Mars Aflame (DC martian SI)

[aLexAnder the Ok]

(This is my first fic. I first posted this on Webnovel and decided to post it here as well to see how it does, Please let me know what you think or if you have any recommendations!)

"Speech"
'thought'
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I always thought that by reading such a large amount of self-inserts, fanfictions, isekai's, and wish-ficks I would be prepared for such an eventuality to happen to me. I had thought about what I would wish for should I come face to face with some godly being, I had plans for what to do if I woke up as a child in Gotham (usually involving vandalizing the batmobile in some way), I knew never to trust any kingdom that summoned me to kill a demon lord or other cliche big bad. No plan survives first contact.

Now, I am not one to remember my dreams but those that I do recall are always amazingly vivid. So when I found myself in a sea of stars I didn't panic and simply assumed I was dreaming. If you have ever truly looked into the night sky in a place with no light pollution you know that it seems that you could just start falling into that endless gap between worlds, and as I truly looked into that abyss that I found myself in I started to fall.

I panicked then.

'FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUuuuuuuuuu...!!!!!!' I roared in my mind as what I assumed was my stomach and heart proceeded to decide their living conditions weren't quite up to snuff and promptly packed up and move directly past my throat and into my brain. Stars started to move in my peripheral and slowly change to white lines as I sped through the cosmos forming no coherent thoughts other than primal screaming. the best way to describe what the journey felt like would be when you are just on the edge of falling asleep and you fall in your dream and you nearly jump out of your bed but nonstop.

As soon as I began to come back to being able to think I stopped moving as suddenly as it started and before me what I beheld was POWER pure and primal. A star hung in front of me, incomprehensible in its size, and thought left me once again. The sun was worshipped by many cultures and civilizations over the course of the earth's history and seeing a star up close makes me understand why. I felt it in a way that I hadn't felt anything up to that point, it felt as if my soul was on fire, like the marrow of my bones was steadily heating up filling me with energy and potential, it felt natural and right and true and terrifying. I saw planets sucked into the flame of that gluttonous star and wept for nature is a cruel and terrifying place.

I don't know how long I reveled in front of that grand crucible of atomic flame but eventually, I felt something else, nearly as old as the star in front of me. They burned like a green supernova, each one felt of WILL, pure and untainted. Any path that they lay would be the path that they stayed on no second guesses, no room for error, they never made mistakes. Their diminutive bodies which looked like an old grouchy mix between Megamind and the smurfs gave no indication of their power but they could and had shaped the universe for billions of years. They were the guardians of the universe, the creators of the power rings, the destroyers of sector 666, and the leaders of the green space police.
I watched as the guardians discussed briefly and turn towards the star, which I suddenly realized I was inherently connected to due to being able to see and feel them on the other side of the celestial body, and manifest great chains and shackles and threw them on the star. instantly that great heat that filled me fled and I was left feeling empty, extremely coherent, and abnormally calm, I could barely feel it at the edge of my mind.
'What the fuck, What the fuck, What the fuck' my mind raced trying to make sense of the past indeterminate amount of time

'those are the guardians of the universe, why the fuck are they throwing big ass chains onto a star what the fuck does that accomplish, AND WHY CAN I FEEL WHAT THEIR DOING????!!!'

'Ok ok ok, what do I know about the DC universe, the guardians are good but also bad because they cut themselves off from everything else other than Will so they can be SUPER DICKS at times, looking at the manhunters and how they screw over their lanterns in a bunch of stories. They also fuck with the Martians at one point because the Martians were basically constantly on fire shapeshifting Kryptonians with telepathy and mind control bullshit powers... oh shit oooohhhh hooh no this is a fucking vision quest.'

As soon as I come to that conclusion I'm falling again but this time toward a barren red planet.


I have no distinct memories after I fell into that dessert world just a vague feeling of darkness and growth. slowly I returned to awareness and felt a warmth like a heated full-body hug, very cozy but also really weird once I figured out I was in a womb of some kind.

'I feel like I should be afraid but I'm not, I'm more..... curious, nervous, excited, super loving? ok that last one is super weird'

suddenly I am aware of a new sense that feels as natural as being able to smell or taste. I can feel the mind of what I'm assuming is my mother, her emotions and vague impressions and images of staring down at a large belly and a massive expansive underground city. instinctually I reach out to the mind and feel it reel in shock, the outpouring of pride and vindictive joy is a bit concerning but I quickly feel myself fall asleep knowing what and where I was. I was now a Martian in the DC universe, hooooh boy let's see if I can survive this hellscape of insanity.

