Remnant

by Moonview

Michael Afton should be dead. He'd just been lured into a deathtrap by his own father to die at the hands of his murderous animatronics. He should be dead. Instead, he wakes up in a Gotham hospital room somehow still alive after everything that happened. And he'd not the only one who has questions about what happened to him.

32. Little White Lies

Chapter 32

A/N: Hey everyone! Welcome back! Good to see y'all here again. Sorry the last couple of chapters were short, I wanted to get a couple out before my spring break finished. Speaking of which, now that it's over, updates are going to be less frequent for a bit. So this might be the past chapter I manage to get out for a while. Just depends on my workload and free time.

Also, fun little fact, I was watching the Resident Evil 4 remake when I was writing this chapter, and I realized that I basically gave Mike Leon's character design. Another fun fact, I had not previously watched the original game, so it happened by pure coincidence.

Anyways, remember, I don't own any of the characters.

/comms/

Telepathy/flashbacks

Mt. Justice, November 22, 09:50EST

"Rumaan Harjavti is the democratically elected President of Quarc," Batman began, pulling up the image of a stout, Middle-Eastern man happily shaking hands with Bruce Wayne. "He's been praised as a fair and wise leader. A humanitarian."

From beside him, Mike heard Wally snickering under his breath, turning to Robin, "Sure, any friend of Bruce Wayne's."

Both he and Robin elbowed the speedster to shut him up. It was no secret that the Batman was preferential to Gotham's alleged White Knight. The man had made it a mission to improve Gotham and spent more money on charity in a single night than he had made working almost full-time at multiple jobs for the past couple years. Plus, all his money meant he was a frequent target to kidnappings and that sort of thing, so really it wasn't a surprise that the Bat had to save the billionaire playboy's ass so much. Apparently it happened enough to where the man openly made donations to the League on a regular basis.

Still, he didn't really see why the speedster was suddenly remarking about it. Shaking his head, Remnant turned his attention back to the briefing. Whatever Wally was going on about, he could figure it out later.

"However, five days ago, Harjavti allied himself with the dictator of the neighboring nation: Queen Bee."

Mike grimaced, as did the members of the Team present for this mission. They all knew about Queen Bee. Their last mission in her country had been brutal. And it had taken them a few days to fully recover from the grueling mission hot, Middle Eastern desert. Furthermore, Captain Atom had made them spend hours reviewing old cases during another one of his agonizing lectures. The tyrant queen had come up in more than one of their cases: human trafficking, torture, experimentation, brainwashing, and an extensive list of other crimes against humanity.

Personally, when Mike had been reviewing them, he couldn't help but get the feeling this woman and his father would've gotten along swimmingly.

"Not a fan," Superboy audibly scoffed.

"Who is?" Mike muttered, earning a shrug from the other boy.

Batman, as always, ignored their remarks as he continued with the briefing. "Recently, Harjavti has begun backing the baseless claim that Qurac and Bialya were one nation in ancient times. And has announced that there will be a reunification ceremony in two days in Qurac." Pressing a button, all eyes turned to the screen, watching as a press conference came up.

Harjavti stood at a podium, several guards standing on either side of him as he stood before a detailed mural of the tyrant. He didn't look excited for someone about to change history, nor resigned or stressed as would be expected in the situation where he was being forced into the agreement against his will. Instead, his face was eerily blank. Even his voice was flat. Like he was reading from a script rather than trying to reassure his protesting people that this was the best course of action.

The footage quickly switched to a similar conference going on in Bialya. The queen standing at her own podium, masked soldiers behind her as a smirk played on her lips as she surveyed the crowd. Her tone was smug as if she'd won a major battle.

"And the Quracis are ok with this?!" Wally interjected.

"Hardly," Batman answered, pulling up more images from the news. Showing crowds protesting against the unification of the two countries as soldiers came in to stop them. "They're well aware of the brutality of Queen Bee's regime. But Harjavti has censored the press, silenced all legitimate protest, and invited the Bialyan military into his country to enforce martial law."

"Queen Bee has to be controlling Harjavti," Robin said, crossing his arms. "Doesn't she have the power to enthrall most men?"

"And some women," Batman confirmed, "But not long distance. And we had confirmation that she hasn't left Bialya."

