There was so much attention from so many faces. John had never been a fan of overwhelming attention. Sure, as a man who dealt with the various threats that occurred on this planet, a lot of attention was directed his way, so he got used to it. It was part of the job.
His "return" to the League, however, had brought so much attention, not only from familiar faces, but also unfamiliar ones. There was an expansion in the ranks, just as Frost and Volcana claimed. Many of the new faces, he did not recognize. He couldn't expect Shazam, but where was Enchantress? Cyborg? Arthur?
Not all the new faces were unwelcomed, though. Flash. Wally. Twenty years… It had been so long since he had last seen the speedster and the last time…it was a struggle to keep his composure. A part of him wanted to reach out, and physically touch the loudmouth, who he now truly appreciated the life that he brought into the room. Was he truly real, or was he starting to lose his mind?
He was thankful that his military training was what he could fall back on to keep from falling apart. He kept it together until everyone had begun to disperse and he was able to take his leave. However, keeping to himself was far from the plan.
Shayera had gone off, doubtless to continue her part in the League's current investigation. Until the bitter end, no matter how long it took, that was Shayera's style, and it was because of that that he knew this would be the best time to speak with her, one on one.
It felt so off to be back to this point in his life. Everything seemed so much more...innocent. Almost too trusting. War tended to weed out such things, regrettable, but a certainty. This meant, though, that he could not expect the Thanagarian to have the same mindset he remembered her having prior to coming back. No, she would be more like her old, er, younger self.
This was going to take a lot of adjusting to. Too bad that he didn't have the time to do that kind of adjusting. There was nothing for it, he was going to have to buck up and do this.
He needed to know. He needed to know if there was anything familiar.
It didn't take long to find her sauntering down one of the Watchtower's hallways. The stride, the swing of her arms, the sway of her hips, it caused a pang to shoot through him. It was a feeling he promptly buried. Straightening his shoulders, John called out, "Shayera." Had there been others around, it would have been her other alias he used, but they were alone. So it was with her true name.
"Yes?" was the quick reply, the red-haired Thanagarian looking over her shoulder at him. The helm she wore made her eye all the more sharp.
"Do you have a minute?" he asked. Unsaid was the part about needing to have some words with her.
"I can give you one, but only one," Shayera quipped back.
In response, John nodded his head towards the nearest room, indicating that he wanted some privacy. It had been some time since he had ever spent time at the Watchtower, so he was almost caught off guard with how quiet the doors slid closed. He spent so much time of Earth, where he was needed most.
"So what's up?" Shayera asked, crossing her arms as she leaned against the nearest surface. The way she looked at him, it was another reminder of why he felt so close to her…
So much he wanted to say, and yet, he had to be careful. She didn't know. She didn't know that he was time displaced, that his current self was elsewhere. He needed to be careful, and yet, that look that invited him to speak was so...tempting.
"I...wasn't expecting to see a Star Sapphire. Things are going to get serious real quickly," is what he ended up saying. "I...I got worried."
"Worried about what?" the love of his life asked.
"Another Lantern Corps on Earth. That hasn't happened before. It's only ever been the Green, but when Corps butt heads, there is a lot of property damage," John continued, drawing up previous experiences. There had been times he had been called off Earth and encountered the other Corps. Of course, there had been multiple Lanterns, so things got out of hand pretty quickly.
"I think the two of you showed a lot of restraint today," Shayera remarked casually. "The bank was still standing. As long as there's only one, I think we'll be able to handle the situation."
Her confidence was so infectious. She really was the light in his brightest day...damn it, Kilowog. He did not need to be thinking about the Bolovaxian's secret stash of poetry that he was not supposed to know about.
"It's more than just that," he continued. "Remember, what powers a Star Sapphire is the feelings of love. I don't know how...we will be affected by that. I remember feeling really worried after she got away and I couldn't explain why. Residual effects from her ring, no doubt, but it could make things difficult when trying to catch her."
"Last I checked, your ring is all about will. You can power through this, like most everything else," the Thanagarian remarked. "I know that you can. I have that much faith in you. What I feel for you is stronger than what some ring can do."
Was there ever a doubt why he felt so drawn to her? Wait, hold on a second.
"What do you mean by 'most?' Only 'most everything'?"
