Chapter 29: All or Nothing

General Mulligan was observing his handiwork. He wasn't exactly enjoying the sight, but he was hardly repulsed by it either. People may be at risk, they may be about to die, good people at that, but he had saved lives more than he had cost. He had brought about the cloud's end.

It hadn't happened yet, but the thing's final demise was nearer. It was coming. It wouldn't take long, either. Mulligan could tell that much from the sight of it. The Justice League were still up there scurrying around it, trying to push it further away, and Mulligan could commend them for that. It was a valiant effort.

But as far as he was concerned, he had done his job. He had saved the world. It was now time to simply watch and discover how much collateral damage would follow.

Shayera swooped down low, wrapping up another couple of Metropolis residents into her arms. It was a young woman and her child this time, the pair of them fleeing from the hell that was crackling up above them. For whatever reason the pair hadn't gotten out of there already, but the sight of the cloud being so ready to fall apart at any moment, the sight of the damage that severed limbs had already done to people had got the panic well set into them both. Everyone who could was trying to get out of the kill zone, but right now there was no telling which of them were doing so fast enough. That cloud could collapse at any second, and when it did there would be no stopping it. Not even for the Justice League.

But until then, the people could still be helped. As many as possible could still be carried clear. That was exactly what Shayera was doing now. She would be useless up there in the skies with the other heroes trying to push that cloud away from Metropolis before it was too late. At least down here she could still make a difference.

At first the woman seemed scared. The child definitely was. No amount of soothing would likely help right now. These people were petrified. The only thing that could help that would be for them to get out of the danger zone. That was why that was all Shayera was interested in doing. She flew, as fast and direct as she could for the nearest spot where she felt safe to say the pieces of the cloud would not hit when they fell. She focused on it so much that she wasn't even keeping an eye on how successful her fellow Leaguers were proving in holding that cloud together until the moment when everyone clear. She was so focused on it that she wasn't even keeping a watchful eye on John.

John. Now there was something she was having to battle to keep off her mind. Oh, how ready she was to allow that man to distract her right now. He certainly knew how to time things. Years of awkwardness, months of unnecessary refusal, weeks of infuriation, and now he had finally given in to his feelings. He had finally said that he loved her once again .

Yet she couldn't think about that right now. She couldn't. She needed her head clear. She needed her focus. These two people in her arms were all the motivation she needed to remember that. Them, and people just like them, needed her.

It probably wasn't really long, but it had felt like an age. Either way, she was finally clear of the danger zone. She had the woman and child beyond were the pieces would fall. Shayera therefore didn't hesitate. She swooped and set down the pair gently on the streets there. Instantly the child curled up at her mother's side, practically in tears. The mother however, had overcome the incident just enough to look at Shayera before she flew away. She gave Shayera a single nod with teary eyes of her own, a single nod that spoke of tremendous gratitude.

But no matter how good it was to receive that thanks, it wasn't enough. That woman and child were not alone. There were many other families, many other innocents out there in need of rescue. And Shayera was still in a position to help them. That was why she was immediately taking to the air all over again, flying right back towards that deadly cloud and the still populated city blocks below it.

"Shayera to Green Arrow, I'm heading back in!" she called out over the comm as she flew back through the city every bit as fast as she had flown the other way. Ever since the missile had struck, Green Arrow had become organiser for all on the ground. From atop the skyscraper where she had left him, he was watching, observing, guiding all of the evacuation attempts, liaising between Justice Leaguers to help get as many people clear as they could. "Where do you want me?"

"On the waterfront," Green Arrow's voice crackled back to her over the comm. "The guys already on the ground could sure use a hand. Plenty of people still down there, looking like they don't realise walls and rooftops will be any help against this sort of storm."

"Maybe you should send them to visit me over here then!" Flash's voice suddenly leapt in. Apparently he was listening in on the conversation, no doubt just keeping tabs on the situation beyond his own part of the quest. Shayera knew what he was up to, knew what he meant. He and Superman were still busy trying to clear that last building the cloud had managed to hit before the missile had struck it. From the background noises, it sounded like they better finish up soon. It sounded like the tower wouldn't be standing for too much longer.

"Or maybe you could stop jogging and get running? That way you and Superman can join me down there!" Shayera called back to Flash as she immediately set off for the waterfront. She had said it with a light-heartedness reminiscent of Wally himself, but the sentiment was still true. She and the others could sure use the help of Superman and the Flash right about now. Wally seemed to pick up on that too.

