In the weeks since J'onn's father and brother's trip to Apokolips they hadn't returned or even sent word that they had arrived safely. One day Darkseid had sent forces on a surprise attack against Mars. They had raided several schools, taking mostly children and their caretakers. They also stole away the Martian Council members, the entire governing body over Mars. J'onn's father had been a member of the council himself.
After the first attacks they were ready for them. Martians were a race of very able bodied individuals. Some were stronger than others of course but they were all near invulnerable if they had been trained to use their shape shifting abilities correctly.
Darkseid's emissaries had apparently wanted the children for experiments and the older generation for their great wealth of information.
While the Martians were now better able to repel attacks against Apokolips that still didn't take care of the people who were already missing. Mars had large advancements in science but nothing like that of Apokolips and their boom tube technology. They had no way of traveling from Mars and back to rescue the captives.
J'onn wasn't one to take such things sitting down. He and his mother devised a plan and succeeded in capturing one of the smaller ships in the fleet when Apokolips attacked them the second time. They had hoped to use it to steal back their people. They took turns rather than going together, covertly grabbing up handfuls of Martians at a time and then returning them to their families.
They had found most of the council members save one: his father. His brother was also still missing as well as a few dozen children. Sha'sheen and J'onn were nearing the end of their mission. He hoped that today he would be making the last trip himself. These rescue missions were starting to get rough. The fewer Martians there were on Apokolips the better they were guarded. Sha'sheen warned him that she had almost been caught the last time she made the trip.
J'onn landed the ship on top of the building he was going to break into. Martian technology had been added to cloak the ship and make it nearly invisible. He took a deep breath and left the ship, density shifting until his body lowered through the floor to enter the labyrinth of hallways. His mother had gotten word that M'yrnn and Ma'alefa'ak had been kept in one of the topmost floors for questioning. After several false tries he finally found the room. Unfortunately what he saw wasn't something he had hoped to see. M'yrnn was on the floor propped against a large holding canister with a hole the size of a fist in his chest. From the ties on his wrists it looked like he had made an escape but was unfortunately caught. J'onn knelt down next to him wondering how long he had been down here, wondering what he had endured the last few weeks.
J'onn let a sob escape his throat as he clutched his father's lifeless body to him. He was so cold and pale. For as long as he lived he would never forgive this. He swore he would rescue every last Martian from this horrid place even if it killed him. He took in a steadying breath and prepared himself for what he needed to do next. He didn't have time to mourn M'yrnn any longer. He needed to leave his father's body and try to find survivors. It's what he would have wanted. Now that he thought of it, he wondered now why his father had been in this pod in particular. J'onn looked inside the porthole and saw a Martian face. "Ma'alefa'ak." J'onn pulled the hatch open on the canister and Ma'alefa'ak fell like a dead weight onto the floor next to their father. J'onn kneeled down next to him, cursing himself for not catching him. "Ma'alefa'ak are you alright?" He flipped his brother onto his back. He looked so pale he thought he was dead too.
Ma'alefa'ak's eyes cracked open and looked in the direction of his brother's voice. He looked positively delirious. "J'onn?"
J'onn gathered him up him up into his arms. "Do not worry brother, I have you now."
Ma'alefa'ak glanced over from his place on the floor and saw their father's body. "Oh, father." He was so distraught he covered his face with his hands. "I didn't mean for him to die."
J'onn wasn't sure what he meant but he knew he needed to get him out of here. When he stood up with Ma'alefa'ak, his brother seemed to be able to stand under his own weight. He should try being quieter as to not alert anyone of their presence. "Do you think you can escape on your own?"
Ma'alefa'ak flinched when J'onn spoke to him in his mind. "My head hurts."
"Sorry." J'onn whispered, again supporting his brother's weight. When Ma'alefa'ak recovered he asked again out loud. "Do you think you can escape here without me?" It would be a great help if he could considering he would have to make another trip if he had to carry a full grown man. "It's just down the hall and up the stairs." J'onn pointed in the direction he would need to travel. "Wait with the ship until I return."
"Yes, I think I can." Ma'alefa'ak nodded, also whispering. "I'll be on my way."
J'onn watched as Ma'alefa'ak went invisible and heard his brother make his way out of the room. He felt he might regret letting him go by himself, but he really needed to be on his way himself.
J'onn made his way to the lower levels and saw something he didn't think he would see. He might not have caught it if he didn't have his head turned just right, but he saw a shadow of someone against the wall but without a figure in front of it. They were simply camouflaged rather than having their density shifted like him so he would leave no trace of his presence. He noticed that rather than sneaking they were walking around upright. He wondered if it was a guard with similar abilities to his own, waiting for him to fall into their trap. Or maybe they had found some way to cloak themselves. He needed to see what he was dealing with. If this one could become invisible because of some technology he needed to be prepared for it on his way to rescue the children.
