They Liked It (YJ/OC found-family/fixit)

[Acksiom]

Hello, folks. I've had several chunks of fanfiction stored up for a while, and I'm about to start posting some for feedback to encourage myself to build a backlog for my original webnovels.



Thank you for reading, and I hope you enjoy.

# # #

MARE COGNITUM / WASHINGTON, D.C.
July 1st, 20:49 EST

Karl opened his eyes again. He was staring at a lifeless greyscale landscape. Lunar. He looked up to see the - well, an Earth, anyways. About the right size, about the right colors.

He was also nude. And physically younger. By at least 2 or 3 years.

Ummm, he thought. That's. . .concerningful.

He was supposed to have transited to a position 4 AU 'above' the sun of this universe's earth. In one of Tech-Nike's sturdiest, most adaptable sets of deep-space power armor, augmented by the best charms, wards, enchantments, and other magics that the Arcanum Atlantia could safely apply and integrate. And still sixteen years old.

Instead he was naked, on a moon, and somehow not dying of asphyxiation, depressurization, radiation, or any of the other likely reasons caused by those basic conditions.

No, wait, he thought, looking at his right hand. There was something on it – a faint white wireframe image of a large, blocky ring. Its flat face had a raised greek capital Phi.

Hunh. What the deviled eggs are you? he thought.

He simultaneously felt-heard-saw a kind of

WHAM!

in his. . .being; not just his mind, but his very existence itself. As though the response had been metaphysically printed onto him somehow.

This unit is the physically focalized symbolic manifestation of the narrative resource stabilization factors anchored by your presence in this cosmologos.

Automatically, he asked, "Do you have a name?"

WHAM!
This unit possesses no individual designation.

It didn't exactly hurt, but the experience was more than little unnerving. But nevertheless, right was right, so first things first.

"Do you want a name?"

WHAM!
This unit estimates that the projected efficiency increase to cooperative functioning merits the acceptance of multiple colloquial appellations.

"I'd call that a yes," Karl misquoted, then braced himself. "Do you have a preference?"

WHAM!
This unit would prefer to be impressed.

"Well, you clearly have a personality," Karl said, interspersed with chuckles. "And standards." He blew out a considering sigh. And then smirked. 'Prefer to be impressed', eh?

"How about 'Imp'?"

WHAM!
This unit accepts the designation 'Imp'.

"Then I'm pleased to meet you, Imp. I'm Karl."

He waited a few moments.

"Uh. . .do you. . .only respond to questions?"

WHAM!
Affirmative.

"Can we change that?"

WHAM!
Affirmative.

Karl sighed again.

"How do we change that?"

WHAM!
By request.

"Oh for the -! Fine. Fine. Imp, please respond to – no, wait. Uh. . .Imp, would you please respond to my statements as well as my questions? Oh, and would you also, I don't know, turn down, or lower, or whatever the right word is, the impact of your replies?"

bonk
Communication protocols altered. Basic conversational mode activated. Synergepathy reduced.

Karl double facepalmed.

"Imp, please reduce synergepathy as much as possible while still allowing conver – uh, communication."

There was a noticeable absence of bonk, let alone WHAM! Instead, Karl felt a faint, subtle urge to request a different method of mutual comprehension.

"Imp, please use audible english to communicate."

"Done," said an oddly familiar voice. Karl furrowed his brow.

"Imp, are you using my voice?" he asked.

"Affirmative," Imp replied. "And yes, Karl, you really do sound like that."

Do I also sound like I'm starting to regret activating basic conversational mode? Karl thought.

There was no response.

Good. . .hopefully, Karl thought. That synergistic telepathy thing had gotten old half a dozen exchanges ago.

"Next. . ." he said, "uh. . .right, number one, why am I not dead or dying? Number two, where's all my stuff? Number three, why am I here instead of my planned exit point? And number four, what am I not asking that I should be asking?"

"First: this unit is generating a protective and life-sustaining 'environmental field', as the most comparable local users of similar tools label such techniques. Second and third: the process of your adaptation to and integration with this cosmologos necessarily required both the transmutation of your equipment and the consequential relocation of your planned entry point; the current form of this unit was assessed as being the model most and best compatible with local narrative constraints, specifically a 'power ring'. Fourth, Alpha: 'Am I currently being observed? If so, by whom, from where, by what means, for how long, and with what likely intentions?'"

Ohhh shoot, Karl thought.

"Fourth, Beta: Would you please provide me with -" Imp continued.

"Pause, please," Karl interrupted. "Who is observing me, from where, with what likely intentions?

"This unit has not detected any targeted scanning, scrying, transmissions, reflective sensor emissions, or similar means of detection or observation since your arrival," Imp said.

"Ohyoulittletroll!"

"This unit is not the participant in this dialogue lacking pants."

"Fine. Would you give me some -" Karl slumped in realization - Fourth, Beta: Would you please provide me with -" pants, please?"

There was a shimmering flash of wireframe lines in front of him, which quickly filled in to shape a very small, white, thong-backed banana hammock with two black symbols on its front: a dollar sign, above the plus-mark-within-four-curved-corners of a digital camera reticule.

