Chapter 37 Luna Legacy (2)

Luna in her human form sat on her mattress and hugged her knees to her chest. She quietly sobbed into her knees. All she wanted to do was leave her little room and scream at her adopted grandmother that everything Dani said was wrong. Yet, she couldn't bring herself to do it, because Dani was right in everything she said. It was the painful truth.

Still quietly crying, Luna stood and walked over to the same picture that was beside the large DP logo. She stared at the picture that she drew years ago as a small child. It was fantasy that never happened. She hadn't ever been around her father, and she hadn't seen her mother since the day she was born. All the drawing could ever be was a dream she held in her heart. Luna had always dreamed of her parents lovingly holding her hands like that, but it would never be for many different reasons other than the fact that both her parents were dead.

Wiping her eyes, Luna moved to her makeshift dresser and pulled out a thick file that she hid away years ago. It took a lot of effort to sneak into the League's headquarters and copy this down, but it was worth it to know the truth. She opened it up to see the translated version of the Reach's notes on Project Legacy.

In the Earthling calendar on December 31, 2010, the Reach's old allies the Light gained control over the entire Justice League and Danny Phantom. While their control over the meat's League gave the Reach the opportunity to gain control over the Earth, their control over Phantom gave birth to Project Legacy. In between the time from when the Light first gained control over Phantom to the time that he fought against the young heroes, the Light ordered him to submit sperm samples.

While the Light did nothing with the sperm samples for years, they did extensive research in the best possible ways to use them. Unfortunately, cloning and test tube offspring proved to be ineffectual. There needed to be a physical woman to birth the offspring. Several candidates were considered, but none of them were compatible. There was only one woman that test proved that was a proper match to the requirements needed to birth a child…Jenifer Savage AKA Jinx.

Unfortunately, Savage was unwilling to use his kin as a breeder without her permission. Once the Light was conquered and the Reach gained control over all of the group's assets, Savage was no longer an issue. It took a few years and all the sperm samples, but finally we were able to impregnate Jinx. All signs were good with the child until we had a lapse of security. Jinx took advantage of the guards underestimating a pregnant woman and escaped using an escape pod. The Reach tried to track her, but the trail went cold once the escape pod was found on Earth.

Luna stopped in her reading. That was all she really cared about in the documents. The Reach didn't even know that Jenifer died giving birth to her. This was data that the League managed to get in their last attempts to rescue human slaves from the Reach. That was the same time they managed to save Bart and his father. So, Luna had this knowledge for almost two years now.

With a sigh, Luna put the file away once more. This is why Dani was right and why Luna's picture was an impossible even if her parents were alive. She was born a child that neither of her parents consented to at all. Both of them had been violated multiple times in order for her to be conceived. Jenifer must have died cursing her, and Danny died long ago never knowing that she would ever exist.

"But he probably would have hated me," Luna fought off tears as they tried to return, "Hell, I would if I was him."

Taking a deep breath, she looked back to the logo on her wall. She heard so many stories about Danny Phantom. He was a legend, a person that did great things while being a kind and forgiving man. Luna borderline worshiped him after hearing all the stories about him, and she was his only child not born out of cloning. All she wanted was to live up to his legacy and make humanity great again, but…

"We're fooling ourselves," Luna walked over to the logo, "There's no hope anymore. We're humanity's last generation. There's no way to fix—"

BOOM!

Luna was thrown off balance as the loud explosion rocked the entire hut. She slammed into the wall and slid to the ground. After the shaking stopped, Luna jumped back to her feet and transformed back to her ghost form, "What the Apokolips was that!?"

Luna heard glass shatter in the next room. It was quickly followed by the sounds of shouts and fighting. With wide eyes, she rushed from her room to help her caretaker.

As Luna flung the door open, she saw her adopted grandmother stab her real arm through the chest of a blue skinned alien wearing red armor. She then flung the corpse to the side with swing of that arm. The older halfa then raised her fake arm as the metal shifted from a simple limb into an energy cannon that increased the power of her own attacks. With a roar, the now forced out of retirement Spirit opened fire through the window to the other attackers on the outside.

Luna quickly jumped in front of her caretaker and blocked the incoming energy attacks with her palms. She absorbed the energy and added it to her own core before sending out an ectoplasm ball attack with both the combined power of the blasts. The ball flew out through the window and rammed into several attackers, knocking them out. With the attackers dealt with, Spirit turned her energy canon back to its original form.

"What the Apokolips was that?" Luna questioned.

"The Reach," Dani hissed, "They found us."

Luna looked at her caretaker in alarm, "How?"

"I don't know. Perhaps they upgraded their energy sensors or some scouts saw some unusual activity around here," Dani sighed and looked to the side. When she had dealt with the first attack, some of the fool's blood got on a few of her papers, "Whatever it was, this place isn't safe anymore."

Dani walked to her desk and moved all the papers, binders, and books into the drawers. She then pressed a button on the side which activated a panel behind the desk. With a grunt, the older halfa pushed the desk inside and closed the panel. She pulled out a key from a compartment in her fake leg and locked the compartment before shifting the metal to hide the keyhole.

"Here," Dani handed the key to Luna, "Keep that safe no matter what."

"O-Okay…" Luna slid the key into her pocket.

Dani moved to look out the window, "More will come soon. They can't know what's in there, and we don't have time to properly pack those papers. If they get damaged, then the whole plan is ruined. You need to give that key to Batman. Once this is over, he's the only one with the stealth skills to get in and out without the Reach noticing."

"Grandma…" Luna had a confused look.

"Luna," Dani turned to the younger halfa, "I need you to go to the evacuation site as quickly as you can. No stopping, even to save other people. Do you understand me?"

