Justice League X RWBY :The Scars we never let heal.
"Jessica…"
"Jessica"
"JESSICA!" Vixen finally yelled through the shower room door that Jessica had been inside locked for forty-five minutes already.
"Oh…Yes!?" Jessica replied.
"You're gonna pass out if you sit in there too long, also Alfred wants to lock up, that means water will be shutting off soon." Vixen explained.
"Thanks for letting me know, I'll be out in just a few," Jessica replied.
" Sigh…what a crazy few days…" Jessica said to herself as she tried to process everything that had happened the last three days. She kept seeing Jaune's face stand out in her memories, it pained her that she never got to say thank you for him helping her. She wondered what he would look like in her universe.
"Uhg it won't help dwelling on it…" She said to herself as she dried her hair and got dressed in some simple civilian clothes she had pulled from her locker.
"You ready to go… Hey, what's with the civi clothes? I wanted to race you to the west side of the city," Vixen said as she met Jessica just outside the front door of the hall of justice.
Jessica was wearing blue jeans, a white t-shirt and a brown hooded coat, looking surprisingly normal for a superhero.
"Sorry but I think I'll take the slow way to my apartment and ride the train, it's been a weird few days, I'll take every bit of normal I can get," Jessica replied.
"Awww…Well in that case, I guess I'll join you, it's been a long time since I took the train," Vixen replied.
"You didn't have to come Mari, you know I can protect myself," Jessica said while looking down at her ring.
"Ek don't mention it, it's no big deal, just because we can fly doesn't mean we have to fly from work to home everyday, plus you say that, but knowing you I know you actually enjoy the company so stop your complaining," Vixen replied with a teasing smirk.
"Hmp… Thanks," Jessica quietly replied as she adjusted her hood over her head.
Vixen then looked around to see if anyone in the mostly empty train were looking at them, after confirming that no one was she then touched her necklace and channeled the spirit of a house cat to help herself balance on the shaking train.
"Really… you couldn't just grab the hand rail," Jessica said.
"With how often they clean those, I'll pass…" Vixen replied with a bit of disgust.
Jessica stared out the window looking at the city lights but her eyes were blank not really focusing on anything out the window.
"You look daydreamy, what's on your mind?" Vixen asked.
"Nothing on my mind except me wanting my bed," Jessica replied with a small chuckle.
"Not that cute blonde knight boy from the other universe hehe?" Vixen said, teasing with shoulder bump.
"Uhg I Just wished I could have thanked him for helping me dammit…" Jessica replied, flipped her hood back in frustration.
"Haha! I knew it, hit right on the head," Vixen replied with a laugh.
"It's… it's not like that, he really helped me get through a tough spot and it feels wrong not to thank him, nothing more," Jessica said, her nervous tone sounding like she was trying to convince herself.
"Mmmhm…If you say so…" Vixen replied.
"And besides… We are from different universes and have people who need us in both, so…nothing more could ever work…" Jessica said, her voice trailing quiet, sorta sad sounding.
"Hey, you thought about that, not me," Vixen replied.
"Uhg… this is my stop, have a nice night Mari," Jessica said as the train stopped and she walked toward the exit.
"Thanks, you too," Vixen replied.
"HEY LANTERN!" Vixen yelled, getting Jessica to turn and look back towards the train before the doors shut.
"Don't be afraid to live a little and forget the rules!" Vixen yelled once more before the doors shut and the train departed.
Jessica tried to think about what she was trying to tell her, Mari was always a rebel spirit in one way or another, she still didn't understand how she lived like that. As Jessica walked into her apartment she turned off her phone, set on no one waking her as she hoped to sleep in as long as she wanted.
"Dammit! I can't get this sand out of my hammer," Nora yelled frustrated as she pounded the table.
"Breaking the furniture is not going to solve that," Ren calmly replied.
"You should seal it with weatherproofing, we can't afford malfunctions when we go out on the field," Jaune said, as he cleaned his sword.
"I don't see how it will be able to transform if I just add weatherproofing to it," Nora replied.
"Well maybe that's not a priority anymore, function over comfort should keep us, and those we protect safe," Jaune replied, more serious than his friends were used to.
"What if we used the energy field inside the hammer to create a positive repulsion field to keep the sand out," Ren said as they tinkered with Nora's weapon.
"That will do it! You're so smart Ren!" Nora exclaimed
"Jaune, you don't need to be so tense, yes you are our leader but… we got your back too," Nora said kindly with Ren nodding in agreement as they looked at Jaune endlessly cleaning his weapon and shield.
"Sigh… I'm sorry…I'm… Really really glad to be back, it's just… Gonna take some time for me to adjust." Jaune replied, sheathing his sword and stepping outside of their room for some fresh air.
RDADAING RDADADING RDADADING
"What the hell…" Jessica murmured as she rolled out of bed and walked over to the table where she had left her phone.
Picking up the cellphone she realized that it was still off and wasn't the source of the ringing so she walked out to the living room to answer the house phone that she thought she had disconnected.
"Where then…" Jessica muttered once she saw that the house phone was unplugged and wasn't the source of the noise either.
