"I knew it! Look! It's giving off Zeta beams! The same stuff that powers our Zeta tubes. This thing doesn't disintegrate, it-it teleports!" Kid Flash excitedly announced over the mind link for all to hear. "Artemis is alive!" That somehow didn't sit right with Phantom. Why was it only Artemis he cared for and not his aunt, uncle or any other family? Was he missing something here?

Robin didn't look too sure either. Sure the data was there, but Zeta radiation can come from many things and not just the teleportation. The scientists on Rann are far from done with their research and only so little is known about how it all works or what the limits to the zeta radiation really is. If they really teleported, why couldn't he find Zatanna's signal. Or anybody's signal for that matter. Zeta doesn't mess with tech the way ecto does so it shouldn't have caused issues. "Maybe, but-"

"No maybes. They're all alive!" Kid Flash cut in again, leaning over Robin's shoulder to point at the selective parts of the data he wanted to see. Perhaps it was just desperation that made him sure of it but with a lack of clear evidence, neither boy knew what to think of it.

Before they could discuss it any more, a new wave of alien ships arrived. The ships immediately started aiming for Robin and Kid Flash as they ducked behind the Humvee with another soldier.

Phantom was stuck on top of Bioship, trying hard to aim for the ships but they were moving too fast. Panicking, he threw out a few batarangs but missed all as the aliens dodged them just in time. They were too far away for him to get a good shot as they had all the room to evade. Phantom flew up in the air, switching to ectoblasts as Bioship tried to provide him with cover fire.

"We are on our way!" Aqualad alerted through the mind link. Phantom wanted to sigh in relief but he knew they didn't stand a chance against a fleet this big. He finally managed to get close enough to them to land his shots. Too close for them to keep dodging yet just far enough to be at a safe distance.

He shot out an ice covered batarang, letting it hit right in the gun. The batarang exploded, sending shards of ghostly ice into the ship and forcing it to crash down. Like a hydra's head, with one down, two more ships came to take its place. Now with double the fire focused on him, he was getting outmatched and fast.

"Negative! We can't win this." Robin retorted, looking over the edge of the vehicle at Phantom. Offensive attacks weren't doing much as they seemed to have learned how he attacks. That was a massive problem for all of them. If they could learn how to counter their attacks this fast, who knows how long it will take before they learn how to do worse.

"Miss Martian, camo the Bioship-" His call got cut short. Bioship had seen the shot coming before Phantom did. Reaching out with a tendril, she pulled Phantom out of the air and took the hit meant for him. "NO!" Phantom yelled out, dual screams echoing his from inside as the other Martians felt the pain of Bioship's loss physically.

Shooting back up, Phantom charged in with ice. Going intangible to fly through the ship and freeze them from the inside, he took down the closest aircrafts. The ones who shot Bioship. Landing his shots perfectly on the others, he let the ice spread across the ships until he let it all implode, crushing everything inside. It did almost nothing as more ships kept arriving. All he could manage was keep the ships at a distance but even that was becoming hard.

This wasn't a battle he could win on his own and neither could the others provide back up without putting themselves in more danger than worth it.

Giving up on the offensive, he switched over to defense. Doing his best to concentrate, he created a shield big enough to cover the front line of Humvees all the way until the entrance of the Hall.

"Everybody inside! Now!"

Not needing to be told twice, Robin, Kid Flash and the soldiers retreated inside. The aliens kept firing their beams at Phantom's shield, putting him under immense stress as it was starting to crack and fail under the constant onslaught. Knowing he couldn't keep this up forever, Phantom slowly drifted closer to the building. Taking the shield with him until he could concentrate it down to a smaller one. The amount of broken windows was working severely against him but it was better than covering the entire courtyard.

Sweat was starting to build on his forehead as he was slowly burning through most of his energy. Had he taken is medication this morning? Not eaten enough? Or was he just pushing himself further than he should? Phantom didn't care, though. He wasn't going to let anybody down by taking the easy way out. He can shield and protect so that is what he'll do. He could vaguely feel Robin pull him inside as the last of the soldiers made it in.

"We're trapped." General Eiling cursed their predicament. All their supplies were out in the Humvees who were being shot one by one. The only reason most of them made it to safety was due to Phantom's shield and even that was not doing too great.

