Dimensional Nephilim 1-6 Edited (Patreon)

A/N: I decided not to rewrite all of this into first person, but I did go back and edit some parts of every chapter to flow better. No one has to re-read everything though. The overall plot hasn’t changed or anything.

Chapter 1:

Marcus walked down the streets of Gotham, heading towards school. “Yes, mom, I’m fine! And yes, I'm eating enough,” he said into his phone with a sigh. This was the 10th time she’d called him this week just to ask the same questions over and over.

He knew that his mother could be a little bit (very) overprotective of him. After all, he was her first and only child. She was reluctant to let him move to Gotham and attend school on his own—sort of. He did have a ‘roommate’ of sorts….

“Yes, Grandfather is fine too, and he's also recovering at a steady rate. We think that it will only be a few months longer that we're stuck together, and I couldn't be more grateful. I'd like to live my life without him always seeing everything I do.” Marcus said as he passed by a group of girls dressed in the same uniform as him. He ignored their blushes and giggles as he walked past them. He'd grown used to a lot of girls acting that way when they saw him. He was well aware that he was supernaturally handsome, his appearance drew eyes pretty much wherever he went. 

Eighteen years ago, he died. He didn't really remember much about his own past life, just minor fragments. His mother claimed it was because his soul had somehow ended up drifting in the void and was on the verge of being whittled away by the endless nothingness.

And wasn’t that a terrifying concept?

By the time she rescued him, most of his personal memories had already been erased. That was probably for the best. It allowed him to truly embrace this new life as his own.

He wasn't sure why his mom was drifting out in the void at the time, but he was incredibly thankful that she was. From what he understood, she took his soul into herself to protect it and then left the void. Because his soul was that of a human, she couldn't just reincarnate him into a member of her own race. Nor could she make him a full human again, because she wasn't one either. So she found a middle ground. His mother told him that she found a “donor” who was more than happy to give a bit of his essence to his mother, in order for him to be reborn.

That was the nice way of saying his mom banged some random human and used his sperm to create a half-human hybrid vessel for his soul…

Seventeen years later, he was reborn as a baby and raised by his mother and the other members of her “faction.” It was a very interesting childhood to say the least.

But eventually, all kids grow up—or regrow up in his case. Marcus wanted to get out and see the world. He wanted to explore the stars themselves, that was actually possible here! This world also had much more advanced science and technology than his last one. He wanted to learn all about it. Hence, he ended up attending Gotham City Academy. One of the best High Schools in the world. He was able to get in as a Wayne Foundation scholarship student as well.

His mother claimed that he inherited his intelligence from his father. She claimed that his father, in this life, was “Really-Really-Smart!!” That's why she chose him out of the other 4 billion men on the planet. MArcus didn't entirely believe her words, since she'd yet to tell him who the lucky guy actually was.

He kept walking and eventually neared the academy. “OK, mom. Yes, I'll be safe. Gotham isn't even that dangerous for me, but I’ll be on the lookout anyway. I’m well aware how crazy this city and the people in it can be. That's part of the reason I’m here, after all. To help its recovery. OK, mom. I’m almost at school. I've got to go now. I love you, bye.” He ended the call with another sigh and slipped his phone back into his pocket. He was almost at his school gates.

‘Stop, Marcus!’ The voice of his grandfather echoed in his head. He paused on the sidewalk. Students and other pedestrians passed him by as he stood still.

‘What’s wrong?’ Marcus asked in his head. His grandfather usually remained silent unless it was important. He had been a bit more vocal lately though. He had been regaining more and more of his power.

‘I sensed a stray hidden in the busy crowds nearby. Unfortunately, it has vanished.’

Marcus frowned as he eyed everyone walking nearby. No one particularly stood out to him. He was also surprised that a stray, of all things, would actually be in Gotham City. With all the heroes patrolling the city every single night, it wouldn't be able to lie low for long. ‘I’ll keep an eye out,’ he replied. ‘It could have just been passing through.’

‘Doubtful. This one radiated…hunger.’

Marcus grimaced. Hunger didn’t mean that it was looking for a breakfast burrito or something. It meant that the stray had completely fallen to its baser instincts and started feeding on humans. He would have to be on the lookout for the abomination. Unfortunately, he couldn't go searching now. He was a scholarship student at Gotham Academy, and truancy was not tolerated without a legitimate excuse. He could lose his scholarship if he intentionally missed classes. With one last gaze at the crowds walking by, he turned and headed through the academy gates.

Gotham Academy was enormous, bigger than some universities even. The most elite Middle School and High School students in the city, and even the country, attended here. For a lot of students, it doubled as their homes. It was also a boarding school. For students like him who lived in the city, though, he just commuted here.

"Good morning, Marcus!" A preppy voice called out to him from across the quad. A younger girl skipped up to him with a bright smile on her face.

Marcus let out a subtle sigh. He now totally understood how Sasuke Uchiha and Kiba Yuuto felt. Especially when the fangirls never seemed to take a hint. This particular fangirl had been hounding him for almost 2 months now! That was almost the entire time he'd been attending the academy…

Following behind her, as always, were her two ‘friends.’ Although they were less of friends and more of this girl's followers.

The younger girl who approached him was Alice Winston. A cute girl with blonde hair and green eyes. She was arguably the most popular girl in the Academy because her family was filthy rich and a big name in Gotham. Not as big as Bruce Wayne, of course, but pretty close.

Marcus honestly wouldn't have minded going on a date with Alice, but she was just too young for him and always gave him strange vibes. Also, for some reason, no other girls have ever openly approached him on school grounds after Alice had “staked her claim on him.”

"Good morning, Alice," he said while putting on a practiced smile that didn't look as strained as it really was. The girl might give him weird vibes, but she had never outright antagonized him. His mother had also raised him to always be cordial with people. "You seem to be in a good mood." He noted.

Alice smiled and looked up. "It’s bright and sunny today! That’s rare for this dreary town, you know. In fact, I feel like ever since you arrived here, the days have gotten brighter!" Alice declared with a small blush on her cheeks.

‘They have…’ Marcus thought in his head. The presence of himself and his grandfather in Gotham had helped purify some of the City's evil taint. The longer he stayed, the more sunny days the city would start to have as the lingering miasma ebbed away. "It must just be a coincidence," he said with a small laugh. "I heard Gotham was actually a beautiful city when it was founded. I'm sure it just had a few bad years of weather.”

That was an understatement. When he had first arrived in Gotham a few months ago, the evil taint in the city had become so potent that it formed an almost permanent fog that darkened the sky itself over the city. It was not natural at all. Metropolis was only a hundred miles away, and it was always bright and sunny there. The idiots who built this city, over a hundred years ago, decided to do so over a cursed Native American Burial ground. The land was cheap, he supposed–or free since they probably just stole it anyway.

"You're right! But you make MY day brighter at least!" Alice said to him with a small blush.

Okay… He had to admit to himself that that line was pretty good. If it was coming from any girl but this one, it probably would have worked on him if he was being honest.

"Woah! Did she actually just say that line out loud!? How corny!" A young boy's voice called from nearby on the campus lawn.

A red-faced Alice turned and frowned at the kid who just shouted at her. "Shut it, Dick! Can’t you see I'm having a nice conversation with Marcus here!" 

"Maybe try being less thirsty, then, Winston! Since the second he enrolled here, you’ve been all over him! Give the guy a break! Your obsession is creepy!" Dick Grayson replied to her loudly. Their argument was starting to draw a small crowd of students.

That was another reason Marcus was hesitant when it came to this girl. If Dick Grayson–who was his favorite Robin in his past life–didn't trust her, then he was even more hesitant to do so himself. Whenever Dick and Alice were in the same vicinity, they would always fight.

“Piss off, Dick!” She shouted one last time.

Dick flipped Alice ‘the bird’ and snickered again before he walked off. Marcus laughed at the kid’s audacity. He could see Alice hatefully glaring at the kid's back until he left.

“Hmph!” Alice turned back towards him after he left. 

Her two groupies looked like they were about to follow after him and throttle the kid, but Alice waved them off. She turned back to Marcus with a pout. "Dick is always so annoying and never knows how to behave!” Alice pouted. “He's nothing like you Marcus! You're so much more mature than him!” 

Marcus hoped so… He was 5 years older than the kid after all.

"I can’t believe Bruce Wayne adopted a rude kid like that!" Alice's first female lackey commented.

“Yeah! He’s like, so totes annoying!” The second one added.

Marcus actually found the interactions between Dick and Alice to be funny. Dick was 13, and Alice was 15. Compared to him, who was almost 18, they were closer in age and maturity. 

“So, Alice? Did you want to ask me something?” He was going to be late for class unless they got to the topic of why she stopped him.

“Oh, r-right.” Alice replied with a small stutter. “There’s going to be a small party at my mansion later tonight. I was wondering if you would be going? …Please? It would mean the world to me if you came!”

“Everyone who’s anyone will be there!” Her first friend added.

“Yeah. You need to come! Alice is going out of her way to invite you! You should be grateful!” The other one said judgmentally.

Marcus knew that she'd never stop hounding him unless he agreed. “Alright, I'll go.” He said. Although he wasn't planning on going alone. He considered bringing a date to the party so that Alice would finally understand he wasn't into her. Now he just had to find one in time…

“Awesome!” Alice smiled brightly at him. “I'll text you the time and address. See you tonight!” She said as she spun around and headed towards her first class with a skip in her step.

He watched her go before he headed towards his own morning physics class.

…

“Morning, partner,” Marcus said as he plopped himself down in his seat. The physics teacher liked to pair up all the students for classwork, and the girl next to him was his.

“Mornin’…” His cute blonde-haired partner said with a yawn. “Sorry. I was up kind of late.”

He frowned. “That’s three nights in a row, Artemis. Are you okay?” She looked exhausted. “You should take a nap later.”

Artemis was a fellow scholarship student, and her missing so much sleep wasn't good. If her grades slipped because of her lack of sleep, she could get kicked out.

“It's... it's nothing.” Artemis said. She did her best to avoid his eyes.

“If you say so…” Marcus couldn't help unless she opened up. He reached into his school bag and pulled out an energy drink he was saving for lunchtime, passing it to her. He could always get another one later.

She thanked him and took a big gulp. “That helps a lot!” She turned back to him and set the can on her desk. “So I heard you and the bratty Queen Bee of the Academy are going out now?” Artemis asked him with a smirk.

He raised an eyebrow. How had she heard that news already? “All I agreed to was to go to a party at her house. We're not dating. How'd you even hear that news already? She only asked me like 15 minutes ago.”

Artemis waved her hand flippantly. “Gotham Academy is a den of snakes and future snakes! Gossip is everywhere, and rumors spread fast. Especially when it has to do with the ‘popular kids.’ News about them always travels the fastest,” she explained.

“Well, in this case, the news is wrong. I'm never going to date that girl. Something about her kind of gives me the creeps, and she's barely 15 while I'm almost 18,” he replied.

Artemis leaned forward and looked him in the eyes. “You're new to Gotham, so you don't know, but the Winston family is a big deal. Alice Winston being the sole heiress is an even bigger deal. She's basically a future billionaire. You should be careful around her. You might be really handsome, but you're just some poor boy who can't even afford tuition from her perspective. There's no reason she should have been hounding you this long...” Artemis finished with a frown. He agreed with her on that part at least. Alice had been extremely persistent.

He took her words into consideration before a small thing she skipped over registered in his head. He smirked at her. “You think I'm really handsome?”

Artemis sputtered. “Wah–that's what you took from my warning!?” She said loudly with indignation.

Other nearby students turned and looked at her oddly for her outburst. Artemis covered her face with her hands in embarrassment for making a scene.

He laughed. “Yes.”

Artemis playfully punched his arm. “Don't pretend you don't know. You're tall, have wavy blond hair, and you clearly work out. And then there's your stupid perfect face. You're almost supernaturally handsome if I'm being honest. It's a bit unnerving…” She trailed off.

He nodded. Yep, he knew all of that. Also, this was the most Artemis had ever actually spoken to him! She was usually a lot more reserved and only talked when necessary for classwork. It was definitely a nice change of pace. He found her to be intriguing. The fact that she was moonlighting as a vigilante every night was also pretty interesting…

“I think you're really beautiful as well, Artemis,” he said back to her. Watching her face turn red at his compliment was adorable. Artemis also was very good-looking. Female superheroes pretty much always were. Especially considering he’d been reborn in the blend of a comic book/ecchi anime Universe.

‘Will you be adding this girl to your non-existent harem?’ His grandfather teasingly asked him.

‘Don’t start that again…’ He whined internally.

When he had first realized he had been reborn into DxD, he, of course, immediately fantasized about getting his own harem. His grandfather had heard those thoughts, thought they were hilarious, and immediately told his mother. They both had a good laugh at his expense. They jokingly told him to go for it if he thought he could pull it off. His mother even playfully told him that she would do her best to help her “darling boy” fulfill his dream…

Artemis had another cute reaction to his comment. “You! You can't just say that to a girl out of nowhere like that!” Her face was now bright red, and she avoided looking him in the eye. He thought that was pretty cute. She spent her nights beating up criminals on the streets, and yet she could still get embarrassed like this.

“Here's an idea?” He decided to ask her. “Why don't you go with me to Alice's party?” he suggested. “I wanted to go to the party with a date to finally show Alice that I wasn't interested in her.” He said. “I am interested in you though.” He added.

…

–Artemis–

“A date?” Artemis asked Marcus and he nodded back to her. She pondered for a moment. She'd never been on an actual date before… 

The fact that the date would double as a way to piss off the bratty rich girl was enticing though. The first time Artemis had ever spoken to Artemis, the rich girl had called her a “jumped up peasant who was lucky to even be allowed to attend their prestigious academy.” 

Needless to say, Artemis hated the little bitch… 

Artemis glanced back at Marcus, who was looking at her with that perfect smile of his.

‘Damn, he really is unfairly handsome…’ She thought to herself. She supposed it couldn’t hurt just going out with him on a date…just one though…two times tops. She nodded to herself with her decision made.

“Ok. I'll go with you. That doesn't mean we’re boyfriend and girlfriend though. I’m a bit busy in my life for a full-time relationship right now.” Artemis added. She didn’t want to give up her vigilante life that she had just started out on. She also didn’t want to drag Marcus into her insane family drama either. Her dad was a psychopath and her Sister had lost her mind under the man’s brutal training regiment.

Marcus gave her his sinful smile again and they exchanged contact information. Artemis was actually excited that she now had a second number in her contact list that wasn’t just her mom!

The physics teacher came into the classroom shortly after that, and they had to focus on the class. Artemis sighed when the teacher started writing on the whiteboard. She knew they were in for a long lecture. The energy drink helped, but she was still exhausted. She was going to take a nap before her date with Marcus later.

…

At lunchtime, Marcus found a quiet spot for himself outside in the grass. He munched on his sandwich as he contemplated what had happened today so far. Somehow, he had managed to get a date with an actual superheroine. Not that she was a particularly big name at the moment, considering she was just starting out her career, but still. It was pretty awesome.

‘You made the better choice. The soul of Alice Winston is almost black. She’s borderlining on becoming pure evil.’

He blanched at his grandfather’s words. ‘You couldn't have told me earlier!? What the hell!? I've never run into anyone with a black soul before!’ He exclaimed internally.

Marcus wasn’t able to see souls himself…yet. Black souls, though…not even any of the Fallen Angels he’d ever met had black souls. Black souls belonged to people who loved inflicting pain and misery on others and did so frequently. Basically, deranged serial killers!

‘You need to learn how to judge people on your own. It was an important lesson. I will be leaving you soon after all as I have almost recovered completely inside your Sacred Gear.’

And Marcus was glad for that.

It wasn't that Marcus didn't appreciate the constant voice echoing in his head. It was fine when he was younger and didn’t have a libido. Now, though? He'd just gotten his first date, and it was with a really hot girl as well! He wanted to enjoy his own life without constant scrutiny.

‘Am I cramping your style…?’ Grandfather asked him with actual trepidation in his voice.

‘Kind of…’ Marcus replied in his head.

‘So many of my followers would say the very thought of such a thing is blasphemous…’

He shrugged and took another bite of his sandwich. Those followers probably wouldn't think that if they had HIM in their heads 24/7. ‘Watching them poop…’

‘I do not watch you poop!’

He snickered at his indignation. Obviously, he didn’t watch him poop. He wasn’t a creep like Santa Claus…

‘Santa Claus doesn't watch people poop either!’

“Hey there, Marcus!” A voice he'd heard this morning called out to him. He looked over and saw Dick Grayson walking.

Marcus wondered what he wanted. “Hey Dick. What's up?”

Dick sat himself down on the grass. “Just checking in and things. How are you liking Gotham and the academy?”

“The academy is great, and the teachers are top-notch. Gotham itself isn't so bad. When I moved here two months ago, I was under the impression the city would be a lot more… dangerous? Haven't really seen much crime though, and I've never seen Batman either. The media made it seem like that guy popped up everywhere.” Marcus said. He intentionally brought up Batman just to see Dick’s reaction. To his surprise, though, Dick didn't so much as flinch when he mentioned the Dark Knight of Gotham. This kid’s acting was superb.

Dick was instead concerned by his comment. “You probably shouldn't be going to the places Batman goes anyway. He goes after criminals and supervillains, so he'll mostly show up in the seedier parts of town. Everyone knows that.” Dick added.

“Dang. Wanted to see if I could get his autograph. They're really rare, you know.” Marcus said. The caped crusader was actually one of his favorite heroes. In both his old life and this one.

‘If I was at my full power again, I’d offer the man a Sainthood. Then again, he would probably reject it knowing who he is…’ His grandfather added. ‘All of the lives he’s managed to save while not ever taking a single one himself…No one else has ever done what he does.’

Marcus agreed. He knew Batman would immediately reject the offer though. Even if it came from his Grandfather himself. That was just the kind of man he was.

‘And that’s why he would deserve it…’

Dick laughed at his inquiry about getting Batman's autograph. “So,” Dick said, changing the subject. “I heard you finally caved to Alice and are going to her party?” He asked with some concern. “You should be careful around Alice. Something about her and her family never sat right with me. Bruce–er–dad also tells me to avoid them.”

