MISTRESS OF MAGIC | The Life and Times of the Sorceress Supreme

by Miss_y_am_i_here

Summary:

In many universes, the Justice League is a symbol of hope and peace, with Earth's superheroes protecting humanity at all costs.
This elseworld is different.
This world is but a twisted reimagining of what could have been, and all their heroes are nothing but shallow fragmentations of who they should be, needing a school that specifically trains them on how to be "super."
Amongst these young adolescents, is the homo magi Zatanna Zatara, who desires nothing more than to be a hero and help people. Too bad with her dark past and tarnished reputation, the world has other plans for her...

Notes:

Based off of the book and musical "Wicked" although it's only inspired.
The comics I drew inspiration from for my interpretations of these characters are:
- Zatanna: Bring Down the House
- Wonder Woman: The True Amazon
- Historia
- The Brave and the Bold #4
- Kingdom Come
- Smallville (The TV Series)
Some other things I drew for inspiration were My Hero Academia, The Boys, and House of M.

Chapter 1: Prologue

Notes:

"No one mourns the wicked
Now at last, she's dead and gone
Now at last, there's joy throughout the land
And goodness knows
We know what goodness is
Goodness knows
The wicked die alone
Woe to those
Who spurn what goodnesses they are shown." - No One Mourns the Wicked | WICKED

The entire world was in complete chaos and disarray, but that was to be expected when they had all just awoken from a trance. The majority of the world had forgotten about that other reality, and ignored that sense of emptiness that followed, but there was still a rare few whose hold onto that plane still lingered, and they were left in complete confusion. The Justice League could only help so many people, and even then they couldn’t do much to comfort everybody. The most they could do was a speech broadcast to the entire world, but even that would hardly do anything at all. Despite this, the ones who did remember that other reality, were in uproar, demanding vengeance against the witch who had done this to them. A horrible woman indeed, an enemy of the people she was. Unfortunately they were left unsatisfied, as Wonder Woman was the first to announce that Zatanna Zatara was already dead. Some were just glad she was gone and would cause trouble no longer, but an alarming majority still desired some sort of retribution, although there was none to give. Zatanna Zatara was already dead, having been defeated by the Supergirl of Metropolis, and the Last Czarnian, Lobo.

Wonder Woman was also the one to announce the sudden retirement of Lex Luthor, and the lucky hero who would be replacing him. It was none other than herself, and she seemed happy about this decision, although some keen eyed members of the crowd would notice the hero was teary-eyed, and her smile seemed forced. Although it was nothing for anybody to worry about, not when Wonder Woman had just announced the amazing news that the world was finally free of Zatanna Zatara, the Mistress of Magic, the Sorceress Supreme.

After her announcement, Wonder Woman seated herself in her invisible jet, and flew to her Themysciran Embassy. With a delicate spin that she had replicated many times before, Wonder Woman was no more and all that remained was Diana in her peplos. She sat down in her expensive chair facing the large window that overlooked Gateway City, where she looked and pondered. Her eyes could see Metropolis and Gotham from here, but even they could not spot Zatanna. With a quivering lip and a small shaky sigh, she lifted her silver-shackled hands to her face and wept. After only a few seconds, she felt the warm and firm hand of her Kryptonian friend, as he held her shoulder to comfort her. She didn’t look up to greet him, but even she could tell he was crying too...

 

Notes:

The cover art was done by Azoinab on Twitter <3

Chapter 2: Crucible Academy

Summary:

"Well I couldn't tell her
Why she felt that way
She felt it everyday
I couldn't help her
I just watched her make
The same mistakes again." - Nobody's Home | Avril Lavigne

It wasn’t uncommon for Diana of Themyscira to be the most unforgettable person in the room. Just moments before she had departed her invisible jet outside of the school, and she’d been receiving compliments left right and center. It was only natural, she was the prettiest person there, and her attire screamed importance. Her black curly hair bounced with every graceful step she took, and carefully nestled on her forehead between her brows and her hairline was a golden tiara with a star engraved on it. She knew better than to be so vain. It was one thing to value all this adoration she was getting, it was another to purposefully seek attention to feed her ego. Her steps became slower and more dance-like, and her face relaxed in a soft smile. One could then imagine her surprise when she was no longer the most looked at person in the room.

There, on the other side of the foyer, was a girl also carrying her books and luggage. Just like Diana, she was just arriving for her first day at Crucible Academy, and just like Diana everybody stared at her. It wasn’t with adoration, Diana noticed. No, it was with disgust. Diana could see why, with her big flashy clothes that said “pole-dancer” more than they said “superhero.” She knew she could not be too judgemental, she knew back on Themyscira that women liked to express themselves in many ways one might find exposing, but there was something else about this woman that irked her. Was it the cheap look of her clothes? Was it her resting-bitch-face? Diana could think of a million small and insignificant reasons she did not like this girl, but none of them could explain everybodies instant distaste towards her.

She spun backwards and spotted another new student, a blonde in leather, biker attire. It was not too dissimilar to what this other girl was wearing, yet she did not arouse any suspicions.

“That girl. Who is she?” Diana asked curiously, trying to keep her voice as soft as possible. The blonde smirked.

“That is Zatanna Zatara. Trust me, you don’t want to associate with her.”

“Why?” Diana asked simply, her curiosity growing.

“Well first of all, she’s the daughter of Giovanni Zatara, he used to be a famous magician. I heard from one of the other magicians that he used to steal power and whatnot. Anyways, when Zatanna was a child she used her magic to kill both her father and some unlucky child caught in the fray.”

Diana gulped, and looked back at Zatanna. Perhaps that was what she sensed, her dark magic. Diana always had a thing for aura’s, she wouldn’t consider herself magic—as much as she’d like to—but she could usually tell a person’s character just by sense alone. Right now she could tell that the biker lady before her was a good person at heart, but a bit too hot-headed for her own good. All she could sense from Zatanna was this dark past, and it was any wonder she didn’t like her.

“Or so I’ve heard.”

Diana spun back around, raising a curious brow.

“I don’t know, you’d have to ask one of the magic people. I’m only repeating what I heard them say. I think it’s a big scandal in the sorcery community though.”

Diana rolled her eyes before adjusting the books in her arm and gathering with the rest of the students. The biker chick followed her closely, until the two of them were amongst the crowd.

“I’m Dinah Lance by the way.”

“Princess Diana of Themyscira.”

“Princess, huh? That’s a new one. You getting any special treatment, or what?”

“I’ll be getting my own suite. No roommate.”

“Lucky.”

 

Zatanna could feel them all staring. Not because she was magic, just because she could sense their eyes staring daggers into her back. She knew most of them hated her for good reason, fellow witches and wizards who had heard from their parents or friends about her father, and the terrible, awful thing she’d done all those years ago. She also knew many of the other students were just staring at her, because everybody else was staring at her. She doubted any of these humans, (meta or otherwise) from Gotham knew what she’d done, but that didn’t stop them from joining in on the bandwagon. She dragged her suitcase behind her, and walked into the foyer, trying her best to ignore the judgemental looks she was getting.

Once inside, she flipped her raven black hair off of her shoulder, exposing more of her white corset. She’d wanted to be looking her best for orientation day, but she also knew that many students liked to wear things similar to hero costumes, just to make a good impression. She’d landed on something in between, that she was sure looked good but was now regretting her decision. It looked cheap and tacky, just like those magic shows her father had dragged her to go see in Vegas and such. Her shorts were a little too short, and her fishnets felt like they might snap with any sudden movement. Her lace up boots were second-hand and her white corset was actually just a tank top with a corset facade on the outside. She’d hoped none of this was noticeable, but now she felt like it was all people were staring at. Judging her for.

As she thought about her poor fashion choices, she tripped on a floor tile and bumped into a guy standing in front of her. She quickly got back up, hearing only a couple snickers and giggles from behind her, before she prepared to profusely apologise. She didn’t really expect to  bump into anyone from where she was walking. Most of the students had gathered in the centre of the room, there was only one or two that were floating around the outside like wallflowers.

“Crap. I’m sorry!” Zatanna started, before the man turned around and her fake-apologetic face dropped. He looked older than her, although not by much, and in the center of his untidy stubble there was a cigarette hanging from his mouth. Although she now looked at him with snark, his smirk only widened.

“It’s okay, luv. I’m just glad you didn’t make me drop my cigarette.” He grinned once more before he pulled his hand from his cream trench coat and offered it to her. “The name’s John. John Constantine.”

She was a little surprised but gladly gripped his hand. “Zatanna Zatara.”

“Ah, Zatara’s daughter. I’ve heard so much about you.”

Her face dropped once more, and she felt like an idiot for even telling him her full name.

“Trust me, it doesn’t worry me. I’ve done much worse, but thankfully my name isn’t as popular these days. One of the perks of being a nobody I suppose.” He grinned once more.

Zatanna’s eyes floated towards a sign on the wall that read: NO SMOKING. John caught this and with a wave of his hand, the sign disappeared.

“Another fellow homo-magi, I see.” Zatanna smiled. She felt much better talking to another magician, who didn’t think she was a monster.

“Hardly. I can only do parlour tricks. I’m here on a scholarship, although I don’t think much of it. Truth is, I don’t want to be a superhero like the rest of these sods. I was going to become a detective for the paranormal and occult. Anyways, I heard this scholarship can help with that too, so here I am.”

“Tell me about it. The only big magic I’ve done led to two people dying, and now I can hardly make a pencil float.”

“Nah. I think you can do much more, you only think that you can't.”

They both smiled at each other, before the speeches began and one of the Professors stepped forward to greet everybody. Zatanna turned to look back at where the sign had been, and watched as it slowly reappeared. Constantine was right, he could only do a couple parlour tricks.

Now the young magician turned her attention back towards the Professor, preparing his speech. She didn’t recognise him, but that was simply because he wasn’t in his superhero costume. There were only a select handful of heroes, who would be recognisable without their suits. If it had been Aquaman standing before her, she would’ve recognised him. This man was an enigma to her, although she felt like his blue suit was a clue somehow. It was fairly common knowledge that the biggest superheroes still dressed in things inspired by their own image, especially if it was for a special occasion.

“Students! It is a great honour to be here tonight. I know that if a place like this existed when I was  younger, it would’ve made my training much easier!”

He was charismatic, and even Zatanna, who did not care much for over-enthusiasm, found herself chuckling at his remarks. She covered her mouth to hide her slight giggle, before turning over to look at Constantine, who was relighting his cigarette, using his index finger as a light.

“I kid, but looking down at all of you today I am certain you can all achieve great things. I can see it in every single one of your faces. The same passion, and hope that created heroes like me.” He smirked before pressing a button on his wrist. His blue suit morphed and folded until his entire body was covered with a blue suit of a different kind. Now Zatanna finally recognised him: Professor Ted Kord, the Blue Beetle. The crowd erupted into applause, marvelling at his reveal.

She’d heard of him. He wasn’t the world's most popular hero, which was likely why he was now a Professor, but it would be a blatant lie to say he was a complete unknown. Zatanna knew of him, although embarrassingly she knew more about his successor than Ted Kord himself. Just last year he’d become a popular up-and-coming superhero, just by adopting the alias of his mentor. This Blue Beetle was younger, and actually had powers, so he was destined to become something big. Zatanna had heard all about him, but she had hardly heard about Ted Kord.

She was aware of a company he owned——named after himself——but wasn’t exactly sure what they did. He assumed then that Ted Kord was rich, but unlike somebody like Lex Luthor or Oliver Queen, he’d hardly focused on his company. It reminded Zatanna of Wayne Enterprises. Currently the CEO was the late Thomas Wayne’s only child, Bruce Wayne, but from everything she’d heard it seemed like his butler did most of the work. It didn’t surprise anybody, not when Bruce Wayne was a recluse who nobody had seen in years. Nobody except his butler.

“Now, now. Don’t worry, you’ll all get a chance to create your very own super suit. Hopefully yours will be better than this old thing. Onto more important matters, each and every single one of you is training to become a hero, one way or another. Whether you intend to protect a city, or defend Earth from intergalactic threats, or just aid one of your heroic allies, the choice is up to you. Most of you are metahumans with untrained abilities you want to perfect, some of you are aliens who want to protect our planet from other aliens and some of you are mortals with a desire to change the world.”

“If you’re training us to be heroes, then why is she here?” A girl remarked snidely, motioning towards Zatanna. She looked over at the source of the attack, and found the angelic girl she’d noticed earlier. Her skin was smooth as marble, her hair was bouncy and free and her dress was rich and grand. This girl had almost made Zatanna gasp at how beautiful she was, and she wouldn’t have been surprised if that girl started singing and birds flew to her. Most of that illusion has been shattered by her rude insult, yet even with the flaws in her personality showing, Zatanna couldn’t help but remain enchanted by this woman. She rolled her eyes.

“Hush now… As I was saying, there are even a few of you who possess magical talents. Since there are so few of you, we’ll have an entire class dedicated to teaching you how to perfect your talents, courtesy of Professor Circe.”

A woman emerged from behind him, and as she passed she flicked her wrist and Ted Kord returned to his formal suit. She was breathtaking, absolutely stunning. She had the character of an older woman, yet her face had not a single wrinkle or imperfection. Her hair was a lavender shade of purple, and the big curls made it seem like her hair was constantly floating. It gave her a heavenly appearance, and screamed to Zatanna that she was a powerful sorceress. Adorning her tall and slender body was a green gown, similar in style to clothing from Ancient Greece. Zatanna could then only assume this gorgeous woman was a goddess. An odd place for a goddess to be, teaching at a school, but Zatanna didn’t judge.

“Of course, I will only accept those that I find worthy of my time. I won’t waste my efforts on just any homo-magi who enters this school. Even if it means I only train one of you, or none of you, so be it.”

She smirked at the crowd before flexing her arm, and everybody turned to see the flowers lining the outer wall, bloom. Once again, the crowd erupted into cheers of adoration, noticeably much louder than Blue Beetle got.

 

“Thank you, Professor Circe-”

“Please. Just Circe. Professor makes me feel old.” Circe commented from the back of the stage, her voice smooth and velvety.

“Circe… Now, if you’ll all look behind you, you’ll find your assigned dorms and roommates.” As Professor Kord finished his statement, blue holograms appeared along the walls, listing each room number and who was assigned to them. The crowd all headed towards the outer wall, as people pushed and shoved in impatience, desperate to see if they were with their buddies.

“Who do you think you’re rooming with?” Clark Kent asked, his voice a bit unsteady. He removed his glasses for a moment, and squinted at the hologram.

“Oh no, I don’t have to worry about that. I’ve been assigned my own room.” Diana chirped, flipping her curly black locks off of her shoulder.

“You’re allowed to do that?” Clark asked, as he wrote down 152 - John Stewart.

“When you’re royalty, you can do whatever you want.” She winked. “Though, I still need to check my room number of course.”

She floated to the front of the crowd, not having to shove anybody since they all parted for her anyway. She smiled and searched through the names until she saw simply Diana. No last name, which was true of her, but no title either. No “Diana of Themyscira” or “Princess Diana” or “Diana of Paradise Island.” All that she could forgive, because at least she was there. What she couldn’t forgive was the name situated right before her own. A name that made her feel uneasy as she read it. She waved her hand through the hologram repeatedly, hoping it was just a glitch. As she shoved her hand through, the hologram froze on a distorted frame. Dinah wrote down her information (162 - Kara Zor-El) as Diana began to look around for assistance. Some miserable sod who worked here, that she could berate until they fixed this issue.

“Is everything alright, dear?” Circe appeared behind Diana and gripped her shoulder. Diana gulped. If she was still clay, she might’ve melted right then and there.

“Yes it’s just… Well I was supposed to have a room by myself, so this must be a glitch then, right? Or a mistake?”

Circe chuckled. She clicked her fingers and the hologram returned to normal. She then patted Diana’s shoulder before leading her away from the hologram display.

“No, I assigned the rooms myself. You’ll be sharing with Miss Zatanna Zatara.”

Diana tensed up, as Circe led her straight back to the girl who she’d openly insulted minutes prior.

“I’ll trust you two to find your rooms… Zatanna, you’re a homo-magi? I expect big things from you.”

“Actually I’ve been wanting to study sorcery, too.” Diana butted in. Circe stared at her for a moment before giving her a small smile.

“I’m sure you can learn a few small spells.”

With that, she walked off. Diana turned back around to Zatanna, fully expecting her to be glaring at her, or waiting to say something rude. Instead, she was lifting the handle for her suitcase, and silently she turned around and began to head towards her room. Room number 164. On the awkward walk to their room, Diana resisted the urge to apologise on more than one occasion. Finally they arrived, and the first thing Zatanna did was begin kneeling in front of the door, lost in concentration.

“What are you doing?” Diana asked, holding back laughter.

“Placing a minor protection spell on our room.”

“Why?”

“We’re at a school that trains superheroes, you really think we’re not in a little danger? Especially with a political figure in here with me…”

Diana scoffed. “Political figure…? Who said I was a political figure? Because I most certainly am NOT.”

Zatanna rose to her feet.

“You’re a Princess from a secret Paradise Island of only women, and you’re the first person from there to leave the island in over a thousand years. That’s political.”

“How did you…?”

Zatanna pointed at her head.

“You can read minds?!” Diana instantly began trying to think of something else.

The Justice Society of America’s sexy pin-up collection—— the recent discovery of a fish monster in Star City——Lex Luthor’s bald head——

“No, I’m not that powerful. You’re kind of a local celebrity y’know? It’s not everyday that a Princess wants to become a superhero. It’s also not everyday that a school receives an application from somebody who’s place of origin is labelled as Themyscira.” Zatanna opened her suitcase, and Diana watched in amazement as it seemed to open up five more times like a matryoshka doll. Zatanna began to hang up her clothes, most of which were grayscale save a few blue or purple pieces.

“Literal aliens come to attend school here, I’m not that unique.” Diana continued as she watched Zatanna start wheeling in various props one would typically see at a magic show. A fake one. Not the kind that Zatanna Zatara, daughter of the magic leech Giovanni Zatara would do.

“They tell us about their worlds. The only thing we know about Themyscira is that only women live there.”

Diana went to say something, preparing to tell Zatanna something about Paradise Island just to shut her up, before she remembered Paula Von Gunther. Perhaps it was best not to tell anybody any more than they needed to know.

In the couple of seconds Diana was looking away from her, she saw Zatanna had now completely changed from her orientation outfit and was now dressed in red and black, velvet robe.

“How did you get changed so fast?”

Zatanna raised a curious brow.

“Magic.”

“Could you show me?”

“No.”

Chapter 3: What Doesn't Kill You

Summary:

"And it’s all your fault
And it’s all your mess
And you’re all alone
Can’t go to bed
Too high on your adrenaline." - Welcome To My Island | Caroline Polachek

It was a calm afternoon, which was rare for such a place as this.

Diana had spent her entire morning taking precise care of herself until she left the school showers feeling like a new soul. During the peak of the day she had spent hours occupying the mess hall, eating whatever delicacies the magic lunch ladies prepared at her beck and call, and chatting with Dinah Lance and Clark Kent. Their conversations were shallow and empty, but were entertaining nonetheless. Throughout her entire day, Diana noticed that she couldn’t spot Zatanna out and about. She had been to the most populated spots in Crucible Academy, and not once had she spotted that magician. It was more noticeable when she was in the mess hall, where almost every student was seated for lunch, but still, no Zatanna. When the time came for Diana to reside herself back in her dorm room, she was startled completely by the sight of Zatanna’s body separated into three stacked boxes. Her head filled the top one, her chest the middle and her legs the bottom one.

“Great Hera! I thought you didn’t know real magic?!” Diana exclaimed, gripping her chest.

Zatanna shifted the boxes back together until her body realigned itself. “I don’t. That wasn’t real magic, it was just one of those illusions you see stage performers do.”

“Still, why would you spend the whole day performing tricks to no one, when the entire campus is free for you to do as you please?” Diana asked, composing herself on her bed. She watched as Zatanna stepped out of the box and folded it back down, kicking it under her bed.

“I like my privacy.”

“As do I, but unfortunately due to some horrible mistake, I’m stuck here with you. You don’t think I would’ve liked some alone time in a room of my own? I’m a Princess for Hera’s sake, why should I have to bend to the behest of commoners like you?” Diana felt herself turning red, but Zatanna only laughed.

“If being a Princess means that much to you, why didn’t you just stay on Paradise Island? I’m sure there you were treated as a god.” Zatanna waved her arm and changed out of her tuxedo and into her robe.

“Well for your information, I came here to be closer to Man’s World. It is my sole mission to connect Themyscira to the rest of the world, and restore hope to all the women on that island, and I can only do that by further training myself here. I will become the world’s finest hero and prove myself as a worthy champion and Princess. To myself, to my sisters back on Themyscira and to the Goddesses who have put their faith in me.” Diana spieled through gritted teeth. Her hands danced upwards as if she was reciting poetry, and her dramatic theatrics only made Zatanna realise they both had a flair for showmanship.

“Further your training? What could this school teach you, that an island of immortal warrior women cannot? Did your gods shun you?” Zatanna riled her up, almost rolling her eyes at the idea that the Greek gods were real.

“Don’t speak of the gods, you know nothing of them. And I care not for them anyhow, only the goddesses have my praise and adoration. Now I will ignore your ignorance and answer you truthfully. I believe I am already amazing. I can do things you couldn’t even dream of, and this school is only elevating me… However there is one thing I have struggled to master.” Her eyes drifted downwards, and her hands clenched into fists. “Magic.”

Zatanna resisted the urge to burst into laughter.

“Magic? You struggle with magic?”

“Yes. I have many gifts some would consider supernatural but I cannot perform serious acts of magic, I just don’t have the affinity for it. I heard this school has a supreme sorcery teacher, who can turn anyone into the next Zatar- Doctor Fate… Um… Well I was hoping to get her to train me, but she isn’t running her special tutoring class this year, because she didn’t find anybody that stood out to her.”

“Well there’s always the regular sorcery classes run by Professor Xanadu.”

“And I’ve enrolled for all those classes, but she only teaches the curriculum and as fine a teacher as she is, she’s no Circe.”

Zatanna nodded.

“You’re right. I also would’ve loved to join that class, but if Circe doesn’t change her mind, it just won’t happen.”

The two girls nodded before Zatanna snapped her fingers and the lights shut off, with both her and Diana’s night lights shining in their place. Diana yawned, before she spun to her closet and changed out of her chiton and into another tunic fit for a Princess’ beauty sleep. She put it on before giving another spin, and watching as the dress of the tunic flew outwards. Zatanna rolled her eyes, before noticing something as Diana climbed into bed.

“Your bracelets.”

Diana was a little surprised, but looked at her with curiosity.

“Hm?”

“You never take them off. Is that a religious thing from Themyscira or do you just like them?” Zatanna asked. The two both looked down at Diana’s arms. They weren’t at all subtle, and considering the trends of jewellery, these long chunky gauntlets were hardly a fashion statement. Diana caressed one of them with her fingers, peering down at her own reflection with a sad look.

“Everybody back at Themyscira wears them, only theirs don’t shine with gold like mine. They are not bracelets, they are shackles. A reminder of the bondage that oppressed my sisters millennia ago, and continues to do so.”

“Are yours gold, because you are royalty?” Zatanna asked, almost mockingly. Diana clenched her fists once more, her brow furrowing.

“No. They were crafted specially for the Champion of the Amazons, forged by Hephaestus from the shattered remains of Zeus’ aegis. They deflect bullets.” Diana explained, trying to keep her calm.

“So you’re the Champion of the Amazons are you? How did you win that title? Nepotism?” Zatanna narrowed her eyes accusingly and Diana crossed her arms, the bracelets making a small chime as they collided.

“I deflected a hundred bullets shot at me by my dear mother. I won that contest honestly, and was granted the Bracelets of Victory to replace the Bracelets of Submission.”

“Submission? Kinky.”

“Only if you make it. They are a double-entendre you see. Since they represent the long past oppression of women under the iron fist of Heracles, and his forced submission. Now they have been repurposed and symbolise every Amazonian’s pledge to Aphrodite. We are forever in her service.”

“Aphrodite, huh? Next thing you know a Cyclops is going to terrorise Metropolis.”

“You joke, but those myths you’ve heard of aren’t mere myths to me. To me, they are history.”

Zatanna shrugged.

“All myths are based on reality.” Zatanna said calmly.

And with that, she clapped her palms, and their nightlights shut off.

 

“Patrick O’Brian, better known as Eel, escaped Blackgate Prison this morning. Local law enforcement is looking for the felon, but have found no leads. Authorities warn locals to be wary, as this man is considered armed and dangerous…”

Professor Kord muted the TV monitor before leaning against his desk. Despite their no longer being any sound, Zatanna couldn’t help but be drawn to the screen as Perry White was seen interviewing President Luthor. She wished she could hear what they were saying, but it clearly wasn’t the focus of this class: “Trouble and How to Find It.” Zatanna knew that whatever issues she would be dealing with in her career, she’d be able to find perfectly fine. Magical threats seemed to follow her around like a bad smell, but she also understood that this class was mostly for those who couldn’t simply hear crimes across an entire city. Only the two remaining Kryptonians could do that, which is why they were the only two absent from this class. It was no big loss for Zatanna. She found Clark to be too confusing and hard to read, whilst Kara was always smiling. Her perkiness made her well-liked in the student body, yet Zatanna could always tell she was upset. She knew it must’ve been hard being the only two remaining Kryptonians left, and she could sympathise with that, but she could not sympathise with Clark being such an ass towards her. He wasn’t as rude as Diana, but he wasn’t nice to her either. It made Zatanna a little mad, knowing he would almost certainly grow up to become one of the world’s finest heroes. He could be the nicest man in the universe, and she’d still be upset that he couldn’t extend some of that kindness towards her.

“I don’t understand. Why do these criminals continue to be so obvious with their crimes, when they know that the heroes are so powerful? The Flash could easily take down all of these villains, yet they continue?” Diana called out.