 

[aLexAnder the Ok]

Each and every martian has evolved to be able to communicate telepathically by simulating spoken work or by transferring concepts, emotions, and images. This occurred in part due to the guardians tampering with martian genetics and also due to necessity because of how thin the atmosphere on mars is the transfer of sound through conventional speech was not an option.

This caused Martians to become highly reliant on being able to feel their fellow Martians thus even though they are incredibly powerful both physically and technologically virtually none of them venture off-planet. The only reason J'onn (The martian manhunter) ever left is because he was accidentally transported to earth and found that he liked it there. Most Martians would go crazy in the silence between the worlds which makes interplanetary travel not very appealing.

As I grew in my new temporary home I listened and built my mind into a fortress world of deception and nigh impenetrable defenses made up of every sort of experience that I remember from my past life from pain to joy to lust and everything in between to protect my memories and innermost thoughts. My final line of defense is the memory of that grand star that burned through me, no martian will be able to penetrate that layer without destroying their own mind, I came far too close when I was setting it up myself.

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approximately 1 year ago
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'ok what else can I do to protect my mind from these near hivemind yet still racist people'
'I've set up mazes with false memories, animals and monsters from my memories and imagination, and traps of sensation warped to be much stronger on any intruder.'
'maybe personality backups in case of mind wipes? no idea how I would go about doing that but it warrants research, alright I know Martians get fucked up by fire so if I incorporate that into my shields no martian will be able to peep where they're not wanted. The main problem with that is that I am also a martian so this plan might fry my brain.'

'however I also know that the fear and weakness are purely psychosomatic, I mean I witnessed the guardians changing shit up on my vision quest so I'm assuming it won't instantly kill me'
'alright lets go back to that terrifying but super cool momen.....' instantly the greatest amount of pain and fear I have ever felt raced through my mind like an inferno scorching my very mind
'AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH HAAAAAAaaaaa haaaa, fuuuuuuck! Its not real! I refuse to be shackled for the sins of my ancestors, FIRE IS MY RIGHT, I SHALL NOT BURN!' with my declaration the flame torturing my mind recedes turning back into that sun I first stood in awe of.

'he he heee HA HA HA HA AHA! GOD damn, that sucked! but it worked, if I'm right then I think I just got over a bit of my pyrophobia which is like superman getting a bit immune to kryptonite. If I can manage to fully overcome my fear of fire then I will be able to take on the Justice League on my own, not that I would give them a reason to throw down with me but they are definitely up there in regards to power in this universe.' I feel myself passing out again feeling incredibly sore as if every inch of my body had gone through an intense workout.

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back to present
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All Martians are terrified by fire, to such an extent that it makes them feel immense physical pain even though they are physically immune to flames. This is virtually their only weakness, of course not every martian is a powerhouse like J'onn J'onz The martian manhunter but each one has the potential to be powerful through learning shape-changing techniques, density shifting (phasing), and a myriad of telekinetic skills but all of these are learned and not inherent skills. So while I have gotten over a bit of my phobia and have the added advantage of being able to hide my inner thoughts which will allow me to get training away from the main population centers whenever I am finally born.

From what I can remember from young justice Martians age on a different time scale from humans, M'gann M'orzz states that she is 48 earth years old by the beginning of the show however biologically she is the equivalent of a human 16-year-old. This fact gives me a lot of time to train before I go to that dumpster fire of a planet called earth.

I have come up with certain training plans to engage in before and after I am born, during what I have come to call my gestation period I have focused on my mind. I have made my mind a fortress hidden in fog giving the appearance of a completely open mind letting emotions and surface thoughts through so that my martian brethren don't think me a cripple. When my mind was made secure I started to reach out to the minds around me projecting curiosity and a hunger for knowledge, in doing this I hoped to be able to snag experiences and even training from the glimpses I skim from their minds as they instinctively think to their education and training as I project what they would have felt during those times.

This process is extremely inefficient but it does give me ideas on how to best train by taking the techniques that overlap or complement each other and discarding the rest. I made sure to focus on control as with the number of abilities available to me I must be able to control all of my basic abilities to their maximum potential. Plus being able to reach out and interact with people while I'm still growing in the womb really helps pass the time.

