Hey guys! This is it! The chapter I've been waiting for since day one! I've been planning this chapter before I even started this fic! Also I'm just gonna put this out there: I might do a Flashpoint chapter where we get see Kage because after watching the movie and seeing Kaldur, I've been thinking about what Kage would be like in this timeline. With that said on to the comments!

AlicetheCactus: What you just described is me in a nutshell. I'm terrible at comforting people because my view of how to fix emotional problems isn't exactly the best.

Shahzeb: I feel like Kage would like Raven as a person but would generally have no patience for any of the self-pity she carries as a spawn of Trigon.

Star-The-Writer: Do we have the same best friend?

DISCLAIMER: I DON'T OWN YOUNG JUSTICE OR IT'S CHARACTERS. THEN AGAIN IF YOU'VE BEEN READING THIS LONG THEN YOU PROBABLY KNOW THAT ALREADY.

MOUNT JUSTICE

OCTOBER 16, 16:01 EDT

KAGE POV

We were all gathered today in the Cave to watch the Justice League take on a fleet of alien invaders and just watched as J'onn, Superman, Captain Atom, Captain Marvel, Batman, and both Green Lanterns were easily taken out by some kind of beam from the mother ship. I should be feeling some kind of emotion right now: anger, fear, pain, crippling sorrow, but I found that I was surprisingly okay with their deaths. This doesn't seem normal for me because this is definitely not how I handle death. My attention was pulled from the abnormality by the incoming transmission from Zatara.

"Tornado," he began solemnly, "did you –"

"Yes, Zatara," Red Tornado sharply replied. "We saw. Celestial fences have failed. Initiate all terrestrial measures."

"Affirmative, see you in the field," with that Zatara ended the transmission and Red Tornado turned to face us.

"I must join the League. We will protect the planet at all costs, but should we fail the responsibility falls to you."

Kaldur and I exchanged resolved looks, neither of us sure if we are ready for such a heavy burden but ready to shoulder it if we must. I felt his fingers brush the back of my hand and I hooked my index finger with his own for reassurance. He looked Tornado in his eye slits and replied with determination, "We stand ready."

We stayed in the cave, watching the news feeds of Justice League members around the world attempting to hold off the invasion and failing. Many of them were being reported as dead or missing. It was a very disheartening sight to behold. "Red Tornado to Cave: I fear I am all that remains of the League," Red Tornado reported as he took down as many ships as he could while trying to infiltrate the mother ship that just touched down.

"RT!" Robin exclaimed, but it was too late. Red Tornado fell.

"We are Earth's heroes now," Kaldur stated with a disconcerted frown.

"So what are we waiting for? A theme song?" Connor snapped.

"A strategy," Kaldur retorted calmly before he began to explain what we already know about the invaders. "Earth weapons are ineffective and it has been made tragically clear a direct attack will not succeed."

I clapped once to get their attention and pointed to Robin, "Check the satellites maybe they can show us something we're missing."

Robin nodded in agreement before pulling up a holographic image of the world with red splotches representing where the aliens resided. Connor pointed up at the Arctic Circle, "It looks like one got lost." Robin zoomed in on it and the globe rotated to where everyone could see the one red dot.

"It's Superman's Fortress of Solitude," the Boy Wonder concluded with wide eyes.

"Superman has a Fortress of Solitude?" my favorite clone asked in disbelief as he let that information sink in. He looked to me and I could only shrug in response. I didn't know he had something like that otherwise I would have told him about it.

"It's power source must have attracted the aliens' attention, at least enough to send a scout ship to investigate," Robin explained.

"Must be some fortress," he muttered bitterly, as he turned away from us to hide his expression.

"Connor," M'gann began her tender reassurance only to be rebuffed by the kryptonian.

"No, it's okay. I guess there's a lot about Superman that I'll never know. Uh, you know, now," he fumbled to admit the reality that the person he'd been cloned from was gone.

"We will target this lone ship," Kaldur said, already forming a plan in his mind.

