Renewed

Prologue

It was the last thing they ever worked on as a group. The planetary shields.

A thick, crisscrossing mesh of energy beams that prevented anyone from entering or leaving planet Earth without express permission from United Nations Ground Control. Satellite maintenance missions flew lower than the shield.

The Watch Tower, the Justice League's satellite, was just outside of it.

It had been a deliberate ploy by the UN. To see if the Justice League would stick to the terms of the new treaty. That had been the breaking point for Oliver Queen. And he had left without a trace. Until Green Arrow had come back as a true vigilante – operating outside of the law and on the opposite side of his former team-mates, of his friends. And Superman had been forced to eliminate him. It's hard to shoot with a bow if you're missing a right arm.

And everyone else? The young adults and teenagers and children that made up The Team simply faded out of existence.

Being part of the Justice League had been all some of them knew. Starting over was harder than anything else had ever been.

And then Batman had died. On the orders of the US President. Again, taken out by Superman.

Well, not really. And his sons learned that soon enough and Clark Kent knew that. But it was enough for the legend of the Justice League to firmly place itself in the past. No Martians, no other aliens, no Green Lanterns. Just the Earth and her shield.

Peace.

Until the day the rest of the universe called them back.

September 30 – UN Strategic Center HQ

"Sir?"

The Secretary General of the United Nations looked up at his youngest assistant - an intern really, from Cambridge - and noted the puzzled and somewhat frightened look.

"Yes, Mr. Sawyer?" The Secretary General gave him a reassuring smile. It was essential that young people get involved in global politics. "How can I help you?"

"Sir, have you seen...? You probably haven't. It's on Snapchat and Instagram mainly but...ugh...has anyone told you about the alien message yet?"

The Secretary General was baffled. "What alien message?"

"Sir," the twenty-something-year-old came closer and held up his iPhone 12s, "Someone seems to have hacked the Snapchat servers and this keeps being sent to everyone around the world. They've made a Snapchat story for it where people are showing it playing on their friend's phones."

"May I see?" Asked the Secretary General, a little relieved that his ten-year-old niece had explained Snapchat to him last weekend.

The intern played it.

And the Secretary General felt very worried indeed.

Earth. We have watched. We have prepared. There is no one to oppose us. You will give us the resources of your planet. Or you will die. Tell your leaders. Or you will die.

"I had not seen that," said the Secretary General softly. "Mr. Sawyer," he put a hand on his intern's shoulder. "You will now observe a code green emergency UN meeting."

"Yes, sir," said Sawyer. "Er...sir? They didn't tell me what a code green was."

"It is when we consider bringing in the Green Lanterns," said the Secretary General softly. His heart was pounding.

It had been fifteen years since the Justice League had been disbanded.

He knew no one would come.

How they came isn't really important.

Why is pretty evident. They wanted the gold, the silver, the copper for electronics. They wanted the coal and the trees and the oil for machines. They wanted the lava of the earth's molten core for something having to do with their life cycle. They wanted the Earth. And they felt there was no one to protect it.

And they had the technology to make shields that disrupted the lasers around the Earth.

So they came. The armies of Earth put up a decent fight. They'd been half-expecting that the universe wouldn't really leave them alone and came armed with weapons built after the last few alien invasions. Wayne Tech.

But back then they'd had the Justice League. The fighting took to the skies and the surface of the waters as military forces desperately tried to keep it away from city centers.

Sante Fe

A young man called Jamie Reyes watched the smoke rise over the battle-field that was the rocky plains of New Mexico.

It was October 6th.

Jamie was dressed smartly, collared shirt and tie and slacks. After all, he worked as a translator for a major law firm. It paid well.

At night, he taught karate at the local "Boys and Girls Club." He didn't accept money for it.

It was a lot more fun.

It shut up Scarab for a little, too.

But on that day Jamie had gone to the top of the building where he worked and was watching the smoke and planes from the distant battle. The city below him was practically in lock down.

They're losing.

"Not yet," Jamie muttered.

Don't be a fool, Jamie Reyes, chided the Scarab. The human forces will lose. This new alien species...

"I've heard your report already," snapped Jamie. "I don't want to hear it again."

You're angry, observed Scarab.

"Of course I'm angry!" Burst out Jamie. "I should be out there fighting not standing here like an idiot!"

Scarab showed unusual tact and didn't reply. Scarab had not been happy when the Justice League had commanded the Team to disband, had forced them to sign the UN treaty alongside the older members. No more super heroes unless you work for the governments. Very few had taken that option. Jamie had not.

Scarab hadn't spoken to him for a week. It saw nothing wrong with working with a government agency. It had changed its mind when they saw what Superman did to Green Arrow.

One does not turn on allies, Scarab had ranted (or as much as it could rant.)

I knew you wouldn't, you know, said Scarab suddenly.

"Huh?" Jamie pulled himself to the present. "Wouldn't what?"

Go rogue, said Scarab. Your identity as a warrior stemmed as much from working on a Team as from the powers you gain from me. When Nightwing and the other leaders simply walked away, I knew the age of Blue Beetle had ended.

Jamie simply nodded, watch the smoke curl into the sky. "I miss flying," he muttered. "I miss feeling...feeling alive, somehow."

