When I 'woke up' (for the second time that day), it was like coming out of a deep sleep, and I realized what had happened to cause that. I also realized that there was a red blob hovering over my head, blocking my view of the ceiling. As my vision focused, I could see that Flash was standing over me. He saw that I was awake and his eyes widened.

            "Hey GL, she's awake!"

            Green Lantern walked in from the hallway, also with a look of surprise on his face.

            "Flash, go get Superman and Batman. They need to have another talk with her. I'll stand guard, since you obviously can't do it right."

            Flash nodded and took off, not noticing that he had just been insulted. Maybe he was used to it, though. After all, he and GL were fighting all the time. Speaking of Green Lantern, he was looking at me funny. Like I had just performed a miracle or something. Weird.

            I took in my surroundings and saw that I was in the medical bay. Wait a minute, why didn't they just take me back to that little room? Is there something wrong with me that I can't see? Was I allergic to the sedative? What happened? Luckily (or unluckily, depending on how you look at it), Superman and Batman entered at that time, giving me no more opportunities to cloud my head with questions that probably wouldn't be answered anyway.

            Green Lantern left, leaving me with what I considered to be the two strongest (or influential, in Bruce's case) members of the Justice League. Now what did they want to talk to me about?

            Batman stood to my right, while Superman was on my left. For a couple of minutes, it was silent. Then I broke it by saying (while looking down of course, like I was going to look into their eyes),

            "You guys gonna talk, or just stand there like trees?" Big, muscled trees, I reminded myself. Trees that can beat me to a pulp; more like mutant trees, if you ask me. Maybe that wasn't a good comparison after all. But I was cut off from further musing as Batman said, completely ignoring my remark,

            "What happened back there, Marissa?"

            I stiffened, because he had used my first name. Looking up but not into their eyes, I managed to confirm that no one else was around. I looked back down and started to fiddle with my fingers. Well, it's okay if I say it here, 'cause Clark already knows.

            "Don't you know the symptoms of a panic attack when you see them, Bruce?" I muttered so softly that I wasn't sure he had heard me. There was no reply from him for a long while.

            "No, Marissa, I'm afraid he doesn't, and neither do I," said Superman.

            "So I take it no one in Smallville had panic attacks, did they Clark?"

            That shut him up as well.

            "I don't know what you came to talk to me about. I've told you all I know, unless there's some information that has been suppressed in my memory banks that I don't know about."

            "On the contrary Marissa, there are many memories you don't know about. And some information that might be essential. Would you like me to help you recover them?"

            J'onn had just phased into the room through . . . something (I didn't hear the door open), and was now looking at me. I didn't see him of course, but I could feel his unwavering gaze.

            "That's gonna be a 'no', Mr. Martian, sir. Hey, have you ever met Bugs Bunny?" The last part I said under my breath, but I think they all heard me anyway. Ignoring that remark, as they all did with my sarcasm, Superman said,

            "Why didn't you tell us that you had these? We would have taken you to some place where one of us could talk to you at a time, instead of all of us making you feel stressed."

            Oh, that makes me feel a lot better. Right, Batman interrogating me on his own, no one else. That would be just wonderful. I decided to change the topic. Sort of.

            "If you had interrogated me on your own, all of you having a turn, I'm sure that Hawkgirl would use some . . . extreme measures. You three saw what she was going to do back in the meeting room."

            "Hawkgirl's actions are not on trial here," replied J'onn, "but your own for not informing us of these 'panic attacks'." Damn, thought I could steer them away from that direction of conversation.  

            "I agree with J'onn. You should have told us. We wouldn't have been forced to use the sedative if we had known not to act like that in the first place." Batman. So I'm being reprimanded by my kidnapper? For not telling him about my medical history? This is starting to piss me off.

            "So, when should I have told you? When all of you saw me for the first time, and neglected to give me a chance to explain? Or when I was face down on the ground, courtesy of Green Lantern dropping me there, not to mention that someone could have caught me!" The last part I sort of semi-shouted while looking up at the trio. Oh yes, I was pissed. "Excuse me if I don't think I should share my personal life with my kidnappers! Considering the way I've been treated, I don't think I 'should have told' you lot anything!" I finished my rant and glared at them all. Batman didn't look fazed (when does he ever, and how could you tell with the mask on?), J'onn just had his neutral expression on, but Superman looked a little guilty. I crossed my arms and looked down once again, choosing instead to stare at the blanket that covered my lower half then the beings which confronted me at that time. Batman spoke once more.

            "The first time we saw you, you tried to trick us so that you could escape. You didn't give yourself a chance to explain. You were dropped on the ground with no one catching you because we were still all too stunned to do anything. Don't tell me you would have wanted to be caught by Flash?"

            Despite my mood, the corners of my mouth started to twitch, almost making me smile. I looked up at them once more.

            "Further more, the only reason we 'kidnapped' you was so we could make sure you didn't release our identities to the press!" 

            "What?!" cried Superman. Obviously he hadn't told them that bit yet. Damn, there goes the beginning of my good mood. Superman turned to from Batman, who he had been paying attention to while he was talking, to me, eyes barely containing his rage. "You were going to tell the whole world our identities?! Do you know how much of a disaster that would be? New villains wouldn't have to hurt us, they would just need to find out who was close to us and hurt them! Why would you do that?"  

            "It seemed like a good idea at the time," I muttered, feeling a whole lot smaller than I did five minutes before. This seemed to make him even angrier.

            "'A good idea at the time'?! That's just typical for . . . "he trailed off; I didn't hear what he said.

            "Sorry? I couldn't hear the last part. Say again?"

            "I said that your kind of behavior is typical for teenagers." Whoa bud, wrong thing to say. Definitely. Forgetting for the moment that all of these men (well, two men and a Martian) could restrain me and/or beat me to a bloody pulp, I jumped out of the bed and walked straight up to Superman. While I talked, I poked him in the chest to enunciate my point.

            "Look here, Superman, (poke) don't you go blaming this on my (poke) age group unless you have proof. (poke) Do you remember how the teenage (poke) mind (poke) works? (poke) We don't know how to solve (poke) problems! So tell me, what would you (poke) have done?" I finished, crossing my arms over my chest and waiting for him to speak.

            Except that he spoke not, only glaring at me a final time and whirling around, his cape fluttering suspiciously like Batman's as he stalked out the door.

            "Hey Bats, has he been takin' walkin' classes from you or what?" I mumbled, staring at the doorway.

            Batman stared at me, his mask not giving away any emotion, and walked calmly (unlike the person before him) out the door after Superman.

            I sighed and plopped back down onto the bed, leaning over and putting my face in my hands. Man, I screwed up big time, didn't I. What is it with men and conversations? If they're right, they're fine, but if they're wrong they back out of it staring at you. I'll never get males, even if I live forever. I felt a hand on my shoulder, but, I knew who it was; I didn't raise my head from its position.

            "It's not your fault you know," said J'onn. I shook my head and kept silent. "They will 'come around', as you say. It will just take time. Believe it or not, I know how you feel. No one accepted my story as true when I knew that it was. I had to deal with their mistrust until they finally believed me."

            "Yeah, but they had to believe you to save the earth and all. You were the only one who knew how to defeat the aliens."

            He showed no shock that I knew of his imprisonment, and simply said,

            "Give it time."  With that, his hand left my shoulder and I assumed he had left the room. I flopped back onto the not entirely uncomfortable hospital bed, contemplating the conversations I had taken part in that day. Then, having nothing else to do, I fell into a deep, non-drug induced sleep, free from Martians and muscled men in spandex.

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