Six
Emma closed her eyes against the swirling, feeling like she was in one of those spinning teacup rides at Disneyland. She squeezed J'onn's hand, pressing herself against him. He wrapped an arm around her.
It's almost over, he said.
Just as he finished the thought, Emma felt solid ground again. Slowly, she looked up at J'onn – and jumped. He was back in the cape and the boots. And green. "Hi."
He smiled at her, and then immediately frowned. "Your mother."
"Right." She backed up and put a hand to her head. "Ugh… How do you do that without getting dizzy?"
"Practice."
"Damn it, J'onn!"
Emma jumped for the second time in fifteen seconds and spun around. Her mouth fell open. Right there in front of her were the other six members of the Justice League. Batman was the one who had spoken. He was glaring behind Emma, teeth bared in anger.
"This is what happens when you meddle with space-time!" Batman continued. "Who was taken? Obviously it wasn't her." He spat the last word, and flicked his gaze in Emma's direction.
She flinched, and began unconsciously backing up towards J'onn.
J'onn sighed. "Her mother, Alice Whitaker. Cosmic Clock left a note at her house."
"And what did this note say?" Batman asked through clenched teeth. He spoke slowly, as if he thought J'onn was an idiot. He probably did think J'onn was an idiot.
The Martian repeated the words on the note. As he neared the end of the message, Batman turned and slammed a fist into the wall. Emma jumped yet again and took one last step backwards. She felt her back press lightly against J'onn, who took hold of her wrist.
Batman sighed, clutching his hand, and turned to look directly at Emma. She stared back at him with wide eyes. Batman sighed again. "There's no point in yelling now," he said, speaking to J'onn while keeping his eyes locked with Emma's. "You have to go get her mother back."
"We'll come, too."
Emma broke her death gaze with Batman to see who had spoken. From the sound of the voice, she would guess it was Flash. When she looked over at him in his red suit, he smiled a little and stepped forward.
"Not everyone," Batman replied, turning to look at Flash also. "I can't go because I'm the only one who knows how to read the energy waves that the portal gives off. And someone else needs to stay behind to babysit New Girl over here."
Emma glared at the back of his head.
"Don't give me that look," he said.
She looked at the floor in surprise, wondering how he had known.
He turned to face her again. "If it weren't for you, we wouldn't even be doing this," he hissed.
"That's enough, Batman," said another voice.
Emma looked up, this time at Superman.
"Superman's right," Wonder Woman added, stepping forward. "Don't you think having her mother be kidnapped is punishment enough?"
Emma took a deep breath and said quietly, "I'm sorry."
Batman scoffed, but Diana – Wonder Woman – said, "Why? You've done nothing wrong."
"If I hadn't tried to make contact with J'onn –
A new voice broke in, laughing. "Oh, please. He was waiting for a chance to go back and see you." The Green Lantern flashed a grin.
"He's right," Hawkgirl chimed in. "There was no way we would have been able to stop him even if we wanted to. And why would we? None of us have ever seen him this happy before. Whatever you're doing to him, keep doing it."
Emma blushed and turned to look up at J'onn. She realized, with a smile, that he looked supremely embarrassed.
"So," Batman said loudly. "Now that we've gotten the misplaced fun out of the way, we need to decide who stays and who goes. And J'onn, you cannot stay here with her."
"Whoa, Bats," Flash said. "Who put you in charge, anyways?"
"Yeah, J'onn can stay with her if he wants to," Hawkgirl added.
"No." It was the first thing J'onn had said in the last five minutes. "It would not be right if I stayed. I should go with the search and rescue party."
"I'll stay with Emma," Diana said, looking around. "I don't mind missing a little action. Besides, there are only two girls in this group, and she might need a girl to talk to."
"What, you think I'm not girly enough?" Hawkgirl challenged, and then laughed good-naturedly.
"Actually –
"I really wouldn't try to answer that if I were you," Green Lantern said, smiling at Diana.
J'onn cleared his throat. "We're wasting time."
"He's right," Superman said. "Let's go."
"How are we going to find…?" Flash looked at Emma questioningly.
"Alice."
"Yeah. How are we going to be able to find Alice?"
"I can help with that," J'onn said. "People who are related have similar mind prints, like DNA. All I have to do is open myself telepathically and search for a mind that is similar enough to Emma's that it should be her mother's, and we'll follow it right to her."
"Don't you remember what happened the last time you did that?" Emma asked quietly. And then she looked around. "Or did that even happen here…?"
