This chapter is the longest I've ever written, hope it isn't too much at once.

Enjoy and please review!

May 13 - 8:52 p.m.
Somewhere in the Colorado Rockies

"This is Artemis, we've breached the prison."

"Roger that Artemis, stay in radio contact. Oracle out."

Artemis clicked off the radio as the team stalked down the halls of the prison. Red Arrow and her sister, were on the way to handling the security center while she and half of the Sigma Squad rookies were on prisoner detail. Infiltration had been quite easy thanks to Oracle's computer prowess. Using Artemis and Red Arrow's knockout arrows Oracle overrode the computer to make it pump the through the fire suppression system, thus leaving the guards unconscious. Artemis couldn't help but think that Oracle's skills on the keyboard dwarfed even those of Nightwing. She was even happier that the guards had been easily subdued. Truth be told, most of the team was extremely rusty and they were all glad that there wasn't much fighting that needed to be done.

"Hey sis, me and Red got the prison manifest. Meet in Block 3."

Artemis acknowledged and motioned for the team to follow to Block 3, which was close to their current location, meaning they had a few minutes of down time while they monitored for any guards they may have missed on the way in.

Cheshire's radio contact with Artemis had the members of Sigma Squad all thinking the same thing, but Sam was the first to ask. "Wait, so Cheshire is your sister?"

Artemis notched an arrow, ever vigilante as always. "Yeah, we kind of have a weird relationship, but at least this time she knew I wasn't actually dead."

"What do you mean by that?"

"The first time I faked my death, she thought I died and went after the guy that 'killed' me. Almost succeeded too."

"Ah, reminiscing without me sis?" Cheshire and Red rounded the corner. "Now, how about we break out some aliens?"

At those words Red Arrow brought up a tech pad that he swiped from the security center and used it to open the nearest door. With an audible click, the electronic lock snapped and the door swung open, revealing a dimly lit room with a single solitary man inside. Upon seeing the visitors the man stood up from his mattress and stepped out into the light, his dark skin immediately standing out.

Icon's face broke into a smile. "It is good to see you again my friends. Is Rocket with you?"

Red Arrow shook his head. "We think they grabbed her right after they took you down. We've got a team at the human prison, hopefully they found her."

Icon's features took on a grim façade. He took in the news without responding for a moment, but finally asked a question. "Is it possible to remove the collar? I believe there is a tracker imbedded in it."

Roy nodded, touching a few buttons on the pad again. In short order, the collar's lights blinked off. Icon's superhuman strength kicked in after a brief second, and he crushed the black collar in his fingers. Icon took in the sensation of his powers returning, albeit somewhat more slowly than he had expected.

Roy broke the silence. "We need to split. Icon, Cheshire, and I will take Superman. The rest of you go grab Superboy." Roy touched a few more buttons on the pad. "His door's unlocked."

Artemis led the squad down the hall following Roy, but turned left where they went right at the next intersection. After one more turn, the team stood in front of the open door to Superboy's cell. Artemis slowly stepped inside. "Kon? Superboy?"

The response was angry and immediate. "Don't call me that!" Kon-El stepped forward from the shadowy corner. His normally powerful body had wasted away in captivity, the collar sapping his strength and invulnerability.

Artemis gasped when she saw the scars. "What did they do to you?"

Kon hung his head, refusing to answer the question. Artemis didn't like the defeatist attitude. "Superboy, I need you to get off your ass. We're busting out of here."

"I said don't call me that."

Artemis roller her eyes. "God, I don't have time for this crap." The team behind Artemis was shocked as the archer brought her boy to bear on Superboy's neck, using a lethal tipped arrow no less. She let loose an arrow, but instead of striking flesh it found contact with the inhibitor collar and shattered it to pieces. Artemis saw the look of shock on Kon's face and smiled confidently. "Now can we go?"

Superboy stretched, feeling better than he had since his imprisonment, but by no means was he even close to 100 percent. "Yeah, let's move."

