Disclaimer: I do not own Justice League or The Dark Knight Trilogy, which are the property of DC Comics, Cartoon Network, Warner Bros., etc. Nor do I make any profit from this story.

A/N: It's another insert-an-OC for me, but I really enjoy these. This story begins a little after the cartoon episode The Terror Beyond, and quite some time before the next episode Secret Society. The year is 2013 and I have totally messed with ages and dates so it will fit my particular story.

DC Comics had a superhero named Enigma. However, the "mysterious entity known only as 'Enigma'…" (from my summary) is NOT related in any way to the 8-issue Vertigo/DC Miniseries of the same name.

Notes:
My inspiration and background for this story is mainly the cartoon Justice League/Justice League Unlimited and the Dark Knight trilogy. I don't do the comics or Batman: TAS unless I really like an event in them, which is kind of rare but not unheard of. I love Christian Bale, Michael Caine, Heath Ledger, and Morgan Freeman in their roles, so they will be more TDK-inspired than anything else.

Prologue: Complicated

It seemed like an easy morning mission from the moment the call came in from the mayor's office. Four villains – all amateurs – causing a ruckus on the outskirts of Detroit. Hence why Green Lantern presently rounded up the escapees, who had been easily caught with a few simple tactics of the military variety. All four were now tied up and ready to be taken into police custody.

Suddenly a blast went off on Green Lantern's left, sending showers of brick and glass and debris of all kinds flying thirty feet out from the wall of a nearby drugstore.

"What the—?" The hero jumped back in shock as he glanced down at a villain he had not known about — Devil Ray stepped from the middle of the cloud, holding his gun to the head of a brown-haired teenage girl who looked as horrified as the lantern felt. Tears streamed silently down her face, but Lantern was willing to bet she didn't even know it.

"Devil Ray! He has a hostage!" Green Lantern called out, both to warn J'onn J'onnz over the recently activated communicator and to stop the police from closing in and possibly causing the girl's demise. The police didn't even hear the shout over their own chattering tumult and that of the incoming news crew, which clearly didn't understand the point of dangerous.

And of course, Green Lantern hadn't accepted help from anyone else for this mission. J'onn had offered, as had Flash, but Lantern refused it and said he could handle it easy. All because he was too proud to let his hometown be protected by anyone else. Lantern knew it was a big enough job, with four villains all loose in the same low-down area. Yet he hadn't thought about hostages in the mix, he had obviously underestimated his quarries, and he had not expected an extra villain to show up.

"They told us there were only four bad guys loose!" Flash incredulously remarked up in the watchtower, avidly watching the news channel J'onn had pulled up as he leaned over the Martian's shoulder.

"And no civilians left in the area," J'onn added agitatedly, searching furiously for any layouts of the buildings in the immediate vicinity of the scuffle. The government files were frustratingly lacking. Apparently this disorganization was another area of ineptitude the local government faced.

"Looks like they missed one on both counts," Green Lantern angrily remarked, hurrying to stop the police again, "Stand down! We have a hostage situation!"

Unfortunately for the lantern, the police didn't hear anything of his second warning, thanks to another blast from a nearby liquor store and the resulting commotion.

"What was that?" J'onn asked sharply, pausing mid-search to look up at the screen and find another cloud of debris floating in the air.

"One of Devil Rays' party favors was a little late," Green Lantern answered sarcastically, following with his eyes as the villain in question slipped hurriedly into a jewelry store with his hostage. Catching sight of the empty parking lot behind the building, Green Lantern grew alarmed. Hadn't the police even thought to block off the next street?

Now Green Lantern knew why criminals got away with so much in the city of his birth.

"I'm going around back," the lantern told J'onn. "They haven't even blocked off the other side."

"There should be a connecting door between the front and back of the jewelry store," the Martian informed his teammate, finally having found a recent schematic of the street's businesses. "You may be able to avoid detection that way, but I am sending in the nearest backup. If Devil Ray is any example, there could be someone waiting in the wings for the right moment to strike. Stand by."

As the communicator beeped in standby, Green Lantern flew around the neighboring doughnut shop in the hopes of avoiding detection and headed to the back of the jewelry store, slipping inside silently with his ring at the ready. Through the minuscule opening from the door between front and back, Green Lantern could see Devil Ray making demands of the police through the shaking voice of another civilian who had been overlooked and now stood at the point of the villain's gun. The shop owner was probably old enough to be Lantern's grandfather and he looked feeble to boot. Devil Ray just had to take up the weakest victims, apparently. Not that it surprised Lantern.

