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They're going to get through the door.
It's inevitable. This whole damn thing was inevitable honestly.
Jason looks over at the others. At Dick, and Roy, and Tim, and Steph.
They're technically the 'adults' here. And they already planned for this.
Jason and Roy will hold the first gate. Dick and Cass the second. Tim and Steph the third. And hopefully, that will be enough time that Damian and Babs can seal up the last gate.
There's enough food for them and the kids to last a month. Maybe. Long enough that somebody might respond to their distress signal hopefully.
Or that's the plan, anyway.
Once they get through the first gate, Dick and Cass will seal off the second. And Jason and Roy will be stuck on the other side of it.
Against the horde.
Jason takes a deep breath, as the first crack appears in the gate. While it's old, built with tech none of them have ever understood, built by the First Travelers, it still won't hold forever. Not against what's outside. It just won't.
Nothing stands against them for long. Artifacts just stands a little longer before breaking.
Another crack. He glances back at the others, and gives them a nod. They already said their goodbyes, already said everything that needed to be said. And as much as Dick wanted to be on the first gate, he knew better than to argue.
Roy and Jason have fought together for years, long before they came to this backwater planet to visit Dick, and got stuck when everything went to hell. They're a good team, and they know how to work around each other. And they're best in the front, since Jason's got the best weapons to fight the horde.
Nobody says anything, as the other four go through the gate. As it closes though, Dick gives Jason a look, and Jason can see the tears in his eyes.
He ignores them, turning back towards the cracking gate in front of him. It won't be long now. A minute. Maybe two. No more than three.
"Not much of a vacation, huh?"
Jason rolls his eyes at Roy's statement. "Yeah, yeah, I know, I never take you anywhere nice."
Roy chuckles quietly, standing at Jason's back. Given the circumstances, he's left the bow behind, and has his staff instead. Maybe one of the kids will learn to use it.
If they don't die first.
"I don't know; barring the monsters, it's not too bad. Bet if we had more time, we could find a lot of good loot to sell," Roy says with a smile.
Jason can't help his snort, but he doesn't have anything to say either. Another crack appears, spiderwebbing into the first one.
Showtime.
"Remember, stay behind me," Jason reminds Roy, before he takes another deep breath, and focuses all his will.
It doesn't take long. The All-Blades get hungry in the face of evil, and what's on the other side of that door is about as evil as it gets. The hilts manifest first, the flaming white-gold metal filling his palm. The Blades themselves follow, growing from the hilts, and as soon as they're fully formed, they burst into golden flames.
The lights will go out as soon as the horde breaks through the gate. It's one of their things, eating light. But fire still burns the hell out of them, and Jason intends to light up the room with as many goddamn corpses as he can. Make 'em walk over their own dead, build a wall of fire they have to climb over to get to Roy.
They're not gonna survive this, Jason knows that. Dick and Cass won't either. Maybe, if they get very, very lucky, there won't be enough of them to burst through to Tim and Steph for a day or two.
Even the main gate, the large door that Damian and Babs are responsible for shutting, won't hold for long. It'll hold longer than the food supplies though; Jason isn't sure if that's a good thing or not. He remembers what it's like to starve, and he'll take going out like this any day. Hell, given the sheer number of them out there? He'll probably even be dead before they start eating him, which is always a plus.
Another crack. A black, clawed hand manages to wiggle through it. This is it then.
"Sorry I got you into this, Roy," he says, taking up a fighting stance.
"Worse ways to go," Roy responds simply.
Jason opens his mouth to say 'probably not'. But before he can, a chest-sized hole appears, and Jason can make out the swirling mass of teeth and claws on the other side.
Part of him wants to run forward, and start stabbing through the hole. But he fights that part down; if one of those claws sank into him, it'd bend and fold him like a pretzel, break all of his bones until they could pull his broken body through the hole.
The hole breaks even more, and then the horde is in the room. There has to be at least a hundred in this first wave, the rest only slowed by the size of the hole, and their buddies blocking the way in.
At least Jason and Roy have the advantage in the hallway. It's way too wide, at least ten foot, but it'll still limit their numbers. It's why they didn't try to defend the first three gates, which all lead into indoor courtyards.
The first wave starts moving towards them, and every light in the room goes out. But the All-Blades just burn brighter, burn hotter, and there's a good six foot radius around Jason and Roy that's as bright as midday. The horde stops, just outside of the light, shrieking and making that odd, almost whistling noise they use to locate their prey in the dark.
