A/N
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Episode V: The Last Straw, Part I
It's not possible.
After everything the team have gone through- all the heartbreaks and tribulations the young, aspiring heroes have gone through- it couldn't end like this.
Gone out in a fiery blaze as their home- their sanctuary- crumbles to pieces around them.
He knew that the various villains the team has faced before are devious and cruel beyond comprehension, but to murder children in such a cold and calculating manner takes a lot of evil. Even some villains would call such an act dishonourable and crude, which shows a lot.
Hal has faced his fair share of loss during his employment as a Green Lantern, from close friends to people he would consider family.
This is different.
They weren't fully grown adults who had chose, or truly accepted their destiny, and had been gifted many years to live their lives to the fullest extent. They were simply kids who were trying to live up to the standard set by the League, including him.
If he could go back, and undo the formation of the League, he would. Maybe then these kids would still be alive, and he has to live what that responsibility. Batman would say they made their choice and died doing what they believed was right; he would say anything to avoid any guilt or emotion.
Watching on as Mount Justice continues to erupt in flames and falling debris, he struggles to find some form of way out for the team. Maybe, since they're smart enough, they could have noticed the bomb and escaped quick enough.
Maybe... maybe.
"You okay, GL?" Shazam floats beside him with his usual concerned naivety.
"I wish I could tell you," he responds, gently landing on the ground from his position in the air and continuing his examining of the flaming base.
"Just wanted to let you know that Batman wants everyone to gather round," the empowered young boy sheepishly informs before leaving the Lantern to his lamentation.
Billy's a great kid at heart, and he's the soul of the League, although no-one would ever admit it. But, no matter how powerful or durable he is, there's still a young kid hiding inside the adult body. Undoubtedly, he's taking this a lot harder than most of the League. After all, he also knew them closely as peers and friends.
Strolling over to where the higher ranking members of the Justice League had assembled, he nods solemnly at them in turn- Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, Flash, Green Arrow, Black Canary, Martian Manhunter, Hawkwoman, and of course, Shazam. They each return the nod with their own unique way of showing their grief, from Batman silently staring to Hawkwoman fluttering her wings.
"They are still alive," Batman starts, and many of them share curious looks, though Superman appears to have already been notified of such.
"How? The explosion would have sent Supes back to Krypton," Green Arrow questions, sending a quick, inquisitive look to Hal.
"Robin isn't that stupid," Batman curtly replies, obviously hiding much more information than he lets on, as usual. "He searched every day for explosives, and if there were any, he would have found them."
"How do you know that?" Flash chimes in.
"I trained him," Batman answers matter-of-factly.
"So, they just fled into the darkness did they? If you know something, now is the time," Hal speaks up, not backing down from challenging the Batman, which doesn't go unnoticed from a few of the Leaguers, whose faces show some level of encouragement.
"That's all I know," Batman lies. Hal expected as much, but since the League is supposed to be a team, he also expected Bruce to play by the rules.
"After all we've been through... you still don't trust us," Hal challenges, fixing the bat with a disappointing stare.
"He says he doesn't know anything," Superman interrupts the moment, directing his words to Hal specifically.
"Yeah. Until it suits him to tell us," Hal shakes his head.
"I agree with Hal. Whatever you know, you must tell us," Wonder Woman sides with the Lantern unusually, since they are at odds most of the time due to their completely different ideas and personalities.
"Save your breath, princess," Hal sighs, "Might as well be talking to a dead man."
"A dead man has no reason to lie," Hawkwoman also adds in. "The bat, however, usually has plenty."
Despite the growing pressure from his team mates, the Batman seems unfazed and undeterred as per usual. The only reason Bruce would ever reveal something he doesn't want anyone else to know is when he decides the time is right, and the consequences of the silence be damned.
"Whatever you're planning, Batman... I'd pray not one of those kids get hurt."
"We should be safe here until they find out we're still alive- if Batman hasn't already," Robin introduces them into the humble plot of land he owns by the side of the canal in the crime-infested utopia of Bludhaven. "If all goes to plan, we should be able to take out the Light from the shadows. They shouldn't know we're coming."
"If all goes to plan," Wally mockingly mimics him, a sour expression on his face, "This plan is great for you, right? You get to have your little moment of proving yourself to Batman, whilst my parents think I'm dead."
"This isn't about me, Wally," Robin retorts, shooting him an angered glare and receiving one in return. "We're all in this together."
"Just like with Poison Ivy," he murmurs, walking off into one of the many adjoining rooms from the central entrance area.
Luckily, Robin had the foresight when he secretly purchased this place to have several rooms open for quick renovation, which means they have enough space to keep to themselves in their currently fractured state. And whether he likes it or not, it's his responsibility to do his best to at least add some sort of temporary glue for the time being. He needs them to work together, otherwise the Light will have already won.
Without saying any words, M'gann uncharacteristically heads off into her- apparently- assigned area, leaving just him, Artemis and Conner to converse.
