"Some find Fate constricting, as they see it as a million choices suffocating their free will. Other's see Fate as freeing, as if they have no choice, they do not have to worry. Both sides are wrong. Fate is Fate, a collection of your own choices, and where it takes you is up to you."- Dr. Fate

So far, some of my expectations were right, and some turned out very wrong. Looking out the window, watching the ground far below me race by I reflected on those expectations. The Penguin was exactly right. A short crazy businessman/ gang leader who has an obsession with Penguins, his real-life counterpart was exactly like how he was depicted in the movies and comics. The Omnitrix? Again, acted and performed exactly how the Omnitrix in the show had, and while there were a few differences-mainly it being stingy and only giving me Heatblast and XLR8- overall it looked and acted just as I would have thought.

Batman, though, was nothing at all like how he was supposed to be. Sure, he was insanely rich, and very good at fighting, along with him having sidekicks in the two Robin's. His temperament was the main difference, and far very from the gritty, dark avenger, he was often described as. He acted way more immature and relaxed than I thought he would be. He was completely unfazed by my cross-dimensional reveal and seemed to care more about his melted gym mats than the entire Gotham underworld looking for me.

Looking over at my unwilling flight companion, I grinned as I remembered his outspoken dismay about "protecting me" as I traveled to STAR Labs. Dick was a complete asshole, but he was still maybe, just a tiny bit funny sometimes. The fact that he actually started helping me get better at fighting didn't hurt either. I wasn't a professional by any meaning of that word, but I was slowly getting better. My record against him was still abysmal, my wins still in the single digits, and if you removed the wins with my aliens, zero.

Getting tired of staring out the window, I look around at the backseat of the helicopter we are in. Even though it is apparently not called the Batplane, and not even the Batcopter, it is completely silent, if not slightly cramped by the fact there is only one middle seat between us available. I look over at Dick and try to catch his attention by giving him my most arrogant smile.

"Stop smiling at me," he growled- somehow actually sounding like a growl-"Every time you do I know you're remembering you finally beating me after fifty tries. Don't you have a phone or something?"

"One, it was forty-nine losses actually, and no I don't have a phone, I lost when I, oh yeah, traveled through reality." My phone, truthfully, did not get lost when I was"transported" here. I found it half melted after the first time I transformed into Heatblast. Because it wasn't actually in my possession when I transformed, just next to me, it was not protected by the rapid increase in temperature. "You're just jealous anyway," I say, on purpose looking out the window to add a little bit of attitude.

"Jealous? Why would I be jealous of you, Mr. one hundred and thirteen to seven, I actually want to be good at kicking ass," he fires back.

"You are just jealous that I beat you with XLR8 three times in a row, also, for the record it's not one-thirteen to seven, we agreed that that last one was a tie."

"Fight me without the watch see how far you get, Huh, yeah nowhere."

"I understand that I have to know how to fight without the watch," I say, trying to instill reason and calmness into my tone. "But the fact that you can't damage Heatblast, and XLR8 moves faster than you can see, with the watch I can totally kick your ass, you just have to accept that and move on."

"I will fucking XLR8 my fist into your face if you keep talking to me, please just shut up, we are almost there," he turns away and puts in an earbud, trying to tune me put with music. Unfortunately for him, the helicopter we are in is small enough I can easily reach over and grab it out, and since I know he's not allowed to hurt me- Thanks Batman- the glare he gives me isn't that scary.

"Come on, don't be like that, I'm bored. Tell me where we're going, we both know you've probably memorized the combat skills of everyone there already," I plead, trying to make this trip less boring. Furthermore, while Batman didn't care if I told any Member of the Justice League I wasn't from this Earth, hence me telling Dick, I still wanted to know how close the STAR labs I could remember from the TV shows to the one here. "This is where the Flash is right?"

