The Marvelous Adventures of the SuperBat Family
Chapter 2: Sorrow & Destruction
Thanks to the recent time change it was dark by the time the three heroes met on top of the Daily Planet. Batman was the first to arrive, Captain Marvel showed up less than five minutes later once again making no sound. Superman, surprisingly, was the last to arrive.
"My deadline got shortened," he explained with a scowl.
Batman nodded in understanding. "I know what that's like," he sighed.
Captain Marvel tilted his head, confusion written on his face but didn't ask. Instead he held his hands out expectantly. "If we're touching when the tracking spell is cast then all three of us will be able to trick them and not just me," he explained.
"Ok cook," Superman blinked then he and Batman took Captain Marvel's hands.
The magic crackling around his hands stung and Superman winced. To Batman it felt like the flames of an open fireplace, reminding him of cozy winter evenings spent in front of the fireplace with his parents. For Superman it made him think of when Lex Luthor hit him with a car in his teens. It hadn't really hurt but it did sting a little bit. The incident had shaken Lex up and he had tried to be nice to Clark but his father (Clark's that is) didn't trust Lex a single bit so Clark hadn't either. In retrospect he wondered-if he had tried just a little harder-would it have made a different?
"Are you guys ready?" Captain Marvel asked, his blue eyes shining with compassion as he gazed at Superman.
"Yes," Superman nodded.
Captain Marvel's eyes began glowing and the magic in his hands increased. "Give us the ability to find that which we seek." Although the language spoken was not a tongue spoken often they understood it perfectly. Captain Marvel let go of their hands and they stumbled backwards. He cupped his hands and two blue lights appeared. After spreading his hands the lights remained for a moment then darted forward, leaving shimmering blue trails in their wake. "Let's go."
As they took off Batman could swear that he felt something inside of him urging him to keep going forward. Judging by the frown on Superman's face he felt it too. Curious, Batman veered slightly off-course and the urge to follow the lights got stronger. Once he was back on course the urge died down and he had a newfound respect for Captain Marvel and Zatara. No wonder the latter didn't look very enthused whenever he was asked to perform a similar spell.
"We're almost there," Captain Marvel's voice brought Batman out of his reveries. "I sense a few sorcerers ahead but they don't seem to have a lot of magical power."
"How can you tell?" Superman asked.
Captain Marvel was quiet for a moment then he said, "All sorcerers exude magical power so the more powerful they are the more magic that can be felt. That's why most people don't know they have magic-because it's so weak. Not to mention you have a have a certain amount of magic power before you can sense the magic of others."
"I hate magic," Superman sighed.
"I'm not sure if I should be offended or not," Captain Marvel quipped before diving to follow the lights that had stopped moving, Superman right behind him.
Batman waited a moment as he took inventory of the scene below. They were at the docks and there were about three men unloading boxes from a white van and onto a small boat. There were two other men as well but the way there were just lounging around he pegged them as the sorcerers. For some odd reason sorcerers that were involved in criminal activities seemed to think they were all powerful and, therefore, above doing manual labor. Batman just loved probing them wrong.
"Hey." The thieves looked up to see both Captain Marvel and Superman hovering above them, the latter's arms crossed as he scowled at them in disapproval. "Didn't anyone ever teach you that it's wrong to steal?"
"Obviously not," Captain Marvel quipped.
"We ain't scared of you," one of the thieves taunted. "We've got sorcerers on our side."
Briefly Batman wondered why they didn't count Captain Marvel as a threat then dismissed the thought. He could figure it out later-right now he had bad guys to fight. But, come to think of it, he had never once seen Captain Marvel use spells when fighting. If it was a tactical move then it was a brilliant one.
"They don't look like much," Captain Marvel said, interrupting Batman's train of thought yet again. "Honestly they just look pathetic. Like really pathetic."
"I would have to agree with you," Superman smirked. "What kind of sorcerers run around in cheap t-shirts and gaudy jewelry? They look more like teens trying to be hip. Any sorcerer worth their salt would be embarrassed to be seen with them."
