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."

"Say that you are right about this, he is still the best option to send for a direct assault." Robin tried to argue. Sure, they were valid points to make and he had his own suspicions of it, but that didn't change that they had nobody else to send. If not Connor, then who could they possibly send?

"I'll do it."

"What."

Phantom stood tall, not letting the intense stares affect him. "If they're here because of something Superman related, they would have planned anti-Kryptonian defenses. I can get in and do just as much, if not more, to get their attention so the rest of you can slip inside. They've seen him fight more than me, they'll know his limitations, I'll be a bigger threat."

Sneering at the idea, Robin glared harder and took a semi threatening step closer to his brother. "Absolutely not!"

Phantom didn't back down, getting right in Robin's face. "Then send us both, give them two focal points. Then you're guaranteed they'll be spooked enough to send out enough forces."

Robin looked like he either wanted to throttle him or tie him up in a room somewhere. "Sending you in would only cause more trouble than do good! You're not even field-cleared! If anything you would be the worst option to send in for a direct attack like that!"

"That does it!" Phantom growled, summoning a dome of ice thick enough not even Superboy could hear through it. Nothing was making it out of there until Phantom wished it. "What is your fucking issue? We need somebody to lure out a defensive attack! Superboy has use outside of just being muscle to throw out whenever you need somebody to do heavy lifting." Phantom glared, the lenses of his mask tinting green as his eyes burned brightly in anger.

"I'm one of, if not the weakest link in the team, the one with arguably the least experience if you only count recent months. I can actually be useful, fucking help people for once, and make up for the people I failed." Though he was angry, he couldn't help his voice from cracking as he remembered exactly why he stepped down from the hero file in the first place. The deaths of his best friends, the people who took him in and arguably his favorite teacher weighed heavy on his mind even after all this time had passed. "It's not the first time I'll be putting my life on the line for a mission. Superboy has a better reputation, an image people can actually look up to. He has the legacy of Superman to back him up, I only have death and failure. You need somebody to be cannon fodder, I can do it, cleared or not!"

Robin stood shaking, half tempted to punch his way out of the dome. "That isn't the point! It's not about who has a better image to uphold or whose life is worth more. Each and every single one of us has a role to play and we all accepted it no matter if it's fun or not! Everybody knows this isn't all rainbows and sunshine, we all signed up knowing the risks!" They were willing to defy direct orders from the League just so they could work together as a team barely 3 months ago. Even Superboy knew what it meant to step into heroics. They put their lives on the line every time they stepped outside, just in the hope they can make a difference.

But Phantom was never given that option. He was forced to step in all on his own, no support or mentors to help. And look where that got him. They, no, he should have kept a closer eye on him. To not let the thrills of Robin and his new life overshadow the one person he should have protected more than anybody else in the world.

He couldn't look his brother in the eye, not anymore. "I'm not sending you out on a suicide mission after I just got you back, Nini. I'm not making the same mistake twice. Keeping you out of harm's way is the least I can do after everything." Blessed be the fact he's wearing a mask so his brother couldn't see the tears welling up in his eyes.

Phantom still didn't back down however, unaware of the turmoil his brother was hiding. "Oh but me losing you isn't an issue?" He punched the dome to his right, bright green crackling through the ice as ecto was forced into it. The added green turned the overall glow into more of a teal than the soft blue it was before. Not that it helped calm either of them down. "The last time that happened, when you left me on my own, I fucking died and everything went to shit." He jabbed a finger in Robin's chest, pushing the boy back a step or two.

"You were never planning on letting me go inside with you, were you?" Though masked, he knew Robin was avoiding his eyes. "So I'm not allowed to, but you're allowed to go in on your own suicide mission? Don't be such a fucking hypocrite!" Robin looked up sharply, surprised his plan had been made. "I know what you're planning, I know how you think and I know you don't believe the teleportation theory."

Robin threw his hands in the air in frustration, effectively punching the ceiling of the dome a few times as he did. "Of course I don't. I've been looking for da- Batman's tracker the entire time." His voice cracked slightly, finally voicing what he had been hiding from the others. "I can't find it, at all. If J'onn got teleported and his comms work, then so should B's tracker. But it's not. It's gone, Nini."

A silence fell over the dome, interrupted by the occasional sniff that hid a sob. Both of them trying to keep their rampant emotions under control. They were in a horrible situation, not a single option being a good one. No matter what they did, people were going to die. Somehow they had to decide who, all on their own. Nobody except each other to rely on while Robin's friends and the rest of the world depended on them to keep it together and fix this mess.

It wasn't fair. They were barely even teenagers yet they had responsibilities even the League didn't handle on their own. The Justice League had Batman, Wonder Woman and Superman as their co-leaders. Smart, brave, strong adults who had more than enough experience between them to cover all bases.

All they had was each other.

Phantom rested a hand on Robin's shoulder, sucking in a deep breath to calm his voice even though he was still very upset. "Then why not tell the others? They're all going in believing it's a rescue."

Robin looked down, letting his arms drop down as well. He spoke barely above a whisper, as if saying it could break whatever last shred of hope he still had. "Because it could also just be a malfunction, something inside that is blocking the signal. We won't know with absolute certainty until we get to the mothership. They need the hope, I can't just take that away from them." Robin shrugged meekly. They all lost so much already, he couldn't take that too.

Phantom moved his hand to gently cup Robin's cheek, lifting his head just enough so he could at least guess he was looking into his eyes. "Even more reason I should be coming with you, in case it goes wrong and you need a quick exit. You're not going in without me."

