6 Justice League Family Affairs

"Hello Mary." Supergirl's agitation was plain to see. Ray had warned Mary that Kara had figured out about her excursions to Bailya. The secret had been blown but Billy and Courtney still didn't know that she was under Black Adam's tutelage. The look in Kara's eyes said that was about to end.

"I think we should discuss this in private. Barbara will talk to you about it as well." Mary offered.

"I don't know how you managed to drag Barb into this but I'm going to find out." Supergirl vowed.

"I didn't drag anyone anywhere." Mary calmly replied, "As I recall you just decided to butt in."

"Excuse me but what are you talking about?" Captain Marvel asked. Stargirl still rested comfortably in his arms, half asleep.

"Only that…" Kara began.

"Don't do this." Mary pleaded.

"…Mary is taking morality lessons from Black Adam." Kara said with a nasty smile.

"Mary?" Captain Marvel was stunned.

"Say what?" Now Courtney was wide awake.

"Mary, are you really taking lessons from Black Adam?" Marvel asked.

"Yes, but…" Mary began.

"What's he like? He's always been so mysterious." Courtney enthused.

"Well, I really couldn't…" Mary tried to keep up with the conversations.

"So, how did you drag Barb into this?" Kara demanded to know.

"She volunteered." Mary was getting hysterical now.

"What can Black Adam teach you anyway?" Kyle wondered.

"It's kinda complicated. He's showing me…" Mary almost got through this answer before her brother thundered, "No! You can't see him! He's evil."

"No, he's not!" Mary yelled back, "He's just been…"

"A mass murderer?" Kara snidely asserted, "You do realize that Black Adam kills people?"

"Only when…" Mary began.

"Can you get me an autograph?" Courtney wanted to know. Captain Marvel glared at her. "What?" she asked.

"You're going to become a killer, just like him!" Kara accused at the same time that Marvel commanded, "I absolutely forbid you to see him anymore. I'm still Captain Marvel and you're just Mary Marvel."

"Stop it!" Ray shouted. "This has gone far enough." Kyle insisted at the same time.

"You need to…" Kara said as Captain Marvel started to say, "You can't…" While Courtney began again, "Couldn't you just…?"

Mary screamed, "Enough!" and she leapt into the sky and flew away faster than the eye could see.

"I'll…" Ray began but Apache Chief put a restraining hand on his shoulder.

"You've done enough. You all have." Apache Chief said disdainfully, "It would do you all some good if Mary did not speak to you again for quite some time. It would be a fitting punishment." He turned to Ray, "Come with me and we shall discuss ways of comforting her." They walked off leaving the offending quartet behind.

"What'd we do?" Courtney wondered. Kyle swatted her upside the head. She frowned, "Hey! What'd I do?"

"Think about it." Kyle said, "What if it'd been you?"

Courtney's eyes went wide, "Oh."

Kyle grimaced, "Exactly."

Captain Marvel and Supergirl were conspicuously silent.

The EMT's had bandaged Vigilante up and he was putting the remains of his uniform on when Vixen sauntered over, "You know, you could just run around in your skivvies. It'd give the paparazzi something to shoot."

"Ah wouldn't give those durned vultures the satisfaction." Vig replied.

"Too bad." Vixen winked at him, "How you doing?"

"Ah'll live but they tell me as soon as the painkillers they gave me wear off Ah may not want to." He reported.

Vixen frowned, "The docs back at the Hall of Justice should fix you up."

"Ah know. I just never thought that Ah'd ever be grateful to go back to Brooklyn." He chuckled, "Y'know, this here might put a damper on our weekend."

Vixen wore a mischievous smile, "It just means we'll have to get more…creative."

"Ah shudder to think." He quipped.

"Oh trust me. The next time that you shudder it won't be from thinking." Vixen promised.

"Ah think the sit-ee-ation is rife with possibilities." Vig practically swooned just from the concept.

Vixen's smile was reflective of her lascivious thoughts, "That's the spirit Cowboy. Now c'mon, let's join the others."

Back at the Hall of Justice, Oberon turned to face Sue, "Vigilante's team called a 'no joy' and is waiting for Jake to pick them up. Wildcat's team has been recalled and now I'm waiting for a coffee break."

Sue nodded, "Sounds like a plan. I think I'll join you. Can you manage L-Ron?"

"But of course I can." L-Ron said with a brogue.

Sue and Oberon stared at him. He looked at them both, "You don't like my paraphrase of Sean Connery as James Bond?"

"No." they both flatly said in stereo. Oberon perked up and held up a finger as he started to say, "Ji…"

"Say it and I'll flatten you." Sue growled, "It's bad enough that Fire's on that kick. We don't need you doing it too."

Oberon looked thoroughly chastised as he offered, "How about one of my world famous espressos?"

"Now you're talking." Sue replied.

"It won't be too much caffeine for the baby will it?" Oberon worried.

"Oberon, my little girl is going to be a barista after she's born." Sue chuckled, "C'mon, let's try out your espresso. L-Ron, we'll be back in a few."

"Take your time." L-Ron called out as they exited the monitor room. L-Ron took the opportunity to pull up Mary's tracker location. Her unexpected high speed flight out of India had alarmed him. Her locator listed her as being at Barbara Gordon's loft. He patched himself into the phone lines and called Barbara.

Barb's caller ID registered that it was L-Ron and she picked up, "How can I help you, L-Ron?"

"I know Miss Mary is there. May I speak with her?" he asked.

"Are you calling on Kara's behalf?" Barb wondered.

"No. Should I be?" he asked with obvious confusion in his voice. Barbara was always amazed not only with his emotional range but also with the depths of emotion that his synthesized voice could project.