A smirk answered him. "Every once in a while, someone does get the drop on you. With that in mind, I'm going to go see about how we're going to capture the remaining Pantheon and whoever they brought in to help."
Capture? Oh, right. This was the past, and they were still capturing the various supervillains and criminals that they fought. Nothing permanent yet. It didn't sit right with him; Shayera had been so resolute once she had dropped the capture-and-release policy that had given the world so much grief.
"Why only capture?" he found himself asking.
"Because whoever busted them out also needs to be found. This isn't over until we find the real brains behind this outfit." She was moving around him, heading back to work. Her answer, though, was real promising.
It was typical of her to want to get the big fish that were swimming about, hiding behind all the small ones. Why waste time on picking off the small fish when you could get the big one behind them all? Already, he could see that there was some hope here.
Hope that perhaps he could find his Shayera all the way back in his past.
He was going to need to make a call.
It had been quite some time since Diana had felt weakness. There had been times in Man's World where she had been defeated, but she could honestly say she wasn't fatigued. Sore, bruised, weary, absolutely, but never weak.
That was how she felt now, drained of energy. She had felt extreme fatigue before, but never like this. It was hard to describe, really. Something had been done to her when she had encountered—in Flash's words—the ghoul lady. She didn't remember much, but she did recall a powerful, mind-shattering force hit her point blank and that was it.
She had never been one to stay bed-ridden to allow such feelings to pass, so the Amazon had sought out the best remedy she knew how. The Watchtower's training facilities were some of the best in the world, enough to challenge her at times. Upon finding the areas, she found that she was not the only one using them.
Black Lighting was blasting one of the drones with his electrical power. Vixen was harnessing the power of her amulet to give her super strength, punching another drone as her fist plunged into its metal body. Captain Atom was at a computer console, the screen revealing he was searching for a training program more to his liking. Lastly was Fire, who was standing off to one side, watching the others.
Now that simply wouldn't do.
Walking towards Captain Atom, she placed a hand on his shoulder, causing him to look up. "If you wouldn't mind," was all she said before she reached past the man and typed a few buttons. In an instant, the drones Black Lightning and Vixen were facing stopped, shutting down.
"I apologize for the interruption," she announced as she turned to face the new Leaguers. "But I see an opportunity that should benefit all here. "Would any of you be interested in a team exercise?"
"An excellent idea," Captain Atom replied, standing at ease with his hands behind his back, legs spread apart.
"What, do you want us to do some trust exercises, or something?" Vixen responded as she walked towards the computer, and thus the Amazon.
"More like a simulation that puts all four of you into a combat situation," she said. "There has been an oversight by the original Leaguers with your introduction and it would benefit us all if we learned how everyone compliments each other. That way we can form more balanced teams in the future."
Vixen considered this before nodding. "I can get behind that; count me in."
"Same," Black Lighting agreed.
Diana glanced over to Fire, who was approaching them as well. She seemed to be keeping to herself, but she wasn't vocally opposing the proposal. Still, Diana would not force her to do something she did not want to do. "Fire?" she prompted.
"I will participate," she said, her Brazilian accent thick.
"Excellent." The dark-haired woman turned and began searching for a proper training program, finding one she thought would encourage teamwork with this group. "In this first session, I will stand aside and observe the four of you as you work together to complete your objective. Communication is key to any successful mission. I can and will stop the session if I feel things are getting out of hand."
"I agree with the safety protocol," Captain Atom responded. He then turned to face the others. "Before we begin, I'd like to see what everyone is—"
"Wait," Diana interrupted, cutting the captain off. "Seeing as this is perhaps the first meeting between all of you, I think it would be beneficial to go into this exercise not knowing what the others can do. There may be times we are assisted by others we have little knowledge of, so we must learn what they can do even if it is in the heat of battle. Improvising is an underrated, if not important aspect of battle."
"That sounds interesting, though I have to ask why you think this is a possibility," Black Lightning said.
"At one time, the Justice League hadn't worked together, so we had to learn as we went," the Amazon told him. "It was more on the fly at the time, but the experience was a positive one overall. All of us are having to relearn our roles now, especially ones that are used to being on their own and now find themselves thrust into teamwork."
Black Lightning nodded his understanding. "That makes sense."
