Young Justice -:- Fragility

Sorry for my tardiness! My place of employment demanded my attendance on my day off - which means that I haven't had as much time to write as I would have liked :(

Thanks as always to the wonderful people who left a review last chapter - we have officially reached 100! (Totally doing a happy dance all over the place right now) THANK YOU!

But anyway, enjoy this second instalment of the finale!

Part Eleven

"Are we seriously staying put?"

Dick glanced over at Wally who was looking just about ready to ignore Batman's orders and zoom off to Happy Harbour High. Artemis was still watching the television, studying what unclear footage they could get of what was happening just a few miles away. Dick, for his part, was tuned into the radio chatter streaming between the League, forming a mental picture of the battlefield.

"Come on!" Wally whined, his voice tinged with a little super-speed as he buzzed with nervous energy. "We should be out there! They're our friends!"

Dick and Artemis shared a look, confirming that they were both on the same page. "Look, Walls, I don't like it any more than you do," Dick tried, though he had to admit that it was taking nearly all of his self control not to run to the bio-ship and give the League some aerial support. "But we've been ordered to stay away from the fight."

"Like we've never disobeyed orders before!" Wally retorted.

"This is different, Wally," Artemis stepped up. "The whole world is watching what's happening at Happy Harbour, and how the Justice League reacts to this. They're fighting kids. If a bunch of teen heroes join in – teen heroes on a covert team that isn't even meant to exist – it could completely ruin their image."

Wally raised an eyebrow. "So?"

Artemis looked back at Dick, which he took to be his cue to explain. "The Justice League relies on public opinion and government sanction in order to operate. Without that support they would be shunned and forced to disband, which could leave the Earth even more open to threats than it already is. They have to handle this situation just right – or it could mean the end of the League."

Wally sobered at that realisation, his tense pacing coming to a stop. "So... we are staying put?"

"We can't make this any worse than it already is," Artemis sighed. Being sidelined didn't sit well with any of them, but they at least understood the reasoning behind it. And this was before they had added in Batman's valid reasons of injuries and burned IDs and such.

The three of them fell into silence, their moods subdued by their complete inability to help. Wally gave up on pacing completely and slumped on the sofa beside Artemis, both of them staring at the screen as a news helicopter managed to get a birds-eye view of the carnage. They watched as the League tried to figure out the best way to take the mind-controlled students down with the least amount of consequences; while Dick listened to the heroes try and come up with solutions over the radios.

Their past run-ins with the Hatter's victims had proven that the mind-control tech was not perfect. The earlier attempts killed their victims. 100% mortality rate. The slightly newer versions; like the ones used during Artemis' kidnapping from the safe house, left their victims either with no memory, catatonic, or dead. Simply removing the Justice-League themed caps from the students would stop the assault – but it also came with the high chance of killing them.

The League couldn't run that risk – so what was the alternative? Knock them out and hope that they didn't get trampled in the chaos? Restrain them and pray that they didn't hurt themselves in their attempts to escape? It was a no-win situation; but Dick was sure that there had to be a way.

He was so involved in trying to think of one in fact, that he didn't notice his cellphone ringing.

"Uh, dude," Wally said, snapping Dick's attention away from the League's conversation. "You're buzzing."

His phone was vibrating in his jeans pocket, which was rather obvious once he disconnected from the League's radio feed. He quickly pulled out the phone, catching the picture of Barbara mid-sneeze that he'd taken as her caller ID, before he hit Accept. "Babs?"

"Hi Dick," Barbara greeted cordially, though it sounded a little forced and there were some incredibly weird noises in the background. Instantly he was on alert, sitting up a little straighter as he tried to identify the sounds. "So nice of you to answer your phone."

Dick furrowed his eyebrows wondering what she was getting at, before he noticed a flashing light on his wrist computer. He had several messages from Batgirl waiting, but he hadn't been able to hear the calls while hooked into the League frequency. "What's going on?"

"Oh, just a party in Old Gotham," Babs explained. A massive boom sounded over the line like an elephant stamping its foot, followed by a monstrous roar. Dick had no idea what was going on, and Babs couldn't exactly tell him over an unsecured line, but it sounded really bad. "Great music, good times and huge guests. You should swing by, it's awesome."

