Bruce: You let him leave?!

Clark: He needed to see his father.

Bruce: And, what, you just just let him walk past you?

Clark: We both know even if we got there fast enough, there was nothing we could have done.

Bruce: I know that! That's why he needs to remain here! We need to learn all we can from him. You are risking his life on a gamble that he may see some poor old man who made him who he is to begin with.

The two were arguing over Victor and allowing him to leave. Y/N was behind them, paying no mind and pacing back and forth. His mind was wandering, wondering what may have happened to his city and fearing the worst.

As the other two continued to argue, Victor landed in the cave with a metallic thud. Everyone stopped and looked over towards him. Y/N made his way over, helping the metal man try and stand up. He could see that he was extraordinarily sad, his legs, despite being machine, feeling weak.

Y/N: Victor, what happened?

Victor: My father... he...

He tried to hold back burning tears.

Victor: He's dead. He put his hand on that godforsaken machine.

Everyone was silent. They all looked at him, feeling immense sympathy towards his situation. After a moment, Bruce spoke up.

Bruce: The core?

Victor: Brainiac has it.

Bruce exhaled deeply. He walked over and sat down in his chair. He put his hand to his chin, contemplating their situation. Y/N continued to look at Victor.

Y/N: Central City?

Victor: Gone. Added to his collection.

Y/N stepped back, feeling like he had just got the wind knocked out of him. His hands tightened into fists. Lightning crackled behind his eyes. He began to give off static discharge.

Y/N then yelled at the top of his lungs. He brought up his hand, expelling lightning from it and frying a nearby set of machines. He then took off, running around the cave. Orange streams of lighting shot out from his body, hitting the stalagtites on the ceiling. 

Y/N continued running. He wanted to let all of it out. He was stopped by a man in blue gently putting out his hand and resting it on his shoulder. Y/N stopped in Superman's grip. He panted, his voice hoarse.

Y/N: My friends, my family. Joe, Barry, Cisco, Wells, Frost... Caitlin.

Clark: I know. I'm sorry.

Y/N: If I had just been there, if I was fast enough...

Clark: There was nothing you could have done.

Burning tears streamed down Y/N's face. He eventually calmed down and nodded. The two walked back over to the others. Everyone was quiet, taking in the fate of their world. After what felt like an eternity of silence, Y/N spoke again.

Y/N: Alright, now how are we gonna get them back?

Bruce: What?

Y/N: We have to stop Brainiac. There's got to be some way of reversing all the damage he's done.

Victor: We can't. His technology and mind are too strong. We'd be powerless against him. My father knew that from the start. He used the core to take his own life rather than subject himself to the will of that psychopath.

Y/N paused for a moment, taking in what Victor just said.

Y/N: Wait, what? What did he do to the core?

Victor: He turned it on, began downloading the data, and used it on himself, exposing himself to its power.

Y/N thought for a moment. Bruce looked at him. Both came to the same realization.

Y/N: Wait, Victor, he didn't just kill himself. He may have given us an opening.

Both Victor and Clark looked at him, slightly confused by what he just said. 

Y/N: Remember what I said earlier about your human half? Brainiac's system wouldn't allow you full access because it most likely still saw you as an outsider. A human it's processing unit couldn't allow to enter. But if your father placed his hand on the core while it was downloading data, it may not have just killed him. It would have scanned his tissue while absorbing energy and data. Which means that-

Bruce: The system now has human DNA in its system, your DNA specifically. It may no longer detect you as an outsider.

Bruce spoke with a low, melancholy voice. Y/N on the other hand was starting to become optimistic.

Y/N: Victor, your father sacrificed himself to grant you access to Brainiac's systems. He may be gone, but it wasn't in vain.

Victor looked at him. His face still looked upset and uncertain.

Victor: So, you're saying that I may be able to stop Brainiac?

Y/N: Possibly. If you get a hold of his ship, access to his archives, you may be able to fix everything.

Clark: We could restore the cities to their rightful place and size, and all their inhabitants. Where's he heading?

Victor: Giza. He would have returned to the place the core built its lair. It would allow him greater processing data to fully shrink the entire planet.

Y/N: Then we need to go there and stop him.

Bruce: That's a suicide mission.

They all looked over at him. Bruce had his head down, looking at all of them like they were crazy.

