Ok. I promise, I’m not trying to start any trouble here.
But I went in my kids’ playroom to turn off the light they left on and I found Dick and Guy in, what I can only assume is, a wrestling match.
But I also found Luke Skywalker riding a brachiosaurus so I’m trying not to read too much into it…
On this day every year, his colleagues celebrate their fathers. Some do it easily. Some do it in more complicated ways than others.
But on this day his thoughts turn not to his father, but to his daughter. He thinks of the one being in the universe that made him burst with both pride and love. Until she was born, he did not know the depths of love he could feel. At times, he even thought it was too much to bear - yet he always found more ways to care for his baby girl.
The Martian crosses his legs, closes his eyes, clears his mind, and begins to meditate on what it means to be a father.
J’onn thinks of K’hym, and tries in vain to remember what her laugh sounded like, what her smile looked like, what her hand in his hand felt like, what it was like to get a kiss on his cheek from her.
And this year, like so many other years, he fails…
(( I got the coolest little books from my son and from my daughter this morning! ))
And then out of the corner of his eye there was movement - unnatural, gliding, undeterred - but when the Lantern spun around, there was nothing there but more trees.
Words in green formed up above Kyle’s head, like a Sim.
- Did anyone see that? -
Dick didn’t catch the movement in the woods, but he did catch Kyle’s sign. He shook his head and pointed toward the Manor. That was more important. Whatever else was out here couldn’t make it onto the Manor grounds, not with Bat security. Things would be fine.
He led them through a twisting, muddy trail. Dick moved fast, making them keep his pace to make up for his inherent Bat-paranoia. No matter how much he consciously trusted them, there was something about leading people to the Cave that made him want to stay on guard. A few minutes later, they found the small secret entrance to the Cave.
It was cool and oddly quiet, as if even the ever-present bats had lost their cries. He tried to call out for Bruce to see if anyone was around, but, of course, nothing happened. When they finally reached the main hall of the Cave, Dick pointed up to the computer, signalling the others to meet him there, and slipped off to change into his working clothes.
Maybe somehow Bruce had found a way around the silence and could still speak. It wouldn’t surprise him to only hear Batman’s low gravel rumbling throughout the Cave while the others just stared in varying shades of annoyance. The thought made Dick giggle to himself (silently, ugh) as he rejoined the others. Hope always springs eternal, right?
Standing on the platform in front of the Batcomputer, J’onn looked at the group assembled and shrugged. What could they do now? What should their next move be? They had no way of calling for help on the comm links, but this was Bruce’s city. They needed the Batman and his team.
J’onn looked over at Green Arrow and quickly changed shapes to Batman and back again. It was the best way he knew of asking questions without his voice. Then he went through his list. J’onn became Damian, then Stephanie, then Cass. He continued until he was done flipping through all of the Gotham Bats and Birds before returning to his normal shape again.
Then he raised his finger as he remembered one more and became Alfred as well. When he was back to his Martian Manhunter shape, he again looked at Oliver and signaled with his hands that he wanted an answer from the Emerald Archer.
(Source: manhunterofmars)
It’s 10:37 at night and this is what summer looks like at my house. My son said, “Look Dad! I’m this one and I’m fighting the monster one and you’re the monster one. And see? I won!”
Ah, to be young again…
Fighting his way through the crowd, he headed toward the glow. ”Kyle! What’s going on—”
Right. No sound.
Or, rather, Dick noticed as he cracked a gun out of the hand of a panicked security guard, no speech.
So, instead, he flailed wildly for the Lantern’s attention, hoping he’d have a better explanation or theory than Dick.
Ohhhhhhhh great. Kyle could hear the wail of sirens outside, which meant ‘Haven poh-poh. The Lantern anticipated their attitude was just about as reliable and serviceable as Gotham PD; but on the other hand, maybe they had their voices and could render some control on the civilians while Kyle went to check up on J’onn. His colleague had disappeared behind some luggage consoles, and Kyle was getting anxious, but he couldn’t just abandon the people.
Disturbingly the police all seemed to be without voices as well, as a quartet of them came skidding into the terminal with their weapons drawn. Kyle tapped his Green Lantern shield on his chest to direct their eyes to it, and then he pointed to the civilians. Let them deal with crowd control. As he flew off, a full can of 7-Up winged him in the noggin, and Kyle turned to see one particularly rowdy Havenite giving him double-bird-flipping duty. The Lantern rolled his eyes behind his crabmask. Yup. Blüdhaven.
His glance back to the frightened throngs did afford him something else - Kyle spotted someone flailing, in the back by the fountain feature near the food court; and quite honestly, it took him a good five seconds to realize it was Dick Grayson. Right rightrightright. Dick Grayson cop Dick Grayson. Officer Grayson, beat cop. Kyle had forgotten that Dick had a day job, so to speak.
