{Bludhaven-Earth-128}
{July 26, 16:57 EDT}
"There...ish," Wally said, pressing an arrow key a few times as he scrolled across a satellite map of the Arctic tundra. "I think? Dick said it wasn't far from the waterline and was pretty heavy on the ice mountains."
"So long as you can find it and get a team in," Oracle said, listing out some co-ordinates on another screen. "I'll admit that we can't exactly track where he is at all times, but he does seem to completely vanish sometimes, especially after big fights, and we already know that he doesn't use Mt Justice anymore. The Fortress would be the best place to catch him off-guard."
"...and do what?" Wally asked uneasily, remembering the heaping pile of kryptonite that the Flash had handed over to Owl before heading off in search of Bluejay. Owl had asked for directions to Dr Stone's lab before running off with the case that had to weigh as much as him, while Iris gave a base-wide announcement for all combatants to take their weapons to said lab for kryptonite upgrades. Iris had left with Lois not long after, now apparently either trusting Wally alone with Oracle or as confident as Redbird was that the former Batgirl could easily kick his ass if needs be. Wally had sparred with his world's Batgirl a couple of times when she'd first joined the Team, before he and Artemis retired, and was pretty sure she'd still wipe the floor with him, wheelchair or no wheelchair.
The look Oracle gave him was sympathetic for a moment before turning serious. "We appreciate your help, Kid Flash, but I understand that this isn't your world or your fight," she said. "If we can capture Lord Superman, we will, but if we can't, we have to stop him. If you can't be a part of that, all I ask is that you don't get in the way."
"Oracle!" Lois called as she and Iris returned to the command hub, waving a memory stick. "We finished the latest broadcast!"
"Great," Oracle said, catching the stick as Lois tossed it to her and plugging it into the computer. "I'll send it off."
"Broadcast?" Wally asked in confusion.
"Well, it isn't really a broadcast, because that would be too easy for Lord Superman to hear and track," Iris explained. "It's really more of a podcast. The majority of people in the world aren't happy under the rule of an unstoppable dictator, but they're too afraid to fight. They need to know that somebody's fighting for them. They need hope."
"Letting the people know that the Rebellion's still kicking after that last battle and that we've got a new weapon that'll turn the tides will definitely give them something to hope for," Lois added, looking up at the map that Wally was scrolling. "We didn't say exactly what-Lord Superman used to have a lead suit that he'd wear when he knew he'd have to deal with kryptonite, and even though he can't fly or use heat vision while wearing it, he'd still be too dangerous to give up the advantage of using kryptonite. We're better off if we can take him by surprise, and there's always a risk that him or somebody who works for him could find the podcast. Balancing between giving people hope and not giving away valuable intel is a real tightrope…"
"It's what we do," Iris said, smiling at Wally. "Did you find the Fortress?"
"It's harder to find from the air," Wally hedged, stepping back from the monitors, "but I think we have an area we can search…"
"Are you okay?" Iris asked softly, stepping back with him.
Wally sighed. She might not be my Aunt Iris, but she's still Aunt Iris… "I just… I know he needs to be stopped," he said, gesturing helplessly, "but I just… I'm not okay with the idea of killing him, even though basically everybody's who's talked about him's brought up somebody he's killed or maimed or… am I just naive for not wanting to kill him? Do I just… not get it?"
"Oh, honey… no," Iris said, brushing his hair back from his face and cupping his cheek in a way that was so achingly familiar he could almost believe he was home. "It just means you're Wally. My Wally wants to do all he can to capture Lord Superman alive instead of killing him too. He keeps saying that killing somebody who was too powerful to be stopped was how it all went wrong in the first place-it can't be how we end it."
"Sounds like a smart guy," Wally said, grinning cockily. "Bet he's really handsome too, this nephew of yours."
"Absolutely," Iris said, elbowing him with a smile. "And he always does what he knows is the right thing, no matter how much other people say it's impossible, just like his uncle did, because just being a Flash is to be the impossible."
"Yeah," Wally said, feeling bolstered by his aunt's support, just like he always did. How are some people so… exactly the same when other people are so different? he wondered, looking over Iris' shoulder at the hard-eyed Lois Lane who spoke about Superman with hatred and pain. "This isn't my world, but I still wanna help. I just hope I don't screw anything up worse…"
"I believe in you," Iris assured him, "both of you. And you know what?"
"What?" Wally asked. Her smile grew sad. "Aunt Iris? Are you okay?"
"Mm," Iris said, tucking her hair behind her ear with a nod. "I just thought… you said that in your world, Barry's still alive. When he first met you-well, my nephew, I remember what a shine they took to each other, even before Wally knew Barry was the Flash. I used to joke that half the reason he'd married me was to get to babysit his favourite fan." She gave him a watery smile. "If you've gone missing from your world, he won't stop looking for you for anything. He's looking for you right now. I know he is."
"Well, I hope he hurries up," Wally grumbled, mock-indignant, just hoping to make Iris laugh and get that painfully sad look off of her face and the lump out of his throat. "I'd love to see the Justice League throw down with Lord Superman."
"Maybe your Barry's not exactly like mine was," Iris said with, thank God, a little laugh. "He was late to his own wedding."
{Watchtower-Earth-16}
{July 27, 03:42 UTC}
"Uncle J'onn?"