"I'm on my way," Dick promised, already climbing to his feet, earning curious glances from Wally and Artemis.

"Good," Barbara grunted, sounding out of breath as if she were running a marathon. "It's not the same withou-"

A loud crunch cut her off mid-sentence, leaving Dick with only the empty echo of the dial tone. "Babs?!" he half-yelled into the phone, though he knew it was useless. In frustration he threw the stupid thing against the wall, destroying his second phone in three days.

Wally was by his side in an instant, Artemis hovering just behind her boyfriend's shoulder. "What's going on?"

"Something big is attacking Old Gotham," Dick explained hurriedly, heading straight for the zeta tubes. "Babs is on her own. I've gotta go."

Artemis looked mildly confused as to why Barbara Gordon was on her own against some big baddie in Gotham, but wisely chose not to comment. Wally, who knew that Babs was Batgirl, just looked worried. "We should suit up."

"Right," Dick agreed, and then paused. "Wait, 'we'?"

"Well, duh, Boy Blunder," Artemis retorted as she grabbed up her abandoned quiver and bow. "You didn't think that we were letting you go alone, did you?"

Dick was stuck between arguing his point and getting to Babs as quickly as possible. "But... you're IDs are burned... you're in hiding..."

"And you have a bullet hole in your chest," Wally pointed out matter-of-factly.

He had a point.

"Okay, fine," Dick relented, silently glad to have his two best friends as back-up even as he worried about the huge risk that they were taking. "Lets go."

As the flames came roaring towards her face, M'gann reacted on instinct.

With a panicked scream she turned and hit the deck; one arm flinging towards the students that were in the fire's path and dragging them telekinetically to the concrete, while the other gestured at the flame-thrower and nudged it skywards.

She landed painfully on her shoulder as the heat seared her skin, fear gripping her heart as she thought for sure that she was on fire. But the flames shut off, and M'gann realised that she wasn't even burned. Sweat beaded on her forehead and her body felt as if she had just been through a full-body workout, but Zatanna had missed.

Judging by the disappointed expression on Zee's face, this was not by design.

No one else had been hurt either, for which M'gann was extremely grateful; she had been fast enough with her powers to get them out of the line of fire. But she couldn't keep this up. They were surrounded on all sides by mind-controlled students – and Zee's weapon of choice was likely to take out more than just her target. And on top of that there were news cameras watching the whole battle of Happy Harbour High – using her powers anymore than she already had could expose her on national television.

She had to move the fight away from there. And then she had to figure out how to get Zee back.

So as Zatanna levelled her flame-thrower for another attempt to roast the Martian, M'gann did the only smart thing that she could think of. She ran.

It felt odd to run when her instinct was to fly, but she ignored that as she barrelled through the crowd. All around her gunfire, war cries and the clang of metal on metal assaulted her senses. She could hear the League trying to calm their attackers, even as they knew it wouldn't work. She could smell the coppery tang of blood in the air. And she could feel Zatanna bearing down on her like a predator stalking her prey.

Whoever was behind this knew who they were. It was the only explanation as to why Zee was targeting her so specifically. Someone knew that she was a Martian and that her biggest weakness was fire – why else would the UPS guy have changed his mind over what weapon to hand Zatanna?

But this was an issue to worry about later. For now, M'gann focused on running. She slammed straight through the school's main doors and back into the cool halls that felt so refreshing against her recently cooked skin. Zatanna was right behind her, the nearly silently click of the trigger being pulled the only warning she got before the roar of flames assaulted M'gann again.

She dived through an open doorway to avoid the torrent of fire; the heat turning her legs to jelly as she tried to roll back onto her feet but ended up slumped on the carpet. Zatanna stood in the doorway, swinging the flame-thrower from side-to-side to fill the room with the deadly orange and yellow flames. M'gann stayed where she had landed under a desk, unable to find the strength to move as her body failed to cope with the heat.

After what felt like hours, Zatanna finally shut off the flame-thrower and stepped into the room. She shut the door behind her, keeping the stifling warmth in as a couple of desks and a bookshelf continued to burn. The air was smoky and permeated with the acrid smell of melted plastic. M'gann felt as if she were trapped in a sauna; the painful heat making her skin blister as she struggled to breathe.

