Young Justice: Gotham City

October 11th, 2010

For the first few minutes, I’ll admit that I was dragging my feet. I was tired, sleepy, and honestly wasn’t all that interested in getting involved in whatever this was. Casual heroics were all well and good, particularly if they were conveniently timed, highly public, and likely to have significant payouts in terms of reputation, but waking up in the middle of the night to go save some random muggles I neither knew nor cared for was something else entirely.

If not for Zatanna, I probably would have ignored this entirely. I was confident in the league’s ability to deal with most issues, particularly after seeing just how dangerous certain members of the organization were. They already had people like Kent, Dr. Fate, and even Giovanni––as much as I disdained the man, there was no denying that he was an extremely powerful and knowledgeable wizard––on call if they needed a magic specialist.

Only the knowledge that Zatanna would be terribly disappointed in me if I didn’t involve myself, along with the certainty that she would try to get involved on her own, stopped me from succumbing to the siren’s song of my extremely soft and fluffy bed sheets. At the very least it sounded like the actual villains involved had already been dealt with, and this was just clean up.

I listened with one ear while Zatanna outlined what she’d heard from Kent and gave me the same basic rundown of the situation. Supervillain attack, league response, location, that sort of thing. Then she started talking about this Yellowstone place and suddenly was bandying around words like ‘extinction level event’, ‘several orders of magnitude stronger than Pompeii’, and ‘bury the entire continent in ash’, and suddenly I was paying a lot more attention.

I didn’t particularly care about the fate of any one muggle, or really any thousand muggles, perhaps more, but I was slowly growing fond of the things their kind had managed to achieve in the past century with the help of the local wizards and magical creatures. I also now lived on this continent, and I knew enough about socio-economic systems to guess that that sort of damage would have serious consequences for this entire Plane.

I couldn’t say I particularly liked this Plane either––too many self-important muggles and creatures that didn’t understand their place and not nearly enough wizards––but that didn’t mean I wanted to see it seriously damaged or destroyed. It was supposed to be my new home, the place where I stored the spoils of my journeys through the multiverse. It was also Zattana’s home, and I had no idea how to bring her physically along with me, if such a thing was even possible. The Blind Eternities were an immensely hostile place, one where I could survive only due to a fortunate turn of fate. Without something like my Spark to protect me, I would be swept away and dissolved into nothingness in an instant.

Shrugging on the same black and green robe I’d worn during the whole plant debacle, I turned towards Zatanna and interrupted her before she could keep going. “How in Merlin’s name do you know all this?” I asked, slightly baffled. “Kent couldn’t possibly have told you that much in thirty seconds.”

Zatanna poked her head out of the walk-in closet I’d charmed for her, continuing to pull on one of the white gloves she wore as part of her performing costume. I suppressed a frown, not fully pleased by her choice of outfit, but not really having any grounds to stand on to complain. As much as Zatanna and her father were currently not on good terms, she still greatly admired the man in some aspects and I was not surprised to see her copy his choices when it came to picking a costume for her heroic identity. I still thought it was a tad too revealing for wearing in public, but it was not in any way worse than her usual clothing, nor even more so than what a number of other heroines wore.

Hmm, something to think about. Perhaps I’d be able to tempt her into wearing something more directly linked to my stylistic choices in the future. Her developing pregnancy would give me time to wear her down and prepare more appropriate options. We could even work on it together. Assuming I wasn’t able to talk her out of all this heroism rubbish before then, that is. Optimally, she’d be pregnant again by the time our first child was weaned and I’d never need to worry about her going out and doing reckless, dangerous nonsense to protect a handful of meaningless muggle lives.

“Oh uh, Yellowstone is kind of famous, I guess?” Zatanna answered, tilting her head to the side thoughtfully. “I think I watched like, some documentaries about it, maybe? It's just sort of something I just learned about at some point. I thought volcanoes and natural disasters and stuff were really cool as a kid, and there’s a lot of books about that sort of thing aimed at kids.”

I wasn’t sure what to make of that. Perhaps a muggle equivalent of books about dangerous creatures like dragons and nundus? Flourish and Blotts had a well-trafficked shelf featuring large-font magical-creature books filled with all manner of illustrations and diagrams. Without such things, it seemed the muggles had been forced to make do.

