4 Chapter 4

C 4

–Metropolis, Lexcorp HQ, Top Floor–

Mercy Graves glanced up from the stack of paperwork piled on her desk. She had gotten a bit distracted with her boss the previous night and now it had piled up on her…

"Hello there!" A boisterous girl with short blue hair greeted her. "I'm here on an important assignment!" The girl added enthusiastically. 

Mercy let out a tired sigh. She hadn't gotten her coffee yet and it was too early to deal with such an obvious morning person… Mercy noticed that the blue haired girl was dressed strangely. She was wearing some kind of black body suit that looked very tight on her. It heavily emphasized all of her curves and left almost nothing to the imagination. Didn't this girl have any shame walking around in broad daylight wearing that!?

…Mercy also wondered where she could get a bodysuit like that herself... It would definitely spice things up between her and her boss and her…

"Hello?" The blue haired girl said again and snapped Mercy out of her thoughts.

"Hello." Mercy replied blandly. "Did you have an appointment with Mr. Luthor or something?" On that note, Mercy wondered how the girl even managed to get up to the top floor without her being notified? That was a major security slip up. Especially considering how many enemies Mr. Luthor had.

The blue-haired girl scratched her cheek awkwardly. "I do not have an appointment. But that's fine! Family doesn't need appointments to see each other after all!" She said while nodding to herself. 

Mercy raised a sarcastic eyebrow. "Family?" Was this another teenager claiming to be Mr. Luthor's long lost love child…that would make her the third this week. Mercy sighed as she prepared to reach over to her intercom and call security.

The girl blushed. "Well…We're not family yet. But we will be! Mother-in-Law told me that if I don't screw this up, I can be in Marcus's harem!" She said proudly! "I'm Xenovia Quarta by the way!" 

"Marcus?" Mercy asked and decided to play along with whatever this was. Was one of her coworkers pranking her? 

Xenovia grinned. "Marcus Light! The most handsome and perfect man in the world! One day he will be my husband and we will have strong babies together!" Xenovia exclaimed excitedly. 

Mercy frowned when realized this girl was being completely serious and not actually joking.

Xenovia then started to mutter all about Marcus to herself as her face turned from her over active imagination!

Mercy Graves pressed the intercom. "I need security up to my office please. We have a crazy girl that snuck in somehow…" Mercy frowned when she got no response.

Xenovia shook her head and snapped out of her fantasies! "I'm not crazy! Marcus is Mr. Luthor's son! Also your security probably won't be coming anytime soon…" Xenovia said with embarrassment. 

"And why is that!?" Mercy demanded to know.

"T–They wouldn't let me in the building originally so I had to…beat them all up…" Xenovia said with a blush. It was their fault anyway! They stood in the way of her and her true love!

Mercy gaped as she reached under her desk for her sidearm! This girl was a lot more dangerous than she had thought if she took down all of their security without a scratch.

"Wait, Mercy!" The voice of Lex Luthor spoke from her intercom. "Send Miss Quarta into my office. What she claims intrigues me." Mercy didn't like the idea of such a dangerous girl being alone with her boss… She would never go against Lex's wishes though. She acquiesced and pressed the button that unlocked the door to his office.

Xenovia's eyes lit up upon hearing that. "Father-in-Law approves of me!? YES!" She cheered as she walked past the secretary and into his office.

Lex Luthor was intrigued by the girl who just walked into his office. The scanners in the building were registering her as completely human, and yet she wiped out all of his security with ease! Even bullets seemed to have bounced off of her when she was surrounded by some kind of golden aura as she fought. Was it magic? His scanners didn't detect any magical readings from her along with any trace of the Meta Gene. She had a completely new type of power he had never seen before!

"Miss Quarta, I presume? Nice to meet you. I'm Lex Luthor." He introduced himself from behind his ornate desk.

"Greetings Father-in-Law! I'm Xenovia Quarta! Marcus's future wife!" 

"And this…Marcus? You claim he's my son?" Luthor asked with some serious doubts. If anyone would have known they had a love child running around in the world, he figured it would have been him. Lex remembered every woman he'd ever slept with and he had kept tabs on all just in case that happened. All of them…except for that one who mysteriously disappeared almost 18 years ago. "Do you have a picture of Marcus? Or better yet, proof that he is my son?" Lex asked. To his surprise, the girl nodded enthusiastically.