I believe I will be born soon due to how excited and nervous my mother's mind feels. Whelp let's get ready for trauma.

 

[aLexAnder the Ok]

I spent approximately two and a half growing in my mother, during which time I grew very little, the majority of that time was spent on growing my thought organs yes organs, I'm not a stupid little mono brain human anymore I've got like 3 different brain-like organs that each do their own separate task. I grew these extra thought centers as both practice in my shapeshifting powers as well as a way to handle automated broadcasts as well as my own mental security. The mental security organ is fairly simple and doesn't do much other than run looping thoughts, math problems, and distracting sensations as a sort of camouflage over my main thoughts. While it is simple it does a great job of being an early warning system and a great staging ground for more powerful defences in case of an attack, I am able to bolster that organ which I'm just going to call the sergan (security organ) into taking a more active role in defending my mind.

The second (technically third) thought organ that I grew was one completely dedicated to my shapeshifting abilities. while untested in concept it should allow me to change into any form of an animal without having to get used to their senses or body shape at all. It will do this by scanning the animal's minds for patterns and certain chemical reactions in order to fully simulate those when I shift while not affecting my higher brain functions at all. I shall call this organ the mirgan (mimic organ)

The final and arguably most important brain was more of an organic computer than anything else. This organ held the memories of my past life cataloged and accessible yet separate from my core personality. I know that any future knowledge I have will be butterflied out of existence no matter what I do so I will not be reliant on it, it shall give me context and warning. I have seen many people get thrown into a panic when they realize that their knowledge of a setting is fallible and I will not fall into that.

I've read enough stories where the main character is reincarnated (as well as knowing what actual birth is like) to know that being born is a traumatic as fuck experience. For example when a baby is being born their skull shifts and squeezes as it's being pushed through the birth canal which sounds painful as hell, not to mention all of those lovely bodily fluids accompanying you into the world.

So I decided that I would either completely block my mind from making memories like being blacked out but without all the drinking beforehand or just erase the entire memory after the fact.
Incidentally, all of those things which are true for human birth don't apply at all for martian births.

THEY CAN SHAPESHIFT!

'fuck I'm stupid' I berated myself as my mother's stomach simply opened up and deposited me into the open arms of a....

'HHHOOOOOLLLY FUCK that thing is rough to look at... oh shit thats a martian... oh shit I'M a martian... thank god for shapeshifting'

Before I was born I had set up certain simplistic thoughts and emotive broadcasts to be played from my Sergan (security organ) when I blacked myself out or if I was unable to form a coherent thought in order to appear as natural as possible. I had mapped these broadcasts from what I picked up from other infants around my mother as she stayed in what I now know is some form of maternity ward.

I did not want to be labeled as some form of messianic figure because I came out fully coherent. Not only would that force me into some form of religious or political position which would massively hinder my plans and training schedule plus it would make it virtually impossible to get to earth in order to really start living.

So I came out as a perfectly natural martian baby with white skin

'ah shit, now I have to deal with racist green Martians, that is going to make it a bit more difficult to get formal training or techniques at least until I squad up with J'onn'

'I have no idea when I am in the timeline I have to wait until M'gann is born to know exactly when I was born earth-year-wise, it sucks that I'll probably have to wait years in order to have confirmation but she is my in with J'onn if I'm not related to either of them

As my mind whirls with the shock of seeing a martian for the first time and with my plans finally being able to begin I hear my mother speak gently at the edge of my mind

'I name you S'ol A'res (pronounced Soul aye res), my dawning star' her words wash over me along with her love and devotion

'damn being a martian is cool, I'm able to feel so much more!' I exclaim in my mind as I feel exactly how she feels for me. What she hears are infantile and fragmented thoughts of confusion, fear, love, and excitment.

'hehehe' her laughter is light, angelic, and tinkles like a host of tiny bells on the precipice of my mind in great contrast to her frightening visage.

however, I am pulled from my enraptured state by a feeling of disgust and disdain directed in our direction. My head whips toward the feeling of its own volition and I catch sight of a green martian looking at us with clear hate on its... mind? I can't tell its facial expression at all but I can feel his emotions clear as day.