He groans, and slightly shifts his body so he faces me the smallest bit. "The Flash isn't the only hero active in Central City, which you would know if you actually read the file I gave you. The Flash is the most famous one, but there are several ancillary heroes as well as several supervillains there. Flash is the most famous one because he is the most consistent hero there- Firestorm is always missing, and apparently, Killer Frost only has powers sometimes, and when she does, half the time she's not even a hero," using his fingers, he starts counting random villains. "There is usually always a villain who is a speedster, though apparently who that is not always the same, Captain Cold and Heat Wave are usual suspects for robberies and theft, and then there are two mutant animals that sometimes cause trouble, but apparently they are pushovers."

"Wait, the speedster villain changes? How many different speedsters could there even be?" I think back to the show and do a mental count. I stop when I get to five and realize how many there actually were in the TV show let alone all the comics, figuring that there could actually be a different speedster for every day of the week.

"I don't keep track of track of that many people in Central City, especially because the villains fluctuate a lot. In Gotham, we have the same five to six people, but that isn't the norm everywhere," he actually looks slightly embarrassed, but then points out the window. "Want to know where you're going to be staying for the next while? That's STAR labs right there." He points to an immense building, on the outskirts of town. Round shaped with three giant spires pointing into the sky, I immediately recognize it from the TV show, as it looks pretty similar.

"Wait, that building?" I smother a smile as I point to a completely random building, nowhere close to where STAR labs is located.

"No, you idiot, right there that round building," Dick says pointing more aggressively.

"Oh, sorry so it's that building," I search for another building that has the least amount of round edges and point to it. Instead of jokes, I hear a light smack on the back of my head and look around to see Dick looking very pained.

"Oh I am so glad that I don't have to stay here with you any longer, you are not nearly as funny as you think you are," He says, facing back around to his window.

"That's funny because I think I'm exactly as funny as really am, besides, you are staying with me at STAR labs" I reply, taking out a folded piece of paper from my pocket and handing it to him. The one request Batman gave me, to get Robin to leave Gotham for a while, was a piece of cake once I “asked” Batman to assign me his sidekick for protection. As Dick opens the letter, reads it, tears it up into pieces, and puts his head in his hands I let out a little snort, and pat him on the back. I perk up once I relize we started to move straight down, “Oh look, we're landing."

As the helicopter slowly descends into the middle of the roof of STAR labs, I can barely make out three people on the roof, a person in a red bodysuit, and then two people wearing lab coats, one of them waving and jumping up and down.

When the Helicopter finally opened its doors, I hopped out and almost had to drag Dick out of it, then we both started walking to the three people, one of which still waving. Getting closer, I could now definitely tell that the person in the red suit was the Flash, and each of the scientists while wearing the same white outfit, looked completely different. I snorted in amusement as I realized that each person had on a "Hello my name is ___" sticker, even the Flash. Skipping the name tag the Flash has, I read the names Cisco and Caitlin. While the odds were looking better that this was closer to the TV show, neither Caitlin nor Cisco looked exactly like their TV show doppelgangers, but not that different.

Reaching out to shake everybody's hand, I decided to introduce Dick as well, due to him trying to act dark and moody. "Hey guys," I start and immediately almost cringe at my sudden voice crack. I clear my throat and point to Dick, "That moody person is Dick, or Robin, and my name is Beau, and I go by... I actually don't have a hero name yet."

"Welcome to STAR laboratories, Dick and Beau. I was actually surprised when Batman called in his IOU, but then got excited when I heard what he was asking.” The Flash's voice is surprisingly regular for a superhero, it just sounded like a normal voice with maybe a bit of extra vibration. “Taking care of an aspiring superhero and his teammate for two weeks? I would have done that regardless, and got very intrigued when he passed me the information about your watch, and of course how you got to this Earth." "I'll show you guys around and then there's some fun activities I've got planned." He disappears in, well, a flash, leaving me dumbfounded as Cisco pats my shoulder, laughing.

"He's always forgetting not everyone's as fast as he is... Come on we'll show you around." As he leads me to the closest door, I look back at Dick who sighs, rolls his eyes, and then slowly trudges to the door, casting glances back at the helicopter.

