Young Justice: Metropolis

October 1st, 2010

I’d heard a lot about Superman in the last few months. His name was utterly unavoidable whenever the topic of superheroes was brought up. He wasn’t the oldest active hero––that title went to either Wonder Woman or Dr. Fate, depending on whether or not you considered the Lord of Order himself or his host––but he was easily the most famous and recognizable, as well as often considered the most powerful.

Now, I personally had my doubts. Near as I could tell, he was some sort of magical creature, just like Miss Martian and her uncle. His natural abilities were powerful, but ultimately limited. How could he truly compare to the likes of Dr. Fate or Giovanni––the only two true wizards amongst the Justice League––or even someone like King Orin with his access to Atlantean magics?

The man could fly, but so could the local wizards. The man was strong, fast, and durable, but once more, wizardry could bridge that gap. Both Wonder Woman and Captain Marvel were magic users, near as I could tell, and they were often considered of similar strength. The man could shoot beams of fire from his eyes and waves of cold from his breath, but both elements were well within the grasp of a skilled wizard.

With all that in mind, I had assumed that it was simply a matter of presentation. The hero certainly dressed in an ostentatious and yet deeply recognizable costume, and he spent a great deal of time in one of the most populous cities in the country, performing his heroics before the eyes of countless witnesses. His heroism was flashy and the man himself was photogenic, thus the public assumed he was far more than he actually was.

Now, by no means did I think he was weak, far from it. And I certainly would love to build connections with him and the other non-wizards of the League. He had a colossal amount of name recognition and a reputation for both power and a willingness to use it in the pursuit of justice. Exactly the sort of public figure whose recognition would assist me in establishing my own name and positive reputation. Furthermore, if something did happen, he would no doubt make for an excellent meat shield, preferably one I could bring with me if I was able to obtain a Blueprint.

However, well…seeing is believing. And I was starting to think that perhaps I’d underestimated the man. There were four heroes here in Metropolis. Green Lantern, Hawkman, Hawkwoman, and, of course, Superman himself. And compared to the Man of Steel himself, the other three may as well have been an afterthought.

The two winged heroes flew around some of the more deeply rooted vines, but all they could truly do was cut back the most exposed tendrils and carry some of the muggles to safety. Green Lantern was somewhat more effective, his constructs of green light able to both damage and contain the plants and the smoke they produced, but he was only able to do so much.

Superman however? There was fast, and then there was his flight. Most of the time he was visible as little more than a red and blue streak, moving faster than even Raven. There was strength, and then there was the insane level of force needed to bodily tear vines a thousand times his size out of the earth by the roots. His heat vision was a blazing scalpel, cutting away the worst of the vines encroaching on the city around them, and a blast of his freezing breath turned vast swaths of plantlife as brittle and lifeless as glass.

He was less a man and more a nundu in the shape of one. He took blows from the vines without flinching, the greenery shattering against him like water splashing off a window. He was the sort of XXXXX creature that wizards simply accepted as a fact of life. Not a dragon or horned serpent––something dangerous but controllable––and more a lethifold, nundu, or wampus cat. Or perhaps the half-breeds employed by the Wizarding Bank of Constantinople were a more apt comparison––dangerous, but thinking creatures that even the most skilled of wizards walked lightly around.

There were three more of the massive vine creatures, in addition to the one I’d incinerated. The first was dealt with swiftly. It had grown in the center of a city square, expanding outward rather than upward. The Green Lantern––Lantern Stewart, though I wasn’t sure if that was a first or last name––held me aloft high above the ground and protected from the vine’s grasping tendrils by a sturdy barrier of green light.

And then I unleashed Fiendfyre into the world. I did not augment the flames with mana, but there was no need for such a thing. Unlike the spell I’d used previously, Fiendfyre needed no help in burning everything it touched until not even ashes remained. Rather, it was stopping it from burning things that was difficult, and mana––as much as it aided in controlling a spell––was simply too potent a fuel to imbue into the spell safely.

Liquid fire dripped from my wand and erupted into a conflagration on contact with the roiling ball of plant matter. It took all my focus to rein in the flames, guiding them to burn the vines and only the vines. I held my wand in both hands, sweat beading on my forehead as dragons, basilisks, and phoenixes of living fire raged across the open square, consuming everything they touched.

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However, even as I strained to control the cursed flames, I noticed something curious through the magic sight spells woven into my mask. That same core of sickly green and orange lurked just beneath the surface of the vines, flaring at times as they tried to strike at me and the Lantern, releasing clouds of gas––Joker Venom––or fled from the flames.

