Three

Kate was still shaky by the time they'd made it out of the building. What happens now? she wondered, and glanced for about the fiftieth time at the alien she'd helped rescue from this secret military base.

Now, we try to save the world, came J'onn's reply in her head.

She stopped walking for a moment, surprised, then trailed after the men again. She narrowed her eyes at the Martian's back, wondering if he could hear everything she was thinking at all times, or only some things.

"We'll need to contact the Joint Chiefs right away," Superman was saying.

Just then, a bright spotlight shone over all four of them, blinding Kate.

"Stop right there, Superman," a military man commanded. "You're trespassing in a restricted area. Our orders are to keep that freak here."

Anger seared Kate's body, boiling her blood. She came to stand on the other side of Batman and looked out at the mass of soldiers who'd shown up out of nowhere, glaring at them even as the floodlights washed her vision in white, angry that anyone would call J'onn a freak. She remembered the tanks Superman had mentioned, the ones scattered all over the field just outside the base, and wondered where all these men had come from. Maybe they were the ones who'd been cooped up in one corner of the base, their heart rates strangely slow? Before she could reach out, to check to see if all those slow heartbeats were still there, Superman spoke up, distracting her.

"Wait! I'll vouch for him," the Man of Steel said, referring to J'onn. "You must let us go."

"I don't think so," came the reply.

"But the world's security may be at stake," Superman pleaded.

"That's why he'll never leave here alive," said the military man, and then he transformed before their eyes, his body elongating, becoming tall and thin. Any trace of human features also disappeared, replaced with a strange mass of white, sticky, constantly-shifting tendrils. All of the men, in fact, had transformed into aliens, whose small heads were dotted with three vertical red orbs. Eyes?

Kate's mouth went dry at the sight of them. She recognized these creatures from the visions J'onn had sent. These were the invaders he had warned about. Now there were dozens of them blocking the way out, aiming their strange guns at the group of heroes—and Kate, who was nothing but a nurse who happened to have certain powers. Kate, who could feel the world go sort of fuzzy as she stood there staring down the barrels of several guns, held by a mass of undulating white blobs.

Hope I'm not going into shock, she thought vaguely. Shock can kill you.

J'onn stepped forward, staring down the invaders. "It's them," he said ominously.

And before Kate could say, No shit, and pass out in terror, the invaders were shooting at them. She surely would've died in an instant if not for J'onn jumping in front of both her and Batman and taking the brunt of the first laser blast. And even as he was knocked back into the both of them and all three of them went flying, she found herself somehow cushioned in his arms, held tight against his body as his back slammed into something hard. She had no idea how he'd gotten behind her when he'd been in front of her a second before, but she was so disoriented that she couldn't really think about that—or anything else, for that matter.

"Stay down!" Batman ordered.

Easy enough, Kate thought dizzily. She heard some kind of explosion go off a moment later, which made her ears ring, and then she couldn't hear much of anything for a while.

J'onn let go of her, and she watched in shock as he phased through Batman to take the full force of another laser beam—to protect the Dark Knight and herself. Then he went down with a groan, which she knew somehow even as her ears rang so loudly that she could hear nothing else. It was as if she'd heard the groan of pain in her mind. For better or worse, she and J'onn seemed mentally linked. She wondered if that was a permanent thing…

Watching him crumple in pain, his face tightening, holding himself round the middle, made her heart twist in her chest. She got to her hands and knees and crawled toward him, reaching out to lay a hand on his shoulder, but it was covered by his cape. Would her healing powers work on him through clothing if he… was the clothing? His body had clearly transformed to give him not only his physical form, but also the superhero costume he now wore. She remembered the way the ridges along his collarbones had risen, pushed up, forming the collar of his cape.

Before she could think anything else about it, Batman was hauling the Martian to his feet and looking down at her as well. "Get up!" he barked.

Realizing she could hear again, though it was fuzzy, she rose shakily to her feet.

A large shadow loomed suddenly overhead and she couldn't help the scream that came out of her, though it was more of a pathetic squeak. She was absolutely terrified and so on edge that her whole body was trembling. Her fear in this one instance was unfounded; it was only Superman who had come over to them, holding an entire tank above his head.

"Get them to safety!" he told Batman. "I'll cover you."

Still feeling so shaky as to be unstable on her feet, Kate rushed forward and put J'onn's other arm around her shoulder, helping Batman carry him to the Batwing.

