Michael Carter's Story

The Watch Tower

J'onn J'onzz

J'onn J'onzz, the Martian Manhunter, stood at his observation post in the Watchtower's control room. He typed a few buttons on the console before him, and reviewed several standing missions for the League to fill out. After a few moments of thinking it over, the Martian began to assemble together the needed teams.

"Flash, Lantern III, Matriarch, and Booster Gold," the alien intoned, speaking over the intercom system. "Please report to the Javelin landing bay."

MT

MT, otherwise known as Matriarch Time, had just left the her assigned quarters on the Tower, having just finished up some maintenance work on her suit. She heard the Martian's call over the Intercom, and began to head over to the landing bay.

It seemed a new mission was being assigned to her. Good. It had been a few days since her last assignment of the League. In the year since the disappearance of Lex Luthor and Darkseid, things had become relatively quiet for the Justice League. Supervillain activity was at a record low, and no major crisis had occured since Darkseid's latest invasion of Earth. While the missions themselves hadn't stopped, they had started coming in with less frequency, and often the missions they did receive involved some sort of natural disaster.

Still, whatever her new mission was, MT was glad to have it. It would be a welcome distraction.

Booster Gold

Booster was just finishing eating at the mess hall when he heard his named called by the Martian. He gave an eager grin and looked over to his faithful companion, Skeets.

"Looks like we're going on a mission! Ready Skeets?"

Green Lantern III

It had been two and a half weeks since Green Lantern III, as she was told would be her official name from now on, had arrived at the Watchtower. Genevieve had done it, she was a full-fledged Lantern and with John's recommendation, she was now part of the Justice League.

And it was as exciting as watching toenails grow.

During that time she had badgered John on and off if there was anything she could help out with, so much that it wouldn't be out of the question to say that he might have been avoiding her.

"Well it's about damn time!" Genevieve burst out excitedly, causing several passersby in the hall to give her odd looks. Realizing her social faux-pas she left that section of the tower as fast as she could without outright running. "Hoo boy I really shouldn't have done that," she mumbled quietly as she arrived at the hangar.

Flash

Flash had been napping at his station when the intercom went off, it was another one of those days where he was told to sit and look over mission reports until his butt would feel as if it became welded into the chair. A figure approached from behind and shook him awake, "Hey, what's the big id--! ...Oh, hey there, buddy." Flash said to the very disapproving face of the Batman.

"You have a mission. Get to the hangar, now."

"O-of course, Batsy, I was just resting my eyes you know me!" Flash replied, taking off in less time than it took to blink, and of course he got there first.

Skeets

"I sure am, sir! Oh boy, it'll feel so good to get back in the game, figuratively speaking that is." Skeets said, rising up from the table he'd been standing on before. "I have a good feeling about this, working with the Flash and Green Lantern, it must be really important, sir."

Booster Gold

"Eh, I'm sure it isn't that big." Booster gave a dismissive wave as he spoke to his robotic buddy. "If it were anything real important, it'd probably have Superman or Batman in it. Not that I mind, though. Things have been pretty slow here lately! I'm glad I'll have something to do now."

The superhero from the future continued walking through the halls of the Watchtower, before he arrived at the Javelin bay. He already spotted Flash there, as well as the Green Lantern III. Hm, she was the new girl Lantern, wasn't she? If he remembered correctly, GL, er, the original Lantern of the League, said she had become a Green Lantern just a few months ago, or something like that. Well, this oughta be interesting! And she didn't look too bad, actually...

Booster felt a little twinge at that, frowning in distaste for a moment. Thinking about something like that reminded him of Tracy.

Even a year after her death, and the pain still felt fresh...

"Now's not the time, Michael," he murmured to himself, brushing aside that train of thought. He looked back over to the waiting heroes and plastered a smile on his face, as he strode over to them.

"Flash! Long time no see, buddy. How have you been?" he greeted kindly to the speedster, before turning his gaze over at the new Lantern. "And hello, miss! I don't think we've been formally introduced. I'm Booster Gold, at your service!"

MT

MT walked into the Javelin Bay not long after Booster, and watched for a moment as he chattered with the other two members of their team. She then strode into the room, walking over to them, and leaned against the Javelin they would be piloting. She didn't bother to talk to any of them, as it would largely prove futile to the overall mission. At the moment, all she cared about was waiting for the Martian to phase into the room and give them the specifics of their mission.

If they were traveling by Javelin, it must be some deep-space assignment; otherwise, they would have used the transporter pads. What sort of assignment they might have, though, she couldn't say. It could literally be anything, considering the size and scope of their galaxy.