She then noticed a light on the other side of the living room coming from the TV and saw it flickering with static and noticed that the ringing was coming from it.
"What the hell?" She said as she picked up the remote and pushed power off on the TV.
"Hello miss Cruz," Batman said as the tv turned on into a video call from him.
"WHAT THEY HELL, YOU CAN'T JUST…! Uhg let me get dressed!" Jessica yelled as she ran to put more clothes on as she was just walking around her apartment in her underwear.
"That is not necessary, your television seems to have its webcam not working anyway… anyway we need you at the hall of justice as soon as possible." Batman said.
"Yeah, the webcam is… Broken… Why do you need me, of everyone you could call why do you specifically need me," Jessica replied as she looked at the tape she had over the webcam.
"Yes but none of them have been able to make a portal between here and Remnant," Batman clarified.
"Remnant? Is there something wrong with the containment of Killgore and Watts?" Jessica asked as she put some clothes on.
"Killgore and Watts are still contained, there is no major threat at the moment… however…there are some unforeseen side effects from our worlds colliding and we may need more intel and resources from Remnant to deal with them," Batman replied.
"Okay, I'm on my way…" Jessica said as she summoned her green lantern uniform which enveloped over her normal clothes.
"And Bats," Jessica said as she leaned forward and took the piece of tape off the TV webcam.
"Don't ever hack my TV again," Jessica said just before pulling the plug on the TV.
"Any sign of brain damage?" Superman asked, as Batman, Blake Canary, and Wonder Woman all looked at someone in a containment cell.
"Doesn't seem like it, yet at least, but if we don't find a cure soon I fear there might be unrecoverable brain damage." Canary replied.
"Got here as fast as I could, what I miss…" Jessica said as she walked into the room.
"My God…What happened to him," Jessica then asked as she saw a middle aged civilian man thrashing in a restraining chair, his eyes were red and there seemed to be a black liquid leaking out of their eye sockets and nose and mouth.
"Some kind of Grimm pathogen, all the monsters have been destroyed, but now more and more people are showing up looking like this," Batman explained.
"Did he hurt anyone?" Jessica asked, greatly concerned.
"He tried to bite Vixen's ear off on the train, she hauled him back here late last night, then went to her apartment to rest, she was unharmed" Diana replied.
"Dammit…she was there because of me…Dammit!" Jessica said quietly to herself with frustration.
"Better someone with superpowers ran into him than a civilian, we need to figure out a cure before this spreads," Canary replied.
"Jessica, Barry was getting the computers ready to try and connect to Remnant again, you want to go help him, see if we can get any answers to this problem," Diana asked.
"Sure, in the research labs, correct?" Jessica replied.
"Yes," Diana confirmed.
"There's too many of them!" Yang yelled as they tried to stop a massive pack of ravagers from running down a group of people from Atlas who got lost in the desert at night.
"We have to herd them, so we can kill enough of them to matter!" Ruby yelled as she chopped through one after another.
"But there's only four of us, and hundreds of them," Blake replied, unsure how they could even begin to herd this massive pack of Grimm.
"We have your summons, Weiss get on Yang's dirt bike and try to see if you can spread enough summons around to herd them," Ruby explained as she did everything she could to draw the Grimm's attention to her to buy Yang and Weiss some time.
"You ready?" Yang asked as she revved the motor on her bike.
"It's worth a shot I suppose," Weiss replied, hoping on the back seat.
Ring Ring Ring
Weiss's phone rang, "Wha… Hello, we're a little busy now," Weiss said as she tapped an earbud once to answer the call.
"Uh um, I'm sorry," a familiar Voice said.
"Jessica?" Weiss replied, shocked at who called.
"Yes hey Weiss sorry to bother you, I just needed some information about something," Jessica said.
"Please don't tell me Watts escaped," Weiss said.
"No no it's not that…" Jessica replied.
"WEISS WHO ARE YOU TALKING TO, THE SUMMONS?!" Yang snapped at Weiss as the drove at the pack of Grimm.
"I'm sorry I gotta go, I'm gonna transfer your call okay… click" Weiss promptly ended the conversation.
The call clicked silent and the screen went black as she hung up… "So…I guess we wait to call back," Jessica said while she rested her head on her palm.
"Need some coffee?" Barry asked.
"But, you don't drink coffee…" Jessica responded.
"No but you look like you need it," Barry said.
"Coffee would be amazing, thank you," Jessica replied.
"He…hello…hello," Jessica heard Jaune's voice coming from the computer just after Flash left the room.
"Jaune, My goodness is that you!?" Jessica asked with excitement.
"Jessica? Is that really you?" Jaune replied a bit stunned by her calling him.
"Can you see me okay? I can't see you," Jessica said as she stood up out of her chair and leaned forward.
"No I…Can't…still trying to figure out this new scroll… one sec," Jaune replied as the microphone sputtered from him doing something with the device.
"No worries, take your time," Jessica said as she put her hand over her cheeks unconsciously trying to hide her blushed cheeks.
"There I got the screen working, annnd now I can see you," Jaune replied.
