Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“My Earth is dying.” Kara whispers, clutching at Barry’s arms, her grip almost too tight even for the speedster. There are tears running down her bruised cheeks, she’s shaking and Ray has never seen her like that. Neither did Barry, Ray’s sure.

“What?” The man asks and Kara gasps, her jaw wobbling as she swallows.

“They killed Superman.” She doesn’t get to say much more. The portal opens again, there’s green flash in darkness and a voice and Kara falls unconscious. Something’s coming out of the portal as well, and there’s yelling, and bright light and Barry’s zooming away with Kara in his arms. Ray can see Cisco working on the computer, trying to close to portal obviously, and there’s not much he could help Cisco with right now - he’s the one who came up with the gadget, he knows it the best. The priority is to protect as much as Ray can right now. His eyes turn back to the swirling hole. He swallows and stands up in front of the portal, happily noting the rest of the legends doing the same.

“Whatever it is, we will not let it through.” Sara says, orders, her sticks already in her hands and ready, frowning at the portal in front of her. Professor and Jax are already merged, Firestorm’s hovering up in the air few feet behind them and Mick has his gun trained on the portal. Ray hears Amaya’s pendant growl and he can see Nate steeling up on Ray’s other side. Ray’s arms are up as well, the helmet closed over his face, ready for whatever is coming. Cisco can close the portal - they just need to buy him enough time. If there’s something the Legends can do, it’s keeping the attention at themselves.

Something’s shifting in the portal, slipping through. They don’t let it come too far in, something Ray’s sure Barry will tell them off for later, but they’ve seen too much, been through too much. They are firing, Firestorm, Mick and he but their guns, their shots don’t do much. They do nothing actually - the thing vanishes before their eyes, de-materializes, and even Mick’s flame goes right through it. The thing - person - alien - has their back to them though and it looks like he’s struggling with something or someone. There’s more shouting (Ray’s going to have nightmares about that, he’s sure) and the portal closes just as the alien man pulls his arms out of it. Then all falls quiet.

The alien - green, Martian Ray’s mind supplies, as he remembers all the things that Kara and Barry talked about - turns around and looks at Ray. His eyes shine for a moment as his eyes slide up and down Ray’s body, before nodding slowly.

“Clark.” He says, his voice deep and lined with a touch of regret.  “We seem to have gotten our timing a bit wrong.”

“Uhm… who?” Ray blinks and watches as the alien’s eyes narrow slowly, before he looks around.

“Or the wrong Earth.”

The martian’s name is J'onn J'onzz (“No wait, seriously? Who comes up with that?”) and he tells them about the situation. He tells them they are not from the Earth Barry visited before, not from the Earth their Kara is from and for a moment Ray wonders just how many Earths there are where Cisco’s working at Star Labs. How many Earths Barry visited and how many Earths they gifted the small gate device to a Supergirl. (infinite, it seems)

J'onn tells them about the fight with the bad guys, about kryptonite poison that's running through Kara’s veins right now as he holds her close and how the sun rays can help her. He’s looking at them with eyes that are not human, but are just as full of emotions and he’s only calm once Barry takes the girl and the lights are shining down on Kara, the ugly green wound on her chest starting to lose the dark color.

After that J'onn tells them about Superman. About his death. About their Batman (who?) and the rest of the Justice league not being enough to help whatever evil they are fighting.

"Justice League?" Cisco asks at one point, his eyes shining in a way Ray knows way too well, but he's not sure is right at the moment.

"Yes." J'onn nods, turning to look at him. "The heroes guarding the peace of the Earth." He adds, looking around the room quickly. "Don't you have something like that here?" There's hesitation in his voice and Ray watches Sara shake her head.

"No. I mean. We have Flash for the Central City, Arrow for the Star one and well." She looks at the rest of them. "And then there's us."

"But we do more for the history than people in the present." Ray says quietly, not sure if he wants the rest to hear. That's something that was bothering him for a while now. They were the defenders of history, they were quietly watching people die - people who could do so much for the mankind if they just had a chance. They can't save anyone, not anyone who's not supposed to survive anyway and... that's not exactly what he imagined when he thought of heroes. Of Legends.

... at least they are not thinking about killing or kidnapping kids anymore. That’s an improvement at least.

"Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman." J'onn says pulling Ray out of his own thoughts, and his voice is lined with pain, as if just forcing those names out of his mouth hurts too much. Maybe it does. If they worked together, if they were friends… Ray knows how it feels to lose a part of the ‘team’. All of the legends know.

“Who are they?” Barry asks hesitantly, as if unsure he wants to push J'onn down the memory lane. But the more they know about the other Earth, the more they can help. As much as he’s hurting J’onn has to know that as well, because frowns but his mouth opens once more.

"The head, muscles and heart of the Justice League. They are the pillars of it." The words are sad and almost heartbroken and Ray hesitates for a moment. Because if this is already too much for J’onn – it sounds like it is too much – then their questions are just going to open his wounds more.

Before Ray can open his mouth, though, Sara's already there, her eyes narrowed in suspicion.

"One of them is dead. What about the other two?"

"We lost Batman before the evils joined their forces. There was an ... unfortunate event." His eyes darken. "There was another lost to the Justice League, Batman was the one affected the most. We did not see him ever since."

Ray can see the wary look Sara and Amaya exchange and he bites his bottom lip.

"Don't you have a way to contact him? A com or something? Or you know. You said your mind can feel others, can't you track him down or something like that?"

J’onn’s head moves to Ray, but his eyes stay glued to the same point on the wall. It’s like he doesn’t want to look at him, can’t stand to look at him and Ray tries not to feel… bad. Guilty. It doesn’t help any.

"Batman can be... difficult to keep track of, if he doesn't want to be found." He says slowly. "And some people don't want to find him anymore."

"Wasn't he one of the founders of the Justice League? What's wrong with him? Is he like Salazar Slytherin?" Cisco's eyes narrow. J’onn leans his head to the side and blinks.

"Who is Salazar Slytherin?"

"Your world does not have Harry Potter? Oh man. That sucks." Cisco winces, shaking his head. Ray would agree with that, but Sara's glaring before he can think about open his mouth, so he shoots Cisco a look instead. Maybe they could bring the Harry Potter books over through the portal. Give the world at least a little bit of joy. Or find that Rowling and ask her why she didn’t get to it yet and maybe even point her to the right direction. No world deserved to be without those books.

"If he was that important, why did people just give up?" Sara pulls Ray’s attention to the conversation once more.

J’onn doesn't shrug, even though it feels like he does. Ray can actually see it in his mind.

"Some people might blame him. Might think that if the man was still here, we wouldn't be in the middle of this... war."

"Do you blame him?" Ray asks, curious. Because J’onn’s not talking with hatred in his voice. Just this… sadness. Terrible and quiet.

J’onn's eyes settle on him, finally after forever (was the man - alien - trying to ignore him?) before he shakes his head.

"I do not. I believe he ought to be off-world. He would be around otherwise. Even if he wasn’t, I can't blame him. The fight already took too much from him."

