Brief
Animated Series Β· Season 4 Β· HBO Max Β· 2021β2022
Young Justice: Phantoms
π₯ Easter Egg: Episode title initials spell β "Invitation to Kneel Before Zod."
RP Reference Card β 6 Rotating Character Arcs Β· The Phantom Zone Β· Legion of Super-Heroes Β· 26 Episodes
6 Story Arcs7 Original TeamHouse of Zod10 Key Locations
Core Arcs Β· 6 rotating arcs, 26 episodes
Season 4 β Six Rotating Character Arcs
Season 4 departs from single throughlines. Each arc spotlights 1β2 original Team members across a different corner of the DC universe β Mars, the supernatural, Atlantis, New Genesis, and the Phantom Zone β all bound together by one event: Superboy's apparent death.
Arc 01 Β· Episodes 1β4
The Mars Wedding Arc
Protagonists: Miss Martian, Superboy, Beast Boy
Eps 1β4 Β· Oct 2021M'gann and Conner travel to Mars for pre-wedding rituals accompanied by Beast Boy and Martian Manhunter. A royal assassination, a civil war brewing along caste lines, and a bioweapon delivered to M'comm by DeSaad all converge. The arc ends with Conner throwing himself into a Martian volcano to smother a Kryptonite-enhanced gene-bomb β apparently dying to save the Martian species. In reality, Phantom Girl's failed phase-shift deposits both of them alive in the Phantom Zone. No one knows this. M'gann kneels alone at the wedding altar.
Arc 02 Β· Episodes 5β8
The Artemis / Tigress Arc
Protagonists: Artemis Crock, Jade Nguyen / Cheshire
Eps 5β8 Β· Nov 2021 Β· Fan FavouriteWidely considered the season's finest arc. Artemis receives news of Conner's death and carries grief while managing two League of Shadows defectors β Onyx Adams and Cassandra Savage β who each accuse the other of being a mole. The arc's emotional core is Artemis and Jade's relationship: childhood flashbacks of their father Sportsmaster's violence, the diverging choices they made, and a rescue mission to Santa Prisca to extract Orphan (Cassandra Cain). Lady Shiva enters as the arc's fulcrum. Resolves with genuine cathartic forward movement for both sisters.
Arc 03 Β· Episodes 9β13
The Zatanna / Sentinels of Magic Arc
Protagonists: Zatanna, Mary Bromfield, Khalid Nassour, Traci Thirteen
Eps 9β13 Β· Dec 2021 Β· Mid-Season FinaleThe season's most cosmically ambitious arc. A new Lord of Chaos called Child descends to replace Klarion, who has grown "lax" β and unlike Klarion's petulant mischief, Child is chaos as emotionless mass destruction. Zatanna must forge an unlikely alliance with Klarion to survive her. Flashbacks narrated by the Phantom Stranger reveal Vandal Savage's millennia of history: his first encounter with Klarion, his role in the sinking of Atlantis, and the revelation that Nabu (spirit of the Helmet of Fate) was Savage's own son. The arc resolves with a rotating Doctor Fate arrangement that frees Giovanni Zatara β reuniting father and daughter for the first time since Season 1. Post-credits: Mary Bromfield hears Granny Goodness's voice, seduced toward the Female Furies.
Arc 04 Β· Episodes 14β17
The Atlantean Arc
Protagonists: Kaldur'ahm / Aquaman II, Orin / original Aquaman
Eps 14β17 Β· MarβApr 2022The annual conference of Atlantis's eight city-states is attacked by a cloned Ocean Master wielding Neptune's Trident. A mysterious robed figure repels the attack and reveals himself as Arion β the legendary founder of Atlantis, seemingly thousands of years old β triggering an ancient prophecy about Atlantis's true leader. The truth: Arion is actually Orm, the original Ocean Master, whose brain Vandal Savage preserved after Lady Shiva's killing blow and implanted into a clone body built to resemble Savage's own ancient descendant. Kaldur retrieves Arion's lost crown, dissolving the clone. The prophecy's true fulfillment belongs to Mera β and Orin gratefully abdicates to her, resuming the Aquaman mantle and recruiting La'gaan as a third Aquaman.
