"Previously, on Supergirl…
With the help of Legionnaires Artemis (former Green Arrow protégée Evelyn Sharpe), Mon-El, Brainiac 5, and Saturn Girl (a 23-year-old version of Kara and Barry's adopted daughter Ellie from the future, who is calling herself Imra Ardeen), Supergirl and the Martian Manhunter have stopped three Worldkillers. The first, Reign, remains imprisoned in a secret Justice League facility, where Lena Luthor and Caitlin Snow are desperately trying to separate the personalities of Samantha Arias and Reign. The second, Purity, is missing; her whereabouts unknown. The final worldkiller, Pestilence, is dead. Murdered by Artemis with a plasma-bow. In outrage, Kara sent the Legionaries back to the future aboard their ship. Unbeknownst to her, Mon-El stayed behind and is now hiding in National City.
Furthermore, M'gann M'orzz, who recently relocated from Metropolis to spend time with J'onn J'onzz and his ailing father M'yrrn, stumbled across the remnants of Arthur Coville's 'Cult of Rao'. After helping a woman extricate herself from the Cult, M'gann discovered that the cult members had in their possession a mineral from Krypton - a form of Kryptonite called Harun-El. Believing that this new Kryptonite could perhaps counter the Worldkillers, Winn Schott seeks out Mon-El to use his Timeship to scan nearby space for any potential other deposits of the mineral."
Kara sat on a couch in her loft, snuggled into Barry's side. Ellie was nestled between Barry's legs, eyes fixed on the television, which was showing 'Thor: Ragnarok.' Ellie had only recently discovered the existence of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, thanks primarily to Ruby, and now insisted on watching all the movies in order. She was, however, only allowed to continue her movie binge on the weekends, because after watching each movie, she would call up Cisco in a frenzy and gush about it. The utter nerd entirely encouraged such practices, and they often broke down into hour-long discussions about… well, everything really. Kara had lost count. Kara herself had only seen a few of the movies and didn't really care that much about them. Why did she need fake superheroes and supervillains when there were plenty of real-life ones? She'd much rather watch Star-Trek, but she was holding off on binging the show with Ellie until she was older. Thanks to her telepathy, Ellie was far smarter and mature than most, if not all, girls her age. Being able to simply 'download' concepts direct from peoples brains helped in that regard. Though ironically she struggled with maths; not being as good with abstract, meaningless numerical values. It amused Alex to no end.
Cisco and Winn, it should be noted, had been banned from Ellie's physical presence until she finished her marathon, lest either of the nerds accidentally spoil anything for her. Barry, being the only one of them immune to Ellie's powers, was permitted only as long as he didn't think too hard about the movie they were watching at the time. Kara's solution to this problem was simple. After all, she could be a perfect distraction for him when she wanted to be.
On the other side of the couch sat Alex, also intent on the TV. She, like Kara, had never particularly cared for superhero movies, but since Ellie had started this madness, Alex had been as engrossed as Cisco and Ellie were. Even going so far as joining them in their… well, Alex called them debates, Kara called them shouting matches. Only, Alex didn't really care about the characters - except perhaps the Black Widow, as Kara couldn't help but notice the uptick of Alex's heartbeat whenever the spy appeared. She cared about the science. She spent the entire movie with a notebook in her hand, writing down what the film got right, vs what they got utterly wrong. Suffice to say, only superspeed had stopped the remote from ending up embedded in Kara's television when they watched 'Ant-Man'.
The final occupants of Kara's loft that night were J'onn and M'gann. The Martians sat at Kara's dining table, talking together quietly in the Martian-Language. Kara didn't know what the conversation was about, though she could have eavesdropped with her Legion Ring.
"I thought Thor was just an alien with a superpowered hammer," Alex was saying as Kara traced copies of her' S' sigil, intersected with Barry's lightning bolt, into his bare arm, "Why can he still use his lightning without it?"
