Mindstorm, part 0
By Chicago

Disclaimer: Characters belong to DC Comics and are borrowed without permission for 
fun and not for profit.  Some scenes are directly from said comics as noted in canon 
notes, with special apologies to Geoff Johns and Joe Kelly for any mangling I've done of 
their work (not that either of them is likely to FIND this, but please read my twisting of 
any scenes to fit this scenario as homage to good and interesting storylines from canon, 
of which there are precious few).  Also special thanks to Domenika Marzione, who gave 
such a compelling explanation of the interrelation of the DC and Vertigo lines in the 
person of Sanderson Hawkins that I stole liberally from her vision.

Now regarding the ins and outs of this story: 
The issue here is that I got Jossed.  Big time.  I plotted this out over a year ago and all 
the subplots I'd cleverly planned to exploit actually got resolved in canon (how often 
does that happen?).  Canon notes more explicitly identify where I've parted with canon.

Continuity notes:  Year 2 of the J'onnverse, set immediately after "Well Met on 
Moonrise" and "Office Interlude" (you knew that "break" couldn't last).  This story can 
stand alone, but will make more sense if you've read "Fugitive Endeavor," "Setback," 
and "Globetrotting" from year 1 and "Feeding Pigeons" and "The Apprentice" from year 
2.  For those who want a quick background, there were impeachment rumblings 
around the time that Luthor tried to frame Bruce Wayne, but the Supreme Court ruled 
that telepathic evidence was inadmissible in court.  More impeachment talk came when 
the Daily Planet produced a story claiming that Luthor knew in advance about the 
invasion in "Our Worlds at War" (the main details of this are in the Superman books in 
canon).  Luthor was let off the hook - ironically - when J'onn did a mindscan and found 
no evidence of Luthor's foreknowledge.  New impeachment talk is circling around DEO 
and other reports of Luthor's assassination of a man named Masters and revelations 
about the shadowy activities Masters was up to.

Canon notes:  
Part 4 - Perry White fired Clark Kent in Superman #183, when it was revealed he was 
still in Perry's employ in order to continue investigating Luthor.  They agreed not to tell 
Lois, and Lois remained in the dark until The Man of Steel #134, when she followed 
Clark to his workspace.  In this fic, that didn't happen.  Lois still doesn't know.
Part 5 - several lines taken from JLA #72 and 74, with the context changed.  Please refer 
to those comics to see the real scenes.
Part 7 - Kobra's escape taken from JSA #45.  Jonathan Kent's odd memory lapses began 
after he re-appeared after "Our Worlds at War."  Canon explained this as a result of a 
mindscan performed by Manchester Black (see "Ending Battle" running through all 4 
Superman books in Nov-Dec '02).  Kobra's escape taken from JSA #45.
Part 8 - Mordru's attack on Earth and his recruitment of Eclipso and Obsidian are from 
JSA #46-47, as is Kobra's terrorist attacks on the cities mentioned.  The mention of his 
effort to keep Poseidonis stuck in a pocket dimension refers to events in "All's Fair," 
part of year 1 of the J'onnverse.
Part 9 - Mayavana is described and applied in JLA (second series) #39-40.  The shadows 
swallowing New York City and the sandstorm in Manhattan are part of the JSA battle 
against Mordru, Obsidian and Eclipso as depicted in JSA #46-47.
Part 10 - "Fernus the burning" appears in JLA #86-89. The moon was pulled out of orbit 
in JSA #48.
Part 11 - Air Wave's distress call is taken from JSA #49.  The details of all the stuff 
happening planetside are from JSA: Princes of Darkness arc.
Part 12 - Airwave's message taken verbatim from JSA #49, as are descriptions of Los 
Angeles.
Part 14 - The fates of Sentinel, Captain Marvel, Dr. Fate and Jakeem are all from JSA: 
Princes of Darkness arc.  The shadows over New York are from the same issues.  The 
Slab ended up in Antarctica during the Joker: Last Laugh.  That was after it had been 
sucked into its own private corner of time and space compliments of Black Mass.  I have 
taken the liberty of assuming that Mr. Miracle II would be fascinated enough by the 
occurrence to find a way to harness it.
Part 15 - Significant chunks of description and dialogue directly quoted from Superman: 
Man of Steel #131 (Shultz) and Action Comics #796 (Kelly).  This retelling distorts the 
actual issues as presented there to fit my agenda, so you should go read the originals.  
They are the conclusion of an 8-issue arc called "Ending Battle."  On Earth developments 
synched into JSA #50.
Part 16 - Scene constructed around pp.39-41 of JSA #50.  Prior to these events, Sand had 
been thrust back into his sand monster state by the magic of Mordru.  Special credit to 
'Nika, who has given far more thought to the relationship between Sand and the 
Dreaming than I ever had and was planting ideas by the gazillions.  
Part 20 - Various details of Dr. Occult's activities prior to his entrance into this story 
taken from a combination of the JSA: Princes of Darkness and past history of the 
character.  Images and events from Pokolistan derived from Action Comics #803-805.  
Bette Noir's placement in Trapps is detailed in Harley Quinn #23; further history of the 
character is in Martian Manhunter #3 and #36.
Part 22 - The Elite appear in Action Comics #775.  They return for the Ending Battle arc 
in Superman comics, where Manchester Black is revealed as the mastermind behind the 
plot against Superman.

Rating: PG-13 to R (some horror imagery, adult content)

**************************

Mindstorm, part 1
By Chicago

Disclaimers in "part 0"

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

"...nator Duvet has renewed calls for impeachment hearings..."

"Hh," Bruce grunted, his head rising over his knees on the 87th crunch of the morning.  
"About time."

J'onn floated serenely over the unmade bed as he watched the morning news.  "I 
suspect this may be more political noise than action," he cautioned.

Bruce continued his crunches.  "Cynic."

J'onn stretched out and drifted toward the television to turn it off.  "I believe that is 
your role," he corrected mildly.

"There is a remote, you know," Bruce observed, finishing his crunches and rolling into 
push ups.

J'onn floated lower until he was almost touching the body raising and lowering itself to 
the floor.  "Then I wouldn't have an excuse to get up," J'onn pointed out.  He studied the 
way the muscles bunched and released in Bruce's back, half mesmerized by the ripples 
in the flesh.  He reached down one slender finger, tracing a still healing scar that crossed 
one shoulder.

The gesture caused Bruce to pause, his arms extended against the floor, and close his 
eyes for just a moment.  "I'm okay, J'onn," he said quietly.

"I know," J'onn answered, brushing a kiss across that same scar.  A teasing note entered 
his voice. "Just wanted to see if I could distract you."

Bruce growled, shifting his weight quickly to take a swipe at the floating Martian and 
pull him to the ground.  

J'onn grinned impishly as he slipped intangibly from Bruce's grasp and retreated to the 
bed.  "You'll have to-"  He broke off suddenly, his face drawn into lines of concern.

"J'onn?" Bruce asked, rising worried from the floor.

But the Martian was already zipping away, and a distant sonic boom shook the 
windows of the penthouse.  Bruce wasted no time, crossing to the workstation tucked 
behind a hidden access panel.  For J'onn to leave so abruptly, without explanation...

*Watchtower.  Now.*  Abrupt commands, laced with worry and directed at the Bat.  
And - Bruce noted - three full seconds before J'onn tripped the general JLA emergency 
signal.

At the sound of the alert, Alfred hastened into the room.  "Master Bruce?"

Batman looked up from pulling on his boots.  "Watchtower," he explained.  "If I don't 
call back before nightfall, tell Batgirl she has Gotham and see if Robin is available."

Alfred nodded.  "Very well, sir."

Batman settled into the upper half of his armor and fastened the gear around his waist.  
Alfred handed him his cowl and stepped back as Batman reached for something on his 
belt and shimmered away.

Alfred picked up the discarded pajama bottoms from the floor beside Batman's 
workstation and quietly re-engaged the security system, closing up the access panel, 
allowing himself a sigh for a world that could not wait to be saved until after breakfast.

End part 1

***********************

Mindstorm, part 2
By Chicago

Disclaimers in "part 0"

^^^^^^^^

Batman stepped briskly from the teleport platform and met Green Lantern's eyes.  
"Report."

"Superman.  Medbay."  The younger man was working the controls of the teleport 
system, and behind Batman another tube flared to life.  "Hold on, we'll go together," he 
suggested.

The glare of the tube faded and Arthur stepped down.  "What's going on?"

"Come on," Green Lantern urged, leading them swiftly toward the medbay.  
"Something's wrong with Superman.  J'onn just showed up with him a couple minutes 
ago..."

His voice trailed off as they joined the rest of the League in the medbay, gathered 
around an exam table holding the rigid body of the Man of Steel.  Batman took in the 
clenched muscle stiffness of Superman, the way J'onn stood over him, his hands resting 
on - no, penetrating - the Kryptonian skull, and snapped, "Computer!"

Behind him, a projection winked on and steadied.  

"...psychic... assault..." J'onn gritted out haltingly in explanation, and Batman noted he 
had closed his eyes, his face a study in concentration.

"Arthur, see if you can help J'onn.  Computer, show Superman's movements in the last 
15 minutes."

"He just called up about half an hour ago," Green Lantern offered.  "He was fine then."

"Ah!" Arthur exclaimed, recoiling slightly from J'onn.

Diana rushed to his side.  "Arthur?  Are you-?"

He shook her off.  "Fine.  Surprised."

"What is it?" Wally asked, staring at Superman with an expression of mesmerized 
horror.

"Don't know yet," Arthur grunted, reaching for J'onn's arm.

Batman turned his attention back toward the viewing screen, Plasticman sidling up 
beside him in the shape of a telescope.  "What're we looking for?"

Batman stared at the map before him, his eyes tracking the motion of Superman's 
signal down the West Coast.  "Increase playback speed by 3.5," he ordered the 
computer, ignoring Plasticman.

Behind him, he heard Diana ask, "Arthur?"

"Stop!" he ordered the computer.  "Playback the last 30 seconds."

Wally zipped suddenly to join him.  "What've you got?"

Batman's eyes narrowed as the replay showed the same abrupt halt of Superman's 
signal, frozen over a pinpoint on the map.  He reached his finger to the spot.  
"Wyoming," he identified.

"Yes..." J'onn's voice agreed, drawing the attention of the others.  "Sorry... trying to 
stabilize..."

Beside him, Arthur was stock still, breathing with deliberate slowness.  Superman 
remained unchanged.

"Can you fix him?" Green Lantern asked quietly, shades of his youth bleeding into his 
tone.

"Don't... know.... hold..."

"Do what you can, J'onn.  Diana, you and Lantern go check out where he went down in 
Wyoming.  Plasticman, I want you on monitor."

"Batman, I think-" Diana began, glancing back at Superman.

"We don't know what hit him, Diana," Batman pointed out coldly.  "You and Green 
Lantern are the best odds of countering any threat that might be on the ground there."

Diana glared at him for a moment, then followed Green Lantern and Plasticman from 
the room as Wally zipped in to take her place.  "What about me?" he asked.

"Just wait a moment," Batman directed, his eyes shifting to the frozen tableau around 
Superman.  "Chairs, now!" he barked, seeing something beginning to give in Aquaman.

The Flash obeyed instantly, settling a chair under Arthur just as the Atlantean's knees 
began to buckle.  Wally put out a steadying hand as he positioned another chair 
beneath J'onn.

"Arthur?" Batman prompted, noting that J'onn remained transfixed and unwilling to 
disrupt him.

There was a whoosh of air as Wally disappeared and reappeared with a pitcher of water 
- which he upended over Arthur's head.

A sigh of relief escaped the Atlantean monarch and he slumped in the chair.

"I think..." J'onn's voice whispered, and Batman watched as the Martian raised one of his 
hands from Superman's head and brought it over his face wearily.  His other hand 
brushed gently across Superman's eyelids, closing eyes Batman hadn't realized were 
blindly, unblinkingly open.

"He's alive," he reassured, catching the chill horror that passed through the room at his 
gesture.  He kept his hand resting gently on Superman's forehead and slowly opened 
his own eyes.  "Arthur, thank you.  I am sorry I was not more gentle."

Batman noticed Aquaman nod in acknowledgement, too drained to speak, but his eyes 
were fixed on J'onn's exhausted features.  "What is it?"

J'onn stared down at his lap, and Batman realized that J'onn was floating, his legs fused 
into an indistinct blur of green.  A part of him wanted to cross to him, hold him, but this 
wasn't the moment.  "It is like... a bomb... vicious... it burst into his psyche... shattered 
his reality.  He felt it happening and called out to me.  He held on for those six seconds 
it took me to get there."

J'onn brushed his fingers across Superman's forehead.  "Whoever did this wanted him 
to suffer a psychotic break.  Wanted him to start destroying the world ... use him as a 
weapon.  He... didn't let them."

"Man..." Wally breathed, staring at Superman's still rigid body.

"What's his current status?" Batman asked carefully.

"With Arthur to anchor me I was able to stabilize a reality for him."  J'onn grimaced 
slightly.  "It's not a pleasant one, but it's stable.  I had to seal it..."

J'onn faltered slightly, and Wally reached over to touch him.  "You okay there, Green 
Guy?"

J'onn nodded and raised his eyes to Batman.  "I'll recover," he said, although the touch 
of his mind in Batman's said something else entirely.  "I think perhaps it would be wise 
to get Arthur to his quarters.  And maybe..."

Wally, already helping Arthur to his feet, hesitated.  "What is it, J'onn?" Batman asked.

"I think it would be good to get Lois here."  The words came reluctantly from J'onn's 
mouth.

Batman nodded, retaking command.  "Plasticman," he barked to the room, and the still 
hovering projection monitor filled with the other man's rubbery countenance.  

"You rang?  How's big Blue?"

"Stable.  We need you to find the current whereabouts of Lois Lane.  The Flash will 
meet you in the monitor womb in a few minutes."

"You got it." Plasticman stretched across the view screen shaped as a lightning bolt.   
"See you in a-"

Batman cut the feed with a gesture, and Wally looked at him expectantly.  "Help 
Arthur," Batman directed.  "Then you will find Lois.  Be discreet, but let her know the 
severity of the situation.  Bring her here."

"Understood," Wally acknowledged.  "Ready to move, Aquaman?"

The blond monarch worked to pull himself more upright.  "Yes," he whispered, and the 
two moved slowly out of the room.

Batman watched their slow trek, waiting until they were gone before moving to J'onn's 
side.  The Martian still floated, one hand still on Superman's forehead.  Batman claimed 
the other one.  "What's his status?" he asked again quietly, watching J'onn's face alertly 
and gently running one hand over the curved arc of J'onn's back.

J'onn's mouth formed a grim line.  "It's not good.  He's aware of us, of what's going on 
around him, but it has to pass..."  J'onn's voice caught, and Batman squeezed his hand.  

"Forgive me," J'onn whispered after a moment.  "The attack... it muddled his conscious 
states, mixed nightmare and reality together horribly.  He's still... he's still living it.  
There's something of him there, underneath it.  Something of him here, funneling 
what's happening around him down to the part of him that kept him from going 
berserk.  But in between..."

"Can you help him?"

J'onn shook his head.  "It was all I could do to seal it off... to shut down his motor 
responses to it."  On this last he met Batman's - Bruce's - eyes.  

Batman met his gaze, seeing the haunted feeling in the red depths that stared out at 
him, the self-horror at having paralyzed a friend inside a waking nightmare.  Bruce 
wordlessly pressed his lips to the arm in front of him, rested a cheek momentarily 
against J'onn's flesh in a woefully inadequate gesture of comfort.

"I have to stay with him," J'onn explained.  "I can't leave him - not if there's going to be 
anything left of the man we know if we can find a way to stop this."

Batman nodded his understanding, his eyes drifting down to the rigid body on the 
medbay table.  A warning hum sounded, enough that he could step away from J'onn, 
so they both could make their faces into expressions of impassive professionalism 
before the monitor viewscreen cleared.

"Batman?  We found Lois," the Flash stated, "but she's at the Planet.  You sure you 
want-?"

"Yes," Batman stated.  "Access plan 21-kappa and follow the instructions.  Tell Plasticman 
I will be there momentarily."

"Twenty-one-kappa," Wally repeated.   "Got it."  Batman saw his eyes widen slightly as 
he read the file, but Wally was a professional.  He could handle it.  He would have to.  
They all would have to.  With a final glance at their fallen leader and a last comforting 
brush of J'onn's arm,  Batman turned and headed out of the medbay toward the 
monitor womb.

end part 2

*********************

Mindstorm, part 3
By Chicago

Disclaimers in "part 0"

^^^

"Bats reports he's stable," Plasticman's voice filtered through the comlink.

"Is he conscious?" Wonder Woman wanted to know. 

"Far as I know, no," Plasticman answered.  "Whoops.  Flash is here, gotta go.  Call in 
when you get there."

The Watchtower signal faded out, and Green Lantern heard Diana mutter something 
under her breath.  "You okay, Wonder Woman?" he asked.

"Keep an eye, Lantern.  We're approaching the area where he went down."

"Roger that," Kyle replied, letting silence resume between them as the land below them 
grew more mountainous.  Diana was upset, obviously.  Hell, they all were.  It wasn't 
exactly easy to take Superman down.  But Diana's reaction had an undercurrent of 
doing what needed to be done but not liking it.  It was familiar enough a feeling in the 
JLA, but at least Wally or Eel would vent.

Kyle's ring began to emit a sonar-like beep, indicating that they were zeroing in on the 
exact site where J'onn had found Superman.  Kyle squinted down at old growth pine, 
not seeing any obvious signs of Superman's descent.  

"There's some sort of facility over there," Wonder Woman suddenly noted over the 
comlink, and Kyle glanced over to where she was gesturing, getting the ring to craft a 
spyglass for him when he couldn't pick out what she was talking about.

"There wasn't one on the map the computer pulled up," Kyle observed, finally seeing 
the small landing zone cut into the forest and from there able to spy a few Quonset huts 
tucked among the trees.

"I know," Wonder Woman acknowledged, and the intermittent beeping of Kyle's ring 
shifted to a steady tone.

Green Lantern stopped dead in the air and looked down.  "This is the spot, I guess."

Wonder Woman hovered beside him, studying the ground below warily.  "Nothing 
moving I can see, but -"  She trailed off, and Lantern shuddered.

"Yeah, I know."  The lack of obvious damage to the forest below was a chilling image to 
an airborne hero.  It bespoke a fall from a stationary position rather than a crash from 
flight, and while the swath of damage was more dramatic and often more lethal from a 
crash landing than a straight dive, there were very very few scenarios that dropped a 
person straight down from flight.  None of those scenarios were good.

Kyle followed Diana's lead as she dropped to the forest floor, and they landed beside a 
tangle of broken pine boughs and underbrush.  The forest was silent.

Diana keyed her comlink.  "Plasticman, Wonder Woman.  We're at the site.  Is there any 
radio traffic or movement from the base about two miles away?"

Instead of Plasticman, Batman's voice answered.  "Wonder Woman, please give a more 
accurate fix on the base."

Diana glanced at Kyle.  "Batman," he said, "I'm having the ring send up coordinates."

A half-second pause, then, "Received.  I'm bringing satellite focus in on the region.  
Negative on radio communication, checking for other activity.  Is there anything on 
site?"

"Crash looks to have been a trajectory of 90 degrees," Lantern reported.  

"Hm.  J'onn characterizes whatever hit him as being like a psychic bomb.  It is possible 
he stopped instantly when it hit."

"Like hitting a wall," Diana murmured, and a new tension seemed to gather in her 
body.  "Batman, I am not certain it is relevant, but the forest is unnaturally quiet."

"I have no activity heading your direction on that base, but infrared picks up sentries.  
Odd.  And you say quiet.  Lantern, can you scan -?"

"Already on it," Kyle affirmed, his ring projecting a screen of information.  "Doesn't 
look like there's any animal life forms within 300 yards of us, although as we've been 
talking that distance has been slowly decreasing."

"Purposeful decreasing?"

Kyle shook his head in answer to Diana's query.  "More milling.  Like everything 
scattered and is just coming back."

"Scattered 300 yards in all directions," Batman iterated.  "A bigger distance than some 
species could have gotten in the minutes since Superman fell."

"Magic?" Green Lantern speculated.

Diana looked up from where she had knelt to examine the crash debris.  "No.  I would 
know if it were magic."

Kyle stared at the pile of broken tree limbs, then slowly pivoted to visually inspect the 
pristinely silent forest around the site.  "I don't like this," he said uneasily.

"Agreed," Batman replied.  "Both of you should get out of there."

"Batman?" Wonder Woman asked.

"J'onn said *like* a psychic bomb.  That may be more accurate than we know.  I've got 
Oracle trying to hack the facility you've pointed out, and if they've noticed you-"

"On our way out," Lantern acknowledged, rising up just to the level of the tree tops in 
order to take advantage of whatever cover they could provide as he got clear of 
Superman's crash site.  He didn't need to glance back to know Wonder Woman was 
right behind him.

"See J'onn when you get back here," Batman ordered.  "If there was any residue-"

"Understood," Diana cut him off, increasing speed and beginning an upward trajectory 
now that they were out of range of the base.  "How is Superman?"

"Stable."

"We got that from Plasticman," Diana pointed out.  "But J'onn hasn't jumped in with a 
telepathic link.  What does stable mean?"

"Stable," Batman repeated.  "We will discuss this when you get here."

The connection clicked off, and Kyle met Diana's eyes.  "That doesn't sound good."

"No, it doesn't," she agreed, and both heroes increased their speed through the 
stratosphere.

End part 3


*******************

Mindstorm, part 4 
By Chicago

Disclaimers in "part 0"

Lois Lane paused just outside her cubicle to blow across the top of her coffee and take a 
sip.  Her eyes gazed across the press room floor and through the glass doors separating 
the press room from the reception area.  There was a soldier standing there.

Soldiers weren't her worry in the moment, however, and she refocused her attention as 
she entered her cubicle and settled back at her computer.  The puzzle pieces were 
coming together.  There still was not quite enough solid evidence linking Luthor to the 
Masters killing, and given what had happened on the Imperiex story, Perry was not 
going to print anything that wasn't 100% ironclad. 

She was almost there.  She checked her email and smiled as a familiar address appeared 
in her inbox.  Maybe this would be-

"Ms. Lane?"

Lois rapidly minimized her email window and glanced up to find the soldier standing at 
the opening of her cubicle.  "Yes?"  Her mind began flashing through scenarios; had the 
government been tracking her activity?  Was she too close to a truth that the powers 
that be did not want uncovered?  The soldier's words caught her off guard.

"Ms. Lane, I'm sorry to have to tell you that your husband was involved in a serious 
accident-"

An incredulous laugh escaped Lois' mouth.  "My husband?  There must be some 
mistake.  My husband-"

"Ms. Lane, you are married to Clark Kent?"

"Well, yes."

"Mr. Kent was in Wyoming early this morning and was involved in a serious traffic 
accident near a military facility-"

"Look, Mr. -" Lois glanced at the young man's ID badge- "Swift, I'm not sure what base 
you claimed to be from or how you pulled the wool over the receptionist's eyes, but 
when you're impersonating military personnel you should know enough when to take 
your lid off-"  Her objection trailed off as her eyes finally got to the face of the soldier 
standing before her, and she felt her blood go suddenly cold.  "Wally?" she whispered.

"Yes, ma'am.  As I was saying, your husband was involved in a serious accident in 
Wyoming and was badly injured.  My commander has asked that you be brought back 
to the base."  

Lois stood, her hands trembling.  "I need to talk to Perry.  Oh god.  Just wait here, 
okay?"

Wally gave a nod and stationed himself at the entrance to Lois' cubicle as she moved 
numbly to Perry White's office.  She knocked on the editor's door, barely waiting for 
Perry's grunt of acknowledgement to enter.  "Oh, it's you, Lane.  Got your sources 
square yet?"

"Perry-"

"Great Caesar's Ghost, Lois! You're white as a sheet!  What's going on?"

She gestured back out toward the press room where Wally in his military disguise was 
clearly visible.  "That soldier, he says Clark -"

"Lois, what happened?"

