Summary: Kei finally has that interview with J'onn, and Isobu puts his finger firmly on the scale of truth.
Some time later, after a Justice League staff member delivered a sandwich, an apple, and a bottle of water, Kei woke from her next nap with the certainty she was being watched.
And she was.
It was hard to mistake that stylized red S on her shirt and the half-length red cape for any other. Kei couldn't remember her civilian name or anything, but being Superman's cousin meant this woman—who barely looked old enough to attend college—was capable of shattering the skeletons of ninety-nine percent of all living beings in the universe.
Kei scrambled to her feet. "Supergirl? I, um, sort of expected Batgirl to come find me if she needed anything? Maybe Nightwing?"
Supergirl was floating in midair. Kei had no idea if it was a dominance thing—or a rhetorical trick to command space when facing down ordinary humans. It might've even been wholly necessary, given that she was otherwise probably smaller than most of the troublemakers in Metropolis, and doubly so when the robots showed up. Kei honestly didn't pity anyone who rolled up to Superman's city and then picked a fight with the first person they saw with the iconic S on their chest. They deserved the beating they got.
And the power to shoot lasers from her eyes was pretty badass, too.
On a different note: It definitely didn't ping Kei's paranoia that having a Kryptonian on the station, at melee range, was basically a guarantee Kei couldn't repeat her murder rampage unchecked. Absolutely not.
She didn't think Supers would generally go for that kind of tactic.
Batman, on the other hand…
"Yeah, she sent me instead." Supergirl leaned in, cupping one hand in the world's most obvious stage whisper. Maybe that worked for someone with hearing accurate enough to pick out a particular human's heartbeat across an entire city. With her other hand, she was already punching in numbers on the cell's keypad. "We have an interview room prepared for you, finally. After that, we should be good on the security procedures checklist. And then you can get actual clothes!"
Oh. Kei got to her feet immediately, scooping up the blanket and the tablet computer and feeling ridiculous all the way down to her toes. Mostly because while the Watchtower's internal space was ultimately limited, Kei still didn't know her way around. "If you wanted to lead me there…?"
The door swooshed open and Supergirl floated in, effortless. "I can do you one better."
"Uh—"
And then Supergirl picked up Kei and all her accumulated crap one-handed—which doubled the embarrassment—and flew them through the Watchtower.
There was really no need for it. It wasn't like Kei had broken her damn legs between arriving in space and leaving the cell again, and there were signs, but someone who was constantly capable of moving in three dimensions probably had the whole "navigation" thing down better than most humans did. All Kei had to do was stay still and not drop her stuff on passersby somewhere between points A and B. So, Kei didn't complain about being carted around like a recalcitrant cat for…the first time in this world, at least. She'd been too tall for Sensei to do it easily since she hit that first childhood growth spurt.
Kryptonians played by different rules.
"By the way, thanks," Supergirl said as they flew.
Kei, trying not to think about how many people milled around the place like an office, took a second or two to remember what Supergirl might be talking about. "For wh—oh."
Kei lacked a solid understanding of how close the Bats and the Supers were, emotionally, but her vague impression was that it was mostly the direct counterparts who were friends. Supergirl and Batgirl and Batman and Superman all existed, but Kei didn't know if Robin had a counterpart running around. Maybe it didn't matter, and the Supers were just nice like that.
"Batgirl filled me in," Supergirl confirmed for her. "Even if things went bad, I'm glad to see Robin in one piece."
"You don't need to thank me for that." And frankly, Kei was a little uncomfortable with the gratitude, no matter how backhanded. She couldn't say she'd have let the Joker live through an encounter with her even if their meeting hadn't been…what happened.
Whatever happened, aside from the concrete knowledge that four deaths ensued before Kei got her brain back. Isobu still wasn't talking.
"Maybe not. But I bet Batman didn't, so you could say I'm offering in his stead. His and Batgirl's, depending on the details." Supergirl huffed, then turned a corner and suddenly the destination was in sight.
Kei definitely hadn't paid much attention to the route. Maybe Supergirl would escort her back to her cell in a bit, just to get a better idea of how this place was put together.
At any rate, Supergirl brought Kei to a lounge. Not a bad one, but between the color scheme and décor, it felt a bit like a waiting room in a doctor's office without the thirty-year-old carpet and outdated magazines. Someone had stuck landscape paintings on two walls, above the two armchairs. There was a coffeemaker in the corner, along with a stack of paper cups, five types of sweeteners, and those thimbles of half-and-half usually seen in diners.
"One turtle, safely delivered," Supergirl said as she coasted to a stop. "Didn't even need to cut holes in a box or anything!"
And the Martian Manhunter was sitting in one of the armchairs, with an open packet of not-Oreos on the coffee table in front of him. Greenish skin and a set of flat orange eyes, set in a skull too angular to be human that lacked external ears. The body type was a pretty blatant copy-paste of Superman's build, with the same probably-useless musculature. The straps across his chest and the big ol' boots were likely just his skin, modified. And a cape.
Can't forget the cape, Kei thought as Supergirl dropped her gently on her feet. About a third of the cookies were gone when she looked.
"Thank you, Supergirl," said J'onn J'onzz, who really only seemed to go by a formal hero epithet for the purposes of government paperwork.
Half the reason Kei had remembered his name at all was because it sounded like someone was trying to say "John Jones" through a crappy French accent. But that was probably rude to say aloud. Or think too hard.
Because, of course, the Bats had brought the League's strongest telepath to say hi.
He does not look human.
He isn't. He's Martian, which makes him a shapeshifter. Kei watched his orange eyes glow a little. And he's probably listening.
Isobu rumbled deep in her chest, too close to her chakra coils for anyone to hear.
On one hand, what was Kei's discomfort really worth? After having a few hours to herself, she wasn't hurt anywhere but her pride. Even her formerly-broken nose was a fading memory, and it was the last on the priority list of injuries after Isobu forced everything else back into shape. Hell, from the perspective of somebody specializing in trauma, Kei barely cared about having killed two people tonight. Maybe a little about Harley Quinn, who was generally one of the longest-enduring Joker victims, but she'd been fully on board with this particular scheme. The world was better off without both of them.
