chapter sixteen - failsafe
-> happy christmas! i apologize in advance for this chapter!

•

MOUNT JUSTICE
OCTOBER 16th — 16:01 EDT

bruce wayne was dead.

one moment, he was there. sitting stoically in the SpaceBat™️, flying straight into the gaze of the giant celestial craft penetrating the earth's outermost atomsphere. and the next moment,

dead.

the team stared at the tv, watching as the people who had trained them, maybe even raised them, disintegrated into nothingness. nearly everyone was gone now. the justice league had failed.

an incoming transmission from zatara pulled dick's eyes from the live footage of space. only one ship remained—the jet-black alien craft ornamented with materials he'd never seen before. even from the far-off vantage point of the camera, the spaceship was moving toward earth at inhuman speeds.

"tornado-"

"all celestial defense has failed," red tornado cut zatara off. "organize terrestrial defense and initiate all measures."

"affirmative." zatara nodded. he hung there for a second longer, as if about to say more, but then cancelled the transmission.

"i must join the terrestrial defence," tornado stated, turning around to look at the six young members of the team. "we will protect earth until we can no longer. if we fail, the responsibility will fall on your shoulders."

red tornado headed for the exit, stopping dramatically right before the zeta tube. he turned around quickly and said, "prepare to be humanity's last hope."

recognized: red tornado-16

and those were them, tornado's last words. no spunk, no thought, just the command that a group of teenagers were to be humanity's only chance at survival.

they knew this would happen. they knew that, should the justice league ever fail, they would bear the weight of the world on their shoulders.

nobody expected the justice league to fail.

"we need a different strategy," kaldur spoke up, turning to the team. "taking them head-on isn't working. our earthern methods are ineffective."

dick nodded, pulling up his hologlove to check the global proliferation of the extraterrestrials. the very moment he turned it on, an emergency alert popped up on the screen.

CODE BLUE—6.83° N 139.44° E
BATMAN-02
HR: 0
SpO: 0
RR: 0

dick dismissed the message quickly. two more alerts popped up immediately after—a list of dead or missing justice league members and some sort of automatic testimonial will from bruce—but dick didn't even bother reading the titles before he dismissed both.

dick's fingers flew over the screen, pulling data from satellites, JLA files, and current newscasts. quickly melding together a map of the world and a diagram of all the alien ships that had descended on earth in the last few hours, dick created a globe that would show them exactly where the aliens were, exactly where the hotspots would be. 

he transferred the map onto the holographic screen in front of them, running his fingers through his hair anxiously. the globe spun slowly, red dots showing where each alien ship had landed. an indiscernable amount of glowing red masses in the united states, china, japan, and england. eighteen in paraguay, forty-two in australia. russia and greenland had six altogether. antarctica had none.

the arctic circle had one. dick recognized the coordinates, but couldn't put his finger on why.

"this is live," dick said, his gaze lingering on the red bloch that was previously romania.

connor pointed to the red dot at the top of the screen, somewhere in the arctic circle. "that one get lost?"

forcing his eyes down to his hologlove, dick reread the coordinates—finally realizing why they seemed so familiar. "it's the fortress of solitude! the power source must have attracted the aliens' attention."

"fortress of solitude?" connor mumbled.

"uh, superman's palace?" wally spoke for the first time in ages, his voice on the edge of bored. "mancave? it's where he keeps all his kryptonian stuff."

"kryptonian stuff?" connor repeated, awe quickly fading to anger. "i guess there's a lot about him i'll never get to know."

m'gann placed one hand on his shoulder. "connor..."

his anger faded into something more complex, sadder. "no." he turned away from m'gann. "it's okay."

silence ensued, and kaldur positioned himself so that he faced the others. "we'll target this lone ship. is everyone ready?"

-

m'gann landed the cloaked bioship quietly behind a snow bank, just to the left of the solo ship. dick tapped his chest, turning his previously chic suit into an awfully bright, monochromatic, snow-coloured outfit. luckily, he brought a white snow-jacket to wear overtop.

wally clicked his own stealth button with a flourish, turning his own suit white. walking toward the door, he patted his boyfriend's head in a good luck gesture. though dick was only a few measly inches shorter than wally, evidently he still took pride in the difference.

m'gann opened the bioship's door, turning invisible and flying out. cold air rushed in to the ship. it was so sudden, so crisp, that it knocked the air out of dick. struggling to remember how to breathe, he pressed a hand on his stomach, gulping in the ice-cold air.

his body already hurt from the cold. this mission was going to be hell.

connor and wolf exited the bioship, quieter than dick was expecting, giving connor's history with exiting the ship during missions. how kaldur allowed connor to bring his pet, however, was still unanswered.

"fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck," dick muttered to himself, sprinting from the ship to a nearby snowbank and collapsing into it, away from view of any nearby aliens.

suddenly, the alien ship floated into the air. dick shrunk back, but the ship sparked and was pulled in two. m'gann created a mindlink. i disabled the communication and propulsion systems.

from across the way, artemis pulled an arrow out of her white quiver, shooting it at the ship's door. upon landing, the arrow exploded, covering the door in thick purple foam that hardened immediately due to the cold.

the alien craft's laser spun around, shooting feverishly in artemis' direction. her form disappeared from dick's view, but her voice echoed through his head. looks like ETs are still inside.

kaldur jumped onto the ship, waterbearers in hand. the laser swiveled inhumanly fast toward him. wolf bounded toward him, gripping onto the laser with his jaw and swinging it away from kaldur. connor jumped on the ship, holding the laser in place.

kf? dick sent, and not a second later he was picked up onto wally's shoulders. wally ran the two of them toward ghe ship, dick struggling to keep his hood on. his jet-black hair would definitely stand out in this sea of white snow.

a metre from the ship, dick jumped off of wally's shoulders and onto the smooth exterior. he pulled up his hologlove, accessing the schematics. he scanned the blueprint of the laser, noting the three stress points.

miss m and superboy, can you guys detach the laser? dick gestured, his fingers covered with fuzzy white gloves.

we can attach it to the bioship! m'gann replied, appearing right beside dick.

dick pointed at the schematic stress points, and m'gann held a hand out toward the laser. telekinetically, she severed each point, until the weapon was practically unholstered.

connor nodded, gripping the laser in both hands and pulling it off with all his might. some sort of secondary laser emerged from the weapon, latching onto connor's leg with the sound of a defribulator powering up.

wolf's ears perked up, and he jumped at the laser, pushing connor out of the way. with a sickening sizzle wolf was hit, disappearing into nothingness. dick stared at where wolf used to be, but shook his head to clear whatever emotions were crawling up.

dick pulled up his hologlove again, running his eyes back over the schematic. there was no indication of a secondary beam. i'm sorry.

it's okay. connor sent from where he had landed below. there's nothing we can do now.

he climbed back onto the ship, grabbing the laser and picking up from where he left off. with one final pull, it came undone from the rest of the craft.

m'gann called the cloaked ship over to them. dick squinted his eyes, watching how the light reflected off of the invisible ship, just enough to tell where it was if you knew where to look.

connor stepped onto the invisible ship, holding the laser overhead. m'gann followed, placing her palms down onto the surface.

she turned to where the rest of the team were standing. i'll have to decloak her in order for the transfusion to work. it should only take a few minutes.

kaldur nodded, and the once-invisible ship turned a garish red. they truly had luck in their palm, because as soon as m'gann decloaked the bioship, two alien aircrafts flew overhead.

we may not have a few minutes. dick watched the two ships circle overhead.

kaldur commanded, ms martian, open fire!

all weapon systems are offline until the laser is fully integrated. m'gann sent. i need more time.

gotcha covered! artemis appeared again from the snowbank she'd been behind.

she ran toward the bioship, stopping halfway and nocking three arrows, shooting both aircrafts down with ease. they crashed into the snow louder than one would expect. one of the alien ships skidded forward upon landing, almost hitting artemis.

m'gann abandoned her transfusion, staring at the alien craft. artemis, BEHIND YOU!

from behind her, a disintegration ray appeared out of the ship like a kind of precautionary measure. artemis stopped, nocking back an arrow and aiming at the laser. she fired right as the laser shot, destroying anything in its path.

it hit artemis.

it hit artemis.

"ARTEMIS!!" m'gann screamed.

she was gone. there was no body. she was dead, dead, dead. they were all dead. everyone dick loved was dying right in front of him.

his knees buckled, he fell to the ground. someone, or maybe several people, were screaming. his head pounded, blood rushed in his ears.

it all hit him at once. his parents were dead, bruce was dead, barry was dead, alfred was dead. artemis was dead. he watched them all die. he did nothing to save them.

"GET BEHIND ME," someone yelled.

dick slowly covered his ears with his hands. he couldn't do this. he couldn't do this again. his gaze was unfocused, locked on that same spot. his entire body shook. they were dead. they were dead, they were dead. they were all fucking dead. "i'm sorry, i'm sorry, i'm sorry, i'm sorry, i'm sorry, i'm sorry."

dick plunged his hand into his utility belt, grabbing a bird-a-rang. he wasn't going through this again. he would rather kill himself. he wanted to die. he needed to.

connor jumped off the ship, making it shake violently. he ran off, screaming and punching and shouting and destroying.

dick pulled his left sleeve up. he took one last breath, about to press the sharp metal into his already scarred wrist when wally appeared on top of him, pushing him down and grabbing the bird-a-rang from his hand.

an explosion shook the ship they were on; dick's ears rung.

"what the fuck do you think you're doing?" wally yelled, tears falling from his eyes. his hoarse voice broke on every other word.

wally pressed him down; dick couldn't move. "valea," he whispered.

