The six Samaritans circling the prison targeted the watchtowers first, throwing the facility into pandemonium with their assault, missiles raining down ripping into the concrete walls with explosions. Eagle paused at each of the ports to blow up the boats and docks, preventing any outside reinforcements from intervening too soon. His HUD scanned the prison cross referencing the blueprints in the database, the schematics pinpointing the most likely location of their target. The Metahumans wing proved to be shielded with technology donated from L-Corp and the DEO. Their rockets were unable to penetrate the force field protecting the thick walls. Eagle scanned the shield, the sensors tracing the power supply inside the barrier. Smart he thought, redirecting his comrades to follow him on a different route, the suits carrying them over the facility and dropping them into the open courtyard.
They landed in the middle of a crowd of rioting prisoners fighting with guards in padded armour, one of their boots crushing the basketball with a pop. The men in orange jumpsuits looked up at the massive metal men in blue and red and mistook them for government heavies, grabbing rocks or batons either throwing or battering them with weapons. Eagle stood stoically, the sensors attached to his makeshift suit barely registering the pinpricks as the bats bounced off his armour, releasing an impatient sigh as he watched these angry men assault the armour. His allies stood still also, their heads turning to look at each other questioningly. Eagle gave the fools a few more seconds to wise up, a few of the smart or cautious backing away from them. Those who remained, whether by ignorance, stupidity or stubbornness, were forced back when Eagle summoned a nozzle from his left wrist and unleashed a funnel of flame at the crowd. The courtyard was filled with screams as a dozen prisoners were engulfed in flames burning their clothes and melting their skin. After that it took moments for the crowd to scatter, everyone rushing to the doors looking to escape the Samaritans. Eagle paid them little heed as he led the crew towards the east exit, ripping apart the fence seeking entrance into the facility.
There was a blur of motion that cut through the courtyard faster than a man could blink. The motions sensors in his suit flashed in alarm detecting a threat, but before he could turn around it was gone. When he looked back he found one of his comrades falling to his knees, the chest plate holding its power source ripped out of its armour. The man inside stared at the hole in his chest, in shock, as did the others.
A second later, the suit flashed in alarm again as the blur returned, a flash of blue and red dashing into the group, punching and tearing the power source of another suit before whipping back into the air in the blink of an eye. The powerless suit toppled over onto its back with a thud.
"Initiate countermeasure for Supergirl" Eagle ordered his computer, which initiated its programing instantly. He was going to wait till they were picked off. He braced in the centre of the courtyard, watching the skies until his now enhanced sensors detected and tracked the motion of an incoming object. He spun around as fast as the suit allowed, his visor following the blur dashing towards him finally locking onto her. "Shield!" he ordered, a force field being creating just in time to block her hand before it could grab his chest. He saw Supergirl's eyes widen before knocking her aside with a punch to her temple, sending the heroine into the wall with a smash.
"Damn it" she muttered, shaking the concrete dust out of her hair. She'd hoped to have a few more of them disabled before they adapted their protocols. Now she had an uphill battle as she pulled herself out of the wall which crumpled to the floor from the structural instability. She stepped into the courtyard and looked up, only to find three Samaritan's raising their arms and firing railguns at her. She brought her arms up and blocked the bullets, digging her heels into the floor leaning into the barrage. The gunfire rattled her hearing and shook her teeth, but she persisted until they stopped running out of ammo. Before she could retaliate she glimpsed movement from her left and dodged to the side as the fourth Samaritan's fist slammed down into the ground with a sharp blade. She kicked it with her heel, snapping the oversized knife and then ducked under the backhand swipe from the other fist, her back arching downwards like she was Neo from the matrix. It left her open for the mercenary to grab her ankle and yank her feet from under her so she fell onto her back, opening her up for a follow up with his heavy boot. The floor shook under the stomp, the weight crushing her sternum temporarily affecting her breathing. But Kryptonians were tough and she managed to persevere long enough to lift the foot off of her and retaliate with a beam of heat vision.
