Longest freaking chapter I've ever written...I did this all yesterday for you guys! All right, let me go back to sleep now...

Mount Justice

October 16, 16: 01 EDT

The whole Team watched the computer screen, which was showing the newscast, in silence. An alien invasion was going on, and Red Tornado had told us to stay at the Cave until we were needed.

Iris West-Allen, Barry Allen's wife, was reporting from Central City. She was in a war zone, and she knew it. When an alien blast was directed at her, I saw Flash, Barry; get her out of the way with his super speed. Zatara appeared, taking the cameraman away form the blast, and Iris and Flash appeared next to him after a few moments.

I watched as Barry went to save about fifty civilians from an alien blast, but he got disintegrated. We all watched in horror as Iris, too, had gotten a blast on the back. I looked at Kid, and his eyes were stoic.

"They were both very brave." I told him.

"Maybe too brave…" He replied.

I sighed, and the newscast woman changed the scene from Central City to Taipei. This is when the screen really got my attention. I saw Ollie and Dinah fighting like crazy, trying to save civilians all around them. But there were too many to save, too many to protect, and soon…they were gone, too.

The Hawks, Green Arrow, and Black Canary had been disintegrated.

Dinah was gone. My mother was gone again. Ollie was gone. Artemis, and I's father abandoned us again. A horrible feeling settled in my stomach, and I knew that Robin, Kid Flash, and Artemis were feeling it, too.

"Ladies and gentlemen, we've lost Black Canary, Green Arrow, and the Hawks. Other heroes reported dead or missing include Batman, Icon, Atom, and Aquaman." The news reporter announced.

I snuck a worried look at Robin; we had witnessed the disintegration of Batman earlier on the day. He was acting as if he wasn't hurt by the situation. I took Robin's hand, and squeezed comfortingly. I felt him squeeze back.

The scene changed, and we saw Diana, Wonder Woman, using her lasso to fight back. She was holding on for so long, and so well, that I thought we would have a chance. Diana was an Amazon, after all. But she was soon disintegrated, and Red Tornado was, too.

"We are Earth's heroes, now." Aqualad turned to all of us.

"So what are we waiting for?" Superboy frowned. "A theme song?"

I would have laughed if the situation hadn't been so upsetting. Aqualad shook his head, "We need a strategy. Earth's weapons are ineffective, and it had been made tragically clear that a direct attack will not succeed."

"Checking satellite imagery." Robin let go of my hand to open his arm computer. I felt unprotected, but in reality, I really was.

A holographic image of the globe was turned on, and it showed all the places that were alien infested. "These are all the places the aliens are on now." Robin informed us.

"This one get lost?" Superboy deadpanned, pointing to a stray red dot in the northern Atlantic.

Robin shook his head. He was not convinced that it was lost, and neither was I. "That's Superman's Fortress of Solitude."

"Superman has a fortress of solitude?" Superboy's eyes widened.

"Oh, sweetheart," I cooed. "He has it in case he turns bad."

I kept forgetting that Clark never really told Conner anything, especially anything to do with him turning bad. Superman couldn't ruin his image.

"Its power source must have attracted the aliens' attention." Robin said. "At least enough to send a scout ship to investigate."

"We will target this lone ship." Aqualad gave us our orders.

"Yeah! Break it down, build more, and hit those ugly aliens with their own mojo!" I knew Wally was enraged of his uncle and aunt most probably dying. He was seeking revenge.

Artemis hit Kid's shoulder, "Martian and Kryptonian in the house!" Conner and M'Gann were looking at Wally expectantly, waiting for an apology. Oh, I knew the feeling. I looked at Robin, smirking, and thinking about when he and I had fought. Robin gave me a sheepish smile; he knew what I was thinking about.

"Uh," Wally stuttered. "Not that all aliens are automatically ugly!"

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"Change into polar stealth!" Aqualad commanded us, pressing a button in his suit, and instantly changing the colour to white.

Everyone else soon followed suit, and so did I. Since my uniform was already white, and covered my whole body, I only had to turn on the heat inside of my costume. I looked over at everyone, and my eyes stopped to gaze at Robin.

His costume had changed to white and light greys. He had a white full-face leather mask on, and it seemed to be a bit too small. Dick kept trying to make it cover his whole face, like it was supposed to.

