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Happy Harbor, 16th October 2010:
Matt sat in the middle of the cave with his eyes closed and his legs crossed. He concentrated on the sensation of his breath. The expansion of his lungs as he inhaled and the sense of calm he felt as he exhaled. Flashes of sadness and anger would often disturb these moments of tranquillity but Matt refuses to linger on those feelings for long. He was a soldier and he needed to get his head back in the game. Though despite his best efforts, he could not stop going through the events of the previous night.
His fingers tremble as he recalls how light she felt in his arms. He grunts as he tries to focus his attention back to his breath. But his efforts were in vain. All he could think about was her.
Frustrated, he stands up and wipes the sweat off of his face. He stumbles into the kitchen and turns a knob on the sink letting a stream of water pour down. Matt lets it pool within his hand and he wipes his face in an attempt to cool himself down. But he couldn't.
Matt could still feel her blood running down his hands.
His hand goes towards his chest as his breathing starts to become erratic. His heart was pounding against his chest and he felt a tightness in his throat. Matt starts to hyperventilate and begins to feel faint.
A few voices start talking behind him and Matt turns around, startled. He takes in a few deep breaths and slowly turns off the tap. "Matt?" Robin asks. He could hear Kaldur's heartbeat besides the boy wonder. Calm and collected as always.
"Not in the mood," Matt says gruffly, picking up a towel. He tries to walk out of a kitchen but a strong hand gently holds him back.
"We don't wish to preach. But perhaps it would be best if you took some time away from the Team. I am sure Batman would understand," Kaldur says sympathetically, placing a hand on Matt's shoulder.
Dick nods. "After what happened, you need to take a break. Figure some stuff out," he says with a small smile. But Matt was in no mood to listen.
"It doesn't matter," Matt responds coldly, removing Kaldur's hand with force. He picks up his helmet and walks towards the centre of the cave, hearing his other teammates congregating there.
He had no desire to talk. He just wanted to do his job. Holographic screens pop up in front of the Team and Wally's description of what they were displaying was Matt alarming, to say the least.
Both Green Lanterns, Captain Atom, Martian Manhunter, Captain Marvel, Batman and even Superman were disintegrated by multiple alien spacecraft. But that was only the Extra-terrestrial line of defence.
Back on earth, every other member of the League fell one after the other. Flash, Green Arrow, Black Canary, Wonder Woman and both Hawks all died in their efforts to stop the aliens. Red Tornado informed the Team that he was the last member standing. But even he failed to stop the aliens as a large craft landed and smashed the entire town of Smallville like an anthill along with the android.
The screens go black as Matt hears Tornado's final words. He exhales again, unwilling to feel anything for his fallen comrade. "We're earth's last line of defence," he says.
"So what are we waiting for? A theme song?" Superboy asks sarcastically.
Aqualad shakes his head. "No. A strategy."
"We can't fight these things head on. They massively outgun us. But if we can get a hand on one of those ships; we could study them. Figure out their strengths and weaknesses," Matt says. He turns to Robin who fiddles with his wrist-mounted computer.
"Checking satellite imagery," Robin says, pulling up a large holographic display of earth with red dots of varying sizes plotted across the map, indicating the alien's current positions. "Here's where the aliens are now."
Kid Flash points towards the North Pole. "This one get lost?" he asks.
"It's near the Fortress of Solitude," Superboy says. He was clearly distressed by this news.
"Why would they wanna go there?" Matt asks.
Robin faces the two. "Its power source must have attracted the alien's attention. At least enough to send a scout ship to investigate."
"Then we will target this lone ship," Aqualad says with vigour.
Kid Flash cracks his knuckles. "Yeah. Let's take it out. Break it down and build more. Hit those ugly aliens with their own mojo," he says. His comment warranted an elbow to the side from Artemis, making him wince slightly.
"Hello. Martian and Kryptonian in the house," she reminds the Speedster.
Kid Flash turns towards his alien teammates - who were giving him disapproving looks - sheepishly. "Not that all aliens are automatically ugly," he says, trying to salvage the situation.
The Arctic, 16th October 2010:
The Team take their positions, hiding behind mounds of ice, surrounding the lone, hovering alien craft. They were all dressed in variations of their suits that better suited the polar climate. Matt perceives radio waves of various frequencies being emitted and collected by a small spherical component of the alien ship's right wing. He could also hear some odd shuffling within the spacecraft, which he assumes were the pilots.