"It's the Odinforce, duh! Now shush! Loki's about to come back!" Ellie snapped, practically bouncing against Barry's legs. If there was one thing Kara was worried about when it came to these Marvel movies, besides Alex's somewhat unnatural infatuation, it was Ellie's obsessive love of Loki. If this kept up, she'd need to keep an eye on her daughter, or she may very well end-up dating her first supervillain instead of punching him.
Ellie whipped her head towards Kara, eyes violet, and poked out her tongue. Kara reciprocated, blowing a raspberry for good measure. Ellie giggled, but then Hulk appeared, Kara's daughter screamed like a One-Direction fan, and she was once again consumed by the movie.
They sat like that once more for several minutes before Kara's phone started buzzing in her pocket. Better be Lena, she thought sourly. Lena had been incredibly elusive lately, missing lunches or sleep-overs; even declining most of Kara's requests for interviews or quotes. If she didn't know better, she'd think she'd done something to offend her friend. But she did know better, because Sam was equally busy and impossible to reach, so she understood that Lena was just very focussed on whatever her latest project was. That didn't change the fact that, if the two women didn't get their acts together soon, Kara, Alex and Maggie would be staging an intervention.
She pulled out her phone and rolled her eyes as she saw Cisco's caller ID.
"Cisco, she isn't finished yet, you have to wait…
"It's not that. You need to get over here, both of you, and fast. John Stewart just showed up at STAR Labs… He says Hal Jordan is missing."
Several trips at superspeed later (Cisco couldn't get those teleports finished fast enough, Kara was standing in the Cortex at STAR Labs, arms folded, Barry on one side and Alex and J'onn on the other. Standing in the middle of the room, looking quite awkward, was John Stewart, second Green Lantern of Sector 2184.
John was not a member of the Justice League. In fact, he stayed away from the League and it's members whenever possible. As a result, they knew very little about him at all. Only that he'd been selected as the replacement for Hal's partner when he'd gone rogue almost a year ago.
"What's happened?" Kara asked, dispensing with the pleasantries. The man didn't want anything to do with them? Kara could respect that. It didn't mean she wanted anything to do with him either. But Hal was her friend, even if he said next to nothing of his past and spent most of his time off-world. If he was in trouble, there was nothing that would stand in her way.
John bit his lip, then started pacing around the Cortex.
"We were on Ungara, deflecting a comet that was going to destroy the planet and wipe out 13 billion people…" Cisco sucked in a breath, whispering, "thirteen billion," to Caitlin, who's jaw had fallen open.
"But Hal received an urgent message from the Guardians, telling him to head for the Vega System immediately. That was a week ago, and he hasn't checked in since, and his ring isn't responding." John shivered, then held out his hand. The ring on his finger glowed, and a hologram of a solar-system appeared over their heads.
"The Vega System is the most-war-ravaged region of space this side of the Virgo Supercluster. It sits right on the border between Sector 2814 and Sector 2813, Sinestro's old beat. Hell, Vega is the whole reason Sector 2814 gets two Lanterns, most places only get one."
He took a deep breath, then continued on.
"An ancient civilisation, one that predates the Green Lantern Corps, used the twelve terrestrial planets of the Vega System as a testing ground for experimentation. They were trying to create life itself."
Kara bit her lip.
"And they succeeded. Several times. And each time they came closer and closer to creating lifeforms that were perfect mirror images of themselves - what we would call human."
"Once they succeeded, these 'Ancients' just up and left. But they left behind an enormous city and most of the technology within it. Eventually, one of the races found the city, which we now call the Citadel, and started performing experiments of their own. When they accidentally wiped out the entire population of one of the planets, the others rose up against them, and wiped them out."
"Fucking hell," Barry muttered.
"Now, several thousands of years later, there are seven different intelligent species in the system, and every couple of hundred years, something new happens to disturb the balance."
He waved his ring, and each planet in the system illuminated in order as he spoke.