"I think your hand is covering your camera," Jessica said.
"Oh yea, you're right, I don't remember the camera being there on these things…" Jaune replied.
"It's good to see you, I was a bit bummed you weren't with the rest of your friends when we called on you for help last time," Jessica said.
"Yea well things are not exactly tip top over here in my world," Jaune replied.
"Do you need anything, seems kinda one-sided that I keep having to ask you guys for help and haven't offered to help with any of your problems," Jessica said, with a concerned tune.
"What are you talking about, without you we would have all been stuck in that simulation," Jaune replied generously.
"Oh you got a hold of them!" Flash exclaimed as he walked into the room.
"Oh Hey Barry! Jezz you all look, different," Jaune said as he waved awkwardly.
"Here," Barry said as he placed a paper cup of coffee in front of Jessica.
"Thanks," She replied as she quickly lifted the cup to her face, almost hiding behind it as she took a drink.
"So Lantern fill you in on our predicament?" The Flash asked.
"No she didn't, what's wrong, are you in danger?" Jaune replied boldly, as if he was ready to slay a monster that second.
"Relax, it's nothing that exciting," The Flash replied.
"I'll let Barry explain the issue, we can chat a little later," Jessica said timidly as she got up and left the room slowly.
"Oh, Okay…later Jess," Jaune replied before Barry grabbed his attention and started explaining the situation.
"We can't keep doing this," Blake said as she washed a cut Yang had gotten on her shoulder.
"The Grimm are far more numerous here then we used to, I think a team of four might not be enough," Weiss said.
"We should come with you, for the time being merge our two teams and take missions together." Ren replied.
"But wouldn't that mean we get less done," Ruby replied.
"Yes but we do it without the unnecessary risk of exhausting ourselves," Yang said.
"Or worse, someone getting hurt," Blake added.
"Here let me help with that," Jaune said as he walked over to help heal Yang's injury.
"What was that call about Jaune? Does the justice league need us again? We kinda stretched thin…" Weiss said with a tired sigh.
"No they don't need us to fight anything, however you wouldn't happen to know of anywhere around here we could get a few bags full of dust?" Jaune asked.
"There is a schnee possessing facility that should have some, if it is still standing after how unpopular my family name is," Weiss replied.
"What do they need dust for?" Weiss asked.
"Something about trying to use it to eliminate the last traces of Grimm from their universe," Jaune replied.
"We'll, in that case, I'll contact Klein, see if he can get us that dust by the end of the day," Weiss said.
"And I'll deliver it to the Justice league, and be back in no time," Jaune replied.
"You sure you want to do that? It's not like you haven't had your share of experience with time dilation," Yang asked.
"Trust me… I'll be fine," Jaune replied.
The next morning on Earth.
"Contact transmission received" The computer said, waking Jessica as she realized that she had fallen asleep at the desk.
"Mm…Answer," Jessica replied as she stretched trying to wake up quickly.
"Yes I know how much they weigh… Oh hey Jessica, Glad you picked up!" Jaune said, there was a lot of noise in the background, it sounded like an angry mob of something was after them.
"Jaune, where are you going!? That's a dead-end that way!" Ruby yelled in the background.
"I will be fine! Just get out of here!" Jaune snapped back.
"You can get me a portal out of here right Jess?" Jaune asked nervously.
"Umm… Umm…" Jessica replied panicking as she frantically started doing something on the computer.
"I really need that to mean yes," Jaune said nervously.
"I'm getting a multiversal track on your sigal it I should be able to get you in just a few minutes.
"I might not have a few minutes," Jaune said before putting his scroll in his pocket, Jessica still about to hear him but not see him.
"Come on ya scary, demon monkey grimm!" Jaune yelled as he pulled out his sword.
"Come on, Come on come on," Jessica said as her foot tapped the floor rapidly. Grinding her teeth as she hears swing after swing of a sword.
"Multiversal coordinates locked" The computer said.
"Finally!" Jessica exclaimed as she lifted her ring and willed a break in hyperspace to the location of the coordinates.
Opening the portal she saw Jaune being overrun by about a dozen small monkey shaped grimm, fear struck her as she thought she might be too late.
"AAHH GET OFF OF HIM!!!" Jessica yelled as she jumped into the portal and summoned a shotgun that was almost as big as herself with the fact that she got smaller and younger as soon as she crossed through the portal.
BAM BAM BAM, She fired away blasting most of them off him, then she let the gun disappear and summoned a giant two sided battle ax and stuck the other grimm off of Jaune, slicing the monsters in half.
"Phew, thanks, oh… looks like your portal closed…" Jaune said as he got to his feet.
"I don't care about that, I can make a new portal, are you hurt!?" Jessica asked as she leaned up and grabbed his chin looking for injuries.
"I'm fine, I still have a good amount of aura left so I probably would have been fine for a few more minutes.
" Sigh… okay, let's get out of here," Jessica replied as she took a deep breath and tried to calm down. They could hear more Grimm coming in the distance.
"You don't need your computer to help you get back?" Jaune asked.
"I should be about to imagine a place in my world without the coordinates from a machine," Jessica replied as she tried to focus.