"go away?" wally translated, appalled. anger clouded his eyes. "get the fuck over yourself. every-fucking-one i love is dead too. i'm not killing myself."

dick didn't move. every death was on repeat in his head. he couldn't close his eyes. m'gann's scream echoed, artemis, artemis, ARTEMIS!!

wally sniffed loudly, rubbing his eyes. he stood up, extending a hand. "get up. they haven't won. we fight until we can no longer."

dick pursed his lips. he inhaled deeply, and gripped wally's hand. "we fight until we win."

"what now?" m'gann mumbled, kneeling a few metres from dick. tears cascaded down her cheeks. sometime after dick fell to the ground, she had too.

wally held dick's hand tightly, and extended his other hand for m'gann. she took it, he pulled her up. he held both of their hands, determination masking all other emotions.

"now we save the world."

-

the bioship was silent except for the odd sniffle from m'gann. the emptiness of artemis' seat hung over the air like a tarp. a giant, wet, heavy tarp, impossible to get out of.

dick felt... useless. desaturated. like a failure. a hostage. a washout. but he pushed it down. he boxed up his emotions, pushed them so far down that he could no longer feel them. all that remained was the mission.

humanity was on its last legs, and by some ugly turn of fate it was up to six—no, five—teenagers to save the world.

wally never let go of dick's hand.

love.

dick pushed it down.

"there will be a time to mourn later," kaldur spoke up. he rose from his seat, all eyes on him. "for now, we must focus on defending earth. we must ensure artemis' sacrifice was not in vain."

m'gann rubbed at her wet eyes. "back to the cave?"

"no. the human race must know that there are still heroes defending them."

dick spoke up, his voice quieter than usual. "set course for the hall of justice."

-

by the time they arrived at the hall of justice, everyone had changed back into their usual uniforms. crying had ceased, snacks had been eaten, and all emotions had been ignored.

"approaching the hall of justice," m'gann announced.

dick stared out the window, taking in the horrible destruction of the city. everything was on fire, and anything that wouldn't burn had been destroyed. thick smoke clouded the air, tinting the world a dull grey. pets were dead. children wept.

the military was holding the hall, but not for long. their tanks were diminished and the majority of the men were dead or injured. three alien ships swooped down to finish the job off.

"mine." connor announced.

m'gann steered the bioship directly over top of one of the alien ships. a hole opened in the floor, connor jumping through without a look back. dick peered out the window, watching as connor violently tussled with the metal craft and, eventually, won. m'gann simply shot the remaining ships with her new laser.

dick waited for wally to mumble something studiously oblivious about the laser. he didn't.

m'gann said, "landing now."

connor landed first, jumping in front of the military with a rough look on his face and a loud bang! m'gann touched the bioship down gently behind him, uncloaking her and opening the door. kaldur exited first, dick at his side.

a mix of cheers and chatter was heard from the militia. someone from a few metres away yelled, "superman?"

"i'm not superman," connor growled, turning from the crowd.

a larger man with a flamboyant moustache stepped toward them. "frankly, i don't care who you are. you wear the S and get the job done. thank you."

kaldur saluted the man. "aqualad, justice league."

"general ray eiling, US air force."

"we're hoping to propose a counteroffensive strategy," dick said. "fight fire with fire."

kaldur nodded. "we will help you salvage as many alien lasers as possible. then we will take back our planet."

-

inside the hall of justice, not much was left. the previously grand statues were severed, smashed to the ground and covered in dust. the previously beautiful mosaics that once covered the walls were shattered, littering the floor. dick stared at the decapitated head of batman's statue.

wally followed green arrow into the hall. "this is overwhelming."

"you're overwhelmed, freeze was underwhelmed, why isn't anyone ever just whelmed?" dick asked.

the foyer of the hall of justice answered that question.

"you have access to every room in here," green arrow had said. "this is the first step to becoming full-fledged league members."

m'gann walked over to where the upper half of the statue of martian manhunter lay. soft, gentle cries shook her body and she mumbled something that dick didn't catch.

"all gone," wally muttered. he ran a hand through his messy hair, making it even messier. "everyone."

m'gann gasped loudly, pulling everyone's attention. she stumbled back from her uncle's statue, nearly tripping over the fallen rock. shooting her hands before her, she telekinetically lifted the upper half statue, carelessly throwing it to the other end of the room.

"what are you-" wally began.

out from the rubble crawled martian manhunter.

"uncle j'onn!?" m'gann made to run over to him, to embrace him.

kaldur jumped in front of her, holding out his hands in defence. first, check his mind. confirm this is martian manhunter.

m'gann's eyes glowed for the tiniest second, before she pushed through to hug martian manhunter. "you're alive! you're okay!"

"you're dead," connor countered. "we watched you die."

j'onn held a hand to his head, shooting confused glances around the room. "i remember... i'm not quite sure how i survived, or how i arrived here. my memory, it seems to be fogged."

"maybe you were density shifting when the disintegration ray hit you?" m'gann proposed, the cheery grin never leaving her face. "it just passed through you!"

