p class="MsoNormal"A couple of days passed, and the Just Us Gang was sitting together talking in a scarp metal yards. A safe place for the Just Us Gang to meet up outside the Meta-Human Hives since they're mostly deserted and unlike most junkyards didn't stink of decay and grime. Bruce was finishing telling his friends the whole story, shadow powers in all./p
p class="MsoNormal"Bruce:span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanSo, I waved the book towards him and teleported away./p
p class="MsoNormal"Arthur: What "I'll be back" threat did you make?/p
p class="MsoNormal"Bruce: I said "sleep with the lights on,"/p
p class="MsoNormal"Hal: Imagine seeing him in his pajamas or worse underwear. BTW Dark Knight?/p
p class="MsoNormal"Diana: I think it's an excellent name for you, Bruce/p
p class="MsoNormal"Bruce: Better than Hot Vision/p
p class="MsoNormal"Clark: Ha-ha, well, if you get powers again, you can use whatever names you want, not that you need any./p
p class="MsoNormal"Barry: Yeah, What are you thinking about, Bruce has a superpower, he's super smart, although shadow powers are a pretty good fit for you, Bruce/p
p class="MsoNormal"Clark: And having them isn't far from the craziest thing you've ever gone style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"Diana: Were you able to make any headway on the Book of Black?/p
p class="MsoNormal"Bruce: Nope, it's written in some ancient dead language. However, I finally got into contact with my old acquaintance, Zatanna./p
p class="MsoNormal"Clark: Really, what did she say?/p
p class="MsoNormal"A voice from atop a pile of old cars responded, "She said if you wanted to learn magic, you just had to ask."/p
p class="MsoNormal"The whole group looked up towards the voice, two teens stood above them, a girl with a white dress shirt, black dress pants and a top hat and a blonde boy, wearing a black t-shirt with a red pentagram and black jeans./p
p class="MsoNormal"Bruce: Zatanna, always full of surprises. I thought your dad's traveling show was on the other side of the country./p
p class="MsoNormal"In a flash of Fire and Sparkles, the two teleported down in-front of the gang./p
p class="MsoNormal"Zatanna: Yeah, but nothing is too far away when you can teleport, Nice to meet you all. I'm Zatanna, show-stopping sorcerous in training, and this is my boyfriend John Constantine, Supernatural rock star. span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"John spoke with a British Accent, "Wanted to see if Gotham was a Shitter it's praised to be, It was?"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"Zatanna: John, Shush. Anyway, we came to see this Book of Black you found. John here knows and practices more dark magic than I do, so he's kind of an expert./p
p class="MsoNormal"Diana: Really?/p
p class="MsoNormal"John clapped his hands together, and two fire pentagrams appeared from his palm, suddenly a metal guitar manifested between them, which he strummed twice "dark, not demonic love, but if you're interested…"/p
p class="MsoNormal"Diana: I'm not./p
p class="MsoNormal""Anyway," Bruce said, taking out the Big Book of Black and handing it to Zatanna and John, who sent away his guitar in another fiery puff./p
p class="MsoNormal"John: Never seen a grimoire like this before but it looks promising/p
p class="MsoNormal"Zatanna: Careful Black Magic isn't for the faint of heart; it can do all sorts of nasty things. However, since you seemed interested, I brought you this./p
p class="MsoNormal"Zatanna took out a black, violet, and gray book, it couldn't have been any larger than a palm-sized Dictionary and had what looked like bats on the covers. She handed it to Bruce/p
p class="MsoNormal"Bruce: What's this? span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"Zatanna: It's among my father's old books on the Shadowlands, daddy won't miss it. Consider it Shadow Spells for Dummies? I even marked some spells for you. See if it works?/p
p class="MsoNormal"Bruce open the book and read one of the first marked pages, "focus on your inner despair and project it outward" the page said/p
p class="MsoNormal"Bruce: "Umbra Envoke!"/p
p class="MsoNormal"Similar to when he was in the alleyway, shadows and darkness rose up and spiraled around him, which mixed with his trench coat, and black clothing gave him a dark knight, albeit child-sized./p
p class="MsoNormal"Barry: Wow! You look scary./p
p class="MsoNormal"Bruce smiled/p