"We'll, endless you want to fight a bunch more of these creepy things, you may wanna hurry a bit," Jaune said with a bit of nervousness.
"Shhh…I'm trying, my memories feel weird here, uhg why is this so difficult!" Jessica replied as she hit her own head.
"Well maybe we should prepare to fight instead, and just do the computer way after we get out of here," Jaune reasoned.
"Noo…I can do this…" Jessica replied adamantly as the portal started to open, the location seemed to flicker and jump around a lot until it finally stopped at one place long enough for them to jump through.
"Little help with these!" Jaune said as he tried to pick up two suitcases full of dust.
Without hesitation Jessica put a force field around Jaune and the suitcases and yeeted him and the bags through the portal as she then flew through and followed.
"Aaahh," Jaune yelled as he hit the concrete of a sidewalk in the middle of a town.
"Oof," Jessica said as she landed right beside him and the portal closed.
Lots of confused people murmuring surrounded them as a few dozen people saw the Green Lantern pop out of thin air with this stranger.
"Is everything okay?" A concerned little girl walked up to them and asked.
"Emily!..." the mother snapped, wanting her daughter to stay back in case there was danger.
"It's okay everything is fine," Jessica said to all the people as she helped Jaune to his feet and picked up the suitcases, handing one to jaune for him to roll.
"Look mommy, a superhero!" The little girl said as Jessica and Jaune started walking away from the crowd.
"Wow, people seem to really respect superheros in your world?" Jaune said. Jessica noticed his voice sounded a little bit deeper. Her mind froze a bit as she looked over at his face for the first time since they crossed the portal.
His hair was longer and looked the way he looked the first time they met in killg٪re's simulation. His face was still clean-shaven but looked significantly more mature. Their height differences were not as extreme as before though Jaune was still a little taller than her.
"Jessica?" Jaune said, wondering why she didn't respond.
"Oh, um… sorry what was the question?" Jessica replied, trying to hide her blushing by putting a palm over her cheek.
"People seem to hold superheros in high regard around here," Jaune said.
"I suppose so… you probably used to that in your world as well," Jessica replied.
"Not really, people don't really see us huntsmen and huntresses as that special, like a fancy police officer," Jaune Explained.
"That sounds nice," Jessica replied as she was annoyed by all the people across the street shadowing them trying to get close enough to take a picture.
"Come this way," Jessica said as she pulled him off to the side into an alleyway.
They walked down the alleyway for a bit until they were out of sight of everyone. "Gonna make another portal?" Jaune asked.
"No," She replied as she created a holographic image of herself and made it fly up into the sky, they could hear the crowds ooo and ahh at the spectacle. She then de-summoned her uniform, revealing her civilian clothes again before they walked out the other end of the alleyway, this time with no paparazzi tail.
"You look like you have experience doing that," Jaune said.
"Little bit," Jessica replied.
"Where did my sword and shield go, does your portal like, drop it on the ground in Remnant? That's gonna be a pain to get back," Jaune said, a bit bummed out.
"No, I assume it's because people don't normally walk around with Weapons in my world, you will probably get them back when you go back," Jessica replied.
"But, how do people defend themselves if they don't?" Jaune asked.
"We don't normally have Grimm and monsters running around so people don't really need protection. And for the small amount of protection they do need, that's what the police are for." Jessica replied.
The two continued to walk for a bit, Jaune not having a clue where he was going, was completely engrossed into looking around at every detail of the city, it's size was so massive, like a giant city of mantle but without the feeling of dreaded that brought the Grimm on his world.
"Crap…" Jessica exclaimed as she looked through her pockets.
"What's wrong?" Jaune asked.
"I left my phone on the side of the computer in the hall of justice…" Jessica replied.
"And a phone is…" Jaune said.
"It's a communication device, but it does a lot more than just that…" Jessica explained.
"So it's like a scroll?" Jaune replied as he reached in his pocket to grab his scroll.
"Wait what!..." Jaune said as what pulled out wasn't his scroll but was a black rectangular device instead, "Where did this come from?" Jaune asked.
"It's a phone, I'm guessing it replaced your…scoll, since we don't have those in this universe," Jessica replied.
"I see, it's like the universe is helping me fit in!" Jaune said with giddy excitement.
"Anyway where are we going?" Jaune asked.
"Sigh I was gonna get someone from my work to come pick up this dust, but I don't have my phone…" Jessica explained.
"Here take mine," Jaune said as he handed it to her.
"Oookay," Jessica replied, a little annoyed as she was in no hurry to have to get back to her work.
"It's locked," Jessica said as she tried to turn on the phone.
"Locked, why would anyone lock…" Jaune said.
"Probably so people don't steal it," Jessica replied.
"But why would anyone steal something like this…" Jaune said, confused.
" Sigh, um… don't worry about it I'll just contact Hal through my ring," Jessica explained.
"Who's Hal?" Jaune asked.
"Earth's first Green Lantern," Jessica replied.
"Wait, there is more than one person like you!?" Jaune asked with excitement.
