When we stopped in the Batcave, Batman asked if I needed help, but I told him no and used my power to get out of the batmobile. Looking over, I saw an old gentleman with a hospital bed. Waiting along with a kid.
"This is Alfred Pennyworth, Dick Grayson, my butler and friend, and Dick is my ward." Batman introduces them to me as he removes his mask.
"Bruce Wayne." Seeing his face, I connected it with the orphanage I was raised at, how it was funded by Wayne Industries, and how much it sucked living there, causing me to run away and live on the streets. "Your Batman, you know I used to live in an orphanage your company funded, but it sucked living there."
"I know after you went through that portal, I looked into you and learned what was happening there, and I fixed it along with every other orphanage, making sure it never happens again." He tells me as I lay down on the bed.
"Hello!" Dick says to me.
"Hi, nice to meet you. I'm Alex." I talk to Dick; he wanted to ask me questions, but Bruce tells Dick to let me rest. I was taken up an elevator and given room to sleep in, and after thanking Alfred, I went to sleep in the softest bed I've ever been in after years of sleeping on the ground and being on the run. I fell asleep fast.
In another room, the bat family is having a meeting.
"Master Bruce, that's the child who went through the portal back then?" Alfred asks, "And why did you bring him here and reveal your identity?"
"Ya, why does he get the full revile?" Dick asks
"Yes, he's the same one, and the reason why I brought him is because I'm going to take him as my ward and train him like you, Dick." Bruce tells them. "He has a lot of power right now, and he is in need of a direction to move forward. I'm going to contact Black Canary to talk to him and open up about what happened to him. He only gave me the bare bones of what happened to him, so before I can trust him, I want him to be close to me. To get the power he has, he had to kill for it. But after talking to him, I know he wants to do good."
"But isn't killing your number one rule not to do?" Dick asked in bewilderment. "Why does he get a pass?"
"Because he did it to survive an impossible situation, and the one I believe he killed was a demon." Batman explained. "I want to train him so he can learn that killing is not the answer to his problems, and I believe he can be an important member of the Justice League in the future."
Seeing Dick wanting to say something, Bruce tells him,"He was trapped in another dimension full of demons all wanting to eat him or worse, and for close to four years, he survived and found a way to come back. Please, Dick, treat him well because he has been through so much at such a young age, just like you." Turning to Alfred, he says,"Take care of him and get him whatever he needs."
After they left, Batman made a few calls, calling Zatara and telling him he was happy and worried about Alex's health when told he was in good health considering where he was. After Bruce called Jason's blood and told him, he was more interested in how Alex got home. When Bruce told him about the shadow realm, he hung up to do research. And finally, he called Dinah Lance, informed her about Alex and some of the trauma he went through, and asked her to come talk with him. She quickly agreed to come this Saturday to see him.
March 4, 2010, 3 PM
Waking up in an unfamiliar place, Alex is startled and tries to get up, but he feels the heaviness around him, and then he remembers he got out, so he lay there thinking about everything that happened yesterday, the joy Alex felt, but mostly guilt thinking what right does he have to be here when so many died? After being in his head for a bit, there was a knock on the door.
"Young Master Alex, are you awake yet?" Alfred said
"Um, ya, I'm awake. What do you need?" stammering and feeling weird about how he called him young master.
"Oh, good, I brought you a change of clothes and a wheelchair for you, "Alfred tells me.
"Oh, thank you; you can come in." looking down at myself and wearing worn-out clothes with his demon snake armor. Alfred comes in and sees the bed a mess and dirty, but he leaves it alone and leaves a set of clothes at the foot of the bed and the wheelchair next to the door. "Thank you."
"The bathroom is over there, and when you're ready, they'll have lunch in the dining room," Alfred tells me as he prepares to leave.
"A, when can I talk to Bruce?" I ask him before he leaves.
"Master Bruce is in his study, so whenever you want to," Alfred says goodbye.
Getting up and grabbing the clothes and making sure his dagger and bag stayed safe,Alex made his way to the bathroom after pilling his clothes off. He saw that all the scars he used to have were not there anymore. Looking at the shower and thinking how rare it was to take one before, Alex feels that his struggles really mean nothing here. Getting out of his head, Alex gets in and starts cleaning off all the dirt and grime on himself. Getting out feeling refreshed and putting on the simple white shirt with white underwear and a pair of black stretchy pants Alex walks over to the wheelchair, stops using his powers, and just summons a ninja khan to push me to the dining room. He's the only one there when Alfred comes in with a tray of food. Getting startled by the ninja khan, he drops the tray, but Alex levitates it back into his hands.
