Breathless
******Chapter Ten******
******Two More******
******JLA Universe******
******Middleton******
J'onn flew considerably slower on his return trip to Middleton. He had to in order for his new friends, Jorlan and Morlan to keep up. Not that these two were slow. A military jet would have been hard pressed to keep up with them. Their Nth metal wings lent them great speed, and protection.
The trip that would have taken him two minutes now took him twenty.
When they were over the crash site J'onn announced, "This is the place."
The three landed softly in the forest. The nth metal wings of the two hawk men instantly folded into a small neat bundle on the back of their harnesses. The mangled ship lay at the bottom of the crater it had created. J'onn could not sense another life inside, but he knew what kind of mind to scan for. He broadened his telepathic search and instantly touched the aliens mind. It was definitely weak, and under the control of someone, or something else.
"I've found him," he informed the twins.
Morlan and Jorlan each nodded that they understood. "Should we not check the ship for weapons and explosives?" Jorlan asked.
J'onn thought that would be a good idea. He grabbed a hold of the door, and ripped it from its hinges. He placed a hand against the outer hull, and was about to lean in but suddenly stepped back rubbing his hand, and staring studiously at the ship.
"What is it, J'onn?" Morlan asked. The brothers were tensed for battle.
"The ship almost feels alive. It seemed to want to catalogue me when I touched it." J'onn answered.
The twins looked at each other, "Why don't we destroy it? We have the appropriate explosives for the job. It is too dangerous to enter, and it may summon the alien back to see what has happened to his ship," Jorlan suggested.
J'onn agreed, and the brothers set to work putting together four explosives from parts in their utility pouches. When the explosives were set, Morlan set one magnetically just inside the hull without touching the ship itself. Then setting the magnets he tossed the other three in different directions deeper in the ship.
They motioned J'onn to join them deeper in the forest. Once they were several meters away Jorlan detonated the explosives. J'onn watched in fascination as the ship glowed blue then seemed to disintegrate before their eyes.
"That is impressive technology," he commented. "It would have served my people well in the war against the white Martians."
The brothers glanced at J'onn. He had a faraway look on his face, lost in the past, in a life he could never return to.
For the briefest of moments J'onn felt the caress of his beloved wife as she touched his cheek. He heard the laughter of his two daughters as they tackled him to the ground demanding his attention. He, once again, felt the intimate connection as he and his wife joined physically and spiritually.
It was the approach of the alien they sought that brought him back to the present. He turned to his two new friends, "Our enemy approaches. I will mentally shield you so that he cannot detect you. I beg that you do not intervene unless you see that I am in danger. I plan to take this one alive, and I do not believe that our weapons will be necessary."
The twins seemed taken aback but agreed to J'onn's plan.
J'onn turned, and floated up into the sky, facing east, "Remember. You will not be visible to him."
Jorlan and Morlan waited, tensed for battle. With every fiber of their being, they wished for an excuse to attack, and kill the alien. But they took control of their emotions, and waited to see what J'onn would do.
Without any kind of warning, the alien appeared floating before J'onn. The speeds at which these aliens, Superman, J'onn, the Green Lantern, and the Flashes could move were mindboggling to the hawkmen.
There was a look of sadistic satisfaction on the alien's face. They noticed that J'onn did not try to either flee, or engage the man. Instead he held up a hand in a sign of non-aggression, and spoke calmly to the alien.
"I know that you are here against your will, my friend. I do not wish to engage you in battle nor do I wish you harm, but I will not allow you to harm another innocent life." J'onn reached out with his mind gently touching the mind of the alien. He was horrified with what he saw.
"You have suffered much. In this, we are brothers. Let me help you be free of your tormentors."
The alien's sadistic smile disappeared. In its place was a look of confusion. He seemed to be struggling with himself. His hands went to his head, and he let out an audible groan.
J'onn moved to his side touching his shoulder gently. The twins sensed treachery, but J'onn was no fool. The alien tried to strike out at J'onn with his left fist.
