Summary: As Batman's partner, Robin is used to handling all the coolest toys. But has his training prepared him for the most powerful weapon in the universe—a Green Lantern's Power Ring?

Author's Note: Special thanks go out to Beth, PJ, and Ellen for being gracious enough to offer their services as beta-readers. Their critical suggestions and eye for detail have made this a much better story than what I initially wrote. (This is the last part that has been beta'd. The rest of the story will be posted as soon as the rest is properly proofread.)

Disclaimer: All characters belong to DC, Time Warner, and CN; this is an original story that doesn't intend to infringe on their copyright. Feedback is welcome.

Copyright: April 2012

Brightest Knight

By Syl Francis

~ / ~ / ~ / ~

Following the destruction of the alien mothership, it did not take long for the rest of the alien forces to be either destroyed or rounded up…

Flying south along the eastern seaboard, Miss Martian's bioship was only a few minutes out of Virginia Beach, when Kid Flash, who was monitoring comms, picked up radio chatter on a military frequency.

"I've got something!" he called out. "I'm putting it on speaker."

"Rambler Flight, this is Sidewinder. AirOps has bogies on radar. Everybody, watch your six! We got in-coming!"

"Roger, Sidewinder. It's show time."

"Can you pinpoint their location?" Miss Martian asked.

"Just a sec…" Kid Flash worked the console briefly before nodding. "Got 'em! It's a naval squadron stationed out of Norfolk, Virginia."

Miss Martian closed her eyes and queried her bioship, an intelligent and organic construct that was psychically tuned to her. "We're two minutes out. Wally, inform Aquaman. Let him know the situation. We're going in!"

~ / ~ / ~ / ~

Their teammates on the West Coast were facing their own problems. Once Aqualad, Artemis, and Zatanna rendezvoused with the Arrows and Black Canary, the situation quickly deteriorated from nearly to truly awful.

The invaders had gained a beachhead in Gateway City. Air transport vehicles were dropping enemy soldiers by the hundreds all over the city. The California National Guard had set up lines of defense that ran on a north-south axis along the West Coast. So far, the enemy had already breached two major points along the Pacific Coast Highway. Still, the Guard was holding its own against the alien aggressors.

The heroes set up a defensive perimeter to augment the military plan. Green Arrow positioned himself and Red Arrow on twin high-rise buildings located a few hundred feet across from each other. From their vantage points, they were able to provide covering fire for the Young Justice super-powered heroes below.

Levitating a few feet off the ground, Zatanna worked her backwards magic on two strange ground vehicles that she dubbed enemy tanks.

"Ymene, kant, esir! Sharc – terrut nwod—otni eht dnoces kant!" (Enemy tank, rise! Crash—turret down—onto the second tank!)

Aqualad, also trained in the arcane arts, went into a defensive crouch and took out his water swords. Using his internal sonar, he sought out the nearest source of water. Grinning, he thought it fitting that the closest would turn out to be the underground sewers, which emptied into the local water treatment plant. Pointing the water swords at two manhole covers, he was rewarded by an explosive water geyser shooting up twenty feet in the air.

Calling forth a huge volume of the untreated water, he manipulated the H2O molecules, forming them into hardened missiles, which he flung at the advancing enemy tanks. Simultaneously, he shot interceptors at the incoming rounds that the enemy fired. The results were as satisfying as they were devastating. The tanks exploded outward in a tremendous plume, their own ammo having ignited in secondary explosions.

The Arrows—Green and Red—were adding their own unique brand of mayhem and destruction with their trick arrows, while standing precariously on narrow ledges that ran alongside the top floors of the twin office buildings belonging to Queen, Inc. (West).

Meanwhile, Black Canary and Artemis were in the Arrow Jet buzzing the ground forces, weapons hot. The heroes weren't holding back—Earth's very existence was on the line.

It was either kill or be killed.

Artemis was monitoring the radar/nav computer when she saw that a bogey had them in a weapons lock. "BC! We've got trouble!"