Bruce: Brainiac's ship is heavily guarded with technology none of us have seen before. Even if you were to get onboard, and that's a big "if", you may not be able to fully combat his forces. Anyone who even tries to get in is nuts to begin with.

Victor: He's right. We're working off of theories and speculation. It's possible it may not even work. I may not even be granted access to the system.

Y/N: But we have to try, right? Together, we can stop it.

Victor: What makes you think I want to work anymore with this conspirator to begin with?

He pointed over to Bruce. Both men eyed each other down.

Bruce: Me?

Victor: Don't think I didn't notice the download you put on me. You've been working behind my back this entire time, behind all of our backs. You know more about us then we even know about ourselves. And you've been putting plans in place in case one of us goes rogue. Don't try to deny it. I've seen the files. Your download works both ways.

Bruce: What? You want me to say "sorry"? If you've seen my files, then you know why I'm so cautious. Why I need to preplan and prepare for the worst. You would do the same in my position.

Victor: I'm nothing like you.

Bruce: Maybe.

Bruce and Victor fell silent. They continued to eye one another. Even Clark remained silent. Y/N put his hands on the back of his head and exhaled deeply.

Y/N: Look, guys, we need to take a step back. Look at us, I mean really look at us. We're all different. We've all had different experiences, some worse than others. But we're also all alike in some strange way. We've all lost our parents, those we care about the most. And we all have been changed by those experiences. But instead of lashing out at the world, we each became something more in our own way. A symbol of hope for others, a symbol of fear for criminals. We all do this job with no reward and are sometimes left off worse because of it, but we still continue to fight so that others don't have to go through what we went through. And whether it's some strange twist of circumstances or just fate, we are all here together.

Clark: He's right. Every one of us has lost someone we loved. We're here now to make sure others don't have to lose anyone else. And that's what we need to do now. We put our differences aside and we see this through. The Earth needs heroes. Like it or not, that responsibility falls onto us. We need to be hope for others to aspire to be. I know that's a tall order, but it's our responsibility to do so. Now we need to make a stand and show that the Earth does not back down. I already lost my home planet before at a young age. I'm not going to let this one fall as well. This is where we stand.

The others all looked to him. Y/N gave a small smirk, happy that the man in blue was on his side. After a moment, Victor sighed and stood up.

Victor: I may not be entirely human, and I may not even know what I am anymore, but this is my home, too. My father said I get to choose who I want to become. I choose to be a protector. And if I fall, at least it will be with no regrets knowing I will do what I chose to do with people I chose to fight alongside. 

Y/N smiled at him, patting the metallic man on the back. They all then looked over at the man still sitting down in his chair.

Y/N: What do you say, Bruce? Do you wanna go down with a couple of nutjobs?

Wayne thought for a moment. He then lifted his head and looked at all of them. He had a smirk on his face.

Bruce: Let's get nuts.

The team all began to suit up. Victor brought up both of his arms, changing them into canons and checking his power supply needed for them. He scanned through his system, making sure everything was in order.

Y/N decided to put on his original Flash suit. He put on his bright red jacket with the yellow lightning bolt. He put on his electrical gloves and boots, their yellow color highlighted against his red. Lightning crackled behind the young man's eyes before he placed his tinted goggles over them. He looked at his helmet, taking in the design before placing it tightly on his head.

Bruce walked over to his computer. He pressed a few keys and finished downloading the data he needed. He pulled out his scanner, now with the data needed to cut off Brainiac's systems.

Wayne then walked over to a large case containing several copies of his suit. He grabbed his cowl, boots, and gloves. The old vigilante put everything on in its rightful place. He then stepped out, now transformed into Batman. His cape flowed behind him from a gentle breeze brushing by.

Superman was outside, standing on a hillside and letting the yellow sun hit his body. Clark looked out over the beautiful sunrise and smiled. This is what he was sent to do.

Back down in the cave, the other three stepped towards a large platform. Pressing a few buttons on his gauntlet, Batman called down the Batwing. The jet was hanging from the roof of the cave and slowly descended down onto the loading platform. It's wing-shaped fins extended from their folded position.

The three men hopped aboard. Bruce took control, punching in the location they needed. He revved the engine and took off.

The Batwing slowly emerged out of the cave, flying through the waterfall and over a lake behind the manor. As it took off, the other three saw Superman fly next to them. The man in blue and the man in black nodded at one another. They soared together through the skies, enroute to save the world.