“You must understand, Diana. Many of these criminals think too-highly of themselves, and have the mindset that they can’t get caught. Some of them believe that because it is illegal to kill rogues, that means they are free to do whatever they please. What you must also understand is that some of these criminals are mentally ill, and do not fully grasp the consequences of their actions.”

“But why don’t we kill them? The world would be a much better place if we got rid of them.” Lobo heckled.

“All human life is sacred, and if there is one thing I’ve learned in my years of heroism, it’s that everybody deserves a second chance… everybody. They can’t get much redemption if they’re dead. Of course there are many exceptions to the rule, although only a few. Can anybody name me one?”

Zatanna raised her hand, and ignored Diana’s snickering.

“Yes?”

“Creatures of the occult. Demons, the undead or possessed. In some cases, the sorcerers themselves.”

The class felt silent, although Professor Kord smiled. “Very good, although I’m not too knowledgeable in the occult and am curious on what you mean by sorcerers?”

“She means those who got corrupted by their power. Those who are no longer human, because they let their magic consume them.” Circe’s voice reverberated throughout the small room at such a volume, Zatanna was sure she’d used magic to further project it. “It doesn’t happen very often, especially now in this age of very little magic, but I can understand why Zatanna felt the need to bring it up.”

Zatanna sunk slightly, trying to ignore Diana’s eyes glaring at her. For what reason, she did not know. Jealousy? That the magnificent Circe had acknowledged the unpopular magician, and not the Princess of Paradise? Perhaps.

“I see. Circe, what is it you’ve come to see us for?” Kord asked. They all knew Circe had no class on, but still her intrusion was rather abrupt.

“Oh, why, Zatanna of course. I was going through the listings of every homo-magi attending this year, and stumbled upon hers. Her father was Giovanni Zatara, the Zatara. And for how horrible he was, he was still an extremely powerful wizard and I would like to help his daughter avoid a similar future…” She floated down the staircase until she was directly beside Zatanna, whose mouth was agape. “Of course, I’d like to invite her to my private tutoring in all things magic. Just her.”

Zatanna almost fainted. Finally, weeks of manifestation had paid off, and she was going to be mentored by a gifted sorceress. She felt like she could scream.

“Only if you want to, dear.”

Zatanna turned around, now seeing every student's eyes gazing at her in shock. Most of them just understood that this was a big deal, but a few of them were entirely jealous. It was rare that Circe held her tutoring classes, but even rarer still for her to only focus on one student. Zatanna’s eyes landed on Diana’s, who looked distraught.

“Yes, of course I will.”

“Goodness, I hoped you would. You can meet me in my office every Wednesday, at 1:45.” She smiled and twiddled her fingers until the lights dimmed and she turned to leave.

“But Circe, if I would be so rude, that’s when this class starts.” Kord butted in.

“Oh that’s alright. This is mainly just a filler class anyway. I’m sure Zatanna won’t need to watch the news to figure out where the deadites have run off to. Now I’ll see you next week.”

And with that, Circe spun around and floated out of the room. As Professor Kord opened his mouth to resume speaking, the bell rang, and he was left with his jaw hanging open. A few of the students giggled, before he waved them all off with a simple “Alright, everybody head off.”

As Zatanna turned around, preparing to leave with a spring in her step, she felt Diana shove past her, her toned arms colliding with Zatanna’s lankier ones. In the split second she had been in contact with Diana she saw a flash. It wasn’t hazy, but she could see Diana giving a speech at an event all to do with her? Zatanna was being celebrated, and Diana was smiling along with the crowd. In a moment it was gone, but still the idea that she’d be celebrated as a hero was enough to convince Zatanna she’d made the right choice.

 

Zatanna opened the door with a snap of her fingers, and was instantly stunned to see Diana, Clark and Dinah all giggling like losers. Dinah was in her rocker getup, painting her toenails black. Clark was trying on different glasses and making fun of how he looked with the big circle ones, whilst Diana was using Zatanna’s magicians wand as a baton.

“Oh sorry, I didn’t know when you’d get back. You don’t mind that they’re here, do you?” Diana’s eyes narrowed as she twirled the wand between her fingers.

“Diana, it’s midnight. We have classes tomorrow… early classes.”

She chuckled.

“Why don’t you use some of your supreme magic and make yourself deaf and blind. We wouldn’t bother you then.” Diana giggled once more, and her two sidekicks joined her.

“I don’t even understand why you’re here.” Zatanna said, pointing her finger at Clark. She snatched the wand from Diana’s grasp and used it to spin her clothes into her sleep robe. Dinah couldn’t hide her amusement. “You’re one of the last remaining Kryptonian and you don’t even care. Your cousin is putting more effort into heroism than you are.”

“Hey! I might be a Kryptonian, but I wasn’t raised there or with their guidance. I was raised in the middle of nowhere and didn’t learn of my abilities until I was twelve! My cousin actually remembers Krypton, and uses that memory to motivate her, so why don’t you lay off on things you have no idea about?” Clark said, standing up.

“You think you scare me, puffing your chest up to make yourself look big. There’s just one thing you don’t know.” Zatanna flexed her finger and Clark fell to his knees. “Kryptonians are vulnerable to magic.”

She yawned before opening the dormitory doors with a tongue click, and right on cue, the two visitors left silently.

“You don’t have to be such a bitch about it.” Diana said, undressing to her underwear.

“Same goes for you.”

And she clapped her hands, shutting the lights off.

 

“Now this quite possibly could be your most important class of the year. I’m sure you lot will enjoy it too.” Professor McCabe beamed, as she circled a mannequin in the center of the room. “For today, is the day you all plan out your superhero costumes!”

She walked up to each desk, placing a folder down by each student. Diana peered into hers. The first page was a checklist of what kind of hero they were planning to become, and what powers they had, if any. The second sheet featured a blank androgynous model, ready to draw over. The final sheet was reserved for a superhero name, and a signature.

“You will be required to add colours and smaller details, and of course specify the materials you desire. Now I know many of you are not artists, and that is quite alright as we’ll have professional designs look over it, and you can discuss with them what you’d like down. You may notice the last page is reserved for choosing your superhero name. Now remember, just like your costume, you can change this later on, this is only a work in progress.”

She stepped to the side of the mannequin pressing a button behind it and a suit appeared on the female frame. It was an orange tracksuit with a v-line that went a little too low and along the sides of the costume were tiger stripes.

“Now this was my old costume, back when I was still a professional hero. I chose my name first and based my costume off of my powers. You can go whichever order  you’d like, it’s no problem. That is another tip. If you’re a metahuman based around water, I’d heavily discourage making a suit that is orange and heat themed.”

Diana stared down at her paper. She checked off her power list, naming Flight, Durability, Superhuman Reflexes and Super Strength. She considered checking off Immortality as well, but she wasn’t completely sure on that. She had no doubt she would age slower than others, and would likely live way longer than any other student here, but the fact still remained that she did not know. Back on Themyscira she used to bathe in the Fountain of Youth with her sisters, and they’d been alive since the Greek Gods and Goddesses first became legend. Diana had never asked the specifics of the Fountain, as she never thought she’d need to, and dare not question the miracles bestowed onto her and her sisters. Now she wished she had, as she wasn’t entirely sure if she was immortal forever, or if she’d need to use the Fountain constantly to remain young. If such was the case, she was indeed not immortal, and she would not be able to bathe in that water again.

There was one major thing Diana had failed to mention to both her classmates and the school faculty itself. As Diana’s enrollment was a standout case—as was Clark Kent and Kara Zor-El’s—she had to explain everything herself, and no teacher could fact-check her. Themyscira had been a myth before now, and even historians only knew of it as “Paradise Island.” She hadn’t lied about her story, not entirely at least. She had won a contest that granted her the Bracelets of Victory, and she had been gifted the invisible jet as a parting gift by Athena, the Goddess of War, however she wasn’t allowed to leave Themyscira as its Princess. No, Diana had been exiled. She had won that contest by cheating her dear sisters, and her selfishness and brattiness had led to many women being permanently scarred and the death of the true Amazon, Alethea. Her bracelets were not truly Bracelets of Victory, but rather shackles. Not the same ones of submission that her sisters had worn millenia ago, no hers were a mere reminder of her vanity. They were gold, like the golden jewelry she so often flaunted to the rest of her sisters. Her crown was no tiara but a crown of thorns. She could not remove it from her brow until she repented for her actions, and she’d sworn to. The second she’d left the sands of paradise, she would not be welcome to return. Not until she'd righted her wrongs and proved Man’s World worthy of having the Amazon’s rejoin them. She doubted that she could do that. She was a selfish Princess, who’d gotten a friend killed, and she knew nothing of heroism. That was why she was here, sitting in the classroom preparing to design her outfit. She knew she must defend the world, and she was a skilled fighter but that would not be enough to save the world. She was just glad Man’s World had a school for exactly that. If she became the world’s finest hero, she could finally prove herself, and remove her crown.

For now, she stared down at the sentence on her sheet of paper. “Please tick which role you’d like to pursue. (Can be changed.)” Determined, she ticked the first box, right beside: Superhero. She looked to her right where Dinah had ticked “Other” in the superpowers section and wrote in “Canary Cry.”

“Is that what that’s called?” Diana asked quietly, and Dinah nodded.

“I think it’s officially classified as like supersonic scream or something like that, but mine sounds cooler.” Dinah then ticked “Superhero” as well.

“Why even bother putting other options here? I don’t think anybody will be applying to be a sidekick or a manager.” Clark chuckled.

“Mr Kent, got something to say to the class?” Professor McCabe asked. He shook his head and sheepishly hunched over. “Well since you’ve got our attention. What is your superhero name going to be?”

“I… I haven’t chosen one yet.”

A few snickers were heard in the room.

“Well you better get a move on.”

Diana stared down at the naked model, her pencils shifting in her grasp. She already knew she’d need to include her bracelets and her tiara, but there was one other thing she had imagined for so long. A golden girdle, based on the one her mother used to wear in battle. It was something she’d been dwelling on for so long, and now that those were drawn in, she had to figure out the rest of her costume. The first thing she settled on was a skirt. She was completely used to flowy and loose dresses and such, and felt like she could make herself more unique by wearing a skirt. As she looked around the room, she noticed a poster just barely visible in the hallway. Covering the poster were country flags from around the world, and what immediately stood out to Diana was the fact that a lot of them were red and blue themed, and even more so included white stars. It was the perfect way to appeal to the entire world as her finest hero. So now her skirt was blue, with giant white stars covering the linen. Above that was her golden girdle, and above that was a red corset, she would wear in honour of Alethea. Peering around the room she became aware that many of them had logos or symbols to represent them, placed noticeably in the middle of their chests. To keep it simple, and to match the golden girdle and bracelets, she drew a golden breastplate, covering her red armoured shirt. Perhaps it was a bird, or simply feathers, she wasn’t sure yet. Finally she drew up some red, long sandals.

“That’s pretty good, what are you going to call yourself?” Dinah asked, peering at her work. Diana glanced at hers, and saw she’d drawn herself in a black leotard and blue biker jacket.

“I like the name Suprema. Makes me sound important. Strong. It’s also feminine, and I want to embody that.” Diana beamed.

“You’re going to become the feminist superhero, are you?” Clark asked.

“I already am a feminist superhero. I’m a Princess from an island of solely women, who escaped man’s tyranny centuries ago. I think being a feminist is a major part of me, whether I like it or not.” Diana smirked, as she wrote a few notes alongside the drawing.

Dress is silk… leather sandals… tiara and bracelets can’t be redesigned… maybe star earrings? Red ones…?

Finally happy with it, she signed it with her name and graced herself down the stairs towards McCabe’s desk. The teacher smiled up at her, and gave it a quick glimpse.

“Nice, very good Diana. I can see it becoming iconic in the coming years.” She winked. Diana smiled back at her before turning and preparing to head to lunch, before being face to face with a girl she’d forgotten all about.

“Woah there.” Zatanna rolled her eyes before pushing past the stunned Princess and placing her work down. Diana stepped to the side, but decided to take a quick peak whilst the teacher looked at it.

“You’re just going to go by Zatanna? Bold choice, but then again your name is rather unique. You can definitely get away with that.” McCabe smiled.

“Is that a bug?”

The two women turned to face Diana, confusion on McCabe’s face and anger on Zatanna’s.

“Sorry. On the drawing.”

McCabe flicked back to the costume Zatanna had drawn herself. It was a blue leotard with long sleeves, and matching blue boots. She also had fishnets and a white cape, but more noticeable to Diana was the headwear she had nestled in her hair.

“That’s a caterpillar.”

“Oh.”

“It’s just a design choice.”

“Oh.”

Zatanna rolled her eyes once more before waving her hand, and the caterpillar disappeared and in its place were big chunky earrings with “Z” engraved on them.

“I needed something with my insignia anyways.” Zatanna said glumly before turning around and walking away. Diana noticed her eyes droop as she stumbled up the stairs.

“Well, you're welcome!” Diana called out after the magician. It was now Professor McCabe’s turn to roll her eyes.

Diana returned to her seat where Clark and Dinah were finalising their designs.

“Ooh, show me!” Diana exclaimed, and Clark obeyed, although he didn’t seem confident with it. It was a blue jumpsuit, short sleeves, red boots and a red belt, with a black, red and yellow logo that was a big “S.”

“What does the S stand for?” Dinah asked.

“Hope.”

Both Diana and Dinah raised a curious brow.

“It’s not an S. It’s the Kryptonian symbol for Hope. Kara showed it to me.”

“Well it looks like an S.”

“What’s your hero name?”

“Don’t know yet.”

“Okay. Well it would probably be best to make it start with S. So you don’t confuse people.”

“Yeah, super-boy.”

“Say that again.”

“Please for the love of Hera, do not name yourself Superboy.”

He smirked before writing down: Superboy (work in progress.)

“And what about you, my dear old biker chick?” Diana asked, turning towards Dinah.

“Oh I already knew what I was going to be. I’m going to take my mother’s title after she’s gone. Black Canary.”

“Now that Canary Cry is starting to make sense.” Diana laughed.

The remaining students handed in their papers, and stepped out into the hallway. Kara instantly flew over to Clark, showing off her design.

“I’m thinking Power Girl! Doesn’t that just sound so cool? I got this whole suit idea as well, like a white leotard with a red cape, oh I wish I could’ve shown you!” Kara yapped and Clark grinned.

“Much cooler than mine, I chose Superboy. I might change it later though. I used the Hope character from Krypton.” Clark watched as her eyes softened.

“Oh, that’s a good idea. I might copy that, maybe.”

She slowly stepped back down to Earth and smiled at the other two girls. “I hope we will work much more closely these coming years. Anyways, see you Kal!”

As she flew off, Diana faced Clark with curiosity.

“Kal?”

“Kal-El. My birth name.”

“What’s her birth name?”

“Kara Zor-El.”

“That’s not confusing at all.”

“It’s really not. She didn’t get to Earth until last year, and only remembers her years on Krypton. She’s just lucky Kara is a common name. More common than Kal.”

“Didn’t Krypton blow up when you were a baby?” Diana blurted out, only realising nanoseconds later that that was rather nosy. Especially since she hadn’t actually heard about Krypton from Clark’s lips, only from the passing whispers of others. Students, staff… She never had the gall to ask Clark directly about his home planet, especially since he wouldn’t remember it. He could tell her things, but it wouldn’t be from his memories, but rather things he’d heard from others.

If anything, Diana would have more luck asking Kara about those things, but she had not found an opportunity to get to know her. For now, she was standing there awkwardly, hoping her comment didn’t offend Clark.

“Well, yes. Kara told me that some Kryptonian’s had survived, and were managing to hold out in the remains of Argo City, floating through space on an asteroid. The last remains of Krypton. By this point, my parents were already dead, along with the rest of Krypton, and I had landed my rocket in Kansas, where my parents took care of me.

I was only a baby, I knew nothing of my heritage or of Kara. I only knew what the Kent’s told me, and they were only farmers from Smallville. They could tell me I had gifts, and they could show me my rocketship, but they could not tell me where I had come from or what happened to my people. I eventually learned about Krypton due to an expert, Dr Swann, who could teach me about my culture.

Kara was only fourteen when the planet blew up, so she should be older than me, but when she turned eighteen, and the remaining Kryptonians on Argo City were starting to all die out, her father Zor-El sent her to reunite with me. If it had gone to plan, she would’ve met with me when I was four years old, and she would’ve been able to teach me things about myself as a child.”

Diana was mesmerised, and hung onto every word he spoke. It was clear to both her and Dinah that he had forgotten where he was, and was just reciting his life story. He was thinking hard and deep about it, and Diana dared not disturb him.

“But that did not happen. Instead her ship got caught in stasis, so close to Earth but not able to fully reach it. Since she was in stasis, she ceased aging, and despite her being up there for fifteen years, she still has the appearance and mentality of an eighteen–year-old. I think it must be hard for her. From her perspective, Krypton only blew up four years ago, and seeing the only other person in the entire universe who should be able to understand her, instead a complete stranger, must be painful for her. I wish I missed Krypton as much as she does, but I know only what she has told me. She was told to take care of me, knowing I’d only be young but now she’s younger than me, and I can only imagine what that’s like.”

Diana thought about that, and felt saddened. A girl like that needed guidance, and she knew that the Amazon’s back home could offer her all that and more. Not that she’d ever be able to bring Kara home with her, not when she was still banished and shunned by her sisters. She began to recontextualise her previous meeting of Kara. She seemed so bright and perky, but no she was beginning to realise she might’ve only been happy because she needed to be…

For her baby cousin.

Chapter 4: The Son of Gotham

Summary:

“You and me
We’ll all go down in history
With a sad statue of liberty
And a generation that didn’t agree." - Sad Statue | System of a Down

One might’ve found Zatanna’s insistence to disregard her social life for study, a bit torturous—namely Diana. Zatanna however found it enlightening.

She had no time for friends, not when everybody in the school thought she might steal their powers. She wasn’t willing to pay for the sins of her father, but nobody else in the school seemed to agree with her decision. The only person who willingly gave her any time of day was John Constantine, and his reputation was in the dumps right beside Zatanna’s. Of course, she didn’t judge him for this, it would be hypocritical to do so, however she did believe that it would be nicer to have a friend who wasn’t anything like her. Somebody who people liked, and maybe that way, people would like her too. She knew being disliked and feared would make her a rather shitty hero. What kind of kid would look up to somebody like her? She knew nobody would understand that.

They were seated in the courtyard, studying quietly together. Or rather, Zatanna was studying, Constantine was smoking his cigarette, and making impossible shapes with the smoke. Although Zatanna wasn’t entirely focused either, as she found herself constantly glancing across the yard over at Diana and her friends. She could’ve sworn there were more of them than before.

Now in their little group was Clark’s cousin Kara, and a large, rocker-punk that Zatanna could not believe was young enough to be a student.

“You know Kryptonians are weak to magic?” Zatanna suddenly blurted, surprising Constantine.

“How would you know? Did you ask Clark for a list of his bloody weaknesses?” Constantine asked, relighting his cigarette with his pinky.

“Well, truth be told I’ve been using my powers on everybody. Something I learned from Circe, I began scanning people. It wasn’t helpful, the most I got was learning some people’s powers without having to ask, but him and his cousin over there. I found out their powers, and their weaknesses, which surprised me because I was so sure they had none.” Zatanna waved her arm and her textbook turned the page.

“Circe’s training seems to be going well then. I know a lot of adult wizard’s who wouldn’t be able to do that. So they have more than one weakness you say?”

“Yes, but I’m not telling you that, nor anybody else. I wouldn’t want them to be in danger because of me.”

“Gotcha, luv.”

She looked back over at the friend group, focusing now on the white-skinned punk. She hadn’t noticed him before, and it frightened her. Was he a new student? Surely she would’ve noticed if that beast first arrived.

“Who’s that punk with them?” Zatanna asked. Constantine looked over and shrugged.

“Nobody knows his real name, says it’s unpronounceable. He just calls himself Lobo. He’s like Clark and Kara. The last of his alien race, although he doesn’t seem as torn up about it as they do.” Constantine flicked his cigarette, and watched as it grew longer. He smiled for a moment, before the added length withered up and faded away, leaving him with less cigarette than he started with.

“Well, he’s making googly eyes at Diana.”

“Good for him?”

“She doesn’t like him. I can tell she’s only hanging out with him now to seem nice.”

“Bet you wish she’d hang out with you to seem nice.”

Zatanna lightly shoved Constantine before sighing.

“No. That would just kill her reputation, she’d never.”

“So you’re only hanging out with me because I have no reputation to take?”

“No. That’s why you’re hanging out with me.”

“Oh, sure.”

 

People were bound to notice as a fancy, black limousine arrived outside the premises. Of course, it wasn’t uncommon for strange vehicles to arrive at this school—Diana’s invisible jet was still parked right outside—but this didn’t scream strange or unusual. It screamed rich and if there was anything people loved more than the marvellous, it was the wealthy.

And by god, was Bruce Wayne wealthy. 

He made an effort not to draw attention to himself as he led himself out of the vehicle, with no assistance from his butler, who seemed uncomfortable remaining seated, instead of helping his master. Zatanna had noticed as his gloved hands itched to open the door, but he relented and kept his fingers sternly on the steering wheel.

The young boy ignored everybody as they stared at him. Instead, he retrieved his bags and shoved through the crowd, ignoring as everybody scrambled to talk to him. Everybody wanted to be the first to befriend the billionaire, but it did not matter. No matter how many girls reached out, or boys called out, he ignored them all until Zatanna yawned, and flicked her hand, holding the crowd down momentarily. It was just enough time for the boy to enter the office.

“What an odd boy.” Diana sighed. 

Zatanna raised a brow, wondering why on earth Diana was even talking to her.

“I mean, why would a celebrity ignore all this praise and attention? He should’ve been eating this up, and making all the girls swoon!” Diana exclaimed.

“But why should he bother, when all the girls are already all over him?” Zatanna asked.

“It’s called building character. If he wants people to write headlines about his arrogance, then he can go right on with what he’s doing!” Diana babbled, before looking to her side and seeing Zatanna looking at her with confusion.

“Of course, I can’t have an opinion, I know little about Man’s celebrity customs.”

“I think you know plenty.”

And Zatanna left Diana’s side, heading to her next class with Circe.

 

“I believe you’re ready my dear.”

“Ready for what?” Zatanna asked, as she took her seat.

“Now, I’m going to teach you something, but don’t stress if you can’t do it. I know many homo magi who can’t, but I just want to see.” Circe said, carefully grabbing her purple locks and moving them off her shoulders.

“Yes, of course I’ll try my best.” Zatanna mused. She watched as Circe grabbed the wand off of her and put it just out of her grasp.

“Alright. Can you say racecar?”

“Of course. Racecar.”

“Very good. Now can you say madam?”

Zatanna furrowed her brow, before clearing her throat. “Madam.”

“How about level?”

“Level.”

Circe smirked before she continued.

“Now can you say taolf?”

Zatanna’s eyes widened.

“I’m sorry?”

“Well, can you say it?”

Zatanna closed her eyes. “Taolf.”

Circe gripped her hand tightly, before Zatanna slowly opened her eyes. It sounded weird, but she’d said it properly, she thought. Circe’s smile said she had. Circe then pointed down, and now Zatanna was aware that she and Circe’s chairs were both floating in the air.

“What?”

“Now can you say lower?”

“Lower?”

They looked around.

“But… Circe, nothing happened.”

She smirked once more.

“Exactly, my dear. Only a few homo magi can do magic with simply their mouths, and you are one of those lucky few. I can’t even do it myself, but I don’t need to when I can use my hands.” Circe pointed her fingers down and they lowered. “And I am aware that you can use your hands too, but not for anything too grand. Many homo magi can do that too, but for things such as this, you must use your lips.”

“But… Those words were reversed, weren’t they? How come I can only do it backwards, why can’t I just say the words normally?” Zatanna asked, confused.

“Focus, child. It pays to concentrate with things such as these. You can’t just say things for the magic to work, magic is much more precise than that.” She grabbed Zatanna’s hand and looked into her eyes.

“But I don’t know how to say things backwards? What use would this magic be, if I have to stop and think backwards.”

“Trust me, you’ll learn. I’ll guide you along, these classes are for exactly that my dear.” She stood up, leading Zatanna to the door. “Who knows? Maybe if you get good at this, you could even meet Lex Luthor. I’m sure he’d let somebody like you in the League.”

Zatanna’s mouth dropped, and Circe smiled at her. She opened the door with a wave of her fingers and Zatanna slowly left, her mouth still wide open in surprise. The League? The Justice League? They were the best of the best. The world’s finest heroes, and she could join them? She had doubts she’d ever become a hero, and now Circe was telling her she had the potential to be one of the greatest heroes? It was all so much, and slowly her agape mouth formed into a grin.

As she strutted down the hallways, a newfound confidence she hadn’t felt since she was a little girl, she almost collided straight with the popular new boy.

“Careful there.” He said quietly, and she looked at him with snark.

“Oh, it’s you.” She said, although she sounded disgusted.

“Me?” Bruce asked, seeming somewhat offended.

“Ah, right… Zatanna Zatara.” She said, slowly offering him her hand. He did not recoil and instantly shook it, much to the dismay of a few onlookers.

“Bruce Wayne. But I’m guessing you already knew that.”

“Do I? It’s all anybody has been talking about.”

“And you talk to anybody about it, do you?”

Her face dropped.

“Ah, you got me. Well, I best be going, maybe I’ll see you around.”

And Zatanna brushed past him, skipping over to her dorm room, as Diana stepped beside Bruce.

“I can’t believe you’d shake her hand.” Diana mocked. Bruce turned to look at her, his face clearly charmed by her beauty and her strength, although Diana knew he wasn’t as interested in her as she would’ve liked.

