Peace of the Jedi [Sequel to Sword of the Lanterns]

Chapter Twenty- Cornered

Jaina eyed Jaime suspiciously, he and Bart and Jessica hunched over her cot in the Hall of Justice's medical center. The League's over-glorified zeta-tube pit stop would serve as the team's base for the time being.

"Really? You took out Black Beetle, all on your own?" She asked doubtfully.

"Well, I wouldn't say "took out," Jaime rubbed the back of his neck nervously. "And I let my scarab do most of the work, but I kept him distracted for long enough to get everyone on the ship and then we got out of there as fast as we could."

Jaina tried to sit up, but winced. Her head was pounding.

"Y-you just rest," Jessica said, patting her shoulder nervously. "Th-that fight with Black Beetle took a lot out of you."

"Yeah," Jaina winced as her head hit the pillow. "Yeah, I guess it did."

She held up her hand, staring at the ring that faintly glowed there. Black Beetle had killed the person who had formerly worn it, and once her head was all better and she could actually think and process everything straight, she'd have to find out exactly what was up between the Reach and the Lantern Corp so they could let the Guardians of the Universe deal with them.

Nightwing came in from the library, nearly crawling like a defeated puppy.

"What's up?" Superboy asked. He had been helping Mal unload the computers to set up for the team's new headquarters, while M'gann and La'gaan were helping Gar sort through the things of theirs that had been salvaged from the ruins of Mount Justice. 

"Take a look." Nightwing tapped a few keys on the Justice League's computer, pulling up a news report from earlier that day, and the pleasant voice of Cat Grant echoed through the library.

"Repeating today's top story; a small group of extraterrestrials- the Reach- have arrived at United Nations headquarters in New York City. We now go live to GBS's own G. Gordon Godfrey. Gordon?"

"Thanks Cat," Godfrey said smoothly, even though all the heroes in the room were glaring at the screen.

"It seems Earth's finally met some spacemen who know how to get it right!" Godfrey enunciated. The camera panned to one of those "spacemen", a flat-nose alien that made Jessica whimper and Bart and Jaime turn pale. 

"Oh, I know what you're thinking," Gordon rolled his eyes at the camera as it turned back to him, "Old G. Gordon's gone soft on the spacemen. But don't you see? This is how aliens should come to Earth. Knocking on our front door! Not sneaking in the back, like some Leaguers we know."

The clip ended. Bee whimpered nervously, sensing the tension in the room.

"Are they serious?" Connor snapped.

"Yup," Nightwing popped the p with a sigh. "Before we go public with a whole story about aliens abducting runaways and refugees, they present themselves as mysterious, more technologically advanced benefactors."

"That's a bunch of bullcrap." Jaina snapped, headache suddenly gone. "If I had come in parading that I was an alien, or- Force Forbid, M'gann and her uncle!-" Jaina pointed to the Martian in question, who was uncharacteristically sulking in the corner of the room, "We'd all have been chased off-planet faster than Bart can steal Jaime's chicken whizzies!" She exclaimed.

"Hey!" Jaime exclaimed. Bart, of course, had a bag of freeze-dried chicken whizzies in hand, which he was currently stuffing in his mouth with nervous speed.

The computer dinged, a League call, and Nightwing answered. Black Canary's face loomed over the whole screen.

"Nightwing, I'm at STAR Labs with meta-human scientist Doctor Wilcox and every runaway that was abducted by your Black Beetle and the Reach. I'm interviewing them now, but could you please send over all your team members that spent time in Reach captivity?"