Breathless Chapter 8

******Closer******

******JLA Universe******

******Outskirts of Gotham City******

******Cave******

For a moment Alfred just stared at the unconscious form of the lovely, young lady uncomprehending, but only for a moment. Living with, and taking care of a detective of the highest caliber was not without its merits. One of these was that Alfred's already considerably intelligent, and sharp mind had become used to seeing Bruce's amazing detective skills in action. One thing that Bruce never did was rule out the obvious. It was the first to be investigated. So Alfred checked Miss Canary's ear.

He was glad that he did. She was wearing one of Bruce's communication devices. Alfred had tried for a while to contact Bruce with no success and had feared the worst, but hearing Miss Canary say that Batman needed help gave Alfred a sense of relief. He was still worried, but his confidence in his young master's resourcefulness, and the knowledge that he was running around with Superman eased his mind considerably.

Alfred left the room quietly after making sure that the young girl was comfortable, and walked over to, what he called, Bruce's Computer Central. He tried to contact him again. There was no response. He tried to contact Superman. His line was completely dead. That gave him an idea.

He tried to contact Bruce once more. Again there was no response. But the line was not dead. The signal was going through. He just wasn't answering.

Alfred turned Bruce's tracking system on. A satellite image immediately came up, giving Alfred his young, driven friend's location. Alfred sent the information to his hand held tracking device as well as to Batman's jet. As he turned to head towards the jet he was shocked to see the young Miss Canary, with her wig and mask back on, standing behind him. She was looking a little weak, but her arms were crossed in front of her chest and her pretty chin was jutted out in determination and defiance. Whatever it was that she wanted, she was not going to accept no for an answer.

"You're going after Batman, aren't you?" It wasn't a question as much as it was a statement. "I'm going with you. Did you get a hold of Superman?"

Alfred sighed, "I suppose telling you that you are in no condition for what we may face will not deter you from going so I will not try to stop you but Master Br…Batman will be very displeased with me for not insisting you stay behind. No, Miss. I was unable to contact Superman. His link was completely dead."

Dinah looked shocked, and scared for a moment. She couldn't believe that anything could have happened to Superman. He was just too powerful. What could possibly hurt him? She couldn't remember him mentioning anything about a weakness in the Daily Planet interview that she had read a few months ago. But then she had been more preoccupied with his picture. She had been thrilled to find out that he was only twenty-three years old. Not much older than her, and single. Of course Mr. Dreamy didn't seem interested, but he was very kind, and sweet. Dinah sighed, her thoughts turned to Batman. There was another beautiful man. He didn't act sweet like Superman, but he had certainly taken care of her and had treated her with respect. She thought of the contrast between his rough, dark voice, and his gentle touch. She remembered his last words, and couldn't bear the thought of never seeing him alive again.

Dinah looked back at Alfred. He was looking at her with concern. "If you are ready, Miss Canary, we need to get going."

"I'm ready," she said, straightening up.

She followed him determinedly onto the jet that had, just hours ago, carried her away from Batman to safety.

Alfred made sure that Dinah was secure, and comfortable then piloted the sleek jet out into the cold, grey of dawn to locate and bring back his young, driven, relentless, and beloved master.

******Syndicate Universe******

******Syndicate Satellite******

Ray felt nervous whenever he was on the satellite in the presence of any of the syndicate members, but not nearly as nervous as when he worked with Protex. Now that guy was creepy.

Today, however, he didn't feel so nervous. Well, he was nervous, but not about being around the Syndicate members. Not the ones present anyway. He was nervous because of the alien armada headed their way.

It seemed that the Syndicate was expecting him to come up with some invention that would destroy the invaders. But Ray didn't know what he could whip up in such a short space of time.

He sat in the lab on the satellite staring blankly at all of his old devices, and at his notes for all of his failed inventions as well as those that had been successful. He was trying hard to come up with something, but all he could think about was his newest tele-porter. There was something wrong with it that should be obvious to him. Somehow he was missing it.

His revenge on Owlman had not worked, and unfortunately, he was sure that Owlman would figure out that he was behind his disappearance yesterday, and come to exact his own brand of revenge.

He would have to find something. He needed an excuse, or reason to get back to the lab by Monday. He still wanted to send Ultraman to the Bermuda Triangle. He knew that Superwoman's home was located somewhere in that area, but no one had ever been able to find it. If Ultraman survived the ordeal, Ray planned on teleporting himself there. He was tired of being bullied by the Syndicate members, and of his wife's indiscretions. He needed a place away from everything, and everyone. He preferred that this place be populated with many beautiful women, like Superwoman, except that they would have never laid eyes on a man. Well, expect Ultraman.

Ray was sure that after meeting such a monster as Ultraman that they would readily accept a quiet, intelligent, and peaceful man such as himself. But for right now he had to focus on the task at hand.

******JLA Universe******

******Midwest******

"Oh, no way! Superman!" Wally was beside himself with excitement. His whole body sparked with energy.

Everyone present looked on in awe, and respect, or, in Batman's case, just looked on.