Eagle flinched from the intense heat blasting into his visor, until he opened his eyes and realised the suit had internal cooling systems to prevent him cooking from the inside. Unfortunately his moment of distraction gave Supergirl an opening to leap back to her feet and use her frost breath, super cooling the heated metal of his suit until it became stiff and rigid. She took a deeper breath and continued to blow frost over him, gliding around his suit starting at the feet locking him into place until the entire battle suit was encased in ice. Eagle was left trapped and unable to move in the middle of the courtyard. "Stop her" he shouted into his radios to his comrades, who were already recharging their weapons.
Supergirl had a spit second to scan the prison before the other three Samaritans rushed her, her x-ray vision attempting to pierce the thick walls and isolate her friends from the rioting prisoners and guards chaotically running amok inside. She could find her sister. "Alex! J'onn, come in!" she shouted into her earpiece, her call interrupted by a plasma bolt skimming her cheek exploding against the basketball hoop behind her. She looked at the Samaritans and sighed, reluctantly leaping into the air to get some distance. They activated their thrusters and followed her, one of them grabbing the basketball hoop to use as a weapon as they chased her. "Alex, pick up!" Kara continued to shout as she led the Samaritans away from the prison and over the water, cursing under her breath "and you shout at me for leaving my com-link behind."
While his comrades chased Supergirl into the air, Eagle reviewed the status of his suit. The sensors confirmed he was encased in ice and many mechanical components were frozen solid. He could move. But the man was patient, and tenacious. He found the subroutine responsible for the suits vents and heating. "Increase internal temperature settings and vent exhaust ports" he commanded the computer. A thermometer lit up on his right and steadily rose as his suit generated heat, steams steadily escaping through fissures in the ice. He ignored the sweat forming on his skin and closed his eyes, waiting.
Hank seethed in discomfort as J'onn continued to force his way into his memories, oblivious to what was going on outside the cell. His focus was singular in nature and he wasn't about to let anything distract him. The guards in the cell only saw the black man standing before the glass box, his eyes glowing red as they narrowed intently. Inside the bow Hank grit his teeth, his mechanical gears grinding angrily as his human half grimaced and hissed glaring back at him. The guards couldn't see the torture J'onn was inflicting as he broke down the mental barriers and plunged into the man's mind, landing in a space unfamiliar to him.
J'onn looked up and found himself in a warehouse, empty and abandoned. Not the one they found Hank and his army of Metallo in. this was where he was based before, hiding out from the authorities, plotting their next move. He found Cyborg Superman at the entrance, staring out into the distance where National City waited. He stalked up to him, past the echoes of his militia that hadn't arrived yet. "Get out of my head Martian" Hank growled, whirling around and attacking him.
Threw out his hand and caught the fist, changing into his Martian form growing a foot taller forcing him to the floor. "Not until I find what I'm looking for" he growled back, throwing the image aside shattering the mental block so he could see the memory he was concealing.
He looked up and found someone else in the warehouse, a black man he didn't recognise. He was dressed in a thick coat, a dark hoodie and jeans, steel cap boots and glasses. This man strolled up to Hank, who eyed him with suspicion. "Who are you?" he asked.
"An entrepreneur" the man replied, examining the cyborg curiously. J'onn examined the memory, each detail in perfect clarity as Hank recalled it. "Fascinating" the man mused adjusting his glasses. "I had heard of the work Cadmus Labs was doing, but a full integrated cybernetic organism? Imagine the storm this would cause in the scientific community. I wouldn't mind the opportunity to analyse you more closely."
"I don't like being dissected" Hank growled menacingly. But J'onn noted how the man showed no fear as the cyborg leered over him. "What do you want? I have other business to deal with."
"I'm aware" he replied, pushing his glasses up his nose. "With me."
Hank took a step back and looked at him. "You're the arms trader?"
"I prefer weapons crafter. But then I guess my alias is more apt for this line of work" he sighed, straightening his trench coat theatrically. "So, Mr Henshaw, what can I offer a man, a machine, like you today?"