p class="MsoNormal"John: Looks like there was a little potion left bonded to you after all span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"Bruce quickly flips through the pages to see a difference spell/p
p class="MsoNormal"Bruce: Dark Dagger!/p
p class="MsoNormal"The shadows molded into a bat-shaped dagger around the same sizes as the ones Bruce already carried for protection. Bruce fumbled around with it testing its weight and feel. He then looked at a junk car behind the group about 20 feet away and without saying another word flung the dark dagger. The dagger whirled thru the air like a boomerang before hit the car hood Bruce targeted, imbedding itself deep inside the metal./p
p class="MsoNormal"Diana: Impressive/p
p class="MsoNormal"Bruce: Alright, It was getting annoying to always have to remake those. Does have to be bats, though?/p
p class="MsoNormal"Clark: That's right; you're afraid of bats. span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"Bruce: Clark!/p
p class="MsoNormal"Zatanna: I tried to find something that would work well with your personality and style, Bruce. You won't have all the power you had before, but you'll definitely be able to do more./p
p class="MsoNormal"John: Those spells will convert your inner despair into power, allowing you to mold shadows into various shapes and forms./p
p class="MsoNormal"Hal: That's kinda like my power if I was a Goth Punk./p
p class="MsoNormal"Bruce: Better than an Airheaded Army Brat./p
p class="MsoNormal"Hal made a green light construct in the shape of a bat and made it fly towards Bruce. Bruce tumbled under it right up towards Hal and kicked him in the stomach. Hal fell back but quickly popped back up, glowing green and ready to fight, but Bruce was gone./p
p class="MsoNormal"Hal: Wait, where did he?/p
p class="MsoNormal""Umbra Escape," Bruce said as he re-appeared directly behind Hal, causing the fearless flyer to stumble forward into the dirt./p
p class="MsoNormal"Clark: Wicked disappearing act/p
p class="MsoNormal"Bruce: I'm going to learn to love this new power./p
p class="MsoNormal"Hal: and I'm going to .../p
p class="MsoNormal"Diana: That's enough, you two, you've both help us great Zatanna and John./p
p class="MsoNormal"Arthur: Yeah, I wish my magic came with instructions?/p
p class="MsoNormal"Clark: You know we could always use more members in the gang./p
p class="MsoNormal"Zatanna: Thanks, but our true calling is the stage, and we've finally got a gig./p
p class="MsoNormal"John: Yeah, her old man is actually letting us add our talents to his act, Z's spells, and my music./p
p class="MsoNormal"Zatanna: Which reminds me we gotta get back, talk to you guys later. Call us if you need anything?/p
p class="MsoNormal"Bruce: Just let us know when you're in town and Thanks./p
p class="MsoNormal"Zatanna "tropeleT su emoH," and with That, Zatanna and John teleported away in a flash of fire and white style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanspan style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanspan style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanBarry: What a flashy exit./p
p class="MsoNormal"Bruce: Yep, that's Zatanna for you, and you're right, Clark./p
p class="MsoNormal"Clark: Yep, Bruce, me, and Alfred told you you've got people in your life who will always be willing to help you if you ask./p
p class="MsoNormal"Clark smiled and put his arm around his friend/p
p class="MsoNormal"Bruce: Oh yeah that nice, I was actually talking about something else. We are gonna need more members. The Falcone's crime family apparently suffered a significant hit last night when most of its leaders and main members seemingly ended up dead./p
p class="MsoNormal"Diana: Do you think of anything to do with us?/p
p class="MsoNormal"Bruce: Doubtful probably experimental weapons they were all using, but it still good news./p
p class="MsoNormal"Clark: The death of 16 people is good news?/p
p class="MsoNormal"Bruce: Well, yeah, that's not good, even considering who they were./p
p class="MsoNormal"Arthur: At least the secret of what happened at your manor will stay with us./p
p class="MsoNormal"Bruce: Yes, but more importantly, this is an opportunity. The Falcone Crime family had reach in almost every corner of Mega-state, all of our homes. If we took their place, we could really make some significant changes to this world. In order to do that we're gonna need a lot more power and a lot more people. span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"Diana: Then let's get to work./p
