Chapter 8- Hiding in Plain Sight
Martian Manhunter-
J'onn J'onzz, disguised as Maria Hill, stayed at Fury's side for the rest of the day. He took his ques for what to do from Fury's mind. The man was paranoid enough to analyze everything, which made it easy to see what he expected.
Fury and J'onn had moved to Fury's office to sort through reports of other possible Justice League members. So far, Superman was the only one SHIELD had found independently. They had been close to catching J'onn, but Wonderwoman and Hawkgirl were far enough from their original entry point that SHIELD had no chance of finding them. Fury was currently negotiating with SWORD about a boogie that could be Green Lantern when another call came in.
Fury waved at J'onn to answer, which he did with mild trepidation. "Assistant Director Maria Hill," he said into the receiver.
"Black Widow, reporting in," came a smooth woman's voice. She sounded amused, which J'onn took as a good sign.
"Sir," J'onn interrupted the Director's argument. "Black Widow."
"Thank God, maybe someone can give me a straight answer." He hung up on SWORD and picked up Widow's call.
The report was quick and to the point. The Avengers had found five out of seven of the Justice League and had a lead on the last two. Then she hung up without giving Fury a chance to ask any of the hundreds of questions floating though his mind. J'onn felt almost amused that the one best able to answer his questions was sitting right next to him, but unbeknownst to him.
Fury rested his elbows on his desk and knitted his fingers together before resting his chin on them. He sat there in silence, thinking, for several minutes. J'onn just waited him out. Hopefully the director would decide to investigate the strange heroes in person for himself, but since Maria Hill wouldn't recommend visiting Avengers Tower, J'onn couldn't now.
Finally the man leapt to his feet with a muttered curse and grabbed his trench coat. He put it on with an unnecessary dramatic twirl remiminsecant of Batman's cape and started to leave the office. He turned back and gave J'onn a withering look. "Coming, Hill?"
J'onn rushed to his feet. "Yes, sir. To where, sir?"
"Avengers Tower. I don't trust them not to hide something important from me. Let them try it to my face," he growled
They strode through the hellicarrier corridors until they reached the flight pad. He ordered a quinjet and sat at the helm himself. J'onn took the copilot seat without a word and faster than J'onn expected, they were coming in for a landing on the roof of Avengers Tower.
No one came out to meet them, but Fury wasn't surprised. The director led the way confidently into the building, ignoring polite requests of Stark's AI to wait for the Avengers in a conference room. He seemed to know where he was going, and from the mental signatures in the building, he was right.
After going down the stairs, so they couldn't be trapped in the elevator, Director Fury burst into the Avengers's living room where both teams of heroes were having dinner.
Something coiled painfully tight relaxed in J'onn's chest when he saw all of his teammates sitting around the room eating a wide range of takeout food. Batman and Wonderwoman were sharing some gyros with a man with interesting facial hair. J'onn knew him as Tony Stark or Ironman and Nick Fury's pet peeve.
"Forging techniques form Ancient Greek can not compete with technology from today," Stark was arguing, and gesturing wildly. One expressive armswing sent a piece of lamb skittering across the table.
Diana shook her head as she took a delicate bite. But it was Batman who answered the inventor, "Even today we use a lot of similar technologies from the ancient world. Sometimes it feels like half my R&D is focused on rediscovery."
Hawkgirl was digging into a carton of noodles while talking weapons with the giant blond man, obviously the thunder god Thor. Apparently hammers and maces had similar styles but the differences in their respective weapons composition warranted a competition.
"Mjölnir was forged in the heart of a dying star, its might is unmatched by any mortal weapon," Thor declared smuggly, patting his hammer.
Hawkgirl laughed, "I'll prove you wrong, just name the time and place."
Green Lantern was talking with Steve Rogers and another young man that J'onn recognized after a second as the Falcon, Sam Wilson.
"Then I had to hitch a ride on the giant airplane to stop Savage while Easy Company laid down cover for me," John Stewart described their trip into the past to WWII.
Rogers nodded. "They sound an awful lot like my old Howling Commandos. Some of the best men I've ever served with."