Superboy was the last to leave the room, moving to slam the door behind him. In his weakened state he actually missed the door, but it still closed seemingly of its own volition. Artemis noticed this, but Superboy seemed ignorant of the event. Deciding they were in a hurry, the archer elected not to bring it up. The team raced back the way they came, running smack into Red Arrow, who was closely followed by Cheshire and Icon. The recently freed alien was holding the unconscious body of Superman in his arms. The site of his brother's body brought rage back into Superboy and he jumped toward the Kryptonian. The assembled group thought Kon's jump look eerily similar to flight, but brushed it off as simply not seeing their friend move in over a year.

"What did they do to him?"

Icon's usually calm voice had a clear bitterness. "He was strapped to an operating table laced with Kryptonite, which kept him in a weakened state. The scientists who were in the room were dealt with swiftly."

Cheshire interrupted. "Alright, now that we got everyone, can we blow this popsicle stand?"

8:55
Northern California

"Oracle, this is KF. I'm secured the inside of the prison. Guards are down."

"Acknowledged Kid Flash. Enter at your discretion. Funny how the team with the speedster is the last to make it into their prison."

Wally laughed sarcastically. "You're hilarious. KF out."

After cutting the communication Wally nodded to Black Canary and the rest of the squad. Beat Boy, Blue Beetle, Wonder Girl, Nitro, and Polaris all followed the two veterans inside the prison. The prison was a much softer target than it appeared, but that mostly due to Wally. The events of the last year hard hardened Wally's personality somewhat. Earlier in his career, he would have only used his speed to disarm the guards. Now he knocked out each and every guard in the prison.

But the biggest change in Kid Flash was the speed itself. When Barry had been captured, Wally had seen the event play out on live TV. He ran out of the apartment that he and Artemis had been hiding in, risking their exposure. He pushed himself harder than he ever had in his life, but when he reached his max speed he felt something snap, like a rubber band. Suddenly he was approaching speed's Flash rarely ever achieved. But even with the new speed, Wally arrived too late to stop Flash's capture. He spent days searching the globe for his uncle, but the search proved fruitless. Artemis eventually tracked Wally down and the two were forced to relocate to Blüdhaven with Hawkeye's help.

Once everyone was in the prison, Blue Beetle scanned for their captured teammates, finding Zatanna's bio-sign first. As the scarab put it, "The magic girl's life sign is quite distinct."

In no time at all the squad had arrived at Zatanna's cell. Wonder Girl ripped off the door, but Polaris caught it with her magnetic abilities before it slammed into the wall. Zatanna quickly followed, the team was shocked to find her mostly the same as they remembered her. She was thinner, but for the most part seemed mostly untouched.

"About time you lot showed up."

Canary smiled the girl's defiant attitude. "Are you alright?"

Zatanna rubbed the collar. "Mostly. The walls in here are warded, my guess by Wotan. They sap mystical energy. The collar's just to keep me line, but I didn't give them many reasons to use it." Zatanna walked over the Wonder Girl. "Care to do the honors?"

Cassie nodded as she gripped the collar on both sides and ripped the collar in two. Zatanna rubbed her neck, which was red and chaffed where the collar had been. "God, that thing was annoying. One fashion accessory I definitely won't miss."

Wally sped up and hugged his teammate. "Hey Z. Good to see you."

"You too Walls." Zatanna and Wally broke apart. "So, what now?"

Jaime Reyes spoke up. "Scarab says he's hacked into the mainframe. Got the location of two others, Static and Flash."

At the mention of his uncle Wally immediately jumped into action. "B, tell the others the location of Static, you and I are going to get Flash."

No one argued with the speedster as he and Beetle flew off. It took all of 30 seconds to reach Flash's cell. To Wally it felt like an eternity as he followed at Beetle's seemingly snail-like pace. Deciding he couldn't wait anymore for Beetle to get the door open, Wally tried something he hadn't in a long time. He stood next to the door and began vibrating as fast as he could, eventually pushing himself through the door. Once on the other side he gasped for air, still unbelieving that he'd actually done it. He wasn't the only one who was surprised to see his cool entrance.