"There are only two seats in this thing," Batman told her. "You and J'onn will have to share. It'll be a tight fit."

Even before he was done speaking, Kate's entire body filled with absolute dread, which she didn't think was possible considering the situation she was currently in; surely she was already full-up on dread. Yet, somehow, the thought of standing and facing dozens of alien invaders didn't sound so bad now. She watched Batman lift J'onn into the back of the jet, her vision narrowing, and felt nauseous.

Batman turned impatiently toward her. "Get in!"

She shook her head, taking a step back, her hands up. "I can't," she breathed, already feeling like the jet's glass ceiling was closing over her head. "I'm claustrophobic. I can't get in there." Even without J'onn taking up most of the room in the backseat, she would never be able to get into that thing.

"We don't have time for this!" Batman shouted, but he did not leave. He was still a hero, still intent on saving the civilian here: her.

Kate, J'onn said.

Her eyes flicked to meet his face. His eyes were glowing.

Get in, he told her. I'll keep you calm.

Swallowing hard, knowing it was either get in the jet or die, she scrambled up inside and squeezed herself down onto the Martian's lap. "S-Sorry," she said, blushing fiercely. She'd been so terrified to get into an enclosed space that she hadn't even thought about this aspect of it.

Do not be sorry, he said. Focus on my voice, my mind.

Batman hopped into the jet. The glass began to slide down over them.

Kate breathed unsteadily, watching the glass with frantic eyes, feeling like she couldn't get enough air into her lungs. She'd be trapped in here forever. They'd crash-land somewhere and the other two would die and she'd be stuck in the backseat, so squished that there'd be no way for her to get out. She'd die from suffocation, her body bent into a pretzel, wheezing for breath. Hot tears leaked out of the corners of her eyes. She felt nauseous again.

Kate! J'onn said, his voice louder in her mind this time. Focus… on… me.

Desperate, terrified, feeling like the back of Batman's seat was slowly inching its way toward her, intent on crushing her between J'onn's body and the chair, she did the only thing she could. She dove head-first into the Martian's memories.

J'onn dipped his hands into the blue waters of the stream, splashing his face to cool off under the hot sun. He sat back in the grass, smiling and looking over his wife and two children. M'yri'ah sat on a blanket they'd spread out, held down by a few large, flat stones from the stream. Their two daughters, K'hym and T'ania, splashed and played in the water nearby.

"Be careful," J'onn warned them, though his voice was light. The stream was shallow and not much of a danger, though his children were both still young, and accidents could happen. He made his way back to his wife and sat beside her on the blanket, she resting her head on his shoulder as he put an arm around her.

"It's a perfect day," she mused, smiling as she gazed fondly at their children.

"Yes," he agreed, and closed his eyes, listening to their laughter, their shrieks as they splashed one another. He felt M'yri'ah shift against him and opened his eyes to see her lifting her face to his. He closed the distance between them with a kiss—

Kate tore herself out of his memories, feeling awful for having intruded on something so private. "I'm sorry," she said, though the words came out slightly slurred as she tried to get her bearings straight once more. Being in his head had not been like recalling one of her own memories; it had felt like she'd become him, gone back in time and space and been in his body, reliving that day.

J'onn did not reply in words, his mind nearly overtaken by that deep, dark depression she'd felt each time she connected to him telepathically. She did feel a small sense of reassurance; he was letting her know he did not mind that she'd seen.

How can you be so unbothered? she asked. They… they all died, didn't they? Wouldn't you want to keep those memories private?

Yes, they died, he said, his voice strangely flat, as if he were speaking (thinking) very carefully. Over five-hundred years ago. And I was left utterly alone to guard the place where the last of my kind fell. I've had nothing but memories for so long, and no one to share them with. My wife and children—my species—they are never coming back. But at least this way, sharing my memories of them, they'll… live on.

Kate softened at that, and looked down in surprise at his arms around her middle. She supposed she shouldn't have been surprised. He was only keeping her steady in their uncomfortable seating arrangement. But his arms felt nice there.

In her mind, she felt him poke and prod just a little, picking up on her thoughts, the way she'd relaxed against him, the way she felt with his arms around her.

She blushed so much her whole body went hot. I am so sorry, she thought.

But before J'onn could respond, Batman said, "Hang on!"

