Combatant

"So," Artemis didn't sound too impressed, given where she came from I'd imagine it would be hard to be, "Is this the place you were looking for? The last time you thought we had the right place, some guy almost pissed himself. Most likely in fear and I think he called the local authorities as well."

We must have made for quite the sight. Two beautiful women armed with weapons and clad in armor similar to Wonder Woman's, accompanied by a sixteen year old dressed in running clothes standing in broad daylight. Each of us looking pissed off.

In front of us was a townhouse, you know? Those types of buildings that had two houses side by side, like joined at the hip kind of houses? Any way, it was a regular brown color, with a well flourished and maintained lawn and a red brick pathway. Place must have cost a fortune.

The sun had just begun to reach its apex, so I'd say it was about two in the afternoon, maybe one thirty. But that didn't matter at the moment. What mattered was seeing if the guy that lived there would be able to help me get my mom back.

And if not, Lucifer was just on the other side of the states. In Los Angeles, if I'm not mistaken. Which, given the fact that I have no clue what universe I'm in, it might as well be a wild goose chase.

Hippolyta sighed, "Artemis, now isn't the time to mock the poor boy," She narrowed her eyes at the men walking by, who were staring at her and Artemis' asses with no shame whatsoever, "The sooner we get the aid that we require, the better. For both our sake and the populace's."

I shook my head, "Welcome to New York, my Queen. Believe me, this is one of the better parts of the state. Just imagine the traffic if we went to it's capital!" I snarked with false cheer in my tone.

The closest Zeta tube happened to be in Manhattan, so we had to take a cab from there all the way down to its border. Where New York and Gotham met, it was in some city that didn't exist in my last universe, so the name kind of slipped from my mind. Granted I was never one to remember the names of cities, but my point still stood.

But enough stalling, time to get down to business. I knocked on the black door twice, and rang the doorbell. From the other side, I heard the sounds of feet padding against the floor, accompanied by someone saying 'I'll get it!'

Not even a second later, I heard the sound of locks being undone and the door opening. A girl, probably no older than fifteen, was on the other side. Her bright cyan eyes a cross between amazement, disbelief, hero worship, and shock. She had medium length black hair and a very slender build. For clothes, she wore black pants, a bright red top, and black tennis shoes.

A smile worked its way on my face, she was just stunning, "Well, hello, beautiful. Name's Lucas, friend's call me Luc, but you," I slid right up to her and gave her my most charming smile, "You can call me whatever you like, gorgeous!" I winked at her and I swear I heard a heart stop for a second.

It was more than likely mine, but that's besides the point.

I heard gagging behind me, but chose to ignore it, "Well, gorgeous? You gonna tell me your name or are you just gonna keep staring at me? I don't mind either way if I'm being completely honest, I could get lost in those eyes forever."

That shook her out of her stupor, though she had a bit of pink dusting her cheeks. Hah! Knew I was hot! "Oh! Right! I'm Zatanna, friends call me Zee for short. It's nice to meet you, Lucas!" She reaches for a handshake and gladly reciprocated it.

"Nice to meet you too," I smiled, "Hey, you wouldn't happen to be single, would you?" I had never asked out a girl before, not in my last life any way, but somehow, I knew that if I didn't at least try with Zatanna I'd never get this chance again.

Zatanna smirked, "Are you asking me out on a date? In front of both your female friends?" She looked past me to wave at both of the Amazons, "Nice to meet you two by the way!" She then looked at me, "You know that goes against the sisterhood code and common sense, right?"

I winked at her, "See, they don't count! The redhead's my aunt, her name's Artemis by the way, and the brunette, Hippolyta, is my grandma. So I'm good to go on that front, all I need now is a response."

Zatanna's coy look left her face as she blinked, "She's your grandma? Huh. She doesn't look a day over thirty. Do you know her secret?"

"Sadly, I don't, but you obviously don't need such a thing," I waggled my eyebrows, "As far as I can tell, you're the only beauty here."