"Wally?" Barry's voice was barely a whisper, almost too weak to be heard.

"Yeah Barry, it's me. I'm here to bust you out." Wally moved over to his uncle's bed, unprepared for the sight that met his eyes. Barry was bone-thin, looking like someone out of a Holocaust photo. He had a scraggly blonde beard on his face and his face looked like a shriveled up version of his usually immaculate self. There were clear breaks in his legs, meaning walking him out of the prison was not going to happen. Despite his injuries Barry managed a small smile.

"You vibrated through the wall."

Wally rubbed the back of his neck. "To be honest, that's the first time it actually worked."

Before the two could converse any more, Beetle came over the comm. "You alright in there, ese?"

"I'm good Blue. Get the door open, we're on our way out." Wally bent down to pick up his mentor's body. Barry groaned in pain as Wally positioned him bridal style. Once Beetle had the door open, Wally took off toward the ship, radioing Canary and the team to do the same.

8:47 p.m.
6 miles outside of Thompson, Illinois

"This is Hood, surveillance sweep two complete. Looks like this is the place."

"Affirmative, Hood." Thomas sat in the trees overlooking the prison as he ran through the plan one final time in his head. "Arsenal, Colt, be ready to neutralize the guards on my signal. Maya, keep the ship in position for extraction."

Thomas fiddled with the earpiece to tap into the other team's radio frequencies. "This is Hawkeye. Intel checks out on site one. Team leaders report status."

"Site two is definitely the alien prison, we're good to go." Artemis quickly cut off the comm.

Canary chimed in. "Same here, recon looks good."

"Good. Oracle, you tapped the security feeds?"

"As if there was every any doubt. You guys will be ghosts from here on in, feeds have been patched and looped."

"Alright, you heard the lady. All teams are clear to engage. Let's get it done people."

At Hawkeye' signal Colt and Arsenal let loose a round of tranq darts which incapacitated the patrols as they came in to view of the two. Two moved positions to take care of the other guards around the perimeter. After a few minutes Cameron's voice came over the radio.

"Perimeter secured. Arsenal is placing charges on the sewer grate as planned."

"Roger that. Colt, Hood and I are on the way." Thomas and Jason moved quickly to the north side of the prison. Its sheer size meant it took them a few minutes, but they both met the grate at the same time. Once Arsenal blew the grate they all smelled the stench of human waste. "Ladies first."

Jason covered his nose. "Fuck you, Hawkeye. I ain't going in first."

Hawkeye looked to Arsenal and Cameron who's faces told their leader they were thinking along the same lines as Red Hood. "Find, I'll go. Bunch of pansies is what you guys are."

Hawkeye made his way into the sewer pipe, which led horizontally back under the facility. The quartet traversed the pipe for several minutes until the computer on Thomas's wrist blinked red.

"Looks like were in position. Arsenal, you know what to do."

Arsenal nodded as he powered up the laser in his prosthetic arm. When it reached full power he fired it up and cut a circle above the four heroes. In less than two seconds, a metal disc fell down into the pipe, revealing a high and very narrow access shaft that was a part of the pipe system for maintenance.

Hawkeye looked around the check out the surroundings after climbing through the hole in the top of the pipe. "At least the intel is holding so far." Hawkeye turned back to the other three. "We split up from here, Colt and Arsenal you're heading to the prison's main office. When you get the inmate list, let me know."

Arsenal and Colt headed down the catwalk away from Hawkeye and Hood. Thomas pulled up the schematics on his wrist computer and as he and Hood made their way a few feet in the opposite direction from the other duo. Hawkeye held up a fist after 20 feet of walking.

"Oracle, I am in position for insertion. Is the coast clear?"

