*IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT AT BOTTOM*

Disclaimer: I own nothing

"It is difficult for the common good to prevail against the intense concentration of those who have a special interest, especially if the decisions are made behind locked doors." Jimmy Carter

Chapter 9: "Greater Good"

(Tuesday-March 19, 2016)

Dani swung her arms around Victor and tucked her head into his chest. Unfiltered tears streamed down her face. She tried to say something, but her words were drowned out by her uncontrollable sobs. Her legs felt weak, but her boyfriend was fortunately there to hold her up. Eventually, she gave up on standing on her own to allow her lover to completely support her.

"I know," Victor whispered. Tears of his own threatened to fall from his one original eye. "It's…It's going to…I know."

"I couldn't do anything," Dani trembled uncontrollably. She could feel the eyes of her teammates trying to avoid looking at her. They were all spread throughout Mount Justice while trying to hold back their own feelings of mourning. "I was right there, and I couldn't do anything."

"It's not your fault," Victor argued.

"No! It is!" Dani gasped. "It's always the same! People I care about always die! It doesn't matter what I do! It's pathetic! I'm pathetic!"

"No you're not!" Victor sucked in a deep breath. "It's just…this life. We all know the risks. You can't put the whole blame on yourself."

"Yes I can," Dani muttered in bitterness. "But I can also blame her. No more of this. I'm not doing this anymore. I'm going to kill her."

"Dani," Victor mumbled.

"I'm going to kill her," Dani clenched her teeth so hard that she thought that they would shatter. "Then, I'm going to keep this from every happening again. No more dead friends. Things are going to be better even if I have to drag this goddamn world behind me kicking and screaming to make it right."

"Those three are going to end up our problem, aren't they?" Cyborg sighed.

"Not necessarily," Nightwing gestured to the holographic images hovering at the center of the Cave. "Bart, Impulse, is staying with Jay and Joan Garrick in Central City. Luna, Legacy, has been put in the care of her great grandparents. Roy, the original Speedy is recuperating at Royal Memorial Hospital in Star City. Arrows Green and Red are watching over him."

"That's a long winded way of agreeing with Vic," Spirit leaned against her lover. "The League is just going to throw them at us."

"Don't they do that with everything?" Superboy scowled. "I mean, where are we with identifying the Light's new partners?"

Nightwing massaged his aching temples, "No progress."

M'gann's giggles turned their attention to the entrance of the room. She and La'gaan were stepping into the meeting with a bowl of treats floating in front of them. Superboy's scowl intensified at the sight while his ex-girlfriend chastised her current lover, "La'gann, don't eat so fast."

Lagoon boy tossed another snack into his mouth, "I can't help it, angelfish. The idea of cooking crabs is amazing enough. But making them into little cakes?

Miss Martian smiled, "You're gonna choke."

"If only," Superboy muttered under his breath.

"Here," M'gann lifted one of the crab cakes for her boyfriend. "Let me."

La'gaan immediately swallowed the treat whole while smirking at Superboy, "If that's not true love, I don't know what is chum."

"Can we just start the briefing?" Superboy rolled his eyes.

Nightwing nodded, "OK, gamma squad, listen up. The mission's Cape Canaveral covert op to safeguard the first Earth-Mars com-sat. There are people out there who don't even like the idea of aliens and will do anything to scrub this launch."

"Hey," Spirt placed a hand on the distraught Miss Martian's shoulder. "Not everyone feels like that. Don't let overly vocal idiots get to you."

"Are we pressed for manpower?" Cyborg questioned. "It's rare for you to go on missions."

"Let's just say that after running this team for over a year I'm peckish for a little action," Nightwing grinned.

"Hmm," Spirit looked away with a concerned expression on her face. "Is this enough?"

"This is a pretty solid squad," Superboy argued.

"I know, but…I don't know. Just a gut feeling."

Nightwing shrugged, "It's all we got. Blue Beetle, Robin, and Wonder Girl have family obligations. Bumblebee has work to do with the Atom. Wally refused to get involved. And Dusk's group still refuses to take anyone's calls. This is everyone that we could get."

"Yeah. Never mind. This should be good. Maybe I'm just hungry. Hand me some of those crab cakes."

"Hey! Angelfish made them for me!"

"Come on! Share the love! We're teammates!"

"I made them for everyone, La'gaan. Don't worry. I can always make more."

"Fine."

Herald raised an eyebrow, "You want to get directly involved?"

Dusk nodded to all the people within the Royal Flush Gang's hideout, "This satellite is important. With more aliens popping up in the Milky Way Galaxy, having more help from the Martians can only be a good thing."

"Should I be insulted?" Starfire crossed her arms.

"No," Dusk shook his head. "You're another reason why I think that this is a good idea. It's been two months since you got here. With the heat dying down, you can start to show that you're on Earth's side. You won't exactly go public yet, but creating some good will is an excellent start. It can build up until you eventually have to go public."

Starfire smiled, "I was kidding. Of course, I will be glad to do the helping. Besides, I could use some fresh air."

"No offense, man," Red Hood spoke up. "But I really would prefer to stay out of this one. Nightwing's gonna be there, right?"

Herald nodded, "That is what I was told."

"Then no thanks," Red Hood returned to cleaning his gun. "I don't think I'm ready for any kind of family reunion."

"Uh hem," Black Bat crossed her arms.

Red Hood snorted, "You know what I mean."

"I'm out too," Gear spoke up from a monitor showing him in his room. "The parental units have been getting pretty antsy with me after Virgil went missing. If I leave again, then my ass is grounded."

"I'd prefer to stay out of it as well," Black Bat commented. "I have my own meetings to go to. Rose is setting it up as we speak."

"That's fine," Dusk shrugged. "Young Justice will have plenty of people out there anyway. I don't need all of you."

