Chapter 5: Darkest Light

"I saw you on the news again, you know," Lois commented as she took a swig from her cup. "You and you're superhero pals, out in the Pacific."

Superman had met up with her almost straight after he had teleported back down to Earth from the Watchtower. If not for the unforeseen event up there, he would have done so immediately, but Batman's sudden return slowed him down. He had taken a moment post-teleport to come to terms with it, to overcome the surprise he had had when he had gone up to the Watchtower and found Batman beaming up seconds later. His talk with Bruce could have perhaps gone better, but he was the same old Batman. It really had been just like old times again. It made Superman realise just how much he had missed his friend these last few months while he was away.

But no matter how happy he was about Batman returning to the Justice League, he didn't want to have Bruce Wayne occupying his mind right now. Now was one of those rare opportunities he got to spend some quality time with the single most important person there had ever been in his life. The life of a superhero didn't exactly offer up a lot of free time for this kind of thing, especially when said superhero was as powerful and public as he was. Now that he had a chance for said time, he didn't want to spend a second of it on any one else. He wanted to make the most of this time that he had.

It didn't help that Lois Lane, award winning reporter, was hardly out of demand herself. There was always something that she was busy working on. In fact, she had already told him that she would have to run off after not too long to go and get a story finished off for the morning papers. That meant that Superman knew he had to make the most of what time they had, even more than normal.

Of course, being such a well known public figure, especially one who was so loved and revered as he was, the options of what they could do with their time together were limited. They couldn't do a lot of the kind of things that normal couples did, not without wanting to spend the entire time swamped by adoring fans, mostly his but some of hers too. That was why right now they had wound up on another picnic watching over the city of Metropolis. Of course, Superman had flown them to a different place than he had done the last time. That one hadn't been the most enjoyable or pleasant time. Superman was determined that today would go a lot better.

"It was a real mess after so much water hit but we think we've got everything sorted. It may take a while but people's lives should start getting back on track fairly quickly," he returned. "I'm surprised they got cameras out there so fast."

"If I've taught you anything I'd have thought it'd be that some of us mere mortals can be pretty good at keeping up with you," Lois rather cheekily responded, with Superman quick to pick up on her true meaning. Such thoughts made him blush. He really was, as folks so often told him, just a big, innocent boy scout. "Besides, the world of public journalism has to be fast, otherwise we'd always miss all of the juicy stories. I'd have thought you'd have learned that by now. We've been together for long enough."

Superman bit his tongue at that one, actually feeling a pang of guilt from deep within him. He still hadn't told Lois the whole truth. She couldn't know just how resonant her statement truly was. It may have been years since they had first met, he may have known for a huge chunk of that that he loved her, she may have known for a huge chunk of that that he loved her, but he still hadn't told her that Superman and her Daily Planet partner Clark Kent were one and the same. He just couldn't bring himself to do it. Not knowing helped to keep her safe, and Superman had no idea what he would do without her.

"It's because I prefer our quiet moments. Like this one," Superman said instead of what he was really thinking, not that those words weren't true too. "I prefer it when I have you all to myself."

Lois let out a quick, short laugh. "You old smoothy. Who'd have ever guessed that a guy who's stronger than a living tank would be a hopeless romantic at heart? I hope you don't talk like that in front of all those crazy villains of yours."

"No, but I don't exactly turn into Batman with them either," Superman answered with a shrug. "I just save it all up for you. There's no one else that I'd ever want to sweet talk like I do you. You're one of a kind, Lois. I'm really glad I have you."

"OK, flattery will get you everywhere, but stop it now because you know that we're gonna have to rap this up before too long and I'd hate for anything to come up and delay me," Lois again responded in a way that made Superman blush, this time very visibly. Still, she did lean in and kiss him, which he returned until the second that she pulled away. "You just make sure that the world isn't coming to an end later on and then come say all that to me again. I promise that it'll be worth your while."

"I–"

Superman's reply was cut off before it had really begun. After what Lois had only just said, it seemed that someone out there had a really ironic sense of timing. His earpiece commlink had just gone off. Someone from the Justice League was trying to contact him, and he knew from experience that that almost certainly meant trouble. He could see Lois realise why he had suddenly stopped talking, along with the look on her face that followed. She spoke no words verbally, but her body language made what she was thinking obvious. It was just typical that the Justice League would need him now. It also made it pretty clear that she was thinking that this interruption had better be important. He was sure that it would be, and there was no way on this Earth that Superman wouldn't answer the call, but deep down he was still feeling the exact same way.

