"Gods, it's so quiet." Courtney says as she, Billy, and Rick come out of the tunnel after Jay, Pietr, and Kara have looked around and given them the all clear. Kara dresses in her costume in a building and takes to the air to see what is going on. Billy says his magic word and heads off in another direction.

"Rick?" Courtney asks when he comes out of the tunnel with a bag.

"I'm picking up some of this stuff for Billy. He's going to be busy for a while." Courtney nods and grabs a second bag. They split up and start picking up stuff, emptying the bags in one of the buildings that Pietr and Jay are going through. They can see the work Billy has done on them, even as rudimentary as it is.

"Pat?"

"Can make anything mechanical sit up and beg but I don't know how good he is at plumbing and electrical work." Pietr says quietly.

"And I don't know if there's anybody in the Justice League that could do the work."

"Is anybody answering at Headquarters yet?"

"No, I left a message that the six of us were safe and making our way back to Headquarters. Your wife?"

"Safe at home. Rick?"

"Called home, Mom and Dad are fine, they're checking on the neighbors. A lot of people were taken, not just around here. And we don't know if they're still alive." Jay and Pietr sigh.

"Flash, this is Superman." Jay's communicator crackles. "Are you and your fellow Society members safe?"

"Yes, we came out from where we were hiding. Power Girl and Captain Marvel are seeing if anybody needs help before we return to Headquarters."

"Who all is with you?"

"Stargirl. . .who had better be calling her family." Jay says firmly, looking over at her. She grins and waggles her phone. "Hourman is nearby, as is Dr. Mid-Nite. Only the six of us were at Headquarters when Spectre alerted us to the problem. I have no idea where the others are, I've sent out the alert to contact Headquarters to let us know they are safe."

"Stay where you can if at all possible, we don't know if this is the end of it or not." Superman says.

"We can stay sheltered until you give us the all clear." Rick goes down to the tunnel and comes back with the truck keys since Billy hadn't locked them up the last time they'd been out in case they had to leave unexpectedly. "Get me a list of groceries, I'll see if I can get anything to the store. I remember where it was." Jay nods. Pietr rattles off a list and Rick writes it down, nodding and getting behind the wheel. Some of the roads are covered in debris and he puts it in the back, tying it down with the tarp. The grocery store is open and the clerk sighs as he comes in. "Think it's over?"

"No idea, but I had to get out to buy some groceries while they don't seem to be around." He shakes his head as he gets what he can, paying for his food and putting it in the truck. Billy gets in the passenger seat, having seen the truck heading to the grocery store as he came back from looking around the area, and they stop to pick up debris on the trip back, putting the bigger stuff in a building before going down into the tunnel.

"Were you able to get in contact with your families?" Billy asks.

"Yes, Mom and Dad are checking on the neighbors. A lot of people were taken, Superman and the League is trying to find them."

"There was nobody on the streets as I went to the grocery store."

"No, not after the aliens continually sweeping through picking up anybody on the street. Whether they were going someplace or not." Kara says, cutting up vegetables for the stew pot. "Somebody wind the radio, see if anything besides propaganda is on."

Courtney winds the radio, turning it up when she catches a news bulletin that the aliens are still declaring martial law and that they can see everything you're doing. Expect more roundups.

"Morons, they're going to have their asses handed to them." Kara dumps the vegetables and mushrooms in the pot along with the veggie stock and sets it to simmer.

"Yes, after the war ended. . .oppressed people took their vengeance on those who sided with the oppressors for one reason or another. If it was to keep them or their families safe they generally were spared, if it was just for the money or power. . ."

"They were dealt with. Yes, if this had lasted longer I can see something like this happening."

That night Billy finishes making out his order.

"How will you pay for this?"

"Money order at the store. They have a mail drop off there. The package would be dropped in one of the boxes setup by the buildings, packages can go in but not come out without a key." He makes a note. "When this is over, I gotta pick up a few more bags of potting soil for the garden. And more lighters, matches, and candles. It might take a while for things to get back to normal." The others nod.

The next day Billy goes out with Rick, Courtney, and Kara. . .each carrying a bag and picking up debris both on the street and in the roads. A police car comes up but the officer just taps his horn in thanks as he sees them clearing the road.

