the robin & the canary; young justice

o16: Failsafe

M O U N T  J U S T I C E
October 16, 16:01 EDT

This wasn't real. This wasn't real. This wasn't real.

Silverbird kept repeating those three words over and over inside her head as she stood with the rest of the Team, plus a newly-returned and rebuilt Red Tornado, inside the cave.

Martian Manhunter, Captain Marvel, Captain Atom, both Green Lanterns...even Batman and Superman. They were all gone, disintegrated by whatever race of hostile alien decided to invade Earth.

As the camera feed from the Batplane suddenly cut out, another transmission appeared as a holo-screen, blinking for a moment before Zatara's face popped up.

"Tornado..." the magician began, sounding a bit--stunned, for lack of a better word. Frankly, Reese didn't blame him in the slightest. I mean, these aliens had just taken down seven powerhouses of the Justice League. They'd taken down Superman. "Did you--"

"Yes, Zatara," the aerokinetic android said simply. "We saw. Celestial defenses have failed. Initiate all terrestrial measures,"

"Affirmative," Zatara responded. "See you in the field," As soon as the magician's face disappeared from the holo-screen, and the screen disappeared altogether, Red Tornado turned around to face the Team.

"I must join the League," he explained firmly. "We will protect the planet at all costs. But should we fail--" Tornado added after a moment. "The responsibility falls to you,"

From the corner of her eye, Reese saw Aqualad glance over at all of them, before he turned back to Tornado.

"We stand ready," Kaldur said with conviction, and Tornado gave a small, almost solemn-looking nod before he walked over to the Zeta tubes.

Recognized Red Tornado 1-6

As soon as he was gone, Aqualad turned towards Robin, who was standing beside Reese and gestured with one hand.

"Turn on GBS," Kaldur began. "We'll be able to follow the Justice League's efforts that way,"

Dick gave a small nod before his fingers practically flew across a holo-keyboard that suddenly popped up, before a screen appeared, showcasing a news broadcast.

"This is Iris West-Allen reporting live," Wally's aunt said as she stood in the middle of the fray in Central City, gesturing over her shoulder with one arm. "The extra-terrestrials have brought their relentless global attack to Central City,"

Reese gasped, as one of the smaller alien ships suddenly blasted a building behind Iris, while two more disintegrated two separate groups of running civilians.

The ships pointed towards Iris, but there was a sudden red streak, and she was sped out of the way, as an exclamation of "Tropsnart siht namaremac to ytefas!" that could really only have been spoken by Zatara, the screen turned to gold sparkles before the cameraman was on the roof of a building away from the alien ships' current warpath, and Iris was carried up to the same roof by Flash a split-second later.

"You should both be safe here," Zatara said. "At least for now,"

"Thank you...Flash," Iris spoke, glancing towards her husband for a long moment before turning to the magician standing there as well. "And Zatara,"

Barry set a hand on Iris's shoulder for a second, before running away, Zatara following on a levitating platform a short time later.

When they were gone, Iris glanced towards her cameraman. "Danny, you okay?" The cameraman gave a thumbs up which, despite the impending apocalypse, made Reese crack a small smile.