Disclaimer: I don't own Justice League, not even a small bit; if I did, I'd be seeing new episodes instead of repeats of Season 1, but I don't, so I don't.

Author's notes: Thanks for all the reviews so far. ^^ Just mentioning a few for questions to answer. ^^

She-Jedi-Siona - J'onn and Flash had that conversation in part one of 'In Blackest Night' in the watchtower, just before the Manhunters fly past ^^

Marzarelo - J'onn is an angsty person ain't he? ^^ I hope my writer's block doesn't attack the other chapters too. ^^

More reviews to be highlighted in further chapters.

No quote or song lyric this time... since I couldn't find one. :P

Anyway, enjoy this chapter ^^ and thanks to Matt for doing the cool HTML thing which seems to hate me. ^^


Recovery

Chapter Five - Running


- - - - -

"Are we there yet?"

"No," Green Lantern sighed, exasperated for yet another time. He and Flash were returning after taking care of a situation back on Earth. Now they were returning to the Watchtower, and since they hadn't taken one of the shuttles, he was forced to put up with Flash as the force field created by his ring protected them in space as they went back.

Unfortunately, the trip seemed to take longer than usual this time.

"Look," he sighed again. "Why not check in, and stop bothering me?"

"Sure." Flash grinned, activating the earpiece in his head "Hey, Bats...y'there?"

No reply was heard, except for the crackling of interference, and he frowned; somebody was always there.

"Maybe J'onn woke up?" Green Lantern suggested.

"Yeah...but the big guy's up there too..." He trailed off. "I dunno, GL, something's wrong..."

"We'll be back soon kid, then we'll find out," Green Lantern told him. Inside, he was worried as well, since for Flash to appear serious usually meant something was wrong. Subconsciously, he willed the ring to work harder, speeding their return to the Watchtower.

- - - - -

"We need to check all the levels... locking any of the doors won't do any good if he can just phase through them... or even worse." Batman frowned. "If it's bad enough and he tries phasing through into space without a suit... in his condition, I don't think that would cross his mind..."

Superman nodded.

Both were now in the corridor outside the med-bay, trying to plan their next move. Neither wanted to have to hurt J'onn, as they might do to an enemy, and if he could use his intangibility to phase through any of the walls or other obstacles, a good plan would be needed to trap him.

"Hey... the comm-link is flashing," Superman noted, making his way to the other side of the corridor to one of the communicators mounted on the wall, of a similar style to those in a sci-fi series. As he pressed it, immediately Flash's voice came through, and like his speed, at a mile a minute.

"Calm down Flash," Superman said, and Flash did.

"We thought something had happened to ya, big guy... you weren't replying."

"Something has..." Batman frowned on speaking those words.

"What happened?" Green Lantern, using his own earpiece comm-link.

"J'onn woke up...he's delirious, escaped from the med-bay a few minutes ago..."

Green Lantern groaned, while Flash sounded more optimistic. "Piece of cake...we just have to find him, right?"

"Not that easy, Flash," Superman explained. "He thinks we're all out to get him, sent me flying into one of the pieces of equipment in Med-bay, then phased through the walls."

"If he still has all his powers, then we'll be in real trouble," Green Lantern added sombrely.

"Yes." Batman nodded. "But if you can trap him in your force field, then we might be able to contain him."

"It might work," Green Lantern mused. "We'll be there in a few minutes"

- - - - -

True to his word, in less than three minutes he and Flash were met at the entrance of the Watchtower by Superman and Batman, after a quick recap, they learned that J'onn had not been found yet, but that with the security camera's he had been spotted on one of the levels before phasing again, and no sign had been seen or sensed since.

"We'll split into two teams. I'll go with Superman and you and Flash go in the other," Batman explained. "We need at least one person with strength on their side in case he attacks."

