Two Days Later:
Unity Sphere:
"Apologies for being such a bother to you and your people," Wonder Woman spoke with a frown, to which I just smiled and shook my head.
"It's no problem. With the Watchtower gone, you guys need a new headquarters that isn't on Earth and in public view," I replied, wincing at my shifting arm and the ache of my bandaged shoulder.
"You should really be lying down right now," Flash spoke with a smirk, chuckling as I snorted and sat down at the head of the meeting hall we were in.
"And have Batman here come visit me for a debriefing? I'd rather just do it here."
"I would leave you be until you wake on your own," was the Dark Knight's response, making me shrug as his gaze drifted across the gathered heroes. "Is everyone here?"
I myself looked around, staring at the members of the Justice League that could make it on one side and the Titans sitting opposite them on the other side.
"I don't think the children need to be here for the meeting."
"Considering that they helped save just as many people as everyone else, I'd let them stay," Shazam replied with a shrug, though all of us just gave him a flat stare as he was sitting on the Titans' side.
"While I understand your worry, Wonder Woman, my team and I are more than mature enough to handle whatever is to be said at this meeting," Aqualad spoke up and I gave a subtle thumbs-up as the heroine just stared at him.
Then, she nodded and leaned back, Batman himself leaning forward as he looked to me.
"Let's start with the prisoners. Who are they?"
"Kalibak, the one who attacked the Unity Sphere, and Grayven, the one with the long hair, are sons of Darkseid and commanders of the enemy army. Darkseid is the guy that destroyed the Watchtower, by the way," I clarified, both for him and those who were not there.
"Are they secured?" Green Arrow asked and I nodded.
"They're both in a stasis cell right beside Vandal Savage at the deepest level," I answered. "They won't blink without my explicit permission let alone open a Boom Tube and allow their Dad to come through."
"Nice to see you still like to lead the charge despite being a king of a moon now," Artemis spoke with a smirk, Wally snickering as I shrugged.
"I'm the strongest-"
"Ahem!"
"...Strongest hero on the planet save for perhaps Wonder Woman here and Match sitting at the end, so it only makes sense. Oh, and I can't forget Kara next to Match too." The teenager in question blinked as everyone looked at her, blushing slightly and giving a shy wave.
"Since when is there a girl Kryptonian?" Robin asked as he slowly turned his head to me as I smirked.
"Since a couple of days ago. She was actually brainwashed by Darkseid until I had Martian Manhunter and the other Martians break it. Now, she's the adorable cousin."
"I am not adorable!" Kara spoke out loud from her seat with a huff, freezing when everyone just looked amused at her shout. She then slipped down in her seat and hid behind Match, who sat with a smirk as I chuckled.
"Right. Is she a member of the Justice League or the Titans?" Wally asked the important questions, to which Batman and I looked at each other before both of us shook our heads.
"For now, she's recovering, but in time and if she wants, she could join the Titans or stay on the Unity Sphere."
"I see," he murmured, though I rolled my eyes when Artemis swatted him as he glanced at Kara. Yeah, teenager hormones are going to be the death of him.
"With those discussions done, let's turn to the more grave matters," Batman spoke and the cheery atmosphere atmosphere, replaced by a tense one as I brought up two holographic displays of both Mars and Earth.
"What happened while I was gone?"
"On Earth, several Boom Tubes spanning the length of entire cities opened above New York, Washington, Gotham, Central City, Star City, Metropolis and many other capital cities across the world," he began and Sphere took over to show the points as red blips. "From them came several hundreds, if not thousands, of those demonic entities that attacked the Watchtower and the Unity Sphere with Darkseid.
Instead of laying waste to the planet like we expected, they instead kidnapped and took any human they could find through the very portals that led them through. If not for your orbital cannons, the number might have been much higher than it is now."
"Which is?" Hal asked and I saw Batman's face twist with a subtle grimace before he responded.
"A little over twenty thousand men, eighteen thousand women and thirty-three thousand children. The public does not have the highest opinion of us at the current moment."
"After the whole Silent Hour and me going psycho, I'm surprised none of you were arrested," I muttered with a sigh, drawing a sigh from Flash.
"Tell me about it. What about Mars? Did you find anyone there?"
"Other than craters and fires that I put out, not a single living thing," I replied with a shake of my head, staring at where M'gann sat with a frown as J'onn let out a heavy sigh.
"Understandable. Mars did not have the greatest military might when it comes to being invaded."
"But Martians are still expert telepaths. You telling me that they couldn't try and break the minds of the enemy?" Hawkman asked as he looked at J'onn, who shook his head.
"I tried myself to attack and subdue the enemies that attacked the Unity Sphere along with many of my Martian brethren, and we found that the beasts are immune to our telepathy."
"So, telepathy-immune demons that can take a hit from a Kryptonian, and there are what? Thousands of them at a rough estimate?" Green Arrow asked, shaking his head as I nodded. "This is just great."
"It is, because I brought something back with me," I replied, drawing their attention as the holograms shifted to show off the chest plate that Grayven had been wearing.
"What's that?"
"So glad you asked, Robin. This is what they use to teleport around by forming Boom Tubes at command, which we can use now that the ones on the Watchtower are down."
"And where do you want to head with this?" Batman asked, though he already knew the answer from the frown I saw under his mask as I shrugged.
