writingwhatiwanttoread

[writingwhatiwanttoread]

Help! I've Landed in a FanFiction (Chapter 3)

Pairing: fem!OC x Justice League

Genre: OC insert, Soulmate AU, Isekai, Reverse Harem

Characters: OC, Bruce Wayne, Clark Kent, Hal Jordan, Diana Prince, Barry Allen, Dick Grayson, Tim Drake, Jason Todd, Damian Wayne, Alfred Pennyworth, Cassandra Cain, Barbara Gordon, John Constantine, and other DC characters as the story progresses

Warnings: all warnings not tagged, suicidal ideation, domestic violence, general violence and dark, 18+ themes, read at your own risk

Summary: Katie Smith wakes up in a new world, one out of comic books and ridiculously cheesy tropes. All she wants to do is find her way back home, but no one is helping her. Worst of all, they claim to be her soulmates. Surely it's all dream. How can she make herself wake up?

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3 (This One)

Chapter 3: Why Couldn't It Have Been Harry Potter?

Katie was kind of tired of waking up places that were (1) not her bed and (2) around weird men. She came to a bit violently--her chest was aching like she got punched (a sensation she unfortunately knew well) and she felt disoriented and confused. Three pairs of concerned eyes stared back at her.

"Gandalf!" She smiled at the staffed black and red boy-man above her. The other two snickered.

“Uh, what?”

Katie sat up gingerly. She was still on the roof, so she couldn’t have been out long. She stood up, grabbing Gandalf’s outstretched hand, and wobbled a bit.

“Thank god I’m not with that bald fu—freak anymore. He was seriously annoying.” She said cheerfully, looking over the side of the building with a detached amusement. She stepped closer . Is it like Inception? Can I just walk off and wake up?

“Uh, lady, I would back up if I were you.” The flying one hovered behind her. She didn’t look at him, but tipped forward. Quick as lightning, the goggled kid pulled her back. The three were gaping at her, each face grim and worried.

She rolled her eyes.

“So, is this where you give me a quest and send me on my way to a volcano.”

“I’m not Gandalf.”

“You have a staff,” she pointed out.

“Shesgotapoint.”

“Impulse.”

“C’mon Rob, it’s a compliment.”

Gandalf ignored his friends.

“My name is Red Robin and I…”

She laughed, interrupting him. “Like the burger chain? Kid, that’s worse.”

He looked politely confused. He continued. “I’m Red Robin. That’s Superboy, and this is Impulse. We are part of Young Justice.”

“…you definitely got the young part down.” Katie muttered under her breath.

He pitched his voice lower, as if he were trying to handle her carefully. “I take it you haven’t heard of us. Or maybe you’re confused. Did Luthor hit your head at all?” He reached to touch her, presumably looking for bumps, but Katie flinched and stepped back.

The boy stilled, hands lifted slowly. His voice was soft. “Ok, we don’t have to do that right now. I don’t want to rush you, and I promise I’d do this differently if we had more time, but Luthor isn’t going to let his office blowing up stop him from coming after us. We need to go and get somewhere secure.” He said a code into the earpiece he was wearing and gave Katie a smile.

There was an awkward silence as Katie hugged herself and the three cosplayers(?) heroes (?) on the roof whispered to each other. Every time she stepped close to the edge of the roof, one of them would step in front of her, herding her back to the middle of the roof. About ten minutes passed until a sleek, black plane hovered above them. The engine made the roof uncomfortably warm and she couldn’t hear the instructions Gandalf Red Robin shoulder over the wind and machine noises. A rope ladder descended, and they pushed her towards it. A strong hand on her back supported her as she climbed up slowly. Finally, two sets of hands pulled her up into the plane, and she stumbled before eventually finding her balance.

The blue bird dude and red helmeted guy were standing next to each other. There was a young boy in a costume (yeah, that was definitely a Robin from what she could remember) behind them, glaring at her. Red Robin and the other two followed her and finally, the rope was pulled up and the door was closed and the silence felt oppressive.

“Hello.” The blue bird guy stepped forward. “I’m Nightwing. This is the Red Hood and behind him is Robin.” The guy spoke cheerfully, but it seemed strained. “Red Robin mentioned you might have a concussion? Can you tell us your name?”

“Katie.” She said distractedly, in awe of the modern tech surrounding her. “Katherine to bald, creepy guys though.” She grinned as she looked at the group. They stared back at her.