If the world is ending, does the treaty matter? asked Scarab.

Jamie frowned. "We're not beat yet."

They will be as soon as those Reptilians get to use human shields, said Scarab.

"What?!" Demanded Jamie.

That's why they're trying to get to the cities, said Scarab. It's a logical strategy.

Jamie swallowed hard.

And, suddenly, the answer was yes.

Or maybe it was no. Jamie didn't really know which question he was answering but, all at once, he didn't want this future.

Your adrenaline level just increased dramatically, observed Scarab.

"We're going to do it," said Jamie. He stripped off his jacket, left behind the tie and the shiny shoes.

Very dramatically.

"Scarab," said Jamie. "If you were an alien species trying to invade Earth…"

Which I have been.

"Where would you set up a human shield?"

Washington D.C. answered Scarab without hesitation.

"Okay," Jamie looked up at the smoke rising up to cover the sun. "Let's go."

Scarab actually let out a whoop as for the first time in fifteen years, Blue Beetle took to the sky.

Boston

"Damien," Dick Grayson looked at his younger brother with surprise as he finally got home for a brief break between otherwise endless shifts. "Why are you home?"

Damien Wayne – now almost done with the Police Academy training and living with Dick to save money – didn't even look up from the TV as he said, "They cancelled training until further notice. You shouldn't be surprised."

"I'm not," said Dick grimly. "But I thought they'd make all of you come help us out at the precinct. The city is a mess."

"Almost makes you wish for Bludhaven again, doesn't it?" Said Damien, that familiar twisted smile on his face.

"I like Boston," Dick said softly. "And I didn't know how to live in Bludhaven and not be Nightwing."

"I know," said Damien. "And I don't know how to sit here on this couch with all that happening out there!" He pointed a finger accusingly at the screen. The fighting was almost at the edge of D.C., citizens that hadn't already left were now trapped.

"We can't…"

"I KNOW THAT!" Damien bellowed. He didn't remember getting up. "You say it everyday – SHUT UP!"

"Lovely family dynamic," said Jason dryly, entering the apartment. He didn't have a key. It didn't matter.

"What are you doing here?" Damien said sourly, falling back onto the couch.

"Because I went to crash Tim's place and he wasn't there," said Jason. He went to the kitchen and helped himself to bread and peanut butter.

"Tim lives in Providence," said Damien.

"I know that."

"Missing family at the end of the world?" Asked Damien snidely. He was watching Jason instead of the TV, but Dick had stepped closer to the TV, looking at something in the corner of the shot.

"Actually I'm afraid I'll do something stupid," admitted Jason around a mouthful of peanut butter.

"Like that?" Said Dick. The other two young men spun around.

On TV, Blue Beetle had just fluttered down from the sky to stand in front of the approaching alien tanks, shaped somewhat like giant turtles with an impenetrable shell.

"What is he doing!?" Dick yelled, throwing up his hands to the sky. "We are expressly forbidden from engaging in any sort of conflict unless we are specifically asked by name –"

"SHUT UP!" The other two yelled. Damien turned up the sound.

"—Earth is not yours to take," saidBlue Beetle.

The leader of the aliens, who had exited the front most vehicle, laughed and asked, "Who is there to stop us?"

Jason and Damien turned to Dick. Dick, in turn, seemed to have suddenly turned to stone. In his memory, the Bat Siren was illuminating the clouds high over Gotham.

Central City

There had been an entire discussion about whether or not it was weird. And it was, kinda, that Bart Allen was technically the adopted son of his grandfather Barry Allen and helped babysit his own father but that was time travel for you.

And when the Justice League had ended, he hadn't really had anywhere else to go. So now it wasn't weird. It was natural for Bart to be at Barry's home, graduate student ID thrown carelessly on the table as everyone watched TV with baited breath. Bart shaking his leg so much that it was an indistinguishable blur. And that wasn't even top speed.

Then Blue Beetle showed up on the streets of Washington D.C.

Bart was out the door before Blue even started his little speech.

But Barry Allen was still The Flash.

"What are you doing?!" Barry shouted, catching hold of Bart's arm and yanking him to a stand-still. They were already several miles away from the house.

"I'm going to go fight," said Bart. He tried to twist free and Barry put him in a headlock instead.

"Let me go!" Bart growled.

"You can't break the treaty," Barry snapped. "We made a deal - let the government take care of it!"

"They're losing!" Bart argued.

"They'll ask for help when they need-"

"No they won't!" Bart worked himself free in a blur of speed and heat but, to his credit, didn't run off. Just glared at Barry and continued. "Besides I don't care about any of that - that's my best friend out there!"

"Have you even spoken to him since it happened?" Barry countered. "Since the Justice League disbanded?"

Bart flushed but said, in a voice as cool as could be, "Have you spoken to Hal?"

It was Barry's turn to flush. "That's different," Barry muttered. "He's off-planet. Jamie's in New Mexico, not off in the depths of the universe somewhere."

"Yeah…but…" Bart wracked his brain for a way to explain it. "But we were Blue and Impulse not…not…Bart and Jamie. I didn't even know his real name for a couple of years…and he's out there, fighting, alone. He's alone, Barry!"

