Madeline was awoken the next morning by a rather annoying beeping. She didn't know what it was, so she bolted into consciousness and jumped clear off the bed she had been on and fell onto the floor. Blinking away the haze of sleep, she began to remember what had happened the day before: the Justice League, being accepted into the said League, and J'onn. Madeline willed a small cloud of mist to turn off the alarm clock. In the silence of her room, she began to think about what it would be like to go on a mission with the Justice League instead of the solo missions she was used to. But her thoughts were interrupted by a quick knock on the door.
"Come in." she called hesitantly.
The doors slid open to Diana and Shiera. "Sorry if we woke you, but we have a mission to put you on to test your abilities." Shiera babbled, wanting to get the new member to the Javelin as fast as possible.
Madeline shook her head and pointed at the alarm clock. "I was already awake." She got up as fast as her tumbled mind would let her. Rubbing her neck, she walked out of the room with the two League members. "So, who else is on this mission?" she asked conversationally as they hurried to the Javelin bay.
"Batman, J'onn, and myself." answered Diana. She was personally thrilled to have another woman on the team. And at least this one was not as socially inept as the princess and Thanagarian.
Soon the four designated people to go on the mission were in the Javelin; Batman again at the controls, Diana in the navigator's seat, and J'onn and Madeline across from each other in the next row back. The Javelin had a rather turbulent take off, making Madeline scrunch her eyes shut and curl her thin hands into fists to keep her powers from enacting out of fear. She hated flying. Especially when the flying didn't start out so well. You can open your eyes now. J'onn's voice echoed in her mind.
How? Oh, wait; you're telepathic. I almost forgot. Madeline replied through the mental link the J'onn had opened. However, her eyes stayed securely shut.
There is nothing to… J'onn sighed
Just tell me when we land. Madeline pleaded, not wanting to open her eyes for any reason. Anyways, it was helping her keep a normal, albeit telepathic, conversation with the stunningly handsome Martian.
"But then you will miss the view."J'onn said out loud, almost directly into her ear.
His cool breath tickled her ear as her eyes fluttered open. J'onn had moved from his seat on the other side of the aisle to the one next to her. "What if I happen to be afraid of heights?" Madeline stuttered; both from the truth of the statement and the closeness of the object of her muddled emotions.
"Nothing is going to happen to you in the Javelin; especially if Batman is piloting." J'onn comforted her.
Madeline sighed, but relented. She slowly turned her head to look out the window next to her seat. Her breathing hitched as she took in the sight before her. "Wow." She breathed out.
Exactly. J'onn returned to the mental link; giving the two more privacy. These telepathic links do not startle you? He knew Madeline was slightly telepathic but he didn't know if it was in the way of transmitting, receiving, searching, or manipulation.
No, they don't. It is far better than the link type thing between a few friends of mine. Now that is creepy. Madeline shook her head and relaxed into her seat, her shoulder brushing against J'onn's, but neither recoiled. Madeline trusted J'onn not to go snooping while he was in her head. Besides, she would know if he was and she could stop him.
Who are these friends of yours with a strange link? J'onn was interested with the notion of a non-telepathic link between people.
Sara and Ian Nottingham. Sara is the Wielder of the Witchblade and Ian the Protector of the Wielder and the Witchblade. The Witchblade transmits between them strong emotions, pains, and thoughts. It was the same with the late Kenneth Irons; but that was because he once put on the Witchblade, so he was linked to it in an almost physical way. Madeline also gave J'onn a few memories she had of the two. She had found them quite ironic: a homicide detective and an assassin fell in love through hate and ended up marrying each other.
You seem to know very many other gifted people. J'onn remarked. Madeline's acquaintances could be useful to the League if they needed to call in reinforcements.
Not really; only the ones in New York City. I used to live there and helped out some of them. But there are a lot in that one city: the Ninja Turtles and company, Spiderman, the Nottinghams, and the New York clan of gargoyles. But most of them are no longer in action; they have their children to worry about. All but the Turtles and the gargoyles had retired to normal civilian life.
I see. With you knowing others such as the Ninja Turtles and a clan of gargoyles, I now see why you do not recoil in my presence. J'onn probably did not mean for Madeline to hear the last part, but he had not closed the link so she heard.
Don't be ridiculous! I like being around you. I don't find you weird, creepy, or scary in any way. Madeline chastised the brooding alien beside her.
I have a hard time believing that. J'onn sighed, not believing that the beautiful human beside him could even have feelings of friendship towards him.
Madeline then did something that took quite a bit of courage, considering her inner turmoil. She carefully took J'onn's large hand between her small ones. "Trust me, I don't." She whispered.
