Invaded

Chapter Ten: Before The Dawn

Author's Note: Please enjoy.

Star City
March 30
09:57 PM PDT

"Good, they're leading us to Lagoon Boy and the others," Nightwing sighed with relief.

Wonder Girl raised an eyebrow at Nightwing, questioning, "How can you be so sure?"

Nightwing closed the holographic screen from his wrist computer, answering, "Wishful thinking."

"And the abductee shipment at the docks— how'd you know about that?" Wonder Girl persisted.

Nightwing responded quickly, showing no signs of hesitation, "Aquaman came across the intel while searching for La'gaan."

Miss Martian slowed the bio-ship to a complete stop behind a large rock. I leaned forward in my seat, assessing the alien ship from my screen.

"So, that's the Light's partner," I muttered.

"That ship shares the same alien design sensibility as the bombs that destroyed Melina Island and Mount. Justice," Nightwing confirmed.

Wonder Girl squinted at the large, beetle shaped ship, noting, "Kind of reminds me of Blue's armor."

I nodded, silently agreeing. Something tells me the reason why Kaldur had to take Blue Beetle hostage is on that ship. In the flash-dive, Kaldur revealed that the scarab that allows Jaime to access Blue Beetle's armor was of alien origin. Could the Light's partner be the creator of Jaime's scarab?

Nightwing's wrist computer beeped once, signalling an incoming transmission from Robin.

"Miss M, you're up," Nightwing informed.

Miss Martian rose from her pilot seat and used her density shifting to easily ghost through the floor of the bio-ship.

"Alpha Squad, I'm heading into the alien ship. Are you aboard?" Miss Martian questioned.

There was a brief pause before Batgirl answered, "Affirmative. We're in some kind of docking bay. We have visual on the new aliens, aka the Kroloteans' competitor, aka the Light's partner. And we've got another company. It's Aqualad. If he makes us, we're over."

"Maintain your covers and stay low. Kaldur will not be looking for you," I assured them.

"Just don't attract any attention," Nightwing added.

I stood from my seat, taking my position in the pilot chair. I placed my hands on the large orbs that maneuvered the ship.

"I found Gar and Bart. They're unconscious, but alive. No sign of Jaime or La'gaan" Miss Martian informed.

Batgirl quickly added, "We've got eyes on Lagoon Boy and… Shimmer? Plus five civilians and all the teens we came with. We're unsupervised for now, but Blue's still unaccounted for."

I glanced at Nightwing, unsure.

"An escape could trigger a response. Do we wait?" Batgirl questioned.

Nightwing responded firmly, "Negative, Alpha. Make your move before you need rescuing, too."

I added, "You too, Miss M. Get our boys and get out."

"Docking bay secured," Superboy informed.

"Nice timing, handsome," Bumblebee said.

"Beta Squad docking now," I informed, guiding the bio-ship slowly towards the docking bay. After securing the bio-ship in the docking bay, I flew towards the door.

"Alright, people, let's move!" Wonder Girl shouted as an alarmed blared. The teens ran towards us as Wonder Girl and I motioned for them to enter the bio-ship.

I inhaled sharply as Harmony Sato ran past me, entering the bio-ship. Kaldur's intel had explained Hiroshi Sato's involvement with the Light and their partner, but Kaldur had failed to attain any information as to why Hiroshi Sato allowed for his daughter to be a test subject.

"M'gann?" Superboy called out.

I reached out, searching for M'gann only to be stonewalled. Something was wrong.

"Her link is down," I noted.

Superboy groaned before saying, "I'm going in."

Superboy ran through the docking bay's open door only to be thrown back seconds later. Immediately, I flew towards him, helping him onto his feet.

"Apologies, meat, but no one goes anywhere."

I cursed under my breath as the docking bay doors—that led into the bio-ship—shut close, locking us in.

"Listen, uh, Black Beetle, you're totally outnumbered," Wonder Girl said, "Open those doors now and we'll go easy on you."

Black Beetle chuckled as he stood straighter, towering above all of us. Black Beetle asked, "You will go easy on me?"

"Oh, that is not a good sign," Bumblebee noted from behind me as two large beetle clamps emerged from Black Beetle's back.

I yelped as Black Beetle gripped my leg, swinging me over his head before throwing me into Wonder Girl.

Wonder Girl and I then collided into Batgirl and then into the wall.

I grunted, slowly rising onto my feet.

I floated in the air, igniting orbs and aiming it at Black Beetle. I cursed, realizing I couldn't get a good aim unless I flew closer. Quickly, I flew towards Black Beetle, slamming my orbs into his chest.

Black Beetle chuckled before gripping my arms, flying upwards. I grunted as he slammed me repeatedly against the ceiling before stapling me against the ceiling.

Black Beetle landed on the floor, aiming his sonic cannon at me. I cried out as a high, ear piercing frequency erupted in my ears.

I clenched my fists, igniting a massive orb. The two staples that imprisoned me on the ceiling disintegrated as I fell, landing on the floor tiredly.

"What's going on in there?" Beast Boy questioned.

"Don't know. I'm cut off aboard the bio-ship," Nightwing explained.

Shimmer yelled, lunging at me. I ducked, spinning on my heels before kicking Shimmer's back. She fell into the wall, groaning.

I gripped her hair, repeatedly slamming her face into the wall.

