC goons busy until Nervall and their team get what we need from HPSC Headquarters. Remember, we are only targeting their operatives, non-lethally if we can afford it. Let’s move out!”

With that he and his team were off.

“Sparrow squad!” A person entirely clad in a green suit and wearing what seemed to be a plague doctor’s mask began, “Our task is to infiltrate the HPSC Headquarters and MLA Headquarters. We stay out of sight, I don’t want a single one of us on their security footage, if everything goes to plan we’ll ghosts to that place. Let’s move!”

With that their team left too.

Shuraig smiled behind his mask. “Alright, Falcon squad! We got two tasks. One is to run media interference. I want all the eyes of Japan on us, if they’re not in a hospital or in an emergency situation they’ll be hearing, seeing and listening to us. That’s for you lot to ensure.”

He almost couldn’t stop himself from laughing because his own task was both simple but also incredibly stupid when he thought about it.

“Meanwhile I have our one single casualty to take care of.”

Really, how many people could say that their job was to kill someone who was pretending to be themselves?

+ ???????? +

There was quiet, clear sound before with a massive crashing noise, reality lurched back into existence around them.

“Ow.” Wally groaned. “What the hell was that? Where are we?” He stared around the area, well what one could charitably call one.

They stood together, as a team of six, in what Wally perceived as a kaleidoscope of rocks and stars.

Everywhere, in every direction they looked was nothing more than small islands of arid rock floating in the depths of space.

“This place.” One of the others, a giant robot called ‘Pax’ of the Green Lanterns, stared. “It feels wrong, reality no longer functions as it should here.”

“I have felt this before.” Turytt, another Green Lantern with red skin and bone protrusions that made him eerily similar to Doomsday in Wally’s mind, glared around the place. “When Rot Lop Fan sacrificed himself, the space sector he cleansed felt like this for cycles on end. Anti-Life was brought to its knees here.”

Jaime Reyes looked around, Khaji Da squeaking concerned in his head. “This is freaky. If Khaji Da’s analysis isn’t wrong, then all of this debris here is the same exact set of rocks. I can’t quite explain it but it thinks that someone or something ‘reset’ reality here over and over and over again.”

Raven wasn’t paying attention to him, focusing with closed eyes on something the others couldn’t perceive. “He’s here,” she began with a slightly shaky voice, “I don’t know where but he’s here. Thank the stars.” She muttered lightly.

The last of the search party scanned the area, they didn’t look quite like any alien or robot one might expect. Humanoid in appearance, golden smooth skin, a near empty face save for a set of red eyes surrounded by what seemed to be impenetrable shadows.

Floating above their head was a circle of colourful light spinning ever so slowly, if you looked just close enough you could see the rings of all Lantern Corps, save for white and black, slowly rotating and rising up lightly in set intervals.

“I sense four Lanterns and something else in this place.” Amazo stated simply, “No other life signs.” He looked around. “However it appears there is more to this. I can sense countless bodies strewn on all these rocks.”

Raven looked around, “There is a lot of demonic magic here, far more than should be possible in this amount of time.” she raised her left arm, black energy circling around her hand “Some of it has been here for centuries, if not millennia.”

Turytt frowned, “The last data we received from the rings was cut off when the four arrived on the planet. It was intact then but no life signs had been reported before that either. It was lifeless before they arrived.”

Amazo nodded, “That matches my observation so far. The data implies that the people on this planet perished before the Lanterns arrived, however these bodies I’m referring to are not the planets population.”

With a brief glow of his eyes, several of the rocks near them flew close and attached themselves to the one they were standing on.

Laying strewn across the rocks were indeed dead bodies, very familiar dead bodies.

It took every ounce of Raven’s self control to not shiver. “You know, Izuku spoke about going to therapy with Martian Manhunter, I never thought I’d need it.” she looked at the body nearest to her.

It certainly looked like Izuku, missing a limb and with a fatal wound, staring lifelessly upwards “I think I might join next time.”

Jaime shivered, “All of them, every last one of these corpses.” he looked around as Khaji Da filled his field of view with more and more images of the dead around them. “They’re all Green, Walker, Thessia and Kiriazis. How?”

Pax stared, distraught at the corpses in front of them, “When reality ceases to function properly, so do its rules.” He looked over to Amazo. “Are you certain they are still alive?”

Amazo nodded, “Positive. They somehow must have contained the distortion that caused this, otherwise we would not have been able to come here.”

Wally looked around the area, doing his best to avoid looking at the...corpse(?) of Izuku in front of him and trying his damn best to pretend he was not seeing more of them above or below them. God he’d need to talk to J’onn after this.

“So where are they? It’s just an endless sea of stone out there. I could speed around but having a direction to go in would be nice.”

Amazo shook his head, “That will not be necessary. We merely have to follow the source of the power that kept them locked up here.” with a glow of his eyes a path started constructing itself, leading to where he sensed the centre of the distortion.

Raven took the lead, flying where the path was going as it built itself. The others followed close behind.

“What’s with you helping the Lanterns anyway, if you don’t mind me asking? Last I remember they were very angry at you for displacing Oa.” Wally asked Amazo as he ran along the path.

“They asked for my help keeping it safe, since then I have been aiding them re-establishing themselves completely. Among other things. They were rather irritated that a ring of each of their Corps chose me.” Amazo answered as naturally as he said everything.

It took them a while of following the path as it wound and zig zagged through an endless field of stone and death.

“So many.” Jaime growled. “Did all of this really happen to them?”

“That will be difficult to say until we have found them.” Pax’s tone was solemn. “It is possible that we are merely seeing possibilities and that they are fine otherwise, it is also possible that each of them are individual occurrences of what killed them.”

Raven merely glared ahead at the path. “There they are!”

Off in the distance, just at the edge of their vision they saw it.

Engulfed in a faint glow was a larger island of stone.

Sitting at the centre in lotus position was Izuku, though he looked much worse than they all expected.

His usually green hair was almost pitch black, from what they all could only assume was dried blood.

He had his right hand above and his left hand held below a strange, floating, glowing Dodecahedron made of energy that appeared to pulse with a grey light, seemingly projecting an effect like TV static.

From his hands they could see that his right focused a green light and his left black energy generated by his demonic magic.

He was seemingly focused on the Dodecahedron but was seemingly speaking to the others present.

Sitting next to him was Walker, who looked as bad as Izuku did, if not worse, the tentacle that usually appeared like it was his hair was torn off at two thirds its length and he looked as if he had healed over countless of his own wounds.

He was busy healing Thessia and seemingly muttered something to her making her chuckle.

She didn’t look much better either, her red skin had taken a severely darkened hue. One of her arms was black as tar and her hair was mostly replaced by red energy from her ring.

Kiriazis was the first to notice them.

“It can’t be…” she chittered, motioning to them, making Walker and Thessia look in their direction but Izuku ignored them.

To their surprise Walker and Thessia were instantly on guard, their rings immediately pointed at them.

They weren’t being greeted like they were rescuers, more like potential threats.

“Brother Walker,” Pax started, genuine concern in his voice and making every attempt to seem as harmless as he could, a feat for a fifty foot tall robot, “I apologise for our long delay, old friend.”

Walker, to his surprise, seemed unmoved, “I must request, Brother Pax, that you prove that you are who you claim to be. We have been through far more than mere fights in this nightmare.”

Pax paused, before nodding and saying something that the Lantern Rings present refused to translate.

Walker paused again and lowered his hands, “By the stars, it is you. Thank the Makers.” His voice was shaky and tired.

Thessia and Kiriazis froze and did the same.

“What took you so long?!” Thessia almost shrieked at them. “Do you have any idea how long we’ve been fighting here? Dying in this place?!”

Turytt blinked, “We received your distress signal not an hour ago.”

“Hour?” Kiriazis’s tone was a little shrill. “Our rings informed us that years have passed here.”

Turytt frowned, “I should have specified, our attempts to find you were unsuccessful until one hour ago. It has been weeks on the outside.”

The scene did not lose any tension until they heard Izuku grunting slightly.

His fingers twitched, green and black lightning bolts flying past them all, as the strange Dodecahedron pulsed intensely, flashing rapidly.

Walker was instantly back on guard, holding his hand out to him and healing him.

A few minutes of this passed until the Dodecahedron stopped pulsing.

Izuku seemed to barely breathe.

Amazo tilted his head, “A prison made of a Polyhedron. Defeating an incomplete sentient maths equation with a complete one. I must admit, I’m impressed. You have done well, as far as mortals can.”

He raised his hand, a faint golden glow coming his eyes as the Dodecahedron immediately left Izuku’s hands and floated over his hand instead, golden lightning keeping it in place.

The Dodecahedron compressed to half its size and was engulfed in a larger golden one of its original size, this repeated several times before eventually stopping.

Izuku paused, lowering his arms and staring at his shaking hands for a moment, his Lantern Uniform disintegrated. He wasn’t wearing a shirt, having used most of it to help treat the others wounds during the near endless battles they fought in this place.

It would have been easier to name an inch of his body that didn’t look bruised or scarred in some way.

Suddenly he retched and threw up blood to the side.

“Green! / Izuku!” It didn’t take longer than a second for Jaime and Raven to be by his side and help him stand up.

To their surprise, he seemed at least cognizant of his surroundings and recognized them but didn’t say anything.

Raven couldn’t help but notice that his eyes were still shining the emerald green light but the sclera of his eyes were black, he was literally only standing or even alive right now because both his Lantern powers and magic had forcibly kept him going.

“How long has he been doing that?” Wally asked, helping the others, Kiriazis was having issues walking as well so he was helping her walk.

“This time? Several weeks.” She chittered quietly.

Feeling the need to elaborate, Walker, who was the only of the four who was able to walk unassisted, explained.

“In that prison is a piece of the Anti-Life Equation, given near god-like power by a failed ritual of Ashk’Ente.” He explained as calmly as he could manage.

“Brother Green explained that the people living on this planet had sealed it away long ago, we believe someone betrayed them and forced the last generation to attempt to turn into a deity.” He continued.

“Well they failed, we don’t know why.” Thessia growled. “But the near-god was worse than we thought.”

“I don’t know how many times we died, how many times it brought our own corpses back to life to kill us again.” Kiriazis snarled lightly.

“Green sealed it away in that prison. But that didn’t stop it, it just made it creative. It broke out a few times as well. Who knows how many times. I think it underestimated us, thought we were just toys.” Thessia continued, her eyes travelling across the endless sea of corpses around them.

Walker remained silent for a while as they all continued along the path. “...If I never have to see my own face in a mirror again, it will be too soon.” He muttered.

They continued on in silence for a long time, before eventually reaching the starting point of the road they had travelled.

Izuku seemingly straightened, as the strange feeling of the area disappeared around them.

He looked ahead, seeing a person flicker in and out of existence.

“...Not yet, I apologise.” He muttered to her.

Before anyone could parse what he was talking about he passed out.

Chapter Text

[Green Lantern Private Archives]
[NAME: Izuku Midoriya]

[CALLSIGN: Green]

[ID: 0715166009]

[PLEASE ENTER PASSCODE]

[*************************]

[ACCESS GRANTED]

If you're reading this, there's only a few explanations as to how:

1. You're Pax who has decided that he's curious what one of his fellow Archivists keeps muttering to himself about, in which case: Hi Pax! I hope I was careful enough sanitising the encryption keys this time!

2. You're a very inquisitive Lantern who for some reason wants to know what I write about in which case: Hope you enjoy having your every movement logged back to the main archives, you better have a good reason for this.

3. You're a Bat-Family member who can't keep their nose out of things, in which case: Hi Damian! Get ready for a call from your angry girlfriend in about an hour, she's not gonna be happy that you're invading my privacy. Again.

4. You're my fiancee being unnaturally paranoid, in which case: Raven you can literally go through my mind at your convenience, this is a very needlessly complicated way to read things you already know.

5. You're principal Nedzu of U.A and way too nosy for your own good, in which case. ~Hiiii!~ It's creepy that you managed to even find this. You are one scary little critter, you know that?

Regardless as to why you’re here, this is mostly a collection of various personal notes on people, places, objects and concepts that I encountered, compiled by my Green Lantern ring….man that is weird to even write.

Writing this specific set of notes was given to me as a task by my Therapist. Apparently only keeping records of people I have never met is not a particularly healthy thing to do.

Anyone or anything missing in these notes may be added in a later list.

[ALL IMAGES WERE REDACTED FOR PRIVACY PROTECTION]

[Family Members]

My family isn’t exactly huge, I never met my grandparents and both my parents are single children.

[Inko Midoriya, Quirk: Minor Telekinesis | Hero Name: -]

My Mom! One of the most important people in my life. She used to be a housewife until we moved to the Watchtower. Now her job is… well, it’s kinda hard to say actually. She’s the sort of ‘Parental Substitute’ for young heroes that work for the Justice League.

I think before I was recruited to the Lanterns, she was more than a bit depressed actually. Since she started working for the Justice League she’s been working out, seems to talk to a lot more people and I think she’s generally a lot happier now than she used to be.

Hm. Thinking about it, I have seen her smile a lot more on the Watchtower than back in Japan. I guess I wasn’t the only lonely person in our apartment.

[Hisashi Midoriya, Quirk: Fire Breath | Vigilante Name: Halogi]

My dad. Former and now once again vigilante Halogi. He apparently had a lot of titles he got over the years, though I only found most of them recently. On a serious note: Who was the smart individual who gave him the title ‘The Guy’? I really want to know.

I...honestly don’t know much about my dad. He hasn’t been around for years, he rarely calls and the last time I saw him in person before we moved to the Watchtower was when I was six. I haven’t even seen him much since we moved to the Watchtower either.

Seriously dad, what the hell?! You could have been around more, it's obvious that no one was chasing you around Japan, no one would have known you were still around if Halogi didn’t show his face ever again. Why did it take the Justice League digging out that stupid suit of yours for you to start giving a damn again?! Did you really leave to protect us or were we just an inconvenience to you?!

Apparently the chains on his costume are magic, though none I’ve ever seen. According to him he won those from John Constantine in a card game, though I have no way to verify that.

[Significant Other(s)]

Yes, plural. No, I can’t believe it either. Don’t ask me how I managed this because if I knew I’d probably be a lot less nervous about it.

Technically I’m only dating Raven right now but I know Jinx and Death are at least interested in me that way. I also really don’t know how that’s all going to work out.

Look, let's just acknowledge here that the three people who have an interest in me are: An immortal Demonic Princess, the sole known practitioner of Entropy Magic in the universe and the concept of Death.

I do not think I get to have much of a say in this if I value my continued existence.

[Rachel Roth, Superpower: Azerathian Magic, Demon physiology | Hero Name: Raven]

If you told me a few years ago that I’d befriend, then date, then become engaged to a beautiful, immortal mage who is also a demonic princess and the daughter of Trigon...well I’m not sure what I’ve had done but it would probably involve asking you why you’re in my home and what delusions you’re suffering from.

What can I say about her that I haven’t already? Love of my life, the woman who taught me magic and who quite literally owns my soul. She’s a little stoic but I think we both learned a bit about being open with other people since we met.

We have a magic-psychic connection, which I think the Flash said was ‘cheating the essentials of a relationship’ because most of our arguments with each other evaporate into nothing. It’s hard to be in conflict with the person who part-time lives in your head.