“Yeah, I’m going.” Marcus said. And then he laughingly added. “But not with her! I'm going with a girl called Artemis. She’s my physics partner, and she’s way hotter than Alice!”

Dick sputtered hearing that. “Y-you agreed to go to Alice's party. Personally invited by the girl herself in front of the whole school…and you're taking another girl!?” Dick asked dumbfounded.

“Yes. That's pretty much it. Something about Alice just weirds me out like you said.” Marcus said with a shrug. He wasn’t sure what to do with the knowledge that she might also be a serial killer either. Her family was incredibly wealthy and probably owned Gotham’s police. Maybe he could find a way to mention it subtly to Dick so it got back to Batman? That was something for him to think about.

Dick stared at him in shock. “Dayuuuuum. Respect, Marcus! So much respect! I wish I could go to the party now to see Alice's face, but unfortunately, it's for High Schooler’s only.” Dick was still in the middle school division of the academy. “I can’t wait to see her face on Monday though! The whole school is going to laugh at her. You know she’s currently going around telling everyone that you finally agreed to go out with her?”

He didn’t like hearing that. “I did not know that… Thanks for telling me. As for the party itself, you probably won’t miss out on much by not going. Just some good ol’ High Schooler underage drinking and whatnot.” Marcus said casually.

…

Passing by the small crowd of students rushing home to enjoy the weekend, Marcus observed many gossiping about Alice Winston's party later. She, along with most of the other elite students, had already left campus via limousines.

After school ended, Marcus had a few hours to kill before he'd meet up with Artemis. He decided to take a walk around the city. He wanted to see if he could find that stray from this morning before it racked up a noticeable body count. This city was currently his home, and he wasn’t going to permit one of those monsters living here. The only annoying thing was that low-class Stray Devils were hard to search for. Because their demonic powers were so minuscule without their kings to supplement them, strays couldn’t be sensed unless they were very close by.

Walking down the street, he decided to head towards the seedier sections of town. If the stray was still in the city, he had no doubt it would be there. Every block he walked, he would release a pulse of magic that acted similar to short-range echolocation. It was less of a spell and more of a learned skill. It was also useful because the small pulses didn’t use that much of his own magical reserves.

He'd done this for around 20 minutes and 20 blocks so far, yet he had yet to find anything.

Walking another block and letting out another magic pulse, this time his senses picked up another magic signature nearby!

Although, it didn't feel like a Stray Devil. It felt purely human. Magical humans were rare, but he supposed there had to be a couple in a city the size of Gotham.

A magical human, or homo-magi as they referred to themselves, wasn’t what he was looking for. He shrugged and kept walking. Each additional street he walked down, he kept up his ‘pinging.’ He eventually searched all of the areas around his academy and found nothing. He decided to search the ‘seedier’ areas of Gotham next. Strays tended to hang around areas like that more often than not anyway.

When Marcus sent out another pulse, he was surprised to find the homo-magi he'd sensed earlier was following behind him. His senses told him they were on a nearby rooftop.

He acted casual and walked into a nearby alley. He added a bit of magical power into his legs and jumped upwards. He easily cleared the second story and landed on the rooftop. The same one that his little magical stalker was on.

“Eeeep!” The voice of a girl came from behind a nearby chimney. They clearly knew they’d been caught following him.

“Any reason you're following me?” He asked out loud.

After a moment of awkward silence, the girl hiding behind the chimney answered him. “I was just curious is all. I've never met another magical person besides my dad. I wondered what you were doing and what spell you were casting every block?” She said as she stepped out from behind the chimney.

Marcus noted that she was young. Probably in Middle School and around Dick’s age. She looked vaguely familiar to him. “What’s your name? I'm Marcus. And you shouldn't follow magical people unless you're sure that they're good people.” He scolded her. “This is Gotham City! A young girl like you shouldn’t be going around following someone she doesn't know just because I can also use magic…”

“Just you saying that means you're a good guy. I'm Zatanna, by the way. Zatanna Zatara! So how come you're going around using that spell over and over?” He now realized why she looked so familiar. She was a future member of the justice league. Although, that seemed to be a long ways off because she didn’t look older than 14 right now.

He wasn’t exactly sure which iteration of the DCU he was in. Judging by the fact that it was combined with DxD, it was probably an AU of some kind anyway. The ages of Dick and the other well-known sidekicks made him suspect he lived in an offshoot of Young Justice, though. Although, Artemis was a bit older here than she should have been for that universe.

There were lots of similarities and discrepancies at the same time.

He focused back on the young Zatanna. “I'm searching for a Stray Devil I sensed earlier in the city this morning. It's dangerous and not a task for kids. You should go home.”

The girl pouted at him. “Hey! I've helped my dad with magic before. I've even fought a few bad spirits that haunt people!” She said proudly. “...What’s a Stray Devil?” She added.

Marcus facepalmed. The supernatural community was impressively hidden in this world… Or maybe her dad just never mentioned it to her. He didn’t know how much the Justice League actually knew about the Supernatural. They mostly fought mundane villains…or aliens.

“A Stray Devil is a dangerous being for a kid your age. Just go home and let me continue my search.”

Zatanna shook her head vehemently. “Nuh uh! Not happening! My dad’s the ‘magic guy’ of the Justice League and just the term ‘Stray Devil’ sounds magical. As his daughter, I, therefore, have to help!” She explained while looking proud of herself.

Sighing, she had no idea what she was in for. He wasn’t her parent though; he supposed she could come along if she wanted. He’d make sure to at least keep her safe when she inevitably freezes up.

He shrugged at Zatanna. “Whatever. Follow me, and I'll explain. We'll stick to the rooftops from now on since this is the more dangerous part of town. We don't need some stupid gang members on the streets to try and mug us.” He said before he turned and hopped across the alley to the next building.

“etativel em teL!” Marcus heard Zatanna chant behind him. He watched her hover across the alleyway and land next to him. She gave him a grin as she did so.

“Your magic is you saying words backward?” He asked her. He vaguely remembered that being a thing.

She smirked and put her hands on her hips. “Yep! Are you jealous of how awesome it is?”

He shook his head. “Not really. In battle, it's pretty much useless…” It was incredibly gimmicky and slow to cast, after all.

“What? Why!?” She asked with a pout. Her dad told her that their magic was awesome because it was so diverse!

Marcus leapt to the next rooftop before he explained. Zatanna followed after him. “It's too slow. I know of a lot of creatures out there that can move so fast that you won't even be able to say a single word before they're on you. Unless you have a way to make yourself talk and move faster, you'll be instantly defeated.” He explained.

Zatanna frowned. “You discovered my magic’s main weakness so easily! Not fair.” She pouted at him. “It doesn't matter though! My dad joined the Justice League for a reason. He covers their weaknesses and they cover his. He turned his disadvantage into an advantage…at least that's what he told me.” She explained.

“I’d still try to learn some other magic at least. Even if it’s just a few quick casting combat spells.” Marcus replied.

“That might be a good idea.” Zatanna admitted. “So what’s a Stray Devil? You didn't answer me before.” She asked again.

Marcus sent out another magic pulse. He didn't get any hits on his senses besides Zatanna standing next to him. “Stray Devils are reincarnated Devils that have gone rogue from their masters. Usually, it’s because they didn’t read the fine print and realize that they were signing away their freedom for immortality and power. Most reincarnated Devils are fine with that trade-off, but some aren't.” He explained as he hopped to the next roof over. He was getting a pretty good workout doing this over and over.

Zatanna frowned. “Reincarnated? What does that mean?”

He explained it to her. “Modern Devils created a system where they can turn humans or other creatures into Devils. Granting them the same magic and near infinite lifespan. The price for this? Eternal servitude towards their high-ranking Devil masters. It’s not even as bad as it sounds. Most of the new-age high-class Devils aren’t even evil. Most of them anyway… They mainly use the system as a way to make their mortal friends or lovers immortal as well.” He explained.

He could get behind that concept at least. He had a couple of friends that he grew up with, and he would be sad to lose them due to aging. Luckily, he knew the Brave Saints System was going to be completed soon.

‘An interesting concept. The Heavenly System will need to be redesigned to make it harder for humans to fall, though. Let’s be honest, most reincarnated Angelic humans would fall within a year otherwise…’

Marcus couldn't disagree with that statement. It’s a good thing he couldn’t fall because he had found himself thinking about girls a lot lately…

‘Ah…puberty…’ His grandfather added with a laugh.

Zatanna furrowed her brows. “I’ve heard of demons, but not Devils. Unless you’re talking about THE Devil?” She asked. She was clearly asking about Lucifer himself.

“Yes and no. Devils were created by him and Lilith to be foot soldiers in his war against heaven.” Marcus said.

“I wondered if my dad knows any of this?” She asked skeptically. “I'm finding it hard to believe that Angels and Devils are a real thing. People would know.”

He smirked at her adorable ignorance. Either Geovanni didn’t explain anything to his daughter properly, or the man just plain didn’t know either. If it was the latter, then that would make the man one of the most sheltered mages in the world…

‘It's possible he, and therefore the Justice League, really know nothing. Devils also aren't very active in America because of the church's influence here.’

Marcus supposed that was possible. He was even surprised that a stray was in Gotham of all places. Most Devils, in the human world, preferred to be in countries where the church's influence was minimal. That’s why Rias and Sona went to Japan after all–or maybe that was just because Rias was an Otaku.

He sent out another magic pulse. He got a hit this time. He felt a dark and vile magical presence. A nearby dilapidated warehouse was housing the Stray Devil he'd spent the past hour searching for. “You're about to find out whether Devils are real or not.” He said to the girl. “Although, I still recommend you leave. Stray Devils eat…humans.” Marcus said somberly.

“You couldn't have mentioned that sooner!?” She exclaimed. “Now I absolutely can’t leave!”

Marcus jumped off the rooftop and landed a few stories below. He landed in front of the warehouse Superhero style–it was rough on the knees. He saw a dried trail of blood on the ground that started from outside and led inwards. The stray had already claimed at least one victim…

“nwod taolF!” Zatanna landed next to him a moment later. “T-they eat humans?” She asked him again. “Isn't that really bad? We should call my dad!” Zatanna said as she looked at the warehouse with trepidation. “It's in there?”

“Don't worry.” He said. “This one is weak. I'll be able to handle it, no problem.” He could feel that this one was truly the low of Low Class. The bottom of the barrel in the supernatural world.

“Handle it?” Zatanna asked. “Are you going to kill it?” She asked him worriedly. He remembered that the Justice League had a no killing rule. He thought it was stupid, but she had been raised with it.

Marcus spoke softly and carefully. “Killing is wrong, but it's the only way to handle most strays. Once they go feral and mutate into monsters, they will never be able to return to their old selves. Believe me, the church and Heaven have tried. There were some Stray Devils who were turned against their will and escaped their masters. The church willingly takes them all in. The best they can do, though, is put them out of their misery and cleanse their souls if the Strays lose control of themselves.”

Not all Strays do. Some are skilled or lucky enough to remain perfectly fine after running from their masters. Others…are not so lucky.

“Do you work for the church or something?” Zatanna asked. “Like a magical exorcist?”

“I work for the church on occasion.” He said cryptically as he walked towards the warehouse. “Are you coming in or staying?”

Zatanna squirmed with indecision. “Ok…I'll go with you. I want to see this so-called Stray Devil for myself.” She told Marcus that she didn't believe that killing was the correct answer, but if what he said was true, then she supposed death would be better than becoming an evil flesh-eating monster.

He didn't bother knocking. He lifted his leg up before kicking forward. The large metal warehouse door caved in under the force of his kick and ripped off its hinges. With a loud wrenching noise, it was sent careening inside.

It didn't take long for the stray inside to notice his presence. “Fuck! I knew I shouldn’t have come to America! It’s known as fucking Angel territory for a reason!” A rough voice called out from inside.

“thgil eb ereht tel!” Zatanna chanted, and an orb of light flew from her hands and illuminated the room.

‘Hah! She just said let there be light backward and all that came out was a small lamp spell…’ Marcus snickered in his head.

‘...’ His grandfather didn't say anything. He was so embarrassed that his most well-known words were used like that…

“How the hell did an exorcist find me so quickly!? I can feel that filthy Light energy radiating off you! I won’t go quietly! I earned this power myself!” The Stray Devil inside angrily spat out. “I'll kill you first!”

The Stray Devil was incredibly ugly. It had a body that resembled a werewolf, and the head of a praying mantis. It was also surrounded by multiple mutilated human corpses.

“Gasp!” Zatanna froze at the sight in front of her. She latched onto Marcus's arm while trembling. She looked like she was about to hurl.

It looked like the stray was in the middle of snacking on a few homeless people when they barged in. His dinner looked to be half-eaten. Marcus frowned at the sight.

Zatanna failed in holding back her lunch. She put her hands on her knees and wretched all over the floor.

“You’re alright Zatanna.” Marcus said gently as he patted her back. “The first time seeing one of these monsters is always the worst…”

He turned his gaze to the stray who was raring for some long drawn-out fight or something. “Listen man, to be honest I wasn't expecting the tag-along.” He said as he gestured to the vomiting and crying Zatanna. “And because she’s here I’m afraid I’m going to have to make this quick…”

“You think I’ll go down so easily! I was able to escape from my master and the underworld on my own! I’ll be able to kill you and escape as well!” The stray yelled out as it crouched its wolf body down to all fours. Its insectoid head locked all of its beady eyes on Marcus. He could tell it wanted to make him its next meal.

He raised his right hand outward. “I'll make this quick, my guy. Sacred Gear: True Longinus!” A golden spear that radiated more light than any other weapon in existence materialized in his right hand. He pointed it towards the stray.

The stray’s eyes widened in fear!

Marcus put on a calm facade as he stared the monster down. Internally, he grimaced at the strain of using his Sacred Gear. It used up ridiculous amounts of his own power just to make it manifest. Every second it was out cost him more power as well. He wasn’t quite strong enough to use the spear freely as he wanted.

That’s why he said he would be making it quick.

“The Tr–True Longinus! Oh FUCK NO!” The stray completely gave up on all chances of fighting and spun around as fast as it could to flee. There was no way he could fight against the weapon all Devils naturally feared! The concrete cracked underneath the stray’s powerful wolf legs as he put everything he had into fleeing! He shot off like a rocket in the opposite direction! It wasn’t enough though…

SQUELCH!

“Graaaahhhh!” The stray screamed in pain. He looked down in horror. Sticking out of his chest, from his back, was the most feared Sacred Gear in the world! “I guess I'm dead huh…?” Those were his last words before the spear’s light energy tore through his very existence and purged him. The stray exploded in a shower of golden dust.

The True Longinus flew back towards Marcus's outstretched hand. A second later, it vanished in molts of golden light. He let out a sigh of relief and turned back towards Zatanna. She was staring at him with wide eyes.

“See.” He said nonchalantly, like he didn't just burn through 75% of his magical reserves with a single attack. “I told you that it was no problem. Why don’t I walk you home? I know the first time seeing a Stray Devil’s nest can be pretty terrifying.”

Zatanna shakily nodded as he led her out of the warehouse. He’d call in a clean-up crew from the church later to hide the mess. Although, he might not even need to bother. This was Gotham, and people turn up dead all the time…

He still believed those victims deserved a proper burial though. No one deserved to go out like that. As some monster’s meal…

He took another hour walking the still shocked Zatanna back to her home neighborhood. Once he was sure she was relatively fine, he headed back to his own apartment to get changed for the party later that night.

XXX

Chapter 2

-The Batcave-

“Hey Batman.” Robin greeted his mentor as he walked down the stairs and entered the Batcave. He could see that Batman was typing away on the Batcomputer. Robin saw that he was updating Hugo Strange's files after the man had recently been put in prison for his cruel experiments on Arkham Asylum’s inmates.

“Robin.” Batman acknowledged him without looking up from the screen. “You seem to be in a good mood.”

Robin snickered. “You can tell without even looking over!? Anyway, yeah I am. This new student at school is awesome! Marcus Light! He’s gonna really stick it to Alice Winston later tonight!” Robin bragged as he took a seat next to Batman in front of the large computer screen.

‘Teenage drama…’ Batman lamented internally. He knew, as Dick’s father figure, it was important for him to know what was going on in his son’s school life though. “What happened?” Batman asked. “And I thought I told you to steer clear of the Winston family?”

Robin explained to Batman about Alice Winston and how she had been hounding one of his foundation's latest scholarship students for the past two months. Apparently the guy was ‘ridiculously handsome’ and the young Miss Winston was smitten at first sight. Batman wasn’t a fan of the Winston family in general. They reeked of corruption and every time he had to attend an upper echelon party with them he felt dirty afterwards. He hadn’t been able to find any evidence to truly bring them down yet though.

Batman hit a few keys on the keyboard as Robin pulled up a chair next to him. He sorted through all the student files for Gotham Academy.

“That’s the guy. Marcus Light.” Robin said, pointing to the screen. Marcus Light’s student file had been pulled up.

“Hmmm. I admit this young man would certainly turn some heads back in my day.” Batman commented as he read Marcus’s profile. The young man was smart. Really smart. He had gotten a perfect score on every exam or assignment ever assigned to him in the past two months. His file also said that he grew up in Italy, yet he also had American citizenship courtesy of his father whose name isn't listed. His mother’s name wasn’t listed either. “That’s odd…” Batman commented. He couldn’t find any information on either of Marcus’s parents. There was a phone number listed for Marcus’s mother, but when Batman pulled it up, the number was registered to the Vatican of all places…

Robin looked at the screen as well and shrugged. “Eh, someone probably just forgot to file his information correctly when Marcus transferred here. Believe me, I’ve talked to the guy a few times and he seems really chill. There's nothing strange about him at all.”

BEEP BEEP

Just then, Batman’s justice league communicator went off. Batman picked it up and looked at who was contacting him. “One second Robin. It’s Giovanni Zatara. He wouldn't contact me unless it was important.” Batman put the communicator to his ear. “Giovanni, it's Batman. Talk to me.”

Batman frowned at what he heard from the magician. His fist clenched in irritation as he looked at the screen in front of him. The smiling face of Marcus Light in the picture now looked like he was mocking him...