"Oh yeah. Well fear this!" One of the sorcerers began chanting and the other quickly jumped in. Slowly, but surely, a fall of flame began to grow before them.
"Lame," Captain Marvel sighed. "That won't even sting," he rolled his eyes then easily knocked out both for the sorcerers, moving too fast for any of them to see.
The rest of the thieves gaped in shock, allowing Batman and Superman to take care of them. Within minutes they were all tied up and Captain Marvel was rooting through the loot and an attempt to locate the stolen items. The urge to follow the objects hit again and the three heroes looked up, just in time to see a figure round the corner, obviously carrying something.
"This isn't going to be good," Captain Marvel groaned.
"I'll keep an eye on them, you go after the other thief," Batman ordered.
"On it," Superman promised as he and Captain Marvel took off.
The thief-which they caught not even thirty seconds later-turned out to be a scrawny preteen. Her clothes were a little big but nice and complimented her dark skin. She was clinging to an old earthen statue that was encrusted with priceless jewels.
"It's mine," she cried, hugging it even tighter. "It's going to bring my parents back so you can't have it."
Captain Marvel knelt down and looked at her with sadness on his face. "That's what it's telling you, isn't it? It's whispering to you, saying that if you just do what it wants it'll give you what you want."
"Wow," the girl's dark eyes were wide. "How do you know what its saying?"
"Because it's saying the same thing to me too. If you know what: it can bring them back."
"Really?" a wide grin spread across her face. "I don't have to be alone anymore?"
Somewhere, deep within him, Superman too felt the first stirrings of hope. He could bring back his birth parents, Krypton itself even. There was now a voice in his head, promising him whatever he wanted: for a price.
"Such magic requires a great price," Captain Marvel's tone was grave. "One that is far steeper than what you want. In order to resurrect your parents over two thousand people would have to die."
"Just to bring back two people?" she paled as much as she was able to.
"Yes and even then they would not be as you remember. By now their bodies have surely decayed and it only reanimates the bodies-not their souls. Do you understand?" Captain Marvel held his hands out and after a brief moment of hesitation she handed over the statue. "Thank you," he smiled. "Can you tell me your name?"
"Darla," she sniffled. "Darla Dudley."
"That's a very pretty name for a pretty girl." Instead of taking her home immediately Captain Marvel continued talking to her. "Are you staying with relatives or are you in foster care? I hated foster care when I was younger."
"My uncle's in jail right now so I'm staying with the Vasquez's," she mumbled. "You were in foster care too?"
"Yep," Captain Marvel nodded. "I didn't like it though so I ran away," he whispered conspiratorially. "Do the Vasquez's hurt you in any way?" the seriousness in his voice let Superman to suspect he was speaking from experience.
"Uh-uh," Darla shook her head so fiercely that her curls bounced. "They're really nice and I get to eat whenever I want to and they've got lots of other kinds so I've always got someone to play with and I even get my own room." The smile made her whole face light up and she looked extremely happy.
"They sound like nice people," Captain Marvel sounded slightly wistful.
"They are," she agreed.
"In that case they're probably worried about you," he pointed out.
"Oh," Darla frowned. "I didn't think about that."
Captain Marvel chuckled and stood up. "Tell you what, why don't we take you home? It's getting late and you probably have school tomorrow."
"Unfortunately," she wrinkled her nose then took one of Captain Marvel's proffered hands.
"IT's the worse," he agreed.
By the time Batman was able to join them Darla had managed to provide directions to where she was staying. They made an odd group as they walked through alleyways, down a city block or two, eventually arriving at a modest two story house.
'Thank you," Darla hugged Captain Marvel then ran up the stairs, knocking eagerly at the door.
The heroes waited until Darla was ushered inside after a hug and confused glances were sent their way before heading back to the crime scene.
"I got this off one of the thieves," Batman held out a ring which Captain Marvel happily took.
"Well at least the museum will get its artifacts back," Superman sighed.
"This probably isn't the best time to mention that these are too dangerous to give back, right?" Captain Marvel laughed weakly.
A/N: Thanks for all the reviews on the last chapter and I hope that you like this one even better. Next up: The Monster Society of Evil!
