Chapter 32: Brave New World

One Week Later

Things were finally starting to get back to normal, even if events of that day would not be forgotten for a long, long time. The scars were still there, so was a lot of the pain, but the danger was gone. Completely. The energy cloud that had terrorised so many in such a relatively short amount of time was gone for good.

At first there had been plenty of doubt and worry, particularly from those without the more in depth knowledge, those who had merely been the speculators and the fearful. There had been plenty of paranoia, most of it senseless, that the cloud would return, an unfounded belief that it wasn't quite so utterly destroyed by the military's missile as it had appeared. The lingering panic over what that cloud had been doing, over what it had so nearly done, meant that it had taken time for everyone to accept that the cloud really wasn't coming back.

But that acceptance was now coming, the truth of the cloud's demise at last becoming accepted as what it was. And it was that acceptance that meant people could finally start moving on.

They had waited a few days before starting to rebuild Metropolis. Of course, they had had work to do first. First up, the relief crews had had to make sure that there was no one left trapped and alive in the remains of the ruined towers. Then there was plenty of rubble and wreckage to get out of the way before anything else could even be considered. At the same time, the planners and authorities had waited before even discussing what to reconstruct, deciding to ensure that before anything else went up the threat wouldn't return to tear it straight back down.

But now those plans were under way. The buildings were nowhere near reconstructed. That would take a long time, leaving the Metropolis skyline looking oddly devoid of much of its character. But it would be rebuilt, differently perhaps but the city would thrive on, both in the present and the future. By no small means, that was because its people were recovering too.

Aside from that initial paranoia, there weren't any obvious signs of lingering damage or after affects from the cloud's attack. People were starting to live their lives as normal again as much as they could, their beliefs and morality intact. It would have been understandable, albeit wrong, for the people to become xenophobic as a result of the attack, to become reclusive and to ensure they, as the one city to be assaulted, would be protected next time, even if it harmed others in their place. But none of that had happened, not on any kind of significant scale. No, instead the people had just all been too busy chipping in, working together as one community to heal their damaged city and fellow citizens.

Physically the people were recovering too. Unfortunately there were many who would never get the chance to, killed either by the damage to the city or outright by the energy of the cloud, but for the rest they were showing little to no signs of their ordeal. All the countless people who had been absorbed by the cloud and turned into living batteries, they were now up and about as if none of that had ever really happened. What cuts, scrapes and broken bones remained were purely a result of them falling when their minds had been temporarily pulled from their bodies, and those things were starting to heal. They had made it out of the cloud unscathed from being inside it, physically and mentally, and seemed truly thankful for it.

The one person who had retained the damage wrought to him by the Imperium assault was Snapper Carr, the TV journalist. He was the only one that the Imperium had harmed once captured, the only one that they hadn't immediately quashed to take advantage of the power of his brainwaves. It seemed the torture that they had inflicted on his projection within the cloud was carried over, his mind recreating the wounds on his body via sensations issued to his nerve clusters. Even he, though, was healing. He had already done so enough to be making major headlines.

Even wounded he was reporting, and he had one hell of a story to tell. Not only had he been the one to get so up close and personal to the cloud during the initial assault, but he was also the primary TV newscaster to have been swept up by the thing during the entire débâcle. With what the Imperium had done to him, he was in prime position to flood the airwaves with the tale of the cloud's assault on Metropolis and its people. In fact, it was near impossible at the minute to go a day without hearing one of his reports on it all. They were even already tipping him to sweep the board come awards season.

But Snapper Carr wasn't the only player in the journalism game that was reacting well to adversity. The entirety of the Daily Planet was having to do as well. Of all the shapes missing from the Metropolis skyline, it was the Daily Planet globe that was most obviously lacking. It would take a lot of time before it would be back there for the world to see, but that building had fallen before and come back strongly. It was just a shame that it had happened again so quickly. However, times of adversity are when the true strength of a character can be displayed, and the staff of the Daily Planet were showing plenty right now. They hadn't stopped working, not for a moment. With their own building gone, they had taken residence in a tower across the city. Already empty, it had been due for demolition to make way for a new development, but now wasn't the time to be knocking perfectly good structures down. It had taken only a small donation from some very wealthy benefactors for the Planet to acquire the building until they could have their own again. Once in, staff had been using whatever they could get their hands on, personal laptops, smartphones, voice recorders, anything with which they could tell a story. Then, with their printing presses down, everything would instead be loaded online. It was different to before, but it had to be. The plan was and would always be to get newspapers back on the stands again, but until that was possible they were embracing the modern age.

