Simply Cursed

So yes, the beginning of a new fan fiction guys!


"Is all of Alpha Squad in position?" Nightwing's voice hissed into the Team's earpieces.

"Ready and waiting." KF said languidly as he watched the deserted courtyard from a rooftop with Artemis.

"What Kid Idiot means is that I'm here too." Artemis growled after smacking Wally on the arm.

"Superboy and I are ready to go as well." Robin's voice crackled through.

"Wondergirl and I are in position." Zatanna announced.

"Bluejay ready." Angel said as she floated up in the sky under the cover of darkness.

"And I'm set to go as well." Nightwing said. "Alpha Squad, move out!"

The heroes darted through the buildings, using the shadows as their cover.

Wally and Artemis were the first to see him.

"We found Wotan!" KF hissed into his earpiece.

"Do not engage, I repeat, do not engage! Wait for the rest of us to arrive!"

Wally sighed. "Fine."

The speedster waited moodily with the archer in the shadows, his eyes intent on the sorcerer before him.

He wouldn't have to wait long…


10 minutes later…

Wotan chuckled as he saw the assembled heroes before him.

"I see that your little Team has grown since I last saw you, Nightwing." The sorcerer said, his voice heavily accented.

Nightwing's hands tightened around his Eskrima sticks, electricity crackling at their ends.

"Alpha Squad, go!"

Like a huge tidal wave, the eight heroes launched themselves at Wotan.

But the Viking sorcerer yelled out a spell, and they all flew backwards as a giant explosion surged from him.

"You're not the only one who can use magic, Wotan!" Zatanna growled as she got up.

She opened her mouth to pronounce an incantation, but she was soon flying through the air once again and hit the wall with a sickening thud.

"Beasts, the lot of you." Wotan said in disgust.

But then his red and black eyes glimmered with interest. "That actually seems like a very accurate description…" He mused.

By now, the team had staggered to their feat, eyes gleaming with defiance.

Superboy and Wondergirl exchanged looks and nodded.

At the exact same time, they threw themselves at the sorcerer, fists raised.

But both Angel and Zatanna saw Wotan's mouth moving.

"No!" The sorceress cried, stepping forward with an outstretched hand.

But it was too late.

Wotan finished his spell, and a huge surge of magical energy flew at the Team. There was a loud explosion, and everything went black.


Angel's eyes blinked open, but she winced as she did so. It was so strange… She could see everything with such clarity… And everything seemed so big…

She let out a groan, but it sounded all wrong, higher, more… Chirpy. She tried to sit up, but everything was off balance, and she kept falling back onto a soft, fluffy surface.

"Guys?" She said anxiously, but it once again sounded all wrong, even though she knew that she was saying it right.

"Bluejay?"

The voice sounded sort of familiar, but there was a lilt to it, a slightly rough edge to the sound.

"Who is that?" Angel tried again, desperately trying to sit up. But it was then she realized something.

"My arms!" She screeched.

Turning her head, she could see that her arms had vanished. Instead, she only had her wings. But upon further inspection, she became more and more horrified. Feathers weren't just sprouting from her wings, but from her whole body. And she was more plump then usual…

Desperately trying to hop on one leg, she tried to see the other. Once she did, she let out a shrill cry, the sound bouncing off the now huge walls.

"I'm a bird!" She yelled. "He turned me into a bird!"

"Who's there?" Someone cried, the voice piercing.

Angel stopped hopping around, her feathers bristling.

"N-Nightwing?" She called out, her chirpy voice trembling.

"Bluejay?" Came the answering reply.

She lifted her head, and stared hard at the shadows, soon realizing that there was a pile of rubble. But on top of that…

She let out a gasp. "Nightwing, what happened?"

In place of the shaggy-haired adult was a pitch-black falcon with a blue bird emblazoned on its chest. Its eyes were a piercing dark blue.

They widened as they rested upon Angel.

"Bluejay?" He choked out with the same, piercing voice. "Is that you?"

"Yea." Angel tried to stop trembling, but the shock was too much. "I don't know what happened. I just remember Wotan yelling out a spell…" Her voice trailed off. "I'm guessing you were also caught in the blast."

"What are you talking about?" Nightwing questioned, his feathers ruffling.

"Y-you're a bird." She stammered, using one wing to gesture towards him.

Nightwing cocked his head. "What?"

The her-err, bird-, then proceeded to look down. An awful cry of shock emerged from him and he staggered backwards. Unfortunately, because of the lack of arms, he simply kept falling until he landed on his back.

