Disclaimer: I don't own Justice League...wish I did, but I don't.

Author's notes: This was an extremely hard chapter to write, in the last two I've been dealing with what J'onn thinks, but this one required the other characters as well. I hope I did them justice snickers at the pun so tell me if I got anything wrong. Thanks to all my reviewers so far and to those hopefully in the future. I'm trying to do each chapter beginning with an 'R' but it's getting hard to think up, heh And thanks to Matt Morwell, my beta reader, for all his help with this chapter.

This chapter is a bit longer than the other two, it's thanks for waiting for it

Chapter three
- Reaching -

"What! Don't you ever feel lonely?"
"More than you could imagine..."

- Flash and J'onn -

Superman and J'onn were at the seat of the controls in the Javelin less than a minute after the alarm had sounded. The emergency had originated from a large city and they were the only ones available to deal with the threat. All the other members were engaged in other missions, except Batman, who remained back at the Watchtower to scan for any other threat.

Superman was taking control of the craft, for which J'onn was grateful; he did not trust himself to be able to control the Javelin, not if he wanted to be of any use when they arrived. He brought up a computer file on the small screen, so that they would have information on the person responsible.

"Did Batman send over the information?"

J'onn nodded "Michael Sanders, employed by Citytech enterprises until two days previously, he was fired along with other workers because of financial troubles"

"And this guy wasn't happy?"

He shook his head, wishing he hadn't as a spark of pain shot through it. Luckily Superman did not seem to have noticed, and J'onn continued reading the report in a deep, somber voice "Mr. Saunders managed to get into his previous work and steal one of the companies high-tech robots, designed for construction methods...last known sightings of the robot had him in Pala city, where he is believed to be heading towards the home of his previous employer, a Mr. Richard Licher"

"We have the co-ordinates?"

"Batman uploaded them into the computer before we arrived...as well as specifics of the robot he was able to attain"

"Anything useful...we need to keep any destruction to a minimum, considering the population"

Skimming over the report, short as it was, J'onn managed to pick up some information.

"The robot is around forty feet tall and made with a new metal designed by the company who built the robot, it can be melted with extreme heat, but would be highly resistant to any physical attack"

"Which means we need another way to stop it...what's the power source?"

"It does not say...apparently Citytech wished to keep the information secret, however, I doubt it would be in any place where we would be able to get at it..."

Superman nodded "alright then...we'll get down there and see what we can do"

Despite the size of the city, it was easy to find where the ex-employee had gone with the robot, cars that had obviously been in it's way had impacted into other cars, posts or other objects, either by swerving to avoid it, or from being flung aside. Emergency services were already there and the situation seemed under control, so Superman and J'onn continued searching.

When they found the robot, it was making it's way down a street, scared and frantic people were running away, cars stopped in the middle of the road, the occupants flinging open the doors and sprinting as far as they could before their car became scrap metal.

A small child, no older than five years old, was standing right in the middle of the street, frozen with fear. Sanders, up inside the huge head of the robot, either did not see her, or didn't care, and made so sign of stopping or slowing down. Still piloting the Javelin, Superman turned to J'onn, no words were exchanged, both knew what needed to be done.

Phasing through the ship, J'onn flew towards the robot, swerving to avoid the metal legs, then holding out his arms as he swept the child into them and away from the robot, seconds before the metal limbs impacted on the same piece of ground she had been standing on. Landing at the other side of the street, J'onn let the child down, who soon looked in the other direction to see her mother running towards her, she began to run also, but looked back and waved.

J'onn gave a sigh of relief for the safety of the child, then this was interrupted by the sudden weak feeling running through his body, a supreme effort on his part enabled him to stay standing, but he wavered slightly, one hand rested on the metal lighting pole next to him for support, which he removed on hearing Superman approach.

"Everything all right J'onn?"

"Yes" he nodded "the child is safe...but we must still deal with the robot"

.
Michael Sanders was not a happy man, being fired was not the best thing to happen in his life, in fact, it was the worst thing. This job had been all he had ever had, all he had ever wanted, his wife had left him years ago, with their only daughter, and had forbade him from ever seeing her, in a spite of rage. It had not been his fault, to provide for them, he had worked all the hours he could be given, but this wasn't enough for her. She wanted him to earn the money AND stay home more, he knew it wasn't possible.

And he told her this.

So she had left, taking Chelsea with her.

And he had nothing left.

So he had thrown himself even more into his work, the money he had once spent on toys and clothes for his loved ones, now went on drink, never enough to stop him from completing his work. Until one day a few months ago, when he had a bad day, came back to the small apartment he had, and had drunk twice as much as he had normally done.

