<div class="floatleft">(https://elliquiy.com/elluiki/images/6/64/Young_Batman.jpg)</div><br/><span class="bbc_font" style="font-family: georgia;"><strong>Name:</strong> Batman (https://elliquiy.com/forums/index.php?topic=294841.msg14455706#msg14455706)<br/><strong>Date | Time:</strong> Present<br/><strong>Location:</strong> Earth probably<br/><strong>Tagging:</strong>Open<br/><strong>Note:</strong> Some answers, but many more questions. .</span><br/><hr/><div class="quoteheader"><div class="topslice_quote">Quote</div></div><blockquote class="bbc_standard_quote">"Dr. Fate. He's a Lord of Order. Or the host for one. Probably the strongest one. Nabu. Okay, Greek mythology lesson. First off, it all happened. All of it. But even more happened than that, but a lot didn't get recorded because people got killed or sworn to secrecy or this or that. But that's just context. Remember Persephone? The Goddess so beautiful Hades fell in love with her and spirited her away to the Underworld to make her his Queen? She was Rosario Dawson in the Percy Jackson movie. Being a goddess herself, she used the otherwordly resources of the Underworld to sew a shroud said to be as dark as night. And any who wears it seems to be erased from perception completely. Basically a super duper invisibility cloak. She used it to help her and Hermes escape past Cerberus when he came to rescue her. Ancient, Godly magic contained in a sheet. Anyone who gets their hands on it could walk through a bank vault or put bunny ears on the President and nobody would know. You could even bump right into them and you wouldn't remember it happened.  I stopped em' though so no need to worry about invisible thieves." </blockquote><div class="quotefooter"><div class="botslice_quote"></div></div><br/>Well, Billy certainly didn't seem averse to talking or answering questions, the only problem was his answers didn't make a whole lot of sense to Bruce. He had no idea what a Lord of Order was, or Nabu, or Persephone. He didn't even recognize the names Rosario Dawson or Percy Jackson, though from the context he assumed they were a famous actress and director. But he hadn't seen a movie for...since that night.<br/><br/>The information that the Greek mythology was actually real was...disturbing, to say the least. Not to mention confusing, as didn't they have their own creation story that contradicted what science and every other religion stated? That didn't fit the facts as Bruce knew them, but nor could he sense any deception from Billy. Billy certainly believed it, and after the events Bruce had experienced not only after the attack by the League, but just this morning, he was no longer going to dismiss anything out of hand. He clearly needed to add mythology to his list of subjects he needed to know about, especially if it included the existence of artifacts like the Shroud. Despite Billy's cavalier dismissal of the threat such a powerful artifact, the mere fact it existed, even without Damian possessing it (for now) was highly concerning.<br/><br/>"What happened to the Shroud?" Bruce asked. He'd of course heard of secret government warehouses that housed powerful artifacts, but he'd never been able to confirm such a thing. Was that where the shroud was 'supposed' to reside? Or was there another stockpile of such artifacts just waiting to be stolen? Damian Darhk clearly knew the answer, which meant Bruce had to find out as well if he wanted to counter him.<br/><br/><em>Is it a bad sign I'm getting used to this?</em>Bruce thought with almost a sense of resignation as three very extraordinary things happened. First, another being appeared out of absolutely nowhere, but this one was actually familiar. Bruce recognized Doctor Fate from what he had thought was the vision he had had, and it was nice to have confirmation he had not in fact lost his mind. Unless this whole bizarre situation was just another aspect of such a hallucination.<br/><br/>The second thing that happened was that the room reshaped itself, becoming more of a steel room than white, which of course raised the question of why hadn't the room just looked like this to begin with? But it was unlikely Bruce would understand the answer even if one was given, so he just took the transformation in stride. The portal that suddenly opened up was much more interesting as it revealed his first look at the two arrivals Raven had talked about. Bruce's first reaction to the pair was the disturbing realization that whatever he was feeling towards Raven was NOT strictly physical, as the blonde female he could now see was arguably more attractive, but Bruce felt nothing for her. So was it the fact Raven looked a bit more frail? The blonde girl had pretty clearly just destroyed a wall with her bare hands, so frail would not have described the blonde. And while Raven may have looked defenseless, she clearly had powers he couldn't even begin to comprehend, and even if she was attacked by Doctor Fate, for example, it was unlikely Bruce could do anything to help her. But that was a rational realization, not an emotional one, and while Bruce had little experience with actual feelings, he had enough training recognizing them in others to come to some conclusions about his own.