"What's up with her?" Artemis asks, looking back to where she left. "And the ginger?"
"That's not the problem right now," Robin lies, refocusing the archer onto the questions he wants her to be asking. "This place won't be secure for long, so we need to get working ."
"You do that," Conner says, "I'm talking to M'gann."
Like that, he leaves the conversation and follows his quasi-lover into her room.
Robin doesn't mind. Having just him and Artemis is the best possibly scenario anyway, since they are probably the smartest among them apart from Wally, and he's out of the question at the moment. He needs a second voice in his plans, so she is better suited than most.
"What've you got?" she asks, guessing he's already formulated a hasty plan as usual.
"We hit them hard, and soon," he answers, making sure to emphasise the amount of force he wants them to being raining down on the Light. "We hit their operations as often as we can, and try to work our way up the rankings. Take out the workers, before beheading the queen and her soldiers."
"Starting with Kaldur," Artemis suggests, although she speaks with a heavily menacing tone, so it seems more like a demand than a suggestion. "His time for justice has come."
"Not just any justice," Robin starts.
"Young Justice," she finishes.
"If we start with everyone at the bottom, the Light begins to lose its minions, and when that happens, the leadership will have to take matters into their own hands, where we'll be waiting," Robin adds on. "Vandal Savage may be smarter than everyone here combined, but even he needs people to do things for him."
"So, what do you think he's got Black Manta and his lacky son doing?" he archer questions, forcing Robin to rack his brain for any answer.
"Atlantis. We've always known Manta wants Atlantis, so I'm guessing anything which Savage and Luther wants done down there is conducted through them," he comes to a logical conclusion, forcing himself to remain calm at the thought of Kaldur at the beck and call of those he swore to fight against. "We'll start there. Seems like the only place we have for now."
"How are we going to get down there? Not sure about you, but only one of us could go down unaided," Artemis counters, raising a valid point, but one which Robin has already thought about and resolved.
"Leave that to me," he nods.
As soon as he entered the room, a thoughtful wave of sadness crashes into him, hitting him harder than Blockbuster ever did.
The wave emanated from the Martian slunk against the wall, knees buried in her chest, and arms reflect fully wrapped around her green legs.
Some deep and cowardly part of him almost forces his body to turn and leave, but the sight is enough to bring him to reason. And so, he goes to where she is seated and slides down the wall beside her, mirroring her forlorn posture.
Dealing with emotions- especially complex and powerful ones like sadness- has never been a specialty of his, and he doubts that would change any time in the near future, yet, if M'gann needs his help, he has to try. She would do the same and more if he was the one downtrodden; M'gann always has a way of encouraging and uplifting him like no other. Wally can annoy him, Kyle could make him smile, but only M'gann has ever gotten further into the fortifications he's built to surround his volatile emotions.
Thinking for a moment on what to say, before he could open his mouth, she obviously read his mind and answers him.
"Everything's changed. I thought... I though, maybe it hadn't, but it has. When the team was brought back together, I was so... happy. Now, every moment we spend with each other, I could feel the anger and resentment growing, and there's nothing I can do to stop it," she pours out her thoughts to him like a grieving widow at a funeral, eyes barely straining to avoid erupting with tears.
"Things aren't that different," he lies, giving a sheepish smile when she looks at him.
"I can't do this. I can't stand around pretending things are okay. I care about everyone too much," she sighs heavily, calming herself.
He wishes he could find something encouraging or inspiring to say to her words, however, it escapes him much like every other situation. Superman would know what to say and exactly when to say it, but he just doesn't have the same heart as his genetic father, as his is much more Luther in nature he suspects. He sees the world as far too corrupt and broken for simple words or smiles to fix; every act he takes to solve the problem, more obstacles are thrown in the way, which takes him back three steps.
With every building Superman- or any hero- saves, another villain someone else rises to destroy any other. There's a form of cruel balance in the world. As the heroes become more powerful and numerous, so too do the forces designed to counter-act them. Meta-humans may soon be classed as a type of hair colour with the amount of them arising in the world, and when that happens, the equilibrium of the world will be shaped forever.
M'gann may not see it, yet everything happening around them could actually be fate, or some twisted form of destiny. As they divide and crumble, maybe, the Light is going to the same, in order to achieve that balance.
In any case, he would much rather keep the team together, no matter if it leads to the Light becoming stronger and more dangerous- it's incredibly selfish and unheroic, but even heroes need to think about themselves every once and a while.
"The team will get through this," he assures, "Think about everything we've gone through: Kyle going yellow and red, Kaldur betraying us, and even dealing with me all the time- we might appear to be broken beyond repair, but appearances can be deceiving."
"Maybe you're right, but I just can't wait for that to happen," she sadly responds, brow furrowing with thought. "The only solution is... to simply not care. Our mission is to destroy the Light, not look after each other, so, that's what I'm going to do."