Superman was glad to see that Batman was alive, but he winced inwardly when he noticed his injuries. He walked over to him first. Batman straightened up from his squatting position next to the corpse of his would be killer. As he did so he placed the lead cylinder he held in his hand into a back pouch on his belt.

"I'm glad that you are alright. I'm sorry I couldn't get here any sooner. I ran into some trouble myself, and made some more friends." Superman explained. He looked at Batman curiously, "What did you have in your hand when you were looking at the dead guy's body?"

"A lead cylinder; does lead hurt you?" Batman asked watching Superman's reaction carefully.

"No. It blocks my vision, but it also protects me." Superman answered honestly. "I see that we have new friends," he said looking past Batman at the other four.

As he did so Batman pulled the lead cylinder back out of its pouch, and held it beneath his cowl close to Superman. There was no reaction whatsoever from him. It was both a relief, and a perplexing mystery. A relief, because it seemed that Superman, and his would be killer were not as alike as he had feared, and a perplexing mystery because there were still so many similarities.

So lead protected him; from what? Magic? Green Kryptonite? What was green kryptonite? He would have to ask him later. He was glad to be alive. Glad that Superman was alive. The strange break in communications earlier had worried him. Apparently, there were things, and beings that could hurt Superman, or at least give him a run for his money. There was a dead one at his feet, and four standing next to them with friendly smiles on their faces.

Batman sighed inwardly. He had made more acquaintances in the last several hours than he had made in the last ten years.

Wally was the first to reach Superman. "I can't believe it! This is way beyond cool! I'm Kid Flash! This is the real Flash! The big, scary, cool, green guy is J'onn, and this other green guy is the Green Lantern! And you know Batman? This has got to be the greatest day of my life!"

Superman and Barry both chuckled.

Hal started to laugh but then winced in pain.

J'onn looked on, intrigued by the young man's enthusiasm.

"It's a pleasure to meet you all. I've read about all of you except you, J'onn," Superman said smiling. He shook all of their hands and placed a friendly hand on Wally's shoulder. He turned to Batman.

"They saved my life," Batman informed him.

Superman's face took on a somber look, "Thank you all for saving my friend. I'm sorry that I couldn't come sooner."

Batman stiffened in shock for a moment, but only for the briefest of moments. He had not realized it himself until now, but he had come to appreciate, and respect Superman in the last few hours that they had worked together. While he wouldn't say that they were best friends after such a short time it seemed that it was enough for Superman.

However, based on what had just happened here, he hoped to get some answers from Superman about the man with the suspiciously similar powers.

"Well, he did singlehandedly save the family, and he took down seven, fifteen foot alien monsters all on his own. I figure it was the least that we could do," Barry answered with admiration.

"I wasn't alone at first," Batman responded.

"Where is Miss Black Canary?" Superman asked suddenly concerned. He felt a small twinge of guilt for not noticing that she was missing right away.

"Who?" asked Barry.

"Miss?" asked Hal. Hearing that there was a possible female hero transformed him into an extremely attentive and interested Green Lantern. He quickly forgot about his injuries, standing straight and tall.

"You have a superhero girlfriend? Dude. That is so awesome!" exclaimed Wally, looking at Batman with just a little more awe and respect than he had before.

Batman ignored the others, answering Superman's question, "She was injured. Not seriously, but I got her to safety before she was. After she was gone I tried to contact you then I was attacked by this man, and rescued by the others."

"I take it each of you had to deal with someone like this earlier," Batman asked.

The Flashes, Green Lantern and J'onn all answered in the negative.

Superman confirmed that he had indeed had to deal with a similar being. "The man I fought is dead as well. I didn't understand why at first, but now I suspect for the same reason that this one is dead."

"I scanned his mind when I arrived. It was controlled, and programmed purely for destruction," J'onn informed them.

They all looked at each other thinking the same thing. Hal voiced everyone's fears. "So we may have more of these guys to deal with. And don't tell me it would be best if we split up. Yeah. That is a great idea, since we had such an easy time taking this one down."

"Yes, it would be best if we split up, but now that we know their weakness, we have an edge, and they have to be stopped. It seems to me that everyone here held their own quite well against this monster, for not knowing what we were up against, or how to defeat it." Batman responded.

"Okay. Let's make sure the family is safe, the fire is put out, and the monsters that Batman took down are all dead. Then we each take a bit of lead with us back to our cities, and hunt these monsters down," Barry agreed.

"Hey! Maybe we should team-up to take these guys on. We have a better chance of surviving that way," Wally offered.

Superman nodded, and took to the air. He quickly blew out the fire while the Flashes and J'onn vaporized the remaining creatures. Green Lantern went to check on the family, and returned to where the others were already gathered around the Batman.

"The family is safe. They only saw Kid Flash and me. I believe that the police should be here soon. Seems our dead friend blocked the only road up to the house to give him more quality time with the family. You know for what it's worth, I like the Kid's idea of teaming up to hunt down the rest of…What are you doing?" Hal ended curiously, looking at the Batman.

Batman was bent over the corpse of their would be, killer. The four others were huddled around looking over his shoulder. As Hal drew closer, Batman straightened up. He looked satisfied.