“Thank you for informing me of this.” Batman said over the line. “I’ll be getting on it soon. In the meantime, take some time off from the League to comfort your daughter. She was also foolish to run off into a situation involving actual flesh eating demons, Devils or whatever the monster really was.” Bruce hung up the communicator and gave his protege the patented ‘disappointment stare.’

Robin gulped at the deadpan expression Batman was giving him. “What was that about?”

“What was that you were just saying about Marcus Light? There was nothing strange about him at all…?” Batman asked Robin with a deadpan stare.

…

“Well…that could have gone better,” Marcus said as he changed out of his school uniform. “I hope I didn't scar that girl for life,” he said, referring to Zatanna. Stray Devil nests are always an extremely horrifying sight to behold.

‘She’ll get over it. I sensed a heroic strength of spirit from her.’

Marcus threw on a clean white button-up shirt and put on a pair of black jeans. “I hope so. I remember how scared I was the first time Mom took me on a Stray Devil hunt. Even if I knew I was in no danger with her around, I still shook like a leaf when I saw my first Devil,” he said. He looked at himself in the mirror and smirked. He looked damn good and was ready to impress his date tonight.

‘Don't go getting the girl pregnant now…’

He sputtered in indignation! “The hell!?”

‘I was joking… I invented jokes, you know.’

“Uh huh... Sure you did. I bet it was really funny when you summoned swarms of locusts and made it rain fire back in the Egyptian days.” He said sarcastically.

‘It was pretty funny in hindsight… Maybe one of my top 10 best moments.’

Marcus facepalmed. His grandfather was reminiscing about the old days again…

Marcus had heard all of these stories at least a dozen times by now. He decided to just head out while ignoring the voice in his head. He didn't want to be late for his date with Artemis because of God's reminiscing.

…Yeah. That was who was stuck in his Sacred Gear.

God–AKA: Big G–The head honcho of the Heavenly faction himself. Some supernaturals believed he was dead and gone. They were misinformed…on purpose.

At the end of the Great War, his grandfather was heavily injured by a terrifying beast that sprung up randomly towards the end of the fighting. In order to heal himself safely, the Lord faked ‘his death’ and hid inside the True Longinus to recover himself.

Marcus’s mother is a powerful Angel and is very highly ranked in the Heavenly Faction.

When he was re-born, his mother fused the Spear of Destiny to his soul so that his grandfather could recover faster by being near his soul. As a Nephilim, his soul was incredibly powerful and had none of the restrictions placed upon it that regular Angels had.

Who is his mother?

She is…

RING! RING!

Marcus reached into his pocket for his ringing phone. He checked it and saw it was a number he didn't recognize. The area code was from Gotham, so he decided to answer. He kept walking down the sidewalk towards where he was going to meet up with Artemis as he held his phone to his ear.

“Hello?” He asked.

“Marcus, it's Dick.”

“Oh, hey man! Didn't know you had my number. What's up? I can't talk long because I'm about to meet up with Artemis.” He said.

“Oh right… There was that party tonight, wasn't there?” Dick asked.

“Yeah, man. Did you forget somehow? Are you alright?” He asked. Dick’s tone made him seem flustered. He was also wondering how Dick even got his number since only a few people and the school had it.

“I’m alright… you know what. We’ll talk tomorrow, there’s no rush, I suppose.” Dick said, and then he hung up the line.

Marcus placed his phone back in his pocket. “Well, that was weird…” He muttered. He didn’t have time to think about it longer, though, because he had arrived at the meetup point. Across from him, he saw Artemis waiting for him. She was leaning on the side of a building, scrolling on her phone. She was wearing a black crop top and a pair of skinny jeans. He thought that she looked really cute.

“Artemis, hey there!” He called out as he approached her.

Artemis put away her phone and smiled at him.

She looked him up and down. “You look way better dressed casually than in the stuffy school uniforms.” Artemis said as she continued checking him out. Her eyes were lingering on him longer than he expected. His short-sleeve shirt exposed a lot more of his muscles that the school uniform hid away.

“I could say the same.” He replied. Artemis would definitely be turning some heads at the party. “Shall we go?” He asked as he put his arm forward for her to hold onto.

“We shall.” Artemis smiled and grabbed his arm with a giggle. “I can't wait to crash Alice Winston’s party and rub this date into that stuffy rich girl's face!”

He hailed a cab for them, and they were off to the party.

…

"Well, this place is absolutely huge, and it looks like half the school is here," Artemis commented while looking out the cab window.

Marcus had to agree. The mansion was gigantic and had to have at least 100 rooms inside. One of the biggest homes he’d ever laid eyes on. On top of that, the property itself was easily ten times bigger. The drive from the front gate to the main house took almost a full minute.

"Well, let's go then." He stepped out of the cab, and Artemis hopped out after him.

The two of them drew a couple of eyes at being seen together, but not very many. There were already hundreds of other students at the party, and most of them were already doing their own thing. Loud music was playing from speakers that were placed all around, and he could see over a dozen food and drink tables scattered about. They weren’t just offering chips and punch either. He could see that these tables were full of foods like lobster and steak.

“Now this is one crazy rich party,” Artemis said as she glanced at all the high-class food available. She had a gaze of longing at all that fancy food that he could relate too. Neither of them may like Alice, but this party was already looking pretty awesome.

They walked up to the front doors of the large mansion. Standing there, greeting everyone who came by, was the hostess of the party herself. Alice Winston was standing at the front door. It didn't take her long to spot him. Her eyes lit up upon seeing him. However, when she saw that he wasn't alone, her smile immediately dropped.

“Hey there, Alice. Amazing party and home you have here.” Marcus said to her as Artemis and him walked up the steps.

Alice’s jealousy was not subtle. She was glaring daggers at Artemis hanging off his arm.

Alice tried to force herself to smile, but she couldn't quite make it reach her eyes. "Thank you so much, Marcus." Alice replied, looking wearily at Artemis. "Who's your FRIEND?" Alice asked, purposely putting heavy emphasis on the word “friend.”

"I'm his date." Artemis said bluntly while smirking at Alice. "I'm Artemis Crock, by the way. We’ve met before, you know."

Alice had a strained smile on her face. “Is that so…” Alice trailed off before looking between him and Artemis and biting her lip so hard that a small amount of blood started to leak out. “Excuse me. Enjoy the party…” Alice said before she turned and walked through the crowds.

Marcus watched the girl storm off and shrugged. Hopefully, she wouldn't go and do anything too crazy before he had time to figure out what was going on with her.

Artemis snorted and then laughed. "That was great. Finally, Daddy's little princess was denied the thing she wanted." Artemis kept laughing as she watched Alice slink away through the crowds of partying students.

"Oh? A thing am I? How hurtful..." He said jokingly.

Artemis smirked at him, she grabbed his arm, and dragged him inside. "Well, come on then, THING! Let's raid her fancy liquor cabinets and dance!”

…

-Alice-

Alice Winston stormed up the floors of her mansion that were off-limits to the party-goers. She passed by her family's security guards, who were armed at all times, and marched into her father's study. She could see that he was currently in a meeting with a few other members of the “court,” but she didn't care! She needed to talk to him now!

She was furious!

Furious! Furious! FURIOUS!

Her father stopped his conversation with his associates when he saw his daughter enter the room. "Alice, sweetie. What's wrong? I haven't seen you this upset in a while. Not since that last slave of ours got uppity and had to be put down." Mr. Winston said with a laugh.

Alice grabbed an expensive decorative vase and threw it across the room where it exploded against a wall. "How dare that ungrateful pretty boy snub me at my own party! He would have been lucky enough to be my dog!" Alice shrieked in rage as she picked up another vase to throw!

“Calm down, daughter. Behave yourself with the proper decorum befitting of my heiress. Now tell me what happened.” Her father scolded her. She put down the vase with an angry huff.

“Ha! It sounds like she got rejected by a boy.” One of her fathers associates said with a laugh. The other two men laughed as well.

Mr. Winston raised an eyebrow at his frowning daughter. "Is that what this tantrum is about? So what if you got rejected by some nobody boy. You're a Winston. There will always be better prospects for us. We are members of the elite who run this city from the shadows after all!” He declared.

Alice scowled. “He wasn't just some “nobody boy!” He's the most handsome man I've ever seen, and when I did my research on him, I found out he was raised in the church! Nobody would miss him because he’s probably an orphan. He would have been perfect as my new slave!” Alice said with a hint of madness in her eyes. "I could have had him under the ‘indoctrination process,’ and then he would have been loyal to me forever!”

"Most handsome man she's ever seen. Heh, girls these days…” One of the other men said with a laugh. “Now I actually want to see what this young man looks like myself.”

Mr. Winston would be a liar if he said he wasn't a bit curious as well.

"Here!" His daughter shoved her phone in his face. On the screen was a photo of a young man with blond hair and bright green eyes. His eyes widened at what he saw. He didn’t know human beings could ever look like that!

"That can't be real..." he said. "That’s been photocopied, right?" He looked at the picture more closely.

"It's not! I took it myself. He would have made an extremely valuable slave!" Alice whined. "How dare he lead me on for two whole months! I kept asking him out over and over, and he kept refusing every time!"

"Hmmm, a slave with his looks could go for tens of millions after the indoctrination process…" Mr. Winston said while contemplating his options.

"You say he's an orphan?" He asked his daughter, and she nodded.

Mr. Winston smiled. “Well, this is Gotham after all. People go missing all the time. You'll get your new slave, my daughter.” Mr. Winston said. Alice smiled up at him brightly. “Just be careful not to fully break him like you do with your other toys. He'll be worth a lot of money once you get bored with him.” He reminded her.

Alice hugged her dad! “Thank you so much, daddy! I can't wait!” Alice exclaimed happily as she ran out of his office in excitement. Marcus Light would be hers! She should have just gone to her dad from the start!

Alice knew the party was still going on downstairs, but she needed to let off some steam before going back down. She headed past more of her family's security towards her special "playroom."

The stench that she absolutely adored hit her as she entered! It was the stench of blood! Alice picked up her mask that sat by the room's entrance and placed it on her face. Her mask was that of an owl…

She walked into the room and could hear its current inhabitants trembling and crying. Chained to the wall and covered in injuries were a few of her toys that had yet to break properly.

"Please let us go… please, we won't tell anyone. I promise." A captive woman covered in bloody whip marks pleaded to her. Alice smirked. She loved it when her toys begged.

Alice laughed under her mask before she picked up a bloody spiked whip that was sitting nearby. "Don't worry, I will be letting you go soon. I have to make room for my newest toy, after all!”

Alice started playing with her toys the way her mother taught her. Their screams of pain were delightful to her ears.

Oh…how she missed her amazing mother terribly! It was too bad that her mother was currently locked up in Arkham and too high profile to break out. That was ok, though. Her dad told her that he had a plan to help her mother get free in a few months.

Alice could then show her mother how much she’d improved when it came to playing with her toys. Her mother would be so proud of her!

Dollhouse would be so proud of her!

…

Marcus had a lot of fun at his first-ever high school party, especially once Artemis found the liquor stash. All the liquor was held behind a glass case that had a fancy-looking lock. Artemis pulled out a bobby pin and picked the lock easily.

It didn't take long for the other students at the party to realize that the booze was no longer locked down. From there, the party got pretty crazy. He spent the next few hours between talking and dancing with a slightly inebriated Artemis. He even allowed himself to get slightly drunk as well. He knew at any time, he could use his magic to purge the alcohol from his system, but he enjoyed getting the experience.

Unfortunately, the party eventually came to an end, and drunk students started calling convoys of cabs to take them all home. He hopped in the back of a cab with Artemis, and it drove them directly towards her house. When they got there, he paid the driver, and he walked Artemis up the stairs to the door of her apartment.

“I had a lot more fun tonight than I thought I would, Marcus,” Artemis said to him.

“I did too. We should do this again,” he suggested.

…

-Artemis-

Artemis leaned forward and kissed Marcus on the cheek. “Maybe.” She said with a smirk. “I'll see you in class on Monday.” She stepped inside her apartment and closed the door behind her. The apartment was dark. It looked like her mom was already asleep and she was glad for that. She didn't need the woman nagging her about being out late at night and coming home smelling of alcohol.

Artemis was still slightly buzzed, so she went over towards the kitchen sink to get herself a glass of water.

“Well now? Someone had fun tonight didn't they?” A voice called out from inside the apartment. Artemis spun around and threw the glass she was drinking from with all her strength. She also reached into a nearby drawer and pulled out a kitchen knife. She cursed herself internally for not noticing the intruder earlier.

The glass went sailing and smashed loudly into the wall. Artemis could hear that her mom was awake now and panicking in the next room.

The figure who had dodged her glass stepped forward out of the darkness. “Easy there sister. I was just teasing you.”

“Jade…” Artemis said bitterly as she recognized her sister. Jade was wearing a dark green ninja outfit and Artemis could see her sister was armed to the teeth.

“I prefer going by Chesire now.” Her sister said nonchalantly. “I'm honestly surprised my stuffy sister actually went out on a date with an actual human being of all things.” Chesire added with a laugh.

“Why do you care? I know that you went on a few dates at my age.” Artemis said defensively.

Cheshire shrugged. “To be honest I don't care. I'm actually happy for my baby sister getting out there. It's just unfortunate is all…”

The door of a nearby room opened and Artemis saw her mother wheel herself out of the room. “Jade…” She said bitterly.

“It's Cheshire now, mother. And I'm not here for you. I'm here to keep my kid sister away from all the chaos that's about to go down.” Cheshire said.

Artemis clenched the pommel of the knife in her grip. “Chaos? What the hell are you playing at?”

Cheshire sighed before she reached into her pocket and pulled out her phone. She pressed the screen a few times before pulling up a picture and presenting it to her sister. Artemis's eyes widened in shock when she saw it. It was a picture of her and Marcus from the party they just came from. Marcus’s face was circled in red. Below the picture was basic information about him like his name and address.

“Yep. Someone put a million dollar bounty on your little boyfriend to be captured. It's unfortunate, but you probably won't be seeing him anymore. A nice handsome harmless guy like him, this city will chew him up and won't spit him out.” Cheshire said with a shrug.

Artemis spun around and ran towards the front door. She had to go warn Marcus! She had to save him! “Ooof!” Artemis felt the wind get knocked out of her as her sister tackled her to the floor.

“Nuh uh, little sis. I can't have you interfering. That much money for some regular teenager is going to draw every criminal in the city towards his location. If you go out and try to save him, you'll just be killed.” Cheshire said as she held Artemis down tightly.

Artemis screamed in rage and tried to push her sister off of her! “Let me go! Let me–” Artemis felt something stab into her neck. Her vision started to darken.

“Go to sleep for a while, Artemis. By the morning, everything will be over already.” Cheshire said as she dropped the syringe.

…

Marcus walked down the sidewalk with a grin on his face. He just had his first kiss! Yes, it was on the cheek, but it still counted in his book!

‘You are embarrassingly innocent…’ Big G lamented.

‘And who's fault is that?’ Marcus asked, mildly offended. ‘I grew up mostly in the church...’ How exactly was he supposed to get any dates when most of the girls he knew identified as nuns?

‘Sigh…I'll have to ask your mother to give you the talk now…’ Big G replied jokingly.

He laughed as he continued walking down the sidewalk. Artemis and he didn't actually live that far apart.

He didn't quite feel like rushing home just yet.

It was a nice night outside, and it was Friday night, so there were still quite a few people out and about in the city despite it being around midnight.

That's why Marcus was incredibly surprised when a javelin, of all things, came flying down towards him from a nearby rooftop!

His world slowed down as he reached his hand up and snatched the javelin out of the air, inches before it was about to impale him! His hand stung. It had been thrown with quite a lot of force!

Also… What the hell!? Who’s throwing Javelins around the city!? They could hurt someone!

‘I think that was the intention…’

A second later, a large man, with blonde hair and wearing a hockey mask, hopped down from a nearby rooftop and landed in front of him. This was obviously the guy who just tried to maim him out of nowhere. People on the streets nearby started murmuring.

“Is a villain attacking?” Someone shouted out.

“Who is he, though? His costume is kind of…lame.” Another person added.

“Why is he wearing hockey pads?” A woman across the street muttered loudly.

“Some villains are poor, I guess…” Her boyfriend responded before taking her hand and smartly leading her away from the scene.

“...”

All of the comments and people making fun of the villain seemed to piss him off. The guy sounded really angry as he spoke. “My name is Sportsmaster, and these aren't regular hockey pads! They're heavily reinforced Kevlar!”

Marcus was just staring at the guy while trying his best not to cringe. He suddenly got attacked by a villain out of nowhere, and it was some moron with a sports theme of all things…

‘Hahahaha! Sportsmaster! Hahahah! What a stupid name…’ Even Big G couldn't take this man seriously as a villain. ‘Run away before he pulls out a Tennis Racket next! hahahaha…’

“Listen, man.” Marcus said while dropping the javelin to the sidewalk where it clanged loudly. “I don't know why you're attacking me, but you are so far out of your league it's not even funny. You should turn around and walk away.”

“Oh snap! He just called you out, Sports Guy!? Are you gonna take that!?” A guy on the sidewalk nearby yelled loudly with excitement. He noticed that the guy's phone was out, and he was probably filming the encounter.

Marcus wanted to facepalm. Erasing video footage was difficult, especially once it hit the internet. “Do you mind not recording, man…” He asked him. He'd rather not lose his anonymity because he was attacked by this moron.

“No can do, bruh! I'm live streaming, and I've already got 1000 viewers.” The guy said as he panned his phone's camera all around the street. “Welcome back to the stream, everyone! Today it looks like Gotham has a new sports-themed villain!”

“I’m not new! I’ve been a Villain for over 20 years already! People all over the world tremble at the sight of me!” Sportsmanster shouted angrily.

“What!? How do you have 1000 viewers already? It's been like 30 seconds!” Marcus asked the streamer. The guy was livestreaming too? He facepalmed. He was screwed here… Was he going to be the guy to end up exposing the supernatural world after all this time?

