Chapter Text
Location: New York City, 6:45 pm.
“See here, Loki! You must stop this nonsense at once!” Thor’s voice boomed over Times Square as he flew in pursuit of his madly cackling adoptive brother.
“Oh, come now, brother!” Loki called as he lobbed another globe of green energy at a panicked group of people below, grinning gleefully when their clothes morphed to become what their companions had had on. “I thought you enjoyed our little games.”
“Yeah, well, playtime’s over. Hands in the air. Now!” A repulsor blast streaked past Loki’s head as Iron Man swiftly angled into position next to Thor, the rest of the Avengers dotting the nearby rooftops at the ready. Loki allowed a slight pout at the display.
“Seems your friends don’t want to play with me brother, but I’ve got a solution!” Loki called, a grin taking over his face as he looked at their wary expressions. “Let's see if creatures versed in vengeance are worthy playmates for The Mighty Avengers ”. Before they could move to stop him, Loki threw hands shining with green magic energy up into the air. “I call upon those of shadow, and vengeance, and the night from their demonic home to fall upon this city and run rampant through the streets!” A crack rent through the air as the magic streamed outwards with a flash.
“Loki, what have you done!?” Thor couldn’t believe what Loki had just set in motion. He’d been doing so much better lately about causing trouble, the earlier prank wasn’t truly harmful, but this was something else entirely!
“I’ve brought the Avengers some competition! They’ll give you a run for your money, just watch as they bring the insects of this city to heel.” Loki giggled, the Avenger’s faces were too much and they hadn’t even heard the best part yet. “A bit of advice and a word of warning before the game truly begins. I only summoned six of them, but if you don’t act fast more will come. They have a large and very protective family. The adults will tear this city apart and plunge it into darkness to find them. They only come out at night, so you have three hours to get planning. Good luck!” Loki vanished with a bright flash and a puff of green and gray smoke, leaving the Avengers to look at eachother with dawning horror as the extent of Loki’s challenge settled over them. They turned and raced back to Avengers Tower as Tony started frantically calling New York City’s resident magic expert.
Location: Gotham City, 12:53 am.
Crowwing soared through the city, relishing the wind whipping through his hair and the pleasant rolling of his stomach as he finally launched the grappling hook at the side of a building and expertly stopped his downward descent. The movement drawing a familiar pleasant burn in the muscles of his arms and shoulders and he hums at the sensation. He lands on a roof overlooking an alleyway with a well practiced flip, artfully matted hair briefly falling over eyes shielded by a blue domino mask. He shuffled slightly to adjust the angle his feathered cloak had settled in against his back before chirping into his comm, declaring the alley clear of activity. Various chirps and chitters from his siblings began filtering in as everyone got into position. Oracle had gotten word that Two-face was planning a recruitment drive in the abandoned building they’d just surrounded, so Bruce had decided that the Gotham Demons should put in an appearance. A ‘blood’ smeared grin revealed sharp fangs as Crowwing smiles at the memory of Bruce explaining (defending) his idea to impersonate an unholy terror of the night.
When one goes out at night dressed as a bat to fight crime and scare the shit out of criminals (who are already cowardly and suspicious), then people are bound to spread rumors about a demon laying claim to the city. Bruce hadn’t cared enough in those early days to bother correcting the city’s populace, and by the time Dick Grayson came onto the scene as Robin, it was far too late to rebrand Batman. So it was the identity of Robin that ended up adapting. The bright colored outfit reminiscent of his circus days remained, but extremely detailed fake fangs, a healthy smattering of dirt and fake blood and his ability to bend and twist in inhuman ways (thank you contortionist babysitter) quickly convinced the criminals of Gotham that Robin was just as wrong and otherworldly as Batman was. His cheerful disposition, jokes, and bright laughter terrified criminals who had just barely gotten used to the silent horror that was Batman.
The tradition had carried on with Jason as the new Robin, while Dick had become Crowwing. Their language of bird chirps and bat chitters had grown from a simple scare tactic Dick had made up one night into a large and complex language. Everyone in the family was fluent and new words and phrases were constantly being developed to meet their needs.