"Lead is definitely toxic to this being. A sliver seems to kill a large amount of tissue in a very corrosive manner," Batman informed them.

"Well, that's disgusting, in a cool, creepy sort of way," Wally complained.

Batman spoke to Superman quietly, and handed him five lead cylinders. Superman nodded. The others watched in amazement as he molded the cylinders into daggers with his hands, and heat vision, then cooled them off with his freeze breath. He handed them back to Batman.

Batman handed one to each of the Flashes, to J'onn, to Hal and one back to Superman. Superman smiled and handed his back. "Thanks, but I won't need this. I'm all set in the lead department and I found that I didn't have any trouble taking down the one I ran into."

Batman made a face then handed Superman, and each of the others a new com-link. "If you find and/or engage another one of these beings, call for help. It seems this group doesn't lack for speed, so you'll have help in seconds. Remember we have no idea why these creatures are here so let's try and capture one without it killing itself."

Superman coughed nervously, "I'm afraid I know why they are here."

All eyes turned to Superman. "We're listening," Batman said tersely.

Superman continued, "The one that I fought spoke a form of Kryptonian. He said that, "They sought slaves, and death, and power. He said that it was me they sought, that he was just an experiment, that they had raped worlds seeking one such as me. He said that they would destroy everything that I knew, and loved, and that I would soon be either a slave or a corpse. He never told me who they were."

The others stared at him dumbfounded.

J'onn stepped forward first, "We will find out who this enemy is together, and we will defeat them, my friend."

Batman handed Superman back the lead knife, "You keep it. Maybe you won't need it, but it is good to be prepared."

Superman accepted the knife, "Thank you. You're right. I shouldn't be so cocky."

Batman nodded. J'onn interrupted, "I believe we have more visitors heading our way. I am unable to read their minds without doing them serious harm, so I do not know if they are friend, or foe, but they come through the air."

Green Lantern tensed. The energy from his ring crackled, and enveloped him. "I don't know if I'm up for a second round yet, but these guys are in for a big surprise," he said, as he gripped the knife a little tighter in his large fist.

"It's okay. They are my friends. They are here hunting the very creatures that we have fought, and they lost many men fighting the creature that I fought. They are warriors from Thanagar, and they will help us," Superman informed the others.

Hal lowered his fist, relaxing. The green energy around him disappeared. "I've heard of Thanagar. I was told that it has a very powerful military, but it has not tried to subjugate surrounding planets, or systems. If you say they are on our side then that's good enough for me."

The large sleek craft dropped gently to the ground. A moment later the back hatch opened, and five large, fierce looking men, and a small, beautiful, equally fierce looking, red haired woman emerged.

Superman flew to greet them. The six fierce faces were transformed into six friendly smiles as they greeted Superman. They conversed briefly then Superman introduced them.

Kator, Shayera, and the four remaining wingmen immediately accepted Superman's friends as their own.

Golin, Santor, Jorlan, and Morlan stepped forward giving the Flashes, Batman, and J'onn each an earpiece. Hal did not accept one stating that his ring would translate for him.

Batman was the most uneasy, and suspicious about putting the alien tech in his ear. He had no interest in subjecting himself to mind control, but he went ahead, and trusted Superman's word, seeing that the warriors before him exuded a fierce sense of honor and honesty.

Kator, Shayera, and the Hawkmen were intrigued with Superman's colorful friends. They had all heard of the Green Lantern Corps and Kator, Golin and Santor had met Green Lantern's before, but never a human one. All were intrigued with the Flash's incredible powers, and amused with the younger one's excitement, and energy. His red hair reminded Shayera of her brother Kantos, bringing tears to her eyes once more. She put her hawk helmet back on to hide the tears from their new friends.

Kator noted that the green one was even bigger than Superman. Like Superman he seemed to possess incredible physical power, and a gentle nature, but unlike Superman he seemed to exude the wisdom, and patience of one who had lived, fough,t and suffered a thousand lifetimes of tragedy. He felt instinctively that he could trust the green giant.

In contrast to J'onn's gentleness and acceptance, Kator and the Hawkmen sensed that the one called Batman was suspicious of them. He was colder than the others, but accepted them on Superman's word. He was human yet he was as large and as powerfully built as some of them.

The young, red haired Flash told them how the Batman had taken down the seven alien monsters on his own without any special abilities, before they had arrived to help with the Superman-like alien that J'onn had finally defeated.

Kator, and the Hawkmen looked on him with a new sense of respect. He was a warrior not unlike them. He was Superman's friend. He would be their friend as well.

Green Lantern explained to them that they had discovered the Superman-like alien's weaknesses. Batman gave Superman a couple more lead cylinders, speaking briefly with him.

Superman nodded, and offered to coat the hawk men's weapons with lead, as it was deadly to their enemy. Kator accepted.

Kator in turn told their new friends of the attack on his home world by the strange, and powerful armada of ships. The only identifying marks on the ships were spheres with flames coming out of them on their hulls. They had driven the invaders off after a long fierce battle, and his father had sent his group of elite wingmen to destroy the vessels that had been fired off from the retreating armada.