"Well, she's doing it somehow," Mike said, pulling up a holographic keyboard and clicking back to the President's press conference and comparing it to an image of a previous one. One where the man looked…livelier. "Guy looks like he has all the personality of a rock right now. Even his voice seems off."

"Like he didn't believe what he was saying?" M'gann spoke up.

Her teammate shook his head, "No, reading a script would've have more…life than that. He almost sounded robotic."

"Like someone was putting the words into his mouth?"

Remnant shrugged, "Basically."

Robin nodded in agreement, "Yeah, Harjavti's normally pretty outspoken, and," he began on his own keypad, pulling up audio-logs, "his voice in the press conference, it didn't have any of his normal inflection tones."

"Indeed," Batman said, appearing to confirm their assessment, "Something else is at work here. Find out what. Robin, you're team leader."

The younger boy's eyes widened in shock and Mike swore the boy paled a little as he ignored Wally's grin. "Promotion, sweet!" the speedster raised his hand for a high-five, but was left hanging as the Boy Wonder stepped forwards, looking nervous.

"Me? What about Aqualad?"

"Busy helping Aquaman. You're the next logical choice."

Robin's shoulders slumped slightly in obvious disappointment, "Great."

KF, meanwhile, was oblivious as ever. "Dude—ow!" he yelped as Mike elbowed him sharply. Rubbing his arm, the redhead looked at him in annoyance. "Dude! What was that for?"

Instead of answering, the older boy gave the speedster a scalding glare before rolling his eyes. He knew Wally was terrible at picking up social cues, but this was getting ridiculous. Mike was the first to admit that he did not always get social cues right. But even then, he'd never been this bad. And right now, it was painfully clear that Robin did not want to be in charge.

Which was concerning. During past assignments or when they went on patrol together the younger hadn't hesitated previously. So what changed?

Biting the inside of his cheek, Mike followed the others to the Bioship. However as the others began to get on, he gently stopped Robin by grabbing his shoulder. "Hey, are you ok?"

"I'm alright."

Crossing his arms, the elder raised a brow. "And I'm Superman," he deadpanned before sighing. "But just know I'm here to talk if you need it, Birdie," he ruffled the boy's hair, earning a half-hearted glare. "I know it's not easy dealing with this crap on your own."

That garnered a scoff and an incredulous look from Robin. "Uh, you try to deal with stuff on your own all the time."

"And how do you think I learned that lesson?"

"Canary."

Mike didn't bother arguing that one. Wasn't like he was wrong. It was the whole reason he was in therapy to begin with.

Still, didn't mean he was thrilled about the whole being emotionally vulnerable thing. However, he supposed it was worth a shot.

There was no way in hell he'd be good at it, but at least he was trying.

"That and she said I was going to become as emotionally constipated as Batman," the elder smirked. "You know…just in a nicer way."

That actually got the Boy Wonder to stifle a laugh. "Thanks."

"Anytime." Satisfied that he at least somewhat managed to improve the younger's mood, he gently nudged him up the ramp of the ship. The sooner they got it over with, the sooner they could go home.

-.-

Qurac, 23:56EDT

"We're right above the Quraci-Bialyan border," Robin relayed as the Bioship began to descend.

From the other side of the ship, Mike heard Wally scoff. "A border the Bialyans are currently in the process of ignoring."

Following his gaze, all eyes landed on a small group of tanks barreling over a fence, startling a nearby herd of animals as they waltzed on in as if they owned the land.

Conner huffed, crossing his arms, "No opposition, guess Harjavti really is in bed with Bialya."

"Wouldn't expect any opposition here," Robin stated, "this is an animal sanctuary."

From the back, there was a startled gasp and all heads turned to M'gann. "The Logan Animal Sanctuary?"

"You've heard of it?"

Before anyone could comment, KF once again drew their attention. "Guys, we have a problem," he said, "tanks caused a stampede. And there's civilians in harm's way."

"I see them," Superboy corroborated, "woman and a small boy."

"Shit."

"We have to help them!"

"We're way off mission here," Robin grumbled, before giving a defeated sigh. "Deploy, but stealth mode. If the Bialyans know we've hit them this becomes an international incident."

"Awesome," Mike muttered, getting up and stretching.

As the Bioship descended, it fired a brief succession of blasts at the tanks. Hitting one, making it steer into another, stopping the formation in its tracks. Smoke rising from the wreckage masking the descent of three figures to the ground.

