The Watchtower
July 4, 2016 Team Year 6 (Bart's Timeline) 12:06 EDT
"And so, it is due to the work of the Justice League that we were made aware of the threat that the Reach pose to our planet." Raquel Ervin watched the Secretary General on the big screen of the Watchtower. The room on the League's satellite base held a dozen heroes, all facing the head of the United Nations addressing the world in a live broadcast.
"The League has provided ironclad evidence proving the Reach's nefarious intentions." For months, the League and the Team, mostly at the direction of Nightwing and Black Canary, had been working without their most iconic heroes and against public opinion to expose the Reach for what they were really doing: planning on taking over the world.
"At an emergency meeting of the United Nations just minutes ago, there was unanimous consent to rescind our invitation to the Reach, and demand that they leave Earth and all surrounding space immediately." The normally low-key Secretary General Tseng slapped his hand on the podium to emphasize his final point.
"There it is people," Hal Jordan let out a satisfied sigh. "We're finally allowed back on the planet again." The Earth's longest-serving Green Lantern had taken being forced off world particularly hard. Apparently, he had just started "going steady" with Carol Ferris before the Reach arrived. Raquel didn't have the heart to tell him that no one had said "going steady" since the 60s.
"Someone should find Guy and let him know he'll be able to catch the end of the Gotham City Gothams season in person." Hal laughed as he looked back towards the window overlooking Earth. "How that man survived on three day old rebroadcasts to Oa is a mystery to all of us."
Jordan slapped John Stewart on the back. "I can't wait to grab a huge steak at Joey's. Whatever imitation they manufacture on Oa just isn't in the same universe." The former military man let out a small smile as he patted Jordan's shoulder.
"Anything would be better than whatever slop they fed us on Rimbor." The other Green Lantern smiled and shook his head at the screen. "I'm just happy to be going home, Jordan."
Raquel looked up at the man standing beside her. Icon's eyes still hadn't moved from the screen. It had been a long time since she had seen her mentor and partner. Icon had gone with the League members accused of attacking Rimbor as their attorney. They had all returned two weeks ago, after evidence Nightwing's team had obtained had led to their exoneration. The Team's leader had been tight-lipped about how exactly he had gotten his hands on the information until that morning.
The announcement had left the League and Team stunned. Kaldur had been working a deep cover mission for over a year, feeding information about the Light and the Reach. It seemed the only members Dick had confided in about the plan had been Batman, Wally, and Artemis. Even Kaldur's mentor Aquaman had been left in the dark, which explained why the Atlantean King had been so distant from the rest of his fellow heroes lately.
Movement on the screen caught Raquel's eye as the camera shifted, showing the assembled heroes standing with Secretary General Tseng as he made his announcement. They had decided to keep the delegation to the League's most recognizable heroes so it wouldn't seem like a show of force, as one oppressor might be replaced with another.
"You should be down there with them." The words escaped Raquel's mouth as she thought them. Not that she was ashamed, she had a habit for speaking her mind. It was a trait she was famous for, especially to her mentor. The big alien offered up a small smile.
"They're home, and the world is safe again," Icon's deep voice cut through the speech on screen. "That's all the reward I need, Raquel." Another smile crept across his face as he reached out to pull her into a half hug.
"Warning. Unknown objects are entering the Moon's orbit." A small red light flashed from a nearby console, drawing attention away from the ongoing speech at the United Nations. Raquel watched Dr. Ray Palmer walk over and press a key, an image of three massive ships flooding the room. But they were ships unlike anything Raquel had ever seen.
The ships were each the size of a small city in circumference, and at least twice that in height. The main hulls were a matte indigo that seemed to suck in all the light around them. But five large scarlet circles dotted their surfaces, appearing almost like bloody stars in a night sky. The bottom of the ships were peppered with curved spikes that jutted out at irregular and seemingly random intervals. Those spikes looked to be smooth on the sides, but formed a sharp point at the end, backlit by dull crimson light emanating from the ships' bases.
Roughly a pyramid shape, any fine lines on the alien crafts were destroyed by what seemed like random growths off the ships. There looked to be no rhyme or reason to these other curved spikes. Some were smaller, some larger, none symmetrical, and none of the three ships looked the same because of it. It was almost as if these aliens, whoever they were, had seen a roaring fire, and built their ships to look like a frozen image of it. Only black. And probably deadlier.
"Should we contact the surface?" Palmer glanced over at Jordan and Stewart. Both Green Lanterns looked at each other for a moment before the elder Lantern sighed.
"Might as well keep Bats in the loop," Jordan tossed a sidelong glare at Stewart. "Stop looking at me like that. I'm only doing this so tall, dark, and spooky doesn't get his utility belt in a twist. He's only been back two weeks. I'd like to keep him in a good mood for as long as possible."