It's that moment that Kara stirs, not waking up just yet, but there’s a movement. J’onn’s eyes snap over instantly, Ray would bet he was looking over maybe a second or two before Kara moved. The worry's clearly written all over Jonn's face, his hands twitching by his sides. Sara nods and steps to the side, leaves enough room for him to go to Kara's side. The legends use the moment to huddle together.

"Okay. This might be a bit problematic, but we might need Oliver's help." Sara mutters quietly, obviously not really wanting J’onn to hear. Ray believe it’s useless, because J’onn is going to know. He’s in a place he doesn’t know, with a girl he’s trying to protect. Of course he’s listening in. Or reading their minds.

"Or we might not." Mick growls, his eyes narrowed. "That's not our fight." While it’s not surprising, Ray thought Kara and Mick were bonding. Were actually bonding really well and Nate obviously thought so too.

"Kara's a friend!"

"That's not Skirt.” The growl is still in Mick’s voice, his eyes shooting over to glare at the young man. ”I know it, you know it, everyone here knows it, and this pretend game can cost us more than we’re willing to give.” He huffs. “It’s going to cost me more than I’m willing to give.” Sara is rolling her eyes at his words, but Ray can see Amaya wincing. She knows – guessed from Mick’s words and Ray’s explaining – just what Mick’s talking about. Mick, even though he hates to admit that he cares for them, would hate for anything to happen to any of them. He doesn’t want to lose another friend – not after he lost Len and Rip already.

Ray wants to tell Mick that it’s not going to happen again. That they are going to be fine, that Ray’s going to protect everyone from getting hurt. But as much as he wants to say it, he knows it would be just empty words. They have no idea what the other world is like. They have no idea what the dangers lie there, how terrible they have to be when not even the Supergirl – and Superman – could stand a chance there. Yet he still feels the need to go, the need to help. It’s what they should do, but he can’t find the right words to explain it to Mick.

“The aliens weren’t Kara’s problem either.” Barry says quietly from the corner, where he is listening. “Yet, she still decided to come help us. I know that this is not our Kara.” He lifts his hand when he sees Mick opening his mouth again, “but we wouldn’t be here if our Kara didn’t help. Maybe it’s karma, but we should help back. Maybe make new alliances in case we need it.”

It’s not why they are doing this. Barry knows that, Ray knows that and he’s sure that Mick knows it too. It’s about having an excuse though, something he can hide his good heart behind. Something that would allow him to do grudgingly something that he would want to do on his own as well, but would fight it.

And it’s really like that. Mick’s eyes are narrowed as he glances from one person to the other, before grumbling.

“If I don’t get to burn something, I’m gonna be mad.” He grumbles and bites into a sandwich that Ray’s pretty sure he didn’t give him (yet), but has prepared in the kitchen. “I’m also going to be mad if the food sucks over there.” Ray wants to ask. But he’s good at deciding on which battles to pick, so instead of asking just how  Mick got into a locked fridge he nods.

“From what they told us? I think you burning stuff is a requirement.” Mick’s eyes are positively shining and Ray knows he should feel bad. But Mick looks excited, no longer grumbling and that’s good enough.

“The question is, are we calling Oliver?” Sara adds, bringing them back to the problem at hand. “He might want to help.”

“Yes.” Ray nods and frowns. “But that would leave this Earth completely without defense. And even without an outside threat, there’s enough metahumans, time pirates and aberrations around. I’m not sure if I want to leave this Earth defenseless.” Because they are going to need someone to make sure they still have a home to return to.

Barry nods before sighing.

“We should at least tell him what’s going on, if we don’t want him on our butts soon. Let him know we’re leaving and give him the coordinates.” He doesn’t have to add the given ‘in case it’s a trap’. It doesn’t look like a trap though, because Ray has no idea who would hurt their own teammate just to what? Kidnap them into the next world? Kara didn’t seem the type to be evil in any world. And J’onn seems to be genuinely worried. His eyes keep running over Kara’s body, locking in on the ‘kryptonite’ as if he hopes he can heal that wound with a willpower alone.

For all Ray knows about him, maybe he really has an ability like that.

“Wally can help.” Barry continues after short hesitation. “Our team together with Oliver’s should be enough until we come back.”

“If we come back.” Mick mutters with his mouth full and Nate sends him a glare.

“That’s not very optimistic.”

Mick snorts.

“Whatever the thing we’re about to fight against is, it obviously killed a super human. It did nice job with the Fake Skirt too. I’d rather know for real what we’re fighting against then living of fake optimism.”

Ray sighs and looks at Sara. She seems to be of the same mind as Mick, by the way her eyes narrow. Ray guesses that’s why she is their unofficial leader. The instinct to see the bad to the worst kind of scenario before thinking about the easy one. It’s true that it saved them more often than not, but Ray still isn’t a fan.

“We will need more information to prepare.” Sara commands, glancing over their backs at the alien behind the glass. J’onn is still too busy worrying about Kara, running a hand through her hair and looking at her – finally – relaxed face. “We won’t go anywhere until she’s better. We can use the time to figure out just what he’s not telling us.”

“Maybe we could have Cisco vibe.” Ray offers. He didn’t see the power used yet, but he heard stories, and he’s really curious. He already has a list of things they should try with it too. It’s not every day that a friend becomes a super powered human being.

… or well, maybe it is, but only in Central City, as far as Ray knows.

“That’s not always a good idea.” Barry mutters, his eyes jumping to busy Cisco and back. “We can’t predict what he’s going to see. And sometimes… sometimes you don’t want him to see what he does.” That feels like there’s a story behind all of this, but Ray doesn’t ask. At least not yet. When the things calm down and they are back, when the world is saved once again, then there will be time for that.

The doors open and J’onn steps out. He doesn’t give any of them the chance to speak.

“She’s better. The kryptonite poisoning seems to be regressing.” The tone of his voice doesn’t change, but it feels lighter in a way. “Thanks to you.” He bows lightly and Ray really wants to know more about Martians. But this is not good time, so he just smiles instead.

“Well, you were the one who told us about the sunlight. We just brought the lamps. You saved her life.” They wouldn’t know what to do with a Supergirl full of kryptonite on their own. Maybe they should be writing all of this down, in case their Kara ever needed help like this. Maybe they should make a room that would amplify the sun rays, making her better sooner – or dealing with harder, worse wounds from the kryptonite.

“Still. I dread to consider what would happen without your help.”

Seeing how pale Kara was when she came through the portal, Ray would dare to make an educated guess. He’s glad that’s not the case though.

“Once she’s recovered, we will return to our Earth.”

“Aren’t you going to try and contact the Justice League from another Earth first as you planned to before? More allies are always good.”

“That is not possible. The device that you see was a ticket to only one Earth. It would either take us further and not take us home at all, or we can get home with it. And neither Kara nor I would leave our comrades facing the evil alone.”

“We’ll help you.” Barry says, exchanging a quick nod with Sara. “We might not be whoever you were looking for on that other Earth-“

“Superman.” J’onn offers interrupting, “one that already faced him. And survived, protecting the whole Earth.”

“Yeah, we’re not that dude.” Mick grumbles, pulling out a second sandwich, and Ray’s not sure he made that one. “But we can still kick ass.” He spits out the salad and tomatoes and oh yes. That’s Caitlin’s. “Or die while doing that.” The man grins. “Doesn’t matter one way or another since we’re not important for the time line anyway.” Mick’s grinning wide, shooting a pointed look to Nate. “Optimistic enough for you?”

