A.N. Here it is. Five years in the making, the promised rewrite of my late friend's fic, 'Saiyan and the Circus (ehm) League'.
He always sucked at titles.
But even if I'm starting from scratch, I following along the storyline he intended...sort of. As all of you would probably agree, I'm a better writer. No disrespect on The Unlettered Writer. Rest in Power old friend. This fic is in part a tribute to you!
Because the chapters are so long, I'm going to space out updates quite a bit. This is the biggest planned project yet. So expect a chapter once or twice a month. But I can assure you, they will be large and juicy ones.
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Chapter 1
-Clark Kent (Superman)-
Aliens were old news by now to Metropolis. Not that people had exactly gotten completely used to extra-terrestrial visitors, but their resident protector helped take the edge off, especially since seeing him saving people every day was a regular occurrence. But the boy in blue was one of the small number of aliens that were welcome on earth for the most part.
It didn't mean it was okay for Clark to come out in the open with his identity either. Superman was the symbol of hope and by now when one opened a dictionary, hard copy or online, there'd be a proud picture of him standing tall in his blue flight suit under the word 'Hero', his red cape billowing out behind him in the wind.
Most people, around ninety-nine-point ninety nine percent really, would never connect such a figure to the mild, nerdy guy from Kansas whose workspace was tucked away in the corner of a floor of the Daily Planet. Sighing as he (needlessly) polished his glasses before popping them back on his face, he placed the coffee jug back in its holder and took a sip out of the paper cup before grimacing.
A lot of people tended to forget that super senses extended to his sense of smell and taste, and this coffee was as terrible as they came. He could taste all the different chemicals and preservatives this cheap brand put into the coffee grounds. And the guy that packaged it probably didn't wash his hands properly since he could taste the fertilizer whoever that mystery person was used in their garden.
But oh well, it was for appearance's sake. He had a civilian identity to maintain, and he hadn't exactly worked up the ranks enough yet to ask Perry if they could buy a better brand of coffee to stock up in the kitchen.
Not that he was at any risk of course. His alien physiology wouldn't even be tickled by whatever compounding damage this coffee was doing to the bodies of the humans here who drank this stuff. Didn't mean he could suddenly appreciate bad taste.
Speaking of Perry…
3…
2…
1…
"Smallville! I've got a hole below the fold with your name on it and nothing to put in it!"
Clark glanced over the rim of his mug, having easily heard the distinctive sound of his soles approach from across the entire department over the shouting, the constant ringing of the phones and the ever-constant printing of the copy machine.
"Almost finished, Chief." He replied in his usual meek tone. Not meek as in wuss but someone who doesn't exactly challenge authority a lot.
"Then almost finish it faster! Or should I just print a picture of your empty desk?!"
"You'll have it within the hour."
"Ten minutes! And I'd better not find you clicking your heels three times back to Kansas again! Where the hell do you even go?" Perry held up his hand before Clark could answer. "Nope, I don't wanna know. Just get me that piece!"
"You got it Chief!" Clark smiled whilst Perry just walked off grumbling.
Yeah, normal life was going swimmingly. Sighing as he took his coffee cup back to his desk and got back to typing. There wasn't much to write about lately, at least nothing new. In a city where a giant robot attacked the harbor almost every other day, there was little that could really count as new anymore.
Not that Clark wished it could be so. Ideally, he'd prefer it if his backyard didn't have any new visitors or threats of any sort. There was only so much he could constantly be on the lookout for before even he got exasperated. Of course, when another new themed villain wasn't tearing the city apart, the priority of everyone at the Planet was getting the newest scoop or snap of Superman and the new villain.
Kind of difficult for him to do when he WAS Superman. Duplication was not one of his powers apart from a couple of heroes and plenty of villains. Hence why he was at the bottom of the pecking order in this office. Unlike Lois, the star of the Planet, Pulitzer winner, foremost journalist expert on Superman, and secretly his girlfriend. As his eyes flickered over to her in her own glass box of an office, she looked at him over the rim of her monitor, giving him a little smirk.
Rolling his eyes, he took another sip of his coffee. Honestly, this was the most peaceful Metropolis had been in a while. A blessing given that Kara was still kind of fitting in now. She'd come far in terms of blending in and acclimating to Earth, but his cousin still encountered a few cultural blips here and there.
And a couple of blips with her powers too since she couldn't completely control her strength just yet. Pa had to restore the kitchen door a couple of times already since the last one had accidentally been launched off its hinges into the roof of the barn.
In the life of a superhero/reporter, this peace was a luxury, a privilege he wished could just last forever…
CRACK! BOOOOOMMMMMM!
.
.
.
He just had to jinx it.
Every window on the floor, as well as all the upper windows of the buildings surrounding blew inwards, spreading shattered glass everywhere as his ears filled with a few thousand screams.
The atmosphere was suddenly dyed a deep purple and red color, and harsh gales blew through the now exposed floors of the corporate skyscrapers as what looked like a tear in the sky just ripped open with a sound like thunder turned up a hundred times.
Looking up through the floors with his x-ray vision, he stared at the rift that had opened in the sky over his city. The edges of the crack glowed purple whilst cosmic colors swirled in the rift itself, with spots of burning light here and there like stars shining through.
Yup, typical interdimensional space rift. Just another Tuesday.
Traffic piled up in the streets below as people came out of their cars and stared at the phenomenon above their city, yelling and pointing at each other as some took out their phones to record. Already he could hear Perry yelling over the chaos at everyone to get their cameras out and the chopper in the air as they had just found their new page one.
Clark loved Earth but why did people insist on putting themselves in harm's way? There was no telling what was about to come through that thing…or what it would be taking with it.
Slipping into the restrooms amidst the chaos, he quickly switched to his suit and flew out of the building with no one the wiser, rising into the sky towards the rift as he heard people notice him and turn up the crazy just a little more. After inspecting the rift for a moment, he reached up to his earpiece.
"Superman to Watchtower. I'm over Metropolis. Visual confirmation on the anomaly." Clark slowed to a hover, keeping several hundred feet between himself and the ragged tear hanging in the sky. "It's approximately four hundred metres across and holding position. No visible structure, no vessel, and I'm not seeing anything through it that I recognize." His eyes narrowed as he switched through the spectrum. "X-ray isn't penetrating it. Neither is infrared. Whatever I'm looking at, I don't think it's an object."
