The World's Greatest Superheroes..... IF I COULD TURN BACK TIME
JLA #16 - May, Year 2	by Curt Fernlund

Part 7: What Time Is It?

The Arctic Circle 89° North:
7:02 a.m. EST

He did not feel the cold . . .

He did not feel the icy winds as they whipped past him, tearing at his cape. Ice formed on his shoulders and in his hair, but he ignored it. He floated over the vast expanse of white, the great ice fields of the North stretching out as far as any normal man could see in every direction. He could hear the whistling wind, the straining and grinding moans of the mighty glaciers as they churned against one another in the frigid waters of the Arctic Ocean. The taint of humanity had yet to claim the waters here, and the air was thin and pure, refreshing. He marveled in the beauty of nature in its primeval starkness. The dim twilit sky flickered occasionally with the fluctuating glow of the Aurora Borealis, but it could not hold his attention long.

The Man of Steel scanned the great flows of ice with his X-ray vision, hoping that he was wrong, or perhaps just in the wrong place. He saw the undersea mountains of the Lomonosov Ridge dipping down into the Fram Basin miles below and adjusted his position slightly. Looking up, he triangulated from a beacon he knew to be on the northernmost tip of Greenland, using his telescopic vision to cut through the gloom and across the leagues of unending water and ice. He ran the massive algebraic calculations through his head again and again.

He was in the right spot, but it was not here. His Fortress, his home was not here, and from the look of the land it seemed that it never had been. The ice, as thick as bedrock, was pristine and untouched. The hollowed-out cavern of rock that he had brought here years ago, that he had turned into his Fortress of Solitude was nowhere in sight. Even the great golden key that opened the massive door was gone. His mementos and memories, the statues of his true parents and his native Krypton, the bottled city of Kandor and all of its inhabitants . . .

All gone . . .

He did not know whether to rage in anger, or to mourn. He wondered how Luthor had managed all of this, and had to question his own sanity in the same account. Perhaps he was a victim of some mental manipulation or whatever spell that Luthor had cast on the rest of the world. Maybe the Fortress was actually there, but he was being made not to see it. With renewed hope he focused his great mind and concentrated, beginning his search anew, casting out with all of his great senses¾

"I can hear you, you know."

Superman turned ever so slightly and stared into the wind. The snow whipped about, swirling and coalescing and eventually a pale shade of green began to form and take on the shape of a man. J'onn J'onzz, Manhunter from Mars slowly faded into being just a stone's throw away, floating over the ice, his dark emerald skin and azure cloak a stark contrast to the glaring vast expanse of white.

"You made yourself invisible and intangible, held your breath, but I could still hear your heartbeat, J'onn. The blood coursing through your veins is like a raging river to me. You should have taken the shape of a polar bear and I might have ignored you. Hide in plain sight, as they say." Superman shrugged. "Why are you here? Keeping tabs for Luthor?"

The Martian heard the coldness in the voice of his friend, a tone that he had rarely heard in the Kryptonian's voice. The Superman was angry and hurt, but J'onzz did not understand why. What could possibly hurt him so far from humanity, here in the wastes of the frozen North?

"I am not Luthor's lackey, Superman. You should know that I serve no man by now."

"Don't you?" Superman shrugged again and returned to his search. "I wonder–"

The Martian Manhunter floated closer, using the barest energies of his flight to push against the fierce Arctic winds. He could see that Superman was searching for something, his own sight detecting the Kryptonian using his telescopic and X-ray visions. He had no idea what his friend was looking for, however. The only thing his own scans had shown was a small series of buildings even farther north, a United Nations meteorological polar station.

"Why did you follow me then, J'onn?" The Superman spoke without turning, intent on his task. The Martian reached out to put a hand on his friend's shoulder then hesitated. Thinking better of it, he withdrew the hand back into the folds of his cloak–

"We . . . Your friends in the League thought that something might be wrong. You seemed . . . agitated. I thought perhaps that I could help."

Superman turned and stared at the Manhunter. J'onn J'onzz remained still and calm as the Man of Steel enveloped him within his X-ray vision. He could almost feel the Kryptonian's intense scrutiny as he picked his way through the Martian's body on a molecular level. It took barely a second, a heartbeat.

"Satisfied?"

"Only that you're a Martian. Only that you appear to be who you claim to be. But if you are J'onn J'onzz, then you are being mind-controlled, and I find that almost as hard to believe as that someone might impersonate you."

J'onzz blinked, considering. "How do you come to that conclusion?" Superman sighed–

"I believe that Luthor has done something to you–to everyone. Myself included. My memories have either been tampered with, or the world has changed dramatically, right under my nose, and without my realizing it. My Fortress of Solitude should be directly beneath us, but as I'm sure you've noticed with your own scans, there's nothing but ice. Luthor's tower in Metropolis should not be there, but it is. How he built it in a blink of an eye is beyond me, but it's there nonetheless. And the people of Metropolis seem to accept the fact that it's there and apparently has been for years. Worse, they think that Luthor is some benevolent businessman and not a wanted felon who's tried to kill me and take over the world more times than I care to count. My best friends seem to be in on the whole scheme as well, and that leads me to believe that we are all being manipulated somehow."