"The first planet in the system, the Citadel Homeworld, where the Ancient City now lies, is currently held by the Darkstars. It's a sort of hive-mind, think the Borg. No one has been able to get inside the Citadel in two and a half thousand years, but intelligence suggests that most of the Darkstars are actually dead bodies locked inside nanotech suits, controlled by the artificial intelligence of the Citadel itself."
Kara went pale, and Barry ran a hand through his hair.
"The second planet, Karna, is the homeworld of the Gordanians."
"We have two Gordanian slavers locked in the DEO," J'onn said, "Their race has an abysmal reputation."
"It's well earned. Most of them are utter assholes. But they were behind the last big debacle in Vega, and still haven't recovered. The problem this time is over the planet Okarra."
John zoomed in to the fifth, sixth and seventh planets.
"Okarra is a planet rich in almost every mineral you can think of. It's incredibly valuable, and the races of Vega have been fighting over it since they first went to space. For the past two years, the planet has been embroiled in a major Civil-War between the Tamaraneans from the planet Tamaran, and the Xanshin from nearby Xanshi. These two are the last species created by the Ancients, the two closest to human."
"I met a Tamaranean woman once," Kara said, "On Krypton. My dad met with her one day, a couple of years before the planet was destroyed. I… don't know why, or who she was."
"Do they look human?" Alex asked. Kara shrugged.
"Sort of. They're humanoid, but about seven feet tall, have burnt orange skin, green eyes and can fly." Alex's jaw fell open.
"Don't forget the flaming hair," J'onn added, and Barry facepalmed.
"Oh yeah. Their hair bursts into flame. Shouldn't forget that."
"The Xanshin are more human-looking," John assured them, before looking down at the ground, "though their bodily proportions are rather exaggerated…"
"Why not just go looking for Jordan yourself?" J'onn asked, leaning forward on the Cortex console.
John looked back up at them, gaze unyielding. "I've never been to Vega before. Hal has the experience there; Sinestro taught him how the place works. If I go in blind… I might just make matters worse. Hal never shuts up about how good you guys are, so I came here to ask for your help."
The group of superheroes looked about one another. Not a word was said, but they understood all the same.
"I'll go," Kara said, "J'onn and M'gann can handle Purity if she shows up again. Barry needs to stay here to deal with the Thinker. I'll help you find Hal."
"If you're going then I'm coming too," Alex said, hand dropping to the gun at her waist, "It's about damn time I go to their turf for a change. Plus, Jordan still owes me from the last time he was in town."
Barry placed a hand on Kara's shoulder, and a jolt of lightning ran through her. The world slowed to a crawl, and Kara's hearing vanished as they shifted into Flashtime. She allowed herself a few seconds of blissful silence, before turning towards her husband.
"Are you sure about this?"
"Positive. I'm the best choice and the logical one. I have to go." Barry looked into her eyes for a few seconds.
"I trust you. Just come back to me, alright?"
She smiled softly, then pulled him in for a kiss.
"Always."
Barry let go, and the world returned to normal speed. Kara locked eyes with J'onn, who nodded, accepting her plan.
"Thank you," John said, smiling for the first time since they'd arrived at STAR.
"Well, if you're going into space, you aren't going unprepared," Cisco announced. Then he spun on his heel and rushed off down a corridor. The assembled heroes followed him to his workshop, arriving just in time to watch as he wheeled two mannequins out from a corner.
"Holy Rao," Kara whispered as Alex went slack beside her.