"M'gann," Martian Manhunter greeted his niece telepathically, not needing to look up from the monitors that they'd fixed on the North Pole to know that she was walking into the Monitor Room in full uniform, her hands folded behind her back and clutching her cape like she used to when she was nervous. She'd restyled her hair again-it was a little longer, but straight and tied back rather than wavy and loose as it had been the last time she'd had long hair. The shape of her face had changed again too, a little rounder and younger but not as she had looked before she adopted Gar as her brother.
J'onn preferred economy when shapeshifting-he only manifested hair when he was imitating a specific person, and generally did not change the shape of his body from the shape he'd first adopted to fit in on earth-but M'gann was always very purposeful in her shapeshifting. Consciously or unconsciously, she was trying to appear younger, softer… not dangerous.
"Is something troubling you?" he prompted after a long moment of silence. Part of him was loathe that he had to ask-he could sense her discomfort, but her mind was not open and mingling freely with others' as it was on Mars. She kept her thoughts to herself, and kept out of others', and while this was common courtesy when interacting with Terrans, he often missed that sense of true connection with others and it saddened him that she was no longer willing to connect with him in that way.
On the other hand…
"Are you alright, M'gann?" J'onn asked aloud, conceding to her hesitance to use telepathy.
His niece sighed unhappily. "Uncle J'onn… would I be allowed to stay on Earth if I left the Team?"
"Of course," J'onn said in surprise, "but why would you wish to leave the Team? You turned down League membership to remain on it."
"...I nearly killed him, Uncle J'onn," M'gann whispered. "Kaldur was one of my first friends on Earth, and I nearly killed him. I… I might have, if I hadn't seen in his mind that Artemis was alive. Maybe I would have." Her anguish was easy to feel even though she wasn't telepathically connected. "Even if he had killed her, that wouldn't have made it right for me to kill him like that, would it? I misused my power for revenge, just like the Justice Lords-!"
"M'gann," J'onn interrupted, turning to face her, "Stop. You are not like the Justice Lords."
"But…" M'gann said, chewing her lip, "I misused my powers so many times…"
"You did," J'onn allowed, briefly glad that they were not connected as the memory of a drooling, mind-broken Krolotean seeped into his mind. "Mightier heroes than you have not found the courage to admit when they have done wrong and seek to correct their mistakes, as you did when you risked your life to restore Aqualad. Refusing to accept that they had been wrong, or to take steps to fix it… that was how the Justice Lords compounded their mistakes into sins." He stepped closer to his niece, resting a hand on her shoulder, a human gesture that he'd come to truly appreciate as a show of support and affection. "I saw my other self's mind in that world, and it was cold, empty not only of Martian connections but any true Terran ones. The Justice Lords became insular, listening to no dissent and providing none, merely becoming an echo chamber of each other's excuses and justifications. By the time we met them, they could no longer face any suggestion that they had gone wrong or that the ends did not justify the means that they had taken, and we were almost completely unrecognizable to each other. They truly thought that we were weak and would be grateful, in the long term, for their interference. The issue was not so simple as Superman misusing his power, nor is it for you, but I do not believe that the answer lies in separating yourself from your friends and a positive use for your powers. Connections are what ground us all, and the more, the better."
M'gann looked up at him sorrowfully. "Are you… afraid, Uncle J'onn?" she asked. "Of becoming them?"
"We all are," J'onn admitted, letting go of his niece's shoulder and looking back to the energy signatures on the computer. "They coloured our actions for quite some time after the connection between our worlds was severed, and Lex Luthor's appointment as Secretary-General of the UN has been… troubling, in many ways. We can only remember their mistakes and endeavour not to make them ourselves."
"I nearly did…" M'gann said, sounding on the verge of tears.
"But you did not," J'onn said, perhaps more forcefully than he'd intended, going by the surprised look on M'gann's face. "Do not frighten yourself with what-ifs of people you are not. As you are now, you have made amends for your mistakes and seek to commit no more, and I could not be prouder of you."
M'gann's eyes were wide. "Really?"
"Really," J'onn said, returning to her side and opening his arms. Even without telepathy, she knew she was welcome and flung herself into his arms, hugging her uncle and sobbing into his shoulder. "Whether or not you stay on the Team, you are welcome on Terra, M'gann. I have never regretted allowing you to come here, and I am sure that I never will."
"Thank you," M'gann cried, hugging her uncle tighter. It felt like relief and gratitude.
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I've been a bit ill and in a bit of a writing mood this week, so this weekend I'm posting two chapters, especially since this one's very talky and the next one's got a bit more plot.
Somehow, over the past few years, one of my favourite character archetypes has become "sweet, kind, bubbly alien girl who is ridiculously OP". Looking at you, Starfire and Kara Danvers. It probably started with M'gann in Young Justice, though. I really loved her Season 2 plotline, and I love the M'gann M'orzz of Supergirl, too. She's not as bright or bubbly, but damn, she's got good reason not to be, the woman who finally said "no" to participating in war crimes and is off to start a rebellion even though chances of her surviving returning to Mars are slim (BUT SHE'D BETTER BE BACK, CW). I really need to catch up on my superhero shows-I haven't seen any since I got to Japan.
Also, why did Wally appear in the Lords timeline weeks after vanishing from the League timeline…? Speedforce. That's why. Speedforce means never having to explain a thing :3
