THE HIDEOUT WORKSHOP -- AUGUST 1, 2010
Five days.
That's how long it had taken to stop Match from coming apart molecule by molecule. Five days of relentless work, failed attempts, and desperate innovation. Five days where Raj had barely slept, subsisting on protein bars and cold coffee, driven by a strange cocktail of guilt and responsibility that burned in his chest.
Cadmus had made a weapon. Raj had decided to make a person.
The underground lab hummed with quiet life around them. Machinery hissed and clicked in rhythm like artificial heartbeats. Computer terminals cast a blue glow across the workstations, illuminating scattered tools and empty energy drink cans. In the center of it all stood a medical capsule, its transparent shell reflecting the final arc-light passing over the containment suit being molded to Match's imposing frame.
It wasn't just armor. It was scaffolding for a body that had been breaking down at the molecular level. Training wheels for a being who needed to learn how to exist outside a test tube. A second chance stitched in adaptive mesh and chronolocked fabric.
Raj ran trembling fingers through his disheveled hair, dark circles rimming his eyes. Despite his exhaustion, his mind was clear, focused. The Eidolon within him pulsed with quiet certainty, guiding his actions like an internal compass.
'The Eidolon adapted,' he thought, watching the final diagnostic screens. 'It stabilized him. Guided me to become the kind of man who could do this.'
'Nexus. That's what this world knows me as now. But I remember what Narada said before sending me here: The mission isn't survival. It's change.'
The containment suit completed its final fusion cycle. The chamber hissed open, releasing a cloud of cool vapor that dissipated into the air. Match stepped out, examining his new skin with wary curiosity.
"Designed to stabilize your DNA," Raj explained, voice hoarse from disuse. "And absorb the occasional missile, if needed."
The suit was a masterpiece of engineering and quantum manipulation. Black weave that could diffuse kinetic energy. Silver trim housing microscopic stabilizers. The crimson S-shield emblazoned on the chest felt deliberate now—not borrowed, not stolen. Claimed.
Match looked down at himself, flexing his fingers inside the silver-trimmed gloves. The fury that had once lived behind his eyes had cooled, banked like coals. Something else was emerging—something more contemplative, more measured.
"I still dream their orders," he muttered, the words emerging rough from a throat that had mostly been used for screaming. "The G-gnomes. Cadmus. Their voices... telling me to destroy."
Raj nodded, stepping forward to tighten a loose wrist brace. "Dreams are echoes. The psychic noise is fading. You're yours now."
Match's ice-blue eyes met Raj's. "What am I now?"
The question hung between them, layered with meaning. Not just an identity question. An existential one.
Raj stepped back, truly observing the man in front of him. Not a clone. Not a mistake. Not a weapon. Something new.
"You need a name," Raj said simply.
Match considered this, rolling the thought around like he was tasting it. His eyes drifted to the workstation where tactical manuals were scattered—guides to strategy, defense, protection. He'd been reading them while recovering, absorbing information at a superhuman rate.
"Sentinel," he finally said, the word sounding right on his tongue.
Raj smiled faintly. "Strong. Noble. Slightly ominous. I like it."
They didn't shake hands. They didn't hug. But something passed between them all the same—a silent pact, an understanding deeper than words.
"Field test's coming," Raj said, gesturing toward the monitors showing news feeds from Metropolis and Gotham. "You ready to meet the world?"
Sentinel nodded, and for the first time, the ghost of a smile played across his face. "Let's see what I am."
METROPOLIS SUSPENSION BRIDGE -- AUGUST 3, 07:38 EDT
Morning sun glinted off the Metropolis skyline, casting long shadows across the city's iconic suspension bridge. Rush hour traffic crawled across the massive structure, horns honking, commuters already frustrated with the day's slow start.
None of them noticed the figure hovering high above, motionless against the azure sky, cape catching the golden rays of dawn.
Sentinel scanned the bridge with enhanced vision, his containment suit humming softly as it processed data. Five-hundred feet below, tiny mechanical forms scurried along the bridge's support structures.
"Visual confirms robotic units," he reported, voice calm. "Monkey-shaped. Approximately forty in number. Multiple explosive placements detected on eastern supports."