We don’t have a time frame to get married yet but I’m leaning towards sooner rather than later.

[Jasmine Pandemos, Superpower: Entropy Magic | Hero Name: Jinx]

You would not believe how much effort it was to get her to tell me her real name.

Formerly a graduate of the H.I.V.E Academy, Jinx used to be a villain but has since reformed. She originally thought her powers were just a random superpower that made people have ‘bad luck’ when she wanted to.

Turns out that’s not what it’s doing at all. She has access to Entropy Magic, the only known living being with this ability as far as I know. Effectively she can force the decay of any stable system she wants to. (Don’t think too hard about her potentially doing this to our sun)

She’s a bit of a tease and seems to get a kick out of getting a rise out of me and everyone else around her. I’m half certain she’s been trying to set me and Raven up since the first time I walked into the Titans Tower.

[Death of the Endless, Superpower: Death | Other Titles: The Grim Reaper]

Yes, Death. The Death, with the capital letter. The concept of the end of all things. The Grim Reaper, the last angel. The one who closes the door on the universe.

Would you believe me if I said that of all things I expected to see when I die, a perky goth girl who enjoys Terry Pratchett novels and is nearly constantly smiling was not on my list? Because it sure was not.

She's...cute. She’s nice and from what I could glean, she’s a little lonely. Which I suppose makes sense, few people will be around her forever. I try to be around her a bit, even if that is very difficult to achieve for various reasons. I know what it's like to feel all alone, I don’t think she deserves to feel that way.

[A curious aside]

Death and Jinx both call Raven “Sister” and according to Raven, Death also calls Jinx “Sister”.

I’m not sure if this is an in-joke among them that I am unaware of or if there is a deeper meaning to it.

Although. Hm.

Jinx and her Entropy Magic are the manifestations of the inevitable decay of all systems.

Death...well I don’t have to tell you what she is.

Raven will one day, probably, inherit the throne of her father Trigon, thus becoming the de-facto ruler of many demonic realms.

The journey to the end.

The end itself.

The eventual ruler of an afterlife.

[Friends and Mentors]

...You know with the hindsight of getting therapy on the Watchtower, it is legitimately messed up that I didn’t have any genuine friends or mentor figures until I was fifteen.

[Jaime Reyes, Khaji Da, Superpower: Blue Beetle Power Armor | Hero Name: Blue Beetle]

Jaime is the third Blue Beetle and apparently the only one with functioning power armour.

Khaji Da is a ‘Reach Scarab’ , a kind of hive-minded multidimensional robot-bug creature. They’re notably very dangerous and apparently Khaji Da is disconnected from the Hivemind that controls them.

Jaime is the first real friend I ever had, he cares a lot for me. I don’t have to look further than him helping me get over a panic attack when we first met.

If you asked me if I ever wanted a sibling, I’d point at Jaime and say I already do.

Also if any Lanterns are reading this: Back off. I have no problems getting in Atrocitus’s face over Jaime and I won’t have problems doing the same to you.

Anyone threatening the Blue Beetle is threatening me.

[Wally West, Superpower: Speed Force | Hero Name: The Flash]

While Jaime is my first friend, Wally is my first real mentor figure.

What can be said of the man that the world doesn’t already know? He’s one of the kindest souls humanity has ever spawned, makes villains repent, tells bad jokes and has a tendency to talk faster than you can start thinking.

Wally helped me get out of my nervousness a lot, he’s the reason I stopped stuttering and generally haven’t been as easily startled as I used to be. Still mad about the scare training Wally, I will get you back for that eventually.

Only thing I’ll emphasise is: Never take dating advice from Wally West, you are going to lose your significant other faster than you can finish a sentence.

[Shining Knight, Superpower: Magic Armor, Species: Human | Name: Sir Justin Arthur]

A knight under direct order of Arthur Pendragon, brought into modern day by a time spell gone haywire.

Ca-Can I just reiterate that? An actual knight of King Arthur, brought into modern day by magic. I...I guess I just want it to be understood just how wild that is to a modern human.

Because that is insane. Until a few years ago I thought he and everyone else involved were just parts of stories! I didn’t expect to meet one of them, much less have him as an instructor!

Without him I probably would not be nearly as comfortable in my place as a Green Lantern as I am now.

...Honestly without him I wouldn’t feel alright calling myself a Green Lantern.

[Victor Stone, Superpower: Cybernetic Enhancement | Hero Name: Cyborg]
Cyborg means a lot to me. He really made me understand that having superpowers means nothing if you can’t be a person first.

He makes you smile, he makes you laugh at how insane the universe is. Because really, what can you do?

...He makes you realise just how unfair it all really is. Cy made his mistakes, he sought to fix them however he could and when he finally had the chance to do so? It was taken away from him. He lost half his body and without alien technology would have lost himself with it.

Is it fair that I feel kinship with him? I don’t feel like I deserve that.

[J’onn J’onzz, Superpower: Green Martian | Hero Name: Martian Manhunter]
I don’t know why they gave him that hero name, J’onn has been nothing but one of the nicest people I know.

J’onn has been my therapist since I became part of the Lanterns. Honestly I think I would be far worse off without him.

I know therapy is frowned on in Japan, but if it’s like sessions with him I really wonder why.

...I wondered a few times what I could get him as a present but how do I reward a man like this? I’m sure I can think of something.

Maybe a crystallised memory of how much he helped me?

[REDACTED, Superpower: REDACTED | Hero Name: Batman]

I was told that I was a lot like Batman and looking through his history I get the comparison.

We were both powerless in the face of adversity beyond our means, we both had endured great pain that was not necessary at all and we wanted to ensure others don’t have to deal with that.

But that’s where the comparisons end. Batman was and is still a very wealthy man with more instructors and people willing to help him than I ever had, though many seem to be wary of him.

I do have to thank him one day for sitting me down to basically logic me out of being nervous around women. Those were some informative and weird two hours.

...that’s weird to think about, just to sound it out. A man dressed like a giant bat sat a green space policeman down to get them out of their nervousness around girls.

[Conner Kent, Superpower: Kryptonian | Hero Name: Superboy]

I haven’t interacted with many of the Super-family I admit but Conner is a great guy to be around.

He seems a little insecure sometimes and just a little overdoing the friendly guy just trying to help things but I can’t really fault him for it.

I can’t even imagine having to live up to a legacy like All Might’s, imagine having to live up to Superman! He’s Superman! That has to do a number on your self esteem.

Apparently he’s a clone but really who cares?! He’s a great person to be around, so anything else doesn’t really matter.

...I really want to get him a present for his birthday…

Maybe a small monolith for a desk with his name written in Krpytonian?

[Teen Titans]

The first team I was put on while working for the Justice League before I was sent to Oa. Their roster has changed a lot of times over the years but the current generation is mostly made out of former H.I.V.E members, including Jinx.

[Bill Numeron, Superpower: Self Duplication | Hero Name: Billy Numerous]

Former thief then H.I.V.E graduate. All Texan. Or at least he insists he is, I haven’t really bothered to check.

Billy is one of the few people I met who could probably convince anyone of anything, given a chance for an earnest conversation.

I felt and do feel inexplicably safe near Billy, I don’t know why but something about him just makes me feel at home. Maybe it’s his carefree view of things or his almost careless charm.

I think Billy was the first person to really think of me as a hero...and I didn’t even need to do anything to make him see me that way.

[Giles O’Jeneus, Superpower: Super Intellect | Hero Name: Gizmo]

Gizmo is...odd to be around. He’s younger than me by a few years, I’m not sure how many, but he’s smarter than most people you’ll ever meet.

...He is also, pardon my choice of words, almost insufferable about it. It’s one thing to be the smartest person in any given room, there’s quite a few superheroes with super intellect out there, it’s quite another to keep making it the main point of conversation that you think everyone else is dumber than you.

Don’t get me wrong, get Gizmo excited about something and he’s genuinely a good person to be friends with, but the second he loses interest or is of the opinion that you know less than he does? Get ready to hear him whine about it.

[Baran Flinders, Superpower: Super Strength, Endurance | Hero Name: Mammoth]

Baran is a bit weird among the current Teen Titans. Usually the big guys are the friendly likeable ones, not the stoic ones that start yelling when you upset them.

I honestly don’t know much about Baran, simply because even when you talk to him he barely says anything. We get along, I think, but I think that’s mostly because I was genuinely taken aback just how strong he is for a person my age.

He seems to dislike Gizmo, mostly because the technical things Gizmo keeps saying fly over his head a lot.

[Seymour Occulas, Superpower: ...Eye based Super Suit(???) | Hero Name: See-More]

Seymour is a rather goofy individual in my experience.

Another H.I.V.E graduate turned hero, Seymour spends most of his time flirting with girls, pranking people or pranking girls who he was flirting with.

He’s incredibly chatty but if you listen to even half of what he’s saying you’re probably going to notice that he’s mocking you. While I do think Seymour is friendly enough, I don’t have much to say about him, mostly because I’m half sure that most of the things he told me about himself are made up.

[??????, Superpower: ...Portal Cloak(??) | Hero Name: Kyd Wykkyd]

...I don’t even really know what to say about Kyd.

Even my ring and all my research has left me stumped as to who or what he is.

A teenager, dressed like a bat demon, who seems to have the ability of phasing through things and teleporting but that’s about as much as I know.

Kyd never speaks, you don’t hear a sound from the guy. Best you get out of him is a raised eyebrow and that takes a lot of effort.

He seems to have a thing for scaring people by appearing behind them but other than that...yeah I have nothing on the guy.

[Lanterns of Note]

Various members of the Lantern Corps that I’ve been either close to or interacted with over my time in the Green Lantern Corps.

[John Stewart, Green Lantern of Earth]

...You know I really am kind of mad at John.

He was supposed to be my mentor in all things Green Lantern until I was brought to Oa but really I learned a lot more from everyone else, hell I can’t think of an occasion when he checked up on me despite knowing where I was.

It just feels like he doesn’t want to be associated with me.

Maybe I’m reading too much into things but I think it might have something to do with my age. I have the feeling he really resents that someone ‘so young’ became a Green Lantern.

[Dex-Starr, Red Lantern Cat of Earth]

The most dangerous feline in the universe.

Dex-Starr’s history is a bit of a mystery among Lanterns, with the exception of Atrocitus, no one seems to know or dare ask what the story behind a cat being this mad at all life is.

I really just feel sad looking at him, mostly because it’s genuinely upsetting to see that the universe can be cruel enough that someone's pet cat became a being fueled by pure rage.

He is surprisingly nice, if you can get past the possibility of having your throat ripped out.

[Razer, Blue-Red Lantern of Volkreg]

Razer is one of the few lanterns out there with two Lantern rings from different Corps.

Apparently this is something that both rarely happens and even rarer that someone actually keeps both rings long term.

He’s a very reserved individual and seems more focused on his work than anything else, though I am told he’s engaged to another Lantern known as Ilana, though I’ve never met her.

Razer, much like any Red Lantern, really unsettles me at times. There’s just something genuinely creepy about his voice that I can’t place.

After a test involving both of us, he appears to have taken time off to do some soul searching on the Blue Lantern base.

[Mogo, Green Lantern of Space Sector 1]

Mogo the living planet.

What a guy to meet! If there’s ever something that gives you perspective on the scale the Lanterns operate on, it’s Mogo looking at you.

I sadly didn’t have many occasions where I could talk with him but I think it’s for the best, he’s so loud that I think without my ring on I’d take permanent hearing damage...or you know just straight up die from exposure to the depths of space.

[Turytt, Green Lantern of ????]

One of my Green Lantern mentors, Turytt, is from a species of warrior aliens.

His people seem very oddly similar to the Spartans of Greece, though that might just be my interpretation. He really doesn’t like it when people disobey orders because they think they ‘know better’.

I’ve had a few sparring fights with him over my time on Oa. While he did beat me every single time I do appreciate the effort, being able to act without thinking too much about it is a skill I aim to perfect.

[Pax, Green Lantern of ????]

Pax is the prime Archivist of Oa and from what I know he’s incredibly old.

Not that anyone would notice that, seeing as he is a fifty foot tall robot man with a Power Battery in his chest.

Wise beyond measure and just as patient, Pax has been a fountain of information and life lessons for me throughout my time on Oa.

I have the un-researched feeling that he’s actually quite a bit more influential than he wants to admit to being, as I’ve seen quite a few other powerful Lanterns come to him for advice, even one of the Knight Corps visited the Archives to talk to him once.

[Boyd, Blue Lantern Corgi of Earth]

I think the name says anything you need to know about Boyd. He’s a Lantern of Hope that happens to also be a Corgi.

The universe sometimes might be a really cruel place but you can’t deny that it has a sense of humour.

[Bruce, Yellow Lantern Fruit Bat of Earth]

...Yeah I got nothing, look it can’t be a coincidence that a bat is a Yellow Lantern. I refuse to believe that reality would allow that to be just a random chance.

I’ve only spoken to Bruce once and only a sentence in passing but he seemed aware of the Justice League. Which makes me wonder if this random Australian Fruit Bat managed to find out about Batman.

[Anomalies]

A lot of weird things can happen in the Archives of Oa, apparently caused by there being so much information in one place that space, time and dimensions sometimes don’t adhere to the rules anymore.

[Euler’s Identity]

Yes, the maths concept. No I’m not joking. I was temporarily displaced into the realms of mathematics when I got lost in the Archives of Oa. I’m not even sure how I managed that. I think I took five left turns in the Archive section for Space Sector [DATA NOT FOUND] .

This sentient ‘e’ was not happy that I landed on it and was very aware of that. If you ever wondered if maths is actively hostile, apparently the answer is yes.

[Phi]

Yes another maths concept, apparently my school days are of the opinion that I didn’t learn enough. Unlike Euler’s Identity I actually learned something useful from the encounter.

Apparently dimensional anomalies really despise the golden ratio, so making polyhedron ‘prisons’ around them can really be useful. I did log this information with our archives, maybe we can find a use for it.

[Alternate Selves]

Did I mention the Archives of Oa are weird? Because they are weird. Ever since I got access to them I keep either temporarily ending up in other timelines, seeing other dimensions, or having weird dreams about things that haven’t happened. These ‘other me’s’ don’t have different names to me so I just titled them whatever I think is the most notable thing about them.

[The Successor]

I think, emphasis on think, that this version of me got All Might’s quirk instead of Melissa Shield. I say that I think this because he definitely has super strength.

I only saw this one very briefly and he seems to be in the U.A? Or at least a version of it, he’s younger than me by at least 1-2 years if not more, so maybe U.A is a high school in his universe?

He seemed happy either way, wondering how his Sports Festival was gonna go.

[The Loner]

A female version of me, I met her only for a few minutes. She looked and sounded really lonely.

Apparently she lives in a similar universe to mine but I can’t say exactly how it differs, having not had enough time there to investigate it properly.

Weird thing is, my records of the event indicate that the location we met in was on Earth but in Gotham City or at least where Gotham City should be, but the architecture didn’t match.

[The Rabbit]

Yeah. Like an actual rabbit that happens to have my name and has green fur, apparently he even talks?

I only saw this one flicker in and out of existence while making my rounds through the Archives, I have absolutely no idea how it makes sense that I have an alternate like this but that’s the multiverse for you.

[The Tanuki]
Yeah apparently there’s more magic versions than in just my universe, this version of me appears to be a Tanuki or at least something that looks like one.

