Growing Pains

"Batman's gone…"

I knew the words were wrong. I knew Batman wouldn't just get quietly taken out from something like the Imperium. He was probably hiding out somewhere in one of his thousands of bolt-holes sciencing up some gizmo that would be crucial to removing the goo-people from the planet, just waiting for the right time to make his reappearance.

The problem was, as much as I knew that…I couldn't prove it.

While I had never specifically told anyone about my Ki sense, Batman had picked up that I had some way of sensing where people were. He probably figured out it had something to do with Ki from my attempts to teach him and Robin how to use the stuff, and while he never actually managed to use Ki techniques, he was able to reduce his presence to the point I couldn't find him unless he wanted me to in like a week.

That was coming back to bite me because unless I got close and he wasn't attempting to hide, I'd never be able to pick out his specific Ki signature from everyone in my range.

Of course, just telling everyone he was still alive because he was Batman only got me some pitying looks and more attempts at consolation.

Looking like a child despite being a kickass Saiyan warrior did have its occasional downsides.

"Batman's gone…"

But worst of all was that tiny niggling voice in the back of my head. The one that kept treacherously asking, 'But what if they're right?'

I did my best to ignore that one.

"Do you mind if I sit down?" A voice interrupted my spiraling thoughts. I looked up to see Wonder Woman standing there with two trays of food.

I did my best to avoid making a face. MRE's weren't the horror stories I had heard of…but they still weren't great.

"Sure, go ahead." I motioned to an empty spot on the bench next to me before going back to looking out into the distance. Although, not going to lie, when everything is being covered up by nasty black clouds, looking out into the horizon loses a lot of its appeal.

I accepted one of the trays as it had been meant for me and dug in. Bleeh, overcooked noodles in a watery tomato sauce.

"So why did you want to sit by me?" I asked as I took another bite of food. "Shouldn't you still be busy planning how to deal with the whole invasion thing?"

Wonder Woman bit into her own food and I could tell she didn't find it much better than I did.

"We're taking a small break for now. The others are checking in on friends or family, or doing as I am and taking some time for a meal." She said after a small pause. "Flash actually suggested I stop by since he needed to check in on his protogé."

Oh yeah, Kid Flash.

I hadn't actually met him in person yet, since most of my activities tended to happen in the middle of the week when he would still be in school but I had at least heard he existed during the aftermath of my first fight with Hawkie.

Guess it made sense Flash would want to check in on him.

I wonder if anyone was going to check on Robin and if he had heard abou– nope! Not thinking about that!

"Okay, why though?"

"He thought it might be easier to talk about the loss of someone close to you with someone of the same gender."

I glared at her. "He isn't dead."

To my surprise, Wonder Woman didn't immediately just try to get me to accept otherwise. Instead she just nodded at my words. "But that doesn't change the fact that he isn't here right now, does it?" I scowled, but she had a point. "So what do you plan on doing next?"

"Not going to tell me what I should be doing?" I couldn't help but ask.

"Would you listen if I did?" Wonder Woman shook her head. "I know better than to tell a warrior what to do when they've committed themselves to a certain path, even one as young as you. You already know what you are going to do."

Huh, she could read me pretty well. That was a surprise.

"Yeah, I'm going to go back to the base the others escaped from and I'm going to go find Batman."

"And if there's no one left for you to find?"

My eyes hardened as I looked back out to the horizon where I could sense one of the Imperium's bases.

"Then I reduce the rest of the invasion force to ash and make them wish they had never stepped foot on this planet." I declared resolutely.

Wonder Woman looked sad when I said that but didn't say anything against it. She just collected the now empty trays, ruffled my hair, and went back inside the army base. I followed not long after because the MRE was an okay snack, but I was still hungry. Maybe the cafeteria had something better?

-o-

It didn't, as it turned out.

More food, certainly. Better? Nah.

But leaving the cafeteria with a full stomach and maybe slightly traumatized kitchen staff, I was politely escorted to a meeting room where all the heroes were going over their plan of attack.

When I asked why, I was simply told that if they couldn't stop me from attacking the Imperium, they could at least be there to support me.