"Superman here," he said, opening up the desired channel to the other hero who was trying to contact him. "What is it?"

"Superman, it's Shayera," the voice of the woman formerly known as Hawkgirl spoke directly into his ear so that he alone could hear it. Immediately Superman could tell that something was definitely wrong. Shayera's voice was a dead give-away. There was elements of urgency to it, of action, but those elements were small. They were very much dwarfed by something that Superman didn't like hearing there. It made his own shoulders drop in sudden fearful expectation, hearing all the signs of grief in Shayera's tones. "You need to come back to the Watchtower."

"What is it? What's happened?" Superman desperately asked as it seemed that Shayera could not say any more than that. Her tone made him want to ask "Who?" but he resisted. Doing so would be like confirming that one of his friends was dead already. He didn't want to do that, not until there was no alternative, and unless he was told otherwise, he would hang onto those alternatives. He couldn't afford to get carried away based just on a tone of voice.

"Just... Just get back up here," Shayera very simply answered him, telling him nothing. It definitely sounded like she couldn't bring herself to say any more than that. That point was made all the more clear as Shayera clicked off the comm before he could say anything more.

That made Superman's shoulders droop further. In a split second, his mood had completely changed. He looked up to Lois, who was gazing straight at him. The change in his body language had brought a very concerned look to her face. She might not be a Leaguer herself, she might not have met the vast majority of them, but she was still a compassionate woman, an empathic one. Anything that could sadden Superman could sadden her too.

And there was one other Leaguer who she knew, who she had once loved until discovering the truth of his identity. She still cared for deeply for Bruce Wayne. Not as much as she cared for Superman, but she dearly wouldn't want anything to have happened to him.

"I don't know yet," he told her before she could even ask him what was wrong, virtually reading the question in her mind. "But I've got to go. They wouldn't tell me what's happened, but they didn't sound happy. I've got to go find out."

"Go," Lois instructed him, giving him a peck on the cheek. Superman was grateful to her for that, for her own sudden change in body language. He knew he had to go. Lois not making that difficult for him showed that they really were perfect together. "I'll make my own way back. You make sure everyone's all right."

"I always do," Superman tried to lighten the mood, but it did nothing to help out either of them. At that he stood, touching a hand to his comm again. "Superman to Watchtower. Bring me up."

And then, with the flash of light, he was gone. He dearly hoped that when he arrived things wouldn't be as bad as he feared.

The evening had started so well, too.

Others had not been so ready to give up on the fallen four as he had been. GL was chastising himself for doing so so easily, but that didn't change his opinion on things. He was still sure that he had just watched his friends die.

But that didn't mean that he wouldn't still try to save them. Every one of them there knew that the only hope for Batman, Wonder Woman, J'onn and Flash was to get them to the infirmary and the medics, fast. With Flash out of action and Superman absent, that meant that Green Lantern was their best chance. With his power ring he could sweep them all up together and fly them away as one, so that was exactly what he did.

Shayera for one had clearly wanted to help him, but there was the small matter of that thing out there that had caused this to happen in the first place. They couldn't just ignore that, no matter what had just happened. They needed all possible hands on deck to make sure no one else wound up in the same state as Wonder Woman and the rest. They needed everyone they could get to get the computers working again, or at least enough to make sure everyone else was safe. That meant that no matter what Shayera or the others may want or feel regarding their four friends, getting them to possible help was Green Lantern's task alone.

And so he surged through the Watchtower's corridors as fast as he possibly could, the green bubble containing his friends carefully whipping around behind him. He made record time. Before he knew it he was setting all four of them down in separate beds as gently as he could in a hurry.

"What happened?" one of the doctor's was saying in a hurry, rushing over to see what was happening the moment Green Lantern entered the room. John recognised her as Doctor Susan Conway, a civilian medic who had been hired by the Justice League some time ago. Over those months she had proved herself more than able, for example being the one who had made sure that Shayera was able to fly again after she had been shot in the wing months ago.

"We don't know," GL rushed through his unfortunate answer. "Something... got them all. Some bright light burst into the Watchtower, shined around them and then... this happened."

