" People call Bruce Wayne a lot of things. They label him billionaire and playboy, but they forget the truth of Bruce Wayne. Sure, Wayne is a billionaire and a playboy, but at heart, he is something much more tragic. An orphan. For every dollar he donated to a certain cause, he donated one hundred for orphanages and the like. There is a reason for the famous saying of Gotham orphans; "They all have a parent in Bruce Wayne"- excerpt from The Life of the Orphan, a biography of Bruce Wayne.

For the second time in two days, I woke up in fetters.

Instead of an uncomfortable metal chair, bound by rope, I was lounging in a chair that would belong in a dentist's office, my two arms, handcuffed to either armrest, but still loose enough for some movement. But not, I saw, enough to transform again using the Omnitrix. The glowing green watch still inhabited my left arm and produced a constant pulse of green light. An experimental wiggle showed it was fastened securely, and would not move even a little. My clothes were switched from my regular apparel of sweatpants and a jacket to a hospital gown. A tensing of my leg felt a little sore, but not as painful as it last was, indicating some level of medical attention.

Looking around my humble abode, which consisted of one space heater and nothing else, gave me a good reason for me to believe I was somewhere in the Batcave. The ceiling was brightly illuminated allowing me to see my surroundings in better detail than my previous imprisonment. The walls were pure rock, and the opening in front of me was something straight out of a prison, a wall made of metal bars. While the handcuffs were certainly enough to secure me in a human form, much less a barred door, given enough time as Heatblast, or any one of Ben's/my aliens, especially Ghostfreak or Waybig I could definitely escape. The fact that I was left to my own devices, even when Batman and Robin saw the destruction capabilities of Heatblast, gave me a growing suspicion that they knew some of the limitations of the Omnitrix, namely, that I had to be able to press it to transform. Batman was supposed to be a genius detective, but I felt it was slightly that one firsthand account from his sidekick was enough to correctly identify the capabilities of the Omnitrix.

As I slowly started to relax, the quiet sound of a waterfall was peaceful, and nobody was interrogating me yet, I heard the sound of footsteps, starting quietly but slowly getting louder and louder. Focusing on my hearing, I tried to close my eyes to try and guess how many people were walking, and only could hear one. The one pair of footsteps got louder and louder until suddenly stopping. I open my eyes and looked up to see not one person, as I expected, but three.

The first person needed no introduction. Batman looked similar to the depictions of him in movies, but he was way broader than I would have thought. Cloaked in a suit that most people could draw from memory, the only noticeable pattern was a belt around his waist and a slightly lighter bat symbol on his chest. I squinted at his chest, but couldn't see any nipple bumps, like in that one series of movies. Drat. Surrounding him was not one but two Robins, but the better illumination allowed me to see more of their costume than previously. The green tights leading to a red bodysuit looked slightly less ridiculous, though the cape and the mast added a certain presence. Each Robin had a belt, but one of the belts had a small staff, while the other one had no retractable belt at all. The one on Batman's right was taller and definitely older, but the one on the left seemed way too young to be Robin because he looked like he couldn't be older than fourteen.

Istayed very still and did not dare to open my mouth. I knew Batman did not kill, but some of the hazy memories of his protegees reminded me that some of the Robins ended up killing people. I wasn't cowed by either of the Robin's as even though the one I fought with seemed like an ass, I didn't think he would kill me if I showed attitude, but the younger one I haven't met yet, and remembering the attitude of some middle schoolers, making a young Robin mad did not seem like a great idea.

The "silent-off" stayed that way for a while. Both Robin's started to spin Batarangs on their fingers, and I swore the left one tried to start whistling until a glance from Batman silenced it. I was about to speak, planning the apology I was going to stay when Batman opened the door and walked in, allowing his two sidekicks to continue to flank him on either side, although both of them leaned back onto the prison's walls.

Batman's voice was much deeper than I thought possible for a human, and only after a couple of sentences did I realize he was modulating his voice.