The soldiers seemed frozen in place, some staring at the tanks in confusion, others clutching their rifles tighter as they warily surveyed the land. However, their reprieve didn't last long as two separate smoke clouds burst to life in the middle of the platoon. Followed swiftly by something rapidly ramming into them, knocking the men off their feet.

Fortunately, beyond that and one or two more shots from the Bioship seemed to deter them. The men quickly picking up their weapons and making a hasty retreat.

From where he couched in the brush, Mike couldn't help but furrow his brow. That seemed…too easy. For the freakishly loyal soldiers of a dictatorial monarch, they seemed relatively easy to scare off.

He'd mention it to Robin in a bit. See how they could coordinate a plan against a potential retaliation.

Emerging from his hiding place, Mike stepped up beside Robin as he hopped down from a nearby tree, glancing over the two civilians that had been in the stampede's way. Based on a cursory glance they seemed a bit rattled, but relatively unharmed; nothing more than a few scrapes from the dirt SB kicked up during yet another of his spectacular landings.

"Are you both alright?"

The boy's head snapped to face them as Wally skid to a stop beside them, and his jaw dropped in shock and awe. Almost immediately, the kid began earnestly tugging on the woman's arm. "Mom? Mom! Mom! We were just saved by Robin and Kid Flash!"

"Well, Superboy, Remnant, and Miss Martian helped too," Wally remarked, almost causing Mike to do a double take. Because of everyone on the team he thought wouldn't hesitate to take full credit for a save, the speedster had unsurprisingly beat everyone else to the finish line.

"We diverted the Bialyans around the sanctuary. You should be safe now."

"Uh, yeah," Wally agreed, his tone holding a mild degree of exasperation, "coast is clear Miss M. you can de-camo now."

Mike didn't know why, but he suddenly felt the urge to either facepalm or snack KF upside the head for his remark. Fortunately, he didn't have to as the Martian girl revealed herself, shyly lowering her hood. "Hi."

The kid's face lit up, however, the woman only frowned as she put her hands on her hips. "You may've made things worse. Bialyan border crossings are a way of life here. Usually the wreck a few fences and move on. You might've made us a target."

"Mom! Uncool!" the boy whined. Almost as if to agree, the oryx he was petting gave a huff.

Sighing, the woman ran a hand through her hair. "I'm sorry. I should thank you," she said, reaching out to put a hand on the young boy's shoulder, "This is my son, Garfield. And I'm—"

"Marie Logan!" M'gann exclaimed, suddenly becoming her normally bubbly self again. "I can't believe I'm actually meeting you in person! Uh," embarrassed she scratched the back of her head, "I—I've admired your stance on animal rights for years."

"You've only been on Earth six months," Superboy pointed out.

Now, clearly embarrassed, she glanced away, a bright flush on her cheeks.

However, before anyone could continue to pester her about why she was such a fan of Ms. Logan, they were distracted by the pained bellow of the wildebeest Conner knocked over when he'd been diverting the herd away from them. The woman strode towards the animal, looking over it quickly, "The oryx is sick, and I think you injured this wildebeest," she said, tossing Superboy a scathing glare over her shoulder.

"Uh…sorry?"

She gave another sigh, crossing her arms. "I suppose it was unavoidable. But both need to go to out clinic."

"The boys can do that," M'gann immediately replied. "You and I can, uh, fix your fences."

"That's not exactly our—" Robin began before the Martian girl turned to him with a pleading look.

"Robin."

"Please, Mom?" Garfield simultaneously asked.

Mike bit the inside of his cheek. While he wasn't particularly fond of this idea—particularly since they'd just been unwillingly volunteered by M'gann for stuff on top of their mission—it would give them time to go over the Presidential Palace schematics again. To confirm their plan. Plus, they would have to make sure their intervention didn't result in retaliation from the hostile country.

"It would buy us strategic time," Mike whispered, reluctantly siding with the Martian.

Judging from the small slump in the younger's shoulders, he knew he had a point. Nonetheless he still wasn't happy about the situation either.

"Fine."

-.-

23:55EDT

Mike rubbed the back of his neck as he strode towards the small farmhouse, hoping that Ms. Logan wouldn't mind if he put on some coffee. It had been a pain to grab the animals for preliminary treatment. Even more so with a little kid trying to tell them what to do from the sidelines. Despite the fact that all of them had more than enough medical training to know what they were doing.

