I don't own Batman/Bruce Wayne, Superman/Clark Kent/Kal El, Martian Manhunter/J'ohn J'ones, Alfred Pennyworth, Lucius Fox, Big Barda, Miracle Man/Scott Free, or Oberon.

Deer Trail in Woods Behind Ainsley Manor Eleven Years After Waynes Deaths

Superman spotted Bruce headed for a motorcycle behind some bushes growing along the highway. The Kryptonian crashed through the trees landing a few yards ahead. Broken branches fell around Clark as he glared at Bruce. "What 'are' you going to do?"

"I assume you've already scanned this area for any tech or persons, who might overhear us?"

"Yes, oh paranoid one. Now answer my question!"

Bruce narrowed his steel eyes back. "I'm curious, Clark. What do you think I'm going to do?"

"I 'know' you let a team member of ours sacrifice himself once. But, I 'think' you don't believe in sacrificing an individual's 'rights' for the greater good."

Bruce sighed. His shoulders fell. His gaze and voice softened despite his words. "You know, despite the fact you're right about all that, sometimes, I want to punch the self-righteousness out of you …"

"So … you're not going to hand him over?"

"If we sacrifice individuals for the greater good, everyone we save doing so, will live in fear. Part of what's wrong in Gotham is its people fear doing right more than they fear doing wrong. I punish them, or try to take away their incentives, for doing wrong. But, I won't force them to do what's right. And, I won't trick the innocent into a terrible fate."

Clark sighed. "I'm sorry it's just …"

"If I had pressed back, it would have tipped Waller off. Now, she 'may' give us some breathing space. But John 'has' to lie low. Looking into what happened to John's brother shouldn't arouse Waller's suspicions either. She knows I like to do my own research."

"So, she also won't be worried about what you'll find?"

"She probably would have tried to dissuade me somehow if she was. If anything my 'not' looking into it will seem more suspicious now."

Superman scanned the human being up and down. "Maybe after you get some more sleep."

Bruce gave a weary sigh. "She may expect that since she noticed my lack of it as well …"

Superman's eyebrows flew up. He didn't even fight it …

"I'm heading back to the manor. You should try to move low on the ground behind cover, like here, and take the tunnels to the Tower basement to let them know what happened, 'except' what she offered."

"You aren't going to tell him about the offer are you?"

"Of course not!"

"Bruce … you hate it when people keep secrets from you …"

"Someday, I might come across the dead, tortured, mutilated body of a Gothamite! I'll probably then connect it to one of those she offered to have taken off the streets. I wish 'you' didn't have to share the knowledge with me I could have stopped it!"

Clark sighed. "Bruce … if she alone can bring Gotham justice, then it isn't justice. You taught 'me' about the balance of power. Don't cry about resisting the temptations of a tyrant. Be proud."

Bruce ran his hand through his hair in frustration, but also gave a small pained smile. "Thanks Clark. It's not that easy, but thanks." Bruce kept his small smile as he brushed past the super-powered being to continue on toward his bike. Superman smiled fondly over his shoulder after him.

Basement Underneath Wayne Tower Eleven Years After Waynes Deaths'

"So, you were so afraid to tell me my brother is missing, you carried out every task except telling me about it till now."

Rather than eyebrows, the Martian had large green ridges over the eyes that now had rolling wrinkles above them. The red glowing eyes below, however, didn't increase in brightness despite his obvious anger. Clark tried to bring his mind back to the matter at hand while looking into those eyes. "I'm sorry Moe … I just … yeah, I had a hard time telling you ... Bruce thinks after talking to Waller he's got a green light to try to learn more, though. It's probably a good sign she said nothing about it. She probably doesn't have him."

John bowed his head. Superman tried to gently nudge the conversation elsewhere. "How are you and Lucius doing with mapping Mars?"

The Martian shook his head, making Superman's heart sink. "Not well, I don't recall any landmarks from the surface. My fellow warriors and I had covered ourselves in reshaped remains of the machines that attacked us to avoid the radiation, as Lucius says it was, that destroyed our flesh when we ventured upwards. Inside the enemy ship, there were screens like here to see what his machines saw, but no windows from which I could see my planet. All the information Mr. Fox has is on the surface. All I knew of Mars is below."

Wayne Manor Eleven Years After Waynes' Deaths

Alfred raised his eyebrows while filling the tub for his employer letting the falling water distort their words especially for those farther away than they were to each other while also preparing a way for Bruce to cleanse himself of dirt, leaves, and whatever other things he'd picked up on his walk through the woods. "So my research is back on?"