"Take a seat, please." Eyes still glowing, the Martian Manhunter moved an arm to indicate the couch across from him. "We have a few concerns to put to rest."
"Okay," Kei said, shuffling herself over to the requested spot. After putting the tablet computer off to the side, Kei curled up in the chair with her feet pulled onto the cheap cushion. Then she flipped the blanket out to drape it over her legs, all without meeting the gaze of anybody in the room.
"There is no need to be nervous," said the second alien she'd met today. Thanks to the power of the universe being really biased toward human shapes, Supergirl passed as an earthling at first glance and made that fact difficult to remember.
Her nerves did not appreciate this development. Kei huddled a little deeper into her blankets, rearranging her legs until she was sitting crisscross on just one of the cushions. "What did you need, sir?"
"I have been asked to conduct your interview, given the sensitive nature of the incident. After several hours to recuperate, your honest testimony will help close an open case file and facilitate your stay here."
"Oh. Then I have to let you into my mind?" Already, Kei's heartbeat was in her ears.
"Your alternative is to wait until Wonder Woman is available."
And her Lasso of Truth. It probably won't end any better. Kei's hands clawed a little at the Wonder Woman blanket, which now seemed more like "dibs." And Kei was pretty sure this version of Wonder Woman had a temper fit to bend a tank into a knot.
"With your permission, mental contact would be painless and allow you to comprehensively convey your version of events to a neutral party," said the only guy who Kei simultaneously worried could and would get mauled by Isobu for using probing telepathy around them.
"Neutral" my ass, Kei did not say, but with this particular person, she wasn't sure it made a difference. Aloud, she said, "I don't actually know what happened."
Letting Isobu take a chunk out of an alien telepath's brain seemed like a terrible idea on a good day. This was not a good day. Kei couldn't remember if the League had any other telepaths, but Isobu's normal reaction to Yamanaka techniques boded ill for all of this.
"So you have said."
And apparently the Justice League didn't quite believe her. Not good. "Did Batman already tell you about my…roommate?"
"Nightwing offered some limited insight." Stone-faced, the Martian Manhunter reached down and picked one cookie out of the package. "I did not plan on forcing entrance into your mind. This is an interview, not an interrogation."
And while the Martian Manhunter ate his way through three more cookies in succession, Isobu broke into Kei's runaway thoughts with, Is Wonder Woman human?
Strictly speaking? Probably…not. There'd been something about clay in there, right?
But raised by humans.
…Yeah. Kei couldn't remember if the Amazons were supposed to be demigoddesses or not. They certainly lasted until the modern era, which most of their contemporaries hadn't managed. Being blessed by their pantheon must have helped.
Then I choose this person, if we must accommodate a stranger to maintain our standing.
You just like him because he's green like you. I see how it is.
Isobu stayed suspiciously silent, which wasn't a denial.
Supergirl was still present to mess with the coffee machine, and hadn't been dismissed, so Kei assumed she was probably the security detail today. And the Martian Manhunter was also perfectly capable of walloping most people, given the shapeshifting and telepathy and permeability powers. Despite their politeness, Nightwing's request had put two of the heaviest hitters in the League in the same room as Kei.
And Kei…well. While she wasn't at the level of "would rather cut off her foot with a rusty hacksaw than hurt this individual," she certainly held no hostile intentions now. It'd be worse than pointless when she didn't think she could activate V2 without peeling her left arm apart like a reverse-banana, likely from the coils outward.
"Just, um, give me a moment?" Once she had that acknowledging nod, Kei took a slow breath. Isobu—
I already agreed not to remove a hand extended my way, Isobu said, sounding so unimpressed that Kei almost laughed. As though someone digging around in their paired minds wasn't terrifying without the teeth of Isobu's defenses standing in the way.
Or at least give a warning before doing it…
The concept of "restraint" is not unknown to me. Isobu rolled his eye. Do not interfere.
Isobu, if I did something—
No.
One of the Martian Manhunter's brow ridges shifted, like he was raising an eyebrow. Humanity was contagious. Even in the little ways. "I see you are having difficulties."
Kei winced in anticipation. "You will."
"Here, hold this."
J'onn looked down at the gray-green creature proffered to him, hands automatically reaching out to cradle it under its ribbed red belly. It was only once he'd completed the motion that he noticed his hands had reverted to their natural three-fingered, ridged state. In fact, he'd returned entirely to his natural form.
And they—Genbu and J'onn and the creature—were on a sunlit beach bracketed on both sides by black stone cliffs. The space was a sheltered cove with a sandy path leading away into the ether and a blue-gray sea, waves lapping the shore. There was very little ambient noise, unlike most such places J'onn had seen, either in person or through another's eyes. When he turned to look farther inland, both earth and sky blurred at the edges as the borders of the mental world came into focus.
Genbu herself was subject to a strange visual effect. While her body was mostly solid, ghosts of reading glasses and longer, lighter hair overlaid her head as though competing to be seen over her real body. Two mental pictures of herself, not fully settled. He did note that the mole under her eye was on the correct side, unusually for humans who often only saw themselves in mirrors.
"While this is a charming creature," J'onn said, with his mental voice neatly translating to simulated sound waves, "do not attempt to distract me."
"I'm not." Genbu swept an arm out to point at the simulated sea. Something with massive spikes lurked almost passively in the waves, exactly the same color as both J'onn and the creature he was holding. "See the shadow? That is his real body. Or as real as it gets in here. Holding him is your free pass to have this interview without getting eaten."
"It should not be a problem. After all, I am 'charming,'" said the beast in J'onn's arms. At the same time, its youthful voice echoed in the stone, the sand, and the sky. Its—his—three tails rose in a gesture J'onn did not read as aggressive, with tiny carapace-guarded paws wrapping around J'onn's long fingers. "This 'Martian' is much more reasonable than a human would be."
