Part 11: The Last Son of Mars
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If Kara had been listening, she would have heard the footsteps approaching them a mile away, stealthy as they might have been. As things were, though, she was completely fixated on the mangled figure in front of her and found herself frozen by the sight of a man who, in another world, had been a close friend of her cousin and one of the greatest heroes the universe had ever seen.
"J'Onn?" Diana whispers, taking a step forward. "Great Hera, what did they do to you, J'Onn?"
J'Onn J'Onnz, the Martian Manhunter. Founding member of the Justice League of America, the world's greatest superheroes. Kara had only met him a handful of times, but from those few meetings she knew him to be a gentle being, a hero through and through, and if nothing else she could easily emphasize with him, for the pain of surviving when their home world died had shaped them both.
This was a different J'Onn, she reminded herself. The one from this Earth, or this universe's Mars, rather. And by the looks of things he had suffered a fate much worse than his Earth-1 counterpart.
J'Onn was a shapeshifter, able to take on just about any form he wanted to, but Kara doubted he intentionally looked like this. His form was mangled, the shape of a man who had had every bone in his body broken, only to have them grow back together badly and then broken again. Much of his green skin was covered with burn scars. Fire, Kara remembered. The one great weakness Martians had. J'Onn looked like he had walked through the fires of Hell themselves and what had come out the other side was but a shadow of the man he had been.
"I see you have met my ace in the hole," a voice from behind them wrenched them all out of their shock. They turned to see Bruce Wayne standing there, a grim look on his face.
Before Kara could even think of doing anything Diana was moving, hoisting Bruce up by the lapels of his jacket and slamming him into the nearest wall.
"You have five seconds to convince me that this isn't your doing, Wayne," she hissed into his face. "Start talking!"
Bruce opened his mouth to speak, but no words came out. For a moment the room around them seemed to waver and Kara had a second to recognize the tingling sensation of telepathic contact somewhere inside her head, then the whole world changed.
They were standing in a room, some kind of laboratory, and saw an old man working on a complicated piece of machinery. He didn't react to their presence at all. A memory, Kara realized. They were seeing a memory.
"That should do it," the old man mumbled and somehow Kara knew that his name was Erdel. Dr. Saul Erdel. The information just appeared in her mind out of nowhere.
He took a moment to proudly regard the machine in front of him. It was clearly of alien origin, covered with markings that Kara thought she might have seen before somewhere. Interlac? No, not quite. Some other alien language.
Some parts of the machine had obviously been reconstructed using human technology. Kara couldn't make heads or tails of it. Erdel walked to the control panel and activated it with the air of a child about to unwrap its Christmas presents.
"J'Onn told me about this," Kara heard Diana whisper. "This is the day he came to Earth. This Dr. Erdel somehow found a piece of Martian machinery, some kind of teleportation technology, and spent the largest part of his life restoring it to working order."
Even as she spoke the words Dr. Erdel, having taken but a moment to turn on the video camera standing on a tripod in the corner of the room, activated the machine and a humming began to fill the room. Light spewed forth from the platform at the centre of the lab. Within a few moments the watching heroes could see the faint outline of a presence within the light. A presence that was quite definitely not human.
"It works," Dr. Erdel shouted, excited. "It's actually working."
He didn't have long to celebrate. The images flashed forward, showing a hulking green alien stepping off the platform, shaking from the trauma of teleportation. Was this J'Onn's natural form, she wondered? His form rake- thin, his head elongated to something resembling a hammerhead? She would have to ask Diana about that.
Dr. Erdel approached him, but J'Onn was clearly out of his mind. He trashed around, smashing the carefully restored machinery with his superhuman strength, hurling the merely human doctor into a wall where he came to lie still.
"Is this how it happened in our world?" Kara asked Diana.
"I'm not sure. J'Onn seldom speaks of his past. He once told me that Dr. Erdel nursed him back to health, but also did something to his mind, which caused him to believe that all his people on Mars had died. Much later he found out that some of them were still alive and helped them colonize a new world in another star system."
About three seconds later it became apparent that things hadn't happened quite the same way here on this world. Dr. Erdel was moaning in the corner, clearly hurt, and J'Onn was slowly beginning to calm down when the whole building started to shake. Man and alien alike froze, staring upwards, just in time to see the ceiling being ripped away.
