Chapter 40: Earth wasn't invaded in One Day Part 5

[Third Person's Point of View]

Inside Mount Justice, Supergirl and Miss Martian can be seen fighting Acnologia. Supergirl is attacking Acnologia physically while Miss Martian is attacking him psychically. This is how they usually spar.

As this is just a sparring match meant for training, no one is going full power though none would be able to unless they were willing to destroy the whole mountain. Although she was not as strong as her cousin, Supergirl's punches alone could cause shockwaves that would result in Earthquakes if she was not careful enough to control her strength.

Though Martians did not increase their strength via exposure to Earth's yellow sun, they could still contend with Kryptonians in term of raw power and an all-out fight between those two and Acnologia would have been too much for the cave.

Even if the cave had been reinforced by several members of the Justice League that did not mean that it was indestructible. Let us not forget that, the reinforcement did not extend to the cave's surroundings which would still feel the impact of such fight.

This type of sparring had the goal of improving each other's skill. For Supergirl, it was her control over her powers. It is common knowledge that Kryptonians have massive hax under the yellow sun but those hax turns into a curse if they do not have enough control over their abilities.

Superman had told her time and time again how crucial it was to keep her powers in check even when she was under intense emotion else she might destroy a city block while trying to punch Toyman's latest robot.

Acnologia had noticed that she had gotten better at controlling her powers under any situation, it was not to the level of Superman but her control was getting close to that level. At this point, the sparring was now a way for her to gain even more experience in fighting someone who could take her punches while also knowing how to fight.

For Miss Martian, it was to gain more experience using her Martian abilities, more specifically her telepathy which was praised by her uncle a while back. This happened when Martian Manhunter devised a telepathic dreamworld in which the Team would fulfill a mission.

They were aware it was a simulation, but they did not know it was a doomed-to-fail mission, outside of Acnologia as that was the only thing that made him accept such training. They did not grieve over the Justice League's death, because they knew it was not real.

That all changed when Artemis died. Miss Martian's subconscious took over, wrestling the command of the exercise from Martian Manhunter's control. As a result, all the young heroes now thought it was real, Acnologia thought they were roleplaying and Artemis was trapped in a coma.

To stop the scenario, Martian Manhunter entered the simulation but was overwhelmed by the emotions. He could not get a clear mind until Acnologia asked him if the simulation was over which sparked a conversation after he dealt with the enemy that was approaching them.

After a bit of back and forth, Acnologia having to explain that everything was a simulation and him losing his patience, he decided to ask everyone what they were doing before the alien invasion started while sending a wave of his Conqueror's Haki.

This caused Miss Martian to remember that it was just a simulation. Once everyone is out of the simulation, Martian Manhunter apologizes to the Team and Miss Martian, but it cannot console her. She is devastated that she put her teammates in peril until Acnologia came in and spoke.

"First of all, if you are sorry that your abilities went haywire then train them and get them under wrap. Second of all, I find it insulting that you all think that this was enough to endanger me. And third of all, why are any of you so shaken, you guys are alive and well.

You basically got a front-row seat at what obstacle being a Hero will lead you to. If that is your cup of tea then quit. I have told you guys sixty-eight times now, that things can and will always get worse when you least expect it. Now does anyone want to quit?"

Acnologia looked around but no one among the Team said anything. He then sighed before adding on.

"*Sigh* I guess as Leader of this team it falls onto me to make sure you guys are prepared so starting tom- Hm... No, starting next week, we'll be training for real. No more of that kitten gloves training."

Acnologia left after saying that which caused Aqualad, Miss Martian, and Supergirl to tremble even more. The team seemed to have forgotten the traumatic experience they had faced and were now worried about the traumatic experience they were about to face.

Martian Manhunter collapsed and told Batman that they all underestimated M'gann. She was untrained, but in terms of raw power, she was far more powerful than him or any Martian he had ever seen. 

It might have been due to Acnologia's or the fact that none of them were in the simulation for too long but the Team recovered quickly from the whole ordeal. Then came Acnologia's kitten gloves-off training.

Words cannot describe how brutal it was but it got to the point that several members of the league, the mentors, received complaints about how brutal it was and after several league members attempted to stop the brutal training, even Batman commented that it might be going too far.