"I'd say it's not humanity's fault you tend to go off like a sea mine, but that's historically been a lie." Genbu crossed her arms. "Anyway. You wanted to ask questions, sir?"
J'onn, who had been aware of but not listening to the pair of them converse before entering their shared mind, tilted his head slowly to one side. After so long spent holding his musculature in a form closer to those of humans, it felt almost unnatural. And yet, he had seen this many times in Earth species with external ears to indicate interest.
The creature in his arms mimicked him. Parts of its spiky head scraped against the edge of its shell. "I am Isobu. You are J'onn J'onzz."
"Correct." And in the distance, J'onn felt Isobu's real body shove up against the borders of the shared mindscape. When he looked, three full-sized tails moved above the water's surface in rhythm with the tiny copy. Refocusing much closer, he looked down at the two-faced human still peering at him in mixed curiosity and dread. "Given the sophistication of your mental constructs, it should be reasonable to recreate the scene as you saw it. I would not ordinarily ask this of a human, or even such a being, but we require more information."
Genbu hesitated. "My recall's…not great right now. Sorry, Mr. Martian." Another pause. "Martian-san? Or is J'onzz-san all right?"
"J'onn or 'sir' is sufficient. Most humans outside of the Justice League deign to use 'Martian Manhunter' or its variations only on rare occasions."
"Got it," Genbu mumbled.
"Kei's meat brain does not have the information you want. She damaged it, and the memory did not return when I healed her." Isobu's voice retained the uncanny echo, seeming to come from everywhere at once. "But I remember."
"This is going to be so fucking creepy," Genbu muttered. Then she raised a hand and waved in the direction of the seaborne monster, beckoning him. "Come on, you can do the water puppet thing. You know you want to."
Space warped and suddenly they stood on the surface of the water.
While J'onn could levitate and did so, still holding the small Isobu fragment in his arms, Genbu stood on the surface of the water. Unseen pressure, not unlike J'onn's telekinesis, pressed down on them and flowed on past as inexorably as a real river, flattening the false sea beneath them into a mirror-still surface.
The real Isobu rose from the water hardly ten meters away. His spike-crowned head alone larger than Earth's most common war machines. A US Army tank could have fit into the gap between his brow and his presumed lower jaw, and the eye peering down at them was taller than J'onn's current form. Water cascaded down from the spiny curved shell. A segment of his tail dwarfed the Justice League's conference room. But rather than any aggression or posturing, he settled to the rear of the stage with armlike appendages folded like a human sulking at a table. The water pushed him the rest of the way onto even "ground."
Aside from his size, Isobu's general traits reminded J'onn as much of his home planet's long-gone lifeforms as Earth's. The twinge of homesickness in his core was an old friend. His oldest, at this point.
"You can sit up here with me if you want," said Genbu, who had climbed up onto the back of one of the bigger Isobu's hands. She paused, scratching the scar only occasionally visible on her face.
"This place is sufficient." Isobu's smaller self squirmed enough in his arms that he gently righted the creature so the belly faced outward. Once the shell started to vibrate like a contented feline, J'onn told both minds present, "You may begin."
"All right." Genbu raised her hand to point at herself, though her face kept changing. "I'm Keisuke, from the Gekkō branch family that lives in Konohagakure no Sato. And I don't know how I got here."
Hidden Leaf Village, J'onn translated immediately, though he ordinarily made allowances for proper nouns when dealing with humans. If they referred to Ma'aleca'andra by "Mars" to facilitate common understanding, so be it. He also took the time to note that while Genbu—Keisuke—did think in a language very close to Japanese, English connected pathways through her thoughts with similar frequency and speed. Ordinarily, this occurred primarily with humans raised among many languages, though J'onn did not need to learn them himself to spot the pattern.
I can do this. I can be honest about this, if— J'onn heard Genbu think, snatching the strange mantra out of the air between them. I hope this doesn't backfire. Holy shit, what if this goes bad? What if they don't believe me?!
"I have never heard of this place," J'onn offered, as a way to prompt Genbu out of that panic spiral.
"Yeah, that's because it…probably doesn't exist here." Genbu's gaze turned skyward, as though she intended to lie to him, but she just sighed. "Right, Isobu?"
"The odds are low."
Genbu nodded, apparently mostly to herself. The thought that bled out of her was, Which means telling you things isn't really a security breach. Since it'll never get back to them. Shit, I hope this works out.
Aloud, J'onn said, "I have no intention of communicating with your world longer than necessary to secure your passage safely home, when the time comes." While there was no guarantee that this incursion would be as deleterious as the Justice Lords' short-lived reign of terror, there was every reason to return both of them home as soon as possible. Discarding the implications of Isobu's presence, if Genbu had been undergoing some medical treatment during her unwitting arrival, her health could easily deteriorate from here onward. J'onn had no desire to kill an innocent through neglect. "Your secrets will go no further without your permission."
"Thanks," Genbu said, letting her shoulders drop as the wash of relief surged through her. "I mean, you can share with the Justice League. I kind of figured you'd need to. But—"
Isobu rumbled warningly. The copy in J'onn's arms made a much higher variation of the same expressive noise.
"Maybe wait until the end?" Genbu's voice curled into a question as a result of the hostility on display, but she continued, "So, I was raised to be a spy. And a fighter. And a magician. Personally, I leaned more toward the middle until the day Isobu and I met. I was thirteen, he was a super-powerful being crammed into my chest, and we had to figure out how to live with that." She reached down and patted his huge hand. "After…that, we trained for the kinds of big fights your people get into, only I was generally expected to kill everybody else on the other side."
"The idea of raising children to be warriors amid desperate circumstances is not unfamiliar to me," J'onn pointed out. Even if his home planet had not been scoured to bare rock and hidden stasis chambers dotted across its crust, the war against the Imperium had ruined incalculable lives long before Ma'aleca'andra's people were whittled down to just him. And then, J'onn traveled to Earth to prevent another tragedy from playing out in turn on another unsuspecting world. "Continue."