"There are thousands throughout the universe, just a few others on earth," Jessica replied.
"Wooh!" Jaune replied with a childish amazement.
"Um… Can I buy you something to eat while we wait for him? I never got to thank you for helping me so much when we first met… the least I can do is treat you with a meal…" Jessica said kinda timidly as she fiddled with her hair with one hand.
Jaune paused for a moment, the silent response made Jessica's heartbeat begin to rise out of nervousness.
"Sure I'd love something to eat, how about we try this place!" Jaune finally replied with a jovial tone as he pointed to this colorful restaurant with a logo of a purple bell.
"No…We are NOT going there," Jessica grudgingly replied.
"Here I know a good place right up here," Jessica said.
"Soo… What is the difference between authentic Mexican food and normal… food?" Jaune asked as he looked at the menu as they sat in a nice Mexican restaurant that She brought him too.
"It's like a unique set of cultural flavors and cooking. Like, I'm sure you have different dishes that are more popular in some parts of your world than others," Jessica explained.
"Yea, is Mexican where you are from?" Jaune asked curiously.
"Kekeke, the region is called Mexico, and no I'm not from there, though a majority of my ancestry is," Jessica replied.
"Oh I get it, I have a great uncle like that, his family is from Mistral but he grew up in Vale," Jaune said.
After a few painfully long minutes of Jaune asking what every meal on the menu was, the two finally placed their orders. Jessica then stepped away to call Hal Jordan to pick up the dust and take it to the Justice league ASAP.
"It's strange, there's a lot of cool stories I could share with you from my world, but my memory of them feels… foggy since I got here," Jaune said.
"I felt the same exact way when I was in your world, like… recalling a dream," Jessica replied.
"Perhaps it's because reality feels different from what we are used to experiencing when going to a different world," Jaune explained.
"Yeah, that would make sense a little, Barry would probably know more about this multiverse stuff than me," Jessica replied.
"So, glad to see you got your ring okay and are feeling better," Jaune said as put his hand on her hand and examined the ring.
"Eh…um.. cough.. Yes, I am feeling better… again… Thank you so much for helping me pull through there, I was not in a good place mentally," Jessica replied, bringing the conversation to a more serious note to distract her from the butterflies that hit her stomach.
"It's okay, we all have bad moments were we need someone to pick us up, Trust me I know from experience." Jaune said, his voice sounding softer and deeper as he tried to be more serious.
"Was there someone there when you needed help?" Jessica asked, eyes full of empathy.
"Yes, her name was Pyrrha" Jaune replied, his eyes seemingly turning sad as he spoke.
A memory of Jaune screaming Pyrrha's name in the simulation flashed in Jessica's mind, "She was… she meant a lot to you didn't she?" Jessica asked timidly, just now remembering how he spoke about her in the simulation.
"She was the best… always trying to be best at everything, and for the most part she was the best at everything. But she was never arrogant about it, truly wanting to be the best huntress she could be, not for fame or glory, but to help people who needed it," Jaune explained.
"She sounds like she was an amazing person…" Jessica replied timidly.
"She was," Jaune replied soberly.
"If you don't mind me asking… What happened to her?" Jessica asked sheepishly.
"She died trying to stop the fall of Beacon…" Jaune replied with his voice cracking a bit.
"That must have been incredibly brave for her to do, I'm sorry for what happened… even though I know that doesn't really help with the pain," Jessica said.
"I think… I think she knew she wouldn't make it… but she had to fight anyway to buy her friends time… it was never about her with everything she did," Jaune explained.
"It sounds like you try to live up to her," Jessica replied.
"I do very much so, there was a time when I replayed her training videos she sent me over and over again throughout the night," Jaune said.
"As time went on I started to get better, learned to not lose myself too much," Jaune added as Jessica took a drink of water.
"Time is only part of grief…" Jessica replied sadly.
"I remember you said that to me in the simulation," Jaune said with a little lighter attitude.
"Just one of many cliche lines I learned from my therapist, funny how they always tell you what you already know then charge you for it," Jessica replied with little attitude.
"Therapist, You sound your not a fan," Jaune said as the food started to be brought over.
"Yeah, I swear all mine ever did was take what I told him and rephrase it as a question and tell it back to me, uhg," Jessica replied as the food was set down in front of them.
"I've always found them to be really relaxing, though for some reason most of them don't want to chat with me for too long," Jaune said.
"This smells really good by the way," Jaune added.
"It's a little spicy fair warning," Jessica said.
"Here I think you will like this," Jessica added as she set a glass of horchata in front of him
"To healing our scars," Jessica quietly said as she offered a toast.
"I can agree to that," Jaune replied as he accepted the toast and took a drink.
"Oooh this is really good!" Jaune exclaimed, complimenting the drink.
After about thirty minutes the two were finished with their meals. "I did warn you about that dish being spicy," Jessica said with a little giggle.
"I know, I'm toootally fine with the heat, helps clear the sinuses," Jaune replied as his face was red as a cooked lobster.
"Yeah, sure," Jessica said, teasing him a bit.
"So any desserts?" Jaune asked.
