I do not own Superman/Kal El/Clark Kent, Lois Lane, Batman/Bruce Wayne, Martian Manhunter/J'ohn J'ones, Alfred Pennyworth, Freddie, or Amanda Waller. DC does.

I did create Thomas and Evelyn Ainsley. Please enjoy this chapter for free.

Early Evening: Metropolis Offices of The Daily Planet: Eleven Years After Waynes' Deaths'

"Staying late again?"

Clark looked up from his computer screen and into Lois Lane's eyes. He gave her a warm but tired smile. "Yeah, just for a couple of hours this evening, I think."

Lois rose to her toes, leaned over, and perched herself on his desk. "After he called you into the lion's den, I didn't hear any roaring from Perry's office today."

Clark shrugged. "Yeah, he and I came to an agreement. I can take off for a few hours during the workday for personal emergencies and then make them up in the evening, as long as I lock things up tight, and become the permanent donut and coffee guy in the morning."

Lois frowned and folded her arms. "You stay late, lock up, 'and' keep everyone else out of the donut-delivery rotation? Perry's using you, kid. That's way more than he'd get out of you if you 'didn't' take off on friend-emergencies."

While still staring at the screen and typing, Clark gave a smaller smile. "Most people don't have a job they can keep while helping friends in the middle of the workday Lois. By that standard, Mr. White's been really understanding."

Lois sniffed. Then she shrugged. "How is your friend doing?"

Clark stopped typing. He blinked. Then his shoulders fell. "He's ... still having a rough time."

Lois Lane raised an eyebrow. "Can you elaborate?"

Clark looked over to the side in silence. Then he let out a breath before answering, "Health emergencies, family problems ... He wants to move to get closer to certain family members, but ... that seems impossible right now."

"Huh. And you're trying to help with all that?"

Clark nodded, leaned back over his keyboard, and began scrolling down the page onscreen again. "Trying. We all need help with things from time to time."

Lois continued to stare at Clark as he went back to proofreading another article. At first, every journalist, including her, had demanded "they" proofread his proofreads of their work, before they went to print. They wanted to make sure he didn't change the content or even "voice" of their articles. But with Perry acting like he might fire the poor hardworking hayseed, and the offered compromise being he work after everyone else left, to make sure the paper was ready to print the next morning ... they'd all offered to just leave it in his hands. So far, Kent had made sure everything was spelled right and had the correct punctuation, saving the writers and Daily Planet embarrassment, while leaving each author's intent and style intact.

Kent was good at that. He did his job, kept his opinions to himself most of the time, and almost never picked a fight or demanded something for himself ... At most, when he disagreed with someone, he came off as unbearably naive. She said, "No one could be trusted." He said "Some could at least sometimes." She said, "When the lights went off, everyone became a thief." He said, "Some would knock on doors to check their neighbors and bring candles." If he really threw himself into other people's problems, this fully, this often, could she really assume he'd never seen the ugly side of life?

"Your friend's lucky to have you."

Clark paused in his work to look up and smile at her again. "Thanks Lois."

Just Before Dawn: Gotham Batcave: Eleven Years After Waynes' Deaths

Batman parked and got out of the batmobile. Then he strode across the cave toward the Martian. "You seem better."

John nodded. "I think so. Mr. Pennyworth fed me quite a bit throughout the night. It seems to have helped." John lowered his hand and a cabinet of files a few yards away that had seemed to just be hanging in midair. The full piece of furniture landed with a "thump." The Alien then lifted his hand closer to his eyes and stared at it. "I don't know what to do with myself now that I am at full strength again, though ..."

Batman stopped and glared at him. "What do you mean? Scott and his party may have gone across the galaxy to do another show, but we can call them back when you're ready. You need to go back to Mars and see if any of the Green Martians Superman saw were really your niece in disguise."

"But there seems to be no way back after that ... and if she is not ... if she died ..."

"You can still reconnect with some of your people."

"But ... unless I take him with me ... my brother will not."

Alfred paused momentarily while approaching the pair his eyes widening. "Oh! I believe I forgot to tell either of you in all the bother yesterday. Freddie called. He said he knew something about the matter I'd asked him about, namely 'you' and your brother."

The Martian turned toward the butler and froze. Batman stared at him too. Alfred glared back at the alien alone. "I have to say … since Mars does seem to still be supporting life, I expect you to take that other Green Martian with rather dangerous ambitions back with you."

The Martian walked toward the manservant. "What did your friend say?"

Alfred's tight shoulders fell as he sighed before answering, "That he had information. All the bother was going on at the Ainsley place when he rang, though. So, I'm afraid I cut him off. I did try calling back later while you were out like a light, but he never picked up. I assume, since he mentioned the idea, that means he's on his way here."

The Martian let out a breath. "I will at least stay for that information. And 'yes,' I will try to find my brother and take him home."

Batman's bunched muscles relaxed. "Be careful during the 'search' part. We'll try to do most of it while you hide here. Keep building up your strength. At a certain point, though, your participation might become necessary."

The Martian narrowed his red glowing eyes, turned, and raised his hand again in the direction of a training dummy. It rose from the ground flew several yards across the room and slammed hard into a wall. Its slightly gelatinous mass jiggled a moment before it slid down the wall and flopped onto the floor. John lowered his hand back to his side saying, "I'll be ready."