Genbu winced before forcing herself back into the explanation. "Right. So, between the two of us, we managed to meet everyone's expectations and complete a bunch of those missions alive. The details aren't that important. But after about ten years of combat experience and a couple of promotions, you're looking at a professional. Jōnin. My rank is given to battlefield commanders and certain kinds of combat instructors. In wartime, we can be generals."
J'onn did not normally bother with the performative aspects of human conversation, such as nodding along with the speaker, and so he waited until Genbu or Isobu continued out of sheer social momentum.
"The most relevant thing is that I'm pretty sure I could have handled the clowns without killing them. Physically. But I don't think—given the circumstances—" Genbu uncrossed then recrossed her arms, looking uncertain. Like she needed the moment to self-soothe. "I'm—well, I'm not sorry that the two clowns died. Maybe that the hyenas did."
J'onn waited. Genbu's battlefield experience was one thing he could not judge harshly, and did not intend to. J'onn took the opportunity to pet Isobu's small clone again as he listened. "Had I been in your situation as I understand it thus far, perhaps I would have chosen to behave the same way."
Not that J'onn had been cornered that way since his first tenuous steps on Earth, by those without unusual powers. Though he had survived the Imperium's interference in delivering his warnings, even the true humans treated him as a hostile invader rather than a desperate messenger before Superman followed his call and freed him. He did not feel comfortable with the American military or government afterward, but he never had in the first place.
"I mean, that was overkill," Genbu muttered, rubbing the back of her neck. "But…I can't take it back now."
"You cannot. I do not know that I would ask you to." J'onn gently stroked the miniature Isobu in his arms, then found a spot on its neck that made its tails wiggle in clear enjoyment. The larger version's red-and-gold eye fixed on him as he did it. Perhaps this was still a negotiation. "When speaking to Batman, and presumably while in shock, you insisted the Joker and Harley Quinn planned a terrible fate for Robin. What was your theory?"
Isobu and Genbu turned their gazes toward each other. While Genbu's face was expressive as any human's, all things considered, her counterpart was as readable as a mountain. Isobu's open eye was so large J'onn could see his own reflection amid a sea of red.
"…I don't exactly have evidence for this," Genbu said after a few seconds. "Just…hunches. It's not the best investigation procedure. But I can share what I've put together since?"
And yet, J'onn felt that scrambling, desperate please believe me just barely lurking beneath her words. There was no inherent satisfaction, quite common with liars and those who made it their business to avoid confronting the truth about themselves. With the weight of truth from Isobu weighing in on the side of Genbu's avoidance, the conclusions seemed simple. Regardless of reality, they believed in J'onn's impact upon their acceptance within the Justice League, and thus held their story out to be judged appropriately.
"Please do."
"Right. So. Um, the Joker is a monster. In a lot of ways. It's not something people really debate anymore, since he's done so much terrible shit to people because he thinks it's funny. Even if he's the only one laughing." Genbu still seemed nervous, but it was already fading in favor of a slow-building disgust. Still, she looked to J'onn for confirmation.
"The last scheme involved manipulating a traumatized, but very powerful, telepath." J'onn still did not know who exactly was involved in Ace's upbringing, but surely they were as monstrous as the Joker in a subtler manner. He did not even know if the girl had a name. "He planned to use her powers to psychically destroy the minds of every human on Earth who watched their television in that timeframe."
Genbu paused, as though she hadn't expected him to recount a mission to her. While few people had seen the program and could remember it now, blocking the attack from their minds, J'onn did.
Finally, she said, "And yet, somehow, I think he got worse."
"Perhaps. At the time, the Joker was the last victim of his scheme when the telepath turned on him. I can only presume he recovered during his subsequent Arkham respite."
That's a fucking first, was Genbu's immediate hateful thought, before she squashed it down. It was replaced by a silent, bitter melancholy Isobu quickly swept away.
J'onn pretended not to notice the shift in mood. "Please continue."
"I…I was thinking about what I know about Harley Quinn, and the fact that she's another one of the Joker's victims. And he could always string her along. Textbook bastard boyfriend." This last sentence was spat almost as a curse stronger than the sum of its parts. "But she went along with this scheme even after seeing how badly Robin was being hurt. I thought to myself, 'What's the one thing the Joker's super desperate girlfriend really, really wanted from the Joker that she could never get?' Her motive."
This time, conviction came through loud and clear. Even if Genbu's words were couched in avoiding a specific truth hidden behind them all, she was certain of her judgment.
"She wanted a family. With him." Genbu's mouth twisted in clear disgust. She spat, "And the Joker probably figured, 'Hey, I know a way to kill a whole lot of birds with one stone.' He could horribly traumatize someone and break them down to nothing, secure Harley's loyalty, and throw both middle fingers at Batman. All it'd take was grabbing one. Specific. Kid."
A flash across all of their minds—a pale-skinned, giggling caricature of a child wielding one of the Joker's trick pistols. A crying, physically and psychically mauled version of the boy currently lying less than two dozen meters away from both of their real bodies. The phrase "brainwashing" floated to the surface afterward, along with "torture," "successor," and "new toy."
Genbu retreated from the image in absolute revulsion, shuddering, but J'onn had already seen it. J'onn suspected he'd never be able to fully purge it from his mind. At the very least, he silently vowed never to share the thought with Batman under any circumstances.
"I bet he thought, 'Oh, Batsy's got a ton of these little brats running around, he won't mind if I just take one.' I feel worse about us killing those hyenas than him or Harley." Still scowling, Genbu cut herself off before more negativity could leak through.
Or at least she tried. Still, J'onn could hear it when her thoughts sped up.
Someone needs to check Robin over for some kind of mind control chip. High voltages would break it, and boy, the Joker definitely wasn't done playing yet. And then, with an edge of panic: I don't remember seeing one. Did he not have the time to install it? Where the fuck did he even get one of those? What the hell was the timeline for this? How long do we have until—no, no, don't think about it. If it didn't happen, it didn't happen, and then there's no second chance. I hope that fucker fries, wherever he is now.