Barry looked at his grandson without seeing him. Saw himself arguing with Batman that they had to go back for Green Arrow or Green Lantern. Saw Hal telling him stubbornly, "I'm not leaving you" when a bomb was strapped to Barry's chest.

"No, he's not," said Barry quietly. "But I can't let you go-"

Bart began to splutter and Barry held up his hand. "—dressed like that."

"Oh," said Bart, sounding shocked.

Barry smiled. "The uniforms are in the attic."

"Crash!" Said Bart, and he was there and gone as quick as – Barry smiled – quick as a Flash.

The entire conversation had taken about twenty seconds so Impulse didn't lose too much time.

Boston

The phone was ringing in Dick's apartment. Damien answered it on the third ring, when it became clear that Dick wasn't moving. "Grayson and Wayne," he said shortly, switching it to speaker when he saw the caller ID. It was Tim's cell.

On screen, Blue and the alien were still arguing.

"Dick, you need to activate the Zeta Beam network," said Tim, getting right to the point. "I know you can do it if you ask the other original members of The Team for their access codes."

"We're not supposed to interfere," said Dick dully.

"—people of Earth offer no resistance that can oppose us!" Boasted the alien on TV.

"You – like everyone always does – underestimate the people of earth," answered Blue Beetle.

"Dick, he's alone! I'm with Cassie – we can go back him up!"

"Tim…"

"If there was ever a time to re-activate the Justice League, this would be it!"

Jason and Damien held their breath.

"You are all alone," said the alien leader. "And no one can beat back an entire army on their own."

Something in Dick's eyes changed. He was across the room so quickly you could almost believe he was a speedster, he'd opened his computer, opened a remote desktop that took a bit of hacking to open, and redid something he'd done several times in the past. He put his hand over the camera and pressed "Enter."

A huge grin spread over Jason's face as suddenly, the TV screen went back and a low, coarse voice – being whispered into the microphone behind him – was projected on every TV channel, every radio station, every internet feed.

"He is not alone," growled Nightwing. "Team, it's time."

And Dick cut the connection.

The reporters on the TV went crazy but none of the Wayne boys were there to hear it.

They'd always kept their "Bat" gear in perfect working order. Just in case.

Star City

"Did he do to?" Artemis yelled at Wally. She was pulling on familiar green pants, throwing off fake glasses that made her look smart and scanning her thumb to open a secret compartment with her bow and arrows.

"He did!" He was suddenly at the bedroom door, fully dressed. "Let's go!"

Metropolis

"This is Superboy, B04, requesting activation of the Zeta beam network," said Conner breathlessly. He'd ran all the way to the nearest Zeta platform, too anxious to sit still at home. Megan flew in – for the first time in years letting her green skin show – as Conner finished, "Priority code – originals."

"Code confirmed," said the computer pretending to be a broken phone booth. "Additional authentication needed."

Megan sat on her husband's lap and said at top speed, "This-is-Miss-Martian-bee-zero-five-requesting-activation-of-the-Zeta-beam-network-priority-code-originals!"

"Code confirmed," said the computer. "Additional authentication needed."

Boston

"This is Nightwing B01-"

Atlantis

"This is Aqualad." Kaldur took a deep breath.

Not only was he disobeying the treaty, he was disobeying his King's orders to let the surface dwellers deal with the battle on land and limit their involvement to the ocean areas directly above Atlantean cities. "B02…requesting activation of the Zeta beam network"—it would be good to see his friends again, after so many years – "Priority code – originals."

"Yes!" Crowed L'gann crowded in behind Kaldur as the Zeta beam tube began to glow. "Let's swim, chums!"

Washington D.C.

Blue swallowed hard as the Reptilian tanks kept coming. Sure, the Blue Beetle packed some formidable weapons but he'd never been much of a solo guy—

There was a rush of air and suddenly Impulse was standing at his back.

"That's a bit more even, don't you think?" Impulse said.

Inside of the Blue Beetle armor, Jamie was so happy he could have given Impulse a hug right then and there.

Concentrate, said Scarab.

"Right," Blue powered up his rays. "Listo, amigo?"

"Crash, dude!"

And they charged.

Gotham City

It was one of the smaller Bat Caves, one of the tiny emergency ones that didn't connect to the main Cave in case it was ever compromised.

Considering that the main Cave was now rubble it had been a good idea.

Barbara Gordon rolled down the dusty aisle and all but threw the chair out of the way so that she could sit in front of the bank of computers.

"The Big Cave had more," she mused out loud. But this would do.

Her phone beeped. "Zeta beam network, re-activated," said the message on the screen.

"Well done, Dick," Barbara said, proud.

Now, Oracle would show the world how it was done. She donned the mask that she'd brought along in her purse, the old one. Purple with small bat ears on top. It still fit.

She logged into the computer and hacked into the same exact program Dick had used perhaps ten minutes earlier. She began to record.

"People of Earth," she said. "It is time to face the facts. We are not alone in this universe. We have known this for years now and we still think that we can be apart from galaxy politics. That, if we leave everyone alone, they will leave us alone. It doesn't work like that."