"What? I can't just—"

"You can, and you will!" Dani snapped.

Luna paled.

Dani stepped up to Luna and placed her hands on the girl's shoulders, "Luna, for once in your life, obey me. This is bigger than me…or you…or anyone in Remnant. This is about fixing everything. The fate of humanity is in your pocket right now. So I want you to promise me on that Goddamn logo that you love so much that you will go straight to the evacuation site and give that key to Batman."

Luna was shocked by how desperate her caretaker looked, "I-I swear."

"On what?"

"On…on the Phantom Family's symbol."

Dani's eyes became misty for a seconds as if she was remembering something from the past. That look quickly faded away, "Good girl. Now go and don't look back."

Luna stumbled as Dani pushed her towards the door. On instinct, she rushed out the door and took off to the sky. As she did this, more Reach soldiers stormed the area. They raised energy spears and tried to shoot at her. The girl was forced to dodge the blasts of energy before Dani jumped out the window and tore through them with the combinations of her Spectral Claw and sonic cannon.

Despite the order to not look back, Luna looked back to Dani killing her enemies until the sight was only dots in her vision. Gaining a determined look, Luna turned her head away and rushed to the evacuation site. She had a mission to fulfill.

"Luna!" Bart rushed to meet Luna as the halfa touched down next to him in the evacuation area. She saw the weaker and younger citizens of Remnant piling down into a secret cavern to an escape ship. While the majority of the citizens of the city had some form of power from the Reach's experiments, not all of the powers were battle appropriate, "I'm so glad you're safe. Come on, the others are waiting—"

"Where's Batman?" Luna demanded with a completely serious look on her face.

Bart was surprised by her directness, "W-With the others…"

"Come on," Luna grabbed Bart and had him direct her to the Dark Knight. As she moved, she ignored the distractions around her. The crowd rushed past her. Fighting between the League and the Reach blared in the city. Space ships flew above them, firing down at the energy dome. Luckily, the dome had been designed to be sturdy on the outside to protect the city while allowing their own attacks to pass through the dome on the inside.

Luna and Bart soon came up to Batman who was glaring at their classmates, "I don't care what you want. Get into the evac ship."

"But Luna…" Anita looked over to see Luna and Bart approaching, "LUNA!"

Luna waved off her friends and pushed through to Batman. She pulled out the key and held it out for Batman, "Grandma told me to give this to you."

Batman eyed the key, "Good job, Luna. That's very important. Give it—"

Bang!

Despite the war raging above them and in the city, everything suddenly went silent for Luna. She pulled the key back in shock. Her jaw dropped, and her eyes widened. Batman now had a gaping, smoking hole in his chest. With a gag noise, he collapsed to the ground. He was dead before he could even hit the ground.

Bombshell stood right behind where Batman just stood. A glowing hand was raised right at Luna. The female Leaguer had a distant look on her face as she eyed the key and the meta-humans, "All targets present. Enacting mission to return the meat property back to the Reach."

Bart went pale as he recognized the slave look that Bombshell had, "She's on mode!"

Dani flew through the streets of Remnant, cutting through the Reach soldiers with practiced ease. After years of fighting against the tougher aliens, the foot soldiers lie like cockroaches being stomped. As she left a trail of bleeding bodies behind her, the heroine of old came across Reach soldiers capturing a few civilians that had been left behind in the rush out of the city.

Frowning, Spirit rushed forward to help the citizens. As she flew, a blade extended from her artificial foot. Before the first soldier could even realize what was happening, the halfa woman kicked at his head and decapitated him. Blood splattered against the other soldiers, temporarily blinding them. Spirit made them suffer for their weakness. They were cut down and blasted into pieces without a second thought.

Spirit quickly used her blades to cut the captives free, "Get to the evac area and stick to the shadows. You won't get lucky a second time."

The citizens quickly did as the ghost told them to do. Spirit watched as they rushed off. Without a word, she raised her real hand to send out a blast of energy to them. The blast stopped right before it hit them and transformed into a shield that stopped a blast of energy from knocking them off balance.

Once the citizens were gone, Spirit turned to the attacker, "Should have known that you would be the one to lead the attack. The Reach loves their irony. But…why not attack me?"

"You'd know that it was coming before I did anything. At least with that move, I had a chance to stop the meat," The large figure in front of her explained.

"True, I guess we've fought enough for you to know the limits of my power by now, Jaime," Spirit noted.

The one called Jaime was an extremely tall man with the muscles of a body builder. Blue armor in the shape of a beetle covered his entire body, "There is no Jaime, anymore. There is only Blue Beetle, Warrior of the Reach."

"Oh, trust me," Spirit rubbed the scars across her face, "I know, but old habits die hard. Even now, I see the skinny boy trying to impress me. The real Jaime sucked at hiding his attraction to me. Luckily, Victor was understanding."

Blue Beetle just stood there listening.

Spirit took a deep breath, "Before we fight for the last time, and I kill you…Why did you do it? Why kill Victor? Your masters would have benefited from keeping him alive."

"Does it matter?"

Spirit shook her head, "I suppose not. Goodbye, Jaime. For what it's worth, I hate what the Reach did to you…not you yourself."

"Hate is still hate."

"Heh…True. And I know a lot about hate," Spirit's eyes suddenly began to shift from their normal neon green to a deep purple. Her once normally shaped eyes shifted into a swirling vortex of ever shifting lines.

"Ah, that power. The Reach could never quite figure out a perfect strategy for that."