He had come into work over half a day late the next morning, it had been his first time doing this, and so he had not been cautioned.

That had been their mistake.

Feeling that since he had not been punished then, he would not be again, Michael did the same the next night, always careful to come into work on time.

But his work suffered, and he'd been fired.

He didn't know where his ex-wife lived, so he couldn't go and blame her, but he did know where Richard Licher did.

He would be his target...HE had fired him, ruined his life, his work, the only thing which was keeping him going.

He would pay.

.
Shocked out of his thoughts, Sanders blinked as 'something' appeared right in front of his line of vision, it took him a few seconds, but he realised that it was one of the members of the Justice League...

...he shorted, as if they could stop him...sure he cared for people, but they'd all left him, what was the use of caring for people now.

Besides, he didn't want to kill his ex-boss, just...shake him up a little, so that Licher would feel as bad for firing him, as Saunders himself had felt when his wife had left.
Moving his hand over the joy-stick, he made a motion with the arm, which headed straight for the figure, but it did not impact, swinging through...whatever it was, and simply whirling around in the air.

He then saw the figure become solid again...ok, so the guy could do some weird trick...that wouldn't stop him, he didn't care, whatever it took, he'd get through this and where he wanted to be.

.
J'onn felt his body become material again, it had taken more of an effort this time...and he could still feel the tingling sensation surging through his veins, he shook his head to clear the numbness...
.
.
Grinning madly, Saunders took this chance when he saw the Martian, as he now remembered, pausing for a moment. That one moment was all Saunders needed, as his fingers moved towards a button, pressing it down. The arm moved again, impacting against his opponent, sending him crashing down onto the pavement, where he lay still.
.
.
J'onn came out of his daze just in time to feel the rushing of air as the robotic limb slashed through the air. Groggy and disorientated, J'onn did not have time to get out of the way before it sent him flying to the ground, as he plummeted, his vision went darker, what he could see becoming like a distorted picture, fuzzy around the edges, until it all went black .and he saw nothing.
.
"J'ONN!"

Seeing him fall from the sky, Superman could not reach him in time before J'onn fell to the ground. When he did, he was relieved to see that he had just been knocked unconscious, there were no serious injuries, and he would wake up soon enough.

But he couldn't stay there. Saunders, apparently believing whatever had tried to stop him was now out of the way, continued down the street, with a last glance back at J'onn, who had not moved, Superman took to the air again, this time more angry than ever. He felt the burning sensation behind his eyes as the energy built up and fired it straight at the middle of the metal-clad monolith.

The data Batman had managed to give them was proved to be accurate, the twin beams of energy Superman shot from his eyes impacting onto the metal and melting it slightly, the metal was as resistant to heat as they had been informed. But now that the metal was weakened, perhaps ramming into the area where it had been weakened would damage it enough for them to reach the power core.

His X-ray vision told him that the main power core for the metal monolith was in the center of the robot.

But he had not looked through all of the outer coating, and that was his mistake.

For as he flew straight towards his goal, arms outstretched to hit through the weakened metal shell, he found himself being grabbed, then an excruciating electrical charge running through him, it burned everywhere, and he found himself fighting to stay conscious. But the current increased, again and again, until the pain became so much that he couldn't take it any more.

He too, fell to the ground.

.
J'onn could not pinpoint when he started coming back to awareness, but it was speeded up when he heard a cry of pain. With a groan of pain he managed to make it to a kneeling position, shaking his head to clear the foggy feeling in his head, but could not get rid of it entirely. His vision blurred as he pressed his palms against the cold slabs of pavement he had been lying on, and tried to stand.

It took much longer than after any other attack he had experienced, but he paid it no heed, ignoring the increasing dizziness, not noticing that he was in fact, wavering from side to side.

He turned his head to the direction where he had heard the cry come from, just in time to see Superman fall, just as he had done moments earlier.

The same guilty feeling washed over him again, another of his friends was hurt, and, just as he had feared, because he had failed.

Again.

Not this time.

Ignoring the dizziness which threatened to overwhelm him, J'onn managed to take to the air, he could see from here the mark on the back of the robot where Superman's heat vision had caused it to begin melting. He did not have any such thing as his own, but what it did tell him was that Superman had located the core, the main power source. Take it out and the robot would not be able to function.

But J'onn had one thing that none of the others did.

The ability to make himself immaterial.

While Superman would have kept using his heat vision, Hawkgirl would have used her mace and Green Lantern his ring, all of those attacks, judging from the data they had found, and from the experience they had whilst battling it, would have been virtually useless. But using his phasing ability, J'onn would be able to get into the core, disable it and get out.

