"Our next mission is pretty clear," Robin announced. "If we really do believe that the aliens are teleporting their victims-"

"Which, they are!" Wally interjected.

"Then, there is only one reasonable detention facility." Robin typed a few commands onto his computer and brought up an image of a black ship with red windows. "The mother ship, it's currently located on top of what used to be Smallville. Does that ring any bells?" The group turned to J'onn, who stood up.

"No, I'm sorry," he said quietly.

"Superboy, you'll create a distraction-"

"No!" M'gann protested, interrupting the bird. "He's offering you as a sacrifice! Aqualad would never do something like that!"

"You're right, he wouldn't," Robin nodded. "Aqualad would sacrifice himself, and he did. That mistake has left us without a leader."

"Besides, Superboy would be perceived as a threat, giving the aliens motive to go after him," Sakura added.

"Worst case scenario is he's teleported inside," Wally told her. "Then we'll set him free along with Artemis…and Aqualad…and everyone else!" Superboy and Miss Martian turned towards each other, having a silent conversation.

"Alright," M'gann sighed. "What do we do now?"

"We prepare," Sakura answered. "We gather every hero that's still left, and bring them here. We also have to reassure the remaining civilians that everything will be okay."

"How do we do that?" Conner asked.

"Got it!" Wally smiled, rushing out of the room; he came back with a video camera. "We hook this baby up to the supercomputer, and broadcast a signal that every media device with a screen, like TVs, cell phones, and laptops, will get the message. So, who wants to go first?"


"And we know that all seems lost, but the one things the aliens cannot destroy, is our hope," M'gann said into the camera.

"Hope exists because the battle is not over yet. Not so long as even one of us is willing to fight," Superboy told them.

"It doesn't matter how many of us fall! New heroes will take their place. They will bring all their resources, talents, and abilities into the fight and defeat the enemy," Kid Flash said seriously.

"For now, you should do all you can to protect yourselves. Stay underground, keep out of sight. Take care of your families, and make sure their health is fine. Do what you can to keep safe," Sakura ordered into the camera.

"The people of Earth will survive this! We will rebuild and we will thrive! Never doubt and never forget. The Earth will never surrender!" Robin finished. M'gann turned the camera off and nodded to herself.

"It's off," she announced.

"Good, now start calling everyone you know," Robin told her.

"I've already called the hidden villages, they can't spare anyone," Sakura announced.

"Aqualad mentioned some friends in Atlantis, I'll go call them," M'gann suggested.

"I've got Red Arrow and Zatanna, I also heard about this Rocket girl that could be of help in fighting," Wally told them.

"Good," Robin nodded as the two walked off. Superboy went off with M'gann to hate her.

"I'm going to go prepare my weapons," Sakura told Robin, heading for the entrance. The boy wonder stared at her retreating figure for a moment before sighing.


Smallville

Sakura and M'gann approached Robin, who was looking at the mother ship through his binoculars.

"Stay close to J'onn," Robin ordered M'gann quietly. "He's still a little clouded." M'gann nodded in agreement. "Alright, first team, deploy!" M'gann and J'onn flew into the air, becoming invisible.

"Ready and in position," M'gann announced. Superboy turned to Robin, who nodded. The clone jumped into the air, soaring onto the mother ship.

"Careful! Don't disconnect the power source," Robin warned him. Soon shots were going off, hitting the large fortress.

"Now or never!" Superboy told them. The three remaining teams nodded and Robin jumped on Kid Flash's back, wrapping his arms around his neck, while Wally scooped up the pinkette and began running. He picked up speed as he neared the edge of the cliff. He jumped forward, free falling towards the open hatch. As the steel floor approached, Sakura jumped out of his arms and Robin flipped off of him and the tumbled onto the opening. Wasting no time the three scrambled up and ran down a hallway, barely avoiding being seen by a few spacecrafts.

"Way's clear," Robin announced, peaking out of their hallway. The three ran forward and hid behind a pillar just as a robot flew past them. Sakura gasped quietly and took out a kunai, aiming it at the robot behind them. A crate crashed into the robot, effectively killing it.

"Thanks Miss Martian," Sakura nodded as they began running again.

"No!" M'gann gasped after a few minutes. They turned back to see her leaning against her uncle, both of them visible. "He's gone!" she fell to her knees, crying softly.

"It's alright," Wally assured her, kneeling next to her. "We'll find him with Artemis. I know we will."

"No," J'onn told them. "My mind is clearer now. The disintegration ray is exactly that. There is no detention facility, no prisoners to rescue. Our mission holds no purpose."

"No! You're lying!" Wally shouted, gripping his cloak. "She's alive! The zeta radiation proves it!"

"Stop it KF!" Robin shouted, grabbing his friend. "I have been scanning for league and team signals since we got inside, they're not here."

"Artemis is gone, Kaldur is gone, Conner is gone, they're all dead," Sakura told him harshly. "They knew that there were risks going into this business, and going into this war. They died protecting the planet. They're dead, we're alive. We need to get over it and get on with this war."