Ray wants to tell him that’s not the truth anymore, that they do so much for the time line, that they work so hard to make sure it stays unchanged that someone would notice if they were gone. Someone would wonder. Thought that someone would probably only be Oliver and his team and even the question of how long is unsure there. The thought still hurts and Ray frowns and forces himself to focus back on the conversation, watching as Nate loudly complains about Mick’s negativity.

“Just tell him, Sara!”

“You’re both behaving like kids.” Sara glares, then rolls her eyes. “Now stop it, before our guest decides we’re more of a handful than actual help.”

“As if that would be such a bad thing.” Mick mutters around the food and Sara’s glare turns to him once again. Ray winces and his eyes move to J’onn to see what the man – alien – thinks. Whether he truly believes they would be more of a bother than anything else. J’onn is watching them, a small gentle smile crossing his lips. Like he’s seeing something the rest of them don’t. Ray wonders if J’onn could see the future and he didn’t tell them. Though if that is the case, he probably wouldn’t need help from another Earth.

“J’onn is not thinking that.” Ray proclaims before Nate can say anything else - ever since he and Amaya got together, Nate picks the most terrible timing for fights. He picks terrible reasons for fighting as well. Maybe Ray should talk to him about that.. “Are you?”

“No.” J’onn shakes his head. “What I’m thinking is that you already found the most important pillar of Justice League, even without Batman, Superman, or WonderWoman.” J’onn is still smiling, even when the Team Flash Legends turns to look at him. “Friendship.”

“Yeah, Friendship is magic!” Cisco yells, pumping his hand to the air and Barry rolls his eyes. There is still smile on his face and suddenly he looks the same as when the first time Ray met him.

“Aren’t you supposed to be working on that device?”

“Hey! Don’t rush the genius!”

Kara wakes up.

It’s not like Ray ever doubted that she will, he didn’t. But it’s good to see her open her eyes anyway. Though when her expression turns from slightly pained to confused when she looks at their team, and then twists into disappointed and sad, something inside of Ray’s chest hurts.

“We’re going to help.” He says as he’s sitting next to her while Caitlin does some tests to make sure Kara’s alright. He’s half worried she’s going to say no, that they don’t need them. That they wanted Superman and no one else – J’onn looked like he was close to saying right that when he figured out they had the wrong world, but Kara’s not J’onn. She smiles, a little sad and nods.

“I need to thank your Justice League.” She says, then her eyes jump over to where J’onn is standing before wincing. “I’m sorry. I keep forgetting. It’s just… so weird that there’s an Earth without one.”

Ray guesses he would try to tie himself to something familiar too, if he was half-stranded in a different world. He doesn’t tell her that they don’t need a Justice League, instead he grins, leaning closer to the girl so he can whisper into her ear.

“We’re something better.” Kara lifts an eyebrow and Ray’s grin widens. “We’re Super Friends!”

“Hey! I’m using that and telling everyone it’s mine! Just so you know!” Cisco yells from his desk and Ray wasn’t even aware the guy was listening to the two of them fooling around. He still smiles sheepishly, embarrassed. The words were supposed to cheer up Kara, not make everyone think Ray is crazy. But Cisco is grinning to himself and Kara’s smiling and Ray always took small victories where they were. He has no problems taking this one.

They are talking about differences between their Earth and Kara’s, J’onn, Barry and Sara never too far from them, when Caitlin steps forward, frowning lightly.

“Well, the good news is, I didn’t find any remains of Kryptonite in your blood.” She says, before looking up. That’s great news, not just bad and Ray has no idea why she’s frowning like there’s something wrong. “Which is also the bad news.”

“How’s that a bad thing?” Barry asks, shaking his head. “Isn’t that what’s hurting her?”

“Yes.” Caitlin nods, but there’s still something in her tone. “But if she has no traits of Kryptonite in her blood, I took her blood with a normal needle.”

Ray can pinpoint the exact moment everyone realizes what that means, because everything quiets down. Barry and Sara are not whispering anymore, Cisco’s not laughing with Jax and J’onn’s not moving an inch.

It’s Kara who breaks the silence.

“No.” She shakes her head, “that’s not possible. Look.“ She turns, glaring at a spot on the wall. A moment goes by, then another and nothing happens. A heartbeat later Kara turns back, her eyes wide and desperate as they seek out J’onn,

“Nothing’s happening. I can’t.” She’s shaking, her body along with her voice.

“It’s okay.” J’onn says, his voice calm as he opens his arms. Kara doesn’t hesitate. She’s in his arms as quickly as her human speed allows, hiding her face in J’onn’s chest as J’onn’s arms close around her and the worry finally slips onto his face.

They let the two of them alone. They  look like they need it. Because Kara might not like it, being practically defenseless in front of strangers on the Earth she didn’t even plan to go to. Because they need to talk and figure out if there’s something they can do and if the answer that Caitlin’s gonna give them is no, then it’s better that they get the news somewhere where Kara won’t be able to hear – without her superhearing.

Ray still can’t believe that.

“There has to be something we can do.”

The look Mick gives him makes it obvious that the man doubts it – or that he doesn’t care, however the rest of them want to translate it as. He also turns his back on the group and goes off in the search of – probably – food, and the little comfort he finds in that. Ray frowns before looking at Barry. Because Barry, while not an expert on aliens, not just yet at least, knows the most about Kara and how she works. He’s also extremely lucky, and for some reason, Ray feels like right now, that luck is what they need the most.

Barry just shakes his head though, glancing back over to those two.

“I don’t know.” He whispers, his shoulders falling. “Are we sure there’s no Kryptonite?”

“I can run the tests again,” Caitlin offers hesitantly and Ray doesn’t need to be a mind reader to hear the but it won’t change anything that’s left unsaid. Still, it’s at least something for them to do. A way to fill the time. The prolong the gap before they become desperate.

“Can I help with anything?” It’s a stupid question, he knows, it’s not like Caitlin is about to operate on Kara, she’s just going to fill a few vials with blood to run some tests that Ray can’t even imagine, but still, sitting like this make him feel edgy. He needs to do something, needs to feel like he’s helping somehow. Anyhow.

Caitlin is looking at him, hesitant and a bit sorry, and that’s when Cisco lifts his hand.

“You can help me with the device. It kind of looks like mine, and I was sure it is one of mine but there’s some kind of blockage that I can’t get through. Like it’s waiting for something but I’m sure I didn’t program it like that.” Ray nods, more than happy to get busy, to do something, even if it’s just listening to Cisco talk about the device.

“Maybe it’s waiting for us to get our guard down.” Mick offers from where he’s sitting in the corner of the room, a beer in his hand – at least it’s change from the food – and shrugs. “That would be the perfect plan.” He adds after he, thankfully, swallows. “Worthy of Snart.”

For a second the entire Legend team freezes over. Ray thinks it’s not really fair, they have a quiet agreement of not talking about Snart, especially not in front of Sara who frowns and shakes her head.

“Ray, go try to help Cisco. Caitlin do those tests over, the rest of us… we’ll find something to do.”

