Chapter 15: Networking

She was well aware of all the commotion, was well aware that at that very moment the fate of the entire world once again rested on the people she knew and worked with every day. However, that didn't mean she was paying it any attention. It wasn't her job to watch the Justice League in action, no matter how desperate the situation. It was her job to make sure its member heroes got out the other side alive. That was why, even with all that was going on, Doctor Susan Conway focused purely on her patients.

The only thing was, there still wasn't much to do.

"How they doing, Doc?"

Conway turned to look behind her. She had been checking the readouts, looking hopefully for any signs of change, almost longingly. It was Mr. Terrific she saw stood in the doorway to the Medical Bay.

"Unfortunately, nothing new to report," she answered the League's co-coordinator, slightly turning back to her readouts as she did so, as if in hope that it might inspire a flicker of a positive response. It didn't. "They're all still showing all the signs of brain death. Have you learnt any more about the thing that caused this? Perhaps if we knew more we could try to counter whatever happened to them."

From her eye corners Conway could see as Mr. Terrific looked down at her patients. She didn't need to look at him to sense that he too was desperate for these four to wake up. Not only did the Justice League need their help, but they were also his friends. Mr. Terrific had far more encounters with them all than Conway ever had. These weren't the type of heroes to regularly need her help. Flash. J'onn. Wonder Woman. Batman. They were all usually far too good for that.

Conway looked down at them too, following Mr. Terrific's lead in a moment of silence. At the moment it was Batman's bed she was stood beside. She wasn't the type for favouritism, especially were her patients were concerned, but if it came right down to it Conway would have had to admit that Batman was the member of the Justice League who most fascinated her. He may have been one of the heroes who was human, and one of the few who were without powers, but he was still the one who was the biggest mystery. However, for Conway it was far simpler than that. Before taking up her post on the Watchtower, Susan Conway had been a Gothamite. She knew first-hand the hell that that city bred. She had seen it at its worst, years ago, before that signal had first lit up the skies. She, like all Gothamites, knew the true good that Batman did. The rest of the world might get caught up in his methods, might get caught up with the flashier, more fairytale heroes like Superman, but Conway knew that it was men like Batman who made the real difference to the people in the worst places around. That was why he fascinated her. Somehow, though, she had resisted the urge to try and find out exactly who it was under that mask.

And it was a particularly strong urge.

"Difficult to say," Mr. Terrific finally answered her, causing her to look up to him again. "It's... Unlike anything we've ever seen before. I–"

But Mr. Terrific trailed off at that. The comm went off, Mr. Terrific clearly having linked up the control hubs systems with the infirmary's before paying his visit. Conway saw him move over to switch it on, a sense of urgency about him again. Conway was ready to listen in, in case it was another patient about to come her way, though she definitely maintained a steady eye on those she already had.

"Mr. Terrific here. Go ahead."

"T., its Zatanna," a female voice rang out from the speakers. "I'm gonna keep this short for now because we're in a bit of a hurry. We've got some news. Good news too, we hope. Me and the other League Magician's think we have a plan. Dr. Fate's already dashed off to tell Superman and the rest of the team at ground zero. We're about to head over to join him, but I wanted to give you the heads up. Things could be about to happen."

"One minute, Zatanna."

Conway's expertise was always with the physically sick, but she didn't need to be a great reader of people to see the hope flood into Mr. Terrific at those words. However, before acting directly on that hope he momentarily muted comm and turned to back to Conway.

"You'll keep me informed if anything changes?" he asked her quickly.

"Of course," Conway nodded in response. "Do you think that whatever they're up to is likely to change things?"

Mr. Terrific shrugged. "When magic's involved you never know what can happen. I think we need to be ready for anything, even more than normal. But I've got to go. They might need me back in the control room for when things start to go down."

"Then get going," Conway responded, making it sound almost like an order despite having no authority over a healthy hero. Mr. Terrific turned to leave back to the control room, obviously transferring the call as he did so. However, before he disappeared, Conway couldn't resist shouting one last thing after him. "Go save the world. Go get them all back."