"Do you hear Mary sobbing in the background?" Barb pointedly asked.

"That's Mary? I was hoping it was a baby or a neighbor." L-Ron admitted.

"I don't have a baby and I don't have any neighbors." Barbara said curtly, "This is the result of Kara, Kyle, Billy, and Courtney ganging up on her."

"Shall I use my death ray on them?" L-Ron asked.

Startled, Barb asked, "You have a death ray?"

"No. But I'm sure Mr. Terrific would make an exception in this case and install one." L-Ron wistfully replied, "I do, however, have an electron blaster that effectively serves as a stun gun. Maybe I could stun them to death…or at least make `em limp for a week."

He couldn't see Barb smile but he could hear the relaxation in her voice when she spoke, "I don't think any of that's necessary. Just keep the wolves at bay if they try to come here."

"May I still talk to Miss Mary?" L-Ron pleaded.

Barb softened, "Let me ask her." L-Ron could hear some sniffling in the background, a few honks of her nose, and then Mary was there, "H..hello L-Ron."

"Miss Mary, I'm so sorry. Those cads should be hanged for insulting you." L-Ron ventured.

There was a trace of humor in Mary's voice when she replied, "You don't know what happened, do you?"

"I know what her future Commissioneress said." L-Ron said, "That's enough to give them a black mark in my book."

"Oh no, L-Ron. They may be misguided and rude and… Well I'm forgetting myself. Where was I?" Mary wondered.

"'Oh no' and 'They're misguided.'" L-Ron quoted.

"Oh yes, they care for me. They really do. It's just that they're being so mean about it." Mary revealed, "They're all telling me what to do without asking why I'm doing what I'm doing."

"May I ask what it is that you're doing?" L-Ron wanted to know.

Mary explained it to him and he replied, "It sounds as though you have the situation well in hand. You have your appropriate doubts and you have her former Other Womanliness to advise you. If anyone should know about staring down a black hole it should be her."

"L-Ron! It's rude to call Batman a black hole." Mary scolded him.

"But very appropriate." Barb called out for L-Ron's benefit.

Mary was scandalized but she held her tongue. L-Ron spoke next, "I know very little about Black Adam except for news media reports and mutterings from Captain not-so-Marvelous-at-the-moment. You and Miss Tea like him and speak highly of him . I trust both of your judgments so my opinion of him is fairly high."

"Miss Tea? Oh L-Ron, Galatea will be so happy to know you call her that." Mary enthused.

"Miss Tea is a shining beacon of hope for those that wish to reform their lives." L-Ron opined, "She is always kind to me, even when she's grouchy or impatient."

"I have told her, and Adam has as well, that anger is no call for bad manners." Mary brightly divulged.

"I for one thank the pair of you." L-Ron said appreciatively.

"Where's Kara, Billy, and the rest?" Mary dreaded the answer.

"They're on the Javelin that departed India 15 minutes ago. Give them another 20 minutes and they'll be over the Eastern seaboard." L-Ron reported, "Do you want me to shoot them down?"

"L-Ron!" Mary was aghast.

"I was kidding, your Merriment." L-Ron confided, "I'll keep track of them and let you know when they're coming."

"Thanks L-Ron. You're sweet." Mary gushed.

"Of course I am. I had the Lovability Upgrade Package loaded before Manga Khan traded me off." L-Ron shared.

"L-Ron, did you leave behind friends or family?" Mary realized that she'd never asked.

"I had a best buddy named L-Bert and a girlfriend named J-Lo. Although things were winding down between J-Lo and I. Manga Khan was the closest thing to family that any of us had." L-Ron explained.

"And he traded you off?" Mary was shocked.

"Manga Khan has always had a mercurial temperament at best. His mood swings are legendary." L-Ron stated.

"But what happened with your girlfriend? Don't you miss her?" Mary's curiosity was overwhelming her. There were so many facets to L-Ron that she'd never realized were there.

"It wasn't working. She was an evangelical fundamentalist and I'm a Buddhist. We had to part ways or endure a philosophical Armageddon. I do, at nostalgic moments, wax poetic over her memory." L-Ron disclosed.

"I always thought you were talking about Jennifer Lopez." Mary admitted.

"A cheap imitation of my former love." L-Ron hotly declared, "Although…their butts do have the same basic shape."

"Waitaminute, you're a Buddhist?" Mary suddenly caught what he'd said.

"A jest, Miss Mary but the essence of the comment is true." L-Ron explained, "Poor J-Lo and I were doomed from the beginning. Although we could overheat each others' circuits we never had a compatible meeting of the minds. Without that synchronization we couldn't last."

"You've lost everything but you still take care of us. How do you do it?" Mary inquired.

"I was built and programmed to serve others. It's what makes my life complete. Besides, the JLU is rife with intrigue, love affairs, and danger. How can I not be involved? It makes the ol' electricity pump through my wiring. I… Miss Mary! Jake is reporting that Supergirl, Kyle Raynor, Captain Marvel and the Ray have jumped ship."

"Thanks for the head's up." Mary replied.

"Wouldn't his Ray of Sunshineyness be on your side?" L-Ron asked.

"He tried to be but Kara and Kyle are his friends. He's afraid of hurting them so he partly holds back." Mary sighed.

"Give him to me, I'll school him." L-Ron offered.

There was a knocking at the skylight. Barb went to see who it was while Mary reported in to L-Ron, "I have to go. I think Ray just got here."

"Take care, Miss Mary. If you need anything just call and I'll get it done for you." L-Ron promised.

"I know. Take care of yourself. I may not be able to call for a while but don't worry `bout me. I'll be okay." Mary assured him. She hung up then. It was time to face whoever had gotten there first.