According to Diana, J'onn had sequestered himself to his room. It was outside of the Martian's door that Batman found himself.

He wasn't certain what possessed him to agree to talking with him. Grief was powerful and J'onn had just experienced something very few people would ever be able to relate to. Superman came close, but he had been an infant when Krypton was destroyed. He had no memories of his home world. All he had were lost moments and experiences.

J'onn had those moments and experiences. He had a family, a life, and all reminders of it had been brutally wiped out before his eyes. How many Last Sons and Last Daughters were there that could relate to that?

As for him, he had seen people he cared for murdered before his eyes, so in a metaphorical sense he could relate. But dead parents did not equal a lost world. He at least had a tombstone, a marker that he could pay his respects. There wasn't exactly a marker for Mars sitting in space.

So again, how had he let Diana convince him to do this?

The Amazon herself was standing right next to him, looking expectant at the door. That simply wouldn't do. "Diana," he spoke lowly, "if you would stay out here?"

The dark-haired woman glanced to him. "Are you sure?"

Batman nodded. "No one wants an audience when they're grieving. It's a private moment and I'm about to walk right into it. The less people there, the better."

She slowly nodded and backed up a step. She didn't go very far, instead positioning herself right across the hallway, her back up against the wall. Clearly she wanted to hear how things went.

Batman resisted the urge to sigh out loud, opting to do so internally. Returning his attention to the door, he opened it, the door itself sliding to one side. Stepping into the room, the door slid shut behind him.

J'onn wasn't hiding. He was sitting on his bed, lost in his own head as he stared straight ahead. The vigilante was pretty certain the man wasn't aware of his presence, but then when was a telepathy ever unaware? Taking a step forward, Batman walked right up to the Martian and then took a seat on the bed next to him. He didn't say a word, just stared straight towards the wall.

They were effectively in a staring match now, though neither one of them was looking at the other. One of them would break the silence, but only when they were ready. J'onn hadn't even stirred when the Dark Knight walked up to him, nor adjusted himself on the bed when he sat down. He was a reserve person that kept to himself. Batman, on the other hand, was stubborn and used to waiting for hours at a time.

This was going to take awhile.

Seconds became minutes, minutes stretching even longer. There was no visible clock, so there was no telling what time it was, or how much had gone by. The two men just sat there in silence.

Finally, Batman raised a hand up and placed it on J'onn's shoulder. Considering the green man was taller than him, he had to reach up somewhat. He gave a comforting squeeze, his palm rubbing into the Martian's shoulder blade. It was something Alfred had done to him in the days following his parents' murder. There had been no words uttered, just a simple gesture, one to say that he was there if he was needed. A young Bruce would simply breakdown and cry, huddling into the older man until his fit passed.

"It hurts," J'onn spoke after some time. "I have never…felt…such pain before."

Batman resisted the urge to respond. There wasn't really anything he could say in response to that, nothing that would be of any benefit. He just continued rubbing his hand on his friend's shoulder.

"I feel…lost. Like nothing will ever be okay again. It's overwhelming."

"I know," Batman responded simply.

There was finally some movement from the Martian. It was nothing more than him shifting on the bed, adjusting himself for what must have been the first time since he sat down. "I don't think I'll ever get over this," J'onn confessed.

"I wouldn't expect you to. It weighs down on you, a sickening feeling that seems to rot from the inside out."

"It doesn't feel normal."

"It's not meant to."

There was silence once more. "How does one make it go away?" That was a rhetorical question. A young Bruce had asked that same question so many times.

"I haven't found that out," he admitted. "There are some things that never go away. Some things are branded onto you, whether you want it to or not."

There was a sigh. "I can never go home. I had once thought I would be buried there, with my family. Now that has been lost to me forever. I can never rest with my family."

Batman supposed that no matter how long J'onn had been on Earth, he would forever call Mars home. It was like he was renting space on a neighboring planet rather than settling there. The vigilante imagined that was how he would feel about Wayne Manor.

