Chapter Text
Danny didn’t weigh as much as he probably should have. Which was something Lian knew, having held him before. But she’d only held him in his ghost form. Which he wasn’t in anymore. Or, she’s pretty sure he wasn’t. His hair was black, and he definitely felt solid in a way he didn't when he’s a ghost. But he really didn’t seem to weigh that much, especially as she flew through hallways faster than she had ever moved before, Danny over her shoulders like a backpack.
“They’re heading this way!” A sharp voice called out from somewhere in front of her. She threw herself backwards just as a pair of the Guys in White appeared from around another corner.
“Danny?” Lian asked over her shoulder as she moved as fast as she could back the way she had just came. (Thought she’d just came. These hallways all looked exactly the same, with white metal walls and white metal floors and white metal ceilings and lined with white metal doors.)
He was still unconscious, which she was pretty sure was probably a bad thing. Had he hit his head? She knew being unconscious because you hit your head was definitely a bad thing. Was it the same when you didn’t hit your head?
(It’s something her dad would have known the answer to. Something she was supposed to start learning, once he agreed she was old enough to start training like her cousins.)
“Danny, please wake up soon.”
“Halt, ecto-scum!”
She threw herself around a corner and down another identical hallway, passing more identical doors. She had no idea where she was in this base, no idea where the cell she’d been stuck in was, no idea where the cell Danny kept sneaking out of was, no idea where a door to the outside was, no idea where this base was on the planet, no idea if they were even still on the planet, no idea—
“Get in front of them! Pincer formation charlie-7-beta!”
Another corner, another hallway, more doors. Was she going in a circle? She wasn’t sure how many times she’d turned a corner, which direction she’d picked. Was she just going to come up behind the same guys that were chasing them?
“Circle back around!”
“Danny, you have to wake up!”
More doors, more hallways, not a single window or staircase, how big even was this base?
Dead end! She threw herself into a stop. There’s no corner, just wall. She could hear the agents behind her, closing in. But there’s no more hallway, no more doors, just wall. Where could she go? There was nowhere—
Vent. By the ceiling, there was a single vent cover. She darted up to it, letting out the quietest chirrup (please don’t-terrified-panic) she could manage.
No ghost shield lit up.
Danny kept telling her that things like phasing and going invisible would become as easy as walking. But they weren’t like that yet. She concentrated as hard as she could and stretched a hand out.
It went through the vent.
She darted inside, Danny still unconscious over her shoulders, just as a pair of men sprinted into view. She could see the agents through the gaps in the vent. She held her breath as they waved their guns around the empty hallway.
“Not here. The bigger one is definitely too stupid to hide.”
“I agree. Let’s regroup with the others.”
Lian choked back a sob (relief-terrified) as they ran back the way they came. She was trembling, shaking hard enough that Danny’s hair was waving at the corner of her eye, tickling her cheek.
The air duct stretched out before her, opposite the now-empty hallway. She had no idea where it led. It could go all the way to an outside wall. It could go deeper in, towards the heating system. It could go directly back to their cell.
Taking a deep breath, Lian inched into the unknown.
— — —
The first thing J’ohn felt as they approached the base was fear. Overwhelming fear, the kind that gets stuck in throats and blacks out vision, the kind that paralyzes both mind and body, that leaves you unable to move or think. It was being projected out with the same strength as the wail from barely half an hour ago, though with nowhere near the force.
“I am sensing one of the children’s minds.”
Dinah’s chin snapped up to look at him over John’s shoulder. “Can you tell which one? Are they hurt?”
“I’m afraid I have never touched the mind of either, so I am uncertain if this is Danny’s or Lian’s fear. But I feel no physical pain.” He did not mention that emotion of this strength can block out physical pain so completely even the mind itself does not feel it. Dinah seemed to hear it anyways.
By pre-spoken agreement, John and J’ohn touched down in the tree line near the front of the base. J’ohn took a moment to locate the closest agent’s mind and flipped through his memories of the structure.
“The cells are below ground.” He relayed to his teammates the moment he had confirmed it. “The stairway appears to be—“
“It’s three hundred feet from the front door, with two left turns along the way.” An unfamiliar voice spoke through the JL comms. “Took you guys long enough to show up. I already found the bases plans. Did you know these government goons actually filed for building permits with the township? Insane.”
“This is a private frequency.” John spoke first. “Who is this?”
“Someone who moves faster than you, apparently. My team’s been here for like 10 minutes already.”
“Rob.” A second unknown voice joined. “They want to help too.”
“And they’re the ones who are actually supposed to be here.”