Acnologia's training was shortened with some of the time allotted to team-building exercises. It was also called movie night where Acnologia would join the team to watch a movie while also reading more of the knowledge that he got from Nabue along with the one he took from Faust.

Due to the Time Boom, the simulation training happened earlier than it would have which caused Kara to ask M'gann to help her prank Acnologia not just for fun but to also help M'gann feel less guilty about the whole ordeal.

[AN: Remember in previous a chapter when M'gann was showing the Cave and the bioship, she transformed into Kara and Kara thought that Martian shapeshifting would be useful for a prank? No? Then it was in Chapter 17 for those that are wondering.]

They tried to prank Acnologia by having M'gann shapeshift into Kara but that did not go well when Acnologia simply used magic and accidentally revealed M'gann's Martian's appearance to both of them, him and Kara.

M'gann tried to run away but Acnologia did not let her as he wanted to know what was going on. This led to Kara explaining that she wanted to prank him and M'gann explaining that she was a White Martian.

Miss Martian explained the discrimination that was happening on Mars which caused Acnologia to laugh at the absurdity that a race of shapeshifters discriminated their own kind based on skin color. He then told her that she should be proud of her own strength, which her own uncle stated to one day surpass him, and not let others determine her worth.

As contradictory as that was, it did the trick and that is how Miss Martian became more confident and assertive in the new timeline. Anyway, now some may wonder what was Acnologia gaining from sparring with those two heroines, well it was simply to sharpen his reflex and instinct.

His body was basically on auto-pilot mode, using Haki to fight Supergirl while he was busy fighting Miss Martian in the mental plane. She could not control him even if she gave her all but Acnologia still liked to get a feel of what it felt like to fight two battles, one physically and the other psychically, at the same time.

It was better to get the hang of it now than to be caught lacking one day. Like how during World War Hulk, Hulk managed to fight Doctor Strange in the mindscape while fighting the U.S. Army in the real world.

Their sparring match went on for an hour until it ended then Supergirl went to help Superman with a volcano that had just erupted. Her cousin had asked for her help due to Kara always told him that she was ready for the big league.

Normally she would have been thrilled to help her cousin but at the moment she left begrudgingly. This was because Acnologia would now meditate with M'gann and give her a few tips on what she could improve via her telepathic abilities.

It had yet to be known by others but M'gann and Kara were jealous of each other. Kara was jealous of the mind link that M'gann and Acnologia had which to regular Martian would be akin to a friend group chat in human terms. She was also jealous of the fact that M'gann spend time with Acnologia in their mindscape.

M'gann, on the other hand, was jealous of the time Kara and Acnologia spent close to each other which to those that stalked them *Cough* Superman *Cough* was mostly spent on training or control over Kara's powers. M'gann was interpreted that as Acnologia being peculiarly fond of Kara.

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Miss Martian and Acnologia can be seen inside a forest, there were inside Acnologia's mindscape. Now some might be asking themselves, why would Acnologia do something so stupid as to let someone inside his mind?

The answer to that question is that he was testing something. He had taken inspiration from Rick Sanchez, from Rick and Morty, and build a fake mindscape at the corner entrance of his mindscape. This place was so close to the corner of his mindscape that it was outside the walls he had build specifically to counter telapaths. He had build this place in case he needed to bring someone inside his mind without risking them snooping around and reading his mind.

"Now can you tell me what you did wrong during the sparring match?"

Acnologia asked as he was lying on a tree.

"I didn't attack with the intention to break your mind?"

M'gann said, asking for confirmation while sitting beside Acnologia.

"That is correct, when you are fighting someone, you can only hold back when three conditions are met. One, you are exponetially stronger then your opponent. Two, your opponent has no way of beating you.

Three, you are not toying with your opponent, you are figthing seriously and aiming to end the battle as quick as possible. And lastly, your guard is constantly up and you can go up to a 100 percent at any moment."

Acnologia said to which M'gann replied with.

"But I can't break someone's mind. Uncle J'onn said that is not something I should be doing and once a mind is broken, we can't fic it- *Ouch*"

Acnologia stopped her midway through her sentence by flicking his finger on her forehead then spoke.