And perhaps that was the problem. Though J'onn had built a life here on Earth, he never fully immersed himself into it. He had many acquaintances, work colleagues, and perhaps a friend or two, but there was nothing here that he could not do away with if he needed to. Now that was something he could relate to.

Batman squeezed the Martian's shoulder again. "I understand if you want to be alone. Just know that I'm available whenever you need me."

"Thank you," J'onn replied softly.

"Do you want me to go?"

"No. You may stay."

The conversation didn't go much further than that. It was simply the course of the conversation and words weren't always necessary when helping a friend. Sometimes one's presence was enough.

Seconds became minutes and minutes stretched even longer.

An alarm went off. It wasn't the all-hands-on-deck blaring alarm that had gone off when the World Engine made its debut, but a sharp, attention-getting beep. That, in and of itself, wasn't cause for alarm.

The fact that alarm went off multiple times like gunfire, however, did.

Steel found himself hitting a key on the keyboard to open up as many windows as possible for each alarm. What he saw were Thanagarian ships hovering over various cities on Earth, swarms of Thanagarians flying through the sky.

Had it been one, or even two cities, it wouldn't have made Steel think something was up. But seeing as every alert had generated the same image, he was starting to get a bad feeling about this. So he decided to call in an expert.

"Hey, Superman," Steel hailed over the comm link. "There's something in the Monitor Room I need to show you."

Before he even got a response, another alert rang out, this one just a dull beep though. That one he knew as the hangar doors opening. Now, if this had happened without all of those alerts on Earth, he wouldn't have thought much of it. But since it was, he decided to see just who was opening the doors.

Activating the camera feeds in the hangar and outside of the hangar doors, the moment he saw Thanagarian ships, he knew something was not right at all.

Vixen was one of the first to enter the hangar, Firestorm right behind her. She immediately saw a number of Thanagarian ships landing while a couple more were being disembarked. She saw each and every Thanagarian holding some kind of weapon, be it a plasma rifle, or an Nth metal weapon that looked like it could either bash her brains out, or split her head wide open.

The moment those winged aliens took aim at her, she also knew this wasn't a normal house call.

Immediately, she summoned the spirit of the cheetah and took off running. Half a heartbeat later and plasma beams were burning through the air. Vixen didn't see what Firestorm did to avoid the beams as he was out of her line of sight.

Rapidly, she closed in on the invaders. Reaching one of the gunmen, she snatched the plasma rifle out of his hands. Holding it by the barrel like a baseball bat, she then swung it across her body and smashed it into his face, causing the Thanagarian to cry out. That was all he did, unfortunately, as he didn't seem to stumble away.

So she called upon the strength of the elephant and performed a backswing with her stolen laser gun. This had the desired effect of knocking her foe clear off of his feet, sending him crashing into a couple of his buddies, and knocking them to the floor. By then, the other gunmen were turning their weapons on her.

Only to get struck by energy blasts as Firestorm swooped through the air. Each man screamed as they were struck by the beams, crumpling to the floor. This gave Vixen the chance to attack another Thanagarian, one who was swinging an Nth metal axe at her head.

"Whoa!" she couldn't help but help as she jumped backwards, avoiding the head-splitting attack. Dropping the rifle she held to the floor, she lunged at her attacker, slamming a fist into his face. Her elephant strength sent the man flying back, crashing into one of the parked Thanagarian ships.

Unfortunately, more Thanagarians were pouring out of the other parked ships, increasing their numbers dramatically. "We need a little help in the hangar!" she shouted over her comm link. Vixen didn't bother listening for a response, you know, since she had a freaking armor of aliens in front of her.

"Protection!" one of the Thanagarians shouted and many rose hands up to their heads. Vixen wasn't sure what they did, but found she couldn't care less as one Thanagarian emerged from his ranks. He held up a device, pressing a button on it with her thumb.

