Disclaimer: I don't own Justice League Unlimited.

Send Me on My Way

Chapter Eight: Meanwhile, at the Hall of Justice…

Green Arrow, otherwise known as eccentric billionaire Oliver Queen, was bored. Bored, bored, and bored. When he had agreed to fill in while some of the original seven where away, he had had no idea just how many meetings there would be. And just how damned long and boring they were. They didn't even bother to spruce up the meeting room for the more bored Leaguers to distract themselves with. It was just a dark, dark room.

Of course, sat at the table was a dark, dark man, so Ollie couldn't exactly fault it. Still, he was bored.

Bored. Bored. Bored.

Funny word, bored. Like board. So many words that can be put in front of it, too. Blackboard. Chalkboard. Whiteboard.

Ollie wondered if Batman had a chalkboard, or something similar.

He smiled.

A Bat-board.

Then there would be Bat-chalk, Bat-erasers… Come to think of it, there was so many Bat-related paraphernalia just waiting to be made. Bat-brand clothing. Bat-hats. Bat-mugs. Bat-forks. Bat-picnic basket. Bat-bats.

"Arrow?"

Bat-… wait.

Ollie looked up at Batman, and soon realised that everyone around the table was looking at him.

"Um… yes?"

"Am I boring you?"

"What? No… Pffft… no, you've got my attention, Bats. Go on, please."

After lingering on him just long enough to make him feel uncomfortable, Batman went on to rattle on about some other kinds of expenses. Ollie began to drift again, not even trying to listen this time. The first few meetings, he had tried at least in some way to listen to what the caped crusader (or anyone else during the meetings) was talking about. The only one who remotely caught his attention was J'onn, but that was simply because he didn't talk much, and when he did, it was usually about something damned interesting.

That had happened once in the entire week he had been coming to these meetings.

Once!

His eyes slowly drifted around the room, going from one person to another, seeing some people with the lights on (Wonder Woman, Dinah), some with the lights flickering on and off (Superman, J'onn), and some who just weren't paying any attention whatsoever (Kyle Rayner, the Green Lantern filling in for John).

In fact, Rayner wasn't just ignoring Bats. He was doing something else entirely. He was sketching something on to on the pages of the book of charts they were all given at the beginning of the meeting. The pencil he was using was from a pot that was in the middle of the table that was full of different writing implements.

Bruce had wanted to talk about shares, or something. That kind of thing had never interested Ollie, even though he understood them fully (it was sort of a prerequisite of being a billionaire). In any case, Rayner certainly wasn't using the booklets out of interest in the figures.

Ollie was thankful for the one-way eye lenses he wore, for it left him free to stare at Rayner's work while facing Batman. He reached forward and plucked a pencil from the pot, trying to make it seem as though he were going to start taking notes.

My ass.

He surreptitiously wrote something on his book and slowly but surely slid it over to Rayner, who was sat on his right. The Green Lantern glanced over at Arrow's message.

What are you drawing?

The young hero smiled, but quickly placed the expression under wraps, not wanting to be caught by Batman. He applied the finishing touches to his masterpiece, and slowly slid it over just enough so that Ollie could see it.

Ollie's eyes widened as he saw the sketch, and he tried to hold back the serious case of the giggles that overcame him.

It was a picture of Batman with a particularly grumpy look on his face and stink lines coming from him. Around him were the other Leaguers, all of them pinching their noses and scrunching up their faces in disgust. Above Batman was a speech bubble that read:

"Blah, blah, blah, I'm Batman and I smell bad."

"Arrow?"

The Emerald Archer looked up at the Dark Knight, badly hiding the smile on his face.

"Yes?" he managed, his constant giggling reminding him of Beavis and Butthead.

Flash would have understood the reference, if he was here.

"Did I say something to amuse you?"

"…no… well, not you per se… but, y'know, someone similar…"

At that, Rayner let out a small snort of a laugh, before quickly covering it and closing his book. Obviously the pressure was getting too much for him. Batman turned his attention to him.

"Lantern? Is there anything you'd like to say?"

"Uh… not at this juncture, no..."

Both Ollie and Rayner tried to avoid looking at each other, because if they did, they both knew they would lose control completely. Arrow looked around the table, and saw Diana and Dinah looking at them with tired looks on their faces, while Superman and J'onn tried to look disapproving while secretly wanting to know what was so funny.