Hearing something rustle overhead, he looked up, hoping the first rays of sunlight would illuminate whatever was hiding in the branches. Fortunately, he didn't need to wait for his eyes to adjust as something fell out of the tree with a screech. The mysterious brown thing landing on Wally's head, scampering around his side as the speedster jumped, trying to dislodge it. Instead, he ended up losing his protein bar as it leapt off him and landed on Garfield's shoulders, staying still long enough for them to see it was a small monkey.

The young boy laughed at the redhead's antics, reaching up to scratch the small primate on the back. "It's ok. Meet Monkey."

"Good name," Conner grumbled, "But I hate monkeys."

Almost as if it was offended, the monkey hit the clone on the head with the protein bar it stole.

"And it looks like Monkey hates Superboys," Robin snickered.

"Dude," Wally grinned, "be glad he only threw a protein bar."

Mike grimaced at the reminder of that particular behavior. SB would not have been happy if that had happened.

Following the kid into the house, the several of them didn't hesitate to flop down on the available couches. The only exception being Superboy, who chose to stand, leaning against the wall. "So," Garfield began, "pretty weird about Miss Martian and my Mom, right?"

Several glances were shared before all eyes fell back to the young boy. "What do you mean?"

Garfield rolled his eyes as if it were obvious, "I mean she looked exactly like Mom. You know, except greener."

"She does?"

Mike leaned back in his seat, crossing his arms as he thought back to when they had first met the woman and her son. Now that the kid mentioned it, he did remember thinking that they looked similar. In an almost uncanny valley sort of way. Still, things like that happened all the time. There were plenty of cases of unrelated individuals looking almost exactly like each other. It was just one of life's many, many ways of screwing with people.

"Well duh," the boy continued, "Especially back when Mom was a teen and she starred on some TV show called: Hello Megan."

Now that got everyone's attention.

"Wait…Hello Megan is a TV show?"

"I thought it was just something she said all the time?"

"Yeah, on the TV show," Gar said, putting his hands on his hips. "Way before we were born. Only one season. You can't even find it online."

"Ouch," someone muttered. Clearly that was a testament to how well the show did.

Ignoring the remark, the kid turned to the TV stand, a curious look crossing his face. "I know Mom has a tape somewhere…" trailing off he went over to the collection of ancient footage, scrouging through it before pulling out something covered in dust with a grin. "Hello Megan, the pilot episode!" Blowing off the dust, the boy turned around, sticking it into the VHS player.

"Geez, you still have VHS," Wally muttered. "Where's your 8-Track?"

Mike would've elbowed him had it not been for Conner saving his skin. "Wait!" he said, turning towards the door, brows furrowed in concentration. "Aircraft. Headed this way."

Now fully alert, Mike did his best to filter through any other ambient noise. His hearing wasn't as sensitive as SB's, but it was enough to confirm the faint sound of approaching engines. "Gar, stay put!" Robin ordered as they all ran outside, slamming the door behind them to keep him out of the way.

Mike swung onto the roof, ignoring M'gann and Ms. Logan as they arrived. Instead, he crept to the highest point, pulling out his binoculars to get a better look.

Though, he might not have needed to, because it took him less than a second to find four approaching aircraft. "Drones, coming in hot!"

Almost as soon as he called out the alarm, the drones opened fire, prompting Mike to dodge incoming bullets. Throwing an explosive, he quickly slid off the roof, rolling to his feet as the drone he somehow managed to hit exploded. Superboy ran over, using his body to cover Ms. Logan and M'gann, bullets and shrapnel bouncing off his skin as the remaining jets passed overhead.

"Nice hit," Wally said.

"It was a lucky shot," Mike muttered. "Rob, remind me to make a rifle or something to use on really far away moving targets."

"Bats won't like that."

"He can deal."

"Where's my son?!" Marie called, worry flashing in her eyes as she looked towards the house.

"We ordered him to stay inside and locked him in."

"Did you get the back door?"

Mike couldn't help the string of curses that fell from his lips as he spotted the barn door opening. Revealing the one and only Garfield, waving his hand around to get their attention. "MOM! It's ok! I got the animals out!"