A beat.
"Any luck identifying its energy signature?" Batman's gravelly voice came through. Huh, it was Bruce's turn to man the console today…actually, he kind of made it his turn every day.
"Negative." He replied. "But I'm pretty sure we're about to see something come through any moment. That's practically a given."
"Keep monitoring the situation. We're on our way down. My ETA is 3 minutes."
"Roger that." Clark said before his blessed hearing picked up on activity within the rift as the space within began to turn in a way that was anomalous to its already swirling patterns. "Hold on, guys. Whatever I said might be coming through? It's happening now."
Before he could get another word out, the rift spat out something that looked like a glowing green meteor, a ball of pure energy radiating so much power that it made even his hairs stand on end as it shot across the skyline towards the harbour.
Immediately taking off after it with his flight, he neared it ready to intercept before he encountered some sort of pressure field it was exerting that held him back from coming any nearer, much to his shock.
He didn't get to dwell on it for long as it blew right through a bridge, then a pier before smashing into the shallow waters of the harbour with such force that a section of the walled shoreline collapsed, boats were capsized and the water was blown back out seaward as a crater formed, the explosion releasing what looked like a plume of green fire high into the sky before it was replaced with a black mushroom cloud and vaporized water as steam rose from the seabed around the crash site.
Prioritizing the civilians, Clark quickly flew down to turn the boats back onto their hulls and pulling panicked fisherman and holiday-goers out of the water. He then flew over to the bridge and used his heat vision to seal the cracks in the bridge supports and stop it from collapsing any further, catching some stray cars that rolled off the edges where the bridge had been split in two.
He then flew over to assist pulling people trapped amidst the rubble on the shoreline, but all the time he had his ear to the crash site. Besides the sizzling and popping sounds of burning rock and melting sand, he couldn't hear anything else moving within the crash site. When he pulled the last man from where he was trapped under a concrete slab but thankfully unharmed, he flew back over to the crash site and blew away the smoke with his breath, revealing the contents and what had just landed out of the rift in the sky.
A humanoid figure, a rough looking…kid? A tall kid with a surprising amount of muscle for one his presumed age, a physique that suggested he was some sort of fighter. And…was that a monkey tail?
The alien teen was dressed in strange baggy cloth pants, with boots and a breastplate that both appeared to be very durable yet clearly made of some sort of elastic polymers that suggested it was armour meant not just to protect but to stretch also. And judging from what he was seeing, they were meant to stretch a whole lot more than it was now from holding in the kid's bulging pectorals.
As he performed a quick scan with his eyes, he saw several old scars on the kid's body beneath, along with some new injuries both internal and external. Scuffs, burns, significant muscle tearing and some organ damage. His infrared vision showed him the alien's body lit up like a reactor, meaning that even now his body was extremely hot to the touch.
A few ribs were broken too but his bones showed plenty of healed fractures, the kind he saw on the bones of many a martial artist and warrior. The fractures were healed, providing greater bone density whilst also desensitizing the person to pain. He'd seen enough of this on Bruce's body alone.
But the most bizarre part of the kid's body was yet to be stated. For the alien's wild hair was stood up straight above his head, easily adding another three feet to his height of just thick and sharp clusters of hair, glowing bright green, like each strand was just pulsating with that same energy.
The handy little scanner that Green Lantern provided him examined the readings and it got a hit off something similar and yet not quite the same as Theta-wave activity, the frequency usually associated with magic. No, this was something else.
And it also appeared that the wild hairdo was the source of the pressure field and energy field that was giving him the shivers. Exerting a little more pressure of his own than he was used to doing, he attempted to force his way over to the kid to rouse him before the alien's body twitched and he was forced to halt as the closed eyes suddenly flew open, revealing pools of blank white, glowing sclera as something akin to a guttural roar escaped the boy's throat.
The sound reverberated across the harbour as a shockwave created by the yell pushed Clark back, making him skid in the mud as the boy's body seemed to explode, a huge pillar of green energy engulfing him and shooting up into the sky. The light was so intense that it overpowered the light cast by the rift as all of Metropolis sky went dark because of how bright that pillar was, the only available light coloured green and provided by that energy pillar.
Clark wasn't unused to metas and aliens that had energy-based abilities but this amount of energy was insane as the mere castaway energy created gales that tore right through Metropolis, blowing some unfortunate people away, making cars roll like tumbleweeds and ripping things like lampposts and telephone lines out of the paved sidewalks.
This went on for ten straight seconds before it died down, and as he lowered his hands from where he didn't even realize he'd been shielding his face, he saw the alien's hair suddenly fade to a deep raven black whilst becoming considerably shorter though still wild, spiky and unkempt. The blank pools that were his eyes faded also to reveal a set of eyes that had black pupils and black irises too, making the two sections of the eye indistinguishable to the normal person.
The teen collapsed unconscious again from his levitation where he previously laid, although this time his shifted body revealed what looked like a sword, that was sort of machete shaped but the metal was unfamiliar to Clark's eyes. Not just because of the fact it was a metal as black as the void of space (though he'd seen such coloured metals on his extra-terrestrial adventures) but because its composition was insanely dense, so much more so than lead that he couldn't see through it.
And judging by the pressure he could see it exerting on the ground it lay in (and because of its indentation in the bedrock), he surmised it was ridiculously heavy in a way that certainly no human could pick it up.
Seeing as there looked to be no more surprises to come from the kid, Clark approached the unconscious teen. The alien's heartbeat was measured but slow and light, signalling he needed medical attention. The (monkey?) tail lay limp under its owner, not even twitching.
"…perman? Superman? Come in Superman." Came Batman's voice over the earpiece. "Come in Superman. Status Report."
"I'm fine." Clark said as he pressed on the button. "All good down here…for the most part." He said as he looked over the further decimated shoreline. Another booming crack in the sky made him turn to the rift in the sky that was now growing smaller, but not in jagged increments, like it was being forced shut as it sucked in billions of gallons of air from the atmosphere around it before it finally closed shut with one last bang. "Update, the anomaly's gone."
"Projectile?"
"It's a…kid." Clark said as he looked down at Earth's newest visitor. "An alien kid…kinda human looking with a tail."
"…a tail." Came Batman's simple tone over the comms.