"Nightwing!" Angel chirped in alarm before bounding forward, wings flapping slightly.

She continued in this manner until she got to the top of the pile of rubble. Nightwing was trying to get back on his feet, but he was still unused to his new body and couldn't stand until Angel gave him a helpful nudge with her beak.

"Wotan." Nightwing growled out once he was on his feet. "He must have done this… But where's everyone else?"

"Good question." Angel replied, worry seeping through her. "Maybe you could call them?" She suggested. "You do have the louder voice right now."

Nightwing was obviously trying to give her an annoyed look, but it didn't really work with a falcon face.

"Alpha Squad?" He cried out, his voice piercing the air.

"Nightwing?" Several muffled voices said, their voices slightly distinguishable.

"There's something wrong with me!" Someone's voice wailed, presumably Wondergirl's.

"If I'm correct, there's something wrong with all of us." Nightwing said grimly to Angel. "Try to head towards my voice." He yelled out again.

Angel heard scuffling and what she thought was growling. The first animal she spotted was a huge black wolf with icy blue eyes.

It lifted his head, before growling out, "Nightwing?"

"Over here Superboy."

Angel started as she recognized the wolf's voice.

"I can't see you yet, but I think Wotan did something to my back." Connor said again. "And I feel really weird."

Angel sighed before calling out, "I'm here too Superboy. And honestly, I think if one of us ran away at the last minute, we should all be feeling a bit strange."

Superboy lifted his head again. "Where are you guys?"

"Here." Bluejay hopped forward along with Nightwing.

Connor's icy blue eyes widened as they fell upon the duo. "Um, I still don't see you, but there are two birds in front of me…"

"It's us, Superboy." Nightwing sighed. "And the reason why you're feeling strange… Is… Well…"

Connor was still staring at them in shock, but was jolted back to the present thanks to Nightwing's hesitant tone.

He looked down, and seeing furry paws instead of feet made him let out a low whine of horror. "What happened?"

"Wotan." A rough voice said grimly.

The three heroes' heads whipped around to see a very large figure step into the dim light.

It was a young thoroughbred stallion with a chestnut coat and blue-gray eyes. Its mane and tail had a more reddish tinge compared to its coat, and the muscular yet thin build gave Nightwing a clue to who it was. Not to mention the way it was glaring at them.

"Red Arrow?" He asked cautiously.

The horse snorted and tossed his head. "Who else?"

"What are you doing here?" Superboy asked, fur bristling slightly.

"I was tracking Wotan. When he cast that spell, I was hiding on the roof. Unfortunately, it still got me." Red Arrow neighed.

"Why were you tracking Wotan while we were doing the same?" Nightwing questioned, and possibly mentally raised an eyebrow.

Red Arrow tried to scowl, but it didn't really work with his horse body. "I may be a League Member, but I can still be independent."

Angel rolled her eyes. "We have to find the others."

The four animals heard a low bark of shock. "Guys? Guys? Where are you?"

"Wondergirl?"

Angel spotted a golden retriever trotting towards them, tail between her legs. Cassie let out a low whimper.

"What happened to us?" She yelped.

"Wotan cursed us." Red Arrow said matter-of-factly.

"Yeah, I guessed as much." A lioness stepped into the light, grey eyes gleaming.

"Artemis!" Cassie yelped before bounding towards her.

"Have you guys seen Wally?" The lioness asked sharply, but there was worry in her voice.

Superboy shook his head. "No, it's only us so far."

"Who's still missing?" Red Arrow asked.

Nightwing cocked his head. "KF, Zatanna and Robin are left."

Angel felt her small heart jolt.

"Spread out into teams of two." Nightwing ordered. "Bluejay, you go with Superboy. Wondergirl and Artemis, pair up and I'll be with Red Arrow."

Angel nodded her head jerkily and half-hopped half-walked to Superboy.

The wolf looked down on her, and she suddenly felt extremely small.

"Do you want me to carry you?" He offered. "It'll be hard for you to keep up."

Bluejay mentally scowled, but finally sighed. "Fine."

Gingerly, Superboy lay down, and waited for her to climb onto his back. She did so, and several times her claws dug into his side, but he didn't flinch.

Soon, she was holding on tightly with her claws on his shoulders as he stood up. She swayed with the movement, alarmed with the feeling that she was going to fall, but soon caught her balance.