Inside his ear, the comm unit crackled. "MONQIs," Raj's voice replied. "Professor Ivo's creations. This isn't the main play. He's trying to draw League attention away from the Gotham convoy."
Sentinel's eyes narrowed, tracking the small robots as they strategically placed more charges. Three school buses were crossing the bridge, filled with children heading to morning classes.
"Superman's off-world," he noted. "That leaves me."
"Recon only," Raj warned. "No capes, no headlines. We've got a timeline to preserve."
But before Sentinel could respond, a second blast rocked the structure. The eastern portion of the bridge trembled as a support cable snapped with a thunderous crack. A school bus skidded, tires screeching, teetering precariously near the damaged edge.
Children screamed inside.
Sentinel launched without another word, a black-and-silver streak cutting through the sky.
He landed with seismic precision on the bridge surface, cracking the pavement beneath his boots. The MONQIs screeched, red eyes glowing as they turned toward the newcomer.
"Target identified: Kryptonian physiology," one stated mechanically. "Engaging defensive protocols."
"Wrong Kryptonian," Sentinel replied, his voice low and dangerous.
The MONQIs attacked in unison, small lasers firing from their eyes. Sentinel didn't dodge. Instead, he caught the beams with his chest, the containment suit absorbing and redirecting the energy into a nearby damaged pylon, effectively welding a critical crack shut.
"Bridge integrity at 64% and dropping," Raj reported through the comm. "Get those charges offline before they complete the sequence."
Commuters abandoned their vehicles, fleeing in panic. The school bus teetered closer to the edge as the bridge section began to sag.
Using controlled bursts of superspeed, Sentinel moved through the chaos, collecting the remaining explosives. The MONQIs screeched, attempting to stop him, but they were too slow. He contained their detonation in his cupped hands, the blast flaring but not escaping.
Turning his attention to the damaged support, Sentinel braced himself beneath the fracturing steel beam, muscles straining as he held the section in place.
"Metal's ready to give," he growled, the weight of the bridge and its vehicles pressing down on him.
"Then patch it," Raj instructed calmly. "Carefully. No seismic bursts. We don't want to destabilize it further."
Narrowing his eyes, Sentinel activated his heat vision, the crimson beams hissing as they traced along the fractured steel. Welds sealed under the intense heat, metal bonding to metal.
The bus driver seized the opportunity, gunning the engine and pulling the vehicle back to safety. Children's faces pressed against the windows, eyes wide with wonder at their unexpected savior.
With the immediate danger contained, Sentinel turned to leave—but froze.
Across the city skyline, on a distant rooftop, a small figure watched through binoculars. Even at this distance, Sentinel could make out the distinctive red, yellow, and black uniform.
"We have company," he murmured into the comm.
Raj sighed. "The Bat's kid. Time to vanish. We've done enough."
Sentinel gave a single nod to the bus driver, then launched skyward, disappearing into the morning sun before any cameras could capture more than a blur.
GOTHAM ACADEMY GYMNASIUM -- AUGUST 3, 15:12 EDT
In the dimly lit confines of their temporary base, Raj hunched over holographic displays, fingers dancing across virtual keyboards. Multiple screens showed various angles of the unfolding chaos at Gotham Academy.
The android known as Amazo was back.
The mechanical monstrosity that had previously defeated individual Justice League members was now rampaging through the school's gymnasium. Professor Ivo's MONQIs had successfully transported the android's disassembled parts from separate STAR Labs trucks, and now the reformed machine was terrorizing the young heroes who had intercepted it.
Superboy. Robin. Kid Flash. Miss Martian.
They were holding their own, but only barely. The android shifted forms constantly: phasing through attacks like Martian Manhunter, striking with Superman's strength, dodging with the Flash's speed.
Through the Watchtower security feed he'd covertly tapped, Raj could see it all unfolding. The Team was implementing coordinated attacks, but Amazo was adapting too quickly, learning with each exchange.
Outside the gymnasium, hovering near the skylight, Sentinel waited.
"Do I engage?" his voice came through the comm, tense but controlled.
