So...I'm alive. Didn't I end last chapter by saying 'see you next week'?
Pfft. I don't need deadlines.
Disclaimer: I don't own Young Justice or anything DC.
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The team was silent, watching the holographic display that was so vibrant compared to the ominously quiet room. The screen showed a live feed of space. While space itself was rather calm, fierce action was being dished out by the dozen in it.
Penny was really impressed. She, like the rest of the team, knew this was a training exercise, but it was just so realistic. She thought it be a little fuzzy, like a dream, but it was remarkably lucid. She guessed the fact that the Martian Manhunter was running the simulation helped with the quality, but how he managed to stay aware of all the small details was a mystery to her.
It was also pretty clear that the video they were being shown would be their objective...unless there was a hidden or underlying mission to test their observation skills?
She slightly winced when one of the alien ships' beam struck Batman's jet, seemingly vaporizing it and the man inside. Another screen suddenly popped up, showing Zatara, and Red Tornado turned to face it.
"Tornado, did you…" the magician trailed off.
"Yes, Zatara," Red Tornado replied, "we saw. Celestial defenses have failed. Initiate all terrestrial measures.
"Affirmative. See you in the field," Zatara confirmed hastily. The screen disappeared. Tornado turned to address the team.
"I must join the league. We will protect the planet at all costs," he said, "but should we fail, the responsibility falls to you."
All glance at the solemn faces of his teammates was all Aqualad needed to reply:
"We stand ready."
…...
"Red Tornado to cave." The com crackled for a split second as the Justice Leaguer called in. The team shifted in anticipation. "I fear I am all that remains of the League-"
On the video, a beam of light struck the android, Robin simultaneously yelling, "RT!"
There was a brief silence before Aqualad spoke up. "We are Earth's heroes now."
"So what are we waiting for?" Superboy demanded, "a theme song?"
"A strategy," Aqualad replied reasonably. Robin was busy on his holo-computer, but lowered his wrist to listen. "Earth's weapons are ineffective, and it has been made tragically clear a direct attack will not succeed."
"Checking satellite imagery," Robin spoke up, doing just that. Penny walked from behind Aqualad to beside Miss Martian so she wouldn't have to peer over heads at the large holographic globe now occupying the center of their attention.
"Here's where the aliens are now," Robin pointed out. Blots of red tainted the world's continents, covering where the most civilization was, but a single dot near the top of the globe caught everyone's attention.
"This one get lost?" Superboy asked, pointing at the lone alien.
"It's Superman's Fortress of Solitude!" Robin exclaimed.
Superman has a fortress? Of 'Solitude'?
Superboy unknowingly repeated her thoughts, "Superman has a Fortress of Solitude?"
"Its power source must have attracted the aliens' attention," Robin commented, looking at Superboy. "At least enough to send a scout ship to investigate."
"Must be some fortress," Superboy growled, stalking away.
"Conner!" Miss Martian rushed to his side.
He paused and remarked bitterly, "nah, it's okay. I guess there's a lot about Superman I'll never know. Uh, y'know, now."
They were on their own, Penny realized. Superboy was referring to the way Superman had just been vaporized, and that had been done so easily. The aliens had taken down most, probably all, of the League, and a group of seven teenagers with (and without) powers was tasked the job of saving the world.
What a great training exercise, huh?
"We will target this lone ship," Aqualad stated.
"Yeah," Kid Flash agreed vehemently, "break it down! Build more! Hit those ugly aliens with their own mojo!"
Artemis elbowed him in the ribs, earning an insulted 'ow!' from the speedster, and whispered fiercely in his ear. He realized his mistake and stumbled over his apology: "not that all aliens are automatically ugly…"
Well, at least he tried.
…
While Penny didn't have a winter camouflage mode on her suit(she should have one, because what if her invisibility belt broke or something?), she did have her untrusty invisibility belt. This was useful, seeing as how black her suit is compared to how white the Arctic is. Also considering the fact they were trying to be stealthy and not sticking out just crying to be disintegrated.
As she slipped behind a chunk of ice that jutted out from the ground, Penny noted that the scout ship was similar to the other invading alien ships, a sleek black hovercraft hovering above the ground with two wings curved towards the front and a device perched atop it as weaponry.
A part of the ship was suddenly torn off by an invisible force, and Miss Martian's voice rang clearly into their heads.
[Communications disabled.] The ship crashed to the ground, missing its entire right wing. [Propulsion disabled.]
