[b]Mess Hall October 31, 2025[/b] There was a whisper through the flames. The Martian struggled to hear it over the roar of the parademons, but he thought he heard his name. A fellow Martian lives? His family? The voice was female. [i]M'gann?[/i] He thought. No. His cousin didn't sound like that. Someone he knew, then? From school? Or a neighbor? Whoever it was, it didn't matter. Their voice was lost in the commotion. Any semblance of hope was gone now. He'd failed to kill Darkseid. He'd failed to escape. He'd failed to protect Mars. Darkseid was too strong. His armies too numerous to combat. For every Fury he beat without mercy, it a dozen more of Apokolips's elite appeared. He'd been so close, too. Moments from engaging Darkseid himself. But now some powerful figure had stopped the Martian in his tracks. His green fist suspended in the air by his foes own hand. There was something...familiar about him. S'tann couldn't recognize his face; but the symbol he wore on his chest. There was just something about it that forced S'tann to hesitate. To think. He'd seen it somewhere. It was...important. Powerful. It meant the wearer was a force of...nature? No. [i]Good.[/i] S'tann's memories slowly leaked through the blind rage. The fog that enveloped his mind parted for but a moment. That moment was long enough, however, for S'tann to realize that this was all wrong. Dreadfully wrong. Why would a force of good stop Legacy on his sacred mission? He only wished to defend Mars. To protect it from this tyrant. The man began to speak, but S'tann couldn't understand a word he was saying. His lips did not form words he recognized. What was going on? Why did he feel so out of place? His anger subsided, and a wave of unbearable pain overcame the jade skinned alien. S'tann S'tonn went limp and collapsed against the cold, hard ground. He felt so many things. Confusion. Frustration. Even a bit of joy, now that it was over. So many emotions vied for control as consciousness threatened to leave him. But one stood above all the others: Despair. "" S'tann gasped, struggling for air. "" Then the darkness overcame S'tann, and he was still. It wouldn't be long before J'onn and some of the staff appeared. Commotions such as this one were rarely self-contained events. In fact, one had to wonder how the teachers hadn't arrived sooner. But whatever their reason, whatever their excuse, they were there now. J'onn J'onzz lifted his unconscious, bleeding nephew off the ground and wordlessly exited the cafeteria. The Martian made a beeline for the Medical office of the Administration Building, moving as quickly as his telekinesis could carry him. He wasn't worried about S'tann physical trauma. Fire poisoning was a serious problem for Martians, yes, but the medical staff on hand could handle that with J'onn's guidance. From what J'onn had telepathically assessed the moment he entered the mess hall, the flame S'tann had been exposed to (which was almost entirely his own fault, J'onn noted) had been relatively minor. No, his real worry lied inside S'tann's mind. The young Martian's disorder hadn't been triggered so severely in years. There must have been something very specific that had occurred that caused the hallucinations to begin. Some set of actions and reactions in a very specific order must have subconsciously reminded him of the burning of Mars. This troubled J'onn a great deal. He'd sat both his nephew and his niece down and cleansed their minds as best he could of that day; they had been so young, yet they recalled it all so vividly. He couldn't erase everything. Not without risking damage to their brains. M'gann had learned some time ago how to control and manipulate her own subconscious, allowing her to scrub out the more sensitive areas of the mind herself. But S'tann had never bothered with mastering telepathy. He was such a violent boy; he only ever wanted to enhance his body. If J'onn had half a mind he would have allowed Barbara to expel him months ago. But he knew that wasn't an option. This was the only place J'onn could keep on eye on him, just in case...well. Just in case this happened again. J'onn placed S'tann S'tonn's body on the bed as gently as he could. The staff got to work hooking S'tann up to the monitoring machines and J'onn took a seat, plunging his fingers into S'tann's skull and entering his mind telepathically. He prayed to whatever deity would listen that it wasn't too late. He couldn't lose another.