WC DC 7

(Neoth POV)

-July 6th 2010, Central City-

Dreaming as a Kryptonian was strange.

When entering REM sleep, my mind, due to being so advanced, had lucid dreaming as a baseline for how realistic my dreams were. The sights, the sounds, the smells, and the pace were all the same as I remember it. My old home, before I lost everything.

It wasn't much, but it was home. It was a basic duplex with a couple of rooms and a bathroom for my parents and me. The warm water didn't work too well unless you waited like five minutes. My room was a dresser with a twin bed. I woke up the same way, with the sun shining through the window.

Picking up my glasses, I walked down the stairs and found myself some breakfast, but it was completely silent. Not a sound could be heard as I sat at the counter and ate some lucky charms. It was both a perfect start and a reminder of what I lost. But I can't feel bad. I had a second chance, and maybe that's what I needed.

Putting my spoon down, I washed the dish and put it in the dishwasher before the scenery shifted around me, and I was back in the Cadmus lab right outside my pod in the solar suit. Lex Luthor was in front of me as he smiled at me, I walked up to him and slammed my fist through his chest.

Yet as I did so, he disappeared, and I was in front of a mirror, staring back at myself. I stared into his eyes, and as I reached my hand towards the mirror, he slammed his fist into it, breaking it, and my eyes opened, seeing the sky.

Blinking quickly, I looked down and saw the West home. I flew through the window in my sleep, and I had been sleeping in the air for hours.

Thankfully, my suit makes it hard to see me as it's so bright that it blends in with the rising sun.

So I just flew back into the guest room, walked into the hallway, and saw that it was 5:00 in the morning, so I decided to test out my faerie feast perk. Walking into the kitchen, I looked at the cookbook for some basic breakfast recipes as my perk only increases my cooking skill and flavor, but it does not magic recipes from thin air.

I decided on a classic American breakfast with some eggs, sausages, fried potatoes, and some pancakes. As I went to work making seconds, thirds, and fourths for a certain speedster, I ended up losing track of time as before I knew it, I heard Mary walking down the stairs and as she walked into the living room, which was attached to the kitchen, she saw me cooking, and her eyes widened.

"Neo, you're up early." She said while sitting down on a chair in the living room.

"I was having trouble sleeping, but I thought I could distract myself by cooking. And seeing how it's already 5:45, it seems to be working. For now, at least. I hope you don't mind that I borrowed your kitchen." I said while fishing up with the meals.

"It's alright, Neo. Thank you for doing this, especially because Wally will be waking up in three, two, and one." As she hit zero, I saw a blur appear in front of me and take ten pancakes, five sausages, some potatoes, and eggs.

Mary simply smiled, seeing my somewhat off-put expression as Rudy also entered the living room after grabbing his newspaper from the front door. As I offered him some coffee, he looked at me and then his wife as he asked, " Mary, can we keep him?"

I slightly chuckled at that as Mary sighed in exasperation while Wally stuffed his face with food.

Rudy smiled at me as I gave him some food, and then Mary did the same soon after. Grabbing some for myself, I sat down at the dining room table and ate some food for myself. While my body was hyper-efficient due to the Superboy Prime and Garou templates, it was still nice to eat food.

I'll tell you what, though, the flavor enhancement from the fairy feast perk was definitely showing itself as the entire family devoured the food almost as fast as their son. I did make sure to dial down the addictive factor so that they don't get hooked on it, and I also don't want their clothes popping off like a certain anime.

Wally, after fishing his own food, had already cleaned them and put them in the dishwasher and, after doing so, sat down next to me and asked, " So Neo, how was sleeping in a real bed?" I gave Mary a small look, and she nodded in solidarity.

"It was fine, definitely not my pod, but I would say it's a decent improvement. It's also nice that I don't have to listen to little gremlins try to teach me how to kill the Justice League." Wally started sweating at that as he chuckled nervously.