He made eye contact and then glanced over to a more secluded area of the terminal behind a ‘No Authorized Persons Beyond This Point’ signage. Dick was just a beat-cop here, but Green Lantern wanted to speak (…to communicate) with Nightwing, and that had to be conducted away from curious eyes.
Once they were behind closed doors, Kyle constructed two chalkboards and a two sticks of chalk, one set of which he grimly handed to Dick.
- J’onn is here too. being detectivey about murders. Felt blip in…the Matrix and then suddenly no voices. no telepathy. maybe murders + no-talk = connected? Need to find J’onn.- Kyle scribbled, then added squished at the bottom of the board. - Rest of city? Status? -
J’onn had been on his way to separate a group of particularly rowdy rioters when something peculiar caught his eye. He had to stop and look twice to make sure he saw what he thought he saw.
Yes. There it was. The shaft of a green arrow in the shoulder of a man running away from the fight.
He followed the man’s path back to where it had begun and saw three passengers caught in a net arrow and one rather large and unconscious fellow sitting against a wall next to a boxing glove arrow. That last one confirmed it. They were no longer alone in the fight.
J’onn turned to call back to Kyle, then remembered that he could not. This lack of communication was getting out of hand. He decided to go forward and find Ollie, but had an idea. Using his eye beams, J’onn burned a large arrow pointing to his direction for Kyle or any other Leaguer that showed up. Then he turned back to the direction he felt certain would cause him to cross paths with Green Arrow, pausing only to break up a group of eight teenagers on a field trip who were trying to break down the door to the airport bar.
(Source: manhunterofmars)
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“Yeah sure, I’ll let Dick know. It’s his city after all. Two green guys welcoming him back - what an honor, amirite?” Kyle looked around the terminal again, fascinated by the general structure and hustle. Airports always fascinated him. He’d only been familiar with the ones from the late 80’s when he was nothing more than an infant. Once he got Green Lantern’d, airports seemed pretty irrelevant to him personally; but the life and energy in airports was nevertheless still exciting. ”You waiting for the flight to come in?”
“No,” J’onn replied shortly, his eyes now on the Arrivals screen posted high above them. “The flight arrived this morning. I was trying to find—”
J’onn’s voice was somewhat drowned out by the intercom loudspeaker in the airport. It was surprisingly loud, but perhaps people in this city were desensitized to loudspeakers. He chuckled to himself as a sedate female voice starting to speak by rote - “Attention flight passengers: Air Canada flight 634 to Toronto is now —”
The dull flourescent lights flickered in the terminal and everything stopped for a second. No - it was a nano-second, Kyle’s ring informed him, as well as telling him that the temperature spiked low for that nano-second; and he looked at J’onn in alarm, because he knew the Martian felt that blip too. Involuntarily, Kyle shuddered.
“Did you feel that?” Kyle asked. No. No, wait. His mouth formed the words. He was sure of that. He could even feel his throat working, and a space of breath from his layrnx.
It was really only then that Kyle realized the voices had stopped. The intercom, the people hailing taxis outside, the shouting of the TSA agent at the security check. All of it. Everyone looked frozen for a second (it was more like three seconds, Kyle’s ring informed him, but the ring no longer used words) and Kyle looked at J’onn again, grabbing his shoulder and tapping urgently at his own head, and then pointing at J’onn.
But the stout businessman’s face could not hide J’onn’s true feelings.
Panic. J’onn could feel it all around him. Rising panic. As the realization dawned on more and more people in the Blüdhaven airport that they have lost the ability to talk, civility quickly went the way of the dodo.
Passengers in line began pointing to their watches and menacing boarding agents. A TSA agent got into a shoving match with an unruly man. Two women began fighting in the duty-free store. Crying children clung to their parents in fear. Down the terminal a loud crash drew everyone’s attention. As it so often does in situations where fear runs rampant, the fearful reach a stupid yet similar conclusion. And it appeared that the people here have reached that same conclusion rather quickly.
Looting had begun.
“Kyle! Get these people back!” J’onn tried to shout. No good. His speech was gone. “Kyle! Get these people back!” J’onn shouted telepathically. His partner just looked at him, his expression unchanged. J’onn’s telepathy was no good here either. He could feel the fear, the panic, the anger all around. But he could not communicate with the people, or with his League teammate. This was no good.
Locking eyes with Kyle, the stocky businessman in the wrinkled clothes grew taller, his shoulder broader. Soon the Martian Manhunter stood where his disguise had once been. J’onn pointed to Kyle’s ring finger, then motioned to the looters down the terminal. The Lantern nodded in understanding, just as the sounds of breaking glass broke the silence on the other end of the terminal.
J’onn pointed to himself, then to the new outbreak of violence as he rose off the ground and headed towards trouble. Kyle gave him a thumbs up as he flew towards the original looters. ”This could get out of hand quickly” J’onn thought, “if we don’t -” He stopped short as a strange sight caught his eyes.
(Source: manhunterofmars)
The Martian Manhunter, last of his kind, founding member of the Justice League.