"We chased twenty one vessels. We were able to destroy fourteen before we entered your atmosphere. Another strange vessel seemed to come out of nowhere. This one also crashed somewhere here on your planet, but we were unable to track it. We focused on eliminating the threats we knew."

Kator continued, "We learned from our captive that the one who orchestrated the attack is called the Dark One, and that he enjoys conquering, humiliating, and annihilating those he attacks."

Superman nodded, handing the hawk men their freshly lead coated weapons, "That matches what the man we fought told me. We were about to split up and see if there are any more of these killing machines."

"My thoughts exactly," Batman agreed.

Superman heard Batman whisper some commands and give a hiss of frustration. "What's wrong?" he asked.

"I must have damaged my communicator during the fight. I can't get in touch with my ship or my, um, friend. Let me borrow the earpiece I gave you for a minute," Batman replied.

Superman handed Batman his earpiece then stopped, listening intently. "I think your ship, friend, and Miss Canary are on their way back. In fact, they're here," Superman informed Batman with a smile.

At Superman's statement all eyes turned up looking into the bleak grey of dawn to see the sleek black jet slowly settling down to the ground. Superman heard the familiar heartbeat of the Black Canary as well as a new heartbeat.

The jet landed, and the hatch opened almost simultaneously. Hal and Wally's mouths dropped open when they saw a beautiful, masked, blonde girl in fishnet stockings drop gracefully out of the hatch. She looked around nervously at all of them for a second, but her eyes lit up when she noticed Superman and Batman in the group of colorful men.

"You saved him!" she nearly screamed. She rushed to Superman and gave the strongest and longest hug she could muster. Superman hugged her back gently. She couldn't stop thanking him. She finally disentangled herself him and jumped up landing a kiss on his cheek.

Superman smiled self-consciously, and his cheeks turned red. "Actually they saved him," Superman confessed, indicating their four colorful new friends.

Dinah looked at them, and smiled cheerfully, "Thanks for saving my…For saving him," she recovered quickly as she walked over to Batman.

"How come I don't get a hug and a kiss?" Hal said it under his breath with a giant grin plastered on his face. The situation was getting more and more interesting.

"What are you doing? Why did you come ba..?" Batman was silenced by a finger over his lips, and a kiss on his cheek as Black Canary stood up on her tip toes.

"Thank you for saving my life," she said quietly, and sweetly.

Batman was at a loss as to what to do, or how to respond. Finally he gave a brief, nervous smile, which looked more like a grimace, cleared his throat and said, "Your welcome."

His com-link was back in his ear. "I see that you are well, young Master Bruce." Batman tore his eyes away from the Black Canary, and stared at his jet. He looked back at the Black Canary.

"I'm fine, Alfred. I apologize for not answering you earlier. I was unconscious for a while, and the com-link in my cowl is not working," Batman answered his longtime friend. He found he couldn't take his eyes off the beautiful, young, lady who stood smiling sweetly up at him.

He was a bit uncomfortable. Everyone was looking at the two of them. Superman, J'onn, and the Flash were smiling, the Thangarians seemed curious, and the Green Lantern, and the young Flash seemed to have lost control of their lower jaw muscles.

The Black Canary never took her eyes off of his face, what little of it she could see. She was still smiling at him. It appeared that she had forgotten about everybody else for the moment.

"Yeah, I brought your dad with me. He can fly your jet really well, but he doesn't fly it as fast as you do. You know he's really nice, but I hope that you have a lot more hair than he does. It is really cold out here. Do you think that you could take me home soon? I would love for you to meet my mother, and my uncles. Boy! I thought that they knew how to fight! Then I saw, or didn't see, how you took down that Mr. Freeze, and his thugs! That was amazing! I didn't realize it was you until I met you on the pier. One second they were all standing just waiting for me to blast them with my Canary Cry, and the next second they were all down! My uncles can fight really well. In fact they trained me how to fight, but none of them can move like that. They smile a lot more than you do though. Well, my Uncle Ted tries to be tough, and not smile sometimes, but he's like a big muscle bound teddy bear."

Dinah looked Batman over. "You know, you are taller than they are too, and you have even more muscles than my Uncle Ted." She stepped in close to Batman, shivering. "We should get going. I am freezing out here. Your dad doesn't have a coat, and he is waiting for you."

Without thinking, Batman wrapped his cowl around her, and pulled her close. "I can't leave yet. We have to clean up this mess, and then I, we, um, have to hunt down the rest...of…the...Am I missing something? Are we…?"

Dinah beamed, "I feel the same way. But before we start dating officially, and before you can call me your girl, you have to meet my mother. Then after we get her approval you can take me to meet your mom."

Batman never felt weak or unprepared. Until last night he had not lost a fight in the last three years, and he had spent much of the last fifteen years learning, and improving his fighting skills. But having the Black Canary this close to him, and speaking to him the way she did had him at a loss for words. There was something important that he had wanted to point out after hearing the report of the hawk leader, but he could not think of it. All he could think about was the beautiful girl snuggled up to him under his cowl asking him to take her home.