“Her father was a tyrant in the magical world, and used to steal people’s powers. She killed a child.” Diana giggled. “You probably sold your soul by shaking her hand.”

“Oh, and you were there were you? You saw her kill a child?” Bruce sneered, and Diana’s face dropped. “Zatanna told you that, did she?”

Diana cleared her throat. “I feel like we should start again. Hi, I’m Princess Diana of Themyscira, or Paradise Island as historians call it.”

She outstretched her hand, but Bruce ignored it. “Bruce Wayne. So you’re the Amazon woman I heard about? Hailing from an all-girl island, sent here to connect the two worlds. Well, I hope you succeed.”

“I will. What brings you here, especially so late into the year?”

“Same thing as everybody else. Heroism. It’s all the rage these days.”

“So you’re here to jump on the bandwagon. Oh I’m a rich little boy, and I want to be a superhero.”

“If that’s what you want to think.”

“What other reason could you be here? If you wanted, you could pay to meet Lex Luthor himself, and become a superhero right this very second.”

“Where’s the fun in that? I wouldn’t be a very good hero if I skipped all my training.”

Diana huffed.

“Well, you’re going to be behind on everything anyway.”

“Don’t worry.” He winked at Diana. “I’m a fast learner.”

Diana blushed, before hiding her face and giving Bruce the cold shoulder. She could like him, but he didn’t need to know.

 

The second Diana entered her dorm, she switched the lights off and jumped into bed. Zatanna sighed, and put down her textbook.

“How was studying with Circe?” Diana asked.

“Enlightening. Let me show you.”

She closed her eyes and parted her lips. “Anaid deb revoh.”

“What in Hera’s name was that language?” Diana asked, before it dawned on her that Zatanna was growing smaller.

No, she wasn’t growing smaller, the room was lowering. Well it wasn’t that either, she was hovering.

“Oh, Hera. Get me down from here, now!” Diana screamed over Zatanna’s laughter.

“Okay, okay. Rewol anaid.” 

As Diana lowered, she looked back at Zatanna with bright eyes.

“Don’t ever do that again please.” Diana fumed.

She watched as Zatanna put her training wand into her bedside drawer, her brow furrowing. She felt the urge to ask if Zatanna felt she no longer needed it, but calmed herself. She knew it was just jealousy causing her to lash out, and the last thing she wanted was a repeat of what had happened the last time she became so envious.

“Goodnight, princess.” Zatanna said, her voice upbeat as she continued to quietly chuckle.

The two girls turned over. Diana tried her best to ignore her loathing, all the while Zatanna dreamt of her future as a hero.

 

During an excursion that interested Diana as much as it did everybody else, her eyes had landed on a glass case. Like all the other glass cases, it displayed an artefact. This one stood out to her, for it was a hat. 

A funny looking hat, big and tall. Reading the plaque, she found it to be belonging to the ‘Cobblepot Family.’ Diana cared not for whoever they were, and instead she found herself no longer staring at the hat, but at Zatanna in the reflection of the glass.

How tempting it was, to break the glass and pin it on Zatanna. Even more tempting was for her to simply steal the funny looking hat. It was ugly to a Greek princess, and was clearly not held in as high-esteem as it was back in the 1920s—where the plaque said it was from—but a part of Diana just wanted it because she had everything, and now she wanted this ugly hat.

She would never wear it, and she would never admire it, but it was something she didn’t have, and that made it all the more worthy for her.

In her moment of staring at the display, many onlookers saw her as just intrigued by the rich history of the Cobblepot family, and overlooked her. In the time she had spent gawking, the rest of the students had already moved onto the next room, and upon looking around she found she was alone in the room.

Carefully and quietly, she lifted the glass case off of the hat, and took it for herself. If this was any other day, she would’ve realised she had nowhere to hide it, and would sheepishly return the artefact. Luckily for her, this was the one day she had brought a leather satchel with her, intending to hold her makeup and snacks, now it was full to the brim with her funny hat.

She returned to the rest of the group.

 

“And this is the courtyard. It’s where most of us hang out after classes.” Diana said, outstretching her arms out towards the open space. 

Bruce looked around and could tell she was right. Many interesting people were sitting around, either eating their lunches or having loud chatty conversations with their friends. Seated on one of the marble benches was a group of people familiar to Diana, all waving the two over.

The most noticeable of the group, was the absolutely gigantic rocker, with his black leather jacket, long dreads and mutton chops. With his glowing red eyes, and porcelain white skin, Bruce could tell he was not of this world. Beside him, was a blonde girl in a blue biker jacket and a red skirt. Next to her was another blonde girl, this one in a black lace dress and combat boots, and behind her was a muscled man in red flannel.

“Those are my friends.” Diana beamed, and she grabbed Bruce’s arm and led him to them.

After many names were exchanged, and they’d all finished explaining their powers and places—planets—of origin, Bruce found himself glancing around the courtyard.

“Right, and where would Zatanna usually be found?” Bruce asked curiously. Everybody’s gaze shifted, as Diana’s smile dropped.

“Oh, right. Well, I wouldn’t know. I’m not exactly friends with her.”

“She’s your roommate, right?” Bruce asked. Diana gave a small cough.

“Yes, well. She typically just disappears into thin air and I mean that literally, she is a magician. Sometimes I see her out and about, she was with her boyfriend in this very courtyard recently, but as of right now she’s probably studying in the library.”

Bruce shrugged.

“We could go talk to her.”

“Why bother? I’ve already tried inviting her out for stuff, she just blows me off!” Diana exclaimed.

Lobo began to chortle, before Diana shot him a look, and he shut up.

“Besides Bruce, it’s not like you’ll never see her again. You two are taking some of the same classes afterall.” Kara said softly.

“She is?” Diana asked, hearing this news for the first time.

“Ah, well she’s mostly studying magic and sorcery related classes, which makes sense for her, but she’s also in Using the Shadows: Corners and Ledges and Escape Artist 101. Which I saw you take as well.” Kara added.

“And she told you this, did she?” Dinah asked.

“No. You know everybody's schedules were uploaded online right? That’s how I’ve been able to meet Diana outside of every class.” Kara furrowed her brow, but everybody shook their heads. “Eh, I’ll show you all later.”

“So, what do you guys do for fun around here?” Bruce finally interjected.

“Fun?” Clark asked, as if he’d never heard of the concept.

“Yes. F-U-N. Any interesting places nearby, or do we just sit and chat to pass the time?” Bruce said, his dry voice making him sound sarcastic.

“Well, there is bowling and a pizza place nearby but the only place close to us that I’d really consider fun would be Club L’Excellence, but it is a school night and all…” Dinah suggested, her voice trailing off near the end.

“Sounds great. I’m in.”

“What?”

“Tell you what, after our final classes we should all get ready and meet near the entrance at eight. We’ll all go clubbing.”

The group still wasn’t entirely sure Bruce wasn’t being sarcastic. His voice was low and snarky, but whether or not that was just his voice or he was kidding them right now was beyond them. After he nodded his head a few times, Diana decided he was serious and clapped her hands together, preparing for their next class.

The rest of the day, she couldn’t think straight and only thought about how fun it would be that night. She could not believe she hadn’t suggested it herself, the club was only a ten minute walk from the school, and she needed a bit of excitement in her life. Finally class  was over, and she rushed back to her room with determination.

Spinning to her dresser, she pulled out a sparkly, wine red dress that wrapped around her loose and flowing, and she put her hair up in a neat but curly bun. As she spun and twirled before the mirror, she found something was missing. It was too formal; it needed something else that could make it more fun. She found some red earrings, but even that wasn’t enough. Finally, her eyes perked up as she remembered a fun little ensemble she hadn’t gotten the chance to wear yet. Returning to her closet once more, she pulled out a small but grand cape made out of peacock feathers. She pulled it around herself and let it rest on her shoulders, as she stared at herself in the mirror, adjusting when needed. After a spin and then a twirl, she knew it was dancefloor ready, she just had to wait for Dinah and Kara.

Almost right on cue, Zatanna opened the door with a “NEPO!” and sat down on her bed, throwing her heels off, clearly exhausted. She looked over at Diana, and was stunned by her appearance, as she was very obviously dressed for something much fancier than just bed.

“Where are you off to at this fine hour?” She asked, her voice groggy.

“I am going with my friends to Club L’Excellence to party the night away.” Diana said in a sing-songy voice. She lifted her hand towards her tiara, preparing to adjust it before being hit with the stark reminder that it would not move an inch.

Zatanna seemed troubled. Her face did not droop, and her lip did not quiver but Diana could see it in her eyes, and the split-second that her brow furrowed upwards. She was jealous. Jealous that she was not invited, but also jealous that she was never invited. Not just by Diana, but by everybody. Diana knew she had Constantine to keep her from dying of loneliness, but Constantine wasn’t a people-person. Zatanna wasn’t either, but it clearly was not by choice. Feeling bad that she had rubbed her abundance of friends in Zatanna’s face, her eyes turned to face away from her upset roommate… and landed right on her satchel.

Diana stepped towards the bag and alas, there it was. The old, probably historically-relevant, top hat. She gave a small grin, before turning back to her roommate.

“I saw this hat at… a clothing store and I thought, well it wouldn’t suit me, but it’s still a very nice hat. I bought it, and figured out exactly who it reminded me of.” Diana lied, before showing Zatanna the hat.

“A top-hat?”

“Oh, come on. All the great magicians wear one, Harry Houdini, Zat- I mean, yeah, Houdini.” Diana bit her tongue, before stepping over to Zatanna.

“I’m flattered, Diana, but I can’t accept this from you, I have nothing to give you in return.”

“Oh, nonsense!” Now if they notice the top-hat’s gone, they’ll blame you. “It’s a gift, there’s no need to give me anything in return.”

She plopped the old hat in Zatanna’s hands, as she grimaced. Diana stood there above her awkwardly for a moment before she decided to bring herself some amusement in seeing her newfound frenemy actually wearing the daft old thing.

“Oh, Hera! Would you put it on?” Diana asked, barely containing her excitement.

Zatanna hesitated for a moment, before she raised it to her head and grabbed the brim to adjust it before it sat comfortably. Then she stood up, turning towards Diana in anticipation. Diana thought she would need to hold in a laugh, or cover her face to hide her second-hand-embarrassment but instead she found the hat to suit Zatanna’s features nicely. It sat so perfectly on her wavy locks, that it framed her face and made her almost… beautiful. Diana sighed, she’d have to find another way to humiliate her.

“Why, Zatanna. You’re absolutely marvelling in that hat.” Diana said, although now she wasn’t lying. She almost felt bad for giving it to her now… almost.

“Sure, I am.” Zatanna said quietly, before taking it off and sitting back down.

A knock was heard at the door, and Diana almost leapt out of her peacock cape.

“Oh! That’s them now, I best be off!” Diana smiled, putting down her mascara and rushing out the door to greet who Zatanna could recognise as Dinah in a blue, velvet dress and Kara in a silver, latex dress, before they hurried off.

Zatanna slowly stepped over to Diana’s vanity, putting the hat back on in bewilderment. With the hat, it almost made her look like her father, and she wasn’t sure how to feel about that. She looked over at Diana’s side of the room, it was indeed fit for a princess, whilst her side was filled with performer clutter. She opened her bedside table and pulled out her training wand, before her face lit up as she realised exactly how she could pay her new friend back. She took the wand firmly in her hand and rushed down the hallway, towards Circe’s office.

 

It wasn’t at all strange to Diana when John Constantine entered the club. She’d heard rumours many times before, that he snuck out every night to get wasted at bars, and this night was no exception.

Diana had wondered how such a young man could already be so broken and pathetic. He was the same age as the rest of them, yet while she and her friends were dancing together at the club, he was wasting his days drinking. She would ask, but they were nowhere near good friends, let alone friends. It was just another mystery she’d likely never know the answer to.

What was strange to Diana, however, was when Circe entered the club in what must’ve been her sleepwear as she was barefoot. She brushed past every drunkard and every mediocre dancer until she was standing right in front of Diana, who couldn’t help but shrink in her presence. Students were allowed to leave the premises, but it wasn’t recommended for students to leave to go party. Of course, it wasn’t illegal or anything, but still Circe looked down at her with disgust. Diana didn’t feel too bad, afterall, Circe was here too.

Diana expected her to lecture her, right then and there in the middle of the dancefloor, but instead she handed Diana something she recognised. A training wand. Diana was now confused.

“Are you… Are you letting me join your tutoring?” Diana exclaimed, her smile growing as she realised what must’ve been happening.

“Unfortunately, yes. Your friend was too keen on letting you in, and said if I didn’t include you she’d leave. Please understand, I don’t believe you’re cut out for sorcery, but I can’t lose Zatanna.” Circe said behind gritted teeth. Diana felt slightly sick as Circe spoke poorly of her, but this sickness soon grew worse when she realised exactly why Zatanna had let her join the class.

The club doors opened, and Diana prayed it wasn’t who she thought it was. When she heard Lobo and Dinah begin snickering, she knew it was exactly who she thought it was.

There, slowly stepping into the club was Zatanna Zatara. This would’ve been fine in and of itself, Diana would’ve been a little stumped as to why she had come at all, but it would’ve been fine. What was not fine, was the fact that she was wearing a top-hat. Not that it was an ugly top-hat, especially not on Zatanna’s head of hair, but club-attire it was not. Diana felt herself shiver, as it dawned on her that somebody likely thought that of her golden tiara, stuck to her head. She swallowed, as she realised that the snickers were no longer just from her friend group, but now the entire club was turning to look at her.

Diana noticed her dress, it was knee-length and seemed more like a portal. As she moved, the world on the other side of the portal moved with it. A world of stars. Her dress was a black void with beautiful stars shining. They almost looked like real stars. It was a gorgeous dress, but it only left Diana feeling worse, knowing everybody was looking at her campy hat, and not her beautiful dress.

She stopped in the middle of the dance floor, and Diana could see everybody was looking. Nobody danced, and only the quiet echo of the club music could help ease the tension. Zatanna turned her head to look at the bar, and Diana watched as her face dropped. Now she looked over at the bar, and saw Constantine passed out. Now Diana felt her stomach drop. She would’ve been mostly fine leaving Zatanna to be ridiculed—it was what she’d wanted—but now seeing that she’d be taking this torment alone and with nobody, it made Diana feel horrible. The only one who would’ve defended this poor girl, was currently knocked out and would be for the rest of the night. She had nobody. She went to walk towards the girl, noticing as her lip quivered, and her eyes were shut tightly. She paused, no, why should she help her? She was the daughter of a monster, and she herself had killed a child before. Surely those meant she was villainous, and deserved no such pity?

If there is one thing I’ve learned in my years of heroism, it’s that everybody deserves a second chance… everybody.

Diana closed her eyes, and remembered her last day on Themyscira. How she’d fallen to her knees, and everyone of her sisters were pointing their accusing fingers at her. She remembered how many of them had yelled to hurt her, or even kill her for what she had done to them, and she remembered how she felt. It was true, she deserved to be punished for what she had done, but if she had been killed then and there, she wouldn’t be here at all. Didn’t Zatanna deserve the helping hand Diana wished she had? She hadn’t been a very good roommate, but now she could offer Zatanna something she’d been given so long ago…

Mercy.

Slowly, and carefully, Diana stepped towards Zatanna, standing before her with a sad look in her eyes. Zatanna lifted her face, and now that her eyes weren’t hidden by the brim of that hat, she could see she was teary-eyed.

Diana took a deep breath, and waited for the chorus of the song to kick back in before she began to spin and twirl. Even if nobody joined in, at least the laughing stock of the room was no longer her top-hatted friend. She could afford to make a mockery of herself, Zatanna could not.

The snickering had stopped, and Diana spun around to face her friends. Clark seemed to back away slowly, making her heart sink. Lobo stepped back into the crowd, and she began to wonder what kind of friends they were. Despite this, she kept dancing.

Now she twirled and faced Zatanna again, and she reached her hand out. Zatanna took a deep breath and grabbed them, following Diana’s graceful movements as she spun around and her dress now showed different angles of the night sky. Diana was completely hypnotised by those magnificent stars, and she felt her hand drop to Zatanna’s waist. Zatanna looked down at where she was grabbing, and they began to dance again.

The whole world had stopped, and no longer were they in a club, surrounded by confused onlookers. No, it was just Zatanna and Diana, staring into each other's eyes as they twirled around. After dancing for a moment, Diana spun around once more, now seeing that Kara and Bruce had joined in on their dance, as well as the rest of the partygoers, although Clark seemed slightly reluctant.

Now that they were no longer the focus of the entire club, Zatanna pulled Diana into a big hug, her fingers nestling into the peacock feathers. Diana’s hand caressed Zatanna’s back, as they returned to dancing.

 

“So those are real stars?” Diana asked, excitedly. “How on earth did you do that?”

“Unfortunately it wasn’t me. I bought this dress off of an eccentric magic collector many years ago, and always planned to wear it to the prom or something. Well, I ended up skipping my prom, so it was rotting in my closet back home.”

“If you left it back home, how did you get it here so quickly?”

“Sserd evomer! Tup kcab emoh! Egnahc otni samajyp!”

And with all that gibberish and nonsense spoken, Diana watched in awe as Zatanna’s dress cleanly flew off of her body, and wrapped into itself before disappearing. She then looked back at Zatanna, who was being wrapped with her robe appearing out of seemingly thin air.

“You’ve really gotten the hang of that, haven’t you?” Diana said, impressed. “Do you think Circe will teach me any of that?”

“I doubt it. She told me only a few homo magi can do it, and even then she herself couldn’t. I doubt you could, since you are only mortal.”

Diana shrugged.

“Well, I’m bound to learn something.”

Zatanna clicked her fingers.

“I’ll teach you something quick and easy, no words needed.” She then stood up and stepped towards the princess.

“I want you to envision your pyjamas in your head.”

“Okay? Got it.”

“Now spin.”

“What?”

“Spin!”

And Diana obliged, now twirling and spinning until she felt herself morph into a tornado. She knew she was faster than most, but not that fast. When she finally stopped and steadied herself, she looked down to see she was no longer in her party clothes, but was adorned with her loose, flowing white gown.

“How did I do that?” Diana asked.

“You’ve always been able to, you just need to concentrate. I’m sure Circe will teach you that first. Focus is the key step to magic.”

Diana chuckled.

“This will come in handy for future fights. If I’m on a coffee date and a monster shows up, I’ll just spin and take care of it!" Diana rushed over to Zatanna and hugged her. "Thank you, Zee."

Zatanna blushed. Zee...? She'd never been given a nickname before.

“Don't mention it."

Chapter 5: Somethin’ Stupid

Summary:

“And you reached out your hand to me
But if our paths never cross
Well, no, I’m not sorry
If I live to see the seven wonders
I’ll make a path to the rainbows end
I’ll never live to match the beauty again." - Seven Wonders | Fleetwood Mac

 

It was the next day, and Diana woke up sore and tired from her late night of partying. 

She’d never partied like that before. Things did get a little rough back on Themyscira, especially between her sister Artemis, but it was still more tame and respectful than last night. She recalled that most of the parties thrown on Themyscira, were to celebrate her or—more importantly—her mother’s achievements and feats, and they would perform songs and feast on delicacies and drink. They would dance, and they were not graceful by any definition of the word, but they weren’t animals either. They laughed and cheered and relished in the celebrations, in honour of their goddesses, and Diana was typically the one having the most fun. Every celebration, it was Diana who drank the most. Every celebration it was Diana who stood out amongst dancing girls. And every celebration it was Diana who was the most self-centered snob. 

Diana felt shame rising in her, as she recalled a time when everybody was tired from having just fled a tsunami the night before, but Diana had insisted they celebrate their near-death experience. The girls had to agree, not because they wanted to party, but because the Princess had decreed it, and so they set up one of their grand parties for her. Diana had noticed how bad it was. The performers' hands wouldn’t play properly, and most of the girls were too exhausted to dance, leaving Diana the sole partygoer. She loves attention, but not like this. Not when she was the only one doing it. She felt like a statue being gawked at. Nobody else was dancing or singing or even drinking, and it made Diana look a fool.

But Diana wouldn’t take that. She couldn’t.

Instead, she’d grabbed a few of the girls and forced them to dance with her, and had then yelled at the others to join in. Their dances were sloppy, and it was clear they wanted to do anything but dance, but Diana forced them too. By the time she had forgotten that the girls weren’t enjoying themselves, they had already gone to leave, leaving Diana the lone girl at the party.

She hadn’t felt guilty, not back then. She thought they were remarkably rude for ditching their Princess, but looking back at it, she felt like a dreadful human being. Forcing not only her people to dance because she wanted to, but forcing her sisters.

Parties on Man’s World were different, and she had sampled every drink the night before, and copied every silly-looking dance move she saw somebody pull out. It was fun, but now she was left feeling like those girls after the tsunami. Tired and unable to move properly. 

“Rise and shine, sleeping beauty. We’ve got Ted Kord’s class together.” Zatanna stood before her mirror, adjusting her top hat. Diana’s eyes instantly gazed down to her fishnets, still on from the night before. She grinned drunkily, before finally rising from her bed, a little tipsy.

“Oh, my. Well you can’t go to class like that!” Zatanna exclaimed, turning around quickly. As she spun, her dress twirled with her, reminding Zatanna of what she had taught her the night before.

Diana spun, closing her eyes, but opened them to see she was now wearing one of Dinah’s biker jackets… and only the biker jacket.

“Oh. Uh, I mean, let me help you with that.” Zatanna covered her eyes before reciting. “Anaid lausac sserd, etanimile revognah!”

Diana looked down to see her clothes morph into one of her many greek dresses, and as she went to step towards Zatanna for what must’ve been a drunken hug, she felt her mind clear and she no longer wobbled.

“Great Hera, you’re good.”

Zatanna chuckled, before grabbing Diana’s shoulders and the two girls left their room.

 

“I’m sure many of you are wondering why I haven’t gotten you to open your textbooks yet. Well, the truth is, today will be a sad class as it will be my final class.”

The entire audience gasped, and quiet whispers began to occur all around them.

“Not Professor Kord. He’s the best professor at this school.” Diana whispered.

“I wonder what must’ve happened.” Clark joined in.

"Maybe he did something wrong?” Bruce suggested in a hushed tone.

“No. Not him, he would never… I hope…” Zatanna’s voice trailed off, as she turned her attention back towards the weary professor.

“I know you may be wondering why, and the truth is far more sinister than I could’ve ever imagined. To keep you kids safe, I cannot tell you why. But just know, you are all capable of becoming great heroes, true heroes, and don’t let any school or government tell you otherwise-”

BLAM.

At first, Zatanna thought it was just a drill. The drills at Crucible Academy were much harsher than regular schools. Instead of fire alarms, they used holograms or sound effects to simulate an attack from a supervillain. Looking back at the professor, his mouth was wide open in shock. Zatanna and a few of the others began to wonder if he was that scared of saying whatever it is he knew. Then they all slowly began to notice the red saliva dripping out from his mouth.

Suddenly, Zatanna rose to her feet and screamed, setting off a chain of events as everybody else realised what had just happened. Quickly, Diana, Bruce and Clark rushed over to Ted Kord as his body slumped over, but Zatanna looked up at the roof.

There were no windows in the room, and the only way in was the two double-doors at the back of the room, behind the students desks. The only windows were the small squares on the doors. There was no way in, and no way anybody would have gotten a shot at him, let alone a sniper.

The staff investigated with police for only a day, before throwing Ted Kord’s assassination into their large list of “Unsolved Mysteries” although this only made the students more skeptical.

There the large group stood around, not caring as the rain drenched their clothes. Zatanna, Diana, Bruce, Clark and Dinah all watched as the officers gave them a polite nod, before entering their police vehicles and driving away. As they disappeared into the night, Diana’s eyes shifted over to her invisible jet, which was now noticeable with the rain bouncing off it. She frowned.

“Fret not, children! You will all have a replacement teacher by tomorrow morning—one sent by Lex Luthor himself, no doubt—Don’t worry about how this will affect your studies…” Circe’s voice was loud, as it had to combat the volume of the rain.

“Our studies?! A man was just assassinated, in this very school and you want us to think about our studies?!” Zatanna’s voice boomed.

“Now, dear. I know you’re upset but it’s really no need to-”

And everything was just too much, too soon. Five hours ago, Ted Kord was giving a heartfelt farewell speech to his students, and then he was gone, and then the officers were gone, and now Circe was pretending everything was alright, and the rain was too loud, by god it was too loud, she just wished everything would stop-

“POTS TI!!!”

It was now quiet. Too quiet.

Slowly, Zatanna opened her eyes and found the rain was frozen in place, and she could see each little droplet moments before they would hit the ground and disappear into the rest of the water. She took a step back, and looked around herself. Over by her side, she could see her new friends, their faces frozen in subtle worry and fear. They were just as frightened by this whole situation as she was, and she felt her stomach drop as she saw their eyes. They were the new frontier, the new heroes meant to replace legends such as the Justice Society, and here they were fearing for their lives, because a professor was shot right in front of them in an impossible way. This was a school for superheroes, goddamn it! Why on earth was this allowed to happen?

What guilted Zatanna most of all was Diana’s face. It was a mix of rage and dread. She could see it in the Princesses eyes that she was just as mad at Circe as she was, how dare she gloss over the loss of a human life like that? But not only that, Zatanna could see the worry in her face, as she had clearly thought of the same thing Zatanna had. Zatanna sensed that she was not too worried about her own well-being, she had said herself, she was a mighty fighter and quite-possibly immortal, but that’s not what she was scared for. Or rather, who she was scared for. Diana was a bit of a narcissist, although many of the things she bragged about were rather understandable. Zatanna would also become a bit unbearable if she could do even half the things Diana could, and yet Zatanna could see that behind that show-off, was a girl who was much stronger than everybody else and wanted to make up for that by protecting everybody else.

