A/N: Hey guys, I know this is super late and I wouldn't be surprised if you all jumped ship on me. Life has taken one bad turn after the next and writing has really been the last thing on my mind. But to those of you who are still reading, thanks for sticking with me. Only one or two more chapters to go and you'll be free. I currently have no plans for a sequel.
Chapter 25
"It would appear that the Little Bird will pose more of a threat than we initially thought. He'll figure out how to shut the beam down. He'll ruin everything!" Queen Bee groused, setting her champagne flute down on the glass end table. There was no time to celebrate. She just knew things were bound to go south.
"It makes no difference what he does now, My Dear. The bomb is nearly charged and ready to blow. Let the child have his last bit of hope before it ends." Vandal Savage smirked and waved off her concerns. "It is only a matter of time."
"That is just the problem. We are protected here! He is here with us and therefore, he will survive. I thought we wanted the heroes and their brats gone! If he survives, there's always the chance that we could be defeated. I've seen what they can do when given the proper motivation." Queen Bee ran an irritated hand through her long, dark hair. Wasn't she already stressed enough? Did he really feel the need to mock her?
"Perhaps this can work for our benefit. Sure the boy will survive but think of what we can do with him in our new world. A public execution of the Boy Wonder?" Lex Luthor attempted to reason with her. "We kill the Bird and destroy the legacy of the Bat. No one will dare stand against us again.
"Ah yes, nothing starts an empire like fear." Ra's agreed with him. They clinked their glasses together.
"Now excuse me Gentlemen, and Lady. I have a Son, to go see." Lex chuckled darkly as he left the room.
(Line Break)
"Argh..." Roy's hand flew to his head. He just knew that he'd been hit but found no blood. Good, just a bump then. M'gann had slumped over onto his shoulder. "Crap, that took more out of me than I thought it would. And apparently you too." He slowly pushed her off his shoulder and laid her gently down on the floor. Roy tried to stand up on his shaky legs but fell against the wall behind him.
"Canary!" He called, his voice hoarse from disuse. No one answered him. "Of course they're already gone. Can't stop the show for just two people. We're just dead weight." He ground out. Still, even if he did get some of his strength back, he couldn't just abandon M'gann. She looked so helpless, none the wiser to the danger they were in. "God M'gann."
Suddenly, Roy heard voices. Guards! There were people outside the Javelin. "No..." Roy grimaced. He had to get himself and M'gann out of danger. Roy took a deep breath and steadied himself. "Where's my bow?" Roy looked around the room. He had been carrying it when he came to see M'gann right?
And there it was hidden beneath a desk in the corner of the room! Roy stumbled a bit but eventually pulled it out from under the desk. The guards were getting closer.
"Come on M'gann. Get up! You have to get up; I can't face them alone, not like this." He cried, shaking her shoulders. The red-headed girl didn't even stir.
"Shit!" Roy searched his quiver quickly but only found one exploding arrow. The others were the standard issue pointed arrows. They wouldn't get the job done. Roy groaned at his misfortune. He was at a dead end. He couldn't protect M'gann, he couldn't even protect himself.
"We know you're in there! Come on out!" He heard them yell. Roy steadied his bow and tried to draw it back. Good, it seemed his arms weren't completely useless. He could still draw his bow. The banging at the door grew louder and louder, the metal slowly falling from its hinges. Roy cringed. He had no choice.
'Ollie will never forgive me,' he thought, 'hell, I'll never forgive me.' But Roy steadied himself. He drew a pointed arrow and took up aim at the door. The moment it fell open, he loosed.
(Line Break)
Superboy's breath came in heavy pants. There were so many guards, every time he knocked down one, it seemed ten more would take his place. Where were his teammates? Had they already fallen? Conner shuddered at the thought. He swung his fist and sent another guard flying.
"Well done, my boy. I see you've been working hard. Perhaps you'd like something cool to drink?" Conner whipped around to see Lex Luthor leaning against the wall opposite him, a bottle of water in his hand. How had Conner's super hearing missed him?
"I can see your wheels turning. Don't wear yourself out. It's not like I've been dealing with the Man of Steel for years. One picks up on certain things." Luthor held the bottle out to him.
"You! How did you-"
"Don't worry yourself, Conner. Conner right? That is what you're calling yourself now." Lex's smirked wolfishly. "Relax. You've worked hard. What kind of father would I be if I didn't at least try to take care of you?"
Conner's eyes widened and he staggered back in shock. "You're lying! I know you are!" he shouted.
"Haven't you ever wondered why you can't fly or use some of Superman's more impressive powers? You're an imperfect clone. We had to use human DNA to fill in the gaps and well, I've always wanted a child." Lex leaned back against the wall. "I know you've had a hard time. As much as he stands for truth and justice the man just wasn't made for parenthood. I on the other hand-"
"LIAR!" Conner shouted. "There's no way that you-that you would ever-"
"Oh but wouldn't eye. I've always wanted to be super; now I've got the next best thing. You don't need to be afraid, Conner. I can help you." he held out his hand again. "I can give you what you so desperately covet. I can give you a family." Conner's eye snapped to his outstretched hand.
"I already have a family." Conner turned on his heel and ran.
(Line Break)
Roy hung his head in shame. They were dead, all of them. He yanked another arrow out a man's throat. He'd only gone for the throat. Either there or that sweet spot right in between the eyes. Those arrows were harder to dig out. Occasionally, he found himself hacking with his pocket knife to free the arrowheads. God, he probably had a family. What if he had children? What would they think? 'Some hero…' he thought darkly.
