Young Justice: Last Hope

Chapter 23: Failsafe

(Picture above is Amber's new outfit)

"Keep in mind that nothing is real" Batman says earning a nod from Nightwing, Shadow, M'gann, Connor, Robin and Cassie as they take their place, with some other of their younger members assigned to keep an eye on everything "Ready?" Martian Manhunter asks, after everyone nods they are linked up and brought to the other reality.

At the main room of the mountain everyone is talking, mostly about how the League has been acting weird, they're interrupted when Red Tornado arrives "If you come to, hold your breath and don't move" he says and he starts sucking the air from the room, the gasps alerting their other members like Lagoon Boy and Beast Boy. The two head to the room with some others as they watch the 6 who were talking pass out "Hide" Red Tornado says and the zeta tube announces Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman and Black Canary's arrival, so the younger heroes quickly do as told "Good job" Batman says seeing the 6 not moving on the ground and they move on deeper into the cave. When the group comes two Nightwing is quick to help Shadow up and they hear a scream so they get into the airvents and head of to the scource of the sound "Sounded like someone just got killed" Connor says, they get out near the hangar and what awaits them is a terrible sight, Batgirl laying on the ground in a pool of blood and Superman turns to the group "I thought something was funny" he says and the 6 dodge his heat ray vision "What do we do now? They're planning to kill all of us" Connor says "And from the sounds of it we can't help all of them" he adds, so Nightwing says "We need a big open place, M'gann, the bio ship", they go to the bioship, but of course things doesn't go that easy and Superman and Wonder Woman follow them. Nightwing uses smoke bombs so they can get away, however over the ocean the bioship is knocked down and M'gann says "If we don't do something soon we'll die" "Great thinking genius" Shadow says as the ship starts sinking "M'gann get us out of the water!" Nightwing calls and she manages to get the ship to land and everyone gets out befoee Superman can smash them "There are too many people here" Connor says, but they're not given much of a choice when several Batarangs are thrown their way. Nightwing and Shadow turn to their mentor  "We'll take Batman, you take care of those two" Shadow says. It's a losing fight and Nightwing gets between Shadow and his mentor "Nighwing!" M'gann yells and Shadow takes a few steps back "No..." she says and Connor pushes her out of the way on an incoming punch from Superman.

Captain Marvel, or now Billy is watching the news "We just witnissed something horrifying and shocking, Batman just killed Nightwing while he was protecting Shadow Angel" the reporter says. Amber activates a smoke bomb and they leave, with the bioship camouflaged "No... Please tell me he's not dead" Shadow says while Robin is trying to pull her away from Nightwing with Cassie's help "I'm sorry Amber" Connor whispers as the other two give up "Shadow... He's gone" Cassie says as Robin walks over too and he hugs his 'sister', who hugs him back. "Where can we go now?" M'gann asks "I know where" Shadow says and she looks at her friends "My hideout, the demon's lair, not even Batman can find it" she says "It's under my house", Robin finally break down as everything sinks in and Shadow strokes his head "Where is it?" Connor asks and he sighs "Sorry, I'll give you two some time" he says. "On an island Batman gave me, no one else wanted it, so he brought it for me since I was the only one interested, Nightwing was too, but decided he'd rather see me happy".