She'd modified the program so that the images of Blue and Impulse fighting the reptilian would still be visible. Her voice and face next to the images of two people the world had thought to never see again fighting for the world's freedom. Again.

"Earth has no space-fleet capable of defeating these invaders," Oracle continued. "It is time to bring in the cavalry. On every piece of social media, on the streets, in your places of government, call for the Green Lanterns to return to Earth and maybe we'll get a second chance."

She set the message to repeat again and again, and began composing a message to send to the UN.

Washington D.C.

They were surrounded.

At least we die a warrior's death, said Scarab solemnly.

"At least we go down fighting," Impulse said at the exact same time.

Blue smiled, "You know, I wish you and Scarab could have had a conversation," he powered up his weapons again. "You would have liked each other."

The Reptilian tank approached, and suddenly found its front peppered with familiar looking barbs shaped somewhat like bats…

Blue grabbed Impulse and flew into the sky just as the entire thing blew up.

"Woohoo!" Nightwing yelled as he swung in a wide arc on a cable. "Take that, alien thugs!"

Blue laughed and said, "We aren't dying today, boys!"

Green arrows filled the air and a blur took out three disorientated reptilian soldiers who'd stumbled out of the tank. The water on the half-destroyed sewers suddenly came alive and took out another tank. More baterangs and also bullets, and a few staffs that sparked and spat electricity as they came into contact with alien scales. And a lasso that grew and shrunk and was an extension of the user's hand. And a blur in green that changed into a charging elephant and another that used telekinesis and a figure in a black shirt with a large letter S.

"We don't have comlinks" Miss Martian said in everyone's head. "So mind link commencing now."

"Perfect," said a voice Blue recognized instantly as Kid Flash. "Just like old times."

"In old times I wasn't there – ever," Pointed out Red Hood.

"Concentrate," said Nightwing. "Blue – eyes in the sky. What have we got?"

Green Lantern HQ

"What have we got?" Asked a Green Lantern to the other Green Lantern monitoring the Communications' Center.

"Nothing good," answered the Communications expert. "Some of the people of Earth seem to be calling for the Green Lanterns to return-"

"Excellent," said the first. "I'll get Hal and John-"

"No," said the Communications expert. "We need to be specifically invited by their system of government or by the majority of the people of earth."

"Majority is what?" The first frowned. "51%"

"Officially we need more than 70-"

"Of what?"

"Of more than 7 billion," said a tired voice. Hal Jordan joined the other two, dark shadows under his eyes. "We need seventy percent of more than 7 billion people to call us back."

"Oh." Said the first. The communications expert gave Hal a sympathetic pat on the back.

"Hal!" John came flying in, looking frantic. "Those stupid kids! Have you seen what they did?"

"Huh?"

John took over the Communications center and changed it to show CBS.

After a silent moment, Hal let out a whoop and punched a fist into the air. "YES!"

Central City

"They're still good," whispered Iris.

Barry Allen nodded, his throat tight. More of the members of the Team and stragglers that had helped out the Justice League had joined the fight. Bumblebee and Guardian and Rocket and Zatanna. The alien fleet and had withdrawn from almost all their other targets to focus on the threat posed by the former heroes. It was all on TV. As if it were fake, something that you watch for two hours and then return home and say how the action was good but the characters lacked depth. Cause screens didn't show their lives.

"Shouldn't Wally and Artemis have a kid or something?" Barry asked, his voice strained. "Some little speedster to drive them crazy like that boy drove us nuts."

"Uncle Wally said he didn't want to have kids cause he didn't want to have to teach them to hide their powers."

Barry looked up at his son, coming down from the stairs with his twin sister dragging behind. Both of them in high school, neither with powers – Bart had always said it skipped a generation – but both had grown up with the stories.

"Oh," said Iris softly.

"You want to be out there, right dad?" Asked his son. "Right?"

Washington D.C.

Another tank exploded and Damien swung up to the roof of a building to find his next target.

The sight below wasn't encouraging.

"Nightwing," said-thought Damien grimly. "They're bringing in more of those tanks."

"As long as they don't bring in air suppo-"

Jets screamed through the air. But not the sleek, beautiful jets of Earth but bulky, misshapen flying rocks that belonged to the alien invaders.

"Fuck."

"Language, Nightwing," Wally thought cheekily. "The children are listening."

"Who are you calling the children, exactly," Garfield asked.

"I need everyone who can fly up there doing air-support now," said Nightwing. "Aqualad, Zatanna – help them out. Everyone else, concentrate on the tanks."

"What about the foot-soldiers?" Miss Martian asked, already on her way up.

"We're spread too thin," Nightwing admitted. "New idea, Impulse, KF – try to slow down the tanks. Then Bat-boys – take out them out. If you can't fly take out the foot soldiers."

"Bat-boys?" Jason complained.

"You know what I mean!"

Gotham

"Come on," Oracle muttered to herself. People all around the world where doing what she asked. Posting on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat, on online forums and every type of blog imaginable.

And it still wasn't enough.

She looked up at the screen showing national TV and then swapped to another screen showing a live feed from Tim's mask. It had been just like Tim to activate it - keeping her involved like always. So far, she'd refrained from contacting him on his comlink, though, cause she was getting maybe a fifth of the battle sight at a time and couldn't really advise in any helpful way.
Neither feed was showing good news.