He did not know how to respond. At twenty-five, he had been in a few relationships. All had ended badly. Some would call him a womanizer, but he did not see himself that way. He had never slept with a woman just to use her nor did he plan to. He knew that the girls he had fallen in love with had left him because he could not keep dates, could not afford to take time to be there for them emotionally. His was a dedicated mission. He was at war. He could not afford to let himself fall in love, and lose focus. Innocents would die if his mind were not kept sharp. Secrets would slip, and one day the woman he loved would die because he had been focused on making her happy, and not on ridding Gotham of the ruthless criminals that infested it.

Batman was looking at Black Canary, but his mind was lost in thought. He had never been in a relationship with a woman who also fought crime. His focus came back to the masked, smiling, upturned face of the Black Canary. She was young, very beautiful, skilled, and gifted. Could he dare, or would it just end in tragedy; a tearful breakup or worse, a death?

"My parents are dead. So you cannot meet them," he responded quietly.

Dinah had a shocked look on her face, "They're dead? That's not your dad? I'm so sorry! Wait. Who is that? I think he thinks he's your dad. He was freaking out more than my mom does about me, but he was doing it quietly. He's really nice. I like him."

Batman stared hard at her for a moment. He felt dangerously close to smiling. She liked Alfred. She wanted him to meet her mother. "I'll take you home now, but I can't stay. I still have work to do. There are monsters out there still. I would like nothing more than to meet your mother, and fall in love with you, but I can't. In my world there isn't much room for happiness, love, or meeting parents. I would fall in love with the beautiful, glowing, woman that you are, and one day you would leave me. Believe me, I'm not good for you. I'm not good for anyone."

Dinah stared at him for a moment. She could sense the turmoil in him. He was scared. She was moving a little too fast. They weren't even dating, and he was already thinking about how she would leave him. "I am going with you to hunt down the monsters. You can meet my mother, and fall in love with me later. We'll see about the whole 'not good for anyone' thing you have going later as well. I'm going back to the jet to wait for you to be ready. It's actually just as warm in there as it is here under your big scary black cape."

Dinah disentangled herself from Batman's arms with a small smile on her lovely face. She turned, and trotted back to the jet. She grinned happily at all the gawking onlookers as she did so. As she was about to enter the jet she shouted over her shoulder, "Hurry up, Gloomy!"

The hawk men, Superman, J'onn, the Flashes, and Green Lantern all approached Batman. He was standing quietly staring at his jet. No one said a word. He suddenly seemed to come back from whatever faraway place he had been. His eyes focused on Kator. "You said there were seven ships you did not destroy, and that between you, Superman, and the rest of us we have eliminated two aliens with powers similar to Superman."

"That is correct. There are potentially five more of these super men," Kator answered.

Batman finished his thought, "We have Gotham, Coast City, Central City and Middleton to check. That's four cities. So where did the fifth one land?"

"We do not know. Let us focus on the ones we do know about, then we can dedicate all of our resources on finding the last ship, "J'onn suggested.

The others, including Batman, agreed. Superman offered to go back with Batman, and Black Canary. Golin, and Santor would go with Green Lantern, Morlan, and Jorlan would accompany J'onn. Kator and Shayera would accompany the Flash and Kid Flash.

Green Lantern encased his new friends in a green energy bubble, and sped off for Coast City.

J'onn flew off accompanied by the twins to Middletown.

Kator and Shayera took the Flashes with them in their ship to Central City.

As Batman was about to enter his jet, Superman stopped him. "I need to make a quick stop before I go back to Gotham. I should catch up with you before you, and Miss Canary arrive. Congratulations, by the way. She seems like a really nice girl."

Batman gave Superman a look that was a mix of suspicion and exasperation. "Fine, we'll meet at the pier where we fought the creature if you don't catch up to us before hand. And I have no idea what you are talking about."

Superman smiled innocently as the Batman entered his jet. He waited until the jet had taken off north, towards Gotham, then he sped south to Smallville.

******Syndicate Universe******

******Ivy Town******

******Wooded area outside of Ivy Town University******

Protex crawled slowly through the woods. He was stronger now than he had been an hour ago. The body of the hapless guard had ensured that. Still he wanted to put as much distance between himself, and Owlman until he had a few more meals. He usually hid the remains of his victims better, but right now he just wanted to survive. He would plan his revenge when he could again stand on his own two feet.

He stopped at the foot of a large tree to rest. He was breathing heavy. His head fell back; his eyes were staring off into space. As he stared blankly into its vastness his mind wandered.

He was back on Mars. He had been raised there. He had been told that it was not his original planet, but that his people had invaded, and defeated the natives. The natives were green. Amazingly they shared many of the same abilities. He had heard that the leader of the invasion had been able to siphon and drain the energies, and abilities of the green natives, and infuse them into himself,f and his soldiers.

The natives were physically strong, but had not been prepared for war, nor were there many trained for such activities. The invading armies had easily killed most of the men then enslaved the woman, and children.