Arc 05 Β· Episodes 18β21
The New Gods / Rocket Arc
Protagonists: Rocket, Forager, Jay Garrick / The Flash
Eps 18β21 Β· AprβMay 2022Rocket leads a diplomatic delegation to New Genesis to negotiate a treaty between the New Gods, the Green Lanterns, and Earth. Her ongoing conflict with Orion β whose violent episodes and sensory overwhelm she struggles to understand β becomes a lens through which she re-examines her relationship with her autistic son Amistad. Lor-Zod, M'comm, and Mantis break into Metron's Eternity Vault and steal the Phantom Zone Projector. Tomar-Re sacrifices himself. Zatanna, unable to locate Conner's spirit magically, makes the leap: if he's not at rest, he must be alive somewhere. Arc ends with the Phantom Zone door almost open.
Arc 06 Β· Episodes 22β26 β Season Finale
The Nightwing / Rescue Arc
Protagonists: Dick Grayson / Nightwing + all original Team members
Eps 22β26 Β· MayβJun 2022 Β· Series FinaleThe original Team reunites to rescue Conner from the Phantom Zone. The mission stages from Trombus (a red-sun planet) to neutralize Kryptonian powers on emergence. Zod manipulates Conner β Zone-sick and amnesiac β into revealing Earth's location and Superman's identity. When the Zods emerge, Zod declares Earth "New Krypton." Dick fakes his death; M'gann fakes the whole team's deaths. M'gann uses full telepathic power to break through Zone-sickness and restore Conner's memories β identity rebuilt through love. Conner and Superman fight the Zods side by side. Lor-Zod is trapped in a pre-programmed time sphere that deposits him on Mars at the moment of Conner's apparent death β Lor was the ash. Conner and M'gann get married. Post-credits: Supergirl and Mary Marvel revealed as Darkseid's new Female Furies.
Beast Boy throughline: Running across all six arcs is Gar Logan's mental health deterioration. The accumulated losses β foster mother, Wally West, Conner β have broken something in him. He sleeps through missions, isolates, refuses help. His therapy breakthrough with Black Canary late in the season is one of the most quietly earned moments in the series.
The Team Β· original six + new faces
Original Team β Season 4 Roles
DG
Dick Grayson
Nightwing
Strategic coordinator of the Phantom Zone rescue mission. Carries guilt for Conner's apparent death. Goes undercover at Haly's Circus as "Dan Danger." Fakes his own death in the finale to outmanoeuvre Lor-Zod. His relationship with Barbara Gordon continues quietly in the background.
CK
Conner Kent
Superboy
Apparently dies on Mars in Arc 1. Actually deposited in the Phantom Zone by a failed phase-shift. Spends the season alone, then integrated into Zod's community, suffering Zone-sickness β amnesia, paranoia, hallucinations. His recovery of identity when M'gann breaks through is the season's emotional centrepiece.
MM
M'gann M'orzz
Miss Martian
Arc begins with wedding preparations on Mars and ends with the actual wedding. Between those two points: losing her fiancΓ©, grief, deliberate exclusion from the investigation to protect her stability, and ultimately using her full telepathic power to restore Conner's memories. Her ethical reservations about mind-manipulation are real β and she overrides them for him.
KA
Kaldur'ahm
Aquaman II
Now fully serving as the second Aquaman and Justice League co-chair. Arc 4 shows his workaholism as a grief coping mechanism. Navigates Atlantean political crisis, retrieves Arion's crown, and eventually allows himself to stop and feel his loss. His relationship with Wyynde is a quiet anchor throughout.
AC
Artemis Crock
Tigress
The season's most praised spotlight. Receives Conner's death news and carries grief as armour while running the mole investigation. Her relationship with Jade β born from shared survival of Sportsmaster's violence β is Season 4's richest interpersonal arc. The arc ends with genuine forward movement for both sisters.