"Shouldn't we stop them?" The rookie in the passenger seat asks, turning to look back at them as a truck comes up and they start moving stuff into the back.

"Why? Cleaning the roads so a driver doesn't lose a tire or do damage to their car? Nope, they're doing a public service. If they're taking this crap, more power to them. This is nothing more than cleaning up after a storm or other natural disaster."

The police car pulls up to a local firehouse, firefighters have the doors open to air the building out and are putting the flag up. "How's everything going?"

"Good, hopefully things will be quiet for a couple days. There's a pile of debris by the firehouse and the truck that had been picking it up pulls up. A young man looks at the fire captain and he waves and nods. "And take the recycling if you want it, it's stacking up." The debris and recycling are taken and the now full truck drives off. "Chet, bathroom duty. Marco, kitchen. See what we need in the way of supplies. I have the feeling we're going to be on call for a while. Johnny, Roy, check your gear then clean the equipment bay. Mike, check the engine. I'll be on conference call to the brass. See how many more stations are reporting in."

The man called Marco starts making a list of what is needed. Grabbing the station card and a set of keys he hurries off, stopping at various stores to get everything. "Oh good," Captain Stanley says when he pulls in back and taps on the horn, the others coming out and grabbing bags and boxes. "Okay, now everybody's here. We are all getting paid for the time we were on lockdown . . .that's the good news."

"And the bad news Cap?" Chet asks.

"We are stuck here for at least another week. I see Marco brought double what we normally would."

"Yeah, I had the sinking feeling we're it for a while Cap, that's why I brought extra. The other stations?"

"We're it for the duration, none of the others around us have reported in. The police are going to be checking them but. . . it doesn't look good."

True to his words police are sent out to the other fire stations and find them empty, damaged, or both. At City Hall the mayor's face grows longer and longer as he frantically tries to call in off-duty police and firefighters only to find there aren't any. And there's no extras he can beg, borrow, or steal from other communities. Because he can't keep the crew he has, they're from California here for a station exchange to see how other facilities handle things before going their separate ways since all of them had received promotions. Their captain was going to move up in the ranks to battalion chief while the other remaining crew members were moving to other stations as their new captains.

Kara lifts the broken street lights into the back of the truck, removing them when they return to the buildings. Grabbing a bag she lifts off into the air again once she's back in her costume and finishes clearing the area as Rick drives himself, Jay, Pietr, and Courtney to Headquarters, Billy flying in and driving the truck back to the tunnel. Kara grins at him as he arrives and waves before she flies off.

Jay calls his wife when they arrive at Headquarters and heads off, Rick getting in his car and driving to check on his parents and then his apartment while Courtney gets in her costume and flies off with the cosmic staff. Pietr checks on the computer and heads to his home by one of the jets. Everybody who has family at home is hugged fervently and cried on in the case of wives or mothers.

"Where were you hiding?" Pat asks when he pulls away from her.

"With Jay, Dr. Mid-Nite, Rick, Kara, and Captain Marvel in an area he knew. We were in an out of the way area but the aliens were still sweeping people off the streets and breaking light posts. . .because they could."

"Yeah, I've heard rumors that police departments, fire departments, hospitals. . .a lot of places were targeted." Mike says.

"How it is here?"

"Quiet, Nebraska isn't a major area for superheroes so we were somewhat safe." Courtney's mom says. "Are you hungry?"

"No, Dr. Mid-Nite made sure we ate. I more want a hot shower and clean clothes." Barbara follows her into the bathroom, making she she wasn't hiding anything and nodding in satisfaction. "Anything special for dinner?"

"Anything is good mom, I've been basically eating whatever was handed to me."

Pat looks at her as she sighs when he turns on the light by the couch. "Where we were lost our outside lights when the aliens took out street lights, we've been living by candlelight for over a week once the sun went down. I never realized until now just all we take for granted.

Billy heads downstairs before it gets too dark, with no streetlights he'll have to light a candle earlier. Why does the tunnel feel so empty now? It never had before when he was here alone. Lighting a candle he puts it in a hurricane lamp for extra light as he winds the radio. This time he hears announcements of massive power outages thanks to the damage from the aliens. The next morning he reports to the station, getting equipment and an assignment. One of the other employees grins as he waves him to a company van.