If a teacher, who was a professional superhero could get assassinated out of nowhere, then who was truly safe? Not the students, that was for certain. Diana couldn’t protect Ted Kord, could she protect civilians?

“What is this?”

Zatanna almost jumped out of her skin, before turning around to face the only nearby person, not frozen. Bruce Wayne.

“This is you…? Why aren’t I frozen?”

Zatanna’s brow furrowed.

“Well… I didn’t exactly yell a spell to freeze everybody except for you. Maybe your mind is too strong, or you were just out of range. I don’t have the answer.” Zatanna grimaced.

“What do you think?”

“About why you’re not frozen?”

“No. About Ted Kord’s assassination.”

Zatanna’s face dropped.

“The shot came from the left of his head, but there’s nothing to the left of him. There is no backstage, no secret door or room or nothing. You could see the entire room from anywhere within the room, and there was nobody there that would have shot him. No windows to get him either.”

“So you think one of the students did it?”

Zatanna’s eyes widened. “Do I think that? I don’t know what I think! We have no leads, all we know is that he was shot, and that’s literally it. It could’ve been anybody at this point! Maybe you shot him!”

Bruce’s eyes narrowed and his hands turned to fists.

“I would never. I swore never to touch a firearm after… What happened to my parents.” His fists softened, and he looked away. Zatanna clenched her jaw. She had only vaguely heard of the Wayne’s Murder. Struck down in an alleyway she recalled. Bruce was there, he had witnessed everything. Was that why he wanted to be a hero now?

“Listen, if you want my two cents on the situation… Circe is a bit suspicious. Maybe that’s why I’m not frozen, because I’m the only other person who thinks that, and wanted to talk to you about it when she could not hear.”

Zatanna shrugged. It was possible, but as she turned back to face Diana she began to wonder if that was truly the case.

“Though it’s probably best you unfreeze them.” Bruce said, before he began to walk away. Zatanna nodded.

“Ezeerfnu…”

The rain began to tap furiously on Zatanna’s body, with her top-hat barely keeping her face dry. She turned slightly, to see the group unfreeze and look around confused. Now she was praying they hadn’t heard the conversation, especially Circe.

“That was weird…” Dinah began to look around confused.

“What was that…? Who did that?” Circe asked, looking up at the rain as it stuttered and lagged. 

Zatanna gulped, before turning and rushing to her dorm. Her face became wet, although it was not rain that poured down her cheeks.

 

It was exactly as Circe had said. 

The next morning Zatanna and Diana entered their classroom to find a new teacher in place of Ted Kord. Maxwell Lord, he said his name was, and although none of them had heard of him, he promised he was qualified. Zatanna wasn’t sure he was as qualified as Ted Kord though. He wasn’t even a superhero, at least not a known one. There was a chance he was one of the few superheroes who kept their identity a secret, and wore a mask. She doubted it though.

Just from the way he spoke and acted, it was clear he wasn’t as passionate as Kord was about superheroism. He seemed too professional, and too work driven. He never said he was proud of them, he never said he saw a future with them as heroes, the nicest he got was when he’d mention a student’s high grades. A man of numbers and statistics.

The class was no longer Zatanna’s favourite, and it dragged on until she finally relented and muttered “Deeps emit pu rof em…” And sat there leaning against her desk for the next twenty minutes—although they were only five for her.

Lunch was the same slog. She only enjoyed it slightly better, and that was solely because she was with her friends. She still stayed quiet the whole hour, until she snapped out of it by something Diana had said.

“Do you think we’re friends in every universe?” She asked softly. 

Zatanna grabbed her hat-brim and adjusted it.

“We barely became friends in this universe. I doubt the rest of our multiversal counterparts are this close, if they even know each other…” Zatanna said quietly.

“You guys believe in alternate Earth’s?” Dinah asked, twiddling her blonde locks between her fingers.

“Well, it can’t just be us, can it?” Clark asked.

“No, no. There must be more of us, I know it.” Kara added.

“Even so, I can only barely sense those other me’s. I’m sure those other versions of me are much happier, but sometimes I only see her in my dreams.” Zatanna began to spout. “I swear I saw another version of me, that was a pin-up bombshell. Another one of me was a punk-rocker and my name was reversed.”

“But surely, those are just dreams?”

“They felt like other universes.”

“Well, were we friends in those universes?” Diana asked, looking into Zatanna’s eyes.

Zatanna gulped.

“I saw you in those dreams, but we were never close. You were always just in the distance.”

“Nah, mate. I don’t believe our dreams are other versions of us. If they are, I’m basically the same blummin’ drunk in every one of them!” Constantine exclaimed. 

“Must be very boring dreams…” Lobo grumbled, before the bell rang and they began to head to their next class. 

As the group stood up, gathering their things, Circe floated towards them, a grin on her face.

“Ah, there you are, Zatanna.”

Zatanna narrowed her eyes. She almost did not want to talk to her, especially with that sickening grin.

“Yes, Circe?” Zatanna asked. Circe grabbed her by the shoulder, shoving Diana away without a care. Lobo and Dinah waved goodbye, before heading to their class, but Clark, Bruce, Kara and Diana stuck around to hear what was to be said.

“I made contact with the Lex Luthor, and arranged a meeting directly with you. You will be heading to Metropolis to meet him, and if everything goes smoothly, you might even be lucky enough to get hired by the man himself!” Circe exclaimed, handing a metallic invitation to Zatanna. She almost fainted.

“What?! This is all so sudden, you told him about me?”

“Yes, I knew your magical prowess couldn’t go to waste, and while this school could teach you a lot, it cannot give you nearly the same opportunity as Lex Luthor could.”

Zatanna caressed the invite with her fingers, becoming lightheaded.

“Wow, I get to meet Lex Luthor. In Metropolis…?”

“Tomorrow.”

“Oh my god…”

“Say yes!” Kara said, jumping behind Zatanna who began to breathe shakily. She felt her palms grow sweaty before she shut her eyes tightly.

“This could be it. My ticket to becoming the hero I’ve always wanted to be…”

“Think of all you could achieve.” Circe whispered.

“What are you hesitating for? You should take this while the offer is still there.” Bruce said. Zatanna’s eyes darted to Diana, who nodded happily at her.

“Well. It is only a meeting. But still, with LEX LUTHOR?! Oh my, I have to go.” Zatanna grinned, clutching the invite excitedly. “I shall wear my best clothes, and show off my greatest tricks and be as polite as humanly possible, so I shan’t let this opportunity go to waste!”
She hugged the invite tightly, so tight even that the sharp edges of the metal rectangle dug into her skin. She just kept hugging.

“Yes, it’s all very exciting isn’t it? We shall arrange for one of LexCorp’s own bullet trains to take you straight to Metropolis, where you’ll be expected to show your invite to the receptionist at LexCorp, and then you’ll finally meet Luthor himself. Although, understand there is no rush. It is your big day afterall, you could get yourself lunch beforehand, or go dress shopping. Enjoy yourself!” Circe beamed, gripping her shoulders tightly.

“Believe me, I will.”

And as Zatanna lowered the slab of metal down once more, she saw Diana’ s reflection in the invite. She was smiling, proud of her, but also a bit jealous. 

And who wouldn’t be?

 

Zatanna Zatara was there before the train. 

She was too excited to wait any longer, and with Diana fussing over her appearance, she was desperate to make it to the station. Now she was lying in anticipation. Any moment now the train would arrive, and she would hop right on in, and then she’d been zooming off towards Metropolis, the City of Tomorrow!

She began to tug on her outfit, wondering if it was too dramatic. She and Diana had spent all morning planning, before the two girls had settled on a white button-up, a black coat, and some sparkly black shorts. The shorts did not consist of real stars like her magnificent clubbing gown, but it still shone like stars. Diana couldn’t help but be reminded of the shorts she had planned for her superhero attire, the blue ones with white stars. Zatanna had completed the look with some fishnets, white heels and of course, her top-hat. Diana still felt it was missing something, and gave her some star earrings to go along with the look. On the way to the station, Zatanna had mumbled some subtle spells giving her natural makeup that accentuated her best features—namely her eyes. Diana had noticed, but dared not say anything. Not when she thought her friend looked truly stunning.

Now Diana on the other hand, had thrown on completely random clothes, not wanting to upstage her friend. It was a stark contrast to how she was usually, typically she spent hours in the morning preparing herself to look her absolute best. Though even without all the morning prep, she still looked absolutely gorgeous. It amazed Zatanna how beautiful one could be without even trying.

There she was, in her red camisole, blue cropped leggings and her red lace-up boots, with golden strings. Zatanna wondered if it was the tiara. She knew her own hat framed her face rather nicely, but she had never seen Diana not wearing her tiara, and she began to notice how well it suited her features. She’d look naked without it.

As the minutes passed by, more and more of her friends began to show up. Clark and Kara arrived together, both happy for their friend, and Kara was more clingy than before. Zatanna hardly knew her, she hardly knew any of them, yet she felt like she had been their friend for centuries. She reciprocated Kara’s hugs, and looked at Clark, noticing his smile bigger than she had ever seen it. It was so big that it made his eyes squint slightly.

Soon, Bruce arrived, almost blending in with the crowd as he made no effort to stand out. He gave her a quick hug and a smile, but not much else. Zatanna still appreciated it though.

Next Dinah and Lobo arrived. She was a little surprised that Lobo turned up at all. Not that she didn’t appreciate it, but he’d never been that talkative towards her, and she also knew he had a tendency to skip class. She was glad he’d chosen not to skip this.

When the train finally arrived, one thing became clear to Zatanna. John Constantine hadn’t shown up.

Had he forgotten? Did he not care? She hoped he didn’t feel like she was deserting him, but as her feelings spiralled she began to realise that she had never actually asked him about this whole situation. She knew he never intended to be a superhero, and she knew that he knew she was meeting Lex Luthor, but did he feel good about that? For her?

As she turned to head for the train, she heard a familiar British man approach, although the familiarity was with how slurred his speech was. She turned, now seeing as he stumbled towards her, almost tumbling into Diana, and falling down the gap between the train multiple times.

“Oi, lovie… Zee! Congrats mate, I’m so happy for you.” He burped. “Ah, ignore that. I got a bit drunk last night, poor Ted Kord, god rest his soul and all that…. I couldn’t miss your big night…! Er… day!”

Zatanna’s face sank, and she felt slightly embarrassed. A few of the other students were whispering, and she could only pretend she couldn’t hear them. She was glad he had shown up for her, it would be a dickhead move not to, but she really wished he hadn’t shown up piss drunk. She didn’t want to say she was disappointed, so she didn’t. She could’ve cured his hangover there and then, and maybe then Constantine would’ve said goodbye the way he truly meant to, but she had a feeling he wouldn’t want that.

No, he’d only gotten so drunk because he didn’t want to show his true feelings. He never wanted to show them, not to her or to anyone. It slightly comforted her to know he must’ve had great thoughts about her, but she was upset she’d never be able to hear them from his mouth. So, she did not cure his hangover and instead hugged him awkwardly. He smiled at her, before puking close to her heels. He looked up at her, his brow furrowing before he gave a deep sigh and teleported away, leaving her feeling completely alone.

“All aboard for Metropolis!” The conductor yelled, despite knowing he was only here for Zatanna. 

Zatanna’s legs began to wobble, and she felt like at any moment she might collapse.

Diana must’ve seen, because she rushed to Zatanna’s side and caressed her cheek slowly. “You’re going to be alright; I know you’ll do great things.”

Zatanna chuckled slightly, feeling her face flush at Diana’s touch. “What would I do without you, my Wonder Woman.”

Diana’s eyes lit up before her smile widened.

“Go get ‘em, Zee.”

And Zatanna turned around, stepping onto the open area of the train, waving goodbye to all her friends and all her fellow students. She was a bit sad that Constantine was not among those students, but she couldn’t do much about that. Then her gaze locked onto one of them from the crowd, onto Diana of Themyscira. The Princess of Paradise Island. Her Wonder Woman. In a moment of pure spontaneity fuelled by her love, she reached her hand out towards the girl.

“Come with me!” She called out, as the train had already moved a fair bit away.

“What?!” Diana exclaimed, now jogging to keep up with the train.

“Come with me, we can go to Metropolis together! See the sights!”

Diana’s face lit up, and she began to ease into a sprint before she leapt off the platform and gracefully landed beside Zatanna.

“Let’s enjoy this day together, my Princess.”

And now it was Diana’s turn to blush.

Chapter 6: Gods & Monsters

Summary:

“Suddenly I’m overcome
Dissolving like the setting sun
Like a boat into oblivion
‘Cause you’re driving me away
Now you have me on the run
The damage is already done
Come on, is this what you want?
‘Cause you’re driving me away." - Queen of Peace | Florence + The Machine

Diana felt slightly odd as she sat down beside Zatanna. 

Not because the two girls were alone together, they were always alone together in the afternoon, when everything was closed and they were tucking in for the night. No, it wasn’t Zatanna who made her feel odd this time around, it was the train itself. She wasn’t becoming sick, she had piloted an invisible jet, that was more sickening than anything a train could throw at her, but at the same time, she’d never actually been on a train before.

Back on Themyscira they had plenty of technology one might consider advanced for an island cut off from human civilisation since the ancient times, but one thing they’d never found any need for was trains. They had horses if they desired to travel far, and even then what use would they have for travelling? The island had remained mostly unchanged since it was first erected centuries ago, so exploring was dauntless. Even so, every place in Themyscira was within walking distance, so things like trains and cars seemed useless. The invisible jet was only created for discreet travel to Man’s world, and even then Queen Hippolyta had forbidden anybody from using it. Mostly due to the major design flaw that even though the plane was invisible, you could still clearly see the pilot.

Of course, when Diana was exiled, she did not care for her mother’s rules, they no longer applied, and she piloted that jet all the way to Gateway City herself. Now she was absolutely marvelled by the design and function. There were railroads all across the country? And trains travelled from city to city, collecting people to take them places? And this was a high-end bullet train, they were travelling luxury class. Diana was almost expecting servants to come feed the two girls grapes.

“Is it a long journey?” Diana asked, grabbing a shrimp from the plate provided.

“I believe it is only two hours, as we will not be making any stops.” Zatanna said, as she took her hat off, resting it in her lap.

“That’s good. I like this train, it’s fun.”

Zatanna almost laughed at her.

“If you think so. Most people find the train tedious.” Now it was Zatanna’s turn to eat a shrimp.

“Oh, well if you say so. I myself have never been on one, I would not know.” She stood up to walk around the room, mostly staring out the windows.

“If you think this train is wondrous, then I’ll let you enjoy it.” Zatanna mused.

The two girls sat back down. Zatanna looked around and noticed that it truly was unlike a regular train. Diana had every right to be excited about it, as not only were they provided with a luxury spread of food and drink, but they were seated in a loveseat big enough for three. She’d never heard of a train like that, but then again, Zatanna had never been in a luxurious bullet train like this either.

Despite Diana’s initial excitement, after only half an hour she found herself growing tired. Zatanna had spawned a historical piece on Lex Luthor, “Luthor: His Life and Universe” and began to absorb the knowledge of the book with her hand. She knew she could not finish the entire biography in just under two hours, but wanted to know everything about Lex Luthor, everything she hadn’t known before.

Most of it was things she already knew. Things like how Lex Luthor had saved the world from a Thanagarian Invasion years ago, and how he’d cured many mutated newborns, and single-handedly taken down Doomsday, and how he founded Crucible Academy. He wasn’t retired, but now he spent most of his days running LexCorp behind closed doors and when he wasn’t doing all that, of course, he was the President of the United States. She found it odd how he seemed to have two lives, despite both sharing a name. There was the Lex Luthor that fought invading aliens and saved people, and then there was the Lex Luthor who signed bills and treaties. They both acted differently too. The “Hero” Lex Luthor would be constantly hovering, and would crack jokes and sign autographs. The “President” Lex Luthor would always be walking normally, and would have a stern, serious expression. No time for jokes with him.

Zatanna didn’t really see him as a “President” though. Not because she didn’t support him, far from it, it was just that he’d been “President” for around twenty years. He wasn’t so much of a “President” as he was a “King.” Nobody had ever complained though, as he was looked up to by everybody as a symbol of hope. He was popular with civilians because he was strong enough to save them by himself, but even other heroes looked up to him as he was supporting them and the future generation of superheroes.

Meanwhile, Diana felt her eyelids grow heavy and she huddled up to Zatanna. It was an impulse she acted on, as she felt she needed to rest, and she needed Zatanna’s encouragement—and protection—to feel safe sleeping. Nothing could happen to her that she could not handle, yet despite that her mind kept going back to Ted Kord’s assassination, and how nobody had even registered what had happened until he slumped over. A room full of the next generation of superheroes, and they could not protect this one person.

The thought haunted Diana as she drifted off. Every so often, she would start and look around to remember she was with Zatanna on the way to Metropolis, and she would nestle in slightly closer before dozing off once more.

Zatanna had noticed the Princess as she slumbered on her shoulder, but she said nothing, and only ran her long fingers through her black curls. She spent the next hour or so, staring out the window and watching as the scenery went from typical suburban streets, to retro-futuristic skyscrapers, and she knew they were in Metropolis. 

Still, Metropolis was a big city, and it would still be a while before they made it to the station closest to LexCorp. As she nodded off against Diana’s head, using her poofy curls as a makeshift pillow, she noticed as they passed the Daily Planet, with its rooftop globe spinning slowly.

 

They arrived soon after, and the two girls said nothing as they awoke on top of each other. Zatanna fixed her makeup with a flick of her wrist, and the two girls headed out into the big city. 

It had truly earned its namesake the City of Tomorrow. Every part of the city was like a page out of a vintage sci-fi movie. It looked like the place people from the 1950s thought the future would look like, and despite that not being true everywhere else, Metropolis was truly the only place in the world that had fulfilled those visions. There were still no flying cars, or hoverboards, but if they were ever created, this was exactly where they’d be most prominent.

“Oh, we can’t see Lex Luthor yet. There’s so much stuff we have to try.” Diana cooed.

“Of course, of course. I’ve never been in a city like this before!” Zatanna exclaimed, looking over at a library with a hologram of Lex Luthor displayed before it.

“You must remember, Zee. I am not from this place, I’ve never been in a place like this ever. I didn’t even know they existed until a year ago.” Diana began to strut towards a club, and Zatanna became flustered as she recognised the XXX symbols out the front.

“Ah, Diana I don’t really believe this is the kind of club you want to visit…”

“Nonsense, it says they’ve got girls!”

Zatanna slapped her face as they entered, walking straight into a busy scene. Zatanna was a little surprised but only for a moment. Of course even the greatest city in the world had strip clubs. She sighed, before turning to leave. Diana was mesmerised by the dancing lady on the pole, using all her upper body strength to twirl gracefully, and Zatanna grabbed her and they left.

“Who was that dancer, the one wearing so little clothes?” Diana asked.

“She’s a pole-dancer. She dances on a pole, and typically in places like that, she strips her clothes for money.” Zatanna explained, trying to be as easy to understand for Diana as she could.

“I don’t understand. Back on Themyscira, ladies don’t care for nudity. We all bathe together naked in the Fountain of Youth, and here people pay to see girls naked? Do women and men care when they are naked?”

Zatanna began to blush.

“Yes. It’s a privacy thing, we regular humans typically don’t look at naked people without their consent, as it’s disrespectful. Of course, we also don’t typically shower together either but things are different here.”

It was odd for Zatanna. She’d spent all year with this Amazonian Princess with the impression that she had learnt most of humans' regular customs, yet now she was beginning to realise Diana had mostly spent all her time at Crucible Academy. Sure she’d been partying with friends, and had gone elsewhere to hang out, but most of her experience was at school. She knew little about how humans felt about nudity or transport, or anything of the sort. Zatanna began to feel a little guilty for not understanding earlier. Truly, she was never intentionally mean, just ignorant.

“But why were there only men there, watching the dancer? If she was proudly displaying herself, where were all the girls?”

Zatanna pitied her naïveté.

“Typically guys find girls attractive. Not all of them, some like men and some like both and some like none. There are specific clubs for people attracted to the same sex…” Zatanna explained carefully.

Diana crossed her arms.

“I don’t get it. Beautiful women perform, and most other women don’t find that attractive? This world is so strange.”

Zatanna blushed at the idea that Diana found women attractive, before she began to wonder about something else. Diana knew nothing about Man’s World, and never bothered asking. The school taught her solely about heroism, and she never went out enough to learn things herself. This was her first true time seeing how the rest of the world outside of Themyscira worked.

“This is your first time out and about the city, Diana. I intend to show you all the glorious things civilization has to offer you!” Zatanna exclaimed, before grabbing Diana’s bracelet and leading her to a skating rink.

For the next few hours the two girls had a splendid time, almost entirely forgetting about their previous engagements. They still had to meet Lex Luthor, but for the time being they were only thinking about each other. Lex Luthor, the billionaire, CEO, superhero, President? He might as well have been a cockroach at that point, as he was not nearly as important as the marvellous time they were having with each other. The library introduced Diana to comics and graphic novels, the spa relaxed them and eased their nerves, and the movie theatre was the first time Diana had watched a moving picture. The movie itself was pretty good, although Zatanna could only focus on her friend the whole time, and she noticed that after they’d left, Diana was copying some of the traits from the movie protagonist.

Finally, they took a deep breath and approached the LexCorp building, their excitement rising as they handed over the metal ticket. They watched as the receptionist inserted it into a reader, and it opened a gate for them, and as soon as they stepped through, they were greeted with a tall blonde lady, who looked down at them with a sneer. It was clear that she did not find the two girls all too intriguing, and saw the two as beneath her. An odd thing, Zatanna wondered, for an assistant to look down upon a Princess and a Magician, but she was too nervous to speak up about it.

“Zatanna Zatara… and… guest. Hello, and welcome to LexCorp, I’m Mercy Graves, and I will be taking you to the esteemed President Luthor.”

She tapped her clipboard a few times before turning and heading down the hallway, towards a large fancy elevator, situated between two elevators that appeared mediocre in comparison. As the three girls entered the elevator, Zatanna’s eyes caught sight of a sign reading “Elevator is for permitted staff use only.” She felt sick as she entered, like she was not allowed to be there, despite Mercy Graves clearly granting them permission to.

As they began to head to the 52nd floor, Zatanna began to wonder why Lex Luthor spent all of his time here instead of in the White House. She assumed the White House was where every important meeting with the President was held, but now she wondered if that was solely reserved for political meetings. Her meeting with Lex Luthor was not political, as it only regarded a job within superheroism, and LexCorp was where many established heroes held meetings, but she still felt it odd. It was like they weren’t meeting the President, but rather just a CEO.

“Don’t try anything funny, we have cameras.” Mercy sneered, catching Zatanna by surprise.

“Why would we try anything? We’re here to meet the President, not-” Diana began, before Zatanna nudged her. 

The rest of the long elevator ride was silent, and all that could be heard was the faint machinery sounds, as they arrived at Lex Luthor’s office.

“President Luthor will see you now.” She said, before shoving them out and pushing a different elevator button. She was gone before the two girls even had time to turn around.

“Ah, there you are!”

The two girls spun back around, watching as the bald man floated towards them. He was wearing a green suit, with a long tail coat drifting behind him like a cape. Beneath those were purple pants and green boots. He wasn’t dressed in his finest suit, but rather his very own superhero costume. Zatanna couldn’t help but feel the need to grovel at his feet. Diana did not, and she looked down at Zatanna’s submission like she was a fool.

“Oh my, no need for that. Please, get up! Get up!” He grinned. As he floated towards the two, he suddenly stopped and his feet returned to the ground. “Now, now. Please remind me of  your names…”

Zatanna rose back to her feet and found that for a person so in tune with words that she could speak them backwards, she could not find any words to say. Diana nudged her slightly, becoming embarrassed that a woman was so dumbstruck by a man, no matter if that man was the highly-acclaimed Lex Luthor.

“I am Zatanna Zatara, daughter of Sindella and Giovanni Zatara. This is my dear friend Diana of Themyscira.” Zatanna said, her voice slightly shaky in the presence of such a man.

“Ah, Themyscira. I’ve heard so much about your little island, although not as much as I would like. Rumours mostly. I must say, I’m very intrigued by that place, and would very much like to hear more about it from somebody who’s lived there their entire life.” Lex sprouted, looking up at Diana with a smile. Diana returned the smile, but hers was more smug.

“You’ll have to try harder than that for me to tell you anything.” She mused.

“Yes, well anyway where was I…? Oh, yes, Zatanna! I’ve heard many things about you, especially from the great Circe.” Lex beamed, and Zatanna almost blushed.

“You know Circe?” Zatanna asked.

“Oh my dear child, know her?” Lex chuckled, before outstretching his arm to his side. There, from behind a tinted window, Circe stepped out. At first, Zatanna thought the window was a mirror, but then she realised it simply turned Circe invisible.

“Circe, what are you doing here?” Diana exclaimed, and Circe stepped over to them and hugged Zatanna.

“Couldn’t miss your big day.” Circe smiled.

“Well, she literally couldn’t. She’s my assistant, that’s why I send her to Crucible Academy every year to find somebody special, and this year we finally found her.” He looked down at Zatanna with a kind look. “Zatanna Zatara, you are everything we’ve been looking for.”

Zatanna turned towards Circe, who nodded.

“Wow. Me? I mean. What could I do that Circe couldn’t?” Zatanna breathed, and Circe almost began to laugh.

“My dear. I have been around since Ancient times, I even knew a few of Diana’s sisters from before they were exiled to Themyscira. Even then, there are many things I have never been able to learn, and you my dear, could. It’s not a matter of experience, it’s a matter of what you were born with, and although I am very powerful, you are miles ahead of me.” Circe explained, grabbing Zatanna’s shoulder. “You can speak backwards fluently, without thinking. I can only say a few words backwards, and even then, those words don’t accomplish anything for me.”