Flash/Green Lantern III

It was a long 7 and half minutes for Flash as he waited beside the javelin until a hesitant voice behind him spoke up, "Um, hello there, Flash!" He turned around to find a petite girl in green smiling up at him.

"Hello yourself, so will I have the pleasure of kicking bad guy butt beside you, miss...?" Flash asked.

"Green Lantern, well obviously I'm not that Lantern, but technically I'm the third Green Lantern of Earth.
This is my first mission, and it's such an honor to be here working with you," Genevieve said, building up her courage.

"Aw shucks, no need to flatter lil ole me, and I should be the one saying what an honor it is to welcome you, Green Lantern!"

"Wow, thanks a lot, Flash!" Genevieve managed to say as she blushed. Who would have thought that her first mission would be with one of the Magnificent Seven that founded the Justice League, and she had to admit, the cameras didn't do him much justice. Genevieve always thought that they looked intimidating, given their place of power and all, but once she'd gotten to know Kyle and John those feelings had all but dissipated, and Flash especially seemed like a completely normal guy. She was suddenly snapped from her thoughts when another hero greeted them.

"Booster! Wait, you're coming too?" Flash asked, looking slightly crestfallen.

"It's nice to meet you too, Booster Gold. I'm Green Lantern." She said, nodding politely.

Booster Gold, MT

"Yep! It's a four man team, Flash. Didn't you hear?" Booster asked his comrade, before shifting his attention over to the Lantern. "And I figured as much, considering your color scheme and all. I don't suppose you have a nickname we could call you, or something? Considering we have two other Lanterns in the League, it might get...confusing, just to call you Lantern or GL."

"Oh, and this is Skeets," Booster belatedly stated, motioning over to his robotic friend. "He's the best robot you'll see anywhere in the 21st Century."

Then he looked over at MT, and paused upon seeing her. "Wow, you're scary...I mean, hello! I'm Booster Gold, and I assume you're Matriarch Time?"

The woman in question turned to Booster, staring at him through her visor.

"Yes," she replied simply, her voice coming out as distorted and robotic-sounding, due to the voice-modulator installed in her helmet. "I am Matriarch Time, the fourth member of this team. Though I prefer MT."

Before any other greetings or introductions could be exchanged, however, J'onn phased into the room. He looked over at the assembled heroes, and nodded upon seeing that they were all here.

"I apologize for my late arrival. I was busy at the command console," the Martian apologized. He looked over at Flash, and walked over to him. The alien hero withdrew a datapad from the folds of his cape, and handed it over to the red speedster. As the co-founder of the Justice League looked over the contains of the item, the Martian spoke aloud, explaining the mission objectives to the other three heroes.

"Khund, a distant planet near Qo'nos sector, is a violent and unstable world. Its inhabitants are prone to extreme and excessive amounts of violence, and wage war against each other constantly. There has never been a completely stable planetary government on the planent, and true peace has never been known on Khund...however, that may soon change. Three days ago, we received a request the local warlords of Khund; apparently, they are now holding a peace summit on their world, in an attempt to end the endless war plaguing their people.

"They have requested the presence of at least one team of Justice League personnel, so that the summit can have a neutral party presiding over it, and so that they can have peacekeepers that do not have ties to Khund. After some debate, the League has decided to accept this request. Thus, we shall be sending the four of you to Khund to fulfill the mission. It should not take long; according to the Khundites, it should not last longer than a week. However, I would ask that you all exercise extreme caution. The Khunds are a violent people, and anything could happe at that peace summit."

The Martian finished his little speech, and focused his gaze on Wally. "Flash, Superman and I have decided to appoint you as Team Leader for this mission, given your experience and senority over the other heroes present. Are you up for the job?"

[size]Flash, Green Lantern III, Skeets[/size]

"Group? Oh right, yeah, of course I heard it!" Flash said quickly, covering up his mistake and looking to the side, hoping to change the conversation.

"You're not the first to mention that," Gigi explained, rolling her eyes. "Funny enough, none of this Green Lantern Insert Roman Numeral Here business ever happens on Oa. How the numbers came to be is actually a pretty funny story, but anyway, you guys can just call me, Gigi... and that's not an acronym, either."

Skeets flew forward at the sound of his name, "Thank you, sir! I am also equipped with a large repository of available information, should you need them of course!"

"That's cool, but my ring's got me covered on that and more," Gigi said, lightly patting Skeets's head out of curiosity to see if he would let her.

"What is?" She turned around to see what Booster meant, and before she could stop the words spilling from her mouth, "...I want one of those!"

"Oh right, that MT!" Flash announced, remembering the armor-clad hero's somewhat notorious reputation. "Glad to have you aboard, but I gotta ask one thing from you. Is it true that your tin can comes with air conditioning too?"

