The room went quiet.
Android 16 expected as much; the offer he was going to give them was almost certainly going to be rejected at first.
"We know the location of the ritual causing all this."
As the team's leader, Aqualad spoke for them.
"Are you saying the Light is not behind this?"
"They could be, 18 on the other hand is not involved."
Robin was busy trying to find the origin of the communication, so Superboy spoke next.
"You expect us to believe that?"
"We won't benefit from this situation; it's actually hurting our plans, so we are willing to cooperate with you."
Aqualad again spoke to the android.
"Why? If you want to stop this and you know where it is, she can go. Stop it herself."
"This disaster is magical in nature. 18 wants to stop it, but if we do it carelessly, it could cause more damage, so what we need is someone who knows magic and can help fix it the right way. Do you know someone like that?"
Zatana was not here and if she were, Aqualad would still hesitate to mention her.
She was still at her angriest about what happened to her dad and working with the person responsible for it was a big ask.
He had some knowledge of magic, it was surface level at best and he could only imagine how complex this spell was.
Still with no other options, he was going to agree until someone came behind him and spoke before he could.
"We agree, give us the location."
"Understood, we will meet in a nearby area to plan the attack."
The call ended and the team turned to find Zatana with her arms crossed and an expression of hatred.
Robin wasn't able to find the location, so he left his computer and got up from the desk.
"Why did you agree?"
Zatana responded coldly.
"My dad is missing from the hospital; if there is any chance I could get him back, I am willing to work even with the devil."
"Hopefully it won't come to that."
When dealing with magic of this scale, demons, chaos lords and other eldritch abominations are a very likely possibility.
Robin showed the coordinates and stood in front of the team.
"Let's go."
Hours earlier, Flash was coming out of the hospital after visiting Zatara, with no costume. in is regular clothes, Barry Allen walked on the street at a slow pace, feeling heavy.
The doctors said his health was good and there was no physical reason for him to be in a coma, even the healers from Atlantis who came to see him couldn't find anything wrong with his body.
He still remembered the words of Queen Mera.
"Is like his soul is missing."
If the soul wasn't there, then where was it?
It was one of many theories and possible explanations and still nobody was sure of what actually happened and how to solve it.
All Barry knew was that his friend was gone and that he was powerless to help him.
Lost in thought, he almost didn't react on time when a ball came flying at his face. He could have caught it, but that would have required super speed, so to not expose himself as a superhero, he let the ball hit him square in the face.
"Sorry, sir."
Barry picked up the ball and looked at the kid. He was actually sorry. A group of 5 kids was playing in the park and accidentally threw the ball at him.
Barry smiled kindly and threw the ball back.
"Don't worry about it, but you shouldn't play this close to the edge of the park; it could be dangerous."
The kid caught the ball and was about to respond when he vanished in a flash of light, leaving the ball bouncing in his place.
Barry checked the surroundings and all the other kids had also disappeared, followed by screaming and panic spreading all around him.
Less than a second later, Flash was running full speed. He went from one place to another, finding the same scenario every time: parents, teachers, babysitters and other adults desperately searching for the missing kids with no success.
His league communicator rang, so he climbed a building and answered.
"This is Batman. We have reports of kids and teenagers vanishing at a global scale. We are still investigating. I will assign areas to each member of the League, work with the local authorities to keep the unrest under control, until we resolve this."
Flash did what he did best: he ran, helping people in danger, stopping disasters before they could become catastrophic. His speed wasn't enough to be everywhere at once, but it was the next best thing.
Batman said that without a magic expert, the league was having trouble finding the root of the problem.
Hours passed and besides containment, the league was limited in what they could do.
Martian Manhunter was talking to Batman on the watchtower.
"I've checked the minds of the criminals we know for sure are related to the Light and they don't know anything about this."
"I scanned the entire planet and found nothing; they must be using magic to hide and that being the case..."
"We need a magic user of our own to find them."
"Mera of Atlantis is working on a spell to find the source, for now we need to keep things under control and buy her time."
They were both anxious; the team had vanished hours ago and they were unable to contact them or know if they were ok. Both hoped that this was a temporary event and worked without rest to fix the damage.
"Do you have any news of Captain Marvel?"
"He is still missing."
