2 Years later!

*2 years later, Gotham School for the Elite*

If Jump city could be called divided due to the money status, Gotham surpasses it exponentially. People here barely react to reading about murders of a building full of people, courtesy of Joker and Firefly, or the constant abductions, most probably scarecrow or professor Pyg. One could even be called the city to be cursed to attract such insanity, yet it stands as one of the most populated cities in the USA.

Then again, the same goes for metropolis. The news and papers may use superman as a bright shield, saving everyone, in reality, there are many who die, but the news stations are more busy discussing the fights and Superman himself, than displaying it.

It has been 2 years since Ben returned the suit and got a legit life. Gotham was the last city he wanted to be in, but considering the Bat himself was the best way to keep an eye on him, he ended up in here.

He got enrolled in Gotham middle school for the elite, courtesy of Bruce Wayne.

At first, he was confused how Nightwing even contacted him to do this but seeing Bruce Wayne once on television, he got a feeling he was looking at Batman. ben doesn't know how, but he just does. He was able to tell that Clark Kent, who's just below in popularity as a reporter than Louis Lane, was Superman. But he didn't care.

Right now, ben was packing up bags, when the door of his room opened. he looked back to see a sharp-looking boy and a red-haired girl standing at the door.

"Well, can't say I was expecting to see you today. What brings you back J? Hey Babs." Ben said. The one standing was Jason Todd and Barbra Gordon.

"Decided to take a break. Dick was back to Jump city, so decided to leave for a while." Jason replied smiling a bit, while Barbra waved behind him.

"...Dude, Gotham's like the worst place 'you' could hope to relax," Ben said with a blank face. Jason and Barbra chuckled hearing this. When Ben enrolled, Barbra Gordon was the first friend he made. She originally wanted to keep an eye on him, but they became genuine friends after a while. As for Jason, he kept visiting from time to time to keep an eye on Ben. He had fought Red-X for a while, so he couldn't just give up suspecting him. But these small talks slowly turned into friendship, and now they could be said to best friends.

"Yeah, but it is still home," Jason said, smiling wryly. "But are you sure you want to move away? You even have an internship at Wayne Industries." Barbra asked concerned.

There were many things Ben discovered about himself. First was his memory was perfect and his comprehension speed was quite fast as well. His body always stayed in perfect condition, no matter what he ate, and he even had a slight regeneration factor. When Jason had learned of this, he asked for a DNA sample, which Ben handed over, on the basis of Batman doing a DNA search to see if he had any relatives and asking if he can get someone to analyze the psychic block Raven had Told him about. The search found nothing about any relatives, and his blood was as normal as it could be. What did come as a surprise was that Ben was a complete ghost for telepaths. And that came from Martian Manhunter himself.

Batman had started keeping an eye on him learning this. But Ben kept his distance from anything related to the super-world. He picked up studying computers, science, and genetics, and within a year, he could be said to be an efficient Programmer and his studies on Physics, chemistry, and biology was extensive. he made many online games to earn money and made patents for various programs and compounds for developing Lightweight and elastic fabrics and hard yet light armor. The chemical compound could even be used in adhesives and building material, earning him an internship at Wayne industries and enough fortune to live well.

"*Sigh* You know what happened a week ago Babs, I don't want to get involved in any of this shit." ben sighed and said. This caused Jason and Barbra to wince.

Last week, Ben decided to go shopping for clothes, when he got ambushed, and by Scarecrow's goons at that. They used his signature fear toxin, but to their, and Ben's surprise, it didn't have any effect. seeing no option, Ben decided to fight back and knocked them out. He was a master combatant because he could learn any move just by seeing it, and replicating was easy thanks to his perfect physique.

After knocking them out, he called Barbra to help and explained the situation, while he slowly sneaked away avoiding anyone following him. Turns out, his computer expertise got leaked, and they decided to come for him, to get a hacker for them.

The three sat silently for a while, then Barbra finally spoke, "I still can't believe the gas didn't affect you at all." ben smiled wryly at her

"Yeah, I was surprised as well... though somewhere, I... wanted it has some effect, you know," Ben said with a solemn tone.

"Still stuck on the past? Dude, you gotta move on." Jason said with a frown.

"I have tried. many times. But it keeps coming back to me, like scattered glimpses. Every time I take one step ahead, I find myself back where I started... *sigh* I just can't ignore it, not like how things are." Ben said, holding his head by his left hand.

"... Still, experimenting on compounds won't do any good," Jason said after a while with a serious expression. This caused Ben to be surprised.

"What? Do you think we wouldn't notice? Lab equipment in your new house, missing stashes of Venom, a shipment of mirakuru that penguin had getting stolen. Batman may have placed it on Black Mask then, maybe he has figured it out by now, who knows? When reviewing the footage, I Nightwing had found a masked boy of your height around.

He had suspicions about you but didn't say anything, but I knew it was you, especially when you asked Batman to use the fear gas when Martian failed." Jason explained.

Barbra went wide-eyed and glared at Ben for this, who sighed hearing him.

"Yeah,... it was me. How much of it just now was speculation?" Ben said and asked back.

"About 60%" Jason answered, but seeing Ben's deadpan face, he said, "Okay, 75%."