"Come on," she muttered. She switched back to the very dead Green-Lantern's-to-Earth-audio-link. "We need space support."

"Well, the government has had Atom and Superman up there since this started," said a familiar voice. A bit gravelly, a bit older, but he was still –

"Batman," said Oracle, smiling. "I knew you'd show up."

"I checked the other mini-cave first," Batman admitted, he limped a bit as he walked. "I thought you'd go to the one near your old house."

"This one was closer to the highway," she said. Looking back at her counter she said, "We're not going to get enough people to ask the Green Lantern's for help before we lose some of them, aren't we?"

"No," said Batman.

"I should be out there!" Oracle burst out. "Damn legs! Damn..." She squeezed her hands into fists, a tear escaping one eye. "Damn," she whispered.

"I killed him too late," Batman whispered.

"We all knew why," Oracle whispered back. "We all..."

She shook herself out of it. "We all made it then. We'll make it now..."

"Not without Green Lantern support," said Batman. "I suggest you try to contact Hal and John directly."

"From here?" Oracle frowned. "It may take me a while...Green Lanterns are hard to track down."

"Not for a computer that was specifically created to track down a specific ring," said Batman.

Oracle blinked. "The watch-tower?"

"I think it's time the Justice League manned it again," said Batman.

"But...but the shield...?"

Batman just looked at her.

"No duh," Oracle huffed. "The Reptilians took down the whole damn thing."

She began to wheel away, muttering angrily to herself then paused, and half-turned to look at Batman. "What about you?"

"Twice, the Batman has returned," said Batman, looking at all the screens. "I think it's all of your turn now."

"All right," said Barbara. "Thanks, Bruce. For - you know - all of it."

"Recognized, Batgirl. Bee-twelve."

"Take me to The Watch-tower."

"Authorization to the Watch-tower is restricted."

"Override. Priority..." and here she smiled. "...Gotham Knights."

The Watch-Tower

The satellite was dark as Barbara rolled off the Zeta tube entrance. She whistled, and a few lights flickered on. No dust in space. But there were trees in that tower and their pollen caked everything.

"Watch Tower," said Barbara in a confident voice. "Wake up!" The rest of the lights turned on and a few super-computers startling slowly whirring to life."

"Priority Gotham Knights!" Barbara added as she got to the lift and keyed in the top floor.

A little bat icon appeared in the bottom of the flashing screens as the combined work of Bruce, Dick, Barbara and Tim engaged. (The other two had never cared about watch-tower security.)

The computers finished booting as Barbara rolled up to the director's station. "Hi, Girl," said Barbara, giving the computer a little pat. "We're back."

And Oracle got to work.

Washington D.C.

Artemis lunged forward to avoid a missile, half-tripped and went into a somersault, coming up with her bow already tracking but much too close to use it. The Reptilian soldier grinned as he finished the arc of the swing of his wickedly sharp knife, but Artemis dropped underneath it, grabbing for a dagger in her belt that she slashed across the alien's knees. But it all but bounced off the scaly armor he wore that mimicked his scales and he merely kicked out in reflective annoyance, colliding with Artemis' chin and she fell back, dazed. The knife was raised again -
- only to have a red-tipped arrow suddenly poking out of the bad guy's eye.

"Took you long enough!" Artemis yelled at Red Arrow as she got back to her feet.
"We had to get Lian some body armor," Roy Harper 2.0 explained as he tracked another Reptilian and let an explosive arrow fly. "Your sister wouldn't hear of going into a fight without having our daughter in proper protective equipment and of course Lian wouldn't be left behind."

"And miss out on my first actual fight ever?!" Lian Nyguen Harper - the daughter of Cheshire and Red Arrow and, therefore, Artemis' niece - came in wielding a sword she'd picked up from a dead alien and whacked a Reptilian head clean off. "Not a chance! You lot are always talking about-" she ducked as Artemis swung her bow around and a green-tipped arrow took out the alien who had been attempting to sneak up on Lian. "-about how great it was to fight for the Earth and all that."

"You're still too young," muttered Red Arrow. He ducked as Artemis went high and they took out two more.

"She's older than any of the Robins were," pointed out Artemis. She gave another Reptilian a good kick in the face - he barely stumbled - and then jumped back as Cheshire came jumping down from a roof and went through his head with a dagger.

"But Batman was crazy," said Red Arrow.

"She's the age I was when I started," said Cheshire and Artemis in tandem.

"See dad?" Said Lian - she grinned over the dismembered body of another alien. "Mom and Aunty Artemis thinks it's okay."

"Okay is not the point," complained Red Arrow, he shot another explosive without even looking and was rewarded by a nice big "boom" of hitting a small tank. "The point is you haven't been trained to work on a team like this."

"Nothing like learning on the job," said Artemis. Then, "DOWN!" The whole family dropped as the air above them was filled with laser fire.

"NIGHTWING!"

"I see you! Stay down, I'm coming!"

Batarangs sliced the air and embedded themselves in the mechanisms of the newer tanks that the reptilians had just brought in a reinforcements. They hit - but shorted out almost instantly as thin lines of electricity activated to disable the Wayne-tech.