"Well, thou still hast me, Joel," Troia smirked. "A full battle would be refreshing. Herald, do you know who's going to be there?"

"Nightwing, Spirit, Cyborg, Miss Martian, Superboy, and Lagoon Boy," Herald listed off the heroes.

"No Bumblebee?" Dusk questioned.

Herald sighed, "No Bumblebee. She's currently on project with the Atom. Don't worry. Our relationship crap won't get in the way."

"Oh! We get to work with your sister!" Starfire tried to direct the attention away from the tension. "How wonderful."

"Hehehe, wonderful isn't how I would put it," Red Hood examined his pistol. "You haven't seen what happens when more than one halfa goes all out. I always wanted to see all of them fight one guy at once, but with Danny…you know…it's not really possible anymore."

"It's still possible to have four half-ghosts fighting together, though! Make sure to ask the stink wads about that new halfa girl!" Gizmo suddenly interjected their conversation by flying in on a jetpack. "Her powers are fascinating."

"Thou art interested in someone outside your work?" Troia questioned.

"You kidding me? That girl acted as an energy sponge," Gizmo's eyes drifted off into space. "I wonder what her limits are. Is it just radioactive energy that she can absorb? What about magic? What about telepathic?"

"Ah," Dusk nodded. "I get you. Well, I'll try to sneak in some questions if I can."

"Or you could go home," Starfire suggested. "She's family, no? Why stay away from people who care about you?"

"You're talking to the wrong group," Gizmo mentioned. "We're all runaways. Even you, red. Sometimes going home to people waiting for you is harder than knowing that you're not welcome back."

"Woah," Black Bat blinked. "Look at you getting deep."

"We all have our moments," Gizmo shrugged.

Dusk turned away from his group. The arrival of the new halfa did intrigue him. From what he heard from Vlad's communication, she was from the future. That was something that was definitely on his mind. He shook his head. Best not to think about what she could tell him. Instead, he would focus on what Star had said. She was right. He had family patiently waiting for him. Once this was done, he would have to plan a trip home to catch up with the people he loved and get to know Legacy. Maybe it was time to let the fear of loss go?

"Great Uncle Jack like never really was a big part of the superhero biz," Luna walked with Vision through the halls of Masters Mansion. "He was more of a behind the scenes kind of guy. Working in the company. Only really helps out during emergencies."

"I see," Vision gently stroked her stomach. "It's good to know that he's safe in the future. Considering how difficult the lives of most halfas are, I thought that he would struggle though a lot."

"Nope. From what he said, his life was totally crash for the most part. Completely off mode," Luna shrugged.

"Lingo in the future is interesting," Vision commented. "Do you know how these 'crash' or 'on mode' started?"

"Not too much," Luna played with a strand of her hair. "Some of the old guys mention things, but I blank out a lot cause Highfather have mercy they're so boring. I think it has to do with a TV show or something…"

"Alright. That's understandable," Vision tucked the Highfather slip in to the back of her mind. "Anyway, thank you for going with me on my walk. Being pregnant is surprisingly boring in its limitations."

"It's fine. I love hanging out with family," Luna smiled brightly. "Speaking of which, what about Great Uncle Joel and Super Gramps Danny? I thought that they would pop in by now."

"They're…a work in progress," Vision noted as they approached Luna's room. "You'll see them soon enough."

"M'kay! That will be crash!" Luna pushed open the door to show her massive yet barren room. Only the necessities for the bedroom were already spaced out for her.

Vision sighed as she looked into the empty chamber, "Let's go shopping tomorrow for some furniture. You can pick out whatever you want."

"Crash!" Luna fist pumped.

"Go ahead and relax for a bit," Vision chuckled. "I'll call you when dinner is over."

"Sounds good, Super Great Grandma!"

"Err, just call me Vision."

"I can totally do that!"

With their conversation over, Vision stepped away from the youngest halfa. She borderline waddled through the halls at this point in her pregnancy. After she was out of hearing range from the newest member to their family, the ghost turned a corner to find her husband. He leaned against the wall with his arms crossed. Vision could tell that he was deep in thought over Luna.

"She's a nice girl," Vlad mentioned. "Pretty good actor too. Not great, but still pretty good."

"Most people wouldn't see through it," Vision argued. "But her eyes…they show only pain."

"Whatever future she came from isn't worth going back to," Vlad summarized his realizations on the matter.

"And it's…one without our child in it," Vision stared at her extended stomach in fear. "Every word she spoke of him was a lie."

Vlad scowled, "She lied about her lineage too. Half-ghost DNA is complicated, but not impossible to decode given the right amount of time. While I can tell that she's not lying when she calls Danielle her grandmother, that's not how they're related. From my tests, I found that their actual genetic relation is that of a half-sister."

"Considering that one half of Dani's genetic code is dead and without powers, I'm going to assume that her father is Daniel," Vision stroked her chin in thought. "And…the pink highlights. The name associated with the moon. Her unbelievable power. Jinx has to be her mother."

Vlad nodded, "I already confirmed it."

"So she's your granddaughter," Vision stated. "And she's related to my father as well."

"Vandal Savage," Vlad growled at the name. After the conception of their child, Vision had opened up about the few secrets that she hid from him. Her status as one of Savage's children was one such secret. "I have to say, our family sounds pretty messed up genetically if you don't know the full story. I've impregnated two daughters of our family's greatest enemy. One of whom apparently had a child with my borderline stepson. Not to mention the clone and the spawn of assassins that was injected with halfa DNA. It sounds like something out of a terrible soap opera."

"No. The time travel aspect makes it worse than a soap opera," Vision lightly joked.

Vlad couldn't bring himself to laugh, "The last instance when time travel was involved, all of Daniel's family and friends died."

Vision looked away, "Yes, but it's not smart to push Luna into revealing too much. It could scare her away."