His mentor(?)... girlfriend(??) seems to be a lady with a quirk that turned her into a white wolf(?) or maybe she too is magic? It’s really hard to tell since this view window I saw this one in didn’t have audio but they seemed very close [Note: Lip reading function in Green Lantern Ring activated]

...thanks, that would have been very helpful a while ago.

[The Wrath God]

Okay this one is just weird to me. Apparently there is a ridiculously buff, white haired, version of me out there somewhere. He seems to have gold plated arms and legs as well as a monkey tail for some reason.

What really gets me about this one that his dad is an actually good dad! Like ‘I will hunt down anyone who hurts my family’ levels of awesome!

Wonder if I’ll meet this version of me again some day.

[The Tyrant]

This guy is probably one of the few villain versions of me I’ve ever seen in the Archives. He’s big, clad in armour and seems to plan to take over the world.

He seems to be completely magical, lacking any quirk to speak of but he evidently doesn’t need it. I couldn’t interact with him at all, only see him talk to his underlings.

He seemed, however, to be able to tell I saw him somehow...kinda spooky.

[The Audit-DATA EXPUNGED]

[DATA NOT FOUND] [DATA NOT FOUND] [DATA NOT FOUND] [DATA NOT FOUND]

[The Ogre]

I only saw this one in a dream once, I’m not sure if he’s actually real or just something I dreamt up. He appears to be a huge version of me, with a far cheerier disposition than I have. Apparently he’s had an even harder life than me but I can’t exactly talk about the details.

[Objects of Note]

Items in my possession that are either notable or just interesting. Many of these are birthday presents!

[Limited Edition All Might Figurine, Golden Age Costume]

As much as my opinion of All Might has changed since I’ve met him in Japan, this is still the man who inspired me to be a hero and I refuse to not be proud about the fact that I own a very nice looking figure in his likeness that reminds me why I wanted to become a hero.

It still hurts, knowing that he didn’t believe in me. I know he only meant well and that, given the circumstances at the time, I really wasn’t cut out to be a hero. It still hurts, because I thought of all the people out there he’d be the one to say that I can be a hero. Funny how things work out after all.

[The description of the figure continues for far too many paragraphs to show here]

[Valorium Ring]

It’s apparently very well known in the Justice League that I really, really, really love flying.

I do not know how Flash, Blue Beetle and Cyborg got me this and I’m uncertain I should be informed. I just know that it’s probably the best birthday present I ever got from anyone.

For the unaware, Valorium is an alloy that grants people who wear it natural anti-gravity properties and the ability to fly in deep space. (Apparently a group called the ‘Legion of Superheroes’ has...is going to have these in the 31st century)

Yes it’s essentially the Lantern Rings flying functions but as a completely un-powered ability. I am unable to articulate how I feel about owning this, mostly because I have multiple reasons right now why I can’t wear it separately.

Fortunately, my Lantern Ring appears to have integrated it with itself, while also providing our forge masters with the specifications of its properties so it can be applied to other Lantern rings.

[Unbreakable Katana]

I got this from one of the Robins but I really wonder why he fell for a marketing ploy as bizarre as ‘unbreakable sword’. That’s such a weird thing for him to fall for. Also let’s just put aside the fact that I don’t really need a sword.

...so I just came back from testing this sword and...this thing can withstand sub-atomic deconstruction. I have so many questions.

[Cold Gun Model 9]

I can’t disclose who I got this weapon from because associating with them publicly would probably get me into hot water but let’s just say that some people still have creeds they follow out there.

There was more in the box this came in but I feel I’ll be on several watch lists in the Lanterns if I disclose it.

[Odd Records]
During some missions as a Lantern I’ve been brought along just to record anything noteworthy. Needless to say I’ve found some weird things.

[Space Sector 512]
Yes, the entire space sector. We were sent here to investigate a strange SOS signal that we received out of seemingly nowhere. It apparently emanated from a very small ship, which scans indicated had a defective radiation shield.

We found two humanoids, one very similar to humans whereas the other was more robotic. Fortunately, having a Blue Lantern on the scene, we were able to save them, though just barely.

We brought them to a nearby populated planet outside of the Space Sector, per their request.

Going around the sector was a strange experience, the few populated planets seem barely able to manage and very isolationist in nature. Wherever we went some kind of malady that seemed to affect both prominent species was present, it almost seemed to turn them into zombies of some kind?

Even weirder was that it seemed to be wearing off for no reason we could identify. The people of this Sector are eerie to me, I don’t know what it is but they feel like endless copies of themselves.

[Markers(?)]

Strange spires we Lanterns have been instructed to find and ‘detain’ (which appears to mean: ‘put into a construct with nothing else inside of it and bring it to Oa where someone else handles it’)

I don’t know what these things are but their mere presence in reality seems to unravel some of the universe’s rules.

I can’t describe it but just being near one of these things gave me the visceral desire to destroy it down to atoms.

Further notes in continuous generation.....

[EXIT]

Chapter Text

+ Justice League Watchtower II, Holding Cells +

“Ya know.” A gruff, slightly synthesised, voice began from across from him. “I really didn’t want to believe you were as bad as I was told.”

Cyborg grimaced slightly, staring into the dark room. “Mah dad wasn’t a saint, not by any means, but I don’t think he’d ever think of doing something like you tried.”

“Are you here to just preach at me, kid?” He growled. “Well, fuck you! I did what you idiots couldn’t even conceive of doing. My country is free of oppression because I did what needed to be done.”

Cyborg wordlessly pushed a button on his wrist, and a message began to plan.

‘Decryption Code: A%(&§O,’ a familiar voice began speaking, ‘I know I shouldn’t be using this line but I have no other place to turn this information to.’

He froze, hearing but not listening.

‘I’ve been looking into my dad. Ever since I found that concept of his suit on his desk. Until I joined you, that research never went anywhere. I don’t know what he has told all of you but it doesn’t matter. He’s not what he seems.’

“Stop it.” He growled.

‘I looked into his past. Something was weird. He suddenly shows back up in my life and turns out to be a notorious vigilante who somehow, beyond all reason and sense, no one knows the history and origin of? It just...it didn’t make sense. I hated that. Someone must have noticed. They must have.’

“Stop. It.” He growled, louder this time.

“Why? Don’t like what you’re hearing?” Cyborg stared at him, “Don’t like the thought that you’re not as smart as you think you are?”

‘So I wondered how he achieved it all. It just seemed weird to me...All of those villain organisations he stopped? No one heard of them either.’

A brief sigh could be heard.

‘Because they never existed. He made them up. That’s how he got notoriety originally. So here is how the whole scheme likely went: He founded meaningless shell companies, hired desperate people with strong quirks, refused to pay them and then approached them as his vigilante persona to entice them to riot and become villains….and then he betrayed them to the authorities, leaving them to rot in jail while he repeats this, over and over again.’

“I told you to stop it.” He snarled.

“And I don’t think it’s worth listening to you.” Cyborg answered simply. “Hell, after all the shit you tried to pull on us? You’re lucky being stuck in this place is your punishment for now.”

The voice continued. ‘So why did he suddenly disappear? Well, he claims it’s because I was born but I don’t believe that. It’s because Endeavor caught him, one of the few heroes who he could manipulate. Because back in the day, Endeavor had one goal: Surpass All Might, by any means necessary. So my dad offered him a deal of sorts: almost all his contacts into the underworld, in exchange for letting him go.’

There was a long pause before he tried to defend himself only to be cut off by the voice again.

‘I’m sure that he’s up to the same tricks again now…. Do what you have to do. Do what’s necessary. I get it, he’s my dad. But he’s still a criminal, masquerading as someone with good intentions.’

There was a pause after the message ended.

Hisashi laughed. “So? You lot aren’t better than me either, then, seeing as you worked with my ideas until you stabbed me in the back.”

Cyborg shrugged. “Really? Is that what you believe happened here? That someone as kind as Superman would not see this coming? That someone as smart as Batman, someone as smart as Nedzu, someone as smart as Mr. Terrific, fell for your shit? I’m no scientist but I’m no idiot either.”

Cyborg chuckled a bit. “Ya wanna know the truth? No one. Not a single person on this tower, not even your own wife, trusted you. Green’s message was just another nail in your coffin.”

“Did ya really think ya could fool every mind reader, every empath and everyone trained in reading people's bodies in this place? Man you must have some ego on you if you really thought that you could hide shit in this place.” Cyborg’s tone was cold and almost a little too quiet.

“And yet you idiots couldn’t stop me.” Hisashi sneered.

“You really think that Batman would hand you anything he even for a second thought you’d abuse?” Cyborg countered. “Batman put a virus in my brain the second we met. Batman carries around a shard of Kryptonite to kill his best friend if it ever comes to it, Batman knows the composition of every coffee blend on this space station down to the hour of roasting...And you really think you stood a chance here?”

Cyborg tilted his head. “You didn’t do anything. Batman did. Your whole operation was something he used to make the biggest case towards your hero system needing to change.”

Hisashi froze and balled his fists. “And you condemn me for getting people killed but not him? That brain of yours must be having CPU issues.”

Cyborg smirked. “Funny, I can’t recall anyone who died, despite...how’d you say it? ‘A civil war is inevitable, it's just a matter of who dies’?”

Hiashi paused and then suddenly snarled. “Don’t play with me you bastard! Don’t talk all high and mighty to me! Your allies helped me recruit Stain and his followers!”

Cyborg shrugged. “I dunno, did we? Funny. Coulda sworn ANKeiser is still around. G9 too, by the way. Should have watched more TV.”

Hisashi froze, grinding his teeth.

A silence took to the room before Cyborg smiled as a familiar tune started in his head.

“Good news, we’ve found Green. Bad news, he’s out of commission still. You’ll get to see him before we all decide what to do with you.”

Without another word Cyborg left the room, leaving Hisashi to stew in his anger.

+ Oa, Medical Bays +

When Izuku faded back into consciousness he immediately felt something was wrong.

The familiar warmth of a Lantern uniform wasn't on him, and it took every fibre of his being to focus and not start screaming or jolting upright like a madman.

Not that he could have, fortunately Oa's medical bays were equipped with the strongest and safest stasis fields known to exist.

This and the fact that he felt someone holding his left hand were the only reasons he wasn't tearing the place apart at the seams.

He blinked, turning his head to the left to see Raven holding his hand in her own.

'Hey,' he hears her voice in his head very quietly. He had been worried he would never get to hear that again.

'Hey,' his own mental voice sounded broken, almost a little alien, even if it should have been the most familiar feeling it wasn't.

"Well, at least you are as alert as we could hope, beyond all reason and sense." A snarky, slightly tinny, female voice came from further in the room as a Blue Lantern medic wearing what looked to be a full body suit version of Lantern Uniform made herself known.

"Excuse us for taking your ring off, it's a rather common reaction for traumatised Lanterns to start tearing the med bay apart atom by atom so it's become standard practice to remove them. You will get it back once we're sure you won't randomly start ripping people apart with it."

"Green wouldn't do that." He heard a familiar voice from his right, Jaime seemed almost offended at the mere suggestion that Izuku could be dangerous to them.

"Be that as it may, we'd rather err on the side of caution." The woman responded dryly.

“It’s fine.” Izuku’s tone was strangely toneless, almost numb sounding.

The nurse barely reacted to his statement, merely looking at the blue constructs in front of her showing his vitals. “Regardless, it’s good to have you back among the living, as unlikely as it was. You can rest assured that the other three are fine too, in fact you’re the only one currently still interred here. The others woke up a day or two ago. You were fortunate to have had Master Walker with you, even with him it was a miracle that you are even capable of thinking clearly right now.”

Wally, who had remained silent blinked owlishly at her. “Man, who made you a nurse? Your bedside manner sucks.”

She glared at him. “Oh you try being cheery when all your patients throw themselves into whatever hopeless battle they get involved in.” Her tone was sharp. “The only reason Walker doesn’t smack people is because he’s a pacifist, and I don’t do it because it's against medical oaths across the universe.”

She blushed, barely visible beneath her helmet, before taking a deep breath and seemingly re-centering. “I apologise for the outburst. It has been a few trying weeks.”

“What happened?” Izuku asked, his voice remained toneless and quiet.

“You, mostly.” The nurse answered bluntly. “People have been running themselves ragged trying to figure out where the four of you vanished. The fact that these three,” she motioned to Raven, Jaime and Wally, “are even allowed in here is an exception. Made because they helped retrieve you.”

“How long have we been gone?” Izuku asked, genuinely wondering. How long has it been?

He felt as if he barely even remembered Oa at all. He’d remember his friends certainly, given time, but everything else would take some time.

“Nine weeks.” The nurse stated bluntly. “No, your perception of time is not mistaken, from your perspective it was likely much longer. We are still analysing the information your rings have provided us.”

“Four years.” Izuku’s tone was almost robotic, barely even noticing the slightly baffled looks he received for his statement.

“I’m a routine person.” He spoke quietly, his voice still shaking beyond all belief. “Focused on that. Waking up, protecting the others, fighting, dying, getting back up, fighting, protecting the others…” He continued for a moment before feeling Raven’s hand in his left hand again.

He took a few deep breaths, somehow coming back from wherever he had been in that moment. “It’s the closest I think it could be.”

“It is not.” The nurse’s tone was grim. “It is likely far longer than that.” Seeing Izuku agitated at the mere notion that his perception had been wrong, she raised a hand. “Your rings, as they are currently, are providing us with far more data than would be contained in mere years.” she stated as calmly as she could, why did Green Lanterns have to be almost as unruly to deal with as Red Lanterns at times?

“You are dealing with an Archivist, Nurse Rayya.” A very familiar gruff voice spoke as Turytt entered the room. “Would impatience in this case surprise you?”

Izuku immediately calmed, focusing on Turytt, though his hand never left Raven’s.

Turytt crossed his arms. “I see your stubbornness has aided you for once.” He sighed deeply. “Though I would have appreciated you not airing your attachment to my teachings to the others, I must admit that I am proud of you.”

There was a long pause, in which some kind of staring contest between Izuku and Turytt ensued.

Jaime was the first to notice that something was weird.

“Uhm. Not to alarm anyone but I think Green is quite literally crying a river.” He chimed in as he pulled up his feet.

Raven barely even cared for the, actually quite massive, stream of tears going around her feet. She was more focused on what Izuku was muttering.

Because he was muttering, subconsciously.

His ring usually recorded his mutterings, so it was usually not something she paid attention to but now?

She heard it, clear, and desperate. It terrified her more than her own pain years ago. Just what had that thing done to them?!

“Itsrealshesrealimheretheyrerealwemadeitnononononocantbewhyhowfigmentwrongfakeitliesagainhowmanytimeshowmanytimesyesyesyesshesheresheisherehastoberealhastobehastobehastobepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleaspleasepleaspleasepleaspleaspleasepleasepleas…”

Raven glared at the nurse. “Turn it off.” She growled.

“What?! No. That stasis field…”

“You will either let him out or I will. You can decide how much paperwork you deal with.” Raven’s eyes flared for a second.

The nurse sighed, “Fine.” She grumbled.

A moment later Izuku was freed, breathing heavily and hastily, as Raven wrapped him in a hug.

“Do you feel that?” She whispered. “I’m here.”