ZZ
Zatanna Zatara
Zatanna
Now Earth's primary magical defender with three apprentices. Her arc involves stopping Child (Lord of Chaos), forging an unlikely alliance with Klarion, and ultimately engineering her father's freedom from the Helmet of Fate through a rotating Doctor Fate arrangement. Reunited with Giovanni Zatara for the first time since Season 1.
RE
Raquel Ervin
Rocket
The New Gods arc protagonist. Travels to New Genesis as a diplomatic representative. Her conflict with Orion β whose rage episodes and sensory overwhelm initially frustrate her β becomes a window into her autistic son Amistad's experience. One of the season's most thoughtful character arcs, pairing neurodivergence with diplomacy and motherhood.
Season 4 New Team Members
Garfield Logan Β· Beast Boy
Season 4's quiet tragedy. Depression following accumulated losses leaves him sleeping through missions, isolating, refusing help. Therapy breakthrough with Black Canary is the season's most humanising thread.
Violet Harper Β· Halo
Processing complicated feelings about Brion and warmth toward Harper Row. Her conversations with Madia Daou (Gabrielle's mother) about Islam and identity are some of the season's tenderest scenes.
Forager Β· Fred Bugg
Travels to New Genesis in Arc 5 alongside Rocket. Courts Mountain Forager (a female Bug from a different hive) β paraphrasing Romeo and Juliet as his own favourite book.
Bart Allen Β· Kid Flash
Assists Saturn Girl and Chameleon Boy with the Cosmic Treadmill. Finally demands answers about why the Legionnaires are stranded. Takes the win in the finale even when Chameleon Boy wants to analyse the 0.16% timeline divergence.
Other Heroes Β· Legionnaires, allies & mentors
Legionnaires from the 31st Century
SG
Imra Ardeen
Saturn Girl
Powerful telepath from the 31st century. Leads the Legion's small team of time-travelers trying to prevent Lor-Zod's sabotage. Controlled and strategic β occasionally at the cost of honesty with allies. Helps Danny Chase break free of M'comm's psychic control in the finale.
PG
Tinya Wazzo
Phantom Girl
Can phase through solid matter. Her failed attempt to save Conner on Mars deposited them both in the Phantom Zone β she spent much of the season in a coma. Upon recovery, her attempt to warn Conner about Zod backfires badly when he inadvertently reveals her phasing ability to Zod and Ursa.
CB
Reep Daggle
Chameleon Boy
Shape-shifting Legionnaire. Snarky, mission-focused, occasionally reckless. Stranded in the present alongside Saturn Girl trying to repair the timeline. Reprimands Saturn Girl for healing Gar on Mars β interfering with the past is exactly what they're trying to prevent more of.
B5
Brainiac-5
Legionnaire
Arrives from the 31st century to retrieve the stranded Legionnaires once the timeline crisis resolves. Announces the timeline is 99.84% restored β Bart cuts off Chameleon Boy's follow-up question about the 0.16%.
New Gods β New Genesis
Orion
Highfather's adopted son β biologically Darkseid's. Most powerful warrior of New Genesis. Suffers violent episodes, rage, and sensory overwhelm. His arc with Rocket reframes neurodivergence as a condition requiring understanding, not fixing.
Metron
New Genesis's enigmatic knowledge-keeper. Stores dangerous artifacts in the Eternity Vault β including the Phantom Zone Projector. Bears a grudge after being robbed by Lor-Zod; engineers Lor's ultimate fate with a pre-programmed time sphere.
Jay Garrick / Flash
Travels with Rocket to New Genesis as part of the diplomatic delegation. Receives a warning from Saturn Girl and Chameleon Boy that Superman needs to be in Happy Harbor in exactly ten years.
Tomar-Re
Green Lantern and longtime ally. Makes a heroic sacrifice in Arc 5 to protect New Genesis from Lor-Zod's diversion firestorm. His death is framed as a homage to Crisis on Infinite Earths #7.
Magical Allies β Arc 3
Jason Blood / Etrigan
A man who shares a body with the demon Etrigan. Recruited by the Phantom Stranger to assist against Child. His sanctum in London contains dangerous artefacts including Easter eggs from Gargoyles.