The new suit on display was similar, yet completely different to her last. The chest piece was slightly smaller, framed better over her chest, but the skirt was gone. In it's place were metallic pants, a deep red, falling down to meet with a new set of boots, blue to match the bodice. The boots were similar to Barry's, but instead of flaring outwards at the back, hers flared upwards at the sides, tracing the curve of her leg. The belt was thinner again, still gold, but it now had the diamond shape at the peak. Both the ends of the sleeves and the tops and soles of the boots were trimmed in identical gold. The cape had transformed once again. Now, instead of hanging over her shoulders, it folded around her neck, creating a v-neck collar she could adjust as she wished. The cape's shape was like an elongated teardrop, tapering to a point just above her ankles. It had more volume than she was used to, and she realised it was so she could actually pin it around her like a wrap or cocoon. The edges were also trimmed in gold, and if she looked close enough, she realised they were actually Kryptonian glyphs. What did they…
'My name is Kara Zor-El. I am the last daughter of the dead planet Krypton, and I am a refugee. I was sent to Earth to protect my cousin. But my pod got knocked off course, and by the time I got here, my cousin had already grown up and become... Superman. I hid who I really was until one day when an accident forced me to reveal myself to the world. To most people, I'm Kara Danvers, a reporter at CatCo Worldwide Media, wife of Barry Allen, and mother of my daughter Ellie. But in secret, I'm a member of the Justice League, and I work with my adoptive sister at the DEO to protect this planet I call my home from anyone that means it to cause it harm. I am Supergirl.'
"It's beautiful," Kara whispered, "Thank you, Cisco… truly."
Cisco blushed.
(If anyone is curious, the design is based off the New 52 Design, but with pants. Google it.)
"Oh it's nothing. I've been working on it since Reign destroyed my last suit. I know you've been wearing your old one for the past month or so, but I wanted to make sure this was perfect first. I had Sara give me everything from the Legion database about Kryptonian dress, so I could make it as accurate as possible. I tried to get the actual body piece to wrap more, but it impeded movement too much, so I decided the cape would work well enough. I also used the Kryptonian style for Alex's suit. Figured it matched…"
Kara blinked, tearing her eyes away from the gorgeous suit to fix on the second mannequins, which she'd completely forgotten was there.
Alex's suit was a dark navy blue, almost black. It was less metallic than Kara's was - it didn't need lead panelling like hers did - more formfitting like Sara's suit. Nor did it have a cape. But it did have a skirt of sorts. Starting at the waist and tapering out around the knees, it framed the suit's hips and hid a golden belt from open view, but it didn't cover her front. It was more a tail than a skirt or a cape that started at the waist and ended below the knees. Sewn within the inside of the skirt, which was a deep red, were dozens of pockets for small knives and throwing stars, and it also protected the extra cartridges on the belt from coming free or being pulled off. A small diamond shape, identical to the belt on Kara's suit, was framed by the point where the skirt tapered apart. Two gun-holsters adorned suit's thighs. The collar was also quite high and lined with dark gold metal.
"If you tap the collar, an emergency helmet will form - I borrowed Ray's nanites. It'll protect you from potentially dangerous toxins, or, if you're going into space, I suppose, vacuum. The suit can filter oxygen for you to breathe, but you'll need a tank if you're in space for longer than a few minutes.
Alex stepped carefully up to Cisco, then pulled him into a hug and started crying on his shoulder. The poor guy looked absolutely petrified. Kara took pity on him and eased Alex free, replacing his shoulder with her own. Letting Alex sob into her clothes instead.
"You're part of the crew now Alex. 100%."
"I am going to kick some serious alien ass."
The two sisters separated, and Kara turned to the assembled heroes.
"Clear the room. We're going to suit up."
Kara, Alex and J'onn followed John Stewart into the sewers of National City. They didn't speak. It seemed… rude somehow, to disturb the silence.
After about a ten minute walk, the Green Lantern brought them to a dry and well-lit tunnel. At the end of the pipe was a ladder. Alex watched with no small degree of envy as she climbed down the ladder and the others floated. Kara couldn't help but giggle at her, which earned a scowl in return. At the base of the ladder was a large antechamber, with rows of seats arching down to a stage at the bottom. The cement was old and cracked, and stalactites hung from the roof, the dripping of water adding to the ambience. The scent of mould was heavy in the air. A dozen or more aliens lay wrapped in thin blankets in the bleachers. Gornians, Laraxians, Durlans… you name it, they were there. Homeless and alone.