"Fascinating." J'onn J'onzz stared at his friend, his own powers probing the Man of Steel. His gaze did not waver. His Kryptonian heartbeat did not beat faster. There were no signs whatsoever that he was lying, which led the Martian to believe that Superman believed what he was saying. It did not account for the Man of Steel's apparently augmented abilities, but it might explain his sudden arrogance and recklessness in his recent actions. Perhaps Superman was being controlled.

J'onn J'onzz focused his concentration and cautiously reached out with his mind. He kept his friends in his thoughts at all times, so to speak. He had established a mental link with each of his allies in the League since their current reformation after the affair with the pale Martians. They all agreed that it was a good idea–all but the Batman of course–planting a 'seed' that could be sparked to life when needed. J'onzz was not in constant connection with their minds, but he knew where they were with the slightest thought, and could contact them across vast distances as easily as if he were standing next to them and speaking.

All, that is, save Superman. J'onzz had lost that mental link with the Man of Steel earlier that morning and had yet to reestablish contact. He had not been able to find the unique, Kryptonian mind with his telepathic probes, and that bothered him. For a time he had even thought that the Superman might be dead.

The Martian Manhunter mentally scratched at the mind directly before him, trying to breech the man's defenses. The resistance he found was far stronger than that which he recalled. J'onzz concentrated all the harder, trying to push past the wall that was the psyche of his friend. It was almost as though Superman was employing mental powers of his own to keep him out.

"What– are you– doing?"

J'onzz saw the Man of Steel wince as his mental probes forced their way into the Kryptonian's mind. Superman's flight faltered and he drifted slightly in the wind, losing concentration. J'onzz pushed harder–

WHAM!

The Martian Manhunter flew back, his head ringing with the force of the mighty blow. He was somewhat ashamed to admit that he had not even seen the Man of Steel move, nor the fist that had slammed into his jaw like a sledgehammer. He felt blood freezing at the corner of his mouth and stars danced in the twilit sky as he tumbled end over end, finally landing in a heap in a snow bank some miles away.

J'onn J'onzz sat up covered in snow, groaning as he shook his head, trying to refocus his jumbled thoughts. His head was pounding from the blow, and his body ached in agonizing sympathy. He could not recall when he had ever been hit so hard. He could just hear the wind whistling over the ringing in his ears. J'onzz thought that perhaps he should have told Superman what it was that he was attempting to do. He should have warned the man. J'onn struggled to his feet and looked up. The wind seemed to be getting louder–

Superman slammed into the Martian, driving him back down into the ice. He hated to attack his friend–if it really was his friend–and he would apologize later if he was wrong. But in his heart he knew that he was not wrong. The J'onn J'onzz that he remembered would not have attacked him so blatantly, trying to take over his mind. This man was not– could not be the Martian Manhunter. And if he was, then he was under the influence of a far more powerful mind, and that worried Superman far more than anything. If someone could so easily control the mind of J'onn J'onzz, then what chance did he have?

The Man of Steel hammered at the Martian without pause or mercy. Each powerful blow possessed the strength to level mountains, but the Metropolis Marvel could feel that the man he was hitting had the defenses to withstand his mightiest efforts. By rights, technically, the Martian Manhunter was stronger than the Man of Steel could ever hope to be. Superman had grown up on Earth from the age of a small child, his body adapting naturally to the differences in gravity and atmosphere. Those differences and the rays of the yellow sun were what augmented his body, making him the super-man that he was and giving him powers far above mortal men. J'onn J'onzz however had been teleported to Earth from Mars fully-grown. He had been forced to alter his body to the greater effects of gravity and environment, increasing his mass and manipulating his bodily functions to withstand the Earth's different atmosphere. Not only was J'onzz physically stronger because of that, but he had most of Superman's powers as well, and then some. Both men had enhanced vision. Both could fly and had super strength, but the Martian was a shape shifter as well. He could alter the very molecules of his body, changing size and mass and color. He could turn invisible. Intangible–

Superman's fist shattered the ice as the Martian vanished beneath him. He had been too slow, holding back against the image of his friend and the Martian–or whoever he was–had taken advantage and turned his body intangible, sinking into the ground and momentarily out of reach. With a mighty leap, Superman shot back into the sky and started scanning the area.

He knew that his foe would turn invisible as well, and if it was J'onn, he would know exactly how to evade the Man of Steel's X-ray vision, as the Martian could 'see' in ways that the Superman could only imagine. Superman turned in mid-air, swooping and circling, trying not to make himself an easy target. The last time that they had fought–when Superman had been seeking the key to activate the War World for Mongul–it had taken all of his skill and power to defeat the Martian. Then, like now, his heart was not into beating his friend, but it was necessary.