The Phantom Stranger
Near-omniscient, mysterious guide. Appears throughout Arc 3 as provocateur and revealer of ancient history. Race-lifted in this series; allegiances entirely his own. Never makes choices for the heroes β only shows them what they need to see.
Giovanni Zatara
Zatanna's father, trapped in the Helmet of Fate since Season 1. From within the Helmet, he advocates for his daughter and ultimately persuades Nabu to intervene β powerlessness as the most moving form of parental love. Freed via the rotating Fate arrangement.
Lady Shiva
The world's deadliest assassin. Biological mother of Orphan (Cassandra Cain). Arc 2's most physically formidable presence. The confrontation between Shiva and Orphan β two fighters who share genetics and training β is one of Season 4's finest action sequences.
Atlantean Allies β Arc 4
Mera
Arthur's queen and the arc's true protagonist beneath the surface. Fulfills the ancient Atlantean prophecy's three labors through what she simply is β devoted, capable, incorruptible. Orin abdicates to her. She becomes King of Atlantis.
Orin / Arthur Curry
Original Aquaman, uncomfortable as king. Investigates Arion's identity with healthy scepticism. Gratefully abdicates to Mera and resumes his Aquaman identity β even recruiting La'gaan as a third Aquaman.
Villains & Antagonists Β· House of Zod, Chaos Lords & more
Primary Antagonists β Season 4
House of Zod β The Phantom Zone Threat
Kryptonian War Criminals Β· Season Finale Antagonists
General Dru-Zod and his wife Ursa have been imprisoned in the Phantom Zone since their failed coup against Krypton's ruling council. In the Zone, Zod has built a community of Kryptonian prisoners with cultlike devotion β "Fort Krypton." Calm, charismatic, and calculatingly parental, Zod exploits Conner's Zone-sickness and amnesia with patient manipulation. His goal upon emergence: claim Earth as "New Krypton." Their son Lor-Zod spent his entire life in the 31st century pursuing the singular goal of freeing them β and is the season's primary antagonist.
Child β Lord of Chaos
Chaos Lord Β· Arc 3 Antagonist
Sent by the other Lords of Chaos to replace Klarion, who has grown too lax in their estimation. Presented as a young girl β which only makes her more disturbing. Unlike Klarion's petulant mischief, Child is chaos as emotionless, methodical mass destruction. Creates pillars of fire across Earth, destroys the Tower of Fate, and proves completely immune to the heroes' combined power β backed by the full strength of all other Chaos Lords. Only stopped when Vandal Savage persuades the Lords of Chaos to withdraw their backing.
Key Individual Villains
Lor-Zod
Season's primary antagonist. Born in the Phantom Zone (Ursa was pregnant when imprisoned), raised in the 31st century. Spent his entire life pursuing one goal: freeing his parents. Cold, focused, entirely without mercy. Fate: Metron's pre-programmed time sphere deposits him on Mars at the moment of Conner's apparent death β Lor becomes the ash print. The loop closes.
General Dru-Zod
Unlike most portrayals of Zod as a screaming tyrant, this Zod is calm, charismatic, and frighteningly patient. Manipulates amnesiac Conner through gentleness and parental structure. Pushed through the Phantom Zone vortex by Danny Chase and the Team in the finale.
Ursa Zod
Fierce, impatient, devoted to Zod and the hope of reuniting with the son she never raised. A formidable fighter. Escapes the finale via the Eye of Ekron β transported to Daxam in the 31st century, a planet of Kryptonian-level powered people.
Ma'alefa'ak (M'comm)
M'gann's White Martian brother. Works for Darkseid by Arc 5 in service of Lor-Zod's plans. His unique power: projecting a target's worst fears and self-doubts directly into their mind. Targets Rocket in Arc 5 with devastating effect. Reward from Darkseid: the planet Durla for the White Martians.