She heard footsteps approaching, and then the desk she was hiding under was shoved backwards, revealing Zatanna. The homo-magi levelled the flame-thrower directly at the Martian; the likelihood of her missing again extremely low.

"Zee..." M'gann choked. "Please... don't..."

Zatanna blinked, but then her grip tightened on her weapon. It was the tiniest of slips in the Batman-cap's control, but it filled M'gann with hope. Zee was still in there somewhere, maybe even aware of her actions but unable to control them. M'gann couldn't let Zee hurt her – the guilt would kill her.

But what could she do? She'd already tried her telepathy, but had been met with nothing but a mental wall. Maybe with time she could break through – but with her imminent crispy demise being likely; she didn't have time. She could telekinetically take off the cap; but the consequences of that... well, M'gann had heard the reports. There was a possibility that removing the hats incorrectly could put Zee in a catatonic state; or maybe even kill her. She couldn't take that risk.

Which left what?

"I... I have to..." Zee mumbled, her voice sounding confused and conflicted. M'gann latched onto the momentary lapse immediately.

"No, you don't," she wheezed. "You're stronger than this. You can break free-"

The change in Zatanna was instantaneous. She stood straight and lowered the weapon; staring straight ahead as if waiting for instructions. "Yes, Doctor."

Doctor? M'gann wondered, completely bewildered. And then she gradually began to put the pieces together. Zatanna had been acting weird before she had been forced to wear the hat. When she had used the mind link before, she had sensed another presence – not like Psimon hacking their connection, but more like a leftover imprint of someone being there before. Zee had been going to see Dr Grantes – the bad guy behind it all. He must have done something. Planted a suggestion...

A plan began to form; half-educated guess and half-craziness, but it was the best that she had. With a little concentration, she shape-shifted her voice, taking on a deeper, masculine tone with the hint of a nasal whine. "You can stop now, Zatanna. Put down the weapon. You're free."

"Yes, Doctor," Zatanna agreed. She slipped the gas canisters from her shoulders and placed them with the rest of the flame-thrower on the floor, and then stood. M'gann breathed a sigh of relief, partially stunned that her plan had worked. She had managed to use Dr Grantes' hypnotic programming against him; undoing the subliminal orders that had driven Zatanna to attack her. Which would have been an awesome feat, if she hadn't forgotten one crucial thing.

Zatanna was still wearing a hat.

"Nice try Miss Martian," Dr Grantes' voice announced from a tiny speaker sown into the cap's lining. "But I have more than one trick up my sleeve."

Before M'gann could react or process the words; Zatanna's face had morphed into a feral scowl. The homo-magi launched herself at M'gann, pinning the Martian to ground as she started to brutally beat M'gann with her fists.

Oddly, it was as M'gann was trying to defend herself when she finally realised why she recognised Dr Grantes' voice.

"Professor Strange," Batman growled.

Dr Grantes simply grinned and gave a shallow bow, making it very difficult for Batman to not give into the urge to close the distance between them and smash the smug egomaniac's face in. He cursed himself for not running the same thorough background checks that he vetted the entirety of Gotham Academy's staff with at Happy Harbour.

How could he have missed this? It was his fault that this has happened – letting someone like Strange get this close to the Team – allowing the League to be forced into a confrontation with no possible positive outcome. It was his fault. He had overlooked the possibility.

But he could take the blame later. For now he needed to focus on ending this before it could escalate further.

"It's over, Strange," Batman declared.

Professor Strange chuckled. "It is really, Batman? Are you sure about that?" He cupped a hand to his ear and pantomimed listening intently. From outside in the quad the racket of the continuing battle reached them; the gunfire bursts now fewer and further between, but the feral yelling of the mind-controlled students still going strong. "It doesn't sound like it's over now, does it?"

Batman glared at the psychiatrist. "It's over for you, Strange. Tell me where the Hatter is and I might only beat you to a slightly bloody pulp."

Strange shook his head and scoffed. "He's around here somewhere."