Izuku stared ahead for a moment before his body finally responded. He almost sagged into himself as he hugged Raven closely.

“You’re here,” he answered.

His mental voice was still an endless mess of words but she could hear something clearly ‘She’s here, we’re here.’

Izuku let go of her, before looking at himself rather strangely. “Wrong.” he muttered, he realised he was mostly naked with what scars the medics couldn’t fix still visible over him.

Somehow a green, though open, shirt and pants generated themselves over him.

“You have used so much green light that your body currently contains a lot of it.” Turytt opted to explain, as the nurse was busy arguing with Wally if she could just allow him to leave. She was losing, simply because Wally could talk faster.

“That clothing shall not last, not for long, perhaps a day.” he stated. “Long enough however. Retain your focus and will and it should hold long enough for your ring to be returned to you.”

Izuku froze, realising what he was about to do. He looked into Raven’s eyes for a moment and very carefully, as if his existence depended upon it, untangled his fingers from hers.

Izuku walked up to Turytt, looking up at him for more than a few seconds before holding up his fist in what humans would consider a fist bump, though Izuku held his arm higher slightly.

Turytt’s people were warriors, hugging was not a thing one did to anyone unless one was considered close family. Too much physical contact.

A fist bump of this kind, where one willingly matched the height of the other, was as close to familiarity as one could expect to have with the Talosians.

Turytt paused before stepping down and pulling Izuku into a hug, making the boy freeze before eventually making him loosen and return it.

“You have returned home, son. Home and still among the emerald stars.”

It would take them a while to find the other three survivors sitting in one of the many cafeteria like halls that littered Oa.

If Izuku had been in the mental state for amusement he would have noticed that their choice of clothing was much like his own, though altered to be based on the casual clothing of their respective species.

Thessia noticed them first, her eyes narrowing for a moment before saying something that for some reason Turytt’s ring didn’t translate.

To further the confusion of everyone but the four Izuku seemed to also be able to answer in her language, though not nearly as fluently.

The tension left the scene a moment as Thessia smiled. “Good. At least we’re all really here.”

Turytt frowned, crossing his arms. “A miracle from what I was told. We are still unsure how any of you made it back.”

Walker seemed to be the most emotionally and mentally sound of the four, smiling lightly at Turytt. “I do believe that Green is to thank for that, brother Turytt. The spark of the Black Lanterns inside him appears to have allowed us to be brought back whenever we died in the distortion, at least that is my thought.”

Izuku shook his head. “It’s not a spark. Can’t be.” His tone was still unnervingly quiet and near emotionless.

At the questioning looks he shook his head. “Can’t explain it, just isn’t.”

Turytt snorted, “You would not be the first to have insights into the mechanics of the Lanterns that others lack.” He shook his head. “It matters little, you are back where you belong now. How it happened is merely a question of curiosity.”

“However, you are probably wondering what happens now.” He continued. “As it is, your rings are currently being analysed and checked over. Anti-Life has a tendency to infect objects as much as anything else.”

They nodded in agreement, having fought that abomination for stars knows how long had taught them how dangerous a lapse in concentration alone could be.

“They will, however, be returned to you, there is a ceremony planned as far as I am aware. Every Lantern not on duty and some of your family and friends are invited to attend.”

Izuku blinked at that, looking over at Turytt as if asking a question with his eyes.

Turytt shrugged. “It is rare that Lanterns survive an encounter for the Anti-Life Equation, much less with a piece as powerful as the one you have encountered. That alone would be reason for celebration, as would be the fact that you protected an entire sector of space at the same time, however I have it in confidence that your method of containing the piece is being applied to the others in our possession, possibly making one of the most dangerous things in the galaxy relatively safe to handle.”

Izuku stared at him, mentally equating ‘relatively safe to handle’ with ‘can leave it in a dark room without reality melting into hot slag’.

“When is this ceremony planned?” Jaime asked, leaving the question of being allowed to attend unspoken.

Turytt barely reacted. “Depending on when the rings are ready to be returned. A big part of the ceremony is returning them.”

Kiriazis chittered almost dismissively, “So anywhere between a few hours or a few weeks.”

“Have some faith in our allies T’lerka.” Thessia growled and while they couldn’t understand the last word, it was obviously some kind of insult. “They would not leave us powerless for that long.”

“Don’t bicker.” Izuku’s tone hadn’t changed, remaining toneless if not almost robotic, but the women tensed and stopped, looking at him in rapt attention much to the surprise of the others present.

It was an unspoken rule among Lanterns, especially ones that had been in highly volatile missions prior, to defer command to one of their numbers until either debriefed or given a command from higher in the chain.

Unusually for a situation of this nature it was Izuku, the lowest in rank among the four, that was given deference to, usually it would have been Walker as he was both the medic and far in seniority of all four.

While most of the others didn’t see the significance, to Turytt it was a clear sign that Izuku had kept the team alive even outside of sealing the Anti-Life Equation away, perhaps being the one to keep them sane in the calmer moments?

“If we have to wait, then we wait.” Izuku’s tone hadn’t changed but there was a strange finality to it. “We did not spend eternity fighting to let a minor delay derail us.”

Again, the significance probably went over the head of the non-Lanterns, Turytt figured.

It was hard enough for a Lantern to get used to using a ring, but it was quite another to be kept from wearing it, the weakness they felt prior was hard to bear for many.

He was surprised that Izuku treated it as a far lighter necessity than Thessia and Kiriazis did.

Walker was no surprise however, the man was effectively the most serene monk in the galaxy, to him it was like another day of fasting.

There was a short pause as Turytt’s ring received a message, “It appears you have a few hours before the ceremony."

In another room on Oa, a lot of people milled around, they had been brought here by four members of the Knight Corp. to prepare them to meet the four liberated Lanterns.

Caution was the name of the game, as it was difficult to say how well they had adjusted back to the old environment.

Had it been a few years ago, then Inko Midoriya would have fainted at the mere thought of dealing with one of the people in charge of the Green Lanterns.

Inko was here with...well quite a few people. Robin aka Damian Wayne, Cyborg or as she knew him Victor Stone, Shining Knight as well. She had gotten to know him and figured out that a lot of her son’s constructs were based on him.

Despite her better judgement, Eraserhead and All Might were here as well. Blue Beetle had told her that Izuku would want them there.

Of course she knew the Flash, Blue Beetle and Raven would be here though they were with Izuku at the moment.

Her husband. Would not be here for this.

Alan Scott was not how Inko expected him, he certainly struck an imposing figure as a commander of a galactic army rightly should. He was tall, slightly grizzled looking and clad in armour that reminded her vaguely of a more knight-like Green Lantern uniform.

To her utter confusion however instead of the stern, stoic type, Alan Scott was far more fatherly than expected.

“That is, in short, what has occurred.” Alan concluded his explanation, a solemn look on his face.

Inko, paused for a long moment, before pinching the bridge of her nose and sighing. “So we don’t know just how long they were fighting that...creature? Or at least how long it was for them?”

Alan sighed lightly. “Unfortunately not. We can try to get some estimate, but it is quite difficult to put a time frame to a place in which time doesn’t exist.”

Thessia’s father, a rugged looking man with black hair that reached the ground and a physique that could give All Might pause, spoke up. “It matters little how much time it took. They survived and conquered their captor. The question that drives me is how they will act now.” he glared at Atrocitus.

“It is difficult to say.” Artrocitus growled. “Few survive the Anti-Life Equation in a confrontation, even fewer have battled one of this magnitude. What we can say, however, is that they have retained a remarkable hold on their sanity.”

Sayd shook her head. “I wish we could tell you better news, even with our best medical attention, they will likely never be the same people that you remember them being. Recovering from the battles alone will not be sufficient, they will need time to adjust, how much we cannot say.”

Sinestro merely folded his hands behind his back. “Naturally, you can expect them to be given...accolades, as it were. Capturing a shard of the Anti-Life Equation without any civilian casualties is one of the highest achievements if not the highest there--.”

“This one would expect there to be more of a reward than mere accolades and empty gestures.” A chittering voice cut him off.

Kiriazi’s people, the Skeplans’s, were somewhat of a hive-mind. Aside from all looking very similar, their main differing characteristics being different antennae on their heads or presence/absence of wings, they also had a tendency to speak in strange plurals and thinking more of their collective than the individual.

One reason Kiriazis was a Yellow Lantern was that she had an actual value of independence.

“If you could name a reward that is sufficient, Messenger Tirkin, we would be open to hear it. Would, for example, absolute rule over your colony be reward enough?” Sinestro didn’t sneer, sneering was for those who needed to intimidate.

“Thaal.” Alan’s tone made him stop, before Alan turned to the rest of the people present, sighing lightly. “If there are any rewards one could name that they would be willing to take, we would appreciate suggestions. Warriors, people of this kind tend to reject anything grand.” He shrugged his shoulders before continuing.

“Then again, what could we possibly offer them? What reward could ever suffice? How do you reward someone who puts themselves on the line for billions of others without a second thought? I have spent decades trying to figure it out. We could offer them the chance to retire I suppose.”

Quanta, wife of Saint Walker spoke up, ruefully shaking her head. “Bro’dee would never accept such a thing. Nor would I wish for him to.”

The others nodded, Inko sighed, “Izuku would hate you for the rest of his life for even suggesting that he should stop protecting people.”

“I would expect it to be so, what little we can offer them, they shall receive.” Alan smiled sagely.

Izuku looked up at the stars above him as he walked out onto a familiar coliseum-like area.

He remembered it like it was a long time ago, technically it should have been less than two years.

Off in the far distance, countless towers with crystalline beacons littered the landscape.

He took a deep breath. “We’re home.” He muttered in a quiet voice, as if the reality that they had truly escaped the nightmare had finally asserted itself.

As if everything before was just another hopeful dream but now made reality.

The air on Oa was different, felt different, perhaps it always had been compared to earth? Perhaps his Lantern ring had taken the uniqueness out of its air for familiarity reasons? Maybe he sh--

“Ugh.” Thessia growled. “Of all the men I could fall for! Not just are both of you claimed, one’s a pacifist, the other can’t even stand to be silent with himself! It’s like I’m cursed to be surrounded by offending offerings!”

Izuku stopped muttering and sighed “I stated it a few times before Thessia, I would agree to it if my fiancee does. I am certain you could come to an agreement.”

“And share?! I am a warrior! I do not share such privileges with anyone!”

Izuku shrugged, his tone still as quiet and even as before. “That is your decision to make, I could however live without your complaints.”

Izuku did not entertain that conversation further and froze for a moment.

Floating off from the centre of the coliseum floor, a bit further out but not near the edge, was a clock pendulum.

Or at least, something that in shape looked like one. It seemed to be the pitch black outline of a gigantic clock pendulum containing...well if Izuku had to put a few words to it: The entire galaxy, star systems and all.

He tilted his head as it ever so slowly swung, should he bring this up?

If Izuku had learned anything then it was that 'am I the only one seeing the giant clock pendulum that appears to be made out of our galaxy?' was the type of question that a few years ago people would have called him insane for.

These days it was more akin to asking if today was going to be a bit weird.

Countless sounds assaulted his senses for a moment as the sky flashed in various colours.

Screams of the damned, sounds of horror strings, wind chimes, gong sounds, strange joyous cries…

The other Lanterns were here, though most not physically.

With a harmonious tone, he felt the crystal beacons hum to light both near and far.

The coliseum that had once been empty now had hundreds standing in the ranks, their rings glinting lightly.

Izuku’s eyes however turned further up. Unlike his first time here, he only vaguely remembered it, a green sun was in the sky.

“Hello, Mr. Mogo, sir.” Izuku looked up at the massive planet once again shining the symbol of its creed at him.

One again he felt small, but a familiar, kind, form of small.

“Never got to meet him personally.” Kiriazis admitted “Would have made orientation more interesting.”

Izuku barely acknowledged the statement before suddenly feeling himself being hugged. He stiffened, looking down to assert as to who or what had done that.

A part of him hated this, some of his fingers felt like he was breaking them through sheer force of paranoia…

...but he faltered as he realised who it was.

“Mom.”

If there was anything anyone would blame him for it was flooding the coliseum with tears.

He didn’t care, the place could use a water feature anyway.

He barely registered that his father wasn’t here. Well, the one who provided his genetics.

A part of him realised that Walker was a few steps away, crying his eyes out, though with much less water, at the realisation that his wife and children were here.

Thessia and Kiriazis had little such comforts, though he could feel Raven’s hand leave his just for a moment, no doubt to hug Thessia, if only because she knew the pain of being alone in such a fashion.

Kiriazis found herself a slight bit confused since it was Jaime who hugged her.

Izuku could vaguely hear him say “You did as much as these three, if none of your family would hug you for that, I would. You saved my brother, you know?”

Izuku couldn’t interpret the chitters she made in response but he didn’t need it for that, there were some things you didn’t need a translator for.

When their closest were eventually led away to the edges of the circle, with varying degrees of force, Izuku looked up.

As if clockwork predicted it, a massive symbol of the lanterns, showing lines and features of all of them, appeared in the sky above them before, with the sounds of falling stars, four of the Knight Corps appeared in the fire of their colours.

“Greetings, members of the Lantern Corps, old and new.” Alan started, “It is rare that we meet so soon again after the last time.”

Sayd took over, “Today, we are here to honour the four Lanterns before us,” she motioned to Izuku, Walker, Thessia and Kiriazis, “for they have shown commitment to the cause far beyond what could be expected of them.”

“Yet it was.” Thessia snarled quietly, “It was asked of us, whatever it was our creed or not.”

“And yet.” Atrocitus spoke her sentiment louder. “You have done what was right. You did not surrender in face of our worst enemy. In the face of an enemy others have fallen to, you persevered!”

Sinestro smiled, floating lightly off the ground. “Such is the lot of Lanterns. The four of you have achieved far more than many Lanterns ever will…”

“I pray that is so.” Kiriazis whispered to herself. “None should face what we have.”

There was a small pause before Alan spoke again .“And so it is that you are once again welcomed to our ranks, but I feel that alone is not nearly enough.”

He raised his left hand, a green glint heading towards the sky as Izuku heard the loud grinding of gears in his mind, the pendulum swung very slowly left and right.

With a green burst of light, stretching far into the night sky.

Millions, if not billions of silhouettes of varying shapes and sizes spanning the sky above them.

“Space Sectors 667 has more than eight fully populated planets,” Alan continued, “and thanks to the four of you, their lives continue. Without you, billions of lives would have been endangered before we even knew what was happening, countless would have lost their lives by the time we arrived.”

Izuku stared up as the outlines faded, a soft grumbling escaping him. “It doesn’t matter.” His tone was quiet, yet everyone heard it. “We are the lanterns, it is our duty to protect people from the things they cannot comprehend. Billions of people or one single sentient creature, it doesn’t matter. Our lives matter little compared to theirs.”

There was a silence that seemed to stretch on for minutes before Alan continued.

“We return to you, your rings.” he opened his right hand as did the other Knight Corp Lanterns.

Encased in light of their respective Corps were their rings which returned to their hands in a smooth motion.

[Kiriazis, the wake less fear, your tides return to our shores]

[Thessia, the blood born comet, your fires burn across our skies again]

[Bro’dee Walker, the hope of springs, you forever grow within the depths]

[Izuku Midoriya, the oath sworn star, you shine within our firmament once more]

With a sound incomprehensible to many ears, a burst of lights swept across the coliseum as the area for miles on end was bathed in the light of the emotional spectrum.