"I know. Don't worry. She's kin. No matter what future she comes from, I won't shun her," Vlad stared at his wife's pregnant belly in worry. "But we need to be careful to avoid an even worse future than what she comes from. Too much knowledge of the future tends to lead to problems."

Vision nodded, "We'll tackle this carefully. What of the heroes?"

"Nightwing is too busy to spend too much time focusing on Luna's lineage. He's pushed that task onto me," Vlad sighed. "I'll stall him as long as possible, but it's only a matter of time before he gets suspicious."

"Then we best prepare."

While the two adults were talking, Luna sat on her bed while staring at her empty room. Well, it was more like an empty castle to her. This one room was bigger than an entire block of houses on Remnant. Hell, the entire mansion could probably fit the entire city. What a strange time. So much space. So much food. So much peace. What did people even do with all this surplus?

Luna glanced to the side wall. In her old room, she just decorated with old drawings that she made, along with the fabled logo of the Phantom Family. She couldn't dress this place up like that though. Not yet. Vlad and Vision would get suspicious. More suspicious. She knew that they were smart people. They probably saw through most of her lies. Fortunately, they were also smart enough not to confront her about it yet. She still had time to speak with her father in private.

Standing, Luna turned her hand intangible so that she could reach into her own ghostly core. She quickly pulled out a folded up picture that she had drawn when she was still a small child. The younger version of herself stood on either side of her father and mother. They were all holding hands. They were all happy. They were all together.

"I'll make it happen," Luna leaned in to kiss the drawing of what she had dreamed of ever since she could remember. "Even if it kills me. I'll bring us together. I promise."

"Joel," Starfire muttered as she watched her friend step away. Before she could move to follow him, Jason placed a hand on her shoulder. He shook his head to stop her.

"No. He needs to be alone right now," Jason noted.

Starfire glared at him, "He is hurt. I should comfort him."

"Let him mourn his way," Jason's voice was surprisingly gentle. He glanced to his other friends to see them looking despondent. While Mal's face was struck with grief, Cassandra was doing everything that she could to hide her pain. "We all face loss differently. Give him some space. He'll come to you when he's ready."

Starfire looked to where her first friend left, "Okay."

As they spoke, Dusk had exited the hideout to fly high above the city. He rose until he was just above the clouds. Once satisfied with the distance he had created from the physical plane, he looked up at the shining stars above. He felt so close to space that he could reach out and touch it. Before he could reach the beyond, though, harsh reality would drag him down once more.

Tears began to roll down his face. He made no noises. His features remained stern. Only his silent crying gave away his sadness. The light of the moon reflected of the wetness on his cheeks. Clenching his eyes shut, he remembered everyone that he had lost in his short life. The loved ones lost to death flashed in his mind from his mother to the family that he lost today.

"I don't even remember the last conversation we had," Dusk muttered. "I just…ran away and never talked to you again. You must have thought that I was a piece of shit."

He knew that wasn't true. Most of his old friends understood his decisions. Regret was beyond logic unfortunately. Slowly, he reached under his hoodie to pull out Greta's necklace. He placed his lips to the cold metal and began to mutter how sorry he was. All he wanted to do was to run away, but he knew that he would be a coward to do so.

"I'm so tired," Dusk stared up to the glowing beauty of the moon. His tears only increased as droplets fell from his chin. "Why can't this all just end? Why must so many good people die?"

Superboy scowled as he sat at the front of the Bioship. He had just been deposited into the Martian vehicle by Spirit. They had just finished a press conference while he and M'gann disguised as Superman and the Martian Manhunter respectively. Luckily, his fellow clone had volunteered to carry him while invisible instead of having the Martian hold him up with her telepathy. He felt fortunate to have Spirit around to sympathize with his feelings. She even stripped him of the monkey suit Superman costume with her intangibility so that he could go back to the normal clothing that he had beneath the disguise.

"So what?" M'gann commented as she took her seat at the Bioship. "Are we never going to speak again?"

"Wow," Superboy muttered sarcastically. "You read my mind."

Spirit blinked at them, "Um. Maybe I should go."

"No. You stay," Superboy snapped. "Dani, you understand, right?"

"I…would rather stay out of this," Spirit fidgeted uncomfortably.

"No, Dani. He's right," Miss Martian glared at the ghost. "You 'understand.' He broke up with me, and now he's holding a grudge against me."

"I couldn't stay with you while you were abusing your powers!" Superboy glared at her.

"Abusing? I was fighting bad guys," M'gann gained an indignant look.

"Sure. By using tactics that are just as bad as theirs. You're just like Psimon," Superboy shook his head.

"I am nothing like him!"

"Yeah right!? How many people have you left in a coma since Beast Boy—"

"Don't you bring him into this! He doesn't have anything to do with this!"

"He has everything to do with this!" Superboy clenched his fists. "I know it hurts, M'gann, but he's gone! There's nothing we can do about it! Ever since he died, you've been in a downward spiral! I tried so hard to help! To understand! But how did you respond?! You tried to mind rape me!"

"It wasn't like that!" M'gann exclaimed.

"I know what your mental touch feels like! The feel of your fingertips on my consciousness used to mean everything to me! It was one hundred times more personal and intimate than anything physical! I gave you full access to my soul, and you tried to rip into it! You tried to change me!" Superboy's face twisted with emotional pain. "You. The person that I loved the most. There was never one thing about you that I would have changed. This is like if I ever wished that your true form wasn't a White Martian."

"Conner," tears began to form on the corner of M'gann's eyes.

"I loved you, M'gann. More than my own life. But how can I think that I mattered to you at all when you just gave up on me? You immediately jumped into La'gaan's arms like what we had was just a fling for you. Like you never…" Superboy took a shuddered breath. "Dani? What was I supposed to do? I couldn't take it. She just wouldn't stop. It felt like my mind was being…violated."