Batman was not in the mood for being toyed with. He needed to find the Hatter and get him to shut down the mind-control devices – it was the only way to stop this without bloodshed. Innocent bloodshed at least. He wouldn't mind breaking Strange's nose after all. "How are the students being controlled?"

"You think I would tell you?" Strange asked derisively. "Someone overestimates their power to intimidate."

Before Strange could even think to react, Batman was in his personal space; making the psychiatrist jump and scarper back a few paces until his back hit the wall. Batman raised an eyebrow. "You were saying?"

Strange gathered his wits about him. "I'm about to destroy the Justice League. You don't scare me."

"All you're destroying is your chance of ever being able to walk again," Batman threatened. Strange barely cowed, which might have been impressive if it wasn't so frustrating. The psychiatrist was so confident in his success that he couldn't believe in the possibility of failure. It was near impossible to intimidate someone who honestly believed that they were infallible. The only way to get them to talk, was to appeal to their ego. "You're plan won't work," Batman goaded, taking a step back and allowing Strange to think that he had won.

"It already has," Strange grinned. "Can't you hear your little League buddies fretting over how to handle this? They're stuck between and rock and hard place where there is no good move for them to play. How many of the children do you reckon have been injured so far? How many are dead? And whose fault is it? The League's."

Batman watched Strange carefully as he allowed the villain to keep monologuing. "There are twenty news channels outside – fifty-odd reporters. Images of the League beating up school kids is being broadcast around the world! What will the parents think? How will the Government react? They'll have to cover their own asses – sure, the League saved the world a few times; but now they're child beaters! There goes your funding, your support, your precious little satellite in space..."

Strange paused to bask in his glory, his hand going to his pocket to pull out a tablet computer. Batman had a batarang ready should Strange be about to pull off a surprise attack, but he had a sneaking suspicion that the psychiatrist was about to ruin his own plan.

"And who did all this? Who made the Justice League the most-hated heroes in history?" Strange asked rhetorically. "Me. Me and one little computer-"

Batman struck with inhuman speed, his gauntleted fist smashing in to Strange's nose with a satisfying crunch. Strange staggered, both hands flying to stem the waterfall of blood as Batman liberated the tablet computer. He swept Strange's legs out from under him, leaving the psychiatrist a bloody heap on the floor.

He then turned his attention to the computer, scrolling through options and sub-menus until he finally found what he was looking for. The master control. With a single swipe he shut down the entirety of Hatter's mind-control network and then activated his communicator for confirmation.

"They're all back to normal," Superman reported, sounding relieved. "Very confused, but normal."

Good, Batman thought as he kept the computer for evidence. There would be damage control to do with the media, but overall, things could have been a lot worse. But he still couldn't forgive himself for the oversight that had led to this farce in the first place. He turned his attention back to Professor Strange, who had pulled himself into a seated position against the wall.

"Y-you think th-this over...?" Strange stammered as he held one hand to his mangled nose. "Y-you think th-that was my only t-trick? Hah!"

Strange pulled another device from his pocket; and Batman had but a second to send a warning over the communicator as he took in the detonator in Strange's hand.

And then he was deafened and blinded by the explosion.

Robin was running before the light of the zeta tube had even faded. He had materialised in the derelict phone booth in Old Gotham, knowing that it was a three-minute flat out run to Batgirl's last known location. He wished that he had his bike, or really anything to make him get there faster, but he didn't. All he had was his grapnel, which would shave a mere thirty seconds off of his journey time.

He was two streets away from the phone booth when a familiar streak of red and yellow zoomed past him. Kid Flash had been the last one through the zeta, but would be the first one to reach Batgirl, something for which Robin was incredibly grateful. Artemis had just come through after Robin, making her about half a street behind.

Robin fired his grapnel and took to the sky the moment that he came across a building tall enough; swinging himself up and onto a rooftop so that he could travel as the crow flies.

"What the hell...?" Kid Flash muttered over the radio, his question cut off by the sound of breaking glass and a muffled curse.

Robin pushed himself to run faster.

