Chapter 26: Power In Confidence

It's not everyday you get to use your full strength and power and make use of all of your training. She had always been told to hold back with her powers, that they are just as much of a danger as they are a gift. Well, put thousands of hired guns and villainous crackpots in front of her and what option does she have? To go all out. So with the help of her mother that's exactly what she did.

Starfire landed amongst the hired mercenaries and fired a blast of solar energy around her area. Many masked and armored men flew back from their position and tumbled on top of one another. Soaring above Starfire was Nightstar who began to rain down bursts of purple colored energy onto the prone enemies. Stunning them, painfully.

"Remember me girlie?!" A voice like crackling glass called out as a block of ice connected with Nightstar in the air, forcing her to tumble down towards the ground. It was Icicle.

With eyes widened with shock and worry Starfire bolted into the air and took hold of her dazed daughter. "Hold onto me" Koriand'r ordered her daughter. Mar'i gripped her mother's purple costumed tightly and braced herself.

The stream of fire that escape Starfire's hair grew brighter and larger as she sped around the area in the sky dodging blasts of ice at such a rate that she could be deemed a speedster herself.

"Enough!" The crackling voice roared as he combined his hands and released a broad blast big enough that Starfire couldn't dodge. However, she had enough time to fire a blast of Solar Energy before the strong beam of ice hit her but it wasn't enough. The two Tamaranians were knocked from the sky and tumbled to the dead tundra beneath them. Starfire held Mar'i to her chest and turned her back towards the ground, taking the brunt of the damage as the two of them hit the cold, hard ground.

Mar'i lifted herself from her mother and checked her pulse, she was alive but unconscious.

"Oh no, is mummy dead?" Icicle taunted as he transformed is frozen hands into two long blades of ice. He wanted to toy with her.

Mar'i moved to the side of her mother and stood to her feet. She wasn't angry. She was Furious. "You know, I had heard of you before I took you down the first time.-" Mar'i began as her hair slowly ignited purple, "-My dad would tell me stories of his adventures from when he was younger. Do you wanna know what he did every time he mentioned 'Icicle Junior'?" Mar'i questioned as purple energy began to escape like smoke her gripped fists.

Icicle scowled at the young heroine before him, he would freeze anyone who called him 'Junior'. Nobody dared do so, he was more notorious than his father ever was. But to be called out by a child? He couldn't let that happen. A path of ice and frost moved ahead of Icicle as he skated forward to strike Nightstar, "I don't care what he did!" he screamed as he swung his two blades towards the young hero who seemed to effortlessly dodge each strike.

Nighstar didn't strike back, she ducked under the blades where she could, she sidestepped where she could and she jumped over the low strikes her enemy would attempt. Her fists grew brighter as she charged more of her solar energy. "I'll tell you what he did anyway since I find it so funny" Mar'i taunted as she ducked a blade and bolley kicked Icicle's jaw, forcing him to take a few steps backwards.

Mar'i clasped her fists together while the purple energy coursed up her arms. "He laughed." She said coldly as all of the solar energy she had collected roared from her fists in a beam so devastating that Icicle could no longer be seen as the purple energy encapsulated him. The energy Nighstar released devastated everything ahead of her for miles and created a brief divide between heroes and villains.

A flash of red sped past her and stopped beside her mother, "Nightstar I have her!" Wally called out to her. The now exhausted alien wobbled as she turned around to see The Flash pick up her mother in his arms and speed off. As the Flash of red disappeared into the distance Mar'i collapsed towards the floor. She expected to feel the charred ground as she landed but all she felt was warmth. All she could see was a smile.

"I got you Mar'i" Donald smiled to her as he bobbed and weaved through the battle with her in his arms.

"Don?" Mar'i mumbled as she wrapped her arms around his shoulders to stable herself.

Don's smile faded as he saw the loss of color in her skin, he knew that Mar'i had overdone it. "That was quite the light show. I had no idea you were that powerful" Don said impressed. He was almost struck by Mar'i's blast himself but luckily he and the other speedsters were more than fast enough to get out of the way and save whatever hero they could see.

Mar'i pressed her head against Don's chest and closed her eyes, "Neither did I..." she smirked as she closed her eyes.

"Mar'i? Mar'i! Stay with me!" Don begged as he ran past the edge of the battle and towards Raven who was currently tending to Koriand'r with Wally beside the two of them. "Raven!" Don beckoned as he slowed down his speed "Something is wrong with Mar'i!"

