raptorcanaria | Aftermath

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canon: jla year one

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."

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"You spied on our civilian lives," Flash adds. "You keep detailed files on us. For all we know, you used your telepathy to pry inside our--."

"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."

J'Onn is so earnest, bowing his head in an acknowledged apology as he continues:

"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."

Hal does hear how contrite J'Onn is. And yet--.

"Such as lie. I don't like lies."

"As I said," J'Onn begins, "I regret my--."

"Leave him be!" Dinah snaps at GL. That comment about the corpse has hit her in a sore spot from months of defending her ideals in the bar.

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...?"

"That's just paranoid!" GL snaps back at her. "What about Aquaman? Next you'll be telling me he coaches my goldfish to spy--."

"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.

Dinah covers her face in her gloves for a second, and turns away from the men before lowering them.

"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.

The funny thing is, Hal's spent the entire time fighting this team every step of the way, trying to get them to follow. And now, when he's finally learned all he had to do was--. Oh, what difference does it make? It's over.

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.

Barry Allen is blond. He has blue eyes and an open face of the kind Dinah's used to novels decribing as 'honest'. He looks apprehensive, but friendly, his forehead slightly crinkled with the speed of though going on behind it.

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."

Normally, Hal might have made a smartass crack at that revelation, but he already knows what she does for a living, and he sure doesn't want to bring up that evening again.

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?"

J'Onn begins to smile, and as he does, his entire face changes as he shifts into a heavy set brunette man in his forties. "I spend my time as a detective with the Middleton Police. I call myself simply John Jones."

"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.

Flash tells everyone to relax. Who else would make a noise like that except: "Snapper, is that you? Come on out!"

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!"

"Snapper!"

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.

"Is that--?" Flash asks in disbelief.

"--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.

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Aftermath

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