"A long furry one." Clark said as he checked his mental calendar to see which Lantern they had on Earth now. "We might need John to run some scans with his ring if we want to find out more. But this kid needs serious medical attention. I'm seeing organ damage, internal bleeding, broken bones and fractures, and a lot of nasty burns and fried nerves. I hate to think what will happen once the authorities finally make their way here. Let's get him to the Watchtower med bay…and get him off Earth for a bit."
"I'll be there soon." Batman said simply before the line went silent. Clark sighed as he looked down over the strange alien teen and his sword. The irony of the situation was not lost on him.
"Just who are you friend?" He asked the unconscious boy. "What's your story?"
-+-
(Aboard the Watchtower)
-Bruce Wayne (Batman)-
Batman examined their alien visitor from his perch on the observation deck. Down in the med bay, nestled in a medical capsule, the alien breathed softly with no more exaggerated labour as he now had an oxygen mask attached to him. It had been almost too easy to get him out of his armour. Alien clothing, especially armour tended to be a little complicated and not as simple as the pull off type of clothing on earth.
There was pretty much no tech in the alien's armour, though an observation of its composition was interesting. It was made of some sort of textile, extremely durable with an elasticity that was almost as extreme. Like it was made to accommodate a sudden increase of growth in the wearer's body. Banged up as it was, it still appeared to hold strong against much pressure even on its last legs. It took Diana's strength to finally tear it apart to get it off him because he filled it out so much.
He'd have to analyse it further at some point, but it seemed like it could resist blades and projectile fire too. Bullets would probably be useless against it, but it seemed more suited to tanking blaster shots from energy-based fire. Given that aliens almost universally used such weapons, it was a safe bet to assume that the manufacturers of this armour had made it with that in mind.
Clearly though, the alien appeared to only be concerned about protecting his vital areas because the rest of his body was not covered in such armour, save for his boots which were made of the same material. Batman easily recognised the gi pants, if that was what they were acknowledged as by this boy, complete with a sash.
It seemed like the boy was accustomed to hand-to-hand combat. His musculature seemed to indicate that based off a preliminary scan alone. As he waited for the computer to upload a full report of his findings, his eyes flicked over to another camera feed showing footage of the hold. Clark had discarded the kid's sword there when he came back.
Because it was the only place they could put it. According to him, none of their vaults or tabletops would be able to accommodate the weight of this thing. Whatever metal it was made of was so heavy that according to Superman, it rivalled the weight of that key he'd carved from dwarf star material to open the Fortress of Solitude, the same key that was lying under a welcome mat in the middle of an arctic tundra.
Even if the few glances he got in didn't tell him enough, such a weapon most assuredly told him that this alien had super-strength. A beep from the console drew his attention and a push of a button brought up the capsule's medical report to the main screen.
+++
WATCHTOWER MEDICAL — XENOBIOLOGICAL ANALYSIS
Species: UNKNOWN
Probable origin: EXTRATERRESTRIAL / EXTRADIMENSIONAL
Sex: Male
Estimated biological age: 18–22 years
Phenotype: Humanoid
Genetic database match: NONE
GENERAL ANATOMY:
Gross anatomy closely analogous to Homo sapiens. Skeletal, muscular, cardiovascular and neurological structures follow recognizable humanoid configurations. Presence of a fully articulated caudal appendage confirmed; appendage is natural and neurologically integrated.
SKELETAL ANALYSIS:
Bone architecture superficially human but exhibits extreme density and tensile strength. Mineral composition contains unidentified structural characteristics. Estimated fracture thresholds exceed human tolerances by several orders of magnitude.
MUSCULATURE:
Muscle fibre density extraordinarily high. Tissue displays anomalous contractile efficiency inconsistent with observed body mass. Conventional biomechanical modelling cannot account for projected strength.
CARDIOVASCULAR:
Heart structurally analogous to human cardiac anatomy. Cardiac muscle substantially reinforced. Resting output unusually low relative to estimated maximum capacity. Blood oxygen transport efficiency significantly exceeds human norms.
METABOLISM:
EXTREME.
Resting caloric requirements cannot yet be determined. Cellular structures demonstrate unusually rapid nutrient uptake and energy conversion. Evidence suggests capacity for sustained metabolic output far beyond terrestrial organisms.
CELLULAR REGENERATION:
Elevated. Tissue repair currently proceeding at approximately [7] times expected human rate despite severe systemic trauma.
NEUROLOGY:
Human-analogous central nervous system. Neural conduction velocities exceed baseline human limits. Abnormally developed motor-control and proprioceptive regions consistent with extensive lifelong physical conditioning.
GENETIC ANALYSIS:
DNA-based organism. Double-helical genetic structure present. Genome displays sufficient biochemical similarity to terrestrial carbon-based life to permit conventional sequencing, but no credible evolutionary relationship with any catalogued terrestrial or extraterrestrial species has been identified.
ANOMALOUS FINDINGS:
Unknown energy present throughout every living cell.
Energy appears concentrated along recurring pathways through the body but does not correspond to the vascular, lymphatic or nervous systems.
Source unknown.
Energy classification: UNRESOLVED
Estimated total energy content: UNABLE TO CALCULATE — SENSOR SATURATION
WARNING: Multiple internal injuries display characteristics inconsistent with external trauma. Damage pattern suggests the subject's own tissues were exposed to extreme internal energetic stress.
CONCLUSION:
Unknown humanoid species possessing extreme physiological adaptations for physical exertion, environmental survival and energy production.
Threat assessment cannot be determined from biological data.
+++
If this report was supposed to reassure Batman in anyway, he was not seeing it even with his IQ. The thing that stuck out most was the unidentified energy. Scans showed that trace amounts of it was embedded in the alien's cells but when running some samples against their database, nothing came back.
It bore some similarity to magical energy, which gave the impression that mystical arts were involved somehow but clearly the alien's body was accustomed to metabolising it, perhaps in favour of elevated abilities and physical parameters. If his theory held any water, then the newcomer was obviously tapped out of it because even the report understated just how extreme his metabolism was.
He'd had the capsule increasingly pump TPN into his bloodstream (thankfully the alien was not invulnerable to needles like Superman was which was useful to know in the worst case), but so far nothing had changed. The door to the deck opened and in walked Clark and John Stewart. Batman wouldn't voice this aloud, but John was the Lantern he found more dependable. Unlike the other Earthen Green Lantern, John was serious and focused, especially in times of need. He was efficient to say the least and had immediately come in when Batman briefed him over the comms.