"He says Clark was in an accident in Wyoming.  That he was badly hurt.  I didn't even 
realize he was in Wyoming-"

Perry shot another look at the soldier.  "Lois, shut the door," he ordered.

She obeyed, her knees almost collapsing when she finally lowered herself into the chair 
across the desk from Perry.  

"Lois, this is my fault."

"What-"

"I never thought - Dammit!  He shouldn't be such a damned good reporter."

"Perry, what are you-"

"Look, Lois, I didn't really fire Clark."

"What are you talking about?  I was right here, I heard it -"

"It was an act.  Pre-arranged.  We should have told you, but - hell, Clark, even 
*Superman* thought it was a bad idea to keep you out of the loop-"

Sudden anger helped Lois function through her shock.  "Perry White, you tell me what 
you're talking about *right now* or I swear I'll-"

"He was still on the case, Lois.  Still looking for evidence on Luthor.  Don't you see?  We 
*had* to make it look like he was discredited, to-"

"Still tracking Luthor."

"I know it wasn't right to keep it from you but we figured the less people knew, the less 
people were-" he paused - "in danger," he finished weakly.

"Well, this is just great!" Lois fumed, rising to her feet to pace angrily.  "Now he's out in 
god knows where, hurt bad enough that the damned *military* is telling me to come 
out to sit at his bedside-"  She stopped, standing in the middle of the floor and staring at 
Wally.  He was standing still in her cubicle, and that was a bad sign.  "Perry, I need to 
take some personal leave."

"Of course," Perry said briskly.  "All you need.  I'll reassign -"

"Don't touch the Luthor-Masters thing," she ordered, a knot twisting in her stomach.  
They had already been running articles on the suspicious death of Masters, and if 
Luthor knew - but no, Luthor didn't know that Clark was Superman.  Did he?

"I won't," Perry promised.  "Just - look, go.  Be with him.  Call me with any news."

"Okay.  Okay."  She crossed to his door in a daze.  "Give Jimmy the Biyalan Embassy 
piece - they know him already."

"Right."  Perry rose and followed her, holding the door for her as she headed back to 
her cubicle.  Behind her, she heard him bellow, "OLSEN!"

Wally was standing just where she left him.  "Let me just shut down my computer," she 
said.  Then, more quietly, "How bad?"

Wally shook his head slightly.  "I'm supposed to take you back to your apartment to 
pack a bag.  I'll tell you there."

"Pack-" Lois echoed.  "Shit.  That bad?"  She clicked through a half-dozen "save" and "are 
you sure?" windows.

"I'll tell you," Wally promised quietly as the computer powered down.  Lois scooped up 
her purse and her jacket and led the way to the elevators.

Wally stayed silent, and Lois wondered if there was reason to fear their conversation 
would be bugged.  Luthor was ruthless, and if this were a threatŠ but no, Luthor 
wouldn't be that subtle.  He would want her to know what he was doing.

They reached the main lobby, and Wally leaned close to her.  "Is there a back door?"

She nodded, turning left instead of right and leading him back toward the alley exit.  He 
glanced around as they exited, then startled her by wrapping his arms around her.  
"Hold tight," he ordered.

She had been a superhero's wife for too long to question; she grabbed hold and 
squeezed her eyes closed, protecting her eyes from fine debris in the air and saving 
herself the vertigo-like effect of watching the world blur by.

It was only a few seconds later that Wally stopped.  "Hope you've got your keys."

She lifted her face from where it had been pressed against his chest, and he set her 
down.  She rubbed at one mildly windburned ear and dug in her purse.  "So glad I 
styled my hair today," she remarked, brandishing her keys and opening the door.

She waited until Wally entered behind her and shut the door before she whirled on 
him.  "Okay, West.  Spill!"

"Hold on," he stalled, reaching into pocket to pull out some small electronic device.  He 
glanced around the room, then strode over to an available outlet and plugged it in. 
"Sorry," he apologized, "Batman's orders."

"Scrambler?"

Wally nodded.  "We don't know what hit him, Lois.  J'onn said it was like a psychic 
bomb went off in his head.  Like someone wanted him to go absolutely nuts and start 
killing people and destroying things."

"Psychic bomb?  Is he - is-?"  She wasn't sure how to ask what she wanted to know.

"J'onn said he was able to stabilize him, but I gotta be honest, he looks really bad.  He's 
just lying there, like a coma or something."

Lois closed her eyes and brought her hand to her mouth for a minute.

"Lois?"

She opened her eyes, realizing Wally had changed into his Flash gear and wondering 
when he had done that, caught by a sense that everything was unreal.  She took a 
steadying breath.  "J'onn says he's stable?"

"Yeah.  He's the one who said you should be there, so I figure he's gotta have a plan."

"Right," Lois agreed, fighting off paralyzing panic with a sense that she was *needed* - 
there was something she had to do.  "Just give me a couple minutes to pack."

Wally nodded again, and she headed into the bedroom, grabbing a couple changes of 
clothes and her toiletry kit.  She crammed it all into an overnight bag and went back to 
the living room.

Wally was talking into his comlink, but he stopped when he saw her.  "Ready?"

She nodded.

"Then hold on again," he directed.  "We're 'porting up."

End part 4

********************

Mindstorm, part 5
By Chicago

Disclaimers in "part 0" (note much of scene comes directly from JLA #74)

Šnot real it's not real it's not real it's not real it's not real it'sŠ

*Shut UP!* Superman mentally screamed at himself as he joined Plasticman in holding 
Lantern back.  

"RunŠ" Wally's voice, so weak.  "PleaseŠ just run."

Superman waited a split second for Kyle to compose himself enough to allow him to let 
go.  Then he asked for translation and stood forward as leader to face the warrior 
whose massive hand wrapped around Wally's torso and neck.  "Give him to me," 
Superman demanded, trying not to let the blood trickling from the stumps of Wally's 
legs distract him.  "For god's sake," he breathed.  "There's still time.  Let me help him."

He could barely process the message of Rama Khan, telling him they were destroyers.  
A misunderstanding.  It was a massive misunderstanding.

"You have been misled," he tried to explain, rage storming through him, up into his 
eyes.  "PleaseŠ let me help my friendŠ and let's talk."

Šreal it's not real it's not real it's not real it's notŠ

With a roar, the giant warrior threw Flash's body down and stormed at Superman, and 
with an enraged scream, Superman unleashed his heat vision into warrior's face.  
Around him the others jumped into the fray, picking their enemies, ready to fight to 
the death.  Over the clash of weapons and bodies, Superman thought he heard Wally 
call to J'onn, and then a raging bonfire erupted below.

Šit's not real it's not real it's not real it's not real it's notŠ.

Superman spared a glance to see J'onn's body writhing in the flames, Wally's broken 
effort to reach for him, and then the big warrior was slamming into him again, carrying 
him far from the battlefield over Atlantis.

Šbrought Atlantis back this isn't real isn't real isn't realŠ

He tried to reason with his adversary, explain how the corrupt Atlantean government 
was keeping slaves, about Arthur, trapped in that pool, tortured - but the warrior 
recited his belief that Superman was the destroyer of the world and came at him again, 
carrying their battle across China and Siberia, throwing punches that sent Superman's 
body over the pole and into the new world.

Šnot real no fight safe isn't realŠ

*LIKE HELL IT'S NOT!* Superman railed, mustering his waning strength for another hit 
from the warrior.  There must be magic involved somewhere, because he could feel his 
ribs snapping, and he was certain there was blood spreading inside his guts, kept in his 
body only by his skin.  He blinked the sweat out of his eyes and slammed his fists into 
the warrior's head, repeated blows that resounded almost as loud as the sonic booms of 
their travel over water, into the stratosphere, and then down down down downŠ

Šnot real don't believe it don't believeŠ

Superman felt his body hit, his shoulders dislocate and spine shatter.  The force of his 
collision with the ground compressed his chest, squeezed rib fragments through heart 
and lungs and spleen and stomach.  He couldn't breathe, couldn'tŠ

Šnot real not real not real not realŠ

He left his body, could see it below him, watched as a final heave drove a mammoth 
stone dagger through his chest.  He saw himself spasm once and lie still, not far from 
whereŠ oh godŠ

Šnot real not real not realŠ

Wally, lifeless.  J'onn's corpse, desiccated by flame.  Batman and Wonder Woman, their 
hands reached out toward one another as ifŠ no that wasn't right.  They were 
comrades in arms, not lovers.  His mind was going now, joining his body in death.  
Things weren't making sense, like Lantern, standing there and letting - 

*KYLE!* Superman's soul screamed, but who could hear a spirit crying over the sound 
of a beating heart being ripped from an unresisting chest?  Superman flung his spectral 
self at the man who killed his friend, wanting to batter him lifeless, but he felt a pulling, 
a drawing awayŠ

Šnot real safe you're safe notŠ

And all was darkness.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^

"J'onn.  J'onn!"  Wally called softly, staying a careful distance away from the Martian.

J'onn was barely managing some semblance of humanoid form.  One arm reached out 
to rest a hand against Superman's sweat-drenched forehead.  The other arm was 
melded into his torso and what should have been legs, folded together and hovering 
three feet off the ground.  The blue cape curled around his misshapen body, collar 
rising almost protectively around J'onn's neck.  The expression on J'onn's face was 
strained, his eyes closed and his jaw tight as if he were gritting his teeth.  His entire 
form was trembling.

"J'onn!" Wally called again.

This time the eyelids fluttered for a moment, and Wally waited as the rigidity seemed to 
ease from J'onn's body.  The tight knot of his melded limbs loosened, and he brought a 
shaking hand to his face for a moment before he raised his eyes.  "Wallace," he greeted.

"You okay there, green guy?" Wally asked.  He glanced at Superman, noting with a 
shudder that there were tears rolling down the sides of his face.  "Is he okay?"

"We will live," J'onn answered, gently brushing away the tears at Superman's temples 
with the backs of his fingers before withdrawing his hand from the Man of Steel's face.

"Okay," Wally acknowledged uncomfortably.  "I've got Lois waiting outside but I just 
wanted -"

J'onn turned his somber face to regard Wally fully.  "I understand, Wallace.  It is good 
that she is here.  Please have her come in."

Wally averted his eyes from J'onn's meaningful gaze, once more looking to Superman's 
face.  "Should I warn her of anything or-"

"I will talk to her, Wallace."

Wally sucked in a deep breath.  "Okay.  Okay."  He turned toward the door but was 
arrested by J'onn's voice.

"He is glad you are well and whole, Wally.  And he is glad for Lois.  We won't lose."

Somehow, J'onn's words only made everything seem worse.

End part 5

************************

Mindstorm, part 6
By Chicago

Disclaimers in "part 0"  

/We won't lose./  The words felt more like bravado than a promise as J'onn carefully 
composed himself.  He let his body settle down into the chair he had ignored, schooling 
his body into the normal dimensions of his Martian Manhunter form.  He maintained 
the carefully serious yet reassuring expression he had deemed appropriate to the 
situation, looking up with a half smile as Lois Lane entered the medbay.

She followed Wally with an odd mix of impatience and hesitancy, and J'onn could feel 
her deep alarm under the veneer of confident concern she wore.  "Hello, Lois," J'onn 
greeted.  "Please-" he gestured her to the exam table.

The invitation seemed to be all Lois had been waiting for.  She stepped around Wally 
and strode briskly to her husband's side, resting her hand on one of his and gazing at 
his face.  "I'm here, Clark," she said.

J'onn nodded, closing his eyes to focus on the weak signal of awareness deep in 
Superman's consciousness.  "He can feel you," he reported, a sense of relief flooding 
through him.  He had been uncertain if any of the real activity around Superman had 
penetrated past the nightmare visions that consumed the Kryptonian's consciousness.  
He could feel Kal's desperate hold on the mental tether J'onn was maintaining for him, 
and until this moment he had wondered if Kal was reading events from J'onn's 
consciousness.  Now, however, he could feel Lois' touch through Kal's unresponsive 
fingers.

"What happened?" Lois demanded.  "What's wrong with him?"

J'onn shook his head slightly, reaching out once more to rest his hand against 
Superman's temple.  "I don't know exactly what happened.  He called to me as he felt 
anŠ attackŠ on his mind, but what he is experiencing is inconsistent with telepathically 
induced delusion."

Lois wrapped her fingers around the hand she held and stroked her husband's 
forehead.  "You'll have to try that in smaller words," she said.  "Why is he so still?"

"Paralysis," J'onn offered, and Lois looked up sharply.  "I did that to him," J'onn 
explained reluctantly.

Lois continued to stare at him.  "Why?"

J'onn sighed.  "Lois, whoever - whatever did this - however they are doing itŠ"  He 
broke off, searching for words.  "Inside Clark's - Superman's - mind," he tried again, "his 
world is being completely shattered.  He is watching his friends tortured and murdered, 
everything he believes in ripped to shreds.  It is as if there is a constant goad for him to 
lash out, to protect us, you, the world.  It feels very real to him."

Lois' eyes drifted back to her husband's face.  "He's feeling that right now?"

"Yes," J'onn confirmed.  "The intensity has diminished a little in the past several minutes, 
but yes."

Lois considered for a moment, and Wally, still standing to one side, spoke up.  "J'onn, 
Lois, do you guys need-"

"We are fine for the moment, Wallace," J'onn reassured, freeing the younger hero to 
escape the disturbing sight of Superman's unmoving form.

"Okay," Wally replied, dashing from the med bay and leaving J'onn and Lois alone.

Lois finally chose to sit on the chair beside the bed.  "This delusion," she began, "it's 
strong enough that he believes he's really living it?"

"Yes."

"And that is why you paralyzed him."

"Yes."

J'onn could feel Lois processing the information, rationalizing away anger at J'onn as 
she imagined how Clark would respond to threats to everything he loved.  "But you 
said he can feel me."

"Yes.  I had hoped he might.  When his mind was attacked, he was able to stave off the 
effect for a few seconds - long enough that I was able to protect a small part of his 
consciousness.  The Superman we know is there, under the ravages of the delusion, 
although I suspect that was not the intent of whoever launched this attack."

Lois took a deep breath and rested both her hands on Clark's still fingers.  She blew out 
the air she had taken in and once more raised her eyes to J'onn.  "Okay.  Once more.  
From the top."

J'onn nodded.  "Somewhere over Wyoming, someone or something attacked 
Superman's mind.  The type of symptoms he is experiencing are usually the result of a 
telepath operating remotely on someone's mind, but if that were the case, I would be 
able to feel their presence and possibly back track them through their remote link.  
Whoever did this has created a situation where Superman's mind appears to have 
turned in on itself, and if I did not know so certainly that it was instigated, I would be 
inclined to believe it was a totally organic mental break down."

"Clark is the stablest person I know," Lois defended automatically.  "He isn't-"

"I know," J'onn interrupted gently.  "I just don't know how to fix it."

A warning beep sounded, and Lois looked around in confusion as J'onn said, "Go 
ahead, monitor."

A projected monitor screen flared to life a few feet from them, revealing Batman's face.  
"Lois," he greeted.  "I have been screening traffic on Clark's and your cell phone 
accounts."

Lois opened her mouth as if to protest, but Batman continued talking.  "There have 
been numerous calls from Clark's parents.  I have managed to create a satellite link so 
that you will be able to get service if you would like to return their calls."

Lois closed her mouth and reached for the purse she had let fall to the floor beside her 
chair.  "Clark's parents."  She stopped, looking at her husband's face.  "God, what am I 
going to tell them?"

J'onn reached out to gently rest a hand on her shoulder, drawing her startled attention.  
"He has been attacked and hurt, but he is stable," he suggested.

He watched sympathetically as Lois' eyes once more went to Superman's frozen 
features.  Then she shook herself, rummaging in her purse and retrieving her cell 
phone.  It beeped under her fingertips.  "Eight messages," she noted with alarm.  
"Batman, this will connect down to the planet?"

"It will," he promised, and with a half-apologetic look to J'onn, Lois began punching 
numbers into her phone.

While Lois was distracted, J'onn met Batman's eyes on the monitor.  He allowed himself 
the luxury of reaching out to touch Bruce's mind, of drawing a brief moment's comfort 
from his lover.

It was a mistake.  As soon as his telepathic attention was divided, J'onn felt Superman's 
delusions flaring up, threatening to engulf him.  He abruptly cut contact with Bruce, 
focusing himself back on the link he had forged to Kal, emptying his mind of all 
thought save the most crucial one:  *this isnąt real.*

This time, at least, the horror was relatively contained.  For Lois' sake, J'onn was able to 
maintain form and his distraction did not make an impression on her as she talked on 
her phone.  Snatches of conversation caught passingly in J'onn's mind, and he forced 
himself to let them go, to keep his meditative focus.

"Š he okay?  What time?Š I - noŠ Martha, I'm soŠ not injured, butŠ stableŠ did the 
doctors sayŠ yes.  I willŠ okayŠ bye."

J'onn watched with unfocused eyes as Lois lowered her cellphone and snapped it 
closed.  It felt like half a lifetime that she sat holding it in her hand, staring at it as if it 
had offered her some betrayal.  Her need for human contact pressed against J'onn's 
mind, but he shut it out.  Batman's voice sounded over the monitor, clearly addressing 
Lois, but it was as if he was talking from a great distance, and Lois' response seemed 
muffled to J'onn's ears.  He could feel them discussing him as well as Superman and 
something about Jonathan Kent?  J'onn made his expression mild and reassuring, but 
he could not hear nor answer their questions.  

Batman finally must have signed off, because silence returned to the medbay.  J'onn felt 
an easing of Superman's mind and slowly began backing out again.  As sound and 
accurate vision returned, he realized that Lois was quietly crying.

End part 6

*********************

Mindstorm, part 7
By Chicago

Disclaimers in "part 0" Note that the scene involving Kobra includes verbatim quotes 
and description from JSA #45.


Batman watched the teleport monitor signal Wally's successful arrival on the planet's 
surface.  He could still feel the exhausted worry of J'onn's mind, an echo of the 
telepathic link that the Martian did not have the energy to maintain.  The others would 
understand the seriousness of Superman's condition from the fact J'onn had asked for 
Lois to be brought up, but they could not know how fragile his "stable" condition really 
was, how possible it was that "stable" could become "dangerous."  Batman was not 
going to be the one to tell them.  At least, not until he had a chance to stash some 
kryptonite in the Watchtower.

As he turned to the monitor showing Superman's interrupted flight path, the comlink 
crackled to life.  "Plasticman, Wonder Woman.  We're at the site.  Is there any radio 
traffic or movement from the base about two miles away?"

Plasticman started to open his mouth to reply, then stopped at a gesture from Batman.  
The Dark Knight frowned, his eyes scanning concentric circles around Superman's crash 
zone and seeing only terrain markings on their map.  "Wonder Woman, please give a 
more accurate fix on the base."

This time Kyle answered.  "Batman, I'm having the ring send up coordinates."

Batman's fingers tapped across the keyboard, downloading Kyle's projected data. 
"Received.  I'm bringing satellite focus in on the region.  Negative on radio 
communication, checking for other activity.  Is there anything on site?"

"Hey, Batman, anything you need me-" Plasticman cut in from the other monitor 
station.

"Watch everything else," Batman ordered, turning his attention back to the reports 
from Lantern and Wonder Woman.  He ignored Eel's muttering as Kyle began 
speaking again.

"Crash looks to have been a trajectory of 90 degrees."  

Batman scowled at the satellite image he was receiving at the coordinates Kyle had 
indicated.  He sent a quick command to Oracle to piggyback their imaging capabilities 
to a DOD satellite, at the same time switching over to infrared scanning on his current 
feed.  Another corner of his mind focused on the new information Kyle was giving him.  
"Hm.  J'onn characterizes whatever hit him as being like a psychic bomb.  It is possible 
he stopped instantly when it hit."

"Like hitting a wall," Diana's voice murmured over the comlink.  Then, more decisively, 
she said,  "Batman, I am not certain it is relevant, but the forest is unnaturally quiet."

An instant message from Oracle reported that the DOD imaging was not providing a 
cleaner feed in the visible light spectrum.  Did he want her to try a hack?  He sent her a 
quick affirmative, and returned his attention to the team on the ground.  "I have no 
activity heading your direction on that base, but infrared picks up sentries.  Odd.  And 
you say quiet.  Lantern, can you scan -?"

"Already on it," Kyle answered.  "Doesn't look like there's any animal life forms within 
300 yards of us, although as we've been talking that distance has been slowly 
decreasing."

A shiver of potential danger triggered down Batman's spine as Diana asked, 
"Purposeful decreasing?"

Kyle's answer calmed the sudden worry.  "More milling.  Like everything scattered and 
is just coming back."

"Scattered 300 yards in all directions," Batman considered.  "A bigger distance than some 
species could have gotten in the minutes since Superman fell."  Unless the impact of the 
fallŠ

"Magic?" Green Lantern speculated.

Diana's response was quick and certain.  "No.  I would know if it were magic."  But 
J'onn had said it wasn't telepathy, at least not active telepathy.  Beneath the cowl, Bruce 
Wayne's forehead creased in concentration.

The momentary puzzlement was set aside, though, as Lantern's voice came through in 
suddenly uneasy tones. "I don't like this."

"Agreed," Batman concurred, trusting Kyle's instinct for danger.  "Both of you should 
get out of there."

"Batman?" Wonder Woman asked.

"J'onn said *like* a psychic bomb.  That may be more accurate than we know.  I've got 
Oracle trying to hack the facility you've pointed out, and if they've noticed you-"

"On our way out," Lantern acknowledged, and Batman watched as both Kyle's and 
Diana's signals showed them to be moving away from the crash site.

"See J'onn when you get back here," Batman ordered.  "If there was any residue-"

"Understood," Diana interrupted.  He was unsurprised at her next query.  "How is 
Superman?"

Batman felt the unwelcome flavor of J'onn's weariness and worry return to memory 
and quashed it firmly.  "Stable."

"We got that from Plasticman, but J'onn hasn't jumped in with a telepathic link."  
Diana's tone was getting almost hostile.  "What does stable mean?"

"Stable.  We will discuss this when you get here."  He snapped closed the comlink 
decisively, his eyes turning to Oracle's report on the military facility Wonder Woman 
and Green Lantern had noticed.  It was too close to Superman's crash site to explain 
away why the base wasn't investigating; they had to have noticed.  They had the 
requisite radar facilities andŠ an angry frown turned down the corners of Batman's 
mouth.  They had DEO clearance for meta research.  His fingers reached to the keys, 
sending rapid fire orders to Oracle to find out the exact clearance codes and any details 
of research they might be doing.

Almost as quickly as he typed, a red flagged note came up from Oracle.  His eyes 
widened a little at the name she had plucked from the base's record history.  Masters.  
Damn.

He did not have time to process the development before the teleport signal alerted him 
to the arrivals of the Flash and Lois Lane.  The comlink flared to life again, this time 
with Wally announcing unnecessarily, "We're here."

Batman did not remark on the obviousness of the point, instead making a quick check 
of what was happening in the medbay.  He almost cursed aloud when he saw the way 
J'onn was curled in on himself, linked in a trembling circuit with the still unmoving 
Superman.  "Wally, have Lois wait outside when you get to the medbay," he ordered.

"Will do," Wally answered briefly, his tone hiding any worry at this demand, 
undoubtedly for Lois' benefit.  Batman glanced back at the troubling images from the 
medbay-

"That doesn't look good," Plasticman's voice suddenly chirped from near his elbow.

Batman turned with a snarl.

Plas pulled back a little, his head adopting the shape of a cartoon rabbit in a "don't hit 
me" pose.  "It doesn't.  You want me to spell you so you-?"

"Watch the monitor, Plasticman," Batman snapped, turning his back on the other hero 
and fighting off the urge to answer him with a yes.  His eyes went back to the red flag 
document from Oracle.  Masters.  Lois was working on the Masters assassination.  
Coincidence?

He reached out to the keyboard.  "Check cell phone records on Kent, C and Lane, L," he 
typed.

An acknowledgment came through almost instantly, and Batman felt his eyes drift back 
to the monitor showing the medbay.  Wally was there now, and as he watched, J'onn 
seemed to come back into himself.  A weak smile on the Martian features did much to 
reassure Batman, and he turned back to the information continuing to come in from 
Oracle.