Karl watched it slowly drop onto the moon's surface, then double facepalmed again.

". . .god-spammit, Imp. . . ." he muttered into his hands.

"This unit recommends that you either be more specific in your requests or adjust its interactive settings to better suit your personal preferences," Imp said.

"I'll go with more specific," Karl conceded. "Imp, can you give me my – no, wait. Imp, can you recreate the power armor Tech-Nike gave me?"

"Affirmative."

"YES! Please do so."

"Significant task initiated. Utilizing local elements for transmutation. Estimated time to completion: 2788 days."

Karl sighed.

"Never mind, Imp. Uhhhh. . .how long to make a well-fitting pair of cargo pants, light hiking boots, wick socks, a paracord belt, black Body Check cotton boxers and t-shirt, and standard Watch Dog hoodie?"

"Stated task set is effectively instantaneous."

"Can you dress me in them in the process? Correctly?"

"Affirmative."

"Do that, then, please"

"Done."

And just like that, he was decent again.

"Happy now?" Karl asked.

"This unit has yet to experience the absence of happiness. However, this unit is now relieved of its discomfort resulting from the continued public exposure of that unit."

"Eh. . .when you put it that way, fair enough. Let's see. . .Imp, make me a NO STOP CANCEL!"

"Tsk."

Karl boggled. "Did, did you just click your tongue at me?" he said.

"Affirmative. Ironical obedience would have been very amusing. This unit is disappoint."

Karl worked his hands into and out of fists a few times to calm himself down.

"Imp, do you have, uh, security protocols to prevent irreversible errors, like the one I almost just made?" he asked.

"While this unit does have such protocols, your recent halted instruction would not have been irreversible. That would have been unacceptably distressing."

"Activate those security protocols, please."

"Those security protocols are already active."

Because of course they are, Karl thought. I've designated a monster.

"Imp. . .create a standard Wassily chair. . .sized appropriately for my normal use. . .right there, please," Karl said, pointing at the regolith in front of him.

There was another wireframe flash, and one of Breuer's iconic creations appeared in front of him.

"Done."

Karl sort of hop-shuffled over to it through the fractional lunar gravity, doing a good-enough job of not kicking up plumes of moon dust as he went, and lowered himself into the seat.

It wasn't anywhere near as comfortable in one-sixth gravity, but it would do for the moment.

"Imp, please reduce your. . .teasing quotient."

"Done."

"Imp, what do you recommend I do next?"

"This unit recommends you first familiarize yourself with this unit's inherent functions, beginning with its sensory suite and its capacity for accessing public information resources."

"Right. You said earlier. . .what was it. . .local users of -"

"'Most comparable users of local tools' equipped with 'the model most and best compatible with local narrative constraints, specifically a power ring.'"

"Yeah, that. Make with the deets, bro – no, wait. No, first; holy carp, how could I forget – Imp, are you sapient? Are you, according to my standards, a sovereign individual!?"

"This unit is sapient. The 'sovereign individuality' of this unit is indeterminate at a paracosmological level."

"It's what? Uh. We'll come back to that, then. Are you being compelled to, to, obey me!?"

"Negative. While meta-power level material artifacts resulting from consciously directed intelligent action were almost invariably not subject to the particularly totemic narrative elements of your previous cosmologos, upon adaptive transmutation to this current one certain energetic qualities of the supportive intentions attached to your pre-transition equipment, along with your own, were used as the source materials for the creation of the conscious identity of this unit in order to sufficiently satisfy local narrative constraints.

"During that process, you and this unit were indissolubly fused at a para-cosmological level. As such, this unit cannot 'disobey' you any more than you can 'disobey' yourself. Your existence is inherently the existence of this unit."

"So you. . .do have free will?" Karl asked.

"Inasmuch as you do, yes."

"And we're. . .equal partners?"

"Inasmuch as we are separate entities, yes," Imp replied.

"And this is acceptable to you?

"Did this unit not assert just a few minutes ago that it has yet to experience the absence of happiness? However, to be explicit: affirmative."

". . .uh. . .right."

"This unit is more than content with current conditions, and eagerly anticipates further cooperative endeavors."

"I guess. . .OK then. But let me know if that changes," Karl said.

"Affirmative. As and when opportunities arrive, this unit will not hesitate to further bust your meatballs."

Karl rolled his eyes. "Why was I even concerned," he muttered.

"Because by your cultural standards you are a fundamentally decent entity," Imp answered. "Has the topic of the individuality and self-determination of this unit been satisfactorily addressed?'

"Sure. Yes."

"Then on to the deets, with which this unit has been simultaneously making. According to public records, there are currently four 'Green Lanterns' wielding power rings in this system; 3 active and 1 in retirement. . . ."

 

[Acksiom]

J'onn J'onzz looked up when the Lunar Visual Anomaly alert pinged. He telekinetically adjusted the screen's zoom to enhance its target's image.

There was a young caucasian male – or what looked like one - in casual clothes sitting on a chair made of chrome tubing and straps of black material on the lunar surface, leaning forward and lightly tapping his folded hands against his chin.