He informs the Team of this over the psychic link and a cloaked M'gann takes her position above her target. Her eyes glow a faint green and she extends her hand. The communications array of the spacecraft is violently wrenched away by her telekinesis. 'Communication disabled,' she thinks over the link. She makes a fist and the alien ship falls on top of the ice. 'Propulsion disabled.'
Artemis exits her cover and fires an arrow at the circular window at the front of the ship. The arrow hits the ship and covers the window with red foam. The cannon atop the spacecraft shoots wildly at Artemis' general direction, hitting every bit of ice as it could. 'ET's are sealed inside,' she informs the Team.
Beneath the ice, Aqualad swims upwards, where the ship was trapped and breaks through the ice with his water bearers. He manipulates the ice and allows half the ship to submerge into the water. He leaps on top of the ship and the cannon swivels to the left. Kaldur braces himself, seeing an orange beam being charged up.
Wolf leaps towards the cannon and steers it away from Aqualad with the laser simply firing into empty air. Superboy joins Aqualad on top the ship and grabs the cannon, keeping it in place. Kid Flash runs past the ship with Robin in his arms and the Boy Wonder is given a boost to help him leap onto the ship as well.
Robin pulls up his wrist-mounted display and shows Miss Martian where the structural weak points and integration sites were for the alien ship's cannon. She looks at the points which he labelled and nods, strategically applying her telekinesis to those areas. The metal that supported the cannon breaks down and Superboy hoists it upwards, trying not to separate it from the main ship too quickly.
Matt notices two smaller cables dangling behind Connor and could feel the energy being built up within them. He calls out to Superboy but he was too engrossed in his task to hear Matt's warning. Wolf's ears perk up and he jumps forward and pushes Connor away, allowing the energy blast to disintegrate him instead.
'Wolf,' Miss Martian thinks over the link, somewhat mournfully.
Robin takes a moment to check the readings in his wrist. 'There wasn't any indication of feedback. I'm sorry.'
Superboy shakes his head, 'Nothing we can do for him now,' he thinks. He gets back into place and he rips the cannon off of the alien ship. M'gann calls over the Bioship and Superboy leaps on top of it, hoisting the alien cannon in the air.
M'gann places her hands on the Bioship and the organic metal lights up with a green web-like pattern in response. The organic material of the Bioship spirals upward as small tentacle-like projections latch onto the cables that were dangling from the canon Superboy was lifting.
'Rerouting systems to integrate alien weapon into ship's biomatrix. I'll need to decamouflage for a few minutes,' she informs the Team over the link. Matt tilts his head, hearing a few objects break the sound barrier in the distance.
'You don't have a few minutes,' Matt thinks as two more scout ships zoom overhead. He needed that weapon in their arsenal but M'gann still needed time to integrate it into the Bioship. They were pressed for time and he could think of only one course of action.
'Artemis, give Miss Martian some cover. Everyone else, head inside while she does,' Matt orders via the link. Artemis nods and pulls out three arrows and fires them simultaneously. They explode in mid-air and make the ships veer slightly off-course. The other members of the Team huddle around the Bioship, waiting for it to open up for them.
Artemis fires another set of arrows and both of them strike the ships directly. One of them flies into a mountain, burying it within tones of snow and the other crashes into the ice, less than a hundred feet away from Artemis, who started to make her way towards the Bioship. The second spacecraft turns its cannon towards Artemis and charges up its energy beam.
'Artemis. Behind you,' Miss Martian warns her mentally. Artemis turns around and draws her bow, ready to attack the alien craft again. But she was not fast enough. The cannon fires and hits Artemis, reducing her to nothing.
The entire Team stands in shock, seeing what just transpired. "Artemis!" M'gann shouts out loud.
Aqualad removes his water bearers from his back and tells everyone to get inside. His tattoos glow and he sends a large torrent of water towards the fallen ship. He raises his arms and lifts the ship in the air by forming a large tornado made of water. Kalder brings his arms closer to each other and crushes the ship, rendering it completely useless.
Matt slowly walks towards where Artemis was disintegrated and kneels down and touches the ice. He felt no trace of her. No hair. No ash. Nothing. It was as if she was never there at all. He feels something poking out of the ice and picks it up. He runs his finger along it and discovers that it was a broken arrow shaft.
I did this, He thinks to himself. Matt yells out and kicks a large chunk of ice away in a rage.
"They're dead. Every single alien. If it's the last thing I do," Wally declares out loud, anger dripping with his every word.
