Chapter 6: The War of the Worlds
Back in Metropolis, Superman arrived at the park where Bugs and Daffy appeared, bringing the two of them there. Bugs pointed at the hole where they came from. The Man of Steel took a look at the hole, using his X-ray vision for it. The superhero looked around the hole, searching for something that would help them understand what's going on. He then activated the communicator in his ear.
"Batman, I've scanned the hole Bugs made in the park." He said to the Dark Knight.
"Anything suspicious about it?" the latter asked.
"I haven't found anything. There is no link to a trans-dimensional portal or anything else that would explain how Bugs and Daffy came into our world."
"I see. However, I can say for certain these two aren't the only Looney Tunes in our world. Lola Bunny is in the Batcave right now. She was found by Wonder Woman on Themyscira."
"Should I tell them that?" Superman asked.
"Sure, there's no problem."
"Bugs..." the Man of Steel said as he looked at the rabbit. "Lola is here too. She's in the Batcave at this moment."
"What!? SHE gets to visit the Batcave, but not me!? This is unfair!" Daffy exclaimed. "Why does she get this treatment while I'm stuck here with you guys in this park!? This doesn't make any sense whatsoever!"
Bugs rolled his eyes at the duck's reaction as he took the communicator from Superman.
"Hey, Bats. Bugs here. May I talk to Lola now?"
"Hold on a second." Batman said.
A few seconds later, the female rabbit's voice was heard through the communicator.
"Hey, Bun-Bun! How have you been? I was so worried about you."
"I'm fine, Lola. How's it going?"
"Oh, it's been an awesome day! First I met Wonder Woman, and now I'm in the Batcave! How cool is that! Did you know there was a giant penny in this place? I wonder if you can use it to buy stuff. Oh! And there's also a fake dinosaur here. It reminds me of that time I saw "Jurassic Park". That was a great movie! The sequels were good too, although not as good. I wonder how the fourth one will be, if it ever gets made. I'd love it if Indiana Jones was in it. You know, 'cause of Spielberg and everything. Speaking of, how come everyone hates the fourth Indy movie? I thought it had cool action scenes and everything. Plus, what's wrong with nuking a fridge? Would nuking a microwave be more acceptable to the fans? I gotta wonder..."
"Lola, focus, please." Bugs interrupted.
"Oops! Sorry, I didn't mean to do that. Anyway, you should visit the Batcave. It's awesome. By the way, is Daffy with you? Tell him he's missing something."
"Lola said you're missin' somethin' by not bein' in the Batcave." Bugs said to the duck, causing the latter to rip the feathers from his arms in frustration and talking in gibberish.
"Oh, by the way, Batman is telling me he wants to talk to Superman." The female rabbit said to her boyfriend.
"Incoming call from Bats, Supes." The carrot eater said as he gave the communicator back to Superman.
"What is it, Batman?" the superhero asked.
"I've been running some tests on Lola. I'm starting to think I should do some tests on Bugs and Daffy as well. Bring them to the Batcave as soon as possible." Batman replied.
"Got it." Superman said before looking at the two Looney Tunes. "Batman told me to bring you two to the Batcave."
"It's about time!" Daffy eagerly exclaimed.
Superman grabbed the two of them before flying back towards Gotham City.
Meanwhile, above the Earth, there was a satellite built with the latest technology. This satellite, known as the Watchtower, served as the headquarters of the Justice League.
Inside the satellite, there was someone staring at the window. That someone was a well-built, green-skinned Martian with red eyes. He was wearing a blue cape, blue shorts with a red belt, blue boots, and a red 'X' across his chest. His name is J'onn J'onzz, also known as Martian Manhunter. The alien looked at the window, where he was able to see his home planet known as Mars.
"Hey there, J'onn."
Martian Manhunter turned around to see a familiar face. It was a red-haired woman with green eyes, and wings on her back. She was wearing a yellow and black sleeveless shirt, yellow pants, and yellow shoes. Her name is Shayera Hol, AKA Hawkgirl.
"Hello, Shayera." The Martian said.