A few moments later, it subsided and the four Lanterns merely looked at themselves for a moment, glad to have returned home.

At least three of them did, Izuku merely looked at the palm of his hand, a single green tear on it. “We’ve forgotten someone.”

His voice carried throughout the whole arena as the tear hit the floor, with a wave of green light, countless constructs of the Thalamonians they had seen on Thalamon, appeared, the constructs being visible far into the distance, standing around the spires, each different, each of different appearance and age.

“These people,” Izuku’s voice was solemn, almost a whisper, “without them, we would not be here. They spent countless millennia upholding a vigil, a ritual that sealed the Anti-Life Equation away. No one heard them, no one recruited them, no one told them that this was their calling. They did what they deemed right. If you want to speak thanks towards anyone, speak it towards them. For what little difference it will make.”

The stares from the non-lanterns made it clear that they had never thought that so many people could dedicate themselves to one task, let alone that Izuku would remember them so clearly despite only seeing their corpses.

As the constructs vanished Izuku could hear the giant pendulum swing, gears beyond his understanding turning.

[/That is what you want to believe, is it not?\] A voice, speaking to no one, addressing no one, muttered.

“You may notice that your rings and your uniforms are different.” Atrocitus spoke, his voice like a tidal wave.

“You were granted a privilege that is rare among Lanterns.” Sinestro continued. “To those among the Lanterns left uninformed and those not part of us. The symbol of the Lanterns” He motioned to the one to his chest.

“Serves more than one purpose. A symbol with merely the background of one's colours represents a recruit. Young Green was among them here, far before the other three.” He chuckled.

“A white backdrop, however, means that one has become a true Lantern, a light that shines brightly within the darkness.” Sinestro smiled, though it didn’t feel like a kind one.

“However,” Atrocitus grinned, “there is another stage, rarely spoken of, seen even less. Those among the Lanterns whose symbol has a black backdrop.”

Sayd took over. “The Lanterns who have gained this, are deemed beyond the hierarchy. People we trust and believe to be capable to judge their own futures, to chart their paths for the galaxy among the Lanterns. Pax our Archivist and Mogo our Vanguard are the main ones many of you may have seen.”

Izuku noted that all four of them had this privilege now as well. He wondered how many other Lanterns were upset about such a decision.

“See to it that our trust in you is not misplaced.” Alan concluded for Sayd.

“There is one last point of order to this ceremony,” Alan continued, “and I am afraid that I must ask you, Kiriazis, Thessia and Walker, to leave the arena and join your respective Lantern Corps.” He motioned for them to leave.

After a short pause in which they three looked at Izuku and nodded, they did as instructed.

“I take it this has to do with that thing, correct?” Izuku asked, staring at the strange pendulum.

Alan chuckled lightly, “I am afraid I do not quite know what it is you’re looking at. There are some things that are even beyond the Knight Corps.”

As soon as the Knight Corps members also took their places, standing at the edge of the arena, there was sound.

It sounded like the creaking of massive gears, larger than anything in the galaxy, audible to everyone, as the pendulum slowly swung into the middle.

Four bell tolls, louder than anything in the universe, rang through reality itself.

With each toll, the light in the area dimmed and diminished.

~GONG~

First the ambient light from the Lanterns vanished.

~GONG~

Then the massive light of the crystals on the spires muted, only their colours remaining in the sky.

~GONG~

Then. The stars went out.

~GONG~

Finally there was only one source of light, the pendulum itself, now visible for all to see.

Without a sound they appeared, like ghosts in armour black as the night sky above.

Each sitting in a throne of black stone, except for two.

Sitting in a folding chair, her legs crossed, in front of the pendulum, was Death herself.

Izuku noticed her and the others, wondering just who they all were.

Sitting to Death’s left was a, relatively, average looking human man. Izuku could have sworn he had seen him in the archive profiles before...Hal Jordan he thought?

The others were varying degrees of strange.

One was the skeleton of a bipedal fox, wearing a black bathrobe and a hat. Izuku was not sure why he was holding a pillow.

Another was a large rattlesnake with what seemed to be a gatling gun for a rattle, wearing a black stetson hat.

Another was a massive wolf creature in a black cloak, two sickles resting at its side.

Yet another appeared like a tall, pitch black, biker complete with opaque visor.

However their appearances weren’t the only thing Izuku noticed, at the foot of each throne was a Black Power Battery. Yet, Izuku noticed, none of them were emitting any light.

[/Izuku Midoriya of Earth.\]

A voice, like the whispers of the dead, dragged him from his thoughts as he suddenly noticed a massive skeleton in a black robe standing in front of him, how had he not seen this guy?

The skeleton was holding an equally massive scythe, a piece of the scythe's head appeared to be the Black Power Battery for it. Again, he noticed that it wasn’t lit.

[/ We are the Black Lanterns, the hands of Death, for there are places where she cannot reach.\]

Izuku eyed the Lanterns on their thrones. Places where Death could not go?

Myths, beliefs, legends, religions. Things that could not die, never fully at least.

[/ Your path to join us was set long ago, though you may not remember the one to guide you to us. \]

Izuku glanced around small scenes of his life playing out, seeing a man in a blue coat and hat speaking to him at various points of his life.

Something nagged at him, something didn’t quite add up just yet. “So it wasn’t just my imagination. I did meet him.”

[/ You will have to excuse our choice of messenger. We could not risk being too obvious. \]

Izuku shook his head. “I do have a question: Why now? I died a few years ago already, why not recruit me then? Why let me learn demonic magic and do it years down the road?”

There was a strange noise, like howling wins, as the giant skeleton seemingly laughed at his words.

[/ You are a curious one. I am told you are very analytical, yet here you stand, asking questions that you already know the answers for. \]

Izuku blinked at him, he wasn’t sure what to make of that statement. What had he missed?

Then he raised his left hand, staring as the sigil that Raven had placed on it a long time ago, began glowing on his ring finger.

He closed his eyes and suddenly started giggling, devolving into full laughter a moment later, sending a shiver through everyone present.

“You sneaky minx.” He muttered as he stopped. “I had forgotten that clairvoyance was one of your abilities.”

The skeleton eyed him, as much as something without eyes could, feeling that he had figured out something that was lost to him previously.

[/ There is one last task you must complete. A final test, to see if you could join us. A riddle if you will. \]

Izuku looked at him. “I am as ready as I’ll ever be. Though, sir. I would like to ask a question first: "What is your name?”

The skeleton paused again. [/ I am Nekron. Gatekeeper of the Black Lanterns. \]

Izuku smiled lightly, though still his voice was as neutral and quiet as it had been since his return. “Thank you Mr. Nekron, sir. Though I do have to warn you. I don’t tend to follow rules given to me.”

Nekron gave what seemed to be a shrug.

[/ The question, the riddle, is simple: How does one become a Black Lantern? \]

Izuku paused, staring Nekron down for a moment “Is that a trick question? Or a metaphorical one?”

[/ Neither. \]

Izuku paused for a moment, his Lantern Ring floating off his right hand and placing itself on his left hand. Would this work? he wondered. What would happen if he did this?

Nekron looked at him motionless and the other Black Lanterns raised varying degrees of curious looks. Izuku couldn’t see it but Death was stifling an excited giggle behind her hand.

Wordlessly Izuku summoned his Power Battery with his right hand, the glowing opening he usually used to recharge his ring and raised his left clad in the dark energy he had learned to wield.

“Like this.”

Instead of putting his ring against the opening as he had done many times before he reached his open hand into the lantern and closed it.

As if a light switch was flicked, everything went black.

“I told you to stay away.” Raven’s glare was present but soft somewhat, half her face twisted into a demonic visage, the other still human.

“Y-Yeah. Well. I’m not going to leave someone who needs help.” Izuku growled, holding a claw that was a moment away from stabbing through him at bay.

“I don’t need help!” Her voice reverberated as the demonic half of her body tried to force its claw through him, stabbing him.

“Then why are you crying?”

Reality returned around them as Izuku removed his hand from the Power Battery.

As he expected, it had turned entirely black but unlike Nekron expected the light had not gone out as it should have.

Izuku inspected the ring on his finger, it looked different. The green colour had darkened significantly, having turned very close to black.

The symbol on the front of it had changed, it vaguely looked like a bird now.

A raven perhaps?

[Izuku Midoriya]

[Dead yet risen.]

[Shattered and unbroken.]

The ring’s voice was not mechanical like the one he remembered all that time ago.

In fact it sounded very familiar.

[You belong not to the darkness of death.]

[Nor the light of determination.]

[Yet you are of both.]

Much too familiar.

[Yet you have chosen us.]

[To be the oath sworn star.]

[To be the light that still shines from within the darkest night.]

Izuku closed his eyes, focusing for a moment, as black and green constructs appeared around him. Nothing. No numbness, no feeling as if he was set on fire from the inside.

Perhaps rings like this one worked differently? 

Izuku tilted his head. “So what does that make me then? A ‘Night Lantern’? What sort of emotion do I draw power from? ‘Defiance’?” He was asking himself more than anyone else.

[What else would one call upon to stand against the impossible.]

Izuku closed his eyes again and shook his head, so many questions and not a single clear answer.

A giggle caught his attention, Death seemed to find the whole thing very amusing.

“Well if I was correct about one thing, you always are such an interesting person. I must thank the Stranger for bringing you to me.” She smirked.

“It is impressive.” Hal Jordan spoke up from his throne, his voice like the death throes of a thousand men. “A ring such as that, a station such as yours. It is not unheard of, but difficult to achieve. There is one other who could achieve a similar situation soon.”

Izuku looked at him, somehow he knew exactly who he was talking about.

With a loud creaking, the pendulum resumed its journey from the middle, slowly going to the right.

“Guess our time here’s up.” Death giggled, Nekron seemed rather put out that Izuku wasn’t a full Black Lantern but accepted it.

One by one the Black Lanterns vanished into nothing.

“I’ll see you real soon.” Death cheered, being the last to vanish.

Izuku just blinked, the rest of the Lanterns were more than a little stunned, save perhaps for the Knight Corps.

The whole ceremony wrapped up by itself from there, Lanterns trickling out to leave back to their stations. Though some at least congratulated him before leaving.

He noted to his amusement that the animal Lanterns seemed to have gained two more members. An ape of the Indigo Lanterns and a Lioness of the Star Sapphire Lanterns. (He quietly wondered if their names were Clark and Diana respectively)

Izuku himself eventually wandered to where his family and friends were.

“I am sure you have some questions.” Raven began only for Izuku to silence her with a kiss.

“Only one that I really care to have the answer to.” Izuku smiled lightly, though his voice was still as quiet as it had been when he first woke up in the Medical Bay.

“What is our time frame?”

Raven blinked. “For what?”

“Getting married.” Izuku smiled, making Raven blush incredibly fiercely.

“Shouldn’t you worry about recovering first, young Midoriya?” All Might asked, genuinely taken aback that this was the first conversation he was witnessing.

“Perhaps.” Izuku admitted, only now registering that All Might and Eraserhead were both present and very tired looking.

Raven, having regained her bearings, sighed, “I suppose I should get Jinx and start...ugh shopping.”

Izuku chuckled lightly before sighing “Let’s go home, to the Watchtower. I really need to talk to J’onn.” he rubbed his eyes “...and maybe sleep for a week.”

Chapter Text

+ Justice League Watchtower II - ???? +

Hisashi Midoriya had to admit, tipping back on his chair, the Justice League had style for all the waste of money and time they had turned out to be. Bleeding heart morons.

He had never seen an interrogation room like this one, not just was it a very average looking room it didn’t feel nearly as sterile as some he had seen in America.

He couldn’t help but wonder what their plan was, perhaps they wanted to wait him out. Maybe send Batman in, that annoyingly stoic gargoyle of a man probably thought that his whole ‘I will break you into pieces if you raise your voice at me’ act would make him crack.

Or maybe they’d send Superman, have the boy scout play nice cop for a while and then send in Batman.

No. No. That wasn’t their style, he warranted some fast talker, Flash probably. Someone utterly innocuous who probably wouldn’t actually hurt him but would do their best to make it seem like they would.

Or perhap--

“You overestimate yourself.” A familiar and very neutral sounding voice spoke up from the corner of the room behind him.

“Bwagh!” Hisashi fell out of his chair only caught by what seemed to be Green Lantern constructs, which sat him straight up again.

“Graceful.” Izuku’s tone was incredibly alien to Hisashi.

He sounded like a person facing down their death and refusing to accept it. How anyone could sound like that was beyond him.

“How did you get in here? The door didn’t open.” Hisashi grumbled. “Also what are you doing here kid? Did they send you to interrogate me? Man these guys must be crazy to think that’s a good idea. Way to give in to biases!” He announced to the room.

“I got in through the door, you were muttering and didn’t notice. Weird that I got that from you.” Izuku answered simply, walking around the table that Hisashi was sitting in front of “Also this? Is not an interrogation.”

With that he sat down, placing his hands on the table, his left hand over his right, something that Hisashi was sure he didn’t usually do, nor that he wore his Lantern Ring on his left hand.

That was new, wasn’t it? Didn’t matter.

“Yeah, yeah, you’re just here to talk.” Hisashi almost mocked. “Of course you are, kid. Those Lantern Corps guys must have done a really shit job in your interrogation training to think that line works.”

Izuku just stared at him blankly, not even acknowledging the insult. “Interrogation isn’t the job of Green Lanterns, if I wanted to interrogate you I’d ask Kiriazis to do it. You would be talking.” his tone sent a shiver down Hisashi’s spine.

“Who?” He asked, narrowing his eyes.

Hold on, why did his son have a jagged looking scar under his right eye? Hell he was sure he looked a little younger last time he saw him. Also was the suit different, he could barely remember seeing him in it.

“Doing it again.” Izuku’s tone was as indifferent as before. “Kiriazis is a Yellow Lantern. Trust me, if they want you to talk, you will. If she wanted information from you, you would beg me to save you.”

"If this isn't an interrogation, then why are you here?" Hisashi almost sneered.

Izuku raised an eyebrow "You do realize that we exchanged two sentences since you came back into my life without mom in the same room? Said sentences were mostly about me being a Green Lantern and you struggling to believe that. That was it. After almost a decade that was the only thing you ever said to me without anyone else being involved."

Hisashi grit his teeth "I was busy, kid. Sorry that trying to help our home country is something you don't care that much about."

"I'm sure they appreciate you trying to cause an international incident as much as everyone else does." Izuku's tone barely changed as he spoke.

"But honestly, I really just want to know what you've been doing since you left us to basically fend for ourselves in a small apartment."

Hisashi glared at him. “I kept your heads over water, worked my ass off to keep you off the streets. Not that I expect you to understand that, seeing as you didn’t understand that I did what I had to help our damned country survive.”

Izuku let that claim hang in the air, just long enough to make Hisashi try to speak again only to cut him off.

A nice little thing Thessia had told him about, people hated being taken off balance.

"You know, I think I finally found something we have in common, muttering aside." Izuku slightly tilted his head, holding up his left hand as several news articles apparently from the U.S showed up.

"We're both horrible at lying to people. Me because I can't keep a straight face. You because you can't keep your lies in a line..."