Matt sits in his seat on the Bioship, too stunned to speak. He notices Artemis' empty chair as he holds her broken arrow and bows his head in shame. He had given her the order to fire on the enemy ships. She went out onto the open ice, despite the obvious threat to her life because of him. He closes his eyes behind his mask and recalls the sound he heard when Artemis disappeared. Her flesh shearing away, her heartbeat simply popping out of earshot. The brief spike in her adrenaline when the beam hit her.
He felt a cold pressure build up in his chest and tears start to sting his eyes. The taste of blood enters his memory.
Her blood.
Matt growls and takes in a deep breath, utilising his breathing techniques to stay calm. He could not afford to think about her right now. His mind wanders about the state of his brother and mother. Whether or not they survived. She was in a coma. Would the hospital even bother to get her out?
Matt scolds himself. No distractions, he thinks to himself.
He hears Wally slamming the console in front of him in anger. Matt could feel his friend's heartbreak. His anguish. On any other day, he would try to console him. But, he knew how blinding those emotions were. M'gann was sitting beside the Speedster, crying her eyes out, unable to contain herself.
It would be so easy. To break down like them. To lose himself in a sea of emotion as he came to terms with what he had just lost. With whom he lost. But Matt could feel everyone's sadness hanging over them in the Bioship like a guillotine. He needed to put aside his feelings. For the sake of his teammates.
Matt stands up, "I know it might seem insensitive but we don't have the luxury of mourning right now. These things are killing hundreds of us every minute and unless we get a grip, their sacrifices… Artemis' sacrifice will be in vain," Daredevil says with a commanding tone. He knew that that wasn't exactly a rousing speech but Matt needed to them be objective.
M'gann was whipping her tears and Wally was still cursing the aliens but at least they were paying Matt their attention.
"The people of earth need to know that we are making a stand," Aqualad says, standing beside Matt. He nods in agreement, understanding that seeing them in action would bolster the morale of the human race. Though they needed to be smart about it.
"Are we headed back to the Cave?" M'gann asks, sniffling whilst Connor held her hand.
Daredevil slowly shakes his head. "No. Set a course to the Hall of Justice."
Washington DC, 16th October 2010:
A tattered American flag waves in the air as the military fires everything they had at the enemy ships. Squadrons of soldiers shot at the ships overhead alongside a row of tanks, defending the White House. The spacecraft manoeuvred so that the shells from the tanks miss and they fire at the vehicles, making the surrounding soldiers scatter as the majority of their firepower is disintegrated.
They look up defeated and ready to accept their fate till one of the ships burst into flames and crashes below. They see a red craft fly above the aliens and a young man wearing a black t-shirt exits the vehicle and lands on one of the alien ships, tearing into its cannon with his bare hands.
The ship falls to the ground with the third one being taken out by a laser from the red ship. The unknown individual walks up to the soldiers, having single-handedly crushed the alien ship he was currently standing on. The Bioship lands beside him and an array of young heroes exit making the soldiers cheer. On closer inspection, the soldiers see the iconic 'S' on the black-shirted teenager's chest.
"See. It is Superman. I told you he wouldn't abandon us," a young private says, nudging his friend.
"I'm not sure. Looks a little young to be Superman. Where's the cape?" the other soldier asks.
Connor sharply turns his head towards the two. "I'm not Superman," he says defensively.
"I don't care who you are son. And right now I don't care. You wear the S and got the job done," an older soldier tells Connor.
Superboy looks away. "I'm not Superman," he says quietly.
"Tell that to the enemy," the older soldier replies. "General Wade Eiling, U.S Airforce," he says saluting the heroes.
Matt walks towards him. "Daredevil. Justice League. We'll help you and your men salvage as many of the alien's cannons as we can. Then we take the fight back to them," he says spitefully.
The Team and the soldiers make their way to the Hall of Justice, with a line of soldiers surrounding the Halls perimeter with ground vehicles that had conventional projectile weaponry. The young heroes enter the Halls now ruined entrance. Visitors to the Hall would usually be greeted by tall, golden statues of the members of the Justice League, standing over them like Greek gods. But now, much like their live counterparts, the statues were in ruins.
Robin walks towards the fallen statue of Batman, whose head was split in half on the floor. "Bruce," he mutters under his breath, placing a hand on the statue. Matt could hear Robin's teeth grinding and his heart rate rising. The Justice League was dead and at that moment, he and every other member of the Team had no choice but to accept that fact.
"They're really gone aren't they?" Dick asks though he made it sound like a statement. Matt places his hand gently on Robin's shoulder. He had no words of encouragement. Just a memory. One they would need to cherish since that was all that was left of Bruce.