"Hang on; running three ops is hard as hell." There was a brief pause before Oracle resumed communications. "OK, you're clear. Try to keep it quiet though."

"Roger, roger."

Jason chuckled. "Airplane! jokes? Surely you can't be serious."

Thomas reared back to kick, but got one last one-liner off. "Yes I am, and don't call me Shirley." He kicked the wall with all the force he had, his leg burying itself in the concrete. As he withdrew his legs from the wall he knocked out several larger pieces of concrete to create a hole for himboth he and Jason.

Jason shook his head as the dust cleared. "You think you could ever open a door like a normal person?"

"What can I say? Having super strength pretty much demands I knock down a wall every now and then."

After Jason and Thomas climbed through the hole, Arsenal's voice came over the comm. "We've secured the comm room, looks like we weren't the first one here."

This news stooped Red Hood and Hawkeye in their tracks. Thomas touched a hand to his comm. "Can you get eyes on anyone else inside?"

"Negative, feeds are still patched by Oracle, no real time visual available. We'll keep digging for the prisoner manifest."

"Shit." Jason wasn't liking how things were going and tuned his radio to Oracle's line. "Oracle. We've got company here, but can't see him. Little help?"

"Copy that, I'm on it." Oracle paused before exclaiming. "Got him! At least, I think I do. Whoever he is, he's good. He's taking out a squad of armed guard in B wing, quadrant 5."

"How many is he fighting?"

"All of them."

Jason nodded to no one in particular "We're on it. Oracle Keep us informed of the situation."

Thomas took off on a sprint to the location Oracle indicated. Being super strong also translated in fast speed, which was handy in situations like this. In less than a minute, Thomas was kicking down the door to quadrant 5, but he was not prepared for the sight that greeted him. Just as Oracle said, there was indeed an intruder present who was taking it to several Checkmate guards with ruthless efficiency via a short sword. Though the fact that the intruder was what looked to be a 10 year old kid made the choice of weapon even more bizarre. Everyone in the room was caught off guard by Thomas's entrance, but the kid recovered first, sinking his sword into the belly of the guard closest to him. Hawkeye jumped into action and kicked the last guard into the wall, but was surprised when he felt a sharp pain in his abdomen. He looked down to find the kid had run the sword through from back to front.

Hawkeye staggered as he felt the pain of the injury. The assailant took his time to come around to face Thomas, but he was thoroughly shocked when Hawkeye backhanded him into the wall next the unconscious guard. He was even more surprised when Hawkeye reached behind and pulled the sword out of his body, gasping and shaking in pain as he did so. This action finally caused the boy to speak.

"That is impossible. No man could survive that injury."

Thomas laughed through the pain. "Well, I'm not exactly a normal man. Now before I get to kicking your ass I'd like to know who you are and what you're doing here."

"My business is none of your concern."

"You made it my concern when you stabbed me with a fucking sword." Thomas would have stepped toward the boy, but his injury was only barely starting to heal, meaning any motion was going to be very painful for the next few minutes.

The boy didn't have a response to Hawkeye's retort, but the silence didn't last long when Red Hood barged in. The helmeted hero took stock of the situation before turning to Hawkeye, whose uniform was soaked with blood. "So, mind if I ask what the hell happened in here? And who the fuck is the kid?"

"No idea." Hawkeye eyed the boy, who had returned to standing position. "Stabbed me with a sword though."

Jason suppressed a laugh. "What, a kid kick your ass?"

"If you haven't noticed, he isn't a normal kid. Look at the clothing." Hawkeye's words caused Red Hood to again look over the motionless boy. Thomas seemed to be correct in his assessment as the boy was decked out in something straight of Assassin's Creed.

Jason's eyes narrowed as he spoke to the boy. "So what's an assassin doing in a Checkmate facility?"

