Chapter 22: One and the Same

The entire force had fallen back to their stronghold. They hadn't sent everyone before, not by a long shot, and they hadn't sent their greatest soldiers either. But they had been convinced that the ones they had sent would have been enough. Of course, their leader, their inspiration and their planner was long dead, it had turned out. Despite that, they thought that they had done sufficiently well. They thought they had done more than enough.

But they had been wrong. They hadn't seen what had happened coming. Despite what they had learned from the human who designated himself Snapper, they hadn't believed that the band of Earth heroes would be able to stop them the second time. They hadn't believed that the Earth heroes would be able to take control of the cloud's innards, and they certainly hadn't thought them capable of turning their soldiers into a broken mess of fear. The wounded were still recovering, morphing themselves back into a singular piece. Even then, though, they still seemed broken in a way.

But that wasn't what the rest of the Imperium were so furious about. The fear the others were feeling could be overcome, the pain forgotten. No, it was more than any of that. They hadn't believed that the Earth heroes would convince the cowardly Martians to fight with them. They hadn't foreseen the Martians enabling the Earth people to stop their attack on the city of Metropolis, the attack of necessary revenge.

Nothing they had tried yet was breaking through the Martians hold on the cloud. Nothing they had tried yet was giving them enough control to lift the cloud out of the oceans of this world to resume the attack. They had pulled everyone into the efforts, they were pushing their human captives minds harder, but none of it was working.

Or at least it hadn't been doing. All that suddenly began to change. The Imperium felt the cloud move up against the currents, beginning to raise, but they had done nothing to change things. It must have resulted from something at the other end. The Martians control of the cloud must have suddenly lessened. That was letting them in. This was their chance.

The Imperium were not about to question why, either. This was their chance and they were going to take it. The Martians and their human allies may have been up to something, but the Imperium would deal with it when they had to. To quote something they heard from Snapper during the interrogation, they were not going to look the gift horse in its mouth.

The cloud would attack the city again just as soon as they had it out of the water, which by the new feel of things shouldn't take long. And then, once that city was done, the Imperium would turn their attention onto ending the Martians and their new friends. For they all deserved to die for what they did to the Imperium's glorious leader.

Only some would have to wait their turn for oblivion.

The Martians' were slowly awakening around him. J'onn and M'vall were both doing their bit in bringing them out of their controlling trances. The time was done for them to hold the cloud beneath the waters. Releasing it may put the people of Metropolis at risk once again but Batman's plan required it, and that plan needed to be followed for everyone's sakes. There was plenty of risks involved in it, but it was the best plan they could reasonably hope for. There were plenty of opportunities for failure, plenty of chances for death, be it for Batman and Wonder Woman inside the clouds central core, the people of Metropolis under the clouds assault or just all of them from direct attacks from the Imperium. But the risks were definitely outweighed by the potential gains, including those J'onn had not thought would ever be possible.

The Martians were going to live again. His people were going to be gone no more. Just so long as they survived the next few hours...

Despite performing his important task, J'onn could not help his mind at least slightly reminiscing or thinking of what may one day be. His family, his Martian family were still long gone. They were not among those who Transcended. J'onn knew that. There was no going back there. But others were coming back. Mars could come back, back to the prosperous, peaceful society that it had once been. It would be a long road, but J'onn could now see it. There was still plenty of fog in his line of sight, but he could see it. True, unequivocal hope had been born in him.

Although, even if they could get to that stage, even if they could survive this day to get reborn, J'onn didn't know what part he would play in such a society. He had a new home, a new family, a place he didn't want to abandon easily. If they pulled this off, he would certainly have a decision to make. But that was a decision that would require plenty of time to mull over, and right now he had none to spare.

Right now he had to focus on getting the Martians ready for the fight that could save them all.

"J'onn. Are we ready?"

Batman growled out the question to him several moments later. By that time, J'onn and M'vall had just about delivered the message to the last of the Martians. By that time, the Imperium had already begun to lift the cloud. Of course, Batman could almost certainly tell all that from how the Martians were now conscious around him once again, and all looking rather excited even through their nerves.

J'onn looked up at his friend to see both him and Wonder Woman marching over to his side. He had deliberately not listened in on their conversation, helped no end by having such a stronger distraction for his mind to go alongside his great focus for the mission. Despite that though, J'onn could still sense the unbelievable joy coming from Diana and the shared feeling of closeness between the two. That alone told J'onn that they were ready. More, it gave him even more reason to hope that they pulled this off. His friends deserved happiness. They just had to live to properly have it.