"Anything?" Bruce asked.
"No. Nothing in the Lantern databases either." John shook his head as he held his ring, looking as perplexed as the man could be for the first time in a long while. "Oa has kept a record of every known sapient species in the universe. Even when narrowing it down by humanoid parameters, we still found nothing."
"You're absolutely sure?" Bruce asked, not liking how increasingly strange the situation was becoming.
"He scanned him three times." Clark offered. "Each time came back with a negative result. Either the Lanterns somehow missed a species like this, or he doesn't belong in our universe at all."
"For once, I'm tempted to lean towards the latter." John said gruffly. "Oa's databases should be informed of everything in the universe. I've never seen anything to the contrary until now."
Batman looked back at the console and frowned seeing yet no change in the alien's blood sugar still.
"Increase the nutrient infusion by twenty percent." He ordered. The medical computer responded immediately.
"Infusion increased. Current metabolic consumption remains above replacement rate."
Batman frowned.
"Another twenty."
"Warning. Current parenteral nutrient consumption exceeds standard Watchtower intensive-care parameters by 4,700 percent."
Clark glanced through the deck windows and through the walls of the capsule.
"Is that dangerous?"
"It should be."
Bruce brought up another display.
"But his blood glucose isn't rising. Neither are the circulating lipids or amino acids."
"Meaning?"
Bruce stared at the numbers.
"He's using all of it."
"He puts Barry's record to shame." John commented, remembering the time they'd had to stick a burnt out and beat up Flash in there after another Thawne incident. When Barry had first told them his metabolism was crazy, they'd underestimated him and it had led to them always stocking up on extra TPN in the med bay. And judging from the readings he was seeing, that stock was quickly being cleaned out.
"Back to the other universe topic." Clark said. "What makes you swing your vote that way?"
"Because I scanned the residual energy left behind by that rift." John said as his ring projected the data he'd generated from that scan.
[Residual electromagnetic, gravitational and exotic energy signatures detected. No complete match within local database.]
"What's the closest match?" Bruce asked.
John frowned. "Interdimensional transit event."
"You're sure?" Clark asked.
"Not exactly." John said. "Normal portals bend space. Boom Tubes punch through it. Dimensional gates connect two places that already have some relationship with each other." He pointed at the centre of the projection. "This doesn't."
"Explain." Bruce said.
"In simple terms, the energy at the edge of the rift belonged here. Atmosphere, radiation, matter caught in the event. All Earthen quantities. But the residue spat out from inside the rupture doesn't match our vacuum state. There's also plenty of that same residue all over our guest's body." John switched off the projection and clenched his hands. "Oa will be all over this. I'll hold off my report as long as possible, until you've gotten control of the situation here and know what you're dealing with. But an unprecedented event like this is going to get special attention from the Lantern Corps."
"I've been getting requests from the Pentagon and the White House." Superman said. "They're all over the encrypted channels, demanding we 'hand over the alien to the authorities', citing all types of concerns ranging from him being a vector of unknown alien pathogens to an invasion force. They're also upset about the property damage."
"We don't know anything about him yet, but it'll be a cold day in hell before we let them disappear him into some black site lab." John said. He considered himself a patriotic man, outside of his Lantern duties, but the American government and the many powers that propped it up had many dark sides and few good sides. He didn't even want to think about what would happen to the boy if they turned him over to them.
"They can complain all they like." Batman said as he monitored the alien's vitals. "Until we know what and who we're dealing with, he's not going anywhere. Did you see to the other thing?"
"Actually, we did…and you're gonna want to see this." Clark said, seeming slightly more amused than usual as he pulled out a familiar object.
The alien didn't come with tech heavy armour, but he did come with some accessories. He had on him several strange capsule-like objects with buttons on the top. Along with a small pouch of strange green beans. One of said beans had been submitted for testing in the lab and the results were pending but it was the capsules he was wary of.
Being led by his two friends into the hangar for the sake of one of such capsules didn't do much to dissuade his suspicions. Clark thumbed down one of the buttons on top of the capsule before tossing it at the floor a few feet away.
POOM.
White vapour erupted across the deck. Bruce's eyes narrowed automatically, attempting to cut through the expanding cloud with his cowl's HUD—and then stopped.
Something enormous was unfolding inside it. Not assembling. Not growing.
Appearing.
Space seemed to buckle around the capsule for less than a second. The air was violently displaced outward as several hundred cubic metres of previously non-existent volume asserted itself inside the hangar. Moisture condensed instantly in the pressure change, turning the displaced atmosphere into a rolling cloud of white mist.
Then it was over. The vapour drifted apart. Sitting where something smaller than Clark's thumb had landed was a fully constructed domed house. Complete with windows, a front door and even what looked like a chimney.
And, judging by what Bruce could see through the windows, furniture and carpets. He stared at it for a few moments, a million questions on his mind, only starting with the absurdity of what he'd just seen.
"Have you been inside yet?" He asked.
"No." John answered. "And before you ask, there's a panel on the side of the house that turns it back into a capsule when you push it."
Without another word, Batman made his way over to the residence. The exterior suggested something between a prefabricated home and a spacecraft module: rounded walls, compact dimensions, smooth surfaces. Inside, however, it was unmistakably a home. A small one. And a lived-in one. Bruce stopped just beyond the entrance and surveyed the room before touching anything.
A sofa occupied one wall, accompanied by a low table and two chairs. A television stood opposite it, its screen dark. Shelving had been fitted into the curved walls, holding books, electronic devices and several objects whose purposes weren't immediately obvious. A jacket had been folded over the back of one chair rather than thrown there.
The place wasn't immaculate, it was neat. That distinction mattered.
There were signs of habitation everywhere—a drinking glass beside the sink, a book left face-down on the table, a pair of heavy boots beside the entrance—but very little actual mess.
Bruce's gaze moved upward. Lighting panels had activated automatically when he'd entered. No visible power connection.
Bruce crossed to the nearest wall and found a control panel. He pressed a switch and the television came on. Another control operated climate regulation. The interior was maintaining a comfortable twenty-one degrees Celsius despite the hangar outside being several degrees cooler.
Continuing towards the kitchenette, he turned the tap. Water came out. Bruce stared at it for a moment before placed two fingers beneath the stream. Warm. Turning the opposite control, cold water came out.