“Should we get Oliver now or later?” Barry asks, and there is a touch of hesitancy in his voice. Ray’s not surprised. Oliver always looked at things from the pessimistic view, always searched for the traps and the not nice surprises first. Which is good, it is, because it evened them out, made them careful where they would just rush in otherwise, but looking at the way Kara’s holding onto J’onn, the way she’s broken obvious in her tensed shoulders… Ray’s not sure he would want the man around right now. Because Oliver would try to help them, he would try to protect them, and in the process, he might hurt someone who doesn’t deserve that.

“Not just yet.” Sara mutters, her eyes trained on the girl as well. “We’ll try to figure it out first.”

They don’t.

They don’t figure out anything at all, everything is still the same hours later, when Caitlin comes into the room, the results pressed to her chest and worried expression sitting on her face. Cisco and Ray are still working on the device, and at least they figured out it seems to work based on touch, fingerprints even, though none of them has any idea whose – Kara’s aren’t working and J’onn doesn’t really seem to have any, at least he didn’t leave any behind. The device is not listening to them then, and not hours later when the doors slide open.

“It’s not a good idea.” Barry’s voice carries over to them before they see the guy and Cisco lifts his head from where he was resting (hitting his head over and over again) on the desk. “You can’t just go back. You have no powers.”

“The best fighters in our world are the one without those, Barry Allen.” The voice is quiet, calm and Ray has no idea how J’onn can be any of that.

“Then at least leave Kara here. You can’t expect her to fight like she is!”

“It’s a two uses device, Barry.” Kara says, her head held high, even though her eyes miss the shine that Ray got used to. “I’m not letting my friends alone. If we die, we die together.”

“Now that’s a stupid ass decision.” Mick drawls and Ray’s not even sure when the man came to the room. “You don’t die with your friends. You keep on living so you can make the person responsible for their death wish they could meet the same end.” The words are quiet, vicious and Kara looks at the man quietly for a moment, before nodding.

“That’s a way too. Not ours though. Not anymore.”

It feels like a story. Like something they should maybe hear about, like something dangerous that the more you know the more questions appear in your mind, but Kara doesn’t seem like she’s going to share any time soon.

“We need the device back.” J’onn adds, reaching out and Cisco hesitates.

“It doesn’t work.”

“It does. It was just specifically made for me.” The alien adds and takes the small disc from Cisco’s hand. His hand turns see-through and oh. Oh. They didn’t think about that. Didn’t think about the disc having the recognition inside of it, not like that.

“Wait!” Barry jumps up before J’onn’s hand touches the disc fully. “We said we’re coming with you. You agreed. You shouldn’t change your mind about that. With what you guys told us… you’re going to need all the help you can get even if Kara was in her top condition. We can do something.”

Mick scoffs and Barry winces.

“Well, we can at least try.”

Kara frowns at that.

“You can die.”

“Yeah, that doesn’t stop some of us.” Sara follows just few steps behind, her eyes firm as she looks over at the group.

“It stopped others.” Mick mutters quietly, but Ray’s sure if he didn’t stand as close to him as he is, he wouldn’t hear a thing. Maybe that’s why Sara doesn’t say anything. Or maybe she just agrees.

“Why would you risk everything for another Earth?” J’onn’s eyes seem to be stuck between being full of wonder, thankfulness and a bit of suspicion. Ray has no idea what Kara and J’onn talked about when they were alone, but it’s obvious it didn’t help. Ray doesn’t really want to see what world that would do to someone. A world that would make him question even the people he thought were his friends when he got back to his senses. Or maybe, maybe J’onn is a bit like Oliver. His overprotectiveness when it comes to Kara would show exactly that. “Do you not understand you can die?” Oh. Maybe that’s it. Maybe those two just worry, don’t want the life of any more people being lost.

“It’s the right thing to do.” Ray says, smiling and Mick rolls his eyes next to him.

Nate groans but thankfully doesn’t start anything with Mick, just nods.

“We’re already out of the time stream. What is the worst thing that can happen to us.”

“Die?” Mick offers and Ray rolls his eyes.

“Didn’t stop us before.” He repeats Sara’s words and Mick groans.

“Not the hero stuff again.”

“No, not the hero one. Legend.” Ray pretends he doesn’t see the way Mick rolls his eyes.

Oliver tells them it’s a terrible idea. He tells them it can be a trap (it’s not the first time that someone from other Earth came pretending to be a friend, Barry, come on you know that, even your best friends can be villains somewhere else! You can be a villain somewhere else!), tells them not to move anywhere until he can get there (give me minutes, minutes ) and he’s not happy when they do not listen.

But Barry plays the responsible card, tells him that this Earth needs at least one of them, at least one group of protectors at least until they can get back (if you’ll get back Allen, if) and asks him to take care of Caitlin and Cisco if anything goes wrong. (There is a story too, Ray knows, but the way Cisco looks at him, begs him not to ask holds his tongue). They agree that Ray and Cisco can work out some kind of communication – Ray has one of Cisco’s own devices, that he can tune in with the place and hopefully they’ll manage to open another doorway, or a portal. They have a plan. They have a plan and it’s all going to work out.

Oliver points out that their plan is wobbly at best. He’s not wrong.

They are all standing in the Star labs, waiting around J’onn and Kara. It doesn’t take long to open the portal, J’onn’s hand disappearing inside of the device and the light appearing in front of them. The two don’t hesitate. J’onn’s hand closes over Kara’s and they are walking through, not looking a back at the rest of them – leaving the final decision to them. Giving them the time to change their minds.

“You don’t have to go.” Oliver says what those two didn’t, his arms crossed over his chest. The glare is part of his caring expression, Ray learnt over the years.

“Oliver’s right.” Barry nods as he looks over at them. “You don’t have to go. There are no promises holding you to that and it can be dangerous. It will be dangerous, and none of us know what’s really waiting for us there.” Oliver makes a disapproving sound that Barry promptly ignores. “We just know there’s a big bad guy that a League of Superheroes couldn’t defeat just yet. So if you don’t want to, if you’re not sure, you really don’t have to go. No one’s going to think anything bad about you.”

“We might actually think something good.” Oliver huffs and Mick growls.

“You’re not the boss of me.” The man bites out and walks through the portal without as much as glancing back, his hand firmly closed around his heat gun. Ray can’t help the small smile. In a way, Mick and Oliver, they are similar if one knows what to look for.

“You heard the man. All of them.” Sara rolls her eyes. “I swear women talk less than you two.”

“Is that why you like them more?” Jax asks stepping up the steps behind Sara and Sara throws a knowing smirk his way before disappearing through also.

“Are you really sure about this Jefferson?” Stein asks like he’s trying to make Jax change his mind, even though his eyes are gleaming with the hunger of knowledge. “As fascinating as other worlds can be, it’s dangerous. You have your whole life in front of you.” Ray can hear him practically begging, the tone of voice not really sitting with his words. Jax hears it too, because he rolls his eyes and grins.

“It can be an early Christmas present then, Grey.”

Stein is positively beaming as he’s running up the stairs after the boy.

Nate and Amaya don’t say much. Don’t say anything at all, just look at each other and walk as close to each other as possible, their sides brushing together, unsuccessfully trying to hide their relationship. It hurts watching them, but yet, Ray can’t tear his eyes away.