"Lugging people around can slow me down, but I'll be there just as soon as the Flash train has dropped off the passengers at the station!"

The comm clicked off at that. Shayera didn't need to say more, and neither did Flash. What was more, it seemed Green Arrow had left the chat a while ago, surely to guide someone else. It was time to just concentrate on the flight, on the race to get people out and to safety. However, she didn't get very far before the thunder roared.

It was loud, tumultuous, terrifying. And there was only one place where it could have come from; the cloud.

Shayera's eyes darted up there rapidly. It was safe to say that in that moment she was scared. She knew what this could mean, and in that moment seeing what was happening up there did nothing to assuage those fears. Despite the Justice League's efforts, the cloud was now falling apart. Fast. One bit in particular. The thunder was clearly from it, an entire chunk that looked ready to fall.

How it clung on Shayera didn't want to guess. This was just a moment for the proverbial gift horse. At least half of the cloud seemed to be hanging on by only the merest tendrils of energy. Any less and surely everyone below it would have been doomed. As it was, no one seemed to have been hurt, not even the Justice Leaguers so close to it.

Including GL.

Yet. That thing could go at any second. Shayera would have been well within her rights to want to get out of there, but instead she made to keep going further in, to go to those people still trapped underneath the mass of death. However, it was just as she begun to push herself on even harder and more forcefully than ever that she noticed one other key thing about that dying cloud.

It was moving. Moving out towards the bay. Slowly, granted, but it was moving clear. And it wasn't anything GL or the rest were doing either. It was doing so under its own power. There was only one possible explanation for that that Shayera could see, only one cause.

Batman and Wonder Woman weren't dead yet.

The missile couldn't have destroyed the mental realm the clouds innards possessed, or not totally anyway. There was still hope. Those two must still have control of the thing, or as much as they could have with it so close to death. Those two must be pressing on with the original plan, to get everyone to safety.

To say Shayera was glad at that thought was putting it mildly. For the second time that day she had thought her friends had died when she saw that missile explode in the cloud. Now she knew otherwise, and now the people of Metropolis had more of a chance than they had before.

The problem was it was still likely a very small chance. That thunder moments ago was enough of a signal that the cloud didn't have long. There was every chance that even Diana and Batman wouldn't be able to get the thing clear before it could no longer hold itself together. And there was every chance that the damage done already could soon kill the pair of them yet.

The battle was still on. Shayera and the others would have to keep fighting it, have to keep trying to get the people clear and the cloud over the ocean. Now they just had Batman and Wonder Woman trying to do the same from inside the thing.

But that was enough to give Shayera hope again. Just so long as the pair of them could make it.

Earth's two heroes were living up to their word. She could sense it. She could sense that they were still out there, that they hadn't fled from the cloud. She and the others weren't abandoned by them. They were out there, risking their lives to move the cloud. Risking their lives to create new bodies for herself and all of the other Martians.

M'vall could sense it all. Telepathically she could feel the very core of the cloud changing. Using the ability of the place to alter its shape, what physical element there was was being moulded. It was being devolved. It was being reverted into what it originally was. It was being turned back into the scores of Martian bodies.

In that moment M'vall was definitely feeling hope, but she was also feeling regret. She was regretting how she had accused Wonder Woman and the Bat Man of betraying them, of killing them all. They may yet die, but it wasn't the fault of those two, or J'onn. They were heroes in every sense of the word. They were heroes of the Martian race, all of them, and they were undeserving of how she had treated them. The fact that they could well never get out of there alive only made matters worse. There would no third chances now their second was over. If they did not survive this, there would be no way for her to thank them for trying.

And really, things weren't looking good. The cloud didn't have long left, a length of time that was growing increasingly shorter. M'vall detected as a massive section almost detached, an action which would not be good. Wonder Woman and the Bat Man just about managed to catch it and keep it connected, but it wasn't easy for them. Already their efforts were requiring great strain. Already the pair were really starting to suffer. Telepathically M'vall could feel the burdens that were bearing down on their linked minds. The pressure must have been tremendous. Not only was their task vast in terms of size and difficulty, but it would also be one requiring a great deal of concentration and focus spread across it all. It was a task that would require a great deal of energy, and with both the removal of the human batteries and the drain that the Imperium's last gasp assault would have wrought, it meant the two of them were also having to compensate by throwing even more of their own energies into the efforts.