"You know, I've always been curious," Vixen then brought up, "how did the Justice League form? All anyone knows is that a bunch of you appeared during that second attempt at a Gotham Fire and then suddenly there was the League."
A faint smile appeared on the dark-haired woman's face. "I suppose you could say it started where most things do. A man had a plan for world domination and decided to clear the decks of any threats to his plan. He targeted each of us before he commenced with his plan."
"Obviously it didn't work," the dark-skinned woman observed.
"Oh no, they worked. We were just fortunate enough to recover in time to stop him."
Diana found herself the center of several incredulous looks. "It's important to know the League doesn't always succeed in its missions; the important part is that we recover and learn from our mistakes so that we can prevent a catastrophe from happening. Picking oneself up from the ground is just as important as showing up to the battle."
She then pressed a button on the computer console. "Now, show me what you four can do."
Fingers clad in metal were surprisingly flexible and dexterous. Flash knew nothing about what made this metal suit of Steel's, but man, it let him type! You had to admire that kind of craftsmanship, you know?
"Can you repeat that? I'm not sure I heard you the first time," the new recruit asked, looking away from the monitor to face the speedster.
With all the casualness of a guy commenting on the weather, Flash repeated himself. "He calls it a snot blaster. It blasts snot. It's really some kind of acid, but he made the barrel look like somebody's nose. Gotta give a guy credit for that kind of thing."
"Acid, huh?" That was Supes, supervising but not really needing to do anything. Steel here seemed like a real pro, so, you know. "Please tell me he doesn't wear purple."
Flash gave a short grimace. "Trickster doesn't go that far. He's all about the gags. And puns. He loves puns."
"And there's nothing more evil than puns," Steel commented as he gave a few definitive taps.
"I mean, he's not all bad," Flash continued. "It's the bipolar. When he's on his meds, he's a good guy. But once he has that suit of his on, it's like a switch flips. He just needs help, but it's the same problem of staying on the meds. And he's never gone out of his way to hurt anyone, as far as I know."
Steel's typing picked up in pace. Yeah, this was a huge update on the various League files, particularly on their bad guys. Girder had been the first one Flash had done an update on and he was a little surprised that they had to create a whole new file for him. Huh, it had been a long time, hadn't it? Well, then after that, it was all about updating on the Rogues. Cold, Mirror Master, Heatwave, and all the rest. Trickster had been one of the last ones, so now, was there anyone else that he needed to mention?
Supes was giving a look, one that was sympathetic. There was understanding because there was a guy in Metropolis who called himself the Prankster. It was kind of the same gimmick, you know? But there was that one bad apple that gave all such guys with that gimmick a bad name.
Enough of that, though, time to go for someone who wasn't a Rogue. Oh, he had one! "Okay, new guy this time. You ready?"
"Give me the name," Steel requested, already at the home menu and getting ready to do a search.
"Alright, his name is Grodd. Believe it or not, he's a giant monkey with mind control powers."
The file for Grodd came up, meaning it had been in the system for a while. Like, a long while. Like several years, in fact. Wow, that was a long time ago. But, Big Blue and Steel were giving him looks, and he knew what those looks were. A lot of the Rogues gave him such looks whenever he came to stop one of their scores.
"Right, right, sorry. He's a...what's it called? Oh yeah, he's a gorilla, not a monkey. Big difference there. I mean, he comes from a place in Africa called Gorilla City, and I should have remembered that instead of calling him a big monkey, but yeah, he's trying to take over Gorilla City, Central, and Keystone, and I forget which, but he either wants to eat my brain, or my heart because he thinks it'll give him the Speed Force, and let me tell ya, Grodd is not someone you want getting the power of the Speed Force."
Flash fell silent, really thinking about that last comment. He recalled a time when he met that very scenario, when the wrong person did have the power of the Speed Force. That had been a real bad time. There had also been a good time as well, though, so it almost canceled out as well.
Shaking his head, he got back to what he was supposed to be doing. "Anyway, he's a smart monkey, I mean gorilla, so you gotta be careful. Oh, and don't let him challenge you to chess. He's gonna cheat on you, I still don't know how he did it."
Probably read his mind, that cheating monkey—er, ape—um gorilla.
"Seems up to date," Steel commented. "Did you have a run in with him lately?"
