[.Ţ̛̼̗͙̞̠͕̲͍̺̈͂̈̽͌́̊̄̚į̴̨͉̱̬̼͍̼̎͛̽̈̔̃͞ͅm̵̧̗̟͚͎̒̒͋̓̅̐́̕͘̚ẻ̵̢̘̻̭͍̤̤̌́̂́̾̚͟͟ą̶̟̗̝͍̘̼̱͇̣͂͑̎̏̒̈͘͞ǹ̵̢͚̮̠̤̽̀͒̀̋̚ḏ̨̛̰͓̣̱͉̣̞͑͊͆̆͘͠͞ S̰̟̟̺͕̞̟͆͂̍̎̾̋͟͠p̷̨̯͕̪̤̃͌̽͋̌̆̄͆͂̕a̶̝̜̦̹̮͉͇̔̉̃͑͘̚͝ç̶̯̮̣̖̃̊̉̒͌͟͡͠͝è̴̲̘̯͇͇̜̜̜̥̆́͌̀̈́ i̜̟̞͇̗̺͂̾̍́̕͡͡s̨͖͈̼̟̹̔̏̀̓̍̈́͝ R͎͔̬̘̩̦͐͆̐̏̈̀̓ͅë̶̤̦͍̹̘̜͕̤̆̔̽̐͟͡l̸̨̬̱͈̙̓͂̆͛̌̀̎͝a͔̦̥͔̭̣̺̋̂͊̍̿̈̋̑́̐t̷̨͈̼̮͖́̊̾͂̓̾͒͂͘͞ͅi̷̛̲̥̪̺̫̻̱̞̅̀̂́̽̕͟v̧̱͖̱̯̰͉͚͋̅́̒̿̊́̈͢ȩ̴̘͎͎͖͖͋̾̒̉͒͞..]

[.Ş̵͖͈͍͙̜̙͓̞͒́̊͆̚i̬̣͕̘̲͕͑͋͒̍̐̉́̚͢͟͡g̢̨͔͚̤̬̞̝̠̅̃̃̓͗͢i̫̱͉̳̟͕͊̆̄̐̊͂̐͒̕̚l̡͎̟͔̗̯̿̽͆̏͊͢,̺̦̰̙̱͇̟̈́̊̓̏̅͆̏͢͢͞ C̴̦̞̲̱͉͎̻̻̟̦̑̿̐̑̉̀̓͒̚͝i̴̲̯͙̺͇̝̗͔̒̊͘̚͠t̡̠͔̘̳͔̫̯̀͐̓͐́̄͘͠y̷̙̥̫̜̜̑̓̋̒̊̏̿̐̉͂ o̱̣̹̤͓̅̂͌̉̒̄̏f̵̨̣͍̝̥̻̮͚͒̉̇͐̄̈́̓̊͡ D̨̼̤͈͕̼́͊̂̾̇̅̚͘ö̧̤̟̭̺̪̭͙̗́͛̑͋̃̾͘͝o̤̝͈̩͆̏̉̈̆̽̿͢͠r̴̡͔̫̻͕̥͉̆͛̒̐̐̍̿̽̂ș̢̡͚̞̟̣̖̳̅̀͂͂̍̈́̊͝͞͠.]

I sighed, resting my back against the stone pillar as Wonder Woman entered the Temple ahead of me along with the two Green Lanterns, Connor, and her annoyance Artemis as eyes and ears for myself and her mother along with Connor. Even if she apparently hadn't grasped that minor fact when High Priestess MacStuck-up Eyrines of the Glorified Messenger God, Mad Moll, had bared my way entry to said Temple of Hermes; not that I'd been overly surprised by that since word would have been sent of my allegiances after all.

And our two respective pantheons, while automatic enemies, tended to be...unhappy with each other on most planes they overlapped upon. Still, banning M'gann for the Unholy Crime of Psionics was a mild surprise...understandable for security purposes though, but put in such a high-handed way. Providing 'all required aid to us' should have been easier really, and less involving of 'nuh-uh! You don't get inside our gaudy temple to the divine postman!' all in all. Even if just for the pragmatic reason of pretending we were all on the same side.

'On the bright side you didn't come to blows! Huzzah for theological understanding! And thank the Boss it wasn't one of Athena's or her Daddy's lot we had to talk too!' I reminded myself rather forcefully as I valiantly resisted the urge to glare through those marble pillars with their shiny gold decorations, and their gaudy, smug, and overbearing banners. All it would take would be high explosive planned in key, and easy to reach, locations nearby and that'd all come tumbling down oh so easily; but no, one must respect the law and resist the urge to punch certain smug priestesses in their smug faces while their Temple mysteriously exploded and then caught fire behind them...

...and that would be bad...

"What would be bad?"

Crap, said that out loud...