J'onn moved with equal speed. He caught the fist then he struck the alien's already weakened mind telepathically. The alien instantly went limp in J'onn's arms.
******Syndicate Universe******
******Woods Outside of Ivy Town Collage Campus******
Hearing both Ultraman, and Owlman in the woods close by, Protex panicked. There was no way he could fight Owlman in his present condition let alone Ultraman.
Going intangible he sank into the ground, and moved as fast as he could, which wasn't very fast at all, away from the two hunters.
He needed to get back to the lab if possible, but for now he just wanted to stay alive. When his strength returned he would again journey to the parallel earth, and reacquire Superwoman. He had no plans of ever returning to this plane of existence.
He reemerged, still intangible, at the bottom of a thickly forested hill. Staying well inside the tree line where there was little snow on the ground, he rested again. He reached out passively with his telepathic powers to get a sense of where his would be killers were.
He was satisfied to see that they were not headed in his direction. He could heal on his own, and usually quite quickly, but having taken so much punishment from the alternate Ultraman, and then from Owlman he would take longer to heal. Perhaps it would take a few hours. He knew he could speed up the process if he could get a hold of another human, even an animal would work. But if he killed he would instantly be found out by the two who searched for him.
For now, he would just have to hide, rest, and be patient.
******JLA Universe******
******Approaching Central City******
Despite the horrible treachery, and the loss of so many trusted friends the day before, Kator found himself dangerously close to smiling. Not only had they made valuable new friends, but they were all quite fascinating as well. He and Shayera found that the two Flashes, who were both currently sharing their ship en route to the place known as Central City, were very easy company, and very amusing. They felt as if they were in the presence of old friends.
The Flash and Kid Flash, as they referred to themselves, were both good-natured, and very different from one another in personality.
The bigger one, dressed in the red outfit, was quiet, curious, and analytical. He had already figured out what controls were for different weapons, and would probably be capable of flying the craft himself in another few minutes. He and Kator had already formed a plan of attack should there be another Superman like alien awaiting them when they arrived.
The Flash had stated that during their encounter with the alien, he had been able to knock him off his feet by transferring a powerful dose of kinetic energy to him. He figured he could repeat the action again, but this time punch him with the lead blade Superman had made for him. He thought that would knock the alien unconscious.
Kator liked the plan. He, Shayera, and Kid Flash would be ready to intervene should the alien be too much to handle.
He glanced back at Shayera and Kid Flash. The younger Flash was definitely a boy. He was already taller than Shayera, and quite lanky. It was painfully obvious that he was going through puberty. His voice cracked at just the wrong times, and he was all limbs. It didn't seem to bother him though. He had Shayera smiling ever since they had boarded the craft.
He was curious, tireless, and full of questions. He never shut his mouth. It seemed to move even faster than his thoughts, or at least just as fast.
"So what is this button for?" Wally asked.
"We call it our zoom button." Shayera replied with a smile.
" Zoom? Like go faster zoom? Or like get a closer look at the nude beach zoom?" Wally was absolutely serious.
"It punches us into a speed portal when the proper destination has been calculated or preprogrammed in to the navigation system. Nude beach? What is that?" Shayera asked somewhat curious. She thought she new what nude meant, but she was not sure of the significance of a beach, or what it had to do with speed.
"Oh, cool! Like warp speed on Star Wars, it so cool that this sort of thing is real, and not just fantasy. Nude beach? That's where people go to swim if they're really poor, and don't have any bathing suits, or if they lost their bathing suits, or if they just never bothered to buy a bathing suit."