Still, it was good to know that part of this was simply Zatanna’s own theoretical knowledge and not something she was passing along from Kent. It sounded like she probably knew the broad strokes, but not necessarily the most relevant details. I certainly wouldn’t trust someone raised on such books to know how to deal with a dragon attack, even if they likely could name just as many varieties of the creatures as a proper expert.

With that explained, Zatanna continued, though this time I started to notice potential gaps and places where she clearly didn’t know hard numbers. I’d need to get a proper read of the situation from the heroes, or perhaps some subject-matter experts.

Thinking of experts suddenly reminded me that I didn’t necessarily need to rely on the Justice League alone when it came to experts. In fact, I had access to a being with many thousands of years worth of experience managing the depths of the earth. Before they’d gone rogue, the Black Dragonflight had been charged with warding the earth and protecting the deep places of the world. Near as I was aware, that included volcanoes. Even if Mavria didn’t have direct experience with such things, she was still both an immensely powerful combatant and a master geomancer. I had a feeling her presence would prove invaluable.

Leaving Zatanna to finish getting ready, I stepped out of my room to find both Glynda and Raven waiting for me in the hallway. They were dressed in the huntsmen clothing I’d summoned them in, and looked a lot more awake than I felt.

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

“What’s the situation?” Glynda asked, eyes sharp. “Blake didn’t really tell us anything before running off.”

I raised a hand to forestall any further questions. “One moment. I don’t know much, and I only want to explain things once.”

Thankfully, the mana I’d spent on summoning Glynda had had just enough time to return, so I was able to do this now. After a moment’s thought, I decided to keep Shadowcrest––my most flexible land when it came to spellcasting––and the Hunstsmen’s Memorial––more protective magic was always a good option––in reserve and poured the rest of my mana into Mavria’s blueprint.

There was a flare of power and a moment later the draconic woman stood beside me. She didn’t look like much. Her blonde hair hung loose around her shoulders, with only two clumps gathered into loose pigtails just above the curves of her breasts. She wore a simple, home-spun brown dress, and her soft, gentle features gave her an air of innocent peacefulness.

However, beneath that pleasant exterior lurked a dangerous apex predator. Perfectly controlled rivers of magic flowed just beneath the surface of her skin, and her robe was just as heavily enchanted as my own, if not more so. Beyond that, I knew that she could easily shed this human shell at a moment’s notice and return to her true form––a dragon big enough to swallow a grown man whole and strong enough to tear through stone, steel, and magical barriers like they were tissue paper.

Glynda, who had met the woman previously, smiled pleasantly, while Raven cautiously eyed the new arrival, assessing her strength and threat level with a well practiced eye. Mavria ignored both of them, blinking languidly and then looking around the hallway with half-lidded eyes. “So this is it, huh? A whole new world?” she asked after a moment. “Doesn’t look like much.”

I wanted to say something about the wooden shack that the dragon called home, but that would be needlessly antagonistic. And in any case, it was true that this part of my new home was still rather underwhelming. Bare walls, simple flooring, and utilitarian doors. A far cry from the opulence I was used to and sought to recapture.

“It's a work in progress,” I said simply. “Perhaps you’ll be able to help us turn it into something a bit more impressive in the future.” She made a dismissive noise and I quickly moved on. “In any case, welcome to my current home. I’d be happy to give you a proper tour later and help you settle in, but for now there’s an emergency that I need to attend to and you seemed like the perfect fit to help me out.”

“Oh?” Mavria rolled her eyes and sighed heavily. “And what exactly is the problem? Did someone’s cow get stuck in a gully?”

I wondered idly if that was an actual thing she’d been asked to deal with in the past, or if she was just being dramatic. “No, no, nothing like that. Apparently some supervillain,” I hoped the automatic translation of my Spark would help bridge the gap between this Plane’s terminology and that which she was used to, “tried to set off some sort of supervolcano thing? I’m not clear on the details, but––”

Mavria went from slouching and unconcerned to absolutely focused in an instant. Her shoulders straightened, her eyes narrowed, and the lazy streams of power flowing through her body shuddered like the freshly-tightened strings of some instrument. “Where?” she demanded. “There’s no time to waste.”