A car pulls up by the fire station, the woman inside tapping on the horn until the smaller door opens. "Oh good, I brought more supplies for you. Thankfully all your sizes were on file so I got you winter uniforms, winter boots, warm coats, hats, and gloves." The boxes are hauled inside and Hank is happy to see each man's name on a box. "Now, how are you on supplies for the weather?" She goes over everything with the crew and leaves at the end of the day satisfied.

"Where the hell have you been?" A man bellows when she returns to City Hall.

"Getting the crew we do have winter gear and making sure they have enough supplies. Including leading them through filling the snowblowers, plow truck, and arranging to have the tanks at the station filled since they're gonna be here longer than a month. Are the tanks at the damaged stations being pumped? Have the supplies been brought out? Have they been inspected to see if they can be fixed or need to be torn down? The vehicles? Are they totaled or can they be fixed?" The man who'd been complaining rushes off. "Asshole, try doing your job instead of complaining I'm doing mine." She glares at a coworker about to open her mouth and the fool woman scuttles off. "Morons, I'm surrounded by fucking morons." A man laughs behind her. "I got people looking for enough off duty personnel who didn't get taken to try to have at least one undamaged station open."

"I don't see that happening, most off duty personnel have other jobs."

"Yeah, unless it was something like retail where they can be easily replaced they're needed at their other workplaces."

The mayor whines when he gets the final reports a week later. The stations that were damaged have had their tanks of fuel for the vehicles pumped so it can be used elsewhere. Utilities had been shut off at all the other stations until personnel could take them over again. All salvageable supplies had been moved to storage and he whimpers as the total of destroyed vehicles is put in front of him. "Could none of them have been salvaged, even with using the others for parts?"

"Nope, it's the same all over. We're just worse off since we had less vehicles to start with. The Justice League sent out a notice to bring all totaled city vehicles to a central area and Green Lanterns would pick them up and bring them elsewhere to be torn apart for recycling instead of just letting them sit there. Only city, state, or county vehicles, not private ones. Unless they're something like ambulances or other private services contracted by the city, county, or state."

"Why not private ones?" He wails.

"Because they most likely weren't damaged by the aliens, if they were they have insurance to handle it. If they don't. . .too bad, so sad." The woman who'd gone out to the station snaps, slapping a hand on the table. "We are talking thousands of vehicles, if not hundreds of thousands around the world. A lot of communities are going to be in a world of hurt even with insurance because it won't cover everything. We are talking thousands of dollars before we start getting into supplies." He whines deep in his throat again.

"Let alone the wait time in getting new vehicles since everybody needs them." Somebody else says. The others nod.

Billy looks at the buildings, all full of debris from the vehicles and other ships that he'd and the others have picked up in the area. Station WHIZ is due to reopen the next day and Billy had been busy for the last three days interviewing people for the station. He'd got his money order and dropped the order in the mailbox on the way back from the store. Shelves are still empty but he was able to pick up a few things. The school was shut down but he'd slid the envelope with his work in the after hours slot and he walks outside, leaving the door open a crack to get some air in the tunnel.

He walks past protests at the stations that had been working with the aliens, picking up a newspaper on the way to WHIZ. He showers and puts his clothes in the bag to wash on the way home before settling in the newsroom, reading the paper and talking to the other reporters.

"Oh that miserable fool is dead? I'm not surprised, the whole neighborhood hated her because she's got a damn list of rules and regulations only she knows and destroys other people's property if it doesn't pass inspection. Bitch has been arrested three dozen times and told the next arrest would see her in prison for five years. Damn fool probably sided with the aliens in the hope everybody would kiss her ass."

"Billy, did you see the aliens?" One of the reporters asks.

"Yeah, I was picking up groceries one night and they were going around shutting down places because they didn't want people out after dark. The next day they started picking up people off the street." Everybody is quiet, they still don't know what happened to the people the aliens had taken and rumors were rampant, everything from they were being indoctrinated to join the aliens, the aliens had eaten them, and that the aliens were using them to fuel their ships were the most common.

Homelessness over most of the country was a thing of the past, they'd almost seemed to be a target of the aliens.

