'Whe-Where am I?'
"You will live for the Light."
'What? W-Why would I do that?'
"You will serve the Light."
'No, I won't. Why the hell can't I move?'
"The Light will always take care of you."
'If you don't tell me why I can't move in the next ten seconds, I swear I'll-!'
"So you must take care of the Light."
'…Okay, that's it, buddy! You and me right no-!'
"Sleep!"
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"What is (5m – 3)/4 (3m – 2)/5 = (m 6)/7 ?"
'm is equal to 281 over 239. Why am I even doing this shit? Hey, let me go right now!'
"Who discovered that the Earth revolved around the Sun and when did this person discover it?"
'In the 3rd century BC, Aristarchus of Samos proposed the concept of heliocentrism to his fellow researchers. His research was then followed up by the Greek philosophers Philolaus and Hicetas in the 5th century BC and it was not until the 16th century that Nicolaus Copernicus presente-Why the hell am I even entertaining you? Let me g-!'
"Continue."
'Presented the mathematical model of a heliocentric system which led to the Copernican Revolution where in 1576, astronomer and mathmetician Thomas Digges published a modified Copernican system. However, as to answer your first question, the true person that discovered it is Aristarchus of Samos.'
"Well done." The moment the voice said that, I felt my mind snapping awake and was bombarded by an array of colours and sound, the sensations nearly overwhelming me before I gasped as they all faded away just as quick.
"Senses are still sensitive. Initiating cryosleep for one week."
'Wait, what? Nonononon-!'
"Red Sun."
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"Reactivating subject: Combat simulation." I gasped as I fell onto the floor, surprised to feel the tar beneath my body before I gasped as a decapitated head with an eye missing stared at me.
"Holy shit!" I quickly rolled and scrambled away from the head as fast as I could, looking around in horror at the numerous bodies that were torn apart as well as the burning city with rubble and torn-down buildings lying everywhere.
'Whatthefuckwhatthefuckwhatthefuck?' My breathing became more and more ragged with each second as I looked around, trying to convince myself that this was just a dream.
'Y-Yeah, just a bad…very bad nightmare just like everything else that has happened.' Reaching up to my shoulder, I pinched my left wrist and hoped to wake up only for my heart to sink as I felt a flash of pain while nothing happened.
"Oh…oh shit." Standing up, I was confused to feel the tight clothing I had on and looked down only to be bewildered by the bright white bodysuit I had on along with the large red 'S' that was the Superman-logo on my chest.
"I have never been this ripped." I muttered out loud as I poked at my body, surprised to feel the firmness of each muscle that I touched before my head snapped up right as a loud explosion went off in the background.
The next moment, I spun around and ran away as frantically as I could at the sight of half of a skyscraper being thrown through the sky towards me, not even paying attention to the fact that I was racing down the street at a blistering pace as I was more focused on not dying.
The moment the building made contact with the ground, I wheezed as I felt something slam into my back and knock the wind out of me, feeling myself ragdolling across the ground before I grunted as I came to a stop.
'Hah…hah…holy…crap…' I couldn't even muster up the energy to cuss as I sat up, staring at the destroyed building in front of me before my eyes widened and my breathing hitched at the floating figure in front of me.
With vivid blue eyes, short black hair with a curl over his forehead, a muscular physique that even the gods would envy and dressed in a form-fitting blue uniform with a red-and-yellow 'S' shield on his chest along with red trunks, a yellow belt, red boots and cape, Superman was glaring directly as his eyes gave off an eerie scarlet glow.
The next moment, my eyes widened as I saw a flash of red and felt pain in my chest, looking slowly to see the gaping hole that one could see through before I fell to my knees.
The last thing I saw was Superman lifting my chin up with a dark smile before his hand sliced through the air and I felt nothing no more.
"Combat simulation failed. Retry."
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Grunting as I blocked the punch from the Kryptonian flying right at me, I could still feel the force from the blow as it sent me flipping head over heels through the air and into a building.
I ignored the rubble falling on me as I had realized that I was invulnerable to it after my third death…or was it my fifth? Nope, it was my tenth.
'Gods, I am definitely going crazy. Then again, I have been going through this same nightmare for the past-Oh shit!' I quickly leapt out of the rubble right as a force slammed right through it and sent out a shockwave that not only sent me flying back but also completely destroyed the building and any that was still standing around it.
Landing with a crouched slide on the ground, I tensed my legs before shattering the ground below me as I rushed towards him, cracking the concrete below me with each step right as I caught Supes flying towards me with a glare.