The two older men took a second to remember fallen comrades while Sam just looked amazed to listen to their war stories.
A shouted curse brought J'onn's attention to the front of the room. The Flash lounged on the couch with Hawkeye and Hulk, playing video games over a stack of pizza boxes.
"Ha ha, he's kicking your butt," Hulk mocked Clint.
"Yeah, yeah, but what do you expect? We're playing a racing game, of course the speedster has the advantage," the archer complained. "If we were playing a shooter game, it'd be a different story."
Flash laughed. "You keep telling yourself that, slowpoke."
Finally J'onn looked over at the last member of the team; Superman sat at the table to one side with a pretty woman with red hair. The Kryptonian looked very awkward while the woman had a predatory smirk, not unlike Lois Lane when she was digging into a story.
"How does no one know you're Superman? They all fall for the farm boy act?"
Superman shrugged. "I guess I'm just that good an actor."
Natasha tilted head. "I'm sure," she said dryly.
Nick Fury cleared his throat but when no one paid attention to him, he did it louder. Finally Hawkeye tipped his head over the back of the couch to acknowledge the director.
"Hulk's got winner, but you can play after him if you want," he offered with a shit eating grin.
Fury glared at the archer, but at least now Captain America and Black Widow came over to talk to him.
"Sir," Natasha said with a respectful nod. Behind her, Superman sighed in relief and got up to join Thor and Hawkgirl. The redheaded assassin looked relaxed, but her mind seethed with suspicion.
"Checking in on us, Director?" Rogers asked, crossing his arms. He stood between Fury and the rest of the room, like he was feeling protective of the lost heroes. J'onn couldn't help the smile that twitched across his face. Black Widow noticed it and narrowed her eyes.
"What do you think, Rogers? Am I supposed to just ignore all the super powered people you've been picking up from all over the world? I let you take Superman, but how do I know these people really are trustworthy?" Fury asked, matching the supersoldier's stance.
J'onn stood behind the man, covering his back as expected and waited to see what would happen. He wasn't sure if he should reveal himself now or wait. It would be a blow to Fury's ego if he found out his right hand had been an alien all day.
"I was going to talk to you tomorrow. We're still looking for one more member of the Justice League, and I was going to ask for SHIELD's help," Rogers answered without backing down.
"They haven't given us any reason to distrust them," Natasha added. "They were a great help during the earthquake in Greece."
Fury nodded. They had already seen all the footage from the incident, but if anything it made him more paranoid. The strangers had a lot of untapped power which reminded him of Imperion. He did not like the idea of another "hero" like that on the loose. "And we're just supposed to leave them unchecked? How long do they expect to stay here?"
Batman, who had obviously been listening to the confrontation even as Diana and Tony Stark argued about something to do with Sappho poetry, stood up and walked over. "We don't intend to stay here longer than necessary," he said, pulling his cape around him dramatically. Again J'onn felt his lips twitch.
"And what is necessary?" Fury asked.
"First we need to locate our last member, then figure out how we got here and reverse it," Batman elaborated. "We all have lives and responsibilities back on our Earth that we need to return to."
Fury considered the cowled man for a moment, going through all the angles in his head and looking for the catch. He couldn't find one, but he was sure it was there. "Fine," he said after a moment. "Where are you with those objectives?"
Black Widow had been studying J'onn in his form as Maria Hill the whole time. J'onn wished he could see what she was thinking, but her mind was a tangle that he would need more time to unravel and it would not go unnoticed. It was like trying to read a Thanagarian. Without the obvious hints to follow, he had to "wing it" as Flash would say. So he met her look for look and other than the two twitches of humor, kept his face serious. It was a stand off and it was Black Widow who looked away first to exchange a look with Hawkeye. J'onn hadn't noticed that the archer had been studying him too and his mind was much easier to read. Clint was thinking that Maria was acting odd and shared that thought wordlessly with his partner. J'onn knew his cover was about to be blown.
"I might be able to help you with one of those objectives, Director Fury," J'onn said, shifting into his own form and voice midway through the sentence. He stepped around and to the side of the man so he could face the room as he finished the transformation, allowing his cape to flow down his back.
"Motherf…."