"Place her beside Koriand'r" Raven told him. He did as he was told, he walked beside Starfire and placed Mar'i down next to her.

Raven's dark magic covered Mar'i's body and then it disappeared as Raven looked towards the purple-suited Flash. "She is just exhausted. Do not worry. I will heal the two of them."

Wally sped beside his cousin and placed his hand onto his shoulder, "Raven has this covered. Go find Impulse and stay with him like you should be. This is getting too dangerous for you to be alone."

The Flash disappeared and Don took one more look at his teammate and gave a weak smile, then speeding off in the blink of an eye.

Zachary didn't know how but he was holding his own. He didn't for the life of him think he would last as long as he had been if he were to be honest with you. It seems all the magical training from his father and mother had paid off. Maybe he did have a shot in the magical world after all. What a time to gain some level of confidence, amidst the battle for the future of the world.

Zatara pointed his wand towards the ground and chanted "Erif nrub, nordlauc elbbub!" as he began to rain down fire onto his enemies and scatter explosions into their ranks.

"Nice shot kid!" a Green Lantern praised as he sped by but with all of the adrenaline coursing through Zachary he wasn't able to focus on the face of the lantern. But hey, praise is praise, right?

Zatara pointed his wand behind him but before he could cast another spell his mouth was sealed shut by some sort of red coloured webbing. Zachary tried to remove the material from his mouth with his spare hand but he ended up with it stuck to the webbing as well. As the young magician attempted to find out who fired it more webbing attached to his chest but this time it led to something. The long line of webbing that was stuck to Zachary's chest was yanked with such force that he was pulled from the magical disc keeping him up in the air and fell face first onto the cold, hard ground.

"Can't do much without your mouth can you?" a muffled voice goaded. It was Black Spider, one of the most dangerous associate's of The Light. Zachary knew he had to be careful, he was known to be one of the more agile and trickier foes.

The Black spider fired two ropes of his web towards the magicians feet and began to pull him across the dirt while the battle raged around them. Zatara struggled his legs in attempt to release himself from the webbing but nothing could be done, soon enough Zatara was being held up by his throat. "Never killed a child before, I've never needed to. There's a first for everything though, right?" The masked assassin said in a creepily happy manner.

A small but deadly blade protruded from the assassins spare wrist and slowly pressed against Zatara's throat. Blood began to drip when the blade slowly cut into his throat but to Black Spider's surprise the webbing that covered his target's mouth was beginning to melt. Before the assassin had time to figure out what was happening a burst of fire roared from the magicians mouth, setting the Spider aflame.

"You all seem to forget, I'm the son of Constantine. Not just Zatanna." Zachary quipped as he wiped the now liquid webbing from his chin. As Black Spider attempted to put out his burning costume Zatara pulled out a silver flip-lighter from one of his pockets. He pointed the palm of his other hand towards his burning foe and then yanked his arm back, pulling the fire from him and then moving it towards the lighter. The assassin dropped to the floor with smoke rising from his body. "Asshole." Zatara mumbled to himself.

Zachary looked at what surrounded him. Costumed heroes taking on all sorts of evil. He could see Sentinel taking on Black Adam in the sky. He could see Batman taking on a bundle of mercenaries who all though they stood a chance. He could see Blockbuster toying with The Changeling. However, he couldn't see victory for the Justice League as more and more foes arrived with each passing hour and the true plan of The Light was yet to be seen. It was up to the Infiltration Team to figure that out. He just hoped they'd figure it out soon.

A/N: Hey guys! Sorry for the short chapter but I haven't had much of a chance to write because I've recently started back at University so I've been pretty busy. I also wanted to write about Mar'i and Zachary fighting in the battle a little and hey, you got to see Zachary being a badass and Mar'i unleashing all of her power.

Next chapter is going to be so much longer and I really want to talk about it but I won't because of spoilers and all that. Seriously, I honestly can't wait for you all to read it. It's going to be such a roller-coaster ride (hopefully). Oh, and don't get me started on the chapter after that either.

Chapter 30 will be the start of the second part of this story so look forward to that.

I'm not sure when the next chapter will be out if I'm honest. It could be a week or it could be two or three but either way I hope it is worth the wait. And as for Lian and Sophie not being in the recent chapters, that will be answered soon enough.

Thank you for reading! ~FarmingPirate