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Disclaimer Me Do: I own nothing you recognize. And most of what you don't recognize, I still don't own.
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Batman didn't have any expectations when he entered the mountain.
Wonder Woman had been in earlier and had completed her initial survey. Her report was actually rather optimistic, and it included the fact that she'd be training several of the children in using a sword.
Perhaps not incredibly applicable to heroics, but it could be a good bonding exercise for Player One and Aqualad.
Alchemist and Kid Flash were together in the recreation room, both sitting on the floor with various machine parts strewn around them when he silently walked in.
"-so these bolts should be the ones for the outer casing?" Both of them were hunched over the manual to whatever the final product was supposed to be.
A long tube, three large bearings that were likely supposed to go around it, perhaps two dozen thin black rods and a fairly large electric motor.
"What are you working on?" Though it didn't show on his face, it still amused Batman to watch someone, Alchemist in this case, jump when he surprised them.
"Hey Batman! There should be some pizza on the counter if you want some. Is there some pizza left?" The last part was said to the speedster, but he was too busy trying to assemble the machine case to pay attention.
There was, in fact, one slice left.
"Right, we're working on making a rod mill. I've got some ball bearings around here somewhere... Anyway, I need to powder some gemstones for a ritual spell." The boy pulled a freezer bag filled with green sand from seemingly nowhere to show to him.
"Are those... Emeralds?" They were not the shiny, polished precious jewels he was familiar with, but he'd been involved in breaking up a few smuggling rings that tried moving unrefined jewels a few times.
"Yep. Also made a batch of diamonds, rubies, sapphires, topaz and onyx." The four 'traditional' elemental colors, as well as black and white?
And he said he 'made' these?
Batman took a seat at the counter and grabbed the last slice of pizza.
He had questions now.
"So what is this ritual you're working on? How did you make the gemstones, and why do you need to grind them even smaller than that? I would assume with your abilities, turning them from grains to a powder should be rather simple." Trying to guess and assume with Alchemist had proven difficult in the past... But directly questioning him tended to be quite enlightening.
"Right, well, it's called a Demiplane Seed. Are you familiar with sub-space?" The caped crusader nodded. "Alright, think something like that except stable enough that a person can go into it and come out safe and sound."
Alchemist once more motioned towards the bag of rocks before slotting a part onto the mill.
"I need to, how did the book put it, invoke the elements to define the rules and properties of the personal reality I'll create. Typical stuff like earth, fire, water and air to create fertile land, set a temperature and create sunlight, specify the humidity or if there's a spring of pure water and make sure there's breathable air. That's the emerald, ruby, sapphire and topaz. The onyx and diamond are to, uh, soulbind it. Onyx has some mystical connection to death, diamonds with life and rebirth, together they... Right. Together they define the journey of the soul, and can be used to bind the demiplane to a specific individual. This way whenever I try to go back to my demiplane, I'm going back to -my- demiplane." Alchemist waved at Kid Flash who was tightening the nuts on one side of the mill.
"Kid Flash heard about what I was up to and wanted to see if I could make it work."
"And if you'd make me one!" The speedster finally spoke up.
Batman raised an eyebrow under the cowl. He'd been made aware that the boy vehemently denied the reality of magic. Something must have happened to change his mind.
"If it works I'd be happy to. I just need to break down these granules into a powder to mix with some resin to make the glyphs in the magic circle. And artificial gemstones are easy enough to make, it's just a tightly bundled pattern of the exact same thing over and over again. Heck, I could make rubies if I went and bought about thirty dollars in parts and got a bag of aluminum-oxide and chromium-oxide. Don't think I'm talking about making a full blown alternate reality, though." Alchemist shrugged and waved his hand vaguely. "Starting out, the demiplane is only about the size of a small janitors closet. You store some stuff in it and forget about it. Thing is, though, it's called a seed for a reason. Over time it'll grow, and if you can feed it magic it'll grow even faster. The biggest one I've read about so far was about one kilometer cubed, and that was controlled by some ancient dragon. He kept his hoard in there."
He fit a part of the casing against the motor and loosely secured one bolt to it.
"I did try to powder these, earlier. I think I just have a hard time picturing it, which, well, visualization is pretty important. I have to mix this stuff into resin, and I need it to be really, really fine. I'm not sure what I can do by hand is good enough, and this thing can be pretty useful even after I'm done with this project."
"Fascinating." As much as he meant that, Batman kept his voice neutral. "I hope you're not in the middle of anything critical, however."
He pulled a manila folder out from behind his cape while Alchemist snapped his greasy fingers and made his hands magically clean.
"I've finalized a lot of the details on your new identity. One thing I could not do, however, is create an identity for you that would bypass the education system." Alchemist took the folder from his hands and began reading through it.
"Well, that sucks. 'Tracy Nicholas Whittaker'... Alright. Aged sixteen." No complaints, which was good. He'd spent a significant amount of time deciding on a name.
"Indeed. You're scheduled to take the test for your General Education Development certification at Gotham University in one hour." It was not exactly ideal, but the Board of Education didn't do private tests and this was the earliest one available after 'Tracy' had become a legal person.
"Ah, alright the..." Alchemist froze in the middle of what he was going to say when Batman's words fully processed. "...Hey Kid Flash? If you finish putting this together while I'm out, I'll cook whatever you want. Sound good?"
He got a greasy thumbs up in response.
"Awesome. Thanks. I need to go and cram four years of history into twenty minutes!" Unlike what he normally did, Alchemist didn't raise his hand or snap his fingers. He just disappeared.
Batman allowed himself a small grin.
How Alchemist handled this would offer a significant amount of insight into his character.
"You only want me for my body!"