Green Lantern nodded. Neither Flash nor Batman were as powerful in terms of strength as himself and Superman, though with him, it was the ring that gave him the edge. And if J'onn did attack one of them, even in a delirious rage, he could be dangerous. Superman could take him one on one, while if Green Lantern found him, hopefully the ring would work in subduing him.

"All right, then... let's go."

They separated.

- - - - -

J'onn combed the level, searching each and every passageway for the enemy. After they had killed the Justice League, except for him, the clones had obviously taken control of the Watchtower. Stealth was of the essence, but after they had done whatever it was to him, making him feel incredibly dizzy and weak, J'onn was forced to rely on his wits.

Every so often he would phase through a floor or wall, trying to shake them off. If he could keep it up long enough to get to the control tower, he would be able to shut them out of it, and then flood the entire base, save for the tower, with knockout gas.

He had no idea what he would do after. As much as he hated and despised them... he did not want to kill them.

The image of Superman trying to help him in the Med-bay still went though his mind... could he be the real Superman...?

"No..." J'onn muttered, as a fresh wave of nausea flowed through him, making him sway for a second. "He is a clone... they will not get away with this..."

Superman, Batman, Diana, Flash, Green Lantern, Hawkgirl...all gone, he could still see their bodies lying still on the ground after the clones had killed them.

He had tried to fight them, but it was seven against one, with his own clone added, which had a demonic grin spread across his face. J'onn felt ill seeing that expression on a face which was, to all intents and purposes, his own.

"We shall kill you, then all those down on Earth." 'J'onn' smiled "You have lost."

"No..." J'onn breathed, then felt a sharp pain across his head. He was falling to the ground, and he looked up through rapidly blurring vision to see the Hawkgirl clone smirking, her mace in her hand.

Then blackness.

J'onn shook his head. "I will not let them win," he vowed.

- - - - -

"Man... this is not cool," Flash groaned, as he and Green Lantern finished looking in one level, moving to the next.

Green Lantern nodded. "Remember kid, he doesn't think we're his friends right now...so don't do anything stupid."

"Me?" An incredulous look passed over Flash's face "No way, GL... I'm not that dumb."

"Yeah... I guess not." Green Lantern smirked. "Not all the time, anyway."

"Yeah... hey!" Flash shot him a glance, opened his mouth to say something, but then shut it; for once, he didn't feel like giving a witty comeback.

He knew this was serious. Despite his remarks when they had been fighting the invaders together, Flash now counted J'onn as a true friend, and he thought the Martian to be kind of like an uncle, the big wise one who always knew what to say... maybe didn't say anything, but you could tell that he understood. But there was still a slight sense that he knew J'onn still didn't feel entirely comfortable living with them.

Flash made a mental note that, once this was all over, he would have to get J'onn to phase into some sort of human disguise and take him to a movie or something. The guy needed to lighten up and see more of Earth.

Flash shot his head upwards with a sharp jerk when Green Lantern spoke.

"He's here."

"What? Where?"

"Just around the corner."

"How d'ya know?" Flash asked, amazed.

Green Lantern motioned down to the ground, where his ring highlighted footprints.

Very recent footprints.

"All right then," he whispered. "We go in, you distract him and I'll trap him in a force field."

"Right," Flash nodded, speeding around the corner.

- - - - -

J'onn turned just in time to see the clone of Flash speed around the corner and stop a few feet away from him.

"Hey, J'onn." Flash grinned. "Come on, it's me, Flash, remember?"

"You are not Flash," J'onn calmly stated. "You are a clone."

"Eh... a clone?" He rubbed his head. "I'm not a clone, J'onn."

"You are a clone." J'onn felt his anger rising. How could he be toyed with like this, this impostor... this clone... was acting in the same way that Flash had always used to; it seemed barbaric to him, his colleague's memory being tarnished like that.

"You killed the real Flash, and all of the others," he growled deep down, which seemed to surprise the clone. "I shall not let you escape!"

- - - - -

"What the--?!" Flash cried, as J'onn leapt for him, missed, and landed hard on the ground. It took him a while to get up, which Flash surmised was because of his illness.

