Young Justice: Gotham City

October 10th, 2010

The stench of Slaughter Swamp was almost welcoming as I stepped out onto my arrival platform. There was a tang of ozone in the air that tickled my nose and it was humid enough that I could feel the moisture weighing against my skin. I was glad I’d decided to texture the stone beneath my feet instead of leaving it as a smooth, polished sheet, because it was covered with a thin sheen of condensation and slightly slippery.

I shifted my weight from foot to foot, then drew my wand and cast a drying spell on the ground. Ugh, I’d thought far enough to add both a rain barrier and a spell that would stop the swamp water from splashing onto the platform, but hadn’t spelled the thing against condensation. Very sloppy of me. It was fortunate that I wasn’t in a hurry––and that I’d gotten a lot better at stepping out of the Blind Eternities without falling––because even with the ridges, apparating on a surface like that was just asking for trouble.

I tested my footing again. Much better.

Trying to remember the specifics of the wards I’d erected over the little island, I considered how difficult it would be to add the necessary spell. Probably not very, particularly if I spelled the platform instead of adding another element to the overall ward scheme. A basic impervius charm would do the trick, though I’d need to anchor it into something or else recast it every couple of weeks.

Modifying the wards would be cleaner, but far more difficult and time consuming. I was no master wardsmith and had only gotten as far as I had because I was using out-of-the-book example schemas instead of putting something new together. With no other Hogwarts-educated wizards around, I didn’t have to worry about someone already knowing exactly how my defenses worked, and I wasn’t confident enough in my own skills to think I could put together something better than the refined designs of true masters.

I flicked my wand and mumbled, “Impervius.” There was no visible effect––I’d already dried the stone out––but I was sure I’d cast the spell correctly. It should last until I had the time to do it properly.

I briefly looked around. The wards were still in place, the inferi lay undisturbed just beneath the surface of the murky water, and I couldn’t really see anything that looked out of place. The swamp was just as wet, dirty, and smelly as it had been all the previous times I’d been here.

Well then, it was time to go home. I focused on the small apparition platform in my bedroom, then paused. I wondered what I’d find when I got home. It was rather late here. A corner of the moon and a handful of stars were barely visible through the dark clouds, and only the enchantments on my robe allowed me to see anything at all through the gloom shrouding the Swamp.

Had Zatanna waited up for me? I’d told her about how long I planned to be gone, but had mentioned that I might extend things by a day or two if it became necessary. She had school tomorrow morning and needed her sleep, but it would be just like her to not worry about any of that.

Or perhaps she’d tried to stay up, but fell asleep anyway. I could imagine her curled up in the library with some thick arcane tome and a mug of tea. She’d doze off in her chair and Raven would cover her in a blanket or maybe use a portal to move her into our bed. The huntress was hard and severe on the outside like the white mask she wore, but she also had a gentle side that I’d seen come out a handful of times.

I smiled softly, the slight curl of my lips feeling oddly unfamiliar on my face. I’d have to apparate carefully. As much as I wanted to know how Zatanna was fairing, I didn’t like the idea of waking her up from a restful slumber with the sharp crack of my appearance. It would be enough to see her lying peacefully in our bed. We could speak in the morning.

I made a mental note to add a silencing spell around the platform. I doubted this would be the only time I needed to apparate home in the middle of the night.

I shook my head to clear it, refocusing on the task at hand. It had been a while since I really thought about the three Ds of apparition. I’d done enough apparating by now that the magic was mostly reflexive, the same way I didn’t really need to think about it or use an incantation when I cast a levitation charm in my day to day life. However, that sort of thing could help focus and empower a spell, the same way that some duelists would shout out an incantation mid-battle even though they could cast the spell silently instead.

Destination, Determination, and Deliberation. I was intimately familiar with my destination. I’d made the platform with my own magic and had spent quite a bit of time in my bedroom. I also wasn’t lacking in determination. I very much wanted to get home right now. Deliberation had once given me some trouble, but ever since I’d planeswalker for the first time I’d had a much better image to work with when I apparated. The two were completely unrelated magically speaking, but mentally the ideas were similar enough that I’d found it helpful.

I twisted on my heel and vanished with a soft, barely audible pop. There was a momentary sense of overwhelming pressure crushing down at me from all directions, and then I stood inside my bedroom, my body facing the wall as I finished my spin. That had been a textbook apparition. The sort that would have gotten me a commendation from any instructor or examiner. Fast, quiet, and smooth. Perhaps if I put some time into practicing the skill, Zatanna would be less leery of side-alonging with me.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

Speaking of Zatanna, I was curious if any of my guesses had been correct. I turned around, already shrugging off my outer robe, only to freeze in place as my mind suddenly registered what my eyes were telling it.

There was someone in––well, on––my bed. And it wasn’t Zatanna. Nor was it some stranger, thankfully enough. That would have been deeply concerning.

