Ten

On the morning of the second week, Kate woke slowly, blinking into existence, yawning and stretching. In a chair near the bed, she stared at J'onn's knees as he read a book. She didn't speak yet, still too sleepy for that, and tempted to roll over and try to catch another few hours if she could. She'd been sleeping progressively better, but still not great. She'd been up three separate times last night, sweating and shaking from nightmares, though she barely recalled them now. J'onn had come and sat on the edge of her bed and hadn't touched her at all, but he'd spoken in a low voice and told her about his life. This is what he'd done every night for the last two weeks, to calm her down, to talk her back into sleep. And if that didn't work, they'd breathe together for several minutes, until her body felt languid and relaxed.

Kate did decide to roll over and close her eyes, hoping for more sleep, her limbs still heavy, but something nagged at her that she found difficult to ignore. There was some sense of unease coming from somewhere that she couldn't quite pinpoint. She lay there and tried to think it through. Was she afraid she'd have more nightmares, so she didn't want to sleep? Was she too hot under the blankets? Did she have a headache?

She sat bolt upright in bed, reaching out for that discomfort. It was coming through the wall, from the apartment next to her. It was not her own. She was using empathy. Throwing caution to the wind, she sent her powers far and wide, as far as she could stretch them, and it was like gaining back a severed limb, or as if she'd been blind for the last two weeks and now she could finally see again.

J'onn looked up from his book.

She brought her powers close again and aimed them at him, sensing his curiosity, his cautious hopefulness. He had felt her empathy sweep over him.

Tentatively, she reached out a tiny curling tendril of thought. J'onn? She expected that splitting headache to come crashing down, the one that had so debilitated her the first time she'd tried using telepathy after the Imperium, but nothing happened. After two weeks, she assumed that whatever damage those tentacles had done to her mind had healed.

Kate, J'onn thought, and washed her mind in joy and relief. He was smiling.

She threw the covers off of her legs and got up in the same moment that he also stood, tossing the book onto the chair behind him. They embraced. She stood in his arms, holding him tightly, for once unafraid of touching him or anyone else. Now that she had her powers back, she knew his mind, knew beyond a shadow of a doubt, that he would touch her and never hurt her, and she would do the same for him. She had known before, too, but it had not been the same as this.

She felt his skin beneath her cheek, smoother and harder than human skin, and wished she could hear his heartbeat there, even though she knew it lay in his abdomen—

His heart suddenly thudded quickly beneath her ear.

She blinked in surprise and pulled her head back to look at his chest. Blushing horribly, she risked a glance at his face. Did you hear me?

He was staring down at her with an indiscernible expression, his emotions a jumble inside. Yes.

Did you move your entire heart because I wanted you to?

Yes.

She laughed nervously. "Sorry. I didn't…" She fell silent, only looking at him, her eyes tracing the contours of his face, the black around his eyes.

Neither of them moved for so long that she wondered if they'd merely stare at each other for the rest of time, until they became rooted to the spot, calcified. But inside their minds, there was a slow kind of tasting, a mixing of thought and emotion, back and forth, like a kiss. An acknowledgement of feeling, of some attraction they had both been suppressing.

J'onn's eyes glowed.

Inside her mind, Kate felt a strange kind of static, her connection to the Martian fading a little. "What is that?" she asked, concerned.

"It's Batman."

"Batman is telepathic?"

"No, but he knows that if he calls out to me, I can hear it."

"What does he want? Is everything okay?" Panic gripped her heart as she wondered if the city was under siege again.

"He wants… you to answer your phone," J'onn said slowly.

"What?" Kate asked.

And then her cellphone rang.

She jumped out of her skin, then laughed at herself and grabbed it off the nightstand where it had been charging. "Um… Hello?"

"Put me on speakerphone," Batman demanded, voice just as gruff as she remembered.

Brows furrowing, she did so. "You're on speakerphone," she told him. "How did you even get this—"

"Good. How long do you two intend to hole up in that apartment?"