There was no visible external water supply on the outside. There was also no water reservoir large enough to account for what the house's instruments claimed remained available. He opened the cabinet beneath the sink. Pipes. At least those existed.
They disappeared into the floor. The floor was less than thirty centimetres above the Watchtower deck. Crouching, his scanner that he'd pulled from his utility belt traced the pipe downward and lost it. His expression didn't change.
There was a shower in the adjoining bathroom. Toilet. Sink. Hot and cold running water. Ventilation. Waste disposal. All functional. The toilet presented an entirely separate engineering problem that Bruce decided could wait. The capsule had apparently stored not merely the physical structure but a functioning house, complete with whatever infrastructure allowed it to operate independently after deployment.
Either the building contained power generation, water recycling and waste reclamation systems sufficiently compact that his scanners hadn't identified them - or the technology was doing something considerably stranger. Neither possibility was trivial.
Returning to the kitchen, he opened a distinctive door revealing a refrigerator was running. He opened it and paused. It was full. Very full.
Fresh vegetables occupied two drawers. Eggs, bottled drinks, several cartons covered in an unfamiliar and familiar script, tofu, fish, meat. A considerable amount of meat. Bruce moved one package aside and just found more meat.
Another shelf contained prepared meals in neatly sealed containers. Rice, pickled vegetables, sauces. Something resembling miso paste.
He closed the refrigerator and opened the pantry.
That was where the scale of the situation became apparent. Rice dominated an entire lower shelf. Not a packet but a large sack. Beside it were noodles, dried seaweed, preserved vegetables, tins, sauces, spices and rows of instant meals. Several looked remarkably like instant ramen, right down to the disposable bowls and flavour packets.
Bruce took one down. The writing wasn't exactly Japanese, but the cultural similarities were difficult to miss. Rice as a staple. Noodles. Soy-derived products. Pickled vegetables. Seafood. Tea. Familiar arrangements of ingredients and utensils.
Not Japanese perhaps, since the occupant wasn't from Earth, but something remarkably similar had developed wherever he was from. Bruce put the container back precisely where he'd found it, then noticed the remaining shelves.
Food. More food. And more beneath that. He opened another cupboard. Food. A third. More. Batman looked back toward the refrigerator.
The medical bay had already consumed an uncomfortable percentage of the Watchtower's parenteral nutrition reserves keeping the alien supplied. This was beginning to provide context.
High metabolic demand. Apparently, that wasn't limited to injury. He continued his search.
The bedroom was similarly orderly. The bed had been made, albeit without much concern for presentation. Clothing occupied drawers rather than the floor. Several sets were unfamiliar, while others bore enough resemblance to Earth clothing to be unremarkable.
Then Bruce found the wallet. It was sitting in a drawer beside several small personal effects. Inside was currency. Paper notes, coins, a few cards. And identification.
Bruce removed one of the cards, and it was immediately recognizable for what it was. Not because he could read the language (which he could since it was English, and the Watchtower's universal translation software was still building a lexicon given that civilizations tended to converge on certain practical solutions).
Photograph. Date. Identification number. Physical characteristics. Address. And finally, a Name.
SON BARDOCK
Bruce looked toward the photograph. Same face. Black hair rather than the glowing green they'd briefly observed when the alien had emerged from the rupture, suggesting that black was the normal colour. Dark eyes, a neutral expression and young. The medical estimate had already placed him somewhere around his late teens or early twenties.
Bruce checked the second card and found a driver's licence. Same name. So, they finally had something other than the alien.
"Bardock," Bruce said quietly. A strange name, but a name at last. The licence contained an address and a terrestrial-looking street address from a place that, according to a quick scan with every database in the Watchtower, did not exist on Earth.
Bruce committed both cards to his eidetic memory before returning them to the wallet. Then he noticed the photographs, framed on the walls. They were printed not digital, meaning they were personal. That told him more about Bardock than the identification did.
Bruce picked up the first. It was a large group photograph. Dozens of people amongst whom Bardock stood.
Bruce studied each face. The first man caught his attention immediately because the resemblance was unmistakable. Black hair exploding outward in thick spikes and a goofy broad smile. Orange martial-arts uniform, baggy and like the gi pants they'd taken off Bardock. His facial structure was close enough to Bardock's that coincidence was unlikely.
Family. Doubled down by the fact that the smiling man had his arm slung around Bardock's shoulders in the photo despite being much shorter than the boy. Familial for sure, though the age difference was hard to determine. Bardock's posture there indicated a level of deference, suggesting that orange clad man was older, perhaps a senior member of Bardock's family.
Beside him stood a woman with long black hair, dressed considerably more conventionally in distinct Asian fashion, and two younger men. One was tall and athletic with short dark hair and glasses. The other was smaller, a young child, with the same impossible black hair as his father. A family within the larger family. The one with the glasses had his hand behind the hips of a young woman who held a little girl in her arms. The younger woman didn't resemble Bardock and the other young men, but the girl did. So she must have been the spouse of the bespectacled one.
The extra context allowed Batman to determine that the two young men were cousins to Bardock since their posture with the orange clad man was far more familial, making the orange clad man Bardock's uncle and the older woman his aunt by marriage. However, there was a clear absence of tails amongst them, though given they were facing the camera, the appendages could be obscured, though he felt that that possibility was not correct.
Bruce's attention shifted.
A shorter man stood nearby with sharply upswept black hair, a dramatically prominent widow's peak and an expression suggesting that posing for the photograph had been somebody else's idea. His arms were folded. Beside him was a blue-haired woman smiling confidently at the camera, one hand resting against him despite his apparent irritation. A lavender-haired young boy stood close by, along with a small blue haired girl.
Bruce looked between the black-haired man and the lavender-haired youth.
Another family. The boy's face was familiar.
Not from the Watchtower database.
From one of the other photographs, he'd just uncovered. Bardock and another lavender-haired youth much closer to his age stood together in it, both filthy and battered, apparently after a fight. The younger man carried a different sword across his back from the one Bardock crash landed with. Bardock had one arm around his shoulders. Both were grinning. Friends and close ones at that.
Bruce returned to the group photograph. There were others.
A short bald man with six unusual marks across his forehead and an apparent lack of a nose stood beside a black-haired man and a blonde woman. A young blonde girl stood between them, and she too did not have a nose. Easy enough to deduce her parentage.
