[sO1e16 , failsafe , pt. 2]

"Superboy, you'll create a distraction." Robin has to step up and take command now that Aqualad is gone.

"No!" M'gann protests. "He's offering you as a sacrifice!" She looks to Superboy, hoping that he'll fight back. He stands still. "Aqualad would never do that!"

"You're right . . . Aqualad would sacrifice himself. A mistake that just cost us our leader. Superboy is the most likely to be perceived as a threat, motivating the aliens to deploy."

Kid Flash tries to lighten the mood by spreading Bennie's theory and reassuring everyone that Superboy will only be teleported. Mara wants to take his message to heart, but it's nearly impossible when it still feels like all of the oxygen has been knocked from her lungs.

Superboy agrees to go and M'gann finally gives up her arguing. "I can go with Superboy," Mara volunteers. She knows it's a suicide mission SB is being sent on, but if she can even try a bit to keep him alive . . .

"What? No way!" Robin is the one to protest this time.

"But I can―"

"I said no! We need you here. I need you here . . ." he says the last part a little softer and Mara's expression softens. She can't imagine the weight on his shoulders and decides not to make it any heavier.

A broadcast is set up to communicate with the people of Earth. The Team all share a few encouraging words and hope that it was enough to power everyone through for just a little while longer. During Mara's part, all she can think about is how she's not the right person for this and that Bennie would be much more influential. The demigoddess couldn't even come up with her own speech and memorized some lines.

With all that's going on, Mara can't help but exclusively think of her father and how much strength he's getting from all the violence and deaths. But then she remembers that she is his daughter and in some sort, she must also subconsciously be feeding off this war.

.

.

.

There's a little time before the first team will be deployed. Mara stands next to Robin and stares at the enormous mothership that crushed Smallville. "I'm gonna die," she whispers. Robin's eyes snap open and he lowers his binoculars.

"What? No!"

Mara smiles slightly at his concern, but then sighs. "As a warrior, I've learned to embrace the thought at a young age that I might not come back from every single battle. And this . . . it's suicide."

Robin sharply shakes his head with a cross expression. "I won't let anything happen to you."

Mara doesn't ask him to promise because even she knows he won't be able to keep it. Instead, she chuckles softly. "Funny. This entire time you've been thinking about protecting me when I've been thinking of protecting you."

Robin only blinks and Mara hopes she didn't say anything wrong. But then the corner of his lips upturn into a grin. "Yeah, guess so," he says. "No matter what happens, it'll be okay."

Mara inhales sharply. "I know."

The Boy Wonder pauses. His eyes linger on Mara, knowing that it might possibly be the last time he'll be able to lay eyes on her. This very well could be their last conversation. When she notices him staring, he turns stoic. "You ready?" Mara nods in response. "See you on the other side . . . First team―deploy!"

M'gann and J'onn go camouflage mode and drift off to the mothership. It takes a few moments, but Kid Flash, Robin, and Wonder Girl eventually hear M'gann's voice in their head. "Ready; in position."

Knowing what's coming next, Mara stares at Conner in the corner of her eye. Sure enough, Robin gives him the motion to head off. Mara gives him a small smile before he leaves. "Good luck." He nods to her before heading off.

Mara hears him shouting from somewhere far off and she tries to shake off the uneasy feeling. More alien ships suddenly start filing forward. Kid Flash, Robin, and Wonder Girl take this as their cue and speed their way in, Mara flying and Dick hopping on Wally's back.

Arriving inside, they take cover. Mara scans her surroundings. Bright orange lights shine from the ceiling and the hallways are long with patrolling drones appearing every now and then. Her instincts suddenly shoot to the roof and she darts her head around looking for danger. Not far from Robin is a surveillance craft that's more than ready to blast him to smithereens. Mara's reflexes kick in and she throws her shield at it, forcing it to disassemble from the pressure.

Robin turns to her, startled, as he realizes that could've been his end. Mara doesn't look back at him, her stomach queasy at the thought.

M'gann and J'onn float down and Robin gestures for everyone to continue down a lengthy hall when M'gann stops and nearly collapses but Mara manages to catch her. "What's wrong?" Mara asks, though she regrets asking because a part of her already knows.

"No . . . he's gone!"

Superboy.

Despite Mara's best efforts to aid the Martian, she falls on her knees and she stares straight ahead as Wally says, "It's all right. We'll find him with Artemis and Bennie and all the others! I know it."

"No," Martian Manhunter interrupts, voice shattering through the hope. Mara tenses, bracing herself for the worst news possible. "My mind is clearer now. The disintegration beam is exactly that. There is no detention facility, no prisoners to rescue. Our mission holds no purpose."

Mara knew it all along but hearing the fact spoken out loud hurts more than she'd like to admit.

Kid Flash grips onto Martian Manhunter. "No, you're wrong! The zeta radiation proves they're still alive!"

Robin grabs onto Kid Flash and pulls him back. "Stop it, KF!" he shouts. His voice then gets softer. "I've been scanning for League and Team signals since we got inside. They're not here. Artemis, Bennie, Kaldur. . . they're gone."

"We're still here for a purpose," Mara reminds quickly, allowing no time for mourning because if the topic continues on, she'll lose it. "We have to destroy the mothership and save mankind."

Her words keep everyone motivated just a little longer as they continue on to the core of the ship where there's a giant orange ball in the center that's glowing. "The power core . . ." Mara whispers to herself more than anyone else but is still heard by the majority. Before, she'd never had known such a thing but she guesses all of those late nights spent in Bennie's garage have paid off.

