Chapter 28
A/N: I just own this story, nothing else!
/comm/
Telepathy
"'Bee's voice"
The Green Lanterns, minus Emerald, flew out towards a ship going past Earth's moon. Fallowed by Batman's own spaceship. "Deploying Camera sensor units."
"Hault. You are entering Earth Space, disengage all weapons and engines, this is your final warning," the Lanters said before a beam shot out of the ship, breaking their shields and disintergrating them.
"Code Red, all offenses deploy!" Batman said opening the hatch dropping Martian Manhunter, Superman, Captain Atom, and Captain Marvel.
The ship fired out tow more beams, fallowing the incoming heroes, catching Manhunter and Superman first before getting Marvel and Atom. One hit the Batship and Batman ejected out. One fighter flew over to his ecaspe pod, open firing.
-.-
Oct 20, Mt. Justice
The team stood watching the scene unfold as Zatara and Optimus commed in. /Tornado…did you…?/ Zatara asked.
"Yes, Zatara, celestial defenses have failed," Tornado replied.
/I've already initiated all terrestrial measures/ Optimus said. /Get to your stations, we cannot allow these things to win/
"I must join the League, we will protect the planet at all costs. But if we fail, the task will fall to you," Red Tornado said once they hung up.
"We stand ready," Aqualad stated.
-.-
Central City
"This is Iris West-Allen reporting live. The extraterrestrials have brought their relentless global attack to Central City—" she stopped as a ship flew down and vaporized a dozen people behind her. One aiamed at her before a red blurr ran by and grabbed her, and Zatara used his magic to grab her cameraman.
"You should both be safe here," Zatara said.
"Thank you Flash…and Zatara," Iris nodded as Flash put a hand on her shoulder before going back out.
"Etativel em won!" Zatara said flying up
"Denny you ok?" Iris asked and he gave a thumbs-up. "As you can see the Justice League is attempting to hold them off—!" A ship flew down, destroying the roof atara and Flash were on. "No!"
Another ship flew down and vaporized her and her cameraman.
-.-
Jasper
Optimus fired his ion cannons at the incoming ships as Arcee transformed off a roof, landing on one making another fire at it before repeating the process. As she leapt off one ship shot through her armor's torso, her lifeless form falling to the ground with a gaping hole in the chest where Arcee was supposed to be inside.
Nearby Bulkhead was swinging his wrecking balls, destroying any ship that got too close, two flew up in front of him and he charged with a battle cry. What he failed to notice was the one coming up behund him, shooting through his armor like they did Arcee.
"Ratchet! Get the civilians out of here!" Optimus commanded, ducking behind a building.
Nodding, the medic transformed and pulled as many people into the ambulance as he could. Driving through the streets avoiding ships he made a wrong turn, and like the others he vehicle and those inside were gone.
Prime ducked under another shot, rolling to his feet and shooting down another ship. Racing forwards he lifted it and hurled it into another making it explode. Grabbing several more vehicles he tossed them each into a ship.
Turning he had barely just enough time to bail from his armor as a lazer ripped right through it. Getting to his feet, he turned to see one looming in front of him before it open fired.
-.-
Taipei
The Hawks dove under a crashing ship before one came up from behind and vaporized them. On the ground, Green Arrow and Black Canary fought them off, sending arrows and screams to throw them off course.
Unfortunately, it wasn't enough as soon they too met the same fate as the rest.
-.-
Smallville
Wonder Woman spun around, releasing the ship trapped in the rope as she hurled it into another.
"Wonder Woman! Above you!" Tornado called as one shot at her.
Seeing his teammate fail to get out of the way, Tornado flew out and over the city as the mothership landed. "Red Tornado to Cave, I fear that I am all the remains of the League," he said as he too fell.
-.-
Cave
"We are Earth's heroes now," Aqualad said as they watched the news feeds.
"What are we waiting on? Theme song?" Superboy growled.
"No, what we need is a strategy," Bumblebee replied.
"Our weapons are ineffective, not even Lantern rings or Autobot tech could stop them," Emerald stated. "There has to be something that works against them."
"Checking satellite imagery," Robin said pulling up a map with dozens of red zones on it. "Here's where the aliens are now."
"That one get lost?" Superboy asked pointing to one singe ship in the arctic.
"It's Superman's Fortress of Solitude!" Robin gasped.
"Superman has a Fortress of Solitude?" Conner gaped.
"The powersource must've gotten their attention, at least enough to send a scout to investigate," 'Bee stated.
"Must be some fortress."
"It houses a lot of alien tech that the League believes needs to be kept out of the hands of evil," Erica said.