And, just like they feared, another hail of bullets hit the ground near the barn. One lucky shot being all it took to send the propane tank erupting into an inferno. "GARFIELD!" Ms. Logan screamed, struggling against Conner's hold as he kept her from racing into the flames.

Meanwhile, M'gann shot over, catching the boy as he fell to the ground, the explosion having blasted him into the air. Descending to the ground, the Martian girl deposited the boy in his mother's arms. "I told you there'd be consequences," Marie snarled.

"We can play the blame game later," Remnant growled, watching as the remaining drones began to circle back. "We need to get him inside."

Looking to the others, he watched as M'gann flew up to confront the jet. Superboy bounding just behind her as backup.

Satisfied that the pair would make undoubtedly quick work, Mike followed the others inside. Kid flash was running around the house, quickly snatching materials and bringing them back to a room where the woman had Gar lying on a bed. Mike froze in the doorway, taking in the scene. Marie had a stethoscope to her son's chest, brows furrowed in intense concentration as Robin worked to attach an IV.

Mike saw an opening where he was needed. A spot by his head where there was now bleeding from a significant scrape that needed quick cleaning and bandages. Something neither Robin nor Ms. Logan could do while they were assessing his vitals. And yet, Mike couldn't bring himself to move. Instead, he felt his hands shake as he watched the blood trickle down the boy's temple.

And for a moment, he saw a hospital room with doctors frantically shouting as they too stood over a body too small for the bed it was in.

Shaking his head, Mike pulled himself out of those thoughts. Now was not the time. He had met his monthly panic attack quota. Right now, he needed to keep a clear, level head. "KF," he spoke as the other boy darted back in holding the last of the supplies. The bandages and antiseptic wipes. "Head of the bed. You'll be able to clean and wrap the wound the fastest. It should help stabilize him quicker."

Wally nodded, quickly racing over to the bedside. Hopefully he'd bought that. It wasn't like it was wrong. The speedster was the optimal choice for cleaning and bandaging open wounds. Especially given how he wasn't sure he'd be able to keep his hand steady while seeing bandages being wrapped around another injured skull.

"He's on shock," Marie said, pulling her stethoscope back. "Are any of you O-negative?"

Mike once again cursed loudly, barely restraining himself from punching the nearest wall. His blood wasn't a match.

Once again, he was useless when others needed his help. He had even thought about going to lock the back door. But no, instead he'd been stupid and assumed the kid would've listened. Now, once again, because of his recklessness a child who had barely gotten to live was going to die and there was nothing he could do to stop it.

"What about Superboy and Miss Martian?" the woman continued. No doubt desperate given as it appeared that so far none of them were suitable donors.

"He's Kryptonian," Robin replied. "And Miss Martian—"

"Might be able to help." All head turned and Mike and Wally stepped aside, letting the girl through. "My shape-shifting occurs at the cellular level. I think I can morph my blood to match his."

"Please! Try it!"

M'gann nodded, "I'll need to concentrate. No distractions."

Marie didn't need to be told twice as she whirled on them. "Out! Everyone out!"

No one bothered to argue as they slipped from the room. Robin barely squeezing out before the door closed slammed shut on his cape.

Slowly trudging to the living room, they all slumped in the chairs. The silence stretching on as they waited on word if the procedure worked.

Clenching his jaw, Mike made a show of pulling out the building schematics for their mission. He needed to do something. Anything to keep himself from thinking about how he'd sat waiting just like this before, desperately praying for a miracle.

From beside him, Mike heard an exasperated laugh. Glancing away from the screen, he watched as Robin leaned back in his seat, rubbing his brows as if he were trying to stave off a migraine. "And to top this shit show off, Harjavti steps down tomorrow," he muttered, "subjecting all of Qurac to this danger!" Running a hand down his face, Robin leaned forwards, resting his elbows on his knees. "KF, can you find a news stations?"

"Sure. Which remote is it?"

As Wally worked on figuring that out, Mike put a hand on the younger boy's shoulder, giving it a reassuring squeeze. "It'll be alright," he murmured.

Robin huffed, "And how can you be so sure?"

"Because we've pulled off shit way crazier than this with slimmer odds," he replied, unhelpfully.

"Yeah, but Aqualad was in charge then. And last time I led…" the younger grimaced. "It didn't go well."