And they were doing so rather successfully too, in no small part due to a certain feisty reporter who was being touted for plenty of awards herself. Lois Lane had quickly returned to Metropolis once the cloud was gone. In fact, some people were even saying that her cab was pulling up before the cloud even crumbled, despite the physical impossibility of that. Regardless, she was back, and she was right back into the swing of things. It hadn't really been the cloud that she was writing about though, despite the fact that she too had seen plenty of it up close. No, it may have been a different medium but Snapper had that one all wrapped up. Besides, she had had a completely fresh story of her own that had just as much play to it, especially as she could tie it into the cloud's attack as well.

No one was entirely sure how she had come to learn of it, or how Batman had for that matter, but when Batman had confronted Mulligan after the cloud's end it had opened a personal Pandora's box for the General. Despite not many hearing it at the time, enough had done for the origins of the secret to come out, and it had been Lois Lane who had cottoned onto it enough to dig up the full truth. Carnicero del río. The butcher from the river. That was what Batman had called Mulligan, the words that had gotten the General so scared. It was a name from Mulligan's past, a name that had been given to him. Back when he was a younger man, Mulligan had been posted in South America as part of a covert team trying to smash the drug cartels that operated down there and plagued so many. One day, Mulligan had received intel of an undercover cartel operation masquerading as a normal village within the middle of the forest. It had just happened to be the day after Mulligan had lost one of his team in action in a harrowing, emotional way. He had decided not to risk that happening again. He had decided not to bother going in the old fashioned way, checking out the village in a surgical strike. He had decided to ignore the risk that the intel might be wrong, that it might be that not everyone in that village had been a part of the cartel. Instead, in the dead of night Mulligan had just got his men to unleash the full force at their disposal. Firing from range, they had turned the entire village into a blood bath from a dinghy on the river. They were in and out, leaving nothing behind, thinking they had a victory. Unfortunately, things took a turn for the worst after that. There had been survivors, workers who had been out of the village at the time of the attack, gathering much needed resources for their fellow residents. They had returned to find their entire families dead, torn apart by high calibre bullets. Their innocent, civilian families, with absolutely no ties to the cartels. Young families, women and children included. Rumours quickly began to spread. The villages in those parts were scarce, but in that case the news began to spread like wildfire through them. Eventually word had even reached the would-be General of a mysterious slaughter by the Carnicero del rio. He had quickly put the pieces together. He had quickly realised that he had made a terrible, terrible mistake. Knowing what the consequences would have been, and that they would all fall on him, he had buried the truth.

Until now. Mulligan had hidden things well, but somehow Lois had managed to dig it all up anyway. Now that she had it out there, there was no covering it up any more. No wonder Mulligan had been scared when Batman had confronted him with his nickname. With no way of burying the truth, the military would have no choice. With the public outcry they would face, Mulligan was certainly facing a court martial, and almost certainly criminal charges on top of that. In fact, with the way diplomatic relations could change over time, he might even be lucky not to face extradition. The survivors of the butcher would certainly be calling for an eye for an eye. Perhaps that was why Mulligan had turned himself in as soon as the military police had come calling, and why he was complying since. He was hoping that good behaviour would save enough of his neck to keep his head on his shoulders.

He was facing long overdue justice. As Lois' report stated, he was a man who had worked hard to protect the innocent ever since the major mistake in his past, but there was no overcoming what he had done. Especially when, at the cloud's end, he had almost repeated his mistake at the Martians' expense. No wonder certain people had ensured that the truth had come out. There were certainly plenty around who were very grateful for the incredible journalistic skills of Lois Lane.