"Em," M'gann scolded.
"It's ok, I guess there's a lot of things about Superman I'll never know…you know…now," he shrugged.
"To fight the enemy we must study them," Emerald said. "We should go after this loner, capture and study, this way we can make weapons to fight back."
"Yea! We should hit those ugly aliens where it hurts!" Wally agreed.
Artemis elbowed him. "Martian, Kryptonian, and Cybertronian in the house," she reminded and he paled at seeing the three extra-terrestrials looking at him.
"Not that all aliens are automatically ugly," he sweatdropped.
You really should think before you speak Wally," Erica scolded.
-.-
Artic
The lone ship sat in front of the fortress, seemng to be waiting for someone to come out.
Artemis ducked behind a drift in her snowgear as Emerald hid on the other side in her regular uniform, each waiting for the signal.
Bumblebee appeared from the drifts and slid under the craft, placing his hand on it electricity sparked as it fritzed out. "Communications and propulsion disabled," he informed rolling out from under it as it fell to the ground.
Artemis moved into the gap and shot an arrow, foam covering the ship's entrance. "And ETs are sealed inside!" she said as it fired a few shots randomly, each barely missing her and the White Lantern.
Aqualad looked up and borke the ice as he emerged, making the ship stuck in the frozen landscape. As he landed on part of the craft the cannon turned towards him, but was knocked aside, the shot missing as Moonnight and Wolf slammed into it, Starburst riding contentedly on Moonnight's back.
Superboy leapt out and grabbed the connon, holding it still as the others rushed over. "Determining weapon structural stress points and links to the ship…here, here, and here," Robin pointed as Miss M appeared and used her telekinesis to hit the points.
Conner began pulling two pieces falling out behind him, whining as they activated. Wolf and Moonight perked up, seeing what was about to happen the two knocked him out of the way, vaporizing all three pets.
"Wolf."
"Moonknight."
"Starburst."
"There was no indication of feedback, I'm sorry," Robin sighed.
"Nothing we can do now," Superboy said going back and finally ripping the cannon off.
M'gann called the bioship over and Superboy set it down as she and 'Bee got to work intergrating the new tech with the ship's systems.
"Rerouting systems to intergrate cannon, we'll have to decamouflage for this," M'gann informed.
"We might not have a few minutes!" Robin said as three more ships flew over.
"Miss Martian open fire!"
"Can't all Bioship weapons are offline till the new weapon is installed, and that's not done yet!" 'Bee growled.
"We got ya covered! Get inside we're almost there!" Artemis and Emerald said.
Firing two arrows, Artemis shot down two of the ships as Emerald crushed the third with a giant hammer. As Artemis ran back towards the ship, one of the fallen ships turned its cannon on her, and fired before anyone could even warn her.
"ARTEMIS!" M'gann and Wally screamed.
Emerald looked down and fired a ray of pure energy from her ring, demolishing the ship that killed her teammate. Hearing more she turned to see five others coming at her. Shooting at them, she made a shield and completely shot through one, tearing it apart from the inside out. Coming out she shot two beams at the others, hitting their cannons, making them explode. A sword appeared in her hand, and she sliced the engines off one, letting it fall to the ground as she attacked the other, using another construct to completely smash it. The one that crashed turned its cannon up at her, the beam hitting the enraged White Lantern.
"EMERALD!" Wally screamed as 'Bee stood there completely frozen with wide, horrified eyes.
"Get inside all of you!" Aqualad ordered as he pulled out his water bearers, using them to shatter the ice the ship landed on, making ice spikes that ripped through it.
"They're dead, every last one of them, if it's the last thing I do!" Wally snarled shaking with rage.
-.-
The team sat in silence as they coped with the loss of two of their teammates. M'gann cried as Wally slammed his fist down on the controls near him repeatedly crying out in anger.
"Enough," Bumblebee said standing up. "We can mourn later, for now we must put out emotions aside and put the mission first."
Wally shot to his feet. "HOW CAN YOU SAY THAT?! EMERALD WAS MY COUSIN! YOUR BEST FRIEND! DID YOU NOT CARE FOR HER AT ALL?!" he screamed before a harsh smack resounded throughout the ship.
Wally and the team stared at Bumblebee in shock, the speedster holding his cheek from where his teammate backhanded him, his face remaining a stoic mask that almost put Batman and Optimus to shame. "Get ahold of yourself, now is not the time to be letting your emotions interfere with the mission objective. Believe it or not, we are at war. And to ensure their sacrifies were not in vain we must continue the mission, no matter what happens or who gets killed, that's the way war works," he stated harshly, the many millennia of conflict darkening his features and showing an ancient look in his eye that they'd never seen before. The look of someone who'd seen things that no one ever should.