Which is how I found myself being bored to near tears as the Martian Manhunter droned on and on and on. Yeah, it was soothing at first. But after a while soothing shifts into boring! Especially when the speaker doesn't emphasize anything and monologues in the same dull tone. Even the black Green Lantern guy looked like he was having trouble staying awake!

"...located in the main structure. This room has an advanced crystal that is responsible for creating the ionized gas terraforming the planet to suit the Imperium's needs." Oh sweet Oozaru, he's still talking! "Should the crystal be destroyed, the Imperium will be limited to operating at night. This will be to our advantage as while they are psychically nearly on par with martians, they cannot stand direct sunlight for more than a few seconds at most. This is how my people were able to stall their advance for centuries."

"Could we destroy the it with a bombing run or artillery strike?" One of the army people asked.

"No, there is a shield surrounding the structure that your weapons will not be able to penetrate. We will need to approach from the ground and make our way into the structure from there."

I bet I could break it.

"Then we will continue focusing on surrounding the structure and supporting the strike team." Someone whose name I forgot but remembered being introduced as a general spoke up, looking at the six heroes surrounding the table in turn.

I didn't mind not being included in the count. I wasn't a hero after all, and now that there was a plan in place I could go back to doing my own thing.

"And where do you think you're going?" Hawkie called out when I tried slipping out of the room while they were talking.

I turned back to her glaring at me like, well, a hawk.

"Nowhere special, I'm just going to go poke at the Imperium. You got your plan right? So I don't have to hang around anymore."

"It would be better if we waited." Manhunter said. "That will allow the sun more time to rise."

"But the clouds will take some time to go away, right? So why not get the cloud machine out of the way now?"

All the heroes gave each other a few looks before nodding. Looks like they agreed.

-o-

I glared at the lumpy black gray and red structure in the distance as once again my Ki sense showed no signs of Batman being in the area.

But I already knew that didn't mean much.

I was vaguely aware of the heroes splitting off in random directions. Each of them splitting up so they could distract the Imperium guarding the structure and find a way inside. All except for Wonder Woman who decided to stand next to me for some reason.

"Shouldn't you be going to help them?" I couldn't help but ask.

"I will soon," She said assuringly. "But I wanted to see what you would do. According to the others, you have great strength yourself. Perhaps I wanted to see it in action for myself."

I shrugged.

I would have thought an Amazon warrior princess would have wanted to be at the front of the assault, but if she wanted to see me put on a show I wasn't going to stop her.

"Suit yourself. Though you might want to move to the side a bit." I warned her.

"Oh? Why is that?" Wonder Woman asked, even as she took a few steps away.

I planted my feet and cupped my hands at my side. "Because I'm going to go right through their front door….KAAAMEEEEEE…."

I paid no attention to the humans that were suddenly startled by the ball of blue Ki forming in my hands. Instead, I focused on dredging up every scrap of energy I could and focusing it into one point.

".....HAAAAAMEEEEEEE…"

Unlike the time I had done this in the arena, there was no real rush to fire my technique. There was no one rushing to stop me, no one forcing me to hurry up. Just me, a glowing ball of weaponized life energy, and a target….

And that target was about to disappear.

"....HAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!"

A four foot thick beam of cerulean light lit up the area and launched towards the Imperium structure. Thanks to the invaders building on top of a rocky mountainous area there was nothing in between them and my attack that I needed to worry about.

Nothing beyond the shield Manhunter warned us about. Too bad for them it held for all of half a second before the beam attack tore right through it and into the structure it was protecting.

I kept the kamehameha going as long as I could until I sensed it punching out the back of the structure before I stopped pouring in Ki and let the attack sputter out.

"Hah…hah…ha…"

For several seconds the only sound was my panting breaths. Everyone was just standing still, looking at either me or the hole I put in the Imperium base.

Man, that took a lot out of me!

"...Great Hera…" Wonder Woman breathed eventually.

But there was no time for everyone to stand around basking in how awesome I was. The heroes were all converging on the hole I blew open! If I didn't hurry they would beat the alien leader before I could do it myself!

I kicked off the ground and started floating towards the alien structure.