Even for one familiar with the twists and turns of another mind, not to mention this world's history, these statements were an uncanny insight. Almost unbelievable, aside from the clear lack of intent to deceive. Without acknowledging the whirlwind, J'onn asked, "You were able to come to these conclusions while concussed?"
"Um…no, not exactly." Genbu didn't appear to notice, but she did squirm when uncomfortable. "More like, uh, having nothing to do but think, recently."
Isobu killed them. Isobu killed them and I'm not even upset that he did. I'm upset that he took that choice from me, but—I would've done it. Just not like that. They deserved—
"A lot of thinking," Genbu repeated under her breath, quieter.
That constant background buzz of I need to be honest here indicated it was more a case of trying to clarify. J'onn had seen human experts in most fields hedge their answers due to the knowledge that the universe was a complex place. It made them seem uncertain, rather than merely aware of realistic limitations.
"Between the two of us, we have a knack for predictions and intuition." Isobu blinked, briefly snatching J'onn's concentration away. "It is one reason this one has survived to adulthood."
Genbu swatted one of his spikes, then winced at the impact even as Isobu did not react.
"I am old enough," said Isobu, "to remember the source of human magic and grieve that death. In that first generation, strange powers were everywhere. Prophecy first manifested in a toad." Isobu sounded more baffled by that fact than offended. "Between the two of us, we are able to make more use of our abilities than either could alone."
Genbu held up a finger to interrupt. "Up to a point. It's less…a flash of something new and more being reminded, at least on my end. Like the knowledge was always there, but just not relevant. Which is probably better than getting a prophetic headache?" She sighed. "It's not always useful. Like, sometimes I'll know an enemy's weakness before I ever meet them. Other times, all I get is something like, 'Hey, this guy might turn into a serial killer in a few years. Maybe. If you didn't just mistake him for someone else.' And it doesn't adapt. I either know something or I don't, and usually I only get to find out I missed something in hindsight."
"This extends to parallel worlds, then." J'onn would determine where his qualms remained after this conversation. It was too soon to cast aspersions on one fortunate—or unfortunate—human's uncertainty while handling such an ability. For now, it was more important that Genbu kept talking.
The thought that this wandering warrior might have a similar level of other Justice League opponents—perhaps extending to the Justice Lords, Apokalips, or the Green Lantern Corps' foes—was one J'onn could only have mixed feelings about. Knowledge alone could not prevent disaster. Even so, Genbu did no particular good lying in a cell and brooding over details that arrived too late, nor did it benefit her personally to stockpile it.
"Only after the fact. And only if I notice. I mean, I got something when I saw Robin—for the first time." She seemed less certain on that last point. "Except that he clearly knew me. And that gets us back to the part where Isobu should really share what he's been hiding, so I have any idea what the hell happened back there!"
J'onn held up a hand to forestall more commentary. If he had ever needed more evidence to conclude that Genbu was young for a human, he had found it. But his attempt was ignored.
"I will not," said Isobu, as his massive eye and his smaller self both turned toward Genbu. Though his voice was deceptively light, he lifted the hand Genbu had perched on and said in a cold tone, "You have completed your task of introducing me. Now, leave us."
Genbu bristled. Her half-formed spectacles vanished off her face, taking her obfuscated features with it, which left only the scarred human who had stumbled into the Watchtower amid a blood-drenched daze. "Isobu—"
"I already told you not to interfere."
"I was the one who got the concussion, so excuse me if I'd like to connect some dots."
J'onn watched them argue for all too long, masking concern with ill grace and insults. While it was clear that Genbu's ignorance bothered her immensely, Isobu would not budge on the topic. Though the pair of them did not form a single coherent whole, they did occupy the same physical brain on occasion. The mingled concern and hurt emanating off them fed off itself, flowing back and forth like this planet's tides.
Genbu: Unable to accept that a truth might remain hidden from her.
Isobu: Certain that the truth would cause more harm.
J'onn preferred cold truth to ignorance, which made a poor shield by any measure. What one did not know did not become less of a threat.
Finally, Isobu lost patience. He turned his hand over, trying to dislodge a Genbu who clung to his smallest finger. Then he flicked that hand faster, flinging her into the air in a neat arc while protesting the entire way. A bubble of water caught Genbu on the way down, and she was gone when it popped.
"It is easier to discuss details when she is not offering unhelpful commentary," said Isobu, as though J'onn didn't know a lie when he heard one.
"You do not need to mask your concern for your partner with bluster," J'onn said, even as he dug a nail carefully into the smaller version's soft neck like many Earth domesticated creatures preferred. The cat-sized creature leaned into his touch, apparently unaware that its spiky head might hurt or unnerve a human. "Regardless of your actions, she will not come to harm."
"I will believe that when I see it." Mist burst from the larger Isobu's face, not unlike a whale's spout after taking a breath. "We will begin anew. It is the most appropriate storytelling choice."
Made from water, in what seemed to be a pattern for Isobu's species, a scene began to form in the staging area. Translucent and dotted with seaweed fragments, Isobu blocked out a back wall, three humanoid figures, and an array of experimental equipment suited best for either a laboratory or a factory. One of the figures—the smallest—was strapped spread-eagle to a table as though for vivisection. The tallest of them was at one of the machines, hand on a switch, while the middle-sized one stood with one hip cocked and a hand on what looked like a hammer.
J'onn floated well over the frozen scene to get a better look. "Can you provide a clearer view of the scene? I assumed your perception of light and color was similar to that of humans."
"Not with this speculative recreation." Isobu rapped his real knuckles against the surface of the water, shifting the entire watery image to one side. "Until our arrival, there was no way of knowing what precise action other humans might take."
