dc_nation, posts by tag: martian manhunter - LiveJournal

With all the events of Blackest Night over J'onn was relieved for the peace. At least, most of him was. With all the turmoil and death that made up that night having a little relief at the aspect of survival is expected, but with this came pangs of loneliness. He has had many old friends die and fight him, and while he was relieved that his wife and child were not among the dead he had fought that night seeing so many of those he had fought with come back with aims to kill him made him realize just how alone he was.

Except for a handful of people. Clark, someone so very much like him, was busy with the reconstruction efforts in Metropolis, as was Arthur in the seas. Bruce was acting as he normally did, although he was in greater mourning because...some of his loved ones were not so lucky in being resurrected. And this led his mind to another who he held dear, but in a far more intimate light: Aubrey Sparks.

The last time he had spent time with her was quite a few months ago, when she had just regained consciousness and needed help getting back into the world.

In blackest night... light shines brightest.

Rings of every color of the rainbow shoot out across planet Earth, seeking out those with great rage... great greed.... great fear... great will... great hope... great compassion... and great love.

And it chooses them. For twenty four hours, thousands of people have the chance to become a hero.

The final death takes place on Qward. While the Sinestro Corps present, and their enslaved Qwardians, work to protect the Central Power Battery for the Sinestro Corps against the neverending onslaught of the Black Lanterns, Kirik'maas of Sector 3753 allows himself to be cornered by a phalanx of the dead -- including the parents he murdered with his own hands. He feels fear... and a moment later, his ripe heart is torn from his body.

//Power levels: 100%//

Martian Manhunter is familiar with the many workings of the Justice League Watchtower. Even with the dimmed lights to save power, he was comfortable walking through the halls. But the eeriness of the empty halls does not escape him, especially considering just what had happened to him just an hour previous. The emptiness worries J'onn.

There should be someone here.

"Star Sapphire, welcome to the Watchtower. Unfortunately, I cannot give you the grand tour. We must go to the communications deck," J'onn says as he picks up the pace in his flight. After a few tense minutes that show no attackers are on the moon base, J'onn makes it to the communications room.

"This is Martian Manhunter to all Justice League personnel. This is an omega level threat. Report to the Watchtower immediately for debriefing."

Now, we wait.

J'onn was in Colorado this night, flying past the lights of Denver to the abandoned ruins of the observatory he had been teleported to from Mars so many years ago. He came here some nights, thinking of his role on Earth and the first human he came into contact with. Dr. Saul Erdel

This man, who had tried to help J'onn at a moment of weakness, was gone now. Taken by a heart attack. J'onns time on Earth was made all the more difficult because of this one moment of sadness and weakness on J'onns part. It was this moment, above all others, that J'onn was most remorseful for since he became a citizen of Earth.

But visiting here also reminded him of all he has done for the people of Earth. Where he had failed Dr. Erdel, he had not failed so many.

Reaching out with his mind, allowing it to stretch into the emptiness of the woods near the observatory was relaxing to J'onn. He had to keep tight control of his powers and to let his mind reach out again, its much like the relief humans feel in stretching...

Wait. Something was not right. He felt nothing with his mind for miles. Nothing. There were no small animals, no hikers, not even a wayward hint of thought in the expanse. Just cold trees.  Then it hits. It hurts like fire, but...its not. It is something in J'onns mind, a searing cold sensation that tears into his mind and skin in a way that reminds him of H'ronmeer's Curse on Mars, so many years ago. So much death, and it felt like it was tearing at his mind.

And after that one excruciating second, it's over.

"What-?" Is all J'onn can choke out before something comes out of the woods.

The barbecue is going well. Many people have greeted Tyler, glad he's back among the living (or at least as "living" as androids get). People reacted favorably to Garfield Logan's announcement, and generally were positive (if somewhat shocked) by Hal Jordan's.

As Ty reaches for one of Joan Garrick's deviled eggs, however, his senses tingle. He has less than a split second to react -- he can feel as time itself is becoming rewritten.

He reaches out with his powers to the closest individuals surrounding him...

...and then the party ceases to be. The suburbs of Star City are now a blasted-out wreck. The house they were by is a shell of what it once was. The barbecue is gone, as are most of the people around them.

There is only a small handful of heroes -- those standing closest to Ty when it happened -- standing with him.

Aubrey sat on the edge of the hotel bed and flicked up her thumb, lighting up her first cigarette in five years, three months and two days.

The first drag made her cough worse than she had since her teen years, and she sat tapping ash off and pounding her chest for a minute and some before finally just snubbing the cigarette out.

She pulled her little brown suitcase closer to her on the bed and began to shuffle through her things. A person didn't acquire very much in the way of personal belongings when they were bed ridden for half a decade but the medical staff at Star Labs had done what they could. She had been given socks, underthings, a few dresses that were anything but what she would pick for herself - shapeless, ugly, and homely - and a small bag of toiletries that had been trashed and replaced the second she'd found a 24 hour Walgreens.

Unpacking it all took about five minutes.

Aubrey wasn't sure if that made her more relieved or more upset.

She'd lost a bit of weight (her muscle tone was gone to shit from being prone so long)but those things aside looking at herself in the mirror there wasn't much of an outward change. Her face held her youth better now than before she'd been given her powers, that much she knew, but she FELT weary in a way that only age brought - eyes dark with the sort of depression that came with loss. She hadn't felt so aged since the reality of turning thirty had hit her like a ton of bricks and she had set about accepting it with a tub of ice cream and some serious considering of botox).

It hadn't sunk in properly yet that five years had slid by her. She was still absorbing the fact that Bush was no longer in office, forget that her home, her things, had all had to be packed up and stored, some of them sold. Her house wasn't her house anymore. Her life wasn't her life anymore.