His chest was hurting and every breath burned as if he was inhaling glass shards. Every jump and roll pulled at the stitches and made his bruised ribs cry out in protest. But he didn't allow himself to think about it. He just kept swinging and running and completely ignoring his body's warnings that this was way too much, way too soon.

Finally, after what felt like an age, he staggered to a stop on an apartment building roof; taking in the scene in an instant. Nearby, a downed transformer hissed and sparked, providing the only light as the rest of the power in the area had been knocked out. The stars were blocked by gathering storm clouds, which just made the monsters look that much more horrific.

There were four of them; all of them at least fifteen ft tall and wearing mismatched rags like homeless people. One of them had a broken nose that was still streaming blood. Another had an assortment of batarangs littering its plaid shirt. They all looked pissed off.

Kid Flash was doing his best to irritate them further; calling out random monster-related insults as he zipped between their feet, moving too fast for them to catch.

Batgirl was trying to fend off the monster with the broken nose, who was completely ignoring all of Kid Flash's creative attempts to distract him. The giant had Batgirl cornered with her back against a wall; his bare, grimy toes booting the brickwork over and over again. Batgirl kept dodging – just – until a chunk of loosed mortar smacked her in the head and sent her sprawling. The giant then lifted his foot to step on her.

So Robin did the only logical thing. He attacked.

With a growl he leapt off of the apartment building roof; a concussive batarang in each hand, and landed hard on the giant's neck. With the batarangs as close to the giant's ears as he could get, he set them off – a bright light and eardrum-bursting bang making the giant stumble backwards.

The good news: the giant didn't step on Batgirl. The bad news: the giant really didn't like flash-bangs.

Robin had a millisecond to react as the giant blindly swatted at him as if he were a gnat. The Boy Wonder ducked beneath the hand that pounded against the monster's neck and pushed off; throwing himself into a backwards somersault and dropping towards the ground. On instinct, he drew his grapnel and fired, trusting that his aim was true. The line caught, giving him barely an inch of clearance as he swung in a low arc and released; tumbling into a barely controlled roll.

He came back up on his feet, right beside Batgirl, which had been completely unintentional.

"Nice of you to show up," she jibed with a tired grin.

"Now it's a party," Robin retorted. Artemis dropped from an fire escape and landed beside him, two arrows immediately notched in her bow and her grey eyes taking in every detail. Kid Flash joined them a second later, appearing out of a gust of wind and grinning broadly. Robin made the quick introductions while the giants seemed otherwise preoccupied with trying to figure out where Kid Flash had gone. The one with the bloody nose held the side of a building for support as his sight and hearing slowly returned. "What works?"

"They don't like flash-bangs," Batgirl explained, gesturing at the nearest giant. "I knocked that one down with a direct hit. Trouble is, he recovered pretty quick."

So, good for a short term fix, Robin concluded. But they were going to need something a little more permanent than that. "They're not very smart," Kid Flash added with a smirk. "You don't have giant tranquillisers in those belts, do ya?"

"Knockout gas, that's about it," Batgirl shrugged. The giant with the bloody nose stood up straight and roared, before settling his gaze on her.

Kid Flash raised an eyebrow. "Wow, that guy really doesn't like you."

"I kinda kicked him in the face," Batgirl explained. The giant thundered towards them. "He took it personally."

"Break!" Robin ordered, the four of them splitting into two groups as the giant charged them like a bull. Artemis took the high ground and jumped on top of a dumpster, firing a trick arrow full of noxious gas at the giant as he skidded to a stop. The arrow burst right beneath his nose, giving him a a whole face-full of the gas – the dosage of sedative high enough to bring down a full-grown elephant. It did little more than make the giant momentarily dizzy. So much for that.

In response, the giant picked up another dumpster and threw it at Artemis. The archer would have been squished flat had Kid Flash not grabbed her at super-speed and carried her to the other side of the alley. However, seeing the streak of red and yellow once again drew the other three giants over. They couldn't take all four of them at once – Robin wasn't even sure that they could even handle one. Not until they figured out what could take them down, at least. He turned to Kid Flash and Artemis. "Distract them."

Kid Flash gave him a mock-salute and sped off, Artemis following while notching more arrows ready. In moments, the pair of them had the three giants utterly confused and entirely focused on their game of whack-a-speedster.

