Joey came to feeling dizzy, his memories fuzzy. The sights and sounds were unmistakeable: he was at the old Warehouse auditorium on the outskirts of Montreal.

He sat up from the mats on the cold concrete floor and looked around, bemused; he was by the ring apron where rowdy fans were yelling insults at him. His opponent had just tossed him out of the ring.

He vaguely recognised a woman in the ringside crowd, tall, with long, jet-black curly hair, lips too pulpous to be natural, and Ray-Bans shades. "Charlene, my cheating ex…didn’t she say she hated wrestling?" he thought, as she threw a hotdog wrapper at him.

He noticed he was wearing his old black wrestling trunks and boots, from a few years before MCW and becoming a member of Vanity Fair. He stood up, giving a confused look at his surroundings.

He seemed to remember this happening before, his initiation as a professional wrestler in a bush league even smaller than MCW was in the beginning.

This was a semi-shoot match in which his opponent; Laurent "Larry the Strangler" McDougall took him to school, stiffing him on several shots and tossing him outside the ring rather hard, in spite of the gym mats on the arena floor.

"Not quite the same thought, this feels all wrong…," he reasoned, trying to recollect his thoughts, as The Strangler pulled him back in the ring by the hair.

"Take it easy Laurent," Joey mumbled to his opponent, "I know we’re supposed to make it look good but try not to kill me in the process!"

He looked up at his opponent, and saw a blank expression on his face, cold and emotionless. The Strangler threw him roughly to the corner, sending cascades of pain down Joey’s spine. "But not quite … that pain faded away much too fast …I’m must be in one hell of a shape!" he thought.

"I don’t know what Laurent’s been smoking these days but…" Joey thought as he ducked and rolled out of the way, avoiding a knee to the chest; his opponent hitting the turnbuckle with his knee.

"…that jerk’ll put me in a wheel chair if I don’t kick it up a notch!" Joey thought to himself, elbowing his opponent in the small of the back and following through with several kicks and then with shoulder tackles, using the ropes for leverage.

With his back pain seemingly completely gone, "but how?" he followed through with a German suplex, slamming The Strangler hard on his back.

"Always follow through, that won’t keep him down for very long." Joey thought, locking his opponent into a Boston Crab lock. The familiar sound of the bell ringing advised him that he had won the match.

As the referee raised his hand in victory, he recognised another familiar face in the ringside seats. It was Bruce Wayne. "Wait a minute …Bruce and I are friends aren’t we? And this match… it happened years ago, before I met Bruce… and who else? I can’t remember …am I dreaming?"

Adding to his confusion, the surroundings changed. He was now in a modern arena inside a hexagonal ring, which had force fields rather than cables. He realized he was now dressed in his Reverend Justice suit.

"Reverend…Justice…yes, I’m beginning to remember, that’s where I know Bruce from. He’s my employer, friend and team mate…and this place…looks like the auditorium Wildcat told me about, where he used to fight in the… how did he call them?" Joey thought, still trying to piece things together.

"Welcome to Meta-Brawls!" he heard a female voice say. He looked up to the giant screen on the auditorium’s North wall and saw a woman in a red dress, with her hair up in a bun and a tattoo on her cheek making the announcements, "Roulette…where do I know that name from?" he wondered.

"Tonight we have a treat in store for you," Roulette continued, "already in the ring, the Justice League’s newest recruit, a trainee of Meta-Brawl veteran Wildcat and of the world’s greatest detective Batman; I give you the fighting preacher Reverend Justice!"

A chorus of mixed cheers and boos arose from the crowd, along with the odd "Who’s that nobody, throw the bum out!" taunt.

"Laying it on a bit thick isn’t she? Wildcat warned me about these brawls; it’s do or die and get the hell out of there if you can’t handle it…if Roulette thinks I’m going to fight for everyone’s amusement she’s got another thing coming!" He thought.

Once again, he noticed Bruce, this time dressed as Batman, sitting ringside. In spite of the background noise, he could clearly hear Batman’s gravely voice saying, "Think Lucas, think; concentrate, you’ll figure it out!"

"Figure what out? Am I dreaming? This feels so real!" Joey thought.

"And his opponent making his way to the ring is no stranger to the Justice League, especially to Superman. He’s big, he’s mean, and he’s the zombie, Solomon Grundy!" Roulette announced.

Joey tried to keep his calm as he watched Solomon Grundy walking towards the ring, grunting at the crowd. Joey’s memory sparked a random fact, something Shayera had told once him; "Shayera…I’m in love with her, right? I feel so confused…" he thought, as her words came back to him. "Solomon was a tortured soul, deeply unhappy, and in some weird way, he liked me. It was sad and painful to put an end to his misery … but he asked me to; as an act of mercy."

"And as an extra incentive, to be sure our two contestants put up a good fight; please direct your attention above the Hexagon!" Roulette said.

Joey looked up and saw a cage hanging from the ceiling.

"In that cage is none other than Hawkgirl, love interest of Reverend Justice and good friend of Solomon Grundy. Refuse to fight and 100 000 volts will run through the cage frying the precious bird girl!" Roulette said, as Grundy entered the ring.

"Love interest? How on earth does she know that?" Joey thought, worried his secret identity and Hawkgirl’s had been compromised.

"No Lucas, concentrate!" Batman’s voice said from ringside.

Before he could think, Hawkgirl’s voice screamed from the over hanging cage, "Help me Reverend, don’t let them kill me!"

"Angel!" Joey screamed, as Batman repeated "Concentrate damn you!"

