The universe had opened up to me. An endless, complex pattern of time, space, and existence itself spread out before my mind.
And yet, with that flash of understanding, I knew something just as vital:
If I wasn't careful, something else would pay attention to me.
Something already had.
---
The Justice League kept their distance, but I knew they were watching. Even Superman. Especially Superman.
I didn't fault them. To them, I was a mystery a cosmic aberration who roamed about in human disguise. The type of danger they had encountered previously. The type that never had a happy ending.
So I made up my mind.
Stay low. Stay hidden.
For now.
Because while I wasn't intent on being anyone's foe, neither was I going to be their guinea pig.
So I left the Hall of Justice behind.
And I entered the world.
---
Gotham.
It was the ideal place to begin.
Dark, violent, and full of crime. A city where miracles did not occur. A city where gods did not intervene.
Which meant it was the last place anybody would think someone like me would ever be.
I moved quietly. No grand entrances. No declarations.
Just action.
I traveled through the city as a ghost, unseen but felt. A mugger closing in on a victim was suddenly halted, his brain immobilized by an unseen hand. A drug transaction in a back alley was set ablaze literally when their supply exploded with an otherworldly fire. A dirty cop accepting bribes saw his entire account drained in one night, funneled off to charity organizations.
And nobody had any idea who was doing it.
They only knew Gotham was different.
I wasn't trying to take Batman's place. That wasn't what I did.
But I could assist in ways he never could.
I could manipulate probability, alter events, nudge fate without anyone even knowing it.
A delicate hand, not a fist.
Because the instant I made myself known? The instant I emerged into the light?
The divine powers observing from the periphery of the universe would perceive me as more than an anomaly.
They'd perceive me as a threat.
And I wasn't prepared for that.
Not yet.
---
But even in the darkness, I knew I couldn't do this by myself.
I required allies. Not gods. Not League members.
People.
People who got what it meant to battle from the ground up.
People without the luxury of cosmic perception or Kryptonian strength only their own will to stay alive.
So I observed. I heard.
And I discovered them.
A girl with flawless shooting skills, using nothing but a crossbow and revenge.
A thief who blended like a shadow, quicker than any camera can follow.
A hacker who'd already infiltrated the Batcomputer twice and gone on to breathe.
They weren't gods. They weren't myths.
They were merely human.
And because of that, they were tougher than any deity.
My new mission in life.
I wouldn't make the world change with power by itself.
I'd turn it from inside.
Without ever being noticed.
Because as soon as I walked into the light, the true war would start.
And I wasn't prepared to fight it.
Not yet.
---
**End of Chapter 8**