The girl from outside couldn't be seen anywhere in Green Lantern's immediate line of vision and he hoped she wasn't already dead. For all Lantern knew, Devil Ray could have muffled the sound of the gun being fired so no one would suspect yet.

Lantern didn't know how to slip into the shop behind his quarry without alerting the villain and forcing a shooting. The slightest creak from the intervening door and he would give himself away. To make things worse, he could see a booby trap atop the mostly-closed wooden barrier.

All of a sudden Lantern's communicator beeped out of standby.

"Backup is in the vicinity," J'onn spoke quietly to the green-clad hero, having located him as being inside the building already. "But be careful. Both hostages are still alive and neither is going to be easily freed."

In a slight twist of luck, Devil Ray arrogantly loosened the hold on his gun, holding it at an awkward angle for shooting. In the few seconds it took to aim and shoot, Green Lantern could knock the gun away with a burst of green energy.

The former soldier was startled from his planning by the sudden sound of gunfire out in front. Were the police crazy?

"They're nuts!" Flash echoed incredulously in Lantern's ear, jaw dropping as he watched the police open fire as a warning. J'onn practically growled his frustration.

Green Lantern thought quickly of some sort of plan. Devil Ray readied himself to pull the trigger, lifting the gun into position, and the lantern had all of a few seconds to stop it.

Just when Green Lantern had his ring aimed through the crevice of the doorway, a dark object came hurling out of nowhere to knock the gun across the room from its user. Sparing the briefest of glances at the object, the lantern noticed the distinct shape of a batarang. Relief bled into the lantern's system. If anyone could sneak into the situation so easily without Devil Ray's notice, it was Batman.

The shop owner dove with surprising agility for his age, just as the caped crusader swooped in through the smashed front window. Taking advantage of the noise, Green Lantern threw open the door and aimed. Devil Ray knew he was caught, but as the green energy rushed to enclose him, he threw something tiny at the trembling girl huddled off to the side of the room.

The girl began to scream shrilly when it made contact, and it wasn't until after Lantern caught Devil Ray in an energy field that he realized the thrown object had been a tiny dart. Leaving Batman to hurry over and assess the youth, whose latest scream ended too abruptly for the lantern's liking, the Detroit hero angrily took Devil Ray out to the waiting police escort.

It was ironic how quickly the event had ended when he had backup, Green Lantern decided as he watched the criminals get carted away and the shop owner undergo a checkup by the lone medic on the scene. One more mark against his hometown, the hero thought resignedly.

"Lantern!"

Turning at the sound of Batman's urgent voice, Green Lantern rushed back inside the store to find the other man leaning over the first hostage with deep concern on the part of his face that Lantern could see. The girl looked half dead; her breathing was shallow and her already pale skin leaned towards translucence more than any particular color. Strange little gashes that looked slightly blue around the edges littered her face and what was visible of her skin elsewhere looked little better.

"What can I do?" Lantern responded quickly, crouching near the two.

"Take her up to watchtower," Batman instructed him at top speed. "J'onn will give her the Ellipse treatment."

"Ellipse!" Green Lantern exclaimed in shock. "But isn't that the Scarecrow's new drug? How did Devil Ray get it? And why are we taking a civilian up to the watchtower?"

"I don't know the how yet," was the curt reply. "I do know she'll die without treatment in the next two hours. And the watchtower is the only place that has any. I used the last of my stores when Harley Quinn spread the trash around Gotham last week. It was running far too rampantly."

"What are you going to do?" Green Lantern asked, distantly curious why Batman was not joining him in assuring the girl's welfare.

"I have to find out what I can about this incident. Now go!"

Green Lantern had always appreciated the ability to travel through space without waiting for a vehicle. Now, with a dying young girl on his hands, the lantern was even more grateful. He cut it close enough as it was. Waiting for a transport would have meant the girl's death.

J'onn was already waiting in the med bay with the treatment set up when the former marine flew in with his charge and swiftly laid her on the nearest bed. Her skin had generated twice as many of the odd gashes since Green Lantern left Earth for the watchtower. The girl bled profusely now, something J'onn looked rather concerned about, but did not speak of out loud as he waved the other two heroes away.

It was two hours later that the Martian finally exited the med bay. Wonder Woman, Hawkgirl, and Superman had since returned from their mission in Guatemala and gleaned every possible detail from the two waiting heroes by the time J'onn appeared.

"How is she?" Superman asked for all of them.