"My people are ready to follow your plan," M'vall answered before J'onn could, sweeping in from the side having just delivered the wake up message to the final Martian. "We are ready to put our lives into your hands."

"Then lets get to the core, all of us," Batman returned, M'vall's answer clearly enough for him. "Flash and Shayera are already on their way to ensure the place is clear. For now we need to stick together."

"If you know the way, we shall follow your lead," M'vall was quick to jump in again. Her state of mind had definitely taken a drastic change recently. It had been enough at the time that she had decided to make a stand and help them drown the cloud. Now she was genuinely itching for the fight. That was what the excitement of a chance of becoming corporeal again had done to her. Given the situation, that was certainly encouraging.

"We shall circle the core, try to psychically shroud it from view so the Imperium cannot locate you while you're in there," J'onn expanded, feeling that he at least ought to let Batman and Wonder Woman know how they were going to be guarded once they were inside the core and unable to fend for themselves. He didn't want to forget to do that in all the excitement. He didn't want to give his friends an excuse to worry. He knew that, in that core, they would have enough to worry about already. "I doubt we'll be able to assist you telepathically once you're inside, but we shall do whatever we can."

"Thanks, J'onn," Diana said with a nod and a smile.

"Come on, lets move," Batman forcefully growled, though J'onn knew that deep down he was grateful too, he just couldn't show it. Batman didn't wait for any more words to be said. He just swept away with a flutter of his cape. Wonder Woman could only give J'onn a knowing look before following. J'onn was hardly slow in setting off himself. He just took a second to look at M'vall first, and all of the Martians now very attentively stood behind her. Hundreds of them.

"I assure you, they will do everything that they can to fulfil their promise to you," J'onn felt compelled to say to her. He had to ensure that the Martians played their part in this. He had to fight off a sudden fear that the Martians paranoia could return to ruin everything. "Before we begin, I have to assure you that they will do everything they can to give you back your bodies."

There was a horrible second as M'vall looked back at her fellows before answering him, but then the horrors were gone. "We know, J'onn J'onzz. And we are prepared to do our part to the end."

J'on couldn't stop himself from beaming at that. It was happening. The chance to save the world – and two races – was here, and they were going to try and take it.

"Then lets not keep Batman and Wonder Woman waiting. Let's go."

There wasn't a trace of a single Imperium fiend back at that glowing pillar of light that apparently controlled the whole place. The coast was clear for Bats and Wondy to do what they had to do.

Truth be told, Flash was glad that going in there wasn't his part of the plan. It sounded freaky. Merging minds with someone else sounded bad enough, let alone with the remains of long dead aliens that controlled a being of pure energy. Definitely freaky. Swapping bodies with Lex Luthor had been bad enough. He just hoped that Bats and Wondy knew what they were getting themselves into.

But then, they did always seem to. Why should now be any different?

And there they were, striding over determinedly towards him. They were side by side, but both of them were clearly focussed on that core behind him. Of course, Flash still found himself amazed at the sight of the two of them together, especially having witnessed the sight of the two of them together.

"All clear over here," he called out to the pair of them as they drew ever closer. The horde of Martians, J'onn included, had been trailing Bats and Wondy over here, but while those two came right to Flash's side, their buddies drifted off, beginning to encircle the core. Flash may not have been a warrior or tactician like the others, but he still recognised folks taking up defensive positions when he saw it. It helped that Shayera had already done it herself. Right now she was up above, playing lookout and keeping them all covered from... well, not the skies because in here there was no real sky, but from the up. "You guys sure you wanna go in there? Still sounds mighty wacko to me."

"We're sure," Wonder Woman reassured him, patting him on the shoulder and offering him a warm smile. "It's the only way we can do this."

"Flash, stand guard with the rest," Batman ordered with a far harsher and dismissive tone. "And no matter what happens, no matter how much we seem to be in trouble, do not follow us in there. An extra mind in the mix would only make things worse. Make sure the others know that too."

"What, you're delegating command out here to me?" The words were out of Flash before he had even thought of them. With just cause, he was surprised at Batman treating him like that.

"Don't let me down," Batman answered. "It was your plan, after all."