Kate glanced around uncomfortably. "A-Are you spying on us?"

"I'm Batman," Batman replied, as if that answered her question.

"Is that a yes?"

"Listen. I'm sending some of the others to come get you in the Javelin."

"The what?"

"The airship."

Horrible memories of the Batwing flooded Kate's mind. She opened her mouth to deny the hero whatever he was suggesting—

"It's much bigger than the Batwing. Kate, you should be fine inside."

She closed her mouth with an audible click and glanced around her bedroom again. Are we sure he's not spying on us? she asked J'onn.

No, the Martian said. Aloud, he said, "What's going on? Is there an emergency?"

"No. The city seems calm for the moment. But you're needed."

"For what?" J'onn asked.

"They'll be there in twenty minutes. Be ready." Batman hung up.

Kate blinked at her phone for several seconds. "Did that just happen?"

"Unfortunately," J'onn replied with a sigh.

"Well… I guess I'd better get dressed."

###

Twenty minutes later, on the dot, a giant jet-looking aircraft parked itself in the middle of the street beside Kate's apartment building. She stared out her window at it, open-mouthed, then hurried out to go yell at whoever had decided to park it there. J'onn followed along behind her, hovering, and back in his superhero look.

Halfway down the stairs, the Flash appeared in the stairwell. "Come on!" he said. "You guys are so slow!"

"You only think that because—"

He disappeared in a rush of wind that echoed through the stairwell.

"Never mind," she muttered.

May I? J'onn asked silently.

In her mind, she saw him pick her up and fly her down the rest of the stairs. "Yes," she said. "Please. Or Flash might have an aneurysm."

He chuckled—a deep, delicious sound that made her stomach flip—and gently scooped her up into his arms.

She felt no discomfort in this action, despite the automatic reminder of the Imperium at his touch. Her emotions had distanced themselves from that incident, at least where J'onn was concerned. He was already so familiar to her now, and doubly so what with their mental connection reestablished, that she no longer needed time to get used to touching him. She kept her head pressed to his shoulder, eyes closed, to fight off the nausea of flying quickly down three flights of stairs, around and around.

He put her down at the exit to the apartment building, and as she went through the door she thought, How did Flash get in without the code?

J'onn had no answer for her.

They stepped inside the Javelin. Batman had been right; this thing was much bigger than the Batwing and able to comfortably seat several people. Superman was sitting at the front in one of the pilot's seats. "Good to see you two," he said. "Sit down and strap in."

"Where are we going?" Kate asked apprehensively as she and J'onn did as they were told.

"You'll see." Superman turned over his shoulder and smiled at them.

I trust Superman, she told J'onn, but all this secrecy is freaking me out.

It is bothering me as well, he replied. What are they hiding from us?

She and J'onn shared a glance, then settled back in their seats as the jet took off.

"Hope you're not afraid of outer space," the Flash told them from his own seat.

"What?" Kate asked. "Where exactly are we going?"

"Batman built this big space station thingy above Metropolis and—"

"Flash!" Superman reprimanded.

"Okay, someone had better tell me what the hell is going on or I demand that you stop this thing and let me out!" Kate said very loudly, using her best Bossy Nurse voice, which she only pulled out in emergencies.

"Well, it was supposed to be a surprise," Superman began, "but all right." And he told her and J'onn about the Justice League, and the Watchtower, and how the eight of them were going to band together against the evil of the world.

"The eight of us?" Kate asked.

"Me, Superman, you two, Hawkgirl, GL, Diana, and Bats," Flash said, and even though Kate could only see the lower half of his face, he still looked like a kid in a candy store.

Kate sat there and tried to understand what was happening, but her mind seemed strangely fuzzy, like TV static. "Why do you want me?"

"Don't sell yourself short," Superman told her. "You don't have any training, but we can help you with that. Diana told us how you healed her hand. We could use a healer on the team."

"You can't make me do this," Kate said, feeling panic rise in her like bile up her throat.