Spirit nodded. Vision's Premonition was the ultimate evolution of her abilities. While once she could only read the intentions of her opponents, she could now completely predict everything that her opponent would do until she attacked herself. That was how she knew that Blue Beetle was going to use his sonic cannon. The image of his next moves disappeared as she sent out an energy blast of her own. No time to waste waiting for a perfect opening. The last remnant of humanity was being cut away with each second that this fight dragged on. She had to end this as quickly as possible.

It was Bart's superhuman reaction speeds that ultimately saved Luna from Bombshell's follow-up attack. The girl was still numb at the realization that her trusted teacher had been a Reach mole the entire time and had just killed one of the few people Luna completely trusted and respected. Bart managed to drag her away just as Bombshell's glowing fist was right about to ram into her head.

As Luna was dragged away, she saw that a few of her friends had the opposite reaction to Bombshell's betrayal. In a rage at the death of his brother, Robin lunged forward with his staff ready to strike. He was quickly followed by coolheaded Anita and pragmatic Kai-Ro. After landing a few blows on the traitorous Leaguer, Robin flipped away and allowed his companions to attack their now ex-teacher. Anita muttered a spell to slow Bombshell's movements as Kai-Ro formed a bubbled around the woman to try to contain her.

Neither of these tactics proved effectual. Bombshell used her extreme power advantage to blow the shields away with a burst of radioactive energy. The force of energy knocked all the young fighters off their feet, except the ever overpowered Kryptonian in their group. Forcing her meekness down, Cir-El flew towards Bombshell at full speed to try and knock the woman out without really causing permanent damage. It was this mindset that allowed Bombshell to smack the less experienced girl around with ease.

Luna felt blood run from her split lip as she forced herself up. Still in a daze, she looked to her once trusted instructor. She couldn't understand how the Reach managed to bypass the League's security measures. Bombshell had been in the League for a long time now. Were the Reach planning and preparing for this the entire time?

"Luna!" Bart drew Luna's attention away from the fight, "LUNA! You need to get up!"

"I…Okay…" Luna forced herself up.

Mareena was quickly by the halfa's side, "Are you injured?"

"N-No…"

"Good, because we need you," Mareena pointed at Bombshell, "You are the only one who has the advantage over her. You need to lead this fight."

"But…

"Now is not the time for doubt," Mareena looked to the panicking citizens behind them, "If you do not fight right now, a lot of people are going to die. No time to think. No time to doubt."

"I…okay…No doubts," Luna said to herself. Her eyes suddenly flashed pink, "I-I got this."

Blue Beetle's armored hands shifted into curved beetle blades. Spirit dodged each of Blue Beetle's swings with ease. She then danced around a blast of plasma energy from an energy cannon from Blue's chest. As she moved, the halfa flipped over with the blade from her false leg sticking out ready to stab her enemy in the neck. Unfortunately for her, Blue's armor was thicker than she remembered. Despite cutting through the metal on his armor, she only left a thin cut on his flesh.

Her work was quickly undone as the armor worked to fix the hole. Blue Beetle confidently rushed forward to counter attack with sonic cannons. Spirit kicked one of the canons away with her real foot as her real arm blocked the other weapon. The sound waves that came out of the arm cannons tore through the nearby scrap buildings with ease, but Spirit wasn't concerned with that. Her focus was completely on her current and perhaps last fight.

Spirit's artificial arm shifted into its own weapon form. She swung it in front of the taller man and unleashed a concentrated blast of energy straight into Blue's faces. Although the warrior's armor protected him from damage, he was forced off balance. The halfa woman immediately took advantage of his weakness. She spun around with her Spectral Claw activated and cut across his ribs.

This time, she understood the thickness of the man's armor and managed to cut right through the metal. As she spun away, she grinned in satisfaction at the shout of pain and the spray of blood from her former friend. Once she was a safe distance from Jaime, she pointed her arm cannon at the weakened side of Blue Beetle with the intent to attack it again before the armor could heal. She was forced to abort the attack as she heard the familiar beeping sound coming from beside her head. Spirit tried to move, but she was too slow. An explosion occurred right beside her head.

With a grunt, Spirit flew out of the smoke and fire with her left side covered in burns. Blue Beetle must have deployed a bomb while she was attacking. The scarab must have predicted her ending point and placed the bomb accordingly. That damn A.I. was what was always the hard part about fighting a Reach warrior.

'There goes the idea of finishing this quickly,' Spirit thought to herself.

Luna had never been in a real fight before where her enemy went all out. She had, however, had more hours of training and intense sparring in her short life than most of the Leaguers had throughout their careers. It was this reason and her knowledge of every power Bombshell had which motivated her to rush in and save Cir- El from their brainwashed mentor. As Bombshell choked the Kryptonian girl, Luna rushed in and punched her target square in the jaw with a fist covered in glowing pink energy.

Bombshell stumbled back and clutched at her smoking face. Despite her desire to make sure her friend was okay, Luna made sure to follow up with another attack on her enemy. The halfa girl sent out a barrage of energy blasts towards the Reach controlled member of the League. Each blast smashed into the older woman and forced her to stumble back even further. Eventually, Bombshell had enough of the attacks and thrusted both of her hands out to send out a massive wave of energy that would have covered all of her students in radiation.

Luna wasn't about to let the attack make it to her friends, though. She held her hands out and let the giant wave hit her palms. As soon as the radiation hit her palms, Luna absorbed the energy into her arms and then into her own core. In mere seconds, the wave disappeared, leaving a further empowered Luna to fight against Bombshell.

In the time that Luna had absorbed the attack, Bombshell had managed to recover from the previous attacks. The older woman rushed forward with glowing fists ready to strike the girl down. It seemed that even a mind controlled Bombshell knew that far range energy combat was useless against the halfa. Instead, she tried to use her superior reach and battle experience to defeat Luna using close hand combat.