p class="MsoNormal"Bruce: Glad you're so eager, Diana, because the next plan involves you./p
p class="MsoNormal"Bruce:span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanSo, I waved the book towards him and teleported away./p
p class="MsoNormal"Arthur: What "I'll be back" threat did you make?/p
p class="MsoNormal"Bruce: I said "sleep with the lights on,"/p
p class="MsoNormal"Hal: Imagine seeing him in his pajamas or worse underwear. BTW Dark Knight?/p
p class="MsoNormal"Diana: I think it's an excellent name for you, Bruce/p
p class="MsoNormal"Bruce: Better than Hot Vision/p
p class="MsoNormal"Clark: Ha-ha, well, if you get powers again, you can use whatever names you want, not that you need any./p
p class="MsoNormal"Barry: Yeah, What are you thinking about, Bruce has a superpower, he's super smart, although shadow powers are a pretty good fit for you, Bruce/p
p class="MsoNormal"Clark: And having them isn't far from the craziest thing you've ever gone style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"Diana: Were you able to make any headway on the Book of Black?/p
p class="MsoNormal"Bruce: Nope, it's written in some ancient dead language. However, I finally got into contact with my old acquaintance, Zatanna./p
p class="MsoNormal"Clark: Really, what did she say?/p
p class="MsoNormal"A voice from atop a pile of old cars responded, "She said if you wanted to learn magic, you just had to ask."/p
p class="MsoNormal"The whole group looked up towards the voice, two teens stood above them, a girl with a white dress shirt, black dress pants and a top hat and a blonde boy, wearing a black t-shirt with a red pentagram and black jeans./p
p class="MsoNormal"Bruce: Zatanna, always full of surprises. I thought your dad's traveling show was on the other side of the country./p
p class="MsoNormal"In a flash of Fire and Sparkles, the two teleported down in-front of the gang./p
p class="MsoNormal"Zatanna: Yeah, but nothing is too far away when you can teleport, Nice to meet you all. I'm Zatanna, show-stopping sorcerous in training, and this is my boyfriend John Constantine, Supernatural rock star. span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"John spoke with a British Accent, "Wanted to see if Gotham was a Shitter it's praised to be, It was?"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"Zatanna: John, Shush. Anyway, we came to see this Book of Black you found. John here knows and practices more dark magic than I do, so he's kind of an expert./p
p class="MsoNormal"Diana: Really?/p
p class="MsoNormal"John clapped his hands together, and two fire pentagrams appeared from his palm, suddenly a metal guitar manifested between them, which he strummed twice "dark, not demonic love, but if you're interested…"/p
p class="MsoNormal"Diana: I'm not./p
p class="MsoNormal""Anyway," Bruce said, taking out the Big Book of Black and handing it to Zatanna and John, who sent away his guitar in another fiery puff./p
p class="MsoNormal"John: Never seen a grimoire like this before but it looks promising/p
p class="MsoNormal"Zatanna: Careful Black Magic isn't for the faint of heart; it can do all sorts of nasty things. However, since you seemed interested, I brought you this./p
p class="MsoNormal"Zatanna took out a black, violet, and gray book, it couldn't have been any larger than a palm-sized Dictionary and had what looked like bats on the covers. She handed it to Bruce/p
p class="MsoNormal"Bruce: What's this? span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"Zatanna: It's among my father's old books on the Shadowlands, daddy won't miss it. Consider it Shadow Spells for Dummies? I even marked some spells for you. See if it works?/p
p class="MsoNormal"Bruce open the book and read one of the first marked pages, "focus on your inner despair and project it outward" the page said/p
p class="MsoNormal"Bruce: "Umbra Envoke!"/p
p class="MsoNormal"Similar to when he was in the alleyway, shadows and darkness rose up and spiraled around him, which mixed with his trench coat, and black clothing gave him a dark knight, albeit child-sized./p
p class="MsoNormal"Barry: Wow! You look scary./p
p class="MsoNormal"Bruce smiled/p
p class="MsoNormal"John: Looks like there was a little potion left bonded to you after all span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"Bruce quickly flips through the pages to see a difference spell/p