"And we're doing what?" Batgirl asked. Bloody-Nose growled and charged them again, quite obsessed with trampling Batgirl into a gooey puddle.

Without a word, the two Bats divided; Batgirl diving through a demolished wall to their left, and Robin firing his grapnel and climbing a fire escape to their right. The giant barrelled past like a freight train, but he was getting much better at stopping. He skidded and turned; his momentum dropping him to one knee like a runner's ready-stance. And then he was up and shouldering into the partially-destroyed building where Batgirl had taken shelter.

Bricks and plaster and smashed windows began to rain down; forcing Batgirl further into the building to keep herself from being brained. Which gave Robin a crazy idea. "BG, you alright?" he asked over the radio, getting a grumbled affirmative in response. "Good, stay put until I say."

He climbed up another few levels of the fire escape while the giant was busy doing his part as a one-man wrecking crew, until he was back up on the apartment roof. He backed up along the edge of the parapet, running a few quick calculations through his head, before breaking into a run and taking a flying leap.

In mid-air he took his grapnel and fired directly to his right; the hook catching expertly on a exposed support beam. As the line pulled taut, Robin's own momentum swung him back around, driving him into a horizontal loop. The giant leaned back to strike again with perfect timing, providing just enough room for Robin to squeeze between him and the building, the line wrapping around the giant's chest.

Using the full length of the rope he swung right back to where he had started, abandoning the whole grapnel gun and dropping back onto the apartment roof. He looked back to see the leftover force spin the grapnel around its own rope; effectively tying the giant in a huge noose. Now he just had to hope that it held.

"BG, I need to to run back out into the alleyway and get as far away from that building as you can, understand?"

"Do I want to know why?" Batgirl asked, even as he heard her start running; avoiding the falling debris as she sprinted straight towards the giant. Robin watched as she darted between Bloody-Nose's legs, making the giant spin in an attempt to grab her, before she fired her own grapnel and rappelled onto the apartment roof.

Immediately, Bloody-Nose tried to get to her, tugging forcefully at the rope tied around his chest. The support beam was yanked free. The whole building crumbled, the thunderous cacophony of several tons of bricks and metal surrendering to gravity echoing in the night; like a massive Jenga tower toppling to its destruction. Beneath the wreckage, the giant lay collapsed in a daze.

Batgirl turned to Robin. "Did you just drop a building on a giant?"

"Why, yes. Yes I did," Robin grinned. "That should keep him down for a while."

"KID FLASH!" Artemis screamed, making Robin snap towards the shout. He watched as one of the giant's caught on to the game; swiping with a huge fist and slamming into Kid Flash even as he ran at super-speed. A horrible crack reverberated around the streets, seemingly louder than the demolition of the building. With Kid Flash effectively stilled, all three of the giants advanced. Immediately arrows peppered all of them as Artemis tried to draw their attention. But it wasn't working.

All the giants wanted was Kid Flash.

'Connor!'

M'gann's voice echoed loud and clear in the Kryptonian's skull, filling him with dread. Instantly he forgot all about the battle happening all around him and ran in the direction that he had last seen his girlfriend disappear in earlier. The League could handle a few hundred mind-controlled students without him.

He had been worried about M'gann ever since the moment that Zatanna had chased her back into the school with a flame-thrower, but he had had faith in her ability to defend herself. Behind the closed doors M'gann should have been able to use her powers, putting her on an equal playing field with Zee – or at least, that's what Connor kept telling himself as he helped the Flash get free from the spell that left him at the students' mercy. Now he wasn't so sure. 'Where are you?' he yelled as he smashed through the main doors.

'Ms Holloway's classroom,' M'gann replied. 'Hurry!'

Connor didn't need telling twice. He barrelled down the hallway, noting the scorch marks and still-flaming debris that littered the walls. He shouldered his way through the classroom door and stumbled to a stop at the sight that greeted him.

M'gann lay on the floor, a desk tied around her as if the metal legs were living arms; completely cocooning her in its embrace. Her eyes glowed green as she used her telekinesis, though what for, Connor couldn't tell. Zatanna stood before the blackboard with an irritated glare, her mouth closed as if she were sucking on a lemon.

