Back in reality, the elder heroes are waiting and hoping that J'onn succeeds.
"It's been ten minutes… You'd think he'd be done by now." Zatara says.
"Something must be stopping J'onn from thinking clearly. He must not remember why he's there, or that it isn't real." Batman says. "But you should still have faith, Giovanni."
Recognized. Zatanna Zatara A-0-3.
Zatanna runs over to Ryan and Robin's unconscious bodies. She tries shaking them to wake them up, to no avail. Tears start rolling down her eyes. "Robin… Ryan…"
Giovanni walks over to his daughter and places a hand on her shoulder. "J'onn is doing everything he can to save them." He explains. "Come sit down." He walks her over to a set of chairs.
In the simulation, the remaining members of the team, and J'onn, arrive in what used to be Smallville. M'gann walks next to Robin.
"Stay close to J'onn. He's still…" Robin shakes his hand in an 'iffy' motion.
M'gann nods.
Robin turns behind him. "First team, deploy."
The two Martians fly over to the mothership. M'gann puts her hood on and grabs her uncle's hand. They both enter camouflage mode. They keep flying until they're by the outer wall of the mothership. J'onn then density shifts through the wall, pulling M'gann through with him.
Ready. In position. M'gann informs her friends. Be careful, Conner. I love you.
Conner smiles, then looks to Robin, who nods. He then jumps over to one of the guns on the mothership. He rips it from the ship.
Careful, don't disconnect the power source. Robin warns him.
"Alright you glorified trespassers! You wanna see how a real alien fights?!" Conner then fires the cannon, that he is now holding above his head, at the other cannons. This forces the invaders to deploy their aerial forces to attack. Now or never!
Wally carries Robin over to the mothership at super speed and Ryan flies behind them. Once they reach the ship, they immediately hide from the ships that are deploying.
Way's clear. Go! Robin says. Ryan is now in a stealth suit. The three run over to cover to hide from an alien robot. The robot passes by, not seeing them. The three look to see if the robot turns back, not seeing the robot behind them. But before the robot can shoot the three, it is hit by a crate. The three turn to see the two Martians, still camouflaged. Robin motions them to follow and they run down the hall.
Back outside, Superboy is fending off the aliens. A beam hits the spot in front of him, sending him flying back. Once he gets up again, another beam hits him from behind, and he disappears.
"Superboy has slipped into a coma." Red Tornado states. "Only Robin, Kid Flash, Iron Bat, and the Martians remain."
"J'onn, what is going on in there?" Batman asks.
Back inside the mothership, M'gann leaves camouflage mode, stops running, and falls into her uncle, who catches her and has also decamouflaged and stopped. She gets back up and puts her hand to her head. No. He's gone. She falls to her knees.
Wally runs over to her. It's alright. We'll find him with Artemis. I know it.
No. My mind is clearer now. The disintegration beam is exactly that. There is no detention facility, no prisoners to rescue. J'onn says. Our mission holds no purpose.
No, you're wrong! Wally says, grabbing J'onn. The zeta radiation proves she's alive! She's-
Stop it, KF! Robin grabs his friend. I've been scanning for League and team signals since we got inside. They're not here. Artemis is gone. He pauses. But our mission still holds purpose to destroy this mothership.
M'gann stands up. They head over to the power core. The power core is huge, glowing, orange orb.
This is the power core. Robin says. Blow this and the whole mothership blows.
A robot flies down behind them. Ryan is the only one to notice. He flies up to the robot, which has already started charging a blast. He starts charging his unibeam, and time seems to slow down. His friends are turning around, the unibeam is still charging, but Ryan knows that the disintegration beam is going to fire before the unibeam. "ARIAS, tell them I said it's been an honor fighting with them." He says as the unibeam charges.
"Yes, sir." ARIAS says.
The robot's disintegration beam fires and Ryan is gone. At least I get to see my father again. Being his 'final' thought. J'onn destroys the robot with his telekinesis by sending a crate flying into it.
"He wanted me to tell you all that it was an honor fighting with you." ARIAS says to the rest of the team.
"The Iron Bat has slipped into a coma." Red Tornado says. "Kid Flash, Robin, and the Martians remain.
"No!" Giovanni runs over to Ryan.