Mike frowned, taking note of the pained tone of his voice. Something happened. Whether it was when he hadn't been able to make a mission or before he arrived, something had happened that seemed to rattle the normally unshakable kid. Still, as curious as he was, it wasn't his place to pry. Rob would tell him on his own terms. Instead, he chose to ruffle his hair, hoping the message got across.

"Got it!" Wally exclaimed, drawing their attention towards the TV as he finally seemed to figure out what remote to use. However, what came on was definitely not the news. As was proven by a theme-song starting to play.

And eveyone's jaws dropped as they saw an all too familiar redhead appeared on screen.

Hello Megan!
School and boys and parents too
A whole lot to juggle for miss you know who
Ohh
Hello Megan
Ohh
Hello Megan
This cheerleader knows the score
Center of attention and so much more
Ohh
Hello Megan
Ohh
Hello Megan
A little bit distractable
But never really too attractable
She's really a lot attractable
Ok, a lot distractable
But eventually she'll get a clue

"Hello Megan!" the girl on the tv said, smacking her head in the exact same way their teammate did.

"Maybe it's a coincidence," Conner muttered.

The girl for me
The girl for you
Hello Megan
Hello Megan
The girl for me
The girl for you
Hello Megan
Hello Megan
Hello Megan!

The theme song ended with a flourish and everyone watched the tv with piqued interest as the show began.

"Mom!" TV Megan called, as she ran down the stairs, backpack slung over her shoulder. "I'm going to the library to study."

The woman feather dusting the couch of all places raised a brow, "But didn't you invite a certain someone to study here?"

On some hidden cue, the doorbell rang, prompting the redhead to facepalm. "Hello Megan!" Darting down the stairs, she opened the door to reveal a guy. "Conner!" she exclaimed, leaping into his arms. "I thought you'd never get here."

"Yeah…pure coincidence," Wally said, sounding like he was doing his best not to burst out laughing.

Unfortunately, they all were so preoccupied none of them heard Miss M enter the room. "It's done," she said, causing them all to jump and turn around, hoping Wally could quickly change the channel before they were caught.

By some sheer stroke of luck, the speedster managed to flip right to the channel showing one of the President's press conferences. "My fellow Quracis…"

And by some miracle, M'gann didn't even notice their haste to change the channel, instead walking up to the tv. "Is that Harjavti?"

"Queen Bee's rule is a gift to Qurac."

"Hey!" Superboy growled, clenching his fists, "That guy in back. I know him."

Pulling up his screen, Robin zoomed in on the footage, allowing everyone to see a pasty, hooded figure hiding amongst the Bialyan soldiers. "It's Psimon," M'gann said. "The psychic we fought last time we were in Bialya."

"Same one that wiped our memories?" Mike remembered.

The girl nodded, "He was working for Queen Bee then. He must be controlling Harjavti for her now."

"Well that explains Harjavti's erratic behavior."

"Ugh," Wally groaned, "I still remember the headache from when he brain blasted us."

"We have to get Harjavti away from him," Robin said.

"And deal with Psimon," Mike added, crossing his arms. "Otherwise we'll be back to the exact same situation in just a few months."

"Agreed, but the President is the priority."

"I think it worked," Ms. Logan said, emerging from the hall. "Garfield's stable."

There were a few quiet sighs of relief at the news. "Good. Because we have our mission."

-.-

Dhabar, November 23, 04:11EDT

This was too easy.

Mike knew that they'd been trained to handle these sorts of missions. But still, something wasn't right with the situation.

They should've run into some resistance by now. Especially in a security breach as important as the fricking vents. Vents that lead right to the President's office. Vents that were big enough to let several people crouch inside comfortably while waiting for an opportunity to strike. There should've been cameras, motion sensors, invisible lasers, hell, even a trip wire to guard such a major access point. And yet, so far, neither his nor Robin's equipment picked up anything.

Nor had they picked up any signs of people in the room with their target.

For a group trying to assimilate another country against its will, they were keeping their hostage on a relatively loose leash.

No. It was too perfect. Like someone wanted them to drop their guard. To take the bait laid out before them on a silver platter and not check for a hook.

And judging by the way Robin's jaw was clenching, Mike would bet the younger had reached the same conclusion.

It was a trap. An obvious one at that. However, that trap was currently the only thing standing between them and their mission objective. Meaning, that if they wanted to finish it, they were going to have to set if off.

They didn't have much of a choice.