"I don't normally do desserts, we gotta go soon, Hal should have been here by now," Jessica replied as she put some money in the check and handed it to their waiter.
"Aww but sweets are the best part," Jaune complained.
"I'll try to remember that next time," Jessica replied with a little chuckle.
"Huh" Jessica's focus shifted as she felt her ring start warning her of danger though she didn't know what it was yet.
"What's wrong Jessica?" Jaune asked, seeing the shift in her face.
"Get up, something's not right," Jessica said as she stood up and grabbed the handle of one of the suitcases of dust, Jaune then followed suit and did the same.
"Are we leaving?" Jaune asked as Jessica gestured to him to be quite while she scanned the restaurant with her eyes.
She then noticed two people standing at the entrance scanning the room just like she was doing. One of them was a human male, the other was clearly not human because of its arms and shoulders being way larger than the rest of its body, even though she couldn't see its face because of the shadow the hoodie the thing wore.
As soon as their eyes locked the two strangers revealed their identity, brandishing a red ring of power they both summoned Red Lantern uniforms and tommy guns made of red light and began firing a flurry of bullet like projectiles at Jessica and Jaune.
Jessica quickly reacted and summoned a large barrier protecting them but her focus quickly turned to all the civilians that were around them that would die if she didn't take this fight outside.
"Please stay behind me! I'm gonna get us out of this!" Jessica yelled to Jaune as she summoned her uniform and then created two large blobs of green energy gel one in each hand. She then shot it out at the red lanterns, hitting their guns with the gel like a spider web.
"Try to keep the dust safe," Jessica said right before she flew right at the two Red Lanterns, flying in-between them then yanking them outside with the line of gel she attached to them until they smashed into the sidewalk outside.
Without waiting for them to have time to recover Jessica started summoning more and more gel to bury them so they couldn't move, as it incased them. She then turned the gel into a crystal to incapacitate them for good.
Taking a breath for a moment Jessica looked over to Jaune to see if he was okay, which he replied with a thumbs up.
Letting out a sigh of relief, Jessica started to give Jaune a thumbs up response only to be interrupted by the alien Red Lantern breaking from the crystal restraint and haymaker punching Jessica hard enough to send her plowing into the street pavement.
"Jessica!" Jaune yelled as the human Red Lantern was also freed from the crystal construct disappearing.
"Kill the weakling and get the dust, I'll handle the Lantern," The hulking alien said in his extremely deep voice as he turned his attention to Jessica who was still trying to get back on her feet.
Jaune looked around panicking while looking for something to defend himself. Leaving the suitcases behind in the restaurant Jaune tumbled towards the street, dodging a slash of an energy sword that the human Red Lantern created.
The Red Lantern swung again and again, Jaune rolling and scampering onto the street where a slash almost took off his head if he was any slower with his dodge.
Jaune froze as he didn't know where else he could run as the Red Lantern formed a spear to impale him.
THUMP! A large boulder smacked the human Red Lantern to the ground. Jaune looked and saw Jessica hovering in the air with a bloody nose, having just smashed the other Red Lantern into the pavement.
Jaune gave a quick nod thanking her for the save as he grabbed a steel pole that was a piece of a street sign that the Red Lantern had chopped up trying to kill him. He then picked up a metal trash can lid to use as a shield as the Red Lantern started to get back up his feet.
"Aaah" Jaune yelled as he took a swing at him trying to knock him out.
"Eehk" Jaune let out a panicking squeal as the Red Lantern countered by grabbing his pole and slicing it shorter with claws that he materialized around his hands.
The Red Lantern swung again and again as Jaune continued to bob and weave. The Red Lantern then created a giant meat cleaver several times larger than himself and swept it at Jaune.
Jaune put up his shield (trash can lid) to defend himself as he braced for the impact. CLANK! Jaune opened his eyes and noticed he had encased the pole and the trash can lid in a white energy barrel that looked like a strong aura, blocking the attack completely.
Meanwhile Jessica was firing a giant minigun she created, plowing the the other Red Lantern into the ground, she then summoned a massive hammer with a rocket engine on the back, boasting itself forward as it smashed the alien farther into the ground, hitting him with enough force that the ground rippled like a wave.
"Woah!" Jaune said as both he and the human Red Lantern tried to keep their balance from the mini earthquake Jessica caused.
Jaune then lunged forward and swung up, taking advantage of his opponent's bad position and balance.
Dong! "OH MY GOSH I'M SO SORRY MISTER BAD GUY!" Jaune yelled as he noticed that he had brutally hit the guy's groin.
The Red Lantern stood emotionless for a moment as he looked like he might pass out.
"You gonna be okay?" Jaune asked, concerned like he was talking to a friend.
The Red Lantern finally bent over and heaved up a massive amount of blood that burned the ground like corrosive acid.
"EEEW That's not right, you should definitely get that checked out," Jaune said as he covered his mouth, disgusted at the sight.
After a moment the Red Lantern's focus refixed on Jaune, he heaved another load of acid blood, this time aiming it directly at Jaune.
