The gloved fingers of Batman stopped typing on the keyboard. The file for "Marcus Kane" was now firmly embedded in databases across the world—a digital ghost made real. He turned to Marcus, his gaze still inquisitive, but perhaps with an added ounce of curiosity.
"It's done. You have a new identity. What will you do now?"
The question hung in the Batcave, as direct as a punch. Superman, standing nearby, watched Marcus with silent encouragement.
Marcus took a deep breath. The path ahead was open, limitless, and it was both terrifying and exhilarating.
"I need to find a job," he said thoughtfully. "Something normal. To anchor myself, to understand this world I've woken up in. And..." He paused for a moment, a shy smile touching his lips. "I need to find a superhero name."
Superman gave a slight smile, an amused glint in his eyes.
"Not mine," he said. "It's taken."
A genuine, liberating laugh escaped Marcus. It was the first time he had laughed since waking up, and the feeling was strange and wonderful.
"No, no, I'm not aiming that high. Not yet, anyway," he joked. Then his expression became more serious, more introspective. "My powers... they come from a dark place. From an experiment designed to create a weapon. But I don't want to be a weapon. I don't want to be a tool of fear or domination."
He looked up, meeting the gaze of the two heroes.
"I want to be a symbol of what we can strive for. Not a threat to be avoided, but an ideal to be reached. A better world might just be a utopia, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't try to get closer to it."
He straightened up, a new assurance in his posture.
"My superhero name will be 'Utopian.'"
The name resonated in the cave. Utopian. The one who aspires to the ideal. It was ambitious, almost naive, but carried a profound hope.
"And for my job..." Marcus continued, an idea suddenly sprouting in his mind, "I'm going to create manga."
Batman raised an eyebrow, the only visible sign of his surprise.
"Manga?" repeated Superman, intrigued.
"Yes," Marcus explained, his enthusiasm growing. "Stories. Tales about heroes, about choices, about good and evil. It's a way to understand humanity, to tell truths under the veil of fiction. And who knows? Maybe through my drawings, I can inspire someone, somewhere, to make the right choice."
He looked at his hands—hands that could pierce steel, but now held the pen of an aspiring artist.
"I will use my hands to create, not just to destroy. This is my path. To create worlds on paper, and to try and build a better one in reality. As Marcus Kane, the artist. And as Utopian, the hero."
For the first time, Batman didn't seem to see him as a threat or a puzzle, but simply as a man, determined to forge his own destiny in a way no one could have predicted.