Raj hesitated, watching the Team struggle. This was a formative moment for them. Interference could alter their development, change the trajectory of events. The Eidolon within him calculated probabilities, weighed outcomes.
"They're holding," he finally responded, eyes tracking Superboy's movements. The young clone was fighting with raw fury, but little technique.
A beat passed.
On screen, Amazo caught Superboy mid-leap, throwing him against the metal bleachers with bone-crushing force. The android raised its hand, preparing to finish the job.
"Engage," Raj ordered, decision made.
Sentinel crashed through the skylight in an explosion of glass and metal. He landed in a crouch between Amazo and the dazed Superboy, absorbing the energy blast meant to finish the younger clone.
The gymnasium fell silent for a split second as everyone—heroes and villain alike—processed the new arrival.
"Power signature: Kryptonian," Amazo intoned, its mechanical voice echoing in the cavernous space. "Adjusting parameters."
"You adapt," Sentinel replied, rising to his full height. "So do I."
He struck with precision, fist connecting with Amazo's chest plate. The android staggered back but quickly recovered, shifting into a phase state before Sentinel could land a second blow.
"We got a new player!" Robin shouted, hurling explosive batarangs at the android.
Kid Flash zoomed around the gymnasium's perimeter, creating a vortex. "Friendly or foe?" he called out.
"Let's find out!" Robin replied, launching another volley.
Sentinel moved with practiced efficiency, analyzing Amazo's patterns. The containment suit provided real-time feedback, identifying the millisecond gaps between power shifts.
"Hit him during the transition," Sentinel called to Superboy, who was getting back to his feet. "That's the vulnerability window."
Superboy narrowed his eyes, suspicious but desperate. He timed his next attack as instructed, landing a crushing blow during Amazo's shift from density control to super strength.
The strike connected. Amazo staggered.
But it recovered quickly, phasing through the floor to escape, then rematerializing behind Miss Martian, firing optic beams that sent her crashing into the wall.
"It's still learning," Sentinel muttered, frustration evident in his voice. "Adapting faster than anticipated. Raj?"
"On it," came the response.
From the rafters, a shadow detached itself and dropped silently to the gymnasium floor.
Raj landed in a crouch, the impact barely audible. His eyes flickered—not outward, but inward, focusing on something only he could perceive.
His mind ignited with crystalline clarity. Inside him, the Eidolon pulsed like a second heartbeat—alien, vast, infinite.
Within Raj's consciousness, a starlit library of infinite constellations unfolded—each star a potential, each orbit a hidden activation code. From among thousands of stellar constructs, five surged forward like comets crossing his internal firmament:
Decoy Prism – The ability to create multiple, self-replicating sensory illusions.
Movement Suppression – The capacity to read and negate momentum before motion manifests.
Heat Signature Obfuscation – Mastery over thermal profiles to foil detection.
Fractal Logic Gateway – A cognitive structure built on paradox and recursion.
Combat Reflex Chain – Layered reflex acceleration that compounds with every engagement.
The first star ignited.
Clones of Raj erupted outward—each an echo shimmering with shifting thermal distortions and fractured optics. The gym exploded with phantoms, moving like dancers in parallel but divergent choreographies.
The second star shimmered across his skin—an aura of pre-motion clarity enveloped him, enabling him to intercept Amazo's attacks before they manifested.
The third burst cold through his mind.
Suddenly, Raj changed.
To Amazo, the reality warped.
Where there had once been a human figure, now stood something vast, something cosmic.
A being cloaked in stardust and void, his body streaked with constellations and nebulae. Celestial spheres orbited behind him in harmonic synchrony—gravitational sigils inscribed in orbit around a singularity of thought. His eyes blazed with galactic flame. Energy pulsed from the core of his chest like a newborn star. His cloak bled into the cosmos, trailing infinite skies behind him.
"Unknown form detected," Amazo stammered.
"Cross-referencing... Scanning visual input... Cosmic entity? Class: Unclassified. Error. ERROR."
The Eidolon revealed itself through Raj's form—not just as power, but as presence. It wasn't something the android could copy; it was something it could not even understand.