"I'm just trying to protect you."

Phantom let their foreheads bump together, anger dissipating at how broken and scared his brother sounded. "You don't need to protect me, Dickie. I don't want you to protect me." He sighed slightly, softly grabbing Robin's hand with his bandaged one. "They're all gone. Mami. Tati. Mama. B. And so, so many others. They're all gone. All I have left is you. It's just the two of us all over again. I swear to whatever bastard is looking over us, I am not letting them take you from me too." They chuckled slightly, both fighting hard to hold back tears just so the mask glue wouldn't get itchy later. "We promised, remember? No matter what, no matter who?"

Robin slowly curled their pinkies together. "We stick together." He finished reciting their promise. Of course Phantom was right, he knew that. He didn't want his last actions in this hellscape be breaking a sacred promise after all. But it didn't make it any easier that he was sending them both to their possible deaths.

They broke apart and straightened themselves out a bit before Phantom let the dome dissipate again. The team all looked alarmed and somewhat ready to fight. Maybe a sudden display of powers in a room with teen heroes functioning on pure adrenaline and spite wasn't the best idea. Robin awkwardly cleared his throat before addressing his friends. "M'gann, J'onn, you'll be the first to go in. Density shift into their hangar so we have visual on when they start their attack."

The two Martians nodded before he continued. "Superboy, if you're willing, you'll be team 2." He waited for Superboy to agree as well. The clone's eyes locked with M'gann's for a second before he smiled and nodded. "Cause damage, enough to lure them out while staying safe."

"Robin, Kid Flash and I will be team 3. We'll enter through one of their aircraft hangar doors and meet up with Manhunter and Miss Martian. If all goes well, we'll make it in without being spotted." Phantom finished the team division. It's what made most sense to do. "Before we leave, it would be best to send a message to the people and any other surviving heroes."

"Global morale would be fucked." Robin agreed, already hacking into the League systems to take over their emergency broadcasting system. "The people need to know we're still fighting for them. We all have connections, people we can call on to join the fight while we take care of the mothership. They won't suspect anything if there is still resistance."

They all split apart, either setting up the filming area or prepping the supplies for the mission and their comrades who would hopefully arrive too. Manhunter was sent to rest in the med bay, making sure he was well rested and up for the chaos of another mission. Phantom stayed back, helping with the supplies and sneaking out a few extra bombs to add to their utility belts.

Just as they had hoped, lots of new and known faces showed up once they went live. As the others were busy, Phantom greeted them and guided them to where they could find resources. It went fine for the most part, until two Atlanteans, Garth and Tula, arrived. Having to explain that not only had their king fallen in battle, but also their best friend was not something he was prepared for. Fortunately for him, Martian Manhunter felt rested enough to aid the preparations and took over the unfortunate explanation.

They took it in stride. Although devastated, they also relayed Atlantis had been spared from the attacks. There weren't many who could leave, especially with the loss of their king, but they were willing to send word for more. Many Atlantean fighting styles weren't made for aerial battles but there were some who could be of use.

"Are you sure you should be up, sir?" Phantom asked after the Atlanteans excused themselves. Manhunter still looked out of it, albeit better than before.

"I feel as well as one could expect." Manhunter reassured the young ghost. "Pardon me for asking, but we have yet to be acquainted. How is it that you know Robin so well?"

Phantom froze up a little, not expecting the question at all. Should he be honest? Could Manhunter tell if he was lying? Use telepathy to get the answer if his verbal one wasn't up to some unspoken standard he had no idea of? If he says the truth, how much of it would be acceptable without compromising Robin's secret identity? Did Martian Manhunter even know it already, or was the man still in the dark?

"Phantom!" Robin yelled from across the room. "There you are. There's a few more details we need to discuss before we leave." He jogged over and grabbed his brother by the arm before starting to pull him away with a small smile. "Sorry J'onn, need to borrow my co."

Manhunter nodded before walking off himself. Phantom let Robin drag him back to his room, their unofficial meeting spot when it came to personal things it seemed. "Look, there is no easy way to ask this. We checked and we're going to have to Zeta to Wichita and go from there since the Smallville portal and Bioship are gone. I need to be sure you'll be able to handle another teleportation so soon."

Phantom looked down at his arm. The throbbing had stopped, and so had the intense pain but he couldn't honestly say how he would react. He was hoping it was just because it was the first time that it went horribly but was a hunch worth risking the mission over? "I...Maybe if it's sedated before we go in. The shots from earlier only lasted for half an hour."

"Nini, those were speedster meds. What do you mean they only lasted half an hour?" Robin ran his hands through his hair exasperatedly. Frostbite was still working on making a formula that worked for Phantom's metabolism but if their on hand medication didn't have proper lasting effects they might be screwed.

"It's mostly my hand that was the issue. Numbing it beforehand and bringing an icepack along should be enough, I think? Maybe an extra shot if you have enough to spare." Going off the logic that dying a second time was less bad when Sam wished his powers away, it should be enough to have his arm sedated beforehand. Sure it'll still suck ass, but it'll be less bad the second time around. Yay for exposure therapy in the most literal sense possible.

"For you, there will always be enough to spare. Especially if it helps for a mission like this. Just be sure you don't try anything while it's still numb, figuring out how all of that words while you can't feel your arm is not something I want to test out today." Robin joked as he linked their hands together again to head off to the med bay for a last time.