However, neither Lois nor Snapper could touch the biggest selling story of the day. All across the globe, there were plenty of people around who loved a good bit of gossip, especially when it came to interaction between celebrities. When those celebrities were in fact both two of the world's most famous heroes, and the two who were most responsible for saving Metropolis, it had just added spice. Even a week later, the whole world was still talking about Batman and Wonder Woman.

It was an image that had been posted everywhere, the two of them locked in a passionate embrace, shown via the dying cloud. Everyone and their mothers had an opinion on it, even with its relative unimportance in the grand scheme of things. There was plenty of people looking at it thinking that it was wrong, that those two were just too different for what they had witnessed, but those were also the type of people who only looked at it through shallow eyes, who thought that dressing alike and sharing a level of power made for a perfect match. On the other hand, there were people who thought there was nothing in the world that made more sense. Either way, the point was that what had once been a secret from even the two heroes in question had just been shared with an entire world.

Of course, it wasn't entirely. The pair of them weren't ready for it. They still had far too much to work out between themselves before things could be taken to that sort of level, far too much desire for privacy. Their feelings were undeniable now, but that didn't mean they had to be entirely public. Besides, that kind of paparazzi lifestyle wasn't what either of them wanted, especially with things like the protection of a certain secret identity to take into account. That was why certain media allies of the Justice League had been more than ready to report that the kiss seen around the world was in fact only a side affect caused by the pair having to link minds in order to defeat the cloud and save the day. It didn't flat out refuse to say that the pair were in love, and neither was it a lie, but it was enough to mitigate the belief in the truth of the pairing nonetheless. However, while it had turned the love from a believed truth back into a mere idea, it still didn't stop the world from talking. Now that it was out there, nothing would.

And yet, despite the entire world currently talking about Batman and Wonder Woman, the two who really mattered were the two who weren't able to speak of it. Right now, virtually ever since they had both left Metropolis, they had been separated. It was a part of their recovery process. If truth be told, no one had been through more in the battle against the energy cloud than Wonder Woman and Batman. By merging their minds with both each other and the cloud's core, and by putting themselves through incredible strain to get the Martians out of there, they had risked their own utter ruin. It was truly remarkable that they had made it, and without any signs of significant mental scarring at that. There were plenty who were claiming that it was only because of divine intervention that they survived.

But survive they had, and now it was time for them both to recover. Blending their minds together had been a hard task for them to go through. The separation wasn't exactly easy either. As soon as the cloud was destroyed and its core was gone, there was nothing left to link them. They were two individual people again, with only the key elements of each others memories left behind. However, even though they had only been linked for a matter of minutes, now being apart was making them both feel so empty. It was making them both feel like a large piece of themselves was missing, a feeling that was worsened when the other was around. There was only one real cure to something like that; time. They needed time to get used to being alone in their own heads again, and for that they needed to be apart. It was never going to last for long. With all that they had been through, even Batman couldn't completely shut himself off now. But, for the time being, they were separate, until the time was right for them to be side by side again. They both ought to be resting, Wonder Woman on Themyscira and Batman in Gotham, but that was never really going to happen. At least they had accepted the need to recover. That way, they would be back one day, stronger than ever.

And, publicly known or not, they would do so together.

That was a very pleasing thought for J'onn J'onzz. Because of his telepathy, his empathy, J'onn had known about the pair of them for many years, before either of them had even known of their true feelings. He had never liked listening in to the inner monologues of his friends, but that was something he couldn't miss. Even more though, he had never liked to interfere if he could help it, prefering to let people develop on their own. He had had to play a waiting game, despite knowing how good things could be for his friends. To now be able to finally see the endgame about to finally unfold, it made J'onn truly happy.

And yet, it didn't scratch the surface of how happy he truly was ever since the Imperium's final defeat. The joy that he felt now was a kind that no-one else would have ever known. After centuries of being alone, the last of the once proud Martian race, he now had a people again. The Martian race was reborn. It's numbers were low, but they were now high enough for an entire species to find a way to survive. What was lost was now found. What he had dreamed of could now become a reality. The Martians were alive again.