He knew that his answer must have sounded silly. However, Doctor Conway was too committed to her duty to make any kind of comment about it.

"Then we're going in blind," Conway reacted to what she was told, her nurses already beginning to gather around her. She was stood over Batman's bed, with other doctor's sweeping forward to look after the others. Green Lantern knew why she had selected Gotham's protector as the one to examine. He was the one of the four without powers to help speed up any possible healing process. More specifically, and more worrisomely, Batman was also the one least likely to survive...whatever had happened to them. On paper anyway. "We need readings on all their vitals, stat! Let's find out what we're dealing with people! After all the times they've saved out sorry hides, we have to do whatever we have to do to save these heroes!"

Green Lantern wanted to stay close, he wanted to help, but he knew that he would just wind up getting in the way. That was why he stood back, letting the experts get to work. However, he couldn't bring himself to leave and to check in on the efforts of Shayera and the rest. He had to stay here. He had to find out if Batman, Wonder Woman and the rest were going to be okay, or if he had been right earlier.

He dearly continued to hope that he was wrong about their fate. He just still couldn't believe anything different after what he had seen.

Superman could see the commotion going on all around him from the second he re-materialised aboard the Watchtower. There were plenty of people up there in the control centre, frantically working away. What exactly they were doing he couldn't be sure, but that wasn't what truly caught his attention.

That distinction went to Green Lantern, or more specifically what he was carrying courtesy of his ring. Superman just caught a glimpse of them all before they disappeared down the many twisting corridors of the Watchtower. Flash. J'onn. Wonder Woman. Batman.

And all of them looked lifeless.

Now Superman understood why Shayera had sounded so distraught over the comm. It couldn't be. It just couldn't. Not them. Not any of them... Not Diana... Not Bruce...

It took a ridiculous amount of effort, but Superman forced his mind off of all that. He had to, at least for now. He had to make sure that everyone else was also going to survive it, that nobody else needed his help first. Then he could worry about the other four.

He looked back up to the control centre. With John already gone with the fallen four, it was easier to turn his attention back up there. Shayera was one of the Leaguers there at work. Mr Terrific was there too, as were Captain Atom, Green Arrow and the Atom Ray Palmer, all either furiously working the computers or else furiously trying to fix them. Yet more were up top too, the likes of Black Canary, Zatanna and Booster Gold, but they were all stood back as if spectating, keeping out of the way of those working on the controls and ready to step in as and when they were called upon. That was not something Superman could do.

"Shayera, Mr. Terrific, what can I do?" he called up there to them all, hoping not to break their concentration for too long. Shayera seemed to take a second to even realise she was being spoken too, she was so absorbed in what she was doing. Superman dearly hoped that that wasn't an attempt to forget any recent grief. In the end, Mr. Terrific beat her to speaking anyway, sounding remarkably in control. No wonder he was the Justice League's official co-coordinator.

"Nothing yet. We've got this. I'll call you if something comes up that needs your talents."

Superman saw what Mr. Terrific was really saying. There was nothing he could do there that couldn't be done by somebody else. They all knew that Superman's two closest friends in the entire world were most probably Batman and Wonder Woman, and he hardly disliked J'onn and Flash either. Despite the fact that they would all be feeling the desire to go check up on them all, they could also recognise that for Superman that need was probably greater. What they were doing was offering him the chance to get to the Infirmary and to make sure that his worst fears weren't a reality. That wasn't a chance he was about to turn down.

With the others all so clearly busy, Superman did not distract them with any more words. Instead, he was simply gone. Flash wasn't the only one with super speed, and Superman utilised his to the full now. Before he knew it, Superman had reached the space station's medical bay.

The sight that met him there was hardly one that he would describe as pleasant. He could see all four of his stricken friends laid out prone in a string of gurneys, doctors and nurses dashing all about between them, looking incredibly hurried and busy. Things clearly were not good. Looking at the potentially devastating chaos meant that he had not even noticed GL stood in the doorway until he heard the other man speak.

"It's been like this since I got them here," John Stewart said, voice so flat it could be a pancake. "I still haven't heard any word on their... conditions."

"What happened?" Superman couldn't help but ask the question. No doubt it had been asked many times already, no doubt GL was probably asking himself it endlessly in his mind, but it didn't matter. Superman had to know.