The polar stealth suit was just a premature sample; it wasn't supposed to work perfectly. Even though it was stupid that the suit didn't fit him too well, Dick looked absolutely adorable.

"Uh, D?" Robin pulled the leather mask, finally placing it right on his face. "Why are you staring at me?"

The rest of the Team smirked knowingly at me. "Uh, no reason!" I stuttered, opening the bioship's hatch. "Let's just get to work."

Artemis and I went out first, hiding behind two large rocks. The alien ships were right in front of us all, but they wouldn't notice us. I slid down to the ground, crouching low. I took out my foam darts, and Artemis notched an arrow on her bow.

Miss Martian made one of the alien ship's ends explode. 'Communications disabled.' She announced. 'Propulsion disabled.'

Artemis and I took our fighting stances, and fired the foam arrow and darts. Instantly, the alien ship started shooting at all of our directions. Artemis and I moved out of the way, a big hole made by the alien blast in between us.

'And E.T's are sealed inside!' Artemis, and I exclaimed at the same time.

I watched as Aqualad came up from the water behind the alien ship. He used his heightened strength to jump on the ship and make it almost fall into the water. The alien ship took aim to blast Aqualad, but Wolf and Superboy jumped, making the alien ship's blaster look the other way.

Robin and Kid ran from the east side of the alien ship, and the Wonder Boy hacked the ship. 'Identifying weapon structural stress points and links to the ship.'

Robin pointed to three key places, and Miss Martian blasted them with a little telekinesis power. All of a sudden, as if in fast-forward, Wolf jumped behind Superboy…and he disappeared.

'Wolf!' I exclaimed in in shocked horror.

I ran out of Artemis and I's hiding spot, trying to reach the place where Wolf had been disintegrated. 'There was no indication of feedback…I'm sorry…'

When I reached the guys, Conner looked at me in sympathy. He knew I had bonded with Wolf, as well. 'There's nothing we can do for him now.'

Superboy used his super strength to take out the next alien blaster. Robin took my hand again, and the warmth filled my body comfortingly. He stared at me for a few seconds, just gazing into my eyes. I tried ignoring my hammering heart.

"Wolf learned a lot from you and Superboy. He protected Conner, just like a real hero." He smiled.

"You always know what to say, Wonder Boy." I grinned back. Robin could make me feel happy, even though Dinah, Ollie, and Wolf were gone. Even though we were no responsible for the Earth's fate.

Miss Martian integrated the alien ship's blaster into the bioship, so now we could defend ourselves. She de-camouflaged the bioship, and we all huddled around her. That's when the other alien ships got into visual distance.

'We may not have a few minutes!' Robin let go of my hand, reaching for his birdarangs.

I instantly thought back to Artemis, and how she wasn't in the circle with us. I needed to go find her. I took off running to where Artemis was last hiding, but since my force field would not work to defend myself from the alien's blasts, I needed to be extra careful.

'Miss Martian, open fire!' Aqualad commanded.

M'Gann said that she couldn't yet, that the systems of the blaster and the bioship were still trying to join together. That's when I took a fighting stance in the middle of my run, and Artemis came to stand next to me.

'I'll cover you guys!' I shouted in my mind, and was just about to shoot my smaller force fields, going on the offense, when I was pushed out of the way. The alien's blaster was just about to disintegrate me, but Artemis had jumped in my way.

She'd disappeared as fast as I saw her take my place, and I could only lay in the snow, a shocked expression in my face.

"Artemis!" M'Gann screamed at the top of her lungs, and a shiver went up my spine. Artemis had been like a big sister to me. My big sister was gone.

"Artemis!" I heard Wally shouting from far behind me, but I barely could hear it. Everything was muffled, and I felt like my muscles were lead, they wouldn't move.

I couldn't…Why Artemis?

I saw Aqualad with his water swords, chopping a big chunk of ice off, and I felt the cold snow sprinkle on my face. "Get inside! All of you!" Kaldur commanded, coming to stand in front of me.

Kaldur took hold of my upper arms, making me stand up, and pushed me toward the bioship. That's when I ran; I kept looking back at the scene behind me, where Artemis had disappeared. But I couldn't be there anymore. I needed to get away.

I ran into the bioship, my lungs burning from the sharp cold in the air. The freezing temperatures seemed to drop, but I wasn't sure if it was real. It could have been my imagination for all I knew.