They had grown stronger ever since those first moments in Metropolis. Currently staying aboard the Watchtower, they were getting plenty of chances to discover it all again in their new bodies. They were yet to know their new physical forms well enough to have the strength and power of J'onn, but they were getting there. More importantly though, they and the people of Earth were getting used them being here. With the situation around General Mulligan, the Martians big initial opponent, public opinion towards the aliens was in a healthy place. There were even murmurings that humanity may be ready to share the Earth, in peace and harmony with the Martian kind.

However, J'onn had a different idea. He had already discussed it with M'vall and the other Martians, and they were certainly keen on it. He had even discussed it with his human wife, and while she wasn't overly thrilled, she understood. That made the whole thing so much easier. J'onn had known that she would understand, but hearing her say it meant everything to him. It was a difficult call for him, but it was one he had to make. The fact that she had backed him made him glad he had her. He may have been happy that his species lived again, but he would never forget his human family. Yet this was just something that he had to do.

Which was why he had called this meeting with the other available Founders of the Justice League. He owed it to them to explain t all to them. They were his family too, after all. Seated in their usual places in the Founders meeting room, J'onn silently looked out at each of them in turn. Shayera Hol, Wally West, Clark Kent, John Stewart. Brave men and women all. He would miss them.

"Care to tell us what this is all about big guy? Big awkward silences are great and all, but they're not really my style." It was Flash who spoke up first. That was typically Wally. The fastest man alive, and perhaps also the most human. He had been showing that a lot in the last few days, with his extraordinary part in the relief efforts for Metropolis. He had also been showing plenty of his pride this last week. He wasn't vain, but the fact that Batman was crediting him with the plan that had saved the world gave him plenty to feel proud about. But right now, all he was feeling was impatience. J'onn had called this gathering, and yet he had spent the first few moments merely sitting there in silence. He had been working out how exactly he was going to break this to them. He took a few moments more, though, before he finally spoke.

"My friends," J'onn said, speaking slowly, softly. If all eyes weren't already on him, then they would be now. He paused again after just two words, albeit not for long this time. "I know there is a belief amongst you that the future of the reborn Martian race is here, on the Earth. Contrary to this, a decision has been made that M'vall shall lead all those saved from Transcendence home, to Mars. It is where they all belong, where they need to be. My people are reborn, but they are looking for more than that. There is now the chance to bring back our society, our home. My people intend to take it. They intend to go home. They shall be leaving in only a matter of days. And I shall be going with them."

The silence amongst the other four just got collectively all the more sombre, all the more confused. Jaws were dropping, comprehension striking. After everything, what J'onn had just told them must have made it all feel like a loss to them, that one of their own was gone. That was why, this time, J'onn didn't hesitate before speaking more. He owed his friends that.

"Do not worry, my friends. We shall see each other again. This will not be permanent. After centuries living in a Transcended form, it shall take my people time to acclimatise to truly living in the physical realm again, especially on Mars where they must fend for themselves. I must help them to do that. I lived there alone for years guarding over the incapacitated Imperium before that Earth rocket awoke them years ago. I can help give my people the guidance, the start that they shall need. And at the same time I can teach them of all that I have learned since coming to this planet, all that I have learned from you. I can teach them that in time they can truly ally with the Earth, but before that there is much work to be done. The Martian race must find its way again. And I must help my people to do that. But when I have, I shall return."

"But what about your wife, the friends you have here?" Shayera was quick to ask. After all that she and John had had to go through ever since the Thanagarian invasion, J'onn couldn't blame her for thinking along such lines. He had hardly forgotten them himself. "J'onn, you've got a life here too!"

"I will never forget that," J'onn answered her. "I shall not abandon it. When the time comes, I shall return to it all. My love for my wife is unquestionable, but thankfully she accepts that this is something that I must do. As for my friends, I shall make sure they all understand too, before I go. That includes Batman and Diana, wherever they may be by then."

"And the League?" John Stewart was the next to show some signs of reaction. Typically, he had his game head on, the head of a man experienced in both the marines and in the Green Lantern corps. "What if we need your help again?"

"In that eventuality, I shall return," J'onn kept him informed. "I shall ensure that you can contact me should you have to, and I am prepared to fight on should I have to. But I have faith in the rest of the League, in the rest of you. You coped well in my absence once before. I believe that you can do so again. I now have two homes, two peoples. I cannot protect both at once. Until they are strong enough to look after themselves, the Martians must be my priority. But Earth is now where I will ultimately belong."

