I have to tell you guys, I would really appreciate some reviews…feeling unloved! Well, just a little.

Also, if you haven't seen "A Better World," let me summarize really quickly, if possible. The Justice Lords are from an alternate universe and they have instilled martial law over their Earth – no freedoms of any kind – speech, press, anything. They aren't afraid to kill, to lobotomize, to silence all objections to their order. The Lords have the same group members, but their Flash died. The Lords' Batman discovers the Justice League that exists on this Earth and they decide to come to the League's Earth in order to indoctrinate their order there as well.

Again, the –VvV- means that the perspective is changing from Bruce to Diana, etc…

One Spark, Chapter 2, Numb, by Linkin Park

"I've become so numb/I can't feel you there"

Bruce's perspective…

After the capture of Luthor, I had almost reflexively looked to Diana, standing opposite the room from me, catching her eye with little effort. I understood her anger at the situation, not only at the abrupt finale to our mind-blowing date, but also her ire at Luthor's words – his insinuation that his capture was only temporary. Unfortunately, I knew this to be only too true, having dealt with similar situations in Gotham and within the Justice League as well. It was frustrating to know that Luthor was correct – that at this moment, he was already on his way to freedom, concocting a plot or bribing a guard in order to secure leniency on his sentence. Some days, it seemed that no matter what we did, our actions were futile, only stopping criminals for an instant rather than a lifetime.

I had, though, somewhat cynically, come to look at this at my lot in life, the way that things inevitably would turn out because of the Justice League's need to support freedoms and the rights of men. I couldn't turn away from that belief, no matter what it had and would cost me.

Today, it had cost me a stolen afternoon with Diana, but I knew that the cost could have been greater, no matter how much I regretted the fact that I had been unable to end our date in proper style. But I suppose we had ended it in original and true to ourselves fashion – apprehending a criminal, standing together in a group of comrades and fellow heroes congratulating ourselves on a job well done. At least for the moment.

There were so many things that I wanted to tell Diana right now – to let her know that I understood the emotions coursing through her – but this was not the time. The immediate aftermath of battle was for the cooling of blood, for belief in ourselves and our cause, and for moments to solidify the team as a whole. Normally, this was the part where I disappeared – I didn't do the team thing. But today, I was feeling a little more mellow than usual and decided to join in the camaraderie and the instant of bonding.

Feeling a gust of wind whip by me, I watched Flash restore the room to its original condition, removing all traces of the damage and battle that had occurred in its confines. But a strange noise and a glowing green light caught my eye, appearing right behind J'onn, pulsing with heat and energy, and was taken aback when a replica J'onn J'onnz emerged, walking with confidence towards us. The figure was definitely J'onn J'onnz, but with minor costume alterations – a form fitting uniform that covered his entire figure in black, complete with blue cape and bands of blue encircling his waist and lower arms. The replica walked calmly out of the green light and stopped just behind our J'onn J'onnz, causing him to turn around to face the intruder and forcing Flash to stop dead in his tracks.

Our J'onn appeared stunned and at a loss for words, finally stuttering out – "Who are you?"

The intruder, orange eyes glowing, looked completely stone faced, answering, "I'm you."

I wasn't entirely sure what to make of this duplicate, but I listened intently as he described his purpose for being here, in our world, on our Earth. The dimensions of the two universes were collapsing on each other, a fact that their team had recently discovered, and had immediately taken steps to come here in order to prevent this occurrence, hoping that together the two teams could find a solution to this potential Armageddon.

The explanation sounded plausible…

-VvV-

I had been completely shell-shocked at the arrival of the second J'onn J'onnz – this Martian Manhunter who had described himself as a J'onn J'onnz from another universe. It amazed me to see the remarkable resemblance between the two, the costume changes not withstanding. I immediately began to wonder about his purposes, his missions, stepping forward in order to confront this intruder; he had immediately begun to explain the purpose behind his arrival in our version of this world.