"Batman, Kyle and Diana are back," Plasticman interrupted, his words followed in 
seconds by a comlink ping.

"Go ahead, Diana," Batman identified.

"We're back," she said brusquely.  "Is J'onn still in the medbay?"

"Affirmative, but he may not be available.  Are you or Lantern feeling any ill effects?"

"I'm fine," Kyle answered.  "Diana?"

There was a minute pause that suggested the reigning in of temper, then Diana said, 
"What's going on, Batman? Has Superman's condition worsened?"

Batman glanced at the monitor.  Lois was settling down at Superman's bedside.  "It does 
not appear to have.  Lois Lane has just arrived," he explained.

"Oh."  Did he imagine it, or was there a sense of mollified surprise in Diana's tone?  "So 
what next?" she asked.

"Hold-" Batman began, only to have Plasticman interrupt him. 

"Batman, we've got problems planetside."

"Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, please stand by," Batman directed, turning his 
attention to the monitor Plasticman was watching.

"Kobra," Plasticman explained, identifying the source of the superhero scramble outside 
the US District Court in New York City.  "Powergirl just pulled a bomb out of the 
crowd, let it explode above the skyline."

"And the bomb was from Kobra's people?"

"Not clear," Plasticman admitted, leaning in to the keyboard and hitting a few keys.  "I 
tried to activate our spy cams inside, but -" He gestured toward a blank blue screen on 
one monitor.

"Hh," Batman responded, stepping forward and displacing Plasticman at the keyboard.  
"If the JSA is on scene - there we go."

Plasticman blinked as the blue screen fuzzed and suddenly showed King Kobra in the 
witness box, no fewer than five guns leveled at his head.  "How - wait, why's he just 
sitting there?"

Another key tap brought sound into the monitor womb, and in his ear, Kyle's voice 
asked, "You need us somewhere, Batman?"

"I'm not sure yet.  Wait."

From the monitor speaker, Mr. Terrific's voice sounded tinnily:  "Šbeing played."

Kobra's answer was clearer.  "Very astute of you, Mr. Terrific.  And now that I have the 
world's attention, allow me to explain--"  Above the small monitor, television feeds 
from various media outlets suddenly flared to life to deliver Kobra's message - that five 
hundred people outside the courthouse had been implanted with incendiary devices 
and would self-immolate if Kobra were not instantly released.

"Oh, man," Plasticman breathed.  "Why the hell do the bad guys get to play by different 
rules?"  Batman held up a silencing hand as he listened to Director Bones, but the words 
from the DEO chief's mouth only got Plasticman started.  "He's not just going to let him 
go?  What the - how many times -"

"Plasticman!"  Batman snapped, turning away in disgust as Kobra teleported off the 
courthouse steps.  "Diana, Kyle, there's nothing we can do about it at this moment, but 
you should know that Kobra has successfully engineered an escape from his trial."

"He WHAT?" Kyle demanded.  "How -"

"I suggest," Batman overrode, "that both you and Wonder Woman report to your own 
quarters where you can follow the news.  I will contact you when J'onn is able to scan 
you.  Stay on alert."

"Any updates on Superman?" Wonder Woman wanted to know.  

"Still stable," Batman repeated for what felt like the twentieth time.  A beeping sound 
came from his previous work station, and he crossed back to it.  "Batman out."  He 
glanced down to see a flashing message from Oracle.  He gritted his teeth to hold back 
a curse and reclaimed his seat.  He glanced regretfully at the medbay monitor before 
tapping the code that would signal J'onn.

There was barely a pause before J'onn's voice came through with its usual soothing 
baritone.  "Go ahead, monitor."

Batman kept his expression neutral as he offered a greeting nod toward Lois.  "Lois.  I 
have been screening traffic on Clark's and your cell phone accounts." She looked about 
to protest, but he continued,  "There have been numerous calls from Clark's parents.  I 
have managed to create a satellite link so that you will be able to get service if you 
would like to return their calls."

Lois closed her mouth and reached for something on the floor, her words muffled as 
she spoke to J'onn.

The Martian's words came back clearly: "He has been attacked and hurt, but he is 
stable."

Lois seemed to take a moment to gather herself before she opened her phone.  "Eight 
messages!  Batman, this will connect down to the planet?"

"It will," he promised, turning his attention to J'onn as she quickly began punching in 
numbers.

As he met J'onn's eyes, he felt the sudden sense of *connection* that signaled the 
opening of a telepathic link.  *J'onn,* he welcomed warmly, forcing back any 
consciousness of Kobra's escape and the possible military involvement in Superman's 
condition in order to offer comfort to the weary touch that answered him.

If Batman were not so well versed in the limits of Martian reserves, the strain evident in 
J'onn's mind would have alarmed him.  Instead, he was able to lend strength to his 
lover, letting him tap into Bruce's energy.  He offered a mental caress, hoping to 
soothe, and suddenly J'onn was recoiling.

*Can't - have -*

*Go,* Bruce allowed, recognizing a pressure against J'onn's mind that must be 
originating with Superman.  On the monitor, he could see J'onn's eyes grow glassy and 
a fixedly mild expression overtake his features.  He was trying to be reassuring, Batman 
recognized, wishing there were something he could do.

He gave himself a mental shake.  There was something he could do.  He could solve 
this mystery, find out what had been done to Superman so it could be *undone.* 

Masters had somehow been connected to the base in Wyoming.  Coincidental red 
herring?  The man had been high in a shadow government that may or may not have 
been in Luthor's control.  He had his fingers all over the place, as they had discovered 
during the Du Bois case.

He glanced back at the medbay monitor and frowned at the expression on Lois' face.  
He bumped up the sound to hear what she was saying.  "Š doctors say what caused it?"

That didn't sound like they were discussing Superman.  

"Š there with you now?  Š Oh, MarthaŠ YesŠ I just wish - Š I willŠ You should too, 
you know. Š  OkayŠ Take care of him for us.  As soon as things get better hereŠ 
yeah.  Give him our love.  Bye."

Batman watched quietly as Lois closed her phone and regarded it for a long time, her 
teeth peering out to worry her lower lip in a very unLois-like fashion.  He gave her a 
moment, but he spoke to her before she shook herself out of it enough to notice the 
attitude of J'onn's face and body.  "Lois, is there anything you need?"

Her head snapped up, and the eyes that met his showed more fear than he was used to 
from her.  "I need everyone to be okay," she pointed out with a hint of her trademark 
sarcasm.  "Don't suppose your billions could buy me that, eh, Bruce?"

He didn't wince; he knew where her reaction was coming from.  "Not directly," he 
answered honestly.  "Did something happen to the Kents?"

"Beyond me having to tell them about this?  It was so news they didn't need.  Martha 
was calling from the hospital.  Jonathan collapsed into seizures this morning."

"This morning," Batman repeated.

"That's what I just said.  At least Mrs. Ross is around to-"

Batman ignored her comments in favor of typing directions to Oracle. "Lois," he 
interrupted, "this is important.  What time this morning?"

Lois blinked.  "More or less just now.  Twenty minutes, half an hour ago.  Why - " Her 
eyes widened and she turned her gaze back to her husband.  "You don't think-"

"I don't know what to think," Batman replied grimly.  "However, some coincidences are 
too coincidental.  Do you-"

But he could see Lois was not paying attention to him.  Instead she was staring at 
Superman - and, Batman realized belatedly, at-

"J'onn?" her voice queried.

Batman forced his tone into a gentler register.  "He's okay," he stated.

"How do you know?"

He let his voice settle even further into Bruce Wayne's registers.  "Because I do."

That brought Lois' attention back to the monitor.  "And my husband?"  There was a 
tearful edge in her voice.

"J'onn says he's stable," Bruce reassured.  "It is requiring a lot of work from J'onn to 
keep him stable, but he would not lie."

Lois blinked quickly a couple times and reached her hand back to wrap around 
Superman's unresponding fingers.

Batman cleared his throat.  "I'm going to let you go," he said, "but I want to send 
Aquaman down to talk to Clark's parents.  Martha likes him, and he may learn 
something that will help-"

He stopped speaking at Lois' distracted nod, and realizing she was doing her best not to 
cry in front of him, he quietly disconnected his line to the medbay.  He kept a 
monitoring view open, but he had work to do, and he had to trust J'onn to care for Lois 
and her husband.

End part 7

****************

Mindstorm, part 8
By Chicago

Disclaimers in "part 0"

There were, in the deepest ocean, dangers and hazards that surface dwellers would 
never know.  Perhaps worst among them were tangle vines, carnivorous beds of kelp 
that wrapped themselves around the unsuspecting swimmer and slowly wound tighter, 
eventually cutting into flesh and spilling life-giving blood to the hungry plant.  As king, 
Arthur had demanded regular missions to uproot the weed wherever it had taken hold 
within a five mile radius of Poseidonis, but there were still occasions when someone 
would get snared.

It was a risky business to rescue someone from tangle vines, and not always successful.  
To try to free someone by one's self was total folly, but even having a second person 
well clear of the waving tendrils did not guarantee the would-be rescuer would not 
become a second victim. 

Arthur's first thought when J'onn's desperate mental touch had reached him from 
Superman's side had been, "It's like tangle vines!"

Now, after half an hour submerged and resting in his quarters, Arthur could not shake 
the comparison.  He could still feel the tightening of J'onn's mental link, anchoring 
against his mind with none of the Martian's usual gentleness.  The aftermath of the 
contact still throbbed in Arthur's temples.  And through that link - the image 
bleedthrough from Superman's consciousness had been more than unnerving.  For a 
panicked moment, Arthur had thought he was going to get sucked down with him, lost 
in end of the world horror, watching friends and loved ones and innocent bystanders 
tortured and killed.  Then he had felt J'onn's solid mental frame, realized how he was 
being shielded.  He had set himself as an anchor and watched in fascination as the more 
adept telepath did things on the mental plane that had stabilized the maelstrom that 
was raging in Superman's mind.

It had still seemed like a battle with tangle vines until J'onn had thrust him roughly clear 
and he had found himself sitting in a chair with a pitcher of water turned over his head.

So Arthur paused for a moment outside the medbay door before he entered.  He made 
an effort to calm and order his thoughts, steeling himself to help J'onn again.  Batman's 
instructions had been vague; J'onn was going to scan Diana and Kyle and did not dare 
risk too much distraction from the task of managing Superman's mind.  Arthur hoped 
against hope that J'onn did not intend to borrow Arthur's mental energy as a place 
holder while he checked over the other heroes.  One descent into that maelstrom had 
been enough, and he wasn't sure another would leave him fit for the second half of 
Batman's assignment.

Arthur squared his shoulders finally and opened the medbay door.  He had barely 
entered when J'onn was speaking to him.  "Orin.  How are you feeling?"

Arthur nodded toward J'onn, feeling the tight buzz of his active telepathy filling the 
room.  He ignored Wonder Woman's concerned glance, although he knew why she 
was not the one asking the question.  "I am recovered.  Good morning, Ms. Lane."

"It's Lois, Arthur."  At Superman's bedside, Lois Lane gave him a tight smile, and even 
at this distance, he could sense the clinging moisture of recent tears on her cheeks.  
"And good morning.  Hell of a day, isn't it?"

"Yes," he agreed, accepting her cue that she needed Clark's friends on hand, not 
Superman's colleagues.  "Has there been any further word on Jonathan?"

She shook her head.  "I heard you helped earlier with Clark.  Thank you."

Arthur let himself glance at the rigidly still figure of Superman.  "He would do the same 
for me," he replied, resisting the urge to squirm under Lois' gratitude.

At the table, Kyle cleared his throat.  "Um, shouldn't we get this done?  I don't want to 
just sit around with the Kobra thing and-"

J'onn frowned.  "Kobra thing?"

"The JSA is handling it," Batman's voice came icily from a monitor that had suddenly 
flared to life, and Arthur let himself be relieved that he was not the target of that 
particular tone.  It wasn't that he was intimidated by Batman, but the man could be 
unbearably obstructionist when he got into a brooding spell.  Not that Arthur was any 
more clued in than J'onn, but apparently there had been a reason a general alert had 
not been sounded.

"Very well," J'onn decided, "Arthur, if I may use you as an anchor?"

Arthur nodded.  "You need me right there or -"

"Actually, if you can sit at the table with Kyle and Diana-"

"Of course."

"Lois, I need you to just continue to hold Clark's hand."  J'onn's voice was quiet, but in 
the relative silence of the medbay it carried.  The Martian offered a gentle squeeze to 
Lois' shoulder before closing his eyes and settling down on the opposite side of the bed.

In contrast to their earlier contact, J'onn's mental touch to Arthur's mind was almost 
soothing.  At least it was until J'onn's voice traveled along their link.  *Orin, I must ask 
you to do these scans.*

Carefully keeping his face neutral, Arthur offered J'onn a mental gape.  *J'onn, I can't-*

*You can.  I have augmented your telepathy, but I can only provide power.  I cannot 
afford the distraction of focused work.*

*I wouldn't know what to- oh!*  A sudden rush of flavor seemed to roll through 
Arthur's mind, recognizable as a mental signature.  He explored it for a moment, 
testing its undertones and bouquet.  *That's - distinct,* he remarked.

*Yes,* J'onn agreed.  *It seems familiar, but I cannot place it.*

*Can't place _this_?* Arthur said incredulously.  *I would think sensing it once-*

*Orin, I sense many things,* J'onn reminded.  *This is what I have extracted as 
inconsistent with Superman's mental matrix.  If the others-*

*Right,* Arthur cut in, feeling a hint of the earlier tangled sensation once again bleeding 
through from J'onn.  *I'll try.*

Arthur took a moment to compose his mind, and he heard J'onn telling the others he 
was about to scan them.  He wondered why J'onn didn't just explain - but no, one 
explanation would require others, and it would be too much to make clear what was 
really happening there in the world that was claiming Superman's mind.  No, simpler 
just to do as J'onn was asking, reach out with his own telepathyŠ

He almost gasped as he felt how far his mind's reach extended, how effortlessly he was 
able to skim across the surfaces of Diana's and Kyle's minds.  Thoughts bounced into 
his consciousness as easily as if they were his own, and he forced himself to ignore 
them, focusing instead on the mental signature J'onn had forwarded to him.

It was detail work, quickly done but requiring concentration.  That was particularly true 
given the way J'onn's power boost was making his telepathy "hear" far more than he 
was ever privy to.  Within a few minutes he was able to establish that whatever else 
was true, what had touched Superman's mind had been no where near either Lantern 
nor Wonder Woman.  *They're clear,* he reported to J'onn.  *Pull me out.*

With the same gentle efficiency that he had used to set their link, J'onn withdrew the 
extra energy he was supplying to Arthur's telepathy.  A involuntary shudder went 
through Arthur's body as the distinctness of others' thoughts returned to the usual 
vague awareness of their emotional states, easily tuned out and ignored.

"Are you okay, Arthur?"  Wonder Woman asked.

Of course she would notice, he thought to himself, giving her a curt nod.  "Fine."

"As are both of you," J'onn added, earning a puzzled glance from Kyle.  If the younger 
man had intended to explain his expression, however, the moment was lost when 
Batman's voice once more came through the monitor.

"Good.  If you three can report to the monitor womb-"

"Me and Kyle and-"

"Arthur," Batman clarified.  "Unless J'onn-"

"We're okay, Batman," J'onn replied, giving Lois a quick smile.  "Perhaps some coffee 
could be brought up later, but -"

"Understood.  Batman out."

Diana and Kyle looked at each other.  "Guess we've been summoned," Kyle remarked, 
rising to his feet and giving J'onn another odd glance.  "You sure you're okay, big guy?"

"I am well, Kyle."

The Green Lantern shrugged and headed toward the door, pausing to say,  "It's good to 
see you, Ms. Lane.  He's in good hands."

"I know," she answered, returning Wonder Woman's nod and watching the other 
woman follow Kyle.

Arthur rose finally and paused beside Superman's feet.  This close, the tangling 
sensation rose up again, and he felt the hair prickle on the back of his neck.  He kept the 
reaction off his face, however, asking, "Lois, is there any special message for the Kents?"

"Just that we love them," she said, her fingers tightening to white knuckled on 
Superman's hand.  

"Very well," Arthur acknowledged.  "J'onn."

"Orin."

Arthur turned then and met the others outside the medbay door, walking with them in 
tense silence through the Watchtower corridors.  That silence lasted until they entered 
the monitor womb.

"What in Hades-!" Diana burst out, flying halfway up the central tower as around 
Batman, monitors flickered with countless scenes of destruction.

"Mordru," Batman's voice answered, and Arthur realized he was down at the lowest 
level of the monitor womb, typing furiously and apparently listening to something.

"Eel sucker!" Arthur spat, remembering the sorcerer's effort to force Poseidonis to 
remain in the dimensional bubble that Garth had fashioned for them during the 
Imperiex disaster.  It had been as close as the Atlantean monarch had ever been to 
giving up all hope for himself and his people.

"What happened?" Kyle demanded.  "I thought Fate-"

Batman still hadn't turned from his station.  "He appears to have taken over Fate, and 
recruited Eclipso and Obsidian.  New York City is completely under cover of darkness, 
and Kobra seems to be taking advantage of the escalating chaos.  The JSA is swamped."  
Finally the Dark Knight spun in his chair.  "Diana, Kyle, there have been terrorist 
bombings in Calcutta and Los Angeles that could use superhero attention.  If you finish 
there they could use back up in DC and Paris.  Go."

If either were inclined to argue or question, they did not show it in their response as 
they both flew from the monitor womb, the wind of their wakes pulling at Arthur's 
hair and beard.  "And me?"

"The Kents," Batman replied.

"Even with-"

"Especially with all this.  He's our biggest weapon, him and J'onn, and right now we 
don't have either of them.  And we can't afford to have him become a weapon against 
us."

Arthur swallowed a reaction to Batman's final sentence, asking instead, "You think what 
happened to Jonathan-"

"It happened at almost the same instant."

Arthur's eyes met the lenses of Batman's cowl.  After a beat, he turned on heel.  "I'll call 
from Kansas."  He headed toward the door, hearing Batman recall the Flash to the 
Watchtower as he left and wondering what chaos would meet him on the planet below.

End part 8

*****************

Mindstorm, part 9
By Chicago

Disclaimers in "part 0"  

It was not the first time that the fastest man on Earth had been sent for coffee in the 
midst of a world crisis.  In fact, it was something of a routine request as far as that went; 
the staff at selected Radu's had become accustomed to a sudden gust of wind followed 
by a depletion of caffeinated beverages and generous contribution to the cash drawer.  

Except this time, the Flash had not been sent to Radu's.

This time, the Flash was moving carefully through the medbay door bearing a silver tea 
tray.

"Coffee!" he announced as he entered, forcing more cheer than he felt into his tone.  He 
set the tea tray down on a table near to the bed where Superman lay.

"You are a ministering angel," Lois Lane announced gratefully, rising from her chair.  
"J'onn?"

Wally joined Lois in looking expectantly at the Martian, but J'onn offered a slight smile 
and shook his head.  "You go ahead."

Lois shrugged and crossed to the table.  "What's with the fancy china?"

"Um-"

"She knows, Wallace," J'onn rumbled mildly, causing Lois to turn.

"Knows what?"

"Well, then, Alfred sent up some Chocos, too," Wally stated with a sense of relief, noting 
that Lois accepted the implied answer.  "He told me to insist that you eat some."

"That's sweet," Lois remarked as she lifted a newly filled cup to her lips.  "And this is 
*really* good coffee!" she added.

"Alfred has very high standards," J'onn observed.  "And Wally, I will have some Chocos 
later.  Am I to infer that there is about to be a changing of the guard on monitor?"

Wally blinked.  "Batman said-"

J'onn waved away Wally's words.  "He is not the only detective here.  I suspect-"

"J'onn.  Flash.  Lois."  The monitor screen suddenly flared to life, revealing Batman's 
stoic features.  "I think you need to hear Aquaman's report.  Go ahead, Arthur."

"J'onn, I was just in to see Jonathan Kent.  He's doing pretty well, by the way, Lois.  But 
J'onn, the energy around him - it's much diminished, but -"

"It's the same?"

"Exactly.  Absolutely exactly the same."

"Same as what?" Lois demanded.

"J'onn, you can explain better than I can-" 

"Earlier today," J'onn began, directing his words toward Lois but speaking to all of 
them, "I was able to isolate the mental energies winding through Superman's mind 
which are not a part of his normal psychical matrix.  I shared those with Arthur when 
we scanned Kyle and Diana and found no sign that they had been exposed to the same 
foreign mental signature.  But what Arthur is saying now-"

"They went after Jonathan, too," Lois breathed, carefully setting her coffee cup back on 
the table as if afraid she would drop it.

"I've been triangulating the data of this mornings attacks," Batman suddenly put in over 
the monitor.  "It appears that Mr. Kent's seizures happened not more than 80 seconds 
before Superman was struck down over Wyoming.  We are dealing with something or 
someone that could potentially attack with pinpoint accuracy two targets 609 miles 
apart-"

"Or something that could move really fast," Wally mused.  "You said over a minute 
beforeŠ"

"J'onn?" Batman prompted.

A faint frown creased J'onn's face.  Faster than thought, Wally zipped to the Martian's 
side to lay a careful hand on J'onn's shoulder.  "J'onn?"

A tense silence reigned for a few beats, and then a heavy sigh escaped J'onn.  "I'm 
sorry.  I thought I could trace - or match - or -"

"J'onn," Batman's voice was sternly admonishing.  "No extra risks.  If you slip into the 
same -"

"I won't," J'onn dismissed with enough brusqueness to draw a startled look from Lois.  
"It's just frustrating.  I feel like I should know, but - if there were another telepath - I'm 
sorry, Arthur, but someone stronger than you are-"

"I understand," Arthur reassured over the monitor audio.

"It just doesn't make sense," J'onn fretted.  "What he's going through - if there's a 
telepath behind it, it's like - it's like someone used Mayavana-"

"What is Mayavana?" Lois demanded.  "Who did this-"

"We're trying to find out, Lois," Batman interrupted coldly.

"Batman," J'onn chided.  He closed his eyes.  "I'm trying-"

"J'onn, stop," Wally murmured, feeling J'onn's body begin to tremble under the hand 
he still rested on J'onn's shoulder.

"Look, I'm not trying to say J'onn should do anything dangerous, I just want to know-"

"Mayavana is an extreme telepathic technique," Batman began with what felt to Wally 
like haste.  Did it unnerve Batman to think of danger to J'onn?  It must, Wally decided 
as he listened to Batman continue his explanation.

"Martians can handle Mayavana once in a lifetime.  It is a way of recreating reality for 
the target of the technique, of altering their perceptions so they believe the world to be 
in whatever way the telepath crafts it."

"Wait, Martians can do it?" 

"There are no Martians besides J'onn, Lois," Arthur pointed out.  "I should probably 
return to Jonathan and Martha -"

"Go ahead, Arthur," Batman dismissed.  "J'onn, you say it's like Mayavana-"

"Much like it.  The way Superman's reality is shifting I cannot decide if it is a more or 
less sophisticated attack -"

"How much of its similarity is a product of your efforts to stabilize what was done to 
him?"

J'onn hesitated.  "I'm not-"

"Wait," Lois said again.  "If a Martian can recreate reality for someone, why can't J'onn 
just go into Clark's mind and recreate the real reality for him?"

A good question, Wally noted, looking to J'onn with sudden hope and feeling that hope 
whither at the way J'onn's shoulders slumped.

"It's the way Batman explained - a Martian can perform the technique only once in a 
lifetime," J'onn said.

"And you've already used it," Lois realized.  "Look, there must be something.  How 
many telepaths are there?  J'onn, can't you just scan the Earth or something and -"

"He can't," Wally answered for him, giving J'onn's shoulder a squeeze and then crossing 
back to Lois.  "Not while he's protecting Superman's mind.  And if he doesn't protect 
that-"

"There's no point to finding the bad guy," Lois finished, sinking down into a chair beside 
the table.  "Dammit!"

"J'onn can't," Batman broke in, startling them into remembering he was still listening on 
monitor, "but maybe someone else can."

J'onn raised his head.  "Bruce?"

"Wally, I need to get planetside.  If you'll take monitor - J'onn, Lois, I've got something I 
want to look into and I will call you."