"I see it," Black Canary responded calmly. She quickly executed some impressive barrel rolls, maneuvering the jet through some high g's to get out from under the enemy's sights.

"No good! He's still on us!" Artemis cried out.

The next instant the enemy fired. It was a particularly deadly particle beam that experience had shown could slice through their aircraft like a knife through butter. Before either hero could react, they were suddenly encased in a green protective bubble and yanked out of the disintegrating Arrow Jet.

"GL!" Black Canary cried out happily. "I thought you were in Wyoming helping the Bats!"

"He was…and he did."

The low, unexpected growl, and the fact that they found themselves inside a Power Ring facsimile of a jet's cockpit, caused both heroines to blink, stunned. Batman manned the co-pilot's seat, but they couldn't make out whom, if anyone, was in the pilot's seat. From her angle, Black Canary could only see the back of the seat.

"Where's GL?" she asked.

"No time…strap in." Batman didn't bother turning around.

Before she could respond, Black Canary and Artemis were seated and strapped in. And it was a good thing, too, because the aircraft began moving in a manner that no Earth-built jets were designed to attempt. The increased g-forces slammed them unceremoniously back into their seats, unable to move. Black Canary felt as if her heart, lungs, and throat were being crushed by a giant hand. She couldn't breathe…dark spots danced in front of her. She felt a black void closing in.

"Inertial dampeners," Batman said calmly.

"Roger."

"Ease into it..." Batman's voice sounded steady, almost soothing.

Barely conscious, Black Canary turned her eyes—the only part of her body she could move—toward the pilot's seat. Someone was obviously sitting there, but who? The voice sounded too young, too high to be Hal, Black Canary realized. The intense pressure on her chest was gently released.

"Got it," the young voice said, relieved. "Sorry 'bout that—"

"Bogey at two o'clock!" Batman warned.

"Hold on—!"

The next few minutes must have passed at a normal pace, but to the two passengers in the back seats, it seemed like time had slowed to a dead crawl. Batman called for weapons control. Immediately, a weapons console appeared as if by magic. Keeping his voice quiet and even, he kept murmuring tactics and other suggestions to the pilot.

The pilot's skills were nothing short of incredible. He flew the aircraft as if it were an extension of himself—which it probably was since the entire the thing was a Power Ring construct. Whosever will was controlling the Ring, he must have been part acrobat because the maneuvers he was executing would have been more common in a gymnastics competition or the circus.

Black Canary's eyes went wide at the epiphany. It couldn't be—Robin? And if it is…then what happened to Hal? Becoming lost in thought, she didn't see the enemy fighter go up in a fireball, nor did she see any of the successive fighters follow the first into oblivion. What she did notice was Batman's quiet promptings being quickly executed. By the time the shadows were lengthening as the sun slowly sank into the horizon, the heroes had completely halted the enemy's advance on the West Coast.

At this point, the pilot finally took the time to turn around, wave and smile at his passengers. "Hey, you ladies doing okay back there?"

"Robin?" Artemis stared at him shock.

"Hey, Artemis! Feeling the 'aster yet?"

"It was you all this time?" Her barely articulated question implied so much more: It was you piloting the jet? Pulling us to safety? Knocking out the enemy fighter pilots?

Robin held up his right hand and closed his fist. The Ring on his middle finger was glowing, practically pulsing with barely harnessed green energy.

"Where's GL?" Black Canary demanded. "What happened?"

Robin's face fell. "He was hit," he whispered.

"I had Robin put him in stasis until we can safely get him to a hospital," Batman added.

Knowing the answer before she asked, Black Canary articulated the words anyway. "How bad?"

Keeping his eyes on Robin, Batman finally answered Black Canary's question. "Bad enough."

Robin flinched at her question and Batman's reply. In an uncharacteristic public display, Batman reached across to his protégé and laid his hand on the young boy's shoulder.

Shaking her head, Black Canary met Batman's eyes. A silent message passed between them, So…what happens now?

