The Courage Of Achilles
They were, Wonder Woman decided, going to have stop sending the Young Justice team (which now included Captain Marvel) on missions in remote parts of the country. It seemed as if every time they did so something bad happened. Last time Captain Marvel had been drugged and attacked, this time it was Superboy who lead the charge, not even hesitating as he sent Batman flying into the wall before the Dark Knight could even say a word of greeting!
"Calm down!" Wonder Woman shouted at the clone, barely having time to duck before he attacked her too.
"Kaldur!" Aquaman shouted. "Talk some sense into your friend!"
"I am sorry, my liege," Kaldur said, pulling out his water bearers. "But we cannot let you proceed any further."
J'onn raised an eyebrow in curiosity as he became dense in order to allow one of Artemis's arrows to pass through him. He watched as she shot another arrow then quickly rejoined her place in the protective circle that the other members of the Young Justice team had formed around M'gann, who was holding someone in her arms.
M'gann? What is going on? Why is everyone attacking us and where is Captain Marvel?
Uncle J'onn?! She sounded flustered and completely unlike herself. He listened as she quietly soothed someone then said, I'm sorry for attacking you but Captain Marvel doesn't want to see anybody except for Superman and he's not going to.
What happened, M'gann?
I can't tell you that. Only Superman is allowed to know.
J'onn nodded in understanding then turned back to the Justice League. "Stop!" he cried, holding up his hands. "They're only attacking us because Captain Marvel asked them to!"
"Say what?" Flash froze in place as did the rest of the League.
"I thought Captain Marvel liked us," Wonder Woman was confused.
J'onn sighed heavily as he attempted to explain. "Something, I'm not sure what, happened to Captain Marvel and as a result he doesn't want to see any of us except for Superman and the Young Justice team feels obligated to fulfill his request."
"Well where is he?" Green Arrow snapped as he dodged arrows.
"I believe he had a meeting at work," Batman explained as he just barely avoided getting by one of Robin's birdarangs.
"Well get him here now!" Black Canary snapped. "In fact I think it should be mandatory that he has to come whenever we have to go and bail out the Young Justice team!"
"Hear, hear!" Wonder Woman agreed whole heartedly as did the Hawks.
"But then we would run the risk of Superman getting put out of commission and no way to calm down Captain Marvel," J'onn countered.
"Just get him here please," Aquaman begged.
J'onn sighed heavily and reached out with his mind, desperately trying to find Superman. It took a while but he finally did it. Superman?
J'onn? Superman sounded startled. What's wrong?
It's Captain Marvel again, I'm afraid. Something (I'm not sure what) has happened and as a result the Young Justice team is holding us off until you arrive.
I'm on my way, Superman didn't even hesitate as he severed the mental connection.
"He's on his way," J'onn announced.
Sighs of relief met his announcement, even from Batman who had finally managed to pull himself out of the crevice in the wall where he had been trapped.
Just then a gust of wind blew through the building, blowing everyone's hair back. The wind stopped moving, revealing it to be none other than Superman who looked worried as he moved towards the group of teenagers.
They broke rank long enough to let him in and long enough for the League to realize that, in M'gann's arms, was a little boy, curled up into a ball. Once Superman had entered the circle then it was quickly closed again. The other members of the League were already murmuring to themselves about the identity of the little boy but J'onn ignored them in lieu of focusing his attention on what was happening inside the circle. He watched as Superman bent down, could just barely make out the sounds of It's all right, I'm here, Billy and No one's going to hurt you, you're safe now, before Superman straightened but this time with the little boy in his arms. No one said anything as Superman walked out of the building, the Young Justice following him as they climbed into the Bioship and took off.
"What just happened?" Hawkman demanded. "Who was that kid and where is Captain Marvel?"
"Why don't we ask them?" Wonder Woman suggested, pointing at the unconscious villains in the corner.
"Good idea," Batman strode forward and yanked the duct tape off the mouth of one of the creeps. "Where is Captain Marvel?"
"I don't know!" the villain shouted back. "All I know is we were in the middle of conducting some...legitimate okay highly illegal kiddy porn," he gulped nervously as every single member of the Justice League started growling, "when all of a sudden these kids and some grown-up show up and everything got a little crazy. What I do know is we managed to get hold of that cute green girl..."
Having read the man's mind J'onn could take no more (especially after they mentioned his niece) and psychially blasted him.
"J'onn!" Black Canary sounded horrified.
"The boy was Captain Marvel," J'onn replied tersely. "These...monsters threatened to rape my niece if the team did not surrender. And they did but the monsters were still planning to carry out that threat but Captain Marvel somehow transformed into that little boy and offered himself in her place. The villains took him up on that but apparently M'gann went a little...crazy and brain blasted them as well."
The League looked horrified. Green Arrow threw up in one of the corners while Black Canary sobbed into his chest. The Hawks also looked ill and Hawkwoman used her mace on a nearby crate that turned out to be filled with videotapes.
"Let's go back to the Cave," Batman suggested. "I'll take care of these jokers."
"I'll help," Aquaman offered as did Flash.
"The rest of you go back to the Watchtower and keep us informed of Captain Marvel's condition," the Dark Knight ordered.
Once they had arrived at the Cave J'onn wasted no time in heading towards the medical bay. He wanted to make sure that his niece was all right, after reading the thoughts of that...pig he was alternately glad that it hadn't happened to M'gann and sad that it had happened to Captain Marvel. No one deserved to have that done them. Ever. Upon reaching the door he hesitated about knocking but was saved the trouble when Kid Flash opened the door for him.
"I hope I'm not intruding," J'onn said politely, "But I wanted to see how he was doing."
"Come on in, Uncle J'onn," M'gann called, her eyes were red-rimmed as if she had been crying recently.
Cautiously the Martian entered and had to remind himself not to be sick. The boy was curled up on his side in the bed, tears streaming down his face as his body shook. His red jacket and white t-shirt were torn, revealing bruised, dirty patches of too pale skin. One hand was clutched to his chest while the other held tightly to Superman's much larger one.
"It's okay, Billy," Superman soothed. "You're safe here, I promise. No one's going to hurt you here."
Billy didn't respond but kept crying. Superman hesitantly reached out his other hand and smoothed back Billy's black hair, murmuring words of comfort.
"Are you all right?" J'onn finally asked M'gann, telepathically checking for injuries, whilst trying to ignore the pain rolling off Captain Marvel in waves.
M'gann nodded. "I'm fine," she whispered. "Billy...Billy was the only one of us that got hurt."
J'onn nodded unnecessarily, he already knew that but sensed that M'gann (if not the entire team) would need a lot of emotional counseling after this. Although one or more would probably insist on staying with Billy while he did his. He could sense the bonds of family closing tightly around them, ready to band together at the first sign of trouble. Captain Marvel (and Billy) were in very good hands. He bowed his head politely then retreated, closing the door behind him. The family needed to be alone.
A/N: Sorry if it's not that great but my laptop's in safe mode so I had to use the document part of doc manager to write the last half.
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