"I'm on my -"

"-way," Wally answered, the final word delivered in the heart of the monitor womb.  
He stopped still and blinked at the scenes of chaos raging around him.  "My god!"

"I want to keep you in reserve in case we need another speedster.  And someone needs 
to be on monitor, and J'onn can't."

Wally took a deep breath, watching shadows swallowing New York City.  "I know.  
You're right."

Batman paused to look hard in Wally's direction.  "Don't give them more to worry 
about," he ordered.

Wally met Batman's look evenly.  "I won't.  Figure it out."

"I will," Batman promised, turning and disappearing in the direction of the teleporters.

Wally did not watch him go, turning instead to the seemingly endless scenes of disaster 
on the planet below.  A frightening number of JSA communicators were showing a lack 
of activity given the amount of action below - and the general "all call" distress beacon 
sounding from Dr. Mid-Nite's lab.  He cut between views, catching a glimpse of what 
looked like a sandstorm in Manhattan, finding Wonder Woman in Paris lending her 
considerable strength to rescue and recovery of bomb victims, wincing at the demands 
for medical supplies and reports of heroes down.

No one was calling the Watchtower.  They may have done so earlier, in which case 
Batman must have told them something.  Probably not that Superman was badly hurt; 
that kind of news was too demoralizing to hear in a battle.  More likely he had told a 
perfect truth - Superman was off planet and unavailable, as was Martian Manhunter.

Wally sighed, frustrated to not be down below, helping where he could.  He 
understood why he was babysitting the Watchtower, but still -

"Wally!"

Lois' voice was panicked as it sounded through the monitor.

"Lois? What's wrong?" he answered, opening the video link.

He could see before she spoke.  "Something's wrong with J'onn.  I don't know-"

Wally forced his voice to be calming as he watched the writhing of the twisted form 
that J'onn had assumed.  "Just hold on, Lois."

"Okay," Lois agreed shakily, "Just - hurry."

Wally tapped the keyboard impatiently, signaling Batman faster than the computer 
relays could register.  "I am.  I am."

End part 9

********

Mindstorm, part 10
By Chicago

Disclaimers and canon notes:  Much of this scene is more or less verbatim retelling of 
parts of JLA #86-87. 

***

The upper level of the conference room was in flames.  Green Lantern was lying in a 
pool of his own blood.

Šnot realŠ

"Damn it, Superman get with it!!"

Superman swung unsteadily on his feet.  "Batman?  Where's Š where's J'onn?  I--"

*Sleep Kryptonian.*  The words were intoned inside his head, forcing him-

"No.  No more distraction--"

"GNNNGH!" Superman cringed.  The sorcerer - Manitou Raven - why - who -

ŠnotŠ

"You must see!  YOU MUST SEE-- HRRKT!"

Superman felt the third eye open in his forehead, and Š and Š. "No," he breathed.

Š not realŠ

*So you see now, do you?  You finally see the truth.*  

Šnot the truthŠ not realŠ

Superman reeled, watched the fire build, watched as J'onn - how could J'onn be doing 
this?  He had said he was going to fight his fear of fire but this-

Šnot real Š still fearŠ

Superman shook his head as he sat in the Fortress of Solitude with the rest of the 
League.  "Martians choose their physical form as a reflection of their ideals-"

Š not realŠ I wouldn'tŠ

"To become this Š 'Fernus'-"

Š NOT REALŠ PLEASEŠ

Superman shook his head again as the doorway to phantom zone opened and spilled 
the guts of dozens - hundreds of white Martians - and J'onn - Fernus -

Š not realŠ isn't realŠ KalŠ

There was fire, fire everywhere, and Fernus' hands at his throat and he could, he would 
kill him because he could, and -

Š notŠ no Š not realŠ

Lantern, from nowhere, rescuingŠ

ŠpleaseŠ please KalŠ

More flames, normal flames, not Fernus, at Stonehenge and Manitou Raven -

Šwho is Manitou Raven?Š not realŠ

Manitou Raven asking, "What's in Metropolis?"

ŠKalŠ notŠ

Lois.  God, where was Lois?  What was he-

ŠNOT REALŠ

Superman felt his eyes forced open and there she was, her mouth open in a scream and 
everything shaking and he felt himself fallingŠ fallingŠ fallingŠ

^^^^^^^

Wally was back on his feet before the ground under him quit shaking, dancing on the 
jumping floor of the monitor womb trying to hold the signal he had just established to 
Batman - or any signal at all.  Before he was back to his station, every monitor from the 
planet had dropped its feed and the room was ablaze in red light and blaring sirens.  
Another second and a computer voice reported, "Danger.  Moon orbit compromised."

"Fuck!"  The ground was still heaving, and now the computerized voice had more to 
say.

"Hull breach in northeast living quarters. Danger.  Moon orbit compromised.  Hull 
breach in northeast living quarters."

"Seal northeast wing!" Wally barked, trying to patch a new feed to the medbay.  After 
two futile seconds, he gave up.  He could get there faster.

The red emergency light filled all the corridors on the way up, and he narrowly avoided 
a sparking live line as he dashed out of the monitor womb.  The voice followed him.  
"Danger.  Moon orbit compromised.  Sealing northeast wing.  DangerŠ"

The medbay door was jammed shut.  "GodDAMMIT!" he cursed, slamming through the 
manual override code on the control panel to no effect.  If he vibrated through the door 
would explode and shrapnel could - 

"Fuck!" he shouted again.  If there was a hull breach in the medbay area and both J'onn 
and Superman were out of commission, he wouldn't have to worry about shrapnel 
hitting Lois.  

"LOIS!  J'ONN!" he yelled at the top of his lungs.  "I'M VIBRATING THROUGH.  STAY 
CLEAR OF THE DOOR!"

That would have to be enough, he thought, speeding himself up and bursting through 
the doorŠ

"Lois!" he called, eyes desperately scanning the scatter of equipment.  The ground had 
finally stopped shaking, but the area where Superman had been was a shambles of 
overturned chairs and monitor equipment.  A fine dust filled the air.  "Lois!" he called 
again, noting with relief that the atmosphere seemed intact but now worried that 
somewhere in the rubbleŠ

"Here, Wally!" Lois answered, and something in the pile of tangled equipment shifted.

"I'm coming!" he yelled back, already pulling away a heavy equipment cabinet that 
wasŠ dented?  He realized belatedly that it was really something too heavy for him to 
move, that he was getting help.

"J'onn?" 

Relief flooded him as a green shoulder pushed up against the fallen cabinet and an arm 
opened up to reveal a shaken but unharmed Lois Lane.

"What the hell happened?" she demanded.

"Something threw us out of orbit," Wally explained, his words echoed by the 
computerized voice from the hall.  Why wasn't it sounding in here, he wondered?  He 
shook off the question.  "Are you okay?"

Lois accepted Wally's hand and climbed out from under J'onn's sheltering body.  Wally 
realized suddenly that the Martian must have tented himself over Lois and Superman 
when the shaking started.  

"I'm fine," Lois confirmed.  "J'onn?"

There was more shifting of equipment, and then J'onn was standing clear, Superman 
cradled in his arms.  "Thank you, Lois, for breaking the hold his delusion had on me."

Wally blinked.  "Wait.  How-?"

Lois looked equally confused for a moment, then her brow cleared.  "I didn't imagine it, 
did I?  He opened his eyes."

J'onn nodded.  

"He did?  Is he back?  Does this mean-?"

"Wallace, stop."  J'onn took a step forward only to drop to one knee, staggering under 
Superman's weight.

"Oh, hell, sorry.  J'onn, here, Lois-"  Wally slipped under Superman's arm and 
straightened, struggling with the dead weight of the Man of Steel as he partially 
relieved J'onn of his burden.  Lois came around to the other side and offered her 
shoulder so that Superman was propped between them.

If he had any idea what was happening to him, he gave no sign.

"Clark?" Lois whispered.

"He's back in the delusion, Lois," J'onn reported wearily, scanning the medlab and 
spying a bed that was whole and relatively free of tangled metal.  He crossed to it and 
set it upright.  He stayed there for a moment, looking around the room and staring for 
a moment out the observation window.  "H'ronmeer," he murmured.

In the hall, the computerized voice changed it's message.  "Moon position stable.  
Northeast wing sealed.  Moon position stable.  NortheastŠ"

"J'onn?"

The Martian turned back to face Lois and Wally, then crossed the space between them 
to claim Superman from them.  "The good news is we are not hurtling toward the 
planet," J'onn said as he settled Superman onto the new bed.

Wally heard Lois gasp beside him, and he thought he might have gasped as well.  He 
hadn't considered the possibility-

"But the effect on the tectonic plates and - crap!"  Wally took off, back to the monitor 
womb, back around the sparking cable and the debris strewn halls.  His fingers went 
back to the keyboard, back to resecuring a line to the planet below, to anyone, 
anywhere.

All he got was static.

There were no monitor feeds.

There were no radio signals.

Just white noise.

He sat heavily one of the chairs fortuitously attached to the floor and stared at the 
empty screens, silently praying to whatever gods might be listening that his wife and 
unborn child were okay.

End part 10

*********

Mindstorm, part 11
By Chicago

Disclaimers in "part 0"  Air Wave's distress call is taken from JSA #49.  

Batman was already walking as he materialized in the Cave, striding purposefully 
toward the main computer terminal.  "Oracle, the DEO files -"

"Already waiting for you - at least as much as I could hack.  They've been 
experimenting with closed systems for their top secret stuff.  Some of the files for that 
facility you had me investigate are probably there now.  I picked up traces of them and 
could do partial reconstructions-"

Batman stared at the files that opened onto the monitor.  "But not enough.  And your 
hack into the compound itself?"

There was a snort over the line.  "I'm lucky I got personnel records before they smelled 
me and took their system offline.  But that's not a total loss."

New files began to load onto the screen.  Batman scanned over the flagged documents, 
noting specialties, raising an eyebrow at a name he had known from STAR Labs.  "Tan 
isn't at STAR anymore?"

"No.  In fact, she's not *anywhere* except in this personnel file.  No banking activity, no 
property in her name, nothing.  It might be that she isn't working at this base anymore, 
either, but-"

"But she was on the initial team working up telepathic screening technologies," Batman 
remembered, his fingers flying over the keys.  "All these names - they're all mind 
scientists?"

"Of one kind or another.  Not quite a smoking gun-"

"And it doesn't explain Jonathan Kent," Batman pointed out.  "Superman could be a 
target of opportunity, close by for the test of a new weapon, but it hit Jonathan firstŠ 
Oracle, have you got a location on Mr. Terrific?"

If the non sequitur threw her, she gave no sign.  "I've completely lost most of the JSA; 
the shadow activity over Manhattan has been as disruptive as bad solar flares."

"Damn.  I was hoping - we need someone who can enter the mental realm.  Another 
telepath or-"

"Mr. Terrific wouldn't be able-"

"No, but his team has the right kind of ties and he'll know who he can spare."

"Fate's out, unless you're thinking - Dr. Occult?"

"Poss-" Batman's answer was cut off by the sudden buzz of an emergency signal on the 
JLA line.  Frowning he punched at the console.  "Batman here."

"Bat-"  Sudden static blasted over the line, punctuated by Oracle's "OH SHIT!" through 
his ear piece.

"Situation!" Batman demanded, typing furiously to bring up monitor views of the 
outside.  His answer came both from Oracle and from the images that suddenly flooded 
his screens. 

"The moon - they've managed to pull the moon out of orbit!  It looks like they're using 
it -"

"To eclipse the sun," Batman finished grimly.  He watched the shadows beginning to 
take hold over the Manor grounds.  "But no earthquakes, no effect on the tides.  What-"

"I'm getting this distress call.  Patching through now."

There was a hiss and pop of static, then, "Šanyone read me out there, this is Air Wave 
of the JSA reserves broadcasting a distress call on every available frequency.  We need 
your help."

"Air Wave?  I thought-"

"Every JSA reserver is already pulled into this.  Most of the regulars have disappeared 
from the grid in one way or another.  I just cut Canary free from a mission to help in 
Philadelphia."

Air Wave's message was continuing in the background, explaining how three beings 
has pulled the moon out of orbit.  "Šonly their power is keeping the world from 
cracking in half.  For now anyway."

"Our people?" Batman asked, pulling up his own tracking software and trying to ignore 
the continuing static from the lunar feed.

"Lantern's still neck deep in rescue efforts on the Indian subcontinent."  Batman listened 
to her report as he found Dick's location in the 'Haven, traced through the movements 
of his police radio.  Tim's signaler showed him at Brentwood and hopefully safe.  
Oracle's voice continued, "Wonder Woman is helping in London."  Cassandra's tracer 
was moving away from her cave under downtown Gotham.  "I've still got Aquaman in 
Kansas."

"No moving any of them," Batman decided, new monitor views coming to life as the 
emergency signals began flooding in.  There were heroes everywhere, spread too thin 
as thousands of ordinary citizens were possessed by Eclipso.  He could see the telltale 
shadows on their faces, visible even in the eclipse gloom.  "And the moon?"  He did not 
let his tone hint at his worry.

Barbara heard it anyway; he could sense sympathy in her matter-of-fact tone.  "I'm 
working on turning a satellite to their new position.  Teleporters are definitely offline.  
Visual from an earth based telescope confirms the Watchtower is still standing."

Batman's mouth tightened into a line.  He needed a plan.  As fast as things were 
moving, getting Superman back into action was looking like a long shot at best, no 
matter how much they needed him.  And the way things were moving, it was looking 
more like the question would be how to contain Superman if for some reason -

He felt a tickle at his wrist.

He blinked once.  He had forgotten about Ace.  He hesitated for a moment, 
remembering how hard it had been for J'onn to link to him when he had been up on 
the moon with him, butŠ

But he had to know.  He could focus on a world saving plan if only he knewŠ

He ordered Ace to connect him to J'onn.

The zo'ok gave its usual wriggle of excitement, and Bruce could feel it extending 
telepathic energy.  He waited a beat, then two, then exhaled the breath he had been 
holding.  *Bruce?*

*J'onn!  Are you all okay?*

There was the slightest pause.  *We are no worse than we were.  But we are worried for 
you.  We cannot see the planet.*

*We're Š the Earth's not shaking apart.  Oracle's working on - J'onn?*

*Sorry - too much -*

*Go,* Batman acknowledged.  *I love you.*

*You,* J'onn echoed, and then the link was gone, leaving only a vague mental ache 
behind.

"Batman."  That was Oracle again, snapping him out of his momentary longing to a 
more practical emotion.  "You need to see what's broadcasting all over TV."

He leaned forward and kicked on the television signal. 

Lex Luthor was staring out of the screen at him from behind the Oval Office desk.  
"Šcrisis affecting the entire world.  We cannot sit idly by and hope for superheroes to 
save us.  I have convened an emergency meetingŠ"

Batman felt his lips curl into a snarl, and somewhere in the back of his mind, a niggling 
suspicion blossomed into a conviction.

End part 11

*******

Mindstorm, part 12
By Chicago

Disclaimers in "part 0" Airwave's message taken verbatim from JSA #49, as are 
descriptions of Los Angeles.

-Calcutta-

Kyle Rayner had stopped consciously monitoring the JSA emergency channel.  The ring 
was keyed to alert him if either of two phrases came across the bandwidth; otherwise 
he needed his concentration more than he needed news. 

Screams and cries still penetrated the rubble; the bombing had left many air pockets in 
the pancaked building.  Shifting debris swiftly without collapsing it was a delicate 
business, and he almost lost a 500 pound section of reinforced concrete when someone 
abruptly ran into him.  He caught the slipping weight with the ring and turned to say 
something to the man who jarred him, but he was already up and running away.

A lot of people were running away.

A lot more, Kyle realized, were standing and pointing and crying and prostrating 
themselves.  He opened his mouth to bark an order, to bring them back to the task at 
hand, but then his eyes followed the pointing hand of a nearby rescue worker.

The moon.

The moon was practically racing across the night sky.

Around him the screams of the rescue workers joined those of the people trapped 
below mounds of rubble, a deafening cacophony.  For a moment he worried the ring 
had reinitiated the JSA feed and he just couldn't hear it, but no, the key phrases had not 
been spoken.

No one said they needed Green Lantern to attend to a greater crisis, and no one 
breathed a word of news, good or bad, about the missing Jade and Sentinel.

The moon hurtled out of sight below the horizon, and under the green glow of the 
ring, Green Lantern continued his rescue efforts.

^^^^^^^^^^

-Paris-

A stereo system blared sound from the top floor of an apartment building, loud 
enough that Wonder Woman could catch some words as she flew by.  "Šunder the sun 
is in tune, butŠ"

She had a feeling she didn't want to know the next lyric.

She had left London as an odd mix of London cops and US armed forces had taken over 
crowd control of Kobra driven rioters.  She had not paused to wonder how the military 
units were so quickly on the scene; there was trouble across the channel and too few 
heroes to help.

The day already felt long, and this new crisis was barely an hour old.

The streets of Paris were like a war-zone, and from the news coming over the JSA 
emergency channel, the same scene was being repeated in every urban center of the 
world.  She uncoiled her lasso as she hovered over one vicious knot of looters, ready to 
loop them all in the truth and hopefully break them out of their panic.  A practiced toss 
collected dozens in her proverbial net.

It didn't stop them.

Hera help her, the truth only made things worse.

^^^^^^^^^

-Bludhaven-

Dick Grayson winced at the sudden flood of light that filled the streets downtown.  For 
a confused moment, he thought the sun had broken free, but then his mind processed 
the sound of rotors.

Helicopters.

Blackhawks.  Apaches.

Military helicopters, coming from god knew where and mounted with Kleig lights.

Undoubtedly there by Executive Order.

Luthor.

The crowd began melting away, no longer fighting him and his fellow officers, no 
longer intent on destroying the city center.

He would hate Luthor later.  His radio was already crackling with calls for aid at 
another hot spot, bring riot gear.

He and Amy did not even look at each other as they dove into their car and answered 
the call.

^^^^^^^^^^^^

-Smallville-

Aquaman excused himself from Jonathan Kent's hospital room when his JLA signaler 
started sputtering with hurried reports of worldwide disaster.  Martha Kent raised her 
eyes in query, and he had lied about having to take a call.

He knew that the mother of a superhero would know better, but she didn't stop him.

He walked down the hall and through the doors to the outside, bathed now in shadows 
from the total eclipse.  

The totally unnatural eclipse.

The unnatural eclipse which had sent the moon hurtling across the sky with Martha 
Kent's little boy aboard.

He tapped his communicator.  "Watchtower?" he asked quietly.

There was only static.

He repeated his query.

Nothing.

Superman could survive a lot, as could J'onn.  And the Watchtower was solidly built.  
Lois would be safe.

Arthur Curry, father of Arthur Jr., now long dead, made a decision.  He would not give 
the parents of Cark Kent one more thing to worry about.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

-Los Angeles-

Shadow soldiers.

Pat Dugan hated it when villains mobilized innocents to do their dirty work.

He hated it more when the villains they fought against were former heroes.

Within the armor of S.T.R.I.P.E., Dugan fired tranquilizer darts into the crowd, watching 
the inky shadows explode away from those he hit, only to glom on to the next passing 
victim.

Around him, the remnants of Infinity, Inc. were shaking off retirement, following 
Hawkman into battle against Alan Scott's son.

Airwave's message continued to broadcast over all signals, sounding enough like a loop 
that Dugan would've thought it was a recording if he hadn't heard it vary with each 
repetition.

All except one phrase:  "Škiss your loved ones good-bye before you leave."

Pat Dugan had kissed his wife, but his step-daughter was already among the missing.

He fired another round of darts.

End part 12


******

Mindstorm, part 13
By Chicago

Disclaimers in "part 0"

Lois was torn between feeling unnerved and annoyed as yet another piece of 
equipment was righted at superspeed and a gust of wind signaled the departure of the 
Flash.  He would be back in seconds, restlessly setting the Watchtower to rights 
between anxious glances at the single satellite feed he'd reacquired with help from 
Batman.

At least, that's what she thought he'd explained to her during a pause in his frantic 
activity.

There was another gust of wind, and Lois sighed and stroked her thumb over her 
husband's hand.  She was almost startled when a voice answered her:  "You get used to 
it."

She looked up and found herself meeting the bemused expression on the face J'onn 
J'onzz.  "I'd rather not have to," she answered acerbically.

Across from her, J'onn inclined his head slightly in acknowledgment, the expression on 
his face a far cry from the half-fugue state he had fallen into after freeing them all from 
the rubble.

"You okay?" she asked, just to be sure.

As if on cue, the Flash showed up again, although this time he was moving at more 
human speeds.  He balanced a tray bearing a carafe full of coffee from an automatic 
drip coffee maker and a pair of mugs, plus a package of Chocos.  "I made coffee," he 
explained, an odd air of helplessness in his voice.

J'onn's bemused expression gave way to a gentle smile as he rose to his feet.  "Thank 
you, Wally.  Any more word from Earth?"

Wally shook his head.  "Nothing good.  Whatever magic the bad guys were using to 
hold everything together seems to be wearing off."  He handed the tray over to J'onn 
but then looked at a loss for what to do with his hands.  "There's just nothing really - 
the teleporters are off line and no one can afford to come fetch me and -"

"Wally," J'onn interrupted quietly as he set the coffee tray down and began filling the 
mugs, "I know it is hard to watch and be unable to help."

And how, Lois added mentally, glancing at Clark's still face.

"Yeah," the Flash agreed, still seeming fidgety even as he forced himself to stay and talk 
to J'onn.

J'onn set down the coffee carafe and set a hand on Wally's shoulder.  "Nonetheless, that 
is where you are needed now.  Lois and I will be fine."

There was a firmness in J'onn's tone that left no room for argument, and after a 
moment, Wally seemed to shake himself.  "Okay, right, gotitsorryI'llheadback-"  
Whatever else he said was lost in the breeze of his departure.

J'onn looked after him and then turned back to Lois.  "Cookie?"

She shook her head.  "Just coffee, please.  But don't let me stop you from-"

J'onn handed her a mug and displayed the stack of Chocos he had in his other hand.  "I 
won't," he promised.  He picked up the second mug from the tray and returned to his 
place at Superman's side.

Lois watched him over the rim of her mug as he devoured two Chocos and seemed to 
visibly relax toward his normal state - or at least the way Lois was used to him being.

"Flash will probably stay in the monitor womb for a while," J'onn noted, taking a small 
sip of coffee.  "He'll keep a feed into this room in case there is another surge of negative 
activity in Kal El's mind -" he paused to give Lois a sympathetic look - "but he won't be 
listening.

Lois lowered her coffee mug.  "Is that what's happening, when you sort of disappear 
into yourself?  The delusions are stronger or-"

"Yes," J'onn answered.  Then more quietly, "I'm sorry, Lois.  I want to be able to just 
stop whatever is happening to him, but-" 

"Don't be silly," Lois shot back briskly.  "I mean, yes, of course I want Clark back, but I 
think it's pretty clear you're doing everything you can."

J'onn met her eyes as she spoke, then let himself have another Choco.  Lois watched 
the almost visible control he seemed to be exerting.

"You need those, don't you?"

J'onn glanced up sharply.  "Kal El didn't tell you?"

Lois' lips curled in a fondly ironic smile and she reached to run her fingers over her 
husband's hair.  "Clark knows he married a reporter.  He doesn't tell me things about 
this life that might smell like story."  She raised her eyes again.  "At least, not things he 
thinks are important to his friends that he keep secret."

J'onn ate another Choco, then contemplated the last one in his hand.  "Off the record," 
he began, "yes, I do.  Bruce is still trying to figure out why, but -" J'onn shrugged and 
ate the final cookie.

"Ah, Bruce.  Can't resist a puzzle."

"Or a test," J'onn confirmed.  "Although he has Robin working on this question.  We're 
still off the record, right?"

Lois chuckled and reached out to pat J'onn's arm.  "I think this whole scenario pretty 
much has to be off the record," she pointed out.

"I suppose it would be hard to explain how you ended up on the moon when it was 
pulled from orbit.  But what will you do for a story?"