Bennie. Mara's face turns sour.

Robin fiddles with his holocom. "Yes. Blow this and the whole mothership blows." Alongside Kid Flash, the bird boy launches over the railing with the bombs strapped to his chest.

Readying her stance, Mara watches the perimeter. In the corner of her eye, she spots Robin being scraped from his feet, Kid Flash following shortly after as he tries to grab a hold of his best friend's arm.

Fear floods Wonder Girl's heart as she whips out her lasso and levitates over the edge. She whips her lasso over and Robin tightly grips onto it. The sudden excessive weight pulls Mara forward slightly and the strong gravitational pull coming from the core isn't helping much. She forces herself to augment her strength by channeling more blood through her body which gives her enough of an advantage to lower KF and Robin down safely to the power core. Consequently, she's weakened for a moment and wobbles her landing.

Dick plants the explosives and Wally looks at him in shock. "You knew . . . You knew from the beginning why we were really here." There's anger rising in his voice. He turns his head to sharply look at Mara. "Did you?"

Mara walks closer. "I'm sorry. . . I tried to believe that they were still alive but the more I thought about it, the more unrealistic it became." He scoffs and looks away. Mara opens her mouth to speak because she doesn't want her friendship with Wally to end off on a bad note in case tragedy strikes, but no words come out as his scowl and stiff figure catches her attention.

"Four minutes, let's go." But while trying to follow Robin's orders, the door shuts before anyone can escape.

"That is not good . . ." Mara mumbles, feet skidding to a stop. She sticks her sword deeply in between the sealed door and attempts to pry it open. She's suddenly forced away from the door when an explosion from behind shoves her forward. She shoots upwards from the forceful pressure and lands painfully on the ground after her side is harshly thrown into a dense platform.

Hopping back to her feet, she sees a large figure charging at her. She's levitating far from the ground but not by her own doing. She hears Robin call out her name but it sounds so distant. One of the drones purposefully crashed into her. She digs her fingers into the top and rips the drone into two, consequently landing with a thud. Quickly recovering, she rolls to her feet and raises her shield, intercepting the laser heading straight for Robin.

She deflects, sending the beam back towards the drone. Another approaches. "Maneuver nine!" Mara falls to her knees and puts her shield atop her back. Kid Flash uses her position as a ramp and she launches him forward. He latches onto the drone like a leech and guides it to the wall, crumbling it to little pieces. Subsequently, he hurdles over the railing.

Mara dives over, her fingers interlocking with the speedster's. She maneuvers her body around and launches Kid Flash back upwards. The demigoddess begins to drift upwards when something strong and weighted lands on her chest, pushing her all the way to the deep depths.

"Mara; report! Are you all right?!"

A heavily armored robot has its ginormous tin foot on her chest and pushes. Mara cries out in pain and she swears that she heard a rib or two crack. Unfortunately, the robot has no blood to bend, leaving Mara in an uncomfortable situation as she attempts to shove it off.

She hears Robin ordering J'onn and M'gann to leave but can't be sure if she's imagining it or not as she fades in and out of consciousness. Things would be so much better right now if she weren't trapped and set to explode. Yet the bomb is currently the least of her problems.

The robot's singular cyclops eye starts to glow.

Suddenly, its head is sliced from its body.

Dropping Mara's sword, Robin kneels at her side. "Hey, hey!" he shouts, gently cradling her head in his hands. "Stay awake!"

Mara's eyes slowly open and blurs of color form into a single individual. Shakily, she gains strength to stand, gripping onto Robin's upper arms for support. He still holds her and she realizes that it's because his holocom reads 9 seconds and counting.

There's nothing to be done.

Mara's hardened features soften as she focuses on Robin. "See you on the other side."

"I'll be there."

He smiles at her. She smiles back. Despite current circumstances, it's not so bad since they're together.

The mothership explodes.

.

.

.

Mara's eyes snap open and she gasps, sitting up. She pats herself up and down, surprised to still be in one piece and back in the Cave. Looking around, she sees her teammates just as confused as her. When she locks eyes with Dick, he's already looking at her. She groans and climbs to her feet.

An invisible burden drags her down and she nearly falls flat on her face. Luckily, Dick is by her side within seconds. "You all right?" he murmurs.

Mara shakes her head in a small 'no' before reaching her arms out to engulf him in a hug. She's thankful when he hugs back and places his hand under her head, pulling her closer to his chest, not ever wanting to let go. Feeling his warmth is enough to calm her racing heart rate. "You're not . . . dead?"

When they pull away, Martian Manhunter explains that it was only an exercise that went terribly wrong. He then goes on to explain that M'gann's mind is very powerful and accidentally deceived the Team. The rest of his words become one big blur as Mara's eyes dart around the room. She grins slightly at the sight of seeing Bennie fist-bumping Wally before tightly capturing Artemis in a hug. Once the lantern catches sight of Mara, she floats over faster than lightning and wraps her arms around the little god.

"I'm so sorry," she murmurs. "I didn't mean any of it."

"I know," Mara reassures, hugging back. "I'm sorry, too."

"You're my best friend. I don't ever wanna fight again."

"We won't."

"I know."

"Let's promise to never argue again and if we do we have to cut off our pinky."

Mara grins. "Deal."

M'gann sobs in the distance. Mara and Bennie pull away and stare at their friend, hopeless to what they can say or do to make her feel better. With a sorrowful heart, Mara forces her eyes away.