Hank circled the man suspiciously, and J'onn circled Hank impatiently. "What is this?" he wondered, willing the memory to hurry along.
"This is none of your business" Hank howled, lunging at the Martian who swatted him aside angrily.
The connection flickered a moment throwing J'onn back out of his mind. But he lunged back in again, mistaking the shaking of the cell to be an aftershock of the mental bridge into the mindscape. Hank fought against him until J'onn once more found himself in that warehouse, this time in front of a collection of crates with weaponry. But instead of assault rifles or handguns he found alien devices, advanced tools grafted from experimental tech. Hank analysed much of it and J'onn saw the anti-gravity cannon and laser saw he would go on to use during the first robbery. He looked at the man in the trench coat, who stood nearby waiting patiently. "You expect me to believe you made all of this?" Hank asked with doubt.
"You can expect what you like" the man replied calmly. "These are my wares, and the cost if worth every penny."
"And what's to stop me from just taking them from you" he asked, stepping up to the man piercing him with his robotic glare. "I've scanned you too. You're just an ordinary human. No metahumans genes or alien DNA to suggest abilities. An ordinary human."
"Hardly ordinary" he laughed. "So say my IQ scores and my masters in robotics, biological science and industrial engineering. And those are only the qualifications I advertise."
"Nevertheless, what's to stop me from snapping your neck and taking this inventory for myself?" Hank asked.
J'onn got to watch as Hank was ambushed from behind by a dart to his neck that set off an electromagnetic surge into his cybernetics, immobilising his robot half and causing pain to his human side. When he didn't fall to the floor he was knocked to the ground by a trident as a figure in red armour stepped over him glaring at him through a smooth faceplate. "I don't think my associate would like it" the black man chuckled at the Reckoning stood over Hank Henshaw, the memory fizzling out as the cyborgs circuits were compromised.
J'onn forced the memory to remain in place, even though there was nothing more to see until the cyborg blacked out. He froze it, causing great pain to the man as he focused his attention on the Reckoning. "Who is he?" he asked. The image didn't change, so he forced it to. "Show me!" he demanded, forcing Hank's mind to play through each interaction of their encounters. He saw the figure with the man again, almost always by his side. He saw the aftermath of the Metallo heist, getting a name for the man. He ignored it, focusing on the faceless individual. He witnessed him ambush Kara outside the power station before ordering Hank to retreat. He felt the man's fury as he was forced to flee, glimpsing the fight with Supergirl he knew would leave her shaken and disturbed. He found the moment the man turned on him, beating him to the ground. "Who is he" he demanded, prying at the memories trying to remove the mask.
Instead he found himself in Hank's place when the man stabbed him in the gut, feeling the pain as the Reckoning spoke in his distorted voice. "Supergirl is not yours to kill" he said, pain emanating from the implant the man who helped assemble the army, the man who supplied the kryptonite to the militia, installed into his head. He felt the kick to the jaw that knocked him to the ground, hissing in agony as he collapsed into the mindscape.
"You're asking if I know who that man is" Hank's voice said to J'onn. "But as you can see, it never came up. Trust me, I'd love to know who he was and gut him myself. But I'd rather settle for gutting you" he scowled, appearing before the Martian grabbing him by the throat. "You want to see my memories?" he asked menacingly. "Let's start with one we share then" he suggested, throwing him out of the void and into a dark forest by a cliff side.
J'onn opened his eyes and felt a cold chill run down his spine. "Oh no!" he whispered, looking down at his Martian form as it appeared all those years ago. He looked around at the cliff side. He knew this place. Knew it all too well. Peru. He couldn't be here. "You have to run" a voice begged him. He turned around and found a ghost looking back at him. Jeremiah Danvers. J'onn's eyes widened. He remembered this. He didn't want to be here.
Pain erupted from his side as a specially-made bullet pierced his flesh, negating his phasing abilities sending him to the ground. Even in a memory he recalled the agony he was in as he crawled away. Jeremiah spun around to the trees where the dark figure stepped out with a pistol in his hand. J'onn looked up at him in fear.
