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

Really Gone...

METROPOLIS - November 12th

9:12PM

Robin yelled and punched Desmond in the jaw, making him reel from both the force and shock of Robin's rage.

Desmond quickly lifted his fists to counterattack, but Robin's fist had already slammed into his other cheek and then his chin, knocking Desmond back down onto the pile of rubble he pulled off Zatanna.

Despite Robin's rage, Desmond was chuckling a bit, almost as if he were proud of him.

"In all the years I've known you, I've never seen you this angry, Dick..."
Robin panted and frowned at him.
"At this rate," he taunted. "You might be able to leave a mark on my face..."

"SHUT UP!" Robin yelled, throwing his fist in Desmond's direction again.

But Desmond moved his head to the side, dodging Robin's attack, before pushing Robin's fist further into the rubble.
When Robin's fist was lodged and he was unable to move, Desmond drove his foot into Robin's chest, knocking him down.
Robin spluttered and spat blood out from his mouth as Desmond stood up, wiping off some loose dirt from the front of his costume.
Robin groaned as he struggled to his feet while Desmond scoffed with disappointment.
"I thought you'd be more aggressive Dick..." he said bluntly. "Do you want you and Zatanna to die that much?"

Without a second thought, Robin yelled in rage and spun around, tackling Desmond into the wall.
But before stand up straight, Desmond slammed a hard elbow into Robin's upper back, making him yell in pain.
From there, Desmond slammed his knee into Robin's face and pushed him off his waist, making him stagger.
When Desmond pushed himself off the wall, Robin wasted no time rapidly punching him in the face.
But six punches later, Desmond caught his fist and pulled him into an arm bar, making him face the floor with a defeated, angry face.
Robin knew how bad this situation was. Desmond had his arm straight out, which would make it child's play to fracture or break. His back was arched too, meaning that even without his powers, Desmond could break his spine in half. This was not a good position to be caught in.
But instead of doing any of those things, Desmond scoffed again.
"So you don't want that information after all, huh?"
Robin groaned as Desmond tightened his grip around his wrist.
"Batman was like this too..."
Robin looked up.
"You Bat family lot oversell your abilities." Desmond sneered. "You, I'm not surprised you ended up like this. Megan? I was pretty much expecting it, the poor dear was always so predictable and emotional..."
Robin scowled and clenched his free fist.
"But Batman? Did NOT see that coming...I mean I did know I was going to kill him, but I did expect more of a fight..."
"You bastard..." Robin growled.
"What are you going to do?" Desmond chuckled. "Plead for me to stop like Megan? Try and appeal to our friendship like last time?"
He leaned close to Robin's ear.
"Or are you going to be a good boy and die like a man as your mentor did?"
Robin was about to say something else, but Desmond slammed his fist onto his arched elbow, a loud snap and Robin's screams of pain echoing through the empty tunnel.
Desmond then turned Robin around, twisting his already broken arm and his eyes smouldering menacingly.
"I don't care what you do." Desmond said coldly, his eyes smouldering crimson red. "Just shut up and die with some dignity..."
But before the beams could shoot from Desmond's eyes, Robin screamed out and pulled his other arm up, a batarang held aloft.
Before even Desmond could process what Robin was about to do, Robin had slammed the batarang down, driving it into Desmond's shoulder.
Desmond yelled out in pain as Robin headbutted him and jumped back to his discarded utility belt.
Pain began to flare along Desmond's left side, but he threw his arms up just as Robin began to unleash the rest of his countless batarangs in one great surge of angered throws.
They all tore through Desmond's skin, burying themselves halfway along the sides of his arms.
Desmond grunted in pain and quickly looked up, but not quick enough to stop Robin, who was lunging at him.
Before Desmond could even lift a hand to stop him, Robin had buried the last two batarangs straight into Desmond's chest, making him gasp in pain.
Robin panted as Desmond fell to his knees, blood pouring out of his chest.
Desmond always had his powers, a plan he made before hand, a trick up his sleeve. But not this time.
He was finished.
As Robin pulled back, his fingers dripping with Desmond's blood, the shock on his face became more apparent. He had just broken his killing rule, even worse, he had just mortally wounded his former best friend.
"Desmond..." Robin gasped. "I'm so-"
But Desmond shook his head.
"It's OK, Dick..." he whispered. "I knew it was going to come to this..."
There was no rage in his eyes. No anger or any type of negative emotion on his face, almost as if he had forgiven Robin for wounding him. But no matter how much forgiveness Desmond would show him, Robin knew that he could never forgive himself.
"Desmond?!" a voice cried out behind him.
Robin spun around in fear.
Oh no.
He saw Zatanna, fully conscious and eyes filled with horror as she saw Desmond fall to the ground.
Without another word, she pulled herself out of the crater she was in and despite her leg injury, ran over to Desmond with tears pouring out of her eyes.
When she reached Desmond, she fell to the ground next to him and pulled him into her arms.
"What did you do?!" she asked Robin with shock.
Robin was about to explain, but Desmond lifted a bloody, batarang studded arm onto her hand, curling his fingers into hers.
"Don't worry Zatanna..." he said. "It had to happen. I needed to be stopped..."

