"Ah," Damian sighed.
"What's wrong baby bat?" Dick was quick to turn to his precious little brother in concern.
"I just don't get why An'ki could not come back with us? I was suppose to show him Earth," Damian pouted, making Dick's heart melt.
The Acrobaleno Alliance signing was a huge success and the team was making their way back to Earth in The Nest. "I'm sure he'll make it another time," Dick was quick to comfort his baby bat.
"An'ki's training might be over, but he has grown leaps and is now in charge of the Akropolis Red Lantern branch," Guy informed the batclan as he entered the mother ship's monitoring room with the rest of the lanterns. "Also, I think he has a crush on Zanny."
"Oh, he totally does, it's pathetic," Damian scoffed. "And here I thought the code was bros before hoes!"
That sent the whole room laughing like hyenas, even Batman sported a smile. "I thought you liked Zanny?" Hal asked between giggles, he had to come to his fellow Green Lantern's aid.
"I do, she is awesome," Damian deadpaned. "She is still a hoe that took my bro from me."
"Ha ha ha!" John was rolling on the floor laughing in a very uncharestically way.
"Never change Flamebird!" Guy gasped for breath as he laughed.
"Why should I? I am perfect!" Damian replied regally, making them all lose control again. Damian shared a secretiive smile with Bruce, which had Batman's heart ache at his beautiful son. So caring and compassionate, he must have sensed how tense the batclan was behaving around him and had decided to do something about it. However, the familiar and happy scene was interrupted by an urgent S.O.S message from the Watch Tower. "Watch Tower, this is Flamebird, Captain of The Nest, what is going on?"
"Flamebird! Earth is under attack!" An unknown young hero appeared on the screens of the monitoring room. Unknown to all, but one person. Damian's breath hitched at the sudden appearance of Impulse, easily hiding it as worry for Earth's safety. "The Reach has come with battle ships and has surrounded our planet! They have half of their army here! We need you, the batclan, and the lanterns!"
"Who are you?" Batman was quick to get control of the situation, entering the correct commands to speed their journey back home.
"I am Impulse, grandson of the actual Flash and I've come from the future," Bart Allen told them. "In it, The Nest did not come back in time and The Reach conquered Earth after killing the Justice League!" Many heroes blanched at the young hero's words, Batman's knuckles whitened as his hold almost broke the chair's arms. "At the end, Flamebird was able to win Earth back with the aid of the Justice League Dark and the Acrobaleno Alliance... but by then the damage had been done and most of Earth was in an apocalyptic state. So, I planned on going back and stopping it... but my time machine was a bust and I made it only a couple of days before the invasion!"
So this is how I rewrote Bart's destiny, Damian thought grimly. Why do I keep failing? Why does Earth keep on being destroyed?! Damian took a deep sigh. Stop this! This is simply Destiny's way of allowing Bart to travel back. He needed to become a paradox and join the Teen Titans, that will always be his destiny. Earth was never meant to be destroyed by the Reach, they were simply a means to an end. You've got this Flamebird, let's save your home!
"Where the fuck were they to begin with?!" Jason snarled, eyes blazing with rage. "Why did they allow Earth to fall to begin with?!"
"They are in Hell," Damian grunted, barely keeping the panic attack at bay. "Trygon's Realm is finally being recognized as the tenth region of Hell. The Justice League Dark was invited to the banquet, we were as well but we already had a duty in Akropolis. No message will get through to them, not even mine. Only if Hell was under attack is reason enough to leave a banquet hosted by Lucifer Morningstar. Otherwise you'll get executed."
"That's bullshit!" Hal cursed, alongside Alec and Jason.
"It's Hell, did you expect it to be all rainbow and roses?" Damian snarled, gaining concerned looks from everyone.
"Breath in and breath out," Cass stepped in front of her brother and repeated the same words Damian had told Alec all those years ago- the first interaction she had seen of her family. "Breath in and breath out." They repeated the process over again, with the batclan hovering around worriedly, until Damian had finally calmed down. "Better?" Cass asked with a kind smile, but she already knew the answer.
"Better," Damian sighed. "Thank you, akhti," he smiled at her, before turning to Hal. "Apologies for snapping at you. Most of Hell's rules are being revised. That one did not seem to be one of the most urgent ones."
"Well, now it's bitting us on the ass," Kyle snorted humorlessly.
"I realize that now," Damian glared at him pointedly, ignoring the pull of the Grey Lantern Force- by the look on Kyle's eyes he felt it too. "I will take care of it as soon as we deal with The Reach."
"How is Gotham City?" Jason asked Impulse worriedly. "Agent C? Arsenal? Cheshire? The brats?"