"You can't possibly be thinking to do that. Please tell me you won't" Barbra yelled worriedly.

"And become a mindless luchador? No thanks. I just want to see if the chemicals have any reactions to the hormones in the human brain. That's my main goal." Ben explained.

"Good, cause if you do that, I promise you'll feel the worst pain of your life," Barbra said glaring at Ben. He felt a shiver down his spine and nodded hurriedly. Jason smirked seeing his friend's reaction.

"Still.., National city huh?" Jason said, looking at the address posted on the cardboard packages.

"Yeah, a good distance from any hero-villain gimmicks," Ben said nodding. Just then his alarm rang, which he turned off. "Well, time to head out," Ben said standing up.

"Let's go. I have a car down parked." Jason said and walked out, followed by Barbra and Ben, who took his bags and left.

They reached the station, where Ben hugged Barbra and fist-bumped Jason.

"Well, I'll see you when I come to visit," Ben said boarding the train, while the other two nodded. Barbra wiped her eye and warned him to keep contact menacingly, after which they waved when the train left.

*3 hours later*

Ben stood in front of a 2 floored house with a smile on his face. He was glad that his decision back then was worth it, still stupid, but worth it. The 1st floor had a drawing-room, kitchen, and dining area, with 2 bedrooms with connected washrooms and a storage room. The drawing-room was connected to the lawn with a swimming pool on the side.

The upper floor had a lab with 2 more bedrooms, both with balconies connected to each other from outside. Ben had a wry smile seeing all this. He doesn't understand if Wayne really treats him like an asset or he has so much money he doesn't care. Thankfully, the house was inside a private block under Wayne industries, or security and cleaning would have been a big hassle.

"Well, time to arrange the stuff," Ben said after a stretch and got to work.

*3 months later*

In the hallways of National High, people were staring at a young teenager. He was 5'4 with black hair and eyes, wearing glasses, scrolling the phone, acting as he doesn't notice their gazes. This was, of course, Ben, in his new high school.

The reason for the stares was the fact that some kids thought he was just a nerd and tried bullying him, which didn't end well for them, as for the sues from the parents, for some reason he never got them. Ben found it weird but didn't care.

[Making eye contact is essential for maintaining a good social relationship, sir] Ben heard as he opened the locker.

"I don't really plan on socializing Friday," Ben said taking out his books. Friday was an AI Ben designed, to help him in calculations and development of different experiments. She was connected to his glasses, which had a HUD as well.

"Hey, BEEEEN" Ben heard a voice behind him. He turned around to see an energetic blond girl with blue eyes making her way towards him with a black-haired girl with a stoic face.

He smiled slightly seeing them. "Hey Kara, Alex," He said looking at them. In the school, the Danvers sisters were the only ones that talked to him.

"Hey, why do you sound so low-spirited, didn't sleep?" Kara questioned.

"What? Of course, I did." He said, sweating. He had obviously lied. Ben had been doing experiments for two nights straight without sleep. Kara narrowed her eyes but said nothing. Ben swore, her senses were too good.

"Well, let's move it. Class is about to start." Alex told them to hurry.

"Ah, yeah. See you in class." Kara said and went to her locker, with Alex, who nodded at Ben.

[Sir, I do not believe lying is a good trait] Friday said.

"*sigh* We'll talk later Friday," Ben said after sighing.

Friday didn't reply but was analyzing her master's behavior and learning. She knew the real reason for his lack of sleep wasn't his devotion to his projects. No, they were just a distraction, from sleep itself. Ben's dreams were getting worse, and the sense of forgetting everything was haunting him more than ever. He himself doesn't know how he hasn't gone mad.

But his conclusion of not being mad was only partially true, as he showed major signs of depression. Friday was worried about her master's health and searching for ways to help him.

Ben went inside and sat down in front of Kara and Alex. They both looked at him but said nothing. Kara had a worried expression, while Alex just narrowed her eyes. They attended school and went home. Ben had rushed out before Alex and Kara had caught him. Kara, being a Kryptonian, saw her friend taking the taxi, but couldn't do anything. She looked at Alex who shook her head. Kara knew it wasn't right to interfere with his life, but she couldn't help but get worried.

Ben reached home and changed up, returning to the bedroom in the back on the first floor. He placed his hand on the front, which glowed and moved, revealing a lift. He entered the lift, and it descended down.

It went down two floors, and opened up, revealing a big lab, almost as big as the area his house occupied. This was one of his main requests. A good lab. He was sure Batman had placed many ways to spy on him if needed but didn't care.

"Friday, how's the stability?" ben asked, taking off his clothes.

[The reaction with blood is positive because of your regeneration factor sir. But, are you sure this is a good idea, sir? I recall you messaging this idea and calling it 'extremely idiotic' when asked about.] Friday asked with concern, unlike when he first created her.

"Well, if it goes on how it is now, then I'm going to become insane either way. So it's fine." Ben answered, thinking about the talk he had with her. "Did she or Jason reply back?" He asked.

[No sir, they haven't said a thing from yesterday.] Ben narrowed his eyes, but said nothing. He thought they were a bit busy, probably the usual stuff of Gotham. So he decided on his show for tonight.

*Stay tuned for more....*