"Nothing, nothing is bad...just thinking of certain things" I replied to Paula who glanced at me curiously as M'gann shifted uneasily beside us with eyes downcast as if somebody had killed a puppy before her eyes. Considering crap was always likely I had to ask again why they'd sent her instead of her Uncle...because it was dreadfully unfair to her after all the stress and problems of the past few weeks.

Really my Martian teammate needed a holiday, and maybe a trip to a psychiatrist that wasn't Blank Canary pretending to be one, to help get over lingering effects of the group training mission for one, and the whole recent Gestalt terror caused my...well, humanity really. But her treatment, and mission here, was just seemed to par for the Justice League course it seemed; and we needed a skilled psionist with us against a Mind Flayer. So I was as much to blame this time as anyone really considering the mission and the pragmatic need to prioritise those things that would make it succeed.

"Such as the fact of refusal of entry? Concerned that the information they provide will be less than accurate perhaps?"

I glanced around; a handful of the crowd had glanced our way when our merry band of adventurers had approached the Temple entrance, then only some of us allowed entry. Thankfully none had followed our retreat to this sheltered area with eyes or body movements, as made our escape from the light drizzle falling...somehow, and somewhere, because there was technically no sky, or up and down above us with the city-world being up there as well. Reality here was just bloody broken I found...

"We're warded now so ask away...but No. They'll be truthfully, their God told them and mutual goals...and all that jazz..." I reached over and placed a hand on M'gann's shoulder at her even more miserable look at the group, snapping the fingers on my other to form a faint veil to stop others listening in on us without my knowledge "...hey, don't take it to heart. That Priestess was a Fury, while ignorant that would probably count as friendly condescension on her part, and my presence probably kicked it off. So don't let that get you down M'gann, the likes of them aren't worth it...and Mind Reading Doppelganger wasn't meant as an insult, more as a local descriptor of your abilities, unlike her smug-snideness to me"

"Yes, and you at least tried to not answer in kind I'll admit...for all of thirty seconds I admit. That was a rather...polite...unfriendly-friendly greeting both of you had. Or should I call you Father hmm? Though that would seem rather strange with you so young probably" Paula mused back to me, faint undercurrent of amusement in her tone with the 'young master' address being dropped due to the company upon this adventure. Instead I was getting bemused teasing and snark at times I found as I brought my hand off a sad smiling M'gann and gave an exasperated shrug of my shoulders.

"Please don't. And yes it would..." I muttered, then sighed "...anyway, that's more a Christian thing; various faiths, differing titles and bog standard is Priest of, or Cleric of, in terms of most planes according to imparted knowledge from my, well patron I suppose...plus, you known this for a bit now after all! I had a visitation, and brief manifestation even before witnesses, heavens above, hells below! On two separate occasions now I might add!"

'Okay, somewhat unfairly put as you have been actively down playing that part of your whole magic-wizard-shtick rather intentionally. But really, is now the ideal time for Paula and Wonder Woman, to bloody well start wanting to talk about it!' I grumbled internally. Then again, events had conspired rather heavily with possible extinction due to 'Mind-Controlling-Starfish' appearing after 'Chaos Primordial Steals all the Children for the Lulz' to suppress such discussion. Here at least my...clerical nature...did have some practical impacts (like not getting into said Temple) so it really was a matter for discussion in terms of what it meant. That and Greek Errant Boy's anger management needing priestess had given a rather unhelpfully biased few lines about 'the evulz' of my patron in that polite conversation.

"Yes, I noticed that; every line was Priest of the Shrouded Lord this, and Priestess of Hermes that"

"Formality, when in doubt fall back on it...and part of my Pact was knowledge of such things, so it's all I can fall back on I suppose for a mission like this. In a place like this where all my knowledge is theoretical and we need to keep those prats in there on side...my irritation with her holiness regardless. Mostly to know what they know, but even just to get a recommendation of where to rest for the next few hours that won't rip us off or hurt our mission"

"Hurry up and stand still till we get a lead is it?...haaa...those are often the worst jobs I find. Especially when it looks like we have rely on rather unfriendly local contacts as it seems here"

I nodded unhappily "Eyup, but best shot we've to get on the trail so here we wait while the others wander about inside yonder temple. Though I'd hope that our escapee is held up by dint of his nature if he needs to head into other quarters without guards, or being somewhat visible"

'Of course he could be easily using the captured Lantern, sans Ring hopefully, as muscle or an agent depending on the strength of the Mind Flayer. Or has other links...' I resisted sighing in frustration at the issues of chasing a dangerous foe through lands none of us were familiar with, one where it may or may-not already have allies to aid its escape. Both Lanterns assured us that the Rings themselves, while failing to return by their call, wouldn't allow moving from this plane...till the creature overcame it. Which it would eventually...a real shame this 'patch' hadn't be used before leaving Earth, but who was to know at that stage?

