~Jake, Something is wrong.~

 

 

 

 

 

Jake let out a long sigh, "What?"

 

Ire clarified, ~Someone on the station is blind with rage and their hatred is increasing exponentially.~

 

Jake slowly sat up and squinted at his ring, "Huh? It can't be The Hulk. He's Marvel." At the same time, a warning klaxon went off. The lighting in the room shifted to red and warnings started to flash on every available screen. Jake's fatigue vanished as his eyes went wide, "Guys? Tap into the station's intranet and tell me what's going on."

 

As Jack pulled the blanket off himself and sat up he felt the gravity flicker in and out for a second, "What the fuck was-" The sound of a distant explosion was heard from somewhere deep beneath the medical bay. Jake shifted out of his casual clothes into his lantern uniform, "Guys... talk to me!"

 

Valor was the first to respond, ~There was an explosion in the artificial gravity generator room. The backup system just kicked in. The cause is unknown.~

 

Ire chimed in, ~I can't find it on the station's cameras. I'm having difficulty getting into the security system to see what is going on, but something experiencing hate unlike anything I have felt since I returned to real space is erratically moving around the ship.~

 

~What do you mean erratic?~

 

Ire responded, ~Give me a minute.~

 

Emergency personnel were rushing into the room and starting to prepare equipment, apparently expecting casualties. Jake approached a tall black man who appeared to be in charge, "What's going on?"

 

The man looked at Jake, "I'm sorry. there's been some sort of explosion. We fear that there may be wounded. If you could return to your bed, that would help the most."

 

~Whatever it is, it appears to be able to move through walls.~

 

Jake looked down at his red ring, "Move through... SHIT. Where is it going?" The man in front of Jake blinked and took a step back in confusion.

 

~I project it is currently heading for the main observation room where we arrived by boom tube.~

 

Jake was already flying out the door, "Ire, Plot me the fastest intercept route! Valour, get a hold of Plastic Man's comm unit!"

 

A red line floating in the air appeared, guiding Jake to a maintenance hatch at the end of the corridor, ~It's faster to use the maintenance shaft than the elevator.~

 

As Jake used a construct hand to pop open the hatch, he dove into the central transportation shaft and started flying upwards towards the main observation room. As he weaved in and out of metal boxes wizing past him on magnetic tracks, Valor gave Jake an update, ~Plastic Man is no longer on the station.~

 

Jake let out a curse, "Great. Can you connect to Batman's commlink?"

 

As Jake flew to the top of the station, he encountered an arm sticking out of a wall into the shaft with a green lantern ring on the end. The arm hadn't punched through the wall, it was partially fused with it, as if it had been forced out of phase with matter, then resolidified inside the structure. Jack used a construct fist to force the hatch open. As he flew into the room, he saw Guy Gardner, arm fused with the wall up to his shoulder and completely incapacitated.

 

The main observation room was in chaos. Station personnel were running for cover as a battle took place near the boom tube controls. In the center of everything was J'onn, but not in his usual form. He was now in the full insect-like appearance of a Burning Martian, his gold-tainted skin ablaze with a corona of fire. Currently, it was Wonder Woman, The Flash, and Hawkgirl locked in battle with J'onn. They were shouting at him while he appeared to be shouting in some unknown alien tongue.

 

Valor piped in, ~I got Batman.~

 

Jake was frozen in horror at what he was seeing, "Holy mother of god! This wasn't supposed to happen until J'onn started dating that pyrokinetic chick!"

 

In Jake's head, he heard Batman, ~London? What's going on?~

 

Jake sputtered mentally, ~I don't know! This wasn't supposed to happen like this or so soon! I'm-~ Jake peered intently, then shifted into his suit of armor. On a hunch, he bought up an array of detection spells to examine J'onn and saw something that chilled him to the bone.

