Jeremiah and Nikita met a VERY isolated J'onn Jo'nzz
“If
he wanted us dead we'd be dead right now, so what's his story?”
“I
don't know. He's a GREEN Martian.” She said definitively. “I've
lived on Earth for 70 years. 17 of them at the D.E.O. He's been on
earth At least 3 times as long. He may have forgotten how to trust
people, especially humans. Other aliens wouldn't be as hard.”
“That
I can understand.” I said glumly.
Three days later the alien came to take me away. He grabbed me by the arm and started to literally drag me out of the room. “Stop it!” Nikita cried out. The green-skinned alien stopped in his tracks. He turned to Nikita with a prompting look. “He's done nothing to deserve this. I would think if anything you'd be after me.”
“Are you saying you'd rather die instead?”
“...Yes.” Nikita answered her voice low but distinct. “I would rather be killed than let him die. I'd think if you'd hate either of us it'd be a freak of nature like me. Not literally the best human I have ever known. So if nothing else at least that would make sense!”
A single look told Nikita the outburst had hit home. The man, the alien, instantly dropped his arm and released her friend. “There was no need for any of this. There never was.”
“I...I misread the situation.” The alien said as if he were a schoolboy getting dressed down for misbehaving. A feeling that would only deepen as the conversation continued.
“And that's the worst thing about all of this. All you had to do was ask. I would have told you. Hell you're a Martian you could have read my mind. I would have permitted it! How quickly we become the things we hate and we don't even realize it.” Nikita walked to the far edge of the room, sat down with her feet tucked behind her and turned away from her host. A universally recognized 'I don't want to talk to you' attitude.
“She's comparing you to someone who treated her like an enemy for absolutely no reason and literally tortured her to convince her to reveal the truth. But there was no 'truth' to be found. She wasn't a danger to anyone. And if Hank had looked at her for 5 seconds and seen anything other than a human-looking alien...he would have seen what was right in front of his face. Seen her for the innocent she was. Hank didn't bother to look. He actually got off on hurting aliens...even helpless ones like her.”
“And you broke her free.” Realization blanketed the strangers face. Followed quickly by a look of unmitigated shame. “You broke her free from the D.E.O.”
“ I couldn't stand by and let her get tortured for information she didn't actually have. I released her from...well she was propped up for enhanced interrogation and I shut off the device. I knocked Hank out and put him in that chair, which I kept turned off. She asked me if I wanted to come with her. She said I didn't deserve to be trapped in the D.E.O any more than she did. So we made our escape together.” He turned and squarely face the man. “You are the third alien and the 14th face we have seen in the 8 weeks since that day. And she is quite right. All you had to do was ask. She would have told you anything. Force, much less pain was never needed. She laughed at Hank for that assumption. To her, you're as blind as Hank...Blinded by your own preconceived opinions of others.”
“I was as wrong about you as this arrogant human you speak of was wrong about her. I am sorry. I will FIND a way to make it right.” He left without another word.
A few hours later Jeremiah walked up the steps from the basement. Something he very rarely did. He saw J'onn sitting at a dining table, staring out the window.
“You escaped. You both escaped.”
“Yes...I thought we had established that.”
“If she's not Enkaren, what is she?”
“Xavallen.” Jeremiah replied with the sudden feeling that all reason had completely run away from the conversation.
“Well...I guess that explains it.”
“Okay, I'm a little lost. I don't mind saying so.”
“Everything that lives has an instinctual fear of dying. And you might think this a universal tenant of sentient life. Which it is. But the extremely well-developed need for self-preservation at all costs is unique to humans. Most of the time, self-improvement and self-preservation drown out all other considerations just as a matter of cause. She is different. If I was examining her on such a thing – I swear to you I was not but if I ever did examine different races in order to determine how SELF preservation is balanced against an interest in preserving all sentient life...Her people are the opposite of yours.”
“You're saying her race gets an “A” in protective instincts and a “B” in self-preservation?”
“If I understand you correctly, yes.”
“That does explain a lot.” Jeremiah said, his voice quiet.