Suddenly, a mind-shattering sound rang out. Was it hypersonic? Vixen wasn't sure, but she really didn't care as she could have sworn her ears were bleeding. Dropping down to one knee, she clamped her hands onto her ears to try and block the sound out, but it didn't little for her. Faintly, she saw Firestorm falling from the air, landing on the ground as he too was debilitated by the sound.

However, he didn't seem to give up that easily. Holding up a hand, he fired an energy blast at the Thanagarian making that awful, awful sound. Unfortunately, another Thanagarian leapt into the way, holding up what looked like a shield. The blast hit the shield, absorbing it. The moment the beam ended, the shield glowed a bright yellow before a larger blast fired from it. Firestorm was unable to get out of the way as he took the brunt of it, crying out as he was sent flying through the air.

Vixen wanted to call out to the guy, really, she did. But that sound! Why wouldn't it stop? It was making it hard to focus and her ears were ringing and why the hell wasn't it stopping?!

Please, just make it stop!

So apparently the hangar was having an issue. Flash decided, hey, he would go take a look. Perhaps he could be of some sort of assistance.

That changed the moment he discovered Thanagarians flooding out of the door to the hangar. "Hey, what—" he began to call out.

Only to have those same Thanagarians immediately open fire on him, with plasma rifles no less. In one instant, they were firing death beams at him; the next, Flash was right behind them and each and every Thanagarian was slumped on the floor or against the wall. "I gotta say, your manners as guests are severely lacking," he said with disapproval.

That was when another Thanagarain poked his head out from the hanger doorway. The moment he saw Flash, he pulled out a round metal orb. Pressing a button on it, he tossed it onto the floor, a smoke cloud suddenly erupting from it, filling the corridor.

"Hey, Bats called!" Flash yelled. "Said he wants his schtick back!"

Alright, that was kind of lame, but hey, not all of his awesome one-liners were winners. Raising his arms up, he began to rotate them, creating a wind tunnel to blow the smoke away. At least that was the plan before he heard shouts from behind him.

Jerking his head around, he saw a number of Thanagarins standing there, each holding one of Hawkgirl's favorite Nth metal weapons. For a moment, he wondered how they got behind him, only to then remember they hadn't patched that hole in the hangar from J'onn's fight with the brain-controlled Justice League. Seriously, what the heck had they been fixing up here that didn't get them to fixing those gaping holes?

Yet, the Thanagarains didn't make a move towards him. Flash wasn't about to overthink the situation, but the moment those Thanagarains suddenly took cover around the corner of the intersecting hallway made him want to reconsider.

Alright, Flash was confused by that. It almost looked as if those guys were trying to get out of the way of something. Seeing as it had to be something behind him, Flash turned back around and saw that smoke cloud dissipating. In its place were two Thanagarians holding up a very long, high-tech looking cannon. It almost looked like that giant machine gun from Predator, but instead of a gun barrel, it was a cannon barrel, and required two guys to hold it up instead of one. A dark blue blast fired from the cannon, one that closed in on Flash pretty quickly too.

Flash immediately began to vibrate where he stood, attempting to allow the beam to pass right through him. That…didn't work as the moment the beam hit him, he couldn't help but cry out. Everything around him felt heavy and he dropped to his knees, shortly followed by his hands slapping down on the floor to hold himself up.

This…he had felt this before. It was just like the White House, when Vandal Savage had used that weird gravity ray on him. He felt like he weighed sixteen tons. The floor was beginning to crack from the weight placed on it. Gritting his teeth, he tried to resist falling down onto his face, but that was getting harder and harder every passing second.

So naturally that was when the calvary showed up.

An alarm went off, causing Batman to shoot up onto his feet. J'onn merely looked up, still numb to everything.

That changed when Diana nearly ripped the door down opening it. "Bruce, there's something going on!" she announced. "I've been getting calls about something going down in the hangar."

"Go check it out," Batman ordered, earning himself a nod from the Amazon as she took off. Returning his attention to J'onn, he asked, "Will you be alright if I go?"

