Chapter 24: Batman

 

(Aden's P.O.V)

 

"Maelstrom, I need you in the hall, now."

Batman's voice rang out through the whole gym from the PA system.

 

Sweat was pouring down my skin in rivulets as I completed the set of crunches with a 50 ton weight dumbbell between my hands. Not even Batman was pulling me away from my gains. I had been at it for just an hour, having started early at 6 am. I completed the exercise and swiped a towel off the bench to wipe away the sweat.

 

I didn't have time to actually take a shower without testing The Dark Knight's patience, so I left for the hall. On the hallway I met up with Conner who was coincidentally going to the gym as I left it. He smirked at me.

"I feel like I should tell you, he doesn't look too happy.

 

I scoffed.

"Is he ever?"

Conner laughed.

"That's a good point. See you later."

I nodded and headed towards the hall thinking about what Batman wanted to see me for. Could it be because of the incident with Speedy? Did he want to reprimand me for my behavior? No that didn't seem like something Batman would do. His policy was to always let the team solve it's own issues. Then again, I was a wild card in his eyes. Maybe he didn't want me disrupting the peace or whatever.

 

I arrived at the huge hall and my eyes were instantly pulled to the huge figure in all dark. Batman's costume never failed to impress me. It was bulky yet accentuated his fit physique and was intimidating. Very intimidating. Which I guess was the point.

 

I cleared my throat while standing up straight behind him. He swiped the last of the file logs off the hologram projector and turned to me with a few documents in hand.

"Sir."

I said in greeting.

"Maelstrom."

He nodded at me.

"First of all, I want you to know that The League is impressed with the work you and your teammate have put in on your missions. Furthermore the information you supplied about the threats to look out for has helped The League to plan out better strategies for handling them."

 

I was stunned at the praise.

"Oh…thanks. It hasn't been easy but I've learnt a lot by being in this team and it's all because you decided to give me a chance. So thank you too."

The expression on his face didn't change but I couldn't help but feel as if the air between us had grown more comfortable.

 

"There's a reason I wanted to meet with you today."

He started, his voice as monotonous as ever. I sighed, my fears becoming confirmed. I was familiar with the tactic he had used, give praise before following it up with a reprimand. So I spoke up first before he could.

 

"Look, if it's about the issue from before, I talked with the rest about my behavior towards Red Arrow and we solved it. So no need for the tongue-lashing."

 

Batman narrowed his eyes.

"I was going to say, I have processed your identification papers. All preparations have been made for you, Conner and M'gann to join Happy Harbor high school. You will be starting soon."

Batman concluded.

"Oh."

I was embarrassed at jumping to conclusions. Of course Batman wouldn't care! I mean he would but as long as our arguments did not disrupt the team's concentration during training or missions he would rather leave it to us to work it out amongst ourselves.

 

"In addition, I have thought about your proposal to…pursue your hobbies." He told me, referring to the writing thing. " The answer is yes but I will vet any material you wish to produce before you post it out to the world." His tone turned harsher. "All privileges will be revoked if you abuse this chance, Maelstrom. Don't disappoint me."

 

I nodded in confirmation. I would still have done it even without his permission but this way was better. He placed the documents on the table and addressed me.

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"That's all. You're dismissed."

I gave him a curt nod and left while studying the documents. There was a birth certificate, passport and everything else I needed to present in a legal format.

 

I took the documents to my room, took a shower to get rid of the slight sweat and started making music. I had roughly 20+ hit songs that I had managed to write down from my memory. The equipment I had was good enough for me to start my plans. All I needed was a good camera with the leftover money I had and then I could begin recording myself while singing covers.

 

Although this world's entertainment industry was different to my last, that was only in the case of different musicians and songs. The styles were a bit similar yet with a different tonal flavor. To ingratiate myself into the scene, I decided to start slow by making covers to this world's best songs but with an exotic air to it.

 

Settling on that plan, I used my laptop to window-shop for great recording devices that weren't too expensive. The specs on some were crazy. Especially Lexcorp stuff. Wayne industries provided products that were good quality but aimed towards the common man but Lexcorp catered for the specialists. Meaning high end stuff for people who had the money and need to purchase that equipment.