“Right, right.” Four individuals stepped out of the trees only a few hundred yards away and ran over. “Young Justice, at your service. I’m Robin, this is Superboy, Impulse, and Wonder Girl. We were in the area when Superboy heard that scream. What do you guys need? I’ve got blueprints for the base and I’m a pretty adept hacker, if I do say so myself. Impulse is a speedster. Superboy and Wonder Girl are both good at busting through walls.
“Let’s see, you’re Black Canary, a Lantern, and Martian Manhunter. That’s a specialty in unarmed combat, the power of imagination, and mind stuff. Pretty good for infiltrating, that’s probably why Batman chose you. I’m going in, of course, someone has to get into the GIW’s computer system and download all the information they have. Then I’m thinking—“
“Hold on, young man.” John Stewart finally cut him off (he had not yet even paused for breath). “You’re not doing anything. The three of us are going in to extract the prisoners. That’s the plan, and we’re sticking to it.”
The boy, Robin, rolled his eyes. “Right, I wasn’t saying you shouldn’t go in. I think you’ll be the best at getting the kids out without scaring them, since we’re a little more destructive in our methods, but I’m definitely going in with you so I can get access to their computers. I’m going to need—“
“No. Are you listening to me, kid? No.”
“Of course I’m listening. It’s just that you’re being dumb so I need to—“
“Rob, just let it go.” The one indicated as Superboy placed a hand on Robin’s shoulder. “We’ll stay out here and make sure none of the agents escape into the woods, sound good?” He met John Stewart’s gaze.
“Fine.” John Stewart nodded. “I would like to see the blueprint you mentioned.”
“I’m not staying out here!” Robin protested, even as he projected the blueprints onto the ground with some device on his wrist. “Someone has to—“
“Robin.” Superboy cut him off.
“Wha—oh. Right. Fine.” He cleared his throat. “I’ll stay out here with them and help with that. Not go inside and hack their computer system.”
Dinah was carefully inspecting the blueprints. “These cells,” she said, pointing, “are where the kids most likely are. I think I should head straight there since Lian will know me.”
John nodded. “I agree. Manhunter, you cover this lab area.” J’ohn memorized the somewhat circuitous route to the indicated area. “I’ll go for this storage area here.”
“Great!” Robin turned off the projection. “Now that everyone knows the plan, let’s get moving!”
— — —
[The feed begins with a man, wrinkled and gray-haired, standing behind a podium. His gaze is turned down and he is in rapid, whispered conversation with a woman facing away from the camera. She hurries away and the man faces the camera.]
— — —
“Attention.” A robotic voice echoed through the compound. “Self-destruct sequence has been activated. Please follow assigned evacuation protocols immediately.”
“Oops? Sorry.”
A wailing siren began blaring, red emergency lights painting the white walls.
“Robin?”
“I said ‘sorry’ already!”
“Robin!”
— — —
“Lantern!” Dinah shouted down the comms. “This place is coming down! Do we know where the kids are?”
“Negative, Canary.” John flew down the hall. “I’ve found holding cells but they’re all empty.”
— — —
President of the United States (POTUS): My fellow Americans, good afternoon. [clears throat] A week ago, a super-powered individual stood before our nation and issued this office an ultimatum. He asked for answers in regards to a piece of federal legislation referred to as the ‘Anti-Ecto Acts’. I know many of you have asked the same question of your representatives in the last week.
— — —
Roy was drifting. Again. He chewed at his thumbnail as he stared at the empty fireplace. The couch he was curled up on was comfortable in a way he hadn’t really expected anything in Wayne Manor to be. Ollie went for fashion over function, and apparently Roy had expected Brucie Wayne to be the same.
Dick paced in through the door, again, and caught Roy’s eye. He shook his head, lips tight, before turning and pacing back out into the hallway.
Roy turned his glare back on the fireplace.
— — —
“Superboy, have you spotted them?”
“I—maybe?”
“What does ‘maybe’ mean?”
“It means ‘maybe’! I can’t think of any other kids that would be in the vents but they don’t match the descriptions.”
— — —
Lian hid a squeak behind her hand as an explosion tore through the air. She could hear rubble falling and piling and cutting off all escape—
A green head poked through the wall in front of her.
“Come, child, there is not much tim—“
She threw one of Danny’s shoes at the Stranger and fled.
— — —
“Canary,” J’onn made sure to speak quietly, gently, even as he held a hand over his sore eye. “I have located the children. However, Lian seems particularly distressed and will not allow me close. Can you come assist?”
“Shit, no!” Dinah kicked at a pile of broken ceiling. “I can’t get there!”
