All's Fair
By Chicago
Disclaimers: Characters and settings owned by DC Comics. They've been borrowed for fun, not for profit. The situation and plot belong to me.
Continuity note: This fic deals with a loose end from Our World's at War, but don't ask me to explain that crossover - I got it in summary and checked with 'rith for canon points. This entire 'verse takes as its departure point from canon JLA #58. Developments in canon since then will be included capriciously, but in this case, assume the JLA has not had an adventure since JLA #58. As previously noted, the Bruce Wayne: Murderer arc never happened in this 'verse.
Canon notes:
Part 1 - references to first JLA series, issues #259-263
Part 2 - references to MM #10 (slash fans, check this issue for the story behind Beatriz and Tora)
Part 3 - the Slab ended up in Antarctica in Joker: the Last Laugh
Part 4 - Poseidonis was teleported "somewhere" unknown by Tempest in an effort to save the city during OWaW
Part 5 - Zatanna's spells can be read by reading each word backwards.
Part 6 - references JL Task Force #14
Part 8 - the Centurian appears in JLA 80 page giant #3, Prometheus was introduced in the "New Year's Evil" series in 1998, Mordru to the best of my knowledge was last seen in JSA: Justice Be Done.
Part 10 - the last time the JLA stormed Everest was in the JLI era, the "Judgment Day" arc in JLA 89-91, JLTF 13-14, and JLI 65-66. This was the "Overmaster" incident that gets referred to .
Part 12 - references JLA (current run) #17-18
Part 17 - references JLI #16
Part 19 - references JLA (current run) #50-54, and a brief story arc that I somehow don't have right before No Man's Land. If I recall correctly it was in 'Tec and called "Citizen Bruce Wayne" The pocket in Superman's cape is canon, referenced in JLA #50 (it's where he keeps his glasses!).
Acknowledgements: Special thanks to 'rith for help with all things Atlantean and background on Garth's current canon situation. Darklady beta'd for me and prevented me from trying to cram this story into 15 parts. Also thanks to Smitty, who is htmling this and other J'onnverse stories as part of a flattering conspiracy to get this 'verse a more public home (yes, 'rith, you guys are wearing my resistance down).
Rating: I never know how to categorize these things. The fic on the whole is PG for violence, various black magics and for implied and sometimes explicitly stated same sex relationships. Individual tolerances might move it more toward PG-13, and an extremely conservative reader might rate it R in some places. But basically nothing here that couldn't possilby be drawn in a comics code comic.
Archive: Batslash, nascent J'onnverse page. No others.
Note: Finally, a story with a plot! The JLA bad guys have been happily laying low for the past month or so, but we couldn't expect them to do so forever. Now Batman and J'onn must begin the process of figuring out how their relationship fits into the dynamics of a team working to save the world.
Note: <> indicates translated quote.
All's Fair
by Chicago
"Dude, do you run three laps of your apartment everytime you arrive there, too?"
Wally West, aka the Flash, stopped abruptly to hitch his hip on the edge of the conference table. "Nah, blows Linda's papers all over and pisses her off. You gonna finish those cheese doodles?"
Kyle shot him a look. "Get your -"
"Got 'em!" Wally announced, returning to his spot and gleefully tearing into the oversized bag. "I'll totally restock next shift. Whatcha workin' on?"
"You keep those orange covered fingers on the other side of that table, Wally. I've got to get these pencils done by tomorrow."
"Can I see?"
"When you're done with the orange stuff. There's a reason I left *my* cheese doodles on the other side of the table."
"Hey, easy, Kyle. I know about deadlines and stuff. I'll be cool."
"Better be."
"You're testy. What gives?"
"Look, I'm behind schedule and our man Eel already wrecked a finished page by trying to figure out if he worked like silly putty and could pick up the image and -"
"Ouch. I'll take your next shift with him if you want."
Kyle looked up with a mix of wariness and potential gratitude. "Why? Who'd you get stuck with?"