Jaune blocked the rancid fluid with his shield (trash can lid) but the liquid quickly broke through his barrier and began dissolving the metal, causing Jaune to promptly drop it.
"EEEWWWW that is disgusting!" Jaune exclaimed.
The human Red Lantern's facial expression then changed to one of fear as he stopped looking at jaune and started looking at something behind him.
Jaune then turned around and saw Jessica flying behind him with a floating giant octopus that must have been a hundred and fifty feet tall.
The Red Lantern then created a flamethrower and Ax and tried to use them to keep the creature back, only to have the octopus's tentacles quickly wrapped around him and begin crushing him, crushing his constructs first then his body.
Jaune then snapped himself out of his gazing at Jessica's strength and took the pole and struck the guy in the head knocking him out while Jessica held him.
"Phew… good work," Jessica said as she created a bar cage and tossed the unconscious Red Lantern into it.
"Thanks… My semblance seems to work differently here, I'm still learning how it works" Jaune said as he practiced creating a shield around himself.
"Different universe, different roles I guess…" Jessica replied as she wiped some sweat off of her brouw.
"I guess that makes sense, you fight pretty amazing here, not that you didn't fight well last time we met um," Jaune replied.
"Warning, ring power low," a quiet warning the ring said to Jessica.
"It's strange, these Red Lanterns' rage power was really low, I don't know if I could have taken them if they were not rookies… we can't let them call for backup… I gotta go get the other guy," Jessica explained as she turned and walked down the street to the unconscious alien.
Jaune stayed behind, not really understanding what she was talking about but understanding that it was important that their attackers didn't escape, so he stayed ready to knock out the human Red Lantern if he started to wake up.
Jessica summoned a thick long chain as she walked into the crater she created from smashing her assailant into the street. She willed the chain to then start wrapping around the unconscious alien Red Lantern.
As the chain started to wrap around him, his ring spiked in red light and his eyes snapped open burning with rage and fury. With his hulking hand he grabbed the chain trying to pull Jessica toward him as she pulled the other direction with all her might trying to keep him from breaking free of the chains.
"YOUR WILL… IS WEAAAK!" He yelled as the chains shattered.
Jessica Immediately flew above him and created a massive battle ax, she cleaved it down at the Red Lantern with all her might hoping to kill him.
He raised his fist, punching the blade of the ax with his fist protected by a projected gauntlet of red energy.
The ax shattered as Jessica's will wavered slightly.
The Red Lantern then projected a chainsaw and flew into the air after her.
Jessica countered by creating another chain and swung it at him, wrapping it around the chainsaw causing it to jam.
The Red Lantern then pulled the chainsaw so hard it flung Jessica to the ground near where Jaune was, the force shattering her construct again.
"Warning, ring power is critically low," the ring alerted her as she quickly got back on her feet.
"JAUNE GET BACK!" Jessica yelled, shoving him aside as the Red Lantern flew at them both.
The attacker smashed into the ground, plowing Jessica into it and sending Jaune flying back all the way into the back kitchen inside the restaurant.
"Protection measures failing," the ring alerted as the Red Lantern picked her up and threw her into a fire hydrant.
"YOU CAN DIE SLOW KNOWING YOUR FAILURE AS A LANTERN," The Red Lantern said as he projected a giant spear and plugged it at her.
"NOO NOO!" Jessica yelled, a mixture of defiant will and fear filling her heart as the shield she created to stop the spear cracked and strained.
"Uhg," The human Red Lantern said as he regained consciousness with no restraints around him.
"GET AWAY FROM HER!" Jaune yelled as he ran at them with a large bread knife from the kitchen.
"Deal with him, and get the dust, I'm gonna enjoy doing this slowly!" The alien Red Lantern said.
The human Red Lantern then created a flamethrower and engulfing the whole restaurant as Jaune turned around to avoid the flames. As the Red Lantern's rage burned higher so did the flames untilthe whole building was engulfed.
Jessica's shield finally shattered as her will did too, her thinking that Jaune probably died in the flames.
Jessica questioned in her mind where she had made a mistake, what she could have done better as she felt the pain from the spear impaling through her chest slowly.
"Let's go," The Red Lantern said as Jessica stopped being of interest to him as she accepted her fate.
The two Red Lanterns then flew off into the sky with the dust.
"What… have I done…" Jessica said as she found it becoming harder to breathe by the second.
"I'm…so…sorry…" Jessica said, tears dripping from her eyes as she found it hard to stay awake.
"JESSICA!" Jaune yelled as he ran over to her, coming from the burned out restaurant.
"Ja…Jaune…" Jessica said with a big smile on her face as she was happy to see he was okay.
"Sta, STAY WITH ME DON'T CLOSE YOUR EYES!" Jaune yelled, panicking as the water from the fire hydrant turned red from her blood.
"Its, it's okay… I'm just happy to see you are okay…" Jessica stuttered.
"Don't talk like that! You're gonna be okay!" Jaune said, his voice trembling as he put his hands over her chest to stop the bleeding.
"One of..the other Lanterns should be able to get you back, to your… world" Jessica said, it becoming extremely difficult for her to hold enough air to speak.