“How do you mean?”
“...Back at the D.E.O. When I broke her free from that device. I was returning the favor. I was there for six years and I saw Hank do some pretty unspeakable things to aliens who...well who deserved it like the weapons manufacturers and drug-dealers of Thrombus and to aliens like Nikita. But no matter what he did to her, she never raised a finger against him, barely ever raised her voice to him. We were...there she was in a machine designed to lower her neural-synaptic threshold – I'm still not sure what that means – and Hank decided I needed to keep my sympathy where it belonged.” Jeremiah looked up at the man who suddenly had become his companion in evening talk. “He stuck me across the face. That's ALL he did. Nikita broke the machine, slammed Hank against the wall with her forearm against his throat. Told him that perception and empathy go hand in hand. That my 'bleeding heart' meant I saw things more clearly than he did. Then rested on her shins and knees waiting to be taken back to her cell.”
“Lowering a neural-synaptic threshold of an empath, what would you expect?”
“In most alien races it lowered their defenses and made them more...pliant is the only word I can think of.”
“A non-chemical way to produce the same 'I know what I'm saying but I don't care' response as truth serum.” Jeremiah nodded. “The one thing keeping an empath from physically hurting people is the full awareness of how senseless, as well as how painful violence is. If they no longer care what they are doing...”
“...They no longer hold themselves back from whatever random and potentially destructive thing that pops into their heads.”
“To give her the credit she is due, I believe she did understand. Keeping you safe was simply more important to her. I guessed why you were so passionate about protecting her. Until now I didn't understand why she seemed at least as adamant about protecting you. She saw you as Alana-Kai.”
“Most humans, most races in the galaxies at all no matter how much they try to lift the head of another and put the needs of their friends first, would still put their own life, their own survival before anything else at need. Xavallens don't. They are, by comparison to their brethren, Friars and Philosophers.”
“I'm sorry, but I still don't understand the connection.
“Enkarens and Xavallens are sibling races to each-other. Enkarens are...genetically speaking in trouble but also far superior to humans in most respects. Xavallens are, by comparison to their brethren philosophers and friars. They still speak the same language.”
“And she doesn't make sense for an Enkaren.”
J'onn nodded. “But more than that, Xavallens are a protected species.”
“Wait, what?”
“If I had known what she was, laying a hand on her to get You to talk would have been a crime. And I would have begged her forgiveness.”
“Sir, I confess I don't know where this comes from. But I know her, she holds you no grudge, for any of this.”
“And what about you?”
“You didn't know. And besides, it was as much my choice as hers.”
“I can see why she loves you so much.”
“...Loves me?”
“Like a father.” His face became concerned, and amazed. “You didn't know?”
“I didn't have the chance to get to know her, until about 3 months ago.”
Superman stood in the front yard of an unfamiliar house. He'd looked up and triple-checked the address before leaving. But he wasn't sure he wanted to knock on the door. “It isn't everyday one receives a visit from Earth's favorite Kryptonian.” A soft, strong voice said from the front porch. “Let alone that he doesn't actually visit for some reason.”
“I'm sorry I...Jeremiah Danvers?”
“Yes. Who exactly sent you to find me?”
“No one. I'm here for a friend, but I'm on my own. I'm not sure how to proceed.”
“Does this have anything to do with the Department of Extra-normal Operations?” Jeremiah Danvers asked. “And if so why are you involved?”
“Yes but not the way you probably think. No agent of the place could ever ask me to do anything beyond try to defend the planet and expect me to comply. I have a friend who lives at the tower. She didn't send me to find you, she doesn't even know you're still alive. I intend to prove that you are. And from what I understand you'd be safe with J'onn if you came back. But it is still very much your choice.”
“J'onn.” The scientist said thoughtfully. “As in J'onn J'onzz?!” He exclaimed.
“Nikita has been talking about you for the past five months. She says you're one of the two people she's met on this planet she considers her friends, without any qualifiers. It only just now occurred to me to look you up. I am here to bring you to her...nothing else.”
