Chapter Forty-Five: Seizing Control.
Circe waited for this particular moment for about as long as she could remembered. The Amazons cowering across from her, looking rather helpless, terrified. She could barely contain her enjoyment when her new pet had rose up over the ground. She could see the look of confusion on the face of the Amazons.
"Remember, it's Dick inside there!" Donna yelled.
"Yes, hopefully he remembers that," Helena said.
Helena had more comfort in fighting street punks and muggers than she did members of her team. She watched Dick rise almost all the way up and stare down at her. His nasty glare looked at her. Those demented dragon eyes stared down at her and Helena wondered what the hell was going to happen next.
'Well, here comes nothing.'
"Yes, my pet, destroy those wicked women."
Diana held up her hand and the entire group wondered if she had taken complete leave of her senses. Her younger sister stared Diana down as if she had gone just a tad bit insane as well.
"Diana, are you feeling okay?" Donna asked. Diana smiled in response when looking at her sister. "We need to attack him, while there's enough human left in him."
Diana withdrew her blade. She had never fought a dragon, well not in a long time anyway. A mystical alien dragon which had been enhanced by Circe's magic was another kettle of fish entirely. She watched the dragon raise up into the air and start to snarl at his adversaries.
"Fire!" Artemis yelled.
The barrage of arrows hit the dragon and again his scales repelled any attack. Artemis would not be discouraged. Every creature had a weak spot, it was just a matter of figuring out how to find it.
The creature turned his attention towards Circe. Circe looked at the creature, a wicked smile crossing over her face. The wicked smiled turned into something less wicked when she realized the dragon had rose up into the air about her and rose into the air. It responded with a vicious snarl and kept staring down at Circe.
"Creature, stand back!" Circe yelled. "I told you to attack those wicked women. You are to obey me! I've given you power beyond all measure."
One spiked tail swung to the next direction and tried to take Circe out. Circe rolled in the air and avoided the attack. She aimed her magic and fired a blast of energy towards the creature. This only incensed the monster and he turned around.
"I made you, I can unmake you!" Circe howled at the top of her lungs. She reared her hands back and kept blasting away at the creature. Her blasts continued to impact the creature and each time she fired the attacks at him, he kept howling and he shot green fire at Circe. Circe had to abort her attacks. "I don't know it…"
Circe channeled all of her power towards an energy shield which blocked the attacks from the dragon. Sweat started to roll down her face the harder the dragon hammered the energy shields.
"Okay, I'll bite," Barbara said. "Is she trying to turn him back to normal? And if she is, how is she…..not able to do it? Shouldn't she be the one who could turn him back because she was the who performed the spells."
Barbara remembered why magic frustrated her in so many inherent ways.
"We should….we should go," Dinah said. Barbara raised an eyebrow, and Dinah amended. "Under normal circumstances, I wouldn't be the first one to run. In fact, I would be the last person to tell someone to run. But you know, if he taps into the beast any more, we're going to be screwed!"
"We'll hold the line!" Hippolyta yelled. "There may be something in the library which will undo the enchantment."
Kara the rabbit shook her head and looked rather impatient about something. Barbara leaned down and looked down at her transfigured friend in her arms.
"Are you trying to say there's no way he can be transformed back?" Barbara asked.
Kara really wished for the ability to speak. It would be a lot easier to explain something like this when she had the ability to speak. She entered uncharted territory herself, and there was really no time to play a rousing game of charades, at least in her mind. The Girl of Steel kept rolling her head back and trying to summon the ability to speak.
"This isn't going anywhere, is it?" Donna asked. "Maybe if we can't break his enchantment, maybe we can break Kara's."
Kara thought it was a good idea because every second she had been stuck as one of the most vile creatures in the universe, the more she felt dirty. She would not waste a moment, the second she got her hands on Circe. She would pay for what she did, Kara was completely confident about it.
"Let's go, now!" Dinah yelled.
The group of heroines made their way to the palace, which hopefully should be a way to hole themselves up from the attack of the dragons, at least for a little bit. They hoped the dragon would keep his attention on Circe and not go after them.