Jason wishes they'd just kept coming. Hearing those noises, seeing them move, six feet away from him is just too godsdamned much. He can feel Roy twitching behind him, and that's absolutely fair, because even Jason, who's already survived an invasion of these things as a kid, has to fight down his panic.
But the ones still on the other side of the gate smell fresh meat; slowly but surely, the ones in the front start being driven forward, closer, closer, until their skin starts to sizzle and pop. The shrieks and whistles turn into screams, and Jason has a second or two of grim satisfaction, before the horde is on them.
It's chaos. The noise is so loud, Jason's pretty sure his ears will be bleeding before he actually bites the big one. Jason is swiping out, foregoing a more protective stance so he can keep the horde from going around him. They need to drag this out as much as possible, take as many of them out as possible, and that won't happen if they manage to encircle him and Roy.
He doesn't know how long they fight for. That's kinda the thing about a horde. It's endless. An endless stream of monsters, straight out of a nightmare, nothing but leathery scales, black claws, and fangs the size of Jason's hand. There isn't an end to them, isn't any war with them.
When the horde comes above the ground, when they attack a planet… The only thing to do is run. To leave, and find another planet to settle, one that isn't currently inhabited by monsters.
Sometimes though… that isn't feasible. Sometimes, like on this backwards, hellhole of a planet that Bruce settled on…
Sometimes they come on too fast to leave. Sometimes, the ships are the first things destroyed.
And then this is all there is to do. To try and drag out the inevitable as long as possible.
'As long as possible' is never really long enough; within what feels like hours, but might be minutes, Roy lets out a grunt of pain, and Jason turns his head just enough to see the large gash in Roy's side, from his hip straight up to his ribs.
The bodies are piling up, but not nearly fast enough. And Jason is struck by the sudden, actual realization that him and Roy are going to die here. That this is it, the end of the line, that this is how they die. A minute from now, hours from now, it doesn't matter. They'll be dead before the night's over.
But Jason will be damned if Roy gets to check out before Jason does. Not happening.
So he grabs Roy with one arm, hauling as best he can, thankful that the All-Blades literally can't damage someone as good as Roy. It's awkward as hell, but Jason manages to get them backed up against the door at the end of the hallway -the door Dick and Cass are on the other side of -and get Roy pressed up against it.
He has to hold the hallway. And he has to die before Roy. He's not gonna watch these things eat somebody else he cares about, never again.
A wall of burning corpses. He just has to build a wall of burning corpses between these things and Roy, and then he can just… pack it in. Wrap it up. Call it a day.
He throws himself against the horde. He can feel them cutting into him, can feel his body start to bleed. He's not being careful, not anymore, because he needs to protect Roy, and honestly, with the Lazarus Compound swimming around in his blood? He's probably going to have to work at actually being dead before the horde can eat him anyway.
Time loses all meaning. Meaning loses meaning. There's Jason, there's Roy, there's the All-Blades, and there's the horde. That's all there is, and everything else is… irrelevant.
He lashes out, again and again, sidestepping falling bodies, bodies that are starting to pile up, starting to fill up the room. And he can't help but laugh, because hell… maybe he can make enough corpses that they won't be able to push through at all. Maybe that's the solution to an endless army of nightmares.
If there's no end to them… there's no end to how big a corpse wall that can be built out of them.
Eventually though… Even the Lazarus Compound, so carefully crafted to make a better monster, hits the limits of what it can do. Jason starts to falter, starts to tire, and maybe it's just that the Lazarus Compound is in his blood, and there's a lot of his blood splattered around the floor. And the ceilings. And the walls. And his face.
He starts pulling back. He left a small gap, just wide enough for him to slide through sideways, and he manages to get through it, although he takes a few good swipes as he does.
He still manages to kill another dozen of the horde. Block it up as much as he can. It won't last long -they'll eat their own, when they get this frenzied -but it'll take them maybe twenty minutes.
Every step closer to where Roy is slouched against the door feels like climbing a mountain. But Roy's blood-soaked grin keeps him moving, keeps him dragging himself closer.
"Ever… ever told you… how… how hot you are?" Roy wheezes out, as Jason drops to his knees in front of him.
