The Blue Sparrow

Chapter 13

    Once we arrived at the Hall, we noticed the front entrance was gone and all the statues of the Leaguers were destroyed.

    “They’re really gone.” Dick said sadly as we walked in. I put a hand on his shoulder; I don’t know if it was to reassure him of me. We found a small group of soldiers huddled inside the Hall and we quickly got acquainted; the top dog introducing himself as General Eiling. Suddenly Martian Manhunter’s statue head started to move. We all moved towards it cautiously and M’Gann lifted it to reveal Martian Manhunter himself.

    M’Gann gasped and dropped the statue head to the side. “Uncle J’onn!”

    I quickly jumped in front of everyone. “M’Gann, check his mind. Make sure he’s whom he appears to be.”

    Her eyes glowed green and then back again a while later. “It’s him. He’s real. He’s alive.”

    “But we saw you get disintegrated.” Dick said. “You and everyone.”

    “Yes, I remember.” Manhunter said as he stood with help from M’Gann. “But I cannot remember how I survived, or how I arrived here.”

    “Maybe you were density shifting and the beam passed through you. Scrambling your brains along the way.” Wally suggested.

    “My mind is clouded. I feel certain I had something important to tell you.” Manhunter said rubbing his temple. We started to make our way inside until we noticed Wally wasn’t with us. I looked behind me and saw that he was investigating one of the fallen ships. I walked up to him and put a hand on his shoulder.

    “Hello, Wally, come on.” I said.

    Apparently he didn’t hear me, because the next thing he said was, “I knew it! Look, it’s giving off zanopenes, the same stuff that powers our zeta tubes. This thing doesn’t disintegrate, it teleports. Artemis and Roy are alive!”

    “Maybe, but—” I started but he cut me off.

    “No maybes. They’re alive.” He said as he grabbed my upper arms. I shook my head.

    “Don’t do that.” I said, causing him to give me a confused look.

    “Do what?” He asked.

    “Don’t give me hope.” I whimpered. I turned around to join the others when I heard the sound of ships coming our way. “We’re falling back.” I stated and we made our way to the zeta tube and realized. “We’re trapped.”

    “Maybe not.” Dick said. “We can all zeta to the cave if Manhunter can grant us computer clearance to access the tubes.”   

    “I can only authorize one at a time.” He replied.

    “Send the soldiers first.” I stated.

    “Belay that!” General Eiling said. “You seven are assets we cannot afford to lose.”

    I reluctantly nodded and Manhunter overrided the computer to let us through the zeta. We slowly made our way towards the zeta, Kaldur and I in the back. Suddenly I heard screaming behind us and turned to see soldiers getting disintegrated one by one. “Go!”

    Dick turned to look at me with sad eyes. “What about you?” He choked out.

    I bent down to his level and kissed his forehead before saying, “I’ll be right behind you. Go!”

    He reluctantly turned and walked through the zeta. I then turned to Kaldur. “Go! I’ll help these men.” I said.

    “I am not letting you do this alone.” He replied. “We do this together.”

    I nodded, but before he could do anything he got disintegrated. 

“Kaldur!” Soon after I shouted his name, I felt a slight sting then nothing; just darkness.

>>>>>>>>>>>>> 

    I sat up with a jolt, gasping for breath with a thin layer of sweat of my forehead. As I took in my surroundings I realized I was at the mountain. Looking around me I noticed all of my teammates were alive. I brought my knees to my chest and cried silently. Suddenly M’Gann sat up and gasped, she turned to all of us.

    “You’re all alive.” She said.

    “What happened in there?” Batman asked as he steadied Martian Manhunter.

    “The exercise, it all went wrong.” He replied as soon as he could strand.

    “Exercise?” Dick asked.

    “Try to remember.” Batman said. “What you experienced was a training exercise. Manhunter psychically linked the seven of you within an artificial reality. You knew this going in; what you didn’t know was that it was a train to fail exercise. No matter what the team accomplished, the scenario was designed to grow worse. Still, you were aware nothing was real, including the deaths of the entire Justice League.”

    “This is why you hardly grieved even when Wolf was disintegrated before your eyes.” Manhunter said. “But all that changed when Artemis and Roy died.” I tensed at the mention of Roy dying. “Though consciously Miss Martian knew it was not real, her subconscious mind could not make that distinction.

    “Me?” She asked.

    Manhunter nodded and continued. “She forgot it was only an exercise and her subconscious took control, making all of you forget too.”

    “I-I’m so sorry.” M’Gann apologized.

    “This isn’t her fault.” Connor defended her. “Why didn’t you stop the exercise?”

    “We tried.” Manhunter replied. “But M’Gann had a death grip on the scenario. Even Artemis, who should’ve awakened upon her death, was so convinced she had passed she slipped into a coma.” I looked over at Artemis and she looked at me, giving me a nod to say she’s fine. “I realized I would have to wrest control from her subconscious from within. But upon entering the reality, I was overwhelmed by your collective emotion. There was too much noise to think clearly, to remember why I was there. The deaths of Aqualad, Blue Sparrow, and Superboy helped. But only when Robin and Kid Flash were silenced did my mind clear enough to remember my purpose; to shock her out of the exercise before your comas became permanent.” I hid myself behind my knees and cried into them. “My apologies. I had no idea a training exercise could be so dangerous, so damaging.”

    Dick came up to me and hugged me. I hugged him back tightly, afraid to let go. “Hey, it’s okay. None of it was real.”   

    I didn’t know if he was saying it to reassure me or himself, but I didn’t say anything and continued to cry into his shoulder. About ten minutes later the zeta announced Dinah and Ollie’s arrival, and by that point I’d ceased my crying. I just sat, with my legs over the edge of the platform-thing I was laying on playing the events over and over again.

    “You alright, kid?” Ollie asked. I didn’t answer; I just got up and followed them to the zeta tube, which took us straight to Queen Manor. “I’ll call Roy. Let him know what’s going on.”

    Dinah led me to my room, helped me change into my pajamas, and onto my bed where I pulled my knees to my chest again. Dinah eventually left my room and closed the door behind her. As soon as I heard the door click I started to cry. I just wanted to see Roy right now. Even though it wasn’t real, I still wanted to be sure.