The bell rang and Solomon Grundy charged him like a Rhinoceros. Reverend Justice rolled out of the way and then jumped on Grundy’s back, applying a chin lock.

"Solomon, listen to me, if we work together we can save Hawkgirl’s life, I know you’re her friend, help me help her!" Reverend Justice said.

With a loud grunt, Grundy tossed him overhead like a rag doll, and Reverend Justice hit the canvas rather hard. "Another side effect from Rà’s antidote? That fall should have knocked the wind out of me, but I’ve barely felt it!" He thought.

"Help me Reverend, HELP ME!" Hawkgirl screamed again.

"I’m working on it Angel, I’m open to suggestions!" Reverend Justice replied, throwing a jumping karate kick to Solomon Grundy’s face, which seemed to have little effect.

"You’re not concentrating Lucas, think, think and you’ll see your way through this!" Batman said from ringside.

"Wait…" Reverend Justice thought, avoiding a crushing blow from Grundy.

"That fall should have hurt but it didn’t, neither did the whip to the corner I got from Strangler McDougall," he reasoned silently, managing a hip toss on the big man.

"Must be a dream, what else can it be? I’ve gone from my pro-wrestling initiation to here in a matter of seconds … how on earth did I get here anyway?" He reasoned as Solomon attempted to grab onto his trench coat, and he used the big man’s momentum to throw him on his back using a judo projection.

"And how else could Batman be there from the get go? There’s something else that bothers me…" He thought, as Hawkgirl once more yelled, "Help me Reverend, HELP ME!"

"That’s it! None of this is real!" Reverend Justice screamed aloud. Batman stood up from ringside, smiling and nodding.

"This is nothing but a big glorified illusion, Hawkgirl would have bent those cage bars like rubber, and she certainly would never scream at me to save her like a damsel in distress, it’s usually her saving me! And she refers to me as preacher!" Reverend Justice said, looking at the giant screen, seeing the flustered look on Roulette’s face, hearing boos from the crowd and the odd "Come on you wussies, fight!" scream from the crowd.

"Whoever is pulling the strings, game over, I’m not playing any more. This isn’t real and it can’t hurt me." Reverend Justice said, as Batman applauded.

Solomon Grundy got up, fists clenched, grunting. Reverend Justice simply said, "Piss off dead man; game over."

Solomon Grundy collapsed to the canvas. Reverend Justice sat down, assuming the Lotus position. Ignoring the crowd, he repeated, "Nothing is real, it cannot hurt me."

A doorway opened where the giant screen was. He recognised Martian Manhunter and Batman floating through. He looked over his shoulder and saw the Batman at ringside was gone.

"Joey!" Martian Manhunter said, he and Batman approaching the hexagon.

"Nothing is real, it cannot hurt me." Reverend Justice repeated to himself.

"My Astral Projection has penetrated your alternate reality Joey; Take my hand, follow us; I will protect your consciousness while Superman and Hawkgirl disconnect your bodies from this infernal machine." Martian Manhunter said.

"Nothing is real, it cannot hurt me." Reverend Justice repeated to himself.

"Joey, we are your allies, "Martian Manhunter said, "You have nothing to lose by trusting us, and following us. This might be the exit from this alternate reality."

Joey looked up at them and nodded. He took J’onn’s other hand. They flew.

"Kal-El, Shayera; I have them. Pull the plug now!" Martian Manhunter said.

Joey’s sight went blank and then fuzzy. His vision cleared and he realized he was lying on some sort of table. "Is this real or still the alternate reality? No matter, Nothing is real it cannot hurt me." He thought.

The familiar sight of Shayera came to view. He was not yet convinced she was real … until she puckered him up with her left hand and kissed him, passionately.

Joey inhaled deeply and smiled; "Now that was real! My Angel came to save me!"

Shayera snickered and said, "I can’t take the entire credit preacher, this was a team effort!"

Reverend Justice got to his feet and smiled at them, Superman, Martian Manhunter, Wonder Woman and Hawkgirl. "Thank you all my friends for saving my hide again!"

They smiled back at him, Hawkgirl hugging him.

"So much for investigating of a tip, Brother Batman, what the hell was this thing anyway?" Reverend Justice asked.

"The combined technologies of Mad Hatter and the Riddler," Batman said, "in a cruder form. The adaptable VR software had a few flaws, thankfully for us, it allowed us to reason our way out and to contact Martian Manhunter telepathically."

"Whoever concocted this plan did go through great lengths to get you here Batman," Hawkgirl said, "the fake tip was sent to flush you out. What they had not counted on was that you would bring Preacher along with you. From the size of the second table, they expected either Robin or Batgirl to accompany you. The last thing you must have realized while coming in here is that the room was filled with sleeping gas."

"Whoever indeed: Mad Hatter and Riddler are still in Arkham." Reverend Justice said, giving Hawkgirl a loving sideways glance, hidden by his mask.

"We will have to keep our eyes open," Superman said, "But for now we need to get you both to the infirmary and have you looked over."

Wonder Woman cast Batman a look that meant, "Just you try to say you’re fine tough guy!"

Batman saw it and said, "A sound precaution," then gave Wonder Woman a wink from under his mask.

Reverend Justice put his arm around Hawkgirl, revelling in the reality – it was indeed her, in the flesh. She smiled and returned his embrace.

"Superman to Watchtower 1, request a direct transport to Sickbay, Mr Terrific do you copy?" Superman said.

They transported to the infirmary.

The End.