An arrow landed on the reddish face of the cockpit between the two wings, grey foam sprouting out and covering the portion effectively. Penny was startled when the cannon on the top began wildly shooting the area from whence the arrow had come, but she had expected something like that to happen.
[And ETs are sealed inside!] Artemis reported.
Aqualad burst from the ground, having been waiting under the ice in the water, and landed with his water bearers ready. Penny nearly held her breath when the cannon swiveled towards him, but Wolf quickly leaped and bit onto it, the momentum pushing the weapon away from Aqualad, causing it to miss its shot. Superboy joined Aqualad and Wolf on the ship, and Penny rushed to join them at the same time Kid Flash and Robin arrived. She hesitated before climbing on, knowing that her help might not be needed.
[Identifying weapon's structural stress points and links to the ship,] Robin said before pointing at said stress points located on the tube connecting the cannon to the ship, [here, here, and here.]
Miss Martian blasted each of them, and Superboy immediately hefted the cannon as hard as he could once she was done, slowly pulling it off the ship.
From where she was, Penny didn't quite see what had alerted Wolf, but suddenly the venom-enhanced canine barreled towards Superboy, knocking him off the spacecraft, and was blasted by a disintegration beam, swiftly disappearing from existence.
There was shocked pause, but the team gathered themselves together quickly.
[There was no indication of feedback,] Robin noted, glancing towards Superboy, who was standing again, [I'm sorry.]
Only a second later, Superboy's hushed voice responded, [can't do anything for him now.]
He returned to the top of the ship and ripped the weapon cleanly off before jumping onto the bioship, it having just pulled up next to him in shimmering camouflage mode. Miss Martian landed next to him, pressing her hands to her ship's surface to cause the area to ripple gently. The ripple swirled upwards, turning from invisible to a deep red as it attached itself to the cannon.
[Rerouting systems to integrate weapon into ship's biomatrix,] the martian announced. The sound of more alien spacecrafts slicing through the air reached Penny's ears, and she and the unoccupied boys glanced to see two more scout ships zooming across the sky just as Miss Martian added, [I'll need to de-camouflage for a few minutes.]
[You may not have a few minutes,] Robin noted, him, Kid Flash, Aqualad, and Penny all simultaneously leaping onto the bioship as the scout ships passed overhead.
His thoughts overlapped Penny's as she warned, [two more ships approaching!]
The scouts mirrored each other as they swerved sharply in the air to directly face the group, diving steeply towards them.
[Miss Martian, open fire!] Aqualad commanded.
[Can't. Weapon systems are offline to incorporate the new cannon,] Miss Martian answered, sparing their leader a glance. Penny's hand edged towards the pocket in her belt containing bombs. [And that's not fully integrated yet, either!]
[Gotcha covered!] Artemis's voice drew their attention to the archer, who was alone on the icy ground with three arrows notched and in plain view of the quickly approaching ships. [Get inside! I'm almost there!]
None of them moved, watching in horrible fascination as her three arrow flew true, completely exploding one of the enemy ships and grounding the other. It skidded to a stop on the ground, and Artemis was sprinting for the bioship which sunk to the ground so she could get on. The cannon on the grounded scout ship turned to face Artemis and she whipped around to face it at Miss Martian's warning, bow at the ready. And feeling as if it were in slow motion, Penny saw the charge shoot out a blinding beam that engulfed Artemis completely.
M'gann screamed Artemis's name out loud. But it was too late.
And Penny halted in the middle of her path(when had she started to move?), mouth agape and staring in shock at the place Artemis had just been, and she felt like she had been ripped into reality.
Artemis had just died. She wasn't supposed to die. They were The Team, the resolute backup, they would fix things and get out of it together. This was their teammate and she was just vaporised. Right. In. Front. Of. Them.
And Penny didn't quite know what to think, just that of all things, she hadn't expected that to happen.
Wally echoed M'gann's cry. There was a dull thump, and Penny glanced behind herself to see Kaldur had also leaped off the bioship. His water bearers were drawn.
"Everyone, get inside," he ordered. Not pausing to see if they complied, the atlantean rushed towards the spacecraft. Penny watched the inevitable destruction of the ship in a dream-like state, barely registering Wally's declaration of revenge before they filed into the bioship. Only after a minute of flight did she notice M'gann sobbing, and Wally pounding the desk in frustration. And she knew she would have to suck it up. If not to shove away the sorrow and feel better, but to help her living teammates. They were in the middle of a mission, and death was a risk they took. If they were all crying, they wouldn't get anything done, and innocent people would have their loved ones taken away from them as well.