Glancing over at Nightwing, she could see that he was having just as much trouble as her as the black falcon tried to settle himself on Red Arrow's back. Artemis and Wondergirl had already melted into the shadows.

"Let's go." She urged, motivating Superboy into a trot.


About ten minutes later, they found Robin and Zatanna. They had walked through an empty hallway, Superboy's claws clicking against the smooth floor, even though most if it was covered in rubble.

They heard a loud meowing soon after, along with someone yelling out the Squad's names. Superboy picked up the pace until he was in a lope, and they soon came across Zatanna.

Trapped underneath a collapsed beam, Zatanna was in the form of a pure black cat with cerulean eyes.

"Are you alright?" Bluejay said anxiously before hopping off Connor's back and gliding to Zatanna's struggling form.

The magician stopped, her eyes widening as she saw a bird and wolf talking to her, but soon calmed down once Angel explained what had happened.

"I should have known Wotan would pull something like this!" Zatanna groaned as she finally wriggled herself free once Connor had lifted the beam with his muzzle (he had apparently retained his powers".

"None of us knew." Angel said comfortingly.

"We should head back now." Connor said as he looked around, eyes glittering with worry. "We don't know if Wotan will be back or not."

The two females nodded their assent, but as Zatanna opened her mouth to say something, they heard a voice yell.

"Wait!"

A black form, about the size of Superboy in his current form, skidded to a halt beside them. It was a black panther.

Superboy snarled, his sharp teeth showing at the shocking entrance.

"No! Wait, it's me! Robin!" It yelped.

Bluejay stiffened. "Robin?"

The panther came over to her. "It happened to you as well, didn't it?" He said, his voice anxious.

"Well, I'm not hurt, so that's a plus." She said dryly as she stared up at his deep blue eyes.

Robin chuckled, though the sound came out a little strangely thanks to him being a panther. "I'm glad you're ok."

Angel wished she could twist her beak into a grin, but it was impossible. She settled for a simple, "Me too.' Instead.


Later on, the transfigured Team members met up near the pile of rubble where Angel had first found Nightwing. No one was all that surprised when Artemis and Wondergirl showed up…

With Wally as a reddish cheetah. Besides the fact he was spotted, walked on four legs, was furry and had a tail, he was the exact same, his green eyes still gleaming with laughter.

"Funny, I would have placed you as a hyena." Nightwing commented, earning him a glare from the speedster.

"What are we going to do?" Cassie said, her blue eyes round with despair.

"We should get to someone we know first." Nightwing said thoughtfully. "But we're so far from the Cave and any Zeta Tubes… "

Red Arrow snorted. "Or we could just do it the old-fashioned way and run there."

Nightwing rolled his eyes, pretty much the only expression he could attain now. "Yes, but what will normal civilians think about a bunch of animals running wild on the streets?"

"We'd be more likely to get ourselves shot than anything else." Zatanna said grimly.

"Hey, wait a minute!" Everyone turned towards Wally. "Zatanna, you're a magician, right? Maybe you could turn us back to normal!"

The black she-cat shrugged. "I can try…"

"Nrut kcab ot ruo lamron sevles!"

Nothing happened.

Everyone seemed dejected, even with their animal faces.

Nightwing sighed. "I guess we've got no other choice, then."


Heheheh, you guys weren't expecting that, were you? Ok, so my explanations for the respective animal forms;

Angel; Well, Bluejay is her hero name, not to mention she's part bird already, so not much to say about that.

Nightwing; I always felt that a falcon would suit him. They are both predators, though falcons prefer daylight XD.

Superboy; most may argue that he'd be a better bear, but I think wolf is more suitable, mostly because they're pack animals, yet they can still be very aggressive. Plus, he is the 'lone wolf' type lol.

Red Arrow; I was really unsure about this one, but I finally decided on a horse, since they can be both loners and herd animals. And anyway, I love horses, just like I love Red :D.

Cassie; It's kind of obvious, isn't it? I mean, even before I had this idea I always thought 'dog' as being linked to her because of her loving and excited personality.

Artemis; most people would say fox, but I think she's more courageous then sly, so. And anyway, they are both majestic.

Zatanna; need I say more than how cats are always linked to magic? Klarion is a fine example as well.

Robin; he does love those shadows, doesn't he?

Wally; it is true that I was actually thinking about making him a hyena before, but I finally changed to cheetah so that he could be a feline with Artie (yay!), and he's a speedster.