A new scene took shape, showing Genbu—in full color, but glowing faintly blue—sitting in a meditative pose in a great stone chamber. Much like her real body at this exact moment, she held her hands loosely in front of her and took slow, steady breaths as human voices spoke a language J'onn was not allowed to interpret. Instead, energy flickered under her skin in a strange dappling effect, radiating outward from her core and then cycling most of the way through her body.
There were two exceptions: a red-veined thing that pulsed like Isobu's waves in the center of her chest, and a dead zone that spanned most of her left arm. It was dark, dim gray in Isobu's recollection. If not for the model presented, whole, J'onn might have assumed the limb was severed. Genbu could theoretically have chosen a very realistic prosthetic.
It appeared that while Isobu had been aware of Genbu's position and any magical activities she undertook, his knowledge of the exact discussions going on around her was lacking.
"As a part of the treatments intended to restore her arm," Isobu said, "my power was caged twice over. The purpose is to isolate the danger I represented long enough for some semblance of recovery, if any might present itself. Hers, too, was bound." Black lines curled around and over the pulsing not-heart, confining its glow to its own boundaries and cutting off all creeping tendrils. "We accepted this as a temporary restriction for our long-term health and survival."
J'onn floated down to observe the Genbu projection as it slowly lost color and vitality, though its actual position had not changed. Instead, as her shape faded into nothing but another watery outline, other human outlines joined her and began to manipulate the wounded limb.
"At this point, I had entirely retreated within the bounds of the seal." Isobu changed the image again, flattening the water puppets to show another copy of the nearby beach, this time sized to fit between his hands. A third representation of Isobu sat curled at the shore, toying with the waves. A far-off screeching call seemed to echo from somewhere nearby, but only this new Isobu avatar reacted to the noise and swam out to sea in pursuit. "One of my siblings chose this moment to demand an audience, so I went to meet him."
"Then physical distance is no barrier between you?"
"Not within our home world, no." Isobu's tails lashed. "While bound to humans like Kei, communication can be unreliable, but she specifically asked for this allowance while undergoing a second isolation procedure. There should have been no complications."
Yes, much like how a Justice League mission might not uncover a vast conspiracy or almost kill all team members. One must always be prepared. J'onn planned meticulously for this exact reason.
Everything Isobu had said so far read as truth. Still, J'onn had a wealth of concerns to choose from now. While Isobu's mind was moderately comparable with that of the humans he had visited before, part of that similarity relied on Genbu's physical brain and her body to act as intermediaries. Other ancient beings he had encountered often attacked the instant J'onn's mind drifted against theirs, and their thoughtless defenses could leave him incapacitated for minutes at a time if he did not take precautions. Even with his own mental barriers high, Isobu's mind scraped at his. The energy behind an ocean spirit did not take intrusion lightly, no matter the presence of a living "free pass." It was as though their very natures were diametrically opposed.
The next problem was the confirmation that Isobu and Genbu had both arrived here from another reality.
The mystery which planted Isobu and Genbu here had chosen almost too well. It allowed them both to violently intervene in a villainous scheme on behalf of decency itself. While J'onn had not touched Robin's mind for fear of causing the boy yet more harm while he was vulnerable, the timing was strange and neither of the survivors could currently account for any details. Genbu professed ignorance, and Robin's recollection was so hampered by drugs, abuse, and exhaustion that the only option remained the spirit—or the god—putting on a macabre puppet show.
And now they were on the Watchtower, with the approval of several of the Justice League's sharper and more suspicious minds. If not for J'onn's telepathy reducing the chance of a deliberate deception to nearly nothing, then he would suspect foul play somewhere.
He said nothing on the topic. Instead, J'onn shifted Isobu's tiny copy to one arm with a chitinous scraping noise, floating closer. "Show me how the situation developed."
Ambient light dimmed. Color leached back into the figures dragged back to center stage. Electricity lit the room so that the glow reflected back down from the ceiling above their heads. This change revealed the Joker and Harley Quinn in the uniform of orderlies from the years Arkham was still in service, presumably from the moments before their violent demises. On the table was Robin, back arched in agony and frozen mid-scream.
"We arrived here."
A copy of Genbu formed above the scene, where rafters and other roof support structures usually were in Gotham buildings. Then, as the rest of the scene moved, it plummeted out of the air and directly into a table, back-first. The impact smashed the ongoing experiment on it and covered the puppet in unnamed substances from broken beakers and vials, and something steamed from an overturned burner. Circuitry lay scattered on the floor, ruined by the liquids.
The Joker and Harley Quinn simulacrums turned toward the new arrival at the same time.
"Kei was held at her lowest ebb during the procedure I showed you, in the hopes of discovering where an older injury ended and where recovery might begin. As a result, I was fully sealed at the time. I did not see how we landed here, because Kei was taken so completely by surprise."
While J'onn could not hear anything from Isobu's recreation of the scene, that did not mean that it had been quiet. At the very least, the Joker's cackling was a common refrain to anyone who had ever been in his presence. Robin's screams would have likewise been audible, too, until the Joker's copy flipped the electrical switch near him, ending Robin's torment for the moment.
"And I could not intervene."
Genbu's copy lay there, as though stunned by the impact or strange poisons long enough for the other two water-puppets to approach. The downed figure only had enough time to roll off her back, amid the broken glass, before Harley Quinn's hammer crashed down on an unprotected head. Genbu's memory-self went still under the second blow, prompting the other two puppets to inspect their new victim while the Robin simulacrum had collapsed in its bonds.
"For the next two hours," Isobu went on, as the scene bubbled with uncertainty, "I concentrated my efforts on unbinding the second seal placed upon us without disturbing the first. I was forced to leave her alone."
J'onn could fill in a few blanks even before the stage went flat and every moving water construct was gone again. Bits of debris and seaweed floated under the now-still surface, occasionally snatched away by strange currents and never seen again. By the time they were all gone, the water had formed a reflective screen, not unlike a mirror, and the smaller Isobu's struggling prompted J'onn to move closer and peer into the depths.
