There is a reason I keep putting off on updating this it's called I don't want to reach the end.
Zatara sighed as he watched Artemis and his daughter enter the room and saw Zatanna gesture in his direction with an expression of disbelieve. "Trouble?" Batman asked, as he saw the expression on Giovanni.
Zatara nodded. "Yes Zatanna has been trying to get out more, spend more time with the Team and-"
"And you are worried about putting her in danger?" Batman finished for him.
"I know I am being stubborn but she is all I have left." he admitted with a sigh. "If something were to happen to her-."
A flash of light appeared in the loading bay centered on the children, when it cleared they were gone. "ZATANNA!" Zatara called and began to cast every spell he could think of to find his daughter.
It was utter chaos all around the world as everyone was clamoring for answers about what happened the children. Just as it reached it's apex something happened to calm everyone.
All across the world every mirror and reflective surface showed the young heroes, the ones that had gone missing alongside all the children. "Attention teens and children of earth." Aqualad said speaking calmly and slowly all around the world the adults began to gather around the nearest surface that showed the heroes.
"I am Aqualad these are my friends Kid Flash, Robin and Shazam." each and everyone one of them looked calm and serious, they seemed invincible and untouchable.
"We are using the Mirror of Shazam to send this message to every reflective surface on the planet." Robin explained.
We know you must be scared and angry at the loss of your parents and family." Shazam said, "but you must remain calm go to your schools and churches gather together and be safe."
"We know there is a temptation to run wild and go crazy but you must remain calm we are working on a way to get your parents back." Kid Flash said.
"We will get them back. Till than be brave." Aqualad finished the message ended.
many people felt a bit calmer, the children were safe. They were in another world but safe nonetheless. Slowly many of the angry mobs that had formed dissipated, many parents going home, now that their anger was gone all that remained was worry and sadness. Many sitting around waiting for their kids to return.
Sportsmaster frowned in his civilian attire, he was supposed to start a riot so they could sneak inside star labs and steal something but that message had taken the wind out of the sails of most of the angry parents. Sending most of them home with tears in their eyes for their missing children. Looks like they were going to have to get that sample another way.
Batman let out an almost imperceivable sigh of relief, that came at just the right time a few minutes later and the league would have had a planet wide riot to deal with. "Not bad." he muttered as he turned away from the mirror he was in front of the go speak with the rest of the league.
"We have found a way to communicate with the children." Batman said without any prompting or preamble. Captain Marvel looked around at everyone else nervously, his real age was about to come to light.
"What is it?" Diana asked, leaning forward even Themyscira hadn't found a way, for once they were helping out understanding how dire it was with all the children on the planet disappearing.
"Captain Marvel can jump between the worlds." Batman said indicating to Captain Marvel who looked like he wanted to disappear.
"How?" Green Arrow asked. "Is it because he connection to Shazam?" it would make sense if the kid gave Marvel his powers than there should be a connection between the two..
"Kind of." Marvel said rubbing the back of his head. "It because Iamactuallytwelve!" he rushing out the last part at super speed.
The Flash blinked. "Did you just say you were twelve?" he asked his super speed allowing him to catch what Marvel said.
"No way!" Canary denied.
"But it does make sense." Arrow said thinking about it. "He often acts a lot younger than he looks."
Many of them were now looking at him and seeing what he meant remembering all the times he acted more like a kid than an adult. "Shazam knew!" Flash exclaimed drawing their eyes to him. "Remember what he said 'a difference of twenty four was not expecting that.' he was talking about months not years." that was actually a very round about way of telling them how old Marvel was.
"Can you go back?" Zatara asked ignoring Flash his mind only on his daughter.
"If I get to the cave I could go talk to them right now." he said, and the members exchanged looks.
"Alright." Wonder Woman nodded before fixing Batman with a stern glare. "But don't think this is over."
Captain Marvel reappeared in a flash of lightning. "Captain Marvel how is Zatanna?" Zatara asked as soon as he reappeared.
"She is fine but I have a way for us to talk."
"What is it?!" Zatara nearly shouted.
Batman placed a hand on Giovanni's shoulder and gave him a look. "John calm down."
Zatara sighed, "you're right you're right." he agreed. "I am sorry." he said to Captain Marvel who nodded accepting the apology.
"Well according to Shazam the Rock of Eternity exists outside time and space meaning that the divide doesn't exist there."
"So we can coordinate our attacks." Batman nodded, agreeing with the idea. Besides that he could finally see the Rock of Eternity.
"Okay Ready." he asked looking towards the heroes who were coming along. "SHAZAM!" he called blasting a door with lightning causing a stone door to appear over the old one.