"Any idea where he could be?"
Batman kept his eyes on the computer and the reports, signaling that he wasn't going to talk about it.
There was an uncomfortable moment of silence before Aquaman called.
"Batman, Mera finished her spell and we got the location. I'm sending the coordinates now."
"Understood, I will gather the League for a full scale fight."
"Once I finish preparing everything here, I'll be on my way."
The call disconnected and Batman got to work sending messages and preparing a strategy to fight against the ones responsible for the spell.
Diana, Hawkgirl, Hawkman and Aquaman were the front line as they have ways to disrupt or fight back against magic; meanwhile, the rest of the League would work as support.
They didn't waste time and launched a full scale assault on the magic site.
4 powerful dark sorcerers were waiting for them: Wotan, Felix Faust, Wizard and Blackbriar Thorn.
Wonder Woman struck first, flying forward and using the momentum to slam Faust, but before she could reach him, he vanished.
Having missed her target, she landed and slid a few feet before stopping and seeing that all of them had disappeared as well.
"What happened?"
The others arrived and checked the site. Glowing magic circles were set up around a gem; the ritualistic way everything was done gave them a bad feeling, like they were seeing a wound on reality itself.
Minutes passed and the sorcerers didn't come back. The heroes tried to destroy the circle, but any damage done was instantly repaired.
They tried to get the gem, but like the sorcerers, it disappeared as soon as they got close.
Batman was crouching and examining the patterns, taking pictures and checking databases to find anything he could about the spell.
"We need a magic user to solve this."
Superman, crossing his arms, let energy go to his eyes that glowed red.
"I can incinerate all this."
"It wouldn't work superbloke."
A portal opened and a blonde man wearing a trench coat stepped out of it.
The heroes that were already at the edge were ready to attack at a moment's notice.
"Hey, let's not blow a casket, I am..."
Batman interrupted as he signaled the others to stand down.
"John Constantine, a self proclaimed exorcist and demonologist, with a history of run ins with the law and connection with several incidents related to cults and ritualistic murders."
"If by connection you mean I returned the wankers to hell where they belong, then yeah."
"What do you know about this John?"
"I know that this second rate ritualistic bullshit is not all that important in the grand scheme of things. What is being done is lighting a flare directly over us and attracting a lot of attention from beings we don't want knocking at our door."
"Is that on purpose?"
"Could be, ever since the killer doll with the massive ego went and off the lord of order in charge, this world has been wide open, I been holding it together with what remains of his power, but is like using tape to plug a hole in a bloody dam, sooner or later its going to break and them some asshole does this shit and adds another hole that I have to fix."
"Do you know how to?"
The mage examined the ritual for several seconds and used a piece of chalk to draw a few additional symbols.
"There, that should be good enough."
The symbols glowed with red light and then exploded, throwing everything back.
"Bloody great."
Flash got up and looked at the ritual that went back to its original state.
"It didn't work."
"Of course it didn't, that was obvious mate, it's a gutted piece of crap."
Superman flew closer.
"Why didn't it work?"
"This is a two way spell, it has two sides, unless I can work on both sides at the same time is going to be donkey years before I can dispel this bloody thing."
Batman, understanding immediately, said aloud.
"The sorcerers went to the other side. We need to somehow force them here to be able to fight them."
Superman was still watching as Constantine probed.
"How are we going to do that?"
"No idea, mate, I can't go there and I can't send you either. The spell has a very specific restriction; unless you are one of the casters or meet the conditions imposed on it, you won't be able to go to the other side."
"There has to be a way."
They all looked at the spell, feeling powerless.
On the other side, the team landed the bioship, waiting for 18 to show up. It didn't take long before blonde floated gently and stood in front of the teens.
Artemis was trembling while the others were on alert.
"You guys are pathetic. I can't believe I have to work with a bunch of weaklings."
Aqualad took the initiative and walked towards her.
"We are ready to start."
"Who is the magic expert?"
Zatana stepped up and got really close to 18, staring directly at her face.
"You remember me this time."
"Barely."
The android smirked.
"You are the whiny one. How is your dad?"
It was like the entire world stood still. Zatana's expression grew colder.
"You almost killed him and I'm going to make you pay for it."
"Really?"
"Yes."
