Dinah Laurel Lance (
raptorcanaria) wrote2011-02-28 10:54 am
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Aftermath
The flight back to Rhode Island is long and silent - Dinah, for one dwelling on all those men who just dropped dead the second J'Onn touched them with his mind. they won, but it doesn't feel like a victory, and then - then there's J'Onn.
Back in the cave, it still doesn't feel like anyone's going to say anything until Aquaman speaks up.
"So what now?"
Dinah sighs. "Now, I think we ask some hard questions. J'Onn - I think I speak for everyone when I say that, though we appreciate the fact that you're on our side..." and there's a whole lot of apology that has to come oout there, on everyone's side. "...mostly, we still feel betrayed."
Back in the cave, it still doesn't feel like anyone's going to say anything until Aquaman speaks up.
"So what now?"
Dinah sighs. "Now, I think we ask some hard questions. J'Onn - I think I speak for everyone when I say that, though we appreciate the fact that you're on our side..." and there's a whole lot of apology that has to come oout there, on everyone's side. "...mostly, we still feel betrayed."
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"No," J'Onn objects, his voice almost pleading. "I never--."
"For all we know you did."
"Why, J'Onn?" Aquaman asks.
J'Onn's shoulders sink. Coming from the other member of their team who often had trouble understanding human ways, Aquaman's question seems to have pushed J'Onn to a decision. He looks down, and when he speaks his deep voice is quiet almost to a whisper.
"For years I have been stranded on a world not my own. One that has a history of being...unreceptive to those who are different. One in which my senses are dulled by the simple light of a match...."
"Alone, in hiding, my survival depending on my powers of observation... of gathering information on the motivations of the strangers around me."
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"Buoyed up by public acceptance of you and others like you, I went public in search of kinship."
"And you found it," Aquaman says.
"Yes, I did," J'Onn continues, hs voice growing hard. "And during our first encounter I watched you exterminate an alien force you knew little about, and take pride in that."
Dinah cuts in, fighting the sudden rise of guilt. "I don't know that pride is the right..."
"We keep one of their corpses in our trophy room," J'Onn counters bitterly. "I did not want to fear you people. My instincts told me you were good and noble, but you are, after all, still human. I needed to know more about you to guarantee my own safety.
"I did what I felt I had to, to survive."
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"Such as lie. I don't like lies."
"As I said," J'Onn begins, "I regret my--."
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And running into certain test pilots haven't helped either. "What about you? He's not the only person I've run into out of costume! How do we know you haven't done a little X-Raying with that ring?"
"Wait," Flash says, "when did you two...?"
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"That isn't funny," Aquaman interrupts.
"I'm just making a point. I--forget it."
It's not just J'Onn now. Everyone is looking uncertain, and hurt.
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"Listen to us," she says. "We thought we knew each other. We kidded ourselves that masks didn't matter. We don't really know each other at all."
She half-turns back towards the others. No one is really looking at each other, or even trying to.
So much for the Justice League.
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Dammit. It's over.
For all the good his Ring could do, it can't do anything about that.
It's the gesture from Flash that catches his eye, but GL doesn't realize what the speedster is doing until the red mask is completely down.
"My name is Barry Allen. I'm a forensic scientist with the Central City Police Department."
And Hal's jaw slowly....drops.
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He looks like someone who could be her friend.
He looks like someone who she could take risks alongside.
Dinah stares at him.
And removes her wig.
"Dinah Lance. I'm a florist in Gotham City."
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So, instead, he pulls his own mask: "Hal Jordan. Test pilot for Ferris Aircraft in Coast City."
Aquaman seems even younger for a moment. "I...I have no other identity. But my father called me Arthur."
He turns to J'Onn. "And you?"
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"Well, John," sasy Barry, lifting a hand to shake the Detective's. "From one lawman to another, it's a pleasure to meet you."
It's a touching moment, slightly ruined by a sudden loud CLANG further down the cave.
"What the...?" Dinah whips her wig back up to her head.
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Sure enough, the young man appears, but as he staggers into sight, the heroes are stunned to see him beaten and bruised.
"Uncle Simon!" Snapper gasps. "It's Uncle--Uncle Simon! You gotta stop him!"
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He almost stumbles into the room, and Dinah starts forward to catch him, pulling a hankerchief out of her jacket to clean up the blood.
"...tried to kill me," Snapper manages. "But I got away."
"He did this to you?" she asks. Simon, the representative of their funder? "Why?"
"Because I know now. The alien we've been looking for - it's him. And he's not..."
But before he can finish the sentence, an alarm sounds.
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"--The NORAD alert?!" GL finishes, just as amazed.
"Yeah!" Snapper replies, his voice growing panicked. "That's what I was trying to tell you! Uncle Simon's the alien--and he's not alone anymore!"
He stumbles out of Dinah's hold and runs clumsily to the cavern's opening. "He was getting Locus to make the world over... for his people!"
And as the heroes follow Snapper into the open air, the night skies above are no longer dark.
They're filled with the flashing lights of dozens--hundreds of alien ships, screaming through space, heading directly for Earth.
The invasion has begun.