Wally was eager to add to it, "Yeah, break it down, build more, hit those ugly aliens with their own mojo – OW!" He was immediately met with a boot to his shin and an elbow to his ribs from me and Artemis respectively. Not that I didn't appreciate his zeal but he was getting into dangerously xenophobic territory with the two aliens on the team standing right across from him. Artemis told him as much.

For the first time since the beginning of his rant, Wally actually noticed that Connor and M'gann were sending him dirty looks and his eyes widened in realization at how insensitive he was being. He let out a nervous laugh, trying to cover his tracks. "Not that all aliens are automatically ugly."

I clapped again to get everyone's attention, "You've got ten minutes to grab whatever you need before we go. We'll meet in the hangar." I was met with many nods and mumbled words of acknowledgement before everyone shuffled off to take care of their business, everyone except for Kaldur who was sending me an unreadable look.

He walked towards me with a purposeful stride, not that he really needed many of them to reach me, and took my hand in his, rubbing his thumb along the back of my hand. As soon as Connor was out of earshot, he let out a deep and tired sigh and let his shoulders sag to show the weight that was now thrusted upon his shoulders. I tilted his chin up so he could see the parts of my face that were visible as I began to slipped my hand out of his and began to sign. "Your hands are shaking. What's wrong?"

He pressed his forehead to mine as he whispered his reply, "I am nervous and scared. Usually I have no doubts that we all will return home, but now I am not so certain. How will we be able to take on a threat that easily eliminated the Justice League? Have you ever done anything like this with your former team?"

He stared down at my hands as I replied, "Do you remember how that group that was using me and a bunch of others as child soldiers?" When he mutely nodded, I continued. "I had to lead an escape plan that included me, my teammates, and the thousands of kids that were kidnapped along with us. I'm going to be brutally honest and tell you that not all of us were able to get out unharmed or alive. That might be the kind of situation that we're going to be in." Kaldur's head ducked in discouragement but I pulled it back up to face me. "But what's important is that we fought for what we believed in and were willing to die trying. We all knew what we were getting into and were ready to risk everything for it. Even then, not a day goes by where I don't try to think of what I could have done to prevent so many deaths. In the end we got out but we never forgot the ones we lost because forgetting what they died for is the same as them dying in vain. The most we can do is grit our teeth and pray for the best as we try to find a way of accepting it." The next thing I know, my wrists were captured in Kaldur's large hands as he pressed his lips to mine in a rough and sloppy kiss that I was quick to reciprocate.

"Thank you," he rasped. I could only nod dumbly in reply as I suddenly remembered that we were on a time limit. I took out one of the two pocket watches around my neck and pulled the actually working one to check the time. I quickly gasped and showed Kaldur the time before we rushed off to get ready for the arctic. I was quick to change into some thermal clothes and a faux fur lined coat, allowing Cas to hitch a ride in the front of my coat as zipped it up.

The ride to the Fortress was quiet as we all did our own last minute rituals but the weight of the situation was not lost on us. The scout was easy to find, so we parked the ship just out of sight. I had to hide in Miss Martian's shadow while Cas was with Superboy because none of my thermal wear was meant for camouflage and more functionality in retaining my body heat. I've gotten frost bite once and I don't intend to get it again. It was one of the least pleasant experiences in my life.

Miss Martian snuck up on the scout and began to telekinetically took a piece out of one of its wings. "Communications disabled," she reported. The ship abrupty dropped onto the ground. "Propulsion disabled."

"Good work Miss M," I praised as Artemis shot a foam arrow into the ship's doorway, narrowly dodging the beam that was shot back in retaliation.

"ET's are sealed inside!" Artemis said, clearing Kaldur to leap out behind the ship and land on it. My heart should have been in my throat when the turret turned to disintegrate him but I was disconcertingly unaffected as Superboy, Cas, and Wolf pushed the gun off its aim. Kid Flash , Miss Martian, and I were next on the scene while Superboy held the gun in place so Robin could attempt to hack it.

"Identifying weapon's structural stress points and links to the ship," Robin said before he began to point them out to Miss Martian and I as I leapt from her shadow. We quickly took turns cutting through the alien metal, careful to only cut enough to disconnect the joints keeping it to the ship as Superboy began to pull on the turret. I had just heard a high pitched sound before Wolf pushed his master out of the way of a beam that came from the turret's column.