There had been four cities that had resisted the invasion for a longer period of time. These cities had united their resources, and manpower. Their men had quickly learned the art of combat, and had fought fiercely, and desperately to repel the invaders. By the time Protex was old enough to fight, and brutalize the natives only two of the four cities remained.

A soldier-scientist had led the remaining natives. He went by the name J'onn J'onnz. He had developed many effective weapons against the white monsters that had invaded their peaceful home.

The leader of the green Martians had attacked the white Martians on many successful forays, rescuing prisoners, and killing many of the white invaders. This pattern continued for another forty years.

When Protex had finally acquired his own battalion he made a curious request of his superiors. He asked for permission to attack the city of J'onn J'onnz the next time there was a report of a white Martian convoy being attacked.

His superiors had agreed on the condition that he accept to take half of all the fighting white Martians with him for his planned attack.

The next planting cycle a convoy of five hundred white Martian soldiers with two hundred green Martian prisoners was attacked in route to an extermination pit.

Protex had been alerted and had sent in half a million soldiers against the city of J'onn J'onnz.

The soldiers had swarmed through the gates and over the walls. The sound of desperate battle and terrified screams could be heard outside of the city. Protex had smiled with satisfaction. The cruel smile had frozen on his face as a domed force field had suddenly appeared surrounding the city, and the whole city had exploded into flames.

The sounds of battle and terror disappeared, replaced with the dying screams of his five hundred thousand soldiers. There had been no Greens in the city, but they had been given the illusion that they were.

Protex snarled involuntarily at the humiliating memory, it had been the greatest and most one-sided victory of the green Martians, and it was not the last victory they would enjoy that day.

The convoy had been wiped out without the loss of one green Martian and as Protex had been in contact with his superiors, domed force fields had appeared over every white Martian city and military camp.

J'onn J'onnz had spoken to everyone telepathically. His deep and grave voice had demanded the immediate release of all captured green Martians or he would send all to a fiery death.

Protex and his twenty thousand soldiers had been in the wilderness, and so escaped the domed trap. He had stood by helplessly as his superiors rejected the green monsters demands and instead had begun to execute the green Martian prisoners.

J'onn J'onnz response had been immediate. All trapped in the domed force fields had instantly gone up in flames.

Protex had been beside himself with rage. He had calmed himself. He and his group had not been trapped. Obviously the green Martians did not know of his position and perhaps even of his existence, thinking him dead with all the rest of the white Martians.

Protex had reached out telepathically. Any green Martians that had been hiding would feel secure enough to drop their mental shields after the crippling one-sided victory their leader had given them.

There they were! In the red hills behind the leader's city there were fifty thousand green Martians. Only five thousand of those were male. Protex gathered his captains and gave them his orders.

Mental shields up, every single soldier invisible, they came upon the celebrating and unsuspecting green Martians. The green males had been dispatched quickly. Next they had silenced the old, leaving thirty five thousand females and children.

Protex had searched until he had found the female he wanted. He had been pleased to find her huddled with two young females. He had separated her from her daughters, and moved both the children and mother outside of the camp. His soldiers were given permission to do what they liked with the remaining females for an hour. After that time every last one was to be executed.

His soldiers had enthusiastically complied. The white Martians derived much enjoyment from the fear, terror, humiliation and pain of their victims. The white monsters had turned the hour they had been given into a banquet of horror for the green females.

Protex had made the female he had captured watch as her friends were violated, tortured and murdered before her eyes. He had feasted on her terror and turmoil, and had promised to spare her daughters what she had witnessed, if she cooperated with him. He wanted to know how her husband, J'onn J'onnz made the flame and nerve weapons. He promised to give her daughters to his soldiers if she refused, or if she lied to him.

The terrified green female had complied, and had told him where there was a small stash of the weapons hidden within their very camp.

Protex had been elated. He had directed a hundred of his soldiers to enter the last standing city to set the flame and nerve bombs. They were to enter the city invisible, and with mental shields up. Protex kept the triggers to the weapons.

When his soldiers alerted him that they had the weapons in place, he had smiled and set the weapons off, destroying the last green Martian city, every last inhabitant and his hapless soldiers.

Protex turned to his right side wheezing in pain. He wasn't healing fast enough. There was no way he would be in any condition to defend himself against Owlman if he showed up now. He needed another good meal, maybe two, or three. Then he would snap the arrogant human's fragile neck! He was seething with rage and humiliation. Sometimes he felt that he had been destined to a life of humiliation.

His mind went back to the last battle of Mars. The green Martians had, of course, sensed the disaster that had overtaken them, but Protex and his soldiers had, together, created a mental shield so that they could not be pinpointed.

Protex had waited until J'onn J'onzz and the thirty five thousand green Martians, that were left, appeared outside the last of the Martian strongholds. Then he attacked.

He launched what neurotoxins he had into the direct center of the group and his soldiers fired the flame bombs that they had at the edges of the group. Taking to the air, Protex and his soldiers attacked the remaining green Martians. There were only fifteen thousand greens left, of these many were in flames but they fought as though possessed. The torture, and humiliation they, and their loved ones had suffered at the hands of the invaders fueled their rage, and determination to finish the monsters off once and for all.