"They are safe," Impulse answered. "Gotham City survived the raze, Flamebird's flames plus Constantine's spells created a fire cocoon around the city."
Everyone turned to Damian in surprise. "I have nothing to do with this," Damian raised his arms in surrender. "Though, now that I think about it... while I was dealing with Firefly's bombs, after Constantine had transfered the curses to me, he was muttering something. That must have been a spell."
"Curses?!" John Stewart turned to the young hero in disbelief. "He put curses on you?!"
"It was all part of a plan and I am all right," Damian quickly assured the lanterns. "Constantine must have bonded the flames I released to save Gotham to the city to act as a shiled."
"He did," Impulse agreed, gaining everyone's attention. "Though, it could only be used once, it was a (last method protection). What? I was raised in Gotham, most of the orphan heroes did," Impulse defended himself at the startled looks he received. His words reminded the heroes in The Nest of how much they had failed their planet... will fail their planet? "Shit! They are attacking!" Bart cursed, looking at the screen in panic. "Come quick! Most of the battle is going on space, but there are some Reach squads that have made their way to Earth. I need to go out there! Remember, the first one to fall is Superman! Don't let him die or we will be lost!"
With that said the screen went black, leaving the batclan and lanterns filled with dread. No one spoke for the remaining of their jouney back to the Milkey Way and Earth. Only Batman did, and mostly just to give out orders. The most important one, that Robin, Shrike, and Respawn had to get to Gotham. They would have argued but got shut down by a batglare and the reasoning of their city needing protection. It was a weak reason, as they all knew that Gotham had survived, but the kids still obeyed- they knew better not to, when Batman was on that mood. The only reason Batman did not order Flamebird to do the same was because they needed him to win the battle, and Bruce had learned that as much as he hated it... his son could not be treated as a normal child.
Because he was not a normal child by any account.
However, Batman would curse that decision as soon as they made it to Earth. From The Nest Respawn, Shrike, and Robin beamed their way to the Watch Tower, which was barely holding on, and from there back to Gotham City. The lanterns and Flamebird had joined the battle raging on around Earth, while the batclan had spread around The Nest monitoring room and commanding the mother ship to take down the various Reach War Ships. The reason why Batman would live to regret the decision to let Flamebird stay was because of what happened next.
"Superman!" Flamebird shouted pushing the kriptonian away and being struck by a (huge laser) from the largest war ship in The Reach armada.
The batclan watched in horror as Superman screamed in anguish. The Justice League stopped in their track as the attack finally stopped... there was no one there. Nothing left of the great hero Flamebird. All gone because he had sacrificed himself for Superman.
"This is a joke, right?" Redbird asked, almost hysterical. "Come on baby bat, come out from wherever you are. This is not fucking funny! Damian!"
"No, no, no," Nightwing was grabbing his head in his hands as he sobbed.
Blackbird, on the other hand, was staring at the screen in shock, not moving at all. She could not believe that her Dami, the little brother that had saved her from that hell she had called life, was gone. That could not be right. It could not be real!
Barbara could only stare in shock, this could not be happening. She had not known him well and was regretting it now.
Batman, on his part, stared as Wonder Woman let out a war cry and began fighting off The Reach with a viciousness he had never seen. Superman's eyes were red and he was not holding back, destroying the same ship that had taken out Flamebird, with an ease that once upon a time would have scared Batman. But now... now he felt nothing. His world filled with colors was grey, the life was taken away from him. His son was dead.
He was dead!
A lonely tear left Batman's eye. He was that same weak and powerless boy that had watched his parents die before him, he was back in that alley... but this time he was holding Damian's body in his arms.
His son was dead.
They had lost him.
"He is still alive!" Kyle's voice cut through the coms, startling everyone- both the batclan and those Justice League members fighting. "He is alive! I can still feel the pull of the Grey Lantern Force! That godamnd bastard is still alive!"
"D-dami is alive?" Cass stuttered with fragil hope.
Jason cursed in relief, as Barbara sagged back on her chair. Dick sobbed in his hands, this time in relief. But Batman stopped himself from feeling anything, he could not hope only for it to be taken from him again... he would not survive that.
"He is!" Kyle assured her. "Martian Manhunter! Try looking for his mind, use the pull of the Grey Lantern Force I feel as a guide!"
"J'onn! Do it!" Wonder Woman barked the order, noticing how Superman and Batman were out of it.
"He is alive!" J'onn exclaimed, much to everyone's relief. Many heroes celebrated, Batman barely keeping himself conscious from the relief he felt. "But he is weak! I feel him unconscious... he is in the sun! The laser pushed him all the way to the sun! I don't know if he'll manage survive the radiation of the sun, someone needs to save him!"