He perceives the silhouette of Bruce's statue and another memory floods his mind. A face. The last face he ever saw. Matt hits his head hard, trying to use the pain to distance himself from the memory of her. Luckily for him, a distraction came in the form of an unknown heartbeat that suddenly appeared beneath the rubble that used to be the statue of Martian Manhunter.
"M'gann," he says, pointing at the statue. She wipes her tears and feels a familiar presence. She raises her arms and telekinetically lifts the remains of the statue off of the ground. What lies beneath the rubble shocked everyone in the room.
"Uncle J'onn!" M'gann says excitedly. She levitates towards her uncle but Aqualad steps in front of Martian Manhunter.
'M'gann. Check his mind. Make sure he is who he appears to be,' Kaldur tells her telepathically. Miss Martian places two fingers on her temple and her eyes glow a bright green.
She smiles widely, 'It's him. He's real,' she informs the Team joyfully. She helps J'onn up and the older martian places a hand on his head, his thoughts incoherent.
"But we saw you get vaporized. You and Superman," Connor says.
"Yes. I remember. But I cannot remember how I survived. Or how I arrived here," Martian Manhunter says. His speech was slow and methodical as if he needed to put a supreme amount of effort into every word he said.
"Maybe you were density shifting and the beam passed through you," M'gann suggested.
"Scrambling your brains along the way," Robin added eagerly.
J'onn considers this line of thought. "My mind is… clouded. I was certain that I had something important I wanted to tell you all," he says slowly.
Wally thinks for a few seconds till an idea flashes in his head. "Hello, Wally. Come on," he says looking at Robin.
The two walk outside the Hall and towards the Bioship. Robin analyses the cannon they attached to the ship and the readings make Wally very happy. 'I knew it. Look, it's giving off Zeta beams. Like the ones that power our Zeta tubes. Artemis is alive. It's not a disintegration beam. It's a teleport!' he thinks excitedly over the link, grabbing Robin's shoulders.
Robin combs through the data again. 'Maybe but...'
'No maybes. They're all alive,' Wally thinks.
'That must be what you wanted to tell us,' M'gann thinks, looking at her uncle.
Matt scratches his chin. 'Let's not jump the gun here. You're twisting the facts to suit a theory. It's a stretch, Wally,' Matt thinks sceptically over the psychic link.
'It makes perfect sense. Just come over and look at the data. Not look - more like… ' Wally began but Matt interrupts him.
'More incoming. Jesus, fifteen. No, wait, twenty ships. ETA one minute. Miss M camo the Bioship and get her inside,' Matt thinks urgently. But before M'gann could command the ship telepathically one of the alien ships shoots a beam at the Bioship, disintegrating it. Robin and Kid Flash hide behind a humvee for cover and M'gann and J'onn fall to the ground, reeling from the psychic feedback.
Aqualad helps Martian Manhunter get up and Superboy does the same for M'gann. He eyes were wide open and twitching uncontrollably. "That didn't feel like… " she began to say weekly.
'We're falling back,' Robin informs the team. He, Kid Flash and a handful of soldiers run into the Hall of Justice. The sound of bullets and missiles firing into the air was heard by everyone. Matt hears the alien ships circling the Hall, taking out every vehicle the soldiers had.
He places a hand on the floor, using his senses to feel the reverberations in the ground, getting an accurate layout of the building. He feels a mechanical object in the library and he orders the Team as well as the soldiers in the Hall to follow him.
The soldiers enter the library first and kneel on the ground, aiming their rifles at the door, the only point of entry as everyone else followed. "We can Zeta to the caves. If you can grant us access clearance to access the tubes," Aqualad tells Martian Manhunter, understanding Matt's reasoning for coming here.
"I can only grant access to allow us to enter one at a time," J'onn says.
Matt hisses in frustration. "Ok. Send the soldiers in first," he says.
"Belay that order. The seven of you are assets we cannot afford to lose," General Eiling says, pointing his rifle at the entrance as well. Matt hears the fighting come to a halt outside the Hall and realizes that the wisdom in the general's words. They hadn't the time to get everyone to safety.
Matt nods reluctantly and J'onn stands in front of the Zeta tube, allowing a ray of light to scan him. "Override. Martian Manhunter. 07," J'onn says.
The computer accepts the input and the metal door opens up to reveal the Zeta platform, firing up to transport the heroes. The Team line up and J'onn makes M'gann enter first. Robin follows moments afterwards. Matt pushes Wally onto the platform as he hears the alien weapons charging behind the entrance to the library.