"Me. I think I might not ever buy a bathing suit. That way I can tan all over evenly. Tan lines are kind of gross. My dad always has tan lines from doing yard work, and it looks pretty disgusting when he takes his shirt off. Actually he's my step dad. He has a big gut cuz he drinks a lot, and watches football all the time. He's kinda mean to me, and really mean to my mom so I'm glad he has nasty looking tan lines. I don't live with them anymore. I live with my aunt now. Well. Not anymore, cuz she died. We still don't know who, or what killed her, but my uncle Bar…um, The Flash, and I are gonna find out, and when we do he'll be sorry." Wally found himself falling emotionally. He did not know why he had just shared such personal information.
Shayera stepped forward and gently took hold of one of Wally's hands. "I am sorry for your loss, and for your pain. It is something that I now share with you, but would never wish it on anyone. Let us pledge to be here for one another. I have found that good friends have a way of lifting our spirits when we are down. "
"I'm sorry. I know you don't wanna hear a sob story. I don't know why I shared that. I'd give you a hug but I know that it might not be appropriate with me being a guy and you a girl…well actually it would be a lot more appropriate than me being a guy and you being a guy unless you were my dad, or brother, or best friend, or you know, something like that. Anyways you already have a boyfriend. Yeah. That's what I was trying to say before about me being a guy and you a gir…Hey!"
Shayera shut him up with a hug. She pulled the lanky, red headed boy, into a hug, and held him tight. She felt the sadness of his heart. She let her own sadness surface as well. She cried quietly as she both sorrowed, and attempted to comfort her young new friend.
Wally was taken by surprise by the Hawkgirl's action, but found himself weeping silently as well, as he returned the warm hug "Thank you. You're really kind. I hope that we can all be friends for a long time. Like the rest of our lives."
They held on to each other for a little longer then disentangled. Both felt better, but Wally was almost instantly back into awkward mode.
"Hey. Do you have anything to eat or drink or maybe both here on the ship? I'm starving. It's all the running around my uncle and I do. And I don't mean running around like doing errands, you know. It's more like catch this robber, stop Captain Cold, the Weather Wizard is trying to take over the planet. Hey look there's a fire breathing monster in our park! That sort of thing. I have to refuel a lot cuz I use so much energy."
Shayera found herself grinning. The boy was so full of life. "Yes, Young Flash, we have food and drink on our ship. We too need to eat and drink." She pulled a small package from a compartment, and produced a cup. Ripping open the package, she poured it into the cup then added a drop of clear liquid from a vial she produced from her pouch. Wally thought of it as a hawk pouch.
"Try this. I think it will provide the sort of refueling your body needs." Shayera smiled.
"Oh, wow! What is this drink called? It is really deep blue." Wally was fascinated with the color and the flavor. It tasted so good. it didn't seem like some MRE.
"It has some water, electrolytes, vitamins, proteins, and fat. It is concentrated, high energy. Something we always have in large quantities for missions such as the one we are currently on." Shayera answered.
Wally loved the drink, and thought the invention fantastic. I feel like a million dollars already, and I'm still drinking!" Wally's eyes wandered to the console where Shayera sat. "What's that button for? Lasers?"
"That button is for activating our main tracking system." Shayera answered with a smile.
"That is very cool!" Wally observed. "You have a lot of cool looking things on this ship. How many weapons does the ship have?"
"Most all of our ships have several weapons systems. This particular ship is very well equipped for interstellar travel, space battle, search and destroy, and search and rescue. Since we are equipped for battle we have a pulse laser cannon, which was badly damaged earlier, several nth metal missles, some mines, a gravitation ray, and heat ray. We are currently working on a freeze ray, but haven't been able to come up with a sensible working model for an interstellar ship like this one.
"So like Superman's heat vision heat ray? Very cool. I think Superman can freeze things with his breath! Maybe he could help you make a freeze breath laser!" Wally chuckled at the idea. Shayera did as well.
Do you think the main pulse cannon can be repaired? If you do maybe my uncle and GL and J'onn, you know, the big, cool looking green guy, Superman, and Batman and his girlfriend can all help you repair it?
"That would be acceptable. We have some very amazing scientists and engineers, but any help would be appreciated." Shayera agreed.