"Maybe I should take a look at your booklet, Lantern," the Dark Knight asked.

Rayner stopped laughing. "That's really not necessary."

"I insist," Batman said, coming forward to take the booklet.

"It's uh, really, really not needed. Really. It's, uh… it's fine."

"If that's right, then you two can both stop giggling like schoolgirls and concentrate."

Diana stifled a yawn. "Besides, we're nearly done. You can laugh at Lantern's silly little drawing of Batman later." She smiled innocently and put a hand over her mouth. "Oops. Did I say that out loud?"

Batman glared at the two laughing culprits, who had since shut up and taken to concentrating on their boots. Hard.

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John tried to concentrate on the magazine, but no matter how many times he tried, he couldn't seem to get past the second sentence. He just kept reading the same part over and over. Mari had gone out on a photo shoot. She was taking part in less and less League work. She had even told him she was considering becoming a reserve member, especially after what happened with the Shadow Thief.

"Unsightly bruises and cuts do not a supermodel make," she had said.

Wally and Shayera were still on vacation, though they were reportedly on their way back, according to Superman. He missed Wally's daily visits, even though they both knew the speedster had countless other things to attend to.

That left very few people to visit him. Batman had done his customary 'I'm-checking-up-on-you-once-a-week-but-it's-only-for-the-good-of-the-team-though-you-know-I'm-secretly-doing-it-because-I'm-worried' visit, and both Superman and Wonder Woman had come to see him at different points during the previous week. J'onn had stopped by for the better half of an afternoon a few days before, which had been surprisingly pleasant for the most part.

The Head of Maintenance for the Metro Tower (he was an old Janitor from the Watchtower) came in to check on the lighting at one point, saying something about wanting to see it with his own two hands. John would have tried to convince him to stay and talk for awhile if he hadn't looked so busy. He did give him a supportive smile before he left, however, which made John feel at least a little better.

It was incredibly frustrating. He couldn't even walk to the bathroom; he had to carefully wrestle himself into a wheelchair before he could even do that.

His physiotherapist wasn't exactly helping, either. She was much too peppy for his liking. Not that he minded peppy. Peppy was fine.

In small doses.

But he was spending a large percentage of time with the woman, and now he wanted nothing more than to create a cannon with his ring and fire her into space, squeaky voice and all.

John wondered how Rayner was doing filling in his position. The kid had always found it difficult to concentrate during training (or so Katma had told him), which, considering his history as a comic book artist, didn't surprise John in the least. It was meeting Rayner that probably helped him deal with Wally a little better than he usually would have.

Not much, mind, but it did help a little. The door to the med bay slid open, and the current bane of his existence stepped through.

"Heya, Johnny! How are you today?"

Deep breaths, Stewart. Deep breaths.

"I'm doing fine, Jane. How are you?"

Bad move, Stewart.

"It's funny you should say that, because a friend of mine called Michael came up to me today and seemed to be really angry about something, so I asked him…"

John sighed and tried to block her out as he managed to slowly make his way into the wheelchair beside his bed.

"…my cat hasn't been feeling too good, and…"

Where in a physiotherapists' job description did it say to drive the patient insane?

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This was insane.

Completely and utterly insane.

Kyle Rayner had been around the universe. He had fought slimy, slobbering, supremely ugly alien monsters that killed you by sneezing acidic snot on you. He had worked with an alien with no mouth and one eye. He had worked with a giant pink alien who ate anything you shoved under his nose (although admittedly, Kyle had particular fun with that).

But never, never, never, had he been forced to battle a giant toy robot.

A giant toy robot that seemed like something out of some twisted fairytale that probably wasn't suitable for anyone under the age of eighteen.

A red laser blast aimed at him knocked him out of his inward ramblings, and Rayner quickly formed a green bubble around himself. The laser engulfed the bubble and broke through, tossing him back down the street and on to the roof of a parked SUV.

The robot continued forward, seemingly going to finish the job, when three thin projectiles exploded on its flat chest. It stumbled back and turned its domed head towards the source of the attack, finding Green Arrow knelt on the rooftop of a nearby building.