But Kara's eye couldn't help being drawn towards the structure atop the stage. It was an enormous gateway made from solid grey stone with swirling patterns within it. It was a perfect ring shape, though a section at the bottom was embedded within the stage itself. Separating the outside of the ring from the inside was a track of silver metal, with dozens of glyphs etched in a single line following the curvature of the ring itself. Each rune was distinguished from the one beside it, sitting in a divided rectangle of the track. Situated at equal distances from each other around the circumference were large triangular mechanisms that hung over both the outside grey metal and the silver track of symbols.
"So this is how most of the alien's get to Earth," Alex whispered, "I'd always assumed they all came by ship."
"I think we'd detect that many ships relatively easily don't you?" J'onn noted, shaking his head at his number two.
"It's called a Stargate," John said, leading the group towards the stone ring. Several people scattered around the underground cavern looked up at Kara as she passed, and she smiled and waved back at them. It was the least she could do for them.
"The Ancients built a network of them across the Milky Way Galaxy long ago. They can take you practically anywhere."
"We had one on Mars," J'onn said, "it was the first place the White Martians targeted. My first job was as a security guard there. When I escaped the death camps, I used the Stargate to come here. I tried to use it to go back sometime later, but couldn't get a lock. The Whites had destroyed it…" he trailed off, staring at the portal device in thought. But Kara was frowning now.
"Krypton didn't have one. I… I've never heard of a Stargate before." Why hadn't Krypton had one of these devices if they were so common?
John shrugged. "I don't know. The Ancients only put Stargates on planets they deemed habitable. Maybe Krypton was too toxic for them, so they didn't bother?"
He stepped up to a second device in front of the gateway. Shaped like a mushroom, the metallic device was covered in the same glyphs the ring was, patterned in two circles around a large golden half-sphere in the centre of the device. John started pushing the symbols, and the chevrons on the Stargate illuminated one by one in a clockwise manner.
"They're constellations," Alex realised, pointing at the glyphs. John pressed a seventh symbol, and the chevron at the peak of the ring snapped open with a clang, then clamped closed once more. Then he pushed the half-circle, and a wall of water exploded out of the ring, roaring through the cave. The water, energy, whatever it was, flared outwards, before being sucked back into the ring itself and forming a rippling surface of mesmerising blue.
"Wow…" Kara whispered.
"Straight ticket to the planet Okarra," John said, pursing his lips. Alex took a deep breath and drew Barry's Legion ring from her pocket. She'd borrowed the device so that she'd be able to breathe regardless of the atmosphere on Okarra.
"Good luck girls," J'onn said, pulling both of them into a quick hug. He let them go, nodded his farewell, then turned and started making his way towards the surface. Kara, Alex and John stepped up to the rippling portal, shimmering with blue light. Kara reached out and, hesitantly, tapped the event-horizon. It squelched slightly under her touch, creating a series of ripples that radiated out before fading.
"Any tips?" Alex asked, bouncing on the balls of her feet.
"Don't hold you're breath. It's not water, even if it looks like it. And you'll exit at the same velocity you entered with, so don't run, just walk."
The Green Lantern squared his shoulders, then stepped through the puddle and vanished. Kara looked at Alex and mirrored her sister's bright smile, then they clasped hands and stepped through.
They emerged into a war zone. Gunshots tore through the heavy air, soaring across a scorched no-mans-land that seemed to stretch for miles. There were no trees, no signs of civilisation. But there was a row of what had to be tanks fast approaching. And gathered around the foot of the stone pedestal the Stargate stood atop were perhaps a hundred people, all taller than her, dressed in rags with burnt orange skin and hair that actually tapered into flickering flames.
Kara didn't know who was in the right or who was in the wrong in this conflict. She didn't know the stakes. But she did know that the sun beaming down on her right now was yellow. She could feel its power invigorating her. And she knew refugees when she saw them.