"J'onn, I wish I knew how you were feeling right now," Superman spoke up, sounding exactly as his words would imply. "I've dreamed of getting to see Krypton, truly see it, to see my people. No matter how much I love the Earth and its people, no matter how much I feel I belong here, that will always be the case. So I understand, I do. Any arguments I can offer to your decision would be purely selfish ones. And so there's only one thing really that I can say. Good luck out there."

With that the big Kryptonian smiled, giving J'onn an accepting nod. It was almost like permission was granted, even if Superman would not have been thinking of it in those terms. However, to J'onn it was as important as his wife saying accepting this. It was entirely symbolic of all of his friends doing so, too. J'onn could see it from all of them. Even the more militaristic Green Lantern was doing.

But Flash summed it up the most. He didn't just sit there, smiling or nodding. In a way it was probably most apt that of these four it was he who was most reactive. After all, it had been he who had been right there with J'onn, inside the cloud when J'onn was reunited with his people. In the blink of an eye he was out of his chair and across the room, right at J'onn's side. Before J'onn knew it, Flash had hoisted him from his seat and thrown both arms tightly around him.

"You'll be missed, big guy," the Speedster muttered without breaking off. He really was the heart of the Justice League. J'onn didn't want to think about where they would be without him.

At long last Wally let J'onn go, but by then the others were up from their chairs and at his side too, either giving him hugs of their own or shaking his hand. It was an odd moment. They were saying goodbye, but it wasn't the end. J'onn would return. He just didn't know when it would be. He would stay with the Martians for as long as he had to, but he had too much here to leave it all behind for good. Yet, over the next few minutes it was unmistakeable that his friends were bidding him farewell, and he them.

J'onn knew that he would experience much in helping his people to rebuild their long destroyed society. It was an exciting prospect. But he also knew that he would be missing out on plenty too.

Yes, as the long goodbye went on, J'onn could say for sure that the coming months and years would be interesting to say the very least, both in the wider picture and the more personal one. For him, and for all of the Founders.

And he was certainly looking forward to living out his part of it. Looking at his friends, it seemed they were all feeling the same way.

The group had spent a long time talking to J'onn after his announcement. Truth be told it wasn't entirely a surprise. With the Martians' return, it had been clear that J'onn had been facing a decision about what to do with himself. Now that he had made it, the rest of them were accepting of it. Still, they were making the most of what time they had left together. No matter how permanent it was going to be, their friend was leaving them, and leaving them quite soon. They had all wanted to spend as much of that time left with him, since it would be a while until they would get to do so again. Eventually though, people had had to leave. First, Superman had to return to Metropolis. Then J'onn had had to go and help get the Martians organised for their upcoming quest, Flash volunteering to go and help him. Shayera had been about to go and do so to, but John Stewart had other ideas.

What J'onn was doing was inspiring to him, meaningful, but perhaps not in the most obvious of ways. No, GL was inspired by how quickly J'onn had made such an important decision. Even with it being for his reborn race, it couldn't have been easy for J'onn to decide to leave his new world and family behind, and yet he had made up his mind in only a matter of days, perhaps even far less time. It made the years it took GL to decide how to handle his feelings for Shayera and the future he had seen look pathetic in comparison. It made GL feel ashamed, and certainly apologetic.

It made him feel that he had plenty of lost time to make up for, and so he may as well begin now.

He had subtly latched onto Shayera's wrist with a gentle squeeze before she could leave the room with J'onn and Wally. That meant that the doors automatically sealed behind those two, leaving him alone in the meeting room with her. She was quickly looking up at him, as if telling him to get on with it. But the hurt that would have been behind that look just a week ago was no longer there. The love that had never left those eyes just burned stronger.

"Something you want, marine?" she asked, definite hints of flirtation in her voice. Things between them had certainly started to develop again in the past week. Ever since he had finally given in to his feelings, since he had finally given in and confessed his love for her, and ever since they no longer had work to distract them, things had been rather a whirlwind. They had had plenty of time to talk things through, and plenty of time for things that didn't involve much talking at all. Right now, Shayera was showing more thoughts regarding the latter. Right now, in this moment, GL was more interested on the former. Shayera clearly picked up on that quite quickly from the serious look that was adorned on his face.