“Tough crowd.” She said lightly. Looking around she directed her next question to the Red Robin kid. “Y’all have problems with women or something, kid? Is there a glass ceiling even in the hero community? Unless Darth Vader over there is actually a girl.”

The red helmeted guy let out a mechanical scoff and undid his head gear. He was wearing a domino mask underneath and frowning.

“Lady, our strongest hero is a woman.”

“Hood is Wonder Woman’s biggest fan,” teased Nightbird. “He’s sensitive.”

Hood slapped him hard on the back of his head.

The baby Robin stepped forward. “What are your intentions here, imposter?”

Katie backed up as the boy brandished a sword. “They let you play with knives?!” She ignored his sputtered outrage as she directed her next question to the tall blue guy. He seemed like the leader of the whole operation. She pushed up her glasses which were slipping down her nose.

“Nightbird, right? Thanks for getting me away from that Luthor guy, I really appreciate it, but I should be getting home soon.”

He looked concerned, stepping towards her, hands outstretched just like Red Robin. She backed away. “Hands off, handsy. What’s with you people and touching my head?”

“Sorry, ma’am. We’re worried you may be hurt.” Nightbird sounded concerned.

“Ma’am was my mother.” She joked. Nightbird smiled.

“Ok, sorry Katie.” She inclined her head.

“Go ahead, feel away I guess.” She tried not to cringe as he gently checked the back of her head for wounds. He grabbed some cream and put it on the bruising around her eye and cheek.

“Did Luthor hit you? You must have been with him a while, huh? This bruising looks to be a week or so old.”

“Um. Sure, let’s go with that.” She glanced around the plane in awe missing the looks the boys gave each other.

“Do you know what he wanted?” Red Robin asked. Katie shrugged.

“Some weird monologue about universes and soul marks and how it was a shame someone so ugly and stupid like me could be “chosen” or something like that. I wasn’t paying too much attention. His bald head was blinding me.” She barked out a laugh, but again, no one joined her.

“This is honestly the strangest dream I’ve ever had. You’d think if I were dreaming I’d at least have come up with Hogwarts or something. I recognize like just one and a half of you.”

“Oh come on, you buffoons don’t seriously believe this…this…woman. That mark probably isn’t even real.” Baby Robin said sullenly. Katie kept herself from cooing at the little guy.

“Robin, right? I do recognize you. Batman’s partner? I always thought he was the coolest.”

Robin preened. “I guess she’s okay.”

“You know of Batman?” Red Robin guided her to a seat. Everyone seemed interested in her answer. She shrugged.

“Batman. Iron Man. Superman. Spider-Man? Sure. I mean, I didn’t ever read the comics but my…um…boyfriend is super interested in them.”

“Comic books?” Nightbird kneeled down and handed her a bottle of water. “You think you’re in a dream?”

“Oh, I KNOW this is,” Katie said pleasantly. “I went to sleep in bed and woke up trapped by this insane lunatic in desperate need of a wig. I have a weird tattoo that wasn’t there yesterday. I’m meeting people who are naming themselves after birds? I’m just trying to figure out how to get out of it.”

The plane was silent.

“I know! Listen,” she turned towards the baby, “Give me your sword. A clean stab right through the heart should do it.”

“What the fuck?” The Hood guy whispered.

“Every time you die in a dream, you wake up, right? C’mon on. Help a lady out.” She batted her eyelashes but everyone here seemed to have zero sense of humor. It was definitely an indictment of her imagination. She was fucking hilarious. Her dream people should have enjoyed it.

Red Robin kneeled by Nightbird. “Do you know the rules about dreams?”

“That if you’re dreaming about children playing hero in a really fancy technologically advanced plane, you might be having a mental breakdown?”

He smiled slightly. “In dreams, it’s impossible to read or tell time or count your fingers. Can you tell me what time it is?” He handed her a watch.

“…Well, that proves nothing. How do I know you didn’t make that up?”

The Hood guy pinched her hard on her arm.

“OUCH. Shit. That really hurt.” Katie rubbed her shoulder.

“We would like to take you to a secure location, Katie. Just so we can get an idea of what’s happening. Maybe let you sleep and eat a bit. Talk to you about what our next steps will be.” Nightbird said softly.