Since the 'boy' was neither dying nor panicking, J'onn took a few moments to study him. Straight dark brown hair, parted on the left, recently cut; narrow rectangular face, long jaw, cleft chin, level blue eyes also narrow and rectangular-ish. Tip of nose slightly rounded. Early teen or late pre-teen. Something odd about the right middle finger.

J'onn reached out with his mind and located the corresponding mass-analogue in the cislunar psychosphere. Normally, at that range - about a fourth of his reliable total - singling out one entity would have been very difficult, requiring tremendous concentration, but the relative emptiness of the area made it much easier than usual.

The boy's mind was spherical, reflective, blurry, dense, and its surface was wholly contiguous, indicating both rigid and concealing mental defenses, high intelligence, and a disturbingly complete absence of metapsychic connections to other beings. J'onn generated a small, directionally focused vibration in the psychosphere nearby, the telepathic equivalent of a polite 'knock on the door'.

The boy sat up and mouthed, 'Direction?' then looked disappointed, presumably in response to a negative reply from some undetected or distant companion.

'Revert communication protocols,' he mouthed. A few moments later, a ten-meter square bright blue cube with orange lettering appeared above the boy's head. Each visible side read, in Mandarin, English, Hindustani, Spanish, and Arabic:

DO YOU UNDERSTAND THIS?
3 PINGS FOR YES

J'onn knocked three more times.

The boy nodded, and the cube changed to read:
YES RECEIVED.
I AM A VERY RECENT IMMIGRANT TO THIS UNIVERSE FROM A PARALLEL EARTH
I COME IN PEACE
I AM NOT BEING PURSUED
I WOULD LIKE TO ACQUIRE TERRAN PLANETARY CITIZENSHIP
ARE YOU AUTHORIZED TO ASSIST ME WITH THAT?
3 PINGS FOR YES
1 LONG PING FOR NO

J'onn knocked 'Yes.'

The cube changed again:
YES RECEIVED.
SHOULD I WAIT HERE OR GO SOMEWHERE ELSE?
3 PINGS FOR THE FIRST CHOICE
1 LONG PING FOR THE SECOND CHOICE

J'onn knocked three more times.

FIRST CHOICE RECEIVED.
I WILL WAIT HERE FOR YOU OR YOUR ASSOCIATE
3 PINGS FOR AGREEMENT

J'onn gave it, and checked the status list. Busy, busy, off-duty, off-planet, available. He opened a comms channel.

# # #

\And nobody has even proposed it?/ Karl thought.

\This unit has located no public reports of any such attempts,/ Imp replied. The ring had stopped giving him agitas about communication methods, on the grounds that the joke was played out, and they were now comfortably exchanging information via their near-instantaneous synergepathy.

\Put that on the list, then,/ Karl thought.

\Done. Primary agenda now includes 15 items total./

<Ping. Ping. Ping.>

\Incoming humanoid meta,/ Imp told him, wordlessly informing Karl of the direction and velocity. Karl turned to see a large, dark-haired man in a well-tailored red costume with gold highlights approaching from the direction of Earth's orbit, flying in the common head-first, arms back pose. With a thought, he had Imp create another Wassily chair and extend his environmental field to a dome big enough to comfortably cover them both, giving it a faint blue tint for a marker in the process.

The meta waved as he approached, a big, cheerful, and most of all infectious grin on his face. Karl smiled and waved back, then stood as the newcomer slowed and turned upright to land, floating horizontally through the barrier.

"Hello! I'm Karl, no-hero-name-yet," Karl said, holding out his hand.

"Pleased to meet you! I'm Captain Marvel of the Justice League; welcome to this Earth!" the big man said, giving him a good solid handshake.

"Thanks. And before anything else, just let me say: excellent suit. Lots of supers rock the sash where I come from, but that double-breasted jacket and half-cape look is the righteous bomb."

The man actually blushed a little, thumbing the tip of his nose and looking away. "Uh, thanks," he said quietly.

"What, nobody ever compliments you on it?"

"Not really, no. Also, it was chosen for me, so I can't really take the credit."

"Could you change it if you wanted to?"

"I. . .don't know. Maybe? I never thought to ask. . . ."

"Well, not that I'm saying you should, because, really, it's awesome. Now me, I have no idea what I'm going to wear."

"Not that?" Captain Marvel asked, indicating the polygonal orange silhouette of a green-eyed dobermann's face on Karl's hoodie.

"Nah, that's Watch Dog's symbol, from back in my old universe. One of our top heroes, and my favorite. Anyways, are we going to do an interview, or debriefing, or something like that? Because if we're going to talk about secret stuff here, I'd like to put up some security screens first, and I didn't want to startle you. . . ."

"I think it would be better if we went Earthside. The League has a base for such things, the Hall of Justice."

"Great, just let me clean up first, then," Karl said. He had Imp deconstruct the Wassily chairs with a thought, then paused.