"I don't know if you've noticed, but everything's changing round here," GL began to say. Immediately Shayera seemed able to tell that he was going to be taking the long way around what he was trying to say. However, she showed no signs of impatience as she may have normally done. That meant GL didn't have to worry any more about how to proceed. "The Martian race back around again, J'onn going off to Mars again. Batman and Wonder Woman and all that's revolving around them. Superman and his reporter seem on the brink of the next step. In fact, everybody's been changing in some ways these past few days, weeks, months. And they've been embracing it. I... I guess I'm just sorry that it took me so long to accept things myself. I just wanted to say sorry again for how long it took me to come back to you. I was being foolish, I was letting things get the better of me. I had all sorts of crazy notions going through my head and I just couldn't stop them. I was thinking one thing and then another and then another, and all of them stopped me from knowing what I really wanted! Something new was always coming up to get in the way just when I got a barrier cleared, or that barrier would suddenly get higher when I was in mid-jump. It was madness, for a long time, for too long. I just could stop it, I couldn't–"

A finger suddenly appeared on his lips there, cutting him off while he was in full flow. Shayera was even shushing him too.

"Woah there, John. It's a nice rant but I don't need to hear it," Shayera was soon filling the void once GL had accepted that she was stopping his speech. It was now his turn to listen to her. "I'm not going to lie. Waiting for you to sort your blasted head out was infuriating. It made me want to take my mace and shove it someone where you'd need several colonoscopies to find it. So in that regard, you're right to be sorry."

If she had ended there, John would have known that he was in trouble. He might even have worried for his safety. He would have definitely felt even more guilty than he was already doing. But luckily Shayera didn't stop there. She had more to say, and, as the saying went, the best was yet to come.

"In this job though, I think I can safely say that I've learned that we need to move on. The past is the past, and we can't dwell there. We can't forget, but it can't be where we let our brains linger, or things will never get better. If I didn't live in the here and now, I would never be able to get over what I almost made happen, what I almost helped Hro to do. You ought to know me by now. That'll always have an influence on me. I'll always be trying to make it up to the people of Earth, but I couldn't dwell on the past when it was all happening. I had to focus on finding a new future, on finding my new place in the universe. Right now, we have a similar story. What's happened happened. I wasn't happy about it, you clearly aren't happy about it. But we've now got plenty of time to make it right."

She paused there, her smile turning all the more wicked. John knew what she was thinking before the words had even left her mouth. It made him smile too.

"And I expect you to be showing me just how sorry you are every day until I say otherwise. Starting right now."

Shayera wasn't the shy type. She didn't wait for John to react, nor for him to show her any sign that he was ready for such an action. She just took the lead. Grabbing him by the shoulders, she pulled him in close.

And she kissed him. A long, deep, passionate kiss, one which he returned with complete fervour.

Oh yes. GL knew that Shayera had certainly been right about at least one thing. In that moment, as that kiss felt like it had frozen time, he knew that they would have an entire age together to right all they had done wrong before. They had plenty of lost time to make up for, and GL was planning to start doing exactly that right away. He owed that to her.

He lived up to those thoughts as well. It was a good job that the Founders meeting room had a lock on the door. After what developed next, there could be no doubting that he and Shayera truly were together again. It had been a long, rocky road, but they had made it, in no small part thanks to the inspiration of seeing the others around them facing similar challenges. Two others in particular.

But made it they had, and now they had an entire future, an eternity together. And GL was damn well going to enjoy it.

Five Days Later

J'onn and the other Martians had left earlier that day. There had been a big send off aboard the Watchtower before they had gone, flying away aboard some of the Justice League's own Javelin shuttles, fully loaded with whatever supplies they might need. Of course all those who had gathered for the event had been there to wish the Martians well, to look to the future which looked so bright where just a few days ago it was so bleak. However, none of them could really hide it. They were there to say goodbye to their long-time friend. J'onn may be coming back one day, but he would certainly be missed until that day came.