"What—" Kate began, and then felt her body push backwards hard against J'onn's as the Batwing sped up. The next thing she knew, the Dark Knight was attempting to do aerial ballet, flipping and turning at insanely high speed to avoid whatever was behind them. It felt like the world's worst rollercoaster, and Kate did not even like actual rollercoasters. Her whole body went rigid and she found herself gripping J'onn's arms, which were still around her middle, because those were the easiest things to reach in the moment. The only good thing about this situation was that she did not usually scream when she was afraid, so at least her cries of terror could not distract Batman from his flying. Instead, she sat there, pale and shaky, sweating, and dug her fingernails into the Martian's arms without realizing she was doing it as the jet did loop-de-loops and made ninety-degree turns.

Suddenly, the whole jet tilted fully sideways and stayed that way, and the interior went dark as they passed under something. Or… through something? It was extremely difficult for Kate to tell what was happening, considering how quickly they were flying. Everything outside just seemed like a big blur, and half the time she couldn't even tell if they were right-side-up or upside-down. Now, as her body was suspended in place from the seatbelt strapped across her entire chest, she firmly squeezed her eyes shut and decided to just leave them like that until this whole thing was over. She didn't remember even putting on a seatbelt. J'onn must've done that at some point.

They straightened out again quickly, but then, a moment later, Kate jolted forward, the harness going rigid and keeping her from banging her forehead against the back of Batman's chair. "What the hell was that?" she yelled.

The jet began to spin out of control and drop from the sky. They'd been hit.

Kate went utterly silent again in terror, this time accompanied by nausea. We're gonna die.

We're not going to die, J'onn said.

How do you know?

All motion stopped. Kate opened her eyes, confused, to see some kind of glowing green light emanating from outside the jet.

"What happened?" Batman asked.

"Help has arrived," J'onn replied.

Confused, and more than a little dizzy, Kate looked up to see someone or something swoop overhead on large wings.

"Hawkgirl?" Batman said. "What's she doing here?"

I'll have to leave you now, J'onn said into Kate's mind.

What? she asked, but he was already gone, his body suddenly intangible. It was the oddest sight, watching him float up through the canopy of the jet, and even odder to suddenly drop a few inches down into the seat, feel the harness settle correctly over her chest and shoulders now that she was no longer sharing it with the Martian. What the hell…

"Get out," Batman said.

"What?" she asked again, so thoroughly confused at this point that she was sure this entire night had been a crazy dream.

"Out," he repeated sternly.

She realized that the canopy had slid away and peeked over the side of the Batwing to see that they were safely on solid ground. Feeling extremely shaky, her legs made of jelly, she clambered out. Her eyes were on the sky above, watching in awe as J'onn, Superman, and now Green Lantern and Hawkgirl flew about, destroying ship after ship of alien invaders. Explosions went off every few seconds, lighting up the dark sky and the surrounding mountains. Every once in a while, and far off, as if in a dream, she felt some psychic pain from one of the superheroes flying around. The pain did not register as it normally did, however. She was so in shock from all that had happened that her empathetic powers seemed dulled. In fact, she was so out of it that she did not notice when the gigantic piece of ship wreckage came sailing through the air straight toward her.

Suddenly, she was on the ground, the wind knocked out of her, Batman's body over top of hers. And even despite the shield he was creating, she could feel the heat from the flames of the wreckage a foot away.

"Are you all right?" he asked.

"I-I think so…"

"Good," he said, yanking her to her feet. He wasn't gentle with her—hadn't been since the beginning—but she got the sense that Batman wasn't gentle with anyone.

She had no time to dwell on this fact, though, as the entire group of superheroes now converged on their location.

"Hey, Bats!" one man called out, and by the time Kate's eyes found him, he was gone. "I think you dropped this." Suddenly the man was in front of them, holding a torn-off chunk of the Batwing on his shoulder. The Flash. Well, that explained how he'd disappeared and reappeared from view so quickly.

Kate stood silently and watched the others talk, watched Diana of the Amazons introduce herself, watched Flash attempt to flirt.

"Themyscira is protected by the Gods, but I could not idly stand by while the rest of the world was in danger," Diana explained.

"It was lucky you showed up when you did," Superman told her.

"No, not luck," J'onn said, coming closer to the group. "I telepathically summoned them."

Kate, who had been feeling very out of place during all this talk, felt a little more comfortable as she gazed upon the Martian. His presence reminded her that he had reached out to her just as equally as he'd reached out to Superman. Apparently, he thought she belonged here, which definitely made her feel… some kind of way. But she'd been rather useless so far.