I slowed down when I was inside the bioship, and I took notice of M'Gann's incontrollable tears. Wally was enraged, pacing back and forth, and turning to glare at me occasionally. Conner was looking out of the window, stoic expression on. Robin didn't seem to be affected by the loss of our teammate, except for that faint sad expression that outlined his features.

"You!"Wally grabbed me by the arms, and an explosion went off in the distance. "You let her die! Why didn't you put up a force field? Why didn't you stop time? YOU COULD HAVE DONE SOMETHING!"

I felt tears trickle down my face, but I pushed the speedster away from me angrily. "I was shocked, okay? Everything happened so fast, I didn't have time to think!"

"You could have done something…" Wally muttered back, as if suddenly all his energies had been ripped away. "Just anything…As long as she was alive…"

"I—" Tears fell down harder, and faster. "I'm—sorry…"

I knew that it was my fault. Artemis could still be alive, and well, if I had done anything for her. I could have stopped time, thrown her away from the blast with a force field, not let her push me away. If I had died, she could still be here.

I was a superhero; I was supposed to give my live to the innocent. I was supposed to have not let Artemis die for me. I wanted to do nothing more than to let other people live, even if it meant taking my own life. But how could I call myself a hero if my best friend, my sister, had just died in my name?

I felt strong arms wrap around my body, and I instantly crumpled beneath my best friend. I fell down to the floor, on my knees, and with Dick's arms surrounding me. He was protecting me, and he was glaring at Wally as if he had done something unforgivable.

"Wally, you better watch your words." Robin glared harder. "You know as well as I do that Diana would have done anything to save—"

I pressed a hand against Dick's lips, and numbly noticed the faint kiss he gave my fingers. "Robin, Wally's right…Its' my fault. Artemis would still be alive if I had thought faster…if I had been quicker."

Wally's eyes were cast downward at my last word. He was the fastest boy alive, but even he couldn't save Artemis.

"But—" Robin started.

I gave him a hard look, and went to sit down on my seat. Aqualad came into the bioship, looking accomplished, but heavily devastated. We all took our seats, and M'Gann started flying the bioship.

Halfway through the bioship ride, I started hearing M'Gann's wails yet again. Wally was punching the table in front of him, shouting in outrage. The rest of us were silent. There was one seat that was left unoccupied, but I couldn't bring myself to stare at it.

Heavy tears were sliding down my face, but I stayed quiet. It was a skill of mine. When I was little, and I started crying, I would have to remain silent unless I wanted my father to shout at me some more. He always called me a crybaby; maybe that's why I haven't cried in last four years.

I watched as Robin stretched his hand to hold mine, he was sitting beside me at the front of the bioship. He didn't say anything; he just held my hand as if to tell me that he didn't hate me.

"There will be time to mourn later," Aqualad said strictly, like the leader he was. "Now we have a job to do: Defend the Earth. And make sure that Artemis' sacrifice was not in vain."

"Be back to the Cave?" M'Gann asked, an overly sad expression on.

"The Hall of Justice," Aqualad corrected. "The human race must know that there are still heroes defending them."

Suddenly, the cellphone in my backpack started ringing. I fumbled with the zip, my hands shaking hard. Dick reached for my bag, opened it with steady hands, and handed me the phone.

"Thank you…"" I muttered to him.

"No problem." Dick murmured back.

I pressed the green button on my screen, and instantly, I heard Barbara's voice. "Diana! Oh my goodness, Diana! Where are you?"

I laughed, the tears streaming down faster. "Barbara…Goodness gracious! You're alive!"

"Of course I'm alive!" Barbara let out a choked chuckle. "Why would I not be?"

"The whole…" I let out a sob. I couldn't talk while crying. "This whole situation…I just thought…I'm glad that you're alive!"

"I'm glad you're alive, too! I tried calling Dick, but he didn't pick up! I got so worried…Oh, god!"

"It's all right, Barbie…" I comforted the redhead. The bioship stilled, signaling that we were already in Washington. "He's all right, he's with me. Believe me when I tell you this, you'll be safe. Now, I've got to go…I have to help a group of people, but I'll come back alive! And you will, too."

I hung up the phone before Barbara could answer me. M'Gann gave me the signal that I was to go down with Superboy.

Both of us jumped down from a hatch M'Gann created, and we landed on the tops of two alien ships. While Superboy pounded one of them, I used my force field to hit them, and rip off the blasters.