“I got a lot of subs on Twitch. I stream all kinds of stuff, man. You should come check me out. My handle is–”

“Are you two ignoring me!?” Sportsmaster yelled angrily and cut the guy off.

Marcus turned back to Sportsmaster, who had pulled out a hockey stick, of all things, as a weapon. “You can't be serious right now…” He said while eyeing the stick. “Not even a sword, knife, or even another javelin. But an actual hockey stick of all things as a weapon?”

“Deadly serious! You're coming with me, punk!” Sportsmaster ran forward and swung his hockey stick at his head.

Marcus casually raised his hand and caught it easily.

There wasn’t anything special about it. It was a regular wooden hockey stick. “What! How!?” Sportsmaster’s eyes widened in surprise behind his mask. “Ooof…” He then grunted in pain. He had landed a punch right in the man's diaphragm. The force of the blow completely knocked the wind out of him and caused him to drop to his knees in pain.

Marcus sighed. Having to spend any more time fighting this idiot would have been embarrassing. His first-ever supervillain fight should have been cool!

“Awe… Is the fight over already? What a lame villain!”

“The quality of Gotham's villains has really been going down lately…”

The people spectating nearby all shrugged and started to go back about their evenings. He decided to do the same.

“Hey, man! Wait up!” The streamer ran up to him. “That fight was super lame, but my community still all wants to know what your Hero Name is?”

“Yeah, I’m gonna have to pass on that one.” Marcus said with a shrug as he turned around and started walking away. Luckily, he didn’t need to expose any supernatural abilities to beat that moronic villain. The guy had attacked him randomly and so completely out of nowhere. He was hoping this wasn’t going to be a thing, but he knew it probably was.

XXX

Chapter 3:

“Well, that was a fucking thing…” Marcus muttered in irritation. He had a million-dollar bounty on his head. He wasn’t particularly worried if everybody who came to collect were morons like that last guy. He was just annoyed that he wouldn't be able to go back to school before he got this whole mess straightened out.

‘You could go and smite the girl? Maybe then the bounty will go away?’ Big G suggested.

Marcus genuinely thought about it before he shook his head. He’d never killed a human before. He knew that he would have to one day, but he didn’t want to start with a 15-year-old girl of all people. No matter how messed up in her head and soul she was…

‘Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned…’

For now, Marcus needed to collect some things from his apartment before finding a place to lie low temporarily. Worst-case scenario, he could call his mom, and she would come sort this mess out for him. Although, if he did that…

‘Gotham might not be left standing after someone put a bounty on her only son…’

‘Your daughter is crazy…’ He thought.

‘That’s your mother you're talking about.’

‘Oh, I know.’ Marcus thought as he hopped onto his apartment building rooftop. He could use the emergency fire exit to get into his apartment and–

BANG!

Marcus felt something slam into his leg at high speed. He grunted in pain. That was going to leave a bruise. He heard something bounce off the rooftop, and he looked down to see what had hit him. It was a bullet…

BANG!

Another gunshot echoed nearby, and this time he felt his head whip backward! “Ok, that one hurt.” Marcus muttered in irritation. He might be bulletproof, but they could still bruise him! He wasn’t powerful enough yet to completely shrug off bullets.

Marcus turned and glared at the direction the second shot came from. Standing on the rooftop across from him was a villain he actually did recognize from TV. The guy was actually pretty renowned across the world as an assassin after all. The shooter was wearing a black and orange trench coat along with a mask that had a built-in scope. It was Deadshot.

“Aren’t you supposed to be in prison for life?” Marcus asked loudly. Batman had caught this guy only two months ago…

“I decided that I served long enough. I was in Gotham for business and I just happened to stumble across your bounty on the web an hour ago. Sucks to be you, kid!” Deadshot exclaimed as he pulled out a large revolver that was strapped to his waistband.

“You did just see I'm bulletproof, right?” Marcus asked calmly. He stood tall and pretended like those bullets didn't actually hurt as much as they did.

“No one's truly bulletproof! I just need the right bullet!” Deadshot exclaimed as he fired again, and a green bullet flew through the air towards him.

Marcus internally cursed as he circulated his magical power throughout his body to lessen the blow. He wasn’t fast enough to be dodging bullets just yet. The bullet slammed into his torso this time, and he felt like he just got punched in the chest. He once again did his best not to show any pain though. If Deadshot thought his guns were useless, then he figured he might just leave.

This time the bullet that fell to the ground, after bouncing off him, was glowing bright green. Marcus reached down and picked it up. He wondered if he was holding a kryptonite bullet? He decided to slip it into his pocket. It could be useful later.

“That was a Kryptonite bullet! Those are expensive, you know! I'll need that back after I capture you!” Deadshot pulled the trigger again. This time the bullet sailing towards him was glowing orange.

Marcus actually felt a small level of danger from this one so he reinforced his body with magical power before holding his hand up to catch this shot. When the bullet impacted his hand, it exploded! He bit his lip in pain. He felt his hand was burned from that one.

“Ha! That one seemed to hurt you!” Deadshot exclaimed. “Too bad I only have a few of those explosive rounds. They're damn expensive…” The hitman muttered.

“Shit.” Marcus cursed as he inspected his palm. It was blistered and burnt red. That was going to heal slowly even for him. He turned towards Deadshot, who was also staring at him. “Well…you asked for this man. I’m getting sick of being shot at!”

MArcus then did something he hadn't done since he'd come to Gotham. He let his wings out. A pair of brilliant Angel wings sprung free from his back! He felt the Light Energy that he’d been suppressing since he’d arrived in this city finally released itself as a golden aura shimmered around him. As a Nephilim, he had access to both Human Magical Energy and Angelic Light Energy reserves.

He didn’t want to use the latter in Gotham so soon, though. It pretty much made him a beacon of power to anyone with magical senses. Even with only 2 wings, the Light Energy flowing through him was far more potent than his humanside’s magical reserves. It dramatically boosted all of his abilities. Angel Wings were more than just aesthetic. They were the source of an Angel’s–or Nephilim in his case–powers. More wings could also exponentially store more Light Energy.

BANG!

Another orange bullet flew towards him. This time Marcus could see it moving toward him in slow motion. He casually extended his hand and slapped the bullet towards the side! It ended up sailing past him and exploding against a wall. Marcus could hear the people in his own building and the neighboring ones all waking up and starting to panic at the sounds of back-to-back gunshots and explosions.

‘You should finish him quickly. No doubt, the police have already been notified and will be on their way soon.’

“Yeah. I will.” Marcus said out loud.

Deadshot tilted his head and looked around in paranoia. “Who are you talking to, kid!? And where did those wings come from!?”

Marcus laughed. “If you knew who I was talking to, you'd probably piss yourself in sheer terror. As for my wings? None of your business.” He flapped his white wings hard and sped towards Deadshot at high speed!

“Fuck!” The assassin cursed. “This bounty isn’t worth it!” He yelled as he fired a few more shots at his charging Angelic form.

He didn’t even bother dodging the shots. With the Light Energy fully flowing through him, they now harmlessly bounced off of him as he flew forward. A second later, he was on top of Deadshot. He reeled back his fist and punched the assassin right in his covered face.

Deadshot’s head whipped backward from the force of his blow. The assassin stumbled back and clutched his head in pain. His vision was blurred, and he knew he probably had a concussion. He was stumbling as he threw out a sloppy punch that he didn’t even have to dodge. His arms sailed by his head on its own. “Fuck…” He muttered.

Marcus sprang forward to land another blow on Deadshot to knock him out. To his surprise, Deadshot managed to barely stumble out of the way, and Marcus flew past him a few feet. Macus hadn't quite mastered aerial combat yet and missed. “You have some good moves.” Marcus noted as his feet touched back onto the roof.

“Of course I do! I'm the best Assassin in the world! No one is better than I am!” Deadshot said as he did his best not to collapse. The villain was swaying back and forth. His vision was becoming foggy. Deadshot knew he had a concussion.

“Hoh…Is that a challenge, marksman? The best assassin in the world? I personally think I'm a lot better.” A woman's voice sounded out from the side.

Marcus did his best to not look startled. He had been so focused on putting down Deadshot that he didn't notice someone else had popped up next to them. Luckily, they didn’t try to sneak attack him.

A woman had hopped over from the next roof. She landed almost silently and strode forward towards him. She had the eyes of a natural killer.

‘Be careful. This woman is a master killer. I can feel that hundreds have died by her hands. Treat her with caution.’

“Yes, Grandfather.” He said as he eyed the newcomer warily.

“Grandfather?” The woman asked him. She glanced around the surroundings. “I don't see anyone else here.”

“The kid’s crazy. He was talking to someone else earlier too. And what are you doing here, Lady Shiva? I didn't think you needed any money with your new employer and all.” Deadshot said in annoyance. His back was slumped against a wall to steady himself.

Lady Shiva ignored Deadshot and turned back to Marcus. She glanced at his wings in curiosity. “You are far more interesting than the bounty led me to believe, Marcus Light. I originally just came here for some quick cash, but I'd argue the discovery of a metahuman of your caliber is far more valuable. I have a proposition for you.”

Marcus glared at her. A proposition from a trained killer? “And what would that be?”

“I want you to come and join the group I work for.” Lady Shiva offered.

Marcus frowned. That was pretty much what he expected she would ask. He had no intention of working with a bunch of killers and Assassins. Whatever group she was a part of, he immediately dismissed it. Besides… “Sorry, I'm afraid I'll have to refuse. I'm already a member of a faction, and it wouldn't be a stretch to say it's probably more powerful than yours.” He said.

That was an understatement as well. The Heavenly Faction was the strongest in the whole world. The other pantheons, in the world, along with the Devils believed themselves to be stronger. They truly had no idea of the true might of Heaven and its archangels though…

‘Nor could they ever comprehend it even if they tried…’ A smug voice echoed in his head.

Lady Shiva scowled at his rejection of her invitation. “Is that your final decision, boy? Know that Lady Shiva does not ask twice.” She said as she reached towards her legs and grabbed the pair of Sai that were holstered there.

He saw the woman reach for her weapons, and he conjured a golden Lightspear in his unburned hand. There was no point bringing out the True Longinus against a human. It was actually weaker than an ordinary Lightspear when fighting non-supernatural beings. It was designed to be Humanity's ultimate weapon against the supernatural after all.

Lady Shiva charged forward. She was incredibly fast, for a supposed ordinary human!

The fastest that Marcus had ever seen actually. He was still faster though. He swung his spear in a sweeping arc towards her. To his surprise, Lady Shiva easily slid underneath his fast blow and stabbed towards him with one of the Sai she was wielding.

Marcus let out a pained yelp as he felt the weapon actually breach his newly enhanced durability and wound him! He leapt backward to prevent the blade from going deeper than it had. He reached down and held his side where she stabbed him. He was bleeding quite a bit… She got him good there.

Lady Shiva inspected the drops of blood on her weapon before she flicked it off and gave him a smirk. “Not so invincible now, are you, Angel boy?” She asked him mockingly. “What a shame. You had interesting powers for a Metahuman and could have made a good tool for The Light.”

“The Light?” He asked. ‘So he was in some kind of Young Justice AU after all.’ He had never been quite sure. “You call yourselves The Light?”

Lady Shiva clicked her tongue. “I shouldn't have said that! The name of my organization was supposed to be a secret after all.” She muttered loud enough for him to hear. Her knuckles turned white and she gripped her twin Sai tighter. She was about to attack him again.

Too bad she was in for a rude awakening.

“You think you know what LIGHT is?” Marcus asked tauntingly. “You have no idea. How about I show you?” He held up his hand and prepared to call forth his Sacred Gear after all. This woman had pissed him off and even stabbed him! He needed to end this fight now.

The regular True Longinus couldn't harm a human more than any other mundane spear… but he wasn’t going to use its regular form.

He prepared to call out the words which would spell this woman’s doom. “BALANCE BREAKER: SIT LUX AET–”

WOOSH!

CLANG!

Before he could finish, a black object flew through the air towards Lady Shiva. She raised her Sai and smacked it away before it hit her.

Marcus’s eyes widened when he saw what it was. It was a batarang!

“Lady Shiva! You're going down!” A familiar voice called out. Robin, the boy wonder, flipped onto the rooftop and tried to kick Lady Shiva. She hopped backward to avoid him. And then she had to duck down quickly to avoid being sucker-punched by his mentor.

Batman himself had appeared on the rooftop behind her. He and Lady Shiva rapidly started to exchange blows. He with his fists, and her with her two Sai. It was clear who was the superior fighter. Lady Shiva couldn't put a scratch on Batman as he took her defense apart with apparent ease.

Marcus could admit he was jealous… He had never learned any martial arts even close to Batman’s level. The guy was amazing! He was absolutely taking her apart with his bare hands.

“You’re not getting away this time, Shiva.” Batman declared. “Robin! Secure Deadshot. He looks to be unconscious but he could wake up at any time.”

Marcus glanced down and noticed that Deadshot was face down on the rooftop. “I didn't accidentally kill him, did I?” He forgot to hold back earlier and hit him with his full strength. Even with only two wings, he still had the strength of multiple grown men…

“He’s still breathing.” Robin said as he checked Deadshot’s pulse before tying him up. “I didn’t even know this guy had escaped prison! What is going on over at Arkham!?” Robin spat out angrily

“Dammit!” Lady Shiva cursed from the side where she was getting taken apart by the Dark Knight. She was clearly bested. She stole one last vicious glance in Marcus’s direction before she tossed a smoked bomb on the ground. The rooftop was immediately engulfed in a dense black smoke as she made her escape.

Marcus flapped his wings hard. A gust of air surged across the rooftop and blew away all of the smoke. He noticed that Lady Shiva had made her escape. With the danger gone for now, he retracted his Angel Wings so he would stop being a blatant supernatural beacon. Pain hit him a second later as he grimaced in pain and slumped downwards. “Fuck!” He cursed as he held his aching side. With his Light Energy no longer sustaining him as much, he could tell that he was hurt pretty bad. The woman’s Sai must have stabbed him 3-4 inches deep. Thankfully, it missed anything vital.

“Oh crap! Marcus, are you ok!” Robin ran up to him in concern.

“She got me pretty good. I’m going to need a doctor or something. I don't know any healing magic yet, unfortunately.” He said, still holding his side.

Batman did a double sweep of the rooftop to make sure Lady Shiva was truly gone before he walked over. He frowned when he saw the stab wound in his stomach. “Can you stand?” Batman asked him. “That wound needs to be treated immediately.”

Marcus winced, as he did so, but managed it.

The police car sirens were getting much closer. Pretty soon, they'd be right on top of them all.

Batman begrudgingly told him to follow him and Robin. They hopped down the side of the building, and his eyes widened at what he saw below! It was the Batmobile!

“So cool…” Marcus said as he admired it. It wasn’t the dumb Dark Knight version that looked like a tank, but the classic sleek one instead.

“Get in, let's go,” Batman said as the Batmobile's roof slid open, and he hopped in the driver's seat. Robin and him hopped in the car as well. The seats were leather. Very nice.

Batman floored it and they sped away seconds before the police arrived.

…

“There you go, Master Marcus! You're all stitched up. Although I still recommend that Master Marcus goes to a proper hospital. I'm not a licensed doctor.” Alfred Pennyworth said.

“Thanks, Alfred,” Marcus said while holding his patched-up side and looking around the Batcave. There was a lot of cool stuff in there! Batman kept a lot of souvenir trophies. In one corner of the room, he could see Mr. Freeze's cryo gun. In another, he could see Black Mask’s… mask.

“Alright then. Now, why don't you explain what you're doing in Gotham? And why were Deadshot and Lady Shiva after you? And how do you know who Dick and I are!?” Batman asked, irritated.

“What!? Marcus knows who we are!?” Dick asked in a panic. His head rapidly shifted between Marcus and Batman.

“I didn't even say anything. How did you know I knew?” Marcus asked.

Batman answered. “You were too calm when you met me and Robin. You were far too familiar with Robin, especially in the car ride over here. Like you've known him for a while.” Batman explained.

Marcus nodded. “Well, to be fair. Robin's mask doesn't really cover that much of his face. Also, he sounds the exact same as Dick, so…” He lied convincingly. He wasn't going to tell Batman he knew about him from his past life.

Batman frowned but seemed to accept his answer. “We might have to get Robin a new mask and maybe a voice changer…” He muttered to himself.

“So why were those two villains attacking you, Marcus?” Robin asked him.

“Technically, it was three people who attacked me. Some crazy blond guy wearing Hockey Gear, and calling himself Sportsmaster, tried to attack me first. I laid him out easily, though. Didn't even have to use any of my powers besides my strength and reflexes.” Marcus said.

“You beat Sportsmaster!?” Robin exclaimed. “He's supposed to be really tough and have a killer reputation!”

“Pffff.” Marcus laughed. “Really tough? Oh, please. The guy was wearing hockey pads. As for his ‘killer reputation,’ some guy was live-streaming our encounter. By tomorrow, I'm sure thousands of people will see the recording of that failure of a villain getting his ass kicked.”

Robin looked at him incredulously. Even Batman was having trouble holding back a smirk.

“You didn't use any powers on camera, did you?” Batman asked to confirm.

Marcus shook his head ‘no.’ He wasn't ready to expose himself or the supernatural to the world just yet. Especially since he was still a two-winged Nephilim.

‘I apologize for that. My siphoning off of your Light Energy, to heal myself faster, has made you in turn grow slower.’ Grandfather apologized to him.

‘It's no big deal.’ Marcus thought back. If it wasn't for Big G and his mother, he wouldn't even exist. Him being a bit of a late bloomer, when it came to his powers, was no big deal.

‘Still, though. It's time for you to begin your trials to increase your powers. The multiverse isn't kind, and you will need all the power you can get to thrive in it.’

“You never answered my question.” Batman said. “Why were those three after you?”

Marcus sighed. “I've got two words for you on that one. Alice Winston… She apparently placed a bounty on me after I snubbed her at her party earlier.” He shifted uncomfortably. That girl was way crazier than he had anticipated.

“Her!?” Robin exclaimed. “I knew there was something seriously messed up with that girl? How does she even know how to put a bounty on someone? She's 15!”