--------

Fun activities turned out to be a mix of medical testing and questions about everything from my medical history to the abilities of the Omnitrix. However, because I rarely paid attention to any of my doctor's visits, trusting in my parents to answer the questions, I could hardly answer any of the questions Caitlin asked of me. Luckily, due to my obsession with the show, explaining the Omnitrix to the Flash, who was still in his red suit, and Cisco was much easier.

"And this watch works by changing your DNA to the alien you chose, not switching you with a super small version of the alien? The ease of answering the question did not consistently relate to them believing in my explanation, however.

"Yes, like I've been telling you for the last ten minutes Cisco, I choose the alien, hit the watch, and then I have the body of the alien, but still possess all my memories," I say, very tired of explaining the same concepts repeatedly. I see him open his mouth and speak faster, cutting him off. "And again, I only have two aliens, right now, but that could change any second." I reach for the Omnitrix flipping to XLR8, "Can I not just show you what I'm talking about? We've been here for two hours, and the most exciting thing I've done was talk to Caitlin about whether there's a history of heart disease in my family!" Dick snorts at my outburst, and I barely fight the urge to flick him off, only fully stopping myself when I realize that there is a treadmill slowly rising up from the floor.

The Flash pushed another button, and a treadmill rose right next to the first one side by side. I watched in awe as the Flash started stretching, realizing he was going to run with me. "I heard one of your aliens can run at super speeds?" The Flash asked, smiling as I nodded hesitantly. "Well lets see what you got."

I look down at the Omnitrix making sure that the symbol of the Kinecelran was visible, before quickly pushing it down. I could feel my body changing to fit the composition of XLR8, but this time it felt faster and more synthesized. Instead of each of my body parts changing in order, every single change happens instantaneously, almost too fast for me to truly feel them. As the green light died down, the urge to say the name of the alien grew and grew until I couldn't contain it anymore.

"XLR8"

I looked down at my body, letting out a breath in relief as I transformed into the alien I wanted to turn into. Cracking my neck, I stepped onto the treadmill, watching as beside me the Flash did the same. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Dick lean in to whisper something in Cisco's ear, but before I could ask what he said, the treadmill started to move.

Running with balls as feet was an otherworldly experience, but I could feel the instinct of how to run with them and knew in theory how to do so. As the treadmill went faster and faster, I tried to focus as much as I could on running the fastest, and not focus at all that I was in a race against the Flash. Glancing over at him, I couldn't see the famous red streak but instead his individual limbs moving, which made sense as my eyes and brain were going as fast as he was, at least for now.

I could see a small speedometer on the front of the treadmill and laughed when I saw it was only around two hundred mph. While that was extremely fast for the majority of cars, that was still nothing compared to how fast the flash or XLR8 could go. after a couple of seconds, I noticed that the speed was climbing, and not a small amount.

Two-fifty. Three hundred. Four-fifty. Then Five hundred. Getting to five hundred, made me have to focus purely on running, especially considering the dangers of messing up at this speed. Against my better nature, I glanced over at the Flash, and irritation rose in me as I realized he was still running easily. I bore down, ignoring the thought of being cautious, keeping only one thing in my mind. Running as fast as I could, without getting left behind. As the speed crept up, I could tell I was slightly running slower than the Flash was, as even though we started in the same spot, he was now a couple of inches in front of me. I pressed down thinking only about running when the inevitable happened.

I slipped. Landing on a treadmill going hundreds of miles per hour, I got catapulted back, slamming into the back wall. Pain shot through me as I fell from the wall, face looking up seeing the Flash still running, but as I watched him, his limbs got blurrier and blurrier until even I couldn't tell them apart. Letting my face fall down to the floor, I heard the tell-tale signs of the Omnitrix timing out and felt myself go back to human form, albeit without any aches and pains after getting launched into a solid wall. flopping over to look at Cisco and Dick, my heart sank as I saw Cisco passing a folded up bill to a smug Dick.

Shit.