A relative silence had befallen the group, save of course for the voice of Green Arrow acting as liaison. Currently he was relaying the situation up to Captain Atom and the other heroes still up in the skies above Metropolis, keeping a watchful eye over the energy cloud. He'd already finished off letting the heroes on the ground know what was happening, so that they too could try to come up with a solution while they continued to help the military with their evacuation efforts. The Watchtower and then the Magician's were next up on the list.

But that still left the other three of them with nothing to do but think. They couldn't all be on the task of liaising. They badly needed a plan. All the people consumed and trapped up there in the cloud badly needed them to have a plan. However, the reigning silence and blank looks on each of their faces displayed how few ideas they were actually getting.

GL knew for sure that he was having no ideas. As he had said before, these psychic things were hardly his speciality. He was having enough problems sorting out his own mind, never mind figuring out a way to to save thousands of others from something he didn't even properly understand. He hadn't a clue where to even begin. He had more than enough proof already that his ring was fairly useless against the energy cloud, and no way could it ever pick out a mind. He needed physical things, tangible things. Not this. Not this madness. Not this confusion.

And not this proximity either. Even if he was capable of coming up with an idea, it was not about to happen right now. She was too distracting, especially with him trying not to think about her...

Shayera was clearly trying hard not to look at him too. It was his fault, GL knew that for sure. He had put them both in the same boat, a boat he knew needed to set sail quickly. But right now neither of them had the time to start it on its way, especially as John was sure it would more than a few seconds to pull off. For now they both needed to focus on the mission, to concentrate on the task at hand.

And to come up with some sort of plan.

"Let's recap everything we know about this cloud," Superman interrupted the silence, giving GL the strong impression he was falling back on an old journalistic technique to figure things out by talking them through. "Perhaps if we do we'll spot something that we've been missing up until now. There might be something really simple here that we're missing."

"Yeah, there is," Shayera rather sarcastically reacted to that, sounding rather annoyed. GL wondered, though, who exactly it was that she was annoyed with. "We're missing the fact that none of us have a clue what we're doing. Let's face it, we need help–"

"Then perhaps my arrival is very timely. Hopefully I can provide some."

GL knew that voice. It wasn't the first time that it had come from nowhere to help them save the day. But it turned out that the speaker wasn't alone. GL spun around to face the speaker, ready and hopeful. It was then that he saw the full array of Justice League magicians appearing out of nowhere, magically teleporting in. Every one of them, one after the other, though Dr. Fate was right at the fore. Just as GL had known, it was the most powerful of them who had spoken. GL did not say anything to interrupt him, and thankfully neither did any of the others. They all knew that the magicians had been trying to figure out their own way to effectively use their powers against this cloud. The fact that they had all shown up now, before Green Arrow had the chance to tell them the latest, must mean that they had come up with something. Dr. Fate's words certainly implied something along those lines.

"We have been investigating everything we can that might be slightly relevant to this energy phenomenon," Fate resumed as he and his magician cohorts came to a halt in front of the founding Justice Leaguers and Green Arrow, who had rather cast his comm aside to listen in on what was going on. "The latest revelation about the cloud has told us something which should help us change everything."

"You're referring to that Bat/Wondy-symbol that was in the sky, aren't you?" Green Arrow spoke up, giving up all pretence now that he was still on the comm. "Them not being actually dead and all that jazz."

"Exactly," the demon, Etrigan, snarled from the group of magic-based heroes, in his usual tone that belied his allegiance. "The whole world will have seen that mark appear, but only we can know its true significance."

"What Etrigan is attempting to say is that in knowing that Batman and Wonder Woman are somehow still alive and a part of that energy being, we have been able to devise a strategy to save them and all others who have been taken with them," Dr. Fate stepped in to clarify things. "And not only that, but it could hopefully also serve to significantly weaken the cloud itself too."