"How fast does your ship go when you are not jumping through space using your zoom button?"
"We can travel at very high speeds through space, but most of our space travel is done by jumping from one point in space to another, it is a sort of other dimensional travel. We plug in coordinates, chart our course and make the jump. It protects us from flying through stars, asteroids, planets, and other obstacles. In close proximity to a planet we can travel at very high speeds. We traveled without the aid our other dimensional technology for a small portions of our trip here." Shayera explained.
"That is way cool. It's just like Star Wars! What?! You've never seen Star Wars? Well. I know you're from another planet, but Star Wars is from another galaxy far, far away. I thought maybe you had seen it way before I did. Not because you're old or anything, cuz you definitely don't look old. You look about as old as Batman's girlfriend. It's just that I thought maybe on your planet the movies come out faster than they do here on earth."
"I think I would like to see this movie you speak of. It does sound as if some humans know about space travel." Shayera agreed.
"Is there a place called Brazil where you come from?" Wally had to ask. Shayera was so pretty, he hoped there were more like her. He was wondering if perhaps he was meant to fall in love with a space Brazilian.
Shayera grinned. She couldn't imagine where this was going. "I have not been everywhere on Thanagar, but I have never heard of a place named Brazil on our planet. Why do you ask?"
"Oh, I was just curious. I saw this magazine once; it had a lot of girls in it from this country named Brazil. The girls were all on a beach and they had bathing suits on. Well, most of them had bathing suits on. Anyways, it said in the magazine underneath one of the pictures that the most beautiful women in the world were from Brazil. I hope that one day, I can meet one. I want to marry the most beautiful girl in the world. I would be really nice to her and it wouldn't matter to me if she could afford a bathing suit or not. But since meeting you, it just got me curious. You know, maybe I will end up marrying a space girl. I would treat her like a princess."
Shayera found herself giggling. This young one had no trouble jumping from one thing to another. He seemed to think and speak as fast as he could move. "I see. That is interesting. It may be that you will end up marrying, I imagine that is like our being joined, a space girl. If you do, you must promise to be nice to her." Shayera patted his hand.
Wally kept talking "My uncle was really nice to my aunt. I never heard him shout at her, and he always opened doors for her and took her places and she always seemed really happy. I'm gonna be like him. He's really smart too. I'm not that smart. Not like him, but he says I am and that I just have to finish school and never let my brain get bored."
From the way that the larger speedster carried himself, spoke, behaved, Shayera was sure that he was a gentleman and a good role model for the young boy.
"Oh, I was wondering. Do your wings come off? They look like armor." Wally once again jumped topics.
Shayera smiled. "Yes they do, and yes they are." She undid the harness that kept the nth metal wings strapped tightly to her body.
"Oh wow! They do come off! Can you still fly without them?"
"Nth metal is what allows us to fly. It also enhances our strength. All Thangarian soldiers wear nth metal armor while on duty. The nth metal belts we wear enable us to defy gravity. It enables us to jump higher and farther than normal. We are able to float up into the air, but the design, and technology in our wings is such that we are able to greatly control our movements, and speed while in the air." Shayera explained. "We use nth metal as armor because it is very durable, and nearly indestructible. When we are armored up we can withstand, and survive most types of attacks. Our wings can fire off small nth metal blades while in battle as well. It makes a Thangarian warrior quite formidable. If only it were able to protect us from everything." Shayera was far away again, at the frozen north, battling alongside her brother. It was a moment she would relive the rest of her life.
Wally saw that Shayera was, once again, far away. It was something he and his uncle Barry found themselves doing often since the murder of his aunt Iris. He knew where she was, and he kept a respectful silence. He busied himself with studying, and feeling the nth metal wings. They were light, strong, and a dull grey color. He wanted to try them on, but decided he would ask at a later time. Looking up he saw that Shayera was smiling at him.
It appeared she had read his mind. "Once we are done with our mission, you may try them on if you like." She stated gently, and quietly.