“So you’re kidnapping me. Again.” Her voice was dry. “You know, if this had been Harry Potter, Dumbledore would have let me do the sword thing.” She crossed her arms and leaned back in her seat closing her eyes. “Fine. Take me to your secret lair. I just hope Bruce Wayne isn’t really a bat in this dream. I always thought it would be cool to meet a billionaire.” She yawned and fell asleep before she could register the shock on her companions faces.

“Well, this is going to be even more of a shit show than we thought.” Hood said quietly, the rest of the plane nodding silently.

[writingwhatiwanttoread]

Help! I've Landed in a FanFiction (Chapter 2)

Pairing: fem!OC x Justice League

Genre: OC insert, Soulmate AU, Isekai, Reverse Harem

Characters: OC, Bruce Wayne, Clark Kent, Hal Jordan, Diana Prince, Barry Allen, Dick Grayson, Tim Drake, Jason Todd, Damian Wayne, Alfred Pennyworth, Cassandra Cain, Barbara Gordon, John Constantine, and other DC characters as the story progresses

Warnings: all warnings not tagged, suicidal ideation, domestic violence, general violence and dark, 18+ themes, read at your own risk

Summary: Katie Smith wakes up in a new world, one out of comic books and ridiculously cheesy tropes. All she wants to do is find her way back home, but no one is helping her. Worst of all, they claim to be her soulmates. Surely it's all dream. How can she make herself wake up?

Chapter 1

Chapter 2 (This One)

Chapter 2: Is it Called Kidnapping When You're Not a Kid?

The alarm screamed in a very annoying way, and Katie wanted to cover her ears but she was still tied to the damn chair. Luthor (sure, whatever, she didn't have a better thing to call the made-up villain in her obviously confused mind) dragged her chair to the middle of the room, practically tipping her over. He grabbed some duct tape off his desk, and wrapped it around her head three times. She could almost taste the glue and it muffled her so much that she barely heard the groan as she felt it stuck to the back of her hair. It would be a pain to get off. (Why was she even considering it? She just needed to wake up. Warm bath and then maybe not sleeping again for like, two weeks.)

She felt cold metal pressed against her head and realized, a little delayed, that it was a gun. Isn't that an idea? She saw a movie once where a character killed themselves in a dream and returned to the real world. She tilted her head against the barrel, a little bit, considering. She couldn't see Luthor's face, but as he pressed in harder, she wondered what he thought.

The room was thick was anticipation. He had stopped his monologuing and the only thing Katie could hear besides her heavy breathing was the persistent wailing of the alarm.

About ten minutes later, the large office doors flew open. Several bodies rushed in, Katie taken by the bright colors. She really was the best at imagination, she thought, a little smugly. When she was younger, she had wanted to be a writer, and before Matt firmly shot down that idea ("Pretty much a waste of your time, babe, isn't it?"), she always thought she could come up with a pretty good story. Maybe when all this was over, she could figure out how to write it all down.

The room was chaotic until it wasn't. Whether this was because they saw the gun to her head or were just being cautious of the man behind her, everyone stopped suddenly. Two tall figures (most likely male?) stood in front of the rest of the group. One was wearing a black suit with a blue bird and the other wearing a red helmet. Behind them was a young man in a red and black suit, and a smaller boy? wearing what she finally recognized as a Robin(?) suit. All of them had their faces covered in some sort of mask. There were three others behind them---a young man wearing a leather jacket with spikes, a smaller figure in red and white with goggles, and a young woman with blonde hair and a W on her costume. Katie's eyes were wide as she took in the cosplayers in front of her. She figured if Lex was a villain, maybe these guys were heroes and had no idea why her brain made them up. She knew only a few characters from comics---Batman, Superman, and Lex Luthor. Wonder Woman was a comic book character, right? The Joker? Spider Man. Um...Captain America? And some guy with a burlap sack on his head that Matt always said was his favorite. Who else? Maybe Archie and Jughead would show up soon.

"Lex." The man in blue said sternly.

"Ah, Nightwing. Forgive me for my disappointment, but this invitation was not for you or the rest of the...freaks with you." Katie watched as the boy in the jacket flinched slightly. His face didn't change though---all of them were staring with a mix of stoicism and anger.

"Well," the Nightguy said pleasantly, dangerously, "we received it anyway. I'm afraid those you did mean it for are out of contact right now." His eyes flicked to Katie and back to Luthor.

The man with a red helmet rested his hand on the gun attached to his hip. His voice came out gravelly and deep, almost machine like. "What do you want, Luthor?"