Superman hadn't missed a second of J'onn's goodbye, but he had left the Watchtower shortly afterwards. Things were quite different from the last time that he had teleported down to the skies above the city that he had made his own. The scaffolding was already going up, ready to repair and rebuild a city that refused to lie down and roll over. The people were back, and the city would be back to. There were some news reporters who claimed that it was the spirit of Superman, their local hero, that had inspired them into their remarkable strength in getting back to a normal life so quickly. Superman himself felt that that didn't do the people of the city enough credit, but it made him proud nonetheless. In fact, he felt more like it was the people of the city who were inspiring to him.

They weren't the only ones Superman would say that about from these past days either. In the days since the clouds attack, Superman had begun to hear the stories, to hear Flash and Shayera and GL talking about when they first saw the signs. He heard the stories of when the evidence had been right before his eyes and he had completely missed it. He had heard the stories in more depth of exactly how much the love the two had for each other helped them to save the world. Everything he heard made it make all the more sense and seem all the more obvious to him, even if he had yet to actually discuss it with either of his two best friends, what with them being away to recover from all they had put themselves through. On top of all of that, Superman couldn't help but think of how his own relationship compared, about his own relationship issues compared to the ones that they must have faced.

And yet Bruce and Diana seemed to have found a way to get there. Perhaps he could to. Perhaps it was time to finally tell her the truth.

The window was open when he arrived. He had called ahead to make sure she would be here and wasn't too busy tracking down the next part of her hard hitting story on General Mulligan and his problematic past. In opening up her home she was inviting him in. Superman didn't decline that invitation. In next to no time he was touching down right in the heart of Lois Lane's living room. Lois herself was in there too, sat waiting for him in an armchair. Typically, she had sheaths of notes sat there with her, though when she saw Superman arrive they were left forgotten as she stood up to move over to him.

"Superman," she greeted him, her voice relatively neutral but her action anything but. As soon as she was level with him she was reaching up on the balls of her feet to her full height in order to plant a quick kiss on his lips. "Not that I don't want to see you or anything but some of us do actually have work to do. What was so important? You seemed rather nervous when you called."

He had been, she was right. What he was about to tell her was something that he had been considering doing for a long time, but had always found some way to talk himself out of it. Primarily it was because of his fears of what it could mean for her, how it could affect her safety. But now... Now it was the right time.

"First of all I just wanted to thank you for helping us put the story out about Batman and Wonder Woman and the energy cloud," Superman began, using a message he could have delivered at any time as a lead in to what he was really here for. "Its not something that they'll be ready for the public to know of. Knowing them, its probably something they'd always want to keep more private."

"No problem," Lois quickly replied, cutting in before Superman could finish what he was trying to say. "The Justice League aren't the only people to count at least one of them as friends after all. But you didn't call me and then come down here just to say that, not on the day one of your other friends has left the planet. Come on you, what's going on?"

Superman sighed before starting again, but he couldn't help but carry on with the preamble. He had held this off for years. Even now that he had decided the time had come to say the words, he just couldn't do it quickly. "I've been thinking a lot since that day, when we saw their kiss from the cloud. I've been thinking a lot about how much effort it must have taken Bruce and Diana to get as far as they have. That made me start thinking about us, about all that we've been through, and about all that we've been holding back. It made me think that if they can take that kind of plunge for each other, then maybe so can we. I... Heck, Lois, I admit I don't know if I can actually say this. Going toe to toe with Darkseid seems like it'd be easier right now, but... Its time you knew the truth."

At that point Superman stopped talking. Even after all that he couldn't say the actual words themselves. Luckily he didn't have to. Luckily he could act instead. He had known full well that this might happen, and so he had prepared for it. Subtly, he drew them. He didn't have to tell Lois. As he put the glasses on and slicked back his hair, things spoke for themselves.

He had finally done it. After years of skirting it, he had finally showed Lois that Clark Kent and Superman were one and the same.