He heard whispering coming from whoever it was along the wall. He couldn't so much hear a voice as feel their worry about being found out. They wouldn't have to wait much longer.
As soon as he laid his hands on her he regretted it. He knew he should have tried to knock her out or covered her mouth right away. Her body became instantly visible when she lost concentration. It took her a moment to process that she had been caught but when she did she let out the beginnings of a shrill scream.
"No!" She wrenched her hand away from him and began kicking at him. He pushed her into the wall and quickly covered her mouth, trying to silence her before he was caught.
Oh God… it was a Martian woman. She must have been one of the captives. He became visible himself to show her she wasn't in any danger from him. "Be quiet or you will bring the whole place down on us." He spoke to her mind. She calmed down instantly when she recognized him. Just then he recognized her too. He released her mouth and took a step back. "M'yri'ah?" He couldn't believe she was here. She wasn't even on his list of the missing.
She was so relieved to finally see someone she knew. "Oh, J'onn. I was so frightened." She practically threw herself into his arms.
She knew his name? His brain felt like it shorted out for a moment, which wasn't a good thing considering their situation. "What are you doing here?" J'onn asked, cautiously putting his arms around her.
"I was trying to find my sister." M'yri'ah hadn't released him from her hold yet. "They attacked our town and we got separated. When they captured her I snuck aboard their ship to rescue her." She tried so desperately to get her little sister out before the jumped off planet, but before she could find her onboard they were already long gone through a boom tube and offloading them on to Apokolips. "I'm so lost. I don't know where she is." She would never forgive herself if she was hurt because she couldn't find her in time.
"Don't worry M'yri'ah. We will find her." J'onn assured her. "I've gotten almost everyone out now. There are only a few still missing."
"Really?" M'yri'ah stepped away from him and he felt like he could think once more. "Thank goodness."
"I'm actually glad you are here. You can help me find the children." She seemed more capable of helping him than his brother had been. She could help him carry some of the children if they needed it. "Come with me and be quiet."
M'yri'ah nodded, going invisible and following after him.
It didn't take him long to find where the children were being stored. There was a large metal chamber suspended on stilts in the middle of a large open room. There were catwalks going up where one could keep an eye on their surroundings. There were so many guards swarming the place, more than he thought he could handle on his own. He really should have brought his mother this time. "M'yri'ah." He called to her in his mind.
"Yes J'onn?" M'yri'ah was also eyeing the amazing amount of personnel clogging the walkways and halls.
"I need you to help me." He hoped she was up for it. "Do you think you can do that?"
"Yes." She was sure she could help. She would do anything to get her sister back. "Just tell me what you need me to do."
"I need you to density shift and sneak behind the guards. When they are away from everyone else you are going to push your hand through their back and become partially tangible. When you do that you will short out their nervous system and they will pass out. You will need to move them to the shadows so they won't alert the others." He thought he should warn her. "If you become completely tangible you might kill them so be careful."
That sounded awful even if she didn't accidentally kill them. "Won't that hurt them?"
He didn't want to lie. "Very much."
She wasn't so sure of herself now.
"M'yri'ah you cannot hesitate. These are not good people." She had been here for weeks. She must have seen the awful things they did to each other. They thought nothing of killing their own kind. "They will kill you if are caught. Once you take hold of one do not let them go until they pass out."
M'yri'ah took a calming breath. She had to do this and she had to do it right. "Okay."
"We shall meet at the top of the tower. Please do not become visible again until I do."
"Alright, I won't." She agreed.
It took them a while to do it right, following guards around and knocking them out. J'onn tried to take on the more difficult route. Not that there seemed to be much of an easy route to take. His arm was elbow deep in the captain of the guard right before he sent out a transmission to ask where everyone had gone. J'onn didn't know how much time they would have until someone was alerted of their presence. They needed to move quickly. He picked up the captain's unconscious form and flew to the top of the walkway. "The room is clear." He called to M'yri'ah, showing himself.
M'yri'ah was close by as she became visible once more. "I cannot believe I did that." She practically whooped in his mind. "Did you see?"
He had seen a number of guards drop because of her. "Yes I did." J'onn couldn't help but chuckle at her enthusiasm. "Now let us rescue the survivors before more guards come down here and realize something is amiss." J'onn took hold of the head guard's hand and placed it on the scanner for the door. He could copy him down to a cellular level but he didn't want to take any chances if the scanners could tell the difference or not.