J'onn nodded. "It is alright. I—"

He never got to finish. A glowing light suddenly appeared in front of the doorway, becoming the symbol of the ankh, one large enough to block the door from view. Batman had spun around to see this, just in time to see Dr. Fate emerged from the sign.

"Batman, J'onn J'onzz," the sorcerer greeted them. "You must come with me—now."

"Fate?" the vigilante questioned. "What—"

"There is no time for questions. If we delay further, all will be lost."

For the first time in awhile, J'onn seemed to perk up. "I am sensing conflict. Something is happening on the Watchtower."

"Worldwide," Fate corrected him. "I will explain all, but we must leave this instant."

Batman glanced to J'onn, who returned his look. Neither one of them seemed to be objecting. "Alright, let's go," he said.

Fate's only response was to hold out his hands, the ankh symbol glowing brighter behind him until its light swallowed up the room whole.

The first sight Superman saw was of Flash on all forces, straining to hold himself up. He saw a couple Thanagarians holding up a long weapon, pointing it right at the speedster.

In a blur of red-and-blue, the Kryptonian left John behind him as he rushed towards Flash's attackers. He barreled right through them, knocking them to the ground. He ended up on the opposite side of Flash, hovering in midair.

"Hey…Supes," Flash greeted from between gritted teeth. "You're just…in time…"

Before Superman could ask, "In time for what?", plasma beams were suddenly firing from the end of the hall, a number of Thanagarians appearing around the corner there and opening fire.

"Any idea what's going on?" the dark-haired man asked as he remained where he stood, making certain the plasma beams hit him instead of Flash. While they stung when they struck him, it was a minor pain compared to what the speedster would feel if he got hit.

However, this left him blind to everything behind him. All he heard was John shout, "Look out!" Turning his head around, he saw one of the Thanagarians he had knocked down somehow pointing that strange weapon of his up at the Kryptonian. His friend was knocked out, so the back end of it was still on the floor, the closer end being held up towards him. A dark blue blast fired out of it, striking Superman head on.

Immediately, Superman felt something was wrong. In fact, he dropped right out of the air, slamming down on the ground, where he dented a large area from his impact site. Everything felt heavy and he was soon looking very much like the Flash on all fours.

The beam came to a sudden stop as John entered the fray. A green beam from his ring struck the Thanagarian on the back of his head, knocking him out. The Green Lantern closed in on his friends, stopping only to glance at the long weapon their attackers used.

"Members of the Justice League!" one of the Thanagarians shouted from the other end of the hall. "Surrender yourselves in the name of Thanagar!"

John only stared at them for a moment before he pointed his ring right at them. "Surrender this!"

As Diana entered the Monitor Room, she was nearly overwhelmed with the number of alarms going off. Steel and Black Lightning were at the terminal, their chairs knocked over as they stood.

"What's going on?" she questioned as she entered the room.

"A full-scale attack as far as I can tell," Steel answered her over the blaring klaxon. "The Watchtower is surrounded by Thanagarians."

What? Diana closed in on the two men and got a better look at what was on the screen. She saw all sorts of different angles from security cameras in and on the outside of the Watchtower. Each one had the presence of Thanagarians, either in their ships outside of the satellite, or as warriors running up and down the hallways.

"Where is everyone?" she demanded then.

"Far as I can tell, Vixen and Firestorm were in the hangar. Flash, Superman, and Green Lantern are…" Black Lightning trailed off as he looked at one of the many windows open. "They're on the move, leaving the hangar. Captain Atom, Green Arrow, and Black Canary weren't on board."

"I've got Fire and Ice leaving the commissary," Steel reported. "Damn, we're practically infested with these guys."

"What about Hawkgirl?" Diana then asked. "Is she here?"

"I don't have a bead on her. Comm link doesn't show that she's on board and hasn't been in awhile, so I have to go with no," Black Lightning answered.

"Then we need to regroup." Mentally, Diana ran over options in her head, places close enough for the League to meet up that would be beneficial for all. "Tell everyone to head the the teleporter. That should be close enough for everyone."