Quiet curses left Luna's lips. She had a hard time keeping up with Bombshell in hand-to-hand combat when Bombshell was holding back. Luna managed to block the first couple of blows by absorbing the combination of radioactive energy and kinetic energy with her hands. Eventually, Bombshell's superior combat prowess proved too much for her, though, and Luna was smashed backward just like how she did with Bombshell previously.

Luckily, Luna wasn't alone in this fight. Bart rushed behind Bombshell and kicked her behind the knees. This forced Bombshell to tumble to the ground. Mareena then jumped onto Bombshell's back and wrapped her arms around the Leaguer's neck. Suddenly, black eel tattoos appeared on Mareena's arms from beneath her long sleeved shirt. Electricity surged out and electrocuted Bombshell. Said woman screamed out in pain and shook in agony.

Once Bombshell was properly stunned, Mareena jumped away. The stunned Bombshell wasn't allowed to collapse, though. Kai-Ro and Anita caught the woman with chains of willpower and magic respectively. This held the recovering Bombshell up so that she was right in the way of Luna who was gathering a large ball of pink energy in front of her. With a roar, the halfa flung the ball of ectoplasm at the Leaguer and sent her flying back into a building which collapsed under the force.

Despite the appearance that Bombshell had been defeated, none of the young fighters let their guard down. They were about to chase the Leaguer through the rubble, but they were stopped when dozens of Reach soldiers flooded into the area. They were being led by a figure that looked very similar to Blue Beetle. The only difference was that the warrior's armor was black instead of blue.

With their attention on the now attacking Reach soldiers, none of the young fighters realized that Bombshell had recovered. The on mode Leaguer rushed to Mareena and grabbed her by the throat. The last Atlantian gasped and grabbed at Bombshell's hands. Before any of Mareena's friends could act or even say any words of comfort to their friend, Bombshell squeezed her hand with as much force as possible. The snap that followed nearly made the young heroes vomit and break out into sobbing fits.

"The Reach has already conducted all possible research on the Atlantians," Bombshell noted with a dull tone in her voice, "This meat was expendable."

Spirit danced around the twin blasts of concentrated sound that came out of Blue Beetle's arm cannons. As Spirit moved, she created two different orbs of energy around her like satellites. After ducking under Blue Beetle's attacks one more time, she phazed through the moon rock floor below her. The energy balls remained above ground, though. They began to fly towards Blue Beetle at rapid speeds.

Snarling, the Reach puppet tried to knock down the orbs with his sound attacks. Like their owners, the balls of energy danced around the beams of sound. Once the orbs were close to Blue Beetle, they went downward and rammed into the man's knees. The force of the following explosions knocked him off balance so that he fell down straight to the ground. As he fell, Spirit's hand popped out below his head and created a Spectral Claw to stab the warrior through the eyes.

Before Blue Beetle's head made contact with the ectoplasmic nails, wings burst from his back and stopped him. He quickly rose to avoid Spirit bursting from the ground to follow through with her attack. Spirit made sure to keep him on the defensive. A metal blade burst from her artificial arm to give all her limbs a deadlier edge. She flawlessly flowed through her attacks to cut the larger man. Through her combos, she managed to cut a few different parts of his body.

Eventually, Blue Beatle's chest blaster formed again and fired a beam of energy at his attacker. Spirit managed to create an energy shield, but she was immediately forced back. After skidding back a dozen feet, Spirit felt the attack fade so she dismissed her shield. Once the ectoplasm was gone, though, she saw that Blue Beetle had brought his arms together to create a battering ram.

Just as the ram was about to hit her, Spirit extended her arms forward and caught the battering ram. She managed to stop her enemy's momentum and get into a pushing contest with him. They were quickly forced to a standstill. Both of them decided to up their force. A jetpack formed in Blue Beatle's back to replace his wings as energy burst from Spirit's feet. This continued for a few moments before Spirit smirked and stopped her moment. Still holding the man, she flipped him over tossed him over his head. Just as she let go of him, Spirit swung her legs over and went for her enemy's arms.

Blue Beetle only grunted as he was sent flying. Once he skipped a few times off the ground, he immediately tried to push himself up. To his surprise, though, his vision was now extremely blurry. The Reach puppet looked to see his arm covered in bits of blood from his smaller cuts. Not only that, the inside of his forearms had extremely deep gashes that had blood pouring out of them. Disoriented, Blue Beetle couldn't keep himself from collapsing.

"Even if you have Reach tech, your body is still a normal human's," Spirit's smirked at the downed fighter, "You can only lose so much blood before your body shuts down. It helps that I know the exact places that bleed the most. Death by a thousand cuts. You Reach scum never did look in too deep to Earth sayings, did you?"

As Bombshell dropped Mareena, she got a perfect view of the Atlantian's broken neck. It was disgusting in its unnatural curve and sick points. What was worse was Mareena's eyes, though. Once bright orbs were now dull and full of horror. Mareena gasped and gagged while trying to move a body that refused to respond. In mere seconds, her eyes glazed over as the peace of death soothed her suffering.

Luna's lack of hardened battle experience proved to be her undoing. Unlike the veteran Leaguers, she could not just fight through seeing multiple loved ones killed before her eyes. Her entire mind shut down despite the danger around her. The others were not much different. Stress and grief overcame even the most stubborn of the children. They didn't even try to stop the Reach soldiers from capturing them.

Through the fog, Luna realized that Black Beatle had grabbed her and was holding her, "Main target acquired. Well done, meat. Disposing of the useless one was the best way to defeat the Earthlings."