"I'm somewhere in Wyoming at the - oh, you don't mean cover story!" Lois realized.  
"Well, it's time to let someone else win a Pulitzer over the near end of the world," she 
dismissed airily.

J'onn shook his head and rose to his feet.  "You are good people, Lois Lane.  More 
coffee?"

"Yes, please," she accepted, handing J'onn her mug.  "Out of curiosity, did you put it into 
the Flash's head to bring us coffee?"

J'onn paused for second in the middle of pouring coffee, then resumed what he was 
doing.  "I very rarely put ideas in anyone's head, Lois.  He found Alfred's coffee pot, 
dented and spilled, and he thought we needed more coffee."

Lois accepted the mug J'onn handed her with a guilty twinge as he spoke.  "I didn't 
mean any offense, J'onn.  It just seemed-"

He reclaimed his seat, smiling slightly against her concern.  "You are not a mind reader, 
Lois.  You have no way of knowing what I am thinking nor of what things a telepath 
might find troubling even in suggestion."  His tone was matter-of-fact, and he polished 
off another Choco after he finished speaking.

Lois took a thoughtful sip of coffee.  "So for you it is wrong to put ideas in people's 
heads?"

"Morally repugnant, although occasionally tempting."

"Really?" Lois considered J'onn with interest.  "When is it tempting?  I mean, I'm 
guessing you wouldn't use it to pick up chicks or anything-"

J'onn chuckled, but Lois noted that something flared in his eyes.  Anger? Or guilt?  "No, 
not 'picking up chicks,'" he quoted back to her.  He took a sip of his own coffee.  
"Sometimes it is the lesser of two evils when the world needs saving."

"Well, duh.  But you didn't say that sometimes it was necessary.  You said tempting."

J'onn set down his coffee and considered her for a moment.  "I am beginning to have a 
new understanding of why powerful men have always been so attracted to you.  Or 
maybe why you never dated anyone who wasn't powerful."

Lois grinned wolfishly.  "Don't try to distract me, J'onzz.  And don't worry, we're still 
off the record.  When it is tempting?"

There was another moment's pause as J'onn ate another Choco.  "You should keep this 
up; I can feel amusement from Kal."

Lois glanced down at her husband's face.  "Amusement or irritation?  He always hates it 
when I badger you."

"Me specifically?" J'onn sounded genuinely surprised.

"You're not getting me off topic that easily."

J'onn sighed.  "So I see.  Very well."  He focused his whole attention on Lois, eyes 
meeting hers levelly.  "Sometimes I want to avoid conversations and it is tempting to 
plant the idea that someone should drop a question."

The combination of the answer and J'onn's sincere gaze flustered Lois.  "Oh!  Are you 
serious?"

"It is very difficult to blindside a telepath with questions, Lois.  But even I have things I 
do not want to say out loud."

Lois nodded slowly.  "You know, I'm beginning to have a new understanding of why 
you're good for Bruce."

Lois was surprised when J'onn ducked his head at her comment, and she imagined a 
blush rising in his cheeks.  "He's a good man," J'onn murmured.

"Oh, I know," Lois acknowledged quickly.  "And he's a royal pain in the ass.  In and out 
of costume."

"He's-" J'onn began, but Lois cut him off.

"You don't have to defend him, J'onn.  I know you love him; that much has been 
obvious at every dinner Clark and I have had with you two in the last couple of years.  
But remember, I dated him once upon a time."

J'onn glanced down at Superman.  "Now we are irritating him," he pointed out.

"And that's good, right?  Because if he's irritated at me for dishing about Bruce then that 
means it's getting through all the delusions, and that might mean we can strengthen 
him enough to break through whatever's got a hold on him."

J'onn seemed to think about her analysis before he said, "You're very good at getting 
what you want, aren't you?"

Lois grinned again.  "So tell me, is Bruce still fond of water sports?"

Lois expected a flustered reaction to her arch question, but she didn't quite expect the 
pained expression that flitted across J'onn's features before he meekly answered, "Yes."

She sat up straighter in her chair.  "Whoa, wait, hold the phone here.  J'onn, what the 
hell -"

"Lois-"

"No, we've already established my bulldog credentials.  I'm prepared to accept that you 
don't want to talk about your sex life, but *that* was not just embarrassment."

"I apologize.  I did not anticipate your question."

"Clearly.  Now spill.  You don't like that Bruce thinks the shower is a good place to get 
down and dirty?"

"It is not - Lois, Mars is a very dry place.  It is an Š intense thing, to be submerged."

Lois blinked once.  "Yeah, actually, I bet.  And you've told Bruce this?"

J'onn turned his face.

"J'onn!  How is he-"

"It makes him happy and costs me so very little-"

"J'onn, do you have any idea how much you sound like a battered wife defending-"

J'onn stiffened angrily.  "Bruce does not-"

Lois lifted her hands in a calming motion.  "I know, J'onn, I know.  Just - listen to 
yourself.  You should know better.  A healthy relationship is based on give and take.  
You *have* to tell him-"

She watched his shoulders slump.  "I know, Lois, I do.  But Lois -" He gestured toward 
himself as if to point out how very alien he was.

"J'onn."  She waited until she had his attention, then she gestured toward the 
Kryptonian lying unmoving between them.  "I know a thing or two about the human 
side of this equation.  Things like this - you have to let him know.  Otherwise it will 
come out on its own, and he will be angry that you let him hurt you."

"He doesn't-"

"J'onn.  You have to."

She held his gaze for a long time, watching the conflict playing in his eyes.  "Maybe-"

"No maybe.  I'm right about this, J'onn.  Bruce can live without shower sex if he has to.  
And other things, too, because I'm guessing there's more you haven't told him."

J'onn started suddenly and fixed her with a penetrating gaze, and belatedly Lois 
realized he had picked a stray thought from her mind.  "Don't you dare, Lois.  If this has 
to be done, don't you dare say a word to him."

Lois pressed her lips together in a thin line.  "J'onn, if you don't-"

"Lois, please.  You wouldn't want me in the middle of your relationship with Kal."

Lois scowled and then nodded.  "Fine.  I won't."

"Promise?"

The plea was so sincere - and so unexpectedly child-like - that Lois was taken aback.  
She sighed and stood, taking her mug back to the table where J'onn had set the coffee 
pot.  "Okay," she finally agreed.  "I don't like it, but okay."

*Thank you.*  The words were whispered straight into her mind, carrying with them a 
color of relief she normally associated with the realization the world wasn't going to 
end.  And though she wouldn't break her promise, she wondered suddenly if she had 
done the right thing. 

End part 13

*******

Mindstorm, part 14
By Chicago

Disclaimers in "part 0"  

It took a world wide disaster to open views in every possible monitor in Oracle's war 
room.  They were all open now, but Barbara Gordon felt like she was still missing 
things.

The comlines were all buzzing, but no one had called her since Batman had signed off.  
No one wanted a run down of the big picture.  They could see enough of it from where 
they were - enough to know that they could only keep doing what they were already 
doing.  Protect the innocent.  Save lives.  Fight the bad guys - if you could.

Of 3,127 formally recognized superheroes world wide, 2,943 had responded to the 
growing crisis.  Of those, less than 20 had a chance of succeeding in taking down the 
cabal of Mordru, Obsidian, and Eclipso, and even those top level metas and magicians 
would need to work in concert.

Sentinel was already among the missing.

So was Captain Marvel.

Mordru had taken over Dr. Fate's body.

Superman was a mindsnap away from berserker rage on the moon, and the Martian 
Manhunter was holding him prisoner.  

Green Lantern was in India, and no matter what fail-safes the ring had, no one wanted 
it anywhere near a battle where Eclipso could potentially sense it.

The djinn was lost to the battle when Jakeem's vocal cords were sliced.

The heroes still fighting that had the power to do anything were scattered, and there 
was no secure way to plan a coordinated assault through her network.  Barbara 
Gordon, like the rest of the world, had to pray that the black shadow that seemed to 
have swallowed New York City and most of the JSA was hiding a battle against 
Mordru that would end in his defeat.

Oracle, on the other handŠ

Her eyes scanned her monitors, tracking the signals of hundreds of heroes, some 
already down, possibly dead, others moving from disaster to disaster as quickly as they 
could.  Electronic filtering software kept a steady feed of the most pertinent 
communiqué between comlinks chattering over her speakers, reports of where hospital 
units had been set up by UN and NATO support forces, reports of situations controlled 
and others exploding out of control, reports of increasing seismic activity as the natural 
forces of gravity and tectonic action fought to assert themselves against magical 
control.

She tapped open a channel.  "Lantern."

"Oracle," he answered, sounding winded.

"You saw the moon."  He would know what she meant.  He'd had to hold the earth 
together before.

"Yeah.  Need me?"  

"Be ready," she advised, glancing at a feed from STAR Labs.

"Getting clear," he replied.  "Lantern out."

Barbara leaned back, trying to anticipate trouble spots.  Back when the quake had 
happened in Gotham, there had been - she closed her eyes.  If anyone survivedŠ

No, assuming failure meant lack of preparedness for all the potential degrees of success.  
She needed to focus on what disasters she could avert or control so the whole world 
wasn't a No Man's Land, caught between roving gangs control byŠ costumed freaks 
and -

Her fingers snapped to the keyboard, her heart in her throat.  STAR Labs had already 
indicated polar earthquakes.  What if-?

She felt herself release a held breath as a peaceful scene of the Antarctic desert replaced 
the chaos on one monitor.  The Slab was still intact, still standing and - she frowned a 
little and opened a new comlink.

"Plasticman?"

"Heya, Oracle.  New orders, or just checking in?"

Orders?  Batman, she realized, wondering when he had sent Plas to the south pole.  
"Checking in,"

"Rest of the world's still standing then," he chirped.  "Me and Mr. Miracle were 
wondering.  Worrying, actually, because we're working on our three card monty and-"

"All is under control?" she interrupted.

"If the earth starts shakin', I've got the foundations while he puts the whole facility out 
of phase.  Nifty trick that whole Black Mass mess left this place with.  Tell Bats we say 
hi."

She closed her eyes for a second, relieved.  "Oracle out," she whispered, knowing her 
software would pick up the sound and amplify it to normal tones.  Eel would feel 
appropriately dissed by the uberserious Bat affiliates.

A klaxon sounded and she snapped to attention, reaching for her keyboard to signal 
Green Lantern as the first of the real tremors began.  She would contact Wonder 
Woman next to go to Tokyo, and then - 

A squeal of feedback sounded, sending her reeling back in her chair, hand clapped to 
her ear.  The lights flickered, sputtering before the back up generator kicked in.  She 
ripped her earpiece out and rubbed at her ear, pushing herself back to her keyboards as 
the monitors around her slowly rebooted.

Every one of them came up blank.

End part 14

***********

Mindstorm, part 15
By Chicago

Disclaimers in "part 0"  Significant chunks of description and dialogue directly quoted 
from Superman: Man of Steel #131 (Shultz) and Action Comics #796 (Kelly). 

"Superman!"  Steel's voice, professional but edged with worry over the psionic link.  
"We've been trying to hail youŠ it's Lois Š she went AWOL from the safehouseŠ"

Superman's fists balled tighter as he cut through the mesosphere, making a bee line for 
Metropolis.  Steel's voice continued to buzz in his head, reporting that Jimmy thought 
she had gone to their apartment-

/I'm here, Clark./

He shook off the echoes of his wife's voice.  She needed him.  God, he should have 
known, all those other villainsŠ distractions.  He burst through the window of his 
floor, flying full tilt to the door of their apartment, graffitied with his own logo in red 
and he could smell it was bloodŠ

/Clark.  Hold my hand.  Please-/

He blasted through the door, and the bastard didn't even flinch.  Just took another drag 
off his cigarette before saying, "Yeah, you're good.  But you're not that good, mate."

The blood was everywhere, overwhelming his senses as his knees buckled.

"Fact is," Manchester Black continued, "you're a little late this time."

/Don't let it take you again, Clark.  I know -/

She was still alive, barely.  He could hear her heartbeat over her voice in his head.  The 
memory of her voice.  Because her mouth was slack and open and-

Manchester Black was still speaking, drawing the focus of his mind.  "Šlittle tweakŠ 
That heartbeat you'reŠ Ain't hers.  Idiot.  S'mine."

/Clark, you can't do this again.  I'm not sure J'onn-/

"Lois is dead."

"No.  No."  He could barely hear himself, much less Black.  His whole body shook as 
Black kicked her corpse to prove his point.  She wasn't in it.  She was dead.  Dead.

/Clark, I love you.  Please-/

"Špiety pourin' out of youŠ telling me how the damn world worksŠ sparing my life.  
Bet that looks like a big screw-up now, don't it?"

/It's an illusion, Clark.  Whatever you're seeingŠ/

"Why?"   He had to ask.  Because Lois' murder was so senseless, so-

"Because I hate you.  Because you're stupid.  Because I wanted to pull you out of your 
tower and show you beyond question how the bloody world works for real people!Š"

Black was ranting, telekinetically animating Lois body, making her sway up to her 
knees, making her monstrous with her blood soaked hair and empty features and -

"How does it feel?" Black was asking, and the rage bubbled up in Superman.

"You're the telepath," he growled.  "READ MY MIND."  He slammed into Black, took 
the fight out over the skyline, blasting him with heat rays that did nothing, pounding 
fists toward him only to have them bounce off his shielding.  A telekinetic blast sent 
Superman spiraling down to the street below, cracking concrete as he landed, and it 
didn't hurt so much as his heart-

"You need more incentive to fight like a man?" Black crowed.  "How about a telepathic 
retrospective on your wife's last hour of life?"

/Clark, can't you feel me squeezing your hand?  I'm right here, no matter what-/

"NO MORE TALKING!" Superman roared.  "THIS ENDS NOW!"

/Clark - Smallville!  Stop it!  Right now!  I'm blowing the story of a lifetime here to hold 
your hand and hope the Martian sitting next to you doesn't explode from trying to 
keep you sane, and I'll be seriously upset-/

*Lois?*  He reached out, feeling the familiar contours of J'onn's telepathic linkŠ

Everything went black.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Lois could feel the silk of her blouse sticking to her sweat as everything began shaking 
again and J'onn slumped in the chair across from her.  "What now?" she groaned.

As if on cue, the Flash appeared.  "The moon-" he began, then looked at J'onn.  "Shit, 
what happened?"

Lois shrugged wearily.  "More of the same."  The ground seemed to heave, throwing 
J'onn from his chair and forcing Lois to grab hold of the structural support column that 
they had stationed themselves beside.

Wally joined her, clinging tight and, she suspected, ready to zip her to safety.  "I 
reinforced the support shields," he yelled over the rumble and crash of falling 
equipment.  "The Watchtower will hold together."

"What's happening?" she shouted back.

"I think they've won downstairs!  I lost the feed from Earth, but the moon is going back 
to its orbit!"

The ground seemed to roll under them, making Lois feel seasick.  Superman's bed 
tipped, angling toward her and Wally for a moment before swaying back to topple him 
on top of J'onn's unmoving form.  Lois started to reach forward instinctively, but Wally 
stopped her.

"They're fine!" he pointed out.  "This can't hurt them!"

A groaning sound vibrated through the column she and the Flash clung to.  She shot a 
horrified look at him.  "You're sure it will hold?"

He reached out and took her hand.  "We've got too much to live for for it to fail!"

She bit back a sarcastic retort as a supply cabinet crashed to the floor, shattering glass 
beakers and test tubes that somehow had survived the first displacement of the moon.  

And then the shaking stopped.

Both she and Wally stayed where they were, blinking at the sudden silence and stillness.  
Then Lois felt her knees give in delayed reaction.

The Flash caught her before she hit the floor, lowering her the final inches to the 
ground.  Lois giggled in embarrassment.  She looked around the medbay, noticing with 
relief that J'onn was beginning to move.  "Aren't you glad you cleaned his place up?"

She was half-surprised when Wally pushed back his mask and gave her a rueful smile.  
"You know, I used to dream about a world that moved closer to my speed," he 
confessed, joining her in examining the rubble.  "After the last three hours?  Not so 
much."

Lois closed her eyes and swallowed hard.  "Only three hours?"

"Lois?" that was J'onn's voice, and she opened her eyes to see the Martian sitting up, 
studying her with a concerned expression.  Too concerned, actually, and she realized 
how deeply sucked in to Superman's latest delusion he had been.

"I'm fine," she promised.  She reached forward to where her husband's head rested 
against the steel floor and smoothed back the curl over his forehead.  "Fine."

End part 15

**********************

Mindstorm, part 16
By Chicago

Disclaimers in "part 0"  Scene constructed around pp.39-41 of JSA #50.  

Sanderson Hawkins came back to himself through a storm of rage that died to total 
confusion as he opened his eyes - OPENED HIS EYES - a skill that felt a thousand years 
from any he had used in a long time.  He tried to extend his suddenly restored 
consciousness to his legs and arms, but he buckled anyway, half caught by a hero that 
looked for all the world like Uncle Sam.  What the hell was Uncle Sam-

Then the pain slammed into him, and he knew it wasn't new pain, just that he had 
misplaced it for a minute or two, and through the haze he heard Uncle Sam's voice.  
"Šmagic is wearin' out.  Shake it off, Sand."

Sand bit his lip and forced his legs to work, staggering as Uncle Sam helped him to his 
feet.  "Sand," a woman's voice said, and he shook his head to clear his vision.  Phantom 
Lady.  What was she doing here?  And why was she taking off her -

"Probably a good idea to cover yourself," she suggested with a faint smile as she draped 
her cape over his shoulders.  He was naked, he realized, too headsore and muddled to 
feel the embarrassment he knew he normally would.  "Alex took out Eclipso and Alan's 
back with Todd."  He nodded, even though she might as well have been speaking 
Kwakuitl for all the sense he could make of it.  "Mordru - well, I think those two will 
know more."  She nodded toward Black Canary and Dr. Occult, who were both 
struggling to their feet on the broken concrete.

Sand fought for his voice, directing his attention to the one hero he felt he actually 
knew of the gaggle he could see around him.  "What's-" He swallowed hard and tried 
again.  "What'sŠ going on, Canary?"

Her answer was brisk and both what he needed to know and not.  "Philadelphia just 
got hit with a six-point-o on the Richter scale, Sand."

That explained the pain, he thought to himself, and almost as if on cue, it rose up in him 
again - a sensation like bile rising in his throat, only sharper, more acidic and stretching 
through his arms and legs as well.

KRAKOOM!

Every hero spun toward the building that had finally crashed down under the damage 
done to it by whatever had torn up the streets, and a very bad idea of some of that 
cause began to niggle at the back of his brain.

The nausea forced the thought back, and he struggled to listen as Uncle Sam began to 
talk again.  "We're not out of the woods yet, kids.  Thanks to Mordru and his cronies 
shifting the moon's orbit, the geodynamics of the entire planet are completely screwed 
up."

Moon out of orbit?  God, that would mean - Sand clutched at his stomach, trying not to 
hunch too obviously under Phantom Lady's cape.  Not that anyone would have 
noticed, given that the earth under their feet was beginning to shift with an ominous 
rumble.  He felt Uncle Sam touch his shoulder, and he grimaced.  "I can feel it -- tectonic 
plates slipping.  Earthquakes and volcanoes erupting along the inland mountain chains."  
And it hurt.  It hurt desperately, forcing him to speak through gritted teeth.

"Can you stop it, Sand?"

Sand forced himself to straighten.  The Earth was screaming, and it hurt.  It shot like fire 
through his veins, but if couldn't stop it, how many millions would die?  He forced 
himself to press his feet against the ground to get a running start, letting Phantom 
Lady's cape fall from his body.  "I can try," he called, and then he dove, plunging 
through the broken concrete of the sidewalk, sliding through foundations and around 
layers of pneumatic tubes and vapor sealed subway tubes, penetrating down to 
bedrock.

He didn't know what had been happening - or for how long - before he had returned 
to consciousness of himself.  He had an idea of what might have been done to him.  The 
rage storm he had passed through - he'd been through it before.  That time he'd been 
unconscious of himself for years and knew what he'd been only from the videos.  

A monster.  He had been a mindless, raging monster.

He suspected it had happened again, that somehow, someone had figured out how to 
release the beast he had thought was permanently caged.  He didn't dare think how 
many he might have maimed or worse.  He couldn't dare.  He needed to focus.

The deep rooted steel of New York City finally gave way as he penetrated deeper, past 
the levels that humans could dream of reaching.  He slipped through the upper mantle 
and into the asthenosphere, stretching his mind and body along lines geomagnetically 
mapped into his very being.

The earth was shattering, and it still hurt.  Hurt more, hurt *personally*, as if every 
pressured fault line were a rib or a femur or a vertebra in his own body.  Whatever had 
been done on the surface echoed hard and deep, searing through the beauty around 
him with an agony that somehow didn't decrease the beauty but made it different, 
changed it in a way no one else could possibly understand.

He was deep in the earth's core now, stretched out with every fiber of himself, and 
mixed with the wracking pain and the deep beauty was Š fear.  He chided himself, 
realizing what the fear was.

It was fear of death.  And in truth, he wasn't sure it was entirely his fear.  

The Earth trembled around and through him.

He steeled himself, told himself to think of Wes.  Wesley Dodds, his mentor, his friend.  
A man who lived and died heroically.  Sand remembered the dream he'd had when 
Wesley died, the sand dissipating through his fingers, the phone call that woke him and 
confirmed his fears.

Wesley Dodds had thrown himself off a mountain in Tibet to prevent Mordru from 
stealing information from his mind.  Sanderson Hawkins would stretch through that 
same mountain to prevent Mordru from destroying the Earth.  He would not be afraid.

Sand made himself anew at the Earth's heart, exercising his control of his silicate form 
to heal the rifts and cracks and pressure points, making himself the heart of it allŠ

And it was too much.  He tried too big, too hard, and it was tearing him apart, more 
powerful than he could hope to be.  He snarled and embraced his own hubris, fighting 
harder, feeling his sense of self begin to discorporate on the waves of the world.  Every 
pulse of his being sheared away from every other, rending him past his soulŠ

"NNNNGGAAAHHHHHHH!!!!" he screamed.

The rest was silence.

^^^^^^^^

"Well, haven' seen one of yer type around in a while."

Sand did not open his eyes, trying to register what was happening.  

He didn't hurt anymore.  

"Fine.  Don' mind me.  I'm just puttin' up scenery."

There was warmth on his face, like sunlight.  And a breeze, he realized, scented of 
wildflowers and damp soil.  He could feel blades of grass under his fingers.

"Well, yer not doin' me any good lying there."

Sand finally opened his eyes, then blinked rapidly several times.  A scarecrow thin - 
man? - with a jack-o-lantern for a head leaned over him.

"Good.  Yer awake.  I imagine the master'll be wantin' to see you soon, then."

Sand rolled his head carefully and then gingerly sat up.  

It still didn't hurt.

"Where - is this -" Spit it out, he told himself, looking at the odd creature who was 
standing beside him andŠ smoking?  "Is this heaven?"

The huge grin on the pumpkin face widened, and laughter spilled out.  "HAR HAR 
HAR!  Heaven!  That's a good one.  What, boy, you think yer dead?"

Sand nodded, accepting the pumpkin man's hand and rising to his feet.  "I was trying -" 
He paused, screwing up his face in concentration.  He had been doing something 
important.

"Savin' the world, yeah, I know.  Felt the ripples, y'know.  You did it, by the way."  The 
pumpkin man was lighting a new cigarette.

Sand cocked his head to one side.  That must have been it.  "Good," he acknowledged 
absently, brushing his hands over his body.  He frowned.  "Should I have -?"

"Clothes?" the pumpkin man supplied, and suddenly he had them, odd vestments that 
rested lightly on his skin.  "Apparently so.  What's yer name, son?"

"Sand," he replied absently, fingering his new clothes.  They felt - not like cloth.  More 
like Š flower petals and spring leaves and dandelion down.

"Well, Sand," the pumpkin man said, holding out his hand again, this time obviously for 
a handshake which Sand provided.  "Pleased ta meetcha.  I'm Mervyn Pumpkinhead, 
but everyone jus' calls me Merv.  Welcome to the Dreaming."

