The cool night air in Gotham carried a crisp edge as Jason walked along the crumbling rooftops of the Narrows. His stolen coat fluttered behind him as his boots thudded lightly against the concrete. He moved like a shadow—silent, deliberate, precise. Below him, crime lords scrambled to reorganize after a string of raids that left their caches looted and their enforcers hospitalized.
Jason had learned quickly. His vector manipulation was steadily becoming second nature, able to redirect bullets, crush weapons, and even strip men of their breath for just long enough to leave them unconscious. He had robbed five gang hideouts in the past week alone. Every heist, every confrontation, every criminal encounter gave him more experience—sharpening his powers.
But even now, he knew he wasn't ready. Not yet. The ones responsible for Cadmus—those who had tormented him, torn tissue from his flesh, extracted blood samples while he screamed—were still out there. And they were watching. He could feel it.
---
Batman's POV – Wayne Tower, Gotham
Bruce Wayne stood before a massive display in the Batcave. Dozens of surveillance clips, satellite captures, and sensor feeds tracked Jason's movements. While the boy was elusive, he was not invisible. Not to Batman.
"Raiding gang fronts, disabling drug shipments, and leaving no casualties," Bruce murmured, fingers steepled.
Diana stood beside him, arms crossed. "He's targeting criminal elements. But he's also unstable. That display in Blüdhaven was… devastating."
Clark nodded grimly. "He's getting stronger. Too fast."
Bruce highlighted a recent pattern—one that had troubled him. "Someone else is watching him too. We intercepted transmissions linked to LexCorp. Luthor has plans."
---
LexCorp – Metropolis
Lex Luthor leaned back in his chair, examining the data flow on his tablet. Mira, the psychic operative, stood silently in front of him.
"He's unrefined. Powerful, yes, but his mind is still fractured," Lex said. "A soft spot, Mira. That's where we strike. His power is useless if he can't think straight."
"You want me to break him?" she asked, tilting her head.
"No. I want you to guide him. Exploit the fracture. Let his other self do the work. Then extract him before the League interferes."
---
Jason – Gotham Warehouse District
The abandoned warehouse smelled of rust, oil, and old blood. Jason entered cautiously, his vectors swirling defensively around him like a sixth sense. He felt the mental intrusion too late.
The moment Mira's psychic presence invaded his mind, he gasped and collapsed to one knee, the vectors stuttering.
"Hello, Jason," her voice echoed inside his head. "Don't fight it. Let's explore you."
The warehouse vanished. Darkness enveloped him as he was pulled into his own subconscious.
---
Jason's Mindscape
A storm of crimson and shadows tore through his thoughts. He stood in a black void, memories of agony flickering like lightning.
Then he saw it—him.
A figure identical to him, eyes glowing like cerulean fire, skin pale, posture regal and still. Silent hatred poured from him like a tide.
"You came here uninvited," Jason muttered.
The other Jason—his persona—tilted his head. "She opened the door."
Mira's voice echoed. "This is… unexpected."
Jason turned to see her spectral form, hovering as she probed deeper. The persona moved.
Fast.
With one swipe, he impaled her psychic form with a vector spike.
She screamed.
---
Reality – Warehouse
Mira's body convulsed. Blood burst from her eyes, ears, and nose. She collapsed, dead before hitting the ground.
Jason's body stood upright—his expression cold, eyes glowing a brilliant, unnatural blue.
His persona had taken control.
---
League Arrival – Outside the Warehouse
Superman landed first, his X-ray vision scanning the structure. "He's inside. I see a body."
Batman followed, flanked by Wonder Woman.
They breached the warehouse doors just in time to see the possessed Jason standing over Mira's corpse. Vector energy coiled around him in tendrils like writhing serpents. The air vibrated with unnatural force.
Jason turned to face them, voice echoing unnaturally. "Too late."
The warehouse trembled.
"You came to help him," the persona spat. "But I am free now."
Vortexes of compressed air exploded around the room as vectors bent gravity, light, and force.
---
The night was heavy over the outskirts of Blüdhaven, cloaked in a deathly stillness broken only by the distant wail of sirens and the hum of Justice League jets descending silently from the sky. Batman stood at the forefront of the team, his cape fluttering as he surveyed the devastation below.
Buildings flattened. Streets cracked open like broken eggshells. Fire crews and emergency services were scrambling to contain the chaos, but the epicenter—what had once been an industrial sector—was scorched and lifeless. No one dared approach it. Not after what they'd seen.
"We're too late," Superman said, landing beside Batman. His eyes swept the area. "He's already lost control."
Wonder Woman touched down next, her lasso hanging at her side, glowing faintly. "It happened again, didn't it?" she asked. "The psychic. Mira. Is she...?"
Batman didn't respond. His eyes were focused ahead, toward the shadowy figure walking slowly through the haze. Jason.
Or rather, what wore Jason's face.
The body was the same. But something about the way it moved—the calm, eerie precision of each step, the dead stillness of his eyes—made it clear: this was not the same boy.
