Justice League: Generation Worth Millions

Chapter 17: The Mission

"Are you alright?" Tim asked as soon I had changed into my armor.  

I shook my head. He was leaning against the pillar with concern embedded deep within his voice. It had been a day since I was forbidden to speak to him, yet it somehow felt like a lifetime had passed between us. I had missed him, and I missed Kara, too.

He leaned in closer. "Nightwing told me."

I gazed into his masked face, and I could tell that he knew everything. He knew who Justin was to me, he knew why I had been so screwed up the past few weeks, he knew what had happened to Kara, he knew that I wasn't okay and he cared about every piece of it and forgave all of it. He didn't have to say that he forgave me, I could read him so clearly because he made himself easy to read. He never hid anything from me, he was as real as the sun that stroked my face when I laid by the pool. With or without the mask, he never played an act. I wanted to pounce on him with a huge hug, because he was so perfect for that. "I'm sorry I shut you out." He hadn't deserved that, no one had.

"I know why you did it. I hope you found what you were looking for."

I grinned with gratification. "I found even more."

Batman emerged out of the shadows adjusting the gloves on his hands. I turned to him. "He's gone?"

He nodded and gave me a stern look, but the deep sigh that escaped told me he was more tired than upset. The glare was just an illusion of the cowl. "He's suspicious of you now, which makes him even more dangerous than before. He was already devising a way to kidnap you, now I fear his intentions to take you may take a more hostile twist. He definitely carries malignance within."

"Then we'll stop him."

"Nothing is that easy. We'll have to be careful." He looked past us toward the computer where the other heroes waited with Nightwing ahead of them. He had been going over the paperwork on Flash's case, discussing what he'd found, along with Bart and M'gann right next to him. They all looked weary, and the Flash held a strong wave of relief. "Are you ready to debrief them?"

The commotion of everything made me forget that I was supposed to alert everyone of what I'd discovered. I had no idea how to debrief anyone, luckily, I wasn't too shabby at thinking on my feet. Batman stayed standing by my side when we came before the rest of the Justice League.

"What's going on? We've been waiting for almost ten minutes!" Green Lantern said.

Batman silenced him with a sharp quip. "We had an unexpected visitor."

Superman regarded me gently. "You know where Kara is?"

"You're not going to like it." I warned. I noticed that he and Conner were standing as far apart as possible. My family wasn't the only one having serious problems. "Lex Luthor has her."

Connor pushed forward. "That's impossible!"

I felt horrible to give him this news. He and Kara, on their good days, could manage to enjoy one another's company in a civil fashion. On normal days they argued and fixed it with strength battles. Despite their differences, I know he cared for her like a sister. I'd seen the way they always shot toward each other in battle, and delivered terrifying revenge on whoever wronged the other. The distressed look in his ice blue eyes confirmed his sibling affection for her. "I'm sorry, Connor."

Superman put his hand on Connor's shoulder to calm him down, but he was just as upset, too. "How do you know this?"

"Justin Hayden, the founder of H.I. was once my father." All of the heroes gaped at me in disbelief. "He used to be James Hill and I thought he was murdered by Blew with my mom and brother, I was wrong. He survived, gained a new identity to form his company, funded by Lex Luthor, to destroy the Justice League." Nightwing began passing out copies of the plan I'd sketched out. They studied it while I explained what I'd come to learn. "Their plan is in phases, designed to slowly turn public opinion against us. It started with the hospital blast, then the robot, the attack on the Watch Tower, and the next step is phase 4. I still need confirmation on how accurate I am on the exact content of the other phases."