At least that was what he had hoped.

He had hoped that the battle would be a short one, that Superman would be able to deal with it, for even as he flew towards the robot, J'onn could feel his strength leaving him...but he would not just stand by and do nothing. His nightmares were giving him the willpower to do anything to help his friend, even if it would mean harm to him.

The metallic construct continued it's pace through the streets, evidently still heading towards its goal. Saunders, believing there was no one left to oppose his plan, was obviously unaware of J'onn accelerating through the air. But with every meter, he became more and more aware that with the lack of sleep, nightmares, that it was foolish to try and do this.

But to tell it to himself, was as hard as admitting it out loud to the others would be.

.
Saunders gave a satisfied smirk as Superman fell to the ground, now both he and the Martian were out of the way, he could finally get back to what he had started.

A photo in a blue frame, strangely out of place on the control panel in front of him depicted his own self, with that of another.

His daughter.

Who his wife had taken, out of undeserved anger towards him.

Never to see again.

He had passed them in the street a few days after their separation, seeing her father, Chelsea had broken free of her mothers grip, running towards him, he had embraced her with all the love he could give her. But it had lasted mere seconds, when her mother...his wife... had stormed up, broken their hug, and taken his daughter away, crying and imploring in high pitched tones that she wanted her daddy.

He had not seen her since then.

His anger welled up anew.

.
J'onn concentrated, flying towards the center of the metallic nightmare, and prepared to phase through the outer shell.
.
.
Groaning, Superman opened his eyes.

His body protested as he tried to rise, and he gazed around for the robot.

He saw J'onn flying towards it.

He knew what J'onn was about to do.

Then he stared.

.
J'onn slowed down considerably as another wave of weakness flowed through him, but he managed to keep steady, his telepathic abilities telling him that Superman had awoken and he did not want to show that something was wrong.

LeFay had caused him to question who he valued the most.

His deceased family, whom he had known for years, lived many happy days with, safe and content.

Until the invaders had arrived and taken them away from him.

Or his new friends...if he felt deserving of the title.

But he could do nothing to regain his family, no matter what LeFay had promised, they were gone now and only his memories remained to show him what he had once had, any traces of his home on Mars destroyed in the attacks. But his friends, teammates were alive, they had done so much for him, that he felt a deep obligation to protect them if they could not defend themselves.

Not that that happened since every single time they battled, he knew perfectly well that each and every one, from Flash to Green Lantern, was capable of covering their own backs, but if they needed help, he was determined to give it.

.
Despite J'onn trying to hide it, Superman had seen him slow down.

"Something's wrong..." he muttered, rising slowly, the effects of the electrical shock from the robotic construct still lingering.

.
As he gained the distance to the robot, J'onn concentrated on willing his body to become immaterial, it was done on a molecular level, and every Martian had known how to use it, but since their planet, until the Imperium had invaded, had been peaceful, there had not been much use for it.

Here however, when in battle, it became to J'onn, almost as important as the air you breathe.

It was simple to use, but J'onn found it hard to concentrate, the dizzy feeling which had been a small tingle in his head minutes earlier, now covered his entire body, seeping into every vein. He felt much warmer now under the shadow of the object of such destruction and now felt himself breathing much harsher than normal. He felt right at the last minute that it wouldn't work.

He phased through the outer shell, then, still immaterial he looked to see a large battery shaped device in front of him, it glowed with an orange aura, with a multitude of wires sticking into it, trailing into various pieces of circuitry all around him. The main power core for the entire robot.

Willing his arm to become solid again, J'onn grasped one of the wires, pulling it out.

When there were no visible signs of anything happening, he did the same to another, and another.

Sparks began flying and smoke rose from the malfunctioning machinery, he could feel the robot slowing down and felt satisfied.

Then he doubled over, the worst feeling of dizziness and disorientation flowing through him. As bad as the previous attacks had been, this was ten times worse. It came over him in waves, each more severe than the last. J'onn looked down and saw that his other arm was now solid again. He was losing control of his powers. He could no longer deny that something was wrong. The days...almost weeks of nightmarish visions and restful sleep had taken their toll.

He looked back to see the core now melting, in the same way as Superman's heat vision had done to the metal shell, he concentrated, trying to will his body to become immaterial again, otherwise he would not survive the explosion without grave injury...perhaps even worse.

It was no use, he was too weak to do it for more than a second, but it could be that was all he needed. Seconds until the robot exploded...