"She is healing well," the Martian smiled vaguely. "Her body was healthy before Devil Ray gave her the ellipse toxin, which always aids in recovery time. Most of the gashes have been sealed, thanks to the accelerant Batman added to the antidote. She is sedated now."

"Thank Hera," Wonder Woman sighed.

"Do we have any idea why today happened?" Hawkgirl questioned them concernedly.

"It does seem a little odd that four villains escaped and then were caught so easily," Green Lantern admitted unhappily. "With no real purpose accomplished either."

"Then Devil Ray shows up unexpectedly," Flash added. "Throwing bombs everywhere."

"And gives a random girl some toxin that shouldn't even be out in Gotham after what happened last time, let alone a couple states away," Superman sighed worriedly. "It is troublesome, I agree. But we really don't have enough information right now. Batman should be able to find something significant to work with."

"Any idea when he's coming back?" Wonder Woman asked.

"You know Batman," Superman shook his head. "Not until he's ready."

"What about the girl?" Hawkgirl brought up. "Do we know who she is?"

"Not yet," J'onn responded. "She did not have any identification on her person."

"What about a blood sample?" the Thanagarian wondered.

"I do not wish to take a blood sample when she has already lost so much," J'onn shook his head. "I have set up a transfusion with the donated blood Batman obtained for the med bay. After the transfusion is complete and she wakes, I will have to take a sample to check for any lingering infections anyway, so I will be able to check her identity then."

"When do you expect her to wake up?" Lantern inquired.

"The sedative will wear off in approximately four hours. Other than that, I do not know."

"We can wait," Wonder Woman decided firmly. "She needs rest after dealing with that toxin."

"We need to contact her family as soon as we know who she is, though," Superman suggested sympathetically. "They must be worried sick about her."

"Still, it's important to get as much information from her as we can," Green Lantern declared sternly. "That girl is the only person who seems to be really connected to this whole thing. The jewelry store owner didn't have a clue what was going on, so we can't learn anything from him."

"Why should that girl know more than the shop owner did?" Hawkgirl commented, frowning.

"I don't know, but for some reason I think she does," the green-clad man announced. "If Batman doesn't come back with something before the sedative wears off, I'm going to ask that girl some questions."

"For her sake, I hope we see Bats before the four hours is up," the fastest of the League muttered as Green Lantern stalked off irritably.

Four hours came and went.

Wonder Woman, Flash, and Lantern caught Copperhead and Killer Frost in Turkey, while Superman took care of a terrorist at the United Nations.

Hawkgirl nearly removed the heads of a particularly stupid group of armed robbers in D.C., who apparently thought it would be funny to mock her angelic-looking wings. That was, of course, before she launched into their midst with her mace lifted into the air and a Herculean war cry on her lips.

Green Lantern actually snorted when he and J'onn watched it on the monitor screen.

Still there was no sign of Batman on the watchtower.

Lantern did, indeed, head into the medical bay exactly one minute after eleven o'clock — the four-hour mark. The other five leaguers followed disapprovingly, yet curious in spite of themselves. J'onn carefully checked the patient's vitals and forced Green Lantern to wait until he was certain of her faculties.

Fifteen minutes after they had arrived in the med bay, the girl's pale lids fluttered open to reveal eyes the color of a stormy sea. When her still-drowsy gaze fell on her Martian caretaker, the first words out of the girl's mouth put Green Lantern on edge and everyone else in shock.

"J'onn J'onnz?" she queried groggily, albeit a little reluctantly, then immediately asked, "Am I in the watchtower?"

Even J'onn was at a loss as to how she knew his name, staring at his patient in amazement. Before anyone else could say a world, Green Lantern started in with his questions, rougher than he had originally planned to be, now that he knew the girl had above-average information she should not have.

"How do you know where you are?" Lantern grated out, arms folded across his chest as he stalked forward to stand beside her bed.

"Wait until she is fully awake," J'onn sharply reprimanded his colleague, the strength in his words giving the lantern pause, although to his satisfaction it didn't take long for the girl to wake up completely, staring at the upset lantern in surprise.

"What happened?" she wondered skittishly.

"What is the last thing you remember?" J'onn asked calmly.

"Devil Ray hit me with some kind of dart," the girl responded, visibly trying hard to concentrate through the fog she had been under for the last ten hours. "It felt like someone poured acid all over me and I just started screaming. Then Batman hovered over me for a minute, injected me with something. After that I must have blacked out, I guess. I don't remember much else. Except once… something else poked my arm. But I never really woke up from it."