"scrambling your brains a bit on the way," dick added, earning a look from kaldur. "sorry, memory."

"i cannot say for certain..." j'onn closed his eyes, as if it would help him to recall. "i feel like i had something important to tell you all."

"hello, wally!" wally yelled, a smile working it's way onto his face. "follow me!!"

he led them outside, to the bioship. wally climbed onto the hull, extending a hand to pull dick up after him. gesturing to the laser, wally said, "this was nagging me! can you test the beam?"

dick quirked an eyebrow, but pulled out his hologlove to scan the laserbeam contents. wally hovered over his shoulder, watching as the hologlove loaded the results.

"i knew it!" wally shouted, reaching an arm around dick to point at the hologlove's results. "look! look!"

dick looked.

"look at the formula!" wally gripped dick's arms with excitement. "it's the same compound that powers the zeta tubes!"

"and?" m'gann cocked her head.

wally bounced up and down. "as in, zeta beams! as in, teleportation! as in, everyone's alive!!!"

dick reread the results. "maybe, but-"

"no maybes!" wally grinned. "everyone's alive!"

"that must've been what you wanted to tell us!" m'gann's eyes lit up for the first time in ages as she turned to her uncle.

"i'm- i'm not so sure. perhaps?"

"barry and iris are fine! artemis is fine! everyone's okay!" wally looked so glad. even connor was smiling.

dick caught kalder's eye, shaking his head ever-so-slightly. kaldur blinked slowly, pursing his lips. wally was wrong.

humanity was being exterminated.

CRASH!!

the wall behind them exploded, concrete flying everywhere. dick ducked behind a statue, along with the team and many of the military, looking back to see at least five alien ships swooping toward them. lasers shot every which way, blasting through stone and flesh alike.

on our way! kaldur commanded.

negative. dick argued. we can't win this. ms martian, cloak the bi-

a laser hit the bioship. it disappeared. dick lost his train of thought; they had all been standing right there not a moment ago.

with simultaneous screams that sent a shiver down dick's spine, m'gann and j'onn yelped, falling to their knees. more shots rang out. more soliders sizzled.

connor screeched m'gann's name. dick allowed a quick glance at her—eyes crazed, tears streaming, body paralyzed—before turning back to the alien ships. they were impenetrable, they were swarming, and they were going to kill them all.

we have to fall back. dick sent, then gestured to general eiling, some rough ASL. the general nodded. shots rang out.

they fell back.

funelling into the destroyed hall of justice, dick heard someone yell, "we're trapped!!!"

kaldur backed into the hall slowly, falling into step with the general. "we are not trapped. we can use league zeta beams to teleport out."

the army began setting up lines of defense inside of the hall. hundreds of soldiers were readied, with no protection and holding only weapons that would have no effect on the ships.

dick ran past them. m'gann and j'onn hobbled past without a glance. general eiling spared the men a nod.

kaldur stopped in front of the zeta beams and turned toward them. "we will just need computer clearance for the soldiers."

dick took a half step forward when j'onn spoke. "i can grant access, but only one at a time."

"we will send the soldiers first," kaldur said.

general eiling rounded on him. "no, you six before us."

"sir-"

"i outrank you," general eiling stated. "the world just can't afford to lose more heroes."

after a beat, kaldur nodded curtly.

j'onn pried himself away from m'gann, standing just under the sensor for the zeta beam. "override capacity, override unknown, override code: martian manhunter-07."

recognized, access granted.

j'onn stepped back. "the team first, then the soldiers."

m'gann stumbled into the zeta tube. wally followed close behind. the wall exploded. smoke filled the room and invisible shots echoed on the walls. the military fought, the aliens fought harder.

dick moved from the zeta tube in a blink, crouching behind a bit of fallen rubble. he pulled out a bird-a-rang. army men screamed, the structure shook. dust covered his eyes.

kaldur ducked behind dick's rubble. he placed a hand on top of the bird-a-rang. "robin, zeta out."

dick frowned. "i'm not leaving you all alone to fight this."

"i can't leave until everyone is safe. you need to go. they need a leader."

dick pulled his hand from under kaldur's grasp. "then go lead them."

"we're running out of time!" kaldur huffed. he grabbed dick's arm and swung him onto his back. two steps late, he was throwing him into the zeta beam.

recognized, robin-01

the cold cement floor of the cave stared up at him. dick pulled himself up, staring at the back wall of the zeta tube.

"FUCK!!"

he felt wally's hands on him. "what's wrong?"

dick pressed into his forearms so hard that it hurt. he made bruises from his fist, pressing all of his force in, in, in, on the muscle. he was on his knees, staring at the zeta beam. wally was saying something that he couldn't hear.

they had to make it. all of them had to make it.

a wounded lieutenant appeared. wally pulled dick away from the beam. connor came shortly after. martian manhunter appeared next. the team waited and waited, but after five minutes the zeta's lights went dim. the quiet whirring of the machine quieted. no one else was coming.