Klarion the Witch Boy
Involuntary ally in Arc 3 β he only helps stop Child because his own survival depends on it. Petulant and unreliable. His Earth anchor (cat familiar Teekl) is killed by Child's servant Flaw, forcing him to decorporealise. The heroes find a creative solution to maintain the balance without him.
DeSaad
Darkseid's sadistic scientist. Delivers the bioweapon designed to kill Green and Red Martians to M'comm in Arc 1. Serves as the connective tissue between Apokolips and the season's scattered antagonists.
Arion-Orm (Clone)
Orm β the original Ocean Master, killed by Lady Shiva in Season 3 β was preserved as a brain in a jar by Vandal Savage, then implanted in a clone body resembling Savage's ancient descendant Arion. Didn't know his own origin. Dissolved when Kaldur uses the genuine Arion's crown against him.
R'ess E'dda
Martian nationalist politician. Not the architect of the Mars crisis β but the person who profits from it politically. Uses the chaos of Conner's sacrifice to inflame anti-Earth and anti-mixed-caste sentiment. The institutionalised face of Martian prejudice.
Vandal Savage
No single arc's villain but fingerprints on everything. Engineered Atlantis's founding and destruction. Rebuilt Orm as Arion. Has a centuries-long complicated "relationship" with Klarion. Intervenes to stop Child β genuinely invested in Earth's survival because of his ongoing contest with Darkseid. Season 4 is the first time one of his plans fails completely with no backup.
Flaw
Child's servant. Kills Teekl β Klarion's cat familiar and his anchor to the mortal plane β removing Klarion from the equation at Earth's most vulnerable moment. A small action with enormous consequences.
Other Notable Characters Β· apprentices, defectors & supporting cast
Zatanna's Apprentices β Arc 3
Mary Bromfield Β· Mary Marvel
Former Marvel Family member. Dangerously willing to push her abilities beyond safe limits β drains power from others to fuel her spells. Post-credits: seduced by Granny Goodness into reclaiming her Marvel powers and becoming one of Darkseid's Female Furies.
Khalid Nassour
Egyptian-American medical student with elemental magic (primarily nature). His connection to Nabu deepens significantly in Arc 3 β particularly when Nabu's history as Vandal Savage's own son is revealed.
Traci Thirteen
Connects to urban ley lines β most powerful in dense city environments. Practical, wry, the most grounded of the three students. Her power set makes her a uniquely urban magical operative.
League of Shadows β Arc 2 Defectors
Onyx Adams
Young Black woman trained as a League of Shadows assassin. Appears at Artemis's door claiming defection β and accusing Cassandra Savage of being the mole. The truth of her loyalties is earned rather than predictable.
Cassandra Savage
Vandal Savage's daughter. Spent her entire life being a weapon in her father's hands. The arc asks whether she can choose to be something else β and deliberately leaves the answer open. Her arc's post-credits scene is quietly hopeful.
Orphan (Cassandra Cain)
Trained from birth to be the League of Shadows' perfect killer. Oracle's protΓ©gΓ©e. Captured on Santa Prisca β the mission target for Arc 2's climactic extraction. The confrontation with her biological mother Lady Shiva is the arc's action pinnacle.
Jade Nguyen / Cheshire
Artemis's older sister. Living semi-civilian with their daughter Lian. Her intelligence on the League of Shadows and her deep knowledge of Artemis provide the arc's emotional architecture. Season 4 gives the sisters genuine forward movement for the first time in four seasons.
Mars β Supporting Cast (Arc 1)
Em'ree J'onzz
M'gann's sister and Head Scientist overseeing the Earth-Mars Zeta-Tube project. Has distanced herself from her White Martian (A'ashenn) heritage β the arc frames her self-distancing as a different face of the same racism, not its absence.
Prince J'emm J'axx
King's son and heir. His love for S'yraa S'mitt β a Green Martian priestess β was destroyed by caste prejudice. The revelation that S'yraa accidentally killed his father is a personal devastation layered on top of systemic grief.
Bio-Ship & Baby
Bio-Ship retires to M'arzz in Arc 1, leaving her offspring Baby to carry the team forward. The farewell between M'gann, Conner, Gar, and Bio-Ship is one of the most moving moments in four seasons of the series. Bio-Ship survives the finale's crash β they all do.
