Chapter Title: Testing
Gotham City
May 5, 09:00 EDT
After a long and relaxing shower, Max slept through the night like a baby and woke up to eat a filling breakfast for the first time in months. He then spent some time watching TV and just relaxing until Batman and Robin appeared as if out of thin air.
Batman was wearing his regular outfit, but Robin wore a casual outfit consisting of black jeans, a green hoodie covered by a black jacket, and some sunglasses. Max, on the other hand, was wearing the same outfit he had been the previous day, since the clothes in the closets were either too big or too small. Of course, he washed them since they were a little dirty after the encounter with Professor Pyg.
"Yo, sleep tight?" asked Robin, vaulting over the back of the couch to sit down.
"Yeah, haven't slept that well in forever." said Max.
"So did you mess with the ring?" asked Robin with a smirk.
"No."
"Aw, man. I was hoping you had."
"Come." said Batman, walking off before the two teens followed him, entering the elevator and making their way down to the underground garage.
"Before this goes any further, I have to ask you something." said Batman.
"Okay."
"Are you sure you want to go down this path? The chances of you having a normal life if you continue on this path are close to none. You will be putting your life on the line. You will be targeted by those who wish to do you harm solely for what you are. So I ask again, are you sure you want to go down this path?"
"Yes." he said with no hesitation.
"Why?"
"Because I know what it feels like to suffer and to want to be saved, and if I have the power to help others who are suffering but don't, then it's my fault that they continue to suffer." he said, staring right into Batman's eyes.
"You can't save everyone."
"I know." he said as the two continued to stare at each other in silence.
"What do you know about the ring?" asked Batman, breaking the silence.
"Besides the fact that I'm supposed to spin it and it turns into something else, not much."
"Then why did you call it 'Imperial Arms Ring' after it changed?" asked Batman, his eyes narrowing at Max's omission of information.
"The name popped into my head after the ring changed. That's also how I knew to spin it to activate it." explained Max.
"Any other information?"
"Not until the ring changed into the staff did some basic information about it pop into my head."
"Such as?"
"The name of the staff, what it did, and how to use it."
"Cool, what's the staff's name?" asked Robin.
"Snake Staff: Jaffar."
"Jaffar? That's a weird name for a staff." he said.
"What about the abilities and usage?" asked Batman.
"The staff's primary ability is hypnosis. The eyes make those who gaze into them very susceptible to my suggestions, and they obey my orders. And I just have to will it to activate." explained Max.
"Mind control." said Batman, his eyes narrowing at the staff's ability.
"Not a heroic ability." said Robin with a wry smile.
"No. But it can be useful and powerful if in the right hands." said Batman.
"How many Imperial Arms can the ring change into?" asked Robin, to which both Batman and Max looked at him, "What? The ring is called the "Imperial Arms Ring." Stands to reason that the things it turns into are called Imperial Arms."
"I think the highest number I saw when it was spinning was 48." said Max after taking a few seconds to remember the scene of the ring spinning from the day before.
"48?! Are you serious?!" said Robin, a shocked look on his face.
"I think."
"That's 48 different items with varying abilities! That's insane! It's an arsenal!" he said before pausing and smiling, "Found your hero alias, Arsenal."
"Arsenal? Sounds a little ... villainy, doesn't it?" said Max, not too excited about the name Arsenal.
"Nah, sounds awesome. Arsenal." said Robin.
"Focus." said Batman, grabbing their attention, "When the staff disappeared, did you do that?"
"No, it just did it."
"Time limit?" asked Robin.
"Perhaps. We'll have to do some testing to make sure."
"Sweet!" said Robin, excited to see what else the ring would do.
"Here?" asked Max.
"Don't worry, this place is strong enough to withstand Superman for a moment." said Robin.
"Cool." said Max with a slightly skeptical look on his face, "So should I spin it, or do you guys want to back up first?"
"Smart." said Robin before he and Batman walked a few feet away.
"Wait a sec." said Robin before he pulled out a stopwatch, "Okay, spin it!"
"Here goes nothing." said Max as he spun the ring with his thumb.
Just like the first time, a display of spinning numbers appeared on the inner band of the ring before settling on 15.
'Earth's Heart: Geb'
The next moment, the ring disappeared before Max felt a stinging sensation on his chest above his heart, but the stinging sensation paled in comparison to the sensory overload.
"Ahh!" yelled Max as he fell to his knees while clutching his head in pain.
"Max!" yelled Robin as he was about to go help him, but was stopped by Batman, "What are you doing?!"
"Calm down, Robin. Panic leads to mistakes." he said.