"How?" Superman was quick to ask. Not only that, he practically pleaded. It was no secret that he viewed Batman and Wonder Woman as pretty much his closest friends in the entire world. Add into that the people of his city, the people he knew so well from his every day, common life who were at risk too, and this was doubtlessly a very tense situation for him. "What can we do against a thing like this? How can we actually stop it?"

"By taking from it what it has taken from us," Dr. Fate launched into the explanation. "We remove some of the energies that feed it, that give it its strength. You have clearly reached at least some of the same conclusions that we have. Batman, Wonder Woman, everyone who fell under the cloud's power. Their essences are clearly not as gone as their physical forms would currently indicate. We are convinced that somehow their mental energies, their thought patterns and memories have been absorbedby this energy being, become a part of it. Those energies could heighten the cloud's power further. By removing them, all of them who have been taken this day, we should make the cloud weaker. And once that is done, once we have learned what effect that such an action will truly have, we can then progress the plan further to deal with this life form before it has a chance to take anyone else."

"But how?" Shayera pressed. "We're not all a part of your magic circle here. Drop it down in simple, layman's terms. What are you planning to do? How do we rescue our people?"

Doctor Fate surprisingly turned to face GL as he gave his answer. "By using a spell that you have actually witnessed, John Stewart. It is simply a case of switching minds."

"Switching with what? I don't get it," Green Arrow was quick to state, but GL now knew what Fate was getting at. He had indeed witnessed Fate use a spell that caused exactly that before, albeit accidentally, when Flash and Lex Luthor had had their minds wind up in each others bodies. If Fate could perform such an act now deliberately...

"We do not need to directly swap them with anything, but use a variant of the same magics that can cause such an event," Fate began, delving into the same thoughts that had begun to swim into GL's head. "In the case of switching minds, you need a place to put the consciousness so that it is not lost forever, hence why it always involves a transfer both ways. The mind is too powerful to easily be ripped away from a body without anywhere else to go, which makes what this cloud has been able to do all the more remarkable. However, we have the advantage that the vast majority of its victims still live. Their bodies may litter the streets, they may be brain dead, but as vessels they remain intact. That means that we have a place to put the minds if and when we remove them from the innards of this energy being. It means we have the ability to take the minds out of that being and return them to where they belong. It means that we should have a chance to bring them all back."

"Then what are we waiting for?" Superman declared, half-joyously, half-impatiently. "Let's get on and do it!"

"I suspect that's because there's a 'but' coming..." Green Arrow muttered under his breath from behind the Man of Steel, looking rather suspiciously at Dr. Fate as he said the words. Truth be told, GL was feeling that same suspicion. The more he thought about it, the more that Dr. Fate's plan seemed just too easy...

"There is one snag, yes," Dr. Fate confirmed for them, causing Superman's shoulders to slightly drop, though the big Kryptonian managed to hide any other signs of doubt and worry he was surely feeling. "There is one major problem we have in achieving the plan. We are not telepaths. All of us who can perform this spell – and it shall take us all to move such a vast quantity of minds so quickly – do not possess the ability to connect to them up there in the cloud, and without some form of connection we cannot isolate one mind from another. We cannot tell who is who. We cannot even locate a mind to ensure we keep it intact. If we were to go in blind as we are now, the chances of any of the minds we extract from that cloud returning to their own body intact are virtually nil. Even if the person survived the act, their mind almost certainly would not. We could remove their energies from the cloud, but we would not have the person back."

"So what do we do?" Superman continued to push for an answer, sounding more desperate with every word. "You must have some ideas or you wouldn't have bothered telling us all of this."

"There is only one option," Etrigan stepped in again in his growling drone. "One which I suspect you will not like."

"We need to make a connection to the people in the cloud," Fate explained. "We need an anchor, someone who we have magically linked ourselves to, to act as our eyes and ears, our guide within that place. My friends, we need someone to voluntarily enter the cloud, so that we can get everyone else out."