End part 16

**********************

Mindstorm, part 17
By Chicago

Disclaimers in "part 0"  

The front passenger tire of the Batmobile was hanging over the abyss.  There were 
ominous splashing noises coming from the underground river far beneath the working 
levels of the Batcave.  The crashes of china and glass above had stopped.

Batman carefully rose from the floor near the computer station and righted his chair as 
the Bat computer slowly came back to life.  For the first time, he was grateful for the 
quake that had hit Gotham three years ago.  The pressure on the tectonic plates 
beneath the city, beneath his home, had not had time to rebuild.  Not the way it had 
under Philadelphia, to judge from the destruction evident on the intermittent feed 
appearing on monitor 7.

"Master Bruce?"  Alfred, an odd emotional strain in his voice that Dick had once 
identified as the "please don't be dead" tone.

"Here, Alfred," Batman called back, hearing relief in the footsteps coming down the 
stairs.  "Are you all right?"

"Fine, Master Bruce, although I cannot say as much for the contents of the china cabinet.  
And the clock seems to have been sprung off its hinges again."

Batman frowned to himself.  The way the clock entrance to the Cave was designed, that 
shouldn't have happened.  He would have to bring John Stewart in to do some 
structural consulting.

"My word, that looks bad," Alfred remarked, noting monitor after monitor stuttering to 
show scenes of destruction.  "Is there any-"

"Flash to anyone!  I repeat, this is the Flash-" Batman reached for the volume control on 
the suddenly blaring speaker and opened a comline.  

"Go ahead, Flash."

"Batman, thank god!  I've finally re-established our satellite feeds, although at least 
three-quarters of the hardware in orbit is on the fritz.  Looks like electromagnetic 
interference.  I've tried six of our nine emergency channels and this is the first to get 
through -"

"Have you reached Oracle?" Batman asked, typing in a diagnostic command for the 
various power and communications grids in Gotham.

"No luck so far," Flash admitted.  "It looks awful down there.  I can pick out at least a 
dozen cities on the night side of the planet from the fires."

"Understood," Batman said tersely.  Most of Gotham was without power.  Oracle should 
have a backup generator, though, and the Clocktower was quakeproofed.  He scowled, 
then punched in a code for one of the Gotham private emergency lines.  "Flash, try 
reaching Oracle on this frequency," he suggested.

"Trying," Flash responded, not questioning the request.  "Eureka!  Batman, patching the 
lines together and-"

"Batman?"

"Oracle, status."

The synthesized voice almost sounded relieved.  "Most of my systems are off-line.  I've 
managed to hook into a JSA channel.  Obsidian and Eclipso have been neutralized, but 
they're less certain they got Mordru.  I've been able to contact several heroes through 
Dr. Mid-Nite's communications array to start mobilizing clean up and support."

Batman grunted an acknowledgment.  "Flash, Watchtower situation?"

"Had to seal off the northeast living quarters.  We probably lost that whole section of 
the Tower.  Otherwise just a lot of mess."

"And the others?"

Flash paused for just long enough to make Batman uneasy.  "It's pretty touch and go.  
I'm not sure how much longer J'onn can contain the situation."

Batman closed his eyes, aware of Alfred's concerned look, but he did not pause before 
he spoke.  "Okay, that's our new priority.  That and communications.  Oracle -"

"I've got a line on Dr. Occult," she cut in smoothly.  "He's with Canary."  She paused for 
a moment, likely to contact her operative, and then the voice was back, sounding 
somehow grimmer.  "The JSA lost Sand.  He's the one who stopped the earthquakes."

"Not Lantern?" Batman asked.

"I couldn't get him deployed, and it wouldn't have matter anyway.  The kind of large 
scale destabilization -"

"We'll debrief that later," he interrupted brusquely.  "Flash, how soon can we get the 
teleporters functional?"

"Not sure," the Flash confessed.  "No one else up here can cover comm if I get involved 
in the teleporters.  It's going to depend-"

"Communications first," Batman decided.  "And Oracle, see if we can get someone else 
up to the moon - preferably JLA.  They already know what's happening up there.  
Flash, tell J'onn and Lois just to hold on a little longer, but contact me if something 
changes with their situation.  And let me know if you get the teleporters operational 
enough for inorganic transport."

"Roger that," the Flash answered.  "Any specific inorganic?"

Batman thought about the kryptonite still sitting in his vault.  "Let's make that need to 
know."

"Batman," Oracle jumped in,  "I've got Wonder Woman available to transport Dr. Occult 
to your location and then offer support on the moon.  I still can't raise Green Lantern.  
And you might want to tune in to the emergency broadcast system."

"Understood.  Establish a universal emergency channel for all teams, then triage and 
deploy.  Send Lantern as soon as you reach him.  Batman out."

He switched his comset back to standby as Oracle and the Flash began talking to each 
other.  Batman nudged the volume on the national emergency broadcast channel.  Lex 
Luthor's voice flooded the Cave.  

"Š worst of the external threat has passed.  Again we have been terrorized and 
frightened by villains seeking vengeance against the superhero community, but the 
whys of this day's horror are a subject for another day.  What is important now is that 
we work together.  FEMA and National Guard units are already mobilizing in -"

"He's right," Alfred stated.

Batman spun to face the older man, noting the weariness in his frame as he scanned the 
scenes of destruction.  "Alfred?"

A strange resignation was in Alfred's eyes as he met Batman's gaze evenly.  "We will all 
need to work together," he clarified, although somehow that didn't seem to be all he 
was saying.  "If you will excuse me, Master Bruce, I should stay by the phone upstairs.  I 
imagine some lines will be active soon, and I can assure your CFO that you have 
authorized any level of relief expenditures he deems advisable."

Batman nodded.  "Of course."  He thought again about the kryptonite, about 
Superman's incapacitation, about villains seeking vengeance.  "Do that," he agreed, his 
mind already moving to the next puzzle.  He reactivated his link to Oracle.  

"Go ahead, Batman."

"Has Wonder Woman arrived in New York yet?"

"She's almost there.  Why?"

"Have her take Dr. Occult to Smallville instead.  I think he needs to talk to Aquaman."

"Will do.  Oracle out."

Batman considered for a moment, then he reopened his files on Masters, the facility in 
Wyoming, experts on mind control, and Lex Luthor.

End part 17

****************************************

Mindstorm, part 18
By Chicago

Disclaimers in "part 0"

"Flash, I've got Mr. Terrific on line.  He's got an idea to get us more subnetworks."

"Thank god," the Flash reacted.  He and Oracle had been struggling to make 
communications work for the hundreds of superheroes working around the globe.  
The universal signal had not been so hard to create, even though they had to stay well 
away from the broadcast frequencies the various world leaders were using.  The 
problem was the communications chaos that resulted when there was only one fully 
functional channel.  

Had there only been team heroes involved, it would have been easier.  There were 
protocols for sharing communications lines.  But so many reservists and independents 
had been pressed into duty that even triage of messages was proving near impossible.

"Flash," Terrific greeted over the mercifully limited JLA line.

"Talk to me, Terrific," Flash directed into his com, his hands busily rewiring various 
Watchtower functions.

"I've been looking at the Martian tech in the JLA communicators.  At first I thought it 
was incompatible with the Thanagarian tech we're using, but I tried tinkering with it 
anyway."

Wally pulled himself out from under the monitor console and whisked down to the 
teleport bay.  "They'll work together?"

"The Martian tech is pretty malleable - semi-organic stuff," Terrific reported.  "It started 
adapting to the Thanagarian wavelengths and multiplying them when I married the 
two communicators."

"Great, they're breeding.  Shit!"

"Flash?"  That was Oracle.

"Not you.  This damned teleporter.  The communications thing is great news, but that 
doesn't help with all the indies out there."

"Actually," Terrific contradicted, "if the other systems react the way the JSA's did, it 
might.  But we'll need you to disseminate the signal."

Wally zipped back to the monitor womb.  "Oracle, you got us connectivity?" he 
checked.

"Give me a sec to reconnect you to the universal channel."

Wally winced in anticipation of the previous flood of sound, but clearly Oracle had been 
successful in establishing a working pecking order.  She must have recruited AirWave 
and Atom, among others, to get the message out so swiftly.  

"Okay," Oracle stated, "standby, Flash.  Attention on the universal channel.  Mr. Terrific 
has discovered a way to remotely activate multi-channel potentiality in all your 
comlinks.  Please listen to the entirety of his message before jumping back on line.  
Message to commence in 30 seconds."  There was a click, and she was back on the JLA 
line.  "Mr. Terrific?" she prompted.

"Flash, if you'll link the JLA channel through the universal channel via satellite, I should 
be able to make this work."

"Do I have to pay attention to this?" Wally asked worriedly, glancing at the remote 
teleport console.  He needed to get the teleporters working.

"Just hook me up and you can go," Mr. Terrific assured him.

"Already done," Wally replied, flipping a switch.  "You'll go live as soon as Oracle gets 
the signal downstairs."

"Live in 3... 2..."

Wally turned down the com signal and snapped to the diagnostic report printing across 
the room.  His eyes scanned the page in a futile effort to find a sign of how to work 
around the upper level electromagnetic disturbances that promised to scatter the 
molecules of anything coming up from the planet.

A sound at the door ripped his eyes from the paper.

"Lois?  What-"

She was walking as if in a trance, glassy-eyed as she entered the monitor womb and 
turned to close the door.  As soon as the door slid shut, however, she recoiled, blinking 
rapidly.  

"Lois?" he asked again, trying to mindful of his speed as he crossed to her side.

Her eyes were confused.  "He sent me away.  J'onn just -"

"Alert!  Observation bay partition activated.  Alert!  Observation bay partition activated.  
Alert! Ob-"

"Shit!" Wally shouted, tearing over to the internal monitoring equipment.  A low 
rumbling was sounding through the Watchtower.

"Wally?  What's going on?  What is the observation bay partition?"

Wally slammed his hand on a button, silencing the computer alert.  "It's the airlock 
between the monitor womb and the upper levels of the central Watchtower.  C'mon, 
c'mon," he urged the computer, trying to coax the medbay monitors to clear up enough 
for him to see what was going on.

He could feel Lois move to a position a few feet from him, out of the way but close 
enough to watch what he was doing.  "Wally - Flash - "

He spun to face her.  "J'onn sent you down.  It looked like he just put coordinates in 
your head.  Did he even give you a choice?"

Lois blinked.  "No.  We were just sitting there talking and suddenly he just... *looked* at 
me.  And then I was walking down here.  What does that -?"

The Watchtower gave a little shudder, and Flash glanced up.  "Well, that's the airlock 
sealed.  Lois, let's hope that doesn't mean what I think it means."

Her eyes scanned his face, and he saw her wrestling with something she didn't want to 
acknowledge.  "J'onn's lost him, hasn't he?" she whispered.

"I don't know.  I wish I could-"

The monitor womb suddenly rocked around them, forcing Lois to grab a console for 
balance.  "Please tell me the moon isn't moving again," she pleaded.

"That wasn't a moonquake," Wally replied grimly, opening up the JLA channel.  "Oracle, 
I need Batman," he stated, starting when Lois touched his arm.

He followed her pointing finger to the now clear monitor.

"Batman," the Dark Knight signed on.

"Batman, we've got code blue up here.  Repeat, we've got code blue."

His eyes were riveted by the monitor screen.  J'onn and Superman were circling one 
another, feinting and testing one another's stances.

"Full status, Flash!" Batman barked.  

"Blue is still contained.  The affected area has been sealed off, and Green is keeping Blue 
occupied."

"Teleporter?"

"I still can't bring it on line, even for inorganics.  Lantern?"

"Oracle?"

"I still can't raise him.  His tracker went live when Terrific sent his signal.  Still in 
Calcutta, but it hasn't moved."

Superman suddenly rushed forward, slamming J'onn's body toward the wall of the 
medbay.  The Martian phased out of the Man of Steel's grip, but the Watchtower still 
rocked with the impact of Superman's body.

Batman's voice came back on line.  "Protocol Zed, Flash," he said flatly.  "Green knows 
it.  Advise if Green is overpowered.  We will continue working on this end.  Batman 
out."

"Right," Wally breathed, watching hypnotically as the two combatants returned to 
circling.

"What's Protocol Zed?" a voice asked at his elbow.  Lois.  He'd forgotten her for a 
moment.  "Wally?"

That was her husband in there.  Hell, Superman was ... Superman.  A paragon of virtue, 
the very exemplar of superherodom.  And her eyes were as scared as Wally knew his 
must be.  "Don't worry," he tried to reassure her.  "As long as there's no fire, J'onn can 
contain him."

She was watching as intently as Wally, her fingers tight on Wally's wrist as Superman's 
eyes began to glow.  "And if there's fire?" she asked.

"That's why J'onn sealed us in.  Then he can break through the wall of the Watchtower, 
take the fight into space."

Superman's heat vision seared through a once more insubstantial J'onn.  Wally felt Lois 
hold her breath as sparks flew from the cabinets hit by the rays from her husband's 
eyes, but no flames started.  He realized when he exhaled in relief that he'd been 
holding his breath, too.

"And then?" Lois prompted.

"J'onn will keep the fight in the vacuum until Superman tires.  He'll probably try to get 
him to the dark side of the moon."

On the monitor, a clearly enraged Superman caught hold of J'onn's body and began 
squeezing.  Wally felt his stomach knot as J'onn's form lost shape, seemed to collapse 
under the bone shattering hold.  The sickened feeling only intensified when J'onn 
flowed on the ground to slide viscously behind Superman and rise behind him.  When 
Superman turned, J'onn slammed a punch into his jaw that carried Superman into the 
medbay wall at high speed.  The Watchtower rocked again, and when Superman got 
up, a red light flooded the medbay.

"Hull breach," Wally interpreted.  "A small one.  The autorepair function might be able 
to seal it."

"He doesn't know it's J'onn," Lois said, and Wally didn't answer, knowing she was 
reminding herself, not him.

Superman flung himself at J'onn again, eyes blazing.

"And if they end up outside?  Behind the moon?  That's Protocol Zed?" Lois asked.

Superman's heat vision burned across a sheet on one of the beds, starting a small flame.  
J'onn danced away, his own eyes sending beams at the place where Superman had 
fallen earlier.  For a moment new chaos reigned as all the smaller objects in the medbay 
began rolling and tumbling toward the hull breach.  The flames flickered out.

"No," the Flash replied to Lois' question.  "J'onn won't initiate Protocol Zed unless 
Superman tries to get to the planet."

One of the medbay exam tables slammed against the hull breach, and a dozen flying 
objects dropped to the ground.  Superman and J'onn resumed their circling.

"If he gets to the planet like this..." Lois began.

"He won't," Wally stated firmly.

"But if -"

"Protocol Zed," Wally interrupted.  He tore his eyes away from the screen to look at 
Lois.  "You remember when we kicked Batman out of the League, all the issues about 
fail-safes?"

Lois shot another glance at the monitor then returned her attention to the Flash, 
nodding in acknowledgement.

"The complaint wasn't that he had developed protocols against us."

"I remember.  It was the secrecy, the plotting."

Wally nodded, not letting himself look at the monitor as another blow rocked the 
Watchtower.  "It made us make explicit an assumed protocol."

"Protocol Zed?"  He had her full attention now.

"If any of us ever went so far off the deep end we couldn't be called back, if we became 
a danger to the earth and everything we loved-"

"J'onn would know."

Wally nodded again.  "And he would stop us.  Any of us."  He touched his temple 
significantly.  "It was nothing for him to make you a puppet long enough to get you out 
of harm's way."  The Flash looked back to the monitor, not wanting to see the dawning 
realization in Lois' eyes.  "It'd be even easier for him to cut the strings."

But he wouldn't have to, Wally told himself, watching as J'onn and Superman wrestled 
in midair in the medbay. 

"Protocol Zed," Lois said softly, and Wally didn't dare look to see if she was crying.

End part 18

***********************************

Mindstorm, part 19
By Chicago

Disclaimers in "part 0"

Despite the speed of Mercury, it took a few minutes for Wonder Woman to cross the 
Atlantic.  By the time she arrived in Manhattan, the last of the Earth's convulsive 
shudders had completely settled, and most of the bedraggled looking JSA had gathered 
downtown near the demolished courthouse.

She picked Dr. Richard Occult easily from the crowd.  His trench coat and fedora were 
dusty, but otherwise the disaster area around him seemed to have left him untouched.  
She settled lightly beside him and gave a nod to Dinah Lance.  The other woman looked 
tearful, and many of the JSA members seemed badly shaken, but she didn't have time 
to concern herself with what losses they might have suffered.  "Dr. Occult," she greeted.  
"Has Batman briefed you at all?"

"The Oracle was insistent that such a briefing would require a secure line," he answered, 
walking a few steps to draw her away from the JSA and other assembled heroes.

"That means no, then," Diana interpreted.  "I know you have your own means of 
transport, but it would probably be best if I fly you and brief you on the way."

Occult nodded his head once and raised his arms enough for Diana to get a good hold 
on him.  She did so and lifted them both into the air.  Behind them a loud BOOM 
sounded, but she didn't turn, and, she was pleased to note, neither did Occult.  He knew 
whatever work he had was in front of him, and the JSA had to be trusted to fight their 
own battles.

"Superman has been attacked," she said to him as soon as they were clear of the city.  
"At least, it looks like an attack.  Several hours ago.  Before all this -"

"What kind of attack?"

"Something on the psychic level."

Dr. Occult grunted.  "That's a telepath's area of expertise."

"We know.  J'onn J'onzz has been working with him.  But whatever it was was 
designed to create a psychotic break.  J'onn was able to stabilize Superman, but not help 
him."

"J'onzz couldn't help him?"  Occult sounded surprised.

"I can't tell you much more than that.  Aquaman might be able to.  He's in Kansas."

"Hence the flight over the cornbelt."  The comment was uninflected, but she sensed an 
irony in him anyway.  She supposed it didn't seem a very logical place to find an 
Atlantean, but she couldn't explain that Arthur was with Superman's parents.

"Is Superman also in Kansas?" Occult asked.

"No, no.  On the moon."

"Off planet.  Batman does have a way with the truth."  Again that underlying 
implication of irony.

Wonder Woman's comlink buzzed.  "Wonder Woman here," she acknowledged.

"It's Oracle.  We've got a code blue on the moon.  ETA with Occult?"

Diana suppressed the emotion rising in her.  "Two minutes.  You have the teleporter 
ready?"

"Negative.  Batman says it shouldn't matter to Occult if he's right about what happened 
in Smallville."

"And if he's wrong?"

"Protocol Zed," the synthesized voice replied.

Her hands on Dr. Occult tightened a little before she could stop them.  "Understood.  
Wonder Woman out."

"Bad news?" Occult asked.  He hadn't squirmed, even as her fingers had dug into his 
flesh.

"Superman is rampaging," she said flatly, translating code blue.  "Whatever was done to 
his mind is keeping him from recognizing reality-"

"And he's acting out his delusions," Occult finished.  "And you had hoped I would-?"

"I don't know," Diana replied honestly.  "Batman determined you were the right person 
to contact, and he has been in contact with J'onn."

"Of course he has."  The matter-of-factness of Occult's tone surprised her; the rumor mill 
must be more efficient than she realized.  Or maybe he was just commenting on 
Batman's mythic reputation for having a plan, and it wasn't a comment on Bruce's 
relationship with J'onn at all.

Smallville came into view, and they lighted easily on the empty heliopad beside the 
hospital.  Aquaman was waiting for them.  He extended a hand to Dr. Occult.  "Good to 
see you again, Dr. Occult."

Dr. Occult returned the handshake and bowed his head a little.  "Your highness.  A bit 
far from your kingdom, aren't you?"

Aquaman raised his head to squint at the noon sky.  "A bit, but when duty requires-" he 
shrugged.  His eyes shifted now to Diana.  "Oracle reports a code blue."

Diana nodded.  "I don't know any more than you do.  Batman thinks that Dr. Occult will 
be able to do something from here, but-"

"Yes," Aquaman cut her off.  He turned toward the hospital.  "Whatever made the 
attack also affected a man here."

"Oh, really?"  Dr. Occult sounded more interested than he had when Diana revealed the 
situation.  "That's unusual for a telepathic assault.  And Superman was hit on the 
moon?"

"In Wyoming," Wonder Woman supplied.

"And there were no other instances between here and there?"

"Not that we know of."  Arthur held the door for both Dr. Occult and Diana.  Without a 
helicopter drop off, the hall was almost eerily quiet, and Aquaman had them into a 
private room before they encountered anyone.

"Diana!" Martha Kent greeted with genuine warmth.  "It is so good to see you again!"  
The older woman gave the Amazon a hug.  "Do you have news about Clark?"

Diana shot a look at Arthur who gave the tiniest head shake.  "I brought Dr. Occult here 
about that.  A... mutual friend thinks -"

"He's right," Dr. Occult announced from beside the sleeping Jonathan Kent.  He had 
removed his fedora and now looked at Mrs. Kent.  "I am sorry, ma'am, but time is of 
the essence.  I'll introduce myself properly when I return."  He fished something out of 
his coat pocket and suddenly disappeared.

Martha Kent blinked and looked from Diana to Arthur.  "My!  I just can't keep up with 
you kids."

Diana smiled wryly, trying not to think about why time was of the essence.  "How is 
Jonathan?"

Martha waved her hands.  "The doctors have no idea what's wrong with him, but I'm 
inclined to agree with Arthur that he'll be fine with rest.  It was so good of you to come 
sit with me, dear."

"It is my pleasure," the Atlantean replied, and Diana sensed his sincerity.  She wondered 
how he was keeping hydrated.  Her effort to not think about what might or might not 
be happening on the moon was interrupted by the buzz of her comlink in her ear.

The Amazon smiled ruefully.  "I'm afraid I cannot stay," she apologized.  "There are 
things I need to attend to."

"Of course, dear," Martha Kent accepted, settling in the chair by Jonathan's bed.  "Take 
Arthur with you.  He has been good to me, but he misses his ocean."

Aquaman hesitated.  "Are you sure?"

Martha Kent gave him a sharp look, and the country politesse faded from the scene as 
she reached to turn on a transistor radio that Diana had not realized was there.  Lex 
Luthor's voice filled the small hospital room.

"...teams have been deployed globally.  We remind people to boil water before drinking 
it even if your area has been spared the worst of this catastrophe.  Where phone and 
radio communications remain possible, we ask people to leave the lines free for 
emergency personnel. ... People of the world, we have confirmation that the attack on 
our planet is finally over.  Although we must thank the members of the superhero 
community for finally vanquishing the threat brought upon us by their enemies, we 
must rely on ourselves to ..."

Martha turned off the radio.  "If my son were able to, he'd be out there.  He would not 
thank me for detaining you when the world still needs you.  Off with you, both of you," 
she shooed.

Another buzz sounded in Diana's ear, more insistent.  "Arthur, let's go.  Give my best to 
Jonathan when he wakes."

"I will, Diana, dear.  Good bye."

"Good bye," Arthur echoed, and he followed Diana from the room.

She waited until they were outside to answer he comlink. "Wonder Woman reporting."

"Never mind," the Oracle was saying, whether to Wonder Woman or someone else, 
Diana wasn't sure.  But her next words were clearly for Diana.  "You're needed in 
Calcutta.  Drop Aquaman in the nearest reservoir.  We need his help stabilizing 
aquifers."

Diana turned to Arthur, but he had keyed into the JLA channel and was already 
answering.  "Understood.  Did Dr. Occult make it?"

There was the briefest hesitation.  "Uncertain.  Green appears to have regained an 
upper hand."

"Oracle-" Diana began.

"No details yet," Oracle cut her off, "but we need you to help sift rubble in Calcutta.  We 
need to get to Lantern."

Diana's brow furrowed as she caught Aquaman under the arms and began lifting him 
into the sky.  "Get to Lantern?"

For an impatient moment she thought Oracle had closed her link, but then Kyle's voice 
came weakly over the line.  "Hello, Wonder Woman.  You en route?"

Aquaman touched her arm and pointed down toward a large body of water on the 
Kansas plain.  She nodded and dropped lower.  "I will be in about 5 seconds.  Where are 
you?"

"Oh, somewhere," he replied vaguely.  Then his tone seemed to sharper, become more 
focused.  "In Calcutta.  I got cold cocked by a building."

