Super powered

"Dark and Light Layers and Clues"

The Watchtower

An understanding is the limit of a conceptualization. To understand something is to have conceptualized it to a given measure. The most difficult, if truly possible, is the understanding of another human being. Can we ever really know someone else? For that matter, can we know at all times what forces and influences drive ourselves?

The ancient philosophers advised, Know Thyself. Easier said than done. We are the sum of countless experiences, small and large, good and bad, meaningful and trivial. The present is constantly slipping into the past, adding to those experiences, reshaping and refining us. The future never comes, always tantalizing just ahead of us.

Knowing thyself completely is an illusion. The best we can hope for is a basic understanding of our nature, our tendencies. Even the most disciplined mind is still subject to the unconscious. Feelings and thoughts can be pushed down, locked away, yet they always have a habit of finding their way to the surface again.

Batman had been in the training room for almost an hour. Whatever potential villain he was practicing for, the drones stood no chance. Jonn has been monitoring him, but says nothing. The door opens to the observation area and Diana steps inside. He rarely works out on the station, so she wants to see him train. As a warrior herself, she is always interested in any edge a friend or foe might have. Her curiosity about Bruce also has brings her here. He seems even more elusive than usual lately.

There was a hush as the computer reset itself at a higher, more challenging setting. He stands silently waiting, not moving a muscle. He's been pushing himself hard, seemingly harder every day. Others had noticed, but most are afraid to say anything. The computer makes the final calculations and a wave of drones' attacks him. He's seemingly ready for anything. Dodging its first volley, he counter attacks, brutally taking out one drone after another. With cat like reflexes he sidesteps other attack effortlessly. There is no wasted motion in any of it.

He senses others are watching him train, but gives no thought to whether they are a man, a woman, a Martian or alien. They don't exist in here, only the program, and the test of his skills matters. He designed this program himself; giving it a learning curve so it will push him further the longer he runs it. At some point it should logically find a way to defeat him, but it hasn't so far. Only Batman would design a program that will constantly seek new and better ways to hurt and defeat him.

The mind has been compared to a sophisticated computer. Some, taking a strictly behavioral view would say that the brain is simple a sophisticated difference engine, constantly making calculations and choices. Certainly Batman's mind is renown for its intellectual skills. He is legendary for his ability to multitask and be five steps ahead of just about everyone. He has trained his mental abilities for years honing them like a knife-edge. Yet, with all that training and discipline, the comparison always falls short somehow.

Diana watches with some admiration. There is no lost or wasted movement, as he counters each new threat the computer comes up with. Jonn watches, saying nothing, his focus on monitoring the bio-readings of Batman's stress level. They continue to climb as he pushes himself further and further. Jonn is concerned to put it mildly. He knows Batman and can sense the dark feelings swirling just below the surface within him. He has tried reaching out to him before, just as Diana has, but was always rebuffed. This time it seems Batman is on a mission to push himself beyond his limits.

Sweat covers Batman's body under his armor. The speed and frequency of the computer attacks increase with each new wave. Most would stop at this point, but he is not like the others. He constantly feels the need to challenge himself, to push further, suffer the momentary pain for the greater goal. As another series of challenges end with him victorious, he now waits for the next test from the computer.