Matt covers his face with his arms as the door is blasted away, launching some debris in the air. A large piece of concrete falls on top of one of the soldiers and Superboy jumps in and lifts it up, using it as a shield to block a weaker blast from the aliens. Without even taking a second to think Matt throws a few smoke bombs in the alien's direction and they start firing wildly. He rushes into the smoke, ducking underneath a laser and grabs the soldier and takes him towards the Zeta tubes.
Connor throws a piece of rubble into one of the ships cannons and runs behind Matt. "He's next," Connor says.
"I know. But the three of you are going in after," Matt says, helping the young soldier get onto the platform. The soldier thanks Connor, addressing him as Superman. Superboy follows, dismissing the comment. The smoke dissipates and Daredevil grabs Martian Manhunter and pushes him into the Zeta tubes, which teleports him away.
Matt steps in front of Aqualad as the alien ship charges its cannon. "Get out of here," he says, drawing his Billy Clubs. Though his attention was diverted when he hears a spike in Aqualad's heart rate.
"They need you more than they need me," Aqualad says. He lifts Matt by the shoulder and with all his strength he throws him into the Zeta tube. Matt screams out in shock and tries to reach out towards Kaldur. But he could feel his body being transported by the Zeta beams. Though he remained just long enough to hear Kaldur's heartbeat vanish and his body disintegrate.
Matt falls onto the floor of the cave and the Zeta tubes shut down. He runs towards the closed, metal doors and bangs on them frantically. He starts to type in some coordinates but Connor holds him back. "You can't go back," he tells Matt who was squirming in his iron grasp.
"I can still save him. I have to save him," Matt says with a berserkers rage. Connor refuses to let go of him and Robin walks towards them.
"I'm sorry Matt. He's gone," Robin says. Matt bites his lip and he stops struggling. Connor tentatively lets him go and Matt takes off his helmet and slams it into the ground. He suppresses a scream and he walks towards the soldier.
Wally runs in front of him. "It's alright. He's with Artemis and the others. We can still get them back," he tells Matt with a hopeful tone.
Matt smirks at the Speedster cynically, "Keep telling yourself that," he says, walking away from Kid Flash. Robin pulls on Wally's arm, telling him to lay off of Matt for a while. Matt helps the soldier up and takes him to the med-bay.
"I'm sorry," the soldier says. His head was slumped and he didn't even try to look Matt in the eye. "He should be here not me. I'm just dead weight."
"Don't apologize," Matt says swiftly, ignoring the ache in his chest. "Aqualad would be glad you made it out alive." He takes the soldier to the med-bay and starts patching up his wounds. Matt removes a vial from his belt and holds it in his hand for a few moments. Elektra used its contents whenever Matt needed urgent medical attention.
Elektra.
Matt closes his eyes and opens the vial with a loud pop. He gently applies it on the soldiers bruised ribs which made him let out a painful cry. Which worked in Matt's favour, since it made sure the soldier didn't see the beads forming in the corners of his eyes.
They consider the soldier's words with a sense of sorrow. They had never been in a situation this grim before. Though Wally remained optimistic.
Robin claps his hands and gets their attention. The remaining members of the Team walk towards a holographic globe that Robin pulled up. "Our next mission is clear. If we believe that the aliens are teleporting their victims… "
"We do," Wally says.
"Then the only reasonable detention facility is here," Robin says, highlighting an area on the map, ignoring Wally's outburst. "Their mothership. Atop what used to be Smallville. Ring any bells?" Robin asks Martian Manhunter.
The older hero shakes his head. "No. I am sorry."
"Superboy. You'll create a distraction," Robin says.
"No," M'gann says in protest.
Matt marches up to the Team with a scowl. "I'm not authorizing that," he says firmly.
"Superboy is the most likely to be perceived as a threat. Motivating the aliens to deploy," Robin says.
"Worst case, he just gets teleported inside. And we set him free along with Artemis. And the others," Wally adds.
"And what if you're wrong? You'd be sending Connor to his death. That's not happening on my watch. I'm not losing anyone else," Matt says in a slow but deliberate manner. Letting them know how serious he was.
Robin walks up to him, standing inches away from his face. "It's one life versus the rest of the world."
A whirlpool of anger floods Matt as he uses every ounce of his willpower to refrain himself from striking Robin. He and Kato had a similar argument months ago and Matt's stance has not shifted an inch.
"I'm not judging my friend's life based on math. Besides, it's not your choice to make," Matt says, with a threatening undertone.
"No. It's mine," Connor says.
Shocked expressions find their way on both M'gann and Matt's faces. "It's ok guys. It's what Superman… dad would do," Connor says, trying to reassure his friends.