A short, elderly bald man with an enormous white beard wore sunglasses and had a strange knobbly staff in his hand and was wearing the shell of a giant tortoise on his back. A crooked smile on that one revealed a couple of missing teeth.
Nearby stood a tall, heavily built man with a third eye in the middle of his forehead and an expression almost as severe as the green skinned man beside him, an even taller and heavier built specimen with pointed ears, shoulder pads and a turban. The more he looked, the weirder that picture was getting.
There seemed to be some sort of blue skinned goblin amongst them, right besides a short anthropomorphic dog in a purple onesie with a katana on his back. The black-haired little girl beside them was the most normal of this tiny trio.
Bruce enlarged the image with his lenses. No prosthetics, no obvious cosmetic alteration. The group was considerably less biologically uniform than it first appeared.
A small blue cat-like creature hovering in the air. A pink-skinned, morbidly obese man whose anatomy Bruce couldn't begin to classify from a photograph, who stood close to a hairy man with an afro. And a…upright pig in a shirt?
Bruce had seen some weird things, but this was quickly becoming a comical joke.
Several others displayed features that clearly weren't human. Yet nobody in the photograph seemed remotely bothered by any of it. Bardock stood among them comfortably. Not an outsider. One of them.
Bruce's eyes moved toward the back of the photograph. Two figures sat in lawn chairs, somewhat removed from everyone else.
The first was tall and impossibly slender, with pale blue skin and white hair swept vertically upward. He held a long staff topped by a black sphere encircled by a ring. A larger luminous ring floated around his neck without any visible means of support. His expression was pleasant. Almost amused. Batman was certain this figure was male despite the effeminate elements to his facial structure.
Beside him sat a purple, hairless humanoid with enormous, pointed ears. Bruce zoomed in. The facial structure was distinctly feline.
The purple figure wore elaborate clothing unlike anything else in the photograph, decorated with geometric patterns and jewellery. The shoulder rest resembled those worn by the ancient Pharaohs of Egypt, but the pants were genie-like, his feet clothed in pointed shoes. Though his posture was relaxed, everyone immediately around him had unconsciously left considerably more personal space than they had around anyone else.
Except the blue-skinned man. Interesting.
Bruce saved detailed scans of both and found another photograph. Bardock was eating. Bruce stared at it, then at the pantry, then back at the photograph. The table was covered with empty plates. Not plates belonging to a group. They were stacked directly in front of Bardock.
The orange-clad man beside him was apparently engaged in the same activity. The severe, upswept-haired man was on the opposite side of the table with his own collection. The blue-haired woman in the background appeared to be yelling at all three of them.
Bruce looked again at the photograph.
Three men. Enough food to provision a Justice League field team. He returned it to the stack. The next showed Bardock beside the blue-haired woman he'd seen earlier. She had one arm around his shoulders and was smiling at the camera. Bardock looked mildly embarrassed.
Another showed Bardock with the orange-clad man. Another with the swordsman. Another had Bardock surrounded by most of the younger members of the group. Another photo was of the older black-haired woman, the presumed aunt by marriage to Bardock in the Asian dress. She had an arm around him, but Bardock's expression was significantly warmer here.
And then Bruce found an older photograph.
Bardock looked younger in this one. He was standing beside a tall man with wild black hair reaching almost to his knees. Bruce stopped. The resemblance was stronger here. Not merely similar features. The same eyes. Same jaw. Same general facial structure. And this time, a tail, wrapped around his waist.
The tall man had one hand planted heavily on Bardock's head while Bardock looked irritated about it. The tall man didn't seem too happy either. If he had to guess, both were forced to take this photo.
Father and son was Bruce's first hypothesis. The computer probably couldn't confirm it from an image, but Bruce rarely needed a computer to recognize the way families stood around one another. He placed that photograph separately for additional analysis.
Another photo under that one showed an ever-warmer scene. A much smaller woman with wild black hair, dressed in armour and boots like the ones they'd removed from Bardock. She too had a tail, and a rather kind face for her rough appearance. She was standing behind Bardock who had sat down, her arms wrapped around him from behind as she had her face buried in his hair whilst he leaned into her touch. His expression here was reverent and warmer than anything previously seen before. They had similar facial structures, and there was a little scribble in the corner that said 'Grandma' with a little heart at the end.
Whatever race Bardock was must have some sort of longevity to their lifespans because the woman looked far too young to be Bardock's grandmother, though the postures of both in the picture didn't dispute the prospect.
The last photo which he'd found hidden under some clothing was the most personal of all. It was of Bardock with a girl who resembled the slender blue man in the group photo. She had the same luminous halo, except instead of around her neck, it was behind her head which held a rather wild mane of long silver-white hair. She wasn't dressed nearly as much as the man either. She had a dress with a partition in the bottom half that showed her toned belly and long legs dressed in tight pants with high-heel boots on the bottom. The top of the dress hugged a considerable bust, and the expression on her face was both teasing and seductive as she looked at the camera. The clearly lovestruck smile stuck out on the tough face Bardock was trying to put on. But it was clear, this young woman was his significant other.
Whatever had fallen through the rupture wasn't simply some wandering cosmic entity. He had identification, a home, a driver's licence, friends…family. A lover too.
Someone had made him pose for photographs. Someone had made sure he had food. Someone had apparently convinced a young man capable of surviving whatever had happened above Metropolis that he needed the legal documentation necessary to operate a motor vehicle.
And somewhere unimaginably far away, there was a civilization sufficiently advanced to put this entire house inside something smaller than Bruce's thumb- while apparently still issuing driver's licences.
For the first time since the breach had opened, the stranger in the Watchtower medical bay had a name and an identity to him. Bruce returned every photograph to precisely where he'd found it. Then he noticed one last thing on his way out. A handwritten note attached to the refrigerator.
This note seemed distinctly like Japanese and if he was reading it correctly, it said the following.
Bardock, if you empty this fridge again, YOU are restocking it! - Bulma.
He added the name to the file before leaving the residence and meeting his two comrades outside.
"Find anything?" Clark asked, though Bruce was sure he'd been following him with that super vision of his.
"Enough." Bruce said as he found the panel and the house collapsed back into a capsule in a puff of smoke. "Our visitor has a name."
"Well?" Clark asked.
"His name is Son Bardock." Bruce held up the image of identification card he'd photographed on a tablet he procured from somewhere. "Judging by the name structure and the somewhat Japanese resemblance of his dietary and domestic habits, I assume Bardock is his given name."