"Best we can tell," Bruce's voice intruded into the memory, "the Four somehow picked up the energy spike from the teleportation device and the alien life signs. They wanted to make sure that their personal playground remained free of advanced alien technology, at least when it wasn't in their possession, or possible alien beings that could rival their power."
Light burst through the laboratory as the building crumbled around them, the very air around them turning to fire. They could hear J'Onn scream, a completely alien sound that seemed to tear away at their very souls. Then the images faded, to be replaced by blackness.
An indeterminate amount of time later the world around them came back into focus, showing a condemned building in a large city somewhere. A man was walking towards it and it took them but a moment to recognize Bruce, though he was quite a bit younger in this memory.
"I was 21 at the time," Bruce's voice once again provided the commentary. "I had only just started working for the FBI as a field agent and was investigating a rumour regarding some kind of disfigured stalker in this part of the city. The police had called us in on this because quite a few homeless people had vanished around these parts and they thought they might be dealing with some kind of serial killer or such.
"They never saw him, never even came close. They were all convinced to leave this area alone via telepathic suggestion, but of course we didn't know that at the time."
They watched the younger Bruce walk into the building, a flashlight in one hand and a gun in the other. From the way he held the weapon they could clearly see that he didn't much like firearms. Kara knew of the deep psychological scars Bruce had suffered by watching his parents being gunned down when he was but eight years old. For the longest time she herself had thought she had lost her own parents to an uncaring universe, only to have them miraculously restored to her years later. That latter part was something Bruce, be it the one she had known or this one, had never been blessed to experience.
The scene shifted once again and they saw him enter a room that might have been part of a nice apartment several decades ago. In the far corner something huddled, something that seemed to draw in Bruce like a moth to the flame.
"He had used his powers to prevent anyone from seeing him," Bruce explained, "but for some reason he connected with me. Some sort of kindred spirit maybe, I don't know. He revealed himself to me."
Young Bruce's face contorted with shock as he came face to face with the alien, but he didn't start running away or firing. The two men, so very different on the surface, stared at each other for a long time.
"He showed me the same memories he's showing you right now. How he came here, how he was attacked but seconds later. He also showed me the faces of those responsible."
The memory began to fade and they were back in the room they had started in, Diana still holding Bruce against the wall. The rage had faded from her face somewhat, though.
"He had used his telepathy to learn about the Four and I learned about them from him. Ever since that day we have worked together. The fire crippled his body, but it didn't affect his mind. Thanks to him I've managed to stay one step ahead of the Four for all these years and he also told me about you. Who you are and where you come from."
Diana slowly lowered him to the ground, the look of suspicion on her face slowly fading. She turned to look at J'Onn. This was no more the man she had known as a friend and colleague on her world then Bruce was, but somehow she found herself extending more trust towards him right at the start. Maybe it was his state of being, nothing but pity, but she doubted it.
When the Justice League had first come together many of the others had been somewhat distrusting of J'Onn, an alien who had hidden among mankind for so long. Even Clark, an alien himself, had found himself a bit suspicious of this utterly inhuman man. It had been Diana and Arthur, Aquaman, who had first opened themselves up to the Martian. Stranger in this world themselves, they had formed a natural bond.
Maybe that was what she felt with this J'Onn as well. He, too, was a complete stranger in this world. Like her and her friends he had been welcomed with carnage and destruction, had no idea whether his home still existed, whether his people where still alive.
Strangers in a strange land, she mused. Hurt by the same people. United in a quest for vengeance? No, she reprimanded herself. Not vengeance! Justice! The murderers of her sisters in this world couldn't go free. They deserved to be punished for all they had done. This was not about the rage she felt churning deep inside of herself. It was about justice!
"J'Onn?" she finally said. "I realize we've never met before, but in my world we were good friends. Is he telling the truth?"
The mangled figure slowly sat up, every motion clearly showing how much it hurt him to do even that much. Kara could see that he was wearing some kind of walking aids, supporting his shattered body to a limited capacity.
"It is true," he finally said, his voice raspy and barely more than a whisper. "I know you knew him in your world as well, Diana. I have seen it. He is not the same man, but you can trust him."
Diana looked at him for a long moment, human eyes locked with alien orbs, searching for signs of the man she had known. Finally she turned to look at the others and nodded.
"Well, Mr. Wayne," Kara told their host. "I guess it is safe to say we are on board. Now how about you tell us how we can take down these 'Four' you have told us so much about?"