"Oh, no, it's not Bats or anything. I got the cakewalk shift with J'onn. I just got a chance at a couple of tickets for this singer Linda's been dying to see and the concert's the night of my duty -"
Kyle's face relaxed into a grin. "Hey, thanks, man. I think I might ring Plastic Man into the air circulation system just to see if he shreds or stretches if I have to spend another monitor duty with him."
Wally chuckled. "I'd bet stretches and it'd be like gum on your shoe, but let's not find out. Working with J'onn always just bores me to tears anyway. He can cover the monitors and handle any maintenance emergency and do all the dispatch duties and beat Oracle at chess and I end up feeling doubly redundant."
"Uh huh," Kyle replied distractedly, sketching in another figure on the panel in front of him. "Sorry, I know what you mean. Any idea how much longer we'll have to do this overlapping shift gig? Now that J'onn's back in action, I mean?"
Wally shrugged, crumpling up his now empty bag and looking around. "We need a garbage can in this room," he complained before dashing out and returning sans bag in the space of a breath. "I think we're going to talk about it next meeting. I think Superman wanted to sort of break us of the habit of leaving J'onn up here by himself, though. After - you know. At least until he's really 100% and all that."
Kyle looked up from his drawing. "Y'think that had something to do with it? J'onn's feeling alone? I mean, you've known him longer than I have, so maybe -"
"I think it's more the whole last of his race thing, really. 'Course, he's kinda hard for me to read. Here's this guy who'd throw himself into the fire faster than anyone for any of us, but he still feels so isolated? I just kinda thought he liked having time to himself, y'know?"
Kyle finished a line and set down his pencil, eyeing the page critically for a moment. "I know what you mean. I've been thinking I should spend more time with him off-duty or something, but it's like - hey, J'onn, wanna go get some beers and a pizza and catch Monday Night Football? I don't think so. I think this page might actually be done."
Wally inspected his hands, scrubbed the back of his hand over his mouth and brushed his fingertips against the sides of his legs. "I'm cheese doodle free now - can I look?"
"Sure."
"He might actually like football. Powergirl and I were talking the other day - ooh, now there's a hot number!"
"You like? I use Jade as a model for that character."
"Very much. Anyway, we were talking about how we didn't get to know J'onn so well during the Europe days, but she was talking to Gypsy-"
"Gypsy?"
"JLA - from the Detroit group. She was with J'onn's task force a while, too."
Kyle shook his head. "I'm glad we don't have to pass a Justice League history test to get this gig."
"Don't say that too loud - Batman's probably got the place bugged. I like the triangle theme you've got going on the panels here."
"Wally, my man - when did you develop an eye for comic art?"
Wally blushed faintly. "Kinda had a big collection as a kid. This is good stuff."
"You were saying about Gypsy?"
"Right. I guess she was saying how J'onn really bonded with that group. They were all kids - and I mean literally, a lot younger than you, and the Justice League was a mess, and they're in this bunker in Detroit of all places. I guess they kinda saw J'onn as a father figure, gettin' 'em through some tough stuff, and it sounds like he'd sit and watch games with them or whatever. These the last pages then?"
"Yeah, just need to bind 'em up and deliver them in the morning. The Detroit group. Wasn't that when Ivo -"
Wally sighed. "Yeah."
"Dude. That was like the whole league down, wasn't it?"
"Active at the time. Only ones lived to tell about it were J'onn and Gypsy and Vixen." Flash's tone was heavy.
"Damn. Maybe I should -"
Kyle was cut off by a sudden blaring alarm which left him stumbling into a run to catch up with Wally in the monitor womb. By the time he got there, Wally had already isolated the problem. "This is weird. The water level in Lake Titicaca just rose two inches."
"Another one? That *is* weird."
Wally turned and stared. "*Another* one?"
"Well, yeah," Kyle fumbled. "Alarm went off earlier for Loch Ness, but that triggers the water level alarm at least once a year anyway. And before that Lake Victoria went up."