Truthfully, I had never heard of alternate dimensions, the fact never even occurring to me. But now, the idea made perfect sense – if Themyscira had existed for so long without discovery by mankind, even protected the gods, why could there not be alternate realities of our Earth as well? And certainly, the thought that there was another League out there, another group of the seven of us fighting to save lives and lands, intrigued me. How could it not? What was their world's version of Wonder Woman like?

Was their version of Wonder Woman secretly dating the Batman as well?

The idea had certainly flitted through my head since the initiation of this conversation, but obviously, I couldn't voice the question. But I was certainly curious to find out more. And I was eager to help save our two worlds, to keep the dimensions from collapsing into one another and destroyed the two Earths.

And I was less than surprised to find out that their world's Batman had created the portal from which this second J'onn J'onnz had emerged. Apparently the man was a technological genius in every version of Earth.

I had inched my way over to stand a few feet from Bruce, knowing that his analytical mind would be the first to find any flaws in the second Martian's logic, proving his story to be utterly false and forcing us to cast him back through the portal from which he came. I couldn't see the expression on Bruce's face, but I knew that his body language had relaxed minutely since the intruder had rationalized his appearance here.

When Green Lantern had asked what help we could possibly be in stopping this dimensional collapse, I had agreed with the question. A villain I could conquer, but how did one stop a dimension from collapsing? Granted, I was eager to help in whatever way that I could to stop this potential disaster, but I could not see exactly how we were to be of help.

And neither did this second J'onn J'onnz. He admitted to us that he was unaware of how we could help the situation, but that perhaps, if we all worked together at the source of the problem, his version of Earth, we could find a solution and keep the two worlds intact. The suggestion sounded reasonable and I could see no reason why an alternate version of ourselves would have to be untruthful to us.

I could hear Bruce, next to me, whisper something to J'onn about reading the intruder's mind, but J'onn replied in the negative, stating that Martians did not do that to one another. Of course Bruce would look behind every door, searching for the truth and making sure that we were not headed into a potentially disastrous situation.

Superman was the first to assert that he believed we should be helping the League of this other dimension, with Flash and Hawkgirl quick to second the idea. I stepped forward, into the midst of the little circle that we had made with one another, stating my dedication to this mission before looking sideways at Bruce, interested in his reaction and whether or not he would agree to accompany us through the portal and to the other Earth. He stood quickly, neither agreeing nor disagreeing, but once J'onn agreed, Bruce followed him to the portal, and as I walked through, I couldn't help but speculate about what lay ahead of us.

Stepping through the portal on the other side, I was surprised to see nothing but white – as if we were stepping into an ivory box rather than onto another Earth. Following Superman, I stopped when I noticed that the room was indeed a box, eerily reminiscent of the prison cell that I had been held in in Kasnia, albeit with less color and more teammates surrounding me. But still, I couldn't suppress the unnerving feeling that ran up my spine and the worry that entered my mind.

I heard Flash utter the question we all wanted to ask, in his own Flash-like manner, "Hey, don't you guys believe in doors and windows?"

I looked up, startled to see the second J'onn J'onnz begin to phase through the wall, leaving us trapped in the white-walled prison as he muttered, "I'm sorry." I watched as Flash immediately raced to the wall where the Martian Manhunter had been not seconds before, but finding nothing but wall.

Suddenly, the room hissed and spit with power and electricity racing around the entire room, and coursing through our bodies with the power to force me to my knees, driving my mind numb with pain as I fought to remain standing. But quickly, I was overcome, the agony rendering my limbs useless, devoid of any sensation other than pain. Compelling my eyes to open, I looked to my right to see Bruce beside me on the floor, body wracked and shaking with pain, unable to even scream with the anguish pushing him into an unconscious state. I tried to reach out to him, but my muscles were too weak, limp with exhaustion, and, closing my eyes, I blacked out, collapsing to the ground next to him.

More Batman next time, I promise! Still with me? Is the whole two Leagues/Lords thing confusing? If you have any changes, suggestions, whatever, just let me know-