"What is that, sir?" he asked, moving around the ninja khan and placing the tray down in front of me.
"Oh, this is a shadow khan," I tell him, unsummoning it. "Think of them as robots that follow orders."
Seeing the ninja khan disappear, Alfred is shocked but quickly adjusts himself. "Well, thank you for the surprise. Master Bruce will see you after you are done eating," Alfred tells him as he goes to see Bruce to inform him of what he saw."
Looking at the food in front of him and smelling such food after eating demon snake blood and meat for so long, he starts eating, but after the first bite, he burst into tears tasting such good food after so long. That's when Dick comes in and sees Alex. He was going to say hi when he saw Alex crying over the food.
"Are you going to cry over everything you eat?" Dick tries making a joke to ease up with Alex and get to know him.
"Ah no, it's just been so long since I've had something so good; even before, I only really ate Raman and junk food. "But in the nether realm, all I could eat was demon snake meat, and if I was thirsty, I would drink their blood." Alex tells Dick, whipping his tears, "I'm embarrassed.
"Man, that hardcore, was there no water?" Dick asked enthusiastically but then remembered that it was not okay to pry into what happened to him. "Sorry, you went through that, man. I shouldn't ask you anything insensitive, but eat as much as you want. For dinner, I'll ask Alfred to make some of my favorites for you."
After some more chatting, Alex warns Dick he's going to summon a helper and a ninja khan to push him to Bruce's office, leaving a star-eyed Dick looking at the ninja khan. Getting to the office door and knocking, Bruce tells Alex to come in. Pushing the door open and getting pushed in, Bruce had an arched eyebrow, looking at the ninja Kahn. After I send it away, Bruce starts talking.
"I'm glad you're looking better. I have news for you. I sent in the paperwork, and now you'll become my ward officially. I put down that you were living on the street for the past four years and that I found you and I'll be taking you in," Bruce tells me.
"I had one thing I wanted to do, if that's ok," Alex asked him.
"What do you need? Don't worry about asking me for anything." He tells me, making me thankful he took me in.
"I would like to change my name; the orphanage messed around with it," I tell him, gripping my hands.
"Sure, I can do that as your new guardian; what would you like to change it to?" He tells me:
"Alex Liu, so I can remember my grandfather," Alex tells him.
After that, they talked a little, and Alex brought back the ninja khan to push him around the Wayne mansion. On Saturday, Bruce had me come to a room and introduce me to a beautiful blonde woman.
"Alex, this is Black Canary." I called her here to talk to you as a therapist." Bruce tells me, " This is because I see the signs you're feeling some stuff that's not healthy to keep in."
"I'm here to listen to you and help you with whatever you're feeling," she tells me, walking over and putting a hand on my shoulder.
"I'll leave you alone, but Alex, this is to help you if you don't want to talk. It's ok, but please do something to help yourself," Bruce tells me, leaving and closing the door, leaving Black Canary and me alone to talk.
After settling down and Black Canary sitting down in front of Alex, they enter an awkward silence, and after a minute, Alex starts talking.
"What should I talk about?" I ask
"About anything, how you feel, what you did today, whatever you feel you need to talk about, or if you just want to chat, we can do that as well," she tells me in a calming voice with a smile.
With that, every Saturday, Alex talked with Black Canary for an hour or two, opening up to her after a couple of weeks of talking to her. He told her his guilt for not saving anyone in the nether realm and how he enjoyed killing Shendu and the Oni. Telling her he felt he didn't deserve to survive, leaving that place, and being able to enjoy so much here. She talked with Alex and helped him get through the shadows in his heart. During that time, Alex asked Bruce where he could train; he showed me the training room down in the Batcave. After working out and getting exhausted, Alex used his power to get back up and train his body, and after a few weeks of doing that, he could do everything he wanted without using any powers. One week, Black Canary came to our regular therapy session hurt with a broken leg that needed weeks to heal naturally, making her upset, but she tells me it comes with being a hero. Then Alex asked her if she wanted him to heal her. Shocked that Alex had that power, she said yes, and in moments, he completely healed her leg. standing up and walking around. She asked if it was okay to tell Batman about my power, and Alex said yes. That's when Bruce started asking about everything Alex could do, and when he learned some of what he could do, Batman started having Alex train with Robin more and having him train and understand his powers. When Alex trained with Dick, he summoned Ninja Khan to attack him, and whenever he got good enough, I added one more when it got repetitive. When July came around, Dick started to tell me he would become a member of the Justice League in a few days, and Alex congratulated him.
Next time, Chapter 7, The Team