Even more interesting was something I observed as I slowly mopped up the last half of the plant. As soon as I had burned away the core of the plant, the rest of the unpleasant looking magic had withdrawn, and the vines had grown far more…wild. They still thrashed and grew, but they lacked direction. I had a feeling that this magic was the key to how the vines were being controlled, and perhaps also a means by which the attacks could be halted once and for all. After all, when dealing with a plague of devil’s snare or venomous tentacula, it was best to cut the problem out by the roots.

As I finished burning away the last of this vine and, with a massive exertion of willpower, extinguishing the Fiendfyre, I turned to the Lantern and told him about what I’d seen. Someone was controlling these plants remotely via magic, and it would likely be far easier to deal with the remaining overgrown shrubs once the controller was dealt with. The plant had grown visibly less dangerous the moment I had burned away the magic controlling it, and the rudimentary intelligence of a plant was far easier to deal with than one backed by the intellect of a powerful wizard.

Lantern Stewert listened in grim silence, then sighed heavily. “That was the League’s conclusion as well. Zatara thinks it's that menace Wotan again and tracked him to Bayou Bartholomew somewhere in Louisiana, but us League heroes need to be out here, dealing with the plants themselves, or who knows how much damage they’re going to cause. Batman sent a small group to try and track them down, but,” he sighed again, “it doesn’t seem like they’d managed to do so yet.”

Well, that was slightly irritating. I had been hoping to prove my value by going above and beyond what was expected of me, but it seemed as though Giovanni had beaten me to the hex this time.

I made sure not to allow any of my annoyance to show on my face. I was a ‘hero’, so it was a good thing that someone else was off dealing with the root of the problem while I helped in whatever ways I could. I ‘just wanted to help’. I had to remember that. “Oh, that’s great news. I’m glad to hear that the League is already on top of things.” I gestured towards the distant shapes of Hawkman and Hawkwoman flying around the writing vines of one of the plant creatures as it slowly engulfed a large building. “Let’s go deal with the rest of these things. Hopefully we can wrap things up quickly and go reinforce the other heroes.”

And so that is just what we did. The third plant creature took a lot more care and finesse than the first two had. It was simply too entrenched, vines growing into and through large buildings, to be easily burned out without causing further damage. Instead of fiendfyre or some other devastating, large-area spells, I was reduced to using desiccating and cutting charms to charms to prune back the plant. The two winged heroes did their best to help, but their contribution was minimal.

Eventually, we managed to get close enough to reach the center of the creature’s body where its connection to its controller was strongest. Superman––who briefly stepped away from his own battle against the last plant creature to assist us––and I obliterated vast swaths of the plant’s central body until finally the connection snapped, leaving behind a far more ordinary and less dangerous plant that could be dealt with later. I took the opportunity to snag a Blueprint, not fully confident the small trimmings I’d collected would be larger enough to do so with, and we moved on.

All five of us, along with Glynda who had finished her earlier evacuation work, descended on the final creature. Between Superman’s ability to simply tear through the vines, ax-like constructs summoned by the Lantern, Glynda’s semblance, my magic, and the minor contributions of the weapon-wielding bird heroes, we dealt with it swiftly enough.

We were all taking a moment to catch our breaths, gathered together around the barren and broken hole in the sidewalk where we’d dispatched the last vine creature, when Lantern Stewert cursed loudly out of the blue. “Damn it, no time for rest. Batman says the kids ran into some trouble and we’re the closest group that’s free to assist. He’s sent me the coordinates, we need to go.”

Superman floated into the air and the two Hawks stretched their wings. I wanted to curse myself. This would have been a perfect opportunity to acquire some new Blueprints, but it seemed as though the day wasn’t over yet. We’d barely had time for introductions, much less anything else. At the very least, I hoped the muggle flying machine flying above us had gotten a good shot of all six of us together.

In any case, this was an opportunity to help out some more. It sounded like speed was of the essence. “I can teleport us,” I said quickly, “It will be faster than flying. Where do we need to go?”

The Lantern swiftly started rattling off coordinates, but I shook my head. “I need a direction and a distance.”

The information was quickly provided and I summoned a chunk of rubble from the ground. “Portus,” I intoned softly, thankful that the location wasn’t all that far away. It had only been half an hour, but I was getting rather tired from all the spells I’d been throwing around. “Ten seconds, everyone touch the rock or each other.”

I counted down from ten in my head, swiftly making sure that everyone was connected so they’d be dragged along by the portkey. And then we were off.