I hit the alien ship on the propulsion engine, making it go down. Superboy noticed, and jumped out of his ship to grab hold of me. I created a force field around us, and we both fell down from the sky in front of the military officers protecting the White House.

I made the force field go down, and saluted the men. "Nice evening to save the world, huh?"

Everyone cheered, and the Team came out of the bioship with smiles on their faces. They were trying to be polite, but Artemis' death was still fresh in everyone's mind.

I heard one of the military officers talk about how Superboy was Superman, and that he would never desert us. "I'm not Superman!" Conner exclaimed.

"I don't know who you are, son, and right now, I don't care." The highest-ranking officer announced. "You wear the 'S' and you got the job done."

"I'm not Superman." Conner repeated.

"Tell that to the enemy." The officer smirked. "General A. Willie. US Air Force."

Aqualad nodded, "Aqualad. Justice League. We will help you salvage as many alien cannons as possible. Then, we claim back what is ours."

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All of General Willie's cars and men had been situated in front of the Hall of Justice. We needed all the help that we could get, and from the air force? Even better. The whole Team had the hard task, though.

We all walked inside the Hall of Justice, and I came to stand in front of the statue of Black Canary. She was beheaded, but that didn't stop me from patting her foot affectionately.

"I'm going to do everything to save the world." I whispered to the statue. "I'm not going to let Ollie, Artemis, and your death be in vain."

I felt a hand on my shoulder, and I instantly took it. I didn't need to look back to know who it was, I already had the weight and feel of his hand memorized. "Did you pay your respects to Batman, too?"

Robin chuckled, "In my mind, yes"

Suddenly, I saw Martian Manhunter under the rubble of rocks. M'Gann was probably the happiest person in the planet at that moment, "Uncle J'onn!"

I ran up to the probably the only alive member of the Justice League, wanting to seek out reasons as to why he was living and the others were not. "We saw you get disintegrated," Conner frowned. "You, and Superman! And everyone!"

"Yes, I remember." Manhunter held his head as if it was clearing. "But…I cannot remember how I survived."

I pushed forward, "Is—Are Green Arrow, Black Canary or Artemis…alive? Is there a chance?"

"I—I do not know." Martian Manhunter shook his head. I didn't expect much more from the older man. He didn't seem to remember a single thing anymore.

Wally got all excited for one second, and pushed Robin and I outside. He made Robin run a scan on the alien's blasters, and we discovered that it was just like the zeta beams that transported us from one place to the other. Wally said that Artemis was still alive, but I wasn't so sure.

Robin and I shared a glance, agreeing on it being unlikely. But everyone in the Team was relying on this small idea; we couldn't ruin this dreamland that they were possessing at that moment.

Suddenly, almost twenty alien ships flew over us. Robin, Kid, and I got behind one of the cars. Kaldur told us, through the telepathic link, that he would come to us, but we refused his offer. We couldn't win a fight with this much aliens.

The aliens blasted the bioship, and that was the sign for us to run back to the inside of the Hall of Justice. M'Gann and J'onn were both on the floor; it was probably because of the death of the bioship. They were both heavily connected to it. I grabbed M'Gann, and Kaldur grabbed J'onn.

We opened the door to the library, and memories came rushing in. The last time we were here, Roy had quit being Speedy. But at the same time, we had gone to Cadmus and found Superboy. This is where our team started.

"We can all zeta to the Cave," Aqualad ran in, all of us hot in his trail. The air force men formed a line in front of the entrance, covering us if anything were to happen.

"I can only authorize one at a time…" Martian Manhunter admitted, but Kaldur said that it was enough. A bad feeling settled into my stomach, we were all going to get separated, even for a small moment. It wasn't the smartest choice in my opinion. "Send the soldiers first."

"Delay that!" General Willie shouted. "You seven are assets that we cannot afford to lose!"

We all looked at Kaldur expectantly, he was the one to make the final decision. I was only worried about him trying to be the hero, not the leader that he was supposed to be. Kaldur nodded in agreement to General Willie, and M'Gann went first.

Then, it was Robin's turn. He turned to me, smirking, "See you in the other side!"

I sighed, "Hopefully."

Robin knew that whatever he said would not make much of a difference at this point, so he kept quiet. Then, it was Kid's turn, and he went in easily. Finally, it was my turn to go into the Cave. The computer announced my name, my number, and let me go through.