"I can't hold it!" M'gann gasped when she saw Connor arrive. "Keep her from talking!"

Oh. Now Connor understood. M'gann was mentally sealing Zatanna's mouth shut, keeping her from casting any more spells like the one that had most likely gotten the Martian girl wrapped up in a desk.

Closing the distance between himself and Zatanna in an instant, Connor grabbed the homo-magi around the waist with one arm and clamped his hand over her mouth with the other. Immediately she began to kick and struggle; her cries of outrage muffled against his palm. M'gann slumped against the carpet; her eyes flashing back to normal just before she let them close in exhaustion.

"Are you okay?" Connor asked as he held the rebelling Zatanna as tightly as he could without his super-strength hurting her. M'gann nodded from where she lay, unable to get up as she was trapped, and Connor unable to help as he was currently otherwise occupied. "Uh, what am I supposed to do with Zee?"

As if on cue, Zatanna went limp in Connor's grip, falling completely unconscious. Automatically, Connor loosened his hold, worried that he had suffocated her by accident. He knelt down and held her in his lap as she gradually came to again, her blue eyes blinking as she took in her surroundings. "W-what's going on?"

Connor looked to M'gann for confirmation that it wasn't just an act. She activated her telepathy, either trying to read Zatanna or checking in with her Uncle and the League, though Connor wasn't sure which. M'gann then smiled in relief. "She's back to normal. Batman managed to deactivate the hats that were controlling them."

"Hats? Control?" Zee asked, sitting up and removing the Batman cap as if it were a live snake. "The Mad Hatter was here?!"

Now that he no longer had to restrain Zatanna, Connor crouched beside M'gann and easily straightened the desk legs to free her. She slipped her arms around his neck, and he pulled her close, noticing that her skin was unnaturally warm to the touch from the after-effects of being attacked with a flame-thrower.

"It was Dr Grantes," M'gann explained, making Zatanna's eyes widen in horror for some reason that Connor didn't understand. "He used Hatter tech to enslave everyone in the school."

"What... what did I do...?" Zee asked, but before either of them could answer, a huge explosion rocked the school. The volume of the blast had them all covering their ears as the ground shook beneath them. Plaster dust showered them as the walls rumbled to their foundations. Instinctively Connor leaned over M'gann to protect her, but there wasn't any need. Whatever had blown up was far enough away from them that they were left completely unscathed.

"What was that?!"

Robin was moving before he had even finished processing what was happening. He ran to the edge of the apartment roof and jumped off the side that ran parallel to the main street. Below, Kid Flash lay crumpled in the middle of the three giants, Artemis still trying to get to him. Robin heard Batgirl following behind him, but she stopped where he had kept going.

He landed on the nearest giant's shoulder and drew a concussive batarang. The device exploded beside the giant's ear, causing it to stagger back and automatically raise an arm, which Robin then used as a bridge onto the next giant. He set off another batarang and threw a third at the first giant, keeping both of them effectively disorientated.

It was as he was about to take out the third, however, when it all went wrong.

The first two giants tumbled like dominoes, but the third one didn't fall. Way below, Artemis had reached Kid Flash and was in the process of dragging him away from the huge stampeding feet; Batgirl appearing out of nowhere and offering her a hand. The third giant spotted them and made a bid to squash them, creating a distance that Robin couldn't jump unassisted.

He pulled his spare grapnel from its compartment and aimed it at the giant's ear; the hook embedding into the sensitive skin and making the giant bellow in pain. Robin was yanked from the shoulder of the second monster as the third one stumbled backwards. He tried to turn the fall into a swing, but the giant wasn't having it. Robin was grabbed out of the air, the grapnel ripped from his grip as the enormous hand wrapped around his whole body from his shoulders downwards.

Lights danced across his vision as all the air was squeezed out of him, every bone and muscle screaming out in protest. Through the haze he was vaguely aware of a strange buzzing sound, and then suddenly he could breathe again.

He felt the wind rush past him as he fell, the stormy night sky getting further and further away as he plummeted towards the concrete.

"ROBIN!"

I just can't resist.