-

he was the leader.

dick regulated his breathing and stood up. he tried to smooth out his too-long hair and then he clasped his hands. he looked at his team: superboy, miss martian, kidflash, martian manhunter, and lieutenant jason bard. he could work with that.

"so," dick took a deep breath. "if we believe that the aliens are teleporting their victims-"

"which we do." wally nodded with a hint of a grin. 

"-then there has to be someplace that they're all being detained, yeah?"

dick brought up his hologlove, fingers flying over the keys. he clicked on a picture of the alien mothership to bring it up onto the holographic screen just in front of the team. a few notes were displayed overtop, marking distances and doors.

"the only feasible detainment site is here, the mothership. on top on what used to be smallville." dick gestured loosely to the screen, then turned to martian manhunter. "ring any bells?"

"no." j'onn stepped closer toward the screen. "i am sorry."

"superboy, you'll be the distraction so that kf-"

"you're making connor be a distraction?" m'gann cut him off, voice rising. "that's a death-wish! you're usingy him as a sacrifice! aqualad would have never done that."

"you're right." dick deadpanned. "aqualad would sacrifice himself. now he's dead."

"detained." wally corrected.

"either way," dick continued. "now we're missing our leader. superboy is the most likely to be perceived as a threat, motivating the aliens to deploy."

wally pulled a bowl of soup from god-knows-where, talking with his mouth full. "and worst case scenario, he's just teleported inside and we end up rescuing him anyway."

"it's fine, m'gann," connor spoke up, placing a hand on her arm. "i'll do it. it's what superman would do."

-

"it's on," dick whispered.

the four teens stood awkwardly in front of a video camera, streaming live to the entire world. wraught anxiety coursed through dick's body, but he needed to spark some hope. any hope.

"hi," wally began. "you might not recognize us, but we work with the justice league. i'm kidflash, this is robin, miss martian, and superboy."

"i know that everything seems really scary right now, and that's okay." m'gann took over. "we're gonna fix this, all we need you to do is stay safe and stay calm."

"stay inside with your family," dick added. "keep in contact with your friends. lay low, and we promise that this will be over soon."

"this is our planet, and we're gonna damn well fight for it." connor yelled, raising his arm in the air. the others followed suit.

after a few seconds, m'gann, wally, and connor left to gather any necessary supplies. dick took a seat in front of the camera, translating their message into every language he could speak. he answered questions in spanish and combatted fear in mandarin and helped kids around the world feel safe.

after fifteen minutes, he stood up. "we will survive this. pentru tara mea si a ta. pentru pământ."

he turned the livestream off and joined his team.

-

smallville was a quiet town, built mostly from farmers and their pedigree. it was a world apart from gotham. each and every building was quaint, especially compared to the massive lots used for crowing crops or grazing livestock.

smack-dab in the middle of the town was the mothership.

"it's gargantuan," wally mumbled.

and that it was. the mothership was an absolute tank. an ominous, pulsating, black and purple object just sitting there. waiting for them.

they were currently standing on a hill overlooking the ship. the sounds of the city were lost, only the crickets remained. dick walked to the edge, pulling binoculars out of his utility belt. 

after a few moments m'gann joined him. he passed her the binoculars and she took a long look over the mothership, before extending them back towards him.

dick placed his hands on top of m'gann's. "stay close to j'onn. he's still..."

m'gann nodded. dick slid the binoculars back into his utility belt and headed toward the rest of the team. "team beta, deploy!"

m'gann and j'onn flew up and disappeared. dick rubbed at his forearm, pulling up the mothership schematics to double check his math. wally placed a hand on his shoulder.

ready and in position. m'gann reported. be careful, connor. i love you.

"team alpha," dick muttered.

connor gave dick a nod before jumping toward the mothership. he landed just before it, on top of one if the alien crafts. he gripped the laserbeam, pulling at it fiercely.

make sure not to disconnect the power source. dick reminded, anxiety notable even with telepathy.

wally pressed his lips against dick's ear. "it's gonna be fine," he mumbled. "your plan is gonna work."

connor got the laser unhooked without disconnecting the power source. he held it above his head, shooting manically toward the mothership. he was yelling something that dick couldn't catch.

dick crossed one arm over his chest, cupping wally's cheek with his palm. "toti sunt morti. îmi pare rău că mint."

"what?"

connor's lasers finally caught the attention of the mothership. hundreds of purple doors opened, craft after craft flying out to attack him.

now or never! connor's voice rang through dick's head.

he started sprinting toward the ship. in the blink of an eye he was picked up by wally. wind rushed past his ears, pulling at his hair. the scenery of the forest was replaced with that of a spaceship hangar before dick could even process the movement.

wally set him down and pressed the two of them against the wall. two more spacecrafts flew out the door, a couple metres from them. dick peeked out from behind the wall, scanning the room.