Crowwing was broken out of his reverie by a hiss of green smoke at his feet that slowly started to rise up around him. He drew in a breath to deliver a sharp chitter of rebuke for Changeling, who should have known better than to play a prank during a mission (although the choice in color was different from her usual purple), only to choke on it when he heard her chitter in surprise and Boitatá bark a sudden curse.
“Magic!” his brother spat out, voice hard and sharp with concern. Crowwing felt his heart race as he quickly tried to back away from the smoke, although it seemed to drift after him. After a dip in a lazarus pit, his brother knew the feel of magic and this didn’t bode well for them as more cries of alarm echoed over the comms. The green vapor rushed forward and fully enveloped him in its constricting grasp. The world tilted sickeningly as green light flashed in his eyes (brighter than it should have been able to with the protective lenses in his mask) before everything went dark.
Location: Avengers Tower, 10:05 pm.
“What do you mean you can’t find them!”
“I mean I can’t find them, Tony!” Dr. Stephen Strange struggled to remain calm as Tony seethed while pacing. He knew that magic made Tony uncomfortable (despite his attempts to make the inventor see how magic had just as many rules that dictated how it could function as technology did) and knew that his magic being unable to offer a quick solution to their rapidly approaching supernatural problem was only compounding the Avenger’s stress. “Look,” he sighed before generating a layout of the city. “This is where Loki initiated the summoning,” a green dot appearing on the orange projection, “that’s where he pierced the veil between our world and the one where they live. But that doesn’t mean they have to emerge in the city through that spot, it’s just the point where the energy converges. After they cross the barrier between our worlds there’s no telling where, exactly, they’ll materialize”. Dr. Strange sighed, wishing he could do more to help.
After failing to reverse Loki’s summoning, he’d spent hours searching through his libraries for any mention of ‘demonic beings of shadow, and vengeance, and the night’. While there had been several mentions of terrible creatures that dwelt in shadow or dealt in vengeance, there was nothing concrete to go off of. He’d agreed to stay at the tower to monitor for any signs of demonic magic that could clue them in on where they might be. But half an hour after sunset, after the start of their foes’ window of activity, there was nothing. Not a whisper of magic outside of the spell’s casting point. The Avengers had discretely reached out to the various police precincts (and religious centers) throughout the city, asking them to report any calls or leads about supernatural happenings. Dr. Strange hoped it would be enough. Loki unnerved him when he was the only one causing problems, and now he’d dragged six demons over and he strongly doubted they’d be pleased. If they acted fast … maybe the Avengers could spare the city from their wrath.
Location: ?, time?
Dick woke with a groan. His whole body felt like the last bit of toothpaste to be squeezed out of the tube. His memory was hazy with a green fog that was rapidly clearing as he carefully assessed himself from his prone position behind what smelled like a dumpster. Magic. He hated magic. Best case scenario: Two-face had brought in a magic user that had caused them to pass out and he’d fallen off the roof into this alley. Shaking off the last of his dizziness, he brought his vigilante persona to the front of his mind as he prepared to rejoin his family and figure out just what had happened. Grappling up to a roof that seemed higher up then he remembered, (at least that’s what he hoped, a fall from this height should have caused injuries, but he couldn’t detect any at the moment), Crowwing felt his heart skip a beat at the view. This was nowhere near best case scenario.
He didn’t know where he was. This wasn’t the same rooftop. The buildings were different. Crowwing tapped his comm tentatively, grimacing as empty static greeted his ear. No comms. He rolled his neck before jumping off the side of the building, executing perfect ariel turns as he grappled a loop around the building. Crowwing clicked and chirped loudly the whole way around, keeping a sharp eye out for any of his siblings. When he didn’t see anyone and didn’t receive a vocal response after waiting on the roof for another five minutes, Crowwing knew he was alone. They had protocols for situations like this; having completed the first, he grappled deeper into the city, eyes searching for the tallest building he could find.
When separated without means of communication, find the tallest building and wait for the others to join. As he went, details about the city seemed familiar, but not in the way Gotham was. Shooting around a corner he had to stop himself from slamming into the side of a skyscraper. Because that wasn’t just the tallest building in the city, that was the 6th tallest building in the United States! Did the magic transport him all the way to New York City!?