Kara rushed down the stairs as the Stargate disengaged with a soft whooshing sound, and the gathered Tamaraneans all shied away from her. Then they saw John. A Green Lantern they recognised. John and Alex followed her, immediately asking questions of what was happening, trying to get answers and see if anyone was gravely injured. Kara advanced through the crowd, aiming for who she assumed was the group's leader. Standing beside an identical mushroom-shaped dialling device embedded in the white and black dirt, was a tall woman in torn purple clothing that actually contrasted rather well with her skin. Her hair, like the others, tapered to flame at the ends, and her eyes were entirely green—no irises or whites.
"Who are you supposed to be?" The woman said, the Legion Ring translating for her.
"I'm Supergirl," Kara said, stopping beside the woman and looking out towards the approaching line of tanks. They looked not dissimilar to earth tanks, or similar heavy-duty mobile weaponry from Krypton. She supposed that made sense.
"What in X-Hal's name are you doing here?"
"Right now?" Kara asked, shooting the woman a smile, "I'm saving your buts. Get your charges off-world. I'll deal with these guys."
The woman rolled her eyes and was about to say something - no doubt berating her for being stupid - when Kara shot into the sky, powered up her eyes, and started carving a line between the tanks and the Stargate. To her credit, the Tamaranean resumed dialling the Stargate without more than a few seconds bewilderment.
"I don't care what your war is about," Kara yelled. She didn't know if the tank drivers or the troops inside could hear her, but if they could, this was their warning. "But targeting the weak and the helpless? That makes you the villain. Every time."
For a few moments, silence reigned over the barren plain. Then the Stargate burst to life, and the tanks all trained their canons on Kara. Great. So it was a day for punching.
Kara shot towards the tank in the centre of the line, dodging a blast of electricity fired from its turret. She could probably absorb it, but better safe than sorry. She weaved around three more shots - the others went wide - and landed right in front of the machine. Then she picked it up with absolutely no effort, and hurled it through the air, back the way it had come. A distant and dull crunching sound was the only indication it landed. Next. She gave the tank on her left a single good punch that crumpled the metal - mustn't be very advanced - completely stalling it. She turned right, just in time for a canon to train on her face. She jumped over the turret as it released another shot, which slammed into the tank she'd just disabled, detonating it. Landing on the cannon barrel, then ripped it free and used it like a cricket bat, crunching it into the side of the tank that tried to shoot her. It crumpled like paper. She walked over the top as a hatch on the roof was thrown open with a metallic clang, and a man with dark skin and pink eyes frantically crawled out, training a gun at her. Kara let her new suit absorb the blast, which it did flawlessly (well done Cisco) then grabbed the man and tossed him behind her. She reached the other side of the tank and smirked. The two other machines had turned tail and were driving away as fast as possible. She turned around to check the other side, and was pleased to note they were doing so as well. A flash of green caught her eye, and she turned back to the Stargate as John landed on the ground beside her.
"You may have just made this a whole lot worse," he said, though it didn't seem to have any malice or disapproval to it, so that was a point in his favour.
"Don't care," she said frankly, then she floated up into the air and made her way back towards the Stargate. Most of the refugees were through, and Alex was talking to the leader woman, who was practically beaming at Kara.
"That… that was amazing! How did you do that?"
"Part of my amazing wits and charm," Kara said. The woman shook her head, chuckling softly as Kara landed on the ground.
"I am Koriand' r, captain of the Tamaranean ship Starfire." She winced. "Well, I was. I was trying to evacuate the last resident refugees when we were shot down. I managed to get the survivors across the plain to the Stargate…" She took a breath then performed what was obviously a local greeting; closed eyes, a bow, and hand over heart. Kara made sure to ignore the fact that the tattered remains of the captain's uniform did not do much to hold Koriand' r's rather impressive bosom.