Did he? "Naw. Probably still being hand fed bananas, or something. But you know, with all these old bad guys showing up, I might want to check up on him. See if he's still behind bars."
"You think they'd keep him in Iron Heights?" Superman asked.
"Naw, Central City Zoo."
"Kinda a bad place for a mind-controlling gorilla to be at, but who am I to talk? You put one in Stryker's a few years ago, didn't you?" That was a question thrown at Superman, who frowned a bit. It wasn't the frowning of a guy who had no idea what you were talking about, but trying to remember something, but not quite—
"Ah, that's right. Ultra Humanite," Supes spoke up suddenly.
"Ultra...Humanite? Is the Ultra part necessary?" Something about that name sounded ridiculous to the speedster. And it was all a monkey—ahem, a gorilla? Did everyone else also have evil talking gorillas as bad guys?
"I have no idea why he picked that name," Superman said, shrugging his shoulders. "But he wasn't always a gorilla. He used to be fully human. His body, however, was degenerating and he wanted to save himself. That's when I first met him and he tried to implant his brain in my body."
"Whoa, now when did this happen?" Someone tried to take Superman's body? Whoever this guy was, he had a lot of ambition. Seeing as how Supes was still in control of his body, that meant this Humanite guy had failed. So how did a gorilla get involved?
"This was some years ago. As you can imagine, the saw he tried to use didn't work." A finger playful tapped the dark-haired man's head. "When he couldn't get my body, he settled for an albino gorilla. It wasn't long until I was able to take him down."
"Couldn't take the Man of Steel with gorilla hands," Flash chuckled. "Guess they don't make them like they used to."
"And how did they used to make them?" Steel quipped.
"Well, you know, um…" Aw crap, he had run right into that one. "...uh...so why an albino gorilla? Why not a regular gorilla?"
"Beats me." There was another shrug of those broad shoulders. "How does Grodd know how to mind control other people?"
Flash opened up his mouth to explain, or he would have had that question not stopped his thought process altogether. Even though it had quite the event, big and all, there were some questions that he hadn't been able to answer. At all. How a talking gorilla could use mind control was not something he had learned the answer to. There was a huge part of him that was still trying to figure out how a gorilla could talk, much less create something like Gorilla City.
So many questions and no answers whatsoever.
The speedster gave the only answer he could in the situation.
"Beats me."
John made sure to check around for anyone that might happen to be by. With the League's increase in numbers, vigilance was necessary, especially when he needed privacy. The Javelin that was kept in the hanger was where he chose to go, closing it up behind him to make sure no one overheard.
Before he had returned to the League, he had been given a small device, for communication, or so he had been told. His allies from the future needed a way to keep in contact as well as receive updates so that they could begin to act in earnest.
"It's me," he spoke into the small device, a small rectangular stick that had for all intents and purposes the look of a USB drive. Not bad camouflage, to be honest. "We need to talk about our next move.
The response he heard was distorted. Sure, he could grasp the meaning and understand the words being spoken to him, but it was hard to tell if it was Killer Frost, or Volcana he was speaking with. It didn't really matter to the Lantern as what he needed to say held more importance.
"I've already completed my survey of the League. There's a lot of new faces, most I don't know. They shouldn't be too much a problem. There's not too much group cohesion. Everyone is still feeling one another out."
The response was what he expected. There was interest in that statement. John hadn't expected less, especially since he knew neither of the two allies he was working with were known for being neutral, or hiding their emotions.
However… "There's something I need to ask. I need to know if it can be done."
A pause, one that he expected. It was clear neither of them expected to hear any request from him. The inquiry of what he wanted was made, and so he answered.
"I want to know if it is possible to bring in Hawkgirl. She would be a great asset in fixing the past. I know that she'll be able to convince my present self that our way is the right one. I need to know if there is any way we can expedite it. Maybe a way to show her our world or something."
The reply was not quick. In fact, it took several moments before he would even get one. John waited, gripping the comm in his hand, needing to remind himself not to grip too hard. He didn't want to break it in case he needed to use it later.
Eventually, the reply came. It was a quick check in to make sure he was still there and that the communication was still secure. John gave the confirmation, his heart beginning to beat faster in his chest as he waited for the answer he craved.
Once he received it, he smiled.
"I believe we can do something about that."