Fate/Heroes - Chapter 18
Two days passed since the incident over the North Atlantic Ocean. The majority of the humans on Earth did not notice the massive black beam pierce the stormy sky, and only those in charge of major enterprises which measure energy outbursts knew what had occurred that day.
The cosmic energy emitted, although harmless to humans were detrimental to any other flora or fauna, regardless of the terrestrial or extraterrestrial origins.
Many wanted to try and study this newfound energy in hopes of creating a weapon that could kill “aliens”, and not harm a single human in the process.
However all their attempts to do so have so far ended in failure.
All of this was unknown to a smiling twenty year old who had moved the last box into the top floor of his new building.
Gray looked off into the distance, and the bright blue sky sat parallel against the New York City skyline, the faint sounds of horns honking and trains running echoed in the distance.
After Gray had “collected” enough money in Gotham City, he left the crime capital of the world and headed straight for New York. He was requested by the League of Assassins to take care of a crime family in this city, and considered moving here as the memories this place in his past life were very prevalent despite the subtle changes to street names here and there.
He had already made more than ten million dollars in cash sitting in one of the rooms in his floor, and he bought the entire building and still had over eight digits left in cash.
Gray smiled as the slightly fresher cleaner scent of air filled his lungs as he looked down at the streets below him.
“The League can go off chasing whatever name they’ve given Saber and I can rest for a little while and prepare for the Team to try and take me down. They’re just kids but I know that they can definitely hold their own in a fight”.
If the old Gray met even the fourteen year old Dick Grayson, he would’ve undoubtedly gotten his ȧss kicked. That kid wasn’t just trained by Batman, but also had to spar with other members of the Team like Aqualad and Kid Flash, whose superhuman abilities put them a level above the normal human that was behind Robin’s mask.
Not that it mattered to Gray how well Robin was coming along. Rider made it a very common theme to question Gray about the fourteen year old Zatanna Zatara, despite his Masters utter disappointment with the famed Hero.
Even Archer, with his renown wasn’t immune to the attraction of the sixteen year old Barbara Gordon. Although Archer did have many wives and many lovers, Gray slapped his head against a wall several times glad that no mind readers could hear the things going on his his mind.
But Gray couldn’t ask them to stop. He wanted to meet Wonder Woman after all.
“…. And Assassin…..”.
The King of Assassin’s presence always seemed to perk up, for lack of a better term whenever the League of Assassins was mentioned. Gray reasoned that it was because of the similarities between its foundations and the Hassan be founded hundreds of years ago.
But Rider just liked to joke that it was because of Talia that the old man wanted to Gray to interact with them more.
Much to the Assassins ire.
The Pseudo-Servant let out a large sigh before stretching his shoulders and returning inside.
He had put off many plans in order to gain the future capital to sustain himself so long as he lived comfortably, but not outrageously. Purchasing this building allowed the twenty year old to gain an income, even if it was only in the form of rent. Still, the location and luxury of the building allowed him to set a fairly reasonably price, even if it was mainly aimed at the upper class.
“An if I ever find myself in need of money, I’ll just head to Gotham City for a few days. Maybe I’ll meet the Batman next time…..”.
The caped crusader was one of the founding members of the Justice League and was one of the only members without any form of powers or enhancements. His ability to strategize, and come up with plans on the fly were deadly to most of his opponents. His martial prowess exceeded that of most members of the League who relied mainly on their powers. His financial power was far greater than most other Heroes, and could afford most things on Earth.
Gray had seen that the Dark Knight would face many threats that even Superman struggled to do but came out on top. And had almost no-one that could be used against the man, despite Alfred and other members of the League.
He didn’t have a kid with Talia in this world and seemed to be in an unofficial relationship with Selina Kyle, the Catwoman in this world. However this information was only known by a few select individuals. How Talia al Ghul got this information Gray didn’t know.
This meant all the subtle hints at romances that Gray had seen in his previous world, with Wonder Woman, Poison Ivy and his childhood friend Silver St Cloud were a thing of the past. Not that Gray was complaining though…..
He sat down at the large island table in the middle of his kitchen and picked up an apple and started biting into the piece of fruit. His thoughts differing to the previous ones he had in the past.
“This universe hasn’t experienced most of the events from the comics and the League doesn’t even know about the existence of the Source Wall or even Apokolips and New Genesis. The worst group of villains they’ve ever fought is the Legion of Doom. They’ve haven’t fought Doomsday or even Darkseid yet, let alone things like Barbatos and his Dark Knights…. should I tell them? Or does my telling them effect the timeline somehow?”.
Gray wanted to be extremely sure of himself before blurting out the possible events of the future. He wasn’t even sure how Flashpoint worked in this world or even if it actually happened. The events from the other sources of media other than the comics sometimes weren’t canon, and might be detrimental side effects if Gray interfered.
“I already know that villains like Black Arrow and Sarvitar existed, but so did Livewire and her and the Flash came from different Earths. Yet in this one they co-exist… and the superhero known as Supergirl is only a name that came up in the last couple months…. could it be that Kara Zor-El came to Earth as a teen instead of a child? Or is it something else entirely?”.
Gray sighed at he took another bite of his apple.
“And Wondergirl and Aquagirl. The former is the granddaughter of Zeus and protégé of Wonder Woman, the latter is the daughter of Aquaman not his protégé like Aqualad. Is Aquagirl the same as the Young Justice version? Or some other? And what about Robin? Damian Wayne might not exist in this timeline, if Batman, or Bruce Wayne rather his with Selina Kyle then what? And John Stewart? Is he with Hawkgirl? But the Thanagarian invasion never happened, so is how did her and Hawkman join the League? Are they still aliens? Or are they just the reincarnation of that pair from thousands o years ago?”.
Gray rubbed his temples as the memories from his past life grew blurry and his mind grew stressed.
It was sometimes hard for the twenty year old who couldn’t even remember his parents names, but he suppressed that ever growing void in his memories and tried to fill it with new experiences on this Earth.
He considered becoming a Hero in order to gain the information the Justice League had to try and bridge the gap between his memories and this new world, but didn’t know how to go about it.
Gray couldn’t just waltz into the Watchtower and ask Superman or Batman to join, even if the former was supposedly the embodiment of “hope”.
An beating up the Team once already didn’t really help him.
The twenty year old sighed once more.
“…. I might have to apologize for that…. what a pain in my ȧss…..”.