“Ray.” Oliver’s voice comes, hard and commanding and Ray blinks. “You don’t have to do this. You already did a lot. More than any of us.”

The words are nice. They are warm and exactly what Ray would want to hear at one point. They aren’t enough now though. He smiles, a little sadly as he walks backwards to the portal. Caitlin, Iris and Cisco are watching from the side and Oliver is standing in front of him, his hands curled into tight fists. His lips are a thin line and his eyes are worried and sad and he looks like he wants to reach out, grasp at Ray and forcibly stop him from going further. He wouldn’t though. That’s just the way Oliver works. Ray shrugs.

“Not as much as Leonard.” The light is blinding and Ray has to close his eyes. When he opens them again, he sees ruins.

Chapter Text

Ray can’t hear a thing. It’s like everything got suddenly quiet, like there is not even wind whispering as it plays with his hair. It’s not that, he knows. He can see Sara and Barry talking to J’onn. He knows the world didn’t just mute itself. Hopefully he didn’t go deaf either.

Maybe it’s just the fact that he can’t breathe. Maybe it’s the fact that every breath Raymond even attempts to take catches in his chest as he stares at what had to be a city full of life at one point, but now… Now there’s nothing like that. There are ruins of buildings, ruins of the whole city and Ray can’t do much more than stand there, body frozen with dread as he’s trying to force his lungs to fill up with oxygen over and over again.

It’s obvious that the devastation is not a new thing- the dust is long settled, the books, toys and everything else is lying under a heavy layer of it. There’s a big fence around this place with what Ray believes are warning signs on the side.

A portal opening next to them is what finally shocks Raymond enough to gasp out, to take a deep shaky breath as several people step through. Kara’s walking there, Ray can see her smiling before her eyes turn dark and the smile slowly slips off her face.

A woman with long dark hair, warrior clothes and sword steps forward and eyes them curiously but doesn’t ask anything. Instead she turns to Kara, opens her arms and hugs her even before she knows what’s wrong - Ray wonders if this thing is happening a lot. He wouldn’t be surprised, looking at this nightmarish world.

He doesn’t realize he’s shaking - not until he feels Mick’s hand low on his back, Mick’s presence strong, silent and warm next to him stopping the shivers running through his body. It all feels like too much. This place smells like sadness and pain and death and Ray can’t take this much longer. Thankfully, he doesn’t have to. The woman’s head lifts and she glances at J’onn before pulling away and turning to their group.

“Come on, we can’t stay here. They will be here soon.” She says, before another portal behind her appears. She turns, but before she can take a step forward Sara frowns.

“Just like that?” She asks, her eyes narrowed.

“J’onn says we can trust you. Do you trust us?” She lifts an eyebrow at Sara, the look challenging. Ray only now notices the golden lasso on her side, and even that’s only because he swears he could see it shining in the sunlight for a second.

“We do.” The words fall off his tongue, they roll out as if they were in a hurry even though he did not mean to say anything at all. Sara is their leader, and Barry maybe, they should be the ones talking about it. They should be the ones making treaties, telling these people why they are here. Telling them they come in peace and maybe even offer the Vulcan’s greeting. But it’s too late now, because Ray can’t just keep quiet.

The woman’s eyes turn to him, widening. The group didn’t notice him before, probably, because the guy dressed in green freezes, his arms falling to his sides from where they were crossed over his chest defensively and Ray can see his mouth falling open.

“Is that-?”

“Kal.” The woman gasps, stepping forward. “They found you.”  

Ray’s eyes widen and… he can almost feel hope falling off these people in waves. Ray has never known hope to be so… restraining. He never knew hope could choke someone as much as it is doing him now. It’s like being on the open sea in the middle of the storm, water coming over and over again, trying to pull him under and Ray can’t breathe. He can’t say no to these people, but he can’t lie to them and –

“Diana, no.” J’onn speaks and Ray’s eyes jump to him, silently thanking him for the rescue. He’s unable to face the group, but as long as he can just focus on J’onn, he can be fine. He can. “He’s not Kal.” The woman – Diana – opens her mouth to argue but J’onn shakes his head. “I’ll explain. I’ll show you but as you said. We need to go.”

Diana’s mouth sets in a firm line but she nods, slips past the portal without looking back. J’onn nods at them to follow just as Kara steps through as well and Ray’s not sure how he makes the few steps over himself – maybe it’s the legends pushing forward together, maybe it’s just him surprised at going through these… these portals, he’ll have to ask about them, maybe that could help Cisco with creating their own device later on or something – but when the light of the portal disappears, he lets out a breath he wasn’t aware he was holding.

This place is better. It still looks like a place where refugees come to hide from war, but at least it doesn’t smell like death anymore. It just smells like despair and shredded hope, but yet there’s the willingness to fight within these people. Fighting for revenge or something else, Ray has no idea, but it reminds him a lot of the time on the Waverider when they lost Len.

“What is this place?” Nate stares. Diana looks at them, spreading her arms.

“This is Mount Justice. It’s where we used to reside before we got our station in the space.”

“Any reason why you’re not there now?”

“Yes.” Diana nods. “It is destroyed.” She turns around as if that explains everything. It doesn’t. Ray exchanges a look with Sara, glad to see she seems just as confused as he is. Not a woman thing then.

Jax frowns.

“Do we get to hear how that happened?”

Diana glances back at them, obviously confused for a moment before recognition dawns on her.

“I’m sorry. We’re so used to having the mental connection that J’onn provides that I forget that someone else might not be included.”

Well that is a way to make someone feel welcome. But then again, Ray can understand that. They were so used to being alone, to protecting each other that even the thoughts needed to be protected. They already allowed them in here, so that speaks of certain trust. Desperate trust maybe, cause they didn’t even do anything yet, but they needed them to be on their side. Ray’s hands curl on his sides as he takes a deep breath. If there is anything he can do to help these people, he wants to do it. No matter the price.

“It got destroyed when Brainiac first arrived. We managed to protect the Earth, but our station didn’t survive that. Then the other evil came and used the time we were weakened.” Her eyes darken, her expression falling and Ray bites his lip. It’s obviously hurting her – the memories, but he feels like they need to know, kind of.

“What other evil?” Barry frowns. The guy glowing green lifts an eyebrow over his mask and smirks.

“If you’re going to fight with us, you will see.”

Sara’s eyebrow twitches at that, she takes a step closer and opens her mouth with the intention of delivering the beating of a century, Ray’s sure. That might not be the best start to their newborn friendship though, but thankfully this Earth’s Flash stops next to him, before Sara can get out a word.

“No. Bad, Hal. We talked about making friends.”

The green guy twitches, looking like a kid caught with his hand in the cookie jar, but too defiant to admit he’s doing something wrong.

“We don’t even know them and we trust them?!”

“Yeah, see, that attitude is kinda undermining the whole thing Diana said before she dragged them here.” The Flash shrugs. The green light guy – Hal – glares.

“You weren’t even there!”

“Yeah, but our mikes still work.” Flash snorts, his arms folding over his chest. “Not to mention you had no problem trusting them when you thought the guy was him.”