He would have gone on a bit more, just to get a reaction out of her if J'onn hadn't finally made his appearance and gave him a data pad.

Upon finishing, Skeets whizzed around excitedly over Booster's head, "Can you believe it, sir? You get to help the Khundites achieve world peace, yay!"

"Am I up for it? Pft, relax J'onny I've got it covered, you don't anything to worry about!" Flash reassured his friend, giving him a clap on the back and turning towards the others. "Alright team, let's get this javelin to Khund and pronto!"

Booster Gold, MT

"Well, this'll be a first, Skeets! Never helped bring about world peace before." Booster commented cheerily to his robotic companion, before heading into the Javelin, where he decided to sit at the copilot's chair. MT followed him in, taking a seat in the back.

When Flash got into the pilot's seat and flew the Javelin out of the Watchtower, Booster looked back over at MT and couldn't help but get another creepy vibe from her. He leaned over to the red speedster, and whispered, "Hey Flash, what's the story on tall, dark, and creepy over there?"

Matriarch, meanwhile, kept silent as she stared out the window into space. Personally she didn't care what her fellow heroes thought about her, but it annoyed her some that she had a joker like Flash as the Team Leader. He would prove difficult to work with; of that, she had no doubt.

Flash

Flash hesitated on how to answer, he had been playing the subject of her a little too lightly earlier, mostly to avoid bringing it up. It took him less than a second to glance back to see that MT was distracted before leaning over towards Booster, "Well, that's kinda complicated, you see she used to really bring the hammer down on bad guys before the League took her in. She's mellowed out a lot compared to back in the day, from what I hear anyway. As for the suit, beats me, but Bats probably knows."

Green Lantern III

Gigi took a seat in the back near MT as the ship took off. She would take brief glances at her every so often, but that alone didn't satisfy her fascination with the mysterious heroine. After a few minutes of deliberation, she asked what she hoped didn't seem too intrusive, "...So, MT? What kind of stuff does your armor have?"

MT

MT looked over at the female Lantern, studying her for a moment. "My armor has a multitude of weapons and other gadgets that help me out on my mission."

Was this Lantern one of the chatty types? She rather hoped not. Beatrice didn't mind conversation, but she did prefer some amount of silence and solittude before going on a mission. Hopefully she could satisfy whatever curiousity this Lantern had, and then she could spend the rest of the trip to Khund in peace and quiet.

Booster Gold

"Really?" Booster looked over his shoulder at the armored heroine. Well, she certainly looked like someone who would go all out on a criminal. If just in that really creepy looking armor she called a costume.

"I wonder what she looks like under there," Booster speculated, pondering the subject. "Hell, I wonder if there's anyone in there at all? For all we know she could be some sort of cybernetic intelligence that lets people think she's human."

Booster paused, seriously thinking that theory over for a moment. Then he gave a snort and shook his head. "Nah, no way that's the case."

After a few seconds, he turned to Skeets.

"....Say, Skeets, buddy, you do detect life-signs under that hunk of metal, right?" he asked, just to be sure. Call him paranoid, but it couldn't hurt to ascertain the validity of that theory.

Green Lantern III

Gigi gave her a disappointed look. "Yeah, that's like me saying that my ring can make things to help me out, and that doesn't really say much about it, you get what I mean?"

Was Matriarch Time trying to avoid her question? Maybe she thought that Gigi would try to steal her technology? But that didn't make any sense, they were on the same side, unless MT was assuming that she was too stupid to understand the technology. Yeah, that could be it, she thought while still waiting for a proper answer.

Flash

"I'm pretty sure she is human, Booster." Flash interjected, slightly disturbed at the conclusion he came to. "Look, just relax about her and the rest of the mission will be smooth sailing, and maybe we won't have to work with her again either."

Skeets

"Of course, sir." Skeets replied, turning around to face Matriarch Time. His red iris dilated slightly before turning back to Booster, "I'm sorry, sir. I know I'm functioning at full capacity, but my sensors can't get through. They keep getting... scrambled, if you will."

MT

MT was silent for a moment. "Very well. You will have to be more specific in your inquiries, then. That would help me answer your question better."

It couldn't hurt to talk shop with Gigi, so to speak. Her armor was certainly unique, yes, but it wasn't the most high-tech equipment around. Other heroes carried far more advanced technology with them than was contained in the suit she wore. If anything, this suit was mor of an extension of her limited abilities. So long as it helped her in areas her powers did not cover...which was just about everything outside of freezing time...then little else about the armor mattered to Beatrice.

