JLU 2001 Fanfiction

J’onn’s red eyes were stark wide at the sight of broken and shattered form of Ralph Dibny. His brow furrowed, as his body went lax in the manacle construct Star Sapphire had him in. A look of defeat was upon his features.

“I see I got my point across,” Slade said, as he stepped on a piece of Elongated Man’s corpse and crushed it under his boot heel.

“You…” J’onn muttered.

“Yep. Me,” Slade replied.

In the instant that Slade finished his reply, J’onn’s body expanded faster than Sapphire could react. His shackles shattered and he fell to the ground, landing on the balls of his feet. He reshaped himself back to his familiar appearance, and then flew across the room planting a powerful right cross on Solomon Grundy. The powerful blow sent the swamp monster colliding with Slade and the wall.

The battle was now joined.

Ralph head The World's Greatest Superheroes.....

Twist of Fate

SWAP MONTH

A Dish Best Served Cold

JLA #36-
January, Year 4
by Mick Edwards

Active Roster

Martian Manhunter	Booster Gold	Red Tornado	Fire	Hawkman	Elongated Man
Meridian	Sue Dibny	Skeets

The Watchtower…

Sue Dibny heard the echoed cry from J’onn J’onzz. Tears poured freely from her eyes as she broke into choked sobs. She couldn’t believe her first day back she would be mourning over her husband’s death. It was all too soon – All too sudden for this to happen. How could fate take Ralph away from her? She cried as the echo of battle played on the speakers. Her heart was now broken and shattered beyond repair.

San Francisco…

J’onn J’onzz, the Martian Manhunter, was doing his best to keep his foes off balance long enough for the others to recover. It was easy to outsmart the sluggish brute known as Solomon Grundy, as well as using the villain’s own tactics against their fellows. J’onn was a Manhunter after all and the world’s foremost mentalist. His vast array of abilities allowed him to keep just a step above his foes. Yet, he knew that Slade was calculating his every move and planning a way to intercept. Switching his strategies, J’onn phased into the ground just in time to avoid Giganta’s fist. He dove deep down towards the Earth’s core - building up his momentum before arching upward. Propelled by his unique flight ability - He shot upwards - erupting through the floor at such speeds, that he struck Giganta in the jaw and laid her out with a single blow. The other villains turned to converge on him as he gained his bearings, but blasts from Booster’s wrist gauntlets sent Weather Wizard crashing to the ground. Following him into the sweet surrender was the recovering Mirror Master. Hawkman rose from the floor pointing his mace towards Grundy.

“You,” he said. “I will have words with you.”

Hawkman soared high into the air, and came down upon Grundy with such force that the giant’s head snapped back with spittle escaping his lips.

“Do you want another test of my mace, monster?” Hawkman asked as he prepared for another dive.

Grundy growled his response, and down came Hawkman again, but this time he swerved, hitting the beast in the temple. Grundy stumbled, collapsing through a wooden bench. He put his massive hand to his head as he climbed to his feet. His head throbbing from the force of two consecutive blows. A third blow nailed him on the chin, knocking him off his feet for the final time.

Hawkman stared angrily at Slade, as did Booster, and the recovering Fire who was freed during J’onn’s escape. But the Terminator gave them no notice of retreat or surrender. Sapphire bore the same gaze as she was hovered above all waiting for a moment to strike.

“I delivered my message – Now I will depart and I have a feeling this will not be the last hero to fall,” Slade said nonchalantly.

Sapphire cackled as they both faded from view. And neither word nor expression was shown in that fleeting moment. They just stood there as if frozen in unforgiving and uncaring ice. Only Beatriz could bring herself to do one thing – cry.

“We must get back – there is still much we must do,” J’onn replied. His voice ridged and almost a whisper.

Meridian reappeared with her hair ruffled and pants torn. She had a look of disinterest on her face.

“Why the hell are you guys lounging about?” Meridian asked.

The look of which J’onn gave her was stoic yet all piercing. His red eyes were bright with flaming anguish and his mind was riddled with an almost surreal notion of what had transpired. Yet, he fought through the confusion and stared deeply into Meridian’s eyes. His body inched forward via levitation and stopped before her. He continued looking at Meridian with a questioning uncertainty.

“Where were you?” J’onn asked.

“I was evacuating the hostages,” Meridian replied.

J’onn inched closer to her face. His Martian breath breaking against her skin as he spoke, “You’re withholding something – what is it?”

