Chapter Text
Grace was stuck in space with a rock. Was. He was on his way to go back to Rocky. Why was he going back to a rock? A space rock? An alien space rock? That he named Rocky? He knew he was insane for doing this. Well, he didn't want to be dragged into this in the first place. Maybe that was why he was going back to Rocky and tell him that the taumoeba were probably going to kill him. Even then, that was an insane decision, too. To forget about going back to Earth, and to go back to Rocky with the likely chance of the both of them dying in space anyway.
Anyway, that was all in the past. Now, he's for sure going to die. He's trying to redirect the ship from going straight into a blackhole. He was busy trying to keep all the taumoeba contained in their capsules with saran wrap when Mary started blasting sirens throughout the whole ship. The moment he entered the cockpit, his heart dropped at the image of a blackhole on the screen with bright red labels reading '!!!WARNING!!!'.
The force of the blackhole pulling him in was too difficult to pry out of. Grace didn't think he'd turn into spaghetti this early in life. He's barely touching the middle ages. Then again, he didn't think he'd be thrown into a spaceship flying headfirst into a star, either.
He shifts the gear left, right, up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, God, how he wishes there were a cheat code for real life, too. A tear drips down his cheek as he sinks into the vanta-black ball with spirals. He shuts his eyes and begs God, if he was even there, to let him live.
Silence.
Black.
His breathing staggers. A bright light peeks through his eyelids. He reluctantly lifts them open.
A glaring light sears his eyes, even though he barely opened them by 3 centimeters. He yelps and raises his arm to cover his eyes when he realizes... his arms... aren't spaghetti? You mean to tell him that he wasn't turned into the next Italian dish?
His eyes start to adjust to the light and he lowers his hand. The ship was still turned off, possibly from the energy overflow. The oxygen tank should be off too, so why could he breathe? He turns towards the window. It's a bright white with colorful orbs floating and roaming. It must be moving. All of science... was wrong. But how could anyone tell what's happening inside a black hole if nobody's been in one? Until now, that is.
After a few seconds, the orbs turn into rainbow streaks, then the streaks would bleed into the sheer white. The ship starts to rattle and Grace begins to feel funny. The type of funny when you're at that big drop on a rollercoaster and you're screaming and your hands are up in the air (if they're not grabbing onto some poor, scared stranger to your left); The type of funny that has your gut dropping to the very bottom of your body, squeezy and tickly, nauseatingly.
The gravity pushes him against the seat. He feels very comical with the way his eyelids are forcibly flown open and his lips are retracted back like blubber. He grips the armrests, depending on them for his life. He turns away and his face gets mashed into the seat.
When he comes to, the lights of the ship flicker on. The darkness becomes a warm lit cockpit again. The breaths he held release into jagged, sharp gasps. When he looks out of the window, he sees the glittering expanse space again. He's never been happier to be out here.
He looks at all of the screens, scanning for errors and damages. Nothing. The ship is still intact and the same as before. If he came back to Earth, he'd be elated to tell all his students about how he was the only human to survive a blackhole. The thrill of discovery catches up to him, and his heart is beating out of his chest—but so is dinner. He throws up.
____
It was a pain to clean all of his spew. It was fortunate that none of it seeped in through the tech. A lot of difficulties would come from that that he didn't want to deal with. He improvised with an old, worn shirt to soak up the vomit with the lack of tissues. He threw it into an empty compartment of the ship where he chucks all of his other garbage in.
Now that that was settled, he needed to reroute the ship back to Rocky. He seats himself in the pilot's chair and is greeted by the 'PILOT DETECTED' announcement. He taps a few buttons on the navigation screen and to the previously saved destinations menu when, a large pop up stops him.
"LOCATION NOT FOUND"
What?
He taps out of the screen and then presses the saved coordinates to Rocky's ship again.
"LOCATION NOT FOUND"
He taps it again. "LOCATION NOT FOUND". And again. "LOCATION NOT FOUND". Again. "LOCATION NOT FOUND". Again. "LOCATION NOT FOUND". "LOCATION".
"LOCATION NOT FOUND"
He wants to punch the screen.
He reclines against the seat and runs his hand down his face. Was he too late? Did he fail to save Rocky?
He weeps a little.