"Look," said the Flash, "I'm usually pretty quick on the uptake, but would someone please tell me what the heck is going on here?"

And so, J'onn explained to everyone why he was here, and as he spoke, Kate's mind was filled with visions once more. But this time, they did not hurt, and were much clearer.

Mars, one thousand years ago, lush and full of life. There was a sense of peace and prosperity, a sense that all was right with the world. J'onn stood on his balcony with M'yri'ah, staring out at the city. And then, in seconds, everything changed. Dozens of large comet-like objects came crashing down around the buildings, causing mayhem and destruction, killing people, spreading fires.

Then came the large red-and-white Walkers, tall as skyscrapers, shooting beams of death from their strange eyes.

"We Martians were peaceful people," J'onn explained, as the visions continued to sweep through Kate's mind. "The taking of any life was abhorrent to us. But we quickly learned the ways of war." Bombs went off behind Kate's eyes; Walkers exploded and crashed to the ground, scoring the earth.

"For centuries, the battles raged on. Every trace of our once-great civilization was obliterated." Kate saw groups of weary Martians marched away to God knew where by invaders who trained guns on them. One Martian fell in exhaustion and was mercilessly executed. "We fought valiantly, but the invaders were parasites who fed on our psychic energy. As we grew weaker, they grew stronger. They even absorbed our shape-changing abilities."

Now, she saw Martians locked away in strange cocoon-like structures, their heartbeats slowed, left in stasis. She saw an invader place his strange pulsating fingers on a Martian's forehead and become him.

"Finally, a small group of Martian survivors planned one final desperate attack."

Kate saw a group of Martians wearing full-body suits, holding guns, charge ahead through enemy territory. It was the first time she'd seen Martians wear clothing in any of J'onn's memories. The one in front of the group—J'onn—threw a grenade ahead of himself into an upcoming room, decimating a few invaders. But then, as they entered, they were attacked from above. A few moments later, reinforcements on the enemy side showed up and forced them to retreat. Most of the Martian survivors died. J'onn pulled a foreign object from his pack, and Kate could sense his desperation. This was the last thing he had in his arsenal. If this didn't work, they would be lost.

"Inside their underground stronghold, we unleashed a powerful nerve gas which paralyzed them." Kate saw the gas fill up the stronghold as J'onn ran around as quickly as he could, releasing canister after canister. She saw the invaders drop to their knees, weapons forgotten, clutching at their throats.

"The attack was successful, but the cost was dear. I was the only survivor, the last of my kind."

Kate's heart twisted inside her. She stared at J'onn as he spoke, telling the story in full for the first time since it had happened five-hundred years ago. She wanted to hug him, to tell him… what? That it was okay? It wasn't. There was nothing she could say that would make what had happened okay. Even the fact that he had lived wasn't necessarily a good thing. She couldn't imagine being trapped on a planet all by herself for the rest of her very long life. Some small part of her wondered why he hadn't simply killed himself, terrible as the thought was.

As if he'd heard her, J'onn went on. "I sealed up their citadel to keep them in a constant state of suspended animation. For over five-hundred years, I stood guard over them. But then, while I was in a hibernation cycle, astronauts from Earth unsealed the stronghold and accidentally revived the invaders."

So that was why he'd stayed. The gas hadn't actually killed them, only paralyzed them. He'd said as much earlier, but she'd assumed he'd meant paralyzed and killed. So he had been forced to stay there forever to prevent their escape—forced, and had also felt responsible. And after half a millenium, he'd failed. She only wanted to hug him even more now, could finally understand in full the absolute sorrow that seemed to permeate his every thought. She wiped at her eyes; this happened often. Being an empath, and especially working in a hospital—a place of so much pain—she often cried the tears that others could not, either because they thought that crying was weak or because they simply couldn't cry. And now, she cried for J'onn, for all he had gone through in the past thousand years.

A few of the others glanced at her awkwardly. She waved them off and wiped at her eyes again, tears drying now. In her mind, she felt J'onn's gentle touch, an acknowledgement of her tears, a small thank-you for shedding them on his behalf. For being a different species, he already seemed so human to her, so… open. Much more open than she would've thought he'd be, given all that had happened to him. Would it not make more sense for him to be reticent? Distrustful, even? Yet, he was as honest with his emotions as a child.

"Wait," Flash said, "those astronauts never said anything about finding life on Mars."