The various articles started marking bits, Hisashi had quite a few different scams, passports with different names and other things going that eventually got him run across the whole country.

He gave the infamous Stanley Pines a run for his money, which was impressive, given that he had stolen some of it.

"...or more to the point, you seem to not be smart enough to shut up when you need to. It's how the Justice League caught onto you, almost instantly at that." Izuku's face didn't change but Hisashi could hear the smile.

"Tch. Oh really? And how would they have figured me out?!"

Izuku sighed in exasperation "Dad. What did you say to Batman when he showed you your old suit?"

"I asked him why he dug it...up." He realized his error just as he voiced it.

"Really? That is odd. I was of the impression you left that life to be a father and husband. Then why keep the suit? After all, it was the one thing you still had left of that life, the one thing that could get you right back into it. I wonder, did you plan on leaving us behind eventually? I have the feeling you did. You wanna know why I have that feeling?"

A single, small, black construct with green letters floated in the air.

"I found the original of this a long while ago, in one of your drawers, when mom asked me to clean out your office because you wouldn't be using it for a while. I never told her I found it, I kept it in one of my notebooks, Number #4 if you must know...hell I didn't want to think about it much at all, thought maybe I was imagining things. A one-way flight ticket, about four months before I was born. Single person, to America." Izuku stared him down, a cold creeping into the whole room.

"You never really wanted a family, did you?"

Again he let the question hang in the air for a while, the look on his face never changing.

Hisashi’s face, despite his best efforts, had no such success.

His face went through emotions both so fast and so briefly that if one was to frame-by-frame it, it almost looked like a blur before settling on something akin to disgust.

He tipped back on his chair again. “So that’s what your little research has gotten you to? That I was a ditherer of a dad who got cold feet for a moment? I never took that plane, as your mom would tell you if you asked.”

Izuku’s look didn’t change, but for some reason, Hisashi still felt a shiver go down his spine.

“You’re right. Shame that it’s because of a villain attacking the airport you were supposed to leave from instead of a wholesome reason.” Izuku mused as another green construct appeared, this time of a newspaper article of a villain called ‘Stormcrow’ attacking an airport.

Izuku barely shrugged. “I said it earlier, you can’t keep your lies in line. In hindsight that’s why you stayed away from us isn’t it? Because you knew we would ask questions that you could not answer without falling over yourself.”

Hisashi narrowed his eyes slightly, of all the people to corner him.

Hisashi shrugged almost nonchalantly, the lie was smooth, easy. The kid wouldn’t find out the real reason. “All I intended to do was lay low for a while after Endeavor caught onto me and then make a come back. Remind the people who was in charge." Suddenly he slammed his fist into the table.

“And then that big blond oaf had to fuck it all up! He just had to start a new little wave of heroes! Suddenly, every dumbass with a dream wanted to be a hero! Suddenly every idiot pretended to have a conscience!” He almost snarled.

To his surprise Izuku just tilted his head “Huh. You know. I expected more than that.”

Hisashi blinked. “What?”

Izuku, for the first time since the conversation started, showed an actual emotion and shrugged nearly nonchalantly. “I dunno. I expected you to be some crazy revolutionary or some psychopath with delusions of godhood. Or you know for you to just be competent. But no, no such luck. You’re just a narcissistic conman with an ego.”

Now Izuku tipped his chair back, though far lighter than Hisashi. “I guess that settles the question as to why you did any of this. No big secret plan, no hidden agenda. You’re just an opportunistic bastard who saw a way to cause chaos.” Izuku smirked.

“It’s kind of refreshing. I’ve gotten so used to eldritch abominations and omnicidal psychopaths that I almost forgot something so mundane like that existed.” Izuku admitted freely.

“Doesn’t change that you’re a sociopath with no regard for lives, but it is a silver lining.” He concluded as he moved the chair back forward and stood up.

“Tch. So if all of this wasn’t an interrogation, kid. What was all this for then?” Hisashi snarled quietly as Izuku reached the door.

“Closure.” Izuku didn’t turn or even looked back at him, merely pushing a button near the door, lighting up a one-way glass area as he exited the room.

Hisashi stared after him and at the other side of the glass.

No one was there, he barely factored into their world at all.

Izuku wandered, a bit lost in thought, around the Watchtower.

Something still did not add up about his dad. There were inconsistencies in his behavior throughout the years.

Some time before Izuku was born, about four to five years before, his father’s scams and schemes had stopped dead with only his vigilantism to be seen, only for his scams to suddenly start back up again a few months after Izuku had been conceived.

But he could also tell that something else was up. The way his father acted was so….juvenile. Childish really.

It didn’t add up with everything about his fearsome reputation in the past.

Izuku’s research had shown him that his father had fought several high ranking Japanese heroes and escaped unharmed during that time.

He had fought All Might five times and gotten away with it but somehow got caught by Endeavor and made a run for it.

The only reason he hadn’t left Izuku and his mother was because he got caught up in a villain attack and needed to keep up the charade for a while before leaving.

It didn’t add up. Not at all.

Halogi had been pretty much a folk hero, someone who stood up for what was right, someone who didn’t let the corrupt get in the way of things.

But Hisashi Midoriya? Was none of that.

Izuku shook his head before entering the conference room, he would have to get to the bottom of this.

+ Justice League Watchtower II – Conference Room +

Izuku paused as the door opened. Apparently it was ‘convenient revelations’ day because that was the only reason he could think of why John Constantine and his dad’s weird super suit were here.

Izuku looked around the Conference Room. He had been here all of....four?..No. Five? That didn't feel right either.

...Less than ten times and would have liked it for once to not feel like he was interrupting an important discussion to end world hunger or at least for people present to not look like they're barely holding themselves together.

He was not sure how to take the presence of several Japanese Heroes here either, or Japanese civilians but apparently he wasn’t going to get a quiet minute today.

"I think your ring is malfunctioning because I very clearly hear you muttering." Damian spoke up. "And full disclosure? That is unsettling."

Izuku shrugged. "No, I just turned that function off. When you're constantly alternating between unspeakable agony, dying and trying to keep your allies from stabbing themselves in despair you take what little catharsis you can get."

Damian blinked. "And like that, I am impressed that you are not contemplating to murder your father."

“Ah the lad of the hour.” Constantine smirked. “Looking like death warmed over, but I suppose that’s to be expected when one gets to be the dark lady’s personal guard.”

Izuku barely narrowed his eyes slightly. “John Constantine, mage extraordinaire, scammer of demons and sad drunk who, if Raven’s description is anything to off of you’re about as well liked as the Question is, though at least you don’t dig through people's underwear drawers.”

“Oi! I resent that. I have been in plenty underwear drawers, most of the people I slept with.” John grumbled.

“Really, that is what you take issue with?” Damian asked, genuinely confused.

“Well I can hardly get mad at the truth now can I?”

Izuku stared at the suit his father used to wear. “Considering that you are here and that is here, I suppose I am correct in my assumption that there’s more to my dad’s decisions than I thought there was.”

“Sure is boyo, any guesses as to what it is?” Constantine smirked. “I could just tell ya but I feel that would be against the spirit of things.”

Izuku resisted the urge to roll his eyes. “If I had to make a guess, my dad’s story about scamming you out of some magic chains is either made up or just close enough to the truth to still be garbage.” he mused before looking around the room and really taking in who was actually present.

“...I am going to be asking a lot of questions today aren’t I?” he mused as he noticed the Bakugos sitting with quite a few others around, raising an eyebrow.

Even more so when he noticed Stargirl sitting rather oddly close to Katsuki of all people. “A lot. Of questions.”

Izuku only now really took in just how many people were stuffed into this conference room, a side effect of his time in...that place… he figured. It was easy to forget how many people existed when many of them had your own face.

The Bakugo family was present, they looked fine, better than Izuku imagined if he was honest. Katsuki’s rather subdued demeanor aside, though Izuku figured Stargirl giving him a stern look when he noticed Izuku shut him up.

Tokoyami, Dark Shadow and a family Izuku hadn’t met before were also here. If the headphone jacks growing out of the earlobes of the two women and the punk attire were any indication, a family of musicians. Strangely fitting.

Sitting off on one side of the room was Endeavor, someone Izuku never imagined to see on the Watchtower if he was honest, he supposed the four younger looking people were his kids. Which idly made him wonder where their mother was...also why the guy with the red and white hair looked at him strangely.

Then of course there was Melissa Shield, without Star And Stripe as an escort this time. He noticed that she seemed to be wearing a thin, somewhat cobbled together looking, power armor. Perhaps All Might’s quirk was finally kicking in properly?

There was an entire crew of people in what seemed to be knight armor fused with car engines. The Iida family no doubt had followed Ingenium on the news for a while. He was fascinated that Tenrai Iida was also here, wasn’t the man retired?

“...okay time out.” Izuku held up his hands, drawing everyone’s attention. “Why is there half an army of Japanese superheroes and civilians here?”

It was Batman’s turn to speak. “Would it surprise you if I said that your dad had something to do with it?”

Izuku gave him a flat look. “No. No it really wouldn’t. At this point I’d be more surprised if you said he had good intentions with it than anything else.”

Izuku groaned. “Okay then. Can I at least ask that we start with the nonsense my dad did before he decided to try and cause an international incident? I get that everyone here likely has valid reasons to hate the man and to get Japan back on track, but I’d like to at least take five minutes to figure out how and why this whole mess started.”

Constantine shrugged. "Well boyo, I can tell ya bloody how and why: Cause ya father's a daft cunt who didn't learn about demons so much as vaguely heard about them."

Izuku blinked. "That was neither an explanation nor an answer." He remarked dryly.

Constantine sighed. "Alright, long story short: He didn't scam me outta those chains, because I bloody well didn't own them at the time. Basically, he was a bartender in a place where I was playing cards with some demons, drugged the lot of us and made off with the winnings. Thing is, ya know how demons are. Ya don't steal things from them unless ya be wanting a visit. This burning corpse of a suit? It ain't a power suit and ya dad ain't made or bought it, that was the actual thing I was after that evening."

Izuku blinked before, with great effort, resisting the urge to smack his forehead. "That's a demonic artifact and wearing it got him possessed the first time around, didn't it?"

Constantine smirked. "Got it in one. Took me years to chase the one possessing’ him down and get him exorcised, which is when he got caught by smoky over there. Which is why he got away afterwards still wearing it.” He motioned to Endeavor who grumbled. “Upside? He was freed to be who he always was. Downside? Turns out the demon possessin' him at the time was a lot better of a person. I'd argue there's a non-zero chance the demon was in charge when you were conceived too."

Izuku's stare sent a shiver down Constantine's spine before Izuku just shook his head. "Questions for later, specifically after the heat death of the universe."

Costantine shrugged. “Ya sure? ‘Cause as far as I know, you and Raven got a good thing going. She probably told ya a lot about demons and the one that possessed ya dad wasn’t some small fry. Might be an idea to be in his good graces, ya never know.”

Izuku grumbled lightly, “Get to the point.”

“Ya ever heard of the name Firebrand, lad?” Constantine asked.

Izuku raised an eyebrow. “To my knowledge that’s some vigilante near Mammoth City….wait.”

Constantine comically splayed his finger like he was doing a magic trick: “Yeah no, not that Firebrand. The Firebrand. The Red Arremer, The Red Blaze, The King of Gargoyles. Ruler of the Ghoul Realm.”

Izuku stared at him for a long while before glancing over to Damian. “Robin, if he’s making a bad joke you have my personal permission to drown him in a whiskey barrel. As my wedding present.”

Constantine laughed. “No joke boyo, ya can check the inscriptions in the bloody armor if it eases ya nerves.”

Izuku shook his head. “Well that will be an interesting conversation.” He muttered more to himself than anyone else. “Alright let me put this all in a timeline.”

With a snap of his fingers, a green and black timeline appeared floating in front of him.

“Ten-to-five years before I was born, my dad was a con-artist, setting up countless scams across Japan and starting an endless chain of conflicts that got people all over chasing after him.”

“Then, five years before I was born, he met you.” He motioned to Constantine. “Scammed you and your current targets out of your stuff and put this suit, artifact, whatever, on. Getting possessed by Firebrand in the process.”

Izuku took a deep breath. “Shortly afterwards, Firebrand in my dad’s body met mom.” He looked over to his mom who hadn’t spoken but from the look on her face she had pieced the same things together as he did.

“They fall in love and conceive me towards the end of their time together.” He sighed.

Inko sniffed lightly. “It would explain why he changed so much. When I first met your father, he was a stoic, kind, protective man who seemed to have a bit of a problem parsing positive emotions. You and he had the same forced looking smile.” Inko sighed “I just thought that becoming a father stressed him out but now.” She shook her head.

Izuku continued. “Throughout those years, Firebrand noticed the trail of angry and upset people my dad left behind wherever he went. Having no context to my dad’s memories, Firebrand decided that my father was a villain and started cleaning the place up by being a vigilante, seeing as he couldn’t be a hero.”

“Firebrand also at this point recruited that wolf lady to be his apprentice and gained his fearsome reputation.” Izuku waved his hand showing an image of Amateratsu.

Izuku continued. “Then, Constantine caught up with Firebrand and in a fight exorcised the demon.” He glared pointedly at Endeavor.

“Which is where you come in. Caught out of position and only just back in possession of his body my dad, being a con-artist who talked himself out of and into countless shitty situations, offered you something you couldn’t pass up: Connections he still had, or at least claimed to have, in exchange for letting him leave Japan, by the time he gave them to you, they’re worthless.”

Izuku resisted the urge to put his head in his hands, all this shit was going to take so many sessions with J’onn. “Dad tried to abandon us and only got delayed because the time he had settled for happened to be when a villain attacked the airport, only delaying his eventual journey to America by a few years.”

Izuku sighed. “Once there, he continued his usual scams and lies until Superman showed up and he realized the son he left to rot is now a Green Lantern and decided ‘Hey I can ride the coattails of that!’. At least, that’s the plan at first.”

Izuku clenched his fists lightly. “My dad, being confronted with the very suit that got him possessed, decided to play the big revolutionary but without a damn idea how to do that in a way that wasn’t self serving. So he spends all his time lying to every last person he comes across, confident that no one figured him out immediately.”

Izuku let his gaze sweep a bit. “Which, of course, failed, because even if his personality didn’t give him away, the main thing he likely did was stand around, philosophize about heroics or how bad heroes are and look scary while letting everyone else do the leg work without explaining anything instead of being on the front lines, like the actual ‘Halogi’ used to be.”

“Faced with nothing but an impossible task he could not possibly succeed at, my dad does the one thing he knows how to do: Bullshit his way through until he manages to get an escape route.” Izuku concluded.

“The understatement of the year but accurate.” Green Arrow muttered.

Izuku closed his eyes for a moment as the construct timeline vanished: “So now that we've gotten the history lesson sorted: What the hell is going on in Japan?” His tone, while on surface level the same, made it clear he was not in the mood to be left out of the loop anymore.

John Stewart, who had remained quiet until now crossed his arms lightly. “I am unsure if getting you involved is a good idea.” While John had been present for the whole ceremony on Oa, he still wasn’t comfortable with the idea that someone as young as Izuku was a Lantern at all.

Izuku’s glare could have cut a man in half, a cold feeling entering the conference room. “I will not be standing at the sidelines for this any more. You had an excuse when I was still just a recruit but that no longer applies, Stewart.”

