Awakening pt.2

Howard was lost. Actually lost.

He looked around and sighed as he realized his plan was a little off and he probably died with not a lot to recover from, especially meaning his brain was destroyed. It didn't mean it was game over or he was going to lose his memory or something, and he didn't have any side-effect to it all except he would end up in this space.

Dark, empty with his body just floating in nothingness until his brain fully regenerates. At first, Howard wanted to see if he would ever meet death but he never did here. Since after all, his consciousness or his soul must be somewhere until his body recovered. But nothing, it was literally nothing.

It wasn't that this place made him uncomfortable, in fact, it was the complete opposite, he liked being here. It cleared his head of everything, it made him feel warm and complete but it wasn't the time to relax after all, if Diana couldn't handle herself it would be hard for all of them to defeat Ares. And in the worst-case scenario, he escapes. So even now, he was extremely anxious.

This whole week had been filled with ups and downs and it was harder to decide if it wouldn't have been better if he had just stood on the sidelines and watched it all go down or was it for the best that he interfered with it all.

Most importantly there was a thing that had been bothering him since he met with Diana and the rest. A feeling of connection that was never there before, obviously he wasn't in love because the same feeling was also there when he interacted with Arthur.

And it wasn't even just about emotions, it felt real. The connection seemed tangible. As if he could touch it or control it in a way. Also, there was the fact that Ares couldn't manipulate him or take control of him. The guy regardless of how much of a piece of shit he was, Ares is still a god. A god from legends. And even someone of that status couldn't do anything to him.

Obviously, things were easy to see considering he had some knowledge of the mutant world. His powers weren't so simple as healing. But how come he never felt the way before. The conclusion to draw of it all was simple, he had some sort of powers like Charles Xavier or Jean Gray but the exact ability was hard to guess.

He had never moved things or bend spoons with his mind before, neither was he ever able to hear other people's thoughts or get in their head. All this time being alive and now finding the underlying powers he had within himself was frustrating considering he wanted to be the very best at what he was.

His powers could just be passive, like being able to sense emotions and protect his mind from external forces. Or it could be an active power as well. But regardless the power was a welcome one, as he wouldn't have to walk around wearing a condom in his head like Magneto to prevent his mind from getting raped.

"The trigger!" Howard exclaimed recounting what he had been doing for the last couple of days for the certain trigger of his powers. He had been in a war before and seen much worse, so the emotional disturbance wasn't the trigger at all. Maybe it was when he entered Themyscira, the coincidence of it all was a bit suspicious, to begin with, but how could entering an island filled with women result in gaining an ability. Clearly, Steve hadn't gained anything from the whole incident either.

Unknown to him, as he was going through all his thoughts, someone grabbed his shoulder from behind, making him jump a little.

Howard looked down at the familiar young face he had seen a couple of days before.

"What are you doing in my dreams?" Ray asked looking back at him with an innocent expression but his eyes couldn't hide that he was cautious.

"Your dreams?" Howard repeated as he realized something. The boy was able to speak into his mind before without any interference or to keep it short the kid was the first one with a mutant telepathic ability to ever interact with him.

But why was he here now? Was he the trigger? Ares had tried to mess with his mind before but failed but why was it different this time around with the kid? Did the butterfly effect cause a weird connection, after all his father was likely going to die without his interference?

"Are you going to answer me?" Ray asked again as Howard got his attention back on the kid.

"Would you believe me if I say I have no idea?" Howard shrugged but seeing the untrusting eyes, he scratched his head, "I always come to this 'space' once I die, before I can fully regenerate again."

"You're dead?" Ray asked.

"I know it's hard to believe for a kid like --" Howard stopped in the middle of his sentence as a small window opened in the middle of the space, showing what was going on outside in the real world. He could see the fighting between Diana and Ares. His brothers and Artemis struggling against the army of roid-up soldiers.

"I see... are you like me?" Ray asked, "Father told me that you had a lot of secrets so is this one of them."

"Sigh! I wish I could answer it but I really don't know." Howard said, "You said this was your dream right?"

"I can't come here and go as I please, but most of the time I unwillingly come here every time I fall asleep." Ray said, "But same as you I have no clue as to what this place really is."

"It's kinda weird seeing a child act like an adult, are you sure you aren't some sort of higher being disguised as my friend's son?" Howard joked but seeing no response he gave up, "So how can you do this? See the outside world I mean. I have been here a couple of times but I had no idea this was even an option."

"I don't know, I just knew I could do it from the beginning. I can see any place I want to see from here, make certain changes, speak into someone's mind freely without touching them."

"So it's like your own personal Cerebro but more powerful, huh?" Howard nodded trying to understand the whole thing, the whole connection part was still confusing mostly as to why he himself could be here if it was Ray's space, after all, he could enter this place even before the little guy was born but now wasn't the time to focus on it as he could see Diana and the rest getting their ass kicked, "So what changes are we talking about?"

Ray understood what he meant, as he flipped his hand and the cannon Ares threw back towards the tank just stopped, or more it was stopped in its path by an external force as it dropped back to the ground with no explosion whatsoever as if it was a dud.

Howard gulped at the ability the boy possessed as his ability was far superior to anything he had seen or heard of before, the boy could literally destroy the world in his sleep. 'Did I make a mistake saving someone that should've died?'

"Looks like you're coming back to life," Ray stated unaware of what was going on in Howard's mind, as he looked at the piece of brain matter from the floor moving on its own, growing by second.

"Sigh! I will deal with this next time but for now, I have a job to do." Howard turned around towards Ray again, "You said you can speak into someone's mind right?"