That certainly seemed to have caught her attention. It seemed I’d been right about the responsibilities of her flight. Even if most of them had decided to focus on sowing discord, some, like her, still remembered their original purpose.

“Well be heading out in just a moment. Just waiting for––” Blake rounded the corner at run, a tray stacked high with croissant sandwiches and mugs full of tea clutched in her arms. She slid to a stop beside us, barely sparing a glance for the unfamiliar member of our group, and carefully angling the tray to ensure not a single drop splashed out of the sloshing cups.

“––food and one more––” the door to my bedroom opened and Zatanna stepped out. She briefly glanced at Mavria, then hungrily snatched a sandwich and mug off of Blake’s tray. I cut myself off and sighed. “Good timing.

I grabbed my own food and drink, a long sip of the hot, heavily caffeinated tea doing plenty to wash away the last of my lingering sleepiness. Turning to Zatanna, I asked, “Did Kent tell you where we need to go?” I wasn’t fully sure where this volcano was, but I doubted I’d memorized any nearby locations for apparition.

She nodded, her mouth full. She quickly chewed and swallowed, then said, “Yeah. There’s a Zeta Tube in Salt Lake City. He’ll meet us there.”

“Right.” My summons weren’t keyed into the Justice League’s travel system, but that wasn’t an issue. “Raven, I’ll apparate to the station and go through on my own. You’ll portal everyone else over as soon as I’m through.”

Raven nodded sharply in agreement. “Understood.”

I scarfed down my sandwich, washed it down with the rest of my tea, then set the cup back down on Blake’s waiting tray. The cat faunus had finally realized that she was completely naked in front of both a stranger and one of her teachers and was blushing brightly while trying to cover her chest with her arm and her womanhood with the tray. “Blake, get dressed but you’re on homewatch. We need someone to stay here so Raven has a target to portal too.”

“Yes, Hydrys,” she squeaked.

“Good. Let's go.” Not bothering with subtlety, I twisted and vanished with a sharp crack, reappearing a moment later inside the building that hid one of Gotham’s Zeta Tubes.

To my surprise, I was not alone. There was a scowling teenager waiting for me, the vaguely familiar boy dressed in a red body-suit, black and yellow cape, and wearing a mask similar to my own. It took me a moment to remember his name––something bird related––but eventually I recognized him as Robin, Batman’s protege. I’d heard a bit about the boy in the past from Kaldur'ahm and I’d briefly seen him when we’d assaulted the Injustice League’s base.

He was leaning against a wall and straightened to his full, if not-particularly impressive, height the moment I arrived. “Took you long enough,” he said snidely. His eyes flicked up and down my costumed form. “Hope you had a nice nap.”

I ignored him, stepping into the Zeta Tube. Near as I was aware, he was just an ordinary muggle. I doubted he’d be of much use today. Or ever, for that matter.

“Salt Lake City,” I told the machine clearly.

The muggle apparatus emerged from the ceiling and scanned the two of us, and then once more I vanished from the room. For as clunky as the entire system was, I had to admit that the Justice League had devised a far more comfortable means of transportation than most comparable magics I was familiar with. This was positively pleasant compared to traveling by floo or taking a portkey.

Kent was indeed waiting for me when I emerged. I spared a glance for Robin, who’d traveled with me, then continued to ignore him. As soon as I had stepped away from the tube, one of Raven’s portals appeared beside me and the others swiftly filed out of it, with Raven herself bringing up the rear.

Out of the corner of my eyes, I could see Robin’s gaze instantly snap over to my summons, and the ghost of a frown flickered across my lips before I forced it away. I turned towards Kent, who was leaning heavily on his cane and looked even older than he had the last time I’d seen him.

“Kent,” I greeted simply. “It's good to see you. I’ve got a lot to tell you about during our next lesson.”

“Hydrys, glad you made it back. I’ll keep that in mind––something to look forward to after all this is done.”

“Indeed. In any case, we can catch up later. What’s the situation? I brought an expert, hopefully they’ll be able to help.”