"Uh huh." Stewart looked around. "I'll go grab Guy and we'll check it out. Where's Kyle?" Everyone in the bay looked around for the fourth human Green Lantern before they realized John Stewart was staring pointedly at Hal Jordan again.
"What?"
"Hal, where's Kyle?"
Jordan hesitated again. "Rayner's at the Hall of Justice. I let him head down to the surface early. Something about making up for lost time with Za…"
"You let him go down to Earth before the United Nations made their announcement?"
"Well, I mean…"
"In violation of Guardian treaty?"
"Look, John…"
"Someday we're going to go over the definitions of "rules" and "treaties," Jordan." Raquel wasn't sure the last time she'd seen someone roll their eyes as much as Hal Jordan did in that moment. And being able to tell someone was rolling their eyes through a domino mask was no small feat. She was a little impressed.
Stewart just shook his head and left the bay in search of Guy Gardner. Jordan's eyes drifted back over the screen again. Dr. Palmer followed his gaze and moved to stand next to him.
"You think they're dangerous?"
"Either they came to pick a fight or they chose the absolute worst time for a sight-seeing expedition. Doesn't matter, we'll make sure they get gone."
"Just tell them if they want to fight we can pencil them in for next month." That was Patrick O'Brien, better known as Plastic Man. Former criminal, now Justice League member, and constant jokester. "We've had enough alien invasions this week."
A faint chuckle traveled through the bay. Jordan put his hand on Dr. Palmer's shoulder, a smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. "Give Bats the lowdown. We'll be back before the speech is over."
XXXXX
"I can't believe you let Rayner go down to the surface early." As much as Hal Jordan wanted to block the annoying whining of Guy Gardner out of his head, the fact that he was wearing a communicator embedded in his ear made that a little difficult. "I mean, you've known me longer. You should like me better."
"Gardner, the fact that I've known you longer is one of the reasons you definitely weren't going to the surface early." The three Lanterns flew in formation towards the foremost alien ship. Diplomacy was something that the Guardians hammered into the Lantern Corps from day one, but Hal wasn't having any of it. These aliens would get one warning, and then it'd be time to bring the hurt. The League had just been through its most trying ordeal. And Hal Jordan had no fucks left to give.
"You don't know, Hal. Maybe I had important things to attend to."
"Gardner, checking to make sure that the pizza you left in your fridge didn't grow legs and walk off is not an "important thing to attend to" in my book."
"I didn't leave any pizza…"
"Stop it. I've seen your apartment. We'd all be lucky if you actually left it in the fridge." Hal squinted, trying to make out any sort of port or cockpit on the lead ship.
"Maybe I wasn't planning on heading to my apartment."
"Bar fights are also not considered important things."
"I wasn't talking about bar fights. You let Rayner go see his girlfriend. What if I'm missing out on time with a beautiful woman right now?"
"Guy… do you have a girlfriend that looks as good as Zatanna?"
"Well, no, but…"
"Then shut up."
"Quiet, both of you. I think we're in range." John Stewart's voice was gruff, but Hal could see the tiniest hint of a small tugging at the corner of his lips. Stewart always did like it when he gave Guy a hard time.
The three of them pulled up a distance away from the lead ship. From this closer angle, Hal could see tiny crimson flecks of light dotting the hull. Sensors? Windows? Weapons? He couldn't tell.
He looked over John and nodded. Hal wanted their demands to sound as authoritative as possible, and with Bats Earth-side, the former military man was the one best suited for the job.
"Attention. You have entered the boundaries of Earth space. Disengage all weapons and engines. This is your final warning." Nice, Hal thought. Simple, to the point, and said with an inflection that should be pants-shittingly effective.
And yet there was no groveling, no begging for forgiveness. The hulking ship didn't even stop its slow, inexorable forward movement.
"Should we knock?" Hal was about to respond to Guy's latest quip when a brightening light caught his eye. On each ship, the biggest circle in the center was going from deep crimson to bright pink. A mechanical whine, almost like a battery being supercharged, accompanied the change in hue.
Time seemed to slow for Hal Jordan. He'd experienced it flying a couple of times, only when things had gone really, really sideways. The day Abin Sur's ship had crashed, destroying his test plane in the process, had b+3en one of those times. But unlike that day when Hal had no idea what the hell was going on, he knew very clearly what this was: an attack.
"Shields up!" His power ring responded to his thoughts even before he got the words out. A half second later, that blinding light turned into a beam of pure energy. To his right, Jordan could see Stewart with his shield up as well. But Gardner hadn't reacted fast enough. The light washed over the unshielded body of Earth's third Green Lantern. There was a flash and Guy's body disappeared, replaced by a skeleton hanging in space for the briefest of moments. Another flash and that skeleton atomized, leaving no trace behind.