Again, he's at a temporary loss for words. Usually, it would be him exporting such cold and indifferent ideas whilst thinking otherwise internally. At the moment, he's not truly sure whether he's dreaming and speaking to himself, or to the actual M'gann.
Resorting to sitting in silence since he cannot find anything useful to say, he inwardly hopes another- more emotionally attached- member of the team comes to help him out. Kyle would be valuable in this circumstance, but unfortunately he's never going to be here to cheer her up.
It appears it's up to him.
"Remember the time you splattered milk all over my face?" he starts, and smiling when she gives a small smirk in remembrance, "I just stood there as you cleaned me up. I didn't know what to say. Even though you were the one who spilled it on me... I was shocked you would take the time to clean my face, and the look on your face... like you could never forgive yourself for it."
"I was also worried you would explode like a nuclear bomb," she giggles.
"Shame you can't cook us any of those burnt cookies," Conner jokes, nudging her with his shoulder.
"It was a disaster," she remembers, "didn't stop Wally and Kyle from eating every last one though. And I thought Kryptonians were supposed to have a fast metabolism."
"They pestered you for weeks to make some more," he shakes his head, still smiling from ear to ear. "What did you keep on saying?"
"When you least expect them," she states. "Turns out... them two always expect food."
Every single time the team would meet for a briefing or team-building exercise, both Kyle and Wally would sneak off and ransack the kitchen for any food M'gann had made, either burnt or not. It happened so often she started to make food only after they had left and save it for when they came back.
He regrets to remember that he even went with them once, only to stop Wally from begging him to try some of M'gann's shortbread. Surprisingly, it was a lot more delicious than he expected, and it made him realise why they loved to eat anything M'gann had made.
It wasn't just cooked. There was a tint of love in everything she touched, as thought it was some kind of Martian secret ingredient.
Although he never went with them ever again, he still remembers the way they looked at him expectantly with joyful eyes and wide smiles, like children letting their parent taste their candy. Luckily, Robin never asked where he disappeared to, so he never had to admit sneaking off with Wally and Kyle, which would severely damage his reputation of hater of all things Kyle.
Things were so naive and simple back then.
Things aren't so simple now.
Normally, it would be a quiet pleasure for her to draw back her bow and take a few practise shots. In a world full of non-stop noise and action, when the world goes silent as she draws back the bow and takes a deep breath, she can truly take a moment to rest and relax. The moment before releasing the arrow into the target is one of the serenest feelings known to her, like watching a miracle before her eyes.
Looking at a bow, it's difficult to imagine how much force can be generated with a simple pull. Although, it isn't as simple as pulling; a multitude of muscles and physics goes into the drawing, and once a person understands which muscles to rely on and how to position them, the bow can be a deadly weapon.
Miraculous, that thousands of years ago, the same principles she employs today, were also used, albeit without the added advantage of sights and precise design.
As with all things, humans evolve and progress. Archers turned into rifleman, apothecaries turned into doctors, and the mythological heroes of legend- Arthur, Achilles, and many others- became much more than legend.
Back then, she doubts the stories were told to inform of fact, and only to inspire and encourage. No-one was supposed to actually feel their presence in any place other than their heart. Now, they can see their power up close; most are frightened by it, and not inspired.
Or should be.
Superman can save entire cities from disaster, but there's a dark side to that power.
Humans are cautious, and that cautious instinct will always spawn people such as Luthor, who wish to see the potential threat dealt with, among other things.
She should be just as wary of her friends. There's no such things as an unbreakable hero.
And when one of them breaks, they can either rise again, or spiral into the darkness.
Wishing she didn't know all too well what breaking can do to a hero, she takes aim and pressed down onto a pressure pad with her foot, connected to a tennis machine.
As the ball flies into the air, she lets loose.
The ball clatters forcefully off the wall, making some headway before coming to a halt, her arrow laid firmly into the wall, missing her target.
Wonderful, she mentally curses her inaccuracy. Next time you fire an arrow, it might just land in Robin and not a villain.
Green Arrow never really prepared her for the outcome of missing.
A student only learns from their mentor's mistakes, and he never made this one. He could be exhausted from partying, and flat-out drunk, but he never missed when it counted.
She learnt to always strike true... but, what happens when she doesn't know what true is anymore.
For her, the truth she used to believe in was that the world could be shaped, whether by arrow or superpower, and she needed to give everything to build a better future for her mother. It was all exposed as a lie when no matter what she did, the villains still won.
For a superhero, they may win all the battles which come there way, but the war's outcome is still uncertain.
Humorous, that the only certain thing is that there's uncertainty.
Perhaps she can find some semblance of peace with that- life always goes on, no matter what happens. All she needs to do is make sure the people around her also carry on.
It's not an easy task, but one she takes up willingly.
Pressing down, the next ball comes flying out of the machine.
She lets loose.
The ball doesn't make it far out of the machine before it's painfully pinned against the wall.
Time to be a hero.