Ray was re-telling the story as they entered the Guild Headquarters, words trailing off when he saw Green Lantern sitting at the table.
"So much for being my friend!" Barry teased, "Where have you been? Diana and I were in a spot of trouble you know. Good thing the Justice Guild were there as well."
"They're not the Justice Guild."
"Say what?"
The Justice League frowned as Hal got to his feet, face uncharacteristically stern. "You heard me. They are not the Justice Guild."
"How can you say that?" Ray protested, as the Streak stepped forwards.
"This is a serious explanation young man, explain yourself!"
"No, you explain this." Hal held up a newspaper, that had the headline 'JGA killed in battle'
"Justice Guild… killed in battle?" The Streak read it out, voice growing faint towards the end.
There was silence for a moment, before Ray was speaking up again. "It-it's a hoax! Some sort of sick joke!"
"It's no joke." Hal sighed, "The real Streak, Green Guardsman, Tom Turbine… they're all dead. I've seen the graves. Hawkgirl's seen the graves."
They all turned to Hawkgirl, who nodded in agreement.
"You can't be serious!" Black Siren snapped, before her face fell and she turned to Catman, "Can they?"
"I don't know." Streak whispered, "It all sounds unbelievable, but- "
He was cut off as the phone started to ring, all eyes turning to it.
Streak rushed to answer it, and Hal vaguely heard the officer pleading for some help to deal with a monster that was tearing through main street.
What a coincidence.
As soon as they started to get some answers, this happens.
"We're needed downtown!" Streak announced after hanging up, him and the others rushing to leave, only to stop when a green shield blocked their path.
"We're not done here." Hal snapped, ignoring how the rest of his team shuffled nervously from side to side.
They hated ignoring pleas for help as well.
"But… Seaboard City needs us!" Streak frowned.
"Haven't you noticed that nothing here makes sense? Library books with blank pages, ice creams that never stop!"
"Dangers that spring up when someone gets too close to the truth." Hawkgirl nodded in agreement with Hal.
"What truth?!"
"That your world… is an illusion, a living memory of a civilisation that was destroyed forty years ago, when the Justice Guild gave their lives in battle, to save the world." He threw the paper onto the table, "That's why they stopped publishing the comics in our world. No more Justice Guild."
"And…" Superman's face was twisted in thought, "… whenever someone gets close to figuring out the truth- "
"- Nuns and dynamite." Flash finished.
Tom Turbine frowned, "If what you say is true, then who or what is creating this illusion?"
From the back of the room, J'onn spoke up, eyes focused on the only person in the room who didn't make any sense.
"I suggest you ask Ray."
"Ray?"
Ray started to back away, "W-why would I know anything?"
J'onn grabbed him before he could get away.
"Because you are the source."
Their eyes locked together, both glowing gold, until Ray broke away from the grasp with a sharp "NO!", his body morphing before their very eyes, into a small, purplish alien, who glared at them.
"You ruined it! You ruined everything!"
A golden bolt shot out of his head, hitting J'onn in the chest and sending him flying back into Superman's arms, as everything started to rumble. The roof was then ripped off by the very robot that the police called in about.
"That's it." Barry sighed, "I officially want to go home."
"Justice Guild, attack!"
Hal tried to stop them, but they were already all heading towards it, prompting him to try and stop his own team.
"No!" It was Batman who grabbed Hawkgirl's arm, "The bot is an illusion." He pointed at the small alien, "Focus on him!"
They all stood side by side, focusing on the alien.
"It's over Ray."
"It's been over before! I changed that!"
Flash darted forwards, only to run into a sudden pool of quicksand, disappearing through the wooden floorboards up to his neck.
Hawkgirl and Superman were next. Whilst Hawkgirl was taken out with a chair, Superman found himself hitting against a yellow shield, blasts from Hal rebounding off of it.
"This is my world!" The creature screamed at him, "I control who wins and who LOSES!" He raised his hands, bringing the ceiling collapsing down on top of Hal, who would have been crushed had it not been for Superman's quick thinking.
"Don't let him get away!"
The creature once known as Ray, dodged all incoming attacks, stretching his hand out and catching Hal mid-air, clenching his fist, and making Hal cry out in pain, his team-mates all skidding to a halt.