They were being counted on.
And Penny was determined not to disappoint.
"There will be time to mourn later," Aqualad said, startling her out of her thoughts. "Now we have a job to do. Defend the earth. And ensure Artemis's sacrifice was not in vain."
"Back to the Cave?" Miss Martian asked.
"The Hall of Justice. The human race must know that there are still heroes defending them. There is still hope."
….
Penny could hardly recognize the Hall of Justice. Not that she had ever seen it in real life, but the building they approached was way different than the pictures.
Dank light filtered through the eerie brown and grey clouds, highlighting the littered forms of tanks and soldiers. The Hall itself was a dull brown in the light, shards of glass missing from the previously majestic dome to lay dejected on the ground.
Having encountered General Eiling at the Capitol, they had finally reached the Hall of Justice.
Penny hadn't thought her first time seeing it outside of postcards would be so full of grief.
The inside was just as bad. She could practically sense her teammates' sorrow as they all stared at the mostly-destroyed statues of the Justice League. Robin broke the growing silence.
"They're really gone." No one answered, but Miss Martian floated to the head of the Martian Manhunter statue, said large object lying lopsided on the floor. She broke out into sobs.
The martian suddenly flew backwards, causing Penny to blink as Miss Martian levitated the bust up and away from…
The Martian Manhunter?
"Uncle J'onn!" Miss Martian dried out in delight, ready to envelop him in a hug while simultaneously tossing the chunk of stone to the side. Aqualad sprang in front of her, arms spread in warning.
[M'gann, check his mind,] he urged, [make sure he is whom he appears to be.]
[It's him,] she replied in excitement, [he's real. And he's alive!]
"But we saw you get disintegrated," Superboy said aloud, addressing the Martian Manhunter, "you and Superman! And everyone!"
"Yes," replied the Martian Manhunter. Miss Martian lifted him up as he clutched his head in a hand, "I remember. But...I can not remember how I survived. Or how I arrived here."
"Maybe you were density shifting and the beam passed right through you," Miss Martian suggested. Her voice was notably happier than before. Understandable. Her uncle just came back to life.
"Scrambling your brains along the way!" Robin added.
"My mind is clouded," the Martian Manhunter responded. "I feel certain I had something important to tell you."
[Come on!] Kid Flash said energetically. Wordlessly, he dashed outside. Exchanging a questioning look with Robin, Robin trailed after him while the rest of the team lingered inside. Kid Flash recruited Robin to scan the weapon MIss Martian had added to the bioship.
[I knew it!] the speedster declared, [look! It's giving off zeta-beams-the same stuff that powers our zeta-tubes. This thing doesn't disintegrate! It teleports. Artemis is alive!]
Penny didn't know quite what to think. Robin seemed to be in the same state of mind, saying, [maybe. Bu-]
[No maybe's!] Kid Flash interrupted happily, [they're all alive!]
"That must've been what you wanted to tell us!" Miss Martian exclaimed, looking up at her uncle. He looked doubtful. It struck Penny that he must be sharing the mindlink with them.
Suddenly, a troop of the invading ships shot across the sky, blasting wildly towards the vulnerable Kid Flash and Robin, as well as a soldier near them. All three shielded themselves with the army jeep the two proteges had been standing on.
[We're on our way,] Aqualad said, about to dart from the cover of the Hall of Justice.
[Negative,] Robin said. Aqualad paused in his path. [We can't win this. Miss Martian, camo the bioship-]
A beam of light struck the bioship, and it disappeared. And judging by the twin yells from the martians, the bioship hadn't merely been shifted into camouflage mode.
[Are you okay?] Penny asked, sprinting over to the fallen martians. Superboy reached Miss Martian the next split-second, fearlessly scooping her into his arms. Penny was alarmed to see tears streaming from her eyes.
"That...didn't feel like…" Miss Martian said haltingly.
[We're falling back,] Robin said. Soon enough, he, Kid Flash, the soldier and General Eiling all ran into the building. Aqualad opened the door into what looked like a library, and everyone hurried in, including other arriving soldiers.
"We can all zeta-tube to the Cave," Aqualad said, glancing at the Martian Manhunter, "if you can grant us computer clearance to access the tubes."