He looked back at the window, staring at his home planet. J'onn was the last of his kind, having lost his family and the rest of his species a long time ago during a tragedy. It was only when he joined the Justice League that he had a family for the first time in what felt like an eternity. Sometimes, the Martian would think about the time he spent with his deceased wife and children. This was one of those moments.
"Still thinking about your family?" Hawkgirl asked.
"Yes." He replied.
The Martian continued to stare at the window until he turned around.
"I'm going to visit Mars. Do you mind if...?"
"Nah, I can take care of the Watchtower while you're gone. Don't worry about it, J'onn." She reassured him with a smile.
"Thank you, Shayera." He said, smiling at her before flying away and heading towards the nearest exit.
A while later, Martian Manhunter arrived on Mars. The superhero looked around. Memories from a long time ago soon flooded his mind as he recognized familiar places he had been to before. Those memories brought him a mix of happiness and sadness. Happy that he had lived those events from the past, but also sad that the people he shared those events with were gone forever. This was a strange feeling the Martian would live from time to time whenever he remembered those memories.
At this moment, Martian Manhunter looked around again, recognizing a few more places. Suddenly, he noticed something that wasn't there the last time he had been on Mars. It looked like some sort of observatory, with a huge telescope appearing from the roof. Confused to see this building, the superhero made his way towards it.
Opening the door, he entered it and noticed a staircase leading to the next floor. Walking up those stairs, Martian Manhunter arrived on the next floor and looked around. He then noticed that someone was sitting on a chair, looking through the telescope. J'onn arched an eyebrow in confusion at the sight of the person on the chair.
The person in question was a black-skinned creature, with no mouth and no nose. The creature was wearing a green helmet with a broom on the top, a red jumpsuit, a green metal skirt, and black and white shoes. That creature was better known as Marvin the Martian.
"Oh, dear. This is fantastic." Marvin said as he looked through the telescope. "Earth is a beautiful planet, indeed. However, none of its beauty can compare to Venus. It is unfortunate that Earth is blocking my view of Venus. Oh well. I will just have to blow it up with my Illudium Q-36 Explosive Space Modulator."
The animated Martian took what was essentially a dynamite stick from his pocket, lit it, and put it inside some sort of cannon. Covering his ears and closing his eyes, Marvin waited for the dynamite stick to explode. However, Martian Manhunter sneaked by, opened the cannon, grabbed the dynamite stick, and extinguished the lighted fuse with his fingers. As much as he disliked getting into contact with fire, he had to do this to protect his adopted home planet. Several seconds later, Marvin opened his eyes, looking confused.
"Wait a minute... How come there is no kaboom? Logically, an Earth-shattering kaboom should have happened." He said as he removed his hands from his ears and looked inside the cannon.
Much to his surprise, there was no dynamite stick in there.
"How is this possible? Where had my Illudium Q-36 Explosive Space Modulator gone now?" Marvin wondered out loud before looking angry. "Oh, I would not be surprised if that rabbit came back and stole it from me again..."
"What is the meaning of this?"
The animated Martian turned around and his eyes widened at the sight of Martian Manhunter. The latter was crossing his arms, looking sternly at the Looney Tune.
"You... You... You are..." Marvin nervously said.
"If you want to know, I am J'onn J'onnz, the Martian Manhunter. Now, tell me what you were planning. If I heard correctly, you wanted to get rid of Earth to have a clearer view of Venus."
"Exactly. What is wrong with that?" the Looney Tune asked, getting more confident.
"I will not allow the destruction of Earth for such a nonsensical reason."
"Perhaps you will change your mind once you meet my Disintegrator Pistol". Marvin said as he summoned a futuristic gun from his pocket and shot at the superhero.
The latter instantly went intangible, causing the shot to miss him. Surprised, the Looney Tune looked back and forth between the pistol and Martian Manhunter. Marvin then put back his pistol before summoning a bunch of seeds. He put them all on the ground. One by one, the animated Martian watered all of the seeds. They all turned into huge green and purple-feathered bird-looking aliens known as Instant Martians.
"Get rid of this individual at once!" Marvin ordered as he pointed towards the superhero.