“Yes, yes. Show me, you must show me!” Lex exclaimed, and took a seat in a sacramento green office chair.

Circe nodded, and Zatanna began to look around before her eyes landed back on Lex. With a loud bellow she cried “REVOH XEL!”

Within seconds, Lex’s chair was floating in the air, with him still seated as he began to chortle with amusement.

“Well done! Well done! And this doesn’t hurt you at all?” He asked from above them.

“No. I don’t even feel it, it’s not as if I’m lifting you. I just say things and they happen.” Zatanna admitted. “If I said it the normal way, it wouldn’t do anything.”

“That’s amazing, now put me down before I fall.” Lex said. Zatanna thought back to how he’d floated before, but ignored it as she lowered him.

“My dear. You are everything we’ve been looking for. You can become a great hero, greater than even me perhaps. If it’s alright with you, Circe and I would love to take you in as our apprentice.” Lex said, holding Zatanna’s hands in his.

“Oh my. It’s everything I’ve dreamed about, I can be… A hero. Alongside somebody as great as you and Circe. My, this is a dream come true.” Zatanna chirped. She turned behind her to look at Diana, who was smiling back at her. “Oh, and Diana. Would I be able to bring her with me? We could do great things together.”

Circe resisted the urge to laugh.

“Unfortunately dear, the offer is only extended to you. However, we would be happy for Diana to stay with you, and I have no doubt she will become a great hero herself.” Lex said, and Zatanna looked at Diana who was now standing there with a shocked expression on her face.

“Yes, yes that will work nicely.” Zatanna exclaimed.

It was everything she wanted, everything she could ever want and it was all so fast, so sudden. She turned around and rushed over to Diana’s side, excitedly grabbing her arms, but something was off. Diana was staring at the invisible window.

“What is that?” Diana asked quietly.

“What was that, dear?” Circe asked.

Zatanna looked at where she was pointing.

“It’s a cloaking device we’re working on for security purposes. It displays the room on the other side, but hides any living things. We use it for LexCorp’s windows, but I don’t really see why you’re asking.” Lex explained, his brow furrowing.

“No, behind it.” Diana said.

Everybody looked at her with confusion. The glass was blurry, and nothing on the other side was intelligible.

“Nothing.”

“Evom wodniw!” Zatanna exclaimed, and the invisible window pane shifted to the side, revealing a lab of some sorts behind it. There were many machines that Zatanna would never be able to understand, and other mechanical things that she also did not understand, but in the centre of the hidden room was a green and purple mech-suit, being fabricated right before them. At first, none of them fully registered what they were seeing. It was just a mech-suit.

“Oh that. That’s just a prototype, it will look much nicer once I’ve actually completed it.” Lex mused, stepping towards the lab. The girls followed, although it was with skepticism.

“A prototype for what?” Zatanna asked cautiously. Lex’s eyes widened.

“Well for me of course. I’m getting old, I need a suit to assist me with matters such as superheroism.” Lex explained, pointing at the suit like a proud parent. “Of course, it’s only a precaution. I mightn’t need to use it, but I’ve been experiencing a shortage of materials and at this rate I might need it.”

Zatanna looked at the chestplate of the mech-suit. It was the LexCorp logo, the iconic “L” design. It wasn’t just insignia though, for she sensed something resonating inside of it. Carefully, she pushed the symbol inwards, and it sprung open, revealing a core made of a glowing, green element. It looked like emerald, but she knew it was not. Emeralds did not glow like this, nor did they give off this same energy that Zatanna could feel. What was most shocking was not this strange crystal, but rather that she knew exactly what it was, and she’d never expected to ever see it in her lifetime.

“Why is there Kryptonite in your suit?” Zatanna asked quietly.

It was an element that Zatanna knew only vaguely. She was no scientist, and the stone was extremely rare, but she knew of it from her various scans of students. She knew many of the students' weaknesses, at least their physical ones, and although she never wanted to use them against her fellow classmates, it was still good information to know. It was how she had known that Kryptonians were susceptible to magic. It was also how she knew their main weakness: Kryptonite. By default, the stone was simply a stone. An aesthetically pleasing stone, but nothing much else. It was highly sought over for its extreme rarity, but Zatanna didn’t care for its value. She knew how it would affect Kara and Clark, and she saw no other reason why it would be in a mech-suit. It couldn’t power anything, it couldn't provide protection, all it did was weaken Kryptonians so why did Lex have it?

“Why do you…? Why do you have this? Why do you need this?” Zatanna asked, grabbing the Kryptonite out of the core. She watched as Lex’s expression changed to worry, and he began to lightly sweat.

“Why, that just powers the suit. Again, still a prototype…” He lied between his teeth and Zatanna felt herself grow angry.

“But why? It can’t power anything…! But you know that don’t you, and you know exactly what it can do, don’t you?” Zatanna pressed him about it, and Circe stepped forward before Lex held his hand up. She stopped.

“Zee, what's going on?” Diana asked from behind her.

“You know exactly what it does to Kryptonians don’t you?!” Zatanna pointed her finger at Lex, and he grimaced.

“Yes. Yes I do. And I’ll tell you this Zatanna Zatara: I do not trust them. If the time comes, I will not hesitate to take care of them, just like I took care of those Thanagarians.” His voice was no longer soft and friendly, but strict and authoritarian. Zatanna’s eyes widened as she realised something.

“But, there’s only two of them! You’re not targeting people, you’re targeting two individuals. This is nothing like the Thanagarians unless…” Zatanna’s voice trailed off. “How many Thanagarians were there?”

“What?”

“How many. How many came down, threatening to invade? How big was this threat that you took care of?!”

“... Two.”

Zatanna’s face dropped.

“You have no real power.”

“Zee!” Diana gasped from behind her. She grabbed Zatanna’s arm, but Zatanna ripped away from her grasp, turning back towards Luthor with aggression.

“Admit it! That’s why you need this lab! That’s why you need Circe and that’s why you needed me! You have no powers, you’re a scam, a liar! You’re nothing but a man!” Zatanna spat. Lex’s face contorted to rage, and any resemblance to the hero she knew from before was gone.

“You’re right. You see, those two Kryptonians you care about so much, we’ve been collecting their DNA at that school, and I’ve been using it to power myself with a serum. It only lasts 24 hours, so I can’t show myself to the public too often and that was what the mech-suit was for. I was… hoping I could give my heroic duties to you, the next generation, but clearly I was wrong.”

He reached for his handheld transceiver, pursing his lips, no doubt preparing to call in security to handle the two. Zatanna couldn’t let that happen, not when she and Diana knew this much about the President of the United States. They wouldn’t just arrest them, they would be executed or worse. She snatched the radio from his hand, and yelled out “Latrop ot moor!” Gripping Diana’s hand tightly, she jumped into the portal and closed it behind her.

 

“By Hera this is insanity!” Diana screamed, as she got off the floor. Zatanna looked around, realising they were in some sort of abandoned lab. “Where are we?”

“I can’t teleport too far away, we must still be in the LexCorp building.” Zatanna sighed.

“My Hera, what was all that?!” Diana hissed, shaking Zatanna by her shoulders.

“I don’t know! But I couldn’t let him arrest us!” Zatanna explained.

“Arrest us? Oh my Hera, we’re outlaws! We’re never going to become heroes, they’re going to arrest us!” Diana began to hug herself tightly. “I can’t complete my mission like this, I’ve doomed my people!”

“Don’t you understand?! We know all about his lies and deception! He wouldn't just arrest us, he’d make sure we never spoke a word of what we know. Diana, he’ll kill us!”

“Oh, we have to go back and apologise. If we just leave things like this, they’ll think we’re horrible villains, I can’t let that happen, I just can’t Zatanna!”

“Attention! Attention, staff! We have a dangerous villain on the premises. Believe not a word she says, she is a liar and a master manipulator. She’s a witch, and will attempt to trick you! If found, bring her to me or Circe. Do not let her get away! She is a Mistress towards the sanctity of magic, and is considered highly dangerous!”

The loudspeaker could even be heard from wherever Zatanna and Diana was, and it only made her heart sink. There went any chance of being a hero, or even being normal. No, from now on she was a mistress of magic, and this only made her feel worse. It was over for her.

“It will be alright, Zee…” Diana said, although her voice didn’t sound so sure.

“I’m… a villain.” Zatanna couldn’t believe it, it was over.

“No, no don’t listen to them, you’re not…”

“What does it matter?! If he says I’m a villain, then I am one! I wouldn’t be surprised if all those other villains were innocent as well!” Zatanna rushed over to one of the desk drawers, and pulled out some white gloves, quickly putting them on and whispering “Tif ot dnah.”

She traipsed over to the curtain, pulling it down only to see Metropolis from up high. They must’ve been on the same floor as before, for there was nothing above them.

“Hsams wodniw!” 

And the window broke open, and the wind began to blow her hair up, almost taking her hat with it.

“Zee! What are you doing?!” Diana screamed out.

“There’s no other way out, and they’ll find us eventually. This is it, we have to go!” Zatanna exclaimed.

“How?! We can’t fly?!” 

Zatanna hesitated for a moment before muttering, “Tnarg thgilf ot annataz dna anaid…”

“Well… Did it work?” Diana asked quietly.

“Only one way to find out.” Zatanna muttered.

The two girls spun around quickly, hearing as somebody was outside the door yelling, and attempting to break in. It must’ve been the security, although Zatanna was beginning to worry it was a group of superheroes Lex had called in. She just prayed they couldn’t fly. She rushed to the window, looking down seeing just how high they were, and she took a deep breath. Diana turned to look at her friend, and almost screamed again.

“WHERE ARE YOU GOING?!” She wailed.

Zatanna looked back at her friend, guilt rising inside of her. This was all her fault, and Diana was only here because of her. Her friend would be outlawed, and maybe even killed, just because of her. But… there was a chance. Yes, if she were to leave alone, then only she would be the villain. Diana was an unwilling accomplice, a hostage even. That would protect her.

“Nowhere, fast… And you’re not coming.” Zatanna choked out.

Diana reached her arm out, but Zatanna leapt out of the window, grabbing onto her hat as she plummeted. She had wished she might’ve practiced first, for now she was just free-falling. How pathetic it would be now if she fell to her death right outside of the LexCorp building. Some life story that would be. Instead she closed her eyes and remembered her father. Her father, that man she despised so deeply. She didn’t despise him as a child, as a child he was her everything.

He taught her everything she needed to know, and she loved him deeply. She adored him, and wanted to be just like him when she grew up. A stage magician to the general public, but a powerful sorceress to the magical community. A hero, one who used her magical talents to help the desperate. She never needed much, just her fathers love and she was happy.

Of course, it all changed when she was eight-years-old. She was showing off some small magic tricks to some kids. It was her attempt to make friends, and though the tricks were nothing impressive, she was only a child herself. Even so, the lame tricks she was putting on display didn’t warrant bullying, and when one of the kids was being rude she decided she would show him some real magic. She was only eight, she didn’t know any better, didn’t know how to control her impulses, and when the light faded and she could properly see again, the child was gone, all that was left was his bike, and Zatanna’s guilt. She never did find out if he had died or been sent somewhere, and she wasn’t sure which was worse.

Naturally her father found out, and he promised to help her. That was when everything changed, as he blindfolded her, performing some ritual she never saw. Then he’d told her to say a word, a word so strong and powerful, that she felt sick just saying it, but after it had escaped her lips, her father was gone, just like that boy. Gone, gone forever. Dead, or just lost? What did it matter, he might as well have been dead, for she never saw him again.

The magical community was tight-knit, and when they’d caught wind of what had happened, they’d shunned her. The name Zatara was now tarnished, as Zatanna was known as a child-killer, and many rumours spread about her father. It wasn’t until Zatanna was sixteen that she’d learnt the truth from her cousin, Zach.

Her father used to steal magic from other homo magi. That word he’d made her say, it was supposed to suck her magic from her. Zatanna never did know if it was an act of love or selfishness. Did he desire her magic to rid her of the burden? She’d acted out and gotten a child killed, perhaps he hoped he could take her magic from her and stop it from happening again. But somehow Zatanna knew that wasn’t the truth, no. He’d tried to steal her magic because he could sense she was more powerful than him, and it made him jealous. He wanted her power, just like he’d wanted the others' power. His own daughter.

Of course, it didn’t work like he’d wanted. He’d absorbed her power, but it was too much for even the Great Zatara, and it destroyed him, but not only did it destroy him, but it transferred all of his magic to her. She was her father’s magic, and she didn’t blame the other homo magi for despising her. She’d gotten a child killed, and all the power and magic her father had stolen, she had now stolen from him. By extension, she had stolen all their powers too.

She thought she could live with the guilt, if perhaps she just became a superhero, she could pay off her debt by using those stolen gifts to aid the world, then she wasn’t as bad as her father, but now she was falling to her demise outside of LexCorp. A villain.

If she couldn’t protect the world as a popular hero, at least she could protect the world as an outlawed villain. She would be alone, but she would be free, free to act out against the tyrannical leader, and maybe then she could finally make up for killing that child, and stealing all that magic.

She hoisted herself upright, and shot up into the sky like a speeding bullet. The world was a blur around her, and she flew back towards the abandoned lab, watching as a guard grabbed Diana by her arms, attempting to drag her away.

“Get away from her! Paz mih!” Zatanna yelled out, and the guard manhandling Diana was zapped.

She watched as Circe and a few of the security rushed over, although her attention was on the costumed superheroes by Lex’s side. Some heroes they were.

“I will stop you, at any and all costs!” Zatanna cried out, pointing her gloved finger at Lex. She wished then and there that she could kill him, and she definitely could, but that would achieve nothing. Instead she took one final look into Diana’s teary eyes and winked.

“I’d like to see you fools just try and bring me down!” Zatanna yelled out, emphasising her words like a true supervillain. If she was to be labelled a villain, the least she could do was act like one with her presentation.

“I hope you’re happy!” Diana cried out, and Zatanna’s heart sank once more, but she swallowed the feeling and gave them all a smile. She then yelled out once more, and the staff’s guns faded into confetti.

“GET HER!” Circe yelled out, but before she’d let any of those fake do-gooders get her, she flew off, to where? She hadn’t the slightest clue.

She’d made sure to be fast and unpredictable, and she’d already assessed the heroes Lex had called in. None of them could fly, and she was relieved because of it, but then it reminded her of something.

One of them could fly. She’d given Diana the ability to.

She turned her head slightly, hoping Diana was flying right there behind her, but she was not. She was still back in the lab with the other heroes and staff. Zatanna gripped her chest, and closed her eyes, pretending she was not crying.

Meanwhile, Lex was ordering all the heroes and guards to go after Zatanna. Diana knew it was too late, Zatanna was long gone, and they’d likely never find her. She tried to ignore the sting in her heart, and the tears rolling down her cheeks, but she couldn’t ignore them no matter how she tried.

“Princess, you and I have much to discuss.” Circe snarled, grabbing Diana’s bracelets tightly, before leading her away and out of the room.

Notes:

Swear to god, backward text generators are saving my ass right now.

Chapter 7: Interlude

Summary:

“But I’m in the trees, I’m in the breeze
My footsteps on the ground
You’ll see my face, in every place
But you can’t catch me now
Through wading grass, the months will pass
You’ll feel it all around
I’m here, I’m there, I’m everywhere
But you can’t catch me now." - Can’t Catch Me Now | Olivia Rodrigo

Graduation Day was for many, a heartfelt day filled with bittersweet memories and hopes for new beginnings. 

To some, it was just bitter.

At Crucible Academy, graduation consisted of many things, but only one was seen as important. The unveiling of the world's newest heroes. Yes, it was a day where the media would bombard the halls hoping to get exclusive interviews with the new supers and be the one to announce their identities to the world.

So there they were, the school's top graduates, walking up the stage to shake hands with President Lex Luthor himself, and to show off their outfits and names. It was also where they’d announce their future plans. Many of them would become freelance heroes, but a lucky few were selected for the Justice Society, and would be fools not to show-off this grand accomplishment.

The most notable of the night was Clark Kent, who floated onto the stage in blue spandex, with red shorts, and a grand red and yellow logo. A shield with a line down the middle, almost like an S. His name was one that just rolled off the tongue, and made him sound important and special, and to many, he was. Superman he called himself. 

Of course, there were many other show stealers, though it was rough to compete with the likes of Superman. Kara Zor-El appeared, wearing a similar costume to her cousins. Hers was a lighter shade of blue, and featured a red skirt instead of boxer shorts. Fitting in with her cousin's brand, she announced her name was Supergirl.

Then there was Dinah Lance, who appeared in a blue jacket and black leotard, calling herself Black Canary. A homage to her mother, the original Black Canary.

What was most interesting however, was a figure who appeared in a black and grey costume that obscured his form in shadow, despite the spotlights pointed at him. He relented to tell the world his true name, and from his expression they could all tell he was rather upset about something. He would not tell the world his identity, and legally that was allowed, it was just rare. Most people loved to show off their superhero identities, as it made them seem interesting even when they were just shopping. Some people did keep their names separate, but it was just odd. He did not say his name, and he did not show himself off like the others, instead he just said his hero name and stepped to the side. Batman. Ironically, by trying to draw as little attention to himself as he could, he ended up being one of the most noticed of the night.

As the event was drawing to an end, it was clear that the most idolised of the night was Superman and Batman, but there were still a few more students left to graduate.

Next was somebody nobody expected to graduate, especially after an incident from a while ago. John Constantine stumbled his way up the steps, a lit cigarette in his hands, and large eyebags almost protruding off of his face. He seemed drunker than usual, which seemed impossible. He gave Lex a sly smile, and barely managed to shake his hand before he leant closer to the mic and announced his name as Hellblazer. A lot of the students, and crowd in general, noticed he was not in any sort of hero costume. No, he was just in his regular suit and trench coat. No effort whatsoever. He was an embarrassment to them all.

But a stark contrast to Constantine, was the next and final graduate. The event was not run in alphabetical order, so one must assume they had saved the best for last. This must’ve been true, as she had a reputation for being one of the best students the school had to offer, and had been given a job early on due to her heroism a while back.

So there she graced the stage, her black curly hair bounced with every graceful step she took, and carefully nestled on her forehead between her brows and her hairline was a golden tiara with a star engraved on it. Her outfit had changed from her initial rough draft, but the general idea was still there. She wore a red top with a golden chest emblem. No longer was that emblem an eagle though, now it was a stacked double W. Underlining her red tank was a golden girdle, big and chunky just like her bracelets and tiara, and beneath that was her new bottoms. It was still blue, and it was still adorned in stars, but now they were shorts instead of a skirt, giving her more of a swimsuit look than that of armour. Instead of the red gladiator sandals she had envisioned, now they were long, red go-go boots with a white stripe down the centre of them, heading down to her toes and wrapping back around to the heel. Wrapped around her was a long and flowy cape that looked reminiscent of the American Flag, but then again, so did her design.

If there was one thing about her, it was that she stood out. She was beautiful and her outfit was memorable and iconic, and instantly she had caught the media's attention. She soaked it all up, spinning and twirling and posing, giving everybody the big smile they wanted to see. She was happy and she was popular. It was no wonder as to how, not when she was already well-known for her partnership with Lex Luthor. She didn’t even need to graduate at that point, she could’ve just left school and joined the Justice Society then and there, but she didn’t, she stuck around, and when she was done posing for the paparazzi she leant in towards the microphone and said her hero name, her voice melodic and calming.

Wonder Woman.

Circe only came onto the stage for Diana’s turn, and once Lex had finished shaking her hand, Circe handed her a lasso that shone like gold. She revealed to both her, and the crowd that it was the Lasso of Truth. Forged from the fires of Hestia, and melted down from the Golden Girdle of Gaea by Hephaestus himself. It was unbreakable, impenetrable and forced people to submit and tell the truth. It saw through all illusions, and restored memories, and Diana was honoured as she took it from Circe’s grasp, although she wondered where Circe got it from. She knew Circe was from Ancient Greece, and knew of Themyscira, but Diana couldn’t shake the feeling that she’d stolen this from somebody.

As the night came to an end, it was clear who the public adored. It was always “Superman” this, and “Batman” that and Wonder Woman was not left out of this limelight. Of course, the other heroes got plenty of media attention, but there were only three heroes the paparazzi were forcing together for shots. It was clear that the world had their newest heroes, and that trinity were going to be stars.

They were all interviewed and asked questions, and Diana was glad to tell the world about her plans.

“...And of course, I promise to protect all of mankind, and will be wherever I am needed. I won’t resign myself to just one city…” Diana said into the mic, and ignored Bruce and Clark as they glared at her.

“So, what will it be like joining the likes of The Flash, Stargirl, Aquaman or Green Lantern?”

Superman gave a small chuckle. “I just hope they like me. See me as a friend, not just a coworker.”

“Batman! Did you hear the rumours that Lex Luthor is starting a new superhero team, to replace the Justice Society?”

“No comment.”

Kara stood to the side of all the chaos of the crowd, not caring too much for being a paparazzi darling. She was more than happy to let her cousin soak up all the praise, for she was busy thinking about somebody else. Lobo was not here, for Lobo was expelled. It was not just that Lobo had been expelled though, Kara’s issue was with the fact that nobody had seen him in a while, and she was worried about her old friend. She just hoped he was alright.

Meanwhile, Lex pulled Superman to the side and away from all those cameras.

“Well, Mr President, I’m just honoured you chose me and Kara to look over Metropolis.” Clark smiled, and Lex smiled back.

“Yes. I only pick the best to watch over my glorious city, and you and Kara are the best. I trust you.” He shook Superman’s hand, before returning to the rest of the crowd.

Diana was nearby, listening as the two had spoken, and she had felt a slight pang in her chest. Was it guilt? Possibly.

She’d been there, she’d seen that Kryptonite, and she knew of Lex’s lies, and yet… She said nothing. She saw her friend being all buddy-buddy with a man she knew distrusted him, and she kept her mouth shut. She couldn’t help but be reminded of back when Zatanna had left her. Soon after, Bruce Wayne had arrived in Metropolis and once they’d reunited he’d asked where Zatanna was. It was Diana who had to explain what had happened, without saying too much about the President, and she had to stand there and explain why she was given the opportunity to become a hero, whilst Zatanna had disappeared.

Of course, she’d ended up roping Bruce into her same situation, although he only accepted because he had to, not because he wanted to. She wondered if that was why he kept his identity secret. He didn’t trust anybody, not anymore.

Chapter 8: The Winner Takes It All

Summary:

“The gods may throw the dice
Their minds as cold as ice
And someone way down here
Loses someone dear
The winner takes it all
The loser has to fall
It’s simple and it’s plain
Why should I complain?” - The Winner Takes It All | ABBA

It was funny how the world would simply not move on from Zatanna Zatara.

If she were any other person, she would’ve simply faded into obscurity, and the mere mention of her name would only be greeted with “Who?” and “What are you talking about?” Instead she was villainized, and with that kind of infamy she would truly never go away. There she loomed across the entire world, her gloved fingers ready to terrorise anybody who stood in her way, as she hid her evil demeanour behind a stolen top-hat. 

Or that’s what she let people believe. Although she hadn’t done much since her disappearance, her silence only further incriminated her, to the point that she might as well have been turning people into doves and locking them in cages.

The truth was, she had not been seen in years. The last time Diana had seen her, was as a blurry figure flying away in the distance. She wasn’t entirely sure if Zatanna was blurry because she was far away, or because the tears were obscuring her vision. The last time Zatanna had been seen by anybody else, she was using her magic to destroy some of the LexBots roaming Metropolis. It was the first test run of the machines, with President Luthor wanting complete and total safety in his grand city. Some thought it an odd thing to do considering Lex himself was always observing Metropolis, and he had just assigned two powerful heroes to protect the city, but many of them ignored this. It was Lex Luthor after all, and what good would come from questioning his pristine authority? No good for Zatanna, that was certain.

She’d dismantled a good handful of them before some actual superheroes got involved in her protest, and she fled. But that was two years ago. Since that scandal, nobody had seen her. It was like she had never existed at all, her name but a myth. Zatanna might’ve disappeared, but her image had not, and even now people were whispering her name in fear. Although Zatanna had only ever called herself Zatanna, Lex found himself coining a villain name for her: The Mistress of Magic. Lex found it fitting since she was the only major magical threat so far, and he also found a strange amusement with calling her a “Mistress.”

Unlike Zatanna, Diana had found herself a fairytale life that she adored. She’d officially opened a Themyscira Embassy, running it solely as the ambassador for an island she had been exiled from. Nobody knew that, nobody but her and her sisters back home, and she intended to keep this fact a secret. Every morning, she would wake up and float over to the mirror, where she would take a deep breath and attempt to remove the golden tiara from her brow. And every morning, it didn’t budge. She hadn’t proven herself a true hero, and she didn’t know if she ever would…

 

Star City was a popular site for supervillain attacks. As Wonder Woman flew to the scene and observed the situation she couldn’t help but wonder why there were way more villains than before. Back when she was in Crucible Academy, it was just a small handful. They were a powerful handful, that’s what the school was for after all, but still at most a dozen. Now there was a new villain every week, and she was getting sick of it. The new villain of the week was some lunatic calling himself “Black Adam” and his sudden appearance and sheer strength had warranted help from the entire Justice League.

The Justice Society of America had been effectively downsized by Lex Luthor, leaving only four members to the point that they decided to just quit. Lex’s plan consisted of replacing that superhero team, with one that would deal with struggles all over the world, and not just in America. He’d called it the “Justice League” and quickly recruited members to fill in the quota. He instantly picked Superman, Batman and of course Wonder Woman for the team, but had to think about the rest of his picks. In the end, he’d settled on recruiting Black Canary, Supergirl, Martian Manhunter, Green Lantern and Aquaman.

Many had instantly noticed that it was quite odd he’d only recruited eight superheroes to supposedly “defend the entire world” but people knew better than to question him. It was clear this was just the first stage of his plan, and soon the League would be unlimited, and there’d been enough members to protect the entire universe.