"Now I can't let you in only Shazam can do that so we have to wait for him." Batman frowned but it made sense, he would do the same and has done the same when it comes to the Batcave.
"Don't worry we already came through." Shazam said walking up, Zatara saw someone behind Shazam and his eyes lit up.
"Zatanna!" he called running up to the stone door.
"Daddy!" She cried smiling but to their surprise both Shazam and Captain Marvel caught them before they could cross the threshold.
"Trust me, you do not want to know what happens if you try and cross without permission." Captain Marvel warned, Zatara glared slightly but understood breaking into the home of a god was ill advised and even if he knew they were coming they should still wait for permission.
"And we don't know what will happen if you cross over into the world of adults as a teen." Shazam said before addressing the heroes on the other side of the door. "Place your hand on the edge of the door." Shazam ordered as the heroes did one by one he granted them temporary access. As soon they were able to enter Zatara and Zatanna embraced each other in a hug.
"I thought I lost you." Zatara muttered to his daughter pulling her closer, an action which she eagerly returned. The other heroes awkwardly watched, they may have been close with their own apprentices it was nowhere near this extent.
After a moment the heroes continued on inside and stared in awe at the massive size of the Rock of Eternity as they entered. "Never gets old." Captain Marvel said staring in shock himself.
Green Arrow was about to pick up a sword the was sitting on a rack, when Shazam appeared next to him. "Do not touch anything!" he commanded making Green Arrow jump in surprise.
"Woah! Sorry kid but what's the worst that could happen?" He said and Shazam picked up the sword and swung it before setting it back down. Green Arrow felt a small breeze from the sing but besides that nothing else. "See nothing…" He trailed off looking the direction of where the sword was swung and saw a massive gash in the wall. "...oh." He muttered and the Flash stepped away from a podium with a slight look of caution. they heard a small giggle and looked around trying to find who laughed.
"What was that?" Green Arrow and Flash asked at the same time.
"Is this place alive?" Flash asked looking around, that would honestly not be that surprising
Shazam rolled his eyes with an amused smile. "Greta don't scare them." he said and a small girl rose up through the floor.
"Secret." she said in sad tone looking down. "S-s-s-sorry." she whispered as if she struggled to get the words out.
"Hey you're getting better." Shazam smiled and the girl beamed before sinking back into the floor.
"Who was that?" Flash asked.
"She is a ghost I met in New York, she was made one by a magical object which also stopped her from moving on." he said giving a rough summary of her past.
"Why did she say secret though?" Green Arrow asked it was like she was trying to something else but it came out as secret.
"When Ghosts first form they are normally stuck in a single moment from when they died. It takes years and a lot of power to be able to act differently. While the power from the sword and Rock of Eternity speeds it up, it is still difficult for her to speak."
"So is that what you do?" Batman asked. "Go around cleaning up magical messes?" he wasn't being rude but honestly asking. They knew very about what his duties as god of magic entailed.
"Well it rare for me to have to get involved but yeah that is mostly what I do." he agreed nodding, he only ever had to intervene with magical affairs twice besides that. Both times was ancient artifact that didn't belong in the world being used. The Rock was the best place to keep such things, as on earth they were dangerous weapons of mass destruction, here they were just another weapon. In fact you would be hard pressed to find a sword in here that wasn't magical, if one even existed.
After a quick reunion with their proteges the heroes began to plan. While there was some arguing among the sidekicks over who should stay and deal with the children and who should go and fight Klarion. It was decided that Aqualad, Dreamer, Starfire and Artemis would stay behind to watch out for any emergencies. While the rest went to go confront Klarion.
"What about the Helmet of Fate?" Aqualad asked. "It's here isn't it. It could be useful in the fight to come."
But Shazam put his foot down and refused to budge on that issue. "Not a chance, I was only able to take off the Helmet because I am a god if anyone else put on the Helmet they would never take it off. Nabu would never let them go."
"But it could be necessary." Robin pointed out. "If it comes down to it, it might be worth the risk."
"There are a thousand weapons in here that could help and might be worth the risk of using them but not a single one will be used. We do not need them to deal with Klarion." for example the sword Shazam used to damage wall applied an equal amount of force on the person who used it as it did on the target. Meaning if Green Arrow swung the sword he would be a bloody smear on the wall.
"We can not rule out the possibility of them being used." Batman said but Shazam disagreed.
"Yes we can." he said before turning to Robin. "You asked before why it was only temporary access? This is why." he said indicating to the group around them. "These objects are too dangerous to be in mortal hands, too tempting to use with the excuse of 'it's necessary' or 'just this once'. But it won't be just once, so unless an army of demons and gods attack the earth we are not touching those weapons!" he finished with a shout before storming off.