Mission to Mars

Halloween had come and gone, leaving Xander with a head full of memories that their owners had probably tried to forget. If you added those to his memories of hunting on four legs across the African savannah, it was a wonder he even slept at all these days, but for some reason it wasn't nearly as traumatizing as he thought it should be. Taken as a whole, there was a certain symmetry to it all, life and death, predator and prey. Even when you added in demons in it all seemed like a natural process to him.

Xander collected his books from his locker and didn't even notice one of the jocks pretending to swing at him, trying to make him flinch. Pissed at being ignored, the jock pulled back his fist and actually swung at Xander, who dropped down to tie his shoe.

Having tied his shoe, Xander stood back up and headed for class, completely missing the drama behind him as the jock had punched the locker hard enough to leave a dent and injure himself.

Snyder opened his mouth to snap at Xander but found himself with nothing to say, as Xander was about as connected to events as a piece of litter on the ground, his presence seemed entirely incidental.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0

"We're all here," Superman said as he and Batman arrived fresh from helping out firefighters in India.

"Why are we meeting?" Wonder Woman asked.

"Because War is being reborn," Jason Blood explained.

"I wasn't aware Ares was dead," The Martian Manhunter said.

"Not Ares," Constantine clarified, "Mars."

"What?" chorused several of the assembled JLU members.

"Mars, the god of war, has been reborn, and is awakening to take up his mantel," Jason Blood explained.

"Just what we need, another war god," Flash groaned.

"That was Ares' view as well, which was why he killed him," Constantine said.

"Ok, I'm confused," Flash admitted. "Is anyone else confused?"

"Ares assassinated Mars roughly a century ago," Dr. Fate explained. "However, Mars is not so easily disposed of. Mars has been reborn, and will be assuming his mantel, hence Mars, currently a mortal somewhere, is being reborn."

"How does this effect things?" Batman asked, wanting the bottom line.

"We don't know," Constantine admitted. "But you can be sure Ares will be trying to off him again, so you might want to be on your toes in case he tries to rope you into helping him."

"Why shouldn't we help him?" Wonder Woman asked. "Ares is hardly our favorite person, but I don't see how having two war gods active on this plane would improve matters any. With just one war god there is more than enough bloodshed going on in the world to drive many to despair."

The mystically inclined individuals exchanged glances before Zatanna finally said, "That's up to each member to decide for themselves, we just wanted to make you aware what was going on."

"What is Mars like?" Superman asked.

"He's a war god," Constantine said. "That pretty much says it all."

"Hardly," Dr. Fate said dryly. "I always found Mars much more reasonable to deal with than Ares, however a lot of how he acts this cycle will depend on what his life was prior to rebirth."

"Meaning if he is a serial killer or super villain we could have a real problem on our hands," Green Lantern spoke up.

"Which is where I come in," Ares said as he appeared out of nowhere. "I believe all of you would agree that this earth has more than enough wars on its plate at the moment. I'd like your help to perform a ritual to suppress Mars for a couple more years."

"I thought you wanted to kill him?" Batman asked, showing no surprise at the god's appearance.

"I do, but I'm poorly positioned to do so at this moment, so another couple of years of peace before we go to war with one another would be very welcome. For you too, I imagine," Ares said.

The members exchanged glances and murmured comments for a couple of minutes before Superman spoke for the group. "This just delays his ascension, it won't kill him correct?"

"My sworn word on it," Ares agreed. "It won't even weaken him, just put him to sleep for a few more years, which will give all of you more time to train more heroes for the inevitable battle between us. Just ask yourselves, considering the tension in the world today, does it need more conflict at the moment? This will simply allow me the time to insure the battle will be limited to the two of us, not a worldwide confrontation between our respective offices and forces."

It took another hour for the league to come to an agreement.

"What does the ritual entail?" Superman asked.

A little over half a decade later…

Xander paused and turned to face the rising sun. Something felt different, he decided as he scratched beneath his eyepatch.

And Mars awoke.

Typing by Elrod Albino

AN: This was just my idea for a plot hook I got when I thought about the connection between 'Mars wielding a red sword' and 'Mother Nature red in tooth and claw'.