Disclaimer: I do not own Justice League, nor any of it's associated characters. All original characters are copyright me, and may not be used without permission.

"So, how did you get them to let you leave Oa?" John asked, as Kyle sat down, still drying his hands on a towel.

"I sort of threatened them." Kyle replied, slicing into his meal.

"You threatened them?" Shayera asked.

"Sort of. I kind of made them feel guilty for giving me this thing, and then made them let me come back for a while to make up for it." All three laughed, though the baby gave them all a weird look. Being a baby though, this was only natural.

"Well I'm glad you came. John get's cranky when he can't go fly around the world." Shayera chuckled. John snorted, but before he could retort, Kyle cut in.

"I know the feeling. It's pretty annoying. Now, I didn't actually come to fix your ring, but instead, because the council thought you were in danger."

"Me?" John asked.

"They said green is in danger, and violence stems from something." Kyle shrugged. "I assumed it meant you."

"I don't feel in any particular danger, and as for violence." he glanced at his wife. She gave him an innocent look. Kyle nearly choked on his food. The rest of the meal occurred without any significant problems, and Kyle repaired the ring, infusing it with his own, sealing it into a single entity. John slipped the ring back into place. A green light suffused him for a moment, and then he sighed. "Now I feel complete again."

"Glad to hear. I can't wait to get some fun in before I figure this little mystery out." Rayner smiled. "Since my house is no doubt musty, can I crash on your couch?" Kyle asked, completely ignoring John.

"Of course, it's always nice to have friends over." Shayera smiled, heading towards the closet. John raised his eyebrow.

"What was that about?" he asked his fellow Lantern.

"I feel a need to be close to friends, and I don't have anyone else that won't keep me up for hours asking questions." Kyle answered, smiling tiredly. "I just need to get some sleep, and get back in synch. You're lucky, I'm the one that came. Katma would have spent an hour on a lecture before she helped you."

"She reminds me of my marine drill instructor. They'd have gotten along famously. He had that same split temperment. Normally the nicest man you'd ever want to know. Screw up, and he'd become a raving psycho." John grinned.

"I don't think I'd let Katma hear that." Kyle grinned.

"I do not have a death wish." John laughed back.

---

Light washed across her vision, scouring her dreams of anything but the colors. She twisted in her sleep, and jerked awake. Fire exploded through the building, the others within it ran screaming. She walked through it, as if it was not there, and was not burned. She faded into the crowd.

---

I could feel lightning coursing through my body. I fought to contain it, since a single spark would ignite the chemicals around us. The thugs fought quick and dirty, forcing me to fight even quicker and dirtier. They were trying to force me farther from the entrance, I was trying to force them closer to it. Finally, there was no choice, and I turned, and raced into the plant. They followed, running hard to catch me. What they caught instead, was a series of viscious and hasty traps. Pipe wrenches hung across the path around corners, wire strung steam vents. Three of the five were taken down with these improvised traps. The last two went down to conventional guerilla tactics. A crowbar to the head, and the same bar to the outstretched arm. The last was tougher though, I broke his arm, and he kicked me into a pipe. Unfortunately for me, it was a steam pipe, and was sufficiently hot to incinerate my jacket, and the shirt underneath. I discarded both, and lashed out with a bolt of force. He stumbled, but so did I, healing from that hit, and the burn had taken a considerable amount of energy. This of course was the perfect time for backup to arrive in order to rescue me.

What happened instead, was a massive fist caught me in the face, and toppled me onto my back. He stood over the top of me triumphantly, and brought his foot up to crush my face. He also was standing on a piece of cable, which stretched up to a cast iron crucible, presumably for storing hot material. A single concentrated bolt of energy was all I had left, but it was all I needed, triggering the switch to send the crucible plummeting to the floor. This pulled on the line, which would normally tip the container. At the moment, it tipped the thug, who smashed his head on a pipe fitting as he hit.

A neck breaking is a sickening sound, and very hard to not react to. I pushed to my knees, and moved up beside him. He was alive, though even if he survived, he'd probably never walk again, if he was even only paraplegic.