Katie felt the gun press against her temple harder. No one moved an inch but she felt several pairs of eyes land on her. She looked back curiously.

There was a gasp behind Helmet Head and Nightguy, coming from the Red and Black dude. He whispered something Katie couldn't hear.

Nightguy and Red Helmet stiffened a bit. Katie could hear the sneer in her captor's voice. "As you can see," he trailed his fingers down her chest slowly, stopping at the top of her bra, "this isn't a conversation for you."

Red and Black guy stepped forward, sounding bored for some reason. "It looks like this isn't a conversation for you, either, Lex. The League is off world right now. Don't you think this would mean a while lot more if you played this game with them?" He twirled the large staff in his hand. (Gandalf! That was a comic book character, right? Katie patted herself on the back for knowing something.) He then turned his back to them, which Katie thought was kind of stupid. "Not our circus, not our monkeys, right, guys? We've got bigger things to worry about." The room was still for a moment, until the man in the red helmet shrugged. "Sure, Red. What do you say, Big Bird?"

The Nightguy nodded sharply, never taking his eyes off Katie. "If you say so. We'll pass on your message, Lex." He twirled his finger in the air, some sort of nonverbal wrap it up and turned around and just fucking walked out. Every single one of them.

Katie, who was getting frustrated with the duct tape wrapped around her face, must have managed to show enough confusion in her eyes that even the bald villain seemed to pity her. He put away his gun and scoffed, ripping the tape from her face and around her hair without any warning. She yelped and tears sprung to her eyes. Several strands were tugged out with the violent ungagging and she couldn't help but whine. Luthor laughed meanly. "Smarter than they look. I don't fully believe it, but I'll find out if they were lying soon, I gather. Go to sleep, darling. We'll try again later." The last thing she felt was a prick in her neck.

----

Katie woke up in a different room than her first cell, and definitely not in Luthor's office. It was about the size of a walk-in closet and carpeted. The door was locked, but there was a small pallet with a thin blanket and a bucket in the corner. A plate with a peanut butter sandwich and a small cup with water was on a side table. She took a couple of bites and downed the water and then sat on the pallet. She had been dressed in a pair of sweatpants and large black shirt, and she was determined not to think about who changed her.

She redid her ponytail and cleaned her glasses with her shirt, and then scooted back against the wall. Slowly, she started thumping her head against it, wondering how hard she'd need to hit it to wake up. Just before she could bang it harder, the handle on the locked door jiggled. Katie made herself smaller on the pallet, scooting further into the corner of the room. She was not ready for another round, even if it was all in her head.

The door opened slowly. But instead of Luthor, it was the small one she saw earlier, with goggles.

"AwesomeIknewyouwouldbehereItoldRedRobinthatIwouldfindyoufirstIcan'tbelieveitareyouok?" The words rushed out and Katie had a hard time keeping up. The kid looked at her, bouncing up and down from foot to foot.

"Um. Yes?" She hadn't caught the question, really, but hoped it was the right answer. Judging by his smile, it was.

"GreatI'mgoingtopickyouupnowandwearegoingtogetoutofherebeforetheplacegoesboomSuperboydecidedhe'ddothehonorsthistimetakethatLex!"

And before Katie could decode any of that, the guy grabbed her hand, tossed her on his back (despite how much bigger she was than him) and flew? ran? teleported? away. Katie actually didn't know what was happening because one moment she was in the weird closet and the next she was on top of a skyscraper watching a building across from her blow up. Her stomach lurched and she threw up.

"Impulse, did you even warn her?" Katie wiped her mouth with the bottom of her shirt and looked up. The young man in red and black was shaking his head in exasperation, while the other young man in the leather jacket was flying (!) next to him. Red stepped forward, his hand extended.

"Sorry about that, we had to work fast. I'm Red Robin. What's..." But Katie didn't hear the next thing because at that moment the tattoo on her chest flared in pain and she sunk to the ground. All she heard before she fainted were the shouts of surprise around her.

[writingwhatiwanttoread]

Help! I've Landed in a Fanfiction

Pairing: fem!OC x Justice League

Genre: OC insert, Soulmate AU, Isekai, Reverse Harem

Characters: OC, Bruce Wayne, Clark Kent, Hal Jordan, Diana Prince, Barry Allen, Dick Grayson, Tim Drake, Jason Todd, Damian Wayne, Alfred Pennyworth, Cassandra Cain, Barbara Gordon, John Constantine, and other DC characters as the story progresses

Warnings: all warnings not tagged, suicidal ideation, domestic violence, general violence and dark, 18+ themes, read at your own risk

Summary: Katie Smith wakes up in a new world, one out of comic books and ridiculously cheesy tropes. All she wants to do is find her way back home, but no one is helping her. Worst of all, they claim to be her soulmates. Surely it's all dream. How can she make herself wake up?

