Aden Strong: Avatar In DC

(Aden's P.O.V)

Here goes nothing. I clicked on the tab depicting the Firebender soldier. 'Feels like shopping.' I mused, seeing the sudden drop of my Training Points from 55 to a measly 5. I endured the heartache. Just barely. The display screen disappeared from my vision and a few meters away from me, a white light appeared.

I took a step back and settled into a ready stance as the ball of white light coalesced into a humanoid figure. The light disappeared and on it's previous position, a man was revealed. I ran my eyes over his body. Top to bottom. He was dressed in a standard Fire Nation army uniform with the helmet covering most of his head, although the faceplate with huge eyes was missing. The uniform seemed to be a mix of different eras of the Fire Nation Army.

The man was of average height, with an average face and a slightly intimidating aura around him. Comes with being a soldier, I guess. This guy was a veteran. The fight was not going to be easy. He fell into a standard Firebending pose. The same one I knew from the basic Firebending forms I got as a knowledge pack but this emphasized brutal efficiency. I had had to change it a little to fit my body and fighting style better.

I mirrored his footing and established eye contact with the blank faced man. A copy of the real one most probably. The air between us got supercharged and on some undetectable signal, we both moved. I stepped the side and allowed the fire ball to pass harmlessly by my left. My opponent shuffled to the right with his hands on his hips and threw another fist forward, followed by a second one from his other hand. The two fireballs were aimed to box me in.

I calmly stepped forward and pulled on my own energy. I felt a thin covering of thermal energy spread along my hands. The first fireball was now bearing down upon me. I slapped it out of the way sending it to blast the ground on my left and just wash away upon contact with the unyielding rocky terrain. The I stabbed both of my hands out at the one behind it, spreading them in a circular motion and unraveling it. The flames licked my sides and I barely felt the heat as they disappeared into the air.

My opponent on the other hand took the opportunity of me being occupied to pull in closer to my body. His fist was inches away from landing on to my face, when I dodged it and jumped away, assisted by the fire rocketing out of my soles. The Firebender soldier spinned in place, stepped forward and pushed his hands out towards my body suspended in mid air. A torrential wave of flame, glowing yellow rose up to meet me.

In response, I raised a hand up to the sky and swiftly brought it down like an axe. The wave of ocean parted upon contact with me and with that I had learned how he fought. Now it was time to go on the offensive. I leaned forward and pushed off the air with a flame burst. My trajectory brought me towards the Firebender soldier.

The man was conscious enough of the battlefield that he jumped away before I could land on his body. It didn't save him though. I slammed onto the ground and a wave of flames rose up from my contact with it. The fire was easily 6 feet long and the eruption beared down on the opponent mercilessly. With a barely audible scream, the Firebender soldier disappeared into white light.

Cracks spread out under my my legs along the blackened ground. I smiled, getting up and bowing towards the Firebender soldier. Well, that fight had shown me how a veteran Firebender fought. The soldier's movements had been stiff and stubborn. Something I would expect from an earth-bender. I sighed looking around, the Fire Nation had really forgotten the essence of Firebending. The fight had been unexpectedly too easy. I don't think I was going to spar with this type of opponent again. If I must, I should go for the truly skilled Firebenders. The ones who understood the essence of the flame.

I brought up my minimized screen and looked at the training points. Still stuck at 5. I'm so poor. Welp, it seems like I now needed lucifer even more. To ensure I didn't slow down my practice, a few combat missions to earn more points were paramount.

I looked towards a few huge boulders and smiled. My little friend was back. I wanted to approach the little dragon but somehow it didn't feel like the right time. I had a feeling that it would come to me when it was ready. So I just waved at it's direction and disappeared out of the Flame Land.

A few Grangos to ease my hunger later (bending was kinda energy intensive), I decided to go back to earth. I had been putting off talking to Luci but it couldn't wait any longer. Time was moving and the Young Justice timeline was still mostly an enigma to me, past the Red Volcano mission. I knew a few things in passing but nothing concrete. For starters, I knew that Wally would die in season 2 but not because of what.

I also knew that Speedy would become a Justice League member but that something would happen?...it was confusing. Just half clicked Reddit threads that I had dismissed entirely upon seeing the number of speculations and trolling going on. Ask me about Marvel and I assure you I'll know shit that isn't even mainstream. Ask me about DC and outside Batman Beyond, I was a complete novice.

It was times like this that I regretted not paying more attention to the DC world. To be fair though, who woulda thunk I would be transmigrated here? Me, the guy who's always too lost in his own world. The guy who finds it hard to make friends. The guy who has never had a girlfriend. Whose sick joke was it that thought, I would be appropriate as an ambassador? My personality was a complete opposite to that!

Anyway, nothing to do about it now. I left sanctuary through a portal and stepped out into...Lucifer's living room. I looked around strangely as the Portal disappeared

"I was aiming for my room."

I told him.

Lucifer chuckled mysteriously, while also managing to look apologetic.

"Sorry, I hijacked your landing. Why don't you take a seat Aden. We haven't seen much of each other and I wanted us to have a little chat."

He was dressed in a dark silky kimono that covered him to just below his calves. His words made me raise an eyebrow.

"You hijacked a dimensional warp gate and redirected it from where it was going to bring me to you?"

And that maddening smile is back. I sighed and sank my body on the couch across from him. I groaned a little at the comfortable sensation. Although the grind was sacred, sleeping on a hammock or the ground is really not good for my back. I almost fell asleep just from leaning on the couch.

"You sound surprised."

My devilish host commented taking a sip of tea. He saw my eyes land on the cup and snapped a finger. A cup of steaming hot chocolate appeared on the table before me.

"How did you...you know what? Nevermind. I keep on forgetting who I'm dealing with."

I shook my head and took a sip of the hot chocolate, shuddering in appreciation. Thick and smooth just like my mom makes. Oh boy, now I miss her even more.

"Ok I'm sorry but I actually gotta ask...how did you make it exactly the way I like it?"

"Might be magic."

He smirked with a small upturn of his lips.

"In other words, you read my mind and found out what I like."

I deadpaned.

Lucifer chuckled.

"I don't need to read your mind for something as trivial as this." He leaned forward, "To tell you the truth, I can see what you desire when you desire it and how you desire it. Comes with being the all powerful scary devil. Desire came from me after all."

Was he talking about those Powerful cosmic entities that presented an aspect of reality. The Endless, I think they were called. Still not a big DC fan guys. That hasn't changed. Lucifer cocked his head to the side while leaning back. He studied me with something akin to curiosity.

"You even know about them. Intriguing. And the answer is no. None of the Endless came from me. That's preposterous." He waved a hand in dismissal of the notion.

Then his serious gaze locked onto me.

"That said, I would ask you to explain to me exactly where you come from or how you possess knowledge that should not be known to a mortal. Especially how you seemed to know Maze and I during our first meeting..." My breath hitched. Fuck, what was I expecting? Of course he would know about that.

"...but it's been forever since I didn't know something. Forever since I have been so... interested. Count yourself lucky, you get to keep your secrets."

I gulped and nodded in appreciation.

"Umm...thanks."

He could have simply taken it all if he wanted to, without asking. It was only much much later that I found out had he attempted to do so, my brain would have become a fighting ground as the Avatar State fended off any attempts to do a deep dive inside my mind. My surface thoughts were laid bare for a skilled enough Telepath like Martian Manhunter to read but not without sufficient effort. However, no matter how strong they were, no one could read my actual memories. No one.

The Avatar System was fucking scary.