Spirit looked onto the situation with wide eyes. While she knew some of the details of their breakup, she never thought that it was this bad, "I don't…I guess the only comparison would be if I constantly overshadowed Vic to do what I wanted. It would be wrong."

"Why isn't anyone on my side, huh? How do you think that I feel?" Miss Martian was crying. "Gar is gone. My uncle left. The love of my life left me. All my family on Mars has straight up disowned me. Don't you understand, Dani? How much it hurts? I just didn't want to lose what I loved! I never meant any harm! I just wanted everything to be good again. And when Conner dumped me, I needed something, anything, to keep me going. And La'gaan is so wonderful to me. What was I supposed to do?"

"I…" Spirit felt conflicted. On one hand, there was no doubt that what M'gann tried to do was wrong. On the other hand, the halfa felt as if she might only be a few steps from truly being where the other woman was at emotionally. "I think that we should put a pin in this. Let me take Conner down to the ground force. Then I can come back up…we'll deal with this once the mission is done."

Superboy looked down, "Fine."

Miss Martian wiped away her tears, "Whatever. Just go. I need to get my mind prepped."

Grabbing onto Conner, Spirit lifted the other clone out of the ship so that he could take him to the tower where Nightwing and Cyborg were waiting. She would explain it without giving too much away of what happened. While they flew, Superboy spoke up again, "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have dragged you into that."

"It's okay," Spirit gave a shaky smile.

Superboy shook his head, "It's not. This isn't your problem."

"It seems like a Team problem," Spirit noted. "So it's my problem. Don't worry. I'll fix this when the mission is over."

"I don't know if it can be fixed," Superboy looked out into the horizon. "Nothing short of dramatic change will make her see the truth. I tried everything. Stayed with her longer than I should have. Told myself that she was just having a hard time. That I should be there for her. But it got so hard. Leaving her was the last thing that I could think of."

"Hey. This is me we're talking about. I get shit done," Spirit grinned. "Even if it takes forever, I'll help you work it out. Until then, don't be afraid to come talk to me. Clones have to stick together."

"Yeah," Superboy closed his eyes in regret. "We do."

"None of you are going to go say hi to the other group?" Starfire blinked at her friends. "Are they not your friends?"

"They are, but we're in the middle of a mission," Dusk commented. "If we interact with them before the battle, Nightwing will try to direct us. I don't particularly feel like taking orders right now, and it will mess up their battle strategy. Best to wait until after for a catch up."

"If Lagoon Boy is below the water, then they must be planning a three part defense. Water, land, and air," Herald pointed to the different sections.

"Right. We'll back them up if they need us," Dusk gestured to the water. "As the only one here that's any good underwater, I'll help La'gann. It will be like old times."

"Starfire and I can alternate from helping on land and air depending on who needs help," Troia looked to the largest member of their group. "Mal, can thou handle aerial assistance?"

"If they fire any missiles, I'll sent them right back at the ships," Herald played with his horn.

"Then it's just the waiting game now," Dusk leaned against the rock that they were hiding behind for cover. They were further down the beach than the members of Young Justice. The shore led up to a large wall which would protect them from any flames released by the large rocket prepping for takeoff.

Wanting to keep the conversation going, Starfire looked to the rocket, "Earthling space technology is rather limited. I thought that with all the advanced technology that we saw all of you use that there would be more efficient ways to break orbit."

"There are," Dusk admitted. "A lot of it comes from tech powered by ectoplasmic energy. Which is related to ghosts. This launch is controversial enough without bringing ghosts into it. At least, that's what I would guess Danny's thought process would be. He volunteered to help with the project. He's really into space."

"Oh. I see," Starfire tilted her head. "Excuse me, but why are ghosts so controversial? I get that the concept of facing death can be a bit scary, but all ghosts come from humans. It a race war thing? I mean, they seem to be a more intense topic than aliens, and that loud TV guy never shuts up about aliens."

"No, it's…uh…"

Troia blinked, "No one ever told her?"

"No. I don't think anyone wants to tell a lot of stories about Earth's Blackest Night," Mal noted.

"Blackest Night? I think I've heard that a few times," Starfire rapidly blinked in thought. "What was it?"

Dusk sighed, "It was something that none of us want to experience again. Death came knocking, and it almost won. A lot of people died. More than a few were friends. I never want to have to go through anything like that again."

Spirit scowled as she flew through the air after dropping off Superboy. Fortunately, Nightwing allowed the change of plans. With her in the air, there would be more than enough support from above during whatever fight that the Light had planned. Despite the smoothness of the plan alterations, she couldn't help but feel terrible by what she had witnessed. While deeply invested the lives of her friends, she had never thrown herself into their romantic problems. While Superboy and Miss Martian's breakup was unexpected, she didn't try to talk Conner out of doing something that he was obviously dedicated on doing.

She never would have suspected that things were so bad. In retrospect, M'gann always was extremely liberal with her powers. Perhaps Spirit was just numb to the use of superhuman abilities? Most of her family used their ability to faze through walls at home. Maybe she was so used to mental links being thrown around that she didn't think about how her friend was using it? No matter what the answer was, Spirit didn't know how to go about fixing this problem. Was it even her place to intervene? How could she just ignore this, though?

"It's quite the problem you have, my lovely."

The halfa jumped upon hearing the familiar voice. She turned to see Thorn lazily floating sideways, "Thorn?!"

"Are you going to be shocked every time I show up?" Thorn rolled her eyes. "There are so many lessons to be learned. This is the perfect time for the third one."

"I'm on a mission, and you're a part of the Light," Spirit growled. "This is definitely not a good time."

"Of course it is," Thorn sat upright to place her chin over her palm. "At first, I was just going to skip talking to you this time, but then I heard what your little friends were saying. It was…disturbing even by my standards. Hard to believe that this Miss Martian is the hero. Leaving poor Psimon in a coma for years. Ripping the minds of Kroloteans apart. And…abusing a partner like that."