Chapter 1 (This One)

Chapter 2

Chapter One: This Bald Guy is Seriously Creepy

Katie woke up sore and freezing. The soreness was nothing new, of course, but instead of her weighted blanket and soft mattress, the floor under her was hard and chilly. Goosebumps trailed up and down her arms. Groaning, she sat up, keeping her eyes closed to stave off the headache that was forming at her temple. God, I feel so hungover. Given that Katie hadn't touched alcohol since college, however, she shook that thought from her head.

Opening her eyes, she found herself in a small, empty room. There was a large mirror in front of her, spanning the length of the wall. The other three walls were made of cinder block, and she didn't see a door. It looked like a bastardized version of a police holding cell (she had bailed Matt out enough to know that space intimately), but there was no furniture. Shakily getting to her feet, she examined herself in the mirror.

Her hair was messy, and her pajama shorts did nothing to hide the cellulite on her thighs or the outline of her stomach. She cringed as she noticed her plain gray shirt riding up. She pulled it down and stepped closer to the mirror. Her black eye was fading (small mercies) but the wrinkles around her eyes didn't do anything to make her feel better about herself. Matthew would've commented on her ability to make herself look unattractive even in her sleep, and she felt a strong wave of shame come over her. She was about to turn away from the strange mirror when a shock of color visible on her shoulder stopped her. She pulled down her collar to investigate.

A large circle of dark green vines looked to be tattooed on her left shoulder, trailing from her collar bone to above her heart. In the middle were five smaller intersecting circles, golden yellow and almost sparkling. There was a small outline of a dove in the middle, in the same color green as the vines. She was mesmerized. It almost seemed to throb with her heartbeat. She was about to touch it when she shook herself out of her trance. Where was she?

An intercom buzzed overhead. Katie looked up but didn't see a speaker anywhere. She tried not to flinch. A deep, rich voice filled the space.

"I've been waiting all day for you to wake up, my dear. Unfortunately, I can't be there right now to give you a proper welcome."

Katie counted to ten in her head. She heard somewhere that you could get out of dreams that way and was anxious to try it. The voice sounded friendly, but in a dangerous way. She was well-acquainted with that tone and wondered why her brain would dredge it up here, especially since this week Matthew would be gone on a work trip and she was relatively safe. When nothing happened, Katie cleared her throat awkwardly.

"Um. I. I am confused?" She said timidly, lilting her voice into a question at the end.

"Of course, my rules are simple." The voice ignored Katie. She wondered it it was a recording. "Follow my directions and get privileges. Disobey and you will be more uncomfortable than you find yourself now."

"Where am I?"

The lights plunged into darkness and a screen was projected onto the mirror. A tall man in a bespoke suit appeared on the screen. He was sitting behind a desk, holding a scotch in one hand and tapping his other hand on his desktop as if he were already bored with the conversation. He was bald, but looked to be around Katie's age, if not a little older.

"There you are. I imagine you are confused but I don't have the time to explain everything. Rest assured, you will want to listen to me and listen closely. You are under my jurisdiction right now. You will do nothing without my permission. You will eat when I say, sleep when I say, and shit when I say."

"This has got to be a dream." Katie said absently, touching the mirror, wondering at her own imagination. It was the most vivid thing she had ever experienced.

"Are you listening to me?" The man cleared his throat, annoyed.

"Who are you?" Katie tilted her head.

He rolled his eyes. "You can call me Sir."

Katie snorted.

"You find that funny?"

"I mean, that's such a cheesy line. You realize that right?" Katie was still walking around the small cell, trying to find the door with her fingers.

"Look at me." Katie did flinch here, and cursed her dream-self for having the same reaction to a stern dream-voice as she did to a stern-real-world voice.

"I do not have time for this. All you need to know is I brought you here and I can keep you here."

"Mkay. You might want to chill on the villain talk. You sound like a movie character. I'm not calling you Sir, by the way." That's the thing about dreams, Katie thought. Bravery was a lot easier when everything was fake.