"Tt, wouldn't you like to know." Jason was angered by the boy's tone, and pulled out a gun to emphasize his point, but the boy seemed unaffected. "A gun? Hardly an honorable weapons. Regardless, if you wish to fight I would easily best you."

Thomas stepped in to cut off hostilities before things escalated. "Kid, I just pulled your goddamn sword out of my stomach, thanks for missing every vital organ, and could punch your head straight through the wall you're standing in front of. So I'll ask again, what are you doing here?"

The boy crossed his arms in annoyance. "As you will not leave it alone, I am here to rescue my father."

"Well, who's your father?"

"Batman." Of all the answers they could have expected, this was definitely not one of them.

Jason was the first to react. "Wait, what?"

"I will not repeat myself."

Jason was fuming at the kid who brushed him off, but Thomas again stepped to keep things calm. "Well that answers one of my questions, but there's still one left. Who are you?"

"Damian Wayne." The use the last name made the situation to truly sink in, but before anyone could ask any more questions, Cameron radioed Hood and Hawkeye.

"So, what's going on? You find the guy yet?"

Hawkeye shook his head to focus. "Yeah, we've got the situation handled. Got a prisoner list yet?"

"Affirmative. Sending to your computer. We'll meet you at Batman's cell." Just after Cameron spoke, Thomas's wrist computer blinked, signaling the incoming file.

Thomas scrolled through the list of names and their locations before turning to the boy. "Looks like you're in luck, Damian. That is, if you care to tag long while we rescue your dad and the other captured heroes." Damian's response was a curt nod. "Good, first stop, Captain Marvel. Though I think I'll keep the sword for now." The look on Damian's face told Thomas exactly what he thought of that decision.

As the duo turned trio moved to the cell indicated on the file, though Jason couldn't stand the silence. "So, why would Cap be here? Isn't this the place for humans?"

"Yeah, the magicians are with the metahumans, but Cap's a unique case. You'll see for yourself in a minute."

True to his word, the group reached the target location in just under a minute. Thomas knocked on the cell door. "Billy, it's Thomas. If you can hear, I'm coming in." Thomas taped in a command on his wrist computer to initiate the unlocking sequence that Cameron had also sent him. In short order, the doors electronic locked popped open. The room was dark; no light was visible to the visitors except for the meager amount that trickled in from the hallway. The dark grey cement walls added to the feeling of unease as the three stepped inside.

Once they crossed the threshold they were instantly assaulted by stench that seemed all too similar to human feces. The toilet in the corner of the room, Jason noted, was full, apparently broken. Jason wished he'd installed the helmet's gas mask feature like he had wanted to do. But the squalor of the room itself was nothing compared to the bruised, battered, and broken 16 year old teen that lay in the fetal position in the corner. Jason was probably the most shocked. He thought they were going to get Captain Marvel, not a sickly looking kid. Thomas, however, knew the full story behind Billy Batson's current state thanks to intel from Amanda Waller.

Billy had been among the group that fought against the new power structure, but within a few days of the banning of the heroes he found himself in a very public battle against a whole platoon of Checkmate goons. For a while, Captain Marvel put up a valiant fight, but when Captain Atom arrived on scene to subdue Billy, the fight was over. Billy stupidly changed back into his human form, but before he could change back the guards gagged him and strapped an inhibitor collar to his neck. Since throwing him in this cell, the guards took every possible opportunity to severely beat the boy. The other human prisoners had gotten off comparably easier, but the Checkmate goons saw Billy has a human who had let power corrupt him, and they saw fit to punish him at every turn.

Thomas knelt down next to Billy, who had barely recognized the presence of the newcomers. Hawkeye's fingers lingered on the collar, which lay over horribly chaffed and scarred skin. Even under the filthy orange jumpsuit, the bruises and scars were quite evident. Billy was emaciated, clearly having been fed only a paltry amount of food. Seeing the treatment he had received made Hawkeye angry, angry enough to grab the inhibitor collar and rip it in two. His hands rushed to remove the gag on Billy's mouth, hoping the boy would saw the word that changed him from mere human to immortal champion of Earth. But when the gag was lifted, Billy lay silently staring at the wall. Hawkeye's anger quickly ebbed into sadness as he realized how broken his friend was.

