Alex spent the rest of the night without sleeping, although he was no longer sure he needed to. He remained by the window, watching the city while his new energy form floated a few inches above the floor. Ever since he had recovered those fragments of memory, something inside him had changed. He knew where he was, he knew who the people around him were, and above all, he had realized that this world was not a story.
Superman was real. Batman was real. The Green Lanterns existed. The Justice League existed, and so did Young Justice. Everything he had once known through comics, shows, and movies was part of a reality he could now touch.
Alex looked at his hand, formed from luminous energy that seemed to constantly shift and move.
"How did I end up here?"
He received no answer. The voice that had appeared inside his head so many times remained silent, and somehow that was almost more unsettling than when it spoke.
There was another question that was beginning to occupy his mind.
What was he, really?
For a long time, he had thought he was a human who had died and, for some reason, gained powers. However, after what had happened to his body, that explanation no longer seemed sufficient. His human body had disappeared completely, and in its place, that energetic form he had possessed after dying had returned. Only now, it was different. It felt more stable, more complex, and, above all, much more connected to everything around him.
Alex closed his eyes and allowed his perception to expand.
He felt electricity flowing through the buildings, the heat produced by engines, magnetic fields, and the movement of thousands of people. Then he went farther. He perceived the atmosphere, Earth's magnetic field, and the presence of the Moon. He could even feel, at an unimaginable distance, the enormous amount of energy coming from the Sun.
Alex slowly opened his eyes.
"This is too much."
He couldn't control all of it. He wasn't even sure he understood everything he was perceiving, but he could feel it. That difference was important.
He tried to focus on a small sphere of energy that he created in front of him. For a few seconds, it remained floating in the air, and when Alex slightly altered its relationship with the gravitational field, it began to rise. Then he focused again, and the sphere disappeared, only to reappear a few inches away.
Alex watched it carefully.
"I didn't move it."
He had done something different. He had slightly altered the relationship between the energy and the space surrounding it.
A small smile appeared on his face.
"I guess I'm still learning."
---
The next morning, Mount Justice was quieter than usual. Robin was reviewing information on a screen while Artemis looked over his shoulder at the data.
"So it's still there?" she asked.
"Yes, but I still don't fully understand what exactly it's doing," Robin replied.
Wally appeared behind them.
"That sounds pretty reassuring."
Artemis glanced at him.
"Since when do you listen in on other people's conversations?"
"Since I learned how to walk."
Before Artemis could answer, Kaldur entered the room.
"Superman just contacted us. Alex is coming."
Conner raised his head.
"Alone?"
"Yes."
A few seconds later, a small light passed through the entrance. The energy stopped in front of them and began to condense until it formed a human silhouette. Little by little, Alex's face appeared, followed by his arms, torso, and legs. Within seconds, he looked human again.
Wally watched him curiously.
"That's new."
Alex looked at his own hands.
"I'm still experimenting. I can maintain a physical form, but it's not exactly the same as before."
Robin stepped closer and examined his arm.
"How solid is it?"
"Depends on how solid I want it to be."
Robin raised an eyebrow.
"Can you break yourself again?"
Alex took a few seconds to answer.
"I don't know."
The answer slightly changed the atmosphere. Conner watched him seriously while M'gann approached.
"Does that worry you?"
Alex lowered his gaze.
"A little. But I think trying to get my old body back would be a mistake."
Artemis frowned.
"Why?"
Alex took a breath out of habit before remembering that he no longer needed to.
"Because I don't think that was ever really my original form. It was an adaptation. A way to exist here like everyone else, to experience the world in a way I could understand. But something inside me had always been trying to get out of it."
Kaldur remained attentive.
"And now you believe it has finally succeeded?"
Alex looked at his hands.
"I think I'm finally beginning to discover what was underneath that form."
Wally smiled.
"That sounded pretty deep."
Alex let out a small laugh.
"That wasn't intentional."
"That makes it worse."
The tension disappeared for a few seconds, and the group felt like themselves again. However, Alex suddenly stopped smiling and turned his gaze toward the sky.
M'gann was the first to notice.
"What's wrong?"
Alex closed his eyes.
His perception passed through the walls of Mount Justice and expanded outward. He felt the Earth beneath them, the atmosphere, the Moon, and the immense energy of the Sun. Then he found something he had never felt before.
It was an extremely distant disturbance.
Alex slowly opened his eyes.
"There's something out there."
Kaldur immediately went on alert.
"What have you detected?"
"I don't know yet. It's a concentration of energy, but it's too far away for me to identify."
Robin checked the sensors.
"Nothing's showing up."
"Because it's not close yet," Alex replied.
"Then how do you know it exists?" Robin asked.
Alex remained silent for a few seconds before answering.
"Because I can feel it."
M'gann closed her eyes and tried to perceive the same thing, but after a few moments, she shook her head.
"I don't feel anything."
"Neither do I," Kaldur added.
Alex looked at them.
"It's probably because my perception is working differently now. Before, I needed to observe something in order to analyze it. Now some things simply appear within my perception."
At that moment, Superman entered the room. He first looked at the team and then at Alex, immediately understanding that something had changed.
"What did you discover?"
Alex turned toward him.
"I think my powers are evolving."
Superman remained attentive as Alex explained what he had experienced.
"Before, I could manipulate matter, energy, and space. Now I can perceive much larger things. Gravity, radiation, magnetic fields, and even celestial bodies at enormous distances. I can also absorb small amounts of energy from my surroundings and use it, although I still don't completely understand how it works."
"And that energy you detected?" Superman asked.
Alex slowly shook his head.
"I don't know what it is. I can't identify it or calculate exactly where it is."
Superman nodded.
"Then we're not going to assume it's a threat."
"I know," Alex replied. "But there's something that worries me."
"What?"
Alex looked toward the sky again.
"When I felt it, I had the impression that it had felt me too."
No one answered immediately.
Superman kept his eyes on Alex.
"Do you think it was looking for you?"
Alex remained silent for a few seconds.
"I don't know. But it felt like when someone notices something they've just discovered."
Wally tried to break the tension.
"Well, that's pretty creepy."
Alex smiled slightly.
"I guess my wings are still growing."
Wally pointed at his back.
"Are you actually going to grow wings?"
"It was a metaphor."
"Too bad. That would've been awesome."
Artemis shook her head while Kaldur smiled discreetly.
Alex looked toward the sky again. He had spent too much time trying to discover what he was and why he was there. Now he was beginning to understand that perhaps those questions didn't need to be answered immediately.
He had recovered part of his memories, discovered that he was in the universe he had once considered fiction, and his body had stopped being a limitation.
But that also meant his true path was only just beginning.
It was no longer simply about discovering what he was.
Now he had to discover what he could become.