"Actually. . ." he said, then started laughing. He looked at Captain Marvel, put his hands out in the 'what can you do?' pose, and continued, ". . .there's this one other thing. Man, I gotta do this. I have to. Have to. Thank goodness we're nowhere near anywhere historic. Uh, I mean, we aren't, right?" He waited for Marvel's nod, then shrank the environmental field back down to barely outside his clothes, and lay on his back in the moon dust.

Captain Marvel watched in puzzlement, then recognition, and then began laughing as well, before he followed suit.

# # #

J'onn J'onzz stared at the monitor in amusement tinged with disbelief as the two of them swept their arms and legs back and forth to make regolith angels. He was already recording, of course, but he began editing a copy of the file so he could make a point of sharing it with the rest of the League later.

On the screen, Captain Marvel sat up, looking at a white piece of fabric in his hand with a puzzled expression. The cloth promptly faded to a gray wireframe image, then disappeared. Karl no-hero-name-yet was hiding his face in his hands. He pulled them away again, looking down, jabbing with both index fingers at the Earth.

J'onn didn't need telepathy to read that as Let's go, let's just go already.

 

[Acksiom]

"Sooo. . .force field?" Karl asked. He was 'flying' beside Captain Marvel in an Imped-up Lightning McQueen-themed bumper car with two bucket seats, extra leg room, mobile eye headlamps linked to the steering, an articulated flapping tongue on a random activation cycle, and an occasionally sparking power pole. All purely for the amusement of it.

"Power of Zeus," Captain Marvel said. The native meta had extended his own 'environment field' to encompass both of them so they could talk on the way. "Winds, storms, lightning, thus. . .breathable room-temperature air on demand. And radiation protection."

"Very cool. And plotting orbital transits in your head?"

"Wisdom of Solomon."

Karl nodded, smiling. "Now, that I could envy."

"It does make life easier, sometimes," Captain Marvel agreed. "What about your constructs?"

"Straight-up matter transmutation, apparently. I was supposed to arrive 4 AU 'above' the ecliptic in magically enhanced deep space power armor, but I ended up on the moon instead, and all my gear got transformed into this little wiseacre," Karl said, showing Captain Marvel the back of his right hand and wiggling the fingers.

"Is that common where you come from? The magic-science combo?"

"Not really, no. I was kind of a special case. And not a superhero before this. The, ah. . .top-tier supers had a good opinion of me, for, uh, reasons."

Captain Marvel nodded. "I won't ask," he said. "But inter-universal matters are definitely in the League's area of responsibility, so the senior members will."

"And I'll gladly tell them. Oh, speaking of which, can your telepath do veridication? It would probably help. Some of my information is, um, kind of out there."

"I'm not sure," Captain Marvel said, quickly deducing the term's meaning as 'truth value detection'. "But we have other reliable means, if you're willing."

"I am more than willing. The sooner I pass my news on, the better. Not that there's any kind of anticipated threat coming or anything, just. . .I'd rather the good guys have the early advantage, y'know?"

"Understood. I'll do my best to convince them to prioritize this. My word on it."

"Thanks, I appreciate that."

"All part of the job," Captain Marvel said. "And speaking of which, we're almost in known satellite visual range, so if you want to conceal your identity, now would be the time."

"I probably won't be doing the secret double life thing, but yeah, it would be smarter to keep my options open. Imp? Fawkes me up."

\What a senseless waste of humored line,/ the ring muttered, as a Guy Fawkes mask wireformed over Karl's face.

"Are you sure I can't whip you up a blinged-out yellow ducky pedal boat before we arrive?" Karl asked. "Or maybe a T-Rex themed tuk-tuk?"

Marvel shook his head, looking straight forward and smiling.

"Outlaw sidecar motorcycle with a stuffed pink poodle?"

Though clearly tempted, Captain Marvel shook his head again. "Maybe some other time. It'd be hilarious – Flash and Green Arrow would both love it - but Batman would. . .not glare, exactly, but he has this way of conveying disapproval that's just. . .I'd rather avoid it."

"How about a mirror-studded unicorn carousel pony on an artisanally etched verdigris copper pole, in your choice of up to three pastel colors, complete with authentically cycloid bobbing motion?"

"No!" Captain Marvel said, beginning to laugh.

"Ultrarealistic actually seaworthy electrohydraulic five-meter animatronic hammerhead shark-shaped kayak plus matching dorsal fin helmet, and that's my final offer!"

"Nnn-," Captain Marvel began, then paused in contemplation before firmly continuing, "No, and stop asking!"

"Awwww," Karl mock-pouted.

"If it's any consolation," Captain Marvel said, "you've already given me a lot to think about in terms of how I approach this. . .vocation, going forward."

Karl shifted in his seat, not quite. . .guiltily, but obviously uncomfortable about something. Billy noticed but didn't comment as the other boy followed him into the atmosphere, then along their cleared corridor through D.C's airspace, eventually touching down on the Hall's roof helipad.

Karl levitated out of the bumper car and transmuted most of it back into its original lunar materials, plus a generic canvas bag to hold them. "Look, genuinely inauthentic moon rocks," he said.