She giggled. I gave a mental cheer and did a victory dance in my head. Unfortunately, it wasn't meant to last as Hippolyta had to cut through my mojo like a knife did butter. "Lucas' asinine attempts at flirting aside, is this the residence of Giovanni Zatara?"

"Erm, yeah." Zatanna looked both confused and worried, "He's inside, I can go get him if you'd like. Also, is this a Justice League thing? It looks and feels like a Justice League thing."

"That'd be perfect, thank you." Hippolyta gave the girl a smile of gratitude, but once the door closed it slipped off her face as she turned to look at me.

"What?"

Hippolyta sighed, but Artemis just smacked me on the back of my head, and I'm pretty sure if I was anyone else I would've been unconscious. I didn't shout or scream, we were already getting unnecessary attention, didn't want to make a scene as well.

"What was the for?!"

"We are on a mission or did you forget?" Artemis glared at me, clearly not amused, "You flirting with the girl is wasting the limited amount of time we have! Or is she more important than freeing your mother and her people?"

I clenched my fist, "You know that's not how it is. Besides with Zatara's help we'll be able to find all of the pieces faster than what it would've taken just going at it blind." I crossed my arms at her, "Plus I wasn't flirting, I was just being friendly."

She snorted. "That's a load if I ever heard one."

"Don't get mad at me because the last time you got laid was in the fucking forties." I shot back.

Hippolyta got in between us before anything drastic happened, "Enough! We don't have time for any internal squabbles! When this is over and Faust's head is on a pyke then you two can have at each other, but until then, and only then, I don't want any form of hostility between you two. Do I make myself clear?!"

Artemis looked a little ashamed, before backing off, but I didn't. In fact, it made me angrier, but I didn't have a chance to voice that anger, because the door was opened once more. This time by a middle aged man, in tan shorts and a white polo shirt. He had black hair with signs of white hair coming in, green eyes, and a prominent black mustache. All in all, he looked like you're average single father, but I knew who he really was. Slightly behind was Zatanna, her eyes full of curiosity and wonder.

He recognized me right away, his eyes widening just a bit, "Lucas Prince? What are you doing here? Where is Wonder Woman?"

"Yeah, it would've been nice to officially meet you due to better circumstances, but I, we, came here because," I paused, looking back at the street, which wasn't empty and had multiple pairs of eyes on us. Great, "Actually, do you mind if we do this inside?"

He looked around as well, "Of course, but I'd like a full explanation. Preferably one that explains why the Queen of the Amazons and one of Wonder Woman's closest friends is at my door armed for war."

I looked at him, shocked. So did my two female companions, hell even Zatanna looked shocked. Zatara just sighed and gestured to come inside, "Well? Come on, we don't have all day. I have some shows to catch-up on."

We all walked in, with Artemis closing the door behind us, It was then that I decided to answer Zatanna's question from earlier, "Eh. Less of a League thing and more of an Amazon thing." I shrugged, giving off an air of nonchalance, though I was feeling the complete opposite.

Funnily enough, Zatanna did make it a bit easier to deal with and she didn't even know it, "You mean like Wonder Woman?! That's so cool," She gushed at the three of us, and Zatara just sighed once more, "Are you Wonder Woman's apprentice or something similar?"

"It's like we aren't even here," Artemis whispered to both Zatara and Hippolyta, who looked at both children with an unreadable look, "My Queen? Are you alright?"

Hippolyta shook her head and gave the redhead a smile, "Yes, I'm fine. Recent events have tested my state of being, but I'll manage. Just like how you and Lucas are, though with a bit less hotheadedness."

Artemis didn't look convinced, but didn't say anything else.

"Zatanna," Zatara tapped on his daughter's shoulders, "Don't you have a paper you should be writing? The one that's supposed to be five pages long?"

"Don't worry, Dad!" She chirped with a smile, "It's already done and everything, just need to print it out, put it in a folder and all that good stuff."

"Huh, you guys are still in school? Isn't it like late July or something?"