"I thought that you would have approved," Spirit accused.

For once, Thorn seemed offended, "Be careful what you say, child. I am many things. Some of those things could be considered terrible, but I would never abuse those that I claim to love. There's a reason that I never sought out Johnny. As things are, we might come to blows. Hurting him would be…distasteful to say the least."

Spirit slowly nodded upon hearing that, "I could never imagine taking advantage of Victor like that. If he let me use my powers on him to…um, make things interesting, taking advantage of that would be the worst thing that I've ever done."

"Exactly!" Thorn teleported into existence next to the younger woman. Her eyes shined intensely in the moonlight. "That's lesson three!"

"It's a lesson that I already know," Sprit argued.

"No no no no no no no!" Thorn rapidly shook her head. "You only half know! Tell me, what should be done to Miss Martian?! How must should she suffer for such egregious crimes?!"

"I…don't know?" Spirit looked her head down in shame. She knew what the answer should be. Rape was a taboo that was often avoided in the superhero community unless it needed addressing. There was an unspoken acceptance than it was a crime which stood at the top of the list of terrible offenses. Only murder seemed to contend for the top place besides it. Mental rape should rank equally as high.

"Foolish girl!" Thorn hissed. "Imagine if this was a man doing it to a woman?! Imagine if it were a foe doing it to a friend?! Would you hesitate then?!"

Spirit felt shame in the fact that she knew that Thorn spoke the truth. She had no response for her.

"You know the answer. To violate someone is awful enough, but to do it to the person that you claim to love the most? It's unforgivable," Thorn draped herself over the other ghost. "And do you know the worst part? He still loves her. I can feel the adoration in his heart for her. At least he managed to get away from her, but she still holds his heart and continues to crush it as she swoons over the Atlantian."

"Miss Martian has been through a lot," Spirit weakly argued. "She lost her brother—"

"And I lost my son!" Thorn face twisted with anger. "You don't see me trying to change Johnny into what I want him to be. How can you claim to love someone when you try to fundamentally morph them into something else? That's just loving the idea of someone. I may do terrible things. Seduce. Break hearts. Leave wanting. Kidnap. Maim. Torture. Kill. And so much more, but I let the Light know that things like this were the one thing that I would never accept. They agree with me. If the greatest criminal organization finds this unacceptable, what does that say about you?"

Swallowing a large lump in her throat, Spirit spoke once more, "And what do you suggest? What is the lesson?"

"Women like Miss Martian are the worst," Thorn whispered. "They must be punished to the highest degree."

"I won't kill her."

"Oh, sweetheart, I'm not suggesting that. Death is too good for her. Everything she loves must be taken from her. She must feel every single pain that she has ever caused to those who have given her unconditional love. She must be broken on a fundamental level. Then she will be forced to live a long life knowing exactly what she has done."

"What do you mean?"

"The first lesson was how to use your words and influence. The second lesson was how to best use your appearance to your advantage. The third lesson is…" Thorn held the other woman in place as rockets began to rise out of the ocean. "Those who do not deserve what they have must be stripped of everything. Love. Power. Happiness. Such is the fate of anyone who abuses their loved ones. It's the only true justice that you should ever believe in."

Before Spirit could respond, Thorn manipulated the space around the halfa to teleport the other woman away into a dimensional pocket. It would be best if the girl sat this battle out. She would just get in the way. Turning to glance at the Bioship in the distance, Thorn frowned. She could start a fight with M'gann the natural way, but that would begin their feud in the wrong light. No, it would best to do this the right way. The villainess directed her gaze to the ground and sea where the battle had truly begun. Yes, she would make Miss Martian be the one to start the fight.

Luna knew it would happen. Despite all the lies she told when confronted about it, she knew that this was a death day. One of many that she had hoped to prevent. Bart had been adamant about trying to insist that they be put on the mission. He thought that they could do something. She knew better. Nightwing was no fool. Plasmius did not let his guard down easily. Everyone was watching them. If they gave even a single hint that they weren't who they said that they were, then everything would have been for nothing. Insisting on being on a specific mission before gaining their trust would give them away instantly, and the course of history would change.

It was cold of her. If they knew that she had knowledge of this, then she would have been scorned and beaten. Hell, if it had been someone she cared about, she would have done the same. Fortunately, she didn't know anyone from this time. They were all just names in history books to her. For the sake of the future, she had to make hard choices. Some people had to die for the sake of humanity's future.

Still, it wasn't easy to pretend that she was just a clueless little girl in all this. Many of the heroes eyed her in scrutiny through their tears. Bart shot accusing glances at her. She forced her own tears out while moaning that she didn't know the compete history. It was all a mistake according to her. Eventually, their anger transitioned back to their own grief, allowing Luna to sneak away.

If she were honest, there was another reason that she had to allow this to happen. This event would trigger most of the choices that she could predict. There was no way to know how this would affect the timeline, especially with her father. It had to happen for the greater good. Those thoughts made her feel dirty, but there was no helping it. This had to happen. Or at least that's what she told herself as she watched the younger version of the woman who raised her begin to sob uncontrollably.

"Everything will work out," Luna whispered. "It has to."

The battle began with the missiles rising out of the ocean. Miss Martian began to stop the attacks by intercepting them with blasts from the Bioship's weapons. While the alien dealt with the aerial attacks, dozens of Black Manta soldiers stepped onto the beach with their blaster guns ready. Superboy met them by crashing down on the beach. While their invincible tank ran through the gunshots to meet the fighters, Cyborg and Nightwing assisted him from a distance in order to avoid being hit by any stray energy bullets.