Early Morning: Public Road Adjacent to Public Lands Behind Ainsley Manor: Eleven Years After Waynes' Deaths

As the morning sun rose over the woods, a car pulled up alongside the public land woods that boarded Ainsley private property. A man who moved with carefully calculated ease stepped out, walked around the sedan, and opened its passenger-side door. A bleary-eyed Samson slowly got out. The first man then pulled a large wad of cash from his jacket pocket. "Now, can you tell me where you saw this monster, or do you need more coffee?"

Samson growled. "Eh, for that much money I can remember, though I'm not sure why you care."

Samson walked, sometimes stumbling, ahead of the other man. His tall, grim, smooth-moving shadow grimaced at the pace. Finally, Samson stopped and waved at the trees, bushes, and land in front of him. "He showed up here. I remember because I slowed down. The mutt that had been chasing me stopped barking and crashing behind. Also, this log was across the path. It was out of it that the 'thing' rose up. I turned back and went through those thorns over there to get away."

The slimmer man swept his gaze over the area and pointing arm of Samson. He noted all the broken vegetation and nodded. "Thanks for satisfying my curiosity." He held the wad of cash out at full arms-length toward the bigger man. Samson grabbed it with a grin. He then moved back toward his car far faster than he'd walked away from it. As soon as the sound of his crashing through bushes and snapping fallen branches beneath his feet had died away, the other man brought a radio out of his other jacket pocket. He pulled out its folded antennae, pressed a button on its side, and spoke into it. "Come on in. The trail seems to start here. And it's fresh."

Samson got into his car, grinned, pulled out and peeled down the road back toward Gotham. After he turned a corner around the state forest, trucks appeared in the distance on the same road. One pulled up almost in the spot he'd left. Another paused earlier, turned backwards, and then backed up so its rear was pointed toward the rear of the first truck to park. It left almost a truck-length of space between them. Then, both their backs opened. Bloodhounds, their trainers, and men in tactical gear holding strange weapons poured out.

The blood hounds strained at their leads. Their trainers followed at a quick clip. The men with weapons stayed on the trainer's heels. They all moved to the area Samson had indicated to the agent who was waiting for them. After they, as well as people following them with cameras, glass dishes, and tweezers combed through that place, the dogs gathered sniffing in another spot. Waller herself moved to it and stared at a mysterious set of footprints deeply pressed into the soft earth. She frowned. There were no treads or toe pads marked out in the imprint like the person's feet had been garbed in soft cloth only. Another such set was discovered yards away directly under a gap in the overhead foliage caused by broken branches. Their remains littered the ground around the distinct prints. Waller scowled up into the sunlight pouring through.

Fredrick, in a rented car, slowed his speed going by the many vehicles lined up along the road. He tried to not look like he was staring while also memorizing everything he could.

Mid-morning: Batcave: Eleven Years After Waynes' Deaths

John was testing the boundaries of his telepathy. He wasn't listening very closely to any particular mind but noted the mood and alertness of each he came across. Bruce's lack of mental alertness and relaxation showed he was deeply asleep in his room. Alfred, however, was awake and alert in the kitchen. The Martian also sensed various squirrels and birds in the woods and gardens beyond the walls of the house. Of course, he had first noted the bats awake and asleep in nearby caverns Bruce tried not to use and thus leave those creatures mostly undisturbed. The Martian wondered if he should tell Alfred or Bruce about the rodents he sensed living in the manor as well. Then, he sensed another mind.

A third human brain was approaching the house. He focused in on it a little more. Was this Alfred's acquaintance? Something about its alertness, orderliness, and maturity reminded him of the manservant.

He sensed nervousness in it, but also strangely a comfort and familiarity probably with his surroundings. He kept focusing on this mind with his own. He would not interfere or show himself, but he could learn certain things just by paying attention.

Mid-Morning: Wayne Manor Kitchen Eleven Years After Waynes Deaths

Alfred was washing dishes in the sink, when the door opened. He grabbed a frying pan's handle and held it while turning toward the door. Then it opened and he took in Freddie's grin. Alfred relaxed, let go of the panhandle, and dried his hands on the apron he wore. "So, you did decide to drop by?"

"And perhaps that's a good thing considering things still seem tense around here."

Alfred sighed. "Freddie … Would you mind if we caught up on a pleasant country drive?"

Freddie raised his eyebrows. "I wouldn't mate. There's a whole lot of very serious looking trucks and cars parked down near the Ainsley place."

Alfred stiffened as his stare at the other ex-agent turned harder. "Really?"

Mid-morning: Batcave: Eleven Years After Waynes' Deaths

John had relaxed greatly upon reading familiarity and relief from Alfred after the other man's entrance, but when he sensed surprise from Alfred as well as wariness from the newcomer, he focused more. He peered deeper into Freddie's mind and saw the sight he so clearly remembered and read his thoughts about it. The Martian stiffened. Oh no ... They know I was there … what are they doing to Dr. Thomkins, her sister, Thomas, the young ladies? What are they willing to do to them to find me?!

The Martian went both invisible and intangible, slipped out of the cave through the house, and then into the sky before flying, still invisible, toward the other manor.

What do you think now?

God bless

ScirbeofHeroes