01x16 - Failsafe

[bunniefuu]

Deploying camera-sensor units.

Attention. You have entered the boundaries of Earth space.

Disengage all weapons and engines. This is your final warning.

Code red. Full offensive deploy.

[BEEPING]

Tornado, did you...?

RED TORNADO: Yes, Zatara. We saw.

Celestial defenses have failed.

- Initiate all terrestrial measures. Affirmative. See you in the field.

RED TORNADO: I must join the League. We will protect the planet at all costs.

But should we fail, the responsibility falls to you.

We stand ready.

This is Iris West-Allen, reporting live.

The extra-terrestrials have brought their relentless global att*ck to Central City.

[PEOPLE SCREAMING]

[SIREN WAILING]

[ZATARA SPEAKING IN ALIEN LANGUAGE]

You should both be safe here, at least for now.

Thank you, Flash and Zatara.

[SPEAKING IN ALIEN LANGUAGE]

Denny, you okay?

As you can see, the Justice League is attempting to hold the line.

- No. Iris. Iris, get out of there!

I'm sorry, we're experiencing technical difficulties from our Central City feed.

We take you now to a devastated Taipei.

Another League contingent is having more luck.

[SCREECHING]

Ladies and gentlemen, we've lost Black Canary, Green Arrow and the Hawks.

Other heroes reported dead or missing include Batman, Icon, Atom and Aquaman.

RED TORNADO: Wonder Woman, above you.

Red Tornado to Cave.

I fear I am all that remains of the League.

ROBIN [OVER RADIO]: RT?

We are Earth's heroes now.

So, what are we waiting for? A theme song?

A strategy. Earth's weapons are ineffective...

...and it has been made tragically clear a direct att*ck will not succeed.

Checking satellite imagery.

Here's where the aliens are now.

This one get lost?

It's Superman's Fortress of Solitude.

Superman has a Fortress of Solitude?

Its power source must have attracted the aliens' attention, at least enough...

...to send a scout ship to investigate. Must be some fortress.

Conner. No, it's okay.

I guess there's a lot about Superman I'll never know.

Uh, you know, now. We will target this lone ship.

Yeah. Break it down. Build more. Hit those ugly aliens with their own mojo. Ow!

Martian and Kryptonian in the house.

Uh, heh, not that all aliens are automatically ugly.

[WIND WHISTLING]

MISS MARTIAN [TELEPATHICALLY]: Communications disabled.

Propulsion disabled.

ARTEMIS [TELEPATHICALLY]: And ETs are sealed inside.

[ALIEN SHIP f*ring WEAPONS]

[GROWLING]

[ROBIN GRUNTS]

ROBIN [TELEPATHICALLY]: Identifying w*apon's structural stress points...

...and links to the ship. Here, here and here.

[SUPERBOY GRUNTS]

[DEVICE WHINING]

[GROWLS]

[BEEPING]

[SUPERBOY YELLS]

[GRUNTING]

MISS MARTIAN: Wolf.

ROBIN: There was no indication of feedback. I'm sorry.

SUPERBOY [TELEPATHICALLY]: Can't do anything for him now.

[SUPERBOY GRUNTS]

Let's go.

[GRUNTING]

[SUPERBOY GRUNTS]

MISS MARTIAN: Rerouting systems to integrate w*apon into ship's bio-matrix.

I'll need to de-camouflage for a few minutes.

ROBIN: We may not have a few minutes.

AQUALAD [TELEPATHICALLY]: Miss Martian, open fire.

MISS MARTIAN: Can't. w*apon systems are off-line to incorporate the new cannon.

- And that's not fully integrated yet either. ARTEMIS: Got you covered.

Get inside! I'm almost there.

MISS MARTIAN: Artemis. Behind you!

[ARTEMIS GRUNTING]

Artemis!

Artemis! Get inside. All of you.

[AQUALAD YELLS]

Ha!

They're dead. Every single alien.

If it's the last thing I do.

[SOBBING]

[YELLING]

There will be time to mourn later. Now we have a job to do.

Defend the Earth and ensure Artemis' sacrifice was not in vain.

Back to the Cave? The Hall of Justice.

The human race must know that there are still heroes defending them.

There is still hope.

Now. Open fire.

[YELLING]

[TROOPS CHEERING]

See? It is Superman.

I told you he wouldn't leave us out here alone.

I don't know. He looks kind of young.

Where's the cape? I'm not Superman.

I don't know who you are, son. And right now, I don't care.

You wear the S, and you got the job done.

I'm not Superman. Tell that to the enemy.

General Wade Eiling, U.S. Air Force.

Aqualad, Justice League.

We'll help you salvage as many of the aliens' cannons as possible.

Then we start taking back what is ours.

They're really gone.

[SOBBING]

[MISS MARTIAN GRUNTING]

Uncle J'onn.

AQUALAD: M'gann, check his mind. Make sure he is whom he appears to be.

MISS MARTIAN: It's him. He's real. And he's alive.

But we saw you get disintegrated. You and Superman and everyone.

Yes, I remember.

But I cannot remember how I survived...

...or how I arrived here. Maybe you were density-shifting...

...and the beam passed right through you. Scrambling your brains along the way.

My mind is clouded.

I feel certain I had something important to tell you.

KID FLASH [TELEPATHICALLY]: Hello, Wally. Come on.

I knew it. Look. It's giving off Zeta-Beams.

The same stuff that powers our Zeta- Tubes.

This thing doesn't disintegrate, it teleports.

Artemis is alive.

ROBIN: Maybe, but... KID FLASH: No maybes. They're all alive.

That must have been what you wanted to tell us.

[SHIPS APPROACHING]

AQUALAD: We're on our way. ROBIN: Negative. We can't win this.