“And you're 13, Robin,” Batman said. “Never underestimate your enemies just because of their age. I taught you better than that.”

“Sorry, sir…” Robin said.

“And you…” Batman turned back to Marcus. “The Winston family isn't someone you want to mess with even if you are decently powerful. You saw how Lady Shiva, a woman with no powers, almost killed you. The Winston family is rich enough to hire a dozen assassins like her. I suggest you get out of town. I can help you set up a new identity on the West Coast and–”

“Ah, that won't be necessary…” Marcus trailed off. “I realized that I might be in over my head, so I texted my mom.” He said as he held up his phone for him to see.

Batman narrowed his eyes. Marcus simply sent out a message that said:

SOS. I'm hurt but okay for now. I need your help…

“And how exactly is your mom going to help?” Batman asked.

…

–???–

“I'm glad you asked.” She called out behind the Dark Knight. Batman panicked and spun around rapidly! His hand was already going for one of his batarangs! He threw it towards the intruder, but she caught it easily and placed it on a nearby table.

He scowled at her and she giggled at his startled reaction. She always loved sneaking up on people. Their reactions were always fun. Batman rushed forward to fight her hand to hand…

“Hi mom.” Marcus said calmly.

Batman stopped himself before he could throw out a punch. He spun around and glared at her son. “Mom!? You texted her less than 10 seconds ago? How is she already here!?” He asked in shock.

“Woah! You're Marcus’s mom? I see where he gets his looks!” Robin said with a laugh. “I'm Robin! And you are?”

“I will always come immediately when my Son needs my help.” She said warmly. “Nice to meet you all by the way. I am the Archangel Gabriel.”

Gabriel had long flowing golden hair. Bright green eyes that sparkled like emeralds. And a perfect face and body that could never be found on a human woman. She smiled at everyone as she stepped forward to check on her son.

…

Both Batman and Robin were openly gaping at his mother. Any other son would have scowled at them, but Marcus was used to it. He knew my mom was incredibly beautiful and would always turn heads wherever she went. She did also just declare herself and Archangel and her twelve beautiful white wings were out behind her.

“Archangel…” Robin muttered.

She smiled at Marcus as she walked over. “Marcus…”

“Ooof!” Marcus grunted out in pain. Faster than his eyes could track, she zoomed across the room and tackled him to the floor in an embarrassing hug! “Ow, mom. I'm injured here.” He complained. She was hugging him tightly and his stab wound was aching.

“Oh, my baby boy! I've missed you so much! Now I finally understand why Serafall is so clingy with her sister! Not being able to see you everyday is so sad!” Gabriel exclaimed as she hugged him tight and refused to let go! “And you're injured!? How did that happen!? Who did it!? I will make sure to smite them!”

“Smite them!?” Robin asked in trepidation.

“She’s just kidding," Marcus called out from the floor. He knew that she was not kidding…

It took a few minutes for Marcus to finally get his mother to let go. She was being extra clingy. Far more than she had been in a while. “Ok, I’ll tell you what happened. It all started like this…” He started my explanation.  “It all started when I went on a date with my physics partner.” Marcus said.

Her eyes lit up. “A date!?”

…

Gabriel listened intently. She was happy that her son was finally starting to socialize with girls his age! This Artemis girl also sounded like quite the catch. She could tell that her son liked her by the way he talked about her.

Everything was going well until he got to the part in his explanation about some other girl called Alice Winston.

Gabriel felt her anger growing upon hearing about the girl’s possessive and stalkerish behavior towards her son. And then she went and actually put a bounty on his head!?

Gabriel would make sure that the girl suffered before she personally dumped the girl’s black soul into one of the Hells! But before that could happen, Gabriel wanted to completely destroy the Winston family and the so-called Court of Owls they were members of. She didn’t just want to blow them away, she wanted to ruin them. She wanted to tear down everything they’d built up and let them all live long enough for them to see it.

In order for that to happen, she figured that it was finally time to contact Marcus’s father so that the man could help. He was incredibly rich and powerful in human society.

Although…She didn't want her son to leave her sight right now.

She couldn't go herself. She needed someone else to contact the man for her. But who to send in her place?

Gabriel had a brilliant idea! She’d send that silly church girl who was always chasing after her son in the Vatican. She’d use this as a test to see if that girl was worthy of joining her son's harem some day!

XXX

Chapter 4:

C 4

–Metropolis, Lexcorp HQ, Top Floor–

Mercy Graves glanced up from the stack of paperwork piled on her desk. She had gotten a bit distracted with her boss the previous night and now it had piled up on her…

“Hello there!” A boisterous girl with short blue hair greeted her. “I'm here on an important assignment!” The girl added enthusiastically.

Mercy let out a tired sigh. She hadn’t gotten her coffee yet and it was too early to deal with such an obvious morning person… Mercy noticed that the blue haired girl was dressed strangely. She was wearing some kind of black body suit that looked very tight on her. It heavily emphasized all of her curves and left almost nothing to the imagination. Didn't this girl have any shame walking around in broad daylight wearing that!?

…Mercy also wondered where she could get a bodysuit like that herself... It would definitely spice things up between her and her boss and her…

“Hello?” The blue haired girl said again and snapped Mercy out of her thoughts.

“Hello.” Mercy replied blandly. “Did you have an appointment with Mr. Luthor or something?” On that note, Mercy wondered how the girl even managed to get up to the top floor without her being notified? That was a major security slip up. Especially considering how many enemies Mr. Luthor had.

The blue-haired girl scratched her cheek awkwardly. “I do not have an appointment. But that’s fine! Family doesn't need appointments to see each other after all!” She said while nodding to herself.

Mercy raised a sarcastic eyebrow. “Family?” Was this another teenager claiming to be Mr. Luthor’s long lost love child…that would make her the third this week. Mercy sighed as she prepared to reach over to her intercom and call security.

The girl blushed. “Well…We’re not family yet. But we will be! Mother-in-Law told me that if I don’t screw this up, I can be in Marcus’s harem!” She said proudly! “I’m Xenovia Quarta by the way!”

“Marcus?” Mercy asked and decided to play along with whatever this was. Was one of her coworkers pranking her?

Xenovia grinned. “Marcus Light! The most handsome and perfect man in the world! One day he will be my husband and we will have strong babies together!” Xenovia exclaimed excitedly.

Mercy frowned when realized this girl was being completely serious and not actually joking.

Xenovia then started to mutter all about Marcus to herself as her face turned from her over active imagination!

Mercy Graves pressed the intercom. “I need security up to my office please. We have a crazy girl that snuck in somehow…” Mercy frowned when she got no response.

Xenovia shook her head and snapped out of her fantasies! “I'm not crazy! Marcus is Mr. Luthor’s son! Also your security probably won't be coming anytime soon…” Xenovia said with embarrassment.

“And why is that!?” Mercy demanded to know.

“T–They wouldn't let me in the building originally so I had to…beat them all up…” Xenovia said with a blush. It was their fault anyway! They stood in the way of her and her true love!

Mercy gaped as she reached under her desk for her sidearm! This girl was a lot more dangerous than she had thought if she took down all of their security without a scratch.

“Wait, Mercy!” The voice of Lex Luthor spoke from her intercom. “Send Miss Quarta into my office. What she claims intrigues me.” Mercy didn't like the idea of such a dangerous girl being alone with her boss… She would never go against Lex’s wishes though. She acquiesced and pressed the button that unlocked the door to his office.

Xenovia’s eyes lit up upon hearing that. “Father-in-Law approves of me!? YES!” She cheered as she walked past the secretary and into his office.

Lex Luthor was intrigued by the girl who just walked into his office. The scanners in the building were registering her as completely human, and yet she wiped out all of his security with ease! Even bullets seemed to have bounced off of her when she was surrounded by some kind of golden aura as she fought. Was it magic? His scanners didn’t detect any magical readings from her along with any trace of the Meta Gene. She had a completely new type of power he had never seen before!

“Miss Quarta, I presume? Nice to meet you. I'm Lex Luthor.” He introduced himself from behind his ornate desk.

“Greetings Father-in-Law! I’m Xenovia Quarta! Marcus’s future wife!”

“And this…Marcus? You claim he’s my son?” Luthor asked with some serious doubts. If anyone would have known they had a love child running around in the world, he figured it would have been him. Lex remembered every woman he’d ever slept with and he had kept tabs on all just in case that happened. All of them…except for that one who mysteriously disappeared almost 18 years ago. “Do you have a picture of Marcus? Or better yet, proof that he is my son?” Lex asked. To his surprise, the girl nodded enthusiastically.

“Of course I do! I have hundreds of pictures of Marcus! Here look!” She pulled a cell phone from–somewhere–and held it up in front of Lex’s face! He was taken aback a bit from how enthusiastic she was.

Lex could admit the young man in all the photos was very handsome. And he sort of resembled himself if he still had all of his hair. There wasn't enough resemblance, though, to be sure. If the young man was his, then he clearly took after his mother more.

“Oh! I also have this too!” Xenovia pulled out a ziplock bag. Inside were locks of blond hair. “This was for the DNA test Mother-in-Law claimed you would demand as proof!” She said as she casually plopped the ziplock bag of hair on his $100,000 ornate desk…

“Maybe next time start with that…” He told the girl while eyeing the bag with skepticism. “Mercy, could you please have this tested quickly for me.” He called out to his secretary/bodyguard/lover.

“Of course, sir. I'll be back in a few minutes.” Mercy took the bag out of his hand and headed towards the elevator. The labs in Lexcorp were more than advanced enough to quickly run a simple DNA test. The scientists were also used to it at this point with all the kids who came in claiming to be her bosses long lost child every week.

Lex wretched his secretary leave before turning back to Xenovia. “So, tell me about that power you used to take out all of my security. It was impressive. You were literally glowing when you beat them all up!” He complimented her. He noted this girl clearly had a lot of pride because she preened at his compliment.

“Oh! That's my Light Energy!” Xenovia said.

“Light Energy?” Lex asked curiously.

Xenovia nodded enthusiastically. “Light Energy is the power that exorcists and Angels use to purge beings of darkness! With the Lord’s blessing, I've slain Stray Devils, Vampires, Ghouls, and numerous other evil beings!” Xenovia boasted proudly. She was young, but she was one of the church's best fighters already! Why else would they give her both Durandal and Excalibur Destruction!?

Lex scoffed. “Angels? Oh please.They don't exist…”

Xenovia pouted. This conversation was clearly going to be tougher than she initially thought meeting her future Father-in-Law would be. She wasn't deterred! She would get him to help Marcus and then Lady Gabriel would finally approve of her as a prospective daughter in law!

…

Marcus and his mother were currently in his room in Wayne Manor. Bruce had been nice enough to let Marcus stay overnight since his apartment was probably being watched. Mother had left temporarily to take care of some matters, but she returned now that it was morning again. She had healed Marcus back to full health, but now she was lecturing him.

She was staring him down as he did his best to not make eye contact with her. In her hand, she was holding the True Longinus—which she was supplying with her own Light Energy so it could stay activated. She wanted to get the account of what happened the day before directly from his grandfather, her own father.

“You were going to use your Balance Breaker against an ordinary human in the middle of the city!?” Gabriel exclaimed! “Were you trying to blow up Gotham and kill yourself at the same time!?”

‘He got caught up in the moment. It's my fault for not stopping him,’ Big G projected his words directly into both of their minds.

“It wouldn’t have been that bad…” Marcus muttered. He knew that wasn’t exactly true, though. One does not simply whip out the Balance Breaker of the strongest Longinus unless the situation is very dire…

“You were hurt. Why didn’t you just fly away?” Gabriel asked. “It's not like that Lady Shiva woman would be able to follow you.” she pointed out.

Marcus's cheeks turned red in embarrassment. “I got caught up in my first real fight with a supervillain and forgot I could do that…” He admitted.

Gabriel sighed. “It’s ok to tactically retreat when the situation calls for it. During the Great War, even we Angels were forced to often retreat when the battlefields got out of hand.”

“Yeah, but that wouldn’t have happened had you used your full power!” Marcus said back to her. He was talking about her True Angelic Form.

Gabriel took a seat on the bed next to him. “Why do you think we Archangels don’t assume our True Forms and just wipe out all of the world’s evils?” She asked him seriously.

He was never sure of the reason for that. “So humans can learn to fight their own battles against monsters?” That was his best guess at the moment.

‘No,’ Big G answered him. ‘While plausible, that is not the reason.’ His projected voice in Marcus's head had an ominous undertone.

“Son? Do you know how the Great War ended? Truly?” Gabriel asked. She looked like she was remembering something that genuinely scared her.

That far-off look made Marcus nervous. Was it because of the beast? “Was it because of Trihexia?” He asked.

She shook her head. “That creature was powerful, but not powerful enough to truly threaten the balance.” She started explaining, “towards the end of the Great War, Lucifer assumed his True Biblical Form! In response, we Archangels did the same to combat him! In doing so…our combined powers drew the attention of Them…” Gabriel shuddered at the recollection.

“Them?” Marcus asked. “The Endless?”

Gabriel shook her head. “No. The beings we drew the attention of came from outside of this universe. Outside of the multiverse itself, actually. They were monstrous beings from beyond the void itself! They came for us. The Archangels and our Father! They sensed our Light and came to devour it and us.”

‘It required my full power to drive them away, and even then I almost died…’ Big G admitted to Marcus's surprise. ‘Afterwards, I sealed away our universe, from their kind, with the help of some powerful allies. Lucifer himself perished in the battle against them… or maybe he just faked his death. Either way, he hasn’t been seen in the hundreds of years since then.’

Marcus was surprised to hear that not only were Eldritch Abominations apparently a real thing, but that they also fed on Celestials… Oh, he was Half-Celestial too, wasn’t he…?

Gabriel nodded. “I can see the realization on your face. Yes, when—not if—those beings return one day, they will also go after you as well. That’s why you need to be strong enough to hold your own against them!”

Marcus blanched. “Hold my own against beings that can easily swallow planets and destroy stars!? I'm just a two-winged Nephilim at the moment!” At his full power, he could barely blow up a bus…

‘Which is why you need training…and for me to leave your body at long last. I have been siphoning your Light Energy and hindering your growth for too long already! You’ll find that once I leave the True Longinus, your reserves will feel like they’ve already doubled.’ Big G stated.

“Father, have you been fully healed?” Gabriel asked with hope as she smiled down at the spear in her hands.

‘Not completely, but I have healed enough that I no longer need to stay inside Marcus’s soul. The rest of my recovery can occur back in Heaven.’ Big G said. The True Longinus emitted an incredibly bright Golden Light! It was so bright that Marcus had to close his eyes and turn away.

He also felt something inside him irreversibly shift. He felt like a shackle that had been spiritually tying him down his whole life had been removed. He felt slightly more powerful!

In the middle of the room, an older man started to materialize. His hair was pure white and long, and his eyes were the purest shade of gold Marcus had ever seen. They seemed to hold all of the knowledge and understanding of the whole world. He also had a sagely long white beard that Marcus was sure was only there for aesthetics…

“Hmm, it's been a few hundred years since I could walk around.” Big G, or Yahweh, said moved his almost fully healed body around. “I think it’s about time that I—Oooff!”

“Father!” Gabriel had tears of happiness in her eyes before she slammed into him hard and knocked both of them to the floor. “I'm so glad that you're back! Now I can hug you again and never let you go! I'm so happy! Michael will be so happy too! This is amazing and…” Gabriel kept babbling on as she hugged her father tighter and didn't allow him to get up off the floor.

Marcus immediately pulled out his phone and snapped a quick blackmail photo…

...

The sight in the Wayne Manor guest room was quite comical. Gabriel, the Archangel and messenger of Heaven, was currently sulking in the corner. She had been placed in “timeout” for knocking her father to the floor and refusing to let him up…

Big G and Marcus were speaking together before he was planning to go back to Heaven and give Michael a break from managing his system. There’d probably be a massive party there upon his return as well.

“There are some things you should be aware of now that I am fully separated from your soul, Marcus.” Big G spoke to him in a serious tone.

Marcus nodded. “Like what?”

“First of all, your balance breaker will no longer work like it did before.”

Marcus's eyes widened! “What!? Why?”

“Think about it. You’re currently only a two-winged Angel? How were you able to even use it in the first place?”

MArcus had wondered that before. He could barely keep the spear itself out for a few minutes without exhausting his own Light Energy reserves. How did he manage to use the Balance Breaker before then? “Was it you?” He asked.

His grandfather nodded. “Whenever you used your Balance Breaker before, it was drawing power from myself. If it drew power from you…it would have drained you dry.” He explained ominously and Marcus gulped. “That being said. I have left enough of my own Light Energy in the spear for you to use your Balance Breaker exactly three more times. After that, it will start drawing power from you. I strongly advise you not to try and activate it again until you have at least 6 wings yourself.”

Marcus took his advice seriously. “Three times? That should be plenty for now. How often am I going to be in a perilous life or death situation anyway?” He said with a laugh.

…

Big G sighed as he listened to his grandson tempt Fate itself with that remark…

…

"Other than that, it’s time Marcus starts getting stronger," Big G said. "And I know just the way."

"And what’s that? Some kind of epic training montage between the two of us!? If it is, can we use ‘Live to Win’ by Paul Stanley as his montage song!?" Marcus asked with a grin.

"That is a great montage song, but no," Big G replied. "When I was injured a few hundred years ago, here in our main universe, I ended up getting virtually cut off from many worlds across the multiverse that were also under my domain. It would be great if he could check on some of those for us while I'm still recovering. I imagine some of them will have gone slightly off the rails, and he will be doing a fair bit of fighting. Others might be fine, but he can still learn skills or magic there that he can't from here."

"So I can go to worlds in other universes to get stronger?" Marcus asked excitedly. That was the Isekai Protagonist dream right there! ‘Finally! He had been waiting his whole life for an opportunity like this!’

…Well, that and the day when he could officially debut as a Superhero himself. He was in DC as well, after all. There was no way he wouldn't become a Superhero too!

"Can I come out of the corner now, Father?" Gabriel pouted from the edge of the room.

"Fine, I need you to give Marcus one of your feathers anyway," Big G said to Gabriel.

