I do not own Young Justice or any of the characters.


Failing

Cassius's eyes widened as the cannon, which they'd decided to remove for safety, sparked. Megan had ripped off the communications device Robin had identified, which had also made the propulsion system fail. Then Artemis had sealed the aliens inside with a foam arrow. Once that was done, Megan had broken the outer shell of the cannon's mount to weaken it for Superboy to rip off, however, several small red spots along the front of the tail were beginning to light up and glow. Then, just before the building up energy discharged, Wolf tackled Superboy out of the way, being blasted in his place and incinerated.

"Wolf," Megan breathed.

"There was no indication of feedback," Robin said. "I'm sorry."

"Nothing we can do for him now," Superboy said.

Cassius stretched his goo arms up and yanked upward, ripping the cannon off. He handed it to Superboy, who jumped onto the Bio-Ship for Megan to connect the cannon to it, also as they'd agree on. Cassius would take the shuttle after transforming himself into one of the aliens and hiding Cassandra inside of himself like a goo shell, something he'd never tried but which should, theoretically, be possible. Then, Megan would pretend to pursue the ship to the mother ship before breaking off and escaping a fight, allowing Cassius and Cassandra to enter the Mothership while the rest of the ships chased them. Then it would be up to Cassius and Cassandra to take out the mother ship, either on their own, or find a way to get everyone else onboard.

"Rerouting systems to integrate the weapon's systems into the Bio-Ship's," Megan said telepathically. "I'll have to de-camouflage for a few minutes."

"We may not have a few minutes," Robin said, just as two more fighters passed over them as the ship turned visible.

"Everyone get ready!" Cassius said as the ships began to swing around to attack.

"Miss Martian, open fire!" Kaldur ordered.

"Can't!" Megan said. "Weapon systems are offline to incorporate the new cannon! And that's not fully integrated yet either!"

"I am the fucking weapon systems!" Cassius snarled. "Superboy, fling me!"

He jumped, transforming into a spear, and Superboy caught him and hurled him. About halfway there, Cassius split into a dozen spears. Both cannons fired, each blasting two spears. Then, the rest exploded through the ships, one hitting each communication device, then stabbed into the snow before transforming into normal goo and reforming into Cassius. As he reformed, the two ships crashed, one landing on the one they'd disabled before and exploding into a fireball, and the other bouncing and rolling across the snow for a ways. Cassius dropped to the ground, groaning and holding a hand to his head as it throbbed. He'd lost more goo than he had expected from that. And it had hurt.

"Are you okay?" Rose asked as she and Cassandra knelt beside him.

"I just need a couple hours to get that goo back," Cassius said. "I'm still good for the mission."

He looked up just as the surviving ship's cannons swung around toward Artemis, beginning to glow.

"Artemis, behind you!" Megan warned.

Artemis spun just as Cassandra moved to tackle her, but it was too late. Both were hit by the beam and vaporized. Cassius's entire body went numb just as he was starting to regain his feet and he fell to his knees again, staring at the spot they'd been, tears rolling down his face. it couldn't be. It couldn't.

"Cassius!" Rose said, sounding like she was close to crying as well. "We need to go!"

He looked around. Kaldur was just destroying the ship using water spikes, but the others were all stunned.

"They're dead!" Wally snarled. "Every single alien! If it's the last thing I do!"

"Right behind you," Cassius said, standing as his shock finally broke and fury and bloodlust rushed through him. "I'm going to slaughter every last one of them! I'll rip them all apart!"

They all got on the Bio-Ship and took off. As they flew, Megan was struggling not to cry and Wally was shouting in anger, slamming his hands into the dashboard in front of him. Cassius was seated in lotus position on the floor, his goo attaching him to the floor and his eyes closed, the pain and his anger mixing and rolling off of him in waves that everyone could feel. He was silent, murder was painted across his face, and his hands were clenched so hard his palms were bleeding. Rose sat beside him, resting her head on his left shoulder, and he wrapped an arm around her, allowing his palm to heal before setting his hand on her left upper arm.

"I'll make them pay!" he snarled quietly.

"I want to make them pay too, but I don't want to lose you," Rose said. "Please. I don't want you to die."

"I'm not going anywhere," he said, forcing himself to calm down for the moment and pulling her into his arms. "I'm not going to leave you, or let you be hurt."

Rose curled into him, holding him tightly.

"There will be time to mourn later," Aqualad said finally, standing. "Now we have a job to do. Defend the Earth, and ensure Artemis and Cassandra's sacrifice was not in vain."

"Back to the Cave?" Megan asked.

"The Hall of Justice," Kaldur said. "The Human Race must know that there are still heroes defending them. There is still hope."

They all fell silent, and time ticked past as they flew. Hours. Cassius's rage served him better than he'd hoped. His goo reformed faster, and by the time they reached their destination, he'd recovered to almost half his strength. He stood as they arrived, finding the American military fighting against three ships ineffectively. Just as the ships blasted three tanks, Megan flew over them, opening Cassius a hole.

"Stay here!" he snarled to Rose, then dropped out, swiping his hands.

A barrage of goo spikes rained down on them, blasting all three into a cloud of debris instantly before the goo returned to Cassius and formed him a set of wings. Megan landed the Bio-Ship in front of the military, the back opening to reveal the others as Cassius landed beside it, his wings folding up on his back, compressing into a more draconic shape than usual, giving him a more intimidating, monstrous appearance. The military began to cheer instantly as the others all walked over to join Cassius.