The two were immediately trapped by the other's eyes. They were only jarred from the trances they were in when the Javelin entered the Earth's atmosphere, jostling the occupants. Madeline lost her balance, having been sitting on the edge of her seat, and tumbled forward. But J'onn's hand, which she still held in her own reached forward and caught her. But his motion instead rolled her onto his lap. Madeline slowly reopened her eyes, having again scrunched them shut just before she almost fell. "Um, thank you, again, J'onn." She slowly sat up, assisted by J'onn resting his hand on her back.
You are welcome. He had returned to a mental link so that it would not betray his shaking voice. He decided that a little mocking would not hurt anyone at that moment. Are you sure you can handle yourself in battle with balance like that? He smirked in her head. An equal smile was playing across his face, which was hidden to all of his comrades except Madeline.
"I can!" Madeline feigned hurt and hit J'onn in his chest with the side of her hand. Wincing slightly on the impact; she understood how she had mistakenly identified him as a wall the night before.
And a temper like that. J'onn joked again. His smile grew when Madeline folded her arms petulantly and glared at him. With her small size and fragile appearance: J'onn was somehow reminded of an angry kitten who thought it was a tiger.
"Just wait and see." Madeline warned angrily. But she fell back into her seat when the ship was again jostled, so most of her seriousness was lost on the receiver due to his enjoyment of the scene before him.
Soon, but not son enough for Madeline, the Javelin landed in the middle of a field in what looked to be the Midwest of America. The team disembarked from the ship, Batman in the lead and Madeline in the rear, to face the mission to test the newest member's powers.
Out of nowhere, a missile of some sort came hurtling toward the four heroes. Batman rolled out of the way, Diana flew off to the side, and J'onn angled himself to save Madeline if something went wrong. Madeline, however, did not move. She knew that the type of weapon that was coming towards her would injure or kill anyone in the near vicinity whether it hit them or not. So she gauged the energy that she could draw from the surrounding field, and deeming it sufficient, willed it forward and encased the rocket with it. When it missile hit the front wall of its enclosure, it detonated; but the mist withheld the entire blast. And Madeline was not harmed, only knocked back a few paces.
J'onn was amazed by the extent of the powers of the woman before him. He had also noticed that her eyes lightened slightly with the exertion of her powers, but they quickly returned to a deep violet. "Look out!" Madeline suddenly shouted at him. He didn't have time to react when he saw the missile, smaller than the previous but still deadly, hurtling towards him. He didn't have to react, anyways: a purple wall was thrust up between him and the encroaching projectile. It exploded on impact, but he was not at all affected by it. He turned to thank his savior, but she had already moved to confront the actual human-ish attacker.
Just looking at Madeline's size compared to the creature that she was advancing on sent jolts of protectiveness through J'onn. He knew that she would be injured somehow if this battle was allowed to start.
But before any contact was made, Madeline stopped in her tracks in front of the weapon covered creature. She took in his disgusting appearance: tall, taller than J'onn, extremely muscled to a point he looked more like a boulder, and covered in warts and boils. In her opinion, he looked like a deformed extra from a mummy movie that went on a shopping spree in an artillery store. "Who are you!?" she called to the creature when it kept advancing on her.
"Your worst nightmare, human." He hissed.
"No, I've had much worse." Madeline laughed back and went into an attack.
She signaled over to Batman, who had a batarang ready in his hand. After eye contact was made, she willed a floating block of mist to crash into the side of the creature, sending him flying directly in front of Batman. When the device hit its mark, it exploded in the creature's skin. But it did nowhere near as much damage as anyone had expected or hoped for. Diana took her shot at it this time. She flew at the thing and began to try and punch it to a pulp. But it kept blocking all of her strikes, and ended up throwing her into a nearby hill with enough force to send a minor shockwave back to where they stood. "Diana!" Batman shouted, too panicked to use her other name. He began to go to her, but then turned to J'onn and then looked at the creature.
"Go!" J'onn shouted to him. "We can handle it." At that he launched himself at the creature. He flew just above the ground, and curled his hand into a fist, preparing to send it into the thing's face. But when he leveled off his flight to deal the blow, an electrified pole was jabbed into his chest. J'onn cried out in agony as he collapsed to the ground; a burn on his green chest giving off a small cloud of smoke. The creature smiled and raised his boot over J'onn's head and prepared to crush the said head with said boot.
"No!" Madeline screamed. "No," she shouted, more controlled and with a plan forming in her head. "What's the fun in killing an unconscious man when you can have a fight on your hands." She smirked. Before the creature could deny her offer, she cupped J'onn's limp form into a cloud of mist and moved him out of the way. "Just to warn you: I hit as hard as Batman over there, and there's less of me for you to hit." She smiled devilishly, and then charged. Just before she got into arms rang, the creature stuck out its fist, expecting to catch her in her face. But Madeline ducked under it and rammed her shoulder into its gut. The air whooshed out of it as it toppled over backwards. Before he could stand back up, Madeline swatted him effortlessly away with some more mist. He sailed through the air and landed in a heap fifty yards away. "Had enough yet?" she asked, hoping that he would say no.