"Back to the cave?" Miss Martian asked.
"The Hall of Justice," Aqualad said. "The human race must know there are still heroes defending them. There is still hope."
-.-
Washington DC
"OPEN FIRE!" a General shouted. The army began shooting at the incoming ships.
Spinning out of the way, the ships shot at them, making the soldiers run as the tank line was hit.
The Bioship flew up behind the three vessels and opened a hole for Bumblebee and Superboy to leap out. Supeboy landed on one, punching the top in, making it fall to the ground. Bumblebee literally used his momentum to fall through the ship, deactivating it as he went, coming out the bottom, he swung back up onto the next, ripping out the cannon and turning it onto the fallen ship and then onto the ship he was on, leaping onto the ground as it vaporized itself.
Superboy and Bumblebee stood before the cheering soldiers as the Bioship landed, letting the others get out.
"See, it is Superman, told ya he wouldn't leave us hanging," one guy smiled.
"Don't know…he looks a little young," another guy commented.
"I'm not Superman," Superboy clarified.
"I don't know who you are son, and I don't care. You wear the S and you got the job done," the General said saluting as Aqualad and the others let their most experienced with the military step forwards.
"I'm not Superman…"
"Tell that to the enemy," he said turning to salute to Bumblebee as he stepped up. "General Wade Ely US Air Force."
"Bumblebee, Autobot Scout, Justice League," he replied doing the Cybertronian salute in return, making a fist and placing over one's spark. "We'll help you salvage as many of the aliens' ships as we can, then we start taking back what is ours."
After a few hours of work the team walked into the remains of the Hall of Justice, looking around in shock. "They're really gone," Robin said quietly.
Miss Martian flew up to the fallen statue of her uncle and began crying. As she wept, she almost jumped as a hand fell on her shoulder, looking up she saw Bumblebee looking down at her, a hint of empathy in his unusually cold eyes. "Remember what I said, don't let your emotions affect your judgement," he cautioned before turning and walking away.
She looked at him as he left, starting to see the coldhearted, ruthless soldier that was forged in him, not the caring, good-humored, quiet teammate who always had time to listen to what you had to say. She was so wrapped up in her throughts, she almost didn't detect a familiar mind brush her own. Flying back, she lifted the fallen statue of her uncle to find her uncle under it, holding his head in pain. "Uncle J'ohn!" she exclaimed tossing the rock aside and started moving towards him before 'Bee jumped in the way, aiming a blaster at his head.
"M'gann, check his mind! Make sure he is who he appears to be," Aqualad ordered.
"It's him! He's real! He's alive!" she said.
"But we saw you get disintergrated, you and Superman, and everyone!" Superboy snapped.
"Yes…I remember…but, I cannot remember how I survived…or how I got here," he said.
"Maybe you were density shifting and the beam passed right through you!" M'gann smiled.
"Scrambling your brains along the way!" Robin added and 'Bee lowered his gun.
"My mind is clouded…I was sure there was something I was supposed to tell you…" Manhunter said.
"Hello Wally! C'mon!" he said and Robin and Bumblebee fallowed him out to the Bioship where they scanned the cannon. "I knew it! Look! It's giving off Zeta Beams! The same thing that powers out Zeta Tubes! These things don't decintergrate, they teleport! Artemis and Emerald are alive!"
"It's possible, and explains why the sparkbond with Dad hasn't severed…but—" 'Bee began before Wally whipped towards him.
"Like I asked for your opinion!"
"Don't get cocky Wallace West, it could be the last thing you ever do, trust me. I know from personal experience," 'Bee growled rubbing his throat, before going to the front line to stand watch.
"That must be what you were going to tell us!" M'gann said.
"We've bogies incoming!" 'Bee called.
"On our way!" Aqualad said.
"No! We can't win this! Miss Martian camouflage the Bioship!" Robin said before a beam hit the ship and both Martians were tossed to the ground in pain.
"That…didn't feel like…" she stuttered as Superboy helped her up.
"Everyone! Fall back!" Bumblebee commanded.
"Dude! What are you doing?!" Wally said staring as 'Bee pulled out a few granades, a sword, and two whips.
"Not everyone will make it out of this alive. I will buy you as much time as I can so you can evacuate as many people as you can," he answered.
"Bumblebee! We cannot allow you to go through with this," Aqualad said.
"Kaldur, this is how it works in war, I've already seen two of my teams die, please don't let me see you become the third. Besides, this is what I was trained to do. Till all are one," 'Bee said before slamming his mental walls, kicking the telepathic link out.
