The Justice League returned to the JLU tower after almost ten minutes of rounding up the starfish-like creatures: Superman, Barda, Warhawk, and Kai-Ro through the boom-tube; Batman and Batgirl in the weakly fixed Batmobile, which had been damaged during Batman's quarrel with Superman. Kai-Ro held the creatures in a tall, cylindrical tank filled half-way up with water to ensure that the creatures could not escape. Led by Coba, Superman and Batman, the team approached the tank containing Starro. They were all surprised to see the creature's only eye flicker with relief. "How did you—" he started.

"—survive and beat your allies?" Coba finished gently, using the creature's natural dialect. "I used my wits, of course."

"You seem to be the only person who does," Starro observed.

"Well, Batman actually used his wits earlier," Batgirl explained. "He had to take on Superman like I did."

"Except he had it easier than you did. I'm much more experienced at controlling Superman than the others are."

"True." Coba was silent for a moment. "There's still one thing that I don't quite understand," she said sagely.

"What might that be?" Starro inquired.

"When you were controlling Superman and trying to kill me earlier, why'd you take off my mask although you already knew who I was?"

There was another moment of silence. "I wanted to see fear," the starfish confessed at last, "but instead I saw defiance, rage and determination—and a bunch of bloody spit splattering Superman's face. That was disgusting, by the way."

Coba could not help but smirk at the memory. "I know. I just wanted to get the message across that I was not gonna die without a fight."

"You got it across, all right," Starro said, something of a smile in his tone. "Even before you spat." His expression became grave. "I know what you're planning to do, kid: to send my kind back to where I came from."

Batgirl nodded solemnly. "That's correct. But we need to know where you came from."

Starro blinked sadly. "I don't remember what the planet was called," he confessed. "Even if I told you what it looked like, you still wouldn't know what I'm talking about. You'd have to see it for yourself to know."

"I figured you might say that." Coba motioned for Aquagirl to step forward, although she was still talking to the creature. "If it's alright with you, Aquagirl's going to get a glimpse at what you remember of your home planet."

"Is she able to do that?" Starro inquired.

"Yes, I am," Marina answered calmly.

The creature thought it over for a moment, then said, "It's alright with me. Go for it."

"And no tricks," Coba cautioned, a dangerous glimmer in her eyes. "Otherwise you'll never get home."

"I wasn't intending to, but now I know for sure that I won't," was Starro's blunt reply.

Marina lightly touched one of Starro's legs. "Focus on what you remember of the planet," she instructed.

"Alright," the starfish said submissively.

Aquagirl closed her eyes for a few moments, focusing on Starro's memory. She held out a hand. "Barda, let me see your boom box," she requested.

Then open your eyes, Barda thought a bit irritably. Instead of voicing her thoughts aloud, she handed her teammate the device.

Marina, still with her eyes closed, pressed the booming device's button. A large portal opened up, revealing a strange land covered completely with water and reddish-brown rocks. All of the creatures stared at the land in awe. Starro smiled and blink back tears of joy, muttering a single yet emotionally powerful word: "Home."

Coba looked from Starro to the image. I can tell by the look in his eye that that's the right place, she thought, feeling uplifted. She looked at Kai-Ro and nodded. "This is it," she said. "Let them go."

Kai-Ro nodded before holding the large cylindrical tank through the portal. Coba noticed Starro looked rather disconcerted and knew right away what was bothering him. "Don't worry," she assured him. "We're not going to keep you here for more than a minute. I just figured that you'd like to say a few things to us before you leave."

Starro was flabbergasted. "First of all, thank you for sending me back," he said, his voice shaky with shock. "Second of all, you don't need to act like you didn't read my thoughts: I'm well aware of that glint in your eyes."

Brooklyn chuckled a little. "It's that obvious, eh?" She managed to lift the heavy rectangular tank containing the creature and stood next to the portal. "Take care of yourself and the others," she said solemnly.