"Why do you think that you can't fix the mind of someone that you broke if you never tried? Didn't your uncle say that you had the most powerful telepatic potential that he has ever seen? The mind isn't some random vase that once broken can't be put back together.

It is akin to clay which upon being broken can still be put back into its original shape. Like I said before, don't let others determine her worth or the limits of your abilities. If no Martian can fix a broken mind then be the first one to do so. Now try to break this place."

M'gann nodded and concrentrated in order to break the scenary before them. While she was doing that, part of Acnologia was watching her while another part of him was reading learning more magic from both Nabue and Faust.

Since they were in his mindscape, he was able to divide himself as he wished. M'gann spent thirty minutes trying to break the scenary that was around them but the best she could do was create cracks that repaired themselves instantly. Being exhausted, she decided to take a break.

"Hey Acnologia, there is something I have been meaning to ask you about. What is the actual reason why you don't want to be a hero? You've told us many times that being a hero is a chore and all that but I always get the feeling that there is something that you are omitting."

Due to having nothing else to do as she rested inside his mindscape, M'gann decided to ask him a question that she has been wondering about for a long time. Upon hearing this, Acnologia brought his hand to his chin and thought for a second before answering her question.

"Truth be told, I already told you guys the actual reason that I don't want to be a hero. What I omitted was not the actual reason but a tertiary fact that made me becoming a hero all the more unlikely.

I omitted it because as a team leader, causing friction within the team would be unbecoming of me but if you must know it is because I am not a naive idealist like Orin. The relation between the kingdoms of the sea and the surface world has never been good especially now that the surface world knows the former's existence.

Frankly from what I see, all it would take for a war to spark between them would be something as simple as an oil spill ocean or some power hungry idiot do something stupid or- now that I think about it a lot of things can cause a war to happen between the surface world and the aquatic Kingdoms.

Though that sounds like an Orin's problem to prevent a war from happening, seeing that he is the king and all that. Still, were a war to happen between Atlantis and the U.S., who do you think the justice League would side with?"

Acnologia looked at M'gann who hesitantly said.

"W-Well they would side with the side that is in the right."

To this Acnologia sighed before rebuking her.

"*Sigh* Problem is that in a war, the side that is right is only decided after the war ends. From what I see, depending on what caused the war, most would either join the U.S. or stay out of it while Orin runs around trying to find a solution until he resign to the fact that a war is inevitable.

Anyway, the reason why this has something to do with me not wanted to be a hero is that, being a hero means you always try to save others even if they are the ones that are reaping what they sowed.

I am telling you this straight, if a war were to happen between Atlantis and the Surface World then I would pick Atlantis' side. I would not think about who is in the right or wrong, that would be decided by the victor.

Incidently, that is one of the reason why I mostly keep a certain distance with most member of the Team."

Upon hearing this, M'gann could not help to ask him one more question.

"But why are you telling me this? Knowing you, you would not say that unless-"

"I am saying that because I am confident that I can bring you and Kara to join my side."

Acnologia interupted her midway through her sentence.

"Wait what?!"

M'gann exclaimed before Acnologia walked up to her, brought his hand upon her chin and raised it as he brought his face closer to hers then spoke.

"It might seem like I do not pay attention to anything that is not related to me but I am aware of everything that happens around me."

M'gann's face redden when she felt Acnologia's breath.

"So... Join my side."

Acnologia said as if he was giving an order.

"Yes."

M'gann exclaim without even realizing it. Upon hearing her response, Acnologia backed away and smuggly added.

"See, like I said, I am confident that I bring you and Kara to join my side. I mean, Kara said the same thing as you did just now."

*RUMBLE*

Acnologia watched as M'gann's eyes glowed green as the space around them cracked and tremble. Not long after that, the forest that they were in shattered as if it was made of glass. Watching that, Acnologia could only smile. He clapped his hands as a sign of applause as he spoke to M'gann.

*Clap* *Clap* *Clap* *Clap* *Clap* *Clap* *Clap*

"See, I knew you could do it, you just needed the right mindset. You broke this place, now try to fix it."