A battle raged in the mind of one Dick Grayson. He could feel his mind succumbing a bit more to the beast. All this action did though was for him to reinforce his extremely strong will and redouble his efforts to keep his head above the water. He took a long breath and tried to keep himself as calm as could be.
'No,' Dick groaned. 'No, I won't….have to make Circe break the enchantment…'
Circe heard the creatures growls. No matter what she tried, she could not break the enchantment or make the creature bend to her will. The wicked goddess only had one thing to do. She closed her eyes and tried to pull a disappearing act.
She hit a wall and ended up in the island, underneath the eyes of the dragon. Circe wondered what had been blocking her attempts to teleport away.
Diana, Helena, Barbara, Dinah, and Donna made their way. Kara looked rather agitated the longer she had been put underneath this enchantment and did not care who knew about it. She struggled and squirmed in an attempt to break herself free from the hold Barbara had around her
"Relax, we'll fix you in a minute!" Barbara snapped.
Kara turned her eyes around. How could she relax when some mystical dragon could destroy half of the island? And if he escaped the barriers of the island, he would get out and destroy the world. She was pretty sure she could break the enchantment, if she hadn't been so handicapped.
Diana barricaded the door. She thought it would be the equivalent of putting a bandaid on a gaping flesh wound, but she really had to try her best. They really did have few options for the shit hit the fan so to speak.
"Well, this should hold," Diana said. "For how long though, I have no idea."
The Amazon Princess worried about the battle when it raged on outside. She also worried about her sisters and Dick and what they would do to each other. She considered the fact they might have to treat Dick like he was any other creature. She refused to believe it, refused to believe it.
"I think we better try and find a way to get Kara back to normal," Barbara said.
Kara rolled her neck back and gave a little smile in response. She was glad they were on the same pathway to be honest. She hoped they would get her back to normal sooner rather than later. Frustrated wasn't the word for what she was felling.
Donna had not been one for magic. She learned the theory a lot of the times and could pull off a few basic enchantments, although it wasn't anything Raven or Zatanna worthy.
'If either of the two of them could make the trip, we really wouldn't be having this particular problem,' Donna thought. Then again, she doubted Circe would bother to attack if two extremely powerful magic users.
"You don't suppose we could summon some help from outside the island, could we?" Dinah asked.
Donna considered Dinah's question for a couple of seconds and responded with a brisk shake of her head.
"I'm not sure if we could, even if we wanted to," Donna said. She pushed a couple of locks of hair away from her eyes and looked over the entire group. "Raven could undo this entire mess in about a half of a second, and it would be….a chaotic mess if she threw down with Circe."
The girls would have amused themselves more about the thought had the situation not been so perilous where they were seconds away from having a dragon crash through the window.
"Let's get Kara back to normal, and we'll go from there," Barbara said.
Kara smiled. About time someone decided to talk something close to sense. The Girl of Steel leaned back a couple of inches and waited for the enchantment to be broken. She could concur with their thoughts this would have been a whole lot easier if someone like Raven and Zatanna.
'I really hate rabbits, I really, really hate rabbits,' Kara thought. 'If I have to be a rabbit for one more second, I'm going to scream.'
She didn't give the creatures the time of day until her escapades with the pest from the fifth dimension. Then she gave the rabbits more than enough thought.
"I think I have something!" Donna cheered in triumph. "Well, Kara, are you ready to go back to normal?"
Kara rolled her little rabbit eyes and if she could make a snarky comment, she would. It was frustrating how Circe did not turn her into a talking rabbit, even if it would have looked a bit absurd in some degrees.
"I think she's ready," Barbara said after a couple of seconds. She looked amused at Kara's impatient rocking back and forth. "And I'll be glad when I get rid of her because she's the most badly behaved rabbit I've ever taken care of."
Donna reached into a drawer and pulled out a stone. She remembered the technique from her past lessons.
"Donna, maybe I should do the honors?" Diana asked.
Donna responded with a shrug and passed the stone over to Diana. They both understood how delicate the situation was. Diana took the stone in her hand, and said a mental plea to all of the goddesses.
'Hera, I don't know how you missed Circe getting on the island,' Diana thought. 'But please, for the love of…you….do you think ti would be too much trouble to help me now?'
