Chapter 11:The Starro Affair (Part 1/3)

Chapter 11: The Starro Affair (Part 1/3)

I included a fun spinnet below this chapter.

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(General P.O.V.)

"...And this, drum roll please… is the Batcomputer. You can gawk, but don't touch." Dick announced, his smirk widening as he tilted his head slightly, a glint of pride in his eyes.

"Nice."

Jon replied, his tone flat and uninterested as he glanced at the high-tech supercomputer dominating the center of the cave.

"It's all so impressive,"

he added, but his voice lacked any real enthusiasm.

Dick frowned, eyeing his friend with mock disapproval.

"I was expecting a bigger reaction, Kent. But you just sound… whelmed."

Jon's blasé response had been the same for every marvelous thing Dick had shown him—the giant penny, the dinosaur, the Batwing. Normally, people were blown away by the Batcave's grandeur. Dick certainly had been the first time he'd stepped foot in it.

"Oh, I am impressed."

Jon said quickly, sensing Dick's disappointment.

"I mean, who wouldn't be? This is the Batcave. I just… Is it always this dark and dreary?"

"Of course it's dark and dreary!"

Dick shot back, his tone tinged with exasperation.

"That's Batman's entire M.O.! How can you not be—"

He paused, noticing the gleam of amusement in Jon's eyes,

"You know what, Kent? You have terrible taste. Let's move on to the real reason I brought you down here."

With a quick press of a key on the console, the Batcomputer's massive display flickered to life, revealing three blank feeds.

One by one, the feeds connected, and the first showed a red-haired boy wearing headphones, sitting in a bedroom adorned with Justice League posters—mostly of the Flash.

"Dude, where were you? You totally bailed on me mid-game… wait, who's that?"

The boy asked, his fingers moving at an inhuman speed on the gamepad in his hands, his gaze flickering to Jon for a split second.

"Patience Wallman."

Dick replied, his focus on the Batcomputer,

"Let me get the others first…"

"Aaand done. Connection established to Atlantis. Hey Kaldur, Speedy."

Dick greeted as the second feed came to life.

"Good evening, Richard."

Came the calm voice of a dark-skinned teen with closely cropped blonde hair, who appeared on the screen. He was inside a wide training chamber submerged in water, surrounded by racks of unique weapons that immediately caught Jon's interest.

"Dick, now's really not a good time. I'm dealing with an oversized lizard trying to eat me."

A different voice interrupted from the third, still-blank screen.

"I know, I know, but hear me out. Today's kind of important. It's my—"

Dick began, only to be cut off.

"Ooh, sounds like a Killer Croc problem. Need backup, Speedy? Of course you do… I'll be there in a Flash, hehe…"

The redhead on the first screen said, disappearing from his room in streaks of yellow light.

"No! Wally—wait!… And he's already gone." Dick grumbled, frustration evident in his voice.

"Sorry, Dick, I've gotta go too. Need to babysit the idiot once he gets here."

Speedy added before disconnecting.

"Hold o—dammit."

Dick muttered under his breath, exasperation clear in his tone.

"Do not mind them, Richard. What is it you wished to inform us?"

Kaldur asked calmly, his voice steady despite the chaos of the other two.

Dick sighed, motioning over his shoulder. "Just wanted to introduce you guys to someone. Kaldur, meet Jon. He's like us—a sidekick."

"Hi."

Jon waved awkwardly at the Atlantean, trying to match his composed demeanor.

"I'm Superman's protégé. 'Sidekick' sounds a bit… meh. Also, Kaldur, are you underwater?" Jon asked, his curiosity piqued.

"Yes, I am Atlantean. My mentor is Aquaman. It is a pleasure to meet you, Jon. Apologies, Richard, but I am also needed."

Kaldur responded with a polite nod before the connection cut off.

Jon raised an eyebrow, a hint of a smirk tugging at his lips.

"I wasn't expecting that. A speedster, an Atlantean, a mystery crime fighter, and a mini Batman—it sounds like the setup for a joke."

"It's a special club."

Dick replied with a shrug, though his annoyance was clear.

"And by special, I mean incredibly frustrating at times. They totally forgot my birthday gif- Ahem, my birthday!"

He threw his hands up in exasperation.

"You just wanted presents, didn't you?"