"Well, anyway, I talked to Aqualad and Rob last night, and Batman has Robin on console duty for the next few days. I could feel his pain. While the Flash doesn't really do a bat cave as Batman does, he once made me clean this entire house with just a toothbrush without using my super speed." He quite literally paled at that memory while I wondered what he did for him to be punished like that.

After seeing my solar suit, which was still fine after breaking out of Cadmus, Wally frowned but said, " We really should get you some new clothes. We can't have you walking around like you just walked off the set of a Star Trek film." Mary then piped in.

"Wally, your allowance isn't enough to pay for his clothes, and I heard from Flash after he left last night that Batman is getting something ready, and according to him, it should be ready by the end of the day." Wally sighed at that, but I gave him a smile, and he perked up.

"Since we can't take you out shopping and I'm on vacation due to being your emotional support, Speedster, I'm going to introduce you to the joyous activity of watching the television. Multitudes of worlds are at our fingertips, Neo. In fact, I think there's a Matrix movie marathon on at about an hour." What are the odds? 

Mary shook her head in amusement as Rudy went to get ready for work, and after I checked his car for any sabotage or other etch using my nanites, he left for the day while Mary went out with her friends for the day, leaving me alone with Wally. As soon as his parents left, he pumped his fists in excitement as I gave him a confused look.

"Neo, my buddy, and my friend, now that the local police are gone from the home, that means we have free reign to watch television as well as the free reign of the snack pantry." As he said that, I saw him eyeing the pantry like a lion would eye a gazelle.

"Well, I wouldn't want to keep you from the pantry." I then gave a salute to the snacks as I sat down on the couch. After a few seconds, Wally sat down next to me with loads of chips and other snacks. If I were a normal person, I would have to worry about getting diabetes after all of the snacks I saw.

But thanks to my body tune-up and general physique, I can quite literally eat as much as I want and not get fat. I can already feel the tears of all the Weight Watchers flowing all around me. Wally then turned on the television, and when it first turned on, I saw that it was turned to the new channel.

The channel was for a certain news anchor called G. Gordon Godfrey, and as he turned it on, the man was in the middle of his news segment.

"My listeners, we are in the midst of a crime in progress. The so-called superheroes were found raiding a private lab owned by Cadmus two nights ago. The Cadmus representative that I called has let the league know that they are pressing charges against illegal entrance of their labs." He then showed on screen some of the Justice League outside Cadmus, who I assumed went there after Batman decrypted the data.

"Look at this, my fellow Americans, masked vigilante menaces entering private property without a warrant nor reasonable cause! What is our nation coming to if such unregulated miscreants can go about the world whenever they want?! But I already know that the Justice League Fanboys are typing on their keyboards and ready to reply on my social media on how I'm a tyrant or misconstruing the story. They can try, of course, as I believe in free speech. Also, feel free to send me hate mail. I need more fuel for my home fire."

After sitting on his news chair, he started at the screen and said, " But these are just the facts said by good old G. Gordon. I bid you all a dew."

His show then ended as Wally quickly changed the channel. I wondered how they got the footage, as the cameras are too advanced for normal phones. But I assumed this happened in the original timeline anyway, as there's no way no cameras caught the three Sidekicks along with my original Self leaving a destroyed Cadmus.

So this should blow over soon enough. 

"The nerve of this guy. We go out saving the world, and he is always on our butts for the smallest mistakes." He then finds a cartoon called Randy Ghostly, which I assume was this world's version of Danny Phantom.

"The guy does seem like the type to often look at the worst parts of the story, but it gets him views and attention, which is what he wants. I don't want to imagine what it's like if he ever got his own show." Wally scoffed at that idea.

" When he gets a show, Lex Luthor will become a part of the United Nations." Shaking my head at that irony, I relaxed and waited for whatever Batman wanted to give me.