He was somewhat surprised that his foe had fallen so easily to his initial attack. Superman knew that J'onzz was stronger, more powerful, but his blows had rattled the Martian and even drawn blood. Perhaps the energies of the sun in the thinner atmosphere here in the Arctic had empowered him more than he realized. Perhaps it really was J'onn J'onzz, and somehow he was fighting back against the force that was controlling him. Maybe he had just been lucky and had caught the Manhunter unprepared. Whatever, Superman knew that though the Martian Manhunter was technically stronger, he was in the same respect, far weaker. J'onn's one major weakness, the one thing that he and all of his people feared, the thing that robbed them of their powers was readily at hand.

Superman started to spin in place, faster and faster until he was a whirling blur. He knew that his foe would be attacking now if he was able, realizing that Superman was up to something. The Kryptonian could picture the Martian flying at him and concentrated. Instantly he felt the energies welling up behind his eyes. He spun faster, waiting . . .

He heard the man scream as the surrounding area glowed red with heat. Steam billowed up in great gouts wherever the Man of Steel's heat vision touched down and the ice instantly vaporized. He had released the energies in a wide arching beam that seemed to strike everywhere at once as he spun faster and faster. He had regrettably focused the intensity of the heat to sear flesh and set skin afire, as it was more the sight of the flame that would stop a Martian rather than the energies initially. He had been right in suspecting that his foe would be on the rush to attack, and it had taken only a moment for his widely dispersed flash of heat to strike home. Apparently he had been a true Martian after all. Superman had heard the anguished scream, more terror than pain, at least at first.

Superman stopped his spinning instantly, seeing the man burst into flame almost like a humanesque comet. He was half-hidden in the rising clouds of mist spiraling up and about them both, caught in the vortex of the Man of Steel's spiral. The Martian was still screaming as his flight faltered and he started to fall, losing concentration. Superman edged forward as though to catch the falling man, then hesitated, looking down.

A vast lake had been formed by the actions of the Man of Steel directly below the pair of flying men. The ice had melted deeply, the heat of Superman's attack had been so intense. That ice that had not been vaporized had settled in the resulting pit as water that was even now quickly refreezing. Superman saw that the flaming man was falling towards the lake and flew to a spot just above him, drawing back a fist with a sorrowful frown–

Superman struck the flaming Martian–his foe–with enough force to drive his already falling body into the freezing lake at a speed that would have shattered a normal man's body. He had scanned his foe however, and now knew that he was indeed a Martian–if not in fact J'onn J'onzz. He knew how much punishment a Martian could take, and what the Martian body would do when overcome with pain. Like a mortal, the Martian's body would shut down to deal with a pain too great to cope with. The fire had overcome the Martian's senses, and Superman knew that the body would drop into a sort of suspended animation to heal; the heart would slow, the brain would shut down all but the autonomic functions. His breathing would slow too as soon as his lungs had expelled the water he had swallowed as he plunged into the cold, dark depths of the newly formed lake.

Superman watched, listening as his foe struck the bottom of the lake, shattering the already weakened lakebed and travelling beyond. He waited for any sign of movement and finally heard the heartbeat of his enemy; a dull thump amidst the delicate tinkling of ice cubes in a glass as the freezing temperature retook its hold on the cooling water. Superman took in a deep breath and quickly expelled it, his frigid super breath enhancing the freezing process from fast to instantaneous. He watched as the snow swirled in the wind, quickly covering the new glassy surface of the lake. Within seconds it was simply a flat spot in the land, and moments later it was gone from sight completely, hidden beneath the fresh layer of snow.

The Man of Steel knew that the Martian would heal soon enough. He was in no danger, trapped beneath the ice with his body functions slowed. It would be like the Martian meditation trance, only longer. J'onzz could take the cold, and that would actually help him heal in the long run. When the Martian finally woke, Superman knew that he would be a bit disoriented, but he could easily desolidify and drift back up through the ice. He was in no real danger–

Superman kept telling himself that as he slowly flew up and away. His trip to the Arctic had been a waste of time on too many levels to count. His Fortress of Solitude was gone. How and why he could not even begin to imagine. His history had vanished as though it had never been. His Kryptonian history at any rate. There was still Smallville, but he could not quite bring himself to go there. Not yet–

Worse, he quite possibly had just beaten one of his best friends to a bloody pulp. It had seemed like J'onn. The man had had J'onn's powers, but there was just something not quite right about the whole incident. He had seemed weaker than the Martian Manhunter that Superman remembered in some respects. Not weak by any means, but weaker than he should have been.

It was all very strange.

Superman flew south, as that was the only direction to go, but after a bit he veered back towards Metropolis, picking up speed. He needed answers, and after his Fortress of Solitude there was only one other place where he might find the answers he sought. There was only one person that he might talk to, that might help–

Supergirl . . .

NEXT ISSUE: Be here as Superman takes on Supergirl, and Green Lantern and Wonder Woman spend some quality time in the cold . . .