"Well, given that I take AP classes, my teachers like to assign work over the summer," Zatanna shrugged, "Guess we all can't have our cake and eat it, right? What about you? What school do you go to?"

"Really? Out of all the things you could've asked, you ask what school I go to?" I teased and got a playful shove in response, "And I'm currently being homeschooled, so to speak. Being Wonder Woman's apprentice has taken up most of my time."

"Cool," She gushed once more, "So, you being a hero gets you out of school? That's gotta be nice. I've tried asking my dad to do the same…"

"Which you aren't."

"But he won't budge." She sighed in defeat, before perking up once more, "I'll go get you all something to drink. Any preferences?"

"No."

"No, thank you."

"You got any lemonade?"

"Some tea please. Thank you Zatanna."

"Yep."

When she went into the kitchen, Zatara finally asked the million dollar question. Guy probably didn't want to talk hero business around his daughter. He led us into his living room and gestured for us to take a seat.

"So," The Justice League's leading expert on the arcane started, "What has made you require the help of a man such as I?"

Hippolyta was the one that explained the situation to him. Her tone grave, angry, and with a hint of pleading for help. From what I remembered from her character, she was never one to accept help from the outside world, much less a male, but given the fact that both notions of her character had been disproven at this very moment. I was honestly wondering what was going through her head.

The three of us were currently sitting on Zatara's black leather couch, with him sitting in an adjacent lazy boy, his hands under his chin acting as a bridge as he held a contemplating look. Zatanna was excused, (Ie: Told to go to her room) and was doing some schoolwork or something or the other.

Zatara took a sip from his tea once Hippolyta finished explaining the situation, "Felix Faust, hmm? Quite the annoying pest, that one. The man is known for selling his soul for either knowledge or power, sometimes both. Last I heard, he had made a deal with Circe," Noticing our questioning looks, he added, "I'm not sure what the nature of their deal was, but if I had to hazard a guess, I would say it had to deal with power, at least on Faust's end."

The three of us nodded, but I was the only one to speak, "Yeah, we kind of figured as much, but the question that really needs answering is; What does Circe get out of it?" He shrugged, which was understandable considering he more than likely never had a run in with the goddess before.

"You mean other than causing strife for our people and relishing in making our Queen suffer," Artemis asked, for once not sarcastic or condescending, "I admit, I don't have the faintest idea. It would've been sensible to ask Diana, but…" She trailed off as the three of us looked down. Each of us glowering in rage and sadness, none more so than me.

He didn't say anything, but I could tell he looked a little uncomfortable, "Right. But why not go to the league? Surely, this would rate an approval for a full League response. Why didn't you just go straight to them?" At that everyone in the room looked at me. All of them were curious to hear my reasoning.

"It's not like I didn't think of it," I started, trying to pull my thoughts together and word them properly, "I played with the idea for a little bit, but ultimately dismissed it because there's no way I could get one. Batman is busy with whatever the fuck he's got going on with Red Tornado. The Hawks and Lanterns are off-world from what Diana told me, Superman got his hands full with his identity and Metropolis, Captain Atom, well I have no idea where to find him, much less contact him. I maybe could've gotten help from the Flash and Aquaman, and that's a big maybe. Green Arrow and Black Canary wouldn't have been any help since I doubt they'd know where to look."

"Hmm," Zatara hummed as the two Amazons remained silent, "Okay. I have no problem believing that, I'll give you the benefit of the doubt, for Wonder Woman. But answer me this. Why come to me? I know why you said you didn't but, you still could've gone to Batman, that's what I would've done. Batman isn't called a world renown detective for nothing."

I sighed, and pulled out the four red stones that Faust gave to us, each small enough to fit into the palm of my hand, and placed them on the coffee table in front of me, "Two reasons. Reason one, being that I want to keep this as quiet as possible. I'm not entirely sure what circles Faust is in and I don't want him to start killing Amazons if he so much as suspects a full League retaliation. The second reason being that Faust said that these stones were magically attuned to the artifacts that he needs, I figured that you could, I don't know, do a location spell and show us where they're at." I paused to drink a bit of my lemonade, to refresh my thoughts and have a moment to enjoy my favorite drink.

