Chapter 22: Dangerous Magic
Poison Ivy:
Swinging my arms up, I summon a wall of roots to block an incoming attack. The annoying little brat with blue skin curses and screams after his bolt of red lightning failed to strike us.
"Stupid plants," he yells, stomping his foot. "Stupid plant lady!"
"Hey kid," Captain Cold says, running up to the wall of root and slamming his back against it. "Anyone ever tells you you look stupid with that blue skin? What are you, just sad and miserable all the time? Or did a big shadow drain the color from your face?"
"Meanie," the brat yells while shooting more lightning bolts at us. The wall of roots protects us against him, but while the two of us are busy with the brat, the other two fly past us.
They flank us and, before I can summon more walls, attack us.
"Watch out," I shout, grabbing and pushing Captain Cold to the street. Cold screaming as he falls, I turn back and cross my arms. I brace myself for the worst, preparing for whatever magic these two had planned.
Whatever they did, it's causing the wind to pick up. I scream as the wind cuts my face with little pieces of stone. Looking through the little gap between my arms, I see the two gone.
"What in the world," I say. I look to the side and see the two struggling against the wind. Like me, they're shielding themselves by holding their arms in front while pushing against the wind.
"What is this magic," the woman in the golden mask yells.
"I--I don't know," the man in the suit answers.
The two try to push against the wind but it's no use. A few seconds later, the two are thrown into the distance. Screaming as even the wind starts to pick me up, I'm about to follow the two when someone grabs my hand.
"Hold on," Captain Cold shouts, grabbing my hand and pulling me down. The second my feet hit solid ground, he jumps on me and covers me.
"Hold on," Captain Cold shouts again. Aiming his cold gun up, Captain Cold fires it. A short beam shoots into the air before getting caught in the wind. The beam runs in circles before freezing and turning into a small dome.
"We should be safe in here," Cold says. He looks down at me, and I look up at him. "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine," I say, brushing my hair back. I slowly crawl out from underneath him and sit up. "What is going on out there?"
"I have no clue," Cold answers, "But fingers crossed we survive it."
As Cold brings up two fingers crossed together, the street starts to shake and what I think are giant waves are smashing onto the ice dome, causing it to crack and melt.
"Screw it," Cold says, his hand dropping to the side. "We're dead."
Cyborg:
Punching a hole in the floor, I grab onto the edge of the hole and hold on. On the verge of being picked up and thrown out by this sudden windstorm, I literally have to hold on for my dear life.
"What the hell is this," I cry out, my metal fingers scraping against the wooden floorboards. Barely holding on, I look through the scope of the disruptor cannon again.
Through the scope, I see Morgan le Fay and Mordru begin thrown around in the wind, going around and around in circles. Meanwhile, the soldiers and tanks are busy surviving the earthquakes and tsunamis. Felix and Klarion are using their magic to fight against the tsunamis but all they're doing is breaking one wave while three more hit them.
"Superman," I shout, placing my fingers against my ears. "Superman! Please come in! This is Cyborg! Come on!"
It's quiet at first, but after a few seconds, I hear the sound of walls breaking and laser being fired.
"Cyborg," Superman answers. "What is it? Is the trap working?"
"No, it's not," I yell. "No! It is not! Something is happening! There are tsunamis and earthquakes and a windstorm so strong, it's about to blow Gotham City away!"
"What," Superman yells. "Cyborg, what is going on? You're not making any sense."
I look through the scope again and see Raven and the man in the sunglasses. It seems the man is fighting against Raven's new spell. The human-shaped outline that was peeling off the man is slowly coming back onto him. However, it seems Raven herself isn't done yet.
The golden cross on Raven's chest starts to change colors. Small red cracks appear all over the cross before spreading out to Raven. Raven soon starts to scream as the red cracks cover her.
"Raven," I yell. "Raven! Raven!"
No matter how many times I yell, Raven doesn't answer me. It's clear something is wrong with her. I don't know if this is her doing or the man in the sunglasses, but I do know this.
"I can't let this go on," I tell myself. "If I do, then everyone here will be wiped off the face of the Earth."
Lining up the shot, I place Raven in the center of the crosshair. Turning on the assistant aim and powering the cannon, it quickly charges up. Within a few seconds, the disruptor cannon is ready to fire. Glowing bright purple, I squeeze the trigger and fire the cannon.
A single beam of purple energy shoots out and travels through the uncontrollable wind toward Raven. Raven begins too busy with the man in the sunglasses, doesn't see the beam until it hits her.
Once it does, she stops with the magic and the man falls down to the street. Now glowing a blinding purple, she screams and shakes as all the excess power is taken from her and put it into the cannon.
"Shit," I say, dropping the cannon as it itself starts to shake. Bouncing up and down as it glows brighter than before, I look back at Raven. It seems the transfer drains her. The red cracks are gone and the cross on her chest stop glowing. Worried about Raven after seeing her fall to the street, I grab the cannon and call forth a boom tube.
The boom tube allows me to come to Raven's side almost instantly. Running from the top floor to the street, I throw down the cannon and drop to my knee.
"Raven," I say, holding up my friend's head. "Raven! Are you okay?"
Raven moans at first. She doesn't answers me but she does moans. I let out a sigh of relief but that sigh quickly turns into something else.
"Victor Stone," Raven yells, getting up suddenly and grabbing me.
"Raven," I say, pushing her back. "What are you--"
"We are not Raven," Raven says. It takes me less than a second to realize who I'm talking to.
"The Lords of Order," I think. "They've taken over Raven's body."
"What have you done," the Lords yell. "Why did you do that?"
"Didn't you Lords see anything," I answer. "The windstorm? The earthquake? The tsunamis? Something had to be done. Otherwise, all of us here would have been killed!"
"Your lives matter little when compared to the much greater need to restore order," the Lords answer. "You should not have done that."
I feel the wires inside of me start to fry.
"Yeah well, I did it anyway," I say, pushing the Lords away. "It's too late to change anything now. And spreading of now, get out of Raven's body. Now!"
For some reason, the Lords stay completely still in Raven's body. It creeps me out how Raven's glowing eyes are just staring at me.
"No it's not," the Lords say. "It's not too late to change everything."
With that said, the glow overtaking Raven's eyes disappears and Raven falls down again. However, this time, I catch her.
"Raven," I say, shaking her. "Raven, are you okay?"
Once again, Raven moans. She moans and groans before opening her eyes. Her normal, non-glowing eyes.
"Ahh, what happened to me?"
"Oh thank god," I say. I feel a bit of oil coming out from my eyes but I manage to keep it in. "I'll tell you later. First thing first."
I turn around and reach for the disruptor cannon but it's gone.
"What the hell? Didn't I put it right here? Where did it go?"
I look around but the cannon is gone. I look around again and see the man in the sunglasses is gone as well. Also, the ice dome that Captain Cold and Poison Ivy used to take cover from all the wind and waves. It had a massive opening in it and from where I'm sitting, it looks empty.
"Superman," I say through the earpiece. "Superman, are you there?"
"I'm here," Superman answers. "What is it?"
"Is Supergirl with you?"
"No. She vanished through one of these portals.
"Okay," I say, ending the call. "So they're all gone. Supergirl. The man with the sunglasses. Captain Cold. Poison Ivy. They're all gone. That's lucky."
As I help Raven to her feet, I look around.
Most of our tanks are overturned or on top of each other. Felix, Klarion, and all our soldiers are soaking wet. I don't even know where the hell Morgan and Mordru are but honestly, I don't care.
"It's not too late to change everything," the Lords of Order said to me. Those words repeat themselves over in my head.
"What did they mean when they said that? It's not too late to change everything."