"Of course I do! I have hundreds of pictures of Marcus! Here look!" She pulled a cell phone from–somewhere–and held it up in front of Lex's face! He was taken aback a bit from how enthusiastic she was. 

Lex could admit the young man in all the photos was very handsome. And he sort of resembled himself if he still had all of his hair. There wasn't enough resemblance, though, to be sure. If the young man was his, then he clearly took after his mother more.

"Oh! I also have this too!" Xenovia pulled out a ziplock bag. Inside were locks of blond hair. "This was for the DNA test Mother-in-Law claimed you would demand as proof!" She said as she casually plopped the ziplock bag of hair on his $100,000 ornate desk… 

"Maybe next time start with that…" He told the girl while eyeing the bag with skepticism. "Mercy, could you please have this tested quickly for me." He called out to his secretary/bodyguard/lover. 

"Of course, sir. I'll be back in a few minutes." Mercy took the bag out of his hand and headed towards the elevator. The labs in Lexcorp were more than advanced enough to quickly run a simple DNA test. The scientists were also used to it at this point with all the kids who came in claiming to be her bosses long lost child every week.

Lex wretched his secretary leave before turning back to Xenovia. "So, tell me about that power you used to take out all of my security. It was impressive. You were literally glowing when you beat them all up!" He complimented her. He noted this girl clearly had a lot of pride because she preened at his compliment.

"Oh! That's my Light Energy!" Xenovia said.

"Light Energy?" Lex asked curiously.

Xenovia nodded enthusiastically. "Light Energy is the power that exorcists and Angels use to purge beings of darkness! With the Lord's blessing, I've slain Stray Devils, Vampires, Ghouls, and numerous other evil beings!" Xenovia boasted proudly. She was young, but she was one of the church's best fighters already! Why else would they give her both Durandal and Excalibur Destruction!?

Lex scoffed. "Angels? Oh please.They don't exist…" 

Xenovia pouted. This conversation was clearly going to be tougher than she initially thought meeting her future Father-in-Law would be. She wasn't deterred! She would get him to help Marcus and then Lady Gabriel would finally approve of her as a prospective daughter in law!

…

Marcus and his mother were currently in his room in Wayne Manor. Bruce had been nice enough to let Marcus stay overnight since his apartment was probably being watched. Mother had left temporarily to take care of some matters, but she returned now that it was morning again. She had healed Marcus back to full health, but now she was lecturing him.

She was staring him down as he did his best to not make eye contact with her. In her hand, she was holding the True Longinus—which she was supplying with her own Light Energy so it could stay activated. She wanted to get the account of what happened the day before directly from his grandfather, her own father.

"You were going to use your Balance Breaker against an ordinary human in the middle of the city!?" Gabriel exclaimed! "Were you trying to blow up Gotham and kill yourself at the same time!?"

'He got caught up in the moment. It's my fault for not stopping him,' Big G projected his words directly into both of their minds.

"It wouldn't have been that bad…" Marcus muttered. He knew that wasn't exactly true, though. One does not simply whip out the Balance Breaker of the strongest Longinus unless the situation is very dire…

"You were hurt. Why didn't you just fly away?" Gabriel asked. "It's not like that Lady Shiva woman would be able to follow you." she pointed out.

Marcus's cheeks turned red in embarrassment. "I got caught up in my first real fight with a supervillain and forgot I could do that…" He admitted.

Gabriel sighed. "It's ok to tactically retreat when the situation calls for it. During the Great War, even we Angels were forced to often retreat when the battlefields got out of hand."

"Yeah, but that wouldn't have happened had you used your full power!" Marcus said back to her. He was talking about her True Angelic Form.

Gabriel took a seat on the bed next to him. "Why do you think we Archangels don't assume our True Forms and just wipe out all of the world's evils?" She asked him seriously.

He was never sure of the reason for that. "So humans can learn to fight their own battles against monsters?" That was his best guess at the moment.

'No,' Big G answered him. 'While plausible, that is not the reason.' His projected voice in Marcus's head had an ominous undertone.