— — —
“Careful, Superboy, that hallway’s going to detonate next!” Tim’s fingers flew across the keyboard as he tried to abort the sequence he’d accidentally activated.
“You’re kidding!” Kon rounded a corner and nearly ran into Martian Manhunter, sticking halfway out of the wall. “Manhunter—“
“Lian, I assure you, I am here to h—“
— — —
Another explosion, closer this time. Lian screamed and gripped at Danny. The vent wall against her back shook with the force of it.
— — —
POTUS: Now, I had never heard of these acts. I demanded that answer from my staffers, my cabinet, everyone I could find. And no one, not even my Director of National Intelligence, had any answers. We cannot find any record of these acts this organization claims to operate under. We cannot find any budgetary allocations for this organization. We cannot even find who this organization reports to.
— — —
Kon slammed his hands against the wall, denting it a little in his haste. His TTK field surged up and pressed against the ceiling.
“Manhunter, get the kids out of here!” He shouted, feeling the heat and rubble falling onto the field.
— — —
Hands pressed through the wall, aiming for Lian and Danny.
“No!” Lian’s Core lashed out in a burst.
— — —
POTUS: In short, I don’t know who those bullies think they are, but the Justice League has my full authority to put them in their place. And I assure you, people of America, someone will answer for their actions.
— — —
J’onn flew backwards through the air. He slammed into the opposite wall. Kon grunted as he felt the tremors move through the ceiling he was bracing. He pushed his TTK further to stabilize the wall behind J’onn.
“Damn it, kid, can’t you see we’re trying to help?” He spat the words through clenched teeth.
— — —
“Go away!” Lian screamed, even as the wall stopped shaking around them. “You’re not my dad!”
— — —
“Canary, Lian is still resisting,” J’onn said into the comms. “Have you any advice?”
“What?” Came Dinah’s sharp reply. “Why?”
“Her mind suggests she does not recognize us.” What little of her mind J’onn could decipher, at least. “She seems afraid of both remaining here and coming with us.”
“Damn it,” Dinah snarled. “Roy always told her to never go with anyone she doesn’t know, not without—“ She cut herself off. “Shit.”
“Whatever it is, can you hurry it up?” Kon growled. “This building is fucking heavy!”
— — —
The Strangers in the hallway were still talking, but at least they’d stopped trying to grab her. Lian held Danny tighter, wedged herself into the new corner, and squeezed her eyes shut tight.
The falling rubble couldn’t hurt her this time. No one could touch her or Danny unless she wanted them to. They were safe right here. Her dad was coming.
— — —
Bruce seemed almost to appear from nowhere. Roy nearly jumped out of his skin as his one-sided staring contest with the hearth was interrupted.
“The rescue team needs Lian’s pickup password,” Bruce said before Roy could scrape his mind out of the fog to ask what was going on.
“Her—what?” Roy blinked.
“She’s refusing to go with Manhunter. What was your pickup password?”
Roy’s brain was refusing to cooperate. “Pickup—?”
“Roy.”
Roy snapped his eyes to Dick, who was apparently standing next to Bruce.
“The secret phrase. In case you couldn’t be the one to pick her up.”
— — —
[He picks up a file of papers from the podium and quickly walks away. The camera zooms out to follow him. His last words are just barely audible, just before the feed cuts.]
— — —
Her dad was coming. She just had to wait for him, and then everything would be okay. The Strangers would go away, and they’d be safe. She just had to wait—
“Altsé asdzáá dóó ch’ał.”
Lian’s eyes snapped open. A long, rectangular green face was poked through the vent wall in front of her.
(“It’ll be our secret password, yeah? That way, you’ll always know that you can trust whoever’s trying to pick you up.”)
“W-what?” She asked.
“Altsé asdzáá dóó ch’ał,” The green man said again. He reached a single hand out to her, palm up.
Lian let out a short breath that was almost a sob and took it.
— — —
J’onn carefully lifted the children into his arms. The boy seemed somewhere between true unconsciousness and sleep, now that J’onn was close enough to distinguish his from the girl’s.
“Canary, the children—“
— — —
Dinah almost collapsed with relief when J’onn walked out of the pile of rubble, two small forms in his arms and Superboy holding onto his shoulders.
“—children are—“
— — —
“—are safe.”
Roy’s knees buckled and he fell back onto the couch. His chest simultaneously felt like a weight had been lifted and a band had been wrapped around it. Lian was safe.
Lian was safe.
Dick joined him on the couch. Roy collapsed against his friend’s chest almost before he’d finished opening his arms in invitation.
— — —
POTUS: Someone get Amanda Waller in front of me yesterday.