M'gann was momentarily stunned and this was due to a combination of several factor happening at the same time. Her thinking that she had broken Acnologia's mindscape, the scarcely seen joyful smile that Acnologia was giving her and the fact that he was complementing her, something Acnologia rarely did to other's work really stunned her anger out of her.

She spent almost an hour restoring the broken forest while pouting before Acnologia decided that it was time to increase the difficulty of the training and she started asking herself why did she have to fall for him, a question Kara, also, often asked herself when Acnologia increased their difficulty.

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Born in Chicago, Sarah Essen endeavored to become a police officer. After achieving the rank of sergeant, she transferred to Gotham City where she became romantically involved with Lt. James Gordon.

Sarah knew that James was married with a son on the way, and she soon brought the affair to a close. The affair had started to get in the way of their life and work. Still, unable to work with Jim any longer, she put in a transfer to New York City.

Sarah eventually married, but years later her husband died so Sarah returned to Gotham and resumed her romance with the now-divorced Jim Gordon. Jim had become Commissioner of the Gotham City Police Department and Sarah resumed her role as a member of the GCPD.

While Jim Gordon recovered from a stroke, Sarah set out to capture the notorious criminal known as Catwoman. In the process, Sarah came across photographer Vicki Vale and together, they teamed up with Catwoman to capture a member of a white slave trade organization.

Although this was a major hit to Gotham's crime, Essen was disappointed she could not capture Catwoman. Sarah and James continued dating and eventually, they decided to officially become engaged. Gordon proposed a short time later and soon they were married.

Shortly after their wedding, word got around that the assassin Headhunter was looking to kill James Gordon, and Sarah became very worried for him. As Gordon went out looking for the assassin, Sarah turned on the Bat-Signal and asked Batman to save her husband.

When Batman left her behind without saying a word, she misinterpreted his lack of words for refusal to help and became so infuriated that she shot the Bat-Signal. Fortunately, her worries were over when Gordon returned safely, carrying the assassin to the GCPD Headquarters.

Gordon got a good laugh after hearing Sarah complain about Batman's refusal and gave her, his self-made guidlines on how to read Batman or as his best friend Harvey Bullock would say, how to understand Batman-nese but Sarah was not up for it.

A few days later, after the massive breakout from Arkham Asylum orchestrated by Bane, Gordon was attacked by Cornelius Stirk. Batman managed to save the commissioner, but Gordon was left in a state of shock and Sarah had to take him inside the GCPD Headquarters.

Shortly after this, the GCPD was overwhelmed with work from the several lunatics who were roaming Gotham. Sarah quickly commanded all the available officers to join her and go to Castleland Park to get the situation under control.

When Batman was defeated by Bane, Sarah watched as her husband, Jim, tried to contact the vigilante to no avail and in return, she supported him as best as she could. After Bane's defeat, Batman took a different approach to his crime-fighting methods by communicating more which turned out to just a few words here and there before he vanished like he usually did.

When the Joker escaped Arkham for the Nth time, the GCPD went on a man hunt for the Nth time as well but this time, Sarah participated in the man hunt against her husband's and Harvey Bullock warnings.

Against all odds, Sarah found Joker, holding a gun in one hand and an infant in the other, holed up in a room full of newborns, which the psycotic clown had kidnapped. If Sarah shot him, he would drop the baby and potentially kill it.

He then dropped the baby anyway for her to catch, shooting and fatally wounding her when she saved the baby. Devastated by her death, Commissioner Gordon apprehended the Joker by shooting him in the leg.

Joker was sent back to Arkham while everyone stayed behind trying to console Gordon who simply wanted to be left alone at the moment. As tragic as the night had been, the GCPD receive another call from Arkham about to Joker.

Naturally, the officer that picked up the call was agitated and did not wait for the Arkham staff to inform him about what they wanted to say about the Joker. he simply started yelling at them through the phone.

"Listen here, you fucking cunts! If I ear that you useless piece of shit let him escape not even twenty-four hours after we brought him back. I am going to go up their, rip a guard rail and shove it where the sun doesn't shin-"

The police officer was interupted by the Arkahm Staff midway through his sentence.

"Joker is dead."

"Come again?"

Not believing what he had hear, the police officer asked which made the Arkham Staff repeat what he said.