Hal was vaguely aware of the other two ships firing, their beams aiming at something behind him. He could only assume it was the Watchtower, but couldn't turn his head to look. All his focus was on maintaining his shield.
But it wasn't enough. The onslaught on energy was too great. Before him, it seemed as if the sphere of energy he had encased himself in began to contract and then crack. Sweat poured down his face, from exertion or heat of the energy beam, Hal couldn't tell. The shield cracked further. He muttered a single word through clenched teeth.
"Carol…"
The shield broke. For the briefest instant, Hal Jordan felt a purifying heat combined with blinding light. Then he felt and saw nothing at all.
XXXXX
New York City
July 4, 2016 Team Year 6 (Bart's Timeline) 12:16 EDT
"Atom. Atom, come in." Bruce Wayne's voice sounded calm, but Dick Grayson knew his mentor better than that. After ten years at Batman's side, he had learned the ticks that gave the Dark Knight away. The tiniest downward tug of his lips just above that stubbled chin. A narrowing of his eyes, however slight, as if mentally willing his communicator to break through whatever was stopping the transmission from connecting.
"Dr. Palmer." Dick already knew something was wrong. Bruce's abandonment of code names in public only confirmed that fact. The Reach had not shown any proclivity towards giving up without a fight in the time they'd been on Earth. He felt a growing cold in the pit of his stomach. Intuition told him that things had just swerved into the realm of disaster. Heavy on the aster.
"Ray!" Dick looked up towards the cloudless azure sky. Squinting in the midday light, Dick saw a spot flare in the blue expanse, rivaling the summer sun despite its much smaller size. And then it was gone, akin to a cosmic wink. But as the flare faded, so too did any sense of relief that Dick had felt after completing the hardest mission of his life.
Others in the crowd had noticed the flash in the sky as well. Onlookers were beginning to point, their hushed tones growing louder, interrupting the Secretary General's speech. Dick turned from the crowd, frantically typing on the holographic screen above his wrist computer. He knew what had happened. The Watchtower had been destroyed and its cloaking technology was gone along with it. Every other scenario didn't make sense. But he had to be sure, had to know that their worst fears had been realized.
Every communications earpiece worn by League and Team members also had a tiny transmitter in it. It basically amounted to a "hey, I'm still functioning" transmitter, but could also be used in a pinch to locate someone if they were missing. Unless it was destroyed. Every member of the Team showed up on his holographic screen. Dick's eyes closed, frown creasing his lips as he made an amendment to the statement in his head. Every member of the Team who was on Earth showed up. The pictures of every teammate and friend on the Watchtower was a faded grey.
That wellspring of grief that he was just barely managing to keep in check threatened to overflow. It had been just hours ago, awoken by an early morning call, that he found out that Kaldur was dead. Murdered on a mission that Dick had sent one of his best friends on. My soldier, my fault. Coupled with the deaths over the previous few months, and now… this? This magnitude of loss was one he wasn't sure he could handle.
They were supposed to have won. They were supposed to win. Good guys win, bad guys lose, right?
This wasn't supposed to happen.
"Nightwing!" Bruce's shout meant that the older man had already tried getting his attention at least once before. Sucking in a deep, ragged breath, Dick realized that he needed to get his head in the game. The Team and the League needed him to be focused on the here and now.
A few League veterans were already moving to accomplish their assigned tasks with a nervous urgency. Superman was attempting to get the crowd to back away, and Wonder Woman was walking Secretary Tseng back towards the United Nations building, a phalanx of security guards surrounding them both. Others just stood frozen, either staring up at the sky where the flash had twinkled in and out of existence, or staring at him and Bruce. The Batman took a step closer to him.
"Dick." The abandonment of his code name in the field, especially such a public place, shocked him back into the moment. Rule number one was never use first names in the field. Well, rule number one was actually never go anywhere without your utility belt, but always using code names in field was pretty close behind it.
"I need a status update. Who was on the Watchtower?"
That was a question Dick didn't want to answer. Naming them would make the deaths real, final. There was a little part of him that hoped for some cosmic miracle, that by not speaking their names they would miraculously come back to life. Dick looked from his mentor to the others gathered on the dais. Their eyes were the worst part. Those gathered, the living, their eyes were open wide, pleading that their friends, their lovers, weren't on the Watchtower. It was a stark contrast from the eyes that stared back at him from the holographic display, grey and unmoving. Dick closed his eyes again. He didn't need to be looking at their pictures to know who wasn't coming back.
"Lagoon Boy and Tempest." There was no emotion in Dick's voice. He read their names as if he was reading a list for a shopping trip he didn't want to go on. It was safer that way. He needed to detach himself, or he was going to crumble on the spot in front of everyone. In front of Barbara. In front of Bruce. And he couldn't do that, not now.