Jon asked, deadpan.

"Of course I wanted their presents!"

Dick admitted with a grin.

"I'm friends with an Atlantean, an archer, and a speedster. The kind of gifts I can expect from them are waaay different from what my normal friends get me, Kent."

He continued, excitement creeping into his voice,

"Last year, Kaldur gave me a chunk of Orichalcum—I used it to make battarangs that could cut through Grundy's tough flesh. Speedy's gift was a thin thread with the tensile strength of tungsten. And Wally? He got me a chemical formula for an acid that can eat through metal in seconds. All useful things. All things I need."

Jon blinked, genuinely impressed,

"Wow, now I want superhero friends."

"We'll discuss your membership at a later date."

Dick replied with a playful smirk, twirling a battarang between his fingers before pointing it at Jon.

"Speaking of, what gift did you get me, Kent? I hope it's something good, Kryptonian."

He stressed the word 'Kryptonian.'

"Half-Kryptonian."

Jon corrected, crossing his arms and leaning back slightly.

"And don't you think you're being a bit too forceful? Besides, you're rich—can't you get anything you want by asking Bat-Daddy?"

Dick cringed, shaking his head.

"First of all, terrible nickname. Secondly, he's rich, not me. Thirdly, I'm on probation after crashing the Batwing a few months ago, so no heroing allowance for the rest of the month."

"Correction, the rest of the year."

A deep voice rumbled from behind them.

Both boys turned, startled to see Batman standing there, with Superman by his side.

"Dad?"

Jon called out, his surprise quickly turning to excitement as he rushed forward.

"What are you doing here? Does it mean you beat the dragon?!"

Superman's stern expression didn't waver, his arms crossed over his chest, as he regarded his son,

"Jonathan, I'm very disappointed in you."

The use of his full name made Jon's heart sink. He lowered his head, his earlier excitement evaporating.

"Are you still mad about this afternoon? Dad, those people would have—"

"Do you know what time it is?"

Superman interrupted.

Jon blinked, thrown off by the question. "What?"

"It's 10:30. Your ma has been searching for you everywhere, frantic with worry."

Superman replied, his voice edged with frustration.

Jon's eyes widened in realization. He'd completely forgotten their agreed time to meet up at 8! And knowing his mom, she probably raised hell in Wayne Manor. It's not like anyone knew they were in the Batcave.

"I—Is Alfred okay? She hasn't done anything, right?"

Jon asked, wincing at the thought. He actually liked the butler—he was chill.

"Alfred? Why wouldn't he be?"

Dick asked, frowning.

"Dude, my mom is scary as hell."

Jon replied, shivering at the memory of her temper.

Batman and Superman exchanged a knowing look.

"He's fine."

The former confirmed.

"But if I were you, I'd be more worried about myself. You're grounded for a month, young man. And no more recklessly charging into danger. Consider it your punishment."

The latter laid out sternly.

Jon opened his mouth, ready to argue, but his father cut him off,

"Argue with me, and I'll make it two."

At that, the younger Kent snapped his mouth shut, shoulders slumping in defeat. The look of disappointment on his father's face was almost too much to bear.

"Don't keep her waiting."

Superman added, his tone softening just a bit.

The expression on Jon's face made Dick feel guilty.

"Ah… Mr. Superman, sir, it wasn't really his fault. It was my idea to come down here,"

He admitted.

"Without my permission."

Batman interjected, his voice sharp.

"You went behind my back and brought an unknown to our base of operations, demonstrating a lack of responsibility. This behavior is intolerable and has set you back. Your probation is extended for a year."

Dick swallowed hard, the weight of his mentor's words hitting him.

"Sorry, dude…"

He muttered to Jon.

"Got us both in trouble."

"It's alright. I had an awesome time."

Jon replied, forcing a small smile as he patted Dick's shoulder.

"See you at school."

With a final glance at his father's stern face, Jon turned and headed toward the elevator, his gaze fixed firmly on the ground, unable to meet Superman's eyes.

(Jon's P.O.V)

Mom was also mad at me. She hadn't said a word to me on our way home. I understood why, but weren't they overreacting a little?

The day had started so well, but now, it had ended on a bad note. I hadn't even given Dick his present.