"I said, we were calling you to inform you that the Joker is dead. There was a fire in his cell and he burned alive."

There was a silence that came after the Arkham Staff informed the Police Officer what had happened to the Joker. After about a minute of silence, the Arkham Staff hearing the Police Officer muttering something.

"Catwoman, Poison Ivy and Harley Quinn on my bed in see through bikini! Catwoman, Poison Ivy and Harley Quinn on my bed in see through bikini! Catwoman, Poison Ivy and Harley Quinn on my bed in see through bikini! Catwoman, Poison Ivy and Harley Quinn on my bed in see through bikini!"

"What are you saying?"

The Arkham Staff asked as he could not understand why the Police Officer was saying such things before he heard the Police Officer exclaim something before the latter hung up.

"Wow, so its not a dream."

After saying that, the police officer ran to Harvey Bullock and told him what the Arkham Staff had said. Upon hearing this, Harvey Bullock simply closed his eyes, inhaled and exhaled deeply then spoke in a serene tone.

"Wonder Woman, Black Canary, Fire and Ice on my bed in see through bikini! Wonder Woman, Black Canary, Fire and Ice on my bed in see through bikini! Wonder Woman, Black Canary, Fire and Ice on my bed in see through bikini! Wonder Woman, Black Canary, Fire and Ice on my bed-"

"Sir, this is not a dream."

The Police Officer interupted Harvey to which the latter could only mutter one thing before he went to inform his grieving best friend.

"Wow, I would say Karma exist but let's not get our hopes up just yet. This is Gotham, no one is truly dead until you see their body.. or severed head."

When Harvey informed Gordon of Joker's possible demise, Gordon simply closed his eyes, inhaled and exhaled deeply then spoke in a serene tone.

"A clean Gotham. A Clean Gotham. A Clean Gotham... where Sarah is alive."

He opened his eyes and turned to look outside his window only to sigh as he saw that Gotham was still the same then spoke.

"*Sigh* I guess this isn't a dream then."

He grabbed his coat then walked out of his office while speaking to Bullock.

"Let's go see if that monster is truly dead or if this is one of his cruel joke."

They drove to Arkham where they went to Joker's cell only to be greeted by Batman and Joker's charred corpse. Bullock was the first one to speak between the three men.

"Is that clown really dead or do I have to still keep the same wish list for christmass this year?"

Morbid joke aside, Batman simply nodded before explaining how Joker had being killed. Someone had tempered with his cell and caused him to die by being burned alive. He then showed them part of the erased security footage that he managed to recover.

The two detectives were shocked when they saw the man who had done this. It was none other than Charles Brown A.K.A Kite-Man A.K.A the one that was not even on the list of possible suspect. Gordon could not help but to ask.

"Are there any chances that this isn't a shapeshifter like Clayface?"

Batman simply walked away as he answered his question.

"I will get to the bottom of this, I promise you that Jim."

Gordon was shocked that Batman left the room while he was not looking away for the first time but he was brought out of his shock by what Bullock said next.

"Wonder Woman, Black Canary, Fire and Ice on my bed in see through bikini! Wonder Woman, Black Canary, Fire and Ice on my bed in see through bikini! Wonder Woman, Black Canary, Fire and Ice on my bed in see through bikini! Wonder Woman, Black Canary, Fire and Ice on my bed-"

Gordon simply sighed as he bursted Bullock's bubble.

"*Sigh* Harvey, this isn't a dream."

Harvey rebuked Gordon before resuming what he was saying.

"Joker got burned alive and Batman left without doing his vanishing act, this might not be a dream but wishes are being granted for some reason so I am testing my luck here.

Wonder Woman, Black Canary, Fire and Ice on my bed in see through bikini! Wonder Woman, Black Canary, Fire and Ice on my bed in see through bikini! Wonder Woman, Black Canary, Fire and Ice on my bed in see through bikini! Wonder Woman, Black Canary, Fire and Ice on my bed-"

Gordon ignored what Harvey was saying as he started to shake his head. He left his partner, who was practically on his knees as he started shouting the same sentence over and over again, to get some fresh air. 

[AN: Want more? Like Thanos, I want those STONES!!!]