"Any word from Barry?" Diana asked through the mental link. With all other heroes and proteges trapped inside the Mountain, they had tried to contact the retired speedster. All they needed was the element of surprise. If they could catch the assassins off guard, they could get that detonator away from Tigress before the Mountain was compromised.
"He said he wants no part in this. The Flash is retired. He still blames us for Bart's injuries, he won't help us now." Oliver answers, having tried and failed several attempts to recruit the Scarlet Speedster. They were officially on their own, and Sportsmaster was growing impatient.
"I don't have all day, Heroes. I know you won't risk your little sidekicks, so listen up!"
"I've had enough of this." Superman said through the mind link as Sportsmaster droned on with his demands. "Artemis won't pull that trigger. Even if she does, everyone is safe in the Hanger. I'm putting a stop to this, now."
"Clark, think about this. My son is in that Mountain! Connor, Kaldur, M'Gaan... You're putting all of them in danger!" Bruce hissed, promptly ignored as the Kryptonian stepped forward and interrupted Sportsmaster's demands.
"That is enough! I told you Sportsmaster, we do not negotiate with criminals, especially when all you have are false threats!" Batman's gloved hand snaps out to capture Superman's wrist; one last attempt to stop him.
"Their lives are at stake, Superman. You can't take that risk!" Batman growled. Clark violently ripped his hand free from Bruce's grasp and swung his arm back, knocking the Dark Knight to the ground. First Batman forsakes his own morals and the laws of the Justice League, he kills the Gotham villains, turns half the League and Young Justice against him, and now he was wanting to make deals with these assassins? Clark wouldn't stand for it.
"This ends now! I'm calling your bluff, Artemis. Put the detonator down and you might earn yourself some leniency. Otherwise..." Clark was cut off by the booming laughter emitting from behind Sportsmaster's mask.
"How touching. He still has faith in you Tigress. Show him what side you're really on." The masked man ordered. Artemis pulled the Tigress mask back over her face, disappearing behind her new identity. Without a moment's hesitation, she detonated the remaining bombs.
The ground surrounding Happy Harbour shook as the explosions took out the Mountain's remaining supports. Smoke and fire poured out of the base as rock rubble collapsed in on itself. The entire Mountain was coming down, burying anyone inside.
The mentors stared in horror as the Mountain crumbled and the two assassins disappeared in the midst of the commotion, leaving the League with the uncertain fate of everyone they cared about.
"WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?!" Batman bellowed as he got to his feet, shoving past the stunned form of Clark Kent as he took in the sight of the once-proud Mountain.
"There's still a chance… the Hanger might have withstood the blast, they could still be alive…"
"League, move out. We clear the area around the Hanger with as little disruption as possible. We can't risk another cave in. Work quickly, but carefully. Our only priority is to rescue those trapped inside." Bruce ordered, not caring that half of these heroes had been working against him for the past eight years. At this point, with the children and former proteges at stake, the League division was meaningless. All that mattered was saving their friends and families.
"Any blood spilt today is on your hands Clark.
When Lian woke up, she felt a fierce pounding in her head. Raising her hand to touch her scalp, she found her hair wet and sticky with blood. A small, frightened whimper escaped before she was able to recompose herself. Her mother and father always taught her to stay strong, so with great effort, the ten year old forced all her feelings of fear and pain out of her mind and focused on her surroundings. She was lucky she suffered only a minor knock to the head. During the blast, Kaldur'ahm had pulled her and Artur close to him, shielding the two children with his own body. The Atlantean had suffered the brunt of the cave in, saving the children's lives.
"Uncle Kaldur?"
"He is breathing. I think he is just unconscious." Artur spoke out, his voice wavering as he crawled out from beneath his mentor and tried to clear the fallen rubble away from him.
A glowing green light pierced through the darkness, growing closer until a pair of broken sunglasses could be seen standing over them.
"Are you guys ok?" Damien asked gruffly, cracking another lightstick and handing it to Lian. "Don't worry. We won't be here for long. Batman will come for us."
