J'onn stayed floating in the air. J'onn caught his first look at what Sophist had planned when a woman's shape rushed towards him. J'onn looked at the shifting figure, confused at if he was even looking at a human.
She didn't speak or pause, coming straight for him with both her hands outstretched, her fingers growing longer. J'onn phased, her hands passing through his chest. "I don't want to hurt you. Whatever you..." J'onn started to say to her while turning.
She spun with an impossible speed and drove a fist into his sternum. J'onn should have felt nothing, but a sharp shock flowed from the impact all the way to his mind. He could feel his energy being taken.
He grabbed her wrist, pulling her hand out of his chest. "Talk to me. Whoever you are. Whatever's happening to you..." he said.
Her face split down the middle, briefly, two halves forming a mouth trying to speak and merge back into one. "Need. You. Stable. Please," she said, her voice overlapping with different tones and pitches.
She wrenched her fist free and came at J'onn again. J'onn flew backwards, and she followed him, her form flickering between solid and something closer to smoke.
She tackled him and drove them through a nearby building, Bette's physical form breaking every wall in an explosion of drywall.
"I can feel what you're trying to do. You're trying to anchor to my mind. That's not how telepathic contact works. A forced connection will destroy us both," J'onn said.
"You don't understand. I'm slowly dying every day. Nothing is holding me together. Your mind is so strong and vast. I only I could," she replied, her voice clearer than last time.
"You'd consume me trying," J'onn replied, his eyes glowing red as a warning. "I don't know what you are, but I can see your desperation."
"I don't want to hurt you."
"Your actions disagree."
She continued to chase J'onn. He beamed two lasers towards her. Her form shifted to allow them to pass through without touching her. She struck at him. He phased instinctually, but the pain still shocked over him. He dashed through her and, with his palm, struck her spine, sending her onto a roof. Her form rippled like water before she jumped back towards him, her hand stretched out, aiming for his head.
He caught her wrist and used her momentum to throw her past him into the air conditioning unit bolted to the roof. The metal crumpled around her like foil.
She got back to her feet, her form still holding and her eyes still tracking him. She came at him again, their hands locked, the two of them straining against each other with J'onn feeling his energy get taken from him. She let go and pushed her hand into his head.
Pain exploded behind his eyes. He could feel something trying to fork into his mind and take something out. J'onn shoved her back, breaking the contact before the damage got worse.
"That is the last time you touch my mind without permission," he said, breathing hard.
Her form seemed to condense into a goop, a malmigation of limbs stretching out as she flew towards him. J'onn went invisible, and for a second she was confused, but she could still sense his mind.
J'onn appeared from below, the outstretched limbs swinging around to face him. J'onn was faster and managed to punch the malgination of limbs, pushing Bette into the air.
Bette pointed her palm towards him, and out came a string of herself, and when it became close to J'onn, it exploded out and stretched around J'onn in a net of black. Bette swung J'onn around before crashing him through a now evacuated apartment building. The net of black slung back to Bette, reforming her leg. J'onn touched his head, the pain getting sharper as his contact with her increased.
J'onn saw as Bette started to charge towards him. He went intangible and went to the ground floor to give himself some time to recover and catch his breath. He could hear her breaking through each floor, one by one.
Bette crashed her arms down one last time, the cloud of dust almost hiding the glowing red coming from J'onn's eyes. A beam of heat fired out, splitting her form into two. Her right side formed the shape of an arm and the other a spear. She grabbed it and flung it towards J'onn.
He managed to dodge, the spear flying past his head. Bette jumped down towards him, and before J'onn could move away, he felt a pair of hands hold him from behind. The spear now had a pair of hands stretched out to grab him. J'onn yelled in pain before he flew upwards with enough force to push the two forms of Bette away with the gust of wind.
J'onn was breathing hard, his hand holding his chest. He looked down towards the now destroyed building and the form of something trying to be human at the very bottom. Sophist entered his mind, and that was when he made a decision.
J'onn slowly dropped down, towards a flickering Bette. He dropped his shoulders and looked at her. Even he could see that her very being was collapsing. J'onn gently landed on the floor a few feet away from her. He walked towards her and laid out his hands.
"What...what are you doing?" she said, her voice fracturing.
"I'm doing what I've kept telling myself for so long. I'm going to save just one more person," J'onn replied.
"But I could kill you?"
"Perhaps. But I feel like you're better than that," J'onn replied. "You don't have to force your way in this time. I'll open the door for you."
Bette reached out and placed her hands gently onto his. J'onn closed his eyes and let the wall into his mind come down.