Kicking the vent cover off, they watched as it clattered to the floor below them. One by one, they hopped out of the vent, landing on the floor of the suspiciously empty office, all eyes watching the doors warily as Robin darted forwards to Harjavti.

Mike glanced back, watching on the off chance Psimon had some hidden mind control trap or something. He wouldn't put it past him. Lord knew how often he heard of that bullshit happening in Gotham.

The Quraci President seemed as lively as a corpse. It didn't even look like he registered when Robin called out his name the first couple times. It was only when a hand settled on his shoulder that the man even blinked, his gaze glassy and dazed as dull eyes slowly looked away from the window to look at them. "Where is my daughter?" he said. Brows furrowing Harjavti grimaced, slowly raising a hand to his forehead, blinking a few more times as his eyes began to regain some liveliness. "Where's Psimon?"

"Don't worry about him," Robin replied. "We need to get you out of here."

Hopefully that would be before Psimon and the Bialyans realized what was happening.

Unfortunately, those prayers went unanswered as the doors burst open. Revealing a sizable group of soldiers, each wearing strange red and black packs that were undoubtedly far more dangerous than they looked. They were followed by a Bialyan man wearing a decorated uniform. "Well, well," the commander drawled, "American heroes. No doubt here to assassinate the President. Such a shame we were too late to stop them."

"Those are Apokolyptian weapons," Superboy growled over the link.

"Which they'll use to kill Harjavti, we get blamed, and Queen Bee gets to rule Qurac."

Mike bit back a string of curses. From what he'd heard about the mysterious alien tech was that it was a pain on the ass to deal with. And, since it was alien, it was the perfect weapon to use to frame the League. An organization some would say was infamous for extraterrestrials.

"Form up around the President," Robin ordered.

"I think you got the situation mixed up," Mike sneered back, raising his fists as he slowly took a step back to cover the foreign leader. "Sounds like you were talking about yourselves there pal. It's ok, not everyone's blessed with brains like we are."

As expected, the officer scowled. No doubt displeased about his ego being bruised. Good. That meant he didn't see M'gann's camouflaged form sneaking past him.

All she had to do was ambush them from behind and let the chaos begin.

Instead, the girl took off down the hall. "I found Psimon!"

"Wait!"

"I'll get her."

"No!" Robin said, stopping Superboy from leaving. "The mission is Harjavti."

Great, there went their advantage of surprise.

"Get the—" the command was cut off as a wrench hit him in the face with a satisfying crack.

Hopefully it broke his nose.

Still, it was enough of a distraction to make their opponents falter. Long enough for them to strike first.

Lunging at the soldier closest to him, Remnant dodged the glowing barrels of the alien weaponry, kicking them to the side as the man opened fire, creating a hole in the wall. The guy beside his comrade swung moving to hit the teen. However, he didn't anticipate his opponent ducking, letting him deck the other solider instead. Nor did he realize he just left himself wide open.

Well, he didn't until his arm was grabbed and the man was hurled halfway across the room into his commanding officer as he tried to make an escape.

Judging from the pain groans around the room, Remnant would bet the other Bialyans' efforts had gone just as well as those fighting him had.

"Honestly, I expected more," he said, picking up his wrench as several Quraci guards ran in, following by a young woman who immediately ran to hug the President.

"Thank you for saving my father," the girl said, looking immensely relieved. "We'll take care of him now."

That was all the confirmation they needed. Leaving the Presidential guard to tie up the foreign soldiers, the group raced down the hall where M'gann had disappeared down. Listening for sounds of carnage that were do doubt coming from the intense fight between the two telekinetics.

"M'gann, we're almost there!" Conner called as they turned a corner.

"I see Psimon!" Mike confirmed moving to throw his favorite improvised weapon.

Unfortunately, he didn't get that far before his head exploded in pain. Falling to his knees, he was vaguely aware of the other guys collapsing beside him, crying out in pain. Of course, that was all he remembered before everything went black.

-.-

His head hurt. That was the first thing Mike registered as consciousness returned to him. Raising a hand to massage his temples, he reluctantly opened his eyes bracing for the pain that came with bright lights on these occasions. Fortunately, everything was dark.

Unfortunately, Wally had to start talking, "Ugh, and there's the headache."