"Why wait? I am here right now."
Zatana bowled her fist, resisting the impulse of punching her in the face; if she did, she would only hurt herself.
Miss Martian put a hand on her shoulder to calm her and Zatana slapped it away and walked back.
18 approached the Martian and Superboy quickly got in front of her protectively. The android couldn't help but laugh.
"Don't worry, I'm not going to hurt her. I actually wanted to thank her."
The confused look on all the teens amused her even more.
"Thanks to her, I got rid of one nasty parasite, so thank you, green girl, I'll remember that the next time I feel like killing you."
"Thank you. I guess."
"You are welcome, now let's just get this over with."
She took her cellphone out and 16's voice came from outside of it.
"We are close to the area of origin of the spell. The strategy is simple: 18 will distract whoever is behind it and meanwhile, you will approach and deal with the magic in the safest way possible."
Aqualad drew his swords.
"Understood, we will make sure Zatana can get close enough to work on it."
The team moved silently; several missions together had taught them how to remain unnoticed.
18, on the other hand, was not skilled enough, nor did she care about hiding her presence.
"I should have known it was you behind this."
Klarion smiled mockingly as he saw her coming closer.
"Look who it is, the robo idiot came to play?"
The sorcerers around him got nervous; they were aware of how much the two didn't get along and a fight between them might not stop the ritual, but it could end their lives.
Klarion either didn't notice or didn't care about their feelings.
"I'm surprised to see you here. Are you a brat under all that bravado and sense of superiority?"
"Nah, it's just your shitty spell sucks."
"Not as much as your shitty personality."
As always, they wanted to kill each other on sight. 18 closed her eyes and used her ki sense to look for the cat.
"Don't bother, my kitty is safe from you, brute."
"Whatever, turn this off and get out of here."
"No chance."
"I'm warning you."
"Warning me ha, how funny na na na you can't touch me."
18 moved fast, her hand aiming at his neck, Klarion vanished, leaving her grabbing air.
"How annoying."
Magic was something 18 had grown to hate; it was full of trickery and cowardice. They ran around, setting traps, teleporting and hiding. For someone used to direct combat, this was a frustrating exercise in waiting and finding an opening to strike.
The team was closing in as 18 was talking to Klarion, Zatana, using everything she knew, was trying to decipher the ritual.
But she was young and inexperienced and her understanding was shallow; she concluded that they needed to destroy the crystal and so the team moved to do just that.
They jumped out of hiding and attacked the sorcerers, who responded with multiple spells aiming to kill the intruders.
Using the distraction, Kid Flash ran and was about to grab the crystal when it disappeared again, moving to the other side.
"Now what?"
On the other side, Klarion was already fighting the League; he appeared in the middle of their investigation and he preferred to engage them rather than to fight against 18.
His red flames and multiple serpent constructs brought chaos to the battlefield.
"Boom, boom, boom, keep running."
His mad laugh echoed with each blast.
That was until the crystal appeared again, the magic circles glowed and the gem vibrated, splitting in two and showing in both worlds.
Back in the kids' world, Billy Batson was looking at the battle from a distance. He knew they needed his help, but he was afraid of transforming and disappearing.
The team was falling into a disadvantage and 18 was doing nothing, waiting to see how things played out.
He saw the crystal appear again and made a decision.
Aqualad was hit by lightning from above and flew towards 18, who grabbed him by the arm and forcefully sat him on the ground.
"What did you discover?"
"We need to destroy the crystal to end the spell."
"Easy enough, tell them to retreat."
Aqualad used Megan's psychic link to order exactly that and 18 flew while charging a ki attack.
Not saying anything, she aimed at the center of the ritual and shot.
Realization hit her as she saw a boy running and grabbing the crystal; he had sneaked in while the others fought and now he was inside the range of her attack.
It was too late; the explosion rattled the ground, leaving a smoking crater where the ritual used to be.
"Billy."
Miss Martian flew and the others followed.
The blonde didn't have any words; she didn't intend to kill the boy. The idiot jumped into her attack, so why did she feel pressure on her chest?
Before they could process what had just happened, the ground trembled and the crater was restored to its previous appearance, the circles reappeared and so did Klarion.
"Nice try, but it won't work."
