Young Justice: Last Hope

Chapter 32: Forest of doom part 3

The next morning they have news from Batman "That place is dangerous, shut it down and destroy it if needed, what's with the monkey?" he asks and Shadow says "For my island, Batgirl brought him back". They head of thinking of a plan "Shadow Angel, Red Hood, Batgirl, Robin and I will distract any possible guards, Miss Martiant, Wonder Girl and Blue Beetle you attack from the sky, the rest go in and shut it down" Nightwing says and everyone nods "So if we're lucky we finish this quickly and go home" Robin says earning a nod from Nightwing, they go in and Batgirls trows a smoke bomb upon seeing guards "Third team go" Nightwing says and the team to shut it down gets past the confused guards while the ones able to fly let explosives go off on the roof "And what was the plan if this place comes down?" Red Hood asks and Shadow sweatdrops "None, move" she says and the lights go out and explosions from downstairs and the team quickly leaves "There was no one left to save, once they realized what we were up too they killed themselves" Lagoon Boy says as the others land "Well at least we succeeded, now we only have to hunt down the creatures that escaped" M'gann says and Nightwing says "Same groups, each take a different path" and so the hunt begins.

Team Martian is the first to encouter a few "We have to put them out of their misery, there's nothing human left" M'gann says and everyone nods knowing they have no choice.

Team Bat has more luck and they only find a few "I was wondering why it had to be such a large and dark forest, I think I know why" Robin says and he cuts away some brances so light shines near the creatures and they took off "I see" Red Hood says "Then we cut this forest down completely" he adds, but Shadow says "We can't do that, so we'll have to drive them to the clearing" "Got that M'gann? Tell the others" Nightwing says earning a quick 'On it' from the martian. That task however is harder then expected and they all have to meet up "We're someone short" Nightwing says counting, but Connor says "I'll take the biggest gap", so they put their plan into action and now try again, with a little more luck.

After getting rid of all the monsters, since they just fell apart in the sun, they hear growling "Robin, Red Hood and Shadow go" Nightwing says, but the three get knocked away "And the only ones immune for the poison are down" Tala says and she back away "Look it's falling apart slower then the others" Batgirl says and she makes a few back flips to dodge "New plan, keep it here until it disappears" Nightwing says before he's knocked away as well "Superboy Cassie go" Batgirl says, but as it is things prove to be more difficult and M'gann, Blue Beetle are the only ones left "Ugh" Shadow says and she gets up slowly "Little help" Blue Beetle says, but Shadow says "You saw how that ended up, besides I have a new idea, try to get it on it's side, I'll check the others", eventually they get the monster on it's side and it has trouble getting up, but they missed one important detail, it's massive tail and everyone just gets knocked away again.

When Nightwing comes to he's being inspected by Batman "Giant monster" he mumbles and Batman nods "We drove it off, everyone's out cold" he says and Nightwing slowly sits up "Not feeling that good myself if I'm honest" he says as he tries to stand up, but he falls down again "Rest" Batman says as his first protege passes out again. He looks at the other leaguers and sighs "We need to hunt that creature down" he says and Black Canary says "Or it'll hunt us down, it's getting dark" "And with everyone down like this we don't have much choice but to stay here" Green Arrow says. Sadly enough Batman has to agree on that and he looks at the team, who was brought closer to the fire and covered with blankets "Is it true? That the Joker from the future will kill Shadow?" Wonder Woman asks and Batman says "I'll make sure she won't die" "Even if you die yourself?" Superman asks earning a nod. Shadow, who had woken up slightly shakes Nightwing lightly and he looks at her, he knew what she wanted to do, keep everything hero and villain related from Batman "It's not her time to die yet" the dark knight says and Martian Manhunter looks at the two "Perhaps, but it's not yours either, you have to trust she can take care of herself" he says before turning back to the other leaguers. He knew the two were awake and that Shadow heard every word.

The next morning they find the monster and Martian Manhunter was stuck with guard duty, well sort of, it was noted that everyone in the bat family was awfully quiet "What's wrong?" Cassie asks flying over to the 5 and Robin says "Bat business", the rest nods and Cassie flies over to M'gann "It's weird" she says, but the younger martian says "It's not, look when we went to the future by accident we found out the Joker killed Shadow, I think they're planning something" "To protect Shadow?" Cassie asks, but M'gann says "To keep Batman away, it's a loop she intends to break, first Nightwing dies protecting her, then she dies after the team found out her secret ID and she left cutting all contact with him" "And now it's Batman's turn to die in her place" Cassie fills in earning a nod "I think she and Nightwing will keep all hero stuff between them and not go to Batman, it's sort of like a quiet promise between them" M'gann says and she stands up once the league returns, like the others "Team you take a jet, the bats among you will travel by bioship, the Leaguers will use the other jet" Batman says and Shadow walks over "Actually Bats, after dealing with our favorite vampire Nightwing and I will retire" she says and adds "If I'm no longer Shadow Angel then the Joker has no reason to kill me anymore". Everyone besides the bats, they planned everything, looks shocked "And you decided that when?" Green Arrow asks "Some time ago" Nightwing says and he adds "I'll pass leadership to M'gann", this surprises the Martian, but she nods none the less.