"Thank you, sir," Bombshell bowed her head in respect.

As the shock faded, Luna's friends tried to struggle. Power inhibiting collars had already been placed around their necks, so none of the meta-humans could fight back. Even the non-powered Robin could do nothing as three different Reach soldiers held him down. Luna also tried to struggle, but despite not having a collar on her, she could not fight free of Black Beatle.

Black Beetle laughed, "I learned a lot about how to fight ghosts over the years, girl. None of your powers will get you free. Someone get me an inhibitor collar."

One of the soldiers obeyed their commander's orders. The soldier tried to put the collar on her, but Luna struggled and made the task more difficult. Frowning, Black Beatle increased the force of his hold, "Stop it, Project Legacy. You're only making it worse for you later. There's no—"

"Luna! Palms out!" A familiar voice sounded out.

Luna's eyes widened as she recognized the voice. She obeyed the command and turned her palms out. Electricity smashed into her palm. The power rushed through her body, allowing her to temporally use the electricity to her advantage. She surged the electricity out to shock Black Beatle and the surrounding Reach soldiers. They all shouted out in agony. Black Beetle was even forced to let go of her.

"GET AWAY FROM HER!" Box Lunch shouted out in a rage. She flew into the scene with her fists raised. Small dense cubes of energy appeared on her knuckles. The ghost hit Black Beatle with such force that he was sent was sent flying back into a rock wall. The cubes that had hit him quickly grew and covered his arms and head to hold him into place.

As Box Lunch did this, two men knocked the Reach soldiers away. One of them was a dark skinned man with graying dreadlocks. Dark shades covered his eyes while a large blue and yellow coat covered his body. The other man had his entire body covered in silver armor, except for the pair of wings that sprung from his back.

"Static and Warhawk," Bombshell pointed a glowing hand at the heroes, "You shall not—OOF!"

A giant of a man rammed into the woman and knocked her back into the rubble. His large form was covered in a torn trench coat, but his unnaturally large muscles were shown in the opening of the coat for all to see. Crimson hair burst from his squared head like fire, "Damn it. Can't believe she got through the cracks. I thought my mom evaluated her before she passed?"

"She did, Abuse," Static noted as he sent a surge of electricity to the young heroes collars to free them.

"S-Static," Bart rubbed his sore neck, "M-My dad…"

"He's fine. Helping the others in the city," Static explained, "He wanted to come when Batman's death alarm went off, but we needed him to help the civilians. And to think that I used to make fun of Terry's stupid heart monitor project…"

"Shit…Batman…Mareena," Warhawk looked to the corpses, "Kaldur made me promise to take care of her…"

"No time to mourn right now. You too, kids," Box Lunch watched as Black Beetle and Bombshell recovered, "Revenge comes first."

Blue Beetle's eyes suddenly shined red. Once again, wings burst from his back. Despite the blood running down his body, the former hero flew up into the air, "Direct control on mode."

"Oh, the scarab. First time I've heard you in a while. Ever since you figured out to hide from my Premonition," Spirit examined Blue Beatles strange new eyes, "Didn't know that you could function that well when your meat is injured like that."

"Extreme measures necessary. Current host close to ceasing. Once that happens, the mode will be crashed. Directive is now to take all surrounding enemies with him," Blue Beetle's scarab shifted his arm into blade form once.

"Not gonna happen," Spirit took a defensive stance, "I don't need to win now. I just need to waste time, and you know that you don't have a strategy I can't get around as long as I focus on defending."

"There is one." Blue Beetle rushed forward with his blades ready. His metal shifted as different egg shaped pieces of metal appeared across his body.

Vision's Premonition flared in Spirit's mind. Her eyes widened in horror. She desperately tried to move back, but Blue Beetle had a head with his jetpack. He was quickly in range for his plan. It was a plan that was near impossible to counter. Cursing, Spirit knew that her only chance to avoid what came next was to attack first. A beam of energy rammed into Blue Beetle's face, but the scarab didn't care as its host was blinded, concussed, and knocked off balance. After all, the meat would soon be dead. No need for self-preservation.

Spirit knew that she could only spit out profanities at this point, "Son of a—"

BOOM!

An explosion rocked the area as the bombs scarab had created went off. The energy that burst from the explosion completely consumed the ghost and the Reach warrior. The surrounding block went up into flames. Everything was reduced to rubble in an instant.

Once the smoke and flames died down, Spirit and Blue Beetle were actually shown to still be standing. Both of them were covered in first degree burns. Skin was blown off in different places. Spirit's artificial limbs had been completely blown away. They both looked like the walking dead. Despite everything, though, they were alive. That wouldn't be for long, though.

Spirit's one remaining eye looked down to her chest where Blue Beetle's blades were stabbed into her and shining in green blood.

"…bitch."

With the combined effort of the Justice League and the young heroes, Bombshell and Black Beetle were pretty much overwhelmed. The Reach fighters were quickly pushed back and beaten down. It only took a few seconds for the Earthlings to gain the advantage. That was until a large chunk of the city behind them blew up, that is.

Everyone turned as the explosion rang out. They could only watch as the fire danced. All the residents of Remnant had looks of horror across their faces. Luna was especially affected, though. For some reason, her heart twisted in her chest. Her instincts went haywire. A single thought popped into her mind.

"Grandma…" Luna whispered in horror. She didn't know how she knew, but there was no doubt in her mind that her caretaker was at the center of that disaster. Without another word, she rushed off toward the burning city.

"LUNA!" Box Lunch shouted out angrily, "COME BACK!"