<br/><br/><div class="quoteheader"><div class="topslice_quote">Quote</div></div><blockquote class="bbc_standard_quote">"I don't know what sort of joke this is. This is a joke right? I can't stay here, I have something I have to do..."</blockquote><div class="quotefooter"><div class="botslice_quote"></div></div><br/>But the most disturbing thing was that in addition to the obvious power the female possessed, she wasn't alone. She already had an ally, and even if they'd just happened to meet here, the male was already following the female's lead, and if he was as powerful as she, that was a disturbing alliance indeed. But she hadn't shown any sign of hostility towards him at least, unlike the defenseless wall, and Bruce made a mental note to stay on her good side if possible. But he was more curious what the reaction would be to her statement that she didn't want to remain. Would Doctor Fate force her to even against her desires? The outcome of that statement was one Bruce was most interested in.<br/><br/>But for now, Bruce saw no reason to change course. He'd already decided to go along with whatever Doctor Fate had planned and if anything seeing and hearing about all these mysterious new powers only reinforced his desire to learn more. So Bruce had to take action, and even if it was something as simple as getting up and moving to a seat on the table, Bruce's mind was already considering the ramifications. Where to sit? The chair closest to him would have made the most sense, but that would have put Raven in his view, and Bruce didn't really want that distraction right now. And besides, Raven had been nice to him since he arrived, so she clearly didn't mind his presence. So despite his odor, would she mind him sitting next to her? But in all likelihood, Raven wouldn't even notice where he sat as he was clearly paying a lot more attention to her than she was to him. So Bruce skipped over the obvious seat and settled in next to her, making certain not to even look in her direction much less bump into her, and that went for his mind as well as his body.<br/><br/><div class="quoteheader"><div class="topslice_quote">Quote</div></div><blockquote class="bbc_standard_quote">We all have questions. Let us just hear on what he has to say. So.. if it's possible, let us not delay this any longer. You are Dr Fate, am I correct? You had brought us all here for a reason. May I ask why?"</blockquote><div class="quotefooter"><div class="botslice_quote"></div></div><br/>But she made that a bit harder when she decided to be the one to speak up, leaving Bruce the quandary of did he do the polite thing and look at the speaker, or in this case would Raven prefer not to be noticed even as she talked? And why did her voice affect him like that?<em>I've got a crush on her.</em>Bruce finally realized as he recognized the symptoms, and that was a disturbing realization indeed for someone who had done his best to divest himself of such emotions, as he knew full well how they could compromise his judgment which Bruce knew was his best weapon in the battle he was preparing for.<br/><br/><em>Justice Academy. I like that.</em>Bruce said as he stared at the wording on the table, forcibly causing his mind to focus on something else. In this case the day he'd finally given up on actually joining an official police force and working within the system. While Bruce had been attending law school, they had been studying a case where two teenagers had stolen a car. One had changed his mind and asked to be let out of the stolen vehicle, but the driver had refused. Of course, the worst had happened and the driver had run over and killed a pedestrian. The question Bruce had been posed was which was guilty of manslaughter? Bruce, of course, had focused his attention on the driver as the passenger had essentially been forced to come along at that point. But that had been the wrong answer, and the professor had stated both were to be tried for manslaughter. Bruce had protested, as that hadn't seemed like justice to him. The professor had actually agreed...and also stated it didn't matter. It was the law. At that moment, Bruce had realized justice, not the law, was what he was actually learning to fight towards.<br/><br/>So a name like the Justice Academy? Yes, Bruce could get behind that, no matter what kind of creepy stuff he had to put up with.<br/><br/><br/><br/><br/><br/>