Gabriel hopped out of the corner and cheered. "Yay!" She ran over towards Marcus and hugged him tightly. "My son will have one of my feathers as part of him forever! I'll be right back. I have to go to the moon real quick!"

Marcus did his best to ignore how weird the first half of that statement sounded… Actually, the second half was pretty weird too.

Gabriel vanished in a flash of light. Marcus massaged his aching muscles. His mom was really strong, and her enthusiastic hugs could hurt. As for why she had to go to the moon…it was so she could transform into her True Form. If she did that on Earth…people would notice due to her sheer size when she enters that form.

"I'm back!" In another flash of light, Gabriel reappeared inside the room. She was holding a white feather the size of her entire body!

"I'll take that." Big G waved his hand, and the oversized feather flew towards him. As it did so, he used some of his divine power to shrink it down to a smaller size. He took it in his hand and inspected it for a moment before passing it to Marcus. "Your mother is known as the messenger of Heaven for a reason. She has the ability to freely travel almost anywhere at will. That includes other universes."

"Yep! I love occasionally popping down to the underworld just to bother my best friend Serafall sometimes! She keeps having Ajuka put up stronger and stronger barriers to try and keep me out, but that’ll never work!" Gabriel said with a mischievous grin.

Marcus held his mother’s feather up to his chest, and it slipped inside of him. He felt a small spike of power as he did so. He also got a quick vision of his mother in her True Form. In his mind flashed the image of a Gigantic Being the size of a mountain with dozens of white wings and much more than two eyeballs…. A True Biblical Angel… He wasn’t afraid though; that was his mother after all, and he loved her no matter which form she took.

He could admit that he did prefer her beautiful human form though… As did she and all the other Archangels.

There was a knock at the door that drew everyone's attention.

"Come in! It’s open!" Gabriel called out cheerfully! She was so excited that her father was back, and her son had one of her feathers with him forever that she didn't even register what she said.

"Wait, mom! Grandpa is still here!" Marcus tried to remind her. He was too late though. The door opened, and Alfred walked in.

"Excuse me, Sir and Madam. We will be having breakfast soon. Will you be joining us?" Alfred asked Marcus and Gabriel. He then noticed that they weren't alone and that there was another older man wearing white toga-like robes in the room with them. "Oh, my apologies, I didn't see you there, Sir. Who might you be? And will you be joining us as well." Alfred asked politely. He didn’t even seem to care that someone else had appeared in the mansion.

Big G laughed. "I would be delighted to have a meal after so long. It's nice to meet you, Alfred Pennyworth! I AM YAHWEH!"

"Oh..." Alfred's eyes promptly rolled back in his head, and he fainted…

Thankfully, Marcus ran forwards and caught the older butler so he didn't injure himself.

…

–Visitors–

“Superman, thank you for coming so soon. And you as well John. I see both of you have brought two guests I don't recognize though.” Bruce said as he greeted his two friends just outside his mansion.

There were two younger women behind Superman and the Martian Manhunter. One of them had blond hair and blue eyes and was looking around at everything curiously. The other girl would stand out in any crowd because she was bright green. The same green as John. The girl was obviously a martian then. Bruce figured she must be a relative of the Manhunter. Bruce wasn’t sure who the blonde girl with Superman was though.

Superman coughed awkwardly. “Yes. Your call was so sudden that I didn't have anyone to watch her. She’s only been on Earth a few days and isnt used to the place yet. This is my cousin Kara.”

“Hi?” Kara gave Bruce an awkward wave that had him raising an eyebrow at the girl.

“I wasn’t aware there were other kryptonian survivors, but we can table that for later. More important matters have sprung up.” Bruce replied curtly.

Superman was surprised about Bruce’s dismissal of Kara. He had expected his friend to immediately go into detective mode and start questioning her.

“And this is my niece M’gann.” John introduced the green girl behind him. “Hello! I'm M'gann M'orzz but you can call me Megan. That’s the Earth name I chose for myself. Because I’m on Earth now!” Megan said before turning to the kryptonian girl. “Isn't that so exciting!?”

“I guess so?” Kara said questioningly. She’d hadn’t been on Earth long enough to form a proper opinion about anything. All she knew was that she was a lot stronger now and had to be careful not to accidentally break everything in sight.

Superman and John, along with their two younger wards, followed Bruce inside his mansion. They were greeted by Alfred who was coming down the stairs.

“M–master Bruce. Your other guests have just sat down for lunch and are waiting on you and Master Dick. It's best not to keep them waiting.” Alfred said worriedly.

“Is everything alright, Alfred. You look like you've seen a ghost or something.” Bruce asked. No, that couldn't be right. Alfred had in fact seen real ghosts before and even those didn't freak him out this much!

“Were you aware that your two guests became three?” Alfred asked in barely concealed trepidation.

Batman raised an eyebrow. “Three? I was not aware. Who is the third?” Bruce hoped it wasn't another Archangel…

“It's best if you see for yourself sir. I must go and get the meal… I hope he likes my cooking!” Alfred exclaimed as he walked hurriedly towards the kitchen.

Superman and John looked at each other in confusion.

“Did some kind of big shot show up or something?” Kara asked. She wasn't aware of any important people on Earth yet, but her parents used to act like that when someone important from the Kryptonian government would drop by their home.

“How exciting! A celebrity!” Megan exclaimed.

Superman tried to use his X-ray vision to peer into the dining room. “Ow!” He immediately closed his eyes in pain. All he saw was a bright searing light that actually hurt his eyes! That had never happened to him before. Superman could even stare directly into the Sun all day long!

The group hesitantly walked towards the dining room.

Marcus was sitting with his mother and Grandfather at the dining table. Dick was there as well, but he couldn't stop staring at his grandfather in shock after learning his identity. Dick hadn't said any words for the past five minutes…

Marcus looked over when he saw the door opened. Bruce walked in and Marcus's own eyes widened when he saw who was with him! Superman and the Martian Manhunter! Along with Supergirl and Miss Martian too! Marcus wondered what they were all doing here? He was also doing his best to not run up to Superman and beg for an autograph… He could still introduce himself though.

“Hello, everyone. I'm Marcus Light. This is my mother and grandfather.” His mother's wings were currently hidden away so she could properly sit in her chair. There was nothing distinguishing about either her or Big G beyond the fact that they were both wearing white togas at the moment. Marcus really needed to get them up to date on the latest fashion.

“Hello there, Marcus. I'm Superman!” The Man of Steel who was in full costume replied. He wasn't sure who Marcus was, but he clearly knew Bruce’s alternate identity since he wasn't freaking out right now. Superman then introduced his three companions.

Kara and Megan were doing their best to not stare so blatantly at Marcus. Megan had never seen such a perfect boy even on TV! Kara was staring at Marcus and for the first time she actually found herself thankful to be on Earth…

XXX

Chapter 5:

Marcus was surprised when Supergirl and Miss Martian immediately made their way over towards him as soon as they entered the room...

They both sat down next to him and ignored the strange looks they were getting from their guardians. Kara sat on his right, and Megan on his left. He noticed the subtle grin his mother shot him along with his grandfather giving him a thumbs up.

He rolled his eyes, but inwardly he was smiling. While being supernaturally handsome might have caused a crazy girl to stalk him and put an actual bounty on his head, he couldn’t say his looks didn't also come with their own benefits.

Kara spoke to him first. “So your name is Marcus? I'm Kara Zor-El. I'm from Krypton.”

“And I'm M'gann M'orss! I'm from Mars. It's nice to meet you, Marcus! Call me Megan!”

“It's great to meet you both as well!” He replied while flashing both of them a smile.

“So, Marcus? What do you do for fun around here?” Kara asked. “Most of my time spent on Earth so far has been boring.” She said that she was either stuck on her cousin's farm or practicing to control her new powers and wanted to have some fun.

“Well, if I'm blending in, and pretending to be a normal human, then I like to go to movies or parties.” He'd only ever been to one party, but he didn't need to mention that part…

“Oh! I've seen parties on Earth TV! They look like so much fun!” Megan said excitedly.

“I never got to go to a lot of parties on Krypton. My parents were too overprotective of me…” Kara trailed off. “Is there anything else?” She asked.

“What I really like to do when I'm not pretending is to go flying.” He added. The feeling of being able to soar through the sky and clouds with his own wings was exhilarating! He hadn't gotten to fly much since coming to Gotham. This city had cameras, or people with cameras, everywhere and he didn’t want to risk being seen.

Kara and Megan nodded enthusiastically!

“I know right!” Kara said with a bright smile. “Flying is so amazing! I can’t believe how powerful I am under a yellow sun! I have no idea why it was forbidden back on Krypton!?”

Marcus had some theories there, but without knowing the exact circumstances behind Krypton's destruction, he couldn't be sure. He also didn’t want to mention any to her when its destruction was still fresh in her mind.

“Flying on my own is amazing, and flying on my Bioship is really fun too. It can easily fly into space on its own!” Megan added.

He was pretty jealous about that. He had forgotten that Megan literally had her own spaceship. “You should take us for a ride sometime. I've always wanted to go to space!” He said. He won't be able to survive in a vacuum on his own until he gets stronger. He needed 8 to 10 wings before he would be able to do that.

Megan smiled brightly at him. He also didn’t miss the subtle smirk she sent to Kara. “I’d be happy to take you flying into space with me whenever you want!”

Kara pouted. “I also have my own spaceship. It got damaged landing here on Earth, but it shouldn't take me long to fix it. I'm sure it'll be much more comfortable than any other ship!” She was already planning to raid her cousin’s fortress for parts to fix her ship. She’d make sure to only install two seats as well to avoid any unnecessary third wheels.

He did his best to pretend like he didn't notice the two jealous looks the girls kept sending each other…

He wasn’t some stupid anime protagonist after all.

…

–Superman–

Superman now knew the reason Bruce demanded he come to his mansion immediately. Superman could admit that there weren't many things in his life at this point that could throw him for a loop. However, he certainly was never expecting to have breakfast with the Archangel Gabriel and a man claiming to be literally God. That had definitely thrown him for a loop. Especially because both of his parents raised him to be a steadfast Christian…

Superman did his best to ignore the fact that his younger cousin and John's niece were also blatantly flirting with the apparent grandson of God. What was worse, was how smooth the young man was in his responses to them. He had both girls blushing up a storm and it had only been a few minutes! Superman wished he was that smooth when he was their age…

Next to him, he could see John was massaging his head in a very human-like manner. It seemed he was embarrassed by the way his niece was acting as well. Superman saw John's eyes light up a few times towards M’Gann. He assumed John was sending her some telepathic messages of some kind…

John's niece quickly turned to him and stuck out her tongue before quickly turning back to Marcus.

“Teenagers…” John muttered quietly.

“So…you're… God? It's…um…nice to meet you, Sir?” Superman introduced himself awkwardly. What was he supposed to even say here!?

“And it is an honor to meet you Superman! I have been following your exploits and can say that you are a shining example to live up to! You could use a bit more free time for yourself though. It's OK to want to help others, but not so much that you don't get to enjoy your own life as well.” Yahweh said to Superman. “That pretty much goes for all three of you actually.”

Superman, Bruce and Manhunter all looked at each other awkwardly. They'd all been told that they spend too much time as heroes before…and now even God was telling them that. Maybe it was time they considered handing more work to the other heroes and easing back a bit. Batman had been talking about creating some kind of mini Justice League for the teenagers. The other heroes vetoed the idea, but Superman wondered if it shouldn't be revisited?

“So what exactly are you doing here…Yahweh?” Bruce asked bluntly. He was putting on a strong facade, but Superman could hear the Dark Knight's heart pounding in his chest from anxiety.

“Here? Nothing except enjoying this delicious meal Alfred prepared for us.” Yahweh said as he pointed to the spread of food all along the table.

Alfred, standing off to the side, looked absolutely ecstatic when he heard that Yahweh enjoyed his cooking! He even had some tears forming in his eyes that everyone did their best to ignore.

“I was also visiting my family and decided to task Marcus with a small training mission of sorts.” Yahweh added.

“A mission?” Bruce asked with a raised eyebrow. “Are you sure your grandson can handle going solo? He almost died to Lady Shiva.”

“Wait, what!?” Superman exclaimed. “She was in Gotham? How did she even get out of prison without the League knowing!?” He asked. Wherever that assassin went, bodies always followed! Very few villains matched her kill count…

Bruce grimaced. “...We’ll discuss her later.” Bruce said to him before turning back to Yahweh and the Archangel Gabriel.

The Archangel Gabriel spoke up. Everyone's attention turned to her. Superman had to fight back a blush just looking at her. He knew he was in love with Lois, but Gabriel's sheer beauty was incredible! He wondered who Marcus’s lucky father was to be with such a beautiful woman!?

“It's true that my Son hasn't quite grown into his full potential yet…but us holding him back will only continue to hinder him. I've had to pull him out of school for a few days anyway… for reasons. I think it will be good for him to get some experience. Also, he doesn't have to go alone. Those two girls seem to be pretty attached to him already. I think they can all be great friends! Why don't they go with him?” Gabriel suggested. She had absolutely NO ulterior motives, as a mother, by wanting to send two beautiful girls on a mission with her handsome, and single, son…

“You want Kara to go with him!?” Superman exclaimed. “She can barely control her strength! She'll end up hurting someone.” Super said with no hesitation.

“And M’Gann is far too inexperienced with her Martian powers as well!” John added immediately afterwards.

…

Marcus's conversation with the two future heroines was interrupted by the outbursts of Superman and Martian Manhunter.

“She can barely control her strength! She'll end up hurting someone!”

“And M’Gann is far too inexperienced with her Martian powers as well!”

Kara and Megan both turned towards their ‘guardians’ and had different reactions. Megan frowned and was sad that her uncle didn't trust her.

Kara stood up from her seat and openly scowled. “Hmph!” She angrily marched out of the dining room, loudly slamming the door behind her!

Marcus stood up and followed after her. Megan came with him as well.

He followed Kara out of the mansion. She quickly made her way towards the edge of the property, where a small patch of forest was.

“Stupid Kal-El! Treating me like a toddler! I'm a grown woman who's supposed to be older than him! Stupid time travel bullshit!” Kara cursed as she paced back and forth by the treeline.

“Are you alright, Kara?” Marcus asked in concern.

Kara walked over towards one of the trees and kicked it in anger! The trunk immediately exploded into chunks of wood from the force of her kick. “Fuck!” Kara exclaimed, clearly startled by what just happened! “Stupid, Kal is right… I can't control my own strength.” Kara lamented as she turned back towards Marcus.

He gave her a small smile. “You controlled it pretty well, I think. The tree only exploded. You didn’t accidentally punt it into orbit.” He added with a laugh.

Kara gave him a small smile. “I'm not that strong yet… Thanks for coming to check on me, Marcus. And you too, Martian girl…” Kara added as an afterthought.

Megan pouted. “I know what it's like to be looked down on too…”

“Whoa! Nice kick!” Dick Grayson's voice came from behind everyone. They all turned and noticed him.

“Where'd you come from, Dick?” Marcus asked.

“I followed you guys out here! I didn’t want to be stuck there alone with all the adults. Also, Marcus, your grandpa makes me nervous…” Dick admitted.

Marcus nodded in understanding before turning back to Kara. He also looked at Megan. “So you're mad that Superman and Manhunter don't trust you both?”

“Damn right I am!” Kara exclaimed. “I've been on Earth all this time, but he's kept me locked away on that small farm!” She complained. She hated that boring place. Kal-El’s human parents were nice, but they weren’t going to replace her parents. Kara didn’t like that they always tried to! Kara spoke all of this out loud to everyone.

“I’m sorry to hear all that. That sucks.” Marcus said. “It’s not like your a child.”

“Exactly!” Kara exclaimed.“Thanks…I think I just needed to vent a bit.”

Marcus turned towards Megan next. She was being quiet.

Megan’s green cheeks became–greener–upon noticing Marcus’s stare. “Well…I do wish uncle John would trust me more. He hasn't let me go out on my own either since I've arrived on Earth.” Megan admitted. She was feeling stifled lately, but she would take that over having to go back to Mars anyday. She never wanted to go back there.

Marcus nodded at them both in understanding. Part of the reason he left for the States was so that he wouldn't always have the Heavenly Faction breathing down his neck. It might not have gone perfectly, and he still needed his mom's help, but he had been able to spend two months on his own–minus his grandfather in his head.

“I might have a solution for you two, but I didn't get to ask. How old are you both?” Marcus asked. They looked to be around his age, but then again they were aliens so he didn’t really know. In some universes, Kryptonians didn't even age under a yellow sun once they became adults.

“In Earth years, I would be 18.” Kara said.

Megan looked a bit awkward at hearing his question. She shuffled in place for a second before answering. “Just so you know…we Martians develop slower than humans do. In Earth years…I'm 35.” She looked at Marcus to see if he would be grossed out that she was flirting with him earlier with that age difference. She breathed a sigh of relief when he just smiled at her.

For Marcus, Megan's age wasn't even a blip. He'd been flirted with by Fallen Angels who were hundreds of years old whenever he had to visit the Grigori in the past…

“Just so you two know, here in the US, you're both considered adults. Neither of you have to actually listen to your guardians if you don't want to. Technically, they wouldn't even be considered your guardians at this point.” Marcus explained. He found their dumbfounded looks afterwards to be funny.

“Really!?” Kara asked in surprise. “On Krypton, no one is considered an adult until they would be around 25 in Earth years! This is so much better!” Kara's mind was racing. She didn't have to stay on that boring Kansas farm if she didn't want to!? She was already planning on moving out immediately! …Although, where would she go? Kara shrugged, she'd figure that out later.

Megan was surprised to hear that information as well. She was a lot more knowledgeable about Earth TV than its actual laws. The fact that she didn’t technically have to follow her Uncle J’onn around all the time, if she didn't want to, was a relief to know as well. She still liked spending time with her uncle, but he did have a lot of rules that clashed with her freer personality.