"I won't be defeated by a woman." It sneered as it stood back up.
"Too late." At that, Madeline charged again. She created stepping block in front of the creature to jump off of. As she leapt, she grabbed the thing around its neck, and threw him to the ground. A resounding crack assured Madeline that the maneuver had been worth it. She stood before her opponent had a chance and brought the heel of her boot down onto the side of its neck. It wasn't dead, but it was unconscious and in major pain.
She looked over her shoulder and saw that the Martian was still limp on the ground where the mist had left him. "J'onn!" she called as she ran over to him. "J'onn, come on, wake up!" she said to him when she had knelt next to his prostrate form. "Please, J'onn, wake up." Madeline whispered in his ear. She moved herself next to his head, lifted it, and cradled it in her lap. "Wake up, J'onn; for me." She pleaded. Madeline carefully rested her hand against the side of his cool. "Please." She whispered again.
J'onn's eyes slowly opened; and the first thing he saw was Madeline's angelic face leaning over his. She looked so worried, and he could not understand why. Then he felt warmth on his cheek. Leaning into it, he found that it was a small, delicate hand: Madeline's hand. She was willingly touching him, even though his coloring and temperature must surely repulse her. At that point he also realized that his head was on her lap and that some of her hair had spilled from behind her shoulder and onto his chest. "Maddie…" he breathed; not having the strength to say anything else. His brain was too scrambled from the shock to use a mental link.
"Madeline." She warned, but then smiled. "Oh, J'onn, I was so worried." She shook her head and smiled slightly. "Are you alright?" she asked softly, looking for the first time at the burn on his chest.
"I believe so." J'onn whispered. "Where are Diana and Batman? And where is the creature?" he tried to rise, but groaned from pain and sank back down to where he had been.
"Batman is helping Diana, like you told him to before you got zapped. And the creature is over there nursing a compacted windpipe, thanks to yours truly." She joked lightly. When J'onn chuckled at her happiness for winning the fight, she smiled at the sound of his voice. Then a change in Batman's thoughts alerted her to his approaching. "Actually, take what I said about Batman and Diana back. Batman's helping Diana over here now."
When J'onn tried to sit up again, Madeline lightly placed a hand on his chest to stop him. "I will be fine." He assured her, and carefully pulled her hand off of his chest, but kept it in his hand. Madeline bit her lower lip, but nodded; she moved slightly to give him a more direct path to a vertical position. But as he stood, his knees began to give way. Madeline stood up quickly and wrapped her arm around his waist to try and keep him up. She added some of her mist to her efforts. "Thank you." J'onn whispered.
"Don't worry about it." Madeline smiled up at him.
Batman then crested the hill, Diana leaning on his shoulder with his hand wrapped around her waist; much like Madeline had hers around J'onn's. "A total of three down, I see." Batman joked darkly.
"But only one out for the count." Diana added wearily.
Batman nodded, but remained grave. "Let's get everyone back into the Javelin. Trix, do you mind getting our unconscious friend over there into the holding bay?"
Madeline gave him a mock salute with her free hand. "But let me get J'onn on first." Without waiting for an answer, she helped J'onn onto the ship. "Sit tight, I'll be right back." She added when she set him in his seat. She raced down the ramp, past Batman and Diana, and to the scene of her little victory. She lifted the unconscious creature much like she had lifted J'onn, but rather carelessly. Batman opened the holding hatch for her, and she threw the creature inside. She walked up the ramp and took a seat next to J'onn. She waited until the Javelin took off, stiffening a bit when it did, before she took a deep breath and turned to J'onn. "If you ever do something stupid like that again; I swear, J'onn, I'll knock you out myself."
J'onn chuckled under his breath, but nodded all the same. He sat back in his seat and leaned his head against the rest and closed his eyes.
All he could see behind the black of his eyelids was Madeline's face. And he didn't mind it one bit.
We're back!
Sorry this installment took so long, but school and stuff kind of got in the way.
And just so you know. Boily guy was of no real importance to the story, so that's why he didn't get a name.
So, do you think J'onn and Madeline have finally figures out what is between them? Have you figured out what's between them?
And if anyone was confused in the last installment; Em, or Emily Fredricks, is a character in a story that should be coming soon, "Underdog." And if anyone knows anything about Witchblade, then you know that Sara an Ian aren't actually married, but that is another one of our stories that will also be coming soon.
As always, reviews are cherished and always replied.
Sincerely,
C M + L W = idkaname