"That would have been the antidote I administered," J'onn explained. "Batman's injection was a general pre-medication for pain and infection."

"Thank you," the girl smiled vaguely at J'onn, absently rubbing her arms.

"As I said a moment ago," Green Lantern abruptly continued as if he had never been interrupted, "how do you know where you are?"

"I didn't until now," the girl remarked, although the quaver in her voice decreased the effect of the words. Hawkgirl had to hold in a snort all the same.

Green Lantern looked none too pleased with the girl's wit, ignoring her answer and moving on rudely, "All right, we'll start with a question you can comprehend. What's your name?"

"Meara," the girl offered hesitantly, looking reluctant to divulge that information to her rude interviewer. "My name is Meara."

"A very unique name," Wonder Woman smiled at the girl, trying to soothe her. Answers would come easier if Green Lantern would just ease up a little.

"What's your last name?" the hero in question took over the interview again, much to everyone's consternation, setting the girl back on edge.

"Nolan," Meara replied, shrinking but barely at the perpetual scowl on her interrogator's face.

"Miss Nolan," Superman cut in finally, having had enough of his fellow leaguer's attitude for the time being, "Can you tell us anything else about what happened today?"

"Not really," Meara replied nervously, shifting awkwardly on the bed. "I remember I was leaving class and my ride didn't show up, so I had to walk. In the middle of the way back, I… found myself being dragged off."

"Funny, but I recall that today is a Saturday," Green Lantern pointed out sarcastically.

"What does that have to do with it?" Meara wondered blankly. Except for Lantern, everyone became a little worried for her psychological well-being.

"You're really going to stick with that?" Lantern asked irritably.

"Yes, I am," Meara firmly replied.

"Is there any particular reason that he would choose you?" Wonder Woman asked.

"None that I know of," the girl answered, shaking her head in the negative.

"Oh, you have got to be kidding me!" Green Lantern exclaimed in agitation.

"Lantern, stop," Hawkgirl ordered him sternly, but he wasn't listening.

"Who are your parents?" the suspicious hero asked.

"Gerald and Shannon Nolan," Meara answered, resigned to his interrogation.

"Grandparents?" Lantern went on quickly.

"Brody and Connie Nolan, Cameron and Isla O'Neil," was the prompt response.

"With your permission, Miss Nolan," Superman spoke again, stopping Lantern in his tracks. "J'onn wanted to take a blood sample, to make certain there is no residue from the toxin left in your bloodstream."

The girl named Meara sighed deeply before responding, "Which essentially means you want to make sure I am who I say I am, correct?"

"Er…" Superman floundered, leaving J'onn to pick up the discussion with a hint of amusement.

"I apologize, Miss Nolan," the Martian smiled a tiny bit. "I do not mean to question your sincerity, but we must be sure of everything."

"Go ahead, then," the brunette sighed more heavily than before. "Although I have a bad feeling you won't find me on any registry on Earth."

"Why not?" Lantern jumped in instantly, suspicious.

"I can't explain," Meara admitted slowly, reluctantly. "I don't know how I know, it's just a feeling."

"Why don't we let J'onn find out exactly what you know?" Green Lantern suggested harshly.

"I am not going to interrogate her for no reason," J'onn argued.

"No reason?" Lantern repeated incredulously, forcing himself to lower his voice and drag the Martian off to the side of the room, followed by the others. "She knew you and this station without ever having been here before!"

"She might have heard one of you say my name while she was half-asleep," the Martian pointed out rationally. "And if I am here, with an orbit of Earth in the background…"

"She could have simply connected the two," Superman completed the sentence. "That's true."

"Look," Meara spoke up, face weary as the superheroes continued to argue in inaudible whispers. "If you're not opposed, I would probably prefer to have J'onn look into my mind and see that way. It's much simpler."

"Are you certain?" J'onn asked in concern, returning to her side.

"Positive," the girl confirmed.

"Very well," J'onn nodded, settling himself in the seat beside Meara's bed and reaching out to create the connection to her mind.

It took approximately fifty minutes for J'onn to get what he needed before he left his charge's mind, face clearer than it had been all that day.

"You should rest now," the Martian told Meara, helping her to lie back onto her bed tiredly. She was even more tired than before, it seemed.

The six leaguers took their conversation out into the med bay observatory while the girl rested, Wonder Woman and Flash both offering reassuring smiles as they left the room.

A/N: Meara is pronounced "MEER-ah." It's an Irish name which means 'ocean.' Hence why it fits the girl with "eyes the color of a stormy sea."