Although Lex had assigned Superman as the official team-leader, it might as well have only been a title, as Lex Luthor, Maxwell Lord, Circe and Mercy Graves controlled the entire operation.

As Wonder Woman flew into battle, she spun herself off of Black Adam’s back, disorienting him before she flipped back around and grabbed his arm with her lasso.

“The lasso compels you to speak only the truth! What do you hope to accomplish with this unwarranted assault?” Diana asked, her voice loud enough so that the entire area could hear her. She knew the lasso would make Black Adam follow suit, and then everybody could hear his pathetic reason for the attack.

“Unwarranted?! Your people attack my people! The people of Kandaq awoke me from my centuries long rest in the hopes I could save them from your oppression, but even so I found I couldn’t defend them alone!” He cried out, pointing an aggressive finger at Diana. “I came here to talk to your President, but those robots attacked me, and now here I am fighting your puny League!”

Diana’s face dropped. Her eyes gazed down at the golden rope in her hands, and she knew he spoke only the truth. It was all he could do, he was not lying. No deceit in his words.

She opened her mouth, preparing to offer him a truce. She could take him straight to Lex himself, and then they could discuss this oppression he spoke of. What were their military even doing in Kandaq? She steadied herself, preparing to wrap the lasso around herself to show him mercy, but in a quick blink she watched in shock as Martian Manhunter ripped Black Adam straight from her grasp. He flew him into the sky, and although Diana could not see them properly, she could only assume he had used the distraction to beat him to a pulp.

Superman flew over to her, giving her a smile as she wrapped her lasso back up and hooked it to her leotard.

“Close one.” He smirked, but Diana did not smile back.

“You were pulling your punches. You could’ve taken that guy out all by yourself.” Diana responded, as she watched Manhunter return to the ground, the defeated villain held under his arm.

“Of course I do, Diana. I always do. If I didn’t pull my punches, I’d be no better than him.” He nodded over at Black Adam, where they both watched as Maxwell Lord pulled up and cuffed the foe.

“But didn’t you hear what he said? His country is being terrorised, and we’re the ones doing it.” Diana said, a small hint of rage in her voice. She didn’t want to lash out in front of the growing crowd, not when she was a symbol of peace. She had an appearance to keep, but that didn’t mean she was going to pretend for her friend. He should know better.

“Diana, we can pester Lex about it later, but we can’t just go over there and stop a war. We’re not soldiers or politicians.”

Diana couldn’t help but scoff. “We’re not soldiers… Sure.”

Superman’s mouth curved into a frown, and she brushed him off.

“Where is Batman?” He finally asked, now looking around the destroyed streets. Every hero was accounted for, except for him.

“You know he never sticks around. Especially when it’s stuff like this.” Diana sighed. She could picture him now, in his jet already back in Gotham City. If she knew her friend, then she knew he’d likely head straight to bed and then he’d wake right back up at nine to start his patrol. Gotham was always more of a “nighttime” city than Metropolis.

The crowd began to gather more and more, as random passersby and victims hurt in the attack rushed to their heroes for comfort. They were all standing on an elevated chunk of rubble, and at this point it might as well have been a stage. They didn’t have anything to say though. Diana desired to yell out and condemn the Government for whatever atrocities were happening in Kandaq, but instead she gave the crowd a soft smile. She was the People’s Princess, she didn’t need to start scaring them, even if she wanted to do nothing more.

Superman was giving the crowd a polite wave. They were right, Superman was an icon. People loved him, people flocked to him. He was the pure definition of a “superhero” even if she knew him more personally than that. It was no surprise all those injured people were smiling instead of trying to get help. Just the simple act of Superman being right there in front of them told them everything was okay. After a while, she went to turn around before Circe called out to her from the side.

Over to the side, the real action was happening. Maxwell Lord and Mercy Graves were telling some secret information to their guards and staff, and then dispatching the van to take Black Adam to whatever hellish prison every supervillain was condemned to. But nobody was looking over at them, they were looking at the distraction. The heroes on the stage in their big flashy colours and giant logos. Now Circe stepped up, grabbing a mic from one of the local reporters, before she stepped between Superman and Wonder Woman.

“Attention! Attention! It is my great honour to announce the first couple of our superhero team. We never expected anything romantic to occur in this team, but we cannot be happier for them!” Circe beamed. Everybody began to look at each other in confusion. Dating? Two of them were dating? But who? And why announce it?

“Yes, the rumours are true. Superman and Wonder Woman are officially together!” She grabbed one of each of their arms, lifting them up in forced celebration, although the two looked at each other like she’d just called them disgusting.

They weren’t about to call her out in front of their adoring fans, but that didn’t mean they were all too pleased about this lie. They were not dating, and they did not like each other in that way. Diana noticed as Superman’s eyes were focused on the reporter from earlier, and he looked sad. His brow furrowed and he seemed to want to tell her something, although he said nothing. He couldn’t, his hands were tied. Diana gulped. She wasn’t even sure she liked men at this point, but she couldn’t say anything. Instead she gave a weak smile and awkwardly grabbed Superman’s hands.

“Yes… Yes it is true, we are together.” She said slowly. Every word was like a punch to her gut, and she almost couldn’t choke the words out, but Superman looked too befuddled to form a proper sentence. Instead he nodded.

 

The Hall of Justice. It was the League’s headquarters, and it was one of the only places the members could go to get away from Lex and his authority. There, the team was sitting around a circular table, and carved into the metal surface was their logo, and smaller text bordering the design that read “Truth, Justice and a Better Tomorrow.” Now, Diana was looking at it with a furrowed brow.

“So you guys aren’t together?” Green Lantern, John Stewart asked.

“No, we’re not.” Superman sighed. “In fact, I’ve already got a girlfriend that I’ll have to try explaining this to later…”

Diana’s hands cuffed into fists as she lightly slammed them on the table with a thud. 

“Well, it’s only pretend. It’s not like they’re asking you to fuck in front of everybody.” Martian Manhunter, John Jones said snidely.

“That’s not helpful!” Aquaman, Arthur Curry butted in.

Diana rubbed her face, hitting her tiara, which did not move. She then stood up. “How long do we have to keep this up? I don’t want to play-pretend, but I can endure. I just don’t want to have to marry him or anything.” Diana exclaimed.

“No offense, but I would never marry you. I don’t even know why she said that at all! She knows we’re not lovers, why say that in front of the news and the public, damn her…” Superman’s voice trailed off.

“Who says you have to play along? Why not just tell everybody that she lied? Or at least come up with a fake story saying you two broke up.” Supergirl suggested. In the corner of Diana’s eye she saw Dinah and Arthur nod.

She might’ve nodded as well. It was true she did not want to pretend to be in love with somebody she only saw as a friend, especially when her friend already had a girlfriend. He could explain it to her, but that didn’t change the fact that he was basically cheating. She didn’t want that, not for him or for anybody but there was something that made her stop. She remembered, all those long years ago, the last time she had seen Zatanna. Lex’s weapons, his mechsuit and the… Kryptonite. It was clear what he intended to use that for, and the last thing she wanted was for Clark and Kara to “get out of line” and be killed all because she didn’t want to play pretend for a while. She gulped and grabbed Superman’s hand.

“We have to. Just for a bit. We have to… play along.”

Chapter 9: Missing

Summary:

“Don’t know where you are right now
Did you see me on TV?
I’ll try not to starve myself
Just because you’re mad at me.” - TV | Billie Eilish

It had been three years since Zatanna had been with any of her friends.

Zatanna Zatara wasn’t even sure if they were still her friends. Surely not. Not when they were under Lex Luthor’s thumb 24/7. She was sure he’d told them all she was a horrible person, a villain with no remorse, and she guessed she just had to accept that. Of course, just because nobody had seen her, didn’t mean she didn’t see them. She was always hiding, always trying to figure out a way to show the world Lex’s true colours. Nobody would believe her as of right now, and even if they would, she couldn’t get that far without Superman or any of the other do-gooders getting her caught.

She didn’t blame them, not entirely. They were also being tricked and deceived, and if she was anybody else she too would want to watch those costumed heroes defeat her. What did hurt however, was Diana.

She’d always wanted the best for her, and she knew she would become a great hero someday, she just didn’t expect it to be under Lex Luthor’s authority. She was there, she had seen everything Zatanna had seen, and she’d chosen to turn a blind eye and become a superhero. The kind that only did the fun and heroic stuff, but was nowhere to be seen when the hard stuff rolled around. Sometimes she’d see her flying around, and think to herself how free she has been to use the gift she gave her. She herself hadn’t flown in forever. Then again, she hadn’t gone out in forever.

Currently, she was using a travelling circus to hide herself, disguising herself in various apparel one would find demeaning. A clown, a ringmaster, a trapeze artist, all those kinds of things. Now she was hunched up in the tightrope-walkers tent, and she sighed.

She desired nothing more than to see her friends, and to at least apologise, maybe even warn them. She couldn’t, not when they’d hand her straight to Lex Luthor but… She had old friends who didn’t work for him.

With a hop, she hoisted herself back to her feet and spun around, shouting “Egnahc otni krow sehtolc!”

In a flash, she was no longer dressed like a flamingo and was now in what many would consider her “villain costume.” It consisted of clothes she used to normally wear when she was a young student. Her top-hat was nestled neatly on her black locks, which she curled to mimic Wonder Woman’s own hair. Shining brightly was a star earring she’d kept from many years ago, and her outfit was simply her white button-up, black blazer with a long tailcoat and some black sparkly shorts that might as well have been underwear. Decorating the rest of her was her thin fishnets, and her long black boots, and she finished simply with white, formal gloves, white bow-tie and a grey corset.

She twirled around, admiring her handiwork before she adjusted the brim of her hat and cried out “Ekat em ot nhoj enitnatsnoc!”

She stepped through a portal that had appeared before her, and held her breath…

And there she was, her first time visiting Gotham City, and it was in a crummy bar called “O’Malley’s.” Of course, that’s exactly the kind of place she had expected him to be in, and she took a careful step towards the bar with a smile forming on her lips. Even from afar she could tell it was exactly who she was looking for, especially since he was still wearing the same brown trench coat he always wore. She couldn’t help but smile, it had been so long, and now he was right there.

She also faintly remembered the man sitting beside him, yelling some absurd story about an alien he caught trying to give him a speeding ticket in space. She believed his name was Lobo, although she was never that close to him, and was surprised he was even here with John Constantine in the first place.

He must’ve sensed her, because he removed the cigarette from his dry lips and spat, “Buzz off, will ya?!”

Her smile faded, but she couldn’t just leave things like this. That would only make it worse. She gulped and quietly said, “Etanimile s'nhoj revognah…”

He looked around hazily, like he didn’t even recognise where he was until that very second. She sighed and waited until he turned around to face her. His face seemed to light up, although it quickly faded and made way for despair.

“What are you doing here?!” Lobo grumbled from beside Constantine, his voice somewhat muffled from the cigar flopping around in his mouth.

“Look, I know it’s been a while and you probably don’t want to see me, but I just had to check on you. It was killing me not knowing whether you were safe or not.” Zatanna explained, although her eyes only looked into John’s. A million different emotions seemed to span across his face. Sadness, anger, regret, longing, anger again. It made her face drop and she struggled to gulp down the painful feeling in her chest.

“Am I… Am I alright?” He repeated, as if it was a crazy thing to ask. “Damn. I just don’t know, luv…”

He gripped his blonde hair tightly as he slumped over the bar. As he began to sink lower into his stool, Zatanna took the time to look around, slightly curious as to why nobody paid her any mind. It was a nice feeling, she could be out and about without millions of robots coming after her. For as dark and dangerous as Gotham City was, at least it wasn’t becoming a police-state like Metropolis. That wasn’t why nobody was arresting her though, for as she looked around at the other drinkers, she found many of them were in costumes themselves. Not hero costumes though, for they were all villains. She found it odd how they were all just sitting around quietly, drinking like regular people. And Gotham just allowed that? Allowed them to have a break away from it all and just drink? A sense of normalcy perhaps.

She spotted a blonde girl with short hair and glasses, and in her hand was a crumbled up cowl. She was wearing a red-and-black skintight jester costume, and Zatanna wondered if the masks served a point. Was it to hide their identities? She couldn’t tell, for that lady might’ve only had her Jester Hat off because she was in a bar surrounded by other villains, and she didn’t care. Or maybe her identity was no secret, she just took it off to drink comfortably. Zatanna wouldn’t know, but as she observed the other criminals she began to realise that the only superhero observing Gotham was the Batman. Did he allow them to drink at bars in peace? Did he even know they were here? There were quite a few of them, does he really handle all of them by himself?

“Am I alright?! I’ve never been alright, but it’s only gotten worse since you left. Since you’ve been gone, the entire world has gone mad and Bruce, Clark and Diana all ran off to become Lex Luthor’s personal soldiers and I had no idea where you were! You could’ve talked to me, assured me you were alright but I couldn’t find you. I looked and I couldn’t find you, and with the entire country against you I thought you might’ve been killed I-” He slumped down again, hitting his fist on the counter.

“I thought you might’ve been killed.” He repeated.

Zatanna’s brow furrowed and she wiped away a tear.

“I thought you were going to become a paranormal detective. You didn’t need me around to do that…” Zatanna said quietly, looking at the dozens of empty glasses beside John’s hand.

“No, but I would’ve liked it.”

…

“And what happened to you?” Zatanna asked, pointing her attention towards Lobo.

She was never good friends with him, but that didn’t mean she didn’t care for him. It was nice to ask anyway.

“Me? I was expelled for suspicious activity. Whatever that means.” Lobo grunted, before blowing his cigar smoke into Zatanna’s face.

“Did they say why? They can’t have had no reason.” Zatanna suggested, and Lobo grumbled.

“The official reasoning was they suspected I was going to be a danger, being the last of my race and all. One of ‘em wrote up a fake manifesto and everything, I’m surprised they didn’t arrest me.” Lobo snarled, and Zatanna’s heart sank. So many lives ruined, because Lex Luthor was a snivelling coward. She pulled her top-hat further down her head.

“Well, what are you waiting for, get outta here already.” Lobo said.

Zatanna turned to say one last goodbye to John, but saw him avert his eyes. He couldn’t look her in the eyes, and his furrowed brow told her everything.

“I know you blame me for everything, and I understand. I’d just like to say, I am sorry.” She turned around and opened another portal, preparing to hide out somewhere far from here.

“Zee…”

She turned, slightly startled as John was gripping her blazer tightly. His head was hanging low, but she could swear his hands were shaking.

“Promise me you’ll be alright.” He said, finally lifting his head to meet her gaze. His face was contorted into a display of desperation. He was completely sober, but she couldn’t help but compare his expression to that of a sad drunk. She stepped away from the portal, and gave him a soft parting kiss. It felt final, like they’d never see each other again, and she figured it might be that way, but still she’d want their last memory to be a happy one. She smiled down at him, before whispering “Peek kcart fo s'enitnatsnoc noitacol…”

She turned for a moment, watching the TV as it showed Daily Planet reporter Lois Lane talking about the Justice League’s recent defeat of Black Adam. Her eyes were only focused on Diana though, and after a slight hesitation, she stepped through the portal, and once again she was gone.

And once again, John Constantine was all alone.

 

“Zatanna Zatara, what do we know?” Lex Luthor asked sternly.

He was standing in front of the entire Justice League, looking down on them like they were his students. Diana looked around and noticed something immediately. The entire League was here, except for Supergirl. She grimaced but ignored it.

“She’s a homo-magi.” Arthur said.

“Ah, not just any old homo-magi. She’s a powerful homo-magi. More powerful than Circe in fact.” Lex corrected him. Arthur rolled his eyes.

“She’s only able to conjure up spells by speaking backwards.” Manhunter chimed in, and Lex’s face lit up.

“Go on.”

“Well, the logical way to defeat her would  be to somehow stop her from using her mouth.” Dinah added and Lex began to grin, although he then cleared his throat and continued.

“Yes, very good. But there’s one small issue… She hasn’t been seen in years, how do we find her?” Lex asked.

“We can’t. We’ve looked everywhere.” Superman said. “The last time I fought her, it hardly counted as a fight. The second I had spotted her, she fled. She never sticks around!”

“A villain that does not cause damage or destruction, and flees instead of fights. She doesn’t sound like any villain I’ve heard of…” John Stewart stated, but Lex shot him a glare.

“And that is how she tricks you… Now, you are exactly right, Superman. But what we can do is lure her to us.”

“No we can’t, she’d never fall for it. She hasn’t been seen in ages, what makes you think she’d show up now?”

Diana began to look down at her arms, staring at her bracelets. They once shone gold, the colour one deserving of her royal-status would adorn themselves in. She couldn’t accept that though, and she’d replaced them with her old silver ones once she’d joined the Justice League. The golden bracelet was for champions, and heroes. She was no hero, just a princess playing pretend. Now she wore the shackles of the oppressed, not the golden bracelets of the champion. Her tiara would never come off, and she would never free the Amazon’s or unite Man’s World. She was useless.

“What if we…  Lure her in with somebody she loves?” Diana started slowly.

“Go on…” Lex said curiously. He watched her with a raised brow, and a stern lip. Any wrong move and she could be sent packing.

“We could threaten somebody she loves, somebody she wouldn’t desert. That way she would hang around long enough for one of us to get her.”

…

“That might just work.” Lex turned around to ponder on it for a while, as Diana sheepishly looked around the room.

“Threaten somebody? What are we, terrorists? What kind of heroes threaten an innocent person?” Arthur said, his voice raising with anger.

“Oh great Hera. We wouldn’t be hurting them, it would just be a small trick. Something that looks real to her, but is no real danger.” Diana explained, covering her mouth. “I’d never wish harm on anyone.”

“Except Zatanna.”

She turned to her right where Batman had been sitting silently. He was looking at her? He must’ve been, although she couldn’t tell with his white eyes. She gulped. It was true, she had just assisted with the capture of Zatanna, but it was getting to a point where if Zatanna was not found now, she never would be. Diana would feel better knowing Zatanna was safe in prison, instead of being hunted down around the world.

“Of course. But who should we threaten, I mean I don’t know much about Zatanna’s personal life, and I doubt she even has any friends. Her family is all dead, so who do we threaten?” Lex pondered.

Diana turned around and saw that she, Clark and Dinah were all looking at each other, a guilty look in their eyes.

They knew exactly who to threaten.

Chapter 10: No More Heroes

Summary:

“But I wish I was dead (dead like you)
Every time I close my eyes
It’s like a dark paradise
No one compares to you
I’m scared that you won’t be waiting on The Other Side.” - Dark Paradise | Lana Del Rey

Notes:

NSFW Warning. Nothing too extreme, but I felt like I should mention it.

For hours on end, Zatanna wondered if she’d made a mistake visiting John Constantine.

Perhaps it would’ve been best if she’d never spoken to him at all. Leave him in the dark, wondering where she was and if she was alright. At least then the mystery of it all meant he could imagine she was fine, no matter the reality of the situation. It was clear he never wanted to see her again, and if that was what he wanted, she’d gladly grant him that wish.

If there was one thing that visit did though, it was reignite her desire to take down Lex Luthor. Those LexBots had been patrolling Metropolis as spies for Lex, and although it was only the one city, she knew better than anyone that he’d slowly expand to other cities. She wouldn’t be surprised if every city in America had LexBots by the end of the year, but she could not let that happen.

What kind of hero would sit around while Lex slowly took over?

She already knew where they came from, LexCorp’s labs were highly marketed as if this was a good thing. She only faintly remembered most of the building, although most of her memory was just the secret lab in Lex’s office with that mech-suit and the Kryptonite. She knew the LexBots weren’t being made there, but they had to be… somewhere.

So that was what she was doing. Sneaking into LexCorp to dismantle the LexBots from the inside. It would be more effective than trying to take on hundreds at once, especially in the public's eye where Lex, Circe or even Superman would twist her actions into that of a villain. This was a little more subtle.

So first she had disguised herself as a window cleaner, with her baggy clothes and her hair now a ginger bun. When the coast was clear, she whispered a few words and was now a pudgy low-level security guard with a short, blond bob. When that coast was clear, she was now one of the elite security guards. The ones who’d be allowed in Lex’s secret labs to protect both him and his work.

It was surprisingly easy for her to roam around. Her hair and attire might’ve changed, but her face was still the same. She guessed that the lack of a top-hat and bow-tie made her unrecognisable, and she wasn’t surprised about that. Most of the propaganda surrounding her either warped her face into unrecognisable anger, or had her top-hat brim cover her eyes. Without her iconic villain attire, she was just another woman. But still, she was allowed to roam around without any scans or having to show her ID or nothing. She had expected better security, and was completely dumbstruck when she entered the lab and found nobody there except for the machine creating the LexBots.

“That seemed too easy.”

Zatanna rushed to the machine, pressing the emergency shutdown and watched as the machine powered itself down.

Too easy…

Of course it wasn’t over yet, she still had to make sure these robots never made it out of the building. She stepped back before taking a deep breath. She couldn’t just destroy them, that would alert the entire building to her location and then she’d really be screwed. Instead she thought of countless ways to get rid of them.

Of course, I could turn them into gold. They’d be effectively useless, and it would be silent. I also wouldn’t even need to move them myself, I can leave them to figure that one out…

Then she thought, perhaps she should turn the machine itself into gold. It wouldn’t be able to do anything anymore, making the lab effectively useless.

“Ah. I figured I’d run into you again, sooner or later.”

Zatanna spun around, holding her hands out in front of her. There, standing before her was Lex Luthor in his superhero costume. It was the same thing he had worn way back when. It was funny how a little more context now made him look pathetic. Before she had marvelled at his greatness, amazed that somebody who looked so human could do so many amazing things. Now all she saw was a human pretending to be a god, his silly purple-and-green costume only proved her point. Still, she couldn't help but feel a sense of deja vu.

Knowing she’d been caught, she whispered “Egnahc otni krow sehtolc.”

With a small gust of air, her security guard disguise faded away, morphing into the costume she was well-known for. Her top-hat sprouted from her fake-badge, and she carefully placed it atop her head. She stood up straight, facing Lex dead-on with a look that wielded no fear. If she was to be defeated today, she would not go down as a coward.

“You misunderstand me, dear. I am not a villain, and I know you aren’t either.” He said, holding his hands out in a friendly manner.

“And to prove I mean my words, and intend to change…” He pulled out a remote control and pressed one of the various buttons, from behind her she heard all the LexBots say in perfect unison: “SELF-DESTRUCT INITIATED.”

All at the same time, they counted down from three, before their heads blew up, leaving them standing with exposed wires fritzing where their heads used to be.

Now Zatanna was left completely confused.

“But why?” She asked.

He began to hover slightly as he smiled down at her. “Why? You see, my offer from all those years ago still stands. You can join me, and we can be the greatest heroes the world has ever seen. If you don’t want me to patrol Metropolis from robots, I can understand that and I will make the effort to change for you.”

Zatanna grimaced. It was true he had destroyed his robots, but she couldn’t just ignore everything he had said. Still… three years was a long time, and there was something nagging in the back of her mind that she could not ignore.

If there is one thing I’ve learned in my years of heroism, it’s that everybody deserves a second chance… everybody.

She looked up at Lex.

“How much of that serum did you make?” Zatanna asked, recalling Lex’s explanation for his powers.

“You’d be surprised how much DNA we can extract from a Kryptonian when we have one working for us. But never mind that, don’t you see? I want you on our side. You’re the most powerful being on Earth, and I can’t let you waste your potential.”

Zatanna furrowed her brow. “You say you’ve changed. So no more LexBots, no more mech-suit and no more… Kryptonite?”

“Consider it taken care of. I still have some tucked away in a secure place, but I promise not to touch it. I see now that your friend, Superman, is not a danger to us.” He stepped towards her and began to lead her out the door. Reluctantly, she followed.

The two stepped into his elevator, and arrived back in his office, where Zatanna was amazed to see that the lab was indeed gone. Now it just looked like a regular office.

“If it’s Circe you want gone, I can fire her…” Lex suggested.

“What’s the catch?”

“There’s only one.”

“Tell me.”

Lex sat down in his office chair, and smiled.

“You can’t tell anybody I don’t have powers.” Zatanna grimaced. “I understand that you don’t want me to lie to the public anymore, but I just can’t. I have to set an example, be a hero and leader, and what kind of person would I be if I told my people everything heroic about me came out of a bottle? We can be a great team, you and I, but we would be better if I was still seen as a metahuman.”

“Well… It’s not like it’s a full lie. I have seen it, you can fly, shoot lasers out of your eyes and you are indestructible. I guess it’s not that bad if people believe you can do that yourself…” Zatanna started.

She began to roam around the room, looking at all of the blueprints of amazing technology that truly could change the world. A forcefield for the Earth, an alien translator, a base for the Justice League in space. So many things, and she could finally be a part of it. It was all she had ever wanted.

“So what do you say?” Lex asked, holding his hand out.

She stepped towards him, outstretching her arm before she saw something. There, peeking out of his desk was a file that said Classified on it.

“Gnirb ti ot em!” She cried, and the file flew into her hands.

“No, wait!” Lex exclaimed.

“I thought you’d changed. You should know you can’t keep secrets from me.” Zatanna smirked, before she opened the file and almost gasped.

Right in her hands was a printed autopsy report for Ted Kord. That wasn’t what disturbed her though, it was the file beside the autopsy. An email Circe had sent to Maxwell Lord, instructing him to replace Ted Kord as the professor. But that email was the day before his death.

“Ted Kord’s autopsy? Why do you have this, and why is it secret? How did Circe know Ted Kord was going to die?” Zatanna asked.

“Mr Kord had a lot of enemies, we knew he was leaving. What does it matter?”

“It matters, because Ted Kord was shot in the head from the side, where there was nobody there. The only way a bullet would have hit him from there would be with…”

Lex’s face dropped and he gave her a stern look. She lifted her arms up in defence.

