Young Justice: Metropolis
October 1st, 2010
I was not a particularly heroic person by nature. Were this my world, I would have cheerfully apparated away with Zatanna in tow, content to leave troubles like this in the capable hands of the Aurors and obliviators. I wasn’t sure what idiot had decided to experiment with dangerous, volatile magical plants like this one in the middle of a populace city, but I was confident that the Ministry would be able to deal with this disturbance and properly punish the perpetrator for their gross breach of the Statute.
Sticking around and trying to ‘help’ would likely just make more work for the Ministry workers and potentially lead to an annoying sequence of interrogations, bribes, and wasted influence as my family’s enemies no doubt tried to use my presence as a pretext to paint me as the perpetrator. Perhaps if this had happened in the middle of Diagon or Hogsmeade, then it would be appropriate to step in and assist, but certainly not in such a muggle space.
However, this was not my world, and things worked differently here. For one, my family name did not command the respect and authority that I had grown used to growing up. Furthermore, here, issues of this nature were typically dealt with by highly-competent individuals rather than trained and organized government workers.
Thus, this was not an issue, but simply an opportunity. An opportunity to establish a reputation, to get my name out there, and to show the world that I was not someone to be messed with lightly. I did not much care for all these screaming, fleeing muggles, but if I wanted to be able to live in peace and comfort, it was important to be seen as heroic by the powers that be.
There was magic flowing through the vines, though less of it than I would have expected from the unnatural growth and strength they had displayed. Still, I could see nothing that would indicate any powerful, exotic effects that could give even a trained wizard trouble such as the lethal cry of a mandrake.
I squinted, tracking the flow of magic deep within the vines. There was something odd about it, the way it coiled within the central mass of the vines and flowed down into the earth. It looked vaguely out of place, a core of orange and sickly green hidden beneath the leafy green of nature magic. Was something controlling the vine perhaps? Or was it simply the result of an experiment gone wrong? It was hard to say.
A panicked shout tore me from my momentary reverie and I refocused on the matter at hand. I could study what was left of this thing later––I’d yet to try and create a Blueprint of a plant, but even if that did not work this seemed like just the sort of specimen I’d like to keep a cutting of for future examination. If nothing else, Thumbelina Peach, when I finally had enough Green mana to summon her, would likely be able to put such a specimen to good use.
My eyes landed on a middle-aged woman who was scrambling across the ground not far from me, her hands and bare legs bloody and scraped from crawling across the concrete. She had escaped from her car in the nick of time, scrambling out through the back door moments before a sweeping vine sent it bouncing across the road like a child’s toy, but now that same vine was rapidly closing in on her, its tip arched like a thumb to squish her like I would a pesky insect.
Right. Focus. I had a task to do. I flicked my wand and wordlessly summoned her shirt and shorts, launching her up into the air and away from the vine as she flew towards me. It was likely a rather uncomfortable flight, but better an unpleasant murph than death. She narrowly avoided getting swatted out of the air and I used a levitation charm to set her down some distance behind me.
I had two priorities. Firstly, I needed to be seen actively saving people. Hopefully at least one of the many muggles around us would record my actions so that they could be seen by others far from this place over the internet, but if not, word of mouth would be useful as well. Secondly, I needed to deal with this unusually aggressive plant, preferably before it caused too much damage and in a suitably dramatic way.
Well, it was best to get started. I tapped my wand against my throat and mumbled an incantation. “Sonorus.” There was a light tickle in my throat, and I had to resist the urge to cough. “Everyone, get back!” I called out. “Stay behind me!” Though I spoke with my normal volume, my voice boomed like thunder, clearly audible to everyone for hundreds of meters in every direction.
Then I took a deep breath and brandished my wand. These muggles were not my enemies. This plant was the enemy. Two motes of mana, White from the memorial for control and protection and Red from Shadowcrest for power and fury, flowed into me and than down my wand.“Protego Diabolica!”
Black fire poured from the tip of my wand like water out of a hose. A small circle swiftly formed around me, then rapidly began to expand, flames licking the air as they burned in midair without fuel or support.
Swiftly, the circle became a wall, stretching fully from one side of the wide city street to the other. I cursed silently when I realized that a number of muggles had stopped, fearfully avoiding the dark flames. “Do not fear,” I declared confidently, “my flames do not burn the innocent!”
One particularly brave young muggle stared at the rapidly growing wall, then rushed through it. To my relief, the spell parted around him like it was supposed to. A moment later, he stuck his head back through the flames and waved to the older man who he had been standing beside.
His courage––and survival–– seemed to inspire the other muggles, and they swiftly fled through the wall to safety. The vines tried to follow them, but that was a futile endeavor on its part. The flames of my spell turned a leafy vine as thick around as a barrel into ashes and dust on contact, the rest of the vines rearing back as tongues of fire leapt after them.
Keeping most of my focus directed on controlling my rather unconventional shield charm, I turned my head to look down at Glynda, who had just stepped out of one of Raven’s portals. She was dressed in her usual outfit, though she’d added a domino mask much like my own to the ensemble, and was carrying her riding crop at the ready.
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I honestly wasn’t sure what was up with the masks. Some heroes like Batman, The Flash, and Dr. Fate wore them, while others––Superman, Wonder Woman, Giovanni Zatara––did not. Similarly, some heroes chose to conceal their identities to various extents, though this did not necessarily line up with whether or not they wore a mask. Neither man wore a mask, but Giovanni’s secret identity was paper-thin, while Superman’s was not. Dr. Fate wore a face-concealing helmet, and yet it was common knowledge that Kent had been the one wearing that mantle, while no one seemed to know who Green Arrow and The Flash were despite their rather less-concealing facemasks.