“Then take me to her. Just, let me tell Eliza first.”
“You underestimate your friends fairly noticeable presence.” Eliza Danvers stated from behind her husband. “If Nikita being at the D.E.O. is enough for you, go.”
After embracing his wife Jeremiah told Superman to lift him up and away. A request Superman followed with as much care as he did speed. After about 8 minutes he looked the hero in the eyes. “There's one thing I don't understand.”
“With respect sir, there is nothing I could say to explain what's going on, better than hearing it from J'onn's own mouth. Or Nikita's for that matter.”
“Is Nikita still...Does Hank treat her any better?” Superman stared at him, bewilderment and disappointment on his face. The latter clearly self-directed.
“Sir, Hank Henshaw has been dead for more than three years. J'onn takes care of Nikita now. And he truly does so.”
“So, you're telling me, J'onn J'onzz is in control of the D.E.O.?”
“He assumed the identity of the creechta that was Hank Henshaw. That's Nikita's word for him. I'm not sure what it means. She's not the most open person in the galaxy..”
“Can you blame her?” Jeremiah interrupted him.
“There's so much of her story I've never heard. If I hadn't overheard the two of them talking about you, I wouldn't have known J'onn even knew you.”
“Okay, tell me what you do know. And I'll try to fill in the blank spots.”
“I know Henshaw led a mission almost 4 years ago, during the course of which Nikita met J'onn Jo'nzz. Hank is presumed to have died on that mission. Since that day J'onn and Nikita have tried their best to make the D.E.O into something better than it was when Nikita was first brought through its doors.”
“I have no doubt that together they have succeeded.”
This is the eighth and final scene in a story about a young-adult alien coming to Earth. Her initial encounter with the Department of Extra-normal Operations was under a man named Hank Henshaw. Winn Schott and Kal El of Krypton know that the man with Henshaw's skin under whom Nikita currently serves is an alien named J'onn J'onzz. She has never spoken of her life before meeting J'onn and later that day the Kansas farm boy Clark Kent.
“Winn and Kal know how we met.” Nikita said in a forcibly calm voice. “And literally every one here knows I spent 11 months detained in this place prior to that mission. Yet none of you have asked why I was there that night on the precipice or even how willingly I played my role 'did my part'. Which this I can actually understand. It's not the sort of thing one would want to remember. But it is part of my life and so was he. Hank Henshaw would never have acted as you have, but because no one here had ever met him, you didn't have to act like him to play the part. But Henshaw wasn't the only human being I saw every single day when I was here. There was another. And if I hadn't gotten to know him so well, I would think your humanity, as we think of the word was betraying your otherworldly origins. I wouldn't have known there was anything or anyone like YOU, as you are now on this continent, if not for him.”
“You mean Jeremiah.” J'onn said blandly.
“Whatever the word is for 'willingly but not freely' we were that word at the DEO. It was an 'I'm here to help but I don't have to like it' for me. Jeremiah convinced me it was worth it. And was able to convince Henshaw to try a more thoughtful, intellectual approach with me. I don't my people don't do anything in our own individual best interest. You have to convince us it makes sense and is worth it. I followed where I was told to go. 'You can get me to track them you can't get me to hurt them' kind of a thing, because Jeremiah was right and they needed to see that. I wanted to give you guys a more excellent, effective less hare-brained way of trying to achieve your goals with 'those aliens' and we got that done, but it was way more than that, longer, deeper. I...he meant a great deal to me and showed ME a more excellent way just by being the kind of person he was. That's rare on any planet that's not inherently psychic or empathic.” Nikita turned and stared hard into J'onn's eyes. “What was the first thing out of my mouth when you met us that day? Not on the cliff by the fire that night, on the trail in the trees?”
“You put your hand out to your friend and asked me not to hurt him. You said 'tie his hands it makes sense but nothing else, please'. At the time I didn't understand why.”
“Because even though you had absolutely no reason to know this, he wasn't any sort of a threat, willingly or otherwise. You didn't know if our team was there to capture or kill you and I was pretty sure you were a warrior, not a hunter or a barbarian but...but I DID NOT want him hurt. I was there to keep him safe, my personal though obviously not official reason for being. Did you never wonder why?”