At a speed much too fast for something of its bulk, the robot swung its arm around, going straight through the building at a point just below the roof. The ground gave way beneath Arrow. With his footing his lost, he desperately scrambled to get onto the rooftop before it caved in. The robot slammed another fist into the side of the building, knocking the Emerald Archer off balance again and plummeting down to the sidewalk below.

Moving as quickly as he could, Ollie pulled out a grappler arrow and pointed it up at the building ledge. Before he could fire, he felt his descent slow suddenly, and looked around to find himself in the arms of Black Canary. She landed on the ground and let him stand on his own two feet.

"Next time, be more careful!" she yelled before running after the robot.

Arrow scowled and gave her a quick salute before following after her.

Dinah had positioned herself in the middle of the road directly in the path of the robot. Seeing her, it brought back its huge arm to strike down at her.

The sudden sound of a chainsaw assaulted their ears, and Arrow looked up to see Kyle Rayner floating above them, two gigantic emerald chainsaws hovering with him. With a swing of his arm, the chainsaws came hurtling down and cleanly sliced off both of the robot's arms, sending them to the ground with a thundering crash.

Its options exhausted, the robot lifted up its lumbering, boxy foot, opting to simply stamp on Ollie and Dinah.

Canary took a deep breath and unleashed her sonic scream. Quickly losing its balance, the robot tipped backwards and fell to the street below, making some of the lighter cars jump slightly as it hit.

Wasting no time, Arrow jumped up on top of the robot and ran for the head, what he perceived to be the cockpit. He pulled out an electric arrow as he made his way there. He kicked the hatch on top of the head open, but only found an empty seat surrounded by control panels.

He cocked an eyebrow in confusion behind his domino mask, but then almost fell over when the robot began to come to life again.

It was trying to get to its feet.

Arrow ignored Dinah's yell of warning and aimed his electric arrow at the various bleeping and flashing components in the cockpit. He fired, and the entire control panel began to beep incessantly before shutting down, surges of electricity and sparks dancing across its surface. The robot crashed back to the ground.

He hopped down onto the road as Lantern landed beside him. Canary ran over to him. Even though it wasn't aimed at him, the look of anger on her face made Rayner back up.

"What did you think you were doing? That thing could have crushed you!"

"I stopped it, didn't I?"

"That's not the point, Ollie! You're not Superman! You can't take that kind of punishment! You could have let Lantern take care of it!"

If anyone else had been doing the yelling, Rayner would have mumbled a sarcastic 'Gee, thanks'. As it was, he was just glad he wasn't on the receiving end. Feeling incredibly awkward at this lover's quarrel, Rayner tried to change the subject.

"Uh, hey… where did this thing come from, anyway?"

The two whipped their heads around to the look at him, and the expressions of both softened slightly.

"Superman called while Robin Hood here was on top of the robot. He said it was Toyman using a homing beacon. Which was why I was yelling at you!" she yelled, turning back to Arrow.

He scowled. "Well how was I supposed to know? You weren't exactly clear on the subject!"

"If you'd just listened-"

Rayner raised a hand like a kid in class. "Uh-"

They once again whipped their heads around to look at Rayner. He backed up slightly. "I'm… just gonna take off. I'll tell J'onn you're… coming later."

Canary shook her head. "No, no. We're done here, anyway." She shot a look at Arrow. "Right?"

"Yes, your majesty," he grumbled, bowing gracefully.

Rayner couldn't take off fast enough.

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Sitting down was a slow process. Especially after the kind of martial arts training that Batman subscribed to.

"Go ahead, Kyle," Superman had said.

"It'll be fun, Kyle," Superman had said.

"A piece of cake, Kyle," Superman had said.

Piece of cake, my severely bruised ass.

"Hey, kid."

Rayner looked up and saw Green Arrow sitting down next to him, though his attention really wasn't on the Lantern. He was staring across the room at someone, and Rayner didn't need to turn to guess who.

"Hi. How're you holding up?"

"Huh? Oh, fine, fine." He paused for a moment before inserting a carrot stick into his mouth. "Do you know how some things just don't mix?"

Kyle paused.

O…kay.

"Uh… yeah…"

In the carrot stick went. "And you know how there are some things that if you do mix them, they just end up turning into something bad?"

Kyle took a breath. "How do you mean?"

"I mean…" he swallowed. "Women and power."