With his enemies distracted, Black Beetle took in the situation. He was outnumbered by the meta-humans. One-on-one, he could beat any of them. But the numbers game was against him. Not only that, but the prime target had escaped with a low probability of returning. This mission was a failure. There was only one solution. The Earthlings belonged to the Reach, but if they wouldn't obey, then it was time for the final option.

Black Beetle smirked. His brother warrior had the right idea.

"So…" Spirit whispered out, "This is it…"

Blue Beetle was silent.

"Forgot how the Reach operates. Can't do much to avoid a kamikaze attack," Spirit grumbled bitterly.

Blue Beatle tried to remove the blades from Spirit's chest. To his surprise, though, Spirit reached up and held them in place with her remaining arm. He tried to force the blade out, but the halfa woman wouldn't let go.

"What…are you…doing…." It was obvious that Blue Beatle's body was giving out.

"Waiting…" Spirit explained, "She'll come. Never obeyed me before. No reason to start now."

"She—AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

Without hesitation, Luna had come down from her flight and latched herself onto Blue Beetle's back. She immediately placed her hands onto the Beetle's scarab. With an angry roar, she began to suck in the energy from the scarab into her own body. With his weakened body and his arms trapped by Spirit, Blue Beetle could only scream out in agony as its life was sucked out of it. The armor covering the man began to fade away as the scarab died. All that was left was the body of Jaime Reyes.

With the armor gone, the blades faded away as well. Blood poured from Spirit's chest wound. Unlike a normal human, though, she could push through such blood loss. She moved in with her remaining hand covered with her last Spectral Claw. The halfa woman tackled Jaime to the ground, forcing Luna to let go and float back.

Roaring in rage that had built up over the past forty years, Spirit repeatedly stabbed the dying Jaime in every spot she could reach. Even when Jaime had clearly died and was a bloody paste, Spirit didn't stop until her body completely gave out on her and forced her to collapse to the ground beside Jaime's corpse.

Black Beetle took advantage of the heroes' distraction. He rushed to Bombshell with his blades ready. With a roar that drew the attention of his enemies back to him, he thrusted his blades into Bombshell's back. Everyone gasped in horror. None was more horrified than the stabbed woman herself.

"W-Why?" Bombshell questioned.

"The Reach has spent far too long investing on Earth's meat," Black Beetle droned out, "The 'humanity' of Earth has proven not worth the effort. You will never fully obey. The Reach may never have the Earthling meat, but at least I will get the satisfaction of ending all of your pathetic lives."

The other fighters rushed to Black Beetle, but the Reach warrior was too fast for them. He pulled his blades from Bombshell's chest and rocketed into the air towards the ships above them. It was time to leave the remains of the solar system once and for all.

Static was instantly by Bombshell's side, "Damn it. Can the damage be repaired?"

"No…Too much damage…" Bombshell closed her eyes, "The Reach has spoken. Humanity dies today."

Warhawk looked to Box Lunch, "Can you heal her?"

"Her body isn't flesh anymore," Box Lunch noted, "Can't manipulate it."

Abuse turned to the younger heroes, "Can any of you contain a nuclear explosion?"

Kai-Ro raised an eyebrow, "You cannot be serious."

"I-I can t-throw her," Cir-El stepped forward to do the task.

"No," Bombshell forced energy from her chest wound and forced everyone back, "The Reach has spoken. I will not allow interference."

Seeing that the woman wouldn't let them mess with her, Box Lunch looked to the other heroes, "Evacuate! Our only chance is to run!"

Static looked to the unstable opening in Bombshell's chest, "No way we can get out of range in time!"

"We have to try!"

Luna quickly moved by her caretaker's side. She flinched as she saw Spirit's hideous wounds, "Highfather have mercy…Grandma…"

Spirit hazily looked up to her kin, "Luna…thank you for that…I needed that before I died…"

"Don't talk like that!" Hot tears streamed down Luna's face, "I'll got get Box Lunch. She can heal your wounds. You won't—"

"Hush," Spirit silenced the girl, "I'll be gone….before you get back. Just…stay with me…I don't want to die alone…"

"Grandma," Luna sobbed out. For the first time in a long time, Luna did as her caretaker ordered without question. She sat down next to the woman and gently lifted up the older halfa's head into her lap.

"Good girl," Spirit allowed a ring to appear around her waist and transform her back to her normal form. She instantly coughed out, "Gack! Ah! Been a while...since I took this form…But I'd prefer to die like this…It'll prove that I lasted this long…"

Luna's lips trembled.

"Hey…Do I get a last request? Bury me…on Earth…" Dani stated, "I want to be…with the others…and be buried…on my home planet…"

"O-Okay…" Luna's tears fell from her chin and onto Dani's face.

"Thank you…" Dani closed her eyes, "Luna…I'm sorry…"

"F-For what?"

"For what I said earlier…For how cold I've been your entire life…For being a terrible Grandma…" Dani gasped out as her lungs filled with blood, "I was…too hurt…Lost so many…didn't want to get close…didn't deserve you…"

"No! I'm sorry! I was such a brat! I should have listened to you more!" Luna sobbed hysterically, "I was so bad! You're right! My parents would have hated me!"

"No…no…Jinx died loving you, and Danny…" Dani's became weaker with each word, "He would be so proud…Be strong, Luna…You are our Legacy…desk…fix…everything."

Dani said no more. Luna didn't even try to awaken her. It would be pointless. Her most precious person was dead. She gently placed Dani's head back down onto the ground. Leaning down, Luna gently kissed Dani on the forehead, "I will. I promise. I'll do everything you asked. But first I need to do something. I'll be back for you, Grandma."