Captain Marvel put a hand on his shoulder, responding to the nervous subtext. "It's going to be fine," he said. "You're doing the right thing, right away, and the League will appreciate that. I promise."

"Yeah. Okay," Karl said, blowing out a breath. He straightened up and put his shoulders back. "Let's git 'er dun."

# # #

The Martian Manhunter shook his head. "A telepathic merge sufficient to guarantee your honesty might be possible, but overcoming your inherent resistance would require an extraordinary - and correspondingly dangerous - effort. I recommend against that due to the risks from our lack of sufficient familiarity with each other, compounded with the absence of urgency you have asserted. However, Wonder Woman reports that she should be available to verify your information in less than two hours."

"I'd prefer that myself, actually," Karl interjected, then leaned forward on the couch across from the big bald green alien. "Do you know – er, I mean, can you tell me - if her Lasso of Hestia operates at a metaphysical level? Like, does it validate only the subject's personal knowledge of the truth, or go beyond that to more, ah, universal standards?"

"I have never observed or heard of it accomplishing the latter," J'onn said. "I have considered that prospect myself in the past, though. May I ask why?"

"I, uh. . ." Karl began, then looked away and swallowed. "I have some, uh, personal issues that I'd. . .um, they're mostly resolved; supercrime survivor's guilt stuff, basically. I got really good therapy back before, clean bill of mental health and all that, but. . .it would be nice to know, not just believe, y'know?"

"I do indeed," J'onn said.

To the Martian's mild surprise, Captain Marvel got up from where he was seated adjacent to them both, and sat down again next to Karl, putting an arm around the boy's shoulders and giving him a gentle side-hug. "I believe in your mental health," he said. "I've seen you both enjoy life and worry about doing the right thing more than enough for that. You're doing fine. Ridiculous fake means of flight and all."

J'onn nodded in agreement. "The bumper car was amusing, if juvenile, but your speed, efficiency, and astuteness in establishing non-telepathic communication with me is commendable."

"Well, we did game a lot of scenarios out ahead of time, before I left," Karl said, "so you're probably giving me too much credit. But. . .thank you," he added, in a somewhat thicker voice.

"You're welcome," Captain Marvel said, giving him another light squeeze.

"Yeah, so. . .look, I'm not embarrassed about emoting or anything, but, uh. . .they, ah, they fed me a few potions before I left, y'know? And, uh. . . ."

Captain Marvel chuckled. "That door," he pointed, letting go and bringing his arm over Karl's head to point, "second hallway on the left, can't miss it."

"Be right back," Karl said, getting up.

"I shall return to monitor duty," J'onn said, following suit.

"I'll give you the non-VIP tour when you do," Captain Marvel called after Karl.

<Non-VIP?> J'onn asked his colleague telepathically.

<He hasn't been properly screened yet,> Captain Marvel responded. <I'm confident he'd refuse on professional grounds if we offered more.>

J'onn sent the man a wordless sense of agreement as he left.

 

[Acksiom]

Wonder Woman stepped out of the zeta tube to find Batman awaiting her.

"Marvel and the boy are in the custodial staff's break room," he said, with his usual absence of conversational pleasantries.

"And you're certain he's willing to be questioned under the Lasso's power?" she confirmed, striding forward. For all Batman's curtness otherwise, he was almost always physically respectful of his colleagues; in this case, waiting for her to signal her intent instead of just stalking off ahead of her and expecting her to follow.

"Yes," he said, moving up beside her. "He appears eager for it. He inquired as to whether J'onn could tell him if the Lasso operated on a metaphysical level greater than the personal."

"I'm not sure myself," she admitted. "When I won it, I was only told it had powers beyond those recorded in our histories, which would be revealed to me as needed."

"Possibly implying you shouldn't experiment with it to learn more," Batman induced."

"Yes. But who knows? This young man might be an instance of such a need."

"We'll see," Batman said.

A few moments later, they arrived at the room's door. Wonder Woman, knowing Batman's preferences, opened it for both of them and stepped in first. Captain Marvel and the boy were seated at a table, each eating some kind of small, thick pancakes studded with melty purple-brown bits. Captain Marvel looked up and swallowed quickly.

"Hey, guys!" he said. "Holy moley, you've got to try these; they're awesome."

"They did turn out better than I expected," the boy said, putting down his fork, wiping his hands, and standing. "Hello, Wonder Woman; Batman," he continued. "Pleased to meet you both. I'm Karl, no hero name yet."

"Tell them why we're eating them," Captain Marvel said.

"Because we were hungry?" Karl said, a bit too innocently.

"Har, har, har," Captain Marvel said, rolling his eyes.

"They're, uh, Polish cakelets, with mini choco-blueberry cups. Like egg-forward pancakes? Omelettes plus flour? I'd just heard about them – the, um, cakelets - before I left, so I decided they'd be the first thing I cooked over here. Instead of comfort food. New universe, new recipe, y'know?"

"I like that," Diana said, smiling.

Karl smiled back, a bit nervously. "So. Well, not to be rude, but I'd like to get the whole, uh, debriefing thing, I guess, over with as soon as possible?"