Booster Gold

"Huh," Booster blinked, glancing back at MT. Her suit must have had some high quality jamming systems in it if it could block Skeets. Oh well, that really didn't matter. Like Flash said, she was probably human. Or...metahuman, to be more exact. If he remembered correctly, she could also freeze time for up to a minute, a very useful power indeed! True, it was possible that that specific power of Matriarch's was the doing of her armor, but he considered it unlikely. Otherwise her time-freezing capabilities wouldn't be restrained so much. No, most likely it was some sort of natural power she had developed.

Perhaps, then, she used the suit to enchance her other abilities...? Maybe. Though it really wasn't his business to snoop. No doubt she wouldn't appreciate such investigations.

"Yeah, you're probably right, Flash." Booster agreed, relaxing a little. "I'm just being paranoid. Must have watched too many old vids. Er, new vids, I suppose. They're old from my perspective, but still new here."

Oh yeah, he was from the future, wasn't he? Man, that could get confusing sometimes...

Ah, time travel. How he hated, it so. Thinking about it too hard always gave him migranes...especially when it came toward refering to things that had been hundreds of his old in his timeframe, but were relatively new in the 21st Century. That was why he didn't try to think about it too often. Especially when it came to his own experience in traveling through time.

Green Lantern III

"Well, do you have any lasers, mini-rockets, acid, sleeping gas, tasers, bombs, blades, flame thrower, first aid kit, or any blunt object type of weapons in that suit?" Genevieve asked enthusiastically, images of each item appeared in her mind which only made her more keen to know more about her fellow heroine.

But how much space would any of those take up? Either MT's suit was like a Swiss army knife, or it would only hold what she deemed were 'essential,' and that didn't sound as interesting as the first option.

Flash


The ship came into Khund's orbit, just past the gas giant as it should be, according to the navigation system. Flash descended slowly into its atmosphere, Khund's gravitational forces were similar to Earth's, but only enough to make it habitable by human standards. After easing into the landing, Flash quickly dashed outside the vessel. "Now where's that escort supposed, I know I sent them the memo."

In another part of the general area, several pairs of eyes were watching the scene, ready to act on command.

MT, Booster

MT raised an eyebrow within her helmet, and merely stared at Gigi for a few moments. Finally, she said, "I hold a variety of non-lethal weapons, as well as any other necessary supplies. So I do not have any mini-rockets, lasers, acid, bombs, or flame throwers. I do have some blunt weapons, yes, mostly my gauntlets."

Mercifully, Gigi seemed to accept that explanation, mostly, and the next five hours were spent in blissful silence.

When they came to Khund and landed on the surface, they all exited the vehicle, where a largely barren and empty landscape was revealed, filled with dead, twisted trees and other signs of dead plant-life.

"Are you sure this was the landing sight, Flash?" Booster inquired, looking around the desolate area. "Because this looks more like the middle of nowhere, to me."

Green Lantern III, Flash

Genevieve was grateful to stretch out her legs after their long trip, although her first impression of the planet was, so far, less than stellar. "Oh yeah, I'm sure this place can be so exciting," she said, rolling her eyes at the environment.

"Hey Flash, where are we supposed to go from here?"

"We're supposed to have a guide take us to the camp where the warlord who hired us is staying at," Flash explained, taking another look around. "It's likely they just got sidetracked or something, I'll go check out if they're nearby, and I'll only go a few miles outward. Make sure your comms are on!"

When the last syllable was said, the speedster ran off to the somewhat more wooded area and was out of sight within seconds.

"This is going to be boring as hell, I just know it! Cuz when is politics ever fun?" Genevieve whined, forming a construct of a chair with her ring and sat on it.

Less than a minute later, several large forms gathered closer to the group, and from a hidden spot opened fire on them.

Booster, MT

The moment she heard the first shot, Matriarch Time sprung into action. She froze time around her, and dashed toward where the fire was erupting from. She was almost to the group of ambushers when time resumed flowing. All at once everyone around her returned to life. MT dodged the laser fire of the ambushers as best as she could, and pounced on their attackers, who hid themselves behind an outcropping. Their attackers were light-pink humanoids, most likely Khundites themselves. Still, who they were did not matter to Beatrice; she would fight them all the same, if they attacked their group.

The Khund nearest to her drop its weapon and brought out a double-edged battle axe. The Khund male roared at her, and charged.

Meanwhile, Booster Gold gave a yell and threw himself behind the Javelin for cover.

"Booster Gold to Flash!" Booster immediately contacted the senior League hero. "Get back here! We're under heavy fire by unknown and hostile enemies!"