"Wolf," Miss Martian said in wide-mouthed disbelief.

Robin continued to fiddle with his holocomputer, "There was no indication of feedback. I'm sorry." He gave the clone an apologetic look while Aqualad and I shared a knowing one.

"Can't do anything for him now. Let's go," was the clone's numb reply as he finished what he started. He promptly leapt onto the bioship and held the weapon still so Miss Martian could begin the integration process for the weapon. In doing so, the ship had to lose it's camouflage and unfortunately we didn't have time to wait as two more ships came flying in.

"Miss Martian, open fire!" Aqualad commanded.

"Can't!" she barked back. "Weapon's systems are offline to incorporate the new cannon, and that's not fully integrated yet either!"

"We need to have a discussion about all the design flaws on the bioship when this is over!" I said as I moved to stand in front of the red head in order to protect her.

"I gotcha covered!" Artemis said as she let loose a barrage of arrows out in the open. "I'm almost there!" She immediately began to make a break for the bioship. She managed to destroy one ship and ground the other but its turret was still functional. My eyes widened in shock and fear as the ominous red barrel began to warm up.

"Artemis! Look out!" I nearly screamed over the mind link, but it was too late. The blonde turned to make a final stand, but the cannon was quicker and I watched in horror as she disintegrated into nothing. M'gann shouting Artemis's name sounded muted to my ears as the pounding of my own heart began to fill my ears. I watched as Kaldur destroyed the offending ship and tried to reground myself. I took deep breaths, ignoring the biting cold that felt like icicles entering my lungs as I stared at where Artemis once stood.

"They're dead!" Wally snarled. "Every single alien if it's the last thing I do!" We left the Arctic with a new weapon and the heavy feeling of loss in our hearts. No one spoke as we all took the time to mourn Artemis. I couldn't even find it in myself to form tears anymore as Artemis's death made me reflect. I never thought I'd ever have to take my own advice so soon. M'gann was silently sobbing as she piloted the ship and Wally took to taking out his frustration on the console in front of him. None of us could bring ourselves to look at Artemis's seat but it was time for me to pull my big girl panties on and woman up.

"There will be time to mourn later," Kaldur said, having a similar idea. "Now we have a job to do: Defending the Earth and ensure Artemis's sacrifice was not in vain."

"Kaldur is right," I added calmly and was relieved to find that my voice wasn't as hollow as I felt. No matter how many times I lose people, it never seems to get any easier to deal with. "This is where Canary's lessons come into play. All that anguish, sadness, and rage you're feeling? Use it. It will be your greatest weapon in this battle."

"How can you be so calm about this?!" Wally demanded, directing his rage at me.

"I'm not. In fact I'm boiling with rage," I answered honestly. "I'm just better at hiding it." I absently began to rub a whimpering Cas's head more to comfort myself than him.

"Back to the Cave?" M'gann asked, looking to Kaldur and I for direction.

"The Hall of Justice," Aqualad corrected. "The human race must know that there are still heroes defending them. There is still hope."

I was saddened to see the expressions on my friend's faces. This was a reality that I never wanted them to face, but that was simply wishful thinking. Having the lives of many resting in the palms of your hands is not something I would wish on any of them, but sadly fate rarely ever so merciful.

DC was a war zone. The US military was holding the front lines in front of the Capital, attempting to hold off the incoming ships. Unfortunately, they were outgunned and attempting to fight an uphill battle. We closed in on a trio of ships that were attacking, flying right over them. Superboy dropped onto one and I another as we instantly began to tear them apart while Miss Martian utilized the new cannon to shoot the last one out of the sky. Shadow quickly caught our skidding ships to keep them from mowing over the soldiers on the ground. The bioship landed right behind us and we turned to watch for any more enemy ships as our friends disembarked.

The soldiers cheered for us as they gathered. "See! It is Superman! I told you he wouldn't leave us out here alone." one of them said in reprimand to one of his comrades.