“You just barely returned from a situation that no one else has faced before.” Stewart argued. “Even if you feel ready, for all you know you could have a breakdown at the worst possible moment. I am not arguing that you’re not ready, I am arguing that it could be more detrimental than helpful.”

“How many Lanterns return to duty after situations no one else could face?” Izuku asked with an eerie calm. “How many of them would argue that you shouldn’t be in duty as we speak? You’ve made controversial decisions before, those haven't exactly been kept quiet on Oa.”

Stewart grumbled, slightly avoiding Izuku’s glare. “I am trying to protect you kid, as was Aizawa back then, as misguided as his attempts were. Both you and Beetle were way too young for the situations you were forced into.”

Izuku sighed. “As admirable as you think that is, you also said that I belong with the Lanterns.” Izuku pointed out. “I was never going to stay just in the back rooms researching things, though I may return to the Archives eventually.”

Izuku took a long breath. “Look. I’m done arguing. You can either get me in the loop, or I go down there myself and figure things out on my own. I think it’s unnecessary but I will do it.”

Batman leveled him with a look, narrowing his eyes before speaking. “I’m not going to tell you stay out of this, I am however going to ask you something: A few years ago, a young kid was brought here after just receiving one of the most powerful weapons known in the universe, he was the most nervous individual I have seen in my life. Your country right now needs someone who can’t just save and protect it but give it something worth living for. Do you think you would inspire that kid as you are now, or scare them?”

Izuku paused, closing his eyes. “A month.” He conceded. “I’ll stay on the Watchtower and get whatever help you think I need for the next month.”

When Izuku opened his eyes again, he felt something was off.

The first thing he noticed was that no one seemed to be in the room anymore, the entire conference room previously full of people was empty.

That in itself was concerning but what concerned Izuku more was that it was also dead silent in the room.

The longer one lived on space stations and worked in big fortress-like areas like Oa’s Archives, the more one came to realize that nothing is ever completely silent. There’s always something, some little beeps, a clinking sound for some machinery not being completely optimized.

People vanishing suddenly, while certainly concerning, had some reasonable explanations. Perfect silence however, was always a bad sign.

Izuku wandered out of the room, carefully scanning in every direction for something. The rest of the Watchtower seemed just as empty and quiet, judging by the fact that there was absolute silence in the cafeteria.

He floated over to the view window towards Earth, everything there seemed to be fine, so perhaps whatever it was did not affect the entire planet.

Then something else caught his attention, the Watchtower was far too close to the planet!

Just as the realization set in, everything began tilting towards the plaa-aa-a--

ithurtsithurtsithurtsithur-sithurtsithurtsithurtsithurt-sithurtsithurtsithurt-sithurtsithurtsithurt-sithurtsithurtsi-thurtsi-thurtsithurtsithurtsithurtsith-rtsithurtsithurtsith-urtsithurtsithurtsithurts-ithurts---

+ ??!?!?!??!?!? +

Izuku blinked at the sky above him, it was night apparently. Hastily standing up he glared around the area.

Instead of devastation the entire landscape looked...wrong. The Watchtower was stuck in the ground like a beached ship rather than a spacecraft that had just made planet fall.

The landscape around him shifted and changed even as he looked at it, the lush green and browns of Earth shifting into a red, arid landscape of sand and obsidian like jagged crystal structures.

Standing scattered across the landscape, staring with empty eyes into space were figures.

Some human, many not.

Each muttering endlessly, ceaselessly, words in languages both alive and long dead.

Izuku shuddered as he could hear them speak.

“It hears, it speaks, it sees, it breaths, we die, it bleeds, we scream, it laughs-”

Izuku felt a sharp pain under his eye, touching the spot he recognized blood on his fingers. He stared at his hands and arms, feeling old scars ache and reopen seemingly on their own.

He shivered, pain coursing through him as the landscape shifted into an endless plane of blood, seemingly dooming the figures to drown.

And then he heard it, an inhuman, incomprehensible screech as something rose into the sky.

Innumerable eyes, teeth where there should not have been anything, an endless mass of limbs twisting into the endless sky.

IthearsitspeaksitseesitbreathswedieitbleedswescreamitlaughsitHearsitspeaksitseesiiiitbreathswedieitbleedswescreamitlaughsithearsitspeaksitseesitbreathswedieitbleedswescreamitlaughsithearsitspeaksitseesitbreathswedieitblEedswescreamitlaaaaaauGhsithearsitspeaksitseesitbreathswedieitbleeDswwwwwescreamitlaughsithearsitspeaksitseesitbreathswedieitbleedswescreamitlaughsithearsitspeaksitseesitbreathswedieitbleedswescreamitlaughSithearsitspeaksitseesitbreathsWedieitbleedswescreamitlaughsithearsitspeaksItseesitbreathswedieitbleedswescreamitlaughsithearsitspeaksitseesitbreathswedieitbleedswescreamitlaughsithearsitspeaksitsssssseesitbreathswedieitbleedswescreamitlaughsithearsitspeaksitseesitbreathswedieitbleedswescreamitlaughsithearsitspeaksitseesitbreeeeeathswedieitbleedswescreamitttttlau

+ Watchtower II Medical Bay +

“How is he?” Blue Beetle asked as he stepped into the room.

“That question has multiple answers.” Mr. Terrific, who was currently checking a screen of diagnostics, said.

He checked a few values before he continued: “Physically he seems fine if the scans are right but mentally and emotionally? Closest we can currently assume is that he disassociated. Or something of that nature. We won’t know for certain until Manhunter and Raven have finished the mind dive.”

Inko shuddered. “I thought he was fine, the Lanterns let him leave and everything.” Her voice was a bit shakier than she’d like.

“From what I was able to gather.” Damian Wayne, who had joined them, began. “Green has a tendency to pretend he is alright no matter how bad his condition actually is. It was likely thought that he would get rest when he returned to the Watchtower, as he should have, but decided to continue going even if it was a bad idea.”

Blue Beetle looked to him. “How are the others?”

Damian shook his head: “Shaken up but fine, comparatively. Fortunately Green didn’t do anything to them. It could have been far worse.”

And it had been fortunate, as unsettling as it was to watch, all that had actually happened was Izuku falling incredibly silent for several minutes before screaming in a horrifying tone before falling unconscious.

Given that he had a connection to magic, a direct connection to Death and one of the most powerful weapons in the universe there were far worse possibilities.

Mr. Terrific sighed: “Both the Lanterns and the Teen Titans were informed. If anyone other than Raven and Manhunter have a chance to understand this mess it’s likely Jinx.”

“Actually,” a cheery voice suddenly spoke from their left, making most of them jump and Damian stiffen, “Jinxy probably can’t help here. It’s a bit further up than she can punch currently.”

Sitting there, in an inexplicable lawn chair, with crossed legs was Death. She didn’t technically need to introduce herself, mortals inherently knew who she was.

“Hello Mrs. Midoriya! Sorry we only meet now, I wanted to introduce myself earlier but I sadly am bound by some rules." Her cheerful demeanor was almost a little infectious.

“U-Uhm. Hello Ms….Death?” Inko stammered a little, even for someone so used to superheroes that she called them by nicknames these days, getting to know Death personally was a bit above Inko’s comfort.

“Oh none of that ‘Ms.’ thing for me.” Death made a dismissive wave. “It’s actually refreshing when people just say my name normally. So many are needlessly scared.” she explained.

“So why are you here?” Damian asked bluntly. “Green isn’t dead is he?”

“Well if you want to be technical he was dead since before you met him but that’s semantics.” Death chuckled, “I am here to try and explain what’s going on with him and why it’s happening to him specifically.”

Inko paused, blinking a bit. “That sounds concerning. It sounds like what happened to him could have happened to others.”

Death smiled sadly. “Not others, everyone else.” she sighed “Essentially Izuku is experiencing the backlash of everyone who died to ensure this reality exists.”

Feeling the need to elaborate she continued. “You see, once upon a time, about nine years ago at this point in fact: The universe, the Multiverse, everything. Ended.”

Her tone didn’t change, as she cheerfully clapped her hands once. “Then, a few moments later, though billions of years for you, it all came back. You didn’t notice, of course, things like these happen without the knowledge of mortals most of the time. Though some of you at least have a clue I suppose.”

She giggled unnervingly. “Essentially, someone ended up destroying everything, thinking that the Multiverse could not come back from it. Brave fool he was, but that’s not how reality works. So, it dragged itself back into existence.”

Inko blinked at the casual way she had said that. “Okaaaaay.” She tried to keep her wits about her but it was really a lot to ask from a normal mortal to understand the mechanics of the multiverse. “But what has Izuku to do with that?”

Death sighed. “Every Multiverse has, hm, let’s call them linchpins. No, that’s not fitting, more like nails holding a building together. It’s not necessary for everyone to exist or survive at the same time but you need a certain amount for everything to function. As you can guess, the Justice League, The Lanterns etc. all those people? Part of the Multiverse that needs to be around in some capacity. When the original Multiverse ended, the house collapsed and was rebuilt, new nails and all.”

She breathed lightly, “Izuku is different. When the Multiverse rebuilt itself, some rules changed, some aspects were no longer than they were before. As you probably know, every house has load bearing walls. Izuku and quite a few other people are more akin to load bearing pillars.”

Inko narrowed her eyes lightly. “So because he is a… ‘load bearing pillar’..what? Horrible things happen to him sometimes? Unreasonably horrifying things are done to him? Fate decides to torture him?”

“Yes.” Death stated simply. “It was either them or him. Billions of souls, brought back by the rebuilt Multiverse, avenged. Because four Lanterns were there instead of three. Because he exists. I am not going to tell you to praise this aspect of reality, or even like it. I cannot change it, much as I wish to.”

Inko sighed, rubbing her eyes, this was turning out to be a day. “So what happened to him?”

Death shrugged helplessly. “He died thousands upon thousands of times fighting against the failed Anti-Life god. No mind or soul was ever meant to do that so many times. I am afraid it will happen again, eventually.”

Jaime narrowed his eyes. “The way you spoke earlier makes it sound like this has only happened to him. Not the other three.”

Death glanced at him. “Yes. You have to understand, the place they were in nothing existed. No time, no space, no life and I wasn’t allowed there either. Except. Izuku was there, he always carried a tiny piece of my power with him, ever since Raven brought him back to life. So, being the protective, endlessly kind and self sacrificing soul he is. He allowed them deaths, relief from the agony. Everything that happened to the other three Lanterns, he felt. Every strike, every injury, every bit of agony. While they received them he felt them.”

Mr. Terrific looked a little horrified. “You’re not just talking about the other Lanterns, are you? The people on that planet, the Thalamonians, they were caught in all that too, weren’t they?”

Death looked to the floor slightly. “Yes. That is why Anti-Life is such a terrifying foe. All of them, without exception, were always in its grasp until Izuku and the other three arrived. If Izuku hadn’t been there, then all that would have happened is three more victims joining them.”

Inko closed her eyes, she wanted to scream and wail about how these horrible things had happened to her son and rage at how it felt like Death had a hand in making it happen, but that wouldn’t do. It wouldn’t change a thing.

Inko let out a long breath. “What can I do to help my son?”

Death, after a slow meandering pause, walked over to Inko and hugged her “You can do what you’ve done since he was born; be there for him when he comes to you.”

Without a noise, or even waiting for a response Death was gone.

Inko sighed before harrumphing slightly “Didn’t even get the chance to ask her what her intentions with my son are.”

+ Somewhere in an underground base in Japan +

Scarecrow sighed exasperated, hearing the shrieking pained screams of a particular living teleporter.

All For One had turned out to be a complete joke in his opinion. The whole plan to attack the Sports Festival had gone complete tits up the second those vigilantes showed up. The fact that they had been working with the Justice League was only the most bitter of cherries on the shit trifle.

But the worst part, by far, was that both the good Dr. and his coffee grinder mask-wearing boss were so used to winning at everything that failing at something was an alien concept.

So All For One, in his ever decreasing wisdom, had made his favorite past time to torture Kurogiri, even for shit that wasn’t his fault to begin with.

Crane was all for sadism but he figured that you should only be a sadist if it served at least somewhat of a purpose and torturing the black mist teleporter had done nothing to improve All For One’s mood so what was the damn point?!

There was a loud, near ear drum bursting, crash.

Crane jumped up from his seat and, despite himself, ran towards the source of the noise.

“WHAT IN THE HELL IS THAT?!” He heard All For One roar as he turned the corner. “LET GO OF ME YOU ABOMINATION!”

Opening the door, Crane severely wished he hadn’t.

The scene he beheld was All For One, in all his suit wearing, face lacking, glory being held aloft by a large somewhat familiar gray arm covered in spikes and blades coming out of a tear in space.

He had the faintest of hopes that said arm was going to pull All For One into the tear with itself but said hope was dashed by the other big moron he had to contend with.

With a bellow of “IN MY FATHER’S NAME!” and a sound of the sound barrier exploding a large metal rod hit whatever the arm belonged to, forcing it to let go of All For One just as the tear closed, severing just a single finger of the creature in process.

All For One glared at the remains of the hand that had tried to grab him “What...was that?!”

“Another sign of your hubris. You were warned not to torture a teleporter.” A deep, somewhat oafish, voice spoke as the person who had fired the railgun that saved All For One’s life stepped out of the shadows.

He looked not as imposing as one would expect. He wasn’t taller than All For One but wider, with black hair like a lion's mane and a slightly too large face for his frame. Wearing a green sleeveless suit, a strange black rectangular box with glowing red lines strapped to his hip.

“The thing that attacked you is kept in the Phantom Zone. A creature known as Doomsday! They say it almost killed Superman.” He growled.

All For One got up, after glancing at the finger on the ground and picking it up. “Tch. Didn’t seem that strong.”

“Your hubris truly knows no bounds, human.” The man’s tone was a razor of hatred “I was of the opinion that our alliance could be fruitful but I have yet to see you progress towards anything!”

All For One snarled a bit. “Your minions are not capable of containing quirks! My scientist is fixing that, in case you have forgotten.”

The man puffed out his chest. “You mortals, all the same! You believe yourself so important. So arrogantly in charge of things. But you will come to respect, come to see the one truth. The truth of Apokolips! The truth of Kalibak!”

Kalibak grinned, his smile splitting his face. “The Truth. That Darkseid IS!”

Chapter Text

[OA CENTRAL ARCHIVES]
[NAME: -REDACTED-]
[CALLSIGN: Pax]
[TITLE: PRIMARY ARCHIVIST]

[ID: 00000000000001983]

[PLEASE ENTER PASSCODE]
[***************************************************************]

[ACCESS GRANTED]

The following information was gathered during my time overseeing, monitoring and mentoring Lantern Recruit #0715166009, Midoriya Izuku of Earth, call-sign ‘Green’. For the sake of brevity, his call-sign shall be used throughout this documentation.

This document is provided with the understanding that the observations and notes made are subjective whereas the data compiled within it was gathered from objective recordings made during various tests and gathered from mission data.

Regardless, discretion is expected and advised.

Observations:
During my time overseeing ‘Green’, several oddities have become readily apparent. Some appear intentional on his part, whereas others appear entirely unnoticed by him. The following sections include any and all that I have been able to adequately record.

