This is a sort of follow-up after Are You Afraid of the Dark, taking place after 'Unsolicited', done by Wings of an Era. I write this in the hopes that Wings of an Era will take the hint and add a new chapter to the fic in question.

There are references the the Amazoness, Atlantis, Alien, Ape archetypes, the Machine Type, and a few Field Spell Cards, as well as DC-specific areas. Anyone with questions can either review or PM this author. Please note that reviews are more likely to receive a reply.

Enjoy.

What Lies Hidden in Shadows

LLS

"It doesn't look very impressive," the Amazon Princess commented as she followed the Dark Knight towards the squat yellow brick building with the bright green roof with the word 'kame' in bright pink letters over the entrance. "Are you sure that this...individual is here?"

"Diana," Batman sighed. "Yes, I am quite sure. Just like I am sure that the Amazons had had prior contact before. People don't get so terrified of an individual to the point of not being able to talk without meeting face-to-face."

"Mother is hardly cowardly," Wonder Woman murmured. "Whoever this individual is, he must be extremely powerful. And the powerful are often dangerous."

"The purple-black mist was quite an indication that this was out of any normal mage's expertise," Batman pointed out as he cautiously approached the door of the yellow brick building. "So, we frankly have no choice but to bring the only known shadow mage to the Island of Themyscira and get him to undo the dome, unless Queen Hippolyta is willing to lose more warriors."

"And who are we supposed to look for?" Diana asked reaching for the door. It opened before her fingers even came into contact.

"Omae wa dare*?" the individual who opened it enquired good-naturedly, crimson eyes studying the pair.

Batman recovered first from the shock. "We met once," he stated. "Gotham City."

"The Thief's dagger," the individual replied in accented English, having leant out of the house's shadows, was now revealed to be short, even for the weakest of Amazons, with the wildest hair of black, red and blonde Wonder Woman had ever seen, and would have looked innocent if not for the eerily old crimson eyes; eyes the colour of fresh blood. "Would you like to...?"

"I mean no harm to you and yours," Batman clearly pronounced, showing both hands clearly. "Neither does the Amazon Princess. We require your help in Themyscira immediately."

"Amazons?" he raised an eyebrow. "A moment, please. I must verify this."

As the door momentarily closed, Batman heaved a sigh. "Daylight doesn't chase away the fear," he whispered, almost to himself.

The door opened before Diana could say anything and the stranger walked out, dressed in brown slacks and a white shirt with a black sleeveless jacket over it. "Men are physically incapable of stepping upon the island. How would you expect me to do so? And why should I, to begin with?"

"The why can be addressed by a rising violent crime rate in this city, followed by London, followed by New York," Batman narrated. "To do with one Yuugi Mutou, one Ryou Bakura, and one Marik Ishtar. And if memory serves me, you, are currently Yami Mutou. And as to the how, that would be left to us. There are no problems whatsoever. Wouldn't you agree?"

"Indeed," he acquiesced. "You are not the Dark Knight for nothing. Excuse me again." And back into the building he went.

"That went well," Diana commented with some trepidation.

"Yuugi, ittekimasu!" the one called Yami Mutou suddenly yelled as he exited the Kame Game Shop, as we now know it.

"Itterashai!" another male voice, this one higher in pitch, sounded from within as the three walked off quickly.

"What made you contact me?" he asked as he stepped into the Bat-jet.

"Some words from New York," Batman replied, lips twitching slightly. "Along with several more warnings from various sorcerers and the occasional demigod, plus the help you've rendered* prior to this. Circe sends her regards, and says that next time you meet, she would challenge you for your name."

"She would," he absently agreed. "I will give you five hours. No more, no less."

"Very well," Batman shrugged. "Besides, if you're as efficient as the Avengers swear, it might not take that long."

To say that the Queen of the Amazons was pissed was an understatement.

"Nameless Pharaoh," she greeted politely, albeit coldly. "I see that you have achieved a material form now. And here you are, an enemy of the Amazons in the heart of our nation."

"It was not my choice, Queen Hippolyta," he shrugged, floating with the help of Superman. His current expression was an improvement from the one he had adopted upon hearing the exact details of the situation (and had caused Flash to drop his cocktail glass from the sheer ferocity). "If it helps, I was coerced into this. You require a shadow mage to rescue your warriors. I am the only one with the power and the willingness to do so."

"I lost many warriors in our last battle," Hippolyta hissed, rising from her throne, glaring at him. "Tell me, what became of them?"