"I'll give you time to rethink that then." With that the video popped off and the room was filled with darkness. Katie couldn't see her hand in front of her face, and after bumping into the wall, she decided to sit down. She squeezed her eyes tightly and tried to transport herself to a dream-cabin or dream-beach. Surely she could imagine Hawaii. Instead of feeling the warm sand between her toes, however, all she felt was cold. It was like the room dipped even lower in temperature. She shivered and huddled in a corner. The darkness was oppressive--the silence was too. Her stomach grumbled, and she held it, eventually curling into a ball. She couldn't gauge the time but it felt like hours. She fell into a restless sleep, her last thought wondering if sleeping in a dream was going to send her into an Inception like trance. She laughed to herself, and hoped when she woke up she could forget everything and take a warm bath.

----

Katie woke up, a little warmer, still hungry, and unfortunately not back in her bedroom. She was no longer in the weird cell, but instead tied to a chair. Her gray shirt had been removed, leaving her in her bra and pajama shorts. Her wrists ached with the bindings and her glasses were slipping down her nose. She tried to push them up with her shoulder but couldn't move much.

She was in a large office. There was a window that spanned the floor to the ceiling and she could tell that she was high up, as the only thing visible was clouds and the tops of buildings.

A clearing of a throat let her know she wasn't alone. Katie groaned.

"You again?" The bald man looked affronted.

She felt at her bindings, again surprised that everything was so vivid. It really hurt and she had never thought being asleep could feel so real. She was rethinking her initial hypothesis. Hadn't recovered coma patients talked about feeling sensations in their unconsciousness?

"I realize I was remiss in not introducing myself the other day. So let's start over. Your name is?"

Katie looked incredulously at the man. "Katherine." She spit out.

"Katherine." He sneered. "I am Lex Luthor," he said self-importantly.

Ok then, back to her original hypothesis. Definitely a dream. Katie barked out a laugh.

"Yeah, right. And I'm Batman." She growled mockingly. "Honestly."

The man stepped closer. It's not like Katie was unaware of the comic books and movies, but she had never had time to really dive in. She was too busy managing Matt's schedule and making sure everything was perfect at home. The last time Katie picked up one of his collectibles to dust, she found herself with a lot more than a black eye. It wasn't really something she was interested in anymore. But she knew of Lex Luthor. He kind of looked like she would have imagined him looking, which made sense she guessed, if her brain was making it all up.

He trailed his fingers on her shoulder, tracing the weird design on her chest from her collarbone to just above her bra. She shivered in revulsion but the way she was tied to the chair didn't allow her much movement.

"Interesting." He hummed. "Have you heard of me?"

She looked him in the eyes and then looked away quickly as he smirked at her. "I mean, yeah? Comic book character, Lex Luthor. Superman's nemesis, right? I mean, I've never really read them or anything, but I saw Smallville once."

He was staring at her like a bug under a microscope. "Mm. What else do you know about me?"

Katie quirked an eyebrow. "I am confused."

"I expected that. You don't seem like a particularly bright woman. Definitely plain looking, overweight, extremely unremarkable. It's fascinating, isn't it?"

It's not like any of that was something Katie didn't think about herself daily, but she still felt a bit betrayed by her brain.

"What is?" She bit out.

"That you were chosen out of all the people in your world. That you were the one the whole universe decided upon. It's a shame. I'm sure there were so many more worthy than you."

"What are you talking about?"

"You know me as a character, darling? Tell me. How many people lived in your world?"

"My world? What are you talking about?"

"The global population. Try to keep up."

Katie was confused at what that could mean or why he was asking. She decided to play along since last time ended with her in a cold cell for hours.

"I don't know. Over 7 billion."

"Over 7 billion." He purred, practically petting the weird tattoo on her chest. "How does it feel to know that 7 billion people were sacrificed for the unimpressive specimen you are?"

Katie scrunched her nose. The man cosplaying as Lex Luthor in her mind laughed. "Do you know what this is?" He tapped the tattoo. She stayed silent.

"No. You wouldn't, would you? You don't know much. A world where the greatest minds are comic book characters. Where soul marks don't exist." Soul marks?, Katie mouthed to herself. "I almost feel sorry for you, honey. But at the end of the day, it doesn't really matter, does it? You're here for one reason and one reason only."

He ran his fingers through her messy hair. An alarm sounded in the distance.

"Let the games begin."