A chill settled over the League.
—
Jason's consciousness drifted far behind the surface.
He was weightless in his own mind, shackled by invisible restraints as a cold, familiar presence pressed in around him. His own voice echoed back at him, twisted.
"Look what they did to us..."
He had tried to fight Mira's intrusion. Had tried to resist the way she slipped through the cracks in his mind, using his trauma like a crowbar to pry him open. But when she reached the locked door—the one he had buried all his rage and hatred behind—she did the one thing Jason feared most.
She opened it.
His persona surged forward like a tsunami.
And now Jason watched from deep within, helpless, as the other him stood in the world above, calm and composed as Mira's lifeless body lay crumpled at his feet.
—
"Jason!" Superman called out, stepping forward cautiously. "I know you're in there. We don't want to fight you. We just want to help."
The figure didn't respond immediately. Instead, he tilted his head and raised a hand.
No gesture. No flick of the wrist.
And yet, a police drone several blocks away crumpled mid-air, crushed like paper by an invisible force and thrown into the side of a building.
"Enough!" Wonder Woman stepped forward, lasso in hand, but Batman raised a hand.
"Don't provoke him. That isn't Jason anymore. That's the persona," he said, eyes narrowing.
Jason's body moved again, slow and deliberate. The wind picked up, kicking dust and debris into the air. Civilians in the surrounding areas screamed as they fled. More buildings groaned under invisible pressure.
"We know what happened," Batman said firmly. "Luthor sent Mira to exploit your weakness. You weren't ready to fight her off. You fought her the best you could."
Jason's persona chuckled. It was a quiet, joyless sound.
"She died screaming. You're all next."
Without warning, he vanished.
Superman's eyes widened, instincts kicking in. He shot upward—but too late. Jason reappeared behind him in a blur, and Superman went flying, smashed through three buildings before landing in a heap.
Wonder Woman lunged with her lasso, wrapping it around Jason's body. For a moment, she held him.
"I compel you! Speak your truth!" she shouted.
Jason's persona paused. Then turned his head, unblinking.
"I am the truth."
A pulse of unseen force radiated outward. The lasso burned red-hot, snapped, and Wonder Woman was thrown backward into a power station.
Batman launched a flurry of explosive Batarangs from the shadows, but they never made it. Each one was halted mid-air, spinning unnaturally before being redirected—fired back toward him. He dodged, barely escaping a blast that shook the rooftop.
—
Inside his mindscape, Jason screamed against the pressure.
He could feel the persona growing stronger. Feeding on the fear. On the chaos. Mira's death had made it worse.
"You think this is strength?" Jason shouted into the void.
The persona stood across from him. Its eyes were pure black, but its presence wasn't wild or unhinged. It was precise. Focused.
"You gave me form. I am everything you repressed. Your pain. Your fury. Your betrayal. And now that I've tasted freedom... I will not go back."
Jason charged him, but the persona stopped him mid-motion with a flicker of thought.
"You are not ready to face me. But when you are... we'll see who controls whom."
—
In the real world, the battle raged on.
Jason—no, the persona—continued his assault on the League. Green Lantern's constructs crumbled. Aquaman barely held his ground before being hurled across an entire district. Firestorm's attempts to contain him failed as vectors responded defensively, deflecting energy without even needing Jason's direct thought.
All of this happened without visible signs of power.
No beams. No lights. No waves.
Only the results.
Steel bent. Air warped. Sound died in an instant.
And then, Jason paused.
His body trembled slightly, a flicker of strain appearing on his face. His hands rose as if pulling on some invisible force.
A dense, crushing pressure filled the area. Loose objects floated. Light bent. The sky dimmed.
Batman's heart dropped. "He's forming a gravitational collapse..."
"A black hole?" Wonder Woman muttered.
"No. Not yet. But close enough to do irreversible damage."
Before the collapse could fully form, Jason's body jerked.
He gasped.
And then collapsed to his knees.
The blue glow in his eyes faded. The pressure dissipated like fog.
Jason fell forward unconscious.
The storm ended.
—
Later, in the Watchtower infirmary, Jason lay bound by psychic and force-field restraints, suspended in containment designed by Martian Manhunter himself. His heart beat steadily. But his mind was still a storm.
Batman stood behind the reinforced glass, arms crossed. Beside him stood J'onn J'onzz, face grim.
"His mind is... unstable," J'onn said. "There's a division. One side frightened. Human. Hurt. The other... something else. Something cold. It's growing more distinct by the day."
"Can you help him?" Batman asked.
J'onn hesitated. "Perhaps. But he must want to be helped. That persona—if allowed to grow further—could become an entirely separate entity."
Batman watched Jason stir slightly in his sleep, whispering something they couldn't quite make out.
"Then we find a way. Because if he loses this battle, we all will."
End of Chapter 5
If we reach 40+ power stones before the end of the day I will realease a bonus chapter.