CLEAR!

he sprinted through the room, wally hot on his heels. they stopped at a thick cylindrical rod on the left side of the hangar, pressing their backs against it. wally pulled his goggles atop his head.

dick scanned the room again. i could've sworn i saw-

metal hit metal and dick's head snapped to the right. some kind of alien drone lay crumpled on the floor. m'gann and j'onn appeared behind it. dick nodded thanks, and the four of them ran deeper into the ship.

the closer they got to the core of the ship, the higher the temperature grew. dick was just short of thanking god for his breathable spandex when m'gann stopped running, staggering back into her uncle's arms.

she whimpered loudly, holding her head with one hand and using the other to steady herself on the wall.

he's gone. she slipped down the wall, landing on buckled knees. con-

wally rushed over to her, sliding to his knees and placing his hands on her shoulders. it's okay! it's okay. we'll find him with the others.

no. j'onn spoke up. the disintegration beam is just that. there is so detention area. no prisoners to rescue. this mission holds no purpose.

wally leapt up, pressing his index finger into j'onn's chest. you're wrong. the zeta radiation. his finger turned to a fist. they're alive, they're al-

stop it. dick pulled wally off j'onn, pushing him against the wall. he held wally's forearms, forcing his boyfriend to look at him. i've been scanning for signals of the team and the league—of anyone. no one's here.

wally just stared. his expression was blank. dick would've preferred anything else, any other reaction. he cupped wally's face in his hands. "i'm sorry," he whispered.

a beat later, dick let go and turned to j'onn. this mission does not lack purpose. we can still save earth. we can still blow this motherfucker up.

dick didn't wait for a response. he turned around and started again walking to the core of the mothership. he took in a deep breath and fiddled with the ends of his hair.

footsteps followed.

-

the core of the mothership was sweltering hot. dick wiped his fringe out of his eyes, running over to a giant horizontal pipe on the floor. he kneeled behind it, pulling up his hologlove. wally clambered to the floor beside him.

this is the powercore. dick pulled up the schematics for what seemed like the hundredth time, but now what was on his hologlove was directly in front of him. blow this and the whole ship goes.

they headed further toward the very centre of the room, where a glowing ball of energy the size of a small factory was. dick was a good ways ahead of the rest of his team when he jumped onto a lower platform and fumbled the landing.

"huh," he muttered.

even after landing his body still felt tilted, like some force was pulling him closer to the core. scrunching together his eyebrows, dick took two steps closer and fell to the ground.

yelping, dick could feel the gravitational pull getting stronger and stronger with every inch he travelled. wally ran toward him, falling to the ground himself. dick reached out his hand. wally clasped it.

soon they slid off the platform, free falling toward what was now the floor, the gravitational energy ball. dick held wally's hand tightly, using his other to reach into his utility belt and pull out his grappling hook. he shot it haphazardly toward something that looked to be a beam.

it locked.

suddenly, it became dick holding both himself and wally with one hand against the force of gravity. he tried to pull wally closer to hold him instead with his legs, but could barely manage an inch. sweat ran down dick's back as his arm threatened to release at any moment.

adding to his incredible luck, two alien drones seemed to have noticed them and were now flying over with the full force of zeus.

dick closed his eyes, focusing only on not dropping his amazing boytoy malewife down 50 metres and breaking his legs. wally was on his own for the drones.

when dick's arms were released from the work of holding two idiots up with one hand, he nearly sighed with relief. until it registered in his brain what that meant, and his eyes flew open in terror. but instead of falling from the rope and to their death, him and wally were floating down gracefully. the drones were laying smashed on the ground. m'gann and j'onn stood high above them, eyes glowing green.

dick sat cross-legged on the floor, wally on his knees beside him. dick shook out his arms for a second, then pulled out a second utility belt from under his cape. he lay the belt down and pulled out half a dozen nitroglycerin packs he managed to shove into his main utility belt.

wally stared at all the nitroglycerin. you knew.

dick ignored him, typing frantically on his hologlove to connect each pack to his system.

from the beginning. you never came for survivors.

dick clicked one last button and set a timet on his hologlove. three minutes. let's get the hell out of here.

okay. wally looked upset. he looked distraught. he looked heartbroken, and worst of all, he looked betrayed.

they both took off toward the closest door. dick's stomach turned as he watched the door close before wally made it out. he bit his lip until he tasted metal.

how perfect. wally stopped at the closed door, turning back toward his leader. m'gann and j'onn flew down to meet them. m'gann gently pressed her palm against the door.

dick stared at the giant block of metal enclosing them in a room filled to the brim with explosives. his plan had gone awry. wally was supposed to run them out. they were supposed to win.

dozens of footsteps echoed around them. the four of them spun around to find a half dozen aliens slinking toward them. with long, skinny bodies, lasers for a face, and too many legs to be walking upright, the aliens were probably the most grotesque thing dick had ever seen. their skin was midnight black with purple spots that when pulsate if looked at too long.

even from across the room, the aliens began shooting. dick pulled wally into an alcove, j'onn and m'gann finding another one to hide in further down.

dick checked his timer. manhunter, take miss m and go.

j'onn nodded, pulling his arms around m'gann. no! she protested, shaking out of his hold. i won't leave you.

that's an order. we'll follow once we blow the doors.

the two martians disappeared. dick turned so that he was facing wally, who slowly pulled off his domino mask. the aliens were getting closer. the timer was running out.

dick couldn't help but think of the dozen explosives he planted on the way to the core. the belt-full inside the core. even if they could get out of this room, he and wally wouldn't make it out.