"Okay, last one there is a bald tail!" I shouted back to the still stunned humans, making up a suitably insulting Saiyan saying – Sai-ing? – on the spot and then racing ahead.

-o-

The past several solar cycles had not been particularly pleasant for J'onn J'onzz.

It had started with the Imperium finally breaching the quarantine his people had maintained for centuries. A large group of them smashing through the defenses and making their way towards their neighboring planet, Earth.

When it became clear that the various Martian governments were not going to immediately send aid, too busy debating the worth of such an action and how to go about it, J'onn had decided to use his own authority as a Manhunter to pursue them.

Even if Humanity hadn't been judged ready to join the rest of the interstellar community, Mars could not afford to allow the Imperium to flourish by consuming the Earthlings only to return to continue their assault on his people later. Especially due to their own isolationist habits keeping them from making allies willing to assist them in combating the parasites.

Of course, it was thanks to those isolationist tendencies that led to him being surprised just how much contact the younger civilization had been exposed to in such a short amount of time. Humanity was very aware they weren't alone in the galaxy and had several other species revealing themselves all over the planet. A few Thanagarians, a Kryptonian, and some others he was passingly familiar with. Even a few races he had not heard of before such as the newest arrival, a Saiyan.

They even somehow had three active Green Lanterns.

J'onn had been hopeful that the presence of so many defenders would lead to a swift defeat of the Imperium. He had not anticipated that the parasites had already infiltrated the Earthlings and sabotaged any coordinated defense. Thanks to that, and the Human's tribal nature, Earth was doing its best to repel the attackers. But the response was disorganized. Scattered.

That was why he had called out to several of the 'Heroes' and crafted a plan to strike at the most vulnerable point of the Imperium. The source of the putrid smoke that protected them from the light and allowed them to thrive outside their subterranean dwellings.

He could honestly say he had not counted on the Saiyan girl nearly revealing his trump card ahead of schedule…or her pushing the schedule forward by vaporizing a significant portion of the Imperium's defenses with a single energy attack…but if there was one word that could be ascribed to Martians, it was that they were adaptable.

He led the Superman, the Flash, the Hawkwoman, and a Green Lantern through the remaining hallways towards the central chamber, using strength, shapeshifting, and psychic feedback caused by phasing through others to incapacitate as many of the Imperium soldiers as possible while still moving forward.

It was a careful dance, trying to advance while not overextending and allowing themselves to be overwhelmed once again like they had in their initial assault.

But with only one previous confrontation working together, the comrades he had gathered were showing a remarkable improvement in teamwork and cooperation. Gone were many of the little hesitations, the accidental interference, and independent actions. And as such, the five of them ran over the opposition like a carefully directed rockslide.

Which only became more effective when the Wonder Woman burst through a wall and assisted in destroying a couple Walkers keeping them from their goal.

The Imperium fell before their combined might and soon J'onn stood not only within feet of the Ionization crystal that was the target of this assault, but also before the Supreme Leader of the Imperium, the purple and black ball of flesh invoking revulsion in the Manhunter.

"J'oNn J'oNzZ, iT has BeEn A lONg tIME." The Leader projected telepathically. "we SHoUld HaVe KNOWn you WoUlD FOllOw Us tO tHis wORlD. You hAve STubbOrnly defIEd us fOR CEnTuRies."

"And I will continue to defy you and any of your kind. You will never be welcome in this solar system." J'onn replied, preparing himself for the confrontation as he felt the beginnings of a mental attack from the bulbous creature before him.

"You cANnot SToP Us. evEn AGAinst ONE OF thE GreAT DESTrOYErs, tHE IMPeRiuM WIlL PReVAIl!" A mental spike briefly dazed J'onn even as the creature's tendrils reached out to grab him. At the same time hundreds of Imperium soldiers rushed in from the few undamaged passageways and engaged the rest of his comrades, preventing them from coming to J'onn's assistance.

No matter, J'onn was fully prepared to wrestle with the parasite himself. He just had to hold on until…

"yOu'RE hIdinG soMEthIng." The parasite accused, mental tendrils scraping at the walls of his mind as physical ones tried ravaging his flesh. "a SeCREt DEeP IN thE rEcesSes OF yOUr MINd. iS tHIS AnoTheR OF yOuR MartIaN tRicKS?!"

