Avoiding Past And Future

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WARNING FOR THE NEXT CHAPTER: THIS CONTAINS CHARACTER DEATHSADDITIONAL WARNINGS: MENTIONS OF SUICIDE/SUICIDE MISSIONS, SEVERE DISREGARD FOR OWN LIFE (Danny), SEVERE NEGATIVE SELF WORTH (Danny), ATTEMPTED SELF SACRIFICE (Danny)

October 16

Everybody had made their way to the briefing room. Although Kid Flash and Superboy didn't look all too pleased with the announcement that Phantom was taking lead with Robin, they knew better than to argue. Phantom and Manhunter sat on a bench they had dragged in, letting their most injured rest while they planned ahead. M'gann still looked a bit off, but she also seemed to be doing better again.

Robin pulled up a holomap as he addressed everyone. "Our next mission is clear. If we truly believe the aliens have been teleporting their victims-"

"Which we do." Kid Flash butt in, still holding firm to the idea everybody can be saved.

Robin turned to him with a soft glare before continuing. "Then the only reasonable detention facility is here." He brought out an analyzed hologram of a gigantic ship. "Their mothership, sitting atop what used to be Smallville." He glanced over to Superboy, hoping that if the clone wasn't aware of the Fortress of Solitude, that he also wouldn't know Smallville was Superman's hometown. From the cold look on Superboy's face, it was safe to say that little detail wasn't programmed into him either.

Holding back a sigh of relief, he turned to Martian Manhunter. "Ring any bells?"

Manhunter tried to stand, Phantom quickly getting up as well and holding out an arm for support should the man need it. "No, I'm sorry." He clutched onto his head, another wave of intense headaches ravaging his brain. Swaying slightly from sudden dizziness, Phantom braced the man and guided him back to the bench.

"Superboy," Robin started planning, trusting Phantom had Manhunter covered. "You'll create a distraction."

"No!" M'gann immediately disagreed, stepping forward. "He's offering you as a sacrifice. Aqualad would never-"

"You're right." Slight irritation but mostly resignation clear in his voice, Robin tried to keep a steady head. "Aqualad would sacrifice himself. A mistake that just cost us our leader." He paused for a moment, letting it sink in that there is a reason Robin was in charge now. "Superboy is the most likely to be perceived as a threat, motivating the aliens to deploy."

"Worse case, he's teleported inside. A-and we set him free along with Artemis, and, uh, everyone else."

"I'm sorry, but I'm with Miss Martian on this one." Phantom finally spoke up. All heads snapped to him as he walked up to Robin to tap away at his wrist computer. Going through some older files, he pulled up the map of all known alien locations. "There was a ship camped outside the Fortress, a location only known to a select few. You can't even find it by scanning for power emissions because the whole place is self-sufficient. No other secret League base was guarded except for there." Guarding the Batcave would have been nigh impossible, unless the manor was destroyed which it was.

Pulling up camera and news footage, he went through all sorts of angles. "Metro also saw one of the highest ships per capita of the entire world. Not even cities with more heroes residing in them got as many attacks as Metropolis did and there weren't even any heroes there to defend her." Unless you counted Krypto the super dog but that wasn't a discussion needed today.

He swiped back to a satellite view of what Smallville looked like right now, embers of destroyed buildings still smoking after the ship landed. "And somehow the mothership just happens to be on top of Smallville? There has to be some kind of connection with Superman here that we're missing. Sending out Superboy is just giving them exactly what they want."