A few seconds later, a man named Cadet Jason had come into the Cave. I took hold of him, as his leg was injured, and set him down on the floor. We were just waiting for Manhunter, Superboy, and Aqualad. Then, Superboy came in, and Martian Manhunter was next.

"Where's Kaldur?" I frowned, looking directly at J'onn's eyes.

We all waited patiently for a few seconds, and those seconds became minutes. But we couldn't waste more time, it was evident that something horrible had happened to our leader.

"Someone new must assume the responsibility of being leader…" Manhunter said, and then went to sit down on a couch. He seemed to be confused, and in shock.

My big brother is gone.

Roy, and my biological father were probably dead, as well. I should make that six people gone that I even cared about enough to be giving a thought to them. They were all going one by one, and it was only a matter of time before someone other in our team was gone as well.

We all looked at Robin, "You are the most capable one after Kaldur." Wally concluded.

Robin sighed, rubbed his hands against his face, and told us to call on a meeting. We needed a plan. "Our next mission is clear. If we believe the aliens to be teleporting their victims—"

"We do!" Kid exclaimed. He was holding onto the belief of Artemis being alive, I think he just found his new anchor. But as soon as he found it, it was gone.

"—Then the only reasonable detention facility is here." Robin opened up his arm computer, showing us the mother ship of the aliens. "It's on top of what used to be Smallville."

Oh, great. So the aliens secretly invaded Superman's hometown on Earth. That's greatly comforting.

"Ring any bells?" I questioned Manhunter, and the older man stood up with a frown.

"No, I'm sorry."

"Superboy," Robin commanded, "You'll create a distraction."

"No!" M'Gann instantly disagreed. "Robin, think about it! You're offering him as a sacrifice! What would you feel like if I was the leader and I said that Diana was going to be our distraction in something that surely was going to get her killed?"

I wasn't entirely sure as to why M'gann would pick me as an example. It was obvious, to everyone, that Robin liked Zatanna. But before Robin could make a retort, Superboy interrupted. "It's okay, M'gann." And they went on to have a psych conversation by themselves.

I felt as if someone was staring, so I turned around slowly. I met Robin's masked eyes, and even if I couldn't see them, I knew his blue orbs were full of concern. He was worried, and he was scared.

He wasn't ready for this. Dick was too young, too naïve still. He would do anything for his friends. Dick wasn't like Batman, yet.

"Are you okay, Boy Wonder?" I smiled at him, purposely using his righteous name.

This seemed to bring a familiar warm smirk to his face, "Of course, D."

"We should tell the people of the world that they're not alone in this." Kid decided. "We should make a live transmition. Robin, hack the satellite signals all over the world. We need to let these people know that they still have heroes."

We all got into position, deciding that Conner and M'Gann should speak first. "Though we know all seems lost," M'Gann said. "The one thing aliens cannot destroy is hope."

"Hope survives because the battle is not over," Conner continued. "Not as long as even one of us is willing to fight."

"It doesn't matter how many fall," Wally spoke, "For new heroes will always rise to carry on, bring all their resources, their skills, their talents to bear, to defeat the enemy. "

"The people of Earth will survive this." Robin stepped up. "We will rebuild, and we will thrive."

"If we've done this before, we'll do it again." I stared at the camera. "The human race is strong, and today, we are stronger than we've ever been before. We can get through this, as long as we have hope left."

"Never doubt," Robin smiled at me.

"And never forget," I grinned back.

"The Earth will never surrender!" Robin finished off the speech, and we cut the transmition off. As soon as the camera was no longer filming, everyone burst out clapping. I hope most people on Earth had seen this; they needed to see that there was still hope left.

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"Stay close to J'onn." Robin told M'Gann as she came to stand by us. "He's still…"

Robin made the 'crazy' hand gesture, trying to be discrete. I punched his arm, frowning. "Like an old friend once said, you should strive to being more respectful."

That had been Kaldur's almost exact words, but M'Gann nodded in unserstandment nevertheless. "First team, deploy!"

Martian Manhunter, Miss Martian, and Superboy went off into the night. I just hoped that they would be okay. This was the alien's common ground now, anything could happen.

We watched as Superboy destroyed the top of the east wing in the ship. 'Superboy! Careful to not disconnect the power source.' I snapped at the boy, he was being careless with the ship.

Superboy used the blaster he tore off to taunt the aliens, and soon, fifty ships had sailed into the air after him. 'Now or never!'

