Beth Chapel POV
I walked beside Grandpa Max, slowly eating my ice cream, but my mind wasn't on it. I was worried about Franklin. The moment he saw his aunt and uncle, he just passed out. He's fought multiple villains, saved the multiverse, and I'm pretty sure he once told me he fought a zombie god, and won.
So why in the world did family knock him out cold?
"You're thinking about Franklin," Grandpa Max said, glancing at me with that knowing look.
"Yes, I am. I'm just… worried," I admitted.
"You don't need to worry," he said. "Those three needed to talk. A lot of emotions have been piling up for years, and it's better they let it out now. Honestly?" He chuckled. "By the time we go back, they'll either all be crying… or bleeding. Whichever happens first."
I blinked. "…What?!"
He just laughed.
"Grandpa… can I ask you a question?" I said.
"Of course you can. I'm an open book," Grandpa Max replied.
"You said you used to be in the Army… did you ever work with Captain America? Or even see him?" I asked.
Grandpa Max laughed. "Sweetie, I didn't just see him. I fought beside him. I was part of the Howling Commandos."
I stopped walking. "WHAT?!"
"You kids always love Captain America," he said, shaking his head with a smile. "But you forget about the people who fought beside him back in the old days. We're close to the museum anyway, come on. Let's finish our ice cream, and I'll show you."
He wasn't wrong. We were only a few minutes away.
We finished our cones on the walk there and stepped inside the museum. I followed Grandpa as he led me through the exhibits. There were displays of Captain America everywhere, his early photos, his first uniform, the story of the Super Soldier Project, and even a large picture of him standing with a squad of soldiers.
There were tons of pictures and displays, but eventually Grandpa stopped at one particular section of the museum. He pointed to a large photo of Captain America standing with a group of soldiers.
I leaned in to look more closely… and that's when I saw him.
Grandpa Max. Just younger, way younger. In a soldier's uniform, standing tall, and holding… was that a double-handed axe?!
"I was just a regular soldier back then," Grandpa began. "I got captured by HYDRA along with the rest of the Howling Commandos, at least, until Steve, who wasn't even the real Captain America yet, rescued us. After that, I followed him into a lot of battles. Fought alongside Bucky, Gabe, Dum Dum , Happy, Pinky , Jim, James , Jacques , and Junior."
He smiled nostalgically. "We survived many battles, took down HYDRA one base at a time. I remember Steve grabbing a motorcycle and throwing it at a squad of HYDRA soldiers. Funniest thing I ever saw."
I stared at the picture in amazement. "If you fought with Captain America… why aren't you well-known? Why don't people talk about you?"
Grandpa sighed. "Well, sweetie… even though I served with Steve, I was still a Black man. And back in the 1940s, racism was still everywhere. The government didn't want too many Black soldiers in the spotlight. They covered up a lot of the contributions African-Americans made to this country."
"Oh…" I said quietly, sadness creeping into my voice.
He patted my shoulder. "Don't be sad. Things are a lot better now. Racism still exists, unfortunately, but it's nowhere near as rampant as it was back in my day. There are a lot of good people out there now."
"But aren't you angry?" I asked. "That the government hid the truth? That you didn't get the recognition you deserved after serving your country?"
"Beth," he said gently, "I didn't do what I did for fame. I did it because it was right. So did Steve. So did Bucky. So did every one of my comrades who didn't make it home. We fought for the people, not for attention."
"…I see," I said softly.
"Now, I know you probably don't want to hear an old man's war stories," Grandpa Max said, chuckling, "but trust me—these ones are really good."
"Of course I want to hear them, Grandpa Max," I said immediately.
He smiled, one of those warm, proud smiles only grandparents seem to have, then took a breath and began his story.
The Next DayFranklin POV
Yesterday was… a lot.
I honestly didn't realize I had that much anger and sadness piled up toward my aunt and uncle. It surprised me. Everything worked out… kind of. I mean, nothing is magically fixed. It's going to take time. And the fact that I know who they really are? Yeah, that puts another dent in things.