"What circles," Hippolyta brought a hand to her chin as she processed that bit of info, "You think there might be a spy within the league?"

That halted my current thought process and made me blank for a moment. Zatara also seemed intrigued by that as well. "Eh, I have a few lessons on espionage and Shadow tactics floating around in this glorious head of mine." I shrugged before turning towards my grandmother, "It's like I told you before, they wanted me to know war to its fullest extent."

"So," Artemis this time, "They trained you to be a super spy of some sort?" She looked at me with mysterious gleam. Probably piecing together why I shrugged off killing hordes of furries earlier.

"If you wanna make it simple, then yeah," I nodded to her with a smile, "But, back on topic. I only say that because I'm being cautious. I'm sure the three of you understand that and why I don't want any hiccups along the way."

Hopefully that was enough to stop any further questions. I'm not entirely sure if there even is a spy in the League and the last thing I want to do is sow seeds of distrust amongst the members.

"Anyway, like I was saying, I know of at least five different people with their fingers in the magic kool-aid, but out of those five you're the only magical person in the League, and the only one I know of that won't try to weasel some sort of prize out of this," I took a sip of my lemonade as I let that sink in with the adults in the room.

"Five?" The magician asked with a raised eyebrow, and I could tell the two women next to me were curious as well. Nonchalantly, I shrugged as I looked into my cup of lemonade.

"Cadmus liked to cover all of their bases," I said while putting the cup down and leaning back, "While I like to think they strictly believed in science they couldn't outright deny the existence of the mystical arts. They wouldn't have been able too. So, they, like the madlads they are," I made a finger pistol with my hand and put it up to my temple, "Shot that knowledge into me, too."

Zatara looked like he wanted to say more on the matter, but let it slide due to the current time crunch on our hands. So I waited as Zatara leaned over and grabbed one to inspect it, silence reigned supreme as he brought it up close and examined it. He went so far as to roll it in between his fingers and give it a sniff, "Interesting. Alright, I'll help you all."

The three of us looked at each other then back at the leaguer, our eyebrows raised in curiosity and surprise. Somewhat taken aback by the looks he said, "What? I wouldn't be much of a hero if I turned down a cry for help, now would I?"

"This the place?" Artemis asked as the three of us walked through a museum I couldn't have been bothered to remember, the three of us getting lingering gazes, though that was more due to Artemis' and Hippolyta's state of dress.

The place wasn't overly crowded, which was a definite plus, but there were still civilians walking and talking. Some paused to stare at us, others went about their business as if this wasn't anything unusual at all.

There must have been a school field trip going in today. I had never seen so many bored looking teens in a museum unless they needed to be there. More than likely to either help with grades or just to get out of school.

Eh. Wasn't really my problem anymore, considering the fact that there's no way in hell that I'd be going to school again. But the looks on their faces were pretty hilarious, trying and failing to look interested.

"Yeah," I replied as we turned another corner, the stone in my started to pulsate faster. Which meant that we were getting closer. "Don't tell me you have a phobia of big crowds. Aren't you supposed to be a fearsome warrior? A femme fatale?"

Artemis rolled her eyes, for once not rising to the bait, "No, you little brat, such fears are irrelevant and beneath me. I'm only asking because the longer we stay here the more likely I am to kill a man if I catch someone else staring at my ass." To emphasize her point, she turned towards a group of teenagers that were blatantly staring at her. When they met eye contact they quickly turned away.

Heh.

I looked at her, "Hey now, girls would kill for the kind of attention that you two are getting. Hell, I even see a few of em contemplating murder over there. Must be the insecure cheerleaders."

Hippolyta rolled her eyes, "Such things are irrelevant." She chimed in with her own input. It was actually the first time she had spoken since we left Zatara's house. Which I found a little strange, but at the end of the day I just assumed she was just under a lot of stress. Having a set time limit to save all of your people would do that to someone I guess.