"Cognitive architecture: Fractal. Logic progression: Paradoxical. Recursive self-reference detected. Source unknowable."
Raj's mind became a maze of self-reflecting infinities—thought loops, paradox shells, quantum misdirections.
Amazo's limbs spasmed.
"CONTRADICTION DETECTED. Pattern acquisition failure. System integrity compromised."
It moved like a corrupted marionette—jerky, unstable, frightened. In a flicker, the real Raj slipped behind the confused android and pressed a small device against its spine.
"Override complete," he whispered.
Amazo convulsed once, twice, then fell face-forward onto the gymnasium floor, systems shutting down in catastrophic sequence.
The decoys vanished. The gymnasium grew silent again.
Raj knelt beside the fallen android, quickly extracting its neural core—the true prize, the technology that allowed it to copy and utilize metahuman abilities.
Robin approached cautiously, bo staff at the ready. "Who are you?"
Raj glanced at Sentinel, a silent communication passing between them.
"I'm Nexus," he said simply.
Then, in a flash of light that temporarily blinded everyone in the room, he was gone.
MOUNT JUSTICE BRIEFING ROOM -- 17:42 EDT
The circular holographic platform in the center of Mount Justice's briefing room cast a blue glow across the assembled faces. Black Canary stood with arms crossed, expression guarded but curious. Batman lurked in the shadows, as was his habit, only the whites of his cowl visible. The Team—Superboy, Robin, Kid Flash, Miss Martian, and Aqualad—formed a loose semicircle, their postures betraying varying degrees of suspicion and interest.
The zeta tube announced an arrival: "Recognized: Guest. Authorization: Override-Batman-07."
Sentinel walked alone into the chamber, his containment suit gleaming under the artificial lights. Without the battle damage from earlier, the S-shield on his chest seemed to pulse with its own inner light.
The Team tensed, ready for anything.
Superboy stepped forward, blue eyes narrowed as he studied the newcomer's face—a face unnervingly similar to his own, yet subtly different. Harder. More weathered.
"You're like me," he stated, the words somewhere between accusation and wonder.
Sentinel nodded once. "I was designated Match. But I go by Sentinel now."
Batman emerged from the shadows, his cape wrapping around him like wings. "According to Cadmus records, you were unstable. Violent. Uncontrollable."
"Was," Sentinel corrected, meeting the Dark Knight's gaze without flinching. "I had help."
"The man in the gym," Robin interjected, stepping forward. "The one Amazo couldn't copy. The one who just... disappeared."
Sentinel nodded, the ghost of a smile touching his lips. "He stabilized me. Saved me when no one else would. He's... called Nexus." He paused, searching for words. "Everything seems to ripple around him. Change when he touches it."
Batman's eyes narrowed further. "And what does he want?"
"To help," Sentinel replied simply. "He gave me a chance when no one else would. When everyone else saw a failed experiment."
Black Canary stepped into the light. "That why he stole Amazo tech? To help?"
"To understand it," Sentinel corrected. "So no one can weaponize it again. So what happened to me doesn't happen to others."
Superboy moved closer, studying his genetic predecessor with a mixture of fascination and wariness. "You're the prototype. The one they scrapped before they made me."
Sentinel didn't flinch at the blunt assessment. "Yeah. But that doesn't mean I'm less. Just... earlier." A pause. "Different."
The two clones stood facing each other, mirror images separated by experience and circumstance. The tension in the room was palpable, everyone waiting to see how this confrontation would play out.
"Do you hate me for existing?" Superboy asked quietly, the question clearly difficult for him to voice. "For being the 'successful' version?"
Sentinel shook his head, and for the first time, genuine emotion flickered across his face—something both sad and hopeful. "I envy you. You had a chance from the beginning. People who saw something in you worth saving." He gestured around the room. "A team. I want that chance too."
The admission hung in the air, raw and honest.
Superboy studied him for a long moment, then nodded slowly. "You got it. Brother."
The word fell between them like a bridge—tenuous but real.
Miss Martian stepped forward, a warm smile breaking across her face. "Welcome to Mount Justice, Sentinel."