"Bardock." John said as he thought for a moment. "Doesn't seem like an Earthen name. Nor that of any alien culture I'm familiar with. Though it does sound like a root vegetable." As the other two stared at him, he shrugged. "You know, burdock? My mom liked gardening…before the Alzheimer's got her."
"He had at least two forms of civilian identification. One is a driver's licence. Both appear authentic. The address doesn't correspond to anywhere on Earth-or anywhere else in our database."
John glanced towards where the domed house previously was. "Anything useful in there?"
"More than I expected." Bruce brought up several images. "It's a home. Bedroom, bathroom, kitchen. Running water, electricity, climate control, waste disposal. Everything works. None of it has an identifiable external supply."
John frowned. "The ring couldn't find one either."
"We'll deal with that later." Another image appeared—the large group photograph. "He has personal belongings. Clothing. Books. Currency. Food. Photographs."
Clark studied the faces. "Family?"
"Some of them. Probably." Bruce enlarged several sections. "There are repeated facial similarities and consistent social groupings across the photographs. The black-haired man in orange is almost certainly a close relative. The taller man in this photograph may be his father. The blue-haired woman appears repeatedly and may be the person who provided the house and identification. There's also a lavender-haired man with a sword who appears with Bardock in several photographs."
John looked over the assembled group. "They're not all the same species."
"No." Bruce highlighted the green-skinned man, the pink figure, then the two strange figures sitting on the lawn chairs. "Several aren't even close. Which suggests wherever Bardock comes from, contact between different intelligent species isn't unusual."
Clark's attention settled on the photograph as a whole. "So he wasn't alone."
Bruce looked at him. "No, he had a life."
That changed the atmosphere slightly.
John folded his arms. "Anything about what he is?"
"Nothing. No species designation. No medical information. Nothing explaining his abilities or the energy readings." Bruce dismissed the photographs. "But his pantry supports what we're seeing in Medical. High-protein foods, carbohydrates, large quantities of rice, noodles, meat and preserved food. Enough for several people. Based on the photographs, it's probably all for him."
Clark almost smiled. "So him eating through our medical supplies is normal?"
"I didn't say normal." Bruce started toward the Medbay. "I said consistent."
John glanced once more at the capsule containing the house.
"And the capsule?"
Bruce stopped.
"A device small enough to fit in your hand contained a furnished building with functioning utilities, several hundred kilograms of food and personal possessions. Nothing inside appears to have experienced significant acceleration, thermal stress or structural deformation during deployment."
"So?"
Bruce looked back at him. "So don't open the other capsules."
Clark raised an eyebrow. "Wasn't planning to."
"Good."
Bruce continued walking. "Until Bardock wakes up, we have no idea what's in them."
Clark and John looked at each other before collecting the rest of the capsules they had on them and taking them away to store them amongst the other personal affects they'd taken from Bardock.
Making his way back to the observation deck, Bruce checked the nutritional values again and it seemed they had finally made a noticeable change. Bardock's breathing was now evener, and his healing factor seemed to have stabilised. Internal damaged tissues were slowly healing.
The lab report on the strange beans had come through now.
+++
WATCHTOWER XENOBIOLOGY LABORATORY
Preliminary Analysis — Unknown Botanical Specimen
Case Reference: METROPOLIS ANOMALY
Specimen: SB-07
Submitted by: Batman
Physical description: Single dried seed/bean-like biological structure
Mass: 3.8 g
Length: 21.4 mm
Origin: Unknown
Common/Species Name: Unknown
Status: INTACT — NON-DESTRUCTIVE TESTING PRIORITIZED
1. INITIAL CLASSIFICATION
Specimen SB-07 is an apparently organic structure superficially resembling a terrestrial legume seed.
External morphology is consistent with a seed or seed-derived foodstuff. The specimen possesses a thin outer testa surrounding two dense cotyledon-like structures.
No evidence of artificial casing, mechanical components, circuitry, nanotechnology or conventional synthetic materials detected.
Preliminary conclusion: Naturally grown biological material.
Genetic comparison has produced no match with any terrestrial plant species contained within Watchtower databases.
Broader comparison against available extraterrestrial botanical records has likewise produced no significant match.
2. CELLULAR ANALYSIS
Microscopic examination confirms intact plant-like cellular structures.
Cells possess rigid walls analogous to cellulose-based terrestrial plant tissue, although molecular analysis indicates several structural polymers with no exact terrestrial equivalent.
Organelles broadly analogous to:
nuclei
mitochondria
plastids
vacuoles
are present.
Despite the specimen's apparently dried state, cellular degradation is negligible.
Estimated age cannot be determined.
Observed oxidation and protein breakdown are substantially below expected values for dehydrated biological tissue.
No known preservative compounds detected.
3. GENETIC ANALYSIS
Specimen contains a nucleic-acid-based genome utilizing a double-helical molecular structure broadly analogous to DNA.
However, sequencing has identified extensive deviations from terrestrial plant genetics.
No credible evolutionary relationship to Earth vegetation can presently be established.
Approximately 0.00% meaningful genomic correspondence beyond structures expected from convergent biochemistry.
Origin assessment: Extraterrestrial or extradimensional botanical organism.
4. NUTRITIONAL ANALYSIS
Initial spectroscopy produced contradictory results and was repeated four times.
SB-07 contains exceptionally dense concentrations of:
Complex carbohydrates.
Proteins and free amino acids.
Lipids.
Vitamins.
Electrolytes.
Trace minerals
All identified compounds appear biologically accessible to a carbon-based digestive system broadly compatible with human metabolism.
No conventional toxins detected.
No known narcotic, stimulant, mutagenic or radioactive compounds detected.
However, calculated nutritional content is inconsistent with specimen mass.
The amount of chemically accessible metabolic energy predicted by analysis exceeds the quantity that should physically be stored within 3.8 grams of organic matter.
Energy-accounting discrepancy remains unresolved.
5. BIOACTIVE COMPOUNDS
More than 140 previously undocumented organic compounds have been identified.
Several demonstrate strong structural similarities to:
growth factors
cytokines
metabolic signalling molecules
anti-inflammatory compounds
cellular repair mediators
stem-cell regulatory proteins
Individual concentrations are extremely low.
In isolation, none should produce significant physiological effects.