"Your Alex says you search for the Green Lantern? Hal Jordan?"
"Yes," Kara said, smirking inwardly at the 'your Alex' comment. She glanced to Alex, who was blushing something fierce. She was having a much harder time not looking at the alien's impressive figure. "Can you help us?"
Koriand' r nodded.
"Yes. I know where he is… or at least, where he was going. He has been helping evacuate the refugees, from all three sides. Come with me back to Tamaram, and I'll tell you all I know."
Kara nodded, and together, the four of them walked through the Stargate once more.
Announcement
Hey everybody! So sorry this chapter is so late, and it's not as complete as we promised, but, we've been swamped over the last month, and we haven't had a lot of time to dedicate to any of our Fanfictions. I mean, there's been Hamilton to sing, COVID to avoid, lockdown to depress, surprise Taylor Swift albums to binge, emergency surgeries to prep for, and hangovers to struggle through.
Oh, and one other thing;
WE HAVE A PUBLISHER!
*fireworks explode! *trumpets proclaim our awesomeness! *sirens call out in praise! *fans screaming our names!
*cough, cough. Uhhh sorry. 😐 But seriously, we have secured a publisher for our first original novel for a pretty decent advance as well. So go us! Now, the final draft of our first book - which we're working on closely with our editor, because we have an editor now (*eeeeek!) - is due in September and after that we're going to be busy organising other related things, as well as University starting back up once more, and Ghost's mother is going into surgery. So we've decided to go on a temporary hiatus of sorts until everything calms down a bit. We'll still update, but posts will be irregular and will occur more when we have the time or a brief bit of un-restrainable imagination to leak out. Lost Daughter still has about three chapters in the tank, so we'll post those bi-weekly, and Blessing has two chapters to go before we hit the end of act one and go on a planned break anyway (as we did between Acts with Gemini Curse). We've only got first draft versions of the rest of the Okarran Civil War, and a couple of scattered sections written for Crisis, so that will take longer to get back up and running.
As a treat and a slight apology, we're going to give you this scene which was supposed to be saved for the end of Crisis Year 5 to stew on and start theory crafting. It's a doozy.
Thanks so much, guys, and sorry for the inconvenience,
Love, Ghost and Miracle.
The Legion of Superheroes: S3EP18 - Hey, World (May 2018)
"Why'd you call me here, Z?" John Constantine asked as he stepped into the Particle Accelerator Ring of STAR Labs. The place was bloody garish, and though it wasn't used as a prison anymore, the cells still lined the walls. He also didn't think anyone had thought to dust the place in a while.
"I've just come from the Parliament of Trees. Swamp Thing called a meeting of the world's greatest magi," Zatanna said, stepping away from the door and walking out into the enormous ring. John followed, not entirely sure what the point of this was but going along with it anyway. He figured he owed her that much, given he'd helped create a magical theme-park/refuge for escaped magical convicts and not warned her about it.
"I didn't get an invitation," John noted, "Not very polite."
Zatanna rolled her eyes at him. "You aren't exactly the easiest man to invite these days, given you usually aren't in this time period."
"True," he conceded, "But you could have just left it in the House. I would have seen it… eventually."
Zatanna gave him a flat look.
"Oh. Right. Forgot I took away your key. My bad."
She continued onwards without comment, walking around the bottom of the accelerator ring. They continued until John could no longer see the cells or the door, though the ring itself looked basically the same.
"So, what did old Swamp Thing want?"
"He wanted answers. Answers none of us could give him."
John frowned. "What do you mean?"
Zatanna stopped suddenly, and, if not for his phenomenal sense of balance, he would have walked straight into her back. That… would not have been a good move.
"There's a blight infecting the Green. Something Swamp Thing has never seen before. He showed us an infected plant and… whatever it was certainly wasn't natural."
"Some kind of magical plague?"
She didn't answer immediately, instead reaching out with a hand and tracing a square shape in the air, muttering under her breath. A panel in the floor broke free, floating up into the air and revealing a ladder.