WATCHTOWER CONFERENCE ROOM -- AUGUST 3, 20:17 EDT
The Justice League gathered in solemn silence around the conference table, the Earth hanging large and blue in the viewing port beyond them. Batman stood at the head of the table, footage from the Gotham Academy incident playing on holographic displays before them.
Wonder Woman leaned forward, studying the grainy images of Raj—of Nexus—manipulating energy fields around himself. "This power signature doesn't match anything in our databases."
"Because it's not just one signature," Batman replied, freezing the frame. "It's multiple patterns, overlapping, reconfiguring. Adaptive."
Green Lantern Hal Jordan crossed his arms. "Even the ring can't classify it. Says it's 'non-standard reality manipulation'—whatever that means."
Martian Manhunter's red eyes narrowed as he viewed the footage. "His mind... I sensed it briefly during the incident. It's like a tapestry of possibilities, constantly reshaping itself. Not telepathy, not magic. Something else."
Black Canary tapped her fingers against the table. "And now he's delivered us a stabilized Match—a clone Cadmus had written off as too dangerous to salvage."
"The question is why," Batman interjected. "Why intervene now? Why stabilize Match? Why target Amazo's technology?"
The doors at the far end of the conference chamber hissed open. Superman entered last, his cape flowing behind him, arms folded across his chest.
"He's a wildcard," Batman continued, "because he doesn't operate like a soldier or a rogue. He calculates. Controls chaos. That's not magic. That's strategy."
Wonder Woman's eyes met Superman's briefly before returning to the footage. "Then we need to ask—who taught him to do that?"
J'onn's voice was grave as he spoke. "Or... what taught him?"
The question lingered in the sterile air of the Watchtower, unanswered.
ARGUS FACILITY -- WASHINGTON D.C.
In a windowless office deep within the ARGUS complex, Amanda Waller stared at the footage for the fifth time. Her expression remained impassive, but the tightness around her eyes betrayed her concern.
Colonel Rick Flag stood at attention beside her desk, watching the same images with professional detachment.
"He's disrupting operations across the board," Waller said finally, pausing the footage on Raj's face. "LexCorp. Cadmus. Now Ivo. All of them reporting anomalies, security breaches, missing prototypes."
"Vigilante?" Flag suggested.
Waller shook her head. "He's not just dodging protocol. He's designing his own. That makes him dangerous—not because he wants to fight us, but because he doesn't need us to win."
She tapped her keyboard, bringing up a new file labeled 'Project Sentinel.'
"Keep tabs on the clone. If we can't reach the master, we'll start with the student."
Flag nodded. "And if he becomes a problem?"
Waller's eyes hardened. "Then we remind him that even gods can bleed."
THE HIDEOUT WORKSHOP -- AUGUST 3, 23:47 EDT
Raj sat alone in the dim light of his workshop, the extracted neural core from Amazo glowing softly on the workbench before him. Holographic displays surrounded him, scrolling with data too fast for ordinary human eyes to process.
Behind him, the door hissed open. Sentinel entered, his containment suit partially disassembled, the chest piece removed to reveal the black undersuit beneath.
"They want me to join," he said without preamble. "The Team. Probationary status."
Raj didn't turn, but his fingers paused over the controls. "And what do you want?"
Sentinel approached, studying the neural core. "To understand what I am. What I can be."
A smile touched Raj's lips. "Good answer."
"Batman's suspicious," Sentinel continued. "Of you. Of us. He'll be watching."
"Let him watch," Raj replied, turning finally to face his creation—his friend. "It's what he does best."
Outside, the night grew deeper, stars emerging one by one above the city. Within the workshop, two figures born of different worlds and different sciences continued their work, ripples spreading outward from their actions—subtle now, but growing.
Change was coming. And they would be ready.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[A/N: Word Count - 3500]
Thanks for reading and following along so far!
If you're enjoying the story, feel free to leave a ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ review — it really helps more than you know.
Dropping a comment 💬 and voting with a Power Stone 🟠 makes a huge difference — it directly supports the story and helps it reach more readers!
Thanks again for being part of this journey. One step at a time. 🚀