[Unusual Call-Sign]
Call-signs are often used among Lanterns as our colours alone are rarely a sufficient identifier. Strange it is then that one of our most recent recruits has a call-sign simply consisting out of the colour his primary Lantern Corp. is known for. [Edited: Curiously this call-sign remains intact after his ascension into the Night Lantern. Ask for possible adjustment?]

[Lantern Ring Alterations]
The Lantern Ring in Green’s possession is unusual in ways. Unlike many others it is an entirely new ring as opposed to belonging to a previous Lantern. In itself this is not noteworthy but its composition differs from the standard Lantern Ring.

When confronted with this information it appears that ‘Green’ has integrated a ring of Valorium into his ring, making his flight capabilities entirely powerless. I have since recommended that this alteration be added to all available Lantern Rings, he was however unwilling to inform me how he has gotten possession of this ring. Contact the Justice League for further investigation. [See ‘Valorium Alloy’ in primary archives]

[High Density Lantern Constructs]
As it is with many of our kind, ‘Green’ has his own way of summoning Lantern constructs. There are several notable differences with his constructs compared to many I have encountered.

Most notably is the intense energy the constructs appear to emit at every moment. At every moment the constructs appear completely solid and generate a near lightning storm around them. This appears similar to Lantern ‘Gardner’ and Lantern ‘Baz’s constructs though the similarity is superficial at best.

When in close proximity to other Lanterns it appears the lightning storms can provide a small amount of charge to other Lantern Rings, even outside of his primary colour. [Edited: This has not been tested since his ascension to Night Lantern, reassess if possible]

Lastly, unlike many recruits, it appears that the constructs ‘Green’ generates simply manifest around him or where he wishes them to appear instead of spawning from the ring itself. This indicates to me an inherent understanding of our abilities that usually takes several stellar cycles for others to master. I trace this back to his unusual training among the Justice League. Investigating ways to induce this among other recruits is recommended.

[Information Processing]
‘Green’ has shown an unnatural ability to adjust rapidly to new information, showing very little discomfort. I cannot adequately describe it in data points, as this property of his appears instinctive and entirely unnoticed by him. If I had to qualify it, it appears to me that his mental structure is different from that of other Lanterns originating from Earth. Possibly caused by an unknown heritage? Further Investigation required.

[Demonic Magic]

While the exact circumstances of ‘Green’s magic are unknown to me and to the rest of the Lantern Corps. What we are aware of is that his magic abilities appear varied and have a direct connection to Raven of the Teen Titans, possibly being either taught to him by her or even enabled through her.
We have also considered the possibility of some demonic heritage being present but are unable to confirm it as of yet.

A curious phenomenon that we have observed during the Spectrum Test [See Spectrum Test Result section further below] is that this magic has steadily increased his connection to the Black Lantern Corps.

[Edited: Due to his ascension to Night Lantern this section may have become obsolete. Further inquiries required.]

[SECTION ENCRYPTED PLEASE PROVIDE CODE:]
[************************]
[Anomalous Vital Signs]
Analysis and tests of ‘Green’s vital signs show strange anomalies that indicate impossible physical properties. His body appears to be naturally capable of dulling pain sensations many times beyond the thresholds recorded of other Earth Lanterns as well as healing at a slightly faster rate than expected. Curiously he appears to not be aware of either property.

More concerning however is that our tests have shown that his vitals appear impossible for a Human. It appears that his body still emits warmth and requires nourishment in spite of all his body functions ceasing for over a stellar cycle. He was not informed of this, as we do not know where this property originates from as of yet.

[Edited: Further investigation indicates that this was an early sign of his ascension to the Night Lanterns. It however does not explain his inability to notice these aspects of himself. Possible mental block?]

[SECTION ENCRYPTED PLEASE PROVIDE CODE:]
[*****************************************]
[Anomalous Dimensional Connection]
It is not unusual for Lanterns to have connections to other dimensions, it is in fact quite a common occurrence simply due to the nature of our calling. However I can confirm that ‘Green’ has an unnaturally strong connection to other dimensions, having gotten temporarily displaced into various timelines and universes simply by existing within the Archives for an extended period of time.

Curiously this connection appears far more elaborate than that we usually see among Lanterns, affecting his sleep cycles and even affecting his Lantern constructs in a limited fashion.

Further investigation has led me to believe that his encounter with a mirror entity of himself has somehow caused this. [See ‘Mirror Dimensions and Dimensional Folds’ in Primary Archives]

[Epithet]
Rarely a Lantern is given an Epithet that is usually kept on the records for the Knight Corp. The exact reason, let alone its meaning, is seldom understood. Even rarer is seeing a recruit being given one having merely joined.

His Epithet ‘The Oath Sworn Star’ in itself gives me pause. Every Lantern is by their nature sworn to an oath. Every Lantern Corp. has its own oath that one is required to at least follow in spirit, if not letter. This of course begs the question what oath this refers to, if not the Lantern oath.

I have tentatively attempted to inquire information from the Knight Corp. as to its meaning as well as have attempted to possibly see if ‘Green’ himself could know of its meaning but have so far been unsuccessful.

The following section has been added to accommodate ‘Green’s ascension to Night Lantern.

[Night Lantern Ring]
In my time as Primary Archivist of Oa, I have encountered many different Lanterns. Both exceptional individuals of a singular Lantern Corps. As well as members of multiple ones.

The ‘Night Lanterns’ are some of the more elusive kinds, as the requirements of becoming one are only known to a singular entity in all of reality: Death herself.

Black Lanterns are already a rarely seen kind of Lantern and usually their presence alone is a sign that something terrible has occurred.

As of the recording of this information, there are four ‘Night Lanterns’ on Oa’s records, including ‘Green’. As such the information on this variant of a Lantern Ring is sparse at best and almost non-existent at worst.

Visual observation during the ascension provided me with enough insight to claim that it is a hybrid between a technological Lantern Ring (e.g Green Lantern Ring) and a thaumaturgical Lantern Ring (e.g Red Lantern Ring).

In this specific case, a hybrid between a Green Lantern and a Black Lantern ring. Unfortunately I am unable to access any further information as of now, though I have sent ‘Green’ a request to test the specifics, if only to ensure future generations can be better informed.

Test Results and Mission Reports:
I shall have to preface this section with the information that I am neither part of our Analytics Team, Medical Team or Mission Supervisors. While I have been part of these teams over my long tenure as a Lantern, I have not been privy to all their changes in procedure and improvements for a very long time.

Any Mission Reports presented here are merely ones I have gained access to

[Spectrum Test Results]
The Spectrum test is a routine test performed at the start of a Lanterns career to assess their capabilities in the various Lantern lights in order to perhaps adjust a Lanterns education as necessary.

Notable for the test ‘Green’ has gone through is that the first test needed to be ended prematurely due to unforeseen circumstances. A second test was performed on a later date.

Each light value is split into two parts: Potential and Accessible. Referred to as [PO] and [AC] in this documentation. The names indicate the potential a Lantern has to utilize a part of the emotional spectrum and their actual ability to do so, respectively.

This method of differentiating was created in light of Knight Corp. Lantern Thaal Sinestro having been both a Green Lantern and a Yellow Lantern in the past with very little time without a ring in between.

These records are generated by the Spectrum Ring while in use during the test.

Green [GR]
[PO]: 500+%
[AC]: 150%
[Note]: The PO of this light was difficult to adequately measure as the Spectrum Ring could not completely contain the energy emitted. Similar occurrences have been recorded with Lantern ‘Baz’ as well as Lantern ‘Gardner’.

Red [RE]
[PO]: 250%
[AC]: -100%
[Note]: The recording of this light indicates that ‘Green’ would suffer physical harm trying to access this part of the spectrum. Currently the theory is that his emotional state would not be able to support this portion of the spectrum. This is corroborated by his behaviour while exposed to other colours on that side of the spectrum. Link to this part of the spectrum has been severed for safety reasons.

Orange [OR]
[PO]: [REDACTED]
[AC]: [REDACTED]
[Note]: As with all Lanterns tested, the connection to the orange light of greed has been severed to ensure all Lanterns safety. Any attempt to decrypt the result of this test will be reported to the Knight Corp.

Yellow [YE]
[PO]: 300%
[AC]: -50%
[Note]: Similarly to his results on red and orange, behaviour observed indicates that ‘Green’ will come to physical harm if he attempts to utilize this part of the spectrum. Link to this part of the spectrum has been severed for safety reasons.

Blue [BU]
[PO]: 450%
[AC]: 35%
[Note]: It appears that, had he not become a Night Lantern, ‘Green’ would have almost certainly gotten access to a Blue Lantern ring within the time of a few years. Current [AC] limit appears to be caused by unresolved emotional trauma. Therapy sessions are highly advised.

Star Sapphire [VI]
[PO]: N/A
[AC]: N/A
[Note]: Due to the requirements of Star Sapphire Lanterns including lacking emotional commitments any results of the test have been deemed irrelevant.

Indigo [IN]
[PO]: %ERROR%
[AC]: [REDACTED]
[Note]: I cannot adequately describe the reaction observed during this test. The closest our evaluations allow would be that ‘Green’ is somehow capable of overwriting the adjustments made to Indigo Lanterns that enables them to feel emotions at all. Due to circumstances in relation to the orange light it was deemed unwise to enable ‘Green’ to have any connection to the indigo light.

Due to the nature of the White and Black Lanterns, any results of the White and Black Lantern light have been filed in a separate document that remains inaccessible to anyone not part of the Knight Corps.

[Space Sector 512 Incident]
Several things remain unexplainable to even us Lanterns, Space Sector 512 will be one that shall haunt me for many stellar cycles to come. There have been countless missions into this sector over a cyclical period of [DATA NOT FOUND] each more unnerving than the last.

‘Green’ and the team he was with encountered an SOS Signal from a local spaceship, an occurrence that should have been impossible, as the Sector has been reported to be devoid of life signals for over [DATA NOT FOUND] stellar cycles.

The people encountered during this event appeared closely related to humans which should be impossible, as the people of Earth have not achieved commercial interstellar travel to our knowledge.

Disconcertingly the records, descriptions and notes on these individuals provided by ‘Green’ match countless other reports I have seen about encounters in this sector. A current theory provided by our research team is that the entire Space Sector is somehow stuck in a temporal anomaly which we cannot perceive the source or reason of. [Edited: Ever since this record Space Sector 512 has been put under constant surveillance. Apparently the Knight Corps. Has received implicit instructions from higher up to keep the situation monitored.]

[Space Sector 1111 Astarian Robot Independence Oversight]
A simple peace keeping mission that ‘Green’ was assigned due to its expected simple nature.
It is not usual for Lantern recruits to be sent on missions on their own but his experience with the Justice League and the Teen Titans had given us no reason to deny him the experience.

By his report the robots of Sector 1111 Astaria had only recently gained sentience en masse, though as to how it happened we are unsure. In a turn of expected scenarios the people of the sector were seemingly on board with the idea of their robotic creations becoming independent of them and the oversight mission itself was largely pointless.

That being said, it would have been expected of ‘Green’ to inform us of an encounter with the Nebulaxians trying to interfere with the Astarian Robots before it had occurred, not after he had already resolved it. I shall have to impress on him, again, that the Lanterns are not singular entities.

Personal Impressions:

‘Green’ has been an invaluable asset within the archives from the moment he was assigned to be here. His analytical mind and ability to memorize things down to nano-click range surpasses even people of my own species.

However, I feel that this very property is part of the reason he is as unstable as other reports presented him. I have no doubt in my mind that he deems me and anyone on Oa both a mentor and a threat in equal measure.

Trying to get a grasp of the reasons for this has led me nowhere, ‘Green’ simply does not trust us. Intentionally or otherwise. His own judgement of a situation will in most cases trump that of anyone else.

I worry for him, more than I do for many, who have been under my supervision for countless stellar cycles longer.

I fear what he would do, seeking short term solutions rather than seeing the bigger picture. Deep down, so I have come to believe, he wishes for everyone to be at peace. I fear the moment he comes to realize such a thing is impossible, no matter how powerful even we Lanterns are.

All I can do, all I shall be able to provide, is to see him for what I know he can be: The next Archivist Primus of the Archive of Oa.

I know he would not be satisfied with this position, not yet at least. But I know that it would benefit him.

Oaths:
It is not unusual for a Lantern's oaths to adjust as they evolve in their role. Rarely, however, have they been allowed to directly observe a very direct change such as this.

Provided in this section are the oaths ‘Green’ and his Night Lantern ring have provided as well as two sketches of ‘Green’ made by a Lantern who wishes for their true identity to remain unknown.

The oaths of a lantern are always their own, though I fear that ‘Green’ may have chosen a dangerous path from the first time he was asked to create one. I aim to do as I have always done, to aid him in his journey, wherever it may take him.

In brightest day and darkest night.
No horror shall escape our sight.
Let all who seek to flee from evil's blight.
Be led by our power, Green Lantern's light!

Shining bright, from darkest night.
Against all evil, who fight what's right.
I stand here now, defying your might.
The unyielding pitch black knight.

[EXIT]

Chapter Text

+ Somewhere in Japan +

She stood on top of a tall building, at the edge of the roof. She had taken off her shoes, as was expected custom for what she intended to do.

Life had never been easy, her parents had been neglectful at the best of times. It was unbearable, to be a ghost in her own home, barely registering to her own family as a living being and even if they did take notice it was to berate her.

It had only gotten worse as she got older, after her father had...no that man--

That monster.

Her mother didn’t believe her about what kind of man he was, what he had done to her. Her mother had called her a liar out to ruin their lives.

Things had only gotten worse from there, thrown out to fend for herself, left to try and pick up the pieces of her life. Her ‘friends’ had been no help whatsoever, if anything they had blamed her for her own situation.

No one had believed her then about anything she said. They didn’t later on either.

Just when things started looking up for her, she met him. He had been such a charming man, someone she imagined she could have lived the rest of her life with. Well. In a sense that was what she got.

She should have known better, she thought. Should have seen it coming, that there was no reason for a man of his standing to care for a disowned teenage waste of space like her.

None of that mattered now, not that she thought it mattered back then either. This was always her fate, to end up in a place like this. The only cold comfort she could take, was that she wouldn’t bring a child into this world.

She closed her eyes and stepped forward. Instead of a feeling of falling, she didn’t feel anything change. She opened her eyes again and to her confusion found herself standing in a green box, she didn’t realize that from the outside it looked like a small booth like one would expect from some restaurants.

“Pardon me, miss” a kind voice started, she looked up to see a young man with green hair, wearing a green and black suit, float down towards her, “but let's not make decisions we can’t take back.”

He floated down, stopping about her height. His eyes looked sad, almost a little empty, like he had been in her place once. He had a scar down his face on one side, she could see a strange ring glinting on his left hand. An unfamiliar symbol was on the chest of his armour. Was he with those ‘Lanterns’ she had heard on the news about?

"W-W-Why did you stop me?" She asked quietly.

He shrugged, "Do I need a reason other than not wanting to see someone die?" His tone was just barely above hers, as he landed on the railing next to her. He looked into the sky. "I know what it's like. To feel alone, to feel abandoned, to feel like the whole universe is against you."

"You don't know me. I doubt you know how I'm feeling." she snapped, a bit louder than she had intended.

"Maybe not," he admitted, "but I was once on a tall place too, staring down and wanting it to end." He looked at the streets below, a familiar look crossing his face.