“I know he's not being deliberately ignored. Like I said no one knows how important he was. But he deserves to be acknowledged. People need to know that he was the kind of person he was. If Jeremiah had tried to make me feel normal I would have hated him, given what I thought of 'normal' around here. But he didn't, he tried to make me feel alright, acceptable. Something no other human...Hell no other sentient being...in my life has bothered doing. No human I have met has been as dark and blind as Henshaw. No human I have ever met has been as patient and compassionate as Jeremiah. So I can say with assurance that I witnessed the very best and the very worst of humanity, side by side with each other for 11 months. Because you're wearing his face, people know about Hank, at least that he existed and that you are a way better human being than he was. Kal, Jeremiah Danvers was to me who Johnathan Kent was to you, and none of you have ever even asked what his name was. It's kind of annoying!”
“Danvers?” Kal-El of Krypton said in a weak voice.
“Jeremiah Danvers, that's his name. I don't even know what happened to him.”
“I'm sorry, you didn't know?” J'onn said in a tone of which I could make nothing.
“The first thing I can remember after that camp fire was waking up in Clark Kents house. That is he was standing over me and it was obviously not a house in the Canadian Rockies. For all I knew I'd been either unconscious or out of it for weeks before he...you...found me. As far as not knowing what happened to him, I didn't want to know. Enough crap had happened to him on my account including getting a wooden spear through the ribs, I was basically just afraid of the truth. If he was DEAD he'd probably be better off than whatever else could have happened to him.”
“Nothing bad happened to him...he's with his daughters.” J'onn J'onzz said quietly.
“He's back with his family.” Nikita said in a weak voice. “He has his happy ending?”
“You thought he died?” The Martian Man-hunter prompted.
“I thought he was living his life more alone than I was.”
“Wait, you both know Jeremiah!” Kal fairly shouted.
“The one time I remember using violence against a human was to get Henshaw quite literally off his back.” Nikita said coolly. “That Creche-ta shoved him against a wall for 'stepping out of line' while interrogating me. I basically football tackled the guy. Yes I know him...why?”
“Guys, Jeremiah Danvers is my cousins adoptive father.”
“I didn't know there were any Kryptonians on Earth except for you.” J'onn quipped.
“She...she hasn't revealed herself as an alien. She's a refugee or an immigrant by most standards, but yes another member of the house of El is here. Kara Zor-el took the name of the family that raised her. She's Kara Danvers to literally everyone but me.”
“Then can you tell him I'm here? Tell him I'm still part of the fight, this time by my own choice. Maybe...ask him to come see me? There is definitely something I seriously NEED to know from him.”
“If you mean 'did he regret helping you' the answer is no.” J'onn offered.
“What he thought of me in the fracking first place the 11 months I knew him!” She exploded. “I know why he helped me, he knows more of my story than literally any human being on the planet. I've heard and talked about nothing with You, Winn or Kal about anything that happened before that night. Because I only know half that story anyway, Jeremiah IS the other half of that story, a part of it I didn't know how to tell, and frankly didn't think I should. Until today, I didn't think I could EVER find an answer. That's why his being dead or gone sucked so much and THAT is why I don't talk about my former time at the DEO...it reminded me way to strongly of a a dear friend. And the one person on this earth I would want to make proud of me. Not to mention it sucked just on general principle.” At that moment she seemed to realize she'd said something wrong. Pulling herself up and holding her hands flat against her hips she stared J'onn J'onzz in the face. “You were a stranger from Mars when we found you, but that's the extent of your time with them. I was an enemy alien held as a spy because I, and I quote General Elling 'supposedly don't know the name of my own planet.' Which, taken together with the fact that I'd lived here more than 20 years without telling anyone meant I was an infiltrator to this world. You looked more alien than anyone else I'd meet while in DEO custody. That was to your advantage and nothing short of serendipity. It was a blessing, not a condemnation for you. To them, I was an alien and didn't bother showing my 'true form'.”
