Injustice 3: The Might of Magic (Book 3)

Kara:

"Get out of my way," I say, looking at Oliver who is holding out his hands.

"No," Oliver says. "Kara. You can't just go charging into New Metropolis. That's suicide."

"It's also suicide if we don't rescue The Man," I declare. "We need him! He's the only one of us with a plan! He's the only one of us that knows what to do! He's the only one of us that can actually do anything!"

"Hey," Harleen interrupts. "Are you calling us useless?"

"Harleen," Oliver says, cutting his throat. "Not now. Kara. Even if that is all true, which most of it is, that still doesn't mean we can go charging into New Metropolis. Superman had us outnumbered, out-weapons, and outpowers."

"Another reason we need to rescue him!

"If we go charging into New Metropolis without a plan, we will either die or worse, be captured and then turned. Exactly like Bruce."

Hearing Oliver say Bruce, I freeze up. My hands were shaking before but now, they're slowing down until they too freeze.

"Kara," Oliver says, "I'm sorry but we can't. Not without a plan at least. And a lot of help."

As much as I don't want to admit it, Oliver is right. I turn around and walk away. While walking away from Oliver, his words hitting me, I start to hear something and stop.

"Wha--What is that?"

I recognize the sound. It's a heartbeat, but it doesn't sound normal. Based on what I learned and know, a heartbeat is supposed to be steady and constant. This heartbeat, however, isn't. It beats fast for a few seconds before slowing down. It slows down further and further until picking up speed again.

I turn around and look at every one. Everyone is standing up tall. No one seems to be having trouble standing or even shaking. I focus my hearing and listen even closer to the heartbeat. Following the sound, I turn to Oliver.

"Oliver," I ask, running over to him. Placing my hand on his shoulder, I look Oliver in the eyes. "Are you okay?"

"What," Oliver asks, looking at me with narrowed eyes. "Yeah. I'm okay. Why?"

"Because, your heart."

"My heart? Kara. I'm not dead inside. I'm--"

"That's not what I mean," I yell, cutting Oliver off. "I can hear your heartbeat, and it doesn't sound right."

"What?"

Oliver holds his hand over his chest.

"I--I feel fine," he stutters. "I mean, I don't feel like anything is off."

Oliver starts stretching his muscles.

"Everything feels okay. Hold on. Give me a second."

Walking past me, Oliver stops a few feet from all of us. He reaches behind him and pulls out some arrows. Firing all the arrows in only a few seconds, he hits the plane wreckage.

"Yeah. Everything feels okay."

Looking at the arrows, all of them hitting the center of a piece of the plane, I close my eyes and listen again.

"No," I say with my eyes closed. "I can still hear it. Your heart isn't beating the way it should. Something could be wrong. You should go back to see Scarecrow."

As if on cue, a portal appears and Iris jumps through.

"Guys," she yells. "Everyone! I think something very bad is happening in Jump City!"

Cyborg:

"What do you mean by something is happening at Jump City," Superman asks. "What is happening at Jump City?"

"I don't know," I answer, too busy to even face Superman. My attention is focused entirely on the massive computer screen in front of me. Typing code after code, I scan the whole city, and after one scan, the whole city turns a very bright blue color.

"Do you remember this scanning system," I ask, finally turning to Superman and pointing at the screen. Superman walks up to the screen and looks it over.

"Yes," he says after a few seconds. "This is supposed to scan magic. Am I right? You used it before, just before our partnership with the Lords of Order."

"Exactly," I say, returning to the screen and keyboard. "This scanner detects magic in any area, and according to it, there is an unbelievable amount of magic at Jump City right now."

"Really? Is it the man in the sunglasses?"

When Superman asks me this, I turn my hand over and look at the Teen Titan radio hidden in it.

"I can't be sure," I answer, "But I doubt it. This is beyond anything I have ever seen before. Look at the color on the screen! It's at its brightest! Something is happening there, and I can't help but get the feeling it's something bad."

"Do we have any soldiers in the city," Superman asks.

"No," I answer. "We did, but we pulled them back. Superman, it can't be a coincidence. First, the man in the sunglasses attacked us and then kidnapped Raven. And now, there's a massive amount of magical energy in Jump City. I asked that I take a team, myself included, leave to investigate."

"Fine," Superman says. "It was your city."

"It still is," I say, turning away and walking to get my team. As I walk, I can't help but wonder something.

"What is the man in the sunglasses doing?"

Zatanna:

Tapping my foot, I uncross my arms and grab the arm of the first person who came through the portal in the wall.

"Come on," I yell, pulling Supergirl along. "There's something you need to see. All of you!"

"Uhh," Supergirl says, looking at me and then at the others. "Come on! Everyone, come on."

Everyone follows me as I lead them into a large meeting room with a large black circular table in the center of it. Once everyone is in the room, I push the button, but nothing comes up.

"Come on," I say, pushing the button over and over again. "Come on. Come on! Why isn't this working?"

A flash appears and a familiar silhouette floats in the air.

"Stop pushing the button," Anthony yells. "Just explain everything to them and leave the rest to me."

The silhouette vanishes and switches over to a live feed. In the live feed, we see Raven being dragged by four large, glowing humanoid figures.

"What is this," Red Hood asks. "Is that Raven? And what the hell are those monsters?"

"They're not monsters," John Constantine says. All eyes turn to him as he steps forward. "They're the Lords of Order."

As soon as John says this, everyone in the room screams. I hear a few 'What' and some 'Are you sure' but John answers all of this with a nod of his head.

"Yo Anthony," John says, "Can you rewind the video?"

Anthony does as John asks and rewinds the video. The video keeps on going back until John tells him to stop. The video stops when Raven and the Lords of Order are halfway up a set of stone steps. John points at the Lords of Order.

"These are the Lords' physical form," John states. "They're the forms or bodies the Lords will use when they need to come onto Earth. Like actually come onto Earth."

"You've seen them before," Iris asks.

"No," John answers. "I've heard of them but I never cause enough trouble for the Lords to break them out."

"What do you know about these forms," Supergirl asks.

"Other than the fact that these bodies are near-invincible and still hold a tremulous amount of magic despite no longer being in their own realm. No."

"Near-invincible and still have almost endless magic," Deathstroke repeats. "Wonderful."

"Hey everyone," Anthony says, "Hate to interrupt but something else is going on. Watch."

I turn back to see a live feed of the Lords of Order dragging Raven into an old stone building.

"Where is that," Firestorm asks.

"It's Jump City," Anthony answers. "More specifically, it's Jump City's first public library. Abandoned over 10 years ago."

"Why are the Lords of Order taking Raven to a library," Harleen asks. "Does this library have a whole section of magical books?"

"No," Ares answers. Stepping forward, Ares pushes all of us aside and places his hand on the floating screens. "This library does not have a whole section of magical books. This library is built on top of the ritual site of Trigon."

We all freeze when we hear his name. It feels like the temperature in the room has plummeted. Even Captain Cold is shaking.

"The Lords of Order have kidnapped the daughter of Trigon and are now starting the ritual needed to bridge this world to Trigon's world. Once the ritual is completed, Trigon will enter the earth and destroy it. This is the beginning of the end."