"We're fighting Black Beetle and Shimmer. Lagoon Boy, Robin, and Bumblebee are already down and—Phe, look out!" Wonder Girl shouted.

I turned around just in time for Superboy's body to slame, hard, into me. I groaned, slamming into the metal door of the docking bay.

"Phoenix? Phoenix!" Wonder Girl called out; her voice was distorted, sounding far away.

"Superboy and Phoenix are down! It's just Batgirl and me now," Wonder Girl informed.

"The drive really does explain everything," I whispered, peering over Dick's shoulder as he continued to decrypt the files. We had sat in silence—until now—in Dick's Bludhaven apartment. Dick had invited me over to help him decrypt the file, but I knew it was just his way of asking me to keep him company.

"Do you think Wally's right?" Dick asked, placing his laptop on his coffee table.

I leaned back, standing straight from my position behind the couch.

"Wally is wrong," I stated firmly, "Kaldur would not double cross us over bad DNA."

Dick rose slowly, turning to face me. I noticed the tiredness in his eyes, something that was not there months ago.

There once was a time when we enjoyed these missions—when we learned something from them. Now, they were wearing us down and causing us to drift apart from the same family we had formed from them.

"What if he really snapped, Ash?" Dick pondered.

"It's Kaldur we're talking about," I reasoned.

"The same Kaldur who lost Tula," Dick countered.

"Because Black Manta killed her," I reminded the raven.

"Tula was his first love," Dick reminded me softly.

I scoffed, "Would you go this far for your first love?"

Dick paused, hesitating before asking, "Would you?"

I slowly opened my eyes to find Wonder Girl peering at me, inches away. She sighed, smiling brightly, uttering, "Oh, thank Hera."

"How long was I out?" I questioned, slowly sitting upwards. My body felt drained; I was dangerously low on my energy reserves. It had been almost two days since I had actually rested for more than a few hours.

"Roughly twenty minutes, give or take. The mission was successful," Batgirl answered from somewhere behind me.

Slowly, I eased off the cot, standing on my own two feet. "Is everyone okay?" I asked.

"As okay as possible," Batgirl answered.

Batgirl was right. We had just successfully rescued a group of teenagers who had been abducted by aliens to be used as experiments. They were going to need therapeutic attention, as well as medical.

I glanced around the cargo hold of the bio-ship, noticing all the tired faces of the teenagers we had rescued. Some were asleep while others stared at me in awe.

"You're all safe now," I promised before walking towards the helm of the bio-ship, rubbing my temples tiredly.

Star City
March 31
06:40 AM PDT

"By now they'll have moved their ship. Plus, there's still the Beetle connection to figure out," Nightwing paused, "but you can tell the world they're here. Their secret invasion is no secret anymore."

Captain Atom nodded, agreeing before Aquaman interjected, "That would be an understatement."

Live news feed of the United Nations building in New York began broadcasting on all of our screens.

"Repeating today's top story: a small group of extraterrestrials, the Reach, have arrived at United Nations headquarters in New York City. For more on this, we go live to GBS' own G. Gordon Godfrey at the UN," Cat Grant summarized.

"Thanks, Cat," G. Gordon Godfrey smirked, "And, yes folks, it seems Earth's finally met some aliens who know how to get it right."

The camera zoomed in on Secretary Tseng shaking hands with the Reach's alien ambassador.

"The Reach comes to your world as friends. We come with open arms, extending our hands—our reach, if you will, to help," the alien ambassador explained.

The camera returned its focus on Godfrey. "Well, thumbs up to the Reach. Oh, I know what you're thinking. Ol' G. Gordon's gone soft on the spacemen, but don't you see this is exactly how aliens should come to Earth: knocking on our front door, not sneaking in the back like some Leaguers we know."

Aquaman paused the feed as Captain Atom crossed his arms over his chest, visibly annoyed.

I chuckled, admitting, "I have to hand it to them. They're quite brilliant. Before we warn the public and label them as enemies, they go public and get labeled as friendlies."

Captain Atom cupped his chin, momentarily lost in thought.

"It could be worse," Aquaman argued, before adding, "At least we know exactly where they are."

Nightwing nodded, agreeing, "That's right. We know what we're up against."

Captain Atom sighed before nodding and ending his transmission.

Nightwing and I both sighed, exhausted, as we stared at each other through the transmission.

"It's late," I noted, removing my mask and rubbing my eyes.

"I know, I just wanted to say that you did good today," Nightwing smiled softly, removing his own mask.

"We," I corrected the former Boy Wonder, "We did good today. Get some sleep, Dick."

Nightwing yawned, muttering a goodbye before ending his transmission.

I stood, yawning loudly as I stretched my hands over my head. It had been such a tiresome day and I was finally able to get some much needed rest.

I flew up the stairs of the Arrow Cave that led to the Queen Manor library. As I landed on the final step, my wrist computer beeped loudly, signalling an incoming transmission.

I lifted my wrist; I furrowed my brow, hesitating at the unknown caller. If someone had managed to hack into the League's secure—very secure, Batman had made sure of it—network, it couldn't have been anyone that wasn't an ally to us.

But why were they calling me?

Slowly, I clicked the green accept icon. There was a brief moment of static before the connection was secured.

I gasped in shock as a face came into view.

"I heard you're in need of some assistance."