"I can only authorize one at a time," he replied.
"Send the soldiers first," Aqualad ordered immediately.
Just as quickly, General Eiling asserted, "Belay that! You seven are assets we cannot afford to lose!"
After a moment's thought, Aqualad nodded to the Martian Manhunter, who went ahead with the authorization. The zeta-tube opened up, whirring to life. Miss Martian was scanned first, the Robin as she was entering. As Kid Flash went ahead, an explosion rocked the room, causing everyone to flail for balance. Superboy went to aid the soldiers firing rapidly at the incoming hostiles, while Aqualad shoved Kid Flash into the zeta-tube.
Superboy soon returned with a soldier over his soldier. "He goes first."
"Fine. Then you," Aqualad insisted. He glanced at Penny, who frowned at his gaze, turned away, and slung the Martian Manhunter over her shoulder. Superboy was just disappearing into the teleporter. Penny flung the reluctant Martian Manhunter into the zeta-tube, and felt Aqualad's presence behind her. She could hear zaps as the soldiers were being hit by the beam one by one. She knew she only had a split second to think before acting.
In that split second, Penny considered her options.
In her mind, the scenario was set in stone. Aqualad, selfless as he was, would push her into the zeta-tube. Of course, Penny was a logical thinker, and probably almost as selfless. After all, if Aqualad died, and she was horribly certain that was the case rather than Wally's hopes of teleportation, then the team would be without a leader. They would be able to hold together, of course, but if Aqualad was with them their job would probably be much easier. Penny's powers weren't much when facing against machinery or super-powered beings. If Aqualad lived rather than her...
In that split second, instead of Aqualad pushing Penny into the zeta-tube, Penny pushed Aqualad.
And then all she could see was light.
…..
The instant she could feel anything, Penny was sucking in a lungful of air as if her life depended on it. That, or she was gasping sharply, breathing rapidly. Her eyes snapped open and she lunged upwards, successfully sitting up.
The air was not nearly as stuffy as it had been in the wrecked Hall of Justice. No gunfire was rattling her ears, no foreboding thrummed in her mind. It was calm. Well, she wasn't calm. Not after what she had witnessed. And glancing around the room, she was shocked to see Captain Marvel, Red Tornado, and Batman completely and utterly alive. And Artemis as well. Artemis was alive.
Penny was afraid to close her eyes, and attempted to slow down her breathing. She didn't want this to be a dream, though judging by the fact that everyone seemed to be waking up and recovering from something as well on each of their blocks, something had happened.
"You're all alive!" Miss Martian exclaimed. Batman muttered something to the Martian Manhunter.
"The exercise…" he replied, "it all went wrong."
"Exercise?" Robin queried, echoing Penny's thoughts.
"Try to remember," Batman said, "what you experienced was a training exercise. Manhunter psychically linked the seven of you within an artificial reality. You all knew this going in."
Penny frowned, trying to remember the introduction of the mission in the cave by Red Tornado. She couldn't remember having thought of anything about a training exercise at that time, but she did get a strong sense of wonder. What did that have to do with this?
"What you didn't know was that it was a train for failure exercise," Batman continued, "no matter what the Team accomplished, the scenario was designed to grow worse. Still, you were aware nothing was real. Including the deaths of the entire Justice League."
"That is why you hardly grieved, even when Wolf was disintegrated before your eyes," the Martian Manhunter added. "But all that changed when Artemis died."
A few of the Team, including Penny, glanced at the archer. She wore a look of guilt, though it was hidden by her bowed head.
"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."
"I-I'm so sorry," M'gann apologized upon the team switching their gazes to her.
"This isn't her fault!" Conner defended, "why didn't you stop the exercise?"
"We tried, but M'gann had a death grip on the scenario," Manhunter responded, "even Artemis, who should have awakened upon her death, was so convinced she had passed that she slipped into a coma. I realized I would have to wrest 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."
He paused, letting their minds catch up to his story before continuing, "the deaths of Glance, Aqualad, and Superboy helped. Both only when the mother-ship 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," he finished, "I had no idea a training exercise could be so dangerous...so damaging."
Penny finally allowed her eyes to close more than a blink, and exhaled a wavering breath.
When she opened them again, the still-present group of heroes finally allowed her to breath normally.
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The thing I like about this episode is that I can literally end it anywhere. I just have to choose a time I want her to die, and voila.
The things I hate are the ridiculously long speeches at the end. They're a pain to write.