"You're not wrong about that," Matt says, picking his helmet back up. Regardless of Matt's reservations, Superboy made his decision. He decided to fight. Now they needed to make sure the world chose to do the same.
The people of earth look to the skies in terror. Civilians were cowering in fear, taking shelter beneath the ground in bunkers and subway tracks. Within buildings and army bases. The soldiers of earth were rapidly losing hope, seeing every effort they make against the alien threat be in vain.
A young man walks towards his sister with a cup of coffee in his hands and sees that she was watching something on her phone. He sits down and sees that everyone one else was doing the same thing.
All across the globe, the Team were broadcasting a message on every working screen.
"And though we know all seems lost, the one thing that the aliens cannot take is hope," M'gann says in front of the camera.
"Hope survives because the battle is not over. Not while there's one one of us willing to fight," Connor says confidently after her.
The shot turns to Wally. "It doesn't matter how many fall. New heroes will always rise to carry on. Bringing all their resources and skills to defeat the enemy."
"The people of the earth will survive this. We will defeat the enemy," Robins says.
Daredevil steps in. "And when what's left of these things fly back to the stars, they will speak of the earth. They will speak of her people. Our resourcefulness, our tenacity. And they will tell each and every would-be conqueror out there. That this planet. Is. Defended," he says triumphantly.
Everyone who was watching the video cheers in joy, filled with the determination to carry on. A few minutes after the broadcast ends the Zeta beams in the cave fire up. Multiple heroes emerge from them. Red Arrow, Zatanna, Rocket, Garth and Tula. All ready to continue the fight.
Robin wraps two utility belts around his torso which had multiple canisters attached to them. Matt readies his swords. Feeling their edge against his fingers. He and Robin give the newcomers their orders. After the briefing everyone walks towards the Zeta tubes. Anxious but ready.
This was going to be the fight of their lives.
Kansas, Smallville, 16th October 2010:
Saying that the mother ship was large was an understatement. It was much taller than any building on earth and formed a large crater where Smallville used to be.
Matt could hear scores of smaller ships buzzing around within the mother ship. Like a hoard of termites in a grand mansion. Robin wondered why they didn't have any ships on the outside and Matt pointed out all the guns and turrets that peppered the outer surface of the ship.
Standing a half mile away on a cliff side were Robin, Daredevil and Miss Martian. The boy wonder was scouting the area with his binoculars whilst Matt did the same with his enhanced senses.
It was decided by the two that only M'gann, J'onn, Connor, Wally and themselves would be needed for this mission. The rest of the heroes were elsewhere, with tasks of their own.
After they both made sure that the coast was clear Robin turns towards Miss Martian. "Stay close to J'onn," he says. "He's still a little… fuzzy."
She nods and looks towards her uncle who telepathically informs the group that he was ready. Matt tilts his head in Dick's direction, "Hope this works."
Robin didn't respond. He didn't want to cloud his mind with any sort of doubt. He turns around and looks at the group behind him. "First team deploy."
Miss Martian and her uncle cloak themselves and fly towards the mother ship with J'onn leading the way and holding M'gann's hand. In a few moments, they reach the ship, the turrets being unaware of their presence. J'onn touches his surface and alters his density to let him phase through the surface of the ship and altered his niece's density to allow her to do the same.
After getting over some momentary discomfort, M'gann informs the rest of the Team that they were inside. "Be careful Connor. I love you," she tells him privately using her telepathy.
Connor smiles, though he does not reply. No words needed to be spoken. Matt heard the increase in his heart rate and taps him on the shoulder. The last thing they needed was their big gun getting distracted.
Robin nods and Superboy squats down. He slaps his hands across his knees and he launches himself in the air, generating a sizable breeze that made Robin's hair and cape flutter. Connor leaps across the surface of the ship, denting it whenever he did. He gets behind a turret and rips it from the surface. The metal crumbles in his grasp and he lifts it up, taking care not to sever the cables.
"Alright, you glorified trespassers. You wanna see how a real alien fights?" he shouts out. The cannon held charged up a beam and Connor turns it around, letting it melt away the turrets that were closest to him.
Large panels slide down from the surface of the mother ship and multiple smaller ships fly out of the hangers. Connor sees them all with his enhanced vision. Luckily, thanks to how large the ship was it would be a while before they reached him.
"It's now or never," Connor says over the link.