A sigh escaped me as I lay on my bed, staring at the glittering piece of crystal in my hand.

I marveled at its beauty as the moonlight streaming through my open window played across its surface.

The small, blue crystal was about the length of a finger, and when the light hit it just right, the room filled with a mesmerizing display of rainbow-colored reflections.

This wasn't just any gift for Dick. Beyond the kaleidoscope of colors and the 'ooh-aah' factor, the crystal had a much more practical purpose. It could heal minor wounds—like cuts or broken bones—within a few hours.

For someone like Dick, a human who didn't have the luxury of invulnerability, this crystal was indispensable. The only downside was that it took an entire week of soaking up solar energy to create one, otherwise, I could probably make a fortune selling them in bulk.

I sighed, tucking the crystal back into the pendant around my neck. I'd have to wait until we saw each other at school to give it to him. Right now, though, it was time to train. Maybe that would help get my mind off things.

Twisting the base of the pendant, I felt a familiar shift in my consciousness as I was pulled into the simulation space.

When I blinked again, I found myself in a grid-like, 3D environment. As the world around me pixelated and reformed, I stood in a chamber that closely resembled the main hall of the Fortress of Solitude.

In fact, the Simulation Space was an exact replica of the interior of the Fortress.

"Ah, Jon-El, you finally made it."

Came the voice of Grandpa Jor-El's AI as he manifested above the crystal console at the center of the chamber.

"I was beginning to think you were going to skip our practice session today."

he remarked, a hint of curiosity in his tone.

"Hey, Gramps."

I greeted, plopping down on the ground with a heavy sigh.

"My parents and I had a bit of a fight."

I admitted.

Grandpa Jor-El floated closer, his face etched with concern.

"Tell me what happened."

He urged gently.

Relieved to have someone to talk to, I found myself unloading all the frustration I had been bottling up—frustration with Ma, Pa, and most of all, myself.

-0-

Back in the Batcave, Superman broke the silence with a concerned tone.

"Have you heard from the Watchtower lately?"

Batman, his eyes fixed on the Batcomputer, responded with a slight shake of his head. "No, but I received a diagnostic alert about a breach. When I tried to check in with Arrow, there was no response."

Saying so, he attempted the connection once more. This time, the call went through, though the feed was shaky.

"Green Arrow, is that you?"

Batman's asked.

"Yeah, it's me. Sorry about the comms," Arrow's voice crackled through the speakers. "Whatever hit the Watchtower knocked out a couple of transmitters, but we're almost back online."

Batman narrowed his eyes, the wheels in his mind turning.

"Understood. Keep me posted on your progress."

"Will do. Watchtower out."

Arrow replied, the feed cutting off with a click.

Both Batman and Superman stood in silence for a moment, tension hanging in the air. Then, almost in unison, they spoke.

"Something's off."

Batman muttered, his tone grim.

"Something's definitely off."

Superman echoed, his brow furrowing deeply.

"We should head up there."

The Kryptonian suggested,

"See what's really going on."

Batman gave a curt nod.

-Chapter End-

*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*

SNIPPET (NOT JON KENT)

A draft to keep you company before the next Jon Kent chapter.

-0-

Chapter 1: Bob The Black Hole.

-Bob-

A scientist once said, what we know of the universe is less than 0.0001% of what we DON'T know.

Or something like that, I was never really good at school- I could be making it up.

But that time is long past. I doubt any learning institutions remain on Earth after the Exodus.

And how do I know that? Easy, because we abandoned It. It's been what? A bit over 6000 years now?

I've been keeping time by counting the rotations of a planet in a Star System closeby, but it's hard to say when accounting for the Time Dilation around me.

Basically we fucked up. At the turn of the 22nd millennium, Humanity had effectively destroyed the Eco-system and turned the Cradle of our species into a barren toxic wasteland.

What was left of the population migrated to other parts of the Solar system, namely, Moon and Mars.

Unfortunately these places had yet to be fully Terraformed and experts determined that in a few hundred years, they would not be able to sustain life.

The plan proposed was- Oh sorry, let's pause for a sec, it's lunch time and they're serving space rocks today.

Joke aside, there's this Asteroid that's been floating about on my Event Horizon for a few hundred years. What a tease...

It's reached the edge of my exterior...and...