Dick frowned at where Marcus was going with this. “Are you sure it was a good idea to tell these two that, Marcus?” Dick whispered to him. He noticed the way both girls were now grinning to themselves mischievously. As someone who'd been raised by Batman, Dick wasn't sure if it was a good idea to let two powerful alien women roam around unsupervised…

Marcus nodded. “It's not fair for them to be treated like children or prisoners.” He explained. “It's also not legal.” He added, knowing that Batman and Robin actually respected the law for some reason...

Dick grimaced but he had to agree with Marcus there.

“So what was that training mission that G–your grandpa wanted to send you on?” Megan asked Marcus. Dick and Kara were interested in knowing as well.

“Oh, that?” Marcus rubbed his hand through his blond locks. He knew he probably shouldn't tell them any information on God almost dying or the Eldritch monstrosities. “He wanted me to check up on some other worlds for him. Some weird spatial stuff, that's hard to explain, happened and those worlds got cut off from him…” Marcus trailed off. Even that didn't sound great from his perspective. “They will also be great places to train myself as well.” He added.

“He got cut off?” Dick asked. “So he's not all powerful?”

“All powerful depends on your viewpoint, I suppose.” Marcus answered. “Can he create worlds, life and even revive the dead? Yes, he can do all that… to a point. Is he omnipotent and omnipresent in every universe? …No.”

Dick turned to Megan and Kara and was about to ask them “if they could believe what they were hearing!?” He then remembered that they were both aliens and probably weren't believers in the first place… He hoped that information never got out to the general public or it could cause a religious upheaval…

“Other universes?” Kara asked. “We experimented a bit with those on Krypton. It then became forbidden research for some reason. Is something wrong with the other worlds you'll be going to?” She asked in concern for Marcus. She'd finally met a decent guy on this hick planet, and she didn't want anything bad to happen to him. She knew she was crushing hard on him, but she couldn't help it. She’d found that Kryptonians were better looking than most humans, but even then she’d never seen someone like Marcus back on Krypton.

Megan was also concerned for Marcus when she heard Kara's question. “I heard your mom suggest we could go with you? I'm pretty strong and Kara is a Kryptonian. You should let us come.” Megan requested. It could be a genuine adventure just like some of her favorite TV shows. Megan hoped that the genre ended up being Action/Romance as well…

“Yeah! Let's go now! When we come back, that'll prove to Kal that I'm perfectly capable of being on my own!” Kara declared with a fistpump!

“What!? We can't just go to another universe without telling anybody! That's a terrible plan!” Dick exclaimed. ‘What were these three thinking!?’

Kara glanced down at Dick. “We? …Sorry, short stack. You're not invited.” She said bluntly. She wanted to go on a Date–er–mission with Marcus alone. She already knew they’d probably take the Martian girl as well, so Kara wasn’t letting the little teenager come as a fourth wheel!

Dick sputtered in indignation. “Y–You!” He pointed at Kara in annoyance before turning to Marcus. “You're not just gonna leave me out because I'm a kid are you?” Dick asked him. Now that he suddenly wasn’t invited, he wanted to go!

Marcus thought about it for a second. On one hand, it was a dick move to not take Dick with them–no pun intended. On the other hand, Marcus didn't particularly want to take responsibility for a 13 year old if anything happened to Dick. For all Marcus knew, they could be traveling to a zombie universe or something similar. Marcus, Kara, and Megan would all be fine in that instance, but Dick as a regular human would not be…

“Sorry, Dick.” Marcus said. “I'll think about taking you along next time, but for now I don't know what to expect.”

Dick stomped his foot on the ground and scowled. “Lame!” Dick yelled. “I'm telling Batman!” He turned around and started running back towards the mansion.

Marcus watched him leave, and promised in his head that he would make it up to the kid later. Marcus didn't want to be responsible for him at this time though.

“Alright then!” Kara ran forwards and latched herself onto Marcus’s arm! She shot a grin at Megan as she did so… “Let's go before Kal comes and tries to stop us!” She declared while pointing forwards!

Megan glared at Kara jumping on Marcus. “How are we supposed to get there anyway? Can I bring my bioship?” She asked.

Marcus explained. “I can basically just open a portal directly to where I want to go. This power was gifted to me by my mom recently, and it's sort of instinctive. Grandfather was the one who told me where to go though. This was supposed to be a world very similar to our own Earth in the past. Except there was no Magic, Atlanteans, or anything Supernatural at all really.” He said what he knew, which wasn’t much. “Also, I'm not strong enough to open a portal big enough for a whole spaceship currently.” He apologized.

Megan nodded. “That’s ok. I’ll just send my ship a telepathic message that I'll be back later.” Megan said. Her eyes glowed green as she did just that.

“Uh oh. The kid just reached the mansion. We gotta go!” Kara exclaimed! Her super hearing heard him reach the front door of his mansion. He had been putting the whole way there out loud.

Marcus closed his eyes and focused inside himself. He honed in on the power that was recently granted to him. He pulled on his mother's feather and willed it to open a pathway.

BOOM!

A glowing golden portal appeared directly in front of Marcus! It was a swirling vortex of power that he instinctively knew he wouldn't understand for a long time. All he knew was that it worked.

Kara let go of Marcus and cheered. “Let's go!” She didn't even hesitate and hopped through the golden portal immediately! Marcus was a bit taken aback by her enthusiasm. He figured she must have been really pent up for some excitement…

Before Marcus followed after her, he pulled out his phone and sent a quick text to his mom. He also decided to send one to Artemis as well. It was short and just told her he wouldn't be attending school for the next few days while “some things got sorted out.” With that done, he slipped his phone back into his pocket and stepped through his portal as well.

…

–Gabriel–

Gabriel was proud of her son! The pretty blonde alien girl was upset and her son didn't hesitate to go after her. She smiled to herself, knowing that she had raised her son correctly. ‘He’s such a wonderful gentleman!’

“I'm sorry about Kara making a scene there everyone. She's been moody lately. She doesn't know just how strong she is and that she could hurt someone if she isn't careful.” Superman said and Gabriel sighed in her head. He might be a great hero and a selfless man, but he wasn’t turning out to be the best mentor. Neither was the Martian sitting next to him.

Gabriel could have given Superman and the Martian Manhunter some advice on the subject of proper parenting, but why would she? The further they pushed those two girls away, the more they just pushed them right into her son's waiting arms!

Gabriel giggled quietly.

Gabriel truly did love her son! When he was younger and realized what world he had been born into, he declared he wanted a harem! He quickly took back his words, when he realized such a thing was embarrassing to say out loud, but Gabriel never forgot! If her son wanted a harem full of beautiful girls, then she might as well help him! Of course, as his mother she would make sure to keep the riff raff away from him. That's why she'd put each girl through a few tests to make sure they were worthy of being with HER son!

BEEP! BEEP!

And speaking of, Gabriel reached into her toga’s pocket–yes it had pockets–and pulled out her phone. Xenovia had sent her a message. A very long and detailed message…

Gabriel scrolled through it at super speed.

‘Let's see, here…’ Gabriel read through. ‘Xenovia met with Lex… blah blah blah. He did the DNA test. He's pissed that his son was kept from him blah blah blah… Oh! There it is!’ Gabriel smiled as she read. ‘Lex was also furious that his son had a bounty on his head! From a family that made all their money through obvious organized crime as well.’ Gabriel nodded when she finished reading. The message ended with Xenovia assuring Gabriel that Lex was going to personally go after the Winston family for daring to go after a Luthor–even if they didn't know it. ‘He demands to meet his son as soon as possible.’ Was the last thing she read. She’d have Marcus officially meet his father when he returned from his trip stronger and more mature.

Gabriel sent Xenovia a message that simply said “good job!” No doubt the obsessive girl would hound her later about finally being able to join her son's harem…

BANG!

The door to the dining room slammed open. Yahweh was in the middle of answering some of the Heroes questions, about the wider supernatural world, when Dick Grayson stormed in. The young man looked very annoyed.

Gabriel noticed her father gave her a mischievous grin and a wink. He vanished from his chair in small wisps of golden light while everyone was distracted…

…

“Are you alright, Dick?” Bruced asked.

“No!” Dick replied. “Stupid Marcus, and the other two, ditched me to go have an adventure by themselves!”

“...What?” Bruce asked with a deadpan expression.

Superman stood up from his seat with a look of concern. “What are you talking about, son?”

“Marcus and the girls are going to another universe!” Dick stated.

All three of the heroes' eyes widened at Dick’s proclamation. Bruce immediately turned towards his two guests. “Gabriel, care to explain this?” He asked…Bruce then noticed that Gabriel…and Yahweh…were both gone. ‘Huh? So that's what that feels like.’ Bruce thought with a smirk. Usually it was him mysteriously vanishing on people. He couldn't help but let out a small chuckle.

Superman and Manhunter both rushed past Dick and out of the dining room.

“This has been quite an odd turn of events, Master Bruce. Also–erh–Yahweh left you a letter, Sir.” Alfred set and he handed Bruce a slip of paper. Bruce raised an eyebrow as he opened it and started reading.

…

–Artemis–

Artemis woke up with a throbbing headache. It had been a while since she'd been drugged with anything that powerful. Pretty much, ever since her dad walked out of her life and stopped the brutal training he put her and her sister through.

She noticed she was on her living room couch. What was surprising was that she didn't wake up alone. Her mother and Jade were sitting at the dining room table. The two of them were eating breakfast and acting like nothing was wrong!

“What the fuck, Jade!?” Artemis yelled as she walked over while clutching her head. “You drugged me!”

“It's Chesire, Artemis. We went over this last night.” Her sister said nonchalantly as she sipped some morning coffee.

“What happened to Marcus!?” Artemis demanded to know!

Cheshire gave her sister a grin.

Their mother spoke up. “Artemis…there's a video on the internet. It features your father…and Marcus. Very handsome boy by the way. I approve.” Her mother nodded.

Artemis’s eyes widened! A video with both of them? Did her bastard father hurt him!? Artemis would kill him if he did!

Chesire saw Artemis getting herself all worked up again in her own head. She sighed as she handed her phone to her little sister. The video was already cued up. She had watched the video eight times herself and laughed every time. She might be forced to work with her old man, on occasion, but she still hated the guy just as much as the other women in the family! “Take a look for yourself.”

Artemis played the video. She had no idea what to suspect when it started. She saw her father in his villain costume confronting Marcus. Her father was demanding that Marcus surrender to him! That’s when the video took an unexpected turn! Instead of being afraid of him, Marcus, and even all the nearby spectators, started laughing at Sportsmaster! Her father took it personally and then attacked Marcus with lethal force! Only to fail and end up getting taken down in a single punch! Artemis was shocked as the video ended. She wanted to watch it another time but her sister snatched her phone back.

“Yep! Your boyfriend is in the wind and dad's street cred has taken a massive hit. I doubt anyone will want to hire him again in the future.” Chesire said with a small laugh.

“And what happened to Marcus after?” Artemis asked again.

Chesire shrugged. “Who knows? He certainly hasn't been caught yet.”

Artemis was thankful to hear that at least. She hoped Marcus was ok wherever he was.

…

“So this is another universe?” Marcus asked out loud as he looked around. “I was expecting things to be a lot different than this.” They'd found themselves in a modern looking city.

“We're in New York!” Megan said cheerfully. She always wanted to visit this city! A bunch of her favorite Earth TV shows took place here! “I read a bunch of the nearby human's minds! They have Superheroes, too, in this world!” Megan exclaimed.

“Really?” Kara asked. “Are they aliens like us then? Because, Marcus said this world had no supernatural elements?”

Marcus was also surprised to hear that. Superheros in New York? They weren't in Marvel were they!?

WOOSH!

Marcus looked up and his eyes widened. A man just flew over them at incredibly high speeds!

“Wow! It's Homelander!”

“He's so cool! The leader of the Seven!”

“The greatest hero in the world!”

People nearby cheered in excitement just from seeing that hero fly by.

“Wow…” Kara commented. “That guy is just as popular as my cousin is in Metropolis.”

“That's Homlander. The leader of this world's version of the Justice League. They call themselves The Seven.” Megan said as she gleaned more information from the minds of people nearby. “They're apparently some amazing heroes that keep the world safe from evil! They even have their own movies!”

“So this world developed its own superheroes even after being cut off from Heaven?” Marcus muttered. “This world seems to be doing alright then…”

“So what do we do now?” Kara asked them both. “We can’t go back! We just got here!”

“We wouldn't be able to anyway.” Marcus said. He felt the feather’s power, inside of him, go into some sort of ‘cooldown.’ He felt like it could be days–maybe longer–before they could travel back. He wasn’t expecting for that to happen.

Megan was looking antsy next to them. Marcus could tell that she wanted to take in the city's sites judging by how excited she was looking at everything.

“Well, we're here. We might as well explore a bit. Maybe we’ll meet some of this world’s heroes up close?” Marcus said.

XXX

C 6

Marcus, Kara and Megan were all currently sitting in a small Cafe going over what they knew about this place so far. Marcus took a sip of his coffee as he listened to Megan give everyone a run down on what she’d learned from skimming people's minds.

“So to summarize, this world is protected by Supes who battle against crime. Oddly there are no Supervillains though…” Marcus said. That was pretty strange. What was the point of Superheroes without any villains?

“The Justice League, in this world, is called the Seven and they’re led by a man named Homelander, who is basically a blond version of my cousin?” Kara asked for confirmation.

Megan nodded as she sipped her own coffee. “MMmm! That's good! We don’t have coffee on Mars! I always saw it on TV and wanted to try some!” She set her cup down on the small table between the three of them. “Yeah, the Seven are basically the Justice League here, except they only fight common criminals because there are no Supervillains. Also they don’t have a no kill rule…they actually seem to go out of their way to kill villains sometimes. No one in the media seems to care though.”

Marcus wasn’t sure to feel about that. “On one hand, I’ve never been a fan of the Justice League’s no killing rule. I feel like some villains just plain need to be put down. On the other hand, I don’t agree that every criminal deserves to die. What about someone who just steals food for their family because they can't afford it?” Marcus asked. Marcus had his own moral code. Most exorcists or people raised like one, in his case, did. After all the crazy things he'd seen–stray devils, vampires, ghouls, wicked oni, and even more–he knew the world wasn't black and white!

…Unless he literally ended up in a world that was black and white at some point…

Megan frowned. Growing up on Mars, with her true skin color, made life incredibly hard for her and her brother. They would frequently have to steal food themselves just to survive… She didn’t think that desperate humans deserved to die either.

As for Kara, Krypton didn't exactly have much crime, and people never went hungry because robots farmed all their food. Kara was, therefore, surprised at finding out that some people couldn't even afford food on Earth. This Earth or the other one.

A waitress walked up to their table, pausing their conversation. “Can I get you anything else? Anything at all?” Her eyes were intensely focused solely on Marcus as she asked the question. Marcus did his best to not look uncomfortable. The waitress was blatantly licking her lips as she stared at him…

In fact, pretty much everyone in the Cafe had been staring at the three of them since they entered. Marcus and Kara were both gorgeous blondes and Megan was also very cute and had interesting green skin. There had been multiple whispers all around about the three of them being obvious Supes… Marcus didn't bother correcting anyone because they weren't exactly wrong.

Kara and Megan both scoffed at the waitress trying to make a move on Marcus. “We're good here thank you!” Kara said as she pulled out a $20 bill and handed it to the waitress. She then made a shooing motion at the woman.

The waitress scowled jealousy at Kara before heading back to the kitchen.

Figuring they were done with all the inquisitive stares they were receiving, the three of them headed back outside into the city. They had arrived on this world around noon and it was now almost 3 in the afternoon.

“We're going to have to think about where we're going to sleep tonight.” Marcus said. He reached into his pocket and pulled out his wallet. Checking inside, he found that he had around $250 in cash.

Kara had only been given $100, by Kal-El earlier, and she'd just used $20 to pay for their snacks and drinks.

Megan had no money on her at all…

They were technically in a different universe so Marcus’s credit cards obviously didn't work. All in total they had under $400. Enough to get a hotel room for a night or two, but not much else.

“How expensive is lodging in this city?” Kara asked.

“About $200 dollars a night…” Marcus replied.

Kara blanched. “Oh my Rao… Are you kidding me!? How does anyone live on this planet!? Food and lodging were free on Krypton for all citizens!” She exclaimed while stomping her foot angrily.

CRACK!

The concrete underneath her cracked loudly. People walking nearby paused and stared at the unusually strong girl.

“I'm sorry…” Kara apologized with a small blush. Most of the people walking by shrugged and moved on.

…

Most people were used to Supes in the city at this point. Megan standing next to Kara also cemented the fact that she was one as well. They moved along, but one man was staring at the group of three with stars in his eyes. He couldn't believe his luck! Where had these three young talents been!?

The young man with his golden blond hair and brilliant green eyes put every male model he'd ever seen to shame. He was an absolute teenage heart throb!

The blond girl next to him had a perfect figure and a beautiful heart-shaped face! Her looks were perfect and then she had one of the most desirable Supe powers there was… Super Strength! He wondered if he was looking at the next Queen Maeve!?

And then there was the green skinned girl! Her figure was also a perfect hourglass and her skin made her look enticingly exotic!

“You three! Wait up, please!” The man called out as he chased after the three walking down the sidewalk.

…

Marcus turned around and saw a man wearing a typical business suit running up to them. The man reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a business card. He hastily shoved it into Marcus’s hands.

“Thanks for stopping. My name is Ryan Danvers. I'm a talent scout for Vought! You three are absolutely perfect! Are you currently in a contract with any other heroes company!?” The talent scout asked excitedly.

Marcus scratched his cheek and awkwardly looked at his two companions. Both girls gave him a shrug. He looked back to the supposed talent scout. “Um…no?” He said questioningly. “We are not.”

A bright smile lit up on the man's face! “That's great! I'll tell you now that all three of you have exactly what it takes to be amazing upcoming heroes! Your looks are absolutely perfect!” He said.

“O–our looks?” Megan asked, pointing at herself.

The agent's head nodded up and down rapidly. “That's right! You especially, green girl! There aren't enough exotic female Supes right now and there's a big market for that kind of thing.” He explained.

“Exotic!?” Megan exclaimed. She didn't know if she should be flattered or offended…

“Wait,” Kara cut in. “You don't care about our powers?” She asked.