"We'll carry him out." Thomas's words were low and quiet, nearly passing Damian and Jason unheard. Thomas slowly picked Billy bridal style and walked out the room towards the other cells. Jason and Damian took a last look around the room before following. As the four traveled down the hall Oracle's voice crackle over the comm, apparently having seen the body over the security feed she was monitoring.

"Oh my God, is that…?"

Hawkeye replied slowly. "Yeah."

No one spoke as they made their way to the remaining cells. Raquel Ervin, Rocket, was first, she was a little shaken, but otherwise ok. John Stewart, Earth's second Green Lantern, was more angry than anything, especially when he saw the broken body of Billy in Hawkeye's arms. Ray Palmer, the Atom, and Adam Strange were in the cells nearest to the lab, having been forced to research weapons tech during their incarceration. Karen Beecher, Bumblebee, was the next to last cell. When the group found her, she only had one question.

"Where's Mal?" She looked over the group again. "Or Robin?"

Hawkeye didn't have the heart to tell her what the file said, and Karen question went unanswered. Finally the troupe made its way to Batman's cell, where they met up with Cameron and Roy. Jason took point this time, heading into the room before anyone could make a move to stop him. He wasn't sure what he had expected to find, but seeing his estranged father lying on a prison bed with a catatonic stare was definitely not it. He stood motionless over Bruce while Thomas entered the room, having given Billy to John to carry.

Jason took off his helmet. "What did they do to him?"

"Waller said they'd been forcing him to train, trying to break him physically when they found they couldn't psychically, something about finding the limits of the human body. He fought them every step of the way, but even he couldn't beat them. Thankfully, he's only been like this a few days. There's a wheelchair in the medical wing a few doors down. We'll put him in that for the trip to the Fortress."

Thomas motioned for Roy to get the chair as he took Billy back from John. Thomas turned to Cameron. "Get everyone back to the ship when Roy gets back. The rest of us have something to finish up."

Cameron nodded, but John looked at Billy. "Should I take him with?" Even after captivity John's deep voice was still strong.

"No, I doubt any of you could hold him long enough to make it back. And Colt needs to keep his hands free in case any reinforcement show up. I'll get him out." John nodded and followed the group behind Cameron just as Roy returned with the wheelchair. "Get Bats on the chair, then get back to the ship."

Jason helped Roy move Batman onto the wheelchair. Once the task was done Jason watched beside Thomas as Roy followed the main group. "So, are we going to get the bodies?"

Thomas nodded as he made his way to the med bay. He quickly found what he was looking for in a mobile gurney. Hawkeye motioned for Jason to push the gurney while he lead the way to the morgue. Once there, Thomas set Billy down on the exam table and opened the metal storage doors as quickly as he could, eventually finding the two bodies he was looking for. Jason grabbed two body bags off a nearby shelf and the duo moved quickly to complete the morbid task of placing the recently deceased bodies of Mal Duncan and Tim Drake into individual bags and placing them on the gurney. According to the file, the boys had tried to fight like John had, but in the end couldn't last. Hawkeye couldn't help but be filled with guilt as he noted their death's had only occurred several days ago. He mentally punished himself for not finding the prisons faster. He just hoped that the other teams had better luck. Jason wheeled the gurney containing the two bodies down the hall with Hawkeye in front carrying Billy, but they soon paused when Oracle screamed over the comm.

"Get out! Get out now! Atom's inside the prison!"

Thomas and Jason balked at the news. Of all the people to reinforce the Checkmate guards, it had to be Captain Atom, the man who had assisted in capturing every renegade vigilante in the prisons.

Thomas set Billy down on the floor, but before any of them could even think of a strategy the wall in front of them blew up from a blast of yellow energy.