Diana released her hold on Aquaman and watched him disappear into the water.  Then 
she coordinated herself to the most direct route to India.  "So shrug it off," she 
suggested, guessing from Kyle's drifting tone that Oracle had connected them at least in 
part to keep Green Lantern talking.

"I'm working on it," he answered, matching her light tone.  "Lots of survivors in the air 
pockets above me, though.  Gotta keep..."

"Lantern!  I'm en route.  Talk to me!" she snapped as the Eastern Seaboard slipped away 
beneath her.

"Sorry.  Head hurts.  I told the ring to keep the air pockets open no matter what.  I 
promised..."

She imagined him under tons of rubble, who knew how badly hurt, maintaining a 
network of open spaces so hundreds of scared people wouldn't die but unable to 
muster the energy to free them.  "I'm almost there," she told him.  "You'll keep your 
promise."

"Thanks," he answered, his voice weakening again.  "Stupid building," he muttered.

"We'll take care of it."  Below her, the blue of the Atlantic was giving way to the coast of 
Africa.  "We will."

End part 19

************************************

Mindstorm, part 20
By Chicago

Disclaimers in "part 0" Images and events from Pokolistan derived from Action Comics 
#803-805.  


Dr. Richard Occult was tired.  In the space of four hours, he had interrupted a long 
sojourn in Faerie and its requisite privation in order to fight a life and death battle for 
the Earth.  He had personally evacuated 85% of the population to Philadelphia to the 
outer suburbs.  More exhausting, he had transported three of his colleagues to 
Gemworld despite grave misgivings.  Then, just as it seemed the battle might be over, 
he had received word to wait for Wonder Woman in order that he might address some 
new crisis too secret to discuss over the comlink.

The snark at the back of his mind spoke in John Constantine's irritating accent.  "That's 
what all your do-gooding gets you, mate.  More trouble."

Like Constantine was one to talk.

When he had heard why Wonder Woman was collecting him, he understood the 
reason for secrecy.  Superman was suffering some kind of delusions, was rampaging on 
the moon.  That was definitely not news that should be generally known.  It was bad 
enough when they had only thought Superman was off-planet and unable to help.  If 
anyone thought for a moment he might return to earth as a threat?

Still, he wasn't certain what he could do about the situation until he had arrived in 
Smallville and been escorted to the hospital room housing that older couple.

Dr. Occult was a mystic, wise in the ways of magic.  He was also the product of some of 
the finest schools in the world, savvy of the world of science and its edges.  He was not 
a telepath, but what had happened to Superman was not telepathy in the strictest sense.  
As soon as he entered the hospital room, he could almost *taste* the truth.  The mind of 
the sleeping man had been a lair.

The creature who had dwelt there, a being somewhere between the planes of magic 
and science, was gone.  However, it had left its scent - and a trail.  He wasted no time, 
turning from the bed only long enough to apologize to the man's wife (or only lover? 
Intimate friend in any case) for his rudeness.  Then he slipped the Symbol of the Seven 
from his pocket and headed down the rabbit hole.

It was Rose Psychic who emerged from the other end, stumbling slightly on the broken 
pavement.  She caught her balance and straightened her skirt and hat.  In the distance, 
she could hear the *krump* of mortar fire, and the red sky flickered as if with heat 
lightning.  "Great, Richard," she remarked with more fondness than irritation, "just drop 
me in a war zone."  She imagined his answering chuckle and some remark that he had 
done his share of fighting for the day.  She didn't allow herself the reflexive longing to 
actually hear his voice; they had been fused for so long she could box the emotion to 
deal with another time.  Right now, she was on the hunt.

Or not.

Just there, across the street, was a cafe.  She squared her shoulders and picked her way 
across the shattered asphalt with as much confidence as the uneven surface would allow 
her in her neat heels.  Her quarry did not even look at her until she pulled out a chair at 
the same table as the other woman.

Rose flagged a waiter for coffee.  He disappeared into the interior of the cafe.

Across from her, the other woman scowled.  "I didn't summon you."

Rose smiled easily, picking up the teaspoon at her setting to keep her hands busy.  
"No," she confirmed.

Her casual demeanor drew a penetrating stare from midnight blue eyes.  "You're not 
one of mine."

"No."

The waiter brought Rose her coffee, and she smiled at him.  There was a packet of 
sugar on the saucer, and his eyes drifted unsubtly to her silk clad legs.  She understood 
the gesture, and she pulled her legs more pointedly under the table's surface.  The 
waiter looked disappointed, but he moved on.  It felt like World War II, when rationing 
had made such small gifts more meaningful and a girl could be bought by such 
gestures.  In fact, this whole scenario...

She looked around more carefully, observing the buildings that remained standing.  
"Pokolistan?"

The blue eyes examining her had not wavered.  "Are you from Him?"

Rose took a sip of coffee.  Ersatz, in keeping with the surroundings.  "I belong to 
myself."

The sounds of battle drew closer.  Neither Rose nor her companion paid any attention.  
"So I see.  But He sent you."

Rose set her cup back in its saucer.  It needed the sugar, but she would leave the packet 
untouched.  "I can't tell if you're talking about your oppressor or your knight in shining 
armor."

Surprise flared in the other woman's eyes before they narrowed in suspicion.  "You are 
not a construct."  Above them, the battle noises grew deafening.

Rose tipped her head back to see past the brim of her hat.  "Interesting," she noted. "I 
recognize the one in the blue, but the red?"

"I found him in here," the other woman shrugged.  "General Zod, I think he's called.  
Apparently my imagination was not sufficient to complete my task.  I should've started 
with native materials."

The two aerial combatants slammed into one another, and the teacups rattled in their 
saucers.  "Impressive," Rose acknowledged.  "Although I would prefer not to shout."

The other woman waved her hand negligently, and the two fighters disappeared.  "I 
can finish later.  After I understand what you are."

Rose smiled sweetly.  "My name is Rose."  She held out her hand.  "And you?"

The other woman considered for a moment before accepting the handshake.  "Bette."

"Very well, Bette.  What would you like to know?"

Bette flagged the waiter for more coffee.  "How did you get here?"

"I walked.  Followed you, actually.  You left a trail from Kansas."

The waiter approached, and both women waited as he filled their cups.  If he noted the 
untouched sugar packet on Rose's saucer, he made no reaction.

"So you are not a telepath, then," Bette stated matter-of-factly.

"Naturally not."  Rose waved to the surrounding city and sky.  "A telepath could not 
penetrate into this anyway.  Watch it, perhaps, but not enter."

A new expression, something like hope, crossed Bette's face.  "Really?"

"You sound surprised.  Didn't you create this?"

Bette shook her head.  "I started it, but when I first arrived here-  You are certain no 
telepath could enter?"

"Positive," Rose confirmed.

For the first time since they had met, Bette's shoulders slumped in a posture of defeat.  
"Then I am truly alone."  Above them, the red sky deepened toward midnight, phasing 
through a magnificent shade of violet that Rose felt she should remember for Richard 
before settling into a normal night sky.

"I am here," Rose pointed out.

"Can you take me out of here?"

Rose hesitated.  She could see Bette's aura, but her instincts told her that it was not 
something the Symbol of the Seven could hold on to, even if Richard had been there to 
wield it.  Bette spoke before she could voice her negative.

"That's what I thought.  I am here until the one who sent me here decides he wants me 
somewhere else, or until Jones comes back for me.  But if no telepath can enter..."

"J'onzz sent you here?"

Bette gave Rose an irritated look.  "No.  He would never.  He would have stopped it."  
Her face dropped so it was hidden by the veil of her hair.  "If He remembered me."

Rose sat back in her chair and drank more coffee.  Gas lights shone pleasantly on 
cobbled streets, no longer broken by war.  The guns in the distance were silent.  She 
considered Bette for a while.  "I know J'onzz," she finally revealed.

Bette's eyes shot up angrily, and there were traces of tears on her cheeks. "You said He 
didn't send you!" she accused.

"He didn't," Rose answered calmly, "but he is near."

Bette stood and crossed to the wrought iron railing that surrounded the outdoor tables.  
Her fingers were white knuckled as she grasped the metal and looked out into the 
night.  "I knew it!  I knew it when I first arrived here and felt traces of him everywhere.  
It was like he was mocking me.  It confused me, threw me off my mission!  You're a 
BASTARD, JONES!  YOU HEAR ME?" she shouted.  "A FUCKING BASTARD!"

Her voice left silence behind it, punctuated by the chirping of one brave cricket.  "Feel 
better?" Rose asked.

"No."  Bette returned to her chair and sat with a sigh.  "He left me in Trapps.  'A tough 
town run by a tough man,' he told me."  She gave a short, barking laugh.  "We got 
along all right, though.  Jones left me to keep it all in check -" Now she wasn't bothering 
to hide her tears.  "Trapps wasn't tough enough.  Black got me anyway."

"Black?"

Bette nodded.  "Jones weakened me with his deal.  Black took advantage of it.  He 
peeled me out of Trapps, held me bodiless for so long -"

"You're a psychic entity," Rose suddenly understood.  "Your body-"

"Destroyed.  I was at Black's mercy.  If Jones would've come back-"

"He didn't know," Rose murmured, not knowing if it were true or not, but recognizing 
a useful hook for a dangerously unstable mind.

"Where is he now?" Bette demanded.  "You said he's near."

Rose considered.  "I cannot bring you to him, and I am not certain I can bring him here.  
Perhaps if you return control of this mind -"

"Black will kill me."

"He is a telepath?"

Bette nodded.

"Then he cannot reach you any more than J'onzz can.  And J'onzz is closer."

Bette's lower lip trembled.  "I can't."

Rose finished her last swallow of coffee.  "Then I cannot help you," she decided, rising to 
her feet.

"Wait, no!" Bette cried.

Rose hesitated.

"I - I can make it easier.  Reign in the nightmares.  But I collapse this world - I have 
nowhere to go."

"And if I can bring you Jones?"

Bette was silent.

"Bette?"

"I will go.  He will find me a place."

Rose wasn't sure whether to be warmed or chilled by Bette's faith, but she understood 
it.  "I will do my best to bring him, then," she promised, meaning it.  She didn't look 
back as she stepped through the fabric of Bette's world and gave control of her own 
soul back to Dr. Occult.

End part 20

***********************************

Mindstorm, part 21
By Chicago

Disclaimers in "part 0"

Ramilla Chaterjee opened her eyes.

Everything was green.

For a confused moment, she reviewed everything she knew about color perception in 
animals, wondering what species had eyes that received only green.  Then she scowled 
for half-understood precepts of the religion she had never been properly taught.  
Reincarnation was not supposed to include consciousness of past lives.

It was only as she began wondering how she had messed up her life so as to travel 
*down* the reincarnation ladder that she realized she was not, in fact, dead. 

She blinked.

Still green.

She moved one arm, and then the other.  Then her feet and legs.  All seemed to be 
working.  She turned her head.

Rubble.

Everywhere.

Overhead, underfoot - she bit back a sudden, comprehending scream.

She was entombed.  She had been helping with the rescue efforts, putting her med 
student training to work because even that was better than nothing for dealing with the 
stream of injured being uncovered in the wreckage of the former University Tower.  
Then the moon had raced across the sky and back again, and there were earthquakes 
and ...

And Green Lantern had been standing beside her, unwaveringly continuing to uncover 
the living and the dead.  He had turned to her at one moment in the worst of it.  "Let 
me worry about keeping you safe," he had said.  "So long as the moon doesn't plunge 
down on top of us, I can cover you. Promise."

Everything was still green.  He had kept his word.  He had held open enough space for 
her to breathe and move and not be another human smear in the remains of Calcutta.

But where was he?

She wriggled out from under the slab of concrete that hovered six inches from her face.  
There was more space to her left, room to actually sit up at least.  Her sense of 
claustrophobia eased as she cleared the slab and found head room.  She sucked in a 
huge breath of relief as she raised herself to a sitting position.

The move left her dizzy, and she rested against the slab that should have had her name 
on it but for the green bubble she was in.

"... close off... Zod... make move..."

Ramilla jerked her head up.  She wasn't alone.  She squinted through the green in the 
direction of the voice she heard.

"...keep ... no, not... let..."

The green didn't give off much light, but it was enough for her to finally pick out the 
prone figure pinned a short distance from her.  "Mr. Lantern?" she hazarded.

She thought she saw him twitch, and he stopped mumbling.

Twisted rebar stretched between them, but there was space to squirm through.  Ramilla 
considered for a moment, acutely aware of her protecting dome of green.  She had a 
sinking feeling it was finite, and it would not be in her best interests to go beyond its 
confines.

Reaching a hand out toward the crumpled figure beyond the rebar confirmed her fears.  
An accidental press against the twisted metal suddenly filled the space around Green 
Lantern with a cascade of dust and fine gravel.

She jerked back, eyes wide as she prayed to any random deity that might listen that she 
had not just killed the man who saved her.  For the first time in her life, she wished her 
parents had not been such good secularists.  

She had no idea how much time passed before the air cleared again.  It felt like forever, 
but was probably seconds.  Green Lantern was still lying there, face bloodied and torso 
caught less under than between protruding chunks of concrete and steel.

"Mr. Lantern," she called again.

He groaned.

"Mr. Lantern," she tried again.  She tried reaching out again, this time weaving her hand 
through the rebar with the utmost caution.  She could just reach one of his hands.

"Mr. Lantern," she said once more, closing her fingers over his palm.

He grasped her fingers and his head moved.

"Mr. Lantern, wake up please," she begged.

That got her a groan and an indistinct, "Wha-?"

"The high rise crashed over us," she explained, not sure he would understand a word 
she said, but she needed to say it.  "You saved me."

His head rolled and she realized he was trying to look at her.  "Who-"

"My name's Ramilla.  I was helping with the rescue.  You said you would cover me, 
remember?"

"Ramilla."  She couldn't really make out his face.  The angle was wrong to see his 
expression even as he craned his neck.  "Calcutta."  He said it like it was a realization.

"Yes," she confirmed.  "There was a bombing and then the moon-"

"Right," he cut her off, and she saw him start to move and then heard him hiss between 
his teeth.  "Well, looks like I forgot to cover my own head," he remarked.  "Are you 
okay?"

"I'm scared," Ramilla answered honestly.

"I don't blame you," he replied, and his hand once again tightened around her fingers.  
"I wonder..." his voice trailed off, and his grip loosened.

"Mr. Lantern?" she prompted nervously.

There was a long pause, followed by a weak laugh.  "Why not Mr. Green?  Green is 
nice..."

"Mr. Lantern," she demanded more firmly, pinching his hand.

"Ow!  What - "  He stopped, and his hand flexed.  "I'm sorry.  I'm trying to - but I can't 
get -"

A sudden electronic crackle sounded, and Green Lantern ripped his hand from 
Ramilla's, clutching at his head.  The volume of the sound decreased, and in the 
enclosed space, Ramilla thought she could hear a tinny voice saying, "Lantern, can you 
read me?"

"Cavalry?" he queried, and Ramilla knew he wasn't talking to her.  

She could still hear the other voice, but it was now too quiet to distinguish words.  
"Kinda have a building problem right now, actually... reminds me..." he chuckled 
weakly.

A sharpness seemed to enter the tinny voice.  "Did we win yet?" Green Lantern asked.

"Under the building," he continued after another pause.  "I told you... Yeah.  ... That ... 
yes.  Good idea...  Hello, Wonder Woman.  You en route?"

Ramilla felt a pained knot in her chest start to loosen.  Rescue.  Whatever else was going 
on in the world, there was hope of rescue.  She sharpened her attention on Green 
Lantern's words.

"Oh, somewhere," he said, and Ramilla stretched her fingers toward him.  

"Calcutta, Mr. Lantern.  Tell them-"

He heard her.  He couldn't look at her, but he must have felt her reach, because his 
hand returned comfortingly to hers as he spoke.  "In Calcutta.  I got cold cocked by a 
building."

He paused and for a second she worried he was fading out again, but it seemed he was 
listening.  His tone was almost light when he started speaking again.  "I'm working on 
it.  Lots of survivors in the air pockets above me, though."  He squeezed Ramilla's hand.  
"Gotta keep..." he trailed off.

There was an audible squawk from whatever communication device he was using.

Green Lantern shook his head.  "Sorry.  Head hurts.  I told the ring to keep the air 
pockets open no matter what."

That settled it, Ramilla decided.  She would find religion when she got out of this.  How 
was she so lucky to be the beneficiary of this man's foresight - foresight that had saved 
her life?

Green Lantern was still speaking.  "I promised...Thanks." The last word was weak, tired.  
She wondered how much it was taking for him to keep her and how many others alive.  
She stroked his palm, the only comfort she could offer.  His thumb brushed the back of 
her hand in acknowledgement.  "Stupid building," he muttered.

Absurd as it was, she knew exactly how he felt.

End part 21

*****************

Mindstorm, part 22
By Chicago

Disclaimers in "part 0"

Once upon a time, John Jones, Denver cop, had been on assignment with his partner, 
Diane Mead.  They were policing one of Denver's summer carnivals, conspicuously in 
uniform, ostensibly deterring petty thieves.  They'd made a couple of minor arrests, but 
it had ended up being light duty on a pleasant day.

Until John messed it up.

Over the course of the day, they had passed several game booths.  The one that had 
caught John's eye was a hand-eye coordination game.  A length of copper tubing had 
been bent and twisted and affixed to a block of wood.  Circling the copper was a loop of 
nickel wire, just a fraction larger than the diameter of the pipe, attached to a wooden 
handle.  Current ran through the metal, and if the nickel and copper came in contact, 
the game would produce a loud buzz.  The trick was to run the loop of wire the length 
of the copper tubing without causing the machine to buzz.

All day, John had noticed person after person fail the task.  Apparently, Diane had 
noticed John noticing, because as their shift ended, she had steered them to the tent 
housing that game.  She had challenged him, bet him a dollar he couldn't do it.  He had 
resisted, arguing that he wasn't interested, but he had betrayed himself.  He only 
realized when Diane began staring at him that his idle hands had traced the wire loop 
along the tubing three times.  In complete distraction, he had performed an action that 
human beings could not manage with complete concentration.

The carny running the booth had made unpleasant accusations of cheating.  Diane had 
defended John even as she hustled her bewildered partner from the tent and back to 
the squad car.  Once on the way back to the station, though, she had nothing to say to 
him.  

John was reminded again how alien he really was, how badly he had let his facade slip.  
But in truth, he hadn't realized until then just how completely different - how limited - 
human consciousness was.

Today's events made him appreciate, though, the kind of concentration that the 
carnival game required of human beings.

Inside Superman's mind, something had exploded.  Something had sought to reorder 
everything in Kal-El's psyche.  J'onn wasn't sure why it hadn't instantaneously 
demolished his friend's mind, but it hadn't.  It had moved slowly enough for J'onn to 
create an elaborate balancing act that was, for a Martian, the equivalent of a human 
trying to prevent a loop of nickel wire from coming into contact with the copper tubing 
it encircles.

J'onn had managed - for a while.  He had successfully protected the core of Superman's 
mind from the delusions created by his attacker.  He could not give Kal-El control of his 
own body, though.  The effort to keep mind, delusion, and physical reaction from 
interacting was a mental trick that no telepath could manage for long.  When 
something finally had to give, J'onn made a choice.

He sent Lois away and sealed himself into the Observation Deck with Superman.  He 
could still save Kal-El's mind, but he would have to allow him to act out the delusion.

It was a hard thing to battle a friend, even one who was supposedly invulnerable.  And 
it wasn't as if J'onn could fight an entirely defensive battle.  He needed to play 
according to the script in Superman's delusion as much as possible, and he needed to 
ensure that the only target Superman had was J'onn.  There could be no collateral 
damage.

The stakes were high.

If it came to it, J'onn would kill Superman.

He didn't allow his mind to shy from that truth as he slammed a fist into Superman's 
jaw, ensuring he still had the Man of Steel's attention.  The Watchtower rocked under 
the impact of Superman's body, and a red light flooded the medbay as Superman 
roared and surged toward J'onn again.  Hull breach.

J'onn was not anxious to take this battle into space.  Kal-El's tolerance for the vacuum 
was remarkably high, but he was still subject to negative effects if exposed to it for too 
long.  J'onn would undoubtedly outlast him, and out there he would not be vulnerable 
to-

FIRE!  His mind was almost instantly caught by it as he dodged Superman's heat vision.  
The chaos started to surge through his thoughts, threatening the limited protection he 
was still able to give Kal-El's mind.  It was the risk to Kal-El that let J'onn focus enough 
to aim his own Martian vision at the small breach and make it bigger, to make the slow 
leak of atmosphere into a gale force departure of air.

The fire flickered out.  Superman did not budge as a steel cabinet slammed into him and 
bounced to one side.  A bed crashed into the wall, its form twisting and distorting and ... 
plugging the hole.

Superman smiled unpleasantly and moved in again.  J'onn mirrored his movement, his 
senses on high alert.  His head was still clouded by the echo of flames, but clarity of 
purpose replaced clarity of thought.  He had to contain Superman.  Period.  Contain, or 
maim, or kill.  

Superman's breath was visible in the now thinned air, and that realization seemed to 
inspire the Kryptonian.  A sudden gust of icy breath blasted over J'onn's body.  
Fortunately there was not enough humidity in the air to form an even temporary 
sheath of ice around J'onn, which would have been the only thing that could even have 
slowed the Martian.  He took advantage of Superman's confidence in his attack to aim a 
tackle at the other alien.

They crashed together with concussive force, J'onn's momentum sending them 
tumbling through the debris that had collected at the far end of the medbay.  There 
were metal screams and crashing sounds as their bodies destroyed the already mangled 
equipment.  They finally came to a halt in a jumble of limbs from which J'onn instantly 
extricated himself, ready for the next blow.

Superman didn't move.  His eyes were open, staring blankly, his mouth rounded into 
an "o" that might have been surprise.  

J'onn remained guarded, prepared for anything.

Slowly, Kal-El rocked his body forward, half-rising before falling to his knees in an 
attitude of prayer.  Tears began to flow from his eyes.

Warily, J'onn stretched out his consciousness, reaching into the delusion that seemed to 
have coiled in on itself.  He caught fractured images, a bridge, Lois, a heated battle 
between Superman and some adversary, a coffin...

J'onn remained carefully alert as he reached to Kal-El's mind.  *Not real,* he reminded 
his friend, even as he prepared for the backlash from this new delusion.  Superman 
would not remain quietly grief ridden.  It was not in his character to accept death easily.

But Kal-El did not stir, did not even brush at the freezing water on his cheeks.  The next 
movement came from an entirely unexpected source.

With no warning or fanfare, Dr. Occult appeared out of thin air.

And into it.  J'onn responded instantly to the gasp of surprise as Occult found himself in 
the depleted atmosphere of the medbay, wrapping himself around the mystic and 
pressing a hand over the man's nose and mouth, concentrating the oxygen remaining 
in the air and filtering it through his body so Occult could breathe.  After a startled 
several seconds, Occult began to shimmer in his grip and shift out of phase, the Symbol 
of the Seven clutched in his fist.

J'onn stepped back as Dr. Occult faded to ghost-like insubstantiality.  "It seems to be one 
of those days," the mystic remarked dryly.

"You are all right?" J'onn asked.

"Startled, but certainly better than our friend here.  You?"

"Likewise," J'onn answered, "and I take it you-?"

"I was in his mind, yes.  Talking with Bette."

J'onn's eyes widened.

"I see the name means something to you."

"Bette Noir," J'onn stated, reading confirmation on Occult's face.  His mind raced back to 
when he had last seen the psychic entity, months - too many months - before.  "She is 
supposed to be-"

"In Trapps, whoever or whatever that is.  She told me."

"I thought - what -"

"A telepath called Black.  She thinks he'll kill her, and I got the sense it wasn't a 
misplaced fear."

"A telepath-"  J'onn thought back, finding in memory the group that called themselves 
"the Elite" and the firestorm of publicity they had garnered for their take-no-prisoners 
approach to supervillains.  "Manchester Black."

Dr. Occult's face flickered in sudden recognition.  "Wasn't he supposed to be-?"