Sliding under his lariat that he swung at my neck, I used my battle experience I've accumulated against the bastard as I grabbed his ankles before rapidly spinning in a circle.
With a roar, I slammed the hero back first into the ground before flipping with my throw, bringing my heel over and driving the hero further into the ground with an axe-kick.
However, I was surprised as the guy had taken my kick with ease before I found myself airborne, looking down at the vast city of Metropolis right before my eyes widened as Superman appeared behind me with a fist pulled back.
The sky itself rumbled in agony as he slammed a heavy fist to my face and I felt myself rapidly shifting between the realm of consciousness and unconsciousness as I crashed back into the city with the force of a meteor.
The next moment, blood and spittle landed on Superman's face as he landed knees first into my chest, but I didn't get time to catch my breath as punch after punch was slammed into my face, with me trying my best to block some of them.
However, he was quick to grab my hands and pull them away right as twin lasers shot from his eyes and into mine, letting out a cry of pain as I saw nothing but bloody red.
After that, all I felt was my throat closing up as he wrapped his hands around my neck, trying my best to struggle loose as I blinked the blood away and glared at the Kryptonian as he looked down with a snarl.
Within a few minutes, no matter how much I tried, I felt the strength fading from my body as I weakly gasped for air, giving the bastard one final middle finger before my hand fell to the floor and I felt the life leaving me.
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"How is his studies coming along?"
"A in all subjects except for Mathematics. He appears to abhor the subject."
"Hah, I suppose that's to be expected from every teenager. What of his training simulations? Have you implemented the different fighting styles like I asked?"
"Yes, Mr. Luthor. He has won zero times, drawn seven times and lost 56 times."
'I've died 56 times?! Wait, to hell with that! Did that voice just say 'Luthor'? As in Lex Luthor, the archenemy of Superman, who has been killing me 56 times?' I thought in shock as I heard the discussion, ignoring the faint voice in the back of my head rejoicing at the fact that I had been reincarnated.
"Activate his senses." I heard Luthor speak and gasped as I could see once again, blinking a few times to get the bright white out of my eyes before my eyes widened at the sight of the tall and slightly muscular bald man standing behind the glass pod that kept me captive.
"Project Kr, it's a pleasure to see you aw-!" I didn't waste any time as I slammed a fist into the glass, frowning as it only cracked instead of shattering like I expected before I smirked as Luthor gave me a frown.
"It appears he has the aggression of Match but he seems to be functional mentally so that's a win. Are his DNA strands still stable?"
"Yes, sir. Your DNA appears to have fused with Superman's DNA like we expected and have shown no signs of breaking apart."
'Wait, DNA of Lex Luthor and Superman? …I swear, I know I watched season 2 of the show yesterday, but if I am who I think I am…' I trailed off as I saw the 'Kr' on the front of my pod before looking up only to frown at the sight of three small white imps sitting on the top of my pod with their horns glowing a dark red.
'I'm Superboy. …Well, isn't that lo-!'
"Red Sun."
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"Think we should wake him?"
"He appears to have been in stasis. Stay on ale-!" My body reacted subconsciously before my mind could as I dove head first at the first target that I saw.
The dark-skinned boy I attacked looked surprised as I tackled him to the ground before I was surprised as he fell with the tackle while using it as a chance to kick me away.
"Wait!" I flipped over to my feet while staring in surprise at the other two boys standing on guard next to the first boy, surprised to see Robin, Kid Flash and Aqualad standing in front of me before I shook my head as flashes of Superman appeared in front of me.
'Yeah, you get killed by the same guy enough times and you most definitely can get PTSD from that.'
"You good, man?" The yellow-spandex speedster asked and I sighed as I nodded while rubbing my temples.
"Y-Yeah, my head's just killing me."
"Okay, I guess you're whelmed now." Robin said and I looked at his cheeky smirk with a stoic face before turning to the other two that sighed.
"It's a…thing he does."
"I…see." That was all I could get out as I shook my head and looked around only to frown at the three imps sleeping above my pod.
The next, I ripped out a chunk the floor before sending it flying through the air, surprising and horrifying the other three as the rocks crashed into the pod and buried all of them.
"What? They've been mind-controlling me since I can remember. A bit of revenge was to be expected." I answered with a shrug at their frowns before looking around, knowing that we were supposed to be in the underground tunnels of Cadmus.
"So, where are we?"