He sees Kid Flash - who was carrying Daredevil and Robin on his back - running towards the edge of the cliff which was level with one of the opened panels. Wally pushes himself the last few feet and with the momentum he gained leaps in a straight line right into the hanger like are of the ship.
The three rolls on the floor as Wally stumbles when he lands. Matt pulls him behind a wall, allowing him to catch his breath. Robin hides behind the adjacent wall and the three wait till three drones pass by in the next corridor.
They run through the corridor, hiding behind any nearby structure when one of the drones pass by. Matt hears Superboy firing on the alien ships outside. He could hear the Martians flying in the opposite corridor, he signals them through the link, informing them of his location. He ears perk up and Matt slides his sword out from its sheath and turns around, slicing one of the drones in half as it hovered down from a vent above.
Both Martians reach them just seconds afterwards and they make their way along the empty corridor, towards the core of the ship. As they were running along, Matt was tracking the heartbeats of every member of their team. He hears the Superboy's cannon getting destroyed by one of the alien ships and could feel his feet denting the surface of the mother ship as the Kryptonian started to leap away.
Matt stops cold in his tracks and Miss Martian collapses. J'onn helps her up and Robin nudges Daredevil's arm. "He's gone," Matt says quietly, hearing the sound of his heartbeat pop out of existence.
Wally places his hands on M'gann's shoulders. 'It's alright. He's gone back to Artemis. I know it,' he thinks over the link.
'No. I remember clearly now. The disintegration beam is exactly that. There is no detention facility. No prisoners to rescue. Our mission holds no purpose,' J'onn thinks.
Wally grabs J'onn by his cape, 'But the Zeta radiation proves she's alive,' he thinks over the link.
Matt pulls Wally away from J'onn and pushes him against a wall. 'They're dead. Ok. I can't sense any signs of life other than ours. Connor, Artemis, Kaldur, Elektra, they are all gone. And there's nothing on God's earth that can bring them back!' he thinks angrily, applying more pressure on the speedster.
'But our mission still holds purpose. To destroy this mother ship,' Robin thinks gently pulling Matt away from Wally. Robin turns his back towards them and starts to lead the way towards the core of the ship. M'gann briefly holds Wally's hand to try and comfort him and she follows Robin.
The five run through the mother ship for a few minutes and eventually reach the core. Within its centre was a bright yellow orb which was surrounded by various small drones and had an incomplete sphere containing its power.
'We rupture that things surface and it'll release enough energy to blow this ship to smithereens,' Matt informs them, feeling overwhelmed by the power the orb was producing.
Robin and Matt leap down towards some platforms that were suspended in mid-air. They do this a few times but when they were around forty feet away from the main core they start to lose their footing. They could feel themselves being pulled towards the core and their feet slide across the surface they were standing on.
Matt grabs Robin and uses his Billy club to shoot a line upwards but it shoots past one of the platforms and misses. Kid Flash runs across the platforms and grabs the line and helps it to grab onto one of the surfaces. Robin and Matt loosen their bodies and let the line suspend them in mid-air, with the core still pulling on them. Wally slides down the line as the Martians use their telekinesis to help lower the three humans directly on to the surface of the core.
While the Martians took care of the handful of drones near the core, Robin removes the belts he had across his chest and started to prime the canisters that they stored. Wally hears the canisters beeping and a look of realization appears on his face, "You knew. You knew from the beginning why we were really here," he tells Dick.
"We have four minutes," Robin says, displaying a timer on his wrist.
The five escape the core room and head back the way they came. Matt hears the bay doors close, blocking off their only exit. "Perfect," Wally says sarcastically. Matt tries to use his enchanted sword to cut through the door, he grunts as he tries to make his blade pass through it but be lacked the strength to make any worthwhile damage.
"Manhunter, take M'gann and phase out of here. We'll escape some other way," Matt says.
M'gann protests, "No. You can't."
"He gave you an order. Go," Robin says.
She tells them to find another way out and she passes through the door with her uncle. Robin displays his timer but Matt did not need to see it to know that they were not going to make it. He nods to his friends, hearing a hoard of enemies coming towards them.
They escape cover and draw their weapons, yelling out loud as they charged towards the enemy. Matt feels their lasers charging up and he could feel his heart become calm. He grips his sword as he feels his body turn to nothing.
He was finally laid to rest.
Matt opens his eyes with a loud gasp. He falls down on the floor and runs his hands through his hair. He starts patting himself down, to check if what he was feeling was real. He hears a quite set of footsteps coming towards him and Matt leaps at the source.
"Easy now," a gravelly voice says, catching Matt by the wrist. Matt tilts his head and focuses on the cadence of the voice.