Hot tears rolled down Roy's cheeks as he removed the last arrow. He was damned, damned straight to hell. All his life he'd been a screw-up. He couldn't make his parents proud. He couldn't make Ollie proud. Dinah, he didn't even want to think about Dinah. What would she think of him now? He'd broken the cardinal rule. He'd killed. He looked over at M'gann. She was still unconscious. He couldn't just leave her.
But he couldn't stay with her either. "You really need to wake up, M'gann." He snapped. Shaking her one last time. "Damn." He hoisted her over his shoulder and shoved her back into the javelin before slamming the door. "If I'm going to be the bad guy, then it means I'll have to play the part."
(Line Break)
"It's a little far-fetched but I think…yeah, it should work." Ted's voice sounded skeptical over the tentative comm-link. Robin had temporarily gotten a signal out. Blue Beetle was the first person he called.
"What should work, Blue? C'mon, we're losing you down here! Robin's only got the signal stable for a few minutes." Black Canary snapped at him.
"Robin's suggestion of an impure child. Someone who's non-innocent could possibly corrupt the bomb's core and make it implode on itself. Like I said, it's far-fetched but at this point…we could use a miracle. I'm willing to try anything." Ted sounded hopeful.
"Me! I can do it!" Artemis started pulling off her bow and quiver. "Just tell me where I need to go!"
"No." Robin said quietly. If they were going to do this, there had to be no chance for failure. He knew what he had to do. "It has to be me." Artemis whipped around to face him, her blonde hair forming an almost halo-effect around her.
"What? No! Robin, the Team needs you. I can do this. I'm expendable. You have to guide me through it so we can shut this thing down." Artemis cried out angrily.
"No, Artemis. You need to get Aqualad and Canary and go. Get clear of this place. Please. Blue can talk me through the rest. I know what to do." Robin refused to meet her eyes. He ran a nervous hand through his hair, glad that Bruce wasn't there. He would never let the boy go through it.
"Robin…" Black Canary said softly.
"I haven't been innocent since the day my parents died, Artemis. There's still good in you. You've fought so hard for your redemption and believe me, you've earned it. You've earned a chance to live a long and happy life. Batman and me...well... I think we've done what we're supposed to do." Robin shrugged and pulled off his mask. "Can you give this back to him? Please…for me?"
"Robin is right. If this is our last chance, we must take it." Aqualad said quietly.
Artemis took it gently and clutched the little scrap of fabric close to her chest.
"You have to know, you probably won't survive the backlash, Robin." Ted warned him. "It'll be nearly catastrophic. I'm pretty sure this will kill you."
"No, there has to be a way to get out of this without the loss of life." Canary shook her head and made grab for his arm but Robin had already dashed away.
"Don't you understand? Lives have already been lost? It's over, Canary. This is our last chance to do anything to fight back. We could stop this, we could save the world." Robin sighed, his shoulders slumped in defeat. "The needs of the many outweigh the needs of a few, right?" Kaldur placed a calming hand on his shoulder.
"We will stand beside you, my friend."
"Blue Beetle thinks you'll die if you go, Robin. We can't just offer you up like a lamb or something!" Artemis cried out.
"I'm far from a lamb." Robin chuckled. "Ted, I think I know which way to go. I'm going to cut the connection now."
"Good luck kid. I hope you make it out." Ted's face was solemn. Robin nodded and cut the connection.
"I know where the core is. You guys need to work on finding your way out of here. There could be an explosion. Get back to javelin and get M'gann and Roy out of here." He said. Robin shot them a mock salute and took off down the corridor.
He raced down two flights of stairs deeper into the structure and then he saw it. A beam of light shot up from the floor straight to the center of the dome. Robin removed his gloves and his boots. The tiled floor was cool under his bare feet despite the energy pervading the room.
"Are you sure this is what you want?" Robin looked across the room to see Vandal Savage watching him. "You know this will kill you right?"
"I know." The boy replied quietly.
"And what are you? Another martyr who died for the cause? No my boy, you could be so much more."
"I'm not selfish like you, Savage. I want to protect the world."
"So do I. I want to protect it from itself. You of all people should know that there's no such thing as good or evil and personally, I'm alright with morally grey." Savage smirked. "Or you could jump into the core, sacrifice your life, maybe save the world, and for what? What good will it do, Richard? It won't save your parents. It certainly won't save your precious mentor because as soon as I'm done with you, I'm going to find him and kill him."
"And that's why I know this is right. You can't fix the world by killing people." Robin stepped forward, one step away from the beam.
"It won't work. You're giving up everything for nothing. If any of your silly little friends manage to survive I'll hunt them all down as well-"
"They'll beat you. Batman will beat you." Robin gave one last coy smile before lurching forward into the beam and vanishing from sight. There was a moment, a beat of silence before all hell broke loose. Vandal Savage was thrown backwards through the open doorway and into the wall on the other side. The room was filled with a suffocating, black streak ripping straight into the sky.
(Line Break)
"Jesus…" Roy looked back over his shoulder. "What the hell did they do?" he breathed.
"Hey, Ginger!" Roy swung around, his bow at the ready. There was a man, no, a boy up ahead, leaning against a motorbike. "You want a lift?" there was a gun strapped to his hip but Roy was pretty sure he wasn't a cop.
"I…yeah, okay. Sure."
"Cool." The guy tossed him a helmet. "I've been looking for a riding partner." He smirked. "C'mon." Roy trekked up the last of the hill to meet him. "Just so you know…I'm not a good guy." There was something dark the stranger's crystal-blue eyes. The gun suddenly seemed all the more foreboding. Roy nodded and breathed a silent prayer that Artemis had found her peace; that should wouldn't go down the same road he had.
"Neither am I."