"Ah...Artemis and family, fall back."

"Where?"

"That was an order, not a suggestion. MOVE!"

This time they moved, running back as quickly as they could while Superboy threw one of the disabled tanks over their heads and into the path of its fellows.

It slowed the Reptilians down for maybe a second.

"Shit," said Artemis again.

"Blue, how does it look?" Asked-thought Nightwing.

Blue Beetle flew up and got a good look. He swallowed hard before reporting. "The bad guys have pulled back behind the line of their shiny new tanks. They were just delivered via an air drop a few miles away - must have gotten past Atom and Superman - I can see that, hold on you idiot! - They're re-grouping and re-arming. Scarab says they have laser weapons they were holding in reserve. Looks like we scared them into pulling out the really heavy tech."

"You know, when you talk to Scarab and we can't hear him you just sound crazy," observed Robin cheekily.

"How many tanks?" Nightwing interrupted any exchange.

"Twenty," said Blue.

"It could be worse..."

"They each have three laser guns."

"That's worse," observed Robin.

Nightwing swallowed and looked around. They'd all pulled back to a semi-shelter behind some of the apparently "low tech" tanks they'd destroyed earlier. At some warning fire, Blue dove back down to join them, looking grim.

There aren't enough of us, thought Nightwing sadly.

"Everyone," he began.

Only to get interrupted by the sound of a motorcycle.

A bit confused, they all just watched silently as a thin, pepper-haired young man appeared on a motorcycle amount the ruins of the outskirts of D.C.

"Am I too late?" Asked the man.

"Who are you?" Spluttered Robin.

"Oh," said the stranger. "Sorry - my hair went gray. SHAZAM!"

Lighting spiked down from the sky and, suddenly, Captain Marvel was standing there.

"I got stuck in the metro," explained Cap. "I've had no idea what was going on and then I was evacuating civilians. So, what's the plan?"

There was a sudden rush of air and suddenly Barry Allen was leaning against the side of one of the tanks. "I got a look at the back of those tanks, very complicated looking stuff. Looks like some clever hacking may give us a break."

"Knew you'd come," Impulse told Flash.

"That makes one of us," admitted Flash. "But when the Lanterns show I'm not explaining to Hal why I was sitting at home doing nothing when my nephew and grandson were risking their lives."

"Indeed," said Cyborg as he flew in. "Finally convinced my superior officers that I should be here with all of you rather than in the President's bunker with him."

"Sensitive electronics," mused Nightwing, still thinking about what Barry had said.

"Any word from your Atlantis crew?" Cap asked Aqualad.

"No," said Aqualad, shaking his head. "I expect I'll have a lot to explain when this is over."

Cap's face fell. "But we're...we're re-grouping," he protested.

"I haven't had word from Princess Diana or anyone on the island either," pointed out Wonder Girl. "The Atlanteans and Amazons are very proud - they may not come."

"Neither may the Green Lantern's," muttered Red Hood.

"Everyone, shut up," said Nightwing. "I'm thinking."

"Think faster," suggested Robin, peeking over their cover. "We're surrounded."

"They're toying with us," said Miss Martian. "I can't get specific thoughts from them but I'm getting a general sense of extreme satisfaction."

"We aren't getting through the armor on those fancy tanks," said Nightwing. "So we get in the fancy tanks and break them a bit."

"Ugh...how?" Said Beast Boy.

"Our hackers are Robin, Cyborg, Blue Beetle, Red Robin, myself and Red Hood."

Hood made a small noise of protest and got ignored.

"Non-hackers, pair up with a hacker and get them inside one of those laser-tanks. Hackers, if you can get those things to work for us - shoot another tank. Otherwise blow it up. Just don't blow up one that has one of us in it."

"This is the worst plan," observed Robin. He got a glare from Nightwing. "I like it," Robin finished, grinning.

Nightwing rolled his eyes. "Speedsters - go out there and annoy our new friends."

"On it," said Impulse, and he led the charger.

"Zatanna," said Nightwing, "Can you give us some cloud cover?"

"Of course," she said. "Ylf, gof, dinw, nair! Yks eht ni pu!" And she flew a few feet off the ground, her eyes taking on that strange blue glow, and the fog began to appear on the distant river, flying up like a strange half-monster.

"Miss Martian, stay here and keep a mind-link with everyone but don't connect us unless we need it. You're the only watch-tower we have right now."

Megan nodded. "Understood."

"Everyone else," Nightwing turned to face the approaching super-tanks, already engaged in a dangerous guess-and-shoot game with the three speedsters. "Let's go!"

The Watch-Tower

"What do you mean, can't?" Oracle shook her head, disgusted and wishing she had a visual link with the human Green Lanterns rather than just audio. "You mean won't!"

"Oracle, we can't just go in there," Hal explained, but it sounded like begging.

"Well, we could..." a voice said in the background.

"Shut up, Guy," complained John.

"They will die," said Oracle flatly.

There was silence on the other end.

"They're my friends," Oracle said softly. If the whole do-your-duty line wasn't working, maybe it was time for emotion. "Some of them are my family."