"I don't know," his blonde friend said skeptically as he scrutinized my big little brother. "He looks kind of young… and where's the cape?"

"I'm not Superman," the ravenette snapped.

One of the commanding officers approached us with a tired smile, "I don't know who you are, son and right now, I don't care. You wear the S and you got the job done."

"I'm not Superman," Superboy repeated in a quieter morose tone.

"Tell that to the enemy," the officer said before saluting Kaldur and I as we moved to stand in front of him. "General Wade Eiling: US Airforce."

"Aqualad and Kage: Justice League," Kaldur answered in his new and improved no-nonsense tone. "We'll help you salvage as many of the aliens' cannons as possible. Then we start taking back what is ours." The rest of the day was spent doing just that. When we finished, I went over to the broken statues of the found members of the League, pressing a hand to the fallen head of J'onn. It was in this moment that I wished I had something to do because I began to wonder what became of Michelle, Roy, Mr. Kendrick, and Chris and I wish I didn't because it was a road I didn't want my mind to go down at a time like this.

By the sound of her sobbing, M'gann had joined me, nearly throwing me across the room when she lifted the statue's head to reveal J'onn lying beneath the rubble. Immediately, my guard was up, because we saw Martian Manhunter get killed by one of those ships. I held M'gann back from flying into his arms with one hand and held out a claw to his throat with the other. I pointed to my temple and waited for the redhead to do her thing.

"It's him! He's real and he's alive!"

"But we saw you get disintegrated," Connor said following my train of thought. "You and Superman and everyone!"

"Yes," J'onn's deep voice rumbled as M'gann and I helped him to his feet, rubbing his head in pain. "I remember but I cannot remember how I survived or how I arrived here," I could tell by the undertones of stress in his voice that this was indeed J'onn. No shapeshifter that has ever tried to imitate has ever been able to nail his subtle inflections of emotions before and I doubt the aliens know enough about him to do so.

"Maybe you were density shifting and the beam passed right through you," the younger Martian suggested.

Robin immediately caught on, "Scrambling your brain along the way!"

J'onn regarded that theory with hesitant acceptance but the way he frowned hinted at something being off. "My mind is clouded," he admitted as he gained a look of intense concentration. "I feel certain that I had something important to tell you." I gently settle him onto Shadow's back to get him off of his feet in case he fainted.

"Hello Wally! Come on!" I heard through the mind link. He led Robin to the bioship where the ravenette was scanning for Zeta Beams. "I knew it!" he exclaimed enthusiastically when he found what he was looking for. "Look! It's giving off Zeta Beams! The same stuff that powers our Zeta Tubes! This thing doesn't disintegrate, it teleports! Artemis is alive!" I shared uncertain glances with Kaldur and Connor. As much as I wanted to believe in Kid's theory, I couldn't help but to feel that it was a little farfetched. I highly doubt that if any of the other League members who've been hit by the beams were somehow alive that they didn't already make their escape. These aliens were too meticulous and calculating to allow for the risk of prisoners but I don't think I can tell Wally that. He's been the one who's been handling Artemis's death the hardest and I don't want to snuff out his hope on the off chance that he's right.

Robin seemed to share my reservations, "Maybe b –"

"No maybes! They're all alive!" Wally didn't want to hear it and M'gann was quick to hope for the best possible solution.

"That must have been what you wanted to tell us!"

J'onn on the other hand seemed less certain, but we didn't have time to dwell on it as more aliens were coming in for an attack. "We're on our way!" Kaldur and I said in unison.

"Negative!" Robin denied sternly. "We can't win this! Miss Martian camo the bioship and –"

Said redhead and her uncle went tumbling to the ground, crying out in pain. I didn't like what that was insinuating. "M'gann!" Connor cried out distress, helplessly trying to figure out how to make his girlfriend better. He rushed to her side while Kaldur and I handled J'onn.

"It didn't feel it," Miss Martian said in an emotionlessly dazed tone.

"We're falling back!" Robin announced as he, Kid, the General, and one of his soldiers ran through the doors. The others were pressed against the sides of the doors, prepared to return fire.