"Or are you in so much denial that you're going to throw another temper tantrum?" Cherī asked, speaking up for the first time since the aliens' attack.

"Our mission still holds a purpose. To destroy this mother ship," Robin told them.

"We have to get this done, there isn't much of a choice," Cherī told them. Sakura and Robin ran down the hallway, with J'onn and M'gann following after. Wally let out a growl and followed them.


The team came to a stop when they were shot at from behind. They turned around and saw robot aliens flying after them, shooting at them.

"You guys go! I'll hold them off!" Sakura ordered, bringing it at a kunai. She flung it at one of the aliens and it blew up.

"Blossom no!" Robin shouted through the link. "We can get rid of-"

"Robin, thank you for being concerned with her, but it is not needed!" Cherī shouted as Sakura took out a few shuriken and threw them. "You need to continue the mission and destroy this place! Just tell us when we need to leave!" The pinkette ran forward, taking out a short knife.

"Blossom!"

"Just go!" Sakura shouted at them. "I'll be fine!"

"We have to go if you want to destroy the mother ship," J'onn told them, pushing them forward. Sakura glanced back before turning to the robots, who were charging their lasers.

"I'm sorry Birdie…" she whispered, before flipping into the air, and slicing at them, fighting back. "Yes! I know this!" Sakura shouted, as she kicked one away. "I know what's going to happen, and I don't care!" One of them lashed out at her, grabbing her arm. She twisted her wrist and grabbed the medal appendage; she swung him into to other robots. "What did you just say…?" she trailed off in shock. The pinkette gasped and her eyes widened as she felt her body burn.


"Gah!" M'gann gasped, gripping her head once more. "Robin…"

"No…" the ebony haired boy said softly.

"I'm sorry…she's gone…" M'gann whispered. Robin ran a hand through his hair and took a deep breath before steeling his gaze from under his mask.

"Let's go!" he ordered, running into a room. He pulled up his computer, checking out the large glowing sphere in the center of the room. "That's the power core! Take it down, and the whole place goes with it!"


Mount Justice

October 16

Sakura's eyes snapped open and she took a deep breath, feeling her lungs take in the oxygen greedily. She looked around herself and saw that she was inside Mount Justice, in the mission room. The pinkette sat up slowly, gripping her waist in pain. She removed her pain and her eyes widened when she saw no blood. Sakura looked up and saw the others were around her as well, all of them coming to.

"You're all alive!" M'gann gasped as she sat up and saw them.

"Barely…" Sakura groaned, gripping her head.

"What happened in there?" Batman asked J'onn, who was gripping his head, just like the teens.

"The exercise went wrong," J'onn grunted.

"Exercise? What are you talking about?" Robin asked in confusion. The boy wonder wiped the sweat off his forehead before looking at his mentor for an explanation.

"Try to remember," Batman ordered. The group slowly and hesitantly closed their eyes, summoning their memories. "What you just experienced was a training exercise. Manhunter linked the seven of you up psychically and placed you in an artificial reality. You all knew that going in. What you didn't know was that it was impossible to win. No matter what the team did, no matter what you accomplished it would only get worse, that's what the scenario was designed for. But even so, you were completely aware that nothing was real."

"That was why you barely grieved when the Justice league, and even when Wolf was disintegrated before your very eyes," J'onn explained. "However, everything changed, when Artemis died." The team looked at the blonde archer, who stared at the ground fiercely. "Consciously, M'gann was aware that none of it was real, and that Artemis was fine. But her subconscious could not make that distinction. Her subconscious mind took control and made all of you forget as well." The group looked at M'gann, who stared at her uncle in horror.

"But…she didn't…" Sakura protested. "Right before…right before I died…Cherī told me that it was all fake. In fact, before Artemis died, Cherī was quiet; I didn't hear her at all. We only heard her after…after Superboy died."

"That is because J'onn did not know about Cherī, M'gann did," Batman explained. "She went into your mind and linked Cherī up to the simulation. Because she did not link Cherī up at the same time, Cherī must not have forgotten."

"I-I'm sorry…" M'gann told them desperately.

"This isn't her fault!" Superboy shouted. "Why didn't you stop it?"

"We tried, but M'gann had a death grip on the scenario," J'onn informed them. "Even Artemis, who, upon her death should have awoken, was so convinced that she had passed away. It caused her to slip into a coma. I realized I would have to take control of Miss Martian's subconscious from within. But when I got there, your collective emotions were too much and I was unable to think clearly and remember the reason as to why I was there.

"The deaths of Aqualad, Superboy, and Kunoichi did help, but once Kid Flash and Robin were silenced when the mother ship exploded, was I able to remember everything clearly. I remembered my true purpose, to shock M'gann out of the exercise before your comas became permanent.

"I apologize. I did not know that a training exercise could be so…dangerous," J'onn said gravely. Sakura looked over at M'gann, who was crying in the arms of Captain Marvel. Sakura looked forward and massaged her temple, her gaze never leaving the sight of her boots.