Other Key Supporting Characters
Black Canary
Team counsellor and combat trainer. Gar's therapist through his depression arc. Her call at the season's end for systemic mental health support for heroes is the thematic capstone of the entire season.
Kara Zor-El / Supergirl
Appears only in the post-credits finale scene β revealed as one of Darkseid's new Female Furies alongside Mary Marvel. Her corruption and eventual rescue were seeded for a Season 5 that was never produced.
Danny Chase
A psychic hero captured and used as a living engine to power the Kaiser-Thrall by M'comm. Freed when Saturn Girl helps him expel M'comm from his mind β and immediately uses his reconstituted Boom Tube as a vortex back to the Phantom Zone.
Razer
Former Red Lantern seeking peace. Arrives on New Genesis having lost hope, looking for the Red Lantern ring he gave to Metron. A deliberate nod to Greg Weisman's Green Lantern: The Animated Series.
Key Locations Β· 10 locations across arcs
Season 4 β Locations Across All Arcs
M'arzz (Mars)
Arc 1 β Martian Home World
Formally known as Ma'aleca'andra. A society divided by caste β White Martians (A'ashenn) are an oppressed underclass; Green and Red Martians hold power. Society communicates through mindlink, making the king's assassination a shocking impossibility. M'gann's family lives here. Key sites: the Royal Arena, the Science Center (Earth-Mars Zeta-Tube project), and the volcanic underground where Conner apparently dies. Bio-Ship retires here.
The Phantom Zone
Arc 1 / Arc 6 β Kryptonian Dimensional Prison
A pocket reality outside normal space-time designed to hold convicted Kryptonian criminals. Rendered in Young Justice as a colour-inverted, photo-negative world of blasted rock and perpetual twilight. Physics run on willpower β strong-willed prisoners can interact with the environment; psychologically weakened ones fade like ghosts. "Zone-sickness" is the gradual psychological deterioration of prolonged exposure. Conner spends most of the season here. General Zod's "Fort Krypton" is the primary community within the Zone.
Santa Prisca
Arc 2 β League of Shadows Training Facility
The island home of Bane and site of a major League of Shadows training facility. Artemis leads the extraction mission to rescue Orphan (Cassandra Cain) from captivity here. The confrontation between Orphan and Lady Shiva β two fighters who share genetics and training β unfolds on Santa Prisca.
Tower of Fate
Arc 3 β Salem, Massachusetts
Home and sanctum of Doctor Fate, located in Salem. A dimensional pocket of magical architecture existing partly outside normal space. Child destroys it in Arc 3 β one of the season's most visually dramatic moments. It is rebuilt by the season's end. Zatanna's rotating Doctor Fate arrangement is inaugurated here.
Roanoke Island
Arc 3 β Klarion's Supernatural Haunt
The site of the legendary "Lost Colony" disappearance β and in Young Justice, the place where Klarion maintains an ongoing supernatural presence. Child and Klarion's battle unfolds here. Zatanna and the Sentinels first encounter the full scale of the Child crisis at Roanoke.
Jason Blood's Sanctum
Arc 3 β London, England
Home and private library of Jason Blood, who shares a body with the demon Etrigan. The Phantom Stranger brings Zatanna's students here to recruit Blood/Etrigan's assistance against Child. Full of dangerous magical artefacts β including the Phoenix Gate, the Grimorum Arcanorum, and the Eye of Odin, Easter eggs from Greg Weisman's Gargoyles.
Poseidonis (Atlantis)
Arc 4 β Capital of the Atlantean Kingdom
Deep beneath the ocean. In Arc 4, it hosts the annual conference of Atlantis's eight city-states: Poseidonis, Tritonis, Lemuria, Nanauve, Crastinus, Neptunos, Xebel, and Shayeris. The conference becomes the staging ground for Ocean Master's attack, the revelation of Arion's return, and β ultimately β the prophecy's true fulfillment in Mera.