It's 5:00 in the morning, and I'm already at the base. I'm in the gym, hammering the punching bag. I already had the Omnitrix track Nick and Amanda, making sure they're not tracking me or any of my friends.
The real reason I'm here so early?I couldn't sleep.My mind kept replaying everything from yesterday, and I just needed to hit something.
But this punching bag wasn't cutting it.And I can't believe I'm even thinking this, but… I kind of hope a big bad or some crisis pops up soon.I need a real fight.
"Franklin?"
I turned around. Cindy B.
"Hey. I'm surprised you're here this early. What are you doing here?" I asked.
"Well, every Sunday since you upgraded the base, I come here to train at this time. Gotta keep my skills sharp," she said.
"Oh, so that explains why you're always sharp as a blade," I joked.
She gave me an eye roll. "Hilarious, because I literally have blades in my arms."
Then her expression softened. Concerned."Are you okay?"
"What?"
"Franklin, I saw the way you were hitting that bag. That wasn't a workout—that was anger. Something happened yesterday, right? About your aunt and uncle? Secret spies or whatever?"
I sighed. "They're both heads of organizations that aren't exactly superhero-friendly. And even before that, I never saw them after my parents died. They didn't come to the funeral. So yeah, a lot of anger and sadness. Even though I said I'd give them a chance… it still hurts."
"That doesn't magically change how you feel," Cindy said. "You got the sadness out yesterday… now you're angry. You want to punch something."
She smirked."Lucky I'm here."
"What?"
"I want to be your sparring partner," she said. "We don't have to talk. Just throw punches. Don't hold back."
"Cindy, no offense, but I know you have a healing factor and all, I just, I don't want to hurt you."
She stepped closer. "No offense, Franklin, but I've been training my whole life. You've been training for what? A couple of months? I think I'll be fine."
She got into a fighting stance.So I did too.
We ran at each other and started fighting.
1 hour later
She is kicking my ass.
Even though I've been training in boxing and picked up a few martial arts, Cindy is way out of my league. I kept wanting to use magic, but that felt like cheating. I did land a couple of good hits, it wasn't completely one-sided, but it was very, very obvious who had the advantage here.
I tried to throw a right jab, but she slipped it like it was nothing. Then she swept my leg, and I hit the floor flat on my ass. Before I could blink, she mounted me, fist pulled back like she was about to punch me straight in the face.
But she stopped.
She just looked at me.
For a few seconds, neither of us said anything. There was something familiar in her eyes. Something I couldn't quite explain. A tension I definitely wasn't expecting during a sparring session.
Then—
"HEY, you two! What are you doing?"
We both snapped our heads toward the doorway. Ava stood there, eyebrows raised.Cindy practically jumped off of me like she'd been caught doing something illegal.
"We were just training," I said, getting up and dusting myself off. "And I'm using the word 'training' very lightly, because she was kicking my ass."
"Oh, cool," Ava said casually. "Want to go to a few rounds with me?"
"I'm good," I said immediately. "I do not want to get thrown around for another hour. So if you'll excuse me, I think I'm just going to… do some hero work."
And with that, I walked right out of the training room before someone suggested round two.
As I walked out, I didn't notice Ava giving Cindy a look… and Cindy very deliberately avoided Ava's eyes like her life depended on it.
Later that day
I went on patrol. Stopped a couple of bad guys, your usual New York weirdos.A couple of bank robbers.Some dude named Doug Judy.And one guy who thought he was invisible for some reason… and robbed a store completely butt-naked.
I'm not diving deeper into that one. New York is New York.
After that, I was just flying around the city when the Omnitrix picked up an emergency signal.From space.
I figured it had to be the solar-orbit mission NASA launched. So I switched to Jetray and flew straight out of the atmosphere. I'd reach the sun-distance location in no time.