"Green Lanterns Jordan, Stewart, and Gardner." Bruce paused for a moment as he scrolled over his own list, and Dick couldn't help but think he was being taken aback by just how much they'd lost in the span of a few seconds. "Hawkman. Hawkwoman. Icon. Rocket. Plastic Man. Blue Devil. Atom." Dick could have sworn he had heard Bruce's voice quiver ever so slightly. He understood the emotion. A dozen friends, colleagues, and members of Earth's pantheon were gone.
"Get me eyes on whatever destroyed the Watchtower." The hard edge was back in Batman's voice. As his fingers flew over his virtual keyboard, Dick internally marveled at Bruce's choice of words. Get him eyes on what destroyed the Watchtower, not what killed their fellow heroes. It was his way of distancing himself from their deaths, for shielding himself behind the cowl.
Searching through a directory of WayneTech satellites, Dick found a clear picture of the attackers from Satellite 16. The image that popped up on his holographic screen froze the blood in his veins. There was a sharp intake of breath. Dick wasn't sure if it was from him. He wasn't even sure he was still breathing. The image on the screen was something straight out of his nightmares, haunting him since he was thirteen years old. A cold sweat broke out above Dick's domino mask as his hands began shaking. All of the external displays of emotion that Bruce had attempted to teach him to hide beneath a practiced veneer since he was nine began spilling out.
Dick was vaguely aware of voices asking him what he saw. His throat was as dry as a Biyalian desert, and his words seemed trapped. Stabbing a shaking finger into the virtual screen, the image, the nightmare, enlarged for all to see.
"Oh, you have got to kidding me." Wally West's exasperated comment was the closest he could come to humor in the current situation. It also covered up a horrified gasp from Artemis, standing beside him. All the other members of the Team who knew what the image showed were elsewhere, or dead. That left almost everyone else on the dais staring at the image, wondering why there was such a visceral reaction from the younger heroes. Almost everyone.
Bruce rounded on J'onn, grabbing the front of his cloak and pulling him close, practically lifting the big alien off the ground. Dick knew the Martian could have just shifted his form at any moment and removed himself from the Batman's grip, but his normally expressionless face showed just as much shock as the rest of the team.
"You said those ships were just a legend!" Bruce's voice was grating, nearly guttural, but loud enough for everyone on the dais to hear. He pulled the alien closer. "A story, made up to scare young Martians!" One gloved hand still holding a death grip around J'onn's cloak, the other stabbed back towards the holographic screen. "Those are Reach motherships! How did you know about them?"
Silence enveloped the dais. Even the wind seemed to die down to nothingness. Bruce's eyes narrowed as J'onn's silence continued, removing the distance between their faces. The big Martian's eyes weren't looking at the scowling cowl in front of him, but past it to the holographic image still projected before them all.
"J'onn…" A hand gently lowered itself onto Bruce's shoulder. Wonder Woman, the Amazon goddess, her blue eyes wide and taking in their reactions, didn't say another word. But her presence caused his mentor's hands to loosen on the Maritan's cloak. Bruce turned away from the alien, taking a step or two towards Dick again before J'onn's deep voice stopped him.
"They come from Martian lore." The Martian's face twisted as if he was trying to keep emotions Dick didn't think existed under control. J'onn kept his voice slow and measured as he continued. "Millennia ago, they came from the stars, pretending to be on a mission of peace. They tried to enslave our people, to… feast on our people. They nearly did." J'onn staggered, hands to his head, as if the memory that had been passed down for generations was causing him physical pain. Superman helped support his weight as his story went on.
"These aliens, they hadn't counted on our mental abilities. The ability to combat them with our minds is the only thing that saved our people." J'onn looked up from his hands to the image of the Reach motherships again. "But it came at a terrible cost. By the time my ancestors finally gathered the strength to attack, most of the population was already enslaved. The battle knocked our civilization back to a pre-historic time, decimated our population, and left many parts of Mars barren." His red eyes traced down the to Batman, still standing with his back to him.
"Those ships, the ones passed down from generation to generation, the ones that I used for the training exercise all those years ago, must have been the last thing my ancestors saw as the Reach fled our planet."
"So they decided they wanted some payback." Wally spoke up again first. "Except this time, they want it on an easier target." Dick wasn't sure if his best friend was setting up a joke or breaking down the cold, unfiltered truth of the moment.
The lack of a punch line gave him his answer.
Bruce spoke next, still not looking at the Martian. "So how do we beat them?" Dick watched as J'onn shook his head slowly.
"You do not understand. To defeat the Reach a millennia ago, it took the combined mental power of thousands upon thousands of my people." The Martian Manhunter raised his eyes towards the summer sky.
"We cannot win."