GL shook his head though. "We don't know. None of us do. They were up in the control centre, alone. The rest of us only arrived to see the very end, the flash of light and then...this. They're all working on the 'what', the 'who' and the 'how' up in the Monitor Womb right now, I think, but I couldn't leave these four here. I just couldn't. Not like this..."

Despite his own growing feelings of despair, Superman could not let his friend suffer alone. He laid a comforting hand on GL's shoulder. "I understand. If it turns out that there's anything either of us can do to help up at the controls, they'll call. Until then, this is where we're both needed. We have to look out for our friends."

GL opened his mouth as if to respond but no words got the chance to come out. He got very much distracted. Superman was too. It was at that moment that one of the Doctor's came walking over to them, clearly ready to deliver some news. Her fellows, however, remained busy with the fallen four. Superman held his breath, the tension incredible. It may have only taken seconds for Doctor Conway to speak after they had noticed her start walking over, but to Superman it felt like countless aeons had gone by.

"I don't quite know how to say this. They're technically alive, all of them."

Superman felt like jumping for joy. Then he heard Conway use the word 'but' and knew that he had to wait before celebrating. It was also then that he truly recognised the word 'technically' in the last sentence, having been too happy to truly hear it before.

"But that's not the end of the story like we might have hoped. We've got regular heartbeats from all of them, respiratory activity too. The problem is we're finding no signs of mental activity in any of them. It's as if whatever happened to them has left them all completely brain dead. We're hooking them all up to life support machines right now so that the rest of their organs don't start shutting down, even though that isn't even looking necessary just yet. With all the crazy things that happen around here I wouldn't put it past them somehow recovering on their own, or the rest of you finding some way to bring them back. But if this wasn't the Justice League I was talking about, I would say they were gone."

Superman had been right not to start celebrating. The four were alive, but that was about it. He had to tell himself that it was still too early days, that Doctor Conway was right and that with the Justice League everything could change. He had to tell himself that there was still hope.

"I'm sorry," Conway continued. "But we'll keep doing all that we can."

"Thank you, Doctor," Superman replied for both of them, but he was interrupted by his buzzing comm before he could say any more. Clearly GL's was going off too.

"Superman, GL you need to get back up here now," Shayera's voice rang out to both of them via their respective devices. "Things are happening up here. Very bad things."

"The wiring's shot in there. There'll be no fixing that one any time soon," the Atom announced as he leapt out from the innards of the console, growing back to his normal size as he did so.

"Then the rest of them will have to do," Shayera was quick to point out. There was no time to waste scrambling around trying to make emergency repairs to gear that just wasn't going to be working again in their short time frame. Four of the Justice League's best were already at least in a serious condition right now. She and the others had to make sure that whatever had caused it was dealt with before it could do any more damage, and they had to do it fast. It was hard, but all personal feelings had to be cast aside until that was done.

For the five of them up at the controls, anyway. GL had already gone with the stricken foursome to the Infirmary, and they had just sent Superman after them too. No doubt quite a few other members of the Justice League were highly affected by what had happened and would also have to know if they were going to be okay. With the possible exception of Batman, the group were all well loved and respected by everyone, and Shayera knew first-hand that the main reason that Batman wasn't as well was because he didn't want to be, preferring intimidation to companionship in the vast majority of cases. Hell, Shayera herself would certainly be being badly affected by all this if it wasn't for the fact that she couldn't afford to be. She was the only one of the seven Founders left active up here. She had to take control, for the rest of the League's sake. All the Founders were looked up to as the leaders, as the bravest and the best. One of them had to see the rest through things, this moment included. Right now, that meant her.

"I reckon I'm getting something!" Green Arrow called out from beside her. He, like her, was working away at a console in the area that was remarkably undamaged – physically at least. Shayera's system in particular seemed corrupted. She was having to try and create all kinds of workarounds to access the systems. They hadn't even managed to find out yet what it was out there that had so damaged this chamber and the four who had been in it, let alone began to deal with it. Mr. Terrific, Captain Atom and the Atom had been busy at work trying to fix the devices and hardwire in new systems, while Shayera and Green Arrow got to work on the two consoles they had managed to get booted up again. At last, it sounded like they were getting somewhere.

"What is it?" Shayera asked in a hurry. "What have you got?"