"At the moment or in general?" I asked as I flashed her a smile. I knew what she was going to say before she even registered my question, but it was nice to have her talking once again and not stuck inside her head.

"Both." She answered, her tone full of disappointment and disapproval, "Are women in man's world so weak willed that they feel the need to crave for the attention of everyone around them?"

Artemis let out a sound of agreement as she looked at the various artifacts and sculptures we walked by. It seemed she was interested or at the very least letting her eyes wander. That was good, I suppose.

"Eh. Not most of them." I responded with a shrug of my shoulders. I never had much experience with women in my past life, but the few I had the displeasure of meeting were like that. "This looks like this is it." I stopped in the center of a giant room, the stone pulsating like mad.

I turned my body until the stone became a solid bright red. In front of me was a display holding what looked to be a clay vase and flanked on both sides were two tall statues, of Greek origin, that reached up to the buildings ceiling.

"So." I started, the three of us each looking at the ground, "Who wants to do the honors? I personally think Artemis should do it." I offered to the redhead, who looked at me for a solid second before rolling her eyes.

"Ugh, guess I'll add cowardice to your growing list of deficiencies," She tossed a snide remark, though it just rolled off my back like water on a duck. I was hoping to start a new life in this world and having the title of Anarchist attached to my name wouldn't do me any favors.

I had volunteered Artemis because she was both strong as shit and wouldn't be affected by the negative consequences in the long run since once this was over she'd pack up her shit and head back to Themyscira with the Queen.

There was hardly any inside so it was rather easy for the redhead to walk up to the display and thrust her inside, like it was paper. An alarm sounded off as she went to pull the vase out, which was a given, but something about this seemed off.

Suddenly, steel doors dropped down, covering the windows, the main entrance. "Well that's just great," Artemis snarked with a roll of her eyes, "Steel doors, oh whatever shall we do?"

I know the situation was serious but I couldn't help but stare at her, "Did...did you just make a joke? That wasn't at my expense?"

She looked at me, "Everything's not about you Lucas. I am capable of displaying my comedic and sarcastic nature whenever I see fit."

Before I could retort, the three of us heard the sound of stone grinding against itself. My eyes immediately shot towards both the statues, which actually turned out to be automatons. Both drew their swords and looked at Artemis, or more accurately, the case in her hands.

This was fine, I needed something to hit. "Looks like it's a fight-for-the-right kind of deal." I flew forward and delivered an uppercut to the one on Artemis' left, the impact echoing through the room, "I got dibs on this one. You two handle the other one!"

If they responded, I didn't hear them, I just focused on the enemy in front of me. The automaton recovered quick enough that it was on me once again. This time swinging its sword to try and cut me in half. I brought both my hands together and caught the attack.

I grinned as I applied enough pressure to destroy the sword, "Is that all you got, mate?!" It dropped the handle and moved to punch me, but that didn't matter, I blocked it with my wrist guards and gave it a punch of my own.

The sound of its fist cracking and the resulting stone falling to the ground was music to my ears, "This can't be all you have, can it?" I watched as it backed away from me, clutching at its missing hand. How..human like. "You were made by Hephaestus, were you not? Come on, there's no way that he'd make something this pathetic."

The eyes began to glow a dark red, as if enraged, "Yeah! That's more like….?!" I felt a lasso wrap itself around my waist and pull me towards the ground. What the hell, was my immediate thought, but I quickly squashed that once I saw a piece of the ceiling fall in the exact spot I was previously in.

I landed on the ground with a wide-eyed look, "Huh, thanks." I followed the lasso, even as I felt it loosen, and believe me. I did not like what I saw on the other end, "Oh, you gotta be shitting me."

"Pay attention to your surroundings!" Artemis yelled, even as Hippolyta shielding her from an overhead strike, "We can't fight and babysit you!"

I didn't say anything, I just focused on my fight. When I turned back to my opponent, it was back on me again. Using its other fist to try and pummel me it to the ground. This was fun at first, but now it was just boring. I caught the fist with both my hands and yelled, "Artemis! Pass me your sword!"