He was going to mock them some more when a fist hit him on the face, in a gruesome display, half his head exploded, leaving a bloody mess from the neck up.
Despite that, he was still smiling.
"Did I touch a nerve?"
"No, your face is disgusting, so I don't want to see it."
Zatana saw the cat hiding next to a rock and told Superboy to attack it.
Klarion saw him move and with another conjuration, the cat grew and became a massive tiger, which was capable of fighting the teenagers.
18 cut the chaos lord in half and rushed to kill the cat, which vanished before she could reach him.
Now the sorcerers came back and the cycle repeated a few times. Each time, 18 was about to kill one, they vanished, exchanging places and avoiding death.
Robin threw an explosive and jumped to dodge another fireball.
"This isn't working."
Kid Flash, evading lightning while speaking and trying to get closer to the crystal, responded.
"We have to force them to stay still."
Another lightning bolt, this time it wasn't one from the villains; Billy was there alive and well. On the last second, he had transformed into Captain Marvel and was sent to the other world, where he reunited with the other members of the League and managed to come up with a plan.
"Guys, we have a plan."
Megan came flying and hugged him.
"You are ok."
Tears in her eyes, she was in disbelief and relieved to see the boy alive.
"Yes, I'll explain later. I need to talk to Zatana."
"Got it."
Megan used the psychic link and they disclosed the strategy. As she did, she took a risk.
18 was furious all the back and forth, chasing the enemies, seeing them disappear and come back, was frustrating and she was about to snap.
She tried absorbing the magic from the ritual, but when she did, the circles lost power for a few seconds and then reactivated.
Her options were limited and when she was about to fire another ki blast, she felt a presence touching her mind.
She was about to resist when the voice of Miss Martian begged her to stop and explained the plan to her.
The android charged a new attack; the entire sky was illuminated by the powerful light.
"I'm tired of this. Let's see you survive this."
Klarion again smiled.
"Try all you want, it's useless anyway."
He and the sorcerers vanished and were received by the League, which was waiting for them on the other side.
Constantine activated a spell that bound the villains the moment they showed up.
Then he teleported and grabbed the crystal and on the other side, Zatana did the same, with the same chant. At the same time, both worlds were merged again, and the ritual was finally over.
"Not fair, you should be on our side, I'll tell on you."
"Since when am I on your side?, I do what I want and you'd better remember to stay out of my way."
Klarion erupted in flames, leaving the area and abandoning the others to be captured by the League.
18 was smiling when she saw someone and froze.
"You."
Constantine, not expecting her to be here, was late to react. He saw her hand coming to grab him by the neck as Superman caught it with his own hand.
"Stop."
They were both holding and then it happened, Superman's knees started to bend, 18 was forcing him down with pure strength.
"Out of my way, superidiot."
Constantine didn't wait and opened a new portal to escape, barely dodging a ki blast as he jumped in.
"Tks."
18 Let the hero go.
"I'm going now."
Having finished with what she wanted to do, 18 turned to leave.
Of course, the League wasn't about to just let her, so. The heroes formed up and blocked her path, that was until Batman spoke.
"We don't have the leeway to fight her now. The world is in chaos, we have to focus on the bigger picture."
Reluctantly, they allowed her to go past and they prepared to leave.
Superman wasn't sure it was the right choice.
"Are you sure?"
"The shutdown is finally ready. The next time we fight her, we will capture her."
Clark nodded and they left to help the authorities regain control of the chaos.
At the same time, Klarion showed himself in front of Vandal Savage.
"Did you get what you needed?"
"All according to plan, our two objectives were accomplished."
"I can't wait to see her face."
Laughing Klarion walked away, suddenly finding himself in a dark space, nothing around but darkness, he created red fire to look around.
"You are very frustrating, you know that?"
"What are you doing here?"
"A world without a Lord of order is a golden opportunity; the others sent me to make sure you don't screw this up."
"I have something big coming."
"You'd better, after making me cover for you this time."
"What are you talking about?"
"That spell you did, if I didn't hide it, this world would have been invaded by quite a bit of demonic entities, so again, don't screw this up."
The voice came closer, revealing a blonde girl in a school uniform, with red eyes and a blood thirsty smile.
"Or I'll make sure you regret it."
(Chapter image.)