Rylie's POV
"Artemis!" Came the scream, and it was like a bullet went through my chest. We had lost so much already, and now another of us was gone. The weight of just how much we had truly lost went through my body, and tears started pooling in my eyes.
"No," I whispered, shaking my head. "No no no nO NO NO NO NO! ARTEMIS!" I screamed, trying to run over to where she had been only a second before, forgetting that Wally still had my hand. I wasn't about to lose anyone. Not again. I wanted to run down there, to search for my friend, a part of the new family that had formed around me, but Wally pulled me back to his chest.
"She's not there, beautiful. She's... gone." He whispered, holding me close.
"Get inside, all of you!" Kald'r barked, but we only watched as he took out the robot with his powers.
"Every alien dead!" Wally screamed as I buried my head deeper into his chest, tears pouring from my eyes. "Every single one, if it's the last thing I do!"
❇❇❇
The ride back to civilization was horrible. Robin was staring at his feet, Connor was looking out into the distance to keep his mind off it, Meghann was crying her eyes out... and me? I was a mess, sobbing into Wally's chest as he pounded on the dash with his free hand, angry with the world. He wouldn't let go of me, knowing I needed the support. He had literally carried me back into the bioship. I knew what he was thinking. All of us were thinking it. I could have stopped this. I could have saved her. Aqua Lad was the only one not showing his grief.
"There will be time to mourn later. Now we have a job to do. Defend the earth. We will make sure Artemis's sacrifice was not in vain." I stopped crying and sat back in my seat, right next to the empty one where she had sat. Wally still held my hand, though. The touch was keeping the both of us sane. I looked to my brother, who gave me a silent nod. Let's end this. We both thought.
"Back to the cave?" I asked, pulling myself up to my section of dashboard, the weapons systems. Why they trusted me with those, I don't know, but they did, so I was ready to use them.
"The Hall of Justice. The human race must know there are still heroes. That there is still hope."
So we were off, headed for a place that stood for hope, truth, and justice. But none of that was there when we saw it. Three bots were attacking, and the army (or what was left of it) was having no luck in defending themselves.
"Miss M, get us above them! Superboy, get ready to jump. Wally, take over my section of dash!" I thought as I let go of my speedster's hand and got ready to jump onto a bot. A few quick wire adjustments and hits with my staff, and that bad boy was out like a light. Quickly and efficiently, we took them out and landed next to a group of cheering soldiers.
"See, I told you Superman and Canary weren't dead. They wouldn't leave us here alone." Said one solider to another. They don't remember me. I thought.
"That's not Canary! That's Nightingale! She saved my life once." Interrupted one from behind them. I smiled, recognizing one of the soldiers I had helped save back when I was still working with Bats.
"Afternoon Captain Flagg. Nice to see someone I know." The soldiers parted to let their comrade through. He smirked and shook my hand.
"Nightingale, an honor as always."
"And vice-versa Captain. Now, how bad is the damage?"
"Captain Flagg! Move out!" Came the voice of the general as Kald'r called for me.
"You're about to find out." I nodded, and we headed inside the hall.
It wasn't how I remembered it. Everything was broken and crumbled. Every statue, door, wall, it was as if it never was finished. But the worst thing was that I almost couldn't hold back my tears when we got to Batman's statue. The head was blown off and on the floor and the batterang it had been holding was lodged in the wall. The symbol of the justice in Gothem was ripped to shreds. I closed my eyes as I walked over, touched the head, and kneeled next to it. Thank you Batsy. I'll make you proud. I thought to myself.
I stood up to see Meghann fly up and levitate part of her uncle's statue to reveal... Martian Manhunter?
"Uncle J'honn!" She screamed, and I ran over to her just as my brother and Kald'r blocked her path.
"Search his mind, M. We don't know if it's really him." I said quietly, coming up behind her.
"It's him! It's really him! He's real and alive!" She cheered and Robin let her pass.
"But we saw you get disintegrated, with Superman. And everyone! How did you survive?" Connor asked.
"I... I remember that, but I do not remember how I survived." Replied the last member of the justice league.
"Maybe you were density shifting and the beam passed through you." I offered.
"Scrambling your brains along the way!" My brother finished.
"Hello Wally! Cone on!" I turned to face my boyfriend, who had a new gleam in his eyes. I quickly followed him outside.
"We checked for Gamma radiation, but what about Zeta?" Wally thought at me as I rescanned the cannon for further information on the radiation used.
"Well, there's a distinctive style of waves coming off the tech. I didn't get much of a look before... Let me see here... small amount of Gamma, micro and... Zeta waves!"
"Exactly! The same waves that power our Zeta tubes! This thing does disintegrate, it teleports! Artemis is alive! They're all alive!" I turned and smiled at him, hoping for the life of me he was right. Then I heard a sound that I had come to hate. The sound of the bots.
"Wally, as much as I would love to celebrate, we got company! Three of them at five o'clock!" In an instant, I grabbed Wally and Captain Flagg and got behind the wreckage of the downed fighter.
Meghann, put the bioship in camouflage mode now!" I thought, but it had already been targeted. In one fell swoop, it was gone.
"We're coming, sis." Robin thought at me, but I rebutted his action.
"No. we can't win this. Not now, anyway. We're falling back." As soon as the bots were distracted, I made a dash for it, Flagg close behind and Wally in front. Kald'r rushed us over to the Zeta tube.
"We'll send the soldiers out first!" I yelled over the noise.
"Negative! You six are valuable assets! We'll cover you!" The general yelled. I looked to Kald'r, who simply pushed J'honn and Meghann through the portal. Suddenly, I heard a scream from behind us. I turned to see Captain Flagg facing down a fighter, his leg crushed under a rock. Connor and I both dashed in to save him, him propping up the boulder for cover as I dragged the injured captain out. We ran over to the tube, holding the soldier on our shoulders, the zapping noise around us getting closer and closer.
Aqua Lad pushed is through just as a fighter got to us, but it was too late to save our leader. Just like Artemis, Kalduram was dead.
YOU ARE READING
The Lost Grayson (Young Justice)
FanfictionForgotten to time, he'd thought he'd never see her again. Fleeing from her life of torture, she'd thought she was alone. But when the two find each other again, can their lives ever be the same?