Both sides possessed immense strength, speed, flight, as well as shape-shifting, and telepathic powers. Both groups could become invisible, intangible, and could control their own mass. Plus, both had their sophisticated weapons. Both natural abilities, and weaponry were employed in the vicious battle. Protex and his soldiers had numbers and surprise on their side. He spotted the leader of the greens, taking down soldier after soldier with what seemed relative ease. He could not reach him at the time, so he had concentrated on those close at hand.

The battle lasted all day. Night came, and still it raged on. The flames of the two dying cities cast an eerie glow on the bloody, savage battle. No quarter was asked, none was given. Of the thirty five thousand green Martians that had followed J'onn, only twenty remained. The white monsters numbers had been cut down to thirty five. Both sides pressed the fight, wishing to annihilate the other.

The battle was over. Only J'onn J'onnz remained standing of the greens and Protex and three of his soldiers of the whites.

Protex had stopped the fight. "I have a gift for you J'onn J'onnz," he had hissed. A fifth white Martian had appeared with his wife, and two daughters.

"Before you die, I will allow you the pleasure of watching as we use, and then kill your family. In fact, I will allow you to choose which you would like to see go first. I promise that when we have finished with them I will personally take your life, but you, unlike your women, will die a slow death. I will make sure that it takes a whole cycle for you to expire," Protex had gloated over him.

"Allow me to touch my family and say good-bye, monster," J'onn had demanded.

Protex gasped in both pain and indignant rage at the memory. He had felt magnanimous in his victory, and in the utter humiliation that he had been about to inflict on his enemy. He had conceded, and released the three females to go to him. His four soldiers surrounded them as they hugged, and cried their farewells. The wicked grin of satisfaction, and victory had frozen on his face when he heard his enemy say. "You lose."

J'onn, his wife, his two daughters, and the four white soldiers disappeared in an explosion of flames. The explosion knocked Protex back, the flames scorching his mind and body. He burned, and it took him quite a while to quench the flames.

When the flames had finally been quenched he had passed out from the pain. When he awoke, he found that he was the last living being on the planet. The worthless green Martian had managed to steal his victory from him.

His thoughts came back to the present as he sensed someone coming. Then he heard two familiar, and dreaded voices.

******JLA Universe******

******Fortress******

Di-ana awoke suddenly. She was still alone in Superman's bed. She wondered how much longer her Superman would be. Standing up she walked naked out of the room towards the kitchen area. She was shocked, and pleasantly surprised to see Superman busily making a meal.

She rushed to him, and pressed her body to his from behind. He felt hard and a little colder than he had felt earlier, but she knew that outside it was freezing.

"I want you right now. I'm not going to wait anymore." She dragged him back to the living area and stopped. She knew she would not make it to the bedroom.

"Take me here on the floor. Show me why you are called Superman," she spoke huskily as she lay down on her back and opened herself to him. He stood stock still, staring at her as if uncomprehending.

Di-ana sighed. She had forgotten that he was a virgin. What a waste of such a beautiful body. But she was about to change all of that. He needed to be told what to do right now, but she was sure that before the day was over that he would be taking very good care of her.

"Get on top of me," she instructed.

Superman complied, but he did so by standing on top of her.

"NO! YOU IDIOT! Lay down on top of ME!" she screamed in exasperation and shock at his antics. Was he some kind of imbecile? He hadn't acted this way earlier. She had smelled, seen, and tasted his desire for her. Now he was acting like some stupid robot.

Superman again complied with her instructions. He lay down on top of her. However he was facing the ceiling, his hard body smothering hers.

"Turn around! Do you want me or not?"

Superman turned around. Di-ana reached down to feel his erection, and gasped in shock when she felt nothing. Nothing! She had seen his manhood just hours ago, and there was just no way that he could hide something like that, especially this close to her.

She pushed him off of her and sat up. She noticed that he rolled off of her with a clank. She studied him carefully. This could not be her Superman. This was a robot!

"What are you?" she shrieked at the thing lying on the floor.

"I am Kelex, at your service," came the reply.

******Bermuda Triangle******

******Deep in the Ocean******

The ship, that had brought the strange creature that Aquaman and Mera pursued, lay crushed and mutilated. Slowly, what was left of the frame began to bow outwards, until it finally broke away from the rest of the frame. Two large dark haired men emerged. They were seemingly unaffected by the extreme pressures of the deep. They spun around in the water taking in their surroundings then shot up, and away at tremendous speed from the ocean floor.

******Themyscira******

******Palace******

******Princess's Chambers******

Queen Hippolyta stared at her eldest daughter dumbfounded. What kind of dreams were the gods giving her?! She finally found her voice. She found that she was surprisingly calm for all the turmoil she felt inside. "It has been a long time since I have dreamed of a man. I have never dreamed of two men. The last man that I dreamed of betrayed me, and all of our sisters."

Diana looked thoughtful, "I know what happened Mother. I did not mean to frighten, or anger you, but I was given a vision, or dream of a man. I think it was a man. It may have been two men. The face was the same, and yet so different."

