Aftermath

[raptorcanaria]

The flight back to Rhode Island is long and silent - Dinah, for one dwelling on all those men who just dropped dead the second J'Onn touched them with his mind. they won, but it doesn't feel like a victory, and then - then there's J'Onn.

Back in the cave, it still doesn't feel like anyone's going to say anything until Aquaman speaks up.

"So what now

Comments

[overcame_fear]

"You spied on our civilian lives," Flash adds. "You keep detailed files on us. For all we know, you used your telepathy to pry inside our--."

"No," J'Onn objects, his voice almost pleading. "I never--."

"For all we know you did."

"Why, J'Onn?" Aquaman asks.

J'Onn's shoulders sink. Coming from the other member of their team who often had trouble understanding human ways, Aquaman's question seems to have pushed J'Onn to a decision. He looks down, and when he speaks his deep voice is quiet almost to a whisper.

"For years I have been stranded on a world not my own. One that has a history of being...unreceptive to those who are different. One in which my senses are dulled by the simple light of a match...."

"Alone, in hiding, my survival depending on my powers of observation... of gathering information on the motivations of the strangers around me."

[raptorcanaria]

J'Onn is so earnest, bowing his head in an acknowledged apology as he continues:

"Buoyed up by public acceptance of you and others like you, I went public in search of kinship."

"And you found it," Aquaman says.

"Yes, I did," J'Onn continues, hs voice growing hard. "And during our first encounter I watched you exterminate an alien force you knew little about, and take pride in that."

Dinah cuts in, fighting the sudden rise of guilt. "I don't know that pride is the right..."

"We keep one of their corpses in our trophy room," J'Onn counters bitterly. "I did not want to fear you people. My instincts told me you were good and noble, but you are, after all, still human. I needed to know more about you to guarantee my own safety.

"I did what I felt I had to, to survive."

[overcame_fear]

Hal does hear how contrite J'Onn is. And yet--.

"Such as lie. I don't like lies."

"As I said," J'Onn begins, "I regret my--."

[raptorcanaria]

"Leave him be!" Dinah snaps at GL. That comment about the corpse has hit her in a sore spot from months of defending her ideals in the bar.

And running into certain test pilots haven't helped either. "What about you? He's not the only person I've run into out of costume! How do we know you haven't done a little X-Raying with that ring?"

"Wait," Flash says, "when did you two...?"