Wally smiled back. "Thanks".
"We're here." Kator called over his shoulder. Shayera and Wally joined Kator and Barry at the front of the ship.
Kator cloaked the craft as they arrived over Central City Central Park. It was still dark in this part of the country. Kator left the craft in autopilot, and hover mode, then he dropped out with the Flash, and Shayera dropped out with Kid Flash. They landed near the small crater created by the alien craft.
The park was deserted.
Kator and Shayera immediately took to the air, their pulse rifles at the ready along with their lead coated energy blades and maces. The two of them could see perfectly well in the dark.
The Flashes zipped to the crater. Wally disappeared after a moment into the underbrush while Barry studied the alien ship very carefully. He had a light stick that Kator had given him on the ship.
After a few minutes the young one reappeared suddenly. He seemed a bit disappointed. "It doesn't look like anything else came out of there Uncle Bar…I mean Flash."
The Flash looked up at him and smiled, "I think you're right son. I don't believe anything else was in this ship either. But the ship seems to be almost alive."
Kator and Shayera landed next to the two of them. The Flash turned to them, "I do not believe that there was another being on this ship. There are no signs of anything else having left it, and no room on the inside for another body. The ship however seems to be alive, or at least it has a very sophisticated computer system. I suspect it is trying to read me, but I move too fast for it. I think I should destroy it, but I'll run it by Batman first unless you two have any objections."
Kator and Shayera agreed with him.
Tapping the com-link in his ear, the Flash relayed his information to the Batman. His three companions saw him listen, and nod his head a few times then he disconnected.
"Batman doesn't have a problem with us destroying it. He figures, like I do, that the less homing beacons we have here the better for our survival. Apparently his team has a ship that he is keeping to study and make weapons from. He said not to worry. Superman has disabled the computer and detection system on the ship that they found. Unfortunately, it seems that he was scanned before he destroyed it.
Kator and Shayera nodded grimly.
"So it looks as if the our enemy may come here next. I will contact home, and request that my father send help." Kator promised. "We have explosives that will completely annihilate the ship."
"That's okay, Kator. Save your explosives. I can destroy it with no problem." Barry said to Kator. "But you two and Wally should stay clear just in case I'm unable to contain the explosion."
The Flash touched the outer hull of the ship. He could feel it trying to lock onto him. He vibrated his hand while still in contact with the hull until he felt the metal of the ship responding to his touch on the atomic level. He increased the speed of his hand until he felt the ship begin to vibrate.
Kator and Shayera moved to the other side of their ship out of sight of the alien craft.
Wally stayed near his uncle, to give him a hand if need be. He watched fascinated as the ship began to vibrate and hum to the tune of Barry's attack.
The Hull of the ship began to glow red, then it gave a violent shriek of protest.
Barry yelled out, "Clear!" just as the ship exploded.
******JLA Universe******
******Coast City******
Hal, Golin, and Santor floated over the beach where Hal had battled the yellow monster that had ruined his date the day before. It was still dark here on the west coast. They had arrived mere moments after leaving the group back at the Midwest farm, encased in the energy of Hal's power ring. The two hawk men had met Green Lantern's before in their space travels, but had never experienced the amazing power rings energy. They were impressed.
Able to see in the dark, they carefully scanned the sky and their surroundings for an attack from the enemy. After having fought the grueling, and losing battle against the one in the arctic, they were itching for a rematch.
While they watched for an attack Hal scanned the water with his ring searching for the ship that had brought the creature to this very spot the day before. The ring locked onto the ship, and beeped informing him.
"Is there anything or any being still in the ship, Ring?" Hal asked.
The ring responded with, "Scanning." After a moment it came back with, "There is no life aboard the ship."
"Is there any life form or forms in the city or surrounding area like the being we fought earlier?" Hal elaborated.
"Scanning." A long pause. "There is a being matching the abilities of the being fought earlier floating in the clouds above the city, watching us right now."