"Hmph." Green Lantern made a face. "Some pencil pusher in Washington probably decided it should be classified information."

J'onn moved closer to the rest of the group, away from the cliff's edge he'd been standing on, looking out at the world. "With all the Martians gone, the invaders had nothing left to feed upon, so they turned their sights to Earth. I narrowly escaped and came here to warn of the coming danger. While I was being held against my will, the invaders sent advance agents to disable Earth's defenses."

"That's why they sabotaged the deep-space monitoring network," Batman chimed in. "So we couldn't detect their activities."

Kate narrowed her eyes at him, wondering at that comment, wondering at all she'd missed.

"We've gotta stop them before it's too late," Green Lantern said with conviction.

"It may already be too late," J'onn said, turning away again.

Well, aren't you a bucket of sunshine, Kate thought.

These invaders decimated my planet and killed my entire species, came J'onn's voice in her mind.

She started, having forgotten he could hear her. Then, annoyed, she asked, Are we just permanently telepathically linked now?

No, he replied. But when you think things directly at me, I cannot help but hear them. Perhaps you should learn to put walls up around your mind if you do not wish me to hear your thoughts.

She blushed and stared at her winter boots. I'm new to the telepathy thing, remember?

I will teach you to construct a wall in your mind, J'onn began, but before he could say anymore, a loud explosion sounded from far off.

"What was that?" Diana asked.

"It's begun," J'onn said, staring out from the cliff edge once more.

Kate and the others came to stand near him and stare out at the spot where Metropolis was, far beyond this valley. In between two mountains in the distance, on the horizon, she could see… smoke? Clouds? They must have been clouds because they sparked with lightning. But these were unlike any clouds she'd ever seen: faster-moving, larger, black. Not just dark gray like rainclouds, but actually black. And that sound… It was unlike any thunder she'd ever heard.

"What are they doing?" Hawkgirl asked.

"The invaders are nocturnal," J'onn explained. "They want to blot out the sun so they can live in perpetual darkness."

"Friends of yours?" Flash asked Batman.

The Dark Knight glared at him. "It's no joke."

"What a stupid idea," Kate muttered. "If they have to eat us, or whatever, they'll all die out with us when the sun goes."

"Bad guys don't tend to think that far ahead," Green Lantern said.

"What's the big problem?" Flash asked J'onn, going up to join him at the front. "Can't you just whip up another batch of that nerve gas?"

"Unfortunately, no. The gas can only be made from a rare Martian plant. I brought a sample with me, but it was destroyed when I was captured."

Do you think the people who captured you were the invaders all along? Kate wondered.

I don't think so, J'onn replied. They would have been all too happy to gloat about having captured me, but never did so. Surely, at some point, one of them would've let slip who they were. After all, I was locked up with no way to get out or let anyone know I was there. I'm fairly certain I was held prisoner by humans, who were only recently swapped out with these aliens.

Kate frowned, disappointed in her species. J'onn, I'm so sorry.

I know. And I appreciate your feelings on my behalf. But right now, we have more important things to think about.

"Lady, this is no job for amateurs," Green Lantern was telling Diana.

"We Amazons are warriors born!" she retorted, getting in his face. "Want to test me?"

Green Lantern pushed his face just as close to hers.

"Let's not fight among ourselves," Superman cut in.

Yeah, Kate thought. Besides, if anyone's an amateur here, it's me.

"John," the Man of Steel continued, "we're going to need all the help we can get."

Kate was confused until she realized Superman had been speaking to Green Lantern. John, not J'onn. She was surprised he'd used the man's real name, and wondered if Lantern was one of the few superheroes who didn't hide his true identity.

"Fine," Lantern said, still glaring at Diana. "Sorry… Your Highness."

I'm gonna die, Kate thought.

I'll keep you safe, J'onn said.

Why? She was flattered that he would do so but did not understand his reasoning. They'd only met an hour ago and yet, he seemed so willing to protect her already… just as she was willing to protect him. It was odd, their caring attitudes toward one another.

You drove three hours to a military base you thought would be swarming with soldiers to rescue me, he told her. I am indebted to you.

Ah, so that was it. He felt he owed her something. Listen, she began. You don't—

"Tactically, we'll have multiple objectives," Green Lantern said, cutting off her thought. "So we'll need to split into teams."

"Dibs on the Amazon," Flash said, rushing to put an arm around Diana.