"Got it," Steel replied before he sent out the message. Not waiting, Diana turned and went through the corridors herself. Hopefully Black Lighting and Steel would follow.

When she arrived outside of the room, she found Fire and Ice arriving at the same time, the former a walking green flame, the latter with her hands covered in ice crystals. "Wonder Woman!" Ice called out. "What's is happening?"

"Full scale invasion," Steel answered for her. Good, the others had followed her. "Closest thing we can come up with."

"You're not kidding!"

Around a corner, John came flying, dragging a bubble construct behind him. Inside were Superman and Flash, though oddly enough, both were sitting on the bottom of the construct, warping it as two wide bumps altered the roundness of the construct. "We're getting overrun!"

As if to prove him right, Thanagarains suddenly appeared down the same hallway John was flying down. Seeing this, Ice leapt into action, firing a blast of ice that formed a wall of ice between them, blocking the League from their attackers. "That should buy us some time, but not much," she said.

"What happened to you?" Diana then asked as John reached their team. "Where's Vixen and Firestorm?"

"No idea, but it can't be anything good," John grunted. He actually looked like he had been exerting himself. "The Thanagarains have some strange weapons. They've clearly prepared for us."

"How do we fight back against this?" Fire asked.

"I'm not sure we can," Steel answered. "We're surrounded if our sensors were right. Even if we fight off the current group of invaders, there's only going to be more."

"So what? We give up?" John demanded.

"More like a strategic retreat," Black Lighting countered. "Look, we've been blindsided, so we need to regroup in a safe location. This isn't it. So we need to get off of the Watchtower and figure out what's going on."

John glanced to the teleporter room. "This is as good of a jump off point as any," he acknowledged. "Alright, let's do this."

That left a sour taste in Diana's mouth, but she had to admit, they were not in a good place. Withdrawing was better than being captured. They could at least resist…

Wait, why did it feel like they were still missing people?

Looking around, she realized Batman and J'onn weren't there. "Has anyone seen Batman and J'onn?" she quickly questioned.

Unfortunately, they had run out of time. Plasma beams suddenly gut through Ice's ice wall, cutting it down quickly. "Inside!" John shouted as the Leaguers poured into the room. Shutting the door, Fire got to work blasting fire at the door's edges, sealing the room off, another delaying tactic.

Black Lighting was at the controls to the teleporter. "We're going to have to do this in two trips," he said. "The founder's first."

Diana snapped her head to the hero. "No, new members first."

The man shook his head. "I can't guarantee we'll get a second trip if the Thanagarians make quick work of the door. At least if we get you guys off, we can ensure there's a fighting chance. Besides, they probably want you captured more than any of us, especially if Batman and J'onn got caught before getting here."

"We don't have a lot of time to argue," John chimed in. "We'll do it your way, but you better be right behind us."

There was a pounding sound from the door. Clearly the Thanagarains were trying to break in. "Get your butts on the teleporter," Black Lightning ordered.

Diana clenched her hands into fists, but did as told. Climbing onto the platform, John joined her with Superman and Flash still in the construct. Black Lighting kept punching buttons for a moment, but then the familiar bright light began to glow around them. It was just in time too as the door suddenly began to dent inward from repeated pounding.

And then the Watchtower vanished from sight.

It was so nice of the Thanagarians to barge in through the front doors. Through the windows, anyone could see small floating tanks aiming their turrets right at the building itself. Red Robin had no idea of what was going on, but it had to be bad.

Just minutes before, all the news outlets began reporting on the Thanagarians seizing control of, well, just about everything. That the doors were kicked in minutes later could only mean that the Tower was deemed to have some kind of importance.

He was so thankful he was still in costume, so he was armed and ready. However, this was not a fight he felt the Titans should be fighting. There had been no time to prepare, nor had they any word from the League of how to handle the situation. So, without giving it a second thought, the teen vigilante acted and triggered an alert for all Titans.

It was an emergency alert, and everyone was to assemble immediately.