TWENTY-ONE SECONDS

dick cupped wally's face, thumbing his cheek. "i'm sorry, walls."

"it doesn't matter." wally's voice broke. "there's so much i wanna say."

"you're my best friend, wally. forever."

SIXTEEN SECONDS

tears began streaming down wally's face. he wrapped his arms around dick's waist and pulled them both to the ground. their bodies melded together, making sure every inch was touching, touching, touching.

"i love you." kiss. "i love you so much, dickie."

dick threaded his hands in wally's hair and pressed his lips against every feature on his face. "i'm sorry it had to come down to this."

TWELVE SECONDS

wally shook his head, pulling dick's head into his chest. he whispered something into dick's ear and they both burst out laughing. wally's favourite sound. dick's favourite sound.

blinking away tears, dick interlocked their hands. "goodbye, iubit."

"at least i get to go out with a nice view."

ONE SECOND

dick stared into wally's eyes as the room around him exploded. the bright light burned his eyes before the fire ever could. the force knocked him unconscious before his brain had the chance. and wally's arms grasped onto him, even as death tried to pull them off.

MOUNT JUSTICE
OCTOBER 16th — 16:21 EDT

dick didn't expect to wake up.

he was an atheist; he was a scientist.

but when he opened his eyes and saw a low-hanging fluorescent light directly above him, he knew it.

he was in hell.

dick sat up, surprised at the fact that he could. after a massive explosion like that? he's dead. he's disintegrated. he's dust.

he was sitting on a medical bed, formed into a circle with five others just like it. on each one sat his four dead teammates and m'gann.

dick stared across at his dead boyfriend, slowly moving his own fingers, as if to test if this was real or not. barry was sitting on the edge of wally's bed, one hand on his nephew's shoulder. wally was wiping tears from his eyes with the sleeve of his flannel.

dick pressed his fingers to his own eyes, feeling sunnies and beneath them, hot tears. he threw the glasses off, wiping at his eyes with the heels of his hands.

artemis was on her phone. connor was petting wolf, kaldur was stretching. m'gann held her head feverishly. they were alive, they were alive. was that all a dream?

bruce walked over, placing a hand on dick's shoulder for no more than two seconds, before continuing on his way toward martian manhunter. "what happened in there?" he asked, voice low.

"the exercise... it all went wrong."

dick turned to face j'onn. he was holding his head in his hands, face contorted in pain. "exercise?" dick muttered.

bruce frowned at him. "try to remember."

dick rubbed at his eyes again. this time, not wiping tears but fatigue. yesterday was normal, today was invasion. nothing made sense and everything was clouded. "i... i don't know."

bruce moved to stand in front of the team. "what you experienced was a training exercise. manhunter psychically linked the six of you within a simulated reality. you were all aware of this going in.

"what you didn't know is that it was a 'train for failure' exercise. no matter what choices you made or what you accomplished, the scenario was designed to grow worse. still, you were aware that nothing was real. including the deaths of the entire justice league."

"that is why you did not grieve," j'onn continued. "but this all changed when artemis died. though consciously, miss martian knew this was simulated, her subconscious could no longer make that distinction. her subconscious took over the simulation, grappling the command over from me. as a result, you all believed it to be real."

"i'm sorry!" m'gann exclaimed, voice catching. she stared at her hands, clasped tightly in her lap.

connor leapt off of his medical bed. "well, that's not her fault!! why didn't you stop the exercise??"

"i tried." j'onn frowned. "m'gann had a death grip over your psyches. even artemis, who should've awakened upon her death, was so convinced of her passing that her body slipped into a coma.

"in order to stop the scenario, i realized had to wrest control from miss martian from within. unfortunately, upon entering, i was overwhelmed by the amount and extent of everyone's emotions.

"there was too much..." j'onn began gesturing with his hands, struggling to translate something so distinctly lip martian into english. "noise... to concentrate. i could no longer think clearly or remember why i was there.

"the deaths of aqualad helped to clear my mind, but only once kidflash and robin were killed did i remember my purpose. to shock m'gann out of the exercise before your comatose states became permanent."

tears ran down m'gann's cheeks. "i'm sorry!" she apologized in between cries. "i'm so sorry, guys."

"no, i apologize," j'onn said. "i had no idea a training exercise could be so dangerous, so damaging."

dick felt each pocket of his cargo pants until he found his phone. he pulled it out, frowning at how his hands were trembling. he typed slowly, eyes on wally.