"No, of course not," he said. "Any one of us is free to leave whenever we want. I just want you to see the Watchtower. To see what we could be capable of if we all banded together."

Are you gonna say anything? she asked J'onn silently, looking at him.

He sighed. "I'll go and see the Watchtower. That's all I can promise."

###

Kate had been hiding behind J'onn for the last twenty minutes as they wandered the Watchtower, Superman showing off each section. There was a fully-stocked kitchen, sleeping quarters for each of them, a medical bay, a gym… The place was entirely self-sustaining, aside from the need to restock the groceries every now and then. It was huge.

Kate had been trying to avoid looking out any of the windows because the idea that she was in space was freaking her out. What if something broke down and air stopped being pumped into this place? What if one of the windows broke and sucked them all out?

Kate, J'onn said.

She looked up to find him staring down at her.

You'll be all right. He offered her his hand.

Blushing, her mind now spinning for an entirely different reason, she took it, squeezing.

Good, he said. Now you can focus on how much you enjoy touching me rather than how terrified of space you are.

She made a small sound of surprise and stared at him for a moment, then dropped her head, her whole body flushing hot. It wasn't as though she'd never been with a man in her life, but it had been a very long time. It was difficult for her to touch anyone outside of healing them for fear that the incident with her father would repeat itself accidentally. What if, during the throes of passionate sex, she somehow activated her powers without realizing it? She'd never be able to live with herself if she hurt someone that she cared about because she'd been careless.

You weren't supposed to find something new to worry about, J'onn told her, breaking into her thoughts.

Sorry. I have anxiety, in case you haven't figured that out yet.

I knew that from the moment our minds first touched, he said.

Maybe you should teach me how to put up that mental barrier so you won't go crazy from all my anxious thoughts. She tried to smile, as if it were a joke, but it wasn't really a joke.

She felt his amusement at her words regardless. It helps to literally imagine a wall at first. It gives you something to focus on. But really, you're just pulling your mental powers around yourself like a shield, instead of spreading them outwards. Since you've never done it before, it will take some time to get used to, but you'll get there.

She took a breath and imagined a wall going up between herself and J'onn, keeping her own thoughts inside her head and his thoughts out. Nothing happened. She felt no different, and could still sense J'onn there, like a warm blanket around her shoulders.

Try adding more detail to the wall. What is it made of? What does it look like?

She remembered his own wall he'd put up around his mind when the Imperium had arrived. Pure iron, unyielding. She took a breath and began to try again.

"So?" a voice asked.

Kate blinked and looked past J'onn.

The Flash was standing there, grinning. "This place is pretty cool, right?"

"It's… impressive," she admitted.

"Yeah!" he agreed. "Anyway, the others wanna talk to you two." He gestured to a platform nearby, where the other members of the newly-formed Justice League stood, looking at them. Waiting for them.

Kate took a breath and walked over, still holding J'onn's hand. Is this okay? she asked him. In front of the others?

I don't care.

He said it so bluntly that it surprised her. She smiled a little.

"So," said Superman, smiling at them. "The others have all agreed to join already. We just wanted to extend the invitation to you two."

"I'd like to point out, again, that I have no training," Kate replied. "And my only power wouldn't be great on the frontlines. I'm not killing anyone."

"No," the Man of Steel said. "No killing. That's something we all agreed to. If you do join us, Batman has something for you."

Kate eyed the Dark Knight curiously, noticing for the first time that he was holding something in his hands. He held it up for everyone to see.

"A costume?" she asked. "Do I have to—"

"Yes," Batman interrupted. "It'll help keep you alive, considering you have no other powers."

She studied it. It was silvery and seemed to shimmer as she watched. "What is it?"

"It responds to your thoughts," Batman said. "It can make you invisible in a matter of seconds, although the technology isn't perfect. If you move, it causes a blurry distortion where your body is. It's small, but it's there. Someone with keen eyesight might notice even from far away, but the idea is that the rest of us would keep the bad guys busy to give you time to heal whoever went down without being spotted."

Kate said nothing.