The door snapped open and they heard frightened gasps and shuffling.
M'yri'ah was the first to run inside, hoping to find her sister. She looked at the dozen or so children. They rushed against her and J'onn, crying and wanting to go home. They were all around her sister's age, but none of them were her. "Oh." She felt hot tears welling up in the back of her eyes.
"I am sorry M'yri'ah." J'onn spoke to her in her mind again. "We need to go now but I will come back for her."
"I can't leave without her." M'yri'ah looked up at him, horrified at the thought. Then she looked quite determined on her next course of action. "I'll stay until you return. I'll try to find her myself."
J'onn couldn't believe his ears. "M'yri'ah." He said patiently. "This place is not safe. You need to come with me and the children to the transport." He needed her to reason this through. "It will delay me rescuing your sister if you are captured." He looked at the other children who were frightened. "And I need your help to get these children to safety."
M'yri'ah didn't want to leave without her sister but she could see his point. She needed to leave. J'onn took her hand and they made a chain of sorts between the two of them using their shifting ability. J'onn told the children to grab on and they would see them to safety. They were too young to become transparent or density shift so they would need to hold onto the adults to be able to do so, if needed. It didn't take long once all the children grabbed hold. They flew up and up, through the floors and ceilings until they were on the rooftop.
When they arrived they saw something quite surprising. Ma'alefa'ak was resting against the ship waiting for J'onn to return and with him he had a small bundle. A Martian child was sleeping soundly in his arms.
M'yri'ah rushed over to him, recognizing her sister right away. "You found her." M'yri'ah tried to keep her voice quiet but she was so happy to see her sister. Ma'alefa'ak handed the girl to M'yri'ah. After a few moments to marvel at her little face M'yri'ah embraced Ma'alefa'ak. "Thank you so much for rescuing her. I don't know what I would do without her."
A slow grin moved across Ma'alefa'ak's lips. He glanced up at J'onn's stunned face before he wrapped his arms around M'yri'ah in a tight hug. "It was nothing. I found her wandering the halls."
J'onn found that difficult to believe. She couldn't have just escaped that room the children were being held in. It was almost as if he planned being found here with M'yri'ah's sister. Once J'onn realized how ridiculous that sounded he pushed such thoughts from his head. He shouldn't doubt his brother at a time like this. He was probably just letting his jealousy cloud his mind. Besides, they needed to leave. He cleared his throat and M'yri'ah stepped away from his brother. "We need to go now or we will be caught."
The three of them shepherded the children into the ship quickly. After they were on board M'yri'ah and Ma'alefa'ak were in the back securing each child to a chair while J'onn prepared the ship to leave. When they were finished he cloaked the ship and sightless, shot into the air and out of the atmosphere. J'onn pressed a button on the panel and a boom tube opened and swallowed the ship. When they emerged near Mars J'onn let out a breath of air, allowing him to relax. Everyone was safe. He only hoped he would never have to go to that horrid place again.
He both heard and felt Ma'alefa'ak come into the cockpit. He sat beside him in the copilot seat. J'onn wanted to ask him so many things. Why was he taken? What did they do to him? But he was crying in a mixture of sadness and relief. How could he question him at a time like this?
"Oh father." Ma'alefa'ak's head was in his hands. He managed to keep himself in check until he was away from everyone else but now that he was alone with J'onn he cried. He was both sad and afraid. He was sad for their father's violent passing and also afraid for what would happen to him when he returned to Mars.
He had been tortured yes, but it seemed like they had done it just for the fun of it rather than for information like they his father. Instead, weakened Ma'alefa'ak had been brought before Darkseid so he could speak with him privately. He was sat in a comfortable chair and was confused when Darkseid spoke to him. He mostly asked him about his life on Mars. He wanted to know all of his experiences. Ma'alefa'ak offered him all the information freely, having nothing to hide. He was very different than the others. He had no happy stories to tell, most of them stemming from him odd name, Ma'alefa'ak. Even as a child he was made into either bogyman to frighten children or a gremlin to blame when something went horribly wrong.
Darkseid asked if he might work for him. He didn't offer him comforts but there on Apokolips everyone was equally hated. He could be his spy, his eyes and ears on Mars. Ma'alefa'ak hadn't wanted to say yes, but he was afraid to say no either. Darkseid told him he didn't need to hear his answer now because he was sure in a few days time he would be more than willing to accept his offer. His own people were so mistrustful of him they would surely find some way to blame him for his people's abduction.
Ma'alefa'ak thought it was ridiculous of course. He was on Apokolips the whole time being tormented right along with his father. They couldn't possibly blame him, could they? But the closer they came to their home planet the more worried he became. If only his father were alive, he knew he would defend him. He could tell them what he had gone through.