"If you don't mind. If I want to be at my best, and honestly the situation demands I be, I need a few hours more sleep before things move forward. If you could contact Frederick yourself, I'd be grateful."

"Of course, Master Bruce. Though I'm not certain I trust that Martian."

"All the better if Waller finds a way to listen in."

Leaving Bruce in the tub, Alfred went and made a long distance phone call. He smiled as a jaunty voice came on the other end. "Ah, Alfie, I was wondering if you'd suddenly lost interest."

Alfred's smile fell away as he thought about the possibility of Waller listening in. "Ah, well, quite the opposite actually. In fact, Master Bruce and I are both 'more' interested than ever in what you might learn on certain matters from certain people."

"Sorry old chap, haven't made much headway. You need to be careful connecting with people like that."

"I understand. Keep me informed will you? When all this is over, you can come to Gotham and I'll take you to the best restaurant we have here. We'll make a night of it."

"Now, there's a promise I'd like to hold you to."

Basement Wayne Tower Eleven Years After Waynes' Deaths

Bruce had finally gotten his nap and even re-researched what he knew of Amanda Waller's career as well as her father's and tried to identify the other agents John and his brother had knocked out. Later, of course, he went to John in the basement of Wayne Tower to ask the Martian himself.

"I got better overtime at holding back. And that farmer said he would shoot my brother and I if we didn't get off his property, but he wanted us to leave in the direction the agents were chasing us from."

"I see."

"I tried to be gentle. He was older."

Strong gusts of wind alerted them to the arrival of Barda and Scott. Superman dashed over to find a short man with white hair and beard was with them. Scott waved a hand in the newcomer's direction. "This is Oberon, he wanted to visit earth again and see what all the fuss is about."

The small but obviously old and sharp-eyed man stared up at the last Kryptonian. "So, you're Superman?"

Clark grinned and nodded. Oberon looked up at him while folding his arms. "Can't say I see what all the fuss is about."

Superman blinked. The Martian and Bruce arrived next. John walked till he was within a few feet of Bard and Scott. "Thank you for returning. Can you take me to Mars?"

Scott bit his bottom lip before responding. "Well … I have a very general set of coordinates to go by that will get us 'near' the planet, but to do more than that I need some more information."

John's shoulders and head fell. His brow ridge furrowed again. Lucius joined them having overheard Scott's last statement. "The area around Mars, and its surface will be barraged by various forms of radiation. I don't think sending John anywhere but below the surface …"

Superman jumped in with a grin. "I can go."

Everyone looked at him including John. The Martian's head snapped up his eyes widening and furrowed brow smoothing out.

Scott tilted his head and squinted in confusion. "Why?"

Lucius turned to Superman, his eyes alight with excitement and understanding. "You think the radiation will make you stronger?'

"And I can look through things. I can scan from above the surface and see what lies beneath."

Oberon's eyes had widened, but he still snapped out, "For how long? How long will it take you to scan the area beneath the surface of a whole planet, even if it is a small one?"

Superman shrugged, "It will depend on how long it takes me to find what I'm looking for."

Oberon waved an arm toward the titanium reinforced walls behind him. "You can't just keep a Boom Tube open!

Scott added, "And I don't think the Mother Box will respond to you. I'll have to be the one to open and close it."

Lucius frowned "How have we been making a smaller Boom Tube to communicate with you then?"

Bruce, who had arrived and was by then standing in the back, broke in. "Scott gave me something he made that would respond to his desire to keep in touch, let me communicate with him if I needed him. It will only work for me."

Oberon broke in. "Plus that's a mighty small little tube it opens up, and it does so intermittently not constantly. Like someone recalling on the phone every ten minutes till you answer."

Superman broke in, "So how long 'can' you keep a Boom Tube that I can travel through open?"

Barda shrugged, "Depends on the sturdiness or openness on both sides."

"What if 'I' go in and stay just as long as I can without anything getting hurt on this side?"

Barda broke in again tapping the titanium side of the tunnel. "I don't think this thing can take more than 1 minute 45 seconds maybe. You can scan the entire planet that deep in that time?"

Lucius' eyes lit up, "Wait …" Everyone turned to him and he turned to John. The man held up his index finger while asking, "You said what you made something of metal to shield you and other Martians from radiation while going to the source of the machines?"

The Martian nodded. Lucius grinned and continued, "If it didn't burn up falling through the thin atmosphere back to Mars, some pieces should still be there making a landmark for at least a general area where all these events you tell us of took place. I imagine wind probably covered them in a layer of red dust, but if Superman can see the caverns far below …"

John turned grinning toward the Kryptonian, "You should be able to see them Kal El!"