Gulp...crushed to smithereens. Tasty.

[Mass increased by 0.00000017 Kilograms]

Oh look at that, I feel a little fuller. Thanks, mysterious floating box that appeared one day without explanation.

I call it Zoey, after my dead dog.

Now where was I? Oh yeah, so the plan to avoid extinction became to migrate. Again.

By sending out scouting spaceships with groups of people to distant planets, in hopes of landing on an Exo-planet with the same stats as Earth. An environment that could support life.

The passengers would be put in deep hibernation, set to awaken when the spaceships arrived at the potential destinations.

I was on one of those ships- picked for my phd in linguistics(something I believed to be a waste of time, after graduating and realizing that no one was going to hire a language expert when AI was more cost-effective)

That said...artificial intelligence xenophobia was still a thing, and I skated by on a technicality.

Also, the possibility of encountering Alien life made having linguists necessary. Computers were damn good at learning but terrible at intuiting.

But unlike the other 5 scouter ships, ours hit a snag.

The on board AI prematurely woke the 20 of us from cryo-sleep with alarming news.

We had passed too close to an undetected singularity- basically a Black Hole- and before we could do anything- we got sucked in.

Yeah.

That was...not fun.

Ever watched Interstellar? Now imagine the scene where the characters fall in a similar black hole and somehow survive. They even escape! Like...wut?

Here's the thing, once you're in, you ain't getting out buddy.

Our fate was sealed.

The whole crew panicked at first. But once we realized the thrusters couldn't pull us out and there was nothing we could do, a helpless silence settled over us.

Hope gave way to despair as we failed to escape the gravitational attraction of the grain sized blue sphere of energy, floating in the darkness of space.

An Astro-physicist beside me called it a Naked Singularity. In his words, 'An impossibility, where a black hole's event horizon is destroyed leaving the core exposed.'

According to him, It's mere existence defied all laws of the universe. Contrary to popular belief, a Black Hole's Singularity is not at It's center, but instead in It's future.'

(Personally...I think the prospect of dying scared him silly. Because I am 100% sure I have a Singularity in the present. It's positioned past all the voidness and immense gravity and sits right in the middle of my Mass. But I'm getting ahead of myself)

The Spaceship nosedived into the Naked Singularity and the rest became history.

All I recall from that time is a force squeezing and stretching out my body. It actually felt nice for a second or two.

Then my mind shattered as I tried to comprehend the chaos born when physics broke down and space-time followed.

At one point, I could see into Myself as 'Me' through 'I' while swimming through my neural pathways.

The deeper we fell, the greater the gravity became.

Our physical forms unraveled into energy to become a soup of positrons and electrons that normally would annihalate each other but with no laws of physics around- negative and positive charges bonded.

The result was my crew mates, the spaceship and I were compressed and merged to become One conscious Entity.

IT tried to escape and even briefly resisted the never ending fall to doom, but ultimately failed.

It's dying screams- My dying screams, were the ONLY thing to escape the Infinitude of Gravity.

And then IT too was kneaded into a single noodle of thought -[SURVIVE]- which hopelessly crumbled into trillions of streams containing every memory IT had ever experienced...

After and through all that insanity...I somehow regained my consciousness. Even as I experienced death and rebirth of self at the same time for what felt like Eons.

Then it just stopped.

The pressure of Gravity, the horrifying cycle of losing sanity and regaining it...

It all ended.

But now, I was all that was left of Everything.

A single Will of a being known as Robert Higgs. An average mortal man from an inconsequential planet in the universe that had reached where nothing had.

I had arrived at the bottom of the Singularity. A zone of nothingness and everythingness, intertwined.

If I had to describe it, I'd call it the forge where reality met unreality.

Where creation bordered non-existence.

Here, matter and energy had collapsed into a [GLITCH] no mind was meant to ever witness. It was beautifully un-understandable.

My soul, spirit or whatever I was, floated forward, reaching out in a trance.

At the center of the [GLITCH], was something...almost familiar...yet foreign.

With disembodied fingers, I made contact. And a word appeared in my mind.

[SPARK]

And then I woke up as a Black-Hole, the most dangerous thing in the universe.

So let's go over a few things. First, you can't escape a singularity-It's impossible, take it from me- but apparently, you can become One.