Long story short, it was remarkable that the two of them had lasted this long.

And they still had a ways to go. A long way to saving more than just the lives of all those still in the cloud, but an entire race. Oh, how M'vall was regretting everything.

Oh, how she hoped that in a few minutes she would still be able to regret it all.

The Bat Man and the Wonder Woman had to hold on. They had to.

If only there was something he could do to help. If only there was some way he could at least take away some of the pain that his friends were suffering for his people. If only...

But there was nothing that J'onn could do. Everything depended on Diana and Batman now. He could only watch on and hope. He could only hope that his people and his friends would survive this. However likely that was.

Just like M'vall and all of the others, J'onn was deep in meditation. By stretching out with his mind he could sense everything that was going on. He knew that Batman and Wonder Woman were managing to move the cloud away from Metropolis, but he also knew that it was a slow process. He knew that they would need time, which they may well not have. He knew that bodies for the Martians were right now being forged within the cloud's core, but he also knew that to maintain enough energy from it to save everyone, this could not be an aggregative process. Everyone had to depart at once. Including himself. It was the only way that Batman and Wonder Woman could succeed, the only way that they could survive.

And it meant that they were all sharing the risk.

That J'onn was more than ready to do, even if he wished there was some way that he could get his people clear quicker. But he didn't want to abandon his friends. If nothing else, he could maybe help Batman and Wonder Woman to see this thing through simply by the fact that they were not alone.

Because, based on the pain the two were giving off, it was clear that they could certainly do with the help, no matter how strong they were. It was just a shame that there wasn't much he could give.

And even worse, it might prove to be a real shame for everyone...

Even with the cloud dying, their link to the core remained strong. Even with the cloud dying, they were able to assert control. Even with the cloud dying, they were managing to move it away from the city. Through the merger with the core they were issuing all the commands, fighting to get the cloud to the relative safety of the ocean and keep it all together. At the same time, they were fighting to change the very shape of the core, to split it and mould it back into life.

And it certainly was a fight. All that they were doing and all that it was taking to do it was causing one massive strain on just two minds. There was no wonder that Bruce had felt the need to warn her about what might happen. Already Wonder Woman's head was throbbing from the effort, and they had only just begun.

Thank Hera that she was a fighter. Bruce too. If they hadn't been they may well have already succumbed to the pain. To the end of all things.

Thank Hera they were also only mental projections. She and Bruce, despite everything they were putting themselves through, had not separated from each others embrace. Despite hell descending around them, they hadn't broken from the kiss. Diana had no intention of doing either. From the link she knew that Bruce felt exactly the same. After all, they had plenty of lost time to make up for, and could well not have much time to do it in.

The quakes were still rumbling all around them, the cloud still being ripped apart by whatever the outside world had done to it. Between them Wonder Woman and Batman only just managed to keep hold of a massive chunk of cloud as it tried to tear loose. They were still over the city. They still had much work to do on recreating the Martian forms. They still had a way to go before they dare let the cloud start to end. And yet in the effort of holding onto that piece of the cloud, it felt like another dagger was being plunged into Wonder Woman's brain, a feeling made all the worse by the fact she registered Batman in the exact same pain. If her eyes were open she knew she would see the pain in his face, and vice versa. The Olympian gods, his training, her own, nothing could have prepared either of them for this. But they just had to make it through. They had to.

The cloud was moving. Without them doing anything to it, the cloud was moving, away from the city and its people. It might not make it, but there was hope. Right now, Green Lantern would take that. Just a minute ago, he had not expected even that much.

It must have been Batman, Wonder Woman and J'onn. It had to be. Those three were founding members of the Justice League for a reason. They were heroes, survivors, fighters. How they were doing it John didn't know. He also didn't care. He only cared if they could keep it up, if they could get this cloud away from the city before it couldn't hold itself together any longer. And, of course, that they would then be able to get themselves out of that thing.

But right now things still weren't looking entirely promising. That chunk of the cloud almost falling on the still occupied Metropolis waterfront was still fresh on GL's mind. They couldn't risk that happening again. Batman, Wonder Woman and their Martian allies may be working on saving the day, but there was nothing to say that they had to do so alone. There was nothing to say that he had to become nothing more than a spectator. He still had his power ring after all, and it wasn't due for recharging yet.