The little girl accepted the light, but refused his words. Damien had promised that Batman would save them from the explosions too, but that clearly hadn't happened.
"What do we do in the mean time? My mentor, Kaldur'ahm, told me that this Hanger may not be as stable as it appears. What if there is another cave in?" Artur asked after he had cleared the debris away from his mentor. The young Atlantean looked between the red-headed archer and the black-haired bat, already forming what would eventually become an unstoppable team.
"First, make sure everyone is safe. Second, treat any injuries we can manage. Third, try to find a way to contact help." Damien recited, resorting back to his survival training.
It took a couple hours before the three were able to free the others from the rubble and wake the adult heroes. Almost everyone suffered some minor injuries, but considering they were buried beneath a Mountain, no one had the right to complain about a few cuts and bruises. M'Gaan was able to contact her uncle, so they knew help was on the way. It was still nearly six hours after the cave in that the first signs of light broke into the Hanger. Superman punched a hole in the ceiling, and the other heroes worked to create enough space for a few of the mentors to fit through.
"Robin, are you hurt?" Batman's voice, usually so controlled and emotionless, was laced with concern for his son as he checked over Damien's condition. For the past few hours, he had faced the fear of losing yet another son to this life, and the thought of adding another grave beside Dick, Jason, and Tim was enough to shake the Dark Knight.
"Tt, it would take more than a cave in to best me, father." Damien replied, trying to hide his relief behind a mask of arrogance. His companions were a little more open with their emotions. Artur eagerly beckoned his father over to where Kaldur was recovering, and the Atlantean King embraced both his proteges proudly.
As Green Arrow descended into the Hanger, he fleet the small arms around him and a blood-stained mess of auburn hair burry into his chest.
"Uncle Ollie!" Lian's voice was slightly muffled as she refused to pull her face away from the archer's shirt, causing Oliver to let out a relieved laugh as he hugged the little girl.
"It's alright Lian, you're safe now." Green Arrow told her, looking up expectantly as he assumed her parents would be right behind her. When he saw no sign of Cheshire or Red Arrow, he pulled away from the little girl's embrace and knelt in front of her.
"Lian, where's your mom and dad? Were they hurt in the cave in? He asked, feeling a building dread as the 10-year-old's eyes slowly widened.
"No, they weren't here. They were with you… weren't they?"
"They left the Hanger?" Oliver felt his heart stop as he peered around at the surrounding rubble. The Hanger was the only thing left standing! If Roy and Jade were trying to leave the Mountain when the explosion was set off, there was no way they could have survived!
"They went to talk to Auntie Artemis. You… you didn't see them?" Lian's voice started to crack as she asked her uncle, begging for some evidence that her parents were safe. Instead, she felt the archer's arm tighten around her, as if to shield her from this painful truth.
"Clark! Connor! You have to use your vision to check the rest of the Mountain! J'onn! M'Gaan! do a mind sweep! We have to find them!"
"Oliver..." Batman appeared beside the archer. The instant his masked eyes fell upon the lone little girl, he knew who Green Arrow was searching for.
"We have to find them! Roy's a smart kid, he would have found a way to survive. They're alive, they have to be!"
"Oliver… I've been running scans of the Mountain since the cave in. The only signs of life were in this room. I'm sorry Oliver…"
"No! They're still out there! I know they're out there!" Oliver shouted back, unable to accept the possibility of his son and daughter-in-law lost beneath the stone. He held Lian tightly as the reality of the situation slowly seeped in, but it wasn't until he carried the girl out of the Hanger that he truly believed it. Superman and Connor had just pulled two motionless figured out of the ruins, right next to the South Exit. With shaking hands, Clark unclipped his cape and draped it over top of the fallen heroes, hiding the lethal damage from their loved ones.
The little girl twisted out of his grasp and ran towards the covered bodies, collapsing beside them as the grief overtook her. A solemn silence that fell over the Mountain, broken only by the screams and tortured cries of the ten-year-old orphaned girl.