Dick laughing. Jason working on his motorcycle. Tim on TV, appearing as CEO of Wayne Industries. Damien popping in to visit her, dressed in all black and letting himself in through a window. The care-packages Alfred used to send her into which Bruce would slip some fancy gadget or another, expecting no thank-you in return.

"I thought some of them were your family, too." Like Barry and Bruce and Diana.

"Oh god," whispered Hal.

"We have to, Hal," said John on the other side of the link. "It's time we went home."

And then Oracle heard faintly, something in another language, something that the Watch Tower computer instantly translated and presented to her on the screen: "The United Nations of Earth has officially requested Green Lantern intervention. All available units stand by for deployment."

Someone let out a whoop and Hal told Oracle breathlessly over the comlink, "We're on our way - the rest of the Core will be right behind us."

"Hurry," said Oracle. She disconnected the link and Barbara Gordon bit her lip as she watched Superman get beaten back by the fleet of Reptilian star-ships. Atom had disappeared a while ago. As had the few human star ships.

The human reporters had finally fled the scene leaving her only with the shaky feed from Tim's mask.

"Hurry," she whispered.

The watch tower was a cold place to observe the battle below.

Washington D.C.

Wally knew they were in more trouble than Dick wanted to admit. He could tell in the tight lines around his friend's mouth as Nightwing had been giving them orders, in the way that his shoulders had been half-hunched as he thought.

And if Nightwing was worried, so was Kid Flash.

But it felt good to run again.

Kid Flash zig-zagged in front of the enemy tanks, taunting them.

"Stupid slow machines!" Impulse was yelling. "What's the matter? Can't find me?"

KF grinned and added, "Yeah! I thought you were winning?"

A beam of laser fire appeared directly in front of Kid Flash and he was forced to jump, singing the bottom of his feet in the process.

He let out a grunt of pain as he landed and the burns protested but he kept going…

"KF? Did you get hit?" Impulse asked, speeding over to him.

"I'll be fine," muttered Kid Flash between gritted teeth. Each step burned like fire. But he'd deal with that later.

"Why am I one of the hackers? I haven't hacked anything in ages," muttered Red Hood crossly to himself.

"Stop complaining," Red Arrow snapped back. They were using the rubble for cover, sneaking to the back of the tanks as Blue Beetle, Captain Marvel, Zatanna, Rocket and the three speedsters distracted them. "How'd I end up paired with you, anyway?"

"Beats me," said Red Hood. They'd reached one of the fancy tanks. "Ready?"

"Try to keep up," countered Red Arrow, and charged, arrows flying through the air.

"Try to keep up," repeated Red Hood in a baby voice, rolling his eyes. "I'll show you, you idiot." And he followed the other man, both guns up.

They dispatched (at least temporarily) the two Reptilians guarding the tank and climbed onto the back. Red Hood stowed the guns and pulled off the back panel. Flash had been right – an entire mess of electronics winked up at them. There was what looked like a computer terminal beside them.

"No way this is just here for people to mess with," muttered Red Hood.

"Stop complaining and get with the hacking," snapped Red Arrow.

Red Hood grabbed an arrow from the back of his reluctant partner's quiver – ignoring the protests – and cautiously tried to move the wires. Ray shields instantly snapped into place, neatly slicing the tip of the arrow clean off.

"Oh," said Red Arrow.

"Yup," said Hood. "This just got harder – you better tell the others not to go sticking their hands in." He turned to the computer terminal. "Let's see how much I remember."

Red Arrow relayed the message via the mind link as Red Hood began trying different combinations to get through the passcode on the computer.

"You may want to hurry," Red Arrow said after a few minutes.

"Shut up," responded Red Hood.

"I'm serious," said Red Arrow, his eyes were on the fight taking on and around one of the nearby tanks. "We may need to go save one of your brothers."

That distracted Jason. He looked up sharply and followed Red Arrow's gaze to where Tim and Cassie were trying to fight off about seven of the Reptilian soldiers.

"Go help them," said Red Hood.

"We're supposed to…"

"Please."

Red Arrow looked at the other man in surprise, and then nodded. "Here," Red Arrow handed Red Hood a grenade. "Just in case." And then ran off to help the younger heroes.

Red Hood spent another second making sure that Tim would be okay, and then turned his attention back to the stubborn panel before him. The movement in his peripheral vision warned Red Hood a second before a knife came swinging down. Red Hood ducked and spun around, reaching for his gun, only to get hit in the face by a closed, scaly fist. Hood stumbled and almost fell off the back of the tank. He dropped one of his guns – Fuck! – and grabbed onto the side of the panel he'd removed, almost activating the ray shield in the process.

Thinking fast, Red Hood pulled himself up so that he was directly in front of the panel and, when the Reptilian came in for another swing, put all his strength into jumping straight up.

He barely got high enough, but the Reptilian's sword went straight into the shields and was sliced in half. As an added bonus, the Reptilian got a nasty shock up the arm, giving Red Hood the moment of distraction he needed to bring his legs down and around the Reptilian's shoulders and pull him forward.

The alien's head went straight into the shields.

It wasn't Red Hood's proudest moment.

The partially decapitated alien fell backwards and Red Hood cautiously extended his hand into the panel. The shields had shorted out.