Kid's speed increased more and more with every step taken, and it exhilarated me. Robin and I had climbed on Wally's back, and were experiencing, first hand, what being a speedster was like.

Kid jumped a wide crater in the earth, and we safely got into one of the many entrances of the mother ship. Now, the problem was stealth mode. My dark suit blended in perfectly with the blacks of the night, but the inside of the alien ship as tinted red.

Kid, Robin, and I ran into the ship, and turned right, hiding from two scouting ships. 'Way is clear! Go!' Robin commanded, and the three of us got out of our hiding spot, running off again.

We hid from another alien behind a pillar, and this one had long tentacles with claws on the end. Goodness, this was going to be harder than I imagined. I sensed a presence behind us, and turned around just in time to see M'Gann blasting an alien dead. Oh, what we would do without her.

We all started running again, silently agreeing to be more careful next time. We were weaving through hallways until I felt a horrible pang of pain in my chest. I looked back, and saw M'Gann just about to cry. 'No…He's gone.'

I was sure she meant Conner, and I felt my own share of pain for the loss of that big guy. 'It's all right, we'll find him with Artemis.' Wally tried comforting M'Gann, but I shared a look with Robin. We knew that there was no teleporting device. They were gone.

'No, my mind is clear now.' J'onn told us. 'The disintegration beam is exactly that. There is no detention facility. No prisoners to rescue. Our mission holds no purpose.'

'No, you're wrong!' Kid grabbed Manhunter by the cape. 'The zeta radiation proves she's alive!'

'Wally, you need to listen!' I held Wally down, making the speedster stay still.

'I've been scanning for League and Team signals since we got inside,' Robin grabbed Kid by the shirt. 'They're not here. Artemis is gone…'

I never truly realised how much Wally had loved the blond, so to see him so heartbroken was shocking. I guess we all had someone that we loved that we either lost, or would lose. M'Gann lost Conner. Wally lost Artemis. The most probable thing now was that either I was going to lose Dick, or he was going to lose me.

'But our mission still holds purpose.' Robin clarified. 'To destroy this mother ship.'

I helped M'Gann up from her sitting spot, and she was holding onto her chest, as if her heart was burning. She was hurt, and lost…but we had to keep moving. We couldn't stop until the alien invasion was done for. So, we kept running to the center.

We entered through a hexagon shaped door, and inside, was the power source of it all. There was a ball, as bright as I pictured the sun to be from a distance. 'This is the power cord. We blow this, and the whole mother ship blows.'

We all got to work. We jumped out of our hiding spot, and ran toward the power cord. Suddenly, I felt a magnetic pull in my body. I saw Robin, who was in front of me; fall down on the floor, trying to grab a hold of something.

My eyes widened, I was not going to lose him. Not him. I grabbed Robin's gloved hand, and Kid took a hold of my foot. That's when we started to fall into the power cord, but luckily, both Robin and I came prepared.

We shot our grappling hooks to the nearest solid object, and it held on. We waited patiently as M'Gann disconnected our grappling hooks, and gently, leveled us down to the power cord.

Robin took out the explosives that I had wrapped around his chest, and placed them in front of us. 'You knew, both of you.' Wally realised. 'You knew from the beginning why we were really here.'

'If we told you before, you would have gone insane.' I shrugged. 'Better to tell you now.'

Robing set the time bomb, 'Four minutes. Let's go.'

We used our grappling hooks to go back to the way that we entered, just to find that the door had been sealed shut. Even worse, the mechanical aliens with tentacles were back.

I growled, using my force field to destroy the five aliens that were coming our way. 'Goodness, how much I hate those.' That's when more of the machines came our way, and I had no choice but to retreat to where Wally and Dick were hiding in.

'Sixteen seconds and counting, Manhunter, take Timeless and Miss Martian, and go!' Robin exclaimed, looking at J'onn. He wasn't meeting my gaze.

'No!' I protested. 'I am not leaving you! If we're going to do this, we're going to do it together.'

'You need to go!' Robin growled forcefully, and Kid nodded in agreement. They both wanted me to go out alive, but I wouldn't go if they didn't come with me. They have been my longest friendships, and I was not going to abandon them this way. Especially Dick.

'Make me…' I declared, and Robin sighed. He knew I would stay with him no matter what. He knew because he would do the same thing. M'Gann and J'onn both left, and I was glad at least one of our team members would be partly saved from harm's way.