Then the winged invaders busted their way into the rec room that could double as a briefing room. The first thing the masked teen noted were the plasma rifles; those things were so widespread around the galaxy, weren't they? The second thing was the maces. He'd seen enough pictures of Hawkgirl to know that this was not unusual.

"By order of Thanagar and its commanding officer, Hro Talak, these premises are under lockdown and every individual within are to surrender immediately," the leader of this invasion force ordered.

There were five of them in the room right now. Red Robin knew that Raven was seated on the couch, standing nearby in alarm was Beast Boy who stood slightly in front of Terra. Kid Flash was at the bar, sitting on a stool and completely relaxed. You'd think this wasn't his first time. That left Cyborg, Wonder Girl, and Starfire elsewhere in the Tower, so they'd have to rendezvous if this went where the masked teen thought it was going to.

Voluntarily, Red Robin held both of his hands up, the classic "I am no danger to you" or "surrender" pose depending on how you looked at it. "Why are you here?" he half-asked, half-demanded.

"I have no reason to answer you, Boy. Is this all the residents of this base?" the nameless Thanagarian leader retorted before issuing his next demand.

Beside the leader, one of his fellow Thanagarians said, "Our intelligence says there are eight primary residents."

So they could count. Perfect.

"We aren't any threat to anyone. We're just a school," Red Robin said slowly and calmly.

"We know you're a training facility for future members of your Justice League. I am taking you all into custody. This is your last chance to surrender," the Thanagarian leader ordered.

The barrels of the plasma rifles were aimed at all of them. You know what the scary thing was? They didn't hum, so you didn't know if they were turned on or not, but you had to assume they were and forget about a safety.

With a sigh, Red Robin said loudly, "Kid Flash."

Not even a second later, the plasma rifles were falling to pieces, and Kid Flash was on the other side of the room, whistling merrily while tossing aside what looked like an important part or component. Many a Thanagarian blinked dumbly at the malfunctioning weapons, but shock disappeared as quickly as it came, and maces and other such weapons were being drawn out. From the looks of it, none of these new ones were as easy to disassemble.

As he lowered his arms, Red Robin bent to a side as a black mass shaped like a bird shrieked past him. Raven's construct barreled into the Thanagarians, breaking through the group. One Thanagarian was able to slip out of the black bird's way and with a cleave of his mace, tore apart a wing. Raven gasped out, as if she herself was hit, and what that meant could be looked into later. Right now…

Ducking down, a green ram leapt over him, racing behind what was left of the black construct. Perhaps too quickly, Thanagarians were picking themselves up and already noticed the incoming attack. They raised their weapons up defensively, and from the way they held them, the Thanagarians would be quick to go on the offensive.

Beast Boy didn't give them the chance, shifting from a ram to an elephant and trampling those who didn't get out of his way. Red Robin was back on his feet, several birdarangs held between his fingers, and swinging both of his arms out sent the throwing projectiles to back up the green shapeshifter. He'd gotten really good with his aim since he used the weapons a lot, the projectiles striking hands and causing metal weapons to fall to the floor.

"Terra!" the masked teen called out over his shoulder.

"What do you want me to do? We don't have a lot of rocks up here!" the thin blonde exclaimed.

"Break the window. We'll pay for it later!" he retorted as he ran to a Thanagarian who was getting back onto his feet. Jumping, he kicked out his legs ahead of him, his target spotting him and readying to catch him. At the second, he activated the rocket boosters in his boots and then the winged alien was blasted back and into the kitchenette bar, breaking into it.

Not even a second later, and the windows shattered, large rocks flying through like the cavalry. Large, muscular, alien bodies were struck, armor was dented, and wings weren't spared the onslaught. Any Thanagarian who tried to electrocute—right, Hawkgirl was also known for that—Beast Boy were shown no mercy as they were pelted with some pretty big stones.

One Thanagarian found himself being grabbed by a green elephant trunk, and then slammed up into the ceiling where his body hung limply. Another Thanagarian was knocked off his feet by a certain speedster and that was followed up by a medium-sized boulder slamming down on top of him.