"Look, it's Superman!" one of them said. "Told ya he wouldn't leave us out here alone!"

"I don't know," the soldier next to him said. "He looks kinda young. And where's the cape?"

"I'm not Superman," Connor said.

"I don't know who you are, son," a four-star general said walking over to them, "and right now, I don't care. You wear the "S" and you and your friends got the job done."

Cassius rolled his eyes. Typical humans. Give the credit to the most recognizeable one. Not that he cared. He just wanted to kill them all. Superboy could have the glory.

"I'm not Superman," Connor said, sounding less angry and more disappointed than before.

"Tell that to the enemy," the general said, then turned to Kaldur and saluted. "General Wade Eiling! US Airforce!"

"Aqualad, Justice League," Kaldur replied. "We'll help you salvage as many of the aliens' cannons as possible. Then we start taking back what is ours!"

The general nodded, and the team all walked into the Hall of Justice together, looking around at the destroyed statues.

"They're really gone," Robin said.

Megan flew over to her uncle's statue before beginning to weep. Cassius clenched his fists as he felt sorrow begin to well up inside of him again, forcing it back down and forcing it to turn to rage once again. However, just as he did, Megan suddenly leapt away from the statue, then hurled it to the side. Martian Manhunter sat up from below it, looking around in confusion and holding a hand to his head.

"Uncle J'onn!" Megan cried happily.

She flew forward, but Kaldur stepped in between them, stopping her.

"M'gann, check his mind!" Kaldur ordered. "Make sure he is who he appears to be."

"It's him!" Megan said. "He's real! And he's alive!"

"But we saw you get disintegrated!" Connor said. "You and Superman! And everyone!"

"Yes," Manhunter said as Megan helped him stand. "I remember. But...I cannot remember how I survived, or...how I arrived here." He looked down at Megan, who simply smiled.

"Maybe you were density shifting and the beam passed right through you," Megan suggested.

"Scrambling your brains along the way!" Robin added.

"My mind is clouded," Manhunter said, pressing a hand to his head again. "I feel certain I had something important to tell you."

"Hello Wally!" Wally said, thumping himself in the head. "Come on!"

He ran back out to the ship and Robin, Rose, and Cassius followed. He had Robin scan the beam to see how it worked, and what type of energy it was.

"I knew it, look!" Wally said. "It's giving off Zeta beams, the same stuff that powers our Zeta tubes! This thing doesn't disintegrate! It teleports! Artemis is alive!"

"Maybe, but-" Robin began.

"No maybes!" Wally interrupted him. "They're all alive!"

"That must have been what you wanted to tell us!" Megan gasped.

"No!" Cassius snapped, silencing everyone as his rage flooded the connection for a moment before he calmed himself. "It's not a teleporter, Wally! It's a disintegrator! I got hit with them! Parts of me were disintegrated too! Artemis is gone! Cassandra is gone! Everyone is GONE! ! !"

Just then, more ships began to fly overhead. Cassius snarled angrily instantly, spreading his wings.

"And now, I'm going to make them gone!" Cassius snarled, exploding into the air, a pair of enormous goo blades forming from his hands and forearms.

He slashed two of the ships, destroying both, as Kaldur reported they were on the way.

"Negative, we can't win this!" Robin said. "Cassius, fall back! Miss Martian, camo the Bio-Ship and-"

The ship too a hit and was gone. Megan and Manhunter both shouted in pain, collapsing. Cassius roared in pain and spun, sending a hail of goo spikes in every direction before beating his wings hard, streaking into the air just in time to avoid a blast, which hit another ship instead. Then he rolled, slashing several more ships.

"We're falling back!" Robin said. "Cassius, retreat now!"

Cassius ignored him, exploding straight through a ship. As he did, one flew down behind him, only for a rocket to explode into its underside. Rose dropped the rocket tube and grabbed a sniper rifle, firing before even getting it set up, and a ship's propulsion system exploded, sending it crashing to the ground. Cassius grabbed a ship with a pair of goo hands and ripped it in half, hurling the two pieces into two more ships, his entire body now transformed into a goo humanoid.

He dropped, exploding down on a ship as it passed over him and taking it to the ground, leaping off of it before it could explode. As he landed, however, Rose shrieked suddenly. He spun, but she was fine.

"Move!" Rose shrieked as she neared him. "You have to move!"

Cassius looked around, seeing nothing. Then, Rose crashed into him, hurling him away just as a ship above them flipped around with no warning, firing and hitting Rose, rather than Cassius, who had been there a moment before. Cassius's eyes widened as the beam faded. The other ships began to sweep down toward him, but his rage finally boiled over. With a deafening, monstrous roar, his body exploded, a mass of writhing goo tentacles lashing out over and over at the ships, smashing them and sweeping them out of the sky. Several fired, disintegrating sections of his body, but he didn't stop. All of the goo spikes he'd fired, and any tentacles he lost he reclaimed and reformed. Then, finally, he as the ships pulled away to swing around for another pass, he reformed his body inside of the Hall of Justice, sprinting to the Zeta Tube just in time for Manhunter to override the computer and grant him access. Then, he stepped into the tube just as the front wall exploded.


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