The older boy grimaced as the noise seemed to make things worse. He would've told the speedster to shut up, but talking didn't sound like a pleasant idea right now. No, what sounded nice was curling up somewhere dark and hoping he didn't see the sun for the next week.

If this was what a hangover was like, then he was glad he decided to avoid drinking.

Slowly sitting up, Mike did his best to ignore his throbbing skull as he took in the room. To say it looked like a bomb went off was an understatement. Glass was dusting the floor like evil glitter, many of the benches were broken beyond hope of repair, and there was even a sizable crater where Psimon was sprawled at the base of near the wall.

"Psimon?" Robin groaned.

"He brain blasted you," M'gann stated. "I stopped him."

"Thank God for that," someone muttered.

-.-

Mike leaned against the wall, resting his eyes as he waited with the others for M'gann to return from playing Queen Bee for the press. The headache had thankfully passed mostly. Mostly thanks to some of Harjavti's medics, who had brought the good shit to treat their injuries and deal with Psimon. Who still hadn't moved from where M'gann had blasted him against the wall.

From what he heard, the guy was in rough shape. But he'd live.

It was strange, Remnant didn't think he'd ever seen Miss M be so rough with an opponent. Sure, her powers packed a fucking punch. But no one they fought before had seemed so…still afterwards.

Hopefully it was just his brain playing tricks on him. He did just get hit by the mental equivalent of a grenade.

Hearing a creak from one of the damaged doors, he opened his eyes, watching as M'gann strode in quickly morphing back to her normal appearance.

"Sorry you had to lie to everyone like that," Robin apologized. "But I couldn't think of any other way to convince the public that Queen Bee was behind this."

"Honestly, I don't think it'd be that hard for them to believe," Mike deadpanned. "She is a dictator."

Robin gave him a look saying that he wasn't helping but the older boy raised a brow in response. It wasn't like he was wrong. After a moment, Robin gave him an resigned yet mildly annoyed look before looking back to the girl as if he was going to say something else.

However, whatever it was it was cut off by KF darting up and punching the Boy Wonder in the shoulder with a grin. "Dude! Saving a country. Pretty big win for your first turn as leader."

Robin didn't look particularly thrilled by that reminder, giving the speedster a half-hearted thanks in turn.

Mike gave him a thumbs up, moving it to the thumbs down position when the younger hero met his gaze. A quick quiet way of checking in on how he was doing without alerting the others. Seeing the gesture, Robin gave a small nod, looking a little more relieved for a moment as the speedster kept talking.

-.-

Logan Animal Sanctuary, November 24, 21:30EDT

They had decided to stay in the country for another day. To make sure Queen Bee didn't try anything as soon as they left the country.

The other unspoken reason was to check on how Garfield was doing.

Which was how they found themselves back in Ms. Logan's house, watching the news as Mr. Wayne spoke with President Harjavti at a press conference.

"Gee," Wally drawled, his voice holding an almost teasing edge, "Bruce Wayne sure got here fast. Almost like he—"

Robin elbowed the speedster in the stomach, looking irritated. "Don't you have a souvenir or something to collect?"

Mike raised a brow at the interaction. But didn't bother interfering. It wasn't his business.

Instead he watched as the redhead facepalmed, going to the TV stand to pick up a VHS tape with a smirk, "Something you want to tell us?"

From her seat, M'gann sighed tiredly. "Growing up on Mars was not a happy time for me. But I started watching the broadcasts Uncle J'ohn sent from Earth, to teach us about our sister planet. When I saw Hello Megan something just clicked. Maybe it was the similarities of our names. Maybe it was the way all've Megan's problems could be solved in thirty minutes. All I know for sure is that Megan helped me smile through a lonely childhood. So, when I came to Earth, and had to pick a human form, I chose you," she looked to their host, "Well, uh, I chose Megan."

"Which begs the question, what do you really look like?" Robin asked.

Mike would've scolded him for starting to snoop into other's business again, but he couldn't deny the fact he was curious too. Martians were a race of shapeshifters, there was no telling how they could actually look. He was mostly curious if it was something like out of a movie or video game like everyone typically thought.

Needless to say, her true form was rather underwhelming. M'gann still looked like herself. Just bald with a more prominent brow ridge. "Oh."

"Bald M'gann," Wally mussed with a nod. "Still hot."

That comment earned Mike kicking him off his armrest and onto the floor as Robin chuckled quietly at the speedster's misfortune.