"Hey, GL!" He shouted at the top of his voice, after another close escape. "I could do with a little help, here!" He was then flung across the room as a fist impacted with his chin. He slid down to the floor, knocked senseless by the blow, as J'onn advanced on him.

- - - - -

"I shall not let you get away with what you have done."

"D... Done?" The clone moaned, rubbing his head. "J'onn, come on big guy, snap out of it... it's me... I'm not a clone!"

J'onn hesitated for just a second. This clone seemed so real, so like the real Flash... could it actually be him?

No... he would not let himself be tricked.

But that one split second was enough... as his fist shot out to hit Flash again, it impacted on a wall of green light. He turned around; the green light seemed to be all around him.

He had lost.

Suddenly, he seemed to realise it had not been a dream.

That had been Flash, and he had almost killed him.

The barrier between dream and the real world was shattered as this dawned on him.

"I am sorry," he said, not facing Flash, who had not heard him anyway. Then the full force of his exertions took its toll; the blackness hovering at the edges of his vision engulfed him, and he let himself fall fully into its welcoming depths.

- - - - -

Green Lantern allowed a grim smile when J'onn collapsed inside the force field. Flash shook his head a few times to clear it and stood up.

Green Lantern tapped his earpiece. "We have him."

"Is he okay?" Superman's voice came back, worried.

"Collapsed just after I got the force field over. Another few seconds and he might have really injured Flash."

"Did he?"

"Nah... the kid got a knock to the face, but nothing serious."

"Hey, I resent that remark," Flash shot back. Superman offered a slight chuckle.

"You're right, he's okay."

"Take him back to the Med-bay." Batman cut into the conversation. "I'll meet you there."

- - - - -

When they reached the Med-bay, Batman was already there, and seemed to be finishing the touches to a device on the side of the bio-bed. After looking to him, Green Lantern laid J'onn down on the surface of the bed and let the force field go.

"This is an early warning system. Whenever he shows signs of elevated body activity, this will let us know even before we see it."

"So we can be alert?"

"Right," Batman replied.

"This isn't fair!" Flash spoke out suddenly. "J'onn doesn't deserve this, it's not right!"

"Yeah, I know kid." Green Lantern nodded "I don't know why we didn't notice sooner..."

"He didn't want you to know." Batman spoke up. All the others turned to him.

"Why wouldn't he want us to know?" Superman asked. "I thought we were his friends..."

"We are," Batman replied. "But I don't think, at the moment, he feels he deserves to call us that."

"What!" Green Lantern frowned. "He's saved all of us at some time. We might not even be here if he hadn't helped to defeat the Invaders..." He shook his head. "I can't understand why he'd think that."

"He's not been the same for a while," Batman said. "Ever since that whole scenario with LeFay and the stone."

Flash nodded, seeming more sombre, which was rare. "Yeah..."

Green Lantern and Superman exchanged glances. "What do you mean?"

"LeFay offered him the chance to regain his family, and for Mars to be revived back to how it was before the Invaders, with the power of the stone. It was highly unlikely she could do it, but I don't think J'onn cared..." Batman paused. "He's still feeling the loss of his family, even after all this time, which was why he only opposed LeFay when she was about to destroy us, only seconds before."

Superman nodded.

"And because he only reacted at the last second, he feels guilty because he might have let us be killed by LeFay..." he mused.

"And that's why he didn't tell us anything. He doesn't want to hurt anyone..." Green Lantern finished.

Batman nodded in agreement. "He's been having nightmares too... I was looking at the security tapes one night and caught one... he's been going down to Earth more often, taking on Monitor Duty, and more missions."

"... He's trying to do enough to keep his mind off it," Green Lantern finished "Great... just great." He sighed, rubbing his head. "So, what do we do now?"

"Wait, I guess." Superman looked at the bio-bed, where J'onn lay, now seeming slightly more comfortable than before. "And when he wakes up... we can try to help."