The guy gapes at the Flash, his mouth opening and closing in an imitation of a fish before he snaps, making the Flash roll his eyes..

“I did not trust them! I was just surprised!”

“We both know you were ready to trust every word, hell every glance if that was him.” Hal’s mouth’s opening again, but the Flash lifts his hand. “As any of us would.” He adds quickly. “But I don’t think these people should be any different. They left whatever world they lived in to get here. Without really knowing what this place is like, without knowing what they are fighting against. They are good people, Hal.” Hal still seems to be pouting, but his shoulders are down and his voice is not as contrary when he speaks again.

“Not real names in the field.” He mutters.

“Not your gig.” The Flash smiles a bit sadly. “But you know what? Maybe that’s a good start at a trusting friendship.” And just to prove his point the guy pulls off the hood off his face, smiling brightly at the group.

“Barry Allen. Nice to meet you lot.”

It’s a gesture of good will. One of them should reach out, open their mouth and return it, but Ray’s pretty sure the rest of them are as busy as him staring at the man before them. It is Barry and at the same time it is not. This guy looks older, his eyes a bit darker, sadder than their own Barry’s and Ray hopes it’s just his imagination. Or if not, he hopes (and feels terrible for it) that whatever happened to make this Barry so different doesn’t happen in their own world.

The smile on other Barry’s face starts to fall and Ray wants to do something. Wants to move, wants to do anything at all, because Hal’s starting to frown as well and he’s stepping forward but Ray’s still just standing there and –

“Of course it’s nice to meet us. We’re the ones who’re gonna save your asses.” Mick grumbles next to him. Ray’s head snaps over to look at him, before he looks quickly at the group. That’s it. They’ve done it. Whatever trust they were trying to build is gone and –

The other Barry suddenly laughs, loud and clear, the lines on his face fading for a moment, making him look younger. The guy reaches out, pats Mick’s arm – making Ray reach out and grab at Mick before he might deciding retaliating with burning the Flash might be a good idea – and nods.

“That’s exactly the spirit we need.”

Ray’s eyes are still wide as he looks up, but he doesn’t need to worry. The group around them seems more amused than anything else. Even Diana is smirking and Ray can swear he hears her muttering about true warriors, old acquaintances and some people being the same no matter the place or time.

The Mount Justice is huge. It seems bigger than Star Labs even and there are places Ray could imagine spending hours if not days in. Their laboratory is amazing, but it’s the computer system that catches Ray’s attention.

“This is so cool.” He breathes out as his fingers run over the keyboard attached, trying to read as much as he can before the celebratory dinner. (“Is there something to celebrate?” Hal grumbles making the Flash roll his eyes and Diana smile. “New allies. Small victories. Even in times of war, especially in times of war, we should honor those. Because we never know when our ways can part.”)

“It is, isn’t it?” A woman voice speaks and Ray’s eyes snap up and around the room. The voice laughs at his attempts. “Don’t worry, I’m not there with you. B wouldn’t be happy.” She admits with fond amusement in her voice. “He’s still a bit overprotective. Anyway, I’m the Oracle.”

The name sounds familiar… but Ray can’t put his finger on it.

“Are you an AI?” He risks asking and Oracle laughs again.

“Sorry to disappoint you, but no. I’m just the person overlooking this place, making sure there are no traceable points, and preparing the missions for the League.” Ray can hear her voice getting heavier. “Protecting this place from him.”

Him. The league still didn’t say anything, not yet, and Ray swallows, leaning a bit closer to the computer.

“Can I ask?”

“You already did.” A picture of green face appears on the screen in front of him and Ray doesn’t jump back – or at least he won’t admit it, to anyone who’s not Oracle, because going by the quiet laughter she already knows anyway. “Didn’t Diana tell you though?”

Ray’s attention is pulled to the picture, a face looking kind of like a cross between alien and machine and he shakes his head.

“No. She mentioned something among the lines of nightmares not going anywhere without our help. She was going to tell us later.”

“Then why not wait until then?”

Ray knows that’s not going to be a long time, not now. But if Diana tells them in front of everybody, if everyone will know at the same time…

If Ray knows before, maybe he can do something. Maybe he can do research. Maybe he can look at it from the point of view no one else did before, maybe… maybe he won’t have to risk his friends as much as he’ll have to if there won’t be any preparation. He has no idea how to voice it though.

“You really are a lot like Clark.” Oracle whispers. Ray can hear the undertone of pain in her words and he bites his lip as he looks up again.

“Clark?” He asks, even though he already knows the answer. But another thing he knows is, that sometimes people don’t care about that. Sometimes people just need an invitation to talk, to get things off their chests. Ray always good for that at least.

“Superman.” Oracle explains, before the face moves to one of the top monitors and the rest of the screens are filled with videos and pictures of a man. A man wearing Ray’s face.

It’s the same as it was with the Flash. The man is him and at the same time isn’t, his face almost identical if a bit older maybe, lines harder even when he’s smiling. Ray fights the urge to reach out and touch the screen. Instead, he takes a deep breath, looks from one picture to the other, before jumping onto the next and next one.

There are some picture of ‘Clark’ as human. An unsure smile that Ray knows way too well on his face and glasses, block and pencil in hand. Cheap suit, or jeans with a shirt. But then there are pictures of the man in action, of the man dressed in blue with the red cape.

The heat vision coming from eyes so similar to Ray’s. Freezing breath slipping from Ray’s lips. Ray’s body lifting up cars, Ray’s body running at super speed.

“So it’s not a super thing.” He mutters.

“What?” Oracle asks, making Ray wince. He didn’t realize how his words might sound at first, and he quickly opens his mouth to explain.

“Kara and… Clark. They have the same set of powers. So it’s not a super thing by itself. It’s… an alien thing. Any kind of alien from the same planet would have the same set of powers?” He tries to make his word make sense. “That might be problematic if someone… if someone not good from the same planet came to Earth, right?”

Oracle is quiet for a moment before she speaks again, her tone quiet, but not angry or hurt as Ray feared it would be.

“You might be similar, but you’re also very different. And perhaps it’s for the best as well.” Ray wonders what that means, but the Oracle is not offering anymore enlightenment on that topic. Instead the pictures of this Earth’s Superman, Clark Kent, disappear. In their place appears a man or creature with skin as if it is made of stone in blue armor and for some reason, Ray’s blood runs cold.

“This is Darkseid.” Oracle whispers. Ray doesn’t need to hear more to know that this is the being responsible for this world’s grief and sorrow. The blood red eyes staring directly at the camera, as if challenging anyone who would dare. As if challenging the Justice League that this world has. Or maybe Superman himself.

The picture changes again, this time there are creatures around the man, flying and very beast-y looking. Another change. League fighting against the thing, hitting it with all they had. The glittering lasso that Diana had on her hip around the creatures’ neck, a cyborg looking guy, shooting the thing and Ray can see arrows hitting off its chest plate. The Justice League on the ground and another picture, with some red lasers coming out of the thing’s eyes all the way to Superman, who’s bend over backwards, face scrunched in pain and-

“I’m sorry, that might’ve been too much.”