"If it helps, your warriors chose," he spoke respectfully. A card appeared in his hand, and he flicked it towards the queen, who caught it without so much as a flinch.

She looked at it and her face abruptly paled. "You..."

"Right of choice," he stated, indicating to Superman to move closer to the dome. The Big Blue Boy-Scout did not feel like interrupting the Amazon Queen and the Pharaoh's quarrel, the exact details being far older than him anyway. "If it helps, they would live far longer than any Amazon this day." he frowned and did something, causing the shadows to contract and fray into black mist.

"We already live long and prosper!" Hippolyta spat at him. "The gods themselves have blessed this land, and you have done naught but curse my warriors for all eternity to wander in darkness!"

"And yet here I am, rescuing more of your warriors, and not all of which wish to be warriors," he tiredly replied, the dome beginning to dispel. "If I were so truly intending to curse all of you, wouldn't it make sense to curse the entire island while I am here? Has the years finally shown themselves in your mind, Queen Hippolyta?"

"You know, she has a point," Superman pointed out once the Amazon Queen has stormed off out of earshot. "You should return what you steal."

"That would imply that my side was at fault when we were the victims," he answered as the dome further dispelled, revealing the once tough, battle hardened Themysciran furies of battle unconscious on stone floor. "My relationship with Olympus is fragile enough as it is. I cannot reject what is mandated, nor can I change what happened in the past. Also, I do believe that the Amazonesses enjoy the Shadow Realm and the relative freedom given to them. This was not a Shadow Game, merely an entrance to the Shadow Realm created by someone tapping into their innate power to create a temporary demesne. The situation has resolved itself." He turned to the Man of Steel. "I am done here, now, please return me. My partner would be worried soon."

"You are not leaving yet," Hippolyta, who had just appeared, mandated.

Crimson eyes turned to her. "I am not your subject. You have no power over me and mine. Remember it well."

So saying, he indicated to leave, leaving the Themysciran Queen frozen there.

"Can't do anything," Aquaman shrugged as he reclined back on his throne within the opulent throne room within the palace, the Justice League having come for an audience to the undersea city of Atlantis. "Hippolyta never told you the full story, right?"

"She claims that her warriors were taken from her under wrongful conditions and demands restitution from him, turning to the Justice League to enforce her conditions." Batman stoically replied. "The Pharaoh claims that the warriors in dispute came to him seeking sanctuary, as he gave it."

"And you want me to be the referee to this dispute?" Aquaman massaged his brow with his only available hand. "Batman, no matter how it goes, those warriors must choose to embrace the shadows itself. The gods does nothing because they can't; the warriors themselves chose of their free will, whether it's to escape the hand dealt to them by fate or just to escape, I don't know, really."

"So you do nothing while a miscarriage of justice goes on?" Superman raised, outraged.

"Nope," Aquaman shook his head. "I merely ask you to consider both sides of the story first. I tried to get Atlantis's lost warriors back from them once, and they turned their backs on me..."

What followed was an interesting tale of how the denizens of the Legendary Ocean rebelled against the King of Atlantis and kept their autonomy after the fall of the last kings they knew, the Kings Ironheart and Dartz. That, however, is another story.

True to form, Batman was the only one of the Justice League who managed to get anywhere near the area, Diana and J'onn J'onzz only because they were with him. Superman had been threatened off by the Tomb Robber, who not only got his body but also seemed to harbour a great dislike for the Man of Steel's attitude towards their Shadow magic. Hawkgirl got lost into a portal that led to the Shadow Realm and three harrowing minutes passed before the exhausted Thanegarian came out of another portal that formed out of nowhere, and Green Lantern and Flash ran into the Tomb Robber. Batman actually groaned at Flash's mouthing off before the comm-link was cut.

"They do not like us," the Martian Manhunter remarked monotonously as the three landed in front of a Domino café.

"After how patronising Kal El was the last time, I don't blame them," Batman stoically replied. "They've never met Hawkgirl before, and you'd agree that Flash is not the best person to conduct diplomatic relations around. Green Lantern was about as bad as Kal El, and Diana only a minor improvement. The fact that none of us are in a Shadow Game right now is quite good, really."

"That would be due to the quota imposed on us, and perhaps partly due to a gesture of goodwill than anything else," the Nameless Pharaoh of the Shadows appeared through another purple portal similar to the one Hawkgirl flew into, followed by the kind child Batman knew to be the real Yuugi Mutou and -he actually had to check his eyes there- the Amazoness Queen of Duel Monsters.