.
Speeding through the air, Superman could see the signs of the robots malfunction, it had halted suddenly and begun to shake from side to side, sparks of electricity coming from almost every limb. He stopped, realising that J'onn must be inside the robot, taking it down from the core. Sure that his friend could handle that part on his own - though a small part of him lingered on that sight of him slowing down seconds earlier - he watched the top, where the man controlling the machine was.

If...no, he told himself, when the robot became too dangerous to function normally, he would need to get Saunders out of there.

J'onn could handle himself just fine.

He thought.

Mere seconds later a large explosion echoed throughout the street, coming from the middle of the machine, flames immediately began covering the lower half, but inched up steadily towards the top. As the flames continued their deadly climb, he saw J'onn phasing through. He frowned, the phasing seemed...sluggish...as if something was stopping him from going any faster...

.
Inside where the core had been damaged, a steady trickle of something inched closer and closer to a flickering flame from the explosion...

Closer...

and closer...

.
Superman watched, in horror as J'onn, almost completely phased out, was flung through the air with the force of the giant explosion. He landed, seconds later on the ground, hitting it with so much force that the tarmac beneath him was shattered, driving his unconscious form deeper into the hole it created.

But he couldn't go and help J'onn straight away, as he could see that within seconds, the flames would reach the top of the construct and where Saunders could be seen frantically hitting the clear screen of the control center.

Superman headed up.

.
No...it wasn't meant to happen. He should have been at his ex-boss' home now, inducing terror into Lichen for what he had done.

But now he felt the terror, trapped here with the flames coming. The eject button had been cut off in the explosion, as well as any other form of escape.

And Saunders now realised what a fool he had been.

Simply because he had wanted to do something...anything, to take his thoughts away from his wife and daughter.

He let his arms drop to his side, and then wrapped them around himself.

He cried.

Then, looked up as a shadow descended over him.

Superman was watching him, and no words were exchanged, but they didn't need to talk.

He was being asked if he was sorry.

Saunders did not need to think.

He was.

.
He knew Saunders regretted what he had done, that he was sorry. Superman did not need J'onn's telepathy to tell him that. So he motioned for the man to stand as far away as possible, then sent a fist flying through the glass, which shattered on impact. Any other man would have been horrifically cut.

Saunders unfolded and ran towards Superman, slivers of glass crunching under his feet and falling from his clothes. Then Superman took him and flew away from the robot, down to the ground below.

The authorities were waiting, and a pair of officers headed towards them with handcuffs.

Saunders looked back at Superman.

"I'm sorry"

"I know" Superman replied, "Just don't let your anger get the best of you..."

"Never again" Saunders said, as the officers secured him with the handcuffs and lead him away. He looked back and saw the firemen putting out the blaze created by the malfunction when the power core had been destroyed. Then he saw Superman heading towards the middle of the road some distance away to where a small crater, pieces of tarmac sticking up and he realised.

He had hurt someone.

Something his wife had done to him.

Her's had been emotional, his physical, but it didn't matter which kind it was. What mattered was he had hurt someone...

He hung his head.

.
He winced when seeing the crater made by the force of the impact. Superman knelt down and checked, there were various injuries, mainly painful looking gashes from where the metal had scraped against his body when he had been flung through the air not fully phased out. Dark red blood dripped from some of these, his chest, rising slowly, but still breathing.

"J'onn?" his arms gently lifted the Martian from the crater "Are you ok?"

No answer, more breathing.

"J'onn?" he repeated, panicking slightly.

Then J'onn moved, only slightly and opened his eyes. Superman looked relieved.

"Are you ok J'onn"

"Y..y..yes" J'onn managed to reply, standing with Superman's help, but his hand was clasped to his head and when he pulled it away it was covered with blood. The dizziness was now so much that when he shook himself free of Superman's support, J'onn almost fell to the ground. He felt drained, much like the battery in the core of the robot.

But he still felt like a failure, for even though he had stopped the robot, he could still see people being treated by the remaining ambulance men.

People had been hurt.

A small strangled gasp escaped him as a nauseated feeling came up his throat. His head throbbed and increased in pain until he had to squeeze his eyes so tightly that when they were opened, spots danced in front of them.

"J'onn?" Superman came up to him "What's wrong?"

J'onn couldn't reply, didn't know he was trembling, or when he almost collapsed and Superman, worried, caught him as he fell and flew back with him to the Javelin. He didn't hear him call the Watchtower. All he knew was the pain, the disorientated feeling and the nausea. He gritted his teeth against the pain, but couldn't stop the small cry of pain.

Then it went black.