"Your partner does not remember any time spent in contact with the Joker or Harley Quinn before discovering their corpses and then recovering Robin." J'onn said it slowly, in case Isobu might ask him to lie to Genbu as he did. "And while she did carry evidence of injuries to the Watchtower, she did not complain after a few hours to recover."
"Correct. As I broke down the restraints, our self-healing ability returned in stages." Isobu quirked a finger and the scene changed again. "Together, we are difficult to hurt and quick to heal."
But not fast enough to spare Genbu the experience of being tortured. J'onn could sympathize, and suspected his pain tolerance was far higher than a young human had, not least because of their very different biology.
If what Isobu alleged was true, he would not be persuaded that keeping the information well out of Genbu's reach was wrong.
"Some species deliberately refrain from killing prey and then allowing their young to practice hunting on an easy kill," Isobu continued, with a thread of anger woven into his tone and the way his tails undulated in midair. His smaller copy mimicked that movement and battered J'onn's arm without noticing. "From fragments that remain, I presume the enemy exploited Kei's presence with similar intent. I can think of no other reason they would spare her."
Images drifted in the water, overlapping and fading in succession as they were overtaken by others. Here, a flash of the Joker's grinning face as he reached gloved hands toward Genbu's face. The barrel of a gun, shoved against the hollow of Genbu's throat as a voice progressed through an ominous countdown. There, a fragment of sound unmistakable as anything other than a woman's voice, cooing over "Junior" and sending a spike of fear through the fractured memory. A mental connection from that point chained itself amid a web of other inferences, showing a dozen caricatures of the Joker's other poisoned victims. They quickly spiraled downward as Isobu reached one massive hand out and pressed the memory out of sight.
The metaphor was not subtle. Isobu would suppress these memories for as long as he dwelled within Genbu's mind.
J'onn lacked the inclination to try and move him. It was less important to scold a being with Isobu's level of discontent with humanity than it was to continue gathering information. And even if Isobu did not intend to, this bristling defensiveness over the strongest clear memories of the night's events was protecting Robin at the same time. He had yet to examine the young hero, but learning he had been unable to prevent his captor from harming another person and in fact been coerced to participate…
No, J'onn did not think the boy deserved another blow. His recovery was already a difficult road.
"I presume that at some point, you freed yourself from your bindings and then proceeded to exact revenge." J'onn preferred not to dig into the minds of humans as a rule, risking damage to himself and to his target, but sometimes it was unavoidable. He still did not know that Kraggar of Thanagar would ever recover from his enhanced interrogation. But Isobu, it seemed, was willing to share.
"Yes."
"Your honesty is noted." As hostile as it seemed, Isobu's attitude was encouraging in its stubborn honesty. "Show me."
"Soon enough, they tired of the game. Either Kei was insufficient or the boy refused to hurt her."
The tiny Isobu swept the mirror aside with a dismissive paw, leaving the water akin to its normal state. When he held his forelegs up, only three watery copies formed—Harley's shape, dragging an unconscious Genbu, Genbu being dragged, and a hyena trotting at their heels to lap up the blood trail. Harley Quinn dropped the unconscious body and prepared to hit Genbu with her hammer as the hyena circled in anticipation of a meal.
"And here, the tides turned," Isobu said, over the image of the false Genbu's body starting to convulse on the "ground" and Harley Quinn retreated in apparent surprise. "I had healed enough of the damage to take control of the body's motor functions. Kei did not immediately regain consciousness, however, so I chose to act in her stead."
Then Genbu, wreathed in orange energy shaped vaguely like Isobu if he'd evolved legs rather than two more tails, lurched off the ground and seized the hyena with both hands. Heedless of the animal's attempts to bite through the battle aura, the fake Genbu bashed it against the floor to stun it, flipped it onto its back, and ripped its body open with the knife edge of one hand. And as the false Harley turned to run, the aura darkened to red and the mauling commenced.
The false Genbu's eyes were shut the entire time. Overlaying the image of her head like living armor, Isobu's single eye was wide open under that spiky brow.
Harley's copy struck the floor after a brief struggle, and then Genbu's water clone brought a foot down on the back of the other puppet's head hard enough to reduce the skull to a splat mark on the floor. There was no sound, as though Isobu had not bothered to remember excess details for the sake of this reenactment.
All the while, the three whipping tails mimicking Isobu's anatomy reduced parts of the area to rubble. Even some of the claw strikes were so uncontrolled that they gouged chunks of concrete out of walls or ceilings and tossed loose trash everywhere.
With water pouring off its body like the Ultimen member known as Downpour, Genbu's copy staggered upright with the energy shifting from red to black with a faint glow. Its left arm went entirely limp, and then it rushed away from both kills at a speed rivaling Superman. A trail of water followed after it like a wake.
The scene shifted again, shrinking somewhat to give a better idea of where all remaining living beings had gone. The experiment room where Robin was tied had not significantly changed, but the boy was alone. Genbu's feral, shadowy form stopped briefly there, spiky head turning and glancing in to determine there were no threats present. Its wildly lashing tails cracked parts of the building with each spasm and subsequent impact, shattering some objects and flinging others senselessly aside.
Then it lurched forward. While Robin's response was apparently not worth remembering in Isobu's mind, the hybrid creature reached down and ripped apart the electrical lines linking the surgical theater with some power source. An image of a diesel-powered generator drifted, half-formed, before dissolving into nothing.
Then the combined being turned away and left Robin behind.
Genbu's copy then tracked down the Joker and, after crushing the remaining hyena to death with one usable hand, cornered the Joker's representation against a wall. Despite multiple gunshots, it removed the false Joker's head from its shoulders with one super-strength punch and painted the wall with the splattered results.
"At this point, I noticed Kei had recovered somewhat," Isobu said, dismissing the stage decorations and reverting the waves to their moderately natural state. "Because our agreement about controlling her body was conditional, I decided it would be better to allow her to heal with all threats removed."
The Genbu copy staggered away from the second set of bodies, bubbling aura burning away and retreating into nothing. Eventually, the puppet collapsed prone on the ground. It was a long minute before there was any movement more intentional than breathing.