And then Flash saw something he really hadn't expected. Batman smiled at him too. It surprised him so much that he hardly noticed the dismissal. Batman's smile had to become his usual snarl before he cottoned on. Yes, he had managed to impress the Bat, but that wasn't going to mean failing to do his job wouldn't piss Bats off. It was time to run.

However, even as he was joining up with the Martians in the defensive ring, he couldn't resist one last glance back. He couldn't resist watching as Bats and Wondy both went into that core.

When Flash was gone, Batman and Wonder Woman both wasted no more time before going into the core. As far as Batman was concerned, that moment before walking over here had been their potential goodbye, their possible last moment together if this didn't work. Now they were at the core, it was time to get down to business.

As before they had both placed their palms of at least one hand flat against the core, pressing in deep. As before, they had let it take them. As before, Diana clutched a tight hold of one of his hands as they were both enveloped by it.

The pain was back instantly, the pain that delivered the instinctive signal that they should stay away from this place. It was the natural defence against the risks of what they were about to do, but a defence that had to be ignored. Batman could feel himself screaming. Feel but not hear. No doubt Diana was in exactly the same boat, but he knew that she could take it. Just so long as Flash kept all their allies out of the core and away from them, this was the easy part.

They had barely begun to scratch the surface. They had barely begun to get to the heart of the core, where the real control was held. That was where they needed to be.

And so, despite all the pain, Batman pressed on, deeper still towards the heart of the core. Even as he did so, he could feel Wonder Woman's memories coming back into his mind, all of her thoughts, feelings and sensations. He could feel the beginnings of blending with her. But they were yet to truly begin blending with the cloud.

And so they both had to go further in. Despite the pain. And despite the risk.

But, for once in his life, Batman had faith. He had faith that, with Wonder Woman at his side, they might just have a chance.

The memories were hitting her hard and fast again, both the good and the very, very bad. It was hard not to get lost in seeing the times when Batman admitted to anyone, even himself, that he loved her. It was harder still not to get lost once again in that day all those years ago, when he had watched his family die before his eyes at the hands of a desperate man.

Wonder Woman could feel them all rushing through her like a train. Hera, it was hard to ignore them, especially as they weren't just leaving a mark and then passing by. She could feel them literally latching themselves onto her, so very vividly. She could feel them practically becoming her own memories, even more so than they had done the last time. More, she could feel all of Bruce's thoughts and feelings becoming her own. She could feel the blending beginning. She could feel there was some truth in what she had heard before, that Batman's head wasn't a nice place to be. But she could also see the light in there too, the true goodness.

And she could feel the hope amid the fear. The hope that civilisation may just go on yet. The hope for the future. The hope for their future.

But then she could feel more. Batman had pressed on, literally pushing himself deeper into the core. Wonder Woman was not going to let him go in alone. She pushed on herself, past the pain barrier. For the pain was certainly coming on strong. She could feel the hurt, a feeling like that of a billion tonne jackhammer pounding inside her skull. It was as if something was trying to split her head open and crawl on in. It was also as if something was overpowering her, putting so much energy into her head that her mental pathways were struggling to cope.

It was almost as if things were going exactly according to plan. It was almost as if the real risk, and the real pain, were right around the corner. Rapidly things could escalate. Rapidly, they would need them to.

But things were going to plan so far. Wonder Woman was sure of that.

The blending had begun, both with Batman, and with the core.

Something was going on. They could sense that something was going on. Something over by the central control core. They just couldn't tell exactly what.

The Imperium knew that it was the Martians and their human allies who were behind it. They had to be. There had to be a reason why the Martians had ceased to prevent the Imperium from raising the cloud. The Martians and the humans were up to something. This would be that something.

But the Imperium were sure that they would be able to handle it. The enemy caught them off guard before. They drowned the cloud because the Imperium threw too many soldiers against them, even if it had been by no means their whole force. This time they wouldn't make that mistake. This time they would stay in control. This time they would keep the majority of their minds in place, would keep their focus on their control of the cloud instead of splitting their aim. They had almost managed to get the cloud out of the water as things were. They wouldn't allow that to be stopped now.

This time they would not stop until the city had fallen.