In combination, predictive modelling suggests an unusually broad biological response involving:
Accelerated proteinsynthesis
Cellular replication
DNA repair
Suppression of inflammatory overreaction
Rapid restoration of glycogen reserves
Accelerated hematopoiesis
Electrolyte normalization
Enhanced tissue reconstruction
The apparent coordination between compounds is statistically improbable for an unmodified organism.
No evidence of conventional genetic engineering has yet been identified.
6. IN-VITRO TESTING
Microscopic material collected from the specimen's outer surface was introduced to damaged cultured mammalian tissue.
Results were unexpected.
Control tissue demonstrated normal cellular repair.
Exposed tissue demonstrated a 1,840% increase in initial repair activity.
Cell division accelerated without corresponding evidence of:
malignant mutation
telomere destabilization
replication errors
uncontrolled growth
abnormal scar formation
More significantly, damaged cells preferentially restored their pre-injury configuration rather than simply producing replacement tissue.
Mechanism unknown.
Test repeated.
Result reproduced.
7. ENERGY ANALYSIS
Specimen emits no significant ionizing radiation.
Electromagnetic emissions remain negligible.
No detectable nuclear reaction.
No conventional energy-storage mechanism identified.
However, low-level readings indicate the presence of the same currently unidentified bioenergetic phenomenon detected throughout subject's tissues.
Correlation confidence: 99.97%
The signal is exceptionally faint but persistent.
Attempts to isolate the phenomenon from the specimen have failed.
Current instrumentation can detect its interaction with matter but cannot directly characterize the underlying energy.
8. METABOLIC MODELLING
Simulation of ingestion by a human-compatible organism produced results outside medically plausible parameters.
Assuming complete absorption and assuming observed in-vitro effects scale to an intact organism, SB-07 may initiate a systemic biological response involving simultaneous:
nutrient replenishment
cellular repair
blood-volume restoration
skeletal reconstruction
muscular repair
organ regeneration
metabolic stabilization
Projected speed cannot be reliably calculated.
Computer models repeatedly produce repair rates exceeding the energy available to the subject.
Increasing available metabolic energy does not resolve the discrepancy.
The model violates conservation assumptions unless SB-07 provides access to an additional energy source not presently measurable by Watchtower instrumentation.
9. TOXICOLOGY
No known toxins detected.
No pathogenic organisms detected.
No detectable parasites.
No conventional allergens identified.
No evidence of radioactive contamination.
No evidence of infectious prions.
No evidence of nanomachines.
No evidence of magical contamination according to standard Watchtower thaumaturgical screening. *
*Negative thaumaturgical result does not exclude phenomena outside established magical detection parameters.
Human consumption has NOT been authorized.
10. CULTIVATION
The specimen appears theoretically capable of germination.
Cultivation requirements unknown.
Microscopic examination suggests the structure remains biologically viable despite dehydration.
Recommendation: DO NOT GERMINATE aboard Watchtower.
Ecological behaviour, reproductive rate, environmental requirements and mature organism characteristics are unknown.
PRELIMINARY CONCLUSION:
SB-07 is an unidentified extradimensional plant-derived biological specimen possessing extraordinary nutritional density and highly unusual regenerative biochemical properties.
Observed effects cannot presently be explained solely through identified chemical constituents.
Evidence indicates that the specimen interacts with the same unidentified biological energy associated with Son Bardock.
The specimen may represent:
A naturally occurring medicinal organism;
A selectively cultivated or biologically engineered medicinal crop;
Or a biological organism operating through physiological mechanisms absent from known Watchtower science.
Therapeutic potential is potentially extreme.
Safety profile remains unknown.
CLASSIFICATION:
UNKNOWN EXTRADIMENSIONAL BIOLOGICAL / MEDICAL MATERIAL
HANDLING STATUS:
LEVEL-4 XENOBIOLOGICAL CONTAINMENT
RECOMMENDATIONS:
Do not consume.
Do not administer until further testing.
Do not germinate.
Do not conduct destructive testing without authorization.
Retain minimum of one intact specimen for comparison following subject recovery.
+++
Bruce felt an oncoming headache. Coupled with a sleepless night, and Alfred would right now be attempting to force him into bed and 'get a good night's sleep'.
Because what this report was saying in summary was basically a prospective medicinal miracle, something that upon ingestion would instantaneously heal a subject of all wounds and restore lost blood and expel accumulated fatigue. Also, it had enough nutritional value that one wouldn't need to eat for perhaps days after consuming this.
And yet, it was the perfect solution for their patient because his nutrition levels were dropping again. Though the lab report recommended they do not administer it, Bardock had come to their world with a pouch of the stuff inside his waistband. So clearly it was safe for him to consume…at least.
Batman studied the results for another few seconds. "Computer, prepare one of the specimens for intravenous administration. Extract the active compounds, remove anything insoluble, and suspend the remainder in a solution compatible with his blood chemistry."
"Preparation will alter the specimen from its apparent intended method of consumption."
"He's unconscious. Do it."
A few minutes later, a pale green solution entered Bardock's IV line alongside the nutrient feed. Bruce watched the monitors closely as the first few millilitres reached his bloodstream.
The response was almost immediate.
"Cellular regeneration increasing. Internal haemorrhaging decreasing. Muscular lesions repairing."
Bruce frowned as damaged tissue began knitting itself together across the medical scans. "Rate?"
"Beyond calibrated therapeutic parameters. Metabolic demand is also falling."
That caught his attention. Bardock had been burning through the med bay's nutrient reserves for hours. Now the demand was dropping almost as quickly as his injuries were disappearing.
"Stop the infusion."
"Eighty-nine percent of the preparation remains."
"I know. Preserve it." Bruce watched another fracture vanish from the scan. "Update the specimen report. Regenerative properties were severely underestimated."
The medical console suddenly gave a sharp series of beeps. Batman turned toward it as several neurological readings climbed rapidly across the display.
"What's happening?"
"Significant increase in cortical activity. Neural patterns transitioning from unconscious to conscious state. Motor activity detected."
Bruce looked through the transparent shell. Bardock's fingers twitched against the mattress, followed by a slight tightening of his jaw. His breathing changed too, becoming deeper and more deliberate.
"Patient is regaining consciousness."
Batman immediately keyed his communicator. "Superman, Green Lantern. Medical bay. Our guest is waking up."
Inside the capsule, Bardock's brow furrowed.
Then his eyes opened.