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Colors swirled around, his world spinning, tilting back and forth, sounds screeching at him. So loudly he couldn't even make out which sounds were coming from where. Clark was standing several feet away, still clutching Lantern's throat. He took a step forward towards them, and the world faded a little bit around the edges, threatening to go completely black.

Everything hurt. His body felt like it weighed three thousand pounds, and like it was getting heavier with every step he took. His body was numb, yet at the same time it was feeling too much.

People were screaming, cameras were going off left and right, reporters trying to make sense of what was going on. Was it mind control? Or did the boyscout simply snap? Their thoughts were loud, buzzing around in his head like angry bees, coming close to over whelming him as he took another step forward. It hurt. His skin was tingling like a thousand needles were being shoved into it, increasing in it's intensity as the seconds passed and he steadily inched forward.

The world started to get a grayish tint to it and Batman reached out, focusing on Clark's heart, which was beating so fast. Felt the waves of emotion pouring off the alien and staggered as a surge of anger hit him hard, almost causing him to double over in pain. And was hit by another yet again, but this one of a different emotion. One which made him straighten up and force the world to gain it's color again.

Fear.

Clark was afraid.

He was scared.

Scared of crossing that line; the one thing that separated him from them and it was quickly approaching, as Lantern's body struggled for air. But Clark couldn't drop him. There was something keeping his hand tight, something keeping his mind clouded with rage. He was going to kill soon.

And Clark was scared shitless.

So Batman took another step forward, gritting his teeth as the world dipped yet again and his vision started to swim, fighting to hold on to consciousness, because if he succumbed to it, then all would be lost. His body was going to do what he told it to. It was going to take another step. And it was going to take another one. And another one after that because he told it to.

He battled people like Joker, Penguin, Two Face and Riddler. He'd traveled for years around the world, seeking to learn from the best of the best and he had. Pushing his body past it's limits until said limits had broken. Until his body couldn't move and it hurt to even think about breathing. He was The Goddamn Batman and he'd be damned if he was going to let Clark murder. Not when he was so close, just a few steps more until he was there, right in front of --

"Superman."

Locked eyes with Kal and waited for him to release Lantern, flinching when those hands instead tightened on him, fingers digging into his arms painfully in a desperate attempt to reach out, eyes begging him to make it stop. To make him stop. The world turned pitch black, but he still held on, tapping into the Kryptonian's mind with his own.

Pure chaos and in the center of it all, there was a being.

He had the same dark hair and blue eyes that Superman did, but his face didn't hold the same warmth; eyes cold and a disgusted look on his face, as he realized that Batman was standing before him.

"You're not as strong as the Martian."

"No, I'm not." Forced his legs to stop their trembling. He wasn't going to fail. He wasn't. "But I will make you leave."

The being laughed and Batman felt something slam into him that was supposed to send him flying out of Clark's mind. It caused a pain to erupt in his entire body and almost worked.

Except...

Superman, Clark, was counting on him.

And he would not fail.

So he shoved back against the being, who lunged forward and Batman felt himself being slammed into the ground in both the outside world and in Clark's mind; a very strange and painful experience. "How dare you interfere you human!?" Came the snarl. "I am helping Kal-El--"

It was Bruce's turn to laugh. "Helping?! You're destroying him!"

The being struck him across the face, causing the skin to break and beads of blood to leak out. "What do YOU know of Kal-El?! NOTHING! YOU KNOW NOTHING OF--"

"Kal-El.Doesn't.Kill." He grounded out through the pain of what felt like a fractured, if not broken, jaw. "Superman.Doesn't.Kill. And right now, that is what you're trying to make him do."

Silence, as the being stared down at him with those cruel eyes of his. Until he started to fade away and Batman was left laying alone. The chaos was still there, but was dying down now that the main source was apparently gone, slowly going back to their proper places. Carefully, he extracted himself from Clark's mind.

Saw the crowd of people that had started to gather around and knew that he wouldn't be able to fade into unconsciousness, no matter how much his body hurt or how tired he felt. "Flash...teleport. Now."

And the speedster was happy to comply.

()

The second they were all back up to the tower, Batman began to do damage control, snapping into action as he helped Flash move the others to the hospital wing. They'd done xrays and had been relieved to see that Wonder Woman hadn't had a skull fracture. Just a concussion, along with a few cracked ribs, cuts and bruises. Nothing that wouldn't heal with time. Green Lantern and J'onn were a little banged up, but fine otherwise. Lantern had passed out due to lack of oxygen and J'onn had simply passed out from the pain of that strange thing's attack. Superman was pretty much unharmed. Physically at least. Batman didn't even want to think about how he'd react upon waking up.

Hawk Girl was the one that gave them the most trouble. Her leg was broken in three different places, the bone sticking out at a sickening angle that had Flash turning green and Batman swearing. It had taken hours and by the time they were done, he was ready to drop. His world had thankfully stopped spinning, but was still tinged a dark gray, telling him that he was very close to fainting, and it was only by pure willpower that he was able to fight it off. His back was sore from where he'd been slammed into the hard concrete, his jaw was throbbing and felt on the verge of exploding every time he moved it, and his ears were ringing so loudly that he now had a huge migraine.

It was so tempting to say to hell with it all and pass out. But he couldn't. There was still the cover story he had to come up with. He'd seen the reporters and was pretty sure thousands—if not millions—of people were wondering why Superman had snapped and nearly killed both Luthor and his teammates, something which was supposed to go against everything he stood for. And if the people didn't get the answers they wanted soon then they were liable to start losing faith in Superman.

And once that happened...

Batman let out an exhausted sigh, running the situation through his mind. Flash walked, actually walked, up next to him, plopping down into the chair with a tired thud. "So what's our story?"

