Chapter 2

Within the first week of Ethan having been brought into the world of DC he has decided that his experiences can be summed up so far in one word. Boring.

Honestly, you would think that living in a world full of superheroes that there would be more exciting things happening. Sure, if you looked on the news, there would be an occasional mention here or there, but since superpowers have long since become the norm, everyone treats them as such. News anchors would casually mention the Flash saving someone from a burning building or Superman taking down a group of bank robbers. Nothing seems to phase anyone about any of this. And that carefree attitude has quickly started to rub off on Ethan. And he hates it.

"Then again, I guess that has to do with where I am too." The once again 16-year-old couldn't help muttering to himself. He was thinking back to how his first day was.

Ethan had been out of his mind excited and worried, looking through the computer in his late family's apartment. He had been looking through news article after news article to get as much information as possible to build a basic timeline of his surroundings. Great news; Ethan is only a year after the official founding of the Justice League. Bad news; he is living in Gotham.

Gotham itself is both a really good and really bad place for him to start his new life. On the one hand, Gotham is filled with various gangs capable of actually beating up and driving off meta-humans with their brutality. On the other hand, highly ruthless gangsters walked up and down the street and corrupt cops lingered around every corner just waiting to bust someone to increase the departments finances on trumped up charges. So there was no way to make decent money without doing something illegal, which would, in turn, likely attract Batman to deliver a thrashing upon you. Also it's in Jersey.

Life is pain in Gotham.

Thinking to himself, he had wasted so much time looking up everything when in reality all he needed to do was wait.

-Flashback-

As soon as Ethan put his head onto his pillow, it was off to dreamland. After spending all day, from 7 AM till 11 PM, staring at a computer screen and reading boring articles to find out anything interesting to help in this new life, he was exhausted.

Whatever he had expected to happen, standing in a white expanse by himself was not it. Looking around, trying to make heads or tails on what was going on, he suddenly heard a monotonous voice speak. "Beginning memory assimilation…."

A wave of memories slammed into him. Ethan was experiencing the worst migraine he had ever had the displeasure of going through, saying something. Perhaps whatever it was that had spoken decided to take pity on him.

"Host in distress. Activating inherent skills [Pain Tolerance]."

Feeling something not too dissimilar to the ear ringing disorientation of a flashbang, how the teen knew what that sounded like he couldn't say. Ethan was slowly feeling the pain settle down to an uncomfortable crawl.

10 minutes. That is how long the young Lambert had to endure the feeling of his mind being squished and compressed, new foreign memories surging to the forefront before disappearing without any trace. That is how long he suffered until whatever spoke decided that it would pity him.

"Host memory assimilation coming to a close. Stage 1 was successful. Disengaging automated skill activation." The automated voice had stated, bringing Ethan's pain to an end.

Ethan began the wobbly effort of trying to stand back up after his brain was being melted like a cheese in an oven. If anyone had seen him, they would have sworn that he was blackout drunk with how often he fell over nothing. Ethan was just glad that he could hear his stifled groan instead of near-endless ringing throughout the entire thing.

-Flashback End-

A shiver ran up Ethan's spine just remembering that encounter… And going through the same thing another 6 times.

Yeah, he had to go through that same pain every night for a whole week. Each time he fell asleep, he would return to that endless blankness. Each night experience a wave of newness that was both familiar yet completely alien. Each night taking longer to get any rest just thinking on what was awaiting him.

Until he became whole.

This morning he had woken up with all the memories of the 16-year-old boy, Ethan Lambert. An orphaned boy for the last month, just after his final exams, during a gang war between the Penguin and Black Mask over territory. He has been living off a government stipend created solely for Gotham as the vast number of orphans left in the wake of the City of Crime demanded some form of appeasement.

Why would the government so readily create a law to give children money? The child in question has to be older than 13 as studies have shown they would never be adopted anyway and could live by themselves, especially in this city where the age of maturity seems to be 9.

Now, doesn't that seem to be nice? Think again. There was a nice little part in the fine print that made it so if signed by the recipient, they would be incapable of legally suing any of the gangs involved for reparations. Ever.

Yeah, his former self had been so distraught that he hadn't noticed. Didn't even read it. He was all too grateful to accept the government's help during his moments of weakness after his parents' death.

"At least this lasts until I turn 21." Ethan said to himself, trying to see the bright side.

Right now, he is living off of instant ramen, cereal, sandwiches, and the occasional store-bought pasta for some change. He is not all that bad and saves what little he has.

Former-Ethan had made sure to only use the money the government had given him for his rent and then use less than $100.00 for each month to slowly save up what was leftover. Thankfully starting an investment plan early. With it he could buy up some shares in some companies that Ethan noticed existed in this world as well during his week of researching.

The young boy could only mentally groan again thinking on his predicament. He had tried everything he could think of to see if he had any powers. Jumping off high things only resulted in getting the wind knocked out of him. Punched the wall very nearly broke his hand. Testing for super speed he ran around a lot to no affect. Everything he tried resulted in nothing.

That was until the Sunday morning wear Ethan was surprised to not be feeling any mind breaking migraines.

"Merging of Host psyche successful. Initiating system transference… complete. Game Designer System now operational. Usage dictated by electronics owned by Host."

Good news is that he is not just an average civilian. Being a nobody in DC is a death sentence. With beings, good and bad, that can only be described as 'Gods Among Man' normality just isn't fair. Still it is hardly Overpowered.

The Game Designer System had changed to accommodate the universal laws of the DC Universe by making Ethan Lambert a meta-human. It has only given him the ability to instinctively code and program. He could view other available options on any computer, but they were mostly greyed out until he had met specific requirements. Only one problem.

He has no idea what he has to do!

"I mean, I know that the whole purpose for this is to make games, but come on! How can I make a game with this!" Ethan was lamenting.

How the System works is simple. Ethan gets 1 point to be redeemed in his Game Shop, he had a good laugh at the irony of that name, from every $200 purchased by his customers or 1 point for every 2000 hours played. Not terrible. Problem is that he only gets 1000 points to start with, and 500 were used during the System tutorial.

Yes. Tutorial.

That seems to be what the system has regarded Ethan's last week long suffering. No explanation of how his powers work. No Help icon of any sort where he could independently research. Nothing.

All he got was 16 years of memories shoved into his skull, which he can't even remember. Knowledge that he somehow has a skill and knows how to code. That. Is. It!

Life just isn't fair.