While Superboy easily began to plow through the soldiers, the second wave of fighters arrived from below the waves. They were led by the combined force of Black Manta and Red X. Ignoring the clone fighting the spares, they stepped further up to the beach in order to get close to the space ship. While Red X held up a bazooka, Black Manta had a rocket launcher jump out of his shoulder. Surrounded on all sides, Superboy couldn't make it in time to intercept them.

Cyborg intercepted their attempts to blow up the ship with blasts from his sonic cannon. Knowing that they could no longer stay back for support, the metal man used his jetpack to carry Nightwing to the battlefield. As soon as they landed, they separated in order to fight back against the villains. While Cyborg moved to combat Red X's advanced battle suit with his own technology, Nightwing rushed to Black Manta with his battle batons ready.

Knowing that the Fenton combat armor was better at close up combat, Cyborg tried to keep his distance. Smaller rockets launched from his shoulders towards the seemingly female fighter. Red X showed her combat prowess by easily jumped around the flying bombs. She then moved in to try to cut up the robot man with her extended X blades. While not the strongest hand-to-hand fighter, Victor was able to avoid most of the slices at his torso. The few hits which got in managed to cut up his arms, but he stayed active long enough to force his foe to retreat by using his arm sonic cannon.

While the youngest fighter on the beach used his superior technology to gain the advantage in combat, Nightwing relied on his superior skills to push back Black Manta. Red laser beams shot out of the red lenses at the front of the villain's helmet. Batman's protégé was forced to duck and weave to barely avoid getting hit by the energy bursts. When he was up close to the ocean themed villain, Nightwing used his superior combat prowess in order to push back the other man. Growling at being quickly overwhelmed, Black Manta continued to use his laser eyes in order to keep Nightwing from getting in a finishing blow. While unable to hit the stealth master, Manta avoided being knocked out by the Gotham hero.

Further back in the beach, Superboy struggled against the superior numbers of the enemy. While he could easily toss the foot soldiers around like they were nothing, he had a difficult time fighting them all off when he wasn't their target. If they all swarmed him, his superior powers could easily keep them in check. Instead of uselessly trying to take him out, they attempted to rush past him in order to get close to the rocket ship. Growling, Conner did his best to knock every fighter off their feet. Those which slipped past him were toppled when he threw other soldiers at them. Eventually, his policy of not killing and permanently maiming his foes got the better of him when the battalion managed to push past him.

"Thou looks like thou needs some assistance!" Troia landed down beside the Kryptonian. She used her Lasso of Truth in order to take out the fighters which slipped past him.

"Troia!" Superboy choke slammed two of the enemy down onto the sand. "What are you doing here?!"

"We decided to give thee some assistance," Troia pointed up. "Look."

Starfire floated above the battlefield. The orange skinned alien alternated using her starbolts between helping the Bioship with the missiles which continued to rise from the ocean to knocking back any soldier which got past the ground force. Superboy whistled at her show of power, "Glad she's on our side!"

"Indeed! But no time for gratitude!" Troia kicked a foe away. "We've got work to do!"

'Miss M, link us up!' Nightwing commanded.

'Done.'

'Woah!' Starfire's voice sounded through the mental connection. 'This is strange.'

'You get used to it,' Mal appeared in the air to help with the missiles. He created portals which began to leak water but sent the rockets back from where they originated.

'I'm not even going to ask what you're doing here,' Nightwing noted. 'I appreciate the help, but Lagoon Boy needs backup too.'

'That's already handled, Nightwing,' the familiar sound of Dusk echoed through the minds of the heroes.

Lagoon Boy laughed as he used one of the manta soldiers as a shield, "It has been a while, minnow!"

"Minnow?" Dusk swung his pendulum nunchaku at the nearest target. "Since when am I minnow? If anything, I outrank you."

"Not since you left the Team!" Lagoon Boy chucked a few of the enemies away. "I am now on top, chum."

"Then you better not slow me down," Dusk rushed towards the submarine rocket launchers.

"That should be my line!" La'gaan followed after the halfa.

Together, the two heroes pushed through the defensive force in order to try to get to the missiles. The bombs continued to fly off, but assistance from Mal stopped some of them from breaking the surface of the water. The rockets which Herald had returned rammed into the other explosives to cause contained bursts in the water. While Mal could possibly return the missiles to the ships, the peaceful fighter probably didn't want anyone to get caught up in the chain explosion that would cause. Instead, the two underwater fighters were forced to deal with the ships manually. Fortunately, Black Manta appeared to have left only the small fry to protect the rockets.

"I would say that this is like old times," Lagoon Boy rammed into one of the missile launchers to destroy the targeting system. "But we do not exactly have a good record underwater together."

"Don't remind me," Dusk used Soul Shredder to cut apart the other ship's firing system before another rocket could be fired. When they were done, they were left in the quiet ocean. Unconscious bodies and broken metal floated all around them. "That was too easy. Did the Light really think that would be enough?"

Lagoon Boy looked around, "Backup might be coming—Woah!"

"La'gaan!" Dusk cried out in shock as his friend was pulled through a portal. The vortex soon disappeared. Before the halfa could question what happened, Thorn appeared beside him. While he did put up his guard, he was still sent flying back by the massive burst of ectoplasm from the woman's attack. "Thorn! What did you do with Lagoon Boy!?"

"Tucked him away for safe keeping. Can't let little miss mind rape have her backup boy toy, can we?" Thorn smirked mysteriously. "By the way, you were right. This was too easy. That's because it was all a distraction."

"Distraction?" Dusk blinked when he heard a large explosion in the distance. Looking up through the water, he could see that the satellite had blown up as it was trying to escape orbit.

Thorn giggled, "You lose, Joel. Now for the other boy toy. Best to deal with this one more permanently. Put him out of his misery."

"Wait!" before Dusk could do anything, the woman teleported away once more. Cursing, he rushed to the surface to try to figure out what was happening.