"Was Genbu aware of any of this?"
"I removed all traces before she woke."
J'onn felt a twinge of guilt from Isobu that pulsed like sound. "Is that true?"
Isobu's tails twitched. The Genbu copy and its uncertain movements dissolved into plain seawater again. "She asked for them. And then did not believe me when I said she did not want to know."
And so, perhaps Isobu had scared Genbu away by letting a little of that sense-memory loose. Now, they both carried unresolved resentment.
J'onn did not sigh, but he did allow his head to droop slightly. "I sense there is more to this story."
"If we recall more that is relevant, I do not think she would forgive me if I refused to cooperate." Isobu's eye focused on J'onn again. "She respects you. If my inaction caused your people to come to harm, the argument would last for days. In return, do not ruin this."
It was not a reassuring choice of words, exactly, but J'onn felt Isobu's emotions leak through this time—a vague wistfulness, a reflexive annoyance. Nothing too concerning. Even the lingering bloodlust from the moment the Joker and Harley Quinn died was a faded, phantom thing.
"Then this shall be our last word on the subject for now. We will return to the Watchtower and await further developments."
"This is acceptable as long as you do not intrude again."
"I think I will manage to keep my mind to myself."
"Then we have an accord." Isobu folded his bulky forelegs beneath his belly and watched J'onn float toward the false sky. "Goodbye."
J'onn let the mental contact go, as easily as releasing one's hand.
Holding a cup of coffee between her gloved hands as she leaned in, Supergirl asked, "Does it feel weird to have J'onn interrogate someone else inside your head? Or is this like any Tuesday for you?"
"Considering Isobu usually just…attacks?" Kei could only raise her shoulders defensively, though mostly from sheer embarrassment. "I dunno. The telepaths back home don't like him."
"Can't imagine why." Supergirl still looked reluctantly amused, but she smothered that with a sip of her coffee soon enough.
It wasn't like Kei really thought the Martian Manhunter and Isobu might get into a slap-fight in her head. The two of them seemed to be mostly on the same page, given that Isobu gave people more leeway if they weren't human, and the Martian Manhunter was a professional. The effective leader of the Justice League, given he did all the management stuff. The issue was that, now that she'd had a chance to cool off a little, Kei felt like a child being sent to another room while the adults were talking.
Figuratively. Kei was an adult by two different reckonings, even if nobody acknowledged that. She was…pretty sure she'd managed to hide one of those from the Martian Manhunter, solely because it was her business if her soul was weird. Not his.
And in the time since Kei blinked awake, Supergirl's solicitousness—not Midwestern standard, at least—meant they both got fresh coffee and cookies from the cafeteria before Kei could decline. So, now she got to be hopped up on caffeine. Tea usually didn't do much for her, given her weird metabolism, but this was stronger stuff than it had any right to be. Also very, very bitter. She'd made a face after the first sip and Supergirl laughed at her for it.
"Have you thought about what you're going to do after this?" Supergirl asked, shaking Kei out of her thoughts.
"After…finishing my intake interview?" Or after Isobu finished it for her. Getting kicked out of her own mind was weird.
"Yeah. Once you clear the security checks, you don't have to stay in the cell. I could take you on a tour?"
Kei picked at the seam of her paper coffee cup with one nail. It was just as well that Supergirl didn't offer to take her anywhere on Earth, since Kei wouldn't know where to start. It was easier to sit here with much, much more limited options to stave off the mental overload. Besides that, Kei didn't remember if this was the same time period where Cadmus was snatching up people with powers and grudges to use against the Justice League. It would be just her luck if she immediately got disappeared by some conspiracy.
Again.
As for the coffee, it had already been reheated once, courtesy of Supergirl's laser eyes, but it didn't last. She'd leeched the warmth away already and didn't feel like asking again.
"Genbu?"
"Nightwing asked me to visit Robin." And if she did what he said, shoving guilt to one side, then Kei wanted to see him, too. "That's as far as I got."
Supergirl's hand came down on Kei's shoulder and gave her what was clearly meant to be a comforting squeeze. Just a bit of pressure, as though Kei didn't know her bones could easily splinter under a Kryptonian's grip right now. "Then that's what we'll do. J'onn?"
The Martian Manhunter came out of his trance with a faint hum. His eyes had stopped glowing such an intense orange, and he turned his head toward them. There was no sign of pain in his expression, but he also didn't really do a lot of human fidgeting behaviors. Kei was pretty sure he could sleep standing up without anybody noticing.
"Hi," Kei managed, already feeling her shoulders try to rise. There was a Kryptonian in the way. "Um, good talk?"
"I have few concerns with your continued presence on the Watchtower," was the calm reply. He rose from the armchair as though gravity didn't apply, nodding once to Kei. "You may stay."
And as he left, he took his (slightly more depleted) supply of chocolate cookies with him.
"Wow. He didn't even ask where most of the Chocos went." Supergirl gulped down the remainder of the coffee, launched it neatly into the trash bin and offered Kei her hand. "Come on, I know a shortcut."
"…Flying?"
"Exactly."
Notes:
J'onn is the most Zen of all the Justice League characters, not least because in this continuity he's...literally the last Martian. Everyone else died thousands upon thousands of years prior to the first episode of the show. And he's one of the Founding Seven. He's kinda seen it all. (And he likes Oreos, which are renamed Chocos in the comics to get around trademarks.)
Kara In-Ze, also known as Supergirl, is Superman's adopted cousin in this continuity due to DC editorial mandates, coming instead from the planet Argo. Which, given their identical powers and weaknesses, must have been a Kryptonian colony. She came to Earth as a teenager via the cryosleep timeskip technique, so she's actually older than Clark chronologically. She currently has an evil clone named Galatea running around.
Isobu was not paying attention during the actual dimension jump, but he sure as hell noticed what happened next. Kei lost about twelve hours more than she thinks she did to that concussion and Isobu's interference.