"Can you tell me what you saw in your vision, child?" the Queen asked Diana.

"It is not real clear, Mother. I have a sense that the first man was trying to kill us all, and take me, but I am not sure. His face was strong, and yet horribly cruel, angry, and there was madness in it. The second may have been the same man, but I do not think it could be because his face was gentle and kind and sad. I think that he was saving us. He was holding Donna's hand," Diana responded.

"What?!" Donna asked. She was extremely interested in the conversation this morning. She was wide-awake now, and was planning on going to the tournament with Diana and their guard later.

"Well, Diana. Let us hope that it was just a strange dream. We are great warriors, and protected by the gods. We need precious little defending, and none from a man. I must prepare myself for the tournament. Please join me at the arena when you are ready," the Queen answered. She hoped that her doubts and fears did not show in her voice.

Standing up she gave each of her lovely daughters a kiss and left the chambers to prepare for the tournament.

Donna bounced up and down in her chair with excitement. "Who do you think is going to win the contest today, Diana?"

Diana looked at her thoughtfully for a moment, and then answered her honestly, "The goddesses told me that I am supposed to win the tournament today and become the champion, and Mother told me that I should obey the goddesses, especially the ones that watch out for me."

Donna stared at her for a minute in shock. "How are you going to win it if Mother will not let you participate?"

"I will have to wear a disguise. I can wear a full-face battle helmet. That way no one will see my face," Diana answered.

"Yes. But mother will suspect when you do not show up for the tournament and she will stop it, and you." Donna pointed out realistically.

Diana was thoughtful for a moment, then her eyes lit up as the solution to the problem hit her. Both she, and Donna shared practically the same gifts. They could even both communicate with animals. There were a few differences. Diana was slightly stronger than Donna, but Donna always pointed out that it was because she was older and when she reached her twenties they would be evenly matched.

Another more glaring difference, in both Diana and Donnas' opinion, for very different reasons, was that Donna could imitate any sound, voice, or noise perfectly. Diana didn't understand why she wasn't given this gift as well but now she knew why Donna had been given it.

"We will tell the guard that you do not feel well, and that I am going to stay here to keep you company. You will talk to them through the door as if you were I. They will not disturb us if they know that we are safe in our chambers. I can sneak out the window to the armory and dress in regular non royal armor and join the tournament!"

Diana did not like lying but she felt she had to please her goddesses in this instance, and hoped that her Mother would forgive her.

Donna was pouting. "I was supposed to see the tournament. So now I am supposed to stay in here pretending to be you while you go and have fun?"

Diana did not like to see her little sister upset, so she explained again. "I had a vision last night. This one was after the one with the man or two men. The goddesses told me that I would become champion. This morning while I was bathing, they told me again. And I think that something is going to happen today that may be very bad, and you and I are going to save everybody. Well, and maybe some men are going to help as well."

Donna was no longer pouting. It had never in her life crossed her mind to question her sister. Diana never made up stories. If she did not know something she did not pretend to. Nor was Diana ever cruel or mean in any way to her. She knew she was not trying to keep her from seeing the tournament. She knew she was not making up her dreams. They lived in a fairy tale world where they saw creatures of magic and lore on a regular basis. There was nothing odd about one of them having dreams or seeing visions.

The tournament suddenly didn't seem that exciting compared to what Diana thought might happen. Donna smiled, "Very well, I will be you for the tournament," she said in her perfect Diana voice.

The two young girls embraced. As Diana went to the balcony she warned Donna to watch the skies for danger then she was gone.

Donna sat on her bed grinning. She just knew that today was going to be exciting.

******Diana******

Diana moved quickly and silently to the armory. The guard would be changing in the next five minutes. She waited until the guard changed then walked up to them.

"Your Highness." Both guards bowed.

Diana greeted them both by name, "Good morning Io, Dorcas. I need to borrow a suit of armor." Diana offered without lying.

"Of course, your Highness," both answered in unison. They opened the door for her.

Diana thanked them and entered. She quickly selected armor, a sword, shield, spear and a full-face battle helmet. She exited thanking the guards. These two would be on duty for the rest of the day, and so unable to nonchalantly inform anyone of having seen the elder princess.

Diana hid in the stables, and changed her garb hiding her clothes under some hay then made her way to the arena. Six hundred Amazons would be participating in the tournament. All highly skilled warriors with much more experience then she had. She prayed that the goddesses would truly guide her. She would not be able to use her speed, flight or strength this day. She would have to rely on her training.

Diana was now under the arena with all of the warriors. She was nervous. She could feel the tension, and excitement in the air. Every woman present wanted to win. There would be no easy victories.

The horn was blown signaling for the warriors to all come out to the sand of the arena. Diana was towards the back of the crowd.

She checked her sword making sure it was in its scabbard. She gripped her shield in her left hand, her spear in her right.

The gates opened. It was time.

Swallowing the lump of nervousness in her throat Diana trotted out behind her sister warriors to face, and salute her Queen, her Mother. Unaware, that today she would begin the greatest adventure of her young life.

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