Young Justice: The Mimic Contingency (A Young Justice Fanfic)

Gifts and Goodbyes - Part Three

CHICAGO - August 15th

7:30PM

Manhunter screamed in pain.

He groaned and shoved his fist through the rafters that had collapsed on him and was shocked at the sight around him.

The bomb had taken out half of the wharf and the rest was barely standing, completely swallowed in fire.
"Uncle J'onn!!" Megan's voice screamed in his head. "Are you there?!"

Manhunter panted and laid onto his back, burning clouds of orange marring his image of the sky.

"It...It was a trap...M'gann..." he thought back.

Megan suddenly gasped.

"I can feel the pain in your thoughts!" she thought with shock. "What's happened?!"

"There's...too much...FIRE!!" he screamed.

Megan began to pant in fear.

"Please Uncle J'onn!!" she pleaded. "You have to leave! Get out of there!!"

Manhunter shook his head.

"No, child..." he thought back defiantly. "Not without Desmond!"

Manhunter struggled to his feet, which were badly burned, but found that he couldn't summon the strength and quickly fell back onto the smoking rubble.

"Uncle J'onn!" Megan's thoughts cried out again.

But he strained his will and began to crawl over the burning wood and concrete, desperate to find Desmond's body.

He panted and gasped, grunted and groaned, every breath becoming harder to take than the last.

This was bad. Desmond was dead, Savage had the upper hand on them now and he had fallen for a trap and was surrounded by flames, making him a sitting duck for whatever enemy was waiting for him.

"Desmond..." he muttered worriedly.

He began to desperately claw away at the rubble, his head beginning to feel dizzy.

"Not now!" he panted. "Just a little more!!"

But when he had finally pulled the bricks away, Desmond was gone.

"What..?" he asked himself.

"Miss me already, Manhunter?" a cold voice asked from behind him.

Manhunter spun around and saw a dark silhouette wrapped in flames approaching him.

His growing dizziness made it difficult to discern who it was.

Until the figure was right in front of him, it's eyes gazing at him with complete apathy.

"Desmond?!" he gasped.

Suddenly, the Team's voice came back into his head.
"What?!" Megan cried out. "Did you say 'Desmond'?!"

Manhunter groaned and rolled onto his side.

"M'gann..." he groaned. "Desmond is..."

He slumped onto his chest and looked up at Desmond, who hadn't moved or changed his expression.

"How..?" Manhunter asked. "I saw you...You were dead..."

Desmond smiled.

"A little chemical solution that stops a pulse and slows the heart..." he explained.

Manhunter laughed with relief and sat upright and held out a hand to Desmond.

"Please...help me up, Desmond."