On the island they enter the medium sized villa and take a secret elevator down "Here it is" she says and adds "Bathroom, kitchen with small dining area, small bedroom and my work area. Figured I would spend quite a lot time down here". Robin walks around in awe of the place and asks "Why didn't you ever tell Batman?" "He doesn't need to know everything, oh there's a zeta tube too, but I rarely use the one here, only the one near my house" she says as she walks to the computer "What are we going to do now?" Cassie asks "Find out why the league is trying to kill us" M'gann says "I mean Batman just killed Nightwing in front of our eyes" she adds and Shadow says "That's not all, Beast Boy, Lagoon Boy and Blue Beetle managed to escape, barely" "So, who else survived the attack on the mountain?" Connor asks "The rest are either dead or missing, we need to find out more, find out who's still alive and bring them here, then come up with a plan to get back at the League, killing them if needed" Shadow says. Cassie ponders for a while and says "But you and Robin don't kill" "She watched Batman kill her boyfriend, doubt she cares about the no killing rule" M'gann says and she sighs "We all need some rest" she says, this time Robin cuts in "And while we're here safely resting up the others might get killed" "I located 5 of them, go find them, Superboy, watch the monitors, stealth isn't something you're good at" Shadow says, so she and the others head of, Shadow arriving near Beast Boy who's on the run for Superman "Really?" she mumbles and pulls the green boy around a corner covering his mouth with a cloth and he faints after a short while, on to the next one. A few hours later Beast Boy, Blue Beetle and Bumblebee are the only ones they could save "Even the formr team members were killed" Cassie says while they're getting some stuff "And Shadow hasn't left her computer after that" she asks "Shouldn't we bury Nightwing?" Robin asks earning a sigh "Up to her, it's her island" Connor says, but he knew Shadow good enough to not bother her right now, suddenly they hear Beast Boy scream and Robin sweatdrop "Dammit, Batman gave him some kind of virus, I can't stop it from spreading" Shadow says and she rests her head on her hands "We lost another one" she says as it goes silent "How are you this calm?" Cassie asks, but M'gann puts a hand on her shoulder "We'll take them on, tomorrow" Robin says, M'gann nods, she had never felt so much anger and sadness coming from her friend "Wait" Robin says typing something and two dots flash on the screen "Be right back, you guys should bury Nightwing and Beast Boy" he says before running off, when he arrives back a few hours later with Artemis and Wally he takes them to the graveyard where Wally instantly runs over to Shadow "Shh, it's okay to cry, to be honest I'm glad Robin came to get us, Green Arrow bombarded our house with explosives arrows right after we left" he says and he sighs "You send M'gann to collect everyone she could" he mumbles earning a nod "Batgirl was... the first one to go" Robin mumbles.

Back at the hideout it's too quiet and M'gann let's some food fly to everyone "There wasn't much besides soup" she says and looks at Shadow "Thanks for the instructions you left though" she says earning a nod. After eating they decide to get some rest, but no one can really sleep "Bad feeling?" Shadow asks looking at Robin who nods "He can't detect us, this will be the last place they look, besides, even Superman can't use his x-ray vision to find us, I tested it once" Shadow says, finally removing her mask since only Robin is in the room with her "You'll collapse like this" he says, he could see she was at the end of her spare energy "I know, but I can't figure out why the League is acting like this" she says and sees Connor reading the newspaper of a week ago and she raises and eyebrow "Connor, give that will ya" she says, so the clone walks over "Look, this might be why" Robin says pointing to the front page while getting something from his utility belt with his other hand "Young Justice team more effective then the Justice League" Connor reads out loud and he sighs "So... They're afraid we'll replace them?" Amber asks and she flinces feeling something in her arm "Fast working sleeping stuff" Robin says as Connor catches Amber who falls to the side "She'll be usless in this state" he adds.

So the next morning Shadow is giving Robin a one hour lecture before they decide to come up with a plan "We take out the easy targets first, but Batman is mine" she says and Robin sighs "Then, whoever's still alive gets to take on the strong guys" he says and Cassie remembers something "We have Red Tornado on our side remember, if he hadn't sucked the air out if the room and told the others to hide then we'd all be dead" she says "But Tornado won't be any help against Superman or Wonder Woman, or even Black Canary" Robin point out "Just get rid of whoever you think you can take one" Connor says so they all leave. Back where the Leaguers are gathered, the Watchtower, they are surprised when all the light shut out and when they're turned on again Shadow kicks Batman into Superman "You'll pay for what you did" she says and Batman says "Good job staying undetected for an entire night", smoke pellets go of and all hell breaks loose, Robin being the first to go after electrocuting Green Arrow, soon enough it's only Cassie, Connor and Shadow left against too much Leaguers "Was nice knowing you guys" Shadow says, but she dodges an explosive, but the blast takes down the whole watchtower.

Back in reality Shadow shootd into a sitting position "Relax, you're safe" Nightwing says only to be hugged instantly "Do I want to know what you put them through?" Batman asks and Robin says "You guys turned against us and killed everyone" he says and sighs "Nightwing was the first of us 6, protecting Shadow" he adds, but it was clear that whatever had happened during the training exercise wasn't going to be forgotten soon.