After work he does his laundry, turning the wheel on the line to hang everything up as a pot of soup simmers on the campstove. The school should reopen next week, he'll give them a week to grade his assignments and make up another batch of schoolwork for him. The building wasn't labeled a school so it didn't get damaged like others had thanks to the aliens. Courtney's school was fine since there was little alien activity in Nebraska but many in New York had been heavily damaged and might not be able to reopen this year. Those fools who hadn't been killed as alien sympathizers were being forced to work ten to twelve hour shifts weekends to repair the damage done by the aliens.

A meeting is called at the Justice Society a couple days later and he comes in for a landing.

"Heya kid," Wildcat says as he comes into Headquarters. "I see you survived being stuck with the others for a few days."

"Where were you?"

"Stuck on the satellite with the League and their sidekicks, the Titans. I spent the whole week teaching some of them how to fight. Some of them were too complacent on their abilities and being unable to use them they were useless. I spent a lot of time wanting to kick whiny brat's asses. And not just the kids either."

Rick slaps Marvel playfully on the arm as they walk into the meeting. "Things getting back to normal?"

"Some places haven't reopened yet, damage from the aliens. That fire station where we stopped?" Rick nods as the others look at him. "Is the only station in the area that is open, the others were either damaged or there's nobody to operate them. The mayor and city council are frantically trying to get in more firefighters to see if any of the other stations can be reopened. Because that crew? They're not from around here. They were part of an exchange between fire stations, they're originally from California for a month to see how fire stations ran differently in other areas. They got the assignment because all of them were just promoted so their shift is being replaced, their captain was going to be a battalion chief while the rest were heading to new stations. They have families back in California. Luckily none of their families were hurt but their old station is heavily damaged. And like here they're scrambling to repair the damage and find new people. Every major city got hit. They're talking about National Guard to come in and take them and police stations over until new graduates can be hired. And that's not the only problems. They seemed to have a hatred for street lights, several blocks around where we were have to have them replaced, they didn't just bust the bulbs, they broke the light poles. The local government is already bleating that they don't have the money to replace them. But businesses are demanding that they be replaced before they reopen while the local government wants the businesses reopened before they replace them."

"Sounds about right." Pat snorts as he comes in from the garage.

"Yeah, they did a lot of that all over." Sand says as he settles into a seat. "Come to the med unit after the meeting." Dr. Mid-Nite says quietly in Marvel's ear. "Did you have many sympathizers?"

"Yes, a number of news media outlets chose to placate the aliens, there was a lot of protesters after the aliens left. They are. . .under new management."

"Sounds about right."

"Deaths?" Alan asks quietly.

"I heard of one, I don't know if it was because they were a sympathizer or if it was because she was a miserable excuse for a human being who hated everybody who wasn't her." Marvel says slowly.

"Ahhh, one of those miserable bitches somebody would have killed sooner or later." Kara drawls.

"Exactly."

"Any other deaths?"

"Not that I've heard of that can be directly tied to the aliens. There's a lot of missing people. . ." Everybody nods. "The most problems seem to be the loss of the street lights, power outages from those poles, and damages to buildings that were recognizable as schools, police departments, fire stations, and hospitals."

"Why schools?"

"Shut them all down and the citizens are reliant on the aliens? Same with the others."

"Sounds about right."

"Okay, any other problems we need to deal with?"

"Supplies? Do they need those of us with super-strength and flight to deliver supplies? Or the Green Lanterns? Even now there's not many trucks getting to affected areas."

"Yes, the government's looking into it. The League will contact us if they need our help to deliver supplies."

"I hate to ask, but sanitation and clean water? Did the aliens destroy any of those facilities? Garbage?"

Alan sighs. "Something else the government is going to have to look into. If nothing else some of the Lanterns can fly around, gather it up and deliver it to landfills." Then he looks at Marvel. "That fire station, how did. . .?"

"It not receive damage? It's an older one that is. . .or should I say was unofficially decommissioned when a newer, larger one was built. The crew was each going to other stations in the area to observe them at work. There was nothing to tell the aliens that that was a fire station. Yes, they had equipment but only went out if it was a major fire. Now they are on call 24/7 until somebody else can come in and take over another station."