Hal felt a chill run up his spine. "Golin! Santor! He knows we're here, and he's watching us!"
Hal covered them in green energy. "Okay guys. I know you want a piece of him more than I do but let me engage him first. I'll hold my own against this joker then you guys bash him with your lead coated maces or swords and we'll have our prisoner."
Santor and Golin conversed quickly in Thangarian. Hal was about to have his ring translate for him when Golin handed him his mace. "Take this my friend. We cannot move at the speeds that you two will be moving in a fight and there is no guarantee that we would be able to intervene on time to save you if we have to. I would suggest attempting to communicate with him and avoid a fight if at all possible. If you cannot avoid a fight we will do all in our power to help you defeat him."
Hal looked at Golin and Santor with respect, and smiled disarmingly, "New plan of action. Try my hardest not to piss the ridiculously tough alien off by talking nicely to him. Maybe when this is all over the four of us can sit down and have some tea and share some laughs together."
Hal handed Golin his mace back, "Keep this. I have a lead knife, my ring, my looks, and an amazing way with people. Besides if I show up to talk to the big guy holding your mace in my hands, I have the feeling the conversation would be extremely short."
Golin accepted his mace. Both hawk men looked at Hal with concern and apprehension.
"I hope you know what you're doing my friend."
"Me too," Hal replied. "I'm gonna make you invisible with my ring. So as long as I'm conscious he won't be able to see you. Don't worry. You're gonna love being invisible. You get to see things you wouldn't believe. Okay, see you in a few minutes hopefully."
Hal pulled away from the two-concerned Hawkmen, "Ring. Make Golin and Santor invisible to the alien and everybody else as well."
"Hawkmen are now invisible," his ring replied.
Satisfied, Hal turned and flew at a non-aggressive speed above the city to the spot where the alien floated.
This one was just as tall as the one he had fought but a little thinner. The face looked cruel yet the eyes seemed a bit lost. All in all he was quite scary looking. A good two inches taller than him, maybe a little more. He reeked of raw power. Hal decided that if it came to a fight he wanted to avoid getting punched in the worst way.
The alien said something to him. The voice did not sound like it belonged to him.
"I'm a Green Lantern. I'm sort of like a space cop. This planet is my home. I'm pretty sure you didn't come here of your own free will so I don't want to fight you, and I just wanted you to know that if you'd like we could grab a burger, or a hot dog down at one of the stands close to the beach. Well, I guess we couldn't right now cuz it's still dark but we could take a stroll down by the water if you like, or we can stay up here. It doesn't matter to me, but we do need to talk."
The alien spoke again in a strange language. The voice was still creepy and everything about the man screamed imminent danger.
"Ring. Translate for me." Hal commanded.
"Alien says that he is going to enjoy ripping you in half and that soon your world will be enslaved to the Dark One."
Hal did not like where this was going, "Ring can you scan his mind for some kind of mind control device or chip or something? And while you're at it, if he attacks me, I need you to move me at least as fast as him and let me focus and see everything that is going on. Oh, and one more thing. Make sure that you shield me better than you did earlier tonight. I'm still in pain from the butt whoopin I took from this guy's buddy."
Hal's ring responded with, "Affirmitive" and "Scanning".
Hal smiled sweetly at the evil looking face, "Hey, it's cool. We all get angry about something every once in a while and we say things like that and I know it sucks that your space car is under water and probably ruined. Did you just get leather seats or new rims or something?"
The alien smiled wickedly and balled his fists. They seemed ridiculously large to Hal, and he had large hands, himself.
"Mind control device located," the ring stated.
"Can you destroy it or nullify it without hurting our good budd….Ooooofffff!"
The alien slammed into Hal, grabbing him around the torso and speeding towards the ocean.
Hal could feel the ring encasing him in energy. Just before they hit the water he willed the energy surrounding him to violently expand out, breaking the alien's grip and freeing him of his hold just as the waters of the Pacific swallowed them both.
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