Ray’s only now realizing how tense he is, his fingers clutching at the console in front of him and he blinks, trying to pull himself back into the present time. He can still see the image when he closes his eyes, so he makes sure they are firmly open as he licks his lips.

“Well… it appears we’re going to have our hands full.” He says in the end, offering the screen a small smile.

There is no answer for a moment and when Oracle’s voice comes again it’s almost just a whisper, as if she’s reluctant to speak at all.

“You’re not afraid?”

Ray laughs at that.

“After what you showed me? Of course I am. I’m terrified.” He admits before shrugging. “But… ‘Courage is the mastery of fear, not the absence of it.’” This guy is more than what they ever fought. More than Savage, more than Time Masters, more than anything Ray dares to imagine right now. But as Snart showed them all before, the Legends were too stupid to back off when they should.

“We’re going to figure this out.” Ray nods, his voice firm as he straightens his back. “We are and we’re going to beat this guy and make sure he won’t ever hurt or endanger anyone else.” There is no other option. That’s what they are going to do – that’s what they always did, found a way where no one saw even the smallest path.

Oracle chuckles and Ray can almost imagine her shake her head – or at least her avatar.

“What was it that Barry said? ‘That’s exactly the spirit we need’?” She said, smile clear in her voice. “It’s great to have you on our side, Dr. Raymond Palmer of different Earth.”

…this is for the first time when no one is confusing him with Superman, when he’s actually recognized for who he is. Ray knows it’s stupid, but his heart still fills up with the soft warmth, his chest heaves and he’s smiling himself, looking up at the screen shyly.

“Are you sure you’re not an AI? Because I would have the bestest friend for you. Her name is Gideon and she’s just as amazing as you are.”

When Oracle laughs again, loud and amused Ray hopes he’ll get to hear that sound more often. He hopes that the woman will get the chance to laugh more often, because it sounds like she didn’t do that a lot lately. It also sounds like she needs it. Like everyone here, perhaps.

“I’m sure Gideon is a delight.” Oracle snickers. Ray’s smiling, grinning wide, the terrors of this world forgotten for a few moments. He’s not sure how much time he spends there, talking with Oracle, not really asking about this world, about the people these heroes might’ve lost – he knows how that hurts, knows the pain that edges itself deep in one’s bones. Instead he’s asking about the things that are not important – how come they don’t have Harry Potter. Are Star Wars around? What about Tolkien? Star Trek? Ray’s in the middle of looking through the alternative Star Wars timeline, because that’s apparently a thing here, when he’s pulled out of conversation by Nate looking for him, calling his name. Ray blinks, turns back to the screens, but Oracle is shutting them down, one by one.

“It’s okay Dr. Palmer. I’m sure we’ll meet again soon.”

Ray hesitates, before offering the last screen a small smile.

“While it’s nice actually hearing someone admit I have a title, friends call me Ray. Or Raymond, but Ray’s fine.” Maybe it’s stupid but while there are many wonderful people – aliens like John and Kara included – on this world, it’s not until Ray found this room, spoke to this person that he feels like he might have his own place in this fight. Like he’s not just a stand in for someone else. Like he’s recognized for himself.

Oracle hums, then her avatar changes and it actually smiles.

“Well… I think it’s fair for you to call me Barbara then.”

“Barbara.” Ray says quietly, testing the words on his tongue.

“Ray! Are you coming, man? There is this whole thing we’re missing out on!”

“Go. I’ll see you later, Ray.” Oracle – Barbara – says. Ray nods and turns around, the smile on his face widening. He doesn’t glance back as he steps out to meet Nate, so he doesn’t notice the camera that’s been following his every step turn and focus on the console he was standing at just moments ago.

He also doesn’t see Barbara’s avatar turning back to the stoic mask it was before.

“’Wing? We might need to call B.”

Ray stops in the next corridor, glancing back the way they came. There is… no way that could’ve been Barbara’s voice. Right?

“Come oooon.” Nate frowns. “Sara’s going to have my balls. Literally and not in any kind of a good way.” He whines, then his eyes widen. “Not that I would be interested in any kind of way with Sara, because yes, you know. Reasons.” He adds hastily as if Ray doesn’t know about the kind of relationship Nate and Amaya still have. “But Sara wants to make an impression on these people.” He urges. “Don’t ask me why, they are going to find out sooner rather than later, so she’s going to lose whatever fight she has with the green dude, but still.”

Ray’s eyes move from Nate back down the corridor for a moment, before returning to him once he hears Nate sigh. Yeah, just his imagination, probably.

“Well. Your balls are spoken for, so we can’t keep our dear captain waiting.” He smiles, following Nate through the halls of Mount Justice.

The green dude – Hal – isn’t as bad once he’s seated next to the other world Barry. Ray pretends it’s not because whenever Hal opens his mouth with certain glint in his eyes, Barry uses his super speed to kick the guy in the shin unnoticed by most of the others.

They find out that his alter ego is called Green Lantern, which, given his story of powering his ring through a flashy green lantern and generally being a guy with green light makes sense in a way that even Cisco would appreciate. They also find out that Diana is a princess of Themyscira and an amazon woman. Ray would love to ask about that. There are stories, myths that might come from their own world, but maybe they could come from this place also and he’s already opening his mouth, when he notices the look Sara shoots him, promising various levels of pain, if he doesn’t think about that again.

Yeah… maybe not asking things. Just yet.  

All in all, the big dinner is actually not as bad as Ray feared. There are some people around, but less than Ray would expect for a ‘League’.

“Some are off world.” J’onn turns to him the second the thought runs through Ray’s head. “Some are getting intel and some are hurt.” Like Kara. Ray knows she’s in the medical with some of this world’s leaguers. He also knows that J’onn doesn’t say the ‘or dead’ part, but Ray can almost feel it bubbling under his skin.

“Yes.” Diana says loudly, interrupting Ray’s train of thoughts. “However this is not a night of mourning. It is a night of new hopes.” Her eyes fall on Ray and he squirms in his seat, looking down on the table.

“I don’t care what this night is about as long as you give me more booze.” Mick grumbles as he reaches over Raymond to grab one of the glasses and down it in one gulp.

“Yes.” Diana nods, lifting her own glass, her eyes glinting with unsaid challenge as she smirks at Mick. “We shall drink.” She downs glass in seconds, smirk widening as Mick’s already reaching for next drink, not to be outdone.

Ray can hear Nate sigh next to him.

“I thought it was only legends that dealt with every problem by drinking. And drinking more.” he mutters, making Amaya next to him snicker quietly.

“It’s not that bad, Nathaniel.” She whispers. Nate shrugs.

“Yeah well. The drinks are fine.” He mutters and frowns. “But I still think we should be hearing about the ‘great evil’ of this world or whatever rather than getting drunk.”

Ray winces.

“Yeaaaaah… maybe you should want to be drunk for that.”

Nate’s eyes snap to him in a second and Amaya’s wondering gaze is not too far behind. Ray doesn’t twitch in his seat even though he sure wants to.

“How would you know?” Nate asks, his eyes narrowed and Ray shrugs. He’s not sure he can say the truth, but he’s terrible at telling the lies.

“I just saw a few pictures, videos of what we’re going to fight.”

“And?” Nate motions with his hand, making Ray frown.