"You dare?!" the Thanagarian leader exclaimed furiously as he picked himself up. "Who are you to challenge the authority of Thanagar?!"

He was answered with being spun around multiple times by a yellow blur and placed right into the path of a certain green elephant whose charge had a thick skull slam into the alien's body, sending him flying back and landing right in front of Red Robin.

Looking down, Red Robin quipped, "We're teenagers," raised a leg up and kicked his booted foot right into the Thanagarian leader's face.

Getting a quick look around, and finding that the welcoming Thanagarian party was down, he raised a hand to an ear. "Everyone, get down to the garage. Make some holes if you need to, but we're getting out of here."

Immediately beside him, Kid Flash gave a snicker while he held a dazed Raven in his arms. "Nice comeback there," the speedster praised. "So to the basement, glorious leader?"

Red Robin gave a quick nod. "The tunnels are our best bet getting out of here. These guys might have the air covered, and I don't want to stick around too long to see what their heavy artillery looks like."

"Um…" Beast Boy butted in, gesturing with the end of his trunk at something behind the teen vigilante. Frowning, Red Robin looked over his shoulder to the broken windows, and found what looked like a cross between a hovercraft and a tank aiming a turret right at them.

Well crap.

Without warning, a pillar of rock struck the underside of the Thanagarian flying vessel, sending it out of sight and more than likely crashing into the side of the tower. Quickly looking to Terra, the masked teen gave a nod of thanks, then heroically led the strategic withdrawal out of the rec room and into the halls.

It wasn't a simple task; there were multiple skirmishes with Thanagarians along the way, but the stairwell helped to speed up their descent. Along the way, they came across a very unhappy Wonder Girl and a hallway full of moaning or unconscious Thanagarians, an alarmed and stressed Starfire who was quick to get into serious mode, and lastly Cyborg who met up with them in the garage, protecting the T Car with his life.

"What the hell is going on?" the cybernetic teen demanded. "Is this another damn alien invasion?"

"We'll figure it out later," Red Robin responded. "Who knows when reinforcements are coming. Get in the car, and let's go."

"To where?" Wonder Girl demanded. Behind her, Starfire was welding shut the entrance to the garage, a time-buying action and nothing more.

The thought popped into his head, and he went with it. "I'll let you know on the road. Cyborg, while you're at it, lockdown all the servers and databases we have."

"Done and done," Cyborg said as he got into the driver's seat. "Squeeze in everyone. This is going to be a tight fit in more ways than one."

Before the interim Lantern headquarters for the intended temporary operations, Ganthet found himself facing a squadron of Thanagarians, their ships forming a perimeter in the sky.

There was no need to say "what is the meaning of this?" Ganthet was not naive. There had been another change in the intricate web of lies and politics that had formed around Earth over the last month. While the Guardian had no doubts that the Lantern Corps would easily be able to break through the implied cage, the Thanagarians had come prepared with another means of entrapment.

"In light of the fiasco on New Tamaran and the recent destruction of this solar system's fourth planet, Hro Talak has ordered a martial law on Earth and all residents, be they permanent or temporary, until the situation has been resolved. All Green Lantern Corps members are to relinquish any and all duties to the Thanagar Legion and are to withhold any and all actions against Thanagar, its representatives, and its military as per Intergalactic Law concerning interplanetary intervention and a planet's inability to defend itself, Clause 1017, Section fourteen, Addendum Y, Paragraph three."

Funny. Thanagar was widely known to be opposed to any and all intergalactic laws until the point where they could use it to their advantage. If they were a headache before…

"I am well aware of intergalactic law, and that clause in particular," Ganthet said dryly. "You claim the basis of Earth being the current location of the Destroyer, yet did not invoke that clause until now."

"Thanagar has ever been a proponent for self-determination. There are times when a planet does not have the means to protect itself and requires the aid of those who can," the Thanagarian emissary replied.