She was tall, with long blue hair, dressed in essentially tribal-influenced revealing garb of blue hues, an eye-patch over her right eye, and several jewellery featuring claws prominently around her throat, on her clothing, around her shins and on the handle of the huge sword she hefted easily. Around her wrists was the heavy bracelets, only gaudier, and which contrasted harshly on dark skin, strange compared to Diana's own olive tone.

Said blue-haired warrior frowned and turned to the two. "I did not know that Hippolyta would send her offspring."

"We are not involved in this, Queen Adrasteia," the taller of the two replied. "It is time to choose again. Whatever you choose, you know what we will do."

"I already know where you stand, Pharaoh," she replied, now turning to look at Diana. " Always knew that Hippolyta liked brunettes," she sighed. "Well then, I am the Amazoness Queen Adrasteia. What would the Queen of Themyscira wish with us?"

"A chance at freedom," Diana replied. "For sisters to be united once more."

"We chose a long time ago, and we stand by that," Adrasteia solemnly replied. "You are a child even by our standards, you have never seen the horrors perpetrated by even the gods themselves. Sanctuary is rendered here, with the help of the Great Lady."

The two lookalikes looked at each other before beckoning the other heroes to the side, leaving the two Amazons to thrash it out unhindered.

"But your sanctuary comes in exchange of your freedom! I have seen the cards of those who follow you; they are used as pawns in a game!" Diana protested. "Your skill is wasted and demeaned like this!"

"You know, after we chose, we heard of the story of Heracles," Adrasteia conversationally started. "It goes to show that Aphrodite cannot be relied upon. To be held at the mercy of a girdle and capricious goddesses is even more demeaning to me. Here we are left to our own devices and choice."

"Is there nothing I can say to convince you?" Diana finally said after a long silence.

"None," Adrasteia replied. "In the Amazoness Village back in the Shadow Realm, we have a trainee, Chloe. I look at her every day and wonder how our green shoot would fare had we stayed our choice. Would she grow up like you, or oppressed under Hippolyta's thumb, or would she be killed fighting the likes of Ares and Heracles? I do not know, only that compared to Man's World, the shadows is much more exciting than servitude to a goddess who would destroy us as soon as create us."

"The Queen would disagree," Diana replied.

"Hippolyta can take her opinion any way she likes," Adrasteia replied. "Coffee, please," the Amazon Duel Monster indicated to a stunned waiter. "And you?" she turned back to Diana.

"Er, nothing, thank you," Diana politely told the waiter, disturbed by the sudden change of subject. "Warrior Adrasteia..."

Diana was met by the sharp end of the sword an inch from her nose. "I am the Amazoness Queen," the blue-haired warrior whispered in reply. None of the people present noticed anything, clearly knowing that Wonder Woman was under no threat. The queen's look clearly said: You will address me as such until decided otherwise, or I will have the flesh from your bones and the marrow therein. Do not cross me this day. I am not in a good mood.

"Do you know your skill of bullets and bracelets?" Adrasteia reminisced nastily, lowering her sword. "Half the techniques used to teach it were invented by me, and I received no recognition, all of it tributed to Aphrodite. The Shadow Realm is a place where the monsters and the realm are bound by geas to the will of the darknesses and those who play the game, but we are left to our own devices and choose our destiny within the realm. It is no Eden or Arcadia, I admit, but it is home, and more importantly, our lives do not hang on the words of the self-important gods of Greece. Return, child, and bring to Queen Hippolyta of Themyscira the words of the Amazoness Queen Adrasteia, that the Amazoness tribe says nay."

"Okay," Green Lantern John Stewart sighed, looking at the list of parties claiming wrongful action. "So, we have a Pharaoh who seems to delight in rendering refuge to several different parties, among which Amazons and mermaids are only a small part. Other wronged parties include possible Kryptonians," he gave a look to Superman, who was (gasp-horror-shock) seeking medical attention. When the Pharaoh had warned that 'wounds inflicted by the shadows are much slower to heal', he wasn't joking. "Possible Thanagerians," another incredulous look was given to an exhausted Hawkgirl lying on a gurney, "possible … an entire alien species? Seriously?"

"Seems like that from the Alien archetype in the game," Flash reported.

"The Green Lantern Corps would have a field day," Batman pointed out. "How did it go unnoticed for so long?"