The look on Diana's face at the prospect would've made Kate laugh if her stomach weren't currently twisting into knots. Feeling ill, she went and stood beside J'onn.

Everyone seemed to notice her existence then.

"Who are you, by the way?" Green Lantern asked, giving her a once-over, probably noting her lack of a superhero costume.

Kate felt like it was the first day of school in second grade and they were all going around in a circle introducing themselves. She blushed, then hated herself for it. She'd always flushed easily, from embarrassment, from anger. "Kate Stanton," she said. "I'm… an Empath. And a healer."

"Could be useful," Flash said, giving her a thumbs up.

She gave him a weak smile in return.

"Do you have any other powers we don't know about?" Batman asked. There was something in his tone that suggested he would know if she was lying, or he'd find out.

She sighed deeply, holding her stomach. "I can… sap the life-force of other living things and transfer it to myself. Potentially, this could kill my target. But in order to heal or hurt, I have to be touching someone's bare skin. Feelings I can sense without having to touch anyone, though." She glanced at J'onn. "And, apparently, I'm telepathic, too, but I didn't even know about that until tonight."

Everyone seemed to take a step away from her after her explanation. This did not surprise her, though it stung more than she would ever admit.

She stuffed her hands into her pockets, then remembered she had gloves in one of them. She took them out and hurriedly put them on. "There. Now I can't… do anything." Memories played unbidden in her mind, of the first time she'd ever laid hands on another person, trying to do something to ease the pain she felt radiating from him.

A ten-year-old Katie and her mother sat beside her father's hospital bed as he lay resting. The doctors were never quite sure what had happened to him, but he'd gotten an infection somehow, though there had been no obvious cuts, scrapes or other wounds on his body that they'd found. He'd been in the hospital for weeks as the doctors and nurses did everything they could to keep him alive and keep his fever down.

Katie, who had spent every day after school sitting in a chair beside her father's bed, staring at him while her homework went undone, had begun to feel… things that she couldn't explain. Emotions that were not her own, as well as pains in her body that she didn't understand. She'd been terrified, at first, that she was getting sick, too, but she never showed any signs of illness once she left the hospital. She'd been too scared to tell her mother, had not wanted to worry her more than she already was.

One day, while sitting there staring at her father, his face sheened in sweat, she'd desperately wanted to take his pain away, and had put her hands on his face and wished it, had thought—like any child—that if she only wished hard enough, it would happen. Something had happened, but she hadn't known what she was doing. In her wish to take from her father, she had stolen his life-force instead—hadn't known, that, in order to heal, it was a delicate process of giving, as well. Just as she had to take the pain, she also had to give of herself.

In horror, and unable to pull her hands away, she'd watched her father's face grow paler and paler, until he was white as a bedsheet. And in herself, she felt sudden strength and energy. She felt better, physically, than she had in days, for she had not slept or eaten well since her father had fallen ill.

And then her mother had woken from her nap—she'd been so tired lately—and given a cry of horror, and yanked her away. It had taken hours to explain what had happened, and her mother had looked at her with suspicion for months afterwards. Her father had lived, but had been in the hospital for a long time, and had left it permanently wheelchair-bound, his limbs too weak to support him, and no amount of physical therapy was enough to recover from whatever Katie had done to him—

Kate felt a heavy hand on her shoulder and turned to see J'onn gazing down at her with what she could only assume was sympathy. In truth, it was difficult to read his emotions via his face, especially his eyes, as he always looked so stoic. Always, as if she'd known him longer than a few hours.

It was not your fault, he said. You didn't know what you were doing.

Yeah, well… I didn't even touch my powers again until ten years later.

That was probably for the best. Before she could argue, he added, Come. You'll be with Batman, Diana, and I.

She swallowed. Does that mean I have to get back in the jet? Superman had used his heat vision to weld the broken wing back onto it. Somehow this made her even less eager to fly off inside of it.

I could carry you, but with how quickly we must reach our destination, I'm not sure it would be very comfortable for you.

Kate blinked at how casually he suggested carrying her.

Since I can fly again, that means I don't have to be in there with you, and you may feel less claustrophobic with more room.

She took a deep breath and marched over to the Batwing, staring down inside the backseat. Then she remembered that, not only had she felt crushed inside it, they'd almost all died, being shot at by the invaders. Feeling shaky and nauseous, she thought, I think I'll take my chances being carried, thanks.