Secondly, my merger with my crewmates and the Spaceship- which includes the AI- possibly expanded my consciousness and might be the reason I was unnaturally reborn into this Form and State.

Thirdly, anything that falls into me is devoured and added to my mass. Meaning, I now had all the memories of my crewmates and their knowledge. Some of them leading experts in fields of science like Astrophysicists, Biologists, Space Navigators, Geologists, Engineers, and even Military Operators.

Fourth, Zoey- the System Interface that manifests as a blue box in my awareness, is likely a splinter program of our Spaceship's Artificial Intelligence that latched onto my soul for survival.

I was yet to understand her though. The only thing she'd done these few thousand years was notify me whenever I fed on something. Like the Asteroid from earlier.

I wish she had more for me than that. The mass gain notifications were redundant. I could tell when I gained weight by myself, you know?

If only she was a proper game system where you can basically see a Status Shee-

Whoa...!

I hadn't completed that thought when a new panel suddenly cropped up before me.

-Status Sheet-

[Nature: Black Hole]

[Rank: Minor Black Hole]

[Mass: 1.01 × 10^{25}kg]

[Radius: 1.5cm]

[Unique Feature:- Manipulation]

'Zoey, why the hell would you keep this from me for thousands of years??! I mean, I'll live to see trillions, maybe a Quadrillion years, so a thousand is nothing, but that doesn't change the fact, you been holding out on your boy! I'm mad! I'm so friggin mad! Well, explain yourself young lady!'

As usual, I received no answer.

And the anger fizzled out without a way to punish the misbehavior, so my attention was pulled back to the Status Screen.

'Ooh, a comet heading straight for my center. Lucky me.'

Gulp.

[Mass increased by 0.000012 kilograms]

Itadiki-mass baby!

Speaking of mass, comparing it to my radius of 1.5cm, the scientific knowledge in my head informed me I was about the size of a grain of corn. With a density of 17 Earths to boot!

Goddamn, I was heavy.

My bottom half quite literally deformed Space, due to the immense Gravity I exerted. And as Gravity affects space-time- was the reason why Black Holes had a time dilation effect.

Anything pulled into my event horizon would experience time moving slower than something on the outside.

You're welcome for the brief lesson.

I wasn't impressed with my ranking though. Minor Black Hole meant I was the smallest fish in the universal pond. But no worries, I just need more mass to level up. Cry now, laugh later sort of thing.

Finally, my focus landed on the 'Unique Feature' part of the screen.

'Oooh boy, that sounds like a Special Skill to meee!!'

'Zoey, baby, honeybun, could you please explain to me what Manipulation entails?'

A tense, impatient instant later, she thankfully responded.

[Unique Features are rare specialized attributes gained through Unknown methods]

I see. Well, my situation was indeed out of the norm. First man to become a natural phenomenon, ladies and gentlemen, applause on your discretion.

[Manipulation: Affords control of form, granting the capability to move, reshape, resize and change aspects of yourself. The only prerequisite is LEARNING how to do so.]

Holy...

Is this...

If I was a lightbulb, I'd be lit and sustained on excitement alone. If I had a dick, it'd be harder than adamantium. If I was...

You get the point, right?

Manipulation was broken on so many levels it was insane! The ability to reshape my form?! Even Resize?!

But the one thing I was really stoked about was the possibility I could move...

Locomotion baby.

Ever since I was reborn this way...I've been stuck on one position for thousands of years. Do you have any idea how frustrating that is?

With a density of 17 earths, and an event horizon with a radius of 1.5 kilometers of essentially danger territory, I sat alone in an empty pocket of space.

Despite having no sight, I was aware of the universe. Of star clusters shining around in a wash of bright colors, radiant nebula clouds hanging around systems filled with various planets. Of the comets, streaking around heavenly bodies like the blue sun a few light years behind me.

I was aware of it all...but not a part of it.

Locked in an inescapable prison of my own fashioning. I hadn't dared to dream that I could one day leave and see for myself the wonders of the Universe.

Until now.

With Manipulation, everything changed. And the first step to that goal, was learning how to Manipulate my own Gravitational Spin.

Thank [SPARK] for the geeky knowledge. It almost made up for the hell that was the Naked Singularity.

Almost.