"Uh huh…"

Another carrot stick. Although this time, it was used as a gesturing device. "It's a bad thing. Women in power are dangerous. They don't just accept that they were right for the job, and that's that. No, oh no… they think they were chosen because of some divine right."

"…okay…"

He was still gesturing with the carrot stick. "It goes to their heads. They think they're above eeeveryone else. Doesn't matter if a certain someone else was chosen right along with them, no… that's immaterial. 'That's stupid, Ollie'. 'Stop beingan idiot, Ollie'. 'Honestly, Ollie'."

The carrot stick was shoved in his mouth with more animosity than Kyle had ever seen directed at a vegetable.

"Uh… maybe you should talk to her about this."

Arrow stopped in mid crunch. "What do you mean?"

"I mean… uh… y'know… Black Canary…"

"What about her?"

"That's… who you were talking about, right?"

The archer swallowed his carrot stick. "You just assume because I'm talking about someone bossy, overbearing and controlling that I'm talking about Black Canary?"

"W- No… Pffft… no… I didn't mean that… I, uh… well… weren't you?"

"…What?"

"Talking about Black Canary?"

"Don't get off the point."

"And… what is the point?"

"That…" Ollie frowned. "That women and power don't mix," he finished, not sounding too sure of himself.

Getting up much faster than his bruises would have liked, Rayner made his way over to the trash dispenser next to the doorway.

"Uh… see you later."

"Right, right…" the archer said, keeping his eyes on his target on the other side of the room as yet another carrot stick was navigated into his mouth.

The Green Lantern of sector 2814 sighed and left the commissary, silently mourning the loss of a particularly tasty looking burger.

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The lights were dimmed in the infirmary. It was actually quite soothing. It reminded Rayner of camping missions on Oa with Kilowog. There was little noise in the room.

"Rayner?" a groggy voice enquired. Kyle paused.

"Sorry. I didn't realise you were asleep. I'll just, uh…"

"No, no. I could use the company," John said, sitting up in his bed and switching on the lamp on the bedside table.

Kyle slowly took a seat next to the bed. It was strange, talking to John with his face half encased in shadow. It was like talking to a bedridden relative. Kyle was so used to being intimidated by the far more experienced Green Lantern. John could do things with his ring that Kyle couldn't even comprehend when he first started. Hell, even now that was true.

"How're you finding things?"

"It's… different than the Corps. Everything just seems so…"

"Relaxed?"

He nodded. "A bit too much. It's nice, but kind of scary at the same time."

"I know just what you mean."

Rayner looked up at the more experienced Lantern. "And you? How are you finding… this?" he said, gesturing to the room around them.

"Worse than solitary. At least with solitary you've got no idea what's going on in the outside world. Everyone keeps on giving me little hints at what I've been missing." He sighed, and repositioned his head on his pillow. "I would very much like to be better now."

"…sorry."

A small laugh escaped John's lips. "For what? It's not your fault."

"Still. I'm sorry. Of all the people it could have happened to, eh?"

"Yeah," he sighed, reaching up with both hands and rubbing his eyes. "How're things on Oa?"

Kyle leant back in his chair and stared up at the ceiling. "Um… Kilowog's not training anymore. He's back on the beat."

John grinned. "He always said he would get out of being an instructor. Who's taking his place?"

Kyle just cleared his throat.

"Really? Well done."

"Uh… thanks."

"No, seriously. To be a trainer is hard enough, but to get there as quick as you have… and for someone so young… well… that's very impressive."

Kyle just smiled. "Thanks."

"… How about Katma? How's she doing?"

"Oh, she's doing great. Actually, just before I left, there was this big throw down between the Rigelians and Triskelians, and obviously, Katma wasn't really interested in the peaceful solution, so…"

John levered himself up so he was sitting more comfortably.

Being out of action had its perks, after all.

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(A/N: Yes, the title is from Superfriends. I heard a theory the other day that Superfriends was actually a dream the JLU Flash was having, and just thought I should put something in the story.

The Head of Maintenance who came in to fix the lighting is the main character from Constane Eilonwy's excellent I, Janitor stories. Just a little bit of fun on my part.

I would just like to emphasise that I don't, repeat, DON'T, share John and Ollie's opinions on comic book artists and women in power, respectively. It's their opinion, not mine. ; )

Getting close to the end now, folks; next chapter will probably be the last.

Any who, review!)