Somewhere behind them, the recognizable beeps of a keypad being pressed sounded. "Maybe not." Aqualad said as the door to the inner hall opened. The team and soldiers rushed inside, Robin and Phantom staying at the back to keep their defenses up. Any crack big enough was used to throw batarangs at the ships. Luckily they couldn't dodge too much in the building so it gave Robin enough leverage to blow some of them up. Before long, Robin ran out of batarangs, relying on Phantom's supply to keep up the offence.

Phantom shrunk down his shield even more to just the inner hall as he slowly drifted backwards. Keeping Robin in the corner of his eye, he could easily navigate the room without losing too much focus. Cracks littered the green dome but it was better than nothing.

"We can all Zeta to the Cave. If you can grant us computer clearance to access the tubes." Aqualad addressed Manhunter as they rushed over to the main console. General Eiling and some of his man flanking them on each side as they rushed to the opposite end of the room. Phantom was falling back as well, checking behind him to make sure the shield covered the entire room.

Robin could hack his way into the Zeta coding to override the system but that would take longer than Phantom could keep the shield up. Maybe even longer as they had no clue if Batman added extra security after last April Fool's soundtrack prank.

Manhunter made it to the console, still supported by M'gann. "I can only authorize one at a time." He explained regrettably. It was risky and they were running out of time. There was no way they'd get everybody out.

"Send the soldiers first."

"Belay that!" General Eiling cut in, already aiming his gun at the ready for when Phantom's shield finally gave out. "You seven are assets we cannot afford to lose. The kid's shield is holding but it won't be long enough to get everybody out."

Phantom felt a rush of adrenaline flow through him at being called an asset for the first time in his life. He was useful, he was important. They need him just as much as they need real heroes. He can't let them down if they have so much faith in him.

With Robin's help, he slowly made his way over to where the rest of the team was waiting. The general was right, his shield wouldn't hold the moment the aliens made it through the outer walls. But it was better than nothing and that's what counted.

He could feel everybody's eyes on him, exhaustion must slowly be showing as he could feel his arms start to tremble slightly. He let himself land on the floor as he heard Manhunter start typing in the access code. Letting the camera scan him, he gave the verbal command before moving back to the control panel. "Override. Martian Manhunter zero seven."

Recognized

Access granted

The Zeta AI announced, opening the doors and opening up what looks like a portal from hell. Phantom was already trying to not look at it too much, trying to keep those memories at bay as he focused on keeping the shield active. One by one he could hear the team teleporting away.

All of them abandoning their duty to protect the people.

Miss Martian B 0 5

"Come on, we have to go." Robin tried to guide Phantom to the Zeta but the boy refused to drop his shield. Holding his ground, Phantom refused to let Robin drag him towards the death contraption. People need him, he is an asset. He can't just leave his duties.

"I can't go yet. If I go, so does the shield." He tried to argue back, no matter how tired he was starting to feel. He can do more, he is still useful. He has a purpose here and the ability to save more people. He can't just fall back already and leave all of these brave soldiers to a horrible fate while he ran off to safety. He watched enough people die because he wasn't strong enough, he refused to add these people to the list of those he failed.

He refused to have more blood on his already stained hands.

Kid Flash B 0 3

"Son, we can hold down the fort for long enough. That shield of yours won't stay up for ever but it let us save most of our ammo." General Eiling reassured, his men all taking up similar defensive positions in all angles. Nobody could deny the shield was failing, the multitude of cracks said enough. Phantom didn't have it in him to keep supplying new ecto to reinforce it but at least he could keep up what was still there.

Can they sense he failed others before? Can they sense he isn't strong enough to do the job he is meant to do? Not good enough to be an actual asset? "Go, I'll follow right behind you." Phantom reassured with a weak smile. He can't abandon them, not yet. Even if staying longer helps save one more life it would have been worth it.

Robin glared softly but knew he couldn't win a battle of stubbornness with so many people depending on them. The longer he took to leave, the longer this battle got dragged out and Phantom had to keep the shield up. He was out of ammo and Phantom's belt was running low too. There wasn't much of a choice left other than to trust his brother. Locking their left pinkies before leaving, Phantom felt a sense of relief wash over him as he knew his brother made it out safe.

Robin B 0 1

Just after his code finished, explosions wrecked the walls as the aliens finally broke through. Phantom's shield held strong in most places but a few pieces of rubble broke the already weakened shield. One of the soldiers flanking their left got hit a stray piece of wall, trapping him under. Phantom did his best to keep the shield up. Needing to decide whether he holds it where it stands with the gaping holes, or shrink it down more to compensate.