“I don't understand you told me this IS your true form.” J'onn J'onzz said, sincerely mystified. “That except for having your cardiac organ where their left kidney is physiologically you're the same...that this is what you really look like.”
“And you took me at my word! You could accept that there were aliens out there who were not soldiers for either side, weren't here for vacation, and just want to live somewhere else. Honestly, I don't think it ever entered Henshaw's crystallized, fragile, narrow perfect mind that some are aliens out there who naturally looked more like human beings than your...(realizes she is talking to two aliens) than apes do.”
“No please, take me.” Jeremiah Danvers said in a rush. The alien warrior lowered his fist. “I might not like him very much, but I cannot let this continue. He's no longer any threat to you, you gain nothing by this. Keep me, let him go...please.”
“I do not understand what you are suggesting.” The alien prompted slowly. “Please elaborate.”
Jeremiah hesitated for a moment. “He has a beacon on him to activate in emergency and call for extraction. Activate the beacon and leave him as he is...or drop him off somewhere. Agents from our organization will find him. And you'll never hear from him, or the rest of us again. In all honesty, I'd rather not go back either. If you take me with you, you'll be giving me a new life. But if you kill him...I cannot let you take his life. We have rules even in war. He's no threat to you. If for no other reason than to prove you're better than him, leave him be. I promise, if you give him his freedom as well as his life then without your instruction to the contrary I will not leave your side.”
“You would give up your freedom for this man's life?” the man said, clearly mystified.
“For his freedom AND his life...yes.”
The alien bent over Hank Henshaw and put the back of his hand against the man's temples. He closed his eyes briefly before righting himself. “Activate the beacon you mentioned. And we will be getting out of here.” Jeremiah took a small device from his jack-shirt pocket and turned the top. He set the beacon down on Hank Henshaw's chest. “Let's go.”
After 2 hours of walking though the fields with a sinking sun to their left they came to a clearing, dotted by a few houses with flat roofs made out of red clay and what looked like an old one room school house. With a wave of his green hand J'onn motioned his companion into the structure. The room was sparsely furnished but dry and cool. A cot was set up on cinder blocks with lightweight sheets and fluffy white pillows on it. A low set table and an equally short bookshelf stood off the one side. “I... hope you'll be comfortable here. I have to go see a friend.” He turned to leave.
“Wait please.” Jeremiah reached out his hand, almost reaching for his alien captor. “We should at least learn each-others names.”
The alien looked almost embarrassed, or perhaps simply confused. “Of course. That is polite even among enemies.” He looked meaningfully at Jeremiah. “And WE are no longer enemies.”
“I'm Jeremiah Danvers.” The man said simply. He extended his hand.
The alien straightened himself like a solider and extended his own right hand. “I am, J'onn Jo'nzz.”
“What did you do to Hank?”
“I...made sure he wouldn't come here looking for you.”
“Thank you.” Jeremiah said in a heartfelt tone. “You gave me a new life, and you kept your word. I could literally ask for no more than that from anyone, so thank you.”
“I get the feeling I should be thanking you.” J'onn replied. And with that he was gone.
The next afternoon J'onn came back. Jeremiah got to his feet the instant J'onn came through the door. J'onn looked almost disquieted at the courtesy. “There is no need for that, please.”
“I'm sorry, old habits must die hard. And I'm, not really sure what to expect.”
“Do your people have a word for being able to move freely throughout the premises as long as you do leave the premises?”
Jeremiah nodded. “House arrest.”
“Then I suppose 'house arrest' is the best description. I do not intend to treat you as any sort of captive. I can only ask you to believe that. You are not a prisoner of war, you are an unwelcome guest, I think.”
“Would I seem, impolite to ask why you are being so kind to me?”
“You were the first human to speak to me as an equal, seeing me in my true appearance.” Jeremiah cocked an eyebrow. “My people are shape-shifters. We can look human if we choose. And for most of my time on your planet, I have done. I would hope we can continue to be equals.”