Miss Martian, camo the Bio Ship and...

[BOTH GRUNT]

M'gann.

[WEAPONS f*ring]

- That didn't feel like... ROBIN: We're falling back.

We're trapped.

Maybe not.

We can all Zeta to the Cave.

If you can grant us computer clearance to access the tubes.

J'ONN J'ONZZ: I can only authorize one at a time.

Send the soldiers first.

Belay that. You six are assets we cannot afford to lose.

- Override: Martian Manhunter, zero-seven. COMPUTER: Recognized.

Access granted.

Miss Martian, B-zero-five.

Robin, B-zero-one.

Kid Flash, B-zero-three.

[TROOPS YELLING]

Aah!

[AQUALAD YELLS]

[GRUNTS]

He goes next. Fine. Then you.

COMPUTER: Private Jason Bard, U.S.M.C. Can you make it?

Sure, Superman. I'm not...

COMPUTER: Superboy, B-zero-four.

They need you more than me.

Go!

Our mission is clear. If we believe the aliens...

...have been teleporting victims... We do.

Then the only reasonable detention facility is here.

Their mothership. Atop what used to be Smallville.

Ring any bells? No. I'm sorry.

Superboy, you'll create a distraction. No. He's offering you as a sacrifice.

Aqualad would never do that. You're right.

Aqualad would sacrifice himself, a mistake that just cost us our leader.

Superboy is the most likely to be perceived as a thr*at, motivating the aliens to deploy.

Worst case, he's teleported inside, and we set him free along with Artemis...

...and, uh, Aqualad and everyone.

SUPERBOY: It's okay, M'gann. It's what Superman would do.

MISS MARTIAN [ON SCREEN]: And though we know all seems lost...

...the one thing the aliens cannot destroy is hope.

Hope survives, because the battle is not over.

Not as long as even one of us is willing to fight.

It doesn't matter how many fall...

...for new heroes will always rise to carry on...

...bringing all their resources, their skills, their talents to bear to defeat the enemy.

The people of Earth will survive this.

We will rebuild, and we will thrive.

Never doubt and never forget. The Earth will never surrender.

[CHEERING]

Huzzah!

Huzzah!

Stay close to J'onn. He's still...

First team, deploy.

[MISS MARTIAN GROANS]

MISS MARTIAN: Ready and in position.

Be careful, Conner. I love you.

[SUPERBOY GRUNTS]

[GRUNTING]

ROBIN: Careful. Don't disconnect the power source.

All right, you glorified trespassers! You wanna see how a real alien fights?

Now or never.

[KID FLASH GRUNTING]

ROBIN: Way is clear. Go!

[GRUNTS]

[YELLS AND GRUNTS]

[MISS MARTIAN GROANING]

MISS MARTIAN: No. He's gone.

[SOBS]

KID FLASH: It's all right. We'll find him with Artemis. I know it.

J'ONN J'ONZZ [TELEPATHICALLY]: No. My mind is clearer now.

The disintegration beam is exactly that.

There is no detention facility, no prisoners to rescue.

- Our mission holds no purpose. KID FLASH: No! You're wrong.

The Zeta radiation proves she's alive. She's...

ROBIN: Stop it, KF.

I've been scanning for League and Team signals since we got inside.

They're not here. Artemis is gone.

But our mission still holds purpose. To destroy this mothership.

[MISS MARTIAN GRUNTING]

Aah!

ROBIN: This is the power core. Blow this and the whole mothership blows.

[GRUNTING]

KID FLASH: You knew. You knew from the beginning why we were really here.

ROBIN: Four minutes. Let's go.

[BEEPING]

KID FLASH: Perfect.

ROBIN: Sixteen seconds and counting. Manhunter, take Miss Martian and go.

MISS MARTIAN: No. We won't leave you. ROBIN: That's an order.

We'll follow as soon as we blow those doors.

MISS MARTIAN: Don't...

Don't tell me the mission was a success.

The price was too high.

No, no, no.

- We have to get out of here now. J'ONN J'ONZZ: No. We have to end this now.

[MISS MARTIAN GRUNTS]

[GASPS]

[ALL GROANING]

You're all alive. What happened in there?

The exercise, it all went wrong.

Exercise? Try to remember.

What you experienced was a training exercise.

Manhunter psychically linked the six of you within an artificial reality.

You all knew this going in.

What you didn't know was that it was a train-for-failure 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.

That is why you hardly grieved.

Even when Wolf was disintegrated before your eyes.

But all that changed when Artemis d*ed.

Though consciously Miss Martian knew it was not real...

...her subconscious mind could not make that distinction.

- She forgot it was only an exercise. Artemis!

And her subconscious took control, making all of you forget too.

Uh, I'm...

I'm so sorry.

This isn't her fault. Why didn't you stop the exercise?

We tried. But M'gann had a death grip on the scenario.

Even Artemis, who should have awakened upon her death...

...was so convinced she had passed, she slipped into a coma.

I realized I would have to wrest control from Miss Martian's 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 and Superboy helped.

But only when the mothership exploded, and Robin and Kid Flash were silenced...

...did my mind clear enough to remember my true purpose.

To shock M'gann out of the exercise before your comas became permanent.

My apologies. I had no idea a training exercise could be so dangerous.

So damaging.

As bad as all that? Perhaps worse.

RED TORNADO: Yet this is not what troubles you.

Make no mistake.

My niece is untrained and cannot be held responsible for this...

For our debacle. No one blames her.

But clearly we underestimated her abilities.

You understate it.

[MISS MARTIAN CRYING]

In terms of raw power, she has the strongest telepathic mind...

...I have ever encountered.

Stronger by far than mine.