The level B technopath connected with all the vehicles in front of the Hall. Opening his violet eyes with a roar they all transformed and started attacking the ships. He himself leapt onto one, ripping the roof off before tossing a grenade in, sealing it, and leaping to another and repeated the process several more times till he ran out of granades. The ships exploded bits crashing into each other and ships that weren't bombed.
"Whoa…" Wally said as the team stared at the destruction their teammate wrought, watching as he leapt up and punched one ship down, swinging to another with a whip and using a sword to cut the engines off. Nearby the tanks fired, sending multiple missiles into the ships.
"Let's go!" Aqualad said leading them inside. "We can all Zeta to the cave. If you can grant us computer clearance."
"I can only authorize one at a time," Manhunter replied.
"Then we'll send the soldiers first," Aqualad said.
"Belay that! You're all assests we cannot afford to lose!" Generald Ely snapped.
"Override. Martain Manhunter—07."
"Recognized. Access granted…Miss Martian—B08…Robin—B01…Kid Flash—B04…"
The wall caved in and Bumblebee stumbled to his feet, his mask gone, revealing a set of fangs set in a snarl, a bit of his glowing, blue blood trickling out of the corner of his mouth. Aqualad tossed KF through the portal before he could do anything as the Cybertronian and soldiers continued to distract the aliens. Bumblebee lifted a rock off one guy's leg, allowing Superboy to grab the injured soldier. Hurling the rock it's sheer size allowed it to rip through two ships.
"He goes next," Superboy said.
"Fine, then you," Aqualad said.
"Private Jason Barnes USMC."
"Thanks Superman," he said stumbling through the portal.
"Superboy—B09," the computer said as Superboy looked back to see 'Bee hurl his sword through one ship as it fired its beam at him, finally taking down the scout. Gulping he jumped through, hoping Aqualad and Manhunter weren't far behind.
"They need you more than me! Go!" Aqualad said tossing Manhunter through the portal as the shot rate from the enemy spiked as Bumblebee was no longer there to draw their fire.
-.-
Mt. Justice
"Our next mission is clear, if we believe the aliens are teleporting their victims—" Robin began.
"We do," Wally interrupted.
"Then the only reasonable detention facility is here," Robin said pulling up the image, "their mothership. On top of what used to be Smallville. Ring any bells?"
"No, I'm sorry," Manhunter replied.
"Superboy, you'll do what Bumblebee did, be the distraction so the rest of us can get inside," Robin said.
"No! He's offering you as a sacrifice! Aqualad would never do that!" Miss M protested.
"No. Aqualad would sacrifice himself," Robin said. "A mistake that just cost us our leader and our most experienced player in the terms or warfare! Bumblebee is right! We must continue the mission at all costs, no matter what happens. Superboy is the most likely to be perceived as a threat, motivating the aliens to deploy."
"Worst case he's teleported inside, and we set him free along with Artemis, Emerald, and everyone else," Wally added.
"It's ok Megan, it's what Superman would do," he consouled.
-.-
"The one thing the aliens cannot destroy is hope," Miss M said as they broadcasted throughout the world.
"Hope survives as long as even one of us is willing to fight!" Superboy said.
"It doesn matter how many fall, for new heroes will always rise to take their place," Kid Flash said. "Bringing all their resources, their ideas, their skills, their talents to help defeat the enemy."
"The people of Earth will survive this, we rebuild and we will thrive! Never doubt, never give in, and never forget the Earth will never surrender!" Robin said.
-.-
Smallville
"Stay close to J'ohn," Robin said as M'gann walked up. "He's still a little off." She nodded. "First team! Deploy!"
Miss Martain and Martian Manhunter flew up in camouflage mode, density shifting through the walls to get inside. "Ready and in position," M'gann informed. "Be careful Conner. I love you."
Robin nodded to Superboy and he leapt out with a battel cry, landing on the ship, ripping out cannons as he went. "ALRIGHT YOU GLOFIED TRESPASSERS! WANNA SEE HOW A REAL ALIEN DOES IT?!" he shouted the cannon he was holding fired, taking out several more cannons he aimed it at. The docking bay opened the ships began to pour out. "Now or never!"
Robin rode on KF's back as he raced into the ship. Hiding behind a column they looked to see a robot drone fly by. "You've gotta be kidding me," Wally groaned. "Of course, we realize all the aliens are tech when out tech powerhouse gets himself teleported!"
One flew up behind them, and prepared to fire only to be telekinetically crushed as the Martians flew over.