"Son? Do you know how the Great War ended? Truly?" Gabriel asked. She looked like she was remembering something that genuinely scared her.

That far-off look made Marcus nervous. Was it because of the beast? "Was it because of Trihexia?" He asked.

She shook her head. "That creature was powerful, but not powerful enough to truly threaten the balance." She started explaining, "towards the end of the Great War, Lucifer assumed his True Biblical Form! In response, we Archangels did the same to combat him! In doing so…our combined powers drew the attention of Them…" Gabriel shuddered at the recollection.

"Them?" Marcus asked. "The Endless?"

Gabriel shook her head. "No. The beings we drew the attention of came from outside of this universe. Outside of the multiverse itself, actually. They were monstrous beings from beyond the void itself! They came for us. The Archangels and our Father! They sensed our Light and came to devour it and us."

'It required my full power to drive them away, and even then I almost died…' Big G admitted to Marcus's surprise. 'Afterwards, I sealed away our universe, from their kind, with the help of some powerful allies. Lucifer himself perished in the battle against them… or maybe he just faked his death. Either way, he hasn't been seen in the hundreds of years since then.'

Marcus was surprised to hear that not only were Eldritch Abominations apparently a real thing, but that they also fed on Celestials… Oh, he was Half-Celestial too, wasn't he…?

Gabriel nodded. "I can see the realization on your face. Yes, when—not if—those beings return one day, they will also go after you as well. That's why you need to be strong enough to hold your own against them!"

Marcus blanched. "Hold my own against beings that can easily swallow planets and destroy stars!? I'm just a two-winged Nephilim at the moment!" At his full power, he could barely blow up a bus…

'Which is why you need training…and for me to leave your body at long last. I have been siphoning your Light Energy and hindering your growth for too long already! You'll find that once I leave the True Longinus, your reserves will feel like they've already doubled.' Big G stated.

"Father, have you been fully healed?" Gabriel asked with hope as she smiled down at the spear in her hands.

'Not completely, but I have healed enough that I no longer need to stay inside Marcus's soul. The rest of my recovery can occur back in Heaven.' Big G said. The True Longinus emitted an incredibly bright Golden Light! It was so bright that Marcus had to close his eyes and turn away.

He also felt something inside him irreversibly shift. He felt like a shackle that had been spiritually tying him down his whole life had been removed. He felt slightly more powerful!

In the middle of the room, an older man started to materialize. His hair was pure white and long, and his eyes were the purest shade of gold Marcus had ever seen. They seemed to hold all of the knowledge and understanding of the whole world. He also had a sagely long white beard that Marcus was sure was only there for aesthetics…

"Hmm, it's been a few hundred years since I could walk around." Big G, or Yahweh, said moved his almost fully healed body around. "I think it's about time that I—Oooff!"

"Father!" Gabriel had tears of happiness in her eyes before she slammed into him hard and knocked both of them to the floor. "I'm so glad that you're back! Now I can hug you again and never let you go! I'm so happy! Michael will be so happy too! This is amazing and…" Gabriel kept babbling on as she hugged her father tighter and didn't allow him to get up off the floor.

Marcus immediately pulled out his phone and snapped a quick blackmail photo…

...

The sight in the Wayne Manor guest room was quite comical. Gabriel, the Archangel and messenger of Heaven, was currently sulking in the corner. She had been placed in "timeout" for knocking her father to the floor and refusing to let him up…

Big G and Marcus were speaking together before he was planning to go back to Heaven and give Michael a break from managing his system. There'd probably be a massive party there upon his return as well.

"There are some things you should be aware of now that I am fully separated from your soul, Marcus." Big G spoke to him in a serious tone.

Marcus nodded. "Like what?"

"First of all, your balance breaker will no longer work like it did before."

Marcus's eyes widened! "What!? Why?"

"Think about it. You're currently only a two-winged Angel? How were you able to even use it in the first place?"

MArcus had wondered that before. He could barely keep the spear itself out for a few minutes without exhausting his own Light Energy reserves. How did he manage to use the Balance Breaker before then? "Was it you?" He asked.

His grandfather nodded. "Whenever you used your Balance Breaker before, it was drawing power from myself. If it drew power from you…it would have drained you dry." He explained ominously and Marcus gulped. "That being said. I have left enough of my own Light Energy in the spear for you to use your Balance Breaker exactly three more times. After that, it will start drawing power from you. I strongly advise you not to try and activate it again until you have at least 6 wings yourself."