Everyone was in a panic. They were desperately trying to enter the cavern and get to the escape ship, but the ship had been damaged in the invasion. They were trapped. From his spot at the entrance of the cave, Bart could only shake his head. While the others panicked, he had other plans. Even if he had only a few seconds left, he had to find his dad. If he was going to die, it would be with family.

Before he could, though, he noticed Luna flying back towards where Bombshell was radiating off different surges of energy, "Luna!"

Bart's shout drew the attention of the other heroes from the damaged escape ship. They ran to the entrance of the cave and watched as Luna flew in close to the downed Bombshell. She flew in close with her palms out to absorb the energy blasting off the brainwashed Leaguer. Seeing the approaching girl, Bombshell tried to push out more surges of radiation push Luna back. This didn't slow the girl down at all. In fact, she sped up.

Snarling in rage, Luna jumped on top of Bombshell and placed her hands over the cut in the woman's suit. Bombshell could only look up in fear at Luna's hate filled look, "You…"

Luna hissed at her, "I did promise that I would absorb all your energy next time didn't I?"

"Wait. Have mercy—AAHH!"

Luna began to pull energy out of Bombshell. All the radioactive power ran up Luna's arms and into her body. Bombshell twitched and shouted in agony as the life was literally sucked out of her. In seconds, the Reach slave was drained to the point that her suit was completely flat. Luna didn't stop there. She continued to absorb the woman until there was literally nothing left.

Now filled with energy to the point that it was overflowing, Luna stood up. She was now covered in a complete halo of pink energy. Looking up, Luna saw the Reach ships retreating in the distance. Luna raised a hand towards the ships and sent out a giant beam of energy that shot up through the dome and towards the Reach ships. The burst of ectoplasm and radiation that followed completely disintegrated the Reach ships into ash.

Luna's venomous look didn't fade in the slightest as she watched the energy dance in the distance. She kept her hand up but turned it around so that she could properly flip the Reach off, "I don't do mercy."

"Luna! Luna!" Bart rushed over to the halfa in a blur, "That was crash…"

Bart flinched when Luna looked to him. He had never seen Luna look so angry before, "Yeah, it was."

"Y-You okay?" Bart questioned.

"No. I'm not," Luna turned away and flew back down to the city where the previous explosion had rang out. Without hesitating, Bart ran after her. Exchanging looks with the other heroes, Box Lunch also followed after the girl despite knowing that she wouldn't like what she found in the city.

As soon as he saw Dani's corpse, Bart vomited. He didn't even try to stop it. Perhaps it was everything that happened that day finally crashing in on him, but he just knelt and let everything in his stomach flow out. Luna didn't blame him. She would have done the same is she wasn't so mad.

"Oh Jesus," Box Lunch noted as she landed beside the children, "Dani…"

"It was Blue Beatle," Luna spit on the corpse by her cartaker's body, "He did this."

"B-Blue B-Beatle?" Bart eyed the bloody mush in disgust, "That's Blue? I can't believe that he's dead. When my dad and I were being held by the Reach, he seemed so invincible…"

"No one is invincible," Box Lunch noted.

"That's something I'm grateful for," A new man rushed to the scene in a blur. He was a tall man wearing a more armored version of the Flash's uniform, "Always wanted to see that bastard dead."

"Dad!" Bart rushed to his father and hugged him. The actions were immediately reciprocated.

"Flash…" Box Lunch sighed. She didn't have the energy for tradition right now, "How is it? How many did we lose?"

"Too many," Flash shook his head, "I did a quick sweep of the city. Couldn't keep track of how many dead there were. Didn't find anyone hiding either. Most likely, everyone at the escape ship is what's left.

"Damn…That has to be more than half," Box Lunch rubbed her face in grief and exhaustion, "We just about lost everything today."

"Not everything," Luna spoke out. Everyone looked as the girl gently picked up Dani's corpse, "I'm going to take Grandma home and wrap her up. Say my last goodbyes. Then…I'm gonna bury her."

"Luna, you don't have to—" Box Lunch was quickly interrupted.

"I do," Luna turned and began to fly away, "I need some time alone with her. Come get me when you absolutely need me."

Fortunately for the last remaining halfa, her home had been outside the blast radius. Luna had quickly wrapped Dani's body in any clean cloth she could find and laid the body onto the mattress in her room. Once that was dealt with, Luna wiped the tears from her eyes. All she wanted to do was curl up into a ball and cry, but she had things to do and not a whole lot of time to do it. Turning from the corpse, Luna walked back to the logo on her wall. She carefully pulled her favorite picture down from the wall, folded it up, and kissed it before slipping it into a pocket.

The halfa then pressed her fist against the logo before leaving her room. Once in the other room, she immediately unlocked the hiding place and pulled out the desk. With the desk now out for her to see, Luna went to work pulling out all the books and papers.

"Obsession…Absolution…Conviction…and her memoirs…" Luna mumbled to herself. Frowning, Luna did the only thing she could. She began to read.

And so ended the story of the Phantom Family. We weren't all together for long, but I think it was one of the most memorable times in history. It definitely was one of the most influential, because everything that happened after that was a result of our actions…and our disbanding.

For years, people asked why we drifted apart. All I can say is that Nekron's Blackest Night took its toll on all of us. In many ways, we lost what made us so strong in the first place. Danny never worked on the hope for a better future. Joel couldn't endure the hero lifestyle anymore. And I…I just lost the joy in my life. That's something that Luna tells me all the time…She's not wrong.