"John...do...am..." M'gann started speaking in a low whisper, looking downcast as faint pressure came against the wards over my mind "...not in the way of this?"

'John? Can we...talk about...some things later? In...private, so the others won't know'

I put my hand back on her shoulder and gave an encouraging squeeze as Paula gave a glance at the green skinned Martian girl. One place where M'gann should fit in, compared to Earth at least, in her 'natural' form (or the one she seemed most comfortable with at least) and she'd been completely out of it. Something that needed to be addressed as our team's psionic support or "Don't silly, like I said don't let that lot get you down. They barred yours truly here as well after all, and it's been a long few hours too...we're all a bit beat and down in ourselves"

Psionic connections with me, unlike the ease with which M'gann did it with the others on the team were...a little more awkward as they were largely unprotected still, or welcoming perhaps, and I had to silently spend some magic to 'allow' the telepathic connection to form without breaching my defences. All without giving it away that there was a silent conversation to arouse Paula's suspicions 'That's okay fine M'gann, if you want we can do so now while the others are away?'

'No I, need to...show you too. Like in the...simulation with the others, and I don't want to hurt...'

"Relax, we'll eat and rest soon, and then restart the search rested and fed" I answered with a tired smile, being truthful in the need for rest after all that had happened prior to this. Being rested and clear-headed was rather important to us wizards I found 'That...okay M'gann, my wards won't let that happen, well, honestly...yeah a shared dream is doable if it's important? But it could be uncomfortable for you, you that know right?'

So far I'd found both M'gann and her Uncle, to a lesser extent, had been less than fully friendly to me from the start due to that mental shielding thrown up. Something probably to do with the whole race of communist psionists all telepathically communing on a daily basis and her more or less trying to move over to that role with the Team by default. Though myself with my Mind Blank and other various defences probably felt like a big fuck off wall with bright neon lights screaming PRIVATE PROPERTY on them to her, and all without her apparent mild attraction to Connor to make up for it.

Because he complains and snaps at her about it and gets cookies, while I stay politely quiet and get uncomfortable awkwardness instead...well, till all the crap of the past few weeks combined with the rather crappy Team psych management provided by the Justice League in my opinion. After all, right now mid-mission, was not the ideal time to dealing with all the crap that had been piled on the Martian girl like the disastrous group-dream-simulation-madness they all got very quiet and uncomfortable about stuff when I tried to find out the details. Not there had been much time to ask on the matter of late as we seemingly moved from crisis to crisis...being in Sigil well before I really wanted to do being a symptom of that. I resisted snorting at that; probably the dark powers of DC narrative-ium at work there...

--

...shared dreaming was weird as ever, though at least M'gann's presence was merely the faintest breeze compared to the howling vortex of divine pressure...other me? past me?...had once felt being used as some sort of neutral meeting ground mid ritual. Course lucid dreaming, which to a degree this was, required more effort than simply sleeping away peacefully and letting the mind wander; teammate or not, my wards remained as potent as ever hidden away in the background...of the rather empty replica of a Connemara pub I'd once visited at some stage. I decided to break the silence as M'gann stood hand resting on the opposite arm's elbow in her familiar with and blue shirt-dress-cloak thing with red X across her chest.

"Hmm...random choice on my part I'll admit, not sure I rememb...oh yeah, the place with the really nice fish and chips despite being the village out in the middle of nowhere"

Awkward silence followed for a little while as she rubbed her elbow, staring at floor, then looking around her...before returning to looking at the floor...

I sighed, putting my hand up and snapping my fingers causing M'gann to startle as an imaginary serving girl wandered out from behind the bar, pint of Guinness in one hand, as the silent seconds turned into minutes of silence. Okay let's try figure out what's bothering her so badly she reached out to me, and is now too stressed to actually talk about when the time arrives "And what would like to drink M'gann, since you are apparently the red haired girl of my dreams?"

After all it had been a rather endless seeming 'debrief' on the words of the irritating Priestess and her cohorts; even Wonder Woman had found her overbearing evidently, but she'd still provided the names of 'trustworthy' touts and a recommendation to get us into the Golden Bariaur Inn where I was currently asleep. This was good, as the place's clientele were amongst those the rest of my companions could tolerate being drawn from the 'Upper' Planes like Mount Celestia, Olympus's related realms, and the planes of Law in general. Was certainly going to be nicer than following our enemy into the Lower Wards and/or the Hive...

M'gann startled looking confused and embarrassed, it amused me after the looonnnnggg day we'd just had till now "W...what? Oh, I...my hair..." she brought her hand up to her head in that ever familiar motion of hers "...Hello Megan! John isn't flirting with you! You've important things to talk about and your standing around looking at the floor! Duh!"