 

Equipment that included, micro cameras with a strong battery life and could store loads of footage, drones outfitted with surveillance tech that I'm not sure how Luthor managed to get the government to allow out into the public and lots more.

 

I settled on a good camera that was a lot higher than my budget but was great for recording. The money I had on me was just a hundred dollars, having spent the rest on a few other… important stuff.

 

Basically, I needed my laptop to be secure from tampering with, so I had upgraded it's security measures by installing the best anti-virus and anti-spyware software I could afford. Lexcorp's stuff still turned out to be the best. I had the idea to ask Robin for help but that would give the impression I had something to hide. Which I did. And one of the Boy Wonder's weaknesses or strengths depending on the situation was trying his best to dig for information.

 

For now, I was content with whatever modicum of security my laptop had. I had plans for some under the table high specs upgrading once I got the money for it. One might wonder why I was so concerned with ensuring privacy. Easy, I needed to contact some… interesting characters who would be able to analyse the vial of Kobra-venom I had to see if a stronger version of the same serum could be made. That was far off into the future however. I had no doubt I would need the power especially with the threat the Light presented.

 

Unfortunately, that meant tippy toeing and hiding my actions from the Justice League and the rest of the team. Luckily I now had a viable reason for Batman to ease off my back whenever I decided to travel out of town. I'd just give him a spiel about music or something and I would be golden. Not really. Batman was a bad case of suspicion coupled with constant vigilance, I was sure he wouldn't lessen his watch on me but that was good too. I was expecting it which meant I could control what he could more or less see.

 

That was one of the reasons I had pushed really hard to get his approval in following my 'hobbies' and 'talents'. I love music and writing, that much is true but that would come second to heroing and to do that, I needed a life outside the cave to set the foundation for what I wanted to achieve. Money for my projects and fame for protection through public adoration which would make it easier to get contacts and provide a good cover for my extracurricular activities.

 

It was all a rough draft but something I was working towards. Which leaves me with looking fo a way to earn money quickly again. All things considered, underground fights were still my go to. Just spending less than 2 hours had netted me 5 thousand dollars, how much more could I get if I was serious about it? A lot more I'm sure. The problem is, I couldn't go to Gotham again.

 

I was a hundred percent sure that Batman would find me out this time. Before I had arrived at the hall for our meeting a half hour ago,he had been going through the Cave's file logs. Which meant, he must have seen my usage of the Zeta beam tube to go to Gotham. This time he didn't ask about it but he would no doubt be keeping an eye on me.

 

That left going to other cities. Luckily, I had the perfect idea. L.A was a cultural hub for music and entertainment. Plus, Batman already knew that it was where I was from in my real earth, I could use that excuse of reconnecting with my roots to hit some of the illegal underground fights there and make money.

 

Happy with the plan, I left my room and flew towards the gym for some power training. I had unlocked the next sub-skill which was sound. This just further showed me how my bending was different from the Avatar's. There wasn't sound bending from what I knew. Then again, I couldn't say I knew everything about Avatar. This just showed that I could even be wrong about the other element's sub skills.

 

The most probable conclusion was that my Avatar System was different from the power system of the Avatar world. Benders used their chi to manipulate the elements and bending moves were essential to direct those same elements.

 

However, my case was different. For starters, I didn't use my chi to bend. My whole body, essence, soul and everything was connected with the Avatar System which acted as the medium to process energy from the bleed to allow me to bend. That was why, upon hitting Master level in air bending, stances and moves that had been crucial before were now not needed.

 

Secondly, the Avatar had access to all the elements from the word go. Even if they didn't have good control over them. My case was different. The system was built up on a levelling foundation, where I had to master an element first before unlocking another.

 

Air Element ( Master)

-Flight. (Unlocked)

-Sound. ( Unlocked)

 

So I only had to master the Sound sub-skill then get my air mastery to Grand Master level and then I would have access to the next element.

 

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