The session had ended.
Alex left the training area alongside Superman, still trying to process everything he had discovered over the past few weeks. He had learned to manipulate matter, energy, and space with a precision that even Batman was still trying to understand. However, every test seemed to open up a new question.
Superman walked calmly beside him.
"You've made quite a lot of progress over these past two weeks," he said. "But I think there's something you're missing."
Alex glanced at him.
"What?"
"Meeting people your own age."
Alex let out a small laugh.
"Is that part of Batman's tests too?"
"No. This time it was my idea."
"Then it's probably more dangerous."
Superman smiled.
"Trust me, you'll be fine."
Shortly afterward, they arrived at Mount Justice.
To Alex, the place was unlike anything he had seen before. It didn't feel like he was entering a military base or a laboratory. It was a strange mixture of training facility, shelter, and home.
As soon as they entered, a voice came from one of the hallways.
"Superman!"
A boy dressed in red and yellow came running toward them. He had an energy that was difficult to ignore even before Alex used his perception.
"What's up?" the young man asked, stopping in front of them. "Is he Alex?"
Superman nodded.
"That's right."
"Great. I'm Wally. Kid Flash."
Alex raised a hand.
"Alex."
Wally quickly shook his hand.
"I've already heard a few things about you."
Alex looked at Superman.
"Good things?"
"Depends on who told you," Wally replied.
Another young man appeared at the end of the hallway.
"Wally."
The voice was calm, but enough to make him stop.
It was Kaldur'ahm, known as Aqualad. He walked with a firm posture and a calm expression.
"Don't overwhelm him," he said.
"I'm not overwhelming him."
"You've been talking since you got here."
"That doesn't mean I'm overwhelming him."
Alex smiled.
"It's okay. I think I can survive."
A brown-haired girl appeared behind Kaldur.
"Then I guess you'll survive Artemis."
"I'm not that terrible," she replied.
"That remains to be seen," Wally said.
Artemis rolled her eyes and then looked at Alex.
"I'm Artemis. Welcome."
"Thanks."
A young man with black hair then appeared in the hallway. His red, green, and yellow uniform immediately stood out.
"Robin."
Alex studied him for a moment.
"Just Robin?"
The boy smiled.
"For now."
Alex raised an eyebrow.
"Okay."
Robin stepped a little closer, studying him curiously.
"Batman told us about you."
Alex made a small grimace.
"That explains some things."
"What things?"
"That everyone's looking at me like I'm about to explode."
Wally burst out laughing.
"I knew I'd like him!"
A deep voice interrupted the conversation.
"He's not going to explode."
Everyone looked in the same direction.
Superboy stood beside one of the entrances to the main room. He had black hair, a serious expression, and a physical presence that even made Alex slightly raise his gaze.
Alex felt something strange as soon as he looked at him.
It wasn't exactly energy.
It was something about his structure.
Alex's perception activated almost instinctively.
He could see the different layers of his body, the composition of his cells, his tissues, the way energy moved through his organism.
But something didn't completely add up.
He was human.
And at the same time, he wasn't human in quite the same way as everyone else.
Alex stopped observing him before going any deeper.
Superboy noticed.
"What?"
"Nothing."
"You were looking at me."
"Yes."
Superboy frowned slightly.
"Why?"
Alex hesitated.
"Your structure is... different."
The atmosphere shifted slightly.
Superman intervened before the conversation could go any further.
"Alex is still learning to control his perception. It doesn't mean he has all the answers."
Superboy kept his eyes on Alex for a few more seconds before looking away.
"Conner."
Alex understood that was his introduction.
"Alex."
At that moment, a girl with green skin and reddish-orange hair appeared with a smile.
"I'm M'gann. It's nice to meet you, Alex."
"Likewise."
M'gann looked at Alex curiously.
"Your mind feels different too."
Alex looked at her in surprise.
"You can sense that?"
"A little."
"Then I guess we're even."
M'gann smiled.
Wally clapped his hands.
"Perfect. Everyone's introduced. Now I can show you around."
"Shouldn't we let him breathe first?" Artemis asked.
"He can breathe while he walks."
Alex laughed.
"Okay. Let's go."