Marcus took his advice seriously. "Three times? That should be plenty for now. How often am I going to be in a perilous life or death situation anyway?" He said with a laugh.

…

Big G sighed as he listened to his grandson tempt Fate itself with that remark… 

…

"Other than that, it's time Marcus starts getting stronger," Big G said. "And I know just the way."

"And what's that? Some kind of epic training montage between the two of us!? If it is, can we use 'Live to Win' by Paul Stanley as his montage song!?" Marcus asked with a grin.

"That is a great montage song, but no," Big G replied. "When I was injured a few hundred years ago, here in our main universe, I ended up getting virtually cut off from many worlds across the multiverse that were also under my domain. It would be great if he could check on some of those for us while I'm still recovering. I imagine some of them will have gone slightly off the rails, and he will be doing a fair bit of fighting. Others might be fine, but he can still learn skills or magic there that he can't from here."

"So I can go to worlds in other universes to get stronger?" Marcus asked excitedly. That was the Isekai Protagonist dream right there! 'Finally! He had been waiting his whole life for an opportunity like this!'

…Well, that and the day when he could officially debut as a Superhero himself. He was in DC as well, after all. There was no way he wouldn't become a Superhero too!

"Can I come out of the corner now, Father?" Gabriel pouted from the edge of the room.

"Fine, I need you to give Marcus one of your feathers anyway," Big G said to Gabriel.

Gabriel hopped out of the corner and cheered. "Yay!" She ran over towards Marcus and hugged him tightly. "My son will have one of my feathers as part of him forever! I'll be right back. I have to go to the moon real quick!"

Marcus did his best to ignore how weird the first half of that statement sounded… Actually, the second half was pretty weird too.

Gabriel vanished in a flash of light. Marcus massaged his aching muscles. His mom was really strong, and her enthusiastic hugs could hurt. As for why she had to go to the moon…it was so she could transform into her True Form. If she did that on Earth…people would notice due to her sheer size when she enters that form.

"I'm back!" In another flash of light, Gabriel reappeared inside the room. She was holding a white feather the size of her entire body!

"I'll take that." Big G waved his hand, and the oversized feather flew towards him. As it did so, he used some of his divine power to shrink it down to a smaller size. He took it in his hand and inspected it for a moment before passing it to Marcus. "Your mother is known as the messenger of Heaven for a reason. She has the ability to freely travel almost anywhere at will. That includes other universes."

"Yep! I love occasionally popping down to the underworld just to bother my best friend Serafall sometimes! She keeps having Ajuka put up stronger and stronger barriers to try and keep me out, but that'll never work!" Gabriel said with a mischievous grin.

Marcus held his mother's feather up to his chest, and it slipped inside of him. He felt a small spike of power as he did so. He also got a quick vision of his mother in her True Form. In his mind flashed the image of a Gigantic Being the size of a mountain with dozens of white wings and much more than two eyeballs…. A True Biblical Angel… He wasn't afraid though; that was his mother after all, and he loved her no matter which form she took.

He could admit that he did prefer her beautiful human form though… As did she and all the other Archangels.

There was a knock at the door that drew everyone's attention.

"Come in! It's open!" Gabriel called out cheerfully! She was so excited that her father was back, and her son had one of her feathers with him forever that she didn't even register what she said.

"Wait, mom! Grandpa is still here!" Marcus tried to remind her. He was too late though. The door opened, and Alfred walked in.

"Excuse me, Sir and Madam. We will be having breakfast soon. Will you be joining us?" Alfred asked Marcus and Gabriel. He then noticed that they weren't alone and that there was another older man wearing white toga-like robes in the room with them. "Oh, my apologies, I didn't see you there, Sir. Who might you be? And will you be joining us as well." Alfred asked politely. He didn't even seem to care that someone else had appeared in the mansion.

Big G laughed. "I would be delighted to have a meal after so long. It's nice to meet you, Alfred Pennyworth! I AM YAHWEH!"

"Oh..." Alfred's eyes promptly rolled back in his head, and he fainted…

Thankfully, Marcus ran forwards and caught the older butler so he didn't injure himself.