16:29 | dick -> wally

dick: are you mad at me.

wally checked his phone casually, still in a conversation with barry. dick pulled at his hoodie strings, before sticking them in his mouth to gnaw on.

wally: no

dick: yeah you are

wally: it wasn't real why would i be mad

dick: idk???? bevause i lied????
dick: it was real to us

wally: okay well it's over now

m'gann still wracked with sobs. connor sat with wolf, not looking at her. captain marvel pulled her into an embrace.

dick: wally

wally: dick

dick: SEE YOU ARE MAD
dick: dude just confess it
dick: please

wally: fine dick i'm frustrated
wally: i'm not mad at you
wally: i'm just frustrated with you. i'm frustrated with the whole situation and i'm frustrated with myself

dick: i really am sorry walls

wally: yeah i know
wally: just. idk
wally: i just need to get out of here

sighing, dick slipped his phone back into his pocket. he pulled his hood up and over his eyes, laying back down on the medical bed. he wished he had headphones. or a book. or homework. anything, really.

dick settled for gnawing on his hoodie strings and listening to the conversations around him. bruce and j'onn were hushed, debating m'gann's raw power. wally and barry were saying something about food and aunt iris and how the snow was coming early this year. kaldur was recounting the exercise to aquaman. dick tuned that one out.

artemis was the only person who seemed normal. she was on the bed right beside dick, talking on the phone. at first, he assumed it was with her mom, but after listening more it seemed to be with zatanna.

"robin?"

dick shot his eyes open, pulling the hood off his eyes. batman stood over him, his face contorted into a rare emotion.

dick sat back up. "you look chalant."

bruce, indeed looking chalant, crossed his arms. "i'm heading back. would you like to come now, or..?" his eyes flitted toward wally.

"asterous." dick jumped off the bed. "let's head back."

it was a quick, awkward, goodbye, then dick and bruce were off. the moment they made it through the zeta, however, bruce pulled off his cowl and turned to dick.

"you know, i've never been good at the whole boy thing-"

"bruce!" dick cut him off, marching into the batcave. "it's fine. that missio- exercise was just..."

bruce stared.

"it's fine. i'm fine. i'm going to call barbara."

dick saluted bruce with a smile, turning to make his way up the stairs. his expression fell and his breathing grew ragged. he finally made it out of the batcave and into the manor hallway, collapsing against the wall. choking on a lack of air, dick fished out his phone.

barbara didn't pick up.

-

WAYNE MANOR
OCTOBER 17th — 01:49 EDT

a breeze rustled his curtains. it smelled a mix of pine and maple and whatever other trees framed the manor's property line. now that it was getting colder and colder out, dick ought to stop leaving his window open.

he lay on his bed, eyes stuck on his roof. his headphones were on full blast, but that didn't stop him from hearing artemis' scream, kaldur's pleading, m'gann's cries, and wally's whispers.

his eyes hurt.

a bowl of cereal, long ago gone soggy, sat on his nightstand. the breeze wafted the scent of lucky charms through his bedroom. one song ended; the next song started, lord huron.

his phone rang. dick looked at the caller id for a long moment before picking up. "hello?"

"whatcha wearing?"

dick snorted. "absolutely nothing."

wally was silent for a moment or two. "i can't close my eyes."

"i'm sorry."

a mumble that dick couldn't make out. then, "did b make you write a mission report?"

dick sat up, looking down at his wrist. his bloodied wrist. it was only a little cut though, right? it would barely scar. it didn't mean anything.

"dickie?"

"sorry," dick said, closing his eyes shut tight. looking at his wrist would just make him want to do it again. "he didn't even mention it. i should. i can't."

"are you okay?"

"no. are you?"

"no."

there was a long pause before wally spoke again. "will i be okay?"

dick was silent for a moment, walking over to turn off his light, stopping any and all temptations. "yes. you will."

"and you?"

"i wish i could hold your hand right now."

"dick."

dick hummed. "yes. eventually."

a minute passed.

"was us accepting death an act of suicide?"

"what?"

"barry asked me, when i told him everything that happened. he asked me why we didn't blow open the door like we said we would."

"it would've reacted with the explosives i planted. we were... we were dead either way."

wally hummed. "you made all the right choices."

"the right choices sure hurt like hell."

"i mean it." wally's bed creaked, like he was rolling onto his side. "you were leaderly."

"i love you."

wally yawned. "damn straight. i'm awesome."

contrary to his angsty look, dick smiled. "goodnight, wally."

"night, babes."

dick hung up the phone, laying back down on his bed. now that it was dark, the glow-in-the-dark stars actually did what they were supposed to do. he and wally had put them all over his roof years ago.

dick held up his left arm. he was wearing a t-shirt, for once, which meant that he could actually see his mutilated forearms, even in the dark.

"fuck," dick spat.

it wasn't worth it. for a moment, it calmed him down. but it didn't stop him from seeing everyone die. it didn't stop him from hating himself. it didn't stop the rage that he buried every fucking second of the day.

and yet dick couldn't seem to quit.