The heroes had thought that they had won. All the ground enemies had been held back. Both the air force and the underwater fighters had successfully dealt with the missiles. Every vigilante of justice smirked in triumph as the space ship began to rise into the air. Before they could bask in their victory, the satellite exploded into a ball of fire which burned away all of their hopes.

Every battle stopped as the sight of the explosion. Nightwing looked on with wide eyes, "How?! The ship had been checked multiple times!"

Red X chuckled. Yes, the rocket had been searched many times for sabotage. Every inspector had been under Danny Fenton's payroll. They didn't need to know that, "Looks like the mission's over. Your orders, sir?"

Black Manta nodded, "Retreat! There's nothing more for us here!"

"Thou really thinks that we will just let thee go?" Troia scowled.

Starfire landed beside the Amazonian woman, "Not a chance."

Superboy nodded, "Even if the satellite is done for, we can still capture Manta and retrieve the Red X sui—Ah!"

Thorn sent the three powerhouses flying by appearing between them in a large burst of ectoplasm. She then caught the Kryptonian by the throat before he could get too far. Taking advantage of the distraction, the remaining forces of the Light rushed back to the ocean in order to fulfill the retreat orders. Holding up Superboy between her and the other heroes, Thorn ignored her fleeing comrades. Instead, she smiled as the clone's friends rushed to help him. They would be too late.

"I am sorry about this, but to see a broken heart beyond repair makes me feel really sad," the air around Thorn's arm began to distort as if reality was being twisted around her. "I'll put you out of your misery, Superboy."

Before Conner could do anything, Thorn shoved her fist forward towards his chest. Everyone gasped as Thorn's supernatural abilities allowed her to shove her hand right through his seemingly impenetrable skin. Time seemed to stop as blood began to pour down onto the golden sand. From her position flying down from the Bioship, Miss Martian screamed in heartbreak.

"Superboy!"

"Superboy!"

Superboy stared down his chest in horror. He rarely bled. Now, that was all he could seem to do. Crimson liquid poured out of his torso. Reaching up, he clawed weakly at Thorn's arm. She leaned in to whisper directly into his ear, "I'll see you soon, Kon-El."

Satisfied with her work, she teleported away with a twist of air around her. With nothing to support him, Superboy collapsed backwards into Spirit's waiting arms. She seemed to appear just as the older woman vanished. Her face twisted with horror as his blood spilled over her body. As gently as possible, she lowered him to the ground, "Conner? I…I don't…"

Conner tried to say something but only managed to gasp desperately for air. He looked pleadingly up at her. His vision was quickly filled with his friends. Those from the Young Justice squad and those from the outside group all watched in terror. They were all trying to say something, but he couldn't make out their words. Spirit tried to close the wound on his chest. His injury was far too extreme though. He could feel that his heart had been pierced.

Feeling his vision begin to fade, he looked over to focus on M'gann. She was covering her mouth with her hands. Tears streamed down her eyes. He tried to say something to her but couldn't manage to move his lips correctly. In response, she reached out mentally. Like in the days of past, their minds gently melded together. Even with how their relationship had been tainted in the end, Superboy found comfort in her mental embrace as the light faded from his eyes.

'Please don't go.'

'I'm sorry.'

'Don't be sorry! Just stay with me!'

'I…can't…'

Memories flashed through his mind. Learning about the world in a tube. Waking up to young heroes invading Cadmus. Joining Young Justice. All of their struggles. All of their losses. So many friends gone. And now it was time to join them. It was time to see Beast Boy again.

'Be…better, M'gann.'

'Conner, please!'

'I love you.'

Then there was nothing. Miss Martian stepped back as the force of a mind disappearing caused extreme mental backlash. She collapsed to her knees and began to despair. While M'gann accepted the truth, Spirit refused. She cauterized his wound and began to give the dead body CPR, "Live! You bastard! Live!"

Stepping beside his sister, Dusk gently reached out to touch her shoulder, "Dani."

"No!"

"Please. It's over. He's gone."

"NO! NOT AGAIN!" Spirit finally gave up. She screamed up to the sky in grief. "WHY?! WHY DOES THIS KEEP HAPPENING?!"

Dusk began to cry as well, "I…don't know…"

"AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH! CONNER!"

"I should probably apologize for my rudeness, Lex," Thorn gave a rare bow of the head towards the holographic image of Luthor. She stood by Black Manta and Red X to give their report of the mission. "I probably should have asked before I killed your genetic son. My apologies."

"It's not like he ever viewed me in such a light," Luthor mentioned uncaringly. "He hasn't been any use to the Light for a long time. Better to deal with him now. I must ask though, what did he do to draw your ire?"

"It was nothing that he did," Thorn crossed her arms. "I am displeased with the Martian. I wish to strip everything from her as punishment for her crimes."

"Now that is something that I can get behind," Queen Bee smirked. "Out of all the children, she's been one of the largest pains. What are your plans?"

"I'm not really a long term plan type of person. We'll see when the time comes," Thorn shrugged.

"The time might approach faster than you might think. Everything is now in place for our next move. The children and the League will be busy licking their wounds. We will need to take advantage as soon as possible," Savage interjected. "We will need to go over our plans as soon as Daniel can be with us."

"Where is our esteemed colleague?" Black Manta looked to the empty space which should have held the Brain's replacement.

Red X spoke up, "The boss has appearances to keep up. Remember that he has to fake relations with the so-called heroes. With the vigilantes in mourning, now is the perfect opportunity to take advantage. In the guise of faking sympathy for his old clients, he will be able to sneak into Mount Justice to hack into their system. When that is done, we will have the key to taking down all of our next targets at once."

Danny gasped for breath as he rapidly punched the bag in front of him. With each hit, the hanging equipment swung wildly with loud creaks. All around him were dozens of different workout machines packed into his rather small training area. The former halfa was completely covered in a layer of sweat. His shirt was off to reveal a torso constructed completely of muscle. Each movement caused the veins popping out of his shoulders and arms to twitch.