Jason snorts. Or tries to, anyway, the blood pooling in the back of his throat turns it into more of a gurgle. "You… are insane… Harper," he gasps, as he lets himself fall, until he's laying down with his head in Roy's lap.
"Heard… that… before."
Jason closes his eyes, lets himself relish in the feel of Roy's hands running through his hair. The movements are slow, and jerky, like it's an effort, but Jason can't bring himself to let Roy stop.
He drifts. He can feel the Lazarus Compound trying to knit him back together, trying to get him back up, back to the fight.
Not gonna happen. And that's okay. He can accept that. It's -
He blinks his eyes open. "What…"
The thought doesn't even have time to fully form, before there's a massive flood of bright white light, bright enough that Jason's corpse wall starts to melt, bright enough that the horde on the other side scream.
Exhausted, Jason forces himself to his feet. He can't find the will to summon the All-Blades, but that's okay. He can use his goddamn teeth if he has to. Monster to monster, and he can -
The white turns to red. Not the orange-red of fire, but dark, scarlet red, the color of blood. And Jason can hear the sounds of fighting from the other side of the wall. Which is…
There's nobody left on this gods-forsaken planet. It's just them, and Dick's gaggle of orphans. So who the hell is…
The wall of bodies just… disintegrates. And Jason finds himself staring at…
"Who the hell… are you?" he demands, staring at six strangers he's never seen before in his goddamn life.
One of them -a tall man, built like Jason, and carrying a shield of all goddamn things -steps forward. "Got your distress signal. I'm Captain Rogers. Looks like you boys could use some help."
"We… You… What?" Jason starts to fall to his knees, only for a short, blonde man to sling one of Jason's arms over his shoulder.
"Easy, big guy."
"I… Roy."
"Nat's got him. Just take it easy, huh?" the blonde says, as he starts hauling Jason towards…
"S'that a… a ship?" Jason asks a little stupidly. Because goddamn if it isn't the most beautiful thing he's ever seen in his whole miserable life. A ship. A ship that can take them off this planet.
"Yup. Anymore of you guys around here?"
Jason jerks a bit at that, nearly sending the blonde stumbling with the abruptness of it. "I… kids. We… my brother and… kids. Dozen or so. There's… If there's… room… only… kids first."
"Oh, don't worry your pretty little head, sunshine," a smaller, thin man -with a weird, blue light coming from his chest of all things -says happily. "We got enough room. Where are they? Other side of this?"
The man walks up to the gate, and the bright blue light seems to get even brighter. The gate -that they spent so long shutting, and locking, trying to keep the horde out -retracts almost instantly.
"Jason!"
"S'my brother," Jason mumbles to the blonde limping him towards their ship. "He worries."
"Can't imagine why. Just take it easy, big guy. We'll get you all situated, okay? Hey, Wanda? How're you holding up?"
A girl, no older than Tim, if that, turns towards them. And Jason is suddenly very aware of the fact that there's no more shrieking. No more screams.
Her blood red eyes match her jacket, match her hair, match her soul. Jason can feel the tug, the call of one monster to another, as she stares him right in the eye.
"Twenty minutes. Much longer than that, and I will have to get more precise. Shrink the area," the girl says, in heavily accented Tradeskit.
From somewhere behind him, Jason hears Captain Rogers' voice.
"Best not take our time then. Alright, Clint, Nat, get these two to Bruce, then get back here and help with any other injured. Tony, get these gates open, and Bucky, you cover him. Wanda, I can -"
"I am fine, Captain. Help the survivors."
"Oh sure, Bucky gets to watch Tony do cool glowy magic," the blonde holding Jason up says. "I get to haul the guy weighing slightly less than a shudsfjorddr."
Jason has no idea what a shudsfjorddr is. It sounds unpleasant, and maybe a bit of an insult.
He can't find himself to say anything though, as a red-haired woman -not the Wanda from before, a different red-head -comes into Jason's line of sight, carrying Roy. Roy looks awful, but he's alive. His eyes are open, and he's looking around, and he's alive, and...
"Jason! Jay!"
Jason grunts a bit, as the blonde guy apparently passes him off to…
"Oh. Dick."
Jason hears a snort, presumably from blonde guy.
"S'name. Dick. Dickhead. Dick."
"You can call me whatever the hell you want, Jay," Dick says, and Jason just sort of… melts into Dick's too-tight hug. "You can call me whatever you want."