"This was when it all changed for the two of us Martian" a human Hank Henshaw growled, stepping up to the clearing pointing his gun at J'onn. "This was the night I should've put you down. My first mistake was taking my time. I enjoyed hurting you. I enjoyed hurting all of your kind."
"Hank, J'onn is a threat" Jeremiah pleaded, stepping between the two of them. "He's just like Kara, a person without a home. You don't need to kill him! We can take him with us! Study him. He could help us. Imagine what we could learn."
Hank looked at the scientist in front of him, a blank expression on his face as he stared past him to the Martian. "And this was my second mistake" he said, pointing his gun at the man's forehead and pulling the trigger. J'onn screamed in horror as Jeremiah was murdered in front of him, his lifeless body falling over the edge of the cliff into the darkness below. His red eyes followed his old friend down into the abyss, the agony of the loss amplified by guilt. "If I hadn't made those mistakes, you would never have stolen my name, my life, and I wouldn't have needed to become this" Hank said, standing in front of J'onn aiming the gun down at him. "I could've saved the world from the likes of Superman, your Kara Zor'El, and this Dreamer running around…" J'onn lifted his gaze to the black man glaring down at him, the pistol pointing at his forehead. "Earth would've safer without anyone of you or your kind" he snarled.
J'onn bellowed in rage, the pain and bullet in his side evaporating as he swatted the gun away and lunged at the man. The two of them grappled and punched each other on the cliff, slamming each other into trees and pummelling their skulls. Henshaw's body morphed back into his cyborg form and he roared mechanically firing his optic beams at the Martian. J'onn's phobia ignited with the fire causing him to scream, but his fury enabled him to push through the fear and tussle with the cyborg until they both toppled over the cliff.
Still grappling with Hank, J'onn continued to pummel him until the darkness enveloped them both. They hit the ground with a thud, reality changing again as J'onn woke up in his human form strapped to a table with a big light shining in his eyes. He tried to sit up but he was tied down by straps binding his wrists and legs. "What is this!" he shouted angrily, struggling to break free from the metal table he found himself on.
"This is what you wanted Mr Henshaw" a female voice whispered, the light dimming to reveal the mature woman hovering over him. It took J'onn a moment to recognise her, mistaking her for Lena Luthor. But then he realised it was her mother, Lilian. She looked at cynical as ever, a sinister smile on her lips as she stepped back allowing the faceless figures to surround him. "We'll have you back on your feet in no time" she promised, machines whirling to life as scalpels and drills materialised around him.
J'onn stared at the tools drifting towards him as the light blinded his eyes, struggling with his restraints even harder. "What is this?" he cried, fighting the table as more instruments began cutting into his dark flesh. He felt the pain of the knives piercing him, needles stabbing into his spine and saws cutting into his muscles. He screamed, staring into the masked faces of the doctors and surgeons asking why they were doing this.
But then he caught his reflection in one of the mirrors and found his body scarred, mutilated, disfigured and broken. One of his eyes was full of blood and his jaw was shattered. Once his saw the reflection he turned back to his own body, the mirror image greeting him full of pain and agony. J'onn looked in horror as an apparatus was pulled above his head, a mechanical arm with needles and glowing red tweezers drifting closer. His skull was clamped to the table and he found himself unable to move. "This is what you did" Hank's voice hissed through one of the reflections. "This is what you made me into!"
It didn't matter if this was a memory, J'onn was forced to relive Hanks transformation as Cadmus took him apart piece by painful piece as he screamed in fury.
The narrow hallways, corridors and walkways were clogged with violent offenders, who took the opportunity during the chaos to lash out at each other and the armed guards. Men and women in uniforms were assaulted or dished out their own form of justice in the name of peace. Alex was forced to fight through all of it in order to escape the maintenance corridor and find her way to the metahumans wing. With a spanner in hand she dodged and weaved through the chaos periodically pausing to disable an obstacle who got in her way. One such obstacle included a tall lanky man covered in tattoos with a sinister grin on his face as he flashed his gold tooth. She didn't give him time to pitch whatever horrific violation he had in store for her before swinging the spanner at his knee cap snapping it sideways. The man crumpled like a folding chair.