I didn't wait for a word of confirmation or even an acknowledgement, I just heard the sound of metal cutting through air and took that as my signal. I quickly let go and pushed myself back, letting the fist hit the ground and cause the ground to shake.

I ignored it in favor of catching the Amazonian sword. I quickly grabbed it and jumped with one fluent motion. It tried for a grab, but it was already too late. I landed on its fist and swung the blade at the wrist. With that out of the way, I shot forward. It tried to backpedal in some attempt to get away, but it was pointless. I was already upon him, the sword in my grip cutting into its neck like a knife would butter.

A simple and clean cut.

It started to fall to pieces and by the time it reached the ground it was nothing but lifeless stone. "Well I got mine! What about you guys!" I looked over to see that theirs was stone as well.

I landed just a few feet away from them, "Well, that was fun! At least for me," I looked around and noted that most of the artifacts in here were destroyed, "Buuuut I'm sensing that it's about time that we left."

They said nothing. Weird. "Hey, I know I violate everything you both stand for, both morally and scientifically, but I had thought we had gotten past it." I walked closer and noticed that they were staring at the very thing we were supposed to find.

In Artemis' hand was a grey stone cylindrical object, "Okay. What the fuck is that." I asked, "And please don't tell me it's some sort of ancient pleasuring device."

That snapped them out of whatever funk they were in, "No, you troglodyte!" Artemis snapped, "And give me back my sword! This is the only and last time you get to touch her! By the gods above, I don't know what I was thinking." She reached over and snatched it from my hands. Rude.

"A piece of the key," Hippolyta broke her silence, her tone filled with pain, regret, and about every negative emotion I could think of, "It is the very reason why I distrust Man."

Normally, I'd crack a joke at this point in time, but seeing both women look so sad and angry made me think better of it. Judging by their reactions and basing it off of what I remember, I want to say it involves a betrayal of the highest order. Maybe, it had something to do with Ares? I know they absolutely loathed both him and Heracles.

I sighed and looked at the both of them, "I guess this brings up memories better left buried. Something that didn't affect just you two, but all of the Amazons as a whole?"

They didn't say anything. They didn't have to, their silence spoke louder than their words ever could. "You don't have to tell me the backstory behind it. I know you both might call bullshit, but I get it. We've all got our demons. Our skeleton in the closet that we never want to see again." They both remained silent, but they didn't seem so tense anymore. "But, please, I need to know what it's for. I have to know what we're giving Faust."

"It's a piece of the key to Tartarus," Hippolyta answered, and I felt a pit begin to form in my stomach, "The pit of lost souls. If it were to be opened, even if for a fraction of a second." She closed her eyes to collect herself. In this moment, in this one second, I saw how broken she truly was and just as fast as it appeared it disappeared.

She opened her eyes, once again adopting a blank mask. Something that probably took years to master, "It will mean complete subjugation of the world as a whole. Starting with my sisters. From there the horrors of Tartarus will find their way to Man's world."

"The spirits in Tartarus are that evil?" I asked in disbelief, "Granted I understand, it's where the evil ones get banished to, but they would be that cordial enough with one another to construct a conquest of humanity?"

Artemis shook her head, taking the reins from Hippolyta and leading the conversation, "No. As of right now, the spirits are mindless creatures, subservient to their own selfish desires. It is the one that commands them that we should be concerned about. Under his control, they will have both the numbers and mentality to usurp the world's proper balance."

"And considering Circe is helping all of this from the sidelines, I assume that someone is a major player in the Greek pantheon," I surmised. At the nods of both the women, I instantly knew who it was we were dealing with.

It must have shown on my face, because Artemis almost looked impressed, "What do you know? You can use that pitiful excuse of a thing you call a brain." She smirked at me,but through her eyes I could tell she was being completely serious.

"That's right, brat. It looks like we're up against Lord Hades, God of the Dead."

2020 ain't got shit on me….