'Well shit, that's some deep hate. I did not think I would encounter that universal constant that is racism this fast'

'Oh well, as long as Mr green power over there doesn't try and murder me I should be fine, hopefully it's more jim crow than instant murder for being alive I can work around that, I might be a bit unorthodox in combat style since I won't be able to get formal training, but I've got plans on exactly how to get dangerous'

 

[aLexAnder the Ok]

It has been 12 years since my birth and I finally know when I am. The year on earth is currently 1962, I know this because I am now the proud cousin of one M'gann M'orzz or Miss Martian this means that I have approximately 48 years left to finish my training on mars before I leave with her to earth.

I have not been stagnant the past 12 years but have been focused on perfecting my control over small telekinetic feats and how quickly I could shapeshift. For my telekinesis, I focused on controlling multiple objects starting with just a pebble orbiting around my head to more complex patterns then adding in more rocks to train my multitasking ability. For shapeshifting I focused on making small changes as quickly as possible, changing my pigmentation to blend in with my surroundings, it's not full invisibility but with some more fitness and testing ill be able to avoid detection on infrared cameras which martian invisibility still shows up on.

For what's coming I need to be silent, perfectly invisible, and able to shift and blend in with any culture and any creed. The main villains in this universe are a cabal of multiple extremely powerful businessmen, magicians, immortals, and kings called the Light.

Those who lead this group are Lex Luthor supermans main villain, Vandal Savage an ancient immortal human who has been an advisor to the worst people across time, and Queen Bee a meta-human with the ability to control the minds of men with either a pheromone or specialized psychic ability used this to take over and rule the country of Bialya, Prince Orin Brother to Aquaman racist ocean nazi basically plays open and kind advisor to the king while orchestrating terror attacks on Atlantis.

Finally the most dangerous of them all is Klarion the witch boy, he looks like a little lanky pasty tween but is nigh unkillable and able to go toe to toe with the heaviest hitters on earth, he is a lord of chaos and the main antagonist to the lich of order Dr. Fate. there are other members

The light is in league with Darkseid, the biggest of bads, they don't quite know that they are working with Darkseid or they believe that they can trick him, either way, they need to be stopped. I am not down with those fucked up new gods in any way, so ill have to figure out a way to either completely eliminate the light or expose them to such an extent that others deal with them for me. Luthor, black manta, vandal, Queen Bee, and the Joker are all easily eliminated using mundane means. Queen Bee will be more difficult to eliminate but curing her subjects of her mind control will have her victims take care of that for me.

But before I can go about covertly eliminating some of the most entrenched and powerful bad dudes on Earth I need to get bad myself, and Mars is full of beasties that give Bad a whole other meaning.

Every animal on Mars has some ability to shapeshift, either by growing claws and spines or by changing chemical composition to make their blood acidic or poisonous. What this means is that every animal on Mars is in a constant state of high-speed evolutionary chess which results in things that would give the average Xenomorph a panic attack.

The main issue with going out into the massive expanse that is the Martian underground exosystem is that I am a child biologically around 4 years old and while I'm much stronger than others my age due to my practice, I am still growing and am nowhere near strong enough to head out on my own. So in the meantime, I'm doing passive-skill reads and attempting to make my green brethren less racist or at the very least ignore me.

The biggest breakthrough I made in my practice of getting people to ignore me or aspects of me was the development of something akin to a S.E.P. (Somebody else's problem) field which acts exactly as it sounds. Whenever somebody looks at me with the S.E.P field active their eyes will just slide right off me their brains not bothering to remember me. This field would become my most important ability In infiltration and stealth in populous areas where active power use is not possible.

Mars cities are all subterranean and stretch for miles in every direction with tunnels and hidden passageways. Martian families live in massive communities with every form of extended family in one area, each family carves out sections for their own space out of the cavern walls, ceiling, and floor. So I lived with approximately 300 people in a strange kind of basement skyscraper, therefore I had a lot of practice going unnoticed.

As a twelve-year-old white Martian, I was much taller than I would be as a human child around 4' even (1.2 meters), and looked like a lanky teenager at least in my natural form, when I shapeshift I can grow bigger but I don't have the mass to make those shifts have the strength or weight to make them believable. This will change as I grow, I will stop growing around 60 years of age, after which I will start to amass more mass and density which will add to my natural invulnerability.