She pushed forward, her red hair falling over her hooded eyes as she scanned the prison interior intently. More people spilled in from the neighbouring corridors or courtyard, all wildly engaging the first threat they saw. She focused on her path towards the opposite wall where the locked gate to the secure wing waited. She walked smoothly, not sprinting. There were too many in the crowd to move faster than a crawl. But her urgency never left her and neither did her determination.
Her advance was interrupted when a gang of prisoners, akuza judging from their markings, sprung over the balcony and rushed her. She swung her spanner at the first guy hitting him in the skull, but one appeared behind her grabbing her by the hair yanking her back. She screamed in fury hitting him with an elbow breaking his nose, twisting out of his grasp slamming his head into the wall. Another thug ran at her so she grabbed the open cell door and swung it into him, the metal bars clanging at they struck. She reached through, grabbed the orange jumpsuit and yanked his face into the bars twice more, waiting for the stunned man to fall to his knees before taking hold of the door and slamming it into his head a final time. The thug with the broken nose grabbed at her again, but this time it was she who got a fistful of his hair, pummelling his face with her other fist before throwing him over the balcony into the crowd below.
She stumbled against the railing panting, her heart racing with adrenaline as her eyes scanned the rest of the akuza. They didn't back away, but their expressions gave away their trepidation. She blew a strand of hair out of her narrow eyes, fixing them onto the group waiting to see their next move. They surrounded her, shivs and batons in their hands. She laughed. Weapons wouldn't help them.
They rushed her at the same time, four big men sprinting at a slimmer younger woman. They didn't stand a chance as she swung her leg under the first, kicking his feet out from under him. His friend tripped over him while she was spinning to deflect and disarm the man with a shiv. She took the blade and cut his side, blood pouring from the wound as he stumbled back. She clutched the blade and used it on the next target, grappling him against the wall before stabbing him in the neck. She glared at him angrily as he bled from an artery, blood squirting onto her face as he passed out. She was yanked from his limp body and thrown against the railing, a punch in her gut knocking the wind out of her. She retaliated with a knee to the groin and a palm to the chin until more hands clawed at her from below. More prisoners were attempting to climb the walkway and drag her over the edge. She fought them off and leapt at the remaining thugs bellowing a war cry, wrapping her knees around the neck of the biggest grappling him to the ground where she pummelled him over and over. His face was a bloody mess by the time she was dragged away and pinned to the wall, two large thugs holding her down as she shouted in fury kicking at them. Her heel cracked the shin of one but the other stunned her with a powerful haymaker that sent stars across her vison as she collapsed to her knees. A boot hit her gut as she lost the ability to breathe, falling onto her side groaning and seething. She clawed her way to her feet, anger fuelling her body as she grabbed a fallen baton and swung it frantically. It cracked the head of an unlucky figure but the last man disarmed her and straddled her waist, punching her a few times in the face before wrapping his large hands around her throat. She choked on blood as she struggled, the wild expression staring back at her full of hate and fury. She kicked and punched at him but his hands squeezed tighter, the life draining from her body as he strangled her, her vison fading at the edges as the air left her lungs.
Before Alex could pass out from strangulation the thug on top of her was struck across the back of the head by a thick metal shield, the man's skull bobbing before he toppled over unconscious. Alex shoved him away inhaling for air, the shock snapping her back to her senses as she looked up and found the grey armour of Guardian standing over her, his shield bashing the remaining thugs surrounding them giving them some space. "You okay?" Guardian asked, holding out his hand to her helping her to her feet.
She stumbled back to the railing gasping, nursing her throat waiting for the black spots in her eyes to fade. She looked back at the riot below and felt like her head was going to crack open. Guardian watched over her asking what was wrong. "My head is splitting" she said, clutching her temple feeling something worse than a migraine. She looked back at him with surprise. "How did you get here?"