"Finally," Red Hood muttered. He stuck in Red Arrow's grenade and jumped off the tank just as the entire thing shorted out and crashed.

Red Hood cautiously got to his feet, scanning the battle-field, and swallowed hard. Those tanks just kept coming. As he watched, a few of them got through the murky line the heroes had been maintaining between the invasion fleet and the city and houses began to go up in flames.

"At least we go down fighting," muttered Red Hood. He picked up a discarded gun from a dead alien and charged into the fray with a yell.

"Nightwing…a lot of people are in trouble," M'gann told Dick via the mind link.

Nightwing did a black-flip off the top of the tank he had been hacking and landed with one hand on the ground for balance as the whole thing erupted into a column of smoke caused by turning off what he had assumed were safety features (he'd been right.) He'd sent his partners, Cheshire and Lian, running about a minute previously.

At M'gann's words, Nightwing stood and looked around. He swallowed hard before asking her, "Is everyone still alive?"

"Yes, but a lot of people are injured. And Zatanna is down. I'm moving her body into shelter now."

Nightwing watched the tanks advance on the city. "We're out of practice," Nightwing commented.

"Or we've finally met our match," Miss Martian replied.

"Maybe," said Nightwing. "Link me up with everyone, Megan."

"Link established."

Superboy punched another alien in the face but went down as three more jumped him…

"Hey, Team. Nightwing here…"

Kid Flash went skidding across the ground, his injured feet protesting, and he collided into a tank. Falling back in a disorientated daze…

"…We have to keep this up until the Lanterns get here…"

Aqualad brought water from the streets up in a wave to dose some of the fires…but there were just too many…

"…It's been an honor to fight by your side again…"

Artemis reached back into her quiver and found that she was out of arrows…

"Give them hell."

With matching shouts, they all charged…and the night sky above was suddenly green with the light of hundreds Green Lanterns gracing the Earth's sky.

Watch Tower

"YES!" cheered Oracle as she watched the Green Lantern squadrons appear from the Watch Tower. "YES!"

Gotham

Inside the small Bat-Cave, Bruce Wayne leaned back in the chair with a small smile.

"Welcome back," he whispered quietly.

Star City

Oliver Queen stood and walked to the window of his penthouse apartment. The reflection in the window had one hand in its pocket, and was missing the other. But the figure still stood straight, and he smiled as he watched the green figures streak across the sky just like shooting stars.

Oliver chuckled and turned to the black cat that was sitting on the liquor cabinet. "What do you think, Canary? Will he apologize?"

The cat meowed and jumped down to rub its body against Oliver's leg, purring loudly.

"Oh, really?" said Oliver, reaching down to oblige his companion with a scratch beyond the ears. "You have more faith in them then I do."

6 Hours Later – Washington D.C.

Another group of Green Lanterns rushed past and Damien Wayne sighed. "If those one-trick ponies get all the credit for taking down these aliens," he complained. "I swear, I'm going to find some way to file a complaint about them rushing about like that."

"You know," said Impulse around a mouthful of food. "As long as Blue gets the credit for being the one who got us all off our asses, I don't care if the Green Lantern's get most of the credit."

"We were getting our asses kicked before they showed," added Nightwing.

Damien grumbled. But in a way that his brothers knew he was tired but pleased.

The US Army had brought over a truck-full of medical supplies and food as the aliens had been beaten back – which had been highly appreciated. With everyone more or less patched up and some food in everyone's stomach, some of the older members were wondering how everyone was going to get home with the Zeta network most people had used being out for the count. (A tank blew it up. Typical.)

Cyborg suddenly jumped to his feet, bringing his hand up in a formal salute, as a heavily reinforced car with the seal of the President of the United States rolled up. Most of the others got to their feet respectfully as the young president exited her car.

"Madame President," said Nightwing, touching his brow with two fingers in a small salute.

"Good evening," she said with a smile. She was wearing combat boots with her usual pant-suit. "I hope that I had the boys send you enough food?"

"Yes, ma'am. Thank you," said Nightwing.

"Some of my aids," said the President, glancing at a frowning man standing by the car. "Feel that I should punish all of you for violating the treaty."

A few uneasy glances were traded.

"However," said the President. "I think that I shall arrange to speak at the next UN conference of reinstating part of the Justice League program. Especially in situations where conventional troops are no match for the enemy that is being faced." She looked around until she found Blue Beetle. "And I believe I shall be recommending you for a Medal of Valor."

Impulse elbowed Blue in the ribs, beaming at his best friend. Blue shook his head at Impulse and stepped forward.

"Thank you, Madame President," said Blue. "But I wouldn't have made it without my Team."

The President tilted her head to her side, studying Blue as if wishing she could see through the armor. Then, she smiled and, nodding, she said, "My youngest daughter said you would say something like that." She turned to one of the officers with her, "Captain. Make sure that they get a ride to wherever they need to go – if they need it, of course."

"Yes, ma'am," said the Captain.

Turning back to the group the President said, "I hope to see you again. In the meantime, if we require your help, is there a way to contact you?"

"If it's not too theatrical," said Robin, with a smile that was every bit a Wayne. "I believe the Bat-siren in Gotham still works."