Now racism was definitely a thing even within the same family for example my distant uncle J'onn is a green Martian and his brother is super duper racist, of course on the other side of the spectrum are the white Martians who are quickly (for a Martian timetable) deciding that violence is the answer. This racial issue came about from the dismantling of a caste system where the white Martians were a servant class and generally looked upon as lesser, this led to the systemic racism that turned Mars into a pressure cooker that really needed someone like Martin Luthor King Jr. but for some reason, a near hivemind society hasn't figured out that racism is bad.

This was terrible if you were a white Martian trying to make a life for yourself on Mars, but great for someone like me who couldn't be bothered with politics and wanted to fly completely under the radar.
I could wander anywhere and not get a second look, even if I didn't have my psychic shields and camo no one would give a second glance to a small white Martian running around the undercity, and even fewer would think it strange for one to go into the deep forest (massive subterranean forest stretching the majority of mars) probably to scrounge like an animal some green Martians would think, fewer wouldn't bring themselves so low to think of white Martians at all. Thankfully there wasn't any heinous violence committed in the open, I have no idea if it happens behind closed doors though, and things seemed to be slowly getting better.

There weren't any dangerous animals near the city's entrances to the deep forest due to the number of psychically active minds present in the city, sort of how sound and light pollution scares off bigger predators from cities on earth, the dangerous beasts roam on the sun torched surface and by the lakes and rivers of lava in the depths of the forest, which is where I spent my time perfecting my shapeshifting techniques by turning into one of the small animals located near the entrance to the deep forest and joining their pack or family units.

'oooohhh boy that lizard rat dog looks a lot scarier and bigger in real life and when i'm shifted down to its size' I thought as I gazed upon the Ma'arzuu Beast.

logically the animals couldn't do anything to me but anyone who has ever come across an animal in the wild knows that the encounter no matter how benign will get the heart going. Thankfully my Mirgan (mimic organ) regulated my outer reactions to mirror what the other animal expects and broadcasted nearly exactly that. I can't be a too-perfect mirror or ill get into the region of the uncanny valley and give any disguise I'm attempting away.

'smell... RUN... hide... posture...' in the back of my mind my Mirgan broadcasted and received instinctual thought from the animals it was mimicking, eventually this transformation would be cataloged and I will be able to pass completely for the animal even under extensive psychic and biological testing all while maintaining my mind and coherent thought.

For every new animal cataloged the speed it takes to fully map and mimic an animal shortens, as I grow I am able to shift into larger animals, the biggest challenge is mimicking another person and then a completely new persona based around the group I want to infiltrate. Being able to do that is paramount to my goals.

 

[aLexAnder the Ok]

year 30 (Earth year 1980)
Martian babies/toddlers have human babies beat in cuteness by a wide margin. This is due to the fact that I can understand how timelords feel when they speak to a baby.
Martian baby talk is hilariously meaningless but delivered with every ounce of emotion and experience that the child is feeling due to the fact that they are feeling everything for the first time. Their psychic broadcast paints a beautiful picture of awe and wonder.

I have taken to watching my many younger cousins and siblings as they learn of the world around them and broadcasting new sensations and joyous emotions to them to brighten whatever they may be feeling.

'They are amazing aren't they?'

I am brought out of my silent reverie by a soft and strong voice, words enunciated in a slow deliberate cadence
J'onn J'onzz The Martian Manhunter floats beside me and I am at a loss for words for a moment. This guy is a legend on Mars, I would be starstruck even if he wasn't an awesome hero from my youth with the combination of the two I feel my Sergan (security organ) go into overdrive to cover up my psychic turbulence at his sudden appearance.
Mentally I turn down its functionality to show some more of my shock and excitement show through, it would be rude to completely stonewall the man.

'They are sir, every thought and experience is truly beautiful to them, I find it meditative to be among those few of us with truly no prejudice or spite' I respond after pondering exactly what I want to say to the most accomplished Manhunter on Mars, letting a few feelings of contentment and resigned sadness at the end of my message

J'onn turns to me and rests a hand on my shoulder

'There are many who will think themselves above you for things out of your control you must never bring yourself to their level, I can tell you are talented, not many are able to project abstract sensation as well as you. you will go far child' he responds with a confident tone as he turns to leave

'S'ol A'res, My name is S'ol A'res and I will go farther than any Martian before me!' I project with every ounce of conviction and will I have.