"A friend of mine owed me a helicopter ride" he replied, passing her the gun and earpiece retrieved from reception on his way in. he looked around the prison while she geared up, scanning the riot nervously. "I've never seen a prison riot this violent before. It's like everyone's lost their minds. Even the guards are beating the prisoners to death."
"I felt like I was losing myself too" Alex admitted, the memory of intense rage filling her chest as her headache continued to pound her skull. "What about the Samaritans. I thought they were outside?"
"Supergirl's dealing with them" he told her. "The rest are at the DEO."
"They're where?" she asked, immediately switching her earpiece on to check in with everyone. "This is director Danvers. What's the situation out there?"
"Finally! I've been trying to call you for the last few minutes!" Kara's voice immediately bellowed deafening her ear. "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine, Guardian's with me in the prison" she replied, hearing the relief in her sister's voice. "How are you doing?"
"I was able to take out a few of the Samaritans in the courtyard before their countermeasure thing kicked in. now I'm trying to keep them busy out here. Where's J'onn?"
Alex looked back at the gate to the next wing, telling her "he's with Hank in his cell. We were working our way to him, but there's a lot of rioting prisoners down here."
"I think there's something affecting them" Guardian observed watching them assault each other.
"I don't know about that, but the metahumans wing shields are still up so the Samaritans couldn't break in. unless the riots spilt into the cells…"
"We'll get to him, I promise" Alex said, assuring Kara J'onn will be fine. She switched channels to the HQ. "Brainy, what's the situation?"
"The DEO has been compromised" he reported back over the sound of gunfire and crashing. It sounded like she was calling into a warzone. "We have four active hostiles engaged with our personnel. The base in on lockdown but they seem to be keeping the fighting in the main floor. Dreamer is with me holding them off."
"What about Lena?"
"She's in her lab attempting to hack their systems. But I fear this virus they've employed is beyond her abilities to neutralise. We could use back up."
"Do we know why they're attacking the DEO?" she asked.
"Negative. I can only speculate they are a distraction while the rest attempt to free Hank Henshaw."
"We won't let that happen" Guardian said, leading the way across the walkway knocking a stray prisoner aside.
Alex followed his lead, telling everyone "stay in touch and be careful. Once we secure Hank we'll coordinate our strategy and figure this out."
"Make it fast! I think they've finally adapted their program to my powers!" Dreamer called out over the noise before the radio signal cut out. Alex told Brainy to keep her up to date and ran for the gate.
She felt the pounding in her skull intensify as she got closer, shooting the legs of a few obstacles before blowing the lock of the door. Guardian watched her enter brawling with a thug before slamming the gate shut engaging the emergency lock. "That should hold them" he said seething, his breathing laboured full of adrenaline.
Alex heard his pants and paused, asking "how are you feeling?"
"Angry" he replied bluntly.
She froze. She felt the same. "Why?" she asked. He stopped and looked at her. He didn't have an answer. She did some quick analysis and suggested "what if we're being affected. I remember losing myself to my anger when I was out there."
"You think that's why the riots are so brutal?" he asked, looking out the gate into the vicious rioting. "Why would the Samaritans cause this? A smoke screen? And how?"
Alex's eyes widened as a terrifying thought occurred to her. "They wouldn't. This isn't intentional. This is them. This is J'onn."
"J'onn? Why would he be doing this?" he asked, but Alex was already sprinting to the cell. They were greeted by the four guards meant to be posted inside who all turned on them, their guns raised. Their armour was scuffed and broken, like they'd been fighting amongst themselves. Guardian held up his shield saving them both from a sudden barrage as Alex fired back with her alien pistol stunning them. "Why would they attack us?" guardian asked in confusion.
"Because they feel angry" Alex said, fighting her rage as she pushed into the cell. She could feel it now, the telepathic influence spilling from inside. J'onn needed their help before his powers killed everyone in the prison.