TO BE CONTINUED
#
If Kara had been listening, she would have heard the footsteps approaching them a mile away, stealthy as they might have been. As things were, though, she was completely fixated on the mangled figure in front of her and found herself frozen by the sight of a man who, in another world, had been a close friend of her cousin and one of the greatest heroes the universe had ever seen.
"J'Onn?" Diana whispers, taking a step forward. "Great Hera, what did they do to you, J'Onn?"
J'Onn J'Onnz, the Martian Manhunter. Founding member of the Justice League of America, the world's greatest superheroes. Kara had only met him a handful of times, but from those few meetings she knew him to be a gentle being, a hero through and through, and if nothing else she could easily emphasize with him, for the pain of surviving when their home world died had shaped them both.
This was a different J'Onn, she reminded herself. The one from this Earth, or this universe's Mars, rather. And by the looks of things he had suffered a fate much worse than his Earth-1 counterpart.
J'Onn was a shapeshifter, able to take on just about any form he wanted to, but Kara doubted he intentionally looked like this. His form was mangled, the shape of a man who had had every bone in his body broken, only to have them grow back together badly and then broken again. Much of his green skin was covered with burn scars. Fire, Kara remembered. The one great weakness Martians had. J'Onn looked like he had walked through the fires of Hell themselves and what had come out the other side was but a shadow of the man he had been.
"I see you have met my ace in the hole," a voice from behind them wrenched them all out of their shock. They turned to see Bruce Wayne standing there, a grim look on his face.
Before Kara could even think of doing anything Diana was moving, hoisting Bruce up by the lapels of his jacket and slamming him into the nearest wall.
"You have five seconds to convince me that this isn't your doing, Wayne," she hissed into his face. "Start talking!"
Bruce opened his mouth to speak, but no words came out. For a moment the room around them seemed to waver and Kara had a second to recognize the tingling sensation of telepathic contact somewhere inside her head, then the whole world changed.
They were standing in a room, some kind of laboratory, and saw an old man working on a complicated piece of machinery. He didn't react to their presence at all. A memory, Kara realized. They were seeing a memory.
"That should do it," the old man mumbled and somehow Kara knew that his name was Erdel. Dr. Saul Erdel. The information just appeared in her mind out of nowhere.
He took a moment to proudly regard the machine in front of him. It was clearly of alien origin, covered with markings that Kara thought she might have seen before somewhere. Interlac? No, not quite. Some other alien language.
Some parts of the machine had obviously been reconstructed using human technology. Kara couldn't make heads or tails of it. Erdel walked to the control panel and activated it with the air of a child about to unwrap its Christmas presents.
"J'Onn told me about this," Kara heard Diana whisper. "This is the day he came to Earth. This Dr. Erdel somehow found a piece of Martian machinery, some kind of teleportation technology, and spent the largest part of his life restoring it to working order."
Even as she spoke the words Dr. Erdel, having taken but a moment to turn on the video camera standing on a tripod in the corner of the room, activated the machine and a humming began to fill the room. Light spewed forth from the platform at the centre of the lab. Within a few moments the watching heroes could see the faint outline of a presence within the light. A presence that was quite definitely not human.
"It works," Dr. Erdel shouted, excited. "It's actually working."
He didn't have long to celebrate. The images flashed forward, showing a hulking green alien stepping off the platform, shaking from the trauma of teleportation. Was this J'Onn's natural form, she wondered? His form rake- thin, his head elongated to something resembling a hammerhead? She would have to ask Diana about that.
Dr. Erdel approached him, but J'Onn was clearly out of his mind. He trashed around, smashing the carefully restored machinery with his superhuman strength, hurling the merely human doctor into a wall where he came to lie still.
"Is this how it happened in our world?" Kara asked Diana.
"I'm not sure. J'Onn seldom speaks of his past. He once told me that Dr. Erdel nursed him back to health, but also did something to his mind, which caused him to believe that all his people on Mars had died. Much later he found out that some of them were still alive and helped them colonize a new world in another star system."
About three seconds later it became apparent that things hadn't happened quite the same way here on this world. Dr. Erdel was moaning in the corner, clearly hurt, and J'Onn was slowly beginning to calm down when the whole building started to shake. Man and alien alike froze, staring upwards, just in time to see the ceiling being ripped away.