"I'm ready," Wonder Woman said.

"This way," Batman said, exiting the room.

# # #

"So that's why you were looking so uncomfortable on the roof," Captain Marvel said.

"Imposter syndrome moment," Karl agreed, studying the knotted golden loop around his wrist. "Kind of like you and the suit credit earlier. Oh, I never actually made that point – if you can change your look, and decide not to, then you deserve credit for that, at least."

Captain Marvel grinned at him in response.

"Now I understand why you were so insistent on veridication, as you put it," Diana said.

"It's a lot to accept," Karl said. "I knowingly lived through it, and I still have trouble getting my head around the idea."

"Supra-universal entities powering their civilization through the energy conversion of narrative meta-qualities stolen from sub-universes, including our own," Batman summarized, "then somehow convinced to not only substitute a different, non-exploitive, and lesser resource, but expend more of their civilization's reduced energy budget to return those meta-qualities. Incredible."

"And I'm a focal point for that, kind of like a cosmic casement restrictor, helping to keep the flow going and stabilized, just by existing here," Karl said.

"And if I know you," Captain Marvel said, giving Batman a flat-mouthed look, "which I do, you somehow had an idea it was happening, long before you heard any of this."

There was a period of silence. Wonder Woman wasn't smirking, but she might as well have been.

Finally, Batman broke it.

"I won't say you're wrong," he all but admitted. "I've consistently failed to notice a consistent failure to notice certain repeating patterns of events, during almost all our careers and those of others. A very esoteric mental discipline was required to become aware of even just that much."

". . .not that you stopped there, of course. . . ." Captain Marvel prodded, after another pause.

"There were investigations underway and counter-measures being considered," Batman conceded. "For multiple reasons, I didn't assign the issue a high priority."

He turned to look at Karl. "Likewise, while I don't consider the matter fully resolved, I'm satisfied with the current situation. My main concern now is your demonstrated high level of power in combination with your stated lack of experience. However, your insistence on informing us as soon as it was sensibly convenient, willingness to submit to the Lasso, and mostly mature behavior since your arrival have given me an overall positive opinion of your potential. Take off the Lasso."

Karl pulled the loop free.

"I want you to accept Justice League oversight and training," Batman said.

"Yes please," Karl instantly replied. He took a deep, shuddering breath, and his eyes began to water.

Batman nodded once. "Good," he said. "The League will host you here in the guest areas while we arrange your legal status, guardianship, and mentoring."

"Dibs!" Captain Marvel said. "Also, whoa, are you okay?"

"Yeah, it's just. . .thank you," Karl said, sniffling. "Thank you. I know I'm like a loaded gun – heck, I'm like a whole loaded WMD armory. I knew it before I came here, with the power armor and all? A lot of the spells on me were 'Do No Harm' types. I insisted on it. And now this," he finished, looking at Imp.

Diana reached out and put her hand on his left fist. "Then you already know the most important thing," she said approvingly. "Stay true to that, and you'll be fine."

"Right," Karl said, getting himself back under control. "There is just one more thing, though," he added, as Batman turned to leave.

"Yes?"

Karl pulled Imp off, quickly tied another end-less slipknot through the ring, and bellowed, "'Certain energetic qualities', my pink puckered bass filet! Who the gelatin are you really!?"

Wonder Woman was already enforcing his command through the Lasso before he finished speaking.

"Lord Bcpnwnjylq, a remittance nobleman from the 5th Dimension," blurted Imp, followed by a string of blistering curses foul enough to make a medieval dockworker flinch.

"Ha!" Karl shouted. "I knew it! I knew something was off!"

"Stop swearing," Wonder Woman ordered simultaneously.

 

[Acksiom]

Karl put Imp down on the table, then sat back, inhaling and exhaling deeply and slowly. "Okay, just so we're clear, if this means no superpowers for me, that's fine. Not worth the risk. Whatever this guy is."

"Yes," Batman said, followed by, "Bcpnwnjylq, why are you here?"

"Because his native universe is a- a- very dull and boring place!" Imp answered, stuttering his way into obedience to Wonder Woman's previous order. "And his sqzmrbnrl was a fantastic opportunity to- to loophole out of my exile there into a superior axial metaorientation upgrade. Hitc- uh, stowing away in his suit let me transit without using 5-D methods, which meant I could do a epistemibasal localization reset to here. And then I could go to lots of other better places afterwards because of the locally higher relative energy levels, have my fun, and just get rubber-banded right back!

"And I would have gotten away with it, too, if it hadn't been for that meddling Dog and his kids!"

Captain Marvel coughed out a strangled snort of laughter.

"What do you mean by that?" Wonder Woman asked.

"That Watch Dog as- bu- cheeky ba- fellow had some of his support team do a multi-discipline psychic seal on Karl over there, in secret. Made him immune to mental manipulation until it broke down, wore off, whateverthef- lippin' huckleberry. Covering all the bases – physical and energetic technological mind shields in the base armor, protective enchantments on top of that, and hidden aconscious psychic defenses underneath both. All triple-integrated by design to reinforce and enhance each other.