"Ma'alefa'ak, are you alright?" J'onn asked. Ma'alefa'ak had gone so quiet and it worried him.
His brother's voice brought him out of his thoughts. "Of course I'm not." He decided to tell J'onn about their father rather than voice his concerns about Darkseid, only thinking they would make him suspicious. "I went back for his body. I couldn't just leave him there. That's when I found the girl. She must have gotten out of one of the canisters."
Ah, so that was how he found her. Maybe the girl was about to be used in an experiment or even about to be tortured. Thank goodness Ma'alefa'ak had gone back or they might have never found her. "You are that girl's hero. I doubt she will ever forget what you did for her."
"Hm." Ma'alefa'ak sounded like he really didn't care. "I just wish... I wish father hadn't died."
J'onn didn't know what to say to comfort him. There were really no words that were adequate but he would give it a try. "I cannot believe he is gone."
When J'onn said that, it seems to open the floodgates. "And yet our mother lives." Ma'alefa'ak said bitterly between sobs. "Why couldn't it have been her instead?"
J'onn wanted to tell him off for saying such a horrible thing, but he knew grief did awful things to a person so he remained silent.
They said nothing more to one another and it was quiet on their short ride home. When they arrived on Mars happy parents came to gather up their children. The members of the Martian Council were there as well. When they found out M'yrnn had died they offered their condolences to J'onn and Ma'alefa'ak. Afterwards they waited while the parents of each child thanked J'onn for rescuing them. They simply would not leave without doing so.
"Thank you for bringing my troublesome daughters home." D'all was among the parents to pick up M'yri'ah and her little sister. He scolded M'yri'ah terribly for running off like she had and how she could have been killed but he was so happy to see her and her sister alive that it was short lived. "Let's go home my dear. Your mother will want to celebrate her two youngest daughters coming home."
M'yri'ah cast one final glance at J'onn before she was led away. "Thank you." She mouthed at him.
J'onn tried to suppress the smile spreading across his face but found that he was unable to do so. Only when he saw M'yri'ah's father's scowl did he remember himself and push it down.
"It looks like you are a hero." Ma'alefa'ak tried to keep the bitterness out of his voice but failed.
"M'yri'ah seems to think you are a hero for finding her sister." J'onn offered.
"I suppose." Ma'alefa'ak started to feel an inkling of hope he would be able to return home unscathed. "I suppose it was nice to be thanked for once."
J'onn clapped him on the back fondly. "There you are."
After the last family spoke to J'onn, the Martian Council members who had stood back to watch finally came forward. He wondered what they wanted from him.
A woman council member came forward. "We need to see your brother."
J'onn looked at Ma'alefa'ak. He wondered why they addressed him and not Ma'alefa'ak directly. "But why?"
"We are suspicious of him. There are a few things that need clarifying. We are only going to question him, so you needn't worry about us causing him any harm."
J'onn couldn't believe this. "But he was captured. He could not have done anything." He looked over at his brother again. He was still injured from being tortured and their father had just died. "He is a victim. You cannot do this to him. At least give him a couple days to recover."
"We are sorry J'onn, but we must." The woman looked at Ma'alefa'ak then. "We'll ask that you bring him to our hall for questioning."
Ma'alefa'ak felt such bitterness rise up in his heart. "You don't need to speak about me as if I'm not here." He spat, fuming at them. "And you don't need my brother to haul me into your chambers. I'll gladly go with you." Rather than circle around he pushed through them angrily. "Hurry up. We need to get this over with so I can go home and bury my father."
J'onn shook his head, dismayed as they watched the council file after Ma'alefa'ak's retreating form. As if his brother hadn't hated their society enough. This would just add more fuel to the fire.
Author's notes: Hope you are enjoying the story so far. I'm having a lot of fun writing about J'onn and Ma'alefa'ak interacting with each other without beating each other senseless. It's a lot of fun.
Ma'alefa'ak is awful – if you read his bio he's pretty much a horrible genocidal rape monster. I still can't get over his name though. I know all the bad guys have some sith lord like names but I think his was the first time I heard one being given to him specifically because his mom thought he was going to turn out bad. She said something along the lines of she wanted to warn him and others about what he would become. My husband and I had a discussion about it – thinking what the heck that was all about. Why would someone do that to their kid? It is sort of like creating a self-fulfilling prophesy.
I would like to try my hand at writing about him again though. It was lots of fun in my first story Grief. He's so damn evil the sky is the limit really. I was actually going to have him appear in the sequel but I scrapped it. I'll have to figure something else out now.