A few years ago, an unstoppable beast once went on a rampage on the planet.
It was dubbed Doomsday because of the sheer scale of the chaos it brought.
But the world had seen Darkseid and survived the assault of his Parademons, so what made this situation any different?
Darkseid might be all-powerful, but Doomsday, in no way inferior, had killed the greatest hero of the current times.
He destroyed the League and its associates and killed the Man of Steel.
The world mourned that day, and it served as a reminder — heroes weren't unkillable.
Having such a grim thought now of all times was uncalled for, even for the Dark Knight, but as he read the file of the boy called Ren, he couldn't help but remember the beast that once took the life of his friend.
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"So, you will help us?"
"Pretty much!"
As the third Robin removed the power-damping handcuffs that bound his arm, Ren nodded, trying to feel the muscles in his wrist.
Of course, Ren had his own ulterior motives, but that didn't matter now. He just needed to stall Superman, distract him long enough, and all of this would end.
"Like I've been saying for the past hour, I am no villain. I just want to go back to Metropolis. If you can promise me that, I'll be motivated to put in my all."
Tim rolled back his eyes but neither confirmed nor denied his request.
All he hoped for was for Ren not to flee — and to his surprise, Ren hadn't attempted that yet.
"We have a few minutes till we begin, so I'll ask — what exactly are your abilities?"
Every other detail, with the exception of the boy's abilities, was found in the Justice League Metahuman database.
Tim had even tried hacking into that database to retrieve the omitted file during their first encounter, but the amount of firewall that guarded the omission was far too troublesome for him to handle.
Ren, on the other hand, when asked about his abilities, remained silent for a moment.
He had once dreamed of having superpowers, the kind that could put him in the League but a few months ago, when such a dream finally became attainable for him, it had been an explosive awakening.
To him, his abilities only brought trauma — the kind that couldn't be forgotten.
"You remember Doomsday, right?"
Tim was somewhat taken aback at the mention of that creature.
He was quite early in his career as Robin when that beast attacked.
Dozens of heroes had been dispatched then, all so they could keep it at bay.
And yet, for every hero sent, so too did the level of casualties increase.
Eventually, everything fell into the hands of Superman, who after a desperate struggle managed to land a finishing blow that reaped away Doomsday's life.
Of course, it came at the cost of his own life.
This chain of events led to the creation of other Supermen, among which was Conner — his best friend.
"Yeah, I remember him."
Responding in a sore tone, Tim wondered where this was all going.
"A.R.G.U.S. once studied me. My abilities operate on the same principle as that entity."
"Adaptation," Tim assumed, but Ren shook his head.
"In theory, yes, but in practice, no."
"Explain."
"Sigh… Doomsday can't die to the same phenomenon twice. For instance, if he were to die by electrocution, and by some unfortunate event, he is reborn, he will not be killed by such an incident again. Such is his adaptivity but mine is fundamentally different."
Tim, engrossed in the topic, gestured for him to continue.
Even Damien had placed his drawing canvas down, curious about the revelation.
"My form of adaptivity works more like a counterattack. If I were, for instance, tossed into water, I'd supposedly die because I can't breathe underwater. But my ability would trigger an evolution and temporarily either turn me into an Atlantean or grant me the ability to control water so I can escape such death."
"..."
Tim was amazed and couldn't help but ask a question of his own.
"So, if by chance, you were electrocuted, would you become a being like Livewire or gain immunity?"
"I don't know," Ren shrugged.
"I can't decide the event or ability my powers will trigger. It could be one of them, it could be both, or something even I couldn't foresee."
The first time his abilities triggered, he had mistakenly burned a finger. In response, he became living flames — and when he came back to being himself, all he saw were the ashes of his sister.
"I see why the League keeps your abilities a secret," Tim muttered, understanding the threat level Ren posed.
His abilities were relatively simple — nothing complex like, let's say, reality manipulation, magic, or even the ability to control probability.
The true danger of his abilities lay in their endless applications and potential.
Logically speaking, Ren could have any ability he wanted, it just depended on what he was facing.
But he had said it himself temporarily.
It was a flaw Tim had considered and one he would take into account for the future.
Ren Baker was undoubtedly one of the most powerful Metahumans around, but he wasn't invincible and that was what mattered.
"I guess with this, we know ourselves more than enough," Tim muttered, his hand stretched for a handshake.
He was still wary of Ren, but for now, they were allies. He needed to treat him as such, even if by nature he was somewhat paranoid about where all of this would lead to.
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A/N:
And with that, Ren's abilities have been revealed. Honestly, it isn't as impressive as I wanted it to be, but I also wanted him to be strong — not invincible. In theory, he could fight on par with even Darkseid but just as easily lose to Batman, because his abilities react to the environment, whereas Batman is just a peak human at best.
No powers and no gadgets, just straight hands — and he would effortlessly defeat Ren.
So yeah, this is our protagonist's ability.
As for the timeline, it's a mixture between anything from post-crisis to the current DC era.
So the likes of Jon Kent exist, but he hasn't been aged up here.
Tim is also in his middle teens — about sixteen years old — and still a member of Young Justice, which will be the primary team Ren will interact with.
As always, thank you for reading this fanfic of mine, and I hope you can try my other books and review them also.