He's left with no other option but to fly back to Earth, except, trying to back out of the black hole used up half of his fuel. Still, he had to at least try. That's what Rocky would've wanted him to do. Clinging onto false hope. He wipes away his tears and takes the steering gear and sets navigation to Earth.
Red lights and another blaring alarm fills Grace's ears. The last ounces of fuel have been used. His time is up. All thats left is the power and the oxygen tank. It was fun while it lasted.
That's what he would've said if he made peace with death. He doesn't want to die. He doesn't want to die alone. He wanted to save Rocky. That was all he wanted.
He sits in front of Rocky's xenonite chamber. He wishes he could've saved him. He was the only real friend he had in a long time. Except now, he would die alone. That is his greatest fear coming true. He's only human, after all. That vodka packet would be pretty useful right now.
____
Major news of an unknown spaceship about to enter Earth's exosphere is flooding the media. The Justice League was first to be notified. Batman gathers the members into a meeting at the Watchtower.
"The ship doesn't seem to be from an alien species. Rather... it looks human-made." Batman projects a photo of the spaceship onto a screen. He zooms in on the fuel tank and enhances the quality. "This is a NASA spacecraft. We've contacted NASA and they denied any ties to it. Any ideas?"
"What if they're lying?" Green Lantern suggests. He lies back in his seat with his arms crossed.
"They've provided formidable proof." Batman replies.
The Flash raises his hand. "What if its an alien trying to pose as human?"
"I could fly out there and check." Superman suggests.
"No. That's too dangerous." Batman says, without giving any time to even consider the idea. "They could be carrying Kryptonite or even wield magic powers."
"I can bring Martian Manhunter with me."
"Still no. The possibilities are endless." Batman states. "There are other ways we can find out whether it's human or not."
He turns to J'onn. "Can you use your telepathy?"
J'onn nods in response.
____
This was the end, Grace decided, for the hundredth time.
The red warning light flashes from the cockpit. He's on the floor, his beard grown out, matted and arms limp on the ground. He lays motionless in the dark, the lights shut off a while ago to save power. How long had it been? His beard hasn't been this long since, well, since he woke up from the coma, but a little shorter. He's only assuming, but he guesses it's been two years. Two years of doing basically nothing but waiting for the Grim Reaper to finally take his soul. But when he would be at the edge of death, he would pull himself together again. What was it? His fear of dying alone keeping him alive? Or could it be that he still refused to die?
He stares at his reflection in the xenonite panes of Rocky's chamber. God, he looks pathetic.
The alarm shuts off eventually. He didn't even know what it was for. All he knew was that it was another one to add to the number of times it went off.
He shuts his eyes and drifts to sleep.
____
J'onn frowns. The rest of the League stares at him with concern written on their faces.
"It's... a person. A human." He finally says.
"So, it's not an alien?" Black Canary asks.
"Yes, well... No. He's not from here."
"'He'?" Batman restates.
"What do you mean, J'onn?" Superman crosses his arms. "If he's a human, how is he not from Earth?"
"Not from our Earth. He's from a different universe." J'onn declares. Everyone holds a different degree of surprise on their faces.
"Is he aggressive?" Wonder Woman questions.
"No. He doesn't wield anything dangerous to us."
Superman looks towards Batman. "Bruce, it's clear he's not a threat. We can go out there and perform a rescue mission."
Batman pauses, debating the different consequences with lightning speed in his head, then presses his fingers into the intercom attached to his ear. "Prepare one of the ships."
____
A loud thunk stirs Grace from his slumber. It could just be a stray space rock that bumped into the ship.
Thunk.
Maybe multiple.
Thunk.
Fine. Have it your way.
Grace picks himself up from the floor and teeters to the cockpit.
He bends over the pilot chair and scans the screen. An unknown spacecraft has attached itself to the dock. Great, now he's being abducted by aliens again, too.
Thunk.
...
It's coming from the dock.
Thunk.
Grace slowly turns his head over his shoulder. He's looking into the hallway, where once was full of light is now a creeping dark and flashing red. The dock is a turn from the corridor, and he cannot see it from the doorframe. He barely straightens his posture and cautiously steps towards the frame.
He looks around the ground for any sort of weapon to fend against the aliens. All that he sees instead are old, musty and rank clothes and plastic wrappers. He clenches his right fist and tries to remember all the moves the boxers on TV use whenever he was at a bar.