"And you didn't tell anyone?"
"Ease up, Wally! That Victoria thing - there was just a major heat wave in Kenya, snow cover on the mountains down there was already flooding the feeder streams. We figured the flood swell just finally hit the lake. And you know as well as I do that Loch Ness is always setting off Aquaman's sensors."
"Still, Kyle." Wally's hands were already flying across the keyboard. "You are so lucky I'm not Batman or Aquaman. You've gotta at least log this stuff and alert people it's going on."
"We logged it. But what are we supposed to do - just get on the comm and say, 'Hey, Batman, Lake Victoria just rose?' I don't -"
The Oracle mask was suddenly on screen. "Go ahead, Flash."
"Oracle, we've got anomalies in standard water table levels suggested on three continents. Downloading data now."
"Any ideas on source?"
"Some possible natural explanations, but otherwise, negative."
"Martian Manhunter's already in South America - I'll have him check it out and I'll run the patterns. I'll keep you posted. Oracle out."
Kyle looked pained as Wally turned back around. "Please tell me we aren't going to end up doing more playbook drills."
"*I'm* not. You are. Geez, Kyle, you're not a rookie anymore."
"It's *lake levels*, Wally. Let's try this is a job for the EPA, not the JLA."
"And that whole oxygen depletion thing on the last big gig? That seems pretty EPA, too."
Kyle groaned. "Fine. Reporting to quarters until the end of the world is upon us - again."
"Don't even, Kyle. Just run the drills."
With a heavy sigh, Kyle left the monitor womb, and Wally - after grabbing a snack - settled down to watch the world go by.
(2)
<"This is where they were last seen,"> Garcia explained, gesturing toward the shore of the lake. <"The local inspectorate, they point out that girls run away for the factories around La Paz all the time, but so young-">
<"You were right to call me,"> Fire said, kneeling down to inspect rocky ground. Nothing fresh enough for her to follow that the villages trackers had not already found. <"The factories do not raid the villages, preferring to seduce. You say there were three girls?">
<"Yes. All less than 12 years old. Our trackers sought -">
<"My little Meena,"> a woman began sobbing, breaking away from the small crowd that had followed Garcia and the superhero to the water. <"She is just nine - too small to run away, even with her friends! The lake has swallowed her! The lake-">
<"Maca!"> Garcia snapped. <"This superstition has-">
<"Look!"> someone cried, and Fire followed a pointing finger in the direction of the lake. There was a collective gasp around her as another voice cried, "Es el Hombre Verdad!"
A mix of pleased surprise and deep aggravation filled Beatriz da Costa as her own eyes verified the villager's pronouncement. The crowd around her had already broken away, dashing toward where J'onn J'onzz had come ashore - just the way they always reacted when he appeared. Even Garcia, who had at least had the courtesy to stay by her side, was distracted.
<"Did you summon him?"> he asked, truly awed.
Fire shook her head. <"He answers to his own authority."> She managed to keep the irony out of her voice, realizing she'd probably just added to the legend of El Hombre Verdad. So be it. He was standing on the shore now, listening patiently as the troubles of the village were laid at his feet.
Fire wanted to sigh. <"We should join them,"> she pointed out, walking toward the gaggle of people at lake's edge. Garcia quickly got ahead of her, taking her suggestion almost as a dismissal. Yep, the inescapable magnetism of El Hombre Verdad, he who was muy macho in a land where that counted for more than being around all the time. Her irritation was tempered, though. Better here and alive than dead.
<"Fire,"> J'onn acknowledged, prompting a sudden silence around him. <"It sounds as if you are precisely where you are needed.">
<"Then you agree with me that this is not just factory run aways as the inspectorate suggests?"> This was J'onn's way. Example. It frustrated her to death that he would not just tell people that she was a good enough superhero and that they should respect her in her own right.
<"Yes. Perhaps if we might have some time to discuss?">
The suggestion prompted Garcia into action. <"Yes, yes. Let them go walk, people. Give them space,"> he ordered.