"Come on everyone! Keep pushing!" he called out to all his team-mates up there in the skies with him in the battle. He hadn't been alone in noticing the change. Captain Atom, Red Tornado and the rest had all spotted the cloud beginning to move too. To say they were showing signs of surprise wouldn't be a lie, but they had to react. There was no time for any pause. It was that message that GL was now eager to share. "That thing may be moving but it can always get faster! Lets give it the motivation it needs!"

And he immediately fired all the energy he could into the thing in the shape of a giant green bulldozer, somehow mustering even more willpower than he had been doing before. The others were soon issuing their own efforts alongside his. None of it was overly successful, but it was something. It was a helping hand. Perhaps it was exactly the helping hand that those inside the cloud would need. GL certainly hoped so.

However, the sight of the cloud in the next seconds made that hope seem very slender. From the look of the cloud right then, death seemed far more likely.

Still over the city, it seemed like this was the cloud's end.

In the last moments they had managed to move the cloud further, they had managed to speed up the reverse engineering of the core. In fact, the core had now practically become several scores of conjoined Martians. Wonder Woman wasn't sure which of them it was, but either she, Batman or both of them had managed to turn the endless pain into a motivator. It wasn't going away by any means, but now they were both turning it into the encouragement to press even harder, even faster. If they hadn't been doing, then it had been getting ever clearer that they wouldn't make it.

And they had to make it.

But the pain was increasing. The effort was stretching their minds even further, but they were doing it regardless. Wonder Woman could take the pain. She had done so many times before. She was ready to sacrifice herself if she had to. Batman was exactly the same there. And as things stood, that couldn't be ruled out. Not by a long way.

Especially at the sensation that hit them both next. The core, rapidly becoming Martians again, gave them the warning that it was coming. The end was nigh.

Wonder Woman could sense it all. Through the core she could see it coming. She knew the outside world would see it by now too, via the rippling energy on the outside. There was a rupture forming, a formation of cracks running its way throughout the entirety of the cloud's being. It was spreading too, starting from a lone point but spreading like shattering glass. Worse, it was already unstoppable. The cloud was falling apart, and there would be too many pieces to hold them all together as she and Batman had done before. This was it. This was the death of the energy cloud. As soon as the yield point was breached, as soon as those cracks widened enough to create fissures separating one part from another, it was done. They had perhaps a minute, maybe two at the most.

And that was less time than they needed. How they had been working it, they would need at least five. It was a good job, then, that thoughts could be issued far, far quicker than spoken words. In fact, it enabled an entire conversation to flow in only a few seconds. That was vital. Right now, they needed a new plan, fast.

"There's still a way, Princess. It's even riskier than before, our chances of survival will be slim at best, but its now all we have."

"What is it?" Wonder Woman returned instantly after Batman had immediately set the ball rolling. "Bruce, we don't exactly have a choice here..."

"I know, Princess. I know. This whole thing works on energy. It's all about mental strength. The pain we've been feeling in our heads, that's been because we've been flooding our mental strength into the cloud's core in the form of commands. Yet we've been holding back. We were working to the time-scale that we had, not least of all because that meant that we still had some small chance to survive this in one piece. Now we have to step up the plan. Now we can't think about ourselves. Now we have to give the core everything that we have. One last all-or-nothing burst of energy. One last burst that will get the Martians back in their bodies and out of here, and direct every piece of this thing into the ocean. One last burst that will take everything that we have. And it really will be all-or-nothing. Either we have enough strength left to bring about what needs to be done, or none of it will happen and we all die with the cloud."

"I thought as much," Wonder Woman summed it all up. "But one slight change, Bruce. If there is anything, any way that we have even the slightest bit of strength left over, we aren't hanging around as this thing falls apart. No matter how we end up back in the real world, we've come too far to give up on that."

"I haven't given up, Princess," Batman felt quick to reassure her. "I just didn't want to give you any false hope on this. The chances of there being sufficient strength left for us to extract our minds after all of the Martians are clear is slim. The chances of being able to do so enough that our minds aren't broken on the other side is even slimmer."

"Well then it sounds like I've got plenty of work left to do in teaching you to hope again." Wonder Woman thought the smile to go with those words, even at a time like this. She felt oddly compelled to enjoy this moment more than normal. Perhaps it was because Bruce was right again. There was every chance that this would be her last truly conscious one. For all that she had done, for what she was about to do, she had every right to enjoy it. And with Bruce at her side, that wasn't a difficult thing to achieve, irrespective of everything else. Regardless, even if she was as down about this as it was possible to get her sentiment would hold true. "Remind me of that when we're done here."