The recovering soldiers could be the ones to investigate. They were still weak, their minds not supplying the group with enough power to make a difference. They would be easily beaten again if last time was anything to go by, but they could find out what the Martians and their friends were up to, and they could report that back. They could maybe kill off some of the enemy before they fail. And they could give the Imperium all the information they'd need to put an end to this.

It was time for the Imperium to avenge their fallen leader. It was time for them to put an end to this world.

Two minds. Two sets of memories. Two bodies to control. And an entire energy cloud with all that it contained on top of that.

It was a good job that his mind was strong, but even Batman was struggling. The pain was bad enough. He had long since trained himself to get passed that sort of thing, though. So often he had to fight on despite incredible amounts of it. So often that had meant finding a way to blot it out. Right now, he was trying to do exactly that. He might have been able to if it wasn't for all the rest of it he was battling at the same time.

He had warned Diana that she might struggle to cope with all of his anger. Well he was starting to struggle with all of her light. It was so strong it was blinding, she was so good it was overwhelming. Truth be told he was beginning to get lost in it. Beginning to get lost in all her memories of her perfect world before she had left the island. Batman had been to paradise before, but he had never really experienced it until he saw it through Diana's eyes.

And paradise was such a long way from Gotham...

It was only as the pain became even more intense that he managed to break free of the hold of Diana's mind. He still couldn't hear it, but he could definitely feel his throat burning as his lungs were emptied by his yells of hurt. He could feel as his head felt like it was being stretched every which way and more, but he kept pushing on, and he knew that Diana did too. He could see it in her thoughts.

They were getting ever closer. They were getting ever nearer to the true centre of the core. Now was the time for the real deadly risk to begin.

Wonder Woman was feeling it all too. Hera, she could feel all of it at exactly the same time Bruce was doing. She could feel what Bruce could feel. And she could feel Bruce feeling what she was feeling. And she could feel what he was feeling her feeling his feelings. It was endless, like looking into a mirror that directly faced another. And it was intense. She could certainly understand why her mind was screaming in pain, trying to make her get out of the core. Anyone without her strength, without her determination, would likely be driven insane by it all, if not worse.

And that wasn't even the half of it. Before she had promised Batman that she would not share his burden, that she would not allow witnessing his parent's deaths to taint her with anger and darkness as he had irreparably been. And she had Bruce's trust that that promise would not be broken, that she would keep his anger at bay and stop it from overwhelming her.

That was proving a hard promise to keep. That bullet kept flashing through her mind's eye. Faces of men like the Joker and the Penguin kept swimming before her too, men who proved why their gender was so hated on Themyscira. All the pain, all the hatred that Bruce had seen in his life, all of the suffering of innocents. It all made her so...angry. It made her want to lash out. Hera, it even made her consider letting these Imperium teach the people of Man's World a lesson they would never forget. Through the core she could feel the cloud beginning to rise through the waters, battling through the currents at the Imperium's direction, but that just made her want to hurt them. Not just stop them, but hurt them. Badly.

She knew that that wasn't the real her talking. She knew that it was all a side effect of the cloud's core, that with all that was going on in her head she was struggling, but that changed nothing. Wonder Woman was trying to fight, but this wasn't like an enemy she had fought before. This wasn't even like the time she had learned to master her anger before. This was overwhelmingly dark, and dangerous.

And every second her mind was being stretched thinner. She could feel it happening. The cloud was a very large place, and the core had access and control to all of it. Now her mind was getting access to all of that too. Batman's may have been there to help, but even two human brains weren't designed to be running something as big and powerful as this. Even a mind created by the gods was struggling.

Thankfully – but only just so – that was helping to distract Wonder Woman from her rage. She didn't have enough spare mental capacity to get angry right now. As they ventured ever deeper, ever closer to the centre of the core and the point of no return, her mind felt like a dough that was being rolled so thin it was starting to tear. Her thoughts were being stretched so much that it almost felt like her mind was shutting down. She could even feel her consciousness beginning to wane.

Through the increasingly locked link, Wonder Woman could tell that Batman was going through the same thing, which was certainly not a good thought at all. Worse, Wonder Woman could definitely tell that neither of them would make it to the end, to the point they set out to reach.

They badly needed for something to happen, for something to turn their way. They badly needed to find some way of surviving the core, otherwise the world would be dying with them.

They just didn't have much time in which to find it. And the pain wasn't going away either.