"Self-determination? Since when has declaring marital law ever been done for self-determination? All you needed to do was form a perimeter around the planet if you are as concerned as you claim," the guardian answered. "What is your real intention—"

"Our intention is to protect this planet seeing as how it cannot do so itself," came the swift interruption.

"As. Are. We," Ganthet stated, his voice slightly rising. Without needing to look, he knew a number of the Corps members were preparing themselves for a fight. Hopefully it would not come to that. It seemed, though, that the Guardian's words reached the emissary; eyes not masked behind that hawk-shaped helm flickered to the Green Lanterns who were watching the exchange with interest.

Straightening up, "If it is aid you claim to give, then you can do so outside of the atmosphere. I've heard that Green Lanterns are able to withstand the hostility of outer space without a need for a spacecraft. Perhaps you may be of better service there."

Ganthet eyed the emissary, watching and observing. The man was getting uncomfortable under the scrutiny. However, another question needed to be answered, and that was whether or not enough Lanterns had been brought to Earth that could handle the legion that Thanagar had sent. There was no doubt that the power of the rings gave an advantage, but there were significantly fewer Lanterns than there were Thanagarians, not to mention the artillery brought with them.

There was also the rout that Kalanor had dealt them. There were times for action, but also caution. What choice could he make that would ensure Earth's survival?

Inspiration then struck. "I wish to speak with your commander, Hro Talak. I would like to hear his reasons from him and him alone."

It was easy to spot the hesitation, the uncertainty quickly masked as soon as it had appeared. With his head held high, the emissary replied, "I will relay your request. Do not interfere with our current actions until the commander responds."

Ganthet kept himself stoic, not betraying any of his thoughts. His request was not a burdensome one nor overbearing. However, he sensed the reluctance in that response. How to reply? Would antagonizing the Thanagarians accomplish anything? Based on his current intelligence, he could not see any advantage to that course of action.

That did not mean that circumstances could not change in the future.

"I will remain at this location until I receive word from your commander. The Green Lanterns will not interfere other than to place themselves at key positions around the planet. I believe this fulfills the demands you have relayed to me."

With a push of a button, every communication line and frequency was jammed. Screens of static appeared on every television screen, computer screen, even electronic billboards. The previous programming was soon replaced with the visage of Hro Talak, Commander of the Thanagarian Legion.

"People of Earth," he called out, his voice echoing over and over from every speaker. A few had slight delays, so it gave the impression his words were being said in a round. "I am Commander Talak of the Thanagarian Legion. In light of what has transpired in the wake of this solar system's fourth planet's destruction, my brethren have growing concerns.

"The despicable act perpetrated by Despero has revealed a side of Earth's populace that we were unaware of." The image of Hro Talak was replaced by footage of the riots taking place globally. People attacking each other, buildings broken into and looted, cars set on fire; the image changed every few seconds to show these events. Occasionally, the footage was changed from a modern recording to dated one. One was something a Thanagarian had found called "The LA Riots." Another was in black and white and had something to do with busing students. Some had been altered with titles courtesy of the planet's media networks, a prominent one showing people pushing a car onto its side before it was set ablaze.

"It is because of these acts that there is a growing concern of Thanagar's ability to protect this world should it lead to damage to the Defense Shield Generator. Therefore, I am placing Earth under martial law, effective immediately.

"Do not resist us. Everything we do is for your benefit." He paused. "Curfews will be put in place. Anyone caught in violation will be arrested and taken to a detention center. Anyone caught vandalizing or stealing will also be detained. Do not look to your law enforcement or civil servants for reprieve. They have no power here. Do not look to your Justice League either. They have fled into your populace like cowards. If anyone locates them, you are to report their location immediately."

Hro Talak closed his eyes, seemingly taking in a breath before opening them again. "I do not take pleasure in making this decision. The sooner Despero and the Kalanorian fleet are defeated, the sooner we will lift this order and leave Earth. You will be able to return to your normal lives, of this I promise you.

"At this time, only you can determine how uncomfortable you make this experience. If we all work together, it will be finished relatively quickly. The choice…is yours."