"We're trapped," General Eiling growled in frustration. I got his attention with a snap of my fingers.

"Not necessarily," I pointed to the doors leading to the League's Zeta Tubes to the Watchtower.

Kaldur gave me a strained appreciative smile as he once again took the lead while soldiers filed in to cover us. "We can all Zeta to the Cave if you can grant us computer clearance to access the Tubes," he directed the last part of his explanation to J'onn who nodded in resolution.

"I can only authorize one at a time," J'onn warned. Goddamnit! Another design flaw that will be discussed either when we get out of this mess or when we all die. Either way someone's getting ripped a new one.

"Send the soldiers first," Aqualad ordered.

"Belay that!" the general barked back. "You seven are assets we cannot afford to lose!" We all shared private looks and imperceptible nods before J'onn began the override process. Once the computer recognized the Martian, the door to the Zeta Tubes slid open and I felt a wave of relief flood me. Hopefully we can all live to fight another day.

One by one we filed into the Tubes, however we weren't fast enough to outrun the enemy. The entrance was blown to smithereens as Kid began his decent into the Tubes. Aqualad quickly threw Kid through the Tubes and took my arm as he prepared to toss me in next, but I refused to budge. "Jacqueline please we don't have –" I ripped off my mask and silenced him with one final kiss, slipping the cool porcelain smooth mask into his hands as I pushed him in. The last thing I saw before he burst into golden particles were his wide horrified green eyes widening even further as the billowing winds of the newly created battlefield blew my unruly long bangs away from my eyes. I made sure to keep a serene smile on my face before steeling myself to face the horde.

"Shadow," I beckoned.

"Are you certain Mistress? You know that that form isn't stable," he warned, his bright amber eyes staring into my soul.

"It'll be worth it in the end, buddy," I replied with resignation. I closed my eyes as Shadow coiled around and pressed his head over mine. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath.

Here's to hoping that this doesn't kill me.

KALDUR POV

I skidded across the ground before turning to face the Tubes, ignoring Kid and Robin's inquiries as I waited for her to walk out. My heart was firmly lodged in my throat as a soldier, Superboy, and finally Martian Manhunter stepped through, but no Kage. I clipped Kage's mask to my hip and rushed to the holocomputer when the hollow voice of the computer announced that the League's Zeta Tubes were offline. I was constantly muttering the word "no" over and over as I tried to pull up a visual – any visual of the Hall of Justice. My heart soared when I was able to find a working camera and could not believe what I was seeing.

To my relief, Kage was alive and still fighting, with troops rallied behind her to hold off the invaders. However, she has changed. Her pale skin was now pitch black and her entire appearance was as if she had merged with Shadow. Resting on her head like a head dress was the top half of Shadow's head with his fangs framing the sides of her face and connected to Shadow's head was a very indecent suit that I couldn't be bothered to blush at due to my worry. The was skin tight and barely covered her chest as it was open from the neck down, thankfully getting narrower as it reached the V of her hips. There were teeth lining the opening, further proving my theory that she and Shadow merged. Her arm claws were now monstrously large, almost bigger than her torso as I watched her rip through a ship like butter. The pants were baggy and didn't allow me to see her feet which were probably merged with the rest of Shadow's elongated body. In place of Kage's hair, which should have been visible when her back faced the camera I was using, I was instead met with more of the headdress which included prehensile stingers that impaled and crushed many alien ships as Kage stormed the city. Her eyes turned toward the camera and I was struck with the realization that her bangs were no longer in her face, allowing me to clearly see her piercing blue ringed irises and black sclera, giving her the illusion of having empty eye sockets that were only lit by a deep blue light.

"Whoa!" I heard Wally exclaim as he skidded to a stop next to me.

"What is that?" Robin asked in disbelief.

At first I could only shake my head before I cleared my voice and replied, never taking my eyes off the screen. My heart leapt into my throat once more when I saw a shit land a hit on her only for the part of her that was disintegrated to grow back, allowing me to take a deep breath of relief. "She's buying us time," I realized.