J'onn pauses in the doorway
'Of that, I have no doubt'
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Year 42 (Earth year 1992, 18 years till departure)
I first met J'onn when I was 30 (10 biologically) years old as I stood in silence playing with my younger family members and seemed to have been either very impressed or extremely sympathetic and managed to get me into a prestigious educational institute around 12 years later.

The reason why I suspect J'onn is that a white Martian would NEVER get into that institution. On paper, it was a completely open-minded (heh) school for young talents and every applicant gets a fair shake, therefore it is obviously due to the failings of the white Martian that there hasn't been one enrolled in its entire history.

So there I was a young repressed youth, going into the Martian equivalent of college prep school and Yale that glowed with the welcoming aura of an English country club in Kenya during the 1960s.
the following seven years are filled with showing up my peers, being belittled for showing up my peers, then finally being denied my doctorate on grounds of there being no evidence or examples of the behaviors I had documented extensively in my initial forays into mimicking the animals in the shallows of the deep forest.

Despite recording my findings and evidence of my interactions with the different packs of animals, my findings were dismissed as simply setting up behaviors by infiltrating the groups.
The purpose of infiltrating the different animal groups was to truly understand their behavior, from their stress responses to their courtship rituals (never participated but paid close attention to the signals and messages sent psychically).

My findings were not guesses or extrapolations on patterns although, of course, the latter was part of my data. They were completely backed up by my own experiences that had been recorded by my Mirgan (Mimic organ) and broadcast to the group of pompous Piccolo wannabes.

When they outright dismissed all of my data and their own experience I decided I would catalog every piece of data I could on every animal I could find from the shallows to the black depths that make up the labyrinth of The Black Trench. I would return with irrefutable evidence of their ignorance, hopefully with J'onn so the Green power club doesn't take credit and fuck me over.
With my goal in mind, I set off into the depths of the grand subterranean forest where monsters make a home.
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Year 54 (Earth year 2004)
I stalk silently on four digitigrade legs, and breathe deeply. A world of information borne upon the air is sorted instantly by an enhanced nose and a mind designed exactly for that task. two strange tentacles float weightlessly behind me seeming like weak sensory organs and not the swift instruments of death that they were.
'go left loud' I instruct my hunting partner as I move to cut off my prey.

I speed through the softly glowing bioluminescent undergrowth that lights the expanses of the deep forest. I hear a flurry of panicked movement and warning broadcasts as the herd of what I call space deer
I hear what sounds like the muffled crack of a whip and a startled cry as one of the hear suddenly stumbles, I respond by whipping my two tentacles forward in a blur and release the spines held at their tips throwing the projectiles directly through the space deer leading the pack

'strike now, let biggest and pregnant go' I instruct as the rest of my pack bursts from their hidden spots in the shade of tree size mushrooms and dense bushes in a flurry of claws, spines, and yelps and howls reminiscent of a maned wolf (called a roar bark give it a google it sounds wild)
I have been with this pack for the past year, I was with another herd of deer the year before working my way through the martian food chain and understanding each behavior and tactic, and niche that every one of the beasts had.

It was brutal and terrifying but incredibly beautiful and a truly unique experience to be predator and prey. To understand exactly what it feels like to be on the other side of a pack of white spines, and to lead said pack of white spines.

The white spines while not the strongest, a position that belongs to the blind behemoths found in The Black Trench of the deep forest, are the second most dangerous by far.
They are incredibly intelligent around the level of a human ten-year-old with only the hunt, eating the hunt, and hunting again on their mind.
Well-versed in pack hunting and how to break up a pack, while also allowing some of their prey to escape so that they don't run out of food. Thankfully they are highly territorial and never leave their territory so they are easy to avoid if you know where not to go.

This however made it incredibly difficult to infiltrate a pack due to them being incredibly insular and breeding very rarely. I managed to infiltrate the pack by taking the place of one of the weaker less social pack members and slowly integrating myself more and more.

There is one other creature that I have yet to attempt to catalog. This is due to the fact that the first time I encountered one it nearly killed me instantaneously, the only reason I survived was that I somehow phased and passed through the wall of the cavern. It was completely blind, move nigh silently, and most importantly had no psychic broadcast. The creature looked to have about as much brain activity as a particularly smart rock, this was quickly disproven as it tracked me over 50 miles all the way out of the black trench to the edge of the deep forest.