Zatanna runs back over to Robin, trying to wake him up.
"J'onn, what are you doing in there?" Captain Marvel says.
They wait for a few more minutes.
"Both Robin and Kid Flash have slipped into comas. Only the Martians remain." Red Tornado says.
A few seconds later, Artemis wakes up, then Aqualad, Ryan, Robin, and Wally. J'onn takes his hands off of M'gann's head. M'gann wakes up with a shock, sitting up immediately. Batman walks over to J'onn, who is clutching his head in pain.
Ryan looks around and takes everything in… or, at least, he tries. Giovanni isn't letting go of him, not for the world. Zatanna is doing the same with Robin.
"This… isn't Heaven… or Hell, for that matter." Ryan says, once his adoptive father lets go of him, allowing air access to his lungs once again. Zatara gives a slight chuckle at hearing this.
"You're all alive?!" M'gann says.
"What happened in there?" Batman asks J'onn.
"The exercise, it all went wrong." J'onn explains.
"Exercise?" Robin asks, Zatanna having let go of him.
"Try to remember." Batman says. "What you experienced was a training exercise. Manhunter psychically linked the seven of you within an artificial reality. You all knew this going in. What you didn't know was that it was a train for failure exercise. No matter what the team accomplished, the scenario was designed to grow worse. Still, you were aware that nothing was real, including the deaths of the entire Justice League."
"Not real…" Ryan ponders. "That would explain the feeling I got when I was hugging Zatanna. The feeling that she wasn't actually there…" They all look to Zatanna.
"That's right, it wasn't real. That is why you hardly grieved, even when Wolf was disintegrated before your eyes. But all that changed when Artemis died." J'onn starts. The team looks to Artemis, whose head is down. "Though consciously, Miss Martian knew it was not real, her subconscious mind could not make that distinction. She forgot it was only an exercise, and her subconscious took control, making all of you forget, too."
The team looks to M'gann. "I-I'm… I'm so sorry." She says.
"This isn't her fault!" Conner says. "Why didn't you stop the exercise?!"
"We tried. But M'gann had a death grip on the scenario. Even Artemis, who should've awakened upon her death, was so convinced she had passed that she slipped into a coma." J'onn explains. "I realized I would have to rest control from Miss Martian's subconscious from within. But upon entering the reality, I was overwhelmed by your collective emotion. There was too much… noise to think clearly… to remember why I was there. The deaths of Aqualad, Superboy, and the Iron Bat helped. But only when the mothership exploded, and Robin and Kid Flash were silenced, did my mind clear enough to remember my true purpose: to shock M'gann out of the exercise, before your comas became permanent. My apologies. I had no idea a training exercise could be so dangerous… so damaging."
Both Captain Marvel and Superboy walk over to M'gann. J'onn turns away, and Batman follows. J'onn then falls into Batman, who catches the mind-reader. Red Tornado runs over to help. "As bad as all that?" Batman asks.
"Perhaps worse." The Manhunter says.
"Yet this is not what troubles you." Tornado observes.
"Make no mistake, my niece is untrained and cannot be held responsible for this… for our debacle." J'onn says.
"No one blames her. But clearly we underestimated her abilities." Batman says.
"You understated." J'onn tells the Dark Knight. They both look to M'gann, who is crying in Captain Marvel's arms. "In terms of raw power, she has the strongest telepathic mind I have ever encountered. Stronger by far than mine."
Ryan gets up and starts walking over to Artemis, but stops. He clutches his head in pain, then he gets dizzy and falls to the floor, unconscious. Wally immediately runs over to him, checking his pulse, making sure he's still breathing. Robin follow seconds after, checking his vital signs. Conner then walks over and picks him up. He then carries him over to Batman.
Recognized. Flash 0-4.
Superboy hands the unconscious boy over to the speedster. Barry then runs back to the zeta tube.
"Override. Flash 0-4."
Recognized. Flash 0-4. Access granted. Iron Bat B-0-6. Authorization: Flash 0-4.
The speedster takes Ryan to the Watchtower, where sickbay has already been prepared.
And that's the chapter! This is the final chapter that crosses over with Young Justice - episode 16 - Failsafe. Reviews would be nice, considering I only have one, so far, but life's life.