“I would like that as well. I know enough to know I'm not a captive here in the strictest sense. I just wasn't sure...who or what to expect if you understand me.” J'onn nodded. “I owe you an apology. I don't understand what could have happened but we were VERY wrong about you. And I am sorry.”
“You were also the first human to look me in the eyes, without either anger or fear on your own eyes. Believe me if I didn't have as high an opinion of you, I would not let you stay here.”
“That makes sense. Wait, does that mean I can soon see the rest of this place?”
“ 'The rest of this place', is what I came here to show you.” J'onn said with a slight smile. Jeremiah fell-in half a step behind J'onn and they walked out of the school house. It turned out they were in a rather pleasant meadow, with the mountains away to the north. After about ten minutes walk J'onn brought him to another clearing. This one dotted with houses constructed mostly of gray stone or wood. A well beaten path ran between the structures and at a distance, under the shade of the mountain there was a structure made entirely of dried sticks covered in moss and held together with what could have been twine. Jeremiah got the impression that whoever lived there preferred the company of animals to that of bipeds. “Welcome to Arias.”
“Arias, what does that mean?”
“In many languages it means something between and including 'city in the clouds' and 'near to God.” J'onn said with a clear note of joy in his voice. “It's simply a more specific word for 'sanctuary' which doesn't always translate the same way in our languages.”
“It doesn't?” Jeremiah asked before he could stop himself.
“For Zyerilians a sanctuary is a cloister, set apart from the outside world, dedicated only to the pursuit fo religious knowledge. For Enkarens it's a military or government training school where you cast aside all other concerns to become the best of whatever you pursue.”
“Ahh, yeah I can see how that would get confusing. Why intentions rather than functions would help best if you have different 'native' languages. This may be a weird time to ask it but were we right about you? In so far as we thought you were a Martian, were we right about you?”
“Yes, I am a Green Martian. And the distinction is significant.” J'onn did not say anything else on the subject and for a few moments did not say anything at all. He simply stared into the distance, lost in thought...perhaps in the past. I regretted upsetting him. He was a good man. If nothing else he was a man of honor and someone the people of Arias looked to as their rock.
Jeremiah stayed with J'onn as kind of a willing captive. He asked J'onn to not only let Hank live but let him go. He's a captive in that he cannot escape but his life is otherwise normal. Basically he has every liberty except liberty himself. Elana and Martin practically stumbled upon Arias four years later. Jeremiah asks J'onn for permission to visit the D.E.O. He wants to know if Nikita is at Hank's side wholeheartedly. The answer will be a glowing affirmative.
Superman: Nikita says to apologize to you, she wasn't able to keep her promise.
Jeremiah Danvers: I don't understand she never promised me anything. Any promise she had the chance to make in the time we knew each other she has undoubtedly kept.
Superman/Elias Danvers: She called me by my birth-name when she first saw me, staring at the symbol on my chest, and later broke down in tears and apologized for failing you. 'Tell your father I'm sorry, I couldn't keep my promise.' Calling Superman Elias would be one thing but who else could have told her my Kryptonian name?"
Jeremiah: Well someone else must have...because I never did.
Superman: Jeremiah, she said to tell my father she's sorry. What father have I except you?
Jeremiah: The one who would have given you the name Kal'el.
Superman: (floored) You're saying she knew my Kryptonian father?”
Jeremiah: You have to admit...I have to admit, it would explain a lot. Not the least of which how she ended up in the D.E.O. in the first place. She is not so obviously an alien herself. But if she made a habit of sheltering aliens...it would have put her on their radar.
Superman: I'm still a little confused why she called me Kal'el. I mean she's been calling me that since I met her. I figured it was her name for me, in her own language.
Jeremiah: What changed?
Elias Danvers: The Atraxi you brought with you, Sarrin. She said this (touches the emblem on his chest) is a Kryptonian family crest, the symbol of the house of El.
Jeremiah: And how the heck could Nikita know your individual Kryptonian name.
Elias Danvers: Unless she had heard it before from someone...somewhere.
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