Each step towards the airlock resounds in his ears, the pattering of his bare feet in line with his heartbeat. He inhales, then exhales. Box breathing isn't working.
His free hand leans on the wall, balancing him before his legs give out. He's glad at least that the gravity control is still working. When he turns the corner, his gut drops. The dock is still empty, and the thunking has stopped. The red alarms still flash throughout the ship. He syncs his blinking with the moments it turns dark. The only thing separating him from the alien is the airtight hatch.
____
"Batman, we're ready to go." A voice leaks through the Batship cockpit speakers.
"Bruce, are you sure you want me to be the one going inside that ship?" Superman crosses his arms. He stands a few feet behind Batman. He's not opposed, but with Batman's whole 'I don't want you in there' thing earlier during the meeting, he's questioning Batman's motives.
Batman doesn't even look at him before he quips back. "I thought you were so eager to go take a look in there."
A projected image of the Batship and the unknown spacecraft appears on the large screen before Batman. They've been connected via tunnel.
"Yes, but..." Superman couldn't think of what to say after the 'but'. "I know you have another reason other than just being petty." That isn't entirely true; Batman makes many decisions for different things, whether they should make sense to outsiders or not.
Batman types in a few things on the screen. A window pops up with a code Clark doubts he'll ever be able decipher. He presses the keys and another window appears. This time, with a visible control panel of the other spacecraft.
"You're good at persuading. Plus, your big primary color scheme immediately disqualifies you from looking like a threat." Batman replies.
"Now go. I'll be able to bypass the firewall and open the latch to their ship before you even reach the entrance to the tunnel."
Clark rushes out of there and heads to the airlock. On his way, he doesn't see any spacesuits, which makes sense; He doesn't need them. It was also fairly easy to navigate himself to the airlock. The latch opens, and he steps inside a bright white room. He pauses for a second as he waits for the oxygen to be released.
Following about a minute or so, the weight of air molecules lifts from his shoulders. It's go time.
The latch in front of him opens and he enters the tunnel. It's not too long of a walk. After a few steps, he's already reached the entrance to the foreign ship's dock. Through it's window, Clark sees darkness. He flexes his fingers and prepares a monologue of coaxing the man inside to follow him to a foreign ship.
____
The alarm turned off. Grace panics and runs back to the hallway, where he's hidden by the corner. Or atleast where he thinks it is. He presses his back against the paneling and he whispers a curse under his breath. He hears the airlock's latch opening.
Hiss.
There's no backing down now.
One.
Two.
Three.
Seconds play in his head like a countdown to his demise.
A dim light comes from the window. Its immediately shadowed by something. This thing was large. Grace wouldn't be able to take it in a fistfight if he wanted to.
____
The next latch opens and Clark steps into the airlock. He stands there, idly, waiting for Bruce to do his thing. He's surprised the ship has enough power to maintain the gravity control.
A weight falls on his shoulders again. It smells like oxygen. The door opens. He steps into uncertain darkness.
"My name is Superman. I don't mean any harm." Clark says loud enough to reach a few vessels throughout the ship. He raises his arms to show he's unarmed. He hears breathing from the corner.
As he moves forward, he walks a little more into the center of the room. He looks around with his night vision activated and sees a miserable, miserable man in the corner of his eye.
The lights turn on, to Bruce's assistance. The man yells and runs towards him with a ready fist.
Clark blocks his attack, it wasn't a very good one. It's weak and lacks control. He has probably never had a proper meal in a long time. He also reeks, which is the most noticeable trait about him. Clark's heart tugs with sympathy.
Clark pulls his arms back around him and restrains him to the ground. Bruce had given him a sedator in case the man turned out to be aggressive and resistant. He always prepared for these instances.
"I'm sorry." Clark mutters while he takes out the syringe from his pocket and injects the sedation serum into the struggling man.
____
Its fine.
It'll be fine. Hopefully.
Grace has had his bodily autonomy violated before. He's been sedated before. It doesn't hurt to experience it a second time. He just hopes he's not strapped to another spaceship with a suicide mission he can't back out of. He's not the type to be afraid of needles. He's debated anti-vaxxers before. It won't be too bad this time, right?
Sure.
But it still fucking hurts.