"I reckon I found the fiend. It's still out there in space, not far off the hull. Visual should be coming up any second," Green Arrow answered her. That was a start at least. Other than that flash of light, none of them had even seen this thing yet. Shayera's first thought was that that light had been a weapon of some kind from some new alien invader, but the possibility did occur to her that the light was the invader. She had seen enough out there in her time after all, being a detective and a spy from a far distant planet. It wasn't an impossible notion to her.

But if the light was the attacker then, despite how it had looked, after what it had done it was the darkest light she had ever seen.

"Wait, wait, it's moving!" Green Arrow suddenly called out again. "I don't believe it, it's heading for Earth!"

As he shouted that, Shayera's system finally came back to life. She was finally in, immediately punching up the scanners. She saw instantly what Green Arrow meant. Mr. Terrific, the Captain and the Atom were all leaning over either her or Green Arrow's shoulders to get a closer look.

It looked just like a cloud, but from her readouts Shayera knew that it was no ordinary cloud. It was indeed made up of energy, with a relatively small, solid core. And it did indeed seem to be alive.

And it had most definitely begun to move off towards the Earth.

After what had gone before, after seeing what for all she knew could still have been the deaths of Flash, J'onn, Batman and Wonder Woman, Shayera was not going to let that happen. As far as she was concerned this thing had already proved that it was hostile. She may have been an alien herself, but the Earth was now very much her home, humanity her adoptive race. She would do everything in her power. She would do everything she could to protect them. The thought of them being endangered by this thing was already getting her mad up even more than the fall of the four heroes had already done.

"Can we stop it? Can we destroy it?" she called out for suggestions. She could see on her screen that while this cloud wasn't the quickest moving thing that she had ever seen it was still going to be hitting the Earth's atmosphere pretty snappily. They had to act fast. As Green Arrow had had more time to study this cloud thanks to his quicker working terminal, that meant he was now in the best position to play the part of tactician.

"Looks like Bats and the others were trying to drive it off with some sort of repulsor beam," Green Arrow began, words tumbling out of him in a mad dash. "We could try it again now, but it didn't exactly work for them. We might have to do this the old fashioned way and get back down to Earth."

Shayera's mind was racing. She was making a plan. Green Arrow was right. There wasn't really time to utilise the Watchtower against it. But that didn't mean that such time couldn't be bought.

"Right, here's what we do," she began instructing, making the others all start listening in very intently. "Mr. Terrific, declare an Omega level alert. All heroes you think have a chance in helping us drive that thing off need to beam down to the Earth immediately. We have to keep it away from the civilians and try and drive it back into space. Somehow. Arrow, no offence but I think you'll be pretty useless down there. I doubt a bow will do anything against that and you don't exactly have any powers to help out either. You stay up here with anyone in a similar situation. Do everything you can with the Watchtower to get that thing away from here. And get the all the League's magicians organised. I don't know how close to it they'll have to be but we could likely use their help with this."

"No offence taken, Ma'am," Green Arrow returned with a tip of his hat. "Me, T and the rest'll do our best. Good luck down below."

"Same to you," Shayera said back. "We're all going to need it."

She didn't wait any longer after that. A glance back at her screen had already told her that that energy cloud was now starting to touch air. More, from its trajectory the computer was predicting its likely destination; Metropolis. One of the biggest population centres on the entire planet. That all but confirmed it for her. This thing was sentient, and it was aggressive.

And it would pay.

With a flutter of her wings she hopped down from the control area, landing exquisitely by the teleporter pads. She had hardly touched down before she had her comm active and was warning GL and Superman. They were on their way, but the likes of Captain Atom, Booster Gold and Stargirl were already arriving at the pad around her. There was no point in waiting for the other two Founders. They could catch the next ride down.

"All right Arrow!" Shayera called back up to the comm area, determined to get back down there and stop this thing, now. "Energize!"

She just hoped that they were in time, that there was actually something that they could do. That the people could still be saved.

And of course, that a certain four were not lost to this thing already.

A/N:

I know a heck of a lot of you were hoping for some answers, but no, there weren't really any here. Don't worry though friends! You'll get them soon enough! This tale just has more layers to it than that main one that need telling. Tune in next week, though. There might just be something, or someone, in Chapter 6 that you were hoping to hear of again today...

In the meantime, let me know what you think via more reviews, favourites and follows!