The hate that J'onn J'onzz felt was beyond anything he'd ever experienced in this life. Only now he couldn't be sure if it was his hatred or Hank's. The two minds seemed to blur into one vortex of fury as they duelled with thoughts and memories and fantasies. Henshaw was only a man turned machine, but he knew how to find the buttons that caused J'onn incredible pain. he relived the battles with his surrogate children, the fights with Supergirl and Alex and their allies, the images warped and changed to depictions of Hank's choosing giving the Martian a nightmare to witness. He saw Kara beaten and broken, his own fists encased in metal while the girl begged him to stop. He witnessed the DEO engulfed in flames from his own optic beams as screams filled his ears. He saw Jeremiah's wife weeping over her daughter who lay strewn like a ragdoll in her arms.
"Enough of this!" J'onn roared, mentally dissolving the imagined visions and swinging at the world looking for his adversary. "You think this will break me? You are not the one in control here!"
"But you are?" Hank asked, appearing behind Eliza snapping her neck before stepping over her corpse, filling J'onn's chest with more rage. "Taking my name, my face and my position wasn't enough, you want my mind too? Well I won't give it up without a fight Martian!" he bellowed, lunging at the alien battling through the mindscape.
They barrelled through images of Cadmus, National City, Peru, the desert, earth, mars, space, apartments and houses before crashing into the old Danvers family home. They landed in the kitchen where Hank grabbed J'onn and smashed his head through the counter, kicking him with his boot until the Martian grabbed his ankle and swung him into the sink demolishing it. He stood over the cyborg grabbing his chest, throwing him up into the ceiling before upper cutting him through the wall into the living room. He followed the man through the hole, seething with rage, his eyes glowing red.
"J'onn?" a tiny voice called, giving him pause as he turned to find two little girls standing by the stairs watching him. Their eyes looked terrified as they stared at the alien in their house. J'onn froze in shock as the Danvers sisters stood before him. They were the exact age he first met them. She stepped forward lost for words until a protective Alex ran in front of her younger sister who looked horrified, her blue eyes full of fear. He realised they were seeing him the way he never wanted them to; as a monster. "I'm sorry" he muttered, despair clogging his throat.
"J'onn!" Alex whispered, her voice sounding distant from the young girl's voice. J'onn narrowed his eyes looking at her. She was calling to him, but it wasn't her child's voice he was hearing. She sounded older. "J'onn, come back!" Alex cried.
Before he could make sense of it her chest was ripped open as a metal fist punched through her back. J'onn froze in horror as the young Alex Danvers was murdered as a child, the menacing cyborg lifted her off her feet sneering over her shoulder. The younger Kara screamed attempting to run, but the cyborg grabbed her by the hair yanking her off her feet. She swung and cried, her eyes glowing hot in panic until his palm clamped around her skull holding her still, dropping her sister at his feet. J'onn stared at the image of the dead child, the memory of his own family flashing through his mind. "How many more of your family do you have to lose before you realise the truth" Hank asked him, bringing his attention back to the frightened blonde girl in his blood covered hands. J'onn narrowed his gaze, clenching his fist in anguish. "You thought they could replace what you lost? You though you could take his family for your own? But this is who you are Martian. A cancer, a disease, a plague. It's you who bring death to those around you. They will die because of you" he growled, taking Kara's neck in his hand and effortlessly snapping it in front of him.
"NO!" he shouted, his voice ripping the world apart as he leapt at the man and crashed into him. The anger in his soul reached a tipping point and he pummelled the cyborg brutally, beating him over and over ripping the metal appendages from his body. Hank fired his optic beam at him but J'onn shifted his arm into a sharp point and stabbed him in his robotic eye listening to his scream of pain. Tendrils tore into his skull and began ripping more away, the mindscape fracturing as they fell back into the jungle of Peru, back to that cliff side where they continued to fight. J'onn's form shifted to a monster, clawing at the man spilling blood and oil and scrap metal everywhere before slamming him into a tree shaking the ground.
"That's it" Hank laughed, his voice carrying through his mind. "Show me what you are. Show me the monster!"