"She? That's Kage!?" Wally exclaimed in disbelief.

General Eiling, who had been watching the feed, narrowed his eyes at me, "You're telling me that thing is the midget lady with the mask?"

I tightened my grip on said mask to keep from punching the man in the face, "She is not a midget and yes, General, that is Kage."

"Don't want to get on her bad side," I heard the General mutter under his breath and couldn't help but to sigh because I agreed with him.

"What are we gonna do, Aqualad?" Robin asked, looking to the Atlantean for guidance.

My mind went blank as I stared at Kage rampaging through the streets of Washington, remembering what she told me earlier. I followed her words, gritting my teeth and sending a brief prayer to Poseidon before getting down to business. "Our next mission is clear. If we believe that the aliens have been teleporting their victims –"

"Which we do!" Kid Flash interrupted. The others and I shared doubtful looks but did not attempt to correct the speedster. He was holding onto hope that his loved ones were alive and I could not fault him for that.

"Then the only reasonable detention center is the mother ship," I finished. Robin pulled up an image of said ship.

"It's on top of what used to be Smallville," he said before turning to Martian Manhunter whose gaze was still locked onto Kage. "Is that ringing any bells?"

"No," he replied with an apologetic shake of his head, "I'm sorry."

I took in this information before glancing at the screen again, "Kage is currently drawing their fire, so we shall infiltrate the mother ship and destroy it from the inside, but first, we must inspire hope in the people."

That is exactly what we did. Robin hacked the remaining satellites to send a worldwide live broadcast of us speaking to the people. Delivering an inspiring and profound speech that I honestly do not remember because my heart was pounding in my ears and my worry drowned out my thoughts. Kage must have had a similar idea to us because her massive form could seen approaching the mother ship threateningly on the horizon. A loud beastial roar could be heard from her as she lunged into their range of fire. She was violently ripping guns and cannons from the ship while latching onto it. The mother ship deployed more drones that focused on defending the ship from her.

Taking this chance, I ordered Martian Manhunter and Miss Martian to infiltrate the ship. Kid Flash, Superboy, and I were able to get into one of the open bay doors, grateful for the opening. We carefully navigated the halls, careful to stay out of the sentry drones' sights and met up with the Martians. The mother ship shook violently from Kage's attacks and the former mute's muffled roars could be heard. Robin gave me a forlorn look out of Kid Flash's line of sight and that was when I knew that the redhead's theory was proven false.

Before the mission, I had asked Robin to scan for League and Team signals once we got inside the ship, now we know for sure that they are gone. However, the mission has not changed. We must destroy the mother ship. We quickly made our way to the center of the ship where the power core was. If we managed to blow it up, then the world will be saved. Kid looked around in confusion before turning to me for answers. "Aqualad why are we here? We should be looking for Artemis and the League."

I closed my eyes and let out a tired sigh. Robin was the one who answered through the mental link. "I've been scanning for League and Team signals since we got inside," he sent the speedster a sympathetic look, knowing that he wouldn't take it well. "They're not here. Artemis is gone." I could not bear to see Kid's world crumble around him at this news as I instead changed the subject.

"Our mission still holds purpose: to destroy this mothership."

We ran toward the core, which turned out to be a huge mistake because the core began to pull us in with its gravity. Robin was able to save us with his grappling hook. He was not able to hold all of us, so Superboy and I had to suffer through rope burns to prevent ourselves from splattering against the core. I assisted Robin in placing the explosives on the core so the caped crusader the set them to detonate in four minutes while Superboy and Kid acted as lookouts. We attempted to make our escape only for our escape route to be cut off by both a locked door and alien drones cornering us against it. We ducked for cover when they began shooting at us. "Sixteen seconds and counting," Robin reported and I took a deep breath to resign myself for my final orders.

"Martian Manhunter, take Miss Martian and go."

"No!" she protested. "I won't leave you!"

"Go!" Superboy snapped. "We'll hold them off."

"We will follow as soon as we get through the doors," we all knew that I was lying but there was no time for protests. Both Martians phase shifted through the ship and I looked to my friends, glad that these were the heroes I would die with as the clock ran out.

