I do not own Superman/Clark Kent/Kal El, Martian Manhunter/J'ohn J'ones, Batman Bruce Wayne, Amanda Waller, or Leslie Thomkins. DC does. Please enjoy this chapter for free.

Early Afternoon: Cavern Near Wayne Manor: Eleven Years After Waynes' Deaths

"You saw Joseph Chill in that place?"

"Yes. I don't know if you learned this, but sometime after you left Gotham, after the freezer … his body was found in a slab of cement put down days after my parents' deaths. He didn't survive long at all after killing them …"

"And you met him … 'where you went' … after you died?"

"Yes."

"How ..?"

'It was startling. Challenging. He asked me to forgive him, and he thanked me ..."

"For what?"

"For making him ashamed. He tried to make up for what he did to my parents by gunning down those he blamed for his desperation … those inside a building the South Side Cartel was using for drug manufacturing in Bludhaven. Most of that was kept there, on the other side of the river in my parents' lifetimes. That's where they hid his body too. Chill found out about the place there responsible for making the drugs he wanted to buy with what he stole from my parents. Instead of buying more, he shot at everyone there he could aim at till someone shot back. But he didn't die right away. In the time it took the shooter to reach him, see he was still alive, and finish him … he had some time to think and pray. He told me that my face, tears streaming down and reddened with rage, glaring and screaming at him, filled his vision more than the roof of the building above him during those moments. He prayed to God for forgiveness for orphaning me and everything else he'd done he could think of that made him afraid to die. Then of course, he saw the face of the man whose gun put him on the floor staring down at him and then the barrel of a gun. Soon after that, he was face to face with the one he'd prayed to. He was probably as shocked to meet my parents there as I was shocked to meet him. Not that he didn't expect them to be there, but he was shocked he was allowed in and met with them."

"I am as well. You tell me all this … to give me hope for my brother … and myself?"

"Yes … and give you details of what might be necessary to reach that place yourself from what I've seen and heard."

There was about a minute of silence between them before the Martian whispered. "Thank you, Bruce."

"You're welcome."

Moments later, Kal El came back a billow of dust announcing his arrival along with his voice. "Bruce, we … uh … we have a problem."

As the human rose to his feet, eyes widening, the Kryptonian looked to the Martian. "Waller and other agents are still combing through Ainsley Manor and they found your letters …"

As John's eyebrow-ridge rose, Bruce's eyes closed. He swallowed before asking, "Has anyone been hurt?"

"I don't think so, but I think Waller's grilling your aunt."

"She would."

The Martian's weak voice interrupted, "Bruce …"

The human held an open hand up toward his green face. "Don't even think about it."

The eye-ridge lowered. Superman stepped closer to the human. "What should we do?"

Bruce sighed while rubbing the back of his neck. "We can try to contact Scott." He met the Martian's gaze. "Eat the rations I gave you, recover your strength, you're going through the Boom Tube to wherever Scott is."

"Bruce … I am not your child, or your dog to order so. I'm older than you, and I have my own free will."

"So, your proposal is?"

"My family is dead! And I …"

"You don't know that! Your niece could be alive!"

"And 'my' finding her and bringing her here would not fulfill my promise to her father to take care of her! As long as they hunt me here, earth is no safe place for a Martian!"

"That's why I'm telling you to leave with Scott! He knows the places that sustain life throughout the galaxy better than most of its other inhabitants! He's done a show almost anywhere he can draw a crowd. You 'and' your niece could be safer and live better traveling the galaxy with him than living in one cavern on Mars. Go with Scott, find her, and live with him, his wife, and his manager. You could help them all in several ways to earn your keep. You and your niece. You don't even have to be part of the show, you can just help him set it up."

The Martian's shoulders and eye-ridge fell. "And what of 'your' family Bruce? What about Waller and 'them'?"

Bruce straightened, his face hardening. "You leave that to 'me'. If things go badly, I can always call Scott 'and' you back. Trust me, you'll be more helpful breaking someone out after being trained by him."

The Martian raised half his eyebrow ridge high. Bruce nodded in response "If anyone in the universe can teach you more about escaping than you already know, it's him."

"And what about in the meantime?"

"Don't underestimate me."

"Don't get prideful."

Instead of arguing, Bruce gave a nod, his face softening. Then he turned back to the Kryptonian. "If you can, go back and keep watch over the situation at my aunt's, but don't let anyone notice you."

Superman nodded. "I can do that." With another billow of dust, he left.

Bruce bowed his head and thought for a moment. Then he looked back at the Martian. "Maybe it's best you come with me toward the Boom Tube. I'm going to send the message out. It will be best if you can leave soon."

John sighed. "Alright."

"Good." A little more tension left Bruce's muscles since John wasn't fighting him anymore, but not all of it left as he thought about his aunts and the others with them.

Early Afternoon: Spare Office: Ainsley Manor Early Afternoon

Waller tapped the plastic-wrapped packet of letters against the palm of her left hand while staring at nothing. Her secretary softly opened the door, came in, and even more softly closed it behind her. Then she stood holding a clipboard with notes from various agents throughout the house sent with her for their boss. However, instead of immediately relating them or continuing to smile smugly she stared at her superior from under furrowed brows. Her lips pressed themselves into a tight line before she spoke. "Agent Waller? What ... is there something you want me to relay?"

Waller growled in a low voice, "He can't have missed all this ..."

"Pardon?"

"My 'contact' here, the one I counted on to use his deep knowledge of the area and its people to find our target and deliver him to me. He 'couldn't' have failed this badly unless he is seriously slipping, distracted, or not who I thought he was. I gave him all the motivation he could need."

The blonde agent let some of the tension in her body flow away even as she stood straighter. A gleam of understanding came into her eyes. She took on a stance reminiscent of one of the bloodhounds they'd brought with them when they picked up the scent. "So ... it's treason then."

Waller straightened herself and looked down at the letter packet again. "I hope not ... but I have to check it out."

The secretary pressed the clipboard closer to her chest and grinned with relish. "I'll get things ready ma'am."

What do you think now?

God bless

ScribeofHeroes