…

–Visitors–

"Superman, thank you for coming so soon. And you as well John. I see both of you have brought two guests I don't recognize though." Bruce said as he greeted his two friends just outside his mansion. 

There were two younger women behind Superman and the Martian Manhunter. One of them had blond hair and blue eyes and was looking around at everything curiously. The other girl would stand out in any crowd because she was bright green. The same green as John. The girl was obviously a martian then. Bruce figured she must be a relative of the Manhunter. Bruce wasn't sure who the blonde girl with Superman was though.

Superman coughed awkwardly. "Yes. Your call was so sudden that I didn't have anyone to watch her. She's only been on Earth a few days and isnt used to the place yet. This is my cousin Kara." 

"Hi?" Kara gave Bruce an awkward wave that had him raising an eyebrow at the girl.

"I wasn't aware there were other kryptonian survivors, but we can table that for later. More important matters have sprung up." Bruce replied curtly.

Superman was surprised about Bruce's dismissal of Kara. He had expected his friend to immediately go into detective mode and start questioning her. 

"And this is my niece M'gann." John introduced the green girl behind him. "Hello! I'm M'gann M'orzz but you can call me Megan. That's the Earth name I chose for myself. Because I'm on Earth now!" Megan said before turning to the kryptonian girl. "Isn't that so exciting!?" 

"I guess so?" Kara said questioningly. She'd hadn't been on Earth long enough to form a proper opinion about anything. All she knew was that she was a lot stronger now and had to be careful not to accidentally break everything in sight.

Superman and John, along with their two younger wards, followed Bruce inside his mansion. They were greeted by Alfred who was coming down the stairs. 

"M–master Bruce. Your other guests have just sat down for lunch and are waiting on you and Master Dick. It's best not to keep them waiting." Alfred said worriedly. 

"Is everything alright, Alfred. You look like you've seen a ghost or something." Bruce asked. No, that couldn't be right. Alfred had in fact seen real ghosts before and even those didn't freak him out this much! 

"Were you aware that your two guests became three?" Alfred asked in barely concealed trepidation.

Batman raised an eyebrow. "Three? I was not aware. Who is the third?" Bruce hoped it wasn't another Archangel…

"It's best if you see for yourself sir. I must go and get the meal… I hope he likes my cooking!" Alfred exclaimed as he walked hurriedly towards the kitchen.

Superman and John looked at each other in confusion. 

"Did some kind of big shot show up or something?" Kara asked. She wasn't aware of any important people on Earth yet, but her parents used to act like that when someone important from the Kryptonian government would drop by their home.

"How exciting! A celebrity!" Megan exclaimed. 

Superman tried to use his X-ray vision to peer into the dining room. "Ow!" He immediately closed his eyes in pain. All he saw was a bright searing light that actually hurt his eyes! That had never happened to him before. Superman could even stare directly into the Sun all day long!

The group hesitantly walked towards the dining room. 

Marcus was sitting with his mother and Grandfather at the dining table. Dick was there as well, but he couldn't stop staring at his grandfather in shock after learning his identity. Dick hadn't said any words for the past five minutes…

Marcus looked over when he saw the door opened. Bruce walked in and Marcus's own eyes widened when he saw who was with him! Superman and the Martian Manhunter! Along with Supergirl and Miss Martian too! Marcus wondered what they were all doing here? He was also doing his best to not run up to Superman and beg for an autograph… He could still introduce himself though.

"Hello, everyone. I'm Marcus Light. This is my mother and grandfather." His mother's wings were currently hidden away so she could properly sit in her chair. There was nothing distinguishing about either her or Big G beyond the fact that they were both wearing white togas at the moment. Marcus really needed to get them up to date on the latest fashion.

"Hello there, Marcus. I'm Superman!" The Man of Steel who was in full costume replied. He wasn't sure who Marcus was, but he clearly knew Bruce's alternate identity since he wasn't freaking out right now. Superman then introduced his three companions. 

Kara and Megan were doing their best to not stare so blatantly at Marcus. Megan had never seen such a perfect boy even on TV! Kara was staring at Marcus and for the first time she actually found herself thankful to be on Earth…

XXX

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