"I am regretful that we could not rescue you as quickly as we had hoped to, tracking down one of the Penguin's bases is not easily done, and harder still to infiltrate." He said. It took a second for me to formulate a response considering the amount of coolness it was to talk to Batman. Sure getting tortured sucked ass, but talking to him almost made up for it.

"I'm a big fan really, Batman I am, and I truly want to express my gratitude that you rescued me from the Penguin," I start, almost freaking out over what and who I am talking to. "Also, the whole voice modulating thing isn't really necessary, but I totally appreciate your dedication for the whole secret identity thing."

While Batman's expression doesn't change, I can sense satisfaction from the older Robin, while the younger one looks miffed at my flippancy for the "Batman mystique."

Batman slowly reaches his hand up, tapping the side of his mask once, and when he continues to talk, it sounds much more realistic and normal.

"While I would engage in more conversation with you, I'll just get straight to the point. Why was the Penguin torturing you, and what does that have to do with that watch on your wrist, and- " His measured tone, still deep is cut off by a very energetic and extremely young sounding one.

"Is it true that you can turn into a fireguy, cause Dic- I mean Robin said that you hit the watch and then there was a bright green light and then you were an alien," he says, his words coming out faster and faster, "and then Robin said you fought those bad guys with fire powers, but then you turned back into a human, are you like half-alien … wait are you from Mars?"

"I..uh, am not from Mars, I'm pretty sure I was born on Earth" I start looking at Batman and Robin -though from what the younger one said he might be Dick Grayson- but neither come to my defense. "But that fire guy, he is an alien, he's from the planet Pyros. He's actually made of plasma and rock, not fire, but he can control fire, he just looks like he is made of fire some times." I think back on the live-action version of Heatblast and suppress a shudder. Considering the fact that I may be stuck in this dimension for a while, I decide to be somewhat honest on the Omitrix's capability.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

"My watch is actually called the Omnitrix, and it allows the wearer, in this case, me, to be able to turn into different types of aliens for a short period of time," I recite, reflecting back on all the times I have heard Ben explain the Omnitrix. "However, there are limitations to the watch, for instance, I "Time-Out" after a period of time, and I also have to physically press the watch down in order to transform," I rattle my cuffs for emphasis, catching a small smile on Batman's face. I look at the excitement on Robin Jr.'s face and feel an impulse to share more.

"Yeah, sometimes the watch can even be voice activated, but I'm assuming I don't have that feature yet.Wait... Do I?”

"Transform!" Nothing.

"Heatblast." Nothing.

"Shazam?" Still Nothing.

"Also, I have more aliens in the watch, not just Heatblast-the plasma guy," I say remembering all of my favorite aliens from the show. "There's XLR8, whose kinda like the Flash, Ripjaws, whose a cool fish guy, Oh! Cannonbolt is a classic...." I trail off when Robin Jr.'s face transforms from excitement to a face devoid of emotion. He taps the stylized R logo, and when he talks, his voice is deeper and older sounding.

"Tsk. Tsk.Tsk... One excited face and you spill all the secrets you got," starting to flip a Batarang up and down. "When I was eight years old I was harder to break."

Wait... did a tween wearing a jumpsuit just trick me into saying secret information?

Is this the DC universe's version of up dog, just a bunch of middle school kids practicing interrogation tactics on each other? I slowly start to get angry, taking deep breaths, in and out, when Robin Jr. sticks his tongue out at me. Words burst out of my mouth before I can control what I say, my filter disappearing.

"Well, excuse me, for having an actual childhood and not being trained from the day I was five to be a sidekick for some rich playboy" Focusing only on my words, I don't notice the frown forming on Batman and Dick's faces, not until it is too late anyway.

"Besides you don't see me questioning you about your past or your ability to keep quiet. You are twelve years old, you should be focusing on kid shit not how you don't crack under pressure. Have you been interrogated by the fucking Penguin? I was, I even got stabbed! And guess what! I didn't even reveal that Batman is actually Bruce Wayne, Huh?" I freeze my mind catching up with the words that I had just said.

Shit.

Fuck.

"I mean, I know what I said sounded bad, and like I knew something I shouldn't know but" I start trying to back peddle, try to find some way to unsay what I just said.