Before anyone spoke further, an incoming message flashed on the comms board. Batman listened intently then turned to Robin.

"That was Aquaman. The rest of the team's in trouble."

Robin's eyes widened. He turned to the controls. "We've gotta help them," he muttered. But how?

"How fast can this thing move?" Artemis asked, worried for their teammates.

"Not fast enough," Batman replied. "Even at hypersonic speeds, we're a good hour out."

"If only we had a zeta-beam station nearby," Black Canary muttered.

"That's it!" Robin shouted. "Everybody…hold on to your hats!" Concentrating with all the Bat-will he could muster, Robin visualized a teleportation portal. As the others watched, the Batwing cockpit disappeared and a facsimile of the Mount Justice portal materialized around them.

The familiar computer voice announced: "Batman, Robin, Black Canary, Artemis, Green Lantern… acknowledged." The next instant they were above the Atlantic, an air/sea battle scene being played out before them.

"How did you do that?" Black Canary demanded. "How is it even possible?"

"Later—if we're still around!" Robin said sharply. "In the meantime…Battle stations!" The others blinked, momentarily surprised when they saw that they were now in what appeared to be the bridge of a ship—a space ship. They quickly took their stations.

"You've always wanted to say that! Admit it!" Artemis said. She was now manning the comms/nav station.

Batman and Black Canary were manning the fore and aft weapons stations, respectively. "Did you know?" she asked him. "Has GL ever—?"

"No and no!" Batman interrupted, concentrating on the instruments in front of him.

Black Canary rolled her eyes and huffed to herself. She suppressed a childish urge to stick out her tongue at him, and instead turned to her own console.

Robin was in the Captain's chair. From there, he had total control of all ship's systems.

"You know…this looks suspiciously like a Star Trek/Stargate bridge hybrid," Artemis said over her shoulder.

"Geek, much?" Robin teased.

"Robin." Batman didn't raise his voice; he didn't need to. Everyone just automatically jumped when the de facto JL leader spoke. "We need a sit-rep. What kind of forces are we up against? Where are your teammates? What's their status?"

Robin concentrated, his focus turning inward. "One situation report coming up." A 3-D hologram that showed the real-time tactical situation appeared before them. A squadron of enemy fighters was systematically attacking a U.S. Navy carrier strike group located fifteen nautical miles off the coast of Virginia. At least two support craft—a destroyer and frigate—were spewing heavy smoke from onboard fires. The frigate was listing badly to starboard.

Smaller craft circling the frigate indicated that the ship's lifeboats were being deployed.

The carrier air wing, comprised of F/A-18 Super Hornets, was barely holding its own in aerial dogfighting, a sign that the navy jets were largely outclassed by the much faster, more highly maneuverable enemy aircraft.

As for their teammates and Aquaman…where were they? And what of the Atlantean fleet that he'd promised?

Almost as soon as Robin formulated the questions, Artemis spotted them. "There they are! At two o'clock!" The YJ's bioship appeared on the offensive, taking on several of the enemy fighters at once.

When one got too close, Superboy suddenly jumped out of the bioship and landed on the enemy's hull. With an impressive show of strength, he punched through the aircraft's aft section and literally yanked out its engines. As it started losing altitude, Superboy leapt from the disabled aircraft onto another and repeated his actions.

In the meantime, the bioship managed to fight its way to the two navy ships that were in trouble, and the two remaining teammates—Kid Flash and Miss Martian—both exited the craft, which although unmanned continued to seek out and destroy the enemy.

The young Martian flew over to the floundering frigate, while the teen speedster landed on the deck of the destroyer. Miss Martian used her psychic powers to right the frigate, giving the crew sufficient time to man the lifeboats. Meanwhile, Kid Flash was using his super-speed to create a waterspout, which he then used to douse the fires onboard the destroyer.

Robin's team had not been idle. Black Canary and Batman, manning the fore and aft weapons, began to rake a line of devastation among the enemy aircraft. Artemis monitored the ship's sensors and kept them apprised of incoming bogies, as well as assisting in target acquisition.

