Beyond the Limit [DC fanfic]

Life was indeed looking up for Joseph.

The party had been fun—more fun than he'd expected.

Walking into the townhouse, he'd felt out of place at first. It had been a while since he'd been around these people. He used to know them well, back when he had time to waste. But life had changed, responsibilities had piled up, and reconnecting wasn't as easy as he thought. Still, faces lit up when they saw him. Being the backbone of the basketball team since the season started two weeks ago certainly helped.

Still, it wasn't really his crowd. The usual mix of underage drinking and reckless energy swirled around him, but Joseph stayed on the outskirts. Alcohol never interested him. He wasn't about to start now.

Fast-forward a week, and the SAT exam was behind him. A October morning, two hours of effortless problem-solving, and he was done. He had taken the test early, riding on the momentum of perfect practice scores, and the real thing had been no different. Nova had helped, of course. Not that he needed it.

Basketball had been a major shift in his life—aside from the whole Flux situation. It made him realize just how much he enjoyed being around his peers, how much he missed socializing. Maybe university wasn't such a bad idea after all. Not for the education—he had Nova for that—but for the credentials. A degree would be useful, even if the whole process felt like a waste of time and money. By then, he'd have plenty of both.

The real milestone, though, had been upgrading his little tech. With a proper computer, Nova could finally operate at full efficiency. Before, the AI had been forced to conduct research through the sluggish limitations of a cheap phone. Now? The first version of BellCoin was live. A decentralized, open-source cryptocurrency designed for privacy. Anyone could join the network, and Joseph had ensured it reached the right people—the kind who appreciated untraceable transactions. Criminals, mostly. But that was part of the plan.

It was a long-term investment. Real traction took time.

With BellCoin running in the background, Nova shifted gears to more immediate profits—mobile apps, automated trading bots, anything that could generate passive income. Meanwhile, Joseph settled into a routine. School, basketball, stealing.

As he returned to his apartment after the SATs, he spotted a blonde asian girl stepping out of the unit across from his, carrying a bow case.

"Archery, huh?" Joseph said, glancing at the case. He was reminded of his run-in with Speedy as Flux. "You any good?"

She regarded him for a second before replying, "I practice a lot."

"I live across the hall. You been here long?" It was the first time he'd noticed her, though that wasn't saying much—his life had been a whirlwind lately.

"A few years now. Name's Artemis, by the way. I gotta go."

"Oh. Uh, Joseph." He finished awkwardly as she walked off. Maybe she was just in a rush.

**

Meanwhile, across the city, a different kind of meeting was taking place.

A loan shark in Gotham glared at an old ledger.

Mary Bell.

An undocumented trucker who had borrowed money years ago to send her son to Gotham Academy. The deadline had come and gone. No payments. That wasn't how debts worked.

A couple of enforcers would do the job.

**

Back in his apartment, Joseph lay on his bed, letting Nova take over his body to work on a few side projects while his mind slipped into the Dream State.

"Nova, make me a structured language program," he instructed. "Mandarin, Hindi, Spanish, Arabic…" He exhaled sharply. "And French."

//Understood.//

A shiver ran down his spine. French. Ugh.

**

One week later, his phone screen confirmed what he already knew.

1600.

The number stared back at him from his phone screen. Satisfaction welled up inside him.

A perfect score. 'Comme prévu. Je suis un génie.' His language skills had been coming along nicely.

Across the classroom, a student called out, "Yo, how'd you do, Joey?"

He had gotten a reputation recently for getting good grades and being athletic.

Joseph turned his phone so the guy could see.

"Sixteen hundred? No way! Joseph got a perfect score!"

That was all it took.

People in his immediate vicinity crowded in for a look. Those further away hyped up the moment in their own ways. Even the teacher paused, offering an impressed nod. The news would be all over the school by lunch, and Joseph didn't mind one bit.

After all, it was a big deal. Out of two million test-takers per year, only about three hundred ever scored a perfect 1600. That put him in the top 0.01%. Not the first in Gotham Academy to do it, but it wouldn't happen again anytime soon.

A voice cut through the noise. "Barbara got a perfect score too!"

Joseph was quickly proven wrong. He turned to her. The redhead beside him met his gaze with an expression he couldn't quite read.

Of course, bragging rights and college attention weren't the only rewards here. There was also the personal satisfaction—who didn't like seeing their hard work pay off?

**

With his SAT score in hand, the next logical step was college applications.

He'd already thought about it before taking the test, pre-selecting schools to send his scores to: MIT, Metropolis University, Gotham University, Hudson University, and Central City University.

Arrogant? Maybe. But who could blame him? With Nova, he was rapidly becoming a true genius, the kind people wrote stories about.

Engineering seemed like a good fit—broad, lucrative, and full of opportunities to scale his intellect. His powers gave him the chance to reach the level of the greats, the kind of minds usually reserved for fiction.

Besides, engineering was respectable. It paid well. And it was one of the fields his mom had pushed him toward before she passed.

He didn't have a school he was leaning towards yet. He'd decide when the time came.

Too many good options.

A good problem to have.