Fate/Heroes - Chapter 49

The next day Gray woke up from his semi-drunk state after reprimanding Cassie, Mareena and Barbara for letting Kara get drunk and breaking his window like that. The Kryptonian refused to see her landlord, the embarrassment in her voice could be heard through the door to her room.

Although all of them had residences back at Mount Justice, they had another room on the floor beneath Gray’s, as Mareena paid for all of their rents, paying in the bill for over a years worth of rent in a single pay.

The Pseudo-Servant had slept in past midday and took a shower the moment he had gotten up from his slumber. His shower was lead-lined and his expression was one of happiness as he stepped out into his kitchen, a smile on his lips.

A smile that couldn’t be stopped, even when he saw the Team sitting down on his couch, all with varying expressions of anger or disappointment.

Gray ignored their teenage judgmental looks and instead opted to look at himself in the large mirror he had on the wall, adjusting his tie as Kaldur spoke from behind.

“So…. you’re Rider”. His tone indicated that despite his attempts to stay passive, he was not happy with Gray.

The aforementioned nodded and took a bite from an apple sitting on his bench. The hurt looks from Cassie, Zatanna and Kara made Gray’s happy expression falter, if only for a moment.

“Yeah. I am. I ȧssume the League already knows”.

Kaldur gave Cassie and Kaldur a look before shaking his head. The response from the boy wonder surprised even Gray. Wonder Woman couldn’t tell the League anything other than the information he had already told the Team, and he was sure the Team would’ve given up his identity the moment Diana had told them about the long black sword Rider used at Themiscyra.

The shape and aesthetics of the sword were quite unique after all. Seeing an odachi over two meters long would leave a mark in any persons mind.

“Really? That surprising. I would’ve thought that you would’ve given me up. What brought this on?”.

Cassie spoke up, rather than Robin or Kaldur.

“We wanted to hear your side of the story first. As Rider, you haven’t hurt anybody who didn’t deserve it. And as Gray, you used the money you stole as Rider to help both humans and aliens get a good life on Earth. Despite your less than permissible means, you have done good as Lancer…. So we want to hear your side of the story before making a decision”.

Gray took a bite of his apple as he nodded knowingly.

It was reasonable. The Team, above all else hated to be treated as sidekicks, and hated being lied to. Gray had lied to them, but didn’t understand why or for what intent. They considered, at least, some of them considered Gray as a friend. He had even given Wally a one-use mystic code in order to prove to the speedster that magic, or magecraft at the very least was real.

He had used it on their next mission and it froze the man they were trying to catch. How Gray managed to store that much ice into such a gem, not even he could figure out.

He put down the half-eaten apple and leaned back on his island bench, shrugging his shoulders and crossing his arms.

“Okay. What do you want to know”.

Robin, who had not surprisingly pulled out a small piece of paper looked down through his tinted sunglasses and read out the questions on it.

“Is your name actually Gray?”.

“Yes”.

“Are you from another Earth?”.

“Yes, that part was not a lie”.

“Were you normal before coming to out Earth?”.

“I think so. I don’t remember much of my life back before I came here. Something happened to me the moment I came to this Earth, after waking up I found myself with these powers”.

Robin paused from his questions and looked up at Gray with an expressionless look on both of their faces.

“What exactly “happened” to you?”.

Gray shook his head causing Robin to frown slightly.

“Don’t know exactly. I have a suspicion of what happened to me, but all I know is that when I woke up, I gained the powers of Achilles….. as well as some other Heroes”.

Cassie spoke up next.

“Are they just Greek Heroes? I know that you used those guns and katana but summoning the Stymphalian Birds and the Cerberus is quite a powerful magic. It would take Queen Hippolyta quite a while to create such a feat”.

Gray shook his head in response to the demigods words. It affirmed most of the Team’s suspicions, despite Wally shaking his head and rolling his eyes at the very mention of “magic”. Zatanna sent him a dirty look.

“I refuse to tell you what Heroes, whose power I’ve inherited. Although I will tell you one thing, through Achilles gifts and another Heroes power, I cannot technically die. I will not age, nor can I be killed. I am blessed and cursed to walk the Earth amongst men, while hiding my powers as something other than a man”.

Conner and M’gann nodded slightly while Barbara just looked at Gray through her glasses. The addition of the lenses made the redhead look much better in her disguise than going without them. She attracted both Wally and Dick’s attention the moment she spoke.

“That spear of yours. The red one, is that something from one of your Heroes?”.

Gray nodded once more.

“Yes. I’ll tell you the function of the spear as it is one of my less destructive Noble Phantasms. It strikes the enemy once, freezing them in the spot that they were struck. Time isn’t frozen around them, but space is. The second strike reverses causality, meaning the moment it is thrown….”.

“They’re already dead….”.

The atmosphere in the room grew heavier and Gray materialized the blood red spear, letting Dick and Barbara take photos of the spear.

Scathach didn’t hide herself like the other Heroic Spirits hoping to keep their identity, as “it was a Queens duty to lead the masses”. Showing Barbara and Dick her spear was no different that walking through the valleys of the Land of Shadows.

Ruler also wanted to show himself, but Gray was against the Emperor showing himself at this moment. His power matched even Assassin, who was a former Grand Servant.

Conner looked at the spear and sent several slashes through the air, leaving a neon red streak as it passed through Gray’s lounge table. The cut it left was completely clean, partly from Superboy’s immense strength, although mainly from the sharpness of the edge.

“Cool”, was all that the clone of Superman had to say about the spear.

They all turned back to Gray and Artemis walked up to the twenty year old and raised an eyebrow as she tilted her head back slightly to look up at him.

“How many Heroes do you have in your possession. Guns and katana weren’t the specialty of a Greek Hero like Achilles after all”.

Gray smiled at the level of seriousness coming from the tanned daughter of Sportsmaster before taking a step forward towards her, their bodies less than an inch apart. Neither backing down from each other as Artemis stared upwards into Gray’s black eyes.

A voice inside of him rang out. It was strange because it was Berserker.

The Master nodded internally and spoke.

“I’ll say this. No matter what type of fight it is, whether it be one-on-one or one-one-a hundred, I have a way to beat them. Every situation, no matter what it is, I will be ready for it. Slaying gods and completing the impossible is what I can do”.

“That’s strangely specific. A clue maybe?”, said Artemis with a smile.

Gray shrugged once more and picked up his black suit jacket from the bench and a set of car keys from the bowl on the island table. He looked at himself once more before turning to the Team, a stern expression on his face.

“No parties. No alcohol. Don’t break anything. There is money on the bench and don’t even try to break into the rooms on the second floor. I’ll report you, even if you are superheroes. I’ll hopefully see you tomorrow, if not later tonight”.

Seeing the happy expression on Gray’s face, Kara stood up, despite hiding behind her Atalantean friend and asked,

“Where are you going?”.

Gray turned around, the look on Gray’s face caused Kara to go red once more.

The elevator doors opened and he stepped inside. Pressing the buŧŧon as he looked at the sixteen year old Kryptonian.

“I’m going on a date”.

The doors closed. Despite the thickness of the doors, the voice of the last daughter of Krypton could be heard from even the bottom floor.

“You’re what!?!”.