"HAL!"
"Stay where you are!" Ray shrieked, "You're all going to regret messing this u-AH!"
A fist propelled him to the ground as Hal fell back to the ground, his friends rushing to catch him.
"What is this?!" Ray snapped, looking up as his was surrounded by the Guild.
"In Seaboard City, crime doesn't pay." Tom Turbine knocked him back.
"What are you doing?! I MADE YOU!"
They ignored him, all leaping into the fight.
"LET JUSTICE PREVEAL!"
Working together, they managed to corner Ray against the corner of the room.
"STOP! JUST STOP!"
A golden forcefield sent them all flying back, hitting walls and pillars, before they got back to their feet and re-launched the attack, forcing him outside this time as the Justice League joined in, all striking the personal, golden shield as Ray started to scream inside of it.
With the continued attacks, it wasn't long before Ray collapsed to the ground, clutching at his head in pain as the idyllic fifty's scene faded away to reveal a barren wasteland.
And then, the Justice Guild started to glow.
"See you around Kid." Streak gave Hal a salute, before they disappeared, leaving a stunned League behind.
"What…what just happened?" Barry stammered, "Did they just- "
He stopped, watching J'onn make his way over to the fallen figure of Ray. "He couldn't maintain the illusion." He almost looked mournful, "The strain was too great for him."
"How did he come up with all this? How did an alien even know about the Justice Guild?"
"… He is not an alien."
They all turned to J'onn in surprise, who was still staring down at Ray.
"The boy we once saw, was who he used to be."
Diana felt a pang of sympathy, "So… how did he get like that?"
"The effects from the nuclear fallout must have mutated his DNA, giving him the psychic ability to mould this world to his choosing."
"… He chose to re-create it with the heroes he worshipped as a child."
Barry couldn't help but feel sympathetic as he looked around at the desolate area, "Who can blame him."
And then they heard the familiar jingles of the ice cream truck, all turning to see it trundling slowly towards them, followed by a small crowd.
"You're all real?" Hal exclaimed in surprise.
The ice cream man emerged from the truck, looking around with dazed eyes, "It feels like waking up from a dream."
"I'm sorry." Superman apologised, "We destroyed your world."
"No… we did that."
"But now, all that's left, is this nightmare?"
"Sitting in an ice cream truck for forty years… that's the nightmare." He bent down, picking a brick up from the rubble, "Compared to that, re-building our world should be a piece of cake."
The Captain of the police came over to shake all of their hands, a weary smile on his face, "Thank you for giving us our futures back."
Hal crossed his arms uncomfortably. In his efforts to stop Ray, he never thought he'd be leaving people behind to deal with all this.
"So… what now?" Barry quietly asked, "How do we get home?"
There was a moment of silence, before Batman started to head back to the destroyed headquarters, seemingly assuming that they would all follow him… which to be fair, they did. They headed back towards where Tom Turbine's lab would have been, with Hal using his ring to move the larger pieces of rubble.
"Umm… Batman, what are we- "
"-Tom Turbine said that he was working on an inter-dimensional device." Batman cut him off, "Hopefully, it should have survived the- "he stopped, coming across the device itself, "- There."
They all examined it, before Barry said what they were all thinking.
"What good is that meant to do?" He brushed some of the dust and dirt off of it, "He never found a way to power it, right?"
"No." Batman turned to Hal, "But maybe you can."
Hal glanced down at his ring, before aiming it at the machine and firing, watching as it powered up the machine, creating a white/grey portal.
"I don't know how long I can hold it!" Hal yelled, "Go!"
One by one, they all made their way through the portal, leaving the destruction behind them.
….
"I can't believe you got to meet the Justice Guild!" Lex exclaimed, "The actual Justice Guild!"
Clark smiled fondly. If anyone outside of this team, could see Lex like this, they would never believe he was actually Lex Luthor.
They would think that he'd been replaced by some sort of pod person.
As Lex continued to babble eagerly about the Guild, Hawkgirl noticed Hal standing off to one side, prompting her to make her way over.
"Hal?"
"I don't know why I feel this way." Hal sighed, "They weren't even real."
"… They gave our lives for us… that's real enough for me."