"Well, I may not be, but technically you are a red head and in my dreams as I am in yours apparently naughty M'gann! Tut-tut, and here's me thinking you had your eye on my newly minted countryman Connor Kent!" I teased drinking down a gulp of the Guinness that was a mixture of memories and imagination. Pretend drink it maybe, but it tasted as I expected/desired it too as the serving woman vanished back behind the bar and into memory. M'gann huffed at me, and I smiled that at least some of the stress filled tension eased away from our temporarily shared reality, then brought my hands up to her apologetically "...Sorry, sorry! I know you've important things to talk about, and my dreams are generally less places to meet than indulge amusing desires and whatnot"

M'gann huffed again, arms moving up and down in exasperation "I know! Humans are so weird like that and I looked into the others dreaming by mistake when I first arrived and..." she flushed as I glanced at her, blushing deeply and not meeting her. Reality shifted...slightly...as I looked 'out' the 'window' and watched as 'myself' and the other male members of the Team ran by in swimming trunks. I sighed and took a sip from my drink. Well, that happened...

"Okay, well...at least it wasn't Wallace's I suppose"

She gave an embarrassed giggle before cutting off and rubbing at the back of her head "Ah, I ah...try to stay out of Wally's mind after he...ah, imagined me...in ah..."

I took a drink from my pint "Don't worry I can guess, not I'll criticise that mind you. I know it's different with Martians of course, but Humans generally have those thoughts to themselves. Imagination and Fantasy and all that happy stuff..." I motioned around at 'reality' here and the now desolate and unfamiliar landscape 'outside' the 'window' that I assumed was Mars "...at least I can hide my own away to prevent embarrassing myself the same way! Ahaha!"

M'gann smiled and gave me a look, arms folded across her chest "Are you...these scary mental defences just so you can hide your naughty thoughts? That's...really weird John, andisareliefthatitsnotplanstoconquertheworldthough"

"Eh okay...though wait till Zatanna learns to do it. It's sanctity of the minds to humans, though I know it's different for your people"

Her smile faded somewhat, replaced by the awkwardness again if not to the same level of apparent stress and nervousness of the start "Which is...the problem I need to talk about...and I don't know who to talk to too! And your Team Captain! But I was mean to you, but you helped me, and I don't think you'd be as mad at me and..."

"Woah, woah, woah, explain!"

She bit her lip "I, well...I'll show you"

...and then she was significantly taller, far less human looking after that morphy-changy shape-shifting thing she and her Uncle could do that had her looking down at me with two really long arms that almost made her look four legged rather than two-legged as she had been. I scratched the side of my head and gave her a curious look as I set my drink down on the old-timey wooden table "Err...I do know you can change shape M'gann...ohhhh..." I'm an idiot, even if she doesn't look anything like the White Martians part of me remembered from a DC animated show "...righttttt. So that's why you weren't playing diplomat..."

She was...sniffling? crying?...maybe?...as she replied from her new form "I...being a White Martian meant constant rejection among Greens on Mars. And now they've come here, and I wanted to get away, and everyone's going to reject me and the Team won't...I'm a MONSTER! They'll hate me"

I sighed, oh fucking joy; this was going to be fun "Oh don't be silly there, the Team don't see things that way M'gann. They certainly won't hate you of all things! Anyway, we all sort of assumed that wasn't your original form after all, considering your Uncle J'onn's at times..."

Distract, distract, distract - crying alien girls are invading your dreams now! Make it stop!

"Actually...you're all shape-snifters as a species? How do you tell the difference? And base a caste system based on skin colour of all things when you've been going around with green skin till now?"

She flustered a moment and then did the whole 'Hello Megan' thing again; and I resisted the urge to laugh at the absurd sight of a six-seven foot tall alien doing the familiar gesture "Hello Megan! John's a Human and wouldn't know about all that!"

Well the crying? stopped at least as she suddenly reverted back to her 'fake' Martian form with its green skin and human shape "We know each other by um...you'd call it a mixture of telepathy and pheromones maybe?"

I nodded, that was a far better reason than I'd expected considering some of the universe's screwy 'logic' at times "That is a logical reason, hurray for logic. Now, you can keep your original form here M'gann. You are my Teammate, though technically I'm off the Team I think, and hopefully friend...despite early setbacks...after all the shared life threatening crap together. So to start...I don't particularly care you're a White Martian rather than a Green one. We all have our secrets after all, but since this is behind your current stress on the mission I guess that's what you're telling me?"

She nodded slowly and I continued with a nod of my own "Okay, then let's talk about what you see as the problem. But first..." I stood up as I felt her emotions warping the outside and I let the area around us to change to a desolate land under a dark starry sky "...you don't have to hide away your form here"

M'gann shook her head, not looking at me directly. I sighed "That's fine, whichever form makes you most comfortable. So..."

--