No, the person lying on my bed was someone I was very familiar with. It was Blake, one of the two huntresses I’d left behind to watch over Zatanna while I was gone.

Her presence in and of itself wouldn’t have been enough to shock me. I didn’t much like having other people in my private space, but she and Zatanna had been spending an increasingly large amount of time together and I would have been unsurprised to find them sitting together while Zatanna worked on something or read a book.

Rather, the surprise was what she was wearing, if that word could even be used to describe what it was I was looking at. The cat faunus was all but naked, only a few ribbons of slightly translucent red silk preserving what little modesty she had left. One length was wrapped around her chest, the ribbon barely wide enough to cover her areola, while another looped around her waist and between her widely-spread legs. The two pieces were connected between Blake’s breasts by a large, decorative bow like on one of those ‘christmas presents’ I’d seen in a movie Zatanna had dragged me too.

Blake was lying on her back on top of my bedsheets, thoroughly immobilized in addition to her utterly scandalous ‘clothing’. Her arms and legs were both bent in half, secured in place by more ribbons and then seemingly connected together beneath her as well. She was also gagged and blindfolded, with several layers of the ribbon wound around her eyes and a matching bright-red ball of hard rubber wedged between her teeth and tied behind her head.

I blinked rapidly, trying to make sense of the sight in front of me. Blake’s face was almost as red as her ribbons, her blush extending down her neck and the tips of her human ears looked like they were on fire. Her cat ears meanwhile were twitching madly, producing soft rustling noises as they brushed across the pillowcase beneath her head.

This was…absolutely expected, wasn’t it? Of course Zatanna would rise to the challenge I’d unwittingly set for her. What was it I’d said? Something like ‘I’ll go along with whatever plan you come up with but it's your job to convince her.’ Yeah, that sounded about right.

I exhaled softly and reached up to rub my face with my hand. In hindsight, I should have seen this coming. Hadn’t I just been thinking about how charismatic and convincing Zatanna could be at times? Why the hell had I thought that my demand would slow her down one bit?

How long had it taken her to talk Blake around? A day? A week? It was a minor miracle she hadn’t sprung this on me the day before I left for Azeroth, though perhaps I was giving her a bit too much credit. It must have taken at least some time and effort to arrange for this.

I peeked at Blake through a gap between my fingers. The young huntress was rather beautiful, made only more so by her decorative arrangement. She was slender and muscular, yet still possessed lush curves in all the right places. Her pale breasts were large and perky, her rear nearly as perfect as Zatanna’s, and there was something deeply appealing about the taut muscles visible on her bare arms, legs, and belly.

I quickly averted my gaze. My sensibilities were telling me that I shouldn’t be looking at her. She was neither my wife, nor my fiance, and it was terribly improper for her to be in my bed like this.

At the same time however…wasn’t this clearly something arranged by my soon-to-be wife? There was nothing wrong in accepting a lovingly prepared gift. A lot of work had clearly gone into this, and it would be rude to not appreciate the fruits of Zatanna’s labors.

I took another peek. Blake was wiggling around, seemingly trying to scratch some itch on her shoulder blade and utterly failing. Her motions did…interesting things to certain parts of her anatomy. I idly mused that those ribbons were almost certainly held in place by magic, or else they would have long since slipped off of Blake’s impressive chest.

Before I could decide what the hell I was supposed to do, I heard the door to my room swing open. “I’m back,” Zatanna called out in a sing-song voice as she stepped into the room, “did you miss me, pet?”

Blake’s wiggling intensified and she tried to say something through her gag, but her words were little more than garbled mumbling. However, I was no longer paying any attention to the tied-up faunus. I only had eyes for my beautiful, brilliant, and extremely…creative fiancée.

Like Blake, Zatanna was not exactly dressed. She also wore ribbons and only ribbons, however while Blake’s outfit at least pretended to cover up her most intimate areas, Zatanna’s was clearly more meant to highlight those same spots. A single very long ribbon was wrapped around Zatanna’s neck, complete with a little bow reminiscent of her tie. It then split into two strands that ran down her chest, looped around the bases of her breasts, and then continued downward to pass on either side of her utterly bare, hairless, and slightly parted womanhood. Those same strands then hugged the inner curves of her rear and led back up to her breasts from behind, their ends tucked beneath the loops around her chest.

My eyes were glued to Zatanna’s form as she skipped towards the bed, her hips rocking from side to side and her breasts bouncing with every jump. The ribbons around them were wrapped just tightly enough that they jutted out just that little bit more than usual, and the bright red stood out starkly against her tanned skin, drawing my eyes down to the barest trace of pink I could see between her lower lips.

It took her three whole steps before she suddenly noticed my presence. “Hydrys!” Zatanna exclaimed, her eyes going wide. “Oh no, how long have you been standing there? I just needed like, two more minutes!”

Blake froze. I smiled awkwardly. “Um, sorry?”