Before his words were done, Superman was already flying towards the sun, faster than ever in his life.
"Stop..." Batman gasped, his brain finally functioning. "Stop it Kal-El!"
"Shit!" Barbara cursed, realizing the same thing as Batman had.
But it was already to late.
A boom resonated throughout the Milky Way, rocking The Nest from it's force and sending the huge ship flying away. By the time the batclan had managed to regain control of the ship and recovered from the whiplash, everything was done. The batclan observed in horror as The Reach armada burned away to ashes.
They knew of Flamebird's powers and abilities. How could they not? They saw all the miracles he was able to do, they were in awe of how much he had aided the Gotham community and how Akropolis was saved by his flames. But... they had only seen one side of his powers, the miracles he was able to create. This was the other side of the coin... the horror and destruction that came before creation.
Now they understood the words Damian had used to explain what he does. 'To create is to destroy. To destroy is to create'.
Two sides of the same gift.
The Justice League put down their weapons and stared in shock as well. They turned to each other in disbelief, as if they were asking each other: Is it really over? Was it that easy?
Over, it is. Easy, it was not.
Superman then appeared, a look of pure agony on his face as he held Damian in his arms. Batman quickly noticed how the kriptonian's arms were covered in burn marks. Flamebird was not capable of controling his flames, his body temeprature must be too much for the kriptonian to handle.
"Get him in The Nest!" Batman barked, finally snapping out of his trance- the batclan quickly getting to work around him.
Superman took him, being followed closely behind by the rest of the Justice League, he put him down in a med pod. However, the pod burned away, Flamebird's flames being too much. That was when Martian Manhunter took controle of the situation, screams via telephay to wake up. He had to do that without entering Flamebird's mind, as his mind was protected by mental flames, the perfect shield against martians.
"Let me do it!" Kyle stepped forward, using his lantern ring to scan Damian. "The ring says that he is concused, but the Grey Lantern Force should be kicking in soon as the excess of flames has been released."
"So, it was Flamebird," Wonder Woman commented. "Thank Hera he is alive."
"I was flying towards the sun, when the blast exploded," Superman sighed, wincing at the uncommon sensation of pain he felt. "It almost had me crashing in Mercury."
"It was not him," Kyle corrected them, almost shyly- he was correcting two heroes of the Trinity!
"What do you mean by that?" Batman growled, batglaring at the nervous Green Lantern.
"B, calm down," Nightwing stepped forward and placed a hand on Batman's arm. "He will explain to us what happened, everything." Nightwing smiled, but his smile was anything but comforting. It was almost threatening, it did not help that the rest of the bats closed ranks behind him.
"The Grey Lantern Force communicated through my green lantern ring," Kyle informed them nervously.
"Is that possible?" Hal asked him stunned.
"I've never heard of a Lantern Force working like that," John agreed confused.
"The Indigo Force does share emotions, but because of my affinity to the Grey Lantern Force and my ring it seems to be communicating with my easier," Kyle told them. "That was also explained to me by the Grey Lantern Force."
"That's all good," Redbird smiled, stepping forward threatengly.
"But what about Flamebird?" Blackbird finished for her brother, her smile being anything but sweet.
"Right!" Kyle rushed to explain, otherwise he might get himself killed via overprotective batsiblings... not that he blamed them after everything that had just happened. "The Grey Lantern Force took control as soon as Flamebird lost conscious. Flamebird had absorbed too much sun power and even though the Grey Lantern Force is keeping him balanced, it was still too much power for his young body and needed to release it. Obeying his unconcious desire to save his family, the Grey Lantern Force took control and released the extra sun flames into the enemy." He explained to the stunned hero crowd. "It was not a conscious desicion from Flamebird... he did not mean to kill anyone."
"He is a true hero until the end," Wonder Woman stepped forward, standing protectively in front of Damian's unconscious body. She crossed her arms in front of her chest and glared at everyone. The batsiblings closing rank around her, while Batman went to check on his son- who had finally managed to take control of his flames and was healing. "I will not have anyone disrespect the great sacrifice and boon Flamebird has given us."
"Of course not! He is a hero!" Hal jumped in and defend himself, many other Justice League members were quick to follow his example.
"He saved my life," Superman told her with a look of pure anguish on his face.
"Don't blame yourself!" Jason snapped with a glare. "My brother did what he did because he is an alturistic dumb hero, don't undermine his actions by giving yourself a pity party!"
"His vitals seem to be under control," J'onn pointed out, after moving Flamebird to another medical pod. "Though his flames reserves have increased, it will take him some time to get used to it. He might feel disoriented for a while."
"We'll be there for him," Cass quickly answered him. "We are a family after all."