Since making up his mind to do this he hadn't known how Lois would react. All sorts of scenarios had actually played out in his head, some where she was angry with him for keeping it secret, some where she was overcome with joy. In none of those scenarios had he foreseen what actually happened. Lois laughed. He was stood there bearing all to her, and she was laughing at him. He was just about to ask her what was so funny when she suddenly slapped him around the face. It didn't hurt him of course, but he was certainly momentarily startled by it. When he looked back to her, though, there was still no anger in her face, only that confusing amusement.

"It's about bloody time," she said through a wicked grin, explaining herself. "Smallville, I've known for an age. I've been waiting for you to drum up the courage to say something!"

Superman was stunned, so stunned that he quickly whipped the glasses back off again. "How? How did you know?"

"Oh, come on, a top investigative journalist like me who spends every day with you in at least one of your get ups? I'd be blind not to see through that disguise," Lois quickly shrugged off his disbelief as if it was nothing. "Not to mention several other clues I get to see around you. I just can't believe it took me so long to figure it out! I mean, it wasn't until you started disappearing on long trips when your League got set up that I finally put the pieces together. But don't get me wrong. I'm not gloating. I'm glad that you told me it too."

She paused then, still smiling, albeit this time she didn't laugh at him or slap him. Instead, she reached up to her full height to kiss him once more. When she was done, Superman was still lost in that moment for long enough to allow Lois to get in the next words again.

"I think you earned that, Super-Smallville," she said. "But get going now, you. I've got that latest chapter of my story to finish. You should know how important deadlines are to Perry. That being said, I'll be leaving my window open. When I'm done, I'd hate to be all alone to wonder about what else you had to tell me. And to be left only thinking about what I ought to do to you."

She said that last part with a rather mischievous look about her. Superman took a moment due to his boy scout ways, but he soon cottoned on. When he did, it made him blush. Lois, typically, spotted that. It made her laugh again, slapping him in the chest.

"Go on, get going," she said through it. "I'm sure the world will need you somewhere anyway."

She had a point there, even if this was where Superman really wanted to be right now. He showed that acceptance via a slight nod of his head, along with turning away back towards the window. On his way over to it, though, Lois' desk caught his eye. He paused before he passed it. It was time for some more symbolism. Slowly, very deliberately, he placed the trademark glasses down on the desk. He knew Lois would understand. It was a way of telling her just how ready he now was to let her all the way in. As if to further the point, he turned back to the watching Lois once again, just before taking off and flying away, muttering only three simple words.

"See you soon."

And then he was gone, out into the air of the Metropolis skyline. However, for a long time it seemed that it didn't matter how far he flew, his mind just stayed in the room, with Lois. Or on all that had brought him to this point. It made him wonder why he had found it so hard to tell her the truth before. Now that he had, it seemed so much like the right thing to do. Like it was the only thing he could reasonably do. He may have had his reasons before, but now they all seemed irrelevant. Once again, Superman found himself thankful for the coupling that he had completely missed building right under his nose. Bruce and Diana may be completely different to he and Lois, but they were still inspiring, invigorating. They were still an imagery of a better tomorrow, one which Superman now felt more like he and Lois were part of. Thinking of his friends now, though, Superman couldn't help but wonder. Last he had heard, they were still keeping themselves apart, isolated from each other and the Justice League in the respective homelands while they recovered. However, with all that he had learned, with how deep he now knew their feelings stretched, he doubted that either of them would be able to keep that up for too much longer.

"Superman, are you busy?" Mr. Terrific's voice suddenly fizzed over his comm, waking Superman back up from his thoughts to the world around him. "We have a situation forming out in Africa. The team already on the ground could do with some Kryptonian backup."

Superman was quick to respond. It was time to get his game head back on. No matter how much things changed personally for him or his team-mates, one thing would always stay the same. They were all heroes, through and through.

"Superman here, T. I'm on my way."

A/N:

There we go. That's five of our leading seven's part of the story all wrapped up. Of course, there are then two more who are notable in their absence. Bet you can't guess what's coming next...

In the meantime, please send in any reviews and comments that you may have about the guys and girls showcased this time, as while Bats and Wondy are of course the stars, I wanted all seven to get their moment in the sun in this tale.

And of course, look out for the final chapter and then the epilogue that are still to come. See thee later!