While I would say I was focusing on the cartoon, I was mostly thinking about how I'm going to make my next move as I definitely need a person to help me out, but I need to pick wisely as I need those 4,000 points for buying some more stuff from the waifu catalog. I also need to check out my pocket dimension at some point.

Most importantly, I need privacy, so I need a way to spoof Batman, which is a slight challenge.

I'm thinking of someone like Sombra or Bulma, but power-wise, for a right-hand, Irene Belserion or Albedo would do nicely, as she was always a favorite of mine. The issue comes in convincing them as, unlike the normal catalog that buys copies created from the originals, this essence makes it so I have to convince them to help me.

While the essence makes it so they are in tune with me, it isn't a slam dunk, and even with communication talent and even the opportunity for them to have all their weaknesses nullified, it may not be enough. I could also just summon a servant from the nasuverse using a catalyst, but they may not meet what I want.

Hundreds of thoughts and plans run through my mind as Wally pays attention to the TV, and after three hours of TV, Mary comes back home from her get-together and asks, " Has Wally been trying to indoctrinate you, Neo? Blink twice if he is."

Wally simply looks back at her as she prepares some lunch. I offered to help, but she said, " You already prepared an amazing breakfast. I can't let it guests and do everything for us. Worse comes to worse, if we have any leftover food, we can just send it down the garbage disposal that is my son."

"Hey! I resemble that comparison!" He says while leaning over the couch. At the same time, I sat back down and waited for her to finish making lunch.

It turns out, though, that she had leftovers from yesterday, which were mostly Italian Sub Squares and Club Sandwiches. But it was enough for now, and as if on cue, the doorbell rang. Wally was already at the door, but as he picked up the small letter from the doormat, he found what looked like a debit card.

On the card, it says, " For Superboy from a friend." I smiled slightly as he handed it to me, and Wally shared my enthusiasm.

While cleaning the plates, Mary says, " If the package has arrived, then you two can go out to the mall, and Wally, make sure to get Neo some good clothes here. I remember when you took your other friend shopping, and they quite literally blasted your clothing tastes for days."

"I can't win with you, can I, Mom?" She does not answer as Wally speeds back up to his room to change clothes while I grab some spares from Rudy to use as cover for the solar suit.

As he comes back downstairs, he smiles and is excited about having another friend to take out shopping with him while I just wonder how badly this is going to go wrong.

Mentioned Perks:

Faerie Feast: 

Your cooking is supernaturally good, capable of making miracles from the worst ingredients. Just one taste is enough to hook a waifu for life - assuming, of course, that she can taste. Even if she doesn't like you, she'll be unable to imagine a world where she can't eat your cooking every day and stay with you for that alone. Over time, you can leverage this dependence into obedience through simple operant conditioning and, in turn, create real affection by enforcing faked affection.

The quality of your ingredients doesn't matter, but they must be real ingredients. This lure will not let you cook without the proper tools unless you have an adequate substitute. This lure also covers drink-mixing, butchery, and chemical food processing but does not help with gardening, farming, animal husbandry, fishing, etc. - that's biology, not chemistry. Suppose you want to use this lure's gifts as a professional skill. In that case, you can dial your ability down to world-class-chef levels, enough to ensure great business (and plenty of repeat customers) without tripping any "this food might be literally addictive" alarms.

This lure cannot affect targets that lack the ability to taste.

Communication Talent:

You understand. You can read a room, spot deceit or employ your own, know when to speak and when to hold your tongue and find the right words to say for good or ill. You will neither be That Guy whom women warn their friends about nor the otaku nerd whose obsessions drive others away. This does not lend any additional power to your words - that's what Siren's Song is for - nor will it make you enjoy social interactions for their own sake. It only guarantees knowledge and competence.

Additionally, you are immediately fluent in any spoken language you encounter and will speak it like any native in only a few days, with mastery of the written form taking a week on average; this part always applies to your retinue as well. Finally, you have a prodigious talent for writing, regardless of whether the subject is fiction or nonfiction.