Chapter 22

"I can't believe this is happening. I can't believe we're finally going to get home!" M'gann let out a deep sigh of relief and leaned against Conner's shoulder. "This is wonderful. Maybe now, Wally can get the treatment he really needs. Maybe they've made a breakthrough since was last talked."

"Yeah, just wonderful. I wouldn't bet on that breakthrough. They would have told us by now. The only way to save Kid Flash is for is to stop the Society of Light." Conner grimaced at the thought and shot Clark a glance across the room. The older Krytonian gave him a thumbs-up. To be honest, Conner wasn't ready to venture 'home'. What if they tried to force him to stay there? What if he ended up trapped?

"It's going to be okay." M'gann whispered sadly. "They'll leave it up to you, Conner. It's your life. They can't control you." Ted entered the room before Conner could respond.

"Everybody ready? We have to maintain bodily contact. Should be easy enough, just a hand on the shoulder. Keep together, though. I don't know what will happen if we get separated." The alternate dimension Ted said.

Barry hoisted Wally out of his hospital bed and onto his back. The kid looked even worse than before. He'd started losing weight despite the IV. Nobody wanted to think about how much worse it would get. Everyone linked arms and prepared for transit.

"So yeah, it's going to sting a bit. No Roy, you're not going to get cut or anything. I promise. We'll keep contact. Transport should only take a few moments and we'll be back in you all's home dimension." He explained with a wave of his hand. "It won't be that bad."

Ted flicked a switch and the machine gave a great whirring sound.

"That does not sound safe. Are you sure this thing works?" Roy snapped. Ted rolled his eyes and sighed. Why did people always doubt his work?

"I'm about ninety-eight percent sure that it will get us where we need to go. Besides, do you have a better way to get home?"

"..."

"Exactly. So that should end that discussion. Let's do this."

"Whatever we do, we must keep together." Kaldur said authoritatively.

M'gann squeezed her eyes shut just as a blinding flash of light over took them. She felt as if she was being ripped in half as she struggled to keep her hold on both Roy and Conner. Now she understood why Roy hated cross-dimensional travel. She was glad she couldn't remember the first time because surely it was awful. 'Have to keep together.' She told herself. 'I can't let go.' And she wouldn't. Not if it kept them safe. She would hold on forever if she had to. She could feel her hair whipping up around her face and around her shoulders.

And then...it just stopped.

"M'gann!"

When Robin felt himself land, he honestly expected to be still in the Watch Tower. He really didn't believe it would work. That would be just too good to be true.

"Robin?" He opened one bleary eye to see Batman staring down at him. "Are you alright?"

"Batman?" He asked hopefully. He loosely noticed that the scene surrounding the Dark Knight wasn't that of the Watch Tower. They were at the cave. Had it actually worked? Was he really home? No, he couldn't believe it. What if it was a dream? A fantasy? A nightmare? Was hoping worth the inevitable pain.

"Whoa...I think it worked." He heard Artemis's far off voice say. He could hear her and the others shuffling to get to their feet.

"You're real aren't you? You're real." Robin's lip quivered only slightly. He still didn't want to let himself hope. If he was wrong, he would be hurt even more.

"It's me. I'm real. I promise you I'm real." Batman's voice was soft so as not to frighten the young boy. He held out his hand to hoist Robin to his feet. The boy staggered a bit but held firm. Robin wanted nothing more than to launch himself at the older man but refrained. It was not the time nor the place. They would have their reunion later.

"They're back! It totally worked!" Ted yelled. Robin wasn't exactly sure which Ted it was but he knew it was one of them.

"Alright, we're all here. Now, can we figure out what to do with this one?" Superman gestured towards Klarion's cell.

"We have more important matters to attend to. What about the bomb M'gann spoke of? How are we to handle that?" One of the J'onn's asked.

"Ugh! This is too confusing. We need to get name tags or something. I can't tell who's who! How are we going to know where to send who when this is all over?" Roy shouted in frustration.

"Will you calm down? There's no need to panic." Superman snapped at him.