"Underneath the tunnels of Cadmus, a genetic research laboratory founded by Lex Luthor."
"Luthor? That's the same name as the guy that put me in here." I said with a nonchalant hum as I walked over to the main entrance, hiding my smirk as I heard Kid Flash's surprised shout.
"What?!"
"Unless there's another Luthor guy in the world?" I asked as I looked at them before shrugging as they just gave each other looks.
"Then your Luthor is probably the same guy that kept me in here."
"Luthor is the founder of Cadmus and he has been talking about how he's been researching the genetics department. It all lines up." I heard Robin whisper and smirked before I turned back to the main door as I heard another loud thump, remembering that there were a few more people waiting outside.
"Any of you going to take care of that?" I asked while pointing at the door and Kid Flash grinned as he appeared besides me, making me frown as he patted me on the shoulder and walked past.
While I had seen him move, most of his movements had been nothing but that of a yellow blur and I realized how fast the speedsters were compared to me.
'And he's supposed to be the slowest? That reminds me. I'm going to try my best to make sure he doesn't lose his life. Actually, there's a lot of stuff that I'm going to have to prevent.' The Light, the Reach, the fight against Amazo and that cliffhanger of Vandal Savage and Darkseid meeting each other, which can't be anything good.
'This…this is going to be a tough life.' I thought with a sigh as I watched Kid Flash open the door, watching as he raced out of it only to shake my head as I watched a G-Elf grab him and throw him back at us.
"Project Kr! Apprehend them!" The scientist in the middle of the enemy group asked and I glared at the G-Gnome on his shoulder as its horns turned a bright red.
The next moment, I kicked a chunk of a rock through the air and knocked the beast from his shoulder right before another chunk of rock I kicked sent the scientist flying back and directly into a wall.
"Whoo~! I guess you really do have Superman's strength, huh?" Robin asked while whistling at the damage and I snorted as I stomped on the floor in front of me, unleashing a shockwave forward that made the ground ripple and knocked most of our foes down.
"That was a simple kick."
"A bit extreme, but effective. Now, what say we all take care of our friends here and report back to the Justice League?" Aqualad asked as he took out his twin water controlling sword hilts while Robin fully released the staff in his grasp.
"Sure, do we need them alive after this?" I asked before smirking as they all gave me wide-eyed looks.
"A joke. I wasn't going to kill them. Jeez, where did everyone's humour go?"
"…Let's just make sure to defeat them and take them back to the Justice League alive." Aqualad clarified while staring at me and I rolled my eyes as the other two snickered.
"Sure, sure." I said with a smirk and he shook his head while gathering water in the shape of whips on his sword hilts, the four of us staring the group down in front of us while Guardian frowned as he stared at us.
"Attack!" He shouted and I grinned as the G-Elves were the first to attack before I launched myself forward as well, grabbing the first by its skull before slamming it head first into the ground.
All around me, Kid Flash was a yellow blur as he rapidly and swiftly took out everyone further in the back of the attacking group, Aqualad and Robin being efficient demons as they each took out anyone that attacked them with brutal efficiency.
However, I was the juggernaut as there was one thing I learned while getting killed over and over by Superman.
Don't hold back and hit as hard as you can.
Each punch of mine shook the room and dented the bodies of the little G-Gnomes as I sent them flying into the walls and ceiling, the bigger G-Elves also only lasting one punch before they fell to the floor with my fist indented into their bodies.
However, as I ducked the attack of a big one and threw him onto a group of little ones, I spun around as a roar echoed in the room, looking back at the entrance only to frown at the grotesque sight of the monstrous G-Trolls charging towards us with even more G-Elves rushing in alongside them.
'Looks like today's just not my day.'
A/N: And we have the prologue to the new story: How to Be a Hero.
This is going to be a Superboy SI with an aloof character, or at least one that tries to after getting killed in a simulation so many times.
He's not the selfless hero type that would sacrifice himself at the drop of a hate right now, but as he goes on, he grows to embody the image of what he thinks a hero truly is.
Basically, he goes from Chaotic Good to just Good.
Not a Lawful Good, though. I don't think many characters can fit in that category.
Like always, you can go to my Pat-reon-.-com-/-KingCrimsonNova to read ahead on this as well as many other stories & even some that haven't been released out to this site yet. If you want to, you are free to, but if you don't want, all's good as I will still be uploading here. This is just me trying to get some extra cash.
Anyway, as always, read, enjoy, review and until the next one, welcome to...
To Be A Hero~!