"Maybe. I did some research of my own, and, John… I found a lot more than even Swamp Thing knew." Now growing concerned, he followed her down the ladder. The room appeared to be some kind of storage or maintenance centre. Several old, empty crates lined the floor, and metal beams supported the roof. There was no illumination save the light from the entrance, so John drew a match from his pocket, threw it into the air, and used it to create a ball of fire. The flames revealed that the room wasn't much bigger than it had looked before. There was nothing special about it, save for a wooden table against a wall. It was towards the table that Zatanna led him.
"You probably haven't noticed it because you've been in the past, not to mention busy, but those of us more in-tune with the Source have started to sense it."
"Z, just spit it out already." Zatanna stepped up to the table and called his sphere of flame to her own palm. Lying on the table was a length of metal so black it seemed to suck in the light of the fire. He stepped up to it warily. It was shaped almost like a wizard's staff.
"There's a taint. A corruption leaching at our connection to the Source."
"That's impossible. You can't taint the Source. It's primordial energy."
"I don't know John!" She snapped, "But its there. Not in the Source, but almost obscuring it. Like a thin layer of oil. The Source is still pure, but you can't get to it without going through the filth. It's barely noticeable, and only when you're drawing lots of power, but its there, and I think it's what's causing the blight Swamp Thing found."
She turned to him, and John almost stepped back in shock. There was fear in her eyes. A deep, harrowing terror that made him shiver unconsciously.
"And I knew I'd felt it before. I only realised where when you woke Neron."
John glanced to the staff.
"On Earth X."
Zatanna swallowed. "The Source, it was blocked off there do you remember?"
"Yeah…"
"We could only use it once Cisco opened his breach."
"Like drilling a hole in the wall," he said, eyes locked on the metal.
"Exactly. Then, as soon as we arrived, the world started sinking into the pit. Into Its prison. I can't help but think that maybe Earth X didn't sink at all. Maybe…"
"It was dragged."
Constantine, steeling himself, stepped up to the staff. He twisted his hand, reciting a spell, and a network of flickering red energy lines flickered into being around his hand like a glove. He held his hand out over the metal, and it immediately began to rattle on the table.
"I think… I think we might have fallen into a trap," she whispered, as if the louder she spoke, the more real it became.
"No think about it, love," he said. The staff started oozing a black tar-like substance, which immediately began to bubble upon contact with the air. The temperature quickly dropped, a dark cold falling about the room. The flames in Zatanna's palm died, and she lit her finger with a sphere of magic to compensate. John's breath began to frost. "We walked into it hook, line and sinker."
The staff shattered into a fine dust as a high pitched whine echoed through the room. The tar sat, bubbling on the desk for a brief moment, then, in a flash of bright white, it was sucked together into a sphere of darkness, which then promptly popped out of existence. Pulled back into the prison where it belonged.
They stood there in silence for several minutes, staring at the imprint in the table-top, before Zatanna spoke again. "The destruction spell I tried to use on the staff… it should have blown it to pieces. It didn't, so we brought it back with us. After the attack, it was put in the weapons vault. I don't know who by. After I realised… I moved it down here, waiting for you to come back."
"That was a very good idea," he muttered, "The curse on that staff… It was an Infection of some kind. Not Demonic… something lower than even Hell." He turned away from the table and looked towards the opening in the roof. The coldness was fading, but it was still deathly chilled. The cuffs of his jacket had frosted over.
"How long was it in the weapons vault?"
"A couple of weeks at least. We have no way to know who touched it. Who's been… Infected."
John placed a hand on Zatanna's shoulder. She was still looking at the table, at the scorch mark gouged into the wood.
She trembled in the cold, and though he couldn't see her eyes, he could remember the terror he'd seen there moments ago.
"All roads lead back to Darkness," she muttered into the shadows, "All roads lead back to Darkness."