Zatanna's eyes teared up even more as Desmond leaned his head back onto her stomach.

"The Mimic Contingency had been tearing all of us apart...now everything can be better again..."
But Zatanna began to sob quietly.

"But not without you..." she cried. "Nothing in my life could be made better or fixed if you weren't there..."

Robin's eyes began to water as well. He couldn't forgive Zatanna for what she did and how she went behind the Team's back, but there was no way she could judge her or Desmond while she was like this.

Her beautiful cyan eyes were flooding with tears and her silk-gloved hands were trembling as she held Desmond close to her and felt the life in his body slowly fading away.

Zatanna began to sob louder as Desmond leaned his head back onto her chest, looking upwards towards her crying face.

"You still didn't give up on me..?" he asked with a bloody smile.
Her eyes still closed, she shook her head.
"Even after I killed all those League members..? Even after I killed Megan? Even if I were to kill the Young Justice members and not leave you with a friend in the world..?"
Zatanna had now completely broken down into a sobbing mess, her tear dripping onto Desmond's cheeks as well as her own.
"Never..." she cried. "I would never have hated you...Even if you killed the whole Justice League...Even if I had to watch you Megan die a million times over...I could never hate you!"
She cried even louder as she pulled Desmond closer, who began to smile even more.
"I would never have stopped loving you!" she declared. "No matter what!!"
Suddenly, there was a loud banging noise above them. They may have been fighting their own battle down here, but that didn't mean the battle above them between the Team and AMAZO had stopped.
"Will you stay with me?" Desmond whispered.
Zatanna looked down at him, her tearful eyes filled with confusion.
"I know there is a battle going on above us...but will you stay with me..?
Zatanna's tears began to slow, allowing her to look at Desmond clearly, and nodded weakly.
"I will..." she whispered, resting her forehead onto his. "I will stay with you...no matter what happens..."
The two leaned closer to each other as Zatanna embraced him tighter, as if he were the only thing left for her in the entire world. The only reason she had left to exist.
"Zatanna..." Desmond asked. "No matter how sad you become...or how lonely you feel...don't bring me back..."
She shut her eyes, but Desmond could feel the refusal growing within her, the refusal to listen to his words.
"If you bring me back...the Contingency will have to be completed...And I couldn't bear to do that..."
The hands she put on the back of his head began to stroke his hair.
"And remember...That it was only you..."
A great surge of tears forced her to open her eyes, just in time to meet one final gaze from Desmond's eyes, the dark brown gaze that filled her with all the love in the world.
"That even with these powers...getting to meet the Justice League...the Team...remember that you...were the best thing that ever happened to me..."
Zatanna's tears were now surging down her face like a waterfall of despair as Desmond lifted his hand to her cheek.
"I love you..." he said quietly. "I love you so much..."
But before Zatanna could say anything, Desmond's hand slowly began to slip from her face, just as his heartbeat began to slow.
"Desmond?!" she asked loudly. "DESMOND?!"
There was no response.
She sat there quietly, his head still on her lap and her eyes wide with shock.
"Zatanna."
She looked back just in time to see Robin walking over to her, his eyes tearing up as well.
"I'm sorry..." he whispered. "But he's gone..."
She looked quickly at Desmond's face, which still had it's smile, before she screamed out in misery threw her arms around Robin, sobbing uncontrollably.
Robin sighed before he hesitantly returned her embrace, looking at Desmond's body sadly.
"He's gone..." he repeated.

Desmond is finally dead...
The battle below Metropolis has been brought to an emotional, tragic conclusion, but how will the battle above Metropolis end?!


Find out in the next chapter! :D
Be sure to vote if you enjoyed the chapter and comment your feedback and thoughts so far! :D What do YOU think the Team will do now?! 

- Kai-Shiro :D