Robin flew the hybrid craft as an extension of himself—his mind mimicking the complicated, yet flowing moves that he himself would normally execute while dodging bullets or simply enjoying the feeling of free fall from several stories up. In other words, the ship mirrored the breathtaking loops, graceful diving and zigzagging at heart-stopping rates of speed that he might perform on any given day—moves that came to him as naturally as breathing.

And, while accomplishing these feats of derring-do, he provided the US naval forces with sufficient shielding to prevent any more deaths. They still lost several aircraft, and at least one more destroyer took a hit, but his actions bought the navy time to effect its own rescues and damage control.

On one of their express-elevator descents nearly to the top of the ocean waves, they spotted the Atlanteans assisting the navy personnel from the lifeboats, taking them onto one of their submersibles. Aquaman was standing guard on deck, his trident firing rapid bursts at approaching enemy fighters. A pod of whales surrounded the sinking frigate, nudging it upright and helping it stay afloat.

Despite everyone's best efforts, the battle was proving futile. No matter how many of the enemy they took down, it seemed as if two more took their place. They weren't exactly losing, but they weren't winning, either. There were just too many of the enemy to effect a substantial victory. Robin's aircraft suddenly took a jolt, then another, then several more.

"Robin! Evasive action!" Batman shouted.

Robin attempted to comply, dodging through the heavy curtain of enemy fire. "I can't shake 'em!" he shouted. "Artemis! Report!"

"They're all around us, Robbie!"

"They're trying to maneuver us into a pincer move," Batman said. "Robin…we need something more powerful to fight them off."

"How about one of their particle weapons?" Black Canary suggested. "They've proven pretty effective."

"No…I think have a better idea," Robin said. "Batman, the League has the coordinates of the nearest uninhabited worlds capable of supporting life?" At Batman's nod, Robin said, "Send the coordinates to my station."

Batman eyes narrowed. "Robin, I don't think—"

"Whatever you're planning, you'd better do it soon!" Black Canary said sharply as they took another hit. This one resulted in Robin's construct blinking briefly on and off, almost like a light bulb flickering just before it died out.

Batman glared at his protégé a moment longer, then with a sharp nod, sent him the coordinates. Robin put the information on the holo-screen, and studied the 3-D starmap that materialized.

Taking a deep breath, he closed his eyes and began trying to clear his mind. He attempted shutting out the sounds of battle, which were coupled with shouts from Black Canary and Artemis, urging him to hurry. The distractions were giving him trouble concentrating on the task at hand. The sudden weight of a warm, supportive hand on his shoulder infused him with a surge of confidence.

He looked up at his dark mentor and gave him a grateful nod. Batman's usually grim visage softened momentarily in acknowledgement. Straightening his shoulders, Robin again took a couple of deep breaths to settle his nerves. He once again began clearing his mind of all distractions, blocking out all sights and sounds of battle.

Looking deep within himself, he pictured the enemy aircraft…visualized the alien crews…saw their marauding raids on the defenseless cities and people below. He felt a wave of anger at the horror and devastation that their kind were inflicting on his planet. The building rage threatened to consume him, but it was tempered by an overwhelming urge to protect the people of Earth. He knew instinctively that the green energy wasn't meant to be used in anger, and he took comfort in the strong hand that had somehow remained on his shoulder all this time.

He reached inside for the part of him linked to the Power Ring. He could feel it all around him…the green energy that empowered the universe-all living things, all matter. It was the stuff of dreams. It fueled the very stars. It was as old as creation.

The green energy surged within him, channeled through him to the Ring, and then burst forth!

~ / ~ / ~ / ~

Artemis shrieked inadvertently when the cockpit dematerialized, and blushed furiously as it was replaced with a simple protective bubble. Black Canary knelt next to Green Lantern who was still enclosed in a stasis field. She held his head on her lap. Batman stood next to Robin, his hand firmly clasped on the Boy Wonder's shoulder. Robin was just floating in midair, sitting cross-legged. At first glance he looked completely relaxed; however, on closer look Artemis could see the strain in the jut of his chin, the stiffening of his shoulders, and the repeated flexing of his fists...