"No…NO…YOU WILL," Jaune replied, his tone almost angry as his hands started to glow with pure bright light.
"My, My Healing works here…" Jaune said to himself, surprised by the healing powers he was feeling flow through himself.
"Huuuh" Jessica's eyes lit up with hope as she felt her lung reinflate with air, then her ribs snapping back together and healed, until her flesh was totally healed like nothing had ever happened to it.
"Holy Crap!" Jessica exclaimed as she breathed heavily from shock at what just happened.
"I'm… I'm ok… I'm… I'm Okay!" Jessica said as she felt her chest and abs, seeing no sign of any damage.
"I didn't think I would be able to heal in this world, since you guys don't have aura… I'm so glad I was wrong," Jaune said as he wiped a tear from his eyes.
Jessica got up and leaned forward giving him a tight hug, "Thank you, for saving me again," Jessica replied.
"Pretty sure I would have been toast there if it wasn't for you, so we still even," Jaune replied, laughing a bit.
The two were helping each other wash of the blood using the water from the broken fire hydrant when another figure landed behind them.
"Jessica! What happened?" A man said from behind Jaune.
"Hal… what took you so long!?" Jessica said seeing the senior Green Lantern land behind Jaune.
"What, I came here alerted by my ring telling me that your ring had lost power, how could you expect backup if you don't even call for it!" Hal replied, frustrated with her being in so much danger.
"What, but, I did call you, I called you an hour ago to pick up a package I had for the justice league," Jessica replied.
"You did? I never got that message…" Hal replied, scratching his chin as he examined the scene.
"Signs of Red Lantern activity," Hal's ring said as he noticed the acid blood on the ground.
"Perhaps you were being tailed and your signal was jammed," Hal explained.
"That would make sense I suppose," Jessica replied with a sigh.
"But it's still absolutely reckless for you to be working alone!" Hal scolded her.
"Simon is in the hospital with a broken leg!" Jessica replied.
"That is why you were assigned to the Justice League," Hal said firmly.
"And they assigned me to take care of this mission! I don't need someone babysitting me, and besides… I wasn't alone," Jessica snapped back.
"And who is this?" Hal asked.
"Um, hi, I'm Jaune, Jaune Arc" Jaune replied, offering his hand to shake.
"Is he a civilian?" Hal leaned in and whispered to Jessica.
"No… he's a healer and a protector," Jessica replied.
"Well I guess that's better than no help," Hal said.
CRACKPOW. The ripping sound of a sonic boom hit them just before Superman landed not far from them
"Jessica! Are you hurt!?" Superman asked, worried as he walked towards them.
"I'm fine, Jaune healed me," Jessica replied, making it sound like she was never in any real danger.
"Thank goodness, your vital readings on your implant were almost non-existent…" Superman said.
"Is that sooo…" Hal said with a judgmental look.
"Yea, must have been glitching, cause it really wasn't anything that serious," Jessica replied nervously.
"Sooo, the dust got stolen?" Superman asked.
"That would be a correct assumption," Jaune replied.
"Good to see you again Jaune, sorry my world not being the kindest to you on your first day here," Superman said cordially.
"It's no worries, I came to help," Jaune replied.
"Dust? Different world? Seems like I'm outta the loop here," Hal said.
"It our prime natural energy source on my world," Jaune replied.
"We think we can create a cure for this Grimm pathogen with it," Superman explained.
"We'll then we should probably get to finding this stolen "dust"," Hal responded.
"Two Red Lanterns took it, they could use it to find out about Remnant, We can't allow that," Jessica said.
"Remnant?" Hal asked.
"That would be my world," Jaune replied.
"I see…Anything you noticed about them?" Hal asked.
"Their constructs were strange, weak for a Red Lantern, I have a feeling they were exiled rookies…" Jessica explained.
"What makes you think that?" Superman asked.
"Because I felt a massive amount of fear in them, and it wasn't fear of me, my guess is fear of not being a worthy Red Lantern, the red ring can drive you insane if you're not fit for it." Jessica elaborated.
"Hmm, hopefully we can track them down fast enough, I'll have the green lanterns make sure no one leaves the planet," Hal said.
"Batman will get on tracking them down," Superman added.
"I can help search for them," Jessica said, her voice high-pitched from a little nervousness.
"Jessica, you did well but don't worry, we'll take it from here," Superman said, putting his hand on her shoulder, then giving her a nod before flying off into the sky.
"You heard him, for the time being I want you to stand down Jessica, I'll deal with this mess," Hal said as he gestured to all the craters and destruction of property.
" Sigh… Understood," Jessica replied.
"Oh Hal," Jessica said
"Yes?" Hal replied.
"I need a charge," Jessica said as she held up her ring to him.
" Sigh, you should never drain it low enough to where you can't charge it yourself," Hal said.
"Yeah I Know," Jessica replied with a little testiness as he summoned a power lantern and let her charge her ring.
Thanks to everyone for reading my work please feel free to tell me anything you liked or didn't like, all feedback helps me become a better writer so I'll be thankful for any feedback I get.
I should have chapter 2 ready by next week.