"Of course I will!" Starro said with a smirk. He looked at Batgirl thoughtfully. "You know something, kid? You're not that bad of a person—for a human impersonating an animal, that is. You're not even that bad for a person in the Justice League."

Coba grinned in acknowledgement, although she wondered about that last statement. She shrugged it off. "You're not that bad for someone who wants to take over the world," she offered.

The creature blinked. "I like you, kid," he said solemnly. "You've proven to be a worthy opponent... although I hope our paths never cross again."

"I agree. Goodbye, Starro." Coba carefully held the tank through the portal and gently poured Starro and the tank's water into the foreign sea below. I'm supposed to be heartless towards him, but I can't help it, she thought. She allowed her brother to place a gentle yet firm hand on her shoulder and pull her away from the portal, allowing it to disappear into the air as if it had never existed.

Warhawk placed a hand on Batman's shoulder. "Well, kids," he said with a smile, "I gotta admit: I was wrong about you two."

"That's an understatement," Kai-Ro exclaimed. "You saved the world!"

Superman looked at the two Bats gravely, although his eyes glinted with excitement. "Think you can get used to it?"

Terry and Coba looked at Kal-El in surprise. "You're saying that you want us to join full-time?" Terry asked.

"They certainly are," Coba murmured.

"We could use you," Aquagirl said good-naturedly, smiling.

"I don't know," Batman said gruffly. "You guys play awfully rough."

"Come on," Barda urged. "It'll put you one-up on the old Batman." She grinned. "He never made it pass 'part-timer.'"

It was Superman's turn to smile. "Yeah. He wasn't what you call a 'joiner.'"

McGinnis looked down solemnly. "Maybe he and I have something in common after all," he said quietly, walking towards the Batmobile.

Kent's smile vanished. "More than you think, son," he murmured after him. "More than you think."

I wonder what he means by that, Coba wondered. A strange thought came to her, though not for the first time. Is Terry somehow related to Bruce, too?

"What do you think, Batgirl?" Warhawk inquired, pulling the girl out of her thoughts.

Coba looked up at Warhawk gravely, secretly grateful that he had brought her back to reality lest she let her imagination get too wild. "I'm sorry," she said sadly, "but I have to agree with Batman on this one. I can hardly even stand on my own after all of that running-around that had to be done. Besides," she added, "I'm still a sidekick. I won't come up with a 'solo career' for another few years when I outgrow the name 'Batgirl,' if I come up with one at all or decide to continue my life as a vigilante. I'd probably join then—that is, if the offer's still on the table at that time."

"For you and your brother: it always will be," Superman replied with a small, solemn grin.

The other League members nodded in agreement. "Even as time goes by," Kai-Ro added, "we will never forget what you have done to help us."

"You might forget," Brooklyn said grimly, "but then again you might remember after you forget." It happened to me before.

"We'll do that, then," Kai-Ro confirmed, although he was taken aback by how much more solemn the girl had become.

"We'd better head back to the Batcave, sis," Terry called to Coba. "The Batmobile still needs to be repaired."

Coba nodded sagely to Terry. "Alright." She turned to the Justice League and nodded in farewell before following her half-brother to their crippled vehicle. As the vehicle lifted off, only two members of the League waved a single farewell at the siblings: Aquagirl and Warhawk. Coba watched as their figures became smaller and smaller as the distance between them and the departing Batmobile grew. I'll miss them, she thought grimly, but I know at least two of us will meet up again soon.

Author's Notes:

That does it for Chapter 8. Yes, even Coba is still not certain of how she and Bruce are related, let alone how Bruce and Terry are. Epilogue (which I am currently in the process of writing) is next after this one, which returns us to the room where Coba was discussing the events of her time in the League to Amanda Waller.

Reminder: there is still a character poll concerning this series up on my profile page. You may vote for your favorite characters (up to four of them, this time) if you would like to.