"Its been more than an honour, Princess," Bruce couldn't resist thinking something that sounded too damn close to a goodbye. Diana didn't like hearing him sounding like that, despite greatly respecting the words, but she knew that Bruce needed to say them. It was one of the differences between them, the kind of thing that made them far more interesting together than if they were just the same.

But that was another thought that Diana didn't particularly enjoy in that moment. It was too much of a reminder of just how much she and Bruce could be about to miss out on. It made her think too much about the life that she and Bruce might have had if things had been different. The life if they were just normal people instead of superheroes. The life if they had both admitted their feelings a long time ago. The life if this cloud hadn't shown up at the Earth. The life if the unbelievable happened and they actually survived this. And all of them ended well. All of them were happy. Not exactly normal or the traditional fairy tale, but happy and rich and full.

And they could be about to miss out on all of that. They could, and in all likeliness would, be about to sacrifice that future. Yet it was the right thing to do. It was what they had to do. And too much time had already been spent on reminiscing, imagining and discussing. It was time. It was time for the end, for the all-or-nothing moment. She gave Bruce that exact message, despite him not needing to hear it.

"Let's do this."

Nothing more was said, or thought, on the matter. Nothing was left to be discussed. Not then anyway. Not unless they survived. Now their thoughts were needed elsewhere. That was why they both were directing every single ounce of mental energy they had into giving the cloud's core its last commands. All at once.

Finalise the Martian bodies.

Take each Martian mind from the realm of the cloud and back into their new form.

Drain the energy from as many of the parts of the fragmenting cloud as they could.

Put the Martians into one of those segments.

Send it, and them, down to the city and to safety, neutrally charged so that no-one would get hurt.

Direct as many of the charged parts of the cloud to fall into the ocean as they could, for when the fragments could no longer hold.

Send J'onn's mind out of the cloud in the same manner it was brought here, and back into his own body on the Watchtower.

In those terms it all sounded so simple. In truth it was anything but. It was all happening in seconds, but the pain had ramped itself up incredibly. That was what happened when you throw all that you had into a dying being, Wonder Woman guessed. Or at least that was what she would have guessed, if the pain had let her. She hadn't the strength left to fight it. All her strength was going into making sure those commands were being fulfilled, so much so that she wasn't even able to pay attention to Batman's mind any more. Still, she knew without thinking or recognition that he would be in the exact same boat. Perhaps even worse without the durability that she possessed.

But for all the pain, there was reward. There was hope. For every moment of agony, there was a moment of ecstasy. The cloud was shattering, the core was practically gone, but Wonder Woman could still recognise the signs. The thoughts, the pain, it was all worth it. The commands were working. The cloud may have been crumbling, but the majority was crumbling towards the waters. And J'onn and all of his fellow Martians; they were on their way out of here. It had worked. Their sacrifice had not been in vain.

Because it was looking more and more like a sacrifice. The hurt and the effort had left both Wonder Woman and Batman weak. Both of them, they had practically no strength left. In fact, Wonder Woman was fighting not to simply lose consciousness right there and then, despite still being trapped in the cloud that was falling apart all around her. The quakes that had been roaring through the place had been replaced simply by blinding flashes of light as it was clear the energy was being ripped away all around them, but Diana didn't have enough energy of her own to truly recognise all of that. By that time she barely had the strength to issue a last pair of thoughts, a pair of thoughts that she so dearly hoped didn't prove to be her very last.

Send Batman and I back to our bodies.

"It was my honour too, Bruce."

She severely doubted that the first would work. Relative to what the rest had taken, she certainly didn't feel as if she had the strength left to pull this off, but as she had told Batman, they had to try. As for the second thought, well this time it had been she who had been unable to resist. If this was the end that she thought it was, then she too had to say goodbye.

That was it though. That was when everything went dark, when either she blacked out or the cloud finally gave in. Either way, that was the moment when it all ended.

And yet, through all of that, from beginning to end, they had never broken from the kiss that meant so much to both of them.

The kiss that had, unbeknownst to them, truly given them both the strength and desire to get as far as they had...

A/N:

Review please!

And still let me know re the note two chapters back if you should be interested. No one really so far which is fair enough, but I will keep the offer on the table for a week or two, just in case.