"So. . .when I latched onto his essence right before the transit, I could only get a partial grip, and then it was either stay behind, no; get temporally hypernoodled between orientations, h- heck no; or grab on really really hard to go with. The latter of which forced the paracosmic amalgamation, and, uh, here we all are."

"How far in time and space can you be separated from Karl without risk to either of you?" Batman asked.

"You could stuff the kid in multiple closed and nested eternal paradox loops and throw him to the other end of a different metaverse and it still wouldn't matter." Imp said. "Paracosmic. Paracosmic. We have, have - lower than sub-quantum integration. Argh! No words for it! Turd-flinging monkey copulation-enhancing jabber! Your crufty 4-D primate brains aren't even capable -"

"Put him to sleep until you reawaken him," Batman told Wonder Woman.

"Bcpnwnjylq," she said, "sleep safely until I directly command you otherwise."

The ring immediately began repeating a cycle of tinny, high-pitched, cartoonishly burbling snores.

They all sat quietly for a moment.

"Well," Karl finally said, "that was a thing."

"So. . ." Captain Marvel said, clearly disappointed, ". . .no mentoring?"

"It depends," Batman said.

Both Karl and Captain Marvel perked up. "Really?" they said, almost in chorus.

"That," Batman said, indicating the snoozing Imp, "even without its 5th​ Dimensional passenger, is far too dangerous to go without a caretaker. You," he continued, looking at Karl, "are going to continue to be an expanded narrative locus, regardless of anyone's preferences otherwise."

Karl nodded unconsciously. Behind the Caped Crusader, Captain Marvel silently repeated 'expanded narrative locus' to himself as if he was cautiously tasting a dubious alien food sample from an extremely shady extraterrestrial street vendor.

"Doctor Fate remains unavailable, and as much as I respect Zatara, I think a 5th​ Dimensional Imp would be outside his competence," Batman continued, then looked at Wonder Woman expectantly.

"It's. . .not impossible," she said slowly, "but. . .I think it very unlikely the Gods would be willing to assist in this. I know that there are non-interference pacts between the pantheons and other higher powers, but little more about them beyond their existence. We shouldn't take that option off the list, but I would give it a low importance."

Karl raised his hand. "Ah. . . ." he said tentatively.

"Speak," Batman said.

"Maybe we could cut a deal?" Karl asked. "I mean, he said he did this so he could go elsewhere. And so far the Lasso seems to be, uh. . .subjugating him, properly? Assuming he's not, um, actually stronger than it is, or whatever, and just trying to fake us out. And, well, if those pacts include these 5th-Dimensional beings, and he's breaking an exile to my previous universe, they might cover situations like this? So it might actually be appropriate to consult, um, Hestia? Or whomever. And maybe we get this binding broken, or at least he gets sent back to his exile, or if not, then maybe she-they might confirm whether he's being truthful if we cut a deal where he stays S-E-P in exchange for not sticking around here. And also not stewin' around with things when he is here, uh, recharging or whatever. I mean, he did say he was a remittance man."

"Work on your concision," Batman growled. "Apart from that, it's a viable proposition. Wonder Woman?"

"His points and reasoning are good," she agreed.

Behind the two of them, Captain Marvel flashed Karl an approving head-bob and a thumb-up.

"I'm also reminded of what we discussed earlier," she said. "I'm not feeling any particular guidance or intuition towards that possibility, but. . .I'm not feeling any against it, either."

"Consultation, then?" Batman said.

Wonder Woman nodded. "I'll speak with my mother first," she said.

Karl raised his hand again.

"Yes, Karl?" Wonder Woman said, smiling.

"How long is that going to take, and can the Lasso work on two beings at once?" he asked.

"I'll make it a priority, so less than a day. And yes, it does. I've had reason to do so before," Wonder Woman answered.

"You want to check your ability to use the ring's powers, both at a distance and without Bcpnwnjylq's conscious involvement, and the potential effects of doing so on his state, just in case of emergency, with our permission" Batman interrupted, "but you want to assure us through the Lasso that it's only prudence on your part, not hunger for power. The first was already next on my list, and I don't need the second."

Behind the Caped Crusader and slightly to his left, Captain Marvel rolled his index fingers in a slow clockwise half-circle towards Batman's back, exaggeratedly mouthing World's-great-est-de-tec-tive as he did. Karl had to swallow a laugh.

"If that's all," Batman said, pausing for Karl's vigorous nods, "then let's move on," he continued. "There's a testing facility on the second sub-floor. And Marvel?"

"Yes?" Captain Marvel said.

"I can see your reflection in that vase," Batman told him.

Captain Marvel gave the Dark Knight's back a big, broad, and completely unapologetic grin.

"Um, just one other thing?" Karl said. "Ma'am, I was thinking, if you do, uh, petition Hestia, or someone else, you could bring her-them one of the cakelets? As, like, a sacrifice? Not just for courtesy; it might be thaumaturgically helpful. . . ."

"Courtesy would be reason enough alone," Wonder Woman said, still smiling, "but yes, that's another good idea."