"Woah, now hold on a minute!" Green Arrow interrupted, sounding concerned. "All of this is based on guess work at best. What if whoever does this gets hit by that thing and everything we've said here is wrong? This could be worse than a suicide mission, it could just be suicide! And even if we are right and they will wind up somehow alive inside that thing, what's to say however you've linked yourself to them will still hold? What's to say any of this will actually work? I mean, how often do things ever actually go according to plan?"

"Unfortunately those are questions we cannot accurately and adequately answer," Dr. Fate responded to the outburst. GL shared Arrow's sentiments. He knew there was plenty of risks in this plan, even more than normal given the extent of the unknown surrounding all of this. But he also knew that under the circumstances they would be risks that would need to be taken. "We have sufficient belief that we are right, but we cannot prove any accuracy in this matter without knowing more. The problem is that there is not likely to be time to learn more. If we are right and the mental energies the cloud has taken from this city can empower it further, it is not likely to hold ground in the skies for long. Either it will leave this planet or it will attempt to take more minds, and either way we have then lost. We have to act now. We have to take a leap of faith, for the sake of thousands, if not millions of lives. I'm sorry to put this upon you, my friends, but it I cannot volunteer to take the risk myself. My abilities shall be needed here, but I can assure you that whoever does take the risk will not be abandoned. We shall do everything in our power to protect you."

"We all knew the risks involved when we made it our business to be heroes," Superman reacted, almost immediately after Fate had finished. Looking across at him, GL could tell that the Man of Steel had been itching to volunteer from the moment that Fate had delivered his plan. It was just so in his character, especially with his friends at stake. GL was not about to argue with that. No matter how much he wanted his alien friend to stay safe, he knew that this was a risk that one of them needed to take. Clearly Superman felt that that one needed to be him. After all, with all of his powers he was bound to be the one of them most likely to survive this anyway. "Everyday we live with the thought that the line of duty could cause it to be our last. We won't shy away from this now. If this is what must be done, then –"

"I'll do it."

But it wasn't Superman who said those last words. It wasn't Superman who had actually just done the volunteering. GL had to do a double take to make sure he had heard right. It couldn't be... This mission needed to be undertaken, yes, but not by her... By anyone but her...

But it was her. It was Shayera who had just volunteered.

"Don't argue Superman," she sternly continued as it turned out that GL wasn't the only one who was now looking at the Thanagarian in shock. "You know it makes sense. It can't be you. We've already proved that you can at least do something against that cloud if everything goes wrong. They still need you out here. There's nothing I can do to help here that someone else can't do. And we can't ask anyone to do something that we Founder's aren't prepared to do ourselves. I have to do this."

"No! I won't allow it!"

GL had shouted out the words before he had even realised it, but he would have shouted them anyway. He couldn't allow this. He couldn't let her do this. He didn't need to look around to see that Shayera had actually managed to convince Superman that she was right, but he was certainly far from convinced. His heart and mind might have been fighting that war about Shayera and their possible future together, but he didn't need to fight a war to know that he didn't want her to risk her life like this.

"You don't have any say in this John!" Shayera snapped back at him, anger clearly flowing through her, her finger jabbing at his chest as she leant towards him. "You might have done once but you're making it exquisitely clear that you don't want to have one again. Face it, this needs to be done, and I'm the one who's doing it. If you can't cope with that, I suggest you go and help out Captain Atom and the others and leave us to do what we have to. Now, Fate, get your spell cast so I can get into that cloud ASAP. Let's go get our people home."

"But..." GL spluttered, but there was nothing more that he could say. He knew that there was no argument that could win Shayera over, and looking at the faces of the others it was clear that they weren't about to step in either. For a moment he heavily contemplated saying he would go into that cloud with her, that he would share the risk. However, he knew that Fate wouldn't have it, that he wouldn't cast the spell on two when he would only need one, and so Superman and the others would keep GL away from the cloud. No, he would have to do everything he could from out here, everything he could to protect her.