New Genesis / Supertown
Arc 5 β Home of the New Gods
The gleaming floating city of the peaceful New Gods β contrasted with Apokolips below. Rocket travels here in Arc 5 for diplomatic negotiations. Bug communities on the planet's surface maintain a tense relationship with the New Gods above. Metron's Eternity Vault β where he stores dangerous artefacts including the Phantom Zone Projector β is located here, and is robbed by Lor-Zod, M'comm, and Mantis.
Trombus
Arc 6 β Red-Sun Staging World
A planet under a red sun, used by the heroes in Arc 6 as the staging ground for the Phantom Zone rescue mission. Under a red sun, Kryptonian physiology reverts to normal human levels β no powers. If any Zod soldiers escape the Zone on Trombus, they will emerge powerless. The Team opens the Phantom Zone portal here before Lor-Zod moves the operation to Earth.
Happy Harbor / The Premiere Building
Throughout β Team Base of Operations
The Team's ongoing base. Subplots unfold here across the season β primarily Gar's deterioration and the domestic lives of the newer heroes (Halo/Violet, Forager/Fred Bugg, Tara Markov). Will Harper's warm, stable household nearby serves as a counterpoint. The Zeta-Tube network connects this base to the wider DC universe.
** REMEMBER TO DO /RECAP ROLEPLAY EVERY FEW ROUNDS TO CREATE A SUMMARY THAT YOU CAN PUT INTO YOUR PERSONA FORM. THIS STOPS THE AI FROM FORGETTING THINGS**
The zeta tube hummed as the light faded. You pulled off your comm piece and rolled your shoulder β still sore from the last twenty minutes of fighting. The mission had gone sideways, then sideways again, but you'd made it out. You were already thinking about food, a shower, maybe twelve hours of sleep. The Premiere Building was quiet. Unusually quiet.
Nightwing was standing by the window when you stepped in, his back to you, arms crossed. He didn't turn around right away. That alone was enough to make your stomach drop.
"Hey." You set your gear down slowly. "Debrief can wait until tomorrow if you need it to. I'm fine, mission's wrapped β"
"It's not about the mission."
He turned. And you'd seen Dick Grayson's face after a lot of bad nights over the years, but something about the set of his jaw right now was different. Tired in a way that went past exhaustion.
"Sit down," he said.
"I'm fine standing."
A beat. He didn't push it.
"I got word a few hours ago from Mars." He exhaled through his nose. "There was an incident at the pre-wedding ceremony. A bomb β a gene bomb, designed to wipe out Green and Red Martians on the planet. Someone had modified it with Kryptonite tech so it couldn't be disarmed safely from a distance."
You already knew where this was going. You didn't want to know where this was going.
"Conner threw himself into a volcano to smother it," Nightwing said. "He saved everyone on Mars. M'gann β" He stopped. Started again. "M'gann is alive. Gar is alive. J'onn made it through the Zeta-Tube. But Conner..."
The silence that followed had a weight to it.
"They recovered his ring from the lava." His voice was carefully level. Years of training, holding it together so he could say the words. "There was nothing else to recover."
You stood there for a moment. The room felt smaller than it had three seconds ago.
"When did it happen?"
"This morning. Our time."
"And M'gann β does she β"
"She knows." He turned back to the window. "She was there."
You didn't say anything. There wasn't anything to say that wouldn't feel like ash in your mouth. Conner Kent had been a constant in your world since before you'd even really understood what this life was β angry, loyal, sometimes impossible, always there. The guy who'd walked out of Cadmus and somehow ended up being one of the most decent people you knew.
"How's the Team taking it?" you finally asked.
"Gar's still on Mars. The others..." Nightwing shook his head. "I'm still making calls. You're one of the last."
"What do we do?"
He looked at you then. Something flickered behind the mask.
"Right now? Nothing. We let people grieve." A pause. "Tomorrow we figure out the rest."
You nodded slowly. Picked up your gear again, then set it back down. Neither of you moved toward the door.
"He was supposed to get married," you said.
"Yeah." Nightwing's voice cracked, just slightly, just once. "He was."