The agent shook his head. “Not really.” He leaned in and whispered to them. “To be honest, most Supes' powers aren't even that useful. Even the newest upcoming member of the Seven, Starlight, isn't that impressive.” The agent had read up on her. She was hired as a pretty face and her sparkly electricity powers looked flashy on TV.

“Huh?” Marcus said curiously. Wasn't that something… The Superhero business in this world really was a business apparently.

“Do we get paid?” Kara asked bluntly. Megan gave her an incredulous look and Kara shrugged. “We're broke right now.” She said out loud.

Marcus sighed… He'd need to teach Kara about human negotiations. The first rule of business…never admit you're broke.

The Agent smiled widely! “Of course you'll get paid! And if you don't have a place to stay, I'm sure Vought will be more than happy to work something out for you three!” He said.

“Ok.” Marcus replied and the two girls also nodded. He needed to investigate this world anyway.  What better way than from the inside. It would also help to be completely broke and homeless as he did so…

“Alright! Vought tower is only a few blocks from here! I promise that you'll be amazed. You might even get lucky and meet a member of the Seven…unless it's Starlight.” The man said quietly at the end. Most people at Vought didn't think she would be sticking around very long.

…

–Madelyn Stillwell–

Madelyn Stillwell was sitting in her office talking to the latest member of ‘HER’ new Superhero team.

“It's such an honor to be able to join the Seven!” Annie January, otherwise known as Starlight, said enthusiastically. She had a bright smile on her face. “It's been my dream since I was a little girl.”

Madelyn thought this naive country girl was going to get eaten alive. She put on a fake smile though. “And the Seven is so glad to have such an amazing hero like you join them! The team is just so excited to meet you!” Madylen lied her ass off with practiced ease. She knew for a fact no one on the team could give a fuck…

Starlight grinned happily. “Really!? I can't wait to meet them as well and–”

Knock Knock Knock!!!

Starlight was cut off as there was some very enthusiastic knocking coming from her office door. Madelyn thanked the stars that someone had come to save her from having to speak with this ‘naive dumb blonde’ any longer! “Come in!” She called out.

A man she vaguely recognized walked into the room. She remembered him being one of her talent scouts. Madylyn figured that he must have discovered someone pretty impressive due to the wide grin on his face.

“Miss Stilwell! Hello, it's Ryan Danvers, ma’am.”

“Of course, Ryan Come in! Have you met Starlight? Starlight, this is Ryan. One of our best talent scouts.” Madelyn said.

Ryan was so excited that he didn't even notice Starlight was originally in the room. “Yeah, great to meet you Starbright.” He said with a half-hearted glance before turning back to his boss and grinning!

“It’s Starlight…” Starlight gaped at being so easily dismissed. She'd never met such a rude man! He didn't even get her name right!

He ignored her and kept talking to Madelyn. “Holy shit on a Tuesday, Mam! I hit the motherfucking jackpot! Three Supes! All ridiculously good looking! AND they all have insane powers! All three of them are going to be the next generation of the Seven! I absolutely guarantee it! You're not going to believe them! We might even have the next Homelander in the building!” He rambled enthusiastically. He couldn't believe the powers those three displayed when they went through the routine tests!

Madelyn didn't know how to respond to all that. ‘The next Homelander?’ She certainly hoped not. One psychotic invincible manchild was already incredibly difficult to deal with. She figured that she should at least go and take a look though. She didn't think she'd ever seen any of her talent scouts so excited before.

“The next me, huh? Well, isn't that something…” A head peeked around the corner of her office door. Just the man she was thinking about was standing there. Madelyn could immediately tell that he was not happy at hearing what her talent scout said. Madelyn sighed… Ryan was a dead man for sure. Looks like she'd need to find a replacement for him soon.

“Homelander! Oh my gosh!” Starlight said enthusiastically.

Madelyn put on her rehearsed loving smile. “Hi, Homelander. I was just heading down to the testing room to meet Vought’s potential recruits that RYAN here found. Would you like to come with?” She asked. She specifically placed emphasis on Ryan's name to make sure Homelander knew that she would never think about replacing him! “You should come to Starlight.” Madelyn added as an afterthought.

Homelander was doing his best not to smash everything in sight. He smiled brightly at Starlight who was currently fangirling at him. “I would love to come. Always good to meet the next generation of heroes!”

….

Marcus, Kara and Megan were standing around an empty Vought training room awkwardly. Despite only originally caring about their looks, the agent said he still had to see a bit of what they could do with their powers. When they showed him, the man was utterly shocked.

Ryan was even blown away by Marcus, who was arguably the current weakest of the three of them at the moment.

“He's been gone a couple minutes? You think he's coming back?” Megan asked jokingly.

“I think he was just freaked out by the amazing abilities Kara displayed. She lifted over 100 tons on that industrial weight press over there.” Marcus said.

“Hmph! That'll show him that I'm more than just a pretty face!” Kara said with a pout that Marcus thought was cute.

“Me too!” Megan added.

Marcus saw the perfect opportunity for some teasing. “Awe, but I happen to like both of your pretty faces.”

Kara sputtered. “What!?”

Megan squeaked. “You do!?”

Marcus grinned at her reaction. He found that he really liked teasing these two future heroines. He liked Kara’s and Megan’s reactions a lot more than a certain blue haired girl he'd grown up with in the vatican. If he tried teasing her, she would immediately jump on him and proclaim that they should have babies together! It's not that Marcus didn't think Xenovia was hot, because she definitely was. He just didn't want to be a dad before he even officially hit twenty years old…

Kara was blushing. “You can't just say something like that out of the blue!”

“…You don't care that I'm…green?” Megan asked him.

Marcus shook his head. “I wouldn't care whatever color you were, Megan. Green, white, or bright pink even! I would like you just the same.”

Megan's eyes widened when Marcus casually skipped over the color white. It hadn't quite clicked for her until just now. ‘She wasn't on Mars anymore…’ She was on Earth. A different Earth, currently, but still! Megan realized that humans wouldn't actually care what color her true skin color was. To them, she was just going to be another Martian.

Kara noticed Megan's surprise at Marcus's response. She wondered what that was about? Krypton didn't have the concept of racism so she was completely clueless as to why Megan would even mention her green skin. She'd ask the other girl about it later.

The three of them spent the next few minutes just chatting while they waited for the guy who ran out on them to return.

After a bit of time, the door to the training room flew wide open and the talent scout had returned. They all noticed that he wasn't alone. There were three other people with him. Two of them were even wearing Superhero costumes. Marcus and Kara didn't recognize either of them though. Only Megan, who had skimmed some people's thoughts, could recognize  Homelander. Even then, she didn't know much else about the man. Her reaction to his presence wasn't much different from her two new friends.

“You three! You'll never believe who wants to see what you all can do in person! Look! It's Homelander!” Ryan said enthusiastically.

Homelander smiled at the three young adults and was waiting for them to start gushing over him like all youths their ages did. Weirdly, for him, it never came.

“Cool…” Marcus said. “It's nice to meet you, Homelander.” He said casually. He then turned to the other Supe. “And you as well…um…”

“Starlight!” She answered for him with a grin. “The newest member of The Seven!” She put her hands to her hips and stood proud. This was a classic hero stance that her mother had her practice for hours.

“Right on…” Marcus trailed off. This was the girl that the talent scout was bad mouthing earlier as nothing but a pretty face. Marcus would withhold his judgment for now.

Madelyn Stillwell sighed at the awkward atmosphere in the room. She walked forward to greet the three youths. Honestly, she was a bit taken aback by all their appearances. The young man might be one of the most handsome guys she'd ever seen in this business. Dozens of ideas on how to market him were already flowing through her head. The other two girls were also very pretty as well.

“Nice to meet you all. I'm Madelyn Stillwell. One of the top executives here at Vought. I'm also currently in charge of marketing for our biggest heroes. So who are you and what can you do?” She decided to get right to the point.

“Yes.” Homelander decided to cut in and stepped forward. He was still in a bad mood. “I even heard mention that one of you might be my successor!” He claimed with fake enthusiasm and a very forced smile.

Marcus was surprised to hear Homelander’s words but he incorrectly assumed the reason why. Unlike the Superman of their universe, this one seemed to age. He was supposedly pushing 40 already. It only made sense to Marcus that he would probably be looking for a successor for himself.

He was obviously unaware that Homelander was the type of man who would never give up his power and would kill anyone who seemed like they could surpass him…

“You're probably talking about Kara here.” Marcus said and pointed to the blonde. “She is pretty amazing! And Megan is too!”

Kara blushed at Marcus's praise. “I'm not that amazing…” Megan had a similar reaction.

Madelyn and Homelander were doing their best not to gag at these obvious teenage crushes.

“So Kara, Megan and…?” Starlight asked his name.

He flashed her a smile. “I'm Marcus. Nice to meet you once again Starlight.”

“Oh, N-nice to meet you too…” Starlight replied with a small blush as well. They didn't make boys like this one back in her Hometown! The guy she went to Homecoming with looked like a troll in comparison.

…

Homelander wanted to punch the ‘blond little bastard’ in the face. He was stealing all of the attention of all the women in the room! Even his precious Madelyn was staring at the brat like she was looking at gold! He took a deep breath to calm himself!

…

Madelyn cleared her throat. “OK, then you three. Let's see what you can all do. Why don't we start with you Kara?”

“Sure thing?” Kara replied. “You want me to start with the industrial weight machine over there again?” Kara asked. It was basically a hydraulic press that pressed down on whoever was standing under it with a specific amount of simulated weight.

“That would be great.” Madelyn said.

Homelander himself walked over to the machine as Kara stepped underneath it and placed her hands upward on the metal. “OK, how much weight do you want?” He asked with a hint of sarcasm. “200 pounds? 300?” Her body didn’t exactly look like it could handle a ton of weight.

“We can start with 200 tons.” Kara replied. “I tried 150 earlier and it was still a bit too light for me.”

Everyone in the room except for Marcus, Megan and Ryan blanched.

“200…tons…” Madylen muttered out. This girl was just kidding,right!? That was almost half of Homelanders max weight! She turned towards Ryan and he was giving Madelyn a smug look. It was then why she realized why he had been so excited when he barged into her office earlier! She realized the girl wasn't joking at all.

Homelander entered the number onto the panel in front of him. He was expecting this girl to get turned into paste. That didnt happen…

The hydrologic press slammed down with a crushing force that would kill anyone else. Kara caught it easily though. She held it up with only a small strain in her muscles.

“Are you alright, Kara?” Marcus asked. He was pretty amazed. He could only lift about 1 ton right now with only his two wings. Megan had only been able to lift around half that.

“Yeah!” She replied. “I could probably even do 300 tons, but then I would be struggling. 200 is a good start!” Kara said. A moment later, the machine turned off and the crushing weight over her disappeared.

Madelyn was doing her best to keep the small smile on her face from turning into a massive grin! ‘Holy shit!’ They might have just found the next Homelander after all! 300 tons was insane! “Do you have any other powers, Kara?” Madelyn asked hopefully.

Kara nodded and a second later she started levitating off of the floor. “Yes! I have super strength and can fly.” In a blur of motion Kara vanished and appeared across the room. The only person who's eyes could track her was Homelander. “I also have super speed and durability.” She continued. Kara's eyes then started to glow red and she turned to look at a nearby training dummy! A red laser blasted out from each of her eyes and left deep burns on the dummy! “And I have heat vision…and X-ray vision.” She mumbled out that last part quietly while only glancing at Marcus a tiny bit.

She hadn't peaked at him! …OK, she had. But just a little bit! She liked what she saw…

…

–Homelander–

Homelander felt like his brain needed a reboot. ‘All of his powers…’ This girl had all of his powers! How was that possible!? Homelander figured that should only be possible if Kara was his daughter or something. Which of course was completely crazy. He never had any kids… Did he?

…He paused.

Homelander paused at the thought before looking at Kara more closely. She had blonde hair ‘…like him.’ She had bright blue eyes ‘…also like him.’

Homelander realized that this girl had all of his powers. His eyes widened as he came to an incorrect realization. He had been with A LOT of women over the years after all… And he never used protection because he thought he was sterile. Clearly he was wrong. He had a daughter…

He had a daughter!

HE HAD A DAUGHTER!

A genuine wide smile broke out on Homelander’s face! His dismissive attitude completely vanished. “That was absolutely amazing, Kara! Truly an impressive display! You're going to be an amazing hero!” He said to the girl he now wholeheartedly believed was his long lost daughter.

This was the happiest that Homelander had been in a long time!

…

Kara was taken aback by Homelander’s sudden enthusiasm towards her, but she still thanked him politely for his praise before walking back towards her friends.

Madelyn watched Kara put on that display and she felt herself panicking inside! ‘Vought has fucked up big time!’ Homelander didn't just have one secret child, but two!!

“How old are you, Kara?” Madelyn asked.

“I'm 18.” Kara said her age in Earth Years.

Madelyn grit her teeth. ‘Somehow Vought had missed this girl for 18 years!?’ Someone was getting fired over that. Madelyn desperately hoped it wouldn't be her. She already knew that Stan Edgar was going to be furious.

Madelyn took a calming breath before turning to Marcus and Megan. “Why don't you go next Megan? What are your powers? Is your green skin natural?”

Megan bit her lip before turning to Marcus and Kara hesitantly. She turned back to Madelyn, and to Marcus and Kara's surprise, her green skin disappeared and was replaced with a pale white. “No…this is actually my natural skin color.” She said.

Part of Megan was still waiting for that hatred that came with being a White Martian to appear from Marcus or Kara, but to Megan’s surprise, neither of them, or anyone in the room cared that she was now white.

“You know,” The talent agent said. “I think you look better with that ghostly pale skin. It's even more exotic than the green! Albinos are really in right now! Your approval numbers could be big!”

Megan didn't care about that guy’s opinion. She turned towards Marcus hesitantly.

Marcus could tell that she was looking for approval, of some kind, from him. His meta knowledge, of DC in general, allowed him to know that she was really a White Martian and that they were treated very badly on Mars. “You can be any color you want, Megan. I do think you look pretty hot as an Albino though.” He said with a laugh and Megan playfully punched his shoulder with a big smile on her face.

That was all the confirmation Megan needed. White Martians, like her, could live on Earth and face no scrutiny for their color!

“Is that all you can do?” Madelyn asked, a bit unimpressed.

Megan shook her head before she too started to levitate off the floor. She then put on a display of her own amazing powers. Flight, invisibility, telekinesis, and shape-shifting. She kept her telepathy a secret for now.

Needless to say, everyone in the room was once again blown away by her abilities.

“Hah! She's like translucent, but better!” Homelander said with a laugh. He was already wondering if he should just get rid of The Deep and Translucent and replace them with HIS daughter and her friend.

“Wow…” Madelyn said as she once again had to recollect herself. That was another unbelievable display of abilities. Once again, she was frantically wondering how Vought missed out on such a talented girl? Her gaze turned to the boy last. Would he have amazing abilities as well?

“I guess I'm up then?” Marcus said. He stepped away from Megan and Kara.

“So what can you do, kid?” Homelander asked begrudgingly. Judging by the way HIS daughter was fawning over Marcus, Homelander figured he should be at least a bit impressive as well…

Marcus stepped forward to the center of the room. Two beautiful Angelic Wings burst out from behind him. He started levitating off of the ground without needing to flap them. He then held up his hand a golden Lightspear formed in his hand. He hurled it forward towards one of the training dummies and it punched a burning hold directly through it.

Homelander let out a whistle as he looked at the training dummy. It had a large hole in its torse that was producing searing heat. Homelander could feel the heat coming off that spear. It was like a real life lightsaber.

‘Those looks and those wings!’ Madelyn was incredibly excited! Supes were always marketed as the chosen children of God…and now they had one actually that looked the part. ‘LITERALLY!’ Madelyn knew that Vought had struck utter gold with all three of them! Marcus alone should be enough to get Madelyn out of trouble for not knowing about Kara, as well.

Marcus landed back onto the floor and Megan and Kara rushed over to him.

“Your wings are so beautiful, Marcus!” Kara said. His wings were way more beautiful than the wings of the Thanagarians that she learned about in her schooling on Krypton.

“Can I touch them?” Megan asked.

Marcus shrugged. “Sure.”

Megan smiled and her hands immediately started stroking his wings. He did his best not to shiver. It felt a bit strange, but nice. He jumped slightly when he felt another pair of hands on him. Kara had unashamedly joined in and was also rubbing his feathers.

“Wow! They are so soft and warm!” Kara said.

“They’re so fluffy!” Megan added.

Starlight also wanted to touch his wings, but she held herself back from asking. That wouldn't be very professional now that she was a member of the Seven. Plus, she didn't personally know Marcus. She figured that he and the other two girls had probably been friends for years judging by how they all acted so close. Little did she know that it had actually been less than a day since they'd all met…

“Okay, enough wing rubbing!” Homelander yelled in irritation and broke the three teens up. He didn't like how HIS daughter was so close to a boy already. He'd only known he was a father for a few minutes and he was already feeling overprotective! ‘At least the boy she liked was a somewhat impressive Supe…’ He thought begrudgingly.

Megan and Kara both realized they were rubbing Marcus’s wings in front of a bunch of people. They backed away from him and blushed.

Marcus’s wings retracted into his back and he also remembered that most Angels or Fallen Angels are only supposed to let their “lovers” touch their wings. They were considered sacred for their race after all. He laughed. What just happened would have been considered very scandalous up in Heaven.

“OK, then!” Madelyn said loudly, drawing everyone's attention. “Vought is prepared to offer, each of you three, a very generous contract if you sign with us! On top of that, I can personally guarantee future entrees into the Seven whenever any future spots pop up!” Madelyn added.

Starlight gasped at that offer!

Madelyn knew that she could technically not promise that, but they're abilities were so amazing that she doubted anyone would argue with her later. Marcus or Kara could be the next face of Vought’s heroes in the future.

“I guess we’ll sign on then.” Marcus replied. This would take care of their money and housing problems for now. He’d also be able to get an insider look at working for Vought by joining up with them for a while. ‘Besides, Vought was just some regular American corporation at the end of the day. What was the worst that they could really be up to?’ Marcus thought.

XXX