She looked at him and then steeled her gaze. “All right, after I evacuated the hostages, I decided to hang back. I figured that big, strong, men like yourselves could handle these wimps.”

J’onn’s brow furrowed and he felt rage build within him, but he stifled it. Now wasn’t the time and he wasn’t a person who would let his emotions consume him. He brought his fingertip to the base of his skull where a tiny communications device was. He turned it on and at first there was static – then the sound of crying.

“Sue? Sue, this is J’onn - I need you to…”

The sounds of crying were replaced with a whine and then the signal was cut. J’onn looked to Meridian, without word or thought, but with a single gesture. Pointing to where they needed to go. With out a single moment of hesitance, Meridian teleported the rest of the team to the Watchtower, where J’onn flew off to check on an old friend. The others turned and looked among themselves. They checked each other for signs of injury and…for signs of deep regrettable loss.

Elsewhere…

Red Tornado stared blankly at the plexi-glass before him. His mind as it was happened to be in turmoil. He couldn’t seem to calm the storm growing with him. All he knew was the swarming questions that constantly plagued his mind. As he turned, a look of childlike curiosity crossed his features. His attention focused on a minor amount of fog that was left on the glass by the Flash. He leaned over to get a closer look at it.

The Monitor Womb…

J’onn sat in the suspensor chair with his hands steepled under his chin. His face was expressionless as it masked the sorrow he was feeling. Kyle…now Ralph… How many more he wondered. It had taken some time to calm Sue down. She was hysterical and with good reason. Time and time again, he watched fellow teammates die and it was always beyond his power to prevent. He often wondered if perhaps there was a future for the Justice League. If how things have fallen apart in recent times could be considered an answer. The future looked bleak.

<”J’onn,”>

J’onn’s eyebrow rose, <”Yes, Meridian?”>

<”I think you should see this. Red Tornado is acting strange.”>

<”I’m on my way,”> J’onn replied.

J’onn floated from the suspensor chair and became immaterial just as he came to the wall. As he passed through it he made his way to the view annex.

The View Annex…

Red Tornado’s arms were still spinning wildly as he tried to perform the same miraculous feat on the glass that Wally had with his breath, yet little did he realize the danger he was posing to the Watchtower. Meridian let a sudden yelp as one of the support structures started to give in. Rivets came shooting out of the frame. Tornado was creating gale force winds that were so powerful they were pulling and pushing at the same time. Meridian could feel her breath pushed from her lungs and her body pulled from the vantagepoint she had. Her eyes began to dim and she started to see grey when she saw the form of J’onn fly in and collide with the Tornado. The impact sent the android into the far wall where he/it slumped to the ground unmoving.

“What happened here?” J’onn asked.

Meridian coughed as she struggled for breath. With every little gasp for breath came a reply.

“He...just…started…whipping…winds…I…dunno…why,” Meriden replied.

J’onn cast a glance at the inert android as Hawkman walked in.

“What happened here?” Hawkman said gruffly.

“I don’t quite know,” J’onn replied.

Hawkman eyed the android laying in a heap across the room. He sneered as he walked over to Red Tornado and raised its head with the haft of his mace. The cold, emotionless eyes showed no life not even a spark of what once was there. It seemed it was nothing, but a lifeless shell now.

“He’s gone,” Hawkman said as he let the Red Tornado’s head fall back to the side.

“He’ll be back when he is ready. Right now, we need to figure out who has put a price on our heads, before another one of us falls,” J’onn said.

Metropolis
Blackgate Prison…

“I don’t get why you’re staying in here,” Slade said, as he stood outside of Luthor’s cell.

“It's taking some time for my lawyers to get the charges cleared,” Luthor replied. “Apparently, all of those witnesses put some doubt into the scenario’s I had orchestrated for such an event.”

“I delivered your message,” Slade said.

“Good,” Luthor replied as he sat down on the plush chair provided for him.

“What now?” Slade asked.

“Now, that we have delivered our message…

“The game begins.”

Luthor smiled evilly.

Next Ish: The Return of Curtis Fernlund!

Next Issue: With two members down, the rest of the JLA are left to pick up the pieces. Who will replace the fallen members- or will anyone? And what about Sue Dibny? Is this the end of the League? Find out as Dark Genesis begins!

And special thanks to Mick Edwards for a GREAT Swap Month Issue!

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