"You want to know what I am." J'onn snarled, pulling him close so he could see the blood red in his eyes. "I AM THE MARTAIN MANHUNTER!" he roared, slinging him over the cliff holding him by the throat, his body morphing sprouting tendrils ready to tear him and his mind apart. He glared at the man he had so much hate for, who had cause so much pain for him and his family. No more! He decided.
"J'onn, stop!" a voice called to him from behind, pulling the Martian's attention back to see Jeremiah standing beside him pleading with him. Seeing him brought all the guilt and despair back to him, the memory of his family once more haunting his periphery. But when he spoke, it wasn't the man's voice coming for his mouth. It was Alex's. "J'onn, whatever's happening, you need to stop. We need you! Please snap out of it!"
The mindscape flickered like a television screen for a moment and J'onn got a glimpse of the world outside their minds. He glimpsed Alex looking worried shaking his arm as he stood frozen in front of Henshaw's cell. He sensed her fear for him, afraid of what Hank might be doing to him. She didn't realise it was him torturing the man, he who instigated this metal battle of pain and rage. He looked down at the image of her father, a man who showed him not all humans were dangerous or hostile. It occurred to him how much his girls had grown since this night, and how proud he was to call them family. He turned back the Hank Henshaw, the black man in his grasp as his body deflated back into its original green form. He let out a slow breath releasing his anger. "I see your pain" he told him coldly. "I share you hate. But I will not let it consume me as it has you" he declared, letting the man go so he may fall down the cliff.
Hank vanished back into his own mind as J'onn stepped back into his, waking up in his own body taking a step away from the glass box. The cyborg remained in chains as his head slumped forward, a thin trail of blood leaking from his nose as he fell unconscious in his cell. J'onn took a ragged breath looking down at his human form, Hank's form, no longer ashamed about taking it for his own. He turned around and found Alex beside him, her expression full of worry asking him "are you okay? What happened?" He couldn't find the words, so he wrapped his arms around her pulling her into a bear hug. She was caught off guard by the gesture, hesitantly hugging him back as he released the last remnants of hatred he was holding onto, grateful to see her well. "Okay, this…" she stammered in confusion when he finally released her to brush her hair out of her eyes. "What was that for?" she asked.
"More than you can imagine" he replied quietly. An explosion rattled the walls and she finally looked up and sensed the chaos from the prison. "What's happening?" he asked.
"Prison riot" Guardian answered curtly, blocking the door watching the corridor. "Henshaw's militia are using the Samaritan suits to try and break him out."
"They're attacking the DEO too" she added, quickly briefing J'onn on the situation. "Attacking the prison makes sense, but I don't get why attacking the DEO would distract us."
"It has split our focus" Guardian pointed out.
"No, Alex is right" J'onn mused. "It doesn't make sense. They had eleven battle suits to storm the island with. Why split up your forces? There's something at the DEO they want."
"But according to Brainy, the only thing they've done since breaking into the base was draw our attention to the main hall" Alex said. "They haven't even tried to lift the lockdown."
The lockdown at the DEO was a multi layered series of protocols designed to keep hostile combatants from breaking out of the facility. It was a failsafe procedure which had been perfected by the brilliant strategic mind of Brainiac Five since he chose to stay in the present day. However, since the protocol was expressly designed to trap and contain hostile aliens or human entities, little emphasis had been put into the consideration that other entities might attempt to circumvent the lockdown from the outside. That left a few notable weaknesses in the security of the base in the event of a lockdown, including the lack of sensors in the maintenance hatch from the elevator shaft. With all the security focused inwards at the attack occurring on the main floor, nobody in the security hubs were paying attention to the cameras monitoring the lower floors where a cutting tool was presently unsealing the hatch in the ceiling until it fell to the ground with a clattering sound. The rumbling of gunfire and explosions muffled the break-in as the figure in red and black armour slipped through the narrow shaft and dropped into the empty hallway in a crouch, his helmet scanning the interior satisfied his entrance had gone unnoticed.
The Reckoning stood up and looked around the vacant space he'd successfully infiltrated into under the DEO's very nose.