"I'm going to give you one chance to surrender Hawkeye, same for you Hood."

"Go to hell, Atom." Jason had drawn both his pistols, but was thrown backward by another energy blast from Atom.

Hawkeye glared at the traitor, hoping to stall him by talking. He knew that even with his abilities, Atom had the advantage. "Why are you doing this Cap? What have they got on you that made you turn traitor."

Thomas was completely caught off guard when Atom lowered his hand and his hole posture slumped. "They've got my family."

"That's your excuse?! You turned traitor on us for your family?"

Atom sighed. "I joined them because they were right!" The force behinds Atom's words caught Hawkeye off guard. "We were so arrogant we built a goddamn satellite in space without telling anyone, and then we armed the damn thing!"

"That's no excuse for that they did to him!" Thomas pointed a figure at Billy, who just now noticed Captain Atom.

"I didn't know what they did to the prisoners. By the time I found out, they had a gun to my wife's head. They didn't even tell me where the prison was until tonight."

Hawkeye just continued to glare at Captain Atom, but the two men were shocked to see Billy stand up.

"Shazam!" After a blinding flash of lightning, Captain Marvel emerged. In a fit of rage he flew toward Atom and grabbing him by the throat, squeezing for all he was worth. While Jason stirred back to consciousness on the floor Oracle came back over the comm.

"Hawkeye, even more bad news. I don't know if you can hear me, but they just sent a nuke to the prison. You've got three minutes to get to a minimum safe distance."

At the news Hawkeye leaped forward, socking Marvel in the jaw with all his strength. Thankfully it was enough to snap Billy out of his manic state. Thomas separated the two, looking to Atom first. "Looks like your buddies in the government decided you're expendable. There's a nuke on the way."

Marvel turned to leave "I'll stop it."

Atom put a hand on his shoulder. "No, I'll go. You get these boys out of here." Atom turned back to Hawkeye. "Let them know I'm sorry." Hawkeye nodded in acknowledgement as Atom flew off, leaving the boys to carry the bodies of Mal and Tim to the ship.

Once aboard the ship, Maya floored the engines, putting as much distance between the prison and them as possible. After a minute of flight Thomas pulled up the reverse camera angle and the team watched as a missile soared into view heading straight for the prison. They also notice the form of a man clad in silver floating above the remote prison. Suddenly a blinding explosion filled the screen, but just as quickly as it appeared it began to shrink, eventually becoming contained in the suit of Captain Atom. While the team cried out in joy at the averted disaster, Thomas turned up the magnification level. It soon became clear that there was a tear in Atom's suit, it glowed white with energy, growing by the second. The camera followed as Atom flew off into the night sky before he flew out of the camera's angle. Hawkeye switched to the dorsal camera just in time to see an explosion of yellow energy high in the Earth's atmosphere.

John Stewart, having had known Atom the longest was the first to speak. "You know, he once told me that's how he thought he'd go."

Jason looked up from the bag holding Tim's body. "I don't give a damn. I wanted to make him pay for what they did."

Hawkeye put a hand on Jason's shoulder. "They will Jason, I promise you that. Let's just hope the other teams had better luck than we did."

11:55 p.m.
Fortress of Solitude

All the team's met up at the Fortress after their respective missions. Canary and Artemis's teams arrived first, moving their freed friends to the medical facility that the Kryptonian robots had set up. Kon-El and Kal-El had been immediately placed in the UV healing chamber, though Superboy was recovering much faster than his older counterpart. Most of the team had gone to sleep for the night, but there were a few still awake when The Outlaws made it back to the Fortress. Wally was trying not to pass out next to his uncle's bed, while Artemis and Dinah joined Barbara, Alfred, and Dick in the hangar bay as the The Outlaws flew in.