Superman grinned and nodded. Bruce frowned and spoke gaining the Kryptonian's attention. "You could also see the remains of a lot of Martians, and even if you see her … it might not be good. Can you handle that?"

Superman looked away from his human friend to his Martian one, who looked sadly back, before returning his gaze to Bruce. "I have to do this. I'm the only one who can, and it needs to be done."

Bruce sighed. "What about the danger of supercharging yourself?"

Superman shrugged. "It'll help me see and do more in the short time I have."

"We don't know what other ..."

John took a step toward his human friend. "Bruce please!" Bruce looked back into the pinched green face as the Martian pleaded. "Please!"

Minutes later, Scott held out the Motherbox toward one end of the titanium tunnel with only Superman, Oberon, and his wife at his side. Lucius, John, and Bruce had headed down a few halls and turned a few corners to be safe. Mister Miracle turned to Superman and reiterated, "Again … don't get sidetracked and don't lose track of time. This place is sturdy enough to withstand maybe 1 minute 45 seconds of the force of a Boom Tube big enough for you to get through. If you can't find what you're looking for before then, come back anyway. We'll try again later."

Superman nodded. "Got it."

Scott grinned. "Alright. Here we go." He worked with the small square electronic for a moment. Then the Boom Tube formed. Superman flew through it.

Sky Above Mars Eleven Years After Waynes' Deaths

He came out into the void of space. Despite the absence of air and solid ground, it didn't 'feel' like a void to him. His cells burned with extra power as radiation poured through him. He felt more energy than a human who'd gotten a good night sleep, followed by an energy drink, followed by an adrenaline inducing roller coaster ride.

Clark shook his head, dragging his thoughts from the overwhelming experience to his task. His heart fell as he scanned the red planet beneath him seeing nothing. Then, he glimpsed a scrap of misshapen burnt metal under a thick coat of fine red dust near the edge of the side of the planet in front of him. He flew over to it and found more on the other side of the planet. He drifted up taking in a wider and then deeper view.

Come on … come on … come on …

Finally, he began to see them, like rivers and lakes (which made sense since they were formed by lava and water) caves and tunnels ran through a deeper layer of the planet. He reigned in his depth perception to the ice encrusted ones specifically. Several seconds later, he spotted an ice formation that looked like a drawing Moe had made for him, then sand along a liquid river bed an odd color Moe had described, and then a dead end that was also a small chamber filled with ice …

Clark's eyes widened. He spent several more seconds studying the surrounding area including looking even deeper and deeper, but then his time ran out. He zoomed back to the tube opening. His cells were near exploding with energy.

Basement of Wayne Tower Eleven Years After Waynes' Deaths

Scott narrowed his eyes as a glow he'd never seen before shone inside the Boom Tube. He clutched the Motherbox in his hand as his eyes widened. The box began to sound an alarm even as his wife shouted "What is that?!"

Oberon bent over making his already small body smaller while covering his head with his muscled arms. "Look out!"

Superman burst out the other side. His eyes widened as he went right through the wall at the end of the hall. The vortex he left behind instead of stopping spun on with golden and blue light. The Motherbox continued to blare. Barda grabbed Oberon and ran. Scott backed out more slowly trying to use the Motherbox to close the Vortex, but it went on fifteen more seconds until the titanium melted, the material beneath cracked, and the tunnel fell apart. Finally, the Boom Tube vanished amidst the destruction.

Superman rejoined a coughing Barda and Oberon in a mostly intact hallway. "What happened?"

Scott ran up dodging and vaulting over debri clutching his Motherbox. "Her circuits almost got overloaded! Whatever energy you brought back with you kept the whole thing going longer."

Barda looked up, blinked, and grabbed Superman's glowing arm. She held it up shouting,"He 'is' the energy source!"

Oberon scowled up at Superman, who was wincing and gently trying to pry his arm back. "I'm sorry. I didn't know. I mean, I knew I'd probably draw in and retain a lot of energy, but I didn't think it would effect the Boom Tube."

Scott blinked. "Well, Motherbox and I didn't know either, but …" He and the others looked back to the collapsed part of the building. "I think more work is going to need to be done before we can try again."

What do you think now?

Prompts for Whumptober 24th 2024 Radiation Poisoning, Equipment Failure, Collapsed Building (at least part of one), "I never knew daylight could be so violent" (Florence + The Machine, "No Light No Lights")

God bless

ScribeofHeroes