 

~Bats, J'onn is possessed by a demon.~

 

The fight was brutal with J'onn pulling no punches. He was having a hard time gaining the upper hand, but he was holding his own, all the same. Hawkgirl with her anti-magic mace was doing the most damage to J'onn, as each time she hit him, the demon's concentration would wavier. Alas, it was Hawkgirl's compassion that was her undoing when the demon pretended to let J'onn take control.

 

"It... IT IS IN MY MIND!" J'onn called out as he clutched at his head.

 

Hawkgirl paused in her assault for a moment, "J'onn? Are you in there?"

 

His arm morphed and shot out like a snake to grab her by the neck. J'onn's face twisted with a sadistic grin as he replied, "No." Then turned her insubstantial as he pushed her backward and out THROUGH the observation window into the vacuum of space.

 

Jake's eyes went wide as he saw Hawkgirl grabbing her throat as decompression started to take effect, ~Ire, get ready to grab Hawkgirl! Valor hack the emergency bulkhead over that window and close it on my mark!~ Jake spread his arms wide and barreled into J'onn, grabbing him in a bear hug around the waist as he continued to speed towards the window. Dispite Jake's magical suit of armor being proof against fire, Jake could still feel the heat of J'onn's burning body.

 ~Mark!~

 

A second later the two hit the window and burst through it, hurtling away from the station. The emergency bulkhead over the window started to roll shut to prevent everyone from getting blown out into the void. At the same time, Jake used Ire to grab Hawkgirl, cover her in a protective forcefield, and toss her back inside just as the bulkhead slammed shut.

 

This left Jake and J'onn shooting away from the station and falling out of orbit to the Earth below.

 

~Batman! Get Plastic Man and meet us wherever we land! Also, J'onn should have a niece called Ms. Martian! If anyone can talk him down, it's her!~

 

Valor relayed Batman's reply, ~Where you land? And J'onn doesn't have a niece!~

 

Jake's head started to rattle around inside his helmet as J'onn proceeded to treat his skull like a punching bag, ~Check his phone logs! She's-~ The radio connection went out.

 

J'onn was still speaking in some sort of alien tongue, not that Jake could make it out in the vacuum of space. However, the two were picking up speed and had just hit the upper atmosphere. The two of them started to glow from the heat of re-entry, which appeared to only be making J'onn stronger. Jake had to pour more and more energy from Ire into reinforcing his armor's already impressive defenses in order to avoid being baked alive inside his metal suit. Meanwhile, J'onn was doing a fine job keeping Jake's back to the Earth as they fell, increasing the speed of descent with every passing second. Jake took a moment to regret his choices that led up to this point.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

~I don't think I thought this through properly.~

 

---

 

[Deep in the Louisiana Bayou.]

 

 

 

 

 

 

An old man sitting next to a young boy. The two were in a fishing boat. The old man picked up a stick of dynamite, lit the end, then tossed it in a high arc out into the water. The boy looked enthralled, "Wow! When you said you were going to take me fishing, I never imagined it would be like this!"

 

The dynamite went off and a few fish floated to the surface. The old man smirked, "Well, this is just for fun, ya know? You be sure not to tell your mother, understand?" The boy nodded as the old man lit another stick and tossed it out.

 

As it exploded, Jake and J'onn dropped out of the sky and hit about a quarter mile away.

 

The impact was enough to cause a large bulge of water and muck to rise up and start to surge like a giant wave toward the old man and his grandson. However, just before the ten-foot-tall wave hit, an even bigger mass rose up out of the water. If a landfill could walk like a man, it would look like the thing in front of them. It picked up the boat and held it up over its head while the wave of brackish swamp water surged under them.

 

When the danger had passed, swamp thing put the boat back down and looked at the terrified pair, "You are disturbing the swamp."

 

The pair nodded energetically while they clung to one another.

 

Swamp Thing continued, "Go home."

 

The two nodded even MORE energetically, then frantically turned on the motor and proceeded to get the HELL out of dodge. Swamp Thing slowly turned to look at the point of impact.

 

He began to walk that way to see what was going on.