"Do I sense fear?"

The Leader focused all of its attention on J'onn, trying to breach his defenses. "WhAT. arE. yOu. hidinG?" Just according to plan.

"NOW!" J'onn roared over the sound of combat. The presence of the human he had mentally shielded from everyone had finally managed to get into position, unnoticed by everyone and everything in the room.

An explosion destroyed the protective casing of the Ionic Crystal allowing the Batman access to place the necessary device onto the crystal itself.

Red lines faded to blue as the technology took effect.

"WHAt hAve YOU dOne?!" The parasite screeched in dismay as the blue coloration began to spread through the structure.

"Reversed the ion charge." The Batman explained simply.

"KiLL HiM! deStroY thE CrYstAl!"

Every remaining soldier aimed their weapons at the human and for a second J'onn was worried the human wouldn't survive, but a small shape flew next to the Batman a moment before they fired and carried him off. The ground where he had been standing was pockmarked with laser blasts but the crystal remained untouched as the anionic charge being produced by it created a shielding effect from the Imperium's weapons.

"Hi guys, sorry I'm late. I got a little lost." The Saiyan, Califa, said exuberantly. "And Batman! I knew you were alive! No way these Imperium creeps were enough to take you down!"

Even as J'onn wrestled with the Imperium Leader, he couldn't help but grin that the young girl hadn't lost her mentor. It had pained him to deceive her, having seen too many young children receive news that a family member had fallen to the Imperium, but it had been necessary that no one knew of the plan in advance. Lest they risk it being discovered too early.

In an ironic twist, the energy of the reversed crystal caused a bright blue beam to pierce the clouds in a very similar manner to the Saiyan girl's earlier attack. The energy burned away at the cover, allowing the rays of the morning sun to shine through the holes in the building.

The parasites began to flee as the light landed on them and began to burn them away. The soldiers died in seconds, the Leader was stronger but it began to boil and scream in agony just the same.

"DAMn You, J'oNn J'OnZZ! DAMN yoU! NNNNGGGYYAAAAA!!!!!!"

"What's the matter? Does this burn your pale, putrid skin?" J'onn said savagely as he gripped the parasite by as many of its tendrils he could grasp, even the ones embedded in his own body.

"tHiS isn'T oVeR! EVen iF i am dEstroyED, The iMPERIum sURVIVES! aNd YOu hAvE UnLeAsHEd A FAr MoRe DeSTRucTIVE ForCe UpON tHIS woRld! THE gREaT desTRoyEr lEAVeS oNly deAth and EmptY Worlds In itS waKe!" the Leader wailed even as its cellular structure was finally destroyed by the sunlight. J'onn ignored the parasite's final words and focused on keeping it as illuminated as possible until nothing remained of the creature that had started a nightmare on his home planet. One that was finally over.

"So, uh, good news is we won. But what was that about a 'Great Destroyer'?"

J'onn looked up to see that his six companions had joined in a circle around him while the child, Califa, was hovering protectively behind the Batman.

"I do not know." J'onn answered the Flash. "In the many years the Martians have fought the Imperium, they have never mentioned such a thing. Perhaps it was merely a deception to allow it time to escape from the sunlight."

"If it was, it sure didn't work out." The dark skinned Green Lantern commented. "Still, after all that time under those clouds, I know I'm going to enjoy a nice sunrise."

"Yeah, you and me both." The Flash added.

"It's certainly a welcome sight." The Wonder Woman agreed.

"Hmph, as long as the skies are clear I don't care if it's the sun or the moon. I'm just glad they're gone." The Hawkwoman scowled, drawing J'onn and the other's attention to Earth's natural satellite as it began to make its journey towards the horizon, still fully visible in the early dawn hours.

"Oh shit…that's not good."

All eyes turned to the Saiyan child at the sudden foul language and worried tone.

The Superman began to ask what was wrong, but Califa seemed almost hypnotized by the sight of the moon.

Then she began to change…