But when I got there… I saw something I did not expect.
Superman was flying back toward Earth. dragging a spaceship behind him using some kind of strange energy field coming off his body.
"What the fuck…" I whispered.
I flew closer, staying beside him, ready to help if he needed it. But instead of heading straight down to Earth, he went to the Watchtower. So I followed.
I needed to know what the hell happened, and what he was doing.
Superman and I landed in the Watchtower hangar bay. As soon as his feet touched the floor, that weird solar energy field around him vanished.
I transformed back to my regular form just as he staggered. I rushed to catch him before he fell.
"Superman, are you okay? What's going on?" I asked.
"I… I don't know," he breathed. "My body feels strange. Like my cells are exploding with the energy of the sun."
Before I could get another word out, a medical team rushed in. They escorted Superman and the astronauts from the mission toward the medical bay. I followed, along with half the heroes on standby.
Doctors started running tests on both the scientists and Superman. I just stepped back, watching with everyone else, heroes lined up silently, staring at the monitors, waiting for answers.
As I watched the doctors work, I discreetly scanned Superman's body with the Omnitrix, just to understand what was happening.
The readings were terrifying.
Superman had absorbed way too much solar energy.His cells were overloaded, breaking down under the pressure.Not fast, but steadily.
Superman was dying.There was no doubt in my mind.
"Omni?"
I turned and saw Wonder Woman approaching, with Batman, Flash, and Green Lantern (Hal) behind her.
"Hey, everyone," I said. "I hope you don't mind. I just decided to stay because I was worried about Superman and from what I just gathered he's not."
"What are you talking about?" Hal asked.
"I think we should talk somewhere private," I said quietly. "You don't want the whole Watchtower hearing this."
They exchanged looks.Batman gave a tiny nod, the universal signal for he's right.
They gestured for me to follow, and we walked to the main League briefing room. The entire Justice League was already there. Someone must've alerted the rest, probably Batman. It's always Batman.
The moment I stepped inside, Captain Atom frowned.
"What is he doing here?"
"He has information on Superman's condition," Wonder Woman said.
Captain Atom scoffed. "We have doctors for that. Let them finish their tests. Their results will be more accurate than whatever he has."
"Every time we meet," I said flatly, "you talk, and I dislike you even more."
Before he could fire back, I activated the hologram projector on my suit. Superman's scan appeared in the air, cellular breakdown, energy saturation, the whole terrifying picture.
The room fell silent.
Mr. Terrific, The Atom, and Batman stepped forward immediately, examining the details.
Then, at the same time, all three said:
"Superman is dying."
Gasps. Shock.A couple of heroes swore under their breath.
The room temperature seemed to drop ten degrees.
"What, what do you mean Superman is dying? He's Superman!" Shazam blurted out.
"Superman flew too close to the sun," Mr. Terrific explained, bringing up the scan again. "His body absorbed far too much solar radiation. His cells can't handle that level of overload. Right now, yes, he probably feels stronger than ever. But his cells are exploding from the excess energy. At this rate… he is slowly dying."
Silence fell over the room.Heavy, suffocating silence.
"Unless," I said, breaking it, "we get all that solar radiation out of Superman."
Every head snapped toward me.
"What?" Flash asked.
"All we need to do is drain the excess solar radiation from his body," I said. "Once it's out, his powers will drop, maybe even down to human levels, but his cells will recover. Then, over time, he'll reabsorb solar energy normally and return to full strength."
Mr. Terrific's eyes widened slightly. "You're right. That would work. But we don't have a device capable of doing something like that. The amount of energy we'd need to safely extract and contain, it would take too long to design and build."
"You don't have to build anything," I said. "I've got an alien form that can absorb solar radiation. I can help Superman."
Black Canary sighed. "Of course you do."
Green Arrow shook his head. "What can't that watch do?"
"…my homework," I muttered.
They definitely all heard it.
A couple of heroes snorted despite the tension.