Outside Superboy was starting to tire from holding the heavy cannon, one shot got lucky, hitting the cannon and knocking him back, before another beam hit him from behind.
Miss Martian stumbled and grabbed her head in pain. "No…he's gone!" she said collapsing to her knees.
"Don't worry! We'll find him with Artemis and Em, you'll see," Wally consoled.
"No. My mind is clearer now, the disintegration beam is just that. There is no detention facility, no prisoners to rescue, our mission hold no purpose," Manhunter stated.
"NO! You're wrong! The Zeta radiation proves they're alive! They're—!"
"Stop it KF!" Robin snapped grabbing him. "I've been scanning for League, Team, and Autobot signals since we got here, they aren't here. Emerald and Artemis are gone. But our mission still holds a purpose, to destroy this mothership." They began on their way, running for the powersource. "This is it! Blow this and the whole ship goes!" Robin and Kid leapt onto another platform, starting to feel the gravity coming from it trying to pull them in. as their grip slipped they grabbed on another ledge, and Robin released the bombs he had on him onto the ground. Miss M lowered them to the core allowing them to set the bombs.
"You knew, you knew from the beginning why we were really here," Wally realized.
"I knew from the moment we lost the Bioship. Four minutes, lets go."
Racing for the doors they stopped to see that they locked down and that they had aleans coming at them from behind. "Perfect."
Dodging behind a wall, Robin looked at his watch. "Sixteen seconds and counting. Manhunter, take Miss Martian and get out of here!"
"No! We aren't leaving you!"
"That's an order!" Robin said. "We'll fallow as soon as we blow those doors."
The two left and they looked at the clock that was getting into the final ten seconds. "Till all are one," Robin quoted the Autobot motto, Wally nodded and both ran out to engage the enemy as the ship exploded.
"Don't," M'gann said. "Don't tell me the mission was a success. The price was too high." A shadow passed over them and Megan looked up to her horror to see another mothership had arrived. "No, no, no, no, no! we have to get out of here! Now!"
"No, we have to end this," Manhunter replied before shoving his fist straight through her abdomen.
-.-
The teens sat up with gasps and groans. Wally was leaning heavily of Captain Marvel, Aqualad was lying down with his head to his fist. Conner was petting Wold and Erica was trying not to get smothered by Moonknight. Artemis was being helped up by Red Tornado. Robin was sitting on the edge of his bench, sweat running down his face. Bumblebee sat silently, looking down at the ground, Starburst nudging his hand trying to get his attention.
"You're all alive!" M'gann exclaimed.
"What happened in there?" Optimus asked as Manhunter leaned against him for support.
"The exercise…it all went wrong."
"Exercise?" Robin asked.
"Try to remember," Batman encouraged. "What you experienced was a training exercise. Manhunter psychically linked you all in an artificial reality. You all knew it going in. what you didn't know was that it was a train for failure exercise. No matter what the team accomplished, the scenario was designed to get worse. Still you were aware, nothing was real. Including the deaths of the entire Justice League."
"That is why you hardly grieved, even when Wolf, Moonknight, and Starburst were killed before your eyes," Manhunter said. "But all that changed when Artemis and Emerald died. Though consciously Miss Martian was aware that it wasn't real, her subconscious could not make that distinction. She forgot it was only a simulation, and her subconscious took over, making all of you forget as well."
"I…I'm so, so sorry!" she said.
"This isn't her fault! Why didn't you stop the exercise?" Conner asked.
"We tried, but M'gann had…a deathgrip on it. Even Artimes and Erica who should've awakened upon their deaths, were so convinced that they had passed, slipped into a coma. I realized that I would have to take control from within, but upon my arrival, I was overwhelmed by your collective emotion. There was too much noise to think clearly…to remember why I was there. The deaths of Aqualad and Superboy helped. But it was only once Kid Flash and Robin were silenced, did my mind clear enough to remember why I was there: to shock M'gann out of the exercise. Before your comas became permanent. My apologizes, I had no idea a training exercise could be so dangerous…so damaging…"
They looked at M'gann who was crying into Arcee's shoulder. Emerald glanced at Bumblebee who hadn't even twitched throughout the explanation, he just continued looking down at the floor, ignoring Starburst's worried whines.
"As bad as all that?" Batman asked.
"Perhaps worse."
"Yet this isn't what troubles you," Optimus frowned.
"Make no mistake, my niece is untrained and cannot be held responsible for this…for our debacle."
"No one blames her, but clearly we underestimated her abilities," Red Tornado said.
"You understated. In terms of raw power there is only one person whose mind I've encountered is stronger than hers and that is Soundwave."