"Nowhere, unless there's a collective agreement."
"W-Wait, you...you want to go right to the enemy?" Hawkwoman put the pieces as did everyone else, to which I nodded.
"I do, but not alone and not until I am healed. Of course, the enemy knows that we have Grayven and his armour so they might anticipate such a response, which is why we need to decide now."
"You want us to run into what is probably hell itself?" Black Canary asked and I nodded.
"They took over seventy thousand people from our planet and the entire civilization of Mars, people that we promised to protect especially after the Silent Hour. If we decide to just stay here and play defence, we're just waiting to fight our own people."
"Paragon is right," Wonder Woman spoke firmly and with a nod. "A warrior and a leader does not wait for the blade to fall. They are always the first to strike before the enemy does."
"The risk is catastrophic," Batman muttered as he looked at me and I nodded.
"It is."
"If we fail, all is lost."
"It is."
"...However, we made a promise." I grinned as the Dark Knight looked at the hologram with a determined look, "and we will make due on our promise. We divide the teams into two, one that stays and one that goes."
"Great! Then, let's get started."
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Later that day, Evening:
Unity Sphere:
"When was it last that we all hung out like this, huh?" I asked as I sat at one side of the table in the mess hall, Wally rolling his eyes as he and Artemis sat opposite of me. Next to them were Rocket, Zatanna and Robin, the latter two typing at something on Robin's gauntlet PC.
At my sides were M'gann and Raven, the former on my right and the latter on my left at the edge. Next to M'gann was Kaldur and Tula, and finally on the end were Match, Kori and a confused Kara trying to eat a burger.
"How does one eat this?"
"Oh! I'll show you!" Smirking as Kori was all too excited to help her, I decided to ignore the happy duo and instead looked over to where Wally stared between M'gann, Raven and I with a smirk.
I didn't say anything other than narrow my eyes, which just made his smirk widen as M'gann noticed his look.
"What is it?"
"So...what's going on here?" He asked as the others looked, to which M'gann blushed while Raven pulled her hood down further.
"What do you mean, Wal?"
"Oh, don't 'what do you mean, Wal?' me. What's going on here with you three?"
"N-Nothing. Just nothing."
"Meg, you know that we all know that you're lying, right?"
"Even I do and we barely know each other for more than a few months," Rocket chimed in, to which I just looked between my two girlfriends.
Raven was silent and just stared back, to which I looked at M'gann who let out a soft sigh.
"If you all must know, Chris, Raven and I have decided to be in a three-way relationship." The hall went silent as all of them looked between us. Kaldur and Tula blinked as did Robin and Zatanna, the four stunned at her words.
Artemis had a sly smile on her face with her arms crossed while Match, Kori and Kara hid their snickers as Wally gave a slow blink.
"L-Like a throuple?"
"More like having two girlfriends," I mumbled with a sheepish smile, to which he just stared at me before shaking his head.
"You lucky bas-Ow!"
"You have a girlfriend, mister," Artemis spoke with a huff, putting her bow back down as he rubbed his arm.
"I'm just saying he's lucky, not that I would want another girlfriend. One of you is more than enough for me."
"And don't you forget it," she replied before she looked at me with a raised eyebrow. "So, was this your idea?"
"It was M'gann and I's idea," Raven chimed in, finally deciding to speak as I gave a thumbs-up and a nod at her words.
"Well, more my idea than hers."
"We promised that you would let me take shared blame, M'gann."
"But I couldn't, you know? It was me who proposed it."
"And it was I who didn't want to back away from being in a relationship with your boyfriend."
"They're in their own world now. It's going to be a while," I spoke up as M'gann and Raven began their argument anew, even going so far as to stand up and sit at the bench behind us.
Oh, there was no shouting and they even held each other hands, but neither wanted to back down and I've already been through it enough to just let them have their time alone.
"And you just...deal with this on the regular?" Robin asked, shaking his head as I shrugged.
"You get used to it."
"I know I couldn't."
"And why is that?" Zatanna asked, giving Robin a flat stare as he smiled nervously.
"J-Just saying. Relationships with two women is hard."
"How would you know?"
"Yeah, Robin. How would you know?" Wally asked with a smug smirk.
"You're not off the hook yet, mister." And there goes Artemis, quick to ruin the guy's fun as I turned to an amused Kaldur and Tula.
"Please tell me you guys aren't like this."
"No, Kaldur and I are quite taken with each other."
"Rocket?"
"Got my eye on someone else," she replied with a smirk and I let out a relieved sigh.
"I also have my eye on Friend-Match!" Kori spoke from the side with a happy smile, hugging a blushing Match who glared at me as I snickered.
"I swear, brother, I will throw you out of an airlock if you don't stop laughing."
"Hey, I'm just happy you're getting some affection that comes with a side of protein sludge."
"It was made with love!" Kori protested, making Match bury his hands in his head with a furious blush as I burst out laughing, Tula laughing with me while Kaldur tried his best to not do the same.
Kara? She was already on her third burger, barbecue sauce rolling down her face and cheeks puffed with food.
"This...is so weird."
A/N: And we end it on a light note! A bit of fun and bonding before the fight continues.
Next chapter: Battle of Apokolips II.
As always, read, enjoy, review and until the next one...
Ba-Bye~!