"Oh, he's mean, definitely this dimension's Superman." Artemis stage whispered. Roy smirked at her.

"It's good to see you two getting finally getting along." Black Canary said, shock only slightly coloring her tone.

"Yeah well, we've come to an understanding." Roy shrugged. "But J'onn is right. We have to do something. M'gann got a very clear look at what's to come and I don't think she's wrong."

"That's because she's not. It's good to know you finally figured it out. Not that it matters of course." Klarion kicked back in his magic cell. He twirled a strand of inky black hair around his finger. "There's nothing you can do. You've lost and you will suffer. All of you will die."

"And what about you? Without your familiar, you're powerless. There's no way for you to teleport away. You'll be killed as well." Robin pointed out. Klarion barked out a laugh.

"You really don't understand the scope of my powers do you?" Klarion's smirk was wicked. M'gann felt chills run down her spine just seeing his face. "Better than you have tried to kill me. I am a force of nature, brat. Burn my body all you like but the chaos lives! And as long as it lives, so do I. There is no death for me. You won't be so lucky." Klarion laughed at his captors. "You've lost."

YJ

"M'gann, the other J'onn, and I are doing our best to look for any trace of the other members of the society of light. So far, we have discovered nothing new." J'onn's voice came of the com.

"Of course they haven't. We're going about this wrong. I'm telling you-"

"Roy, while applaud your self sacrifice, it's too much of a risk to you and to M'gann. You said when she went into Kid Flash's mind, she ended up having a seizure."

"And leading you straight to Klarion! You wouldn't have found him if it wasn't for us. So yeah, I want M'gann to go in my head and see if there's any residual information that we might have missed before. It's the best lead we've got and you know it!" Roy shouted. They were in one of the three Javelins flying over the country. Each one held a Martian.

"We could be just wasting our time, Canary. That bomb could detonate at any moment."

"Roy's right." Robin sat next to Black Canary in the cockpit. "It's our best chance and right now, we have absolutely nothing to lose. If they're willing to give it a shot, I say we let them."

"Roy's shown good judgment in the past." Another voice piqued over the com. Dinah recognized it as her alternate.

"What about both of your minds? Isn't that worth losing?" She turned to look at Roy. "We just got you back. I'm not ready to lose you again." She added quietly.

"I'll be fine. And if we don't find them, we all die anyway. What's the harm? There's nothing for us to lose at this point." Roy unbuckled himself.

'Hear that M'gann? I'm coming back.' he projected.

'Ready.'

YJ

"Let's hope that turns up some results. It'd be nice to have something to go on." Flash was traveling with the two green lanterns. John had appraised Hal carefully before deciding he was alright.

"The martian girl is good. She'll do what she can." John said said speculativly.

"I just don't want Red Arrow to end up the same way Kid Flash did. Sorry Flash." Hal refused to meet his eyes.

"No, I understand. I don't want that either. Still, if this somehow save's my nephew, I'm all for it." Barry said quietly. He'd known Wally was in bad shape but he hadn't been prepared for what he saw. He couldn't remember a time when Wally was so pale. He looked like he was on death's doorstep. Barry knew they didn't have a lot of time.

"We'll save him, Barry. There's no way we're going to let him die."

YJ

"Do you really want to do this? Going as deep as I need to could leave you permanently damaged. You could even die. I really don't want to take that risk." M'gann said softly.

"I know it's a lot to ask of you, but it has to be done. We're doing it for the world, M'gann. It's a risk worth taking." Roy sighed. "I think I've done what I needed to do so even if I die, I've served my purpose."

M'gann opened her mouth to protest but closed it just as quickly. He was right. No matter how gruesome it sounded, he was right.

"Alright, close your eyes." Roy sunk to his knees and obediently closed his eyes. "I promise I won't go any deeper than I need to. I'll try not to look into your darker memories. Those are yours." M'gann promised him.

"I know you won't. I trust you." he replied quietly. "Just do it. I really hate having people in my head." M'gann nodded solemnly and touched her hands to his temples. She closed her eyes and delved into his mind.