He chanced a look outside his cover, and saw MT fist-fighting one of their attackers in the distance. Booster flew into the air and zoomed toward them, dodging fire all the same. He landed in the midst of the Khund warriors, just as one of their attacks drew out a sword, slashing at him. Booster dodged and landed a hard punch into the Khund's chest, knocking him back with the impact.

Flash

"Hold on, I'm coming!" Flash replied back before hastily skidding to a halt and turning back. He arrived within another few seconds to find the others in the thick of battle.

"Oh, you gotta be kidding me!" The speedster said upon seeing their Khundite attackers. Flash rushed over to Matriarch Time's side to cover her from two other grunts, pulling a helmet down over one's eyes, and tripping the other. "Hey MT! What's up with the goons? Where'd they come from?!"

His question would go unanswered for the time being when the first Khundite ripped his helmet and ran at Flash with a large knife in hand.

Green Lantern III, Skeets

The little robot flew around frantically trying to get back to Booster's side while avoiding being pummeled by any nearby Khundites.

"Way to go, sir! You show them what---! Uh-oh..."

A spiked mace was heading straight at the robot, and would have hit its target had it not been for a green snake like construct snapping its jaws over Skeets to form a protective bubble and reeled him backward.

"Next time, just stick with a bird's eye view of the madness, okay?" Genevieve said to Skeets before letting him go. She launched herself at one of the Khundite males, and clothes lined him to the ground.

Booster Gold, MT

"They opened fire on us with no warning," MT tersely replied, as she flipped one of her Khundite attackers over. "Is this our welcoming commitee? I find it rather lacking."

The time-manipulator throw a punch at another Khundite, sending him flying into a comrade. As they both tumbled to the ground, Matriarch dodged a swipe from a sword and kicked another Khundite's feet from under her. She pounced on the female warrior and delivered a quick and strong punch to her solar plexus, knocking her out. She then fired off a stun beam from a blaster installed in her gauntlet, throwing back a fighter that tried to ambush her while she was distracted.

The Matriarch froze time once more, and acted quickly as she jumped to her feet. She aimed several concentrated stun beams at several nearby attackers. The beams froze in middair, of course, but would resume their course upon the renewal of time. Beatrice then moved herself away from the main area of conflict, to give herself some space.

Sixty seconds later, time flowed back on schedule, and the stun beams leapt through the air, scoring direct hits on her targets.

Booster Gold, meanwhile, continued to through some good kicks and punches, tossing Khundite fighters aside left and right. These weren't some of the strongest menaces that the veteran Leaguer had faced, but since they swarmed in large numbers, they more than made up for that difficiency.

"Skeets!" Booster shouted over to his robotic companion. "Mind distracting these thugs to take off the heat a little?"

Flash

"You think I didn't notice that already?" The speedster said, matching Matriarch's tone. He weaved through a group of warriors, stealing their weapons before trapping them in a whirlwind and lifting them off. The resulting impact of their fall would put them out of commission for the time being. "We need to get outta here! Then we'll be able to figure out where the hell that warlord is."

Green Lantern III, Skeets

"I'm on it, sir!" The robot called back, generating dozens of Booster Gold holograms.

Genevieve took advantage of this and used them as both distraction and cover to take down the surrounding Khundites.

Nadab

A tall grizzled looking Khundite watched the fight from afar, occasionally sending some fighters in to keep it going a bit longer. His face broke into a wry smile and wandered over to them, laughing uproariously.

"Ha! You're much better than I'd thought you be, you see I heard that you Earthlings were rather soft, so I sent your escort with instructions to give you a taste of our way of life! What did you think of that, eh?"

((You weren't too clear if Nadab was speaking to himself or the Leaguers, so I'm just gonna assume the latter.))

MT, Booster Gold

The battle began to wind down soon enough, and after awhile all their foes lay beaten and broken at the feet of the heroes. Then, the calling voice of Nadab the Khundite reached the ears of the Leaguers. Matriarch observed the Warlord, scowling at him from underneath her helmet. Booster Gold similarly frowned and stared at the Khundite with an accusing look.

"So, this actually was our welcoming comittee? Well, you sure did a bang-up job of that." Booster deadpanned, crossing his arms. He was starting to get the feeling that he wouldn't enjoy this mission...

Flash, Nadab, Green Lantern III

"Oh, we just beat up the good guys?" Genevieve asked incredulously, wondering whether it was too late to apologize to the Khundites she had already pummeled.

"It was definitely... surprising" Flash said, trying to put up a positive front for the alien. "I take it that you're the Warlord who asked us to come?"

"The very same, and the name by which I'm called is Nadab," the Khundite answered. "Come, there are much things to be done and discussed before the summit. It isn't wise to discuss them here, but things have gotten quite serious since we contacted your Justice League."