It didn't help that things didn't get any better. Just as things were about to calm down and heal, the Light recovered in a big way. Although it took a while to find a suitable replacement for Ocean Master, the Brain and Klarion quickly got replacements that were even worse than they were. The Team felt that in a big way not too long after the dust settled after the Blackest Night.

Then there were the threats from the heavens. The Reach. The Tamaranian Empire. Apocalypse…God, Apocalypse. I remember the first time I saw Darkseid. I get a permanent reminder of it every time I look at this blasted fake arm of mine.

In the end, though, it was Dark Dan that brought the end to everything. He was always the Ultimate Enemy, perhaps even more than Nekron. Not in raw power, mind you, but he always had bigger goals in mind that killing everything. After all, there are far worse fates than death.

You can trust me on that.

-From the personal memoirs of Danielle Masters

"Yeah," A small sigh came from soft pink lips, "I can't argue with you there, Grandma."

Neon green eyes with slits down the middle turned from the crumpled page to the binder that was currently being used to hold all the pages of the memoires. Once the final page was placed with the others, Luna reached to brush an extremely long strand of white hair with pink highlighted tips behind her ear. Her heart shaped face was set in a fixed frown as she stared at the memoirs along with the different books that Danielle Masters had written about her adventures up to the events of Nekron's Blackest Night.

A hand covered by fingerless gloves moved the four books to the side. She had already read all of them at length and had a good understanding of how things were before….before everything fell apart. With the books read and memoirs put back together, Luna turned her attention to the other papers on the desk.

…A long list of all known meta-humans and potential heroes…

…A base outline of the events of 2016…

…And blueprints to a very special machine…

"Ah…" Luna bit her lip, "So that's what you wanted to do…"

"Luna! Luna!"

Luna didn't react as a brown haired boy zipped into the room at amazing speeds, "Yeah, Bart?"

"I was worried. You were gone for a long time," Bart noted, "Come on, Box Lunch says that we need to get going."

"No."

"Um…No? You're planning on telling Box Lunch no?"

"Of course I am. Not like I ever listened to her before anyway," Luna began stacking all the papers on the desk, "I have a plan, Bart."

"Oh God…" Bart's face fell, "Every time you say that, we end up on mode with the League…"

"This is different. We're not going to deal with our crappy version of the League…" Luna nodded to herself as she thought, "We're going to need someone who remembers that time…Someone who would go along with this…Neutron. We need to bust him out of the penitentiary. Shouldn't be too hard now…"

Bart's eyes widened, "Are you insane?!"

"No. Just ambitious," Luna took a deep breath, "We're going to change everything, Bart. Make sure everything turns out good for as many people as we can. We'll save everyone…reunite the Phantom Family…stop Young Justice from falling…and prevent the Great War from happening on Earth. We'll just need to stop the Reach before they get a foothold and make us vulnerable to Dark Dan."

"And how do we do that, Luna?"

Luna grabbed the blueprints from the desk. She turned around and held them up for Bart, "Don't call me that. Every half-ghost needs a second name. Call me Legacy. We'll need to think of a codename for you too."

Bart looked at the blueprints. His eyes went wide as he read the name of the machine Luna planned to build. The Fenton Time Machine.

First off...yes, I understand the issue of having so many new characters. I tried to limit the time they got in the chapter so that it wouldn't be too annoying. FYI, Luna is the only OC in this chapter. If you can actually name all of the cameos in Luna Legacy, I will very much be impressed.

Second...If you think that Luna's a bit of a brat with authority issues, you're right on the money. She was designed that way. If you really think of how she was brought up, though, you'll understand why.

Finally...IMPORTANT AN: Okay...I've decided to go on hiatus. *hides as rotten fruit is thrown* Wait! Wait! Let me explain! Okay...I'm dedicating myself to write my first real original novel. I tried before back in Absolution, but I wasn't experienced enough as a writer to get it done. Now, after Conviction, I feel that my skills are tolerable enough to portray my visions in an acceptable light. But I can't completely dedicate myself to getting the book done if I'm trying to work on Desperation at the same time...not to mention my other story. So, I've decided to put a break on my fanfiction pastime until the book is finished. Already about a quarter of the way done with the first draft. Of course, second drafts aren't really my style. I more...edit my work until my eyes bleed.

So...my overall goals right now...Finish first draft by beginning April. Finishing editing by mid-May. Get the book published by the end of 2017 . In case you're wondering, the book is going to be titled Caged Demons: Entrapment. If you want to know more, feel free to PM me about it.

So this is the last time you will see me for a while. I'm going to try to start posting again in June if all things work out. Which I really hope it does. When I do come back, I'll post a heads up at the end of this story. Then, when the next Monday comes around, I will take down the heads up and replace it with the preview chapter "Our Desperation." Then, I will post the very first chapter of Desperation which will be available through my author's page or on the YJ/DP crossover page.

As a final treat for the last real chapter in Conviction (and in the series for a while), I would like to share a song with you that my most awesome Beta jaguarspot (who proofread this very chapter) made once she read this. Enjoy:

...

Young Luna Fenton, she was just fourteen,

when her grandma drew a very strange machine.

It was designed to view the world once seen.

(She's gonna save them all, cause she is from the future)

When she built it up, her best friend came in,

and they both took their place inside of it.

There was a great big flash, everything just changed.

The time stream got all rearranged.

(Phantom's Daughter)

When they first arrived they realized,

that long dead heroes were all around.

The world was still safe, sound and free

They alone could prevent calamity

It was then that she knew what she had to do

She had to stop all the evil from pulling through

She's here to fight for me and you!

She's gonna change it all

Cause she's Luna Fenton

Gonna bring us hope

Cause she's Phantom's daughter

Gonna save us all

Cause she (is Legacy)

...