Wally started walking down one of the hallways, and Alex followed him. Robin, Artemis, and M'gann walked behind them, while Kaldur and Conner stayed behind for a few seconds to talk with Superman before catching up.
As they walked, Wally began explaining how some of the facilities worked.
"This is where we train. That's the cafeteria. That door leads to an area you probably don't need to know about yet."
"Why?"
"Because I went in there once and ended up cleaning for three hours."
Artemis interrupted from behind them.
"Because you broke something."
"It was an accident."
"You knocked down a wall."
"The wall was poorly placed."
Alex shook his head while smiling.
The situation was strangely normal.
Too normal.
For weeks, he had been surrounded by Batman, Superman, tests, analysis, and questions about his existence. Here, instead, he was simply walking around with a group of young people arguing about who had knocked down a wall.
And for some reason, he liked it.
As Wally continued talking, Alex lowered his gaze toward his own hands.
Then he felt something.
Not outside.
Inside him.
His attention focused instinctively.
Suddenly, his perception changed.
He was no longer simply observing the world around him. He could feel his own body with far greater clarity than before.
The movement of his blood.
The electrical impulses traveling through his nerves.
The contraction of every muscle.
The functioning of his organs.
Even the exact rhythm of his heartbeat.
Alex stopped.
M'gann was the first to notice.
"Are you okay?"
"Yeah... I think."
He closed his eyes.
Everything was still there.
He didn't need to see to perceive it.
His body seemed like a perfectly connected system, made up of thousands of processes operating simultaneously.
Alex focused his attention on his heart.
One beat.
Another.
And then he had an idea.
He tried to slow the rhythm slightly.
His heart responded.
The beats began to spread farther apart.
Alex suddenly opened his eyes and placed a hand against his chest.
"I just did something weird."
Wally turned around.
"That describes roughly half the things you do."
"I think I can control some of my body's functions."
Robin stepped a little closer.
"How?"
Alex looked at his hands.
"I don't know exactly. It's like I can see how everything works from the inside. And now I can interfere with it."
"Interfere how?" Artemis asked.
Alex focused again.
This time, he didn't touch his heart. He directed his attention toward his muscles.
He didn't try to make them stronger.
He tried to understand them.
He could feel how they consumed energy, how they contracted, and how every movement created small, unnecessary losses.
Then he altered the process.
His muscles began using energy in a slightly different way.
Alex took one step.
Then another.
The sensation was strange.
He didn't feel stronger.
He felt more precise.
"That's new," he murmured.
Superboy, who had just approached with Kaldur, watched him carefully.
"What did you do?"
"I changed the way my muscles use energy."
"Can you do it voluntarily?"
Alex focused again.
This time, he slightly altered the regulation of his body temperature, causing his organism to conserve heat more efficiently.
Then he stopped the process.
"Yes."
Robin crossed his arms.
"So you can't just change things outside your body."
Alex slowly shook his head.
"Apparently not."
M'gann smiled.
"That's incredible."
Artemis, however, seemed less convinced.
"It could also be dangerous."
Alex looked at her.
"Why?"
"Because we still don't know what else you can change."
Alex fell silent.
The possibility was obvious.
If he could consciously modify his internal functions, he might also be able to change many other things.
But he didn't know where the limit was.
Superboy spoke then.
"And what happens if you change something you can't change back?"
Alex's smile disappeared.
He hadn't thought about that.
He looked at his hands again.
"Then I'd better learn how it works first."
Robin gave him a sideways smile.
"That sounded a lot like Batman."
Alex let out a small laugh.
"I don't know whether to take that as a compliment."
"Don't," Artemis said.
Wally started walking again.
"Well, before Alex turns his body into something even weirder, I'm going to show him the training room."
"Even weirder?" Alex asked.
"No offense."
"A little offensive."
"Perfect. You're already starting to fit in."
The group continued down the hallway, exchanging jokes and comments.
Alex walked with them, but part of his attention remained focused on his own body.
During the past two weeks, he had thought that his powers mainly consisted of controlling the things around him.
Now he was beginning to understand something different.
He was also part of what he could control.
And if he could consciously alter the way his own body functioned, then there were still countless possibilities he hadn't even begun to explore.
Alex didn't know how far he could go.
But for the first time, that uncertainty didn't frighten him.
It made him curious.
And he decided he wanted to find out.