Truthfully she hadn't even been sure where she would go when she walked out the front doors.

It had crossed her mind to call him at least a dozen times, but each time she stopped short, crippled by embarassment, absurdity... fear. J'onn had been at her back when no one else had, but that was then and this was now and between the two stretched a few short days of terror and years of sudden silence.

She eyed the little prepaid phone as she pulled it out of the suitcase, flipping it open and fingering the speed dial key for one of the two numbers programmed in. Star Labs' lines for discharged patients, in case things went sour medically, and the call-in like to the JLA Watchtower. If anybody knew anything about what had happened to her property and her clothes and all of that it would probably be them...

Aubrey flicked her fingers on the side of the phone, opening and closing the address book entry before finally hitting the dial button. What were the chances that J'onn was manning the damn call-in line anyway? She just needed a number and a key for a storage locker, probably.

Hal glides towards the Watchtower, Henry floating along beside him. There's always a holiday party on the Watchtower, of course, but this year, it's different.

It's hard to believe that it's been 20 years.

20 years ago, Barry, Dinah, J'onn, and Arthur got together to establish a new foundation for justice in the world. Inspired by the Justice Society that had disbanded over 30 years before, the League gathered first to stop an Appellaxian invasion, then to defeat Starro the Conqueror... and the League has existed, in some form or another, for 20 years now.

So much has happened in those 20 years.

Twenty years ago, the League had five members. Superman and Batman both assisted them, of course, along with many other heroes, but they weren't members.

Today, the League is led by Wonder Woman, who wouldn't even exist in Man's World until after the Crisis. There are dozens of members and former members who will be at this gathering, along with those who served as their mentors and inspiration, the Justice Society, and those who they have hoped to serve as guides for, the Titans. Other allies, friends, and family have been invited.

It's time to celebrate the bonds that they share in making the world a better place.

He phases in through the wall of the Watchtower, into the main hall, decorated in tinsel and lights, with a large tree off to one side. The assembled crowd is happy and chatting, exchanging presents, enjoying the food and beverages, and otherwise having a good time. Hal smiles, and joins the gathering.

Scene takes place on November 26, Thanksgiving.

The appetizers are out and the turkeys are cooking in several of the kitchen in the JSA Brownstone's fifteen ovens.

A wide smile is on Cyclone's face as she shuffles in and out of the kitchen, carrying plates with cheese and crackers, bowls full of potato chips, and platters of baked stuff mushrooms, and places them on the long table set up with drinks and appetizers in the living room. The JSA has been doing this for years, before she was on the team, before she was even born. Thanksgiving dinner with the JLA. It's become a tradition that both teams look forward to every year.

"They want shrimp!" Maxine calls as she enters the kitchen again. She makes her way over to the counter, pouring a bag of freshly thawed out shrimp in a fancy platter, and pouring half a jar of cocktail sauce in a little dish and putting it in the middle of the platter, arranging the shrimp in a circle, beaming down at her handiwork.

On her way out of the kitchen, Maxine eyes an apple pie cooling on the shelf. They wouldn't notice if she took just one, teeny tiny little bite....but a stern look from her Gramma and Joan Garrick has her back out in the living room, putting the shrimp on the table.

"Happy Thanksgiving everyone!"

Just a quiet afternoon in Metropolis, until it's not. There's a mild explosion, as three men in ski masks go flying through the front window of a convenience store on main street.

~Five minutes earlier~

"Gimme all the money in the register! Nobody moves until we're out of here!"

Zach pinched the bridge of his nose and shook his head. All he wanted to do was go pick up a can of soup, maybe a diet soda as well. And he gets this. He wasn't even in his work clothes, he was in jeans and a hoodie. Why was he attracting this kind of trouble?

The thugs started going around, demanding wallets, while the alpha-thug continued ranting and waving his gun at the cashier, who was fumbling with the keys in their fear. They got to Zach, he shook his head again, and handed them a business card.

"Wuzzis?" The thug snatched it away and read it. "Zackery Zatara - World's Greatest Teenage Magician." He threw it down, and put a gun to Zach's head. "Tryin' to be smart, asshole?"

"I'm not smart, I'm brilliant. Sisylarap." Zach cast a spell on the man and he fell over, unable to move his muscles. There was a scream, and other thugs started encircling him, firing shots. "Stellub eb llits!" The bullets all froze in mid-air, saving both Zachary and the bystanders, having fallen to the floor when the shots were fired, from them.

"Now put your guns down and wait for the police to arrive before I need t-- THE HELL?!" Zach wheeled as he felt a shadow falling over him. The lead thug had run around and had toppled a shelving section over on him.

"This is why I'm in charge, maggots! Y'gotta fight with cunning!"

Zach snarled as his wand appeared in his hand and he blasted the toppling array with an ice blast, freezing it and it's contents in place. "CUNNING?" He fixed the thugs with a venomous glare, energy crackling around him. "I'm one of the most powerful transmutationists in the world, and your idea of cunning is to push a shelf over on me?! Hctirdle sniahc!"

Green chains of energy spewed out of the end of his wand, grabbing the thugs still moving and bundling them together in mid-air. "If I weren't so irritated, I'd be insulted! Thgil eht esuf!" He taps his wand to the end of the chain, and it crackles, burning away and releasing a mild explosion that sends the thugs flying through the window.

After the smoke clears, the place undamaged besides the initial disarray it was thrown into when the thugs pulled their guns, Zach brushes himself, grabs the items he wanted, and heads for the register. "I really don't feel like waiting, so just keep the change." He slaps down a twenty on the counter and marches for the exit.