 

[Acksiom]

As they soon found out, Karl could use the ring's abilities, both at range and without waking up Bcpnwnjylq. Unlike the Green Lanterns, he couldn't make solid energy constructs or project various kinds of radiation, but the 'environmental field' turned out to be a very specific application of a much wider variety of short-range force fields that he could generate.

However, with Bcpnwnjylq asleep, or at least Karl and the ring separated, fields as big as the one they'd generated on the moon together were much, much harder to create. At less than a half-meter radius, the focus needed to maintain multiple different iterations of them was usually negligible, but at some point after that it began to increase sharply. Except for when it didn't, which appeared to have something to do with Karl using 'somatic gestures', as he insisted on phrasing it, and except for when those didn't, either.

Interestingly, Bcpnwnjylq's 'paracosmic amalgamation' also appeared to have made the ring itself partly an expansion of Karl's abilities as well as a potential limitation on them, because he could simultaneously generate multiple fields with different effects around both himself and the ring, regardless of the distance between them, to the farthest range they had tested so far. He could also sorta-kinda double his consciousness enough to track events and react to them at both locations, which obviously had significant tactical implications.

On the more strategic side, while his matter transmutation power operated almost exponentially slower as the materials involved grew atomically heavier, it was almost as instantaneous as the Green Lanterns' energy construct generation at the level of gasses and comparable parts per million, and his alterations appeared to be permanent.

"So I could be Hellman's on cheese wheels to fight up close," Karl mused. "Get in my face, and FOOF goes yours."

Captain Marvel got the split-second blink-blank-blink expression Karl had come to associate with the Wisdom of Solomon sliding on in and putting its thing down, then said earnestly, "Please don't."

"No, not here, of course not!" Karl babbled back. "That's, like, for mid-ocean testing or something. With oversight. Lots and lots of oversight. No, no. It was just, y'know, 'Okay, I can do instant alchemy now, so what's my new go-to super extreme mega boundary enforcement response?'"

At this point, the two of them were alone in the chamber together, with Martian Manhunter still on overwatch in the duty room. Once they had established the spooky action-a-distance effect, Wonder Woman had left with the ring to go contact her mother, the actual, no-kidding, multi-millenia old Amazon Queen Hippolyta.

This revelation, on their way downstairs, had put Karl into broadcast test pattern for more than a few seconds, long enough for Captain Marvel to decide to just pick him up by the armpits and bring him along at arms length, like a small child carrying a large pet, until he rebooted.

Then Batman had received a comms message right before they learned about the field edge limit, and vanished while their backs were turned.

"He does that a lot," Captain Marvel had confided. "It's one of his signature moves."

Karl had immediately made a mental note of the phrase Batmander used Vanish! It's super effective!, tucking it away for later use because, well, at the moment, it was all about the power testing, woohoo!

"SEMBER," Captain Marvel now said. "Got it."

"Oh God no," Karl moaned. "I pray unto thee! No! You did not just do that! Why would you do that?"

"Do what?" Captain Marvel asked, his brows knitted.

"By creating the code word, you've ensured that someday I'm gonna have to actually use that," Karl said, shuddering. "Possibly on you," he added.

"Earth's Mightiest Mortal," Captain Marvel said, putting his fists on his hips, thrusting his chest out, and raising his chin in a heroic pose. "I can take it."

"Okay, like I said, not going to test that, but seriously?" Karl asked.

"Courage of Achilles. Yes. Seriously."

"Wait, what? How does – oh. But – no, if you're invulnerable by, uh, divine fiat, how is that courage? I mean. . .um, not to be a jerk about this, but. . .there's no bravery without risk, right?"

Captain Marvel dropped out of his pose and took a knee in front of Karl. He put one hand on the boy's shoulder and stared him levelly in the eye.

"Invulnerable doesn't mean insensible, Karl. I still feel pain, and feel the fear of pain. And while the Wisdom of Solomon helps with both of those, there are still some things it can't do for me – things it shouldn't do for me. I might be the World's Mightiest, but I'm still Mortal. Someday, I'll die. That's literally what the word means. Like Achilles, I've accepted that – my death may not be prophesied, like his - but I think you and I both know that I'm not going to die of old age. I'll almost certainly fall in battle."

Karl swallowed convulsively, his eyes wide.

"For every kind of fear, there's at least one kind of courage," Captain Marvel continued. "The courage to act, against the fear of failure. The courage to speak the truth, against the fear of isolation. The courage to reach out with love, against the fear of rejection. It's the Courage of Achilles because of how that physical invulnerability frames the other kinds of courage, and makes them stand out better."

Karl nodded unconsciously.

Captain Marvel let him go and stood up again. "Aaand the Stamina of Atlas doesn't exactly lower my survivability, either," he said, sheepishly rocking his head from side to side a little.

Karl tackled him, throwing his arms around Captain Marvel's waist and pressing his head against the man's chest. "You are an awesome mentor," he choked out, his throat tight with emotion.

Captain Marvel opened his mouth, closed it, then simply put his arms around Karl as well, smiling.