"Best we can tell," Bruce's voice intruded into the memory, "the Four somehow picked up the energy spike from the teleportation device and the alien life signs. They wanted to make sure that their personal playground remained free of advanced alien technology, at least when it wasn't in their possession, or possible alien beings that could rival their power."
Light burst through the laboratory as the building crumbled around them, the very air around them turning to fire. They could hear J'Onn scream, a completely alien sound that seemed to tear away at their very souls. Then the images faded, to be replaced by blackness.
An indeterminate amount of time later the world around them came back into focus, showing a condemned building in a large city somewhere. A man was walking towards it and it took them but a moment to recognize Bruce, though he was quite a bit younger in this memory.
"I was 21 at the time," Bruce's voice once again provided the commentary. "I had only just started working for the FBI as a field agent and was investigating a rumour regarding some kind of disfigured stalker in this part of the city. The police had called us in on this because quite a few homeless people had vanished around these parts and they thought they might be dealing with some kind of serial killer or such.
"They never saw him, never even came close. They were all convinced to leave this area alone via telepathic suggestion, but of course we didn't know that at the time."
They watched the younger Bruce walk into the building, a flashlight in one hand and a gun in the other. From the way he held the weapon they could clearly see that he didn't much like firearms. Kara knew of the deep psychological scars Bruce had suffered by watching his parents being gunned down when he was but eight years old. For the longest time she herself had thought she had lost her own parents to an uncaring universe, only to have them miraculously restored to her years later. That latter part was something Bruce, be it the one she had known or this one, had never been blessed to experience.
The scene shifted once again and they saw him enter a room that might have been part of a nice apartment several decades ago. In the far corner something huddled, something that seemed to draw in Bruce like a moth to the flame.
"He had used his powers to prevent anyone from seeing him," Bruce explained, "but for some reason he connected with me. Some sort of kindred spirit maybe, I don't know. He revealed himself to me."
Young Bruce's face contorted with shock as he came face to face with the alien, but he didn't start running away or firing. The two men, so very different on the surface, stared at each other for a long time.
"He showed me the same memories he's showing you right now. How he came here, how he was attacked but seconds later. He also showed me the faces of those responsible."
The memory began to fade and they were back in the room they had started in, Diana still holding Bruce against the wall. The rage had faded from her face somewhat, though.
"He had used his telepathy to learn about the Four and I learned about them from him. Ever since that day we have worked together. The fire crippled his body, but it didn't affect his mind. Thanks to him I've managed to stay one step ahead of the Four for all these years and he also told me about you. Who you are and where you come from."
Diana slowly lowered him to the ground, the look of suspicion on her face slowly fading. She turned to look at J'Onn. This was no more the man she had known as a friend and colleague on her world then Bruce was, but somehow she found herself extending more trust towards him right at the start. Maybe it was his state of being, nothing but pity, but she doubted it.
When the Justice League had first come together many of the others had been somewhat distrusting of J'Onn, an alien who had hidden among mankind for so long. Even Clark, an alien himself, had found himself a bit suspicious of this utterly inhuman man. It had been Diana and Arthur, Aquaman, who had first opened themselves up to the Martian. Stranger in this world themselves, they had formed a natural bond.
Maybe that was what she felt with this J'Onn as well. He, too, was a complete stranger in this world. Like her and her friends he had been welcomed with carnage and destruction, had no idea whether his home still existed, whether his people where still alive.
Strangers in a strange land, she mused. Hurt by the same people. United in a quest for vengeance? No, she reprimanded herself. Not vengeance! Justice! The murderers of her sisters in this world couldn't go free. They deserved to be punished for all they had done. This was not about the rage she felt churning deep inside of herself. It was about justice!
"J'Onn?" she finally said. "I realize we've never met before, but in my world we were good friends. Is he telling the truth?"
The mangled figure slowly sat up, every motion clearly showing how much it hurt him to do even that much. Kara could see that he was wearing some kind of walking aids, supporting his shattered body to a limited capacity.
"It is true," he finally said, his voice raspy and barely more than a whisper. "I know you knew him in your world as well, Diana. I have seen it. He is not the same man, but you can trust him."
Diana looked at him for a long moment, human eyes locked with alien orbs, searching for signs of the man she had known. Finally she turned to look at the others and nodded.
"Well, Mr. Wayne," Kara told their host. "I guess it is safe to say we are on board. Now how about you tell us how we can take down these 'Four' you have told us so much about?"
TO BE CONTINUED