"The Golgarian** civilisation informed the Corps long ago of their decision," John replied, reading the official translation. "Same with the rest of the so-called wronged parties."

"Victor Savage would have a field day," Superman muttered as the last of the knife wounds courtesy of the Thief King. "So would Luthor, Grodd and Brainiac. How did they manage to stay low-key for so long?"

"Berserk Gorilla," Flash pulled up a picture of said card onto the computer. "There's a whole Ape archetype that makes Grodd look petty. Then we have the whole Machine Type of the game to counter Brainiac. I don't know about Luthor though."

"Seto Kaiba," Batman answered almost immediately. "Known as 'the young dragon' to those in the business world, whether due to his business tactics or his choice of monsters in the game is a mystery. Though he's a builder of amusement parks, there is nothing he finds remotely amusing about Luthor. The Joker tried to crash his amusement park some time ago. First time Joker actually sent himself to Arkham of his own will."

Green Lantern whistled. "What happened?"

Batman looked at Superman. "He met Bakura."

"That would do it," Superman nodded, looking at his bandages.

"So what do we do?" Green Lantern waved the list. "It's not like we could declare war on them."

"On an entire realm that has done nothing to Earth, no," Superman shook his head. "They have not proven themselves a threat, but an actual benefit. Bruce," h addressed the Caped Crusader. "how was your visit to the … Shadow Realm?"

"It's not heaven," Bruce replied, "but it feels like it. The whole place is a geographical nightmare, a lot like the real world, except with more forests and oceans and a united centralised government with divided self-rule is actually possible. Even though there are constant wars and monsters and danger, it's very … interesting."

"Hey," Flash protested. "Why does Bats get to visit the world of monsters?"

"Because, unlike you, the Dark Knight is capable of diplomacy and will not offend any monsters," the baritone of the Pharaoh made itself known as the man himself strolled into view with Martian Manhunter. "The … Kryptonian is too rigid in his beliefs; he stands out as a particularly tasty snack to the denizens of the shadows." Flash seemed to wince at the look the Pharaoh gave to the Man of Steel. "The Soldiers of the Green Lantern would have problems against those the shadows hide. The Martian is haunted by too many past ghosts to survive the trip, the Amazon princess hunted by Queen Adrasteia and her charges, and the descendant of Ra would be hard-pressed to escape the Winged Dragon. The descendant of Ra could enter the Shadow Realm," here a meaningful look was given to Hawkgirl "if she does not mind having the Phoenix of the Realm trailing behind her at all times."

"So, Batman can enter because of his flexible beliefs in the nature of good and evil?" Flash volunteered.

"In your mortal understanding, perhaps," the Pharaoh replied slowly. "The Shadows volunteer sanctuary to those that the Light cast out, and the Darkness does not accept. The Amazonesses did not take Hippolyta's pacifist stand, nor did they accept the beliefs of the Bana-Mighdallians. Isis the Great Lady of Magic respected their choice and I granted them sanctuary. I never know if they are truly happy, but they seem satisfied. Those of the old Atlantis chose not to side with Ironheart or his son, remaining instead with their own way of life. The Aliens within the Otherworld chose a pacifist policy, but sought to develop their armoury such that surrounding civilisations felt threatened."

"So, you people would be those who stand in the sidelines instead of fighting," Superman slowly said. "The minority who do not choose at all, but rather create their own niche and live by their own choice."

"Perhaps," Yami Mutou shrugged. "Now, what does the Justice League request of me now? My patience wears thin."

"The United Nations-" Superman began.

"Would not accept anything under such conditions," he fiercely replied. "Aside from the aforementioned parties, the shadows hide known murderers, soldiers, killers, those who would commit crimes that would make the list of crimes against humanity seem lacking. We stand on neither side and choose neither choice."

"There is a set justice to the human world," Superman protested.

"The human world's justice is run by humans, and every human's heart is tainted," the Pharaoh momentarily closed his eyes before opening them again. "You cannot see past the set lines of black and white to perceive the shadows at the edge. Bakura was right; you are a foolish alien mortal. Your friend is wise to recognise that there are those who have to hide from both darkness and light. I refuse whatever the United Nations offers. Good day."

With that, he turned on his heel and vanished in a burst of purple mist, leaving six shocked heroes behind.

"That took wrecking balls," Flash finally stated.

*(Jap.)Who are you?

**Self-invented alien civilisation for this express purpose. If there is an existing civilisation of the same name, I don't know it.

Conclusione della storia.

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