Shayera was already walking away with Dr. Fate and his magicians, ready to become the anchor that they would need. GL watched them go, standing where he was, still open-mouthed in shock, the other two men still flanking him. They had hope now, no matter how slim. They had a plan.

The damn thing had just better work.

The evacuation efforts were still well under way. That hellish energy cloud may have gone back, it may now have been holding ground up there harmlessly miles into the skies, but that didn't mean they could stop their work. That thing could so easily attack again at any moment, and nothing the Justice League had tried yet had been able to adequately halt one of its advances. If... No, when it struck again, the military had to be sure that they got these people clear. Bullets were hardly likely to stop that thing.

General Felix Mulligan had seen more than his fair share of action over the years, had fought alongside and through these events which just a matter of years ago would have been considered make believe and fairytale, and he had always come out on the other side. He had always done everything he could to ensure that as many of the people that he was responsible for made it out with him as possible. He was determined that this time would be no different.

Superman and his Justice League pals were having their conflab not too far away. Mulligan had ventured away from the talks to resume his own duties, leaving the hero plays to the heroes. He had told them that he was going to return to the act of running the evacuation. That had been true, to a degree.

For that wasn't all that he was doing. With those heroes safely distracted with the task of saving the city, he had got on with his own plan to achieve that goal. Superman and the others were noble, perhaps too noble. They had already found one way that they knew would stop this thing, but they had refused to take it because of how it could threaten more lives. However, a lifetime in the army fighting dictators and evil had shown Mulligan that there comes a time when there is no good option, that sometimes decisions have to cause a bad thing for the greater good. As far as he was concerned, this was one of those times. The Justice League might be able to find some way to stop this, they might even be able to somehow resurrect those the cloud had already claimed as victims, but as far as Mulligan could see nothing that they would do would end this threat for good. Their exploits to date were proof enough; their enemies kept coming back, because they so rarely did what was necessary to end them for good.

However, Mulligan was prepared. He had made the bad choices before. He could do so again. He had done so again.

Only seconds after dispatching his immediate subordinate from the tent where he was running the show, Mulligan's personal radio beeped, a radio linked up directly to the nearest airbase. He had been in contact with officers there just minutes ago, immediately after he had left Superman and his other heroes to their task.

"Mulligan," he spoke into it as he activated the device, looking across to ensure Superman and his super-hearing were busy focusing on other things. He knew they wouldn't like this plan and would try to stop it, even if it was being done for the right reasons. If they knew about it. Luckily the coast was indeed clear. "Tell me it's good news."

"It is, Sir," the voice carried out of the device, faintly since Mulligan had made sure on the last call that the volume of the talks would be kept to a minimum. "We found the fermonic gases we needed. The engineers are integrating it now, along with those defences you wanted. It should be ready to go in a matter of hours."

"Copy that," Mulligan returned. "Let me know when its ready to fire. I'll keep things going here until then, try to get the city clear to minimise any civilian risks associated with this. I'll try to buy you all the time you need too. The Justice League are up to something. Hopefully they can help us hold this thing off until we can end it once and for all, since they're not strong enough to end it themselves.

"We have to destroy that cloud, son. Completely destroy it, before it gets us all. Everyone who is alive inside it will just have to go down as casualties of war. This thing has to die, even if it kills some of our boys and girls with it."

A/N:

Evenin' all. After a couple of weeks of one hell of a world cup it hits a rest day, just in time for me to get this to you. Hope it was worth the wait for you! And I ought to be able to get back to about the weekly timetable from here on in, provided nowt else comes up. If all keeps going to plan this is roughly the half way stage of the story, so you've plenty more to review for me (including what's already up here if you haven't commented on it all already). Don't let me down now.

Anyways, coming up next we go back to see what the folks inside the cloud are up to again, including a certain pair...