After losing his powers, Danny had trained many hours to make up for his weakened form. No matter how hard he pushed himself, he never came to close to the superhuman abilities he had even in his human form while a halfa. Nevertheless, he continued to push himself to the peak on a normal human. His tech would make up for the lack of superhuman abilities.

While the hardcore training was a normal routine for Danny, this workout seemed different to Ember as she stepped into the room. Instead of his normal focused gaze, his eyes shined with conflict. A constant grimace twitched from his mouth. The skin of his knuckles was completely peeled to leave his hand a raw and bloody mess. Despite the obvious damage to his hands, Danny did not relent. He continued to punch the bag with everything that he had.

Stepping up to him, Ember swung her arms around his torso. Ignoring the sweat rubbing up against, she gently pulled him back. He tried to fight to continue to punch the bag but couldn't overpower the ghost. Eventually, he gave up swinging his arms in favor of standing silently. After he surrendered, Ember reached up to grasp his hand. The blood trickled from his knuckles to her palm.

"It's okay," Ember whispered.

Danny shook his head, "It's not."

"No. It is. Everything will work out. You have it all planned," Ember soothed him.

Tears began to mix with the sweat on their face, "My family is hurting, and I played a part in it."

"It's better than the alternative," Ember lightly kissed his spine. The salt of his sweat lingered on her tongue. "Someone has to get their hands dirty. You can do this. Keep going down this path, and it will all work out. We'll make it work out. We'll make sure that we win."

Danny desperately clutched at her hands, "Conner was my best friend, and I took him from everyone. They're in so much pain. The people that matter to me are hurting because of me."

"They can hurt a little now so that they won't have to suffer even more later."

"I-I can't do this alone. Please, Ellie. Don't leave me. If you're not by my side, I'll crumble."

"I won't leave you again, Babypop. We're stuck together," Ember felt tears of her own form upon seeing the strongest man she ever knew finally begin to break after losing so much. "I'll keep you going. I promise."

Danny stifled a sob, "Thank you. I…I'm doing the right thing, right?"

"You are. It's all for the best. I believe in you."

Danny nodded, "It's all for the betterment of mankind."

*IMPORTANT NOTICE*

Like my fanfiction work? Please consider reading my original work which will be updated EVERY WEEK on my Fictionpress account. I'm extremely proud of my work and would like to share it with you. I feel extremely unsatisfied with trying to sell books in my free time, so I decided to go down a different route. Links are in my profile page.

Monday- The P.R.I.D.E.F.U.L.

The journey to reaching one's true potential is a harsh road full of failure. For April, her decision to better herself through diligent training is made all the more complicated when criminals, crazy people, and a string of tragedy gets involved, but what else could she expect from getting involved with a supernaturally strong boy claiming to be the Rage of the P.R.I.D.E.F.U.L.?

Tuesday- Caged Demons series

Entertainment has become engrossing to the point that people literally upload themselves into their games. On the day when hundreds of thousands of players excitedly jumped into the newly updated Paradisus, what was once a distraction from life becomes a harsher reality than anyone has ever known.

Wednesday- Dragon Skin

Perception was supposed to be a gift, but when people begin to notice things that they shouldn't, life tends to get complicated. This was what Eli figured out the day the that he saw his first dragon. Now with the elite of the supernatural world wanting to enslave him, a young man with sharp eyes has to adapt with his new reality while learning that freedom is always paid in blood.

Thursday- Sleep Jump

Dreams often feel like being transported to another world. While the new reality eventually ends for most people, some exceptional few find that the journey doesn't end so quickly. Sam has long since lost track of the number of new lives that he...she...it...they have jumped to every time that consciousness is lost. Not even death seems to end the curse of the sleep jump.

Friday- In Heart and Mind

Thrust into a situation that he doesn't understand, a desperate father must work his through a city full of monsters, soldiers, and crazy people in order to save his daughter from a terrible demise. With each passing moment, he begins to question everything that he understands to be good and true as the Hive Mind responsible for the insanity corrupts every aspect of his existence.

Yep. Going to let you read it all for free. Truth be told, I'm not a 'MUST MAKE ALL THE MONEY' kind of guy. I want as many people to read my work as possible, and I spent the summer working on being able to keep up with this kind of schedule. Got the hang of it along and moved on to adding my fanfiction to the work load too. Will it work? Who knows. The idea has been jumping around in my head since I wrote my first book. So forget about buying Caged Demons. It will be up there on Fictionpress for you to read on a regular basis. Full disclosure, I'll probably put up a P_a_t_r_e_o_n or P_a_y_p_a_l (woah, this site doesn't like those words) for my original work by the beginning of next year when I show that I can keep up the schedule of quality updates. I spend a lot of time working on my writing and have bills like everyone else. Not planning on cussing anyone out over it, but I want to spend my life writing. So why not?

Oh. And when I do try to plead for money, it won't be on here. Fanfiction is for fun and practice. My belief is that no one should make any money off of other people's work. All I will do from now on is give updates on my original writing. REPEAT: IT WON'T BE FOR FANFICTION. I WILL NOT ADVERTISE IT AT ALL ON HERE.

SERIOUS STUFF OVER!

Getting close to the mid-way climax. "Darkest" and "Before The Dawn" will be fun.

As you can tell, I did not like how the original series handled M'gann. I'm going down a different route.

So...Spider-Man came out on PS4. With my intense schedule, it took my three weeks to finish (which delayed this chapter a bit). Not perfect gameplay wise. Puzzles kind of suck. Most of the stealth missions without Peter are pretty boring. But the swinging. And the fighting. And the story. Excellent.

As always, big thanks to my Beta jaguarspot.

Thank you all for reading and please remember to…

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