I looked at the ticking clock in Robin's arm computer, and only ten seconds were left. I looked at both of my best friends, and smiled at them. "It's been an honour being your friend, and your partner in crime. I love you, guys."

"I love you, too." Dick replied instantly, and suddenly, just by looking into his eyes, I knew it meant a lot more than just friendly wise.

"Yeah, well, I love you, as well." Wally grinned, gave us both a hug, and ran out to finish off the aliens.

I looked at Dick for one second, and he gazed back. Then, reality crashed upon me. I was going to die; we were both going to die. So, I grabbed Dick by the face, and kissed his lips. They were soft, and if it weren't for the situation, I would have enjoyed every single sweet moment of this kiss.

It had been what I'd wanted for months, now. Even though I was about to die, I was happy. And when Dick kissed me back, I couldn't have been feeling any better about not seeing a tomorrow.

"I love you…" Dick pecked my lips one last time, and that's when we faced the tentacles wrapping around our bodies. Finally, the whole place exploded. I felt my skin burning, and I screamed in utter pain.

Then, I opened my eyes, gasping desperately for air. Instantly, Dinah's arms were wrapped around my neck, squeezing tightly. I had no idea what was happening, all I knew was that my mother was not dead, so I let myself sink into her embrace. I sniffed her comforting motherly scent, and the tears started choking out of me.

A sob escaped me, and then another, and another. "Mom! I thought you were dead…you died right in front of me, and—"

"Shh," Dinah silenced me by stroking my hair. "It was a training exercise, it went bad. We'll tell you the details when you feel better. For now, just try to calm down. We're all alive, and well."

The tears streamed down my face silently now, and when I saw Artemis groaning, and holding her head, I rushed over to her. I gave Artemis the tightest hug I've ever given a friend; rambling about how happy I was to see her. "Artemis, you died! Goodness gracious, don't scare me like that again! God, you are such an idiot! I love you!"

Artemis smiled, "Love you, too, idiot."

"You're all alive!" M'Gann exclaimed happily, standing up from her position on the metal bed.

"What happened in there?" Batman asked a sweating Martian Manhunter. "They exercise…It all went wrong."

"Exercise?" Dick asked, and he looked well. He looked like he wasn't about to die, and he was wearing normal clothes. God, I'd missed him in civilian clothing.

"Try to remember," Batman told us. "What you experienced was a training exercise. Manhunter telepathically linked the seven of you within an artificial reality. You all knew this 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 made to grow worse."

"Wow, guys." I glared at all the League members present. "This is a wonderful surprise. Thank you so much."

Batman ignored me, "You were aware that nothing was real, including the deaths of the entire Justice League."

"That is why you hardly grieved," Manhunter informed us. "Even when Wolf was disintegrated before your eyes, but all that changed when Artemis died. Though consciously Miss Martian knew it was not real, her subconscious mind could not make that distinction. She forgot it was only an exercise."

At this point, M'Gann looked horrified. "And her subconscious to control making all of you forget, too." Manhunter finished.

We all turned to M'Gann, some glaring and others gazing in sympathy. I honestly wasn't sure as if to be mad at her, or feel bad. "I'm so sorry…"

"This isn't her fault!" Conner defended his girlfriend. "Why didn't you stop the exercise?"

"We tried." Manhunter admitted. "But M'Gann had a…descript on the scenario. Even Artemis who should have awakened upon her death was so convinced she had passed. She slipped into a coma. I realised I would have to take control from Miss Martian's subconscious from within. But upon entering the reality, I was overwhelmed by your collective emotion that it was too much noise to think clearly. To remember why I was there.

The death of Aqualad and Superboy helped. But only when the mother ship exploded, and Robin, Timeless, and Kid Flash were silenced, did my mind clear enough to reveal my true purpose. To shock M'Gann out of the exercise before your comas became permanent. My apologies, I had no idea a training exercise could be so dangerous."

Captain Marvel came forward to comfort a damaged M'gann, and she lay sobbing in the older man's arms. Superboy kept petting Wolf, Wally stared at Artemis, Kaldur looked around us, but Dick kept his eyes locked with mine.

The kiss that we shared was still fresh in my mind, and I had no doubt that in his, too.

HA HA HA HA HA HA HA! NOT TOGETHER YET! HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!

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