The Instant Martians all nodded before jumping at Martian Manhunter. A big cloud of fighting soon covered the feathered aliens and the Justice League founder, in a typical cartoon way. Soon enough, the cloud disappeared, revealing the Instant Martians to be fighting each other, with no sign of the superhero anywhere. They stopped fighting when they realized they weren't fighting Martian Manhunter anymore.
"Where did he go?" Marvin wondered out loud.
All of sudden, one of the Instant Martians immediately punched all of the others in the head, knocking them out as they fell on either their back or their stomach. The one who punched them all then turned back into the shape-shifting Martian Manhunter.
"You are making me angry. Very angry, indeed." Marvin said, glaring at the superhero.
"It is enough." The Martian said as he grabbed the animated one and flew out of the observatory.
"Let me go. I demand that you let me go at this very moment." Marvin protested.
"It will not be possible." Martian Manhunter sternly said as they soon left Mars and headed towards the satellite.
Inside the Watchtower, Hawkgirl was sitting on a chair, looking at a few screens showing events that were currently happening on Earth. At this moment, she heard a door opening behind her.
"How was it, J'onn?" the Thanagarian asked, not turning around as she was focused on the screens.
"Have you ever watched those animated shorts called 'Looney Tunes'?" Martian Manhunter asked.
"Yeah. They sometimes air on TV. Why are you...?"
She turned around and was puzzled when she noticed her friend holding Marvin the Martian in his hands. The latter was frowning, crossing his arms in annoyance.
"This is an intolerable situation for me." The Looney Tune complained.
"Hum..." Hawkgirl began to say in disbelief. "That's not some sort of talking doll, is it?"
"No. I am not sure how this is happening either." Martian Manhunter said to her.
"Put me down. I, Marvin the Martian, command you to put me down right now." Marvin ordered.
"...Okay." the woman said, shaking her head. "We should put him in some place where he won't escape until we know what's going on."
"I agree." The green-skinned superhero said.
A few minutes later, Marvin was imprisoned inside a huge glass tube.
"Let me go! My patience has reached its limit." The Looney Tune said, glaring at the two superheroes in front of him.
"This brings back some memories." Martian Manhunter said.
"What do you mean by that?" Hawkgirl asked.
"Some days after founding the Justice League, I assumed a human form and rented an apartment, in order to better understand the Earthlings' behavior and culture." He explained. "I watched several TV series of all types. Sometimes, I would use my shape-shifting ability to turn into what I was watching. I remember shape-shifting into Bugs Bunny while coming across those animated shorts. I also remember seeing a few shorts with this Marvin character. I was intrigued by the way Earthlings were seeing my species, despite the fact they never visited Mars and never came into contact with actual Martians by the time the character was created."
"Yeah, let's just say humans have a lot of imagination. Some more than others." The Thanagarian then chuckled as she thought about something. "I remember that one time when Flash practically begged me to watch a few Looney Tunes shorts with him. He said it was gonna be fun and that Looney Tunes is the kind of cartoon that even adults can still enjoy. As it turned out, he was right." She said, smiling. "Although one thing is for certain... Our friends will have a hard time believing we somehow managed to have found a cartoon character."
"You seem to have forgotten my order of letting me go." Marvin said, still glaring at them. "As such, let me remind you that you should do this without wasting any more time as it is."
"Too bad he's not on TV, or else I would be able to mute him right away." Hawkgirl said, annoyed by the Looney Tune's attitude.
"Oh, ha, ha. Very funny." The animated Martian sarcastically said.
End of chapter.
Both Martians met each other. Admit it, you saw it coming. It was simply inevitable. Anyway, the next chapter will feature what I'd like to call a battle couple. I won't say anything more than that.
"The War of the Worlds" is the title of a novel written by H. G. Wells that inspired several adaptations, including one done by Steven Spielberg in 2005. It's a story about a Martian invasion on Earth. You can guess why I chose that title for this chapter.
Martian Manhunter's story about impersonating Bugs Bunny is a reference to a scene from the animated movie "Justice League: The New Frontier". Also, Marvin being imprisoned at the end was inspired by the way he was introduced in "Looney Tunes: Back in Action".