The Imperator Legion's atmospheric fighter crews fought on despite the loss of the mothership. With their air superiority, they would finish bringing this planet to its knees for the glory of the great goddess and her true son—the great Imperator himself…!

Pilot Officer D'Chet, Red Squadron, piloting one of the Legion's atmospheric fighters, had the mysterious green, glowing airship locked in his sights. He was about to blast it with his particle weapon, when he was enveloped in a bubble comprised of the same strange green energy…

Weapons Specialist D'Rhot, Red Squadron gunner's mate, brought the secondary twin-guns online. Just as he pressed the firing mechanisms, he and the rest of the weapons crew found themselves encased in a green energy field along with several of their brethren. Unable to help himself, D'Rhot reached his hand out carefully and touched the force field. He jumped at the sudden jolt, and hugged his numbed limb to himself.

Flight Officer D'Thor, Red Squadron commander, ordered all his atmospheric fighters to converge on the strange craft. The Imperator himself had personally touched him on the forehead and given him the honor of leading the Legion's atmospheric fighters on his galactic crusade of conquest. As D'Thor's squadron formed the Legion Spearhead, its traditional V-formation, he sounded the Legion's battle cry over the squadron's comm-net.

"For the great goddess and the honor of the Impera—!" The battle cry was cut off prematurely as a green energy enveloped him, pulled him out of the cockpit, and tossed him ignominiously on his backside into a green energy bubble. He looked up into the shamed faces of what remained of his squadron. "In the name of the great goddess…what is going on?" he demanded. "What is this thing that entraps us?"

As luck would have it, D'Thor was the last of the Legion to materialize inside the emerald prison. Among the great Imperator's warriors could be heard the cry of alarmed voices, babbling in panic and anger. "We are not children to be frightened by this trickery!" shouted D'Thor. "We are Legion warriors, tasked by the great Imperator himself to conquer in his name…We do not cower before mere chattel—!"

"Enemy combatants transfer to commence in five…four…three…two…one…Mark!" A zeta-beam teleportation wormhole appeared, swallowing and transporting the enemy aircrews that Robin had rounded up only moments before.

And from all over the globe, unofficial reports came in that enemy atmospheric fighters mysteriously lost altitude and fell to the ground. Further investigation revealed empty cockpits, unmanned crew-served weapons. The air crews seemed to have inexplicably disappeared.

Officially, the government had no comment.

~ / ~ / ~ / ~

As the wormhole vanished, Robin stiffened suddenly and his eyes snapped opened. The Power Ring energy radiated off him in waves and slowly dissipated. As the emerald aura left him, several things happened at once: the Boy Wonder slumped forward unconscious and Batman caught him; the protective bubble vanished, and they began to fall. Black Canary held on tightly to Green Lantern. Artemis to her vast mortification again shrieked in surprise as her stomach flip-flopped.

They dropped no more than two feet onto the hull of the bioship, which had literally appeared out of nowhere and landed with a resounding ~thump!~

"Talk about freaking luck!" Artemis groaned, rubbing her hip. "Oh, yeah…that's gonna leave a bruise."

"Luck had nothing to do with it." The sudden breeze announced the arrival of Kid Flash. "The Bats radioed an S.O.S. to Miss M. just before the giant green Stargate/wormhole thingie whisked away all the bad guys. And just what the heck was that all about?"

"Don't ask me…ask Kid Lantern over there." Artemis nodded toward Robin.

Miss Martian and Superboy had followed Kid Flash outside, and they immediately offered assistance with Green Lantern and Robin.

Batman brusquely shook off their offers, and as the YJ teammates watched, he stood, Robin held carefully in his arms and headed into the bioship.

"Who's Kid Lantern?"

~ / ~ / ~ / ~

End Part 2