It was damn hard to just stay back and do nothing when two of your closest friends and allies were suffering so much, and that was certainly what was happening right now. Still, Shayera had to force herself to stay away. She had figured out for herself upon hearing Batman's plan that any late entrants to their battle in the core would only make things worse, only stretch their minds further and get that extra person in serious trouble too. But that didn't mean that just standing by – or more accurately, hovering by – was pleasant. Quite the opposite.

Even up here flying above the rest to keep watch, Shayera couldn't make out Diana or the Bat any more. They'd both ventured too far into the light that was the core. But she could still hear them. She could hear their screams, their endless, blood curdling screams. Despite all that she knew, it was so very hard not to dive in there and try and drag them both out of there.

It had been going on for minutes too. Far longer than Shayera had been expecting before they'd gone in there. And with things so quiet out here, there was nothing to distract her from her worry for her friends.

At least there hadn't been.

The first sign she got was when she noticed a sudden twitchiness amongst the ring of Martians stood around the core as if they were guardians. With their telepathy they did have an advantage over Shayera around here, even with her keen eye. These guys had been hiding from the Imeprium in here for centuries. Of course they would have trained themselves to detect if the bad guys were approaching again. In spite of that, she was still able to react before any of them. She was the one who actually saw them coming.

"Flash! J'onn!" she belted out from her position up above. Both of the other Founders suddenly stopped where they stood at the ring of Martians to look up at her, both suddenly fully alert and ready. "We got incoming!"

That was all that needed saying. The entire group was then getting in place, ready for a fight. Even the pacifist Martians were doing.

Shayera was certainly ready to get in there. Regardless of her love of a good fight, this would distract her from the screams.

For it didn't matter how many guys the Imperium threw at them, she knew that it was still in that core where the real fight was happening. Diana and Batman had better make it, and make it quick. With the Imperium getting bold enough to engage again, Shayera also knew that they didn't have much time.

Batman was struggling to stay awake now. He felt almost like he was drowning in the power of the cloud, having to battle simply to avoid succumbing to it. It was far more difficult than stopping himself becoming lost in Diana's mind. Far more difficult. And far more deadly. He was only seconds away from blacking out.

And if that happened, he was dead. They were all dead. Diana would be dead.

Diana...

Sometimes he was so stupid. Of course. They had needed two minds. Two, and for good reason. Wonder Woman was the key to him surviving this, just as he was the key to her doing so. Neither of them could afford to get lost in the others mind, but both had known that they would merge doing this. They couldn't completely fight that.

They had to embrace it.

Batman didn't wait. He had to act fast. Through the already formed link he could feel Diana fading. They were right in the heart of the core now. This was the make or break moment, when either they got control or when everything was doomed.

Heart racing, Batman stretched out with his mind, latching on with every bit of strength he had left to every part of Wonder Woman he could still detect.

But she was fading fast, just as he was. It was a damn good job their minds were merging. Without that he might not be able to get her the message. She had to cotton on to what he was doing.

She had to.

She was almost gone, she could tell. She could tell that Batman was almost lost too. But then she also felt him stretching out to her, reaching out to her, embracing her.

And then she got the message. They didn't have to fight so much. They didn't have to fight each other's presence. In fact, they shouldn't any more. They weren't the danger to each other any more. They'd got past that stage, it was the core that was the enemy now. Their minds were ready. It was time to let each other in. It was time for their two separate minds to become one.

As such, Wonder Woman embraced Batman back, just as he was attempting to embrace her. She could feel the change that brought about instantly. She could feel his minds presence in her head get stronger than ever. She could feel him taking back control of his anger as well, as she could feel everything in his head more than ever. It was time. It was happening. They were starting to pull it off.

She even felt Batman squeeze her hand ever tighter, as a signal. They were one now. They were together. And together they were beating the core. Together they were strong enough. She could already feel it. The full merger was under way, and by letting Bruce in – and vice versa – both of them were getting their strength back. Both of them had fought of the dangers and then embraced the changes. They had done it.

The merger was happening, they just needed to give it a minute to finish. And then they could put all their well earned abilities to good use.

She could feel that the cloud was almost out of the waters now via the cores expanding connection to her brain – to the now shared mind between her and Bruce. She could also instantly hear his thoughts in reaction to that.

"Let's get this done fast. We've a world to save."

A/N:

Something very symbolic about this notion that I just couldn't pass up. Review/favourite/follow as ever please. Ta.