"But-"
"We don't know what we're dealing with. If he goes out of control, we have to stop him." he said, causing Robin to settle down and focus.
Max, on the other hand, was still being assaulted by a completely new sensation, and it was coming from all around him. More specifically, from all the earth around him.
He could feel the earth's presence. The vibrations from the insects burrowing through it, from the people walking on it, and from the cars driving on it. And it was starting to be too much to handle.
Suddenly, a warm sensation spread from above his heart, and the assault on his senses slowly subsided until it was just there. Then, just like with the staff, the information about the Imperial Arm appeared in his mind.
"Max, you okay?" asked Robin, who had made his way to him after he had stopped screaming.
"Y-yeah." he said as he stood up.
"What happened?" asked Batman.
"It was the Imperial Arm. It lets me control/conjure earth, and I could feel the earth's presence all around me. It was too much for me to handle all at once." he said as he took off his hoodie and his shirt, much to the pair's confusion, only to reveal a weird rock symbol tattoo[1] right above his heart.
"Is that the Imperial Arm?" asked Batman.
"Yeah. Earth's Heart: Geb and it manifests as a tattoo." explained Max.
"Geb? That's an Egyptian god." said Robin, looking at Batman, whose face looked tense.
"Yeah? So?" asked Max as he put his clothes back on.
"Black Adam, a villain, gets his powers from the Egyptian Pantheon."
"Wait, the gods are real? Like Ra and Zeus and stuff?" asked Max, who had always assumed they were just stories.
"Another time." said Batman, not wanting to get into all that complicated stuff at the moment.
"Okay, but what if it's just a name? To sound catchy or whatever."
"We're going to assume it is just a name, but keep in mind the possible implications." said Batman.
"Okay." agreed Max.
"Try to use the abilities." said Batman.
Max first recalled the information for Geb, then he stuck his hand out and thought about wanting a chunk of the concrete from the floor to break off and float.
CRACK
Seeing the chunk of floating concrete, Max then thought of turning the chunk of concrete into a sphere.
CRACK
Then he thought of it turning into a cube.
CRACK
Then a pyramid.
CRACK
Then he put the now pyramid-shaped piece of concrete back in the spot he took it from before thinking about fixing it back in its place.
"Whoa. It's like you never even took the chunk out." said Robin as he touched the spot from which the chunk came out and noticed that it was smooth.
"Try conjuring a chunk of stone." said Batman, which Max instantly did, conjuring a floating chunk of stone.
"Try something detailed! Make it look like me!" said Robin.
Max thought about wanting the conjured stone to change to look like Robin, but the piece of stone only had the rough shape of a human from the neck up.
"Guess I can't make it too detailed for now." said Max.
"Do you feel any strain?" asked Batman.
"A little. I feel a little more tired than before I spun the ring."
"The ring must work on stamina then." said Robin.
"Likely." agreed Batman.
"So he's like any other person who does stuff. The more he uses the Imperial Arms, the more tired he gets."
"The possibility also exists that using an actual item like the staff uses more stamina." said Batman.
"What do you mean?" asked Robin.
"He means that there's a possibility the staff itself takes stamina to be used, but so might the abilities of the staff. The item and the ability both take stamina, and using them both might drain me faster. As opposed to Geb, which is essentially just the ability." explained Max.
"Exactly."
"You used the staff yesterday, don't you remember?" asked Robin.
"No. It was too sudden and I was too focused on Professor Pyg." said Max, shrugging his shoulders.
"Try conjuring other materials like concrete, marble, clay, and dirt." said Batman.
Just like with the chunk of stone he conjured earlier, four chunks of the materials that Batman listed also appeared out of thin air.
"Did you feel any difference from when you conjure stone?"
"Dirt and clay felt pretty much like stone, but concrete and marble did feel like they took a little more." said Max.
"The rarer they are, the harder it is to conjure?" asked Robin, looking at Batman.
"Maybe."
As the two pondered over why marble and concrete took more to conjure, the five floating chunks of materials suddenly fell to the ground.
"Time's up." said Max, seeing the ring reappear on his finger.
"How long was that?" Batman asked Robin.
"5 minutes." he said, showing them the stopwatch, "About the same as yesterday, I'd say."
"5 minutes is the time limit for each item. Not a long time, but it's not short either. The materials you conjured stayed as well." said Batman.
"I can spin it again after the five minutes are up, so it's not the end of the world." said Max before spinning it, with the number 15 showing up again.
"What'd you get?" asked Robin, excited to see another Imperial Arm.
