KrissyKat91: This is not an update. I'm just merging the first three chapters together because they're so short.

Ch. 1: The Arrival

Hikari hummed tunelessly as he tightened a loose screw on his latest creation. Ever since returning to Ultara after being MIA for several years (he was still surprised he hadn't been court marshaled), his head had been chock full of ideas for new inventions.

It wasn't really his specialty; just something he did when he wasn't exploring other worlds (or suffering the torture of writing reports about other worlds. Whoever came up with the idea of paperwork should've been shot). Some of the things he built were useful, some were a little out there, and some were things he built just to see if he could make them work. He was working on one of the last right now.

{Hikari?}

The blue-and-silver Ultaran warrior-scientist jumped, dropping the small part he'd been about to attach to the machine. It clattered down the casing, into an opening, and out of his reach.

{Ah! Sorry!}

Hikari dimmed his eyes, counted to ten, then glared at the interloper.

Yuuki, his assistant, quickly averted his gaze.

{Did you need something, Yuuki?} he asked testily.

{One of the Ultra Brothers is waiting for you in the lobby,} the younger Ultaran replied meekly.

Mebius again. Hikari sighed and shook his head. He liked the guy, he really did, but he could only take so much of his younger friend's exuberant personality at a time.

{Very well.} He stood up and started to leave, then paused. {Get that capacitor out of there.}

{Yes sir!}

Yuuki studied the device in front of him. He wasn't exactly sure what his superior intended to do with a wormhole generator, but Hikari payed him well, so he didn't ask questions.

Shrinking himself down to the size of the humans he had heard so much about but would likely never get the chance to see, Yuuki flew into the opening the capacitor had fallen into.

Let's see. Where—ah, there it is.

The capacitor was quite a bit bulkier than Yuuki had expected, and as he wrestled with it, his foot brushed against something on the wall of the shaft.

Whiiiirrr.

Yuuki froze, eyes widening as the machine hummed to life.

{Hikari!} he screamed, dropping the capacitor and hurling himself towards the opening.

It was too late.

A blast of searing energy rushed past him and through him, followed closely by the agonizing sensation of being ripped apart at the molecular level.

The last thing he saw, before everything went black, was Hikari charging back into the laboratory, a look of horror in his eyes.

"That's the last of it," Superman called as he and J'onn dumped their loads of rubble into a waiting dump truck.

The original League members (sans Batman, who was busy, and Green Lantern, who was away on Lantern business) were currently helping fix damages in a small country struck by an earthquake, much to the people's gratitude.

"Same on our end," Shayera replied, flying over to them, Wonder Woman right behind her.

Flash ran a circle around the area to make sure, then added, "Ditto."

"Right," Superman said, taking charge. "Then let's—"

He was cut off abruptly as a bright light lit the sky, and a sound they'd only heard once, during the Justice Lords incident, filled the air: the sound of the wall between realities being ripped open.

A figure materialized before them, then slumped noiselessly to the ground, and the light and sound vanished as suddenly as it started.

When the spots faded from their vision, the five heroes looked down and gave a collective gasp.

Sprawled at their feet was one of the strangest beings they had ever seen.

His body was mostly silver, with red bands marking his shoulders and twisting down his arms. There were also bands snaking down his legs, widening at the ends to cover his feet ankle-down, in the same way his hands were covered wrist-down.

It was impossible to tell what his torso looked like, for the being was wearing a crimson metal breastplate, molded to look like a man's chest and six-pack, with silver accents and a long golden hexagon smack in the middle, oddly out of place on the red/silver color scheme.

His face was smooth and silver, with very little in the way of features. There was a dent where a mouth should have been, knobs on the sides of his head that were probably ears, no nose whatsoever, and large almond shaped eyes that glowed with a dim white light. There was also a red crest on his head, arched forward slightly, with a clear gem in the middle of that.

Everyone just stared at him for a moment, then Diana asked, "Is he dead?"

Superman tilted his head, then said, "I can hear a heartbeat. He's alive."

"What do we do with him?" Shayera asked, hand on her mace.

"We'll have to take him to the Watchtower," J'onn replied. "We can't leave him here."

Kneeling, Superman carefully lifted the being into his arms. He didn't even twitch.

"Man," Flash marveled, "that guy's out cold."

"What. Were. You. Thinking?" Batman growled, glowering at Superman.

The Man of Steel had set the teleporter to take himself and his unexpected cargo straight to the medical bay, so as to avoid unwanted attention, and had almost literally run right into the Dark Knight.

"We couldn't just leave him there, Bruce," he replied, laying the being down on a bed. "Who knows what could have happened."

Batman just grunted, eyeing their KO'd guest suspiciously.

J'onn, he thought.

The reply was immediate. {Yes, Batman?}

Come here.

The Martian phased into the room a moment later.

"I know you don't like reading minds without permission, but we need to know if he's hostile." Batman stated, ignoring the expression Superman was giving him (for all his obvious masculinity, the Kryptonian was disturbingly good at the Disappointed Mom Look).

J'onn frowned but nodded, then turned his gaze on their guest, eyes glowing. An instant later he jerked back with a grimace, blinking rapidly.

"What did you see?"

"Nothing," the Martian replied, rubbing his eyes. "I couldn't see anything."

"You couldn't get in?" Superman asked, curious despite himself.

"I got in, I just couldn't see anything. It was too bright." At their questioning looks, he clarified, "Whoever or whatever he is, his mind is pure, undiluted light. I have never come across a mind so pure. Just a glimpse of it almost blinded me."

The other two exchanged looks. How was such a thing possible?

"Hey, guys," Flash said, suddenly beside J'onn, half-eaten hamburger in hand. "What's up?"

Before anyone could answer, a groan caught their attention, and they all turned towards the being. The light in his eyes flickered for a moment, then blazed brightly as he sat up, shaking his head dazedly. Then he saw the room's other occupants.

The next thing the four heroes knew, the being was off the bed and standing as far away as he could get, feet planted wide apart, arms up in a defensive stance, gaze darting from one face to the next.

"Whoa, hey, easy," Flash squawked, scarfing down the rest of his burger and holding his hands up in a peaceful gesture. "Calm down, man. We're not gonna hurt you."

"Flash, quiet," Batman hissed. "We don't even know if he understands—"

{I understand.} The voice whispered through their minds like a warm summer breeze, carrying with it a sense of bewildered wariness, and the being relaxed his stance slightly. {Where am I? Who are you?}

"You're aboard one of the Watchtowers," Superman said after a few seconds of startled silence. "Watchtowers are space stations that orbit Earth, the planet below us. We're members of the Justice League, a group that protects this planet and others when the need arises."

The silver being tilted his head. {You are defenders, then?}

"I... suppose that's one way to put it."

They all blinked when he dropped his stance and bowed. {Then I'm in good company. I am Yuuki of Ultara. What are your names?}