p class="MsoNormal"Bruce: Dark Dagger!/p
p class="MsoNormal"The shadows molded into a bat-shaped dagger around the same sizes as the ones Bruce already carried for protection. Bruce fumbled around with it testing its weight and feel. He then looked at a junk car behind the group about 20 feet away and without saying another word flung the dark dagger. The dagger whirled thru the air like a boomerang before hit the car hood Bruce targeted, imbedding itself deep inside the metal./p
p class="MsoNormal"Diana: Impressive/p
p class="MsoNormal"Bruce: Alright, It was getting annoying to always have to remake those. Does have to be bats, though?/p
p class="MsoNormal"Clark: That's right; you're afraid of bats. span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"Bruce: Clark!/p
p class="MsoNormal"Zatanna: I tried to find something that would work well with your personality and style, Bruce. You won't have all the power you had before, but you'll definitely be able to do more./p
p class="MsoNormal"John: Those spells will convert your inner despair into power, allowing you to mold shadows into various shapes and forms./p
p class="MsoNormal"Hal: That's kinda like my power if I was a Goth Punk./p
p class="MsoNormal"Bruce: Better than an Airheaded Army Brat./p
p class="MsoNormal"Hal made a green light construct in the shape of a bat and made it fly towards Bruce. Bruce tumbled under it right up towards Hal and kicked him in the stomach. Hal fell back but quickly popped back up, glowing green and ready to fight, but Bruce was gone./p
p class="MsoNormal"Hal: Wait, where did he?/p
p class="MsoNormal""Umbra Escape," Bruce said as he re-appeared directly behind Hal, causing the fearless flyer to stumble forward into the dirt./p
p class="MsoNormal"Clark: Wicked disappearing act/p
p class="MsoNormal"Bruce: I'm going to learn to love this new power./p
p class="MsoNormal"Hal: and I'm going to .../p
p class="MsoNormal"Diana: That's enough, you two, you've both help us great Zatanna and John./p
p class="MsoNormal"Arthur: Yeah, I wish my magic came with instructions?/p
p class="MsoNormal"Clark: You know we could always use more members in the gang./p
p class="MsoNormal"Zatanna: Thanks, but our true calling is the stage, and we've finally got a gig./p
p class="MsoNormal"John: Yeah, her old man is actually letting us add our talents to his act, Z's spells, and my music./p
p class="MsoNormal"Zatanna: Which reminds me we gotta get back, talk to you guys later. Call us if you need anything?/p
p class="MsoNormal"Bruce: Just let us know when you're in town and Thanks./p
p class="MsoNormal"Zatanna "tropeleT su emoH," and with That, Zatanna and John teleported away in a flash of fire and white style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanspan style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanspan style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanBarry: What a flashy exit./p
p class="MsoNormal"Bruce: Yep, that's Zatanna for you, and you're right, Clark./p
p class="MsoNormal"Clark: Yep, Bruce, me, and Alfred told you you've got people in your life who will always be willing to help you if you ask./p
p class="MsoNormal"Clark smiled and put his arm around his friend/p
p class="MsoNormal"Bruce: Oh yeah that nice, I was actually talking about something else. We are gonna need more members. The Falcone's crime family apparently suffered a significant hit last night when most of its leaders and main members seemingly ended up dead./p
p class="MsoNormal"Diana: Do you think of anything to do with us?/p
p class="MsoNormal"Bruce: Doubtful probably experimental weapons they were all using, but it still good news./p
p class="MsoNormal"Clark: The death of 16 people is good news?/p
p class="MsoNormal"Bruce: Well, yeah, that's not good, even considering who they were./p
p class="MsoNormal"Arthur: At least the secret of what happened at your manor will stay with us./p
p class="MsoNormal"Bruce: Yes, but more importantly, this is an opportunity. The Falcone Crime family had reach in almost every corner of Mega-state, all of our homes. If we took their place, we could really make some significant changes to this world. In order to do that we're gonna need a lot more power and a lot more people. span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"Diana: Then let's get to work./p
p class="MsoNormal"Bruce: Glad you're so eager, Diana, because the next plan involves you./p