Diana touched the stone on the top of Kara's head and a glow of light engulfed the body of the girl. She turned into a Kryptonian heroine once again. She landed on the ground with a solid thump.
"Never again, never again," Kara said. She gave everyone one of those long looks which showed how frustrated she was. "Not one single word of this after we leave the island. Do you understand me?"
Everyone could feel Kara's icy breath despite her not using the ice breath. Everyone was in agreement this particular escapade should be better shared off of the island. The Girl of Steel took a moment.
"Right, Nightwing," Kara said. "It's been a while since he's went under that particular name, but I guess you can't defeat what's inside."
Kara eyes widened when she thought about it. The answer had been so simple and so clear, she was surprised it did not come to her a second sooner. She looked towards the other girls, who raised their eyebrow.
"So, how do we beat it?" Dinah asked.
"We don't, he does," Kara said. She could see the confusion amongst all of the other girls, she Kara decided she better try and explain this, even though it sounded like pure insanity. "You don't beat it, because he has to fight himself and regain control. Then he should turn back to the Dick we all know and love."
Diana thought about it for a couple of moments and she realized how much sense this particular thing made. It made really too much sense if she was perfectly honest. She turned her attention towards Kara.
"Kara, do you think you could come with me?" Diana asked.
"Sure," Kara said. "I know what to do now, and I'm sure you do."
The Queen of the Amazons knew the fierce warrior spirit which beat within Nightwing. She turned her attention towards the creature who had backed off some of her greatest Amazon warriors. He looked a second away from lashing out at them.
Hippolyta had a second of thought and realized what needed to be done. She did not like it any more than the rest of them. A pause followed before she turned towards Artemis.
"Artemis, fall back!" Hippolyta yelled.
Artemis was about ready to protest the fact her Queen told her to fall back. One stern look etched on the face of the Queen of the Amazons told Artemis this was not an order to be trifled with. The Queen of the Amazons motioned for Artemis to do what she was told and she did.
Aresia, however, was less likely to take orders. She moved over and withdrew her sword.
"I know you're in that monster somewhere," she said. She looked at the creature and stepped back, trying to keep her heart from beating any harder. "Come out and fight, I know you're in there, you can fight it, I know you have it in you."
The transformed dragon looked on. Aresia decided to get up close and personal and launched herself on the creature's back. She tried to get his attention, find a weak spot to get him back to Earth so they can change him back.
Hippolyta watched the bold and daring actions of the former Amazon exile. She had shown herself to brave, even though her bravery could be mistaken for foolishness.
"This child is mad!"
Hippolyta turned her attention around and noticed Circe hovering above the island. She floated above the ground as casual as could be and the utter smugness of her face made Hippolyta want to take some weapon and put it through her eyeball. The Queen of the Amazons looked seconds away from attacking her.
"You've brought this chaos about the island!" Hippolyta yelled.
"And you're surprised because of this," Circe said. "I consider it my responsibility to keep you on your toes and make sure you….well you don't…..
Hippolyta did not answer Circe's question. Out of all of the things she had done, transfiguring an innocent guest into a heartless monster was pretty low on the list. Not the worst thing she did, but it was pretty high up there and the Queen of the Amazon's grew more incensed by Circe's lack of caring of this entire situation.
"Turn him back!" Hippolyta yelled at the top of her lungs. "Now, before I lose my patience."
Circe winced when Hippolyta tightened her grip around her shoulder. The goddess realized she bit off more than she could chew in every single way possible.
"I would love to turn him back, because this situation has spiraled out of my control!" Circe screamed. She waved her hands and the bolts of magic hit the creature as he tried to rock Aresia from his back. Aresia hung on for dear life and managed to keep herself from sliding completely off. "You should know how it goes by now, where someone is…."
The creature's attention turned completely towards Circe and the goddess raised her hands and blasted him. Nothing occurred not even a wince of pain.
"And his attention is on me," Circe said. "Do you realize how much trouble this is? You have to help me, Hippolyta."
Hippolyta thought the goddess had some nerve trying to get her to help out after all of what happened. Yet, despite the situation and despite her thoughts going down a contradictory road, they were pretty much on the same page.