J'onn's eyes flashed as he searched Emma's memories for an explanation. A moment later he came back to himself and said, "You are referring to a time in which I opened my mind to the general populace and it ended up nearly driving me insane. The night I rescued a little girl who had gotten lost in the woods. That was many years ago, and I have grown as a person since then, and my powers have gotten stronger. I do not think that will happen this time."
"Okay."
"So, everything's settled, then?" Green Lantern said. "Let's go."
Four members of the Justice League began making their way to the entrance of the Watchtower. Diana, Batman, and J'onn stayed behind. Emma looked up at J'onn. "You have to go with them now."
"I know. I will." He cupped her face in his hands. In his mind, he thought to her, You still will not kiss me, even in this form?
She looked away. No. I'm sorry. But even this you isn't the real you.
He sighed and leaned down slowly. Don't worry, he said, so she wouldn't pull away. He moved his head slightly and gently kissed her cheek. That will have to do for now. Wish me luck. He stepped away from her, and then turned and flew away down the hall.
Good luck, she thought, touching her cheek.
Emma watched him until he turned the corner and disappeared, and then she sighed and faced Batman. "I know you don't like me," she said. "But once all of this is over, my mother and I will go back to our dimension and you can destroy the portal."
Batman kept his gaze to the monitor. "How very noble of you," he replied, voice dripping with sarcasm. "Unfortunately, if that happened, I'm not so sure J'onn would recover emotionally. He's lost his family once already. I think he might blame me if he lost it a second time, since he would think you only did it because I got angry at you earlier."
"Even so. It's the only way, unless you want something like this to happen again."
Diana stepped forward. "Don't you think J'onn should have a say in this?"
"I already know what he would say," Emma replied quietly.
"I think you're being selfish," Diana said.
"How? I'm doing what's best."
"You're doing this because you're scared. Because nothing like this has ever happened to you and you don't know how to handle it. So, instead of facing it, you're pushing it away. I don't think J'onn would appreciate that. He really does care for you, you know."
Emma sighed. "I know. But… My mother was kidnapped because of my relationship with J'onn! What do you want me to do? Continue to put my family in danger for love? That is extremely cliché and irresponsible."
Diana walked up to Emma and put her hands on the girl's shoulders, looking her in the eyes. Quietly, she said, "I don't think you quite understand the severity of the emotional damage J'onn would be in if you abandoned him. Do you have any idea how he has been acting lately? He's been punishing himself because of the danger he's potentially put you in by being in a relationship with you. You can't back out of this now, or he will fold in on himself and never come out again. He needs you, a lot more than you need him, it seems."
As Emma listened, her eyes welled up with tears. As Diana finished speaking, she put her face in her hands and tried to cry quietly. "What have I done to him?" she asked in between sobs.
"Nothing bad," Diana assured her, putting an arm around her shoulders. "You've given him hope. It took him long enough to realize that the Justice League was his family. But it has been too long since he's had a family outside of his job. He loves us dearly, and we all return that love, but it's different between the two of you. He can be… unprofessional about it for the first time since he lost his wife and children on Mars however many hundreds of years ago. It's a release for him. You should be grateful. He's a very caring person. He'd cut off his arm if he thought it would help you."
Emma looked up at Wonder Woman. "I am grateful," she said. "So grateful. He's…" She could not find the words to express the amount of wonderful that J'onn was, so she just smiled and shook her head. "I mean, we've only known each other for two months, but it feels like forever. If he asked me never to leave, I might just say okay. Really, it's my mother I'm worried about. She's the only family I have left – besides J'onn, obviously. If she were not part of the picture, I might give up my life in my own dimension and live here."
"If everything turns out okay, we might be able to make that happen."
Batman turned from the monitor and glared at the two of them. "No. She'll only get in the way. Being part of the Justice League means giving up relationships, not starting them."
"Superman and Lois seem to do all right," Diana said.
"That's because they only see each other a couple times a month. Honestly, I'm surprised that they've lasted this long. You think J'onn will be okay with that kind of an arrangement? No. I wouldn't be surprised if he came back from this rescue and proposed to her."
"That would be lovely," Diana said, smiling.
"You're missing the point."
"I understand your point completely, Batman. I just don't care."
Emma sighed. "Is there somewhere I can lay down? You guys are giving me a headache."
Diana laughed. "Follow me. We have plenty of guest bedrooms. This place is so big that we each get our own floor."