"The same one." said Max with a wry smile as he made the five chunks of material float.
"Aw, man."
"The probability doesn't change, then. It's always a 1/48 chance." said Batman, "When you spun the ring, did you feel any more tired?"
"No. Looks like only using the ability takes stamina, not spinning the ring." he said, not feeling any more tired than before he spun the ring.
"Can you unsummon the Imperial Arm before the 5 minutes?"
"Let me try." said Max before thinking about wanting the Imperial Arm to turn back into the ring.
THUD
The five chunks of material fell back down, and the ring reappeared on Max's finger, successfully returning the ring.
"I can."
"Try spinning it." said Batman.
Max then spun the ring with his thumb, but unlike the previous times, no numbers popped out, so he spun it again, similarly to no avail.
"Doesn't work." said Max.
"You can't turn the Imperial Arm back into the ring and spin it again to get another one. The ring will probably be ready to use again once the five minutes have passed." said Batman.
"So no workarounds. You're stuck with what you get." said Robin.
"That's two limitations. A time limit and you get what you get." said Max as he continued to spin the ring, not for an Imperial Arm but for fun.
"While we wait for the time limit, try taking it off." said Batman.
Grabbing the ring with his right hand, Max tried to pull it off, but it wouldn't budge. Even putting all the strength he could manage didn't make it budge a millimeter.
"Won't even budge." said Max.
"That's good." said Robin, "No one can take it off of him."
"Not necessarily. We don't know if someone with enough strength could pull it off. Magic is also a possibility. We also don't know what would happen if the finger is cut off." said Batman so matter of factly.
"True, but I'd rather not test it." said Max, causing Robin to chuckle.
~
"Five minutes are up, spin it again."
As Max was about to spin the ring, Batman's communication device suddenly started to ring, causing him to stop.
"Batman." he said, putting two fingers to his ear like they did in movies, "On my way."
"League?" asked Robin, clearly used to it happening.
"Mm." he affirmed before looking at Max, "League emergency. I'll be back. Don't spin the ring."
The latter part of his statement was more directed toward Robin, whom Batman knew would try to convince Max to spin the ring.
"Got it." said Max before Batman walked away, blending into the shadows and disappearing.
"How does he do that?" asked Max, genuinely curious.
"It's uncanny." said Robin before a big, mischievous smile appeared on his face.
"One spin." said Max, knowing that Robin would most likely pester him until he did so, he might as well get it over with.
"Come on, there are 48 Imperial Arms and you're only spinning it once? Where's your sense of adventure and curiosity?" asked Robin.
"Curiosity kills the cat."
"Sigh, fine. But I promise, I'll make you lighten up."
Max spun the ring, and the numbers appeared before it landed on 33.
'Phantasmagoria: Gaea Foundation'
The next moment, the ring had disappeared, and in Max's hand was a pink checkered cosmetic case.
"Phantasmagoria: Gaea Foundation." said Max after the information appeared in his mind.
"Hahaha! Is that a makeup case?" asked Robin while laughing.
"Yeah, it is." said Max.
Seeing Robin not stop laughing after a few seconds, Max began to get a little ticked off. So, he opened the case, revealing all kinds of makeup materials, which caused Robin to laugh even harder. Max then picked up a few of them and swiped them across his face while thinking of someone.
POOF
Hearing a poof, Robin took a moment from laughing to see what Max had done, but all he saw was another him, causing his eyes to nearly pop out from his sockets.
"What the?!" yelled Robin.
"What do you think?" asked the other Robin with a smile.
"You can shapeshift?" asked Robin, quickly realizing what the Imperial Arm did and walking up to "himself" to inspect.
"And not just people." said Max.
POOF
"Whoa." said Robin, no longer looking at himself but at an eagle.
"And not just animals."
POOF
"Now that's just ridiculous." said Robin, staring at an oak tree in the middle of an underground garage.
POOF
"Pretty useful. I can even use the animal's natural abilities. And the Imperial Arm disappears when I disguise myself, but I can use it while in disguise. A lot more convenient than having to go back to myself before being able to use it again." said Max, back to his normal self as he put the makeup materials back in the cosmetic case.
"If it wasn't for the time limit, that would be the perfect item for infiltration and stealth." said Robin.
"Yeah, shame. Oh well, better than nothing." said Max as he unsummoned the Imperial Arm.
"One more?" asked Robin, even more curious after having seen just how varied the Imperial Arms could be.
"No." said Max, turning around and walking to the elevator.
"Come on!" said Robin, chasing after him, "Fine, let's play some games!"
[1] It's the symbol for earthbending from Avatar