"That's not all it does. You need to be able to get around a battlefield quickly. The suit can enhance your speed and strength to a degree. Nothing close to the Flash or Superman, but enough so that you wouldn't be reliant on others to get where you need to go. But only if you train. You have to build up your own strength and speed first. It will also absorb damage to an extent. It won't entirely keep you from harm, but it should shield you from a lot."

Kate slowly reached out and Batman handed her the suit. She had to shift her stance to hold it up because it weighed about ten pounds.

"You think my suit isn't just as heavy?" Batman asked. "That's not even heavy. If you can't learn to move around in that, you don't deserve to be here. I made it as light as possible while still able to protect you."

She stared at him.

"There's a helmet too," he went on. "And a special set of earplugs. You'll be able to hear talking, shouting, but anything above a certain decibel, like an explosion, will be muted almost completely. Even I haven't figured out how to heal hearing loss, so it's better if you never get it in the first place."

Kate studied the suit quietly for a moment, then asked, "Why would you go through all this trouble? Why not just invite J'onn to join and leave me out of it? You all know I'll only be a liability."

"Kate," Superman began—

"Because we need J'onn," Batman said. "And we know he won't join without you."

J'onn made a small noise in the back of his throat. Kate felt his surprise.

She blushed and turned away from them, away from their stares. "That's ridiculous. J'onn can make his own choices."

"Come on, Bats," Flash said. "Kate could be really good out there with a little training. Having a healer on the team seems like a great idea."

"If she stays alive long enough to heal us," Hawkgirl said.

"I'm not arguing this," Batman said. "I don't care. I'm not a full member of this thing, remember?"

"Then why would you make me a suit?" Kate demanded, spinning back around to face him.

He looked down at her, cool as ever. "Because I remember what it was like to be small and afraid."

She blinked. "You?"

"Me. And I made it my life's mission to protect those who couldn't protect themselves. This is me helping you protect yourself. Take it or leave it. But if you do leave, the suit stays here."

Kate stared at him, not knowing what to say.

"Listen," Superman said, "this wasn't supposed to start an argument." He put a hand on her shoulder—

—Tentacles—

—She leapt away from him like a frightened cat and ran into J'onn, who put both arms around her automatically.

"No one touch her!" he commanded.

Kate took a few moments to calm down and breathe, cocooned and safe in J'onn's arms. When she came back to herself, she saw them all standing there, staring at her. Mortified, and blushing to the roots of her hair, she asked, "How am I supposed to go back into a combat situation when I can't even be touched?"

"We'll train you," Diana said, speaking up for the first time. She stepped closer to Kate and J'onn. "All of us will help you. That's what we do, isn't it? Like Batman said, we help those who can't help themselves. We'll train you every day, and you'll become so strong that nothing will ever scare you again."

Kate studied Diana's face, saw her determined expression. Then she looked at the others. Superman and Flash were smiling encouragingly. Batman had no expression whatsoever. Green Lantern and Hawkgirl both looked apprehensive at best. Lantern hadn't said a word, but his frown told her everything she needed to know. It was clear he didn't want her on the team.

That left only J'onn.

Quick as lightning, she asked, What do you want to do?

I… don't know, he admitted.

If I wasn't here, would you join?

Several conflicting thoughts warred in his mind, but the answer turned out to be, Probably, yes. Where else would I go?

She wanted to ask, If I leave, will you stay? But she didn't dare, and cut the question off before it could become a full thought. She didn't yet want to open that can of worms and all that came with it. She didn't even know if she meant stay here with them or stay with me.

J'onn heard her half-question, felt her tumultuous emotions. Kate…

No, just… She sighed. Aloud, she said, "Can I think about it?"

"Of course," Superman said.

"Give me back the suit," Batman ordered, holding out his hand.

She gave it to him reluctantly, and noted that feeling. Then she turned and walked away, to go and stand at one of the massive windows looking out at space.

J'onn began to follow her.

No, she said.

He stopped, and stared after her as she went.