“Magic.”

…

“I gave you another chance, and this is how you repay me?!” Lex yelled out, before pressing another button on his remote. Instantly, the entire building went into lockdown mode, and it would only be seconds before one of Lex’s many superheroes appeared to take him down.

“Well… Looks like this is it for you isn’t it. It’s too bad, I wasn’t lying when I said we would’ve done good work together.” Lex said, leaning against his chair.

“Damn you!” Zatanna yelled, but before she could turn Lex into a dove or better yet, a worm, she was shoved from behind.

As she stood back up, she looked at her attacker, completely stunned to see Diana of Themyscira standing tall. It was clear Diana was surprised to see her too, and although her hand was hovering over her lasso, she did not grab it.

“What are you waiting for?! She’s right there, do something!” Lex shouted, and Diana finally grabbed her lasso, spinning it before throwing it at Zatanna.

“Dleihs em!” Zatanna screamed, and watched in relief as the lasso bounced off of an invisible barrier. Diana wound her lasso back up, and furrowed her brow. Yet, she was still standing there frozen. She couldn’t move.

“Kill her!” Lex yelled once more, although it wasn’t towards Diana this time, now it was towards Manhunter, who was winding his arm back, preparing to strike the killing blow towards Zatanna. Zatanna slowly closed her eyes, accepting her fate…

Then she felt the entire world zip past her, and she opened her eyes to see a dark shadowy figure, holding onto her waist and dragging her through Metropolis’ night sky. Although she could hardly see him, she knew who it was.

“Batman?!”

He looked down at her, his white eyes peering into her soul. She vaguely recognised him, but said nothing until they were both in his car. Though car wasn’t exactly the word Zatanna would’ve used to describe it. More like a tank.

The two sat next to each other, as he zipped through Metropolis until they were back in Gotham, and he seemed to slow down.

“...It’s you isn’t it Bruce?” She asked slowly.

She saw his cowl shift slightly, like his brows had moved them. Still, he said nothing.

“You don’t have to say anything. I understand why you, Diana and Clark joined Lex Luthor’s League. I can’t blame you, that's a golden opportunity.” Zatanna rambled. “How is Diana…? Is she alright…?”

Batman took a deep breath before saying, “She’s been better.”

Zatanna sank into her seat. 

“Are you taking me to prison?”

“For what crime?”

“Going against Lex Luthor.”

“That’s not a crime.”

He turned at the side of a cliff and Zatanna looked at him like he was crazy. She contemplated opening her mouth to call him such, but was silenced by the cliffside parting. Now there was a giant hole in the side, with a road continuing further into the cave and Zatanna watched in amazement as he sped right inside.

After a while, he parked the car and she looked around to see she was in some sort of cave. Throughout the area were stable platforms that held up both Batman’s car and his technology and gadgets. With a flick of her wrist, she teleported herself towards one of the further platforms where mannequins were kept behind glass, each one holding a different suit. Some looked silly to her. There were a few blue and grey ones with bright yellow insignia, and some costumes that incorporated purple into the design. There were a few that looked not too dissimilar to what Batman was wearing now, but some had bigger ears or sharper logos. Still, even the silly looking costumes were amazing to her.

And then there was a case displaying gadgets. She’d seen a few of them in action, but not up close. Usually displayed on a grainy TV monitor. The detail was magnificent, and nobody would ever notice except Batman himself. The batarangs had small bats engraved on their surface, and the batclaw had his logo etched onto the handle. She had to wonder whether he had done this himself, or if he’d gotten somebody else to do it.

Most interesting of all, was a giant computer, with various monitors and screens displaying many vital information. Maps of Gotham, Metropolis, Gateway and Keystone were visible, along with security cameras of random streets. There were files on display of random villains and criminals, and unread emails from LexCorp staff and Lex Luthor himself.

“I built this place so I could overlook crime in Gotham, without Lex Luthor or the League ever looking in.” Batman said. Zatanna turned her head and saw that he had removed his cowl and was clearly Bruce Wayne. She was glad he felt comfortable enough to just do that.

“So you don’t trust Lex Luthor either?”

“Of course I don’t. I never did, not when you went to meet him and then the next day you were announced as a villain. Too suspicious I thought, and I was right.” Bruce sighed.

“But what if you weren’t? For all you knew, I was a horrible person, and I’d threatened to assassinate him or something.” Zatanna kid.

“I know you, you wouldn’t do that, not without reason at least…” He put his cowl down and sat in his chair, gazing at all of his monitors. “I hope you understand, when I joined the League, I only did it to help people. I couldn’t have gotten all this without Lex, even if he doesn’t know.”

“I do. I truly do. I know all you’ve wanted to ever do is help, and it’s all I’ve ever wanted too.” Zatanna sighed.

“So explain everything to me. What did he do, what is his mission?” 

Zatanna leant against the cave walls, hesitating. She could sense Bruce Wayne hadn’t changed, not really, but she wasn’t sure if she should just tell him. Could she trust anybody anymore? She didn’t know the answer.

“Lex Luthor… He wanted me to join him, to replace Circe I think. I was fine with that, but Diana noticed a hidden room and when we uncovered it we found a secret lab.” Zatanna started, and she noticed that Bruce was recording her with the computer. She sighed, and continued. “In that lab he was constructing a mech-suit for himself, which we both found odd because we were all told Lex Luthor was this powerful being, who could fly and stop alien invasions all by himself.

Luthor told us that it was just a precaution, as he was getting old, but I sensed something was off and I was right. Inside the core of his suit was Kryptonite. Do you know what that is?”

Bruce pressed his gloved hands to his lips in thought. “I know of it. It’s a rare stone sometimes used for expensive jewellery or decor. It’s value stems from the fact that it is extremely rare.”

“Yes, well it’s also a Kryptonian’s main weakness. So Clark and Kara, but… That’s all it is, other than a pretty rock. It doesn’t hold power, so there was no reason for him to have it in his suit…”

“Unless he was planning to use it against a Kryptonian.”

“Exactly. So I pressed him about this, and he revealed that the Thanagarian Invasion from all those years back was not an invasion at all. It was only two aliens who had come down to make contact with us. He admitted that he was planning to do the same thing to Clark and Kara and finally admitted that he had no power.”

“But how can that be? I’ve seen it with my own eyes, he can fly, he can shoot lasers from his eyes, and he can move mountains.” Bruce differed, and Zatanna stepped towards him.

“Yes. Yes, it’s true he can do all those things, but he stole those abilities from Clark and Kara! Don’t you see? All those amazing things Lex can do, they’re the same things Superman and Supergirl do. Do you know why Lex had become such a recluse, and only focuses on his political side instead of being a superhero? It’s because he takes a serum that infuses him with the powers of a Kryptonian, but it only lasts 24 hours and he doesn’t want to waste it.” Zatanna elucidated.

“So he wants to eradicate the last remaining Kryptonians, yet he also wants to keep using their powers? Even if he has backup serums, he would run out eventually. He needs them alive.”

“Not with that mech-suit. I think he’s planning to turn the world against Superman and Supergirl, and then he’ll cement himself as an even greater hero simply by killing them. Then he would only have to use the suit and he’d never need to use the serum ever again.” Zatanna clarified.

“Damn… Wait, you said Diana was with you, she was the one who saw this lab?”

Zatanna’s heart sank and her brows lowered.

“...Yes. She was with me, she knows everything I do.”

Bruce rose from his seat.

“How could she do this? She knew about all of this and didn’t even try to warn Clark or Kara? Those are her friends, why would she-?”

“Because she’s been trapped! It’s obvious that after everything she knows, everything she found out, there was no way Lex or Circe were just going to let her roam free. They have her under their control, she can’t do anything without them interfering, and as much as I condemn her for staying silent, I know there is not much she can do!” Zatanna defended her old friend with such passion, it reminded Bruce of all those years ago.

They were such good friends, so close and although they’d only been together for two months it felt like a lifetime for each of them. It felt right, they felt complete together, and it was ripped away from all eight of them simply because Lex Luthor let slip to two young girls that he was a conman. Such simpler times.

“...How is John?” Bruce asked softly. Zatanna shut her eyes.

“He’s fine. He doesn’t want to see me, but I checked on him and he’s fine.” She choked out. “Lobo was with him, he’s doing alright.”

They stood around in awkward silence, only the screeches from the bats above them made any sound.

“How is Clark… and Kara?” Zatanna asked.

“Clark is fine. He’s completely oblivious to everything surrounding Lex, but other than that he’s fine…”

“And Kara?”

“We don’t know… We haven’t seen her in weeks.”

“What?”

“She disappeared on us. Last time we saw her was when we were taking down Teth-Adam.”

“I thought his name was Black Adam?”

“He told me it was Teth-Adam.”

“And you spoke to him?”

“Yes. I speak to all of our imprisoned foes. Usually to discover their motivations and such.”

Bruce pressed a button on his keyboard and the biggest monitor displayed a folder of files. Each one was on a different supervillain, with their picture, true identity, age and stories written out for them to read. Some character bios were completely barren whilst some were multiple pages long. Zatanna recognised a few. In the corner was a file on a villain named “Harley Quinn”, who she recognised as the jester from the bar. She also saw a file on a “Hawkgirl” and “Hawkman” although theirs was only one sentence long, and the only picture on file was of their defeated corpses, after Lex was finished with them.

“Invaders of Earth from the planet Thanagar.”

She grimaced before looking at the center of the monitor, where there was a file titled “Black Adam.”

True Identity: Teth-Adam

Age: 3,000+

Motivation: Liberating the people of Kandaq from the invading US Military.

Zatanna frowned.

“And he was labelled as a villain?” She asked accusingly.

“An enemy of the US is an enemy of Lex Luthor. An enemy of Lex Luthor is an enemy of the Justice League.” Bruce said.

“Well, never mind that. You haven’t seen Kara at all since then?” Zatanna reflected and Bruce shook his head.

“I wish I knew where she was, but I have no clue. Clark has been worried sick about her, and I don’t blame him. She’s the only family he has left, and with her gone, his connection to his home planet is gone with her.”

Zatanna’s brow furrowed in worry.

“You should get some sleep, you’ll be safe here. There’s nobody here except for me and my butler Alfred, you’ll be fine. You need some rest after all those years of hiding.” Bruce stood up and led her up the stairs.

“What? Where are we right now?”

“In my Batcave. It’s right beneath Wayne Manor.”

“WE’RE BENEATH WAYNE MANOR?!”

He gave her a small smile.

“Just try to get some rest.”

 

Zatanna awoke with a jolt, and peered around the room. The place she was in was so familiar yet so foreign. She’d never been here before, wherever she was, but it reminded her of somebody so dear to her, that she might as well have lived here. She knew not where she was, but was comforted nonetheless.

She sat up in the bed, dragging the blanket up with her to cover her bare chest as he analysed the situation further. It was then that she finally noticed the man in the bed next to her, his arm resting on her thighs as he slept. She recognised him, but he looked different. John Constantine was usually a skinny and borderline frail man, with messy stubble and dark eyebags. Whoever this man was that looked just like John Constantine, he could not have been, for his face was clean-shaven and his eyebags were normal. He was not frail, he instead seemed healthy. Zatanna ran her hand through his blonde locks, and smiled. He smiled too.

“My love, you are finally awake.”

Zatanna turned her attention to the source of the voice, the beautiful woman stepped into the room, a big smile on her face as she entered. Her hair was long, raven curls that bounced with every graceful move, and she wore a long, flowy chiton. Adorned upon her brow was a golden tiara with a star engraving, and her wrists were bound by silver bracelets.

She stepped closer to the king-sized bed, before leaning down and carefully putting her arms around her. Oh my god, I’m in a harem, Zatanna thought. She hadn’t even noticed as her blanket had fallen to her waist.

“You’ve returned from Metropolis, finally.” Zatanna said, her arms tightening around Diana. She nestled her head into Diana’s firm shoulders, never wanting to let go.

“Clingy today, aren’t you? You missed me, my love, I’m glad you did. I wasn’t gone too long was I?” Diana asked, trailing her fingers down Zatanna’s back. She couldn’t help but blush.

“Not too long, but it feels like a lifetime ago. Look at me, I’m putty in your arms.” Zatanna whined, and Diana pulled away from her.

“And only I can do that?” Her eyes gazed over at Constantine, who was still fast asleep.

“I submit myself only to you. He submits himself to me, and I am happy that way.” Zatanna said, taking Diana’s soft hands in hers and leading them back to her flesh. Diana’s finger began to trail down Zatanna’s ribcage, and she felt herself shudder beneath her touch.

“I’m glad. Promise to submit yourself only to me.”

“If you promise to dominate only me.”

Diana smiled, and leant over, taking Zatanna’s collarbone in her mouth, placing deliberate and careful kisses all along her neck. “I promise.”

As Zatanna’s arms gripped Diana’s back, holding her tightly and leaning into each kiss, she felt the sheets move behind her. Constantine rose up and began to run his fingers through Zatanna’s hair, trailing her arm until he gripped her fingers in his, lifting them up to kiss her face. Now Diana was taking her breasts in her hands, and her kisses turned more aggressive, Zatanna couldn’t help but let out a small moan.

Of course, this only made Diana give a small giggle, and she began to shove herself into Zatanna’s smaller body, using the extra weight to turn her kisses into bites. A visual way to tell the world that Zatanna Zatara was hers.

John’s kisses became slobbery, and soon he added tongue, muffling Zatanna’s weak cries as she found herself struggling to lean into both of her lovers. She sighed, gripping her nails deep into John’s hair, using him to keep herself upright as she gave in to Diana’s accelerating grinding. She joined in, her hips moving to both her front and her back. To both Diana and John.

Now John was moving his hands up Zatanna’s sides, gently grabbing her smaller frame as she swayed in his grasp, begging for more.

“Oh my love, you’re doing so well…” Diana praised, and she pushed Zatanna towards the bedhead, where she landed on their multitude of shared pillows, her body now fully exposed. “Please, let me take care of you.”

And Zatanna simply nodded. Diana leant in closer, gripping both of Zatanna’s legs and spreading them apart. Zatanna could do nothing but oblige, letting her lover do whatever she wanted. Diana sat close to her, using her left hand to caress her lover's face, and leaving her right hand to trail down Zatanna’s stomach, and towards her privates. John leant over and began to kiss Zatanna’s lips, muffling her loud moans until they were mere whimpers.

Then Zatanna grabbed him by his hair once again, directing him towards her breasts, and he obeyed her, licking her hard nipples as she began to shake under Diana’s fingers.

“That’s it. You’re doing so well.” Diana sighed. Just something as simple as her words, her voice, Diana’s voice was enough to send her spiralling, as she squirmed from underneath her two lovers. Her breathing became rapid and Diana removed her left hand from Zatanna’s hair, and moved it to her free nub.

“You’re my good girl.” Diana murmured, and Zatanna began to melt under the two. Her eyes glazed over as she bit her lip. “You’re mine.”

And Zatanna felt her pulse quicken as Diana removed her fingers from her body and reached for her lasso. Her eyes watched in warm anticipation, as John continued to kiss her torso, leaving dark marks everywhere he turned.

Diana smiled down at her, taking both of her hands above her head, and quickly tying them to the bedframe with her golden rope. It glowed as it tightened around her skin, and Diana’s smile widened as she looked down at her lover, so disheveled and shaking.

She traced her hands up and down Zatanna’s lips and watched as her eyes fluttered in arousal. How beautiful she was when Diana tantalised her.

“Who do you belong to?” Diana asked, her voice intoxicating for Zatanna. She felt her mind unravel, as Diana dragged her finger up and down. John sucked her breast whilst he fondled the other one.

“Y-You! I… I belong to you...” Zatanna gasped out.

“Good girl.” Diana whispered into her ear.

John sat up suddenly, looking down at his squirming lover.

“I love you, Zatanna Zatara…”

 

Zatanna awoke with a jolt, and peered around the room. The place she was in was so unfamiliar, yet she vaguely recalled settling down here. Yes, that was right. She’d been rescued by Bruce Wayne the night before, and he had taken her to his Batcave, and then he told her to rest. And she had.

She was in one of the many guest bedrooms in Wayne Manor. She suspected they didn’t get used very often, only kept clean and ready by the family butler, Alfred. Bruce had been right, she needed that rest, for she hadn’t had a proper sleep in years. Still, she was surprised at how quickly her dream had turned into shameless smut. She’d never really seen Diana that way, yet now it was all she could think about. Something about those submission bracelets really did it for her.

Although there was no use trying to recreate that dream. Diana was working for her enemy, and Constantine hated her. She sighed wearily, before groaning: “Egnahc otni krow sehtolc…”

Now fully prepared for the day, she walked through the giant, lonely halls of Wayne Manor. Nobody should live in a place this large by themselves, she thought. Her mind went blank, something was wrong… She was missing something. A vital part of her had suddenly just… disappeared.

“Ekat em ot eht evactab!”

With a small spin, she stepped into the opened portal and found Batman, staring at his monitors, his shoulders shaking.

“Bruce? What’s going on?” She asked.

She stepped closer, and immediately her eyes widened. A bombing? Why did it feel so… wrong…? She began to shake slightly, and looked at the screen with worry. Various news stations were reporting on this terrorist attack, but Zatanna now became aware of something else.

“Oh my god… John!” She cried out, grabbing her head tightly.

“What? What is it?!” Bruce yelled, watching as Zatanna fell to her knees.

“I can’t feel him… Oh, god I can’t feel him anymore! I've been tracking his location, but I can’t feel him!”

She jumped back to her feet, tears streaming down her face as she screamed out “EKAT EM OT EHT ETIS FO EHT GNIBMOB!”

And there she was, right in the middle of it all. It was jarring, seeing just how real it was now that it wasn’t just something from a TV screen. No, this was real. People were dead, and she was there in the middle of it all.

From behind her, she could hear various people start to notice her. Various onlookers, the media and of course, the first responding superheroes all saw her, but none approached her. She heard them whisper, and talk about her like she was some sort of monster. She ignored them, and instead began to look at the rubble, scanning it for any signs of life.

“...Is that Zatanna…? Don’t let her see…! Did she know him…? Who is she looking for…? Sir, do we arrest her…?”

She ignored all of them and instead closed her eyes and whispered shakily, “Gnirb em ot nhoj enitnatsnoc…” 

When she opened her eyes, at first she didn’t understand what she was looking at. Then she blinked, and then her brain began to piece things together, until she finally realised that what she was looking at was the half-buried body of John Constantine. He was crushed under some large rubble, although the exposed half of him wasn’t a pretty sight. The dust and debris covered most of it, but Zatanna couldn’t ignore the gore and blood emanating from his corpse. She dropped to her knees, and shuffled closer to his lifeless body, leaning him up against her as she began to sob.

She didn’t look up, but as she held onto him she could tell the Justice League had appeared behind her. Waiting to detain her, no doubt. At least they were granting her one final moment to mourn, and that would have to be enough for now.

She gripped his hand tighter, hoping by some miracle he would open his eyes and tell her everything was alright, but everything was not alright, because he was dead in her arms. She so desperately wished things had been different, why was he dead but she was still alive? If only their last meeting had been better, then he wouldn’t have even been here, and he would’ve never been caught in the blast.

From behind, she heard one of the heroes slowly step towards her. She shuddered away from them, but couldn’t bear to leave John with them. Not with those traitors.

“Zatanna…” Diana said softly, reaching her hand to console her old friend. Zatanna smacked her hand away.

“No!” Zatanna cried out, and she looked up at Diana with a broken face. It was clear, this was the final straw.

“Zee…” Diana whispered, begging her to think about this, but Zatanna’s face contorted to pure rage.

“I’ve had enough of this.” She stepped up, carefully lowering Constantine’s body back onto the ground before she began to float above them, hovering before her old friends and her new enemies.

“ON EROM SEOREH!!!”

 

Chapter 11: The Other Side

Summary:

“I wanna heal, I wanna feel
Like I’m close to something real
I wanna find something I’ve wanted all along
Somewhere I belong.” - Somewhere I Belong | Linkin Park

“Zatanna, look behind you!” Hawkgirl cried out, her voice booming over the loud battle surrounding them.

Right on time, Zatanna spun around and dodged out of the way of an incoming missile.

“Again, Luthor? How many times have we played this silly game?” Superman asked, ripping the turret from his warsuit. Luthor grunted, but smirked nonetheless.

“Oh, many times. But if I gave up after my defeat, I would’ve never become Lex Luthor!” He cried out, slamming Superman with his armour. “What’s that Superman? You actually felt that? Yes, for I infused this suit with Kryptonite!”

Superman rolled his eyes.

“Nrut etinotpyrk otni dlog!” Zatanna yelled out from across the battlefield. Instantly, Lex fell to his knees. She flew over, a cheeky smile on her face. “Heavy, isn’t it?”

“Damn you…” He bellowed, struggling to keep the suit from crushing his body.

Wonder Woman flew over to the site, smiling as she saw Lex struggle on the floor.

“Circe is all taken care of. She’s back in custody, along with the rest of Lex’s henchmen.” Diana reported, and Superman smiled.

“Not that that’s taken care of, how does another life sentence at Stryker’s Island sound?” Superman boasted, and Lex rolled his eyes.

“You know no prison will hold me. I’ll be out before Christmas!”

And Superman gave him a small wink before the two flew off into the direction of Stryker’s, leaving the rest of the Justice League to clean up the mess.

“I’m glad you could make it, Diana.” Hawkgirl smiled, and Diana gave her one in return.

“Yes, barely. I just finished signing the last of the documents but now it is official. Themyscira has rejoined the rest of Man’s World and the Amazons are now free to make their own choices. All of my sisters are removing their shackles, symbolising their newfound freedom.” Diana looked down at her own bracelets, caressing them. “I will not remove mine. To remind both me and the rest of the world of the oppression we once faced.”

“I am so happy for you, and your people.” Zatanna cooed, taking Diana’s hands in hers. “I wish your sisters nothing but peace and love.”

The girls turned around, as Superman was returning to them, a triumphant smile on his face.

“I wish to stay longer, but my cousin is coming over for dinner tonight, and I don’t want to leave her waiting.” Superman announced.

“Tell Jor-El and Lara I said hi.” Diana waved.

“See you later, Kal.” Zatanna added, and with that he was off.

The heroes began to disperse, and Zatanna joined them. With a quick wave of her hand, she was back home and in her dressing gown. Lex Luthor was once again defeated, and Circe was also behind bars. Now it was just her and her husband.

“Home already, luv?” He appeared from behind a door, a cigarette hanging from his lips. “Sorry, I couldn’t join you. I just got nervous is all.”

Zatanna giggled, and cupped his face with her hands.

“It’s alright. I understand. It’s not everyday the Justice League asks you to join them, and I can understand you getting the jitters.” She placed a small smooch on his forehead before ruffling his hair.

“So Lex Luthor again… And Circe? I never saw Lex as the team-up sorta guy.” Constantine started.

“You think that’s weird? Once he teamed up with the Joker. Now that was a weird team-up. I almost couldn’t believe it when I saw them together.” She began to laugh as she recalled it.

“The enemy of my enemy is my friend, I suppose…”

Zatanna chuckled, and grabbed him by his tie.

“Stop talking like a philosopher, and come to bed with me.”

“Whatever you say, Zee.”

 

Gorilla Grodd wasn’t the kind of villain Zatanna would consider “world-threatening” but when the Justice League calls, she must answer.

It wasn’t that she felt the League was beneath her, she was honoured to be a part of the team, but sometimes their fights seemed too easy. Like everything always went perfectly no matter who did what. It wasn’t necessarily a bad thing, it would’ve been worse if everything always went wrong and the villains always won, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t get a little bored.

That was why she assigned herself as a support for the team. She could easily handle anything that was thrown at her, but where’s the fun in that? She’d let her friends handle the fighting, and enjoy the energy whilst she assisted them from high above, making sure nobody was hurt and such.

There were only a few times she’d intervene, but that was just to stop any fatal errors from being made. Her friends could be somewhat reckless.

“By Hera, what does he want now?!” Diana cried out from the middle of the fight. She was twirling around her lasso like a ribbon dancer, and her movement seemed to hypnotise Zatanna as she assessed the battlefield.

“What does he always want? To turn the world into Planet of the Apes!” Hawkman groaned, missing a swing at the giant gorilla.

“Well, I’m getting sick of it!” Diana yelled back.

“When is Superman getting back?” Zatanna shouted across the scene, and Black Canary shrugged.

“He might still be over at his parents. Krypton is a fair while away, he might be on his way back now.” Dinah explained. She turned over and screamed at Grodd, disorientating him for a moment, before he returned to his frenzy.

“It’s alright, we can do this ourselves!” Constantine yelled out.

“Of course, of course.” Zatanna mumbled to herself. It was times like this that she wished her dad was still around. He was always more powerful than her, he’d have dealt with this ages ago.

“Stop it!” Diana cried, and Zatanna turned around to now see that the enraged gorilla was beginning to destroy buildings and deploy bombs.

“Where did he even get this arsenal?!” Dinah yelled.

“I don’t know, but we have to stop him soon, or he’ll destroy all of Metropolis!” Zatanna exclaimed.

She flew down from the sky, no longer watching the entire battlefield as she rushed over to assist the heroes.

“How hard is it to incapacitate him?!” Zatanna asked.

“We’re trying!” Hawkman yelled, before getting distracted. Grodd grabbed him by his throat, and held him close for a moment before throwing him back out.

“Carter?!”

He stood back up, and turned to face Hawkgirl, who slowly backed up. With a mighty yell, he turned his mace onto her, trying repeatedly to slam her down.

“Zatanna! Take care of Hawkman, we’ll deal with Grodd!” Diana cried out, Zatanna nodded.

It was plain to see that without Superman, they weren’t as coordinated, and with Grodd turning their teammates against them, Zatanna was just glad they hadn’t reported any civilian casualties. She flew up behind Hawkman, lifting her arms and spinning them around until Hawkman was caught in a whirlwind, unable to break free from her grasp.