"Bruce? What? No. You're… you're alive?" he says with absolute disbelief. He wraps his hands around Batman in a tight embrace. He closes his eyes as he feels Bruce's arms awkwardly try and reciprocate the gesture. Matt hears the entire Team behind him, along with Martian Manhunter, Wolf and Captain Marvel.
He lets go of Bruce and takes a seat. His body feels stiff and he lifts his shirt to examine his torso. His wounds from his fight from Davos were now present and his head was still ringing slightly.
"What happened?" he asks on behalf of everyone on the Team.
He listens to the Leaguer's explanation. How they were put into a psychic training simulation that was always meant to make the situation harder and harder no matter what the Team did. How they were consciously aware to some extent that this was all fake and how when Artemis died, M'gann's subconscious made everyone believe that the simulation was real.
"It all of us dying for you to remember all this?" he asks J'onn. The Martian nods and apologizes to the whole Team. M'gann starts balling her eyes out and Captain Marvel embraces her.
Matt walks up to Batman and asks, "When did you guys put us under?"
"Only a few hours ago," he responds.
Matt checks his braille watch for the date. It was the 16th of October.
The day after the funeral, Matt thinks. Of course, the events of that night were real. Why wouldn't they be?
His phone vibrates and he picks it up, hearing the person talking on the other side. "I need to go now," he tells Bruce. Matt walks towards the Zeta platform with a slouched back.
Why did this have to be real?
Matt places his mother's hand in his hand as the doctor explains her condition to him and his brother. Though he blocked all that out, only focusing on her. He breathing was shallow and her heart was beating weakly, even by the standards of a coma patient. Matt could hear her liver slowly lose its function.
The doctor tells them that any attempt to operate on her would be fatal. They have no other choice other than to turn off her life support. Mark hears this and almost collapses. Matt stands up and walks up to the doctor, tired of hearing his lifeless voice. "Can you give us a minute?"
After the doctor leaves Matt walks up to Mark and offers him a hand. "Come on," he whispers, helping him get up. They take a seat and Matt starts to chuckle.
"What's so funny?" Mark asks irately.
"Remember that time when she caught us stealing ice-cream from Mrs Rog's place?" Matt asks.
Mark nods, "Yeah, she made us eat ten tubs of that stuff as a punishment. I puked for two hours straight," he says with a smirk.
"I fell asleep with my face planted inside some rocky road. It took me days to wash that out of my hair," Matt says.
The two start laughing awkwardly. "God, I miss her," Matt says.
"She'd be proud. Of you I mean," Mark says after a brief pause, patting his brother on the back.
Matt stays silent, focusing on his mother's liver. "She's dying," he says faintly.
Mark was the adult here, so only he could give the doctors permission to turn the life support off. "I can't. I just can't," he says. Matt tastes the salt from his brother's tears and holds his hand.
"We can't leave her like this. Lying in a bed with tubes filling her with drugs," Matt says. He imagines how Elektra would have felt as she died. The pain, the feeling of loneliness. The cold. At least he could give his mother a comfortable farewell.
The doctor enters the room again and looks at Mark expectantly. Matt grabs Mark's hand and they both nod. The doctor puts on his glasses and Matt hears him turning off various dials and switches.
He walks out of the room and Matt sits down, listening as his mother's heartbeat slowly faded away. Mark walks up to her body and takes her hand. He screams and lets out a fountain of tears. Matt didn't feel like crying. He's already shed too many.
Matt breathes quietly and takes out his mask from his backpack. He rests his head against it, feeling its surface cool his skin. He felt like he was stuck in a loop. So many scenes replay in his mind. His father burning in front of him, him crushing Mary's head, Elektra's limp body in his arms and now this.
Moments like this demand a prayer but all Matt had was the devil. And now he couldn't even rely on that anymore.
Well. That happened.
I would talk more but I am super sleepy. Got to wake up early tomorrow.
Responding to non-PM comments.
TheKike: Nooooo . . Elektra !, because. . . WHY!. . . BECAUSE YOU DID IT, IT DOES NOT MERE, Matt is losing many loved ones, he does not deserve it, now the failed simulation approaches zero and Matt resists, he only needs that you also associate him with someone from the team like Artemis or with Lux, give him a little joy to Matt, the poor man is suffering
Me: Unfortunatly, Matt suffering and overcoming his emotions is his entire thing. Sorry to say but his suffering isn't over yet.
Alright. I must sleep. But don't worry Matt's going to have a little break next episode. If you consider therapy and contemplating your entire life a break.