The police arrived a short time later, and hauled them away, except the final thug, who was carried out in bag. He'd died just before they arrived, despite my efforts. After giving them both an explanation and the events of the fighting, I was informed that they'd be in contact, and allowed to go. I returned first to the Watch Tower, then headed home, where I was greeted by an empty house. Kara and the twins were both gone, the former with a note that she was visiting an old pal, the latter at the Kent farm. Which meant Kara was probably in Smallville as well.

Only the cat was left home. I arrived just in time to stop the Jaguar sized cat from breaking the lock on the garbage drawer. He meowed innocently, and then stalked off when I continued to glare at him. I tended to my wounds, and was about to sit down with a cold drink, when the door bell rang. I stalked to it, tearing at the handle about to unleash an unholy screaming into the face of whoever was on the far side, when a teenage girl collapsed into my arms.

---

Two thousand miles away, hunkered over a pile of magical artifacts, Kent Nelson's head perked up. He rose smoothly to his feet, and slipped his helmet onto his head. Dr. Fate rose into the air, and disappeared in a shell of Ankh shaped light. He reappeared outside the Marcae residence, to find it engulfed in emerald flames. Standing screaming in the doorway were two figures. One his less than lovable magical colleague, the other a young woman, no more than nineteen. The former was holding the latter, who had her hand gripping the former's face. It didn't take a thurmaturgical genius such as himself to understand what was happening. She was siphoning power, and expending it as these emerald flames. He was being used as a conduit, and rapidly approaching burn out. Fate intervened a split second later.

"Dividium." he lowered and seperated his hands rapidly, blowing the pair apart. Adam crashed back into his house, the girl landed softly on the lawn. Fate started to approach the girl unconsciously, and then stopped himself. "Adam, what have you done?" he asked instead. The so named, walking out of the building, brushing plaster from his shirt glared.

"I object to always being accused of being at fault. You're just mad because you're no longer the only magical know it all, and you aren't automatically deferred to." the other snorted, and then shook his head. "I don't know what happened. I was about to sit down to rest, when the door rang. I opened it fairly mad, and ready to tear someone a new ass, but she dropped into my arms. Before I could do anything, she woke up, and put her hand on my face."

"She was using you as a conduit of energy, and channeling it into a very expressive, if seemingly undamaging fire. She nearly burned out your abilities." Fate reported.

"I'm surprised you didn't wait." Adam grunted.

"I was tempted. Believe me. But I decided I didn't want to deal with your wife." Fate answered. The two had been arguing since they met. Fate believed everyone should defer to him, Adam believed in deferring to no one. Only a handful of people held any real ability to order him with any real expectation of being obeyed, unless it was in combat, where he was considerably less independant. The two could and had worked together, achieving success each time. They had respect for one another, but neither felt particularly friendly.

On occasion, rare though they were, the two could agree on somethings, and in this case, it was an unspoken agreement to call for assistance from the one colleague on the planet that could safely interact with the girl, without the risk of a repeat of the conduit troubles. Leaving Adam to watch the girl, with an unnecessary warning not to go near her, Fate Ankh'd away, going to fetch Zatanna. The two returned before the girl reawoke, which was just as well, since all three were in fear of a repeat performance.

But with Zatanna's arrival, such a problem was eliminated. Zatanna's powers were different from their's. Adam manipulated energy directly, while Kent shaped it with incantations. Zatanna left the details to the magic, and simply expressed her desires in a backward sentence. She rarely manipulated energy unless she couldn't avoid it. And she didn't serve as a channel the way they did.

"So, you two actually managed to work together without killing each other?"Zatanna grinned. "I'm throughly amazed." any possible answer was cut off as the girl woke. Zatanna moved to her, while the two men moved away, both from the girl, and slightly from each other. "Don't be frightened, I'm not going to hurt you." Zatanna's attempt to calm the girl was mainly unsuccessful.

"Yes, you will. Everyone does. They always do. I make them." the girl turned away, then turned back when she saw Adam. "Father? Please help me." she started up, then collapsed back down. "What's wrong with me?"

"Nothing I can't cure." A huge hammer of yellow energy slammed into the ground.