Normally he would have scoffed and stated that he'd handle it himself but right now that just seemed to take too much effort. He'd be a dick tomorrow. Or next week. Depending on when he woke up when he was finally able to close his eyes...and sleep...

The gray-tinted world dimmed even more and he gritted his teeth together, the pain jarring him out of it.

Concentrating on sleep--bad idea.

They brainstormed for a cover story, Batman filling in Flash on what had happened while in Clark's mind. After ruling out the first six covers due to the glaring flaws they held, they finally settled on one that they were happy with and began dialing the number to the Daily Planet. The phone interview lasted about two hours, and was conducted by one lovely Lois Lane, who had spent thirty of it asking 'How's Superman? Is he going to be okay?' 'Is he conscious?' 'How badly is he hurt?', to which they had replied 'He's fine, Ms. Lane' over and over again until Flash started banging his head against the table before snapping, 'NEXT QUESTION LADY!'.

Batman would have smirked had his skin not felt like it was on fire.

But since it did, he'd simply have to add that do the things to do next month when he woke up. Along with buying Flash a present for getting Lane to ask something else. He deserved an award for that. The phone interview ended and the two Superheroes slowly walked back to the hospital wing to check up on the other Leaguers. Hawk Girl needed another shot of morphine and Green Lantern had ripped open some of his stitches.

They took care of that and then started on the incredibly long trek back towards the monitor room, shoulders hunched over as if they were zombies. Had Flash been able to think anything other than so...tired...sleep...tired... he would have made a joke. But he wasn't. However he couldn't add that to the list like Batman could, because by the time ten years rolled around the moment would have been passed.

So he tried to say it now. Only when it came out it sounded something like "Zom' joke. Funny. Laugh.", which only got him a grunt from Batman. Meh. He'd try again after twenty years. Maybe when they woke up Batman would have a sense of humor. Unlikely but still, possible. They entered the monitor room and slouched down into their chairs. It was kind of pointless to keep watch, seeing how they were the only ones conscious right now, and if anyone were to attack the planet or start up a war, the most Batman would be able to was kick them in the shin. Maybe chuck a batarang at their head. But it'd probably miss. He could glare at them if he absolutely had to, but glaring meant moving his eyes, which would hurt. So he'd have to hold back on that. And the most Flash would be able to do was tell another crude zombie joke. Which wouldn't even make them laugh. A total waste. If they wanted to wait fifty years, well then maybe that'd be a different story...

But...it was the principal of the matter. They just couldn't let Earth go unwatched. That wasn't what being a hero was about. Had to keep an eye on the planet. Their pride wouldn't let them do otherwise.

Not to mention that they had to be there, to check up on the others, in case something went wrong. Superman was liable to wake up soon and when that happened they were going to have to be there to keep him from running off. They had to watch and see if the swelling in Wonder Woman's brain went down. Hawk Girl's heart needed to be monitored in case it slowed too much due to the morphine in her system, and if Lantern ripped open his stitches once, then he'd probably do it again. And J'onn...

Well he tried not to think too hard about J'onn. Because when he did think of the Martian, he couldn't help but remember watching the news in the manor, seeing how he'd fallen and screamed. Because of that being. It was enough to make his blood boil, a very painful occurrence as everything was still hurting. Yet at the same time he couldn't help it. J'onn was hurting. His mate was hurting, and while they weren't in love, there was still a strange flare of emotion and a faint chant of how dare he echoing in the shadows of his mind.

Spotted movement on the screen and realized that J'onn was turning over in a feverish manner, still very much in pain from that thing. He didn't know how he could help though. If he attempted to enter J'onn's mind with him being as tired and inexperienced as he was now...

But sitting this far away, being able to see him but not do anything to help...was killing him.

Glanced out of his eye towards Flash and noticed that the speedster wasn't even watching the other monitors, not even bothering to be discrete. A few minutes passed and J'onn let out a whimper, causing Batman's fingers to itch with the need to do something ...

...and if inured, the bond can even heal you...

Slowly, Batman got to his feet and left the room, not able to stay away any longer. Not with J'onn being in so much pain.

Heard footsteps following him and wasn't surprised at all. A part of him knew that he should order Flash to go back and keep an eye on Earth, but he said nothing. And decided not to add that to the list of things to do once he woke up a thousand years from now.

Because sometimes...

Walked into the hospital wing and sat in the chair next to J'onn's bed, grabbing the Martian's hand and giving it a slight squeeze. His mate's tossing died down, and Batman was relieved to see that his world was starting to gain color again, and that his migraine was fading to a headache, shocked at how right it felt to be by his side. Wouldn't complain though. Too tired to worry about what had happened in the past, or what might happen in the future. He only had enough energy to focus on the present right now.

They were only going to stay for a little bit though. Just to get this out of their system. To make sure that they were going to be okay.

Flash took a seat next to Superman, who was making choking sounds in his sleep, tears leaking out the corner of his eyelids. No doubt the man of steel was reliving his actions. He opened his mouth and even though the speedster was dead tired, started talking, reminding Clark about all the good things he'd done. The people he'd saved, the lives that he'd touched. And reminded him that even though he had hurt his teammates; had nearly killed that he didn't. And that was what mattered.

And as the Kryptonian's pain filled look eased up, Batman silently told his pride and principals that they could go to hell. And there they say, where they belonged, keeping guard over their teammates and not feeling the least bit guilty.

Because sometimes...

There were things more important then being a hero.

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Review peoples! I apologize if this chapter is a bit...mehish...I'm kind of tired myself when I wrote this, probably why I wrote Flash and Batman as being so tired themselves...

o.o So I might have missed a bit during the whole um...editing...proofreading...process. Meh. Whatever. So long as yall like it, I'm good. - Oh and do any of yall know who it is? Anyone?