3RD POV

MOUNT JUSTICE

OCTOBER 16, 16:21

The team woke to see that they were still in the cave, alive and well. They each received comfort from their mentors as they tried to process what just happened.

"SMILES!" Everyone's heads snapped to Kage who retained her form from the simulation but there was something off. She was no longer solid, but instead reflected a pitch black void in the shape of the ravenette. Roy was attempting to find a purchase on her to hold her but his hands merely slipped through. Deep, blue eyes stared down in resignation as if she knew what was happening. "Why did you do that? You know that form isn't stable and you still FUCKING –"

"Roy stop," Canary tried to sooth him only to be shrugged off.

"Why do you suddenly care?! You've been against her since the very beginning!" he shouted, trying to choke back the tears welling in his eyes as the gravity of the situation weighed on. "Smiles is – my sister is gonna die if we can't fix this!"

"What is going on?" Kaldur demanded as he rushed to Kage's side, his hands helplessly hovering over her form.

Martian Manhunter was the one to explain, "Kage and Shadow merged to create the form you see before you. The consequence is that it is not stable. They can only stay together for a certain amount of time before the bond deteriorates. If they do not separate then neither of them will have a physical form and they will begin to fade away piece by piece." Needless to say the entire team was horrified by this news but Kage merely blinked once.

"Is there anything we can do for her?!" Superboy demanded.

"Can you resurrect the dead because the only person who's ever been able to fix this was Kent and he's in the fucking helmet!" Roy snapped, his grief clouding his mind as he tried to think of something.

While everyone tried to find a way to save the blue eyed teen, said girl was thinking back on her life, resigned to her fate. No one noticed the softly glowing golden locket next to her fading hand. However, they did notice when it began to rattle on the medical slab before shooting up to float in front of Kage's ringed eyes. She blinked at the glowing watch in shock as it began to project a small image of a very unhappy Kent, his hands folded over the handle of the cane that he still didn't need. "Jacqueline, if you're seeing this projection, then more likely than not, I've bitten the dust and your body is fading again, in which case –"

Whip – Crack!

Kage yelped in surprise and pain as the cane made contact with her gradually degrading head and was immediately met with many more. "What – whack! – did I – whack! – say – whack! – about – whack! – fusing?!" Kage attempted to block the blows with her arms. Honestly, she wasn't that surprised that Kent would make a projection just so that it could smack her upside for worrying him beyond the grave. When the projection stopped delivering the old man's frustrations it pressed the end of the cane to her forehead and her gradually disappearing body was enveloped in an inky black cocoon, scooping the rapidly withering Shadow inside as well.

Projection Kent lightly tapped his cane against the cocoon, and sighed, "You know the drill, kid. Stay in there until it's time and then you should be fine." He affectionately rubbed a hand against the smooth shell and pressed a kiss where her head would be. "Take care, kid."

With that, the projection blew away in a nonexistent wind, leaving behind nothing but the pocket watch and a piece of paper. Kaldur cautiously picked it up and his eyes widened as he read what was written on it. "What is it?" Roy asked, peering over his shoulder.

"It's the spell for the shell," the Atlantean said breathlessly. Batman took the spell from Kaldur and carefully inspected it even though he didn't understand the language it was written in besides the purpose which was written in English.

"I'll get this to Zatara and see if he can translate these symbols," he said stoicly before returning his gaze to the team's leader. "In the mean time you will be watching over Kage."

Superboy scoffed, "As if there was any other option." Kaldur pressed a trembling hand to the cocoon and his shoulders slumped in relief as he let out a shuddering breath.

The League the Team alone to discuss what just took place, it all happened so fast that they didn't have time to take everything in. Superboy sat next to Kage's cocoon, comfortingly scratching Wolf and Cas's heads. He grew defensive when Martian Manhunter stated that M'gann was the reason the exercise got out of control. "This isn't her fault! Why didn't you stop the exercise?!" he demanded.