FFT. I freeze as a Batarang lodges itself right next to my head, embedded in the headrest of my chair. I didn't even see anyone move to throw that, and that is all I can think until I see Batman slowly walking up to my chair. He slowly grabs his mask and slides it off revealing his face, allowing me to see that he was..... Nobody I knew. I ran through all the actors I knew played Batman and none of them looked anywhere close to the person standing in front of me. Which made sense because the Penguin didn't look like Danny DeVito, but still, I would have thought Batman at least would've been a famous actor. Definitely attractive, but more rugged than the typical billionaire.

He sits down on my chair, carefully moving my legs over, and gently grips my right leg, the one with the healing stab wound. He squeezes gently, just hard enough that I realize he was doing it opens his mouth.

"Now I wonder what we are going to do with you, hmm?" He says voice soft, and I know it is nothing but a threat. My left arm starts to tingle as if I wouldn't know that a misstep in this conversation could mean my death. I know that Batman personally doesn't kill, but I'm sure sending me to Arkham Asylum or even leaving the room with some of the other heroes he knows would have the same effect.

"I want to..." I stop. What do I want to do? Go home? Is it even possible to go back to my universe? If I couldn't go back to my Earth, would I want to become a hero? I know that if I even got a fraction of the aliens that Ben had, being a hero was certainly possible, but also more dangerous than just living a regular life. The number of villains that fill the DCU is almost uncountable, but if I die and any of them got a fraction of the Omnitrix’s power, the damage they could do is incalculable.

"I want to be a Hero," I whisper, and then jerk when I realize it was spoken out loud. I am not arrogant enough to believe that I was sent here for a reason, but I realize that whether I like it or not at least for the short term, going home is impossible. And just because being a hero is more dangerous, hiding from whatever villain chases after the Omnitrix would leave me in the same position, just without training or any team support a hero would have. Furthermore, in the show acting heroically is how Ben got more than the original ten aliens. Alien X was pretty omnipotent, so the chances of utilizing him to let me go back home were pretty good, but if I hide and not at least try to be heroic, I have a feeling that I will never unlock it.

Batman stands up, apparently satisfied with my answer, and just straight up walks out, Robin jr. close behind him. I breathe out a sigh in relief until I realize that Dick is still staring at me, slowly flipping a Batarang. While the fact that I unearthed a major secret, and Batman just walked out without any follow-up questions still confuses me, a small detail still bugs me of the last time I saw Robin.

"That night, I mean last night..." I pause, trying to properly explain myself, "You could have stopped the Penguin, We both know that. You chose to save me though. Isn't that against what a hero would do?" I search for words again, trying to explain myself, when I hear a small sound. A small scoff.

Devolving into laughter, I watch concerned as the Robin has a laughing fit. His laughter slows, and he looks at me and smirks.

"You know what the difference is between me and you?" His tone is serious, contrasting his smiling face. "I am a Hero."

"I mean I would like to think I am-" I get cut off as he keeps talking.

"You are not a Hero, sure you do have superpowers, or at least have superpowers for a short time, but you are untrained. Unexperienced. A Hero does not go for the villain first, he saves the civilians first, the noncombatants. The fact that you have to ask why I put you over the Penguin proves to me, why you are not a Hero."

I'm at a loss for words. The longest I've heard him talk, and it's just a mix of narcissistic sentences, and insults against my skills. I open my mouth, then remember not to reveal more information than I should have, and close them. What a Hero would do? I open my mouth and speak two words.

"Teach me."

He snorts then stills when he realizes that I am serious. He grabs something in his belt and tosses it on my lap, with just enough force to hurt. I glance down surprised and start to read the cover. "The Justice League Rulebook" I glance down and see a handwritten name scrawled in pencil- Dick Grayson. Throwing two Batarangs, both links connecting my handcuffs shatter. I look up surprised, as Robi- No, Dick walks out.

"Don't leave your cell, and don't use the fucking watch," he says, walking out of my sight.

I flip open and start reading the first page, a small smile on my face.

"A hero has a bad day… "