"Incarcerated.  Top level security, STAR Labs dampening equipment..."  J'onn felt his 
mind rushing through possibilities, then he paused.  "Wait.  How did you end up -?"

"I followed Bette.  From Kansas."

"Kansas," J'onn repeated.  Jonathan Kent.  "She was in Kansas?"

"Long enough to make a lair."  Dr. Occult was studying Superman.  "She said she would 
reign in the nightmares.  It doesn't look like-"

"Compared to what was going on before, this is an improvement," J'onn interrupted, 
mentally cursing himself.  There had been a conversation - over a year ago?  A night on 
monitor with Superman when Clark had revealed that his father had been not quite the 
same since the Imperiex war.  J'onn had offered to do a telepathic scan, and Clark had 
declined.  Had J'onn insisted -

This was getting him nowhere.  He stretched out his mind, reaching out a telepathic 
link.  He gritted his teeth against the spike of pain that the action caused; need had 
distracted him from how badly he had abused his abilities.  *Batman, Flash.*

*J'onn!  We can't get the audio!  What the-*

*Report, J'onn,* Batman overrode the Flash, his mental presence solid and anchoring.

*Superman's mind has been invaded by a psychic entity.  I've run into her before.*

*Her?*  That was the Flash.

*Bette Noir.  She was hosted by Dr. Trapps in a secure facility last I checked on her over 
a year ago.  Before the Imperiex war.  Dr. Occult suggests she has been nesting in Mr. 
Kent's mind since the war.*

*I'm pulling files on Trapps,* Batman stated.

*Pull up files on Manchester Black, as well,* J'onn directed.  *He's behind this 
somehow.*

*Isn't he supposed to be-?* Flash started.

*Luthor.*  Even through the mental link, Batman's tone was icy.

*Possibly,* J'onn cautioned.

*Definitely.  That's the missing piece.*

"J'onn?"  Dr. Occult's voice held a note of concern, and J'onn felt the wispy brush of the 
mystic's hand against his shoulder.  J'onn blinked, realizing belatedly he had sagged to 
one knee, was close to mimicking Superman's posture.

*I can't maintain the link,* J'onn confessed.  *Wally, try to get communications-*

*Already working on it,* Wally promised, and J'onn realized he probably had the video 
feed.  *Do what you have to do.*

*J'onn out,* he projected before severing the link.  He looked blearily at Dr. Occult.  
"You were saying about one of those days?"

"I'm guessing you were in contact with someone outside this room and not being 
attacked?"

J'onn staggered to his feet.  "I apologize.  I should have -"

Dr. Occult shook his head.  "Remember the company I keep.  What next?"

J'onn thought for a moment.  "Tell me everything Bette told you."  He would get to the 
bottom of this, and someone was going to pay.

End part 22

********

Mindstorm, part 23
By Chicago

Disclaimers in "part 0"

"Who the hell-?" Lois asked in confusion as the battle raging in the medbay suddenly 
and inexplicably stopped.  She stared as J'onn pulled out of the wreckage and 
enveloped the trench-coated man who had appeared from nowhere.  She thought J'onn 
was restraining the newcomer, but in seconds, the two beings separated again.  Clark 
still hadn't moved from his knees.

Wally paused in his more or less constant motion and turned his attention back to the 
medbay monitor.  "Hey, Dr. Occult!" he exclaimed in something like relief.  His hands 
flashed across the keyboard, and he spoke into the open comlink: "Batman, Dr. Occult 
has arrived.  Blue seems neu-" he paused, glancing back at the screen and at Lois - 
"unthreatening."

Lois heard the word he cut off anyway.  Neutralized.  It wasn't the right word.  
Superman - Clark - looked defeated.  Despairing.  

Batman's growl filtered through the monitor womb speakers.  "Get me connected, 
Flash."

Lois wasn't sure how Wally answered steadily.  There was no irritation in his tone as he 
replied, "I'm working on it.  I've only got visuals up here as it is, but I'll see if I can at 
least get you that much.  Oracle's got word on Lantern?"

"Wonder Woman hasn't got him dug out yet," a synthesized voice cut in.  "I doubt..."

Lois stopped listening, focusing on the jumpy image from the medbay.  J'onn and this 
"Dr. Occult" were obviously talking, their faces giving away moments of realization and 
surprise.  Neither was paying more than passing attention to Superman, still kneeling 
amidst tangled metal and looking devastated.

A sudden snap of electricity and a shower of sparks startled her attention back to Wally.  
"Damn it!" he was muttering, shaking one hand and blowing on his fingers as he 
returned to the control console.  Lois noticed a black streak along the fabric of the suit 
halfway to his elbow.

He glanced at the medbay feed.  "I've got a clearer image up here.  That help down 
below?"

"Affirmative," Batman's voice replied.  "What-"

Batman suddenly stopped speaking, and Lois' eyes widened in alarm as Wally grew 
suddenly glassy-eyed.  "Wally?"

She was half relieved when he held up a stilling hand.  "J'onn," he murmured, turning 
back to the console silently in the attitude of one listening intently.

Telepathic link, Lois realized, looking back at the medbay monitor.  J'onn looked... pale, 
if that was possible for a Martian, his eyes unfocused.  The man in the trench coat, Dr. 
Occult, seemed to have the same realization.  He began studying Superman, not 
appearing to offer comfort or to be doing anything at all.  It wasn't fair to be angry at 
him, Lois knew, but he was there, where she couldn't be.  The least he could do was-

He spun suddenly, his attention abruptly returning to J'onn just as the Martian toppled 
forward, landing heavily on one knee and swaying precipitously.  Dr. Occult reached 
for J'onn's shoulder, and Lois shuddered as the insubstantial hand faded through 
Martian flesh rather than actually touching it.  She saw Occult's lips move, forming the 
word, "J'onn."

The sound seemed to stabilize J'onn, and he stopped swaying.  Another moment, and 
he turned his face to look at Dr. Occult, his mouth moving, but he was turned half away 
from the camera and-

"I'm still working on audio," Wally's voice interrupted her thoughts.  "Teleportation is 
totally out, though, at least for a bit."

"Understood.  We'll work on locating Black.  Batman out."

Lois looked from the medbay screen to the Flash.  Black.  "Manchester Black?" she 
asked.

Wally looked as if he had forgotten she was there.  "Yeah.  J'onn says he has been 
herding a psychic entity around, broke her out of her host and stuck her in Jonathan 
Kent's mind during the Imperiex War."

"Manchester Black."  The answer had been in front of her the whole time.  "Fuck!"

Wally's half-diverted focus shifted fully to her.  "Lois?"

"The Masters' assassination.  Shit.  Wally, get me Batman."

Credit the Flash for understanding when something was an order, she reflected, her 
eyes going back to the medbay monitor for the two seconds it took Wally to get a line 
back to the planet.

"Report, Flash," Batman's demanded.

"Batman, Lois needs to talk to you.  Something about the Masters' assassination?"

"Go ahead, Lois."

Lois looked uncertainly at Wally.  "The whole room is mic'ed.  He can hear you."

"Oh," she blinked, taking a deep breath.  "Batman, can you access my computer at the 
Planet?"

"Oracle can," he answered.  "What are we looking for?"

"Manchester Black.  He was being transported between STAR Labs facilities during the 
war when Masters ordered him diverted."  She closed her eyes for a moment, 
wondering how she had been so clueless to the connection.  "He was supposed to arrive 
at a facility in Wyoming -"

"Lois, we've hacked in.  Where is this data?"

"I have it in a password protected folder, using Clark's encryption program.  It's called 
'Dear Edie Orchard.'"

"DEO," Batman acknowledged.  "You have a source?"

Lois bit her lip.  "I can't divulge-"

"Understood," Batman cut her off brusquely.  "Flash, Green Lantern is not going to be 
able make any runs to the moon.  Oracle is trying to locate-"

"Hold on, Batman."  Lois cocked her head at the Flash, watching him do something at 
the console.  "I think - J'onn, can you hear me?"

On the monitor, both J'onn and Dr. Occult looked up.  "Go ahead, Wally."

"J'onn?"  There was a hint of Bruce bleeding through Batman's tone.

"I'm here, Batman.  You have news?"

"I think we might," Batman confirmed, and something in his voice made Lois believe 
everything might be okay.

End part 23

*****************

Mindstorm, part 24
By Chicago

Disclaimers in "part 0"

Barbara Gordon was nurturing a world class tension headache.  She had no time for it 
at the moment, but she knew it was lurking there, just waiting for her to think about it 
for even a split second.

She would allow herself that luxury when she could also afford to sleep it off - hopefully 
sometime before the next major supervillain effort to take over or destroy the world.

In the meantime, her fingers flashed over two keyboards and her eyes tracked data on 
multiple monitor screens.  A corner of her attention was tuned to her comlink, listening 
for further news.  Thankfully, the UN's world disaster preparedness plan had kicked in 
smoothly, the Luthor-pressed adjustments making the whole process much smoother 
than it had in the aftermath of the Martian god thing.  Communications were coming 
back on line, and Mr. Terrific, Josiah Powers, the Janissary, Wonder Woman and Dr. 
Light were taking on continental coordination duties for the various pockets of 
superheroes scattered across the globe.

Too much of that involved triage, a sorting of living from dead, the erection of 
temporary shelters, the running of medical supplies from place to place.  

It was really only a matter of hours before the long string of painful funeral and 
memorial services began.

Barbara could not afford to think about any of that, however.  She had a very specific 
mission: find Manchester Black.  She had already hacked the Daily Planet, a move that 
included the need to make known that she had already set up decryption programs 
that could handle anything Clark Kent had devised.  Batman had not indicated any 
surprise, but she wanted to think he hadn't known how far she had previously hacked 
into JLA and other systems.

It was a foolish wish in a way; they played so much spy-counterspy with one another's 
systems that there was nothing in either Oracle's or Batman's computers that was 
unknown to the other.  The *significance* of some things were perhaps not so readily 
discovered.  Barbara, for instance, had barely paid attention when Batman had 
uploaded files regarding Bette Noir some months previously.  She had noted it, but 
now she felt like she was playing catch up.  Her only consolation was that it was clear 
that Batman had not gotten the information first hand; the file had all the hallmarks of 
hearsay from J'onn.

That was the one she needed to talk to.  Who knew how much information J'onn 
decided was confidential and kept exclusively in his own mind according to some alien 
notion of discretion?  Not that it would have made that much difference, she allowed.  
What had happened to Superman had required the intervention of Manchester Black, 
and no where in the files had anyone suggested that Bette Noir could be weaponized 
by a skilled telepath.

It had occurred to Luthor, though.  It must have.  Masters was so clearly a high level 
operative, nominally of the CIA, outside the loop of Checkmate but still...

No matter what else was true, the DEO answered to Luthor.  Bones was a cagey 
bastard, probably deliberately set up the leak to Lois Lane, but he was still the director 
of a Federal agency.  Hell, the DEO funneled metas into government employ, had 
responsibility for keeping a bead on every powered being on the planet.  They knew 
about Bette Noir.  It looked like they knew Bette Noir was potentially missing.  

Bette Noir was missing, and her captor, Trapps, had been transferred to a facility in 
Wyoming.  Trapps was still there, ostensibly being studied by mind scientists who 
weren't there anymore, and Black had gone missing when he was supposedly being 
transferred to the same facility in Wyoming.

By Masters.

And none of this loop was getting her anywhere but angry and she *still* didn't have a 
bead on where Black might have disappeared to.  The idea that such a high powered 
telepath was out there...

Her comlink pinged.  "Oracle here."

"Where do you need me?"

Barbara blinked.  "In the hospital, Lantern," she said sternly, "which better be where 
you're calling me from."

"Um-"

Barbara flipped to another window, engaging tracking software that showed Green 
Lantern's signal over the Pacific Ocean.  She mentally cursed and sent a message to Vic 
Stone.  "I'm sending Cyborg to meet you.  Do NOT pass out over the damned ocean."

"I-"

"Concussion, Lantern.  Don't play around.  I don't appreciate having to divert resources 
to ground you, but I will do it."

"But you need someone - the teleporter -"

"I'm going to take you off the network, Lantern," she threatened.  "I only left you live 
access so you could get news as it came, but so help me-"

A new alert sounded and she glanced at the computer.  "Dammit," she muttered, closing 
out a set of programs that linked her to the complex in Wyoming.  They had finally 
smelled hacker and were taking aggressive countermeasures.  They wouldn't track her 
back, but still -

"Oracle-"

She ignored Kyle, irritated beyond words that world disaster was not distracting 
security attention enough for her to sneak through systems while at the same time 
granting the outfit in Wyoming some grudging respect.  On another monitor, a 
message scrolled across from Vic, indicating he had a lock on Green Lantern and would 
get him safely somewhere.

"Lantern," she finally spoke, "don't fuss at Cyborg.  I've got too much to worry about 
right now."

He sounded for an instant like he was going to object, then he gave her a subdued, 
"Okay.  Lantern out."

A new signal went off, indicating a new stream of data from one of Batman's sources.  
Or rather, Oracle registered, the product of clue-hunting in tabloids.  This was what 
they were reduced to.  A final key punch released a diversion program that would 
completely scramble the trail back to her, defeating the counter hack initiated in 
Wyoming, and she turned her attention to the clustered, "I was mind controlled!" 
tabloid headlines, following the map pattern Batman had already produced.  There 
were clear areas of concentration, but-

"Batman.  Oracle."  That was the Flash, sounding deliberately calm.  "Has J'onn been in 
contact with either of you?"

"Report, Flash," Batman ordered.

"We finally got the atmosphere back under control in the medbay, and he just... took 
off."

Oracle flipped back to her tracking program.  "I got nothing," she reported in 
frustration.  "He's either not carrying his tracker or its signal isn't getting through the 
electromagnetic interference.  Do you know where he was heading?"

"He went invisible on me," Wally explained.  "He was talking to Dr. Occult, and then 
Lois got in there and they were getting Superman onto a bed and then - gone."

There was a click on the line and Barbara realized Batman had opened a new channel 
when he said, "Dr. Occult."

The mystic did not miss a beat.  "I don't know where he went, Batman.  We were 
speaking about Superman's state, and he asked if I felt I could deal with Bette if she 
reneged on our agreement.  I said I could, and he implied he was scanning the planet-"

"Looking for Black," Barbara registered, staring hopelessly at her computer screens.  
Somewhere among her many muted audio feeds, another Presidential address was 
coming through, kicked up to audibility by some pre-programmed key word.  She 
found her attention drifting to the sound as Batman thanked Dr. Occult and directed 
Wally to keep his attention on the teleporter problem.

"... about recognizing our limits along with our strengths..." Luthor was saying.  She 
hated him for it, but the son of a bitch had a point.

End part 24

***********************

Mindstorm, part 25
By Chicago

Disclaimers in "part 0"  Aspects of Manchester Black's appearance taken directly from 
his last appearance in Action Comics #796.  Be warned, bad language.

^^^

For what felt like the 20th time, J'onn found an intact medical bed and managed to 
settle Superman onto it.  It was finally warm enough that the tears that still trickled 
down the Man of Steel's face neither froze nor steamed, and J'onn allowed himself a 
moment to test the atmosphere.

"We're back to human breathability if you want to return to this plane," he told Occult.  
"I'm going to reopen the hatch between here and the Monitor Womb."

Occult shimmered for a moment, then seemed to settle into solid form.  He took a deep 
breath.  "Impressive.  I was not aware you could regenerate atmosphere so quickly up 
here.  Martian technology?"

"In part," J'onn confirmed, crossing to the medbay communications console.  "With 
additions from New Genesis and Thangar, and an upgrade from Zauriel that is almost 
beyond my physics.  It irritates Batman," he added in afterthought, not really knowing 
why.

Occult chuckled as J'onn opened a channel to Wally.  

"Flash."

"Go ahead, Big Guy."

"Please let Lois know it is safe for her to be here.  I am uncertain Kal will register her 
presence, but I can only imagine it will be easier for him if she is here."

"Got it."  Over the comlink, J'onn could hear the synthesized voice announcing, 
"Observation Bay partition opening.  Attention, Observation Bay..."

"J'onn out."  He closed out the comlink signal and closed his eyes.  He had been trying 
to reach through the chaos in Superman's mind to Bette, but it was to no avail.  Even 
knowing she was there, it seemed Occult's assessment was correct.  She was too 
frightened of Black to shift the mental landscape enough to reveal herself.

"J'onn?"  Dr. Occult's hand on his shoulder was solid this time, his fingers gripping 
firmly.

J'onn shook himself and glanced back past Occult at Superman.  "Bette thinks Black will 
know if she lets Superman out of her thrall."

Occult dropped his hand.  "That is what she intimated to Rose, at any rate."

"I should have paid more attention," J'onn regretted, watching as Lois appeared at a 
near run through the medbay door.

"Where?" she asked breathlessly, then saw the lone bed standing amidst the devastated 
med bay.  Occult crossed toward her, pulling an intact chair from one pile of battered 
equipment and settling it beside the bed.

Lois gave him a too-quick smile, her eyes fixed on her husband's face.  "Oh, Clark, I'm 
here.  What-?"  She looked up at Occult and then toward J'onn, eyes asking explanation 
for the continuous stream of tears on her husband's face.

"The entity - Bette -" J'onn began heavily.

"She has created a mental landscape for him where he will not want to hurt anything," 
Occult picked up smoothly, his tone more reassuring than J'onn could manage.  "She is 
under threat herself."

"From Black.  Motherfucker," Lois spat, the obscenity laced with a level of vitriol that 
bounced against J'onn's depleted mental shields almost painfully.

J'onn resisted the urge to close his eyes again, to lean against something, to rest.  
Instead, he let Lois' emotion roll over him, feeling the sting of unintended blame.  He 
could end this.  He knew who was causing it.  He knew who he was looking for.  

"Dr. Occult," he began, "you feel confident that Bette will uphold her end of your 
bargain?"

"If you can't get to her, neither can Black," Occult pointed out.  "I don't see why she 
would break the deal.  If we take care of Black, she has more to gain than lose."

J'onn nodded.  "And if she does break the deal?  Would you be able to-?"

"Contain her?" Occult finished.  "Well enough, I think.  Or at least meet her on the 
mental plane."

"J'onn, why-?"

"I am only thinking, Lois," J'onn reassured, stretching out his mind as he did so, 
reaching his consciousness out to the planet below, searching for-

*YOU!*

J'onn felt the telepathic force of another presence meeting his scan and staring back at 
him.  Black.  Fixing him with the telepathic equivalent of a stare and reaching out-

Without a second thought, J'onn went intangible and invisible, closing his mind 
thoroughly to any contact save Black's.  *I am coming,* he warned, phasing through 
the Watchtower walls and flinging himself toward the Earth's atmosphere.

*You think you can stop me.*  Black's tone was amused.

*I know I can,* J'onn replied grimly, sluicing through the stratosphere with arrow-
straight directness.

*Really now?  Tired as you are?  I can feel the exhaustion from here.*

J'onn came from the north to avoid the fires blazing in Philadelphia.  Metropolis was 
less dark than other cities between the Brainiac-13 tech and the widespread use of 
emergency generators.  Not that J'onn need to see to find his target.  *You will never be 
a match for me.*

"So you think, mate," Black said aloud as J'onn touched down in the grungy hotel room 
Black was staying in.  He turned to face the Martian, a cigarette dangling from his lips 
and his hands holding a match ready to strike.  "But I'll thank you to keep your distance 
anyway."

J'onn reached to the man's mind, only to find his focused probe batted away.  "No you 
don't, J'onny boy.  It's been a while since you've had a telepath anywhere near your 
skill to spar with, hasn't it?  You've gotten sloppy."

"Let Bette go, Black."

Black raised an eyebrow and sat down on the dingy bedspread.  He set the matchbook 
down and took his cigarette from his mouth to ash on the floor.  "Now why should I do 
that?  Especially when I could make you make me."

J'onn considered Black for a moment.  The man's mental shields were solid; penetrating 
them would require more than J'onn felt he could afford.  "You want me to fight you."

Black took another drag from his cigarette.  "Why not?  Telepath of your abilities is 
hard to find and you weren't around to engage me before."

"Before you became Luthor's pet?"

Black snorted.  "Is that what you think?  Superman really needs to keep you all in the 
loop better."

J'onn watched the tip of Black's cigarette glow cherry red for a moment.  "You are 
operating on your own?"

"You really are extraordinarily stupid for someone of your reputation," Black 
pronounced, "but I kinda like you anyway, J'onny-boy."  He fished a new cigarette 
from the pack on the end table.  "I'll chain light this one."

J'onn concentrated.  "Luthor coerced you."

"Ah, that's better!"  Black dropped his old cigarette and ground it under his boot heel.  
"Never underestimate what a billionaire president can do with the chemical resources at 
his disposal.  Or what sort of mad-ons he can provoke."

"Mad-on?"  J'onn winced against a telepathic backlash.

"Now, none of that," Black chided.  "But that was sneakier.  Probably could get further 
in if you weren't concentrating on making sure I don't slip under your radar and trace 
back all the secrets in your pretty green head.  But yes, mad-on.  Luthor had me going.  
Why does Superman get the accolades?  All this truth and justice bullshit, but no 
permanent solution to all these supervillains who come in and kill innocents by the 
dozens and hundreds."

"The Elite-"

"Don't start.  Don't even go there," Black warned.  "Superman broke us.  The world 
broke us.  Broke me.  'When I was a child... I dreamt of childish things...'"

"Black-"

A wall of telekinetic energy slammed against J'onn, pressing him back until he was 
against the thin plaster of the hotel room wall.  "Feel that?  You could've stopped that if 
you were in practice, if you weren't tired.  Don't waste your fucking potential."

J'onn reached his mind out against the psychic snare, feeling the energy Black was 
expending, seeing the sweat on the man's brow as he maintained a facade of casualness.  
Black took another drag of his cigarette.

"Luthor wanted to take something right and good and pervert it, make himself a hero 
against the fall of Superman.  Couldn't impeach him then.  And he used me.  Son of a 
bitch made me more of a villain than I had ever fought."

J'onn took a step forward, mind and hand reaching toward Black, sensing something in 
the man's mind.  He flinched back as Black flicked the lit cigarette at him.

"You won't save me, mate," Black decreed, pressing his forefinger against his head and 
cocking his thumb like the hammer of a gun.  J'onn realized too late that Black's hand 
was on the matchbook, that the telekinetic energy in the room was collecting and-

PABOOOM!

The force of the explosion blew out the windows, threw J'onn back in a wash of flame.  
The rush of wind past him as he fell was cold, and after the first few stories the flames 
were gone and -

Something slammed into him at high speed, and he was no longer falling.  

Correction, he realized, his mind fighting through the static the fire left in its wake.  
SomeONE.

"I've got you," Jesse Quick was saying.  "The Tower's closest.  Batman, Flash, Oracle, I've 
got him.  I think he's mostly okay.  Just singed.  J'onn?"

"Tell them," he began, fighting the chaos in his mind, "tell them it's over."  He closed his 
eyes, feeling the force of Manchester Black's memories, hurled at him along with the 
explosion that ended the man's life.  He began to shake.

"Here we are," Jesse announced as she sped them to the medbay of Titans Tower.  
"Omen, one more for you."  She turned to J'onn.  "Next time," she said sternly, "stay 
away from fires. 3X2(9YZ)4A."

She was gone, and Omen was guiding him to a bed.  "Dr. Mid-Nite says all I can do is 
make you rest..."

He stopped listening, fighting against the burnings and beatings that filled Black's 
memory, finding space to open his mind to the insistent calls from Ace.  *Bruce,* he 
projected.

*We will talk,* Bruce sent back firmly, anger and worry commingled in his mental tone.

*Tell Occult to tell Bette-*

*She already knows.  She is still in Superman's mind but has released him.  Occult 
reports she will wait for you.*

J'onn closed his eyes as he settled back under Omen's guiding hands, giving in to her 
desire to see him lie down.  *Then tell Lois-*

*J'onn.  Rest.  Batman out.*

It was more than J'onn could do to resist the sudden snap of Batman's primitive mental 
shields.  The echo of fire still burned in his brain.  With a sigh, he tuned his mind toward 
a meditative state, striving to forget, if only for a while, what made a man's heart turn 
against its own desire to do good.

end

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