The Queen watched in horror when Aresia went airborne and propelled into the air. She was going to take a rather hard landing only to see a blur shoot out of the opposite direction and catch Aresia in her arms before she made her most painful and most agonizing type of descent.
Kara dropped Aresia down onto the ground. The Amazon shook her head in response.
"Thanks," Aresia said. "Good to see you're back to normal."
Kara motioned for Diana to step over towards them and Diana stood in front of Dick. The dragon creature soared high into the air, reared back his head and roared, baring his fangs towards the Amazon Princess.
In the back of his mind, Dick kept growing frantic in an attempt to hold himself together. He could see Diana standing before him and he could see her looking towards him. He tried to project the thoughts to her.
'Diana, you need to get out of there, you need to get out of there, now!' Dick yelled. All which came out of his mouth were loud and boisterous growls which kept going on.
Diana stood as firm and proud as the Amazon did on most days. She stared down the man in front of her.
"I'm not going to abandon you," Diana said. "Listen to me, you can fight this one. You just need to get your inner strength and you can break the enchantment."
Dick wondered how he could channel anything in his current state of mind. He had to focus and bring the energy deep within himself. All he needed to do was close his eyes and focus.
"What is he doing?" Circe asked.
"He's doing something you can't do," Diana said. "Break the enchantment."
Circe wondered if it was so easy, for him to break the enchantment. More power to him, she supposed. She enjoyed a healthy round of chaos as much as the next person, but there was always too much of a good thing.
Dick realized he had control. He remembered his training, how to block out the pain and regain control of his own mind. If he trained his body to block out the pain and power on trough, he could break the enchantment.
A wave of energy surrounded the young man's body and a loud crack echoed through the air. He started to shrink in size and turn back to a human being.
Kara bolted into the air and nailed Circe in the back of the head on her way to catching Dick. Circe dropped down, both feet landing on the island.
The Girl of Steel caught a falling Dick in her arms and dropped down onto the ground with him. His tattered clothes barely hung to him and he looked fatigued for a second before hoping his eyes.
"Hey, I'm back," Dick said. He looked towards Kara. "And you're back as well….so how was….."
"Horrible," Kara said. "But, I'm glad you broke the enchantment."
Hippolyta turned her attention towards Circe who rubbed the back of her head in response.
"Did she really have to blindside me?" Circe asked. "She really needs to get a sense of humor. I thought she made a cute bunny, not as bad as your daughter did when I turned her into a….."
Hippolyta extended her blade out and put it underneath Circe's chin. Circe shivered in response when Hippolyta held the sword underneath the Amazon Queen's throat.
"If you value your life and your health, you will not finish that sentence," Hippolyta said.
"CIRCE, YOU WERE WARNED!"
Circe realized something. She had technically set foot on the island, all thanks to Supergirl.
A blink of an eye later, Circe found herself staring down several angry goddesses and several gods who looked about his displeased with her.
"Hey, everyone," Circe said. "Hera, have you lost weight?"
Circe realized a second later she said pretty much the wrong thing the Queen of the Goddesses. Hera narrowed her eyes when she looked down Circe.
"Circe, I thought I made it clear you were not to set foot on the island" Hera said. "And despite your creative interpretation, you ignored my directive."
Circe swallowed in response.
"Since you seem so intent of meddling with Paradise, then you can be there, under the care of Hippolyta," Hera said. "She and the Amazons and their guests can do whatever they wish to you. Maybe it would teach her you humility."
Circe wondered if Hera was still sore about the time where Circe seduced her ex-husband. Then again, given Zeus was the bicycle of Olympus.
"You really think this is punishment," Circe said.
The King of Gods rose to his feet. He had rarely saw eye to eye with Hera as of late. He had not quite forgiven Circe for turning his daughter into a pig, but more importantly for spreading word about how inadequate he was in the bedroom after he gave her the honor of being in his bed.
"Yes, I'm certain you will try something if we allow your powers on the island," Zeus said. "Therefore, you will be stripped of your magical abilities for a week and you will live as Hippolyta decrees."
Circe swallowed and a collar appeared around her neck. A collar which contained her powers, and she recognized it as a collar she tried to enslave Hippolyta with a time ago.
She even could appreciate irony.
To Be Continued.