“It’s… Whatever it is, it’s terrible. It kind of looks like human, a stone human, but that’s not the point.” He mutters quietly, trying to make sure no one is paying attention to them. Diana is right. The first evening maybe shouldn’t be about this. It should be about their teams joining, trying to find a way to bring them closer before they hit the battlefield.

Which are their own cities. In different world, but still, their own cities.

“What is the point?” Amaya puts a hand on Nate’s arm when Nate opens his mouth again and Ray bites his lip.

“Look around. All of these people fought this guy together and they didn’t beat him. All of these superhumans. And he actually-“ he doesn’t want to say killed one of them, not right now. “They lost someone because of him.” Even those words feel too heavy. “He won’t be easy to beat. It’s not Savage. It’s not… he feels worse than Eobard even.”

“… and Eobard killed all of us.” Nate looks down and Ray nods.

“Yes but… we were alone. And they were alone. They are not now.” It doesn’t sound like much even to his own ears and the look Nate shoots him says a lot about how that isn’t reassuring at all. But at least it’s not a lie.

“They’ll tell us more when they are ready.”

“Yeah, well, if the guy’s that dangerous, why aren’t they doing anything right now?” Nate hisses, leaning closer to Ray. On one hand he understands why Nate is asking. They should be focusing on that thing even now, but on the other hand, it doesn’t feel like Diana would just ignore an imminent danger like that. Diana doesn’t feel like the type and Ray frowns, thinking back on the pictures and videos.

“Maybe he’s hurt as well.” There was the whole league attacking after all. They had to deal some kind of damage together. Maybe it wasn’t enough to beat Darkseid, maybe it wasn’t enough to survive whole, but maybe it was enough to make him hide and heal on his own.

Your assessment is not wrong. We did manage to harm him.

J’onn’s voice fills Ray’s mind and Ray blinks.

I… thought you didn’t want to tell us anything just yet? He thinks, because he has no idea how this thing is supposed to work, but if J’onn managed to get into Ray’s mind, maybe he can just read whatever goes through.

I believe… Diana wanted to thank you for at least coming. She is of the Amazons – a tribe of fighters. There is supposed to be a celebration before a battle.

Ray knows why.

Because after one, there might not be all of us left.

J’onn doesn’t say anything to that. He doesn’t have to, because Ray still gets the feeling that there was no celebration before they lost Clark.

Why not hit now, when he’s weakened then? That’s Nate’s voice and Ray’s surprised for a moment. He had no idea that this… mental link, communication or whatever it is, could go more ways at the same time.

He has his protectors. J’onn’s voice sounds even, quiet. He’s also healing much quicker than the rest of us.

Kara. They didn’t even see her after they came here, after she got pulled to their own medical with a blonde woman in lead who, Ray is pretty sure, was wearing fishnets.

You don’t need to worry about her, she’s in good hands.

Ray’s not sure if ‘good hands’ are enough right now. Not unless they can heal her. Because he can very much imagine – he very much remembers - how it is to suddenly lose what made you useful in a fight. How it is to lose your powers and watch from the sidelines over and over…

He got his suit back though. If only something like that was possible for Kara.

We are doing what we can.

That is something Ray doesn’t doubt. J’onn and Kara seem very close, like a family. Like the legends. If Kara has the same type of relationship with the rest of these people, Ray’s sure they are doing everything in their powers – and maybe even beyond – to help. Probably doing one research or the other. The technology in their laboratory might be different to what their Earth has. If nothing more, they should have something created for the Kryptonians, considering they have at least two of them here.

Yes. We do have a chamber for them. She’s currently in there. We will be smarter when gets out.

A chamber?

Yes. Sun radiation chamber. It’s to replenish her solar energy levels. According to Oracle, they were low.

Maybe the travelling through portals took that much solar energy. Even though the Kara Ray knows never lost her powers when she jumped, it is possible that this Earth is further away, so the portal might be taking the reserves little by little. It would explain why J’onn didn’t lose his own powers. He’s not dependent on his solar energy reserves.

We’re not really sure. But unfortunately, ‘get them as close to the sun as you can’ seems to be the only thing we’re able to do, when it comes to Kryptonians, even though we have the Fortress of Solitude. J’onn ‘s voice is not echoing the way it was before. It’s quiet, as if it belonged only to his own mind again.

That’s because I do not wish to worry anyone else.

But everyone is worried one way or another, Ray’s sure. He glances to the side to tell Nate, but the guy is already in the middle of conversation with Amaya.

It’s okay. J’onn continues. I think it’s better this way. Kara doesn’t like to be what she views as a burden. Oh, I know you do not see her that way.  J’onn pushes gently before Ray can as much as think. But she doesn’t really know the bonds fighting together can create yet. She doesn’t believe that she’s going to be important to us even if she ends up with no powers, but she’ll learn.

It feels like J’onn can see into his very soul, into his own fears. Or maybe he just saw what Ray was thinking about in the back of his mind before. Maybe the link makes everything in his mind open, and he can’t hide anything at all. That not something Ray wants to think about right now, so he swallows and nods instead.

Can I visit her? In that chamber? Is she even conscious in there? She wasn’t conscious back at their Earth, but that might’ve been because of the Kryptonite poisoning, after all. But if she’s awake and she’s just there for several hours… that must be boring.

J’onn chuckles. It’s quiet and loud at the same time in Ray’s mind. It makes no sense, only it feels like it does and Ray’s tempted to ask J’onn to explain how it all works. To maybe run few tests with him, see if the communication could be replicated maybe by some kind of machine, maybe become a part of Ray’s suit. It would give them advantage in fights.

Later. J’onn thinks and Ray’s not sure which question is that the answer to. But he can feel J’onn smile, even if Ray’s not looking at him right now.

I’ll be happy to provide you with any and all information you desire late, after things calmed down a bit. Ray doesn’t need a link to J’onn’s head to know what he means by ‘things’. As for visiting Kara, she should be getting out any moment now.

That’s neither a yes nor a no and Ray’s not sure if J’onn voiced it like that on purpose. But before Ray can let his mind wander off in any direction, his heart’s pounding, his blood rushing through his veins and Ray’s almost high with happiness.

J’onn! Look!

J’onn must be linked to Kara too, because Ray hears that moments before the door’s pushed open and Kara flies inside.

“Look!”

Ray’s eyes widen.

Kara flies inside. She even does a little twirl in the air, stopping with her hands on her hips, her chest puffed out, the ‘S’ displayed proudly. She’s smiling the brightest, happiest smile and Ray doesn’t try to stop his own lips from grinning widely. No one else tries to hide their excitement either. People are standing, clapping. J’onn and Diana are at Kara’s side in an instance, hugging each other and laughing with people cheering in the background.

And if Ray’s eyes are a bit wet, it’s not his fault that he always liked happy endings.

“I’m glad our princess is all better again, because we’re going to need it.” A familiar voice drawls and Ray’s eyes snap over at the man appearing behind Kara. “Darkseid found a friend in Gotham.”

The words are supposed to mean something. They do to the most people around, probably, but Ray’s not paying attention to them. He can’t, because he’s too busy staring, gaping and he’s not even aware that the whispered ‘Leonard’ slips past his lips.