These strange silent pursuers would be my greatest challenge, I had no psychic broadcasts or instincts to copy from, and I had no visible social structure to infiltrate.

The only way I would be able to learn anything about those creatures is to go back and get hunted until I understand them well enough to become them and truly conquer them.
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year 55 (Earth year 2005, 5 years till departure)
'Fuuuuuuuuck, why did I think this was a good idea!? oh, you should totally study the silent superpredator that can track you from your slightest movement and sound, oh and packs a harder punch than most of the big beasts in the entirety of the deep forest' I mentally berate myself all while completely shielding my thoughts in order not to alert the strange creature.

It stood completely still, giving no signs of life, until a small pebble lands softly 50 yards away from it when It burst into movement clearing the distance in a blur even to my enhanced eyes.

These creatures had the most advanced set of auditory organs I had seen during my years exploring the deep forest, it seemed that they were able to completely lock on and map their target based on one sound alone. They lived completely solitary lives, I have never seen two in the same place even when I intentionally crossed separate territories the controller of the territory avoided the one hunting me.
There might be a different way of communicating that I am not seeing. more observation is needed.

'fuuuuuck'
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
year 56 (Earth year 2006)
it is the end of my 56th year in this universe and I can finally leave this god-forsaken trench, I have managed to completely map and mimic the organisms I have dubbed collectively Azathoth after the blind idiot god imagined by H.P. Lovecraft.

With creative use of shape and density shifting, I was able to observe five of the creatures at once by stretching multiple sensory organs in the form of eyes on stalks stretched out over miles by utilizing every inch of my mass.

From what I saw and tested there is only ever one Azathoth active at a time, whichever Azathoth gets "activated" first takes priority over any other members of the species it comes across. This led me to believe that they are a singular organism that has the ability to move between host bodies or a species with an extremely closed psychic community. I was unable and unwilling to discern between the two as I did not want to be attacked by a highly specialized defensive mind or strange body hopping entity.

With the end of my scientific adventure to the depths of Mars, I am finally ready to return to my family and hopefully enlist my good uncle J'onn to help me rub my genius in the faces of some pompous racists.
I feel smug satisfaction transmitted from over my shoulder. turning to the bowling-ball-sized black and electric blue sphere and let out an amused snort in response
I had stumbled upon a truly miraculous sight in a small cave in the depths of the Black Trench.

A small luminescent pool in a closed-off air pocket that I had found when I was testing out my phasing to observe Azathoth, as soon as I found this pool I entered it completely knowing that no sound would escape and let down my mental shields a bit.

When my shields came down immediately the pool lit up and I heard a childish babble that seemed like a mix between martian baby talk and the excitability of a puppy. After spending over a year in near-complete isolation I might have jumped on the chance for any kind of social interaction and completely bonded with whatever was chattering at me. Extremely luckily for me, it was a naturally occurring bioship, something that much like the Lazarus pits on earth can be created artificially but also extremely rarely can be created by multiple nearly impossible geological, alchemical, and mystical formations come together to create a completely unique lifeform.

The martian bioships are semi-symbiotic and can grow and shift indefinitely, they, of course, must grow over time in order to be capable of interstellar or even interplanetary travel, but even the tiny one I have now is perfect for halo drops or a flight suit that can give me a massive speed boost in my telekinetic flight. With my new friend that I named Serenity after the oasis it was born in (lmk what you guys think of the name, give alternates if yall don't like it) even if I couldn't get J'onn to accompany to back up my claims as an unbiased observer, my discover and bond with serenity is proof enough of my ventures into the deep.

returning back to the city I look much different from the baseline form of the white Martian, I had adopted many aspects of the animals I had mimicked over the years I was much larger covered with thick plated shifting scale of bone covering my immensely dense muscle from the blind behemoths form, the two whip-like appendages from the white spines hung and swayed down my back, my head configured in a more spherical shape than the rest of my martian brethren having incorporated parts of the auditory system of the Azathoth.

I had built my body out of a synergy of every Apex creature on Mars, this form was my go-to when I needed to put something down fast or was going into a situation completely blind as it covered all of my bases while leaving room for quick changes based on the situation.

I might have gone a bit wild.