It took a few more moments, but then J'onn had broken free and they were walking through the mountain forest. "I am sorry, Beatriz," J'onn apologized. "I know you don't appreciate my sudden entrances."
Fire stopped suddenly, prompting J'onn to do the same. Then she launched herself at him, hugging him fiercely. "You're better!" she delighted. "I hear the JLA almost killed you again."
She watched him smile faintly. "Again. Yes."
"Although I still don't forgive you." She stood back now, her arms crossed over her chest. "You seem like you don't trust me with a mystery."
He shook his head. "I was here for different reasons when that mother's grief caught me. There's something strange at the bottom of the lake."
Beatriz wrinkled her brow. "Strange? Strange how?"
"I'm not sure. It's like a bulge at the lake bottom. It could be a sudden geological phenomenon, but the only effect it seems to have had is on the water level."
"You think it's related to these missing girls?"
"I have no idea. I did a scan and the girls are no longer in the area, but -" He shrugged, but his face wore a worried frown.
"I'll stay on the case," Beatriz promised. "Perhaps I can be of use to the JLA after all."
She regretted her tone almost instantly as J'onn sighed. "Beatriz, we cost you enough." The cost. Even so oblique a mention pained her heart. It would not be the same without Tora. "Still," he continued, "your help is always welcome. And needed here especially."
She nodded. They'd talked about it before, the dearth of superheroes in the southern hemisphere. Not that there were not heroes, but the meta and supernatural population here was more inclined to the shadows and willing to be decried as superstitious nonsense. Recognized superheroes with ties to the larger hero network were much harder to attract to parts of the world where law and
mysticism were frequently entwined.
"You will let me know if the JLA discovers -?"
A soft beep interrupted her, and he held up a staying hand. "A moment."
She waited, watching his expression shift as he answered his comunicator. "Go ahead ... Yes. ... Understood. ... I may be late ... Yes." She found herself paying less attention to his words than
his tone, his body language...
"J'onn J'onzz!" she exclaimed when he finished his conversation.
He looked at her, startled.
"You have taken a lover!" she announced gleefully, once again catching him in a tight embrace. She was thrilled at the discovery, remembering nights when Tora used to worry for their leader and his loneliness.
"Beatriz," he protested, although his tone was more pleased than stern.
"Sorry." She released him, pouting faintly. "You aren't going to tell me who, I can just tell. And you've got JLA business, so I can't try to charm it out of you. But I'm so happy for you!"
He gave her a sidelong look. "How did -?"
"Please. A woman knows these things. I take it you have to go?"
"I want to do something first. Let's rejoin the others."
Beatriz gave him a look and then shrugged. It wasn't against J'onn's principles to disappear if a situation was well in hand, and there was little enough for him to do here. She fell into step behind
him.
When they emerged back at the shore, the group immediately gathered around them, all talking at once. J'onn held up a hand. <"You have done well to call Fire to your aid. The fate of these small
ones is truly a mystery, one which may touch upon other work that I must do. Fire will stay with you. Trust her work, for she is as skilled as I at discovering the causes of such calamities.">
Beatriz looked at him sharply, keeping her face composed as she protested mentally, *Don't lie to them, J'onn. I've wanted your support, but-*
*I'm not lying, Beatriz. You have long known you have the skill. And something I cannot have to this case - the dedication.* Aloud, he was saying something about his responsibilities elsewhere and offering some words of comfort to the bereaved parents in the group. Beatriz wasn't really listening. She was only looking at him, wondering if it was this new love he had that gave him the willingness to vouch for her this way, as he deliberately had not before.
There was a pause as he said his farewells, and then he was taking off back over the lake - but no one was watching him. Instead, they had turned to their local superhero, looking for guidance and support. Fire took the hand of one still sobbing mother and gave a tight, sympathetic smile. <"We'll find out what happened,"> she promised, <"whatever it takes.">
-end part 2-