Like always, it was as if she was being submerged into a sea of ice cold water. She searched for some familiarity in Roy's mind before remembering that last time, Roy's mind had not been his own. For once, Roy was somewhat calm. She couldn't feel the anger that he normally irradiated. There were a few minor swells of apprehension that washed over her but they wouldn't hinder her work. She followed the path she had taken before deep into Roy's mind. She saw flashes of his memories, shooting with Green Arrow or training with Black Canary. There was also a strange amount of Cheshire. M'gann ignored her curiosity and tried to focus on the task at hand.

She centered on the lingering darkness she'd felt in Wally's mind before. It was more difficult than she thought. Roy's mind was cluttered, constantly flitting from one thought to another. Nothing stayed in the same place for long. He kept moving around. She caught flashes of what she thought was Klarion's magic but then it would disappear. M'gann took a deep breath and tried to call the darkness to her. She hated being so pushy with Roy's thoughts but this was a matter of life and death. It was a necessary evil. She just prayed that Roy would understand.

If he lived.

YJ
"M'gann is apparently searching through Roy's mind. We're hoping she doesn't have another seizure." Diana looked up from her spot in the cockpit.

"Do you think it wise to try at all? We could lose two team members all for nothing." She inquired.

"Or we could get a major breakthrough. It's a gamble but we have to be willing to take it. We have to do something." Batman told her.

"They've only just gotten back and now we're already sending them off to the slaughter. It's not fair." Diana shook her head with disdain.

"We all have to make sacrifices. They knew what could happen when they signed on for this. There's no room for doubt anymore."

"And you're willing to lose your son again as long as the world stays safe? Is that a sacrifice you're willing to make?" Wonder Woman chided him. She watched Batman's gloved hands clench the steering wheel and knew she'd made her point. It was ludicrous to let children die for something they had no part in.

"Robin is strong. He knows what is at stake here and he knows what we have to lose. We're all risking our lives for the greater good. To deny him his right to fight for his own survival would be wrong. So much has already been stolen from him; I have to give him something back." The man answered finally, his voice unnaturally calm.

"That's ridiculous and you know it. I didn't agree with using children as soldiers in the first place and I most definitely don't agree with it now. This is wrong. We might as well assume that Kid Flash is going to die. Even if we stop the Society of Light, there's no cure. We can't save him. Given everyone false promises of hope will only do more damage in the end." She snapped back.

"Is there something specific you're waiting on me to say? Do you want me to look Flash in the face and tell him there's no hope for his nephew? That's a lie. We don't know what we're going to find. There could be a cure."

"And if there's not?"

"Then he dies."

YJ

Artemis twirled in her seat in the Javelin. This part of the trip was boring. Kaldur and Aquaman had taken to the water after an awkward reunion. She could already tell there was so much Kaldur wanted to say but couldn't out of respect for his king. For once she wished he wouldn't hold his tongue.

"You alright back there?" She heard Green Arrow call.

"Yeah, just feeling a little antsy. Waiting for the calm before the storm to pass." She replied evenly.

"You know, we haven't really talked since you got back. Anything on your mind?"

"Listen Ollie, this is not the part where we have a major heart to heart and a breakthrough. That isn't my style. You want to talk to someone, talk to Roy. He's the one who needs you." Artemis stood and straightened her pony-tail. She needed to stretch her legs and move around. Green Arrow watched her leave and pursed his lips. She was right, he knew that. Part of him still didn't want to face Roy.

YJ

Robin was starting to worry. Roy and M'gann had been gone for a while, much longer than last time. What if both of them had collapsed?

"I'm going to go check on the others." He told Black Canary.

"Alright, report if there's something wrong, alright?"

"Will do." Robin hopped out of his seat and headed back to the cargo hold. He pushed the door opened and entered quietly. The room was filled with a sort of overpowered hazy energy. M'gann's hands were shaking against Roy's temples, her eyes shut with concentration. Robin stood back against the wall and watched the scene unfold. Better he was there with them in case of any disaster.

.

.

.

Robin felt himself drifting off to sleep, slipping from the wall. He barely heard M'gann's exasperated voice whisper, "Louisiana."