The assembled greeting party helped the injured heroes out of the ship, but no one left until Hawkeye and Jason wheeled the gurney out with the body bags. Everyone present all stood in silence as Jason wheeled down the ramp, though more troubling was that Karen was crying as she leaned on Thomas's shoulder. Even Jason looked distraught as he came to a stop in front of Nightwing.

His voice was hoarse when he spoke, pointing to the smaller bag. "Tim…he didn't make it."

For the members of the Bat family, the news was like a punch to the guy, sucking the wind out of all of them. Barbara wheeled up to the bag, opening the zipper to see Tim's face. She broke down in the middle of the hangar while Dick came up to comfort her. Alfred's stoic face was filled with sadness and he stood by Jason and the wheelchair bound Bruce. Something sparked in Bruce's eyes, enough to at least temporarily bring him out his catatonic state. Thomas supposed seeing the dead body of your protégé/son would have that effect on a man like Bruce. Hawkeye quietly ushered the rest of them out of the hangar so that the Bats could be left in piece.

May 14 – 9:18 a.m.
Fortress of Solitude

The next morning Thomas made his way to the command center, certain it would be abandoned. What he didn't expect was to find Nightwing, fully decked out in his suit, working side-by-side with Oracle. The two were so consumed with their workout that they didn't notice Hawkeye enter until he cleared his throat rather loudly.

"Should you two really be up here right now?"

Barbara responded without looking away from her screen. "Don't go there Thomas. Not today."

"Fine, but would at least tell me what it is you're doing?"

"Tracking down those assholes who did killed Tim."

The finality in Oracle's statement made clear she was not to be argued with. Thomas chose to remain silent and turned to watch the news feeds that Oracle had pulled up. Something in particular caught his eye.

"Turn this up."

Dick turned up the volume on the broadcast, and the reporter's voice filled the room. "This is G. Gordon Godfrey. Last night, just outside of Thompson, Illinois, a missile detonated above an abandoned prison facility. Witness reports claim that there several renegade heroes on the scene moments before the missile exploded and that our own Captain Atom took the brunt of the explosion, likely killing the ex-vigilante. It is abundantly clear, that the masked cowards have now turned to using violent and destructive methods to…."

Thomas turned the volume back down. "Babs, still got that broadcast equipment?"

"Yeah, why?"

Hawkeye smiled slyly. "I think it's high time we put old Godfrey in his place."

It took Barbara and Dick all of 10 minutes to get the equipment set up in the main hall of the Fortress, and only a few more to get every available hero in costume to form up as a group in front of the camera. Barbara gave the signal and all the world, the television signal was hi-jacked the League's broadcast network. Hawkeye stepped into the foreground in front of the group. His uniform was in pristine condition, the light of the fully showing the gold bird on his chest.

"Hello, my name is Hawkeye. Don't worry; we'll get you back to your scheduled programming in a minute. Yes, I and the people behind me are all vigilantes." Hawkeye paused for second to show the crowd behind him. "It wasn't so long ago that you all used to call us 'heroes'. I know that many of you have bought into Godfrey's claim that we destroyed Mumbai and killed millions of people. And no matter what I say today, many of you will go on believing that. But I have faith that there are those among you who will look past the lies to see the truth. You see, good ol' Godfrey has a few skeletons in his closest that we feel you ought to know about. Roll the footage please."

The image on the screens changed to that of Godfrey threatening Savage and then communication with Darkseid. It then changed to the well-known footage of the bomb in Mumbai, but this time it showed the shadowy figure altering the bomb after Sigma Squad placed it. After these things played.

"This evidence probably won't be enough to fully sway your opinion, but that isn't the point. The point is that you have been lied to. Yes, the League overreached when it built that satellite, but it is no longer in orbit. And now, Godfrey seems to be working with the alien known as Darkseid. We do not know the full connection between them, but Darkseid is a tyrant and a conqueror that will not stop until the Earth is turned to ash. What you do with this message is your own business. But as for us heroes; we're getting back to the job that we weren't meant to do: saving the world."