Eiling decided for him as he commanded his soldiers to fall back and head for cover. Phantom could see from the corner of his eyes as Superboy helped the injured soldier out and over to the Zeta. "He goes next." The clone said defiantly, daring anybody to argue with him.

"Fine," Aqualad sighed, not happy about the decision. "But you go next."

Good, a soldier made it through. Even if they were counted as assets that didn't make them magically more worthy of survival. They trained just as hard as heroes do to defend the people and it's a hero's job to protect those who can't protect themselves. Soldiers risking their lives for the greater good fell in that category.

Private Jason Bar C

Phantom had to bite his tongue as the soldier called the clone Superman. With resignation strong in his voice, Superboy idly corrected him before jumping through the portal himself.

Superboy B 0 4

Two more lives saved, two less deaths on his conscious.

"Phantom!" Aqualad called out to the boy. "It's your turn, go!"

"With all due respect, the soldiers-"

"We can handle our own, son. Go!" Eiling reassured one last time before he forcefully pushed Phantom back. The shock of it caused the shield to fade out. A block of rubble that had been previously supported fell down right on top of one of the ships.

Robin B 0 1

Phantom wanted to stay, he wanted to throw up another shield but Aqualad pushed him into the Zeta as another wall gave out and more ships entered the inner hall. One moment he was surrounded by gunshots and people dying, the next, it felt like he was dying all over again.

Red hot pain seared through his left arm as his body reacted badly to the sudden sensation of the teleportation. Putting his arm in a vat of acid would have hurt less. The phantom sensation of the button touching his hand and 10 thousand ecto charged volts coursing through his body threw his mind for a loop.

He stumbled forward a little, trying to keep his cool but ultimately failing as he fell through his knees.

Even though he knew it wasn't real, it sure felt like it was. He bit down hard, trying to stay calm as pain overwhelmed his senses. He really tried to keep it down but ultimately the pain was too much to handle.

It started with a string of curses from various languages until it just ended in unintelligible screaming. The pain was coming from inside, burning in his veins. His head fell to the ground as he curled up around his arm, forehead pressed against the cold metal of the cursed machine that caused it all.

The small shockwaves of his wail wreck his body as he screamed until he felt the habitual need to breathe. At least he managed to exhaust himself enough that he was physically incapable of a full blown wail. He wouldn't even have known how to stop one as he hadn't gotten to that part of this training with Frostbite yet.

Oh how Frostbite was going to kill him a second time when he found out the shit he was pulling. He wasn't even cleared to use ice, let alone shields as big as the one in the courtyard.

He couldn't help but keep screaming in pain as small sobs broke through the screams, like the more he screamed the less pain he actually felt. Gripping his arm both made it feel somewhat better and so so incredibly worse as any sensation sent new pain burning further up his arm. He curled up around the pain, trying to keep it safe but it didn't help at all.

Was this what it felt like to be ripped apart molecule by molecule? Only to be reassembled all over again? He never thought he'd see the day where he would actually know what that felt like.

He wished he didn't.

He felt somebody drag him away from the deathtrap they call a Zeta tube. Right as the AI announced Martian Manhunter arriving to the scene. Through tears he vaguely noted the elder Martian landed near exactly where he had been laying curled up in agony. Judging from the way he nearly face planted, he too didn't get a graceful transition between locations.

Slowly the pain subsided enough, voice breaking from screaming into sobs. Now that he didn't have a wail shaking his body, he became acutely aware of another person screaming. There was some arguing but he couldn't make out the words as the electrifying power from the teleporter still pounded in his ears.

His sobs finally started giving way to small gags as his body was absolutely wrecked from the ordeal. Though the pain was fading, his mind felt like it got lost a few thousand miles back. He could faintly make out a heated discussion. Between the pounding energy, screaming and arguments, only a few words registered in his brain.

Aqualad

Not here

Med bay

In a daze, he could feel his head being lifted. Robin came into view as he slowly uncurled himself from around his arm. He could see his brother's lips moving but no words reached his brain.

With great care and careful assistance, his brother helped him to his feet. Slinging his right arm over Robin's shoulders, the boy supported most of his barely there weight. Phantom's legs barely able to stay straight, let alone support anything. Slowly they wobbled out of the room, leaving the rest of the team behind.