"We tried," the green skinned man curtly stated, "but M'gann had a death grip on the scenario. Even Artemis who should have awakened upon her death was so convinced that she had passed she slipped into a coma. I realized that I would have to wrest control from Miss Martian's subconscious from within, but upon entering the reality I was overwhelmed by your collective emotions. There was too much noise to think clearly…to remember why I was there. Only when everyone's minds silenced in the wake of the mothership's explosion did my mind clear enough to remember my true purpose: to shock M'gann out of the exercise before your comas became permanent and before Kage would feel pressed enough to fuse with Shadow. My apologies, I had no idea a training exercise could be so dangerous, so damaging." Superboy turned his gaze on the green girl in question and saw that she had covered her face in despair.

Though comfort was not his forte, Superboy knew that the ginger needed him in this moment and he would do the best that he could. He pulled her into his chest while Captain Marvel rubbed her back, letting her sob into his chest and ignoring the warm wet tears that soaked his shirt, but he wished that Kage was available to comfort him because he wasn't feeling all that great either. He needed her silent reassurance to let him know that everything would be fine.

HOURS LATER

After M'gann had cried herself to sleep, Connor laid her down in her room and returned to the mission room to do the same for the Kage-coon. He entered the room to see that Cas was curled up atop it's hard shell and Wolf was curled around it with his large head lying on it. "So, how long have you been seeing my sister, Kaldur?" Roy asked in an eerily nonchalant tone that caused the Atlantean to stiffen up. Connor glanced over at them in the corner to Red Arrow staring at his leader with a deceptively calm expression while the blonde was glancing around nervously. When his pale green eyes caught Connor's piercing blue ones, he sent the clone a pleading look only for Connor to send him a sympathetic one in return as he hefted the cocoon into his arms, fox and all, before making his escape.

Kaldur gulped as he returned his gaze to his stone faced friend. "T-the day Martian Manhunter told her that she w-would need speech therapy," he answered, hoping to placate his rather protective friend.

Roy nodded an hummed in thought without saying anything else, and Kaldur made the mistake of relaxing thinking that the conversation was over. That is until there was an alarmingly sharp arrow at his throat. "Any reason you never asked for my blessing, Kal?" he demanded in a dangerously low, rumbling growl.

"N-now Roy –" the blonde held his hands up in surrender, nervously sweating at the open threat.

"Answer the fucking question, Kaldur," the ginger pressed impatiently.

Kaldur wished that Kage was there with him but he knew that this would eventually happen, fortunately that arrow was directed lower as he'd originally expected it'd be. He sincerely hoped that it wouldn't stray. "W-we were planning to tell you before things got too serious –"

"Really? How serious are you?"

Kaldur couldn't keep the blush from his face at the insinuation but was still offended by it, "I have never done anything that Kage did not want. The relationship is still new, so we wanted to explore it a little more before we brought it to your attention." Roy was taking deep breaths as he took in this information, removing the arrow from Kaldur's throat. The blonde let out a small relieved sigh before giving his friend a look of determination. "I promise you that I would never intentionally hurt Jacqueline."

If it was anyone else, Roy wouldn't have believed him, but because it was Kaldur, the same gentlemanly Atlantean whom he'd known since he became Green Arrow's sidekick. Not to mention, the blonde actually valued his testicles so the archer decided to trust him on this one. He narrowed his eyes at Kaldur and let out a long suffering sigh, "Kal you better keep that promise because if you break her heart I won't be the one you have to answer to. I'll just be the one hiding your body."

A shudder passed through Kaldur's spine as he nodded his understanding. He had no doubt that what Roy said was the truth. However, he inwardly celebrated the fact that he'd received his friend's blessing. Now he only had to wait for his lady to awaken.

That's the end of this chapter everybody! Thanks for waiting so long for this chapter and being so patient with me. I tried my best to write this well enough and I hope that I delivered. My brain is really numb right now and I'm trying to end this on a positive note so I'm gonna shut up and start thanking people.

Thank you to…

Minnidog118

DJ Meltdown of Ground Xero

Archmage2

Black Puppet Master

Xakura Revolution

mayfire21

EvanesceStream

Trainwreck20

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