“Thank you…” Hawkgirl choked out and Zatanna nodded. She continued to spin Hawkman, before slamming him on the ground. She stepped towards him, careful to not stir him.

“Carter… Are you… you again?” She asked cautiously.

He gave a small cough, and stood up, dazed. “Yes. Please don’t ever do that again.”

She smiled and gave him a quick pat on the back before she returned to the air, watching as they attacked Grodd from every angle. 

“Enough of this!” Grodd grunted out, and he slammed his fists on the ground sending them all to their knees. “ENOUGH!”

Zatanna flew over, preparing to turn him into a chimp, or a butterfly. Before she could, Hawkgirl smacked him in the face with her mace, his mind-control device breaking into a million little pieces.

“You’re right. Enough.”

Diana came up behind the monkey, grabbing his wrists and tying them with her lasso.

“Why did you attack, and please tell me there was a better reason than wanting to turn us into monkeys…” Diana asked.

He grinned up at her.

“I wanted to turn you into gorillas.”

She rolled her eyes.

“To Stryker’s Island with you…”

“You haven’t seen the last of me! I will have my revenge!”

They began to chuckle.

“Sure buddy.”

He frowned harder, before a small smile crept up on his lips.

“TAKE THAT!” He grumbled, pressing a button on his suit.

Before they knew what was even happening, the ground began to shake and bombs began to erupt around them.

“TAKE COVER!” Diana yelled, and they all ducked, except for Zatanna who raised her arms to create a forcefield.

As she stood under the shield, she watched as the dust and debris slowly cleared and looked down at her feet. Crouching and curled up beneath her was Wonder Woman, Hawkman, Hawkgirl, Black Canary and even Gorilla Grodd, but it felt like somebody was missing.

“Oh no…” Diana said shakily, as she peered across the street.

The rest of the team began to gasp as well, distress etched onto their faces. Zatanna swallowed, and she turned her head to where they were looking. Her eyes widened and she ran over towards the rubble, desperately hoping it wasn’t what she thought it was.

She finally realised that what she was looking at was the half-buried body of John Constantine. He was crushed under some large rubble, although the exposed half of him wasn’t a pretty sight. The dust and debris covered most of it, but Zatanna couldn’t ignore the gore and blood emanating from his corpse. She dropped to her knees, and shuffled closer to his lifeless body, leaning him up against her as she began to sob.

“Zatanna, I’m so sorry…” Dinah said softly. But Zatanna’s sobs became more angry and vengeful.

“No you’re not. This is all your fault. You and the rest of the Leagues!” Zatanna yelled out. She dropped Constantine’s body back down as she got back up.

“I can’t stand you all, I can’t stand this. You all have done nothing but stand by and watch me suffer all these years and for what?! For a corrupt President who has been lying all these years!? You make me sick!” Zatanna cried out.

Diana looked up at her with confusion. What was she going on about, and why did this all feel so wrong?

“Please, Zatanna, listen to me. What are you talking about?” Hawkgirl asked.

“You wouldn’t know, because you’re dead! And it’s all his fault!” She began to laugh in between sobs, likely at the absurdity of it all.

Diana stepped back, back away from her friend. With a solemn glance, she looked at her reflection in her bracelets and she reached her hand up to her tiara. It didn’t budge. With a small gulp, she pulled the Lasso of Truth from her side, and wrapped it around her arm.

“Show me the truth.”

She gave a loud gasp, and began to breathe heavily, now remembering all that had happened.

“Diana, are you alright?” Hawkman asked, and she backed away from him.

This world, this warped reality. It wasn’t the truth, it was Zatanna’s perfect world. A world where all of her friends were happy, because all of her friends' greatest desires had come true. Diana had finally helped her sisters rejoin Man’s World, Bruce Wayne’s parents never died so he never became a hero, Krypton was never destroyed so Clark Kent was always Kal-El, and Kara never came to Earth at all. Martian Manhunter was back on Mars with his family, Aquaman was ruling the ocean with his family, John Stewart was exploring space… And Zatanna was a famous superhero, and in this world her lover was not dead.

Or at least, that’s how it was supposed to be.

She looked up at her friend, who was shaking as she sobbed and laughed. God, she was really losing it, wasn’t she?

“Zatanna! Please, stop this! I know you only want the best for everyone, but you’re just making things worse, don’t you see!? Free us from this lie!” Diana yelled out, grabbing her by her gloved hands, and tying the lasso around her wrist. “Turn everything back to normal, or I’ll show them.”

Zatanna looked at her friend, her eyes red from the tears, and her lip quivering. She could tell it was over, she just didn’t think it would be so soon.

“I never get what I want…”

 

Zatanna Zatara was gone once again, as if she had never existed, and Diana looked around. It was clear they were back in the real world, the true reality. The LexCorp building stood proudly overlooking the entire city, and the LexBots patrolled the streets. She turned around and saw that Hawkman and Hawkgirl were nowhere to be seen, only Dinah remained. She looked around, stunned.

“Was that real?” She asked.

Diana rose to her feet, and watched as Lex Luthor and Circe approached the two.

“You realise what she has just done?!” Lex yelled out. “She’s just proven herself the worst kind of villain! By giving everybody their greatest desires, and then ripping them away at the last second! That’s the kind of propaganda money can’t buy, now the streets will be begging us to kill her!”

“No, no I can’t kill her. I won’t.” Diana started, but Lex just laughed in her face.

“Not you, I know now I can’t rely on you for anything. But somebody is bound to do it eventually. The entire world is begging to kill her, I’m sure one of my superheroes is prepared to do what is right.”

Lex watched as the crowd gathered around them, and smiled as Circe handed him a microphone.

“People! What you have all just been witness to, was the latest evil scheme of Zatanna Zatara! Fear not, for we will kill her as soon as we find her! Justice will be served!”

Chapter 12: Ma Meillure Ennemie

Summary:

“I wish that I could turn back time
‘Cause now the guilt is all mine
Can’t live without the trust from those you love
I know we can’t forget the past
You can’t forget love and pride
Because of that it’s killing me inside.” - KOMM, SUSSER TOD | Arianne

“Little bitch. Grant everybody their true desires, except for me!”

Lobo punched his hand straight through the TV screen, as Lois Lane finished broadcasting Lex Luthor’s speech, regarding the recent “alternate reality” situation. He punched the TV once more for good measure.

What kind of old friend did that? Sure, they hadn’t been all too close, but she’d granted everybody else in the world their greatest desires, why was he the exact same? It wasn’t like he was happy the way he was, in fact he was a little depressed. His life was fun at times, but it wasn’t his ideal life. He felt incomplete, like there was just something missing from his life, he just wished he knew what it was.

And the fact is, he might’ve finally found it, but Zatanna had decided to screw him over by denying him his truest desire, and he just couldn’t have that.

He hopped on his motorcycle, speeding through the empty streets until he arrived outside of LexCorp, where Lex Luthor was giving a speech, and behind him stood the Justice League, save for Batman. They all were clearly in despair, but Lex pushed through, every word he spat further demonised Zatanna Zatara.

He pushed through the security, jumping onto stage and snagging the mic straight from Lex’s hands. The guards approached him for a moment, before Lex raised his hand telling them to stand down.

“We must kill her! I will kill her with my bare hands for what she has done! Who’s with me?!” Lobo screamed into the microphone, and the crowd began to cheer, throwing their fists into the air. 

“We must kill, Zee-!” His voice trailed off. “The Witch! Not just for ripping our desires and wishes from us, but for never having granted mine at all!”

The crowd began to gasp, and whisper, before a voice boomed from high above.

“WAIT!”

They all looked up, where they found none other than Supergirl, floating above them all, her eyes red not just from her tears, but from the lasers she was firing up. She was completely enraged.

“I had to watch my family be torn apart three times in my lifetime, and today was the final straw! One moment I was with my long lost family, and the next they were completely gone, and I was completely alone! These recent memories weren’t real! And it was that WITCH who made me relive all that trauma!” She cried out, dropping down beside Lobo.

Superman stood towards her, reaching to console her, but she snapped around and sneered at him. He stepped back.

“Well?! Where is she?!” Lobo yelled out.

“Right over here!”

They all turned around, watching as Zatanna poked her head out of an abandoned clock tower. It blended in with the rest of Metropolis despite its ancient exterior, surrounded by Metropolis’ retro-futuristic vibe.

“Not so fast! You can’t harm me, or this boy dies!” Zatanna screamed out, showing the horrified crowd a young boy, likely only about ten or twelve. He was clearly distressed, and his brow furrowed, but he did not scream or cry for help.

“Taking a boy hostage, that’s low even for you.” Lex grumbled.

“But what does it matter? Kill her, what are we waiting for?” Circe cried out, almost in disbelief.

“We can’t simply just kill her!” Lex yelled in her face. “Don’t you see? That boy isn’t a hostage so that we won’t kill him, that boy is a hostage to show the crowd we would kill him.”

Circe crossed her arms.

“You two!” Lex turned towards Lobo and Supergirl, who both looked alike with their red glowing eyes. It was strange to see Supergirl’s eyes so red, with no lasers emanating from them.

“Find a way to get in there, and kill her! If the kid dies, find a way to blame it on Zatanna.”

The two nodded, and headed towards the tower.

 

“You’re not going to hurt me, are you?” The boy asked. It didn’t really sound like a question, more a statement. Zatanna looked down at him with a scowl.

“No. No I’m not.”

He sat down on the other end of the room.

“I think I recognise you.”

He looked up at her curiously, and she sighed. She removed her top-hat and rested it on her lap.

“Sort of. I mean, I was once hiding out in Haly’s Circus, disguising myself in the various extravagant costumes, just so nobody would recognise me. It was nice for a while, but I had to leave. I would’ve gone mad switching myself between the different circus roles, just to avoid being myself.” Zatanna explained. The kid looked up at her curiously. “You were part of the acrobatic family, weren’t you?”

He nodded, but said nothing. She nodded back.

“I’m sorry.”

He nodded again, and tucked his legs into himself.

She began to look outside her window. She hadn’t just left herself open, that would be stupid, so instead she’d placed a barrier around the tower. It wouldn’t hold for long, not against a Czarian and a Kryptonian, but it would slow them down.

“I can’t believe them! I granted them all their greatest desires, and that wasn’t enough for them?! And what is Lobo so pissed about?! Do you know what his greatest desire was?!” Zatanna yelled, turning back towards the kid who was surprised by her sudden outburst. He shook his head. “That fucker’s greatest desire, his biggest wish? It was to kill everybody. I couldn’t grant that, not in a million years. I couldn’t even bring myself to grant a less extreme version of that wish! He’s so pissy with me that I didn’t grant his wish, but his wish was so inhumane and evil I’d be worse than a villain if I granted that!”

“What was your wish?” The kid asked quietly.

Zatanna stopped dead in her tracks, and let her head hang.

“I wanted to be a hero.”

…

The kid began to sniffle, and Zatanna turned to face him, her brows now raised with sorrow. What had she become? She was never the sort of person who would kidnap children, now look at her.

“I’m sorry! I’m sorry!” The kid began to cry, and Zatanna knelt down before him.

“Whatever for? You don’t need to be sorry. After all, I am the one who kidnapped you.” It sounded silly when she said it, but he waved his hand at her.

“No! You don’t understand! You didn’t just randomly pick me up, I was sent here, to kill you!” The kid sobbed. “I came over to Lex Luthor, asking him about what had happened to my parents, he told me he would tell me but only after I killed you. He said I was small and young, and it would be easy for me to sneak in and trick you into letting your guard down!”

Zatanna patted his hair.

“No need to be sorry, it’s not your fault. Everybody is trying to kill me right now, you don’t have to worry about it.” Zatanna sighed, and his cries began to die down.

“Circe told me, once I killed you, everything would be alright, and- and my parents would come back.”

Zatanna resisted the urge to laugh at how absurd that idea would be. Killing her wouldn’t solve all the world's problems, no matter how much propaganda said otherwise.

“I’ll just be in this room over here. Don’t follow me. If they come in and ask where I am, just tell them.” Zatanna said, her voice flat and defeated. She knew the end was near, she just wished it wasn’t so soon. She sighed, and went to the next room, closing the door behind her.

Once she closed the door, she looked before her and found Wonder Woman, standing there with her lasso glowing in her palms.

“Diana.”

“I want it to be me. If I’m the one who captures you, it will be easier. I won’t kill you, but they will.” She said, trying to keep her voice steady. Zatanna scoffed.

“Easier… For you maybe. Do you really think Lex and Circe would let me live?” Zatanna stated.

“What does it matter what they think?”

“Don’t make me laugh. You’re just another one of their little pawns. You can’t do anything without them telling you it’s okay. If you took me alive rather than dead, they’d drop you, and you don’t want that because as much as you tell yourself they don’t control you, you know that you need them.”

“No! You listen here, Zatanna. I do despise myself! I’ve hated myself ever since I did all those terrible things back on Themyscira! For as much as I claim to be this perfect hero, and the Champion of the Amazons, I am not. I am a selfish princess who got many of my fellow sisters hurt, disfigured and even killed, and I have not been able to set foot back home ever since then. My crown has not moved from my brow and it will not move until I have proven myself a true hero, which will never happen because I am a fool, and a disgrace to the gods!

The second I let Lex and Circe label you as a villain, was the day I failed as a hero and I hate myself everyday because of what I did to my sisters, and what I did to you!”

Zatanna’s eyes peered down and saw that the lasso was not in Diana’s palms, but wrapped around them. She’d told the truth, and Zatanna stepped towards her and pulled her into a warm embrace. And Diana nestled her head into Zatanna’s shoulders, letting her tears stain her blazer. Zatanna’s fingers curled around the lasso and she whispered into her ears.

“You have not failed as a hero yet. It is when you give up that you fail, and you are here, trying to save me instead of letting them kill me, that proves that you have not given up.”

“But… What can I do? Lex controls the government, and Circe is all-powerful…” Diana sobbed.

“People trust you. You’re the people’s princess, and everybody looks up to you, and to Superman. Lex wishes he had that, but he doesn’t and neither does Circe. You have the people on your side, and with that kind of support, you can do whatever you like. That was Lex’s one true superpower, he knew how to manipulate people.”

Diana wiped her eyes, and the two girls jumped as they heard somebody thud against the door. It was clear this was the end, and Lobo and Supergirl had found her.

“Are you proud of what you have achieved?” Diana choked out, and Zatanna shoved her away.

“I just wish I could’ve finally proved that Lex Luthor was a true villain. You have to get out of here, my wonder woman…” Zatanna sighed, before she turned around, ready to face the enraged aliens head-on.

Reluctantly, Diana stepped into the adjacent room, leaving the door open slightly ajar so she could watch. She hoped and prayed that her friend could pull through, maybe use her magic to show them the truth, or use her words to convince them to spare her, but her hopes were destroyed as she watched Lobo break down the door.

“Well?! What are you waiting for?! DO IT!” Zatanna yelled out, and Diana’s heart sank.

“I’m right here-!” And that was more than enough for Supergirl to shove her hand straight through Zatanna’s chest, ripping her heart out. Diana suppressed the urge to shriek, and grabbed her mouth to silence herself, practically choking herself as her tears began to flow.

She heard another sound of gore, and reluctantly turned, horrified to see that Lobo had torn her head off and was playing with it like a trophy. He had finally found that missing piece from his life.

As the adrenaline wore off, Lobo put the head under his arm and prepared to show it off to the crowd of bloodthirsty civilians, while Supergirl looked down at Zatanna’s corpse and the heart in her hand. She stopped for a moment, looking down at the corpse of an old friend, before she joined Lobo outside.

Once they were gone, she stepped out into the room, sobbing quietly as she looked down at her friend's mutilated corpse, bleeding all over the floor. Her sobbing turned louder, as she knew nobody was around to hear it. Kneeling down, she picked up the top-hat, surprised to see that the blood had not reached it.

With sobs that only turned more rapid and extreme, she tightly hugged the hat to her stomach, holding it so tight that it almost hurt. She was glad they hadn’t stolen it away from her, like they’d carelessly ripped away her head and her heart, but it was just that. A hat. A reminder of when things were simpler, and they were not superheroes, they were just schoolmates. And she was just a girl, who had given her roommate a hat. 

She held the hat close to her, and slowly began to exit the tower.

 

Chapter 13: The Queen of Peace

Summary:

“Happiness hit her, like a bullet in the back
Struck from a great height
By someone who should know better than that
The dog days are over
The dog days are done
Can you hear the horses?
‘Cuz here they come.” - The Dog Days are Over | Florence + The Machine

Wonder Woman was standing in the LexCorp lobby, gathered among the rest of the staff preparing for their speeches. Outside, through the green-tinted windows, Diana could see Lobo showing off the head of Zatanna Zatara, like it was an award, and she could faintly hear the sounds of him cheering into the microphone.

Beside Diana, Circe was fussing over details such as who would get the trophy for killing Zatanna, and who would get a statue built in their honour, even openly admitting she didn’t want Lobo to get a statue or any prize at all.

After a while of pointless yapping, she turned her attention towards Diana who was still puffy-eyed and gripping Zatanna’s hat tightly.

“Oh! I see you retrieved her hat, this will do nicely for the exhibit we make of her in a museum. I’m thinking we call that section of the museum the Rogue’s Gallery, nice pun don’t you think?” Circe mused, but her eyes faltered as Diana looked at her with sorrow.

“You think because you are so high and mighty, you can simply talk your way out of this? What business could a witch like yourself, possibly want with somebody like Lex Luthor?” Diana asked accusingly.

“What does it matter what I want? You should focus on yourself. Yes, I know all about you Diana.” Circe scowled, poking her tiara mockingly. “Good luck freeing any of your sisters, you couldn’t even pretend to be a hero in Man’s World.”

Diana’s eyes narrowed, before she wrapped her lasso around Circe’s arms.

“What are you-?! You can’t make me confess, your lasso means nothing to me!”

“I know you won’t confess, so I won’t bother.” Diana said. She raised her arms and closed her eyes.

“ALL HERA PROTECT US, AND HERE MY PLEA. I HEAR THAT YOU BANISH CIRCE FOR HER CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY AND CONDEMN HER TO IMPRISONMENT ON THEMYSCIRA!” Diana’s voice boomed, and Circe’s eyes widened as she began to struggle against her bondage.

“No! Wait, you can’t do this to me! Do you know who I am! I am Circe of Aeaea! Daughter of the sun god Helios and nymph Perse! You dare do this to me?! I am a powerful enchantress, and you are nothing! You are not even an Amazon anymore! Not a Princess! You’re just a girl! When I get out you are done for! Do you hear me?! DONE FOR!” Circe screeched and shrieked as lightning shone down from above, shackling her wrists with silver, and with a final strike she disappeared.

The other heroes and staff members looked around, confused and befuddled. Mostly about the indoor lightning, but also about Diana’s sudden betrayal. Was it a betrayal? They didn’t know. Unless she turned around and told them Circe was a traitor herself, but Wonder Woman didn’t say anything. Her face remained stern, and she stood there waiting patiently for Lex Luthor to come back inside.

Eventually he did, and she opened her eyes to look down upon him. Zatanna was right, he was really just a man, and she almost laughed.

“Wonder Woman, we did great. We finally got her, and look, you even saved her top-hat. That will be great for historical purposes, now where did Circe head off too…?” He began to look around, a smile on his face, but Diana’s face did not move. She remained steadfast, and continued to look down on him.

“No, seriously, where is she?” Lex asked, and Diana grabbed him firmly by the shoulders.

“Tell everybody the truth about yourself. Go out there and admit you have no power, and then announce your retirement, or I will kill you.” Diana said, her voice did not falter, and it was clear she meant every word. Her grip on his shoulder tightened.

“Do it.”

 

She stepped out onto the stage, a smile on her face, although her eyes were clearly red from crying. She looked around at the crowd, who looked up at their hero with bewilderment, waiting for her to finally speak.

“Yes, it is true. Zatanna Zatara is dead, but that is not all the news I have come to announce for you all tonight.” Diana inhaled deeply and continued. “You may notice that Circe is gone. Well I am here to announce that she has been imprisoned for both dark magic, and the recent bombing of Gotham City, with the sole intention of assassinating the late homo-magi John Constantine. She will remain imprisoned for the next thousand years, and will not be an issue in this lifetime.”

She stepped backwards, and forced Lex to the microphone. As he stood there, stuttering and stammering like a coward, she began to look over at Lois Lane, her microphone held close to her lips and her cameraman behind her, recording this humiliation.

“I-I… I Lex… Alex- Alexander Lu-Luthor…” He couldn’t even finish a sentence, and she glared at him, burning her eyes into the back of his head.

“I, President Luthor… I am stepping down. Yes. I am retiring, and you will all never hear from me again, because I will be spending the rest of my days imprisoned on Stryker’s Island.”

His eyes seemed to widen as he spoke, and he turned around to see Diana had wrapped the lasso around his finger. He turned back to face the crowd, everybody was dead silent.

“And I… I will rethink my life, for that is all I can do… Goodbye.”

And he fell to his knees, a weak and pathetic mess. Diana could only look down at him, judging him as she restrained herself from reaching down and snapping his neck.

And she watched as the security took Lex Luthor away in handcuffs, unable to do anything to stop them for he had no power, and now everyone could see that. Diana stood in front of the microphone, wondering if she should reveal everything now. 

No. She couldn’t. Not yet, at least, the world was not ready for everything just yet, so she would spread it out and reveal this information slowly. What she was ready to announce however, was this:

“People of Metropolis, and of the USA. I know you must be very confused right now, and I am too. Rest assured, the government will return to democracy, and no longer will any political leader be in power for that long. It is true that Lex Luthor had no powers at all, for he had stolen them from Superman and Supergirl, but I promise you, this Justice League will continue.

And we will fight for what is right. Truth, Justice and a Better Tomorrow. We will fight for peace, and we will fight out of our own free will and not under the oppressive rule of a tyrant. We will not leave Metropolis a police-state, and those robotic spies will no longer patrol these streets. We promise to take care of the world, because without the world, and without each other, we have nothing.

It is just us. We are all there is. And all there ever has been.”

Diana slowly reached her hands up to her forehead, letting her fingers brush up against her tiara, and it lifted off of her brow. She held the golden tiara in her hands, her fingers trembling as she gazed down at her lifted brow of thorns. She began to cry, not out of sadness, but tears of joy, and for the first time in a long while, she smiled a true smile.

For she was a true hero and finally…

She was The True Amazon.

 

Chapter 14: Epilogue - My Sanctuary

Summary:

“Two birds
On a wire
One tries to fly away
And the other...” - Two Birds | Regina Spektor

The crowd was filled with anybody and everybody, and one of those body’s was a random street crook named Matches Malone.

He wasn’t worried. Not when Wonder Woman took center stage. Who could be worried when she was there to calm them down. Her words were strong and her message clear, and her mere presence assured him everything was alright.

He turned around, walking out of the crowd and away from the LexCorp building, and away from the heroes and their stage, and he turned towards the tower. Moments ago it was a place of protest, where everybody in the streets were just dying to get in there and kill Zatanna Zatara with their bare hands, and now it was just another abandoned building, like so many littering Metropolis.

For a city as well-known and esteemed as Metropolis, too many of their buildings were like this one. Old, decrepit and abandoned, but nobody ever noticed them because the other buildings were glorious skyscrapers that fit in with the 1950s idea of the future, and people loved that. 

He walked right in, his nonchalant exterior made him seem cocky, but who wouldn’t be when they were where he was? Walking right into a historical landmark, those heroes didn’t even know they were sitting on a goldmine here.

He walked up the stairs and to the room where Zatanna Zatara had died, and sure enough, there was her corpse, lying on the floor missing a head and a heart. He didn’t dwell on it too much, and instead began to slam his foot on the floor like he was trying to get something out of his pants.

After a few knocks, and a long silence, Malone turned his head and watched as the corpse erupted into sparkles, and faded away. Right on cue, the floor began to lift, and from out of a trap door the magician stepped out, giving a small twirl as he clapped.

“Nice moustache. It suits you.” Zatanna smiled, as she began to play with it.

“Zee…”

“Oh, lighten up, I’m only joking.” Zatanna brushed herself down before turning back to face him. “Evomer ecurb s'enyaw esiugsid!”

With a small swoosh, his ragged and sketchy attire transformed back into his batsuit, cowl included, and Batman gave a small sigh.

“I have a place for you. It’s safe, nobody knows about it except for me. It’s in Star City.” Bruce said, showing her the keys in his hand. She smiled at him.

“Thanks for the offer, but I’ve already got a place.”

She turned away from him, and shouted “ESUOH FO YRETSYM!”

With a heel turn, she took one final look at Batman and at Bruce Wayne, and she waved goodbye. Stepping through, she approached the strange looking house, surrounded by an otherworldly realm that Bruce could never hope of understanding. He wasn’t completely certain, but he could’ve sworn he saw John Constantine standing outside that house, waiting for her.

Perhaps it was just wishful thinking.

He stood there for another moment, wondering if all of this had been some long dream, but after he pinched himself and saw nothing change, he turned around, preparing to leave.

As he headed for the exit, he noticed a small child, hiding behind the door, peeking up at him with a furrowed brow. 

“You’re scary.” He said plainly, and Bruce’s eyes widened with surprise. He’d never wanted to scare anybody, just criminals. This child was no criminal.

He removed his cowl, and the boy's face softened.

“What’s your name?” Bruce asked quietly.

The kid stepped out from behind the door, and Bruce noticed that he was in some sort of costume. The kind worn at circuses by the acrobatic performers.

“Richard Grayson.”

Notes:

Check out the official playlist here: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0VTAOVw8mWcvLUrnL2hUJH?si=57a7a74bccb440d3

Series this work belongs to:

• Part 1 of DC ABSOLUTION