Ultimately, it seemed to be a matter of preference, though for some reason the sources I’d found on the internet claimed that every superhero should wear a mask. I ultimately decided that it would be easier to wear one and than take it off if necessary rather than to start without one and don it later. If nothing else, it was a very convenient place to anchor a number of detection and protective spells. This way, I had all the benefits of magic sight and Order-based analysis magic without having to wear glasses or recast the spells on myself each time I wanted to use them.
“Glynda,” I ordered, “excellent timing. Reinforce those buildings while I deal with the vines.”
She nodded sharply. “Understood, Hydrys,” she answered, pitching her voice so that my name would carry to the muggles behind us, “I’m on it.”
She rose smoothly into the air, the harness she always wore beneath her clothing allowing her to use her semblance for flight and other rapid movements. Than she shot forward, weaving smoothly between the lashing vines as she flew towards where the vines were slowly starting to engulf and crush a number of buildings.
With that taken care of, I refocused on the vine itself. I drifted forward, the wall of fire around me advancing as I did, slowly growing from a wall to a half-circle, and then starting to surround the vine entirely. It was a challenge to control the spell at such a scale, but between the mana I’d fed into the spell and the small boost it had gained from my aura, I was pretty sure I’d be able to make it cover a large enough area to deal with this overgrown shrub.
Of course it wasn’t going to be that easy. Apparently, in addition to its large size, rapid growth, and great strength, the plant did have another trick it could use. Red spores rapidly grew on some of the vines and then burst into clouds of dangerous-looking smoke. I was protected from the dark-green gas by a full-body bubble head charm, and my shield happily burned the smoke just as readily as it did everything else, but the thick clouds made it nearly impossible to see what was happening on the ground and threatened to expand over my barrier to reach the vulnerable muggles behind me.
Still, that was only a minor setback. I dropped down to the ground and redirected the wind magic I’d been using to levitate. Carefully controlled gusts forced the smoke down onto the ground, stopping it from billowing over top of my barrier and keeping it away from Glynda.
From there, it was simply a matter of time. My flames closed in, moving closer and closer to the center of the vines until they formed a full circle around it. The vines wrapped around buildings were burned away, leaving the structures heavily damaged but held up by Glynda’s semblance.
The vine did not give up without a fight. Unable to grow outwards, it grew upwards, unleashing more clouds of smoke high in the air and trying to loop around my protections to strike at the roofs and upper floors of surrounding buildings. Ultimately however, its efforts were futile. The flames eventually formed a full dome that shrank and shrank until nothing but a handful of small samples that I’d collected remained, even the roots that extended deep into the ground burned away by my magic. Those I had Raven portal directly into a few of the extra unbreakable terrariums I’d made for the samples Peach had given me. I could examine those later.
Even though the vine was gone, there was no time to rest. I moved to assist Glynda, using repair charms to stabilize ruined walls and levitating trapped muggles down from upper-story windows. I received a flurry of thanks that I mostly ignored, only making sure that the muggles in question knew exactly who they had been saved by. I noticed a few of the younger muggles recording me with their phones and smiled internally. Perfect.
I was in the process of evacuating a building too damaged to be easily repaired when a bright green form shot down from the sky and landed not far from me. I recognized the costume immediately. This was one of the Green Lanterns, a member of the Justice League. There were a few Green Lanterns––I wasn’t entirely clear on why––and this was the dark-skinned one.
He walked confidently over to me and I turned away from the muggle I was assisting to face him. As soon as we were face to face, he launched into things without bothering with pleasantries. “Are you the one who dealt with the plant monster here?”
I smiled pleasantly and extended a hand out towards him. “Indeed. Hydrys Black. It's a pleasure to meet such an esteemed hero.”
He took it after a moment and we shook hands.“Hydrys Black,” he mumbled, “where have I heard that name before?” After a moment, comprehension shone in his eyes. “Oh, you’re that boy Zatara has been complaining about.”
My smile turned slightly strained. “That’s me. He doesn’t like me very much. I think he, uh, doesn’t approve of me courting his daughter. I hope that won’t be a problem?”
The man let out a short laugh. “He certainly wouldn’t. Don’t worry, Wonder Woman and Fate both vouched for you. He’s just making trouble.” His expression quickly turned serious. “But that’s not the point. Do you still have the energy to help?”
I clicked my tongue. “This was not an isolated occurrence, was it?” I asked, already knowing the answer. “I assumed it was just some runaway experiment.”
The man nodded severely. “It was not. There was an attack this morning, but Superman took care of that quickly enough. We thought that was it, however over the last twenty minutes or so, dozens of these things have started appearing all over the world. There’s at least four more here in Metropolis, plus many more in other major cities.” Huh. That was certainly a bold move by whomever was organizing this attack. “Most of us can fight them easily enough, but they’re hardy things. Hard to really put down permanently.”
The point he was making was simple enough. “I can manage…maybe two or three on my own.” More like five, but he didn’t need to know that. “More if I can get some help boxing it in.”
Some of the tension in the man’s shoulders eased. “Oh, that’s fantastic. Even just getting rid of a few of these will free up a lot of heroes. Let’s go, there’s no time to lose.” And then he enveloped both of us in a bubble of green light and we shot up into the sky. He didn’t even give me time to update Glynda, though hopefully I could count on Raven to keep her informed. Well, no matter. If I needed her, she was a mere two portals away, something Raven could manage in an instant.